Today the JWGC starts in Leszno in Poland. I visited quite a few JWGCs and I loved them, as it is quite different from the other WGCs or EGCs. Not the soaring; that it is the same—soaring is soaring. Maybe they fly a bit less fast or sharp, but don’t forget, there are a lot of these young ones who have flown EGCs or even WGCs already.
The mentality is different. Most young ones are pretty outgoing, and because of their youth they have those vibes that you feel straight away when you enter the field. There is laughter, a feeling of joy, teasing and strong friendship, but of course there is also a serious side, as they know what they are doing and why they are in Poland representing their country—to do well in a sport they love.
They all really are there to do their best, but there are pilots with about 3,000 hours, like Boyd Willat from the USA, but also some with only 180, such as Iain Rennie from South Africa. That’s a big difference in experience, but … you have to gain experience, and if you are talented enough (otherwise their NAC would not send them), you learn a lot from just participating. Most of them have really well-known and experienced team captains as well, to support them far away from home.
They play soccer at the field, or volleyball, sit in the pool or just cuddle their girl friends, as you can see in the pictures from Katja. Most pictures in the blog are hers (with her permission as she owns the copyright); otherwise you can find the name with the photo.
Katja is from Finland and since 2008, she has designed the web sites for the JWGC. You can recognize it straight away as they clearly have “her signature, ” and she keeps a blog as well and takes great pictures.
It pleases me that there are 6 girls in this competition. Elena from Italy flew already the WWGC in Issoudun, finishing in sixth place, so she has some extra practise. Ailsa, from Australia, had a great second place on the last day of the Australian Nationals in Benalla— not bad either. Two Czech girls, Petra and Hanna, and Elena arrived in Leszno from Russia. I missed out on Judyta from Poland, but she is definitely in and number 6 !
“Cheeky” Aussie pilot, Ailsa in front of her Austrian mates.
Two official practise days were flown by most pilots. The third day was only good for outlandings so most did not fly. The six Dutch pilots did well, being 1-2-3 in club class on day one and on day three they were in first and second place. Now … practise is only practise and some even say a bad rehearsal is the best motivation to win. We’ ll see!
TC Ger 2nd in the picture with his strong Dutch team and part of the also strong Belgium team in the right-hand photo
The opening was yesterday evening at the airport and it was a one hour show, featuring a marching band, spectacular flying in a glider, and a show of the tuggies, as well as what I heard was an impressive gyrocopter show.
Five pictures courtesy Rob Millenaar
Today the comps start with a temperature of 37°C after some rain in the morning. Tasks were set—club class got a 3.00 AAT and the standard pilots a racing task over 260.2 km. It was waiting and waiting for the first launch as the trigger temperature could not be reached.
At 2.30 PM European time, club class was scrubbed, but the standard pilots were still waiting and hoping. They got new tasks on the grid but it did not help. Also they got the message that day one is cancelled, and so it was for both classes!
More pictures follow of the opening by Katja, and a lot from the gyrocopter appear in the gallery on the official website. Here are a few!
The German team is also very strong in both classes. TC Uli carries the flag whilst young Fin, his son, who is a real “frequent flyer,” having visited by now more comps than many other pilots.
Gorgeous little Fin
We suffer in many countries here in Europe from heat waves. And, as usual, they are accompanied by severe thunderstorms with gusting wind and hail. Today the temperature might reach over 40°C in Bayern (in the southern part of Germany). The all-time record is 40.2.
That’s it for now. I presume the standard class in Leszno will be cancelled as well. It ‘s good they wait until they are sure it is not possible, not even a small window. It is a JWGC, isn’t it, not just another competition!?
Will be back when they fly!
For all other news from last week, you can go to www.soaring.eu .
Cheers … Ritz
