Last Thursday, our astronomical summer started and we had on this side of the world the longest day.
Last Wednesday we had 28 dgr.C.,  a day later only 18.!!!But fabulous clouds and a strong wind from the NW bringing in some “polair” air  and through the years I found out, that’s  great for soaring; in the evening I looked for long goal flights but, though it was the longest day …for thermals it was not long enough here in Holland due to overcast.
John Williams however, flying from Kinross in Scotland flew 829 km. with some wave just under 3000 m. MSL.[Antares 20]BUT,…..a some more pilots “used” the air and flew far…
What about Andy [Aveling] and Garry [Coppin] flying their ARCUS T over 1.135 km. from Lasham and Roy [Pentecost] in the ASG 29 E, also from Lasham 750 km.
Daan [Spruyt] from Belgium  with 795 km. in the ASW 27 and then NOT using our European air ,but USA clouds just over 1000 km for Keith Essex [ASG 32 MI] from Minden [151 km./h] and John Good flying from Montrose with a mate in the ARCUS M; 147 km./h..

Later I found out that more UK pilots did well. They use their own NATIONAL LADDER to share their flights;
“British Gliding Team members topped the scores on Thursday 21st – Russell Cheetham’s awesome 1003k at 107kph for 6562 points, and on Friday 22nd – Liz Sparrow flying 613k in her Standard Cirrus at 87kph for 5905 points closely followed by Finn Sleigh and the Libelle at 82kph for 5819. Epic days, epic flights!”

——————

VARESE….Italian SGP;

Interesting start,….shared by the organizers.

It was a cloudy morning last Wednesday in Varese when I left you and a lovely evening with a BBQ.
What happened that day?
race 4; It turned out a French day with Diedier [Hauss] and Gilles [Navas] on top for the 10 and 8 points. Peter was 3d and still leads after 4 days with 34 points.
All finished in one big gaggle/bunch; the first 8 between 117 km./h as best and 113 km/h.
” It was a real race all the time ” is what Didier mentioned with a big smile straight after the flight, when Margo [Acquaderni and A[eroclub] C[lub] A[dele] O[ rsi] President]] interviewed him “we were very tight all the time. How I managed to win in the end I don’t know , I made a better final glide, began more direct and earlier”
Gilles is for the first time in Varese. He found the flight difficult, he struggled quite a lot. Just before the finish he had “2.7 m “and was able to catch the rest.On the last 4 km,he passed Peter with higher speed, but was not able to catch Didier.

   

Looks good!!!!!
As shared by the organizers.

 

Race 5; “Weather situation is quite weak, we need 27 C° to get thermals but if the temperatures rises to much there is a very high risk of thunderstorms, that’s why the task setter has decided to give 193,3 km task in the pedemont again.Takes off at 13:30”
“After a wonderful BBQ we are here again ready to start day 5 !
A thunderstorm passed last night and the airmass looks still quite humid.”
Messages from Thursday morning, so another day in Varese-paradise.
I was waiting for Mike [Young] to step up the podium and that happened today!!Winner with 10 points, in the VENTUS 3G  with a speed of 104.8 km./h. Just a tad faster as Peter with 104.6; the difference for such a small margin is 2 points.
Mike was upfront all the way and “felt”  the racers behind him. He kept pushing and pushing but then,…had to find a thermal at 750 m. He praised the VENTUS 3, ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, as even on low height it helps you out. He saw the others coming closer and closer but  just made it in first on the correct finish height.From 15 Tilo was 13th [ including 43 sec penalty for finishing a bit too low] , so not such a good day for him.

Day 5 winners, Mike, Peter and Gilles
As shared by the organizers.

Race ; CANCELLED.

as shared by the organizers

Windy day  in Varese !But they tried HARD !!!!
One but last race! On top Peter with 42 points followed by Thomas with 34 and a max of 21 points in 2 day’s to gain.

“At the briefing the meteo man showed that the wind situation for the flight is very nice, even if a bit different from usual.
The wind on the ground has increased from the East and makes take off very difficult at the moment.”

 

The organizers shared this map/picture to show the wind.

    

Gliders at the back of the grid/grass, ready for the launch at 1 PM..
As shared by the organizers.

“Ready to take off the wind started blowing from the wrong side again, so the director decided to cancel the day.”

Last day race 6;

as shared by the organizers.

Last race for the Varese QGP.
“After the strong north easterly wind that forbid yesterday take off, today we expect good weather for the final shot that will be played by our competitors.“

   

Great looking last day in Varese.
As shared by the organizers.

Race 6 started at 1.35 PM.
You would not expect big changes in the top. But spot 3 changed “hands” .
How come ?
Gilles won the last day….11 points in the pocket!!!!! AND…he went up from 20 to 31 points, meaning 3d place!!!
Gilles found the first leg , direction East,difficult, Peter even more difficult , he got in deep shit, got low , made some strategical mistakes but got the gaggle again and finished 5th for the day.
After 6 races Peter was the clear winner with 42 points. Well done!!!
Runner up for the last day and the SGP….Thomas with 42 points. Mike who had 20 points, as had Gilles, got 7 for the last day, just not enough to be on the podium.27 points and Didier had 28!!!
So,………Peter and Thomas can book a trip to Cerdanya for the 9th world final in Spain.[1 Jun-8 Jun, 2019]

The Varese toppers/heroes,  both pilots and organizers.
Shared by the organizers.

In 2 weeks 12 pilots fly to be the best in the next QSGP in  Germany in Musbach among them 1 Polish and 1 French pilot and Laurens [Goudriaan from South Africa] in a JS 3.

—————-

Swiss Nationals. 7/8 day’s out of 9 !!!
The Swiss Nationals were flown between June 16 and 24 , with 39 competitors in 2 classes, mixed 15 m and mixed open.
They had pretty good weather and the mixed open pilots flew every day with strong [368 and 410 km.]  tasks.
17 in this class and on day 1 only 5 of them flew the 315km. set task and that straight away had an impact. Gabriel Rossier [ ASH 31 Mi/21m] won the day and was the best on 3 other day’s as well.” In ” at day 1 as well; Thomas Sütterlin in ASH 25 EB 28 and Yves Gerster in a DG 400/17m.
The out-landers lost 500 points on this day and after 7/8 out of 9 day’s, the last day was cancelled]  the 3 best from day 1 were in the final top 3; 1. Gabriel with 5,329…2. Yves with 5,219…3. Thomas with 4,720.

In 15 m. David Leemann won day 1 in an LS 8. Day 2 and the last day were cancelled in this class . He also won task 5 [255 km.] and 6 [329 km.]  AND won the comps so he was CHAMPION in the open 15m class with 5,084 points.
Only 2 pilots could stay close; Peter Keller. He won task 7 and was overall runner up with 4,888 points.
German pilot Lukas Blattmann [LS 8A]  was 3d with 4,790 points.He won the last flying day ,1000 points, and flew during a 3.45 AAT a distance from 387.90 km. in time 3.45,53 !!!! Good on him.

——————

EUROGLIDE:

“Euroglide is the biennial gliding race over more than 2000 kilometres through Europe, organised by the Venlo Eindhoven aero club in Venlo, The Netherlands.”
Starting on Monday July 2 till July 13. But no worries if you are back in 3 or 4 day’s!!!This year’s race is around 2350 km.
Last preparations in full swing. With a race like this the preparations and PRE-FUN- are as important. Will keep you informed.

EG 2018 maps as shared by Bas.

——————–

 

Next week more about the Spanish [3 classes,…. club ,15 m and open from La Cerdanya] ] and the French Nationals for 18 m ./ open class.Both started this weekend [23 and 24 ]and continue till the 30thiest!!
The French Nationals had already 3 day’s out of 3.
16 Pilots plus 3 HC pilots fly from Montluçon-Guéret; Arne and Peter from Denmark and Laurens from South Africa.
Arne won day 1 with 326 km.  and only 6 finishers.For the French Nationals spot 1 was for Denis Guerin, followed by Philippe de Péchy and Stéphane Aboulin.
Peter [ASG 29 /18 m] won day 2 with 343 km.,  so the Danish pilots are doing VERY well in France. Though Arne lost 315 points by being 10th.
By the way Laurens [JS 3 /18 m] was runner up , so both HC. Looking for the Nationals Gerard Lherm was the best , followed by Laurent Aboulin and Sylvain Gerbaud.
Day 3  yesterday, ,with a 3 hour AAT,  was a prey for Laurens who flew 246 km in time 2.57,19. Denis won the day for the French Nationals with 263 km in time  3.08. Lherm had a bad day in the EB 29D; outlanding after 168 km. Guess virtual.
More next week!!

Arne’s  18 m. JS 3 as shared by him.

La Cerdanya has till now 3 out of 4 days for all 3 classes.
In club all tasks under 200 km and in 15 m. 3 AAT’s from 2.15  and 2x 1.45 .Frederic Crespo Nomen leads after 3 day’s in an ASK 21 and a total of 944 points!!!!! That say’a lot.
In 15 m. 2 from 3 day’s have been won by Aldo Rodriguez. In this class 4 Spanish and 5 HC pilots.
Open 2.45 and 2x 2 hour AAT’s. So not yet the real Spanish soaring conditions.Also here HC “foreigners” ,and one of them Robert Pratt from France in ASG 29 , won day 1.
Yesterday 3 HC pilots in the top; Lukasz Wojcik [Poland] in the Diana 3 , Gintas Zube [Lithuania] in the ASG 29 and Robert. Robert leads overall , after 3 day’s with 100 points over Spanish pilot Serge LECLERCQ in the Nimbus 4.
The latest next week.

———————–

 

AND looking forward to the 35th FAI World Gliding Championships in Club, Standard and 15-metre classes. Championships begin on 7th July at 19:00 in Ostrów Wielkopolski. The contest will take place until 22th July.
29 Countries participate with 49 in Club class among them the current WORLD CHAMPION Jan Rothardt from Germany.
42 In 15 m. ,with title-defender Sebastian Kawa in GP-15 and 47 in Standard class among them Louis Bouderlique who defends his title.

Cheers Ritz

To finish a great picture by Sophie Mahieu shared by L’album de Mamz’ailes SoFi and Planeur Glider

.

Fabulous colors from the Pic [top of the- ]  de Morgon and the lac [Lake of-]de Serre-Ponçon.
Courtesy Sophie Mahieu.

Back on track ;
After a lovely week with my high-school- friends,with lot’s of walking ,talking and biking [poor me …with bft 5 a distance of 17 km.through open fields close to the sea against the wind…..BUT I arrived home safely PURE on willpower.],  it’s time to look back at what is happening in our world and what has happened in short.
Miss a bit out on time, as I was in terrible pain the last day’s, due to an attack of kidney-stones. Never had them before but knowing ALL about gall-colic’s/ stones, I knew straight away the verdict from my doctor;  so I will do my best to inform you as much as possible.

————–

 

Rayskala MASTERS in Finland;

 a “typical Rayskala ” finish 12- picture , this time from Boerje in the VENTUS 3 over the lake
Courtesy  Katja [Soikkeli] .

 Always loved and still love Rayskala with the lovely people, fabulous over-the-lake-finishes and not to forget the  camping in the wood and the sauna with the ice cold lake afterwards to dive in.

On the last day [6 out of 8] the PR message for the 45 pilots in 3 classes ,was;
Saturday 16th June 2018
“Last briefing, the weather is looking really good and giving us 2000m cloudbase. Towings at 11:15. Racing tasks for all classes (Club 300 km, Racing 500 km, Open 530 km)”

They then had already 5 out of 7 day’s so Rayskala “performed” again on high level with tasks up to over 500 km.
Club class; On day 1 only 2 pilots finished the 2.30 AAT and some nearly did so.
Sakari Pyörre was one of the finishers in his LS 7 , did well on day 2 too, but “missed” out on day 3 with an out-landing.He won day 5 again with 1000 points so that helps, AND the last day 302 km with a speed of 115 km./h., which was 15 km. faster than the runner up that day, but in the end he was 3d with 4.704 points.
Winner;Kimmo Pulkki in LS 1-f with 4.907 and runner up Juha Vainikka in St Jantar 3 with 4.885 points.
9 pilots in this class!!!!3 Finnish winners and NATIONAL champions!!!!!
By the way,…last Sunday Sakari flew from Rayskala 762 km. in an 18m/LS 8. Good on him he was not yet ready with gliding after 6 good day’s of competition.That’s the spirit!!!

Racing class ; 7 from 13 finished on day 1 and the winner was Aku Jaakkola. I met Jaku at several comps,… a real nice young man. On the last day he won the 499. 96 km task with a speed of 126 km./h.
Jan Ola Nordt was a tad faster but flies HC as he and his mate …both in Discus 2 T… Richard Swanson are from Sweden.
After 6 day’s the top scores were CLOSE; Richard 5.694 and Juha Sorri as Finnish winner 5.679.Jan Ola was 3d but HC with 5.618.
The Finnish National titles;
1.Juha Sorri in Discus  and on spot 2 Harri Hirvola in Ventus 2A and Aku was 3d 

open class; had 3 HC winners Wolfgang Janowitsch,[Ventus 3]  Borje Eriksson [Ventus 3] and Peter Johansson [ASG 29 E] ; 5.745…5.451 and 5.305.
Wolfgang won 2 day’s and was runner up on 2.
Task 4 a a 3.30 AAT was won by Olli Teronen; 477 km in time 3.34 so a speed of 133 km./h. Wolfgang was runner up with 486 km. in time 3.35[speed 135.18 km./h.]
The 530 km task on the last day was won by Swedish pilot Markus Ganev in the ARCUS M;131.96 km./h. AND, with
equal 1000 points by Olli, who flew the ARCUS E around with 130.77 km./h.
The Finnish Nationals;
1.Antti Lehto in Ventus-2cxaFES. 2.Olli Teronen in ARCUS E 3.Martti Koivula in LS 10st.

Picture shared by Teemu.

Congratulations for the winners from the MASTERS and the Finnish Nationals.
Katja made some great pictures from the winners in the 3 classes, but with the new privacy- law I am not sure if I can share them without asking permission from all AT the picture. Try to find out how it works for blog writers. If somebody knows, please let me know!!!
I presume that when ORGANIZERS share pictures on FB I can share them too for those without FB .

Courtesy Pekka Ylipaavalaniemi and shared by the FAI World Air Sports Federation with the message
“Yesterday at the Räyskälä Masters the pilots got to experience the legendary finish 12 over the lake, to the delight of the competitors and the spectators alike .”

ONE MORE……because they are so beautiful……because they bring back good memories…. because of  Katja who takes great pictures.

 

—————

Italian SGP from VARESE;

ready to go on Sunday for race 1.
As shared by the organizers

With only 3 day’s,the French SGP was very unlucky with the weather. Louis Bouderlique from France won day 1 and Dutch mate Peter Millenaar won day 3;  both had 17 points and were the winners.Max Seis [France]  had only ONE point less.
Straight after,…… the “circus” went to Italy for the Italian SGP at Varese from Aero Club Adele Orsi Acao.
Last Saturday they started with 15 pilots, some of the REAL toppers with a practice day [231 km.] won by French pilot Didier Hauss,with 107 km./h. [JS 1C]  followed by Thomas Gostner[ Italy..Ventus 3] and Peter Hartmann [ Austria JS 1/18m.] and Luciano Avanzini,[ Ventus 3,Mike Young, [UK] Tilo Holighaus [Ventus 3] and Alberto Sironi [ASG 29 E/18m]
RACE 1; “High clouds coverage forecasted: let’s see if at the take off time (13:00) the task that has been set will be confirmed .” was the message for the first race.
298.9 km. was set for the pilots and Austrian topper Peter  won the first 9 points. He knows the Italian skies and mountains as the best. Mike  was runner up followed by Thomas, Tilo ,Gilles and Alberto. Didier got 2 points and Ugo ]Pavesi] 1.

RACE 1 winners.
Shared by the organizers.

Race 2;” The sun is shining this morning after the thunderstorm of last night.”
290 km. was set for the pilots.
Thomas in the Ventus 3 was the fastest, though the speed was “only” 85.5 km./h. [10 points] A tad slower was Peter for 8 points.

The final stage of the race was exciting with 3 gliders finishing very close.” Exciting as never,  “, was what Thomas had to say. He, Didier and Peter were at the same altitude and more or less to his astonishment Thomas won the day. He was the best “chaser” is what Peter mentioned with a laugh.
The weather was pretty difficult .

Thomas ,Peter and Didier….finishing in about the same time!!!!
As shared by the organizers!!

Race 3 had”gorgeous weather” and 169 km. was set. I told you already that Austrian pilot Peter Hartmann feels at home in Italy. He won AGAIN; 10 points . He was followed by Tilo and Thomas both racers and from Tilo I knbow that he loves SGP-soaring. 27 points now for Peter and 23 for Thomas whilst Tilo has 13 now.

race 3 winners
Shared by the organizers.

4 Races to go.
Today ;”Good morning from a cloudy Varese this morning.
Pilots are preparing their gliders !
The forecast is for the sky to clear up in the next hours.”

—————

——–Slovenian Nationals.
David Tansek shared some great pictures on FB last week, from the Slovenian national comps in Lesce partly flown over the Slovenian Alps.
“Flying in hills in substandard weather at that time, shows a lot of brave and enthusiastic competitors to dare the rocks.
Magnificent photos under such adverse weather conditions.” I totally agree.

Thanks to David for sharing these pictures.

The Benalla Junior World Champion Matthew Scutter from Australia flew these comps and after being runner up on the last day he dropped to 4 due to an out landing on the last day. You can read his full story on
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

I share his last day with you;
“Slovenian Nationals finished – 4th place down from 2nd after my outlanding on the penultimate day. Turns out club class gliders shot the glide from below where I decided I needed to deviate to climb towards my eventual outlanding – I’ve picked up ridge flying and mountain thermal flying without any problems, but anabatic lift flying, in particular relying on it to pickup glide through difficult valleys still eludes me.
Final day was challenging with thick mid-level cloud covering the first and last quarters of the task, suffocating convection. It caused me real difficulty without long wings to glide through it, and I ended up waiting on a ridge in a valley breeze for an hour at 300m until some sunlight broke through to get me home just in time for the final dinner (without finishing the task, not that many others did…)
Hope to return again in the future, it’s a great place to fly with very diverse conditions.
Time for 2 weeks of glider tuning before WGC PL.”

——————-

—–South Africa in winter!!
Great and interesting flight from Sven [Olivier] ….603 km. in winter from Worcester in his JS 1B. With a take-off at dawn he shared a picture impression.
“Thank you to Cape Town ATC, they were most accommodating .”
“Launched shortly after dawn – immediately had a battery problem 🙁 ATC was most accommodating – a large portion of the flight was spent in the TMA! Fell out of the sky twice – scraped away in the Hex river valley the first time, and climbed rotor in the second time – averager was at 10.2 m/s for a while (down when I fell down and up – climbing the rotor) 
Landed with 3h30 daylight remaining and improving conditions (low battery and running out or turnpoints)”

Villiersdorp and Theewaterskloof

 

False Bay                              Matroosberg

Touwsrivier
As shared by Sven

By the way, …Allan Barnes flew that Sunday 336 km. in an LS 1-f from Lake Keepit….. winter down under is not bad either.

————

More news next week, cheers Ritz
To finish another fabulous/spectacular  finish-picture from Dutch photographer ARJAN VRIEZE at Terlet.

 

 

 

 

Picture shared by organizers.

OstrowGlide 2018 /Polish 15m. Nationals;
Last Wednesday was a short but superfast day/window!!
Club; 1.30 AAT flown with a speed of 119.17 km./h. by Tomasz Rubaj in the SZD 55. Runner up in the same glider Jakub Barszcz ,but a tad slower; 118.65 km./h.
All 40 pilots who started finished as well.
15 m;1.15 AAT; Polish pilot Marek Herbreder [LS 8] started as one of the last at 14.25 and flew 174 km in time 1.14,19; speed 139.23 km./h.
Even faster was the runner up on spot 2; Lukasz Grabowski [Diana 2] flew 194,87 km in time 1.22 so a speed of 142,15 km./h.!!!

Thursday last day of this “bloody” hot month of Mai.The hottest and wettest ever!!!
Club….2.45 AAT; 320.55 km. in time 2.46.55 was the best and the pilot was ” good old” Stanislaw Wujczak !!! A big bunch started straight at 13.04. From 40 , 37 finished, but the later starters needed more time.
15 m….3.15 AAT; Adam Czeladzki in the DUO DISCUS XLT won the day with 414.28 km. in time 3.24,50. Good on him and for those who don’t know,… Adam moves in  a wheelchair, but it did not stop him to fly!!!!Chapeau!
Lukasz Błaszczyk was runner up.

   

Adam and co pilot Fernando [15 m] and Stanislaw [club].
As shared by the organizers.

On Friday JUNE 1 , start of the meteorological summer here, with dramatic loads of rain, there they started with day 7 out of 9 in  club and day 6 [they cancelled in the end task 3 to have equal chances for all , due to an unexpected  change in the task by a tower] in 15 m.!
Club….2.30 AAT; 4 St Jantar’s in the top 4 and 279 km. in time 2.37 was the best daily result. No changes in the overall top so everything went well for the “toppers”, Tomasz, Jakub and Marek.
15 m….313 km; Great day for team France in the ARCUS T. Eric [Napoleon] and Amelie [Audier] flew 276 km. and that’s how close they reached the 313 set km.Adam and Lukasz G. were runner up with 250 km.

    

Today’s weather-en-route, as shared by Per.

AND

the daily French winners Eric and Amelie
as shared by the organizers.

Final conclusion from the Swedish team;”We have had one week of beautiful weather. So far has it been 7 days out of 8 and with reasonably long tasks. Tomorrow will it rain so the competition is over for this time. We have learned a lot about the local conditions, hopefully can we use this new insight at the WGC.”
Rain on Saturday so,Friday-evening- dinner from the Swedish and  French team together,  to finish this practice -period ….unfortunately  no last day of soaring for Club class. But the scores were pretty clear already.

Last-day-weather, as shared by Per.

Final scores in CLUB class;
1.Tomasz Rubaj in SZD 55 with 5,626 points.
2. Jakub Barszcz also in the SZD 55 with 5,463.
3. Marek Sawczuk in ASW 20 f with 5,244 points.

15 m….Task 8:They squeezed out another day for 15 m. class! Unbelievable is n’t it ,when you look at the skies!!!
1.15 AAT; AND,…..16 pilots did fly, even the USA pilot in the ASW 27, Timothy.He flew around with 65 km./h over 111 km . for 147 points, but this is PRACTICE for him with capital letters!!!
Winners; Eric and Amelie….150 km. with a speed of 112 km./h. This kept them on spot 5 overall.[4.766]
Both classes had 7 valid day’s now.

Final scores and 15 m. Polish champions; And here we are again……..2 Lucaszes…
1. Lukasz Grabowski in Diana 2 with 5.072 points.
2. Lukasz Błaszczyk in Diana 2 a with 5.031  points.
3. Piotr Jarysz in ASG 29 with 4,893 points.
Not far behind so pretty close final scores in this class at  4 Mateusz Siodloczek in Discus 2A with 4,844 points

————-

 

——–“A-last -minute” Change of venue for the 35th World Gliding Championships in the Open, 18m, and 20m Classes…..
Is a logistical nightmare for many!!!! For organizers, even when they are the same people, who must have been nearly ready for Pribam, but even more for TC’s, who had hoped to have organized accommodation, car’s, trailers etc for their teams a year or more ahead, in the Pribam-area and all in vain.
A TOO late call in my opinion. When the field in Pribam IS not big enough for 90 gliders now,…. it was not big enough either on the moment from the bid!!!!!
AND,…what about my club the ZES??? They booked the field HOSIN, for their summer soaring holiday!!!! Not easy to find something else so quick.
May I just say…..STUPID !!!!!

 

——–South African team at the WGC’s;
The teams for Poland and Czech:

Poland
15m class: Attie & Uys Jonker
Std class: Nico le Roux & Dolf Pretorius
Team Captain: Stephan van den Berg
Crew: AP Kotze, Bossie Bosman, Nicky Oberhofer, Martin Lessle

——–Swedish FAI SGP;
Boras continued on Wednesday with race 3 from 344.72 km. With a speed of 121.08 km./h Jon Gatfield did well and received 8 points.
Winner from the day before, David Gustavsson, in the LAK 17 did NOT start!!! He mentioned earlier how good the VENTUS 3 climbs!!!
Race 4 with 153 km. [ a very blue and hot day] , had an international top. Peter Cutting from Sweden won the day and the 7 points.5 Points for UK pilot Jon and and 4 and 3 for the German pilots Christoph and Stephan.
Bad day for Boerje and David violating the airspace , so “outlanding” after 23 km.
8 Pilots and 6 times penalties!!!
Race 5; 230 km. with a late start at 15.15 . The VENTUS 3 with Boerje in it, won the 9 daily points. This brings him on a runner up spot behind Jon [22]  with one day to go;20 points and 18 for Christoph and Peter, so possibilities enough for these men. It was another blue , hot day, so gaggles,….”the gaggle wins on day’s like this ” and then “trying to push away from them” for “private” final glides.
Race 6; is” the cherry on the cake” with 378 km !!!! Quite a lot for a GP.
with a speed of 137.8 km./h. Boerje raced over the circuit to win another day AND the Swedish FAI SGP.
A total of 31 points for him in the new Ventus 3.
Runner up with 26 points and also runner up for the day, Christoph. Not far behind Jon with 25 points.
Not too bad  weather as the “slowest” pilot for the day flew around with 122 km./h on the clock!!!
Stefan Langer was the only one who flew and finished all 6 races and got points on those day’s!!!

As shared by the organizers.

—————

 

–——-FRENCH FAI SGP ;

Last Sunday this French FAI SGP started for the 4th time from Rennes  Saint Sulpice in Bretagne, with some very good pilots. Among them 2 Dutch, the fresh new DUTCH open class champion Peter Millenaar [JS 3 ,I read this glider is for the first time in France!!] and many-times-WGC pilot, Jeroen Verkuijl.
Nearly all French pilots flying in the GP are toppers, so too many to call and from the UK Russell Cheetham is for sure a topper as is Gary Stingmore.
2 Spanish participants [AND a Spanish jury president, Angel Casado] and 1 from Belgium, from Slovenia and Switzerland.

practice day 2….ready to go…..
As shared by the organizers.

June 1 had a practice day from 119 km. and June 2 another practice day with 149 km. [9 from 19 flew the task ,best speed 120 km./h.] BUT it all started on Sunday with 2 JS 3 JET’s and one VENTUS 3 and 1 Ventus Cxt…..7 JS 1 variations …6 ASG 29 variations….and 2 LAK variations.
RACE 1; Exciting race , short 121 km, [because of expected thunderstorms later in the day ]and won by current world champion in standard class, Louis Bouderlique in the VENTUS 3 with about the same speed  as Maximilian Seis [JS 1 EVO] who was runner up [115,7 for 115,3 km./h. for 10 and 8 points]
My Dutch mates did well Peter [JS 3] was 3d and Jeroen [JS 1C Evo Jet] 4th [ 7 and 6 points]

The magic VENTUS 3, first race winner, As shared by the organizers.

Nice presents!!!
As shared by the organizers.

Race 2; Another short …105 km….tricky day. Overcast and a bit of early-morning-rain  in Rennes, but hope for a day of soaring. Regatta start at 15.35.
BUT,….then the news from the organizers.
“What a day ! The rains stopped at 12:30. Gliders were rigged then launched at 15:35 for a 102km race.
The organisation sent a Dynamic to the eastern point during the task to be sure there was no danger. But the two last control points were impossible to reach, despite pilots were waiting at 1000m that the heay rain moved.
Finally the task has been cancelled to avoid any risk. Only three pilots are outlanded : V and E1 in almost the same field and 1L safely on Redon airport.
Congratulations to all pilots for their safe and sport behavior.
The International Party will start at 20:00.”

Day 2 weather as shared by the organizers. No points , 3 out-landings but the International party “made” the day.

Race 3;They tried again.Small task and late start; but,….in the end the day had to be scrubbed!!!

Pilots and crews……”Angry” at the weather-gods?????
As shared by the organizers.

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–—–The Dutch Open Military Championships at Terlet;

A WOW-factor finish/picture at the OMK on June 4. Typical Bas Seijffert-finish in the JS 1.
Courtesy Arjan Vrieze.
When I asked Arjan how the hell it was possible to take such a picture, he mentioned that he prepares VERY well before he takes the pictures. He knows the circuit of the finishing gliders, takes a ground- set and I-pad with Flight Radar. Also 2 ladies who help him  spotting the gliders. He has 2 professional camera’s with lenses. This fabulous picture was made with a 30 megapixel full frame camerawith a 500/4.0 lense on iso 400 and shutter speed of 1/1600. All pictures are in RAW.

 

Lot’s of pilots [59] again at Terlet for an always happy and interesting competition, between “old”  and “young” and experienced and novices.
17 in club, 13 in combi, 15 in the 20 m./2 seaterclass and 14 in 18m./open.
Monday was the first day and it took a while but in the end there was a window to fly in. No worries as ,whilst waiting the military helicopters [guess from Deelen] came to say hello and that looked pretty spectacular on the video!
First starters left around 4 PM with the B-tasks and only 2 classes up in the air!!!
2 seaters;150 km and Lizzy van Someren one of the young female talents flew the Duo Discus XL over 119 km and that was the best result, shared with the Hiemstra family from Friesland ;both 145 points.
open;161 km and 2 finishers Bas [Seijffert] and Sikko [Vermeer] . Some were only 10k out.

 

Another WOW factor picture, you can clearly see Reitze and Bas in the E 12 from the Gelderse.I guess they flew HC as they are not on the competitors list.
Another fabulous picture from Arjan Vrieze.

Task 2; It took quite a while before the ” milky stuff” disappeared, it hung all over Holland. In the end it ha[ppened and it turned out a rather good day with lot’s of finishers!!
Club 188 km; 71 km./h for Maurits Hebels in the St Cirrus followed by junior and vice JWGC champion Robin Smit with 67.91 km./h. [same glider]
Combi 183 km; top-day for the Dutch juniors all over 70 km./h. Annemiek former junior now TC was 5th.
2 seaters 177 km; Lizzy was “out” such a pity ,but the Hiemstra’s did well and won the day with 71 km./h.
open 192 km.;another Bas-day and the only one over 100 km.

——————–

 

——-On June 1 Ingo turned 78!!! Still young from heart he flies and flies and flies!!! On the picture a new student for him in Tocumwal Aaron. Dundee is still there and helps out. He leaves Toc today!!!

    

HAPPY BIRTHDAY INGO!!!!
Shared by the SRGC.

 

—-Last but not least; The Rayskala Masters will be flown between June 9 and 16, BUT,…I will be on holiday then so please look for scores at ; www.soaringspot.com and for news at http://www.rayskala.fi
“After record breaking warm May, temperatures dropped 10 degrees for monday June 4th. For glider pilots cold north-westerly flow means unlimited visibility, no bugs on the wings, good use for longjohns and kick-ass thermals. 3 days to go....”

Last Sunday Alexander Mueller flew from Bayreuth 1.195 km in the EB 29. I liked his comment; The EB 29 with an EDITION -wing and NO water even climbs when  only the moon shines.”
He added another 1000 on Monday.
Another 1000 from Winzeln [Germany]by Michael Schach in a Ventus 2CT [18 m.] 
Also Uli [Schwenk] in the ETA flying on Sunday from Muensingen and Alexander [Spaeth] flying from Hornberg in the 15 m. Ventus 2ax flew a 1000 that day.

CU on June 20 .So,….not next week…. it’s that time of the year again; Duke John High-school -girls week…..all over 70 now and still going strong….2 of them I know since we were 4 years old….!!!!!!
Cheers Ritz

Before I go,……when you are young or a bit older and eager this is an opportunity !!!!!! I know as we gave these possibilities in our SPORTAVIA -time to many keen pilots as well

GROUND CREW WANTED at GLIDE OMARAMA
October 2018 – March 2019

Duties include daily inspections, grid marshalling, trial flight briefings, aircraft cleaning and assisting with basic maintenance. 5-6 days per week. Accommodation provided in a shared staff house. Generous staff flying privileges. Possible progression to instructing, depending on your skills and experience.