36th WGC for club, standard and 15m. class in Montlucon..France.
8 August 2021 – 20 August 2021

AUGUST 19 2021;
It seems the weather is good enough for small AAT’s.
Looking at the weather-briefing…..mmmmm?????
Hope they are not too optimistic again and have to go to B tasks …hence late starts and too many out-landings, as till now ,the days finished early.[ this time of the year and with the weird pretty dark weather from the last week[‘s].
Today they expect the day to finish around 6 PM.
The warning was again; finish ring is 5km at at 700 m. QNH
If below, penalty is 1 point per meter.
Caution; Inside finish ring ,very few fields are landable.

So on the last but one day we see task 10 for club [ flying day 8 out of 12 till now] and for standard and 15 m. [flying day 7.]
I REALLY hope for both the pilots/ crews and organizers for 2 TOP days!!!
At briefing 2 proud moments for team USA . They have n’t been too lucky till now , so a win for Daniel in club class and a spot 2 for Tim in 15 m. on task 9 was well deserved.

First expected launch today 13.30.
That did not happen…I heard a Frisbee game gave some waiting- joy! Lot’s of socializing around the gliders and waiting till 2PM for new possible launches.
They have got a B task already for when necessary; in each class 15 minutes less.
Grey and no sun, but it should improve, it will clear from the South…..so another difficult day is what Aude the weather- woman said.
Tomorrow should be much better she said as well….increasing temperatures and sunnier skies.
First launches at 14.45…..but the sniffer could not really stay up….he/she slowly got lower and lower….
It takes at least an hour to get everybody in the air, when the thermals indeed stop at 6 , a quick and good start is necessary.
Maybe if the clearance from the South,[ Aude forecasted that ], indeed arrived ,that would be great as sunset is at 18.52 UTC ,..20.52 local time.
Let’s see what happens?!

but later,…INDEED as promised sun and better circumstances. Cloud streets even, best day till now some said!

Club class; 2.15 AAT…B task 2 hour AAT....All preliminary scores are in and only 8 pilots were out from 36.
So a pretty nice late afternoon.
Tom from the UK won in his LS 7 with ONE point difference with Robin from Holland in LS 4;187.88 km in time 2.04 for 172.99 km. in time 2.01 [85.92 for 85.77 km./h]
They all started between 15.53 and 16.15. Both UK pilots Tom and G. started as last in the class. Tom won, G was 5th.[181 km. in time 2.09]
How does it look for tomorrow? Preliminary overall scores now.
1. Uwe 4.305…2. Thies 4.189….3. Stefan 4.160…4. Ferenc 4.094…5. Robin 4.090…6.Tom 4.023.
Some very close EVERYTHING/ANYTHING can still happen.
Only one really good 1000 points day in this class.

Standard class;2.30 AAT...B task 2.15 AAT....St class was the first to go on track. And they did , within 20 minutes they were all on their way.; departure times between 14.30 and 14.51.
AND,…only 2 pilots outlanded!!!!
The teams flew together and team Germany with Jan, Simon and Enrique flew 222 km in time 2.19 , [95 km./h] creating another joint number 1 place for Jan and Simon . Enrique missed out on ONE point.
The Dutch team flew together and Robbie [218 km] and Sjaak[210 km.] were 4 and 5; 92 and 89 km./h.
The Belgian team flew together and were 7 and 8; 2.15 and 212 km in time 2.27 [speed 86 and 87 km./h]
In between, on 6, all by himself Miloslav Cink from Czech. Rep with 223 km. in time 2.32. Not totally alone as team mate Pavel Louzecki was 9th…they started together too.
Danish pilot Filip was the last to finish [27] ,….he did so well in the beginning of the comps.
All these scores are preliminary but for tomorrow I give you already the differences overall.
1. Simon 4.355…2. Jan 4.248….3. Dennis 4.135…4. Jeremy 3.996…5. Enrique 3.931 …6. Norbert 3.924…7. Jeroen 3.907…8. Sjaak 3.875…
Flying together is fun and you help each other, BUT, you can both out land as well.
Scores are so close, we have to see what happens tomorrow.
Tactics…all or nothing…
Due to loosing 4 points for a too low finish there is NO 1000 points day in this class.

15m. class; 2 hour AAT...B task 1.45 AAT….One of the first messages I read before starting was “15 Meter Task We are very skeptical that we are going to get a day in.”
That was too negative. They were the last to go on track and they have the most out landings ;13 from 28 finished!
KAWA -day again with 187.68 km in time 1.49 he was the best. Team Belgian did well here too with a 2d [Manu] and a 4th place Daan.
Start times between 16.12 and 16.20. The last to start was Matthew , he flew 161 km. but could not finish. Mind you ONLY 8 minutes difference in start time, so that could not be the reason. We will surely hear about his flight.

To keep in mind for tomorrow…the overall scores now…
1. Sebastian with 4.163…2. Ricky with 4.091….3. Lucasz 4.008…4. Karel 3.959….5. Matthew 3.944…6. Hadriaan with 3.929 points
all still potential top 3!!
Till now only 1 x a 1000 points day. in 15 m. Hopefully one tomorrow.

Quote of the day; “At last something that was a bit closer to a racing day.“
Back tomorrow with the last day!!!!

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C.C.R. in Rieti.
15 August 2021 – 22 August 2021

The Coppa [Citta de Rieti] had a rest day due to bad weather… “Thunderstorms are forecast on the Terminillo, Rieti Valley, Velino, L’Aquila, the entire southern area of ​​the race field.”
But on Thursday it was back to flying again , task 4, after Aldo had explained in briefing what the criteria were for infringing the firefighting exclusion zone . [Rules of the Air]. On task 2 several pilots did so.

Group 2 got a 402.97 km. set task. Most starts after 2PM. Speedy day with up to 150 km./h.[EB 29DR]
20 from 22 finished. The Bouderliques won the day in their ARCUS M; 148.29 km./h. Alberto in the ARCUS T was runner up with his mate [143.59 km./h] and Jon Gatfield 3d in his AS 33es./18 m.;146 km./h.
3 days to go. I follow them for you.

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In Poland the OSTROW GLIDE 2021 started on August 18 parallel with the Polish National Championship for JUNIORS.

Poland always had, through the years , great glider pilots. They still have!!!!
So it’s interesting to see that so many young ones participate in this junior championship!
In Club class I counted 12 and in standard 19.
In standard, they started yesterday , also with NOT the best weather, but ONE junior Filip Durda, flew the 1.45 AAT in time 1.51 and he flew 135 km. GOOD ON HIM!!!
4 Others flew over 100 km. so a valid day, hard work for nearly no points [81] but a satisfying day.
Most pilots in this class fly a Jantar.
In Club most gliders are juniors. They had a 1.30 AAT , but not enough kilometers [15 was the best, but they tried!!] were flown for a valid day.

They did not fly today in Ostrów Wielkopolski Michałków in Poland.
I keep an eye on it for you.

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CU tomorrow for the last day of the WGC in Montlucon…I really hope for an excellent day, we get better weather here too, but our best day here will be on Saturday.
Don’t let that happen there!!!As so often,… the best weather at prize giving!!!
But what can you do, it is as it is!
I truly hope Aude is right.
Cheers Ritz