Uvalde 2024 WGC
Late Report
Day 10
This report is late due to an operator error since I deleted it while uploading to Facebook the first time. Thanks to Paul Remede (my fellow Media Team member), he recovered it. The glider that landed in the lake will be totaled, but there were no injuries. Here is the report now, just a little late. Thanks Paul!
Cheers,
Rich
The carnage is almost complete. After the launch, you could see the storms popping up to the east and heading to affect the task area. Survival was the name of the game, and everyone was trying to safely maximize their distance to get the most points possible. I can say all the pilots are safe. We did have one glider that landed in a lake. The pilot did a good job sitting it down and getting out of the ship. However, it was an electric powered ship and when they were pulling it out of the lake, the batteries shorted out and caught fire. The ranchers who were helping put the ship back in the water to put the fire out. We do not know of the status of the glider currently. We will try and get more information tomorrow at the pilots meeting. There are still many crews retrieving gliders. Even though all of the Open, 20 Meter and most of the 18 Meter ships have motors, some ran out of gas and still landed out.
I am not going to detail all the tasks the pilots flew. You can see that on the Soaring Spot website:
In the 18 Meter Class, no one finished the task. The first leg was not bad. About 1/3 to halfway down the second leg, the weather must have been horrible. No one made it past that point. Several gliders got low and started their motors over airports (or close enough to reach the airport), but a few pressed their luck and gained a km or two and started their engine over dubious terrain. A couple of gliders landed at the airport. Lowest engine start in 18 Meter was 82m (269ft) and it was a turbo without a starter.
In the 20 Meter Class, most of the class made it to the second turnpoint. Their track took them in a similar area than the 18 Meter ships and they suffered the same fate. Storms or low clouds made them start their motors for a “Gas Can Retrieve.” The lowest engine start in this class was 102m (334ft) with landable terrain below.
For the Open Class, I really thought that 1C was going to make it home today. He was doing well but a storm popped up right in his path and was not able to get around the problem. Only the top 2 pilots (SA & 1C) made it to all 3 turnareas. SA, Laudio Schimidt (Brazil), is the only pilot in the entire contest who completed the task. Well done, Laudio!!!! The lowest engine start in Open Class was 120m (393ft) with probable landable terrain underneath the aircraft.
For the scores, in third place in Open Class was Laurent Abouliin (France) with Jim Lee (USA) in second, just 27 points behind the day winner. Winning a very difficult day was Laudio Schimidt (Brazil) who flew 342km (212mi) with a speed of 105kph (65mph).
In the 20 Meter Class, in third place was the team of Theisinger & Frey (Germany), Jørgensen & Nielsen (Denmark) finished in second place
(Denmark) with Karl Striedieck and Sarah Arnold (USA) flying the 170km.
Finally, the 18 Meter Class. Jørgensen & Nielsen (Lithuania) finished in third with Christophe Abadie (France) in second. Winning the day was Manu Litt from (Belgium).
All the pilots did a great job flying today. A small few put their ship at risk. We need to fly a little smarter to avoid low engine starts or have better landing options if the engine does not start.
Cheers,
Rich Owen
Media Team
