Day Canceled

We woke up to a solid alto-stratus overcast with a few sprinkles mixed in. That's pretty much the forecast for the day as well. It was no surprise that the day was canceled. The organizer was nice enough to notify the team managers by text message not to grid before the briefing.

First thing every morning in the briefing is the announcement of the winners from the previous day. In 18m Class the speeds of the first three were within 0.65 kph. That means on a 370 km task, there is 56 seconds or two circles between first and third.

In Open Class Alena Netusilova, one of the three women in the competition came second. Alena is competing for the Czech Republic and flies an 18m ASG-29 against Open Class ships, some of them with 28m wingspan. The other two women, both in 15m, are Nina Shalneva (Russia) and Katrin Senne (Germany). Katrin, a mother of three, who is the current women's world champion, is the poster-girl of soaring in Germany. There is a lot of media coverage on her. I believe the pressure that comes with the media circus is affecting her performance.

Katrin Senne, the poster-girl of women's soaring in Germany

Fortunately, the ceiling was high enough for the airshow to proceed. There were rides with the historic Ju52, demo flights of the Me 108, power and glider aerobatics, skydivers and model airplane demos.

The organizers even put a mock 20-glider contest launch, complete with finishes on. The finishes were actually quite spectacular with entire national teams doing worm burners in formation. Every beat-up I saw would have attracted penalty points if this would have been a contest day. Fortunately there were no accidents.

The half-way party yesterday was great: Great food, great entertainment. There also was a spectacular night glider aerobatic presentation with pyrotechnics and fire pots on the wingtips.

Photo by Maria Szemplinska

We are now half way through the contest and we have one pilot in 5th place. This is the best result I can remember, so let's keep our fingers crossed!

After having watched the airshow, the team is resting or shopping for the rest of the day. We will probably fly again tomorrow.