Another day of difficult weather at WGC2025. Today's problems started with a forecast of thick high cloud expected to overrun the Tabor task area, leaving some chance of a weak, short day. All classes were given similar same short Area tasks with large turn cylinders, in hopes that the world's best pilots might find a way to tiptoe around the problem weather.
The sky was already looking gray and unpromising at launch time (11:45), but initial climbs above 5000' and cumulus cloud scraps gave hope. Unfortunately, it was false hope: The predicted cloud cover swirled in on schedule, lift declined steadily, pilots struggled mightily in weak low thermals, and in the end fell to earth. Only one pilot – Norbert Scarlat from Romania – completed the task, and even he didn't get home (he landed in a field just short of the runway). A total of around 90 pilots – all those without an engine – outlanded. In no class did enough pilots achieve enough distance for a valid contest day. (The rule is that 25% of pilots must achieve at least the specified minimum distance: 100 km in Club class, and 120 km in Standard and 15-Meter classes.)
Despite Czech crops being generally high this time of year, and terrain that is not always agreeably flat, pilots seem to have been successful finding good fields for their outlandings. I've heard some complaints about rocks, and all the recent rain has certainly made some muddy, but it seems that pilots have dealt with a couple of difficult days rather well. Today, Tony and Sylvia found a particularly good one for their landings, and before long were joined by 15 other pilots.
Mike Sorenson's struggles before a trouble-free outlanding yielded the third-best distance in 15-Meter class. At the morning pilot meeting, the custom is to recognize the best three flights of the previous day in each class. There is no requirement that this happen for a day that wasn't valid, but in view of the effort involved we certainly hope it does tomorrow.
The cars supporting the US Team here are the usual bunch of sedans and small SUVs available for rent in Europe these days. They have their quirks, often in the form of cute special functions appearing on an elegant flat-screen display that a casual driver doesn't need and would prefer not to interact with. What Climate Mode would you like today? What particular musical genre suits your mood as you set off on a retrieve?
The small Mercedes-Benz car that tows glider 73 (Jared Granzow's JS-3) is extremely safety conscious – so much so that it flatly refuses to back close enough to a trailer such that the hitch can easily be lifted onto the towball: the last 20" must be done by manhandling the trailer. To defeat this "feature", we've thought of obtaining a picture of an open meadow or empty parking lot and holding it up to the car's rearview camera.
Finding a vehicle for rent that's equipped with a tow hitch can be a challenge, though this seems to be easier here than in the US. The tow-capable BMW Ken Sorenson had reserved to transport glider AF trailer from Germany to Tabor initially had nothing showing behind the bumper. When he complained about this, the rental agent simply pressed a hidden button, causing the hitch to sweep into position.
-John Good