The last flight

It's been quite a long time since my last post, Dad has really been on my back about it, he's so anxious to read every detail about my last flight.

DAY 7:

As soon as I landed it was all systems go on the pack up operation. Andy and I stripped out my instrumentation from the glider and reset the glider to the configuration that it was in when I took out the hire. It was actually much much easier than we had anticipated; mostly due to the fact that the amount of time we had to put in to install my gear was so great. We had to reconfigure and adjust things many times, this is usually always the problem with hired gliders. Because we'd been through the process of removing the canopy and opening up the panel so often, the deconstruction process was actually quite fast. It was then only a matter of trying to remember how everything was laid out to start with... I'm not just a pretty face ;-) that's exactly what us youngens use phone cameras for. Easy enough, everything slotted into place and we were off to get ready for the final night party. And no better way to do that then with a Sauna and a few beers.

The sauna culture in Finland is great. 18.00 on the dot was the time the little sauna opened up for the men. The banter and beers all happened just outside the sauna on large pergola by the lake with small jetty attached. Locals, pilots, crew, it was a well used facility and was busy every night. Of my whole time in Finland I'd never miss a sauna more than 2 days in a row. It was a really great experience and I am really going to miss it.

So the last flight, it was a 300km racing task and again like the previous days, an assigned area task was set as a B task just in case the weather didn't play along. I launched in the first wave of 9 tow plans into a developing sky. There were only small cu near the airfield but approaching from the west was good looking sky. As the fleet was launched I climbed away in under the first wisp of cu in a big gaggle and eventually topped out at 5000 feet. By that time the wisp was developed into a nice fluffy cumulus and the start gat would be open in 15 min.  We weren't in any rush to start early so I flew around at cloud base looking for a group to start with. I found Adam with the poms and we were soon in a good position to start. It was nearing 13.00 and we crossed the line with the poms. I wasn't sure that this was an actual start from the poms so I was really milking the clouds slowing right down in the lift. The way they were flying it became apparent that they did make a start and Adam stuck with them the whole day. I had followed a cloud line at too great an angle to be a good start; thinking about a restart, Adam spotted the french coming back to the start line. I'd thought that morning that the french would be a good group to stick with. Their overall scores were very good and if they flew the same as the other days the would have a world champion and potentially all 3 of them on the podium. The teams just below them however, would have to do something special to beat the french and that would mean flying with more risk and in their own group rather then following the french. I though that if I flew with the french that I would be in a nice small gaggle that would work very well together and then finish up with another good result as the previous day.

I started with the Czech's and the Americans just a few minutes behind the french. Running down a convergence line to the south, the cloud base was steadily lowering with the influx of sea air. By the first turn cloud base was 1000' lower and we had only stopped once to thermal. 10 km into the second leg we cored a 7 knotter and shot to cloud base like a rocket. At the second turn we caught the gaggle. It was a very messy gaggle. The standard class had exactly the same 2nd and 3rd turnpoints and were mixed in with a climb. I pulled in at the lower 1/3 of the climb and circled with the group. No good. What ever the climb was it wasn't worth taking. Before I had completed a full turn the gliders up top started to leave, quickly followed by most others. I sat back to watch where the gliders would spread. As I left I found a 5.5kt core on the sunny side of the cloud and took that to base and well above the others who had just left, less then 10 turns earlier. The next climb was marked by standard class gliders in the top half and club class on the bottom. I came in at just about the middle and worked another 5 knotter to the top. I left with Garret and following the standard class to the third turn. Adam was up ahead approaching the turn using weak dry thermals in a large blue hole. Garret and I flew direct on track over terrain with very limited options. As we approached the blue hole it was filling in with wisps of cu but we still chose the slower route. Those that ran the line 45 degrees off track had a much better run and at the third turn Garret and I were just under 10km behind at the same height as a small 9 glider gaggle. By the 4th turn we were right on there tail. I found out later that Garrets team mate was just in front of the gaggle and calling the climbs for Garret. And Garret was pushing very hard. I could not shake him off even though my handicap is so much higher then his Hornet. Every cruise I would be quite a way higher but we would be at the same level at the tops of the thermals. He was flying very well. Just out of the 4th turn and we came into the climb just underneath the gaggle. 60 km from home now and I was in the thick of the gaggle. The climb was good and even though some were leaving early I hung on and it topped out at just over 2000m, my highest climb in Finland. The 3 Germans were up the front and a 30km from home I was just off their tail but higher. The air on the way was lifting very consistently and the final glide was getting steeper and faster. I was flying as fast as I thought I could but the others kept pushing lower. I was slowly reeling in a few gliders but the last 10km I was still much higher. I crossed the line just behind 3 gliders and not that high above them. There were gliders scattered all over the two runways and I was finishing with a big group. I landed straight in on the grass, right down the middle of bitumen runways 26R and 26L. One glider just off my wing tip on the left and one to the right low and in front.  It was a great way to finish a great flight and my first senior world championships. Andrew took some very nice photos and posted here on the day. I rolled to a stop near the end of the runway and jumped out watching gliders litter the ground along the whole width of the landable area, stacking up at the just behind my glider and those next to me.

As Andrew said about the day, the competition was fierce! Out of a scored 1000 points for the day winner I received 892 points and ended up in 28th place for the day... I had beaten all 3 of the German pilots though. First and second place for the day was awarded to Sean Franke and Garret Willet (USA) who I was flying with all day. Sean finished less than 1 minute earlier than I and was 0.4kph faster and I was 0.2kph faster than Garret. The high handicap of the Ls4 in club class is quite costly and that accounted for the loss of 27 places. 

**This was written over the last few days of travel. I am now sitting in sunny Deutschland and have finally sorted out an internet connection. I'm sorry for such a long delay, lots of pictures to upload soon to.