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Interview with Jim Acketoft, Sweden, flying EB29 DR (1P), on 18 July 2019, day 11 of the championship

Good evening, Jim! How was hour flight today?

It was a struggle today. We were working very hard. We did not dare to wait as long as some others did because we thought the clouds were overdeveloping slightly. And it pushed us against the northern part of the lines so we went underneath the Berlin TMA. We actually managed to catch up with the first gaggle that had started. But then, because we have quite a fast glider now, we gambled too much trying to leave them behind us. And that cost us 700-800 meters so we had to work hard again to catch up. This is how the first two long legs were going: catching up – making a mistake, catching up – making a mistake. And during the last leg we were able to get a really good last thermal to get to the final glide. That gave us a few minutes but it was very tight in the top today. We raced over 600 km and the difference between the top five or six gliders is half a kilometer per hour. And we did not fly at the same places at the same time, so it is an incredible result. I have to say that the other pilots did very well today.

What was the most difficult decision you had to take today? 

We wanted to go fast but if you go fast, you easily get low. So the decision is if you want to go straight and aggressive and fast or if you want to make a detour and keep your altitude and be a little bit safer. But today we gambled, we tried to win but it cost us more than it gave us. So I think all decisions today were quite difficult. It was never easy today.

Is it the first time you are flying in this area in the north of Germany?

Yes, in this area it is my first time. I have flown in the Hahnweide competition near Stuttgart six or seven times, I think. I would say that this part [of Germany] is very different. We flew on the other side of the border, in Poland. And there it is more similar to this terrain. Some of it you can recognise. But it is still good to be here to practice for a week or 10 days or 12 days.

You normally fly in Sweden, are the conditions there very different from here?

They are slightly different. I fly from the southern part of Sweden, it is equally flat with about the same amount of forest. If I fly to the north of Sweden from where I live, there will be a lot more forest. And usually we don’t fly so much in this warm type of air mass, we fly in a cooler type of air mass. It is easier to look at the clouds and guess what they will do for you when you get there. Here I am struggling a little bit to find the correct spot under the cloud. Yeh, it is difficult but we are learning.

Are you going to come for the World Championship next year?

Yes, we are going to come.

Also open class?

Yes.

Same glider?

Yes

Thank you very much for this interview, Jim and good luck!

The interview was taken by Evgenia Alexeeva.

Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar. Der Inhalt wird unten in einer verfügbaren Sprache angezeigt. Klicken Sie auf den Link, um die aktuelle Sprache zu ändern.

Interview with Hadriaan van Nes, Netherlands, flying JS1B-TJ  (JS), on 18 July 2019, day 11 of the championship

Good evening, Hadriaan! It looks like you are one of the leaders today, you are on place two, according to the preliminary daily scores. Congratulations! 

Oh, I haven’t had a look yet…

Are you happy with the result and with your flight today? 

Today it was a bit tricky at the end. The start was ok. To the south the weather was beautiful. I flew together with Laurence Goudriaan. And Sikko could not catch up with us. So we two decided to continue. And at the southern turning point the overcast started. And we decided to be a bit patient, maybe a bit too much, too patient, because we glided towards two small cumulus clouds and then suddenly we saw bigger clouds and two other gliders and it was a much better climb. We were home.

What do you think about the new rules of declared start?

Well, we need to do something. Because before the startline it is fairly crowded in the air and people are just chasing other airplanes, just following them. And if you want to have fair competitions, you need to do something on the startline. I like trying different things, so if you have 10-minute waiting time and then a 10-minute window to start and if you can use this three times – that would be fine with me. But yesterday we tried it and we could only use it for one time. And that’s a pity because then the tactics are gone. 

Have you flown any competitions before where the declared start procedure was used?

No

Have you flown here, in the north of Germany, before?

Yes. I flew twice here in Stendal in 2007 and 2008. But it was in early spring during the Dutch national championships. And I flew in Lüsse in the World Championship. And I have flown three times in Klix competitions. So, the area south of Berlin I know fairly well. 

What do you think of flying here?

It’s beautiful. We were not lucky with the weather but if the sun is shining, there are thermals. And the cloudbase is high. Today it was also so, it is still cloudy. But when the sun is there, the thermals are there. 

You will be presumably coming for the World Championship here to Stendal next year? 

Hopefully. It depends on who is classified in the Dutch national team. I will be in the team but whether or not I am one of the five-six who will compete here – I would say five because in the double seater class you can send only one glider – this I don’t know yet. 

I have read that you participated last year in the World Championship in Hossin in the open class while in other competitions you flew 18m. If you do come next year, which model would you fly?

Either one. Wherever there is a space I will fly. Preferably 18m class because then I can fly my own glider. But for the open class JS1C is a good airplane but nowadays it is EB29 R: you need to have EB29 otherwise you are out of the competition basically.

What are the advantages of this glider? 

It’s just a good airplane. With good pilots it is unbeatable. Look at Michael and Felipe [Michael Sommer and Felipe Levin]. In Hossin [World Championship 2018] it was the same – during the competition I was on the fourth place, behind three EB29’s, and then, as you have to try different things, to fly differently, I lost a couple of places doing so. I had to do something differently to beat them. But instead of beating them I lost. 

Which plane did you fly then?

JS1C, 21 meter.

Thank you very much, Hadriaan, for this interview and we wish you the best of luck! 

The interview was taken by Evgenia Alexeeva.

Leider ist der Eintrag nur auf Amerikanisches Englisch verfügbar. Der Inhalt wird unten in einer verfügbaren Sprache angezeigt. Klicken Sie auf den Link, um die aktuelle Sprache zu ändern.

Interview with Takeshi Maruyama, Japan, flying JS3 (AX), on 17 July 2019, day 10 of the championship

Good evening, Takeshi! Did you have a good day? How was your flight? 

So-so. I had to use weak thermals once, 0,9-0,6 m/s. Today at first the weather conditions were very good. I flew 135-140 km/h, I was fast. But then the weather conditions decreased and I had to use weak thermals. 

What was the most difficult decision you had to make during your flight? 

The start.  I started at 14:41. The weather was getting better and better. I was wondering when I should start. Also, I wanted to start with the others. The others were waiting, so I also waited. We started together.

What is your first impression of the new rules of declared start? 

I think it is difficult because current logger and the flight computer do not care about the new rules (smile). The logger has a function to press “Event” but I need to memorise or write down what time I put the event. I cannot see on the display when I put the event. The display does not have such type of function. 

So I had to write the time when I pressed the event on the back of my hand (laugh)

Oh, I see. My next question would be if this is the first time you are flying in Germany? 

Third time. Before I came here, I flew World Championships in Lüsse in 2008 and in Bayreuth in 1999. 

So, you will be coming next year for the World Championship in 18m class?

Yes.

How do you find gliding conditions here in Germany? 

I think it is very easy for flying because there are big forests and big fields, rivers, basically flatlands. I can land everywhere. I think it is pretty easy.

What about gliding conditions in Japan, where you fly? We know so little about it…

In Japan you can fly cross-country, about 300 km, 500 km. In the mountains, waves, also in the flatlands. But the season is from March to May, basically three months. And the place for outlanding is very limited. We do not have such big wheat fields. Basically, in Japan we have rice fields. And rice fields are not so big. 

Are rice fields not wet? 

They are wet starting from May. In March and April they are not wet but the space is very small – let’s say 100 meters by 35 meters. It is difficult, impossible for such kind of gliders.

The fact that the rice fields for potential outlanding get wet starting from May – is that what limits the gliding season? Or do thermals also get weaker after May?

Yes, we can have thermals. But cities and villages alternate with rice fields. You have a city – thermals, then a rice field – no thermals. Then a village – thermals, a rice field – no thermals (laugh).

And when there are thermals, are they good? 

In March, April, May, when cold air comes from the north, thermals can be very good. And then strong northwesterly wind comes, there are mountains in Japan and we cannot enjoy them [thermals].

Whereabouts in Japan do you fly?

I live in Tokyo and I fly around Tokyo plain areas. There are seven or eight glider fields in this plain areas. My glider field is 80 km from Tokyo, so it takes me one and a half hours to drive there. 

Thank you very much, Takeshi, for this interview and we wish you the best of luck! 

The interview was taken by Evgenia Alexeeva.

Interview with Laurens Goudriaan, South Africa, flying JS3 (LG)

Laurence, how was your day? Are you satisfied with your flight? 

Yeh.. it was difficult to keep going. We should see what the results will be but my feeling is that I couldn’t get my rhythm to do a good flight today. I am back without using the engine, that is always a good flight (smile).

What was the most difficult decision that you had to make during the flight? 

Because we have only one event start – it is the system they want to try to see if they can stop gaggle flying – if you press the event marker, you have ten minutes when you cannot start and then you have ten minutes where you can start. I thought that the day would die early, so I started fairly early. If you had two or three event starts, you could see how the day progress and then make a better decision. 

This was going to my next question: what is your impression of the new system of declared start? Would you suggest any adjustments to it? 

We tried it in Hahnweide in May. There you had to look at the speed, the height and the event. And the event marker that they used there was a bit more complicated because of a 12-minute window and you could start only two minutes before and two minutes behind the event. So if you press the event, you have eight minutes, then you have four minutes to start, so it is a different scenario. Here it is different because now you have only one event. And you have to make a decision: “Ok, if I start now in 10-20 minutes, what will the weather do?” Then you have to obviously press the event and go on. But with only one event you can’t really make a decision because if you have made a wrong decision, you cannot come back unless you get a fifty point penalty. 

You have flown already a number of competitions this year – in Prievidza, Slovakia, and in Hahnweide, Germany. Which one do you find most interesting? 

I was flying the other competitions with ASG 32. We have a 32 that we fly and I bring young and upcoming pilots from South Africa and they fly with me.  I try to teach them how to fly in big gaggles, where there are forty or a hundred gliders. In South Africa we don’t have such big gaggles – maybe only ten or fifteen gliders in a gaggle if you are lucky. Normally it is four or five. So, they must get used to flying in a big gaggle and I am trying to teach them and also to improve their lookout and their competition performance. The other side of it is that I did not do well because it was not my aim to compete or to win the competition, it was more for training purposes.

You have been coming to Europe to fly during African winters for a number of years. Have you also flown before here in the north of Germany? 

I flew in Lüsse in the World Championship in 2008. I also flew in Lüsse in the Europeans [European Gliding Championship in Lüsse in 2000]. The area is like flat like in South Africa, so it is familiar.

Do you prefer flying in the flatlands or in the mountains?

It does not matter to me. At this stage I prefer flatlands but I can fly in the mountains too.

You have flown competitions in various models of gliders. Which model are you going to fly the World Championship next year? 

An open class glider. But if it is not ready, I will fly an 18m class.

What do you mean by ‘not ready’? 

Jonkers are still building it and if it is not ready by January, we will decide for the 18m.

Thank you very much for this interview, Laurence, and good luck!