Uvalde… “One more time,yeah ” .Greetings from rainy Holland!

Forgot how bad you can feel from jet lag!!?? I was more or less  “out” for 3 days.

Looking back , we ALL had a great time in Uvalde, pilots, crews, visitors, organizers including all sections.
It’s only HURRAY for Uvalde.
Hope you enjoyed the video’s from Rand!!!

After a few hick up’s in the beginning [ some pilots from 1991 found the atmosphere now, certainly in the beginning , not very kind! LIABILITY -FEAR???] but more and more EVERYBODY came in the correct groove to make this an unforgettable UVALDE 2012.
AGAIN great soaring- performances in Texas.

We all looked ahead at the open class as there were a few new gliders, NOBODY knew the performance from. We do know now and all of them belong to the gliders we will see back in future comps.
Well done from all the manufacturers who had sleepless nights to get them ready and ALL pilots flying those gliders with just a marginal set of hours of experience in them.

The winners are TRUE winners in each of the 3 classes. When I came back somebody told me Laurent Aboulin is a great winner. On day 1 Michael and Dick in the EB and CONCORDIA flew with him nearly till the end, as seen on the tracking, but they backed out for reasons THEY know , and… Aboulin made it home , was 1  and stayed there overall during the whole competition.
Could we say/think Michael and Dick lost on day 1? Only they know the answer. Dick had no engine and a brand new glider he spend “his life on” so understandable. Would love to know Michael’s answer on this question, but I had no time to ask him.
Atleast they tried hard to come as close as possible, both winning days.
Very good to stay on spot 1 overall during 13 days! As good as  my “late ”  mate Kees Musters,  who has done the same in Hobbs in New Mexico and “late” Helmut Reichman as well in another competition as it appears now. Did not know. Anyhow they all belong to an exceptional kind of pilots.

The Uvalde top 9!

I have always admired Sebastian Kawa, he is a bit introvert during a competition, only concentrating on his soaring , but in the end he truly enjoys his win ,[ so did his father ] and that of his country mates! What a great competition those Polish friends had in Uvalde. On spot 1 in 15 m. and on spot 1 AND 2 in 18 m. class.  Zbigniew Nierdaka , was the champion and is the champion again in 18 m. with as runner up his mate Lucasz Wojxcik.
3 Spots from 9 top spots , were theirs!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Congratualations to all pilots as well for being just good, but ALWAYS  keep an eye on safety, specially in thermals!!!

 
On the pictures from FB;  THE TEAM and…not so sure about packing the container!

My hosts Bill and Rand turned out to be REAL soaring-soul-mates! You never know,  when you have not met before, but only the email-contact before felt already good. They made Uvalde for me possible and I am eternal gratefull to them for giving me the possibility to catch up with so many old friends, to get to know so many new friends and to be back in Uvalde after having been there in 1991 as well.

Texas the dry country with ONE star, the dusty area with lot’s of cactus-plants and huge dust -devils, the State with a city called Uvalde , that place were so many felt welcome by the locals , specially those supporting the teams,[ shops and bodies as the  hospital,]  the place with great winners and still happy losers, the place of 2 mid-airs, one glider lost 2 damaged but all pilots ALIVE, the place with a guy called Mark Huffstutler , who keeps with his son Conrad vintage gliders “alive” and lot’s of people working for him/them.
A place with parties at different spots in sophisticated Hunter Lodges or private houses or in the SSA TENT.
A place where top tuggies showed their skill’s. The meteo was superb. Ground crew and recovery crew in special… TOP!!!!
When they would organize the next WGC in about 20 years again, I will be 86 and surely not be there anymore, seeing how I suffer from jetlag already now! For that reason I loved to be back in Uvalde “one more time [yeah] “.

   

 

   

 

DAN the [meteo]MAN

It was a great pleasure to be part of it! Thanks for reading the soaring cafe blogs with so many. Glad you enjoyed them. Great videos and pictures as well from Rand and Andreea . Thanks.
CU next Sunday for regular news in a regular blog.
RITZ.

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