Terlet Sunday May 15 2011 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Dutch Nationals also on twitter          #nkzweefvliegen

even when it does not feel like spring at the moment, it looks like it!

Greetings from Terlet, where our Nationals will start on Tuesday and everybody is ready except for ….the weather. Did we have some kind of summer in spring with great cumulus clouds and flights , now it feels we have autumn in spring. Temperatures dropped from 29.5 to 14 !!!!
Rain however was/is good for the farmers as Holland really needed some rain!?
All in the game, it is just Dutch weather and we know it will improve again!
This morning we had a good shower at 6 AM, but now at 9 the sun is shining and lot’s of people are active already.
Tomorrow the opening-briefing will be at 8 and the next day the comps will start.

It feels SO good to be back here. Lived here several years every weekend, with the kids but also with a lot of their friends. It seems , as I heard from the new owner of the caravan that this is the last year. They are ready for a modern one.So extra special to be in it for 2 weeks.
Lots of friends still spend their weekends/ holidays here, so it is a feast-of-recognition.

A Fokker 50 from Cityjet was very unlucky , I read, at Rotterdam Airport. It just went through the wheels, the landing gear collapsed totally!!! It came on the ground with a big bang and that was it. The expectation is, that the plane is total loss. Only one engineer was on baord with the crew. They were fine.

Fatraglide had a few difficult last days.Would day 5 be valid or not? Yes it was for the mixed class as 4 flew over 100 km.in their 2 hour AAT,  but for the winner only 223 points were waiting. In the club class it was not a valid day, so they have 4 out of 8 days. Yesterday was the prizegiving and the wellknown  goulash evening and 100 pots of beer were donated by the organisation.
See for final results at  www.soaringspot.com

Soccer; only for ONE day; It is Ajax Amsterdam against FC Twente today and…it is the very last competition day. How fantastic that the number 1 Twente and the number 2 [only ONE point difference] are playing this game against each other. And yes we have Tukkers here from Twente but also members from the soaring club Amsterdam. Now …I do know that most glider pilots are not interested at all in soccer, but the world seems to be.
90 Journalists from all over the world, 40 photographers and 20 TV camera’s are in the Amsterdam Arena, 80 countries show it on TV— live— and even the Arabic Al Jazeera is one of them. Don’t have to tell you Dutch soccer has a high level.

I upgraded my internet explorer as requested to Explorer 9! Wanted to be ready with the latest version , to be perfect for the comps. BUT…..Just don’t do it! I lost half of my “know-how” . Could not work in this blog as I could not save!!!!! Every time I had written a part, I saved [ learned a few lessons there] and …all words were lost.That part/field was not changed into the new system!!! Luckily our web master Anne gave me the tip to work via google, which I do now. I heard from many more people they have problems,also in Australia.

I knew last Thursday would be a good day here in Holland , as I felt the thermals while sitting in my garden. Great skies then in Alphen with first 4/8 of cu’s later 6/8. Only problem a pretty tough wind. Best flight that day was from Soesterberg with 525 km in a Ventus 2 CM. But from here an LS 8 pilot flew 498 km. I always feel sorry when it is just not 500 or 750 or 1000. It happened more this week; 973 km in Austria, 966 in Luxembourg etc.
So more good practise for these Nationals. Though….the forecast is not TOO good for the practise day on Monday and the first day, atleast not as glamorous as we have had. Showers, but sun as well, no worries as pilots here are used to this type of weather; lets’wait and see!!! You can read it all on www.nkzweefvliegen2011.nl

Will write , whenever time left , a bit more these 2 weeks to keep you updatet in English as well.

See you ….Ritz

What is it going to be?

Alphen aan den Rijn        Wednesday May 11 2011      ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

This will be the last blog from Alphen till the end of May  ;  the next will be from Terlet where the Dutch Nationals will be flown from May 17 – 27.Pictures and stories will be then mostly from Terlet. The news is also on the official site ; www.nkzweefvliegen2011.nl    Enjoy!! But…it will be in Dutch,however  scores have an international language!!!
In the end we got 51 competitors and 3 of them are former/current EGC champion. So keep an eye on “us”.

The [ still spring] weekend was hot with temperatures up to 29.5 dgr.  but it was not very spectacular soaring weather. ” Only ” flights up to just over 300 km. [362 km! was the best]  here in Holland.Our Belgian friends were luckier with as best lodged flight ;512 km in a Ventus 2 CT/18m.

From Rosemount Park Jim Payne  flew another long distance flight , last Sunday, as he called it ” another top 10 wave-adventure.” This time in the ASH 25;  1687 km with a speed of 140 km./h. From the 11 flights he made since October 24, from this paradise for wave- flying, 6 were over 1000 km. One of them even over 2000 km. 2 Of those flights were in an ASW 27.

The 19th International Gliding Competition in Klix in Germany  has finished . Lot’s of participants  ,118 in total, and a Dutch winner in 15 m class with 33 participants;  former European champion in Finland, Steven Raimond. Good on him. Congratulations! With 6 out of 7 days he “received” 4619 points , about 50 more then the runner’s up flying a DG 1000/20 m.
Wolly Beyer , who I know from Tocumwal and Oerlinghausen was 8th in this class and well-known Dutch TC, steward and mother from  the runner up from the EGC in 2009 Tim, Frouwke Kuijpers , was on number 29.
To be honest I liked the Klix site,  but found it difficult/unpleasant to read.

At Martin Airfield   the 2d valid flying day had the nice task from day 1 ,which ended up in only “aux vache”  ; 405 km. and this time it worked out well for the mixed classers. More then half of them came home , the best with a speed of 102 km./h. From the 21 pilots in club class 15 flew their 300 km task.
–“Guess the best achieved speed in mixed class today ?!  And….win a free aerowtow to 800 m. AAL at Martin Airfield. ”
That’s what they did yesterday and do today for the club class.For today 452 km. is on the menu for mixed classers and 352 for club.

Last but not least; Fokker is going to co-operate with the Chinese Aircraft constructor Comac. A contract will be signed tomorrow. This means that Fokker from Holland will produce parts for a Chinese plane and is involved in the designing. Exciting!

Busy busy, more then enough to do , so see you from Terlet . By the way, “We will rock you ”  was SUPER !!!! Dynamic !!! TOP !!!
Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      Sunday  May 8 2011           Mothers Day                      ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

      HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

   

All guests have left so a bit more time to “dive”  in our soaring world.Pictures above are from Pierre Wolf from 2006 [WGC] ; there are so many comps at the moment and the preparations and the waiting are everywhere the same is n’t it ?

April was great , May till now has been wonderful as well in Holland , we got the highest temperatures  in Europe together with Belgium and the nicest clouds and flights up to nearly 800 km. and I do not have to tell you , we have no wave or ridges here.Look at the flights if you are interested on the Dutch OLC. And please check the FAI km. as well!!!!! Most of the pilots are flying the Nationals as well, so what better practise do you want? Only hope the weather still will be good from the 16th onwards!!!!
This weekend we are going for nearly 30 dgr. at some places,again the highest in Europe,  but yesterday the skies here were full of cirrus, quite some gusting wind , but in the afternoon,also blue strong thermals; I felt them.
At Teuge here in Holland , 23 pilots fly a 2 day competition in 2 classes, mixed and club.See for results at  www.soaringspot.com

The Grand Prix in Saint Auban   was blessed with good weather and had  7 out of 7 days  .  Didier Hauss, one of the pilots,  is not only a good instructor but also a great pilot and  a really nice guy. I met him a long time a go  and better during the WGC in Benalla in 1987 ,where he was co in the ASH 25 with Gabriel Chenevoy, while George and Dennis flew as first father-son combination ever, in the Nimbus 3 d specially prepared by Klaus Holighaus, with “Turbulators”. 
He then invited Dennis to do a mountain-flying- course in Saint Auban, I still have the card.
I am pleased that since the last IGC meeting,  the 20 m two-seater class will mention both pilots as winners in the future!!!
 I just had a look in my photo book and can’t believe how young we were and full of life, while several who flew or were in Benalla then,  are not with us anymore. Dennis, Kees Musters, Stan Witek, Klaus Holighaus, Ernst Gernot Peter, Janet Hider Smith, Ray Linskey  and more. 4 by accidents with flying,[ power plane, hang glider and glider] and  by illness.
It is interesting  to read what the press wrote in 1987 in Australia. About the Swedish team with Ake sitting in the glider , the team around him [for the picture ] at the airfield of Corowa, where they practised and Alf Ingesson Thor , the TC,  did the talking.
” There are times that it is easier to fly a jet fighter[ he was a jetfighter pilot then on a Viggen AJ 37!] , then a glider. Gliding is all about judgment ,where you have to make a decision in the air every second you are up.100 % concentration is a must”  .”
To get back to Didier; He just missed out on ONE point to win!!!On the last day over 268 km he received 5 points while the number 3 Nicolas Veron [ASG 29] got 8 points and 52 in total!

The FAI Qualifying GP in Romania  had less good weather and only 3  flying days out of 7. They continued flying on Friday ; day 3 with 210 km gave the 8 points [ max!] of the day to young Patrick Puskeiler, while Tilo got 60 sec penalty for a dangerous landing and received 5 points.This way Tilo is ONE point ahead of Patrick !!! Wow, the last day will be full of excitement.
BUT…..Yesterday pilots got the message that the day was cancelled. Spoilspot was a low pressure system/front in the NE of  Romania.
So Tilo wins this GP with 1 point on Patrick. [14-13 points] Today they have the prize giving and  an airshow to finish this GP. Hope the weather will be better.

Fatraglide 11  started yesterday   [till May 17] from Martin Field in Slovakia with 12 pilots in the mixed class and 23 in club class. Tibor is the task setter and Brano the competition director. Both  flew with us in Toc in the past, very active “boys” and as most glider pilots  “real nice” and both own an ASG 29. Lubor Kuvik who flies in winter at Corowa is one of the participants, also flying an ASG 29.
They started the comps, with a 409 km task for the mixed class and 315 for club. But that was a bit over-enthusiastic as nobody finished.Reason; midlevel clouds connected with a low pressure area over Ukraine approached much faster as the meteo forecast had said. Even the wave did not help.A pity ! But more days to come!
All their news is at   www.fatraglide.sk         scores only at;  www.soaringspot.com
Tibor send me the next picture;

 
I sent you picture – third guy is Mara Pechanec our Czech friend maybe you met him in AUS. He came from Vietnam just to fly our ASG 29 in fatraglide.

The OLC showed great ridge – soaring- flights  from Mid Atlantic Soaring -area , where one of the pilots called this day ” one of the best ”  he had ever flown in. A 1000 km flight in the ASW 20 is worthwhile mentioning, certainly when that pilot thinks this is the best soaring- day in his life !!! ” Ridge, thermals, wave and 240 km. from home…..””!!!!! Love the enthusiasm !!! And hope with him his crashed LK8000 shows enough evidence of his 1000 km.
4 x 1000 km flights in this area and the LS 4 flight from 988 km with a 750 km triangle in it, is just GOOD !!!!
The still good triangle over the ALPS, [ area of Unterwossen, Bolzano, Paterzell, Lienz, Königsdorf etc ]  showed long flights up to around 900 km. yesterday , while the ” Bobergers ”  had a nice day  with 900 km in the Nimbus 4DT, last Thursday.
Good ridge weather in France over the Pyrenees as well, where Rober Prat flew just over 1000 km in as he calls it, ” thermowave and ridges,”  from St Gaudens in a DG 500/22m.

The new Gliding International is out  with all kind of interesting news. I mention,the Taurus E, 13.5 m Electro Silent,China gearing up to take on European manufacturers, Blaniks can fly, but at cost, increasing the number of women pilots, the BGA versus  the FFVV[ the British Gliding Association versus the Federation Francaise de Vol a Voile, ] the IGC 2011 annual report and Johan Bosman the 3d key- character at the JS1 business and much more!!!! Nearly 4000 readers ” we ”  have now!
On the front page a great picture of the ASH 30 m., this new ship from Alexander Schleicher flew for the first time on April 11 2011. When you are interested to be a member as well, you can subscribe trough the web page; www.glidinginternational.com

Would like to point out to you the Official website of  the Belgian Gliding Team   for the EGC ‘s in 2011  and WGC’s in 2012. It is in English, looks great , fantastic pictures and gives good info about the competing pilots and later about the comps;   www.glidingteam.be

To finish this blog some more pictures from Pierre Wolf . Hardworking crew and busy pilots! Enjoy!
And….my Mother Days present; My daughter made me very happy with a visit to ” We will rock you”  the musical with music from Queen!!!!!! Lucky me!
Cheers Ritz

   

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday May 4 2011   ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Received the next mail from the USA   to let you know the WGC site from Uvalde is up and running. Here is the message:
Hi Ritz!

News from the USA.

We here in Holland, remember all who died in the first and second world war today on May 4 and tomorrow we celebrate our freedom on May 5.

        
      Swedish fans                                                                            Martti to the r.with a mate who flew with us as well. Sorry ,senior-                                                                                                             moment, I forgot his name and that’s bad as he is a lovely guy.HELP !!!

Very pleased to see the great spring weather  has made pilots in Scandinavia happy as well. Martti Sucksdorff who flew with us in the past at Tocumwal had a ” beaut ” day with 708 km and a nice speed of 115 km/h in the ASG 29 E/18m. flying from Räyskälä and on the last day of this fantastic month of April Swedish pilot Gunnar Axelsson topped the OLC with a nice flight in his LS 8; 773km.
The first day of May was for Scandinavia again this time with a 514 km.  flight from Aaku Jaakkola in his LS 8, again from Räyskälä. And forgive me and tell me when when I am wrong, but I am pretty sure this is Aaku with his gorgeous little daughter.

     made this picture during the JWGC in Finland in 2009.

In Romania pilots are flying the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix   from Brasov and the first day was won by Tilo Holighaus, for those who do not know him; the owner of Schempp Hirth. He mentioned that it was a tough day with lot’s of wind,but also cloud streets and ..a very tight finish.
German  top junior Patrick Puskeiler was 2d.Difference in speed; 96.8 km/h, then 96.7 and 96.6 km/h for Romanian pilot Cosmin Nicolae.
 Georgy Gulyas from Hungary, I am one of his fans,  was 6 from the 7 participants in this GP, on day 1. Day 2 was cancelled , yesterday only Tilo finished received 2 points and is in the lead with 9 points overall with Patrick hanging in with  5 points.

       

                               Georgy to the left from Janus Centka in front of Gilles and Wolfgang[2006] and a bit “bigger”

Nice to see that the Potchefstroom regionals in S.A.  have been flown a few days ago and good old Dick Bradley won after 5 very marginal days the 15 m. class , beating his son Doug ,who was 3d ,with 90  points.The best overall score was ……after 5 days…..621 points!!!!!! On some days pilots worked hard but got no scores as the distances were not far enough. Tough competition.The next IGC meeting will be in 2012 in Potchefstroom.

  Dick to the right.

They found the black boxes  of the Air France plane   which crashed in heavy weather on the bottom of the Atlantic  Ocean, just out of the coast of Brasil!! This crash cost the lives of 228 people and nobody knew exactly what has happened. Hopefully they find out more now! Not too long ago they found big pieces of the plane as well.

The Florida Ridge , La Belle, in Florida   in the USA is host of  the 2011 Rob Kells meet and we are talking hanggliding now. Australian topper Jonnie Durand moved to the States to fly there between April 30 and May 5. He was 4th on day 1 and 5th on day 2 in the flexible -wing -class. A lot of pilots fly the Moyes litespeed and good old Mr. Moyes did well in inventing this hang glider. Quite a caracter this Bill Moyes. He will be 80 next year! Lovely guy.Can’t find the picture I made from him.His children Steve, Vicki and Jenny run the business now, but he is not the person to sit behind the geraniums, not at all.
From my short involvement with hanggliding I remember him and Jonni best as well as Atilla and Bela also editor Davis Straub and his wife are still ” hanging ” somewhere in my mind and not to forget Tove and Grant Heany.

April was a good month  as one clearly can see on the OLC , with 5 days with over 1000 entries and even one with more then 2000. Great spring, not every where I do realize that, but atleast in a lot of places.

That’s it for now , back to my new guests, CU you next Sunday, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday May 1 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

    courtesy Kai Monkkonen

Great news for the CAE NLS DUTCH NATIONALS. It started slow, but “we ” have after the deadline closed 50 participants. Great !!! 20 in 18 m. class, 11 in club class ,6 in standard and 4 in 15 m and 5 in the two seater 20 m. class and 4 in open class. Two former European champions  are part of it as well; Steven Raimond [15m] [ see picture l. from Kai Monkkonen] and Ronald Termaat [ 18m.]see picture r.from Frits Schweikart ]

                                             

The Pribina Cup has finished   and had not the weather they hoped for but still a few  soaring days.
Day 3  was with  a small AAT [ 2 hours] in open class , another one with devalued points, but they flew , the other classes did not!!!! Russell Cheetham[ on picture to the right in 2006] in the JS 1 /18m.  is after 3 days on spot ONE overall with 1688 points. That says a lot! Wolfgang Janowitschwas on spot 7 with 1586 points.

                                              

Picture courtesy Kai Monkkonen                                                                                   Picture  courtesy Frits Schweikart

Pribina day 4 in open class  was a good one for Wolfgang as he was 4th that day. Only 15 pilots finished the best one , Petr Krejcirik, with a speed of 125 km/h in the ASW 22 BL over 278 km, while so many had to go “au vache”. 
The last day,yesterday was a difficult one , with thunderstorms forming to the south and gusting winds and some  rain at the field, but gliders were launched. It looks like a real lottery day , making the over all scores  “tremble”.
On this last difficult day it was British weather as both the UK pilots did well in club class, with spot 1 and 4, being 2 [Ian] and 4 [Ge] in the final results.
Winner in the St. cirrus;Roman Mracek only a bit more then 30 points on Ian MacArthur.
In 15 m. the final best results were for the French pilots occupying spot 1,2 and 4.
Antti Lehto won the double class. In a duo discus. GOOD ON HIM!!! Only just over 4000 points after 5 days, that says enough!
In open class pilots really got a nasty knock  !!! Scores changed totally, as only 6 pilots finished the 2 hour AAT.
Final result; Petr dropped from 1 to 5. Wolfgang from 2 to 4 and WINNERwas Karol Staniszak from Poland and the runner up was Polish as well. The Polish pilots like thunderstorms. Russell dropped to 9 but Dutch pilot Francois Jeremiasse, used to Dutch weather with low cloud base and showers, climbed up from 11 to 6. Good practise for the Dutch Nationals!!!!
As I heard the last day should have been cancelled, but the Pribina Cup is the Pribina Cup and they go far in setting their goals. They were proved right as enough pilots finished, but it seems some had not even a chance to depart. Will find out!

See for all the news and results www.soaringspot.com

 

very relaxed Antti Lehto and Heiki the top meteo from Finland in 2006] courtesy Kai Monkkonen.

 A bit better weather in Hockenheim  with on Thursday the beginning of day 6 in open and club class and 5 in standard and 15 m. Jelmer  remains 3d but with a very small margin on number 4 ; Five points.
On the last day [8 ] in open class   Holger  flew the glider shared with Jelmer and he won the last day ;327 km with a speed of 129 km/ h. Nice !!!
In club class it was , after 8 days, Arndt Hovestadt,  who won  with ONLY 2 points differenceon another St Libelle pilot.
Patrick Gai , participant in different Junior WGC’s, won the standard class; 6243 points after 7 days.
Look for all results at   www.soaringspot.com

My Australian guests just left  and enjoyed theirselves to the fullest. They visited , Delft , The Hague, went on the bike to see Boskoop and Gouda and loved Amsterdam and here is one of the pictures Vanessa made in Amsterdam , to finish blog 400!!!!! They even “tasted” the Dutch celebrations of Queens day, but were not interested in THE WEDDING !!!! CU in blog 401 ! Cheers Ritz

 courtesy Vanessa Johnson