World Championship F3K Hand launch gliders 2025: a report

All 107 participants !

The Preparation...

When it was announced that the F3K World Championship would take place in Tarp, Germany, not too far from us, the decision to participate was quickly made. A team of six people would travel there. However, at the end of 2024 this was suddenly changed when Erwin unexpectedly passed away. We would sorely miss his cheerfulness and positivity, but above all, the anecdotes that always made us laugh. We carried him (Airwing) with us a little—in the design of our T-shirts, our planes, and certainly in our thoughts.

It then turned out that the BML, at the request of VML and AAM, would not grant any expense allowances this year, meaning there would be no financial support for participation in the World Championship. This despite the fact that the statutes of the BML explicitly state that one of its goals is, to quote: '…to provide financial support for the participation of the teams that will represent Belgium at continental and world model aviation championships.'. Not providing this support is about the same as sending, for example, an athletics team to a world championship and making them cover all expenses themselves. That doesn’t seem like the normal way of doing things. Hopefully, this decision will not be the final blow for many motivated pilots who would like to participate in FAI championships in the coming years. After some discussion, the team decided to represent Belgium anyway, including covering the hundreds of euros in registration fees themselves.

The Competition...

Preliminary rounds: The preliminaries were flown in fairly variable conditions, though without too much wind—which is actually quite common in this part of Germany. It was an opportunity to explore the surroundings of the field, with shifting winds and bushes, trees, and other obstacles in every direction. It quickly became clear that there was some small potential for using dynamic soaring, which led to considerable debate. Later, during a meeting, a kind of agreement was reached not to use it, although it could not be strictly enforced.

The model inspections went as smoothly as usual, although in Germany they tend to check a few more points. Afterwards, there was one hour of official training with four countries.

At the end of the day the opening ceremony was held, followed by a demonstration with two V1 pulsejet engines. It had been a long time since we had both seen and heard that again.

Sunday the competition began in fairly good conditions: little wind and decent thermals. In the afternoon the wind picked up with strong gusts, sometimes creating extreme conditions. This resulted in several poor flights for many pilots.

On Monday, more wind was forecast—which is almost standard in this part of Germany near the Danish border. The flights became increasingly challenging, with more out-landings. During one such out-landing by an Austrian pilot, his helper (who is also a pilot) injured his foot and we heard it crack. He was taken to the hospital where X-rays revealed splinters, among other things. If he wanted further treatment, he would have to go home.

By Tuesday, our Austrian friend was back with a brace and wished to continue competing, albeit by launching from a standing position. The predicted wind did arrive, and especially the gusts made things difficult at times. The gap between the top pilots and most of the others quickly grew—though some top pilots also fell behind considerably.

On Wednesday everything was cancelled due to continuous heavy rain. Only the planned 'party of nations' took place that evening, and it was thoroughly enjoyed by most. Music, food, and drinks softened the misery of the day.

Thursday fortunately brought better weather, though with quite changeable conditions and less extreme winds. They were also less quick to stop for short showers. You needed a bit of luck under such circumstances, but as always, the best pilots needed less luck than others.

Friday was similar and brought no major changes in the rankings. Guy Hufkens finished 30th, Kristof Verschoren 31st, and Steven De Weerdt 58th.

On Saturday the fly-off was held, which is always exciting with considerable risk in the more difficult tasks. It quickly became clear that the Croatians would be hard to beat. After some back-and-forth, the podium was occupied by two Croatians—1) Marko Damjanovic, 2) Arijan Hucaljuk—and a German, 3) Henri Sander.

The event concluded with the traditional banquet, which felt a little subdued compared to the rest of the fine organization, and it was here that the award ceremony also took place.

We can look back on a well-run and enjoyable world championship, where many (old) acquaintances were met again and some new faces were added.

F3K World Championships Team Manager Belgium

Take a look at the pictures on Flickr

Two worlds first at this championship.

From July 28 till August 3, the 2025 F3K World Championship is to take place in Tarp (Germany), close to the Danish border. Our Team consisting of Kristof Verschoren, Steven De Weerdt (team manager) and Guy Hufkens, with the help of Willy Verschoren and Rudi Mariën, will compete in a well attended competition counting 106 participants from 26 countries. The competition is going to run 17 rounds, in groups of 12 pilots !

Pilot in this picture is Steven De Weerdt, also acting as our team manager.

Have a look at the website of the championship here. The scoring uses the excellent online GliderScore system. Thus, you can follow the competition day by day. Look at the site Gliderscore.com, select the competition from the drop-down list and look for the round scores and individual results after round 1, or 2 or any other as they become available.

After 17 rounds, the top 12 competitors (3 CRO, 2 GER, 1 each from FRA, ITA, LTU, NED, POL, UKR and SUI) were engaged in the fly-off rounds. After five flights, the winner was Marco DAMJANOVIC (CRO), followed by Arijan HUCALJUK (CRO) and Henri Sander (GER). The best team was Croatia, with three pilots in the first 12 ! Fantastic !

Our team ended at the following places :

30. Guy Hufkens 90.30 %

31. Kristof Verschoren 89.35 %

58. Steven De Weerdt 79.44 %