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The 4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship at Wasserkuppe Germany is valid

With the third flown task yesterday the 4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship that is held on Wasserkuppe airfield in Germany is a valid competition. With two more flying days to go we could possibly end up with 6 competition days as today the forth task could be flown. 16 of the 18 pilots managed to reach the airfield today and the finish was quite spectacular with 6 pilots approaching within only a few seconds. First today and now also in the overall ranking was Sebastian Nägel from Germany, the youngest pilot competing, followed by Giorgio Galetto (Italy) and Uli Schwenk (Germany).

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4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship: Two great soaring days!

Yesterday after a dark and rainy morning, the sky became blue in Wasserkuppe at the 4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship and it was possible to have a late start with a small task. The two young German pilots Sebastian Naegel and Patrick Puskeiler became first and second and the French Nicolas Veron became third.

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16th FAI European Gliding Championships: Revving up...

The towplanes are revving up and trundling across the grass towards the grids where the four glider classes are lined up and ready to go.

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4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship: Finally a great soaring day!

The Contest Director set a short task, but the weather was much better that expected and after an early start, the first two pilots came back archiving a speed of 109 Km/h.

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16th FAI European Gliding Championships: a contest day at last!

With no flying since Tuesday of last week - you cant count the 40 minutes or so that some were in the air on Sunday - there has finally been a contest day at the 16th FAI European Gliding Championships in Nitra this 26th July.

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4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship - First (valid) competition day

After one week of rain and strong wind, eventually we have had a valid competition day here at the 4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship in Wasserkuppe, with sun and cumulus.

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As long as a wet weekend in Nitra

No flying Saturday at the 16th FAI European Gliding Championships in Nitra. Cancelled almost from Briefing. On Sunday, there seemed to be a slim chance so all classes went to the grid and the biggest, the 20m two seaters, and the smallest, thePW5s, were launched. The Club and Standard classes were held on the grid until it could be seen if they could stay up.

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First competition day here at Wasserkuppe for the 4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship

The Grand Prix was born in early 2000, when the International Gliding Commission has created this new type of competition in order to make this wonderful sport more understandable to the general public, simplifying the rules and adopting a system of scoring similar to the F1. The maximum number of participants is limited to 20 and they use the same type of glider, with 15m wing span. Once in the air, all competitors start together and win the first that cross the finish line, after completing the assigned task.

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16th FAI European Gliding Championships in Nitra: Still soaked news...

Here in Nitra EGC2011 all tasks were cancelled today, in all classes, due to bad weather. Although it was still raining and the field soaked with lots of standing water, the Competition Director has set tasks and planned for a 12h45 launch for today with very faint hopes, but cancelled quite early, as the tasks set were only just over 100km per class anyway.

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16th FAI European Gliding Championships in Nitra: Who overdid the rain dance?

Well, EGC2011 is not airborne today! The quantity of water falling past the hangar doors had to be seen and heard to be believed. Yesterday, 20th July, was declared an official rest day due to the unfavourable weather conditions though the the sun did come out over the deserted airfield in the afternoon but today, the floodwaters gushing down and lying in deep puddles on the roads and fields rival Noah's. No flying today was announced at briefing and it seems it is all due to a phenomenon which occurs only once every ten to fifteen years in these parts when a cold air mass meets a warm air mass somewhere in northern Bohemia and dumps massive quantities of water across the area as well as on the neighbours.

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4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship: two days to go!

All the pilots are arrived in Wasserkuppe for the 4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship (FAI Sailplane Grand Prix Final) and we are just waiting for good soaring conditions to start flying. In July 2011 it is be exactly 100 years since the first glider flights were made here at the Wasserkuppe. In memory of these pioneers, IGC has organised the 4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship in this beautiful airport.

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