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June 30th 2009
30.06. 08:51 Welcome on day 6. Here are the tasks for
today!
A bright morning with an AAT with 4 points for each class. Club
class; Task time; 3.30 Task distance; 200,km /524 km. [358.6 km ]
Standard class; Task time; 3.30 Task distance ;221.1 km/490.7 km
[353.2 km]
First launch to be expected at 11.00. Runway in use 08.
30.06. 09:22 TC briefing and.......Flags !
TC briefing was
over in 8 minutes. No problems, everybody seems satisfied , the teams as well as
the organizers . An important message ; With stronger upper winds pilots
should even be more careful to not get into forbidden airspace. Look at
yesterdays results!
It is common on some competitions to “steal” the
flag but 4!!!!!???? Now Canada, Switzerland , Lithuania and Sweden , have NO
flag hanging here proudly on the mast, so they should be returned, PLEASE!
At the last night party on July 4 we will hear the music from one of the
best and most well known bands in Finland. Looking forward to that. Pilots
briefing now.
30.06. 10:24 AAT..." Today I give all responsability to you young
friends"... Silva.
No video today, to start the briefing . A couple of days
ago Hubi’s camera was damaged by …a car!!! He is pretty sad about it, has a
borrowed one now from a Finnish friend and will continue his great work.
Winners yesterday were 2 German pilots ;in club class Alexander Spaeth
with a speed of 87.5 km and in Standard class Felipe Levin with a speed of 92.6
km. Of course bottle, present and day-winner-cap were theirs accompanied with a
big applause.
An extra bottle was presented to CI , pilot Vitautas from
Lithuania. He noticed a fire on a tiny little island called “Paradise island”.
He came straight away in action , extinguished the fire and prevented a big
problem. WELL DONE !!!!
With the dry weather here EVERYBODY should be
careful with fire!!!
The weather; The good message from Jannes today was
that he is pretty sure that we can fly till the end!!! Last official flying day
is Saturday! Though…..tomorrow he thinks that there will be high clouds in the
morning , but….competition flying should be possible in the afternoon. For
today we have high clouds coming from the West effecting the weather today. We
still have high pressure in the SE part of Finland. Clouds in the morning
and dry thermals in the in the afternoon and 25 dgr , with a visibility of 50
km. A bit unpredictable weather but no worries for Silva; " I give all
responsability to you young friends."
Still that “ summer- flu“ going
around! More sick people, but no pilots as far as I heard. Good news for the
Dutch team; Patrick will fly again today.
Tonight really heavy metal music for ALL THE
GUESTS. There will be a competition in the briefing hangar and each country can
send one pilot to play. As Antti Lehto, who is organizing said; “ Forget the
gliding for a while and concentrate on fun and music.” I heard the Aussies
are performing ACDC and I look forward to hear that.The finish- line -band will
perform as well and they are just great!!!!I saw them in 2005 and it was great
fun!!!! Go and have a look for your self tonight !!!!
30.06. 13:06 Pilots high up in the air !
12.45; Standard
class up in the air, start line opens at 12.59. Club class launches in progress
now, first to go was at 12.33. First launch today was at 12.00 sharp after
some delay. The sniffer was at 900 m with one m. at 11.30, but quickly they
found good lift and flying day 6 could start. Quite some wind and some high
cirrus , but also 4 clouds to the W.N.W. While waiting pilots and crew had
some extra rest and spend it laying flat on their back on the runway facing the
sun and obviously enjoying it or... by talking to each other ,all very relaxed.
For some too relaxed as I saw that one crew member rushed to the car while
launches were in progress and came back……. with a water bag ,but it was still
just in time [ 3 gliders in front of him!] and ... the pilot can drink now
during his 3.30 h. trip.
Glider W8 , with pilot Miloslav Cink had to
leave the grid with an electronic [vario] problem, but many helping hands were
there and in a minute it worked again. All helping hands pushing him also to the
spot behind the last glider in standard class and with a smile he also left.
30.06. 14:07 I would like you to meet ..the Australian Team
!
Startline for club class opened at 13.43.
Today Julie has been
so kind to introduce the Australian team here to you in todays PROFILE.Thank you
to Julie. Later on I will also publish some comments, a few only from the
many, many I received!!One is also from Australia ,by Adam Woolley, who flew the
Juniors in HusBos.
-----AUSSIE TEAM - oi! oi! oi!I am writing this as
mother of Andy, wife of the team captain and an Australian glider pilot who is
so proud of what our boys have achieved. Ritz, thanks for taking an interest in
our small but enthusiastic team.Nathan and Andy are both 21 years old and this
is their first international competition, mainly because our dollar is only half
the Euro which means it is expensive for us to attend. The boys have no official
corporate or major sponsorship. The Gliding Federation of Australia (made up of
amateur glider pilots) has provided a small amount of financial support for the
pilots and team captain for the WJGC of which we are grateful.The three official
members and I attended the Pre World Competition in Finland (at our own expense)
as the boys were not familiar with European conditions (or so many trees and
lakes). This helped them to be more comfortable with their flying this year.
Their learning curves have been huge but they have coped well. Nathan is an
apprentice Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and flies of a weekend in Lockhart, New
South Wales where there are 9 club members and also at Temora. The weather in
winter in the south of the country is similar to what we experienced in the pre
world competition. Nathan has his family for support this year which he is
enjoying.Andy is in his 2nd year at University studying Aviation and lives in
Queensland where the winter weather is similar to what we are experiencing this
year at the WJGC. Andy is an instructor and flies from the Boonah Gliding Club
where the members are very supportive. Andy had only flown 4 hours in a borrowed
LS8 prior to coming to the competition and had been busy for the last 6 months
so preparation was not ideal.Many of our experienced competition pilots and
their support personnel have been encouraging the boys prior to and during this
competition and we would like to acknowledge their efforts. Mums and Dads can
only do so much.-----
30.06. 14:19 While waiting ....some comments !This one from
Australia !
G'day Ritz,
I hope you've been well, and by reading all
your posts at the FIN JWGC you are! I would like to thankyou for keeping the
world up to date, you're doing an excellent job. I think I can honestly say that
it wouldn't be a World Champs with out you there, both in the writing/blogging
capacity and by having your smiling face there!
Unfortunately I have
only done about 80hrs gliding since the JWGC'05, but the sacrifice has been well
worth it. I'm now flying an Airbus A320 for www.tigerairways.com.au out of
Adelaide (just south of Gawler)! I'll be getting back into competitive gliding
come September, the plan is to do 250hrs gliding this coming season :).
Please give Andy and Nathan a big hug from me and to let them know that
I'm one very jealous boy!
Best Regards Adam Woolley 'D4' @
the JWGC'05
30.06. 14:21 Comment from the USA !
Hi Ritz, I am asking the
same question as your Argentinean pilot: are you giving up reporting from World
Championships.?
I have followed your reports throughout many years and I
have the feeling to know you in person.
I am a member of the Women
Soaring Pilot Association (WSPA) here in the US and editor of Hangar Soaring the
quarterly newsletter of that organization. (www.womensoaring.org). We have now
members in 7 countries. Gill Van den Broeck from Belgium and Margot Aquaderni
from Italy ( who will fly in the women’s worlds in a few weeks) are members.
This year for the very first time our annual, week long seminar will be
in Slovenia. Gill and Margot will stop by on the way to Hungary.
Keep
these great stories coming
Frauke Elber Editor, Hangar Soaring
Say hi to Cory Sullivan from the US team
30.06. 14:29 And one from the UK !
Just to cheer up the UK
team this one from their mate Andy May who writes this from New Zealand where he
is doing his CTC Wings training programme!
Dear Ritz,
Just a
quick email to thank you for your hard work with all the stories during the comp
i have enjoyed reading them each day as i did in rieti, however this time i’m
reading them from the other side of the world and not in the briefing room
whilst i wait for the briefing to start.
Im reading the stories ever day
with interest and its giving me a taste of what the competition and atmosphere
is like, i obviously wish i was over there in the competition with the weather
and speeds looking so amazing.
I knew withdrawing from the competition
to do my airline pilot training was always going to be a hard decision but i
never realised how hard until i look at the tasks and results every day. But
your stories are keeping me sane and getting me as close to the action as is
possible along with all the pictures.
Please pass on my regards to all
the pilots and friends!
Take care and i look forward to reading more
stories.
All the best
Andy May
30.06. 15:35 " Toil and slave " for the pilots. ...Heavy metal
rock in the hangar!
15.15 update; It looks like a real difficult day . A lot
of pilots have dropped their water already before entering the first cylinder.
Thermals seem to be weak and there seem not a lot of good ones, like the days
before. For sure it will be an exciting day! At Rayskala you only see all
kinds of cirrus, thick ,thin and firmaments, but some pilots in st.class fly now
N. from Rayskala on track to their 2d cylinder, so that does not sound too bad!?
Some seem to be at 400 m . others at 1300 !!!!! The first pilots in standard
class from Norway, left at 13.10, the 3 young German pilots at 13.24 and the 3
Dutch pilots at 13.30. Last to leave was W8 at 14.08. In club class the
difference is between 13.58 and 14.43.
This morning some young children
visited the airfield. Summer holidays in Finland go for 2 ½ month from May till
August and children visit summer camps here in the area where there is sun,
lakes, trees and good fresh air.
While writing in the yellow box, the
table nearly moves …..the heavy rockers are practicing in the hangar…..and WHO
is playing the electrical guitar , swinging head and body and…..all his hair,
LEO, Antti’s son, after running all morning with the ropes!!! What a kid!!!
30.06. 17:27 The " GERMAN 3 " back home " at the dot "
!
17.15 update; The “ German 3 “ FL, 4J and GR are back home with a great
looking finish over the lake. They started at 13.24 and landed just before
17.00, so nearly “ back at the dot”. Now we have to wait how many km. they
flew in that time and with what speed ! It is very silent. No more gliders
after 17.15, so we are waiting. The Belgian team told me that one of their
pilots had out landed , so for sure 3 outlandings .
Please look for
results today to the site. You know AAT !!! Back later !
30.06. 17:56 Peakhour !!! Lot's of great finishes !
17.45
update; At this time it was PEAK HOUR, gliders from both standard and club class
arrived home. The skilled pilots put their glider as close as possible to the
site of the runway and crews were running “like mad” to reach their pilot to
bring him further to the site or get them out of the middle from the field, to
hook the glider to the car. Great view all those gliders coming in over the
lake and landing as long as possible to over that " loooong " runway to give
everybody room. I see lot’s of pilots with their flight recorder in the hand
walking to the office, so you should quickly know what’s going on. I also
see the trailer from DI leave , so another outlanding , 5 at this stage.
30.06. 18:48 " Hot and bothered " and difficult.....the keywords
for today !
18.15; Hot and bothered , difficult, those were the key words
for today, as far as I heard from the pilots. As well as [from a crew
member] ;” my pilot screwed it up in the last part getting too low”, after a
nice run. Dad had hooked on the trailer already , his blood pressure had
risen….but all not necessary the pilot made it home. More outlandings; G2,
V1, VK.
Yesterday one of the Dutch pilots had to make an outlanding.
After that, you first go to the farmer to tell him. He did and went to the farm.
The farmer from that farm was not the owner of the field, but no worries, he
would bring him on the back of a quad to this farmer, a 10 km drive. He
arrived and there were the farmer and his wife , in front of the sauna sitting
naked ….but helping him out.A different situation then in Holland. As the TC
[ who permitted me to write this story] said; “ A pity there was not a nice
young farmers daughter”.
245 km. was about the distance for today.
Interesting to see that Kilian [ club] from France was , at this stage 1 km.
faster then his French mate in standard class.
3006
if you want to react.
