Worlds day 2

A cold front went through this morning with a low overcast, wind and rain. A small high pressure area building behind the front is giving us a small window to fly. The airmass is very unstable with rapid cycling. To make matters more difficult, our pilots are battling a gusty 25 kt wind at the lower levels, which increases to 35 kts above 3000 ft.


They announced the tasks at a second pilots' meeting at noon. 18m was at the front of the grid. They are flying a 2.5 hr area task. 15m was the last class to launch their task is a 2 hr area task.

We saw some dicey launches due to the strong and gusty wind. Conditions looked reasonably good when Jerzy launched. However Dave launched into a dead looking sky at the downside of the cycle. It didn't take long for the first 15m guys and some 18m gliders to fall out. Fortunately both our pilots managed to stay airborne. Jerzy (XG) started at 14:37, Dave (P8) started at 15:20. Theoretically, Jerzy should be back around 17:10 and Dave at 17:20. According to the forecast the soarable window will close at 17:00.

This is another day where it will be important to survive rather than being fast. Keep your fingers crossed!!


Here is a photo of the Serbian-Canadian Team with Pilot Branko from Vancouver just before launch. Good luck Branko!

More Photos from Day 1

We woke up to rain, wind and a low overcast this morning. However, it is clearing up now as there is a small high pressure zone building behind the front. There may be a small window this afternoon. The gliders are rigged and are being loaded with ballast in the moment.

Maria took some great photos yesterday:


Dave has landed and is retrieved from the field. Big applause from the Sunday crowd for the Canadians!

Dave and Virginia are all relaxed. For the rest of us the situation is still tense as we are waiting for word from Jerzy. The person at the right is Art Grant from Winnipeg. Art is a volunteer who is helping as a scrutineer or in other functions with the organization of the contest. He arrieved from Rieti last week. If we need anything, Art usually knows where to get it.

I jumped when the phone rang, ready to take down the information. Fortunately, the call was not from Jerzy.


Finally! Jerzy comes in!


A big Prosit on Jerzy making it back as one of 15 in a field of 50 gliders!

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!

The race is on!

This is the first day of the 30th Worlds in Luesse, Germany. The weather conditions today are difficult. We have a strong westerly wind and cool very unstable air. Early in the morning the bases of ragged cu were low but rose as the day warmed up. The problem is rapid cycling with local over-development and showers. The launch order was Open, 18m, 15m. There were a lot of re-lights in Open and 18m because the sky looked pretty bleak during the launch of these classes. Fortunately they delayed the 15m launch a bit, which allowed Dave to be launched into much better skies.


The task for 15m is a 2 hr area task, for 18m it is a 318 km assigned task.

We have a major problem with Jerzy's radio. We were not able to get his start-time so I had to hand in an estimated start time. I hope I guessed reasonably close. If it is off by more than +/- 5 minutes there may be penalty points.

Dave started at 14:12. As I am writing this, the sky doesn't look good at all. From what I am hearing it is not good on task. Off-field landing reports are already coming in. Let's hope we don't have to go on a retrieve.

More later.

The 30th World Gliding Championships are open!

At 2:30p the teams were bussed from the airport to the historic town of Belzig for the opening ceremony. The teams of 34 nations were organized in alphabetic order to march onto a stage at the market square. And yes, it is true, this is the Worlds with the greatest number of nations participating, ever.


Every team was introduced by a Lufthansa flight attendant. Whenever possible, the introduction was in the native language of the team. I heard English, French, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Portugese.


Our flight attendant, Celine was a most charming and remarkable young lady. Daughter of a Tunesian father and an Austrian mother, she is fluent in French, German, English, Italian and Arabic - wow! Her favourite city in Canada is Vancouver with Toronto being second.

Celine led us onto the stage, carrying the Canada sign and introduced us as the crowd was applauding. The organizers had invited all former living world champions, many of whom were sitting behind us on the stage. It was one of these moments that give you goose bumps. I held the Canadian flag high with pride.



The whole ceremony was moderated by a radio host who did an excellent job in keeping it interesting. After all the teams had marched in, local and Aeroclub dignitaries welcomed everyone, followed by the FAI President declaring the 30th World Championships officially open.


We stayed on a bit to mingle with the locals who were quite curious about these strange glider pilots from exotic countries descending on their town. More photos of the opening ceremony are here.

Tomorrow morning the race will start in ernest. Ingo Renner once said: The evening before the competition, every pilot is a potential world champion. With every contest day the number gets smaller until there is only one per class left in the end.

Opening Briefing of the 30th World Championships

Today at 11am was the official opening briefing for the Competition. All the teams now have their allocated seating spaces, denoted by little flags on the tables, in the briefing hangar.

The contest director welcomed all participants, crews and guests and introduced team captains and pilots of each team individually. In total there are 36 nations participating with 130 pilots. If I understood the CD correctly, there are more countries participating than ever before.
15m has 44 entries, 18m has the maximum of 50 entries and open class has 36 entries.

The Team is getting ready and dressed up for the opening ceremony at the historic market square in Belzig. We will be dressed in long sleeved white shirts with the Canadian Team crest.

This is the last party - from tomorrow the race will be on!

On a personal note, thank you all for your encouraging comments. They really help to keep the spirits up!

Meet the "Serbian" Team

While we were preparing for Luesse, we learned that another Canadian was preparing for the Worlds. Branko Stojkovic's home club is Pemberton, BC. He is flying for the Serbian Team. Actually, he and two friends of his from BC are the Serbian team. Branko arrived a few days ago and parked his trailer next to us. He is flying in 18m class with a DG-808c self-launcher, contest letters DG.


From left to right: Branko, the only Serb pilot, Dimitri, Nicolai (Dimitri's father)