Contest day 1 - a tough day!

It was a tough day, particularly for the 18m class with the assigned speed task. Only 15 out of a field of 50 gliders made it back. They came in long after the 15m and Open Class ships. Since we had lost communication with Jerzy we didn't know whether or not he was still flying. We were expecting the cell phone to ring any minute as we saw one trailer after another going out. Finally, he called in on a 10k final as one of the last gliders still flying.

Maria was more than relieved and happy to go out to tow XG in. I am sure Jerzy was just as happy to get out of the glider. He had been on task for 4 hours, 37 minutes.

Fortunately, it turned out that Jerzy had been able to relay his start time to the organizers on the start gate frequency. The problem was simply that our radio was too weak to reach him.

According to the preliminary scoring, which at this time should be fairly stable, Jerzy placed 13th for the day, only 45 points behind the winner. Although it was only a 550 point day, some well known 18m pilots lost significant points today. Mike Young and Phil Jones from Britain team flew to a 24 place tie, each with 128 points - 432 points is a lot to make up!

Our Serbian-Canadian friend Branko unfortunately had to start the motor of his DG-808 fairly early in the game and landed in 47th place.

In 15m things were easier because the 2 hr area task allowed competitors to avoid the bad areas. There were only three outlandings. The winner was Timothy Scott from Britain with a speed of 109.74 kph.

Dave's (P8) speed of 95.91 kph was only enough for a disappointing 30th place. However, since he lost only 139 points against the winner, he is still in good shape. Today was the day were not much could be won but a lot could be lost. Defensive flying and survival were certainly the right strategies! Read a full account of Dave's flight at his blog.


This morning we were joined by Ian Sutcliffe and his wife Kathleen who are currently touring Europe. Ian just happened to have a spare radio handy when we really needed it. Thanks, Ian!
It is always great to welcome friends here in Luesse, so if you happen to be in the area, don't hesitate to drop in!