By : Janet Hider Smith

Bayreuth in Germany is a world famous city on the cultural calendar. To celebrate the music of Richard Wagner and his love of the city, the annual Wagner Festival takes place there each year.

A sea of glider wings, prepare for the start

1998 and 1999 will see the city of Bayreuth amongst the rolling Bavarian hills, also at the centre of the world for motorless flight as the World Gliding Championships take shape, scheduled for August 1999. As part of this international festival of gliding, it is normal to hold an international championship on the site of the World Championships, one year in advance to give all pilots a chance to become familiar with the area. It also gives the organisers a chance to test their systems and train themselves in the smooth running of such a high level, competitive event.

During August 1998, the ‘Bavaria Glide’ Championship took place on Bayreuth airfield. 110 pilots and their aircraft, representing 24 countries round the world, arrived in Bayreuth. A few days practice and tuning up of aircraft and equipment saw them ready to begin the two week contest on the 8th of August. Countries from as far away as Argentina and New Zealand took part as well as the Russian team which always recounts adventure stories of trekking across Europe with their aircraft.

The sleek and beautiful Polish glider - Dianne

A large team of volunteers from the Bayreuth area, guided by Contest Director Professor Peter Ryder, brought together a very professional and smooth running contest. The airfield transformed into a small village with many pilots and all the volunteers living onsite in tents and caravans. A restaurant appeared on the airfield, the all important bar to enjoy wonderful Bavarian wheat beer, and a warm and friendly atmosphere built up quickly with everyone sitting in the hangar for breakfast at the beginning of the day’s activities.

Pilots and their helpers prepare the gliders early in the morning, washing and polishing for the highest performance, then judging the weather for the day to fill the sleek ships with water ballast. Meanwhile the contest staff are hard at work, consulting weather stations, predicting conditions with data provided by the German Weather Bureau and setting the day’s task, or the route and distance the gliders should fly.

Pilots attend the morning briefing

Three classes of glider competed for three Championships at Bavaria Glide, as it will be at the World Championships later this year. There are Standard Class gliders, 15 metre wingspan and standard because they have no flaps; second are 15 Metre Class, as their name implies also 15 metre wingspan but flapped so they are faster and finally there is the fantastic Open Class, with unlimited wingspan and flaps. These giants can be up to 26 metre wingspan, spectacular dimensions and graceful to watch, with a glide ratio in excess of 60:1.

An opening ceremony took place in the main hangar on the morning of the 8th of August, followed by a very enjoyable airshow organised by the local flying club. The highlight of the airshow, was eventually launching of the gliders for their first official tasks. It is a spectacle, to see 110 gliders towed into the air quickly, and the public who arrived to see the airshow were impressed. The weather on the first day was warm and sunny but with few of the cumulus clouds glider pilots hope for to show them the thermals. Such conditions demand different tactics for flying as it is more difficult to find the thermals for flying cross country and the speeds may be slower than days with cumulus clouds. However, Andy Davis of Great Britain and Bruce Taylor and John Buchannan both of Australia, won their respective classes for the day. The tasks were between 236 and 263 kilometres.

Soaring over the Bavarian countryside

It is no simple feat, to judge the weather and conditions and decide where to send so many gliders and keep each class separated enough to avoid danger or crossing of paths of each class. The weather in Bayreuth during Bavaria Glide stayed fine, although perhaps a little stable at times and gave the opportunity to fly almost every day of the two weeks. There was a mixture of different conditions which did not really favour any one country. As the weather was also not completely typical of the area, the German pilots had no advantage over their international competition. Towards the middle of the contest, the daily temperature soared to 38 degrees on the ground. Unusually hot for this part of Germany. The following day began very hot and the desired cumulus appeared and enthused pilots just before the start, however they had no sooner set out on task, when a spectacular thunder storm built up suddenly. It looked as though no pilots would make it home, when it was heard on the radio that some gliders were approaching the finish line. They appeared out of seemingly unflyable weather and landed safely. At the same time, several others had to land out in fields to avoid the rough weather and rain. As it is a very normal part of gliding to land in fields, this was all managed without incident. Some pilots were lucky enough to find a small airstrip and be towed back to Bayreuth by tow plane, whilst others sat and waited for their retrieve crews to pick them up with trailers.

The Argentinian crew waiting by the radio during the day’s task

The evenings during such a gliding contest promote great friendships and camaraderie. The wooden tables outside the cafe in the evenings or inside the hangar see pilots and crews alike, discussing the stories of the day’s flying and adventures. The highs and lows of flying well or making mistakes and losing time. The atmosphere promotes new and enduring friendships. The calibre of the people is an interesting mix, coming from all walks of life, bonded together by this challenging and purist sport. They are of course, the best in the world, all having qualified and been nominated to represent their countries. Many have brought their own gliders, or rented planes from locals clubs in Bayreuth.

The support crews - a vital part of gliding - are made up of fathers, daughters, sons, wives and friends. All giving their time and energy to keep their pilot and glider in top condition and sitting patiently on the ground, often in extremely hot conditions, waiting to hear that call on the radio, “five kilometres, three minutes” as their pilot approaches to cross the finish line. Other days there is a call over the loud speaker, “crew of Juliet Tango, please come to the outlanding office,” and a different adventure begins, pin pointing the landing site and hooking up the trailer.

Thomas and Daniel Fry of Swiitzerland, 1st and 2nd in Standard Class

Of course, the object of the championship is to fly the fastest over the daily course and accumulate daily points. The verification of flights is made very simple these days. Gliding is not like a car race, when all cars start at the same time, pilots may decide themselves when to start as conditions improve or deteriorate during the day. It is up to them to pick the optimum start time. All gliders now carry a GPS system which records time and position of the glider throughout its entire flight. These ‘Loggers’ as they are called have been developed by the International Gliding Federation and it is a simple matter of taking the logger out of the glider after flight, giving it to the scorer who plugs it into a computer, and the data or flight log is downloaded proving the pilot flew the correct course and the speed. Simply, the highest speed wins.

Over the two weeks, the weather was kind and allowed nine full contest days to be flown. Sadly, right at the end of the time, the weather deteriorated into rain and the final 2 days were lost to bad weather. So the final results were already known. Standard Class - Daniel Fry who team flew with his brother Thomas, had won over his brother by a minimal 2 points out of 7000 over two weeks. The two boys, nicknamed the dream team, have perfected their style of team flying in their native Switzerland. Milos Dedera of the Czech Republic achieved a popular win in the 15 Metre Class and the combined team of Karo/Schroeder/Sommer of Germany won the Open Class for Germany.

Keeping out of the sun before launch

The final night of friends together saw the hangar jumping to live music after the official prize giving ceremony. Celebrations went on into the early hours of the next day. Daylight saw a mass exodus of people and equipment, rushing back to catch planes or get to work or businesses which had been forgotten for almost three weeks. By midday, the bustling village had all but vanished and everyone involved in the championship was looking forward to ‘Getting together in Bayreuth’ again this year, for The 26th World Gliding Championships.