After two no fly days, the first due to extreme heat with wind and stable blue conditions, the second due to enveloping bushfire somke over the Narromine area, AAT tasks were set in all classes.
The trough in inland Australia was moving towards the task area and was predicted to produce a storm front in the late afternoon and evening. The three tasks were well set, sending the fleet to the north first, away from the front, then back towards the front and finally away from the front into a stiff northerly headwind.
It seemed counter intuitive to fly the final leg into a 20kt plus headwind, but the squall line was approaching from the south as the gliders made their turn in the final sector, enabling them to out-run the severe weather home. The alternative would have sent them heading towards an approaching front which, if it had reached Narromine before them, could have resulted in the scattering of the fleet.
The thermal conditions were predicted to be good with some cumulus. The day did indeed prove to be strong, but the tricky weather shook up the results, as should be expected in a World Championship.
Jacek Flis, Poland winning his 2nd aday in Club Class.
CLUB CLASS
Jacek Flis, Poland won his second day of the championships flying 363.65 km at 111.89 kph. Roelof Corporaal, Netherlands had his best result of the contest finishing in 2nd place flying 353.33km at 108.72 kph. Stefan Langer, Germany came in 3rd followed by Club Class leader James Nugent. Michael Mix, Denmark came 5th followed by World Champion Uwe Wahlig. Australian Daniel Summers finishd in 7th place.
James Nugent retains a comfortable lead overall in Club Class, leading the German dynamic duo by 198 points and more.
15m CLASS
Lukasz Grabowski, Poland had his first day win in 15m Class. He flew the racing task distance of 381.34km at a speed of 136.83 kph. Christophe Abadie, France took 2nd place at 135.61 kph. Sebastian Kawa was not far behind his Polish team mate and Abadie at 135.37 kph. Dutchman Erik Borgmann came 4th followed by Australian Tobi Geiger.
Tobi's team mate and previous day winner Adam Woolley did not have the best day and finished in 16th place. However, he retains his 5th place overall while Tobi moved up one place to 7th overall.
Sebastian Kawa leads the 15m Class 40 points ahead of Uys Jonker who is followed by the stealthy German pair Henrik Bieler and Steffen Goettler. Neither of the German pilots have won a day, but like two peas in a pod, they have always been near the top of the table. As with the performance of the Germans in all three classes, they demonstrate the power of team flying and that a consistent high level of performance will result in a top of the table position.
Pavel Louzecky, Czech Republic winninr Standard Class Race 8.
STANDARD CLASS
Pavel Louzecky and Miloslav Cink, Czech Republic took 1st and 2nd place in Standard Class flying the 395.47km racing task at 119.37 kph and 118.78 kph respectively for their best perfomance so far. Laurence Hardman, South Africa, a previous day winner, came in 3rd place at 115.62 kph closely followed by team mate Phillip Jonker at 115.06 kph. Sarah Arnold, USA had her best result so far with aspeed of 111.78 kph putting her into 5th place today.
Tom Arscott, who came 14th today, retains a comfortable lead overall, 216 points ahead of Lukasz Blaszczyk Poland, 2nd and Sjaak Selen, Netherlands in 3rd place overall.
Pole Tomasz Rubaj and Philip Jonker are not far behind, making the race for the silver and bronze medals very much in contention over the next two days.
FINAL TWO RACE DAYS
There are two more race days in this championship. The weather for the next two days is expected to be flyable with reasonable soaring conditions. It seems unlikely, looking at the forecast, that the next two tasks will be long distance. But will the task setters, lead by very experienced Australian contest pilot David Jansen, be content to set two more AATs? Or will he opt for more aggressive racing tasks? In either case, the next two days promise a classic WGC finish with the conditions and tasking likely cause a mix up in the final podium places. That is, unless the top scoring pilots are where they are due to their understanding of the conditions and supreme ability to make the best of any day. We are about to find out.
Sean Young
Full results at soaringspot.com/