Rob Wintulich visited the WGC 2017 at Benalla
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JS3 Rapture piloted by Uys Jonker 15 Mtr Class, South Africa
ASG29 piloted by Matthias Sturm 18 Mtr. Class, Germany
ASG29E piloted by Dave Springford, 18 Mtr Class, Canada
Ventus 3 flown by Andreus Lutz, 18 Mtr Class, Austria
Ventus 3T first time seen in Australia
Ventus 3T first time in competition
Andreas Lutz of Austria in 18M Class
Much attention on new Ventus 3T’s
Finish line can get busy
… and crowded.
Canadian Registered ASG29 flown by Jerzy Szemplinski
18 Mtr Class ASG 29, Canada
Polish Registered ASG29, 18 Mtr Class, Tomasz Krok
JS1 Revelation, 18 Mtr Class, Poland flown by Pawel Wojciechowski
JS1 Revelation 18 Mtr Class
Petr Svoboda of Czech Republic flying 18 Mtr ASG 29
Zoltan Core of Hungary flying 15 Mtr Ventus 2ax
Some low and slow over the fence!
Diana 2 & Ventus 2bx, both 15 Mtr. Class
Diana 2 of Polish pilot Lukasz Grabowski
Borge Eriksson of Sweden in new Ventus 3T
18 Mtr Class Ventus 3T
Thought we were going to witness first ever 3T ‘wheels up’.
But we radioed him and saved the day and a huge embarrassment. Borge thanked us.
Peter Temple of Adelaide Soaring Club.
ASG29, 8th overall in 18 Mtr. Class.
Peter enjoyed one Day Win
Australia had two representatives in each Class.
Peter Temple of Australia in 18 Mtr. Class
Peter Nouwens of South Africa flying the South African built JS1c in 18 Mtr Class
Jonkers JS1c Revelation
18 Mtr Class JS1c
South African Registered
Russell Cheetham of Great Britain flying 21 Mtr JS1c in Open Class
Stefano Ghiorzo of Italy flying 15 Mtr Diana 2 with Front Electric Sustainer
This Diana 2 can be flown with 13.5 Mtr. tips in Club Class
Current World Champion in 13.5 Mtr Class Stefano Ghiorzo flying here with 15 Mtr wing tips
EB29DR from Belgium in Open Class
Daily cartoons drawn by Adelaide’s Richard Geytenbeek who flew one of the Tug planes at Benalla
As dusk falls, the birds are tucked up and put away for the night.
Tie down area
Covered and secure
Waiting for another day
A no fly day, but aircraft were gridded in readiness if the day improved. Alas it didn’t and they were returned to tie down area.
Richard’s cartoons for each day
A new day begins
The pilot briefing
Tasks are set, weather forecasts announced, restrictions advised, procedures announced.
Pilots and crew take it all in.
Final reminders
David Jones, Martin Simons and Bernard Eckey catch up.
Once aircraft are launched, crews wait, watch and listen.
Crews sharing comradarie
Shady spot and some cool drinks go well
Time to catch up with home!
Bernard Eckey and Gerhard Waibel representing AS Schleicher
Crew members from all over the world.
Visitors, Crew — often hard to tell.
Notice Board in Club House
Bruce Taylor flying Open Class for Australia
Ventus 3T flown by Andreas Lutz of Austria
Great expectaions on all the new types flown.
Enormous attention paid to all the new types.
The established tried and true ASG29 of Czech Roman Mracek
JS1c from South Africa
21 Mtr JS!c of Britain’s Andrew Davis
Diana 2 RP
Lucas Grabowski of Poland waves as he passes by
Water Ballast still draining
15 Mtr ASG29 of Frenchman Louis Bouderique almost looks small amongst the 18 – 29 Mtre ships.
Peter Temple lowers the flaps for landing
Christoph Matkowski from Poland in an ASW27, 15 Mtr Class
Australian Bruce Taylor flying Open Class JS1C
Italy’s ‘Mountain Rat” Georgio Galetto dumping ballast on final in Ventus 3T
Front Electric Sustainer on Ventus 2cxa of Luka Znidarsic of Slovenia 18 Mtr Class
EB29R of German Tassilo Bode Open Class
Michael Sommer flying EB29R for Germany in Open Class
29 Metre wingspan, Glide Ratio approx. 70:1
Lucasz Wojcik of Poland only needs a wingspan height to turn final.
21 Metre wingspan JS1c Revolation
Oscar Goudriaan of South Africa
JS1c in Open Class
Spectacular to watch gliders returning after task.
Not half as crowded as some of the thermals
Quite leisurely actually.
Austrian Sebastian Edar in EB29 needs a bit more space.
Alberto Sironi of Italy flew the only Quintus M in the Open Class competition
Laurens Goudriaan, South Africa flying JS1c in Open Class
23 JS1’s competed in Open Class
Sylvain Gerbaud of France in JS1c
Sylvain Gerbaud concentrates on into sun final
JS1c still draining ballast
Steen Ellmgaard of Denmark in only ASH31Mi in the field
All I want for Christmas!?!
…or my Birthday!
Wide runway required — 50 Metres of Wingspan just for these two
Petr Svoboda of Czech Republic in ASG29
Ballast still draining
Martti Koivula of Finland in ASG29E needs airbrakes over the fence.
Andreas Lutz in Ventus 3T
Frenchman Eric Bernard in ASG29 salutes the photographer – well shades his eyes anyway.
Branko Biagojevic of Serbia in ASG29E concentrates on approach
Danish Arne Boye-Moller in JS1c flying 18 Mtr Class
Maurits Dortu of Nederlands in ASG29Es. 18 Mtr Class
Nice profile of Ventus 3T belly, certainly much nicer than mine! Mario Kiessling of Germany
Kiwi Brett Hunter in JS1c turns inside Czech Roman Mracek in ASG29
When all else fails, fire up the jet engines.
Some people will do anything to avoid an outlanding
EB28 flown by Jim Acketoft from Sweden
Nederlands Mark Werring in JS1c
Riccardo Brigliadori of Italy fired up the Kerosene thermal today along with a lot of others.
The Start Grid
Hive of activity
Clear out visitors, non essential crew, pilots ready, ropes ready
Bring on the tow planes
The Transavia tow plane certainly adds an interesting flavour. Several Chevy V8 powered Pawnees certainly sounded different as well.
Tim Bromhead of New Zealand in ASG29
Russian, Sergev Ryabchinnsky in Ventus 2cx
One off, next one ready
ASH31Mi was only one of it’s type to fly in the competition.
The Stars & Stripes certainly have a way of standing out.
Some of the Open Class utilised their own self launch capabilities.
Multiple and current 15 Mtr World Champion Sebastian Kawa from Poland
Australian Junior World Champion Matthew Scutter competed in 15 Mtr Class in a Ventus 2a
Andre Litt from Belgium in Ventus 2b with tugs lining up to keep launch on target.
Front Electric Sustainer motor and batteries add about 70 Kg to load which can’t be dumped in weak thermals — but it can be turned on!!!
Atty Jonker in the very pretty JS3 Rapture just finished development and build in time to fly in these comps.
