Looking back at this last FAI cat.1 competition in 2013, you can only say it was a great one with good to very good young pilots,  but a bit disappointing weather. Organisers did as I heard a great job and they dealt in a safe way with this unfortunate weather [ wind, thunderstorms, rain and very hot stable conditions] , though still 7 days have been flown. On non-flying days the young pilots travelled around, played music, soccer and  table-tennis or in their pools , looked at videos and a paintball game is always interesting as well.
Being involved in a photo shoot from top people from the STUDIO LTV Jacek Lewiński was one of them as well.
[ picture on the top and top picture] !

As in the last 2 EGC’s , the last day was the day setting the results with 2 “coups” involved by the French and Dutch pilots , both with a new JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION.In fact their TC’s and coaches and their mates flying with them , each had a part in it. TEAM WORK in optima forma!

It was pretty doubtful if there would be a last day. Already on Wednesday the club class flew “alone” [ standard class was cancelled]  on a very marginal day with a “top score” of 192 points for the brave Czech “girl” Petra 1 of the 6 participating ladies.
Thursday was “canned” to speak in  the junior language due to 25 km./h. wind and Friday was “scrubbed” because of thunderstorms . The expectation was for a-MAYBE-last-  day on Saturday. It was,  after the 38 dgr. C a welcoming cool morning and BIG tasks were set to the astonishment of TC’s and pilots. The tasks were reduced but …the meteo and organisers were correct. It turned out to be a good window to fly in with 3 m. lift and cloud streets for the lucky ones being there in time.
Now back to the COUP.

Here is the story,  first in club class;
The French pilots Valentin and Benjamin were on spot 3 and 5 overall, before this last day. They started relatively early, flying together with another mate Antoine.
For tactic reasons they did not give us a lot of news , but their reason to go was the great looking clouds on track and the knowledge “,” together we are strong” !!!Good decision and flying your own way, not looking and waiting for others. Maxime from Switzerland and Marco from Germany were the 2 to keep an eye on , being on spot 1 and 2. Maxime did the right thing and started 2 minutes later,  Marco 5.
Valentin ” climbed” from 3 to 1 being the new JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION, by being 4th for the day and Benjamin being 3d for the day finished as runner up with the silver. Antoine climbed from 9 to 8. Congratulations for the French team.
Maxime finished as number 25 and lost some points but still was on the podium and Marco finished on the last day on spot 20 also loosing points and finishing on spot 4,  just 13 points behind Maxime.

The club class TOPPERS
AND CHAMPION runner up and bronze winner.

As shared by the German site.

 In standard class Peter Millenaar from The Netherlands “was sitting” for the 3 last non-flying-days on gold! Also he decided to fly his own race,  together with his team mates who flew and started together with the Czech concurrents to keep an eye on them. They started about 20 minutes later than Peter.
Now here also comes the TC and coach in the game. Coach is Tim Kuijpers who was the club class JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION in 2011.

Tim Kuijpers calculating and advising in full action!

They quickly heard from the 2 Dutch pilots that the Czech boys were faster and calculated what to do. Outlandings would help to get less speed points. Both Dutch pilots did not finish with 5 others making the difference for Peter to win from Petr. Petr did a terrific job with Radek to win the day.
So in the end Peter won with 5573 points and Petr was runner up with 5546, both fought for what they were worth, whilst Radek climbed from 4 to spot 3.
They all look happy with the result as you can see on the picture from Rob Millenaar, Peter’s proud dad.
Don’t forget that the during the EGC in Ostrow Peter won 4 days in a competition where Sebastian Kawa was flying as well.

Peter, Petr and Radek and a HAPPY DUTCH TEAM.

and as shared by the German site.

The prestigious TEAM CUP was for Poland with 6500 points before Czech Rep. with 6363 points and Switzerland [in my eyes THE revelation of this JWGC with 6269] Holland was on spot 4 and France on 8.

As shared by the LESNZO site!

That was the end of 3 GREAT FAI events in 2013 looking ahead at the year 2014.

As shared by Rob Millenaar.

Finishing with some quotes from pilots, crew or TC from other countries.
–“During the competition the team have had their highs and lows but everyone has pulled through together.”by Simon Barker TC team UK.AND
–“The team is on their way back to the UK after an excellent 3 weeks of racing. Some successes equalled by frustrations, but a good performance from a young team. Thanks for all the support – sponsors and everyone back home for the encouragement. We’ve had a lot of learning experiences over the past 6 months and hope it will lead to World Champions in the future. On behalf of the British Team congratulations to the new World Champions Peter Millenaar (Standard) and Valentin Grit (Club). Full comp report when we are home. We will be back in a week for the British Junior Championships!–“

–“It’s all over!”
by Matthew Scutter pilot representing Australia and blogger.
–“ Immediate first thought – I just went a full competition without outlanding!!! Achieving this level of consistency especially in European conditions is a big deal for me, but there’s still a long way to go – my bad days are ending in atrociously slow speeds on the bottom of the table but it’s an improvement from paddocks. I feel that’s the key lesson I took out of my 4 months local practice prior to the competition, learning to see an outlanding looming and taking action substantially earlier (2000-3000ft) to avoid it. I think this has hurt my average speed in any given weather considerably, but I feel like I’ve ‘leveled up’ and advanced from being at the top of the people who can fly fast but usually outland once a competition to the bottom of the pilots who don’t outland unless everyone else does.”
More from Matthew at;
https://www.facebook.com/MatthewScuttersGliding

Thoughts from TC Beryl Hartley from Australia the country hosting the 2015 JWGC and she will be involved.
–“It is all over for another 2 1/2 years when we will all be at Narromine. The organisers managed a good task with an excellent 2.1/2 hour window of cu and reasonably good climbs. Peter M in the lead was out to protect his place and the Czech boys were out to head him off from the winner title. The Aussies flew to move up the ladder and it worked for all of them. The Dutch have a world champion who was rewarded for his excellence. The Czech boys came in 1st and 2nd today to put him under some pressure. The Aussies all came home with very respectable places and moved up in the list. Matthew up 2 places to 9th and Ailsa up 5 places.
It is late and raining again. The stragglers who outlanded in wet paddocks are rolling in and it looks like a late night for the scorer.
The closing ceremony will be held in the morning and we are hoping for fine weather. The FAI flag will be lowered in Leszno and be handed to the Australians for raising in 2015 at Narromine.
The friendly competition between juniors is of the hightest standard.
No protests other than addressing a complaint in the practise period.
No damage to aircraft or pilots other than the self inflicted to pilots (from extreme sports on rest days)  and small damage to undercarriage doors in outlandings.
Great training for our new world entrants Ailsa and Eric. I am sure all Aussies are proud of the junior team for 2013. I certainly am.” —

And by the Belgium coach;
–“I’m really proud of the way they flew, we’re the only country in the Club Class with 2 day-victories, something we can be proud of!”–

By the official Leszno site;
–“Emotions in front of the results screen…”–On the last day!

And by pilot Iain Rennie from South Africa;
–“A disappointing end to a fantastic competition. Landed out 10k from home after a flight I would like to forget sooner rather than later. Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement.–”
“Lessons learned , experience gained “,was the cheering-up comment from top pilot Oscar Goudriaan and he knows!!!!

Eric Stauss , pilot in standard class from Australia;
-“So here we are, the Junior World Gliding Championships is over and another two years till the next. The closing ceremony is happening in a few hours and now I have to try an make sense out of all my stuff and try to bring some sort of order to it all. I’ve been living in a tent for the past month…. 

And what a fantastic month it has been. I came here to learn and by golly did I! Now over the next two years I’ll build on this foundation and throw it all out there in Narromine, NSW for the next JWGC! 

To everyone who helped me get here, thank you so much for your support, your generosity made it all possible. My home club at Balaklava had a big fundraiser the weekend before I began my journey. It was such a great night and to everyone who came along and chipped in and helped me out from the start, thank you. It was so great to see in action the tight knit community we have there. My gliding Career has been raised there and from there it will only continue to progress. Though that does mean that I will continue to steal the Mini Nimbus for long flights ;-)

There is a person also from Balaklava GC who has helped me out enormously for this trip. He washed and de-bugged my wings, ballasted, taped and polished the glider, didn’t drop the wing too many times as he ran the wing while I launched. And most of all he came all this way to do all of those things. And before the comp we even managed to get off the ground together in an Arcus T!!! 

A very big thank you to Andrew Horton.'”–who was his crew in Leszno.More from them at;

http://ausjuniorglidingteam.blogspot.com.au/

Before the start on Saturday.

A pity not all countries share their ideas and adventures from Leszno. Other young pilots can learn from it!!
Some do but in a language I don’t understand, which is my problem not theirs.

That’s it. Loved every minute again and THANK YOU for those who shared stories and pictures from Leszno.
It always is a hellofajob to read all sites and pick up the interesting “things”. Hope you liked it!

Cheers Ritz Cu
Will not see you on Sunday as I will be in Belgium as I attend the Keiheuvel CUP, but one or 2 days later. CU then.