Friends!

Alphen aan den Rijn                                    June 15 2008

Back from a nice week of bike riding , walking and talking with my school mates in Winterswijk, the east of Holland close to the German border. 3 of them I know , since I was 4 years old, 2 since high-school.And every year,  we just continue our conversations , where we stopped last time.
First day on the bike was tough with 52 km. For me, who has been on the bike twice this year to the shopping mall ,extra tough! But I managed !Next day 30 km ., easy……and the last bike day 20,…….no worries!
Then one day of walking [8km.] and the last day shopping.
The weather was great with temperatures up to 30 dgr. in the beginning of the week finishing with 17 on the day of departure.

Before going home my friend Ans and I visited the gliding field of Malden. Ans lives in Malden,[close to Nijmegen] and both of us went solo on this gliding field in 1967. Both of us have great memories on our student-gliding-holidays. We were member of the student aero-club ZES from Eindhoven. The boys all studied on the Technical University and even built their own winch during their study.As there was NO homefield, we travelled from field to field, as guests of other clubs. A very old winch hanging behind a very old pick-up truck and a 4wheel drive, also very old used for retrieves ,always went ,where we went.
So early spring was a visit to Venlo in the South of Holland, summer was Malden and late season flying was at the National Gliding Center Terlet , together with the students of the Delft aeroclub.Unforgettable times!! So for old-time-sake, we visited for a coffee the gliding field.
We were more then surprised to see lots of gliders and lots of pilots. So ….we arrived on the last flying day of the KLU comps; the comps for military pilots , but open for all who want to participate.
Lots of well-known faces and kisses and handshakes all over! Pilots I had not seen for 15 years, lots of really old good mates!
Also here at this field the top pilots were in the top. With 40 participants it was fully booked! Pilots new to competition gliding can qualify for next years Nationals if they have points enough!
In Standard /15 m. Bas Seiffert won. Good practise for the World comps in Rieti.
Martin Smit former Dutch team pilot won in open class . Runner up was A9, I think I remember that call-sign from Hein en Anneke since the beginning of my visits to championships in 1974.Hein is 78, looks like 68 and did not change at all!Still flies comps!!

Last week was nice enough weather in Europe. Distances between a first 50!!! and 1000km [ASW22 BLE] from Burg Feuerstein were flown.
The Minden area in the States had good weather, so had Truckee not far from Minden. I liked Minden when I was there for the pre worlds in ’90. Unfortunately one year later they had to move to Uvalde as the “bombers ” from the fire brigade HAD to fly , even if finishes were on, when there would be a fire.And that happened regularly.
In the end it was not too bad for us, as Baer Selen won the comps in Uvalde in Rick Walters glider[Rick flies in the world comps in Luesse!]and I was his “boss”. Of course Baer was a great pilot , already world champion in Chatauraux, but team building and team spirit were the ingredients of his new success and the fact that George Schuit managed to “talk” Baer home one day around a severe thunderstorm during the  finish . I remember there was no sight at the field and p.e Patrick Stoufs had to land with nearly no visibility, touching with one wing one of the lights on the runway.Luckily no real damage, as far as I remember.Pretty spectecular weather it could be there in Minden.

Don’t forget to take CALIBRATED flight recorders to Rieti or Luesse!Not long and the first “divided” world comps will start. 108 pilots are on the list for Rieti and with their TC’s and crews it will be a huge family. Looking forward to see many familiar faces and catching up with my “mates”.A bit more then 2 weeks and I will “see” you all from Rieti.

Have a good week, Ritz

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