As I told you the Austrian Nationals are NOT flown in Austria, but in Nitra in Slovakia this year and in 5 classes.
Reason; the Austrian Military top did/could not allow flying from Wiener Neustad[West]  , the WGC place  we have such good memories on.
The club class counts 15 pilots and …..nearly a miracle…., they could fly straight away on Saturday and Sunday.
Day 1 had 7 finishers [2 hour AAT] with 2 Czechs upfront Karel Mares [ASW15]  and Tomas Suchanek,[St Cirrus] not “just ” pilots!
Day 2 was for Tomas , 1000 points over a 3 hour AAT, with Karel on spot 4.
The Standard class has 15 participants and an Austrian winner on day 1,[2 hour AAT]  and a Slovak winner over the 3 hour AAT. 5 LS 8 gliders in the top.
In 15 m. class 7 participants amongst them wellknow pilots as Guido Achleiter and Heimo Demmerer.Same tasks and Guido won the 1000 points on day 2.
In 18 m. of course Austrian toppers, Wolfgang Janowitsch and Peter Hartmann as well as Slovak topper Vladimir Voltin. Wolfgang won day 1 and Peter day 2. Same tasks and 11 pilots in this class .
In open class an interesting mix of good Austrian and German pilots, 7 in total. Day 1 was for Josef Kammerhofer before Frans Jozef Eder and Alexander Müller. Day 2 gave the full 1000 points and they were for Sebastian Eder just before Alexander.

 

Wolfgang Janowitsch former WGC Champion.

Then a few days with silence, no news ; on Tuesday they continued.
Day 3 was a difficult day for some.
In Club the 1.30 AAT was won by Ondrej Dvorak in the LS 1 f, while Tomas outlanded after 68 km. loosing some 400 points.
In Standard Class one outlanding , same task.
In 15 m.also a 1.30 AAT with Heimo Demmerer as the daily winner, being on spot 2 overall after 3 days.
In 18 m. it was after 1.30 Peter Hartmann upfront then  Vladimir Voltin and Wolfgang Janowitsch.
In open all pilots made it back after around 136 km. in just over and a bit more over 1.30.

The UK Club Class Nationals , in combination with the Regionals started last Saturday as well and ….with amazing good weather, an even bigger miracle and …..not such a miracle,…lots of TOP pilots.
As I read on the site from the UK juniors, the club pilots,  42 in total,  left first on day 1 and had a great run to the first TP.
Pete Masson won the day and got the 1000 points and only 2 outlanded.
Former WGC Champion Brian Spreckley flew the Libelle to a shared 4th place while our former Sportavia tuggie Tim Milner was on spot 8 followed by G. Dale!
On day 2 another long task 437 km.and another 1000 points for Pete Masson, [DG 101] with as good runner up Ayala Truelove -Liran in the Libelle. She is practising for the WWGC and so to see , she defenitely is on the right way. Pete is the coach from the UK  juniors , how lucky can they be and Simon Barker will be their TC in Leszno!
Pete won in Australia [Gawler] the Club Class WGC in 2001 , where I was supposed to be as a steward, but it was our high-season in Tocumwal, so I had no time .
He participated in 2008 in Rieti ,where I did the “writing”.Of course he flew many more comps! If I remember well he visited us in Tocumwal after his glorious WGC-win and I welcomed him with bubbles! What else!?

Pete Masson and junior Sam Roddie, who will fly an ASW 24 in Leszno and flies now at Lasham as well. Courtesy UK junior site!

Day 3 was a tougher one with a strong wind but no worries for Pete , he won for the 3d time in a row! 24 Pilots from 40 finished.
Day 4 , yesterday, was SCRUBBED for both classes! The great weather left the UK and arrived in Holland and we had a sunny warm day, like yesterday, FINALLY!!!!
Hope the good weather returns today in the UK.

In the Regionals 37 pilots and even a former WGC Champion as Andy Davis, [ARCUS E] who straight away showed “he can still do it!!” 458 was their task and he won day 1! On day 2 good “old” Dave Watt [Ventus 2A]won just ahead of Andy. But day 3 was a prey for Andy again.

Prievidza started with the GRAND PRIX SLOVAKIA in 18 m. and day 1 had to be cancelled but day 2 was a nice one with 206 km. Roman Mracek [10 p] won the day before Sebastian [8] and Lubor[Kuvik 7] and Alena Nitusilova was on spot 6 and received 4 points. Yesterday was cancelled as well.

 

Alena here in Uvalde. Courtesy Andreea.

 

The Belgium Nationals are in progress in St. Hubert and also the pilots there  started straight away on Saturday with 183 km, though Sunday had to be cancelled.
2 Classes 15 m. and open.
In 15 m. Yves Ruymen won in the Discus A [568 p.] before Bert Schmelzer jr. [567] . Brother Tijl was on spot 7 and the first outlander on the list. 6 From 20 finished and I felt sorry for Emiel who only flew 21 km and “received” 50 points.
In open class 13 pilots and 913 points for day 1’s winner Olivier Brialmont. [ASG 29/18m]

On Monday they continued with sunny and dry conditions,  from a wet field but good enough to fly from. The task was this time 403 km. for open and 305 for 15 m. class.
My friends from Keiheuvel flew them selves to the top with Dennis Huybreckx as best , followed by Bert and Tijl Schmelzer, Emiel de Wachter, Jef Kell and Tim Huybreckx with points between 806 and  673.
In open Yves Jeanmotte was the best, gaining 1000 points.
Yesterday a 1.45 AAT was on for 15 m. and Bert Schmelzer jr.]Discus 2]  took the 534 points as daily winner, just before Jeroen Jennen in the LS 4 and Dennis Huybreckx in the LS 8.
The Schmelzer brothers are on spot 1 and 2  after 3 days and the comps finish on June 1.
In open class Dutch pilot Maurits Dortu won the day in the JS 1.An 1.45 AAT as well.
After 3 days Jean Luc Colson is the overall-leader with a few days to go.

The Swiss Nationals with 32 pilots in 3 classes will be flown till June 6 from Amlikon a field celebrating it’s 50 thiest birthday.
After 2 cancelled days , there was hope to fly on Monday and after a postponed briefing tasks were set. 263 for the mixed open and Rolf Friedli won in the ASG 29/18m.
Yesterday the open class flew 188 km and Rolf won AGAIN!!!
In the mixed 15 m. a task from 252 km and all [17 pilots] but one finished.

It was interesting to see the OLC list on Sunday with some good flights from Italy; Giorgio Galetto in his Ventus from Bolzano with 840 km. and friend Alberto Sironi flying from Calcinate in the Quintus with a 750 km FAI triangle!
A 750 diploma for a Danish pilot flying a DG 808C /18 m. from Norway. Elverum , but also Hokksund really had a few good [wave] days.
Doug Haluza [Janus cFG] flying  2, 1000 km. flights in a row from Ridge Soaring had the days of his life!!!As he happily mentioned; “Nearly 2500 km. in 2 days!” Not bad!
Guy Bechtold flew in his Quintus his first 1000 km in this glider from Useldange. He even passed by his mates flying at St. Hubert. Two days earlier he just missed out ; 991 km.
750 from Räyskälä yesterday shows the great weather has arrived in Finland as well.
Kai Mönkkönen , one of my favourite photographers, flew over 500 km. in the Duo Discus.

Last but not least;
Uys Jonker applauded his team for their fine efforts to obtain  the TYPE CERTIFICATE for the JS 1-C 21 m.  It was handed over by the South African Civil Aviation Authorithy, who fully approved this glider on May 27! From now on the JS 1-C /21m. can fly in Europe in open class and Ronald Termaat is one of the pilots flying this beautiful glider in Vinon. We saw already in Uvalde how good the glider is . Oscar flew himself to a third place in it!!!

Off to Assen today and still troubles with my laptop. Internet Explorer just stops , and all sentences are in ONE row, very frustrating!!!
But, …have a happy week CU on Sunday!

Ritz

What about  1000 km. in a Standard Cirrus!?
It was flown last Thursday  and believing in the weather forecast from TOP METEO, Michael Ebel flew it and had the day of his life.
As I heard from my Lasham friends Alix and Roy, who happened to be there it was shivers all over. Here is Alix and THANK YOU !!!!!;

—” Roy and I are on a week’s holiday in Reinsdorf near Berlin with our friend Michael Ebel.
You will have seen from OLC that yesterday was a Hammertag in this area.
Michael flew his first OLC thousand (average 92.87km/h) in a Standard Cirrus! Andy Gesell and Marcus first OLC thousand in the Gesell Arcus.
The excitement the night before when Top Meteo had an orange spot in Poland even more excitement when, in the morning, it was a bigger orange blob.
There were lots of good flights from Reinsdorf including a circumnavigation of Berlin in the Aero Club Berlin ASK21 by Andre Huhnd and Hermann Bantle.
Roy flew 800k in the ASW20 he has chartered and even I went cross country. Amazing countryside -windmills every where, woods and old military exercise grounds. –”

A few more 1000 km. flights in this area also from Stendhal, where several  Dutch Nationals have been flown in the past, but also from Ouarzazate and Moriarty.
Finally some smiling pilots again!

It was Laurent Aboulin,  who  after the pretty late regatta start at 16.25 on Wednesday,  raced as fast as he could, over the 117 km. to arrive back home just after 18.00; 10 points for him.
The day before he missed a reporting point , missing out on a higher score!
Quite a few penalty points concerning the height of the finishline[ for 6 pilots]  and even worse, ….a non-valid-start for Ricardo[Brigliadori] and as far as I could see he did not fly on day 1 either. With Didier [Hauss] as runner up on this day 2, with 8 points , Didier leads after 2 days [ 13 p] before Laurent  [10 p]

Whilst Day 3 , was world wide not everywhere normal , as in India  people were struggling with a heat wave and lack of water , we here in Holland  could add to the history books the coldest EVER 23d of May and  the Berlin area a day with HAMMERWETTER , it was for the French GP  a day with a “normal-start-time” , but,..also a very challenging day.
ZERO points till then for Ricardo, but he changed that on day 3 winning the day over 313 km. and collecting 10 points.
As Laurent outlanded and Didier “only” got 1 point , there were some chances over all;Didier and Sebastien[ Dubreuil] share the lead with 14 points and Laurent and Ricardo share spot 3 both with 10 points. In between with 12 Tilo and Nicolas[Veron].

Day 4 had a 20% chance of flying!!!It ended with 0 %. scrubbed day ……….

BUT Day 5 , [yesterday and the last one], had an over 300 km task again, with 307 km. direction OCEAN. The weather looked as I read , great and after a night with music , everybody must have been relaxed and ready for this last day.
German pilot Kai Lindenberg flew with a speed of 108.2 km. p/h. Earning the 11.01 points. So he wins the day and ends up with 18 points in total, so does  Laurent and Nicolas as well .
According to the tiebreak rules Laurent wins, Kai is 2d and Nicolas 3d.
SO winner of the FRENCH GP is Laurent Aboulin.
Congratulations!

The COPA PIRINEOS 2013 in Santa Cilia in Spain [May 19-May 25] counts 10 pilots , amongst them 2 from Italy, one from the UK and 2 from France.
Not the very best weather either but they had already 2 days with a 1 hour and 1.30 AAT and the French did well topping the list after 2 days with 644 points for Vicente Bilote [ Janus 18.2 m] and 643 for Tanguy Benoit,[ DUO DISCUS]   but Italian pilot Vitorio Pinni also had 643 points .[DUODISCUS]
Then 2 cancelled days!

On Thursday they continued again and the Spanish Nimbus 4DM won the day with nearly 100 km. more than the runner up a Nimbus 2.

The last day had a small 132 km. task which was won by the Spanish Nimbus 4D again; 149 points. A few pilots did not fly anymore so Serge Leqlerco from the Nimbus 4D won; 2637 points over 5 days!!!
Runner up was Jorge Madrigal in the Ventus  2CT/18m.and if I remember well he flew once with us in Tocumwal.

Feel sorry for all organisers who worked so hard to get pilots to their comps and were “punished” by bad weather. Also the Uppsala Masters had a few scrubbed days , but they continued also on Thursday.
2 Hour AAT’s were handed over , so pilots could fly within the rules between about 165 and 300 km. in the 2 classes. aprox. 225 for racing and 233 km. for open class. Only 5 finishers from 36 pilots in racing class with Janne Nordh in the Discus 2T as winner with 197 km.
In open class 6 from 14 in open class, with Andreas Kingbäck as winner with 180 km. 2 .09.
Göran flew 193 km. but needed 2 hour.51.

Day 4 had a 2 hour AAT as well, no worries at least  THEY FLEW!!! BUT,…it turned out to be not a valid day! Only racing class flew and 2 pilots finished the rest did not make 100 km. even only 37 km. and less.
The 2 finishers were Janne and Ronny [Lindell] flying together in time 3.42 a total of 134.5 km!!! Compliments , however ZERO points do not feel good then, but proving yourself and maybe the others might have.

New comps have started this weekend as the Austrian Nationals with 62 competitors in 5 classes from Nitra in Slovakia, the Belgium Nationals from St Hubert with 35 in 2 classes, the UK Club class Nationals in combination with the Regionals with 79 pilots in 2 classes and the Swiss Nationals with 38 in 3 classes.
Also the Slovakian GP [ 18 m.]  started yesterday in Prievidza, with 16 pilots amongst them, Gilles Navas from France, Sebastian Kawa from Poland, and Roman Mracek from Czech Rep. Their first day was cancelled!
Mostly ASG 29’s flying!

Will keep you updated!

And as I just read on FB in winter Oscar is still able to fly from ground to 14.000 with 5 m./s. from Potchefstroom. Not bad.
AND,….a 1.609 km ridge flight in a PIK 20 is perfect. First soft ridge than strong , also good thermals up to 6500 plus and wave , Brian Collins, the pilot in the USA flying from Ridge  Soaring, did not use the wave but as he mentioned.—“Completed 1250 km with 3 TP’s then added on another 2 legs of distance.”
The day before he flew 1.254 km in much more difficult weather circumstances.
A few more pilots did fly over 1000 and the 1.404 in the Janus CFG is perfect as well, also from Ridge Soaring.

Sorry quite some problems with my internet explorer program. Write now in word and copy and paste. No pictures today, too many problems.

CU next Wednesday cheers Ritz        on Sunday May 26 2013 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com      www.glidinginternational.com

 

The Pentecote- weekend was weatherwise not too good here. Only Sunday was OK and that only for a few hours ! The “poor” pilots flying a long weekend in Belgium, this time for the Kiewit Cup, had 2 cancelled days but the one in the middle was reasonable.
41 Competitors in 3 classes and in club the 5 pilots had to fly 96.1 km. 3 Of them finished.
In the sports class 8 pilots and 7 finished amongst them longtime friends as Eddy de Coninck [ Pegase 627 points] and Emiel de Wachter [LS 8 588]
In the sport class X,  several soaring-friends, I counted 11 from 25! It was good to see that sons are “beating “dad’s , meaning, the young ones in Belgium are doing well!

The winner of the Cup in Club class Neil Deijgers.

Young Belgium blogger Niel Deijgers won the day in the Libelle [601 points] followed by Dennis Huybreckx [ Discus] who was with 563 points just ahead of dad Eddy.[ 551–LS 8]
Cousin Jeroen [Jennen—547 p.  LS 7 ] was on spot 4 and Tijl Schmelzer was on 6 [ 519 in Discus 2A] , dad Bert sr. on 11 [441 in Ventus 2CT/18m]. A total of 18 finished flying 159 km..
And,…Bert Schmelzer jr. won the lottery [as he calls it] , flying during his first flight in the Alps [ he lives in Zurich-Switzerland] straight away a declared 1000 km. OUT and RETURN , as mentioned in my last blog.
A lot of these pilots will fly in St Hubert during the Belgium Nationals next week.

The Uppsala Masters continued and were also struggling with the weather as Baldrick , who crews for Antti told us on FB;
—“Finally we have just started on an 1.30 AAT having fell back from a 3.30 task at the start of the day. Its nice and sunny but even the snifter had to take 4 launches before he could stay airborne.—“

Great picture from Peder Lindbom as shared on FB.

What did  day 2 bring them?
It  brought victory and 587 points for Ronny Lindell [195 km. in 1.36]  in the Discus 2T and 530 points for Göran Ax in the ASH 31 MI,[199 km. in 1.30 on the dot!]  his 2d win in a row!
All pilots finished!

 

Börje Erikksson , who did a lot of PR for the Masters and runs the show at the moment. Walking around in sommer clothes is IMPOSSIBLE at the moment in Holland! Picture as shared by Magnus Schön on FB.

Day 3 was cancelled………. WHY???? OF COURSE,…..BAD weather!
From Eskilstuna I remember some very good photographers. I noticed a few are flying the MASTERS, as Fritz Schweikart and Tonny Olsson .

 

                                       Tony Olsson and ……….Fritz Schweikart;  pictures from the 2006 WGC dvd.

Glider FC , a JS 1 21 m was flown by Killian Wallbrou in the St Aubain area and Sven Olivier was so kind to share some pictures on FB  .Brilliant pictures!

 

  

As shared by Sven Olivier. Published by; Page officielle de l’Equipe de France de Planeur et lieu de partage privilégié avec les supporters des bleus. Retrouvez les infos des équipes sur http://www.equipedefranceffvv.fr/

Talking about France, the Grand Prix in France [Rennes Saint-Sulpice]  started on May 18 with 15 pilots amongst them Jutta Sturm and  Didier Hauss , who won day 1 and many other well known pilots from France, the UK,  Germany  , Italy and Slovenia.
Good to see that  SEE YOU [ NAVITER.com] co-owner Erazem was not working on new ideas , but flying !
Task length on day 1 was; 200 km.  with 4 finishers! Didier had the most; 5!
Unfortunately the days after,  it was grey and wet[, where not???] , and pilots looked at pictures , as p.e.  shown by Tilo from the GP in Chile and Laurent Aboulin with a slide show from Uvalde.

As shared on their site; Laurent talking about Uvalde. Pilots listening in “winter-“clothes.

There is a link to a 2.20 [time]  video by Philippe de Pechy  introducing all pilots on www.vimeo.com  called  FAI SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX FRANCE 2013 teaser. Enjoy!
It seems they expect good weather TODAY ;
message on the site;
—“Good morning. We expect an interesting competition day. Gridding runway 27. Briefing at 10:30.—“

And more news from France; In the far past ,when we visited a few years in a row the airport of Angers to fly the HUIT JOURS d’ANGERS , we had lovely parties with some of the pilots, I remember Bernard Belay,  from ROMORANTIN.
Never forget the onion soup full of onions, [of course] BUT   even fuller of white wine. They added a few bottles, but the pan was BIG!!!!
Some “lost” a few hours after that night. I love soupe , but did n’t eat too much of it , still could not stop laughing!
At this stage there is a competition at Romorantin, the military base for soaring pilots in France. A few Dutch pilots fly as well and of course Gerard Lherm, who we met in those years in the 70thies as well, but as far as I remember he was not part of “drinking” the onion soupe.
Around 47 pilots from different countries in Europe are participating amongst them Amelie Audier, Gill Spreckley and Celine Gantie. 9 In open, 21 in Club class and 18 in 15m/21m.

Day 1 on Monday May 20 was cancelled. I guess I don’t have to tell you this spring except for a few great days was louzy with too much rain in the end , too dry in the beginning and TOO cold!!! Let the SUMMER begin, only 10 days to go!!!!

A nice picture from a finish on the one and only good day during the Dutch Nationals. There were not that many finishes but this one from Peter Millenaar is good one.

Peter Millenaar, finish at Terlet Courtesy Boris Broere.

 To finish my deepest sympathy for all people killed by the tornado in Oklahoma.I HATE wind and don’t even want to imagine how scared those kids were at school and those people who could n’t go anywhere. Very sad!

Cheers Ritz on Wednesday May 22 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com      www.glidinginternational.com

IT’S ALL  ABOUT THE WEATHER;
CANCELLATION OF DAYS ,
BUT ALSO 1.750 km.
THAT’S SOARING!!!!

I left you with the message that in Holland,  the Wednesday,  would have a GO or NO go for flying ,at 13.30. And,.. when you really try to make it a valid competition with 4 days you have to try everything within safety rules. That happened look at this and compliments to the organisers. The message arrived and was;
runway  22R, box will close at 14.30.Briefing at the field , tasks at yellow car at 14.45.
That sounded pretty good and I believed it straight away,  as here in Alphen  the weather at 2 was reasonable, after tough rain showers in the night and morning.

About 30 k. N. from us about the same weather as we had! As shared by Jeroen Beeke on FB.

If we were, as fore-casted , to have the dry weather in the W. first , the E. maybe would have another window to fly in later.
Club got 106 km. Combi  km.  117.3 km and 18 m./open  zero [0]  km.
First launch at 15.00!

What happened???
They cancelled open class/18m. BUT,….the other 2 classes had a go! Pilots in club class started  just after 5,  like we saw at Hahnweide, no problem, when the skies are good and the expectation that they stay good for atleast an hour is there!
You know that NOT every pilot will finish but when a few do , the organisation is “correct”in their decision.
3 Pilots in Club made it back and I guess they did n’t worry about the 70 points they received for the day!!! Frank [ St. Cirrus] won and took revanche on himself, when he outlanded as the only pilot in his class the flying day before. GOOD on him; speed 73 km./h. Junior World champion Tim Kuijpers [LS 4] was on spot 2 [speed 75.2 km./h] and Hinse Osinga [Pegase]  , a member from a Dutch soaring family, was on spot 3. [ speed 73.4 km./h] The rest , applauded the finishers as they did choose NOT to fly. After 3 days the result was a TOTAL of 794 points for Stefan Telkamp, 723 for former European champion Rene de Dreu and 705 for JWGC champion Tim Kuijpers.

In the combi class who else then Steven Raimond would make it home with a speed of 50.3 km./h . He got 102 points!?! Together with 2 other pilots , Peter Millenaar [Discus 2A and a  speed of 50.2km./h] with 104 points  and Peter Batenburg in the ARCUS , 115 points [ 63.5 km./h. 115 points] he finished. This was also the TOP -3- overall result till than; 660 for Steven, 655 for Peter M. and 595 for Peter B.

Thursday; cancelled. Rain, forecast for thunderstorms in the E. and gusty wind. No weather to fly, not even at 5.

Friday last day; a valid competition in club class with a CHAMPION was still possible. Combi class had 3 days of flying but one with NO points[unvalid day] , so there will be a winner in this class, as well as in open/18m.
Briefing was postponed till 12.
And then,…the message …..video [The Sun ship Game] at 3 with free beer sponsored by Glider Pilot Shop.
So that was that!
The Dutch Nationals were over with ONE good day and 2 marginal days.A pity!!! NO Champions this year but WINNERS, but, last years winners continue their title for a year and guess what , they were this years winners; Stefan Telkamp, Steven Raimond and Ronald Termaat.Congratulations!

Jeroen Verkuijl finish! Picture courtesy Willem Den Baars.

  

NO words needed. The difference between the first day of the Dutch Nationals and the last day!!! Courtesy Frank Hiemstra!

The Danish pilots had NO day on Wednesday [ cancelled again]  , but were most probably still enjoying their , till that time  ONE AND ONLY,  soaringday! Arne shared again some pictures on FB [from  Luise Bruen] , which is really nice of him !!!!

 

 

Arne ready to go on flyingday 1 [day6!] and Peter having fun.

BUT….there was a day 2 ,….like in Holland. Being brave as a CD, you have to take the weather as it comes, but you should  use every window possible! As long as it is not a real lottery and as long as you can send pilots on track in a safe way!
So day 2 showed 3 times a 2 hour AAT. ……. Ole Arndt won the day , being the only one flying OVER 100 km. [112] BUT,..it was no valid day, so 0 points for doing a good job!
In Standard Class also one just over 100 [100.4] for Jan Andersen. ZERO points!
In 15 m. NOBODY over 100 km.
In 18m. Per Giskov flying the Ventus 2CT, flew a remarkable 158 km. , but also 0 points, though Henrik flew 132 km. not enough over 100- km -pilots, to make it a valid day.but good soaring from a few , no doubt about that!
Also in the 2 seater class one pilot in a Duo Discus T with 108 km.
As Arne said : “Defeat …..and out comes the turbo – after nearly 3 hours on task and only 83km! but want fun and excitement. Alas only two made it past the meagre 100km so the day was invalidated.”

AND,…..they had a valid 2d day yesterday WITH points over a 2 hour AAT!!!!!! 468 in club class for the best pilot,546 in standard, 583 in 15 m .,  499 in the 18 m. class and for  the 2 seaters, 600.
TODAY is the last day , maybe day 3, let’s hope, wait and see!

From Denmark to Sweden is not so far. Yesterday the Uppsala Masters started at Sundbro Airfield, with a lot of well known pilots! Specially Börje did a lot of PR  on FB to get a lot of pilots there, mentioning everybody individually after they applied. Compliments for the way he did that,… full of enthusiasm!
Officially this was the invitation;
—“We kindly invite all glider pilots and their support teams to the international competition – SM Masters the Swedish nationals in Open and racing classes. Contest is open for all nationalities. The Racing class is a mixed class where all gliders with index from 107 to  114 can take part. Water ballast is allowed.  We will use DAeC index  list.–”

50 Pilots have entered amongst them young Aku Jaakkola and “a tad older ” ,…Antti Lehto from Finland. Also some pilots I met during WGC’s as Torbjörn Hagnander , Göran Ax  and Ake Pettersson. Looking forward to these MASTERS!

Day 1, after 2 practise days [ 1 cancelled] , yesterday was day 1 and also in Sweden the weather was not top. BUT ,..they flew and good old Göran Ax won the day and only saw one other pilot finish; 154.5 km in 2 .18 giving him 233 points. In racing class one finisher , not enough to make it a valid day.

While we were suffering from bad weather the SE of Germany , Poland and Switzerland had temperatures  in the 30thies on Wednesday and the Alps created TOP weather and a FÖHN wind.
15 Over 1000 flights, mostly in the Alps! The one in the Quintus by Mathias Schunk is just SUPERB!!! The first 50 flights on page 1 from the OLC that day are all OVER 500 km. except for one; 498 in the Duo Discus. Not bad!
Then there is THURSDAY; Again Mathias Schunk in the Quintus, this time 1.750 km. !!!!!!!!!! He tried and set a task to fly a European record but unfortunately the 3d TP was in rain. Still a European record for a free flight in so to see great wave/föhn conditions. Not bad! Topping the OLC- list with nearly 1000 km. more than the 2d pilot on the list with 855 km. More news about this longest flight-ever,  in Europe from Mathias on www.soaringcafe.com written in a good and interesting article by Helge Zembold.
And yesterday looked like a Bitterwasser- day on the OLC, but  now in Europe.
Bert jr. from Belgium was one of the pilots flying from Hausen an Albis a declared 1000 in the Discus 2; ” Declared Out-and-return of 1.000 km.  What a fantastic day !!”
18 over 1000 km. flights. One from France in the STEMME with Klaus Ohlman, 1.530 km.;  the rest from Switzerland , Germany and Austria. Look for all those great flights at the OLC site.

CU,  cheers Ritz
on May 19 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com     www.glidinginternational.com

On  Thursday  May 9, one day before the Dutch Nationals started, pilots flew nearly 700 km in an LS 8 and Ventus 2 here in Holland as well as 543 in a St. Cirrus , though Bart did not make it home ,…but still. The weather -gods presented after that day , typically Dutch- Nationals -weather .
Also this beginning of the week with ” low’s”  around us was unstable ,  with a NW stream bringing on top of that cold temperatures.From tomorrow onwards it will be warmer, good for those who suffer in their tent during the nights at Terlet, but it also looks like the rest of the week will be WET!

 

Small camping for organisers behind the briefing hangar!

Monday was a day with …..yes,  a window or ….no,  no window. With a second briefing at 12, posponed to 13.00 and still hope for a “window” , but in the end the day was cancelled. The “window” here arrived at 6 PM.
Nice pictures on FB that day from Frans Guise from the really good BBQ we attended on Saturday night with about 80 other friends, as you can see! Great night!

 

Inspection by CD Natasja first , than dishing out, with Ans, Bas and Inge. Pictures courtesy Frans Guise!

Yesterday was another window-day. Still only ONE valid day for the combi class and to make it a valid competition for them they need 3 more days. Last day is Friday , so a bit of pressure is on, but nothing is impossible, as we all know. And,…you can’t say they did n’t try!
Open class was cancelled , club and combi had to go for a 1.30 AAT .
At 3,  I got the “a bit-sad-sounding-massage”; the day is cancelled for all classes. A pity!
A bit of a dark morning as well there at Terlet, as there was for some time a power failure, so no coffee or tea, no internet ,no light ,no “nothing”, but that gets the best out of some.

They had coffee and cake!

From TODAY it should be better weather, as is warmer……. but more RAIN, clearing in the afternoon from W to E! No tasks yet , SMS message with a YES or No at 13.30!!!

Last Sunday was Paradise for wave and ridge pilots in the USA .
What about 1.412 km. in an 18 m. ASW 28 with 152 km./h ?????
The flight was from Ridge Soaring.
And 1.335 km. from Knoxville in a Discus 2 is pretty good too!
—“No problem thermaling upwind, ran the ridges and thermaled the few gaps to get to the Tazewell, VA. area”–
It sounds too easy but this is a sentence from the story from Linwood Stevenson, who described his 1.335 km. flight on the SOARINGCAFE-site. He flew and declared 1.263 km.!!! Interesting story to read!

A total of 7 over-1000km. flights ,from them  5 over 1.100 km. Over 1000 k in a junior [SZD 55] or Janus C  are remarkable as well, even in ” steady ridge”.
Baudouin Litt had a good one again too; in the LS 8 he flew from Mid Atlantic 1.153 km.!!! His comment; — “No water and one gear door opened for the whole flight (hence the noise marks on the barograph, LBL does not have an engine)! Probably my last big flight before I return to Belgium definitively. Very nice day!” — A bit of a milestone flight for Baudouin , is n’t it?

So Sunday was for some a good day for gliding, also in Italy [955 km.] and France [867km. ] and even  in nearly-winter-time in Australia Allan Barnes flew 562 km. —“Great day, max height 7000ft, great cus all day, just fabulous for this time of year. Another 500km added to my collection _ I’m trying to do one in each month of the year!–” Wow, a great resolution!! “Only ”  434 flights that day , guess not every dad was allowed to leave on Mother’s Day. Never saw , by the way, so many people walking at the station with flowers to go to MUM. Good day for flower business and the railways.

FINALLY,…after 5 cancelled days the organisers could set a task during the 2013 Danish Nationals at Arnborg,  where 58 pilots in 5 classes had to be VERY patient!!! But patience was rewarded with good tasks on flying day 1,…FINALLY!
Club class had 234 km and Felipe Cvitanich won in the ASW 20 the first 915 points of this comps. The class counts 16 pilotys and had one outlanding. Ole was 10th.
Standard class with 7 participants was a prey for Jan Andersen flying the LS 8 291.7 km. in 3.09 , during the set 3 hour AAT.Don’t know if this is the Jan Andersen , lways flying at WGC’s in open class, if yes it seems …..he is still good! Nice family too. One outlanding .
15 M. Class had a 3 hour AAT as well and the 15 pilots in this class all finished. Amongst them Stig Öye at spot 3 and Ib Wienberg on spot 8.

 
Stig in the middle , rigging the glider with some friends and ready to go as shared by Arne.

18 M. class with 12 pilots had a 3 hour AAT too and Peter Eriksen [ASG 29]  , flying 341.5 km in 3.05 won the 1000 points, chased by Arne Böye Möller in the Ventus 2CT;951 points. Henrik Breidhal  [ASH 26E] was on spot 6 with 880 points.
Double-seaters were part as wel flying 234.5 km. and the Duo Fiscus without a turbo from Thomas Leander , [all other 7 gliders in this class have a T behind it ] won the day and the 810 points.
Hope the organisers will be allowed by the weather gods to give them some more good days.
No tasks for today set YET.

 

Uvalde as seen by Anita Taylor in Uvalde ;Bruce and Arne.
Also Uvalde ; Wonderful Danish ladies, wife , sister and daughter from Arne!!!

It’s getting boring, BUT,..the weather was not too good in Belgium either for the pilots who wanted to fly for the Kempen Cup. A competition flown over a few weekends at different Belgium  airfields, this time Weelde.
From 4 days only ONE day could be used. Junior competitor Jeroen Jennen prepared well for Leszno and won the day over 274 km. in his LS 4,  ahead of  his cousin,  Tim who was runner up.
Jeroen is trying to find a glider for the Belgian Nationals; Any ideas????
—” currently looking for an LS8 or d2 (no turbo) to fly the Belgian Nationals (25th mai until 02 june) for a reasonable price.”—
38 Competitors in this class and 59 in total over 3 classes!

 Weelde Airport in Belgium. Courtesy Jeroen Jennen via FB.

You remember maybe that I wrote about the ZES lustrum I visited. During the Nationals,  the ZES presented a flyer with another item of their 50-year-celebrations; A FLY IN somewhere in a paddock. This paddock will be changed for ONE day into a soaring field and everybody can fly in. There will be a BBQ, a bon-fire, facilities to camp for one night, a party with booze and music, with other words a real UNIQUE celebration! This summer-camp- day  will be on June 22 , and when this day is a “non-day”, it will be on June 29 2013. It is special and only for Dutch pilots. More news on www.zweefvliegen.nu and all guests,  who always wanted to taste the hospitality and atmosphere of a student aeroclub can do so on June 22. I know,…it is GREAT fun!!!! Never forget our camps in the past, great fun!!!!!Only 45 pilots are allowed at this unique event and after a wild party and a short night there will be NO launch facilities so abe aware of that. You can read it ALL on their site under weilanddag.

Another playful event in this 50 year celebration is flying a task in the shape of the 6 between May 11 and June 22 in the middle of Holland. All flights will be on the OLC and there are prizes to be win for the most special 6-shape-flights. Prizes will be presented on the PADDOCK- day on June 22. The TP’s are on the site to be down loaded and the flight can be part of a cross country or just the 6. You have to be a student or a former student, to think about such nice events.

Cu next Sunday cheers Ritz
on Wednesday May 15 2013

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

Sorry , no last updates yesterday evening as it was late before I arrived home after a great BBQ and talking too much with lot’s of friends at the Dutch Nationals.

  

With Brutus {Peter} and Bas and Frits in the bar.

Here they still hope to fly till Friday , last day! This morning, is grey and wet! Briefing was at 10.30.

 

Hans explains the weather and warm dressed pilots and crew.

For those who missed the daily news since Friday , you can just scroll down to read it.

It’s 3 PM now and I arrived home after an easy trip by train, no rain and typical Dutch skies, low grey clouds , bleu spots and a bit of sun.

 

Grey low clouds with blue sunny spots on the way N. from Terlet.

On my mobile I also got the message from the NK team, that straight after the 12 0’clock briefing , gliders had to be in the box [13.15] as the first launch would be at 13.30 and,..the QNH was 1013. Combi and open class have to fly 116 km. and the club class pilots got a B task with 104 km.

  Ready to go! Courtesy Ben and Frank Hiemstra via FB.

To have a real valid NATIONAL competition here , 4 days are necessary !

And ,…YES there were finishers today. All club class pilots made it home except for one , glider 74.
In open/18 m. 10 from 21 , amongst them Ronald Termaat and Jelmer Wassenaar.
In the combi class it looks like everybody has outlanded. More on Wednesday!!!
For all results from today  and next week , you can look at www.soaringspot.com or at the NK site ; www.nkzweefvliegen.nl and look for “uitslagen”  and klick on live scoring. A very nice rotating system.

HAHNWEIDE; The champions are known, the aspergus eaten and the party is over now. Unfortunately for those who wanted to get more points out of the last day, it was not happening as the day had to be cancelled. So the results are easy. 15 m. had 5 days and the winner is Tim Englert in the Ventus a AX, with 3119 points. Standard class had 4 days and the winner there was Joachim Hörsch in the Discus 2A;2608 points. 18 m. had 4 days and 4 from 5 UK pilots in the top! Winner Francis Derren in the Ventus 2 cxaj with 2859 points just ahead of Russell Cheetham in the JS 1 , as the difference in points was only 20 points. Open class winner is after 4 days Alexander Späth just ahead of Killian Walbrou; 2753 and 2739 points both flying the Nimbus 4 and 4 T. In the double seaters 4 days and 2 ARCUS T gliders on top; 2456 and 2360.

France; 18 m and Female National Comps at Buno; After 6 days of soaring Jutta Sturm  in the Ventus 2a[2863 points] won the female nationals and in 18 m. Christophe Cousseau in the JS 1 was the champion [4388] ! On the last day the number 2 overall dropped to spot 3 due to an outlanding and the daily winner from Belgium Yves Jeanmotte climbed to  spot 2 but as he flew HC, Louis Bouderlique was on the silver spot just before the bronse winner Alain. Congratulations to all, specially the 2 champions!!!

 

18 m. champion via FB [AAVE] and the top female pilots, Jutta, Amelie and Magali.

This week, Frank Versteeg will be at Terlet to sell his book “Niet voor piloten ” a MUST for pilots.
All revenues for this book will go to the foundation KIKA. So who still NOT has the book,…..but will be at Terlet this week,……. can buy it there,……it is only 39.95 and shows even videos from earlier NK comps and has over 100 QR codes with videos.
The exact date will be announced on FB and in the shoutbox  www.nkzweefvliegen.nl .
Frank send me a nice picture today as well from the far past.

 

 

In todays soaringcafe blog later more news about glider tracking.

 

Jens, Frank and Jip from Glider tracking.

Cheers Ritz on Sunday May 12 2013 from the POSTILLION HOTEL. It was again a pleasure to stay here.

10 AM;
The meteo forecast from TV for today here  is not splendid, even pretty bad , but there should be always hope! A bad morning with bad wind gusts is what they think , but ,… maybe better in the afternoon. Let’s wait and see.
Briefing at 10.30 ,…gliders in the box when asked for but not yet and ….weather from Hans, he might bring “joy”!
In the evening the BBQ is on, so at least some people will stay instead of going home.
NO JOY, unfortunately……no weather to fly,…DAY 3 CANCELLED at TERLET!

As you can see Hans wears his rain outfit and in ORANGE!!!!!!!

In France [Buno] it was yesterday not much better with a cancelled day for the ladies  flying the Nationals,BUT,….atleast they had 5 days till now.
Only ONE 1000 points-day, however, a 3 hour AAT won by Amelie with 287 km. in 3.01,50 and the first day had kilometers but NO points.
After 5 days Jutta  leads the ladies with 2554 points. Amelie is the runner up with 2487 points.
Today a task from 114 km. is set.
In 18 m. the 1000 points on day 4 were for Christophe Cousseau in the JS 1. He leads the class with 3924 points. Alain is on spot 2 and Gilles on 3.
Today on the last day for both classes 202 km. for the 18 m. class.

Picture from the UK ASG 29e  from Graham Smith
as shared on FB by the AAVE.

The Hahnweide day was a bit better yesterday. THEY FLEW! At least in the 3 classes which got a task. The “window” to fly in was small but OK. Typically UK weather and 2 UK boys won the 1.30 AAT -day in 15 m. class!
In the open class Alexander Späth lost some points as he finished on spot 11 .[1.30 AAT] but he is still on spot 1 overall.
In the 2 seater class Ludwig and Holger flew best again starting at 5 PM and racing over 153 km. in 1.37! But,….when I was having fun, they out landed at day 4 and lost more than 500 points. So,..they won 2 days but are “only ” on spot 8 with only today to go!
LAST day today and they seem to go for it, though showers are forecasted as well and nothing has changed at the field  looking at it as “mud”.
Gliders in 18 m. and standard class are ready to start at 12!
Later more , will be updated!

The Danish 3013 Nationals in 5 classes have only had 2 cancelled days! So lousy weather there too.

Fatraglide 2013  was nearly the Lubor Kuvik-show. In the combi class he won 3 out of 4 days in the 18 m. ASG 29E. He tops the list with more than 300 points on the runner up and with that he is the CHAMPION!
2 Days in the club class with a 2.30 AAT and a 251 racing task and a winner in an ASW 15 and a local runner up in a St. Cirrus.
Agnete ended in her Libelle on spot 5!
Not the weather they hoped for at Martin Airfield but the annual- final-goulash-dinner and the good beers and great wines tasted as good!

The Swedish Qualifying Grand Prix is not doing too bad with hopefully day SEVEN 7 today; task 227.3 km . What a pity only 5 pilots “perform” in this GP.
Gintautas is still with 22 points on the top , but Uli is climbing up the list quickly and has 18 points now!

After the BBQ I will update those who not follow it directly tonight with news from Hahnweide. Now  for a walk with the umbrella and a few pictures from the birthday I visited.

  
The first 2 girls to the r. are highschool friends the other 3 are friends from “kindergarten” when we were 4 years old!

 

 

Terlet.
WELCOME at the CAE Dutch National Championships 2013!
Till Sunday I will spend time with friends at Terlet, staying overnight in the warm-well-coming Postillion Hotel , thanks to a special arrangement between the organisers from the NK and the hotel.
It will be no live story as it is difficult to write at the airfield [very slow!] but from the hotel room it is my pleasure to keep you informed.
Still have some problems with both my blogs , but “help” will be organised!
“Our”  webmaster Ben , who knows [nearly] everything , has had a look already, made a diagnose and new eyes will look later.

Ben, great web master, great guy!

It ‘s not the best weather for day 2,club class is already cancelled   and the other classes are rigging their gliders now! The expected wind today is 15 to 20 kts. gusting to 33!!!!
But day 1 was a good one. I spend that day at Malden and the pilots there had a great day with , as I heard lift at it’s best up to 4 m., but average 2/  2,5.
It’s only 30 km through the air between Malden [S. from]  and Terlet.

 

Terras at Malden yesterday ,……………….. plus the nice clouds!

The pilots at Terlet , I just heard , had up to 4 m. as well. They launched the bunch of 48 pilots  in 3 classes just in an hour, with 4 Pawnees with very experienced pilots.
The participants at Terlet had tasks from over 200 km. in open and combi class and just under in club class.
Winner in club [ 16 pilots] with 520 points was Stefan Telkamp, [ASW 19] with a speed of 102 km./h over 184.2 km.
In the combi class [ 11] Steven Raimond, who needs no introduction , won the day in his ASW 27, with 117 km./h. over 221.6 km.;558 points.

Steven Raimond by Frans Guise!

In open/18m. [21] Ronald Termaat , no introduction necessary either, won the day in his brand new JS1, which arrived in Holland by ship just a few days earlier .
132.2 km./h. over 219.5 km. is not bad and gave him  464 points!!!

The middle one is XT from Ronald!
Many happy and safe flights in it Ronald!!!!

The first day from the Dutch Nationals is a fact! Now we all hope for good weather, which is , as I heard not a set fact.

Some impressions by Frans Guise from day 1.

 

 

 

 

Jelmer before the start on day 1. Courtsey Frans Guise.

The first launches would be at 13.30, but before also the combi class was cancelled!
Also the open class pilots could de-rig again as they could stay at the ground with hot cafe or tea as well.
Day 2 was cancelled in all classes!

What do you do when you not fly?

 

Trying to throw over a pile of blocks throwing a little plane!!!!

What happened more since I left home!?
They still fly the Qualifying GP in Sweden and only one day was cancelled till now. Today , day 6  , a small task from 149 km.6 .
Gintautas has 20 points , Gunnar 16 and Uli 14, for the rest it will be difficult!

Hahnweide; 18 m. and standard class are cancelled today. The rest had a task and with optimism they hope to start at 3.15 and even hope for scores!
Hopefully the 5th day for 15m.  class today, 4 days till now for standard and 18 m. and 3 days for the open and 2 seater pilots with hope for them for a day today!

 

Different weather circumstances in Hahnweide as well.
Pictures courtesy Hahnweide FB site!

Off to the Thermiekbel for dinner ,  a drink and a “few” words.
Ritz , CU tomorrow.

Finally a real nice weekend for pilots in most parts of Europe, Japan and the USA. The weekend-off was definitely NOT  a weekend-off for glider pilots.
On Saturday 1468 flights were added on the OLC and on Sunday even more; 2381  amongst them 24/24 from Japan and 121/170 from Holland, which is rather special.
Germany enjoyed the great spring weather with a 500 triangle [extended to 596 km.]  in an LS 3a and lot’s of flights over 600 km. up to 950 in the Nimbus 4M.
In Italy Giorgio [Galetto] flew from Bolzano 708 km.
The USA had on Saturday a 671 km. [625 triangle!] by Danny Sorensen in the Discus. And …Austria the just over 1000 km I mentioned last Sunday from Rainer Chronjäger.
Luxembourg with Guy Bechtold ; 804 km. and 990! He past  S. from Holland .
The 2 Belgium young Libelle pilots Neil and Bert with nearly 700 km!!!! Comment from blogger Neil; “Great flight with Bert! Good weather with strong thermals. The return from Hogeveen to Terlet was in an other airmass with a lot of moist. To finish a looooong final glide love it !”

The message on FB from Swaantje Geyer on her way back home from Klix said it all. She was one of the pilots flying with poor weather circumstances in  KLIX and before she was already unlucky with the weather in Nitra, but what can you do!?
A pity as we had great weather in Holland and the N. of Germany was good as well, but a bit more S. it was n’t .
—“After having waited over a week for flyable weather and getting 2 days with marginal distances and 2 outlandings of course I would love driving home unter a 750km sky !!!!!!!!!”
It was for sure better for Thomas Pflug, who flew the LS 7 WL during the KLIX comps to a nice 4th overall-place during their 2-days-comps. BETTER as in, …..flying home from Klix to Boberg, direction NW a great goal flight from 407 km.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2948666

Hahnweide; THE place for one of the oldest comps in the world. Close to the Schempp-Hirth business at the airfield of Kircheim Teck, this competition has started with as tasksetter Marc Puskeiler  on May 3 and continues till May 11.
Day 1 was cancelled in all 5 classes , BUT 2 was a nice one with in the 2 seater class 17 from 24 finishing the task of 352 km. Winners on day 1 Ludwig Starkl from Austria “combined” with Holger Karow from Germany  in the ARCUS E. In this class one DG500/20 m., one Janus b and one c , 8 ARCUS gliders type E,T and M and the rest flies the DUO  DISCUS in the variety “normal” , T, XLT and X.

BIG names in open class with as winner of day 1 young Alexander Späth in the NIMBUS 4, followed by French also still young Killian Walbrou in the NIMBUS 4T and the Belgian , mixed -in -age- couple , Arnaud and Pierre de Broqueville in the EB 28 Edition.
21 Pilots in this class some I remember from YEARS ago as Uli Knauss and Cornelius Voloschuk .

In 18 m. 39 [also international] pilots and 33 finished on soaring day 1. In this class the Belgium brothers Bert jr. and Tijl Schmelzer [spot 6 and 10 for the day] , members from another real Belgium soaring family and there are more , lot’s I do not even know, but of course  the Stouffs family and the Litt family are amongst them. Mark Holden who won day 1 , Steve Jones and Russell Cheetham from the UK, are at the Hahnweide as well.

Hahnweide after day 1, making Bert jr say;” More of this please”

In 15 m. class with 11 participants day 1 was THE day for the UK pilots they topped the class with Timothy Scott, Phil Jones and Matthew Cook, flying the 384.6 km with over 100 km./h.

In standard class 25 pilots and I told you about the Huybreckx family from Belgium, Dennis finished as number 4 in this class on day 1.

Day 2 , yesterday; before the rain dropped all pilots were back home. Smaller tasks and different winners in each class except for open class where Alexander Späth has his 2d day- win.No too much points to gain and not too much to loose, that is in short day 2.

Today [Tuesday] the 15 , 18 m.  and standard class will fly only and before start the gliders  will be lined up on the taxi way before starting from runway 25, as the grass is still wet from the rain.
You can follow the results on the next link, as I will be gone for a few days. Pretty straight forward results , as always on Hahnweide.

http://www.wettbewerb.wolf-hirth.de/wertung.php

FATRAGLIDE started on May 4 with 52 competitors in 2 classes. In the combi class day 1 only had ONE finisher Lubor Kuvik [648 points] flying the AAT from 2.30 in 3.04 over 249 km.!!!! All other pilots outlanded.
On day 2 , a task was set from 211 km. and this time Lubor was on spot 6 . He flies the ASG 29 e/18m.
In club class 24 from 30 pilots finished their AAT of time 2.30 on day 2 as day 1 was cancelled for this class . Best result; in ASW 15 a time of  2.31 over 197 km. Agnete Olsen from Denmark was on spot 14 for the day flying the Libelle!

  

Pictures I got last year!

 In Arnborg in Denmark some friends are participating in the Danish Pre-DM 2013, and one of them won day 1 ; Arne Boye Möller with a speed of 116.km. over 243 km. 23 Pilots , amongst them Stig Oye, Peter Eriksen , Ole Arndt and Ib Wienberg fly in one mixed handicapped class.
On day 2 they enjoyed the nice weather as well with a 3 hour AAT. Winner of the day; Mogens with 319 km. in 2 .57 in the 15 m. Ventus 2 CT.

The Female French Champions 2013 are on this week as well with 13 ladies and parallel with these comps the 18 m. class is flying in Buno their National Competition as well, with 24 participants, 6 HC as they are from Belgium or the UK.
They can win but of course not be  the French Champion!
In this class 11 ASG 29 gliders, 7x Ventus, 3 x 18m version of LS 6 , 1 JS 1, 1 ASH 31mi and 1 ASW 27.
After 3 days Gilles Navas topped the list with 16 points difference on runner up at this stage, Alain Mazalerat.
THE LADIES had 3 days of soaring as well; Jutta Sturm won day 3 and is at this stage with 1565 points leading the groupe in the Ventus 2A. But ,…only 37 points ahead of Sabine Dieulin in Discus 2A. On day 1 all ladies visited the cows meaning all had to make an outlanding.
In 18 m. 8 pilots went “au vache” that day.
Today [Tuesday] the ladies and the 18 m. pilots have to fly a 3 hour AAT.

 

Jutta Sturm was one of the “day-1-outlanders” in her Juliette Charlie!

 I told you already that Japan has like Holland a good spring. Did the pilots fly in 2010 in April 4 times and in the total month of May 32 times, it now looks like a big month of May with already 88 flights between May 1 and 5!!!! Thanks to the OLC a bit of research learns;
in 2011 54 flights in May [ whole month] and in April 43.
In 2012 ; 67 in April and 44 in May[whole month again]
This year April had 66 flights from the different soaring fields in Japan and I am looking forward to the end of May to see the result than. I still have a nice picture from some of our guests in the Sportavia picture. Some still fly , some are too old and only look at gliders now.

Ken the tallest is still flying and loves old timers [and I am not referring to his mates on the picture, though I know he likes them very much]  even has a few , Hiroko does n’t fly that frequent anymore ,Junzo and Yoghi only “look” at gliders now. Lot’s of young pilots fly of course as well and I noticed the Japan Soaring Club members at Itakura have an ARCUS T . Not bad!!!

 

CAE DUTCH NATIONALS Competition Director Natasja on one of the Pawnees. Opening briefing on Wednesday May 8 at 8PM. after the practise day.

CU in a couple of days, till then. It looks we get the showers from Hahnweide this afternoon.

Cheers Ritz     On May 7 2013 , so one day earlier ,as on  Tuesday afternoon I travel to the East of Holland for a 65th birthday party on Wednesday , a day of Leisure on Thursday and 3 days at Terlet on Friday ,Saturday and Sunday.If possible you can follow me there at the spot, that is if the weather will be OK! They , the meteo changes all the time from opinion!

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

The Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix  started yesterday [May 4]  in Langtora in Sweden and after a few mostly cancelled practise days due to the weather they continue till May 11. Host is the Stockholm Soaring Club and the CD is well known pilot Ake Pettersson. 20 Pilots were allowed,  only 5 showed up / had time,  amongst them Uli Schwenk from Germany and Gintas Zube from Lithuania.  On the picture below from Ake Pettersson you see cloudstreets about 200 km. N. of Langtora during an over 1000 km flight in the past. And the airfield of Langtora seen from the N.W. in the middle of the picture. They were able to  fly on day 1 and 3 from 5 finished after the task from 116.6 km. The 4 points were for Gunnar Karlsson. A day with also 780 penalty points for one of the pilots.

Day 2, today, has no task yet but you might be able to find it later in the day on www.soaringspot.com

 

  

 

 Klikx, had problems with the weather! A stable front line from about 3000 km from Spain to Russia, seems according to the meteo , the wrong-doer! And Klix is right under this line. Not the first competition this year suffering from weather,  but patience and optimism are good things. Not for all as some left earlier, but,…they missed the last day  as in each class tasks were set between 180 and 280 km. to the pleasure of all who were still there. With 2 day’s in all 5 classes and 3 days in 2 classes [club and 18 m. /open] unfortunately not a lot of flying was possible. On that last day also 33 outlandings. 15 Pilots made it home. That was Klix this year, as they say and I do believe so, statistic seen,  it can only be better next year.

According to meteo-consult this spring here is till now the coldest in 35 years ; instead of an average of 8 dgr. it is only 5. Guess the only people happy with this cool, dry and clear weather are the glider pilots. Certainly those of Holland the N. of Belgium and N. of Germany.
After one less good day on Thursday we were back in great conditions again on Friday. And HOW, with 7 over 400 km. flights up to 646 km.Special! The Gelderse ,last years leading club in the OLC stats,  added with one flight 688.98 points to their total till now , a  flight in the Nimbus 4DT,  from Bas and Etienne; 682 km. [550 triangle ] topping the first- of -May– list.
A total of 44 flights that day and 10 by the Gelderse. It brings them to spot 23, still a way to go back to spot 1 . Bitterwasser , with their excellent past season, will remain on top for a while.
Saturday when I woke up it was blue but around 10 the first good-looking cu’s were a fact.
706 km. was just[not] possible in the Nimbus 4DM, but a great flight from Ronald Termaat and Etienne Dillen  all the way to the Lünenburgerheide in Germany. Coming back the speed was damped  due to overcast but using the” help in the back”, they made it nicely home.
By the way a great  flight in Austria by Rainer Cronjäger ;1.065 in the ASH 31 /21 m. from Feldkirchen.

In Belgium Neil Deijgers and Jeroen Jennen are preparing themselves VERY good for the JWGC in Poland. Neil flew 440 in the St. Libelle and Jeroen flew over 500 km. on May 1, a great beginning  of May, with to start with,  difficult circumstances due to lots of [spring ]- turbulence,  but later it was smoother he mentioned.
He flew this time the LS 8 of  uncle Eddy [Huybreckx ,] member of one of the well known Belgium soaring families. Jeroen is related to Eddy as his sister Chrisje,  is Jeroen’s mum. There you go, it stays in the family . No secret why Jeroen flies so well at this young age; he was brought up on the airfield of Keiheuvel and flew already with family and friends as a toddler. He also visited lot’s of comps when members of the family were flying. To complete the story ,…Dennis, son from Eddy and Tim son from Marc Huybreckx , who is a brother from Eddy, …..are you still with me?…..and only a bit older than Jeroen ,are both good pilots as well.

 

Jeroen and Neil preparing hard for the JWGC in Leszno. Neil flew 440 in the St. Libelle on May 1 , as more pilots , he “complained”  about the turbulence as well.

The Teuge- 2 -day-competition –organisers here in Holland, will clap their hands with this weather. It is flown in 3 classes and the winner will have a special prize; a flight in the Extra 300 with aerobatic pilot Ewald Polinder, one of the sponsors, WITH  camera’s IN the cockpit! Tasks from yesterday are on the picture below, shared by the boys from glider tracking. You can follow the pilots today on live.glidertracking.com .
The “boys ” , Frank Hiemstra, Jip van Akker and Jens Bouma, will be on Terlet during the nationals so from Friday onwards you can follow the comps as well.  www.glidertracking.com

Day 1 at Teuge was won in club class by Sander Luimes flying the 272 km. in 3 hours 15 in the LS 4.
In the mixed class Siem Troost won the day preliminary in the LS 8 .

The PRE WORLD ‘s in Leszno started with a few cancelled days but on May 1 pilots finally could go up in the air. … BUT only JUST; a 1.30 AAT was set and Thomas Gostner won the day in 15 m. class in the 15 m. Ventus 2AX. Total daily points for the winner ;159, BUT they flew!!! In open /18 m. same task but more points for the 2 Czech winners in the ASG 29; 432 [Peter Tichy] and 417.[Tomas Rendla.] Zbigniew was on spot 3 for the day with ONE point less than Tomas.
They “squeezed”  a day 2 out; a 3 hour AAT and with 327 km.in 3.06 and LAK 19 pilot Tomasz Krok  won the 1000 points in 15 m.
In the mixed class Zbigniew, was the best flying 335 km in 3 .02!!!

In Japan Takeshi is still on a mission! One day he will fly in his Discus b T, the 750 he really would like to fly in wave in Japan. He will succeed,..this time another 706 km. Yesterday Nagano, Itakura and  Sekyado were active even with a 500 k in the duo discus. Good to see that!

He was last week at the AERO in Friedrichshafen,…. on May 1 he flew back from a DEMO in the Zillertal in Austria in his Micro Jet. He announced a technical problem and an emergency landing at Innsbruck Airport. He could not reach it anymore. His attempt ended in tragedy in a paddock . Guido Gehrmann only 38 years old, died. He was a member of the Flying Bulls Team and he  was world champion hang gliding in 1998 and participated in several top comps and several World Games. “Guido was respected for many years with the Flying Bulls not only as an excellent pilot but also for his wonderful personality” I read on their site. Sad very sad for his family and many friends. He will be greatly missed…RIP. I found a picture on internet, Guido on  the cover of the Cross Country Magazine in 1998 and I share it with you as a tribute.

 

    I told you about the 10 F 16 planes one orange in the middle as final -touch- FLY- BY on our Queens day. Found a 1.35 video put on by Bart [Konings] on FB .  Unique !!! Look at the FB site from the royal airforce; Koninklijke luchtmacht. Here is one picture they added on their FB.

 

As shared on FB by the Royal Airforce.

Last but not least, I received the May-June issue of Gliding International yesterday and was impressed with the pictures and story about Gavin Wills and “his” OMARAMA; The Wills dynasty written by veteran journalist Rod Dew. 21 Pages in total of stories and spectacular pictures of Marty Taylor in the back of the Duo Discus flown by 27 year old French Gabriel Briffe, an instructor from St. Auban. A “must-see and must-read”!! Further on articles about
—-the AOS 71 a new side by side 2 seater from Poland
—-an evaluation of the ANTARES ELECTRIC, by Aldo Cernezzi
— Ross [Macintyre ] reports on the IGC meeting in Holland
—-Lot’s of world aviation news
—The Detroit Tuskegee Airmen Glider club and much more.

  That’s it for now, My next week will be full and busy so be patient as I do not know myself whenever I have time. From May 9 I will be at Terlet to cover 3 days of soaring during the Dutch Nationals. A lot of comps started yesterday ,   try to keep keep an eye on them.

In soaringcafe today an exclusive story about Kathrin Wötzel, glider pilot and artist!

Cheers Ritz on Sunday May 5 ,the day we celebrate our FREEDOM. Yesterday we remembered all the people who died for this freedom.

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