Australian Junior Gliding Team 2011

10.50 Whilst packing Nathan just found 2 winglets in his bedroom… Ooops his glider is now well on it’s way to the Czech republic.

I’m not sure if anyone will be checking now that the comp is over but…

Today of course is the best flying weather we have seen since we arrived with scattered Cus at around 5000′ AGL.

We had a nice closing ceremony this morning and Tim K from the Netherlands was a very popular winner. We are now just sorting out a few loose ends before we leave tomorrow.

Pete and I are just back from a walk in the Black Forest. I had not realised that a lot of the trees have been cut down and then replanted.

Last night one of the Poms managed to fall over on the wet grass (allegedly chasing a girl) and broke his arm. He is now sporting a new pink fibreglass cast.

The day has been cancelled. Everyone is now busy derigging and reorganising everything ready to leave. We have a party tonight at 8pm and then the closing ceremony on Saturday at 10.30am. Alex has already left on a train headed north.

Tomorrow was scheduled as a possible flying day, if only 3 days had been flown (perhaps we should have seen that as a bit of a hint wrt the weather), so we are all staying here on Saturday night too. That should give us some time to explore the local area and the forests.

Once we get back to an area with decent internet we will post more photos. The last lot took 45mins to upload. The process has several steps and as the internet only has short lucid moments it is hard to get through all of the steps quickly enough so it took many attempts……

1.45pm We are on the grid again waiting. The sniffer is up at 1400m cloudbase. A storm is approaching from the west and we can see lightening and hear thunder. They are putting all of the tugs in the hangars Launch delayed to 2.15pm.

11.20am The gliders are on the grid, tasks are set and we are watching the weather closely as a front approaches. First launch is set for noon as usual but we shall see.

8.30am We had some light rain overnight associated with a weak front. Another front is going to pass over us during this afternoon so we shall see if they can squeeze a task in first. They managed everything very well yesterday and the timing was very good. They managed to push all of the Club Class gliders off the grid and then push them all back with very little fuss. The Juniors are certainly very adaptable and did the job with no complaints.

Yesterday was a short task so the scores were devalued and the placings didn’t really change too much.

4.45pm They have started, Std Class have a 2hour AAT and club class a 90 minute AAT. The guys are now getting higher than they have all week and are having to be careful not to break airspace

1.45pm Still on the grid the snifer is coming back for a relight. They are optimistic conditions will improve with heating. 1st launch postponed  to 2.15pm.

1pm It is raining lightly. We have just pushed the Club Class off the grid so that the Standard Class can launch first when the cloud clears. It was an interesting exercise.

12.30 Cirrus is approaching from the West and the sniffer is struggling to stay up launch is delayed to 1pm.

11am Briefing is over and it is not looking too promising. There is a huge storm which whilst it is decaying is heading straight for us.

http://maps.wetteronline.de/?M=1&Zlat=48.4667&Zlon=8.41667&H=1

They have set AAT tasks with first launch at noon.

Tomorrow will probably not be flyable

LT from the US has been told to go home by the US officials for “disciplinary action” not sure of the details. So I have told my pilots to behave or else……..

8.30am Yesterday was a difficult day for our pilots with lots of blue holes to cross and changes in speed needed. Matthew outlanded on the way home and unfortunately there was some minor damage to his glider and it cannot be flown without a repair.

Today we have ‘many cirruses’ and the radar is showing a large storm cell over France appro

2.45pm The sky here looks much better than predicted with scattered Cus at 2000′m. However we can hear from the guys that there are some big blue holes on task. There have been a handful of outlandings. The guys are moving out of radio range for a while now.

1.00pm From the grid – Club class are flying, and today Nathan’s Spot is working. Their gate opens at 13.12. Andrew is yet to launch. There are scattered Cu and they are reporting 2kts to 1400m (we are at 695m here).

11am Briefing is over the task is set – not exactly the same as before but still a triangle to the south. The forecast is for a blue day. If it gets to 24C they will get to 1300m if it reaches 26C they will get to 1900m. Today will be another difficult day

At the briefing they gave out prizes to the first 5 place getters in Standard class. Similarly there are 5 2nd place getting getters in Club Class including Nathan. Nagel the German won on handicap. Matthew was just short of the others and a few points behind.

Tonight we have a BBQ with a Karaoke and Air Guitar competition.

Tomorrow they may launch Standard Class first for a change to make sure they get an extra day and also to give them longer flights.

8am Yesterday there was a bad area south of the airfield and unfortunately the pilots had to fly through it twice. Andrew along with several others in Standard Class landed there on the way out. Nathan and Matthew made a large deviation to the East and were able to avoid the area and keep flying to the Cus. They landed there on the way home in company with several other gliders. In the event no one from club class made it home and they placed very well for the day. Four pilots in Standard Class crossed the finish ring with only one actually finishing back at the airfield. The results will probably be updated to show them all as outlanding as they crossed below the minimum finish height

This morning we have blue skies for the first time that anyone can remember. We are not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, as yesterday blue was bad.

18.10 Matthew and Nathan are down safely near to the place where Andrew landed. So far no one has flown home – apart from aero-tow retrieves. And today was a good day?

16.00 Andrew is down safely at an airfield with the 2 German Standard class gliders. There are several others down too.

15.10 The guys have contacted the Cus and are now at 5000′.

1F the previous class leader just relighted.

14.45 They are all flying – just. The wind has dropped and the Cus have all disappeared. There are thin bands of high cloud moving through the task area to complicate the day. We are hearing “I’d like a climb about now” and “I was at 700′ and someone came in underneath me”. They are getting as high as 2000′ with 1kt climbs at best. We have just heard Selina from Canada has outland

We had 4 relights today and a mini-nimbus from elsewhere but they still managed to launch the fleet in an hour and 20 mins. It is getting faster every day.

12.45pm From the grid – the sniffer couldn’t stay up – launch delayed to 1.00pm. Still the A task so far.

10.55am Andrew managed to get himself thrown in the pool too so our team briefing is a little delayed.

10.45am Briefing is over and the pilots have just gone to throw Brandon (Nathan’s brother) in the Swiss swimming pool to celebrate his 18th birthday. Launch is still scheduled for noon but they are sending Brian up in the Duo as a sniffer first to check on conditions.

10.o5am We have the tasks. We have set tasks for both classes for Standard Class the A task is 278km  and for Club class 258km with a shorter B task if needed. The task is again a triangle to the south. There are now standard jokes about Groundhog day as each day the task is so similar. Unfortunately an unexpected front passed over us overnight and has left a lot of high cloud in the task area with showers to the north.

The gliders are gridded and ready to go and we are just waiting for briefing to start at 10.30am. First launch is again scheduled for noon. The Aussies are mid field in the launch grid today.

8.40am This morning there is low cloud in the valley but the forecast is that it will burn off for a warm sunny flying day. A maximum of 22C is forecast.

Last night we had the international night with food provided by most nations. Our Vegemite and Anzac biscuits seemed well received. Several nations had strong spirits available too and they have announced that they are going to breathalise the pilots at briefing today

Briefing is at 10.30 with first launch at noon.

12.15pm Day cancelled due to bad weather – declared a rest day. Tomorrow should be good. International night at 7pm.

8am We had heavy rain overnight as the cold front passed over us and it is now raining lightly. The forecast is not promising. They have delayed gridding and briefing until noon with a Team Captain’s meeting at 10am. There is much talk in Aussie base of coffee and Black Forest Gateau Tonight we have the International night and we are offering Vegemite and Anzac biscuits (not both together!!).

7.15pm

It looks as if we will have a scoring day in Club Class but not Standard Class. In spite of the terrible weather and heavy rain there were finishers in  both classes. Tim from the Netherlands and ET from France have just finished!!

3.30pm It’s raining. 2 Germans are still flying and are trying to work out if today will be a day or not.

see

http://daec-segelflug.de/events/11/wmjunioren/

Google Chrome does a great translation

3.15pm All of the Australians have outlanded safely, along with many others. The combination of strong wind, weak climbs, low cloudbase and wave was all too much. We now hope that less than 25% of the pilots achieve 100km distance and then the day will be invalid. The current competition leaders have both outlanded close to the airfield so if the day is valid the overall scores will be quite different. Axel has just lowered all of the flags at the airfield which usually means that they are expecting strong winds. The sky is very grey and it looks as if it will rain soon.

2pm They launched everyone in less than 90 mins today. It was the fastest launch so far – helped  by no re-lighting gliders – since they must all land on the same part of the runway. The Club class guys are on track for the A task 238km. Standard class are doing the C task a 2 hour AAT. Andrew is yet to start. The guys are struggling with low bases strong winds and an overlying wave system. Plus of course high cloud in the West as the trough moves in.

A few photos from the grid yesterday…

Finish ring There is a new rule here that at 4km from the airfield when the pilots cross the finish ring (centred on the airfield) they must be at 900m AMSL. If they are lower they score 1pt per metre penalty down to 800m. Below 800m they are scored as outlanding. This gives them a ‘fat’ glide back to the airfield for a safe landing. So far 2 pilots have been outlanded by this rule even though they landed on the airfield. It seems to work well and makes for safe landings.

11am Briefing is over we have an A and B task for both classes. A is a racing task, B is an AAT. A trough is forecast over the area at 4pm with showers and thunderstorms. First launch is scheduled for noon with our guys at the back of the grid. We now have a 3rd computer for downloading flights after the pilots land which should speed up the process and an extra 15 mins to take some of the pressure off. The time is normally 30 mins but that is with cars to retrieve the gliders and a wireless upload. Here it is a bit slower as we have to push the gliders and they often end up on the opposite side of the runway to the equipment needed to download the flights, and of course there is no wireless upload possible.

8am This morning we have a thin layer of high cloud over us. A trough and then a front are forecast to pass over us. Hopefully late enough for a task first. It was great that everyone flew home yesterday. We also figured out why Nathan’s Spot isn’t tracking – he hasn’t paid his subscription!

8.45pm We are now in the square at Freudenstadt waiting for  Schnitzels drinking cold beer. We are a little late as we had to do some wiring on Matthew’s glider as he suffered a logger failure during his flight due to a loose wire – all fixed now, and of course he has a back up. The Club Class guys had a better day with their earlier start, and Nathan did particularly well. Andrew had a difficult day and at one point called “Is it bad if I can read the regos on the trailers on the freeway?” We assured him it was. It was great that everyone got home today, no retrieves

3.35pm They are all flying Matthew has started with a gaggle of Germans and Poles, Nathan is trying to get a bit more height before starting. Andrew is waiting for the gate to open. The weather is cycling very quickly and making for tricky conditions Matthew just called to say they had found 5kts from 900′. The late launch means that even though the tasks have been shortened to 2 hours for club class and 90 mins for Standard Class we won’t expect them back until 5.30 or 6pm. Matthew had a relight today without incident

12.40pm On the grid. Launch delayed now until 2pm. Blue sky is coming The sniffer is at 1350m above here (we are at 695m). Since it is Saturday there are quite a few tourists here so they have put on an impromptu airshow to entertain them.

11.29am Tasks are set – almost the same as yesterday with 2.30 hours for Club Class and 2 hours for Standard Class. At the moment the cloudbase is still too low to launch and there are showers around. First launch is scheduled for 12.30pm but… Official briefing starting now

10.30am We have just finished the Team Captain’s meeting. The big news today is that the FAI flag which went missing at the opening ceremony has been returned The weatherman is optimistic that we will have a flyable window this afternoon before the next front comes through at 4.30pm. Today Matthew and Nathan are at the front of the grid and will be the first to launch.

8.30am We woke this morning to 8/8th Cumulus and cool temperatures. They have delayed the briefing until 11.30am.

A couple of days ago we noticed that we can see snow on the mountain peaks to the south and on a clear day the guys flying can see the mountains quite clearly.

11pm Everyone is home now. Andrew flew home and the other aircraft came home in their trailers. Unfortunately there was some minor damage to Nick’s glider whilst outlanding and the glider cannot be flown without a repair.

4pm Club class are on task ETA 5.15pm. Andrew and Nick both relighted and Andrew has now started too ETA 5.30pm. Unfortunately Nick landed back again and is now struggling to stay aloft as he is not allowed another launch. Nathan called to say he just had a glider winch up past him at Klipeneck so it is not an easy day.

A lot of gliders relighted at once and it was pretty chaotic for a while.

11.45am They have set a 3 hour AAT for Club Class with first launch at 13.15. The sky is looking better with a blue hole and some Cus forming. It is however somewhat windy, and only about 15C

10.45am It is now raining lightly and they have delayed briefing until 12.30. The weather man predicts the front will pass in 2 to 3 hours and there may be a small window for flying. He says the weather tomorrow will be the same. The safety committee is meeting at noon to discuss some of the issues arising from yesterdays gaggle flying.

8.30am This morning we again have ‘many cirruses’ as the Europeans say. A cold front is forecast to pass over us sometime today with showers. If it comes through early enough they may be able to fit in a short task afterwards. So we will probably spend another long day on the grid.

There was a report yesterday that after the task was cancelled Tim from the Netherlands climbed to 2500m in wave. He certainly landed quite late.

As an aside it is noticeable that most people in the team are eating bananas here as at 99c per kg they are much cheaper than at home!