At the 2014 World Gliding Championships in Leszno (Poland), Michael Sommer won his fourth World Champion title flying the EB29. Fourth place also went to Uli Schwenk, likewise flying an EB29.
We congratulate all participating pilots!
Report by Michael Sommer:
I had a weak start to this World Championship — especially on the second day, with widespread showers, I didn’t perform too well when flying away from the gaggle. In hindsight, I circled a shower the wrong way around, which cost me about 15 minutes. On the sixth contest day, pure racing tasks under massive thunderstorm conditions mixed up the ranking a bit, but afterward I managed to return to form and make up ground day by day. With a daily win on the final competition day, I was able to catch the leading British pilot, Andrew Davies.
The concept of the EB29 with its variable wingspan proved superior once again. On fast days, I could easily keep up with the ‘smaller’ aircraft in the Open Class (JS1 and Quintus) using the 25.3 m wings, while on weaker days the 28.3 m configuration clearly offered an advantage.
However, the unusually short tasks at this World Championship (mostly only 2 to 2.5 hours) — focused exclusively on the best part of the day and therefore resulting in very high average speeds — favoured the smaller aircraft. I flew with 25.3 m wings on contest days 1–4 and switched to 28.3 m from day 5 through the end of the event.
Michael Sommer
