It seems we have been here forever but today is the first contest day of the Worlds. To say there were a few pilots with nerves might be an understatement. As a new person at a Worlds who isn’t in the competition, I was a little nervous for our Team. You hope you have practiced all the right things, prepared your glider and trained your crew for the rigors of a long and arduous contest period. Today, one pilot put on his chute and entered the cockpit only to realize that he had on his cooling vest. Lucky thing is, good habit patterns were still in the back of his mind and he discovered the error before strapping in.
The gliders were ready early this morning and placed on the runway/taxiway well before they needed to be. The weighing team did a great job getting all the gliders across the scales in a timely manner. Even my brother Paul came up from Houston to lend a hand.
The pilot’s meeting was a little more serious as the safety brief was given by Mark Huffstutler. Updates to the Self-Briefing documents were gone over and minor changes to procedures were covered. John Godfrey covered airspace issues, and unfortunately one pilot made an error that may have cost him a major airspace penalty. I’ve seen airspace issues in Europe flying with Delta Air Lines, but I thought flying a glider there would be very tough. Our airspace is not as bad, but it only takes one misstep to cause a major problem.
After the meeting, pilots went about their business making final preparations and talking strategy with Team Captains and teammates. Crews were busy setting in the tasks and making final preparations for the glider. Tow pilots and ground crews were mustered and set for the launch. Soon as Rex Mayes started the launch, the magical dance of the ground crew was set in motion. Pilots knew what to do and the launch crew executed their job to perfection. Soon, all the classes were airborne.
The Open Class was the first ones on course today. The big wing ships had a 528km (328mi) racing task that went southwest to Farias, northwest to El Diablo, east to Junction and then south returning home. Talking with a few pilots, their impressions were the clouds were fairly honest. It seemed they only had 40km (24miles) without clouds. The first half of the leg to El Diablo was a little tricky. The second half of the leg was strong with 7kt climbs to cloud base. The final glide was average. When the score sheet came out, Francrois Jeremiasse (Netherlands) finished tied for second with Oscar Goudriaan (South Africa). In first place was Sylvain Gerbaud (France) with a speed of 159.63kph (99.17mph).
The 18 Meter Class was the next to leave and their task was a 533km (331mi) racing task. After the start, they headed east to Yancy, north to Lone Star, west to Canyon Ranch, south to Hughes and then east northeast to the finish. The first leg was pretty strong and everyone seemed to be pushing hard. The east/west leg across the hill country was a little stronger and higher than the rest of the legs. One of the pilots went well west on the next leg and it worked out well. The only problem on this leg was airspace that did cause one of the Open Class pilots some difficulty. Another pilot missed this airspace by only 250 meters. I’m sure their Team Captain was a little worried. In the end, it was a clean sweep by the French Team. In third place was JD Barrois, second place was Anne Ducarough and first place belonged to Christophe Abadie with a speed of 154.04kph (95.8mph).
Last to get on the course were the 20 Meter Multi Place pilots. They had a 530km (329mi) nominal, Assigned Area Task. After start they went north to Leaky, east to Cinco, south to Seven C’s Ranch and west to Taco and then north to finish. The 20 Meter pilots I spoke with at dinner said the flight was really straight forward. The legs were generally good with no wrinkles. The speeds were getting higher as the flights progressed and many pilots maxed out the last two turn areas to get more distance. In third place was Bouderlique & de Pechy (France) with Sarah Arnold and Karl Striediek (USA) in second. Finishing in first place with a speed of 140.14kph (87mph) was Keith Essex & M Rossi (New Zealand).
The gliders are all bedded down for the night, and by now the pilots are fast asleep. It was a good day to race, and the future holds much of the same in the coming days. For those that had great flights, congratulations. For those that had a more trying time, this is a long contest and everyone will have their bad legs ahead.
I hope everyone enjoyed watching the flights using live tracking. We have several links to watch on our platforms. You should try puretrack.io. It seems to provide the best experience. Until tomorrow, fly safe.
Cheers,
Rich Owen
Media Team
