News from WAG2001 – Spain
PRECISION DAY 1
23 June 2001
It was a slightly cooler day at 38 degrees. However a 10 to 12 knot westerly started blowing – it was not taken into consideration in the ground speeds given.
PRECISION DAY 2
24 June 2001
LANDINGS
The morning started with cool conditions (in Spain?) and very bad visibility. We were briefed to do a power, touch and go and then a glide first.
When the 4th group was busy, fog came in from the South West and landings were stopped. The weather cleared within half an hour and we could continue. After the first session (2 landings each) we had 3 competitors with zero penalties. One of them was Barry de Groot.
By the time we started with second round, the time with a glide first and then the obstacle landing, a strong gusty wind started blowing from the North West and we were back to the sweat and 37 degrees.
Landing conditions were tough and positions changed completely. Depending on outstanding queries and protests, it seems as if Johannes Cserveny of Austria has won ( to make good after he got lost yesterday) with Nigel Hopkins very close and Adrian Pilling just behind Nigel.
Final positions will only be published tomorrow.
PRECISION DAY 3
25 June 2001
Today was a disaster for some teams as the plotting of two checkpoints did not quite work out. Luckily our guys worked it out somehow. The wind was blowing at up to 15 knots to make it more challenging. The route was 144nm long and the terrain very difficult.
At the end of the day Nigel Hopkins and Dale de Klerk were placed second with Adrian Pilling and Renier Moolman also in the top ten.
RALLY DAY 1
26 June 2001
Delayed by fog. A tricky but good day for us.
RALLY DAY 2
27 June 2001
Well the weather keeps on changing. Today we had a light wind blowing, but we were back to the heat – 38oC at nine o clock in the evening. Remember the sun only sets at about 10:15. All our guys and girl (Mary) did much better today, but Nigel and Dale had one Checkpoint photo wrong which can be expensive when the final results are calculated. Many other teams had the same problem so it might still be scrapped.
RALLY DAY 3
28 June 2001
Another day of pressure on everyone. Nigel Hopkins & Dale de Klerk are at this stage in the 3rd place as well as the team probably in the 3rd position. That is according to our calculations. So they have to fly very well. And they did fly well, unfortunately not good enough to keep their 3rd place. Arian Pilling and Renier Moolman had a rough time when they missed a Checkpoint. The end result is that Nigel and Dale ended in 4th place and the team is also placed 4th overall.
GREAT NEWS
The news of the day is that we can now say that Adrian Pilling has definitely won the Bronze medal in the Precision and that the team consisting of Adrian Pilling, Nigel Hopkins, Barry de Groot, Jan Hanekom and Hans Schwebel has also won the Bronze medal for RSA in the Precisions.