What summer we have ???? Rain , thunderstorms, flooding…etc even here in Holland!!! Hail stones like tennis balls in the South of Holland  and trees broken like matches…unbelievable!!! Most glass houses ruined.
OVER 100 million is the expected bill for ONLY the hail damage !!!! In our region about 20 million for the rain damage, including the crops on the acres.
The huge hail balls are to be seen at Severe Weather Europe.
BUT ….one of our meteo guys forecasts a hot summer with heat waves!!!!! Let’s wait and see, there might be hope!!!
THIS,….is Holland as well this week a very nice weather phenomena. A storm-front ahead of a huge shower at the IJsselmeer, as seen and shared by Maurits Dortu, who travels end of this year to Australia for the WGC in Benalla as member of the Dutch team.

   

  

A roller cloud in Holland!!!?? Like Morning Glory in the N of Australia but now at home!!!!

In between,…. Euroglide fights the weather elements as well.
Before they started  the organizers already deleted Dahlemer Benz from the TP list due to a long rain forecast.
On Thursday some had reached Roitschjora close to Leipzig and some landed at Leszno.
Pilots arriving at the airport of  Mielec, had a warm welcome with a “sleep -over” in the hangar.
On the 24th a total of  7 had landed in Leszno in Poland on the way to TP Plock and some were on their way again from Plock up to the next TP Krosno .

Sleep over in the club house , BBQ and glider in the hangar, what do you want more?
Picture shared by Robin van Maarschalkerweerd.

Here is the map again so you can click on it and follow where they are . On the site you can follow the tracking of course as well.
www.euroglide.nl

Yesterday the first finishers arrived back at Venlo from the turbo class. Great effort from the boys in the ARCUS T with call sign EX and DX. Congratulations!!!!
Some teams however are “stuck” in Poland due to the bad weather. No worries, it’s a holiday anyhow, though all want to be back in a good time.
But also for them good news as you can see on the pictures shared by Frouwke. No rain but CU’ S.

  

Holiday soaring atmosphere!!! On the “GO” again.
Pictures shared by Frouwke.

———–

USA Nationals in standard, 15 m. and open class.

News for day 2 by Bruce;
“Here is the sky on the direction we are going today, on a 3 hour AAT. It stays mainly west, as the weather to the east where we went yesterday is forecast to be overdeveloping, possible small storms. I think there might be some grid-sitting today while we wait for things to heat up.“

2 Hours later;” The day has been called off. Still some high cloud cover, and the temperature has dropped about 5 degrees. Back to the house.”

During briefing he was allowed to give a safety briefing about what happened to him, as “ I think there is something to be gained from telling the story” .
He got huge support from ALL.
Here is Bruce;” I delivered the safety briefing this morning, and told my tale. I was concerned that I would struggle to keep it together, but I mostly managed to keep talking. The gliding world is full of fantastic people, and they have shown me huge support, along with all my family and friends. So many thanks to each and every one of you.
Now, today is another day.”

Bruce with an after-safety- briefing of his difficult flight.
Shared by the organizers.

Off they went indeed for another day [2] on the 23d. A good day for Uys who won again in open.
Bif Huss is doing a great job in standard class and in 15 m. it is Peter Deane who flies really well till now.
In open it’s all about Uys , Keith and Dick ,being 1-2-3 for the day and overall. Of course being from South Africa Uys flies HC.
Bruce did a good job being 6th for the day.
–” Today the weather looks to be excellent, maybe the best day of the competition. We have been given a 4 hour MAT task, which means we have a sequence of assigned turn points to visit, with the aim of arriving back at home at least after the 4 hours has elapsed. If you don’t visit them all, that is fine, and if you are fast enough that you need some more distance, then you can choose your own from the turn point list, so long as you don’t fly back and forth between the same two points; you must visit another one in between. Is that clear? Really it is like a set racing task with a time component. Having never flown one of these tasks, I am very interested to see how it goes. It may be a good solution back at home for the pilots who don’t like assigned area tasks. The day is firing up as forecast at present.“

But,……

—” Today looked like it was going to be a good one, and the 4 hours assigned for out MAT sounded like a load of fun. However, we are having some trouble getting the entire fleet in the air fast enough. It is still taking two hours to launch 65 gliders, and the Open Class is always at the rear, so we struggle to get a reasonable flight completed. Today we basically all started the moment the gate opened, which was 3:30 pm local time. It was obviously not going to work having us come home at 7:30pm, so the task was shortened half an hour. That would have been OK, but some small storms/overdevelopment happened as we turned for home from the south, and it was difficult to make the last few turns. Shame, as the weather was boiling pretty nicely up until then, with some good strong climbs going well above the 17.5k limit. After my experience on Tuesday, I enjoyed staying high and surveying the Utah high desert from afar! It also meant that when the stuff hit the fan I cruised quietly home, when I probably should have had a go at one more turn. I finished 20 minutes early, which costs a heap of points too. The idea of struggling low and creeping back home on a really marginal glide didn’t excite me too much. It was a fun day.
The photos are late in the afternoon, one towards the turn that some guys managed to make, and the other, with the better-looking cu in the distance, is the view home. By the time I got back, those clouds had collapsed also. Well done to the winners – looking through those names there are no surprises. They are all the good guys.—“

   

On June 24 flying- day 3!!! Here is Bruce after he WON the day!!!
—“I think today was the best day yet. It was still strong and high, but there were no storms or showers to get in the way. There was a bit of wind, often around 20 knots, but that actually lined the lift up nicely, and I found it easier to get some nice long glides. As happened yesterday we began with a 4 hour task, and it was cut back to 3 while we waited for the launch to progress. We were just running out of time. In the end the day lasted long enough that we could have managed another half an hour, but after the last few days you wouldn’t have known that it was going to be possible.
The task went south then east to get home, and my track took me over the scene of my horror on Tuesday, but at the significantly more comfortable height of 16,000 feet. One of the photos shows the area where I was low. Pretty ugly isn’t it? The other shot is during my best climb of the day, with a peak over the panel of a delicious Utah sky. I managed to stay nice and high all day, got some good runs like I said earlier, and finished 322 miles at 106 mph for a day win. Very satisfying!“— Bruce.

What happened more on flying day 3?
In standard class it’s more or less  a “fight” between Bif [Huff] and Danny [Sorenson]. They circle around each other for spot 1 or 2. Today Danny won and Bif was 3d. The totals after 3 days are close; Bif with 2797 and Danny 2735. Walt Rogers ” hangs in ” with 2722 [4th today] The rest ,9 pilots, are at this stage 300 points behind.

In 15 m. 28 Pilots and also in this class 2 pilots who “fight”  each day for the honors.David[ Leonard] leads after 3 days with Peter [Deane] just behind him; 2754 for 2717.

In open Uys still leads HC with 2914 points.[JS1 c-21 ] He was 2d for the day behind Bruce. Keith Essex [JS 1 C-21 ] who was 8th for the day still leads , the championship, with 2770 but his marge is not big as David [JS 1 C-21] and Dick [CONCORDIA] follow closely; 2738 for 2736.
Still 6 days to go!!!!!

June 25;
Day cancelled due to weather at the morning pilot’s briefing. A cold front has brought north winds to the valley and cooler temperatures. While the temperatures are pleasant for ground crew, today’s forecast does not include soarable weather. Conditions should be improving tomorrow.
Still 5 days to go!!!!AND,…….as they expect good days:
“next  few days should be strong hard racing with no letting up. Fingers crossed” as shared by Bruno pilot from B 4.
He also mentioned :” Uys Jonker and the Jonker crew gave a fine demonstration and presentation tonight during dinner.  They flew the new jet around the airport with beautiful Mount Nebo in the background.  Be sure to look for pics and video of this demo on our facebook page. Uys then shared with a full house the background development of their JS1 and working to make improvements to performance in the future. The pilots really enjoyed the evening.  Catering was Mexican from our favorite caterers!!”

JS 1 flight  by Uys with jet-demonstration and ENOUGH interest in this glider.

    

June 26; was hot and VERY blue with late launches and for all classes racing tasks!!
As said , Walt Rogers is hanging in, and so good that with his 3d place for the day he moved to spot 1 overall in standard class!!!
Danny is 2d and Bif 3d.
In 15 m. it was not such a good day for the 2 “toppers”. Peter was 10th and David 16th. They still lead but Rick Indrebo is on their tail with only 80 points behind David.
In open it was Uys again. He shares his glider now with South African toppilot AP Kotze.
The top 4 is all JS 1 and then the CONCORDIA.

Bruce had another good day and was 3d. He is 8 overall.
Here is his daily story;
“A slightly frustrating day all around today. The weather was slow to start, and we had two pilots meetings at the front of the grid, which resulted in two changes of task, from “A” to “C” to “D”. Once again we were running out of time, and our gate did not open until 4:25pm. The final iteration was just 195 miles, east one valley, then a run down that valley to the south, over a range to the west and home again. There were just a couple of cu when we first went east, but the rest was blue. Heights were OK; it was possible to get over 17,000 feet, but once we were racing there was no point in going higher than 15-16,000, as the lift strength was dropping off. Short tasks are always difficult, as one small slip usually costs you a big percentage of time, whereas on a longer flight the mistakes even out for everybody. My flight was frustrating too, as I had my slow spot after the final turn. There was nothing going up and a group of us got low there, before we found a climb that was less than average. I finished in third place, but felt that I could have done that part of the flight better.”

June 27; Day 5…….A fabulous good strong day in Nephi, except for 1 pilot in standard class. Walt out-landed and dropped from his nice 3d place to spot 10, by gaining “only” 558 points for the day.
As they mentioned in the daily story; “A great fun day of racing around the Great Basin.  Looks like we have one landout, it will shake up the Standard Class standings, and some great speeds.”
Bruno Vessel flying the ASW 27 had the fastest long flight in his life; 125.07 km./h. over 646 km.

Open Class – Top 5 were over 100 MPH and more than 425 miles

Standard Class – top three over 90 MPH raw before the handicap.

15 Meter – Top 15 for the day were greater than 90 MPH and more than 425 miles

Lot’s of smiling faces and tired pilots.  Need to go remind them to hydrate and eat well so they can do it all over again on Tuesday.

Just over 1:30 to launch 61 gliders!  The ground crew is rocking!

June 28; forecast for today and the next 2 days; over development! The news on their site:
” 15 Meter stated at 13:05 local time for 3 hours 
Standard and Open task B for 2.5 hours.
All classes returning between 1600 and 1620 local time.  Sky is filling with cumulus, over development, high run off from far away cells and the first sounds of thunder.
Hoping for safe task and landings.”

In Standard class Bif was 1 for the day and AGAIN overall. Walt was runner up for the day and climbed again to 4 overall [great effort] and Danny was 5th and 2 overall now  only 17 points behind Bif. Exciting last days!!!!
In 15 m. same story . The 2 “toppers” Peter and David are still  “fighting”  for the honors. Peter was 4th for the day, David 7th. Result overall; 5374 and 5369.!!! Gary Ittner won the day and is 3 overall now!
Open class saw Keith as daily winner and he is the number 1 overall as well. Uys/AP are still HC in the lead. 5352 for 5309. Dick with the CONCORDIA is now on spot 2 overall. Good old Doug Jacobs had a less good day being 11th but still is after so many years , at this stage, in the top 5. Bruce is 6th with a daily 3d place.
All scores unofficial.

———–

QSGP in Austria.

The pilots , the gliders, the tuggies , part of the LOGO team, the organizers from the QSGP .
Picture courtesy Christoph Graif via FB.

Finally the good weather reached Niederöblarn in Austria and after 3 days without a task, they started with a 234 km. flight on their day 2 on June 22. Wolfgang was the best in his Ventus flying the distance with a speed of 126.44 km./h. and “collecting”  the 10 points for the day.
11 From 19 finished. Bostjan was runner up [8 p]  and Didier 3d. [7 p.]
Day 3 was straight on the next day, bigger task, better weather; 360 km. This time German pilot Simon Schroeder won the 10 points by flying around with a speed of 132.53 km./h. Number 2 and 3 were from Germany as well; Jan Frederic Mueller [8] and Mario with 7 points.He was as fast as Simon, but did not round a TP well.
Except for one they ALL finished and the non-finisher was only 13 km.out.
Day 4 had an even longer task and after the 3 non-flying , lazy days the ” boys” had to work; 403 km.
Excitement enough as Wolfgang has 17 points and Bostjan and Jan Frederic 14.A total of 13 for Mario and 11/10 for the Schroeders, Robert and Simon.
A big “cloud” of gliders arrived at the finish line after the 403 km. 8 within 4 minutes,  some a tad later.
Best speed and winner of the 10 points. Werner Amann.[127.75 km./h.]  runner up Bostjan with 127. 33 and on 3 Robert with 127.16 km./h. They all had a chance to win the day , flew alternately on different positions , but in the end Werner separated from the rest and went home with extra speed.
So how does it look before they start on the last day?
22 points for Bostjan and 19 for both Mario and Wolfgang, 18 for Robert and 15 for Simon. They are all still in the race!!!!!

The airfield as shared by the organizers.

Day 5 last day!!!!!Task; 131.88 km.
Werner won the day and with the 11 points from the last day and the 10 he scored earlier by winning a day he had a total of 21 points. NOT enough to win. Bostjan , 5th for the day, earned 5 more and wins with a total of 27, the QSGP from Austria.
Wolfgang only “got”  2 points to add to his total and that was not enough to be runner up. [21 p. as Werner]
2 Pilots share the runner up spot. Simon and Mario both from Germany and both with 22 points.

5 Days out of 8 with this terrible weather is pretty good. Nice long distances as well on 2 days 360 and 403 km.
Another “LIKE”- QSGP.
The next one is in the UK in 18 m. configuration . Between July 9 and 17. 20 Pilots have been selected, another 7 are on the reserve list. Among the UK pilots ;Andy Davis and Russell Cheetham and 3 pilots from Germany. The race will be flown from Bicester Gliding Centre.

———-

UK Nationals standard and 2-seaters.

On their 2d flying day from 7 finally a task again for all those waiting and patient pilots; 220 km. for standard, 216 for the 2 seaters and the “regionals” got 154 km.
SO sad, ….but they had to cancel the task.
The last day was a very marginal day again and it just made 2 days for St Class with a 153 km. task, but nobody finished. The best pilot reached 144.75 km which seems already a miracle but George  Metcalfe did it followed by Jez Hood with 143 km. and Howard Jones with 140.  The rest did not reach 100 km.
In the end George won with a total of 634 points what says it all.He “climbed” from 3 to 1 on this last day adding 108 points to his total.Howard moved from 5 to 2 [559] .
In the 2 seater class the day was cancelled so were the regionals. So only ONE day for them, but they all will have had good fun together, as the weather is the weather. You have to do/deal with it.
Andy won flying day 1 in the 2 seater- class and “got” 440 points for the day,  that was also the final result.

———-

Interesting OLC flights!

German pilot Thorsten Streppel flying an LS 6 WL in the USA, mentioned in his comment on June 23;
“Finally the first 1000km day at Parowan this year. Very nice convergence lines, easy to use despite some local over-development and thunderstorms.”
He flew the next day another 1000. Not bad in an LS 6 with winglets.
1.097,17 with a speed of 137.41 km./h. and [with an outlanding not far off] 1.057,16 km. with 142,13 km./h.
Mathias Schunk flew his 9th 1000 km. flight for the season on June 24, this time from Koenigsdorf  in the Quintus M. It looks he wants to win the Alpen Liga.
June 26 showed 2 1000 km-flights from Parowan on another amazing Parowan day.[ DG 800S/18m. and ASW 27]
Parowan was “glowing ” again on June 27. Ramy Yanetz flew in his ASW 27 1.207 km with a speed of 133 km./h. He commented on the OLC:”Super epic day. The hardest part was to stay below 18K with thermals averaging 10-15 knots and cloud bases well above 20K.”
And
” Averaged at least 150kmh most of the flight but traded speed for distance the last couple of hours to stretch the flight to 1200km”   9 Over 1000 km. flights in the ELY / Parowan area. Same great weather in Parowan [more to the NW]  as in Nephi  .

———-

It’s still far away but here is the latest from Tom Claffey about the comps at NARROMINE:
Hi all,

After much consulting with all concerned we finally have firm dates, just adding one more day to finish on the Sunday 19th of Feb.
Starting practice day Sunday 12th Feb, first comp day Monday 13 Feb.
This allows anyone flying Horsham week to drive up on the Sunday and still compete Monday while getting in the full days for the comp.
Comp is open to all two seaters, with the 20M two seaters up for National Championships and international team selection.

Happy Flying,

Tom

———–

After nearly 70 years and 5 months of examinations,  they diagnosed me with asthma. NEVER EVER had a problem with my lungs!!!!
Bad allergies as well, so more medicines to recover, but nobody can heal asthma unfortunately.
No worries I am going to live with it!
Cheers Ritz

Back on track after a great week with my high school friends. Was n’t the fittest person in the world, we did not have the best weather either , but we did what we wanted to do; having fun, lot’s of talking, shopping, even walking [ every day,…. but 2 times 10 km.] and biking[ once 25 km.]!!

So life goes on and last Monday was some kind of jubilee. I wrote my first soaring-eu blog from Holland exact 10 years ago. In total I have written 20 years. Starting when we were running Sportavia from 1996 onward with the Latest News.

Back to news about soaring and comps or GP’s NOW.
By the way I visited on my way to the holiday resort,  for an half hour the airport of  Malden where the Open Military Championship was busy with it’s last day.
Impressive is the only word for the new club house of the NIJAC . It looks like a glass tower , on the first floor, where you can sit outside with a drink to oversee the airport.
The old club house has been renovated and looks enjoyable and spiffy as well.

 

QSGP [18meter] in Austria.
June 18-25.

With 19 competitors , 7 from Austria, 1 from Switzerland  and France, 2 from Slovenia and 8 from Germany this competition is flown from Niederöblarn in beautyful Styria.
They could start straight away on Saturday with a 158 km. task, won by well known Swiss pilot Werner Danz. He got the 6 points for the day.
Christian Hynek, flying the ” SHARK” was the unlucky one for the day,  missing the start line and “getting” 5 minutes penalty.A pretty tricky day with several re-landings before the regatta start with a max start-height of 2000 m.

The more lucky ones from day 1; Werner on spot 1, Robert [Schroeder 4 points] on 2 and Klaus Kalmbach [ 3 points] on 3 and number 4 was Wolfgang [Janowitsch.. 2 points] and 5 was Mario [Kiessling.. 1 point].

Sunday, was cancelled.
Monday, was cancelled.
Tuesday, was cancelled.

———–

The Cotswold Nationals and 2016 Regionals.
June 18-26.

With 23 pilots in the standard class Nationals and 15 in the 2-seater class this is a competition flown from Aston Down in the UK. Another 10 fly the Regionals.

Unfortunately day 1 on Saturday June 18 had to be cancelled, Small tasks were set but “in vain”.
Sunday was cancelled as well, but the forecast for the rest of the week was better.
Monday was a no-go, but on Tuesday tasks were set; 206 for standard, 239 for the 2-seaters and the Regionals had to go for 164 km.
They were reduced to 153 km for standard and at least 3 pilots finished with a start just before 4 PM and finish between 6 PM and 6.38. They got 553, 527 and 526 points for their efforts.
So 3 Finishers  and 15 over 100 km. [107-to 150 km.] . Close but just not ” in ” was Ayala Truelove. She got 471 points for her 150.60 km.
16 LS 8 gliders from 23 in this class.
155 km. for the 2-seaters and also here 3 finishers; Andy Davis with the ARCUS T with a speed just under 80 km./h.[440 points]  Kim Tipple in ARCUS T also,  was runner up[434]  and Peter Hurd in the Duo Discus XT was 3d.[398] Number 4 flew 144 km in a Duo Discus T still got 353 points.
87 km. for the Regionals and at least 2 finishers.
All results preliminary.

———-

15 m, standard and Open class Nationals in Nephi Utah [USA]
June 20-30

Bruce Taylor from Australia traveled all the way up to Utah to fly the USA Nationals. Here is his first impression from his ” Taylor’s Gliding Place” . For those who cannot follow that on FB , I copy and paste it here with his permission;
—-” We have arrived at Nephi, Utah for the Open Class nationals, which begin on Sunday. After crossing into Utah amid the red and brown I was expecting, it became steadily greener towards Nephi, about 70 miles south of Salt Lake City. Tomorrow I will have my one and only practice day, and the weather looks to be OK. Early next week the weather could become extremely good… Fingers crossed! Photo is from the airfield car park. Reminds me a little of Mount Terminillo in Rieti.—“

Indeed he is right.

Practice ;
—” First day flying today, and I managed a personal best. I know for many it is not so impressive, but in 6500 hours I have never had a thermal climb to 18,000 feet. I have been (much) higher in wave, but not in thermals. The day was generally a bit difficult, and at one stage I even contemplated the embarrassment of an out-landing first day out! However we dropped some ballast and struggled out of trouble. I didn’t fly a huge distance, but did start to get a feel for how things work, and I have to say that it is different to all the other mountain sites I have visited. The trees grow quite high up the slopes, and all the greenery seems to affect how the thermals develop. I think on a good day there will be thermals everywhere, but on cooler blue days like today it is only the very hottest bare peaks that work. I was watching the only cumulus in the sky about 50 km East of Nephi, and late in the afternoon I went to explore, and found a little convergence there. Cloud base looked to be around 20,000 feet, but the limit for us is 18,000. Shame The next couple of days are going to be similar, with some wind around, but Tuesday looks like being a monster.. Can’t wait!–-” 

Official practice day on Sunday June 19;
Bruce; ” False alarm. We have two practice days, competition begins on Tuesday. Today is blue, blue, blue with a 3 hour AAT. That means we have a choice in which piece of blue we use. Most pilots are flying, as for many of us it is our first visit here.”
and
—“A bit more of the same today, except lower and slower. We were set a 3 hour AAT, north-east, south then west before coming home, probably about 380km scratch distance. The weather was pretty slow again, and we were mostly working below the ridges, with some tippy-toe flying amongst it all. Further south and out of range for our task there were some high cu’s and lenticulars, no use to us at all. The day took a long time to start, and I was afraid it might stop early. For me at least it did, and the final 100km was almost totally dead. After landing though, there were a few signs of wave on the final leg, so maybe I just flew in the wrong place.

Despite the tough conditions, I felt slightly more confident today. It’s always hard going to a new site, as flying well is so much about confidence, and today I felt like I could push along a bit more and stay out of trouble. It almost turned to worms on the last leg, but we got home somehow.
Photos are out east of Nephi. As you can see it is quite green and scenic. Not a description normally associated with great gliding, but I think this place might be different.—” 

For what it is worth Bruce won this BLUE practice day in his 18 m. ASG 29 with a 3 hour TAT[turn area task] !!!Different mountains, different tasks as in TAT etc, so good on him.
BUT,…..there are a few very GOOD pilots in his class , as in 15 m. and standard. So let’s wait and see what this upcoming week brings.

   

Practice day 2 on Monday June 20 was won in open class by Dick Butler , now in the CONCORDIA and not in the SUSI-1A he flew in on practice day 1. I had to go to Wikipedea to find out more about this glider and here you are ;
—” The Sisu 1A is a competition sailplane built in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Originally designed by Leonard Niemi as a homebuilt sailplane, its first flight in 1958 showed such promise that Niemi decided instead to manufacture it in series production. Niemi formed the Arlington Aircraft Company for this purpose. The Sisu 1A quickly proved itself as the most competitive American sailplane ever developed, winning the 1962, 1965, and 1967 U.S. National Soaring Championships. On July 31, 1964, a Sisu 1a piloted by Alvin H. Parker became the first sailplane ever to fly farther than 1000 km. “—-

So would Dick add 2016 as a new winning-year in this old-timer with many world records behind it’s name ??????
The answer is NO. During the comps he flies the CONCORDIA!!!!! He was 7th on day 1.
I hear from insiders that the SISU  is a pretty heavy glider but with great performance on high speed.

Bruce’s experience till now , is a good one as well ;
“Nephi looks to be a great soaring site, my first experience of the western US. Big thermals!”
Practice day 2 was good practice and Bruce finished as 5th.
” Today will be 100 degrees. At midday it is still blue, but the nice weatherman says we will have some cloud today. Heights may be above 18,000 feet. I smiled at the forecast thermal strengths… 8-10 knots, peak climb rates to 15.5!! Could be fun.”

Yesterday they started the comps and
—“ First day of organized gridding, and I have to say it wasn’t… at all…. 4 hour AAT and the weather looks pretty smokin’ hot. Hopefully more time bouncing off the height limit. If we do anything like predicted speeds we’ll need every inch of the areas they’ve set us, so will have take care of that, but there is usually something to slow us down. Photos of the grid thing, with JS waiting patiently. —”
As said Uys in the JS 1C-21m. won the first day. Keith Essex in the same glider was runner up. Bruce was 14th after an out-landing and RESPECT for his next story about day 1 !!!!!!!

—-“I’m unsure how to begin. Today I escaped having an accident by a tiny amount, and whilst I believe that it is important to tell the story, I don’t want to scare those who care about me. I am back in our house, safe and sound, but severely humbled. I care not about the fact that I out-landed, but I do care about what happened earlier in the flight. I flew down to a frighteningly low height above totally unlandable terrain, and I went within an inch of breaking a borrowed glider. The scenario contained both poor decision-making on my behalf, a lack of knowledge of the area, and some weather that simply caught me out. The attached photo was taken looking down my intended track about 20 minutes before this whole episode. The attractive cu’s overdeveloped quite rapidly, but even after this started I thought that they would still be working. I did get a long run of good air, but should have realized sooner that there were no more climbs to be found. I deviated right, which is west, to chase what I thought was the more active side of the clouds, thereby putting myself further into trouble. Long story short, I arrived at the very far right of this photo incredibly low. My only option would almost certainly have meant a broken glider, and I have never done that. Finally I climbed away, after a radio call to explain that I was in serious trouble, I continued the task for some time, then got low again, then climbed again, from where I realized that I had safe glide to a nice, paved airport. I’d had enough excitement for the day, so landed and took an aero-tow home. I now have a very much greater respect for this site, and a heightened awareness that I am not infallible.—”
This is the picture Bruce talks about.

    

Ready to go on day 1 with happy and exciting expectations for a great one.
More about them next week.

———–

EUROGLIDE 2016.

Started last Monday. A monster trip through Central Europe of 2400 km. All pilots LOVE IT!!!
In the past they started at Eindhoven but all gliding operations from Eindhoven Airport have ceased. Now they start from Venlo in the South of Holland and the organisation of Euroglide 2016 is a joint operation now of both clubs.
So start and finish of Euroglide 2016 will be on Venlo airfield.
Here is the news from the site:
The basis of the route is a triangle with start and finish at Venlo and two turn-points in Poland. The first turn-point is Plock, just North-East of Warszawa. Then to the South of Poland where the turn-point is either Nowy sacz or Krosno, depending on the class.

The Gliders and Self launchers have the first leg to Plock via Borkenberge and the Turbos have the first leg to Plock via Dahlemer Binz.

The total distance of the two tasks is around 2420km.
More details can be found in the Euroglide 2016 Rules, available on the rules page.
http://www.euroglide.nl/

2 Dutch teams …ready to go. Good luck to ALL.

On Monday it was raining “cat’s and dog’s”   up to 25 mm at some places, but the weather will improve!!!!
On Monday evening at 11.10 PM, Luc Weber published this picture;

It was either waiting or displacement by car. At least some German beer was available for some yesterday evening[Oerlinghausen and Flugplatz Dinslaken, Borkenberge ] so quite a few moved by car…trailer on “tow”.
Today looks good!

———-

They have already good weather in Brazil at Bahia Gliding. Look at this!
32 Dgr. C and a cloud-base of 2000 m.

———–

AND.
news from Graham Garnett from the UK.
About
LASHAM GLIDE 2016 the prequel for the EGC 2017.

—-” To all my gliding friends in the UK and abroad please read and share this post.

Lashamglide 2016 (30 July – 7th August) which consists of the 15m and Open Class Nationals also has an 18m competition.

It has now been decided that the 18m competition will be a handicapped competition with the handicaps ranging from 105 – 111 (UK handicap rules)

By the way, we have had the longest day yesterday and on the same day the astronomical summer started here with a bit of sun. On Monday it felt like autumn. BUT,.. we will have up to 30 dgr on Friday,…yes…..with thunderstorms.
The first half year Holland had more rain than ever counted for in history. Up to 500 mm. where 300 to 350 is the normal average.
Still terrible weather in Europe.
Warshaw in Poland had a severe down burst on June 17 with heavy rain and wind. Tornado’s at Serbia on Monday and heavy hail in SE Italy last Sunday. [Puglia]
[ https://www.facebook.com/severeweatherEU/]

Cheers Ritz

We are not done YET with the VERY bad weather in parts of Europe. The LOW is SLOW!!!!
Specially Germany, France , Belgium and Holland are hit by lot’s of rain, HIGH water, and for that reason earth- slides and flooding.Not for 100 years the water was so high, so EARLY in the season.
10 People  in Germany only, are killed by the flooding.
In Paris even the Louvre closed it’s doors,  as a precaution for the high water. So they could save the art on the lower stock close to the Seine,  and bring it up higher ,to safe places.They don’t really worry too much,as they have very high-standard- precautions for the museum.
France is worried about the bill and expect it to be over a milliard.

The weekend was just HOT, with up to 28 dgr. C. We even had the “hottest”  night ever , 17.1 dgr.C on the 4th.
But also , on Saturday, after FOG, …..some nice clouds and for parts of Holland great distances again up to 708 km.whilst the South . [Noord Brabant and Limburg ] still suffer under ” code orange ” with rain and heavy thunderstorms.So flights from Terlet and Soesterberg were up North and East; several over 500 km. flights as well.

Very bad and wet also in parts of Australia. Sydney was hit so was the road to the airport of Camden [NSW] ; only just just visible!!

As shared by the Narromine friends. [picture courtesy Winter Calm] .They had enough water as well, ” it was wet over the weekend“…but not as bad.

———-

The Polish 15 m. Championships.

Not the best weather either , as you can see on the picture shared by Sebastian Kawa.

No luck , with the weather  either in Poland. With 3 out of 5 days,  they continued on June 1, with a 1.30 AAT.
Points were provided to 29 pilots from 12 [lowest] to 441 points.
206 km. was the best distance but too much time was needed by Tomas Rubaj ; 2 .01 .49. The winner had 167.86 km. in 1.036.09.
Sebastian , flying the DIANA 2, was with 173.55 km. on spot 3.
On June 2 another “try” with a bit more time; 2 hours!!! A good day for the pilots  called ….LUCASZ. They finished on spot 1-2 and 4 with Sebastian on spot 3.
Mac was on spot 4. Most pilots started around 13.26.
Janusz Centka….who was on spot 1 overall after the 3 flown days , did not start anymore .
He was involved in a mid air; no injuries to pilots but lot’s of damage as I heard to the ARCUS and open jantar.

THEN ….the weather really improved on June 3!!! Elsewhere they could fly 1000 km in Poland in Leszno a set task from 365 was handed out to the pilots and off they went for a 1000 points-day and speed mainly above 100 km. h. Mac was runner up with a relative late start.
On June 4 the weather even more improved and 475 km. was set for the last day. The pilots with as first name Lucasz did well again; 1-2-and 10 nice speed with 123 km./h.
The results after ,in the end, still  6 out of 9 days were;
1. Lucasz Blaszczyk in the DIANA 2 with 3.710 points.
2. Lucasz Grabowski in the ASG 29  with 3.644 points.
3. Lucasz Wojcik in Ventus 2ax with 3.333 points .
Mac was 10th with 2.782 points.

———-

The Qualifying SGP in France. [June 4-11]

As they mentioned; ” The orange juice is in”
Good old cold , clear, delicious Dutch Heineken beer. ” Heerlijk Helder Heineken”. Shared by organizers.

One of the first of the 19 pilots arriving at Rennes ,Saint Sulpice, was  Mogens Hoelgaard from Denmark, with his crew. Also Iain Baker is “in”  as FAI referee.
More European pilots in France , as good old Patrick Stouffs competes,  as do 2 UK pilots , Gary Stingmore and Jon Gatfield, as well as Erazem Polutnik from Slovenia.
I remember Alain Mazalerat from comps in Angers and he was a bit older than I am, so he must be pretty old now, but as it looks still going strong and VERY experienced.
It’s a 15 m. conversion QSGP and they started with pretty marginal weather as well.
Day 1; June 4. Race 1; 115 km. with a “bad sky”  , several starts , returning pilots ….waiting…relaunching….low cloud base but,  also at some places some convergences. In fact no hope for a day BUT, a miracle happened and they flew! Only 4 finishers and most points [5] were for Jean Denis Barrois in the ASW 27b. Louis Bourderlique got 3 points and Alain and Patrick 2 and 1 !!!!A real challenge and a question of luck as well is what the winner said after the flight.

Day 2; June 5. Race 2; 151 km. and a tad better weather. Still only 5 finishers lot’s of penalty points and the 6 points for the day were for Louis. Christophe was runner up in about the same time ,  but he got 56 penalty sec.so 4 points for him. Most pilots, 10,  were on the wrong side of the start line 1 min before start , so if you were there for 2 sec you got 4 penalty points, if you were there for 60 sec your punishment was 120 sec and in case of Christophe it was 28, so 56 in total!!!
The weather was not so good at the field but much better to the West. Coming back was difficult again but also nice for the admirers/spectators  at the ground, as all gliders passed the field to the last TP to come back home and not that high. Some even had to use their engines.

Day 3; June 6. Race 3;Ready to go see picture above shared by the organizers.
116 km. was set and finally it turned out to be a 10-points-day. And….the 10 points were for…..Louis again. He has a total of 19 points now. 11 From 18 pilots have points now!

Day 4; June 7; Race 4 with 189 km. and the French pilots  doing a great job. New names on the first spots as Frederic Hoyeau and Freddy Barthlemy who was 3d yesterday as well.
10 Pilots finished among them Mogens Hoelgaard.
After 4 races Louis still leads the pact with 23 points.There are 19 points for Christophe Ruch and 15 for Freddy, whilst Jean Denis has 14.
When I am gone you can find it all day by day  at; http://www.sgp.aero/france2016/results-sgp/results.aspx?contestID=15485

Just before I published I got some news about yesterday and today from Iain.
Here you are;
—“We’re posting videos and photos on sgp.aero to capture what is happening, and there’s live tracking with text commentary (and the tracking can be replayed later for those who cannot watch it live or who want a fast replay). The weather has not been classic, low cloudbases but every day has been racing. 

Yesterday was really exciting, with Frédéric Hoyeau taking a lead half way around the task, flying all alone, and only Freddy Barthelemy breaking away from the main gaggle to try and stay in touch with Fred.  The rest of the pilots were 20 km behind, all challenging for third place.  With different tactical decisions on the last main leg of the task, Freddy took the lead with a 3 km advantage but less altitude – only for Fred to pass him within sight of the finish line.  Moustique (Christophe Ruch) and Christophe Abadie finished three minutes later, side-by-side and impossible to separate after 2½ hours flying. 

Today we are expecting good weather and better cloudbases, hopefully another classic exciting race.  And the ambience at Planeurs Ille et Vilaine is great, well-organised and friendly, there’s lots of support from sponsors and the local community and good coverage from regional media (a TF3 television crew were here yesterday to for a broadcast on the evening news).—“
Thanks Iain

———

OLC flights.

The beginning of June was n’t too good,  but pilots in Scandinavia had some great flights in the first week of June, whilst we could only “swim ” here.
Up to 777 km flights in a Nimbus 4 DM from Elverum in Norway,  to 563 km. in ASW 27 from Rayskala in Finland.
On June 3 Poland had the better weather with a just over 1000 km-flight in an ASG 29 from a field I never heard of; Olsztyn Dajtki.
On June 4 Riku Rissanen took his dad Markku, for a flight in the ASH 25E/26 m. and some quality time, as he said.
It turned out to be his ” first 1000 km / declared 3 turn points and the last  310 km was very nice“; 1.037 km.
They flew from Rayskala in Finland.
On June  6 still great weather in Rayskala and flights from 500 and 600 km. I remember those fantastic early June days, they are really GOOD!!!!

And look at skies above ARBOGA in Sweden shared by Jens Trabolt. As Per Carlin mentioned;” Yesterdays weather was the typical Swedish non-competition weather.”  It looks great.

———

OMK in Malden [Holland]

Picture from the terrace at Malden shared by Ben Hiemstra who flies there as well.

The open Military Championships are very popular. Malden with it’s brand new hangar and club house is even more welcoming than it already was in the past.
On June 6 the 43 pilots  started their 5 days of flying with a set racing task of 246 km. in club class.
231 Was set for open and combi got 200 km.
They tried hard, postponed the launches as they needed only a few  degrees more, they delivered B tasks but,…. In the end it was all a day of hope and no glory as they could not fly. The day was cancelled for all 3 classes.
On June 7 they tried again; Task 1;but,..it was not meant to be !!!
Today June 8 they try again to have their first day. NO task yet.
In Amsterdam we had great weather yesterday, but the code orange was still in place for Limburg and yellow for Brabant and the Southern part of Gelderland, where Malden is.

Their fabulous new hangar was unpacked in the morning as the sun carefully  showed it’s face….but unfortunately…..no flying day.
Picture shared by the organizers.

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Lasham Regionals.

Aussie mate Adam Woolley traveled from Australia, or maybe Japan where he nowadays works as an airline pilot,  to the UK for a week of flying in the next [19th] 2017-EGC- area.
—-” Well, nothing changed from Day one – Sunday to Sunday were all cancelled day due to weather. Naturally the locals all said this is very out of the ordinary, many never seen it like this before.

Sunday saw the best opportunity to fly since the previous Sunday with climbs expected to 3000′, then quickly turning to showers. B task of 117km fixed was declared at 14:30 & at 15:00, the day was cancelled – the sniffer never getting above 2000′ in the blue conditions. Apparently we needed just one more degree..

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Italian Nationals.

51 Pilots gathered for the Italian Nationals at Ferrara flown in one class with handicaps.But, it’s getting boring , the weather did not co operate. They mainly fly in the weekends and in the weekend of the 2d, 3d 4th and 5th [too many gliders to start from the runway behind each other,]  the field was too wet. only ONE day was flown.
On June 4 a 1.45 AAT was set and flown by 42 of the 51 pilots who had entered.
From the 42 a group of 29 finished. Ricardo Brigliadori did best under the circumstances and flew 139 km in the St Cirrus in 1.50.
Runner up was Thomas Gostner in the Ventus 2a with 160 km in 1.59.
The second part starts again on Friday the 10th.[news and scores on www.soaringspot.com]

Too much water on the grid . Shared by the organizers.

———-

No blog next week, it’s that time of the year again that I have a week-out  with my high-school friends. Cu on the 22d of June.
My health is better,… not good enough yet …..so more investigations.
By the way I knew the JSF was going to show itself to the Dutch people yesterday. It did!!! I had no clue they would fly over Amsterdam AND…. I saw them twice.
Wow what a great way of pair-flying for those 2 pilots at about 400 m. high  over Amsterdam and what a NOISE and they seem so big!!!! Loved it.

Cheers Ritz

Today…..June 1 ;meteorological summer starts.

Not that we can see it here. Temperature[ around 20 dgr C]  is rather OK but there is more thunderstorm activity and rain than normal for this time of the year. More countries in Europe suffer; France had lightning on a playground injuring at least 10 kids and on a soccer field in Germany ,35 people were injured by lightning, among them at least 30 kids  between 9 and 11 years old,
You ask why did they not seek hiding straight away?
As I noticed here,… the weather arrived without warning what so ever, just at a flash. No dark skies, no rain, just BENG and we were looking at each other ” is that a thunderstorm ?????”Very weird!!!
My Aussie friends would love the rain which fell in the German state Baden-Wurttemberg ; at places 70 liter per square meter within an hour!!!!!So streets looked like a tsunami was passing by. At least 4 people were killed.
Braunsbach is flooded and for that reason DAMAGED.
Only in Holland the damage is OVER 10 MILLION Euro.By the way the Dutch spring was about normal looking at rain , but we had more sun hours than normal.

Down under winter started!

———–

METEO news!!!

Got some interesting news about meteo from Alexis. Here it is ;

“We have launched a beta version of the Alps forecasting service for glider pilots:

 http://www.meteorologica.gr/alps/

The model runs at the very high resolution of 2km which has been tested in Greece and is good enough for all local phenomena and the combined effects of convective ridge and wave lift. We provide the following parameters for the next day:

1. Cloud cover
2. Cloud ceiling (thecloud base height relative to the ground)
3. The maximum vertical velocity
4. The precipitation
5. The wind at 10m AGL, 3km MSL and 4km MSL
6. The long wave radiation (indicative of the height of cloud tops)

Also, under the KML tab you can find a KML timeline for viewing in Google Earth for planning. It is important to use the range in the time slider to look at each one chart. Alternatively, you can select a chart under Places/Temporary Places at the sidebar.

I have attached a sample map of the strongest updrafts on 3D terrain.

Looking forward to comments by pilots flying in the Alps.”

———–

DUTCH OBGC.

They continued with tasks on Wednesday and hoped for a day,….it was in vain , BUT Thursday should be better. Some pictures from Willemijn from the cold and wet days. Great picture from the airfield Terlet at THE gorgeous VELUWE.

      

      1. Dennis [Huybreckx ]and Jef  [Kell] ………2 Hans [Biesters]  and Jeroen [Verkuijl].     3. Jeroen [Koolen] en Max Leenders.

Only club class started on Tuesday but the only thing the pilots could do was return to the field.

More impressions in Willemijn’s daily pictures; ENJOY!!!

    

1. “Welcome sun” with Erik and Robin.    2. Ronald with his mates in relaxed mood. 3. Our Belgian friend Nick ready to go.

More ready to go

    

Annemiek in the middle surrounded by Jef and Tim from Belgium.

I found out that the rules are different this time, because of the co-operation with the Belgium pilots.
THEY DO NOT NEED 4, BUT ONLY 3 Days. So a last day would have been great but not necessary for a valid championship. I should not have worried.

Thursday ;After 2/3 days and 6/5 cancelled days and only Friday to go, there should be MERCY for the organizers and pilots.
There was !!!!FINALLY NICE WEATHER!!!!!!
Club;…. 252 km. Tim [Kuijpers] won the 1000 points with a very late start at 2.27, whilst the early birds left already at 1.09 PM.He raced over the circuit with a speed of 80.59 km./h.,  about 10 km./h faster than the runner up Frank [ Hiemstra 71.19 km./h.]  ,who started exactly ONE hour earlier. After 3 days Tim leads with 2010 points ahead of Frank with 1911.
Combi;309 km….Belgium again “on the top” in this class. Today Wim [Akkermans] won in the LS 8 in about the same time as Dennis Huybreckx and the same glider; 1000 points for 999. Dutch pilot David [Muller] finished on spot 3 for the day.
After 3 days Dennis tops the overall list with 2598 points and Wim has 2544 points. So it will be a -last- day -decision between Dennis and his brother-in-law.
18 m.;304 km…..day 4, also in this class the French speaking Belgium pilots found their way over Dutch soil. Olivier[ Sevrin] and Jean-Luc [Colson]  flew their ASG 29’s to spot 1 and 2; 1000 and 994 points.
Peter [Millenaar] tops the list but Jean Luc “raced”  from 5 to spot 2 overall.
Between the number 10 Sikko with 1962 points to the topper at the moment is not THAT much difference.
open;354 km….3d day as well for open . A good day for the big-wing-ship the ASW 22 BLE from Jeroen [ Oostendorp]; 1000 points during  his first participation on a National Championship, good on him!! He started relative late at 2.31 PM, but so did Mark [Wering] at 2.45 last one,  in the ANTARES 23 T and he finished as 10th with 525 points.
Between spot 6 [1902 points] up to spot 1 [2279] there are still possibilities. Jeroen[ Verkuijl] has 2223 points and Ronald [Termaat]  2201.
A day with good distances but the speed , nobody reached 100 km./h. shows it was NOT easy.

So we can only hope that it will be a flying day on Friday. It is a valid competition anyhow that’s good but some more flying would be really good.

   

“Powerfood”  for pilots and crew.
Courtesy Maarten Brouwer.

Friday; last day. 2 Hour AAT’s in all classes were set. WAIT AND SEE!!!! First launches at 12 ,as there is a possibility for local thunderstorms in the [later] afternoon  from the SW.
The day had to be cancelled.
So with 3/4 out of 11 days there were “poor” but REAL championships.

      

Dutch National Champion in club class Tim Kuijpers  with Dutch National Champion in 18 m Peter Millenaar. Both are Ryan Air pilots.  AND… interest enough for the 18 m. Champion. AND …his nice finish.
Picture 1 shared by Frauke , proud mum of Tim and picture 2 and 3 by Peter’s dad Rob as proud, so they should be.

So here we go with the names and the final scores CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL;
Club; 1. Tim Kuijpers 2040 points…….2. Frank Hiemstra 1911 points ….3.Jeroen van Dijk 1663
Combi; 1. Dennis Huybreckx 2598…..2. Wim Akkermans 2544….3. Tim Huybreckx 2170.
18 m; 1. Peter Millenaar 2254….2. Jean -Luc Colson 2188……3.Dennis Schouten 2132
open;1. Jeroen Oostendorp 2279…..2. Jeroen Verkuijl  2223…….3. Ronald Termaat 2201

And all the gold, silver and bronze winners on one picture
shared by Frauke Kuijpers.

———-

Norwegian Grand Prix CHAMPIONSHIP. [Norwegian Nationals]

“A couple of hundred meters before finish, fighting at over 200 km/h with Arnulf right to the line.”
As shared by Arne Martin Guetller.

Beautiful Norway had it’s Voss Grand Prix [Norwegian Nationals in GP configuration ] between May 22 and 28.
—” Voss Grand Prix had this year been extended to a week and gotten championship status. This would be the first time a Norwegian championship would be crowned at a Grand Prix contest, and also the first time in Western Norway for a championship.—”

On May 24 the 14 pilots could  fly and with a 206 km. task ,  11 from 14 pilots managed to fly over 100 km./h.  Best speed was 114 km./h and it gave Jo Inge Bjoro 10 points. Arne Martin had 7.

 

Above Hardangerfjord by Arne Martin. How beautiful is Norway !!??

May 25 ; 199 km. was set for flying day 2 and it was another penalty/warning festival with 10 from 14 pilots ” in the prizes” . Start height, start speed etc. The daily winner , flying in an LS 6, had NO penalties and got the 10 points for a speed of 100 km./h. over the 199 km. Per Morten Lovsland tops the overall list now too after 2 days; 18 points.

May 26; nearly 300 km. in Norway as well as task for Thursday. Arne Martin was runner up and moved with 8 points to spot 2 overall; On top still the LS 6 pilot Per Morten with 25 [he got 7 today].

Another great/ fabulous picture by Arne Martin.

May 27; Here is Arne Martin’s story for the day;
” Awesome flight today at Norwegian championship / Voss Grand Prix! Like yesterday we flew to Lærdal, but then headed north west to Fjærland, right next to Jostedalsbreen!
Like yesterday, I seem to do better on longer tasks, with more mountains. Crossed the finish line first today, although with some penalty seconds Per Morten will most likely get first place. And also overall we will be first and second.”
That was correct, Per Morten got 8 and Arne Martin 6 points, due to a penalty for a too fast start speed.

May 28; Last day  was cancelled, ” since extreme rainfall and possible flooding had been forecast.” 

Looking back Arne Martin wrote;” We had some great weather. The practice day was cancelled, and instead the next day was declared a practice day. After that we had great conditions for the next four competition days, before the final day was cancelled due to heavy rainfall.” 

Thanks Arne Martin.

———–

The Polish 15 m. Nationals.

From Leszno 32 competitors are going to look between May 27 and June 5 , who is the best in 15 m. class in Poland. Mac [Ichikawa] is flying there as well.Among them toppers as Sebastian [Kawa],  Janusz [Centka] , Lucasz [Grabowski], Lucasz [Blaszczyk] , Lucasz [Wojcik] , Adam [Czeladski] , Tomas [Krok] and Tomas [Rubaj].
On flying day 1 they had a 2.15 AAT and 12 from 33 finished. Several penalty points as well. Good old Janusz Centka did well in the ARCUS on spot 2 with Tomas Rubaj straight behind him. Tomas flew 268 km. in his ARCUS but needed more time 3.01 [Janusz had 2. 37 in over 240 km.]
The next 3 days were cancelled/no task,  or invalid due to too short distances. A pity!

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The latest on KIRIPOTIB and Rent-a-glider/ FLYING WITH THE CHAMPIONS by Ludwig Starkl.

Dear glider pilots and guests,

 thank you to everyone who visited Kiripotib in the last years and enjoying the beautiful landscape and lifestyle in Namibia. As some of you noticed already, there will be changes in Kiripotib next season. Bernd Dolba is leaving the second biggest gliding center in Namibia after 8 years time and he is looking for new ventures.

Accordingly Claudia and Hans von Hase were looking for new partners to run the gliding operation in the future. Thus we are proud to announce that Kiripotib will continue – visual as Kiripotib 2.0.

Who is Who?

KIRIPOTIB SOARING,  so the name of the new team, is a cooperation between three  professional gliding companies from Europe for more holiday, more service and more fun for all pilots, their families and friends.

The Kiripotib Guest Farm with Claudia and Hans von Hase (Namibia). They are in charge of your comfortable stay in Kiripotib and with their lovely Kiripotib Collection they represent the sport of gliding in Namibia and offer plenty of local tradition and adventures while on the ground.

Rent-A-Glider with Ludwig Starkl and Wolfgang Janowitsch (Austria). These two gentlemen knowing Namibia like the back of their hands and are in charge of one of the best rental glider fleets on the planet and it’s safe transport to Namibia and back to Europe. Also gliders of clients will be shipped to Kiripotib by them professionally. On top of that they organize the top level coaching “Flying with the Champions” in Kiripotib and Bitterwasser.

streckenflug.at with Christian, Regina and Mia Hynek (Austria/Namibia). This young family is in charge of the technical support of gliders, booking, IT, the soaring facilities and also manage daily matters. Their well known gliding shop is also available for all Pilots in Namibia.

The Mountain Soaring Enterprise with Markus Lewandowski and Aurel Hallbrucker from Innsbruck/ Austria.

These two fellas are professional chief flying instructors (CFI) certified by the SSN. They are in charge of the daily gliding operation and safety in and around Kiripotib. They are available for check flights, check outs, coachings and rides for pilots and guests.

A big fleet of gliders are available next season, there will be 5 Arcus M an Arcus E, Nimbus 4DM, ASH 25, Antares 23E,  two Shark and a DG 800 available. For all who want to fly world records, Alisport will send a Silent E, one of the new 13,5 Meter class gliders with us. Be the first to be in the record list.

The new web page KIRIPOTIB.COM/SOARING is online since some days. There you find all information, programs prices and details concerning Kiripotib Soaring. Stay tuned!

If you are planning a gliding holiday in Kiripotib in the upcoming season, please be so kind and send us your preferred dates and gliders as soon as possible. We are limited in space. Or you have any question, send us an e-mail to soaring@kiripotib.com

Regards Ludwig

———

We called him Mr. Aosta.
Jan van Genne died on May 28.
R.I.P Jan.

———

That’s it for now on Tuesday evening.  Off to hospital tomorrow early for a day of medical examinations.
Cu next week
Cheers Ritz

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