TWENTY-THIRD WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS

by Chuck 09Mahony Anyone traveling to Borliinge, admits to mixing up the direc-

Sweden for the Twenty-Third tions as to where she would be World Gliding Championships waiting in the town of Poznan, would have been wise to look at soitwasn'ta totalsurprisewhen a map rather than a calendar Makotyn, thevan,and the trailer before packing. Okay, so the drove right past her. She gave contestwas in June, but Borlhge pursuit on foot, then comman- is at the same latitude as An- deered a taxi, shouting in Pol- chorage, Alaska. The thermom- ish to the startled cabbie, "Fol- eter dipped to near freezing at low that trailer!" They eventu- night and often didn't reach 60°F ally caught up with Makotyn, during the day. Fodor's travel but hedidn't speak to her much guide promised topless beaches, during the three-and-a-half day but the nearest one was prob- trip, even when the fire ably the French Riviera:. extingusher blew up in the van.

Borhgeisamodem,litter-free The Lithuanian team brought city with all the amenities, 135 theirLAK-12 sailplaneand their milesnorthwestofStockholmThe competition LAK-17 to Bor- drive there is on good highways h g e UI grand style. They made through gently rolling country- a nonstop, 4.5 hour, dual aero side, and this first impression of tow across the Baltic Sea behind Sweden is a good one. Everything an Antonov AN-2, a formid-able looks oldqountry ,.lean and well Front row (left to right): Karl Striedieck, Doug Jacobs, Richard Hall, looking single-engine biplane tended, and the road winds past and Rick Walters. Back row (left to right): Eric Mozer, Ray Gimmey, with seats for ten passengers -

meandering lakes, lush Ken Sorenson and Teatn ManagerJim Payne. Photography by Chuck but no seatbelts.

fields, and endless stands or: O'Mahony. Gordon Hookings and Ruth and white-trunked birch. There is no air complicated when pilot Janusz Centka Pryde flew from Auckland as team cap- pollution, and the pleasant view is from was offered the use of an ASW-22B for tain and crew for New Zealand's only horizon to horizon. the contest. The ASW had to be picked entry, Patrick Driessen. It was Ruth's

Dala h-port, the site of the contest, is up inGemanyby Andrea and Andrzej 10th trip to the Worlds, and her tough- a municipal field just south of Borlange. est by far. With weather and mechani- It has a paved runway long enough to cal delays - including out-of-service make it a weather alternate for interna- showers in the steamy Singapore air- tionaljet flightscorning intoStockholrn. port - the trip took 45 hours. "I had Parallel to the main runway is a grass corns on m' bottom!" Ruth grumbled. strip, 14/32,3,000' long, and angled off And the trip ain't over 'ti1 it's over ... from these two is a second grass strip. just ask Doug Jacob's crewman, Bob 12/30,2,400' long. Gliders were able to Fitch. Doug decided to fly his LS6 the grid six abreast on both strips. The 90 miles from the practice field at Twenty-Third WGC drew a large field Eskilstuna to the contest site. Bob would of competitors, 116pilotsfrom25 differ- dose upshopand follow with the trailer. ent countries so the spacious grass run- When he asked Doug'sdaughter, Char- ways and tie down areas were put to lotte, for the car keys, she said, "Daddy full use. The new freedom in Europe has them." Daddy was at 3,000 feet. added some new countries to the con- "Uniform Zulu, do you have the car test-Estonia, Lithuania, and my favor- keys?" ites, Czechia and Slovakia. Just getting "Oops!" Dump water, land and start there was an adventure for most. An- all over? Nahh! Doug would wrap the gela Sheard lives in Oxford, England, key ring in a glove, tape it snugly but and her linguistic skills landed her a job leave an easily-seenstreamer, and drop as interpreter for the Polish team. She the keys from 1000 feet. was looking forward toa leisurely ferry Angela Sheard,of Oxford, England,sewedas "... three, two, one. Keys away! See tripa,-rosstheBalticSea fromGd-kto interpreterfor the Polish Team. Photography them, Bob?" Sweden but the itinerary suddenly got Chuck O ' M a h o n ~ . Fitch was still gazing intently atthe

SOARING

the gait and manner of a who filled the young Robert Mitchum was bleachers. After a flying Standard Class in his few short speeches, Discus - contest letters FG, Argentina led the nickname "Fast Guy." soggy teams back

Team Captain for the through the quag- fourth time was Colonel Jim mire. There was a Payne, a U.S. Air Force test low ceiling and a lot pilotwhoseofficeat Edwards of gray scud, but the Air Force Base is the cockpit Swedish Air Force of an F-16. Jim's wife, Jackie, pilots did what they was also there to take care of could to thrill the

7'heAntonovA N-2. Photography by ChuckO'Mahony. theendless detail. nerewere crowd. They flew also kids, crews, parents low-level formation

sailplane. "No joy," he announced (even and wives, x, 2nd Place Winner intheirviggens,and lamely. Luckily, a young Swede who enough to tilt the U.S/Swedenbal- in the Open Class. Photogra- executed a close-en- had been listening to the proceedings ant- of trade heavily in Swedents phy Chuck O 'Mahon~. counter, head-on watched the keys fall and favor. pass. One solo pilot pedalled out onto the grass Competitors had been did a loop in his Viggen that was one- for a retrieve. practice flying their gliders thirdVFR, and two-thirds IFR. Another

TheU.S. wasrepresented from half-a-dozen satellite jet pilot pushed his Viggen to the brink by a seven man team that fields until June 7, when of Mach 1, and with the high humidity mixed first-timers and vet- Dala Airport was officially the air compression was actually vis- erans. Doug Jacobs was in opened to them. Pilots ible. the 15-Meter Class flying trailered or flew in and Members of the local sky diving club for the fifth consecutive spent the final week fine didn't even chute up, and the vintage time in a WGC, with a gold tuning their sailplanes and gliders and tow planes stayed tethered medal and two bronze since memorizing the topogra- to the ground, covers snapped tight on his debut in Italy in 1985:' phy of the contest area. The their open cockpitsso they wouldn't fill The avuncular Ray Gim- airport bustled with the last up llke bath tubs. mey, inhisseventh Worlds, minute activity, and it Skies were still overcast on Sunday was flyin in theopenclass f wasn't until long shadows and there was even a light rain. At the in one o the magnificent stretched across the field 10:30briefingmostpilotsfelttheywould Nimbus4's, a graceful craft late Friday evening that an assemble gliders and move them to the witha26.4meterwingspan. Teum member Doug expedanthushdriftedover grid, but there would be no flying. A Flying in the class with lafobs. P h o t o 8 r a ~ h ~ Chuck the field. Opening ceremo- second briefing at 12:30 called for a Girnrney was Eric Mozer, O Mahony. nies and an exciting 13:30launch,andrightonscheduleEric also piloting a Nimbus 4. airshow were scheduled for Saturday Mozer was towed off runway 30 into a Mazer was flying in his sixth Worlds morning, June 12, and a mini carnival very "iffy" looking sky. The23rd WGC andhad~reviousl~eamedtwomedals. had been set up for the expected week- was underway. In just 61 minutes all the The competition at Borlhge included end crowd. gliders were airborne, and the pilots 11 pilots who had previously won a Then came the rain.. . a cold, steady wastedlittletimebeforeheadingouton combined total of 16 gold me y thing there was course. WGC. Five of these gold medal was people. These The Opens had a 347 kilometer task, were flyin in the field of 27 Swedeshadmarked the 15-Meter ships 332, and the Stan- entered in8penClass. The leg- their calendars for a dards 287. Throughout the contest, the endary Karl Striedieck, flying trip to the airport on tasks were not the traditional triangular

I in his sixth Worlds, rounded Saturday morning shapes, but tended tobe zig-zag courses out the veterans. KarlfsASW- and, "by yiminy," with more tumpoints. There were six 24 was one of 49 entries in the they were going if for each class on Day One, and the goal Standard Class. they had to go by was to keep the gliders within the

Our team had three first- boat. Parking was a bounds of a flyable air mass. The plan time pilots in the competition, half mile from the worked for this day, and with the short but none of them strangers to airport in a field that tasks the Sunday crowd didn't have U.S. Nationals. Ken Sorenson, rapidly turned to long to wait for the gliders to get home. a bespectacled, easy-going pi- gumbo, but the Goran Ax, two-time World Cham- lot heads up his own consult- crowd streamed in. pion and a local favorite, flew at 124 ing engineering firm in Hous- Kidswearing yellow km/h and swept across the finish line in ton. He was flying his D i u s , slickers and big less than three hours. Ax made what "theg~derofchoi~e"henoted, , , F ~ ~ ~ G~,,. ~ j ~ k wQhrr. pho- smiles rode the little proved to be a crucial decision when he in the9andards. Richard Hall topphy by ~ h d ~ ~ m h ~ ~ ~ . amusement rides, "tanked up" at a thermal just before the - long, lean and newly mar- and their folks last turnpoint. ried - makes a living as a 737 huddled under umbrellas while they "I climbed to 1400 meters and made First Officer for Continental Airlines. pitched rings to win kewpie dous, sure I had enou h altitude to get home. Hall teamed withJacobs in the 15-Meter At the opening ceiwnonies, a be- My teammate le f too soon, and it proved Class, flying a Ventus in the field of 40- draggled parade of teams, crews and not a good thing to do. The last leg is Rick Walters, a tall, laid-back type with families marched past the hardy souls only 24 kilometers, and I didn't have to

SEPTEMBER 1993

Moq infewsting ships could befound nf t ? t e ~ f n ~ i i m , including the LAK 17. Photogiuphy by Yasuhiro Y m .

LAK-17. It is an extremely light ship, with an weight of less than "gs 00 poundsI and the L/D is 4- culated at &/I. Five ships landedoutin the class, mak- inga totalof f a f o r the day. Not bad on 'a @ m y look- ing day when most of us ordinary mortals wouldn't havetaken the glider o ytd the ~ler.Aft@rallthe;scores had been posted a maRnifi-

underneath A 1J30 degree turn off taw gave the pilots a more pro- view to the soUfhemt, some sunshine and cumulus. 'Ilu met men had predicted d&rior&inpmnditions, so the gLiders madea skanpede star?. Onmuxeminblankettdspmenfthe

tumpoints, and at cloud base the d- lanes were flying irr snow! Contest

L ~ ~ h ~ - ' ~ h O l l P f l w f l ~ lane mf on the mume dwitnersed

!$off-field landings, 19inon&fie1ddThe find count was 69 landouts versus 56 pilots withha py crews. R Two time orId Cham ion Baer Selen won the Standard &ass Ken

themalagain." Asked if he thou eentrainbowarched~cr~&eho~bn Sorenson was om of only 11 in Stan- had won, AX said "I felt I had andeveryonehopeditwasagoodomen dard to miah it home, fidshing h 7 t h well. I didn't make any serious mis- takes." Not making serious mistakes - and hck - wouid be key factow for the contest. Mom was off to a ood start with a slnmg h u h place P mlsh, and

nu in Australia, won &e day. Two of our h t - t h e n , Sorenscln and Walters firrishbd23d24. SLriedieck wasgoing it alone w h he mn out d air and had to land out a h 168 lan The four new G y t a l ~ & r g l built in France ~bld fly- uq Cur e f i r 4 b e in a world can tikn all hishexi in the top ta. TK~ were flown by French pilD6, two by Swedrsh pilots

David Jammot Australia cam home fkst in the 15-Meter W. Richard Hall did the U.S. d by t fowth

l a c e i n h k d ~ a a m $ c ~ , m d j L o t w i w a . a ~ f ~ ~ ~ i N w

I mong the 38 landrwts. "I left a &ma1 at a cloud base of 3,000 Fe&" Walters said, "and P o

.minutes later 1 was on the m d . " Hardy time to choose

tied oucthree of them in the m;.* fk4t. h d for Wnardo - ~ : % & & r i i t w a s ~ h r t i o u r - Jan h d e m of Denmark. Phatagraphy hy CLRUE- - % Ule penth-,& the OIMahony.

, J DVJC, aerw&RthC Tifit From the start, Ra Two was a race

against time. The 1 fI o'clock briefing was brisk, grid time was set for 1930, h w h at 11AXI. The ?ow fleet was e squadron of freshly painted Pawnees, most with fourbladed props, able in haul even the Opens m a fast ciirnb at 22!3 h / h . Tday the Pawnees tugpd the 15-Meter gliders fram runway 30 directly towards sinister lmkmg bhck d a d s with dark velk of rain hanging

. & ~ k ~ ~ ~ l r t ~ & ~ s e ~ ~ , but he w a ~ std~ in f ist phce overall! ~t m u l d be that. lugd .$ B mfite$t. Walters said la$rha~hught the task was a "wotld e1~call:~guyswhomdeitarouract flev 4 0 0 b to complete a 200 h task"

&enfheOpehswiththeii.60toI 8U.k za& ,didn't fare w d . Thirteen ui& it Wme, 14 h d e d out. Jan M, B h e with red hair but an d 4 ~ p g 6 i q r n w r c a r n e in &st GLim & w a i w n d , only two poinlskhd,

onb his lead. At the end of

fram the contest. A ~~wwiuorysi tuat ion, but a lribuk to ~ & t r e s s of the contest'oRd&. .mtar,Nhvlin~LsingerafGar-

mu #ot hb LSd.mund the coutgir in :h& t . time. David Jarsen, another w h t r , landed out. A frus- ugJacobsmam ed276kmof

f h 2 % h task ud ~alfdid252, but Qim p v i twk ouer.

M.nyn %elk and Justin WilIs, both of G M t Britain, had a second q d third photo finish. Wllb echmenkd on the &ts of hpreripitation. "The snow wasn't bad. but the rain made it difFi- cult, wpe~itllly on waxed lidem. On a waxed w h e the droplets %e d up and di6W the a~rfIow evm &re. I left the

t - 11 lard turnpoint and mmputed I wohld

22 SOARING

have 900 feet at the finish after derating my glider's performance by 15% for the rain. I got to the finish 50 feet off the ground." A tough, humbling Day Two was in the record book.

On Tuesday the pilots walked to the 10:OO briefing in a light drizzle while their crews moved the gliders to the grid. There was a second briefing later, and then a third. It wasn't until 15:00 that the taskwas finally scrubbed. Only the long daylight hours here allowed for such long delays. The sun rose at 03:30 and set after 22:30, and it never really got dark. On some days relights were permitted until 16:30, and thestart gate didn't close until 17:OO. (To elimi- nate decision making in these strange light conditions, it is mandatoryinswe- den to drivewith your car headlightson at all times.)

The weather didn't seem much im- proved on Wednesday, but the Compe- tition Director launched the Day Three task, feeling a bit pressured perhaps for the previous day's triple briefing. The results were less than spectacular. Each day Marion Barritt, Robert Axelsson and a staff of hard working press people published a bulletin titled SoarSweden. On page one, the morning after Day Three, Deputy Director Robert Danewid noted, "There were many outlandings yesterday." Right, Bob. If asked to de- scribe Lizzie Borden, Danewid prob- ably would have said she wasn't nice to her parents. Of the 115 gliders launched on Day Three, 14 crossed the finish line and 101 landed out.

Only Pavol Cerny of Slovakia and EricNapoleon made it around the course in the 15-Meter Class, and Cen~y's win- ning speed was 61 km/h. After finish- ing 12th on Days One and Two, Napoleon's second place finish moved him into first lace in the class! His teammate, Gil g ert Gerbaud, is nick- named "Speedy Gonzalez," and Doug Jacobscalls him "The Rocket." Gerbaud was a victim of the capricious Swedish weather and landed out. He was in a dismal 15thplaceoverall.. . but don'tgo away! Hall and Jacobs were also among the 38 landouts in the class.

In Open, Stanislaw Wujczak nursed his ASW-22 home to a first place finish, and Janusz Centka was right behind, giving Poland win and place for the day. Jan Andersen, Day Two's winner, wasa landout. Girnrneyand Mozerboth landedout. Winning speed was71 km/ h,whichmeantit tookoverfivehours to complete the 366 km task. Pilots who made it were "parking" in zero sink, waitingforashower topassa turnpoint or for the W to recycle. There were times to be the hare, times to be the tortoise.

In Standard Class, the popular Brit, Andrew Davis, took the day, and Borgmann of the Netherlands was sec- ond. Both had landed out on Day Two. All three of our U.S. pilots landed out, and it gave Striedieck three for three, a very unwanted "hat trick." Charlie Spratt, crewing for Karl, asked if he should put in a call to Dr. Kevorkian. Karl's temperament seemed ill-suited to this low-ceilinged, wait-and-see Swedish weather. Striedieck's stvle is ~~, -

more like the grim-facedvulture perched on the dead tree limb whosays, "Patience my ass! I wanna kill something."

A major innovation at the 23rd WGC was the use of GPS, an acronym for Global Positionine Svstem. The on- " , board unit accepts signals from four or more of 24 satellites orbiting Earth and determines the glider's position to within a few meters. According to a survey done by Bernald Smith, 97 glid- ers in the contest were equipped with GPS. Ken Sorenson carrieda Garrnin55

in his Discus, a unit which strapped to his leg and looked like a handheld calculator.

"With GPS you can't get lost," Ken explained. "With my Garmin 55 (cost about$850) Ican program240 waypoints into thememory. I haveall the turnpoints entered, and on a task I punch in the next stop and the GPS tells me the bear- ing, the distance, and my Some of the areas we are f T O ying undspeed. over are not very landable, so we are also enter- ing off-field landing sites. If I get low, I can ask the GPS for help and it will g v e me the bearing and distance to the nine nearest landing sites. There is even a 'man overboard' feature. If I'm flying over a spot I want to remember later, I can punch a couple of buttons, give the location a name, and the GPS will store theexact latitudeand longtudeforme."

One effect of GPS will be to lessen the "home field" advantage of local glider pilots who know the area. Jim Payne feels the biggest contribution of GPS is safety, and this was proved out during

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SEPTEMBER 1993

I a There were six other gliders in

zamered a fourth in Standards.

Runwavworkersreadwinp "Potato International. " Pho- km/h . and . was lZth t ~ ~ r a ~ h " ~ by Chuck 0 ' ~ ; h o n ~ . in a tightly bunched group.

John Byrd, a three-time contes- the contest by quick pin pointing of tantin the Worlds,crewed for Sorenson. downed gliders in potentially hazard- Byrd began to perceive success in this ous situations. Like swamps. GPS was contest hinging more on survival than used in this contest for navc gation only, but in the fu- ture it is expected to replace the camera for recording tumpoints.

Our team had its best showing on Day Four. Ray Gimrney finished secopd behind four-time World Champion Ingo Renner, and Mozer came in ei hth. Tn 15-Meter, Hall hadj an- other good run for a fifth place. Doug Jacobs flew agressively, choosing to race rather than reheatl-and it john Byrd talks with U.S. Team member Ken Sorenson. Pho- cost him. tography by Chuck O'Mahony.

"If you are out on course andyou'rethermaling"saysJimPayne, speed, and suggested Ken carry less "you are going the wrong direction half water ballast. the time." "Full water doesn't really add that

Doug was going in the right direc- much to your speed capability," Byrd tion, but he landed in the same potato noted. "Stayingupinweakliftisamore field he had landed in on Day Two. critical factor here."

Friday, June 18, brought better weather, and the CD called for longer tasks. The Open and 15-Meter Classes flew north in the heavily forested area, a sector to be used only under ideal conditions.

"There were long stretches up there with absolutely nowhere to land," Girnrney said.

At one point, Mozer got low and was sizing up rospects of a lake Landing. R Gimmey ew home ninth and Mozer was 19th. Jan Andersen won his second day, with Brian and GillianSpreckley of Great Britain dose behind. Gillian, a short-haired, gamin typeand a first rate competition pilot, rode the back seat of the ASH-25. (Between contests the Spreckleys host glider safaris to the French Alps and the Pyrenees. Sure beats working at MacDonalds.)

Flying in the same area as the Opens proved tougher for the 15-Meter pilots, and there were 13 Iandouts. Kuusisto of Finland and Theisinger of Germany, first and second in the standings, landed out and dropped back into the crowd. Jacobs got 960 points for a seventh place finish, and in spite of three landouts moved into 14th place. Hall was 21st, 17th overall. Australian Brad Edwards, a gold medalist at Uvalde in '91, got a hard earned 1000 points with his first win.

Lopitaux of France won in his Crys- tal, but the handsome young Dutch- man, Eric Borgmann, tookover the lead in the class. And could we have a drum roll for KarlStiedieck?He blasted home a strong tenth - with n~ penalties - and his crew - brother Walter and Charlie Spratt- had a pleasant dinner, on time.

Ken Sorenson and Rick Walters were

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SOARING

1vTwenty 77iiird Wdrd Gliding Championships ... [W ?%!heor

Meter. Photography by Chuck Preparillg the shipsfor lnuncll. PI~otogruplly by BrrnaldSmit~laildTonl Zcullaj(1.G.C. Krp.fronr Englnnd.) O'Mnhony. Y u s u l ~ ~ r o Y O ~ I I I I . Pl~otogruplr!l by Cll~tck O'Mnl~oii!/.

SEPTEMBER 1993

--

Hans Zejdovafiom Czcchia. Photography by Chuck O'Mahoily.

backin the pack. Walters.found himself below the working band of lift after releasing from tow and wound up mak- ing an unintentional late start. He was the last starter and didn't see another

U.S. Team member Eric Mozer patie~ltly waifs i17 tlie cockpit ofhis Sclrcmpp-Hirth Nimbus 4. Photography by Yasuliiro Yama.

glider the entire task. Release altitude der a thermaling glider on course. for the gliders was 700 or 800 meters, "He might be 500 feet above you and and there were days when this altitude going to the moon, and you've got zip," was barely in an area of lift. There were said Mozer. numerous instances of pilots having Already four pilots had led the 15- trouble 'ust getting out of the gate. It Meter Class and three the Standard was dif/icult, too, trying to find lift un- Class. Only Giiran Ax inopen had been

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SOARING

the front runner from Day One. Martyn Wells, a seasoned Worlds contest vet-

I eran, flew an LS6 for Great Britain. "I've never seen a contest like this

one. Usually after three or four clays a contest settles into a pattern, but mtttk one. A chap winsone day, landso3he next. You get a seven knot thermal md bore ahead expecting another one,&

1 it's not there," he remarked. The quick changes of fortune wwld

be the trademark of this contest. Richard Hall adjusted his strategy to

fit the weather. "Leave alittle later and try to catchup

with tho back Then fly with the fast

Sorenson were in the middle of the finishers.

eighths, octu, aad on Sunday, June 20, eight octas moelled any chance for a

.There was more of the same and now 11 days was the

~ u r r r ~ r for contest flying. ~~ menexpected rainshowers by 4htmxm an Tuesday, so on Day Sevk tasks were called. Our ktqn M mother hot day with Eric Mom e c a ~ ~ d , and Sorenson and W b td ninth. Hall was 14th &&lambs 19dc but both moved up in the sWidjng3, !hi$ &a Uih md &h- ard to 13th. G' was 1% *he day n d 11th 0: ~bi+dleok chose a n a l t ~ l r ~ M ~ ~ 1 y

seventh place fin- 47 points separated the first got to pushing hard and the clouds ish. Doug had three places in Open Class. were phonies. A lot of them look great fought his way up EricMozerlanded16th,along- but just don't produce any lift." to ninth place, a side Ingo Remer and Klaus Eric Mozer agreed. world class dis lay Holighaus. "Sometimes good looking clouds of true grit. &w- Day Nine of flying (Day have nothing, while the ugliest looking comer Hall was ig- Eight for the Standard Class) cloud has 10 knots. And you can get out noring the pressure brought strange weather and of phase here. . . be at the right place at and riding in 13th strange results. The gliders the wrong time. You may fly well, but place. France's Na- were launched in light rain you may not score well." poleon continued but aimed at some good look- HansObermayer of Germany moved his steady if un- ing cloud streets, and the into the lead of lSMeters, with Patrick spectacular flying, weather was just as change- Driessen, New Zealand's lone entry, finishing 12th but able oncourse. On the first leg, second, and Kuusisto of Finland third. still leading the to the northwest, Federico Seventy points separated the trio. Eric class by 195 points. Blatter of Switzerland in his Napoleon came down in the standings

Denmark's Jan Akepetterss0n DfSweden landed in Nimbus 3 faced a 420 meter whilehis teammate Gerbaud struggled Andersen earned a a small lake in the Dala Jarna area. hill with 370 meters of alti- up, and the two werenow ina dead heat pair of 1's on the Photography byChu&O'Mahony. tude. He had to put India Kilo for fifth. JacobsandHall hung in thereat scoresheet. Hewon down in a swamp. Mozer 9th and 13th. The two Englishmen, the day for an incredible fourth h e watched the drama unfold from above Martyn Welk and Justin Wills earned and moved ahead of Goran Ax, the local and used his GPS to pinpoint the loca- first and second placein thedailyscores. crowd's favorite who had been leading tion for the rescue team and a military Andrew Davisincreased hislead over since the first day. On page one of the helicopter got there promptly. Centka Eric Borgmann to a fat 281 points in the daily contest bulletin there would beno won the day and moved Andersen to StandardClass,andTomaszRubaj tight- more, "Heja, Goran! Way to go!" secondplace,Axtothird.Only19points ened his hold on third place. Striedieck Germany's Holger Back, a medalist in separated the three leaders, and the had a good run and finished ninth, Uvalde, was second, and Ray Gimmey Spreckley team was 318 points back in Sorensonwas 17thand Walters camein finished in the money in third. Janusz fourth,seeminglyoutofcontention.Ray 24th. Centka was in dogged pursuit, and his Gimmey stayed in the top ten witha 16th Cold, stable air from a slow moving fourth place for the day moved him into place finish, andMozer finished ninth for shower virtually eliminated thermal third in the cumulative standings. Only the day, 13th overall. activity at the airport on Day Ten. Only

There were some anxious moments the Open Class launched, although the during the l S ~ e t e r race. swedenlsBLke other two classes weren't cancelled un- Pettersson went off ti1 mid-afternoon. The 402 the radar seope and krn task roved to be the wasn't heard from most difffcult of the con- until 19:45. He had test, and not a single one ditched in asmall lake of the long-winged glid- in the DalaJarna area ers was able to make it west of Borl?ininge and back to Dala Airport. But couldn't get to a what a gallant effort they phone. Determined made! to continue flying - Janusz Centka, the day's and he did - Pet- winner, was actually he- tersson even sal- aded into a field for an vaged the pieces of outlanding at one point his broken canopy. when he found weak lift, His lmdout dropped worked it patiently, then

ELECTRONIC O, DELIVERY SYSTEM him from second to 5' ressed on. It was after 15th place. There 0:00 hours when he fi- were only four la- nally did land, less than20

ofoxygen with yourbrcathingusinga~3ittlc~s ndouts in 15-Meters, km from the finish line. and one of the others For a while Brian and was old medal win- A Uimofthegroundcontrol building Gillian Spreckley were ner %rad Edwards, f ir tg US. by with Centka, just slightly

System is 1/10 thc wcight and vdumc over winner of Day Chuck O'Mahony. lower, near Ludvika. Five. The pilots say if Centka detoured west to the lift is marginal, the first guy out on what looked like lift, and after an in-

* Complcte EDS system only $65~.5~ + s ~ . course is like a pig in a mine field. The cockpit discussion the Spreckley's de- Scc March '93 S{nrinx for additional dclaih. Other modcis and information available. "loners" in this contest were proving it cidednot to risk following. They steered Major crcdit cards and FAX orders accqtcd every day. for theairport at Ludvika instead. Trust-

MOUNTAIN HIGH E&S CO. Ray Gimmey pondered why ingtheirGPStotallytheyapproacheda

516 12th AVE. Pettersson ditched. field they had never seen before and it SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84103-3209 U.S.A. "Theweatherisnotunifom through popped into view when they were at

the task here. You go like gangbusters 300 feet, totally committed. (One other for a while, then you have tocreep. BLke optionhad beenrejededearlier.. .Brian's

SOARING

rewarding flight ofthe contest. Ray Gimmey attempted three starts from 700 meter tows that took him right to cloud base but nolift. Henever really got out of the gate and wound up with a dismal score that killed his standing.

Centka's valiant effort just about iced the gold medal. He flew 70 more km than the sec- ond place glider (the Spreckley's ASH-25) and put 293 points be- tween himself and Goran Ax. Centka's odyssey was later lauded as "the greatest flight of thecontest,"and atthenextday's briefing he was given a long

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ovatio~from h i s g r s . ~ i r s t ana second place now seemed de- tided but the Spreckley's had Austral~an lngo Kmnrr zn the cockp~t o) IS ASW-22 BEL sailplane. Kmner's position was ranked at 14th

within two points of Jan for the Filial Results in the Open Class category. Photography by Yasuhiro Yama. Andersen.

SEPTEMBER 7993

Saturday, June 26, was Midsummer Festival, Sweden's biggest holiday. How big a celebration is Midsummer Festi- val? Well, in Borlkge even MacDonalds closed down. Only Christmas is bigger, and not by much. Everyone dresses up in traditional costumes, and there is much drinking and folk dancing. Ev- erything is decorated with birch branches - homes, boats, cars, and even motorcycles. There are picnics, boat parades and maypole dances, and even the young men wear halos of flowers. All of Sweden becomes one big party.

No celebrations yet for the contes- tants. The pilots in Open Class were given a 415 krn task and Janusz Centka

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didn't play it safe. A true champion, he battled to the finish and actually in- creased his lead. While Ray Gimrney, Stanislaw Wujczak of Poland and G6r- ard Lherm of France came home in a three way tie for first, Centka was only 7points behind in fifth place. This gave him 372 points more than Goran Ax. It was a far cry from his 10 point win in Uvalde in 1991. Centka proved he can fly the booming Texas cloud streets or Sweden's park-and-wait weather with world class skill.

For the fist time in a WGC, a two- place ship took a medal. Brian and Gillian Spreckley in their ASH-25 took the bronze. Who could have predicted that two medal winners would end up kissing on the podium?

SCORESHEETS AND FINAL STANDINGS 23rd WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS Borlange, Sweden -June 13 -June 26,1993 FINAL RESULTS FOR STANDARD CLASS

1 80 DAVIS, ANDREW 2 A1 BORGMANN, ERIC 3 BD RUBAJ,TOMASZ 4 L3 STEPANEK,JIRL 5 IU SORRI, JUHA 6 EL LOPITAUX, J.C. 7 N11 FISCHER, PETER 8 EZ ZIECLER, ERWIN 9 SB SELEN, BAER 10 L7 KOZAR,JOSEF 11 RB BRICLIADORI, L. 12 CO HANSSON, URBAN 13 EM FLAMENT,DENIS 14 ZT GAUMANN, MARKUS 15 OB JAIME, JOSE 16 AX VERMEER.SIKK0 17 AC KRASNODEBSKI, A. 18, 4P POZNIAK, MARIUSZ 19 10 ICHIKAWA, MAKOTO 20 Y4 SORENSON, KEN 21 SG LAINIO, RAINER 22 949 WATT, DAVID 23 OL OYE,STIG 24 BE OBRIST, BASIL 25 OM CULYAS,CYORCY 26 KB KASSAI, BELA 27 33 OTTOSSON, CURT 28 TA PAJUNEN, VESA 29 SO STXNER, GREGOR 30 ZL HAMMERLE, HEINZ 31 12 SILVANOVITCH, A. 32 AT TAIMIOJA, ANTI 33 FC WALTERS, RICK 34 PE SdRBYE,ERLEND 35 Z9 ODA, MOTOHARU 36 3A AVANZINI, LUCIAN0 37 ET HEIRISS, DIETRICH 38 VW STRIEDIECK, KARL 39 JO GORE-BROWN, MILES 40 559 ROLLINCS, CHRIS 41 IF LAIRD, MARK 42 IC MACIULIS, VYTAUTAS 43 0 9 SCHUSTER, CEORG 44 Dl SCHMELTZP. J . 45 A2 JONUSAS, A. 46 MA I'AYLOR,BRUCE 47 IN ASKE,OLE JOHN 48 K REPICKY, FERNANDO 49 SP FRANK.OJVIND

GBR Discus B (9) 716 (20) 650 (1) 1000 (13) 624 (16) 896 (1) 783 (1) 892 (8) 932 (15) 792 7285 NET Discus bT (2) 798 (27) 607 (2) 985 (18) 590 (9) 916 (6) 722 (17) 788 (28) 806 (4) 847 7059 POL SZD-55-1 (36) 513 (4) 748 (3) 984 (6) 636 (11) 911 (30) 632 (6) 840 (4) 938 (14) 800 7002 TCH Discus B (13) 684 (19) 654 (7) 969 (25) 569 (26) 822 (11) 696 (23) 769 (10) 926 (29) 724 6813 FIN LS-7 (4) 36 (9) 734 (6) 976 (2) 659 (37) 773 (13) 693 (35) 626 (35) 774 (8) 831 6802 FRA Crystal (3) 769 (27) 607 (13) 572 (15) 618 (1) 1000 (24) 657 (19) 787 (11) 919 (13) 810 6739 GER Discus (14) 681 (27) 607 (22) 564 (16) 614 (21) 872 (10) 700 .(2) 877 (30) 801 (2) 978 6694 GER Discus (11) 701 (4) 748 (42) 392 (24) 577 (19) 884 (17) 684 (10) 819 (26) 808 (1) 1000 6613 NET ASW-24 (28) 590 (1) 781 (13) 572 (35) 537 (23) 864 (4) 729 (19) 787 (22) 852 (6) 844 6556 SLK Discus (15) 678 (16) 659 (13) 572 (22) 581 (29) 812 (18) 680 (11) 805 (1) 976 (20) 771 6534

"ITA Discus (1) 823 (12) 664 (25) 59 (37) 529 (24) 861 (12) 695 (32) 668 (2) 961 (21) 768 6528 SWE Crystal (8) 728 (27) 607 (11) 586 (13) 624 (3) 936 (25) 651 (15) 796 (31) 793 (19) 776 6497 FRA Crystal (10) 710 (27) 607 (21) 565 (20) 588 (4) 931 (31) 625 (22) 783 (21) 853 (10) 816 6478 SUl Discus0 (16) 666 (18) 658 (24) 560 (29) 714 (10) 630 (33) 790 (5) 723 (18) 885 (12) 814 6440 BEL Discus B (22) 628 (35) 604 (10) 744 (17) 601 (28) 814 (39) 555 (7) 835 (1 1) 919 (31) 719 6419 NET Discus B (4) 736 (35) 604 (13) 572 (5) 643 (13) 904 (7) 720 (21) 784 (45) 599 (7) 835 6397 POL SZD-55-a (38) 501 (12) 664 (8) 800 (7) 635 (6) 922 (28) 635 (17) 788 (7) 933 (35) 514 6392 POL SZD-55-1 (46) 210 (3) 749 (8) 800 (8) 634 (2) 944 (28) 635 (4) 854 (28) 806 (26) 742 6374 JPN SZD-55 (37) 511 (47) 579 (4) 980 (31) 545 (14) 901 (15) 687 (28) 723 (39) 733 (34) 696 6355 USA Discus A (23) 617 (7) 742 (31) 532 (12) 628 (41) 729 (32) 595 (5) 844 (17) 891 (22) 766 6344 SWE Crystal (6) 729 (26) 615 (11) 586 (46) 479 (8) 919 (19) 676 (14) 798 (40) 698 (18) 777 6277 GBR ASW-24 (31) 569 (38) 593 (25) 559 (11) 629 (27) 817 (2) 779 (3) 858 (15) 896 (38) 482 6182 DEN Discus B (18) 639 (11) 728 (13) 572 (1) 698 (15) 900 (15) 667 (36) 607 (4) 938 (42) 325 6094 SUl LS-7WL (34) 560 (2) 767 (28) 557 (9) 632 (33) 790 (8) 717 (25) 751 (6) 936 (41) 366 6076 HUN DiscusCS (29) 583 (27) 607 (36) 449 (39) 506 (25) 833 (3) 751 (13) 801 (23) 820 (30) 721 6071 HUN DiscusCS (21) 631 (10) 733 (41) 409 (36) 534 (36) 776 (21) 666 (12) 804 (32) 792 (32) 714 M)59 SWE LS-7WL (41) 425 (12) 664 (35) 480 (29) 559 (12) 907 (34) 588 (33) 645 (14) 900 (17) 783 5951 FIN SZD-55 (19) 634 (27) 607 (4) 980 (34) 539 (18) 891 (40) 81 (31) 685 (42) 681 (11) 815 5913 AUT Discus (32) 563 (23) 617 (40) 414 (21) 582 (5) 928 (41) 511 (40) 550 (13) 912 (27) 740 5817 AUT LS-7 (19) 634 (42) 591 (36) 449 (23) 579 (21) 872 (13) 693 (43) 356 (16) 894 (25) 744 5812 RUS Discus (27) 594 (38) 593 (22) 564 (41) 503 (20) 874 (35) 572 (30) 712 (33) 786 (38) 482 5680 FIN Discus A (6) 729 (38) 593 (19) 566 (3) 656 (30) 806 (36) 571 (8) 830 (47) 114 (23) 763 5628 USA Discus B (24) 611 (35) 604 (13) 572 (4) 652 (45) 659 (9) 715 (9) 715 (24) 816 (46) 159 5616 NOR LSJWL (42) 400 (12) 664 (28) 557 (43) 496 (35) 782 (20) 674 (39) 570 (44) 662 (24) 761 5566 JPN Discus B (43) 353 (46) 583 (39) 421 (19) 589 (44) 678 (42) 468 (16) 793 (3) 939 (33) 701 5525 ITA Discus (17) 654 (38) 593 (33) 527 (33) 543 (31) 802 (23) 661 (27) 724 (19) 872 (48) 117 5493 RSA Discus (30) 576 (27) 607 (36) 449 (44) 492 (40) 747 (22) 663 (44) 352 (37) 767 (9) 817 5470 USA ASW-24 (47) 206 (21) 624 (46) 287 (31) 545 (10) 912 (26) 647 (45) 349 (9) 928 (4) 847 5345 AUS Discus A (40) 483 (23) 617 (34) 515 (42) 497 (39) 750 (38) 556 (34) 641 (41) 697 (40) 435 5191 CBR SZD-55 (25) 596 (6) 744 (44) 310 (48) 451 (46) 535 (44) 442 (24) 761 (38) 738 (37) 483 5060 AUS SZD-55 (45) 212 (48) 517 (19) 566 (28) 560 (7) 920 (33) 590 (38) 587 (47) 114 (3) 848 4914 LIT Discus (35) 558 (44) 587 (25) 559 (38) 525 (42) 728 (46) 430 (41) 473 (36) 769 (44) 270 4899 AUT ASW-24 (40) 125 (23) 617 (47) 259 (27) 565 (38) 765 (27) 641 (46) 324 (27) 807 (2R) 727 4830 DEN ASW-24 (25) 596 (21) 624 (43) 333 (45) 491 (32) 795 (37) 558 (42) 434 (20) 854 (48) 117 4802 LIT LS-7 (48) 166 (44) 587 (30) 534 (26) 566 (43) 727 (46) 430 (37) 591 (34) 7R3 (44) 270 4654 AUS ASW-24 (33) 561 (16) 659 (49) 92 (30) 554 (17) 892 (40) 552 (26) 749 (47) 114 (43) 299 4472 NOR LS-7WL (44) 332 (7) 742 (48) 146 (47) 473 (47) 516 (45) 436 (49) 150 (43) 664 (16) 787 4246 ARC Discus B (12) 688 (49) 507 (45) 289 (40) 504 (48) 427 (43) 462 (48) 236 (24) 816 (47) 151 4080 DEN LS-7 (39) 485 (43) 588 (32) 530 (49) 0 (49) 49 (48) 369 (47) 321 (46) 294 (36) 508 3144

23rd WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS FINAL RESULTS FOR 15-METER CLASS

1 72 GERBAUD, GILBERT FRA LS-6b (18) 877 1 CC NAPOLEON, ERIC FRA LS-6b (12) 884 3 WO JANOWITSCH, W. A m Ventus b (25) 840 4 6V SKALSKIS, STASYS LIT LS-6b (13) 882 5 WT THEISINGER, M. GER LS-6a (11) 891 6 1 WILLS, JUSTIN GBR LS-6 (15) 881 7 JT TRZECIAK, JANUSZ POL SZD-56 (7) 915 8 9A OBERMEYER, HANS GER Ventus (9) 903 9 W DNESSEN, PATRICK NZL Ventus (10) 893 10 PD KUUSISTO, SIMO FIN Ventus C (20) 861 11 EC GHLORZ0,S. ITA LS-6 (24) 851 12 KK GGNANDER, T. SWE LS-6c (2) 945 13 KT TERMAAT, R. NET DG800S (19) 874 14 321 WELLS, MARTYN GBR LS-6c (20) 861 15 UZ JACOBS, DOUG USA LS-6c (5) 923 16 YB PETTERSSON, AKE SWE LS-6 (2) 945 17 MT MATTHEWS, PAUL AUS LS-6a (26) 837 18 RH HALL, RICHARD USA Ventus B (4) 936 19 HDM JANSEN, DAVID AUS LS-6b (1) %8 20 LF DEDERA, MILOS TCH Ventus C (8) 910 21 BB BULUKIN, BIRGER NOR LS-6 (17) 879 22 Y GALETTO, GIORGIO ITA LS-6a (23) 858 23 55 HANSEN, KRISTIAN DEN Ventus C (33) 751 24 PV KEPKA, F. POL SZD-56 (6) 918 25 LI CERNY, PAVOL SLK VentusC (37) 291 26 SV SABECKIS, V. LIT LAK-17 (32) 756 27 51 WIENBERG, IB DEN VentusC (31) 791 28 YL EDWARDS, BRAD AUS LS-6b (27) 820 29 Z l GOUDRIAAN, 0 . RSA Ventus C (39) 222 30 SM SMIT, MARTIN NET LS-6 (27) 820 31 BH KNSTIANSEN, S. NOR LS-6 (20) 861 32 800 HAGGENMCJLLER, R AUT DG-800s (30) 796 33 M VAN BREE, MAX NET LS-6a (16) 880 34 7K ASHMAN, KEITH RSA Ventus bT (34) 744 35 JM MAENPAA, JOUKO FIN LS-6b (35) 714 36 ZV ZEJDOVA, HANA TCH Ventus B (36) 496 37 UP DANZ, WERNER SUI LS-6 (13) 882 38 3~ MCHLER, R. SUI LS-6b (29) 808 39 PL TAMANAKA, H. JPN LS-6c (38) 240 40 A6 SILLAJOE, MATT EST Glasflugel (40) 216

LO >. d 2 .

(10) 933 (15) 919 (3) 969 (2) 985 (32) 293 (23) 628

(27) 567 (12) 928 (12) 928 (32) 293 (9) 936 (14) 925 (16) 891 (39) 271 (7) (11) 930 (5) 963 (21) 797 (4) 965 (30) 302 (29) 307 (26) 331 (5) 963 (37) 272 (30) 302 (19) 831 (17) 886 (I) 1000 (8) 956 (35) 288 (40) 261 (32) 293 (37) 272 (18) 858 (20) 802 (35) 288 (25) 585 (26) 582 (22) 732 (24) 592

23rd WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS FINAL RESULTS FOR OPEN CLASS

z 0

8 - -1 < z L z 1 1E 2 AS 3 162 4 GG 5 A 6 942 7 71 8 IAA 9 KS 10 XX 11 AA 12 AD 13 N1 14 KV 15 W 16 WN 17 X 18 NIL 19 YX 20 IS 21 GB 22 m 23 MM 24 X3 25 EP 26 IK 27 7R

CENTKA, JANUSZ AX, m R A N SPRECKLEY, BRIAN LHERM, GERARD WUJCZAK, STANISLAW KAY, ALISTER BACK, HOLGER ANDERSEN, JAN SCHWENK, ULL HOLIGHAUS, KLAUS SCHROEDER, MARC MOZER, ERIC THOMSEN, EDWIN RENNER INGO KURSTJENS, GERRlT GIMMEY, RAY ANDERSON, GORAN LAPPALAINEN, KARL HEGEDUS, L A S Z L ~ HAUSER, FRlDOLIN BOURGARD, PAUL H*MMERLE, ANDREAS GILES, MICHAEL MONTI, ROBERTO UBLACKER, HANS PETER BLATTER, FEDERICO GURALY, B ~ L A

POL ASW-22B SWE ASW-22BL GBR ASH-25 FRA Nimbus 4 POL ASW-22B GBR ASH-25 GER Nimbus4 DEN Nimbus4 GER ASW-22BL GER Nimbus 4M FRA ASW-22BL USA Nimbus 4 DEN Nimbus3 AUS ASW-ZZBEL NET Nimbus4 USA Nimbus4 SWE Nimbus3 FIN ASH-25 HUN Nimbus4 SUI Nimbus3 BEL Nimbus3 AUT ASW-228 AUS Nimbus3 ITA ASH-25 AUT Nimbus3 SUI Nimbus3 HUN Nimbus3