US Soaring Team WGC Reports & Results

Yesterday was a busy, but relaxing day for the team. We slept in, caught up on shopping, and visited the Foxton canal locks, a series of 10 locks that in the past lifted coal barges 75 feet over a hill. Now the canals are a wonderful way to see England by boat as a tourist. The locks were very interesting as we watch them fill and drain lifting very handsome canal boats up and down. The boats themselves are only about 6 feet wide and just fit in the locks with a few inches on each side. However, some are 70 or 80 feet long and have multiple and beautiful cabins. It looks like a great way to take a leisurely and interesting vacation. We finished our tour by eating ice cream from a local farm which was very good. Since it is a junior team they don't have to worry about weight issues (except for the captain).

Last night was the opening ceremony and by 5:00 we were back at the cottage to don our team finery and then left for Market Harborough. All the teams paraded through the town to the central square where all were welcomed by the Mayor and President of the British Gliding Association. The Team Captains were called up to the stage to be introduced and only one had a minor trip and fell down the stairs, unhurt, to the approval of the crowd (not this captain). After the Opening Ceremonies were concluded the evening began with three very active rock bands and a good bit of singing and dancing by all the contestants. The USA held more than its own in that category represented by "Rockin Ryan" our talented crew. Fortunately, the Team Captains were led away from the festivities to the Town Hall and a pleasant civic ceremony sans music.

Today Mike and Garret are flying as I write. The weather was slow in developing so they were sent out on task B of 159.3K and did not launch until 2:45. They started at 1536 in a rather dicey sky. Everyday a start altitude is called to keep pilots out of the wisps of clouds, where they are not supposed to be anyhow, and today the limit was 4000 feet MSL. The call was for 1-2 Knots lift. Of course this is England where the ceiling never gets too high. A 5000 foot ceiling and 5 knots is unusual enough to make the front page of the local newspaper. So far we have not heard of any landouts from any team, but in this weather one never knows.

[Ed. - Preliminary results below. Day value 490 points ]

I ought to say something about the very efficient launch systems that is used here in most UK contest. Gliders are arraigned in rows of four overlapping gliders each with its own towrope. The four launch crew have bright pink, orange, red and blue Tee shirts looking like the launch crew on an Aircraft Carrier. As a tow plane lands it is directed to a specific glider and crew with a call like, "NC orange right" which means go to the orange crew member on the right side. The glider has already been hooked up and so the Orange Tee shirt connects to the tug and off they go. Of course having nine tugs helps speed things and the 30 gliders in the Standard Class were launched within a half hour.

Tonight there is a party for the Teams at the Airport. The USA team is planning on attending so long as they don't miss the strict curfew imposed by the harsh Team Captain. If there is a rock band the Captain will skip the party.

Cheers from the UK,

Bob Leve, Team Captain

. See the Junior Team web page here and the WGC official site here.

Captions for photos: From top to bottom: 1. Mike with Gandolf the Grey towing out our glider under a typical UK sky. About the pictures. Images are taken by the U.S. Team Captain and other U.S. Team Members. Some of the images used here can be found on the official website and were taken by one of several excellent contributors.
U.S. Soaring Team Standings
Class	Pilot	Sailplane	Contest Number	Day Place & Points	Overall Place & Points
Junior	Garret Willat	LS-8 18	L58	18th 385	18th 385
Junior	Mike Westbrook	ASW-28	C6	20th 369	20th 369
				See the official scores here
Points of Interest
ABOUT DAY REPORTS The U.S. Team Day Reports are brought to you by the US Soaring Team and hard working volunteer Frank Whiteley. Thank you Frank!
YOUR TEAM SUPPORT All US team members would like to thank those of you who have contributed to make participation in these international events possible. If you have not contributed to the team please consider making one! To see how, visit the U.S. Team Funding page here and the Robertson Trust Web here.
U.S. TEAM COMMITTEE The U.S. Team Committee has been working to establish a more stable management structure and better resources for our soaring teams. The objective are more transparent, accountable, sustainable and competitive United States soaring teams. See the full information on the new U.S. Team Committee here.
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TEAM NEWS, HISTORY & ARCHIVE To catch up on all the news for the U.S. World Soaring Teams see the U.S. Team News. See the U.S. Team Archive for team background since 1950. As part of the Archive tour see the U.S. Team History page for a complete listing of US Teams since 1950 or the World Champions page for a complete listing of champions since 1937.
2005 Junior Team Sponsors & Helpers

The Junior Team would like to thank their sponsors who are providing products for the team's use.

Roy McMaster, as the US distributor for SeeYou, the flight planning, analysis and in-flight software is personally is sponsoring copies of SeeYou for the Junior Team. Contact Roy directly via email by clicking here.

Kevin Brooker of Peetot Pants is supplying the team uniforms and several pairs of his innovative pants. See Kevin's web site for more on these pants that allow you to watch your P's and Cu's here.

Many thanks to the Jaguar and Land Rover Engineering teams in England for arranging crew vehicles for the US Junior team. This went a long way toward helping the junior team finances.

Country and Contest Site

In 2005, The Soaring Centre, in association with the BGA, will be hosting the 5th Junior World Gliding Championships. This will be the first International gliding championships to be held in the UK in over a generation. The Soaring Centre, has with 400 members and a large fleet of modern glassfibre sailplanes.

Situated in the heart of the Midlands, the airfield is only 3 miles from the major motorway networks, and 1/2 mile from Husbands Bosworth village, making access easy from any part of the country.