Last weekend the Amstel Glide Grand Prix 2014 was flown from Soesterberg in 3 classes. The weather was reasonable , the pilots ready for a nice day of competition soaring!
the ASW 22 BLE /27 m. XXL
Courtesy Frans Guise!
The regatta start in the combi class was at 2.48 PM and 13 pilots went for a 244 km. long task in planes as Duo Discus, Discus, LS 8 and ASW 24 .
The Duo Discus T from Philippe and Neander was back after 3 hours and 9 minutes and 57 seconds and they were the best and got the 6 points.The rest needed at least 14 minutes more. Only 6 pilots finished.
In club class 10 pilots and the regatta start was at 2.58 PM. Glider AG , a St Cirrus, won with Nick Hanenburg in it . He is a member of our Junior squad.
186 .5 km for them and he flew the distance in 2.54.56. Some other pilots flew 1 hour longer and a few out landed.
By the way the St Cirrus with call sign AG, AND the AU also a St. Cirrus are owned by the GLIDING Netherlands Foundation Event ….I will come back on this foundation closer to the JWGC in Narromine, but when you are interested , you can read all about it already on the junior site under ” airplanes ” at www.dutchjuniors.nl
It’s available in English!!!
This foundation takes care of the young squad-pilots , depending on club gliders for comps [National and International] and when nothing is available this foundation can help!!!
Both St .Cirrus’ are owned by a foundation for special use by the juniors.
In open class 268.2 km. and a start at 15.08 for 6 pilots and from them 2 finished gaining 2 and 1 point[s]
Sikko in the ASG 29 won the day in 2.58,38 and the runner up Matthijs [Ventus CT] needed 15 minutes more!
Some great pictures from the finishes at Amstel Glide by FRANS GUISE!!!!
ASG 29 M2 from Sikko ………..and …………..the Discus CS MP from Erwin.
Courtsey FRANS GUISE.
A 500 km. O&R record attempt was tried by Arne Boye Moeller from Denmark.
Here is the story he shared on FB, for those who ” hate” FB.
“Conditions looked favorable Saturday June 14th for an out-and-return 500 km. record attempt form my home club in Herning to Hamburg in Germany.
Crossing from the southern Jutland peninsula into Germany’s Schleswig ditto is always an interesting adventure with the often wet lowlands, channels and erratic thermal energy distribution.
This day the wind was from the NNE with thermals yielding 1-2.5m/s and luckily more convergence than hoped for.
After having run to the south with 144 kph I had to divert all the way to the west coast in Germany and run the wet seabreeze until the prevailing winds won over the sea-breeze well into Denmark again. With 117kph average I believe I have broken the old 98 kph record.”
He added some great pictures with a story ;
The evening before, a huge cloudstreet told us something about the instable airmass passing Denmark
Oh…clear nights heralds clear airmass! Having just turned Itzehoe, suburb to Hamburg.
A view of the river Elbe emptying into the North Sea with Kieler Channel from the Baltic Sea joining in the confluence.
Looks doable…just before the seabreeze roared in The Kieler channel
Here comes the seabreeze. Oh what joy!
VARESE ….QUALIFYING GRAND PRIX
The opening in Varese with CD Giorgio Ballarati to the r. And great food to share!
As shared by the organizers
I left you with the 2 practice days of the Varese Qualifying Grand Prix last Sunday in ” THE CAFE”.
At Sunday they started with their Italian week of qualifying for the FINAL in their own VARESE in 2015!
At the briefing they got a task from 197.4 km. and the announcement for the first start at 2 PM. Thomas [Gostner] was ready for it though the weather predictions said ” heavy thunderstorms”. Anyhow the sun was shining and there was hope!
In vain!!! They did not fly!
Briefing and Giorgio [Galetto] and his mates pay full attention and Thomas and crew are ready to go.
Pictures shared by the organizers.
On Monday they had a briefing but at the same announcement was said that the weather was so-so. Anyhow 172 km. was set for the first flyable day.
AND,…the skies looked great according to the CD Giorgio . The regatta- start opened at 2.15 PM.
The weather turned out even better then expected!!! So before they knew the pilots were back again!!
Peter Hartmann, who has had such great flights lately, was the first to return already at 3.45 with a speed of 1.08 km./h. !!! The first 10 Points in Varese!!!
His Austrian Mate Werner Amann arrived, not much later and got the 8 points. Italian pilot Ricardo Brigliadori got the 7 points.
Indeed good looking skies.BUT,…later we heard not all clouds worked properly!
As shared by the Varese Organizers.
On Tuesday the briefing was reset for 2 PM. and after Giorgio had a sniffer-flight the day was cancelled.
For more short news from the CD Giorgio and the scores; www.soaringspot.com
And at https://acao.it/
RAYSKALA….. 33d FAI WGC in Finland
In between, most pilots have arrived in Rayskala for the WGC one of the 2 FAI TOP EVENTS in our soaring world this year and the weather welcomed them in a better way ,after the early- birds had seen more than enough ENOUGH rain!!
Cold nights though [ 4 plus C.] , but finally the by Finland-connaisseurs, expected better conditions.
One of our Dutch pilots , Alfred Paul, shared some great pictures from his very first flight in Finland on the day BEFORE!!!
The day AFTER, his 2d flight , he flew 628 km. AND ….saw the East and West Coast of Finland.
As shared by Alfred Paul on day 1
AND
on day 2
It was,…as I said to my Aussie friends already, ” just ” waiting for the days to come.
Sunday one of those days was there; 646 in a Discus, 780 in an ASG 29/18 m.
Guilherme Purnhagen from Brasil [Bahia Gliding!] had his first practice- flight in the Discus 2T and was just HAPPY; 504 km.
Mannie from South Africa is in Rayskala to fly the ARCUS with German pilot Martin Lesle who spends his winters in South Africa and they had a good day to start with ;266 km.
Still not the super weather as some pilots had to deal with sea-breeze, parts of dead -air with 8/8 of cu’s, but at least they practiced and some flew for 8 hours.
First impressions from the airport and the area, shared by Tijl Schmelzer from Belgium
On Monday they started with an unofficial training day WITH a briefing at 10 AM, scrutineering started at 12 and you could register in the competition office from 9 AM onwards. Good day for jobs as the weather was not as good as the day before, as you can see on the pictures.
In the morning and at noon. Fast changing circumstances, as shared by Adam and the organizers.
On Tuesday they woke up with sleet!!!! Snow yes in summer, and during all the years I have been there I did not see any snow!!!!You nearly needed glasses to see the white powder but it was there.But ,..after the snow there was sun again and a 3 hour AAT was set.
IT”S ABOUT TO BEGIN this 33d WGC !!!!!!!!! I will miss the first week, but there will be MORE than enough news.
Official news on ;
http://www.wgc2014.fi/
https://www.facebook.com/wgc2014?fref=nf
www.soaringspot.com
All teams have their own site or FB site. Enjoy, you don’t have to miss anything!!!!!
And when you are on the WGC site have a look at the ” head ” WINGLET, great stories one about the history of the PIK 20 THE FINNISH STAR of the 1976 worlds by Jiri Raivio. Good reading!
first briefing on unofficial practice day.
EUROGLIDE 2014
I am also going to miss the start and finish of the 2014 EUROGLIDE!!!! Already the 12th edition!!!
A pity, but for sure you keep an eye on it yourself. Here is the link;www.euroglide.nl
70 Gliders with teams existing out of 2 till 6 pilots per glider leave on Monday May 23 and have the time to fly the over 2000 km distance till July 5.
” Contrary to a standard gliding competition, when each day a task is flown from the same airfield, Euroglide has only one task of approximately 2000 km:”Departure, round the turn-points and return as soon as possible, but at latest on the last competition day.”
They have changed the start location this year due to the huge amount of competitors …
Now there are three start airfields instead of one: Eindhoven (Selflaunchers and Low Turbos), Malden (Gliders) and Venlo (High Turbos).
The “equal opportunity for all“, has changed to “equal opportunity per class” now.
The finish will be in Malden.
There are participants from several countries as Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, the UK, Canada [ my friend Jos specially arrives from Canada to be part of this edition in a Dutch glider a Duo Discus, with his former EAC mates] , Slovakia and Holland.
And these pilots fly a numerous type of gliders.
Last Sunday was a good soaring-day with several 1000 km. flights [ 7 in Germany] and a nearly 900 in a Discus from Munsingen [NE from Klipeneck in Germany] A total of 2260- plus on the Sunday-Fathers-day-OLC list.
One of the nice flights was the 1.131.5 km. FAI triangle from Michael Sommer from Oberhinkhofen in the EB 29, passing en route Hahnweide, Klippeneck and Bayreuth .
The flight from Ouarzazate [Morocco] by Robert Pratt [from France] in the ARCUS with the ” belle Helene” in the back , was a good one too;1.248 km. And Bernd Dolba flew with a Polish pilot a 1.165 km. in the ASH 25 EB. A 3d 1000 from Ouarzazate was flown by UK pilot John Bally.
It was fathers day as well and what’s nicer then to have a thank you-daddy-for-having-the-glider-today on the OLC; a 1000 in the ARCUS M for the son and his mate!
Some fathers spoiled their selves after having been spoiled already by the family in the early morning, with a nice day of flying; 500 km [566] triangle from Terlet in Holland and many great flights in Germany.
You even dropped from page 1 from the OLC flying 853 km. in an ASH 25/26m.
A 500 k triangle in a KA 6 is worth mentioning!!! The only 500 on page 1 on a well deserved spot 47 !!!!!
And a 733 km.[ 675 FAI km] in an LS 4 WL,…great stuff. Not to forget the LS 1d flight from 662 km.TOP!!!!!!!
Also on Monday some great flights in Germany and Switzerland.
A lot of superlative were used by pilots.
When Michael Sommer with his experience says ” Wahnsinn tag” , it must be a SUPER DAY.He had a super glider as well [ EB 29] and flew this time;1.356 km!!!!!!!!
In his comment he said thank you to Walter and Oliver and he mentioned he flies for a new club; LSV Regensburg flying from Oberhinkhofen.
The last flights from Michael on the OLC from this airfield show since April 17 a total of 10 flights, 5 out of this 10 were a 1000 km. PLUS!!!! You can fly, or you can’t!
A 1000 km. in a St. Cirrus is another piece of cake but it happened on Monday as well. Robert Schymala was the pilot who flew a yo-yo from Stillberghof along places as Hahnweide and Klippeneck over 1.016 km. and was most amazed himself that you can fly one with such a light , pretty basic glider. Good on him.
Stillberghof had another 1000 in an 18 m. LAK 17 and in a Discus. I think a few nice beers have been spend after, on such a great day .
Former WGC host -field Eskilstuna in Sweden had a flight from 888 km in the Ventus BT by Jan Rotthhardt from Germany. I remember from when I was there that German pilots have an annual camp there.
And ….very pleased to see Michael Schumacher return to the world. He is out of his long time coma. Hope his re-validation will bring him back to normal.
Off on my annual -1-week- holiday with my high-school friends, without a laptop!!!
Sorry, but….Cu on July 2!!!
Cheers Ritz
On June 17/18 2014.