Kingaroy …Australian Nationals….the end!!!!

Wednesday’s story from Bruce to start with, as it is always interesting.
“Lots of stories to tell today. The weather was really interesting, with a high wave start from 11,500 feet. There was some strong shear wave, and the photos show some of the panel and a view of the Kingaroy location from about 10,500 feet. I was lucky to be at the top, and it was beautiful looking down through about 30 gliders to the ground. Our first leg was a very long glide to the north, and when we arrived under the clouds they were useless. Lift was very weak and broken, and it was not until half an hour later that things improved. The northern part of our task then became excellent, with good climbs to about 7,000 feet, usually at 6 knots or more. Then as we came south again it was slightly difficult to find the best climbs and to stay high. I was sure the wave was still going over the top of convection, so I worked hard at finding the influence of the wave by flying just upwind of the lines of cumulus, and it worked a treat! This air was good enough to get onto a final glide home from a couple of thousand feet low. Once again the big wings were beaten by the 18m pilots, and John Buchanan in particular, but it was a fun flight and interesting weather.
Washing the glider I was joined by George Lee for a nice chat about gliding, world comps, and the many great friendships we have made whilst doing this. What a gentleman George is, and what a wonderful sport we enjoy. Then when heading back to the clubhouse for dinner there was this super sunset.
All in all not a bad days work.”

As shared by Bruce.

Thursday flying day 9; 2.30 AAT’s for standard and 15 m and 2 hour AAT’s for the rest, with storms fore-casted .
Standard; Another great win , the 5th, for Allan [ Barnes]. It looks if he is on his way to be the Aussie Champion but it’s only over after the last pilot has arrived on the last day. Like Butch in 18 m. Allan is “in the right groove”.
298.45 km. in 2.34. Good on him. Mac [HC] was runner up. Peter [Trotter] number 2 for the Aussie-score-day.
Allan is so kind to always share his views on the day in his OLC comment;
“Day 9 of KRY Nationals. A day that was forecast to storm early and become unsoarable after 3pm. Task was a 2.5hr AAT to the north then to the Downs in the SW. I came off tow straight into sink and eventually found a half knot to work for a long time in the widespread shade. Eventually got to cloudbase well after the gate had opened, so started pretty much straight away as there was shadow everywhere and heaps of vertical development. I ran NE towards the east edge of the first area, and it went well for a time – I found Mac Ichikawa but our line was soon spoiled by a large dead area. I deviated north, and got fairly low before finding a good climb near Windera lake. Decided to go as far as possible north, as the Downs was meant to be much worse. Found a good street, and turned just a couple of km before the circle edge. Had a fairly good run south, apart from being heavily rained on instead of finding the planned-for 10kt. Got a little low over the scrub and had to backtrack towards landable fields, but found a 6kt save just in time. Ran south again and turned in the second circle at 10min delta T, with 160kph required speed to finish. Pulled it back to 4 minutes over, and ran in at almost VNE in the end under a buoyant street.”
15 m; Adam mentioned that he loves  the challenge and race,even with only a 2 points lead. So will he keep his calm and not loose it???? It’s the first time in the ‘grown-up-world’ he leads a championship, reason enough to get “cold feet”.
BUT,….He did keep it at least for day 9 and won !!!339.85 in 2.44. Stephen was runner up but lost 56 points, so Adam’s lead is a bit bigger now 91 points.

Adam who shared this picture with the text:
“A pleasure doing business with you Aaron, you’ve completed your first contract – my glider is now extremely clean & ready for tomorrow’s racing. AU$10 well spent.”

18 m.; a short task so what time to start? With storms up coming you would think early. That’s what David did at 12 , but Chris, Adam’s dad started an hour later. Local knowledge????
Anyhow David won the day with 266.58 km. in 2.11. Butch started at 12.30 and lost 27 points . No worries!Chris was on spot 7.
During the last 7 out of 9 days the overall scores have been the same. Butch, David and Tom , nothing changed today. Butch leads with nearly 200 points , but between David and Tom there are less than 60 points.Exciting!
open/combi ; Bruce won the open class day with 276.56 km. in 2.07 !!!
Here is Bruce;
“Today was a tricky day, with very moist, unstable air. During briefing there was a shower on the roof, but we were reassured by Adam Woolley (the weather lad) that it would indeed turn into an “awesome day”. Maybe it didn’t reach awesome status, but it was interesting and a lot of fun. Already during launch, areas were overdeveloping and turning to rain, leaving some large dead spots. Starting was difficult, as everything within range of the start line had died, and a number of pilots had a real struggle to get away. Then through the afternoon things recycled, and parts of the task area were really good, with solid climbs to 7,000 feet or more. However it was always challenging, and the carefully set 2 hour AAT was right on the money. It must have been a long wings day, as the JS1 helped me around the task at a good speed, and I really managed to stay out of trouble the whole way. In a few places I used 2 or 3 knots to stay up high, but mostly I was looking for 5 knots, and even found one much stronger than that.” 

As shared by Adam,pilot and the meteo guy;
Raining at Kingaroy now, looks like we got the task about right & predicted the weather fairly closely due to www.skysight.io

Friday LAST DAY;
So much to hope for,so much to gain,  so much to loose,…. what will bring this last day. Tasks were about the same as the day before so a bit of practice was in the system. 2 and 2.30 AAT’s.
Standard; Allan won the last day as well good on him,[ daily win number 6 in the pocket !!!!!!]; 250 km. in  2.04 same as Mac.
Here is his own story from the OLC and thanks Allan for your detailed reports!!!
— “Final day. Our task was a 2 hour AAT, similar to yesterday but with a TP at Kumbia to keep everyone away from the scrub. I had a problem-laden start, realizing at weighing that all my tail ballast had emptied, and discovering the valve was broken. I decided to dump half my wing water, and fill the tail halfway and plug it. That way I could still have he benefit of some ballast and be able to comfortably land with it on board if necessary. My task today was to ensure that Greg and Peter did not do anything much better than me – so I was going to follow Greg but saw Mac, who is ahead of me but not in the running for the trophy. He latched on to me and followed me through the start, and never let go. I was losing on glide but gaining on climb. We turned short of a big fire that was too far north, then had a good run back via Kumbia, and hit the Bunyas with about 30km needed to avoid coming home early. Fortunately there was a line of cu just outside the Oakey airspace, and we ran it down until we got pinched by the airspace then ran home coming in 4 min over. Good day, good enough to be champion!!!”

As shared by the 34 th WGC.

So Mac is the winner with 7686 points well done MAC, great practice for Benalla.
The AUSTRALIAN CHAMPION is ALLAN BARNES.He got the trophy for 7516 points.Congratulations Allan!!!!!
On spot 2 is Peter Trotter and Greg Beecroft was as well on the podium!!
By the way Kerrie was 3d on the last day so good on her!!
The official final scores in standard class;
Winner MAC flying HC        7686
1. Allan Barnes        7516
2. Peter Trotter       7344
3. Greg Beecroft      7269

15 m.; a “bloody good feeling”  was one of the reactions of the new AUSSIE 15 m NATIONAL CHAMPION Adam Woolley.
He first had to fly though, on that last day, but no worries, he was runner up behind Jim, who flew 250 km. with a speed of 124 km./h.. Adam “did”  236 km. in 1.58.
—” Well it’s official, I’m now the Australian 15m national gliding champion! It’s taken a lot of sweat over the years to achieve this life long dream, it feels as good as I dreamt it to be!
It’s not just for us, the champion names that live on the trophy, I must thank all those who have supported me through the years, those who have breathed deep when I got low, helped me get from A-B, leant me gliders, picked me out of a paddock, heard my sob & success day stories, coached me, shared laughs & shared days soaring with me!
You all know who you are, so thanks for being apart of my first senior Nationals win & hopefully one day a world title.”

Official 15 m. results;
1. Adam Woolley             7500
2. Jim Crowhurst           7333
3. Stephen O’ Donnell   7245

A REAL happy chappie.
As shared by Adam.

18 m. ;Geoff Brown was the last-day-winner with 322 km in 2.30 at the dot!!! The toppers did not loose too much or did not take too big risks so the overall scores stayed the same. Butch flew extremely well a deserved NATIONAL CHAMPION.
He did so already when I met him in Rieti 1984 and during the WGC there in ’85 he flew our glider and used our car.After more than 30 years he is still TOP!!!
Official 18 m. scores;
1. John Buchanan        7704
2. David Jansen           7575
3. Tom Claffey              7517

open /combi; For open class only as in big wings, Benalla 2016 WGC pilot for Australia ,Andrew won the day in the JS 1C .
Bruce for the last time from  the Kingaroy nationals.
—“All done and dusted. The last day turned out to be not totally straightforward, with a slowish start and poor visibility, which hampered our decision on how best to use the AAT we were given. Andrew Georgeson made the best of it, and I got caught flying into an area that wasn’t so wonderful. I have been feeling like I haven’t really flown my best this competition, but in hindsight I have managed to be consistent, and did win the three days which really suited the JS1. I slipped back one place yesterday to finish in fourth. As per the whole fortnight, John Buchanan outflew us convincingly. Congratulations to him for a great effort.
The photo is the sky today, the first really non-flyable day for the past two weeks. That says much for the Kingaroy site. We have had a variety of weather, and some tough, weak days, but could actually have flown 12 days straight. Thanks to all the organizers, super comp!” Thanks BRUCE!!!!!
The combi/open class was a bit complicated in scores. But looking at the combined scores,… the top 3 from 18 m, was also the top 3 in the combined class, so GOOD ON THEM!!!
Looking at open class gliders only, Bruce was the best followed by Andrew. Both represent Australia in Benalla,… so good luck guy’s.

No more pictures found so that’s all about the Aussie Nationals!!!!

———-

Benalla here they come!

2 Trailers in one container , one the EB 29 with new wings, with Ludwig,??? Stefano , Wolfgang and Gagula
As they mentioned “loading of the Diana (with FES-system) trailer was very easy.”
Picture courtesy Goeran Karllson.

Courtesy Boerje.

The Dutch containers, with HUGE help of Grietje and Francesco from Soaring-Center-Corowa, left already in September

     

Pictures shared by WK Gliding.

———

And…talking about containers….
ready for the season

Safe arrival from all containers at Bitterwasser.

As shared by Bitterwasser Lodge and Flying Center.

———

The Victorian Soaring Association.

The VSA Presidents Award recognizes the significant contribution Eddie Madden has made to gliding over many years through his SportAviation business.

“Any aviation business is challenging and none more so than recreational aviation. Eddie has shown great perseverance in maintaining SportAviation as a viable operation which has introduced many people to gliding and thereby assisted membership growth in the VSA and GFA. Eddie’s operation has also assisted visiting pilots to fly at Tocumwal and contributed to Tocumwal’s ongoing reputation as a premier cross country site.

The VSA Committee also recognize the support Eddie has given the VSA by attending and contributing to our Club Presidents meetings every year.”

Good on you Eddie, congratulations !!!!!

Picture shared by Marsha from the VSA

———

Talking about awards…..

I got one too. At Terlet some pilots who have a gliders pilot licence for 50 years got flowers and little golden pin’s with a brilliant.
Robin Smit got  a Dutch bronze award for being such a great young pilot, Dr. Luuk Boermans for EVERYTHING he has done for soaring, too much to mention and for my contribution to soaring the Dutch Gliding Federation handed out a sterling  GOLDEN pin to me as well.
Love gold!!!!!
THANKS!!!!!!!Also a big thank you to the KNVvl for organizing such a nice day!!!
A  picture impression.

     

Around 130 people cheered on the 10 pilots who got their pin for 50 years “glider pilot’s licence”.
AND
For Robin, Loek and Me.

      

Robin [to the left] waiting for his award, Loek WITH his award and Jan “decorating me.”

     

With longtime friends Theo, Jan and  Mark-Peter , Reitze and Brutus and my daughter Inge with Bas.

        

Pictures courtesy George.

My family. Maike [sister in law], Inge [daughter] Saf [sister in law] my ” little”  brother Piet.

And
both Inge and I got the chance to virtual fly in the Discus 2 C with FES. Thanks Sander!!!

AND
the Thermiekbel one day later still gorgeous weather.

———

News from the British Gliding Team!

We’re delighted to announce our British Junior Gliding Team for the 2017 season:

Tom Arscott
Mike Gatfield
Jake Brattle
Finn Sleigh

———

The 7th SGP WORLD FINAL!!!
POTCHEFSTROOM.
Starting soon.
November 5 and 12 !!!!
More next week.

———

Cheers Ritz
Happy AUTUMN

OR SPRING??????

Kingaroy !

On Thursday October 13 another good day at the 55 th Aussie Nationals, with nice long tasks.
Standard; 441 km. and HC [ not officially competing] pilot Mac was the best again [109.90 km./h.]  Great practice for the WGC in Benalla. He knows the area around Benalla very well as he flew many years with us at Sportavia and we were only 70 km. distance up to the N..
He and Greg Beecroft were the last to start [12.02]  and Greg won the day and the 1000 points.Systems often have problems with the scores for HC pilots , also this time; 1026 points for Mac. LOL.
5 LS 8 gliders in the top;Mac, Greg, Lisa and Peter [Trotter] and Ross [McLean]
Early starters [11.17]  as Allan [Barnes] and Brian [Hayhow] did not have the best day.
Allan mentioned on the OLC that ” from my evaluation of the weather it was a good possibility of being a distance day. So as I was in a good position to start just after the gate opened, I did so. Found myself with Bryan Hayhow and we worked our way around slowly in the blue, surprised that no-one else had started. ”
They got low on track and “the gaggle rolled us high and fast.”
15 m; 441 km. same as Standard. Only 10 pilots started AND finished. Best was Stephen O ‘Donnell with 1000 points for a speed of 11.29 km./h.in his Ventus 2cx.
18 m; 446 km. and another fast day for Butch;1000 points for him for a speed of 124 km./h. David was close with 966 points. 3 ASG 29 gliders in the overall top after 3 days and 3 very strong pilots; Butch , David and Tom, all WGC-material.
open/combi; 446 km. same top as 18 m., but on the next 4 places 4 JS 1c open class gliders. After 3 tasks the overall scores are ; Butch , David and Bruce [Taylor] In this combined class several types of gliders of course flying with the appropriate handicap.
And here is the daily report from Bruce:
“A much longer task today, 450 km to the north, then west. We experienced a bit of everything, some wave before the start, stronger blue conditions, then weak, lower blue conditions, then finally some fast running under cumulus to finish the day. It was fun, and a good test of skill. Once again John Buchanan came home in first place. He is flying very well, as I saw first hand today. We were together for a lot of the flight. In theory the JS1C with the long wings is a better glider than his ASG29, but we could not get away from him at any stage. Congratulations John! I arrived home slightly frustrated after a long stretch of the flight with a lot of company. All classes flew the same task, and the low, blue weather in the middle brought us all together, with plastic going in every direction. Plus I had a couple of small technical issues to keep me busy. The overall result for me was OK though, and I moved up a few places today.”

Friday;   day 4 and,….. according to some with another highly -under-set task, others mentioned ” Very windy day, and the task setters were not sure how it would turn out, and ended up undersetting it. ” Start games were played by many.
standard; 167.51 km., much better day for Allan who won the day with a speed of 124.5 km./h. So only 338 points for the winner. Mac was runner up. One out-landing.
Bryan [Hayhow] who flew with us at Toc in the past is one of the competitors in this class flying his Discus B. He is always good in comments so here is his on the OLC on day 4, on which he was 5th.
“Very interesting task again with pre start wave, over development on the second leg, and very hard to find cores once back over the Bunyas… Had a good run to the first turn, but got left by the LS8 brigade and had to take a couple of weaker climbs in the over shadowing to stay in the band… the real problem started once back into the Kingaroy Valley, where I struggled to connect with anything, to get me onto final glide. I just watched the speed wind down, while struggling!
Very frustrating on such a short task, where every climb really counts. Fun day despite that though…”
15 m.; 167.51 km. So the same distance and ALL pilots finished. Norm , who had to travel from  West [Perth] to  East [Kingaroy] , to compete in Kingaroy, was the best in his LS 8 with a speed of 127.30 km./h. Norm is a 747 airline captain with Quantas so he might have flown . Nice young man who flew years ago already nationals [ where I met him] , stopped for a while and is back at his best.
18 m.; 194.15 km. It’s either Butch or David in this class this year so today it was David again . Speed 145.15 km./h. So not a lot of points to hand out.Same kind of story for these 2 men, who I know already for ages. Still nice and still great pilots as well as Bruce.
Open/combi; 194.15 km. AND ….BRUCE won the day with 158.63 km. h. for only just under 300 points.
Here is daily winner Bruce:
“Today was short and fast! Everything fell into place for me: a good start in wave, spectacular glides and only a few climbs, all very strong, then a final glide which started well below height and just built up nicely. Couldn’t be better! Only problem was the elapsed time was too short and the day was heavily devalued. Super day, good JS1 weather. The photo is from up in the wave pre-start, always a beautiful place.”
Great short story and fabulous picture!

Courtesy Bruce.

Saturday ; nice day, great clouds with 7/8 knotters over the Darling Downs, good tasks and strong winners. Gerrit Kurstjens flew in his Quintus ,even a 757 km. flight, from nearby airfield Mc Caffery.[124 km./h.]  His wife Pam a 628 km task in the ASH 31/21 m.. Both flew a 600 km FAI triangle.
Standard ;427.10 km….and after one day with a more or less wrong decision, it seems Allan decided to go for it; he won AGAIN , so 2 days in row!!!And now it was a 1000 points-day!Mac was runner up  and Greg had another good day  after winning a day and 2 times a runner-up-spot.Also the Trotters did well with a 3d spot for Peter and 4th for Lisa.
After 5 days and still 5 to go Mac tops the list but for the Aussie championship it is for now, Peter, Greg and Allan.
15 m ;427.10 km….great day for Woolley winning the 1000 points with a speed of 132 km./h. All pilots finished and Adam was really happy :”Cracking day at the Australian Nationals, 430km at 132kph – close quality racing. I was lucky enough to get a day win & the overall lead (first for me in my senior career) by the slimmest of margins today. 5 more days to go, bring on more smiles & challenges!”
After 5 days so Adam on top ,only just , as he says with 7 points. Followed by Jim and Norm.
18m; 428 km…and Tom was in a hurry…..143.42 km./h. and won the day ahead of Butch and David.
Open/combi :428 km. Best open class pilot was Andrew who won the day. As open class pilot he leads the overall scores after 5 days before Bruce. AND,..here is Bruce…..

“Longer day, and the best weather so far. It started early, first launch at 10:30am, but it could have been an hour earlier, and the day went quite late. The Open class task was 430 km, and as it turned out we had cumulus almost all the way. In the Kingaroy valley it was moist as always, so the clouds were large and a little spread out, and out to the west there were very few cus, but it was much higher. It was a fabulous day to be flying, with climbs from 6 to 8 knots, and heights over 9,000 feet in the west. Today it was my partner for Benalla, Andrew Georgeson who took the prize, with a smoking 151kph. Great to see. My flight went very well, right up until the final glide, which turned to worms for me. That is how it goes. Tomorrow perhaps.”

Sunday another nice and interesting day with ” very  different legs on task” , but also blue conditions .Here in Holland we had SUPER WEATHER  sunny not too much wind a few clouds and up to  20 dgr. C on October 16 !!!!!!!
Standard ; 399.53 km….Mac won but as he flies HC , Allan won the day. so 3 consecutive days as winner. Good on him!!! Local “hero”  Ross was runner up. Mac still leads ,but for Australian Champion you have to be an Aussie. As said before he will be the winner if he continues flying like this, but not the champion. Another local hero Peter Trotter is at this stage a potential champion.
5 Pilots in the 4000- range, so chances enough.
15 m ; 399. 53 km…And another HC pilot won the day. This time from New Zealand from that beautiful town Tauranga; Alan  Belworthy. ..1028 points. Loved it there in Tauranga!!
The 1000 points were for Kingaroy pilot Stephen O’Donnell in his 15 m. Ventus cxt. Adam still leads the overall scores with a better margin now;34 points instead of 7. And ,…” it ain’t no over yet ”
18 m. ; 482.62 km,….David Jansen is “HOT” or more polite, in great form [ speed 126.37 km./h.]  He won another day and got the 1000 points. 993 for Tom and 979 for Butch. Except for 1 day when David was on top, Butch has been overall leader for the rest of the week.
Open /combi;482.62 km…. Bruce had intentions as he said the day before and the best open class pilot today was BRUCE gaining the full 1000 points!!!Speed 131.29 km./h.
‘” I spent a big part of today with David Jansen in “4D”, and here he is up north between Biggenden and Mundubbera. We were the early starters, and it didn’t seem to hurt our scores, as we finished 1 and 2. I was concerned about the weather turning blue, which it did, but in the end most of the speeds were very similar. We did 480 km at about 132kph. Nice flight, with the last third all in the blue. Seems we have a day off tomorrow, partly as a rest day and partly because it might be raining!”

Monday ; after 6 pretty intensive days a rest -day with good clouds, but also a 30 kts wind and showers around. Perfect day for the annual pilot meeting. As long as I have been at Nationals , there was always, on a non flying day , a meeting. Sometimes they went for hours!!!!

Tuesday; decent tasks for 15 m and standard class;317.56 and a few more kilometers for 18 m. and open; 349.02 km.
Decent day as well with blue circumstances.  “They set a window close time which was 45 min after the window open.” So not too much time to hang around.
Standard; all pilots started between 12 and 12.17. Greg was the first to go on track at 12,  flew by himself and finished first..good on him. Most of the rest left 17 min. later and never managed to “catch”  him, though they did not loose too much points; 1000 for Greg and 988 for runner up Ray Stewart from Kingaroy. Nice to see that Lisa was faster than her husband Peter, but Peter is still on spot 2 overall , not counting Mac who leads HC with over 200 points. Greg still leads overall.
15 m ; Jim Crowhurst won the day and the 1000 points and with that he moved to spot 1 overall, only by TWO points. Adam was 5th for the day. 9 From 15 finished! Terry Cubley started rather late and just not made it  home; 308 km.
18 m.; Butch and David started together but Butch finished 8 minutes earlier. Good flights by the runner up Tom and Brian Du Rieu [LS10 st] from Temora. David was 4th for the day.Best speed for the day in ALL classes, was just over 100 km./h. in 18 m. class.
Open /combi; Andrew [Georgeson] was the best open class pilot just ahead of Bruce and 2 the NZ pilots Brett and Mark, all in JS 1C, but looking at a combination of 18m and open it was Butch who won and Andrew and Bruce were ” only” 5th and 6th.
Both Chinese pilots out-landed. Both are competing in the WGC next month,  so there is MORE to learn for them. Here is the news from the Australian home page at http://www.wgc2017.com/
“Andrew (Peng) Du and Guangwei Shang, representing the People’s Republic of China (PRC), have arrived in Australia and are competing in the Australian National Gliding Championships now underway in Kingaroy, 10 – 21 October. They will also be among the pilots competing in the World Gliding Championships at Benalla in January. As far as we are aware, this will be the first international competition for China’s leading pilots since the WGC in Benalla in 1987.”
Some of the Chinese pilots flew over the last years in Tocumwal and their Chinese  ARCUS M arrived there last year as well. I wrote about it in my blogs. They flew first with Sportaviation, then with SRGC , then with Outback Soaring and left then for Narromine. Noticed how they operated, had dinner with them and conversations. Some are very nice, as the owner of the ARCUS M, Mr. Qing Gao, some a “bit complicated”, for some the language is a huge problem. They are all very enthusiastic though!
To be honest, from what I saw, I can not see them YET, as WGC material , but who knows!!! I told them last year, when they still dreamed of participating. We even took them to Benalla to the Pre Worlds for the day, to show them that a WGC is BIG and that you need a lot of [competition-] experience!!!!!Well, let’s wait and see how they go in 18 m and open class in January.

Wednesday TODAY task 8; 314 km. for standard and 15 m. and 400  for 18 m. and open. All scores at this stage preliminary.
Standard;
I start with the OLC comment from Allan Barnes.Like me , you get an idea of the day.
“Very interesting day. Shear wave prior to start – I got to over 11000ft, but way earlier than I wanted to start. Tough choice – go early and take advantage of the height, or wait for the others and start lower after the wave had dissipated. I decided to go early, as I needed to do something different to Greg and Peter. The headwind on the first leg soon eliminated the advantage of the high start, but I found myself with Tim Bromhead and we spent the rest of the flight together. Lots of wave effect, and one ripper thermal on the leg out of Chinchilla was about a 9kt average. Will have to wait and see if going early was the right move.”
YES it was,…. he won the day.Allan started at 12.03 and Greg at 1 .06 PM, so ONE hour later. Greg was 4th for the day. NZ pilot Tim who flies HC, was runner up.Mac was 5th. Allan who lost some points on day 3 and 4 , won till now 4 days!!!!! That means at this stage that he leads overall, as Greg lost some points, he is on spot 3 now behind Peter. Of course Mac is still the winner at this stage with nearly 200 points on Allan.
15 m.; Stephen O’ Donnell was the best for the day and gained 807 points. Only 1 out-lander.Norm is really flying very steady and is on spot 3 overall at this stage [5995], behind Jim [ 6.047] and Adam [6.045]Look at the differences . Stephen has 5910 points.Everything is possible.
18 m.;Butch flew around with 134.06 km./h. and was the best. Tom was runner up David lost 50 points on Butch.
No changes in the overall top still Butch, David and Tom. Chinese pilot Guangwei finished, FIRST time during this competition good on him; speed 85.95 km./h.a bit slow but getting there.
open/ combi: Best open class pilot  was Kiwi pilot Brett with a speed of 135.20 km/h. Bruce followed with 133.55 km.h.
No story today but here is the one from the day before;
“Half of the grid launched, ready to go, and not a cloud to be seen! It was the story of today, a day that turned out to be very challenging. Climbs were never high, and never strong, and 350 km was simply a long, hard slog. Post-frontal blue days can be like that in South-East Queensland, but thankfully the wind didn’t blow too hard, or we would not have gone anywhere. About one-third of the field failed to complete the task.
For me, there were good and bad parts to the flight, but by the end of it I was happy to be home, at a neat 100kph. Once again John Buchanan took the honours. He is really in the groove.”

The last days in Kingaroy, you can read next week.

———-

FAI MEETING !

This year the 110th FAI General Conference  was at Bali between October 13 and 15.
Last year the annual meeting from the FAI was in Rotterdam here in Holland. I remember very well as I was honored with the Pelagia Majewska Award. This year this prestigious prize , world wide for a lady contributing to our beautiful sport,  was for Italian  Margherita Acquaderni, Margo for her friends.
Last year also Loek Boermans from Holland got a very prestigious prize, the   Lilienthal Gliding Medal, so Holland WAS in  the spotlight and great to see IS,  as  this year “our” Frits Brink was elected as the new president for 2 years as successor of John Grubbstroem  from Sweden. It’s only the 2d time in history that a Dutch president was elected  last time was between 1952 and 1954.

———-
British Gliding Team.

Is not yet on its way to Benalla. But they are packing to leave soon. Here you are …nearly ready to go.

    

As shared by the British Gliding Team
AND
Gagula Darko shared a picture from the packing of the Slovenian, Italian and Austrian container.
They take the trailer with them as well.

AND

Shared by Andrew Maddocks,with the message
Road tripping to Slovenia to pack number 6 & 7 Ventus 3 into the container for Australia WGC 2017

AND

the travel- news from our USA mates, shared by US soaring teams.
“34th FAI World Gliding Championships Benalla Australia here we come! “The US Team pilots are preparing for their trips to Benalla. Most of the ships are en route from the US; one has already arrived! The US Team extends very special thanks to Virginia Higgins of DJ Powers, our US Team Global Master Logistics provider, and Gary Brasher of AXIMA Logistics in Melbourne who handles all import logistics for us in Australia.”
Good old Gary helped us already with the carnets etc when we brought gliders to Benalla in 1987!!!

   

———-

Stendal.

In the past the Aeroclub from Stendal in co-operation with  the airport of Stendal- Borstel organized several comps ,  even Dutch  Nationals. To full satisfaction. Now they are going to organize the German Nationals in July [ 3-15 in open, 18 m and 15 m. class] 2017 and after they hope to organize a WGC !!!
Good on them ,…they have send out a bid for the year 2020.After the next IGC meeting we hope for them, to know more!!

———-

Eagle strike!

One of my FB friends is Aussie John Welsh, who is a member from the Beverly Gliding Club, as is another mate Norm Bloch who flies at the moment the Kingaroy Nationals in his LS 8 and by the way won day 4!!!.
Bird strike!!! It is not something new ,it happened here in Holland to, but that was not an eagle, forgot what kind of bird it was, long ago.
This time John, who is a longtime instructor at Beverley,  went for a nice flight with a few others flying over Mt. Stirling starting from Quairading and in a flash second an Eagle flew through the canopy glass and was on John’s lap. Of course he was in shock but straight away through the bird out of the cockpit;”I didn’t know if the eagle was dead or just stunned, and I was very determined to get him out of the cockpit just in case he was stunned.”

As there was blood everywhere, John did not know exactly whose blood, he looked around and had to decide to jump out or fly back and land straight away. That’s what he did after he contacted his mates, over the radio and they organized an ambulance.

The broken canopy as shared by the Beverley Soaring Society.

This is the story he shared on FB; “Waiting for the retrieve crew in Quarading Hospital after an eagle strike in Mike Yankee at 4000′ over the wheatbelt. First thing I saw was a shape descending from above right, a bang taking out the right side of the canopy and an eagle landed in my lap. Tossed him out in case it was only stunned, landed safely at Quarading open cockpit. Only a cut over my right eye!”

Members of the Canberra Gliding Club mentioned :
“Bird strikes are a real and serious threat; fortunately John’s ok and MY can be repaired.”
I am glad he is OK .
This tells the full story
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/32876540/bird-strike-forces-glider-emergency/#page1

———-

It’s not over yet!

Some air reconnaissance photo’s from Deniliquin to Tocumwal (Lower River Road) showing the extent of the inundation.
“Remember if it’s flooded forget it!
Never drive, ride or walk through floodwaters.”
How many times did I drive that road!!!

     

As shared, this week,  by my friend Margie,
pictures courtesy NSW SES Murray Region.
BUT spring is arriving
look at the early -season- actions at the field in Toc at Eddies and at the SRGC.

  

 

Dundee, after his trip to Brisbane, where he celebrated his 80 thiest birthday, YES 80, helping out at Sportaviation and SRGC .
Stu, who visited Europe incl. Amsterdam 3 weeks ago, takes his Musketeer now for a nice spring-flight .

———

Interesting OLC flights.

October 14; Dennis and Robert Carlton flew the ARCUS J [jet sailplane] for the very first long flight ;a flight of 1.175 km and speed of 153.1 km./h. They flew from Inyokern in California .
For more news on this flight you can read the OLC comment that day by Robert, who conducted the test flights in the USA…interesting story!!!
Also a nice 750 triangle by Egon Otto Rehn in the Quintus M flown from Fazenda Panambi [never heard from this field before] in Brazil  and one day later Luis Moares flew from Luís Ed. Magalhães a distance of 771 km [600 FAI triangle]

October 15 ; Dennis Tito and Aussie Morgan Sandercock from the Perlan Project , took the brand new ARCUS J [jet sailplane, ] out for a long and high ride starting from Inyokern [California] ; 1.726.4 km. with huge speed of 206.79  km./h.
Germany had a fabulous flight from Unterwoessen in the South of Germany close to the Austrian border.Jan Lyczywek flew in the Antares 18 T …934 km. into the Alps and had there some wave as well.

October 16;The fun is not over yet for the ARCUS J . It remains in the air, this time with Dennis and Cindy; 1.380.6 km with a speed of 152.2 km/h
New Zealand showed the first flight for the season from Finnish pilot Jyri Laukkanen and many will follow. Wave flight from 845 km with a speed of 157.6 km./h.

CU next week.
Cheers Ritz

2016 JONKER SAILPLANES South African Nationals.

On final,…look at the height.
Courtesy Arne.

When I left you on Wednesday they were ready to fly for another day.Here are short reviews of the last days of this very interesting National Competition. They flew 6 days in a row with pretty good distances, day 7 was cancelled.For the full scores you can look back at www.soaringspot.com 

Task 4 with speed tasks from 224 km….278 km….and 361 km.
Club;every day a different winner, also this day; Jean Du Plessis was the name, flying the LS 1d. Speed 102 km./h.
A total of 13 pilots started and the same 13 finished.

15 m.; 10 pilots started AND finished. Lovely day for Mr and Mrs. Schmidt as they were the daily number 1 and runner up. Wayne flew in his ASW 27 around with a speed of 124 km./h and Maneste in her ASW 20 with 113 km./h

18m/open ; another family-day as brothers Laurens and Oscar flew together to the best 2 spots; 862 for 861 points with a speed of  136.02 km./h and 135.95 km./h. Uys and Attie followed ,so really family affairs.
All 20 pilots started 18 finished.
After task 4 the preliminary difference in total scores between Uys and Laurens was 3 points!!!!!BUT,…the scores changed all the time.

Some impressions shared by Arne.

Morning jobs.

    

and afternoon jobs with”  80 km out and no complaints“.

  

and then there is  the evening…..with a  “braai”.

Courtesy Arne.

Task 5 with 343 km……459 km….and 505 km.!!!!!
A day with very strong wind and blowing dust.
club ; changed to 259 km. as B task and Jonathan was the daily winner with 98 km.h. in his LS 1f. 12 from 14 finished.  Tommie Grobler [ASW 19 b] is on spot 1 in the overall scores, with 3685 points. Jonathan has 3617 points.
Exciting last days to go.

15 m ;338 was the B task and out of 10 pilots 9 finished. Mark was the best with a speed 0f 132 km./h. With 2 day’s to go it looks like a battle between Dolf  and Mark.

18m./open ;Changed to 459 km. and 18 out of 20 flew the task and still start-or finish-altitude-problems. Also for the daily winners Pieter [Speed 141 km./h ]and Uys [137.km./h].  The first 8 pilots overall are within 300 points.

“The Line-up from today” as shared by Arne.
AND
The fish line up….

Task 6 with 386.82 km….458.53 km,…..506.4 km. for open/18m.
It turned out to be the LAST FLYING-DAY [and not an easy one], as they did not fly on Saturday…..6 days consecutive flying in all classes GREAT but pretty HEAVY on the pilots.
club ;task changed in 343.95…but,…nobody flew the task . Some came far as Jaco Burger in his LS 1f. He flew 329 km. and “got”  the 1000 points. AP [Kotze] had only ONE point less . So the FINAL OFFICIAL SCORES ;
1. AP Kotze               4588
2. Jaco Burger          4583
3. Tommie Grobler  4500
A very close score and on 4 Jonathan Cross with 4490.

15m; changed in 392.47 and 3 from 11 pilots finished. Best was Dolf Pretorius who flew around with 115 km./h and received the 1000 points AND the CHAMPIONS TITLE. It was in the end not between Dolf and Mark,  as Mark lost over 600  points on the last day as he was one of the out-landers,after 194 km.
Official scores:
1. Dolf  in LS 8 with 4833 points.
2. Wayne in ASW 27 with 4314
3. Hanno du Toit in ASW 27 with 4126.
Mark unfortunately dropped from 2 to 4 .

18m/open ; Matthew said before start; “506km. Blue, expected to go to 15000ft… AGL! Wouldn’t be surprised if some do this in under 3hrs.”
Also a b task in this class with 458 km. and not as fast as maybe hoped for as it was close to 4 hours.
Except for 1 pilot, all flew the task and it was clear that the young JWGC Champions in the end got the “hang of the weather and circumstances” in South Africa. They were on spot 2 and 4 for the day behind Oscar who won; 1000 points and Laurens on 3.
Matthew and Tom were there on invitation from Jonker Sailplanes as present for their JWGC win, ” very generous” theboys said with a smile. They got a tour through the JS-factory as well.
A not too good day for Pieter who was only 14th for the day. And STILL a lot of penalty points influencing the scores.
So also here the final results changed ,they fought with “sharpened knives” have a look at these scores.
Official scores;
1. Laurens Goudriaan with 5526 points.
2. Oscar Goudriaan with 5065 points.[climbed up from 7 with his daily win]
3. Attie Jonker with 5061 points
4. Uys Jonker with 5050 points.
5. Arne Boye Moeller; 5001 points
6. John Coutts ; 4913 points.[dropped from spot 2]
7 . Pieter Nouwens; 4910 points

A great “bunch”  of competitors.
As shared by Arne.

A pity with all those close scores that the last day had to be cancelled.
But , looking at the picture, it is pretty clear why. All prize winners together. Arne won the The Airmanship award.

Picture courtsey Arne.

———-

Queensland State Comps.

The 3 hour AAT last Wednesday in sports class was won by Andrew [Georgeson] in the JS 1. Brian[Du Rieu] in the LS 10 st/18 m. was a good runner up and Tom [Claffey] finished 3d in his ASG 29. 11 From 15 finished the task. Griffo unfortunately out-landed after 131 km.
The 2.30 AAT in club class showed 5 finishers and 3 out-landers. 796 points.Jo Davis [ASW 20] was the best and gained 796 points.
It was a blue and windy day.

On Thursday task 3/4 and according to Mark [Dalton] it was “Blue and low, but at least not too windy.. Challenging.”
Set task from 288 km. in sports class and Scot [Percival] was with his team mate[ ASH 25]  the daily winner with a speed of 86.51 km and that says enough of the day. Kerrie [ASW 28] did a great job in finishing the day in nearly 4 hours.
And what’s even more interesting she beat her husband Tom [ASG 29] with 16 points !!!
Club class had to go for their day 4 ; A 3 hour AAT and 268 km in a SZD 55 [John Orton] was the best distance. Time was 3.25,speed 78.07 km./h.He flew 10 km./h faster than Mark  .

Friday in Jondaryan and the last day, showed another 3 hour AAT in club class for day 5. As Mark mentioned on the OLC;
” 3 Hr AAT in the usual direction to the NW. Some high cloud toward the end put some in to a paddock. Otherwise, pretty good day with strong climbs of 5-7 kts up to 6,600 ft.”
and after
“Final day of QLD state comp. Hot and blue again, but climbs to 8,200 ft, which made it more bearable. Some 8 kt climbs, but mostly 3-5 kts average.”
Mark won the day ;274 km. in time 2.57.
5 from 8 finished,… Jo unfortunately was not that lucky; 200 km. for him. With 2x a daily win and a 2d and 3d place Jo topped the overall list last days, but now he drops to 2.
Mark leads the overall scores by nearly 500 points now.
So the winners of the State Comps are 1. Mark 4215,….2. Jo 3723 and 3. Richard 3432 points

18m/open got on day 4 a set task from 305 km. and it was flown by 10 from 14 starters. The ASH 25 with team Scot Percival/Potter had the best speed; 115 km./h. Tom took revenge and was runner up, Kerrie unfortunately out-landed after 227 km.
Final scores;1. Percival /Potter regained the first spot with 3564,…2.Andrew 3533,… and 3. Tom 3243 points.

The next Aussie competition is a BIG one , the Nationals in Kingaroy
Here is a message shared by Adam:
“Kingaroy Soaring Club is hosting the 55th Australian national championships from 10-21 October and it is shaping as an excellent competition. Most of Australia’s top pilots will be competing, with a fair spread of talent in each class. For our Australian team this is the first major competition of the season that will culminate in the that will be World Championships at Benalla.

With Aussie mate Andy Maddocks ,German mate Uli Schwenk and Keith as “happy chappie.”
Courtesy Keith.

When I checked if I could use text and pictures the message came out of the sky!!!” Uli and I are currently flying. We both say yes!”
So in the future more news about the ETA.

———-
Tocumwal; specially for my readers who visited Tocumwal in the past.

Everybody who knows the “heart” of Toc , recognizes this picture with the Pavillion restaurant , bakery [with great pies] and the fish and chip shop opposite to the river. Never in my life I have seen the Murray so HIGH!!! Good there is the levy bank!!!!
Normally the market is just behind this levy bank. Hope the one meter which was still expected last weekend will not damage the street and /or levy bank.The Bureau for Metereology warned for more wind and rain in NSW.
All the best to ALL my longtime friends in Tocumwal, the place I visited over 25 times and where I lived with great pleasure for 10 years.
The situation is more serious than ever before!!!!!!

pictures shared on FB by Camping on the Mighty Murray River.

     

The road is “gone”.
and
Most campings are flooded! Also Bushlands and Time Out .

  

Pictures courtesy Bruce Wilson.
and one more
“OMG”

The “old bridge” with TOO much water under it. Never saw this.
Picture shared by Mary Anne.

And last but not least a picture from Tove Heany last sunday. So SAD!!!
Hope the Kangaroo survived this ordeal.
YES
” The kangaroo made the national news and got placed safely back in the bush! Good news for all!” from Tove.
The latest news on Sunday;”Major flooding is easing at Tocumwal, where the river peaked at 7.36 mtrs at 10.00 last night.”

I know, OF COURSE that  hurricane Matthew “racing”  over Haiti and killing over 1000 people is MUCH WORSE. Luckily the S East of the USA was not hit as hard as expected. Florida survived…….but still at least 4 people killed, which is 4 too many. A total of 15 people died due to Matthew on the East coast and for sure the damage will be huge.
The power of nature is beautiful/impressive, but can be SO deadly.Terrible.

———-

Nice OLC flights!

Though cold, it was a beaut sunny day in Holland again for soaring last Wednesday OCTOBER 5!!!! I could see it on my way to Amsterdam.
From Malden 2 great flights; 548 in a Nimbus 4 and 459 in the Duo Discus XL by dad and son Ferdie and Tim Kuijpers. A day according to the happy family with great cloud streets , great visibility, but also pretty tough wind.

———-

Not 3 but 4 visits in hospital this month. Busy!
Cheers Ritz

Finally autumn arrived last Thursday,  that is,…as autumn belongs to be, though still not too cold , too windy or to wet. Straight away that day, heavy traffic -jam and due to the rain 450 km. with careful drivers , but also annoyed ones. The 2d heavy jam for this year!!
In midsummer,to be honest,  we had weather-wise worse days, with no” jam.”Another hick-up last Monday with 500 km.!!! Holland is [too] busy!!!

———

R.I.P.

A well known glider pilot and chief instructor from Issoudun , Pascal Lefebre crashed last week in his RV 8 together with a passenger ,not far from the airport after start. They went for a short flight to do a radio check. Mr Vincent Ah Mook-Sihn, the passenger was  a glider pilot, radio technician and helicopter pilot and only 42 years old.
Very sad. It hurt many French , both students and “mates”, as Pascal was in the “business”  already for over 20 years; a real club icon .
He was only 58 years old. As one pilot mentioned; ” Issoudun will be never be the same again“. Pascal was Issoudun.
I wish both families and their friends,  all the best!!!!

———-

The SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONALS!!!
or
The 2016 Jonker Sailplanes South African Nationals.

October 1 -8.

Just under 50 participants in 3 classes and the practice day was on October 1 with a 214 km. task for club [ 17 competitors] and 365 for 18 m. and open [20] .
Not a lot flew the task, Nathalie Luebben [Germany]  did in the ASG 32 MI and won with a speed of 130.38 km./h. followed by Arne Boye Moeller from Denmark in the JS 1 with 132.30 km./h.
No practice task for 15 m. But 11 pilots will fly in this class.
With the State Comps in Queensland these are the first comps of the overseas season.

Task 1 on Oct.2;
A day with many penalties in each class:”As Matthew said :””Start/finish heights had more than a few confused apparently! (m AGL, relative to the airfield rather than the start point, on a specified QNH)”

213 km for club pilots. 13 Pilots flew the task and AP Kotze [ Cirrus] was the best for the day with a speed of 85 km./h. After the official scores he moved to 2 due to a penalty on finish altitude and Jacco Burger in the LS 1f ,was the happy-day-1- chappie.

298 km. For the 15 m. pilots and Dolf Pretorius in the LS 8 won the day before Wayne Schmidt in the ASW 27; speed 108 km./h for 109 km./h. All 10 pilots who started  finished.

In 18m./open  363 km. was set. Matthew Scutter , “our” Aussie Junior World Champion  traveled all the way from down under to SA to fly the JS 1 during this competition.So did , but then from the UK , the other JWGC  champion Tom Arscott.
It’s good to see how friendship starts on WGC’s, this time on the JWGC in Narromine where young Tom Arscott [UK] and Young Matthew [Australia] both were on the podium on spot ONE !
Now they are “mates” fly more or less together each in an JS 1,  to learn even more from each other. We will hear more from both of them in the future. Both had 893 points on day 1.
Preliminary winners of day 1 the Goudriaan brothers with Oscar a tad faster than Laurens. Arne left 1 min. later but finished a bit later as well.
In the end the preliminary scores changed dramatically ,due to low- finish– altitude- penalty-points and the daily winner turned out to be Marcus Nouwens, Laurens stayed on 2, even with his penalty.
Oscar unfortunately dropped to 10.
Then according to soaringspot,the [today]still preliminary scores[protests??] from Task 1;
1.Uys Jonker 1000 points, 2. Laurens with 952 and 3. Arne with 951.
Several penalty points disappeared but Oscar kept his but was not 10 but 6.

Arne on take off on day 1 in one of the 14 participating JS 1’s in this competition.
Picture courtesy Arne.

Task 2 on Oct 3;
Club got 213 km, again  different TP’s though. 14 From 16 flew and finished the task.A difference of more than an hour between the start times.First starters at 12.47.
Late starter [13.57.58] Jonathan Cross in LS 1f won the day. A difference of more than an hour between the start times as you can see. Runner up  Jean du Plessis in the LS 1 d;95.50 km./h. A total of 4 warnings and 5 penalty points, mainly start- speed this time.

In 15 m. set task of 250 km.All 11 pilots flew and finished.; Best speed 126 km./h by Mark Holliday.

In 18 m./open. a 303 km.was set and flown and finished by 17 out of 19 flying- pilots . Team Natalie Leubben/Klaus Kalmbach practiced well on Oct 1,  when they  won the day, now they were 2d on competition day 2 day in the ASH 32 MI; 129 km./h. [ handicap 116] Uys got the  winning 742 points in the JS 1[ handicap 111]  and Arne was 3d in the JS 1 [handicap 119] with a speed of 132 km./h.
Only ONE penalty point that day and not the best day for the young ones, Matthew , just “survived”and Tom out-landed. [15 and 18]

An impression by Arne. Thanks for sharing!!!!

Arne;” The starting game aka The waiting game. Who will start first in the forecasted weaker conditions? Who dares start last?”

    

The briefing,….the fun,with Arne, Hadriaan ,Laurens and Sven……and an old goldmine in the middle of nowhere.
Or as Arne says it more poetic:
“An abandoned old diamond mine stares with an unblinking green eye to the blindingly azure vault above from the mottled brown crust of central South Africa”

Task 3 on Oct 4;
Club ; 344 km….was flown by nearly all only 3 out-landings. 1000 points for Wilhelm Moosehuus in the Cirrus. After 3 tasks Jean Du Plessis [Ls 1d handicap 98] leads 2247 points,  ahead of Tommie Grobler with 2214 and Wilhelm is on spot 3 with 2129 points. Everything is possible.

15 m.class ; 398 km…ALL pilots flew the 398 km. Best was Dolf Pretorius; 126 km./h in the LS 8. The first 1000 points in this class  for him.After 3 tasks he is in the lead with  200 points on Mark Holliday with 2205 and Wayne Schmidt is on spot 3 [2142].

18m/open ; 429 km… except for 2,  all pilots flew the distance. Pieter Nouwens was the best with a speed of 146.93 km./h.; 2 hours and 55 min.
Less good day for Arne ; spot 16. After 3 flying-days Uys leads [2652] with about 100 points on Pieter.[2565] on spot 3 …good old John Coutts from NZ.[2449]But,…it’s not over yet.

More next week.

————

Not long and the BIG FINAL from the 7th SGPseries  IS ON !!!!

November 5-12 in 18 m. class gliders.

By the way when you are interested ; “3 places left in the Australian SGP at Horsham with spectacular weather, flat and open farmland to race across. get your winter sun fix in December. ” more at http://www.sgp.aero/australia2016

8th series of SGP races:
Australia ; Horsham Dec 14- 20 [2016]
South Africa; Magaliesburg April 17-22 [2017]
Spain; Jaca May 7-14
Poland; Wroclaw Szymanow May 27-June 3
Italy ; Varese June 10-17
France ; Buno June 25-July 1
USA ; Hobbs July 8-15
Slovakia; Partizanske August 5-12
Slovenia ; Celje August 19-26
Chile WORLD FINAL ; Vitacura beginning of January 2018.

———

The Queensland State Comps in Jondaryan.

They started with practice on October 1 as well and fly from the Mc Caffery Airfield. Sports class had a 2.30 AAT and only 7 pilots flew the task and some aborted, but 3 finished . Mark Tingey from Tauranga in NZ won this day in the JS 1 , followed by Brian Du Rieu in the LS 10 and David Griffin in the Duo Discus. Brett Hunter also from NZ [Tauranga] is in Jondaryan  as well to practice  for the WGC in Benalla. Both Brett and Mark fly there in open class. NZ has 6 pilots ready for the Benalla WGC.

Task 1; The first REAL day had a 2.30 AAT for sports-class and only 5 from 15 finished. Best distance and time was for Scot Percival in his ASH 25. Last year he flew the Nationals in Benalla together with Ingo.[Renner] That might have helped ,as he gained 864 points for 262 km. in time 2.39.
Tom Claffey was runner up  and Andrew Georgeson and team Griffith / Schmidt in the NIMBUS 4DM finished as well. Peter Griffith ” Griffo”  for his mates is a long time friend.Sadly enough , due to poor eyesight, he does n’t fly by himself anymore, but still loves his gliding.LS 6 pilot Ivan Evans was the 5th finisher.
The difference between a finish and an out-landing was just over 200 points. Kerrie knows, as after 193 km., she was number 6 on the daily list. She still did well!!!
3 From 7 starting pilots finished in club class. During the 2.30 AAT Richard [ASW 20], Jo[ASW 19]  and Mark ASW 20b]  flew 212, 199 and 185 km.
Speed  was “low” between 83 and 71 km./h.
The difference between coming in [719]  and landing out [356] was here even bigger and this time one of our former instructors Alain Potier was the unlucky one on spot 4.

As Kerrie said;” If you’re going to outland anyway, may as well be on a sealed runway!” She landed at a heliport , just not long enough to be towed out.
As you know it is pretty wet in Australia at the moment, even in the East, but specially in the South.Heavy flooding on the lower roads in Wangaratta not far from Benalla. One of the Corowa caravan parks is flooded as well.
BUT,…spring is arriving.
Courtesy Kerrie Claffey.

Day 2; no task ,…it was raining “cat’s and dog’s”.

Task 2; 194 km. for club class only,..no task for sports class.
2 Pilots finished , 5 out-landed one of them only just missing out on 8 km.
Jo Davis [ASW 19] and Mark Dalton [ASW 20b] were the finishers. Good on them !!
As Mark said on the OLC;” Day 2 QLD state comp at DDSC. Racing task (hoorah!) of 194 kms. Quite difficult again. Climbs of 2-4 kts topping out at about 5,000 ft. Ground soggy from yesterdays rain. Blue. “

They flew again today; Sports class had for task 2,  a 3 hour AAT and club for task 3 a bit less; 2.30.

More next week.

———-

The 36th Australian Nationals for Sports and club class.

The Waikirie Gliding Club shared the next news. Maybe interesting for WGC pilots on their way to Benalla:
“WE HAVE TWO ENTRIES IN SPORT15M CLASS – if you have a 15M glider this is a prime opportunity to fly competitively with a small group of 15M gliders. Another 5 or 6 (or 20) entries would be great.

———-

Libelle.

I know a lot of friends who LOVE the LIBELLE, but unfortunately this invitation is , because of distance, more or less, only for my Aussie mates. Sorry!
“LIBELLE GATHERING REMINDER 
Libelle owners – come and celebrate this awesome classic glider at Bendigo Gliding Club in December 2016.

See the link below for details:
http://www.bendigogliding.org.au/Main/Libellegathering

Anyone who hasn’t already notified us that they wish to attend should do so, then we can plan for numbers and keep you in the loop by email.

Contact: secretary@bendigogliding.org.au

Hope to see you at Bendigo Gliding Club’s Raywood airfield for this unique event !”
When you are in the neighborhood,….?!

———-

Mount Beauty News.

The ski-season is about over in Australia and one of those ski places is Mount Beauty, but it’s also a great place to fly from . Have been there in the past when Sportavia had camps there. Long ago.
In December there will be a Women Week, here is the latest on that:
“The 2016 Women in Gliding gathering will be hosted by Mt Beauty Gliding Club at the Mt Beauty Airport from 3 rd to 11th December 2016. It is expected that 25 or more women glider pilots from all over Australia, with their gliders and crews, will attend to sample the excellent early summer soaring conditions, the great Mt Beauty Gliding Club hospitality and beautiful mountain scenery in the Kiewa Valley. ”
Andrew Evans is the president from the club as well as the editor from the Alpine Flyer.
I had to laugh when I got the mail:
—“My apologies for being 2 days late with this edition (first time late in 56 editions).
My excuse – I went camping in the torrential downpour last weekend to test my new grey nomad caravan rig. The good news is – it didn’t leak.”

Just read that Tocumwal was without power after extreme weather yesterday.

Some interesting OLC flights.

September is over,… October started …with some nice flights from the USA and Brazil.
Bahia had some great days with good results on Oct 2. Branco Stojkovic flew in the Nimbus 3 T /25.5  m. nearly 1000 km. ;951 km.Yesterday he flew 906 km [868 km FAI triangle]
Keith Essex added a new 1000 km. flight to his list. Flying from Minden in Nevada on a pretty good wave day , he called it ;” Slow, slightly unstable southerly wave.” ; 1.142 km with a speed of 151.82 km./h.

Branco shared some pictures on FB. Here you are.

       

Courtesey Branco Stojkovic flying at Bahia Gliding.

On October 3, Holland had, pretty late in the season,  great autumn weather and pilots enjoyed flights from Malden [226 km.]  and Terlet [272 km. in a DG 500/22 m]
Further on great skies in Holland yesterday as shared by Martijn Alders . Excellent soaring- day for those who had the day off. Bas Seijffert was so lucky , went to Terlet and flew 419 km. in the ASW 28. A fabulous autumn day, with great visibility and nice cloud streets and that in OCTOBER!!!

  

———

CU next week.
This month 3 visits to hospital, hope I will feel MUCH better after!!!
Cheers Ritz