FAI European Gliding Championships 2011 - World, Club, Std, 20m Multi seat Class
July 17 - July 30 2011 NITRA, SLOVAKIA

Competition - 19th Jul 2011

2011-07-19 00:37:03

First Day...

...of the competition started with little hope for flying. Waking up into the cloudy sky and cold morning was not a good sign for pilots and organizers. Despite that the grid was set up. Due to the weather conditions the briefing was moved to 11:00am.

Fortunatelly, the window started to show up from the west and the sky slowly cleared. First cumulus clouds appeared around midday and there was no doubt to start towing. First launch was at 12:30 LOC. All classes received AAT with the task time of 2 hours. The weather improved greatly and the sun was shining most of the day. At the begining, the conditions for gliding were very good. However the first complications came with the coming of middle cloud layer from the southwest that made difficulties especially on the southern turning points. That showed up as a problem especially for the standard class.

Shortly before 4pm first glider appeared on the final glide. We moved to the tower to see the arrivals. There were many pilots who were able to complete the task in all classes eventhough we could see trailers leaving the airfield. Most of the World class was at home succesfully. Clouds were coming closer to the area of Nitra and slowly, the sun dissappeared. The weather complications were apparent from the low total speed of competitors, but we are very glad that all gliders were accounted for. 

Tomorrow we might expect thunderstorms and the weather situation should get even worse. It is already raining and the wind is strong. Despite that the briefing will be held at 10:00. Good night:)