They had absolutely fabulous weather this year in Bitterwasser and now …...the season is over. It runs from November till nearly the end of January.
Also in Kiripotib and Pokweni the gliders will be packed and send home for European soaring again.
Namibia showed itself for glider pilots from its best site [AGAIN] .
The beginning of November was not as good as last year but after,  it went on and on and on. Even January had some great 1000 km. flights.
The last flights were on January 20 with even still a 1.236.47  from Reinhard Schramme.
It’s quiet now again till next season when, due to all great soaring maybe even more pilots visit this MECCA of soaring.

Looking at the statistics of Bitterwasser on the OLC on January 27 [yesterday], it is clear that they were the best with 105 pilots,  making 804 flights and flying 618.425, 02 km. Congratulations to the Bitterwasser-team.
Kiripotib had 84 guests ,making 553 flights and 402.191,30 km. Also in Kiripotib the last flights were on January 20 and WHAT FLIGHTS!!!! 1.214 and 1.246 km. by Bernd Dolba and Janusz Centka.
Pokweni  was good for 55 pilots , making 482 flights and 375.574,43 km. They finished their season on the 19th with a 734 km. flight in a Nimbus 3DM.
Look at South Africa next week, as they still fly a bit , they still had 3 x a 1000 km. flights on the 24th and Australia continues as well with still over 800 km. flights from Corowa,[ARCUS]  over 600 in Tocumwal [ASH 26 e] and over 400 from Benalla.[LS 6 /17.5 m.]

———–

Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix in Santiago/Chile
24-1-2015 – 31-1-2015
Club de Planeadores de Vitacura

Day 2 briefing as shared by the organizers.

Day 2 was a 10 points-day . Set task; 287 km. and regatta start at 15.15. Better conditions up to 3100 m., but a lot of wind.
After day 1 with only 4 finishers , spectators at day 2, saw them finish ALL.
The 10 points , VERY welcome after the “out-landing/abortion” after 149 km. on day 1, were for Carlos Rocca Vidal and the 8 for Juergen Wenzel.
Juergen lost yesterday his first spot to some mistakes,[still got 3 points as runner up].This day he did not make ONE ; 8 points for him  and leading on Carlos with one point after 2 days.
Quite some difference in speed on that day;Carlos flew around with 118 km./h. Phil Sturley from the UK with 80 km./h.

Rocca landing after a good flight again. As shared on FB.

Day 3 even a bit better weather again and a 320.9 km. task was set for the men, though 5 from 11  [virtual]-landed.A 2d successive win for Carlos who leads now with 17 points on Alejandro Chanes, the winner from day 1, who has 13 and Juergen with 12. Only 1 point behind are Thomas and Rene.
Carlos won the day with the smallest margin on Rene;111.7 and 111.3 km./h. and that shows bigger in points;7 for 5.
Poor Phil, out-landed after 300 km. SO close, and only got zero points.

And Rene landing as well after completing the task.
As shared on FB by the QSGP organizers.

Day 4 was today.294.6 km. to fly. Rene got the 10 points today with Thomas Gostner as runner up with 8 points. Carlos was 3d with 7, all scores preliminary.

———-

2 Seat-National-Championships at Narromine in Australia
20-1-2015 – 28-1-2015

A tough day on the 26th of January….AUSTRALIA DAY…., with a 2 hour AAT. In both classes father and son Rowe were the winners.
A philosophical message from the editor of the blogs my friend Chris Stephens on the 25th;
“Under the GFA Nationals Rules one of the next three must be a rest day as five consecutive contest days have now been flown. The weather may change during that time. A compulsory rest day and a no-fly day means tomorrow could be the last contest day. With scores so close tomorrow may as well be Day 1 as these championships end on Wednesday, 28 January.” 

Day 7 was as expected scrubbed, due to thunderstorms but they needed the compulsory rest day as well.

But they squeezed out another day 7 with a 2.30 AAT , won by the I guess oldest team available there; Harry and Wendy Medlicott in their ARCUS M. Good on them!!!!!!
For Terry[Cubley]  and Brian [Rau] it was a less good day as they out-landed and the Georgesons finished, meaning they lost their 3d spot overall.
After 7 days of flying the total scores showed the next preliminary final scores;
Open 2 seat;
1. The Manders [Paul and Henry] with 5396 points in their ASH 25.
2. Pete Temple and Graham Rau in the DG 1000 S with 5308 points .
3. The  Rowes in the DUO DISCUS 5292. As you see all pretty close!

20 m. 2 seat;
1. Pete Temple and Graham  Rau in the DG 1000 S with 5408 points.
2. Mark and John Rowe in the DUO DISCUS with 5394 points
3. The Georgesons [Andrew and Danny] in the DUO DISCUS X with 5222 points.

———-

The Club Class Nationals at the airport of  Drury on New Zealand’ Nord Island
20-1-2015 – 31-1-2015

” No close up ridge soaring”
Was the message with this picture.It’s so good that pilots take the opportunity to make pictures when thy have time high up. Here is such a picture from an area you can’t fly low or land but interesting enough when you are high; the RAGLAN WIND FARM.
As shared by the organizers .

On the 27 th of January the club class pilots started on their day 7. Tim [Bromhead] in his LS 1f won for the 2d time this competition the daily prize.Task was a 2.30 AAT.
Same distance in the MSC contest where Pat Driessen had his 4th win over 4 days!!! 4000 points are his!!!! Tony is nearly 800 points behind.
They continue till the 31st. Unfortunately today had to be scrubbed.

———-

For those who interested in the results from the 14th  WORLD PARA GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS in Roldanillo in Columbia, here they are;
Overall
1st : Honorin Hamard    FRA
2nd : Michael Maurer    SUI
3rd : Torsten Siegel    GER

Women:
1st: Seiko Fukuoka Naville      FRA
2nd: Keiko Hiraki               JPN
3rd: Nicole Fedele              ITA

Nations:
1st: Germany
2nd: Slovenia
3rd: Spain

The full results can be found at the following address :
https://airtribune.com/worlds2015/blog__day_13

———–

Ever heard of the very FAMOUS X Games???  They were last week in Aspen Colorado and I know,.. because Belle, the daughter of one of my good Aussie soaring-friends Bruce, did remarkable well there, by being 4th, just off the podium, during her first visit to these GAMES, something she dreamed of when she was young.So one of her dreams already came true.
The other one, being an Olympic Champion ; in Sotchi she showed already, that she is on the way.
Being on spot 4 as a ROOKIE at these X Games, is a great result.
As the AUSTRALIAN from January 26 mentioned;
” Snowboard cross specialist Belle Brockhoff scored one of her best international results when fourth in her event.”

———-

Have a good week.
Cheers Ritz

 

Another EXTRA BLOG, enough news , as otherwise they get TOO long!

We got indeed a bit of winter. Not much but frost up to minus 5 and 0 during the day, snow at some places and freezing rain here. Hope the spring flowers who were popping up already due to the mild weather, survive after this ” hick-up”.

—–

Good news for David Jansen . Pam Kurstjens-Hawkins , the record officer from the GFA, has done her job already. Compliments to her as not everybody handles records so quickly.
Here is the one from David Jansen, the epic flight!

GFA has ratified the following records from David Jansen’s flight on 2 January 2015.

The Free Distance Record is also a Continental Record claim in the Oceania Region and has been submitted to the FAI for ratification.

Australian National Records Open Class and 18m Class

Free Distance – D.G.Jansen – 02/01/15 – ASG29E – 1308.12 km

Australian National Records Open Class and 18m Class

Free three TP Distance – D.G.Jansen – 02/01/15 – ASG29E – 1532.61 km

Australian National Records Open Class and 18m Class

Three TP Distance – D.G.Jansen – 02/01/15 – ASG29E – 1342.90 km

Australian National Records Open Class and 18m Class

Straight Distance to Goal – D.G.Jansen – 02/01/15 – ASG29E – 1252.91 km

And to make it even better,…..the GFA has ratified the following record claimed by David Jansen from his 750 km triangle flight on 20 December 2014 as well;

Australian National Record 18m Class

750 Km triangle speed – D.G.Jansen – 20/12/14 – ASG29E – 136.63 kph

So again CONGRATULATIONS to David!!!!

—–

In a race against the clock as they mentioned it their selves, Dutch record-chasers Max and Jeppe got his time , January 22, a VERY special one.
Did they improve their last 600 km. record with another 14 minutes,a couple of days ago,  this time they set a BIG one in the NIMBUS 4DM  with call sign UFO;
a declared 1.250 km FAI triangle .an exciting flight.
As they said ALL has to go well when you try it. Start should be as the fore-casted 10 o’ clock and on each leg they need the calculated speed.With 9.30 and for that reason a speed of 130 km./h. it would work.
They did it!!!!! 133.56 km./h.over a total of 1.270,55 km.
Though parts were slower over the first 437 km.[102 km./h.]  they managed to speed up and be back before sunset.
Yes days are getting longer here, they get shorter there!Congratulations with 2 new Dutch records and the longest flight world wide till now for the Baron Hilton Cup 2015 rules.
They topped the OLC list world wide on January 22.

As shared by Max and Jeppe!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

—–

Pan American Gliding Championships

They very first PAGC will be held in Chilhowee in Tennessee from April 3 till 17.
” The pilots would like to thank the Members and the Board Of Directors of the Soaring Association of Canada, for providing the funds that will cover the entry fees for the contest.This is a great show of support for the team in particular and soaring competition in Canada as a whole.”
4 Canadian pilots will enter the handicapped class and 1 reserve pilot is nominated and in 15 m. class 3 among them Jerzy [Szemplinski]

The local procedures have been approved and you can find them at the documents section;
https://sites.google.com/a/chilhowee.com/pagc/download

—–

News for pilots who are preparing already for the 2017 WGC in Benalla.
Tim Shirley will be the CD at this next event and here is his news:
” For information of all who may wish to attend, the next Multiclass Nationals – incorporating the pre-worlds – will be held at Benalla from Monday 4th (official practice) to Friday 15th Jan, 2016.  The event is now on the GFA Calendar. 

I will be the contest director, and other team members will be advised as planning progresses.

The event will be generally as for an Australian Multiclass Nationals and will be held in the usual 4 classes (Standard, 15M, 18M and Open).  There will be some changes to accommodate a larger number of foreign entrants, and where possible we will treat this as a dress rehearsal for the Worlds and run as closely as we can to a WGC format and approach.  Expect challenging tasks 🙂

A website and entry details will be published shortly, however this will give you a chance to start planning and arranging accommodation etc.  Note that Benalla is a full time operation throughout the season (November to March) and pilots wishing to prepare and practice are welcome at any time.” 

—–

The CONCORDIA on tow.
As shared by Gary Adams.

Some nostalgia. Once upon a time ,long, long ago CONCORDIA owner DICK BUTLER, owned and flew a 23 m. ASW 17.After having a few other owners ,this glider is bought by George Schuit a couple of years ago. Being in Tocumwal, George got it after the annual inspection , out of the hangar and with help of some mates, as the bloody thing is REALLY heavy, Ingo did the first test flight again and Bill [Harvey] got the honor of the first flight, that is, since a few years , as Georges wife Diana flew the Nationals in it at Benalla, then. Here some pictures as shared by Bruce Wilson.[Southern Riverina Gliding Club]

  

   

One of those special famous Tocumwal -cloud-days and the ASW 17, with Ingo, Bill, Raff and more.

And talking about Tocumwal, one of the pilots Uwe, flying at Sportaviation,  was very happy .He achieved on one day his silver badge and the other his gold and diamond.
” First day Silver “C” 100 km. Second day Gold distance & Diamond Goal 300 Km.” 

UWE,…A happy chappie.
Courtesy Sportaviation.

—–

Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix in Santiago/Chile
24-1-2015 – 31-1-2015

Ready for the practice day with GT from Thomas Gostner nicely in line.

After the training day, won by Rene Vidal,  the real game started in Chile and the 11 pilots in 15 m. class , among them 2  Italian , 1 German , 1 UK, 1 Argentinian, 1 Lithuanian and 5 pilots from Chile,straight away had a DIFFICULT one.
300 km. Was set , but most pilots did not finish and aborted the task , 4 however went ON!!! The winner of the day with a speed of 93 km./h. ,which says it all, was Alejandro Chanes flying the Ventus 2CT/15 m.
In fact Juergen Wenzel won the day but penalty points cost him that first place, the other 2 determined ” heroes” were Thomas Gostner and Javier Gaude.
10 Ventus gliders in 5 configurations [2 x a Ventus 2 CT/15 m…4 x a Ventus 2 ax…2 x a Ventus b/15 m…..1 x Ventus 2….1x a Ventus cm/15 m.]  and one Mini Nimbus, so all Schempp Hirth gliders performing there.

  

Carlos Rocca and Rene Vidal preparing for their flight.
Courtesy QSGP site

—–

2 Seat-National-Championships at Narromine in Australia
20-1-2015 – 28-1-2015

11 Gliders, so 22 pilots are busy enough in Narromine to see who is the best in 2 classes one open 20-seat- lass, with in fact one open class glider and the 20 m. 2 seat class.
They started on the 20thiest for the 4th 2 Seat Nationals, with a practice day and flew straight away 5 days in a row.The Mander’s in their ASH 25 were doing a great job in open class and after 5 days they topped with a marge of 100 points the list.
The other class was more interesting to follow.
The Georgesons won day 1, a 2 hour AAT , and 2 , a set 429 km…… but then it was Terry Cubley with an Adelaide mate Brian Rau who won in the ARCUS M the 4 hour AAT, followed by an other Adelaide team Pete Temple and G Rau in the DG 1000 s.
Day 4 , a 2.30 AAT was for Pete and G.Rau and day 5 for 2 pilots from the Hunter Valley flying the Duo Discus.
2 Collegues from my daughter at Transavia are flying in this competition as well. They spent our winter in Narromine and even run their own business there at Narromine.Evelien [Nijland] and William [Stalenburg] were on spot 6  flying  the Duo Discus after 5 days.

Great to see also Mark and John Rowe [Duo Discus] in this competition as well as Harry and Wendy Medlicott.[ARCUS M]
After 5 days Pete is leading the pact before the Rowe’s.

The Rowe’s as shared on the site: http://2015twoseatnationals.blogspot.com.au/

 

—–

The Club Class Nationals at the airport of  Drury on New Zealand’ Nord Island
20-1-2015 – 31-1-2015

The Auckland Gliding Club organized this competition on the foot of the Drury Hills.30 Pilots were allowed due to the size of the field. They flew in 2 classes Club and open.
Day 1 was difficult with only 4 from 17 finishers, so was day 2 with 3 finishers, both days were won by Steve Wallace in the MOSQUITO.
Day 3 with good weather and a 3.30 AAT was again a prey for Steve.
Day 4 however was not for him, the LS 1f with Tim Bromhead was faster but Steve finished as runner up; task 3.30 AAT and a speed for Tim 92.6 km./h. over 375 km. Good on him. Steve flew 333 km. in 3.45.
Day 5 with again great weather and a 3.30 AAT, had 2 WINNERS both 1000 points; Michael Strathern in the ASW 20 [handicap 98] flew 366.2  km.in time 3.49 whilst Marl Wilson in the St. Libelle flew 351.4 km. in time 3.40[handicap 89]

A combined -open class , the MSC Contest 2015, had till now 2 days and the 7 participants in this class enjoyed a 3 hour AAT yesterday won by Pat Driessen in the Ventus ct /17.6 m. [ 1 out-landing] and today a 3.15 AAT won by Pat as well. [3 out-landings]; 2000 points.
Other well known pilots in this class Tony Van Dyk , Nigel McPhee and Lindsey Stephens.

——

To finish this extra blog,  a “special”   outlanding as seen by Marcelo Navarro  and shared by Guilherme Purnhagen .

 Back next Wednesday

Cheers Ritz

 

So,…the year 2015 started with some great soaring and I tried to bring it more or less to you , IN your house.One QSGP [South Africa, by the way Sven Olivier flew a good 972 km. distance with a speed of  150 km./h. from Worcester on the 18th!]]  , 3 National Competitions [Australia, New Zealand …fabulous picture above with Alex Mc Caw and picture courtesy to his dad John….and Argentina] and the Andes Open in Chile,[ they run from Sunday till tomorrow a club class competition with 9 pilots flying 5 x a Mini Nimbus [handicap 107 ]and  a Pilatus B4…[handicap 88]]  .
It was just great fun to follow it.
We can look ahead at several comps in Mai one of them, the Open French Nationals in Buno for 18 m. and open class , with pilots from Holland, Belgium , Germany and Italy as well.
Nice to see that the USA [Iona County Airport in the state Michigan] waits for approval on their bid for the QSGP in 2016.That will be the first ever QSGP in the US.

Now it is a bit more quiet again, and I can focus on other soaring news or soaring related.

—–

I have written a full story on MILVUS,in my soaringcafe blog [www.soaringcafe.com] a while ago and it is good to see that pilots straight away bought the functional clothes/pants and even more …love them. Here is a story from one of our Aussie mates/ users.

By the way on the 31st they are promoting their soaring clothes here in Holland at the Millen Air -LX Navigation OPEN DAY at  Teuge.

” I have flown with the BRAVO pants twice now in the week since they arrived, one flight being almost 8 hours and I can say they are very very good. They met all my expectations, are comfortable, fit perfectly, and all your good design ideas work great.

 was taking notes during the flight and the window-pockets worked very well too. perfect size, being A6.

I spent a fair amount of time thinking of what else you could add to the BRAVO to make them even better, and I could not come up with a single thing. The attention to detail is first class. Like the little zipper levers that don’t get in the way when your hand rests across them. The little tags that cannot catch in anything…Pen pockets on both sides in just the right position.

The long center main zip works brilliantly, I did test it, it’s even better than expected. Releasing ballast has never been so easy.

In the 40°C heat and high humidity, they were still comfortable. The grey color did not get hot and also did not create glare or reflections. Just right ! They breathed pretty well too. I rolled the pants up to just under my knees, in the shade of the instrument panel and they were comfortable and not tight. 

The velcro strap and clip at the foot end are excellent for keeping the grass seeds out of your socks too, when walking around before take-off. Nice to see the elastic shoe loops are removable. I probably won’t need to use these. The side pockets worked great, are the right size and in just the correct position.

I like everything about them ! 10/10 !”

—–

Last Sunday I wrote a bit about the preparations from the Juniore teams on their way to the JWGC in Narromine. Here is the latest on the UK team.GREAT news!!!!
“We are delighted to welcome on board one of our first sponsors of the year, Lasham Gliding Society, who are sponsoring the Junior Team through the 2015 season.

This generous sponsorship will allow Matt, Mike, Sam and Tom to train together at Lasham throughout the season, alongside some of the country’s top glider pilots.

A huge thank you to Lasham – we’re looking forward to joining the club and seeing plenty more finishes like this through the season!”

Picture from – Junior- Gliding-Site.

——

Lot’s of kilometer-eaters in Africa and yesterday was an excellent day in both Namibia and South Africa.
Some love record chasing as I mentioned before and Max [Leenders] flew a few again, on a day he said that everything came together; Cloud base up to  5000 m. , lift with 5 m. per sec,  speed up to 300 km./h. on legs and just in time  to avoid the thunderstorms.
” Totally insane! 03:35 op 600 km is 167.76km/h.”
So a declared 600 km together with Jeppe, who one year ran the Dutch Nationals.
Before Max flew another Dutch record over 800 km. with 144 km./h.also with Jeppe. Both are airline pilots.
Max lost track on how many he has now,….. sounds good!

Nearly 1250 for Janus Centka  in the ARCUS M from Kiripotib, and 1.214 for Bernd Dolba and Wolfgang Janowitsch [1000 FAI triangle in ARCUS M] as well as for Reinhard [Schramme …1000 FAI triangle] in EB 28, from Bitterwasser.It’s a nice long season.All with a speed betwen 145 and 1540 km./h. Still 8x a 1000 , pretty late in their season.GOOD!!!!

—–

Last but not least.We can give a boost to Bert Schmelzer jr. to win an AWARD.
Would n’t it be great to see a glider pilot win the AWARD.Here is what it is all about!

Dear friends,

To the ones I haven’t seen or heard in the new year, I wish you first of all a very happy new year !

Due to last years success at the World Gliding Championships I recently got nominated for a sports award which is called the Säuliämtler Sports Awards.

CU next week
Cheers Ritz 

53d Multi Class Nationals ; Waikirie Australia.

A very blue LAST day.
courtesy Adam

AND YES,……The weather improved.
Glad it did!!!As organizers or pilots you don’t want to hang around, you want ACTION!!!!
Here is their message:
“Thursday 15th January 2015.. Fifteen Metre will launch first, task A 416.5km task B 322.5km Open class task A 425.2km task B 334.1km Standard class task A 360.6km task B 283.5km … All tasks go a little south then East out as far as carwarp for Open. Feels cool with 7/8 cloud at the moment, but day expected to cycle with lift going to 4500 ft maybe 5000 ft. Lighter winds than yesterday 10 to 15 knots.” 

Interesting to see. Lisa won day 1 and day 2 was won by kilometer eater Tobias in his LS 4 , day 3 and 4 by another kilometer-eater Allan Barnes in his LS 8.They are both enthusiastic long distance pilots and that does n’t mean per definition, that they are good competition pilots.In this case ,..they are!
Day 4 made it a valid competition in St Class and 15 m and day 4 indeed showed some better Aussie weather.
Allan won the set 36o.6 km. with a speed of 117.9 km./h. Just a tad faster as Norm [Bloch] , who was a while out of competition soaring but is back in great form.[117.4 km./h. ]
And about the same time 117.3 km./h. for Stephen O ‘Donnell .6 LS 8 gliders topped the daily list followed by 2 LS 4.

In 15m. Matthew is in the winning flow. Always eager to fly, he had his daily win number 3 this time over 416.5 km [1000 points] !!!! .Good on him.A nice article about Matthew on the OLC news from Sunday January 11 by Elke .
Mac [ 990 ]and Adam [975] followed .
The same 3 names and the same sequence after 4 days over-all-flying.

Matthew mentioned in his” tales”.[Matthew Scutter’s Gliding on FB]
“Bit of an easier run today – 4500 ft cloud-base, 20-25 kt breeze and lots of spread-out. Picked up a few followers pre-start, but never got low, never got slow, and overran the gaggle as they found themselves in trouble near the irrigated country.” 

Day 3 for 18 m. and open class with 424 km. Good old Butch won the day in his ASG 29. He was already in the top in 1984 and still is.Amazing!
AND THEN THE LAST DAY. The forecast was for a BLUE day!
As the organizers said;” it looks like the weather god’s are going to throw a classic South Australian blue day into the mix. ” 

This time I did not have to look ahead ,as experts AT the spot did that for me on the site.
“ nearly all winners places aren’t yet secure however with quality pilots like Allan Barnes leading STD by 123 points & the ever reliable Matt Scutter leading 15M by 112 points it is hard to see these positions changing barring disaster! 
A 15M class win tomorrow by Matt would give him back – back Australian 15M Championships and would be his 5th Australian Nationals title out of a possible 6 in the last 2 seasons (2013/14 Joey Glide, Sports Class & 15M Class Champion & 2014/15 Joey Glide & 15M Class Champion), a remarkable achievement!
In 18M class Butch Buchanan is leading Pete Temple by just 31 points with Georgo pushing only 83 points off the lead. Pete T as a local thrives in the blue conditions so it could be an interesting race to this national title.
In OPEN class Ian Craigie from Kingaroy flying his beautiful JS1C “Z5” has a nice but far from insurmountable 95 point lead over Butch. It will be interesting to see how he goes on a typical SA soaring day…”

The West was option A , but when it turned out colder and more blue they decided for the good old cat’s cradle around Waikirie.B was on.

In Standard  class a slow day with best speed 88.5 km./h. but still 1000 points and they were for Greg Beecroft. The runner up on the last day was Matthew’s sister Claire .GOOD ON HER !!!! A few out-landings as well.
The title was for Allan Barnes with 3641 points.Norm was 3d!!!Only 11 points behind the runner up Stephen.

A max of 746 points in 15 m. class and they were for Scott Percival in the SZD -56-1.Matthew took so to see no risk and finished on a daily spot 6. But was of course the new champion, like he was last year. Well done Matthew!
Mac was the runner up just 101 points behind Matthew and Adam was on spot 3. He was very happy with the result and when I congratulated him he wrote .” Thanks Ritz, my best placing at a seniors! Was a good comp, my write up to come.”
Good!

In 18 m. class only 4 days and only 4 finishers on the last day!! Andrew [Georgeson-Ventus 2cx] ] won the last day and moved from spot 3 overall to 2. Meaning Butch dropped to 3.[ 3153] The winner was Pete Temple, good on him, after the scares with the bushfires close to his house , he could set his mind on soaring and won the comps .[3193 p]. Just a tad better than Andrew who had 15 points less.
All pretty close those scores!

In open class Ian Craigie [JS1 c] topped the overall scores EVERY day, on this last day as well. [3122]He did not win the day as Andrew did, also in open class, but had enough points for the best scores after 4 days.Pete and Andrew were on spot 2 and 3 whilst Brad [Edwards] was on 4 and Butch on 5.

What a pity about this weather. Saw that it improved now, what can you do!Anyhow HAPPY winners!!!

Mac ,Matthew and Adam.
courtesy Adam.

—–

Ostler Vineyards Multi Class Nationals Gliding at Omarama [N.Z.] 

Prizes have been handed over to the champions in all classes after 10 days of soaring
Courtesy FB site.

After a scrubbed day they happily continued with DAY 9 , Thursday at Omarama. Only one more day to go on Friday.
Maybe NOT TOO happy as only 1 glider finished ; the ASH 25e with Tom and Graham.
Lex from the scoring informed us in a very clear way  on their official blog;
”  Only one glider managed to get around the task today: Graham Parker / Tom Claffey in ZZ in the Open class. Michael Oakley / Karen Morgan (TF) streched out their last glide of the day to get within 450m of the 40km circle around the Tin Hutt (110) turnpoint and then back to Pukaki airfield so they get a 25 point penalty for missing the turnpoint but manage to get a few extra points than if they had not made it to with 500m of that turnpoint.

The magic number for today was 80km, or more precisely; how many people in each class got over 80km.
In the Open class half of the pilots got over 80km so the day ended up being out of 500 points.
In the 20m class all of the (three) pilots got over 80km but none of them got over 200km so it was devalued down to a 720 point day.
In the 18m class only two of the eight pilots got over 80km – you need to get over the 25% mark to score any points so this unfortunately means that the day was worth 0 points.
In the 15m / Standard class five out of nine got over 80km but this is less than the 75% mark needed to get full points, and, no one got to the (other) magic number of 200km which further devalued the day – their day is currently out of a maximum of 460 points but ZAs GPS file could change that.” 

So what happened with the scores on this one but last day of a very interesting competition in New Zealand, with better weather as in Australia at the moment.
Lex, on FB kept us informed in the most prefect way. Here is the last morning message. Thanks to him!!!
“ It has been a wee while since we have had a Day 10! Today is sunny, hot and windy and we have a classic Omarama Fuzzy Turnpoint Racing Task for each class. It is an AAT task but with an impossibly short minimum task time of 1 hour and only 5km radius areas at each turnpoint. The idea is that it is flown as a Racing task and the larger turnpoint circles allow for the variability of the wave cloud and conditions at each turnpoint. But it is important for pilots to remember that it will be scored as an AAT task so normal AAT tactics apply! We are expecting strong wave conditions today and have a wee bit of an unusual task with everyone going north, then east, then way south. Hopefully every one gets back in time for the prize giving dinner tonight – and in time to give me their GPS!” 

Fabulous South Island from New Zealand.
Picture shared by the organizers.

What happened,…. sensation enough!
First the exciting 15 m./st.class class with junior Alex on spot 5 overall. It looks that he took quite a risk, but I am sure a calculated risk to start as last pilot, in his class.The first pilots crossed the start line at 13.16, Alex left at 14.58. So in the end of the day it was waiting for him. He finished at 17.22, the rest was in already for more than an hour, but he was the fastest pilot with 155.7 km./h. over  373.4 km.So 1000 points for him on this last day. Some kind of coupe!!
With a non flying day for George [on spot 4 overall on day 9] and an out-landing by Tony [on spot 3 on day 9] Alex climbed up to the podium for the bronze. [5736] Other junior and good mate of Alex, Nick stayed on spot 2 [6473] and the winner was Vaughan.[7110]
By the way the difference in points between Alex and Tony was only 16 points. Tony finished on spot 4.
By the way , I checked with Jill, Alex mum and yes it was ALL OR NOTHING on that last day. He started just before the finish-line closed!!2 minutes left !!!!

Nick and Alex.
courtesy Canterbury Gliding Club.

The last day in the combined open class was won, AGAIN,by  18 m. pilot  Grae ;173.3 km./h. over 416.8 km. ASH pilot Michael was runner up on the last day and 20 m pilots Keith and Gavin were on spot 3.

How do the overall scores look in the different classes?
Looking at st. class only, Nick won and Alex was runner up. A great result on their way to the JWGC in Narromine.
18 m. class ; a glorious win for Grae in the Ventus 2cxt with a total of 7751 points!!!!! Derek Kraak [ASG 29] was runner up with 6444 points and on spot 3 it was Warren Dickinson.[LS 8 t/18m ]
As I heard Warren is Dane’s dad. All Italian young ladies , for sure remember talented young pilot Dane, [JWGC in Rieti] who has flying on on a low profile at the moment, doing post graduate studies in the UK.
20 m. was for Tom Klassen and Ge Dale in the DUO DISCUS with 8304 points and Keith Essex and Gavin Wills, [ARCUS ] were the  runner up with exact 100 points less  .
Open class was a clear win for Michael Oakley in the ASH 25 with 8409 points.18 m. Pilot Grae was here the runner up with 7297 points and third place was for my Aussie mates graham and Tom in the ASH 25e with 7040 points.

As said…..Great competition to follow and a fabulous picture by Geoff Soper again to close it.

Finish by Brett Hunter in the JS 1c.He won day 3.
Courtsey Geoff Soper, via the FB site.

Only one day after the comps my Aussie mates Graham and Tom, “visited”   Mount Cook and  the South [coast]of the South Island in the ASH 25, flying from Omarama a 1000 km. distance in wave, [up to 5567 MSL] on what they called a lovely day. Lovely speed as well 177.5 km./h.!!!!
For sure ” happy chappies”!

—–

Nationals at Chaves in Argentina.

Could n’t find any news, so for sure a few non flying days.BUT,…on Thursday they flew again in both classes with each a 3.30 AAT.
That was clearly TOO much for all , as the best distance in St. class, was “only” 281.3 km.  and the best speed  was 78.4 km./h[LS 4]
Still a good performance!
In 15 m. it was 317 km. with a speed of 89.6 km./h. in a Ventus 2CM/18 m..
Martin Bossart won the day and Damian and his “Rosario” -club-mate Santiago, were both runner up, both started about the same time, both finished like that and both got 984 daily points.On top of that both fly the ASW 20.

In the end they had 5 and 6 days.National Champions; Damian in 15 m. Class [ 5302 points] and Javier Sondon [ 4613 points] in standard class.
Congratulations !!!

  

Santiago [Berca] , Damian and Martin and Santiago [Demodena] ,Javier and Andres.
Courtesy  Marcello Navaro.

—–

THE ANDES OPEN 2015

Club de Planeadores de Vitacura, Santiago, Chili,

Courtesy Jorge Carrizo.

Good weather and a good task  on day 5 ;3.45 AAT, so I expected “A”  Vidal in the top. Not one but ,….both were the best. Rene got the 1000 points for 518.7 km. with a speed of 135.7 km./h. and Carlos got 9 points less for his 509 km. with a speed of 134 km./h.
After 5 days Carlos had already 4947 points and Rene as runner up 4174.

Day 6 had the same task,…new chances and new possibilities for all 17 pilots.BUT,..another  winner as this time Carlos [Ventus 2b] was the best again with 554.3 km. with a nice speed of 144 km./h.
Rene [Ventus 2cxa/15m.] flew 556.4 km but slower ;129.7 km./h.
Carlos leads with more than 900 points now on Rene and he is nearly 500 points ahead of the ARCUS M with Andres Errazuris.
Yesterday was the last day and the weather was different than expected.The 2.30 hour AAT turned out more difficult than expected due to the unexpected entrance of cold air. Some had to abort their flight and returned home.7 From 17 finished.
The final outcome was no surprise.
Before they all enjoyed a good roast, Carlos Rocca Vidal was crowned as WINNER of the Andes Open.. Rene was the runner up and Andres in the ARCUS remained on spot 3.

  

Courtesy Jorge Carizzo.

—–

On the 15th the OLC showed a nice and unexpected long flight from 2 of my Dutch mates, Alfred Paul and Mark. The forecast was they said not too good, so they were not in a hurry. It turned out better and better with later lift up to 4 m. and a cloud base of 3500 MSL. From Kuruman they flew 1.165 km. [989 FAI triangle] in the NIMBUS 4DM with a speed of 132 km./h.
Other friends , Roland and Hans, flew from there also over 1000 km. The only 1000 km. flights for that day.
SO  nice to see all those friends flying around WITH each other in 2 seaters.
Other friends flying together are Erik and Boudewijn, [ARCUS T] Wolfgang and Reinhard [ARCUS M] and Manuele in the ARCUS M spending time with Ugo.
Those 2 – seaters bring a lot of joy and GOOD soaring and even great lessons from masters to pupils.

Last Friday Bernd Goretzki, flew in an 18 m. Ventus 2cm, in wave up to 6067 MSL from Munivitacura Pis in Chile.
And,,,good, better best,…it was Jean Marc Perrin who nearly flew 2000 km. in the 15 m. version DG 808 from Los Antiquos in Argentina.; 1.978, 69 km.

—–

During the Australian and New Zealand Nationals quite a few young pilots participated and practiced for the JWGC in Narromine end of this year.
Also the UK and Germany are very busy with their preparations. Holland and Belgium, as well.I know they are ALL active to “find”  enough money to travel to that far-away-dream land.
To finish some pictures from the young Belgium team , busy with their Australian dream Project to be present at the JWGC at Narromine and from the Dutch team with their 2 in “very-good-health-being” Cirrusses;AU and AG.They maintain them their selves in winter period, so the know the gliders from in and out-side!

 Belgium; ” We are about to launch a small action movie with our juniors which would present the Belgian team in Australia and which hopefully helps our juniors is the next and final upcoming project. (will be announced soon!)”
” We had the possibility to use a professional team which helped us a lot with everything. We even had the possibility to use a drone to make the actions even more spectacular! ” 

and the 2 Dutch gliders ready for Australia.

   

The Dutch  juniors maintain their gliders mostly by their selves during this winter period.All their news on http://www.dutchjuniors.zweefvliegen.net/

——-

CU next Wednesday
cheers Ritz

With nearly 4 million people on the street in France and about 1.7 million in Paris only and lot’s more all over the world…..this world is not lost yet.
By the way the last 2 events in France with so many people around, were  in 1886 when 2 million people attended the funeral of writer Victor Hugo and in 44/45 when France was FREE after the war and general de Gaulle drove through the streets.
Last Sunday however was the biggest EVER.
Hope the solidarity stays longer than only on Sunday.

—–

What great flying in Worcester!!! I still enjoy the QSGP from last week and look forward to the next one!!

—–

Enough comps to follow, that is when the weather gods are in good mood!!We continue where I left you last Sunday.

Ostler Vineyards Multi Class Nationals Gliding at Omarama [N.Z.] 

Keeping their sponsors happy as well.
Courtesy competition site.

On Monday they continued with their nationals and day 7 was on.
On day 6 in 15 m., Alex won but he, nor anybody else finished. Vaughan was not yet scored on day 6 but he managed to come close as well with a 2d place for the day.
This day 7 with 263.7 km. was a prey for George Wills in the Discus 2c. Vaughan was 2d again, Nick 3d , Tony 6th and Alex just out landed, loosing over 500 points. BUT,…the overall scores did not change after 7 days it is Nick on spot 1, Vaughan on spot 2 Alex AND Tony on spot 3 [both 4164 points].

   

Father and Son Oakley.
Courtesy the organizers.

In the combined open class it was …..yes Michael Oakley again. He won 5 from the 7 days till now and was once 3d and once runner up.Father and son top the scores, interesting, but ,..still at this stage.
8 from 16 finished in this class ?????????

Have to mention again Grae Harrison who tops the 18 m. class after day 7. [Ventus 2cx]He looks like a great pilot , is after 7 days over 1000 points ahead on the runner up and won this difficult day again, looking only at 18m. Good on him. You remember he was the only finisher on day 6 , even won the combined open class and won day 1 and 2.

The field, mountains, gliders and flags.
As shared by the organizers.

Day 8 was weather-wise still not the best, but there is hope for the last days. In 15 m. it was Vaughan[LS6a]  AGAIN ,who got the daily prize.
Not all pilots choose to fly, some returned and some had relights and went on track.6 From 11 finished in this class and Vaughan’s 1000 points for the day brought him to the overall top.Nick moved to 2 and Tony remained on 3. George {Wills }moved up to 4 and Alex dropped to 5, earning only 223 points for the day.

And Alex .
Both Alex and Nick belong to the NZ Junior team and both participate in the JWGC  in Narromine end of this year!
picture courtesey Organizers.

In the combined open class the 1000 points were for Gavin Wills/Keith Essex in the ARCUS. My Aussie friends Tom [Claffey] and Graham [Parker] are doing a GREAT job in their ASH 25 e, by occupying the 3d place overall after 7 days.
Grae  remains TOP, he is still on spot 2 inn this open class, between all those big gliders. Of course he tops the 18 m. class and with a marge; more than 650 points.
The 20 m. class is at this stage topped by Ge and Tom [Klassen] , or Tom and Ge.

Today is day 9 ,more about that on Sunday!

——

53d Multi Class Nationals ; Waikirie Australia.

Courtesy Adam Woolley

As you can see the weather did not really improve on Monday in Waikirie. What a pity, it can be so GOOD over there!!!!
Adam mentioned:
” Tough day in the office, yet fun & rewarding at the same time! Most of my climbs were in the rain, surprising what you can do on any given day.
Awaiting the scores now, will it be a competition day?” NO WORRIES,…..it was n’t for him.
YES they squeezed out another competition day;day 2 at least in ONE class.
St. class got a 2.45 AAT and was first on the grid.Nobody finished but Tobias Geiger in his LS 4 ,”  who loves eating kilometers”  , chewed 207.9 km. and was the best in his class;513 points.

And Matthew said :” Extremely challenging day today, ~2500 ft cloud base, widespread rain and a 2.5 hr AAT. No one finished the task, but I did the 4th most distance at a whopping 84km. 0.9kt average climbs, and 34km/h to the paddock. Incredibly it’s still a scorable day, 70 pts for my efforts. Thanks to Andrew Horton for the retrieve.”
In all other classes they had a 2.30 AAT ,but in none of the classes they passed the 100 km. distance and all got zero points, so not a valid day.
First time since 1990 it seems that ALL pilots out-landed.

Yesterday was …..cancelled……
Today they flew day 3 in st and 15 m. and  day 2 in 18m. and open. Preliminary scores at this early stage ;
St class; Allan Barnes together with 3 other LS 8 pilots.[set 193.9 km.]
15 m. class; Matthew Scutter [ set 222.9  km.]
18 m. class; Pete Temple [ set 263.5 km.]
Open class/18 m. ; Pete Temple

——

Nationals at Chaves in Argentina.

Damien is in the right flow and won after day 4 also day 5 , whilst the other class was cancelled.
15 m./open had a 2.30 hour AAT ,a slow day with around 60 km. speed ,but still distances up to 240 km. in the ASW 20.
After the 5 flown days in this class Damian just leads , the overall scores with 5 points on Santiago, both ASW 20 pilots.
BUT Damian comes from FAR, started on day 1 with spot 22 overall and climbed up to spot 1 in 5 days …..NOT BAD!!!!!
Martin Bossart who won day 2 lost quite some points by out-landing.[over 400]
The other more well known pilot Fernando Repiky flying the ASH 25 ,was one of the 8 from 29 who managed to finish.

Yesterday no news.

—–

THE ANDES OPEN 2015

Club de Planeadores de Vitacura, Santiago, Chili,
10-1-2015 – 22-1-2015

After a speedy practice day [408 km. with a speed of 143.7 km.]last Friday,  day 1 , a 345 km. AAT straight away was a prey for well-known topper  Carlos Rocca Vidal.[Ventus 2b] . Rene [Vidal] as well known, in the competition-soaring-circus, was on spot 8.[Ventus 2cxa/15 m.]

Rene won day  2 a set 366 km. task and Carlos Rocca was runner up. On day 3 , they changed places again in the top; Carlos Rocca was first and Rene on 3.Day 3 had a 3 hour AAT and Carlos flew with a speed of 150 km./h. over 452.2 km.
17 Pilots flying in this combined/handicapped class.2 German pilots entered as well one from the UK.

Day 3 had a 3. 45 AAT . Carlos Rocco won with 486.7 km. in time 3.53, so a nice speed of 125.2 km./h. Rene, lost 225 points on Carlos.The ARCUS M with Andres Errazuris, moved in as runner up  both as daily winner and as provisional overall candidate.

—–

What happened on the OLC?
On the 12th a nice flight from Los Antiquos in Argentina in a 15 m. glider!!! Jean Marc Perrin flew this DG 808 over 1.395 km.
Quite a few of my mates are doing well at their over seas destinations. I liked the flights from Rob, Erik, Martti, Roy, Patrick, Michael, Max and Max, Reitze, Alfred Paul ,Mark, Roland ,Hans, Manuele, Wolfgang, Reinhard and more.
Still great weather in South Africa and Namibia.

—–

And talking about Namibia…..Last but not least a link to the speedy record flight  from Belgium father and son Bert sr and Tijl Schmelzer. Tijl is SOO good in describing such a flight  and as he is some kind of mathematical wonder….  it is illustrated with statistics , polar ‘s , models and  one beautiful picture! IMPRESSIVE scientific article!
As you can read, you just don’t fly such a record ,….it needs PREPARATION.
Though it looks SO easy when he describes : ”  the 100km FAI triangle record can be defined as: One Perfect Climb, One Perfect Final Glide.”
When the link does n’t work you can copy and paste it and then read it. Enjoy!!

https://www.scribd.com/doc/252510679/Solving-the-Speed-Run-How-We-Broke-the-200kph-Barrier

Father and son; Tijl and Bert sr.
Courtesy Bert sr.

  

Bert sr. and Bernd Dolba [from Kiripotib] and Tijl and Tijl, Bert, and Hilde with Dutch friends.
courtesy the Schmelzers.

——

That’s it for now. More extra news on Sunday when most of these comps have finished.

Cheers Ritz

What can you say about all what happened in France??????!!! It’s too tragic for words.Maybe only ” JE SUIS CHARLIE”!!!!!!

Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix in Worcester [South Africa]

With the one but best time on Tuesday ,  ZERO points however due to missing the ” bloody”  startline , Laurens showed straight away his quality; 10 points on a hot day [40 dgr.]  ; 395 km. with a speed of 175.4 km./h. just a tad faster than Holger. In fact ,5 pilots had about the same finish time, that must have been spectacular.No out-landing , but one pilot missed a TP and got scored till there. Laurens climbed from spot 5 overall to spot 3 with 18 points , whilst Uli had 23 and Holger 19. Everything was still possible!!

Nothing different on day 4 , it’s a valid GP now, but South African pilot Laurens seemed determined to keep the “honors”  in South Africa and was just a tiny, tiny tad faster than Claus, but he took the 10 points bringing him just ONE point behind Uli overall, with 29 points. 5 Pilots nearly finishing again at the same time. 189,8 km./h . for Laurens ,what they think the fastest time ever during a QSGP, then Claus [189.6 km./h.] , Oscar [189.5 km./h.] and Holger and Uli both with 189.3 km./h.. Starting and finishing at the same time over 475.9 km. WOW!!!!!!

Some of the pilotsas shared on the FB site from the QSGP. Oscar , Sven and Uli.

On Friday,day 5 of this QSGP, a task from 407 km. was set. Who had the best nerves!!!??? No nerves were necessary as the weather was already nerve-breaking. As they mentioned on their site ; “Difficult day ( see the speeds !) and most gliders were late entering the start zone. One landout before the start, one landout at Citrusdaal and WL still battling homewards…. and just to make our day complete, there is no electricity  AGAIN .” Such is life! BUT,…..Laurens won day 5!!! 407 km. with a speed of 138.2 km./h. gave him 8 points.He tops the list now , as Uli who was 2d, got 6 points and has one point less. 39 for 38.

EXCITING one but LAST DAY with 589.6 km. and the expectation of VERY HIGH SPEED. “ They are holding out for a 200 kph+ average for the task today, but it might be slowed down as the pilots have to get past Waaihoek 4 times today. If they can navigate quickly through this area they will get the required results .”  Still a long distance and mistakes can be made. BUT,….. HE DID IT!!!!! After loosing 8 points cause of missing the start line, he still managed to win another day at the QSGP in Worcester and I take my hat off for Laurens. He won 4 days in a row!!! A total of 38 points plus 8 from the first  day . Not the hoped for 200 km./h. but 188.1 km. /h. is ” not bad ” either. And,…. flying around with 141 km./h . gives you ZERO points and the last [11th] spot for the day. The first 10 pilots flew with a speed of 188.1 km./h. and 178.6 km./h. That IS SPEED!!!

LAST DAY. NUMBER 7. Today!!!! Just a small 201 km. OUT and RETURN task,  to get everybody home in time. 46 points for Laurens, 42 for Uli and 35 for Holger.So 3 pilots were still in the race for the highest spot, as the winner on this last day gets ONE EXTRA point. EXCITEMENT ALL OVER !!!!! For sure brother Oscar was going to help Laurens and the S.A. mates maybe as well and Uli and Holger had  3 more of their German mates, if necessary.

The REGATTA start was at 13.30 and Laurens won AGAIN; 11 points!!! 149.9 km./h. was the time on this last day, so all days were impressive fast. Congratulations to Laurens [57 points], Uli [50]and Holger [41]. Normally they should be attending the FINAL race in Varese [Italy -September  5-12]

When you are interested you can look at all the videos on  http://www.sgp.aero/southafrica2015.aspx?contestID=6098  for the exciting [ridge-] races and some  nail-biting finishes. Congratulations to all pilots and thanks for another great  QSGP- “show”.

To finish a message from Uli, as shared on my FB site; “At first I want to thank Laurens Goudriaan for inviting me and organizing a glider for me to fly at the Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix at Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa.

This was an opportunity to visit a gliding site that I had heard so much about but had not visited before. Now I know why the pilots have talked about Worcester so enthusiastically – I am also now enthralled by this venue and the amazing and fantastic flying conditions.

I feel very honoured and indebted to Attie Jonker who so very kindly allowed me to fly his glider AJ. On New Year’s Day together with Laurens we had a training flight when we flew 400 km. at a speed of 180 kph. It was incredible.

—–

 

Ostler Vineyards Multi Class Nationals Gliding at Omarama [N.Z.] 

Well, I guess you agree with me, ….., he deserved the 1000 points this day. After flying as sole pilot the task AND finishing, but nobody else did, so ZERO points, Alex won again on day 3 , but now for 1000 points. Good on him!!

In the combined open class it was dad Oakley AGAIN;364.8 km. with a speed of 130 km./h. Looking at the pilots separately in their class Brett Hunter won the 18 m. class and Ge and Tom Klassen the 20 m.

Day 4 was a tough one!!! ” Lots of unhappy pilots.”  This time young Nick showed his talent again by only missing out on 10 km. to finish ; he flew 318.8 km. from the set 328.7 km. Nobody did by the way, but he got the 500 points. Vaughan Ruddick in the LS 6a, had a good run  and got 468 points. Young Alex had only 24 and Tony 185. After 4 flying days but still a week to go. In the combined open class it was not ” dad” , but this time but Ge and Tom in the Duo Discus.Must have been really UK-weather!! 4 Pilots among them “dad” , managed to finish the task from 328.7 km. Some really tried HARD!!! Starting at 17.20 is such an effort. At least he tried even after returning after 10 km.

The next day was cancelled/scrubbed!

Then there was day 5.…and I look again at the combined open and the 15 m. class. Later we analyse the final scores in each class. The small ships got task between 176 and 450 [311 km] .And Vaughan seems in a good flow . He won the day got the 1000 points , but the young ones did well too on spot 2 [Alex] and 3 [Nick] Michael Oakley [ASH 25]  won , his 3d win this competition in open class. BUT he did not win day 6, still got 925 from the 1000 points however. A  477 km. was set and this time a Ventus 2cxt won the day; Grae Harisson, who was , with that also the winner and sole finisher in 18m. Another difficult day as only 3 gliders in this combined class finished.Scores for 15 m. are not ready yet as 1 glider is not scored yet, and this is ZI the one from and with Vaughan.Nobody finished in this class, but Alex was nearly home; 468.9 km. from the set 477 km. so interesting to know the distance from Vaughn. More on Wednesday.

—–

53d Multi Class Nationals ; Waikirie Australia.

Great first day 1 result for Matthew in 15 m., so here is as shared from his ” tales” Matthew Scutter’s Gliding ”  Good first day to kick off the Australian Multiclass Nationals!
Ignored the gaggle, started early by myself and pushed on a long way waiting for the day to boom, had some strong climbs around the task including skipping around the outflow from a rainstorm, and slipped between showers just as it all turns to worms at the end of the day. I think that’s my fastest speed at a competition.” Good on him!!!

Lisa [Trotter] had an excellent day 1 too,winning the standard class;379.3 km. in time 2.34. on a 2.30 AAT. And in the 2.45 AAT for 18m./and open class it was Ian Craigie in the JS 1 who won the first day  [460.8 km. with 167.6 km./h]just ahead of Brad Edwards.Good to see Pete Temple flying, their house in the burning Adelaide Hills should be fine then.

Day 2 was cancelled, maybe an euphemism but they said:”Not exactly ideal gliding weather.” They had heavy rain.Good to dampen down the fires though. The rain continued and a few days they had to look at it. On Saturday evening the message;”We are optimistic of getting a short task in tomorrow. It is forecast to be 29 C and blue. Briefing is at 10 am. It is currently raining.” 

Today they tried HARD. They gridded, the sniffer “sniffed”, but the trough came back to spoil it all. “ It has come back from the East to have a second go at us. We got up to 26.5C but we needed 27C. The grid is currently decomposing and many are derigging – having rigged this morning.
Day Cancelled.” 4 Days in a row now cancelled and the outlook for the next 2 days was not too good either, but there is always HOPE!!!!! More on Wednesday.

Even the HEART OF THE CONTINENT is wet. Alice Springs has  very unusual flooding.Water flows through the main-street and that normally  happens once in 20 years.

—–

Nationals at Chaves in Argentina.

After the cancelled day, 4 days in a row were flyable.2.30 and 2 hour AAT in club/St Class and in the 15m./open class  and 2 hour AAT’s were set.On day 4 a 2.30 and 3 hour AAT. In club/st. class 3 days in a row the same daily winner; Javier Sondon in the St. Jantar 2. After 4 days he tops the overall scores , nearly 400 points ahead on the runner up. But ,..still a week to go and a lot can happen, as we all know. In the other class 15m./open everyday another pilot was cheered on as daily winner.Martin Bossart was the most consistent and tops the list with 200 points after 4 days.This day 4 was won by Damian Goldenzweig, who climbed to spot 3 coming from 8. Interesting scores the number 1 has 3590 points, then 3323,3318,3317 and 3316.3304 Is still pretty close too. ALL ASW 20 except for the Ventus 2CM/18m from Martin. More on Wednesday.

—–

On the OLC the great flying continues. Last Thursday the top 5 on this OLC was for 3 Dutch and 1 Belgium pilot. Top spot 1 was for Rob with Dirk [ARCUS T]  and they mentioned;” Forecast was not so good, so we declared only a 720km. After an hour the weather turned out to be brilliant, so we decided to go for OLC 1000 km, which we achieved with time to spare. ” Bart Huygen from Belgium flew in a DISCUS 2 a very good 911km. distance.

They fly from Douglas,  as do Max and Edo [NIMBUS 4DM] .

Top spot 3 was for them the record-hunters Max and Edo; ” Declared 1101km out & return.
1. Dutch national open class speed record @138kmh
2. African continental out & return distance 1101km
3. African continental free out & return distance 1106km
4. Dutch out & return distance 1101km
5. Dutch free out & return distance 1106km” 

And some selfies they shared on FB.  Congratulations!!!!!

   

——

And,….have a look at the news from the OLC. Great news. Bitterwasser as a youth training center – a great idea of ​​a top man. I mentioned already in one of my earlier blogs , my happiness about pilots as Wilfried Grosskinsky to take up younger ones . This year he had 4 talented pilots for 10 days. Now they are planning a 10 day ,[ in the future international]  training camp to share [t]his experience with those of the young ones;for sure he is one of the MASTERS to learn them. Wilfried “ wants to provide such training camp in the coming year. Preferably with international participation. A nice way to promote young drivers and thus promote our sport.”[OLC] See the full story on the OLC news on January 8.Love the idea!!!! In the past about 10 years ago we did the same at Sportavia. We invited one young talented  pilot to fly a competition with INGO RENNER. With him in the glider and as coach each in their own glider. Pekka from Finland, Tijl from Belgium and Alfred Paul from Holland were the lucky ones. By the way , Tijl flew with his dad last Wednesday a declared 1000 km. [Belgian records on declared 3TP and free 3TP.] from Kiripotib in the EB 28. 

That’s it, enough news again to fill a Sunday blog so , CU next Wednesday again.

With so many people from all over the world attending the impressive manifestation in Paris to remember the 17 people who were killed in the different attacks this afternoon and so many at home who are behind this solidarity appeal, this world is not yet  “lost”. Cheers Ritz

QUALIFYING GRAND PRIX ; WORCESTER in S.A.

On their site they could proudly announce;
Day 1 of this SGP Qualifier was the longest task (712.5 km) and fastest speed yet (167.3 kph) for a Sailplane Grand Prix

WOW, that’s something. Guess Uli has ” scratched ”  his head after the flight,  as for sure he had no time to so during the flight!!!!
Yes Uli [Schwenk ] flew with a speed of 167.3 km. over those 712 km. and got the 10 points for the day. Laurens was as fast but got the 8 points and Holger just a tad slower 167. 2 km./h. the 7 points for the day.
The regatta start was at 13.03 and off they went for a long but fast race.A cracker of a day they called it, so it was!!
A fabulous video with Holger is at ; http://sgp.aero/southafrica2015.aspx

Day 2 unfortunately was cancelled due to STRONG winds!!

After a day of winery-visits they all were ready for  soaring-day 2.
454 km. was set to the SE mountains and the weather was calm. The speed turned out to be good again; just under 160 km./h. for Claus, and Laurens and a tad slower for Uli.
OUCH,…then the message that Laurens had missed the startline,as did Bernd Hubka.That hurts after such a battle!
Klaus out-landed, so the points are for Claus [8] Uli [6] and John [5] .

 

—–

53d Multi Class Nationals ; Waikirie Australia.

 

The LS 8’s put their stamp on the first official practice day. In standard class the 5 first places were for the LS 8 and then 2 for the LS 4.
In open /18 m. it was former world champion Brad Edwards [ 348 km. with a speed of 166 km./h.] who showed his interest in the title and in 15 m. the ” young ones” seem ready for a title as Matthew and Adam topped the list.
Not everybody choose to fly.
About this day Adam wrote on his site Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
—--“What a ballistic, crazy day – 315 km.at 150 kph, 6 kt climbs to 7,000′, with cruise speeds between 105-120 kts!
The new start procedure in my opinion worked well, log a point below a specific height after gate open – then climb as high as you like before start.
Drifted with a CU until I was behind the line, saw Master Scutter’s go through the line & thought – now is as good a time as any. Mainly straight lining all day, under regular CU.
I lost a 1000′ on Scutter after crossing the boarder, then proceeded to do my own thing. 40km down the road, I had picked it up again & we were again neck & neck.
Could’ve picked up more time should I had more confidence in the sky & the glider/computer (first final glide at weight in over 12 months).

A great days practice”.—–

And one more day of practice before it all begins!  AAT tasks were set 3.30 for the smaller ships, 4 hours for the big ones.
A busy day for crews ,pilots and incoming pilots.
” Matthew flew over to the Convergence on the York peninsular with Ben Loxton and Allan Barnes.
Marta flew a 500km triangle and probably set 2 Polish Records.
Pam Kurstjens flew in from Tocumwal.
Gerrit arrived as well.” 
A few out-landings but others are back with tales of 10.000′ Cus and 10kt climbs and a few showers.

Only 1 finisher, in St Class; Andrew Maddocks flying 510 km. in time 3.54.
2 Finishers in 15 m. Terry Cubley in his LS 3 and Craig Collings in his ASW 27 and it looks NOBODY finished in open class.
The comps can start now, enough practice, from now it will be for real.

One of them was Adam, but he still flew 428 km..
” showers were everywhere & needed to just keep moving. Met up with Lisa Trotter & Tobias Geiger along the way too which gave nice confidence while we were overflying total tiger country.” 
Courtesy Adam via FB.

——

Ostler Vineyards Multi Class Nationals Gliding at Omarama [N.Z.] 

  

Where would we be without them!!!???
As shared by the organizers.

Whilst they were practicing in Waikirie they started already in Omarama with the first competition of the year 2015 in 4 classes.On Monday was their first day and an interesting day; a speed task between 201.2km/553.3km (372.0km)in 15 m. and the young ones were good here too. Not long before Nick [Oakley] and Alex [McCaw] practiced for the JWGC end of this year in Narromine, now they flew their nationals and were on spot 1 [Nick..449.6 km. with a speed of 169.7 km./h.] ] and 3.
With good “old” Tony van Dijk in the middle.
” Good to See Young Mr Oakley winning. Sorta matched his Dad winning the Open Class.” was one of the comments.

Indeed in the combined 18m/open class dad Michael [Oakley] won as well in his ASH 25 [460.5 km. with a speed of 184.2 km./h.]
Very fast day for the Oakley’s.
In 20 m. Ge Dale with Tom Klassen in the Duo Discus topped the scores on day 1.[417.6 km. with a speed of 167.1 km./h.]

As the organizers mentioned on their site; ” Would point out that the Soaring Spot list of Pilots has pilots duplicated to reflect the convoluted Class structure……There are not 40 Pilots competing…..more like 27.”  Just to let you know too.

 

Day 2 had a young winner again in 15 m.. This time not Nick but Alex ….ALL other pilots in his class were launched, returned to the field, had a relight but,….. no more starts in this class.
With a speed of 98 km./h. he was the only starter and finisher over the set 446 km.and,…that  for ZERO points.But it shows quality and character.
In open class Nick’s dad Michael, had his 2d win in a row in the ASH 25. After 2 days he leads with 2000 points.
Keith and Gavin Wills [520 km. with 114.3 km./h.] in the ARCUS flew in  their 20 m. class to the daily top with Tom and Ge as runners up in the DUO Discus.[ 545.9 km. with 109.6 km./h.]
All scores preliminary.For all scores from S.A., Waikirie, Omarama and Chaves,  you can go to www.soaringspot.com 

——

Nationals at Chaves in Argentina.

Otto Ballod , Gonzales Chaves.
As shared on their site.

They started with 2 hout AAT’s on their day 1, but the wind was too strong to send the 65 pilots up in the air. Today they try again.They fly in 2 classes; club/standard and 15 m./open.

—–

AND,..just before I leave for Amsterdam the next news from Tijl Schmelzer and dad Bert sr.:
” We just broke the 200 kph barrier! A world first in thermal conditions and African record on the 100 km fair triangle!”
An African continental and Belgium record!! 106.1 km. with a speed of 215.4 km./h. !!!!!
Flown from Kiripotib.

” This flight was one of our goals for this trip, and took about 20 hours of flight preparation and pc modeling. 
It wasn’t completely perfect (in theory 225 kph should be possible), but it is close enough.” 

206.4 km./h.
Courtesy Schmelzers.

By the way,…a lot of my friends had great fun with a 1000 yesterday, quite a few of them  flew with us at Sportavia in the past.Proud on that!
Wolfgang in the ARCUS M from Kiripotib .
Alfred Paul and Mark in the Nimbus 4DM from Kuruman on a day with clouds.
Bart and Max in the ARCUS M from Corowa.
Max and Rob in the ARCUS T from Douglas.
Roland and Hans in the ARCUS M from Kuruman.
Not all friends reached that magic 1000 but some were very close as Roy with 945.8 km. in the ANTARES  20m…. ” Could not achieve the planned 1000 km task due to thick cirrus over southern half of task area so a multi-pass along the convergence line.”
And Patrick with 907 in the Ventus 2 CM.Both from Bitterwasser.
Eagle with 859 in the ASH 31 MI/21 m. from Corowa.
AND,…last but not least; Declared 700km FAI @ 149.63kmh. New Dutch Open Class record!Flown by Max and Edo from Douglas in the Nimbus 4DM.

The ” Mangaan mine” as shared by Max and Edo. It was 40 dgr. on the ground!

——

And great news from Argentina :” Finally, a taste of “Onda Grande” in the afternoon.”
2.017 km. with a speed of 145 km./h. was flown last Monday by Jim and his son Jason Payne. In  the ARCUS M. Great effort!
More very long up and down-flights from Nahuel Huapi as Dennis Tito flew 1.356 km. in the DG 1001 and from Chapelco German pilot Wolfgang Goeringh flew 1.594 km.in the Quintus M. 

 —–

With the arrival of the first Gliding International from this year I had a few hours of good reading.63 Pages, fabulous pictures and stories as;
—45 guinea pigs test pilots joined me in Nephi[UTAH USA] to help verify that the site really was as special as I was hoping [Bruno Vassel] In 2014 65 gliders were allowed. A new soaring event format….Read the full story by Elke Fuglsang-Petersen in GI.

—Aldo Cernezzi, discussed with Jens Bothe the EB 28 [Edition] Jens flew 1000 hours in the EB 28 edition and can speak from the heart and out of experience.The conclusions are so that the Binders will SMILE!!

—German aeronautical engineer Werner Kuffner, is seeking investment support for the WK series; high performance powered sailplanes, an interesting story to read.

—Gliding in Ireland by Kevin Houlihan

—NASA takes up gliding and many more interesting stories and newsy news from our soaring /aviation world.

—–

That’s it for now more news on the comps maybe this upcoming Sunday or otherwise on the regular Wednesday.
The full story by David Jansen is shared by NAVITER at
http://www.naviter.com/…/david-jansen-flies-1580-km-in-aus…/

Cheers Ritz

First of all in the beginning of this year 2015 my concern for the Adelaide people AND animals, who are so close or in the middle of this scary fire-storm. The worst in 30 years in Australia and I have seen a few very scary ones already. Hope they can stop the fire as soon as possible, but I know what hell it is.
I was touched by the words from Grant today for Mandy’ s birthday . She starts tomorrow as the CD from the Waikirie Nationals:
” Happy Birthday to our CD Mandy Temple! Wishing you the best of luck especially today with Peter defending your home in the Adelaide Hills. I’m positive your many friends in the tight knit Australian gliding community and the rest of the world have their thoughts with you today.”
We  are for sure with them .
And,..though under these circumstances everything is relative, I still hope Peter will be able to fly the Nationals, which means his home is safe again.
On January 2 he flew a great 1.121 km. flight now he battles the fires to save his home.Several houses have been burned down already and lot’s of poor animals killed.
By the way on the 3d of January  [I guess 1991] , the WW2 hangar in Tocumwal was surrounded by such a fire-storm, which we could see come  far ahead .The change of wind saved the hangar with lot’s of gliders in it, but I still smell the fire, see the poor sheep and burnt houses,when I think of it.That day I could NOT go to the cemetery [see picture below]

Mandy and Peter , here at the Tocumwal Nationals a few years

——

The last day of 2014 on the OLC, was clearly for Namibia,…. occupying the first 28 flights with 20 over -1000 km.-flights. The season is not over yet!
Flights from young brothers Enrique and Filipe  Levin together ; 1.216  in the EB 29.
Flights from long time Lasham-friends together as Andy Aveling and Hugh Kindell in the ARCUS M.[1.054 km.]
Flights together from father and son as flown by Bert sr. and Tijl Schmelzer in the EB 28.[1.102 km.]
And Austrian father and son Eder, each flying an EB 28 and 29 from Pokweni.

Bert sr. here in Morocco.

HURRAY for the great designed 2 seaters!!!!!!!

AND,..after flying together with Wilfried, Alexander Spaeth flew this time  alone; a great 1000 km. FAI triangle [ 1.340 km.] and NOT in a long-ear but in the 18m. Ventus 2CM.
Not to forget one of the TOP-ladies in soaring Anja [Kohlrausch] flying the ANTARES 20.[1.138 km./998.4 km. FAI triangle!!]
Austrian pilots, father and son Josef and Sebastian ,are together in Pokweni, but flying the EB 28 [ dad and Walther Binder] and 29 [Sebastian] that day .Both over 1100 km.

The first day of 2015 was good in Australia with flights up to 880 km. by Pepe flying from Narromine.
Tocumwal had a few over 700 km. flights and the Geelong-gang, having their camp there, surely is HAPPY with their nice long flights.
Corowa pilots had , like we do in HOLLAND with half a million, but then in the SEA and lakes , a real New Years morning dive in the pool. After there was time to fly as well, with flights up to 736 km.
AND yes on this first day of 2015 ….NAMIBIA,…..was on top again, Enrique and Felipe , Alexander, the Eders and our Polish friends who are flying in Kiripotib; all thousands again.
And a great beginning for Dutch pilot Menno as well. He flew the JS 1 over 1000 km. from Douglas Backhouse.

Day 2 of the year 2015 had a bit of the WOW factor in Australia.
ONE OF THOSE DAYS I remember so well, excitement all over!
What an outstanding,  great, epic , thermal flight from 1.582 km.  by David Jansen starting in Kingaroy in Queensland and flying all the way over NSW to arrive in Victoria, passing Benalla first to add kilometers and then landing at Benalla !!!Nice speed as well; 144 km./h. WELL DONE DAVID.
One of his mates Ross [Mc Lean] was so kind to fill me in.
” David Jansen’s flight today was of truly epic proportion.  1,582 km. in just over 11 hrs  45 mins, all thermal lift, (ie: no ridge, wave). At one point in Southern NSW he achieved a climb to over 14,000ft in a thermal.

You can see his track here http://www.glideport.aero/map?p=GlidePort:50619&day=2015-01-02

Now on the OLC here http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-1440367498

David launched from Kingaroy in his ASG29  this morning a little after 8 am and headed South.

At 60 km.  NW of Nyngan he had covered 815k at 162kph.

By 2:33 pm QLD time Dave was 100 km. south of Cobar, just over 1,000 k at 161kph.

He crossed over the Victorian border near Cobram East, climbing through 10,000ft.

With so much available height David overshot Benalla and turned back at Lake Eildon in the hills to the south adding another 100km, (he was still over 10,000ft when he turned back).  Still with a surplus of height, he then overshot Benalla again to the east and finally turned back at Wangaratta to final glide into Benalla.

 The OLC scored it as 1,582.3 km at 144.4 kph

This flight was no accident, I know David.  David has had this flight (and many, many others) planned for ages and each day he checks the ISO charts for the right weather pattern. When it looks right he is already prepared and launches as early as the day permits.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.  Then one day it turns out like it did today and Perfect Planning Produced A Perfect Performance.

 It helps that he is also a superb soaring pilot.”

Thanks so much, Ross!!!!On this flight David  achieved;
Distance to Goal 1253km
3 Turn-point Distance 1285km
Free Distance 1309km
Free 3 Turn-point Distance 1532km
OLC Distance 1580km

 Fabulous weather all over the East , Center and South of Australia on this day 2 of 2015.

Lot’s of 1000 km. flights for my Corowa friends!!!  Even an FAI 1000 triangle by Jos, not declared as he had to change plans,  but still a great effort.
I share a picture from the Corowa site with the ” happy 1000 km. chappies” .5 Of them are Dutch , 1 from Germany, each with the deserved traditional bottle of 1000-km.-wine.

 

Eagle, Hans-Juergen, Jos, Max, Bart and Harry.

A 900 km. triangle in an LS 4 is pretty epic too.[Tobias from Benalla]He for sure seems ready for the NATIONALS in Waikirie.
Pam and Gerrit flew from Narromine down south, also a 1000 for both.
Mac flew 900 km. leaving Gawler , to fly with with some extra kilometers to the Nationals in Waikirie.
Waikirie had some guests already and,…..YES Peter Temple flew  a 1095km FAI Triangle / 1121km flight @ 124 kph.
AND ….Craig Vinall for his 1013km flight @ 114 kph  AND…..Robert Smits for achieving his diamond distance with a 533km flight @ 95 kph.

It was THAT easy as Graig mentioned in his comment;
” aborted the declared task Waikerie/Horsham/Hay/Waikerie at Swanhill. Slow blue start, cu’s at Horsham with 10knt climbs, but cu’s ran out at the river and the climb rates halved. Turned back to the good air and got going again. Had height so just flew past Waikerie until final glide came up.” 

—–

With a Qualifying Grand Prix in 2015 between Jan.3 and 15  with 12 pilots in 18 m. class ,…. the 53 Australian Multi Class Nationals in Waikirie in Australia with 45 pilots in 3 classes [  Jan. 5 till 16] , The Multi Class Nationals in Omarama in New Zealand [Jan 4 till 16] with 40 participants in 5 classes and ….with the 61 st NATIONALS in   Chaves  in Argentina where 62 pilots are ready in 2 classes  between January 5 and 16 [  edition 61] …4 BIG events are in progress  in the beginning of this year.
More on all these comps on Wednesday.

—–

The Qualifying Grand Prix flown from Worcester in 18 m. gliders , counts 5 German pilots [Uli [Schwenk] , Holger [Karow]  , Bernd,[ Hubka]  Claus [Triebel] and Klaus [Kalmbach] . Of course John [Coutts] from New Zealand flies in this GP  and 4  South African pilots ;Oscar and Laurens [Goudriaan] ,Sven [Olivier] and William [Whittaker] .
8 JS 1’s in different figuration’s [A-B-C]  are flying , 1 ASH 26 and 1 ASG 29.

Practice day 1 last Saturday started with a 415 km. task and,…a lot of wind 20 gusting to 30 kts!!! Not everybody elected to fly, some started but returned to the field.
But,…with a speed of 175.3 km./h. for Claus Triebel it turned out a very fast day!! Also Oscar  flew around with 175 km. on his ” clock” and Sven just has a smitten less . 173 km./h.

For today 2 tasks have been set an A task from 712.5 km. and a B task from 448.1 km. It looks they are going to fly the 712.5 km. Good luck to all.

tracking on www.trackmyglider.co.za

—–

For the 53d Nationals in Waikiri, once the WGC -place were Ingo won gold, the pilots from Queensland arrived already a bit earlier, to celebrate old/new in Waikirie. Mind you travelling from East to more WEST is a huge job  in Australia, certainly with a trailer.
Adam even flew from Kingaroy to Narromine [ 861 km.] to travel from there by car and trailer further to Waikirie.
The practice days are on now with 13 pilots in standard class , 16 in 15 m. and 16 in open /18m. class. More on that on Wednesday.

——

And from Omarama the 61 st Nationals  :
—-The first Nationals in the World for 2015 starts tomorrow!!

We take a moment to remember Billy Walker and Dave Speight who will not be here after being stalwart supporters of all the previous Nationals here. Sorely missed.

Today 4th January 2015 is Practice Day for the NZ MultiClass nationals in Omarama.
The Official(old style) scoring site is to be found at
http://www.glidingcomps.42.net.nz/nat2015/

We lost quite some mates last year. Very sad that we lost our first mate in 2015 as well. 71 Years young and close to Benalla where he started. SAD, very SAD!!!!
” Locals reported seeing the glider flying low and slow before it nosedived into the paddock.” 

It was 27 years ago on Jan 3 that we lost Dennis and a week earlier also our mate Kees [Musters December 27 1987] Here is the grave from Dennis as seen by his dad on the 3d and the tree planted from a seed from a ST Kilda white gumtree in memory of both talented ,charismatic and exceptional people;the tree is 27 years old now!Dennis only reached 18.5 years and Kees only 41.

Be careful AND we are all going to make it a FINE year 2015.
Cheers Ritz