Kl. 15:55 DP og ZB er begge tærsklet ud hhv. kl. 15:14 og 15:22 på opgaven, som i dag er en 2,5 times AAT opgave med max længde på 263 km. I morges regnede det, men det er klaret flot op og, de feltet blev startet med himlen er fyldt med flotte cumulus. Vores piloter […]
2013 WGC Argentina
Good report – Cinco
by Bill Elliott •
WGC2013 report – 07 JanuaryYesterday proved to be every bit as tough as it looked. The blue conditions and severely strong wind matched the forecast. What didn’t match was the lift strength – instead of the predicted 5 to 7 knots, pilots generally re…
The sun came out, but…
by Bill Elliott •
It stopped raining shortly after breakfast. At the Team Captain’s Briefing, they told us that they were considering calling a rest day for safety reasons. Some pilots did not get to bed until 7am. There were four road accidents last night. The Britis…
11:30
by Bill Elliott •
Også denne polske vogn kunne ikke klare turen på Pampas’en Første start 13:30 – og endnu engang kraftig vind. A-opgave: 2½ times AAT B-opgave: 130km AST Std. klassen bliver gyldig, men alle i klassen er stadig ikke hjemme endnu, bl.a. mangler V, der måtte blive derude i nat. British Team er efter dagen i går […]
Vi afventer
by Bill Elliott •
Gridden åbner først kl. 10, og vi afventer pt. dagens udvikling – der er en mulighed for en bagside i eftermiddag, men troværdige vejroplysninger er so-so…har vi efterhånden erfaret. Hele natten kom der vogne hjem; bl.a. skulle en åben vogn være knækket sammen på midten, og krogen på Aku’s (fra Finland) bil røg af under […]
Wet morning
by Bill Elliott •
It was raining in Chaves when the sun came up this morning. It’s very possible that we will not fly today. If that’s the case, we’ll get a chance to catch up on laundry, currency exchange, shopping, and blogging. Also, Peter and Phil could use a nap. …
One hundred percent
by Bill Elliott •
There were three Racing Tasks today, and 100% of the competitors who attempted them landed out. Our team is back home, finally.Tom, Sarah, and Sean had normal retrieves and were able to hand in their Flight Logs before sunset (just after 8pm).Phil and …
HOT!
by Bill Elliott •
This is hot, this is really really hot. 2½ times gaggel-flyvning ved startlinjen mellem 5-1000m. En ulige kamp i den kraftige vind ude på opgaven. DP+ZB landede på samme mark sammen med 20 andre fly. En hilsen fra markens ejer!
Good report – Cuatro
by Bill Elliott •
WGC2013 report – 06 January
Yesterday was a no-fly day, to accommodate the Opening Ceremony. Morning weather looked grim for flying (windy, low overcast) but by mid-afternoon had evolved into a sky with (tolerably low) cumulus and moderate wind that probably would have supported a reasonable task. This led to rather good weather for the ceremony, which featured all teams marching into the Chaves town square (about a mile east of the airfield) then standing around for various speeches, dancers, gauchos on horses, singers, and a release of pigeons. Today, at the airfield just prior to the morning pilot briefing we had a grand flag-raising event – on signal, each Team Captain raised his country’s flag (I count 24 in all). With due ceremony has thus having been observed we can now proceed with the official competition.
Today’s weather forecast can be summarized as good lift, few clouds, too much wind. As I write this all launches are complete and pilots are struggling with blue conditions in winds that are easily 25 kts on the ground, and substantially more aloft. The World Class was first to launch and had to strain mightily just to stay within reach of the field. We watched a gaggle of at least 20 gliders climb high while drifting rapidly downwind, then top the thermal and head upwind, arriving back at the airfield around tow release altitude – lather, rinse, repeat. We were told that lift should improve and cumulus clouds might develop later in the afternoon. It looks as if significant improvement will be needed for today’s tasks to have a high rate of completions.
4pm update: Wind has strengthened a bit. A number of pilots have given up the fight and are back on the ground at Chaves. Perhaps a dozen trailers have hitched up, though it’s not clear whether this is because of a landout or simply in anticipation of that possibility. (Team Captains are required to report landouts to the Scoring Office, but there currently seems to be no way to see that information.) US pilots appear to be doing okay, though it’s unclear whether speeds are sufficient to allow task completion before the day dies.
Good Report – Tres
by Bill Elliott •
WGC2013 report – 04 January
Our final practice day featured weather that was better, but unfortunately not quite good enough for any actual sailplane racing. We awoke to sun and northerly winds under 20 kts (which after a week in Chaves we’ve come to think of as fairly close to light and variable). The weather forecast called for good soaring as long as mid-level clouds stayed thin enough to allow decent sun on the ground. But we were also warned to expect significant cloud by mid-afternoon, with the possibility of rain and windy conditions by late evening.
Most gliders gridded and the launch began around 1pm, with a bunch of World Class (PW-5) gliders being towed northwest into increasingly gray skies. Only two classes were launched (the task for Club Class was scrubbed early), and pilots did reasonably well (in the sense of staying airborne) until about 3pm, when discretion overcame valor and landings began. All were on the ground by around 4:30, and on the advice of the contest weather office most were “in the box” not long after that.
Most PW-5 and some Club Class gliders have an open trailer. In view of this the contest has made an interesting provision by which these can be sheltered from bad weather: a warehouse is available about a mile from the field. Many glider trailers were late this afternoon seen making their way east toward this sanctuary.
The US Standard Class is staying at an estancia (ranch house) about 11 miles northeast of the airfield. Despite a longish drive and some minor issues with hot water and a shortage of electrical outlets, this is a truly fine place. Like most country homes in this area, it is surrounded by tall trees that give shelter from the frequent winds. This provides attractive habitat for many bird species, and the show these put on of a fair-weather morning is something to see & hear (we take our morning tea on the veranda, which gives a first-rate view). Few of these species are common in North America. There is a dove that sings “who cooks for yooouuu” during all daylight hours. Favorites are probably the fork-tailed flycatcher and the vermillion flycatcher (the male of which sports a red color on his head that may be unmatched by any other species). We were also favored with a swarm of bees that attached itself to a post in our front yard and was still there a day later (in spite of a short spell of heavy rain).
