Fredderik Noddelund from Denmark finished fifth in Standard Class on Day three placing his seventh
after two flying days of competition. Fredderik and several pilots were able to take advantage of
a stubble fire perfectly placed on their task to help them home.
Fredderik Noddelund from Denmark finished fifth in Standard Class on Day three placing his seventh after two flying days of competition. Fredderik and several pilots were able to take advantage of a stubble fire perfectly placed on their task to help them home.
'We were almost 200 km out at 5pm and I thought we are going to be to late. At this point I saw a little fire. I could see it was growing fast. So with a bunch of other gliders I headed towards it. I saw 15kts on the averager and I climbed over 3,000ft in the smoke.
'I had to close the window as it was so thick and I could see burning embers. But it was just what we needed. Nick Oakley left at 9,000 ft. I left at 8,000 ft and we were well above the inversion. There the air was completely smooth. I needed two more thermals after that to get final glide.'
Fredderik's teammate Simon Pederson was not so lucky and landed in a paddock just a few hundred metres from the finish line. 'It was a real shame as we flew almost all the task together,' said Simon.
'The earlier part of the day was quite hard. The whole gaggle was together almost the whole task. It was difficult to centre a good thermal with that many gliders.
'The cub club class started fifteen minutes before us but we caught up with them at the first turn point. So then we were 59 gliders all together.
'After that there were some cumulus so we split up and it got better. We all came together again later on. It was beautiful to look out at all the other gliders scattered throughout the sky.'
Fredderik 's club is Vejle 100 km north of the German border in the middle of Jutland. It is just 30 km from where the Women's World Gliding Championships were held earlier this year. Fredderik competed in the pre JWGC last year and is glad to be back in Australia again. He said, 'At home on a good day we can get to 4,000 ft so it 's a lot more fun here. We have some long glides and strong thermals.'
For more of the JWGC action as it takes plave be sure to visit
http://www.jwgc2015.comhttps://www.facebook.com/jwgc2015/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS0k21xTR1gZtOGUgIVoXkw
Sean Young
