To make the blogs not TOO long, which happens when there are a few comps at the same time, I publish on Sunday now too.
SO EXTRA BLOG.
Enjoy.
AND
TIIIIMMMIIIEE is one of those happy shouts of excitement and pride from his young mates, when Tim Kuijpers wins a competition. After he became JWGC champion, he now is European champion as well. You can read the story below. CONGRATULATIONS TIM!!!
The continuing story of the last days of the EGC in the Czech Republic.
As shared in the gallery of the organizers.
The last couple of days are always exciting ,sometimes stressful, but mostly great fun to follow. Tactic’s, reading the weather well and staying calm,…. all ingredients for those last days. Here we go with the last 3 days and hopefully after the bad first week the weather holds now for a few day’s more !!!
Wednesday…August 2….day 11…task 5; after morning-rain there were good looking skies , task A was on …so what happened!?
club; 241 km.
UK_DAY!!!!! Ge won in the St. Libelle. Not an easy flight, but he made the right decisions is what he said. It seems that the last leg had 2 possibilities a good fast one and a less good hard-working-one.
Boris Zors from Slovenia was 3d and overall he is on spot 2 now .
Tim is still on spot 1 ,[3.709] lost a few points being 9th for the day.
Fabian Peitz has 3.510 points on spot 3 overall and on 4 with only 3 points less Russian pilot Sergey.
Most started around 14.51 Tomas Suchanek at 14.36, that turned out in the end too early, he was on spot 16 for the day.
As number 1 overall you are a prey for the press. Tim is used to it as JWGC champion.
As shared by the team.
standard; 257 km.
Czech -day as Pavel and Miloslav were on spot 1 and 2, after an early start and for them it worked. Starts between 14.56 and 15. 21. My Belgian mates were on 3 [Jeroen] and 5 [Dennis].
Overall with 2 days to go;
1. Pavel with 3.518 points, 2. Miloslav with 3.500 and 3. Dennis [3332] and 4 . Jeroen with 3326 points all pretty close.
20 m; 2.15 AAT.
Kilian and his mate were the daily best, but team Kawa had only 3 points less.
Overall results at this stage ;
1.Kawa/ Matkowski 3.564, 2.Jones/Coppin 3.517 , 3. Cronjaeger/Heidemeyer 3.383 and Kilian has ONE point less!! Wim Akkermans and his mate are still in the race as well with 3.325 points.
Nice finish picture. As shared by the German team.
Thursday…August 3…day 12…task 6; “We will fly soon and fast” , but in tricky weather. The morning alarm clock was not necessary, as a loud thunderstorm passed by with as loud rain. Launching starts at 11.30!! That was delayed to 12 o’clock. But in between the front slowly arrived!!! Thunderstorms were forecasted for later in the day.Such a day could be a real LOTTERY, but it turned out not to be.
They left , had a few drops of rain during start, but messages for the crew were ” 2300 m.”. Not bad. The task just fitted the weather, though JUST!!! A real fitting-WINDOW!!!! Some finished however in heavy rain.
Differences in points in club and standard are MINIMAL.
Club; 2 hour AAT.
They ALL finished and Tomas Suchanek as the best;171 km. in time 2.01. Pretty good! The overall toppers did well Boris was 10th , Fabian 3d and Tim 5th. So nothing changed. About 100 points between 1 and 2 and 2 and 3. Russian pilot Sergey “smells” podium-victory and is only 17 points behind Fabian.
The other German pilot Dennis started after the bad weather had passed for the second time, about 45 minutes later than the rest. Quite a risk but it all went well he finished as number 12 in his Libelle. After it was WET REALLY WET.
Standard; 1.50 AAT
Miloslav was better during the day [6th…98.50 km./h.] than Pavel [11th..97.64 km./h.] but there is still some points between them; EIGHT to be correct!!!! So Miloslav is chasing his mate and for sure it’s less team work now for the last day’s, though they both started and finished together, but Miloslav flew 2 km. further.
My Belgian mates swapped overall places too. They flew together as well,but Jeroen , still a junior, is on 3 overall now and Dennis on 4. Difference ; THREE points.
20 m.; 1.45 AAT.
Jones /Coppin lost a few points this day whilst Team Kawa won . Still on spot 2 though behind Kawa, but enough points difference;4.101 for 3.973. Only 3 outlanding during this very tight window, and in this class.
as shared by Sebastian Kawa who won his third title this year.One in 15 and one in 15.3 and now in 20 m. class.
LAST DAY OF THIS IN THE END EXCITING EGC.
After the very bad first week they flew in week 2 EVERY day EXCEPT THE LAST DAY; 6 days out of 13.
So the scores from August 3 stand and NO way to gain 3 or 8 points anymore, to be just a tad better,…it’s all in the game.
“NO WINDOW” to fly in today, a pity on the last day, but you can only accept that and go to the party in the evening and CELEBRATE!!!!!
Champions;
Club class;
1. Tim Kuijpers 4.248 [The Netherlands]
2. Boris Zors 4.158 [Slovenia]
3. Fabian Peits 4.048 [ Germany]
as shared by the Dutch team.
Standard class;
1. Pavel Louzecky 4.024 [Czech. Rep.]
2. Miloslav Cink 4.016 [Czech. Rep.]
3. Jeroen Jennen 3.846 [Belgium]
as shared by OSKARKILO
20 m. class;
1. Kawa & Matkowski 4,101 [Poland]
2. Jones & Coppin 3.973 [UK]
3. Cronjager &Heidemeyer 3.895 [Switzerland.]
As shared by Sebastian.
Congratulations to ALL!!!
The TEAM CUP was won by Poland [871.70] with as VERY good and close runner up Germany [871.22] and then France [ 866.79]and Belgium.[855.92]
————
The continuing story of the JWGC in Pocuinai.….thunderstorms…..
Wednesday …August 2 ….day 4…NO task .
Thunderstorms again,..they had tasks, were at the grid,…..but the skies looked BLACK and they had to run for the storms.
Tony from Team USA mentioned :”
“That was a thrill. Grid. Watch storms approach. Launch delayed half hour. Wait watch wait. Day cancels 15 minutes before front arrives. We got out quick and got the glider in the trailers quick.”
As shared by team USA and Jill from New Zealand.
Thursday…August 3…Day 5…no task.
Friday…August 4…day 6…task 2. FINALLY THEY COULD FLY!!!THE WEATHER- GODS GAVE THEIR BLESSING.
It’ s pretty demanding for the young pilots to be ready every day to only find out that there will be no flying. But,…it’s over now ,…they fly!!
club; 252 km.
Standard; 275 km.
But the task might, have been overrated, after 4 days of rain,too ambitious or optimistic.
NOBODY finished.
Here is the story from team NZ.
“Today the whole fleet of 70 gliders in both classes landed out all over Lithuania! The day started with great promise and the grid was launched at 12pm into a great sky. Alex and Nick were blasting along well then high cloud moved over the track and made things tricky for everyone. We (M3 crew) got the call to hook up and roll about 4pm so we headed off for an easy retrieve to pick up Alex out a field after he did 117km. He had a German and Italian sharing the paddock. Nick pressed on in his Libelle and squeaked out 212km to gain 5th overall for the day.
A good day to test the crews and we had both Kiwi battlers back for tea by 8pm .
Tomorrow we fly again!!
Mike S (Crew M3)“
Pictures shared by Junior TEAM NZ.
Saturday…August 5…Day 7…task 3;
Club; 312.12 km.
YES a better day, THOUGH some had to make a restart and one “light” shower still past by before launching started!!! However….1000 points for Wojciech Wojtaczka from Poland in an SZD-48-3m. THOUGH ….23 from 36 only finished. Did the USA team a great job on task 2 , on task 3 they were all out and last. A Pity.
Standard;340.48 km.;
Great day for the young Swedish pilots; number 1 and 2; 1000 and 999 points. No need to tell you they flew together. Well done!Enrique [Levin] from Germany was on spot 3. Dutch pilot Sjors van Loon on spot 4!!
14 From 32 finished so a lot of the “young ones” saw more paddocks these days and with that more from Lithuania than they hoped for.
Today SUNDAY they might fly there was some drizzle….. more on Wednesday.
THE CIM…continued story.
On Wednesday Clara wrote;
“For today we are expecting dry, very strong and high thermals: between 3900 m and 4700 m! Temperatures are rising during the day and will reach 37 degrees, the QNH is 1019 hPa, take offs will start at 13.00. Open class has a task of 500 km with 4 turning points.”
So another excellent day in good old Rieti!! Where other places suffer from rain and thunderstorm , the south of Europe suffers from the HEAT.Clara mentioned ;” Weather forecasts announce long convergence lines on the ridges; there are 38 degrees and air is very dry: 20% of humidity, the QNH is 1018 hPa.”
Task 2 for all classes.
18 m.;425 km.
Former world champion Leigh Wells used those convergence lines best and won the day with a speed of 154 km./h. Jon Gatfield flew with him and had 992 points. All pilots finished.
open; 502 km.
Alberto Sironi, from Varese, showed his skills in Rieti where he flies a lot. His speed….159.30 km./h. in his Quintus M. Alvaro was runner up. 6 From 10 finished.
mixed; 412 km.
Austrian pilots Pirker/Wolff flew the task with a speed of 128 km./h.
On Thursday good tasks [3] again :
433 km for 18 m. and again Leigh who showed his skills so did Jon; again 1 and 2.All finished ,”worst speed “115 km./h.
500 km to fly for open and Alberto won again with the 2 German pilots [JS 1 C and ETA] on his tail. Worst speed 124 km./h.
Vitorio Pinni and his mate won in mixed, the 3.45 AAT with 525 km. and a speed of 138 km./h.
Friday; Task 4…It’s getting boring, but stay with me,….AGAIN in 18 m. Leigh and Jon; 1000 and 999 points for speeds of 139 km./h. over 541 km.
Open; 498 km. and Peter won the day in his ANTARES 23 T.
mixed; Austrian team Pirker won the day with a 3.30 AAT; 531 km.!!! in time 3.40 so a speed of 144 km./h.
Saturday was another good day with task 5; Clara mentioned in the morning;
“A great meteo also today with strong thermal activity (4,5,6 m/s), good ridge with enough west wind and with convergence conditions to fly straight ahead!”
18 m.;Something went “wrong” Between Leigh and Jon as it was now Jon who won the 465 km. with a speed of 146. km./h. Dane was runner up and Leigh “only” 4th. [120 points less than Jon!!]
Open; A 3.15 AAT for open and Peter [Hartmann] managed to fly 498 km./with a speed of 149.66 km./h.
Mixed had a 3.15 AAT as well and here the 1000 points were for Pirker and Wolff [ARCUS M] though,….they got 990 as they delivered the paperwork too late.They flew 482 km. in time 3.29.
What great weather in ITALY. Rieti the MECCA of soaring ,,,yes it proofed it again.
3.45 AAT’s for TODAY for 18 m. and open and 425 km. for mixed.
———-
18 m. NATIONALS in UVALDE [TEXAS]
First daily win was as said before, for Bruce .
Nice prize as shared by Bruce.
Day 2 according to Bruce;
“Today we have an MAT, which has a mandatory Start point and first turn, then we get to choose the rest of the points, a little like the old POST task. This was chosen as the weather is an unknown today. The forecast says it will be terrible, but looking out the window it doesn’t look too bad at present. “
Aussie mate Bruce as shared by Bruce.
Taylor’s Gliding Page on FB
It turned out a tough day 2 , with a 3 hour MAT !!!
Here is what Bruce said;”There we were, averaging better than 85 mph when the sun went out and the rain started! I took my last climb to cloud base, which said I was about 1500 feet above a 4 knot glide home… but there was rain to go through and all that height vanished. I made it into the finish circle, but below the required height, so I don’t know what the penalty is for that. Three of us landed on the Continental Tyre testing facility near the airfield, including Brad. Interesting day, and a bit of fun really.”
Winner of the day good old Dave Leonard, good on him. ; 277 miles in in 3.29. He tops the overall list now together with Dave Mockler; both 1743 after 2 days.Bruce and Brad had difficulties in the end. Jerzy and Keith [Essex] ,Ray [Gimmey] ,Dave [Alexander] and Dave [Nadler] all had not a top day.
Day 3 as seen by Bruce;
“As expected, today became a very difficult trip. At launch time, it was reasonably easy to climb to cloudbase , but within half an hour or so everything was over developing. Most of the field started very soon after the gate opened, and it was obvious that we were in for a challenge. By the time we arrived at the southern turn, anything going up was great, and for a few hours we worked between 1,000 feet and 2,000 feet. Hey wait! Is this Uvalde we are talking about? I was sure that we were in for an enormous outlanding event for the entire field, but eventually 16 out of 35 made it home. It was a really interesting day, and in an odd sort of way quite enjoyable.
Tonight we were entertained by Mark and Kim Huffstutler at their house, which is just gorgeous. It was a super evening with lots of talk about the day’s flying, great food and fine company.”
They flew, so there was a daily winner; Bruce won the day!!! In an ASG 29 and there are 18 from 35 in this competition. Equal points so 2 number 1 places ;Gary Ittner had 974 points as well.
Day 4 as seen by Bruce;
“another tough day 
😅 As of 8:00pm, the scoresheet shows just 11 finishers. We had a 4 hour AAT, and the problem was the overdevelopment in the first photo turned into a pretty big storm, which wiped out a huge area in the middle of our northern turnpoints. The outflow from the storm made it difficult to navigate around it, and caught a lot of people out. The finishers, except for one or two, mostly did a circumnavigation of the storm, which made for an interesting flight indeed. The other photos are heading south past the far side of the storm, final glide into Uvalde about 30 km out, and a Texan sunset.
Today will shake the scores up a bit more. This comp is becoming a bit of a battle of attrition!”
And the winner was……Canadian pilot Jerzy with Aussie Bruce as runner up. Bruce tops the overall list but flies HC with Jerzy now as runner up.
as shared by Bruce!
———-
More on Wednesday, also on Klippeneck.
Cheers Ritz