They had 2 official practice days in Leszno and then it started to rain. Time for more “job’s” on the gliders and doing the “finishing touch on everything necessary” , as the opening ceremony was yesterday and now TODAY ,the real action starts.And believe me , they will fly and make days even on days you normally leave your glider in the hangar.
The organizing team is very experienced and they know what they do and deal with all kinds of weather!

  

As shared by the Dutch team .
AND
By the Danish team and Swedish team

  

  

AND USA TEAM

First a minute back to the PRACTICE PERIOD:
500 km. in 15 m. class is not a bad start as practice day! The UK pilots straight away showed that 2014 is a good year for them. They still have to show it in Leszno , in Rayskala they did already.

Eskilstuna WGC champion Leigh Wells won the day with on his tail not Howard, nor Steve,  but Phil Jones.They flew pretty fast with around 130 km./h on the clock.
Day 2 had a 2.30 AAT and Leigh and Phil just finished behind Mac from Japan  who saw a speed of 140 km./ph. He started  8 minutes later then the UK pilots.Sebastian started 20 minutes later as the “pommies”.

In 18 m. class the first practice day with 522.4 km. was won also by the UK pilots. Now Michael Young and Russell Cheetham were the best and raced with 141 and 138 km./h over the Polish country.  Also between the 900 and 1000 points for Danish pilot Peter Eriksen and the Jonker brothers Attie and Uys from South Africa.
Day 2 with a 2.30 AAT was for the 2 UK pilots again, this time with 142.4 and 141 km./h over around 380 km.

In open class the UK pilots Pete Harvey and Andy Davis both flew their JS- 1C with 138 km./h. over 606 km.
On day 2’s AAT [2.30] Pete and Andy lost each other somewhere on the road , Andy finished as best with 144 .1 km./h. over 398 km whilst Pete finished as 11th. Laurens Goudriaan,[ unfortunately Oscar had to withdrawn in my eyes a potential gold silver or bronze candidate] was runner up , also in JS 1-C.

In each of the 3 classes NOT all pilots practiced on the official days.

Jonkers will be present with their latest ” toy for the boy” at the WGC in Leszno!
They proudly announced the improved 18 m. glider JS 1 C-EVO .
5 JS1-C will fly in the Open class and 9 in the 18-meter Class.
I remember that the first C drew quite some attention in Uvalde.But to be honest not as much as the CONCORDIA.

For more information: http://www.jonkersailplanes.co.za/2014evo.htm

The gliders are on the grid and,  as I read, pilots are READY to go for it.The first week seems to have days with showers in the afternoon.
For today 2.30 AAT’s have been set for 15 and 18 m and 2.45 for open. The 127 pilots are ready we are all ready to follow them.

By the way the ” other 33d WGC ” just flown in Finland , really was a bit unlucky with the weather, though no complaints as they still had 7 out of 14 days, but last week they had a local competition ” Jannen Kisat” at Rayskala with 8 days out of 8 with the real Finnish/Rayskala weather!!They wrote history with that!

  

The “Jannen Kisat” 2014, competition last week as shared on their FB site.
With temperatures up to 30 dgr.

Dear SoaringCafe readers this is my last weekly- Sunday -blog .It was MY PLEASURE to keep you informed in the Ritz- way!!!!
I lack time, as there is so much to do. Even for somebody who retired a day should have more than 24 hours.
I love my writing, still will write my Wednesday blog at www.soaring.eu, but the commitment of writing 2 blogs in a week on fixed days was becoming a bit too much.
Next weekend I will be in Poland, the weekend after in Belgium at the Keiheuvel. I can spend my weekends as a more relaxed  person now and still write for the CAFE, whenever I have something to say.
So my contributions to the CAFE will be occasionally now, when something interesting for you comes up.No time pressure!

By the way the WGC Cup is at Keiheuvel this weekend as Bert jr. took it yesterday to the pub there for a BIG PARTY with all his mates. At Keiheuvel it all started.
Unfortunately I had to miss that as I have guests this weekend.

THE CUP AT THE KEI.

  

Jeroen Jennen between Bert and Tijl in a dark pub DE KEI.Obviously having fun!
Spend many hours in that pub which is owned by Chrisje and Rudy , the parents from Jeroen.
Pictures shared by Jeroen.

That’s it, not CU or till next week, but ,…..I will be back occasionally.CU then!
Cheers Ritz