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Later still
What a nervous start to the contest for
so many. For the 18m. class as I write at least half of the field has outlanded. Sadly
this includes both Attie and Quintin (QM however
has a sustainer motor so he managed to get himself home). Conditions were tricky and looking at the
scores you can see that some of the ‘ big names’ in
the 18m. class have also outlanded. In the Open class, there are a few
finishers already and Laurens is about to finish, so we are delighted. We will check out the results in due
course on the website. Till tomorrow!
Later – after launching
 All our pilots
are airborne – they were all quite near the front of their respective
classes. The Open class start gate is
already open, and the 18m. class gate opens in about
25min. from now. The sky is looking
interesting to say the least. Cloudbase is not that high, but it is improving.
So now we sit,
wait, listen, watch and hope for the best.
More later!
Sunday 3rd
August
 The contest
starts today, but first a little more about yesterday. The official briefing provided competitors
with a contest goodie bag which included the Official Programme, pen, a
memory stick, some brochures and so forth.
We also found our allocated places in the briefing hall, which was
done on a random draw for places instead of teams being placed
alphabetically. S.Africa must have got
the short straw as we are well back in the briefing hall. However the loudspeaker and acoustics are
pretty good, so providing people are quiet at the back of the hall, we can
hear what is being said. They also
have a 2nd screen nearer the back of the hall for everything that
is being projected. The organization leaders were presented as well as of the
countries – there are a total of 130 participating pilots from 34
countries. The most number of
countries competing ever. The break up
of classes – 36 Open class, 50 18m. class, and 44 15m. class.
Belzig’s market
square was a busy place with several stalls selling food and cold drinks, on
the stage there were several group providing music and singing prior to the
Opening Ceremony, and the weather cleared during the day to provide an
enjoyable sunny, but not too hot, afternoon.
Each team of the pilots and the team managers were presented to the
assembled guests and then there were the formal speeches given by the various dignitaries and
finally the President of FAI, Pierre Portmann, officially declared the
Championships open. They also had a
short interview with each of the current World Champions, Michael Sommer (Open, Germany),
Phil Jones (18m. Gt. Britain),
Janusz Centka (15m. Poland)
and Katrin Senne (Women’s, Germany). The actually ceremony took about 1½ hrs,
and then many of the teams returned to the airfield or to follow their own
pursuits.
 So back to Day
1, the first competition day. The weather – first
thing there was a slight drizzly shower, and a rainbow was visible
briefly. There is a stiff little
breeze and the cloud base is quite low.
The launch order will be Open, 18m. and finally 15m. class. First launch
is scheduled for 11.45 a.m. but the weather does not look that
inspiring. A maritime air mass is
moving into the competition area.
Cloud bases are not expected to get to more than 1500 – 1800 m. agl,
with 1 – 3 m/s maximum lift.
Temperature approx. 25° maximum.
Tasks are 340 km. for the Open to the W, back to SE of Lusse, then NE and
finally back to Lusse. The 18m. class have a similar area task but a distance of 316 km.,
whilst the 15m. have a 2 hr. AAT. The
gliders are gridded on runway 24 which is opposite to the runway used to
date.
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