Today was a great day for the US Team! The conditions were very weak, but things worked out well. Club Class lumbered around all landed out again. We landed pretty much with the leading elements of the group. Standard Class hardly made it out of the start gate, with several landing out in the vicinity of the airport and most landing back home. But things worked out well for us today!
In the morning briefing, we were concerned with the weather forecast. Halving the meteorologist’s report (typical calibration at this contest) left us with less than 1000 meters to work with. When we launched, we struggled to get up to 1100 meters and then it just cycled down and down.
The start gaggle was really impressive today. We were all going round and round at 900 meters, struggling to stay much above release altitude. Finally at 2:45pm, the gaggle exploded on course and we gave chase. We were in a great position to start; a bit in trail and covering the gaggle well.
It was a real struggle. The working band was 500-900 meters, with the terrain elevation between 80-150 meters on course. I think this was the lowest I had ever ventured out on course and the farthest I went in such weak conditions.
The gaggle did its job very well. Every couple of kilometers it would find a thermal and everyone would converge to climb. There was a delicate balance between taking 1 knot lift and avoiding falling behind the leading elements.
Approaching the first turn and a bunch of us were falling out. I developed a bit of a lead on JP and Noah and tried a gaggle thermal down at 250 meters. Not much; climbing hardly at 0! They found a two knot thermal just behind me and I bolted right over to them. We all climbed out, covering the gaggle struggling along just in front of us.
In and out of the turn and the day was definitely cycling down. A thin band of high cirrus moved over. This was not a good sign considering that this day was on life support as it were.
The terrain ahead was not trivial for landing out. There were sections of forest to contend with and we were very careful to both stay connected with the group without venturing into dicey terrain. We kept plodding along, every thermal working worse than the previous one.
After rounding the second turn, we joined a gaggle hardly more than 1000 ft AGL. This group was milling around in zero, figuring this was the last thermal of the day. After the thermal turned into weak sink, a bunch of us left. Down at 600ft, I tried a couple turns in a nibble and then called it quits. I did a pattern into a field while watching others glide straight out into fields ahead. This required gliding quite low over a town and then into fields that looked like they had crop in them. Not for me.
My field was reasonably long, though had a little bit of crop in it. The soil was sandy and I stopped very quickly. I duly noted this to Noah, who passed up my field accordingly. JP landed at Szatymaz Airport.
Clement Fick flying FAY, another LS4 also landed with me. We flew quite a bit today and had a good time while waiting for our crews to arrive. He flies in northeastern France and this was his first Junior Worlds. He is working on becoming a fighter pilot!
I helped him move his glider closer to the edge of the field. Thoroughly winded, he informed me that his crew has a small pickup truck that could easily drive in the field. My glider was further toward the middle and we would drive ourselves to exhaustion trying to move it out from there.
Our rescuers arrived pretty quickly and we got to work getting our ships out. I was very thankful that they helped pulled 8M out. It turned out that the Volvos could drive on the sandy soil without getting stuck, but it was something I was not inclined to explore. Thanks to the French team we got the ships out in no-time!
And we were considerably luckier than a bunch of others. Apparently several gliders landed in a plowed field several kilometers away and all of them needed to be carried out. It was a fantastic cross-cultural bonding experience!
We had a great day today. No one completed the task once more and we were right up there with the leading elements when we landed out. These kinds of tasks are entirely fair game at a Worlds. The goal is to safely get everything out of every day. If it means a short task in weak conditions, that’s great! I was astounded how far everyone flew with so little to work with.
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See my flight here.
See our scores here.
Thanks to all our supporters back home who have given us the opportunity to represent our country at the Junior Worlds!
Soaring Economist 