Closing Ceremony

Saturday, July 18
The last competition day was called off at the 10 AM briefing due to bad weather. As a result, I stayed at the #1 spot.
The official closing ceremony was scheduled for 6 PM, so we had enough time to pack up the gliders and take three of them back to Cenej airport (Novi Sad). Rica and Uros towed their gliders in the trailers. I flew back behind Pap in "Echo Whiskey" Utva-75 tow plane.

The sky was overcast with a bunch of Cu's with cloud bases at just above 400 meters. After releasing, I stayed up for another hour, circling in weak thermals and enjoying the view.
Uros, Pap, Rica and I returned to Ecka in Rica's Fiat and got ready for the closing ceremony.

As usual, during the medal presentations Mita was cracking jokes and everyone had a great time.

The official ceremony ended with playing of the Serbian National Anthem and lowering the flag, the task that was given to me as the new national champion. I borrowed the same flag from the Zrenjanin aero club to take it with me to the World's in Germany.
After the official ceremony, Jagica brought a roasted piglet and we had a nice farewell party at the patio. As all farewell parties go, this one was bitter-sweet, with promises to meet again next year. This year, although we had only 5 competition days, everything went quite smoothly.
The 2009 nationals are planned to be organized by Aero Klub Novi Sad at the Cenej airport.

I made it back to Novi Sad late in the evening, following Pap in his Stojadin car, since I had the stroller for his baby in my trunk.
Karyn is flying in on Saturday and I will be picking her up at the airport. So much for now...

Day 5

Thursday, July 17
The night before I came back to Novi Sad to see my cousin Petar, his wife Maja and daughter Dora. We chatted till about 11 PM and I went to bed a bit later than usual. In the morning, the 6 AM coffee at Bojan and Sasa's balcony was served as usual, and I used the time to check the weather charts on my laptop.
Before I was done, Katarina came by to give me a hug before heading off to Nena's Skoligrica school. She had on a very cool pair of sunglasses.

I arrived at the Ecka airport around 8:30 AM and immediately got to work analyzing the weather charts. The day looked like it was going to be a good one, with Cu's starting to appear at 11 AM. Mita gave us a 3 hour assigned area speed task with five turn points and the length between 250 and 450 km.

Take-off started at noon and we all crossed the start line soon after it opened. I started at 1:04 PM, about 40 minutes early according to my calculations, but since mostly everyone had already left, I decided to follow the crowd and practice some gaggle thermalling that will come in handy at the World's in Germany. Jagica (ZR) started right after me and was following me closely in his DG-300.

The first TP was Cantavir and we had no problems getting there, with the average lift of 2 m/s. I was carrying 80 liters of water ballast and decided to keep it. weather throughout

After Cantavir, I met with Fica (77) and Ziva (EJ) and with we went together towards Bac. The weather continued to be good and we had no problems rounding Bac and Senta after that. Just above Senta I found a good thermal and managed to climb up to 1900 meters.

The next TP was Srbobran and I selected a Easterly route, following the Tisa river. Ten minutes later, I realized that this was a bit of a mistake, since just a few kilometers to the right a nice cloud street formed. I decided to stay the course and made the Srbobran TP after climbing in a not-too-good thermal above it with EJ to 1400 m.

Towards Basaid, the last TP, there was a big blue hole, too big to go around. I set off into it from 1400 meters, flying relatively slow in order to make it to the other side at a sufficient altitude to find something. Approaching Becej, I saw a wisp of Cu forming above the town and turned 30 degrees off course to get under it. There, I found a rough 1.3 m/s thermal, which I used to get back to 1300 meters. EJ, ZR and 77 joined in.

I found the last thermal of the day inside the Basaid TP cylinder and climbed back up to 1400 meters, which gave me a comfortable 100 meter reserve for the final glide to the Ecka airfield. I completed the task in 3 hours and 6 minutes, with the average speed of 88 km/h for a daily win and 1000 points. Filko (77) was a close seconds with 995 points. With this, I increased my overall lead from 70 to 75 points. See http://www.soaringspot.com/odjpsz2008/results/standard/daily/day5.html After landing, there were some important local visitors...

When Pap's 2 month old baby started crying, we realized that none of her parents were around, but Mita did a good job soothing her. Who says that the judges are all evil?
Later on, Brane brought a water melon, which turned to be an instant success.

The forecast for tomorrow looks pretty bad, with a new cold front moving in from the West. If it unfolds as forecast, there will be no flying tomorrow, so today will be the last competition day.

Day 4

Wednesday, July 16

The day started in Novi Sad with the 6 AM coffee at Bojan ans Sasa's balcony. The cold front seemed to has passed over night and there was some lingering medium and high cloud cover above Vojvodina. However, the Internet weather charts indicated that the day may be flyable, so I phoned Mita (the chief judge) around 7 and told him I was coming to Ecka. A quick breakfast at Olga and Vlada's and off I went.

By the 10 AM briefing, the Cu's were already popping up all over the sky and the mid level clouds were still covering about half of the sky. Based on this situation, Mita called a 3 hour pilot selected distance task, so that we could pick the order of turn points based on the local weather condition. The idea would be to stay out of the overcast sections.

The take-off went as planned at Noon and by 1 PM we had all crossed the start line and set a course towards Novi Becej. The first 25 km of the first leg went very fast, cruising at 160 km/h under a cloud street leading to the first TP. However, as all good things must come to an end, so did the cloud street and a bunch of us found ourselves circling in a weak broken lift just south of Novi Becej.

After rounding the first TP, I selected to go Southwest towards Zabalj, together with BB and JB. The thermals got a little stronger closer to Zabalj and after rounding the second TP, I decided to turn due West and head upwind towards Crvenka under a bunch of well formed CuCong's. This proved to be a mistake, as soon I found myself low, at some 600 meters AGL and under a completely overcast skies, with the Cu's falling apart. Looking West the sky was even darker and, realizing that I lost at about 25 minutes, I made a U-turn and headed back towards Zabalj. There I had to circle in a couple of weak thermals just to stay up.

Finally, I made it back to 1300 meters and headed Northeast towards Basaid. Close to Becej I met again with ZR (Jagica), who was heading in the opposite direction. From this point on, the things started going my way, and the weather improved as I went along. I rounded Basaid and set off North towards Senta under some nice looking Cu's and blue skies above them. That proved to be a good decision, as I easily made it to Senta and then turned downwind on a final glide back to Ecka. I landed back at the airport just as the 3 hour limit was expiring.

Given my 25 minute blunder, I was quite happy to find out that I was second for the day, behind Filko (77), who won the day and was closing in on me in the overall standings. http://www.soaringspot.com/odjpsz2008/results/standard/daily/day4.html

Everyone made it back to the airport, although Rica (03) had a hard time and almost landed out, making 3 low saves. One of the best story tellers was Dr. Aca - a movie clip testifying to that is attached.

3 More Days of Rest

Sunday to Tuesday, June 13 to 15
This year, the weather seems to be refusing to cooperate. Sunday and Monday we had blue skies and temperatures up to 35 C, but also a very strong SE wind (Kosava) which made flying difficult and competing impossible.

The briefing was postponed till 11 AM, only to have both days cancelled.Tuesday was even worse, with a cold front coming in from the west, with a lot of lingering moisture behind it. I stayed in Novi Sad at aunt Olga & uncle Vlada's and uset the time to catch up on my sleep and to do some work for Nexterra.

My cousin Bojan was kind enough to offer me the keys to his store, which has a much better Internet connection, so that I could call into the Projects team meeting Tuesday evening through Skype.

With only three competition days completed and only three possible flying days remaining, it looked like we weren't going to have a lot of flying this year.

Day 3

Friday, July 11
After a surprisingly good day on Thursday, Friday promised to be even better. The weather charts were optimistic, calling for 2/8 of Cu's with cloud bases from 1600 to 2000 meters. Accordingly, the task was set to be 3 hour POST (pilot selected speed task) between 271 and 487 km.
Around 11 AM the first Cu's started popping up in the sky, and we started towing gliders to the runway. As usual, Rica and I towed 03 and NS in Rica's Fiat Brava.
However, even before take-off the cumulus clouds started disappearing and soon it became obvious that it was going to be a dry thermal day. After take-off we struggled to climb above 1000 meters in weak and broken lift. There was time enough to take some nice photos.

I crossed the start line a couple of minutes before 2 PM, together with ZR, ZF, EJ and BB. It was relatively easy going all the way past the second turn point. I got there first and set off towards Senta alone. Soon enough I was down at 600 meters near Lofcenac and had to circle in some week lift just to stay aloft. Finally, I managed to find a 1.5 m/s thermal and got up to 1300 meters.

Staying below 1000 meters with no cloud cover at all, it was getting pretty hot in the cockpit. Luckily, I had with me a spray bottle/fan air conditioner that David bought me for my birthday. It proved to be quite handy.

Near Senta, the conditions improved and I managed to climb up to 1500 meters. Zoki in his Discus 2B (ZF) joined me and we set off into the sun towards Srbobran. The day seemed to be dying and we reduced the cruise speed to 120 km/h. My DG-101 could not keep up with Discus 2 and soon I was some 150 meters lower.

We rounded Srbobran pretty low and headed towards Becej. Just west of Becej there was a large stubble field and I was hoping to find something there. However, there was nothing usable and I ended up landing in that field. Miro (30) was already there and Jagica (ZR) and I landed in formation.

It was great to have company and we set up camp by the side of the main road to wait for Bela and Dalibor who were coming with the trailer to pick up Miro - see the photo below titled "Miro, Ovce a ima i Jagica".

They arrived within an hour and we took '30' apart in 20 minutes. On the way back to Ecka, Bela dropped Miro, Jagica and I in Becej and we went to a nice restaurant wit a patio in the town center. We stayed there for a couple of hours, had a nice supper that Miro insisted on paying for, and even listened to some live music.

Bela returned around 10:30 PM to pick up ZR and they left around 11. I stayed waiting for Rica and Pap. Rica and I are sharing the trailer and his Fiat tow car, and since he landed out before I did, I was second on the retrieval list.

Rica and Pap finally showed up half past midnight. We loaded NS unto the trailer with the help from a farmer who used his tractor's headlights to illuminate the trailer and also helped with taking the glider apart. We finally made it back to the airport just before 2 AM.

It turned out that everyone landed out. I ended up 4th for the day, staying 1st in the overall standings. http://www.soaringspot.com/odjpsz2008/results/standard/daily/day3.html

Saturday, July 12

I woke up at 8 to make up for getting to bed at 2 AM. The sky was clear, but the SE wind was blowing at some 5 to 8 m/s. The forecast was for dry thermals to 900 meters and nobody was too keen on flying. Milos was sent up to check the conditions in the open Cirrus. He managed to get up to 900 meters, but the wind was too strong. Finally, the day was cancelled and the gliders pulled back into the hangar.

I phoned Gile (Silvia) and and she came around 3 PM with Anastazija, her daughter, and a couple of friends and took me to Lukicevo. We visited her good friends Toma and Olja who have a nice house with a very nice back yard there. We stayed until 11 chatting and had a great time.

Day 2

Thursday, July 10

Thursday morning we woke up to overcast skies, looking anything but promising. The Internet weather charts and satellite photos showed the whole of Western and central Europe under a cloud cover. However, the radio forecast was calling for sunny skies later on and temperatures up to 30 C. Around 11 AM it started clearing a bit, so the judges declared a 3 hour pilot selected distance task.

The take-off started at 1 PM, still under a mostly overcast sky.

Once in the air, the conditions seemed to be improving, and we climbed up to 1500 meters AGL (Above Ground) and immediately set off on the task.
The first (and the only mandatory) turn point was Novi Becej. I flew together with LS-8 EJ (Ziva), Discus 2 ZF (Zoki) and LS-7 BB (Brane). We made it to the turn point in good time, flying under a bunch of Cu-s. My DG-101 without water (I didn't bother filling the tanks because it looked like a waste of time) couldn't keep up in cruise, but I seemed to make up most of what I lost in the thermals.

After rounding the first turn point, we headed due West towards Srbobran. The conditions en route were getting weaker, and we struggled a bit. I stayed with EJ and ZF, but by now they were some 300 meters higher. After rounding the second TP, they went further West to Crvenka, but I decided to head North towards Novi Zednik. That proved to be a pretty good decision, as the lif improved, back to about 1.5 to 2 m/s average, up to 1600 m AGL.
After that, it was smooth sailing. I rounded the third TP and headed back towards Novi Becej under a bunch of nice looking Cu's. Looks like the good luck charm that David made for me was making a difference. I have it pasted on top of the radio, just left of the altimeter (see if you can find it on the photo below)

After Novi Becej, I continued straight towards Sutjeska. The Cu's held until about Zrenjanin, after which there was a pretty big blue hole. I got up to 1400 m and headed into the blue. I rounded the TP at 700 and turned back towards the airport, having enough for a comfortable final glide.

According to the navigation computer (an IPAQ PDA running SeeYou, connected to a Colibri GPS logger), I was going to be back about 10 minutes early, meaning that I would lose about 15 km of distance. Luckily, at 400 meters I found a weak thermal and climbed to 600. This enabled me to fly a few km past the airport to get more distance, and then return safely for landing, still a couple of minutes short of 3 hours.

Fica (77) won the day with me coming in as a close second. With that, I stayed on top of the leader board. The complete results are on http://www.soaringspot.com/odjpsz2008/results/standard/daily/day2.html

Day 1

Wednesday, July 9

The day started with a lot of optimism regarding the weather situation. The cold front had passed and the wind from Northwest was bringing in a cold air mass. It looked like a great day for soaring. The task was set at 312 km over 4 turn points (B.Topola-Odzaci-Ada-Cantavir).

The Cu's started popping up early, around 10:30 and we started taking off at Noon. As forecast, the cloud base was initially around 1500 meters AGL and by 2 PM it rose to 2000 m. I started last at 13:50 and about 25 km into the first leg got into trouble, encountering a heavy sink that quickly pulled me down from 1400 to 700 meters altitude. After that it was mostly a struggle. The NW wind was very strong (30 km/h) and the first turn point (Backa Topola ) was in a middle of a great big blue hole. Everyone took a Southerly route, trying to stay under the cumulus clouds for as long as possible. Finally, I rounded the first turn point together with ZR and JB.

The rest proved to be slow but steady going, all the way to the last turn point (Cantavir), where I got down to 550 meters. Going back to Ecka was downwind with weak thermals. I took a chance heading toward a couple of burning stubble fields, only to find smoke and no lift. Missing around 300 meters to make it home, I headed towards Elemir, where I landed out last year. However, at 350 meters I caught a weak thermal which held to 700 - enough to make it home. Sure enough, there was plenty of lift all the way back, so I made it home with 200 meters to spare.

Only 4 of us out of 12 made it back, with most of the others landing out around or after the last turn point. I ended up being the fastest, making the 312 km in a little under 5 hours. The complete results are published at http://www.soaringspot.com/odjpsz2008/results/standard/daily/day1.html

After I landed, I was greeted by Zoran, Sanja and Melita, who came for a visit from Novi Sad. Zoran brought a few cans of non-alcohol beer, which was grrreat!