Hope your Christmas days were as good and wonderful as mine!
On several sites I noticed happy overseas pilots, on well set tables full of good food.
AND,…some good flights!

Christmas day still had 48 flights worldwide!
Best was the one from Jim Payne from Nahuel Nuapi where he and a mate flew 1.550 km. They waited a few days for a new ” wave”  of wave and they were rewarded with a Christmas-special in the DG 1001 M.
Their day started blue, then;  ” the middle legs were a lot of fun as we had some very well marked wave. The lift was not strong and the sink was not bad.”
Also a lower cloud base as expected was part of this flight. Their full story can be read on the OLC site on December 25, as a comment on their flight. Quite interesting!

Same day, other airfield, this time Douglas Backhouse in South Africa and more fun as 2 Czech pilots got their Christmas present in the ” form”  of a FIRST 1000 km. [ 988 FAI] in the Duo Discus. Congratulations to Petr and Ivan.

After 3 days of heavy rain in soaring mecca Bitterwasser, some pilots still managed to fly 904 in the EB 28 over nearly green fields! Glad to see Bert de Wijs back in a glider after a nasty fall from the stairs last year!
Also former CD from the WGC in Bayreuth Walter Eisele enjoyed a 900 km. flight from Bitterwasser in the Ventus 2CM.
A bit later also Michael [Sommer] and Roland [Wurbs] both flying with us in the past  enjoy Namibian soaring, they fly from Pokweni; 1.170 km.

BOXINGDAY showed over 90 flights and again it was a South American country, Chile, from Chile Chico,  topping the OLC list . Another good flight from Jean Marc Perrin in the 15 m. DG 808, this time his 4th over 1000 km.; 1.383 km.

From Tocumwal, Terry Ryan flew over 3 days, 3 over 700 km flights [826k, 891k and 747 k]  in his ASH 26E, being the best pilot on OLC in Australia on those days.Anton from Austria flew in the LS 4 till now 11 times, with 2 flights OVER 700 km. Indeed in an LS 4!
From Lake Keepit a nice flight from Jenny [Ganderton] in the Mosquito; 724 km.[703 FAI.. trying a set 750, but strong wind and last light forced her to change and fly home]
From Benalla a good flight by Graham [Garlick] in the ASW 20; 744 k., nearly an out and return up North past Temora. And a 750[650 FAI]  in a 17 m. Kestrel from Benalla , by Charles Day is worthwhile mentioning as well.

Talking about good flights in ” basic” gliders I have to mention the nearly 1000 km flight from Adam Woolley and Dutters in a dry cirrus and Libelle again, both starting and finishing together and in between they ” did” everything together as well, flying wing-to-wing for more then 9 hours. A pity it did not work out well as the day finished just a bit too early and days flying a 1000 in a dry cirrus and Libelle are not that often available.

Adam added : “ was a one day in 5 yrs sort of weather for the cirrus/open libelle to do that sort of flight. Light winds, high bases, only 8 kts around too. Just a fast, consistent day. James & I naturally were able to speed up by flying in a team sense, just wish he could be my team mate in FIN next year! We’re best mates, work well together, & our different styles compliment each other. Two more climbs, we would’ve completed the triangle – soo much fun! We’ll try again next year after the pre-JWGC.”
Adam shared some pictures a couple of day’ s ago, from this “day in heaven” on December 18 from Narromine and after that he traveled for 1850 km. to Waikirie to fly the Nationals there.

 

   

The skies on the 18th and ” Dutters”  in his Libelle.
Courtesy Adam Woolley.

The South Australian State Comps have started last Friday at Gawler with 14 competitors in 2 classes and the first day was a difficult one, but all was good practice for the Nationals in Waikirie in January.
50 % From the participants in each of the classes made it home on day 1.
Matthew [Scutter] had a less good day with an outlanding but better now then during the Nationals and good old Terry Cubley won in open class.
In club class Claire, Matthew’s sister finished after 235.7 km. as number 3!
Day 2 was cancelled.
Today they flew in both classes a 3 hour AAT, but all scores are not yet in.

The KIWI Multi class Nationals have started in Matamata and will continue into next year;January 9 in 2014.
15 m. Class counts 22 participants and 8 in 18 m. class and you can see all the scores on    www.soaringspot.com
There will be good coverage by Mike Strathern on facebook as well.
Some other information at
http://msc.gliding.co.nz/2013-national-gliding-championships/
No scores till now!

A SUPERFAST flight on Friday the 27th by Sven Olivier from Worcester in South Africa.
NO TURNING on a pre-frontal day !!!
So 172 km./h.over 784 km.
That’s being on the right time on the right spot!
And the flight from Jonathan Cross in the ASW 20 from 800 km. that same day is not bad either!

And yesterday it was Argentina again topping the OLC list, with a great wave- flight this time by Jean Marie Clement and Pierre Alain Desmeules in the NIMBUS 4 DM; 1.549,50.It’s a different way of soaring; waiting, sometimes days/weeks, till the wave is there and then,…go,go,go!

Looking so in the end of the year at the “best”  OLC pilot , it’s between Jim Payne flying the Andes in Argentina in the DG 1001M  and Reinhard Schramme flying from Namibia/Bitterwasser,  as runner up in the ARCUS.
The speed OLC shows at this stage Reinhard Schramme on top and Bostjan Pristavec on a good 2d place. Great to see Mac [Ichikawa, soon back in Australia to fly] ] on a 4th place.
I know that those pilots have time and money to spend their overseas soaring on the best places in the world and I realize that not everybody is so lucky, but it still  remains great to follow them.

Wishing you ALL a lovely time during the last days of 2013 and with you I hope for a happy, healthy and safe 2014.
Will be back on Wednesday January 1 2014 with a few more words. Till then.
Cheers Ritz
On Sunday December 29 2013.

The year 2013 is nearly over. Here some sunset’s as seen by friends.

  

Sunset in Africa as seen by Bart and sunset in Australia as seen by Tammy.

Last finishes from this nice-to-follow-competition from Welkom.
via FB [SoaringSociety of South Africa]

They were just back in time to celebrate Christmas at home,  the Dutch and Danish pilots participating in the South African National Competition . Just before leaving back to the rain and grey skies here in Holland and a nasty storm [again!!! number 3 and number 4 seems to ” arrive” this Friday] Ronald wrote a short resume, which I like to share as it shows why comps are so precious:
“After a great competition we are on our way back to the cold, but also to the family. We had the best weather with speeds up to 167 km/h average. We had blue, clouds, thunderstorms, wave and 250km. of convergence. But most of all we had a very good time with old and new friends!”
That’s the essence of soaring in a few words!!! 

The ” waiting”  for another worthwhile-to-go-up-day in Chile for Jean Marc was rewarded with a nice flight from 1.594 km. with 120 km. /h. AGAIN in a 15 m. version DG 808! CERTAINLY NOT TOO BAD!

Soaring continues if it is Christmas or not! I remember from my Sportavia -days that most of our staff wanted to have the day off ON Christmas day, so it was always George [towing and paddock retrieves when necessary]  and Brutus [ office] , Ingo [CFI] and I working on that day and our young staff-guests  helping at the field to bring the gliders out and later in for our guests. In between they could  swim in the pool , making ” bombs” and lots of happy noise, while listening to the radio.
Their evenings were mostly spend on the river with a cool fresh beer on the white river banks.
—-One Christmas was superb with one of the pilots flying a 1.250, great Christmas present, followed up with bubbles.
—-One of the other things I never forget was the roman catholic service in the night from 24 to 25 in 1986/87 in Tocumwal, with about 30 pilots from all different nationalities , preparing for the WGC in Benalla. We were all sitting outside as the church was too small for their normal guests and those “colourful cool overseas dudes” and it was still in the high 20thies.
Friends who are not among us anymore as Tapio Savolainen and Leonardo Brigliadori, were part of it.
Not long and Benalla will have another WGC , looking forward to that.
—-Another story I never forget and I mentioned it before is the ” angel coming from heaven”.
One of our female German guests, a gorgeous lady, blond long hair and because she was small, always walking on high heels even flying with them, started for a 300. Her husband had the day off. Till late we did not hear from her and no contact was possible how hard we tried. We asked still flying pilots, to contact her from the air.
” No,this could NOT happen, certainly not on Christmas- eve -day”  went through our heads when we were preparing for the dinner with a lot of international guests.Of course the office was manned and after we all got very nervous from the husband, who seemed more worried about the Christmas Eve  dinners he had paid for, than his ” missing”  wife, there finally was the phone call.
She had out- landed pretty far away as we heard from the farmer ,  but ” no worries, an angel has come from heaven “. Their normal, I guess maybe  boring Christmas night was lightened up with this gorgeous lady, tired of course after putting her glider NOT close to a farm as learned in briefing,  but far enough to NEVER EVER make that mistake again. The farmer said he could not believe his eyes , driving his tractor home to celebrate Christmas and ” finding” along the road in the middle of nowhere this blond angel on high heels walking over the scrub.
No stiletto’s  of course but pretty high cork between the flat and highest part.
On the tractor she went with him to the farm where she got a place for the night and a roast with different people then she had thought.A lovely experience as we heard the next day.
The husband was less amused, as he did not believe  the glider could be back before briefing ready for him to fly after.Later he cheered up, must have showed his worries this way and had a good soaring day, coming back home in the evening.

Off to Amsterdam to celebrate Christmas with my family. See you next Sunday and enjoy CHRISTMAS to the fullest!Also my “poor”  friends in Canada and huge parts of the USA who are sitting in  freezing cold weather a lot even without electricity and some of the mates in Italy, France and the UK ” hurt”  and hit hard again by the storm and the rain with flooding.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
from
Ritz

On Wednesday December 25 2013.

A pity you can’t see the flash light IN the glider, ” constructed”  by my grand daughter Indya.

 

Merry Christmas as shared by Arne from Welkom.

What a great soaring time it is with nice high temperatures and fabulous soaring.
It’s hard work for the pilots, as every day nearly is a good one.
They need a holiday later to ” recover”. But the soaring-adrenaline will keep them going.

Just 10 seconds after he touched down from his longest flight EVER , I could give ” Thumps up”  for Matthew then not knowing what he did.I was writing my blog and it popped up.
And then ,….a bit later there is the message on FB and I share it with you:

“https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=3441817

“Earliest start I’ve ever seen at Gawler. Had an 1150km declared but solid walls of rain over unlandable terrain prevented me rounding both the northern and southern turnpoints so I improvised a little .
Beautiful streets heading north, but pretty disjointed the rest of the flight. A few convergences on the outflow of rainshowers made crossing some fairly ordinary patches much nicer.
Other pilots still flying an hour and a half later, so I think this confirms my theory that a Standard Class 1500km flight is possible from Gawler. Regrettably I’m moving to Sydney early next year.”

Luckily Narromine is not too far from Sydney and GOOD ON YOU MATTHEW….still from Gawler  this time…..;
1250 in a Discus 2 A with 142 km./h!!! It was his 2d 1000 for the season.

All my Toc -mates are having a ball.On the ground it is a bit hot, but the guests fly long distances as on Friday when Terry flew in his ASH 26 E 826 km [787 km. FAI km.]
Finnish mate, Hannu who flies the ” old” LS 6 , already stationed in Toc as long as I know and  flown as well by Jari and Kari, had a  topflight with 656 km. as his best till now.
Kari send me these pictures from ” above” 2 years ago when the Nationals were in Toc.
And last Friday Lisa who flew as 1 of the 3 girls the WGC in Uvalde, flew from Tocumwal in her LS 8 a great 1000 km. on not even, as she called it, a good day. But ,…she did it.Good on her!

   

Tocumwal from above by Kari.

WELKOM.

The pilots in WELKOM finished their soaring holiday/” work -in-the-office ”  ,as some call it and the CHAMPIONS are known!!
After day 6 was cancelled they ” squeezed”  another day 6 out on the next day, with in all classes a 2 hour AAT. Not everybody is good in that some love  the ” just- racing- as -fast- as -possible- mentality”.
The day turned out much better then thought and forecasted and a speed on such a day of 155 km. /h. by Danish pilot Anders Andersen over the set max 310 km. was just GOOD!!!
As Ronald mentioned; ” Start was not so promising. After the rain , it was much better and we averaged fast enough to fly ALL distance within 2 hours.After crossing a big blue hole I climbed over 1600 m. with average 5!!!!!”

 

 

Soaring in beautiful South Africa as shared by Arne.

 

And,..the cancelled day 6.
With picture 4 from this picture- blog Arne mentioned:
” Heading the 250km straight back from around Stella at 17.000′ in shorts and sandals was a little bit cold but heck! It was worth every second!
What a way to celebrate the 110th year anniversary of the Wright Brother’s first flight!” 

They got a day 7 as well with 2.30 AAT tasks this time and again pretty good weather. The toppers stayed on the safe site with their points, though it was a VERY expensive day for John and Pieter.
In open/18m. Oscar made it a fast day with 139 km./h. over 356 km. for that reason not winning 1000 but ” only” 826 points.Due to the lost points by Pieter and John, Ronald Termaat ” jumped up ”  from an overall spot 7 after day 6 to a nice 3d position after day 7.That day he was 4th and only lost 39 points on daily winner Oscar
Good to see Maneste won the day in 15 m. class in the Speed Astir 2 and another lady Annemiek was 2d in the club class, so enough girl-power that day.

Friday was a difficult day 8, another” squeezer”.
2.30 AAT’s were set and Annemiek still has a small lead so it was waiting what the last day would bring her, at least she finished 3 others did n’t.
A different daily winner in 15 m. not Wayne , who was runner up, but Rene Coetzee won in the ASW 20a. With one day to go Wayne was 300 points ahead on Rene.
In 18/open John Coutts was the best with 370 km. in 2.29;147.2 km./h.

And the last day number 9 had another set of 2 hour AAT’s for each class, on which you could loose or win depending on the circumstances.For some more was lost than won.Always that terrible last day, but it is part of the comps!
Oscar lost his first place [ after 5 days proud occupying it, ]to Uys  the new CHAMPION in 18 m. /Open.
Oscar , who lost more than 200 points on day 9’s winner,Klaus Kalmbach from Germany in Nimbus 3 24.5m.,  is the runner up missing out on 11 points on Uys.
Ronald had a good bronze spot!

The Jonkers team, with Uys upfront and Attie and Johan

No secret Wayne is in 15 m. the CHAMPION.With more than 300 points on Rene he is a clear winner. Well known pilot Sven [Olivier] is third.
In club class more hurray’s for Dutch pilots; Annemiek JUST did not win, but being runner is GREAT STUFF!
Champion is Edvard [SLO] but as he is not from South Africa , I presume he is the winner and the CHAMPION will be Jean Du Plessis. Correct me when I am wrong.

  

Ronald and Annemiek.
Courtesy VLIEGEN IN HOLLAND via FB
[ https://www.facebook.com/VliegenInNederland

Compliments and congratulations to the winners in each class.

In between ALL guests in Namibia and other places in South Africa enjoy the weather to the fullest.
Only on the 19th;2 x over 1.300k.  from Bitterwasser plus 2x a 1000 , 4x 1000 from Kiripotib, 3x from Pokweni, 3 x 1000 km. flights from Gariep Dam.
Earlier my friends in Kuruman had 1000 km. flights, it does n’t stop and….it should NOT stop, not yet. Summer just started yesterday,…grrr…. winter here , but it is with 10 dgr. NOT too bad!

And from Argentina another great flight by Jim and Dennis;1.606 km. with 112 km/h   but there is sometimes somebody bigger; look at the OLC  for yesterdays 1.900 flight in 15 m. version DG 808 from Chile by Jean Marc Perrin!!!!!!!This well known Swiss pilot flew with a speed 151 km./h.

AND, also worth mentioning a flight from Lake Keepit in the St. Cirrus by hang glider pilot Attila Bertok; 739 km [586 km. FAI].  Got to know Attila in Tocumwal I guess in 2004, when he learned to fly gliders with us. Those hang glider pilots learn it in 4 or 5 lessons. Nice fellow! And…as you see now he still enjoys soaring too.

And not too forget the flight from 2 Dutch juniors and an ” old”  junior  and current JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION, Peter Millenaar, flying 620 km. ridge/wave over the Porta Westfalica area in Germany, rather late in the season but still working good, with his remark on OLC ;
” What a great day! Wave up to FL100. It should have been possible to go even higher.”
15 Pilots added from Porta their flights on the OLC. Busy enough weekend for Dutch, Belgian { Bert Van Eyken with 500 km in the St . Libelle}  and German pilots.

And last but not least a link I received to a video about PR for FLIGHT DECK BUSINESS AND SERVICES.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDzyUqhTvIU&feature=em-share_video_user

Wishing you a MERRY CHRISTMAS , where ever you are in this world.Will be back with an update  on Christmas day.
Cu then. Cheers Ritz
On Sunday December 22, celebrating MY Christmas with the family tomorrow.

Picture courtesy Maria Boetcher.

Thanks for all the reactions on my birthday and also for mentioning that it is good to see my blogs back on line. You are all great mates!!!!
Feel very blessed, privileged,  but also humble, with so many kind good wishes.
Glad my laptop works again, so I could read my timeline on the day itself.
Had a wonderful weekend full of presents , joy , laughter and good ” booze” , the in-crowd knows what I mean with that.

Back to work,  as things are happening!

WELKOM in SOUTH AFRICA with pictures from Arne and Ronald as shared on FB.

  

The airport WELKOM and the Gold Mines

 day 4 in club class was a difficult one for Konrad , as he only “got”  44 points for 28.8 km, whilst the other 6 finished after 310 km. It could be even worse as 1 pilot unfortunately landed already after 11 km. in the KA 6E.
Annemiek is still on spot 1 after 4 days of flying with 433 points ahead on the runner up.
Too good for words!!!! Go go Annemiek, as it is not over yet!
In 15 m. Wayne [Schmidt]  added a new set of 1000 points as he was the best pilot over the 445 set kilometers.
In 18 m./open Oscar was again the daily winner and is JUST ONE point behind Peter Nouwens who was runner up for the day with 554 km. They flew both over 140 km. /ph, so did Laurens who was 3d.

 

The 3 Dutchies! Ronald and Annemiek and Maurits and Annemiek.

Day 5 had a 243 km. task for Club, an AST task from 315 km. for 15 m. and the ” big/fast boys had to go for 434 km.
And they did!John won the day with 147 km./h. and only needs 44 points to pass Oscar to the overall-top.
But Oscar did well too, finishing on spot 6 for the day but only loosing only 35 points on John.
In 15 m. Wayne Schmidt is clearly the best, winning EVERY day and Annemiek is still on spot 1 overall but lost a few points over the last days. The marge is getting smaller , as Edvard from Croatia is on her heels , but she can do it.

 

 The Boye Moellers, sorry have not find the umlaut yet!

 

Day 6 had tasks from 236.8 km, 348.6 and 428.1 km. but was cancelled and today, the new day 6, they all got a 3 hour AAT.

On my birthday, the 16th a few 1000 km. flights were flown in Australia, from Cunderdin [WA] a 1000 FAI triangle in ASG 29 by Swain Johnson, his 2d in a week and from Narromine  a declared 1000 in an 18m. LS 10. That’s number 4 in Narromine in 3 days.Good on both!!!

Nice message from the Australian Soaring Center in Corowa for Swain:
” Well done Swain!!! 
FA (Frank Alissa the names from the 2 kids from Francesco and Grietje] ) used to be our 29. We are happy Swain is enjoying the glider!” 

Talking about Corowa , they had a few nearly 1000 km. flights and Tocumwal over 800 km. Noticed that not only Anton but also Andrea is back flying in Tocumwal, both friends from Austria fly there already for AGES!!!! And always have fun.
Heard by phone from my Toc friends that temperatures are going up to the low 40thies this week, might mean more 1000 km. flights this time for Toc. and Corowa as well, as they are only about 80 km. to the East from Toc..
There were days that the weather was good on the 16th and pilots promised me a 1000 as present, which they flew! Not everybody gets such a present, is it???
Yesterday was hot and good again and Anton flew in the LS 4 737 km. and today a 736 km task!!! Not bad in such a glider! The weather ” makes”  it all possible!

 

Adam tried from Narromine to fly a declared 1000 k , yesterday,  flew 917 km. [FAI triangle 873] but as he mentioned;

 ” Declared 1000km FAI in the Dry Cirrus with Dutters in his H301.

Got off to a good start, though the day didn’t get going until 2.5hrs after start. Sadly the trough line stopped at Hilston, the next ~200km was running in the blue. Naturally this slowed down progress, Dutters and I deciding to re-declare in flight – Temora, home for FAI 865.

Flew together for the whole day, a very enjoyable experience – especially the final glide area.

Just need the right day, and a 1000 in the dry cirrus is a done deal.”

Good luck boys, should be possible indeed on THE day!

Adam and Dutters as shared on FB.

AND  JUNIOR Ailsa flew a 1000 from Narromine [LS 8]  but was beaten by last light to finish at the airport, what a pity. As her proud club members mentioned;
” You may have noticed already but our junior member Ailsa McMillan has just flown 1,000 km from Narromine a few days after placing 4th (third Australian) at Joey Glide. Ailsa was prevented from completing the triangle only due to last light approaching. She showed great airmanship by landing at a safe aerodrome before dark”
Of course I noticed and was more than pleased for her and of course sad that she was beaten by lasdt light .BUT we will hear more from her as she is a nice young lady and has the right mentality to get far.

Ailsa here having fun in Poland during the JWGC.

From Jo I received a nice video-link to the juniors- comps in Narromine, a look, certainly when you are young and going to the JWGC in 2015!

http://au.prime7.yahoo.com/n3/news/a/-/national/20355909/australian-gliding-titles-at-narromine-video/

Got a nice link as well, from Frauke from the USA. She “glued”  82 pictures to a nice story about Chilhowee, where the Oktoberfest was a while ago. As you know Chilhowee is the airfield ” from”  Sarah and Jason.
Enjoy and thanks Frauke for sharing!
http://www.photoshow.com/watch/FM3DU4Fa

Got the flu!!!!! Hope it does n’t take too long. Off to the doctor now!
Cheers Ritz

SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONALS at WELKOM

Picture courtesy Arne, via FB.

After rain and hail, there is sunshine!
The practice day fell in the ”  SA water”  ,but the rest from the week was supposed to be  good , according to one of our Dutch top-pilots, Ronald who flew with Annemiek and Maurits to SA to fly these nationals with 32 other pilots. WELKOM at WELKOM!

  

Pictures as shared by Maurits on FB. Thanks for sharing!

On Thursday the organizers set tasks in each of the 3 classes;
a 3 hour AAT for club,
259.5 km. for the 15 m. pilots
and 339 km. for open and 18 m. participants.
From 17 gliders in open/18 m. there are 13 from JONKER SAILPLANES in 3 configurations.

For Annemiek it means after Australia, another great part of the world to fly over. What SUPER experiences for her after driving as a car-pilot, the solar race in a winning team in Australia as well. Guess 2013 is HER year!

  

Annemiek in Australia and ” hidden”  in the CIRRUS in Africa with Ronald as BIG help!
Pictures as shared via FB the last one by Arne.

Annemiek straight away showed she had practiced and won day 1  and 2 in the Club class and the 2 other Dutch pilots did not bad either; 2 and 3 in open/18 m. on day 1.
Good to see Pieter Nouwens, won day 1 in that class and was faster than the rest of the toppers with 137 km./h. over 340 km. Maurits and Ronald had 131 km./h. on their ” clocks”!
In 15 m. the Schmidt family had a good day …Wayne won and Maneste his wife was the runner up. Good on them.

Day 3 was a prey for John Coutts , from New Zealand, but living already for a longer time in Africa. The Goudriaans were runner’s up and the speed in this class was excellent; 161 km./h for John in a ” standard ” JS 1and 166 km./h. for the ” brothers” in their fancy c-types with 21 m. span, over 525.5 km. distance.
In 15 m. Mr. Schmidt flew his ASW 20 over 409 km. with a speed of  121 km./h. winning day 3 whilst Mrs.  Schmidt settled in the SPEED ASTIR 2, for the day on spot 6.
In club class over 292 km. Annemiek lost 70 points by being 3d. Edvard Kristo [ St. Jantar] from Croatia won the day. Interesting to see, that the runner up, Konrad Stark in the ASW 15, started more than an hour later!

Today the club flies 310 km., 15 m. goes for 445 and the open/18.m pilots for 554 km.
Ronald was correct, the weather improved!!!

JOEY GLIDE from NARROMINE in Australia!

It’s nice to read that young ones see/compare each other like we all do,  as less good, good and a topper.Nick and Alex from New Zealand flew one day, the last legs with Matthew and mentioned; ”  It was interesting to see how the really good guys fly.”
Matthew won the 3d day over 328 km. as well, with ” the Kiwi-friends ”  Alex as runner up and Nick on spot 6.

They all continued with another 300 k day[just!]  , 33 up to 35 dgr. on the ground and as I ” taste” from far good humored young ones!No Matthew on spot 1 that day [4]  but still runner up!
His JWGC mate Eric [ASW 28] won the day with 127 km./h. whilst he had 121 km./h.

“ Last day joey glide.
4hr AAT Max distance 680km.
Expecting a big day with CU’s to at least 1000ft and a chance of storms.
Finally a good strong day with clouds!
A few guys have headed off on 1000km flights” as mentioned by Alex and Nick in their Gliding Adventures.
They had 5 days of good soaring and on the last day , the young ones had to go for a 4 hour AAT. Eric won again with 488 km. in time 3.59.
Aussie JUNIOR CHAMPION 2013/2014 is Matthew Scutter, good on him, congratulations!!!
Kiwi- Alex was runner up, excellent and the other 2 Australian  participants from the last JWGC in Poland , Eric and Ailsa, were on spot 3 and 4 whilst the other Kiwi-mate Nick was on 5.
Matthew’s sister Claire did well in her LS 4 finishing on spot 14 overall,compliments,  whilst the well known Maddock brothers were on spot 8 and 9.

 

The Maddocks brothers and Matthew in January of this year at the Multi Class Nationals in Benalla.

On the OLC , Bitterwasser topped with several 1000 km. flights the list as usual. After some wet days , on which Narromine,  Gariep Dam , Chos Malal and Pokweni, took over the OLC -spot 1, the great BITTERWASSER weather is back for the guests and with that,  the top places.As last Friday , when the EB flew over 1.281 km.[1036 FAI triangle]
Great to see Alberto {Sironi} flying from Bitterwasser as well; His enthusiastic comment:
GRANDE AFRICA!
3 italian record
distance FAI declared task: 1014 km
speed 1000 km FAI: 134,07 km/h
free distance FAI: 1.015,6
Good on him!

My friends flying from Kuruman had a great day too with 1000 km. distances!
On December 14[yesterday] indeed some pilots indeed flew a 1000 from Narromine but also from Western Australia, where Norm Block , who flew many Nationals in the past, raced his ASW 24 over an FAI 1000- triangle with 116 km./h. Great effort!
The Narromine- thousands were from 2 Czech guests,  one even mentioned it was his first 1000. Congratulations.

Busy busy, guests, upcoming birthday etc., so see you next Wednesday with more news!
Cheers Ritz
On Sunday December 15, the day Nelson Mandela was buried. A great, charismatic and inspiring man, left this world.RIP!

Just checking if this system works as nothing seems to be the same anymore.

To write a good blog ,I read/check/do research,about  what’s happening in our soaring world and share that , my way, with you.
With loosing all favourites I have to dig them up again , which might take some time, as REALLY EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT!!! So I have to find myself a new rythm .

Yesterday I had help for a full day and I see ” light on the blog-horizon” .
Our long-time-house friend Theo even found more than 5000 pictures back on the extern disc so we might find more!!

Let’s start again!!!

For sure you kept an eye yourself on ” things happening in our soaring world”.
I quickly checked the OLC and was impressed with a few days:
December 2 had only 88 flights but what a great  flight from Jim and Morgan, from over 7000 m. MSL, but also ” only” 1927 m. MSL , over a distance of 1972 km. with a speed of  144 km./h. A day with wave and blue conditions but fun for the Perlan Project team in their DG 1001 M.

December 5 was another interesting day with so many 1000 km flights from the 3 places-to-go too in Namibia , you nearly got lost. Reinhard added the so maniest 1000 to his already impressive list from this year.
My friend Daan , flying the Arcus M with his mate Henk, had a great time in Pokweni flying several 1000 km’s and NO flight under 700 km. That’s why you go ” overseas”.

Looking at Australia today,it’s  great to see many familiar faces in Corowa [ Rudy, Stener, Max, Anders , Peter, Pepe and more] and Tocumwal, [ Anton  from Austria, Hannu from Finland, Stephan from Germany] , as well as Stonefield and Benalla.

The Aussie juniors fly their JOEY GLIDE and the 2 young enthusiastic New Zealand pilots , Nick and Alex, are competing again , as last year.
2 Flying days and 2 ” scrubbed’ days, to stay in their language till now and the Aussie pilots flying at the Junior worlds in Poland are doing well. Matthew won both days, Eric was 8 and 2 and young Ailsa, the girl between the boys ,twice on spot 6!
The NZ mates are on spot 2 and 8 overall after 2 days! They continue till the 14th.

 

Both pictures shared by Nick and Alex from their ADVENTURES FB site. Sorry can’t get the link to work but YES YES pictures are on!

From Western Australia , Perth, I got some news from Vanessa, which is interesting for glider pilots as well.
It’s about sea-planes, always a bit nostalgic.

“ Commercial seaplanes have been given the green light to fly twice daily, seven days a week on the Swan River.

The soon-to-be disbanded Swan River Trust has approved a 12-month trial for Catalina Airlines to land its Cessna 208 Caravan planes between the South Perth jet-ski freestyle area and Milyu Marine Park.

The seaplanes will courier up to 11 passengers at a time from Rottnest Island, Mandurah and Margaret River.” 

 

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/environment/save-our-swan/planes-to-land-on-swan-river-20131129-2ygyp.html#ixzz2n5X8jc87

In South Africa the Nationals start today with a lot of top pilots in club, 15 m. and open/18m.
Will try to follow it for you.Finish now as it took me more than an hour extra to write such a short blog, but I will get there.
Cheers Ritz
on Wednesday December 11 2013