See you next year!

Well, the world championships are over for another year, and we think this is the best result we have ever achieved - winning 3 out of the 4 classes, with David grabbing silver in the 4th class. The medal ceremony is over, Paul Dewhurst being the only person on site wearing two medals, and preparations were made for the hangar party. After a very fierce flying competition, it was only natural for a party on a similar level.

The human side of the event came out, people were swapping stories, sharing experiences and planning the next time they would see each other. There may be the odd disagreement during the week, but I am glad to say that yet again the spirit of friendship shone through. Oh, and a few fun and games, like the time the French decided to ambush our photos.



The team are on now their way home, expecting to arrive in the next few days. A job very well done. Look out for the European Championships in 2008, possibly in Poland and make a date to come along to support our team. One question remains though - why was there a 15ft high piece of tree in the hangar this morning?? BONSAI!

Medals!

Paul Dewhurst and Paul Welsh - World Champions 2 seat fixed wing

Rob Grimwood and Chris Saysell - World Champions 2 seat flexwing

Richard Rawes - World Champion single seat flexwing

David Broom - Silver medal single seat fixed wing

Rob & Rees Keene - Bronze medal 2 seat flexwing

Team Silver medal. The boys done good. To have three out of four world champions proves that the British team are the dominant force in world microlighting.

Congratulations to all of our pilots, and especially to all of our medal winners. BONSAI!

Saturday - scores on the doors ??

**NOTE** The scores are not yet final!

After yesterdays final task there were some tense hours waiting for the final scores. In all the medal positions it was so tight and a missed photo or marker could be the difference between 1st and fourth. The results were announced at 7pm (very prompt ) and it looks like there are 3 golds - Richard, Paul and Paul, Rob and Chris, Silver - Dave and Bronze -Robbie and Reece. We have Silver in the team and Gold in the unofficial Weightshift team prize. In all a pretty impressive haul ! - As always the ink is still drying and they are still provisional and could change(subject to the last minute protest ! ) so we are now waiting - a few of us have flown this morning and had some enjoyable flights. -Owain

see czech website for scores

The flying is finished

We ended up flying a nav task on Friday afternoon in very nice conditions, fairly light wind and light broken cloud, ending with another precision landing. We knew it would be the last task, nerves were high, we had a lot to lose. Pilots came back mostly reporting an OK flight, not necessarily barnstormingly fantastic, but good solid points. Relief.



That's it! Flying over, unless you count Paul and David flying little model planes in and out the tent. There hasn't been too much flying this year, but the tasks themselves have been good (or really hard, take your pick). So, Friday night was de-stress night, Sue cooked up another fantastic meal, and the team was able to relax. This is Sue standing next to Anita with Simon sitting by his tent.



I hate this part of the championships - the scores are out, but they are provisional at this stage. If they don't change then we will have two world champions and lots of other truly excellent results. But it is a big 'if' - now is the time for complaints and protests as competitors can see a medal just out of reach so they try to reclaim whatever points they can. Scores can change, we'll just have to wait for any Jury decisions to be made public before we can actually relax properly. More nervous times.



And... the British team always tries to help. Here's a picture of Richard's family, from left to right are Jessica, wife Jeanette and Holly. I hope this makes a certain Grandmother proud.

Fog stops play

An early start today, first take-off at 0800. We had to line up in start order, then be given the task information (map, photos etc) with 30 minutes to prepare.

The first ten planes got away, the next ten were already in the 30 minute planning quarantine period, when word was spread that the task was cancelled. The first Czech competitors had found fog on the track so they broke the seal on their mobile phones and called the competition director. It's a beautiful day here, sunny with light winds, the fog will only have lasted an hour or so more.



This is Mathieu Bernard (yes, he's French) with a complicated map board complete with pins, string and stickers to help with the in-flight nav planning. We've had a team leader meeting, the general consensus is to fly a different nav task later today so the organisers are getting a reserve task ready, hopefully we'll be off by 3pm.

Penultimate night

After todays horrendously complicated nav task was postponed due to the weather, the wind died down enough to allow us to fly an engine-off spot landing. With the scores so close, the pressure levels were high, with everyone fully aware that this could be the make or break of a World Championship title.
In quite difficult crosswind conditions, the Pauls (Dewhurst and Welsh) screamed into the deck to collect a healthy 200pts, ensuring they enter the final day with a healthy lead.
Richard Rawes nailed the 250, while unfortunately David Hadley dropped ever-so-slightly short and Owain judged the range right but wasn't quite able to correct the crosswind drift angle enough and drifted slightly out of the deck.
I disappeared below the horizon on my spot landing, but the 'fishing float' Shadow lived up to its name and sailed neatly into the 250 box. I was extremely chuffed to receive a coveted Team Bonzai sticker for amusing the crowd; any gold medal pales in comparison!
The spots mixed up the two-seat flexwing class nicely, with the leader (Andre Thuroczy) dropping short to allow Rob Grimwood & Chris Saysell to regain the lead, with Rob & Rees Keene just 62 points behind in 3rd place. Richard Rawes has over 200pts lead in his class, and I go into the last day just 17 points behind Jan Lukes in the solo fixed-wing class.
As such, it's all to play for tomorrow, with the same complicated task due to be flown early tomorrow morning. Judging from the previous nav task, it could go either way very easily, and with all 4 classes so closely contested the pressure is on to fly well tomorrow.
Wish us luck!
Dave Broom.

Lazy day

Well, what was supposed to be another tricky flying day took a different turn when the organisers called the task off, something to do with the howling wind and thermals, making a roller coaster of a sky. Time to catch up on some meditation.



See the flag on the right of the Aeroprakts. Nice plane, really noisy though - you can pick it out from the other planes when it's starting up.



Several of us took the opportunity to get away from the airfield and there's a good swimming pool nearby. Others sat in the shade (it's hot out of the wind) and chatted. Here's Rob Grimwood's fiancée Louise with Malcolm on her left. Malcolm forms half of a team, last year they were known as the Chuckle Brothers or International Rescue, they fetch, carry, cook, clean, and generally make life a little easier for us all. Another addition to camp is Naomi, she was official cook and helper last year, this year she's official girlfriend to Chris. I'll see if she succeeds in avoiding the camera too.



And below is Malcolm. The wind has died a little, the organisers have announced a spot landing task, first take off in 15 minutes so we'd better get going.