F3J Winter League in Bellechasse

As a reminder, the Winterliga is an F3J competition featuring electric winch launches. It is open to everyone, and novice pilots are especially welcome. The lack of pressure fosters a particularly friendly atmosphere that is rarely found at other events, while still allowing participants to compete against the best, learn the fine-tuning adjustments that improve a glider’s performance, develop flight tactics—in short: to improve. This friendly competition also helps dispel preconceived notions: overcast skies, cool temperatures, and no wind might have led some

than one modeler to conclude that the 10-minute flight time would be impossible to achieve. Yet in every flight group, the top pilots reached that flight limit. For those who don’t consistently achieve it, this performance serves as a source of motivation and encouragement to push themselves even further.

Coming to participate in this event in Bellechasse means rubbing shoulders with today’s top glider pilots. Lionel Fournier, who placed third at the most recent European Championships, uses the Winterliga as training. Other outstanding members of the French national team were also in attendance. They’ll happily answer all your questions in French with great kindness! (It’s only natural that they speak French,

(But it’s worth mentioning to encourage the naysayers for whom the language barrier is insurmountable.) Let’s also mention Andreas Bohlen, two-time F3B world champion; his brother Stefan, multiple-time Swiss F3J champion; and Paul

Bohlen, who shows us that even at 70, you can still perform at a high level. Also present is (Dr.) Michael Wohlfart of the Logoteam, designer of numerous famous gliders (Shark, Wobbegong, Steigeisen, Hurricane), not to mention the local favorite

Jean Thevenaz, a promising young pilot-in-training, brings along his fellow members from the Fribourg club. In this way, the novice will be integrated among these elite pilots. He will receive assistance and advice if he wishes, and may even be winched by them, thereby dispelling any fear that his own equipment is less capable than his neighbor’s.

I was pleased to meet Lionel Fournier and asked him a few questions:

tr: Do you use tracking systems for your training?

If: Yes, to fine-tune a glider. But every flight is different, and a single measurement

is difficult. So you have to identify a trend, which requires a large number of measurements.

tr: How do you use your flaps?

If: Many pilots use a switch for the flaps. I prefer a potentiometer because the flap position depends on flight conditions, and this allows me to adjust them proportionally without compromise—unlike a fixed setting dictated by a switch.

tr: The European champion won his title with just 1 second of winching during the fly-off. Don’t you regret not taking more risks?

If: No, not at all. The flight time and the fly-off last 15 mi-

minutes. Taking the risk of releasing the glider at 100 meters when the weather conditions don’t feel very favorable is like playing poker. A championship is the result of hours of training and leaves no room for improvisation. The European champion played a game of double or nothing, but he often lost at that game. A third-place finish at the European Championships fills me with joy. tr: At the highest level, victory in F3J comes down to a second and a few centimeters. Don’t you think that to advance the sport and the gliders, a change is necessary?

If: F3J is a competition of pilots more than of gliders. It demands perfection and as little bad luck as possible. Unlike in F3B, where a poor endurance round can be offset by a strong speed or distance round, an F3J competition can be lost due to a broken tow rope or a revol—not just because of a poor tactical choice or a landing error. Victory is all the more exhilarating when all the favorable conditions come together.

There's not much new to report regarding gliders. We see the best gliders on the market, all of which are very competitive. The Supra performs very well in the absence of

windy conditions, lots of Tanga F3J and Pike Perfect models, and Xplorer models in 3.50-meter (Lionel Fournier) and 3.80-meter (Loïc Debisschop) sizes. Few models use an RDS.

32 pilots (a tremendous success) took part in the opening event of this Winterliga season. It was a very informative day, and I encourage pilots from French-speaking Switzerland to give it a try as well. Finally, this is a competition where you get to fly a lot, since 6 rounds of 10 minutes each add up to a total of 1 hour of flight time. Results and information can be found at www.winterliga.ch. ■

T. Ruef