Jenny, Jeremy and Ziggy Leave

Even though I've been sacked I thought I would post the last post before getting involved in the Flatland Cup.

Jenny,Jeremy and Ziggy have departed to Budapest for thr night with Zig Driving so they could end up anywhere. From there Zig leaves for Aus tomorrow and Jenny and Jeremy to Poland to return the Glider via Prievidza to see the boys at the unflapped pre worlds.

A few photos of the last day with Team Kauffmann with Discus CS "P"and relaxing at the bar with Graham, Kris and Sam.

All for this site see you on David and Graham's blog

Greg

Back home last day's final comments

It was a typical European day today. There was a lot of moisture from the previous day's storms and cloud base was low. The cloud base only got to around 4500ft later in the day and was much lower out west, though I did leave earlier to avoid the forecast late overdevelopment. Being my first taste of a real "European day", I tried to stay high-ish and went slow, really wanting to get back home on the last day. There were some good climbs later in the day so again a later start would have been better, but again a gamble. As it was i flew through rain again on final glide and at that time it was pretty overdeveloped around Szeged.

Anyway, it's been fun.

Jenny

Last Day

The weather has slightly improved, enough for a desperate competition to set a 3hr AAT. Forecast heights are 1000m with high probability of overdevelopment. First launch at 1115, with 15metres on the back of the grid. Should be an interesting day.

Jenny

Last chance

Greg's been quite disobedient and does not take direction very well. As of tomorrow he is sacked (after the task has been completed). We hope we get a flying day in tomorrow to keep him busy, as he has had too much time on his hands to be mischievous.
Jenny

Baba Jaga

Last night was Baba Jaga night where all the new witches were initiated.

This is Jenny in all her finery. Jenny has just told me I don't have to put all this s--t on but I will disobey her anyway.

Here is Jenny and Akemi . The bonfire is for the first solo on the broom

Marta our adopted Pole, we are trying to swap her for Ziggy, was another of the not so keen participants.

Also first solo shot

We have had another no fly day due to storms and have returned from another 3hr lunch.We now have to decide what's for dinner.

Day 9 and the weather is worse

Even the weather man was not very up-beat and we are still sitting round drinking coffee with 100% low cloud cover. The gliders are gridded but it doesn't look hopeful. Plenty of Aussies to chat with.

Don't forget to look at the other aussies' blogs at http://www.users.on.net/~dgjansen/ and http://teamdingo.blogspot.com/

Jenny

day cancelled again

There was a small window surrounded by large showers. A sniffer nearly beat the tug back so the day was cancelled at 13:30. Blue sky appeared around 3pm but the cu's were very low. Tomorrow should be flyable but NOAA indicates storms, some mid and high cloud and max cloudbase of 1500m.

J

Late night antics

Post Script:

Jeremy and I had a quiet night BUT...... Ziggy, Greg and a girl and crew from the Polish team went looking for night life. Ziggy's language "skills" managed to get them to a gay bar. Unfortunately Ziggy was wearing his diamond earing and one of the patrons took a fancy to him. Witness said he was sweating severely with worry. They got back home at midnight anticipating a no-fly day.

However, we've just had briefing and we have been given a 3hr AAT. Best heights forecast are 1300m for a short time only, and weak climbs - they keep talking about a flyable window but we are doubtful it will be a large enough break for a real task. We are gridded and waiting to go!

More later, perhaps.

Jenny

Wednesday Augusztus 5

We obviously didn't fly yesterday. While Ziggy and Greg visited Budapest, we saw the sights of Szeged. There's lots of interest to see. There is a veritable tribe of Aussies here now with Graham Parker, David Jansen and his mum, Chris Kauffman and Sam, and us, with Hank and Lorraine and Graham's wife to arrive soon.

The weather today also looks very doubtful, so more sightseeing may be on the cards. We are now running out of flying days, with only two more possible after today.

Jenny

Day 8

There was lots of uncertainty on the weather yesterday with a stable airmass to the south and very unstable to the north. 15m was at the front of the grid but at scheduled launch time there was no activity. We finally launched 3/4 hour late with very weak conditions. The whole of 15m class ground round at around 2-2500 feet for about an hour before conditions picked up enough to start. The other classes launched later and had their task reduced to 2 hours but ours remained a 3hour AAT. While conditions were weak I stayed with the massive gaggle that meanderd its way on task and after another hour the conditions suddenly improved with great climbs and 7500ft - and then I had trouble keeping up. The day ended up lasting much longer than previous days, so a later start would have been a better choice - hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Today the weather looks doubtful with wall-to-wall high cloud and thunderstorms predicted for Hungary.

Last night was the International night where all the teams exhibited their national foods. We had no Vegemite, lamingtons or pavlova, so while I flew yesterday the team found some Australian wine. A good night was had by all.

A good day today

A lot came together today. Greg and I looked at the weather and thought the day would finish early and there was talk of storms so I planned to leave a soon as possible. The rest of them were playing gaggle games and so I started as planned just after the gate opened. It was a great run on the first three legs and i only had a bit of trouble on the last leg - the sky was clearly dying and it was a good decision to leave early. Pipped by 0.4kph by the current 15m champion in a fully loaded 29, so pretty happy.

Jenny

994 POINTS

The rest day has worked.
Jenny 2nd today beaten by Katrin Senne(Current World Champ)in an ASG 29, by 41 seconds.
A really great effort. By leaving early Jenny used the best part of the day.

A Few More Photos

Last night was Hungarian night and Ziggy "Blinged Up"

Check out the left ear.

I am starting to worry about Jeremy and ZIGGY'S dress sense. They are both wearing socks with their sandals.

I am having a lot of trouble getting Ziggy to to come out and play at night. Every time I get dressed up to go out this is what I see that Zig has got on

water update

After many hours in the heat and some help from many, the bag on one wing was removed - a small twist at the end. We filled it and checked the capacity, and to our dismay, they are small bags of 50 litres each so now I am committed to being quite light for the entire comp. At least we now know, and the bad wing fixed will now give me about 15 more litres.

Jenny

Rest Day

Well finally a rest day has been called. We have found someone to help us pull out the bags and we are ready to take them out. More later on whether we get some success.

Jenny

home again, sort of....

As Jeremy said earlier, a short task was set, because the met indicated a worse day than yesterday. A short task was ok today but for the wrong reasons - the day was late starting and when it did, it went ballistic but fell to pieces after 2 hours with storms in the last part of the task area. Once again I had a good run for the first half, only stopping for 4m/s but being 410kgs as opposed to everyone else at 525kgs, I just couldn't keep up with of the Germans and French that I followed. Then the day collapsed and it was a struggle to get home. I just had final glide but as I approached Szeged there were rain showers all in front and it meant I had to land at the control point (Szatymaz Airfield), 9 kms short. I organised an aerotow from that airfield behind a Hungarian monster plane of some description and had a 3 minute tow home. The day was devalued (thank goodness).

Jenny

Day 6: A poor forecast with lots of high cloud meant a short task- 250 km speed task and guess what, high cloud gone and cu's popping all over the sky. The task will be underset and I think the times will be about 2 hours.

Perhaps a good thing, Jenny has flown 32 hours in 5 days and fatigue is going to be an issue with no change to the weather in sight and the high temperatures continuing.

Back home again

Well it was a stonker of a day - I'm really missing the full water in the glider but having a ball and learning heaps from some very excellent pilots. Th 5hr AAT was a challenge - the last turnpoint was 145 kms from home. Despite the results so far, I'm really happy with how things are going and the experience is amazing. The captain and crew are brilliant and keeping me laughing.

Jenny

Day 5: another hot day, forecast is for very good conditions though very hazy. The task is a suprise: a AAT with 4 turning points and a 5 hour time period.

Launches is completed by midday and the sky is filling with cu's.

Jenny starts at 1pm and the spots we have received indicate averaging about 125 kph so far.

We have become friendly with the Danish team and they monitor the german frequencies (as they speak german) and the germans are averaging about 130kph at the half way stage.

The picture is of Jennys out landing on the 2nd day, could be any paddock in Australia.

Jeremy

A Few Pics

Ziggy's new girl friend The Poms got us back after they found Aussie flags on their Gliders

Lunch with Japanese team

The Team at the first briefing

Day 4

The weather was much better today - an AAT. We finally got some nice cu's and a good task. I started just after the gate opened, and had a good run, but was cursing only being 1/2 full of water - just not competitive on a good day - we are hoping for a rest day so we can pull the bags out to solve the prolem. The Germans, Czechs and French are so organised and today their met people looked at the cloud and blue holes on track, so called their teams back for a second start when the cloud base was lifting. It really is hard competing against such an organisation.

day 3 debrief

Well the good news is I got back and it appears the crew was so busy lunching and socialising they didn't get time to update the blog.

312km racing task today. We are under the influence of a high and southerly winds and blue - all very bad. I counted around 50 gliders in 2 contra-rotating thermals at the start. My mistake again today was not going out with the gaggles, despite telling myself to. Suffice to say i had a pretty awful day in crappy lift on my own and suffered the consequences. Had a wonderful view of the Danube at the last turnpoint and took a thermal over an industrial town that spewed smoke into the air. I was nearly nauseous from the smell, but I needed the thermal. Environmental controls have not yet made it to Hungary - the whole town was covered in a brown dust from the smoke stacks.

The Germans and French are team flying and are so professional. Many pilots are full time glider pilots.

Jenny

Day 2 debrief

Like all good gliding contests, the task was set on the day before's weather. We resolved the GPS problems (almost) and still can't get enough water in the glider. I got a good start and caught up the 15m gaggle in the first 30kms. The gaggles are far more fierce than in Australia and I had the worst near miss of my life, a very aggressive German coming within a metre of me. Despite being light, I kept up with the gaggle (the 27 goes very well), but being naiive, decided to leave the gaggle as I was on top. Big mistake. Very soon the conditions were dying and we still had 270kms to go, and the last turnpoint was just over the Danube - by reputation a very dead area. I thought I'd lost pace with the main gaggle and conditions were awful, but was surprised to see them all just come out of the last turnpoint as I was going. Unfortunately the day was so dead, I was about 1 thermal too late and outlanded around 50km from home. Thank heavens for SPOT and a new car GPS. Jeremy and Ziggy had to drive through paddock after paddock to get to me, arriving just on dark - there are no roads to speak of and no-one speaks English to ask directions.

Learning heaps and having lots of fun

Jenny

day 2 continued

Day 2 continued: Jenny has just started on a 500km speed task, the consensus is the task is set on yesterdays weather which everyone told us was an "australian day" plenty of cu and good thermals. Today is more blue and reported by Jenny as not being very good.

Still having issues with the water ballast bags and yesterday only got about half water in the glider,which was a disadvantage on what was a pretty fast day. Today we got about 2/3 water so it is getting better.

They do things a bit differently here in Europe:

We grid the gliders at 8am prior to the briefing.

A maximum height limit of 2700 metres has been set for all tasks

No restrictions on which way to thermal within 10km of Szeged

Must radio start time to team manager who passes to organisation

There are 7 tugs and launching was done in under an hour

We have the equivalent of a CTAF for circuit traffic but the tugs operate on another frequency for towing. The tug pilots only seem to talk Hungarian on the radio anyway so it does not matter.

The gliders operate on either the operational frequency or their country frequency so every one is usually on a different frequency.

Weather has been very hot and typical of southern australia in summer, hot and stable under the high pressure and getting better after a cooler change.

Jeremy

Day 1 update

We had very good weather for Day 1. 416 km fixed task. Unfortunately we can't get very much water into the glider and I had to fly 110kg under max weight on a day that needed full water. Also having instrument anomolies, but overall I had a fun day. More on the blog later in the day on today's task and weather.

Jenny

Last day before the Competition

The met man today said the weather would not be flyable so no task was set. A cold front passed through overnight and it again blew a gale today but at least the temperature has dropped. By 2pm the temperature improved and cu's popped all over but only 5 pilots took a flight. My first flight in Europe yesterday was interesting. Towed behind the Zlin - really poor climb performance and he raised the undercarriage as soon as he was a few feet above the ground. His airspeed varied 15 kts in the tow and at one stage he and I started to stall. When he dropped the gear I knew he was ready to descend - then a waggle of the wings and next thing he was diving at the ground - just as well I had my hand on the release when the gear was put down - the most horrifying tow I've ever had - and this in my first flight in the new glider. I did an orientation flight, doing about 140 kms. Opening ceremony tonight and first comp day tomorrow - I would have liked to have had more practice but weather, travel delays and glider problems had prevented this.

Jenny

From Singapore to Szeged, Hungary

This is our journey so far:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

We finally arrived in Singapore Friday night and found our connecting flight had left without us, Qantas put us in a hotel for 20 hours until the next flight . After arriving in Warsaw via London we had lost a day and rushed out to Lezno the next day to pick up the glider

Monday 20^th July

Finally got to Lezno and de rigged the glider, it is an interesting place, the hangar is full of Polish gliders:

3 Puchaz, 3 Bocians, 4 Pirat, 6 Jantar of various types, 3 Juniors, and 3 Foka’s. The only non Polish glider is the ASW27 which we are hiring.

There is a hotel and bar and restaurant , a full time operation which has now been purchased by Thomas Gostner and is being redeveloped.

Tuesday 21^st July

Set course for Szeged with the glider, Ziggy decided he had to see his parents in Krackow, so we dropped him on the way. It took 12 hours of mostly difficult and slow driving to reach Szeged covering 4 countries. The Polish are the worst drivers in the world and try to kill you at every opportunity.

Wednesday 22^nd

Greg, who came via Cathay and Hong Kong left later than us but arrived in Szeged before us. We met up with him for breakfast, then rigged the glider and changed the instruments and did all the jobs required to get organised for a comp.

It was very hot but not much in the way of soaring, last week Mak (from Narromine) did a 1000km from here.

First comp day is Sunday.

Sorry We Are busy

Today has been spent fitting Altir Cambridge etc.
We now have Hungarian phones and are all melting in 40 degree heat.

More soon

Greg Schmidt

Delays!

Well here we sit in the Qantas Club lounge (again!!). A fuel leak on our departing Airbus (!!) developed before the engines even got started so our departure will be delayed by 6 hours, and we have no idea of a time into Warsaw! We had awful pizza, sipping wine and waiting.....

Nearly time to leave Australia

Finally got the Polish licence on 10th July after months of agony, and we leave Brisbane tomorrow for Poland to pick up the glider. Big thanks to Gerard Harber, Paul Mander, GFA, Allamanda Private Hospital and Qantas for some financial help to get us this far. Looking forward to the next phase.