1977 European Hang Gliding Championships (F1E)

I would like to add a few lines here regarding the Swiss team’s rankings. The pilots, the technical manager, and the high-launch crew gave it their all. Considering the aircraft available to us and our flying skills, we Swiss have certainly been ranked and classified fairly. Our goal was to place at least in the top half of the field, and we succeeded in doing so. However, when you look at our performance as a percentage of the world champion’s results, the numbers actually look significantly better.

Skip Miller scored a total of 13,185 points, which is 100%; Gerhard scored 10,695 points (81.0%); Ruedi scored 10,523 points (79.8%); Paul scored 10,185 points (77.2%).
In the team standings, things look even better: with our 31,367 points, we achieved 88.2% of the total, compared to the U.S. with 35,579 points.
These results can undoubtedly be described as very good. After all, there isn’t an unbridgeable gap between the world’s elite and us Swiss. The elite field is very broad, and we are absolutely capable of keeping up.
In addition to the shortcomings already discussed, the lack of a high-start technique prevented us from achieving a better result. We were practically never able to reach the same starting altitudes as the others. However, with one exception, we had no crashes, which certainly gave us the opportunity to approach the tasks at hand with confidence. A detachable high-launch hook offers significant advantages here. If the model is towed through a downdraft zone, the pilot can maintain tension on the line by banking the model sideways; the high-launch team can then tow the model back up to full altitude. This also makes the launch safer. The hook can be disengaged, as a model that has veered off course can be easily brought back to the line. Resetting the hook significantly shortens the distance the launch team must cover. If the model is unhooked from the line at the summit while under tension, up to 15 meters of altitude can be gained with sufficient experience.

At first, we Swiss were the only ones using the deflected launch method, and people smiled at us a little pityingly. But as the number of failures increased, even the top experts in this field—such as the Germans—decided to adopt the deflected launch method. Finally, on behalf of the Swiss National RC Gliding Team, I would like to sincerely thank our team manager, Hansruedi, for his tireless efforts before and during the World Championships. He cleared many obstacles out of our way, allowing us to enjoy our stay in South Africa with much greater peace of mind. We all look back fondly on this wonderful time. Our new friends from the land of the springbok went to immense lengths to make the stay in South Africa as pleasant, hassle-free, and hospitable as possible for both competitors and supporters. Even minor problems were handled just as naturally as those that seemed almost impossible to solve. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the organizing committee members and all their behind-the-scenes helpers. We’d especially like to thank Mervin Brett of Pretoria, Alfred Langenegger of Johannesburg, and Benno Lüthi, as well as our teammate Peter Aeberli, who made it possible for us to stay in touch with those back home and keep them updated on the latest news from the World Championships.
We’ve made many new friends and hope to see many of them again in two years at the next World Cup.