http://corinnaflies.blogspot.com/2009/05/german-open-finishes.html

So today they measured my glider again, "because it was a hard landing yesterday" (I was asked by one official to go and have it measured again). The inside sprogs were 4 mm off and pitch police made me set the sprogs up another full turn. The seals from the first day of measuring were still on, so I definitely didn't touch anything. I nosed in yesterday, but no upright was bent, no part of the glider or me harmed, not even a bruise. Does a nose in change the sprog settings so much?

When my tracklog was downloaded yesterday, I said that they could watch how slow I was and they could see that my bar pressure is way too high for me to keep up, as I can't fly with VG full on with the sprogs as high as required by the pitch police. Charlie Joest, DHV president and one of the main persons who pushes the measurement process, turned around and just said to me "Maybe it is time to change the glider." I was speechless. I had just come into goal on a really difficult day with only three people in goal. I had my best German Open result ever, and that is the advice of the head of my own hang gliding association. Shocking.

Another view of the competition at Tegelberg? Klaus Taenzler http://ozreport.com/emailer.php?toName=klaustaenzler&code=6o6p6175737461656r7n6p65722061742064687620646s74206465 writes (but not to me):

Meanwhile Christof, the DHV technician and former competition pilot, confirmed to me that sprog measurements are repeatable. He has done a lot of measurements. During the certification process all gliders are measured and he has measured gliders in several competitions in the past.

There have been made several measurements with the same glider in different weather conditions (temperature and humidity) and the variation was within the general measuring error of 0.25°. Also when the same glider has been measured with different staff, the maximum variation was +/-0.25° if it was done by a qualified person.

Right now the King Ludwig Open competition is held at Tegelberg where all gliders have been measured yesterday and today. There are two teams doing the measurements. Yesterday a pilot made a test. Having his glider measured by one team he moved the glider to the second team to get it measured again. The difference was 0.1° on one sprog and 0.2° on the other.

Sprog heights usually become lower with the age and usage of the glider, so if a glider was measured a year ago and the heights were ok it does not mean that the heights are still ok. From Christof's experience he can say that the error in the measurements is negligible in relation to the minus variation from the certified settings flown in the past by competition pilots. (Measurement error 0.25° in relation to sprogs lowered by 5.5° as we found today in one case at Tegelberg ) .

By the way, we have good international participation at Tegelberg including Manfred Ruhmer. The mood of the pilots is good, but I have to admit, Gerolf is not there. Unfortunately, the sealing of the sprog settings does not work as good as we thought, so we need random tests during the comp. I will keep you all informed about the outcome of the measurement procedure of this German Open.

More on this from Corinna: http://corinnaflies.blogspot.com/2009/05/womens-pre-worlds-day-1.html