19th FAI European Gliding Championships

  Moravská Třebová, Czech Republic.

The small ships ,- non flap ships-, were ready on July 19 for a few practice days and a great European soaring-get -together between July 23 and August 4 , if necessary August 5.
All 79 pilots flying in 3 classes were ready as well. I followed them on their trip by car to this place with the difficult name, travelling from all countries in Europe to this by the FAI selected place I never heard from . NOW I know…we all do!!!
The Chief steward is from Belgium, Patrick Pauwels and the president of the jury from Germany; Peter Ryder.

Practice-day ….as shared by my Belgium friends.

The  practice day was a good one, not only because the 2 Dutch pilots Tim[former JWGC champion] and Frank [they followed a great “street”] won the day with speed of 124 km. and 118 km./h. over 314 and 307 km. in club class.
A 2.30 AAT was set and the 2 Italian pilots Ricardo and Davide followed with a speed of 115 km./h.
S a nice speed for the 4 St. Cirrus gliders.
Standard had the same task and,…ALSO THERE a Dutch winner Sjaak. He flew 356 km. with a huge speed of 141.75 km./h. in his Discus 2A.
Great start for the Dutch pilots.

The happy Dutch team and the 4 pilots in the car; upfront Tim and Sjaak, on the back seat Robbie and Frank.as shared by them.

The 2-Seaters had the same task and team Cronjaeger [ Switzerland] was the best on this very first official practice day; 361 km. with a speed of 139.39 km./h.
The 2d practice day was cancelled but free flights were possible as long as everybody took care of the thunderstorms.
The opening of the 19th EGC by Peter Ryder, was in a ” chateau/castle from Moravska Trebova.”

Opening in front of the castle with several teams and as the pictures were shared by the French ….Eric Napoleon with his team.

Team Belgium……Norway and ……….Sweden.
As shared by team Belgium and from Sweden Per Carlin.

Team Germany and Team UK.

Hope thunderstorms like this one on July 20 and  shared by team UK will not return. Pretty spectacular though and a great picture!!!!

“Those of us propping up the Aeroklub’s bar this evening were treated to a pretty exceptional light show. Certainly beats a bit of British drizzle.”

SUNDAY…July 23…day 1…no task;
Any hope for NO thunderstorms was in vain!!! They passed by, left right and center as forecasted , so it was mainly “waiting”  on day 1, IF there would be a window to fly in each class. A 2 hour AAT was set as A task , but the 1.30 AAT as B task was the one to fly after delaying and delaying [between 13.00 and 14.30] .
“ We are observing development of thunderstorm in vicinity. Be prepared for glider removal from the grid.”
I know that in the Eastern countries they ONLY cancel a day when NOTHING is possible. That happened on day 1 ,so the day was cancelled after a long wait.

Day- 1- weather.As shared by the French.

MONDAY…July 24,…day 2…no task” cancelled due to the weather conditions“. AND,……”For tomorrow there is a small  window for  flying ……..maybe“

TUESDAY…July 25,.…day 3..TASK 1; 1.30 AAT’s in all classes. CANCELLED!!!

Tuesday’ s Weather in the morning as shared by team Belgium and the water-filling-system at the site of the field shared by Team UK.

After a “huge”  amount of rain, they started with an early [ 9.30] and a later briefing [12.00] in the hope for a window to fly in .
ONE REALLY GOOD MESSAGE from the meteo,…there will be no more rain!!!
Gliders were on the grid and full of water , now IN the wings, not ON.
They postponed till 15.00, the sniffer reached 750 m. and that was that…..no flying.

WEDNESDAY …July 26…day 4…task 1;
“Latest news: Good morning, Do not make grid yet. Briefing at 10:00LT in hangar I.”
Today….. let’s hope they can fly…. More next week.

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Ostrów Glide 2017 – July – PreWGC

The first days I wrote down in my last blog. The Aussies did well in 15 m. class.
Did Dylan win 2 days,  Adam and Butch won task 4 , a set 535 km. … and both got the 1000 points. Poor Dylan missed out, though the Aussies started together, Dylan somewhere lost the “connection” and landed after 255 km.; 346 points!!!
Task 5 on July 19 ; a small  1.30 AAT showed 3 Aussies in the top; Adam. Butch and Dylan… The Ventus 2A borrowed from Thomas Gostner seems a real good one for Adam.
4 From the 7 in this class finished.

In club…..another Aussie-daily-win, well known Alan Barnes, who flew during the 1.30 AAT a distance of 123.91 km. in time 1.42 in an LS 1f.
17 from 26 finished.
NO FLYING on July 20 and 21.
AND….
The last possible flying day on July 22 looks like this in the early morning. FOG……As shared by Adam.

Adam is ready to go, so is Dylan, the weather still hesitated.

No flying anymore…..; So in open class;
1. Adam Woolley [Australia] with 3.577 points in Ventus 2A. His first European WIN !!!! Well done!
2. Piotr Jarysz [Poland] with 3.461 points in LS 6.
3. John Buchanan [Australia] with 3.446 points in Ventus 2CXT
4. Daryl Lampard [Australia] with 2.909 points in Discus 2A. He flew HC and only a few days on his way to the JWGC.

In club;
1. Piotr Jarysz [Poland]with 3.613 points in Libelle.
2. Jedrzej Skłodowski [Poland]with 3.513 points in St. Jantar.
3. Marek Sawczuk [Poland] with 3.357 points in St. Jantar.

Kiwi’s and Aussies in Poland with winner Adam in the middle surrounded by Allan and Daryl[l] and Butch [r]
Nick [Oakley] and Alex [Mc Caw] from NZ on the l and r.
They are both on their way to Pocuinai for the JWGC.

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42nd Polish Open Class Nationals

Ostrów Wielkopolski Michałków, Poland,
13 July 2017 – 23 July 2017

This competition ran parallel with  the Ostrow Glide 2017.As always a very strong competition in this Polish open class.
19 Pilots were competing to be the open class winner 2017.Not one REAL open class glider as EB , Nimbus or ASH 25.
They flew 5 out of 9 days , as the last 2 days had to be cancelled.
So winners/champions  in open class;
1. Karol Staryszak [ASG 29 E/18m.] with 3.940 points only 33 points more than
2. Zdzisław Bednarczuk [ASG 29 E/18m.] with 3.907
3. Lucasz Wojcik [JS-1CTJ 21m ] with 3.766 points.

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DG GROUP-NEWS.

LS1-f neo Winglets and Fuselage-Wing Transition Certification Completed!!!

July 18 2017-NEWS:
“Our brand new LS1-f neo Winglets and the new fuselage-wing transition are officially certified now! This week we received approval for TN63. We’d like to say “thank you very much!” to all our customers who supported this project by placing an option! All pilots are very happy with their winglets and we are sure that we will hear a lot about the LS1-f neo during the next club class competitions.”

Very interesting concept!!!! Great news! https://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/…/dg-…/ls1-winglets-tm63/14675

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FUENTEMILANOS
the SPANISH SOARING MECCA.

I knew that August  is a great month for soaring in Fuente but this year July is very good as well with several 1000 km-flights, one even on July 20 from 1.210 km. by Guy Bechtold from Luxembourg.
This was a 1000 FAI triangle as well,  flown in his Quintus M.
Nearly all guests are from Germany, but a few also from Switzerland , Holland , Belgium or France and of course some Spanish pilots.

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SUMMERCOMPS AT MALDEN[Holland]
16 July 2017 – 22 July 2017

The fabulous 2-stor[e]y-new hangar at Malden and the great skies behind it, still at 6 PM.

Visited Malden last Friday. Summercomps were in progress over there. Not too many days due to rain , but when I visited the weather was gorgeous, clouds everywhere and 401 km. for mixed open class and 348 for club.
As it was the last day of the NIJMEEGSE VIERDAAGSE ,a walking tour from 4 days with 43.000 participants from all over the world, it was difficult to reach the field, but we managed.
Though some pilots had difficulties to stay up , others left on track at 1500 m. on this 2d flying day.
All 16 pilots finished in open class and the president of the Malden Aeroclub, who just bought Peter Batenburg’s Nimbus 4T ,won the day and the 1000 points.He was 53 minutes faster than the runner up.
Mind you there is quite a difference between an Nimbus 4T and an LS 3 a. Handicaps are not always “fair” .[118/98]
In club 9 from 10 finished and the 1000 points were for one of the son’s from longtime soaring mates,  Martijn Alders in his beautiful polished St Cirrus with winglets.

Martijn in his nice glider, winning day 2. He shared the picture from Jeroen Verhulst.

The balcony on the 2d floor of the hangar,…part of the camping area in the woods and ……the beautiful winch from the NIJAC.

DAY 3.
There was hope for a day 3 to make it a valid competition and,…..indeed,……hey found a small window to fly in. Early local thunderstorms were predicted, but a 135 km. task for the mixed open and 102 for club seemed possible.
Not all finished but there were winners and a score to make it a valid competition.
In club, 9 started on the last day and 7 finished.
Overall winner; Martijn Alders [1.720] and runner up Anne Hoekstra [Ls 4] who moved from 4 to 2 overall.
In the mixed open a clear winner, as he won the day again in his Nimbus 4T; Johan Hamelink [2.092 points] In this class 9 from 15 finished.
THANK YOU to Joris ,member from the club ,who so kind to check my laptop!!!!

After the flight, totally blue; cleaning and talking ABOUT the flight.

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First before I finish , another great flight from Gilles Navas yesterday, he IS in the mood!!!!He flew from Vinon in 14 hours and 23 minutes over the mountains in wave over 5000 m. sometimes nearly 6000 m.[5950 MSL/4424 AGL]  a distance of 1.526 km. with a speed of 105 km./h. in an 18 m. ASG 29E. WOW ….WOW.
And from Fayence Baptiste Innocent flew in the ARCUS M. 1.362 km.

CU next week with…..
The EGC continues and the JWGC, with 39 participants in club and 33 in St class,  is about to begin on July 27  [tomorrow  with official practice days, first flights on July 30-August 12] ,so enough to keep an eye on and for you to read.
On August 1 the US OPEN NATIONALS start in Uvalde Texas with 37 pilots , 2 from Australia,  Brad Edwards, who won  the 1991 version there and Bruce Taylor and 2 from Canada Jerzy Szemplinski and Dave Springford.

The Pocuinai airfield where it will all happen for our juniors from the world.
Picture shared by team UK.

Cheers Ritz

It remains special,… not so much anymore as in the past but still,…the 1000 km. , certainly the first one.
Not only ELY had several over-1000 km.-flights last week, but also Europe was at some places AS GOOD,on July 6, with at least 5 x a 1000- plus in an 18m. Ventus 2CM , an ARCUS T ,ASW 22 BL and Antares 20 ,flown in Germany and in Switzerland from Bex in an ASH 31/21 m..
Gilles Navas just missed out from Vinon in France, [he has many already];999.31 in an 18 m. ASG 29 E. And 950 in a Discus 2  is worthwhile mentioning too.
On July 5 Germany had already a 1000 in a Duo Discus X from Scheuen Celle [NW of Braunschweig] .

France …Paris.. had 50 mm. of rain last Sunday,…that’s a lot!! So the weather changes from very good and hot to very ” heavy”, cool and wet with severe storms.”They” say we have to live with it, so we do.
We expect here this morning 50 mm. only in the morning, it seems they are correct.

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2d WGC 13.5 m. in Hungary!
Szatymaz,    Jun 29 – Jul 16, 2017

Got a mail from Tony who flies the 13.5 m. -WGC for the 2d time and I know how much he loves participating. He had a minute
AND
“Even though the scoresheet says so, Florian is not flying with FES. All the MiniLAK’s here are flying as pure gliders. Couldn’t fit the FES and a pilot in and stay under 35kg/m^2!”
So we are even better up to date!!!

Serious flying and serious fun after and great clouds during launching.
As shared by Tony, who had a great day and felt like a “happy chappie:
“Had a great time running with Sebastian Kawa,Sebas Riera, Uli Schwenk , and Florian on the second leg today. And the pool here is really nice for cooling off at the end of the day.”
Picture 3 shared by Sebastian K.

They postponed the first launch from 11.45 to 12.15 to have the best circumstances for the day.
Day 3; 331 km
No Sebastian’s on spot 1 this day , OK,… Sebastian K. shared spot 1 …BUT good old ULI with his big smile!!!
Yes, the Seb’s were  1 and 3 , but great job from Uli!!! 115 km./h ., so 952 points for both Uli [115.06 km./h.]and Sebastian K. [115.02km./h.] and Sebastian R. had 949 points. All very close as Thomas, Florian and Stefano had 934 [2x] and 931 points. And with 930 points Ukraine pilot Vladas had a good day too.
After 3 days the overall scores are interesting as well.
Sebastian K. with 2488 points, Uli with 2416 and Sebastian R. with 2408.

Sebastian and his dad Tomasz
as shared by Bacskai Vera.

Day 4;a 3 hour AAT and,…he did it again… Uli won the day and “received” gracious the 1000 points. Uli flew 300 km. the ONLY one just over 300k. [97.12 km./h.]Good on him.
Sebastian K was runner up with 292 km [93.94 km./h.]and after 4 days still leads the pact BUT,…only with 7 points!!!!
Thomas was 3d.
Tony had a good run and was 11th; “Had trouble lining up climbs today. Seemed like every leg was crosswind. And then of course just when you need that last good climb for final glide the day starts dying. Oh well tomorrow is another day“so…

Day 5; a set task from 197.78 km.

As shared by Tony who was on spot 1 on the grid.

Day 5 was DIFFICULT. According to Sebastian” typical Hungarian weather that I was afraid of. Blue and stable. Than very fast overcast .”
And US soaring team mentioned:”Today we have a short 200 km racing task due to expected precipitation and thunderstorms developing around 4pm. First launch is scheduled noon local.”
9 Finished ,…a few pretty low . A winner ,…for the day….yes Sebastian and he was the only one who “hit”  the 100 km./h. Thomas and Stefano were the next best with 88 km./h.
They fly ” the Italian VersUs, which are Diana 2s modified for 13.5m and 15m tips, as well as self-launching FES. These guys litterally fly away from us, with glide ratio about 20% better than ours at cruising speeds also about 15-20% higher than us. We rarely see them for more than a thermal or two.…” as by US Soaring teams.
” Finished at 70kph. Thrilling final glide!” was the comment from Tony who started at the same time,  but finished a bit later than Francois who just made it in . Guess Tony “found” some extra height before landing.  3 Points difference between them,..what the heck!!
Tony’s story:”Well, we started early and prayed for rain. And the storms didn’t come. They still haven’t come in fact. Was a challenging day for us with thin cu on the first leg that got us split up, then the first turnpoint was in a hole which featured both of us getting really low. Second leg was a nice line of clouds with one really good climb and another one or two weak climbs. That didn’t quite get us final glide though and the second turn point was, you guessed it, in a hole. Francois finished a little low and I just squeaked in above minimum height thanks to a thousand birds soaring along the edge of the lakes on the arrival. Onward!”
A few just missed out in between 1 and 5 km.!!!

Day 6 and TASK 6 , great average AND…. WHAT A TASK!!! Speed task of 499 km. so a 500!!!!
Great weather…OR,…. mind you these guy’s do not have an EB 29 but a good  and high-quality -13.5 m. wing-glider, mostly with an engine , they can’t use, because of the FAI weight rules!!!
So I was anxious to see if there would be pilots finishing.And,…they were in the end less happy with the day. Some who had the FES and the correct weight ,put it on to bring them  home as there was RAIN ‘on the track which was NOT forecasted.
” Washed out of the sky by a line of showers on a day with 0% forecast precip..”
So a bit of a shock to the system, but some pilots still reached nearly 400 km. And whilst waiting at 8, I had good hope that MAYBE there would be finishers. There were NOT,as I noticed the next day.
Uli and Sebastian R. flew 391 km. for 1000 points each.Good!!But most had to be picked up from a field .The Silent pilots cruised home “under steam” and had their dinner in time.
Tony’s OLC comment;
” The day was going really good for the first two turnpoints. We did a nice job on the first leg and managed to get in and out of the first turn without much trouble. Then got an awesome climb and a nice run along a street towards TP2. 

Found Florian and Kawa at the second turn and tagged along with them as long as I could hang on. Approach shadow from line of rain messed up the rest. I just wasn’t willing to take the size of deviation required to get out ahead of it. Then I was too low to get out ahead of it. 

Started the motor and quickly was in a great thermal that got me plenty high to fly home as I bounced through lift all over the place! Have never been so mad about finding a thermal!”

Daily winners…

with Sebastian R on spot 1 and Uli and Florian to the l and r.

Day 7; NO …not a rest-day after 6 days of flying, they continued with a 3 hour AAT, later changed into 2.30.AND,…a new face on the daily number 1 spot;Vladas Motuza who flew his mini-LAK over 246 km. in time 2.28 for 800 points.
Stefano followed with 245 in time 2.29. And Sebastian with 239 km. in 2,30 at the dot.

After 7 days of flying Sebastian Kawa still leads with 5.687 points followed by Uli with 5.603 and Vladas with 5.341.
Monday is a well deserved rest-day!!!

So the new and last week started for the pilots on Tuesday at 10 with the briefing and yesterday….a set task number 8 was handed out from 296.66 km.
The  weather .”Moderate West wind, good cu, streeting, and potential late over-development are all expected.” It turned out MORE wind and less lift and,…NO FINISHERS but 752 points for Tony who won the day with a distance of 218.41 km,. GOOD ON HIM. Sebastian just ,missed out on “nothing” 218.31…10 meters!!!” I made it 18 mud steps further than the great Sebastian Kawa“.
Congratulations I know how much this means for Tony who is very down -to -earth.
Here is his OLC comment

“13.5m WGC Day 8. Difficult start with hardly any lift near the start line. Worked some clouds to TP1 and on the way out. Then it got blue and progressively weaker and weaker. Good team work and a few other gliders around helped us keep moving. Limped into the turnpoint and found one last weak climb. Watched Uli land out and then floated it as far as I could.

Ended up, by pure luck, going 100 meters further than Sebastian Kawa to win the day! Wahoo!”

As shared by US soaring teams.

Tony is supported by many and at every big competition he shows his gratitude!!

Private sponsoring and by business as Paul Remde’s Cumulus Soaring.

TODAY….Day 10…Task 9; 2.30 AAT. “25-40mm of rain overnight, late start expected. First launch not scheduled until 12:45.“

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Stendal[Germany]
Nationals for 15 m., 18m.,and open class

As shared by the organizers

The weather did not really improve here  , so small tasks,but still  happy pilots and Arne Boye Moeller ,who arrived for a few days crewing for Katrin [Senne].

Does n’t look too bad !!!! And with Arne and Arnaud……….Stendal not too big as seen by Michael Eisele.
As shared by Katrin.

Day 2 ;
15 m; 147 km.
Won by Tilo Holighaus in his Ventus 2AX. [ 81.5 km./h.] 26 from 35 finished.Bad day for Kai [Lindenberg] ; only 69 km.
18 m.;182 km.
Won by Mario [Kiessling] in the Ventus 3T.[110.59 km./h.] The “girls” did well with Stefanie [Muhl[ on spot 3 and Katrein on spot 4.
open ;187.6 km.
Markus Frank in his EB 29 flew around with a speed of 110 km./h and with such a speed in such a machine you know that it was difficult.All 31 pilots finished but the last spot for an ASH 25 with 73 km./h says enough as well.
Michael [Sommer] was runner up, Bruno on spot 9 and Holger Karow on spot 16 with the THE Broquevilles on 21.

Day 2 in 18 m. class
As shared by Segelflug- DM Stendal.

Day 3;
Finally GOOD weather!

As shared by Arnaud with the words:”Very nice day @ Stendal...”

15 m.: A 3.30 AAT gives lot’s of possibilities for the pilots and ,…they used them. 1000 Points for 411 km. in a Ventus B in time 3.46. for Henrik Bieler.
18 m.: A 3.30 AAT as well and good runs by the “young dog’s” and one “old” Fox. Mario won the day with 425.6 km. in time 327.48 in his Ventus 3 and collected the 1000 points.Matthias was runner up with 944 points and good old Reinhard Schramme was 4th in the Ventus with 935 points.
open class; The The Broquevilles loved their day, did not win, but finished on a good spot 6.
Michael won again and flew 528.5 km. during a 4 hour AAT in time 4.12.
4 EB 29’s in the top 4.

Michael, vice- world champion and number 1 at this stage in Stendal, interviewed by the MDR.
As shared by the organizers.

Day 4;

15 m.; 2.30 AAT....2 Pilots at spot 1 for the day and,…at 1 and 3 overall.Sebastian Bauder [Ventus 2] and Jan Omsels [Discus 2 A]both 800 daily points and a total of 2974 and 2967. In between is Michael Pfennig[799 points for the day] with a total of 2968…..The 3 of them fly together and it seems it get’s the best out of them; 251 km. for the boy’s in time 2.22.
So excitement enough and still a few days to go to follow them all, as it seems they are not totally satisfied with the flight,…the 2d “leg”  could be better.
18 m.; 2 hour AAT….. a short day for the pilots after the long day and because of the weather. Mario was 3d, Matthias 7th and Sikko 9th BUT,….Andreas Kessler won the day in the ASG 29e; 242 km. in time 2 hours at the dot!! Claus Triebel was runner up.
open; 2 hour AAT….696 points for the daily winner…. Michael!!!!251 km. in time 2.14. He won 3 from the 4 days already.
Also  nice to see was that the runner up, was Kornelius Volociuk, [ASW 22 BLE] who I met years and years ago and it’s not him but the car and the “ornament ” on the nose I still remember.
Young Felipe Levin is climbing on the overall scores to spot 2 and the first 9 gliders are all EB 29’s, so it seems you need such a very expensive, but gorgeous toy, to win.
Oliver Binder from EB is on spot 4 behind Markus Frank.

The Nimeta YY from Bruno, …..a lot of cleaning….
As shared by the organizers.

Day 5; Briefing first,….. not one but even 2. The weather in the end turned out better than expected, so they could start day 5 out of 5 with a smaller task and the first launch at 2 PM!!! When you look at the weather it’s all understandable.

Meteo forecast………..Briefing with lot’s of pilots ……………and the weather when they were launching.

As shared by the organizers.

15 m; 138 km…..and a big “bunch”  of pilots started at 15.58,…so did Katrin and she shared spot 1 for the day. Good on her.327 points for her and Thomas Wettemann and the rest had just a few less.
18 m; 216 km…. started first and they shared it with a live video.NICE!!! Matthias was the best and not a real good day for Mario, [19] Matthias had 630 points, Mario 543, not a lot of points to win or loose.
The overall-difference between is less now though,  Mario still leads with 3376 and Matthias has 3236.
35 From 41 finished!
open ; 197 km… Felipe and Michael flew together and both shared spot 1 for the day.  Only Alexander was “out” a pity as there were only 172 points for him!!BUT,…the toppers “only” shared 483 points ,so no worries.
In the evening a real shower passed by but most were ” home”then.

Day 6 out of 6 in Stendal; with a sunny morning and task’s ,but it all rather started late and B tasks popped up. First start at 2 but 1.5 and 2 hour AAT’s.

As shared by the organizers

In the end the day was cancelled. A bit of rest will do them all good.

A new week and a new day and as the day was cancelled some nice pictures from day 4 by Philipp Stern shared by the organizers.

Tuesday July 11 ; the weather did not improve yet , in fact it was “raining cat’s and dogs”.A small C task was set for open class ONLY;1.30 AAT.
There were winners!! 2x Nimbus 4 M not EB’s they were on spot 3-4-and 5 with Michael, Felipe and Alexander followed by Bruno in the NimetaX.

RAIN today there,  as here in Holland, lot’s of rain!!!!

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Czech Nationals….finished with still  6/7 days out of 12!….
Pribram
25 June 2017 – 7 July 2017

RACE 9; 3 hour , 3.15 and 3.30 AAT’s were set.And flown by most!!!!
Club; Flying day 5 with 317 km.as the best distance in this class and 1000 points for Jaroslav Tomana in the St. Cirrus.
5x A St. Cirrus in the top 5.
Mixed 15m.;Flying day 6 with 397 km. in this class by David Mach and for him 1000 points as well and 4x LS 8 in the top 4!
Mixed open; Flying day 6 with 443 km. by Polish pilot Zdislaw in the ASG 29. Roman [Mracek] was a good runner up with 995 points.

Race 10; 3 hour AAT’s in all classes to define the champions as it turned out that July 7 the real last day had” have overcast, windy and rainy morning as usually during this competition. The weather is influenced by passing cold front.” So pretty unstable and complicated. They tried however…In the end race 10 was the last one.
Club; flying day number 6 and Jaroslav won again this time 1000 points and …..he won the comps as well in hist St. Cirrus.
4. 209 for him . Runner up Ivan had 4.045 points same glider and Petr Stepanek in the ASW 19 B was 3d.[3.946.]
mixed 15 m; flying day 7 and 376 km was flown and won by 2 Jan’s; Jan Boruvka [Ventus c/15m. ] and Jan Horak as runner up in the ASW 20 A WL flew 303 km. Not enough to win the comps as Miloslav Cink won, good on him;5.256 points . Pavel was runner up and Radek Krejcirik number 3.
Mixed open ;good day for Roman who won the day with 382 km in time 3.02, and moved overall from 5 to 4. The same  jump for Petr Krejcirik from 4 to 3 and Lucasz Wojcik [5683] and Petr Tygy [5262] remained on  spot 1 and 2 for a long time and also on the last day.
My Aussie friends Adam and Butch finished on 9 and 10 overall and my Dutch mate Steven on 11.Here is Adam;
“That’s that, the CZ Open Class Nationals are now done & dusted. John & I got everything we wanted out of it, team flying experience which we can’t get (in AUS it’s called cheating 😢), plus local knowledge gained from the site & weather.

Much learned as one would expect, one poor day for John & two for me – which finalised us in 9th & 10th. Thanks naturally to the great organisation, John & I both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves – also to our crew, Marek!

Tomorrow we start our journey for the POL pre-worlds where we’ll both compete in 15m V2’s :“

Over and done with. The good weather starts!
As shared by Adam.

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Austrian Nationals
Mariazell
30 June 2017 – 8 July 2017

NO flying on day 1 for all 4 classes ,but flying-day 1 started on day 2.
18 pilots in 18 m. and the first day was for Reinhard Haggenmueller [ASG 29/18m.] just ahead of Wolfgang Janowitsch.[Ventus 3T]  A 2 hour AAT and 589 and 587 points .
No day 2 and no day 3,…..so Flying day 2 started again  BUT only for open and 18 m. with Guido Achleitner and Andy Lutz as winners for 264 and 585 points.
BUT THEN,…. the good soaring weather arrived on July 5!!!And,…the 1000 points!!!
No AAT’s but nice longer tasks;444.67 km. for ALL classes!!!
Best speed in 15 m. ;112.16 km./h. over 444.67 km. in an ASW 20 C.
Best speed in 18 m. ;120 .25 km.h. nearly a class apart by Wolfgang in his Ventus 3T. Next best; 111.79 km./h.
Best speed in St. class; 100 km./h in an Discus 2 b, but,..not the best daily flight; 96 km./h. in an LS 1f and 1000 points.
Best speed in open class;129.75 km./h.  by Sebastian Eder in the EB 29. Also a class apart as the runner up had 112.25 km./h.

July 6 was another good day with  3 and 3.30 AAT ‘s and off they went. Another 1000 points day.
15 m.: 3.30 AAT; 437 km. in time 3.45 in Ventus 2B by Eduard Supersberger.
18 m.; 3 hour AAT and won by ,…Wolfgang…again….398 km. in 3.07 so a nice speed of 127 km./h.
st.class; 3.30 AAT  and 383 km. in time 3.35 was flown in the Discus 2B. An LS1f was runner up with 334 km. in time 3.26.
open; 3.30 AAT was again a prey for Sebastian Eder in the EB 29, what a “machine” that is.
473 km. in time 3.31 so a nice speed of 134.34 km./h.

July 7 set tasks from 367.26 in 15 m and St. and 388.16 km. in 18 m and 414 km. for open. Nice soaring weather in Austria!!!
15 m.;only 2 finishers a “hard day in the office”, but great job from the finishers. They flew 4 and 4.30 hours.
18 m.;5 from 17 finished and,….Wolfgang won. Werner Amann was “in” as well [3] and Andy unfortunately was “out”.
St.; only 2 finishers and the LS 1f won!!!
open: 5 from 8 finished Guido [Achleiter] won the day in just under 4 hours. Sebastian just finished as the last one from the 5.

July 8 ; last day at the Austrian NATIONALS in 4 classes.
15 m; 2 hour AAT…Eduard Supersberger [Ventus2B]  is the clear winner in this class. With 4.076 points he was nearly 300 points better than the runner up.
18 m.; 388.16 km…AND YES my mate Wolfgang won another day and is the VERY clear winner from the 18 m. Nationals in Austria in his Ventus 3. A pretty difficult day as only 5 from 17 finished. Most stayed under 200 km.
3.824 points for Wolfgang and the runner up Werner Amann had 3.525.
st. class; 2 hour AAT…the last day’s David Richter-Trummer leaded the pact already in his LS 1f. He did nothing wrong on the last day,  finished on spot 5 on the last day and is the new champion.Good on him.
open; 2.30 AAT…tough day for some, very tough. The Duo Discus T won the day[253 km. in time  2.32] and number 1 overall, Sebastian Eder,  lost a bit more than 300 points with 274 km in the EB but in  TOO much time; 2.53. A shorter distance might have been better but who am I….The number 2 Guido had a better day as runner up [779 points for 258 km. in time 2.27]  ] and moved in his ASG 32 MI,  to the winning spot NUMBER 1,[4.175]  with Sebastian as runner up.[3.993]

The Ventus 3 seems to be a REAL GOOD glider. In Sweden also Boerje Erikkson won ”  the Swedish Nationals in 18 m class with his new Ventus 3. In June he also won the Open class Nationals with this outstanding glider.”
Of course they are both good pilots too.
Schempp-Hirth also delivered last week DUO DISCUS number 700 . WOW!!!!!!!

———–

AMSTEL GLIDE in Holland.

Was flown last weekend and due to the weather one day was soarable but created enough happy faces, though not a lot of participants this year….maybe due to this weather.
The Amsterdam Soaring Club every year invites pilots to fly from their home-field Soesterberg for a weekend together and the pilots deal with a SGP regatta start and points.
They flew in 2 classes;
club had 146.32  km. and unfortunately the only out-lander from the 4 pilots was junior world champion Robin and he was annoyed with himself. I do understand, s…t happens.
combi with 10 pilots had 8 finishers over 194.73 km.

Club and combi winners as seen and shared by FRANS GUISE.
COMBI
1. Sjors van Loon in ASG 29 E/18 m.; speed 73.12 km./h.
2.Wouter van Willenswaard in Ventus 2CT /18 m.; 68.88 km./h.
3. team Epema in Duo Discus XLT; 64.05
CLUB
1. Maurits Hebels in LS 4 ;speed 77.11 km./h.
2. Jan v d Ven in DG 300WL; 63.40 km./h.
3. Theo Janssen in ASK 23; 45.49 km./h.

Finish by Sjors as seen by Frans.

CU next week with the latest on the 13.5 m WGC and Stendal.
Cheers Ritz

The end of June had a lot of rain ! Parts of Berlin flooded, as in a few days, MORE water ” dropped from the skies”than in a month.Too much for the systems.
June here was 2 dgr. C.  warmer than normal, dry in the beginning and wet in the end with up to 70 mm of rain on one day.
We just missed out on the average hottest  June ever with 0.1 dgr. Regional we had a real heatwave in Holland with a top temperature of 35 dgr.C., a daily record.
Comps with lot’s of days in the beginning and nearly no days in the end. BUT,..July is promising again, for sure NOT day 1.
Today is pretty good again only some local showers.
On the last day of June a 1000 from France [Fayence] by Baptiste Innocent [ASH 25] and on the first from July one by Keith Essex in Ely.[JS1]
Down under it is pretty cold for Australian standard; up to -7 /-10 in the South [Victoria] and still – 0.3 at Merimbula on the beach, which is cold for the coast.

JWC [John’s weather Channel]
As shared by Mary Anne

————-

SGP in BUNO in FRANCE.

as shared by Philippe de Pechy, winner of race 3!!!

A very TOUGH day for some!!! 110 km. was set and race 3 , after 2 cancelled day’s, was on.Some of the “toppers” missed out and did not finish, names as Christophe Abadie [66.6 km.], Didier Hauss [92.3 km.]and Daan Spruyt [53.7 km.]
Who won race 3?? Philippe de Pechy [9 points] !!!AND,…Aude …good on her….Grangeray [7] was runner up and Kai Linderberg [6] number 3!!Only 8 finished.
Christophe still leads with 20 points and Aude now has 17, Didier 14 and Philippe now 12.
Only 2 races to go!!!!

Some impressions from BUNO shared by AAVE.
still no smile on Benjamin’s face and,….he walks around with an umbrella,…no not to avoid the sun…..

Race 4;Not on,…such a pity!!!VERY POOR WEATHER!!!!So was the next and last day. So no race 5.
So after 3 out of 7 days the winners are;
1. Christophe Abadie 2. Aude Grangeray, 3. Didier Hauss.

As shared by the organizers.

Next race from Slovakia [July 29-August 5] !!19 Participants at this stage ….. 8 from Germany.

———–

Zwickau; German Nationals in standard and 20 m .class …..the last days.
June 20/July 1 2017

Waiting in the rain for better weather.
As shared on their site.

“Deutsche Segelflug -elite hofft auf besseres Wetter.” So the Top German pilots hope for better weather. It was not yet there on Thursday so …scubbed. 4 Days in a row ,…scrubbed,…such a pity, but what can you do…..?
Friday tasks were set ,….task 6 from 11. And,……also in Germany a tough wind!! The B-task had to be flown with 191 km. in club and as well a B task for the “dosis” from  205 km..
Indeed they flew on their last day!! Marginal weather but still Robin Sittman flew in his Discus 2A around with 88 km./h.Robert only finished on spot 22 and dropped from 1 to 3 missing out on ONE point to be the runner up overall.
9 outlanded, so 29 finished.
Kilian Biechele was in the end the standard class winner[LS 8 NEO] with 4639 points.

In 20 m. former TOP coach Uli Gmelin won with his wife Chrissie [former WWGC champion] the last day and they were the only team reaching 100 km./h.in the ARCUS T. This brought them from spot 4 to spot 2 overall.
16 From 26 finished and the overall number 2 [Theisinger/Habschied] out-landed and dropped from 2 to 8!!Quite a day!!
Winners;team Ladenburger/Krohmer with 4210 points.

The German Nationals continued for 15 and 18 m./open  class in

———–

STENDAL
German Nationals in 15 m.,18 m., and OPEN class!!
July 04-14

It looks like 105 pilots have entered this National competition in 3 classes.A huge amount of TOPPERS in each classes certainly OPEN!! Always GREAT FUN to follow the different German Nationals.
Monday was a real good training day with good tasks.
15m; got a 354 km. racing task for the 34 pilots and young Alexander Spaeth in the Ventus 2 A won the day ahead of Kai Lindenberg [ASW 27B] just back from the Grand Prix in France. Busy busy!!
18 m;Matthias Sturm was the best from 42 pilots in this class [ ASG 29] over 378 km. Mario Kiessling in the Ventus 3T was runner up and “our” Dutch topper Sikko was 5th.[ASG 29es]
Open; 484.5 km. for the open class and Felipe Levin in the EB 29 DR was the best with a speed of 125 km./h. , 10 km. /h. faster than good old Bruno Gantenbrink in the Nimetax and Michael Sommer was 3d in his EB 29R.
Quite some names,.. as I said before…. young and “old[er] toppers.”
29 in this class and “only” 14 of them finished. But practice,…so who cares!

Weather for day 1 as shared by Arnaud.

day 1;Yesterday…
15 m; 400 km.
So many well-known names and a for me total stranger won the day .Good on Soeren Noelke who got the first 1000 points. Only 6 out-landings and a good flight from Katrin Senne; spot 6!!
18 m; 320 km.
NO out-landings and Mario {Kiessling }won just ahead of “our”  Sikko. Nice speed…129 km./h. only 793 points for Mario.
open; 416 km.
Micheal Sommer still knows how to win, so he did so on day 1…. 1000 points for him.Speed 122 km./h.
8 EB variations in the top 10!!!!
In the daily  top 10 only “toppers” as Felipe Levin, Markus Frank, Olivier Binder,Pierre de Broqueville, Alexander Mueller,  Uwe Foerster, Werner Meuser, Bruno Gantenbrink and Klaus Kalmbach.
26 started and 2 did not finish
Nice day 1.

Day 2; today. More news next week.
15 m.;
18 m.;
open;

———–

Czech Open Nationals…..PRE WORLDS in 18 m. class and nationals  in Czech Rep.
June 25-July 7 2017.

The first 4 days were difficult.
It turned out that day 2 was flyable, so task 1 was set in all 3 classes[club, combi 15 m. and combi open] ; 2.30 AAT’s for all of them.
302 Km was flown in the open class in time 2.33 by one of the Lukasz’ses from Poland, this time Lukasz Wojcik in .[JS 1 CJ EVO 18 m]
306 even in 15 m in time 2.33 by young Czech pilot Radek Krejcirik.[Ventus 2A]
217 in the St Cirrus in time 2.43 by Czech pilot Jiri Fousek.
Day 4 showed task 2 , but only for 15 m.[ 2 hour AAT] The weather was very poor and just when the day was cancelled the day improved and the 15 m. pilots went for it. Still scattered CB’s in the whole area according to Adam [Woolley] who shared the picture below. Adam is flying 9 events this year and 5 in Europe.
“Spain for fun, HWW17, here, POLAND [ pre-worlds 15 m] , finally the UK EGC!” AND,…as he told me , he is on the verge of his 1000th competition- flying-hour.

Miloslav Cink and Pavel Louzecky both in an LS 8, started and finished more or less together and flew 211 km. in time 2.08 and gained 657 and 654 points. Radek was 3d with 580.
Keep an eye for the future on Radek and Miloslav, I know them as juniors and from other comps,…they are GOOD!!!
As there was no flying for Wolfgang, Steven,  Butch and Adam we could chat on FB.
I knew it was Wolfgang’s birthday last Wednesday, so I asked Adam to give him a big hug from me. As you can see ,…NO WORRIES!!!!

Wolfgang rather looks surprised!!
Picture shared by Adam.

“Every morning is different. Yesterday’s fog replaced heavy rain connected with low pressure over Germany.As we don’t want to miss any chance to fly we watch satellite pictures and weather development. There is a chance for short task for at least one class in the afternoon.” From the official site by Tomas Rendla.
Briefing was at 11, but unfortunately NO flying on Thursday.
“ Due to very slow progress of weather improvement we decided to cancel the day for all classes. Chance for flying in the afternoon is very very low.”

Friday June 30;” It’s blowing a gale, but sky looks ok“.

as shared by Adam.

210, 259 and 289 km.were set for the pilots in the 3 classes.
13 From 21 in club flew the task. Best speed 79 km./h in a St Cirrus.
Combined 15 m. was cancelled.
Combined open; Lucasz Wojcik [JS1 EVO /18m.] won with 116 km./h.He started straight away at 13.35 and won the day. The last pilot started at 14.18 and [virtual-? flew back? ]out-landed after 14.05 km.
Adam was 4th for the day and extra happy as indeed “Today I clicked over 1000hrs competition time, of which 400hrs of them are in Europe – beginning in 2005 at the Junior World Gliding Champs in U.K.!Some useless stats, I’ve flown 63,869 declared Kilometers over 256 starts in 14 different glider types, of which 300+ hours are in a Cirrus; My two fastest tasks have both been at 158kph; best placings, two nationals wins;Having a great time!”

On July 1 tasks were set, day 3 from 7 till now; 2.30 AAT’s in club and combined 15 m. and 2 hours for open, later changed in 2.30.
Only 2 classes flew as club was cancelled.
4 LS 8 gliders in the top in 15 m with Karel Novak as best with 196 km. in time 2.27. Only 6 [ from 16] finishers and “poor” Radek was out. Such a pity , he dropped overall from 1 overall to 7 and he is such a good pilot. Weather,…it’s all in the game.
Another good young pilot Miloslav leads the pact now and was 3d for the day.
So 2.30 hours in open class , with also half of the pilots ‘OUT’. Among them Aussie -Adam. Not Butch he was 5th for the day. My Dutch friend Steven was out as well and Wolfgang did not start anymore, as he had to go home to fly the Austrian Nationals.
244 k. for the winner in time 2.42; ROMAN MRACEK ,…..I missed him in the top…..till now.

So one week over, hopefully good weather in week 2.
July 2 had already nice set tasks. CLUB; 257 km. MIXED 15 m.;272 km and MIXED OPEN; 263 km.

Still some doubt with the organizers as they mentioned ;
“This morning it doesn’t look as a perfect day for gliding. The sky is cloudy with 7/8 of clouds. On the positive side the wind speed decreased significantly compared to previous days. There should be less clouds in the afternoon and we believe at least some task will be possible.”
Start / take off was mandatory from the concrete runway!!!Still very windy!
VERY difficult day with lot’s of out-landings and only in open class 2 FINISHERS…..1000 and 999 well deserved points.!!! The 2 Polish pilots , Lucasz [JS 1 EVO/18 m.]  and Zidslaw, [ASG 29E/18m.] managed to fly the task travelling together with a speed of 74 km./h.
So definitely a VALID day in this class.
ALL pilots in the other 2 classes DID NOT FINISH!!!!BUT,…both had a valid day!!!!
In club 7 pilots flew over 100 km.!!!
In 15 m. 2 pilots nearly reached the field but missed out on 12 km. Still a 1000 points -day.

2 Hour AAT’s to start the new week with on Monday.
The morning-news:”After morning rain, low clouds and not really optimistic forecast the weather now is almost unbelievable. There are ⅜ of beautiful cumulus clouds over the airfield and all the competitors are already in the air and some competing already.”

To avoid so many out-landings AGAIN and “ because of forecasted increasing quantity of clouds and possible showers,”they decided to keep the 2 hour AAT’s.
It turned out a “fab-day”!!!!! Great speed and all pilots home!!!This was the weather the organizers hoped for from the beginning.
Club; 225 km. in the St Cirrus with 112 km./h.
15 m; 269 and 274 k. by Radek Kucirek [Ventus 2Bx/15m.] and Radek Krejcirik in the Ventus 2A/15 m.]Speed;130 km./h.
open;289 km. with a speed of 144.60 km./h.!!
AND,…… a valid competition now in ALL classes!

Tuesday;
Club a 3 hour AAT, the other 2 classes 3.30 AAt’s. Enough time to show each pilots quality!
But it turned out totally different.
Official news;”Front between warm air from south and cold air from north caused spread out on Cumulus clouds to Stratocumulus grey layer which stopped all thermal activity. So after one and half our of friendly talks on grid the day was canceled for all classes.”
DAY WAS SCRUBBED.

Today’s tasks; AAT’s from 3 hours, 3.15 and 3.30.

————–

FINNISH NATIONALS open and club class
June 25-July 2 2017.

as shared by the organizers from Purjelennon SM 2017

14 gliders in a mixed open class and 8 in club class at the well known airport of Rayskala “battle”  for the highest spot.
Day 1 showed 2 hour AAT’s and in both classes 3 out-landings.Best distance 226 in 2.04 in the Lehto/Sorri-ARCUS M.
Then,…as everywhere in Europe not the best weather so 2 day’s scrubbed.
Task 2 had 3 hour AAT’s so better expectations for the weather. And indeed in Open 380 km. was flown in the Hirvola/Leinikki-ARCUS with a nice speed of 127 km./h. .
In Club also a 1000 points-day and all those points went to Sakari Pyorre in his LS 7 flying 301 km. with a speed of 100 km./h.
Task 3 on Thursday showed 497.87 km. so nearly 500 km. to fly for the pilots in open class, one of those great days in Rayskala, I have seen many of them.
All 14 pilots in this class finished and best [1000 points]  was Kristian Roine with a speed of 130 km./h. in his 18 m. LS 8T.
Visa Matti in the ARCUS followed with 132 km./h. in the ARCUS.
In club,404,53 km. was set and also here a 1000 points-day and 1 out-landers. Anti Koskiniemi was the best in his St Cirrus.

After 3 days the overall scores in club look like this; 2.580 points for Sakari and 2.320 for Anti.
After 3 days in open;2.438 points for Antti Lehto and Juha Sorri in the ARCUS M and 2.408 for Kristian in the LS 8.

On July 1 task 4; 2.30 AAT’s for both classes.
312 k. was flown by team Hirvola/Leinikki in time 2.30 at the dot!!!! After an early start they won the day and moved from 6 to 5 overall in the final scores.
Antti and Juha lost 100 points for the day but still had just enough to win the comps with 2 points!!!!
3147 for them and 3145 for Kristian!!!!!

Antti and Juha and Paula ,Antti’s daughter ,who won a gold medal with “100 year Finland” earlier as well, with synchronized skating with Team Dynamique.

In club, Antti , this time Koskiniemi,  in the St Cirrus won again and moved up to 2 overall. [3221]Winner was Sakari in his LS 7 nearly 200 points ahead.[3431]
4 Days out of 7 .

———–

By the way the USA club class nationals in Hobbs were won by Mike Westbrook in the Discus 2BW[5095 points]
Runner up Mike Opitz same glider,…. a few less points ;4965.
Michael Marshall in the 15 m. ASW 20C was 3d with 4902 points. He won the last day!!

———-

13.5 m WGC in Hungary.

I follow some of my “mates” flying this WGC in Hungary.There are 18 participants and the ones I know;
Tony Condon and Francois Pin from the USA flying the Silent 2 Electro 13.5m.
Stefano Ghiorzo [last champion!!] and Thomas Gostner from Italy in the  Diana 2 VersVS.
Sebastian Kawa from Poland in the GP 14 Velo.
Uli Schwenk from Germany flying the mini Lak.
Contest period; July 3-July 15 with a reserve day on the 16th.

Combined with this competition the 18 m. will be flown.

Team USA with Tony and Francois and crew.
Team USA!
“Finally, after a bit of ferrying between Italy and Hungary, and some lost luggage, car repairs and trailer fixing, we are all here with all our stuff: 2 pilots, 2 crew, 2 cars, 2 trailers, 2 gliders, and all luggage. Gliders went through scrutineering yesterday, and we spent yesterday and today finetuning things with test flights, as the weather was not conducive to tasks. Just a bit more paperwork and registering, etc., and we’ll be all set.” by Francois.

On Saturday July 1:”Good morning from Szatymaz. Front just passed with some rain overnight. Field is wet. No task for the final practice day. Probably some local flying possible late afternoon. Tomorrow is opening ceremonies at 5 PM, flying will be allowed as long as we are home for the ceremonies.”

Sebastian’s glider GP 14 in the rain…
As shared by Sebastian who had critic as well on the FAI;
“FAI please remove wing loading limits in 13.5 competitions. It causes step back in designs and will kill the class.
Well. Good thing about WL is that we will have more girls ( they eat less ) in the 13.5m class and more young slim pilots. That will be fun ! Heavier and usually older pilots will be eliminated due to FAI policy and I don’t think it is something to be proud of. ”
It created some discussions.

Last practice day AND opening at 5, on Sunday with nice weather and a nice dinner and the company of many good friends.

As shared by Sebastian                  AND                                       by  US Soaring Teams.

The 14 pilots in this 2d WGC for 13.5 m. started with a set task of 255 km. on July 3;
day 1;4 pilots managed to reach the first TP ….88km. against the 35/40 km./h. -wind…….and if they did it  meant that they could finish the full 255 km. as well , as the problems were in the beginning.
Sebastian,[GP VELO]  Uli and his young German mate Florian and Sebastian Reira from Argentina , all in a the mini-LAK [one with FES] were the heroes for the day for only 500 points max though!!!
He got a warning for spate delivery of the file,…..but Lithuanian pilot Vladas Motuza[ mini lak]  fought this flight to come home as well. He did with a speed of 59.77 km./h. arriving at 19.12, when most of the others had had a beer or 2 already.Good on him!!!!

With Sebastian [1] , Uli [2] and Florian.
As shared by the German team.

Day 2; 351 km. It might get boring,…Sebastian won again. The “other” Sebastian from Argentina was runner up, so a real “Sebastian-day! Uli was 3d and Stefano and Thomas followed. Pretty good day for Tony and Francois on this Independence Day ;7 and 8.

Day 2 as shared by US Soaring Teams.

Today they expect the first launch at 11.45. No tasks yet.
THOUGH…….US Soaring is quick;
“Today’s task in Szatymaz is a 331km Racing Task. This will be our first time exploring the area to the East.” There you are!!

————

MORE next week…..Cheers Ritz
to finish this fabulous picture from NZ  from Geoff Soper Photography.