—–The Argentinian Nationals continued;

With 7 out of 12 days this 64th National Competition is over. Chaves was the host for 70 pilots  in 2 classes;
a combined standard and 15 m./open.
In 15 m./open the battle was mainly between Sebastian Riera in the ASW 20 and Damian Goldenzweig in the Ventus 2CM/18 m. Both won 2 day’s and flew pretty consistent. BUT,…On the last day only 8 from 30 finished and Sebastian belonged to the lucky ones, Damian not and he lost more than 200 points.
Champion; 1. Sebastian with 5.834 points. 2. Damian with 5.409 points.

In the combined standard class several LS 4 gliders with several daily winners and in the end close final scores.
On task 4, only ONE finisher, Tomas Soler and he got the 1000 points and NO…… he did not win in the end.
Javier Sondon won task 6 and 7 and,…NO he did not win either.
Manuel Darrain was the winner with 5.475 points. He did not win a day but flew very consistent. The scores from the number 2  Santiago Demodena and 3 Lucas Goldenzweig were close;5.422 for 5.413.
Javier finished on spot 6 and Tomas on 11.

Champion Manuel with Lucas. Good mates!!
As shared by Manuel.

—–Horsham FAI Sailplane Grand Prix…. is done and dusted!

The First FAI SGP from the 2018 season ,the Australian SGP had a few tricky day’s to start with,then 2 non flyable days due to and electrical storm just after launching ,so they had to cancel that day and another poor day. Specially the last 2 races , 4 and 5 were good with speed over 140 km.h.
Pete [Temple], just new Aussie champion in 18 m. won race 4,[310 km.]  on which he flew mostly by himself and added a few more points to his total; speed 143.4 km./h. He won already race 2 and 3.
They had hot days [around 40 dgr.C] and the last day was won by Andrew [Georgeson] in his JS 1C; speed 145.5 km./h. over 302 km.
Final score; 1. Pete Temple [ASG 29] with 42 points. 2. Graham Parker [ASG 29E] with 37 points and Andrew [JS 1C] with 32.
I heard it was fast , ….indeed,…and great fun!!!

In just over 50 day’s RACE 2 is in the USA, hosted by Seminole Lake Gliderport and under supervision of event manager Sean Fiddler , who flies himself in this SGP between March 26 and April 1 ,…no joke. Class??? 18m.

 

——JoeyGlide in Narromine;
NOTHING is TOO difficult for the young pilots from Australia and as you can see there are quite a few of them; 30 to be precise. CD was young Ailsa,  who flew JWGC’s  and WWGC’s already.
Through the years and ,Paul Mander who sadly died last week, was one of the initiators, the young ones set up such a comp by their selves. Adam in the past was very involved too. So CD, task setter [sometimes with help] etc ALL done by the young ones.

     

As shared by JoeyGlide. Ailsa “lifts” the nose.

Here is a short review of the comps

With 5 out of 7 days the 30 young pilots flew in 2 classes to see who was the best “Joey”in Narromine where the weather had been great , but that week a 3 hour AAT was the best they could do.
Club had 13 , 15 m had 17 pilots.
In 15 m. the already strong ones from the past as James [Nugent] and Dylan [Lampard] were the best now too. James won 2 day’s . On task 3 nobody finished.
On task 2, the  3 hour AAT ,James in the LS 3 won the day with 397 km. in time 3.19 so a good speed ;119.23 km./h.
The runner up that day had 332 km.in 3 hours at the dot ; speed 110.35 km./h. Dylan flew the Ventus 2A around over 395 km. in 3.18.
So to see the boy’s , who know each other from several comps, flew together.
Total points for winner James; 3.735 and runner up Dylan had 3.518.

In club David Collins won 3 days and indeed on the 3 hour AAT on task 2 he got the 1000 points as well in his LS 3a. A crucial day!
3.508 was his total in the end.
Runner up with 3.443 points Andrew Grandja.[DG 300]

 

No words needed!!! As shared by Gosoaring.
“We are excited to announce the JoeyGlide 2018 OUDIE IGC Winner is David Collins.
NAVITER and GOSOARING Congratulate David on winning the bery popular OUDIE IGC Flight Computer valued at over $1500.
Photo – Comp Director Ailsa Mc Millan congratulating David on winning the OUDIE IGC.”

 

—–Told you last week about the speed on the last day of the Australian Nationals and the final scores.
Some said….IT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT IN 18 m. CLASS !!!
This is the story and I let you be the judge of this .
On the last day both in open and 18 m. a 3.30 hour AAT was set ,The highest speed of that day was for Norm Bloch flying his brand new JS 3 to 179 km./h. over 600 km.
Unfortunately the circles were too small and Norm was home 15 minutes before time ,as there was no way to make more kilometers!!!
The numbers 1-2-and 3 were slower but got the 1-2-3 daily best scores . According to some, Norm lost this way the championship and quite a few were unhappy with that.
NOTHING against champion Pete Temple, we all know that he is a great and consistent pilot.

Looking ALWAYS at 2 sides of a story,  I checked with my former TC-colleague Mandy, till last August the  President of the GFA and quickly got an answer;
“So to Waikerie,…. yes this is a very bad situation. On the last day it was very hot over 40 degrees celsius and they had to change the task on the grid  when we saw the task we realized straight away it was too small and we calculated maximum possible speed about 170 kph.

For that reason Peter and Terry picked furthest start points even though in blue area. If you check the traces you’ll see they flew maximum distance in the early circles. Peter even went outside the Circles to be absolutely certain of the distance. If you look at the trace of Norm you can see he turned early in every Circle including the last Circle when he knew for sure that he would be early.
So Norm made a protest. For this Peter is very upset of course if it was perfect the task would have been longer and we are now working and ways to rectify this.
Of course the organizers are volunteers so they do the best they can.

Norm did not fly the maximum distance  – he flew the best course to get the best speed.
Facts ;

Pete flew 601km but turned early in last circle
Terry flew 609km also early in last circle.
Norm flew only 587km”

BUT,…..Norman was the fastest pilot for the day and it remains weird that he “only” is on a daily spot 4 . That’s for sure not meant how racing has to be.

So difficult to re-set the situation. Even with the last gorgeous soaring day cancelled, Pete would have won.
Reason for the IGC meeting in March to check how this can be avoided in the future????
For quite a few pilots in Waikirie this gorgeous soaring day leaves a bad taste and it should have been the best National soaring-day in their lives.
When they would have changed the AAT AT the strip,  nothing would have happened. It’s true  what Mandy said that most job’s are done by volunteers who do their utmost best and by years of experience I know THEY DO,  but on the other hand it IS a National Championship.
It turned out that after an earlier A and B task which were in the mountains and did in the end not seem the best idea, they set the C task A  3.30 AAT. A ” normal” 600 set task would have done the trick, BUT it is easy to say so in hindsight.
“Feed for soaring- psychologist’s”.

——-News from Greece;

“Very honored to receive the FAI Ann Welch Diploma for our Ultralight Altitude World Record. Even more honored to receive it at the ceremony for the 90 years of our National Aero Club.”
As shared by Alexis Anastasiou.
Congratulations again to both pilots. As you can see the flight was already in 2014.

——Rieti  with the TERMINILLO covered with snow;
Good old Rieti!!!!Have been there many times. Always saw the mountain at the airfield, drove up to the highest part and walked there over green fields…. NEVER EVER saw snow on it and look at this …..SNOW  on the Terminillo. Love it!

Picture shared by Guglielmo Fioramonti.

——The NZ Nationals have just started in Matamata and will proceed till February 10.More next week. With USA pilot Keith Essex and Aussie junior world champion Matthew Scutter “performing” in open class along longtime NZ aces as Patrick Driessen, Tony van Dyke , Brett Hunter , Steve Wallace and more.
After 3 day;’s Pat[rick] in the JS 1 leads with 2.988 points for Keith with 2.746 in the ASW 27-18E and Steve in the Mosquito [handicap 98] with 2.477 points …good old Tony is at 4 with 2.330.

CU next week.
Cheers Ritz

—–R.I.P. Paul and Tomas.
Before I share my latest news, still fully euphoric from the GREAT last day at Vitacura , I received the tragic news about a good friend, Paul Mander, [ a young 75]  who crashed his ASH 25 close to Bathurst flying from Pipers Airfield last Sunday afternoon. He was alone in his glider.
“NSW Rural Fire Service Operational Officer Brett Taylor said the powered glider was on fire when it crashed ,which then ignited a small grass fire”
“The wreckage was located in a field not far from the airstrip.”
I know Paul since the 1984 pre- worlds in Rieti! We were both TC’s/coaches from a junior team in Hus Bos in the UK during the WGC in 2005. Paul loved gliding, but also sailing. I feel for Sandy and the [grown-up] kids and their grand children.
Lost for words!!!!VERY SAD !!!!!He was one of my mates!

The official news;”
We regret to advise our GFA members and colleagues of the death of Paul Mander on Sunday 21 January 2018.  Paul was flying solo in his ASH-25M Jet glider, and crashed at Pipers Field, home of Bathurst SC.  Some witnesses reported seeing smoke was coming from the fuselage while it was descending in the circuit area in a steep nose low attitude, but all else is speculation.  The glider was destroyed in a fire at the point of ground impact.  Emergency services attended the scene.

AND THEN,…… more sad news on the same day, it’s getting TOO much;
The official news;
“Sad news from the last race day;
Local Chile pilot Tomas Reich had an accident on the ridges south of Santiago. The Chile SAR recovered Tomas and took him by helicopter to the hospital in Santiago. Unfortunately Tomas died during the evening from the injuries he sustained during the accident. Our thoughts and prayers are for his family and friends during this tragic time.”
“During the last race day the tracker signal from GN Tomas Reich was lost whilst he was flying along the ridges south east of Santiago.
An aircraft was dispatched from the airfield and the Chile search and rescue were alerted. They found the glider on the hill side and Thomas was found to be alive but injured. Once he was stabilized by the paramedic crew he was taken aboard the helicopter to Santiago hospital.
Unfortunately Tomas died during the evening from the injuries he sustained during the accident.”

R.I.P. Paul and Tomas.

Picture shared by Bryan Hayhow on the last glorious- trough-day at Waikirie. I found this picture appropriate for my sad feelings. I asked Bryan permission first.

Back to the regular blog.

—–Last Thursday we had a scary and extreme storm here. The official meteorological termination seems to be  ‘bombogenisis’. A Bom-cyclone….pressure that drops dramatically in a short time [as a bom]
I noticed Ireland and the UK had it already before us. They not only had storm with terrible gusts but also a full pack of snow.
Also Germany was hit, as well as Belgium.
In Holland we had gusts up to 143 km./h. [bft 11] in the coastal areas and that is NO fun!! I expected/hoped it would not be too bad in Brabant where I live but in the end we were hit as well with Bft 9. Nearly the whole country had code red!!
Schiphol was “closed”, so no departing air-traffic and those on their way to Amsterdam from far away, tried several times but in the end overshoot and  did not land. No trains in the country , no trams in Amsterdam and the question to not go on the road if not necessary.
This storm created chaos…. total chaos!!!Fallen trees everywhere ,66 trucks were blown away at the highway causing severe traffic jam’s and roofs from schools and houses blew up high in the air. At least 2 casualties here, 8 in Germany where the force of the wind was less than here and 1 in Belgium.
Pffff,…. put on my FB site a video from Stuff Dutch People like,…. NOT in this case!

By the way the damage bill will be over 100 million and that’s for small business and private insured people at this stage only !!!!

———–

EXCITING FINAL of the SGP in Vitacura.

——Race 3 even brought excitement for Sebastian Kawa, who nearly “lives” in his glider and has had/done it all. His comment on the day; “What a race“. And others even commented with words as “insane race” or “impressive final“.
I could not follow it due to other business, but you get really curious reading those words , so I sat down and looked.
Luckily on www.sgp.aero you can find everything when you miss out.
Sebastian K. said in his comment,  that lift was better than expected and noticed that some pilots stayed longer than necessary in the lift.” When we did not need any more altitude they still were climbing ” , which in his opinion was a mistake, whilst he followed the slope, to win in the end the day just before Tilo and Bostjan.
This means that we have 2 Sebastian’s with 25 points and on 3 Werner with 18.

As shared by Sebastian K.

Race 4; 339 km. to go and Mario Kiessling was this time the best. [speed 149,5 km./h.]He was already once runner -up, but got some penalty points for a too low finish.This time he got the 10 points ,and he was even 3km./h. faster than runner up Rene Vidal also in the Ventus 3T.
Sebastian K was 3d flying very precisely , but with all the high technique gathered over years of flying, he just did n’t manage to pass Rene. He leads the SGP- final now , with 2 races to go, as the “other”  Sebastian was 8th for the day with 2 points.
Mario took his own decisions going more N., found there thermals bringing him up to over 4000 m. which separated him from the group. Rene got him nearly close to the 3d TP, doing better over the ridges , but in the end it was all ridge flying with 220 km./h on the “clock”.
Sebastian K 32 points, Sebastian N 27 and Mario 21.

Mario and Rene as shared by www.sgp.aero

Race 5; one but last race. with start problems and for that reason penalties for some up to 186 seconds, because it was difficult to fly back to the start line and they started from the wrong side of it. To manage the start height and speed was difficult this day.
It ‘s all about decisions in these Grand Prix’s, going right , going left and lot’s of ridge flying.
” Fight ” was between the 2 Sebastian’s and it was VERY close!! Sebastian N won  [10] just ahead of Sebastian K [8] who still leads with 3 points now. Both had penalty points too; 2 and 6 seconds for a too low finish.
Thomas was 3d today.
In the end another very exciting race with 4 pilots fighting for the honors..2 Sebastian’s and Mario and Thomas.. , that adrenaline in those bodies must be sky high.

Friday’s heroes!!! As shared by the organizers.

And what about this picture, “white ants on a pile of sand”????

NO,….gliders!!!!

With as text:”#CHILE2018 #RACE5 Tilo Holighaus gave us this morning this amazing picture of the first thermal he was on the top with almost all the other pilots in the picture!!! And yes he took the picture from outside the cockpit!!!!! This is what we will watch live in less than 3 hours now on www.sgp.aero !!! — metFridolin Hauser, Rene Vidal, Jon Gatfield, Thomas Gostner, Mark Tingey, Roman Mraček, Łukasz Wójcik, Yankee Galetto, Sebastian Nägel, Sebastian Kawa en Schempp-Hirth.

Race 6 LAST DAY; In fact it’s between the 2 Sebastian’s [40 p. and 37 p.] and Mario [27 p.] .So 2 Ventus’3 T and a JS 1c.
When Sebastian N does not start and Mario wins the day he get’s 11 points [1 bonus point for the last day] and that way he could achieve 38 points. NOT to be expected!!!
When Sebastian N wins he will have 48 points and  Sebastian K as runner up would get 8 points, so equal.
What will happen???

It turned out different than I thought.
Mario indeed was still keen to be in the top 3 so he started straight away with Tilo each on one site of the track.
May be they were helping their Sebastian.
Not the best day weatherwise but the heroes managed to deal with it.
Mario won the day and the 11 points so a well deserved 3d place for him. Sabastian N and K looked of course at each other and both made no mistakes though Sebastian K lost a point to Sebastian N. 5 for 4 daily points.
No worries the glory and honor were for him. 44 points and only 2 points more than Sebastian N.;42. Mario got 38. Great effort from all. Didier was runner up on the last day and had 19 points in the end and Werner 3d; 27 so 4th overall.

HEROES.
As shared by the organizers.

Great races, superb pilots and absolutely GOOD fun to follow it. Well done to all !!!!!Congratulations!!!!

Time to go home for pilots and gliders as you can see on this picture shared by Sebastian K.
The tragic death on this last day of Tomas Reich overshadowed in the end all euphoric.

——On Monday started the first SGP for the 2018 season in Australia at Horsham; Jan.22-28. Quite a bunch of Aussie toppers so again fun to follow it.
Graham [Parker] got the first 10 points ahead of Brad Edwards and Pete Temple.
More next week, when I try to be in a better  read more enthusiastic mood again.

———–

WAIKIRIE AUSTRALIAN NATIONALS.

——-The Nationals at Waikirie have finished;
The one but last  day showed a 4 hour AAT for open class and Andrew Georgeson won the day with 580 km. with 143 km./h. Scott was “only”  on spot 6 with 115 km./h. loosing nearly 500 points,…BUT, he had such a big lead, it did n’t hurt him.
18 m; also had a 4 hour AAT and the JS 3 from Norm was “on the go”!!! He won the day with 583 km with a speed of 144 km./h and that was “much” better than the runner up for this last day; Adam had 561 km and a speed of 139 km./h.
15 m.; 345 km for the “boy’s” and an Adelaide pilot Leigh Stokes in the ASW 20 won the day;125 km./h.
Standard; Tobias Geiger from Benalla won in his LS 4 the  day with 476 km. and a speed of 127 km./h. He jumped from spot 5 to 3 overall. Great job!!

Adam about this one but last day :“Great day racing around outback Australia, check out the terrain I was flying over! Didn’t really make any mistakes today, nice glides in good air, looking for 6kt climbs, tactically well around all the turns, nice final glide – all felt easy & good.
The JS3 that won flew a great flight too of course. However at 59kg-sq.m on my final glide with him (first sighting all comp), the glider was clearly better than the G29 – I was using him & a JS1c to improve my glide & still he was getting away, both in normal glide & in the dynamic pull ups.
Tomorrow maybe we’ll have 15,000′ CU – so our first good look at how it really hums under the energy lines against the G29. Still wish I had the new Ventus though – it would’ve been the top performer over the whole comp here I’m sure;
Still very happy with my performance today though, bring on tomorrow!”

The last day was on Friday Jan.19 and a real classic Waikirie day.
AGAIN good tasks were set and HUGE speed was flown and what about 15.000 ft cloud base;
open; 3.30 AAT…Andrew won again with 608 km so a speed of 173.77km /h.
18 m; Terry [Cubley] showed he “masters” his Ventus 2cx, as good as his LS 3 in the past. He won the last day flying 609 km. with a speed of 170,78 km./h. “Slowest ” speed for the day 150 km./h.
Peter and Adam followed with just 1 km. over and one under 600 km.
15 m; O’ Connell-time….with Joseph in the LS 3 winning the last day before Stephen.
What about this LS 3 flying 447 km with a speed of 147.92 km./h.!!!!!
Standard class; 3 hour AAT and flights over 500 km.!!! Speed for  winner Don over 509 km. ;166.63 km./h. and Allan [Barnes] 493 km. with 164.51 km./h. in the LS 8.

The O’ Donnell’s!!! 4 Brother’s and Stephens son Joe. And good music taste as well !!!
As shared by the Waikirie Gliding Club.

Looking at the final results and the new CHAMPIONS after 8 out of 11 day’s ;
open;1.Scott Percival – ASH 25[7.168 ] 2. Andrew Georgeson- JS 1 C/21 m. [6.809] 3. Benno Beesten- ASH 25 E [6.697]
18 m; 1. Peter Temple – ASG 29E[7.466] 2. Norm Bloch-JS 3 /18 m. [7.366] 3. Adam Woolley-ASG 29 e [7.043]
15 m ; 1. Stephen O’ Donnell -Ventus 2A[7.715] 2. Joseph O’ Donnell -LS 3[6.989] 3. Tom O’ Donnell -LS 7 [6.739]
Standard; 1. Don Woodward-ASW 24 [7.610] 2. James Nugent-Discus A [7.052] 3. Tobias Geiger -LS 4 A[7.007]

Straight after it was a big rush to get the gliders in the trailers as a sand storm was approaching.And indeed a micro burst arrived and NOT all gliders were in their trailers yet.

——-Tocumwal, had on the same Friday [Jan.19] glorious weather as well ; Eddie from Sportaviation wrote;
“Big flag, Big tasks 1000km (2 X 500) for team Japan🇯🇵 
Mamoru Shinohara & Shinji Asakura . A first for both”
Congratulations to both with their first 500 km. .
Ingo flew in his Discus 700 km. and Bernie [Sizer] in his PIK 20 719 km.

More good news from Tocumwal that day ,as the Danish “girls” Brigitte and Christina flew 7 Danish records;
“Happy girls 🙂 Birgitte Ørskov and Christina Solberg Hansen . 7 new Danish records on this flight :-)”

As shared by Joergen.

Birgitte’s comment;
“We did it!!

Yesterday Christina and I declared a 421 km task with 3 turnpoints. First leg was 161 km to the west. 2nd leg was back to Tocumwal. 3rd leg was 50 km to Jerilderie and then back to Toc

—–The Nationals in Argentina flown at Chaves;
36 Pilots in the combined standard class and 32 in the combined 15m./open class. In both classes one “Goldenzweig”.
The weather was not really flash as most tasks were 2, 2.30 or 3 hour AAT’s in both classes. Still day’s with sometimes ONE finisher. In the end [ last day at the 26 th, ] they will have enough days to see who is the best pilot in each class.
At this stage after 8 days they flew 5/6 days and it is still to close to call future winners as the differences in st class are small. Between 3.532 and 3.693 points for the first 6 pilots.
In 15m/open it looks pretty good for Sebastian [ Riera ] with 4.016 points and runner up Damian [Goldenzweig] with 3.831 .

—-On January 20 the fabulous flying  season in Namibia was over .Time for packing containers. Namibia had out standing weather!!
On the OLC the difference is visible;
160 pilots made from Bitterwasser  1056 flights, making a total of 883.255,82 !!!!! In 2016/17 that was 118 pilots with 781 flights and a total of 625.356,35 .

81 pilots made from Kiripotib 458 flights and a total of 318.853,00 km. In the last season it was 78 pilots, with 395 flights and 275.423,88 flights.

53 pilots made from Pokweni 466 flights and still 377.274,59 km. During the last season 58 pilots made 448 flights and 344.633,04 km.

58 Pilots visited Veronica  with 328 flights and 255.538,89 km. Last time; 45 pilots with 231 flights and 184.608,56 km.
A few flights still might be added!!

Great picture;” In January rain season sets in. Farmers in Namibia are looking forward to it. So they can feed their animals. 
For glider pilots it means you have more difficult tasks. Often you have to fly a detour to avoid that rain in your way. But still it is fun. And it just looks great‘
As shared by Bitterwasser Lodge and Flying Centre.

Cu next week.

Cheers Ritz,…very sad week, but life goes on and sometimes the weather helps; already at 8 AM 12.2 dgr. C the warmest January 24 ever and we expect 14!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

—–Back on track with the regular blogs from now on again and,….looking at a pretty white world. Horrible weather with thunderstorm, strong wind, big hail stones and wet snow, which disappears today as quickly as it drops, but the expectation for  tomorrow is snow everywhere and it STAYS.
Our hot family holiday was exciting , healing and awesome, so I guess this tells you we had more than fun.

—–My flight back home was uneventful, which is what you like whilst flying . The 777  and the Boeing 787 on the way home, are comfortable planes.

—–Of course I looked back at what happened over the last couple of weeks and a few flights were really remarkable
First of all the claim for a new world record flown from Potchefstroom on January 6 .
4 South African pilots , Oscar, Pieter, Attie and Uys ,each in a JS 3, declared a 1.250 FAI triangle and Pieter, flew it with a speed of 166 km./h. which was not done before;  a WORLD RECORD over this triangle and it “smashed” the old one with more than 15 km./h..
The boy’s flew OVER 1.300 km .Attie 1.259,53 km.
All 4 flew the OLC distance with a speed of over 153 km./h.
Congratulations to these friends!!!!

As shared by Bertus Le Roux. Absolutely love the African language!!!

It’s an extremely good season which means many happy pilots. I resume again..
On December 25 my friends Karin and Marcus flew in the ARCUS M from Worcester  a yo-yo flight from 1.259 km. with a speed of 157 km./h.
On December 27 the Kiwi-friends Dane and John flew from Bitterwasser a declared 1.250 Fai triangle with a speed of 140 km./h.
On December 30, Keith Essex flew in the ANTARES 23 a distance of 1.358 km [1000 FAI triangle] He gave up on his declared task.
On January 13 Max Leenders from the Netherlands flew the JS3 in 18 m. version over a declared 1.250 FAI triangle from Douglas Backhouse!!! Speed133.km./h. Good on him, congratulations!!
Jonker Sailplanes reacted on the flight from Max;
“Max Leenders, one of the Netherlands’ top pilots showed today why he such a great record flying pilot.
Max completed a 1250 km task in conditions less optimal for big tasks. The day started very slowly – his first leg of 464 km took him 4hrs 22 mins, with average climbs below 2m/s.
Max never gave.up, completing the 1250 FAI triangular task 5 hrs after reaching the 1st turnpoint! Amazing what can be achieved with only 2.5m/s climbs..
This is only the 5th 1250 km FAI declared task completed this year. And all in the JS3.,,, makes you think! Well done Max!”

My Lasham friend Roy set a 1.270 km FAI triangle but the weather spoiled his plan. He still flew 1.178 km.in the 20 m. Antares from Bitterwasser.
The day before he flew with Chris Starkey in the ARCUSM an 1.100km FAI triangle declared and completed.
” Another stunning Namibia day with Chris Starkey in the Arcus M.
We declared and completed an 1100km triangle @ 149kph then extended after the finish to make 1.212km OLC distance.”
Roy had a fabulous time with his Lasham mates;
“The sixth ‘holiday of a lifetime’ is over.
13 possible flying days, 12 days flying, 88 hours of flying, 11,424km. Average flight 952km @ 129.8 kph,” GREAT EFFORT!!!!
On the same day Tobias Welsch set an even bigger triangle but also his plan was disturbed by showers. He still flew in the ARCUS M a distance of 1.364 km!!!!

The weather in Namibia holds on, though the showers start to win terrain, but there are still  many 1000 km. flights .It’s an unbelievable and long  season  there. Also South Africa was blessed with SUPER -weather during this season!!!!

Picture shared by Roy; “But a few showers on the homeward leg were not a problem.”

On January 15 Worcester had 5x a 1000 km with as Sven mentioned;
“ridge – thermal (4m/s from 2500ft msl to 7500ft 🙂 final glide onto Klawer ridge – down to 1500ft from 7500ft – weak ridge in the east – drop water and scrape away 🙂 connect thermal wave to 8000ft to make it back to Kleinfontein and Worcester.”

–—-With 7 out of 8 days the 56 Campeonato Nacional y 13 Andes Open, was flown from Municipal de Vitacura in Chile between January 2 and 10. Sebastian Kawa won the comps in a JS1 C with 5.929 points.
Runner up was Rene Vidal with 5.899 points in a Ventus 3T.
Several European pilots flew in Chile during these Nationals, as practice for the FINAL OF THE SGP.

As shared by Sebastian on FB.

—–Straight after the Nationals on January 14 the SGP WORLD FINAL started in Chile as well. First with 3 practice day’s from which the last one was cancelled ,as the weather was not strong enough.
During practice one of the German pilots had a lucky escape after he crashed his JS 1 on a mountain. He was OK,… the glider a mess.
” We are delighted that Klaus is ok and recovering, probably partly due to the safety cockpit structure of his JS1 sailplane and the bushy area he hard landed in.”
There is a video from the recovery of the plane by an helicopter on You Tube.[ sgp.aero]
7 Days are scheduled for all the toppers, winners from qualifying GP’s in different parts of the world.
Race1; was won by young German Pilot Sebastian Naegel. He received the 10 points flying over 266 km. with a speed of 143.8 km./h in the Ventus 3 T.
“A real race “foot on the floor”,  as Brian said in his competition comment. Sebastian had wave [2100 m.] before the start and departed at the maximum altitude!!
Werner Aman from Austria was just a tad slower with 143.4 km./h and Sebastian Kawa was on spot 3 with 139.6 km./h.
The next day was cancelled.
Race 2; 305 km. and a scoring speed from 144.7 km./h…..and again young Sebastian was the fastest. Good on him!!!
Just a tad slower was the “other” Sebastian [JS 1C] ; 144.5 km./h. and German pilot Mario Kiessling was 3d flying a Ventus 3 T.
6x A Ventus 3 in this final Grand Prix and 3 other Schemmp-Hirth gliders.
So a total of 20 points now for Sebastian N. and 15 for Sebastian K. 14 For Werner, who was 4th with 142.6 km./h.
More next week.

As shared by the organizers at www.sgp.aero

—–The 56 th Australian Nationals In Waikirie continue till the 19th . Not the very best weather and till now 2 cancelled day’s and one task scrubbed.
Task 3 was long and created problems for many. In open 488 was set and 1 from 8 finished.
In 18 m. it was 480 and 2 from 14 finished, one of them Norm in his brand new JS 3.
15 m. Had a 488 as well and NOBODY finished though Stephen O’ Donnell and Brian Hayhow managed to fly 433 km. still receiving 1000 and 999 points.
St class with 426 km. had Lisa Trotter as winner and with her 2 more pilots finished from 14.
A tough day special for the scores of some.
Then 2 day’s off and 2 day’s of flying with hotter , higher [5000 ft.] and blue conditions with between 300 and 400 km. tasks.
Yesterday and today flights up to over 500 km.
TODAY;
St class…475 km and Don Woodward won the day in his ASW 24.His 3d daily win and he leads at this stage this class with 5.668 points. the Runner up James Nugent has 5.244 and not far behind young James, is Peter Trotter who is “an old hand” in the Aussie soaring scene.[5.201]
15 m class ; 475 km. and the daily win was for Danish pilot Bjoern Rechinger. Stephen, who was in the unlucky mid-air at the Benalla WGC  was runner up but leads the group with 5.754.
No idea if all these O’ Donnell’s are family but there are 5 in this class!!!!!
18 m.; 517 km for the 10 starting pilots in this class and Norm in his brand new JS 3 won the day. After he arrived back from an intercontinental flight, Norm who is an airline pilot, had only one or 2 days I heard, to sit in the new glider look at it and,…off he went.
Peter Temple another “old hand ” in Aussie competition soaring is at this stage leading the class with 5.612 points with Norm as runner up with 5.401 points. Adam is 3d; 5.115
Open; 517 as well and winner was Scott in his ASH 25. Diana did well, she flew the distance and finished too. Scott leads this class with 5.685 points and runner up is Andrew in the JS 1C./21 m.[4.918]
More next week.

—–The 64 th Argentinian Nationals are flown as well between January 15 and 26 from Chaves with 70  pilots, in 2 classes; 36 in the combined st. class and 34 in the combined 15m/open class.
Not the best weather yet, but it will surely improve. They started with 2 hour AAT’s ,
More next week.

That’s all for now still a bit wobbly on the legs due to jet lag.

Cheers Ritz

     

The main street starting with the post office….The Palms hotel-motel…The antique shop.

The big fish…The glider at the tourist information center…the new boat ramp.

The Mighty Murray River.

      

The river….the fish in it….the mighty trees.

Practice at the river with lot’s of fun, different than normal when the fire brigade has mostly a tough job.

      

And last but not least great colorful trees.

And of course good food and yummie drinks.

      

 

This upcoming Wednesday the regular blog again.
CU then
cheers Ritz

December 4;

This morning the family left. Diana brought them to Shep ,where they had the 12.49 train to Melbourne, the one I hope to catch in a week as well.It was a fabulous family week and we got all out of it we hoped for, though Inge would have liked to even catch up with more people;e than she did already and playing golf was on the wish-list as well but did not happen due to lack of time.

Yesterday was just a real good day though of course still sad.

We caught up with several friends in town as Glenda and Ross, Deslee and the coffee ladies at Lynne’s.

    

Lynne from the Antique Shop with Deslee and Glenda

 

Due to Dennis our relation with the Riley family is very close.
David arrived at noon and Chrissie and Stuart later in the day.

We had real Russian bubbles brought by Diana from her Novosibirsk trip and Aussie bubbles.

All in all a day full of memories and very healing.

Grietje arrived this afternoon and took the Scout SFO to Corowa and she arrived in style with Rudy Herzog , former long time guest here, in a Cessna.She was wearing a Sportavia Cap from 1999 in which, I had written a small message for her.

By the way on the last day of the year Dundee donated his glider ,the ASW 15 ES, to the Southern Riverina Gliding Club. They had it on line already now they own it under the supervision of Ingo.
Great gesture from Dundee to the club he supports already for many years.

This is the last blog. I move my laptop now and can’t see news or mails for a week  neither write . No worries there was enough to read.

Hope you enjoyed the more private diary.

Cu from Holland on Wednesday the 17th of January.

Cheers Ritz

January 3;

MEMORY-tree for Dennis and Kees.

R.I.P 

DENNIS
never forgotten…always in our heart and not only ours.

03-01-1988

Ritz

January 1 2018 !!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!

Life continues,…. also in 2018, I have to get used by the 18 though.
Tried to stay up till 12, but as we had only one designated driver and she had to go at 11 my family spend the time around 12 together ,but I was there till 11 and this morning they visited me at my “house”.
It still felt like being all together.

Looking back at yesterday.

Dexie went for a flight in the DOT. Indya and Rodger go today.

    

At 5 I had drinks with Ingo and Dundee at his balcony. We found a little present for Dundee showing some similarity with him.

“Dundee” in his holiday out fit.

At 6 we visited Eddie and Cheryl and some other friends as those from Horsham , Laurel and Tim, Glenda and Graham, Wayne, Peter and Ginny and more. Though Cheryl is sick, she was there ,as the as always very strong wife of/behind Eddie . She loved to see Inge and her kid’s.

Dinner was at the golf club and for sure we were not the only ones liking the carvery.
After a short visit again to Eddie, we went for another short visit to Sportavia were Lumpy had ,with us arriving as well, 10 different nationalities at the tables in “our” former sun room.
Catching up with Pam and Butch and Andrew [Georgeson] and many more friends.

A big bunch of people you know for sure a few of them. You can see us in the left corner with Judy.
as shared by Sportavia Tocumwal.

This morning Kait left again and with her, the by now at the beach famous ,red-haired dog.
We went into town and caught up with Mary Anne and good old Mary and her granddaughter Emily. Know Emily is a little baby now she is a gorgeous young lady.
Val Riley was out with her grandson[ son from Denise] and his girl friend.
Both elderly ladies will be visited this upcoming week.

–—-FORMULA 0.1 day 4;

winner in the LS 1f , starting at 13.45, was Scott Lennon;10 points for him.
In the 14.20 start-group best pilot was Nathan in the Hornet.
All pilot’s finished!!!
Today they fly 305 km.

—–OLC news; Last day of 2017 was topped by Gariep Dam with a Duo Discus flying over 1000 km. [FAI triangle] and Douglas with a few very good flights also a 1000- FAI -triangle.My friends mentioned a high base and cu’s and 5m. thermals.
Lot’s of happy pilots on this last day of 2017!!!

THOUGH,….a sea plane crashed North of Sydney after it nose-dived in the Hawkesbury- river. All 5 passengers from the UK, on holiday in Australia, and the very experienced [10 000 hours of flying, 9000 in seaplanes ] 44 year old pilot from Australia died .
One of the passengers  was the chief executive of one of the world’s largest catering companies, the Compass Group.

—–The beautiful table and chairs are now rigged, mostly by Rodger and we can eat in style out side now!!
The first-of-January- 2018-bbq is on tonight!!!!

     

By the way, I should have cleaned it before making pictures!!!

December 2; SHEPPARTON-day;
All ladies who stayed with us in the past remember the day’s we visited Shep. Shopping, coffee and lunch with bubbles at the Australian Hotel.
I told my granddaughter all about it, but in a way it was a bit disappointing. The shops we visited were not there anymore, lot’s of shops were empty and it all looked a bit poor, whilst the restaurant was fancy but lacked the atmosphere from years ago.

No worries we had fun , left Toc at 9.45 and were back at 4.30 after a quick visit to the Big Strawberry for some fresh red summer fruit!!!

After we caught up with Peter and Mary Anne Menhennit and their family. Most we saw in the past in Amsterdam as Libby, Mary Anne’s sister and her daughter.Also Mary Anne visited last year.

Lovely family.

      

Part of my family, ……Libby and her mum Mary 90 years old and wife of Dessie Russell the CFI from Sportavia in the past. I call her the “MADRE FAMILIAS”……Children and grand children.

After Inge and Diana hang around the Scout, before putting it to sleep.

Yesterday we had a great BBQ and had the food in the hangar under the wing of the SCOUT.Very special.

        

Another great family night.
Picture from shopping.

Cheers Ritz