Yesterday’s cold front was one of the notably courteous kind (rare, in my experience). It arranged to pass Szeged late enough yesterday to allow all pilot to complete their tasks, then politely marched through our area and away to the east overnight, leaving pleasant air suitable for more good flying today.
Unlike yesterday’s tasks, which – both in terms of space and time – fit the weather “window” perfectly, today’s were just a bit short for the conditions, resulting in pre-start delays as long as an hour and more before pilots finally chose to depart. This pre-start waiting can be troublesome: 82 gliders are concentrated in a rather small corner of the sky, their pilots circling endlessly in local thermals, trying to stay clear of the others while watching competitors for signs they might be thinking about setting off. The PEV process (described yesterday) is another part of the game. There’s always a sense of relief when it’s actually time to cross the line and race.
Which pilots finally did, mostly around 14:00. All tasks sent gliders east, on zig-zag style tasks. Lift was not as strong nor as high (best climbs were to a bit over 7000’) but still quite good by normal European standards. Compared to yesterday, speeds were down roughly 10%. It was definitely easier to get low, and typically harder to “dig out”.

Looking at the results achieved after 3 days, we see some patterns developing: In 18-Meter class, the top 9 positions are held by pilots flying a JS-3. This has to be satisfying to the two Jonker brothers, not least because they are among them, holding down 4th and 5th place.
In 20-Meter class, the surprise would be the Twin Shark, holding first and 4th place – I think conventional wisdom would have expected an Arcus to be in front. In Open class, EB-29 gliders hold 7 of the top ten places, including first through fifth. This is perhaps a trifle surprising, as the strong conditions we’ve so far enjoyed ought to be favorable to slightly shorter wings – at high speeds, the extra span of a super-glider is principally contributing wetted area and the associated drag.

There’s a lot to like about the city of Szeged. It’s big enough (population around 160,000) to offer a wide variety of shops, restaurants and services – far more than is typical at most soaring contest sites. It’s amazingly handy: the airport sits right at the western edge of the city; you can drive to its center in about 5 minutes. Public transportation is obviously good: trains, trolleys (both on tracks, and “trackless”) and busses are everywhere. And it’s conspicuously bicycle-friendly.
Downtown parking can be a challenge, but why bother? We’ve found several worthwhile restaurants within about a 10-minute walk of our house on Szentháromság street, with more on our list. Pedestrians are everywhere, in numbers. They are polite and law-abiding – we’ve had to curb our jaywalking tendencies and fall in with the scheme of crossing only at designated crosswalks and waiting for the green light.

You can find the latest contest scores at:
https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/37th-fai-world-gliding-championships-2022-szeged-2022/results