Part 4 - The Games Begin

In our last episode ...
- our heroes survived a week of practice & fettling in hot steamy heatwave
- our 302 display had finally arrived with the Danish team

Sun 25 july - typical - first comp day it rains - day cancelled
Briefing - good news: from now open class self launchers (25) will grid on the bitumen runway abeam their row numbers on the open class towing grid (18) - yaaaay!
Bad news: Flarm not mandatory - some people want to remain stealth for tactical reasons - can't print Tom's opinion of them - even if they're so good they'll miss everyone else, will everyone else miss them?

We fitted the the 302 display ready for if/when we finally fly

Lars & we relaxed in the hot baths in town - in a beautiful building from the 1880's - with spa pools of various sizes & temperatures - much discussion with the Brits & Sth Africans - I might even have learned how to fly a '28!

Mon 26 july - forecast involved words like "cyclone" (low - even tho in N hemisphere it's not cyclonic - hmmm...), cloud decreasing, light showers, weak thermals in the S, no thermals in the N, strong wind gusts ...
So we gridded for a 1300 launch - 15M AAT; 18 & Open racing task


First check weighing - we were ok but some had to dump several buckets!

Launching delayed to 1330 - classes progressively cancelled - by 1430 all over.

As it wasn't actually raining we decided to polish 4M with the fancy polish from the pilot shop - it went on easily, polished to a beautiful sheen, made the rainwater bead & may actually be worth the exhorbitant price!

(couldn't find Anzac biscuits so found "Pilotas"!)



Tue 27 july - forecast: "cyclone", mid & high level cloud, weak thermals, isolated showers, probable thunderstorms, rainy, strong wind gusts ...



So we gridded for a 1300 launch again - the launch is impressive - with a grid 13 wide - 8 little gliders, an open class self launcher on the bitumen and 2 open class on the grass on the other side - the first wave has the sky glittering with wings - 143 launches in 1.5 hours - and most impressive is the turbo prop cmelak - it's 1000' by the end of the strip - 3 times the height of the other tugs!

15M were cancelled on the grid. 18M launched but were cancelled at gate open time - Open flew - a word from the boss ..."Well, what a day! In Open we started towards a wall of rain and low cloud, somehow we got around that and found up to 2kts to cloudbase [about 2000']. After a real struggle and some best L/D glides [in some horrible gaggles] I found myself with Holger Karow, Georgio Galetto and the Poms just behind Michael Sommer. With so many World Champions around I felt pretty confident. The Danes turned right to a different cloud, it looked good but I stayed with the Germans. [The Danes were the only two to make it home!] Just after getting into the last sector we all got low and then thermalled downwards from about 800' to 400' AGL as the lower gliders either started engines or landed one by one. The country was very Darling Downs-ish so I rolled the Nimbus straight towards a stubble paddock and fired up! After climbing to 2000' I shut down in lift and flew home with no problems - frustrating!! At least I was with good company and not a disaster day."
As they hadn't previously checked engine noise, we all had to physically hand in both loggers - fortunately ours worked perfectly.
A bit of light entertainment when the French pool deflated during the night ... but no problem as there was a spare pool round the back!
2 hr AAT - Tom 16th - 123.1k - 317pts (/495)

Wed 28 july - Tom's assessment of the day as he opened the curtain ... "it looks flat - not good like yesterday" (when a whole 2 open class got home!) Official forecast - wet & cool air, overcast, light rain, showers, cloud decreasing, very weak thermals possible (unsure how much they vary from weak thermals!), strong wind gusts ... cancelled.
Ron Tabery (US), open class safety rep, started a safety reporting box - Tom put in a note re a particular glider he'd been very unhappy with after 15 flarm alerts!

A bit of repair work from yesterday's outlandings (that's a 4DM, not our 4M!) ... we drove into town to do some jobs - couldn't find a park so drove home - walked into town to do some jobs - very pleasant along the River Tisza - bumped into other stray pilots wandering lost ... first to the bank to change Chinese RMB into HUF's (don't ask - he gets lots of them at work!) - after 45 min wait, they said no - then to money changer - at least she said immediately in English "no you cannot change this money in Hungary" (it's only the world's largest economy!) - then tried to buy a 4GB SD card for the Tom Tom (so we can restore the Aust, NZ & US maps we had to delete to install the Europe maps) - nope can't buy a 4GB SD in Hungary, only SDHC - then to Vodafone to recharge our sims (every other Vodafone shop's 'puter was down) - after 45 min wait & much fiddling with their 'puter, eventual success - yaay - finally to the ice cream shop - another success! Walked home in time for a swim before dinner.

Thu 29 july - forecast: cloudy, isolated showers, mid-level cloud decreasing, afternoon Cu, later drying, Cu decreasing, locally blue thermals
Gridded for an 1130 launch - postponed to 1200 - then to "1215 and now we mean it" - then to "1230 and now we do really really mean it!"
(the sky looked better)


All classes flew - difficult day with best L/D final glides. Tom made it home w/o noise - yaay! Driving along the perimeter road to retrieve him, I had a couple of very close encounters with low finishing gliders. As we were retrieving from the far end of the strip, we saw a broken glider facing backwards on the approach fence - Tom suggested it might be Lars, who had been just behind - "surely not - I can't see the German flag" (my ageing eyesight) - unfortunately as we approached we saw the German flag & the kangaroo - we couldn't abandon our glider on the runway nor drive any faster on the rough ground - so frustratingly had to wait till we could clear the runway & rush to the scene - Tom had already deduced the only way a glider could be facing that way is if it hit something (a truck) - fortunately Lars was uninjured - but devastatingly the truck driver has head injuries. We're all aware of the risks in gliding, esp world comps - risk of midairs in crowded low-alt low-vis thermals, accidents on outlanding in small or obstacled fields or landing on crowded airfields - we worry about damage to aircraft and injury/death to pilots - but we rarely consider the possibility of injuring a third party (good case for TP liability insurance!).
(Mr Fixit repaired Mary Poppins)
Tom stayed at the scene - I took the EW SD card across the airfield to internet access to upload the igc file - but no trace for today - back to the glider (talking my way thru the road block round the accident site) - while Tom started downloading the 302, I took the EW logger itself back (thru the road block) to the other side - thankfully it had today's trace - took ages to get internet access - eventually got the logger page up & filled in - but when I hit UPLOAD it wouldn't - ran into the scoring office, tears streaming (from everything) & blubbered ... "I can't ... it won't ... only 5 mins left ... don't know what to do ..." - they just took the whole EW, cables & all, to the scorer & noted us as "on time" - had it not been so tragic, it might've been funny!
(fire truck to the rescue of the the French pool yet again!)
Later (after the Captains & Kings departed), Mark, Graham, Schmiddy & Tom derigged the '27 in the dark - retreated for a late quiet pizza, while Schmiddy started on phone calls - don't think he (or Lars) got any sleep.
Fixed task 378k - Tom 19th - 92kph - 824 pts
(sunset on a sad day ...)

Fri 30 july - While Schmiddy went with Lars to the police station, I stood in at the special Team Captains meeting at 8 - Brian Spreckley said apart from the accident, there had been many very low finishes - we need to do something about the finish procedure - Annex A allows 2 approaches - a min alt or a finish ring - Brian allowed discussion (so they felt they had some input) - some suggested a finish ring just moved the accident out a few k's - but others agreed once the race is over, there's no need to push low - then in true Brian democracy, he said "well any objections to the finish ring?" - none - so briefing delayed till 10 while they sorted finish ring procedures
Briefing: they announced finish ring 3k from S end of airfield with 140m QNH min alt, all gliders land direct to S - 1st offence warning, then 25 pt penalty.
Forecast: complex, slow waving frontal system, rainy, without usable thermal activity in the W, sunny in the E, convergence zone b/w the Danube and Tisza with isolated thunderstorms after 1500, strong gusts
From the boss: "Well, three pilots home, but all with engines!
Graham did the longest distance behind the finishers so far, Tom and David fired up fairly early.
The weather is really, really not good! Even the storms here have no energy!
Saw 4kts once today, average about 1.5 - 2.
'Grey' holes about 40km wide with climbs to 3500'!"
Fixed task 352k - only 7 home - Tom 39th - 184k - 467 pts
Hungarian night at the airfield - dinner of paprika beef, potato, pasta & hot chillies - excellent! The drinks budget was donated to the truck driver's family (along with pilot contributions) - tho nothing can fully compensate for his injuries, this is a great gesture!

Sat 31 july - forecast: weakening frontal zone, cloud development, morning precipitation b/w Danube & Tisza, later heavier showers & thunderstorms anywhere, low probability for thermal activity suitable for cross country soaring, isolated stormy gusts
So we gridded for a 1215 launch - delayed to 1230 - B task ...
2.5 hr AAT - Tom 22nd - 254k @ 87kph - 644 pts

In our next exciting episode ...
- will the team recover?
- will the weather recover?
- how many days can we squeeze in before the end of the comp?