Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday June 27 2012

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

Only 3 days in Husbos during the 18 m. UK Nationals, but at least 2 days more then at Lasham with the open class Nationals. Winner in 18 m. Derren Francis before former WGC participant , Russell Cheetham and winner in 1993 in Borlange Andy Davis .

It is not often that I notice OLC flights from Hungary and they have such good pilots. Good to see a few good ones last Sunday; 605 in a Glasflügel 304 and 396 in an LS 6. A pity  no pilots from Hungary fly for the 32-d WGC in Uvalde. Not even György Gulyas who won the 15m. class in Lüsse in 2008. Did not see them on the Pre-entry-Chavez list either, but that has still time!

Euroglide; Organizers report on Sunday said;
—” – Today was another difficult day, stong wind and difficult thermals and the teams where bouncing against the front.
The QV has flown wave up to 3000 meters and 50km/h of headwind at the Ertzgebirge!—“
As you see all kind of different weather situations on this over 2000 km. race and compared to last time , more difficult , as pilots were already back home then. After 7 days in 2010 84 % , 49 from 56 teams,  were back home. 
Of course you noticed that the organizers due to the bad weather forecast decided to fly the race the other way around. NOT to the SE first , but to the NE via Germany and Poland to the Czech Rep. and back via Germany to Malden. Just to inform you when you have a look at the map and the positions via tracking.
Combined with this RACE is a sponsor programm and I really like that as well;
—“The Euroglide Sponsor Challenge is a charity fundraising initiative. Several teams have found sponsors and are raising funds for Aviation Sans Frontières. Detailed information can be found on the website euroglidesponsors.nl—“

  
Pictures via FB from Jeppe waiting for glider DIX to arrive at Burg Feuerstein where quite a few of my friends fly and a picture from Rens; trailers on the Czech Rep. Road.

 
Real Euroglide pictures via FB by Jeroen Beeke.

On Monday glider UFO the Nimbus 4DM was 500 km out!!! Glider QV , a Duo Discus T  is flying but….the trailer had a problem at Zwickau Airport, as you can see on the picture from Frouwke via FB. That is also part of EUROGLIDE! Luckily it did n’t cost too much time as the message was there with ” We are on our way again!”

On day 9yesterday the weather was OK for the pilots up front a bit of a tough wind for those still in Czech Rep. Expectation was that 2 gliders would reach the final destination at Malden.
Organizers morning Tuesday-report ; –“The LT and LL have to fly about 280km to Malden, that’s possible. Maybe more teams reach Malden today!–”
And indeed with the great weather from yesterday it was NO problem. Team LL arrived first in the self launcher class and LT in the turbo class. They had in their team the first 1000 km pilot flying   from Holland [ Venlo ] and back this year.
From the pure gliders nobody has arrived yet. A total of 6 in selflaunchers and 6 in turbo glider-pilots is back at Malden. Amongst them also Daan Pare and glider QV with the trailer problem and Bart flying SH.
For pictures from both winning  teams please go to www.zweefportaal.nl

 
Bart [to the r.] happy to be at Malden with the best!
Picture via FB[ Euroglide Sponsor Challenge!!]

While waiting for better weather Tijl is very informative about the Solar Impulse. Great that just he meets these people in Quarzazate, being an engineer .Here is what he had to say about the hangars for the plane:
—“In Madrid Barajas they have access to an existing (massive) hangar, in Toulouse (for a potential stopover in July) they have also arranged one. The logistics are insane. For the circumnavigation of the globe it will be even much more challenging.
The team now here is over 50 people. They will have to wait for a couple of days until the weather calms down. They operate in a very thin margin.—“

The airport from Quarzazate.

The rest of the family is there as well, what about such a soaring-family-holiday, so they hopefully share more stories and pictures with us. Bert jr. straight away started. Look at these pictures and  for all pictures at;
https://picasaweb.google.com/101367179377196465151/25062012FirstXCountryFlightInOuarzazate

 
Bert jr. and Bert sr. and Tijl in Quarzazate.

 
Great view over the desert area.

The latest pictures are SUPER as well; under “chasing convergences and dodging rain showers” you can find them at ;
https://picasaweb.google.com/101367179377196465151/26062012ChasingConvergencesAndDodgingRainshowers#5758486361583115618

The Quintus  indeed has in time the water ballast- system built in ,for the Uvalde WGC .On the Schempp Hirth site I read that they started with the prototypes on June 15. It seems reliable with NO problems. Good. Look at this great picture I found on FB by Chris Kiehn from Australia. Love the text as well;

A WOW picture!Quintus finish with Tilo driving…

My Aussie mates   are preparing for their trip to Uvalde. David Jansen has arrived already in Texas;
—“Southfork Ranch TX. As the new series of “Dallas” begins here in Texas, 4D finally gets a customs clearance in LA after some “special” attention. The glider will be collected from the importer today and I will begin the 3 day drive from LA to Uvalde on the 24th or 25th with the anticipation of beginning practice around the 29thJune. The weather indicates temperatures in the high 30’s to low 40’s a month out from the contest… “—”
Gosh do not have to take pullovers or coats though …..I remember having been cold in air-conditioned  areas!

 Cu on Sunday, by the way “WE” were BAD during the European Championship of soccer, but there is hope “We” that is the students of the University of Eindhoven won the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP robot soccer in Mexico. cheers Ritz

 Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday June 24 2012

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

Courtesy Bert Schmelzer jr.

While brother Tijl is ” trying out ” Morocco [Quarzazate] Bert Schmelzer jr. spoils us with his great pictures WITH text, this time flying from Hausen Am Albis to Dachstein[far East] and back; 782 km.

   
click to enlarge and read the names;courtesy Bert Schmelzer jr.

When I heard last week from  Tijl that he was going to Quarzazate I asked him to write a bit more about flying there as we do not know too much about this place and the conditions.Here is his first story;
—” First day in Ouarzazate, Morocco. Never thought I would say this, but the thermals are too strong. Good weather combined with strong wind from the Sahara means sandstorms. We did a short checkflight today. Couldn’t see the fantastic cumulus clouds on top (at ca 3000+m?) until 750m ground. And from 1500m the ground bellow started to disappear. We did the wise thing: stay VMC, and flew a bit around …the airfield. Visibility got even worse after landing. Small world indeed). Great guys. They showed us around the plane, and helped us out with a small repair on the glider.

The Solarimpulse team is here as well (here for promotion of the MASEN 500MW CSP solar power plant). The team consists of mostly Swiss guys (of which I already met one before.

The plane it self is impressive. The logistics are equally impressive. I ll let the pics do the words for that.—”
Thanks Tijl!

Tijl ready for his checkflight with Bernd Dolba in the ASH 25EB28.
AND

Sand storm.Visibility less then 2 km.

And the SOLAR PLANE ready for promotion inside the hangar.

I wrote you already more about the solar plane Impulse.And that it arrived in Morocco. Great to see this picture from Tijl now.

http://solarimpulse.com/

On the longest day  I had to put the lights on at 8 PM. Dark skies with thunderstorms just passed by for over an hour. Luckily not too bad here! Much worse in Austria and parts of Germany.
The Scandinavian Midsummernight is over now as well. Always great fun!
It all means that we are still in summer BUT with the days getting shorter , autumn and winter or …..the other way around down under, are there before we know. Time is going TOO fast!

EURO GLIDE  continues and as you can see it is not only soaring but also sharing friendship and good food! Gliders arrived so did the cars and trailers as you can see on the picture from Frans Wijsman who “found ” the webcam from Rotenburg! Good!
Pictures say more then words!!!!!

 
Pictures en route [Rotenburg] by Rens van Broekhuizen via FB. 

and a picture from Jeroen Beeke ; Rens “cooking”the meat.

Thursday and Friday were rather good so some pilots made a lot of progress. 2 Teams have for different reasons left the race. Here is what I read on the Friday-organizers-report;
—“21:45 – Today was a great flyable day, the teams made a lot of progression. The UFO and MD are up front, just about 155KM before the second turning point. On the airfield Gorlizt it is about to become a nice evening, at this moment there are 11 teams located over there! Have a nice evening and keep in mind, tomorrow will be another beautiful day.—”
MD is Max [Dolfin] a great mate, who spends his winters in Corowa [Australia] and knows all about long-distance-flying and UFO is Max a very nice guy and collegue of my daughter.
Yesterdays report says;
—“Leading in sequence now: 1.UFO and 2.LT. MCT and QV are short behind them. —”

You can read all this news,  day by day  on www.euroglide.nl   and look at where the gliders live are  at Glidertracking.com.

Day 3 of the UK 18 m. Nationals  was a difficult one . None of the pilots finished but some were close. The task length was 345 km and Mike Young managed to fly 335 km. [469 points] while Derren Francis was just 1 km. behind.[467 points] Derren in the Ventus is still on top, followed by the JS 1 gliders and 2 ASG 29’s. No flying on Thursday and Friday due to miserable weather and temperatures.
BUT…….yesterday a small task again with 155 km…..and it was scrubbed, weather was NOT good enough. A pity.

 Talking about bad weather in the UK, here is news from Graham [ Garnett ] I “found” on FB.
—“Just a quick note to let everyone know that Lasham will be holding a second Regionals competition alongside the Junior Nationals between the 18th-26th August.
So in an attempt to give people the fun they missed out on earlier in the month… and to try to give value for money, anyone entered in either the Open class the 15m class or either Regionals classes can enter this second competition for a cost of £50.

Anyone else that would like to join us and everyone is welcome will be charged the normal Regionals rate of £170.office@lasham.org.uk—

The idea is to try to make up a bit for the rubbish weather we had at the beginning of June when most people only got one scoring day out of the nine possible.

If you fancy coming to Lasham in August to join us please contact the Lasham office to add your name to the list 01256 384900 or office@lasham.org.uk

The weather can’t be that bad again, can it…..
Graham Garnett

Nice to see that Norway  twice topped the OLC list last week. Flying the Nimbus 4 DM,  Erlend Sorbye flew from Elverum, [also a wave paradise,]  a nearly 700 [600 km. FAI triangle] and over 800 km. task.

On the site from the Perlan Project you can read the latest news- letter , so when you are interested you can go to     http://perlanproject.org/newsletters/

Some nice flights yesterday on the OLC. 1000 km-plus in the USA where John Seaborn flew with the Ventus 2 1.128 km. with a speed of 154 km/ph. from Boulder in wave and also in Germany some nice long flights , as well as in Switzerland, have a look at www.onlinecontest.org

Cu on Wednesday. cheers Ritz
Finishing with 2 more pictures from Bert flying back “home”.Thanks Bert!!!!!

Alphen aan den Rijn     Wednesday June 20 2012

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

EUROGLIDE, second day , first flying day on tracking system.
Glidertracking.com 

On Monday morning when the Euro glide pilots were ready to go,  a big line of thunder-storms heavy rain and wind moved from the SW to the NE from Holland. Also the weather in Germany was not too good. The afternoon was much better, but satellite pictures showed it was not good enough; too late to start, so it was a day of waiting for the pilots!
In the end the morning-thunderstorms were severe at some places, setting houses in fire and making a chaos on the main Dutch train-station Utrecht where lightning hit as well.
Euroglide is once in 2 years and a “feast”  for pilots who want to take their own decisions. Nothing is sure , one big adventure. They started now yesterday, start facilities were open at Eindhoven from 9 onwards and the last pilots left at 10.55.
The “best “pilot at this stage is about 82 km. from the first TP ; Bart Renckens, flying not as a team but alone in his Ventus 2 CM. GOOD on him!!!!!You can follow them daily on www.euroglide.nl with a map where they are and a bit of a story. Enjoy!
Also via  Glidertracking.com you can follow them in REAL time!

 
Team Bas Krebbers en Reitze van der Linden en team NV waiting for the first start.
pictures via FB.

And after arrival on the first flying day, it is good resting and eating and having fun. Ton Staassen member of my “old” club ZES arrived in Höpen, as I saw on FB.

 Today there seems to be no usable thermal activity in the N of Germany, so a restday or maybe a day for tactical decisions/displacements. Looking back at the 2010 EUROGLIDE, I remember that all records were broken. Pilots never had been back home so quickly!!! In 4 days the first glider was back!!!!!!!

Amazing those 1000 km flights from Belgium. Sunday was another day to feel happy about his 3d 1000 in ONE season, for Tijl Schmelzer. Did he fly the first 2 from Keiheuvel the first one an Out and Return and the 2 d  extra special as he started and landed at Keiheuvel, this time he flew the Nimbus 4DM from Hasselt [Kiewit] together with Ken Evens.
It seems Tijl’s “concept of cloud making” works as from Weelde also in Belgium Herman Peeraer flew a 1000 in a Ventus 2CT/18m.  using ” it”and I am pretty sure 3x a 1000 in ONE season from Belgium never happenbed before!!!!
So here is the concept again;  http://www.scribd.com/doc/97134912/Cloud-Making-Machines

Tijl and Ken a good pair!

I felt sorry , looking back, for the UK open class pilots. ONE day is not much. Pete Harvey won with 833 points , followed by Steve Jones and Kim Tipple. Pete and Steve will be in Uvalde for the 32 WGC. The weather there will be much better then it was in the UK, so there they can show
Peter Sheard a bit older then the first 3 was a good number 4.
On that one soarable day only 7 from 21 finished.

The Pre- European comps in Vinon, had good weather and 6 out of 6 days pilots were in the air. In 15 m. the 2 French pilots Christophe Ruche and Louis Bouderlique were the winners and showed they are ready for Uvalde! As is Sebastian Kawa who was 3d.
In 18 m. class 2 toppers were out [Giorgio and Wolfgang due to an incident and tiredness] but Killian Walbrou is a topper too. Winning the last day , he moved to spot 1 in general. Good on him. Good “old” Gilles Navas was the best on 4 days in the general scores but had a less good last day [ 583 points against 812 from the winner]
In open class Bosjan Pristavec topped the overall scores on day 5 and 6 , the final day with more then 400 points. Stephan Beck topped that list on 3 days in the ASW 22 BLE. He will not be in Uvalde as Holger Karow, Tassilo Bode and Michael Sommer will defend the German colours there.

Looking at comps in progress,  of course the 18m. Nationals in the UK  [  Husbos  to be correct Husbands Bosworth] are interesting to follow. That is ….when they can fly!!!!
32 Pilots are on the list, waiting for “nice” weather. Mike Young and Russell Cheetham are amongst them. After the Pre Europeans they will fly their Nationals and the WGC in Uvalde.

Russell, here with Ronald Termaat. Both will fly in Uvalde!

But on Monday they were UP in the air with a 277 km. task. Not an easy day for some looking at the results. Russell did well being 2d, [863 points] so did” good old ”  Andy Davis with a 6th place. Steve Jones on 8, Mike Young 17 [ 582] and Phil Jones 20.
Tuesday, yesterday; finally some great weather reached the UK as well and a task from 426.3 km. was handed to the pilots.
I only know Derren Francis [Ventus 2cx]  by name, but I will remember his name  now even better. He must be a good pilot, as he won 2 days in a row!
More good flights in the UK yesterday from Dunstable [804 km. in ASH 25 EB and the longest flight till now from Dunstable this season] and Lasham.

Preparations in full swing for the Uvalde WGC. As you know I am going to be the main blogger for the SOARINGCAFE !!! Looking so much forward to this nice job!
Apartment…tick, cellular phone with text and web and unlimited minutes in the USA…tick, bicycle…tick, if necessary car…tick, tickets to and from the USA …tick,shirts with soaringcafe on it…tick, pick up in San Antonio…tick. The boys from soaringcafe spoil me!!

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

Alphen aan den Rijn     Sunday June 17 2012

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

Back home again, and…pretty good weather!!! Holland was less good but the SW coast of Holland gave us all kind of weather and not too much rain. We even had one day with full sunshine. The area is called the Zeeuwse Riviera and they are correct.
The first evening with 8/9 Bft. wind was interesting, on top of the dunes you “just went with the wind” difficult even to stand up, on the beach you were sand blasted and close to the sea it was nice to walk.
Enough about that, as of course we “sniffed” culture as well.

 
The town of Middelburg. Look at the skies!!!

For sure you have followed all the latest gliding news. I did not so I have to do some research. Come back on that on Wednesday when there would be something very exciting.
While on holiday I saw that more parts of Holland where good that Thursday, with great flights up to 800 km and over 1000 km just over the Dutch border. Another very successful flight by Belgium pilot Tijl Schmelzer;Here is his comment: 

—“Awesome. Success on the 3rd attempt. A declared 1014km with finish in Flanders.A flight made possible thanks to:

– The Cloudmaking Machines
– Well over 250 hours of flight preparation and planning
– W.Grosskinski as an inspiration
–Topmeteo and Toptherm
– Jos Gielen, the tow pilot
– ATC of KB
– And, off course, my family

I wrote a report in December last year with the conceptual background of the flight. You can find it here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/97134912/Cloud-Making-Machines

The Dutch gliders  are on their way,  for a hopefully safe trip to Houston, where they will be  hooked on and taken by the owners to Uvalde for the WGC. YES it is coming closer now, UVALDE!

ready to be “packed”.
Picture via FB from Jeroen Kroen.

Tomorrow the big Europe-race, EUROGLIDE starts. More then 150 people pilots, crew and organisers are involved in this mega race. Will keep you informed.

Did have some mail contact with Marina about Giorgio, who is back home now. My private mails I will not share but Marina also shared some news on FB  and for those who are not involved with this social site, I can share that news;

Alphen aan den Rijn      Wednesday June 6 2012.

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

 
Räyskäla; Picture courtesy Aku Jaakkola

I am not joking, but we had last Sunday the same temperature as with Christmas in mid winter. And Saturday was just gorgeous, for us on the ground and for those high up and flying 750’s and more!
1329 Flights were added on Saturday on the OLC, on Sunday only 222, that says it all !!
Weird weather! Feel sorry …AGAIN …for some of the comps having to deal with rain and a struggle to “make ” days. We were so lucky in Holland with the Nationals  and so was  Denmark with nearly the best you could get out of the max days.

A shock this morning when I read the “dry ” words on the Provence2012 site;
—” Our friend Giorgio Galetto (Italy) crashed on the south side of the Tête du Peyron noth-east from St Crepin airfield. Giorgio is well (just slightly injured) and has been transported to the Hopital of Briançon for a check-up. We wish him a quick recovery.”
AND this morning .
“A little problem with lumbar vertebre has been found. Giorgio wil be operated in surgery tomorow at Briançon Hospital.”
Hope as EVERYBODY else that he may recover totally and if possible can fly in Uvalde. But …a total recovery  is the first priority!!!All the best for him Marina and Chiara!!!

 Giorgio during the GP last year!

The open Dutch Military comps started with rain last Monday and 10dgr.!!!!! So day 1 from 5 was cancelled.
But NOT day 2 , yesterday, with 3.30 AAT’s in 4 classes and flights up to 307 km. by Peter Millenaar in Discus 2.
No soaring today I guess it will rain there as bad as here.

The women in Ulm, struggled with rain as well and waited till 3 to start for small AAT’s on Monday. Then the day was cancelled at 3.15.
But…300 km. in st. class yesterday, winner Meike Müller in the LS 8.
In club the girls had to fly a race over 237.7 km. and Swaantje won the day. Good on her!
The 15 m. ladies had 335 km. and believe it or not Katrin Senne [ASG 29] won again!!!All 5 days they flew the daily prize was hers!!! Super! She tops ,of course, the totals but Annette Klossok [ASG 29] remains close; 3599 and 3526 points. It looks they fly together at least always start together.

The Bayreuth pilots prepared their gliders on Monday for short tasks, would the weather finally allow them to fly??? There was hope !!!! BUT….. at 3 .10 they had to cancel as well.
BUT , yesterday the words were there;”  Nun geht ‘s los!” We can start now!! After 5 scrubbed days they could fly!!!
So they did only 2 outlandings and in open Uli [ Schwenk]  won in the EB 29 with a speed of 112 km./h. over 325 km.
To have 3 days,  meaning they have a valid competition they might fly one more day extra, as the comps only have tomorrow and Friday to go as ……..today is CANCELLED.

The Uk pilots in 15 m. and open class  had a good Monday morning….the weather was brightening!!!!! AND…..after waiting and waiting the classes got the message …..SCRUBBED!Today they wait again……but another scrubbed day!

The European pilots flying Provenceglide 2012  had after 1 day of soaring also a cancelled day , but started the week fresh on Monday  with 302 k. in 15 m. class, 363 in 18m. and 403 in open class. Start times were open between 13.52 [15m] , 14.20 for 18 m., and  14.33 for open. Atleast SOMEBODY was flying with this miserable weather.
And….in 15 m. all but one flew the 302 km., best pilot was Louis Bouderlique!
In 18 m. Gilles Navas got the 985 points and in open Bruno Gantenbrink was the best. Yesterday the weather was less good then expected! Mike Young, who I met as young crew in Benalla in 1987 and who became friends with my kids , won the day in 18 m.
In open Bosjan Pristavec won the day and in 15 m. Jeremy Badaroux was the best.
VERY SAD to hear that on this day Giorgio had such bad luck.
On day 2 some pilots violated the airspace and were virtual out after 15 km. like Bruno Gantenbrink. In the end Bruno [ETA] won the day but lost 1000 points for the violation; 0 points. Peter Hartman [ASG 29] from Austria had an incorrect start point on day 1 ; 0 points.

Good to see that atleast my friends in Ocana are having fun,  as well as in Greecewhere Alexis flew 752 in his ASW22BLE from Kopaida. Not a lot of pilots put their flights on the OLC from Greece.
Spain is “waking up ” as TOP soaring country for long distance flights and I noticed not only good flights from Ocana but also from Beas de Segura and Fuentemilanos.

The Finnish 18 m. Nationals from Räyskälä  have 2 days now and yesterday was a bad day for the 2 Martti’s [Sucksdorff and Koivula] , good friends from Tocumwal and from when I was there. Both outlanded after 244 and 266 km.on a 1000 km. day, won by Timo Saarnimo in ASG 29 flying 275 km. over a 3 hour AAT  !!!

As said; rain then sunshine and super soaring conditions.Yesterday was the perfect day again, today it rains cat’s and dogs.
Yesterday pilots from Holland and Belgium flew big distances ;923 for Tijl Schmelzerwho tried a 1000 km triangle, flew 786 km. from it, missed out on 20 minutes- more-lift to reach the powerplants [always giving lift] to fix it and some daylight but still a great flight. The so maniest this season in the Ventus 2CT /18m. !
Wim Akkermans flew from the airfield of Woensdrecht in Holland a very nice 866 kmtask [677 triangle in Arcus M] 
From Luxembourg  kilometer -eater  Guy Bechtold flew 879 km. in his brand-new Quintus M.
Each of them are very grateful to the many []international] controllers they have to deal with. Good co-operation!

From my Perth friend I got the next news which I share with you as well;
—“We had our safety day at work today and we all traipsed off to the Perth Convention Centre to hear Richard de Crespigny talk about his experience as the captain of the Qantas A380 that had the spectacular disc failure in 2010. It was an amazing talk – sufficiently technical to keep the engineers spell-bound, but also very human too – praising the team he had with him in the air (including the passengers). Such a combination of misfortune and good luck, and of course a great deal of skill and training which eventually led to a happy outcome. He even gave the passengers his mobile phone number so they could ring him if they were dissatisfied with the way Qantas handled their ongoing journeys etc (no-one has called him!).
 
There was too much in de Crespigny’s presentation to relay here, but he has a book coming out, and I have included the link below in case you are interested.
 
http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/display_title.asp?ISBN=9781742611174&Author=de%20Crespigny,%20Richard

To finish some great pictures by Bert Schmelzer jr, brother from Tijl who lives and flies in Switzerland and made during a race over the Jura some fantastic pitures. Enjoy.

 
Great soaring along the lake Saint Point.

 
Great clouds and great visibility!!

CU you at Sunday June 17. Enjoy all soaring in between!!!! Most of the results can be found on www.soaringspot.com  and www.soaringcafe has a link to the UK Nationals.
Tomorrow a blog in soaringcafe instead of Sunday.
I am going to enjoy some “pretty cool ” days at the beach. Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn        Sunday June 3 2012

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

The ladies , flying the German Nationals ,  started on their first day in each class with a 2 hour  AAT. Not an easy day with several outlandings.
In Club class Swaantje Geyer, member of the German Female Team,  was 2d with 150 km. in 2 hour 19 and she was one of the 4 finishers from 14 participants in this class.
In Standard 10 from 12 made it home and in 15 m. class 11 from 12.
day 2; another 2 hour AAT and this time 5 finished in club,  5 in standard and in 15 m. 6 pilots. In club Christine Grote won, she was the winner of the 2003  Worlds[the 2d]  in Jihlava,  in the Czech Rep. on her first participation in a WWGC. And if I am not wrong she is Uli Gmelins partner.  During that competition Swaantje Geyer flew the WWGC as well and was 4th. Today she was 2d again but tops the overall scores…but just, only 9 points.
In standard class in her LS 8 Cornelia Schaich won this day and she was in 2003 the world champion in standard class.
Katrin Senne won 2 days in 15 m. class and she was in 2003 the silver winner, you see all these ladies were good and still are good!!!
Day 3; On Friday they had a small window direction W.
A racing task with 166.7 km. for standard and 15 m. and 125.4 k. for the club-ladies. In 15 m. Katrin Senne shows how good she still is with her 3d win -in- a- row. All “girls”in 15 m.  started at the same time 13.28/29.
In standard a ” bad ” day for Cornelia being the only one not finishing, after being first and 2d on the days before. Maybe she was too eager….But not too many points lost as she was just 2 km. out.
Gaby Haberkern, also a member of the German National Team, won the day, she was unlucky the day before being last but one!
Day 4; a better day so bigger tasks!Club; 295, standard; 401 km. and 15 m. flew that task as well. But…not everybody came back home. In 15 m. it was Katrin Senne again winning the day , with her 5 other “girls” finished.
Same long distance for standard, but NOBODY managed to finish, best distance was 281 km.
Christine in her St Libelle won the day again in club class, speed 56.92 km./h. but …she made it. With her 5 other ladies flew the 295 km.
In each class the scores are very close together so a lot can happen. Hope they have a good day today!

In Bayreuth  the pilots were supposed to start on Thursday , but the German weather Bureau advised against soaring that day,  due to the expectation of heavy thunderstorms with bad hail. The organisers followed the advise and organised a trip to town instead.
When we were in Bayreuth with the WGC a long time ago, we went to the famous Opera House as well. In the town of Wagner , we wanted to see and hear Wagner ‘s music. We stood for quite a while in a queue to order tickets. The lady smiled at us and asked for which year, we felt straight away it was not meant to be. We could come back in 4 years for the Festival, tickets would be then available. 

Bayreuth-airfield  celebrates it’s 100 year anniversary. First flight from here was in 1912; so a jubileum!
With Werner Meuser and Uli Schwenk they have 2 former WGC and EGC champions as well.
And those pilots had on day 2 a rest-day again. Still showers hanging around. And that on the first day of the metereological summer!!!
On Saturday they hoped that the weather would improve in a great way , as the day started with 8/8… but it was supposed to happen!!! First launches were postponed but then pilots hoped to go for 349 km in 15 m. , 398 in 18 and 440 in open class.
It was not meant to be. Even C tasks did not help , it stayed 8/8 and the day was cancelled again at 16.30. Can’t say they did n’t try!!!!

Looking at the OLC, Bernd Goretzki , who flew last winter in Bitterwasser and managed to fly there 9 out of 15 days with a 1000 km.-plus, flew  2 European 1000 km.flights  [from Loktow]  on May 27 and 28 in the Ventus 2CM/18m. ! Good on him!
Some of my friends fly from Ocana and had nice flights; Roland with 744 km. in the DG808B/18 m., Hans with 734 km in the ASH 31/21m. and Pepe with 787 k. in the same glider.

I could see some tension already on FB…would it be one of those SUPER days for soaring again yesterday in Holland and Belgium? And YES it was. Bart Renckens declared and flew a 750 from Holland [Soesterberg] far into Germany.
I guess I have NEVER seen so many over 500 km. flights flown in Holland on page 1 of the OLC.
Ronald Termaat the fresh Dutch 18m. /combi-champion even set out an out and return to the Czech border in the Nimbus 4DT, but turned around about 20 km. before as they needed to be back home in time. He claims like a few more that the Sauerland was not strong but …still it all worked out well.
From Belgium Tijl Schmelzer flew another great long distance flight with 922 km.
Liked the LS 7 flight from Peter Fischer as well; 830 km!!!
By the way the weather changes so quickly that today we will have one of the coldest in history for the 3d day of summer, and it is so wet,but….it gets better again this upcoming week.

 
Ronald and Marco “nearly”  up and down to the Czech border;888.km.
Picture from FB by Marco Vermeer.

Looking around at Nationals;  The Norwegian Nationals started on May 26  in Elverum, the French Nationals in standard and 15 m. started yesterday in Vinon as well as the Pre- European comps called Provence Glide 2012 [ will keep an eye on that ] and the UK nationals also on June 2 from Lasham and alongside the Lasham Regionals. Busy , busy with comps at this time! The Finnish Nationals in 18m. start today at Räyskälä with 14 competitors , as well as the well known local gliding competition Jannen Kisat with 20 participants!

You know it all, or nearly all, so enjoy your day. Cheers Ritz.
Next blog on Wednesday and then you have to miss me a few times as I go on a beach holiday with my friends from June 8-15. Just to let you know.