WGC’s with new faces and a lot of “old hands” ! WOW!!! 2.184 km with 183.69 km./h!!!

A light-hearted  blog on this sunny Sunday morning here in Holland. Even with one hour less sleep, I am in good mood, as the weather for this time of the year is superb; it just makes you feel happy!
We changed here in Europe to summer- time this morning at 2 AM , so we can enjoy long evenings again and with up to 24 dgr. that’s just fantastic.

With only ONE day to go, ALL pilots for the WGC in Finland and Poland are known.
Tomorrow is the final day to enter for the Polish “flapped”  classes and then after practice and more practice, they all meet again and the “fight”  for the best spots in each of the 6 classes in those 2 countries will glue us to the computers/laptops again ,F5 under one finger,  to miss out on nothing!
I love comps, my enthusiasm remains the same as when I was 20!!!!

Only seeing so many familiar names on the lists makes me happy already. It remains a BIG family , our competition -soaring-world, but new faces will be welcomed as well.
As one from Greece! Not so long ago I had no idea they could glide in Greece, all those islands!!?? Till Alexis wrote me a mail and shared his enthusiasm for soaring in Greece with me and I shared it with you. He is one of the participants in open class flying an ASH 25EB28. Good luck to him!

Looking at the Polish WGC, there will be a mix of ” old”  and new faces . The new faces from different age from young to a bit older. That’s how it HAS to be, a good mix.
They learn from those who have participated MANY times as Wolfgang Janowitsch from Austria and Germany even sends 3 ” old hands”  as Werner Meuser, Uli Schwenk and Michael Sommer.
All 6 UK pilots are ” old hands” .AND,…. Don’ t underestimate ALL these experienced pilots!
Also the Crab brothers from Ireland and Gyorgy from Hungary are in this 33d WGC in Poland; met them all at several comps in the past.

Our Dutch team with 6 pilots is very experienced and Janus Centka I remember from when I was young and he is still flying WGC’s ,good on him.And newer but in fact “old” as in looking at the participation’s and titles, is of course Sebastian Kawa.
And what about Dick Butler and his beautiful bird the CONCORDIA ?!
Both will fly over Polish soil, under Polish clouds ! He surely remembers from flying in Europe before, that the paddocks can be really small here.
A lot of new friends I got to know in Uvalde will be in Europe now.
And old mates as the Goudriaan brothers from South Africa.And Mac from Japan.Too many to mention but you can see their names on each of the sites. Have a look!!
Finland; http://www.wgc2014.fi/entries-2014-by-country
Poland; http://www.wgc2014.hb.pl/index.php/entry-registration/entries

Lot’s of potential winners but only on the last day we know who keeps the cup above his/her head and the gold medal around the neck. Yes in both countries also women have entered!!!
116 Pilots till now.  Only one from France , that might change, as they normally have a team of 6!
And YES it changed this morning they compete with a team of 8 pilots.

In Finland they accept till May 31 reserve pilots according to the schedule, but the pilot selection is also on March 31!
122 Entries there at this stage , counting the co-pilots in the 2 seaters as well; they are pilots too!!!
Chief steward is Terry Cubley , president of the jury; Marina Galetto!
Jam Omsels representing the German team, practices in France at the moment. He flew last Friday 717 km. in an ARCUS M  from Puimoisson. He is one of the 8 German pilots [including 2 ARCUS M.pilots] flying in Finland and there he will fly a Discus 2a.

igc final evening 016

Marina here at Malden Airport during the party after the IGC plenary last year.

I noticed also that several pilots fly both comps as Sebastian Kawa, Killian Walbrou, Mac Ichikawa,  Dmitry Timoshenko and Janusz Centka.What-a-life!!!!

Outstanding ridge with  strong thermals “; he called it ” and wave (though I didn’t bother with the latter)” Pilot Brian Collins flew from Ridge Soaring , last Wednesday a fantastic ridge-flight from 1.152 km in the PIK 20 B. If you look at his flight at the OLC ,he is ” happily hopping over the ridges”.
One day earlier Minden had 2 long wave-flights from 1.428 and 1.212 km. in the DG 1001 M and DUO DISCUS.Both landed not at their departure destination, but who cares!Car driver Jackie, with trailer hooked on,drove to Rosamond and tuggy Brad did a great job to retrieve the Duo from Bishop.
” Deteriorating weather at Mammoth forced us to land at Bishop. !” was the comment from the Duo pilots,still nice wave- flights.
YESTERDAY however was another story; Jim and Dennis flew 2.184 km. departing from Rosamond Skypark and they mentioned; ” Today the Sierra rocked!” It looks like it with a speed of 183,69 km./h.
That sounds better then good! For all details you can read their story later at the OLC .

Share some happiness with those who still suffer from the cold with  this picture from Holland [from ” Stuff Dutch people like”]  on it’s best . Due to the high temperatures the bulb-fields are a color-palette and the KEUKENHOF is in full glory.

Z tulips

Enjoy your week
cheers Ritz from sunny and colorful Holland.