First 3 Days

This contest is very high level - a very strong field compressed at the high end. You cant get away with any mistakes, and what you think are good decisions that turn out well sometimes turn out to be less than optimal.


The first 3 days were a reality check where despite flying reasonably well by my home standards I was well down the placing list - The contest story is really one of trying to identify common themes to mistakes and then trying not to make them again - easily said, hard to do.

First Contest Day

OK not a very good start - Mid 90's kph – which in this crowd is slow. I had 115kph on the clock until the end of the 2nd leg when I stepped in it. I missed the gaggle but I started at what I thought was the optimum time. I had one soft area where the clouds were looking good but not working (in between the hot spot areas) - over the higher sandy ground i had 6-8kn climbs. The good news is that the day was massively devalued.

Final glide at 200kph surrounded by 15 of your best friends in close proximity (like a wingspan away..) is quite the experience.  This is WGC level, particularly in Open Class. Denis Guerin from France (who I met in Slovakia) is here in 15m - he did  great today. 

Johannes Bick in 15m who I am here with had bad luck today and ground-looped in a tall rape-field and cracked his fuselage - ASW27b - it will take a week to fix. He's very down.

Tomorrow will be a much longer day and I expect we will be going to Poland.  Flying by myself I'm not learning as much as I need to - I will focus more on the gaggle tomorrow.

Wednesday July 6^th

Second Contest Day

I couldnt seem to do anything right at the start - started too late, lost the gaggle (they were circling in sink...so I left...) Then they were gone and I took a while to get back up - no good climbs before the start so I ended up starting low. Too conservative in the first thermal out of the gate and dumped my water before a 2kt low save turned to 4kn and back to the races – but flew the task dry.

I stopped too much but only got low once after that and found good lift from 600m. (not really low by my standards but hey Im learning this place and flying a rented glider). Second leg to Poland went well and I made up some time.  Leg from Polish turn to Brandt (near the blimp hangar) was poor visibility, hazy and only a few wisps to guide the path with big blue holes but I took strategic climbs to get across the gaps and it all went smoothly - deviated off course to ragged cu's over the sandy high ground which worked reasonably well.

So no gaggles, except the 15m ones I kept my eye on on the 2nd leg. Didnt see another 18m glider the whole flight. Good day to make it round - it would have landed out many back home. I'm starting to trust this place a little more now and I feel like I've flown the glider in weak and strong, dry and heavy, so feeling more comfortable. A classic flat-land soaring day which is what I need to practice.

I knew the instant I was in Poland by the shape of the fields, (and crossing the Oder of course)  6hrs 40m in the cockpit.

Tomorrow I focus on mojo. and not stopping so often. I'll see if I can start with a gaggle tomorrow as well....My main goal at this point is to focus on the quality of my flying and start finishing each day better than the last.

There are farms of enormous windmills all over the place– they must be over 100meters tall (300feet) they give you a feeling of being lower than you really are – they are a little spooky.

We had a huge t-storm hit the airfield about 7.30pm just after I raced to get the glider in the box – first wind and rain hit as I was clamping the trailer shut. Torrential rain and 40mph gust front winds threatened to take blow the tents to pieces but they all survived. 30 minutes later balmy evening weather and the birds were singing to the rainbow over the field.

Thursday July 7^th

Third Contest Day – Ju-Ju-Mojo – Slight Return....

Much better today – was happy with119kph but found the winners had 133kph! The winners all found shear wave and left 1500ft above us at the start - As Austin Powers would say, "Thats Just Not Cricket, Baby". the higher you got the higher your speed - saved them the first 2-3 medium thermals - so about 10+ minutes on task time. For the thermal conditions I timed it perfectly - and went round faster than Werner Meuser today. 

I flew the thermal lift much better - lead out from gaggles when they were too conservative. Overall I used the gaggles to my advantage rather than just following them. I was pleased with the flight apart from missing the wave - I did see some folks higher before the start but couldnt connect and it was dangerous with 50 gliders flying around the wispies - begging for a mid-air. Rather than thrash around trying to find it I got going so as not to be too late.

We have a t-storm warning for the early hrs of the morning so the ship is in the box tonight. Mercifully the tent stood up well to the gust front and torrential rain last night. 

The top 20 pilots are very good (most of them no-one has ever heard of) - as I expected. At least today I was in the middle of the pack in terms of speed..