WOW, a real good day. Finally they all can see and ” taste”  what soaring in Finland means. What a pity there is only ONE day to go! But better leave Finland with the memory of the great flights from the last days the sauna fun and the comradely. The rest will be forgotten soon.It looks they are going to have 7 cancelled days and 7 flyable days.

The skies today as shared by the organizers!

The day started with the briefing , the daily winners, the weather and the tasks: racing tasks 315 for club,371.2 for standard and the 2-seaters had to go for 371.6 km.
The fore cast was for good conditions, with isolated showers over the area, not so much wind and no high clouds.Later in the day it might get more blue.
“ It is still unstable and so the sunny patches quickly generate thermals, cue and then over-development.”  was also one of the messages.

Today the startlines opened at;
Club 12:30, Standard 13:04 and 20 m multi seat 13:19.

  

2 pictures by the Belgium team from yesterday ‘s weather
AND
2 pictures by the South African team from today’s weather.

  

Excitement all over certainly in Standard class where young Bert Schmelzer from Belgium is now on spot ONE overall.
Ronny from Sweden won the day, Vitorio from Italy was runner up and Juha from Finland raced[ more or less …as nobody from the 43 pilots flew over 100 km./h.]   to spot 3 , Bert jr. was on spot 5 behind Mario  from Germany, who won by the way the very first JWGC in Holland in , was it 1991? The Hood brothers had another excellent day and ALL pilots in this class FINISHED!!!
All scores are preliminary.

What about Sebastian??He and his mate Thomas started VERY early at 13.05. Others like Bert and the Hood brothers at 13.43!! It looks that the later start today was the better decision!
With one day to go the scores are exciting, scary and  SO close. Look at this:
Bert on 1 with 4956 points and Sebastian with 4948!!!!
The Hood brothers with 4898 and 4851. NOW I wished I HAD traveled to Finland!!! Too late!!!
Will be glued to my laptop tomorrow!!!

More excitement as in club class out German topper Thomas won another day, [ he won day 3 as well] what a pity he had such a bad day yesterday. For him another good day might bring him back to the top. 4906 is his total score whilst the number 1 at this stage Eric from France has 5125 points. Killian is next and ouch Rasmus is on 3 now.He lost 100 points today.
It might be exciting to see how the French are going to handle tomorrow as the difference in points between Eric and Killian is only 16!!
A lot can happen then.

In the 2 seater 20 m. class it was not such a good day as yesterday for our USA friends  and that on the 4th of July! Heinz and Karin finished but ended today at the last but one place. Who won???
You guested it …the JONES BROTHERS. Another 1000 points for them… they are a class apart. What would there dad have been proud on them!!!They have a lead of nearly 700 points now!!!
Antti and Nikke lost a few points but are still ahead on the Austrian competitors.

An interesting day WITH lot’s of finishes so here are a few pictures.

As seen by the Aussies

As seen by the Germans

It looks pretty sure that they fly tomorrow! A difficult night for some who are on high spots and for those who think they can beat them. An all or nothing day with interesting tactics.Indeed now I wish even more I was there!
Will try to follow it as much as possible. CU tomorrow.

To finish the last words from today by pilot Matt from Australia!
“We started early because there was a threat of a sea breeze setting in early, cutting off the 3rd and 4th turn points. However, the later starters look to have got the better of the conditions and just avoided getting stuck.

Things got tough for everyone getting to the 4th turn as we were in the blue with the sea breeze already in – weak, rough, gusty thermals – but at least they worked. The ground underneath was very bad for landing options. At one point, we looked down from 2000′ agl to see someone very low circling over a lake with no paddocks in sight. They obviously got away as there were no outlandings.

Tomorrow is the last day, and it looks like we should have more good weather.“

Cheers Ritz