ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN   WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 27 2013

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

We had snow again in the weekend.” Poor delegates ” from warm countries , who will arrive here this week. They have to adjust to Dutch weather, as it remains like this till next weekend. No snow, I hope, but still only around 5 dgr. C,  plus…. that is, but 8 plus would be the normal average!That will only happen next week!!!!

Everybody is looking forward to flying, but no hope yet.

The winning airfield in the “OLC stats”  last year from the Gelderse.
Terlet last sunday in the snow!
As seen on FB.

 On the OLC news, I noticed that they are going to start an OLC GLIDER RACE, for standard class gliders. Flown from the famous Wasserkuppe, this RACE will add new elan to this class and to soaring in general. It will be flown between July 27 and August 3 and on the OLC you can see how to contact them .
Only 20 pilots allowed so better be quick when you want to be part of this historic first race. Of course you need sufficient experience . Price will be friendly under 200 E.  and camping and tows will be sponsored by the friends of Wasserkuppe. What a fantastic idea!
Wasserkuppe also has a very nice and interesting museum with over 30 vintage gliders.
All the news on www.onlinecontest.org
It’s in German but you can use the language button on top, to go to English.

Flyer as shared on the OLC site and with permission.

The Lake Keepit Regatta started on Sunday with 35 participants and a 2 hour AAT.
—“Lake Keepit Soaring Club’s annual Regatta is a fun, friendly and informal cross country event to introduce pilots to cross country competition.
The  idea is that the regatta is a mentoring event where pilot pairs are scored together around an AAT task. So we match up early cross country pilots with a seasoned pro, and they compete together as a team, either in two gliders or in a twin.
Only the slowest time of the pair is scored, so it is in the interest of the more experienced pilot to coach and assist right throughout the flight. –” as is written on their site.

So  very experienced pilot Paul Mander won day 1 , a 2 hour AAT in the ASH 25 with 220 km in 2 hours and 3 minutes .David Mc Manus got 1000 points as well .
Indeed lot’s on two-seaters/teams as 2 x ARCUS , several duo discus’, twin astirs , NIMBUS 3DM, but also Libelle, LS 6 JS1 etc.You can see the list on www.soaringspot.com
Day 2 and 3 had AAT’s as well, on day 2 only one finisher, Nick Singer in the JS 1 [625 p.] and  day 3 was a 1000 points day again for the JS 1 from Dave Shorter this time.Nick got 970.90 points as runner up.
BUT,…as said it is not about the points , but about the fun and the learning-curve.

A finish over the LAKE by one of the NZ juniors during their comps “JOEYGLIDE” in 2012.

Talking about support to young pilots here is another example from the SRGC from Tocumwal;
The Junior Aviators Day on March 23, with a DVD introduction to gliding from John Roake and one of the speakers , about the “history of gliding” is Ingo Renner. Other experienced pilots will share their thoughts with the young ones.
After morning tea they visit the gliders in the hangar for ID and to identify the control surfaces. After the BBQ lunch it is flying!!!!In the end they all get a Certificate of Participation.

Ingo and Dundee.

Looking at the Pribina Cup which will be flown between March 30 and April 6, I noticed 45 pilots at this stage for club class. The UK arrives with 7 pilots amongst them G Dale, Tim Milner ,[our former tuggie in Tocumwal] and 3 ladies; Claudia, Ayala and Elisabeth.
In the two-seater class 13 [ so 26 pilots including the co’s] amongst them 4 teams from Finland.
In open class 30 participants amongst them 4 from Poland and 4 from Hungary and 9 from Austria with toppers as Wolfgang , but also Sebastian, Josef, Sven , Ludwig and Friedel. STRONG TEAM!!!
In 15 m. 20 , with for me well known pilots as Heimo and Reinhard both from Austria.
Registration closes at February 28!!!! You can enter online!  http://www.pribinacup.sk/2013/

Fatraglide is a bit later between May 4 and 12 and they have already 30 participants,  so place for 3o more, as they have a max of 60.
www.fatraglide.sk

Before going to fly for a week from Mount Beauty with Jörgen and Roger, Birgitte flew with Jörgen in Bruces ARCUS 535 km [500 FAI] from Tocumwal.
The last flight from this season in the LS 6 at Tocumwal from Finnish friend Kari ,was a nice nearly 500 km. flight up N.E. , passing Leeton. The day before he was “beaten ” for the topspot on  the OLC ,by 2 pilots flying in wave from Mid Atlantic Soaring;Brian in a PIK 20 b with distance 775 km and height 3432 MSL but only in the beginning. Baudouin Litt from Belgium, but living already for a long time in the USA , flew 731 km. and added in his comment that it was not everywhere good;
“Should not have gone on the ridges to the north. I got stuck in snow showers, low ceilings and complete OVC. Made many unsuccesful attempts to connect back. Apart from that, nice wave day, but could have been 900K.”

 
Baude 3d from l. with the Belgium team in Uvalde last year. And Jörgen who flew this year in Stonefield , Tocumwal and Mount Beauty. Now practising in Roger’s ARCUS but next season flying their own.

On soaringcafe I published a blog in co-operation with Mike Anastasiou about flying in wave in Greece. In a comment somebody asked for a video and  Mike has a  video from this flight, but it is un-edited for the moment. At the same location they did some flying in December 2012.
Here is the link to the video on youtube from 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYc0BWrb-Qc&list=UUgAAf_4tA3Xi9P2xuflELAw&index=1

With Bitterwasser closed now,  I have copied and pasted their impressive results from a thank you note written by Dieter Schwenk, and…….you can book already for the next season; available gliders are on their site www.bitterwasser.com  !
And not the least gliders as there are Ventusses, Arcusses  , Antares and DG 800,  as well as  Nimbus 3 and 4 DM .
You can contact them at cfi@bitterwasser.com
—“To all our guests who spent their well-deserved holiday with us in Bitterwasser, all pilots who flew Bitterwasser with very good flights again to No. 1 in the OLC.
New record – 194 flights over 1,000 kilometers, 548,320 total kilometers, 4 new palm trees and some new records and all pilots who came to Bitterwasser just for fun.
A great atmosphere and a lot of positive feedback about the organization and the visitors to our website, since December over 20,000!—”
Good on them!!!!!

This upcoming weekend on March 2 and/or 3 the airfield of Keiheuvel in Belgium invites pilots to see who makes the best goal-landing at the field.20E. for a start.
Go to http://www.aeroclub-keiheuvel.be/ when you are interested and live close by, for online registration.
But,..when looking at the webcam the field was yesterday still WHITE.

picture as shared by FB.

Segelfliegen Magazine edition 2 2013 is out
with Flugtechnik: So bleibt man im Bart, /so you stay in a thermal
Meteorologie: Der Bart, das unbekannte Wesen,/ thermals unknown terrain
Fluggebiet: Schleswig-Holstein/ as flying area
Sicherheit: Pech gehabt (Teil 2)/ Safety; Being unlucky part 2
Wettbewerb: WM-Nachbericht/competiton ; about the WGC

And after writing so much about the Club class Nationals from Taupo here is a nice link to 89 pictures for when you are interested;

Off to Papendal tomorrow. A great sportcentrum for the Dutch topsporters on the border of the beautiful Veluwe, with fantastic nature. A place for congresses , events and training facilities.
A place to WELCOME THE TOP OF THE IGC.
Will keep you informed!

Cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN   SUNDAY FEBRUARY 24 2013

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

Beautiful area close to Taupo

Boiling mud

He did not fly on day 8 ,[ presume his main wheel was repaired after an outlanding,] but on day 9 and 10 from the Taupo Club Class Nationals, he was back in ” full glory” ,Mark Wilson,  flying his St Libelle to a great daily- spot -2 , during 2 AAT’s from 2.30. One with 291 km. in nearly 3 hours, [925] while the winner Mike in the ASW 20 flew 266 km. in 2 hours 38 [1000] and the day before behind the Mosquito from Steve with 279 km. in 3 hour 6,[960 p]. while Steve flew 231 km in 2 hour 30. [ On the dot!!! and 1000 points!]
On day 9, Tim flying the Discus b , flew 4 hours and 20 minutes , BUT ,…he made it back. What about his perseverance!!!???

Mark was over-all on spot 1 on day 1-2-3,  than 2 on day 4,  but back on spot 1 on day 5 and 6 . On day 7 he was on spot 2[outlanding] , on his “bad” day 8,[ he did not fly ,so no points] , he dropped to 4 and on day 9 and 10 he moved back to spot 3, where he stayed as on day 11, [not bad 11 days of x-country soaring during a competition !] he was 2d again on a devalued day [AAT 2 hour] as only one pilot , Bob in the DG 100 finished!
The pilots had a meeting as well, about airspace penalties and “dropping the worst day when calculating final scores” , like they sometimes do in Australia !!
That would change the final scores!I reckon the” vote” did not win as the scores did n’t look like it.
So Steve in the Mosquito won with 9558 points. Runner up was Mike in the ASW 20 with 8617 points and Mark in the St Libelle at 3 with 8243. Congratulations!
A nice competition to follow from home! Welldone !

 
Mark with the Standard Libelle after a landing. And the winning Mosquito after the landing on the last day!
pictures  with permission via FB.

The Matamata open-class-pilots flew 7 days out of 7 , parallel with the last week of the Taupo Club Class Nationals and well known pilot Patrick Driessen won every day except day 6, missing out on 3 points that day.With more than 1000 points , [6472] he won the comps in his Ventus 2C before good old Tony van Dyk [LS8 and 5298 points]!! Pretty good from Tony, as he is not spring chicken anymore!

And to finish these nice comps flown in New Zealand, a fantastic picture I found yesterday on FB about the superb nature in N.Z combined with our gliding-sport:

Courtesy Philipp Stapfer from the Wangarei Gliding Club and shared on FB by Jill McCaw, the editor and publisher of Soaring New Zealand and a like me a devoted blogger  .

Only one week to go and the next IGC Plenary 2013 will be over again. More than 60 guests from all over the world will arrive this upcoming week, in THE NETHERLANDS to attend the meetings at Papendal,close to Arnhem, on March 1 and 2.
Frouwke, our very busy Dutch delegate ,created a nice programme,  with a steward meeting on Thursday afternoon and a welcome for all guests in the evening.
On Friday they talk and talk and listen and listen…..between 9AM and 5PM.
On Friday evening time for rest and a nice dinner together.

Arnhem town

On Saturday more talking and listening… same time-schedule, so a long day again and in the evening , we than visit the airport of Malden for a farewell /final evening. Malden has a fantastic new 2 storey- hangar and it will be interesting for many to see this. On top of that evenings in the Malden pub , “Zweef-inn”at the field are always great fun.
So a lot of serious talking, some fun and during fun a lot of business will happen as well.
I have never attended such a meeting , will try to have a “glance” on how it all works and look after the female guests, who accompany their husbands involved in this top of our soaring world.
Will take my laptop for live-news [if possible ], my camera to make pictures and as Rick {Sheppe-USA} is there during all meetings ,you will have his analyses short and to the point in the blog , as every year.[I hope as I still have to ask him, but he is just such a nice guy, he won’t say no.]

 
Malden Airport with the “field” and the brand new 2 storey hangar.
UNDER the hangar is the same space as above the ground for all gliders in the trailers.

This part of the season is over,  certainly when you see only 26 flights on a day this month on the OLC. Not much.
Noticed that in 2012 the lowest number was in February as well with 13 flights on 2 days and in 2011 ….11 flights.
Is n’t it great that we can all easily see this thanks to the OLC!!!!
But not long anymore and pilots can fly here again .On March 1 next Friday our meteorological spring will start and on the other site of the world the meteorological autumn. Time flies!!!
We can follow comps again and all kind of interesting flights shared with us via the OLC.
Benalla had by the way still a 700 km flight this week; UK pilot Bob Nicholls,flew it in his Ventus 2CT.
And yesterday Peter Temple flew 731 in his LS 8 from Gawler.
—“Brilliant day with convergences everywhere. Watched for sharks on the southern tip of Yorke Peninsula.—”
What do you want more?
Today Kari flew in the LS 6 a distance of 652 km [524 FAI triangle] from Tocumwal, Swiss Chris 610  in the ASW 27 and Terry in the ASH 26E a nice 500 FAI triangle as well.[542 total].
Graham flew from Benalla in his ASW 20 ; 659 km.
Love the weather,…there,…not here,…snow again and everything is WHITE!!!! I want to see GREEN.
From South Africa also x- country news ; 613 from Orient!

Looking at the Schemmp-Hirth site , I noticed that the OLC Discus , generously offered by Wilfried Grosskinsky, for a year of absolute perfect training for a young-one-under-25, goes  to Robert Schymala. Robert flew himself in 2012 to  the best 10 of the OLC junior Challenge and amongst them, he draw the lucky number to fly the glider in 2013.

A happy Robert in the OLC Discus.
picture Schemmp-Hirth site.

It’s nice to see that some stories bring back memories by readers.
—“This awoke memories. Part what Pam and Gerrit saw from the air, Wolf and I saw
from the ground driving from Sydney to Waikerie to the World Championships in
1974 in an old, battered car that every 200 km had to go in a garage. It was an
adventure in a lifetime.—” By Frauke  from the USA.

They had since November NO rain, this week Tocumwal had 4 to 5 mm. due to a passing thunderstorm, not much but more up North they were pleased with over 40 mm.

Dieter Dundee had new visotors trying out his bike.

The Southern Riverina Gliding Club has bought a Caproni to replace the IS 28 which will be out of hours in 2 years.
—“I would like to announce to you all that Southern Riverina Gliding Club Inc, has now secured the purchase of the Caproni Glider and we look forward to having it ready for flying in the future.  A huge thank you to those who have assisted with funds so far.

Finally rain in Toc.
Lot’s of rain in the S. of Europe as well,  with over 60 mm. in Athens in Greece, with a flooding river and one person died in the strong current.

 On February 20 , last Wednesday, a 747 from Cargo Lux had  precious cargo; the SOLAR IMPULSE from Bertrand Piccard.
The Jumbo Jet landed at Payerne’s small military airfield in Switzerland, to pick up the ” load” [ the plane was demantled and all parts were in the fuselage] and than fly to Moffett Airfield at the Ames Research Center of NASA close to San Francisco, where from the Silicon Valley this years Across- America- mission starts.
At Moffett the 747 was parked , nose-in ,in a in 1930 built all wooden-hangar.
source; one of my friends, Wieger who flies for Cargolux,  via FB.
www.solarimpulse.com

Before departure and after landing at Moffett with the crew ;
Wieger, who flew with my “kids” in the far past, to the left.
As shared on FB.

 Not so much news today so enjoy your new week. Will be back from home on Wednesday , I hope as I have a very busy week ahead and than from Papendal, as much as possible.

And,…look what happens when you donate your old pictures to scan them to make them visible for everybody during and after the reunion? Somebody else send one from me during the Nationals in 1968, where we were crewing; don’t laugh!!!???

Cheers Ritz

 ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN     WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 20 2013

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

What a great weekend of soaring in South and SW Australia. Benalla, Tocumwal, Gawler , Ararat, Bacchus Mars, Stonefield, all pilots flying there had a great weekend. Guess Terry had the best one flying his LS 3 over nearly 800 km. and topping the OLC list on Sunday.
Will see him within 2 weeks at the IGC Plenary in Holland so be sure I am going to ask him all about it.

Topper Terry here with former topper Bruce Brockhoff at Benalla in January.

 On Monday the good weather stayed with nearly 600 km. by Lothar Arndt [who recently started competition flying ] in the ASW 28 from Tocumwal and Stonefield pilot Steffen Krush in the LS4 flying over pretty remote land 815 km., while pilot Konrad Maierhofen , the “engine” behind Fly Down Under, had a really nice last flight in the DG 500/22m. before it will be shipped back home to Germany again; 781 km [ 562 FAI triangle] .www.fly-down-under.com or www.fly-down-under.de and
E-Mail:   info@fly-down-under.com

Oscar

With all the good soaring still in Australia I forget sometimes to look at South Africa. It ‘s still not over there yet either, as Oscar showed last Saturday with a speedy flight over 407 km.in the 21 m. JS 1C from Potchefstroom;
—” Riding the storm front. 156 km/h takeoff to landing, as well as fooling around taking photos of the B8. What looked like a below average day turned out to be one to remember.–“

I did not know the story from the B8, I copied and pasted it from Oscar as I was touched by it.

—-“Today, after almost 18 years, the B8 took to the skies again. The B8 was designed and built by the legendary Pat Beatty, a designer who designed and built first the BJ and later the B series gliders.
The glider was brought back to life by Paul Beatty, Pat’s son, and test flown today by Uys Jonker.
I last saw this glider flying before Pat and his wife Betty died tragically in a motor car accident in the 1980’s.
Truly a nostalgic day—“

AND

—“Video of B8 flying after being restored by Paul Beatty, son of designer and builder of the BJ and later B series gliders. The B8 was the last glider Pat designed before his untimely death in the 1980’s. it took the commercial glider builders twenty years to realize the benefits of an epiliptical planform. Pat, together with Fritz Johl, who still resides in Cape Town, were streets ahead with revolutionary glider designs, with variable geometry wings, in flight adjustable wing span, camber changing aerofoils. Their gliders ran circles around the then competition. One wonders what he could have come up with if he had lived longer, and had the use of modern building materials and computer processing power. Most of Pat’s wings were designed using a slide rule.—“

B8 over Poch on www.youtube.com
and Uys Jonker about the B8; “It was a privilege to fly the B8! Defenitely a highlight in my career!”

Poch is short for Potchefstroom but is also the surname of Julio Poch the former , now retired collegue of my daughter with Transavia, who already is 3 years in prison in Argentina and as far as I know totally innocent!!!
One of my friends Henri Cramer and a retired Transavia [chief] pilot himself has put a petition on FB to help Julio.In any case the Minister of foreign affairs has now FINALLY agreed on support for Julio. That might help!

Julio Poch via Henri at FB.

Taupo continued with a 3 hour AAT task on day 7 from their Club class Nationals. The best pilot this day with 263.6 km in 3 hours 3, was Steve in the Mosquito. Only 4 finishers and some flew nearly 4 hours!
One of the outlandings by topper and overall leader till that day, Mark flying the St. Libelle. Only 457 points for the 171 km. he flew. Unfortunately for him he dropped a spot even more bad luck for him as he damaged his main wheel with the outlanding.
CD Roy mentioned;”Todays task will be the 7th at this Nationals.  The last Nationals at Taupo only managed 6 scored days over the the entire contest. The weather synopsis says fine weather for the rest of the week.”
So that’s good to hear!

Picture made by and shared by Mike Stathern before the start.Mike flies the ASW 20 during the Nationals and is overall on day 8 on spot 2.
This is the Huka Falls AND I have been there!!!!!!

So knowing that I looked ahead at day 8. But another day with problems for the toppers. 6 From 11 finished amongst them, the Mosquito with Steve, but Tim in the Discus b landed after 141 km and Mark in the Libelle seems to have not been flying  ….. he did n’t get points for the day so I guess he is out! A pity!!!!!

Bob in the DG 100 won the 2.30 AAT with 207 km. in 2 hours 27. Today is day 9 and they have flown. More on Sunday! Or you can look at www.soaringspot.com or http://2013clubclass.blogspot.co.nz/  Enjoy!!!

A short Video of Day 5 from Philip Dunlop is to be seen here.Look at the skies!!!!

Some of them might practise for the next WGC in Finland at Räyskälä. The pre worlds are from the  8th to 16th June 2013.
The competition will be organised in conjunction with the Finnish Open National Championships flown in Standard, 15-m and 20-m Multi-seat Classes. You can enter till April 15 or later but than, only when place available.
www.wgc2014.fi

Beautiful Räyskälä

On the 27th of March the ZES , the Club from the students in Eindhoven will exist 50 years. A reunion with dinner will be part of it. Yes I have put my name on the list. As you know I was the very first girl flying in that club in 1967 so it will be great to meet a lot of “old ” friends and even more new ones.
A new one, I will meet this afternoon , giving him my photo book with pictures from that time. Arjan , a ZES member already for 18 years, is going to put them digital on their site  www.zweefvliegen.nu
Another ” new one” will not be there as he is in N.Z. his name is Dinant. He reads my blogs so that’s how I got in contact with him.
“He LOVES soaring” but a flight down under under a hang glider is not bad either.Soaring will follow soon!
And….. he did so from Omarama in a two-seater up to 9000 Ft and he flew half of the time himself.

Dinant over NZ as shared by him on FB.

That ‘s it! You are up to date.
And,…….. I always “complain” when it is cold! What about MINUS 71 C. That happened in Siberia in a 500 people population in Oymyakon. A new record for them even when they are used to this climate; cold to very cold in winter and hot to pretty hot , over 30 dgr. in summer.Glad I am not living there!!!!!

Got some nice pictures from Dundee in Tocumwal , where it is still warm but days and flights are getting definitely shorter . I share them with you.By the way , from Benalla a Kestrel/17m. flew today an out and return up N. from 656 km adding some km. going S. to beautiful Mount Buller.Still going in thermals over 3000 m. MSL.

More thirsty friends visiting the bird bath at his caravan and one of his “neighbours” a lady with a baby in the pouch. A whole family lives so close you can see them from the balcony of the caravan.

A first time guest for Tocumwal; Hardy Krüger 85 now!
Both  looking VERY well!!!!!

Next Sunday at the SOARINGCAFE the very interesting and easy -to-read story with pictures about wave in Greece by Michael Anastasiou, something to look ahead at!

cheers Ritz!

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN     FEBRUARY 17 2013

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

Bikes, cars, roads, traffic lights…all were full of frozen rain making life difficult and slippery!
As seen by Jeroen Beeke.

It has been a long time ago , that I was out side with freezing-rain!!! Last Thursday I had to be in Amsterdam and the meteo announced that morning around 10 AM snow and freezing rain in the W of Holland. They were spot on.
At 10 20 it reached Leiden, where I was waiting for the connecting train.My legs are still sore from not walking, but moving my feet carefully over the icy walking path. When coming home I had the same problem but looking at my car not far from the station, I was pleased as driving looked much more easy than walking. I carefully walked up to only find out the car was one big blog of ice!! Doors did n’t open and the wheels were icy as well. So more walking ,but I survived, without falling or breaking any bones.
Not everybody was soo lucky , only the car -accidents/incidents amount , reached over 160 in Holland!!!!

wave in Norway as seen by Robert Danewid last year.

Wrote in my last blog about wave in France, Italy and the USA but , …..missed out on WAVE IN GREECE. Luckily I do have a faithful reader there , who informed me straight away. THANK you  for the update so I can share it with more friends!
–“You mentioned the start of the wave season in Europe but missed some interesting wave flights in Greece since December including a climb to 6800m by a Taurus, a climb to 6500m by a Sinus and last Saturday a 278km flight at  91.6km/h by a Sinus! —“
So I had a quick look and YES I missed it. The Pipistrel Sinus was last Saturday at spot 3 with pilot Petros Printezis  and Alexis at height 3988 MSL and flying 268 km. from the airfield of Kopaida in Greece.

Talking about wave, there are lot’s of great places for wave but of course one of the paradises for wave is Omarama in NZ.
—“This unique environment is created by the Southern Alps of New Zealand with crystal clear air, extraordinary wave systems and fiesty thermals.
Come visit, Omarama – the place of light – and enjoy it all with us!”— As said on their website.
Last week Philip Plane flew at height 5079 m MSL in the duo discus. He commented;
—“Tricky thermal under messy wave. Then tricky wave, not well organised, scattered rotor cumulous and bits of lenticulars.”—
5215 MSL was the height for one of our Finnish friends Jiry Laukkanen, who is flying in Omarama.
Will try to be more alert on wave as well.
G Dale left Omarama yesterday but is already now, looking forward again to next spring.His last day with instruction in the duo discus was “Fun and good educational stuff but not fast”.
The day before he was  with a guest at 5320 m. MSL.

Wave as I saw it on the North Island from N.Z. while visiting the Roake family in 2011.
The view from their house.

And of course the Morning Glory Wave , up North in Australia at Burketown

Wave over the airfield in Burketown and a second one looking  East.
Pictures Jo Pocklington.

I “stay”  in New Zealand with the Club class Nationals in Taupo and they had less good weather and  cancelled day 3!
But the next day,  flying-day-3 was a fact again , with a 341 km. racing task , but,….with only one finisher in a Mosquito!
As the CD Roy said;
—“A challenging day with pilots making great decisions. Whether it was the decision to land back or the decision to landout after a long day, all were well done.—”
Mark in the St Libelle, nearly flew home , missed out on a few kilometers but in points there was not a lot of difference; Coming home means 591 points and being [ just ]out 519.
Friday was day 4 and a 2.30 AAT was set, with the best distance flown in an ASW 20 with 266 km. in 2 hours 26.
Mark arrived as number 4 , Tim in the discus b on 7 and a few outlandings were a fact as well.
Overall scores after 4 days; Steve Wallace in the Mosquito with 3433 points, Mark in the St Libelle on 3430 and Tim on spot 5 with 3153 p.
Day 5 ;racing task 302 km. but,…the day turned out otherwise than expected. “Caracter building ” was the word the CD used. Nobody finished but Mark won with 266 km. and added 773 points to his total. He won already 4 days till now.
Day 6 today ; with a B task an AAT from 2.15. was a prey again for Mark,Steve and  Tim , so with a couple of days to go [Febr.22] this is at this stage the overall score as well.

This weekend there will be more pilots flying , as the MATAMATA Soaring Center have joined in for their competition, since yesterday with 10 pilots.They flew the same B task and Tony van Dyk was 2d in his LS 8. Would this be the Tony I know from years , years ago!? Would be fun!

He had never been there before but Mac [Ichikawa] follows the good weather and travels up from Narromine to Tocumwal and even this week to Stonefield . So does young Matthew Scutter ,but he lives close to Stonefield.
Matthew had the privilege of flying the Nimbus 4DM for the first time in his life and Mac flew for the first time in his life up N from Stonefield to the remote and mostly unlandable area of Wilpena Airstrip; not much more than that.
Good distances ;just over 800 km. for both and a nice flight together each in a Nimbus 4DM!
Awesome weather they said at Stonefield!
Tocumwal had distances from just over 600 km in an ASH 26 and over 500 km. in an LS 6!Not bad either for late summer!
From Benalla 550 was flown in a Speed Astir!
Today another splendid soaring day in Victoria and the border of NSW.
A 500 FAI triangle in a Kestrel from Temora by Grant Johnson shows how good the weather was.
Rolf who flew his first 1000 a few weeks in Tocumwal, now enjoyed great late summer conditions flying a 640 km. FAI triangle [extended to 666 km] from Bacchus Mars, home of the Geelong Gliding Club. He flew his 18 m LS 8T. on a “typical Bacchus “day; nice q day , 11000 foot base, 38C.

Rolf here in Tocumwal had some really good flights this season.

And what about 795 km. in the LS 3 by Terry Cubley today from Gawler????Up to 3415 MSL in thermals!!!!!! And Graham had a good day as well with a 750 FAI triangle and a total of  794 km. in his ASG 29/18m.  with 130 km./h.
“Not the best day ever but pretty good all the same.” That says enough!Not only Victoria and the South part of NSW but also South Australia had TOP weather.

With the combination US Airways and American Airlines, the biggest aviation concern has been born.The name will be American Airlines and they will remain a member of the One World group , together with B.A, Iberia and Jap. Airlines.

I will try to be in Issoudun for a weekend or so to be part of the WWGC . My “old”Blundstones will be there for sure as Natasja will fly with them.

Shiny “old” Blundstones great for landing in a field, but of course I hope she does n’t have to go “au vache”.

3 Blogs this time, one on Saturday as well , yesterday, for soaring cafe, as old news is no news. It is all about Yves Rossy, the JETMAN from Switzerland,  who visited my friends Emily and Tony on their estate Springhill in New Zealand.Read the full story as an extra blog on www.soaringcafe.com    yesterday, Saturday.

Yves after landing.

And last but not least,..this impact in the Russian  “Oeral” from an exploding meteoriet. About 1000 people wounded [160 children] in atleast 6 towns and 100 pretty bad from them 2 VERY bad. Not good!
The impact made a huge hole in a lake and shattered panes of glass everywhere.Damage bill; 25 million!!!!
The most scary thing is that this can happen everywhere.
On Friday evening an asteroid passed by at only 27 .000 km from planet Earth. It sounds far away but it seems no asteroid has ever been so close.

Cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN  WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13 2013 

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

“Heart Lake”
as seen by Jorgen and Birgitte between The Rock and Wagga.

While waiting for spring ,  lot’s of club’s and private pilots are preparing their gliders for the new season.

Pictures shared by Rens from Soesterberg in Holland and Ilse from Friesland.
With the last one she wrote; ” The boys are having their beer, we continue working”!

Or in another way as shared from the last TABOE, a course here in Holland, where young and older not-so-experienced glider pilots in cross country soaring, listen to experienced pilots to learn how to fly better x-country.

“Dry- flying” during the TABOE training program,with one of the organizers Natasja and 2 top pilots Bas Seiffert who flew for Holland in Chaves and Dick Teuling one of my “old” instructors from the ZES.

 or just using the winter for soaring,
as they say at FB and do in Germany,
“just because it is possible”!

“Be prepared only 94 days left…” for the Uppsala Masters in Sweden.
May 18-25!!!

Still a few weeks to go and you can feel it, here as well, just cold and partly white. BUT…..it is clear ,….the morning starts earlier!!!! So it’s going to happen soon, that’s what the organizers from the 17th EGC in Ostrow think as well and I share their picture and thoughts.

“The days are getting longer! The summer’s closer…”

On the other site of the world in NZ the club class Nationals have started @ beautiful  Taupo on the North Island,  with a 274 km. racing task and a 1000 point-day for Mark Wilson flying that great toy the standard Libelle with a speed of 82.7 km./h. !
Day 2 was “his ” again with more of those nice 1000 points,  while Tim Bromhead in the Discus 2 was 2d again.Task was a 3 hour AAT and kilometers flown 303 in 3 hours 9, while Tim flew 282 km. in 2 hours 46.

In Tocumwal Roger Druce had to go home for a while and the Danish friends  and Birgitte Orskov and  JörgenThomsen borrowed his glider . They bought an ARCUS allready, but they can use it next year in Australia as it will be only ready then. At least they love it straight away,  as Birgitte mentioned:
“My first Arcus flight :Thank you Roger for letting us fly your beautiful excellent handling glider.”
And….on a 500 km.-day yesterday; “An excellent day with Cu’s.”
And,…from Norway Björn and Lis are back.Longtime guests also in the past with us, Björn is flying the LS 4 again. Don’t know why I remember them always straight away , maybe because they once in Sweden specially drove up from Norway , to show me “my/their” favourite car and allowed me to sit in that car, … my dream car ,… a Morgan. You remember the pictures?
Not to forget longtime frequent flyer from Finland Kari Lappalainen, who flew nearly 600 km yesterday, all up to West Wyalong in the LS 6. So Scandinavia is well represented in Tocumwal at the moment; Denmark, Norway and Finland.

Björn and Lis in Eskilstuna and what a nice car!
Now both enjoy the good weather for 2 weeks in Tocumwal, staying at the caravan park in “the Swiss Chris house”.
Look for the difference in weather for Lis and Björn on the pictures at www.sportaviation.com.au

Chinese?????
離陸から約1h後リスタートで仕切りなおし。冬のコンバージェンス+WAVE的な条件。男体山のWAVE入ったが、11,000ftまで激しいローターと格闘。後半は条件全般的に好条件になっていた。
No Japanese!!!!!And written by Kenshi Tagami.
But clearly readable 11.000 ft. and WAVE. That’s what I noticed looking at what happened at Itakura where I spend some time in the past.
So easy enough to know what happened and to be happy for him.235 km. in a DG 400/17m. and FLYING HIGH!International-soaring-language!
Talking about my Japanese friends. You remember 2 of our guests who in the past married at Tocumwal in the garden of our airfield; Mikiko and Shige Sawada. Look now! What a great family!!!!

Schihiro , Mikiko and on her lap little Mahiho  and Shige.

The European WAVE season has started as well in France and Italy and places as Calcinate and  Aosta have their guests already  flying to up to over 3000 m MSL.
Talking about France, the 17th EGC website at Vinon is on line;http://www.egc2013vinon.fr/en/
Also in the USA good wave as Baudouin Litt from Mid  Atlantic Soaring and have a look at his flight on the OLC , up till nearly 4000 m. MSL, he commented “Very nice wave early with strong winds. They died early and almost got me!” and you SEE what he writes!

And,….a great 3.minute 30 youtube video with Patrick Puskeiler, Mario Kiesling and Sarah Kelly Arnold by PLANETAIRE in Argentina during the WGC; THE HORIZON NEVER ENDS. Enjoy!
You can also see it at FB as Sarah placed it there!

http://youtu.be/dwMFXd2wNx0

And also by Sarah; Promo video for Wings Over Sweden.
“Let’s show some support for such a great program.'”

http://kck.st/XOasHM More then 250 km./h.  over Sweden pureley on renewable energies; a pilot prepares for a new form of aereal racing.

And some words shared by Sarah;
—“The amazing thing about soaring is that no matter what experience level a pilot is currently at, the challenge is just as wonderful and just as exciting as it is for you or me when we compete. My students get the same satisfaction from learning to land, learning to thermal, practicing slips or working on that first badge as I did in Argentina last month. There are not many things in life as good as that.”—

Having fun with Sarah in Uvalde!

For those interested:
Sport: Aeromodelling – Indoor Aerobatics
Title: FAI World Championship for
Aerobatic Model Aircraft
Type : World
Date:  02.02 –
09.02.2013
Location: Coburg – Germany

Final Results :
F3P –
Senior
1st : Gernot Bruckmann AUT
2nd : Donatas Pauzuolis LTU
3rd :Tetsuo Onda JPN

F3N – Junior
1st : Theo Catros FRA
2nd : Takuya Takahashi JPN
3rd : Karl-Ernst Overdick GER

F3P – Team
1st: France
2nd: Austria
3rd: Germany

And to finish ; after the very unexpected abdication of our Queen now a bit of a shock that the pope retires. Maybe a good solution, I have been brought up RK , but do see that times have changed and a pope should go with the time.He deserves some rest, as he looked worn out and very fragile and hopefully a younger pope with a modern view takes over. Though,..it ‘s pretty modern to retire,  as popes “normally ” stay on, till they die.
At 8 PM on February 28 the German pope will be part of history.
It’s soon Easter,  so a new pope will be saying his “Urbi at Orbi” for thousands @ the ST Pietersquare, and for millions looking at the TV,  this year. But,…I guess as always,…. the balcony will be full of Dutch flowers!

Cheers Ritz

 ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN    SUNDAY FEBRUARY 10 2013

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

Looking ahead at the new season.
As said in my last blog I would spend a bit more time on Fatraglide 2013 from May 4 -May 12.
Here is the colourful “inviting” -invitation, as I received it.

Worthwhile to double click to see the enlarged version!

Only 60 places available and in this early stage already several participants, amongst them G Dale and going stronger every day, so don’t wait too long when you like to fly in that area.
Some pictures from Martin Airfield in November 2012 ,when they flew wave behind the Fatra mountain,….. on St .Martin day , the patron of the town;

Martin Airfield as seen by Tibor Fratik.
For more ;
www.fatraglide.sk and www.gliding.sk

Even earlier in the season  from March 30 till April 6, the well known Pribina Cup will be the goal to reach by many pilots, who love flying in Nitra [Slovakia] . 50 pilots in each of the 4 classes are allowed with a total max. of 150 participants. So be quick when you want to be part of it. Of course the champions from last year can fly to defend their titles and ” will be admitted in addition to the above limits, but they must, however, follow the online registration procedures as other pilots.We trust you understand that such criteria must have been introduced in order to deal with the possible over registration in a fair way.–”
Good on them!Some pictures from 2010 from Elfro, who makes SUPER pictures!!!!

 You can enter with an online registration form and entries will be till February 28, which is the deadline!!!!!
At this stage 107 pilots have entered from 17 different countries.
At this stage; 45 in Club class, with 8 pilots from Germany, 20 in 15 m. ,13 in the 20 m. multi seat class [ with 8 x duo discus, 4 x ARCUS and 1 Janus 18.2 m] and 29 in open class including 18 m. class gliders.
A huge HAPPENING every year with great winners; as Wolfgang Janowitsch in open class last year and ready to defend his title.
For more dates from important comps in the new season you can go to www.soaringcafe.com

AUSTRALIA:
Now the European gliders have been packed in the containers , it is going to be a bit less busy in Australia as well.
The end of season there is just superb with over  1000 km. flights still in February. I like that!!!!
Specially Narromine has done well.
Were they on spot 112 in 2012 on page 3 on the OLC stats for airfields , this year at this stage they are on spot 7 on page ONE. CONGRATULATIONS!
Also Benalla did well , being on spot 4 at the moment , and this was in 2012 spot 8.
Tocumwal is on spot 9 at the moment and ended in 2012 on spot 26.
It is nice to oversee things in the end of the southern- hemisphere- season.
Corowa stats were in my last blog![from spot 5 in 2012 to 6 now , not even a big difference]

Still nice weather in Narromine where Mac [Ichikawa] flew in the ARCUS M a 825 k task last Friday.
Before packing the container Pepe [538 km] and Berry [ 363] had one more flight; the last for their season from Corowa and as Berry mentioned; “only 275 days till the next season“.
And,..it surely was n’t a bad season this year in Australia.
Yesterday however it was everywhere in Australia  “not good/bad” also in Horsham.

Horsham week:
Finished yesterday with 5 days out of 8. Day 5 had a 2 hour AAT but was good enough for 1000 points in each of the 4 classes.
The last day was cancelled so the winners are known and to be looked at on www.soaringspot.com
Competition director was Rolf Buelter who I met in Tocumwal this year and who flew there his first 1000 km. No flying for him at Horsham but he mentioned ;
-” We flew as you know 5 out of 8 days with the full range of weather from very difficult to absolutely brilliant. Marta Najfeld, who resides in Horsham now, called that day the best she ever experienced. Most importantly the comp concluded safely without icident.–“

The New Zealand Club Class Nationals started yesterday and today with practise days! From Monday Febr.11 till Friday Febr. 22, the comps will be flown with 11 pilots; 2 x discus ,[handicap 99]  1x discus b, an LS 3 a and an LS 4, a Mosquito, ASW 20 and DG 100, as well as Jantar 2 , PW 5 [handicap 81]  and last but certainly not least a Standard Libelle.

More to do in Australia , this time Victoria.;
–“Soaring over the Victorian high country, near Mt Hotham – VMFG Mt Beauty Easter Camp is not far away! – starting March 29!—“

As shared by Ben Loxton who is a member of the VMFG.

AND,talking about mountains….from the Mount Beauty Club
—“Mountain Gliding Course 4 March-11March

There are now some 20 pilots who have registered interest for the course.
A reminder that the course runs from 4 – 11 March and details can be found on the VSA website at

www.gliding.asn.au/index.php/whats-happening/coaching

This week we will also be adding to the website, a guide to ‘Safety in Mountain Flying’ from the French National GlidingCentre – well worth reading.—” Ian Grant   VSA Coaching Coordinator
Great and usefull idea! So when you are interested you can still put your name on the list.

Guests this weekend , but no CARNAVAL this year, too much snow and too cold, but in the end it turned out a sunny day.
CU on Wednesday, and ……. as you see Terlet is ready for the new season.
New cables for the winch as shared by Sicco Vermeer who flew in “my” WGC team in Uvalde 1991. He works  at the Service Center at Terlet.

Cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN   WEDNESDAY February 6 2013

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

Woke up this morning in a white world. SNOW!
Straight away 500 km. traffic jam , mainly in the mid and SE from Holland and trains travelling with a winter schedule, meaning less trains, fuller trains and longer periods of waiting. Welcome back snow!?

Winter in Holland as seen by Ronald Termaat this morning.

Still amazing weather in Australia . Tom Gilbert flew with his DG 400/17m.  a nice FAI triangle; 763 km. extended to 785 km.!!!! Flying to Narromine and Hillston and back to Temora! Nice flight indeed!
And today Tom  did it again; 912km. [ 806 km.] up N and then E to go back to Temora.
Also a real nice flight ,  from Ed Marel in the ASH 31 who “always wanted to fly  this 750 ” [extended to 810 km] from West Wyalong and did it now.
From Mount Beauty yesterday 786 km. in a 15 m. Ventus b.

Tom after the flight as shared by a proud daughter Sarah !

For sure the Australia season is a good and long one starting already in November with 4 over 1000 km. flights on the 25th. in Narromine and still going strong! At the moment they have a “squad week” in Narromine.
TODAY it was Adam Woolleys dad ,Chris who flew his very first 1000 km. from Narromine calling it a MAGIC day!!!!!!It is FEBRUARY ALREADY…. mind you!!!!And he flew a FAI 1000 k triangle. Hope this kind of weather will be in Narromine during the Junior Worlds in 2015 as well!
As Adam said: “Congratulations Dad, a monumental day & experience. So stoaked & proud for/of you for being the latest recipient of a 1000km FAI diploma!!
More super flights just have a look at the OLC.
Benalla with a Kestrel flying 690 FAI triangle extended to 704 km.
Tocumwal with a 683 FAI triangle extended to 706 km. in the ASH 26E and HIRO who flew his first EVER declared 500 km. Congratulations Hiro!!! And,…Takao achieved his Diamond Distance and Leo is silver badge. A great week for the 5 Japanese guests.For pictures you can go to www.sportaviation.com.au

And Tocumwal today with a nice 1000 [857 FAI triangle] by Neil Burns;
—“Excellent day.  Had to abandon 1000 km triangle attempt and then take advantage of the better conditions out to the north-west.—”
He flew the ARCUS M from and with Roger Druce! Great effort! What weather, I should have stayed longer!!!!

ARCUS ready to go with Glenda Burns on the tip and husband Neil in it with Roger Druce.
courtesy Birgitte Thomsen.

YESTERDAY Corowa had already exellent weather with a nice 1008 from Harry, nearly a triangle[ 942k]  but as he said he turned too early and had to gain some more kilometers in the end in the S where it was less good.Corowa with John Blyth taking over his  glider he shares with Anders, from Anders for the rest of the season flying in the ASW 22/ 24 m. today 618 km.
–“Absolutely FABULOUS day in Corowa! Even thought I didn’t launch until the CUs started to pop at 1300, I managed 618km at a record speed for me of 121kph.
As Harry said – “Put in water then push the stick foward and fly fast!”–

Not long anymore and the gliders will leave also from Corowa to go back to Europe. Great they still had some super days before packing.
On the 7th and 8th they pack both containers , to have a last check on the 9th and than it is to the harbour on the 16th and “back home”.
Esimated time of arrival at Terlet for unpacking; April 13.
Not such a busy season this year due to less gliders , but still very good pilots and lots of flights .At this stage Corowa is on the OLC list on spot 6 with 28 pilots [60 last year] flying 190.784,97 km. in 349 flights just behind Benalla.
As Grietje said on her birthday [happy birthday!] ; “Without staff it has been VERY busy for us, we had however a great season. “

Horsham week counted 4 days till now and with a 603 km. task for 18m./open , they had a great day 4 won by “veteran ” Tony Tabart [Ventus CM] with a speed of 140 km./h. Not bad!!!!
Club class had a 4 AAT with as best distance 441 km. in a twin astir,  15 m. had 510 km. , standard class 509 km and Peter Buskens [LS 8] won the 1000 points with a speed of 144 km./h , wow!

Jo and Tony while visiting Holland last year.

What about that a blog full of happy pilots and family! What a great way to end the summer season when ours here is about to begin.

I finish however, with a very sad moment!!!! I was very much touched to hear that Karen Lysakowsky died after being ill , at age 43!!!!
She was an airline pilot for B.A.
Her mum lost her only daughter now and before already her husband in a mid air collision. TRAGIC!!
I still visualize her with Lizzie [Wells] and my daughter Inge , being great mates at comps!
The Ted Lysakowski Memorial Trust reminds me and others on this kind UK WGC pilot.
When reading about it I will think now of Karin as well.

Picture courtesy Vanessa.

And a last minute note from Tibor which I share with pleasure and later more with pictures;

—“we prepare 13th year of our competition fatraglide13. 
Just to remind it is spring mountain flying comp on arguably most beautiful airfield in Slovakia.
We have new terrace with cafeteria, and parties are great – you know Brano, Wanda, me.. etc 🙂

We have brand new web site www.fatraglide.sk for it and G Dale is among participants already! We stil operate www.gliding.sk gliding portal but unfortunatelly only in slovak language but galleries should give you some idea about how do we live here..–“

And one more last message;

—“Notice is hereby provided that the Victorian Aerobatic Championships are to be held at the Tocumwal Aerodrome from Wednesday 6^th March through to Sunday 10^th March 2013.—“

picture courtesy Ronald  Hermans.

Cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN   SUNDAY FEBRUARY 3 2013

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

After loosing the entire  blog with pictures and all, I try again .

Holland;
The first month of the year has just disappeared. I only spend a few days in Holland but was part of the weather over the last days, when we had the hottest days for the date Jan.29 and 30 with plus 13, measured in the Bilt THE place for meteo measurement in Holland!!!!
Earlier in Jan.  it was weird as we had temperatures from minus 18 in the E. ,  up to plus 15 in the S. of Holland; a difference of 33 dgr.
With only 55 mm. of rain January was pretty dry as well.
This was totally different 60 years ago when parts of the SW from Holland were hit by severe flooding after the dyke’s broke. 1800 People got killed and it is a very black page in our history book.

Very different weather in Canada as well as I heard;
—“Currently -35C here with a windchill of -45! –“
http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pages/mb-35_metric_e.html

Chile;
It was good to see Thomas back on the highest spot on day 4 in Vitacura.With the Diana 2 he flew fast over 437 km. with an average speed of 140 km./h. This day was flown over the mountain area and he got the full 10 points.

As seen by Varislav and shared on FB.

On day 5 the weather looked “as a piece of cake”, but turned out very different for some, due to the incoming cirrus creating problems specially on a lower level .It cost Tilo a lot of points as he had to land out . He was not the only one as only 5 from 11 made it back home. Amongst them the winners both from Chile,  for day 5 Carlos [ 6 points] and Rene [4 points]  who are both topping the overall list with 29 points!!!
Still 6 pilots in the race to win this Grand Prix together with Carlos and Rene; 4 from Europe; Tilo and Patrick both of spot 5 with 17 points, Didier on 4 with 18 points and Thomas on 3 with 23.

Day 6 was a different story. It looked like an easy day in the morning, with a task of 355 km. but,…it turned out different than expected or hoped for. ZERO points for all , [though Didier flew still 211 km. ] but,….with hope for day 7.

Day 7 was a short one,  in task and time as most pilots flew the 151 km. just over one hour. Patrick Puskeiler was the fastest with 134.4 km./h. Start was at 15.15!Didier was 2d and Thomas 3d. Quite a lot of penalty points on that day.
With one more day to go the overall scores look still good for Carlos with 35 points, Rene with 34, Thomas with 30 and Patrick is back on 4 with 27 points.That’s ONE more than Didier on 5.
What will the last day bring?

Last day from the GP, showed with a 305 km. task that Carlos clearly was the best. With a nice speed of 131.km./h. he raced to another 10 points, winning this Grand Prix with 46 points. Rene, who was 5 km./h slower won the 8 daily points, so the final score for the top 3 is;Carlos 46 points, Rene 43  and Thomas with 38.

Narromine;
With a 22 kt. head -wind Adam [Wooley]  decided to abandon his flight last Thursday, but still flew 0ver 800 km. 30 Year old Ben decided to continue and flew a declared 1023 km.task on not even the very best day!
Here is what Adam had to say about it;
—“What an ordinary day, but what a spectacular day!
4hrs into a 22kt headwind saw progress slow.BUT,…congratulations to Ben Loxton on his first of many declared 1000km flights.–“

Ben , very happy after his flight.
Courtesy Adam Woolley.

And more news from Adam who is an eager blogger as I am.
“Magnificent day! For the first 4hrs, we both battled into a 30kph wind in poor weather. Once the weather gods turned on the weather, it got extremely good, extremely fast!
I had the cirrus up to 143kph for a 200km leg!! 406:1 for 50km glides, just extraordinary. Unfortunately the switch was flicked at 1530, rather than 1330 when I needed it .”–

Adams Standard Cirrus at Narromine.

Narromine;
Also in Narromine the 2 seater Nationals , important for the next 33d WGC , where the 20 m pilots will fly together with club and standard class, finished with 8 days and good flights. The Maddock- family,  in the duo discus topped the list with dad Mike and son Nick flying.  They are the new National Champions and,…maybe we are going to see them in Räyskälä !
Terry Cubley and his mate in the DG 1000 ended on spot 2 and CHAPEAU for not the youngest couple anymore Harry and Wendy Medlicott in their ARCUS on spot 3.Good on them!!!They won day 5 and the last day

Father Mike and son Nick , the new 20 m. CHAMPIONS.
Picture courtesy Adam Woolley

Also great weather on Thursday in Benalla, Corowa  and Tocumwal.With a nice nearly 800 km. flight from Graham , my “instructor” in the simulator a few weeks ago,  in his ASW 20 from Benalla.
Over 800 also for the Corowa pilots who had to fight with a tough wind and had to rush home to be in time for a sand storm. As Jos said in his comment:
“On the last leg from 300 km. the wind was in the back with 50 km./h ., so I was  home, pretty fast.”
And a 750 from Tocumwal in the ARCUS.

And in the “Alpine Flyer” from the Mount Beauty Club I read ;
–“The Mt Feathertop bushfire created a lot of traffic on Mt Beauty airfield. On Monday 28 January there were 3 fixed wing water bombers working for DSE, we had 6 gliders in the air and there were also about 10 hang gliders and a Dragonfly ultralight tug operating on the airfield. The operation went reasonably smoothly despite this amount of traffic but it demonstrated the requirement for good lookout and radio communication. Air Traffic Control on the day would have helped however.”—-

 And to finish the picture by Mark Bland from his Libelle on Jan.22 2013 flying to Mt Feathertop.
The club class Nationals in NZ at beautiful Taupo start soon,  more on Wednesday.
Cheers for now Ritz