Post 1.473 on December 16 2023
VERY LAST POST! With many pictures as they say more than I can do in words.

With the 50 volunteers and a good team with Beryl as deputy CD and Michael as CD, I believe we can look back on a great WGC. The weather helped…., always important….. and the pilots were from an extraordinary class.AND,…very important a lot of them were very YOUNG!!! Good new CHAMPIONS who all 3 stood out.
The scores are correct and the president of the jury could close with a light heart, these comps.
It’s waiting now again for the Uvalde WGC in 2024.
I was there in 1991 [TC] and 2012 [editor for Soaring Cafe] and hopefully with “help” from friends I can write from home again to share with you in my [Ritz-] style all what’s going to happen there.

Here is Bruce on the last day with part of his Taylor’s Gliding Page:
“We’re finished! And what a show the Aussies put on! We have one world champion in the Club class, with James Nugent taking a very convincing win, and likely one of the youngest open world champions ever. We have a silver medal in the Standard class with Greg Beecroft flying his first world comps, and we have a bronze medal in the national teams award. All in all a fantastic result for our team. A huge thank you to our captain Miles Gore-Brown, and our coach Peter Temple. It was one of the most friendly and cohesive teams I have been a part of, which must surely have played a part in our success.“
More on the flying on the last day in his blog.

Here is Adam, who started celebrating early;
“No big deal, just hanging out here with Australia’s next senior World Gliding Champion!!! Congratulations James (& Daniel) on a truly outstanding performance. Hearing you two work on the radio was music to the ears, it’s of zero doubt why you’re now the current champ “

Last words from Adam on this event;
“Last flying day wrap up. Unfortunately Tobias & I lost a critical 100pts the day prior, but what this did for the final day, was to take the focus off us & our start time for one of the first times in the competition. We figured that the RSA/ITA, GER, POL & NED teams would be more concerned about each other, rather than us. This allowed Tobias & I to continue with our comp philosophy, start at the optimum time each day, work together, forget about the gaggle & let the results average themselves out. This is exactly what happened, the later starters came home in the dieing conditions..
Tobias & I had a strong start, thanks to the Americans marking the first good climbs for us. The blue seemed to work better for us than the CU on the first leg. Right at the bottom turn though, the conditions turned it on for us, classic racing sky.
Running North we slowly held back our climb expectations as we went back into the blue. Unfortunately we missed just one good climb to keep us high & out of trouble. I found myself separated from Tobias & had myself in a position that I was getting nervously low. Fortunately I kept a clear head & put all my energy into moving on & slowly getting up with the 18kt tailwind..
I managed to come home in the top of the mid-field speeds, those who were in the top top, sounds like they got a great climb to high or ran the convergence line well in the North – congratulations to these few, well played!”

Party time and a dinner followed and with so many young ones that must have been gone on through the night.

Prizegiving this morning under blue skies and hot conditions and here are the 37th WGC HEROES.

15 m. class;

Standard class;

Club class;

The German team won the TEAM CUP...well deserved. Here they are all young “blokes”

The Dutch team was runner up at the TEAM CUP. Here they are;

And the Aussies were 3d GOOD on THEM.

AND the 3 TC’s who inspired their pilots to great heights.

A great Aerobatic Display at the closing ceremony was cheered on by the crowd; https://paulbennetairshows.com.au/home

The VERY proud Aussies honored their 2 top pilots EXTRA; so they should.

On another note!
Today I turn 77!!! On my way, I hope, to 80! OLD yes INDEED!!!!
Looking back at my soaring life it started in March 1967 , 20 years old, when I saw a glider for the first time.
Had a flight, liked it, started flying lessons, got solo, had no feeling for orientation at all, stopped flying again , stayed in the soaring world and started all kind of jobs.
Crew, TC, steward, juror and editor at many big comps as WGC’s ,JWGC’s and WWGC’s.
VERY PROUD on the honor I got when unanimously was decided that I should receive the Pelagia Majewska medal for my service to gliding in 2015.
Had the pleasure of flying and hanging around with many interesting people, certainly when we were running for 10 years the Sportavia Soaring Center in Tocumwal. Huge job, but a very rewarding life style.
Now in 2023, the young ones in the family are slowly taking over. My daughter Inge was crew in Narromine and grand daughter Indya [20] TC for Luxembourg. That really pleased me,..3 generations now in our beloved sport.
AND,….I still could do my writing , but from home this time, a lot of work but with all social media it is possible, certainly when you have a lot of friends/mates who share their words with you.
I hope to add 2 more years of writing when hands and head keep going.
Thanks for your ongoing support in reading with so many the weekly blogs.
As always MY PLEASURE!

Time to celebrate now, AND Thank you for the many congratulations I got already now not even noon, so mostly from my 2d homeland.
Cu on the regular midweek blog on Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz