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Mon Aug 7 World Championships Day 1

Was a very early start as we woke at 5:30 to be at the field in time to set up all winches in New lanes. The day was quite cool in the 50s when we reached the field but by the time Duration rd 1 began it had warmed up sufficiently for the air to be active.

Tom flew in the second  group and easily found the necessary air downwind to get his time. He made a good 100 landing but was .21 early for a 9:59.

Mike was next up and also found easy morning air to finish the Duration flight with a 10:00 -95. Reto completed our duration flights with a 10:00 -95. Not a perfect start but solid enough to go into Distance in good shape.

Tom was up first in Distance and flew on the downwind side of the course  for 18 laps but not quite as far downwind as Joe who was deepest to the NW and got the best of the air with 21 laps. As Tom worked his way back to the field he didnt get a horn at Base A and had to turn back in a situation where he was borderline  too low to make it back to the designated landing area. Lacking the height to reach across the field he attempted to fly to the turnaround end but unfortunately made contact with a small tree in the safety area giving him a 300 point penalty. 🙁

Mike was next up. He launched at 5 mins to go and enteted the course downwind side. He flew very smoothly for 10 laps before he also  was not given a signal at Base A causing him to return for the beep. It seemed that our judgement of Base A is different from that of the officials !!!! Mikes air was not as good as his opponents and he finished at 14 laps v Flixeder Bernhard with 18.

Reto flew last and with a good read overhead tried a circle before entering on the downwind side to start at a good pace in the best air we have seen so far this morning. The German pilot Johannes Krischke started a couple of laps later than Reto and got he best of the air with 24 laps. Reto finished 6 ft short of 23 laps to get beaten by two.

Tom was up first in speed and had a pretty good run going but cut at B and yielded a 21 second run. Mike launched in air that was really crappy and relaunched twice striving for a better result. It was in vain and he had to settle for a 17 second time.

Reto managed to follow immediately after John Skinner of Australia who had great air and Reto flew his run tight and smooth for a 14.7. This great run and a very good distance score sees Reto in 7th place after Rd 1. Tom is in 22nd (with his 300 point penalty) and Mike is in 35th.

I have been filming the speed on Facebook Live.

Please go to www.facebook.com/teamusaf3b

And watch the videos there.

Speed Rd two followed and Reto got us off to a good start with a solid 16:20. In decent air. Tom followed with a 16.14 which was slower than it should have been as he strayed close to the safety line on the Base A turn  and had to make a major correction. Mike had a strange run once again in poor air. He decided to take a second launch after taking a circle on the first launch and the second launch was worse resulting in a slow time of 18.62. Not good but Mike is way better than that and he will show us.

Reto launched in Distance a couple of minutes into working time and joined the pilot s flying laps in decent air on the right side… while Andreas Boehlens re launched after testing bad air on the other side and entered the right side last to find better air higher and make a great 27 laps to Retos 22.

Tom launched last in this round but other pilots launching earlier began thermaling over the course and had gained some height before Tom joined the party. With less time in the good air Tom suffered in the end losing the race to the ground by two. Tom really flew great for his 25 laps to the winning score of 27.

Mike launched last and appeared higher than the others ahead. Everyone was racing in the same air and Mike appeared to be doing as good or better than the others. In the end the air earlier was slightly better apparently because the Russian pilot managed to get 24 laps early while all.the others including Mike made 22.

All round it was a tough day for the USA Team but we battled hard and Reto finished the day in 14th, Mike in 33rd and Tom in 40th (due to the 400 point penalty.)