Team USA Report – JWGC Contest Day 9-11

Today was scrubbed due to a front approaching from the west that brought with it thick high level overcast and light rain. Although conditions were blue during the pilots meeting we could see the high clouds and gloom approaching – sitting on the grid we could feel the obvious cool damp outflow from the rain edge 20km away, knowing it was just a matter of time before the airfield convection was shut down. 15 minutes later the day was scrubbed and crews were able to secure or box their gliders before any rain or wind hit the airfield. We were all pretty much ready for a rest after completing our flight debrief and team pair flying review for the day.

All were looking forward to a good day in the cockpit today. Today the task is a 3hr Area task to the south and back again. Pre-flight task planning had us looking at maintain a start time driven by weather and not let the shorter (not 4-5hrs..) task time drive any nonsense with start time games compounded by PEV start limitations. This is particularly important as Ostrow is in the eastern part of the local time zone meaning the day tends to shut down earlier due to a later sun-time relative to the clock. To this point in the contest we haven't seen any extreme start time tactics but I expect this to change shortly.

The weather for the day is lower cumulus at first with a drying trend from west to east through the afternoon – cumulus fields south with expected bluer conditions for the return. Both our classes opted for a fairly early start to reduce risk in the return leg at the end of the day. As things panned out this was the right strategy – all our pilots started between 10 and 15 minutes after the gate opened with a few early starters ahead of them. Club and Standard class pilots were making good progress on the first leg south but the atmospheric conditions became much more unpredictable and bubbly when the drying occurred and many top teams suffered significant separation challenges in the drying conditions. Our teams were no different. Things were made more difficult by cirrus encroaching from the south. (see Jacob's photo)

Thomas had a particularly difficult time on the third leg when he was hit by 'Thors Hammer' and could not escape a wide long and broad cascade of heavy sink which pushed him down to less than 900ft agl before he could find some weak lift to survive in. It was difficult to watch with only sporadic OGN coverage in the area. The rest of his task was spent in damage control recovering from the speed hit. As it happened the German pilot ahead of him in Standard class had an even worse time of it so despite a difficult day Thomas moved up from 3rd to 2nd overall in the standings.

Our club class pilots have been continuing to develop their communications and flying techniques and though today they had a difficult time staying close enough to help each other they all made it home with David McMaster having a creditable 13th place for the day until he had more sink than expected late on his final glide losing 26 points to place 17th. David took a more easterly route home which allowed him to skirt the edge of the drying cumulus and find more reliable climbs as he made his way home- just not quite high enough.

Team USA put together a very popular table of pulled pork on buns and smores accompanied by the samplers choice of Jack Daniels, Coke, and other libations, organized by Justin McMaster and Jacob Barnes Sr. The camaraderie of this night at a Junior Worlds is very high and the young pilots and crew were soon swapping team shirts and having a great time. Our crews and pilots have unofficial but very colorful and patriotic shirts, issued to all the pilots in addition to their formal team uniform, were a big hit – everyone wanted one! Big shout out to Eric Tellmann (Steven's Dad) for providing these for the team.

Contest Day 11 has been a rest day – rain and thunderstorms were forecast and they appeared as predicted during the day. The party last night extended to the 'wee hours' last night as all the pilots and crew had to do today was sleep. Time to catch up on rest, exercise and reporting duties…