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#1
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Gliding GP - terrific!
I've just finished watching the final day's live coverage and I must
say it was terrific. The air-to-air and in-cockpit shots all worked as advertised and the 3D graphics were very good, whether it was watching Kawa in his Diana 2 creeping away from his rivals on the last leg to win overall or seeing Pete Harvey outrun everyone to claim a day win. One particularly interesting moment was seeing Bruce Taylor get low while pushing for the lead - when they used to the graphics to see his glide angle to the finish there were lots of "ooohs" and "aaahs" from the first-rate commentary team, and indeed he did land-out filmed live from a helicopter, poor bloke! The GP format is far more exciting to watch than conventional competitions. The final race was short - only 150 km or so due to the late clearance of a front - but the race was surprisingly dynamic and very watchable. Dan |
#2
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Gliding GP - terrific!
Hi,
I enjoyed watching it as well. The highpoint for me was when Uli Schwenk got far out ahead on Day 4 and then got low and did a low save. He ended up in 2nd for that day. I really enjoyed watching it live! Paul Remde "Dan G" wrote in message ... I've just finished watching the final day's live coverage and I must say it was terrific. The air-to-air and in-cockpit shots all worked as advertised and the 3D graphics were very good, whether it was watching Kawa in his Diana 2 creeping away from his rivals on the last leg to win overall or seeing Pete Harvey outrun everyone to claim a day win. One particularly interesting moment was seeing Bruce Taylor get low while pushing for the lead - when they used to the graphics to see his glide angle to the finish there were lots of "ooohs" and "aaahs" from the first-rate commentary team, and indeed he did land-out filmed live from a helicopter, poor bloke! The GP format is far more exciting to watch than conventional competitions. The final race was short - only 150 km or so due to the late clearance of a front - but the race was surprisingly dynamic and very watchable. Dan |
#3
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Gliding GP - terrific!
On Dec 23, 10:00 pm, Dan G wrote:
I've just finished watching the final day's live coverage and I must say it was terrific. .... Dan I would like to second Dan's comments. The coverage improved everyday and the last two days have been fantastic. To be able to see the tactics and choices during the flight and to have a true sense of time is fantastic. After watching the shotgun start I am wondering how that would work in a 50 or 60 glider contest. It would be fun to try in a regional at least. Again, congratulation to the FAI World GP Gliding Championship team for putting a fantastic viewer spectacle together. Tim |
#4
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Gliding GP - terrific!
On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:13:31 -0800 (PST), Tim Taylor
wrote: Again, congratulation to the FAI World GP Gliding Championship team for putting a fantastic viewer spectacle together. I have to admit that I cannot agree at all. The first mention of this GP in German newspapers were articles after Herbert's accident. Nearly all the major newspapers in Germany had huge artilces about his accident. In my local newspaper the GP got a complete, promotion-free page. Two articles, each mentioning how dangerous gliding is, listing all the people killed by gliding in the last 20 years. Over and over again. Definitely the mother of all PR disasters. Couldn't have been worse. Bye Andreas |
#5
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Gliding GP - terrific!
Hi Andreas,
I don't think the format of the contest (Grand Prix vs. a more standard contest or even vs. general mountain soaring) had anything to do with the accident. Soaring is dangerous. Accidents do unfortunately happen. Mountain flying is dangerous too. But it is much more fun than spending life on the ground. Fly safe, Paul Remde "Andreas Maurer" wrote in message ... On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:13:31 -0800 (PST), Tim Taylor wrote: Again, congratulation to the FAI World GP Gliding Championship team for putting a fantastic viewer spectacle together. I have to admit that I cannot agree at all. The first mention of this GP in German newspapers were articles after Herbert's accident. Nearly all the major newspapers in Germany had huge artilces about his accident. In my local newspaper the GP got a complete, promotion-free page. Two articles, each mentioning how dangerous gliding is, listing all the people killed by gliding in the last 20 years. Over and over again. Definitely the mother of all PR disasters. Couldn't have been worse. Bye Andreas |
#6
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Gliding GP - terrific!
Dan G wrote:
I've just finished watching the final day's live coverage and I must say it was terrific. The air-to-air and in-cockpit shots all worked as advertised and the 3D graphics were very good, whether it was watching Kawa in his Diana 2 creeping away from his rivals on the last leg to win overall or seeing Pete Harvey outrun everyone to claim a day win. One particularly interesting moment was seeing Bruce Taylor get low while pushing for the lead - when they used to the graphics to see his glide angle to the finish there were lots of "ooohs" and "aaahs" from the first-rate commentary team, and indeed he did land-out filmed live from a helicopter, poor bloke! The GP format is far more exciting to watch than conventional competitions. The final race was short - only 150 km or so due to the late clearance of a front - but the race was surprisingly dynamic and very watchable. Dan Is there a web site where the coverage can be viewed? The Gliding Grand Prix web site seems only to have information on last year's GP. |
#7
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Gliding GP - terrific!
On Dec 24, 9:49 am, Jim wrote:
Dan G wrote: I've just finished watching the final day's live coverage and I must say it was terrific. The air-to-air and in-cockpit shots all worked as advertised and the 3D graphics were very good, whether it was watching Kawa in his Diana 2 creeping away from his rivals on the last leg to win overall or seeing Pete Harvey outrun everyone to claim a day win. One particularly interesting moment was seeing Bruce Taylor get low while pushing for the lead - when they used to the graphics to see his glide angle to the finish there were lots of "ooohs" and "aaahs" from the first-rate commentary team, and indeed he did land-out filmed live from a helicopter, poor bloke! The GP format is far more exciting to watch than conventional competitions. The final race was short - only 150 km or so due to the late clearance of a front - but the race was surprisingly dynamic and very watchable. Dan Is there a web site where the coverage can be viewed? The Gliding Grand Prix web site seems only to have information on last year's GP. The GP website: http://www.gpgliding.com/ The site with the Video: http://video.airsportslive.com/ |
#8
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Gliding GP - terrific!
On Dec 24, 7:24 am, Andreas Maurer wrote:
On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:13:31 -0800 (PST), Tim Taylor wrote: Again, congratulation to the FAI World GP Gliding Championship team for putting a fantastic viewer spectacle together. I have to admit that I cannot agree at all. The first mention of this GP in German newspapers were articles after Herbert's accident. Nearly all the major newspapers in Germany had huge artilces about his accident. In my local newspaper the GP got a complete, promotion-free page. Two articles, each mentioning how dangerous gliding is, listing all the people killed by gliding in the last 20 years. Over and over again. Definitely the mother of all PR disasters. Couldn't have been worse. Bye Andreas Andreas, We are all saddened by the loss of Herbert Weiss during the contest, but to blame the contest for his death is irrational. We all accept the risk every time we fly or race. Should we end F1 racing or any other sport where participants can die? What we are saying is the new form of coverage with a shotgun start, live gps tracking, in plane cameras and helicopter camera ship made this a spectator sport for the first time. The ability for us to watch it live all around the world and the future made for television productions as well as the DVD will add to interest to the sport overall. Imagine day 4 without this type of coverage. We would have seen that Bruce Taylor had won, but would have never seen the drama of Uli Schwenk's great flight that had a lead of over 25 km at one point. His save from only a few hundred feet to finish second for the day was spectacular and heartbreaking at the same time. Even more telling was the ability to have interviews live as the pilots got out of the cockpit. Uli admitting that he had gotten very low and didn't want to do that again. The GP team is to be commended for pushing the edge of technology to make our sport accessible to others in a new way. I can someday see sailplane racing playing on a cable sports channel just as we see other races. Where are Jeep and Nissan as sponsors for the Extreme Sailplane Racing Series? I think it may happen one day. |
#9
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Gliding GP - terrific!
Hi Tim - Tim McAllister here at the GP in Omarama:
This format of racing has real promise to revolutionize how our sport is viewed in the wider media world. PLUS, it is VERY fun to fly. BTW - If anyone out there is interested in helping organize GP races in the U.S., I would love to act as an advisor, consultant or even cd/ cm. Feel free to contact me through a reply to this email or through my blog at www.echoyankee.com. I'll be back inthe states in about a week and will get back to anyone after I am home. However, back to your original point, many more than 15-20 gliders using a single start line at one time would be way too dangerous. Having flown three Gp events now (1st World Sailplane GP St. Auban, Qualifier at Drakino Russia, 1st FAI GP World Championships here at Omarama), I am probably the most experienced US Pilot in this format. The "regatta" start line works as long as all pilots are very professional and adhere to the rules. This was shown to spectacular effect here at Omarama where I did not hear about or witness any dangerous flying or discourteous conduct the entire week. Of course we had some of the best pilots in the world here so the formation flying was quite spectacular at times (think Blue Angels but 20 of them). But the format is not to blame for Herbert's death in any way at all. On to bringing this format to the U.S.. While a 50-60 ship "shotgun" start would be a fools game, I could see a format where you break a contest down into multiple heats of 10-20 gliders and run a sort of ladder for the week's contest. By "ladder" I mean the top 5 in each "heat" would then race against the top five from the other heats the next day. Maybe add a "repechage" heat for the "losers" to advance into a finals against he top pilots from the early heats. Then have a B final for the rest at the end of the week. Or maybe you use multiple start lines with multiple heats. Or anything else that is safe and promotes good, close racing. The GP Concept as written into the FAI GP Rules is jut a starting point for some potentially very fun and exciting racing. But for any of this to come to the USA, US glider pilots and the contest community as a whole (organizers, SSA, etc.) needs to embrace the concept and realize it is a new, dynamic form of glider race that is growing by leaps and bounds in in Europe and around the world. Unfortunately, the US is lagging behind in this new glider racing format. I hope to help change this state of affairs. Tim McAllister EY On Dec 24, 6:13 pm, Tim Taylor wrote: On Dec 23, 10:00 pm, Dan G wrote: I've just finished watching the final day's live coverage and I must say it was terrific. .... Dan I would like to second Dan's comments. The coverage improved everyday and the last two days have been fantastic. To be able to see the tactics and choices during the flight and to have a true sense of time is fantastic. After watching the shotgun start I am wondering how that would work in a 50 or 60 glider contest. It would be fun to try in a regional at least. Again, congratulation to the FAI World GP Gliding Championship team for putting a fantastic viewer spectacle together. Tim |
#10
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Gliding GP - terrific!
wrote:
Having flown three Gp events now (1st World Sailplane GP St. Auban, Qualifier at Drakino Russia, 1st FAI GP World Championships here at Omarama), I am probably the most experienced US Pilot in this format. The "regatta" start line works as long as all pilots are very professional and adhere to the rules. I hate to break this to you, but there have been six Grand Prix format multi-lap races run at Truckee over the past three seasons, complete with regatta start, tracking system, and spectators. Regatta start (8 to 12 starters so far): http://www.soartruckee.com/images/TA...s_V2_start.jpg High tech real-time tracking system: http://www.soartruckee.com/images/TA...of_gliders.jpg I'm sure you'd be welcome to participate, despite your lower experience level 8^) Marc |
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