Team USA Report – JWGC Contest Day 1 & 2

After the torrential rain of the practice period had chance to dry out we woke on the first day to light rain. This passed quickly however the day was slow to get going. Multiple launch time delays and we finally launched at 2pm into 4kn thermals. The AAT of 2.5hrs was reduced to 2 hrs for Club and 1hr 50m for Standard as they were the last class to launch. So a devalued day. Our club class pilots team flew well and managed their first encounter with PEV starts well – not so easy with 3 pilots. They started earlier than most and this paid off well for them – all made it back, finishing close together in time and speed. Tom Greenhill in Standard started about 20 mins after the clubbies and all finished just before a dark squall line crept up on the airfield from the west. I was impressed by how they managed all this first time out. A full team pilot debrief back at my HQ shade tent lasted quite a while with all pilots in good spirits and some key process improvements determined for the next days task. Today was a potentially tricky day well managed and a day not to lose. Thomas finished in 17th place without having any problem except a slow first leg in a down-cycle. David, Steven and Jacob finished 29th, 35th and 39th respectively.

Each day we are rotating through pilot report duties on the day – the following thoughts on today are from David Mcmaster.

The view from the captains tent….

Overall, so far this has been a dramatically different experience than my time in the Czech Republic in 2022. Starting from the very first team meeting this has felt different. The key difference being I am not alone. Team USA has a total of 4 pilots this go around. This means four gliders need to be found, four campers, four cars, four crew, and a captain that needs to manage us all. The "team experience" in the preceding months and even into the practice days so far has felt… muted. This is to no fault of any one of us, and not for lack of trying, however we have all been preoccupied getting all of our ducks in a row to putting ourselves in the best position to perform as we can. The first several days here it has been a full mind and body effort to get the glider into a racing condition.

My rental, which came from an aeroclub just East of Hamburg Germany, is an ASW 24b that came 90% in a racing condition. It took The whole first day just to get my pee system in order! Aside from that there was a lot of little kinks and quirk to work out to get the glider flying and feeling the way that I like it. I was not alone in my struggle to get things sorted I think that everyone has had to tweak a couple of things. This is not to discount the quality of the rental gliders we have found rather to emphasize the nuanced nature of this sport and how specifically customized the equipment needs to be at this level. So, while each of us have been perfecting our gear it has been difficult to find time to really bond as a team.

A beautiful large grass airfield and the FAI flag

Today was an abnormal day even on traditional US standards; I am still not used to my all star crew that takes care of virtually everything for me, so when I finally woke up around 09:15 my glider was already rigged and on the grid! I am still a bit in disbelief that we have four pilots this time. All that I wanted in 2022 was to just have teammates and to be able to share this incredible experience with my countrymen. So when I go to these normal ordinary meetings and see three other pilots and crew in the hangar I cannot help but smile. The next major difference is actually the whole process. Before and traditionally it is just myself that I have to manage and get ready, and while I often chat with the other racers about weather and strategy it has never been an officially scheduled part of the day.

Here team cooperation is paramount. We must be on the same page about just about everything in order to stick with one another for the duration of the task. The flight went just about as perfect as we could have possibly hoped. Steven, Jacob and I were together for the entirety of the flight aside from the final glide. I do not believe the score reflects the progress made in todays flight… and although I believe that the three of us may have flown faster as individuals we all committed to each other and chose to be together and soon we will be flying faster than we could on our own. The biggest success from my prospective was that today we flew with no ego. We listened to each other's opinions and respected each other's perspectives. At one point Jacob and Steven had a better view of the clouds ahead and strongly suggested we take the left hand street where as I would have chose the street on the right if I were own. I sure am glad I listened and trusted them because the street we found after that was ripping. My favorite part of the day was landing with 30 other gliders followed closely by my teammates to a big smile and hug from my Dad/crew. The three of us put our gliders in the box and then rushed to check our traces and talk about the day. I have known this before but most lessons get relearned again and again. That being said… TEAM FLYING IS FUN to share the highs and lows with your teammates makes all the difference in the world. No matter what the score sheet says in the end I am happy and honored to be here flying with these pilots.'

Club Class pilots Steven Tellman, David Mcmaster and Jacob Barnes Jr.

Today's weather is drier and with little chance of overdevelopment, with fewer cumulus forecast. The forecast was for thermals around 5-6kn ( 2.5 to 3m/s) and for faster speeds than yesterday. The task was an ambitious dog-leg out and return AST of 404km to the south and then east with very similar tasks for both standard and club with club lanching and starting first. Most pilots were planning on speeds around 100kph and 4 hrs with start times planned accordingly. Our clubbies elected (smartly) to start early due to the length of the task while the Standards started quite a bit later. Due perhaps to the amount of rain we have had over the last few days the real climb rates were about half that expected from the forecasts especially on the first blue leg south. There were Cu on the 2 east-west legs and it was blue and weaker again for the last leg home. Many teams were caught out with late starts however our clubbies started soon after the gate opened and 2 out of 3 made it round with Steven landing just 15km short and Jacob and David squeaking over the (high) finish cylinder height. The last leg home was especially weak into the last gasps of the convective day. They were together and communicating through all the weak stuff which is a big test of team flying discipline. 

Thomas in Standard also completed and maintained his run in the middle of the Standard Class pack, though it required sitting for 50 turns in 0.7kn at the end of the day to make it home. Our pilots are maintaining great team spirit and improving their team and overall flying process daily. For many of them this is the first time they have been benchmarked against the worlds best juniors. Yesterday got a little slow for them and we spent considerable time together reviewing decisions, flying tactics and start planning – we do this on a daily basis so that we get short-cycle feedback and maximum improvement out of the time we are here together. We had number of landouts in both classes and some teams suffered minor damage. We are good to fly again tomorrow! Todays perspective is from Jacob flying RD (ASW20).

Thomas Greenhill and his crew DJ Rainier

"It was an interesting and challenging day for sure! David, Steven, Thomas and myself had all prepared to be sitting in a gaggle praying for thermals on a blue day. As the day moved on, clouds that were supposed to dissipate before we started remained. This led to a swift change in tactics that led David, Steven and I to a slower start on the first leg. Once the change was made and we found each other we began to fly the task as any other cloud filled day. Thermals were between 1.7 to 3.5 m/s as predicted, although we had a climb or two a bit closer to 4 m/s. Once established we made the decision to catch a thermal before 1100 meters msl. This led us to a much stronger and more efficient second leg where we began to catch the gaggle in front. Once we made the second turn we knew the day was growing weaker, we had planned to be on final glide by 5:15 and we had made the second turn around 4:45.

This led to some weaker climbs that eventually got us to the last leg (with a steering turn at the end). Making the final glide was crucial, there were absolutely no clouds between us and home and each thermal we approached was weaker and weaker but nonetheless we were more or less together. Once we had each found our respective climbs and had final within a few meters we pushed off for the 45 km trek home. Bumping every piece of still air was crucial yet we were still below final glide by about 50 meters. A small .7 m/s climb appeared in the blue and every glider in the area came rushing to it. With a few final turns and a large amount of "pucker factor" we pushed off for home. David and I crossed the finish line by only a few meters. It's safe to say that our 4 hour task had turned into quite an exhilarating 6 hour task. As far as the day goes we flew together well which has been the biggest hurdle and I believe we are seeing large improvements every time we fly. Can't wait to get in the air again tomorrow!"