2.30 PM. The pilots are in the air and the skies look pretty good. Short tasks however as showers hang around in the evening. Hope not as over 150 people are part of the BBQ tonight.
So 150.9 km. for the club class pilots, 183.3 km. for the combi class and 221 for the open classs gliders.
During briefing Marc Landsman from the CAE/NLS told all of us that they remain sponsor for the next 3 years and…he had a scoop for us!!!
The CAE/NLS is taking over Oxford Aviation Academy , which means that CAE Global Academy belongs to the worldwide biggest Academy now. Proud they sponsor the NK!!!
This way it is even easier for them to “find “jobs for the students which are ready, as they will have 42 training locations now for pilots , maintenance and cabin staff.
Later more!

 Marc Landsman with BIG news!

Back to soaring. Starts went smooth and fast with 4 tuggies. Saw for the first time the Quintus, great looking glider.
Here is an impression from pictures made today.

 
Tuggies Sjoerd, Zweef, Bert and Daan       and the QUINTUS!

 

Alfred Paul one of the pilots , Stephanie here with one of her 3 children and Brutus all stayed with us in Tocumwal!!!

 
Rene de Dreu TC in Uvalde and Steven Raimond who flies in Uvalde and the selflauncher Quintus ready to go.

Off to the field again to see the finishes and to the BBQ later. Scores on www.nkzweefvliegen.nl on livescoring and/or at soaring spot. Latest news at the site.

Hahnweide is flying on their last day!!
269 for St class and 15 m, 270 for the 18 m. pilots , 265 for open and 227 for the 2-seaters. It seems nice weather there as well , so the tasks should be flown by most. Tomorrow the final results and analyses.

Cheers Ritz

Saturday morning.9.30-
Just had our breakfast in the Postillion Hotel and that is just superb. A buffet with something for everybody!
Birds were singing as we are in the middle of the Veluwe here one of the most beautiful places in Holland as in nature. A little rabbit looked with interest what we were eating. He/she eat grass!

 

More news later also from the Vintage glider pilots.
What about 220 km. in an LS 6 in 3 hour and 30 minutes???

Off to the briefing now, CU later!

Postillion Hotel Arnhem       Friday May 18 320122

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

Yes a bit earlier then expectedas too much news does n’t invite to read and too late news is no news. Just visited on my way to Terlet the airfield of Malden and had a look at the brand new 2 storey hangar  and the fantastic looking vintage gliders.
The hangar is unique. You can drive under-ground with the trailer behind, put it away and drive out again on the other site. Too easy. On the level floor you can bring in rigged gliders.

 
The floor -part of the hangar and the level under ground with trailers.

A big “bunch” of vintage glider-owners and their families, put their camper, caravan or tent at the airfield of Malden. Lovely planes even a Grunau Baby I went solo in but this one was even older.The Vintage pilots meet each other regular in Holland or abroad. Gliders are in perfect nick so are trailers. Have a look.

 

 

After , we drove to the Postillion hotel with no hurry as day 2 from the Nationals was cancelled due to the expected weather. Also the day in Hahnweide has been cancelled so tomorrow it is all or nothing!

 

 By the way these glorious old gliders are towed up by a very modern van Gelder winch. Have a look.

Tomorrow I will be back with hopefully soaring news. You can click on the pictures to enlarge.

cheers Ritz

Friday  May 18 2012

TERLET
Dutch National Soaring Center/Postillion Hotel Arheim 

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

The CAE /NLS Dutch Nationals have started on Thursday with 48 pilots in 3 classes. You can follow them on www.nkzweefvliegen.nl  and  live.glidertracking.com . and on Facebook Facebook pagina and Twitter [Tweets #nkzweef ] ! 
Young Frank Hiemstra  one of the 3 power-figures behind this tracking system together with Jip and Jens,  is at Terlet to program the tasks every day for their tracking system .

.  
The CD of this competition is for the 2d time in history a lady! Did we have in the grey past Rika Harwood, from the UK, very strict and a bit “male”  but kind,  atleast that ‘s how I remember her,  now we have , the younger and more lovely Natasja, who gained  quite some experience over the last years. She has 3 assistants,  so she will be OK.
 Natasja, as CD of the CAE/NLS Dutch Nationals.Picture from the NK site.

The  CAE/NLS Dutch Nationals

—Thursday;4 hour AAT’s for all pilots. With a “HIGH” exactly over Holland, sunny conditions and up to 16 dgr. and nearly no wind,  it should be a fine day.

Tasks on day 1.Click to enlarge!
The first finishes were announced at FB, so I was ready to keep an eye on it. When you are interested , you can click on “uitslagen”–meaning scores;  there is a link to soaringspot and a link to live- scoring which is renewed all the time.Great system, worked with it last year too.

So Steven Raimond flew 408 km in 4.07 winning the first 1000 points in the combi class in his ASW 27. He seems ready for Uvalde.
Club class pilot Hinse Osinga, flew in the Pegase 310 km in 4 hours on the dot, and has in this class the first 1000 points in the pocket. Hinse is a member from a well known soaring family in Holland . His dad is very much involved with vintage gliding. His sister flies, so does her future husband, they just got engaged, by the way.
Open class pilot Ronald Termaat, seems ready in his JS1 for Uvalde as well , with his 1000 points , flying 426 km. in exactly 4 hours. Same as Peter Batenburg who flew more kilometers [439] but has a “handicap” with his Nimbus 4T. These are prelimanary results.

A great first day looking forward to the stories later today.

THE HAHNWEIDE continuing story,

Also at the Hahnweide they tried hard to use all possible weather to fly as many days as possible.
—Wednesday  the 16th,  they cancelled 3 classes,  but the 2 classes who lost their first day had to stay stand by for a “may-be-possible-flyable- window” later in the day. It did n’t work out well for them,  as the weather was too slow!
With only 3 days to go, still a lot possible in 18 m. class, as between the number 1 at this stage in the overall scores, Reinhard Schramme and the number 4 are only 9 points.
— Thursday; the sun was shining again and tasks from 631 for the 18 m. pilots, who are upfront on the grid,  were handed out, the open class got 612, 518 for 15m. and St. class and the 2 seaters had to rush over 501 km.
First in 18 m. class; Phil Jones, runner up with 10 points less then Wolfgang. Reinhard was 5th.
In club class Mac had another great run winning all days now , 3 in total.
In open class young Sebastian Nägel [Nimbus4] won just before Michael Sommer [EB 29].
—Friday;cancelled

18 m.Nationals in Varese; continuing story.

They had a day 3 at the 18m. Nationals at Varese  and it was won AGAIN by Giorgio [ Ventus 2 CXA] ;  good on him 3 days in a row !! And what speed!!!??? Giorgio flew with 162.4 km./h. over 355.6 km!!!!!! The runner up that day Austrian pilot Peter Hartmann in his ASG 29 flew 150 km/h. Both pilots compete in Uvalde, Peter in 15 m and Giorgio in 18.
It’s getting boring, but……yes you guessed…on day 4 Giorgio won again!!! This time a 4 hour AAT;439 km. in 4 .14.
Just heard from Marina that Giorgio WON the comps, to be honest …not unexpected! Good on him. He did not win the last day,today, an 1.30 AAT, but was 2d behind Peter Hartmann, but with 400 points ahead on the runner up you are an ace. In the end 5 days of soaring!

Giorgio Galetto.Congratulations!

That’s all the news from today. There are too many comps to write about , please look at www.soaringspot  for all the results. From today onwards I try to write EVERY day  till the Dutch Nationals are over.
    

courtesy Maarten Baltussen. My office, no not the glider but the restaurant.

Cheers Ritz .

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday May 16 2012

ritzdeluy@soaring.eu     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

That great weather we had on Saturday turned out even better on Sunday with less wind and a more enjoyable temperature. 3833 Pilots logged their flight on  the OLC!!!

 
Great picture by Stan Heerink.

Dutch glider pilots were  in great spirit, as I could read on the different social media, certainly 2 pilots from the S. of Holland, Venlo, who flew a declared  FAI 1000 km. triangle !!!!!AMAZING!!!! Heroes!!!
Robert and Bart looked the day before with some friends at the weather! Long cross- countries were planned. The weather was not even TOP, as they said in their comment, but an early start and a late finish  ,[ still good thermals in the end of the day,] and certainly some good flying in between, made this unique flight possible, the first ever in Dutch history. They flew the Nimbus 3DT. Of course they started in Holland and flew then direction E. into Germany, as Holland is for those who do not know, much too small to fly a 1000.

 
The Dutch heroes Robert and Bart!
Picture courtesy, via Zwevers by Rick Janssen.

19 x 1000 km. PLUS in Europe, for sure you can call that a great day!! Most of them in Germany, but also Belgium enjoyed from the great weather circumstances as Dennis Huybreckx flew in the LS 8 874 km., while a Belgium Nimbus 3DT flew a 1000FAI Triangle as well from Keiheuvel.
I have never seen so many 800,900 and 1000 km flights on page 1 from the OLC!!!
Very impressive also the ASW 27 FAI 1000 km. triangle!!!
And…the 20 m Antares FAI Triangle from Landau. Loved the comment; “A dream comes true. How many times did I have to abandon my first 500 k. Compared with that flight this was a stroll”.

Hammerwetter , as well on Sunday at the comps on the Hahnweide. Day 2 had tasks as 548 for st.class and 15 m, for 18 m. 626, and for open 631 , while the 2-seaters had to go for 518 km. THOSE ARE COMPETITION tasks!!!
Not everybody made it back home. But in St.class Mac [Ichikawa] was number 1 in the LS 8.
Wolfgang Janowitsch got the 1000 points in 18 m. class , with ONE point difference to Reinhard Schramme.
What I liked in open class  is that ALL 25 pilots flew the 631 km. 2 Daily winners, Wolfgang Clas and Steve Jones with 1000 points and a speed of 131 km. /h.

On Monday they started day 3 with a bit smaller tasks but still long enough to make a bit of difference between the fast and a bit slower pilots; between 310 and 510 km.
509 km. For the 18m. pilots who were launched first.
First in this class to finish was Russell Cheetham and WO [Wolfgang] lost some [117] points being 15th. 5 UK pilots upfront with Bert Schmelzer jr. as a good 6th.
In st. class Mac [Japan] won again. Good on him!
In 15 m David Bauder won the 386 km. task. We will see him in Uvalde as pilot in the 15m. class.
In open class Michael Sommer showed he is in the rhythm now and received the 1000 points for 477 km. with a speed of 123 km/h. Michael will defend his open class title in Uvalde.

 
Russell Cheetham in 2006
courtesy Fritz Schweikart

On Tuesday after 2 nice long days of soaring the weather was not good enough to fly so the day was cancelled in all classes.
Today they continue…..maybe, ….as it rains right now but at 12 there will be a briefing.

The Italian 18 m. class Nationals flown from Varese, counts 16 competitors one of them Giorgio Galetto. They started at the 12th but the first result from Varese is on Monday the 14th with Giorgio Galetto winning the day over 374 km. Speed just over 100 km. tells us that it was not an easy day, also the fact that only 4 pilots finished on day 1.
On day 2  they had a 2.30 AAT. Giorgio won again with 308 km. in 2 .39. Luciano Avanzini, dad of the lovely Valentina, [and …another beautiful daughter] was 2d with 281 km. in 2.32.

The Swedish Eskilstuna Open, started last Saturday at Ekeby Airfield. My friend Teresa is one of them. Börje Erikkson who flies in Uvalde, is practising as well and won the first flying day.
Göran Ax and Pall Einersson , the Lindells , all 6 fly in the racing class.
Wolli Beyer from Germany won day 1 in the club class in an HPH 304 C.
In open class 2 airspace violations gave zero points. No more flying since that day…

 
courtesy Fritz Schweikart.

The Danish pilots,15 in a mixed class, do have their competition in Arnborg. Also here some familiar names. After day 1 was cancelled , day 2 had a 342 speed task and a for me unfamiliar name Jan Hald won. VERY well known pilot Stig Öye , still a topper, was 2d, while Ib Wienberg flew himself to a 5th position , all others,  also Arne Boye  Möller made an outlanding.
1 Day out of 4 , so 1000 points for Jan and that’s it!

The Dutch pilots  start tomorrow and the weather does n’t look too bad. Today and yesterday afternoon,  it was like autumn again, but tomorrow will be fine some sun, some local showers , some clouds, at-least that is fore-casted.I depart on Friday to Terlet and stay over for the weekend and will take my laptop and camera. Lot’s of hail on some places yesterday, it looked really white . Nearly as in Serajewo, where they had last week 27 dgr. and the next day 10 cm. of white snow!!! Unbelievable!

I leave you with that and CU over the weekend from Terlet. Ritz

 

Alphen aan den Rijn    May 13 2012      MOTHERDAY

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

A sunny good morning with very blue skies today at 8.30 but clouds popping up at 9.15. Very weird weather here in Holland. Lot’s of rain…great for the garden…but most of the time too cold for the time of the year and then in between,  on Thursday, ONE day with up to 26 dgr. , which went together with  rain, hail,  thunderstorms and heavy wind gusts. Now it is back to 12 dgr!!! No wonder I keep my cold!
But as you know, this cold stream ,[ the wind was REALLY cold!!!] can bring great weather. Yesterday the skies looked extremely well. We drove from Amsterdam to Eindhoven and it looked like ” exploded”; clouds everywhere from the early morning till the late evening,[after 8 PM]  with so here and there a small local shower. Of course I had a quick look this morning on the OLC if everybody was that happy with those great clouds and yes they were; 771 from Soesterberg in an LS 8, 801 by happy -birthday- boy- Bart in the Ventus 2CM and more! 64 flights in Holland only and a lot over 400 km. , even 4 over 700 km. and that on the OLC , so even more enthusiastic pilots , as not everybody is interested to put a flight on the OLC. And I keep saying no wave ridge or what ever here in Holland….pure thermals!

Early saturday morning…ON his birthday…ready to go
Courtesy Bart Renckens [FB]

Good morning Friesland by Jens Bouma[FB]

Also places in Germany and the UK had that lovely weather with flights from Lasham and Dunstable from over 800 km.
Belgium had las week terrible weather during the Nationals and yesterday Jean Luc flew over 500 km. from St Hubert. But that’s the weather, that is soaring.
Great ridge- circumstances again in the USA,  this time the Eastern part with another 2000 km. flight in a 15 m.Ventus 2CT. A Canadian distance record as well as the longest flight ever in this area starting from Mifflin County. The 3d over 2000 km flight this year. Not bad!!

I left you with the news that the 12th Fatraglide12 handed out 400 and 500 km tasks on day 3/4.[Wednesday]
Not a perfect day for some however, when you see that pilots had to restart and certainly not when you hear that the number 1 in the combi class lands before he departs after a 2d launch; Here is Tibor’s story.
“sad news – current leader of Combi class Petr Svoboda just reported outlanding before start line, south of the airfield. He struggled after first take-off and relaunched and it seems he was not much luckier with second attempt. We will see new leader in combi class after today for sure”.
Poor Petr!!!! The 0 point-day will have hurt him enough already, as well as slipping from spot 1 to 8 overall.
Other pilots went on track and it turned out to be a 1000 point day  and the 1000 points were for Lubor Kuvik and Roman Mracek. In the combi class 0nly 4 finished with 502 km. in the pocket. Lubor who flies in winter in Corowa,  has a Corowa -mate from Denmark there as well. Jörgen Thomsen flew 429 km. There is a total of 6 Danish pilots flying at Martin.
In the master-class 8 pilots[from 22]  managed to fly the task of 402 km. Felt very sorry for Peter Bartak who just missed out on about 1 km. in the st. cirrus.

About this Club Class Masters ; I like the concept and for those who do not like to surf to all sites here is a copy.
“Why?
Until 1978 there were only 2 world gliding champions every two year. Now we have 6 classes at WGC, 3 classes in women gliding championships and 2 in juniors, which is fine but can you name the winners from last year? Probably not. Who is the best pilot?
Only way how to find out is to get back to the roots and let them compete together. One class, similar gliders, one winner, no tears. That´s what we call „Glider racing as it should be“.
Rules?
—only racing tasks (no AAT – because we are not in math competition)
—Turn points FAI sectors (because if you fly 300km we should not cheat it 1km on every TP)
—club class with handicap max. 1,06 (it´s old club class we all remember – without retired standard/15m gliders because handicap can´t make it fair all the time)
Prize; EURO 3000,- and the winner gets it all!!!
I do not know about this high amount of money. Of course in other sports MUCH more money goes around, without problems.Only hope pilots are not going to take risks or are going to do silly things. It’s only money!

The comps continued on Thursday  again with nice tasks just over 400 and 300 km. Petr Svoboda straight away “put things straight” by winning the day just before  Lubor; 6 points difference, but still a mental push for Petr after his disastrous out landing. Great effort! Only 3 outlandings .
 In the “Masters” also a few outlandings but also pilots with 7.5 m. climbs!!!
—“Maximum was 8,8 m/s.. dreams can come true in Fatra and Tatra mountains.—” Quote of the day by Tibor .
Roman was 2d  and consolidates his first place and chance on the money.
But …Ivan Harasta won the day and is only just 100 points behind.

On Friday, day 6 it was pretty hot and only 2 pilots in the combi class managed to finish the nearly 400 km. task, one of them Lubor.
Day 5 for the Masters had more finishers and Roman Mracek is on his way to the “pot of gold” , winning another day. 5 Pilots finished the 310 km. task.

Yesterday only small tasks from 116 km and 106 k. before the front would arrive. A small window to fly in to finish this competition. The window turned out to be too small and in the end the day was cancelled for both classes. They tried at least and in the club Masters 2 pilots even  made it home and finished one Roman, [ 4483 points out of 5  days] so he deserves ALL the money as the winner of the MASTERS!
In the combi class they had a B task a 1.30 AAT but nobody flew further then 70 km.
Winner in this class; Lubor Kuvik. [ 5152 points out of 6 days]
Another nice competition to follow from home. Good!

Over to the  Hahnweide competition which started last Friday evening with an opening briefing. It was pretty HOT there that day.
Day 1 started with a no-flying day for standard class and 2 seater class but 15m. ,18m. and open had to go into the air. Steve Jones [UK] had a good day in open class winning the day with 448 points. Reinhard Schramme won in 18m with 423 points and in 15 m. 488 points for Marc Schick. Still 7 days to go , so a lot can happen certainly on fast days with long tasks, let’s hope they get them. Will keep you informed.

I could finish this blog with some sadness about the crashed brand new Russian plane in Indonesia during a demonstration flight to sell it, or with the nearly funny but very expensive incident with a Nikki A 321 ,where a jetway lifted the plane and dropped it from about 1.5m. back on the apron, causing substantial damage, but I will not.
I got the nice message from Belgium where tuggie Bruno asked his girlfriend Sabrina, mother of his 2 children, to marry him in a special way…some had tears. With all the bad weather during the Nationals in St Hubert this was a highlight.

“Sabje, will you marry me, Bruno”.
She said YES over the radio!
Picture courtesy Esther Fokker.

Hope their lives end as in a fairy-tale and …” they lived long and happily after”. Congratulations.

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Wednesday May 9 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com  

In the end , the Belgian Nationals  had only in ONE class a National Champion. Tijl Schmelzer won after 3 days the standard class, with brother Bert as runner up. The other classes had winners , no champions. The Schmelzer brothers are ready now for the famous Hahnweide  competition starting in 2 days. 118 Gliders will participate [ standard class-24, 15 m. 12, 18m. 39, open 25 and 18 in the 2-seater class at this stage] in this 46th edition and of course I will keep you updated. Looking forward to this competition with so many familiar pilots.There are 5 classes with a few really good pilots from different countries.

 
Tijl in the Nimbus 4DM at a Keiheuvel competition last August.

Not only a competition in Hahnweide in Germany, but also in Jena-Schöngleina where 84 pilots “fight” for the Jena Cup in 3 classes. See for results at www.soaringspot.com
By the way they start today …I hope! I see a 328 km. task for the club class so that sounds good!

A total different list on the OLC on Sunday. The great weather area in the North was even bigger  on Sunday and Finland , Norway and Sweden got some of that “bittersweet and lovely” weather as well. Behind the nice USA flights and the good Invermere flight in Canada, we see Sweden [nearly 600 k. in the Duo Discus] Norway [ 711 k. in the ASH 31]  Germany the far North [ 550 k. in LS 6] and Finland.
Soaring places I never heard from showed up; Boras Viared, Kjeller, Notodden , Ljungbyed, anyway good to know!
This great weather continued on Monday with a lot of great Scandinavian flights. Holland was lucky too with a few over 500 km. flights.
On Tuesday still great conditions [NOT HERE] and as many-times-WGC pilot  Markku Kuusisto mentioned:”when it is good in Finland it is good!!!”And I know as I have seen it with my own eyes!!
Markku flew just over 700 km. in the Discus 2, WITHOUT water from Piikajärvi .[ NW from Räyskälä ]and…great flights from Räyskälä as well.”
By the way the Visivehmaa Open starts on May 12.
Yesterday “good old ” Antti Lehto  flew from Räyskälä 907 km. in his Ventus 2C/18m.

 
Talking about Sweden; I dug up some pictures from Eskilstuna in Sweden by Fritz Schweikart.

Fatra glide from Marin Airfield  in Slovakia has started as well. A few friends , Tibor and Brano who flew with us in the past in Tocumwal are the ” engines” behind this nice competition with this year 40 competitors in 2 classes; combi and club.
05-05-2012 was day 1 and for the Club Class Masters [Prizemoney in this class 3000,-E. for the winner]  they had a 255 km. racing task with 13 from 20 pilots finishing the task. Unfortunately their TP was in the rain. Day 2 was cancelled .
Who from the 22 pilots in this class  would win the 3000,-E???
Could it be Roman Mracek? He won already the Pribina Cup, was 2d in the mixed class in a Duo Discus at Prievidza…. why not number 1 again now?
In the combi class local hero and National topper, Lubor Kuvik won day 1 [303 km.] and was 4th on day 2 an AAT in 2.30.
Day 3 had the great weather we have up N. and a task from 365 km. was handed out for the combi pilots and 300k for the club. But it turned out a bit different and the pilots got a B task!
As Tibor said; ” well, we expected it to go more smoothly I must admit. But despite most qualified sniffer our budget could get us (Branik on vintage Orlik) found decent climb of 1 m/s in release area – trouble was it was in 900m and release height is 700m. Which is a bit trouble if the hill with this climb is 830m. Do the math. Anyway, after couple of delays we started launching but to exceptionally high 800m.”
You can read his daily stories at   www.fatraglide.sk

 
Tibor to the left during the 2011 Fatraglide.
Brano to the right.

Being 3d on day 1 and on spot 1 on soaring day 2,  it might happen for Roman.He won the B task over 241 km.
In the combined class Petr Svoboda , who was 3d on day 1 and the best on day 2 , now also the best on day 3 over B task;278 km.
Today is another day…..with a 502 km task for the “mixed pilots”and a 405 km for the Club Masters.

The Polish 18 m and Club class comps  had better weather then other countries . With 5 days and tasks as , 3 hour and 3.30 AAT’s ,  a 414 km racing task and one small task on day 1 this looked more like a competition. Though…club class had 2 cancelled days as well.
The Polish toppers were there  as; Zbigniew Nieradka, Karol Staryszak, Janus Cenka, Tomasz Rubaj and some guests as Mac Ichikawa,[ who travels straight after to the Hahnweide comps]  and Steven Crabb.
After 5 days Tomasz [Diana 2] won with 4023 with only  20 points on Karol.[ASG29 /18m] in this 18 m. class.
On day 3 Zbigniew lost during the 3 hour AAT over 300 points on a 1000 point-day  and on day 5 , with only 5 finishers he outlanded and lost another 285 points. He ended on spot 9.
On the IGC world- ranking list Zbigniew still is on spot 3 behind Sebastian Kawa and on top Michael Sommer.Both Zbigniew and Michael will defend their title as world champion in Uvalde in 18m. and open class.
By the way, Polish pilot Karol is 9th on this list!Poland has , always had , some good pilots.

The 2-day-competition in Teuge had just miserable weather on Sunday as well. No points were scored! 
A pity as one day later, on Monday a pilot had 5.3 integrated and flew over 300 km in an ASW19. Over the weekend some pilots were just unlucky!
And…Alexander Venema flew on Monday from Veendam , up N. here in Holland , nearly 600 k. [595k.] in a DuoDiscus. Not bad!It was a new OLC record for his club[ The Noord-Hollandse Soaring club] and in the end he was sorry he did not make the 600km.

Wave was good last Monday over Vinon making it possible for Gilles Navas to fly in his ASG 29E/18m.  a nice 850 km task using the mountains to depart and come back home , but also thermals as he went from the mountains far up N.W.  With that he topped the OLC list that day. Looking at his flight he did not make it totally home without ” help.” No worries!
Very nice flights yesterday again from Königsdorf; 789 in a Duo Discus!

 
Gilles in Sweden in 2006. Picture courtesy Fritz Schweikart.

 In exactly one week the Dutch National Championships will start. I will be there in the weekend for the BBQ on May 19 . Just booked a room in the Postillion Hotel ,like last year with my friend Ans, who flew with me at the ZES .This hotel sponsors the comps , offers a nice deal for friends of the NK , is very close by and has , on top of that, wifi.
Will be great to catch up with everybody again. The CAE [Global Academy Amsterdam] /NLS Nationals will be from 17/26 of May, with at this stage 52 competitors among them  a few world-toppers!!!
Time to talk with some friends who travel soon to Uvalde  and to enjoy some “anticipatory pleasure.” Nice word did ‘n’t know it in English.

 
Terlet last year with the Thermiekbel and the Terlet-moorland.
Pictures courtesy Bert Kuijper.

That’s it for today, cu on Sunday! Cheers Ritz

 Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday May 6 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

The Belgium Nationals, had only 4 flyable days till now as yesterday had to be cancelled as well. A pity!
In club class on only 2 of those days points were earned. So still not a valid competition!Hopefully they can fly today!
Scores at this stage; Jeroen Jennen on spot 1 in LS 4 with 942 points in club class.
In 15 m. it is Tijl [1399]  before brother Bert Schmelzer jr.  [ 1331]  .
In open class Olivier Brialmont [ASDG 29 /18m 991 points after 4 days]  before dad Bert Schmelzer sr. in his Ventus 2CX T.[965] As said 45 competitors in 3 classes in St Hubert.

The French open class Nationals, in Buno Bonneveaux in the SE of France, had on day 3  their last day, 2,  no-French-pilots winning over 462 km. ,  so flying HC. Peter Eriksen from Denmark and Pierre de Broqueville from Belgium.
Interesting also is that 2 handicapped pilots in the 2 seater class are flying in the Duo Discus during these comps. One of those pilots has nearly my name Deluy.
4 Cancelled days and 4 flying days in both classes!!!
Yesterday to finish the comps they had a 1 hour AAT. But…in open class the day was cancelled, so TEAM Sturm won the open class Nationals and 2181 points over 3 out of 8 days says enough of the weather.
The 2 seaters had to try the 1 hour  AAT , the winners got 19 points for 121 km of soaring ; it turned out no valid day! A pity again!

At Uvalde there will be 108 pilots flying from 24 countries! It’s going to be a BIG event! Laptops can be used everywhere, as it will be “wired ” everywhere, thanks to the IT department of the South West Texas  Junior College!!! I guess this is the college where we had a class as TEAMHUT in 1991. It looks over the airfield.
Some changes I noticed. The Australian team pilots from 18 m and open changed place. Brad and Bruce will fly open class now and David and Tom in 18 m.
For all who look and read at home , no worries  as Hawke Tracking LLC will take care of the spot tracking,  so you will be more or less there as well.

Klix  has finished  good for our young Dutch pilot Peter Millenaar. Being already once Dutch champion, he started to think of his career first and just finished his study to be an airline pilot in a pretty short time. Now he is back in soaring again and how! He was 2d on day 3 and won 1000 points on day 4. Due to the weather the last day was neutralised for 3 classes so Peter is Klix champion for standard class. Congratulations to him.
As club had not yet a valid competition , they were send airborne yesterday at 12PM, on the last day; a B task from 123 km. The window looked pretty good and the pilots made it, just before it started to rain and noise of thunder was heard!!!!Helge Liebertz [LS1f] was 2d in this class on the last day, with 4 points behind Danish Agnete Olesen in St Libelle, but won the comps.

 
Peter ready to go in Klix. Pictures courtesy Klix gallery.

Pretty marginal days in Klix but good days in Bayreuth and other places in Germany; 2 ASW22 gliders flew from Bayreuth over 1000 km last Friday. One from Alexander Müller had a 750 k FAI Triangle in it.
710 k. in a St Cirrus,and several over 800 k’s in Ventus and DG 800.At some places in Europe it is a nice [ soaring-]  spring time.
And what about a 768 km yesterday in the N of Germany in a Discus from Aukrug !!! The North just had excellent weather and not only in Germany also in Holland where pilots could fly to Germany to achieve more kilometers, while the rest was “sitting” in rain or under grey clouds. Even a 500 k was possible!!! Great conditions in our N. as well and that is not so normal with the sea close by.Have a look at the OLC for those nice flights up North.
A 2 day competition from Teuge a bit more S. in Holland was in trouble; from 26 competitors in 3 classes only 2 flew over 100 km. Rik van den Brink in LS 4 and Peter Batenburg in the Nimbus 4T.
Today they try again and it looks better from here, anyway they are setting tasks I noticed! 

The May-June issue from Gliding International  arrived here yesterday with news about the DuckHawk,[ and …..I read Jim Payne is going to fly this plane today, feeling very happy about that -“life is good!-“! while he flew another 1000 k yesterday with Dennis in the DG 1001M,]  the Colditz Cock, Cross Country-fascination and fear-, glidings trophy history by Marina Galetto and husband Giorgio is in it as GI’s pilot of the year,an “obscure gliding nation” and lots of news about the last IGC meeting and…more! Enjoy!

Some sad accidents/incidents these last days. A small plane with 4 crashed in sea just out of St Maarten with a pilot, a doctor and nurse as well as a  patient ; all died.A man on his honeymoon got heart problems and was brought to Martinique for assistance. It was not meant to be.
In Holland some pilots fly around on special days with handicapped or terminal sick kids, to give them a happy day. Yesterday it went wrong when the pilot made a steep turn and crashed on the runway in Eindhoven. Investigation will sort out what exactly went wrong, but the pilot is in serious condition in hospital while the 2 young kids [11 and 13] with their dad had light injuries.

CU next Wednesday, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday May 2 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

May!And …May 1 did not start too bad for some, meaning pilots flying in Germany Slovenia and Austria with 800 and 900 km. .Here we had thunderstorms and lot’s of rain but….today the sun is shining!

I had to look twice! 1.746 km in a Discus 2T /18m. But it really happened last Sunday! Pilot Gerhard Heidebrecht flew this distance in föhn-wind. In his comment he says; ” The declared distance of 1,281 looks a bit pale  with the flown distance”!!! What an amazing day that must have been, from Königsdorf.
A total of 13 x 1000 km -very- much-PLUS from Germany and Austria!!!

On Monday  we celebrated here in Holland the Queens birthday and we all showed her our respect , that she continues her job so good in difficult times ! The last day of April made up for all the bad, cold and wet weather with 22 dgr! Hurray! Even great soaring , with nice cu’s also here in Alphen but around 4, we had overcast, but not yet the predicted rain. Flights in Holland from around 400 km.
Very active on the Queens birthday on the airfields from Holland.93 flights  for Holland on the OLC and most around 300 km. and…in total many more flights ,as at Terlet one of the clubs [GEZC] had one of the busiest day ever!!!

   
Holland [the Airport of Hoogeveen] as seen by Frank Hiemstra.
And Drente as seen by Renate van der Zaag. [Borger where a lake arised due to sand-digging  ]

But in Belgium,this time not so close to the Dutch border but to the French, the Nationals had some soaring but not enough kilometers to make it a day. After day 1 was cancelled,they tried 2 days in 3 classes and only 4x 15 m pilots finished over 183 km. on day 1. Yves Jeanmotte [Discus 2] who flies in that area won the day and Tijl, yes from the 1000 free distance , this time in the discus 2 and his mate Dennis [LS8] both from Keiheuvel were 2 and 3. Both boys were in Tocumwal.
In open class ONE pilot flew on day 1, 115 km from the set 202 km. the rest stayed around 80! He flew the ONLY real open class glider a Nimbus 3DT. Interesting here was that the start time was around 5 PM.
Jeroen Jennen who flew his first JWGC in Musbach last year, is doing a great job but…for ZERO points. He won both days with 68 km and 105 km in the LS 4. Runners up had 42 and 57 km. That says something from Jeroen! Good on him!
Luckily day 3 yesterday, was flyable and Jeroen won the 2 hour AAT with 176 km in 1 hour 41!
 In 15 m good old friend Emiel de Wachter [LS 8] won the 2 hour AAT with 184 in 2 hour 5 with the Schmelzer brothers as runners up. From 23 pilots in this class ,  14 went “au vache”.
In open class the winner from the 2 hour AAT was a LAK 17 a;188 km in 1 hour 59.20. Spot on.

 
Jeroen in Musbach.Picture courtesy Katja Soikili.

The French open class pilots as well as the pilots in the 2 seaters, started with 2 cancelled days, but then the weather turned out to be slowly more friendly. On Day 3 the first soaring day the pilots still struggled. Gerard Lherm is  a great pilot as we have seen over the last weeks already but also still a good competition pilot . I  know him from quite a few comps in Angers in the 70thies.
 He was the only pilot on day 1, who finished after the 2 hour AAT. The devalued day gave him 274 points for 152 km in 2 hour 8.
Pierre de Broqueville , who flies HC as he is from Belgium, [ he can be winner but not National Champion!] was 2d in the EB 28 edition.
Flying day 2 showed a task of 400 km. that seems more like it for open class gliders!
The 2 seaters had a 312 km. task , their first day had no finishers , nobody even flew more then 80 km.
 Winner in open Alain Mazalarat,[ASG 29],  Gerard was 3d with 13 points less.
In the 2-seater class 4 duo discus-gliders on top. From 25 pilots x2 , 13×2 went “au vache”. A total of 16 Duo discusses’ are flying, 2 ARCUS T and 2 DG 1000 and the rest is Janus .So most gliders are from Schempp Hirth.
Look for all results at www.soaringspot.com

In Potchefstrooma nice  5 day-N -W -Regional- Competition in 3 classes has been flown. Specially the 18 m. class had some interesting pilots, as 4 of them will fly in Uvalde this summer.Though he only won one day Oscar Goudriaan [JS 1] travels home with the first prize! Attie [JS1]  and Mannie [ ASG 29] both won 2 days but still ended on  2 and 8, mainly because Mannie outlanded on day 3 after 35 km.
In club class 4 days of soaring; Winner Konrad Stark.[ASW 15]
In 15 m. Wayne Schmidt was the winner after 4 days.

 
Some different pictures from the JS 1 on a different moment;
courtesy Iain Baker.

Klix, after 5 days and 2 days   of soaring Helge Lieberts is 1 in the club class in the LS 1 f. [ day 1 only gave 0 points to all pilots in this class/cancelled]
In st. class with 2 days WITH  points Carsten Büddig is one spot 1 and our Dutch pilot Peter Millenaar on spot 3.
In the 18 m. class Steffen Trapp is first and Swedish pilot Börje Erikksson is on spot 3 .Quite a few international pilots in Klix as well.

Also comps in Slovenia, Junior Nationals in Switzerland, comps in Hungary , Serbia , Poland [18 m. and club] , Spain and in more countries. Look for the results at www.soaringspot.com

Cheers Ritz