We are winding down our WGC rest day, feeling suitably well rested and eager for more flying. Today’s weather pretty well justified the decision not to attempt a task: as the cold front passed, we heard thunder; the airfield briefly experienced high winds, and some small hail was reported. We were happy to have put Arcus N1 in its trailer after yesterday’s flight, though I think the gliders that stayed assembled (most of them) would have survived intact with even a basic tiedown job.
Yesterday’s weather was again excellent for a contest task. Lift was again strong (often better than 6 kts) to good altitudes (occasionally over 8000’). Unlike on many previous days, lift was generally well marked by cumulus clouds, a majority of which were “honest” (offering the lift that their shape and appearance promised). The result was the best speeds of the contest: one pilot in 18-M class and three in Open class exceeded 162 kph, which is special only because it equates to 100 mph. Making real-world assumptions about engine and propeller efficiency, this represents extracting energy from the atmosphere approximately equal to what you could expect to get from continuous operation of a 40-hp gas engine.
All classes had short tasks – too short for the winners to earn 1000 point. This may seem curious on a day with excellent conditions, but it fact was a good choice by task-setters. As gliders were landing (mostly between 4:15 an 4:45) grim weather – including rain and some lightning – was evident only a short way east of the airfield. Longer tasks would have involved an unacceptable risk of pilots having to finish in bad conditions.
The big event for the evening – and a highlight of every World Gliding Contest – was International Night. All teams set up a table (sometimes several) in the large hangar that serves for morning pilot briefings and presents food and drink emblematic of their country.
Our contribution (suggested by Jason Arnold) was Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is popular and readily available in Hungary. Some sort of drink offering is de rigueur; ours was Jim Beam and Coke (both also easy to find here). The KFC came in the form of 7 buckets, each containing 11 pieces. I thought this an immense amount, probably twice what the crowd would consume – but it proved enormously popular and rapidly disappeared. The bourbon & coke was not quite so eagerly sought, but we did serve out a good quantity.
The variety and quality of the food and drink at these events is always impressive. I can particularly recommend you stop by the French table and check out the cheese there – but it would be a mistake not to make several circuits of the hangar. You do well to be careful of the small cups of liquor – sometimes brightly colored – offered at various tables (use extra care with the countries furthest east). I managed to limit my intake of these to a safe amount, in part by early in the evening discovering the most interesting liquid on offer at any nation’s table. This was apple juice offered by Estonia – simply juice from apples grown on trees found near a glider airfield. But clearly not ordinary apple trees – they have produced juice that’s barely sweet, agreeably tart and altogether remarkable. (If you find it curious that I go on at length about Estonian apple juice, I can assure you it’s because you haven’t tasted it.)
With today’s troublesome weather retreating to the east by late afternoon, we went to the airfield to again rig the Arcus for flying tomorrow. With four people, this goes smoothly – takes about 45 minutes if we’re not in a hurry. We then stopped by to visit an interesting athletic facility less than a kilometer west of the airfield: the Maty-ér National Kayak and Rowing Olympic Centre. This a huge man-made body of water, that includes a rowing racecourse 2500 x 130 meters. Along its edge are endless boat sheds, maintenance facilities, a restaurant, a motel, a spectator grandstand, and pretty much everything you’d need to support crowds of people attending a world-level rowing event. A day of training was nearly done, but we saw racing canoes (paddlers kneel in them), kayaks (one-, two- and 4-person versions) and standup paddleboards. In the sheds were many hundreds of boats (I’d be surprised if the total number on the site was much less than a thousand). To the people of Szeged who pay attention to such things, our World Gliding Championship must seem rather small scale.
You can find the latest contest scores at:
https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/37th-fai-world-gliding-championships-2022-szeged-2022/results