Post 1.540 on August 30 2024

UVALDE TEXAS
Garner Field, United States
18 August 2024 – 31 August 2024

My goodness me, I nearly felt from my chair when I saw in ONE view on soaring spot, that 3/4 Dutch glider pilots proudly were on spot 1 on task 11.
Not that I ever doubted their ability, they were of course sent to Uvalde as “our” toppers and all have flown already WGC’s, but it is rather special that this happens.
So in 18 m; Jeroen Verkuijl on spot 1,” Great day. Finally a day on what you planned worked”
in 20 m; Erik and Mathijs/ Borgmann & Van Houweninge “ Late start, was not the plan. started again and at the last TP we had super lift and met the rest and arrived together”;
in open; François Jeremiasse. “A challenge to keep up with the German team when you catch them and his first daily win at a WGC” . He started 2 minutes earlier than Michael and Felipe.
The boys called it Dutch weather, with a high ceiling.
EXELLENT STUFF!!!!! No I am not a chauvinist , but only really happy. A triple orange podium.

About today; The SA team was not too optimistic [” Today started looking misty and miserable but we were promised that this is a normal Uvalde day. Well it seems the wise ones were right and the day has turned into what looks like a wonderful soaring day. Gliders have just started landing back, and the crew is slowly but surely preparing containers for the packing which is planned to start tomorrow. Fingers crossed for today’s scores.” but indeed it turned out a great day.
Unfortunately not for them.

Tasks and results on Thursday August 29, day 12 and task 11.
To be correct 18 m and 20 m had till now 10 out of 12 days, open 11 out of 12. That’s just GOOD!!!! Even with one “off-day!”

18 m; 4.30 AAT….with Alena’s glider most probably written off , there are still 31 pilots in this class and 2 did not finish. Jeroen Verkuijl started at 13.56, not early not late , together with team mate Sjaak . Jeroen flew 639.90 km in 4.32 so a nice speed of 141 km./h. That was the best result for the day; 1000 points. Scores were close as French Christophe still had 911 points on spot 9.
Matthew was on 8 with 2 more points;
“Today’s task was a pleasant surprise in that it was only slightly overset. We still had a bit of a grand prix start, but at only a 4.5hr AAT we could cleanly get around within the reliably soarable window.I had to work extremely hard on the southbound leg to catch up. I had an excellent run, but missed the opportunity to utilise the sea breeze convergence onto final glide, so just a midfield result.
I really need a miracle to get on the podium now. more on Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
Rich from the Uvalde media team on today’s tasks;
“The 18 Meter Class was sent off on a 4:30hr Assigned Area task of 591km nominal. After start, they went northwest to Martin Ranch, southeast to Laredo, northeast to Seven C’s Ranch and then northwest to finish. The last turn area of this task had prohibited airspace in it, so the pilots had to be careful. However, several pilots did suffer the penalty of entering forbidden airspace. With all the technology we have in the cockpit, we still seem to make the same errors when we flew with cameras. The first leg did not look bad. However, the pilots who could get across the foothills higher all seemed to do better on the scoresheet. Being higher allowed them to connect better with the clouds and maintain good forward momentum. The foothills are like transition areas on ridges. You cannot allow yourself to get low. There were basically two places where pilots made their turn in the first area. One was on the northeast corner and the other was right around the nominal point. The second and third legs did not present too many problems until the 3rd turn area. The airspace did cause issues. Some had to make a turn that was less than advantageous, but others journeyed into the forbidden airspace and were landed out on the scoresheet. Final glides going downwind is always a joy, and unless you were landing at 7:30pm, did not cause many issues.”

Overall scores with 1 day to go, will be mainly I guess for spot 3 as the German pilots Stefan and Simon are far ahead, but Christophe and Jeroen can “fight” for spot 3.

Matthew shared this picture from the unfortunate JS3 from Alena in the water;

20m. multi seat;  577.80 km……they started as the last in their class, as said not planned , but it went that way. They restarted at 14.06 ,not that much later than many other pilots, but they went well and raced straight to pilots starting earlier. Speed 132 km./h. for 1000 points.
I talk of course about Borgmann & Van Houweninge, Erik and Mathijs.
Only 3 points more then the French, but even 3 points can be important, as in this class a lot can still happen for the podium!!!!.

Rich ; “In the 20 Meter Class, they were sent on 578km racing task that went west to Anacacho, southeast to Callaghan, north to Aero Saylee, west to Indio Faith and northeast to finish. Straight lines, good energy lines and staying consistently in the upper third of the height band worked for this group. Not many issues on this flight.“

With one day to go the overall scores look like this; VERY EXCITING!!!!!!
Arnold & Striedieck; 8.694, loosing a bit but still on top.
Woolley & Gateley; 8,572
Rubaj & Matkowski; 8,570, very close …..
Lutz & Janowitsch; 8,499
Borgmann & Van Houweninge; 8,458
Bouderlique & de Péchy; 8,446
In this class EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

open;  613.66 km…and the 3d podium for the Netherlands with  François Jeremiasse ; 129.65 km./h. just a tad faster than the German pilots .who started 2 minutes behind him.
A miserable day for the JS5 pilots all 3 were ” punished” for entering forbidden air space and THAT COST!!!! 274 points only for them. And that was then their Uvalde WGC, a pity.
Attie dropped from 4 to 7 and Oscar from 9 to 11.
“Well… not much to say but Oops. The Open class guys had a setting issue on their flight computers which didn’t warn them about the airspace they were approaching. We’ve checked the settings hundreds of times this comp, but for some reason today, the system failed us. Not much to be done about it but to learn from this and understand how not to make it happen again. Bad luck guys!
Fun is still being had by everyone and there is lots of learning to be had from this comp.”

Rich; The Open Class also had a racing task of 614km (382mi) that went south to Santa Maria Ranch, northeast to Silverhorn Ranch, north to Kerrville and southwest to finish. Again, straight lines, staying high and getting through the third leg and not get stuck, were the keys to a good finish. Getting low in the foothills cost a few pilots minutes of being in the lower half of the height band. Again, the German team showed how they fly so consistently well in all types of conditions. Felipe Levin and Michael Sommer finished second and third respectively today. If you did not realize, the Netherland Team garnered the top spot in all classes today. Winning in Open Class, and completing a clean sweep was Franois Jeremiasse (Netherlands) with a speed of 130kph (81mph) over the 614km (382mi) task. I think we should give the pilots and captain a round of applause in the morning. Nice flying!!

Indeed Joyce as TC and Baer as coach are doing a great job for the Dutch team. I do also “see the hand from Baer”.

Looking at the overall scores with 1 day to go is less exciting than in 20 m. Felipe and Michel are far ahead, but in the worst case they can instead of winning the day equal, loose a day equal. Just hypothetical, as I know they ARE GOOD!!!!
But the 2 French, Laurent and Sylvain, [ I know TC Eric has special things on his sleeve for a last day] and Francois and Jim Lee can fight for the podium too.

Last day tomorrow.
Will be back later in their morning with pictures from the “orange army” at the podium!
Mind you for a few crewmembers, it was an early morning/late night due to borrowing trailers and retrieves. All gliders except from Elena were on the grid this morning. Sterling job!!!!

CU LATER.
cheers Ritz

Post 1.539 on August 29 2024

UVALDE TEXAS Garner Field, United States
18 August 2024 – 31 August 2024

Thursday August 29, day 11 task 10;
A short post with some explanations and as promised, John Goods view on the day with task 10.
Will be back {much} later with all the news on the penultimate day, so with task 11.
Here they are already; Task 11 with a 4.30 AAT in 18m, 577.80 km for 20 m and 613.66 km for open.
With the good weather, the good mood for sure, will be back too.

And the weather??? You can see it …my daughter just sent me this picture.

First maybe an apology ! I was a bit carried away ,with all the “complaints” on task 10 on the internet, from friends/mates . I value them high and trust to say or write the correct things. I STILL feel so, but I had to write as well , that we have had fabulous weather and great tasks and already lots of points and that was the GOOD news.

Another update as you might be interested in who landed in the water. t turned out to be the JS3 RES / 18m from Czech pilot Alena. The organizers AND she are open about it, so they should, as from every incident , others can learn!
“An update on the ship that landed in the water. Like all sailplanes, it does float. The pilot had been using its electric propulsion system when the motor failed at low altitude. The terrain was rough, and the lake was the safest option. The sailplane was being pulled from the water when the batteries started to make noise. There was just a small amount of fire coming from the batteries that did not damage the glider. The ground retrieve crew opened the engine bay doors and took the battery out of the ship and left it in the water. It continued to smoke under water for some time. Although the glider may be a total loss, no one was injured during the landing or retrieve of the ship.
During this day we had 14 ground retrieves that required several borrowed trailers. It was a study of teamwork and cooperation as trailers were lent out to those who needed them. Crews helped each other to affect rescues of gliders in fields. We discovered that law enforcement in Texas have a good relationship with the ranchers and were instrumental in opening gates to retrieve gliders. It is also helpful to have a helicopter to get help to a scene fast. Thanks to all the crews, volunteers and those who lent trailers to other teams. Now, let’s move on and fly!”

Well that all sounds more than GOOD!!!

Here is how John looked at it. Long story but very interesting and as I write again after my night sleep,that post will not be too long then.
Team USA Report Day #10 ~ August 28
Difficult weather today: excessive atmospheric moisture continues to cause trouble in south Texas. Today it gave us extensive low morning cloud that broke into useful cumulus, which promptly overdeveloped, yielding areas of rain. These consolidated and expanded during the day, finishing as massive barriers to motorless flight.

In the face of this challenging weather (which was accurately forecast) task choices seemed notably strange: The usual way to deal with this sort of trouble is area tasks, which give pilots a decent chance to pick their way around weather problems. The Open class had one of those, but both 18-Meter and 20-Meter classes were given Racing* tasks, which require pilots to get within 500 meters of each assigned turnpoint. If that point has rain (or worse), good luck – difficult and possibly dangerous flying may ensue.

At launch time, troubled weather was already evident, but lift near the field was sufficient to keep all gliders aloft and get them started on their tasks. For all three classes, this involved an excursion to the south; the favoured route there lay east of the direct line, avoiding a formidable and growing north-south line of rain clouds.

The 20-M classes then found serious problems at their Bella Vista turnpoint (where the view was anything but beautiful): rain covered the entire area. Two obvious choices emerged: gain height, glide to the turnpoint and either continue on course to the west (expecting dead air over wet ground) or retreat south and east (hoping to reconnect with the good lift there and then seek another route west). Neither scheme worked, and nearly all gliders soon sprouted an engine and headed home. Glider L did not follow the crowd: Karl and Sarah spent half an hour in reliable lift to the east, waiting for the rain move away to the north. They were thus able to make a rain-free glide to the turnpoint, and onward toward the next one. Over the wet ground they, too, were unable to reconnect with lift, but their patient tactics gave them the best distance of the day. The 18-Meter class had a similar experience; again, it was the more patient pilots that did best.

Open class had turn areas and thus more freedom of action, but nonetheless could put just one pilot across the finish line: It was Claudio Schmidt, flying the Nixus, who had been standing in last place. Though he didn’t finish, Jim Lee had a great flight: He somehow found a path from east to west across the impenetrable line of rain clouds, reached the final turn area and them went for more distance, which actually yielded a greater score advantage over other pilots than if he’d taken the short route home. Keith Baugh had a solid flight, good for fifth.

A day with only one finisher among 64 pilots is bound to yield some interesting retrieve stories. With only 10 non-motorized gliders flying, 14 gliders outlanded. We hear of motors that did not start and some that didn’t have enough fuel (or battery charge) to get all the way home. Bad weather appears to have completely blocked one pilot from returning. The French team was shopping for a trailer that could be used to retrieve one or more unmotorized gliders. The pilot of a JS3 with an overheating electric motor reportedly had no good dry option and managed to land safely in a stock pond. But the glider then suffered a battery fire as it was being hauled onto dry land; application of water and seaweed apparently dealt with the fire. (No word yet from the cattle that will be expected to drink from that pond.)

* The International Gliding Commission (which makes the rules for World Gliding Competitions), uses the terms “Racing Task” and “Assigned Area Task” for its two task types. Never explained is ,why pilots at a glider race, who are scored on the speed they achieve, would not be racing during any task they were assigned.

John Good

AND,…a picture from the one-and-only-winner/finisher from yesterday Claudio !!!!! With compliments.

CU tomorrow morning. Cheers Ritz

Post 1.538 on August 29 2024

Sometimes I get confused with the days and the time. A still have a lot of contact with my Aussie friend and they are at this stage 8 hours ahead of us, [10 when summer/winter time arrives]
The time difference with The Netherlands and Uvalde is 7 hours. So when I write on Thursday, they just finished flying on Wednesday and go out or to bed, when I start writing.
Friday August 30, is the last day and the party will be in the evening. The prize giving the next day!

Wednesday August 28 day 11 task 10;
And what a day it was!!!!! Normally I write that, when 20 or so 1000 km flights have been flown. Today, because ONLY 1 glider finished from the 3 classes. The NIXUS, never mentioned in these blogs as Brazilian pilot Claudio Schmidt never belonged to the toppers and I prefer not to write about pilots who are doing less good. Now he deserves a huge round of applause!!!!
So my question if the weather will have influence on the last days is to my knowledge,…… YES.
One of the most direct , but to the points analyses, is from Matthew, so here is his story about the day before I look at the scores
“ Predictable outcome. Unclear why we had a racing task (where is the IGC?). By the time the gate opened we were already surfing the storm front next to the airfield, and the first leg was hopping from storm to storm towards the first turn which we could see was inside a large cell.
All three classes came together to wait for the storm at the first turn to move a bit so we could all get north again, insane turbulence, people cloud flying, heavy rain and hail, all quite dangerous.
Everyone in our class climbed as high as they could then drove into the back of the storm to round the turnpoint, then went for a dead air glide into the blue where it’d just rained heavily towards the next turn.
A few got lucky with a tiny climb in the blue and jumped ahead to no further avail. Quite a few who ran out of fuel or battery or had non-starting engines have outlanded. One glider is even floating in a lake. I was glad to have a RES, lit up 110km from home over an airfield and comfortably made it back.
Simply setting an AAT would have substantially reduced the danger on all factors.“
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
Picture shared by Matthew too.

All in all, when I read this , NOT A GOOD DAY, but of course I am not there, it’s based on several inputs I got.. And looking at the weather pc is pretty clear too.

Here is ARNE; “So the task setters launched us into what was clearly a very poorly set task and known deteriorating conditions that entirely as expected had all classes mixed and gaggling. And yes, no PEV. Why bother improving our safety by reducing gaggling? Where are the stewards? Why is derisking not in focus? 25km from the first turnpoint we ran into the storm and severe turbulence and micro bursts. It became a matter of running with the front to stay high enough to reach safe airfields”
more on Arne J. Boye-Møller

Keith ; “On the way home after using the engine. It was an adventure just getting home. Almost 100% outlanding rate for today.“

Adam with several hind sights; “Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Congratulations to Sarah & Karl on a great flight, taking their lead to 128pts over us in 2nd, two tasks remaining!
What are my lessons learnt? Firstly, when a task is set, I subconsciously always think, it’s possible to complete. It’s just in my positive nature. I need to bring this into my reality check, because by not leaving as soon as the lights went out, I cost myself distance, possibly even completing the task.”
much more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

Pôle France Planeur “Journée trés compliquée pour l’organisation et les pilotes ..Zones de vols sous l’influence de cunimbs et d”orages qui empêchent de virer les points..La majorité des pilotes rentrent au moteur..Les deux JS3 LB .KW et le JS1 FD se vachent.
Anne rentre par convoyage air..L’ équipe de crews sont partis récupérer Laurent et Jean avec des remorques prêtées.”
A very complex day for both organisation and pilots, they write. Cu nimbs , and storms had an influence to reach the TP’s. Most of the pilots returned with their engine. Crews were busy enough to get the rest back 1 by aerotow and 2 by car and trailer.

South African Gliding Team “Seems like chaos all round today, with only 1 out of the 66 competitors actually completing their task. 14 gliders physically landed at other airfields, in fields or lakes, the rest all started their engines to get home.
Both EL and IMS landed at alternate airfields, as although they both have working engines, with the storms around there was no ways for them to get back to Uvalde Safely. They’ve both arrived safely back at Uvalde by trailer. And the rest are all strapped down safely for the night. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.”

Pasi; “Not much to tell. Through the rain to second like everyone else. Could of pushed 20k more, but like majority turned back to “better” clouds and started engine 170m AGL. Only 10L of fuel so it didn’t quite were enough. Didn’t want to push through the rain and thunder to Uvalde, so landed on McKinley. Ike McKinley greeded us with his wife (who is now part of team Finland]” Gliderpasi
And that or sure is the NICEST part of the day. NEW FRIENDS!!!

Of course not a bad for the daily winners.
Here we go;

18 m; 389.17 km….and Manu Litt from BELGIUM won, good on him!!! 209.47 km. for which he had to work hard. Christophe was runner up with 198.60 km.
5 Pilots only just flew over 100 km. ALL were OUT.
But luckily not too many points gained or lost. Manu got 280 points [and a CHAPEAU from me] and the last pilot on spot 32 still 144.

20 m;  405.47 km…. USA pilots Sarah and Karl handled the weather best and with “only” 170 km flown they were the daily best and consolidated their first spot overall with a few points more.; 7.789 for 7.661 for Adam and Keith.
The winners got 275 points the last ones 213 and 2 in this class don’t fly anymore.
Wolfgang and Andy flew today 132 km IN UVALDE!!!! Not what they hoped for when they left Austria, but they have had pretty good days before the weather changed. They are 4th overall.

Open class; 3.15 AAT….The NIXUS with long wings could glide longer than others through rain and sink, hence a nice daily WIN and a great performance from Claudio Schmidt from Brazil. 671 points for him.
I read that “This glider has a wingspan of 28 metres (nearly 100 feet) and an aspect ratio of 53 to 1 providing a glide angle close to 1 in 70.”
Jim Lee in the EB 29 was runner up with 386.94 km. but,…he had to use the engine. Michel and Felipe were on an equal 14th spot, [ they are getting better and better in being EQUAL] ,but no worries, they are far ahead and loosing 342 points does ‘nt bring them into problems. Still, with 2 days to go in the lead; 8.900 for Felipe and Michael has 8.666, whilst number 3 Laurent has 8.666 points.
Claudio is still 17th from 17 , but he had a day-win and an unforgettable day I think. Well done!!!!

And last but not least;
A big thank you already to the tuggies. WGC Uvalde 2024 shared this picture on August 22.

What, I GOT in 2012 was this, from very kind spectators / guests in the tent, where I worked;
A steel ” State of Texas” with a glider in it. HANDMADE!!! AND proudly accepted. It’s in my garden on the fence, so I see it every day. Above sand, as it is awfully heavy and it should not fall on anything .
I believe one of the Dutch team members took it home in the trailer on the boat. Too heavy for in the plane. Too heavy also to carry around, as I got as a present from SOARING CAFE, a nice 3 -day- stay in a luxury hotel in San Antonio, before I flew home. That’s where I met after the comps, Art Grant and his travel-friend, again.

And something to get the honey easy out of the jar. Handmade and personally handed over.
For both I was very grateful and still have them.

And YES my daughter and grand daughter, Inge and Indya ,arrived safely for 2 days in Uvalde at the field, warmly welcomed by the Dutch team and their hosts, as they could straight away join in at their BBQ .

CU again tomorrow, for the last , for sure exciting days.

I wait for the analyses from John Good, USA pilot, CD, TC and so much more, good writer as well. An American analyse on this day , would be good too. John is always 1 day later, so you can read it tomorrow. On August 26 , task 8 he wrote already a bit about the weather ;”A significant change in weather today, forecast to persist for several days. It features lower temperatures, more moisture, and much higher chances of afternoon rain and thunderstorms.”

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.537 on August 28 2024

Wednesday August 28 day 10, task 9.
After the heat from the first week, which broke some long standing records, it was waiting what the weather man would say in the morning. At least about the temperature ,there was no doubt; cooler, “only” 30 dgr. C MAX.
Yesterday Rich wrote;
“The weather tomorrow looks challenging. The low is going to stop right on top of us, causing low clouds, poor lift and rain. If it moves on tonight, we will fly. If something does not change tonight, then we may have our first weather day.”

So what was the verdict from Mr. Meteo for TODAY?!
“The low is over us and it is pretty cloudy now with a chance of rain. The organizers are going to try to get a task in and the gliders are currently staged for gridding at Noon.” US Soaring Teams

Indeed it turned out to be a “weather-day” the first during this competition.
18m class; 3 hour AAT…..cancelled
Lumpy; “Big storms in the 18m first turn point formed before we launched, even though they were forecast a bit further north and not till mid to late afternoon. We went to task B which sent us out in the opposite direction, but the clock was counting down. We had a 3 AAT and it was already 1.40 pm so the writing was on the wall. Day cancelled at 2pm….”
Matthew; “Unusual weather for a racing task (open and 20 only), we are lucky to be an AAT in 18m.Even weirder was the Dutch(!) Airforce doing a beat- up down the grid in a Chinook(!?).I must be dreaming.”
It was quite an event as Arne had a look AT and IN it too. “When Chinooks drops in for a burger and they turn out to be Dutch glider pilots.”
Yes  Lennart Batenburg is a Dutch glider pilot, who lives in the USA and visited the Dutch team last Sunday and came back today for an other visit, this time not by car but through air in “his” Chinook”.
No flying, so good time to do other things, as looking IN the Chinook, a great “toy” !!!!

20 m class; 3 hour AAT…..cancelled…so Sarah and Karl still lead with 66 points for Adam and Keith …exciting!!!
Lumpy on the day; “They then launched the 20m class but by that time the sky had almost shut down overhead the field and I think 5 gliders returned looking for a re-light… some discussion was had and then the 20m class was cancelled.”
“A nice little distraction was a visiting Chinook helicopter from the Dutch Airforce who performed and nice flyby for us.” Tocumwal Soaring Centre

open class; 379.52 km….and 17 started , 10 finished so a tough day!!
Won by Laurent Aboulin [ JS1C/21 m] ; 135.76 km./h. Mind you, he is defending his 2012-Uvalde- title !!!!He then won in a Quintus M, from Schempp-Hirth.
Lumpy on open class;”They launched open class and got the gate open for them, after all the pilots were consulted whilst flying and asked if they considered the task doable and safe ….. good call from the organisers
7 out of the 17 open class pilots had to use their engines by the looks…. Navigating around those big storms I think was the issue and lots of dead air in the middle.“
And indeed , he was correct 7 pilots returned “under steam”.
Team UK had Tim [ Jenkinson in JS1cTJ/21 m] just “in” and Russell just out; 366.17 km.
Michael and Felipe finished AGAIN equal at spot 4 and still lead overall; Felipe 8.571 points and Michael 8.474 p with Attie now on 3 with 8.201 [moved up from 5] and the 2 French pilots on 4 and 5, just ahead of “our” Francois[ 8.022 p.]

Looking back at 2012.
Along the road driving to Uvalde, I quickly took a picture;

One of the first things I noticed after arriving back at Garner field was the CONCORDIA from Dick Butler. Dich wrote the whole history of this glider in many issues of SOARING CAFE. It was a very popular subject.

I wrote about the Concordia on July 22 in 2012
“One of the HOT items in SOARINGCAFE of course was and is the Concordia. Dick’s stories about the progress of this magic project,  got lot’s of readers! I look forward to catch up with Dick again after many years and to make my OWN picture of the Concordia. What a fabulous project he started!!! What I heard the glider flies super and I hope Dick will have great safe and fast flights in it.
As said before I look forward to the difference in performance in open class this year. It will be VERY interesting.”
And other news that day;
The gliders have been added to the pilots now and at this stage I counted 4 JS1-B gliders in open class flown by the Aussies and ……what Aussies former WGC champion in 1991 Brad Edwards and topper Bruce Taylor AND…. another 2 are flown by the Goudriaan brothers, who both fly WGC’s as long as I know them! So 4 JS1-B in open class !!!!!!
Further on Tilo and his men worked HARD , very hard!!! 7 Quintus M gliders are competing, 2 x EB 29, 2 Antares 23E, 3x EB 28, 3x ASW 22 BLE, 1 ASH 25, 2x Nimbus 4T and the Concordia!!!!

It was 38 dgr C and the South African team had their own pool AT the airport.

Talking about the SA pilots here are Attie and Uys on the practice day.

More about 2012 tomorrow.

AND more news tomorrow about the UVALDE-WGC.
They expect an “iffy” day, what ever that means for Uvalde.
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.536 on August 27 2024

UVALDE TEXAS
Garner Field, United States
18 August 2024 – 31 August 2024

Tuesday August 27, day 9, task 8;
For sure different weather, mainly looking at the weather screens for the TC’s.
Some quotes;
“Complex day – big storms forecast for the afternoon, still a long task but fortunately an early launch” .
“more humidity, lower temperatures and big storms in the area of San Antonio.”
“It’s 3:30 hrs AATs for all classes today to make best use of a perceived weather window. Fingers crossed that they all return before the forecast showers.”
“We left our start late, because to me, the conditions hadn’t built up enough yet for racing, the ground info was that the gust front wasn’t going to get to Uvalde for 4hrs (accurate at the time) & the conditions on the first glide weren’t up to scratch.”

WHAT HAPPENED?!

18 m; 3.30 AAT….
With 560.68 km . and 156.46 km./h. Christophe Abadie [ winner from task 1 as well] won the day, that was 4 km. further and 1 km./h faster than Stefan Langer. And yes,…. my Aussie mates were on 3 [Lumpy, he has found the WGC -groove] and Matthew.
All 32 stated and finished.
You have to read the first part on Lumpies post for your self, but here is the description on the 3d leg from the flight;
“Third leg was rather a hoot with the clouds getting bigger and some started dropping rain. I could see the dust front out to the east working it’s way towards Uvalde. There was a big step down in the clouds as well. This is where the fun began as I was trying to find the best way to capitalise on the storm front after turning the final turn. If I got it wrong ….. I’d be going into very heavy rain, get it right and a good run home will be sweet.
I worked out what distance I needed in the last sector to come home at 165kph, as that was what I’d been doing for the last hour or so and be on time…. Any slower meant being over time and thus a slower day speed.
As it turned out I think I got it pretty right, after turning the final turn point I only turned a few times and picked up 3k on the way home and came in 11 seconds over time …. Now if I could do this consistently.
And,…“Most of the field landed in a 45 deg crosswind as the storm front passed over, the wind was 20 kts gusting 25 at the time ….. everyone did really well considering.” Tocumwal Soaring Centre

Official media team editor Rich wrote; “The 18 Meter Class was sent on an Assigned Area Task with a nominal distance of 444.6km (276mi). After the start they went southwest to Eagle Pass, southeast to Bella Vista, north northwest to Back Porch Ranch and then southeast to the finish. The conditions at launch seem to suggest the winning speed was going to be better than 140kph (87mph) which meant you had to go farther in a couple of turn areas. With a wind out of the east, the first leg was downwind. However, there is a river that runs southeast/northwest (Rio Grande) that starts just on the other side of the nominal point. All the pilots turned before the river, thus avoiding a major airspace penalty, but in the northern sector of the area to gain extra distance. This leg also took advantage of energy lines aligned with the wind. I’m just guessing at this based on looking at their flights. The second and third legs, the clouds must have been good because of the higher L/D values achieved. In both circles, most pilots flew near to the maximum distance point. Final glides looked good but the weather at the field was changing. Right around 1630, wind and small rain showers started to appear to the east of the field as forecasted. The 18 Meter ships were arriving right around 1645, and they had gusty winds to contend with on landing.”
With 4 days to go the overall scores look like this; Stefan Langer in AS 33es with 7.725 points, Simon Schroeder with 7.633 and Christophe Abadie with 7.490 points.

20 m multi seat; 3.30 AAT….
508 km and 144.52 km./h was the winning result for the day, flown by Woolley & Gateley. Yes Adam and Keith are doing well, good on them. Runner up with 995 points was the Polish team in the ASG 32MI; more kilometres 522.03 and speed 144.15 km./h.
Team Keith and Marju from NZ did not fly , have to sort out why??!! So 15 started and finished.
Here is Adam; ”
“The latter part of the flight, we got lucky, the gust front didn’t quite hit Uvalde until about 15min after our arrival. We did park two cars behind our glider to protect it from unintentional ground loops, the wind got quite gnarly…
Pre-flight planning with SkySight & my general experience here saw us needing to max out every TP. If there weren’t random rain showers in the last, then I think I could’ve maxed the task & jusssst finished on time.
A fun day out, very much like Australia, day winner & now 66pts off the top spot. Still a long way to go, need to keep doing what we’re all (team 20 & AUS) doing.”
Keith; ” Interesting day with storms and rain towards the end of the flight. Happy we didn’t land 30 minutes later when the wind really picked up.”
Rich about the day in 20 m; The 20 Meter Class also had an Assigned Area Task with a 364.6km (226mi) nominal distance, with a minimum time of 3:30hr. After starting they went south to Big Wells, north to Hidden Valley Ranch, southwest to Highway 90, southeast to Lama de Cometa and then to finish. Again, the nominal speed was only 104kph (65mph) so everyone knew they would have to fly farther than nominal in these areas. In most cases, turns were made near the maximum distance point in 3 out of the 4 turn areas. These pilots finished at 1630, and they also dealt with gusty winds on landing.“
Overall Sarah and Karl are leading with 7.154 points whilst Adam and Keith are now on spot 2 with 7.448 points and on 3 is team Poland , Rubaj & Matkowski with 7.404 points.

open class; 3.30 AAT....
Felipe and Michael are back on their track with a 1-2 daily position!! 559 km / 156 km./h.
Attie and Peter in their JS5 were 1 km further, but needed more [10 minutes] time; 150.53 km./h.
Again on an equal 3d place!!!
17 started and finished.
With 4 days to go, Felipe and Michael lead overall with 7.672 and 7.575 points. Serbian Zoran in the JS 5 is on 3 with 7.385 points.
Rich on open class;
“In the Open Class, they also had a 3:30 hour Assigned Area Task the went west to Tularosa, south to Dentonio Ranch, north to Flying Bull and then south southeast to finish. The 415km (258mi) nominal distance gave a speed required of 118.5kph (73mph). More than nominal distance was required to complete this task over the minimum time. And that is what most of the Open Class did. The first two areas were flown to near the maximum distance points and the last area was turned based on finishing time. The Open Class was returning a little earlier than the other classes, so the weather and wind was not as bad. All in all, a well flown task by everyone.”

More tomorrow. I hope Inge and Indya have arrived safely in Uvalde where they stay for a few days. Inge was with us there in 1991 and for Indya Uvalde is a first!

Back to 2012.
As promised some impressions from Uvalde 2012.
Uvalde 1991 had great response, thanks for that.
2012 is not that long ago. I was there as writer for SOARING CAFE the internet page from Bill Elliott and Rand Baldwin. A pity they had no time enough to continue with that platform. It was popular around 2012.
Bill is nowadays an  Alabama Master Beekeeper .

On duty with Rand and Bill at the Uvalde premises.

More tomorrow I have to find other pictures, with the Uvalde -action. I told you, an album in your hand is easier than on the internet.

CU Cheers Ritz

Post 1.535 on August 26 2024

UVALDE TEXAS
Garner Field, United States
18 August 2024 – 31 August 2024

Only a few days to go…. the final week and the final touches from the pilots, as some points are CLOSE.
Meaning maybe not everything is possible but a lot is.
The day I missed in Uvalde was Saturday, so I look back at that pretty interesting day.

Saturday August 24 day 7 , task 7;
18 m; 458.09 km….
A race was set and it turned out to be a good day for the German and Dutch team. No, they did not fly together, started at different times but in the end finished on spot 1,1,3 and 4.
Simon Schröder and Stefan Langer, were with 153.55 km./h the fastest for 993 points. I find that always unbelievable; they fly far, yes start and finis about the same time, but must be nearly glued together along the road. Smart if you can do that! Very smart and you must be equally good!!!!
They choose for an early start, most started after 3 PM , they at 14.57 and had a great run.
My Dutch mates Sjaak and Jeroen[ his logbook now has 3000 hours!!!!!!] ; Jeroen; 152.20 km./h and Sjaak149.76 km./h.
Matthew was on spot 24 and he describes the reason why, full of self knowledge;
“We had an awesome forecast and aloft prestart the day looked great. With the first task of the contest that wasn’t grossly overset, we actually had a bit of a window to pick our start time. I planned on doing 155-165kph, having now got a handle on the glider and seemingly similar conditions to previous days we were deep in the 150’s.
I was surprised to see many competitors leave as much as 40 minutes before my own optimal start time, and what I normally would do if I see a big discrepancy is wind back my own start time to minimise the risk if I’d got it grossly wrong, but having got it right a few days in a row, I backed myself and stuck to my optimum.
Unfortunately, the afternoon streeting never really got pumping like it has every other day since we arrived and I was only(!) doing 150kph, which left me one good climb short of final glide before the day packed in. Also a factor was I thought I could be faster alone today, but the climbs were actually a bit trickier to find than I anticipated.
I scraped home on sheer will, but only earnt 750pts for my effort. A lot of work to do from here.“
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
I like his analyses., hope you do too.
All 32 started and finished!

20m. multi seat; 407.66 km
Most gliders in this class are ARCUS types. The first 6 of the day flew one. Daily winners ; Arnold & Striedieck, so another good run for Sarah and Karl; 150.94 km./h. A good race also for the UK boys , [they seem on steam now] Steve and Garry;149.77 km./h Adam and Keith were 3d and Erik and Mathijs 4th.
All 16 teams started and finished.
Together with Wolfgang and Andy Adam and Keith started late at 15.16.
Adam; “I couldn’t have written the start gate & time script better if I tried, we absolutely nailed it. Team America went through 7min prior to us & at about 6000′, the main gaggle didn’t come over to our wisp, which indicated they were all about to roll out soon, we were sitting about 500-1000′ higher & upwind, with only the FRA team starting behind us.
One glide, we’d caught the Americans & in touch with the gaggle. Day done, we were in the overall lead of the WGC..“
Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Why they were 3d you can read in his blog. They are full of HOPE; “170 odd points off the world championship title with 6 days to go, it’s all to play for. Feeling good, charged with positive energy, we can do this.”

open class; 450.91 km…
They had a plan! They only had to execute it. 4 JS 5 pilots among them Attie from Jonker Sailplanes, THEIR business of course, and the other 3 JS 5 pilots, mate Oscar and Peter [Hungary] and Zoran. [Serbia]
The plan WORKED!!!!After a late start [ 15.14] the 4 went together at track and finished just after 6PM. Attie and Oscar won the day, 910 points, 907 for Peter and 899 for Zoran. Is that a “coup”????
Well done.
The German EB pilots Felipe and Michael flew around with 161 km./h. Fast day!
All 17 started and finished.

In between the pilots had their INTERNATIONAL NIGHT as well, with all teams presenting goodies belonging to their country/identity.

My Dutch mates were in cheering ORANGE mood, happy chappies all of them;

And,…a rest day at Sunday:
“What a crazy day. Uvalde sure knows how to do rest days! Easily the best of any contest I’ve been to.
We went to “Ox Ranch”, the private ranch of the founder of HostGator.com (weird fact). White rhinos, tanks, machine guns, sniper rifles.
Then a great dinner under the watchful eye of a taxidermy elephant. Texas is a hell of a drug.
The remainder of the contest looks stormy, which is good because after losing a few lotteries I now need some more lotteries.” by Matthew.

As Arne mentioned; “Rest days are tough“

—————————————————————————-

So far the news about the WGC.
We had the F1 at the Zandvoort circuit last weekend and the orange army went mostly by train [every 5 minutes a train to the circuit ] to see if Max could win AGAIN. But no he did not. Norris has a much better car than Max at the moment, so Max was runner up. How that works with cars puzzles’ me.
I had a great time at the KEIHEUVEL AIRFIELD, hope yo looked at the pictures and read the stories belonging to them, in the earlier blog.

CU tomorrow,
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.534 on August 25 2024

As every year I visit , just here over the border, the airfield of Balen in Belgium, called KEIHEUVEL.
Can tell you straight away,….I have never seen the field so beautiful GREEN. The rain has been good for gardens and grass.
AND…as you can see too,….good looking clouds for a fun-day.
After they had to cancel Saturday , [due to severe storms , code orange was given for after 6Pm, ] all pilots were back , as they knew it would be good weather.
They fly in 3 classes;
Friendly with 8 pilots, sports class with transponder with 14 pilots and open with transponder with 32 pilots among them Tim and my grand daughter Indya. She is interested in flying comps in the future and Tim is her mentor this weekend.

The start was at 12 exact and they were ready with the 54 gliders at 13.09. I believe they had 5 tuggies.

I was in time for the briefing. As my brother Piet and his wife Saf, could n’t stay too long, we followed the briefing and went to the field to see the launches.

As every year it is a “feast” of recognition. I saw all my friends and more.
One of them Bert. [ van Eyken] I did not recognise him straight away ,but when he told me he was Bert, I knew he had worked for us at Sportavia in 2003. A real nice year with Belgium and Dutch “helpers” as Renate. So long ago and they still have contact. Good to hear Sportavia has been good to them.
Also Tim and Tijl [ both from Keiheuvel] worked for us our were our guest.

It’s always a great pleasure to see the 2 families I know already for so long. The Huybreckx family and the Schmelzer family.

Not all family from Schmelzer this time on the picture, but dad Bert sr. and Tijl .

Another family we know already for ages is the Kaay family. Noud is a junior like Tim and both flew the JWGC in Ostrow.

And then last but not least Indya.
Proud grand ma.
Like her uncle Dennis, who flew his first international competition at this field in 1986or 7, it is now Indya who hopes to fly comps in the future too;

Indya and Tim flew home with the engine, so no winning- mood for her, but she learnt a lot. That’s what it is all about.

Tasks and results;
Friendly; 142.72 km…won by our life-time-keiheuvel-mate Emiel De Wachter in his LS8.. He and his wife , Godelieve, are getting old like I am , but he said he still loves his flying and his eyes start to twinkle.

Sport XPDR; 258.63 km….Dutch junior Lars van Breemen was the winner in a mini lak; 80.39 km./h.

Open XPDR; 285.34 km….The Schmelzer brothers did well. Tijl won with 98.81 km./h in his Ventus 3T and brother Bert jr was runner up with 96.26 km./h They started together but Tijl was back 4 minutes earlier.
Dutch junior Noud in the ASG 29 was 3d. Good on him.

As every year a lovely day-out-with my family, to my soaring family in Belgium.

Tomorrow back with Uvalde. Today they had a rest day!

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.533 on August 24 2024

UVALDE TEXAS
Garner Field, United States
18 August 2024 – 31 August 2024

Saturday August 24 day 6 task 6;
After a tense briefing in which was said over the open class task ; “This is not racing, this is roulette!” , they all went on track for long flights and some got caught by last light!!!!!!!
Some landed with the lights of the runway ON, it was complete dark. Look at the video from the French as shared by Philippe de Péchy
Then I wonder, but who am I, why not a shorter B task so everybody gets back in time?
Arne; “As beautiful as the approx 80km final glide was, as disturbing was the task setting and stated thinking behind it. Getting out of hand are ridiculous long tasks given very late launch time, consequently intense gaggling endues, turnpoints in storm, very few outlanding options and pilots landing in total darkness.” Arne J. Boye-Møller

Here is what happened ;
18m; 575.46 km….a HUGE NEW SURPRISE for me;  Lumpy Paterson, from “my” little town Tocumwal on the Murray River, the border between NSW and Victoria, running the “school'” at the Tocumwal drome,, won the day and 1000 points. Don’t get me wrong!!! Lumpy is a good and fast pilot , BUT this is is first ever WGC and he is not old, but not the youngest anymore either. So sometimes we can throw, age and experience in the bin.
Lumpy flew just a tad faster than USA pilot Sean Fidler;125.30 for 124.63km./h and not far behind LITHUANIAN Linas, good on him. Never heard from him till now but I keep his name in my mind!!122,64 km./h. and great job again from Manu, for sure I know him; 122.58 and very close behind “our” Jeroen with 122.25 km./h.
All pilots finished after 7PM, 3 after 8 PM and 7 were “out”. Among them Radek, after 529 km., a pity a last light issue too; meaning “landing after legal daylight”; meaning all in all, from 3 overall to 17 as there were only 400 daily points for him!!!!!
Radek got in the morning at briefing, the daily prize and applause for the win the day before.

Lumpy; and as he won he deserves the full story in my blog;
“Today was a 575km racing task with us heading south east first, towards the ocean and towering thunderstorms which had started very early today. Fortunately the storm had died down by the time we got there, however the high cloud which was generated by this, put the task area into shadow. This cut off convection and made things very very soft.
It was interesting to see what pilots strategy was heading out from the first turn. I noted a large gaggle had done a 180* after the turn heading back to the sunlight. I decided to head out on track towards the turn point No 2, I figured I might as well glide on track as go backwards. I dumped some water to get down to a 56kg wing loading and headed off towards the lighter shadowed area. There was a big lake on track and decided I didn’t wanna pass down wind of that and be low so I chose a path upwind. As the sun warmed the ground, a few little Cu’s started to pop on track and I could see the sea breeze starting to influence the sky with some good energy lines towards the last turn. I hooked up with a few other gliders at this point and ran with them to the last turn. We worked well together and made the most of the air….each taking turns to lead out.

We all turned the last TP pretty much together and then it was about stringing some good lines home. I was very mindful of how quickly the day closed down yesterday and still being 200 kms from home, I was going to get high and stay as high. This time we had a 15 kt tailwind instead of on the nose, now that’s a nice feeling.
The run home was good, even though we passed through large areas of blue, the few clouds remaining provided 3 to 4 kts. I set off needing to find 1000 feet on the way home with Mc Creedy on 3 …. And unlike yesterday, I enjoyed this one !“
To win a day at an event like this with the quality of pilots flying ….. it’s a dream come true.”

Congratulations Lumpy! After his bad day he thought of playing more golf but …..No more golf for him yet ,” The Mistress [JS3] and I are back on talking terms again.”

Matthew; The promised task B never eventuated, but we tried to make the most of the day. I had a perfect start, higher and behind the key players, with Lumpy just behind. We ran down the lead gaggle and caught them just before the shadow from the thunderstorm at the first turn. There was two final cu to choose from for the glide in to the shadow, and Lumpy followed the wrong glider to the right cloud, and I went to the wrong cloud and got much of nothing.
About half the fleet made the same mistake, and those that didn’t make that mistake made another one by making a huge deviation back towards Uvalde to escape the shadow that seemingly just was too far off track.
I knew I was in deep trouble but battled and battled for hours to just squeak in before sunset, using some massive floaters for the last couple hundred feet on glider.” Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

20 m multi class; 623.25 km…..Bouderlique & de Péchy won the day, speed 112.56 km./h. Not much more than team UK with Jones & Coppin I was already waiting for them for a place in the top !
Wolfgang and Andy [Austria] were 3d; 111.29 km./h.
Between spot 1 for the day and 11, is not even a 100 points difference.
All 16 teams started and 1 was “out” , Pilots landed between 19.21 and 19.58.
Sarah and Karl still proudly lead the overall scores.
Here is “Aussie’ Keith who flies with Adam; “despite spending a lot of time close to the ground over the hills we managed to find enough lift to keep moving along.
We placed 13th today with only 857 points. If we had to use the engine this would have been another 500 points lower. I am sure we got the last thermal of the day to get home.
We have slipped from 2nd to 4th overall. Another 6 days of flying to go. Bring it on.“

Rich with his daily report [part of it;
“The 20 Meter Class spent more time up in the hill country early, but they still had issues with the day.  There were clouds up in the hills, but many did not work.  Today was a weaker day than any of the contest or training days these pilots have experienced.  I will try and get better information before the pilots meeting tomorrow and include that in my morning report.
The 20 Meter teams were sent out on a racing task of 623.3km (387mi) east to Diversion Dam, north to Fredericksburg, west to Four Square, southeast to Charlotte and then finish. .  Great flying in these conditions with 20-meter ships.”

Open class; 4.30 AAT…. The French team did really well. Laurent Aboulin and Sylvain Gerbaud flew 661 km with a speed of 142 km./h The combination JS1 C/21 m and EB 29R did well together and fished with ONE point difference!!!! Great effort, but, yes both very good pilots.
Peter and Oscar both in JS 5 landed at 20.21 and 27 , indeed too late , most probably hold somewhere along the road by the weather, as they normally are fast.
Yesterday Oscar still won the day and as Radek it was a totally different day to day.
Felipe and Michael still lead overall and as points are rather close, Francois is back on 4.[also 4 for the day]

Back to 1991 for the last time then to 2012, which will be more difficult as those pictures are not in one of my many albums , but digital. I hear you say, much easier , but not for me , but I will find them.

Before we could practice at the Uvalde Airport it had to be empty , so we moved to the most wonderful spot WITH pool ; Fort Clark Springs. Can’t remember how I organised that but we went there and had a ball.
“The original cavalry post is a membership resort community.
It ‘s the historic home of US 5th Cavalry Regiment and the Seminole -Negro Indian Scouts.” 1985
The town was called Brackettville.

My daughter Inge and Grand daughter Indya are planning to visit Uvalde this year for a 2 or 3 day stay. Inge became friends with the Pommies. Lizzy Wells [ in the middle] at the picture still belongs to her friends.
The young man’s name was Paul. They all crewed for the UK team. They are all now in their 50thies!!!!

Ingo Renner was one of the Aussie pilots. At that stage I had no idea he would work with and for us at the Sportavia Soaring Centre for 10 years , as we bought the business from Don only in 1995 and Ingo belonged from the beginning to the sportavia team already with founder Bill Riley.

No news tomorrow, busy at the Keiheuvel in Belgium.
AND the F1 is at Zandvoort, the orange army is busy this weekend.

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.532 on August 23 2024

Great to see, that all pilots I hoped they would win a day…. did win today!!!
Radek in 18m, Erik and Mathijs in the 20 m class and Oscar in open.

Here we go with day 5 and task 5; 43 Gr C.
Lumpy mentioned about this day;” There are days when the idea of taking up golf seems very appealing….. The forecast was for blue down to the first turn, then working into Cu up the north. The risk was over development towards the last turn, in fact navigating that with TS predicted was a topic for discussion. Reality was a little different…… isn’t it always !” Tocumwal Soaring Centre

Friday August 23, day 5, task 5;
18m; 4 hour AAT....and a bit of a “weird” top 10, not the usual names, but great to see and all 10 flew over 152 km./h!!!!!.
Daily winner Radek Krejcirik. Son from Petr and during many years ,I have seen/met the family at fields as Petr was mostly the TC from the Czech Rep. or he flew an EGC or WGC himself. I believe Petr could be in the TWIN SHARK, in the 20 m class this year, but I am not sure as they always use only surnames. Grrr….
Radek was like more kids from pilot,s a lot of time at airfields and then you can talk about the “spoon” or “the apple’……
Over the last couple of years Radek became a “good, better, best pilot” and as said in 2012 he was already in Uvalde. He was 3d overall in 15 m with 10.526 points.
This daily win pleases me; 635.28 km. with 155.39 km./h. Just a tad faster than our Belgian mate Manu who flew 661.31 km. with 155.23 km./h. both in JS3.
On spot 3 Linas Miezlaiskis from Lithuania in AS 33es, Simon from Germany in Ventus 3E was 4th , on 5 Yves Gerster from Switzerland , on 6 Hungaryan Zoltan Hamar, on 7 Ian MacArthur from the UK, on 8 Dawid Pretorius from SA followed by 2 pilots on spot 9. Uys and Sjaak from ZA and The Netherlands, all in JS3.
All 32 started and 1 was “out”.
Till now I expected more from my Italian mates Thomas and Stefano,[25 and 26 today] but still a full week to go.
Matthew was on spot 12 and then I think straight away, “What happened”?
Here it is; ” Catastrophe struck – I was having a brilliant day by myself with a task speed above 160kph, taking advantage of the good conditions where flying alone can be faster, but at 6pm just as the day started to switch off my LX9070 lost GPS position.
I switched to my backup navigation, but lost my FLARM radar and sight of the gaggle I wanted to be with for the anticipated tricky climb to final glide and ended up by myself, low, in a collapsing sky. I lost a lot of hard-won kph on Team Germany that I may not have another opportunity to reclaim.
We have replaced the GPS antenna and placed it above the shroud, hoping that was the problem…
Thanks to Uys Jonker for the help onto glide and after landing.” Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

20 m. multi seat; 4 hour AAT....YES,….Erik and Mathijs won the 4 hour AAT; 517.75 km with 129.44 km./h. AND,…exactly at the 4 hour-dot!!!Top!!!!
The good working team AT the ground took a picture straight away. Thanks team!!!

Runner up today was team Keith and Marju from N.Z with 513.56 and 125.96 km./h.[946 points] BUT,…they had ONLY 1 point more than Adam and Keith on spot 3 [945] USA top team Karl and Sarah was 3d. By the way , Sarah’s husband Jason is a tuggy at the comps. AND,….Karl flew in 1991 in Uvalde in 15 m class
They still lead however, overall, before Adam and Keith ; 4.818 and 4.725 points.
All 16 teams started AND finished.
Here is Adam;
“The power of the mind is the key point behind today’s flight. We started high, started first, powered down the first leg, knowing that the Americans were hot on our heels. Second leg, lower & lower we went. I have this weakness that when I’m in front, I will do everything in my power to make sure that I don’t stop in a thermal, unless it feels like a thermal & I can core it straight away. I desperately don’t want to mark a climb for anyone & I’m not willing to reduce my cruise speed until I really have to.
Today, that was down to 1700′ until I got a 5kt save. Though it wasn’t enough, I could see the Americans catching me slowly & I was confident that they turned at the same point in the first sector.
After our recovery, I decided that the entire gaggle, including myself was in the wrong part of the sky. Everyone was trying to be on the outside for extra kilometres, but I decided that I could go faster by getting closer to the trough (which was key for working climbs easier) & turning early, to get into the deep CU quicker.
“Hammer time. For the first time this comp I flew at close to 100% to catch back up what I lost & to try win the day in another way. It felt great. The power of the mind, I could’ve resigned to losing more points, but I took it all into my own hands & decided to get cracking.“
much more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

Open; 4.30 AAT.... the big ones had to fly half an hour more, hence more kilometres 680 and 151.03 km./h for Oscar Goudriaan in his new “toy” the JS5.
Interesting; 3 pilots finished at the 4.30 mark!!!! AND, they won the day. Also interesting the 18 m class flew in 4 hours only 50 km less.
Runner up was Zoran Frenc from Serbia and 3d was Laurent Aboulin. They flew a few kilometres less and a bit “slower” but finished at the dot!!!!
All 17 pilots finished, some [ 5] late …after 7PM.
“our” Francois who did so well till now , very consistent, was on spot 12 and sadly dropped from 3 to 6, BUT a week to go.

———————————————–

No Sebastian Kawa this year in Uvalde at the WGC, but he returned back home after a long and very impressive and intense new journey, happy to be back so to see;

Looking back on 1991;
Nice to see/hear, that you like the link with 1991, next week I will look back at 2012 , when I was there as journalist for SOARING CAFE.

First the/”my” Dutch team and the airfield of Uvalde in 1991!!!
it’s a picture from pictures on 1 page in my album.
With Daan, Sikko ,Gerrit and Baer as pilots and Dick and I as Team manager and TC.

The Russian team ” USSR” was present and I remember getting a “tube” with astronaut-food from 1 of the pilots, Alexander Silvanovitch. Never eat it , kept it for a few years and had to throw it away.

The Team from South Africa flew there as well but under INDIVIDUAL ENTRIES.AND,…Oscar is still flying WGC’s!!!! TOP!!!!!!He WON today!!!!!

And last but not least My Aussie mates crew from “Butch ” John Buchanan , Gaby and John’s son Brad.

Cu tomorrow. NOT on SUNDAY as I will be at the KEIHEUVEL. They fly there for 2 days for THE CUP.
Try to write the Keiheuvel diary as usual too.
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.531 on August 22 2024

UVALDE TEXAS Garner Field, United States
18 August 2024 – 31 August 2024

For all classes a 3.15 AAT was set. Altitude up to 5000 m[ 16.500 ft] .
Arne mentioned; “Another scorching and exciting day with 43 deg C and high speed flying. Groundspeed often in excess of 240 kph between thermals on the 506km task.”
The SA team about the weather; “Weather forecasts haven’t been the most accurate over the last days, so fingers crossed whatever the weather is, it’s good.“

Thursday August 22 task 4;
18m; 3.15 AAT……with 154.39 km./h over 506 km, it was Stefan Langer [AS33me] again [he won task 2 as well] from Germany who took the daily win! Over the last year, wherever he flew, he nearly wins everything !!!!
His mate Simon [Ventus 3e] only lost 30 points, together they are very strong!
Spot 3 till 16 shows JS3 gliders flown by different Nationalities.
All 32 stated and 1 was “out”.
Matthew was 5th for the day and always has a strong analysis.
Matthew; “Which sector would you max out?
A lot of competitors chose the southern sector, perhaps anticipating the northern sector to be so ballistic as to run out of time, or perhaps concerned the forecast thunderstorms would make it unnavigable to the north later in the day.
Fortunately I had the ultra-high-def SkySight satellite pictures overlaid on the task inflight and was able to clearly see the north sector was fast but not ‘too fast’, and then turn short in the southern sectors for a very safe and easy 950pt flight even after an atrocious start (falling out of the wave just before my PEV window, twice).” Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

Rich, official media team; “The 18 Meter Class went on a 3:15 hour Assigned Area Task south to Callaghan, northeast to Los Angeles, northwest to Commanche Caves and southwest to the finish. With the seabreeze and some blow off from the storms, coupled with the better climbs in the hill country, it made good sense to make distance in the north. However, you never want to put all your eggs in one basket. Most of the leaders did exactly that. Going a little into the first area and making the most miles in the last area to the north. Final glides were mostly stress free and the top 5 pilots were separated by about 50 points.” WGC Uvalde 2024 WGC 2024 Uvalde Late Report Day 4

20m. 3.15 AAT…..all 16 started and finished and best for the day was French team Bouderlique & de Péchy in the ARCUS T;150 km./h over 530.82 km.
Great runner up spot from team USA with the VERY experienced, maybe the most experienced from all over there, Karl Striedeck and the WWGC champion Sarah Arnold, who I met first in 2012 in Uvalde when she was a tuggie. They only lost 7 points for the day.
As Adam mentioned;” Hats off to the American team, who rolled in 500′ below Keith & I’s 4-5kt climb at 9000′. We decided to move on, because the CU ahead still looked like it was producing 6kts. Unfortunately, it did not & leaving that climb with Karl & Sarah, turned out to be the difference in 993pts & our 886pts.”

Adam; “I think 50% of the field today were thinking, we need to Max out the task in order to not come in under time. I know I certainly was, with 162kph to the 2nd TP & ‘only’ needing 172kph to come home on time, flying in from FL130 & 8kt averages, surely we were going to smoke it in.
Unfortunately not.
The highlight of the day was rolling into a 10.5kt climb for 5000′ or so, leaving the gaggle behind.”
Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

Rich; “The 20 Meter Class had the best airmass of the group. They were sent on a 3:15 hour Assigned Area Task north to Menard, west to Eldorado and south southeast to finish. With a maximum distance speed required of only 164kph, you had to plan on maximizing the distance in all the circles to be sure you did not come under time. The weather conditions in the hill country can be really strong. Pete Alexander and I learned from Adam Woolley and Pasi Pulkkinen last year when they maxed out the turn areas while we went 8km less than them. We lost the day because we did not realize the task was under called until it was too late in the first area. We will not make that mistake again. Thanks boys! The leaders did not make that mistake and had a great flight with the highest altitude being 5,000m (16,500ft). With that kind of altitude, final glides were stress free.“

open; 3.15 AAT....They must have lost each other on the way! Felipe and Michael. As usual they started together at 15.55 but finished at 19.23 and 19. 37!!!!! Pretty unusual for the well oiled German “machine”.
Daily winner ; Felipe Levin with 505 km and 145.37 km./h. Michael was on spot 10 with also 505 km but 136.11 km./h , which means he must have got into trouble in the end. They swapped places now overall, Felipe is on 1 and Michael now on 2 but 8 days to go so EVERYTHING can happen.
Great flying from our Dutch pilot Francois in his EB 29R. A very experienced pilot, who flew many CAT 1 comps and is more and more a very consistent pilot. Good on him; On task 1 he was on spot 3, task 2 spot 2, on task 3 on spot 7 and now again runner up, with a strong 3d place overall for now! Good on him!!!
Francois mentioned that the late launches were enervating . First leg was FAST and furious , and up to 4000 m in thermals and then on the 2d leg the weather declined totally and you could only try to stay as high as possible and get home.

Rich; “The Open Class was sent on a 3:15 Assigned Area Task northwest to Queso, southeast to Taco, northeast to Burrito and to the finish. This task sounded more like a lunch menu at Taco Bell than a race. The Open Class had the opposite problem than the 20 Meter Class. It would be better to make the distance in the north area since the southern turn area later in the day was expected to be weak. That is exactly what the leaders did. The altitudes were lower than the 20 Meter ships since they were in the hill country earlier. Maximum altitude for the Open Class to the north was just under 4,000m (13,100ft).“

—-In the past I have been at many places where John Good was too. In 2012 he was the deputy CD in Uvalde ,juggling with 4 balls , when he was just listening at the stage and later at several comps as the WWGC in Lake Keepit. John is a great TC AND writer!!!! Where I write simple and out of the heart ,he writes as a real professional. Also about this WGC where he is also adviser to the organisation.
His reports are on the US Soaring Teams site and the tasks 1 to 3 have been published now also on FB.
The beginning of his Day 3:
Team USA Daily Report: Day #3 (August 20)
“A remarkable day today at WGC2024 – among the more notable in the long history of contests here. With a vast high- pressure system sitting almost on top of us, the forecast called for extreme temperatures – perhaps the highest of the year – and blue condition. Lift would start a bit late, reach good altitudes, and probably end early. Long tasks were set, but had to be modified as the sniffer was unable to reach safe altitudes until almost 2 pm.” Much more US Soaring Teams

Looking back at 1991;

“MY” world champion Baer Selen in 1991 in standard class.
After 12 days of flying, Baer accumulated 11.216 points in his Discus. 46 Pilots in this class but sadly enough Anssi was out due to the tragic collision with Mr Kodama from Japan, who’s glider was smashed too. Janusz Treciak [Poland] was runner up in SZD 55-1 [ 11. 040 points ] and Eric Moser , for me still Herbie, was 3d in a Discus A.[11.034]

In open class the 1991 winner/champion was Janusz Centka from Poland in ASW 22B with 11.111 points, have never seen that anymore. Holger Back from Germany was runner up with 11.101[ Nimbus 3] and Gerard Lherm from France was 3d in Nimbus 4.[10.987]
24 in this class.

Or at the window of the office where pilots eagerly looked how they had flown.

CU tomorrow!
Cheers Ritz