NSW State Comps finished! NZ club class Nationals started!Newsy news and interesting flights!

NSW STATE COMPS from NARROMINE.

Sunrise, a new morning a new day, in Narromine,
as seen by Don Woodward,GREAT PICTURE, who won already 2 day’s. Good on him.
Courtesy Don Woodward.
SO IS THIS ONE.

Courtesy both great pictures Don Woodward.

When I left you last Wednesday the scores were not yet in. In the evening a sandstorm turned all gliders in the open air, red!!! Some had to add more ropes to avoid low flying gliders. The results for the day were:
Day  4…task 3;
Club; Paul [Dickson] in an LS 3 flew 192 km. during the 2 hour AAT in time 2.04. Runner up for the day was Bernie [Sizer] in his PIK 20.
open; Don [Woodward]flew to his 2d daily win in his ASG 29; 336 km. in time 2.36 [2.30 was set]
15m; a 2.15 AAT for them and Ben [Coleman] in Discus 2B won the day with 287 km. in time 3.03. Just a tad faster than Tom [Claffey] who flew 226 km. in time 2.25 [speed difference 93.86 for 93.34]

Day 5… ; After the skies cleared, tasks were set but the weather after the sandstorm, was not yet good enough so “tomorrow is another day.”Some just went for a flight and even flew the club-AAT- task!!!
Lumpy flew the set 327 km. task for zero points, but for fun; 111 km./h..

Day 6 task 4; Another good day!!
Club; Jenny [Ganderton ] won the 3 hour AAT with 364 km. in time 3.24 in her Mosquito. Exciting last day in this class as Bernie is ONLY 6 points ahead of Jenny!!!
Here is Jenny with her OLC comment;
A better day than yesterday – it got hot enough for the thermals to get to 7000 at the start, and there were wispy bits of cu and haze domes on the first leg. The second leg was good too – managed to follow some sort of energy line, and got my speed up to 108. I thought I would be able to get back with about 110, but fell into a big hole on the way home and got down to aerotow height. wasted a lot of time getting out of that, but managed to get the speed back to 100 by the finish. Half hour over time – this seems to work out OK with the start bonus.”
open…425,84 km; Casey [Lewis in the JS 1 was the new face at the daily podium followed by Lumpy, Don and Diana, good on her! 3 Different gliders JS 1, JS 3 ASG 29 and Discus 2CT.
After 4 day’s of flying and winning 3 of them , Don is looking to the last day pretty good ahead of Lumpy; 3.932 for 3.518.
15 m; Captain-Tom -day again. He flew the set 355.92 km. with a speed of 115 km./h to 1.075 points.5 gliders in this class 1; ASW 28/18m [Tom] and the rest Discus B or 2B.
With one day to go Tom leads with about 250 points.

Day 7 …task 5; LAST DAY!!!!
Club..315 km. for the “little” pure  gliders. And with 3 pilots pretty close in the top, everything was possible. It turned out that this was the case. A real “shuffle”!!!
On the last but one day Bernie[Sizer] was on top with Jenny and Paul following.
This last day was not so good for Bernie Sizer , but very good for Bernie Baer; including the bonus points he got 1.092 points for a speed of 104 km./ ph. Bernie B. was on spot 5 ,but moved up to spot 3 in his LS1f. Good on him and a pity for Bernie S.who lost on this last day more than 250 points which brought him from 1 to 4.
Paul in his LS 3 was 3d for the day and with the bonus included, he got 1.055 points, which brought him to spot 1 overall from 3. WOW, it was all happening in this class.
1. Paul Dickson in LS 3 with 4.592 points.
2. Jenny Ganderton in Mosquito with 4.554 points. Great practice for WWGC 2020.
3. Bernie Baer in LS 1f with 4.351
4. Bernie Sizer in PIK 20 b with 4.333.

open..365 km. Also some excitement in this class. Not for spot 1 as Don was far ahead and winning the last day with 148 km./h .helped also. Lumpy was runner up [140 km./h] and stayed at 2. No the “problem” was for spot 3. Good old David Pietsch moved from 4 to 3 gaining a 3d place for the day. So the final scores;
1. Don Woodward in ASG 29 with 4.794 p.
2. Lumpy Paterson in JS 3with 4.255 p.
3.David Pietsch in JS1 with 4.113 p.
4.Steven Adams in ASG 29 with 4.057 p.
Diana [Discus 2CT] was on spot 6 so another great practice competition for the WWGC in 2020.

15 m..339 km. A new daily winner;David Nash in a Discus B. Speed 110 km./h and 1.035 points
Overall;
1. Tom Claffey in ASW 28 /18m. with 5.088 p.
2. Ben Coleman in Discus 2B with 4.806 p.
3. Gary Stevenson in Discus 2B with 4.568 p.

Aussie comps have nearly finished now only a few to go.Next weekend Horsham , then between February 9 and 16 the 2-seatercomps [20 m]  in Narromine and somewhere in April the Lake Keepit Regatta.

 

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Western Cape Regionals…..continued!

I added a bit more info on the subject sport-soldiers in my last blog. They are still going strong in Worcester, BUT Laurens [ASG 32] was the one who won day 4 task 4 ,the 603 km. task.; speed 172.19 km./h.
Lukas was runner up in the ARCUS T with only ONE point less;999!!![172.09 km./h.]  Philip in his Discus 2T /18 m.  who was 5th on the 758 km. day was 3d now with a speed of 172 km./h which is pretty good in the Discus. Karin and Markus [ARCUS M] were 5th with 161 km./h.
Day 5..task 5..458 km; Another day with a bunch of pilots starting [13.32] and flying and more or less finishing together [ 16.31, 16.39 and 16.53] , at least that’s what it looks like between the 3 German teams.
Lukas with his  mate won the day with a speed of 154 km./h. Philip in the Discus with 147.46 km./h and Markus and Karin with 137 km./h. In between Sven , who with an earlier start at 13.23 finished at spot 3 with 146.80 km./h.
Laurens was 5th.
Day 6..task 6 ..510 km changed to 438 km..; A bad day for Laurens as he was “out” after 391 km.
A great day for the Discus 2T pilot Philip winning the day with a speed of 183.59 km./h.
Lucas and his mate flew in the ARCUS T around with a speed of 179.47 km./h. And Markus and Karin with 176.92 km./h. Great speed for all. FAST day.

As day 7 was cancelled the final scores after 6 great long and fast tasks were as follows;
1. Lukas Blattmann and friend  Reiff in ARCUS T with 4.779 p.
2. Philip Goralski in Discus 2T/18 m with 4.477 p.
3. Karin [Wiesenthal] and Markus [ Geisen]  in ARCUS M with 4 294  p.
4. Sven Olivier in JS 1.

 

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Club class NATIONALS in NZ started !.

Last Sunday the CLUB class Nationals started in New Zealand [January 28-February 9] from beautiful CENTENNIAL TAUPO, with 26 competitors in 2 classes.; Club with 11 and sports class with 15 competitors.
I expected Keith [Essex] there , but not Sebastian Kawa flying a Duo Discus.
They started last Monday with not too good weather,the meteo David Hirst had mixed feelings so had the pilots.
” decreasing winds and increasing temperatures on the positive side, but only weak thermals and convergences in the vicinity not sounding quite so good. However the task setters decided to make the most of the prevailing conditions and use the westerly winds on the Kaimais before they disappear later in the week (the winds, not the Kaimais!), so a task was set to the North and a launch began at about 1230.” by John Etches.
January 28;A tricky day.
Club …284 km
; but the “best “pilot flew 22 km. SO NO DAY.
Combi class 348 km; and Sebastian straight away showed he is one of the best pilots in the world and flew in a Duo Discus 320 km. Mark Tingey in the JS 1 299 and Taupo pilots Wardell & Terry in the ARCUS 279.
The rest, 13 pilots choose not to fly or flew under 80 km. or returned to the field.
Not a valid day!!!

January 29; A GOOD day.
Club…3 hour AAT and 9 pilots started among them CD Tim [Bromhead] in the DG 300. The ASW 20 from Michael Strathern flew 280 km. in time 2.48 and that meant 1000 points.[93 km./h.]
Combi class…3 hour AAT; 322 km. for ,…yes ….Keith [Essex] in his ASG 29 in time 2.54 for 1000 points. Patrick [Driessen] in the JS 1 was runner up and Sebastian in the Duo Discus 3d.
13 Started , 3 outlanded and 2 of them had problems with the airspace.

January 30; Today.
John Etches writes about today :”Today has dawned fine and beaut, although a bit too blue to be ideal, and forecast to be the hottest day of the year; some pilots were lucky enough to have a “brolly dolly” while waiting for the launch, the rest had to sweat it out! Already some pilots are reporting great lift in blue thermals so it’s looking good for another great day.”
Club…3 hour AAT; so the club pilots had another 3 hours to find the most kilometers to fly in that time. Michael who won already, was again the best with 257 km. in time 3.05. The blue conditions indeed had an effect on the distance and speed [83 km./h] but 1000 points again for Mike.
5 From 8 finished.
Combi class…300 AAT; All other pilots in “miscellaneous ” gliders tried to deal with the blue conditions as well. Patrick [JS1] was the best with 304 km. in time 3.06 and “got”  the 1000 points. Sebastian who started in the Duo 1 minute earlier  was runner up and Keith was on spot 4, starting as the last pilot at 14.32.
8 From 13 finished.

So some struggling for some pilots. All scores preliminary at this stage.

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—Some interesting flights;
January 22, by Damian le Roux from the UK,  flying from Bloemfontein. He flew a declared 1000 km. in a pure glider, a JS 1B.
January 23, one of the last Bitterwasser flights for the season by Werner Meuser ;1.181 km. in the ARCUS. Reinhard Schramme finished his season the EB 28 with 1.244 km.
January 25, a Stemme S10 flight from Perpignan by Gil Souviron;1.057 km.
January 27, “Failed 1500 km Diploma attempt. Wave in the north very patchy and not going over about 10,000 ft. Wind too much towards the south. Very tricky getting out of the Rangitata basin on the way back from the northern turn point” OLC comment from Max Stevens who tried a log task from Omarama in his 18m Ventus 2C ; 902 km.

 

—Some interesting news;
On January 21 the Canberra Gliding Club shared the next news ;
Our new DG1001S had its first day in operation at Bunyan on Sunday 20/1/19.”
Wishing it many happy and safe flights.

Bitterwasser said farewell to the gliders till next season.

The Bitterwasser season 2018/19 finally finished. At 8 in the morning last Saturday the trucks arrived to pick up the 7 containers. Arrival will be in the harbor of Rotterdam, here in Holland on February 25 for a new European season.
As shared by Bitterwasser Lodge & Flying Centre

News from the GFA:
The GFA Executive Officer Terry Cubley has been named a Member the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day Honours 2019.
The GFA and I am sure all members congratulate Terry for his outstanding achievements and dedication to Gliding and our sport in Australia.
For significant service to sports aviation, particularly to gliding as a competitor and administrator.”

I can only add my congratulations. Know Terry and Vicky since the pre worlds in Rieti in 1984, when Vicky was pregnant from her daughter. No jenever for her then!!!!Easy to remember.
And for those who do not know,….AUSTRALIA DAY was on JANUARY 26.
https://glidingaustralia.org

As shared by the GFA.

Congratulations as well to Dick Gower who got the same honor ” awarded an AM for services to the recreational and historical aviation sectors .
Dick and his wife Liz, live at the Tocumwal Residential Airpark AT the Tocumwal Aerodrome. Very nice people who I met last year.
Congratulations!!!

Dick and Liz and their plane.
Courtesy  Owen Peake

That’s it for now , CU next week.
Cheers Ritz.

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