Zero point four kph behind the winner

Both Jerzy and Dave had a good day and got out of their gliders with big smiles. Jerzy did exceptionally well, attaining a speed of 138.16 kph over 345 kilometers. According to the preliminary scoring for 18m, this puts him in second place for the day, 4 points behind the winner with a speed of 138.56 kph.

At this time preliminary scores for 15m show Dave in 8th place with a speed of 128.56 over 324 km. This puts him just ahead of Karl Striedieck. The winner in 15m class was Janusz Centka with a speed of 138.4.

This is only the taining week. I hope things continue going so well for Dave and Jerzy once the real race is on.

Not sure if we are going to make it to the Italian/Brit/Dutch party tonight. Everyone seems to be tired.

Training Day # 3

It's another great day here in Luesse. The weather is basically a carbon copy of Monday and Tuesday. Blue with a few cu at 6000 ft. Max temperature of over 30 degrees is moderated by a dry easterly breeze.

The task for 15m/18m is a 2.5 hr AAT to the east. With almost everyone here now, the grid was huge and it took over 1:30 to launch what looked like a sea of carbon fiber.


Our pilots have gone on task with the following start times:
Jerzy XG 14:25
Dave P8 14:51

We are expecting them back at 17:00 and 17:30.

Just got word that Virginia has arrived at the hotel - great now the team is complete.

They also finally published the results for Tuesday:
Jerzy came 14th in the 18m class,
Dave 15th in 15m.

Tonight the Italian, British and Dutch teams will jointly host an evening so we can all get to know each other.

The Worlds is a great place to meet the gliding legends you normally only read about. Yesterday I ran into Ingo Renner, the ueber-pilot and four times world champion (I think) of the eighties and nineties. Last time met was at the Worlds in Uvalde 1991. Today Janusz Centka, again four times world champion and current competitor dropped by at the flight line.

Team almost complete

Maria arrived today. She was exhausted after having lugged about 30kg of luggage up a long flight of stairs to the platform of the Charlottenburg train station. We finished the rest day with a nice dinner at our hotel.



The other evening Dave plugged a surge protected power bar he had brought from Canada, into the 240 Volt outlet in the hotel. Looks like the surge protector decided 240Volts was a power surge and shorted everything out. It blew a main fuse in the hotel and Dave and Jerzy's room went dark for good. They actually had to change rooms for the night because because it took til morning to restore power. We all had a good laugh over that one.

Rest Day

We woke up to a cloudy and cooler day. That's quite o.k. since we had planned to make this a rest day anyway. It is supposed to improve a bit in the afternoon, so they set a 2 hr AAT.

I attended a team managers' meeting after pilots' briefing. The main topic discussed was the requirement to put a Lufthansa sticker (major sponsor) on every glider on the left side of the cockpit just below the canopy frame. The rules say the organizers can require all competitors to put one sticker on. The British team agreed with the sticker but objected to the location, arguing that the fuselage dolly will make the edges of the stickers roll up. We will see how that gets sorted out.

My request to provide the altimeter setting also in inches mercury drew quite a laugh. Actually, it's not a laughing matter because Dave is flying with an altimeter in feet and the setting is crucial for the height limited start. We may have to do the conversion ourselves. The next team managers' meet will be on Friday.

Jerzy's crew, Maria has arrived at 11am. Virginia is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, then the team will be complete.

So far we are very happy with our accommodations at the Landhotel Dahnsdorf. It is clean, the owner and staff are very friendly and try to accommodate us in every way. They have a great restaurant with beer-garden and the prices are reasonable for Europe. We are staying there with the French Team and two Worlds Stewards. It is about 10k from the airport, so shuttling back and forth is no problem.


Posting Schedule: Our daily routine is a little different from what I originally envisioned. It usually takes till between 2p and 3p local until the pilots are launched, vehicles have been removed from the grid and start times have been reported. So expect the morning post around 9 am eastern time. The afternoon post with a synopsis of the day from the pilots' perspective and preliminary scores should be online around 3p eastern time.

That's it for today, there won't be an afternoon post because there is no flying.

Everyone's back

We had some major excitement at Luesse airfield today while the competitors were on task. The wheat field beside the airport went up in flames. It happened with frightening speed. I was working on the veranda of the clubhouse when I heard somebody yell to call the fire department. When I walked around the corner of the building I looked at wall of smoke and flames. From the sound of it the fire was really close. It looked like the campground was about to be consumed by the flames. I went out to the our trailers to make sure they and the cars were safe. Fortunately, the wind component blew the flames away from the airport and they never jumped the dirt road between the wheat field and the airport. The fire was down as quickly as it had sprung up.

A fire so close to the airfield raises some interesting questions. When the gliders are on the ground, there is about 20 million dollars worth of equipment sitting there plus tow planes and cars. What if half of the fleet would get wiped out by a grass fire before the contest has even started?


Dave and Jerzy both completed the task which had a minimum time of 3.5 hrs. Jerzy achieved a speed of 117 km/hr, Dave is estimating his speed at 99 km/hr over 412 km - slow again, as he puts it. Dave and Jerzy enjoyed a great working band with usable convection being as high as 8000 ft with a maximum thermal strength of 7kts. Overall, the day was better than yesterday but cirrus ahead of an incoming front slowed Dave down at he end of the day. Daves' comment was: Almost as good as Uvalde but without the thunderstorms!


For tomorrow we decided to take a rest day because the forecast calls for a front to pass through the competition area and we don't want to tire out or pilots during training.

Begin of the official training

Good morning again, Canada

It's another great day here in Luesse with over 30 degrees. A dry 10 - 15kt easterly breeze makes conditions on the ground quite comfortable. A a few cu with high bases are dotting the blue sky.


While Dave and Jerzy got the gliders ready, I wrestled with the registration bureaucracy, all documents for the gliders, calibration records for the loggers, proof of insurance and proof of health insurance for pilots and crews.

This is the first official training day with a pilots' briefing at 10:00 am. The task is an AAT with 4 turnpoints and a nominal distance of 410km:

Startpoint: SP2
Turnpoint 1: 104 - 20k radius
Turnpoint 2: 045 - 20k radius
Turnpoint 3: 048 - 30k radius
Turnpoint 4: SP4 - 1k radius - to channel approaches from the west.



Jerzy and Dave both launched mid grid. The have both since started. Jerzy (XG) 14:08; Dave (P8) 14:10.

The pilots are reporting good conditions.

There are still a lot to sorted out by the contest organization: We have other teams using our frequency, there are no Jonnies on the spot at the line and the public access wireless is still not working.

Jerzy and Dave both came back with big smiles. They flew over 550 km in thermals up to 8kts and altitudes up to 7000 ft (ground elevation 200 - 400 ft). Jerzy achieved a speed of over 124.5 kph. Dave will post his flight on the OLC.
Dave and Jerzy flew the task of the Polish team. Janus Centka, four times world champion landed out.

Both Dave's ASW-27 and Jerzy's ASG-29 are now tweaked and equiped perfectly for the contest. The ballast systems are tested and work. Tomorrow will be the first official training day with the briefing at 10:00 am.

First flying day in Luesse

Good Morning Canada

It's a great day here in Luesse with temperatures in the low 30s and a nice easterly breeze (easterly wind is good here).

A few cu are dotting the sky. Dr. Jack's forecast for the day is 5kt thermals to 4500 - 5000 ft. This will provide for a nice working band, snce ground elevation in the area is only 200 - 400 ft.

As most of the teams have arrived now, the place is getting very busy. In total, there will be 134 gliders which will be launched by a fleet of 8 Wilga Towplanes. The Wilgas are equipped with special mufflers which make them very quiet.

Dave and Jerzy took off around 1p local time (Central European). They are planning to go on a 500 k task with the Polish team.

Cars, busses, airplanes and trains

It took a car ride, two airplane rides, a bus ride, a trian ride and another car ride to get to Luesse.

The overnight flight across the Atlantic was cramped as always. I got max. two hours of sleep and was glad to get out of the plane in Zurich. The weather in Zurich was cool and overcast and it looked as if it would start raining any minute. I spent 9 dollars on a small cup of coffee and a prezel for breakfast during the three hour lay-over in Zurich. On the flight up to Berlin the overcast gradually broke up into wonderful cu streets with high bases as the flight approached the contest area. The weather in Berlin was clear with a few high cu and 30 degrees. Dave picked me up from the Belzig train station which is just a few km from the airfield and the hotel.

Dave and Jerzy arrived very late yesterday from Poland and chose not to fly today because they were tired,despite the good looking sky. Better safe than sorry! They got their gliders weighed and inspected instead. We had a nice dinner together in the clubhouse of the local club.

Max, a German university student who had visited SOSA last year, dropped by and donated four exquisite bottles of red wine to the team. - Thanks Max!

Problem resolved - Jerzy is on his way

Jerzy left this evening for Frankfurt. The good people from the Berlin gliding club arranged a loaner car for Jerzy which he can drive to Poland to pick up his glider.
Dave and Jerzy are planning to meet near the Polish border on Thursday evening. They want to fly for a few days in Poland until Luesse opens for training. They expect to arrive in Luesse Saturday evening. I will join them there Sunday afternoon.

Departures and last Minute Problems

Took Dave to Toronto airport this afternoon for his flight to Frankfurt. He will pick up a car near Frankfurt then meet up with Jerzy who will arrive a day later, to fly for a few days in Poland before the training starts in Luesse.

Jerzy was informed today that the Europcar rental he had arranged through the Worlds organizers, cannot be driven across the border to Poland. This is a major problem because Jerzy has to pick up his glider in Poland, furthermore tasks will be set into Poland as well. The organizer is offering to make other cars available for trips to Poland. Strange situation!

Team Clothing

Virgina and Maria have done a wonderful job in selecting great shirts, hats and pants and getting them embroidered with the Canadian Team crest. Now the Team will look equally sharp at formal events as well as informal gatherings. Thanks to Annemarie and Ed for contributing windbreakers sporting a large Maple Leaf both front and back. They came in handy at the Worlds in Leszno.

Team Dinner

Willem and Diane invited the rest of the Team on Wednesday, July 9 to a Team Dinner. It was great to have the entire Team together. Virginia and Maria had done a lot of research on Team clothing and presented their findings. How do you like the hat?

Canadian Team Training Camp June 28 - July 6

25 participants flew 23 gliders in two classes, advanced and novice. Thanks to Walter and Udo who generously made their ASW-27s available to Dave and Jerzy.

The first weekend was rained out, so we got a good head start with presentations. Over the course of the week we covered the following topics:

• Task types and strategy
• Soaring weather in southern Ontario
• Effective thermaling
• Optimizing XC speed
• Final Glides
• Scoring Program
• FAI Badges
  

Our first flying day was Canada Day (Tue). The weather improved as the week progressed and we ended up with a total of 5 competition days. There were few landouts since all tasks were turn area tasks. The longest task was set on Saturday, July 5^th with a 3.5 hr AAT. The greatest distance achieved was a touch over 300 km. The day was entirely blue.

The last day was saved by a task change after launch.

All in all it was a great week. We had the opportunity to learn from each other, had great flying in a friendly yet competitive contest and we experienced great cameraderie at bbqs. Thanks to all who came!