Uvalde 2024 WGC
Very Late Report
Day 6
Well, it is 11:00pm CDT and we have just gotten back from dinner. Today was a very hard task in weather that was challenging but safe. Decisions had to be made to minimize the risk in the weak areas because there were no 4m/s (7kt) thermals that would magically appear to save you when you got low. I am sure the climbs in some of the areas were significantly less than what we have experienced up to now. Uvalde is a great place to fly, but it is not all big climbs and high cloud bases.
Because of the late hour, I will not be able to give you a good report on what the pilots saw and why some of the scores look unusual. I have never seen penalties given out for flying after official sunset, but there were a few today (or should I say tonight). There are several ships in the hangar getting worked on. I do not know why. I can tell you; everyone made it back to Uvalde safely. So, lets cover what we do know.
As we said earlier, the weather was not like the last 6 days. There was a line that went northwest to southeast. This was a line of demarcation that separated good climbs from weak climbs. Going east, there was a chance of high cirrus that did show up. In the 18 Meter Class, on the second leg, large deviations had to be made to avoid the direct line to the turnpoint due to this cirrus. Several pilots decided to take a bigger risk by going more on a direct line, and they were rewarded with a good score.
Open Class had to go south into the weak area first, then they did the hill country later in the day. That would normally mean you make the distance up north. However, the hill country lift dropped way down on the return leg due to being so late in the day.
The 20 Meter Class spent more time up in the hill country early, but they still had issues with the day. There were clouds up in the hills, but many did not work. Today was a weaker day than any of the contest or training days these pilots have experienced. I will try and get better information before the pilots meeting tomorrow and include that in my morning report.
The 20 Meter teams were sent out on a racing task of 623.3km (387mi) east to Diversion Dam, north to Fredericksburg, west to Four Square, southeast to Charlotte and then finish. In third place was Lutz & Janowitsch (Austria) with Jones & Coppin (Great Britain) in second. Winning today was Bouderlique & de Pechy (France) with a speed of 112.25kph (70mph) over the 623km task (387mi). Great flying in these conditions with 20-meter ships.
The 18 Meter Class were sent on a racing task of 575.46km (357mi). They left the start and went east southeast to Kennedy Regional, southwest to Santa Maria Ranch and then back to finish. What the task had for simplicity entering into the nav system, it more than made up in the complexity of the decision making. In third place was Linas Miezlaiskis (Lithuania) with Sean Fidler (USA) in second, only 8 points out of first. Lumpy Paterson (Australia) won the day (I would love to have a beer with him and Adam Woolly one night), flying the 435km (270mi) task at 125.3kph (78mph). Nice job Lumpy!!
In the Open Class, they had an assigned area task that took them south southeast to Chupacabra, northwest to El Diablo and then to finish. Again, they went south first, apparently the task setters wanted them to avoid the possibility of storms later in the day. They headed north and had good weather there until the return leg when I heard it got soft. In third place was Felipe Levin (Germany) with Sylvain (France) in second. Winning the day was Laurent Abouliin (France) with a speed of 142kph (88mph) over the course of 661.71km (411mi). These three pilots were only separated by 7 points total!!!! Very fine flying by these pilots on a very difficult day. Not that I’m a fashion guy (what glider pilot is?), the French team has the best team shirts besides Team USA. I’m sorry, white is a better color to fly in 40C (104F) temperature days.
That is all for tonight. Tomorrow is a new day, and we are only halfway through the competition. There are plenty of days to make up points and the weather looks like it will support it. We are flying tomorrow. However, we will be starting later, and the task setters have already agreed to back off on the extra long tasks for tomorrow. I will try and get the report out earlier and bring you up to speed on today’s flights.
Cheers,
Rich Owen
Media Team
