Of course the INTERNATIONAL EVENING, was with young ones,” party time/fun , “specially because they could sleep in the next morning, BUT,…then they have to be “fresh and new ” again to consolidate, or to win , but better not to loose points. Their first week was unbelievable. Some flew for the first time over 500 km, others had never had such good speed in their till now short career. I guess this comp till now is everything they dreamed of , even when they are not on spot 1 or had an out-landing. Sometimes the experience is BIGGER than the RESULT.
Yesterday I mentioned a 3d spot for a Japanese pilot Kengo and I was really pleased with that. When I visited a few soaring places in Japan ,I found out that it’s not easy to fly cross country there. A bit later I was even more pleased ,when I noticed that Dutch Tim was as well on spot 3. They departed on different times, flew a different amount of kilometres and had a different speed, but both got 952 points!!!!
Hope they ALL [ pilots, crews, organizers, tuggies and helpers] have a pleasant official rest day and share here some pictures from M Levitzky and the drone.
Briefing.
And from the so important tugs.
Martn Levitzky, what a top photographer!!!!!!!
FAI Sailplane Grand Prix in France shared the next news; “Today’s weather has many surprises: pure thermals are expected!The pilots will tackle a 221.47 km race. 1st take off at 12:45 UTC.…” The points from race 1 are now clear; In the end Adrian Henry had not 9 but 10- points, which makes his total now 20, which means 2 winning-days!!! 10 started and Yves Gerster from Switzerland was runner up. 3 Were out.
Updated; Today; 221.47 km….with a late start at 15.20 the pilots raced over the track with as best 115 k./h. Christophe Abadie won the day for 10 points. Rasmus Ørskov was runner up and Sébastien Dubreuil 3d.
—- INTERESTING: Last Monday the worldwide temperature record was broken for the 2d consecutive day with an average of 17.5 dgr C. On Sunday it was 17.09. ” Copernicus ” does look at these temperature averages since 1940. When they do, they look at the N. [winter now] and S. combined.
And one more because they are SO BEAUTIFUL. Look for all these top-finish- pictures on the FB side from Aeroklub Ostrowski on 19.07.2024.
Flying day 8 out of 10….on Tuesday July 23 Looking back first again; Team USA mentioned after the scrubbed day; “Today 7/22 ended with a “scrub” because of bad weather, tho an effort was made for short tasks. These young people have made tremendous efforts with many hours of competition.” Pictures from the daily winners from task 7 should be of course published, here they are . First standard class;
JWGC day 10, flying day 8 and task 9; “An interesting forecast for the day, good weather, similar task area. Feeling rested after yesterday’s scrub.” is what the Brits mentioned. Also the Dutch call it an “interesting task with interesting weather”. Let’s wait and see what happens. 11.15 would be the estimated time for the first launches. TONIGHT is the INTERNATIONAL EVENING, so a busy day for the crews to make sure there country is well presented with original food and drinks. When the rest- day will be still tomorrow, a good choice to do it tonight.
Club class; task 9…3 hour AAT...Gate opened at 12.04. Good day for Alexandre from France, with 312.18 and 108. km./h, he was the best and the only one over 100 km./h. GOOD!!! He moves up to spot 2 overall behind his mate Nicolas [7.075 and 6.968 p] Both fly an ASW 20. kim from Finland moved to spot 3 and Martijn from Belgium is on spot 4. Between the top 4 in this class a lot is still possible. A LOT!!!!! Danish pilot Jens in a MOSQUITO, was runner up with 313.23 / 98.60 km./h. Good to see a Japanese pilot in the daily top 3!!!Kengo Matsumoto in an ASW 20 was 3d!!!!!294.37 km and 98.12 km./h. VERY GOOD!!!! 3 are not yet scored and 3 are out of the race.
Standard class; task 9…3 hour AAT.…At 5 PM ALL pilots in this class had finished!!! Good day!!! The start line opened at 12.26 and the ceiling was 1900 m, so a pretty good day. Best was Jakub Kaczorowski from Poland, his 2d win, he also won task 1. He flew 346.24 km./ 109.90 km./h. His Polish mate Maciej was 3d, they flew together in an LS8 and Discus 2A. Danish pilot Lasse has a good end-sprint; he was runner up with 339 km/ 108,87 km./h. He was already 4th on task 7. German Max did well with a 4th place and a late start. Somewhere, along the “road” he lost his mates [ Jan and Nils /spot 13 and 22] and that is visible in the overall scores. Max leads now the standard class with 6.483 points. USA pilot Thomas is runner up at this stage; GOOD ON HIM!!![6.374] Nils and Jan follow on 3 and 4.[6.318 and 6.286] All scores PRELIMINARY.
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—— Saint Sulpice des Landes, France, 18 July 2024 – 27 July 2024 After the short, but exciting late start on Sunday with race 1, the next day was cancelled, but the INTERNATIONAL EVENING was set and pictures show lovely food and drinks. Very good looking cheeses and home made pies. Dancing and a disc jockey it was all available and not to forget ; baguettes. Race 1 Highlight available on YouTube https://youtu.be/1ms9f9qf-ug?feature=shared
race 2 is for today at the menu with 267.39 km; The organizers shared; “Yesterday’s rain is now a distant memory, and the weather looks fantastic. Vive la Bretagne! The competitors will tackle a 270 km course, with the first take-off scheduled for 1 PM CEST.” At this stage 3 pilots are out among them Rasmus, a pity!!! 5 are not yet scored, but Adrian Henry in JS 1C, got for now 9 points, as “the best”. More tomorrow.
—-And to finish the day ,a picture from Dutch Pilot Wout in the LS 4 AG. This is one of the gliders specially reserved, for young Dutch top juniors . He visibly enjoyed the flight, even after he was unlucky on task 3, when 23 pilots from 42, out -landed and he was one of them.
——After a fatal 2- seater crash 2 weeks ago, 2 more pilots got in trouble in the mountains, Haute-Alps, of France but they can tell us what happened and were LUCKY!!!!. “A glider made an emergency landing on Monday, July 22 at the end of the day in the municipality of Crots (Hautes-Alpes). The aircraft landed in the quarry, between the Boscodon torrent and the Italian beach. Both occupants are unharmed. About twenty firefighters and gendarmes were mobilised“. Just to learn from!!!!!!!
BFM.
CU tomorrow, hopefully they share pictures from the INTERNATIONAL EVENING.
July 22 task 8 out of 9 at the FAI JWGC at Ostrow.
Life continues; a new week, possible 4 days to go, a short task today and a day off tomorrow and this JWGC is over again. Time flies when you have fun and I guess most young ones had FUN with each other, with the flights and even dealing with disappointments.
Looking back ; Team USA has a TC ,Peter Deane, who shares a lot of news so here is a bit, the rest you find on US Soaring Teams “Today’s weather was a relief to all – no high cloud cover, high temperatures, low wind and a cooking thermal and cumulus forecast. The task was a 4.5hr turn area task for both classes. All our pilots made it around with our club class pilots having their fastest day so far in the 100 to 100kph range which was good for 700 to 870 points. Thomas in Standard consolidated his contest some more with 913 points and a move up into 3rd overall after the leader ( a German pilot) had an unfortunate airspace violation and got landed out for the day.“ Of course he meant a “Dutch” pilot, many make that “mistake”. No worries. Team Belgium; “Yesterday was a super day. We have never experienced this weather before! We thought we had flown well, but apparently not well enough. Today was initially scheduled as the rest day. They should have kept this idea because we suspect the day will be cancelled. The rainshowers are supposed to arrive around 11:30 am. “For now” the rest day is now on Wednesday. We had to get up early again today but the cancelled day will be welcome relieve. Side note: Today they gave us an AAT of 1h15, with a minimum distance of 121km. So that means we already had to fly at least 96km/h“ British Gliding Team; “A solid day for our pilots, with Oli flying his fastest ever flight so far.” on task 7 with 123 km./h.
Monday; July 22 day 9, task 8. Club class; 1.15 AAT…..A low passes by and rain is expected. day CANCELLED
I guess nobody will be too sad about that, after a few days of superb weather and long interesting flights/days. Hope they all have a good rest.
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——French FAI SGP has a” no task-day” today! Luckily yesterday turned out rather nice after a late start. “It was a short but thrilling race that culminated in a fierce duel. Adrien Henry and Christophe Abadie battled neck-and-neck in the final kilometers, with Adrien ultimately maintaining his lead to finish three seconds ahead. Jean-Pierre Bellec, who had been well-positioned throughout the race, secured third place, finishing less than a minute behind them.”
13th FAI JWGC at Ostrów Wielkopolski Michałków, Poland, in progress and continuing till July 26.
Courtesy M Levitzky.
Looking back first; here is 1 of the pilots, this time Martijn from Belgium; “Small update from the past 2 days. Yesterday we had a 5-hour AAT that both pilots flew well around! Again more than 500km was flown. Also today there was given another 500km racing task which both pilots flew well around, although it was often not that easy with the cirrus clouds. Probably tomorrow we will fly a 500km for a 4th time as the forecast is looking nice again. Also the rest day has already been postponed to Tuesday, so who knows what it will be on Monday.”
The French [Pôle France Planeur] looked back with mixed feelings. They found the races “long” maybe even too long ,as the lift died later in the day and the cirrus was thicker than expected. Their club class pilots however did well with a podium spot for Alexandre [1] and Nicolas [3] Good on them.
The British Gliding Team looked back on a great day too, specially in standard with Henry at the podium on the highest spot and George W in club, on spot 2. “George Downing (LD) is no longer able to fly JWGC due to a combination of licensing and time for a repair on the glider. He is still in camp providing invaluable support with tracking alongside the TC.” “A team result well earned! Smiles all round, as everyone is glad to have made it back to the airfield. A few outlandings, with everyone safe and accounted for”
The Dutch juniors had a bit of an off day in club , with Tim and Lars back after 6 hours and 30 minutes on spot 31 and 33 and Wout JUST made it over/in the finish ring/circle but had to swallow some penalty points and was the last finisher. [spot 34.] They started, were not happy, flew back and started again …good choice…They flew well, even SUPER, 3 m lift,100/120 km./h average , but they lost ALL on the last bit of the task with that incoming cirrus ,when the air was dead. They choose for the safe decision when they reached the forest, left the gaggle ,but the gaggle found 2 m and they struggled. Another split second decision! Overall scores in Club after 6 tasks; 1. Nicolas Caudrelier [France] with 5.183 points. 2. Kim Toppari [Finland] with 5,106 points. 3. Martijn Eerdekens [Belgium] with 5,077 points. 4. Alexandre Fierain [France] with 5,027 points. Everything is still possible.
Jasper in the LS 8 did very well with a 6th daily spot and 964 points, Niels and Noud ended on spot 11 and 13, but still with 931 and 889 daily points.[ Dutch Junior Gliding Team] Overall scores after task 6 in standard class; 1. Nils Schlautmann [ Germany] with 4,725 points. 2. Niels van Nieuwland [ The Netherlands] with 4,683 points. 3. Max Maslak [Germany] with 4,672 points. 4. Thomas Greenhill [USA] with 4,623 points. After such long distances scores are very close.
In club the 42 “left-over” pilots flew and 34 finished whilst 8 went “aux vaches” Also the 2 young American pilots , but only after 477 and 416 km. In standard, 14 pilots finished and 9 did not…..BUT, they all flew over 500 km. Chapeau!!!
Yesterdays winners;
Club class winners from l to r; George {UK] Alexandre and Nicolas. Congratulations! Pôle France Planeur
Standard class winners; from l to r. Jan, Henry and Max. Aeroklub Ostrowski
Task 7 on day 8 on July 21. Launches expected to start at 11.15 with good weather conditions, with a ceiling/cloud base at 1900 m.. Club class; 4.30 AAT….[348.53 km / 740.98 km (543.13 km)]… There was around 20 minutes time difference, between the starts of the pilots. Scorers do a great job as at 6PM scores were already in from 32 pilots and number 33 was “out”, after 231 km. 12.23 was the first start time , with Dutch pilot Lars, who flew 510 km / 112,60 km./h. at this stage good for a 5th place. Florian Kraja from Germany in LS7WL has at this stage the 1000 points with 425 km/113.74 km./h. He started at 12.42 At 6.30 PM; 37 are scored, 2 are out and 3 not yet scored. Overall scores are so close; Nicolas 6,156, Kim 6,023 and Martijn6,003 points.
Standard class; 4.30 AAT….[378.28 km / 766.42 km (569.85 km)] All scores, except for 1, [glider LOT from Poland] IN/ on the scoring board. TOP!!! Best distance was 582 km, but Lithuanian Titas used a bit too much time to be the daily winner[4.37] For that reason 578 km/ 4.31 ,so speed of 127,62 was the best result at this stage from Lukáš Kříž from Czech Rep.. 2 Danish pilots, Jacob and Lasse were on spot 3 and 4, good on them. Speed difference between number 1 and 22; 127.62 and 114.48. GOOD!!!! Overall scores after 7 tasks [preliminary] ; Niels van Nieuwland/ 5,631 points, Nils Schlautmann/5,595 and Max Maslak/5,539. Thomas Greenhill/5,532 points.
Of course all scores are preliminary. When you can’t wait till tomorrow or want to see scores with your own eyes yo can go to; www.soaringspot.com that is when they are not overloaded with viewers.
Indeed PRELIMINARY!!!! My goodness me, I was downstairs ,but decided to have one more look at the scores. I see that Niels ONLY got 52 points because he violated airspace. I am totally flabbergasted. Not because he is Dutch, but I would be for every pilot, who gets this awful news. Maybe there is still a “miracle”. That means that he drops from 2 overall to 18!!! That is very , very tough, but if it was a violation , that’ s what happens. I am in writing about comps more than 40 years, but I can’t remember such a “drop”. I still hope it is NOT TRUE. Overall scores after 7 tasks now; Nils 5.601,Max 5.601,5, Thomas 5.536
—-The French FAI SGP in Saint Sulpice [France] is one of the last opportunities in Europe to qualify for the final. “Expect fierce competition!” is what they say. Indeed with 4 former world champions it can be “HOT”. The next ones from this series 12, are in 2025 in Australia,[Gawler Januar 5-11] the USA [ Seminole March 22-28] AND The Netherlands in Mai [ Terlet Mai 11-17] and in Poland.[Nowy Targ May24 -31] and the WORLD FINAL in France in St Auban ; August 24-30 2025. The weather has not been too flash during the practice days let’s hope it improves from now on. “ The forecast indicates favourable conditions for racing by mid-afternoon.” Todays forecast. Follow the live race on https://www.youtube.com/live/ecQDRSVDWs0?si=nzKimmb7SUw7j2tf
Sunday; July 21…Race 1 158.28 km….the 16 pilots started at 17.40!!!!! LATE, but they have a race, I hope. Congratulations to Adrien Henry for wining the 1st race! Congratulations to Christophe Abadie and Jean-Pierre Bellec who complete the podium!
—–Over the last few days several 1000 km-flights have been flown here in Europe. I mentioned already in an earlier post ,where even “the young ones” thought it was a 1000 k-day. Yesterday my Keiheuvel mates Bert jr and Dennis flew from Hausen Am Albis [Switzerland] and from Fayence, one in their Ventus 3T.
Enough news again, time for me to rest. CU tomorrow with maybe 1 more day for the young ones ,as the prediction that Tuesday is a rest day , will be correct. Then they continue till July 26 Friday.
Looking back on Friday July 19 Task 5; That pilots fly SO many kilometres during a competition is pretty special, specially in those “little machines”. A day on which easy 1000 km could have been flown I heard and some pilots did. At least 5 , from Spain [Fuentemilanos with 1.200km] and France but from Poland too. Great 1000 km-day! From Leszno in Poland not too far from Ostrow, 1.016 km!!!!! The young ones even passed by Leszno. For some the best distances ever! What an experience for the young ones.!!!!! Dutch pilot Lars won in club. In a video he said that they started together, the 3 Dutchies, but Lars decided on the first leg after 50 k. to fly a bit more South, where as he experienced, could fly faster , turn more S. and that was a good decision!!!! Fantastic weather ….he could fly on 2d leg and 3d leg mostly just straight on, not bad!!!! “1000 km weather, bizar!” he mentioned too….in an LS4 NEO WL. His longest task ever till now. 568.32 km with a speed of 108 km./h that DESERVES 1000 points!!!!
Lars flying during an other occasion. Shared by Dutch juniors.With from l to r. Florian from Germany,[LS7 WL] in the middle Lars after his 2d win and to the r. Tomasz [LS3a] from Poland.
The French pilots were very happy with Victor who was 3d in standard with 637 km. The best distance in this class was 653 km for Czech pilot Lukas. And S.A pilot Phillip was runner up !!! Missing out on 5 points; 124.83 km./h for 124. 50, very close! And of course the USA team was HAPPY / EXCITED with their number 1 pilot Thomas. “Preliminary results for 2024 JWGC task 5 Standard Class appears to show a day winner for the US Team“ AND,..indeed Thomas won!
With Victor from France, Thomas from the USA and Phillip from South Africa . As shared by Pôle France Planeur
This is the last bit of a long report written by Thomas: “With all the scores in now and my official speed at 124.83 km/h over 641 km, I earned 1st place for the day on behalf of the US team. It’s a real privilege to have what felt like one of my best flights ever, and for that sentiment to be reflected by the numbers on the score sheet against the best pilots in the world. It also feels really special to have Peter Deane, who taught me how to fly cross-country nearly a decade ago, here to witness my best performance as team captain.” More on US Soaring Teams
Today is another booming day! I guess the pilots slowly get tired after 4 long tasks, 1 challenging and 3 over 500 k-days. It will be difficult to set a rest day when the weather is so good. Look at the weather for today!!! But no they are not sick and tired of the long distances. Here is team UK; “
July 20; task 6 on flying day 7. As it is 3.30 now it will take a while before the pilots will be back. So I am going to do other things and will be back later to update this post with the latest news,
UPDATE; 6.30 PM Club class; 506.29 km…..Around 5 PM the pilots arrived back . At 6.30 PM, 25 finished 4 were out and 15 not yet scored. Among them the 3 Dutch pilots. At this stage the French did well with a 1 and 3 for Alexandre and Nicolas. UK pilot George in the middle. All started around 12, the Dutch pilots at 12.29, too late???? At 7.15 , 30 pilots had finished.5 were out and 5 not yet scored.
Standard class; 604.00 km…..At 6. 30 PM I noticed 6 out-landings after 500 k. A shower, stopping the hard working young ones?????? we have to wait for their stories. In any case, around 7 the first finishers were on the score board. They all finished close to 7 PM. 6 are scored at this moment , 3 LS 8 gliders and 3 Discus 2a. 11 not scored yet. UK Henry has won the day. Good on him. Max and Jan from Germany followed. 14 finished and and 9 were out, All are counted for!
FAI SGP IN FRANCE/ Series 12. Saint Sulpice des Landes 18 July 2024 – 27 July 2024
After 2 unofficial practice days with more or less NO flying, today Saturday was an official day and looking at the task they don’t have the weather the young ones have in Poland. Only 100 km but they get in the mood then. 16 pilots fly for 2 places in the finals next year, for of them are foreigners; Steffen Trapp from Germany, Rasmus Orskov from Denmark, Yves Gerster from Switzerland and Christoph Matkowski from Poland, who is missing out on the magic Polish weather at this moment. Not a good day, so hopefully better weather for race 1.
Finish from JasperJansen in the LS 8NEO. and more smiling faces and waving hands.
Aeroklub Ostrowski courtesy of Martn Levitzky JM is Jokūbas Motūza [ Lithuania] in a St Jantar, Jacob Barnes jr. [USA] in ASW 20L.
Looking at the above pictures those young pilots have a lot of fun . Thumbs up, waving and that at the end of a long flight, stamina enough , but …then indeed, they are all under 26 and in the prime of their lives. Sometimes the difference between finishing or landing out, is only one flash moment “, missing a bubble made it difficult to reconnect, resulting in a landout.” That’s what I read yesterday, looking back at what the teams have done. Martijn indeed won task 4 on day 5, in club ….. 6 did not finish and 2 are out of the race. A PITY!!!!! In standard it was Nils, just ahead of his mates Max and Jan. I can tell you these 3 “ARE STRONG TOGETHER”. I told you about the “lower countries ” here in Europe, Belgium and The Netherlands and it is awfully interesting to see that each of those countries have at this stage a NUMBER ONE OVERALL. Martijn and Niels.
Kim from Finland, Martijn from Belgium and Nils from Germany.German team with big smiles , all 3 at the podium Aeroklub Ostrowski
With all those “hacking lunatics” I am even more careful to open news on the JWGC, but I can trust my reliable sources for extra news. Today a world wide IT- outage disturbed the whole world and airlines, hospitals ,banks and lots of other business struggled to deal with it and still struggle. It seems it was not a crime ,but a mistake during an update from software. That should NOT HAPPEN. My daughter had to fly to Tenerife but her flight was postponed for hours, but at least, at 4 PM they could leave.
Back to today!!!!The organizers had already early in the morning, good news: “Our Pilots are already flying their tasks. Today as yesterday , we managed an early start. Today’s tasks are quick 5h AATs” Well,…I like the word quick, let’s wait and see. Looking at the picture , they could be totally correct. I heard that clouds popped up already at 9AM. The estimated time of arrival should be around 17.00.
Friday; July 19, sunny, dry, enough clouds a sky full, so ingredients enough to make it a TOP DAY !!!! IT WAS!!!!! Club class; day 6. Task 5; 5 hour AAT.…From the “around-12-o’clock-starters” a few have finished already just after 17. 00 and they flew around with an average of 105 km./h over around 545 km. With the fabulous clouds and maybe longish day, some might start at the best part of what they think will be on the day. Meaning we might have to wait today. It was NOT a long wait!!!! At5.30 5 pilots finished. At 6; 28 pilots with 568 km /106 km./h!!!! The Dutch pilots , with a few others even started before 12 PM. 36 are scored now and at this stage Dutch Lars is on top; 568 km./108 km./h in LS4.
Update at 8.30 PM; Today’s club class top 5 is very international. 1. Lars from The Netherlands, 2, Florian from Germany, 3. Tomasz from Poland, 4. Nicolas from France and Kim from Finland. 2 Pilots are out of the race and 2 with very difficult names, are not yet scored; Ghazi Satriando Humaid Junior in LS1fNEO WL, from Poland and Austėja Urbanavičiūtė in LS3a from Lithuania. 23 pilots flew over 100 km./h. Good on them and it seems the next days will have good weather too.
Standard class; day 6. Task 5; 5 hour AAT.….at 17.15 the first pilot finished; Lucas from France after an early start at 12.12, flying 574 km/ 114 km./h. in the end he finished on spot 18. At 6PM, we saw distances of 641 km/ 124.83 km./h. 4 are not yet scored I will be back to check on them later. It looks NOW that USA pilot Thomas Greenhill [Discus 2A] has the best papers to win the day with 641 km/ 124.83 km./h. Unfortunately “our” Dutch Niels had not his best day [18] and dropped from 1 to 4 overall, but it ain’t over yet!!!!
Update; WONDERFUL, ALL pilots finished and ALL above 100 km./h. TOP young-pilots. Thomas won the day, but all scores are still preliminary! Czech pilot Lukas flew 653 km ./121.50 km./h. , but needed 22 minutes too much. He still moved from 2 to 1 overall.
After task 5 the Czech Rep team leads the scores from the TEAM CUP,with 905.69 points. Spot 2; is for Germany; 862.23 Spot 3 ; for France; 859.90 Spot 4; The Netherlands 854.50 Spot 5; Poland 821.77
USA Club class pilots ; Steven Tellman, David Mcmaster and Jacob Barnes Jr.
——Talking about juniors; this is Adam A FORMER AUSSIE JUNIOR and most of you know him because he is a good young glider pilot and he keeps a very popular blog; Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures This is his news this morning: “The day has finally come, on the 16th July, I achieved the dream, heavy jet captain for one of the world’s majors & national airline, All Nippon Airways / Air Japan.” I know Adam, since he was that junior, flying comps and even organising the Junior Nationals in Australia with some young mates. For a short while he was our tuggie in Tocumwal at the SSC, but he really was focused on his final goal ; being an airline pilot. He went for that, so when he got a better offer to make more hours, he left us. Good luck Adam and I wish you many dream flights !
courtesy Adam
——-For those loving to fly comps in South Africa, here is your chance.
With 500 km tasks the young ones get a “lot on their plate” , today. The tasks are more or less in the same area.
Looking back at yesterday. Indeed a lot of club pilots had difficulties. All those ,who were not counted for [except for 2 still not scored] did not finish. Even worse, some did not really get away from the field . They were out after 14,17 or 18 km. In the end , Simon won the day, as mentioned; from 44 only 19 finished and 2 are not scored! One of them UK pilot George ,who landed in high grass and had some damage at the glider, which hopefully will be fixed again quickly. The last finisher was Dutch pilot Tim at 19. 44, BUT he was in!!! In Standard it “looked” easier some could follow a convergence line; Phillip ,just won from his SA mate and 5 were out .
From left to r. Dutch Niels, South African Phillip and South African Henry Richard “Dicky” for friends. By the way Niels is at this stage the number 1 on the overall list in club class. Dutch Junior Gliding Team
Thursday July 18; to follw them https://soarscore.com/competitions/jwgc2024 Club class; Task 5….. 510.97 km…..Very proud on all those young pilots!!!! Most of them ” did it”. AND, the weather was GOOD, very important for nice flights. Most proud on Martijn from Belgium in LS 3. I know he is a TALENT, but he proves it too. Great job Martijn!!! He lives just over the border, only 15 k from where I live and studies at the LEUVEN UNIVERSITY pharmaceutical science, as I just read. He was the only one , flying with over 100 km./h!!! And 1000 points in the pocket AND moving from spot 3 overall to spot ONE!!! 8 points ahead on French pilot Alexandre. Martijn started rather early at 12.09. Runner up Nils from Germany in Discus B at 12.27. Finish pilot Kim in LS7neo WL was 3d. Yes I know, it’s not over YET, but happiness should be shared EVERY day, with the young ones. 35 finished , 3 OUT at this stage [8 PM] . 4 not yet scored. Sorry to see UK pilot George D. is not flying today, the glider seems not yet repaired.
Standard class; Task 5516.74 km….. First things first.All pilots FINISHED!!!! A German-day in this class. Flying together can be good. It helped the German young ones to a 1-2 and 3 daily spot today ; starting within seconds from each other and finishing as well. Nils was just a tad faster than the rest [Max and Jan] ; They flew 108 km./h. “Our” Dutch Niels was on spot 4 and still number 1 overall. He started 7 minutes ahead of the German pilots. The last pilot was in at 18.22 ,BUT IN!!!!!
The TOUR DE FRANCE passed by GAP yesterday and on their way they finished today at Barcelonnette, places a lot of us know.
Indya’s corner; I had difficulties to receive her pictures and even a phone call from Ostrow was not possible. But she found a solution , so here are some random pictures from her.
—–Some BAD news as well. It seems somebody is pretending via FB to be me and asks you to be my friend. Most of you know that I never ask to be somebodies friend, but only react on people asking me and also then I am very careful as some are very unreliable there too. Please forgive me when I am not accepting friends at this stage. It’s TOO dangerous as I write a lot. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Tomorrow is another day and I will try to get/find new info for you.
You expect maybe the regular blog on Wednesday morning , but during the JWGC , I try to write every day, OF COURSE, when there is enough news. If you did not know ,you can read already the last 3 blogs about the JWGC, whilst waiting for the latest one today. To be honest there is NOT a lot of news on the official site, but alas they share on FB and also the different teams do so. In between , they try to learn us some Polish words, nice idea! Some teams send news straight to my FB account, which is lovely. Thanks for that.
13th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships Ostrów Wielkopolski Michałków, Poland 13 July 2024 – 26 July 2024
Yesterday had NO TASK!!! So a day off for the pilots and crews. Most had a very relaxing day .
On July 17, flying was on the menu again with nice racing tasks and an early time for the launches at 11.10;……but that did not happen !!!!! Club class task 3;301.24 km….Changed in 2.30 AAT.…Changed again in 2 hour AAT….as the weather did not do what it was supposed to do. The first starters went over the line at 15.08 and .09. Another challenging day, so staying together, using and giving each other info was very important again . That’s what the 2 French ,Nicolasand Alexandre did in their ASW 20, starting at 15.09. They flew 200 km with a speed of 78 km./h. No, not daily winners, that was at this stage,Šimon Šiška in an ASW 24 WL, who flew 182 km / 79 km./h. with a later start at 15.26. !!! At this stage [7.30 PM] 16 are scored after a finish and another 11 are “out” and 17 not scored yet. At 8PM still 11 not scored. Among the finishers were a few flying too low over the finish ring, which means that it really was a tough day AND that they got penalty points , ONE point per meter!!! 8 PM; 10 not yet scored. Will look later and UPDATE then. 10 PM; 6 not scored yet. So 18 out and 20 finishers. Some really finished after a long “fight” and a speed of 51 km/h over 218 km.
Standard class;317.27 km…..Changed in 2 hour AAT.….and a good day for South Africa and The Netherlands! All 5 started at 15.38 not too early ,not too late. Phillip and Henry Richard in LS 8 flew 225 and 227 km with 111 km./h. Niels and Noud flew 213 km with 105/104 km./h and Jasper flew 196 km with 98 km./h. 2 French pilots Theo and Victor were out. They started early at 15.24. Also a Danish and Polish pilot [start at 16.04] were out. The last one was out after 27 km. 1 Polish pilot is not yet scored it might be that he did not fly at all. Will check for you later. 8 PM; 1 not yet scored, 18 finishers and 4″ “out”. 10 PM; nothing changed. Overall number 1 after task 3, is Niels van Nieuwland from The Netherlands
ALL SCORES OF COURSE PRELIMINARY. Will be back later.
OTHER NEWS: —–As I write a lot these days about the JWGC,there is more info for another great project for our young ones. Maybe more young pilots read the blog, so they see this news too. Look at this; It’s news from Jonker Sailplanes “Join us for the exciting conclusion of the Jonker Sailplanes Junior Challenge on WeGlide, ending July 23rd! It’s the final stretch where rankings can still shift. Two juniors will soon embark on their next gliding adventure: the South African Nationals from September 28th to October 5th, 2024, in Potchefstroom. Check out who’s leading in the European Sprint and global rankings on WeGlide! As part of the Jonker Sailplanes Challenge, the top 2 juniors earn invitations to compete in the South African Club Class Nationals. Don’t miss the thrilling updates and achievements in youth gliding! “
—– Not all clubs in France, could fly [ yesterday] on Tuesday. The TOUR DE FRANCE passed by and due to helicopter traffic they were grounded. But to make our sport even more popular, they created “art” on the ground with their planes. Good PR great picture!!!!! Today the TOUR passed Gap and gliders were happily flying, tomorrow they pass another popular gliding field.
Courtesy Pierre Bru Don’t know which airfield it is ,but I find out for you. I did it ! ….. is CVVM (Centre de Vol à Voile de Montpellier Pic Saint Loup) Merci Pierre, THANKS!!!!!
—–FAI Sailplane Grand Prix France – Saint-Sulpice starts this weekend and this edition has 4 WORLD CHAMPIONS; Rasmus Orskov from Denmark,[World champion in 2018] Eric Bernard from France, {World champion in 2014 and runner up in 2016] ,Christophe Abadie also from France [ World champion in 2022 and winner from 2 SGP’s in 2017 and 2021] and Christoph Matkowski from Poland, World champion in 2018]
More about the FAI SGP in the weekend. cheers Ritz ,till later. 10 PM updates in the blog, but not a lot changed. Tomorrow is another day!!!!!
Looking back first on day 2! In the end 34 from 44 finished in CLUB on task 2 and 20 from 23 in STANDARD. Not too bad for the big distance. Belgium was happy with their runner-up-spot [so they should] in club class and shared this picture from the daily-prize-giving.
Marina ,president of the jury up front and the boys from l. to r. Alexandre, David and Martijn. Belgian Junior Gliding Team
British Gliding Team, looked back too “A challenging day yesterday for both Standard and Club Class. George D sustained minor damage in a field landing. George is doing well and hopefully have the glider back up and running soon. A huge thank you to everyone in the UK and beyond, as well as here in Ostrów who offered their help. It is massively appreciated. The Standard Class had a tricky day, with 50km best glides back to the airfield, using the last of the days available lift Today is looking interesting, with storms forecast later this afternoon“
Czech Republic Gliding Team; they were very succesful yesterday with a 1-2 and 3 spot in standard class. Co-operation between the 3 was the key to succes, they say. Overall, after 2 days they lead also the overall scores, with Lukas and Jaromir on 1 and 2 and Michaela on 4!!!! AND,….on top of that , they lead in the race for the TEAM CUP; 942.67 points. Ahead of Germany, France, The Netherlands and Poland. Still hopefull many days to come!!!
From l to r. Jaromir, Lukas and Michaela.Is this the other key to succes??? Some kind of yoga-soaring-gymnastic before the flight???? Czech Republic Gliding Team
July 16;Today is another day with a difficult to predict weather scheme. Storms are expected , so it was a bit of waiting if they YES or NO would fly. In the end , the day was scrubbed at 12 PM; no flying!
“Indya’ s corner” I found the link to the “reel” Here you are and I hope it works;
The story goes further. I checked how to get the “reel” in my blog. Robert advised that under the reel is a sign ‘share’ .I tried, saw many names, but not my blog. Decided NOT to share. 1 Minute later I get thank you messages from my FB friends. One way or another I shared it to maybe even All my FB friends. Don’t know by now. AND,…sorry if I annoyed you with it. Anyhow,…it’s INTERNATIONAL PR for the Dutch young ones. But,…to be honest it’s a nice video from Indya and I had NO CLUE I was sharing. Have to learn more quickly on my old age.
No flying today, means a day off for me too. Back later when I get interesting news ,other pictures during the day, if not CU tomorrow! Cheers Ritz
Update; from some beautiful pictures shared by the organizers . PHOTOS Landing DAY 1 14.07.2024. Courtesy Martn Levitzky, he knows how to make good soaring pictures.
Looking back on day 1 was for most a pleasure, certainly for the winners in each class. On JULY 15 daily prizes were presented to the top 3 of each class from task 1. The Dutch pilots were very enthusiastic with a 1 for Lars, – 9 for Tim and 11th spot for Wout in club class. The UK boys did well too; both Georges were in the top 10. [5 and 6] French pilot Victor was surely happy with his runner up spot and Italian pilot Alessandro with his 3d spot. Very pleased to see that Martijn [Belgium] was on spot 10.
In standard Jakub was the best. The German team will be happy with Max, Jan and Nils on spot 3,4 and 5 and Poland had nothing to complain with Maciej and Wictor on spot 6 and 7. Czech Rep had also 2 pilots in the top 10; Lukas and Jaromir [8 and 9] and on 10 was Dutch pilot Tim.
Pôle France Planeur with from l to r Max, Jakub and Victor. Well done guy’s!!!!
Reaction from team Germany on day 1;”The first official day of the JWGC is over. With blue thermals to start with and showers on final glide. Our 6 pilots did well”.
This is a day 1 report from USA pilotSteven Tellmann from club and on 41 yesterday. “The launch today was a lot of hurry up and wait (just like any contest), crews scrambling to get gliders on the line by 10:30, expected first launch around 11:30, and the team launched around 2pm. The blue weather in the start cylinder was quite fun as the cumulus started to fill in from the surrounding areas. The flight can be found on WeGlide or OLC (in the links below). I had a great time flying with David and Jacob, I am learning a lot of team flying techniques from both of them.” https://www.weglide.org/flight/437373
“Photo when we completed our first JWGC task!”Steven Tellmann
Time to look at day 2; The briefing started with an important message:
July 15; Day 2. BIG tasks for the “little planes”, as in each class a 400 k was announced. It would be interesting to know if 1 or 2 of these 67 young ones, EVER flew a 400 k. This is a morning picture from the Dutch team, looking good and clouds popping up.
The gliders with call sign Au and Ag [LS4a] are specially reserved for the Dutch junior squad and owned by the Foundation Soaring Events Holland. As it is very difficult for young ones to get a glider from the club for a longer time, this foundation has been over the years, a huge help for the juniors. Dutch Junior Gliding TeamAs shared by Belgian Junior Gliding Team they also hope for ” some clouds/cumulus and not only blue thermals!”
CLUB class; it took a while before scores appeared on soaring spot. Maybe the server is not big enough??? Sometimes organisers underestimate, that not only pilots, but also family, friends, granddad and grandma want to keep an eye on how their [grand]children/friends do. On top of that , I read that the very good weather forecast, turned out to be different than expected. But still a lot of finishers. Task 2 ; race 403.99 km.…Not everybody is scored yet, but AT THIS STAGE, David Neumann in ASW 24 was the best for 1000 points, 90 km./h . Great job from Martijn[ Belgium] who at this stage is runner up after an early start at 13.12 ; 89 km./h. 3 French “young ones” Alexandre, Nicolas and Clement[ from the well known French de Pechy family] under supervision of TOP coach Eric, finished on spot 3-4 and 5 with 80 km./h. 9 PM; at this stage 6 have outlanded and 5 are not yet scored. More of course tomorrow.
STANDARD CLASS; Task 2; race 400.98 km…..At this stage 19 finishers ; a lot of LS 8 gliders . In the top, 3 Czech pilots and as the daily best Lukáš Kříž with 94 km./h. for 1000 points. Runner up Jaromir with 93 km./h and Michaela also with 93 km./h but just a fraction less.
9.PM; 3 were “out” both South African pilots and 1 Dutch pilot, but they were SO CLOSE. They flew 383 and 335 km . But on a 1000 points day, the differences are big; 1000 for the winner and 405 for our South African mates Henry and Philipp and 354 for Noud. Ouch ..that hurts.
All scores of course preliminary
“Indya’s Corner.” This time there is a very nice “REEL” from the Dutch Junior Gliding Team created by Floor and Indya, both along crew also great PR personalities . This “reel” is from July 14, called “what a day”., to be found on the site of the Dutch Junior Gliding Team , with great finishes. Hope you can find it , don’t know how to copy and paste them in my blog.
Everybody is for sure busy and tired after such a long day. No more news now, but hopefully tomorrow will be another good day.
