07 December 2017

You can follow the team at the 2nd FAI Pan-American Gliding Championships on Face Book https://www.facebook.com/canadiansoaringteam and twitter https://twitter.com/soaringca

26 January 2017

Sad to be packing at 1000KM day, still.....

End of AU adventure - container ready for pickup.

Thank you to all pilots for letting us fly some amazing gliders.

Jarek

25 January 2017

WGC2017 from my perspective

From my perspective , I can divide my flying experience at WGC into three stages or phases :

1. Practice - easy and fun flying .

2. From contest day 1 to contest day 3 - shock therapy

3. From contest day 4 to contest day 6 - trying to fit in .

 1.Practice :

We had 6 practice days from December 31 to January 7. The style of flying on those days was almost like on a regular XC day at SOSA, or some of the contest days at Canadian Nationals . We were setting up our own tasks or flying as set by organizers . Start time was flexible and in the biggest gaggle before the start we had not more then 10-12 gliders, and usually 4-5 on course. Even when the results were not too good , I could easily see my mistakes and ways to fix them, blaming most of it on being rusty after sitting on the ground for 4 months. This simple answer made me overconfident .

2. First half of the contest . 

But when the real contest started my confidence was gone from day 1 . I was shocked by the speed and aggressive style of flying by most of the pilots in my class . Before the start, gaggles were still more or less organized, and when we stopped climbing after reaching thermal top there were just a few pilots who were trying to cut through and get inside , closer to the core to gain extra few feet . It changed when we went on course . Cutting in front of the other glider in the thermal , trying to get a stronger climb , starting to turn in the new thermal just few seconds after leaving previous one, or changing direction and crossing in front of a glider going straight was becoming a normal style for many pilots . It takes time to get used to this way of flying, and in the first few days I was spending too much time trying to adjust my piloting skills, and was lacking in tactical thinking - I just didn't have time for it .My other weakness, which affected my results, was the speed of decision making - I was too slow . If you think that flying in the gaggle is simple - just climb with the fast guy and move along - you are wrong  Following this simple formula, you will end up on the bottom and lose the group at the end . A gaggle or group with 15-25 gliders is always evolving; it separates into a few independent groups , converges into one group again , all while moving forward. This pattern repeats very quickly. You are constantly facing choices of following different groups , climbing in different thermals, or moving from one group to another . To make those decisions on time during the flight can put you on the podium, and making them too late might put you on the field .

3.Second half of the contest

Understanding of the gaggle style of flying, and a way of dealing with all tactical and strategic problems, came to me a little bit too late and didn't leave me any time to work on the details . The weather gave us only three more days. Finally the fun part of flying came back . I started enjoying flying and even prestart gaggles didn't irritated me anymore - I realised this just a part of the game, and you have to have the patience to be part of it .I started to fit in and as a result my confidence come back together with the higher scores .

A final note of gratitude:

Our crew and team captain Joerg have done an amazing job helping us and supporting us in this event . I'm very grateful for the efforts from everyone within and without the gliding community that made participation in 2017 WGC possible - we couldn't have been there without you. And a big thank you to our Australian hosts for their hospitality toward all of us pilots and crew.

24 January 2017

WGC2017 - Reflections of a newb

I would like to express my gratitude for the overwhelming support of the gliding community in Canada. Your kind words of encouragement and support through out the competition were heartfelt and a big boost to morale.  I am very proud to have had the opportunity to represent Canada on the international stage.  Although frustrating at times it was a lot of fun to fly with and learn from the best competition pilots in the world. 

What follows is a bit long for my taste but there is a lot of data to digest.  These observations are made by someone with little experience so should be taken with a grain of salt and a big spoon of skepticism.

The pre-start gaggles have little to do with climb optimization.  Most of the time the lower guys in the gaggle climb faster than the guys at the top.  As the lower gliders catch up the gaggle compresses in the vertical axis and spreads out horizontally.  Near the top you are flying wide circles, low bank - high speed.  In the gaggle most of your concentration is spent on avoiding gliders you can see around you and not upsetting the system too much.  Guys who try to out climb the others generally don't succeed and cause others to react rapidly which causes more dangerous situations.  In the worst cases some gliders leave the gaggle because it isn't centered, hit the core on their way out and start turning in the opposite direction.  I have heard the gaggles described as "A knife fight in a phone booth", I don't think this description is far off.

The tactics for the most part seem to involve sitting on top of the gaggle until the guys below you get frustrated and leave on course; hopefully the guy leading the pack is one of the fast guys and if you can latch on he can drag you around so you get a high score.  If they aren't one of the fast guys they can still find you a climb or two as you use your height advantage to stay on top.  Because you left later than they did you have a speed advantage as well.  If they miss a thermal, this is not a big deal; you started higher so you have more range to find the better climb ahead.  One can choose to sacrifice a few minutes at the start and lead out, if the pack follows you just latch on and try to keep up with the group to get a good score.  If you are the adventurous type you can leave the group strike out on your own if an opportunity arises, this is a risk but if you succeed it can win the day.  If you leave too early you do not have the benefit of other gliders which is crucial on a blue day, if you leave too late you won't have the markers and you run the risk of not having enough time to finish the task.  The quote below is from Bruce Taylor's Facebook page, Bruce is a very experienced world level competition pilot:
"It is a sad measure of how this competition has been for me, that yesterday I made no real decisions of my own, and finished in third place! I just followed the pack, and for me, that is not a measure of skill. We need to do something about this. The answer is not simple, but many pilots I have spoken to feel very jaded about this problem."

Pair flying can be of great benefit provided it works, if it doesn't it will be a distraction and the pilots are better off flying individually.  As a member of a pair one has to be able to put away their ego and take pleasure in their partners success.  For some of the European teams this is easier to manage as they are funded and the pilots simply take orders from the coach.  As in any partnership being able to communicate effectively seems to be key to successful pair flying.  Sergei and I did try to team fly but communication was an issue.  Flying at this level is quite involved and having to tell your partner what you are doing or observing adds an extra layer of complexity.   Even if you succeed your partner may be busy and misses your transmission.  Personally I found it very difficult to express myself clearly, concisely and in a timely manner.  Quite often I would try to tell Sergei something only to find out he had already moved on and the information was obsolete.  On the occasions we were separated Sergei and I still tried to pass on information to each other.  It takes many contests to develop and synchronize a pair.  In North America this is nearly impossible as we do not allow pair flying.  Additionally Team Canada typically only sends one pilot per class as our IGC Country Ranking does not allow for a second pilot, so a pair does not have time to develop.

The team is essential to success.  Jerzy Szemplinski, Dave Springford, and Joerg Stieber have many years of world level experience which they shared with us;  I am grateful for their mentorship both in Benalla and over the past 10 years.  The team is not only the pilots and Captain, we were lucky to have a very dedicated and experienced crew with us.  Although crewing for other pilots Maria Szemplinska, Virginia Thompson, Jarek Twardowski and Marian Rakusan were always willing to land a hand.  2W crew, Marian Nowak, was instrumental in the smooth operation on the ground both before and after flying.

To improve one has to practice.  North American contests will make you a better pilot but do not prepare you for flying at this level.  Until recently the only chance we had to practice this kind of flying was at the WGC.  This is expensive, infrequent, and too late.  If we want to increase our world ranking the Pan-American championships are a good opportunity and we should do whatever we can to support Canadian pilots flying at these contests.  We should also look at developing a more structured coaching program.  As always all of this takes time and money, things most of us do not have in abundance.

I have been very fortunate to participate at the 34th FAI World Gliding Championships in Benalla, and will work hard to improve my results in the future.

Luke Szczepaniak - 2W
2W and MS after landing at WGC2017.  Photo by Maria Szemplinska



23 January 2017

2017 Worlds results and team flying

In virtual reality anybody could be called a winner no matter what points difference is there, its just a dream, while  in reality the winner is who got the most points.

German Team in 18m class didn't do team flying and still they placed on second and forth place.  Both pilots had their own strategies and it worked for both of them.

To be clear : there was never any discussion about the Canadian 18 m "team flying" before Worlds in Australia and  to claim that I was obligated to do team flying is misleading.

I informed Team Manager that I can share all information in the air like I did in Uvalde or other Worlds,  but without "team flying".  From my team flying experience for 6 years with multi time world champion I can say that  pilots not practicing for years team flying do not  have any chance for better results. It is known that each pilots has his own style of flying and successful teams are such, where  pilots have compatible style of flying  and  practice together. Best example of a  true team flying is German Open class team where both pilots fly together for years. 

There wasn't any practice team flying in 18meter class before Benalla and claiming that team flying will improve standing is misleading because error can be multiplied and

in effect to worsen result.

I admire Dave's excellent results on some days without any of my help or team flying attempts and this only proofs that  he is better off without me and team flying.

So any complaints that he could perform better with me has no merit and his line of thoughts is confusing at least. He had great results till he made some mistakes which all pilots do and this  had influence on his final scores and I have nothing to do with it. 

As per contest rules there is no such thing as virtual ties. There is no such class as "team class" and there are not " 2 pilots team scores" only individual pilots  scores.  The results are black and white, a pilot with cumulative  highest score after all valid contest days is the winner  by 1 point or 1000 points.

World titles were lost by small number of points difference and I never saw a Virtual World Champion because of it.

Results from Open class shows  exactly 13 points difference between World Champion and second pilot or "first loser" as we joke when we finish in  second place.

Picture shows Open class pilots with different medals each despite just 13 and 29 points difference as below.

1 E1 Russell Cheetham 6,562
2 EB Michael Sommer 6,549
3 80 Andrew Davis 6,520

In 10 points spread we can fit 10 pilots and only one will be the winner. 

Jerzy XG

22 January 2017

Final Thoughts - Dave

As I sit in the hotel room at the Sydney airport and get ready to head home, here are some final thoughts about the competition.

Although the weather for the 2017 WGC was not up to expectations for Australia the task setter, Tobi Geiger, did an outstanding job setting challenging tasks during the competition.  There were no easy days and nor should there have been given the calibre of pilots at the competition.

This competition, for me, was flown as an individual pilot as after the opening ceremony, our team captain informed me that the other 18 M pilot told him to tell me that he did not wish to team fly. 

I would like to provide a few statistics. We flew a total of 7 contest days. I had a very good start to the contest and was able to hold an overall position in the top 10 for the first 4 flying days.  I had 3 out of 7 days with a top 10 finish in the 18 M class with my best finish in 2nd on the first contest day only 23 seconds slower than the day winner on a 282 km racing task.  I had higher daily placings on 3 of the 7 contest days than the "highest placing North American pilot", I tied on 2 of the contest days and I placed lower on 2 of the 7 contest days than the "highest placing North American pilot".  At the end of 7 contest days, 13 points, or 0.213% separated me from the "highest placing North American pilot".  A virtual tie in the big picture. 



The competition featured a majority of racing (assigned) tasks in the 18 M class.  In the blue conditions we had most flying days this made tactical flying a critical skill.  One could not charge off into the blue and expect to do well on their own.  I found the thermals to have very small cores and while you could feel the bubbly air around the thermal, without the help of a few other gliders, accurately pinpointing the core and getting centered quickly was difficult.  At times you just couldn't find the core on your own.  One day, while flying several hundred meters to the left of another glider, I felt the energized air of a nearby thermal and moved left, striking a solid core and a 6.8 kt average climb for 2000 ft that put me on final glide.  The other glider missed it.  I beat him by 4 km/hr as a result of that one thermal that day and that made a 50 point difference in our scores, that day.  In this context, 13 points is a couple of seconds over the several thousand kilometers that were flown in 7 days.

What is this tactical flying that I mentioned above?  Flying alone at a WGC is discouraged by the scoring system.  Under the FAI scoring system, the points distribution is decided by the majority of the pilots.  If 1 pilot completes the task and all the other pilots land out then the 1 finisher will earn 1000 points and those who landout will earn about 900.  Since so many landed out, the lone finisher must have been lucky and is therefore awarded a lower point differential as the scoring equations focus on the majority of the group.  In the opposite situation if everyone completes the task and the 1 person lands 1 km short of the finish line his individual effort will earn him all of about 350 points compared to close to 1000 for the finishers.  It is very hard to gain points and very easy to lose points with this scoring system.

With this kind of scoring the tactics require that you be part of the majority.  To do this, you need to wait at the start gate until the majority have started and then start a few minutes later and catch up.  Since everyone knows this, no one wants to start and be the fodder at the front, so you wait, and you wait, and you wait until there is almost not enough time to complete the task before starting.

To avoid some of this, the task setter started setting longer tasks that would require everyone to start earlier or risk not getting home before the end of the day.  This helped a bit as it shortened the amount of start gate games, but it did not stop it.

You have probably seen the pictures of the huge gaggles that formed prior to the start.  This is a direct consequence of this tactic.  No one likes it, everyone complains about it, but nobody does anything about it.  There were discussions amongst pilots and I think many are getting tired of the game - hopefully, this will lead to some changes in the future.



21 January 2017

34th World Gliding Championship in Benalla Wrap-up

Saturday, January 21 was the last day of the "Worlds" in Benalla, Australia. It was a difficult day with fairly weak blue thermals. A strong and cool southerly wind suppressed thermal development and broke up the lift that was there. There were substantial numbers of landouts in all classes. The 15m Class fared worst with 13 competitors of 35 landing out.

In 15m Class, 1st place was hotly contested between Makoto Ichikawa (Mak) of Japan and Polish pilot Sebastian Kawa, who is probably the most successful glider pilot of all times. We started the day with Mak being in the lead by 33 points but he didn't have a good day today, placing 21st for the day and receiving a 20 point penalty. So, by the end of the day Sebastian had won another World Championship with Mak coming second overall.

Our 15m Class pilots, both novices at World Championships, had mixed results today. Sergei did well, placing a respectable 13th for the day, moving up five positions in the overall score to 24th place which is a good result for competing the first time at this level and considering that he had to recover from a landout a few days ago. In the last few days of the competition Sergei seemed to have found his groove.
Luke on the other hand did not have a good day. He had trouble getting away after the start and fell behind the field. In the end, the day died on him and he landed out 30 km north of Benalla.

In 18m Class, French pilot Kilian Walbrou successfully defended his 1st place and became World Champion ahead of Mario Kiessling (Germany) and Mike Young, UK.

I was hoping to see our 18m pilots finishing in the top ten and perhaps even get to the podium. Dave was off to a great start, finishing in second place on the first competition day. After three contest days, he was still in 4th place and after Day 4, more than halfway through the competition, he was in 6th place, still in the top ten. Unfortunately, he had a few bad days which dropped him out of the top ten.
Jerzy was off to a bit of a slow start but then improved, placing 8th on January 19th.
Today both Dave and Jerzy had a good run and were tied for 10th place with 851 points each. They both moved up a few places in the overall score to 14th (Jerzy) and 16th (Dave).

Open Class had an interesting turn of events. Michael Sommer, four times World Champion started the day in third position behind the British pilots Russell Cheetham and Andy Davis. Even though Michael placed 18th today, he managed to move up one place into second behind Russel Cheetham and ahead of Andy Davis.

The competition was difficult because, with the exception of one day, conditions were mainly blue and there was only one day offering typical Australian conditions with 8 - 10 kt climbs to 10,000 ft. The blue conditions resulted in extensive gaggle flying which is dangerous and very stressful. After the second mid-air collision, at least one pilot pulled out because he found it too dangerous.

Signing off from the 34th WGC
Joerg 

Gaggles, blue, very blue, plenty of dust during take off

This is how I will remember World Championships in Benalla:

We had only one day opportunity to fly with use of clouds and it was
only half of a day during contest.

The other day was one practice day with nice cumulus clouds.

Rest of the days were blue or very blue, this is how the weather lady
described them each day during morning weather briefing.

I started the contest with a penalty of 61 points for low finish because
there was plenty of sink

just 5km before finish cylinder and I finished below minimum altitude.

Almost every day take offs were in dense dust so any cleaning before
flight was useless and some times a tow plane was hardly visible during
roll on the ground due to dust.

First part of the contest was hard for everyone as huge gaggles were
very unpleasant and also two accidents in the air casted a shadow over
the whole event and were very upsetting.

European tactics of flying in the group is very tiring and taking away
all individual thinking from the pilot, scoring is very steep and loss
of 1km/h can cost up to 20 points

A land out meant practically elimination from any chance for good placing.

My best flight was on the day when we had 5 hours area task with some
clouds and I didn't see any glider from start to finish, high cloud base
and good lift was a nice reward

for such long trip to Australia.

I finished on 14 place after 7 racing days, which is not the best, but
it looks that it is the best result from North American pilots in all
classes.

Today we were served dinner sponsored by organizers: a freezing cold
rubbery chicken legs with also very cold macaroni with one mini tomato,
all served in a plastic box packed in huge gray paper bag.

Our Crew had to pay for this dinner $30 .

Thank you Joerg for managing our team and helping me and Maria in
glider preparation .

My best friend from school time in Poland Adam Zolnierczyk currently
living in Sydney visited us for 4 days during contest and was
crewing for me as well.

Container pick up for return trip starting Jan 28 is arranged till
then Joerg, Marian and Jarek will have opportunity to fly our gliders
for 4 to 5 days hopefully they will have better

soaring conditions .

Just after closing ceremony we drive back to Sydney to return almost
brand new cars with hitch to Manly Rentals which we had for duration of
our visit in Australia .

On Tuesday we depart Sydney for long flight back home.

Jerzy XG

Day 7 - Dave

The A task for today was a 370 km racing task.  I thought it was a little optimistic based on my weather assessment.  After re-gridding the entire contest between 1145 and 1245 to switch ends of the runway and the 15 M class launch and struggle for the first 30 minutes the 18 M class was put on the B task of 280 km.  At the end of another low, weak, blue day, this was a good task, but it was a struggle once we approached Corowa and then moved south towards the final steering point.


The deviation that you see to the west on the third leg south goes over a small set of hills called the Warby Range.  These hills are often the best source of lift to get home.  Today they were working, but it was still very weak.  I can't imagine what it would have been like without their influence.

I started a few minutes behind a pretty good lead gaggle and chased them down most of the flight.  At the first turnpoint, I had caught up, but was 1000 ft lower.  With only a 4000 ft working band (ground to 4000 AGL) I pushed to about 2000 AGL trying to stay with them, but it was always weaker down low.  I found a couple of good climbs on my own and by the second turnpoint I was with a group of 3 other gliders.

At Corowa, I was down to just under 1100 ft AGL and found a 3.2 kt climb that took me to 3000 ft.  The three other gliders were a little further along track and seemed to be out climbing me, so I moved to their thermal for a 2.2 kt climb up to 3800 ft.  I guess I should have stayed where I was.

Another run to the feedlot at the north end of the Warby range for a 3.1 kt climb and from there a couple of more weak climbs to get on final glide.


On the barograph trace, you can see the grey part of the trace before the start where I was down to about 1500 AGL trying to get connected and move to the start area.  I was getting a little worried that I might have to relight, but was able to connect to some weak climbs and slowly move up and out to the start area.

Today's flight was good for 10th on the day and that moved me up 2 places to finish in 16th.

Mid - Task Update

Our pilots are on the second leg of their respective tasks. It was not easy to get going. The 15m Class was first on the grid. They started launching at 13:00 into the blue. Soon large gaggles formed low as the competitors struggled to stay airborne. It was quite spectacular to see them dump water in the clear blue sky. Remarkably there were very few relights, if any - a testimony to the skills of the pilots at this level of competition.
The 18m and Open Class launch was halted until 14:00 to wait for conditions to improve. The had fewer problems and managed to climb out without dropping ballast.

Unfortunately, Luke got stuck low and for a while, it looked like he would come back for a relight. In the end, he managed to climb and continue on course.

In 15m we are seeing speeds of 70 - 80 kph, the 18m guys are running at speeds of 100 - 113 kph - the beauty of more wing span and full ballast.

We are expecting the 18m back around 6p and 15m at 7p

Hopefully nobody lands out. The closing party is at 7:30 tonight.

Joerg

Karl from Optikal has been taking some awesome shots of glider and people. Check it out at www.optikal.com.au


20 January 2017

Saturday, January 21st - the last day of the World Championships

It was a chilly morning despite bright sunshine. It is slowly warming up now and there is promise for a decent soaring day. Conditions will be blue again(!) with thermals to 5000 ft. The gliders have been ballasted, weighed and positioned at the grid, with 15m in the front, followed by 18m and Open Class.

15m has a 3:30 AAT task to the NW with 235 km minimum, 364 km nominal and 476 km maximum. Task B is identical but reduced to 3:00 hrs.

The 18m task is a 371 km racing task to the north and NE.

First launch is planned for 12:30 off runway 26


Friday, January 20th

We woke to the pounding of heavy rain on the tin roof of our hotel. It was still raining when the pilots briefing had ended at 11:00. Eventually, 18m and Open Class were canceled before they had to pull out to the grid but 15m Class gridded on the the hard surface runway because the grass areas were quickly turning into a sea of mud.

Waiting on the grid for the weather to clear
It was uncomfortably cool as we waited for the low clouds to break up. Eventually it started to clear and the sun warmed the ground. However, the already brisk wind increased to a gusty 25 kts with a significant crosswind component. The launch commenced at 2p but was halted after a few tows that looked quite scary because of the wind. It was just too dangerous to continue under these conditions, so the day canceled for 15m as well.

Tomorrow, the last day of the contest looks like it will be another blue day with thermals up to 5500 ft.

The closing ceremony will be on Sunday at 11am by the flags.

Joerg

Sergei , Day 5



The key for yesterday flight was patience at the start gate  . Our task was 370 km race
It took 2h 20 min from take off to the start for me . We were sitting in the start area between 5000 and 6000 , pretty much all class in two or three thermals ,constantly converging and moving around , but nobody wanted to start .. From the forecast we were expecting high clouds moving from the west into the task area and shutting thermals by 6pm . Base on my preliminary calculations we should be on course just after 2 pm , but nobody wanted to start and that was really hard to force myself to stay on start , knowing that there is a big chance that you wouldn't make it home . My only hope was that the gaggle make it around faster . And that was the case - all gliders which went early on course up to half an hour were not able to pull away from the main group and ended up finishing with it  As in the previous day I gave up 3 to 5 minutes on the start but that was my security cushion.

My speed was 112.3 km/h , which gave me 901 points and 15th place for the day .





Sergei , MS