BUT,……first as promised in my last blog, 2 pictures from the 50thiest Southern Island Competition at OMARAMA and Geoff Soper gave permission to use them, so here you are.
The high-speed-finish from Derek Kraak in his ASG 29. He flew that day with a handicapped speed of 189.5 km./h. over 429.3 km. and ….won the day in OMARAMA.
The ” slowest”  pilot still had 134.5 km./h. and the pilot on a daily spot 10 flew around with  167.8 km./h.
Not too bad ,is it?  Just amazing!

courtesy Geoff  Soper.
And the one below I loved as well,

Thanks to Geoff!

—–

In Bitterwasser Reinhard Schramme and Klaus Reinhold, are ” eating” kilometers every day.Last Sunday they flew 1.122.19 km. [940 FAI triangle]
16 Flights that day from Bitterwasser only, so it’s really starting!The OLC shows lot’s of Namibia flights at the moment in the top and from all 3 of them also 1000 km.-flights.
Last Monday South Africa had the better weather, with a great flight from my friends Rob and Marianne again, from Douglas, this time 948 km.[710 FAI triangle] but yesterday Namibia topped the list  with flights from:1.244 km. by Juergen Wenzel from Kiripotib [750 FAI triangle and speed of 141 km./h.] in ARCUS  M and in the EB 29 Alexander Mueller flew 1.254 km. [1000 km. FAI triangle and a speed of 142 km./h. from
Pokweni.
Lot’s of great long flights ,  declared and not declared, in  open class gliders but the Ventus 2CM/18m. flew from all 3 places a 1000 as well, so did the HPH 304 s/SHARK.

—–

Jim and Jacky Payne have arrived together with Dennis Tito in Chos Malal last weekend ,for their annual wave holiday and this time Jim and Dennis are flying the new ARCUS M.
They are in Argentina for the Perlan Project Scouting Campaign IV and attending the 1st International Chos Malal Wave Camp.
On day 2 they “drove”  the brand-new ARCUS M with a speed of 122 km./h. over 1.207 km.Many more LONG flights hopefully will follow.
The wave on the first 2 days however was not yet too good.

—–

The South Australian State comps in Waikirie …..ORANGE WEEK……finally had some flying after 3 cancelled days.Club class with 5 pilots had a 2.30 AAT and in 18 m. a 3 hour AAT, with also 5 participating pilots.
Terry Cubley from Gawler won, yesterday the 1000 points with 339.6 km. in 3 hours at the dot! In his LS 3,fitting him as a glove for years and years, he flew 113 km./h.
In Club Class Steven Jinks flew his St. Cirrus to a great handicapped speed of 103 km./h. over 259.2 km.
Cu’s were up to 6500 ft.
Both won day 2 , today with in each class a 3 hour AAT , as well.

The West Australian State Gliding comps in Narrogin, count till now 5 days.On day 1 only 2 pilots finished .Greg Beecroft [LS 8]  was not one of them, but he put that straight immediately by winning the rest of the days till now.4 Days with 3 hour AAT’s , one with 2 hours.

Just to let you know;The Victorian State Comps , rescheduled to Benalla , have been cancelled .There were only 7 participants, spread over 4 classes, not enough for  a valid comp.It looks they are going to run it in conjunction with Horsham Week in February. Will keep you updated!

—–

And after the Norwegian pilots also the Finnish pilots are interested in the Uppsala Masters for 2015. You can’t start early enough with organizing.

—–

A short blog today. When you have missed it,….. I published one last Sunday as I felt so much better, so in case of ….you can continue reading.

Cheers Ritz
on November 26 2014.

ONE AND A HALF  week in ONE GO!!!!!On the bottom of the story a bit more about my eyelids and the operation!
2 weeks in one go would have been a bit too much, with all the news. There will be a new blog on Wednesday.

Winter did not yet arrive in Holland.15 dgr. at the moment and sunny.
These spring flowers just popped up in my garden, thinking spring has started already. Ouch,…… their “heads”  will be COLD soon, as in 2 weeks the temperatures are forecasted to drop. No worries we had a fabulous autumn!!
This time it was part of the USA [ N NE] having the extreme weather. They never had so much snow in November as this year. Specially New York and Buffalo look like hit really hard!
In Australia/Narromine I heard it was 40 plus and DRY. But,….kilometer -eater Terry Bellair flying at the moment at Narromine mentioned after his 800 km. flight in his DG 400/17 m. today; ” spent the last two-thirds of the flight dogging rain-but an interesting flight.”
So at least today they had some rain.

 

Spring flowers in my garden on November 19.

—-

LAKE KEEPIT !

They started the Qualifying Grand Prix [15m. class] on November 17 at 13.40 with the first regatta start of the week.15 Pilots were flying from Lake Keepit and it was a challenging first day ; blue and with a strong inversion.
Even ABC news arrived and mentioned ; “ The Gliding World Qualifying Grand Prix has been dubbed the Formula 1 Racing of the sky.” 

The first 10 points were for Lisa Trotter. Good on her! She flew the 287.9 km. with a speed of 104.2  km./h.
Day 2 …blue as well….had 297 km. and LS 6  pilot , Jacques Graells, was the best , deserving the 10 points with a speed of 107.3  km./h.
Day 3 showed a distance of 324 km. on what they called ” a great day” and this time Andrew [Georgeson] got the 10 points flying his ASW 27 with a speed of 1327.1 km./h. over the NNE of the Lake Keepit areas.
Day 4 with 307 km. was a prey for Tom Claffey [ASW 27] ; 10 points for a speed of 129.4 km./h.over 307.7 km.
Day 5 had again another winner this time Craig Collings [ASW 27] winning with a speed of 109.6 km./h. over  237 km.
And Allan Barnes put his name on spot 1 on the last day; 141.3 km./h. in the LS 8 over 370 km. He got the bonus point as well so 11 points for him.
As he said in his comment:
” Final 6th day of the GP and I finally got my act together! I was determined to win the final day, and fingers crossed, barring penalties, I might have done it. The first leg I worked with Matt Gage; it was fun because we know each others’ flying styles well.  Great day to finish, 143km/hr for 370km!” They even found 12 kt.

 

Ready for another good day, with cloud streets. Young Ailsa finished on spot 13 with 4 points.
As shared om FB by the organizers.

A LOT of penalty points during this QGP, shaking up the preliminary scores all the time. Mainly for turning left before the start, or going too fast over it or by finishing too low.Rules are rules, fair enough and you know about it!!!
In the end the 3 pilots going to Italy for the WORLD FINALS are; Graig and Tom both with 41 points and on spot 3 Matt [Cage 33 points] not winning a day but consistent over the comps-period, except for day 1 when he got no points.
Allan, who flies a lot with Matt was on spot 4 with 3o points and by winning the extra point on the last day, he “beat” Lisa who had 29 points.

—–

FINALLY good weather in Namibia !!!

On November 19 the weather improved so much that great long flights were possible in Namibia. Bitterwasser, Kiripoptib and Pokweni , all 3 of them had some great over-1000 km. -flights. A total of 9 , so that’s a nice beginning.
1.217 was the distance for Klaus Reinhold/Reinhard Schramme topping the OLC list that day. Nice speed as well with 141.38 km./h.

EVEN 2x 1000km.-FAI-TRIANGLES by Walther Binder in the EB 28 and 1 in a Ventus 2CM/18m. by Henning Winkelman both from Pokweni.
They still had great 1000 km.-weather on the days after.

From Douglas Backhouse , in South Africa ,2 Dutch pilots , Max [ I told you already Max loves this record-flying!!!] and Hermann flew a new Dutch -open-class- record;  a declared 1000 km. OUT & RETURN with a speed of 149.11 km./h.
From Douglas another nice flight from brother and sister Looisen from Holland in the Nimbus 4DM; 770 km.
But Rob mentioned;” Overdevellopment, challenging flight ! Even got a thermal of 8m/s! Found by Marianne ! Landed after lots of rain in Douglas.” 
Rob was in the past Dutch champion and flew with us in Tocumwal. His sister Marianne flew with us as tuggie in Tocumwal and is a light-plane- instructor and gliding instructor.
From November 18 onward KURUMAN  was close to 1000.km-flights as well. After a lot of  “lows”  with wet days, they finally got the REAL South African weather!!

—-

The 50thiest South Island Gliding Championships, we are talking now of course about New Zealand, was attended by 34 pilots flying in 3 classes;club,15m/standard and 18m./20m./open.
After 1 flying day and one scrubbed day, day 2 was interesting when young Nick Oakley [ASW 19b]   flew with a speed of 160 km./h. over 320 km.!!! He started relatively early at 1 o’clock whilst the last pilot started nearly one hour later!
In open /18/20 m. class the speed in a DUO DISCUS W was fabulous as well on this wave/ridge day; 161 km./h. over 323.2 km.
” The wind is gusting quite strong here at the Omarama Airfield and the clouds are starting to form up into wave lines (a bit). ”
Day 2 was much slower in 2 classes they did not get over 100 km./h. and in open the best speed was 127.8 km./h over  290 km. in an LS 8 on a day with pretty marginal weather.
”  An AAT for all the classes with big circles around all the turnpoints as there is a very high probability of thunderstorms today. The air is very cold – not only do we have snow on the Benmores but on Little Ben and Horrible too! Combine the cold air with nice warm / hot sun on an unstable day and you get lots of clouds.” is what Lex mentioned in his daily blog.

On day 4 I nearly fell from my chair. It’s pretty unusual in the ” normal” soaring world to fly with a speed of 170 km./h in an LS 4b over 240 km. during a competition. But for wave and ridge comps surely different rules count!!!
What about 167 km./h. in an ASG 29 over 384.4 km. and last but not least  an average handicapped speed of 189.5 km./h. in an 18 m. ASG 29 over 429.3 km.
With a speed from 155 km./h. you were ” only”  12th.
Blogger Lex mentioned;” We have a quite moist westerly outside and the sky is full of nice looking wave (lenticular) clouds! Wave task for all three classes – very much an Omarama special task. Fuzzy turnpoints, 5km in radius and scored as an AAT but with an impossible minimum time of 1 hour. The larger turnpoints mean that there is less congestion at the turnpoints when gliders are high and fast in the wave. The tasks are going to the East as well to force pilots to jump forwards and back between wave clouds, so everyone is not zooming back and forth along the same cloud! Launch is set for 13:00 – it all depends on the weather.” 

Day 5 was one where you had to be careful to be on the right spots. Some aborted , some already after 40 km. , but George Wills flew with a speed of 170 km./h. over 339.3  km. in the Discus 2C.
The DUO DISCUS e with Chris Streat, even went a tad faster; 172.7 km./h. over 393.5 km.In this class several pilots flying back “home”  as well, one already aborted after 30 km.Of course I checked for you what they said about this day 5 on their site.
Here is Lex again:” For a contest that looked like it was going to struggle to get 3 days of flyable weather at the beginning, I think we have managed to do quite well. We have a task for today so that would make 5 competition days! Pretty much the same task for all the classes, including Club – an AAT that uses the, hopefully, clearer sky to the east and north. It is definitely a wave day today as well so the speeds could be quite fast like yesterday.”
and later;” Looks like a hard day today. A lot of pilots have abandoned the task and come back home. Lots and lots of cloud up there. The scorer went on a wee trip to Kurow this afternoon – if the wind was as rough in the air as it was on the road then it would not be fun up there. We are still getting pilots re-starting so it could be a long day for us in the radio room.”

On the last day it was raining cat’s and dogs, so day 6 was scrubbed,  but 5 out of 7 is good certainly when you fly with HUGE speed.

In the end Aussie pilot Graham Parker moved on day 5 from spot 4 overall to spot 1 in 18m./20m./open class, flying the ASH 25 with Keith Essex to a 2d place on that last day; 925 points.[163.2 km./h. over 326.3 km.]
Max Stevens in the Ventus moved on the last day from 1 overall to 2 by gaining ” only” 704 points that day.[ 113.6 km./h. over 233.4 km.]
Warren Dickinson [LS 8/ 18t] flew himself to a 3d overall sport coming from 6.[141.1 km./h. over 302 km.]

In 15m./standard George Wills won the comps just under 300 points above Nick.He was the daily winner on day 3,4 and 5.
In club class Brian Savage was the best. He was so on the first and last day!
Full scores at www.soaringspot.com 

A big thank you to Lex for his reports, so we all know [again] how good OMARAMA is!!!
Hope to share some nice pictures later as they have copyright and then of course you ask the top photographer first, which I did.
No answer yet so I will add them hopefully later.

—-

Just to let you know!
Changes in comps! The Victorian State comps from Bendigo/Raywood have been moved to Benalla , but the date is the same; November 29–December 6 included.

Benalla’s great conditions.
As shared on the Victorian Soaring Association-site.

The South Australian State Comps have been moved from Bordertown to Waikirie, from 22d to 28 th of November , so they should be in full swing now,with 12 participants in 2 classes but no flying yet due to the weather!
Both Waikirie and Benalla held a WGC in the past.
The West Australian State Championships with 13 participants in one [handicapped]-class started on the 18th from Narrogin. They had 2 challenging days the first one with many out-landings but today on day 3 they had a 3 hour AAT  and Greg Beecroft got the first 1000 points for a flight in his LS 8 from 302 km. with a speed of 96.8 km.h.

—-

2 German pilots had great fun , on November 18, even using their motor temporarily, flying from Argentina’s Chos Malal. One of them the famous well known Klaus [Ohlmann] in his Stemme and the other one Wolfgang [Goering] in the Quintus M.
As Klaus mentioned in his OLC comment; ” Winds up to 140 km/h. and a lot of shearing. But despite the need for the motor in Quem Quem Treu we had a wonderful waveflight.” 
They flew all the way South passing Chapelco to Nahuel Nuapi and back over 6 legs a total of 1.310 km. [speed 154,76 km./h.]  for the Quintus and a bit less for the Stemme.[1.289 km. with 129.51 km./h.] 

—-

The organizers from the Uppsala Masters are working already very hard. At this stage they have 13 entrees in open class, 27 in racing class and 4 entrees in a class to be announced.They got even more now, as I read. Quite some Norwegian pilots too, good!
23-30 Of Mai 2015 is the date, put it in your agenda when you are interested!!!

—-

And it is OFFICIAL now. The Dutch Gliding championships will be flown from St Hubert in Belgium together with the Belgium and Luxembourg mates. THE OPEN BENELUX Gliding Championship will be flown next year between Mai 15 and 25. Will be great fun!!!Lots of top pilots and all lovely people. Hope to be there for a few days next year.

—-

Back on track again. The operation took 15 minutes, the healing about a week, the full healing [disappearing from the scars] will take months.
As you can see I looked like an 80- year-old!
Most important is the result;ALL cancer cells are gone.
Happy, but I do realize that I am lucky and not everybody is so lucky. Feel for them.

NOT TO BE TAGGED.THANKS!!!!!
Cheers Ritz
On Wednesday November 26 2014

I was wondering if the great flight in the LS 1 f , on November 4 ,was OK but it   turned out to be a valid /good one , so it needs for sure  more attention!!!It was a great , better said extra-ordinary effort from Austrian pilot David Richter-Trummer. Though it was a windy turbulent, bumpy day all pilots flying in the Alps loved the foehn that day!! David stayed high, his highest point was around 5694 m. MSL [4891 AGL]  but used the ridges as well.
A 750 FAI triangle in an ASW 19 from Mc Caffery Field in Australia , by Jo Davis, is worth mentioning as well.He even topped the OLC-list last Saturday.

Nice to see all those ” elderly –with respect—” gliders flying such great distances. Also in Australia was a great one in a St. Cirrus flown by top hang-glider-pilot Attila Bertok, who flew a 500 FAI triangle making a total of  619 km. from Lake Keepit.I told you already before that he converted to soaring with us in the far past.

—-

The SE of France had the predicted terrible/extreme  bad weather, one day later  with wind up to 180 km./h. heavy rain and 1.5 m. of snow in 24 hours .
One person was killed.The South of the Alps had in 48 hours 3 m. of snow.
They even expected a meteorological historic amount of 5 m. in South Tirol and the Dolomite’s  last weekend due to this phenomena called ” Genua depression”!Don’t know if that happened, but sadly enough ,at least 2 people were killed in Italy.

—-

One of the biggest ” DISASTERS ” in soaring  is,….. when you send your container to an overseas destination and things go wrong…… you are happy the container has not got lost on open sea, which is GOOD, as this happens quite often in heavy weather,…it arrived in perfect condition and then,…..the crane drops the container. I heard that story last week. Disaster for some , as gliders were of course damaged one at least had a broken fuselage. [ARCUS] Hope the pilots still can fly this season.

—-

Not everybody flies to the other site of the world or to Africa for some good flying in winter-time.
Some stay close as some of the Belgian mates , who went to St. Gaudens in France to fly a 1000 over there, using wave.
As Jean Luc Colson did yesterday with a yo-yo-type of flight in the EB 28.

—-

FLYING WITH THE CHAMPIONS  in Kiripotib 2014,   week 1, is” history”  and on the last days of this first week the weather improved, so ALL learned a lot ,first from the more difficult circumstances on the first days , some added their very first 1000 km. to their list enjoying the real African weather and  some just missed out on a few kilometers but still learned a lot.It’s all in the game.

Only fun in Kiripotib either with soaring or on the ground. The outside dining area, not bad is it!?
Pictures shared on www.rent-a-glider.com 

The second week started last Sunday with 3 new champions and 6 new guests/trainees.Surrounded by showers and thunderstorms to the East,  they were limited in setting a task on the first days , but Janusz and Uli each with their trainees managed to fly over 800 km. on day 2 and on day 1 over 700 km. was possible that was if you were flying with Janusz. He is there for the full 2 weeks and is not only a top champion but knows they area as the best.
On day 3 they flew 1000 km. flights again [ with Pete Harvey and Uli Schwenk] all to the W and S due to the weather.
To see how week 2 finishes you can go to ;

http://www.rent-a-glider.com/view/p-1408/Flying-with-the-Champions-2014/

—-

Bitterwasser started their soaring -season on November 4  with 2 flights , on November 8 this was already 6 and it will increase over the season.

—-

Some of my friends have arrived in Douglas and are ready for long flights and good company. Max [Leenders] loves records, so I guess he will go for a few again this year.On the 7th and the 8th he flew already 707 and 791 km. in his own Nimbus 4DM. A good start!

—-

Pokweni started with the first flights on November 2 with guests from Sweden and Germany . Axel Nuss flew  904 km. in the Nimbus 3 DM last Sunday.

—-

Last Sunday some impressive events , the first one in memory of the beginning of the first world war .
REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY.This time 100 years, so extra special.
This all happened in London in attendance of  the whole royal family ,even the queen, who a few days earlier heard that their were plans to kill her with a knife. But as always she was there , very sophisticated, doing her duties. A remarkable 88 years old lady!!!
I was very much impressed with the 800.000 ceramic poppies!!!
In Berlin in Germany ,more than a million people remembered and celebrated the fall of the WALL now 25 years ago. Angela Merkel born in the former EAST, attended this remembrance, in the afternoon there was a big party at several places among them at the famous check -point -Charlie and in the evening 8000 luminous white balloons  went up in the air, one by one. These balloons marked the length of the wall and the fall.

Picture from DAILY OVERVIEW and shared by KIKI.
Text;
“Today marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. For the past two days, an installation of 8,000 glowing balloons titled ‘LICHTGRENZE‘ (meaning “border of light”), has traced an approximately 15 km long segment of the former course of the barrier that once separated the German city in two.” 

Many more places in the world remembered their lost ones in all wars over the last 100 years.
I was touched by this picture shared on FB by Sandy with the text :
” Incredible tribute to the 8 million horses, donkeys and mules that died faithfully supporting their respective armies. Faithful to the end.
We will remember them.” 

A touching picture, as shared by Sandy Griffin via FB.

On Monday “we”  remembered in Holland  in Amsterdam, the victims of the MH17. Not only the Dutch but all 298 victims.
The Royal family was there to support the nearly 1700 invited guests [family and close friends from the victims from all over the world, 18 different countries!]. A very beautiful , impressive , respectful , but also tragic/sad/touching event. All 298 names were mentioned by family or friends and only when you hear those names you realize how ,many kids lost their lives in that tragic accident on July 17 as well.
The whole ceremony,…I can only say,…It was HOLLAND AT IT’S BEST AGAIN!!!
Our prime Minister has visited Malaysia and Australia just before. They lost also quite a lot of their  loved-ones. The crew from flight MH 17 was Malaysian, all 15 of them.Aussie family members were easy to recognize through their language, the typical Aussie language, so were the people from Malaysia.
By the way ” MH 17″  will never be used again the flight is called now MH 19.

—

The November/December issue from Gliding International has very interesting stories again.
The Online contest and history by Elke—-the GPS system is to get a major upgrade, but, placing new satellites in earth orbit is horrendously expensive by aviation journalist  and glider pilot Rod Dew—-the French Alps  []Aubenasson] in summertime, a comparison to the N.Z. Southern Alps  by Omarama pilot Chris Street are a few of the longer stories. Also items as a warning for hypoxia, a smart skin for planes, the Vintage Glider Club Ralley in Arnborg Sweden , the Song 120, Gliding in Hungary and China and much more.
64 Pages of great reading.

—-

Last but not least , something totally different; as a real fan from speed skating, I was pleased to see that Dutch speed skater Ireen Wust was honored with the ANOC [Association of National Olympic Committees] Award for best female athlete during the Sochi 2014 Olympics.
I presume you ALL must have heard her name at least once.
This ceremony took place in Thailand. She will attend in Asia the first 2 series of the 2015 WORLD CUP in Obihiro in Japan and in Seoul .

As shared by Ireen on FB.

NO NEWS next week.
Will go to hospital tomorrow where 1 malicious little spot will be removed from  my left eyelid and a beginning, not yet malicious one will be removed preventive from my other eyelid. On the 20-thiest they take out the stitches and then my eyes should be normally “open” again and  I should be new and fit ……I hope! At least I should be  in good hands over the next 5 years,  as they added me to the skin-cancer-program in Holland.

Cu in 2 weeks,
Ritz

We started November with a new record. It has never been so warm on November 1 as last Saturday; 21.2 dgr.c in the S of Holland and at 12 the new record since 1848 was already a fact; 18.5. Cars drove around in cabriolet -conversion and staff on the terraces were busy. Beer was still preferred over red wine, nobody needed to be ” warmed up”! After a few cold and rainy days, as we normally have in the end of October, the weather had improved again.
Temperatures up in the low 20thies are certainly NOT normal for this time of the year here in Holland, but welcomed with a smile.
Unfortunately only one and a half day as Sunday late , it was over again and in the end of the week it will be 10 dgr. lower.
By the way the coldest ever November 1 showed 3.1 dgr. C. on the thermometer  in 1993.

Not such great weather in Norway ; they had rain , too much rain and for that reason severe flooding, landslides and other damage.Code red was active in the ALPS and the N of Italy and parts of Switzerland had to deal  last night with rain and expected wind of 12 Bft.
BUT,… before that bad weather arrived a few pilots used great but bumpy/turbulent conditions to fly over 1000 km. Yesterday 5  1000 flights were flown one even , when it is correct in an LS 1f. That would be something. A lot of wind and turbulence and a day of less than 10 flying hours, but as one pilot said the exact mix of great soaring weather.Pilots flew from Innsbruck, St Johann and Koenigsdorf.
One of them was blogger Benjamin Bachmeier [www.flugfieber.net] he flew the ARCUS T and was over the moon, exhausted , still enthusiastic and happy with this flight!![1.036,13 km.]

Picture shared by Benjamin.

One day earlier on Monday Rainer Cronjaeger flew 1.083, 78 from the Swiss field Hausen Am Albis.

Tocumwal had some hot spring weather with an early  total fire ban  and longtime guests who are flying already at Eddie’s Sportaviation. Stephan and this time the youngest son Niklas and Ralph, enjoy the early good spring conditions.
The temperature last Friday went up to 34 dgr. C., top height was 5800 ft. and ” Stephan and Niklas tried to contact the wave that formed over the top as the airmass changed”  .
Last Sunday they both flew 300 km. with an interesting comment:” First 300Km, 1 day before 14th Birthday.”
So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Niklas.

” Lenticular clouds formed by thermal activity. Upper wind Westerly and lower convection Northerly.
The base estimated at 13,000 ft today . A classic case of pre frontal instability as the front is expected to pass Tocumwal”
as shared by Eddie

Dundee is already in Tocumwal for a month and I heard Joergen  has arrived  on October 8 in Sydney. After picking up his car who “stayed” with Harry and Wendy Medlicott both owners of an ARCUS as well, he is working on the Form 2 of his ARCUS at the moment at Bacchus March  where he organised work-shop-space , together with Roger Druce [another ARCUS owner] to then live and fly this season from Tocumwal . His wife Birgitte joined him in Tocumwal on November 1.

  

Niklas [14] son from Stephan [ both from Germany] Eddie and Ralph, [born Swiss but already living as long as I know him and that’s a long time in Australia] who makes those beautiful paintings. Pictures shared by Sportaviation.

Stephan and Niklas AND some great looking skies. As shared by Sportaviation.

  

Joergen with his ARCUS in Bacchus March. As shared by Joergen.

And more Tocumwal as the SRGC had their wings night last Saturday . And before Ingo retires as interim  president of the club , presented the  pilots with their wings.The new elections will be in the annual meeting on November 22.

Ingo here with Bruce the tuggy and  [ interim ] treasurer of the club. Bruce got his wings last Saturday as he never got them in the past when he went solo.

—-

Last Saturday was their first day; CHAMPIONS flying together, sharing a glider and their knowledge with pilots/trainees who want to improve their soaring by looking , listening and flying together.
It was not the same glorious weather as last year but they flew, even after arriving late for some of the guests due to a 14 hour delay of Air Namibia.
Here is a short note from their day 1 with pictures and text from their site.On the OLC you can see their distances and speed.
”  Then, after a while when all gliders where flown away, a huge storm arrived us from the north, big lightnings and thunders everywhere. After one and a half hour, the nightmare was over again, a few drops of rain were dropped, the sun came out again and the first machines also came back”

Day 2 had a good morning but an overcast afternoon. They all started but ” one after the other also had to use their engines. Here in Kiripotib it was complete overcast very strong wind on the ground, we didn’t realize where the gliders would be able to climb. But then CS’s voice on the radio “We are flying in a wave above Kiripotib” In the evening they reported climbs up to 13200 ft. With these impressions, they had a sundowner out of the wave in Namibia, they returned from a very interesting flying day short after sunset.”

Day 3 , the opposite of day 2 , a morning with overcast and then nice African weather, but ,…a tough wind :” Only the wind was getting stronger and stronger, we reached about 25 kt at 11:00 o’clock increasing with the altitude. At about 12:00 the first starts and pilots reported good clims. Due to the forecast all gliders fly to the east toward the border to Botswana, on topmeteo it looks there very good.”
Holger [Karow] and Stefan [Krauss] even flew 710 km. and a proud Stefan mentioned ;” Holger is not for nothing double World Champion“.

Day 4; ” Today a completely different weather to the days before, no wind and blue sky. If you think these would be good conditions, you are wrong. Only medium blue thermal with a maximum to 3100 meters, here in Africa not very comfortable. But we are here for gliding and that for we set a grand prix task, starting it at about 14:45.”

That’s as far as they are now. The full stories you can read under news at  ;
http://www.rent-a-glider.com/view/p-1408/Flying-with-the-Champions-2014

And the tracking at

https://www.skylines.aero/tracking/

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Potchefstroom had some good weather and AP flew in the St. Cirrus a nice 624 km task [ 383 FAI triangle].
Talking about South Africa, the Qualifying Grand Prix will be flown  between January 4 and 11 2015, with January 4 as an official practice day. This all, according to their event schedule.Between January 1 and 3,  pilots can practice as well. Place to be; Worcester, mountain flying at it’s best! At this stage 6 pilots are sure entrees ,over the next weeks the rest ,20 in total, will be sure and published as well. You can find all the news on ; http://www.sgp.aero/southafrica2015.aspx?contestID=6098 AND,…. before that the South African Nationals will be flown at Welkom and I noticed a few Dutch pilots as well on the list. Between December 13 and 22 , this is all happening. Enough to look forward too.

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Just to let you know: Women in Gliding Week at Lake Keepit has started on November 1 and continues till November 9. It sounds fabulous as around 30 people are attending.
Jenny Ganderton flew already a 500 k triangle and a 536 km task.
Soon the Qualifying Grand Prix will be flown from Lake Keepit as well.

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There was sad news as well, when the authorities mentioned that one person died and another seriously  was injured after  a Space Ship Two test from Virgin Galactic had failed.Richard Branson however does n’t give up on his ideas, as he said on CNN ; ” We’ve always known that the road to space is extremely difficult — and that every new transportation system has to deal with bad days early in their history.” 

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  And last but not least  I share the  FIA SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX NEWS as received from Roland;   

FAI Sailplane Grand Prix news release .
The Sailplane Grand Prix management team are pleased to announce the dates for the 7^th Sailplane Grand Prix series. The 7^th series FAI Sailplane Grand Prix Qualifying events will take place between 31^st October 2015 and 31^st October 2016 The 7^th SGP Final will take place between January 1^st 2017 and June 1^st 2017 Bids are invited from any interested National Aero Club, Gliding Club or other interested organisation. Bids must be submitted before the 31^st of January 2015. Prospective bidders are advised to read “notes for bidders”. The official bid application form and notes for bidders are available at:- http://www.sgp.aero/about-sgp-racing/bid-for-future-events For further information or advice regarding organising an SGP event or the bidding process please contact Director@sgp.aero

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