Post 1.467 on December 11 2023

“Today, Monday December 11th CD does not believe there is a viable and safe task option due to the ongoing heat wave. No flying today but team will be busy preparing for International Night tonight.”
As shared by team USA US Soaring Teams

Also smoke from the fires ,not that far away create hazy circumstances so that a good visibility could not be guaranteed, might be a reason. Temperatures however dropped from 42 to 37!!!
The messages from CD Michael Durrant

YESTERDAY’S OUTLANDINGS!!
It was a tough day yesterday specially for the club class pilots. Most of all I think for Thies ,as he had to withdrawn from the comps, but also for 8 other pilots who had to land “out”.
Landing options are not difficult down under, as paddocks are HUGE, but still you want to fly “home”.
Look at what field Tony landed in.

Another great paddock to land in , was found by Michael from N Z. He had such good practice in Australia earlier , won nearly every day and now he was just “out”. Such a pity!!!
“I flew the farthest distance in my class today, I was ripping up the sky for speed but I didn’t get home.Bollocks!A local fella passed by and when I asked where I was he proudly said I was ‘ miles from *#%?! everywhere!”
446 km!!!!!! for 517 points.
Diana was IN but the upload of her task created problems again hence no score yesterday for her. She was the last finisher [555 p] and Michael the first out-lander on the list.

All in all there were 8 out-landings in club, 4 in standard and unfortunately Simon was among them too …dropping overall from 3 to 8,…SAD and in 15 m only 1.

NO BRIEFING TODAY!!! So no pictures of daily winners. Tomorrow!

—–Nice ,interesting and honest but critical 8 minute interview with many-times-world-champion Sebastian Kawa with Sean Young on World Gliding Championship 2023

—–Adams view on the day was late so here it is for those who always read his stories
“Another pearla of a day, well, half of it was, plus the results, a second overall! The other half was crazy hot weather, blue & not so certain at the end of the day – but Tobias & I played our cards right & caught another podium” more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

—–Preparations for the NIGHT are in full swing .
A Dutch delicacy is a Tompouce. Orange glaze over cake with vanilla pudding in it. YAMMIE. Aussies call it vanilla slice.

——Danish Gliding Team is preparing their Danish delicatessens as well.

More about the NIGHT of NIGHTS later !!.

Last but not least VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE; The super crew on the finishing runway.

CU later Ritz

UPDATED!!!!

They are TOO busy celebrating, eating ,drinking and talking…good way of socializing. So they should,..pictures tomorrow then. Here is already 1.

About the social part of our sport during word comps.
—–Here is; François Delfosse from team Belgium flying in 15 m class with Manu Litt.
At this moment Francois is on spot 12 overall and Manu on 19.
“Today is a rest day, so I have some time to give a quick update!
The start was a very nice flight under cumuli, flying to the south/west part with strong conditions. Going back to the North was challenging (blue, weak thermals, dumping water…). But the pair with Manu worked well, we could help each other out in turns:-). On the last leg we could use a nice confluence, unfortunately only for 20km…
But, what truly makes these flights possible is the incredible support I receive on the ground. A huge shoutout to Grant, who has been my wingman throughout the week. His dedication and unparalleled sense of service are the wind beneath my wings.
Also, a special thanks to Arnie [ Hartley a great guy and very technical specially with radio’s] and Grant for helping me fix my brake today – teamwork makes the dream work!”

—–Also the help after the incident with the ASW 20 by a broken tow-bar and gusting wind created help from every site. Even Uys was ready to repair whatever he could do. Pilots/crews/ organizers helped with ideas to even fly- in- parts or tried to find another ASW 20, but time ran out.
The solidarity between all people from 21 different countries is HUGE, that’s why I/we still like soaring so much.

Some pictures and stories I found on the net;

—–Talking about the German team, I was worried about Simon [Schroeder] yesterday. He landed at 7 , just before he could start the last leg. He decided to fly further in the first sector than his mates and had to fly the rest of the flight by himself. He had to fight nose- wind there were no clouds anymore and no lift. The German team had to go for their first retrieve, as an aero-tow retrieve was not possible.
A special event for them. Luckily Simon found a paddock with a farm and even more important one with a net to reach his mates . That’s if you go more inland important, as not every farm has that.
The crew left at 8 PM with the co-ordinates. It took them an hour over dark and lonely roads to be at the spot about 90 km out. Not too bad!
After arrival they noticed that the brakes of the trailer were hot. BUT,..they could still use it.
Whilst emptying the cockpit a little animal had hided at the wheel of the glider, they carefully helped him/her to leave. Then the de-rigging was easy.
It took them 3 hours to drive back, being extra careful for the brakes on the trailer.
Back at the field it was 1 in the morning, but the good news was NO BRIEFING and NO TASK for the next day.
These are parts of a translation from the in German written blog by Franziska Pawel. I like her style of writing, to the point and witty.
https://segelflug.aero/blog4/author/wmsc152023/?fbclid=IwAR2gRnOmNGaFCtWyA1avwECeblOJqeBsvYKQ0a-QKEXNKm2iVoCV-w9DEac

——-To finish here is Adam:
“The international night was a great success with really nice atmosphere & cheer surrounding one & all I have to start this post with a huge thank you to Allan & Katie Barnes, who took charge & came down from Keepit to help us. Massive thanks to my parents & all the other helpers to make this a fabulous night I was particularly excited & proud to serve my friends Kangaroo, which it’s been one of my dreams since my first Junior World’s in 2005!
Time for bed now, tomorrow should be another days racing“

—–Several teams are sharing their goodies;

CU tomorrow ONLY 4 days to go.
Ritz

Post 1.466 on December 10 2023

Good morning, 9 AM here, Good evening 7PM there.
I slept in and good I did, as most scores are not yet available. Pilots still fly AND they have BIG tasks again.
Time to surf the web for interesting news and all about the prize winners from task 6 yesterday.
Here are today’s tasks and again long ones with 15 m. upfront, with a 4 hour AAT, club behind them with a 3.30 AAT and last but not least standard with 3.15 AAT.

Emotions from yesterday are under control again. Thies flew brave in the for him unknown St Cirrus , but was out after 403 km. Great effort!!!!He landed on a “strip” and could be retrieved by aero- tow.

Briefing with yesterday’s daily winners and I found one with all on in.

TODAY’s soaring!!!!
15 m; 4 hour AAT….at this stage not all are scored [ missing 2 ]but the last pilot’s who were scored finished just before 7PM among them the French,ouch and then the air is not good for spectacular lift anymore as you know.
So I carefully write down what the preliminary scores are.
Yves Gerster from Switzerland, a new face for the top position and for sure NOT a new face in competition soaring. Yves flew 505.84 km in time 4.18 so a speed of 117.59 km./h.
He was followed by Adam..my Aussie mates are in a great flow right now…with 500.62 km an a speed of 419.57 km./h.
20 started as I see now , 2 are out of the race and 1 not counted for yet.
With 5 days to go S.A pilot Uys still leads the class, ahead of Henrik and Steffen from Germany.
UPDATED: All pilots who started are counted for. AP from SA and Zoltan from Hungary are out of the competition.
Nobody reached 700 km , but the 506 km. from Yves was combined with his time , indeed the best result. 1000 points for him!

standard class; 3.15 AAT and…..more pilots have found the good rhythm and are in a good flow. 2d Win for Polish pilot Lukasz Blaszczyk. Good to read he “felt” for his club class mate Thies, who’s glider unfortunately was damaged and touched the car and a runway light. He must have seen it.
Though 5 are not counted for yet. Among them Simon from Germany.
Unfortunately Mac is out.
UPDATED; Well,…Good old Tomasz Rubaj was number 1 today. Good on him!!! So Lucasz was runner up. No 2d daily wind but he only lost only 32 points. Tomasz flew 447 km in time 3.56 with a speed of 113.68 km./h gaining 1000 points!!
Simon [Germany] is still not scored, so I worry about him.
A tough day for Bruce , so I had to wait long [no worries] for his daily report. Bruce was IN but on spot 17, the last finisher in his class.
Here is Bruce ;” Today was tough again, a flight of three parts for me. The forecast was for another strong day, but a shorter window and slightly lower heights.
The first part was really fast down to the South-West with a tailwind and scattered cu beginning to appear. Three very strong climbs meant we arrived there with a really high speed. We turned that area on another good climb feeling pretty pleased with our progress… That was the end of the first part.”
“Changing direction is always interesting, as it sometimes takes a little time to figure exactly where the lift is when you are approaching the clouds from a different direction. Well, it certainly was today, as I lead Greg into the heaviest run of sink you could imagine. In no time at all we had lost all our hard-earned height, we flew over a glider parked in a paddock, and shortly afterwards we were really low and in trouble. For me the next 45 minutes was atrocious, three times below 1,000 feet above ground, initially not a house to be seen, and I was just stuck low. The ratty little climbs would not push up through about 15-1600 feet AGL and I was going nowhere in the headwind. Finally I got a stronger bubble that punched through this layer and kept going up to about 5,000 feet. By now the late-starting gaggle had caught me, and that was the end of the second stage.”
“Amongst the crowd things actually went much better. Not because they were giving much help, but because I managed to stay in front and find a few nice climbs. From there it was a long steady grind back home, with the only bright spot being a lovely convergence line which carried us home after we’d been watching it in the distance for more than 100km.” Taylor’s Gliding Page
With 5 days to go the overall scores look like this;
1.Tom Arscott with 6,525 p, 2. Lukasz Blaszczyk with 6,275 p and 3. Sjaak Selen with 6,155 points.
By the way Tom flies the LS 8 from Andy and his wife Claire;
” Huge thanks to Claire Scutter and Andy Maddocks (Maddog Composites) for their generosity in lending Tom their LS8, Cobra trailer and car for the competition!”

club class; 3.30 AAT....it looks like a great flight for James again; 429.70 km in time 3.53.50 so a speed of 110.26 km./h. Most pilots needed 4 hours but some , like former hang glider pilot Tomas Suchanek, flew 444.70 km.
2 are already out and 6 not counted for yet and Thies had to withdraw from the comps.
UPDATED;
The club class is hit again by several out-landings. I feel for them in the heat and terrible dust and what I heard the smell from bush fires about 200 k NE of the field. You can even see them in the evening.
7 Are not yet counted for.
Tony [ so no story yet] is out, so 3 outlandings by now.
So,…with 5 days to go and Thies out of the race the overall scores at this stage are :
1. James Nugent with 6,614 p. 2. Uwe Wahlig with 6,442 p and 3. Tim Milner with 6,403 points.

About the very unlucky pilot Thies; Club class pilot Thies told his story this morning and though EVERYBODY helped out ,the glider could not be repaired in time ,so he is out of the comps. He told, that the TOW BAR broke off whilst he drove his ASW 20 backwards and the glider is damaged on 3 spots [ailerons, flap and something at the fuselage] by a runway light and the car .In the end it was beyond repair and he had to withdraw. SUCH A PITY!!!!

Other news about the comps;
—-the snakes …. Teresa {Toivonen from Sweden] mentioned on FB a situation in Benalla. We were both there then in 1987
“Make sure it doesn’t get in to a glider.., that happened in Benalla, luckily the pilot was a farmer from Texas so he knew how to handle the situation…in the air...”
Indeed also IN a hangar , a snake can crawl in through the wheel doors.
—– great picture by one of the pilots from the Czech Rep.

—-At Gliding Australia you can hear every day what the winning pilots from the day before, have to say. Sean Young from Gliding Australia does the interviews

It’s 12.30 my time now, . With a last check on all the scores, 2 remain out in standard class , Simon and Paul [UK] and no big differences since earlier in club. 5 Are out and 4 not counted for/scored.

CU tomorrow for the beginning of the last 5 days with a farewell dinner on December 15 and the prize giving on December 16, with a spectacular Aerobatic display by Paul Bennet. Not long ago they were in Tocumwal as well. GREAT SHOW, I heard!!!!!

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.465 on December 9 2023

Started straight away at 8 AM, my time with the tasks, 546.93 km for 15 m, 545.62 km for standard and the clubbies go for 470.46 km. with as you can see, Club Class heading North and Standard/15M heading South.
Whilst writing here , those who have not finished yet …club class….I catch later.

I was wondering about Diana’s logger this night. Could they read it out. YES…to my pleasure they did, she was 22d [from 30] for the day, so her feeling that she had a good day was absolutely correct.
More morning news as 1 of the Dutch gliders , the one from Thies got damaged during ground transport due to the tough wind and with all help from everybody it was not possible to have it ready for flying. So Diana who has less to loose to not fly on a day, gave her glider to Thies [on spot 2 overall with only 1 point behind] and she stayed “home” .Great gesture. Not easy for Thies either to continue ,hopefully for 1 day in another to be honest less good but pretty looking glider.

There is more on briefing than just announce the prize winners.

TODAY in NARROMINE: big tasks, first on the Dutch news for me this morning was “Heat wave in Sydney”, so for sure more inland as Narromine is , there as well.
Racing tasks in all 3 classes;
15 m; 546.93 km….the first 17 received between 900 and 1000 points. With 3 not counted for and 1 out of the comps, the winner is ADAM. He and Toby started at 13.48 and in 3 hours 36 minutes they “were ready”;151 km./h for 1000 and 998 points. Dutch pilots Erik and Jeroen started later at 13.54 but nearly were as fast for 995 and 986 points.
Here is HAPPY CHAPPIE Adam;”Adam; “Waaaaa-hooooo! Finally some classic Australian weather, we can all rest easy now, I hope this day will stick in the memories of the STD & 15m pilots at least” much more on
Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

standard class;545.62 km….Lukasz Blaszczyk from Poland won with 151,71 on the “clock” only just as Tom was runner up with 150.67 km./h . Sjaak ,with the top-rope- runner, was 4th just behind Lithuanian pilot Joris. And good to see Bruce was full of spirit again ..he was 5th for the day!
Not a good day for Mac being last for now with 1 pilot not counted for. Still 134.83 km./h!!!
USA pilot Tom ended up in the end as last with 133.51 km./h.
Bruce recovered greatly from yesterday’s early out landing and here he is;
“What a day of racing we had today! The forecast said it was going to be booming, and the weather matched the forecast perfectly, at least in the area we flew. Initially we were set a 600km racing task to the south and north-west, but that was dropped back a little to 550km due to the strong winds. If it hadn’t been for the wind our speeds would have been crazy fast, but what fun it was anyway! Huge climbs and very fast glides, the photo shows the sky and the numbers on my panel. Cloudbase was well over 13,000 feet, climbs were up to 13 knots, and cruise speeds in our little Standard class gliders were a steady 110 knots (200 kph) or more.
I managed 147kph which was good enough for 5th place today… just a whisker more satisfying than yesterday“

Club class;  470.46 km…..only 9 are in at the moment and 2 already out. They were launched as the last ones. AND,…had to fly in less good weather circumstances.
So we continue but not all are counted for yet.
There are winners however ;James who won with a speed of 114.37. Adam called him in the past when they were both much younger his “right-wing-man”.
I expected a lot from him, but I am VERY careful now. You can fly good, but when disaster strikes at the ground by wind, as with Thies, hope might be gone.
He out landed today and of course Diana is not scored as she gave her glider to Thies.
I am distressed!
Going from one to another moment, from an ASW 20L in which you flew so well, you have to really get used to a St. Cirrus ,with different instruments.
Here is Tony about flying in their class:
“Task was about 500 km to the north. Wind was strong. Forecast is good for cu all over the area and convergence lines galore.
At briefing there was discussion about landing out in the sparsely populated task area. It was mentioned that we could survive three days without water!!
Launch was delayed and we went to task B which was merely 470km. We went to the north where the sky was mostly blue while the other classes romped in the cu field to the south.
There was one great line of cu that bisected the second and third legs which we out to good use. A long glide through the blue, a thermal over the turn point. Then another line of clouds to cross before getting to final glide in the blue.
We had a bubbly run to the finish and made it just above the minimum height. All good, a very nice day, again, of flying with Mike.” Tony was 12 th today and Mike 11th.

All in all the Aussies had a real good day with in 15 m Adam and Toby on 1 and 2, “ Thanks for another great flight Tobias, let’s do it again tomorrow“, in Standard Bruce on 5 and Greg on 13 and James in Club on 1 and Daniel on 9.
Also the Netherlands did well, with a 3 and 4 in 15 m and 4 in standard. Roelof was 13th in club and for Club is a “sad” day. Thies is not scored yet after he out-landed.
I am not writing as an official editor, just as Ritz in my ow blog, so I am allowed to show emotions .

Some other news;
A nice picture from team Denmark today!!!

AND, the brown snake is still “happily” crawling around and close to Adams hangar. BE CAREFUL! They are MEAN!!!

On the rest-day some of the crews were allowed to fly. Also members from the Dutch team and they shared these pictures from the airfield.,

Others went to Wellington, as the German team did ,about an hour driving, to a cave where it was nice cool.

The French team used to warm/hot weather at home as well, feel the difference.
Whilst Santa Claus visited families the French ones too, they mentioned that it was 43 drg.C and that when the convection was on its max the cloud base could be at 4400 m.
About their day:”Pour le camp Français, du “moyen ,du bon et du très bon“.” Results average, good and very good!

Our Belgian mates had a good day as well;
“Today we had the first real Australian weather with high speeds in all classes. Dennis started and landed first and really enjoyed his day all though some other pilots were faster. Francois had a great day and ended 6th today!” Dennis was 9th for the day.

Enough writing now.
Still no news about Thies , so I might be back later.
It is 10PM in Narromine now. Time to be back from a retrieve. Hope George and Diana went with them as they know how to de-rig the glider.
You can be VERY GOOD, your glider might BE VERY GOOD, the team is PERFECT, but unforeseen circumstances can change dreams also on a WGC, not the first time this happens.
I know all about it, but it still has a huge impact on me , but even more to those involved!!!!

Cheers Ritz
Do girls TOW!!! Yes OF COURSE……. they are good tuggies , as I know from close by with Inge and Diana.
Here is one of the girls in Narromine.

Post 1.464 on December 8 2023

GOOD morning, Good evening! It looks like another day in hot paradise.

Here is Bruce about yesterday’s “day off”;
“Today’s competition task would be cancelled, we knew that last night. We were all slightly sad, but I was told tonight that we needed to have a rest day on one of the next three days, and today seemed to be the best (or more accurately… the worst) option. It was hot, as hot as hell, but the forecast storms never eventuated here. We did some socialising, some resting, some bill-paying and shopping, and now we are waiting for the sun to come up so we can go flying again.”
Matthew from Sky Sight added:
“Having a rest day on one of the next three days is an *Australian Nationals* rule. There is no such rule in the IGC rules.“

Briefing at 10;

The winners from day 4 were presented and cheered on during briefing , ALL 3 very happy chappies;
Club class Rasmus from Denmark.

Winner in Standard class; Simon Schroeder. from Germany.

And the winner from 15m. Uys from South Africa.

Today’s soaring …..Most scores are ready now for the classes ,so I start straight away.
They got a B task, so a delay in launching from 12.30 till 13.00. same tasks but 15 minutes shorter.
Day 6 task 5;
15m; 2.45 AAT...YES, that’s what you can expect, when you combine flying from 2 aces , you get great results and that’s what I saw over the last days. They needed some practice on the first 3 day’s but now it works.
Uys and Ricky combined their efforts in their JS 3’s and won the day; 335 km with a speed of 110.58 km./h for Uys and 333.41 km with a speed of 110. 37 for Ricky.
2d day in a row with rest in between.
4 Points difference in points.
5 Pilots started at the same time , 14.51 . Phil from the UK was 3d with 110.18 km./h.
4 Ventus gliders in the top 6, with also the German pilots Steffen and Henrik and Aussie Adam, who started at 14.40.
2 out 1 and 2 not yet counted for.

Standard; 3 hour AAT...I was waiting for good results from team UK and here they are; Tom and Paul were 1 and 2, started at the same time but Tom flew 325.88 km whilst Paul flew 315.33 km.
Tom won with a speed of 106.55 km./h . They fly LS 8 so do the 2 German pilots on 3 and 4, Enrique and Simon. Simon was just under the 100 km.h range.
Weird day as some good pilots did n’t do so well.
Mac was just in ;83.88 km./h but 4 were out and 2 not yet counted for.
The Czechs , I know Pavel and Miloslav are GOOD, were out.
One of them also Bruce after 98 km., who was pretty sad;”Well, it’s just mid-afternoon here, and the field is (mostly) still out racing on what should turn out to be a reasonable day. However, my day is done. High overcast made things uncertain, and being me we left before the crowd. Greg and I became separated, and after a few very scratchy low spots… this happened…”
Ouch,……POOR BRUCE!!!!!

Club; 3.15 AAT... Jacek Flis from Poland flew 332.61 km with a speed of 99.44 km./h. and that was the best daily result; 1000 points. He moved up from 13 to 7 overall.
Scores are VERY close so a lot can still happen.
The runner up Dutch pilot Roelof flew 322.35 km but was much slower; 90.04 km./h.
between the number 1 and 10 is a difference from nearly 250 points.
From 30 1 is out at this stage and 2 are not counted for yet.

Will be back later with updates. Breakfast first.

UPDATES:
Back on track with some news written by the pilots who finished their task and still felt like writing.
15 m.…Adam ; some parts of his blog more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
“Another big day in the skies & a hot one on the ground, 42°c at its peak.“
“Tobias & I picked our overall time right, as a few things were evident. On task, heavy shadow & locally, not going to the heights we wanted. So a 15min delay ensued to start upwind, with sun on the ground ahead & as much altitude as we could muster with the big pre-start gaggles blocking the extra height that we’d all want.”
“We had a great first few climbs & were soon joined by the French. Clearly it was a good idea to have company today. Both teams took their turn in leading out, which worked nicely.“
“The French went on a bit further hoping for a low downwind climb, but it appears that they never got it & rather, the shadow of the upper level cloud caught them out.”
“Unfortunately Tobias missed one bubble.“
Kevin and Christophe [Fr] finished on spot 7 and 10.

Club by Tony;
“No photos today. Too busy flying low.“
“The forecast was for like 12 k, cu and possibly storms shutting down the day early. Instead we got mid level clouds slowing the start, blue climbs from 1500 to 5000 agl, and a lot of working trying to stay mostly into the sunshine.
The only place the sun was shining was to the north where the ground is naturally wet and where it actually rained last night. Joy.”
“The finish altitude was set high and the ring was 10km because of concern about storms. Instead the issue was that a lot of the last leg was in shadow and the day was dying anyway. We found a few weak climbs to limp over the line just at minimum. Several others finished low. There was no trouble making it to the airport.
In the end we’re exhausted and very happy with today’s result.”
Also in club class; Diana [Lux] was very pleased with her flight as well. A St.Cirrus is from another level than an ASW 20, but she finished and felt good about the flight. It was very windy and the forecast was less than the forecast.
Only problem now is that the upload from her flight creates problems. Hence no scores for her yet. BUT,…they work on it.

My Dutch mates shared, that there are a lot of problems with punctures in tail-wheel -tyres and even from wing walkers. In Tocumwal we called them “bindies” and they are a pest, also for the bicycle and even bindie-proof tyre’s don’t help then. Even in a big town as Dubbo they are sold out. Also water bottles are a problem. Those towns are not prepared for such a huge influx of people.
Certainly not when it is BLOODY HOT!!!!

Thanks Team Australia Team Captain Miles Gore-Brown for photos of last night’s Narromine World Gliding Championships mayoral reception held at Soul Food;

More High Sophisticated news;
Netherlands Embassy and Consulate General in Australia welcomed the Dutch glider pilots who participate in this 37th WGC. They had some beautiful words about our sport.
“Gliding is an exciting, beautiful, and serene sport that takes place in the sky. The modern glider is an advanced, extremely aerodynamic, engine-free aircraft that can reach heights of over 10,000 meters and travel at speeds close to 300 kph. In the spirit of sustainability, the gliders exemplify eco-friendly aviation, with no reliance on traditional engines, leaving behind a minimal carbon footprint. The World Gliding Championships provide a unique platform to appreciate the beauty of flight while promoting a commitment to sustainable practices in aviation.” Dutch Gliding Team

The best 3 in the OVERALL scores after 5 days in
15m. and VERY close
1. Sebastian Kawa from Poland in Diana 2; 4,792 p.
2. Steffen Goettler from Germany in Ventus 2ax ; 4,790 p.
3. Uys Jonker from South Africa in JS 3 ; 4.786 p.

Standard class;
1. Tom Arscott from the UK in LS8; 4,602 p.
2. Simon Schröder from Germany in LS 8 NEO; 4,442 p.
3. Sjaak Selen from The Netherlands in Discus 2a ; 4,432

Club class; very close as well.
1.  James Nugent from Australia in LS3; 4,623 p.
2.  Thies Bruins from The Netherlands in ASW 20 L; 4,621 p
3. Uwe Wahlig from Germany in LS3; 4,584 p
4. Tim Milner from the UK in LS3 ; 4,544 p.
5.  Stefan Langer from Germany in LS3; 4,536 p
6. Adrien Henry from France in ASW 20; 4,525 p.

———————————————————–

The Argentinian Nationals for 15 m and standard class with 60 pilot ‘s [there was a third SENIOR class as well] , between 27 November 2023 – 8 December 2023 , are over.
On December 7 , which turned out their last day, they had in standard class a 4 hour AAT in 15 m. [24 pilots] and they flew 5 out of 11 days.
Nicolas Verdura won 3 days in his LS 4!!! He clearly is the winner with 4.098 points
Dino Ghioni was runner up with 3.960 points.

In 15 m. 2 young men are flying in these Nationals. I met them at WGC’s in the past, real nice fellows and I still have some FB contact with, Damian and Lucas Goldenzweig. I follow their flying for years on internet.
They have had 5 days and yesterday they had a 3.30 AAT with Felipe Girado and Martin Bossart both on spot 1 for 1000 points whilst Alejandro Hernandez missed out on ONE point.
Lucas finished on spot 5 overall and Damian on spot 14 from 32.
He and his brother were both out on task 6 ,and whilst they both started at 15.35 on task 4, Lucas was 3d for the day and Damian was out….that cost!
Task 1 had a 3 hour AAT flown by both but Damian finished on spot 16 and Lucas on 20.
Mostly ASW 20’s in this class and at this stage the leader is Manuel Darrain with 3.538 points. That’s only 8 more than Sebastian Luengo. Excitement and possibilities enough on the last day!
The last day was flown a tad better by Manuel. Difference in points; 994 for 991
So the new 15 m. champion is; Manuel with 4,532p
Runner up; Sebastian with 4,521. Both fly ASW 20.

Nowadays the Goldenzweig-children are going to the airfield as well. AND,…they keep their selves busy on non flying days!!!

Post 1.463 on December 7 2023

Good morning dear readers here AND good evening dear readers down under.
We wake up with 0 dgr. C, fog and slippery roads and here in The Netherlands a morning traffic jam from 800 km. . In Australia it is HOT!!!
But for the afternoon the forecast was for rain and thunder storms.

Yesterday I got the message that today would be a rest day, so I slept in this morning. After 3 good practice days and 4 top competition days, a wise decision.

Enough to do in and around Narromine and after so many busy days some domestic things have to be done too. I noticed already trips to the pool and the huge TELESCOPE in Parkes, also called the the “DISH” and Leah was so kind to take a picture from the sign out side.
I passed it many times , but there was never time to visit it. It’s on the road from Narromine to Tocumwal. Nearly 400 km driving by car.
From Narromine to Parkes is about 100 km.

Gliding Australia shared this message which is very true!

After 4 good flying days it is young James from Australia who leads the overall scores.[3.856 p]
The margins are very small as Stefan from Germany only misses out on 10 points at this stage. Only 8 points behind Stefan is our Dutch pilot Thies and 8 points behind him is French pilot Hugo.

In standard class Mac leads the class after 4 days, with 3.714 points, followed by “our” Sjaak, with 3.651 points and Aussie Greg is on 3. UK pilot Tom misses only out on 23 points on Greg.

In 15 m class it is Sebastian who leads after 4 days with 3.821 points followed by German pilot Steffen 3.808 p and Uys from S.A. with 3.786 p with close behind him German pilot Henrik with 3.782 points.
Never underestimate the German team…they are so well organized and have good pilots.

Looking forward to the rest of the comps.
Off for breakfast, maybe back later to surf the web and share what the pilots have done.

CU later.

12 at noon.
Checking the sites I noticed that everybody seems to be happy. Some keep today, their media updated with news they could not share when they were busy, others as some crews flew around over Narromine with Aussie pilots as Bernie.
More went for a swim and others fiddled around their gliders/instruments.

WGC2023 Day 4 as seen by British Gliding Team
“A very interesting day of weather, with climbs up to 13,000ft under blue and cumulus with some rain on final glide to keep things interesting!
Tomorrow has been declared a rest day due to a chance of rain in the afternoon, exactly like today. Can’t blame them as the terrible forecast of 12,000ft 6kt+ climbs and a 500km PFD before the sprinkling of rain would be enough to dissuade even the most hardy of pilots.“
I love their sense of humor!!!! Every year again.

I shared pictures and text from Leah and Tony from team USA….. here is a picture from them so you know also who they are.
I met Tony in 2012 in Uvalde, but I never met Leah, but looking at the pictures she is an “open book?
Lovely people.

Jerolamo Radman from team France takes great pictures. Here is one from pilot Kevin and crew .The lady, her names seems to be Monique, I met in Lake Keepit.

He made a series of 3 pictures from my daughter Inge as well. Great pictures!

CU tomorrow again, after fog there is sunshine now ,time to go outside and stretch my legs.

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.462 on December 6 2023

About yesterday and last night;
After a day with out- landings another day ,now even one with wave. The weather spoils the pilots.
Adventures for the crews on retrieve, in fact you should have done that once during a competition. It’s part of the fun!
The crews on retrieve had good and bad news. They loved” the skies full of stars” [COLDPLAY] , as there is around big paddocks not a lot of light from towns and no pollution.So very clear skies, I always loved them.
Less news was that one of the crews hit a kangaroo but all was more or less OK. ..a dent in the bumper of the car.
My family “found” flooding en route, so had a detour of 60 km!!!
But they found the glider as well. A farmer[in red] helped them .
I heard they were all happy with the explanation about the route and maps, they got from the organizers. GOOD!!!

About the daily winners from yesterday racing day 3;

About today;
December 6 task 4 on day 4;
15 m; 544.51 km…..best speed by Sebastian, but he had a “fight with his PEV” and lost points; His speed was 149.25 km./h!!
The winner from SA, Uys flew around with 147.55/h. The same as Ricky [Italy] , both started and finished about the same time.
26 now in this class and 2 were out .
All preliminary of course.
Adam; “Another good day in the skies over Narromine, though I did feel we left about 10 min too early. Why? At the time of starting, I didn’t feel that the thermals had enough definition in them & they lacked feel. We also were about 6km in front of the line, a bit too far to judge for the perfect start while using the PEV system. Having said that, there are those who started later & had a miserable time, & those that had a winning time! So who really knows. For me, it put a lot of pressure on the first climb, which only came after many failed tries. Finally we cracked the first 7kt climb & we were off for the rest of the day“
‘ much more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

standard class; 422.21 km….Also in this class new faces at the podium. Simon Schroeder from Germany was the best in his LS 8, 128.40 km./h , followed by Philip Jonker …it stays in the family….with 126.05 km./h.
Mac was 3d and leads the overall scores after 4 days. Good on him.
All 22 started and 2 were out.
Bruce; “This is a tough game, this WGC thing. Today was meant to be huge, and quite simply, it wasn’t. The weather window was meant to be short, but lift was forecast to go to 12-13,000 feet during that period. The problem was that our task took us south outside the cumulus field, and by the time we dribbled around in the blue at much lower altitudes and finally turned under the cu, they were dying and starting to produce virga.” much more on Taylor’s Gliding Page with pictures about cu’s which were n’t cu’s, but also with this beautiful lenticularis !

club class;  3:30 AAT….won by RASMUS.[Denmark] 122.15 km./h over 436.44 km ! Followed by “our” Dutch Thies ;119.28 km./h.
Quite a lot of low finishes in this class.
All 30 started and 3 were out.
After 4 days young Aussie James Nugent is on 1 overall .
Jens Trabolt , the Executive Editor of NORDIC GLIDING & AVIATION MAGAZINE , mentioned :
“Flot, flot! (Det er virkelig syret at følge et VM på den anden side af jorden her fra DK – man åbner computeren om morgenen med nyheden om, at der er blevet fløjet konkurrencer i nattens løb. Godt, at du kunne holde dig vågen Rasmus Ørskov)”
Which means as much as; A WGC on the other site of the world is weird. You open in the morning your laptop to see that your mates have flown. Jens was happy and was joking: “Good you did’nt fall a sleep Rasmus.”

Some random news;
—-The PEV is sometimes a bit of a struggle for some. Bruce said already that Mac was faster than he on day 3 . Mac missed the window out by ONE SECOND,…very expensive!!!!
Today Sebastian had some problems.
—-Thies managed to climb up 2800 m.in one thermal.
—–“ Oauh congrats great Belgium day Gogo bravo.” Belgian reaction on day 3!
—-Jonker Sailplanes; “Breaking news from Narromine (Australia) – Uys Jonker won the day in the 15m class with his JS3 Rapture JET! The WGC has hit full throttle after an exhilarating day 4, and today’s 544km task with splendid thermal conditions and a high cloud base saw Uys seizing the moment.
Opting for an early start to evade the gaggles from prior days, Uys and his team mates AP Kotze and Riccardo Brigliadori (Italy) made a bold move that paid off immensely. Holding his ground, he clinched the first position, leaving the 26 other participants trailing behind. Bravo, Uys, now securing the impressive overall 3rd place!”

—-Yesterday (Contest Day #3) proved a challenge. Multiple team USA gliders landed out. Multiple retrieval methods were utilized: trailer, tug aka tow plane and motor. DK and FY were in a great paddock though a bit remote to access. Lots of wildlife spotted yesterday including wallabies, kangaroos and wedge tail eagles known locally as wedgies”US Soaring Teams
—–some of the crews arrived only this morning at the airfield. Long day and night and again long tasks for today.
—–The German team-blogger mentioned that the team yesterday got the best out of the day with no outlandings. She mentioned too that” an outlanding down under is another piece of cake than at home.”
German pilot Simon won today. The other pilots are doing well too. In 15 m Steffen and Henrik finished on spot 3 and 4. In club Uwe was 9th and Stefan 5th. Stefan is on 2 overall after 4 days!
This shows on the scores of the TEAM UP after 4 days.
Germany leads with 922.92 p, followed by Australia with 921.33 and The Netherlands with 908.65. Then Belgium with 898.92 p. and Poland with 881.88 points.
MANY MORE DAYS TO COME!!!!

Picture as seen by Indya, the rest unfortunately is TOO big over 3 MB per picture and my blog does n’t accept that. Have to check how to do that first. Sorry.

Post 1.461 on December 5 2023

live tracking at; https://bit.ly/wgc2023-au

Launching at Narromine Go To LIVEGLIDING; https://bit.ly/wgc2023-au

official site; https://wgc2023.com.au/

Dutch Gliding Teamnetherlands-establish-early-lead-in-15m-class-at-narromine as shared by GLIDING AUSTRALIA the Aussie Gliding Magazine.
I noticed also real nice reels from December 4.
All those finishing gliders on runway 22. You can see them too on Gliding Australia

Just got an app from my daughter waiting full of excitement for the finishes on another blue day.It’s 8.30 in the morning here so I just start my day. Not a lot of finishes yet so I research first what happened during “my sleep”.
I wondered about the huge difference in start times. I was not the only one.
Here is Bruce on that day:
“Not too much to say about today. It was quite blue, and the task was long enough that we were concerned about getting home before it shut down. Greg and I decided to leave early, did that, and worked well together, touching down side-by-side. We got low down towards the first turn, and the run home from out near Nyngan was slow, but a part of me thought everybody would have a similar experience.
We were absolutely smashed by the late starters today, to the tune of 14kph. Gaggle power, not getting slow anywhere, whatever it was it cost us huge points. I didn’t imagine we’d suffer quite so brutally.”
More on Taylor’s Gliding Page

But,…..First things first…. I slowly get my comps-rhythm again.
Prize winners from day 2 , task 2.

Hugo Corbille from France in club class.

Laurence Hardman from South Africa….as happy.

And in 15 m 2 winners but here is Jan Pavlik as Jeroen had the experience already

Briefing in the morning at 10 AM with the concentrated Dutch team as seen by Anne. They do well at this stage and are very serious, so they should.

A brown snake was spotted at the field. I had a “bunch young ones” as dangerous as the big ones, but they look “sweeter” ,living under my house in Tocumwal,and I was very scared for them. Not my cat Denim he proudly walked around with one in his mouth and brought it to my doormat.

Day 3 one December 5; A very hot, sweaty and AGAIN blue day .
15 m. 3.45 AAT…… Great day for my Belgian mates. Number 1 and 2!!! Most pilots flew around 421 km some a bit more ,some less. Speed from Andre and Francois was 112 km./h . and looking at the times this was a small gaggle from 13 pilots too.
Andre moved from 20 to 8 overall after 3 days!!!!!!
Good day for Germany as well with Steffen and Henrik on 3 and 4. They all started around 14.30.
Not a good day for the Dutch and Aussies. The Dutchies started 10 minutes earlier and finished on spot 20 and 22. You can DROP from 1 to 14 overall…bizarre.
The Aussies even left earlier at 14.10 and were on a 14th and 17th daily spot.
One is not scored [yet] and 1 is out of the comps.

Not all scores are in yet. I heard already about out-landings too.
To be honest scores are FAST every day. Good on them.
First breakfast, then more news.CU you a bit later.

10.30 AM; IN THE NETHERLANDS.

15 m class; is scored now and 2 from 26 were “aux vaches” . The last 1 finished at 6 .40 PM. That was the daily winner from yesterday Jan.
Some pilots reached 10.000 ft.
Adam mentioned “I clicked over 2000hrs competition flight time today, out of my 3500hrs gliding!” Quite a mile stone good on you Adam!

Standard class; 436.56 km…..with 106 km./h Bruce won the day. An Aussie WIN!!!! 106 km./h. About the same as runner up Sjaak from The Netherlands.
Here is a happy Bruce;
“WooHoo!! Yesterday we got smashed by the gaggle, and today they waited too long and really struggled to get home. I really don’t mean to be smart, but I find the required start gate strategies such a complete pain in the butt. We knew we had to leave, so we did that, and as it happened we had a nice little group of five who started early and rolled along well together.” more on Taylor’s Gliding Page
At this stage 2 are not yet counted for and 4 were out.
Sjaak mentioned that “it was challenging and hot! The first leg went ok, then there was less lift due to wetter parts.But,…..The Aussies marked the way and we went “happily” with them” .Honest and open answer from Sjaak, who was the 2018 world champion in standard class in Poland.
According to Bruce “Mac actually had the highest speed today, but was penalised for missing his Event marker time by a small amount.”

Club class; 356.44 km……was last on the grid and Tony was the last to be launched. He belonged to the “out-landers”.
8 Are not yet counted for and somewhere in a field.
From 2, I know they are out; Roelof and Diana.
As all tuggies went home early , they had to go by trailer and car. An old fashioned “honest” retrieve, but time consuming.
18 managed to finish and the best was Tim from the UK; 95.72 km./h
Runner up Thies from The Netherlands;94.61 km./h.
Tim was the last to depart at 3 PM!!!! His team mate John did exactly the same but just finished at 7.20 PM as number 17.
Have to check with him how much of a risk this was.
Unfortunately the task was just too long as the thermals disappeared in the end.

Great day for my Belgian mates with a 1/2 in 15 m and a 4th spot with Dennis in standard class.
Great day as well for my Aussie mates Bruce and Greg on 1 and 3 with Sjaak in the middle on 2.

More updates later when I have them.
I checked in with UK pilot Tim who won the day and asked if it was a risk to depart that late. He answered straight away which was very kind of him.
“Our first PEV was a little early we were low with only a handful of competitors including Uwe and Stefan ahead. 5km down track we hit a fantastic thermal and decided to instantly hit the 10 minute PEV reset and restart again at 3pm, very tight for club class but if everything went to plan we might just squeeze it in. The great thing about this situation is your all out to catch the leaders and it really does focus your attention on keeping the pace up. Anyhow I shall be quickly screenshooting the overall results tonight it’s only taken me 50 years of practice!!!“
Thanks Tim!!!! Indeed 50 years of practice that started already at Tocumwal, where he was allowed to fly our gliders on days they were available and he was off- tuggie-duties.

My family is still on the way home from their retrieve and will be back after mid night.
20 Teams from 3 classes are on a retrieve so it will be a late night for more.
Time for me to do other things and share tomorrow what happened during the retrieves and the full scores from Club and Standard class.

Tony and Leah Condon from team USA, are back already “home” at Narromine. Tony landed at Trangie. If they could use the Mitchell Highway it is a good trip.
“Another interesting day in Austriala. Started later than ideal but almost every thermal was shared with a Wedged Tail Eagle. Never got as strong as forecast and ended up struggling around 1,000 ft and 1 knot 50 km short.
Found a great field and landed as a C130 buzzed us on roll out. Successful retrieve after swallowing about 50 gnats.“

CU tomorrow!!!!

——————————————————————

Some other news as well from Schempp-Hirth;
That beautiful ARCUS is going well not only in the air, but also on the ground. Number 400 has been built!!!!!

Post 1.460 on December 4 2023
https://wgc2023.com.au/

On https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093208068838 you can see a video from the launches of a few pilots today and Sean Young interviews the 3 daily winners from task 1.

Day 1 ……. over and out, BUT only day 1, so it’s only a beginning.
What a top day it was. The only out-landing was because of no PEV.
Before I went to bed I checked on the evening after the opening, if there were tasks as I heard it would be an early day. They were already on www.soaringspot.com and whilst all pilots flew, I slept nicely on one ear!

Yesterday I did exactly the same, waking up with a smile , as tasks today were good again on a blue day, now but as I said many times, blue can be very strong in Australia.
So NO WORRIES for blue days!!
Only disadvantage is that not everybody dares to fly alone, hence bigger or smaller gaggles leaving the field.
Forecast was for fine weather, no rain ,8000ft and blue, thermals 4kt and at 1800 m 3 kt.

Task 2;
15 m. class; 437.47 km….The first thing I noticed was the big difference in start times. Adam and Toby started at 13.35 ,whilst Erik and Jeroen left at 14.11.
The late starters did well, as Jeroen won day 2 as well, but he had to share this win with Czech pilot Jan [Pavlik]; both “got” 1000 points. All 3 in JS 3,with Erik as runner up with 997 points.
Speed for all 3 ; 112 km./h.
Sebastian and Lucasz had an equal 4th place starting and finishing at the same time in their DIANA 2 for 966 points.
26 flew and finished.
And indeed a huge group in 15 m. left, stayed in the gaggle and came back to finish more or less as a gaggle too. I counted 21 gliders in 4 minutes with the finish times!!!!!!

Standard class; 436.13 km….Again the Aussies Bruce and Greg started early; 13.04 whilst the winners from South Africa started at 13.42. So congrats to Laurence [Hardmann] and young Phillip [Jonker] both in LS 8 for their successful day!1000 and 998 points for them.Tom was 3d and “lost” 30 points on the winner,..no big deal!
Even later was the start from Sarah [13.43] and sad to say as I know how good she is, she was last for the day and the only one who flew under 100 km./h.
Last over the start line was Czech pilot Pavel at 13.50. so nearly an hour difference . They must have had another expectation of the weather.
All 21 started and finished. I LIKE that. I know that even when ONE pilot is IN, the task setter was right, but I prefer many finishes .

Club class; 395.35 km….More big differences in start times between 12.56 and 13.54 so nearly an hour.No worries however for Hugo Corbille from France who flew with 108.86 km./h in his LS 7 over the track.
Tomas Suchanek was runner up and UK pilot Tim 3d.
I know Tim since more than 30 years, when he as a young keen pilot was a tuggy in Tocumwal together with my daughter Inge. Both are airline pilots now!

Tony had some problems at the start;“Team DK had some instrumentation gremlins this morning and had to push off. Thanks to Tony Condon and Peter von Tresckow ‘s quick thinking we were able to launch at the end of our class.“
Tony was 21st for the day.
All 30 pilots started and finished!!!!!!
The French are absolutely WELL-DRESSED for the hot sun. Though long sleeves and gloves would be good too.

Talking about club class ; The club class gliders flying for “fun” in Tocumwal had super weather on December 3 with over 600 km in an LS 4, Stephan Soell, with 696 km , Steve Trone in a mini nimbus with 649 km, and Grant in the DISCUS with 627 km.
Australia’s weather is great at the moment for soaring.

I am going to find out what the reason could have been for the start time differences.
Will update later with more fresh news, from family and or friends. They all have dinner now ,I will have breakfast.

So I checked. One of the answers was: the biggest differences were in standard and club , on initiative from the pilots their-selves. In 15 m they waited LONG with a start….but then they left as 1 big gaggle. Only The USA and Australia made their own plans and sadly they suffered.
Here is Adam;”A big day in the blue! Tobias & I flew a really great flight together, we typically had nice rhythm all flight & from what we were told via onlookers via the OGN, we were pulling away from the gaggle who started 30min behind us. Unfortunately though, we got unlucky at the Warren TP (which is known as the wettest place on the planet in gliding terms). We slowed down amply because we knew the area was coming at us, but still, all we could get was two low 3kt saves.
This is the only place I believe that the gaggle won over us today, because if we jagged two 5kt climbs as we did previously, then it would’ve been a different story I think.” More on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Sebastian was less enthusiastic about the gaggle , here is the translation from what Sebastian said by Andrea Florence  from GLIDING & SOARING he belongs to team Italy;
“What a competition!
Completely clear of clouds!
Flarms are a must.
Eventmarker from pre-school…5 minutes and then what?
The last one en route wins.
Ricardo Brigliadori leaded the gaggle perfectly.
In the area above the swamps [2d TP] he was in trouble and the winners who did n’t even stick their nose out, in front of the others. Including myself.
But unfortunately there is only one way for such terms” so far Sebastian.
Ricky was 13th for the day.

Team USA ‘s Tony who had problems at the start;
“Nice easy morning today. First out to the grid after briefing, loaded up the task and shut everything down to save power. Got ready for launch to start and the S100 wouldn’t boot. SBOX ERROR CONTACT SERVICE. Nothing in the manual or the Internet. Try every combo of resetting cables, SD cards in/out, batteries etc. no vario no GPS no primary logger and the launch is starting. Push off to the side.
Peter von Tresckow hypothesizes that maybe the Terminator on a db9 plug is the problem. Grabs his mini screwdriver and removes it. The instrument fires up! No clue why but DONT TURN IT OFF . Back in line launch last only one volley behind where we would’ve been.
Flight was good until it wasn’t. Another low point grovelling in the third quarter. Then it was good again.”

Team Belgium shared great colorful pictures

As said before….50 VOLUNTEERS:
Here are the most important so you know too;
Competition Director Mike Durrant
Deputy Competition Director Beryl Hartley assisted by Jacob Bloom, Ross McLean, and Sean Young.
Operations Director Jenny Thompson
Tug Master Bill Bartlett
Leader of the marshalling and launch teams Kerrie Claffey 
Task Setter David Jansen
Chief Scorer  Neil Campbell 
Safety Officer Rolf Buelter
Meteorologist Ed Marel 
Daily Weighing Jack Hart
Competition Office Kathy Bell

—————————————————————–

I missed out on a picture from Team Italy with my friend Ricky and to r. of him Luca Urbani who I met at several comps I visited in Italy

I also missed out on a nice picture of team Japan. Mac did so well on day 1 that I have to share it now.

And another nice picture with Inge. They both know each other already for a long, long time.

AND……Finally “I found team USA in the hangar” ;
With TC Pete Alexander in the yellow shirt, Tony to his left and Sarah, easy to recognize. She is the WWGC champion from Lake Keepit .

And among the many guests also Pam[Kurstjens Hawkins] here with steward Brian.

Post 1.459 on December 3 2023.
https://wgc2023.com.au/

https://link.glideandseek.com/wgc2023

There we go with the 37th WGC, this time the FLYING!!!!
Day 1 on December 3;The forecast was for a more blue day, but the pilots enjoyed great good working cu’s as well during their long tasks. My home country and 2d home country performed WELL!!!!
That makes a Sunday morning EXTRA nice.
Here we go.
Task 1 ….15m; 558.83 km….Jeroen Verkuijl [JS3] loved his flight,” I enjoyed every minute “, he said in an after-flight-video with Joyce…. “we could catch others and stay with them“.
“We did not loose points,” which is good added Erik,[JS3] who was 3d for the day.
In between the 2 Dutchies was Adam and he must be super happy too with Toby on 4. Great start of the comps for them.
The 2 Aussies both in Ventus 3 and 2 ,started at 12.32, the Dutch 10 minutes later, that explains “the catching up”.
Speed from Jeroen 128.88 km./h and from Adam 128.78 loosing only 2 points!!!
Erik and Toby were equal 3d with 128.50 km/h.
All 27 pilots started and finished, TOP!!!! The first 24 all got over 900 points.
Here is Adam:”A fantastic way to start the world’s, almost a perfect score with 998pts – congrats to Jeroen on the day win!
While I was in front/lead for most of the day, Tobias made the decision that won us the day. While we agreed upon an early start at briefing time, due to lessening CU throughout the day, then as we were to progress North, the climb strengths were predicted to weaken behind us. It was Tobias firmness to start quickly once we were in the air that made the difference today much more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

Task 1….standard; 501.06 km….My 2d home country did well again with Greg Beecroft [LS8] as daily winner with a speed of 128.91 km./h. Japanese-Aussie- Mac [Ichikawa] was runner up;127.54 km./h.
Dutch pilot Sjaak [Selen] was 3d in a DISCUS 2A; 124.22 km./h
All 21 flew and finished.

Task 1…. club;  437.41 km….4 LS 3 gliders and 1 ASW 20 in the top 5 flown by German top- pilots Stefan [Langer] and Uwe [Wahlig]. Both Stefan and Uwe flew with a speed of 117.42 km./h.
James [Nugent] was 3d with 115.45 km./h and 2 top Danish pilots , Michael [Mix] and Rasmus [Orskov] were on spot 4 and 5 with 115.69 and 115. 28 km./h.
30 started and 1 was out after 95 km.

The start of this 37th WGC is there and it is a VERY good one. Lot’s of happy pilots tonight down under. More to come.
All scores preliminary.

More pictures from the opening;

Team UK;

When necessary I will update during the day.
Team UK; “A solid first day for the team!”
Lot’s of pictures shared on the official website are courtesy Jarek Mosiejewski .

And AT ALL TIMES IMPORTANT ;

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.458 on December 2 2023.
https://wgc2023.com.au/

Got already a lot of news so let’s start quickly with “from day- to -day-news” A day earlier as well, but TOO LONG blogs are not good and old news is no news.
I might even try daily news but that’s difficult with the 10 hour time difference. I’ll see.
Just keep reading.

Wednesday November 29;
Got the booster jab, felt a bit dizzy but ready to “rumble” again.
First an introduction to my friends from the lower countries in Europe, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
GOOD LUCK to all of them!
Dutch Gliding Team

Their was no official flying due to the heavy rain over night, BUT the weather is changing!!!
Here is Bruce;“Another day on the ground, sorting out some remaining jobs on our gliders.
And outside? The sun shone, the cumulus popped and looked gorgeous, but the wind blew, all day. Last night there were some big falls of rain, mostly from the west around to the south, so that area will be slow for the next couple of weeks.Tomorrow we will all go flying. I can’t wait to get in the air again. It feels good to be ready to rock ‘n’ roll!” Taylor’s Gliding Page

Thursday November 30;
are they ready to rock and roll????
“A tricky day out for all today, with top cover moving into the task area earlier than predicted.” according to our UK mates.
3 hour AAT’s were set for all 3 classes and Ricky won in 15 m [JS3] in a glorious way. His dad Leo[nardo] flew in Benalla in 87 and with us before that comp.
Ricky flew with a speed of 119.64 km./h over 378.60 km.
The runner up, Sebastian, [Diana 2] in comparison flew with a speed of 112.76 km./h over 347.80 km
25 started and 2 were out.
Adam was 4th; “An interesting day in the skies, at times it felt like I was in a washing machine. The conditions saw CU to 6000′, with averages from 3-7kts, though with a 22kt westerly wind! This saw me not being able to follow my own advice of trying to stay in the top half of convection & topping up in the 4kt’ers, but spending my day in a forever downward direction, bouncing off the ground & up to 4000′ most of the time as I got too greedy.” more in his Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
In Standard class it was Lithuania with Joris Vainius in his ASW 28, who won the day just ahead of the Polish pilots , Lucasz and Tomasz who started a minute earlier.
20 started and 7 were out. A few mistakes as well, better now than in 3 days.
In Club class 21 pilots started, 5 were out but 9 did not start at all on the official practice day. Still ONLY practice, no worries. Some might have not brought their logger in.
Czech pilots Tomas and Jan were the best with a speed of 311 and 304 km/h over 311 and 304 km.

December 1;
Start of the meteorological winter on this side of the world ,with indeed icy conditions here…..up to minus 10…. and snow in the N. of our country and down under it ‘s SUMMER again.
Got a lovely picture from Anne [Aus Soaring] with Inge, Indya and Gerrit.
Noticed many more great pictures on the official WGC FB site, have a look and ENJOY!!!!
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093208068838

15 m; 341.51 km....after AAT’s now practice with a set task.Best for the day was Lithuanian pilot Linas Miezlaiskis in ASG 29; 138.47 km./h with Dutch pilot Erik[JS3] as runner up ;134.44.
24 from 28 started and 4 “practiced” an out landing.
Adam was one of them.
“Today after I released from tow, it was immediately obvious that I had an undercarriage door problem, fortunately my team mate was right there to confirm it.” more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Standard class; 346.56 km.…and the 2 Polish pilots Tomasz and Lucasz did well with a speed of 122 km./h. Still “only” practice ; some penalties to learn from and some out landings 4, to learn from.
Club class; 255.67 km; I expect a lot from German pilot Uwe Wahlig in his LS 3. He straight away won the day with 122.84 km./h and is of course the current [2021] WORLD CHAMPION.
29 from 30 started and 1 was out.

PR is going well also for the locals.

December 2 OPENING and the best weather ever. I could nearly say “as usual”.
I was ready for a live stream of the opening at 8 AM my time, but nothing on the official site.

The Italian Gliding Team as seen by Andrea [Venturini] with behind them team Luxembourg, shared by Vola aVela.

The French team with Eric and his pilots and crews .

Team Luxembourg with George,Diana ,Inge and Indya.

Team Denmark;

Team Belgium;

More pictures from the opening tomorrow.
Leaves me for today, to update you with the names of the officials:
Rick Sheppe from the USA will be the Jury President and the other Jurors (both remote)
are Bob Henderson (NZL) and Peter Szabo (HUN). 

The Stewards are Brian Spreckley (UK), and John Godfrey (USA).

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There is other news as well!
—–Wilfried Grosskinsky flew 300 x a more than 1000 km and that must be a record! In the EB 28 he took a junior Gerrit Neugebauer ;
“Gerrit is one of the lucky youngsters, who won the Bitterwasser Cup this year. The price is sponsored by Wilfried Grosskinsky and the Bitterwasser Lodge. Thank you so much for giving juniors such an incredible opportunity in gliding!“
I can only agree with that.

CU tomorrow with more news about day 1 of the 37th WGC and more pictures also from the opening!
Now my grandson Dexter is visiting for the weekend.
Cheers Ritz