January 4 and 5, 2013

Friday, January 4th was the last training day. The forecast called for 20 to 30 km/h wind and mainly dry thermals, with a possibility of 1/8 of Cumulus in the afternoon. However, that’s not how things unfolded. Even as we were driving to the grid we could see a line of instability with a few embedded CB’s approaching from the North. Not to be discouraged by this, the organizers decided to proceed with the launch and got the World class (or as they are affectionately called the Pee-Wees) up in the air, followed by the Standard class. Surprisingly, there were only a couple of relights, so it seemed that the local conditions were OK for staying up. Doing the task would have been a different matter, because the course led straight into the murky sky to the North.

Not surprisingly, after finishing with the Standard class launch, the task for the Club class was cancelled, and most of us went back to the parking area. The forecast for the night, now called for moderate to strong thunderstorm activity and the teams were asked to take precautions. Most elected to de-rig the gliders and put them in the trailers. Luis and I decided to wait until the afternoon and see how things develop before making a call. Since it turned out that the squall line wasn’t as strong as forecast, we decided to leave the Kilo-Yankee in its tie-down spot.

With Marcel, Brazilian Team Captain

Brazilian Team

Overall, the flying during the training week wasn’t what everyone here was hoping for. There were only a few flyable days and only one official training task. I made three flights, just enough to make sure everything’s working fine with the glider and to establish the optimum daily routine, which we will follow during the competition. It roughly goes like this: I wake up around 6:30, eat my early breakfast and take my medicines, check the email and weather forecast (if the Internet is working), wake up Luis at 7:30, go with Luis to wash and prepare the Kilo-Yankee, take it to the grid via a weighing station, make it back to the Brazilian camp around 9 for kick-ass Brazilian coffee and a breakfast of champions, come to the briefing hall around 9:30 to set up the laptop and do some more computer work (that’s where I am as I’m typing this), attend the Team Captain’s meeting at 10:00, attend the Pilot’s briefing at 11:00, go back to the tent and prepare all the stuff to be taken to the glider (instruments, water, snacks, sunscreen…) relax at the camp, load up the car and head of to the grid about an hour before the expected takeoff time… Once on the grid, load up everything into the glider, check and set up the instruments and wait for takeoff, which usually happens between noon and 1:30. As you can see, there’s a lot to be done and keeping a standard routine helps reduce the workload and the stress.

Saturday, January 5th was the day of the opening ceremony in Chaves. We spent the morning mostly relaxing and I even took a short nap. After lunch we got cleaned up and dressed up, and headed off to Chaves to pick up the country signs and flags and line up in the alphabetical order for the parade of national teams through the center of Chaves.

The parade was greeted very enthusiastically by the locals and guests. After the parade, all the team captains were given a small statue called the “wing of Chaves”. The speeches by the officials followed in Spanish and English. Then a folklore group from Tres Arroyos performed a couple of Argentinian folk dances. At the end, there was a banquet at the cultural centre. I didn’t stay long because the next day we fly!