Alphen aan den Rijn      Saturday  July 17  EXTRA EDITION       ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

And the [ preliminary ] winners of the 31st WGC in Prievidza are ;
 standard class;                                     Club class;                                           World class;
1.Sebastian Kawa    8547                    1.Arndt Hovestad  9317                  1.Laurent Couture   7747
2.Mario Kiessling    8466                    2.Volker Sailer       9265                  2.Martin Hrivna       7462
3.Michael Buchtal   8417                     3.Mario Schupfer  9243                  3.Denis Guerin         7434

Today I will follow the last day of the WGC with you, or when you have n’t got time you can at-least read about it through my view on things. Keep in mind that I am NOT over-there, but get my info from reliable sources, from reading other blogs  and that I only try to analyze what’s happening over there!Everything is MY opinion!

One thing is sure, the 7 pilots who made it back yesterday did a great job. Congratulations ,if coming back is a measure , they proved the tasksetter right at-least for one class. In the end it LUCKILY did not mix up the scores TOO much , as that would have been very unfair. Don’t know how they call it in Prievidza, but I call a day like yesterday, with many others,  a lottery. When that is part of a WGC , so be it! At many competitions I am sure they would have cancelled such a day!!!
I hear very mixed reactions and hope today will be better.
AAT’s from 2 hours, with nearly the same weather as yesterday, hot but…as they predict —very important—NO  thunderstorms during the day…. only and heavy one’s during the night . First expected launch at 12.
I like the way the German blog writer mentions it; ” Horac the weatherman tells us that showers are east of us, and yes he is correct as we can see that ,but….he forgets to look at the other directions. ”
For sure one glider in world class will not fly today as it was too much damaged yesterday to be able to fly today. Other gliders had damage as well as I hear the grass over there is pretty high for a safe outlanding.
I was still pleased to see my young friend from Lithuania , Vytautas, win yesterday’s club class scores with a flight of 218 km earning 800 points in his standard Jantar.
I guess today a lot will follow Art and look at the tracking system. I heard that in some newer gliders the carbon won’t allow transmission to the satellites, so that for most of the time they do not receive data. Interesting!
Here is what Art had to say;
“The broadcast yesterday was fun.  We had lots of DRAMA [ look at it in a positive way like a play! Ritz] – watching pilots trying to avoid the rain and make contact with the assigned areas – and watching glider after glider land out.I don’t know yet if we have trackers today.  I’d better go find out so I can prepare.  Another AAT – not much fun for me unless it is another landout day, and nobody wants that.” Thanks Art and have a good trip to Szeged where he will be involved with ”weighing” again. By now he is so experienced that EVERYBODY wants him! Don’t know if they have a tracking system there otherwise we will hear him as well.

The briefing was “torture” for the tasksetter. He was whipped by a red hooded ” KKK-look-alike” as punishment for the ”bad” tasksetting/read;many outlandings; 97 in total.  [when you are interested please look at the pictures]. The organization shows humour as well, which is good. By the way my Australian friends think different then I do, here is what Mike thought about yesterday;
“There’s a rumour the guns want to cancel the day, I can’t see why, it was an interesting challenge and this is the worlds. “
If you are interested in his full story you can go, with permission as I asked first,  to the Australian site at; http://teamdingo.blogspot.com/

And then the last day of this 31st WGC is a fact  when the lines are open for all classes; world 12.35, club 13.06 and standard at 13.37!! What will it bring?! Who is back in 2 hours with the most kilometers on the ”clock”! Who flies far into the sectors? Some pilots yesterday went for distance while in the end coming home was more important! But that was yesterday !!!
I ”hear” that it looks not too bad with up to 3 m lift to 1800 m. That sounds great! Let it be a FAIR day, this last one! I believe only ONE team has filed a protest about yesterday, so all other TC’s talking for all their pilots must have been more or less happy with the lottery-day” .That means we readers at home should be happy too.
One of the pilots mentions that ” this looks like the best day till now and then only a 2 hour AAT”, but others think it looks better then it is. In 2 hours the first were back, no thunderstorms, maybe a later start might have been better??? Let’s wait and see.!

In standard class number 2 and 3 , Super Mario and Mighty Michael went on track at 12.56, while number 1 Super Sebastian left at 13.02.
 The German boys won in GRAND STYLE with a speed for Mario of  125 km/h!!!! Still not enough to win gold , but it is silver with a golden edge.
In club class  the number 1 Arndt [007],left at  13.24, with his German team mate Volker [BW3] while Austrian pilot Mario [MS]left  at 13.32 and German pilot Matthias [M4] at 13.32 as well. Mario won the day but with not enough points to win the title he remains a good 3d”.
Congratulations to the German team with their excellent performances for nearly all pilots. From the 9 competing pilots there were 6 within the first 10 and one on 15 and on  36 . Great result!!!! For sure they will win the World Team Cup as well. NO they did not…Poland past them with 48 points. Well done Poland!!

And then this ……….why the mixed feelings?
“keep gliding, keep smiling” was the message on the last briefing! And ..they are right. Of course we all do ……..maybe not Alexanders wife and family.
Mixed feelings…….Sad and good ones. First of all there was the accident with  Alexander, who leaves a wife and children , then baby-boy and ”future-junior-champ”  Fin , son from the proud parents Chrissy and Uli. Death and new born life in one competition. Though I know the organization was strong and good, they must be feeling a bit disappointed as well, it is NOT their fault that a pilots dies and it is not the first time either during a competition, it is not their fault that pilots sometimes fly aggressive to win and cause mid airs and nearly mid-airs, it is not their fault that a pilot ”jumps” over a fence and injures his back, but in the future history this 31 WGC will be remembered as well by what has happened. Also by the birth of Fin , not the first time this is happening either during a competition, as we had in the past Marina Galetto who received Chiara , was it on the last day in Bayreuth? and Inge Gantenbrink who got one of her children in Hobbs in New Mexico. And now I think of it we had in Bayreuth a fatal accident as well. An AKA-flieg pilot from Germany  during the practise in Bayreuth.

BUT…with a great day as today is it nice to finish a competition ”on a high”, with a big party and a great prize giving ceremony for winners who are just the best. Enjoy!!!! Pilots leave with, prizes, certificates,  new experiences and all kind of memories on this well organized 31WGC in Prievidza. Thank you Prievidza for giving us 12 days of good and interesting soaring! You see I quickly forget about the lottery day.

By the way at http://www.daec-segelflug.de/events/10/wmclubstd/news/100717.php you can see the red hooded torturer, a funny site of this competition and ……..newborn baby Fin. Congratulations Uli and Chrissie!!!! He is a beauty!!!

I enjoyed writing and analyzing and will continue to do it the same way if possible with my guests, when Szeged is on!!
 See you tomorrow Ritz