WGC 2024 Uvalde
Early Report
Day 6
I had a chance to talk with several pilots to get an indication of how yesterday went from the cockpit’s perspective. We did find out that 2 gliders did have brake malfunctions and that is why ships were in the hangars with crews working on them. One aircraft did suffer some minor damage, but it will be fixed for today’s flying. These two aircraft and some minor Flarm antenna and Flarm issues were the only ships that were involved with any mechanical issues that needed to be addressed.
In the 18 Meter Class, the first leg into the cirrus was daunting. Since it was a racing task there were no other options but to journey into the haze. There were a good number of aircraft in the area, so everyone had markers to help. Even after they made the turnpoint, it was still hard going until after the halfway point on the second leg. The better weather was short lived when they reached the return leg in the hill country. Due to the late time, the lift and cloudbases were strength and height. Still, they were able to make it home safely. There were 5 pilots who did not make it back and had to start their motors with one glider having to make a safe landout.
In Open Class, having an assigned area task allowed them to take advantage of the ability to go where the better conditions were. That was evident in the achieved speeds of the winner which was 142kph (77mph). They had two turnpoints that went southeast and northwest. Normal thinking at Uvalde would be to make your km/miles up north. Another thing that helped the Open Class, their angle out of the first turnpoint was very much an out and return leg. Most flew the same track back to the north except for a slight deviation around Uvalde heading northwest. The final glides were slightly better than the other classes simply due to the wingspans. All the gliders made it back safely but 2 aircraft did start their engines with 2 others having finish penalties.
The 20 Meter Class had a long day also. Their racing task had them going towards the cirrus twice, once on the way out and the other starting their final glide. The first leg was soft as well as half of the second leg going into the hill country. Once In the hill country, the lift was better and the cloudbases were higher. However, they soon headed southeast again into the weaker weather. They were on final glide later in the day, in the weaker lift and it was a struggle for some pilots. Only 1 team started their engine, but many got low somewhere along the track.
So, the weather played an important part in yesterday’s tasks. Some pilots gambled (just like every other day) and lost. Others made large deviations to mitigate very weak areas and were not rewarded for their decision. In every class there were pilots who drove themselves low expecting the 3m/s (6kt) thermal to save them, but this time it was not there. The best pilots who made the best decisions were at the top of the scoreboard. Being conservative on some segments of the course made a difference.
Today the tasks are all assigned area tasks and shorter. The International Night is tonight, and we are all looking forward to the rest day tomorrow. It looks like a good day today without all the drama from yesterday.
Cheers,
Rich Owen
Media Team
