Hot JWGC-topic…not great lift or finishes but …thunderstorms!

 

 HOPEFULLY THE PROBLEMS WITH MY BLOG ARE OVER NOW!!!!!!
Have n’t “found ” the blogs back in my system, BUT…… they were pending in the soaringcafe- system and to be read now at www.soaringcafe.com
3 times HURRAY!!!!

The hot topic amongst the young ones over the last days, was the WEATHER, thunderstorms, tough wind , sleeping in cars and …..a Leszno- airfield , with NO rigged gliders ,….only trailers with gliders in it.
Now,..the weather has been bad at more places with these heat waves hanging around. Germany’s insurances have to pay an insurance bill of over TWO million Euro for damage. And Italia’s Milano had a tornado, causing a lot of damage on a big industrial park. Big trucks were a prey of the wind and thrown like toys.

 JWGC weer by Belgium team

Leszno area, as shared by the Belgium junior team

The weather topic was shared by many more as Vinon was hit   by a mini-tornado on July 29, causing HUGE damage to the buildings as hangar for the tow planes and the office, as well as trailers with and without gliders in it.
You can find all the pictures  , courtesy to Dries van Gestel, who just hoped to be able to fly again one day later, at :
https://plus.google.com/photos/108809042509871575859/albums/5905990766524102065?banner=pwa
OR
https://picasaweb.google.com/108809042509871575859/WindhoosVinon29Juli2013
The news was shared quickly and we all wish the Vinon pilots and owners the best, as you can ‘t do anything against the violence / power of weather phenomena!!

 IMG_3953 IMG_3954

IMG_3962 IMG_3964

One word only; TRAGIC!!!
Courtesy Dries van Gestel.

 

The JWGC  had not yet one day of flying but that changed on Tuesday,  at least for standard class.
Sunday was cancelled after waiting quite long in the hot sun, but the trigger temperature was not reached. The “private” pool after was fantastic!
Monday was “scrubbed” after trying hard again . Then the  table tennis competition was fun.
Tuesday the meteo and tasksetter tried even harder, but the weather is the weather, it does what IT will.

JWGC meteo JWGC task 1

Tasksetter and meteo try to make the best out of the weather with isolated thunderstorms as you can see on the Standard class task .
Courtesy FB via Leszno site and UK team.

Tuesday was  “canned” for the club class due to a strong westerly and pretty poor conditions, but the standard class had to try at 13.00 to make their first flying-day. The window looked OK as the sniffer called for 2 m. and a cloudbase of 900 m., so they postponed ONE more time to 13.30 , in which Matthew had time to quickly share with us how the sky looked, and….  off they went, the JWGC had finally started with a 1.30 AAT. [ 116.8km/241.2km (178.8km) ]
Before start they were all “equal” after the finish,  we had winners and “losers” [ don’t like this word !] in this class.

 JWGC tuesday JWGC Peter ready
Looking pretty good and Peter ready to go.
as shared by Matthew and Rob Millenaar.

It turned out to be a very interesting day. Not too much points to gain, neither to loose.  The winner from Switzerland,  Roman Misun, [ASW 28] 24 years old  ”received” 408 points , the “red- lantern- carrier”  for the day still 212.
Roman flew already in the Musbach JWGC and he practised last year during the PRE worlds in Leszno. Good on him!!!.
Interesting was the speed from 124 km. /h. over 188.4 km.[ in 1.31]  by the winner, nice fast, following cloud-streets and wind on the tail, only on the nose turning back home.
Start times were between 14.27 by the UK team and 14. 59.58, for “our” blogger Matthew from Australia, who confessed that the waiting, did  make him a bit nervous :
With a short task and a moderate window I thought start time was critical and waited as long as I dared, knowing it meant I’d be flying alone. Dropped 30L to help feel the climbs alone and flew ultraconservative and just let the better weather do the work and tried to round the turnpoints efficiently in the strong wind.”
He was 3d for the day just behind Peter from Holland, [ 191.9 km. in 1.35] , who did already so well in the Ostrow EGC, winning 4 days with IN his class Sebastian Kawa.
Peter mentioned;
Nah, a bit so-so today,..130 km./h would have been  possible,… did n’t do too well just before rounding the 2d sector…..was relative low with not really good lift to straight away fly back,…that cost me at least 9 minutes“. Peter started at time 14.38 in his DISCUS 2A.

A bit amazed to see the scores from the German boys,[29-31-34 from 36 participants in this class] but as said the day did not cost TOO much!!!!And,…MANY more days to come!!!!!

start JWGC 2  start JWGC

The JWGC has started!
Pictures courtesy Katja.

Today the weather looks better and it looks like the club will fly their first day. They have waited long , so are more than ready.
The message from the organisers this morning;
Good morning! Grid opens 8:30, runway 24. Grid Time 12:00. Team Captains meeting 9:30. Briefing 10:00. A lot of altocumulus clouds, the air is fresh and a little bit cold.

JWGC UK team dag 1
Finish yesterday from Charles from team UK.
Courtesy ; shared by UK FB site.

MENGEN;

After a few days of forced rest the 18m. and open class pilots in Mengen, could fly again on Tuesday; tasks were set, pilots FULLY ready to go after a great visit the day before to the ZEPPELIN -hangar in Friedrichshafen;
Offene: 319,9 km
18m: 312,2 km
The weather however was pretty poor early in the day, with certainly at the beginning a low cloud base. But it became better and better and Uli Schwenk was the best with a speed of 126 km./h.
In 18 m. Belgium pilot Yves Jeanmotte won again before Robert Schroder;111 km./h. and 109.

 Mengen
Not too bad is it?
Courtesy  Mengen Site

With 3 days to go Michael Sommer was still on 1 and Uli  on spot 2 now.In 18 m. Yves in on top and Robert 2d.
Today it looks they fly again and as the last day is on Friday, they should be able to fly every day from now on.
Tasks for today;
18 m. 2.30  AAT ; ….min. 161,0km – max. 357,4km
Open; 3 hour AAT ….min. 231,4km – max. 430,5km

Will be back on Friday , that is ,….when “hackers” do not interfere again, it remains WEIRD that saved and published blogs just disappear , as well as several pictures saved in my media-library and that within 2 hours 1470 spam messages blocked the system.
CU on Friday for an extra blog about the JWGC and Mengen.

Cheers Ritz
Wednesday July 31 last day of July already, time flies!!!
www.soaringcafe.com      www.glidinginternational.com