Alphen aan den Rijn Sunday January 8 2012
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com www.glidinginternational.com www.soaringcafe.com
Pictures from the Jeroen Verkuijl blog!
http://pre-mundial.blogspot.com/
What a horrible week we had here in Europe and very much in Holland , weather-wise! Wind gusting up to 120 km/h here in Holland on the coast and in Germany up to 160 km/h. For the first time in Holland we heard again that a “dyke might give away. ” Evacuation followed for 800 people in the North as the water was 1 meter above sea level and the land 2 meters below, so if the dyke breaks it would NOT be GOOD to be there!
After the huge flooding in 1953 I thought we would be safe at all places in Holland, as they did such a lot of work on our dykes and on regulating the water! You might know that huge areas as Alphen where I live, as well as p.e Schiphol Airport are 6 meters below sea-level, so this was necessary.
On Thursday lightning was a problem and stopped some trains, rain caused flooding at several places some which have not flooded for 17 years and the wind really caused trouble ,[ even trucks flipped over] making the insurance costs for the future certainly higher. Too much wind over the last years. Too much damage bills!!! At this stage 1.600 people have damage and insurers think it will be above 10 million ,what they have to pay out!
Too much snow now in the Alps and Pyrenees and even snowstorms and possibility for avalanches.
By the way the dykes held and as somebody said no other country has a such a good system as Holland, it sounds all true to me now.
Luckily better weather in Argentina!!!
In Argentina the Pre- worlds start today in Chavez and I asked and can use the news from our Dutch pilot Jeroen Verkuijlwho flies there. First I just wanted to read it and get the interesting things out. But he writes in a nice way you surely enjoy it, so I asked if I could put the site on for ALL of you to read. He had no problem even not with the facts that concurrentsare reading now as well, so that’s very kind of him! THANKS Jeroen!!!!
I see the name everywhere different, Chavez or Chaves!!!??? On the official site it is Chaves and on the FAI site Chavez! I keep it on Chaves.
The name Rolf Hossinger, who died in 2005, is attached to the 32d WGC in Argentina in Jauary 2013. I remember him very well as TC for the Argentinian team in the past. He was a person you never over-looked. He was Swedish by birth but lived in Argentina for most of his life. He was world champion in 1960 in Cologne in Germany and did a lot for gliding in Argentina.
Jeroen arrived and was in a good mood. Looking at the clouds ..who would not be!
Picture; Courtesy Jeroen Verkuijl
—This is just great! First of all: CU starts to pop up at 12:00, growing in a fast rate and staying there for a long time. Cloudbase reported @ 3000m! Second, the people are even friendlier then I thought (and I already thought they were). Third, this feels like vacation!—
And…for all who are going to Chaves next year and come from Europe;
“ATM over here doesn’t work for any of my European cards and queues can get quite long, the pre-paid chip isn’t working on my European cell phone.—
Be aware of that! But….as I found out in the past, these problems will be solved and normally not occur when the WGC starts. That’s so good from having a pre-worlds!!!
Jeroens intention is to do his best for a place as high as possible but his goal is—” to get me as well prepared for the Worlds next year as I possibly can.But above all: have fun. That may not sound as a winner, but I can assure you: if you’re not having fun at what you are doing its going to be very hard to be the best.”—
And; First flight in Argentina is a fact. Hmmm, have to get a bit used to the Jantar … Unfortunately the weather was not so good as before (lots of wind!). Doesn’t matter: lots of days to come—
Pilots in Benalla struggled with small tasks after the HOT period , while pilot Geoff Pratt on the East side of Australia flew 634 km in his PIK 20 E.
After thinking to have had a good first day Paul Manderlooked at the results with mixed feelings, loosing 978 points due to “contest area violation”!!! He kept 20 points and found himself instead of spot 2 on 30!!!! But…rules are rules.
I left you on day 2 when a few outlandings in both classes showed that the fabulous weather had left. There were 4 outlandingsin sports class and 14 in club with in the 2 seater class 2 teams not coming home and this time , Paul Mander won the day in club class.
On Wednesday , competition day 3 ,Andrew Georgeson , who I know , from the past , as a very good pilot was unlucky and the only one making an outlanding in the duodiscus after 70 km. As the winner flew 100 km more Andrew lost a few points; 840 to be accurate.
In Sports class Brad won again flying 248 km during a 2.30 AAT in 2.40.
—-Bruce had a shocker, and Brad had an ok day… Still, 700points and 3rd isn’t so bad… Boy!! What a day. A few outlandings too esp in Club—-tweet from Anita Taylor.
And ” Down to 6th, but still 700 points! Brad quoted Ingo: it’s always better in NSW, so stay nth of the river!”
In club Paul was this time unlucky again, landing out after 162 km in a 2.30 AAT . But local kilometer-eater Tobias Geiger flew his LS 4 to a great first day spot, flying 222 km in time 2.42. A less good day for the Queensland -kilometer-eater Alan as he landed out after 145 km.
Day 4; speed task for all classes as the new weather cycle is building up again. 438 km. for sports , 308 for club and for the 2 seaters with Tocumwal as one of the TP’s .Tasks were flown by most pilots, but speed was under 100 km/h. Winners in each class; Brad in sports, winning 3 days in a row, a pity he had still business to attend on day 1,however these last days say enough about his flying. As his mate Bruce said, he is bubbling to the surface rapidly. In club Danish pilot Björn Rechinger, those Danish boys are doing well in Benalla and Tocumwal. In the 2 seater class , Graham Rock from the Hunter Valey flew the duo to 1000 points!
Day 5 , yesterday was cancelled as the window to fly in was too small and instead of flying the boys and of course girls, had their pilots meeting. I attended a few, that is even more tiring and harder then flying.But also interesting, hot discussions, the past and the future it all comes on the table and…..it takes a while.
Day 6 , today, was cancelled due to rain!
AND on their news I read—–The Sports Class day one result is still being considered by the protest committee!!! Penalties for airspace infringements have been applied for Sports class day 1. The Contest Director [Tim Shirley, a good and very experienced one!] gave all pilots a “jolly good talking to”. Smile as Life is Good!!—–
During the very hot weather in Australia code red counts for fires. Perth had a bad one last week, close to the airport. Here is the link, when you are interested ,send by Vanessa [ thanks Vanessa] who could see what happened;
” we have certainly noticed the smoke and increased flight traffic over our house – also a strange yellow light that comes with bushfires, which I suspect you may recall from your time in Oz.
It just looked like a big brown cloud from our back deck.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/severe-fire-risk-as-total-fire-ban-issued/story-e6frg13u-1226236218675
And yes I do recall that ; specially that one day on January 3 , I guess 1991, when the fire “flew” over Tocumwal, killing lots of animals and destroying many houses. People had to run for their lives. My friend Lesley and their guest Gerrit{ Kurstjens} left quickly with 3 kids in a car, when the fire was about 1 m. from the house. Geoff the owner stayed and saved it all by hosing the fires with water.Later he was happy but said ” it could have totally gone wrong”!! Pretty scary experience.
In Corowa a new groupe of pilots arrived from Prievidza. They have send their gliders in one container via Holland. One of them is Jozef, the top-director from the WGC in Prievidza. And…he did not have the easiest job during those comps, but he and his team could hold their own in a friendly and helpful way.Now it is relaxing .
Very pleased to see 2 guests from Israel in Tocumwal again. In the past we had some very nice people as Arnon and Gaël. Amir and Doron are there now and Doron flew his first GOLD C distance a300 km. out and return to Lockhart last Friday. Well done! Also Stefan from Sweden is back, good on him! On one of the pictures from Sportaviation I noticed good old Bill [ the founder of soaring in Tocumwal] and good old Twinks, both on their way to 90 years old. Not yet,…87 for Bill and 88/89, I guess, but as said on their way. Not “spring-chickens” , anymore but look ….they still visit the gliding place and still love it!!
www.sportaviation.com.au
Namibia remains good and my Belgium friends Bert and Hildeflew their 2d x 1000 for the season.Pleased with that! Reinhard Schramme flew his 11th x 1000 this season and Swiss pilot Jean- Marc Perrinhad wave and flew 1.666 km. in Argentina, in the 15 m. DG 808 , while Bruce[Cooper] still is waiting for his day to fly a “stunner” ,killing the waiting with long walks.
Another very nice 1000 km flight/triangle from 24 year old Patrick Puskeiler, this time in a borrowed single seater [Ventus 2 CM] as the ASH 25 EB , which was put at his disposal , had some engine problems.
GREAT day in Gariep Dam yesterday. A very nice declared 900 km Fai triangle in Gariep Dam in a duo discus in South Africa. VERY good!
More declared tasks from Gariep as Dutch pilot Jan Ritsma declared a 700 km.FAI triangle and flew it in a new Dutch record in a 15 m conversion Ventus 2 CT ;136 mkm/h. a Dutch record for 15m. 18m and open class . Of course a few 1000 km. flights as well another one for Hans, Gert and Klaus . Good on them.
pictures courtesy Doris Wiesenthal.[via FB]
An impressive flight yesterday by French top pilot Gerard Lherm. He flew in mid winter under superb circumstances, as he says, a 1000 km. starting at St Martin de Londresin France! He connected with wave over the great area of Cevennes , connected with nice wave over a valley and that went through to the Alps. The first 1000 km flight departing from Pic St Loup, [658 m. high] and in the South of France; a great wine area for the famous Languedoc wines. Gerard flew the Nimbus 4 DM, compliments!
A disaster in New Zealand where a hot air balloon got fire and killed the pilot and 5 married couples, some got their ticket as a Christmas present. Investigation has to sort out if the balloon was set in fire by hitting the powerlines during the landing or if the basket got in fire before.Huge flames were seen by eye- witnesses. 2 Of the passengers jumped , out not surviving it. TRAGIC very tragic!!! It was supposed to be the best and most impressive 45 minutes in their lives.
That’s it for this first week of January 2012. And….people have digged theirselves out of the snow and the dyke’s are still OK ! On the other hand on the other side of the world, the ship on the coast from New Zealand broke in 2, leaving containers everywhere in the water. Luckliy most oil was pumped out, but that still damaged a lot!!
CU next week. Cheers Ritz
To finish this blog, some pictures from Glider forever send to me last week.
Pictures; courtesy Rafa Soldan via Glider forever.