JWGC…….NARROMINE.

As you can see,….. the Dutch Young Ones arrived in Narromine! And what temperatures !!!???
With a departure in 40 dgr. C from Corowa and an arrival with the same high temperature they tried to stay nice high and cool, during their ferry.
And as you can see as well [picture below] , they had no problems to get there, though it started ,…late but en route to the N. the weather improved and base climbed to 3900 m.Closer to Narromine it turned blue, but no worries to get there .

2 Dutch colleagues of my daughter, William and Evelien , run a small business in summer time in Narromine  called Outback Soaring, and the 4 gliders will have a great place  staying in their hangar.
They both have a brand new ARCUS and it seems after 2 flights they are”  in love with it”.
YES , the Dutch are very well organized and with a private house where the team lives together, they will have on the ground EVERYTHING ready for good results.
They started straight away with flights up to over 800 km. from Narromine to the South.
With already 5 tuggies available,  it all goes smooth.
886 for Robin in LS 8 and Ronald flew 814 km. same glider.

Both pictures shared by the Dutch Junior Team.

Many of the young Polish ones straight away flew 500 km. tasks. The German team has arrived as well.
Hope the weather continues to be so good during the comps.

So did TEAM NEW ZEALAND,
They shared this picture.

On Thursday a nice reaction of the UK team who have arrived down under as well.

“We’ve arrived in Sydney! The team has split up into various little factions to go and pick up cars and gliders from all over the country, and we’ll reconvene at Narromine in the next day or so. Oh, and if you were wondering what the weather is like…”

Their container was late, but ”  we rounded up some local gliders to fly and set ourselves a modest 210 km task out to the North and South to familiarize ourselves with the area and conditions. With Sam in an ASW 19, Tom in a Libelle and Mike in Discus we launched after lunch into 7 kt climbs to 6000 ft. With cloud base rising to 8000 ft and climbs peaking at 10 knots we romped around our small task before deciding to do it all over again, with conditions turning blue later in the day. The forecast tomorrow is looking even better, so we’re hoping to get some bigger flights in.”
AND,………the UK pilots FINALLY get their container TOMORROW at 8 AM!!! Stress!!!!!

Above pictures shared by team UK.

The young Czech pilots are still very impressed with the clouds in Narromine and made a lot of cloud-pictures.And from their flag! Interesting,…no clouds that day, so time to put the flag up, though dry thermals can be VERY good/strong in Australia.

As shared by the Czech team.

The USA team is on it’s way and here are the pilots. Aussie pilot Adam Woolley helped them to get a CIRRUS each.Good on ADAM.

Daniel Sazhin, JP Stewart en Boyd Willat, yes younger brother from Garret.

Narromine THE SPOT TO BE and socialize for the under 25 pilots from the world!!!!!
Shared by JWGC.

The first unofficial  practice has started  with 300 and 400 km tasks .

Courtesy Narromine Gliding Club Official.

For all the news pictures and a way to find FB and blogs etc from the young pilots from all over the world,you can go to the official site at;
http://www.jwgc2015.com/

———-

LAKE KEEPIT NATIONALS.

2 Days to go ;Thursday and Friday;
So here we go again , but first the 2 days earlier through the eyes of Bruce;
—“Sorry, it has been a long time since I wrote. Lots of interesting stuff has happened.
We had a big storm day, which resulted in a mass out-landing.
The task setter wasn’t so popular that day I also landed out, despite having an engine and managed to do some damage to my undercarriage when I hit a small rock in the paddock.
I thought it might be the end of the competition, but a rest day was called the following day, and we managed to get the repairs done to keep flying. The weather has always been challenging, with a very moist air mass, giving difficult thermals, lower cloud base and sometimes a lot of spread out. So far I have managed to stay consistent, which I am very pleased about.
Today was an interesting day, as we tasked around the Piliga scrub, which is a huge area of unlandable forest out to the West of Lake Keepit. It was a 500 km trip, and the first leg was so slow, low and blue that I was quite sure that we would never be coming home in daylight. However, it improved for the second leg, then on the third leg we flew through some spectacular conditions, with huge climbs up to nearly 12,000 feet. Then the final leg home was starting to overdevelop, so we experienced the full weather spectrum in one flight. It was a fun race, won by Allan Barnes.
Two days to go, which look like they will be very hot and blue.” —–

This is the Piliga scrub and the “poor” PIK 20.
Pilot Paul had no injuries at all , so a very VERY, lucky man, and was picked up, better said winched up  by  a helicopter.

   

A sad picture and a happy one.
Shared on FB by several friends.

Thursday;
Club class;
task 10 and flying day 8 with morning temperatures of 34 dgr. C. and an airspace max of 10,000′ . First launches postponed till noon.
A 2.30 AAT was set and it was the 2d day in a row with a win for team LS3/Terry;274 km. in time 2.34. With one day to go Terry tops the overall scores with 6298 points. Above him, but flying HC is Eric Stauss, very ready for the Narromine JWGC with 6.505 points!!!Below him Joe O’ Donnell also flying HC with 6.067 points.

Standard Class;
task 9 and soaring day 8 with a 3 hour AAT won by Bruce.309 km. in time 2.59. Lisa was runner up and Allan number 3. I presume Matthew has left Lake Keepit to go to Narromine. He was n’t scored anymore, but showed he was ready for the JWGC.
With one day to go Bruce tops the overall scores and Allan is runner up and Lisa is on spot 3.

Sports Class;
Task 9 and flying day number 8 with a 3.30 AAT and the Nimbus 3 DM from Steve Hedley won from the ASG 29 from Mike with a difference from 54 km in distance and 3 km./h. speed.
No worries for Mike with one day to go he has 6620 points whilst runner up Butch has 6184. 12 From 18 finished. David [Jansen] was unfortunately one from the out-landers after 311 km.

Bruce’s view on Thursday’s flying:
—“A very strange day of gliding today. The forecast was for one of our Aussie “blue” days, stinking hot with no clouds, and not a lot of fun for competition racing. We set off from 6,500 feet, which seemed better than expected. First climb, 4-5 knots to 5,000, second climb the same, third climb, 10 knots to 11,500 feet!! This was followed by a l-o-n-g glide down to 1,000 feet AGL. Craziness Finally I found a little climb, and at this stage I decided it was time to head for home, as the conditions meant that the struggle back into wind would take quite some time. It all went well, gently, gently working my way back to Mt Kaputar, which I climbed step by step, and slowly found a path back to the final turn area, and a very conservative run home. Speed was back to 102kph, from nearly 130kph when I had turned for home. However, it was enough for a day win. There were about a dozen outlandings, and everyone had a similar tale to mine. Very unusual weather indeed!-—

Friday; LAST COMPETITION DAY.
Club Class;day 9 out of 12, with a 3.15 hour AAT and some good enough weather to make differences to the final scores.
A day also with some [9]air space violations in this class.Before it seemed already that there was some confusion about
A day also with a well known Aussie name on the top; Jenny Ganderton , who won this last day in the Mosquito.
TERRY CUBLEY was daily the runner up. He flew 403 km. with a speed of 120.15 km./h. in his LS 3 which , as I said before, ” fits him as a glove!” With 7294 points he is the NEW NATIONAL CLUB CLASS CHAMPION!! Well done Terry!
BUT…to be honest he was beaten with nearly 100 points  by junior Eric Stauss, who flew HC , which means as much as “not competing officially” .[7389]
Junior Joe , also flying an LS 3, but  HC ,  proved he is in good condition to fly now to Narromine. With 6944 he was the number 2 .
The “real”  number 2 was Peter Trotter, always to be found in the top, [6634] and on 3 very good, Kris Kauffman .[ASW 20 b /6575]

Standard Class;day 9 with a 3.30 AAT. Another prey for Bruce , so he tops the overall scores in this class, both Terry and he belong to the “oldies” nowadays but still going strong. With 483,91 km. with a speed of 135.92 km./h. he was once again daily winner, but also once again, the new NATIONAL STANDARD CLASS CHAMPION. [8179 points]
Runner up was Allan with 7577 points and on spot 3 with 6964 points Lisa. Good on her!!!
Junior Dylan got points for a 3d place, junior Matthew did not fly anymore during the last days.
A great day for WWGC pilot Kerry Claffey, who started rather late but managed to finish on a 3d daily spot!
Only one airspace infringement in this class.
And to be honest again…..I guess Matthew could/would have won!!!!

Sports class; day 9 with a 3 hour AAT. On the last day the 1000 points were for Butch flying 425,48 km. in 2.46, meaning a speed of 141.83 km./h.Nice, fast  last day. Mike was so far ahead, so he remained the best from this competition, but as a UK pilot he can “only”   be THE WINNER!!!! Congratulations with a great performance between many Aussie topppilots! [7595 points].
The NEW NATIONAL SPORTS CLASS CHAMPION is John ” Butch” Buchanan. Runner up  was Brad Edwards with 6858 points and Rolf Buelter did a great job in being 3d [6801].
7 Airspace infringements here.[Tamworth and Williamtown]

So also in this class “oldies”  in/on the top, but for how long?
It looks,the Junior Australian Gliding Team will be ” cleaning up ” [Junior language] the seniors at the club and standard nationals in the future.And that’s how it goes in life and ,…it should go like that!!
Anyhow the young ones,  did a fabulous job all of them, a pity they could not all stay till the end, scores would have been different.
A JWGC is more important, it HAS to happen THERE!!!

The last words about the Lake Keepit Nationals are for Bruce;
–“All done and dusted. The last day was a beauty, and it is always nice to end on a good note. We had climbs to 13,500 feet, and flew with winning speeds between 130 and 156 kph. After a fortnight of difficult thermals, storms and outlandings, it was a fun way to close the competition.
Some of the old-timers scooped the pool, with John Buchanan winning the Australian Sports class title, (with visitor Mike Young from the UK taking the line honours), Terry Cubley winning the Club Class, and my little ASW24 having a win in the Standard Class. All in all it has been a successful competition, with many pilots reaffirming their preference for Lake Keepit as a soaring destination. The club is going from strength to strength, and provides a wonderful variety of terrain and conditions.”—

——-

Some great OLC flights.

It started already last Wednesday and the weather was good at several places.
Argentina; Chos Malal, where German pilot Wolfgang Goering had another interesting flight; 1.448 km. with a speed of 134.18 km./h. in the QUINTUS. As he mentioned in his comment;” What a day! Wind and weather conditions were changing constantly, as were the lines of rotors.” More on the OLC.
On Friday he had an other superb and even faster flight; 1.177,90 with a speed of 185.24 km./h. Still a bit tired from the other 11 hour flight, he started late but had a ball!! It is his 7th time in Argentina , but conditions like this he had never before,
South Africa; just over 1000 km. from Kuruman Pi by Gert Kalisch.
Some of my Dutch friends moved from Gariep to Douglas and doing the ferry the weather was so good that Rob, added many kilometers to the flight to have a 1000 km.in the Dutch Nimbus 4DM.
New Zealand, with a  1000 km wave flight last Monday for USA pilot Keith Essex in the ASG 29 /18 m.; 1.021 km. with a speed of 152,49 km./h. on a not even good day as he had to abandon his flight due to early deteriorating conditions and as he mentioned in his comment :” Instability and moisture slowly wiped out the wave. The last 200k were brutal with nasty rotor and 65kt winds but no wave.” 
YESTERDAY great flights have a look at the OLC;
USA….Minden Tahoe; Jim Payne with 2.016.20 km with a speed of 211. 59 km./h. on an “awesome Minden-day”, as he mentioned. up to 7535 MSL flown in the Perlan ARCUS M.
South Africa….Gariep Dam; several 1000 km. in gliders as DUO DISCUS and Ventus 2CM/18 m.
Namibia…Kiripotib, Pokweni and Bitterwasser with several just-over-1000 km. flights, some declared some challenging, but all satisfying. Another one in the pocket.

———

By the way on December 1, the WORLD AIR GAMES in DUBAI start as well.

For the new gliding event 6 pilots have been invited; Thilo Holighaus, Giorgio Galetto, Werner Amann, Rene Vidal, Roman Mracek and last but certainly not least Sebastian Kawa.
Here are the rules freshly copied for you from their site as  the “Glider Match Race”  will be presented for the first time at the FAI World Air Games in Dubai and for more you can look at the sites;
—-” In Glider Match Racing, a pair of gliders will fly simultaneously over a predefined course of roughly 25 kilometres, and whichever pilot completes the course first, without exceeding a specified speed limit, is the winner of the match.  The winner will be the pilot who can follow the course more accurately, control the glider more precisely, make more precise turns, and control the speed more effectively, all with the goal of being first across the finish line.

After a qualifying round in which all the pilots will be paired against each other once, the winners will face each other in a single-elimination finals round.  The winner of the gliding event will be declared Winner of the FAI Gliding Match Racing Event and be awarded the Gold Medal.  The pilots placing respectively second and third will be awarded the Silver and the Bronze medals.”—

http://crosscountry.aero/wag
and
https://twitter.com/WAGDubaiGliding

———

That’s it. Having a bad cold, grrrrr…..!!!!!
CU from Australia whenever there is something important to mention, so not only on Wednesday but every time when something interesting comes up.
It will be my Aussie diary,but Narromine’s last 4 days will be as always at the spot and minute by minute, as much aspossible.

Cheers Ritz

How terribly UNIMPORTANT  are stories when things happen as in France!!!! I feel for all who lost their loved ones or are praying to keep them alive.I feel sorry for our world!!!In what world do we live. What will happen to our children and grand children.
I worry, I worry a lot!!!
But life goes on, so it should. It’s nearly 30 years ago that we lost our son/brother.I know the pain from a loss. I also know that you have to live with this loss and how cruel it is ,…you have to continue your life. I try!!!!!We all have to  !!!

———-

I saw it from an airliner, several times , but not as good as from a GLIDER!!!
An interesting flight from 865 km. out and return  on November 11, passing Ayers Rock …ULURU… the HEART OF THE CONTINENT…and back, in a DG 1000/20 m. by 2 members of the RAAF Richmond Gliding Club.
That’s flying over a lot of ” nothing.” And,…about 400 km. OUT.
As they mentioned on the OLC;“Possible 20M Class Record – claim to be processed – great view of Ularu and the Olgas.”
Can imagine that!!!Chapeau!

———-

NZ JUNIORS.

They are both very busy and serious with and about their flying.Good preparation, trust in each other, flying together,….this all happens between the New Zealand-juniors Alex Mc Caw and Nick Oakley and already for years now.
They arrive one of these days from NZ in Australia to represent their country during the JWGC, BUT just before their departure, they had a more than remarkable day  on November 14!!!!
From OMARAMA they flew in a Cirrus [Alex] and LS 8 a 1000 k. in wave with 163 and 167 km./h. What about that!!?? What a boost for them!!!!
Yes,…. it is being on the right spot at the right time , but you still have to do it and in a Cirrus as well as an LS 8,  is JUST GOOD!!!!
As always ” down to earth”  Alex comments on this flight;
“A great wave day. Everything lined up perfectly to make it an easy fight. Not bad for an old ST Cirrus.”
Well done guy’s!!!!

The boy’s , Nick to the left, Alex to the right, won prizes before, so looking forward to their flying in Narromine!!!
As shared by Alex.

And mum Jill Mc Caw mentioned:” I love the gliding family. Had a visit tonight from Frederik Agger Noddelund and the Danish Junior team. They’re holidaying in NZ before the Junior World championship in Oz next month. So nice to meet them, even if they are the opposition.”
That’s what I LOVE in soaring as well; WE are a caring family in good and bad times!So important in times as these.

———–

LAKE KEEPIT.

4 Aussie Juniors at the LAKE KEEPIT NATIONALS, Eric , Matthew and Joe and Dylan.
Always busy with their sport and doing a great job.
Picture shared by Australian Gliding Team.

It looked as if Mike Young was n’t there. He was not scored BUT , scoring must have had some problems  ,so I was very pleased to see he IS there and does well!!!
On the first day he was 4th and on day 2 he won the 1000 points ahead of Rolf .
With 2 such good days Mike is on spot 1 overall in Sports class , 64 points ahead of David Jansen.
Let’s continue with the comps in 3 classes .
No tasks on Thursday ;” No task today. We tried hard, but the high cloud beat us and after a bit of a grid-sit we called it off.“

Club class;
Thursday November 12. NO task.
Friday November 13……2. 45 AAT. And,…..it was good “old”  Paul Mander who won the 920 points for a flight of 283 km. in time 2.48 so a nice speed of 100 km. /h for the good  “old” PIK 20 B.
Runner up was Peter Trotter.
Saturday November 14…..2 hour AAT. Paul was still in the winning mood and enjoyed an other daily win; 201 km. but he was one of the 3 finishers. All others out-landed.Not a lot of points to win or loose so the overall scores after task 5 show us that Peter Trotter [ASW 20 a] is on top with 3043 points, followed by dad Steve O’ Donnell [ASW 20 b] with 2887 and Paul with 2840 points.
Sunday November 15 cancelled.
They started again on Monday with a set task of 381 km. and… “no problems”  at all for HC junior Eric [Stauss] flying his LS 3 around with a speed of 115.39 km./h. which was 7 km. faster than Mosquito pilot Steve Mac Mahon who got the 1000 points for the day.
Yesterday with 3 days to go, as Friday  November 20 will be the last day,[ just in time for the young ones to get back to Narromine ] they had a 2.45 AAT. Won by Steve O’Donnell with 357 km!!!!

On the more serious site one of the pilots , even one of my friends,survived a pretty bad landing- crash in the scrub N of Tamworth with NO injuries!!!The glider seems to be a write-off.
““I found myself in a really awful position in the middle of the scrub where to turn back was disaster and to keep going was problematic,”
VERY glad he is OK.

Today a 5 hour AAT was set , already task number 8 and it turned out an interesting day ; good for some, … bad for some. Steve out-landed so his day was not too good, but Terry won and flew in the LS 3 518 km. gaining the 1000 points.Scores are preliminary as not all have been scored now!

Standard class ;
Thursday November 12.NO task.
Friday November 13…….3 hour AAT and  Bruce won the day with 365 km. in time 259.29 !!!!1000 points!
Saturday November 14  a 2 hour AAT and it was also in this class a day with many out landings.Only 2 pilots finished; HC- junior-pilot Matthew and kilometer-eater Allan Barnes,both were good for 534 and 525 points.
After task 5 the overall scores are; Matthew on top but HC, so Bruce is number 1 [3434]with 4 points less than Matthew.
He mentioned after “surfing the storm front” ;”Interesting day on Saturday – big storms on task meant 95% of competitors outlanded. Fortunately I managed to sneak around the task by riding a few gust fronts, including the strongest I’ve been on by far, peaking at 25kts (on the averager)”
Monday with 448.57 km. showed 2 HC JUNIORS on top Matthew and Dylan.Bruce was 2d and Allan 3d.
Yesterday a 3 hour AAT was set. No doubt Matthew is on “a high” and I hope he keeps it in Narromine as well. He won the day HC, with 451 km. in time 3.24, so a speed of 132.39 km./h.
He and Dylan were the last to start at 13.42 whilst most started between 13.09 and 13.21.
Richard Frawley won the 1000 points with Lisa, Bruce and Allan [100 km. less than Matthew] “just”  behind.
TODAY ,….task number 8 in this class and the pilots young and old had to fly 499 km.At this stage Allan won the 1000 points with a speed of 124 km./h. but not all are scored as p.e. Matthew!
Juniors Joe and Eric flew themselves to a great 2d spot!!!

Sports class ;

Thursday November 12.NO task.
Friday November 13…..3. 15 AAT and yes from now on Mike was scored as well; spot 4 with 916 points.
Best result for former world champion Brad Edwards in the JS 1. Brad flew 421 km. during a 3.15 AAT;124.39 km./h.
Saturday November 14; a 2 hour AAT and Mike was the ONLY one to make it back home; 185 km. in 1.38. Also here in this class not too many points won or lost. After 5 tasks Mike [ASG 29] leads the pact 2916, with David as runner up [2836] and Butch on 3 with 2763.
On Monday  538 km. on the “menu” for this class and,…it’s getting boring but Mike won again!!131 km./h was his speed, which was 10 km. faster than runner up Steven Wallace in the Discus 2c.
Mac was 3 d , David 6th and Butch 9th.
Yesterday the 2.30 AAT was won AGAIN by Mike with 357 km. and a nice speed of 142.88 km. Runner up with just a few more meter [357.66 km.] but using more time, was local pilot Dave Shorter in the JS 1.[141.62 km./h.] He started 3 minutes behind Mike.
Today,….613 km. was set!!!! And,…yes you guessed it already Mike won the 1000 points with 128 km./h..
He feels as well in Australia as he did in 1987 with the Benalla WGC , when he was crewing for the UK team and learned the Dutch young ones how to play cricket!!! That’s where I got to know him.
With 2 days to go, Mike is about 400 points ahead on Butch.Unfortunately Mac out-landed after 381 km. A set back from 10 to 14.
Scores are preliminary at this stage, more next Wednesday.

———-

Namibia.

After the SUPERB day on the 10th, the weather was a bit less and with 2 days of between 360 and 600 km. the trainees learn as much as on a great day, maybe even better. They also practiced GRAND PRIX tasks .
They  had to deal this time, with a real sand storm that passed the field ,so they got to know the “power of the weather” as well. Further on they had clouds but also very blue days.

Ludwig mentioned the SUPERB day on the 10th in his blog;
“We started to the east, only the weather was not as expected. Weak lifts in the blue, low operation heights dominated the first hour. But then, as if someone flips a switch, first clouds with strong lifts and rising the base to about 5000meters. The speeds went up, the smile on the faces widened. Most Pilots flow closed to the Botswana boarder, from there back to the edge in the west, and then you can say it really took off. A single cloud line over several hundred kilometers. I could see 218 km/h average on my LX 9000. I have now flown a couple of times here, but this where the best condition ever. Two hours without any circles, always at the maximum speed. Accordingly, the results in the evening. All participants of “Flying with the Champions” flew over 1,000 km, Hans Kandlbauer with Lukasz Wojcik set the maximum of 1173 km and myself with an average of 165km/h on 1100km flew20km/h faster than the second, the Antares 23 showed it’s potential.”

The  2 weeks are over now, not as sensational this year but the weather has a great influence of course, but another 2 new trainees arrived in Bitterwasser for MORE. They continue to  fly with Wolfgang [Janowitsch]  and Arndt [Hovestadt] .It is and remains an outstanding way of getting more knowledge about cross country flying and with the “help”  of the champions you can’t have better guides.
As always they closed the week with bubbles and finger-food and music from the locals. What do you want more??

———-
 The BELGIUM GLIDING PILOT SHOP DAY .

I told you that Rene and Maurits, from the Glider Pilot Shop,  spend a Saturday at Terlet organizing the Dutch Soaring Day, for a big audience, one day later they did so on a smaller scale but with as much enthusiasm , at a very beautiful location in Belgium,close to Brussel; Grez-Doiceau. Have a look at the pictures.
AND it was another successful day with enthusiastic pilots.
About 100 young and old , male and female, attended and as I heard the juniors did a great job in taking care of the catering receiving for their great job financial support from the organizers for the JUNIOR team .
AND,….. the young ones  organized  a lottery with prizes donated by  the organizers and all that money will be added to their account as well.
STILL a great shame that nobody of the very talented Belgian juniors will be in Narromine.
The ultimate goal now for these juniors is to send a well oiled team in the future to EVERY JWGC. GOOD on them!!!!
By the way the Dutch juniors , with 4 in Narromine, got financial support as well from the organizers Maurits and Rene on the Dutch day;
info@gliderpilotshop.nl

    

———-

THE SUNFLOWER!

The very first DUTCH DREAMLINER the Boeing 787 from KLM has arrived in Amsterdam and is called SUNFLOWER.

The SUNFLOWER
with in front Bas , one of Dennis’  best friends , who was with him in Australia when Dennis had the fatal accident. Bas is an engineer with KLM nowadays.He posted the picture.

———-

JUNIORS ready for JWGC.

The Czech team arrived in Sydney.
Picture shared by Czech rep Gliding Team.
Straight after arrival it was unpacking the container under superb skies!!

Slowly more juniors arrive in Narromine and so we find more flights from Narromine on the OLC as well.The Polish team is still waiting for their container/gliders. Hope it will be in time as you can expect problems from corners you don’t expect them. I know about shipping containers.
Though ,…I noticed Polish pilot Jacek Flis was flying without ballast already a 500 km. in the Discus.And young Jan Jaworwik, mentioned about his very first flight;
” First flight overseas, first time in Australia, first flight in Libelle, first on imperial units gauges. But still very nice flight. Declared 370km flat triangle.(primary logger failed, backup turned on after release). On the first leg, familiarization with new glider, and new landscape. On second leg, conditions improved, so it was possible to finish task.”
The “young ones”  are experiencing great weather and last Monday German pilot, Simon [Briel] who is practicing already for a longer time from Narromine, flew over 800 km.
AND,…yesterday he flew a 750 FAI triangle and added some more kilometers , just not enough to make the 1000; 918 km. With that he topped the OLC list yesterday!!!!!Good on him!!

The Dutch team practices in Corowa and enjoy their time there, which they call the start of their big adventure.They were so much looking forward  to this event. They are amazed by the temperature, the great clouds , big paddocks , endless visibility and enjoy each other’s company , learn from those who fly there every year and practice team flying in the beginning over the well known safe areas with airfields as p.e. ,  via Benalla to Tocumwal and home to Corowa.
Robin flew up to 600 km on Sunday.
Monday Corowa had a day with flights up to 750 km. and Ronald [Deerenberg in LS 8] and Robin, the Standard class-juniors flew a set 500 FAI triangle with 138 km./h.
With a flight to Narrandera and Hay they left the ” comfort zone” flying over parts with just NOTHING.
I got some pictures from friends at Tocumwal from booming skies!!

They plan to fly their 4 gliders today to Narromine. The weather should be good for those 450 km. by air. 5 Cars and 2 trailers will follow!!!I hope to drive back in one of the cars after the prize giving.Still have to organize that though.

Robin; One of the 4 Dutch pilots!
As shared by Robin.

AND
In Corowa they even were on the front page of the local paper!!!!!

———

Jonker Sailplanes.
No words needed!!!

———

And to finish a great picture [AGAIN] from Geoff Soper.
With the message :
“Terry Delore arrives in Omarama Sat. 14th Nov. after setting new FAI world speed record over 500km triangle distance. Speed 185.1kph, previous record was 162.8kph.”
CONGRATULATIONS TERRY!!!!!

———-

CU next week. That will be the last blog from Holland. The next one will be at different times, from different places and in a DIARY format  from Australia.
Cheers Ritz

Gliding with the CHAMPIONS.

Nice skies over Namibia.
As shared by ” The Champions”.

…..started with a little “hick up”  as you can read in the blog at
http://www.rent-a-glider.com/view/p-1482/Flying-with-the-Champions-2015/
Here are a few lines from the blog written on Wednesday November 4:
” Today at 11:30 we got the new overfly permission. Since our first day in Namibia last Friday we were grounded. One military officer decided, glider pilots and there planes are high risk for Namibia and rejected the permission for 2015. We got this notification on Friday morning, much too late to react. So on Monday morning Hans van Hase went to the Ministers to find a solution. Finally four days we had to stay on ground. Not to think about this permission would not have come, it would have been the end of gliding in Namibia.”

So flying could start on November 4. Pffff…….
They fly their training program this year from 2 destinations, Kiripotib where they have been already for the last 2 years and this year they added Bitterwasser as well.

Guest pilots enough,…best to give the “word”  to Ludwig;
—“Here in Kiripotib were I, Ludwig Starkl will lead the event the next three weeks, we are starting as Champions with, Janusz Centka from Poland, Markus Frank from Germany, Stefano Ghiorzo from Italy and for the first time here, Lukasz Wojcik the current European champion from Poland. In the second week will come Holger Karow and Erwin Ziegler from Germany, Bert Schmelzer from Belgium and in the third week, the brothers Phil and Steve Jones and Pete Harvey from England and Holger Back from Germany. Erwin, Bert, Phil and Holger Back are also for the first time here with us.”
” In Bitterwasser Wolfgang Janowitsch will start the first week, together with Andy Lutz and Reinhard Schramme in the management and coach role. Stefano Ghiorzo will change over from Kiripotib, and Arndt Hovestadt will come from Germany. Reinhard and Arndt are supporting us for the first time.”

So it all happened last Wednesday :”Today we expect a very nice gliding day, the forecast said the best zone along the edge, the demolition to the Namib Desert.” Which seems to be the best, most beautiful part of Namibia
And ,…..it was a nice day. Straight away the first 8 places on the OLC were occupied by Champion-pilots.No 1000 yet,…. but they FLEW!!!!!

As shared on their site.

Thursday; the best 10 OLC-places were for Namibia inclusive 2 flights from Pokweni. Best flight 751 k. [650 FAI triangle]
Friday ; no changes , but within the best 10 places you find S.A. [Worcester ] with Markus Geisen and Sven Olivier.[625 km in the ARCUS]
Saturday; best 14 places for Namibia and they reach the 1000 on a tad; 993 k in the ARCUS. They called it the first real nice day.
What’s even more interesting is the 500 km FAI triangle in the LS 6/17.5 m.  from Lake Keepit [Australia] where they practice for the Club, St. Class and sports- class Nationals at that beautiful lake. Steven Evans from N. Z. was the one!!!
Sunday;was different . Orient was the place to be with a 733 km [500 FAI triangle] by Mark Holliday in the ASW 27. The triangle was flown with a speed of 138 km./h.
Young Simon Briel practicing AT Narromine for the JWGC flew 663 km. in the LS 8.
The CHAMPIONS and their students flew up to 692 from Kiripotib, a more or less out and return by Jean -Yves Germain with as co pilot, Bert Schmelzer jr.
Monday; several more or less out and returns between 500 and  700 km. In between well known USA kilometer eater Keith Essex enjoys soaring life in New Zealand making flights from around 500 km. and it sounds like he is having a ball;
“Spectacular Omarama day.” He flies an ASG 29/18 m.
Tuesday; THE day!!!!
It ALL happened in the 2d week on day 7 and when the weather is good, IT IS GOOD and they all could fly over 1000 km!!!
Lucasz from Poland, for the first time a CHAMPION flew with his Swiss “student” 1.173 km!!!Nice speed as well; 142.57!!!!!
A total of 11 over-1000 km.-flights in Namibia!
And what about the flight from Ludwig himself in his ANTARES 23; 1.105 km. with a speed of 165,63 km./h.
And John Coutts had a brilliant day as well, flying from Potchefstroom; 1.084 km. with a speed of 154.09 km./h in the JS1.

As they mentioned on FB;  one picture says more than a 1000 words!!!
2 pictures even MORE!!!

Both pictures shared by Sven Olivier. Courtesy Bitterwasser Lodge and Flying Center.

For all CHAMPIONS NEWS you can read the full blogs at the site as mentioned before.

———–

Not long ago Schiphol welcomed the very first A 350 from Finn Air with all respect belonging to such a first visit.It was a short visit and for the time being the last one.
This month it will be the very first KLM DREAMLINER [Boeing 787] that will be welcomed. KLM is the first to have the 787- 900 version, with computer controls instead of hydraulic systems.
Much more comfort for the passengers as well, as they have more room,  better air due to a much better air circulation and bigger windows. I wish I could do my flight to Melbourne in such a DREAMLINER, but I don’t know what Cathay flies nowadays to Hong Kong. I guess to Melbourne will be with an Airbus.
I will tell you in my Toc. diary.

———–

CLUB,STANDARD AND SPORTS- CLASS NATIONALS at LAKE KEEPIT.

One of the 43 participating pilots is Bruce Taylor and Bruce knows how important PR is for soaring, so he and his wife Anita share always news from comps wherever they are. This way we can feel part of it as well.Thanks for that!!!
Last Monday they started with an official practice day, and a 2.30 AAT was set.
Here his first report:
—“Practice day at the Keepit Club, Sports and Standard class nationals. We set a short 2.5 hour AAT which went North West to Narrabri, around Mount Kaputar and East to Bingara for Sports class or Upper Horton for Club/Standard.
Then we came south to a final area near Manilla, and home.
The run north was great, with big, smooth climbs to about 7,000 feet, but then the sky around Kaputar had overdeveloped and that area caught quite a lot of people out, including me!
We had to do a big backtrack to survive, and it was a while before things came good again. Some of the big wings managed good speeds. I haven’t seen any scores, but there was some grizzling amongst the little wings.
Only a practice day!” —
You can read the full stories on FB at Taylors Gliding Page, but I know a lot of people avoid FB, so I help you out.Of course with the permission of Bruce.

When you want to follow the tracking of the Sports class live you can go to
http://www.livetrack24.com/events/2105AusSportsNats

Yesterday  they started and it  was a better day as you can see on the picture shared by Bruce. They continue till Friday the 20 thiest with a closing ceremony / dinner on the last Flying day. Some then straight go to Junior Worlds but it is only 5 hours NW of Sydney and about 4 hours driving from Narromine. When they can fly they are back there in a flash.
You can find the official scores on www.soaringspot.com 

Day 1;
The Standard  class ; 10 pilots,with among them Bruce [ASW 24 e]  and Allan [Barnes LS 8] and the “girls”  Lisa [Trotter LS 8] and Kerrie [Claffey ASW 28] started with a 3 hour AAT and Matthew Scutter flying HC, showed his HUGE talent by winning the day with 351 km. in time 3.01,47, so about ” at the dot ” !!!!
Matthew will represent Australia in St. class together with Dylan Lampard at the JWGC .Dylan also flying HC, was 4th on this day 1. A total of 33 pilots will fly at the JWGC in this class.
The 1000 points were for Lisa. Good on her!!!345 km. in 3.02.
Bruce was 2d with 366 km in 3.18.

Day 1 as seen by Bruce:
“Day 1. We sent Sports class out east into the higher ground, and Club/Standard north west onto the flat. The weather looked quite good, but the air is very moist at present and climbs were far apart, with clouds that didn’t always tell the truth. Reports from the Sports class pilots were varied. Some had great fun, some had a good first half, and the others vice versa. There were a couple of outlandings, and I think one glider and tug are spending the night in a town halfway back home, as the daylight ran out. For the small wings the day improved once we got away from the hills and out onto the flat, with 5 knot climbs to generally 6 – 7,000 feet. However the run home was into softening conditions. We do not have typical Keepit weather yet, as it is very green, and probably won’t dry out in the next couple of weeks. The next couple of days look OK, then there is a big trough line coming which could make things difficult.” 

day 2; Today.With a 4 hour AAT the 2 juniors Matthew and Dylan showed they are ready for the JWGC. They both were the best in this class flying 449 and 444 km. Flying together might make them extra strong in Narromine as well.
Bruce [420 km.] was the best of the rest and got the 1000 points with Allan[424 km.]  as runner up; 898 points.Lisa was 4th.
As Matthew mentioned;” Having fun at the Standard Class Nationals in Lake Keepit – two challenging days so far, especially today with high cloud, blue holes, wet ground and variable winds.”

Bruce and the glider ASW 24 E,  on day 1.Indeed skies REALLY look good!
As shared by Bruce.

Day 1;
Sports class with 21 pilots among them former WGC champion Brad Edwards but also Mike Young from the UK , David Jansen , Mac Ichikawa from Japan and John ” Butch ”  Buchanan went for a 3.30 hour AAT  .
The day was a prey for David Jansen flying 396 km. with a speed of 113.65 km./h.
Jay Andersen was runner up and Butch was 3d.

Day 2 , today. Rolf Buelter from Geelong , always practicing in Tocumwal, so I hope to see him there this year , got in the preliminary scores the full 1000 points.He flew in his LS 8 400 km. with a speed of 107 km./h.
He mentioned;”Difficult in the beginning, blast in the middle and an adequate end.”
Mac was the runner up and Brad , David and Butch followed. It looks Mike Young is not participating.

Day 1;
Club class with 22 pilots and toppers as Paul Mander, Terry Cubley and Peter Trotter , had to go for a 3 hour AAT.
Terry straight away showed that  he and his LS 3 are in top form [already for SO many years they form a “couple” ] ;354 km. in time 3.16 so a speed of 108.22 km. for the “old”  LS 3.
Runner up was Peter Trotter in his ASW 20 a: 323 km. in 2.58, speed of 108.96 km./h and 5 points less.
THAT WAS PRELIMINARY in the official scores it was Peter winning[ 997]and Terry [993] on spot 2 .
Eric Stauss is one of the AUSSIE juniors practicing for the JWGC and he did well with a 4th spot!!!The other young JWGC Aussies are Joe O’ Donnell and James Nugent. 26 In total will participate in this class in Narromine.
Joe flies as well in Lake Keepit so is his dad Stephen.Joe was 6th , Stephen 8th.

Some pilots found the task not long enough:”  3 hrs. Much too short. The day started at about 10.30 and is still booming now at 15.27.”
Day 2; today with a 4 hour AAT.
Preliminary results show a great day for dad O’ Donnell ;421 km. with a speed of 100 km./h in the ASW 20 B.
Eric was runner up. Joe had a bit of an off day at 15, he started very early and only in the end of the day they knew that a later start would have been better,… but better now than in December in Narromine.

There are 6 tugs involved and look at this; 3 female tuggies . I LIKE!!!

“Here are three of the tug pilots. Go Val, Lu and Val.
Not a bad average 50% girl power.”
As shared by WOMEN IN GLIDING.

———–

Schempp-Hirth.

A credit to it’s master, I guess good old Klaus would have been SO proud!!! The credit however NOW is for his son Tilo, who took over after Klaus died. Together with his mum Brigitte and nowadays sometimes also Ralf , his brother, they run the business with their  loyal/ faithful staff the best way they can. And the last gliders have just been good. Not so much maybe the QUINTUS, but the Duo Discus and ARCUS  as well as the latest Ventus are toppers.
The picture was shared on FB with the message;
—“The 200st Arcus in our courtyard with our staff – the people who have built this one, the previous 199 Arcus and many other gliders. Thank you to all of you!
And another big thank you to all current and future Arcus owners for being our customers!” 

———-

Electrical One-Man Rigging System.

www.millenair.nl

———–

NZD.

To finish the NZD, the Dutch Soaring Day at 6 several spots at Terlet, where about 300 interested pilots arrived for an excellent day organised by Maurits Dortu and Rene de Dreu in co-operation with the Gelderse, the Thermiekbel and Service Center Terlet.
The hangar from the Gelderse, the hangar from the service center at Terlet, the briefing room in the Thermiekbel, the club room from the Gelderse and the Thermiekbel were all made available, by many helping “hands”.
Displays were outside and in the hangars except for the Gelderse hangar, normally the briefing room at the Dutch National Championships and now for the big events as
—the opening by Marion Rozema , the president of the Gelderse,
—a lecture by Jan Foster , the president of the soaring department  of the KNVvl, who shared a nice video of how to get young kids from 10 in,  at your soaring place, by inviting them to fly low over trails  in some kind of ESG and on a tow!!!Very impressive! This all happens in Lithuania and some kids are a member of the International Children Rotary Camps at Pocuinai , where they fly the LAK 16 [MOKYKLA]This year it was between June 30 and July 12 . A total of 4000 kids have done so already.
We need that as we lost in 15 years 700 members and only in 2015 80.

A glider for children, what an idea!!
As shared on their site.

—more for the Dutch pilots; President of the KNVvL Ronald Termaat, spoke about what they are doing at the head quarters of Dutch -Light-Aviation.Very informative and with witticism so now and then.
—Later in the day this big hangar was used by Shaun Lapworth with his enthusiastic stories about the Grand Prix in particular the last Final in Varese.
—And,…by “our”  own 3 1000 km. -boys explaining how it all happened and how they learned from Tijl Schmelzer , Wilfried Groskinsky and Alexander Mueller, all well known kilometer-eaters, how with good preparations a 1000 was possible from Holland!
—last but not least Uys Jonker who spoke about  the start of Jonker Sailplanes , with dad and brother Attie when they were still toddlers,  in combination with EASA glider Certification. Those test-flights for EASA checking on p.e. flutter and spins, to get JS 1’s in all configurations certified in Europe, their biggest market at the moment look pretty scary, to be honest.
Certifications are done in co-operation with  partner M+D Flugzeugbau, in Germany.
Uys is a hero doing all those test-flights.

Organised the day in co-operation with several Terlet business and in between Maurits and Rene from the Glider pilot shop, worked as well.

   

I went to 3 parallel sessions first and later in the day to the 3 joint events;
—one about Airspace avoid by Marcel Knol [pocket FMS]
www.pocketfms.com
—one by Andrej Koller from Naviter [Seeyou]…about meteo and their [good]  co operation with  TOPMETEO on this subject.
www.naviter.com
—and the one by Uys Jonker seeing him , Attie and his dad with the first attempts to “built”  a glider.
www.jonkersailplanes.co.za

Here an impression about the day, for those who could n’t be there;

   

European guests as well Arne Boye Moeller was there from Denmark and caught up with Lilian [they met during the WWGC in Arnborg] , I noticed Jean Luc Colsson and Jeff Daems from Belgium too, as well as Hannah Weisenbuehler from the USA.

Shaun and Uys in action.
Courtesy Frans Guise and
this one as well;
an attentive audience.

The 3 outgoing DUTCH  musketeers; Mark [Leeuwenburgh] Sikko [Vermeer ]and Alfred Paul [Alfers] . After their very interesting lecture …..my goodness me they went en route very well prepared….they got great presents too as they were the number 1, 2 and 3 on the Dutch OLC list.
Courtesy Frans Guise

   

Ronald Termaat and Jan Foster from the KNVvL.
courtesy Frans Guise

Catering and food also important.

   

Bread rolls at lunch ,great BBQ in the evening, organised by the Thermiekbel. Unfortunately owner Sander [Terpsta on the picture with cap ] was injured on one hand.
Courtesy Frans Guise

  

Jelmer [Wassenaar] from DG was there with the DG 1001 Club WL with a canopy for each pilot.

   

The JS 1 and Antares.
courtesy Frans Guise

   
and the ASH 32 from Schleicher and the SHARK from HpH Sailplanes.

Avionics and Go Pro’s

    

Courtesy Frans Guise

IT WAS AN EXCELLENT DAY.
THANK you to ALL involved.
And the next day it all happened again , this time in Belgium.

Cheers Ritz

———-

We had extremely warm weather for the time of the year.On November 1, we had in the past sometimes frost- flowers on the windows, this year we were sitting outside, at a terrace, in T shirt ,in a “bloody-hot-sun”; 22 dgr.C.
The soaring season here in Holland is over. Gliders are already overseas or are going into the trailer or hangar or both IN trailer IN hangar.It was a nice season, with a few 1000 km.flights FROM Holland. Pretty special!

No such weather in Tocumwal where breaking news and a warning was sent for a TORNADO South from Tocumwal. Luckily it passed by Toc, but they could see the scary clouds and felt the wind, as I heard.Unfortunately towns VERY close by , as Strathmerton and Cobram  were hit.

Courtesy Swiss Chris at the Sportaviation hangar looking South.

And this was the picture from Warwick Holding at Yerong Creek, NSW

” A significant tornado has developed and touched down in Northern Victoria leading to an approximate damage path of about 45km. The towns of Nathalia, Strathmerton and Cobram have all had reports and had confirmed damaged in their respective areas.

Wind speeds of an estimated 180-220km/h have damaged houses and flattened sheds leading to suspected EF2 damage. However after recent video evidence has come to fruition, there is the potential for this to become an EF-3 tornado post-damage analysis. That is due to a house reportedly being destroyed while several others have sustained significant damage. There are still no injuries to report as of 8am EST / 9am EDT on Monday, November 2nd (the day after the event).

This was all part of a severe squall line which produced widespread destructive winds over Southern NSW and Northern Victoria, large hail and heavy rain were also associated with these storms.”
For pictures of quite some severe damage specially in Strathmerton but also Cobram you can look at;
http://higginsstormchasing.com/destructive-tornado-rips-through-northern-victoria-11115/

Here is one.

———-

Another great picture,not a sad one this time!

Shared by Antoine Havet .”Just insane !! Wave flight.. 3400m… JS1C with Max Seis !”  October 26!

————

AFRICA.

As shared on the Bitterwassersite.
For more news and pictures you can go to; www.bitterwasser.com

 It was a good week specially the last day of October.
In South Africa, Oscar was wondering, looking at the weather- graphics, if a 1250 would be possible  .It WAS…. nearly!!!!!!Oscar flew 1.171 km. with 148 km./h “on the clock”.
5 Times 1000 plus from Potchefstroom and a great 873 and 862 by AP Kotze and Jaco Burger in their St. Cirrus and LS 1 f.
John Coutts, one of the 1000 km. pilots flew with a speed of 158 km./h.

 Namibia ,with the same great fore cast; Reinhard Schramme started the season in a NIMBUS 3D with a 1000 from Bitterwasser.[134 km./h]
In Bitterwasser all 8 containers arrived. Already on November 1, they started for the first week  AND for the first time with FLYING -WITH –THE- CHAMPIONS from Bitterwasser.Ludwig and Wolfgang , this year together with Dieter Schwenk , planned their first week from November 1 till 7 and the 2d week from November 8 till 14.Mind you there is a new AIRSPACE file available.

” The Namibian Airspace for Gliding Season is confirmed and we are happy that it is once again bigger.
More to the West to Direction Namib for Class G until FL195.
Details you get at the Initial Briefing at Bitterwasser.”

They started last Sunday.

————-

COROWA-season.

As shared on their site;http://www.australian-soaring-corowa.com/

The first guests have arrived in Australia as well. The gliders in Corowa, went smoothly , as always, through quarantine on the 27th of October and CIRRUS AG was the first OUT. Would it be the first in Narromine’s JWGC  as well?
Pepe had his first flight for  this season in his ASH 31/21 m. on the 29th, and straight away had a ”  bon dia”;433 km.
I don’t know how many years Pepe has traveled to Australia, but he did so in the past flying with us already and he still does. Maybe 20 years, maybe even more??? Have to check with him.
Also Berry Fennis from the Amsterdamsche  is back in Corowa and tested all instruments during a 352 km. flight in the DG 808B/18 m.

Good old Anders who flew with us as well, has arrived as the 2d long-time-Australia-customer and will fly his ASW 22 ‘QL’ .
The COROWA -season has started NOW!!!!
And it will be busy from now on too, with the Dutch juniors practicing for the JWGC there and after they have flown, some other pilots fly their gliders from Corowa during the rest of the season.
Annemiek , our female participant has already arrived there and made her first flight from Corowa. She flew before in Australia.

Anders helping with one of the Dutch gliders.
As shared on the site.

Charles Day from Benalla flew in the Kestrel 17 m. ;615 km. on a nice Cumulus-day and from Tocumwal Terry Ryan , flew his 2d 500 km.; 590 this time in his ASH 26E.
And ,..young Niklas Soll flew at Toc. his very first SOLO flight on his 15th birthday. Good on him. Happy birthday and congratulations to the solo, Niklas.

With chief pilot Eddie and his dad Stefan.As shared by Eddie Madden.

Young German pilot Simon Briel is still practicing in Narromine for the JWGC and flew nearly 500 k.;495 in the LS8. One day earlier he flew 547 km.topping that day the worldwide OLC.
Mac drove to Corowa and arrived back one day later in Narromine. He picked up an ASG 29 and with some strong lift he raced over the 478 km. One of the owners , Francesco, tested the brand new ASH 31MI/21 m..

Flying over Corowa as shared on the Corowa site.

courtesy Annemiek Koers.

————

Not long ago he was in Germany , talking at the OLC day about his long-distance-wave -flights, this week Jim Payne added a long ferry/commute flight from Minden to Rosamond; 1.623.2 km. Wave  up to 0ver 6000 m. MSL. The ARCUS M is a great glider for such an occasion.Speed ;161.2 km./h. Not bad???!!!So November started with a good distance on the OLC for day 1.

November 3 was not bad either. You had to be in France , to be precisely in St Gaudens. Robert Pratt flew 1.150 km. with a speed of 130 km./h. And Carl Audissou flew in the DG 600/18m. a distance of 1.073 km.  His 2d great flight from St Gaudens. On the 27th of October he just flew over 1000 k as well.
Wave available this time, up to nearly 6000 m MSL.

———-

The AUSSIE JUNIOR TEAM.

The boys and girls ready to go for it in their home country, with TC Mandy and coach Butch.
4 of the youngster fly the Lake Keepit Nationals next week as well. Good practice!!!

———-

More news from Australia.

The 2 Seat Nationals are on again in Narromine from 14 – 21 February 2016. It’s already the 5th time that Narromine is the host.
Practice on the 14th , start of comps on the 15th.

The comp site is now up and online entries are open. Grab your 2 Seater and get going!  If you don’t have a two seater go rent one from your club, Narromine has 2 x Duo Discus for hire to approved pilots.

http://www.narromineglidingclub.com.au/NarromineTwoSeat/2016%20TwoSeat%20Nats.html

It is going to be a good comp with some serious players driving the two seaters. So far we have Two Duo’s from Hunter Valley, a Duo from Lake Keepit, another Duo from Kingaroy, a DG1000 from Southern Cross in Sydney, a Nimbus 3DM and maybe even an ASG32 from somewhere secret.

We have a comps Facebook page which will also have regular updates withn ews and information from now and throughout the comp.

Don’t wait, register now!

Have fun, ROSS

———–

In the past when I lived in Australia I got more and more interested in the MELBOURNE CUP; the race that stops the nation. It was yesterday , the first Tuesday in November and a lot of my friends will have been be glued to the TV to see with glasses full of champagne , how the “poor”  horses are racing to be the first over the line, making their owners “crazy from happiness”. For one day they are in the spotlight, so is the horse and the jockey.One of the biggest days as in sport and social happening in Australia.

BUT,there is “the other side”  as well. I read that in ONE year 127 horses died during races ,THAT IS TOO MUCH,  so I have to change my mind about horse races. I always felt sorry for the horses ,but loved the CUP RACING ADRENALINE, it remains special,…but knowing all of this, NO adrenaline anymore!!!!
By the way the less favorite horse, Prince of Penzance won this time , I believe the 154 d version, with a female jockey Michelle Payne, the first ever girl to win.

The other site seen through the eyes of Animals Australia;
” Today, as the crowds cheered and the champagne flowed, Melbourne Cup favorite Admire Rakti collapsed and died in his stall from a suspected massive heart attack or internal bleeding. Later in the day, another horse Araldo was euthanised after becoming frightened and crashing through a gate, shattering a bone in his leg.”

———-

The last GLIDING INTERNATIONAL for 2015 arrived and I started reading straight away.
Just to let you know what you can expect;
—First the FULL story by Aldo Cernezzi about the Versvs  from Stefano Ghiorzo.VERY interesting!
—The German Nationals for 2-seaters,….. through the eyes of Markus Geisen.
—The unique setting from the FAI Conference at the SS Rotterdam, an old steamship from the Holland America Line.
—Elke Fuglsang-Petersen writes what to do after getting your license.How they do cross-country training  in Germany.
—Instrument news…the latest!
—Looking back on the 43d Vintage Gliding Club Ralley in Holland at Terlet. Next year in Finland.
—In my report you can see the answers I got from Morgan and Tony , both participants at the WGC in Popcuinai, about why we should have a 13.5 m. class and if it is true that these gliders are too expensive for their performance!!??
—“Stop the drone panic”  is a modern/global story by Miles Hynde.
— Jim Payne writes as chief pilot about the Perlan Project; Testing begins,…
—What about scrubbing the worst day of your competition???
—Global warming….
—LOTUS,….a helicopter, electric plane or motor glider????
—Looking back at the Grand Prix Final in Varese with 2 French toppers.
—The average age of the gliding population and MUCH more!!!

————

To finish a
GREAT PICTURE SHARED BY SCHEMPP HIRTH.[Bernd Weber]
ARCUS x 200!!!!!!!
What a mile stone!!!!

CheersRitz
CU next Week.