View Full Version : Kawa leading.....again.
Kawa is leading the two seat 20 meter class at his second world championship in three weeks. Of course he won 15 meter at the first one. There is no doubt he’s the greatest....ever.
Paul T[_4_]
August 1st 18, 11:40 PM
At 18:05 01 August 2018, wrote:
>Kawa is leading the two seat 20 meter class at his second world
>championshi=
>p in three weeks. Of course he won 15 meter at the first one. There is
no
>=
>doubt he=E2=80=99s the greatest....ever.
>
and the Grand Prix Final - this would be his 3rd World Championship win
this year if he does it, but away to go yet..
But exactly what is it, he is doing better than everyone else?
On Wednesday, August 1, 2018 at 6:45:05 PM UTC-4, Paul T wrote:
> At 18:05 01 August 2018, wrote:
> >Kawa is leading the two seat 20 meter class at his second world
> >championshi=
> >p in three weeks. Of course he won 15 meter at the first one. There is
> no
> >=
> >doubt he=E2=80=99s the greatest....ever.
> >
> and the Grand Prix Final - this would be his 3rd World Championship win
> this year if he does it, but away to go yet..
>
> But exactly what is it, he is doing better than everyone else?
Steroids perhaps? ;>)
Bob 7U
On Wednesday, August 1, 2018 at 6:45:05 PM UTC-4, Paul T wrote:
> At 18:05 01 August 2018, wrote:
> >Kawa is leading the two seat 20 meter class at his second world
> >championshi=
> >p in three weeks. Of course he won 15 meter at the first one. There is
> no
> >=
> >doubt he=E2=80=99s the greatest....ever.
> >
> and the Grand Prix Final - this would be his 3rd World Championship win
> this year if he does it, but away to go yet..
>
> But exactly what is it, he is doing better than everyone else?
Flying faster
UH
Not necessarily in cruise though! ;)
Tom
Le mercredi 1 août 2018 14:05:31 UTC-4, a écritÂ*:
> Kawa is leading the two seat 20 meter class at his second world championship in three weeks. Of course he won 15 meter at the first one. There is no doubt he’s the greatest....ever.
In one word CONSISTENCY.
Gilles
Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)
August 2nd 18, 03:10 AM
Less mistakes.....
Ramy[_2_]
August 2nd 18, 04:19 AM
Exactly, less mistakes. We all make many small (and sometime big) mistakes pretty much every flight when racing or flying XC. As small as turning the wrong direction, or making unnecessary turns, or taking slightly less than optimal line. The one who makes the less mistakes fly the farthest/fastest.. Do it consistently and you can always win. How does he do it? Six sense maybe? Or he figured something none of us did yet?
Ramy
A modern version of Moffat's "Low-Loss Flying". Great read.
http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~cline/Glider%20racing/Low_loss.pdf [PDF]
David
Peter F[_2_]
August 2nd 18, 11:54 AM
No-one else can afford to fly so many comps at WGC level?
At 05:05 02 August 2018, wrote:
>A modern version of Moffat's "Low-Loss Flying". Great read.
>
>http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~cline/Glider%20racing/Low_loss.pdf [PDF]
>
>David
>
On Wednesday, August 1, 2018 at 11:19:02 PM UTC-4, Ramy wrote:
> Exactly, less mistakes. We all make many small (and sometime big) mistakes pretty much every flight when racing or flying XC. As small as turning the wrong direction, or making unnecessary turns, or taking slightly less than optimal line. The one who makes the less mistakes fly the farthest/fastest. Do it consistently and you can always win. How does he do it? Six sense maybe? Or he figured something none of us did yet?
>
> Ramy
Also a very high level of confidence that comes with true mastery. He is not afraid to press out when others are.
UH
Jim Kellett
August 2nd 18, 02:17 PM
On Wednesday, August 1, 2018 at 10:10:16 PM UTC-4, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
> Less mistakes.....
FEWER mistakes, not less. (Grammar Nazi in off-topic rant again . . https://www.grammar.com/Fewer-vs-Less)
Soartech
August 2nd 18, 03:02 PM
Does he have striking eyes like Manfred Ruhmer or Sarah Arnold? Perhaps they can all see things we cannot.
waremark
August 2nd 18, 03:20 PM
Interesting that he chose the 20m class in which to compete. He must have his choice of classes, together with offers of loan gliders for each. After all his successes with the Diana 2 and his promotion of the GP15 I would have expected him to be in the Diana 3 for this comp and the GP15 for the 15's. He cannot have thought either was going to be a winning glider, or at least not yet. Is his 32 an Mi? If so it will be very heavy for any weak days.. As an Arcus owner I was sad to see him in a 32 because I would prefer an Arcus to win and the odds were always on Kawa for Champion!
Paul T[_4_]
August 2nd 18, 03:44 PM
At 14:20 02 August 2018, waremark wrote:
>Interesting that he chose the 20m class in which to compete. He must
have
>h=
>is choice of classes, together with offers of loan gliders for each.
After
>=
>all his successes with the Diana 2 and his promotion of the GP15 I would
>ha=
>ve expected him to be in the Diana 3 for this comp and the GP15 for the
>15'=
>s. He cannot have thought either was going to be a winning glider, or at
>le=
>ast not yet. Is his 32 an Mi? If so it will be very heavy for any weak
>days=
>.. As an Arcus owner I was sad to see him in a 32 because I would prefer
an
>=
>Arcus to win and the odds were always on Kawa for Champion!
>
GP15 wasn't up to snuff so changed last minute and flew the Polish teams
old 29 and won the 15m's in that. Diana 3/KKB18KE is flown by Lukasz
Wojcik - another good Polish pilot-but seems to have some 'technical'
issues
over last few days. I think Kawa has stated he prefers 2 seater flying
these
days.
waremark
August 2nd 18, 03:58 PM
Kawa flew an Arcus in Russia. He gave a talk at our club about that exciting trip. I wonder how he comes to be in a 32 this time.
Paul T[_4_]
August 2nd 18, 05:39 PM
At 14:58 02 August 2018, waremark wrote:
>Kawa flew an Arcus in Russia. He gave a talk at our club about that
>exciting trip. I wonder how he comes to be in a 32 this time.
He won the 2017 Two seat Europeans in the same ASG -32 previously.
Klinkenberg
August 2nd 18, 08:28 PM
;974138']No-one else can afford to fly so many comps at WGC level?
At 05:05 02 August 2018, wrote:
A modern version of Moffat's "Low-Loss Flying". Great read.
http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~cline/Glider%20racing/Low_loss.pdf [PDF]
David
He is simply the best!
RobKol
August 2nd 18, 09:20 PM
On Thursday, 2 August 2018 07:58:33 UTC-7, waremark wrote:
> Kawa flew an Arcus in Russia. He gave a talk at our club about that exciting trip. I wonder how he comes to be in a 32 this time.
Mr. Matkowski, the other ASG-32 "MD" crew member is Schleicher dealer. The choice is obvious.
BruceGreeff
August 3rd 18, 09:05 PM
On 2018/08/02 22:20, RobKol wrote:
> On Thursday, 2 August 2018 07:58:33 UTC-7, waremark wrote:
>> Kawa flew an Arcus in Russia. He gave a talk at our club about that exciting trip. I wonder how he comes to be in a 32 this time.
>
> Mr. Matkowski, the other ASG-32 "MD" crew member is Schleicher dealer. The choice is obvious.
>
And I think it supports my thesis that the pilot makes the difference.
The top manufacturers attract the top pilots, but the gliders are so
close in performance overall - I doubt equipment is the decisive factor
in most recent contests.
Dr Kawa will be hard to beat in anything remotely competitive...
Chris Rowland[_2_]
August 3rd 18, 09:43 PM
At 20:05 03 August 2018, BruceGreeff wrote:
>On 2018/08/02 22:20, RobKol wrote:
>> On Thursday, 2 August 2018 07:58:33 UTC-7, waremark wrote:
>>> Kawa flew an Arcus in Russia. He gave a talk at our club about that
>exciting trip. I wonder how he comes to be in a 32 this time.
>>
>> Mr. Matkowski, the other ASG-32 "MD" crew member is Schleicher dealer.
>The choice is obvious.
>>
>And I think it supports my thesis that the pilot makes the difference.
>The top manufacturers attract the top pilots, but the gliders are so
>close in performance overall - I doubt equipment is the decisive factor
>in most recent contests.
>Dr Kawa will be hard to beat in anything remotely competitive...
>
Is Sebastian Kawa the first professional competition glider pilot?
Someone who spends his entire life competing and preparing to compete. No
other day job.
Rather like the Golf and Tennis stars.
What we see is that level of commitment brings an extra level of
performance.
Chris
Le mercredi 1 août 2018 14:05:31 UTC-4, a écritÂ*:
> Kawa is leading the two seat 20 meter class at his second world championship in three weeks. Of course he won 15 meter at the first one. There is no doubt he’s the greatest....ever.
Today M&K beat the competion by 32 meter a minute.
Pretty asthounding!!!
Gilles
Craig Funston[_3_]
August 3rd 18, 11:00 PM
On Friday, August 3, 2018 at 1:45:05 PM UTC-7, Chris Rowland wrote:
> At 20:05 03 August 2018, BruceGreeff wrote:
> >On 2018/08/02 22:20, RobKol wrote:
> >> On Thursday, 2 August 2018 07:58:33 UTC-7, waremark wrote:
> >>> Kawa flew an Arcus in Russia. He gave a talk at our club about that
> >exciting trip. I wonder how he comes to be in a 32 this time.
> >>
> >> Mr. Matkowski, the other ASG-32 "MD" crew member is Schleicher dealer.
> >The choice is obvious.
> >>
> >And I think it supports my thesis that the pilot makes the difference.
> >The top manufacturers attract the top pilots, but the gliders are so
> >close in performance overall - I doubt equipment is the decisive factor
> >in most recent contests.
> >Dr Kawa will be hard to beat in anything remotely competitive...
> >
>
> Is Sebastian Kawa the first professional competition glider pilot?
>
> Someone who spends his entire life competing and preparing to compete. No
> other day job.
>
> Rather like the Golf and Tennis stars.
>
> What we see is that level of commitment brings an extra level of
> performance.
>
> Chris
Chis, as I recall Ingo Renner was pretty single focused. There are many others who make their living flying gliders in some form that also compete.
Craig
Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)
August 3rd 18, 11:06 PM
I would agree.
At this sorta level, the "nut behind the stick" is the determining factor IMHO.
Kawa is making less mistakes (oppsss...."fewer mistakes" to satisfy some grammar Nazis), in reality, with a comparable ship and instruments he can use, he would likely be at the top or close to it.
Same for many other pilots.
Since he seems to avoid team flying, and also seems to not like some newer rules and tracking/ground help for others, he seems to fit US rules better.
Shudder to some in the US about US rules.
Some comes down to the type of flying required for the competition site.
Those with eastern US flying may not do as well in the western US mountains. The reverse is also true.
Professional glider contestant? No.
Talented amateur pilot that can afford to do a ton of flying and contests? Yes.
To me, professional means the task generates an income. Kawa does well and can afford the time and entry fees. I doubt he makes any money flying or flying contests.
Yes, he has fun, yes, he gets to fly cool sailplanes that others own, yes, he does well.
"I doubt he makes any money flying or flying contests."
Garrett Willat had a bumper sticker:
"Glider Pilots do it for the girls and the prize money"
Right up there with the "I believe in UFOs" and "Visualize World Peace" dreams.
On Friday, August 3, 2018 at 6:06:53 PM UTC-4, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
> I would agree.
>
> At this sorta level, the "nut behind the stick" is the determining factor IMHO.
>
> Kawa is making less mistakes (oppsss...."fewer mistakes" to satisfy some grammar Nazis), in reality, with a comparable ship and instruments he can use, he would likely be at the top or close to it.
> Same for many other pilots.
> Since he seems to avoid team flying, and also seems to not like some newer rules and tracking/ground help for others, he seems to fit US rules better.
> Shudder to some in the US about US rules.
>
> Some comes down to the type of flying required for the competition site.
> Those with eastern US flying may not do as well in the western US mountains. The reverse is also true.
>
> Professional glider contestant? No.
> Talented amateur pilot that can afford to do a ton of flying and contests? Yes.
>
> To me, professional means the task generates an income. Kawa does well and can afford the time and entry fees. I doubt he makes any money flying or flying contests.
> Yes, he has fun, yes, he gets to fly cool sailplanes that others own, yes, he does well.
Not to offer disagreement, only a slightly different vantage point on the definition of professional as it might apply to Soaring. Amateurs practice till they get it right, professionals practice till they can't get it wrong.
Chris Rowland[_2_]
August 4th 18, 09:08 AM
'Professional' may not have been quite the right word but I couldn't think
of a better one. I mean somebody who does nothing other than fly in and
practice for top level competitions. Doing two seat training isn't the
same, not even at the level that Ingo Renner does.
It's the focus rather than the money that matters.
Chris
At 06:20 04 August 2018, wrote:
>On Friday, August 3, 2018 at 6:06:53 PM UTC-4, Charlie M. (UH & 002
>owner/pilot) wrote:
>> I would agree.
>>
>> At this sorta level, the "nut behind the stick" is the determining
factor
>IMHO.
>>
>> Kawa is making less mistakes (oppsss...."fewer mistakes" to satisfy
some
>grammar Nazis), in reality, with a comparable ship and instruments he can
>use, he would likely be at the top or close to it.
>> Same for many other pilots.
>> Since he seems to avoid team flying, and also seems to not like some
>newer rules and tracking/ground help for others, he seems to fit US rules
>better.
>> Shudder to some in the US about US rules.
>>
>> Some comes down to the type of flying required for the competition
site.
>> Those with eastern US flying may not do as well in the western US
>mountains. The reverse is also true.
>>
>> Professional glider contestant? No.
>> Talented amateur pilot that can afford to do a ton of flying and
>contests? Yes.
>>
>> To me, professional means the task generates an income. Kawa does well
>and can afford the time and entry fees. I doubt he makes any money flying
>or flying contests.
>> Yes, he has fun, yes, he gets to fly cool sailplanes that others own,
>yes, he does well.
>
>Not to offer disagreement, only a slightly different vantage point on the
>definition of professional as it might apply to Soaring. Amateurs
practice
>till they get it right, professionals practice till they can't get it
>wrong.
>
I know as little as most of us, but I think I know Kawa provides for his family thanks to his gliding activities. He is also a medical doctor, and he keeps his qualifications updated by volunteer work in hospital, as some day he'll resort to the profession and still provide for his family.
Speaking about "less mistakes", I've seen him actually do some "mistakes". I'm pretty sure he just wanted to get rid of leeches. Once I saw him revert 180°. I thought he would go for a second start, but we were at over 50km from the starting point.
In facts he just got the leeches off by flying in the opposite direction for a surprising number of kms, then pushed on task to win the day. He is so confident in his superior talent, skills, sky reading, or maybe eagle-eye vision that he could afford to make such a radical move on purpose.
Aldo Cernezzi
www.voloavela.it
Frank Whiteley
August 4th 18, 02:44 PM
On Thursday, August 2, 2018 at 8:02:06 AM UTC-6, Soartech wrote:
> Does he have striking eyes like Manfred Ruhmer or Sarah Arnold? Perhaps they can all see things we cannot.
Tetrachromatic vision? Some have four, rather than three cones, thus can see 100 times more colors. Very rare, but those people see many more colors in the daytime sky.
Frank Whiteley
JS[_5_]
August 4th 18, 05:31 PM
On Saturday, August 4, 2018 at 6:44:12 AM UTC-7, Frank Whiteley wrote:
> On Thursday, August 2, 2018 at 8:02:06 AM UTC-6, Soartech wrote:
> > Does he have striking eyes like Manfred Ruhmer or Sarah Arnold? Perhaps they can all see things we cannot.
>
> Tetrachromatic vision? Some have four, rather than three cones, thus can see 100 times more colors. Very rare, but those people see many more colors in the daytime sky.
>
> Frank Whiteley
MD didn't make the top 3 today. Nobody's perfect.
Jim
JS[_5_]
August 4th 18, 07:11 PM
Besides the "you beat Kawa" pat on the back...
The first day win at a WGC for the Twin Shark, in the hands of the Italians.
Congratulazioni!
Jim
Craig Lowrie
August 4th 18, 09:11 PM
Yes... great job by Twinshark with Stefano in the driving seat.....
Craig
At 18:11 04 August 2018, JS wrote:
>Besides the "you beat Kawa" pat on the back...
>The first day win at a WGC for the Twin Shark, in the hands of
the
>Italians.
>Congratulazioni!
>Jim
>
andrzop
August 5th 18, 06:55 AM
W dniu sobota, 4 sierpnia 2018 20:11:57 UTC+2 użytkownik JS napisał:
> Besides the "you beat Kawa" pat on the back...
> The first day win at a WGC for the Twin Shark, in the hands of the Italians.
> Congratulazioni!
> Jim
Kawa at task 7 planned outlanded with Jones & Coppin, but they didn't succeed because they were not impatient enough and they left to early on the route. Maybe next time it can works ;-)
Look at start time. Optimal start time was 2 hours before and 10 min later it wouldn't be possible to complete the task.
https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/35th-world-gliding-championships-hosin-2018/results/double-seater/task-7-on-2018-08-04/daily
Jonathan St. Cloud
August 5th 18, 03:39 PM
On Friday, August 3, 2018 at 1:45:05 PM UTC-7, Chris Rowland wrote:
> At 20:05 03 August 2018, BruceGreeff wrote:
> >On 2018/08/02 22:20, RobKol wrote:
> >> On Thursday, 2 August 2018 07:58:33 UTC-7, waremark wrote:
> >>> Kawa flew an Arcus in Russia. He gave a talk at our club about that
> >exciting trip. I wonder how he comes to be in a 32 this time.
> >>
> >> Mr. Matkowski, the other ASG-32 "MD" crew member is Schleicher dealer.
> >The choice is obvious.
> >>
> >And I think it supports my thesis that the pilot makes the difference.
> >The top manufacturers attract the top pilots, but the gliders are so
> >close in performance overall - I doubt equipment is the decisive factor
> >in most recent contests.
> >Dr Kawa will be hard to beat in anything remotely competitive...
> >
>
> Is Sebastian Kawa the first professional competition glider pilot?
>
> Someone who spends his entire life competing and preparing to compete. No
> other day job.
>
> Rather like the Golf and Tennis stars.
>
> What we see is that level of commitment brings an extra level of
> performance.
>
> Chris
Aren't the French teams professional? I was under the impression they are given a glider, a coach and a stipend to just train together as a team.
Kawa’s still cleaning house. 200 point lead now.
Well, he did it again. Two world championships in two different classes in less than two months.
vBulletin® v3.6.4, Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.