Benalla now and then !
The Opening from this WGC will be on Sunday the 8th. How was the openingceremony in 1987??
Here are some pictures from the event ….Enjoy!!
Team Germany.
With Klaus and Bruno upfront….and Ernst Gernot Peter [RIP] Holger Back, Werner Meuser, Erwin Sommer and Reinhard Schramme.
Team USA.
With the 5 pilots upfront behind the Stars and Stripes
With Doug Jacobs, John Bird, Herbie [Eric] Mozer, Michael Opitz and Ray Gimmey.
Argentina .
with Mr. Dettone and Mr. Rolf Hossinger.
Denmark .
With Stig Oeye upfront , and Jan Andersen in the middle. Behind them the Finnish team in their swift suits.
Belgium.
Henri behind the flag from his son and Paul Bourgard and more Stouffs.
The Netherlands.
Sorry not scanned very well, still learning, but these areDennis and Kees, Daan and Baer, George and Gipe, Gretha Musters and Gerrit Ritz and Inge
When I read back about day 3 in 1987 I noticed , that storms and tropical cyclones up N.influenced the first days,like this year. They created high cirrus, but that should disappear. So pilots decided to look how this cirrus would behave before starting.
More up North the direction they had to go to, conditions improved but only for st class as they had a flat triangle and could stay in the blue with good conditions.Open and 15 m. pilots met solid overcast!!
Still a speed of 122 km.h. over 438 km. in open class, for Bruno Gantenbrink [Germany] who won the day ahead of George Lee [Hong Kong]and Janusz Centka [Poland]
15 m. class had on day 3 the winner who would become WORLD CHAMPION in the end Brian Spreckley. With a speed of 107 km./h he flew over the 392 km. with Doug as runner up and Giorgio [Galetto] from Italy as number 3.
How would Giorgio fly this year???
Standard class went for 314 km. and Erwin Sommer flew fast with 109.5 km. p/h. Leonardo finished as number 5. What will his son Ricardo do now???
Brian in 1987!!Always relaxed, having a beer with his mates [I joined in many times with Kees and George as well as Herbie] in the evening and flying better every day!
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Back to Official practice day 2 on January 6.
First the skies and action from practice-day 1 as seen by Swiss Chris.
and the skies on day 2.Quite a difference is n’t it? So was the task.
Courtesy Swiss Chris.
Another EXCITING practice day. Hope this weather holds , during the REAL competition.
610 km. On the menu for the open class boys. All the way to the W and SW.
The South African brothers Oscar and Laurens, started at 2.08 , the German mates , Michael and Tassilo at 2.24. After the finish, 3 of them flew with a speed of 162 km./h. and Laurens as number 4 with 159.52. km./h. REAL good practice.
Bruce who was 11 th, mentioned in his blog:
“There were some good climbs around today. The averager was sitting on 13.5 knots as I arrived at cloudbase. We did about 615 km and the winning speed was 163. That is smoking! I was about 10 kph slower, but it was still good fun!”
In 18 m. with 3 VENTUS 3 T gliders , pilots had to go for 581.44 km. and we noticed 2 of those new “toys” on top; Boerje Ericson from Sweden [152.10 km./h.] and Wolfgang Janowitsch.[ 150.45 km./h.] An” old” VENTUS with Wolfgangs mate Andy was on 3.
The 3d VENTUS 3T, with UK pilot Steve Jones was on a shared spot 6. That opens perspective!!!
“Flew in beautiful Benalla conditions. The Ventus 3 performs very well and is a dream to fly.” Boerje.
In 15 m. a task of 496 k. was set and the French, Louis [ASG 29]and Guillaume, [Ventus 2ax] did a good job both with 138 km./h. Mac [Ventus 2a] was on 3 , he started late at 2.40 while most of the pilots started around 2.25.[147.82 km./h]
The French were happily AND comfortably waiting for their pilots .
With Eric Napoleon, TOP TC.
In all classes not all pilots were scored.
The whole area had superb weather. From both Tocumwal and Corowa a 1000 was flown and task setter Tobias flew himself as well and flew from Benalla, 887 in an LS 4 to proof his forecast, though he flew to the N- NW.
The 49 places from 50, on the OLC before the rest of the world added their flights, showed NO flight UNDER 500 km.!! So outstanding weather.
Ben Loxton a top young pilot flew from Raywood in a St. Cirrus 757 km.and Brian Du Rieu from Temora in his 18 m./LS 10 a distance from 944 km. Bernie Sizer in a PIK 20 b flew from Tocumwal 800 km. [874 FAI] and Rolf Buelter a nice 887 [854 FAI] in a Jantar 19m. The yearly Geelong Camp at Toc is very succesful!!!Good weather!!!
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More news tomorrow more pictures and practice-day 3.
Cheers Ritz