Day 1

The fourth of July began with overcast skies of cirrus clouds. The weather wasn't looking too good for any of our pilots, but we headed off to the airfield anyways. While Grandpa and I were tidying up the office prior to the team captain meeting , I noticed Manfred Franke standing outside the door to the British office. When I walked outside, I saw that he was taking a picture of their office door, and it was soon clear of what. Manfred had taped a tea bag which read "Happy Fourth of July" to the United Kingdom door. It was a big laugh, not only for us Americans, but also for the British team. Although we fully expect retaliation in some form or another, it was well worth it. In addition, the American team was recognized in appreciation of our national holiday. I lined our open office door with American flag bunting, which caused every passerby at least to do a double take. Some just stopped and stared at our patriotic door. We even had one guy stop and ask for a small American flag, which as you can imagine, we happily gave to him.

From the beginning of launch until all of the pilots landed, the USA ground team was plagued with a static loving radio. The only solution was to turn the radio down so low where it wouldn't drive every resident of the office completely insane. Towards the end of the day it slightly died off, saving our frazzled nerves. Even without the various radio problems, all of the crews were on edge because it was the first day, even the championship officials barely managed to deal with the normal first day issues with a smile.

By the end of the day, the results weren't as good as we had hoped. Our highest scorer was in 13th place with 736 points on a devalued day. With two land outs, we hope for better luck and weather for tomorrow.

-Blair Mockler

Opening Day

On the day of the opening ceremony we didn't have to be at the airport to day until 9:30 for the safety meeting, which was mandatory for all competitors. Fortunately as I am not a competitor, my presence was not required. So while the pilots sat in a hot hanger for forty five or so minutes, I was able to read my book in a silence. Meanwhile, something akin to a carnival had been set up all over the airfield. There was face painting, falconry from the nearby castle, and rides in various aircraft were available all day. The festivities were mainly for the citizens of Prievidza and Bojnice, and they took full advantage of it. Thousands of locals flocked to the airfield to take part in the opening ceremony for the 31st FAI World Gliding Championship.

By four o'clock, all of the teams had been organized into a line for the parade. Naturally it was alphabetically arranged, so we had the United States of America bringing up the rear, but proudly toting our American flag. The entire ceremony was filmed, and our parade was followed by speeches from various city representatives, beginning with the mayor of Prievidza. We were treated to an interesting dance titled "Dance of the Dynamics", which incorporated both a local dance studio, and the airplanes, called Dynamics, which are used for towing. Last of all was a thrilling air show, and possibly the most highly anticipated part of the ceremony. No one was disappointed, the air show was a complete success and even included a small airliner, which did several low passes over the runway.

That evening, all team members, crew, and even those tagging along for moral support were invited to the castle for a banquet, complete with music and entertainment. After what seemed an eternity of waiting in line for dinner, I finally received my food, and sat down to eat with Lily Gallmeister, the daughter of one of the crew members. After enjoying our dinners, we set off in chase of an English speaking tour of the castle. Although we never caught up, we were able to do a little exploring of our own, but unfortunately we were shepherded back down to the entrance hall before we got a chance to ascend the dark, winding staircase. Apparently the Slovakian tour guides didn't share our desire for adventure. Eventually we did end up following a tour, but it was definitely not an English speaking tour. Lily, her mom, and I just smiled and laughed as if we know what was being said. We ended up leaving the castle at eleven, just enough time to get a decent amount of sleep.

-Blair Mockler

Practice Day 2

This morning saw the first Team Captain meeting, attended by both Grandpa and myself. We discussed such things as a speed limit on the airfield (Apparently some unknown person was traversing the field at seventy kilometers per hour. We now have a speed limit of twenty kilometers per hour.) and Mochovce, the nearby nuclear power plant, which has been classified as a no-fly zone. At the pilots meeting, which is open to anyone, we learned the results of the first practice day, and one of the US pilots, Bill Snead, won first place in the World Class.

Take-off and starting times all went smoothly today, and I finally got to announce something on the radio, always a reason for celebration. Grandpa and I split lunch time, so that there would always be someone monitoring the radio. Everything went very smoothly, until about three o'clock, when we received word that one of our pilots had landed out. After sending his crew on their way with GPS coordinates, Grandpa and I spent about an hour trying figure out how to use the SPOT coordinates to create a detailed map with directions from the airfield. After many trials and experiments with the Windows program AutoRoute 2010, we now know how to take a SPOT message, even without a phone call from the pilot, and quickly come up with a usable map and directions for the crew to use.

After our lengthy trial and error process, I took a short photography break. Sharon Jankowski, the crew for Mike Smith, allowed me to experiment with her SLR Nikon camera, and I took about 150 pictures in twenty minutes, and will shortly be receiving photography lessons from Sharon. Before leaving the field, Grandpa and I put up and American flag which covers over half of our office wall. I think we can officially say that our team headquarters is the most patriotic.

We returned to our hotel for dinner, where we had the best ice cream in the entire world for dessert, along with chocolate drizzled crepes. Afterwards we took a short walk through Bojnice, and up to the beautifully restored castle, less than two blocks from our hotel. That's all for today, we'll have the last practice day tomorrow, and the opening ceremony on the third of July.

-Blair Mockler

Practice Day 1

The first few days of the Practice time allocated before competition saw many members of the US Team frantically trying to get their rented gliders in to a fit state to fly competitively. Francois Pin found his PW5 had been delivered with recently and badly sanded wings, so was handed a bottle of polish and was told that before it could fly his long suffering crew should apply this all over to protect the surface. Dottie could be seen for the next few days with polishing cloth in hand accomplishing this onerous task with grim determination. Bill Snead's Polish Club PW5 was in much better shape, but he spend at least one day trying to make the trailer lights work. Peter Deane in his German LS8 flew on the prior two days and was inspired by the beautiful countryside, but was wary of the limited land-out possibilities because of the extensive wheat fields and forests.

The airfield itself is at the North end of a delightful Valley in Prievidza, and consists of a rectangular grass field with only just enough length to safely launch the grid as long as the World Class were the first to go. Some of the heavily laden Standard Class gliders needed what seemed to be the full length of the field to start climbing. Peter Deane remarked that he much preferred the Tow Planes with retractable gear because when the pilots pulled up the gear straight after take off, at least they then started to climb. All this can be forgiven for the Airfield environment, with the Medieval style Castle overlooking the airfield from the West Side ridge. Because Prievidza is found in the western third of Slovakia, we are nestled in a beautiful valley with low mountains all around it, called the Tatras.

So, Today was the first Official Practice Day, allowing both the Teams and the Airfield Management to fine tune the procedures for launching the three classes in a timely manner. The first impression of the Organization is that it is very good and well thought out, giving us high hopes that it will be a tightly run Competition. We also had our first official Pilot's meeting this morning, and it was so crowded that there were barely any seats left, even in the back of the hangar. The USA Team captain and assistant spent most of their day in the comfy team office monitoring the radio reports and making emergency runs to Tesco, the local Wal-Mart. Fortunately, they were able to find some much needed office supplies, and bring some improvements (like a trash can) to our office.

The weather in the region is presently dominated by a slack pressure gradient over most of Eastern Europe, with a moist North to North Westerly flow across western Slovakia. A weak trough over the border between Germany and the Czech Republic could brush the Northern end of the task area tomorrow. Thermals appear to start early, with the first Cumulus appearing around 9:30 in the morning. By noon, there was the start of clear development, and the indication of many convergence zones over the mountain ridges. East and North of the Airfield towards the lower Tatra Mountains, the early cumulus soon developed into towering cumulus by mid afternoon and Thunderstorms late in the day. They did not seem to affect many people, and a substantial shower bearing down on the airfield as the Competitors finished dissipated well before it caused any problems. It appeared to be difficult sometimes to find a decent climb off tow, leading to some very full gaggles before conditions improved. There didn't seem to be much in the way delaying tactics, and most Competitors left soon after the start lines opened.

Each class were sent to Assigned Area tasks to the North East, the World Class had three turn points for a distance of around 217 km, The Standard and Club Class shared similar 4 turn points for around 278 and 275 Km respectively. The task times of 2:45 for the Standard and Club, and 2:30 for the World Class were pessimistic, and finish time were substantially lower than that. All the US pilots who flew got back with fast times, and there were 3 or 4 reported land outs from the other Competitors.

Tomorrow's forecast shows similar conditions, but the Thunderstorms have built earlier and more impressively each day, so there is some apprehension that they could have a significant impact on Tomorrow's tasks.

-Martin Grant, Blair Mockler, and Dick Mockler

World Gliding Championship-USA Team 6/29/10

After arriving in Prague Monday morning, my grandfather and I spent the entire day exploring the Golden City. We spent two or so hours in search of a decent printer and ink, which was made even more difficult by our very minimal knowledge of the Czech language. Later that afternoon we took a tour of the city by bus, which drove us past the Charles Bridge, the breathtaking Prague Palace and Cathedral, and the town square, which had an overwhelming World Cup theme, complete with a soccer ball version of a bucking bronco. Our evening was spent exploring the town square, and its surrounding area. Fun fact, the Czech put their street names on the sides of buildings, which means no street signs. You can imagine how this might affect navigation.

Tuesday morning saw the beginning of our drive to Prievidza, Slovakia. Although it was a pretty lengthy drive (seven hours) as I wasn't driving, I was able to fully appreciate the beauty of the Czech and Slovakian countryside. The farther we drove, the more mountainous the terrain became, and the narrow roads cut through small, ancient forest covered mountains, before emerging to look down on the terra cotta roofed villages. I probably have a hundred blurry pictures on my camera from attempting to take pictures from a car moving at 120 kilometers per hour. We also spotted a road sign which we have NO idea what it means. 

We arrived in Prievidza at around five o'clock, thanks only to Grandpa's GPS, christened Flo. Perhaps the most amusing part of our driving was listening to Flo try to pronounce the Slovakian street names, which she somehow managed to do even worse that Grandpa and I. We checked into our hotel, a brand new Best Western, complete with a car lift into the parking garage. Early Wednesday morning, we actually learned that we are the only guests in the hotel. Once we arrived at the airfield, we were able to find the majority of the US team, and together we endeavored to erect an antenna from our team office. Admittedly it is shorter than those of Britain and Australia, but our flag is much higher, which is really the important thing. We were done perfecting our antenna by nine o'clock, and we all got together for dinner at the airport restaurant before heading home at about ten. 

Blair Mockler

A lovely practice day with nice streets on all legs (for the World Class) and altitudes up to 7500 ft. Bill and I practiced our Team Flying technique, as well as dodging storms, one of which was (of course) right at the first turn point... We flew together well until my radio and PDA (on the same battery) went blank.. Fortunately the second GPS with back-up PDA (on the second battery) was still OK. Traced the problem tonight to a bad battery charger. Another trip to Tesco tomorrow to try and find a new one. Practice days have their value in debugging all the unfamiliar equipment, which is borrowed and does not always perform as expected...

Time for bed... Getting into the routine of my 10-hrs nights during contests. I'll take all the beauty sleep I can get.

And Rizsard did make it in, avoiding a few storms on his way from Zar in Poland where he took possession of his glider. His son Konrad also arrived with the trailer on tow.

The full Team is now on site. Tomorrow is the last practice day.

Alex

Thursday, July 1,2010 Today was like normal practice days except my dad landed out. But lets start from the beginning. I woke up with dirty socks being shoved in my mouth. I knew from the beginning today was going to be a very long day. So I got dressed, got my backpack and we went to the airport. We ate breakfast and then we went to the glider. I washed the glider and then we hooked the glider up to the car then we went to then. I was wandering around in some bushes and found some wheat. It was a major find because I have never seen wheat In real life. I was so excited I almost…Uhhh. Did something crazy. I went to get a bottle to keep the seeds in and tried a seed. It was delicious! So I got the bottle and filled it up about one eighth of the way. Then I could not go back to where the wheat is because they started to take off . ,So after my dad took off we went to eat lunch. The wait felt like hours. So finally I said that the wait was to long and that I was going to eat the seeds for lunch. So after lunch my dad landed. Not a normal landing, a land out. Good ol gramps didn't want to believe me so I told him to look at our spot. I was right (of course ). So we jumped into our car and then we went on our periling 2 hour, excuse me, 3 hours long drive there and another 3 hours on the way back. So then after we dropped off the glider at the airport we went back to the hotel and plopped into my bed and went on snoring. That's it. See you soon! please read other blogs!