We had Area Tasks today, but I don’t remember what they were. I forgot to bring my Task sheets to the downtown internet cafe, which is where I go whenever the contest feed croaks.But no matter. Not much happened today. The World Class Task was cancelle…
2013 WGC Argentina
Good report – Uno
by Bill Elliott •
John Good writes about yesterday:Today was the first official practice day at WGC 2013, the first day of good flying weather since Saturday, and the first without rain since we arrived at Chaves. Pleasant temperatures, moderate winds and a sky fu…
Serious practice
by Bill Elliott •
Today felt like a real practice day. It was the first day that most of the procedures of a contest day were followed, and a large number of competitors participated. Mistakes were made by both pilots and Organisers*, and at the end of the day, we apo…
Just a short notice
by Bill Elliott •
Vi har været ude at flyve i dag…CU’er så langt øjet rækker! Om lidt afhenter vi vores Team Captain + resten af DK-crew i Chaves. /Morten
In the air at last
by Bill Elliott •
The other five pilots caught up with Phil and made their first flights today. Now we know exactly what mechanical challenges remain. Sean found out that his wheel brake needs some attention, and Bill thinks he may have a small rigging asymmetry. …
US Soaring Team 2013: Chaves 2013-01-01 08:58:00
by Bill Elliott •
Here is a delayed report — we are still learning how to deal with the local internet access conditions. You may have heard all this already…
We opened up our container at the terminal in Zarate. Everything arrived just as we dispatched it. We had the trailers back in a roadworthy condition and the vehicles loaded after a few hours work.
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| Zarate terminal operations |
We made friends at the local gliding club (Condor) and were able to park our equipment there overnight before making an early start for the contest site the next day.
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| At the gliding club in Zarate |
We are being greatly assisted by the Argentinean gliding team. Santiago Berca is providing PG with a vehicle for the duration of the event, and met us at the airport. This made for a long wait for him as the flight arrived fours late. Santiago is competing at Chaves in the club class, and also flew in 15 in the recent WGC in Uvalde – two world championships in just a few months!
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| John & Peter could write a PhD on wiring up this truck |
Day one on-site went well. PG completed registration and inspection, then made a practice flight in locally good weather. Conditions on the ground however are difficult. There continues to be much rain, and there are many soft & muddy areas to deal with. The end of runway 31 is at present occupied by a large lake so that it seems unlikely that runway 13 will be available in its full length anytime soon.
New Years Eve: after overnight thunderstorms again, flying has been cancelled due to crosswinds. Trees limbs are falling in the camping area, but this failed to prevent a fine celebration of the advent of the new year.
New Years Day: flying may be possible later in the day, dependent perhaps on the recovery rate of the tow pilots from the aforementioned celebration.
A snapshot from the air — rather too much water on the runways:
First report of the year
by Bill Elliott •
New Year’s Day is a serious holiday here. Tom and Mimi had to make a special appointment to be let into their hotel last night. The town is completely shuttered this morning.Originally, this was to be a no-fly day, but we’ve had so little practic…
Everything has a name
by Bill Elliott •
Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the official names, so here they are.The town is called Adolfo Gonzales Chaves, which everyone calls “Chaves” for short.The contest itself is named in honor of Rolf Hossinger, the 1960 World Champion.Rolf Hossin…
Light lunch
by Bill Elliott •
While we were waiting for the day to be called, we repaired to the cantina tent, which seems to be open for business 24 hours a day.Peter wasn’t all that hungry, so he ordered the “light lunch,” which turned out to be a ham-cheese-veal-egg sunny side u…
Blowin’ Forty
by Bill Elliott •
Today was a bit of a dud.At Briefing, they told us we could expect a late afternoon Task, but it was not to be. The wind strength increased all day, until it became obvious to all that there would be no flying. Gliders were disassembled, ha…
