BACK ON TRACK. HURRAY!!!!
What happened?
I wrote too much , used too many pictures and “my” place on the server was full!!!! They found also some malware so I was thrown off!!!
Could not enter my blog anymore.
So “I am” put in the cloud now, can write as much as I will again and use pictures as well.
The more official version;”So, I did find out that multiple sites were infected with malware. That caused the hosting service to deactivate the sites to the outside world. I have cleaned up the malware, now I am waiting for them to reactivate the sites. Further, I have added more disk space. Once all that is done, I can do more work to ensure that this won’t happen again. Part of that work will be to add more software to protect against malware and to move the backups into the cloud so they won’t use disk space at the hosting service. Hopefully, everything will be back up in a few days at the most.”
I found out that I am pretty hooked- on to my writing , so I am glad to be back. Every day I tried to connect to my blog , but every day was a disappointment ,till last Friday morning[August 2] early when I got the message “ Ritz, if you get into the site, then I think you are good to go!”
It’s still not totally “repaired” but , as Bill said,” what I still have to do will nor interfere with your writing” and ” do not worry about the number of pictures, I have added tons of space”.
Sounds great!!!!!
I am more than grateful!!!!THANKS BILL!!!!
Back to work….3 Big FAI comps in progress at the moment, so I will be busy again.
But first some sad news as I got it from Australia on a day I was biking in 40 dgr. C with 2 friends;
Thomas Philip Claffey
12 Nov 1963 – 25 Jul 2019
Last Tuesday while we were out cycling, Tom suffered sudden cardiac arrest. Despite immediate CPR by the bike shop guys, 7 cycles of electric shock and compressions by 4 paramedics in 2 ambulances, quick transport to RPA hospital, connection to ECMO heart/lung bypass life support and industrial quantities of drugs, Tom’s heart would only pulse and never regained proper pumping function. Today after 48 hrs on ECMO, tests and assessments showed no heart or brain function. So this evening life support was switched off.
Tom was cheated of his retirement dreams of gliding, sailing, 4w driving and fishing. I’m cheated of growing old with the love of my life, husband, best friend and soul-mate.”
Gentleman Tom, such a nice guy. Great pilot and top glider pilot.
And with his wife Kerrie, a few years ago. She might still fly the WWGC in Lake Keepit this year.I hope she will.
R.I.P. mate.
As shared by his wife Kerrie.
The news really shocked me as Tom was a still young healthy airline captain from Qantas, but you see, it can happen when you don’t expect it.
It’s Friday here today and that will be the day of Tom’s funeral. I guess all who know him from comps and many world comps share my grief for him.
On the day Tom died I was at the funeral of the brother from Inge’s husband Rodger. Only 49, Remco died after a freak-accident falling backwards from low, only 4 high concrete stairs, leaving him brain dead.
R.I.P dear Remco.
Life goes on as I found out many , many times; We had here in Holland but also Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg to deal with temperatures from 40.8 dgr. C and I went biking, may be not so smart. Big advantage nobody was on the bike that day, we had the forest for our selves.
Highest temperature ever here was in 1944 , we had 38.6 then and that record was REALLY beaten; 40.8 dgr. C..
Back to all comps as there are a few.
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11th FAI JWGC in Szeged in Hungary.
July 28- August 10 2019
All the young ones started, when I was frustrated to not be able to write and my opinion is, that my blog should be “fresh”, straight when I read things I try to share them.My enthusiasm is then [still at my age ] at the highest.
I copied some pictures which I will share anyhow to show you some of the young ones.
team Holland and team Belgium.
Team UK and yes that’s Aussie JWGC champion [ Benalla] Matthew Scutter in the middle . I guess he is the TC and with his knowledge of weather they can’t have a better one.
Team USA. They collected a glider in Holland first to go to the JWGC . I heard that 12 in Holland registered gliders are flying in Hungary, so we are a caring, sharing soaring nation!!!!
It’s Friday morning now August 2 and they have , after 4 practice day’s, already 1 cancelled task, one day with no task and 3 flying days in which the UK and Germany excel.
Here is a short note on them.
CLUB CLASS;
Task 2 …262 km. and the UK was in top condition with a 1 and 2 win. The best thing to do that day was NOT to start too early, but the expectation was that thermal activity would stop early that day, so a lot, also the Dutch , started early around 1.34 PM. Jake and Finn decided to start at 2.09 PM and won the day.
41 From 44 finished.
Task 3…3 hour AAT and the German young ones went for it; spot 1-2 and 3 for the day. Another tricky day with thunderstorms, but they had no problems with them. Team UK mentioned;” a good bad day” and one of them with a smile ;” a 3 hour AAT I,…. did 4!!!”
36 from 44 finished.
German team with 1. Tobias Pachowski 2. Maximilian Dorsch and 3. Philipp Lauer.
as shared by German Junior Gliding Team
Task 4…257 km. and another UK day with Finn and Jake performing at their best. Both fly an ASW 20 and those gliders are back popular with a good handicap and performance.Number 3 was another JWGC lady , this time from the Czech Rep and Barbora flew 90 km./h in her ASW 19. Except for 1 all finished!!!
In the evening was the INTERNATIONAL NIGHT.
Finn on the highest spot and Jake and Barbora on each site of him. And Barbora helping out at the International Evening.
Task 5..3.15 AAT. From today on I can write “live” again.Hope they did not drink too much or eat all kind of foods not matching with each other.I have seen that before. But no …274 k. was the best result in time 3.20 and it was flown by…Jake, with at his heels Finn; 273 km. in the same time ;1000 and 996 points. It really was a difficult day as a lot got a warning for a too low finish, meaning they just made it back pffff….. in the evening it was raining like hell, so a day off for Saturday???
31 Finished.
After 5 flying days it ‘s pretty clear that the UK is on top in the overall scores;
1. Jake with 3.633. 2. Finn with 3. 617 and on 3 the only one who can keep up with them ; Daniel Ryba, [3.510] who was 4th, 6th, 4th again and 3d on task 5.
Indeed a designated rest day was set for Saturday/yesterday.
STANDARD CLASS;
Task 2…300.88 km and no not a UK or German day but a FRENCH day, also with a late start.And a female winner as well Aude Untersee; 109 km./h in her Discus 2 a with winglets. Only 25 from 36 finished. Yes a tricky day.
Aude and her French mates as shared by Pôle France Planeur
Task 3…3 hour AAT and those young German pilots are really good in AAT flying. 3 Of them in the daily top as well in this class, so 6 German winners in both classes for task 3…. NOT BAD!!!!
19 From 36 finished so a lot of “hope” has gone with the wind.
German team; 1-2-3 for the day.
As shared by German Junior Gliding Team
Task 4…309 km. and they can fly a set task as well as ………..they won again. Simon Briel [Discus 2A] , Simon Schroeder [son of] in LS 8 and as first for the day Robin Sittmann.[Discus 2A] Except for the Discus B from pilot Lukas Schneeberger from Austria all gliders in this class have WINGLETS. Either Discus, [16x] LS 8 [19x] or LAK 19.[1x]
Task 5 ..3 hour AAT. Changed in 2 hour AAT. Tough day for the current JWGC champion Sjoerd from Holland , who had a flat tire , before start, which was repaired quickly by the crews. Towing started whilst a range of covering clouds arrived over the field. Not really good.But,…the sun became hotter and the clouds dissolved.
But Sjoerd, who had already bad luck in the morning ,showed why he was world champion 2 years ago and won the day.
Only 17 finished!!! Rain was bad in the end of the day. Some “managed to squeak it into the finish ring“, as the 2 UK boy’s did . Many land-out’s.
Courtesy British Gliding Team
After 5 tasks the overall scores with one week to go look as follows; 1. Robin, Simon B. and Simon S. from Germany. Clean sweep for the time being with 3.069/3.064 and 3.052 points.
Day 7 has no task 6 and the reason is clear….they made it a designated rest day…why not?
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LIVNO FAI SGP in Bosnia
27 July 2019 – 3 August 2019
As shared by FAI Sailplane Grand Prix Bosnia & Herzegovina 2019 – Livno
With 2 practice day’s on the 25th and 26th of July they started with race 1 but the weather did not co-operate . Also race 2 had to be cancelled.
But then… it started. 15 Pilots were all more than motivated to go for it.
Race 1 …208 km. Bad day for Gilles [Navas] from France as he started through all problems with zero points. 10 points were ready for German pilot Juergen Wenzel who flew around with 133 km./h on the clock. Gintas [Zube] was a great runner up [131 km./h] and German pilot Stefan Langer got 7 points for spot 3.[131 km/h. as well]
Race 2 …311 km. was 2 days later as July 28 and 29 had to be cancelled. 2 JS 3 JET in the top one from Slovenian pilot Boštjan Pristavec [107.9 km./h.] and Polish pilot Zdzisław Bednarczuk, quite a bit slower with 87.8 km./h.
7 Did NOT finish one of them Gintas. 2 Others flew but had to come back ;”Gilles and Jon [Gatfield from the UK.] landed back without completing the task. They were low between airfield and second turn point but managed to get back safely.”
Race 3…151 km. “Zube” recovered quickly and straight away won the day for 10 points; 129.8 km./h whilst Gilles who got the fine-tuning for flying in the East under control and got 8 points for a speed of 129.7 km./h.
Race 4…218 km. 2x a JS 1 in the top with nice speed ; 130 and 126 km./h. Pilots for 10 and 8 points were Jože Verdev from Slovenia and Petr Panek from Czech Rep. Ouch,..only Zdzislaw was out after 193 km.
Race 5…311 km. Morning news; “We expect some short rains until takeoff, and we are waiting for high layers of clouds to pass.“So maybe another tricky day.
Task was changed in 154.93 km. Late regatta start at 16.40!!!!
As shared by FAI Sailplane Grand Prix Bosnia & Herzegovina 2019 – Livno
“Zube” was supposed to be the winner with 116 km./h BUT, he was penalized for ” Switching off tracking device at 17:53:33“; 300 sec.
So the winner for 10 points was Bostjan, the runner up also penalized [for circling to the right….30 sec.] was Petr for 8 points and Gintas got 7.
Race 6…last race!!!231 km. A fast day!!!!
Stefan Langer who won race 1, flew around with 142.9 km./h!!! So he also won the last day. Not bad!!!!
“Zube” was runner up with 142 .6 km./h and as close Klaus Kalmbach with 142.5. Also Uroš Krašovic was fast with 142.5 km./h in his Ventus 3.
Final scores after 6 out of 8 day’s, with 2 pilots much better than the rest.
1. Gintas Zube with 37 points. He had 1 ZERO points day but won a day and was 2x runner up and 1 day 3d and 6th.
2. Boštjan Pristavec with 35 points. Bostjan won 2 day’s.He was 2x 6th, 1 x 5th and 1x 7th in the last race.
3. Petr Panek with 28 points.
This was the last FAI SGP in 2019. In 2020 they start in Potchefstroom in South Africa; January 4-12.
Vitacura in Chile is also in January on between January 18 and 25.
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3d FAI Pan American Gliding Championship from Rockton in CANADA.
29 July 2019 – 14 August 2019
Opening as shared by US Soaring Teams
4o Competitors have entered and quite a big team from the USA this time. They fly in 3 classes.
US soaring teams wrote;
“The U.S. is well represented at the 3rd FAI Pan-American Gliding Championship at SOSA in Rockton, Ontario, Canada. Local politicians and the president of the Soaring Association of Canada, Sylvain Bourque, welcomed pilots and crew from Argentina, Canada and the U.S. before FAI Jury President John Godfrey officially opened the event today. Harvards and a Giffen helicopter put on a great show, and gliders gridded for an early afternoon launch.”
August 2… day 1 task 1;
15 m /st class…..316 km;
14 in this class and 10 finished. Daily winners from Canada Chris Gough [LS 8] and Luke Szczepaniak [ASW 27] with 94 and 96 km/h. Also in this class Francois Pin in ASW 27 FES. with 100 km./h he was the fastest. Sarah Arnold was 5th in Ventus 2AX.
18 m…321 km;
Again 2 Canadian pilots in the top 2;Sergei Morozov and Joerg Stieber both in ASG 29. Speed 109 and 108 km./h
Also in this class Gary Ittner who was 4th and Canadian Jerzy Szemplinski was 6th. His mate Dave Springford was 8th.
10 from 13 finished.
club class…311 km;
Only 4 from 13 finished so a tough day. Winner Rafael Bravo from Canada in LS 4. In this class also 4 Argentinian pilots.
August 3 …day 2 task 2;
15 m./st class…258 km;
Good day for the very experienced Francois who in his ASW 27FES, with 99 km./h . His USA mates did well too as Phil Gaisford in Discus and Sylvia Grandstaff were 2 and 3 both in Discus.
Only 1 “out”.
18 m….257 km;
Sergei won already day won , now also day 2 with Jerzy as runner up; 106 and 104 km./h.
Bad day for Gary, he was the only one “out”.
Club class….208 km;
Sarah’s husband Jason was the daily winner in Discus with 92 km./h. Followed by 2 Argentinian pilots Carlos and Matias in In ASW 20 and St, Cirrus ; 87 and 81 km./h.
All 13 in this class finished.
More on Wednesday.
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51th Kippeneck comps .
27 July 2019 – 3 August 2019
as shared by Klippeneck-Wettbewerb
87 Participants in 5 classes and pretty good weather with 6 out of 8 day’s in each of the classes.
Club had 13 entrees, 15 m. had 13, 18 m. 32, open 7 and the 2 seaters 22.
I was looking first, if Tijl Schmelzer [Ventus 3T] from Belgium could win EVERY day again as last year. But no he did not this time that remains still special. He won 3 day’s and his biggest concurrent was Dutch pilot Steven Raimond.
32 Pilots in this 18 m. class among them also former World champion Bert, Tijl’s brother.
Good tasks yesterday at the last day, to decide the winners of this always great competition!
Club….271 km;Changed in 232 km. Eduard Inaebnit from Swiss was the best on the last day. In the total scores he was 4th.10 From 13 finished. Runner up was Alrik Dargel.
Overall winner; Alrik Dargel in 18 m. Cirrus with 3.974 points.
15 m….285 km;Best speed in Discus 2 by Timo Lehrke who moved from 5 to 4 overall. 2 Outlandings on this last day.
Overall winner ; Dirk Ströbl in LS 8 with 4.278 points.
18 m….295 km; Steven in his ASG 29E was the only one with a speed over 100 km./h. Tijl was 3d for the day.18 From 32 only finished on this last day!!
No changes however in the top 3 in this class;
Overall winner ; Tijl Schmelzer in Ventus 3T with 3.857 points.
Steven was runner up with 3.817 p.and Volker Herzog was 3d with 3.518 p.
Tijl with his dad Bert Schmelzer sr.
As shared by Klippeneck-Wettbewerb
open…289 km; Changed in 235 km. The Nimbus 3DM from Joachim Hirt flew around with 100 km./h and that was the best speed. All 7 pilots finished.
Overall winner ;Franz C. Krüger in ASH 25 with 3.016 points.
That was just 9 points more than the Nimbus 4DM team Blum & Schütz .
2 seaters…277 km. Changed in 226 km. Team Costabel & Unmuth in the ARCUS just could not make the 100 km./h but they were the daily best.
19 From 22 finished.
Overall winners in Arcus M; team Koch & Gerster with 3.655 points.
Just 28 points less for the other ARCUS M team Costabel & Unmuth.
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45 th INTERNATIONAL BAILLEAU 2019.
30 July 2019 – 9 August 2019
Courtesy Marion Rozema and Martin Bierhuizen.
With 70 pilots always a busy competition with a mix from toppers, “old” toppers and very young ones in 3 classes where it is all about speed or distance or building-up-experience.
Lot’s of Dutch pilots always there, some kind of real soaring family holiday.
They fly as said in 3 classes and when I write this they had already 1 cancelled task on day 1 and 4 good tasks.
In the speed class are 37 pilots and I know a lot from them which is always nice to see and follow. Some from comps in Belgium others from Dutch Nationals and even from WGC’s and the CIM in Italy.
Task 2 was 391 km and won by Dutch WGC pilot Jeroen Verkuijl followed by well known Italian top pilot Margot Acquaderni. 32 Pilots finished.
Task 3 was 292 km and Paul van Dingenen who I met at comps at the Keiheuvel won the day in ASG 32. Runner up was a German team Goeke & Scholz sharing an ASG 29 and 31 finished.
Task 4 was 360 km. and again a prey for Jeroen followed by a young very talented and very kind pilot from the Belgian Keiheuvel Pieter Daems.[ Discus 2B]
Task 5 yesterday was a 2 hour AAT.Lars Berendes from Holland won the day with 188 km. in time 2.02. Lars flies a DG 300.
The long-flight-class counts 27 pilots and indeed had long flights.
Task 2 was 541 km and Dutch WGC pilot Francois Jeremiasse won the day in an EB 29R with 122 km./h.
Runner up was Jeroen oostendorp in ASW 22 BL with 118 km./h.
Task 3 was 399 km and yes again the EB with Francois was the winner this time the speed was “only” 96 km./h so a tough day.
Task 4 was 520 km and Francois and his glider were good again with Ronald Kaay from Holland as runner up in his 18 m. ASG 29. All 27 pilots finished.
Task 5 was a 2.30 AAT and 6 Dutch pilots in the top with the ASW 22 Bl as the best;261 km. in time 2.36.
The friendly competition for pilots who are eager to fly comps and are still very young or not yet so experienced counted 4 pilots one of them Ronald Kaay’s son Noud, a very young enthusiastic lovely guy. He won 4 day’s in a row a day with 256 km. ,205 km., 303 km and a 2 hour AAT where he flew 169 km in time 1.59, so he is good in timing as well. He seems ready for more. The runner up in LS 4 had 139 km. in time 1.53.
More also next Wednesday.
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Some great flight’ s in July;
Have n’t had time to look at the OLC so I had a quick look and “everybody is still flying”. Mostly August is the month for many 1000 km. flights in Fuentemilanos but they started already earlier this season.
On July 19 Guy Bechtold, from Luxembourg who flies there already for ages and Spanish pilot Alvaro Jimenez Aguayo had a great day in the ARCUS M and ASH 31/21 m. ;1.202 km with a speed from 125 km./h.
Earlier, on the 17th, some pilots flew “just-over-1000 km. flights.”
Only in July I counted already 31 long 1000 km. flights.
The weather is HOT very HOT!!!
On July 25, 4 great over 1000 km. flights from Puimoisson in France by German pilots staying over there.
On the last day of that hot month July 1 flight from 1000 km. by Denis Flament in ASH 26 E.
Fayence and Rennes had 1000 km. flights on August 2.
And Australia is awakening from their winter sleep and as usual the East starts with good flying weather. Kingaroy had 410 in an ASW 20 with Mark Dalton.
Glad to be back CU on Wednesday again.
Cheers Ritz