Is it Windy or Tuesday??

Well, the story continues. The wind is spoiling the party, at least until later this afternoon. By 0800 the wind was blowing 15kt (at ground level) but gusting a lot more. It is forecast to lessen so next briefing is at 1500 in the hope that we can do take-off and landing tasks later. 

All is not black; the forecast for later in the week is for less wind. The plan is to start at 0530 tomorrow and then the rest of the week looks more hopeful. 

This weather is unusual; there have been very strong winds in the south of the country and we in the middle are catching the northern tail of it. Let's hope for more action from this afternoon onwards. 

Meanwhile the mood is as good as you can expect at a flying championship with little flying. Systems are working, scores are appearing, competitors are finding reasons why their scores may not be accurate - with some complaints worthy of prizes for inventive thinking - and even the wifi in camp is good after the installation of a new antenna.

The comp director has suggested that people spend the day sightseeing, especially the nearby town of Torun, famous for its ice cream and gingerbread cakes!

Details

The lengths some people go to gain an advantage. Look at the door; it's been sealed shut with tape to improve the aerodynamics of the fuselage. Small margins...

Waiting...

The economy task has been postponed for the weightshift trikes; the fixed wing and autogyros managed to fly but one autogyro pilot was a bit concerned that he wouldn't make it back to the airfield. He did, all are back on the ground.

There will be a round of spot landings starting at 1730. Look at the windsock in the left of the picture; it's pretty windy still. Might make for challenging conditions later.

Spot landings - video

A compilation of some of the spot landings. The Aeroprakt (the one that used its nose as an extra braking system) suffered no damage; we have got used to this rather unusual way of landing and it does not harm either the machine or the crew!

The wind...

The windy conditions have partially stopped play. The fixed wing and autogyros have taken off but the flex wings remain firmly tied down. It is blowing 15kt on the ground but gusting up to 30kt at 1000ft. We hope to launch the remaining classes later in the day if the weather permits.

The important stuff - scores!

Don't forget what this is all about! The competitor list is at:

http://emc2015.blogspot.com/p/competitors.html 

and the scores are at:

http://emc2015.blogspot.com/p/scores.html

Jury work

Each competition sees three jury members attending. What do they do? Well, they are strictly not part of the organising team; their job is to observe and then be the final arbiters if there is a protest. But that's not all - they are also the representatives of the governing body, the FAI (World Air Sports Federation). They must ensure that FAI rules are followed, that safety is not breached and, like this morning, they can offer help and advice to the organising team to make sure tasks go smoothly.

Today the competition director Anna approached us to check a task description for later in the week. So the jury have spent a good part of the morning poring over paper and internet maps to see if turn points are obvious or tracks are clear. 

There is a fine line to respect here; the jury can suggest or point out potential problem areas but they are not able to instruct (unless on a matter of safety). In this case it was their opinion that some descriptions could lead to confusion - for example, 'turn overhead the church' but there are two churches within 50m of each other. Crews must be able to recognise turn points clearly from features on the map so the advice would be to perhaps look at that particular turn point description and make it a bit clearer. Hopefully we avoid a sticky situation before it even arises.

The fuelling for the task is about to start. You'll find the jury observing as much of the action as possible - without intervening but perhaps gathering evidence should there be a protest later. They can answer general rule questions from competitors or point them to sections of the rules that will help them but they won't give opinions or make decisions. That's the job of the Polish organisers!