Sorry a bit later today then normal, but I was on a 2 day trip, to the East of Holland.

finish over the lake in Finland

The regatta in Lake Keepit is on till March 1. Nice later in the season , with good weather for practice and lead and follow.
On their site Jacques Graells writes:
” Lake Keepit Soaring Club’s annual Regatta is a fun, friendly and informal cross country event to introduce pilots to cross country competition.

 The  idea is that the regatta is a mentoring event where pilot pairs are scored together around an AAT task. So we match up early cross country pilots with a seasoned pro, and they compete together as a team, either in two gliders or in a twin. Only the slowest time of the pair is scored, so it is in the interest of the more experienced pilot to coach and assist right throughout the flight. 

So coaching, team flying and mentoring are all encouraged at this event. Really, this is a great opportunity to introduce budding cross country pilots to competition type AAT flying, while not getting caught up in all the formal competition hoo-hah. It will be run in a low key and relaxed way, all the while making sure people have fun. ”

Their practice day was last Saturday with a 3 hour AAT. Toppers  among them Allan Barnes , Gary Speight, G Dale, Morgan Sandercock Andrew Georgeson and Jenny Ganderton fly with pilots who want to learn to be a better cross country pilot. A  total of 44 pilots flew this week over the beautiful Lake Keepit area and I SHOULD share AGAIN these great pictures from a finish over the lake.

The first 2 days had a 3 hour AAT in this big mixed class [44 pilots] and were won by Morgan in the Sparrow Hawk [ 232.3 km. in 2.58] and Andrew [ 385.5 km. in 3.04] in the Ventus 2CX.

Day 3 [3 hour AAT] and 4 [2.30 AAT] were won by G. Dale in the DUO DISCUS , with a co -pilot. As G said;
” Excellent fun and IE is a really good example of an original Duo.”
Have to check if that’sour old IE.

During Joey Glide over the Lake in Lake Keepit

Still very good weather in Australia and as I last said already,  Cunderdin in Western Australia,  has had great weather this year and had a Super Sunday with an 833 FAI triangle in the SZD 55 by James Cooper, extended to 853 for OLC kilometers.
Beverley , same region, enjoyed the same circumstances and the weather was good till in the South as well .

The Benalla-Tocumwal area as,  Corowa’s last container left last Monday,  remains good as well!
With flights up to over 500 and even 663 km. in ASW 27 and ASH 26E from Tocumwal on Sunday and Monday, pilots can only be happy this late in the season, as I heard the evening definitely starts earlier.

Look at this story from Joergen who flies at Toc at the moment;
“2 days ago we used the weather to declare a 500 out/return flight toward Robinvale to the NW.
After 1 hour on the task, we had achieved 135 km, so it looked promising. The next hour the speed dropped to 105 km/h, but we still had 120 km/h average speed, and on final glide we finished with 129 km/h, 10 km/h faster than the old record.
Of our records, our 100 km FAI stands out with 178 km/h, flown around Waikerie area. We used a trough line, and managed the task without a single turn. This record also surpasses the existing Open class record, set in South Africa.
Also our 760 km FAI out of Tocumwal is very memorable. We were the first to launch, got on the task at 1000 m, and headed directly for a huge dust-lift just to the north of the field. This gave us 3,2 m/sec to 2400 meters, a very good start.
We kept the curving down to 20%. The task speed was 132 km/hr. Our finish height was 800 meters above our start altitude, so we could have done a speed of 140 or more, this time we chose to go for more distance.
This flight gave 5 new Danish records.”

They love their ARCUS, though like a few more, they had some problems in the beginning.
Next year they ” go”  for the 1000 km!!!

Benalla pilot Andy Smith from the UK had over 500 km. as well in the Ventus 16.6 m. but  on Monday even 720.
AND,…also the East of Australia was good with those flights from Lake Keepit.

A great picture shared by Beverley pilot John, who just had another 500 k in the pocket in his HORNET, with a final glide starting at 10.000 ft.

Not to forget always surprising New Zealand were Finnish pilot Jyry Laukkanen flew 761 in the Discus and he called it ” A somewhat exploratory flight.”
Last Saturday he flew in the Duo Discus 816 km. from Omarama going up N and down S of the airfield.

A lot of rotor cloud for a day [Monday] that was supposed to be nearly blue. Awesome cloudscapes in the end!

High winds (in the order of 90 knots at 13,000 ft!) and steadily increasing cloud cover (7/8 in the end) made even the milk run demanding. Luckily the wave was high.

Difficult wave entry with rough rotor and dancing wave.” 

Talking about WAVE, they had good wave in Norway as well, according to Ulf Hustad on February 22;
“A great day for cross country flying in the mid-Norwegian mountain Waves.
Extra oxygen supply increases both the height of the flight and the safe range.
An awesome day in an awesome glider.” [LS8]

You might be getting sick of me talking about our speed skaters but with winning 64 % of the medals in long track speed skating , we did indeed WELL!!!!!They have been welcomed as heroes by 10 .ooo people and by the prime minister and the king and queen, one day later!
4 x A clean sweep as well in one discipline , in one Olympic Game , is excellent and happened never before.
Now I will ” shut up”  about it.But I feel extremely happy with it and with me a million or more other Dutchies.

That’s it, CU next week, still pretty quiet so not enough news to entertain you twice a week. Back in the CAFE however on Sunday!
Cheers Ritz

Last Saturday James Cooper from Cunderdin in Western Australia flew in the SZD 55 anFAI triangle from 800 km. extended to 894 km..which is fantastic so late in the season and proofing not only Narromine but also Cunderdin had a great season.
To be honest ,…the WHOLE Australian season was TOP.
Maybe not as strong as Namibia, but at least a few months longer.

A while ago Cunderdin also had a few fantastic flights and I wrote about it in my SoaringCafe blog.
One of the pilots I mentioned was Swain Johnson, you surely remember. Here is his comment and I share it with pleasure;
‘” Appreciate the mention, really has been an awesome season so far in Western Australia, and we would welcome all pilots from around the world to experience the amazing landscapes of Malley bushes and salt lakes in a truly unique landscape and unique part of the world at the Gliding club of Western Australia in Cunderdin. Most days in summer will get you a 500 k day. For those interested I have posted the first ever 1015 k FAI flight to be done by an Australian Pilot in Western Australia as seen through Youtube. That week I also achieved a 762 FAI flight at 135 kph / 515 k FAI at almost 151 kph all speed records and another 1007 km FAI flight to top off 4 days running. Awesome !…… Come to Australia and why not try the Western Side.” 

www.glidingwa.com.au

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ7G-jx1HAs

One of our German guests at Sportavia and good friend of Dieter Dundee,  was/is Ernst Ditges. He loved Australia, came back to fly a few times, took his wife  Steffie with him to live and work in Queensland . Last Australia- day Ernst “turned”  into a REAL Aussie by receiving his citizenship.
Ernst is the head -engineer at  Swift Electronics and a highly valued team member there.
One of  Ernst ” inventions ”  is the dittolog and the team is excited to announce now, that ” we  have partnered with Butterfly Avionics, to distribute Dittolog in Europe.
We will keep you posted about exciting new changes, which include a totally new pricing structure that will make dittolog affordable for all clubs.” 

Ditto log

• is a small low cost device in your aircraft
• it transmits pilot and flight details to the web
• it interfaces with your club or businesses accounting package
• dittolog saves time
• dittolog improves efficiency
• dittolog saves money

Ideal for clubs, flight schools and charter operators dittolog brings seamless flight record integration for your accounts department, and accurate flight log details for your members

 https://swiftavionics.com.au/ and

http://dittolog.com/learn-about-dittolog/what-is-ditto/

More news from Australia, as it might be ” only a fun competition” over there in Horsham,  but it has already for 48 years a very serious touch.Also the people involved are professional. One of the pilots Jarek,  has compiled some stats for the Horsham Week 2014 competition that finished on Saturday, 8/02/2014.
Here you are and he used the data from Soaringspot , thanks Jarek;
“ Kilometres Flown and Speeds are non-handicapped. Calculated for non-zero scores only.
Speeds calculated for finishers only.
Averages per pilot across all tasks.

–          Six Competition Days

–          Total Kilometres flown in all classes: 55,809.30 km

Open / 18M Class:

–          Kilometres Flown: 15,365 km

–          Max Distance Flown: 601.10 km

–          Average Distance Flown: 374.75 km

–          Max Task Speed: 166.30 km / h

–          Average Task Speed: 118.91 km /h

15M/ Standard Class:

–          Kilometres Flown: 24,536 km

–          Max Distance Flown: 565.80 km

–          Average Distance Flown: 340.77 km

–          Max Task Speed: 131.00 km / h

–          Average Task Speed: 99.82 km /h

Club Class:

–          Kilometres Flown: 19,908.30 km

–          Max Distance Flown: 421.60 km

–          Average Distance Flown: 294.59 km

–          Max Task Speed: 131.00 km / h

–          Average Task Speed: 99.90 km /h

http://www.horshamweek.org.au/

The new gliders for the Australian Air Force Cadets are on their way at least the first one! Can’t miss it!

First  ” DG” bird in the nest.
As shared by Jane and Tom Gilbert from Temora.

We have n’t had winter till now. It looks like we had a LOOOOOONG autumn, with temperatures around 8 dgr. average and lot’s of rain and already the 2d storm in 2014!
But ,…skies look good for the Dutch pilots;

At the airport of Soesterberg where they do the last jobs at the field by removing old barb wire from old fences.

clouds over Alphen as seen from my garden and in my garden some fresh flowers.

The first flight was made as well here on Sunday;152 km. and 2.5 hours of soaring by Robin Smit flown from Gilze Rijen and it could have been even longer but the other members wanted to pack up .
Good on him!
They told him he was ” mad” , when he rigged his Cirrus, but certainly for February 16 he had an excellent day.

After the cool chance again super weather for the time of the year in the South of Australia . Yesterday Benalla had flights up to over 700 nearly 800 km in ASG 29 .100 km. flown by a Finnish [Eric Heinonen] and UK guest.[ Nick Woods]
A  100 -km -no-turns- final -glide was possible.
In the last weeks of soaring  in Corowa before packing the last container Pepe flew  836 km.in his ASH 31  and from Tocumwal Finnish guest Kari flew in the LS 6WL a distance of 688 km.
At the moment there is a mountain-coaching course /camp at Mount Beauty and also their guests enjoyed the nice weather with flights up to 400 km..

Laura Sullivan with some of the participants on the Mt Beauty Club alpine flying course this week.
as shared on FB.

2 Comps just finished in New Zealand one in Drury with 20 competitors and 4 days of flying  2 less good and 2 with 3 hour 30 AAT’s . Winner Patrick Driessen in the Ventus 17.6 who was  just 50 points better then Lindsey Stevens.[ASW 27]
The other one at Waipukurau , the Central Districts with 13 participants, 2 days and 1 less good and 1 good one with a 3 hour AAT.
Graham White from Hawkes Bay  [which I visited  in the past] flew 332 km. in 3.25 in the LS 8 . Graham was 2d on day 1 so winner of this competition ,  just over 100 points ahead of Trev Terry from Taupo [visited Taupo as well] in the Duo Discus T.

When you are not interested in speed skating you can skip the rest of the blog.
Loosing with 0.0003 sec. on a 1500 m track!!!!! A night mare not only for our speed-skater Koen Verweij, but also for all his fans. The Polish skater was 0.0003 sec faster so he won, no worries, but it hurt!
A lot of Dutch people are still sitting with orange cheek, on an orange cloud.Over 4 million looked at Verweij’ s race but one day later the fans were ready again for the 1500 m of the ladies!
What a day!!! I am not a chauvinist but a real enthusiast  and seeing 3 speed skaters again on the podium and also number 4 was in orange you can only say CHAPEAU!!!
That NEVER happened before. The Dutch are writing history and our CUMULUS CLOUD, is getting bigger and bigger and higher and higher and is even noticed by lot’s of other countries and what ‘s lovely is , that they all admire the speed skaters and are not jealous or so. That’s the spirit and I can assure you this will be only once this hegemony as others will be back in 4 years.
We knew we are good in speed skating, but it looks like we are a class ahead of the rest at the moment. That should change again otherwise it will be boring for ” non-orangers” .
In the evening on Sunday, we were on spot 2 on the medal list. Unheard of!
Jorien Termors who won in a new Olympic record, is in fact a short track racer. The Dutch officials were not so pleased with a girl skating in both disciplines. On Friday she”  lost”  the 1500 m in shorttrack and was only 4th. What would she do on the 1500 m on the long[400 m.]track?? Easy she WON!!!! And took over the Vancouver-title  from Irene Wust.

As shared by Bart van Stratum.

Yesterday another clean sweep with a 1-2-3 on the 10 km. Not so good was that Russian and Norwegian speed skaters retired, did not even try.
It’s weird but “we” were all a bit sad with the line up of the medals!! Yes I know we had an orange podium again and Jorrit Bergsma had a fabulous race and deserved gold but after Vancouver where he should have won, but missed out in finishing in the wrong lane, we ALL wished the joy of gold for Sven Kramer. But as in gliding and any other sport it has to be YOUR day, all has to fall in place for you and that did n’t happen, as Sven got after 15 rounds a soar back.

Today Ted Ligety ski hero and Bode Miller  both USA and Felix Neureuther who had an accident with his car on the way to the airfield of Munich to fly to Sochi and Marcel Hirscher half Dutch with a Dutch mum from Austria.I better go to look at the 2d race of the giant slalom.
And,…sorry but we might do well in the 5000 m for ladies as well this afternoon. Great race between Irene Wust and Martina Sablikova.
Let’s wait and see. Enjoy your week and back on Sunday in the Soaring Cafe.,

Cheers Ritz
on Wednesday February 19 2014

The OLYMPICS have brought euphoria in Holland, we are ALL sitting on an ” orange cloud”!!!!
After 3 days, we were number 1 on the medal list in Sochi [ at this stage on 4]  and had won each day a gold medal!!! AND, on 2 days even 3 orange colored men on the podium; gold, silver and bronze. Unbelievable! So 6 male and 1 female speed-skater, did more than we ever dreamed of. AND,….it’s not over yet!
We expected more or less gold from Kramer and Wust ,but for sure not 3 orange training outfits on the podium for 500 m. speed skating, among them the twins Ronald [bronze] and Michel [gold] Mulder.
Since the beginning of the Olympics , “we”  have now 3 times a clean sweep with 3 Dutch athletes on the podium , once in 1998 and now 2 times in 2014.
Last time in Vancouver we had a total of 8 medals and we beat that already now!!!!!
Not bad for a small flatland country with 16 million people and only  40 athletes in Sochi, most of them speed skaters.
That’s progression!!!! A fantastic staff of old toppers take the young ones by the hand. And success leads to success and those successes attract more young skaters and  the many ice halls we have here in Holland will be crowded.They all want to be Sven or Irene or Michel.
That’s how it works!
Yesterday , on day 4, another historic day of success with a bronze medal for the by the male sprinters, very inspired  female speed skater, Margot  Boer who just lives around the corner[about 15 km. from here] ,  on the 500 m. and also that has n’t happened before. ” We are in a winning flow”!!!!!

The first clean sweep in 2014 with Jan, Sven and Jorrit and 3000 gold winner Ireen.
Pictures shared on FB by Nick and Simon 2 VERY popular singers in Holland.

Ingo and Miro cruising last Sunday at 15,000 ft in Caproni Calif A21S, VH-GUB

Is n’t it great to fly beside each other instead of behind in a GLIDER? This is soaring too!!!!
Ingo estimated they flew for just over 500 km!!!!!
He was pretty busy as last week he also made the first flight for years on our old Blanik VH GXO, which was first hidden in an hangar since 2005, then restored and inspected by good old ” master in repairs”   David Riley and now is part of the fleet of the SRGC in Tocumwal.
Wish the old work-horse many happy and safe flights and landings!
Just received some pictures from Dundee, THANKS Dieter.

And this is soaring as well. Found it on FB , as it was shared by Tony Condon from the USA and the long story finishes with;

“ I open the canopy, but do not get out. You want to sit a moment, to keep the magic and not break the spell. You are reluctant to leave this link with ecstasy, your heart and mind are filled with reverence and beauty. This is soaring.”

airfactsjournal.com

Last Monday, Narromine, venue of the next JWGC,  was the place to be for soaring, with perfect soaring weather so late in the season and Hungarian guest Gabor used that weather to fly in the DISCUS a great 750 FAI triangle,  extended to 919 OLC kilometers.
Frequent flyer in Narromine, already for years,   is Unterwoessen- pilot Hans Raschke and he flew in the DUO DISCUS a 600 FAI triangle extended to 783 km. His comment;
” Last flight of Australian season turned out the best day.”
It must have been a MAGIC day as other pilots called it; ” Best sky I have ever flown” .
That promises enough for next year ! I have mostly been there in November and December but we see now that even in the middle of February Narromine is good. A nice long season over there!
Heard there were super-cu’s up to 12.000 ft. and an average lift up to 6 to 8 kts.
Some pictures from my archive; Narromine from above and clouds over Narromine.

Only 27 flights on the OLC last Monday and 23 yesterday , mainly due to activities in the USA from Seminole Lake, where they had a ” super-day” with clouds .
But…..Europe’s season starts in about 2 month as well , with a BIG competition at Nitra in Slovenia. Between April 19 and 26 , pilots have to be fully awake from their hibernation to compete in 4 classes against each other.
They fly in club, 15 m. and 20 m. [2 seaters] and open class.
At this stage 17 different countries have entered with a total of  114 pilots. The max is 150 with 50 max in each class, plus the winners from last year.Of course they have to enter as well.
That number is nearly reached in club class, where at this stage 48 pilots have preliminary entered.

No news on Sunday here, but yes there will be news on www.soaringcafe.com

Till then and enjoy your country fellow Olympic sportsmen and women as much as we do here!!!! There are so many fantastic sports with great athletes from all over the world.
And don’t worry we are ONLY going to win in the ADLER ARENA ,the skate-hall.

Cheers Ritz
on Wednesday February 12 and have a wonderful VALENTINE-day on Friday.

They had 2 magic competition days , then 2 days off and on Wednesday a difficult day for some.
Talking about the 48th Horsham Week.
Only for standard class it was a 1000 points day, with still  3 from 9 going ” aux vaches “. The other 3 classes had less points.
Last Thursday , day 4, was a good one again with a 4 hour AAT for 3 classes and 3.30 for club. In this class the Sparrow Hawk from Morgan won the day, with 336 km. in time 3.54.
1000 Points as well in 3 classes except for open where Tony Tabart won the day with 893 points.
The very last day, day 6 was a topper again!!!
15 m. had 565.8 km. and the winner was Gary in the Discus b with a speed of 131 km./h. Gary won this class with more than 400 points ahead on the runner up.
Club class  had a 404 km. task and the 2 seater Janus 18.2 m. was the best with a speed of 131 km./h.
By winning the last day they just were the best in the overall scores but VERY marginal as Morgan and his Sparrow Hawk only lost with TWO points!!!!!
In open class they had to fly 510 km.and Graig , from Waikerie, did so in his ASG 29 with a fantastic speed of 166.3 km./h!!!! He was the overall winner, before Tony Tabart in the Ventus 2CM, [154.2 km./h.] , who still is a top -competition- pilot at age ” over 70″ !

Most soaring places say or said goodbye to their guests but in Tocumwal, where they fly till Easter,still new guests arrive. 4 Japanese pilots are using the less busy season for flying and as they are not there to fly a 1000, they have enough time  on a good day to do something ” nice”.
After the cool change, the weather-cycle has built up again and they are back  in the low 40thies .
A bit more S. in Victoria , 9 spots are in danger due to fires and tough wind. That’s the less good part!
Also Bjoern [Norway] and  Kari [Finland]are still there.
Kari flew on Friday 766 km. Not bad for the LS 6, but a keen pilot in it!
Joergen and Brigitte [Denmark arriving from Stonefield]  as well as Roger, [Australia- arriving from Corowa]  fly with  their ARCUS   from Tocumwal now.
Our Danish mates flew yesterday a 760 km.,  declared FAI, which is a New Danish distance and speed records.
And Kari flew on the same day, in the LS 6 , 744 km. whilst Swiss Chris who was over for the weekend got his ASW 27 out for 810 km.[750 FAI triangle]

Car and glider in Tocumwal and Joergen with some friends from Stonefield, who passed by.
Great back ground, yes our old hangar!
Pictures courtesy Birgitte and Joergen from their shared diary.

Corowa has packed 2 containers and they are already on the way home. The last container will leave in the end of February so those pilots still have a few days of soaring fun.
Pilots still there are p.e. Pepe and Peter Zander who both flew on Friday just under and just over 600 km.Hans Juergen who flew the 1000 a few weeks ago, had 765k. on his OLC list now.
Yesterday they had a great day; Peter with 727 km., Hans Juergen 845 and Pepe 851.
Great late- season- fun!!!

Like Tocumwal , Benalla is open for club members and guests till late in the season.Also their pilots had a great week. Bob Nicholls [UK] is THE kilometer-eater over there and he flew yesterday 713 km. and today 642 in the Ventus 2CT/18m.

Still good flights from the training camp in West Wyalong with flights  up to nearly 1000 km!!!
Allan Barnes and Matt Gage are practicing for their WGC this year in Europe by flying together and both sound as if they are VERY happy with the co-operation.
“  Final day team flying with Matt Gage, we set a 750 km. triangle and managed to knock off Tom’s ancient speed record! 134km/hr, and we both took the same time to get around, down to the second! Great day, a lot of remote scenery and some stonking climbs.”  was Allan’s last comment.
Yesterday Chris Becek nearly flew a 1000 k in the ASH 26 [ 938 km.] and today Paul Mander in the ASH 25 a distance of  700 km. whilst the others were driving home in different directions, after a beaut week.
Other Aussie pilots coming to Europe this year are Matthew Scutter, Adam Woolley, Ben Loxton all 3 still very young. A tad older, Tom Claffey , Andrew Georgeson and Craig Collins.

I noticed on the entry list from Finland in the 2 seater class Heinz Weisenbuhler and Karin Schloesser. Good on them! They will fly the ARCUS.
Enough ARCUS gliders in this class also T and M, but also an ASG 32MI flown by the Austrian pilots. Interesting!
Finnish pilots Anti Lehto and Nikke Luukkanen,  who practised in Bitterwasser this season fly an ARCUS M.

http://www.wgc2014.fi/entries-2014-by-country

Karin ,Heinz and Hannah in Uvalde.

The French are already very busy promoting their GrandPrix and their PR is good. They keep coming with news and pictures and that keeps the attention as happens to the Finnish WGC .Good on both of them!
Here a great picture I found on FB and shared by the organizers of one of their TP’s . Ever seen such a great spot as TURNPOINT?

The Mont-Saint-Michel is in the turn-point database of the Grand Prix France 2014

LOVED the opening of the Olympic Games , certainly the ballet and though I have my own opinion about Russian Human Rights , for me that’s on the back ground now.
Our prime minister promised to talk with Putin and with human-right- groups among them the homo’s, which he did already. Hope it works but I am a bit skeptic.
And all that money!!! And the ” holy ground ” of the first people who lived and were killed there? Must say the Olympics have given us a better view on things we did know, but also we did not know in detail.

SPORT IS NOW FIRST ! And the Dutch are not only born on the bike,  but also on skates! Speed skating is in our blood and when we don’t do it ourselves,  we support  our heroes in orange !And how!!!!
Holland was more than happy, with the ” clean sweep”  we made in the first discipline in the great looking  skating hall.With a 1-2-3  and today at he ” place of honor”  3 Dutch flags and gold, silver and bronze  for the men of the 5000 m. , we can be very proud!
We even topped for a few hours the medal list and as a very small winter-sport- contingent , we should be very proud on that.

Due to the fact that it is the quiet in- between-time for soaring, I will write only on Wednesday for soaring.eu and on Sunday for Soaring Cafe. Just to let you know!

Cheers Ritz
on Sunday February 9 2014.

Horsham week, an annual notion.

When you fly during a competition in February, a few over 500 km. tasks in gliders as PIK 20, St Cirrus and  St Jantar , you can call the weather GOOD!
That’s what happened in Horsham during their special WEEK on day 2 with a 4 hour AAT in 15 m. class.
The Gawler, Stonefield,  Horsham area ‘ s,  all situated a bit in the W. still enjoy super summer conditions in February. Stunning good conditions up to 15.000 ft.

” Forecast blue, but trough made it to the east and provided the moisture, so we had cu’s to 15k with 10kts averages. great day.” was the comment from Craig Vinall flying an 18 m.ASG 29 in open class during these comps; 601 km. in just a few seconds under 4 hours , so a SPEED of 150 km./h.!!!
The 3.30 AAT for the clubbies was won on day 2 by a TWIN ASTIR flying with a speed of 110.5 km.h over 386.8 km.
Runner up was another 2 seater the JANUS 18.2 m.flying 421.6 km. and the  Sparrow Hawk from Morgan was on spot 3!
By the way Morgan won day 1; a 3 hour AAT .

But after 2 days with great weather and soaring ,they stopped for 2 days and continued today [the comps go till February 8] with 280 km. for 15 m and not all are scored but it looks like a difficult day.Some called it hot and low!
For todays scores you can look later at www.soaringspot.com

Not in the competition but ” just”  a nice flight from Gawler on February 2; Matthew [ Scutter] with 910 km.[811 FAI] One day earlier 792 km. busy, busy in the weekend!
” Long and slender glide from FL140 through a tiny gap in the rain yesterday. Fortunately very buoyant air all the way in.” 

As shared by Matthew.

Also the S. East had great conditions on the ” free”  Sunday and Brian Du Rieu flew from Narromine 987 km. in the LS 8.
When you drive from Toc. to Narromine you pass West Wyalong and yes the pilots having a camp/” outing”  over there  had some good soaring there as well. You don’t hear about WW,  too much so here an extra mention; 3 over 750 [2 over 800 km] flights, direction W.  by their guests from Bathurst and Benalla.
Also Allan Barnes [normally flying from Mc Caffrey Field in Queensland]  flew from WW and mentioned:
” First pair-flying flight with Matt. [ normally flying at Benalla in Victoria] 750km O/R to Boundary Bend. Great day.”

One of the active  former Aussie  JWGC pilots, flying in the 2009 JWGC  and 2 times National Junior champion is Nathan Johnson.He flew on Sunday , S. from WW,  from Temora in his  St Cirrus WL, 736 km !!!
Like Nathan , Grant is a member of the Wagga Wagga gliding club and he took his old Slingsby T-59d-Kestrel out for a “ride” from Temora; 805 km!!!
You can call that good weather INDEED!!!

Francesco from Corowa took the opportunity to fly their glider 3W for the last time through the Aussie skies as it is sold to a new European owner.
“ I have never been so high in Australia and it was my longest final glide ever. (152 km)” is what he said.
Is n’t that a real worthy farewell to a good glider.[ASH 31/18m.]
They put a picture on FB and on that you can see all the places I mention in my blog today as Wagga Wagga, Temora and the road via West Wyalong via Forbes ,Parkes  and Dubbo to Narromine.
Did that many times to be at the Narromine Nationals or just to visit friends over there!
Great satellite-picture Grietje! Thanks!

By clicking on the picture it will enlarge and yo can see a busy area for pilots from different areas around it.
Courtesy Grietje Bruinsma-Wansink

Bitterwasser , no doubt was the overseas place to be this season. Look at this,….. as published on their site:
719.348,46 flown Kilometer, and this, you will find nowhere in this world
236 flights over a minimum 1.000 KILOMETER
113 flights over 900 Kilometer
137 flights over 800 Kilometer
112 flights over 700 Kilometer
174 flights over 500 Kilometer
151 flights up to 500 Kilometer
10 Palm-flights and planting of palm tree
world record flights, national records flights and continental records

 Congratulations to the Bitterwasser- team,  a huge team,  but so to see all very devoted to their different jobs. Guess with these statistics next year will be even more busy!

copy from a great picture on the Bitterwasser site

http://www.bitterwasser.com

I am a HUGE fan of sport and the Olympic Games will have my full attention.

Belle Brockhoff , the 21 year old daughter of one of my friends, will compete in the fast-paced sport of snowboard cross at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Belle is the daughter from Bruce who in the past was a great Aussie glider pilot and  the winner of many Aussie Nationals and other comps and still a great mate!
I am going to check of course all snow board issues on TV, as some Dutch snowboarders will be her concurrent.
May the best win!
And a MUST for all Dutch people is looking at speed skating. That’s where our GLORY should be in Sochi.

To finish a link to a fantastic sportsman , hang glider pilot Johny Durand who  flew on January 18 2 world records on ONE day.
Here are the records:
Sub-class :O-1 (HG with a rigid primary structure / controlled by weight
shift)
Category: General
Type of record : Speed over an out-and-return course of 300 km
Course/location : Nullabor National Park (Australia) Performance : 71.28
km/h Pilot : Jonny Durand (Australia) Hang Glider : Litespeed RX 3.5 / Moyes
Delta Gliders Date :28.01.2014 Current record : 56.59 km/h (12.02.1998 –
Rohan Holtkamp, Australia)

Sub-class :O-1 (HG with a rigid primary structure / controlled by weight
shift)
Category: General
Type of record : Speed over an out-and-return course of 100 km
Course/location : Nullabor National Park (Australia) Performance : 90.41 km/h
Pilot : Jonny Durand (Australia) Hang Glider : Litespeed RX 3.5 / Moyes
Delta Gliders operated by Date :28.01.2014 Current record : 75.73 km/h
(09.01.1998 – Tomas Suchanek, Czech Rep.)

And don’t forget to look at the impressive link about Jonnies flights with great pictures and a flamboyant story.

http://www.redbull.com/au/en/adventure/stories/1331631648107/jonny-durand-boomerang-one-day-two-world-records

Cheers Ritz
On Wednesday February 5 2014.

Bitterwasser area as seen by Hugh Kindell.

The Namibia season was over on the 23d of January in Bitterwasser and also the 3 containers from Kiripotib  have left  and their gliders are on the way back to Europe.
It’s quiet in Namibia again and  all 3 resorts had a good season. I told you already about the excellent  Bitterwasser-season, now I looked at the stats from Pokweni and Kiripotib according to the OLC, as well.

Kiripotib was very busy in the beginning of November when the CHAMPIONS were flying there for 2 weeks. The organizers,  Ludwig and Wolfgang and all their guests,   were blessed with great weather so early in the season .
Pilots could fly several over 1000 km. flights  and other long flights , “students”  learned a lot and the Champions enjoyed sharing their soaring knowledge. And as the experiment/dream  worked from both sides  they continue in 2014.
In the end of their season, Kiripotib had a 2d spot on the airfields stats from the OLC with 84 pilots , making 521 flights and 372.090, 21 km.
Last year, 2013,  they had  47 pilots , making 370 flights and a total of 288.887, 36 , so this year was a great success, also for them.
The preparations for the 2014/15 season have started straight away and you can find the info on;
http://www.dolba.de/kiripotib_flying/index.html
For flying with the Champions;
http://www.rent-a-glider.com

Pokweni closed up in the middle of January and 3 containers were ready to sail back on a ship to Europe. This year they were number 3 on the list.
In 2013 they were on spot 5 with 52 pilots , making 458 flights and 341.672,91 kilometers .
This year they had 47 pilots, making 414 flights and 317,266, 23, which is a bit less  than the year before.
They had a couple of days just before Christmas , with a lot of rain but straight after,  some perfect days with in 3 days 19 x a 1000 k. and 3 even over 1.300 km!
To fly next season at Pokweni Soaring you can go to; http://www.pokweni.de/

The Molopo River, the border between SA and Botswana
Courtesy Max Leenders.

South Africa has been very active as well this season.At several places a lot of guests had happy times, flew comps or records or just enjoyed the skies of this beautiful part of the world.
Still have n’ t had time to go there but one day I will and combine that with a visit to the Namibia’s resorts.
What happened;
Gariep Dam was 4th on the OLC list, with 44 pilots , making 495 flights and a total of 297.655, 85.
Compared with 2013 the year  was a bit better , as they then had 42 pilots,  394 flights and 234.908,79 kilometers.
Since 2012 the airfield of Gariep Dam is , after 10 years, exclusively owned and operated by by Gariep Dam Aviation.  [Mr. Gunter von Versbach.]
So 2013/14 was in fact their second year and they did well.
http://www.gariepdamaviation.com

Douglas Back House was on spot 6 this year, with 46 guests , making 333 flights and 211.819, 48.
Not bad either, as they more or less ” belonged”  to Gariep Dam in the past, but started last year their flying from Douglas.
Max Leenders and his mates made some great flights and arrived home with 7 claims on Dutch open class records from Douglas and  as the organizers are not very ” busy”  on line with news, I checked yesterday on a 50 thiest birthday-party with one of the pilots who flew there.
He said that the Douglas area is VERY good for flying. This year they could fly and use the storms whilst others at other fields had to stay on the ground, or could not fly home as storms would n’t allow for that.
In 2012 Martin Lessle has moved his operations from Gariep Dam to Douglas.
(his business is still called GariepGliding / gariepgliding.com)

New Tempe Bloemfontein, very much loved by the UK pilots and ran by Dick Bradley and his team among them daughter Jennifer, had 36 guests who made 258 flights and 123.682,40 kilometers.

Some friends who flew at Tocumwal and later at Gariep Dam in the past , moved to another spot ; Kuruman Johan Pi. With a small group of people, who know each other well, they [ 13 pilots] made 76 flights  and 63.839,04 kilometers.

The list of the OLC will change of course when the European season starts.
When you are interested in MORE , I refer to the current OLC list .
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/airfieldRanking.html

Still great weather in the Benalla/Corowa/ Tocumwal area, with on Thursday a light wind , high temperatures in the low 40thies, lot’s of blue skies in the beginning, but a bit more up N. great cu’s up to 12.000 ft. and cloud streets up to 150 km long,  direction NW and the expectation of  over-development and showers in the evening to the S.!
Yarrawonga, not far from the 3 airfields had at 20.30 on Thursday evening, still 33.4 dgr. So the expectation for long flights was high even with sunset at 20.29 edt.
Remark on the hot weather from one of my young friends , Kait, in Australia;
”  Getting rather over the temperature updates. We grew up with the heat and it hasn’t changed. Living in the Riverina (and yes sometimes Melbourne) and complaining about heat is like whinging about sand at the beach or cold at the snow.”
Tocumwal .[NSW] ;
Kilometer -eater Stephan has flown in his LS 4 now  in 9 days, starting on January 20 ,1 x a 400 plus, 4 x a 500 plus [up to 592] and on the last 3 days 3 x over 600 km.!!![ up to 671]
Great to see Bjoern from Norway back in Toc. and Danish Joergen [and Brigitte] have moved from Stonefield to Tocumwal as well and Joergen started with a flight from 634 km.
Kari in the LS 6 WL,   flew a 600 k.

Corowa; [Victoria] Swedish guest Markus flew a very nice 750 FAI triangle in the ASG 29E/18m.
Roger Druce and his Brasilian mate Eduardo flew in the ARCUS M 780 km.; they loved the day but it was a a pity it started a bit late.
Pilots are busy with their last flights for the season, as the container will be packed soon and some gliders have been packed already.
They had some nice flights on Friday as well; Aussie pilot Terry Bellair flew in his DG 400/17 m nearly 800 km.[793] , no worries for him as he can bring his glider home himself.
Mac arrived back in Australia from Japan and flew from Corowa in his LS 8 straight away a nice 911 km.
Pepe  flew 844 km. in his ASH 31.

Benalla; [Victoria] Junior pilot Ailsa flew in the LS 8 a distance from 566 km.On Friday it was even 41 dgr. C and young Ailsa flew from Benalla now 816 km. [660 FAI triangle]
This year she also flew from Narromine a new record on December 16 over 500 km. record;129.29 km./h. .
The claim has been received and is awaiting finalization.

From the 46 flights on the OLC, 32 were from this area on the last day of JANUARY!
Reason to specially focus on it!

The 3 Czech pilots flying in Narromine [NSW]  each flew over 500 km.on Thursday.
AND in January a record-amount of solo pilots was counted at Mount Beauty.; 5 in one month. Congratulations!

And what about the flight from the ASK 21 with JWGC participant  Eric,  who flew with a  “60kg bag of gravel strapped in the back seat” ;  560 km.!!!!!Eric flew from Balaklava NW of Stonefield. In 2013 he was one of the Aussie junior pilots in standard class flying the ASW 28 from Leszno .

Some other news;  about a STEMME, flying over the Himalay a tn Jan. 23, capturing the first of many images that an international science team hopes will save lives.Here is the link when you are interested to this news on AOPA.

http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/January/28/himalaya-glider.aspx?CMP=ADV:1

Remember you can still enter for the 33d WGC in Finland for club,standard and 20 m. multi-seat-class till February 28!!!!
” Detailed schedule, pricing and other related information can be found in the Bulletin 1 published in the documents section. Please follow us also on Facebook www.facebook.com/wgc2014 and Twitter twitter.com/WGC2014.”
http://www.wgc2014.fi/

Finnish gliding Nationals 2014 will be arranged at Räyskälä 1st – 7th June (no reserve days) in club and racing class.
Competition is open for international competitors.
Registration opens 1st February.
More info at competition website www.rayskala.fi/sm2014

And to rent accomodation or gliders, tools or car’s, here is a link;
http://www.wgc2014.fi/for-rent

As I have been there a few times I can tell you it’s an awesome airfield, LOVED it there, the weather can be fantastic and the people are very, very kind. There is a camping area in the forest with clean toilets and showers,  also a nice motel with roomy rooms and of course several sauna’s with the lake behind it , with real cold water I nearly ” died” after jumping in the first time in 88. A small restaurant with good food is a place to go to in the morning , for lunch[crews] or dinner. The outside terrace in the front, with nice wooden tables is the place-to-be before and after flying as well as the lake for a fresh swim.
Sometimes there can be lot’s of mosquito’s but in fact only in 88 we had problems with them all the other years NOT.

1988 on the camping. We stayed at the camping too, just along the tennis court!
Pictures courtesy Kai.

Not a lot more news as it is getting quiet in our soaring world,  till spring and summer hopefully spoil all pilots with fantastic weather.
More news later in SOARINGCAFE. About the drought and the devastating impact it has on people, land and animals with a contribution from our soaring-mate Bruce Taylor.

Cheers Ritz
On Sunday February 2 2014.