Angela's report, July 28

IGC Journalist Angela Sheard is attending the 33rd FAI World Gliding Championships in the Open, 18 Meter, and 15 Meter Classes in Leszno, Poland. She is planning to write a series of reports from the competition. This one is from July 28, 2014. 

The best place on Leszno airfield today is the huge fan cooling the dining room in the Airport Hotel. Red and dripping crew members are staggering in from the airfield after seeing their pilots off, to stand luxuriating in the only cool breeze for miles around. Yes, the heavy, hot and humid weather goes on.

Yesterday’s area tasks took place while rain lashed Leszno but ended successfully with Leigh Wells (GB) and son of a champion, winning the 15m class, Poland’s Karoly Staryszak the 18m and Ronald Termaat of The Netherlands, the Open Class (see tasks and full results on Soaring Spot. The Competition website address is www.wgc2014.eu where you can also follow the gliders via the tracking service.)

Today, 28^th July, assigned area tasks in all three classes, skimming round the potential storm areas brewing due to the high temperatures combining with the large amount of moisture still present after two days heavy rain in the training period. The imposed time allowed is around 3 hours.

Launching is still taking over an hour as a colourful succession of tugs race to get 130 gliders airborne ready for the start but this should improve as the days pass.

A young, Anglo-Polish visitor celebrating his tenth birthday was thrilled when the sniffer pilot, back from testing the thermal strength ahead of the full launch, sat him in a glider and explained the details of today’s met.

Behind them, one of the workhorses of the sky, an Antonov 2 and, over the trees, today’s first cumulus start to build.