The huge storm last Saturday here in Holland, has cost the life of one person, sitting in his car when a tree fell on it/him.He had no chance and died at the spot. Several people were lucky to escape death, some were injured. All in all I hope the next summer storm will be in another 100 years again.It was pretty wild and the cost will be higher than 13 million.
This morning we had another thunderstorm and torrential rain, I hope it is OVER NOW!!!!
The same weather ” hangs” over Arnborg.
Loved the , pretty tough Tour de France this year and  the Formula 1 in Hungary last weekend. Vettel as winner and “our” Max on a 4th spot, he is only 17!!!
Good to see they all remembered Jules [Bianchi] who crashed in Japan last year and died last week.

———-

Looking back at the 18th EGC through the eyes of the pilots , Akemi and Mac,who lost with one point.
On my question I got an answer and I share it with you.

—” Akemi and Mac what a fabulous job you both did!!!!! Congratulations ONE point I hope this will not be a trauma for the future. Do you have any clue where you lost that point? If you would have known it ,you would for sure have taken one curve less  in good lift .
When you have time I would love to have your vision on HC flying and on loosing with ONE point. A pity that you are on none of the pictures. Hope that they congratulated you and that you got ” something” too. Have a safe trip home both and CU in Toc. Cheers Ritz

—-” Thank you! No it will not be a trauma. We know we could have saved many minutes. Not just one point. We had some issues with bug-wipers and also LX9000 in two seater setups.

My bugwiper motor worked so slow, that Tassilo taught me (he told me this particular motor is made by his club member) I must start extending it before I arrive into thermal, so it is finished by the top of thermal;)) Unfortunately we had to use it in straight glide at speed 110 kph, (that was maximum speed for this wiper;) on two occasions for prolonged time, while others went past us at 170kph+. so others were some kilometers ahead of us by the time we could retract wipers.

It is my second time to finish second place in EGC as HC. First time was 2002 in Beckescsaba, also in Hungary. I was second in Standard Class after my team mate Tomas Suchanek. Back then they did not even call my name during prize giving. (To which many of my friends complained kindly.) This time they at least called me and gave me a bottle of wine!! Thank you!!!

We go to Europeans nowadays to try new things (new glider, new class, new instruments, new site etc) and also to try out different strategies.
I think my direct competitors know that too, by now.
(They seemed not concerned when I was in the lead, as they did not need to beat me to become European Champion.) Furthermore, it is great opportunity to meet long time friends in the gap year of WGC. With many of them, this is only opportunity to physically meet once a year. I am most grateful each time the organizers let us foreigners fly in EGC as HC.

This year, we had only two flights with ASG32 before we arrive to Hungary. It was very nice and easy glider with excellent performance. Akemi struggles with piloting Arcus (we had flown Wolfgang’s TWO in Namibia before, so we knew we are battling with the best Arcus in the world;),  but she could normally climb with others pre-start in ASG32. I was smiling in the cockpit. I flew 98% once we started on task. It was really great glider and we really enjoyed this EGC.”

Thanks Mac and Akemi.And….off he is again ,..this time to the Pre-Worlds in Pocuinai.

———–

They are on their way as well , or already there .Lot’s of pilots with their crews to Arnborg for the WWGC and lot’s of pilots with their crews to Rieti to the 18th EGC for 15 m., standard and club class. Not to forget 16 pilots and their crews for the very first 13.5 m. WGC in Pocuinai.
Here a picture from Annemiek, one of the Dutch juniors and competing in the AU, the St. Cirrus owned by the Foundation Glider events Holland[ so is the AG the other St Cirrus by the way] , in the WWGC.
Annemiek is back from South Africa where she finished a work placement with Jonkers Sailplanes.
After the WWGC the AU will be packed in the container together with the AG and travel to Australia where the gliders will be part of the JWGC. Annemiek is reserve there and crews for Stefan Telkamp who will fly the AU over the Aussie paddocks.
Talking about Australia, 2 Aussie ladies, Kerrie Claffy and Jo Davis participate in Arnborg and their trip was much longer and not always easy.When you arrive in Europe after more than 24 hours , you have to collect a car and  a trailer with a glider .Then drive on the “wrong” way of the road and deal with the not so good weather in Arnborg till now. But,…in Australia it is winter so the difference is not TOO big, though the North and East never get really so cold as in Melbourne or so.

Annemiek in the clean car , with a nice clean trailer and the glider in it. I hope, you surely heard in the past the story about the crew who collected the trailer to fly at a daily competition and with arrival the pilot was stunned to see an empty trailer .
as shared on FB by her crew Jan Willem.

17 Pilots are on the list from club class among them, 3 from Holland, Annemiek, [St Cirrus], Doortje [DG 300] and Lilian [LS 4]
4 Pilots from Germany one of them  Swaantje [ASW 19b] who just recovered from cancer and I applaud her for her attitude and I am pleased to see her back in top soaring. Good on her.
Also Chrissie flies in this class, as said last time she was world champion once and has to travel quickly from Ocseny to Arnborg with husband Uli and great little son Fin.Uli and she were 4th in Ocseny just out of the podium with 9 points.
A French topper is Amelie Audier and from Italy Elena [Fergani] is participating.
10 Pilots in 15 m. class. 5 ASG 29’s in this class and 4 Ventus types and 1 LS 6 from Sweden with Gloria Stenfelt. A few toppers from Germany and France in this class and ” our” Natasja.
In standard class 13 pilots at this stage with 10 LS 8 gliders and 3 Discus ‘ 2a.
40 Pilots are hoping at this stage for better weather, MUCH better weather, ….that “stupid” low pressure system!!!!

Arne shared this picture with the message;” There must be a glider competition nearby.” So true!!!

Loved this picture shared at the Dutch FB site!!!!!!!

———

The very first 13.5 m. WGC 
in Pociunai.

Will start TODAY with practice, with 16 pilots from all parts of the world. They fly from August 1 till 15.
Morgan Sandercock from Australia , heavily involved in the Perlan Project , will fly the Sparrow Hawk.
Tony [Condon] and Francois [Pin] both from the USA will fly the Silent 2.
The Italian pilots Alberto Sironi ,Stefano Ghiorzo and Ricky [Brigliadori] , yes he had to rush from Ocseny to Pociunai, fly the Silent 2 as well.
Sebastian [Kawa] also rushing from the one to the other competition, flies a brand new type which should have it’s check flight today; GP 14 SE velo, a Peszke glider. Russian pilot Vitaly Borovik flies this new type as well.
The French pilots Frederic Hoyeau and Antoine Havet fly a Silent 2 .

Today they have a practice day; a 2.30 AAT.

———-

The EGC in Rieti

No secret ,…I love Rieti. Have been there many times and seen great comps. It’s not the easiest field to fly from as it is surrounded by huge mountains, but those who have flown there, always go back.
Who is flying between August 3 and 14 ?
In club class 20 pilots among them Roman who has to rush from Ocseny to Rieti and also Patrick Stouffs whose father flew there as well during my early years in gliding.
Ge Dale, an ace in mountains and the French pilots Gilles Navas and Denis Geurin are well known too as well as young Italian pilot Davide Schiavotto, who knows the place well.
In 15 m. 24 pilots , among them John Coutts and Dane Dickinson from NZ who flew there during the JWGC in 2007 . They will fly HC.
From Holland “our”  Sjaak Selen and Jelmer Wassenaar, who flew there a few times as well also the JWGC if I remember well.
Former world champions Leigh Wells from the UK and Giorgio Galetto from Italy who does n’t live there but spends with Marina and Chiara a lot of time in summer in Rieti. AND,..a few good Finnish, Swiss,  Czech and French pilots
We are going to see it all , so stay tuned.

No troubles over there with the weather. The UK team mentions;” another beautiful day at this soaring paradise called Rieti.
Today is the first official practice day so there will be a full weather and task briefing at 10.30 and a proper grid with, we are promised 8 tugs.
It’s lovely and cool at the moment but that will not last much longer.”

The weather yesterday looked good as well and who was ready with the scrutineering  and paperwork choose to fly:

Dutch pilot Sjaak Selen, ready to go.
As shared by the UK team.

Official practice….TODAY; 290 in club class, 378 in St class and 398 in open class.

———-

The 43 Rally of vintage gliders will be from July 27 till August 6 in Holland flown from Terlet.
This great poster was shared by the THERMIELBEL, the restaurant at Terlet. Unfortunately the weather is just lousy, but there is hope for the next couple of days.

and a picture from the strip sitting at the Thermiekbel.

———-

In Rennes the French Club class Nationals with 22 participants finished with 4 out of 8 days. The last day, last Saturday was won by Spanish pilot Jorge Arias Riera , in the St Cirrus with the appropriate  name OLE!! Of course he flew HC as Spanish pilot, but he did well, very well.During the 4 hour AAT that day he flew 411 km. in time 4.09 and won the day.
Less than 2000 points in total for the winner Christian Mallick, in the St. Libelle with winglets [1964] , which says enough about the weather.
Jean Denis Barrois [Pegase] and Jorge both had 1885 points and Mickael Charuel [LS4] 1840 points.
Here the International AND National podium.By the way, Belgium pilot Pieter Lievens was 6th.[1727]

———–

THE ARBOGA OPEN 2015 in SWEDEN.

They suffer from that low pressure system as well and had till now NO flying days. 47 Pilots are waiting to fly in 2 classes,club and 18 m.
They have set tasks on day 1 and day 3 but in club class the best pilot flew 34 from the set 153 km. and on day 3 , a 165 km. task was set but it turned out a non flying day. A pity.
In 18 m. on day 1 a 181 km. task was set but here the best pilot flew Ulf [Ringertz] flew 47 km.
202 was set yesterday but they did not start, the day had to be cancelled.

Today looks better here, maybe there and in Arnborg in Denmark too.

———-

On July 23 it was THE DAY in Fuentemilanos. My goodness me, too many 1000 km. flights to count.
Kilometer-eater Guy [Bechthold ] had the longest flight, that is in kilometers; 1.210 [985 FAI triangle]
A total of 18 x a 1000 means being on the right time at the right spot with many.
All types of gliders, lot’s of different nationalities and GREAT FUN!!!!!
Just fabulous weather!!!
Ken from Belgium shared some pictures from Fuente here you are , one from the field and when you are tired from flying 1000’s,  from the beautiful town of Segovia. All beautiful.

Fuente from above as seen by Ken.

Palacio Real de La Granja de San Ildefonso

Acueducto de Segovia, a beautiful town I was there a few years ago and visited Pepe and the Wiesenthals.

Also Ely added last week a few 1000 km’s to their list.

———-

Some SOARING-news .

—- Vladimir Foltin (Slovakia) has replaced Peter Eriksen (Denmark) as IGC Secretary.
—- The World Air Games (WAG) will be held in Dubai in December 2015. Not an ideal site for gliding (50 degrees and no thermals) so gliding will be represented by a pylon type race.
—- GP Final at Varese from 5^th to the 12^th September . Entry to the Grand Prix Final is a hard earned process, through placing at one of the qualifiers.We followed them all and are going to see who will be the CHAMPION this time. See www.sgp.aero/final2015

———–

And to finish a picture from Sebastian {Kawa} .
ONE thermal with lift, before the start in Ocseny,  used by nearly ALL pilots during the EGC.
Cheers Ritz CU next week

Saturday July 25. Autumn here today!!!19 dgr. C ,torrential rain,storm up to 9 at the coast, gusting to 110 km./h.Not often we have a summer storm here in Holland.Just arrived back from Amsterdam where they had code red as all coastal provinces , the rest of Holland code orange and yellow[more to the east] .Never seen so many fallen trees and so much “red”  from fire brigades.The first summer- storm in 100 years!!!
Busy day for rescue teams in Holland, but here I am.
Just heard that no trains travel between Amsterdam and Utrecht anymore , so I was lucky.

It’s all over again, this 18th FAI EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP at the airfield of Ocseny in Hungary and it was a great competition to follow from home, even when I could do so only for one week.They had great weather and 9 out of 12 days which is terrific. One day was an official  rest-day one day a non flying day and they had a invalid day.
It looks from far , that Hungary was a great host.
As the UK TC mentioned:” A quick reflection on the past three weeks in Hungary. The club at Ocseny has just 30 members, but they have gone “above and beyond ” to welcome us and help us.”
I missed a bit an organizers blog with news, as I could only find “sec” important facts , as runways and delays of first launch, both on FB and the site.But,…luckily a lot of countries shared their news in blogs which is good.
We want our sport to be well known and LIKED by MORE.

Ready to go home after the last flight, the party and the prize giving ceremony.
As shared by the organizers and below by team UK.

How was the situation before they started for their last day of soaring in Ocseny.
In 18 m. Sebastian will not give easily away his lead of 207 points, or he must out-land. So I guess it’s between the numbers 2 and 5 , Andy, Yves, Thomas and Roman, to see who will follow him on the podium.
In 20 m. is the difference in points  the most exciting as at least 6 teams have a possibility to win and  5  of them to be European Champion, so tactics and help from others team members is welcome.
Between Wolfgang [TWO] and Mac [32, who flies as you know by now HC] is a difference of 7 points . Then the Polish team [EL]  is 37 points behind Wolfgang on spot 2 and the German team [WA] on 3 with 116 points to win from TWO. THEN,…the Polish team with Janusz [CS] is ONE point behind WA and the German team with Chrissie and Uli [V8] is 7 points behind CS.
In open ; Would the 2 Polish pilots Lucasz and Adam fight each other for spot 1? And between “our” Jeroen and my friend Ricky is only a difference of 65 points. May the best win.
Here some impressions from my Finnish friend Katja!

What happened on the last day???

Friday July 24 2015 last day of the comps with 2.30 AAT’s in each class. The first start was postponed to 1PM. Then the B task was handed out for 2 classes, so more delay, BUT,…they all went up at 2 PM for 2.30 [18 m.] 2. 15 [20 m.] and for open 2 hour AAT’s. It was another scorcher-day!!!!With other words,…BLOODY HOT!!!!
No cu’s either.
On such a last day , nobody shares news DURING the day, I would n’t do either. So I understand.

18 m.class ;
Roman is a kilo-meter-eater and today he showed that by flying the most kilometers in the best time and winning the day;826 points for him for a speed of 115.79 km./h. [2.33.57] His young Czech mate Radek started 22 minutes later and finished 12 minutes later and with that he was runner up on the last day; 755 points!!
So Radek was not in the top 5 Roman was. He “jumped” to spot 2 overall, coming from 5. [ 7642]Good on him!!!
Sebastian lost more than 150 points but no worries he was far ahead and so the NEW EUROPEAN CHAMPION. AGAIN CONGRATULATIONS for him and his dad.[7885]
Andy who was on 2 dropped by being 13 on this last day, to 3 [7606] , Thomas to 4 , Yves to 5 and Radek stayed on 6.

As shared by the UK team

20 m. class ;
Team Mac finished on a daily spot 10 and team Wolfgang on a 12th spot.Mac and Akemi got 665 points, Wolfgang and Andreas 659….!!!!6 points!!!!!! The difference was SEVEN!!!!
So Mac/Akemi  lost with ONE point. As said you don’t even wish that for your worst enemy, loosing by ONE point. But it happens/happened.
Hope Mac will not think for the next couple of years : ” Where did I loose that point?” I will ask him.
So; easy Wolfgang and Andreas are the new EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS. The so ” maniest”  title for Wolfgang and for them both nowadays as well.
Task 2 and 8 AND 9 were won by team Erazem and that brought them to a 15th spot overall, after a bad start on day 1 where they were last [23] with 94 points.
So Mac was runner up in HC mode.
The “real” European runner up was team Poland with Jakub and Christoph [7644] and the number 3-spot on the podium was for the German team Marco and Sebastian [7570] . Their mates Uli/Chrissie, just missed out on that spot and finished on 4. [7561]
A pity; I miss Akemi and Mac on pictures.

As shared by the Finnish team.

open class ;
Bostjan flew 278.11 km. in 2 hours  on the dot, so a nice speed of 138,51 km,.h. Good enough to receive the last bottle of wine for a daily win.
No ” brother-fight ” between the 2 Polish mates, they nicely share the title EUROPEAN CHAMPION and RUNNER UP!!!Well done.[7886 and 7767]
Proud as well on our Dutch pilot Jeroen who was on a 3d spot overall EVERY DAY [except for day 2 when he was second] and KEPT that spot till the end.[7619]
Ricky remained on spot 4  and Tassilo had 2 great last days and he managed to climb up from 8,after task 7.

And to finish this fabulous picture I found on FB by TOP photograher Jacek Lewinski
Not from this EGC but a beauty!!!

Cheers Ritz cu on Wednesday.

First launch at 12.
As shared by the organizers.

Thursday  July 23;with 37 dgr.C in the shade another difficult day for the crew and family on the ground and a good reason to climb as high as possible for the pilots.
3 Hour AAT’s were set for this day in all classes.Showers might spoil the day in the end so do you start early or late and take a risk, because the weather might be “slow”??? The poker-game  can start!!!
It seemed that around 4 PM the over-development started but all pilots , except for one,came home, so they were correct.
“ The start line opened for all of the categories. The weather is sunny, but the evening will be rainy. This is a short task (3 hours), the gliders should arrive before the rain.” as written by the organizers.

As shared by the UK team.

18 m. class ;
414 km. in 3 hours was THE result and the one who flew this was Sebastian in his ASG 29. Nice speed as well;138 km./h. Not bad!!!!He started rather late at 14.22.
So,… kilometers combined with 3 hours at the dot, that’s the trick. Some had many more kilometers but used more time as p.e.Thomas [Gostner from Italy] who flew 429 km. but needed an extra 15 minutes and was with that on spot 6.
Sebastian increased his lead [7220] and with one day to go he has to keep Andy on distance [7013 so about 200 points ] and Belgian pilot Yves Jeanmotte who is doing a great job!!!!![6920]
He and Tijl [Schmelzer] belonged to the early starters at 13.45.
BUT,….he is only 3 points ahead of the Polish mate from Sebastian, Thomas Krok.
Another 100 points behind for Roman on spot 5.
Sebastian does n’t know ” final-day-jitters”  , he will just fly and maybe take Thomas with him.
But,…Russell [ who is on 10 overall now ] will help Andy so it is not over yet.
Exciting!!!!!
As you can see on the pictures shared by Sebastian, the clouds were great in the beginning later they had to deal with showers.

20 m. class ;
East-European countries had THEIR day. Erazem get’s the hang of this European soaring and won the day. So Slovakia, then the Polish, the Hungarians, the Czechs, another Polish team and an Austrian one.
With one day to go, Wolfgand and Andreas are on top overall , just ahead of Mac and Akemi ;70012 and 7005!!!!
At spot 3 Jakub and Christoph from Poland.One ARCUS on top 2 ASG 32 ‘s [MI and EI] following!!! It proves  to be a great glider as well that ASG 32.
All pilots started between 14.11 and 14.31.

Wolfgang and Andreas. On this picture winners at Hahnweide 2015.
Will the be European Champions as well ???????

And ready to go .
As shared the Austrian team.

The winner today Erazem ,without Sebastian but with Danish pilot Arne to the r. As shared by the French team.

open class ;
” REVENGE ” !!!!!!! Nothing to loose, Jan [Andersen] won the day.  After his misfortune yesterday he showed spirit and his ability to fly in the top,  by winning!!! Good on him. The MOST kilometers [426,95] and AT the dot,[2.59,25]  means a speed of 142.32 km./h.,  so 1000 points!!!!!
A good day for the flat land pilots as Francois and Jeroen from Holland [3 and 6] did well so did Belgian pilot Daan Spruyt.[on spot 10 in his Nimbus 4 DM at on spot 11 overall]
A bit of an off day for Pete and Ricky [Brigliadori, started last at 14 .36, 25 minutes behind Jan] ] being on spot 11 and 15, which had not too bad consequences for the overall scores. Markus had a bad day by entering forbidden airspace and dropped from 18 to 23.
The Polish pilots are still on top 1 and 2 followed by Jeroen!!!!

To finish some impressions from the ALWAYS great International Evening, as shared by the Dutch team.In the end it was inside due to thunderstorms.

Frans and Dillen, top [Dutch] crews!!!!

The last day: They announced early in the morning, that the grid in use will be 17.
That they try to start launching at 12 .30 and the grid closes at 12.
That the briefing for pilots is at 10 AM.
What will this last day bring us all especially the competing pilots and for sure the ones in the top????
Tasks today on the 9th [out of 12  GOOD!!!!] flying day; 2.30 AAT’s in all classes

———-

By the way, great see that Karin and Marcus flew a 1000 yesterday in their ARCUS from Villacastin in Spain.[127 km./h.]

———-

And to finish 2 nice pictures I found at FB, shared by the UK team.

The Polish team with many times [9?] world champion, Sebastian and his dad and mates [ the tall gentleman is a fabulous TC] and Janusz above Sebastian, who flies WGC’s already since ages was WGC champion in 1989 in Wiener Neustadt and in 1991 in Uvalde Texas in 1993 in Borlange and in Eskilstuna in 2006
and
2 former World champions in a ” tete-a-tete”,Andy [UK in 2003 in Leszno and 1993 in Borlange] and Killian [France JWGC champion in Rieti]

———-

Cheers Ritz CU on Saturday when it is all over again, but ,…Rieti is starting soon for the smaller ships. AND,..of course the WWGC with as I noticed on the site, 10 German women!! A few very “strong”  ones. Including Chrissie, former world champion in club class , now still flying with her husband Uli in Ocseny in the 20 m. class and doing well there and Sue [Kussbach]  a 3 times world champion in st .class.

Wednesday July 22 2015;
31.6 degrees gives 500 metres
34.3 gives 2000 metres
37.5 gives 2980 metres.
Max task altitude is 2743 amsl

—” The start line opened for each class (18m= 12:52; 20m=13:20; Open=13:55). Because of technical problems the launching was longer (1h50m). The weather is perfect. This is the longest task, more than 500 km. The competitors may arrive around 18:00.—” was the message from the organizers.
One of the tuggies got sick.
The weather was GOOD , as a Glasfluegel 304 flew a 606 km. flight from Ocseny. Many pilots put their flight on the OLC.

18m. class ;
558.51 km. racing task.
The last to return to the field, some arrived after 7 PM . A bad day for my mates Russell, Arne andMartti, they JUST out landed.
Russell was 17 km. out, Arne 60 km. and Martti flew 473.69 km.
Winner of this day; Sebastian with a speed of 126.60 km./h.His Polish mate Tomasz Krok started with him but finished a few minutes later ,for him not 1000 but 985 points.
Andy finished on 10, Roman on 18.
So changes in the overall scores;Sebastian is now on top!!!
Followed by Andy , coming from 1 and Tomasz climbing from 6.
The first 6 are still pretty close, EVERYTHING can happen here.
6220 for Sebastian on spot 1  and 5944 for Roan on spot 6.

20 m. class ;
503.99 racing task.
The German pilots are SO good in their team/pair flying. They start at the same time, finish in the same time and get the same amount of points; today….1000 for each of the German teams ; Uli and Chrissie [V 8] and team Marco and Sebastian [WA] . Wolfgang and Andreas did well on spot 3 and my Dutch mates Harry and Steven as well [spot 8]
Best speed in this class today ;131.71 km./h.
Mac and Akemi were the last pair to start .They were on spot 12 loosing just over 100 points.
The Polish pilots lost over 116 points finishing both on spot 13.
Most pilots started around 1.30 PM.
Between the first 8 in the overall scores are interesting. Mac and Akemi lost some points over the last 2 days and are only 51 points ahead on Wolfgang/Andreas.[6.149 for 6.098] On spot 8 Peter Hartmann and Michael Rass have 5.823 points.

Chrissie and Uli and Marco and Sebastian.
As shared by the team.

open class ;
509.15 km.racing task.
A mix of European pilots in the top today with as best speed 132.78 km./h by Pete [Harvey UK] .So 1000 points for him. 999 Were for the runner up Ricardo [Brigliadori from Italy] Both flew a JS1.
Tassilo did well again , he finished in the EB 29 on a nice 3d spot.
A “bad”  day for Jan Andersen who lost quite some points by entering a restricted area. He had a virtual out-landing after 330 km..He dropped from 10 to 16.
Lukas and Adam from Poland are still in the top, Ricardo is closing in on 4 with 10 points less than Jeroen who is still on spot 3.I presume these pilots are the ones who will fight for the honors.The difference between the 4 is;6.482 and 6.189.
Most pilots started around 2 PM.

 Pete with the daily -prize.
As shared by the team.

Today on July 23 is the one but last day.
3 Hour AAT’s have been set.More on Saturday with the final official scores from Friday.
All scores in this blog are unofficial.

———-

And to finish today some stunning pictures I found on FB from Gilles [Navas] WOW!!!!
CU tomorrow I hope, depends on a few”things”.
Cheers Ritz

Back from a lovely week with my grand-kids. We had reasonable weather but I could see that at least on 2 days , glider-pilots must have had great fun. [I noticed up to 700 km!!!] Fabulous skies over our house in the East of Holland. I showed my grand-kids how good the skies were for gliding and whilst looking up a glider past by at great height. What about that!?

Climbing and under water scooters, all great fun!!

Got the promised picture from Max , who attended with about 300 people the memorial of Rick.THANKS Max.

As shared by Max , a friend of the Walters family.

———–

Ocseny
the 18th
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP.

Of course you followed the first week, so I will start with this week and the overall scores from day 9 when they start with the 7th task in each class.
In 18 m. Andy, Roman and Sebastian , 3 top pilots on the 3 top-spots and a total 9 pilots in the 4000 points-range.
In 20 m. my longtime good friends from Japan Mac and Akemi, both flying with us years and years ago and already practicing THEN competition- flying during the by Mac with us organized RECARO CUP, are on top!!!!!
Yes HC as they are not European, but a top -job.They fly the ASG 32 MI,followed by Jakub and Christoph in the same glider and Wolfgang and Andreas in an ARCUS M.a total of 5 pilots in the 4000 points range at this stage.
In open class 2 Polish pilots top the ranking, Lucasz and Adam and on spot 3 a great and pleasant surprise Jeroen from Holland.  9 Pilots were at this stage in the 4000 point-range.

Jeroen in black and white.|
Courtesy Martin Smit.

July 21 2015, a hot day with 31 dgr. at 8AM. BUT,…it seems finally a normal day with normal visibility. A heat-wave is not always pleasant during comps, often it is too stable. Finally a day with an early start at 12.
Trigger temp lower than the day before;at 31 degrees gives 1500 m. Max temp of 35 gives 2500 meters.

First launch at 12.
As shared by the organizers.

18 m. class ;
441.18 km. to fly. It turned out a nice FAST day [136 km./h.] with 2 German pilots winning the day ;Sebastian [Huhmann] 1000 points and Claus Triebel 999.
Andy was on spot 3. ” Fantastic day out. This is what we came for including one 8 knot climb over the scrubby forest to the East.”
Sebastian [Kawa ] was 4th. “Lowest”  score in this class 694, so a good day!

Sebastian with his daily prize.
As shared by the German team.

20 m. class;
401.83 km. to fly.
1000 points for the Czech team, Petr and Ludek and for my Finnish friends Harry and Visa-Matti.Good on them!!!! Speed 117 km./h. On spot 3, Erazem [ yes from NAVITER /Soaringspot] with his mate Sebastian [Ramsak] from Slovenia.With a 7th day-spot Mac and Akemi keep their position overall.

OPEN class ;
435.81 km. to fly.
WOW, what speed for Tassilo during a competition;145.22 km./h. A great day for the German team.But also for the French with Sylvain and Killian on spot 2 and 3 and the UK team Pete and Iain on 4 and 5 and ” our ”  Jeroen , who won day 2, and who had a “just-in-day”  the day before yesterday, on spot 6 !!!

July 22 2015,   today, with impressive tasks again; 558.51  for 18 m.,504 for the 2-seaters and 509 for the open class.Looking at the web cams it is still VERY blue over there.
First start is supposed to be a 11.30.

2 More exciting days to come, looking forward to them. When possible I “see” you every day with the latest on this 18th EGC.

Some EGC impressions shared by the Dutch Team, who are , by the way ,doing pretty well. Jeroen on spot 3 in open and Francois on 11, Harry and Steven on spot 12 in the 2-seater-class.

In the middle;Francois and Pete pondering about……….and father Harry and son Steven ready to go.

———–

RENNES in FRANCE 
Club Class Nationals

Not the very best weather in France for soaring . Day 1 had a task of 150 km and the daily winner , who was one of the 4 finishers ,got 79 points.
Then,…3 scrubbed days.
Today they fly again;254 km is the task for the 20 pilots [one Belgian junior-pilot among them]
They continue till the 25th.Let’s hope for great weather.

———-

What happened when I was gone in our world looking at the OLC.On the 20thiest Spain was  the place to be for long-distance-flights.
From Fuentemilanos Guy Bechtold flew,  1.3 01 km. [1000 FAI triangle!!] One of my Belgian friends Ken flew a 1000 as well;” Started with an assigned 750 but changed to a free 1000. Difficult to circumnavigate the thunderstorms during the last 300km. Fun flight with Kris Van Dam. First 1000K for him .”
From another field Cuenca Sotos,another friend  , this time German , Hans flew his so maniest 1000.
But also Luesse had a 1000 that day and several other great flights.
Yesterday Guy a well known kilometer -eater, who loves CC- flying flew another 1.303 km.in his Quintus. A DG 400 /17 m.-pilot from Germany flew a 1000 as well.

Ken and Chris over the Fuente area and with the vultures over the vulture-valley.
Courtesy Ken.

———–

The WWGC in ARNBORG in Denmark is about to begin.[August 1-15]  Not the best weather at this stage.I will keep you informed.
And to finish ………news from the 13.5 m. WORLDS, about to begin as well .

Yesterday Sebastian wrote :
—” This is incredible. One week ago Peszke sent us pictures from production of the GP 14 . It was still early phase. Wings were formed, but fuselage was still constructed. I had some thoughts, that the glider may not be ready for the beginning of WGC in Lithuania. But in the factory They have been working heavily, and today it seems, we will have not one, but TWO GP 14 Velo for this competition !!! Even more, they will have two different fuselages: slim and wide. Amazing.
Good job Peszke Team!” —

As shared by Sebastian on FB.

AND

The 13.5m Worlds are about to start in Pociunai, on the 1st of August.
The American SparrowHawk R is the first to arrive at the airfield, with
its Australian pilot.

The 13.5m LAK is being prepared for a Lithuanian pilot. The first test
flight is expected to occur on Friday this week. See photo of the new
wings in the paint booth. The winglets are fixed on this prototype but
they are expected to be removable for the production version.

Rumour has it that the first GP14 Velo from Poland will have its first
test flight on the 29th of July, only a few days before the start of
competition. This is expected to be Sebastian Kawa’s glider.

  – Morgan Sandercock

As you know Morgan is heavily involved in the PERLAN PROJECT and is an Aussie glider pilot.

Some extra news AND pictures, before I spend some time with my grand children.

July 11 2015

As said in my last blog Art got married last Saturday;

Happy chappies; CONGRATULATIONS Arthur [it is now]  and Judy.
As shared by them with the remark;”Is n’t life wonderful“.

a very happy and relaxed  Judy and her flower girls.

———–

Last Saturday the MEMORIAL for Rick was in Minden in Nevada. Max, who I met in 2012 in Uvalde went to the memorial and will send me pictures to share. Unfortunately , also because of the time difference, I can only show them next week. Sorry about that, but  most important is the SCHOLARSHIP.

Rick our soaring mate, Rick who fell with his bike, Rick who died from a head trauma.
His mates , some driving for over 500 miles,celebrated and remembered with his family, Rick’s life, his soaring and each other .
IMPORTANT is the RICHARD FREDERICK WALTERS SCHOLARSHIP for Junior Glider Pilots. Established for all US junior pilots.
This way Rick will remain part of the soaring fraternity for ever.
Donations can be made, checks sent to;
Minden Soaring Club denote Rick Walters Scholarship
Minden Soaring Club
PO Box 361
Minden Nevada 89423.

THE FRENCH NATIONALS.

Yesterday the French Nationals in Mont Lucon-Gueret, finished. When I left you ,last Wednesday, the pilots were busy with a 2 hour AAT. A new name in the top that day; Guillaume Girard in the Ventus 2 flying 182.3 km. in 2 hours AT the dot.
Dutch HC pilot Steven Raimond flew 205 km. but needed 22 minutes more;he was 4th.for the day.

On Thursday , finally the good FRENCH weather and a BIG task was set; 505 km.
It turned out an extremely good day with ALL pilots finishing and as winner Frederic Hoyeau gaining the 1000 points for a speed of 111.67 km./h.
A great day for Guillaume Girard , as runner up climbing from 6 to 2 overall.[3527]
On spot 1 , after 5 days, still Christophe Cousseau [3564] and number 3 , dropping from 2, Louis Bouderlique[3501] . Then a gap from 120 points.

Friday;2.30 AAT. AND…it turned out an ” expensive day”  for a lot!Late starts , around 3.30, but also finishers;5 in total with Benjamin, TC for France at many occasions and a great pilot as well, winning the day;187 km. with the “pure ” speed of 59.65 km./h. Some penalties for low finishes, so it seems they just made it.
A change in the overall scores now after 6 days; Guillaume finished and is on top now. Christophe was out but only lost about 60 points , so he is on spot 2 now.Louis remained on 3.
Benjamin climbed with his ARCUS from 17 to 11.

10 Gliders in the same BEAUTIFUL paddock,
as shared by Philippe de Pechy.

Saturday, AND last day; So an interesting last day was what we all hoped for.
256.75 km. was set for them.
The last day was won by Guillaume, his first daily win and after starting on spot 8 on day 1 he slowly moved to the top winning the last day AND winning the comps in his Ventus 2 with 114.14 km./h..Good on him.[4831 points after 7 days]
They showed that they belong to the top of French soaring; Louis , Christophe [Ruch] and Christophe [Cousseau] by being in the top 5.
Runner up was Christophe Cousseau in the Discus 2 with 4788 points and with only 3 points less [4784] Louis [ASG 29] was on spot 3.

———–

18th FAI-EGC in Ocseny Hungary.

Practice days have started on July 8 , but not everybody flew.
A 2 hour AAT was set that day and the UK and France showed already that they have high plans to get far. THEY practiced.
On Friday more pilots , nearly all of them, tried the Hungarian skies  this time , a  3 hour AAT was set.
In 18 m. 20 pilots went flying and as said the UK pilots have high goals; Russell won the day , Andy was 2d followed by Sebastian ,from Poland of course. 428 km. with a speed of 137 km./h.
In 20 m. also 20 pilots went “up” and the Finnish couple , Hannu and Ilpo, had the best practice in the ARCUS T nearly flying 400 km. with 130 .57 km./h.
Open class had ” practicers”  as well; 422 km. in 3 hours in a JS 1 C, by Lucasz Woicik followed by Iain Evans , same glider , about the same distance and about the same time , only 7 points less for the day.
Pete Harvey [ also in a JS 1] flew 433 km. but needed a few minutes [6]  more.
A GOOD day!!!

GOOD practice day, Ready to go.
As shared by the organizers.

Yesterday’s Officiel task and LAST training day;

Tasks in the opposite direction as the day before, so they are more familiar with the ground under them.
Sebastian showed his supremacy in 18 m., by winning the day with 361,67 km with a speed of 113 km./h. Russell showed he wants to win this EGC and flew a few more kilometers but a tad slower.
In open class, the practice was good for Killian [France]  Ricardo[Italy]  and Jim [Sweden] each winning a day.
In 20 m. the last day was NOT for the ARCUS but for the DUODISCUS, both at the top .
BUT now it starts for real,…….
By the way a lot of pilots fly with “fancy DELUXE by GAGULA”  -interiors in their gliders ,as Erazem Polutnik , Russell Cheetham and Toni Sibanc. www.deluxbygagula.com
” Personalized luxury interiors for gliders made from finest materials.”

The openings ceremony and festivities for today look very good.

Look at this RED BULL DEMO, as shared by the UK team;the WOW factor.

During my absence , you can look for all the news, also about all what happened today at ;
www.egc2015.hu or the site of your team.Enjoy.

Picture from the Dutch team as shared by them, with crew Frans and pilots Jeroen,Francois and Harry, who is TC and father of and co pilot with Steven.

AND
from the UK team shared by them. With Andy, Pete ,Iain and Russell.

————

On July 11, some great flights in Europe. Mathias Schunk, loves as we know, his cross country gliding and added a new German Out and Return record to his list; From Koenigsdorf ,in the Quintus, he flew 1.025,78 km. with a speed of 100 km./h. So nice weather in the Alps with an interesting flight from Switzerland [Yverdon Les Bains] as well by Daniel Rossier in the 21 m. ASH 31;912 km [850 FAI triangle], starting with thermals over relative low ground and flying up at one stage to 5453 m. MSL.[3559 AGL] He flew over Switzerland, France and Italy.
One day later he “visited” Klippeneck and Hahnweide and the border of the mountains.;1.oo1.05 km.!!!!!
Mathias flew from Koenigsdorf again and just missed out due to different optimizing;999.2 km.For me he flew a 1000!!!!
Both are MILVUS fans!!

———-

And then some new world records!!!
The FAI has ratified the records flown by Morgan Sandercock in his Ultralight glider, the Sparrowhawk on July 3 2015 in ELY. He flew a triangle distance of 738.6 km .[ was 507.28 by James Payne flown on June 28 in 2009] and a free triangle distance of 772.4 km.[previous record was by James ; 530.13 km. ]
They were North American records as well.
Morgan lives in Australia but is heavily involved in the Perlan Project as you know.

AND,…..from Ross important news for observers, instructors, coaches TC’s  etc:
Friends,

The IGC Sporting Code Committee is pleased to announce that the 2015 edition of the Sporting Code for Gliding, Section 3 (SC3) has been published on the FAI website.( http://is.gd/udvSKE )  This edition comes into force on October 1^st 2015. It has many changes from the current version and is the result of 3 years work by the committee to simplify the Code and set it out in a more accessible fashion.  This has led to some duplication of material with requirements for badges (Chapter 2) being separated from record requirements (Chapter 3).  I wish to record my thanks to the members of the committee, especially Tony Burton (Canada) who acted as editor, and who led the discussions.  His contribution cannot be too highly stated.  There was considerable input from outside the Committee, which was very much appreciated.

Ross Macintyre, Chairman, IGC Sporting Code Committee.

———–

And to finish , before my holiday starts , this great picture from Arne Martin, flying the VOSS GRAND PRIX[Bomoen Airport in Norway]
and circling over the 2d TP !!!!!WOW !!!!!
Cu on the 22d .
Ritz

July 2015 started with a BANG.The first night of July was the hottest ever in Holland since they started measuring.
Europe was under a huge HIGH and everybody was “HOT”,France , Germany and Spain “suffer”  from over 40 dgr. C.
July 1 was also the hottest July 1 in history here in Holland.July 2 the hottest day ever in July.
Saturday the Tour De France started in Utrecht with 37 dgr. C. but the weather record from 1944, 38.6 was NOT smashed.We had however the 40thiest official HEATWAVE …AND in ARCEN in Limburg they nearly got the record; 38.4 dgr. C..
16 million liters of water were necessary on DAY 1 for the more than 350 .000 enthusiastic people, to keep their thirsty throat  ” wet”  at this exciting start of the Tour and on Sunday when they departed from Utrecht on their LOOONG way to France, the same amount.A total of one million ” cycle-lovers” visited Utrecht.
Winner on day 1 and in the yellow on day 2; Aussie Rohan Dennis from Adelaide.
Lot’s of weather records in parts of Europe have been broken.As said over 40 in Germany with SEVERE thunderstorms in the Berlin area.
On Sunday SEVERE thunderstorms were predicted here as well and lot’s of wind. NOT good for the cyclists who had to go in the end of their Dutch trip over a bridge with sea-water AND wind to the right and left. Luckily the severe weather at the finish line, was 1 hour ahead of the cyclists so when they thought ,” this will be the first finish without spectators” the sun was shining again and they could finish WITH spectators, but after having been dealing with tough wind , hail and rain.
Difficult day at what to look as well; Tour de France, from Utrecht in Holland to Zeeland  “NEELTJE JANS ” an artificial island. Formula 1 at Silverstone, World championship soccer for ladies [in the evening in Vancouver Canada] between Japan and the USA and the World championship Beach Volley in Holland in the Hague; Holland against Brazil.” We ”  lost ,…missing 5 match points.
Not to forget ,…keeping an eye on Greece where nearly 10 million people during an historic ballot had to say “nai” or “oxi”.well, THEY voted for NO , what happens now…… ????????
Still unknown.

———-

This upcoming Saturday , JULY 11, my good friend and I should say OUR GOOD FRIEND , Art [Grant] is going to marry his Judy.When I checked how is jitters were he seemed all in control;
” We are almost ready – church is booked, a big tent is going up in the yard, and the caterer has our order.  We have to pick up our rings in Winnipeg on Thursday.  Guests will begin arriving on Thursday, too.
This is so much fun.”
In short; He met Judy when he was young, AND,….again after they both had lived their lives and found there was still some “spark”  between them. They stayed for a few months in the neighborhood of Uvalde escaping the Canadian cold and finding out how special their connection was.
They moved in together after that and,….the result,…a wedding on July 11.
I wish them the VERY BEST for the MOST HAPPY LIFE together.I know I speak for all of you.
As soon as I have them I will share pictures, but I won’t be writing between July 13 and 22 due to my 2d holiday this summer.

———-

The OLC- July- 1 started with just over 800 km. flown in Hungary with a Nimbus 4 T.
Laszlo Hegedus was the pilot and he was just the number 3 from the Hungarian Nationals [flown between June 12 and 22] in the National Mixed[with 18 m]  open class.Over 8 days he won one and was runner up twice.
Next week he participates in the 18th EGC 2015 flown from OCSENY in Hungary.His home country.That should open perspective for him.
3 Classes in Hungary with a total of 85 pilots from 21 countries . Poland participates with 7 pilots,  Czech Rep , Germany and Hungary with 6.
18 m. Class has 33 entrees, open 26 and there are 27 x 2 pilots in the 2-seater class.
Interesting in this class , a father son combination from Holland, a husband and wife combi from Germany and from Japan, but they fly HC.
I more and more like this 20 m. class.17 ARCUS types , 7 DUO DISCUS types and 3 ASG 32 types.
They all start on July 12 continuing till July 25.
The first week is in my holiday time with the grand kids but most of the 2d week I can check for you.
The site where you can find it all is ; www.egc2015.hu

This week is practice and the UK team has arrived early to do some practice. Gliders from Andy and Russell are on the grid. yesterday some flights were added to the OLC and they went from one tug to 3, so all was smoother and quicker.

As shared by the BGT. And Baldrick, who cleaned the JS 1 N1, for Pete ,who flies it in open class.

———-

From Mont Lucon-Gueret, the French Nationals in st./15m and 20 m. are flown in ONE class with 41 participants and HC by Dutch pilot and former European Champion Steven Raimond.
They started on the 5th with a 2.30 AAT won by Louis Bouderlique [ 939]in the ASG 29.Runner up was Christophe Ruche [ 936]and Philippe de Pechy was 3d.[934]
On Monday they had a 3 hour AAT. And it was tough to fly a lot of kilometers in that time. Best pilot was Adrian Henry from Bailleau [member of a well known gliding family in France] in an LS 8;239.32 km in time 3.04,50.[923 points].
Runner up was Frederic Hoyeau in the Discus 2a.[ 910 points]
15 Pilots did not finish.

245.60 km. Was the distance set for yesterday.Christophe Ruche flew the best distance and that was not 245.60 but 187,64 km.
All pilots out-landed.
After 3 days 2 pilots are on spot 1, Christophe and Louis both with 2.182 points.

For today a 2 hour AAT is set.

———-

I own you the last 2 days of the US Nationals . In Open class Heinz [Weissenbuehler ] won the last but one day in his ASW 22 BL. A day with mainly blue thermals.
DB and Ron were 2 and 3.
In 18 m.day 7 was for Ray Gimmey again. Good on him! Jerzy was 2d . Ken Sorenson , the Uvalde 2012 CD was on spot 2 overall with 2 points on the number 3.
In Club class day 8 was a prey for Garret [Willat] in the ASW 19 and the last day was be between him and Sean [Franke] in the LS 1f.

Enough excitement on the last day , but not so much about the flying. A 3.5 AAT was set, later reduced to 2.5 and then with possibility of thunderstorms open and 18 m. were cancelled. Club had to try ………….
And they did and  squeezed out another day in this class. TAT [turn area task] was set ,with around 117 miles.The gate opened at 15.35!!
Only 1 pilot did not finish. Quite some changes in the top as there was a difference in the unofficial scores from day 8 from 3 points  between 3 and 4 Mike Westbroek [7305] and Boyd Willat and Robin Clarc , both 7302 points.
Day 9 was good for Garret with a runner-up-daily-spot. NOT so good for Mike with a 13th spot and pretty good for Boyd with a 5th place.The winners below.By the way,… Mike dropped to 6 and Robin to 4.

So the winners are;

Dick [DB] to the r. Ron in the middle and Heinz to the l.

———–

The SOLAR IMPULSE 2 landed after 4 days, 22 hours and one minute in Hawaii. What a great effort from Andre Borschberg; a once-in-your-life-time-thrill.20 Minutes naps in that period was the max !!! Unbelievable. A hero, a LEGEND!
WITHOUT fuel, only solar power he flew from Nagoya in Japan over the Pacific Ocean.A new record,
Notifications were received by the FAI for a claim in  sub class;
Straight distance of 6449.8 km. in 117 hours 52 minutes.

———-

From ELY 759 was flown on the first day of July  in an ARCUS with a speed of 158.17 km./h.
Last Monday was good in several parts of Europe.Look at this;
1.067 km. from Grosses Moor in Germany in an EB 28.
882 km. from Ocana in Spain in a 21 m. ASH 31.
791 km. from Joensuu in Finland in an 18 m. DG 808.
766km. from Barcelonette in France in an 18 m. ASH 31.
779 km. from Aosta in Italy in an 18 m. LS 8.
815 km. from Soesterberg in Holland in a DUO DISCUS XLT.

———-

Peter Ditmar  in Holland is the  new owner from the very first Ventus 2cxa FES.[Front Electric Sustainer]
Here is the news about this glider from Schempp Hirth.
—” FES is an innovative, environment-friendly sustainer system and very different from all former systems. The reliable and lighting-fast starting and stopping of the engine with any noticeable additional drag allows to spontaneously use the electrical engine, which opens completely new perspectives. The powered flight is perceived in a very new way and can be enjoyed by puristic glider pilots.

———-

The new GLIDING INTERNATIONAL [July/August] has some interesting stories again. About;
—the AERO 2015 in Friedrichshafen, with news from Elke who visited the biggest of the 12 exhibition-halls full of gliders and soaring news .She mentions…” Gliding goes ELECTRIC.”
—Markus and Karin, write about their soaring-experiences in KURUMAN in S. A. and compare 4 S.A soaring sites with statistics;Douglas, Gariep,New Tempe [Bloemfontein] and Kuruman.
—Aldo ,writes about the benefit of simulators for clubs , especially the SUPER simulator in Varese, the venue for the next final of the FAI SGP .
— Nature shows us how to fly by Miles
—A look inside the WINTER Instruments by Markus and much more divided over 64 pages.

———-

You are up to date, CU next week.
After you will “see”  me again on the 22d of July

cheers Ritz

–

QSGP at ZAR.

Fabulous airport on the slopes of the ZAR mountains, where the ZAR Mountain Gliding school has been host for many pilots.
As shared on FB by the SGP.
courtesy Fot. Wojciech Englert.

The Qualifying Grand Prix in Poland [ 18 m. class gliders] flown from the airfield of ZAR,  finally, after 4 days,  got a day with points. GOOD!!

Nice finish from Sebastian, as seen by Fot. Wojciech Englert and shared by the organizers. An album with 69 great pictures.
More pictures and news  to be seen at :http://www.sgp.aero/poland2015.aspx?contestID=6452

Last Wednesday a task of 123.87 km. was set and the daily winner was ,……Sebastian [ASG 29] even with a turn to the right before the start-line opened,  which was not allowed according to the rules [SGP rules p.8.7] .
He was not the only one as 4 from 6 did the same.
Anyhow he got the 7 points for the day;speed 107.78. km./h.
Runner up Petr Panek got 5 points flying with a speed of 101.33 km./h. in his JS1C.
Rasmus got the 5 points.[ASG 29E]
See picture below , when the podium was out for the first time.

On Thursday the regatta start was at 1.07 PM, for a 132.4 km. flight. Before I knew they were all back. First,…of course Sebastian with 103 km./h.
Runner up was Rasmus with 101.44 km./h.
Only 7 pilots were flying.
On Friday the regatta start was at 12.05  and pilots had a nice task from 270,51 km.and the 8 points went to,….Rolf Gerzmann from Germany.
After 3 days , with ONE day to go, Sebastian tops the list with 18 points, followed by Rasmus with 12 and Petr [Panek] with 9.

Preparations to be ready for the last day.
as shared by the organizers.

Saturday,last day of this QSFP. Briefing at 10 so early starts expected.
At 11.10 AM launching was supposed to commence for the last time.
But..it was postponed till 2 PM.THEN the day was …….. cancelled!!!!

3 Days out of 8. What can you do?Look at the happy smiling faces of the 3 best??? YES!

With Rasmus , Sebastian and Petr.
As shared by the organizers.

———-

Zwickau, German Nationals for club and 20 m. class.

As shared by the organizers.

In Zwickau , the club and 2-seater pilots flying their German Nationals, finally could fly for their 3d day. Launches at 15.15, so pretty late , BUT they flew.
In the 2 -seater class nobody finished during a 2.30 AAT. Best distance was by Uli  Gmelin, in the ARCUS T;164.6 km. and for that he got 215 points. Better than nothing!
Did the ARCUS gliders perform well in the 20 m. class ,in club class the St Libelles  had a good day as well. No, ….nobody finished ,as it was a tough day for the 42 pilots in this class, even to fly a 1.30 AAT .
Most pilots started straight away at 16.53, some pilots started after 5 PM., one even after 6 PM. It all was in vain as it turned out an invalid day.[ 25 %  should have had over 100 km.] Best distance 85 km.but the Libelles were with 5 in the top 10.

Indeed as expected and hoped for the weather changed and on Thursday, a “good”  task was set for the 2 seaters, ” dosis”  called in Germany;417.6 km. straight over the Bayerischen forest. So a nice day 4.
The club class had to go on their day 3, more N. for a 3.30 hour AAT.
They started first and for the 2 seater-pilots a new task B was handed out at the strip; one about 50 km. shorter.
At 13.30 they were launched.

Club class was won again by Stefan Delfs in the St Libelle;998 points as he got 2 penalty points, as he was a tad too high passing the start line.41 Pilots in this class finished!
After 3 days Stefan leads.
In the 20 m. class Marcus Geisen, partner from Karin [Wiesenthal] and a colleague- writer for Gliding International, won the day!! Good on him. In their ARCUS M.He flew the B task, 357.8 km. with a speed of just over 100 km.;108.51.
16 Pilots flew over 100 km. Uli was the last of those 16 and NO outlandings here either.

Friday LAST DAY;Another tricky day and not only the weather was unsettled, it made a proper mess of the overall scores as well.It turned out a valid day so they finished with 4 days out of  11 in club class.
Stefan who flew so well did not do so on this last day.During the 2.30 AAT he out landed and was 12 th for the day.
Only 8 pilots [from 42] finished and as said the overall scores changed.
BUT NOT FOR Stefan [St Libelle]  on all 4 days he was the number 1 overall,  in the club class so a deserved winner with a small marge, but who cares; 3591 points. Runner up Jan Rothardt [LS 1 d] one of the finishers, still 6 on day 3, had 3558.
Fabian Peitz , [St Libelle] another finisher, climbed from 6 to 3 so at the podium;3549 points.
And whilst it is so close; number 4 coming from 8, with 3546 points, Dennis van Deest-Behnke [St Libelle] who finished as well.
By the way these 4 gentlemen form the new German club class team for this year.
Our young junior pilot Nick Hanenburg, did well finished on a 26th spot with 2895 points in the St Cirrus. Both, glider and pilot, will represent Holland in Narromine. Nick had a “bad”  last day, not only because of the weather ;he flew a while, with the wheel out, after he opened the doors earlier to loose and keep height before the start.Better now then in Narromine.

Stefan in his St Libelle.
As shared by the organizers.

In the 2 seater class, they flew 5 days and the last day was for some, “hell” too.Not for Serena Triebel she stood firm with her ASG 32 MI; 3298 points.
11 From 32 finished the 2 hour AAT. We had one Dutch team participating and by being 3d on the last day ,they moved overall from 12 to 7. Well done Bart [Renckens] and Max [Dolfin] in the ARCUS M.
Norbert Sommer, ARCUS T, moved up from 8 to 3[2972]  , even with an out landing and Uli Gmelin, dropped from 4 to 5. Martin Theisinger from 3 to 6. Thomas [Viehmann] stayed on 2
The new German 2 seater team for the upcoming year is; Serena, Thomas, Norbert and Martin.

A pity that such a last day has such an influence on the scores but that ‘s soaring too.At the party on Friday night for sure, everybody had forgotten about the weather and only celebrations were on.

Very happy Club Class Zwickau winners , with Jan, Stefan and Fabian.
courtesy Daniel Seitzinger.

———-

1.026 km. in an LS 6 with winglets is “not bad”!!!This happened in Parowan and Thorsten Streppel from Germany was the lucky one.More pilots [at least 17 from Parowan] enjoyed the great wave-conditions there on June 24. Though the visibility as I read , was not everywhere too good, due to forest fires.
Also Ely had that nice wave-weather.
The next day was a as good in the USA , Thorsten flew a 1.063 km.flight and from Ely an FAI triangle  from 1.006 km. was flown by Steve Koerner.[ASW 27]
On June 26, Ely had a 1.011 km. [889 FAI triangle] by Uwe Kleintempel in the 18 m. Ventus 2CM. Parowan had flights up to 987 km. again in the LS 6 with Thorsten.
The top 35 on this day had , a total of 21 flights from Parowan and Ely[Arpt] ,so only enthusiastic pilots about the fabulous weather the cloud streets , with great thermals and wave:” the thermals under 15K where rough so stayed in the upper levels; worked great” was what one of the pilots mentioned on the OLC.
AND…….June 27 was a great one as well. A great week over there now with the 2d 1000 for Steve flying from ELY and the 3d one for Thorsten. That is called,” being on the right day,… at the right spot.”
June 28 was also good in this area but better in Europe, A SUPERDAY .
3 Pilots flew an FAI 1000 km. triangle and one just; he flew 932.6 km. [1.025 km]
3 Of them in open class gliders , but kilometer eater Matthias Schunk in an 18 m. ASG 29;
June 29; Mitch Polinsky-day from Ely.” Declared 1002.5 km triangle. Made all the turnpoints except the finish line. Very challenging day weatherwise. Plus all three turnpoints turned out to be in the blue.”
On the last day of June, yesterday Utah with wave/thermal flights from Nephi, had great weather: Nicholas Kennedy in an LS 3 flew 815 km. He mentioned on the OLC;
“Nephi OLC event is on fire; the awesome mountains and desert thermals and the fine rural Utah hospitality. Awesome day with a few scattered storms cells to play with and some friendly gliders to thermal with.”
At least 31 gliders were flying that day from Nephi.
Germany topped the list with kilometer eater Bernd Goretzki with 944 km.in the Ventus 2 CM/18 m. from Locktow.

Last Monday [June 29] another good 500 km. day in Holland and Finnish pilots flew up to 733 km. from Rayskala.On the picture below from Juha, you can see how beautiful Finland is from above.
By the way we are going to be HOT. 38 Is predicted for Saturday when the Tour De France starts in Utrecht , the heart of Holland. That’s 16 dgr. higher than the average for this time of the year.

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2015 US Club, 18 m. and Open class Nationals  flown at Hobbs
between June 23 and July 2 2015.

They started with 2 practice days and their first day was on last Tuesday. Assigned task’s for all on a good day with a cloud base up to 10.000 MSL. Weather ,the older ones between us, remember as Kees [Musters] became world champion in Hobbs with such great racing conditions.
Open class had 10 participating pilots and Dick Butler in his majestic CONCORDIA straight set the level in this class winning and gaining the 948 points for the day. Ron Tabery was 2d and Heinz Weissenbuehler  4th both flying ASW 22 BLE. They all had to “fight”  with the wind!
Day 2; This day Dick got himself 1000 points , another assigned task and he flew 301 miles using 3 TP’s.
Day 3; AAT’s for all classes and Dick is now used to them. He did not win, Ron did,[391 miles.  with 83 miles./h. and 1000 points] .. but he was runner up.[990]
day 4; no task, due to the loss of 1 tug by mechanical problems , due to cross wind and expected thunderstorms.
day 4;DB is going strong,…another 1000 points for him.
day 5; more points for the CONCORDIA , Dick won again.336 miles with a speed of 84.10 m./h.Not an AAT but a MAT  today for all classes.Not everybody seemed to be happy with a MAT [Mod. Assigned Task] as ” they don’t prove anything.”
Restday, well deserved for all!
Day 6;” NO ” news DB won [5938 total] and leads the pact and Ron [Tabery is runner up with 5723].The number 3 with 2 days to go including today has 400 points less.

DB’s CONCORDIA DB at the strip in Hobbs.
Shared by the US Sailplane Grand Prix Qualifyer in in Ionia in 2016.

In 18 m. class Gary Ittner flew himself to 1000 points in his 18 m. ASG 29. A lot from the 21 pilots in this class I remember from Uvalde 2012 as Ken Sorenson, then the CD, Jerzy Szemplinski who won the first PANAM  this year, Ray Gimmey, Pete Alexander and Dennis Linnekin , the TC from the USA team at many occasions.
Day 2; 1000 points for Jerzy.
day 3; same story,..1000 points for Jerzy. He flew 335.88 miles. with a speed of 83 miles /h.
Day 4; no task
day 4; a good day for Ken , he won the 1000 points. Jerzy was 3d.
day 5 ; Good old Ray Gimmey won this day with Jerzy as runner up again.
Rest day!
Day 6 ; Jerzy won and this time Gary {Ittner} was runner up. Good on him. Gerzy leads with nearly 200 points.

Club class with 18 pilots, with as the best on day 1 Sean Franke in the LS 1f. Garret Willat in the ASW 19 was runner up.
Day 2 ; was for Robin Clark in an LS 6  Garret was runner up.
day 3; was for Bif Hus in his Discus 2b.
day 4; Mike Westbrook is doing well in his St Cirrus. He won the 2.30 AAT and leads overall as well , before Sean and Garret and Boyd Willat. The first 6 pilots are between 3537 and 3675 points!!!!
day 5 ;Daniel Sazhin in the LS 4 won the day; 223 miles one more than the runner up with a speed of 65.3 miles /h.
day 6; 1000 points for Garret.
Rest day !
day 7; A Dutch name Tony Smolder won this day and the toppers Sean and Garret finished on 5 and 3.Between the number 1 and 4 [Boyd ] only 130 points so there is more possible in this class.

You can follow it on www.ssa.org

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And then there is out of the blue this message on FB. I nearly got a heart attack!!! Remembering Rick Walters,…uh was he dead!!?? He was supposed to fly the nationals in Hobbs!!!!!

Rick, who we got to know in Minden[ Nevada] during the pre worlds in 1990 and even  better one year later in Uvalde in Texas, when he “gave”  his glider to Bear Selen, who became world champion in it!!!
We celebrated with bubbles.Have lot’s of beautiful pictures from those moments.
Rick who I met again in 2012  again in Uvalde and we went on where we stopped in 1991, lot’s of stories and changes in our lives. I knew he had been  sick ,but battled it.
Rick ,  a guy NOBODY had trouble with to like , he was beautiful inside and out side and someone you connected to straight away. What a tragic loss for his family.What a tragic loss for all of us , his mates!!!
Only 60 years old!!

Rick and me with Andreea in 2012.

Rick with Andreea [made by me] and with me [made by Andreea].
R.I.P dear friend.

And then I heard that he had an accident with his bike !!!!!He had a new high tec. bike and went to ride it in the Alpine County, riding the Blue Lakes Loop…. he lost control…fell…. striking his head…. suffered blunt head trauma …..then the shocking news , that he died. A bloody BIKE!!!!!?????
How is it possible?I am lost for words.

CU next week when we will have some kind of heatwave in Holland with temperatures up to 38 dgr.
The highest we EVER had was 38.6 dgr. C. in August 1944.
By the way Spain has OVER 40 dgr. From Ocana 24 pilots fly in 4 classes for the Spanish National titeles.[you can find their scores at www.soaringspot.com] They will be “HOT”  but are more used to it and flying high is “COOL”.
Cheers Ritz