Spring weather. USA 20 m Nationals and …..HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Post 1.489 on March 27 2024

Always interesting to see if everything is working again on the laptop, after they closed off ALL electricity, for 6 hours.
Pfff….IT WORKED!!!!!
The astronomical spring has started here and for my Aussie mates autumn.
We started with a lovely 19dgr. C but 2 days later it felt like autumn here.
Monday however looked here like 1000-km-weather, which of course ,it was n’t , but super skies.
In any case 16 Dutch pilots flew on that Monday and they really had a good time; 477 in an ASW 22BLE……420km in an ASW 20WL, 5 over 300 km -flights and 2 over 200 km.
Great start of the season. Luckily the gliders from the Narromine -WGC, were back home too, so pilots could straight away jump in ,when they wished.
In Germany they had 6 flights over 600 km. in Ventus 3 and 2, Discus 2b and ASH 26E.[FAI 500 triangle] One was even over 700 km.in Ventus 3M. [FAI 500 Triangle] Happy pilots!
A St. Libelle nearly flew 300 k.

—————————————————–

—-Soaring in Seminole Lake continued after the seniors were ready with the USA 20 m multi-seat NATIONALS.
AND…..luckily Bo and Rich stayed there as well,after their senior-experiences, so we are sure of great pictures and funny/good stories. When you want to read the stories in full and ALL pictures ,you have to go to https://www.facebook.com/SoaringSocietyofAmerica/

Bo Michalowski with a real Bo-picture!

Day 1 was on Wednesday March 20 ;
It was a blue chilly day. Before flying the 14 teams had of course; “The Mandatory Safety Meeting was held at 9:45 am and many topics were covered. Staying out of airspace that you do not belong in was a top subject.
Due to a later start , the task was changed to a 2 hour Assigned Area Task.
Not a flash day as there was weak lift and very low cruising altitudes, specially on the last leg.
The scores for the day were very low due to the short length of the task. In third place was the team of Juan Mandelbaum and Phil Gaisford,[In Duo Discus] with Michael Marshall and Hal Woodruff in second. [Duo Discus] Winning the day with a blistering raw speed of 54.55 over the distance of 112.01 miles was Jim Franz and Jared Granzow. [Arcus jet] For their efforts, they obtained a total of 445 points. A win is a win, and this contest is going on for another 9 days. Stay tuned for all the action in this clash of the buses.

Shared by Soaring Society of America and picture courtesy Bo Michalowski

Day 2; was again a prey for Arcus -Jet pilot Jim Frantz and team mate Jared Granzow; another 615 points, so 1060 in total now. Dr Mandelbaum in the Duo Discus T [ 5th for the day] is still on 2 overall,but they have to share this spot now with Arcus M pilots Lee and Bostik.
It turned out to be NOT an easy day!!!!!
We had hit trigger temperature that should have gotten them to 2,500ft easily. After launching, there were very little comments from them until the CD made a query. Both were below release height and not climbing. This was the first of several launch delays of the day.” Rich.
With task C they left Seminole to go on track for a racing task. The early starters were caught by the gaggle , en route some got low , in the end nearly all found their OWN way home and found it “an enjoyable and challenging task.” Rich

Bo Michalowski

RAIN on March 22…..so,….just such a great picture from Bo.

Day 3 on Saturday March 23; “It Was the Best of Times and the Worst of Times” Rich
Daily runner up was the ARCUS JET , with team Lee on spot 3 and as team Mandelbaum was on 8 there was no equal runner up spot overall anymore, but they are now on 2 and 3 behind Jim Frantz, who in fact won ,the 3d win in a row , as the daily winner flew an ASG 29/18 m, so HC for a 2 seater competition.
They had gridded, left the covers on, as it was not at all sure if they could fly,…. a 50-50% chance .
The day started with total overcast and the possibility of rain at noon.
We spotted all the ships on the grid and the sun came out. Cu were appearing in the north where it was not supposed to be. Expectations for flying started to increase and soon, the order was given to launch the fleet.” Rich
Off they went for an AAT rather late in the day cause of the waiting and changes. Not too bad circumstances with a cloud street found by several, nice CU’s, but also blue “holes” and taking care of airspace was important too.[ the Disney World PTFR ….permanent temporary flight restriction.]
Rich finishes with :”Looks like we may fly the next four days in a row.”

shared by Soaring Society of America picture courtesy Bo[zema Michalowkski]

No flying on Sunday March 24;
Why????
Here is Rich:”The morning broke over Central Florida and already the pilots knew we were in trouble. I can tell when everyone starts waking up. Our internet slows to a crawl when the pilots start checking early morning weather. The skies were completely overcast, and the wind was blowing so much the glider covers looked like Grand Ma’s skivvies blowing on the clothesline. Today looked like a problem day for more than just the weather. First thing in the morning, the coffee pot refused to work until we hit it a few times in the right spot. However, coffee was not available for the pilots meeting, but everyone had their favorite donut, so all was good with the world.”

Contest day 4 March 25; with another AAT [3 hours] and this time Pete and Rich won the day, yes the ” back-seater who writes” and Pete who I know from Uvalde 2012. Nice fellow! 519 daily points and number 2 now overall in the “mighty” ASG 32 MI.
Jim in the ARCUS J still leads though his very good back-seater is leaving. Another reporter, with also a soaring-podcast ,Piet Barber is now 3d overall. And that in a Duo Discus!!!!They were 4th for the day, BUT they lead overall with ONLY ONE point over Team Mandelbaum.
The overall points are very close; Jim has now 2088 points, Pete and Rich 1920 , team Barber /Retting 1861 and team Mandelbaum/Gainsford also in Duo Discus 1860.[11th for the day]
Here are some parts of the long story from Rich;
Today was to be an early start with good lift and reasonable top of lift. … the day was going to end early, around 3:30pm. .”
The first and second legs were fast or very difficult depending on when you started. Early and late starters were not in the best position on these legs.
“Sometimes the east side worked, other times the west side of the line was better. The key to this piece of the puzzle was to stay connected to the clouds in the upper part of the height band and not get low.”
“A safe landing ensued in the 15-20 knot crosswind. Today was brutal.
“In the end we had 9 engine starts, 2 landouts and only 3 finishers, 2 of which had finish penalties.”
Contest day 5; a racing task. Daily winners Pete and Rich in glider 98 the Arcus J. A difficult day for some as there were 2 out landings and 5 gliders coming back with their engine.A late evening as most were back late.
Jim with a new back -seater has 2882 points. Pete and Rich have 2730 points and the Duo Discus T with team Mandelbaum/Gaisford holds on. 9th for the day but 3 overall with 2638 points.
More next week.

—–Matthew ,….yes Scutter….. shared an urgent update so I share it with you too;

https://gliding.lxnav.com/…/pf_am_7_23_fbf46726a_exp_1…

——-Gliding Australia “Gliding Australia Magazine in Print – Last Chance – Subscribe today for the print edition Gliding Australia Magazine – Next Issue Out in April, so hurry. Deadline 30 March for print copies GA “Members Click https://tinyurl.com/yhvtt8bt to subscribe

——-907 km was flown by Ramy Yanetz , who made an incredible wave flight on March 14, up to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. He started and finished at Williams in his AG 29/18 m. Ramy is a member of the Northern California Soaring Association.
“Fantastic off shore wave day. Skysight nailed it.”

Great series of pictures to be seen on https://www.weglide.org/flight/366708 or on https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=9745950#comment=undefined&map=


—–E glider news; as shared by Aldo [Cernezzi]
E6-Glide will take place in Varese, 8th to 14th of September 2024
All participating sailplanes must be equipped with an auxiliary electric engine. All pilots will have a limited quota of electric power they will use during the sporting performance. This opens a whole lot of new strategies, which makes the competition even more interesting. Competition flying will possible even if thermal conditions are less than optimal and the “chess in the air” feeling of normal gliding events will rise to a new level.
The previous edition took place in Saint-Auban, Franc
e.”
More info on the club’s website https://acao.it/attivita-sportiva/gare-eventi/e6glide/

——“A powerful wave day” Max Stevens called it. Starting from Wellington in N.Z. he flew 1.031 km with a speed from 150.95 km/ph and a height of just a tad under 6000 m. He had to open his brakes several times to avoid Vne issues. That was on Monday, on Tuesday another good wave day but with “less clouds and more sun”.
The mountains in Europe, have great wave as well; Koenigsdorf had already 2 early over 1000 km flights on March 10, one even 1.265 km. and yesterday another 1000 k was added in an ARCUS.

That’s it for today, it’r raining now , but last Monday gave us hope for a good season.
By the way, the Dutch Nationals will be flown between Mai 8 and 18 and as I read they have now 5 classes with in each class at least the minimum amount of 8 pilots to make the winner DUTCH CHAMPION.
https://www.nkzweefvliegen.nl/

HAPPY EASTER DAYS from Ritz

Looking in the JS-production-finish-line- hangar!

Post 1.488 on March 20 2024

Many gliders under construction.As shared by Lumpy Paterson


—–It’s not often that a customer/guest is allowed to make pictures in the final-production- hangar of a glider manufacturer. For that reason it is really kind of Lumpy to share some pictures from part of this process. He is there for his new JS5. On top of that it is great PR for Jonker Sailplanes.

No,… this LP is not his. It has a German registration and according to Lumpy”nope …… mine written much prettier than that 🤣

On day 2 of his visit, Lumpy writes;
Welcome to JS3 RES heaven! Lots of different colours and designs going outta the shop.
The work areas have grown significantly since my last visit, there’s now three hangars in the production line and plenty of action. The finish on these are just superb and there’s Almost one being test flown every couple of days.
Lots of flying test work going on with the JS2 as well… 18/21 mtr self launcher, working through the EASA certification process.
I had another great flight in the 5 today heading up towards Botswana for a nice 525km out and return at 145kph. I put 110 ltrs of water on for todays flight and really enjoyed the run. The handling is still awesome, still great feel of the air ….. and in the glide it was noticeably smoother and faster, this thing is a weapon !!”

On March 17 he and Oscar [Goudriaan] flew a 750 from Potchefstroom in a JS 3 and the new JS 5 with 148 km./h. AND,….Lumpies mates Bernie and Ojars flew from Tocumwal 404 and 508 km in Pik 20 B and ASH 31/21m.
Amazing weather …”nice autumn days“….still both in South Africa and down under.

——-The SENIORS are flying/have flown again from Seminole Lake and as every year they have some kind of Hawaii-shirt-day. I noticed that they did so at the F1 in Leeton Australia as well.

Even the field runner ……as always indispensable …..were dressed for the occasion. Most pilots and even their partners had a flower-power-style shirt ot even dress, with Hawaii flower-chains around the neck.
Courtesy Bo Michalowski
They fly in a stunning surrounding, so it is a welcome HOLIDAY for most pilots.

After 2 non flying days they flew on Wednesday and Thursday. 3 hour and 2 hour AAT.
Contest day 1; 3 hour AAT….. Here is Rich Owen ,who flies in the back from 98 with Pete Alexander.He is a funny writer and I LIKE his style!
“there were some nice cu but also some areas that had large blue gaps. Sticking to the cloud fields seemed to be the best answer to traverse this leg. Lift was getting stronger and cloud bases were also getting higher. It wasn’t bad when you rolled into a 6-7kt thermal for 2,000ft.
In the end of the day there were winners;
“In third place was Karl Striedieck flying with his brother Walter with a raw speed of 65.94mph. We did not have a second-place finisher due to a tie for first place. Billy Kerns with his LS-8 flew 198 miles at a speed of 64.38mph while Pete Alexander and Rich Owen flew an ASG-32Mi 221 miles at a speed of 72.42mph. Both ships received 1,000 points for their effort.”
Contest day 2; 2 hour AAT...Due to some rain that flooded the south end of the runway, we have been forced to change the way we grid for this contest.
“Today we tried something a little different to coincide more with what the rules say about rotating the grid. We had 5 groups of short wing gliders go down at different times to stage in position. So, 6 gliders at a time would tow down into takeoff position. No specific spot was assigned but the grid is rotated each day. Everyone approved of the process and we plan to use it during this contest.”
Start of the flying-day;
The first leg was either fast or trying. Some pilots averaged 3 knot climbs while others were happy to have 1.5 knots.
But then…..”Cirrus completely covered the landscape and very little sun was making it to the ground. The route home plotted on See You for all the pilots looked like a bomb burst since we all took very different paths home. Many got stuck low over Winter Haven and had to dig out to avoid a landout. The pilots who started late had an even more difficult time. In the end, we only had one landout and everyone else made it back safely.
In the end of the day…..“When all the chaos ended, we found a shake up on the score. Sam Zimmerman finished in 3rd place with Henry Retting in second place.In first place was Nico Bennet, a two-time winner of the Seniors with a raw speed of 61.60mph over 108 miles.
Contest Day 3; 1.45 AAT.….”The first leg was either fast or slow depending on the line you took.Lift in the start circle was weak and the number of clouds were few.Soon a line formed over highway 27 which the locals all call the Florida ridge. It seems to be the fastest path to the southeast side of the state. The faster you get on it, the better you will do. The winners pretty much did exactly that.
Final glides were all benign and the recovery back at Seminole-Lake was safe and efficient. It is amazing the level of skill and professionalism that our pilots exhibit during this highly stressful evolution.”
When all the dust had settled.
Only 53 points separate the top 6 competitors, and the podium is up for grabs. In overall standings, Joerg Stieber from the SOSA club in Canada is in 6th place with Nelson Howe is in 5th place. In 4th is Doug Jacobs with his 21-meter ASH-31Mi. In 3rd place is P7, Gary Ittner, only 43 points out of first. The closer race is between Jim Lee/Joe Bostik in 2nd and Henry Retting in first. Only 12 points separate these excellent pilots.” as written by Rich Owen.
AND……:“Now watching our older pilots leave their ships after flying 3-4 hours leaves something to be desired. It sometimes takes two tries to get out. Seems like they also like to try and figure out how to email their flight log to the scorer before getting out of the ship.”

“Reporter” Rich in the back of 98. Upfront is Pete Alexander.
Courtesy picture; Evelyn Tovar

Friday was the last day ;
Contest day 4; 3 hour AAT.…Start was open at 13.44.
Part of the daily story from Rich; “The start time was a little critical since high cirrus on the west side of the task area was expected mid-day.
On the first leg, it was straightforward. There weren’t any cloud streets to speak of but climbs of 2.5kts to 4,000ft were common.
The lakes and late day sun angles reduced the density of the cloud field in this area, and everyone had to be careful. Good news was the clouds heading home looked great and final glides were fairly easy.

Good old Doug Jacobs won the day.

On the banquet all important people got a THANK YOU, CD John [Good] scorer Rick [Sheppe] also the ground crew, the volunteers and the meteo Fernando [Silva] .
“Our tow pilots received a standing ovation for their work to get all the pilots in the air safely and with smiles on their face.

Lovely prizes. Indeed something to work hard for.
As every year THANK YOU TO BO for sharing her fabulous pictures with all of us.
The winners; By the way good old Doug Jacobs won the last day.Doug was world champion in 1985 in Rieti in 15 m class.

Here are 2 more, cause they say so much without words;

ADORABLE!!!!!!
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

THANK YOU BO AND RICH!!!!!!!!

—–Last week I wrote about Matthew visiting The Netherlands because of EuroGlide in mid summer.[end of July beginning of August].
This week there is more news about his SkySight.
Big news! We are integrating ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) weather data into the starting point for our model, greatly enhancing the quality and depth of our data sources.
ECMWF is the world’s leading global weather model, more than ten years ahead of the popular GFS model. The enormous volumes of their data and high cost have previously made it inaccessible to the gliding world, and we are proudly the first to use it.
However, by itself, ECMWF is still not detailed enough, which is why we use it as a starting point for our ultra-high detail model.
What does it mean for you? Better forecast data, now delivered faster and more often represents the biggest year-on-year forecast improvement!
SkySight

AND…..MORE……Paraglider and Hangglider pilots🚨 – we haven’t forgotten about you! 😍
For the last six months we have been working on “Launch Points” – an easy way to see at a glance if the launch is working.
MUCH more on SkySight

——-The Kiripotib containers with their many gliders have arrived in Europe nicely in time for the new season.

Many hands make light work🙌. Gliders have landed safely in Austria. Their owners have been eagerly awaiting to start the upcoming glider season.We wish you a great flying season and look forward to welcoming you back to Kiripotib! “
Dates for the coming season have already been finalized: https://tinyurl.com/258kz56a

—-The AmstelGlide 2024 is for all who are interested and current on June 8 and 9 flown from the beautiful airport of Soesterberg in The Netherlands.
www.amstelglide.nl

——To let you know already now; The 15th JWGC will be in Lake Keepit in Australia in 2028.
Bruce [Taylor] mentioned already : “And what great news to have the juniors back at Keepit. Super racing site!”

——To finish a special picture from June 2006.

An Air Patrol/Zlin Z-137T towed 9 Blaniks on 11 June 2006 over Sliac Airport (Slovakia). Those in the middle must have been working hard!
As shared by Gliding on March 8.
Some call it “MADNESS” ,” more good luck than management“, “Irresponsible“, “recipe for disaster” .
I leave it up to you….nice picture though.

Cheers Ritz
P/S 1. It was interesting to see NO flights on the OLC yesterday morning at 11AM, when flying had stopped on the other side of the world. That does n’t happen often. I know it was raining cat’s and dogs in Tocumwal. Hope it stops in time …presume it will….for the Australian F1 car races.

P/S 2…..This blog was published on Tuesday evening 8PM. Due to “work in progress” on the electricity system in the area where I live there will be NO electricity in the morning. EVERYTHING has to be removed from the electricity points, to have no damage on TV’s, radio’s ,laptops, routers phones etc. For 6 hours no working-fridge either.
Better earlier, than later, specially for my Aussie readers.

No comps…but enough soaring-[related]news!

Post 1.487 on March 13 2024

Though,….. The SENIORS are flying in Florida and there is 1 upcoming REGIONAL competition in South Africa end of April;

—–The season is about to start everywhere in this part of the world and at some places it started already. For some clubs reparations are still in full swing. Gliders will be in perfect condition, parachutes repacked and instruments “tuned”
SkySight shares some news /PR, as as well
The wait is over – the Gliding Season is starting!
Another season is upon us and we want to make sure you don’t miss a single opportunity to take flight. 🌤️✈️ That’s why we’re encouraging all gliding enthusiasts to set up their PFD alarms or route alarms with SkySight today!
With our smart alert system, you’ll receive instant notifications when the perfect flying conditions are forecasted, ensuring you won’t miss the chance to fly that bucket-list task
.”
Here’s how to set up your alarms:
1. Visit SkySight.io and select the Potential Flight Distance (PFD) option.
2. Click “Create New Alert” and choose your preferred location on the map.
3. Set your desired threshold for notification and give your alert a personalized label.
4. For route alarms, simply click the icon next to your desired task in the parameter menu.

Matthew from SkySight is prominent in the WeGlide Magazine answering 5 questions on the new season.
He will be even in The Netherlands in June for the start of EUROGLIDE.
To mark the start of the season we asked our founder Matthew Scutter on the upcoming season. We asked him on his plans and the updates for the weather model. Read it all in WeGlide magazine.
magazine.weglide.org

——-Midland Gliding Club shares news about a, so to see, pretty nice weekend.

“Are you interested in starting something new; Pushing yourself to do and be more? On 27th and 28th April we are running a Women’s Go Gliding Weekend! Please get in touch with us for more information. There will be offers available for everyone, not just women!

——-From the USA [Frauke]I got the next news about the German Magazine SEGELFLIEGEN. It  is now available in English under the name SOARING INTERNATIONAL.
To subscribe go to ; https://soaring-international.com/download-online-edition/

——-Great flights from N.Z. USA pilot Kelvyn Flavall spend his season in Omarama in N.Z. Normally he flies from Seattle but nearly going home he said:” A great way to cap off an absolutely fantastic season flying out of Omarama. Big wave flight, but not easy. Very strong wave in places and quite moist at times.
1.062 km speed 161.58 km./h. in an ASG 29E/18m
Gavin Wrigley an Aussie, also flying from Omara flew on that same Thursday March 7 in an LS4, 870 km/134.28 km./h.
Flying a 1000 in a Duo Discus is also REMARKABLE!!!That happened as well in Omarama on that same day; 1.011 km/156 km./h. by Milan and Richard.

——-Europe had some strong flights too early in their season.
A great season start for Werner Amann , on March 3,….he flew nearly 1.600 km [1.589] in the brand new AS33Es in the Alps, with 136 km./h. in the 18 m configuration. An out and return from Hohenems-Dornbirn in Switzerland.
On the same day Rainer Crohnjaeger flew in the ASH 31MI/21 m. a free distance flight from 1.124 km./ h. from Hausen am Albis.

Australia still enjoys great soaring and pretty high temperatures …38 dgr.C….for the beginning of autumn. The last couple of days they had an heatwave with 40 dgr.C even in Victoria, where it normally is not that hot.
Mac flew from Temora 759 km [500 FAI triangle] in the LS 8-t neo, Tocumwal still has flights up to 639 km ,so does Narromine up to 600.
On March 9 the skies were booming over Benalla, according to the Gliding Club of Victoria;”Twenty five launches in the Tug today and the sky is booming!”
Toby Geiger flew in the 15m Ventus 2ax an FAI triangle from 500 km. Mind you later starts and early ends of the days.
Tocumwal had 10 to 11.000 ft cloud base.

Argentina had superb weather on March 8 and 3 pilots noticed that , took their glider for a ride and what a “ride” it was for them.
Juan Pablo Verdura flew in his Ventus 2cm /18 m.;1.673.22 km with a speed of 193 km./h. They had wave up to 7932 MSL.
Federico Buscema flew in the Nimbus 3DM; 1.486.60 km, speed 169.73 km./h.
Alejandro Pettenazza flew in ARCUS M ;1.380,67 km, speed 176.12 km./h.
Zapala Neuquen was the place to be.

Germany had a great weekend on March 10 with 3 over 1000 km flights from Koenigsdorf and Trieben. Even 1,265 in Ventus 2cxm/18 m [ wave up to 5.388 MSL] and 1,289 km in ASH 31/21 m.
Flying from Koenigsdorf to the” Zugspitze” the highest mountain on the border of Germany and Austria [2962 m] is a great way to start the race over the “giving” Alps.
A flight in a Discus 2c/18 m should be mentioned too; 1.120 km.
From Austria Wolfgang flew that same day 1.116 km. from Wiener Neustadt in an ARCUS.

——-TWIN SHARK news;
TwinShark has on 6.3.2024 achieved EASA certification, a remarkable achievement coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the Libelle H 301’s maiden flight.
Join us in celebrating this momentous occasion as we continue to push the boundaries of aviation excellence. Elevate your flying experience with the TwinShark!

HpH Sailplanes

Talking about the Libelle, here is more news from Glasflügel-Glasfaser Flugzeug Service 
Today is the 60th anniversary of the first official flight of the Libelle H 301. Eugen Hänle wanted to check everything would go smoothly, so he did a flight the day before!
Our website has plenty to read about everything Glasflügel, but here is a link to take you straight to today’s focus, with lots of rarely seen photographs
.”

https://streifly.de/en/home/glasflugel/h301/ – English

https://streifly.de/h301-de/ – German

We had WORLD WOMEN DAY on March 8 and several gliding clubs with female club members, had their own” Women of Aviation Worldwide Week” and there was more on that day.
When you have 5 minutes and 43 seconds to spare have a look at the great video ““Women carry half the sky”…from Jerolamo Radman who shares pictures from women in gliding “during a championship, gliding meetings, you have crossed my path, from 2008 until 2023, perhaps you will see yourself in one of these photosThank you for these meetings, these smiles, these good times of laugh and friendshipand if you don’t see yourself in this little film… be sure that I still remember you.”

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/vocXEW982bDSimaP/?mibextid=a6qBZl

AND,…..“Gliding Australia celebrates the women who take to the skies. It’s a team effort from our girls, from the instructors to the pilots, students, airworthiness ladies, tug pilots and supporters making it all possible. Let’s celebrate overcoming obstacles, fulfilling dreams, and welcoming more women into the gliding community.”
Talking about the Libelle AND women, more news from Glasflügel-Glasfaser Flugzeug Service
“Today for International Womens Day, we would like to celebrate two exceptional women.
Ursula Hänle was instrumental in the creation of Glasflügel and the development of the Open and Standard Libelle. Later, in her business Start + Flug, she became the first (the only as far as we know) woman to design and build a glider, the Salto.
Barbara Streifeneder worked for Glasflügel as a Draftswoman and her name can be seen on the drawings for the Standard Libelle and Kestrel. She was a partner in the Glasfaser Flugzeug Service until she passed away in 2003.

Ursula Hänle sitting in the H 30
Barbara and Christian Streifeneder.Christian runs the Glasflügel-Glasfaser Flugzeug Service now.

——–The 2024 pre- registrations for FAI SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX have been closed and a record participation shows the success of this type of soaring. When there are cancellations you might be lucky to still enter .
I know Terlet in The Netherlands is already fully booked and that is only in Mai 2025.
The following 2024 events pilots pre-registration phase are officially closed for :

  • Spain : but still some places available (2), first arrived first served rules is now applied, visit the event page to register.
  • Norway : event is full but if any pilot cancel her/his participation, waiting list is small so you can still apply and have a chance. Go to event page to register.
  • Germany : event is heavily overbooked.
  • Italy : event is slightly overbooked, if any pilot cancel her/his participation, waiting list is small so you can still apply and have a chance. Go to event page to register.
  • Slovenia : event is slightly overbooked, if any pilot cancel her/his participation, waiting list is small so you can still apply and have a chance. Go to event page to register.
  • France : event is full but if any pilot cancel her/his participation, waiting list is small so you can still apply and have a chance. Go to event page to register.

https://sgp.aero/news/2024registrationsclosed

—–Some IGC plenary news; Aldo was so kind to sent me some dates and news on awards.
TABOR Czech Rep; has the WGC for the “small ships” between August 3 and 17 2024.
Uvalde USA; has the WGC for the big ships between August 14 and September 1 2024
Aalen Germany ; JWGC in 2026.The bid included extremely favorable conditions for renting some gliders.
Slovenia gets the WWGC in 2027.
The 13.5m WGC will be discontinued. The last one will be in Ostrow this year when they have enough pilots and nations to fly it.
The Lilienthal Medal was awarded to Tomas Wala.
The Pirat Gehriger diploma went to John Wharington.
The Pelagia Majewska medal. Not awarded this year.I got mine in 2015!!!!!

BUSY, busy at the 34th Senior Championship in Seminole Lake Florida
Shared by Bo but courtesy picture goes to Jared Granzow

To finish the start of news about the 34th edition of the 2024 Senior Soaring championship flown from Seminole Lake in Florida.
Always very pleased to see the pictures from Bo. I share 3 already here, with enough gliders and great skies and some pilots .
Practice was on March 8 and they fly between March 9 to 15.
Many “oldies” with HUGE respect, have their holiday competition in Seminole.
What started as a friendly competition between friends have turned into a highly competitive event pitting some of the best pilots in the country and beyond. We welcome World/National Champions, Junior Racers as well as first time competitors to Seminole-Lake Gliderport. “

Day 1,…some “grim [serious]-looking faces” More like a union meeting….NO flying day….that says it all!!!

Till now they only flew yesterday. A 3 hour AAT with 4 TP’s ; Sam wrote;”light S wind, cu over entire task area all day. Ave lift around 4 knots.” Pretty good day.

More next week
Cheers Ritz.

Regatta’s are fun! IGC Plenary in Toulouse. 2024- Season started in The Netherlands.

Post 1.486 on March 6 2024

——Regatta’s are fun. Not so serious, but serious enough!!!When you can’t fly every day, you show up when you can .
Mathias [Kopp] did not fly during the first days , but on task 4 [3 hour AAT] his ASG 32 Mi, was on the score board as number 2 for the day, behind another new face Justin [Smith] in JS 3 at the podium. Justin missed day 1 ,was present on the next 2 days and won task 4 with 356.67 km/ 111.11 km./h.
This day overall leader David [Pickels] did not fly so others passed by .
Ayala who was 6th for the day, tops the overall scores now.
Then…… a 3 hour NOT FLOWN AAT.
The last 2 days showed scores again and 12 pilots went for another 3 hour AAT. Good old Brad,[ I heard he is going for the 3d time to Uvalde,] was the daily winner during task 6; 421.66 km/131.71 km./h. Decent speed in his ASG 32. Ayala , who started 1 minute later , was runner up. Great performance in “her” LS6.
From the 13 starting pilots 6 were out.
The last day had a 2 hour AAT, but it was not flown.
Ayala in the LS 6 won the Regatta with 3.981 points .Good on her!!!!

——-As you know I am a big fan of Rieti and it really pleases me , that at the IGC plenary in Toulouse, [March 1 and 2 2024, ]choose Rieti as THE place for the WGC 2027 for Club, 15 m and standard class!!!!
I have been there at 3 CIM’s, the JWGC in 2007 and 2 WGC’s already starting in 1984 with the pre worlds and then the WGC from 1985 and 2008.
Aldo shared the new from a paper;”In the meeting underway in Toulouse, France, the votes expressed this morning by the members of the International Gliding Commission in favor of the Rieti candidacy were decisive for the assignment, which thus beat the competition of the French town of Vinon in the second round of voting, after an initial phase that ended in a draw.”
Like Uvalde it’s their 3 WGC and till now I was part of all of them. Not bad is n’t it?

Aldo Cernezzi

In 2026 the European Championship will be flown in Poland from Ostrow, good on them another Cat1 competition!!!Soon they host the JWGC.

Aeroklub Ostrowski

—–There was more news at the IGC meeting. I wait for the summary of decisions and share the most important with you, when I have them.
Still have n’t got them, so stay with me on this item.
Important for some pilots are the changes on handicap.
Matthew [Scutter] always an honest and fair -to-the-point-“thinker” on many items shared the list with the words;
“New IGC handicap list – the LS3 and ASW20’s got what was coming to them!
What do you think? What’s the best choice now?
I reckon the LS4/LS7 are back in business as the best
.’

——The very first flying day in the new 2024 season here in the Netherlands was on March 2 and it felt like spring, sunny, “fresh” , as in pretty cold, but flyable, as you can see on Arjan’s pictures. AND,…. a bit of thermal activity as well, what do you want more?! Indeed a bit,…as the first out-landing was fact as well.
HUGE NEWS in a paper, as if disaster had struck, but just an out landing.
Great day for annual checks however!!

Busy already so early in the season GOOD.
Pictures as always from Arjan [Arjan Vrieze Photography] and also shared by Gelderse Zweefvliegclub
Great picture from Arjan. As you can see gliders from the Gelderse have a callsign with an E and a number. The brand-new edition is an ASW 28b with call sign E 9. After the maiden flight there was a lot of interest in flying the new “toy”.
Gorgeous TERLET from above .The airfield is in the middle of the VELUWE one of our areas with outstanding beauty. The 2025 Dutch SGP will be flown from there.

Also the Aeroclub in the Northern part of Holland started ; the always very active Friese Aeroclub.

Finally back at the airfield again and what’s better than looking again at flying mates, sitting in the early spring sun!
Friese Aero Club

Due to the HUGE amount of rain in February in fact over the last part of winter , some airfields are muddy and one is even more like a lake. Their season now starts at Terlet too.[Kennemer Aeroclub near to Leiden]

leidschdagblad .nl

—–in the UK they had some thermals and pretty good wave , also not the best weather yet for flying , but for sure great pictures.
And the Highland Gliding Club had a great wave day on March 3
Sunday was a spectacular wave day for us, with conditions far exceeding the forecast. We enjoyed multiple 2+ hour flights, a few reaching up to 10,000 feet, and even some cross-country ventures!
Even up to 12.000 ft. Good on them!!!

Cotswold Gliding Club on March 3

——–FABULOUS FLIGHT from Gil Souviron and Baptiste Innocent; on February 27 they flew from Perpignan in France to Badajoz in Spain….retour flight from 1.533 km. speed 150 km./h….in a Stemme S12.
https://www.weglide.org/flight/364591
On the OLC [ https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=9740034#map=] they said;
Fantastic flight with Baptiste, over 1400 km in Out and Return
One of my dream is done.
Not so easy day, very cloudy with almost no waves over 4800 meters.
We hoped that the return was better, but it was worse with a very humid air mass.
Never Mind, very good flight with a marvelous glider the Stemme S12. More comment to com
e..”
Both sites share pictures as well.

——For my Aussie mates;

The summit will include a mix of edgy presentations, and discussions led by prominent figures in the field, focusing on the latest in safety protocols, technological advancements, and community-building strategies. The day will start at 8:30 AM for a 9:00 AM kick-off, concluding with networking drinks until 4:30 PM
https://magazine.glidingaustralia.org/…/gliding…

——-In between the F 1 [cars] has started again and nothing changed. Max won. And,….we have another TOPPER; Femke Bol. World champion on the 400 m. at the athletic indoor-world comps in Glasgow with a new world record. Dutch Lieke Klaver was runner up.
Cycling at the road has started as well, with more Dutch toppers.
Love sport. Don’t get me wrong,OF COURSE ALSO when other nationalities win!!!!!

Cheers Ritz

Short newsy news.

Post 1.485 on February 28 2024

—–The Lake Keepit REGATTA is still in full swing and with a “light , but fierce” competition always great fun. Great place too as they have their airfield at the LAKE.
Nice accommodation AT the field as well and a good club house , I know , as I slept in the back of it in a nice room, always full of laughing friendly people, the club house NOT my room.
Nearly no water in the lake , when I was there last with the WWGC in 2019, but it has filled up again.
Wish I could send ALL our rainwater to that Lake. TOO MUCH RAIN HERE!!!!!
Talking about that WWGC, another pilot participating there Ayala from the UK, flies in this REGATTA and Kathy from the USA has just left them again.Good to see them back down under.
They flew good tasks, as said task 1 was a 3 hour AAT, but not all had arrived back from Tocumwal. Good winner though; David Pickles in a PIK 20 D;356.67 km/ 111.11 km./h.
Task 2 , another 3 hour AAT straight away showed the practice Allan [Barnes] had already during the National 2 seater comps and he won the day in his LS 8, but David [Pickels] in his ASW 20, who won day 1 was equal on spot 1 now, both with 115 km./h and Ayala [LS6] was on spot 3 all flew around 350 km.
Task 3; 2.30 AAT …again 3 WGC pilots in the top; Allan, Brad and Ayala...but also a nice 4th place for Nick [Singer] , not a world champion pilot , but a great instructor at Keepit.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT, but no scores yet.
As the Toke-pilots arrived later the overall scores now are David 2.629 p, Ayala 2.495 and Nick 2.483 p.
They continue till March 2.

——Talking about the WWGC in Soria here is the latest from the FAI – World Air Sports Federation
Alena Netušilová 🇨🇿 has been named as FAI Gliding Commission (IGC) Champion Pilot of the Year 2023, for winning the 18m class at the 2023 FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships in Soria, Spain. 🏆
Yet her career as a glider pilot may never have taken off at all, if it hadn’t been for her courageous attitude…
Back in 1986, she and a classmate noticed a flyer saying that the local aeroclub was recruiting “brave boys” for glider pilot training. Together, they decided to sign up and show that gliding was not just a sport for men!

Alena has already achieved a lot!!!
She has been competing in the European and World Women’s Championships since 1993 and has stood on the podium no less than six times, twice winning the title of World Champion. In total she has flown 4500 hours and over 120,000km in competition.”
More on https://www.fai.org/…/Alena-Netusilova-IGC-champion…
CONGRATULATIONS ELENA!!!
By the way, she flew the WWGC in Lake Keepit as well and was 5th there.

Elena , gorgeous looking lady and VERY GOOD PILOT. FAI – World Air Sports Federation

—–The 2024 UK convention is over and the BGA also invited Schempp Hirth;
thank you BGA 🇬🇧 for inviting us during your 2024 convention. It is Always a great event with good balance between serious things and entertainment.
Big thanks to all the Southern Sailplanes team family, our local dealers, and Southern Aero Supplies, for all the help to get the 2 Ventus-3 (3ES prototype and 3M) displayed in perfect conditions. We had the honour to be invited also to make a 20 minutes talk and many conversations indicate the technical choices/solutions/compromises made on the prototype of the Ventus-3ES are going in the right direction to make a real life great glider. Thumbs UP for our technicians and Engineers and thank you all pilots who made us many feedbacks during these last seasons.
Next step? Let’s fly this New beast! 😁 More infos soon
.’

Their next stop is the 2024 Friedrichshafen Aero-event between April 17 and 20 in in Hall A1..
This picture with Ralf [Holighaus] Wolfgang [Janowitsch] and Ludwig [Starkl] is from last year .

Schempp-Hirth

—–Not long anymore and the OSTROW JWGC starts;AND,…they, the young UK pilots, were at the BGA conference as well.
I read that Oliver is only 18 years old and a member of the Oxford gliding club.He feels well and truly honoured to represent his country.

JWGC combined or parallel with the 13.5 m; July 13-27 2024.

—-The meteorologic spring starts here on Friday, so time to look ahead at hopefully dryer and more sunny weather. The prognoses are pretty good, with here in The Netherlands, soon 20 dgr, C…they say,… I hope.
After the 17 mm of rain on 1 day, last Monday, we are fed up with grey skies and rain!!!!
Worse is the situation in the South of Australia where temperatures in the 40 dgr. C cause huge fires, forcing people to leave their houses.
Every year again…so sad!!!!

Cheers Ritz

EXTRA BLOG: Tocumwal 2-seaters finished their good races with exciting last days!

Post 1.485 on February 25 2024

Extra blog because of the end of 2 comps yesterday.

A great picture from Bruce. THANK YOU for sharing your posts Bruce and for always allowing me , to use them.
Courtesy Tocumwal Soaring Centre

First the 2-seater NATIONAL comps in Tocumwal;
With 3 more days it was rather exciting to see if the ARCUS M could stay in front of the ASG 32 MI. In both gliders top pilots, though the ASG has a former WGC champion in it with Brad.
Here we go again with Thursday’s
Task 5; 3.45 AAT…..COMPLIMENTS to the Duo Discus pilots from Narrogin; RUNNER UP!!!!!The difference between the ASG 32MI with Bruce and Brad was big; 124.26 km./h and 111.83 km./h, but great effort!!!!!
Bruce and Brad flew 478.12 km and team Geerlings /Tang 436 km.
Interesting is also …can Adam/Keith stay in front of Bruce/Brad overall in the end?
This day they were 5th, but still ahead overall but now only with 23 points!!!!!
Unfortunately, because we were the ones to lead out at the beginning, we got shafted on this windy day. Those following FIG [callsign of their Arcus M] pulled into a great climb just behind us & that was that, we struggled away from low in something far less & couldn’t recover.Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
AND,…what about David and his mate they ONLY lead with ONE POINTS over Brad and Bruce.
So only a few points between 1 and 3; 4.636…4.615 and 4.612!!!
Exciting last days!!!
All 9 flew AND finished, so a nice day for all.
Task 6 a 2.45 AAT was cancelled due to the weather…such a pity…..only 1 day to go now….and close scores!!!
Bruce;“It was windy with weak, low convection, and there was a large fire started down near Bendigo to the south-west which made our possible task area pretty smokey. So for something new we sat around eating, drinking coffee and talking about gliding.”

The last day , with task 7, was VERY BLUE!!!
courtesy Taylor’s Gliding Page

Task 7 VERY LAST DAY , after a great competition!!!! 2.45 AAT…..
Most started around 14.40 . Adam and Keith at 15.00 as they could not get high enough to start. They did their utmost best to keep on spot 1 overall,but as Adam said; “We survived a couple of low spots , but we are very happy to be home,…. we did our best flight, but the best was not good enough“.
From day 1 they had the overall leading position, now they end on spot 3.
So team David/Steve was the best in the AG 32 MI;264.38 km / 95.17 km./h and moved from 3 to 1 overall. They won task 3 and 7 and flew very consistent. Good on them!!!
They passed by the numbers 2 Brad and Bruce as well. They were 3d for the day.
Bruce;”What a tough day! No excuses… you have to fly every day, no matter how crappy they are, and I didn’t do the best job of flying today. It was blue, seriously blue like the photo shows, and the thermals were hard to find and harder to use. At one stage we descended to 750 feet before we found a climb, and we both seriously thought we were finished. However, we staggered home for an overall second place”.
9 started and 7 finished. Not a good day for Lumpy and Joergen, they had to start the engine after 82 km and dropped from 5 to 6 overall.
Great comps, but with more teams it would have been even more exciting.
Final overall scores out 6 from 7 days;
1. David Jansen/ Steve Evans in ASG 32MI with 5.523 points.
2. Bruce Taylor/ Brad Edwards in ASG 32MI with 5.477 p.
3. Keith Gately/ Adam Woolley in ARCUS M with 5.346 p.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL
.

The “heroes” of the week; Brad, Bruce, Steve, David, Adam and Keith
Tocumwal Soaring Centre

AND,
as shared by Adam

Same winners other smiles.
Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures THANKS for sharing Adam and good luck during your captains training in Japan.

The final dinner was on a “spiffy” place. In the restaurant of the new Tocumwal Aviation Museum AT the airport called the Drome.

Tocumwal Soaring Centre

To finish some kind words from the Kingaroy Soaring Club where David and Steve fly.
Kingaroy has another two Australian Champions, congratulations to Steve Evans and David Jansen 👏👏 The competition was held at Tocumwal NSW which is one of the spiritual homes of gliding in Australia. Toc pronounced “toke” is an absolute must visit for any soaring enthusiast.
LIKE!!!!!!

—————————————————————————

The NZ Central Districts Gliding Championships 2024 have been flown in 3 classes, racing [10 pilots] , open [6] and sports class with only 3 participants . The weather was not “flash” , more and more days were cancelled or had out landings so, here are the stories as seen through the eyes of blogger Jason Kelly;
—-“The 2024 Central Districts competition at Waipukurau started on Saturday 17th February with practice day. This saw fantastic convergence and thermal lift which allowed a number of gliders to fly up and around Lake Taupo and back with distances of over 500km recorded. A great start for the week.”
—-Sunday was a contest day with good thermals and convergences. A steak BBQ evening meal was appreciated by all.
From 10, 6 pilots finished and 4 were out in racing class. In open only 1 from 6 was out …BUT, 4 had an airspace penalty from 2 minutes. In sports, John Tullett in KA6e won 1000 points for a distance of 131,28 km/ 61.30 km./h. during a 2 hour AAT. Good on him!!!
—-The weather on Monday was untaskable but the sky was alive with energy from wave. No task.
—-Tuesday saw a task set but cancelled due to persistent low cloud and drizzle.
-Forecasts for Wednesday were not promising but the sky delivered and an adventure task was set for the Open Class. Flying turned out to be an adventure with Pat Driessen perhaps setting a record for the longest retrieve by landing at Taupo.
6 Started that day and 4 finished. Daily winner from this 2.30 AAT in open class, was Tim Bromhead flying 385.28 km/ 76.57 km./h. Till then Patrick[Pat] was overall leader but now he  lost over 400 daily points.
—-A weak local sky greeted pilots on Thursday with broken local thermals proving difficult to work. This saw a number of pilots landing out.
In Racing, 2.30 AAT was set. Only 1 from the 8 starters finished for 269 points.
Open pilots also had a 2.30 AAT; 5 flew 3 were in and Tim [Ventus CT]was the daily best for 416 points. 1 Point more than Patrick who flew in his AS 33es, 323 km/ 111.11 km./h.
—-The news update on Friday was;”we wait for the sky to develop. It is grey high overcast with a westerly flow, calm on the ground.There is heating getting through so there is hope we will fly.
Where would we be without HOPE. BUT,…..They did not fly.
—–Saturday showed pretty marginal flying.
“The final day saw a challenging sky with rough lower level conditions with wave above. There were thermals and also convergences around the task area which allowed another competition day.”
In racing only Alain [LS4] finished for 282 points, flying 234 km/ 64.05 km./h during a 2.30 AAT, which says enough. Most of the days he topped the overall list so also on this last day.
In open it was Patrick winning the last day AND the comps , even after that out landing which really cost him. He flew 332 km./128 km./h .
David [Johnson] was 1 overall before he started the last day. He finished, but “only” flew 174 km./69.71 km./h and that meant loosing 200 daily points.
Racing class winner after 4 out of 7 days ;Alain Marcuse in LS4 with 2.014 points.
Open class winner ; Patrick C. Driessen in AS33es with 2,416 points ahead of Tim with 2.358 points and David Johnson [Discus 2CT] with 2.336 points. All pretty close.
Sports class winner ; Dennis Green in LS 4a. On the last day he flew during a 2 hour AAT 120 km/60km./h. He gained 400 points more than his close concurrent Graham Player in a Apis 13, who flew 25 km without finishing. [2.069 for 1.680 points]A pity!!!

More about the Lake Keepit regatta on Wednesday. They started with 16 pilots for a 3 hour AAT, including UK pilots Ayala and Simon . It takes a FULL day to drive from Tocumwal to Lake Keepit, so Brad and Allan and Bruce , all flying normally at Keepit could ‘n’t fly the first day.
cheers Ritz


Aussie 2-Seater Nationals

Post 1.484 on February 21 2024

2024 / 20 m and 2-Seater Australian Nationals.
17 February 2024 – 21 February 2024
TOCUMWAL

Keith and Adam , TODAY, in the mighty ARCUS. Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

It’s great to see another competition in good old Tocumwal. 9 Teams have entered and they fly in gliders as Duo Discus x 4, ARCUS M x 3, ASG 32 MI x 2 .
In the end they only flew in 20 m.
Duo Discus IE is back “on his old nest”.It was sold to the pilots of the Hunter Valley Club for a very nice price during the auction, when sole owner Richard Cawsey, to our sadness and frustration, sold EVERYTHING which was “holy” for all of us at Sportavia!!!!!
After 20 years I am STILL ANGRY and SAD!!!!
The Duo however, still has IE as registration and I hope it does well…good luck!!!A real good glider it was and the Hunter Valley pilots seem to treat it well….it found a good home.

Courtesy Christian Hostettler / Swiss Chris.

Last Friday some practiced already and it was a “good-500k- day”. Only 5 days earlier on the 12th Sportavia Tocumwal -owner, Lumpy flew in his JS 3/18m a 947 k. [ 832 FAI Triangle] hopefully this weather stays for the comps.
More practice on Saturday but more official now;
“It’s time for the 20m/2-seat Nationals and the fun group have descended on Tocumwal for the week.Today we had a practice day, 335km up to the North-East towards the back side of the trough line which has been wandering back and forth for a few days now.” Much more in Taylor’s Gliding Page
Speed by Bruce/Brad and Adam/Keith; 121 km./h.
Time for a nice BBQ offered by Jane and Tom Gilbert from Temora [ Gliderstuff.com] time to socialize and to be ready for day 1.

The gorgeous BBQ area. I spend MANY hours there in front of the restaurant and bar. It still looks good. The “blue” wisteria , blooming in spring is nice green now, in nearly autumn.
With pilots David [standing ] and Bruce and Brad, Adam and Keith and many more.
Sharon, sitting between Bruce and David is with Lumpy the new owner from this beautiful
Tocumwal Soaring Centre

Task 1; 3 hour AAT....A nice day ,but difficult, ” due to the upper level clouds cooling the heating and the strong wind down low at the end of the day.”
Best speed was 101.56 km./h by Adam and Keith flying a distance of 307.57 km.They were the daily winners. Alan and Greg were runner up; 263 km/ 87.69 km./h also in ARCUS M.
They all started between 14.05 and 14.43 with in the end the A task.
Bruce said about the day :”Phew! Today had a couple of parts… Brad was in charge of the ship and the first 80% of the flight went really well, and the last 20% was a fairly desperate attempt to defy gravity and stay afloat.” Taylor’s Gliding Page
Another day that fortunately went our way. Before launch we were thinking, start as soon as the gate opened, but when launch was delayed & we stayed on task A, it was definitely go asap! Unfortunately, even thermalling in light sink near the time of opening to stay high while we waited for another climb, didn’t help. We ended up low, downwind of the line & the gate open”..but then they were more lucky ..you can read it on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures He also shared 5 tactic-points for the day.
7 From 9 finished.

Greg and Allan from Lake Keepit ; runner up on task 1.
Tocumwal Soaring Centre

Task 2; 389.75 km…..ALL 9 teams started AND Finished…….GOOD Tocumwal-end-of-season-day!!!! Daily winners Alan and Greg; 133.40 km./h. Just ahead of Brad and Bruce 133.01 and David with 133.35.
These 3 teams , as 3 other teams, started at 14.19 like a regatta start and raced back “home” as quick as possible.
Adam and Keith were 5th.
Tough days for the Duo Discus [handicap 975];great gliders but on a good day, against an ARCUS M [Handicap 1055] or ASH 31[handicap 1065] it’s more or less a “wasted effort”, BUT still GREAT FUN to be part of the 20 m NATIONALS.
“Funny day today. It was my turn up the front and we began with a rush. We had a longish glide out from the start (unbeknownst to us almost everyone left at the same time) down over the river towards Benalla. I pushed on a bit and our first climb was solid, but I left it early as the first cumulus were just ahead, and the next climb was huge! It was bumping on 9 knots for a few turns and really got us up and running.”
More on Taylor’s Gliding Page
Task 3; 455.13 km…..another good racing day and on this 3d task again another winner; David Jansen/Steve Evans 135.44 km./h.starting as the first team, which in the end was the right decision. With this fast weather the performance of the ASG32 gliders is clearly “better” than the ARCUS… it should be like that looking at all “figures”.For the DUO DISCUS it is even more difficult, but they hung in, though the Hunter Valley-boys were “out” after 285 km.
Bruce and Brad in their ASG 32MI were runner up; 128.75 km./h. so showing good speed by David!!!
Bruce writes :”Today’s forecast and sky promised more than it delivered. I think a lot of us were expecting about 135kph and (with no scores available just yet) I hear that David Jansen and Steve Evans were the only ones to get anywhere near that. Many a cloud and line of clouds looked like magic, but much of it was a little disappointing. There was a trough line and plenty of mid- and high-level cloud approaching, and the shadow seemed to take the edge off the climbs, especially later in the flight. David and Steve left quite early and likely had a much brighter sky to play with… well done guys, good call.”
More on Taylor’s Gliding Page and here is already 1 of the pictures.

Great skies on their way to Hay, a pretty remote area, as seen by Bruce in the back of the glider.

Swiss Chris ,in his ASWC 27, flew 505 [430 FAI] from Toc as well on this 20thiest Februar……nearly autumn over there and spring here. After all the rain I “long” for spring and summer.
Task 4;3 hour AAT….today they flew good distances again, but all scores are still very preliminary. All 9 started AND finished and nearly all started at the same time around 14.15. Allan started last at 14.48, not good unfortunately, they were last and lost nearly 300 points. It might have had a reason.
411 km was the best distance and with 127.53 km./h. this was the winning combination and 1000 points for the B1 and B2 , Brad and Bruce.Adam and Keith in the ARCUS hold on and were runner up.
They still lead the overall scores with 3.766 points for 3.647 points for David and Steve.
Adam just mentioned;
Another great day in the skies over Tocumwal, though we are super grateful to even have a XC Speed – we got down to 900′ & climbed away in a 3.6kts (a good climb for the time). However, It was the first time I can remember, that I actually slowed down mid task to let second place go by.”
And,...”Fun day & we will keep the overall lead for another day.
More in his Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Bruce just mentioned;
“Today began with a whimper, and finished with a whoosh! The entire crowd were topped out in one thermal right behind the start line, and despite it being a bit before our planned start time the position and height were too good to miss. Off we went!
And,Out onto the plains the cumulus were just beginning, but they were very wavy looking and short-lived. We had a cracking climb amongst the crowd, then for the rest of the flight used generally 6-7 knots or better. The flight finished with 100km of beautiful streeting as we bounced up above final glide and extended our last turnpoint close to the limit. Such a hoot, and what a way to finish the flight.”
More on Taylor’s Gliding Page

The 24th is the last day….NOT the 21st as is written on soaringspot.

Other news;
—–The Beverley Regatta had 24 entries.
Host; the Beverley Soaring Society,  located 130 km east of Perth Western Australia.
As you know there is something serious ,but also a lot of pleasure and sharing knowledge in such a regatta.
They started straight away on day 1 ,February 11,….they continued till the 16th…. with task 1 a good 3 hour AAT. In the end of day 1 “only” 14 pilots had flown and 1 was out. Chris in a JS1/18m. was the best with 412.53 km./126.48 km./h.
Task 2 had a 2.30 AAT and it was flown by 11 pilots and from those 11, 6 finished.Greg and Norm flying each a DG 1000 S/20 m. had their own competition with a rather late start but a different distance. Greg flew 214.84 km./ 78.93 km./h whilst Norm flew 187.10/74,84 km./h. Of course both had a “student” onboard.
Task 3; 2.30 AAT.…284 km was flown by Chris in a JS1. He was the only one with a speed of over 100 km./h. 11 started and 1 was “out”.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT….and won by Greg with Steve as “pupil” in the DG 1000 S/20m; 320.45 km/98.31 km./h.
12 started and 1 was “out”. 1 Day to go and the whole West of Australia suffers from 38 dgr. C or more.
By the way; here we had on February 15 18 dgr. C that is a “whopping’ 10 dgr more than the average for that day and the “hottest” ever!!!!.
Task 5; NO task on the last day, so winners/grinners are
1. Chris Runeckles in JS 1 with 3,321 points
2. Ross McLernon in SZD-48 Jantar Std. 2 with 3,167 p.

—-AFTER the Club class Nationals in Waipukurau in N.Z. they continued on the 17th [practice] with the N.Z. Central Districts Gliding Championship 2024 in 3 classes, open [8], sports [5] and racing class.[8] They finish on the 24th.
Now they fly the New Zealand Central Districts gliding champion ship till the 24th and till now they had 3 , 2 or 2.30 AAT’s in all 3 classes [racing, open sports] after 2 out of 4 flying days.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

R.I.P. NAVALNY!!!!!!R.I.P.
“Listen, I have something very obvious to tell you. You’re not allowed to give up . If they decide to kill me ,it means that we are incredibly strong.”
Alexei Navalny

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ritz,

will be back on SUNDAY, for the latest on the 2 seater championship in Tocumwal and the NZ Districts Gliding Championship in Waipukurau.

Club class Nationals in N.Z.! Horsham week finished! Updated….

Post 1.483 on February 14 2024 …….VALENTINES DAY.…… HAPPY VALENTINE!!!!

CLUB CLASS NATIONALS N.Z.
Papawai 7 February 2024 – 15 February 2024

Wellington Wairarapa Gliding ClubGreat start to the Grey town Honey Club Class Nationals here at Papawai. The sun was out and so was the banter.” for day 1.

Papawai;Join us at Papawai to celebrate over 60 years of contest flying in New Zealand with the 2023/24 Club Class Nationals.
Perfectly located in central NZ, Papawai offers a superb gliding location with fantastic club facilities including plenty of camping spaces and local accommodation options
.”
Host is the Wellington Wairarapa Gliding Club.
In the Easter-weekend of March 28 Wairarapa the much-loved Wairarapa Balloon Festival will return as well, with a five-day festival of flying.
Club Class Nationals;
Practice day on February 7 and then..
Task 1; 2 hour AAT....the “little Libelles’ did well.Mark [Wilson] and Dane [Dickinson] flew 132 and 121 km. with a speed of 65.98 and 60.84 km./h. for 575 and 530 points.
Dane flew in Rieti during the JWGC in 2007, where I met him. I only now found out, that Kathy Fosha flew there as well. Both in Standard class in an LS8. Our gliding world is “small”.
Task 2 ; 2.30 AAT…not flown.|
Task 3; 1 hour AAT.…..CANCELLED with the message;”It was a no flying day on Saturday at Papawai due to wave, so Terry flew 400km.”
Task 4; 2 hour AAT.…not flown…
Task 5; 2.30:00 AAT… and YES, they could fly and all 8 competitors were EAGER to go. Dane in the Libelle flew 200 km with a speed of 80.15 km./h good enough to be the daily winner. He was 12 km./h faster than the runner up Alain in the LS4.[68.12 km./h over 171 km]
2 Did not finish.
Task 6; 2.15 AAT….and YES they flew again and YES it was Dane again who won. Such a pity I can’t find my memory sticks with all pictures from Rieti 2007 and 2008, otherwise I could show you a young Dane.
Both Libelles are good in this weather as Mark, who flies the other one was runner up.
With 1.940 points for Dane overall after 3 out of 6 days , and 1.649 for Mark it’s rather clear what’s going to happen but you only know for sure when the last glider from the comps has finished.
Task 7; 1 hour AAT... short tasks but they fly , that means some fly, as at this still preliminary stage, 5 started and 4 finished. Those 4 started and fished together and both Libelles were upfront. This time Mark won with 95.79 km/78.46 km./h. for 349 points. Dane was runner up; 84.28 km./77.38 km./h. for 344 points.
The comps are between February 7 and 15. Tomorrow might be their last day when the 15th is included, if not,it could be today as well .
Will be back on that with an update.
UPDATE:
Indeed they flew on the 15th and Dane won the 1;30 AAT with 123 km./h. Task 8 was a fact and Dane won 3 days.
So after 5 out of 8 ,sometimes marginal days, the Kiwi’s had a NEW CLUB CLASS NATIONAL CHAMPION.
1. Dane Dickinson in Standard Libelle 201B with 2,984 points.
2. Mark Wilson in St Libelle with 2,651 points.
3. James Austin in Discus B with 2,448 p.

Karen Morgan shared this picture with interesting clouds, from the last day;

Unusual clouds in the Wairarapa this afternoon, at the gliding Club Class Nationals, last days of the event. “

Parallel with these comps they fly in an open class with 8 pilots in gliders as AS 33es, LS8, Ventus 3M and CT , ARCUS and ASG 29.
Till now they flew 3 out of 6 days and the Ventus 3M with Jason is in the lead overall.It looks like they did not fly today.
They had a task 8; a 1 hour AAT and nobody bothered to fly the task, ONLY Terry in an LS 8 who flew 188 km /150 km. looks like a real wave day. Terry got 550 points for his flight and with that he was the winner.
Final result after 4 out of 8 days.
1. Terry R. Jones in LS8/18 m. with 2,306 p.
2. Jason Shields in Ventus 3 M. 2,019 p.

—–HORSHAM WEEK: continued….

Task 5 winners in each class; George in club, Hamid in open/18m. and Jack in st/15m
Horsham Flying Club

Club;
Task 5; 274.63 km…..best speed was 84.55 km./h. in an LS3 WL but David [Nugent[ was NOT the daily winner. George[Schuit] won the day in the St. Cirrus with 79.93 km./h.
A pity from the out-landing in front of the finish line on task 3, costing him more than 600 points. He was high enough for final glide but got ONLY sink 6-7 m per sec .
14 started 11 finished.
Task 6; 2 hour AAT....Steven in the St Libelle was one on the daily podium 172.70 km/86.11 km./h. ahead of George with 178.95/ 82.11 km./h.
12 started and 1 was “out”.
Task 7; last day …CANCELLED.
Our final briefing for Horsham Week 2024. Unfortunately the conditions today are not strong, so the day has been canceled
No way anymore to gain or loose points so ,
the final scores after 6 out of 8 days, are now;
1. Steve Jinks in the Mosquito with 5.012 points. Clear winner.
2. Jaroslaw Mosiejewski in PIK 20 b with 4,768 p.

Standard class;
Task 5; 287.16 km… Neil [ASW 24WL], who won 2 days, outlanded,….loosing more than 500 points [a pity, not good] and Jack won another day his 2d too ; 89.17 km./h.
Gordon [Trollip] in the LS6 won task 1 and flew consistent so overall he is on spot 2 with 2 days to go.
7 started and 5 finished.
Task 6; 231.06 km….Jack and Neil-day again; 93.68 km./h for 89.34 km./h. Jack leads with one day to go with 5.457 points for 4.878 from Gordon and 4.695 from Neil.
Task 7; cancelled.
The overall scores after 6 out of 8 days are;
1. Jack Hart in ASW 20b with 5,457 p. Very clear winner.
2. Gordon Trollip in LS6 with 4.878 p.

18m/open;
Task 5;
 397.88 km…..Daily win for Geelong pilot Hamis [Nazari] in LS6c; 97 km./h. Ryan Nimbus[ 3T] had another good day, runner up and his overall- lead grows day by day. [4.416] Craig [AS33es] was runner up and “holds on”. [4.111]
Great job from Hamis, flying between top gliders in the good but old LS 6 is daring, but SO GOOD!!!!
5 started and 3 finished.
Task 6; 245.09 km….All 9 started and 7 finished and no news Ryan won 110.14 km./h. With 1 more day to go Ryan has 5.106 points overall and Craig 4.722 p.
Task 7; cancelled.
Overall scores after 6 out of 8 days after a very pleasant competition as I heard;
1. Ryan Driscoll in Nimbus 3T with 5.106 points, no doubt a clear winner.
2. Craig Vinall in AS 33es /18m with 4.722 points.

At the final dinner and closing ceremony James Nugent, the brand-new Narromine- WORLD CHAMPION, shared his experiences.

Have you meet our son the World Champion. James Nugent (holding his 25 kg trophy) with his parents Marg and Dave along with Mike Durrant [Narromine WGC CD]and Mike Sudholz. James gave a very impressive pre-dinner talk on this Club Class World Championship win.” Horsham Flying Club

Other news;
—I often refer to stories from pilots or other people AT the spot.
Also Bruce [Taylor] is one of them. In his Taylor’s Gliding Page you can read why he changed to another glider. The ASH31Mi from Pam is in his hangar now. AND,..he will fly it in Tocumwal at the 2-seater Nationals.

——One of my daughter’s colleagues starts her retirement today. Yesterday was her last flight with family .As usual drinks later with her colleagues, more family and friends.
She wanted to be a hair dresser, but flew as an F 16 fighter pilot, then went into Boeing’s at Transavia [100 % daughter of KLM] where she flew till yesterday as captain and still young she is going to be a truck driver now.
What a great life!!!!

—-The Gelderse- one- day -competition one of the nicest in Holland they say, is on April 27 [28 when 27 is not possible] Just to let you know.
https://www.zweefvlieg.net/gnl/inschrijving/

–On February 9 Worcester had a 1000 k -day!!!Even a 2x 1000 k day. A real nice ridge-soaring day for Swiss guest Rudy and local pilot Sven;1.112 and 1.033 km.speed 136.44 and 129.62 ,both in JS1.
Sven shared a beautiful video on youtube.com [ 9 february 20241033 km] and mentioned ;”A major portion of the flight was thermal flying – the first leg to the east had the wind parallel to the ridges, and after turning Klawer I ventured to Graaffwater in the west – lured by the clouds and the promise of thermals 🙂 All in all a great day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s30Oj3PFCc

—–Romania had his 2d wave-flight in the Eastern Carpathian; 1.121 km/ 129.15 km./h. One of the pilots , Nicolae Balan nailed it in the comments:
So, now we have to wait for March to fly the next 1000k or is it allowed to have one more in Feb?”
In WeGlide is the story about the 1000 k’s in Romania.
https://magazine.weglide.org/gliding-in-romania/

——-Denbigh Ridge/Wave Hunters  ; “Day 3 of the UKJG winter series gave us some ridge soaring!After a slack low cloud morning, the sun shined and the wind blew, allowing the juniors to have a great time!A few sore heads were spotted this morning after we hosted The Wee Bag Band! Another fantastic night had by all.”

Great picture. Love it as well, when I get pictures from the Dutch Nord Sea ridge soaring. I shared them in the past.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Can’t remember how I got this picture but it is still in my archive.

Cheers Ritz looking ahead at the 2-SEATER NATIONALS in TOCUMWAL starting on the 17th.
and to finish,… this beautiful picture I found on the net, shared by DG Aviation GmbH in 2014 so 10 years ago and it remains gorgeous.

LS10 during a competition in Mengen.

Still good soaring down under and S.A.! Horsham Week!

Post 1.482 on February 7 2024

—–Soaring in Australia is still GOOD. From different fields,…. they still fly long tasks.
Mak flew first from Temora and had a flight from 705 and 784 on January 10 and 11 and then from Narromine with flights from 764 and 856 km. on January 30 and 31. All flights in the LS 8.
Beverley had a great flight on February 2, with Norm in the JS3/15m; 775.29 km..750 FAI triangle. Top job!!!
They had a 3-day-heat wave in Beverley, so many flights on this February 2 and 681 k. in a Discus a by Allan.
Tocumwal is busy with guests from Lumpy [TSC] and Eddie, [ SSC] even very “old” mates as Jochen and Stefan, who flew already in Tocumwal in the Riley-time.They come back for years ,as does Anton from Austria. Sadly enough his wife who always came to fly with him, passed away, but for sure we all remember Andrea as a lovely lady.
Good to see Ojars , from Melbourne ,flying again in Tocumwal, also a frequent guest in our past, this time with the ASH 31/21m.

Cathy and Anita,…great “girls”.Anita Marie Kauffmann

Also great see USA pilot Cathy Fosha back in Lake Keepit where she flew the WWGC in 2020.
Special thanks to Jacques [Graells …awfully nice guy and a good pilot who will be soon flying the Keepit Regatta] for allowing me to use his LOVELY JS-1-C here at Lake Keepit. First flight in type, so I took it easy with a little jaunt around the Keepit area – day was better than forecast. Strong smooth thermals overall, thought the airmass to the north of Kaputar was noticeably different than the area over Kaputar and to the east. New to me instrumentation revealing some observations of my flying that I think I knew were a thing, but are now backed up with data. Happy to be back, and happy to be doing some less intense flying after all the contesting.” by Kathy.
I noticed Ayala from Lasham also on that list. Great to see the girls return to the spot they flew a WWGC to . 22 Entered that regatta at this stage and it will be flown between February 24 and March 2.

Tocumwal Soaring Centre

Lots of aviation happening here at TSC. We have visitors from Germany, Japan, China, Czech Republic and even down town Melbourne 😁
Many personal bests are taking place with both times and distance for our pilots. All gliders from the Turbo Duo to the Boomerang are taking to the skies.
We’ve had some good days along with some softer blue days which has been great for teaching good thermal techniques.
Families flying together, first time flyers, pilots coming back to soaring after a long break, it’s all part of the fun
.” Tocumwal Soaring Centre

I always loved that time of the year. Less busy, more time for guests and things to do, as there was no time in the busy months before. Not too hot as well, just very pleasant.
Now, I am super happy to see that gliding in Tocumwal is on it’s way back to what it was. Splendid!

Stefan with Jochen, longtime and frequent Tocumwal pilots and,…very nice “guys” [with respect.].
Tocumwal Soaring Centre

——Of course on this side of the world the season starts soon too. On January 27, 530 km. was already flown from Lienz -Nikolsdorf, in a HpH 304 MS Shark. The season mostly starts there with good flights.
The Lienz-Nikolsdorf airfield is located in the middle of the sunniest and most weather-resistant region in the Alps, approx. 10 km east of the sunny city of Lienz. Because of the excellent thermals, our region is considered an insider tip among glider pilots https://www.nikolsdorf.at/de/flugplatz-lienz-nikolsdorf.html
WeGlide mentioned ;”Gerhard Keuschnig did a nice warm-up in Lienz. The airfield is a season-opener for many ambitious pilots from all over Europe. Keep your heads up, it won’t be long anymore.
Of course theere is wave as well as is ridge soaring.
Flight to be seen on ; https://www.weglide.org/flight/361014

——By the way the wave season is on too and in the UK they fly “HIGH”.
The BGA ladder showed a declared flight on February 2 by Chris from 770 km. in the ARCUS M.
In the end they flew 680 km on February 2 and started on Lleweny Park!!!!
Chris is one of the pilots/wave hunters running the Denbigh Ridge . They had some great wave days up to 19.000 ft, several diamond and gold badges.
This is a group designed to give a ‘heads up’ on weather to potential wave/ridge run action.”
Denbigh Gliding
His comment;
Needed another hour to do Milfield really. Very marginal on time, so we turned back while we knew we’d get back with no issues.https://bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/112682

The part over water was 100 km!!!!!!!!!! ……..Chris Gill

—–Horsham Week started last Saturday on February 3- till 10. This is a serious ,but “at your-leisure” competition. Already for years and years on the soaring agenda in Australia.
31 Pilots in 3 classes.

Horsham Flying Club ” Here we are at Horsham Aerodrome for the annual Horsham Week gliding competition. We welcome pilots and crews from across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.”
With George, Diana and Ron to the r. on row 1.

Open /18 m with 10 pilots, Club with 18 and 15m/standard with 8 pilots. GOOD!!!!
But,….when the comps started with task 1 there were 6 in open/18m, 13 in club and 7 in standard/15 m.
Open/18m;
Task 1; a 2 hour AAT….
237 km./111.69 km./h was the winning combi for Craig in the AS 33es, for 649 points. Diana and Ron decided to fly together in the Nimbus 3 DM and were on spot 4.
in the end 7 pilots flew and finished
Task 2; 426.44 km….that’s more like it!!!Good task. Ryan in the Nimbus 3 T was the best ;129.31 km./h , for 1000 points. Craig was runner up and Ron and Diana on spot 3.
Only 1 from 7 did not finish.No flying on Monday.
Task 3; 359.17 km…..Good speed …125.80 km./h by Bruce in the JS3 RES/18m. After 2, 3d places, he won the day for 942 points.Not a good day for Ron and Diana, they were “out” ,…….only just 3 k,..but safety first… .It cost them 600 points!!! The other 8 were in!
Task 4; 306.66 km……good to see Ryan is on his way up. I met him once at a Benalla competition when they were REALLY young and “they” told me then, that he and Matthew [Scutter] had a bright soaring future. Matthew proofed it already and I did not hear a lot about Ryan but here he is.
He won the day with a speed of 110.49 km./h , and leads his class now .
Only 5 have been scored by now , so that means also that the scores are still very preliminary

Standard/15 m;
Task 1; 2.15 AAT….7 started and 6 finished. Best for the day Gordon in the LS6; 226 km/93.44 km./h.
Task 2; 337.51 km…..Neil a local pilot [ASW 24WL] was on spot 6 on task 1, but won task 2;106.42 km./h!
Now 6 pilots started and finished. NO flying on Monday.
Task 3;  334.05 km…..a 1000 points-day in this class with a speed of 110 km./h by Jack in the ASW 20B.
Tim, normal a scorer at Nationals/comps, flew too so 7 and all finished.
Task 4; 305.88 km…….Neil is in the right flow now and won the day wit a speed of 90.38 km./h. This day 5 started and 1 was out after 33 km. He is runner up now in the overall scores bur 200 points behind Jack.

club class; in the end they had 13 participants.
task 1
; 2.30 AAT...218 km /84.56 km./h was the best daily result for Arnold in his Pegase. George [St Cirrus] was runner up in his first comps since years.
Task 2; 3.30 AAT ….I felt for the pilots in the “little gliders”! Long retrieves, when things go wrong, though the last leg was the longest, 140 km, depending how far you go in the circle,…. so no worries.
From 13 starters 11 finished.
Arnold, in his Pegase, was the best again; 333 km/95.13 km./h.
No flying on Monday.

Our three class winners for Day 2 at Horsham Week 2024. Arnold Niewand (Club), Neil Campbell (15m/Std) and Ryan Driscoll (18m/Opn).
Horsham Flying Club

Task 3; 3 hour AAT..Steve in the Mosquito flew as the only pilot in this class over 100 km./h.and won the day; 320.74 km. /100.30 km./h.
Arnold was 4th. Not a good day for George he out landed and dropped from 2 overall to 6.
15 Started and 3 did not finish.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT….. another 3 hour AAT with starts between 13.54 and 14.51 and all 14 starters finished. Steve flew 285 km /91.70 km./h and with that he earned another 1000 points for his Mosquito. He leads by now overall but the difference with Arnold who won 2 days as well, is only 38 points , but still 3 days to go.

Horsham Flying Club


—-Ostrow is well known for good comps and excellent PR.
They host the 5th FAI 13.5 m WGC and the 13th JWGC , this year.
Of course I will follow it for you.
On FB they introduce already the several teams. Good on them.
Dates: 13/7/24 – 27/7/24.
At this stage 21 have entered in club and 14 in Standard.


Today the New Zealand CLUB CLASS NATIONALS started with a 1 hour AAT, but it looks it was not flown. More about them in my next post. The comps are flown from  Papawai and continue till February 15.

——South Africa’s Worchester and Potchefstroom had flights up to nearly and just over 500 km…[567 by Katrin Senne in JS 3] not bad either for this time of their year, in Arcus and Duo Discus.
And yesterday USA pilot Brad flew in the Ventusv 2CM/18m a distance of 837 km.from Worcester.

CU next Wednesday

Cheers Ritz

Aussie and N.Z. Nationals finished and OLC statistics!!!!

Post 1.481 on January 31 2024 already the last day of the first month of 2024,…time flies.

Waiting and hoping for good weather in Benalla, also Bruce, who took the picture.

—– The Australian Nationals had only one more day.And that was straight away the last day on Friday.
Overall leader with 1 day to go shared his thoughts about the week. Here is Pete;
After 2 days off due to dismal grey and wet conditions we are up to the final day of the multiclass national gliding championships at Benalla – one to be remembered for low and weak conditions. I don’t think I’ve ever flown so many low tasks in a row – so much so that I’m getting comfortable cruising at 100 knots when below 2000 feet above the ground. I really shouldn’t be since there’s not much between that ‘comfort’ and being on the ground. Some of the time the top of climbs has been 3000 feet or less so as soon as we left a climb we are looking for the next one. Pretty tough finding any sort of rhythm but it’s the same for all of us. I’ve been lucky so far and found the climbs when I needed them – right up to the last day with a near disastrous start when I went through the start line and found absolutely nothing until I was at 900 feet, so had to take the poor offering and wasted a lot of time. Anyway, some points lost but I still retained the overall competition lead.
The final day tomorrow promises to be a reasonable soaring day with some stronger climbs but 15-20 knots of wind to contend with. We might even see 6000 feet.
It’s a bit of a sad day since after owning it 10 years it will be my last flight in my ASG29 – it’s heading off to a new owner in WA. But with my current lead of 119 points I hope to finish on a high with a competition win
.”
Bruce added;”
There’s still hope for a final day tomorrow, though it looks like it will only be south of the river, and it will be breezy.
A shame, but I don’t have any higher level contacts to change the weathe
r.”

TASK 8 out of 11 days and 6 flyable days: January 26 AUSTRALIA DAY!!!!
Nice to know that on this special day one of the most important ladies in soaring, Beryl Hartley, in Narromine , has been awarded Narromine Citizen Of The Year. Well done and very much deserved!!!!Congratulations Beryl.
More GRAND LADIES in our sport but this time from Benalla; Vivienne Drew; she got an OAM [ medal of the Order of Australia] for her services to gliding.
Congratulations too.I have the honor to know them both.
Very last day and luckily flyable.
Overall scores with 1 day to go; 1. Pete [Temple]…4.599 p 2. Bruce [Taylor]…4.476 p. and 3. Greg [Beecroft].4.467 p.
A racing task from  370.92 km was set and flown by 12 of the 14 starters.
David [Jansen] in his ASG 32MI was the daily best and “got” the 1000 points for a speed of 123.67 km./h.
Interesting;finally the 3 open class gliders were on this last day in the top 3.
Pete was on spot 7 and Bruce on spot 6, good enough to remain on the top spots overall.
Bruce for the last time:”
We’re all done and dusted then! Today was slightly frustrating for me, but I won’t be too sad about it as I have finished in a strong second place overall. It was windy and rather low, with plenty of cumulus for a change. I chose a line that appeared to be a good solid-looking street and it seemed to start slightly right of our first upwind leg, but was swinging back on track as far ahead as I could see. But as I began running that way another street out to the left was beginning to cook up, so I pulled up and returned for a re-start.
What a smoking first leg that was! It was all straight flying except for a short 5 knot top up along the way, and I rounded the turn and immediately connected with a good climb to head cross-wind. And so it continued for more than about 2/3rds of the task, which had a lot of turn points today
.”
the full story on Taylor’s Gliding Page

finally good looking clouds and the more real Benalla weather…..as shared by Bruce.

Overall results after 6 out of 11 days in open class;
1. Pete Temple in ASG 29 with 5,390 points.
2. Bruce Taylor in ASG 29E with 5,277 p.
3. Greg Beecroft in LS 8 with 5,242 p.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

The last words are for Pete;
“It’s been a bit hectic packing up and travelling home to post before now. I finished champion in the combined 18m and open class. My 12th national championship win – most of them at Benalla so it’s definitely a happy hunting ground for me.
Thanks to the Gliding Club of Victoria team running the competition; thanks to my fellow competitors for the safe and tough competition in the challenging weather; and of course thanks to Mandy for supporting and crewing for me. I look forward to defending the title next year in my new JS3
.”

Champion in open and 18 m class, nice prizes.Very well deserved.
Shared by Pete Temple Gliding

—————————————————————-

—–The NZ Nationals were only a tad more lucky with the weather. On January 24 and 25 they had tasks in both classes. In my last post I wrote that Brett and Keith [open] had equal 1000 points on that 3 hour AAT day and Henry and Davy [racing] got NO points for their flown 2.45 AAT.
Open class;
Task 6; 2.45 AAT.
…another challenging/marginal day and only 2 pilots managed to finish, Keith and Tim [Bromhead] [both overall leaders as 1 and 2], for 280 and 272 points. Brett lost as number 4 a total of 151 points.
Starts between 14.20 and 15. 55!!!!
Task 7; 369.12 km……Keith in his ASW 27 /18E had a top-day….He was the only one flying over 100 km./h and winner of the day with 1000 points followed by Tim [Ventus CT] and Brett [JS3] AND good old Tony Van Dyk.[ASG 27/18E]
 It was meant to be a blue day but there were clouds to the north on task marking the way but the conditions were very soft in areas and the speeds were not achieved in either class. Once again some struggled and there were land-outs on track and some  before the start. In all it was a good day.”
One more day to go…?????????
Task 8; 1 hour AAT,…you see they tried hard BUT, author David Austin mentioned;
“Another day of low cloud and rain. Unfortunately we have had to cancel the day.”
There was no task 8 so the overall scores after 4 of 9 days;
1. Keith Essex in ASW 27-18E with 2,681 points.
2. Tim Bromhead in Ventus 2CT with 2,502 p.
3. David Johnson in Discus 2CT with 2,172 p.

Racing class;
Task 6
; 2.30 AAT …3 pilots from the 11 “starters” managed to finish. Georg in the Duo Discus with 189 km / 73.80 km./h. And Mark in his St Libelle [217 km/ 54.51 km./h It took him nearly 4 hours [3.58.51 km./h] to achieve this, but he hold on !!!!!David in the SZD -55-1 was the third with 170 km/51.53 km./h.
Chapeau for these 3 pilots!!!!
Task 7; 251.93 km……This time it was Nigel in the Duo Discus, winning the day . Only 5 finished so a lot of outlandings again and not all of the pilots started.
Good to see Mark [Wilson] in the Libelle “holds on!!!” He leads the racing class at the moment.
Also in this class task 7 was the last one, so the
OVERALL scores are;
1. Mark Wilson in St Libelle with 1,503 points.
2. David Moody in SZD 55-1 with 1,268 p.
3. John Robertson in Discus 2B with 1,238 p.

Congratulations to ALL.

—————————————————–

—–Western Cape Regionals from January 20 -27 continued after 2 NO TASK-days and 1 flown task with 2 racing tasks on the 24th and 25th in open class.
Open;
task 4; 348.74 km…flying day 2…..Oscar was in the mood and raced to the daily victory; 156.17 km./h. The ARCUS M with Nick and John did not start the rest , 10 pilots 1HC, did. Christian Hynek from Austria used his engine after 46 km, “- tried out the handling of the jet,involuntarily today” and took the very nice picture below.
task 5; 328.05 km…..was won by HC pilot Tokkie [Pieter Carstens] in the LS 4.speed 169.44 km./h!!!!!!
He can’t be number 1 so that honor was for Peter Farrell in a JS3 ; 175.40 km./h!!!!

Worcester Magic….. as seen by Christian and shared by streckenflug.at

According to Christian the magic was shown on this task 3; “3rd competition day in Worcester: You think you’re more ahead with an average of 166 kph, but an LS4 with an average of 169 kph shows you where the magic happens, the red line at 180 kph!” He flew around with 166.17 km./h in the JS1/18m.
Task 6; 525.87 km….great to see Sven [Olivier] in his ASW 27 on top of the daily list with 164.72 km./h. He started later than the rest.” I really enjoyed this day win in Western Cape Regionals.”
Oscar was on spot 5 [speed 148.69 km./h]
7 Started and finished.
Task 7; 2 hour AAT…with smoke due to fires at Wolseley…!!!!!! Oscar won the day with 398 km and with that distance there must be good speed too; it was 166.95 km./h!!!!
10 started and 2 were “out”.
“Last competition day in Worcester, high and fast thermal into the Karoo … it was wonderful” by Christian who was 3d for the day.

Bush fire, waves and low along the ridge … to Klawer, the northernmost turning point, that is normally used a bit low here! ” shared by streckenflug.at

The Sports class had only 2 participants and each of them won a day.In the end Laurens [Goudriaan] in ASG 32 was runner up with 2.009 p and winner was Brad Jackson from the USA in Ventus 2CM/18 m with 2.472 points.

Overall scores in open after 5 out of 7 pretty fast days:
Fast days as in…….task 1; 170 km./h . Task 4; 156 km./h. Task 5; 169 km./h. Task 6 ;164.72 km./h Task 7; 167 km./h.
1. Oscar Goudriaan in JS 3 /18m with 3,588 points.
2. Rene Lans in JS 1 Cjet/18m with 3,364 p
3. Andreas Spielmann from Switzerland in JS3 with 3,098 p.
Here they are ,all happy chappies!
As shared by streckenflug.at


OTHER NEWS:
—–Bitterwasser shared their stats;
Bitterwasser statistics for the 2023 / 2024 season
117 satisfied pilots reported 778 beautiful flights in the OLC and flew 624 853 km (667 384 points). On average 800 km and 858 points per flight.
A total of 252 flights were longer than 1000 km. 2 of them > 1400 km, 9 > 1300 km, 39 > 1200 km, 57 > 1100 km, 145 >1000 km.
These large flights were possible from the beginning to the end of the season. Accumulations at certain times were due to the number of pilots.
Elmar Fischer flew a total of 36700 km and almost 40000 points with 55 launches and 312 hours.
The fastest flight >1000km was made by Ilka Elster-Back and Holger Back with average speed of 160.13 km/h
Simon Briel made the longest flight with 1413 km and Niels Fecker flew with Hans Ulrich Meuters the highest scoring flight with 1541 points.

(by Dirk Skura, Quelle OLC)”

Bitterwasser Lodge & Flying Centre

As every year I add my statistics looking at the OLC on January 24 2024.
Most busy airfields;
1. Bitterwasser ; with 117 pilots during 779 flights ; 624.853,94 km.
2. Veronica ; with 84 pilots during 587 flights; 436.641,89 km.
3. Kiripotib; with 90 pilots during 627 flights; 425.968,35 km.
4. Pokweni; with 39 pilots during 410 flights; 299.432,42 km.
5. Worcester; with 32 pilots during 148 flights; 91.286,68 km.

5 Pilots REALLY flew many hours during many flights, so stats of all flights;
1. Elmar Erik Fischer
; 55 flights and 36.745,90 km.
2. Garry Coppin; 45 flights and 31.377,44 km.
3. Nicolas Bennett; 40 flights and 29.022,83 km.
4. Axel Nuss; 37 flights and 28.735,78 km.
5. Dmytry Borovyk; 38 flights and 26.945,57 km.

Speed OLC CHAMPION:
1. Juan Pablo Vertura [Argentina] ; 1.028,18 points. On 18 -11 2023 he flew 231.69 km./h !!!
2. Reinhard Schramme [Germany] ; 985.88 p. On January 5 he flew 154.48 km./h.
3. Alejandro Pettenazza [Argentina] ;972.85 p. On December 1 he flew 198.75 km./h.

—-Kiripotib said farewell to their last guests as well;
Days at Kiripotib fly by too quickly, another season is over. Many thanks to all Kiripotib friends who made the last three months something very special again✨.We look forward to welcoming you back to Namibia in autumn/winter.
They had 90 guests, making 627 flights and flying 425.968,35 km!!!
Next years bookings can be done on kiripotib-soaring.com/en/contact/

——-The latest IGC ranking list is studied by Adam and he shared it with us. He also wrote a long article on the low numbers on comps,interesting reading on ;Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

—-VERY INTERESTING flight on January 26 and the first 1000 km [wave ] flight in Europe has been flown from Romania from the airfield Targu Jiu in the mighty ARCUS M over the Făgăraş mountains
Pilots Nicolae and Iulian flew 1074 km speed 126 km./h.
As they say in their own words: “It’s a milestone for us, long studied wave patterns come out to light… There is great potential for long flights in the Carpathians, gliding is such a beautiful sport, I can’t wait to explore and discover moreWeGlide
On both WeGlide [https://www.weglide.org/flight/360846] and the OLC https://www.weglide.org/flight/360846 you find many pictures!!!!

This picture was published on the OLC .

——Last weekend some female Aussie pilots had a long AUSTRALIA weekend of flying in the gorgeous area of Mount Beauty.
Day 1 of Rockettes x Victorian Soaring Association Women’s Soaring in the hills weekend. 18 flights and 10 girls got to fly yesterday. Woohoo
Picture shared by Rockettes 

“It’s about coming together with like-minded individuals who share your passion for adventure. Connect with fellow gliding enthusiasts, share stories, and create memories.”

That’s it for now. The last couple of days it was cold here, but sunny and the days really are getting longer. Spring is around the corner. Slowly we can look ahead of MORE GOOD SOARING in Europe!!!!
You can already apply for the SUMMER COMPS here in The Netherlands between July 13 -19-/2024.

VERY INTERESTING; The FAI SGP at Terlet in May 2025 [ 11-17] for 18 m. gliders can only accept 20 participants. At this stage they have 34 preliminary bookings. SO THERE IS INTEREST IN this kind of soaring.

The Horsham Coaching week has started which means that Horsham Week, one of the last comps in the down under season is around the corner. Last one this season is the 2 seater NATIONAL championship at Tocumwal.[ February 17-24]
The 2024 Lake Keepit Regatta is between February 27 and March 4 .

Cheers Ritz