It has been a great run. Attila Bertok won the 2007 Worlds and the 2006 pre-Worlds here in Big Spring (the first time the pre-Worlds and Worlds have been one by the same individual). Attila won the first three days when the conditions were the most difficult. Robert Reisinger came on strong as the meet progressed (as he gained experience flying here in Texas) and as conditions improved. Attila had a GPS problem on the last day of the competition where he had to fix or replace the battery (it is not always clear what Attila is saying). The GPS quit but he was able to get it working again. This no doubt slowed him down quite a bit (check the results on that day). 
The final results were very close until the end and this made for a lot of excitement.

Moyes gliders had all three positions on the podium, apparently the first time that this has happened.

Many pilots told me how much they enjoyed flying in Texas and how impressed they were with the friendliness and hospitality of the Texans. Many of them had taken their impressions from the media and didn't realize that not all Texans were like the younger Bush. They were just so happy to have this wonderful  experience (so many made goal on so many days and the competition really was really a race with major level tasks).

Attila gave a great acceptance talk after winning the Worlds in which he showed his appreciation for all the help he has received starting with Bill Moyes many years ago. He showed his great love of the sport and how much he appreciated how wonderfully the Texans had treated him.

I was a little chagrinned when I called the last day after a day and night of heavy rain, thick clouds all morning, and a forecast for 70% chance of more rain, cloudy and cool temperatures with southeast winds for Saturday. There was a hint that this forecast was total wrong when we saw a bit of blue sky off to the southwest and strong southwest winds, but I wasn't picking up on these clues strongly enough. The forecast turned out to be completely wrong, as the sky cleared around noon, the cloud base was not a thousand feet as forecast but probably three or four thousand feet (later), with lot of cu's not turning into over development except quite a bit to the east (where the remnants of the storm was tracking to the north).

The winds were strong, but not too strong, so that we were able to hold a spot landing contest at around 3:30 PM. Jonny Durand was first, the only one spot on, Dustin second, with one foot on the three foot by three foot spot.  Rodrigo Russek from Mexico was third (more on him later). I was able to land two feet away from the spot flying the Wills Wing Sport 2.

Still we didn't fly a task on this last day, so we don't know for sure whether it was a mistake or not not to fly it. Alex Ploner felt that the clouds wouldn't have provided any lift, given how the ground was soaked. Bobby Bailey (who also did well in the spot landing competition flying my glider), thought we (me, actually) blew it as he felt lots of lift around the airport. On Sunday it blew strong from the south all day with not a cloud in the sky.

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