Holland at it’s best. [Ravenstein]
CHRISTMAS GREETINGS FROM HOLLAND
Courtesy ;Jan de Luij

Hope you had lovely Christmas days. It remains a special part of the year.
I even went to church and though I not often go, it felt as a “raised catholic” ,very good.
The church was full of light and Christmas trees , the choir was singing exceptional good in Latin and Dutch and church was …..full. All grey heads like me , a few kids only.
Just before mass started I felt a buzz from my mobile.
I had a quick look as I knew that Akemi and Mac were trying a 1000 km. flight from Tocumwal.
Christmas team George and Bruce helped them up in the air on Christmas-day.
At 7 in the morning I got already the message in Holland  that Akemi was still flying at 5PM Aussie time, had 300 km. to go with a cloud base of 3.300 m.So a 1000 must be possible.He had not heard from Mac then .
So the buzz -message before mass said; Akemi flew her first 1.040.80 km. in an 18m/LS 10 and Mac flew 1.118 km in a 15m. LS 8!!!To be precise he flew CR free 3tp distance 1095km (olc 1118km)”
I wondered if it maybe was the first ever Japanese female 1000 ,but it was n’t.
“No Reiko Morinaka has flown in wave her 1000km in Argentina. But  Akemi is first  Japanese lady  in thermal”
Good on her!!! Congratulations Akemi, who is very ready for the Leeton WWGC pre worlds.
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS AT CHRISTMAS DAY. AND,…those messages I got in church. HAHA. No better HO,HO,HO.

Good old Bruce with 2 Japanese toppers Akemi and Mac.
As shared by Bruce.

 

No WHITE CHRISTMAS here as it was 10 dgr. C plus .
We even had the “warmest but one” year. Only 2014 was warmer, can’t even remember; 11.4 as annual average and 11.7 in 2014.
Remarkable ; in the 30thies the average temperature was 8.9 ,so that proves that things are chancing.
Now it’s looking ahead at 2019. What will it bring us?
Will the weather be so good as last year ,at least for soaring? And so devastating for other parts of the world???
The climate change is and remains a huge problem.Climate tops are till now , not very successful  as hard as they try and tried in France and Poland.
Hope they find solutions to improve the world for the future of our grand children.
My Christmas thoughts!!!

By the way on the 21th we had the shortest day and INDEED it was a very short day as after 9 AM it was still dark and it rained like hell and at 4.30 it was dark again. I know not Lapland but still….
Good thing; days are getting longer again and it’s just waiting for spring and summer to come back .No worries!!
Summer it is at the moment in parts of Australia . Narromine had already temperatures in the low 40thies, Tocumwal has them this week up to 45!!! Sydney-people are all at the beach only comfortable place with temperatures in the mid to high 40thies!!!!! They are used to the heat, but this is pretty tough, specially because it is not one day but at least a week.
With flights up to 939 km from Tocumwal by Mac and Joergen in the ARCUS M last Saturday and 963 k.  by Hans Juergen Lange in the 18m. Ventus 2CM.
And of course the fabulous flights by our Japanese friends.
Yesterday had a few nearly 1000 km.flights from Narromine and Corowa and good old Ingo flew in his Discus from Toc.758 km.[745 FAI triangle].
Bob Nicholls flew from Benalla in his Ventus 2CT/18m. 815 km.

AND TODAY..….the message ; 16.500 ft cloud base and BIG 1000 km.flights from Tocumwal.…..
And yes a 1.030 FAI- triangle [ 1.063 km. speed 125.87 km./h.] by John Dyson in the 21 m. JS 1 and a 1.015 FAI-triangle [ 1.030 km.] from Lumpy Paterson in the JS 3,with a speed of 148.95 km./h. Good on them, GREAT job.
After paperwork this might be a new Aussie record I read, so extra GOOD and I keep an eye on it!!!!
Comment from Lumpy on the OLC ; “YOU RIPPER!!!!”
Also Corowa had a 1000 with 142 km./h. by Dutch pilot Jos Schrier in the ASH 31 /21m..
When there are more such great flights I add them later today.
And then good “old” Brian Du Rieu adds his flight from Temora!!! In his LS 10/18m.  he flew 1.129 km.[881 FAI triangle]Great effort!!!!
Brian’s comment:”Started with a declared 1100km FAI triangle but the first leg was blue (vs forecast cu) with deteriorating conditions heading North, so I turned short towards the cloud. Much nicer under the cu on the direct route to Ivanhoe and a nice tailwind for the 342km home.”

AND then LAST BUT NOT LEAST…I knew Mac was trying again. He did: a 1.026 FAI TRIANGLE [1.193 km in total]  and Chris Davison also an FAI TRIANGLE 1.045 km in his JS 1/21 m. Nice guy, longtime guests [his wife always came along too]  with us in the past.
Mac topped the Ocean OLC list TWICE now!!!!

959 from Toc is worth mentioning too in a PIK 20B. Jaroslaw Mosiejewski ,one of the annual Geelong guests flew it.
WHATADAY in Toc. All Geelong guests had great flights. At Eddie’s ,where most stay in the caravan park it’s “buzzing” this time of the year. 5x Toc in the top 6 today!!! Pretty special.
I still know the feeling, when we had 11 x a 1000 on a very good day.
You have to forgive my Toc .-enthusiasm , but part of my heart stayed in Tocumwal after living there for so many years!!!

Also VERY special!!!! One of the young ones , allowed to fly the Ventus 3 in Bitterwasser, Simon Briel flew 1.308 km. with a speed of 165.50 km./h. Keep that name in mind!!!!
On BOXING day Africa was top again with 27 x a 1000 -plus!!!!

 

———

—–It’s still far away , in January 2020, but….. the WWGC PRE WORLDS are soon, time to look at some of the participants. Specially cause I hope to be there in 2020 at the 10th FAI WWGC.
This is about Sarah , who flies next week with her USA mates in the pre worIds.
I met Sarah from the USA as tuggie at the WGC in Uvalde 2012. Lovely lady. I met her and Jason again at the WGC in Benalla and yesterday I found more about her as shared by team USA.

“Sarah Kelly Arnold was raised on a farm in British Columbia, where, as a 13-year-old, she learned to fly in a single seat Quicksilver ultralight. She was instantly hooked, and thus began a lifelong passion for aviation.
In 2004, Sarah became the owner-operator of Chilhowee Gliderport in Benton, TN where she eventually met and married her husband Jason. Together they’ve worked to improve the airport, train a new generation of pilots, and host soaring camps, seminars, and contests. Sarah organized the 1st FAI Pan American Gliding Championships in 2015, and serves as treasurer on the US Team Committee. In 2017 she was inducted into the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame
Sarah’s first competition was the 2006 Perry Regionals with Charlie Spratt as CD. Five years later she won the Sports Class Nationals and earned a position on the US Soaring team in Club Class. She was the first woman to represent the United States at a WGC event in Argentina 2013.
Sarah maintains a take-no-prisoners attitude which propelled her to two FAI podiums at the Women’s World Gliding Championships in France (bronze) and the Czech Republic (silver). This season, she and Karl Striedieck were the 20 Meter Multi-place National Champions. She went on to another podium finish, placing 2nd in the 15 Meter Nationals at Uvalde, 2018.

 

Sarah one of the WWGC participants in Lake Keepit and soon at the pre worlds.

More about Lake Keepit’s Pre Worlds in the next blogs.
They are also the 38th AUSTRALIAN CLUB AND SPORTS CLASS NATIONALS.
Diana is flying there as well. So is Ailsa, Akemi, Lisa Turner and Lisa Trotter, Kath and Kerri, Sabrina[Germany] and Ayala [UK]Sylvia and Katryn and Jo ,Jenny and Sarah.
By the way , the USA girls arrived safely and Kerrie shared some pictures;

 

Looking still fresh and “new”. Lot’s of luggage and as Kerrie mentioned “Four American glider pilots, their luggage, parachutes, tools, etc squeezing into the Soarer – only 4 bags on the roof racks – job done! If anyone finds any stray bags enroute Sydney – Keepit, please deliver Keepit“

—————-

 

——-More friends from the USA are guests in Australia at the moment.

Look at this picture shared by Tony Condon from the USA.

Nice picture from Tony and Ingo with the text;
“Today we met our glider for the contest, A DG-100, EG. Got the oudie installed, found the trailer, passed my check flight with Ingo in the club Lark, and made an hour and a half flight in the glider. Good day.”
Comment after flight;”Checkout flight in the DG-100. Good lift in the blue. Pushed out to the edge of glide back to Toc. Nice glider.”

I know Tony since Uvalde 2012 ,where I met him and many others also Sarah. Tony is going to fly the Formula 0.1 GP in Leeton.
Not long ago I told you that Leeton was the place where my ex George won the Nationals a long time ago. I was in Leeton only for a very short time ,as I had to go home again and Ralf [Holighaus] was so kind to drive me to Tullamarine. He and his dad Klaus [R.I.P.] had visited us first in Tocumwal.
The Formula 0.1 contest starts on the 29th of December 2018, and concludes on the 6th of January 2019, with a warm-up day on the 28th of December.
It’s a competition centered around the club class handicap of 0.1,which means that pilots can buy a competitive sailplane for less than $10,000 to participate. Hence the rent of a DG 100 from SportaviaTocumwal.
More in my next blogs.

————

—–Matthew Scutter and his dad flew in Kiripotib. AND,…they loved it!!!! Matthew is involved in SKYSIGHT; “Weather forecasts for most regions where there are glider pilots.”
https://skysight.io/

“Great experience flying this year at Kiripotib Soaring. Every single day of our trip was 1000km weather, we managed five out of an attempted six (blew the final glide on the last one).

Our expectations for Namibia was that it’d be a ramshackle tin sheds miles from dusty airstrips with occasionally booming weather, but Kiripotib Soaring is an oasis in the desert that feels like it has been transplanted from a resort on a Greek island. With the gliders parked 50m from the pool, bar and rooms, everything is taken care of and all we had to worry about on any given day was landing before last light.
The weather was phenomenally consistent, the only limitation on your speed is maintaining safe landing options which takes some care as you try and do longer and longer flights. Botswana brings home the meaning of “tiger country”.

————-

–—-News from Schempp-Hirth AND,….it all sounds good!!!!!
#ventus #selflaunch #ventus3M yesterday we had a weather window and Bernd Mangold performed test flight of the Ventus-3M number two. New ILEC management system (updated from experience on V-3M number one) for easiness in the air, new stop propeller finger for easy retraction of the propeller, integrates « garage » bugwipers and plenty of power for high loaded high altitude high temperatures conditions. The test pilot is happy! We will focus on these details and new things in next news so please stay tuned.”

 

——Frank Hiemstra, one of our top pilots created a poll in Holland for Zwevers , with the question;
” IF it will be necessary to bring back the WGC to 3 classes, which class would you prefer”
The results were interesting.
1. club class 97 voters
2. open class 89
3. 18 m class 72
4. 20 m. class 54
5. Standard class 43
6. 15 m. class 7
7. electric sustainer E class 4

————-

 

And to finish this very special picture shared by the British Gliding Association with the text:
“Now here’s something you don’t see every day.
A unique Lasham Gliding Society photo with jet operations fitting in complete harmony with gliding.”

When it’s possible and safe,…why not!? BUT,…now my grand children are going to fly ,…I think twice….

CU next year!!! Have a HAPPY, SAFE and HEALTHY one!!!!
Cheers Ritz

CHEERS.

Picture is a few years old [ made at Terlet] but still OK to start the new year.

—–You can get used to it !!!
Even when they say that it’s not the real Namibian weather, though I think the last couple of days were too good to listen to such a statement,  we do have to look more and more at Namibia as THE PLACE TO BE for 1000 km.-plus flights, You can fly them at many more places, but not nearly every day.
It’s also nice to see that more and more pilots choose good double -seaters to fly those long distances!!! AND,…As Namibia is the place to be for REAL long distance flying and doing it together/ sharing the fun , is nicer than alone, you can start counting 2 seaters on the OLC nowadays,  where they were not even on this list in the past.
So many 2 seaters and so many SUPER flights.
Look at the OLC on last Wednesday;29 over 1000 kilometer-flights most in a 2-seater.
And on December 17 you saw 21 ARCUS M, VERY POPULAR,  and 1 ARCUS T up in the air on page 1 from the OLC. On top of that there were some  EB versions and  the ASG 32 MI and a 20 m. DG 1000.Also the Nimbus 4DM flies happily around.
There are friends , like Hans and Alfred Paul from Holland flying the Nimbus 4DM over 1.103 km.with 125 km./h on the clock from Douglas.
Father and son from Australia , Michael and Matthew fly with “verve” The ARCUS M from Kiripotib with 1.021 km and 145 km./h. They did as the wrote, some “sightseeing in Botswana”.What do you want more???
And on an 1.100 flight Matthew mentioned:”This place makes gliding very very easy… 1100k at 155kph after a (relatively) late launch.”And his dad added;“7 hours, 1107km, 155kph, fl170, rain froze on wings when we flew through rain.”
Michael shared these pictures from it’s not all hosanna!

    

Matthew in his  Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

“I catch a lot of flak for flying OLC and not declared tasks – personally I find deciding where to fly while inflight infinitely more fun, but each to their own.

But today, I saw an interesting forecast on SkySight, a convergence to the south east, convergence to the south west, so I declared a 1000K FAI around it and had a go.

It actually worked out even better than expected as there was a gust front along the last leg. The last 10k was a bit interesting having to glide directly into the dust and then rain and heavy sink, but we still arrived a thousand metres high.

Danish mates ,as well as many German and a few French and Austrian mates, they all enjoy their long distances in comfortable gliders.
Of course some prefer to fly alone certainly when  they have a good EB 29 and then top the OLC list as Alexander [Meuller] with 1.190 km. with 137 km./h. A great kilometer-eater flying from Pokweni.
If that was not enough Alexander flew on Thursday 1.312.89 km. with a speed of 169,98 km./h. Even with all those flights in the pocket this still must gave him a boost !!!
And one day later on the 14th another exceptional day, which was called by Bitterwasser a normal Bitterwasser-day [have a look at their site why http://www.bitterwasser.com ] with 3 OVER 1.300 km. flights from Bitterwasser, Pokweni and Veronica!!!! Speed up to 168 km./h .[by Alexander]
Keith  [Essex] added another 1.356 km. in the EB 29 D.
With all these TOP GLIDERS and the top weather, the 1.300 is nearly “the new normal”.

Good to see Gerd Marzinzik, who I know from the past, is still flying; a 1000 in an ASH 26E from Bitterwasser. Good on him !!!

No miracle the boy’s from Flying with the Champions/Rent a glider ordered 2 new Arcus M. gliders for their operation.
They sell their oldest gliders as the Antares 23 E, [D-KULS], the Arcus E,[D-KWKU ]and the Arcus M[D-KOWL] . If you are interested in, you can let them know, and they will send you an offer. Rent a Glider

By the way ,…the 1000 k remains magic for many, as I found out AND of course IT IS, certainly the first one!!!!I still get excited because from the past I can still feel the tension and the waiting specially those last kilometers were nail biting.Though gliders and instruments and weather forecast were then much less than now.That’s a fact.

On the 17th Keith [Essex] flew in the EB 29 D his 2d OVER-1.300 km.-flight with a speed of 153 km./h. ;a triangle from 1.200 from Bitterwasser. With a late start as he commented on the OLC;
“Almost didn’t fly, overcast until 10:45. Thermals triggered as soon as the sun hit the ground. Thermals were broken and the clouds were very dishonest. From 6pm the ground was in total shade. Despite the challenges it was another good day in Namibia.”

Also the Scutter’s flew that day and added their 5th over 1000 km. flight to the logbook. So to read ,dad Michael ,is very impressed with his son’s soaring. Nice!! Of course he is good, he was the Narromine Junior World Champion.

————-

 

——-South America;
The 65 th Argentinian Nationals went on on paper as flying over the last day’s was not possible anymore . Looking at pictures with muddy boots from kids it must have rained!!!
From 12 day’s they flew 7 in the combined 15 m/open and Damien Goldenzweig [18m.Ventus 2 CM] won the title with 5.533 points. Runner up Santiago Berca with 5.490 in the same glider.
Jose Dentone did well as number 3 in a Ventus B /15 m.[5.433]
Only 6 out of 12 day’s in the combined standard class and here it was Lucas Goldenzweig who won the title. [4.878]  He won in the LS 4 and the next 3 gliders on the overall scores were LS 4 as well.

 

The Goldenzweig brothers , Damian and Lucas, both on spot 1 and few little ones ready to take over in the future.
as shared by Damian.

———–

——The 2018 Victorian State Comps at Benalla had mixed weather, good but they suffered also from rain .  In Tocumwal I heard even 50 to 60 mm on a day with only 18 dgr. C. and that’s only 70 km. N of Benalla.
There were two class groups – Un-Ballasted from which the Club Class championship will be determined and Ballasted, from which the FAI class championships will be determined.
4 Day’s out of 7 for the “ballasted”  gliders [10]  ,with 421k. as the longest task and 2x a 3 hour AAT with 417 as best result by Lumpy Paterson in his JS 3 ; nice speed too 138.87 km./h. But on handicap that made him 5th for the day.
After 4 day’s the winner was Bruce Cowan with 3.511 points in a Ventus B/15 m..
In the “unballasted” class Craig Collins from Mount Beauty was the star winning/shining every day in his ASW 20 .He won after 4 day’s with 3700 points!!! Good on him.
Straight after the comps the weather was booming again!!

By the way the next multi class Nationals will be in Tocumwal. Love that. We always wanted to have the Nationals there but it was our peak-time with everybody in full action and all gliders booked. We just lacked time and space in high season.
Look at this ;”Tocumwal has been selected to host the 2019 Australia Multi-class Gliding Championships.This will see around 60 pilots gathering to compete from the 9th to the 21st December .“
Lumpy Paterson is the great “engine” behind this. He bought and runs “our” old WW2 hangar now and he really puts an effort in the place now after a few years of mismanagement by the sole last owner, who took over after us .The hangar was nearly lost.

————

 

Dear friends, through my blogging I keep going, which means it keeps me fit, it gives me a boost!!!
Though the flu last week was a an unexpected nuisance and still is.
72 now still going pretty strong.
THANKS for the many good wishes for my birthday on FB, personal mail and phone.
Good friends even called me from Namibia!!! AND,….NONE of my Aussie girl-friends forgot me!!!!

Thanks for reading with [still] so many; I do not write for nothing.
Time to say THANK YOU and to wish you during this upcoming festive season, the very best Christmas time with your family and friends.

MERRY CHRISTMAS…ZALIG KERSTFEEST…FROHE WEIHNACHTEN….FELIZ NAVIDAD….JOYEUX  NOEL…GOD JUL….HYVAA JOULUA…BUON NATALE….Merīkurisumasu….

CU 1 day later on December 27,
Love Ritz

Continued;…The 57 th Narromine Multi class Nationals … 2 day’s to go!!!!

Preparations for the last but one day.
As shared by Narromine Gliding Club Official

With 2 day’s to go everybody, who was still in the race to win, was in “alert mode”.
AND,….pretty big tasks on the last but one day, which is good.
December 6, day 10, task 7;
15 m./st.; 454 km.
A frequent Aussie WGC pilot Peter [Trotter] was the one at the podium today just ahead of Adam. Both with the same speed 131 km./h., but Peter’s LS 8 has a better handicap. As Adam calls it ” beaten off the stick.”
So 1000 and 955 points.
Peter and his wife Lisa both fly on high level and are lovely people. Lisa by the way was 4th for the day in 15 m. but runner up in her St. Class.
I have not yet seen the pilots-list for Lake Keepit, but I am sure Lisa will be on it.
With 6 x an LS 8 in the 15 m. top ten ,they did well!!!
The top 3 with 1 day to go in 15 m.; 1. Adam 6. 282…2. Tobias 6.014….3. Andrew Maddocks 5.465.
The top 3 with 1 day to go in St. class; 1. Andrew 5.848… 2. Peter 5.823…3.Allan 5.727.

18m/open; 550 km.
Another daily win for Norm and nice speed again; 137 km./h. Tom was runner up and still on spot 1 overall in his ASG 29. Geoff Brown in his JS 1 [18m] is doing a great job and was third and also on spot 3 overall with one day to go.
With one day to go the overall results are as follows;
open;1. Tom 6.343…2. Norm 6.039…. 3.Geoff 5.970.
18m; 1. Tom 6.342…2. Norm 6.044…3 Geoff 5.971.

December 7 day 11 task 8; FINAL  DAY from a very good competition.
15m./st; 3 hour AAT.
343 km. for Tobias and he deserved another  “win” , [3d] speed 114 km./h. 5 Points less for Allen and 11 for “Woolley-pup”.
No secret who was winning in this 15 m. class;
1. Adam Woolley with 7.268 points.
2. Tobias Geiger with 7.011 points.
3. Peter Trotter with 6.362 points.
In standard class a “bad day for Andrew. He was number 1 overall, did not fly too bad with a 6th daily prize, but lost more than 200 points. And with points SO close,[ see above], that cost him the title.He dropped from 1 to 3. A pity.
1. Peter Trotter with 6.743 p.
2. Allan Barnes with 6.727 p.
3. Andrew Maddocks with 6.634 p.
Lisa and Claire did very well on a 5th and 6th spot. Also Kerrie on spot 14 did well and Jenny on spot 12. Catherine on spot 22 and Akemie won a day before she had to return to work. GOOD girls….Let the WWGC begin…..

Well done to all!!!!

18m./open; 3 hour AAT.
Geoff was in the end in a really good flow, he really got the “hang” of flying in Narromine. He usually flies from Canberra. He won the last day and flew 373 km. in time 3.03.57. Good day for Scott in his ASH 25; a runner up spot with Norm as number 3 for the day.
Open class final results;
1. Tom Claffey with 7.224 p.
2. Norm Bloch with 7.007 p.
3. Geoff Brown with 6.970 p.
18 m. class top was the same.

 

Packing-up- time  after great comps. And for some …..LONG ,long very long trips home.
As shared by Narromine Gliding Club Official

Some straight away traveled to Benalla for the Victorian State comps [December 9-15] and luckily the first day was cancelled so pilots as Lumpy and Terry , who fly in the ballasted class [10] could straight away fly the set 421 km and the 3 hour AAT a day later,both won by Lumpy in the JS 3.
In the unballasted class[8]  a 329 was set and a 3.30 AAT yesterday and Craig Collins in the ASW 20 won both day’s.

————–

65th Argentinian Nationals.

On the other site of the world the 65th Argentinian Nationals started in 2 classes on December 3 continuing till December 14. San Francisco was the place to be. 51 Pilots flew in a combined  Standard class and combined  15m./open.
The first 4 day’s showed 3 flyable days in st and 4 in 15m./open.
The 3 hour AAT task in both classes was interesting.
2 Silent 2’s  won that day with 309 km. followed by 4 LS 4’s one flown by Lucas Goldenzweig.
In the other class the 15 m- Ventus B flown by Jose Dentone was the best on handicap with 353 km in time 3.05 whilst Damian Goldenzweig in the Ventus 2CM/18m. was equal in time but he flew 378 km with a speed of 122 km./h.
After 3 day’s Lucas leads in St. class and Jose in 15m./open with 45 points on Damian.

The next 4 day’s had in both classes a cancelled day. In 15 m/open AAT’s around 2 hours and 1 from 3 hours; 286 km in time 3.03 for Sebastián Riera. Damian was 7th that day and Jose 16th both loosing some points.
After 8 day’s and 7 task’s another overall update; 1. Damian…4,574 points, 2. Santiago Berca [ both in Ventus 2CM/18m.]with 40 points less.
In st class after 8 day’s and 6 tasks’;1. Lucas with 3,896 points and 2. Cristian Franzini [ both in LS 4] with 55 points less.

Day was cancelled.

————-

Some great flights last week;
—–December 6; Peter Temple is not flying the Nationals in Narromine , but I do have to mention him as he flew from Gawler a 1000 k in his ASG 29 in mostly blue conditions!!!Good on him.
He topped the OLC that day before 1000 km.-flights from Kiripotib, Douglas and Veronica , they have already so many!!!
Same day great weather in Tocumwal and Corowa as well, with 806 in the ARCUS M by Joergen from Denmark and 838 by Chris Davison in the 21 m JS 1CTJ.
Terry Ryan, usually flying from Tocumwal, flies nowadays from Corowa and flew 760 in his ASH 26E.
—-December 8; Dutch pilots are having a great time with several 1000 km flights from Douglas. Hadriaan flew 2, even one 1.100 km.with 135 km./h. in the JS 1 BTJ.
And Rob and Max  had 4 m climb at 6.20 PM. in the Nimbus 4DM.

———–

——That we had a fabulous summer here in Holland, is pretty clear after all the records we broke, but it also interesting to see that more pilots went out flying!!For the first time in history Dutch pilots, 651,  flew in Holland over 1 million kilometers in one season!!!Steven Raimond is our 2018 champion .

————-

And to finish a great picture from Namibia. There they have a great season, but the “connoisseurs” think it was till now not a real classic Namibian weather.

Text;“Arcus over the Kalahari circling in the updraft. The usable thermal often starts at 11.00 local time and ends at sunset. The Kalahari extends on both sides of the southern tropic from the South African province North Cape through Namibia and Botswana over an area of more than one million square kilometres. What a feast to fly here.”

Talking about Namibia ,of course Bitterwasser is the name belonging to it for years. They shared this news:
“Wilfried Großkinsky was awarded a special honor in Bitterwasser. After a speech by Rainer Hog, an honorary palm tree was planted in the allee. Not only the 137 flown flights over 1000 kilometers were the reason for the honour. The special engagement in the promotion of young pilots was the main reason for the award. Every year Wilfried invites 3 young pilots to the 1000 km camp. Director Rainer Hog emphasized, that some of the sponsored and trained pilots come back to Bitterwasser and carry on the Bitterwasser idea.”
That special honor is MORE THAN DESERVED.

One of the 3 lucky young pilots is from Holland Luc Stalman [ due to his age his last season] .Luc normally  flies at Venlo. Nice young fellow, who was allowed this season to fly the brand new Ventus 3M.

     
as shared by Bitterwasser Lodge & Flying Centre

The new VENTUS 3 M.
Bitterwasser Lodge & Flying Centre

 

Got the flu,even with my anti-flu-injection,  so not too much to read, hopefully next time more.
Off to the doctor now.
Cheers Ritz

57th Multi Class Nationals in Narromine.

as shared by Gliding Federation of Australia

On Wednesday morning Anne , who lives in Narromine, shared a message:
“ROAD CLOSURES: Council wishes to advise the travelling public that ALL UNSEALED ROADS in the Shire are CLOSED until further notice due to rain over the past 24 hours.”
That evening I saw heavy flooding of parts from Sydney on TV.
So after the wet days its better not to out-land for the pilots without an “engine”, to avoid extra problems.
But as expected the front left and the nice weather arrived!! Look at this .

 

Pawnees ready to go…..for flying day 1.
as shared by Narromine Gliding Club Official

November 29, day 3 task 1: good tasks, good flights only one out-lander who returned by areo-tow retrieve. So a good first day of flying.
15 m; 313 km….Adam[Woolley] won task 1 in his Ventus 2A, only just,… as Tobias [Geiger] had about the same time though he started nearly an hour earlier also in a Ventus 2A. Speed 112.98 for 112.11km./h.
As always Adam shared his thoughts in   Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
“Day win, just. A very fortunate recovery for me today. Still, a win is a win, nice way to start the comp .”
St. class; 313 km…nearly all the same but a different winner Andrew [ Maddocks] in an LS 8 with a speed of 104,47 km./h.
5 LS 8 gliders in the top 5, with Peter [Trotter] as runner up.

Open/18 m;362.76 km. for both classes. There are at this stage 3 JS 3 gliders in Australia and they flew in this class. Butch [John Buchanan] won with a speed of 134.91 km./h.  Lumpy [Paterson] was 4th and Norm [Bloch] ,both in JS 3, was 5th.
Runner up was Tom [Claffey] in ASG 29 and Brad [Edwards] in the same glider was 3d.
George was 7th in the Discus 2 CT.
All started with in 15 minutes. Butch flew 2 hours 41 minutes. Number 19 for the day 4 hours and 36 minutes,…but he was IN!!!!

November 30 day 4 task 2; 516 and 647 km.

516 and 647 to go…..
As shared by Bryan.

last day of our meteorological winter and last day of autumn in Australia.
Winter, summer starts!!!!
AND as said after rain-front , the new cycle starts and it gets good better, best!!!Great tasks!!!
15m./ St.class;  516 km. …..They fly in one handicapped class with the same tasks but  different winners.
In 15 m. Adam wins again [126.07 km./h] and Tobias [124.47 km./h.] is runner up again.;1000 and 978 points for the toppers.
Great to see that Akemi from Japan, but spending lot’s of flying time in Australia , won in st class in her LS 8. Good on her.AND ,..a 1000 points day so those were her’s. Speed 116.97 km./h.
A pity she had to go to work later.

18m./open: 647 km….. WOW,….4 JS 3 gliders in the top 4 and then 2 JS 1’s!!!! Butch won again with a speed of 126.57 km./h. [ 5 hours and 7 minutes] ,just a tad faster than Brad [126.39 km./h.] who got 998 points.
Lumpy had a speed of 125. 43 km./h and Norm 125.27 km./h.
4 Outlandings in 18 m. and 3 more in open.
Looking at the 18m. scores it was about the same. George, who since at least 30 years had not flown long distances, was 15th. Good on him.This is his first real competition again since years. He flies the Discus 2CT with an handicap of 1030,whilst JS3 has 1085.
In his “young” years he flew several WGC’s and EGC’s and he won Australian Nationals in Leeton.

Both winning 2 day’s in a row and good mates as well. Adam and Butch.

Even Adam found it a long task:”Ho Chi Mumma! 516km fixed task, let’s roll 😎”
As shared by Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

Another good day done and dusted!!

December 1 …SUMMER….day 5 task 3!!!
Summer started with a 3 hour AAT for all classes.
15 m and standard class. Adam mentioned in his comment that it mainly all went his way, which means another daily prize.He even did very well, he flew 338k. in 2.59 and Tobias 349k. in 3.18.
In st. class Scott [Lennon] won the day with with 324 km in 3.10 . Not all were as “lucky” as Adam. Allan mentioned:
” I ran with Tobi in the V2 for most of the third leg, quite fast. Then on the second heading south, found myself alone and struggled like most others under a gloomy thick cirrus wedge. Happy to take 2kt wherever I found it. I ended up 15 minutes over time and 5th for the day at only 92kph. We’ve given up looking at the 15m scores – Adam just blitzes every day!”

In open/18 m. same task but more kilometers; Tom [Claffey] won the day 373 km in 3.02.
3 From 26 outlanded. After winning 2 day’s, Butch nearly lost 200 points after being 7th for the day.
After 3 tasks the scores are pretty close; Tom is on 1. with 2.826 p. ….Lumpy on 2. with 2.709p…and Butch on 3. with 2.703 p.

December 2 day 6 and an official rest day. On a day we here in Holland, had up to 15 dgr. C, the hottest ever 2d of December in history.It’s WINTER!!!!
So not the very best weather, in Narromine, dust and up to 60 km./h. wind, so after some long flights over the last 3 day’s a rest day was called.

As shared by Tom and Kerry [Claffey]

   
Dust storm as seen by William and Tom as winner as seen by Tom and Kerry.

First of course the prize giving and as Tom in his ASG 29 was the winner he had to come up front :
“Quote of the day from the Open/18 winner in a 29 (ahead of the JS3 Mafia) …. “I’m wearing my JS hat given to me by Jonkers – all I can say about JS is ‘they make nice hats’“.

A rest day during the Aussie Nationals means a PILOTS MEETING. As pilots live all far away from each other , sometimes more than 3000 km., this is the best chance to talk about all important things in gliding.
I have been at several, very interesting though,… sometimes in the far past some pilots went on and on , on an item, and then you could hear some grumble from the rest.
This day a very important item;

as shared by Narromine Gliding Club Official

December 3,day 6, task 4;
15m/St.class; 2.30 AAT
Challenging day  even for Adam ,…but no worries he won again. All those hours he flew in Australia and wherever he could overseas, over the last couple of years, did” bring grist to his mill.” Good on him!!!
268 km. in time 2.35, whilst runner up and well known “kilometer-eater” and also WGC participant , Allan [Barnes] flew 250 km. in time 2.34.
In standard Allan was the best in his LS 8. Claire [Scutter] Matthew’s sister was runner up ,good on her.
This is what Adam had to say about the day:
“Blowing a gale, 15-20kts all day. Tough going, certainly a day you wanted to stay reasonably high. My game plan was to take anything above 3kts, amazingly with the supreme feel of the V2a, I was able to keep taking 5-6’s all the way to the end of the 3rd leg.
Luckily at the downwind leg I was at my lowest, but couldn’t for the life of me get the climb I needed to come home on. Something was on my mind & I tensed up, couldn’t feel the climbs & really had to push myself to trust my feel of where to go next. I lost time here, but managed to bring it home, phew.
Another day win :)”
Bad day for Bryan,…he was out.
open /18 m.; 2.30 AAT.
Another win for Tom; 283 km. in 2.39. Lumpy was runner up with 308 km. but he needed a bit more time;2.53.
Both lead the way in these classes, with Butch on their heels.
Bad day for George, as he had to out land after 146 km.

“Dry as a bone ” the land in Australia a bad drought this year!!
Picture courtesy George.

There is a nice story with this Cessna from Arny. Long ago about 28 years I guess ,there was a group of “daring” Aussie pilots trying to fly from South[ Adelaide] to North [Darwin] over a” lot of nothing!!”.
Of course they needed a tug and tuggie and crews. NO SELF LAUNCHERS at that stage.
One of the pilots was Giles [Michael] a friend of ours. He had an all female crew, not weird knowing him and he wanted to add our then young daughter Inge to his team.
Of course we were a bit  reluctant, but we knew Inge and we knew a few other friends ,who would keep an eye on her.
It was one of those unforgettable trips with camel’s and parachute jumping, BBQ’s and visiting places ,we only heard off. She loved it!!!!
The way back was easy Inge. After all the trips in the car she was allowed in the back seat with Arny in the Cessna. There you go,…. fun for Inge in the far past and now a good retrieve for dad George.Still the same “good old” Cessna.

December 4 ,day 7, task 5;
2.30 AAT for the small ships and there is no measure on Adam, he won for the 5th time;297 km. in time 2.34!!!Allan was runner up with Andrew [Maddocks] as number 3.
In standard it was Allan who flies very well in his LS 8. Between all those LS 8 gliders in the top[7]  there is also an LS 4 from Robert Smits from Alice Springs.[spot 6]
Adam;”Playing around straight after briefing, a 2.5hr AAT was set in the blue, with a little less wind, but not by much. Another day win, but kept honest by Barnes & a great flights.”
Of course Adam is leading at this stage in 15 m. with 300 points on Tobias and 590 on Andrew.
In standard Andrew leads ,with with Allan and Peter [Trotter]also still in the race.

3 hour AAT for the big ships and I heard it was pretty clear that an early start was the way to go. Indeed the early starters did better than the late ones.
Dave [Shorter ]started straight at 14.06 in his JS 1 and was a new face on the podium; 363 km. in 3.01 ,speed 120 km./h.Norm [Bloch] in his JS 3 was runner up and George, who out landed the day before was 3d in the Discus.
Later starters as Lumpy at 14.49 lost a few points.[250]
Tom and Butch are leading now with Geoff Brown in the JS 1C on 3 , with just 40 points more than Lumpy on 4.

December 5,day 8 ,task 6; TODAY; VERY FAST DAY!!!!! A REAL NARROMINE-DAY!!!
15 m./St.class; Set task from 339 km. and NO not Adam today, as Tobias in his Ventus 2A was faster; 143.20 km./h. He shared the 866 points with Scott Lennon from Temora, who flew 140 km./h but on handicap his LS 8 was equal in points. All 17 pilots flew over 100 km./h.
Scott was the winner from St. class.

18m./open; set task from 384 km. and another new face at the podium, though results are very preliminary. Norm[Bloch] flying comps already as long as I was in Oz, won the day with a speed of 158,96 km./h!!!! Pretty fast!!!!
Tom had 155 km./h and Brad 150 km./h.
All 25 pilots flew between 114 km./h and the 158.96 km./h.

Still 2 day’s to go. More in my next blog.

 

————

–—Tocumwal Sportaviation;
Long time friend and to me,  well- known- kilometer -eater Stefan [Soll] added another great flight to his long list of flights from Tocumwal on November 29 in his LS 4 KYO ; 767 km. and nearly 750 triangle; 732!!!
Well done Stefan.
On the last day of November good old Chris Davison flew a 838 km. flight in his 21 m. JS  1CTJ from Toc. .

Stefan and “his ” KYO.”
As shared by  SportAviation Tocumwal

 

Not only Tocumwal had a great day after all the rain. About 70 km. more to the EAST,  Corowa had an excellent day as well with a 1000 km. flight for Danish pilots Stener [Leander Nielsen] and Hans Christian [Hoeck]; 1.007 km in the ASG 32 MI. Well done guy’s!!One day later they flew a declared 750!!!
The first 1000 km. for Corowa and it might well be the first 1000 in Australia for the season.
On that great day ,997 for German guest Hans-Juergen [Lange] and 939 for Austrian guest Hans Peter [Ueblacker]as well.

————

—-Some good flights:
——Worcester [ South Africa] was the place to be last Wednesday; 3 x a 1000 k. one even 1.128 km. On November 17 there were 3 over 1000 km.flights as well.
And yesterday they added a great ridge-soaring-flight from 1.132 km. by Stefan Langer, in a Discus 2T/18 m. His flight is at youtube.com.[High speed ridge flying in South Africa /Pure Flying EP 7.]
—–Kiripotib; news from Boerje [Eriksson] “Last start in Namibia this year with lovely Quintus today and a new Swedish record 500 km out and return with 171 km/h.”
—–Pokweni; December 1….2 EB 29’s from Josef [Eder ] and Alexander [Mueller] flew just over 1.200 km. on a day they did not had to avoid showers.speed 135/137 km.h.
—–Bitterwasser on December 4…OLC Speed League cut by Andreas Hillebrand and Jens Böske from 201.16 km/h over 150 minutes in an ASG32 MI.

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AND,…last but not least, my blogs are easy reading, BUT, when you are interested in the real gliding you should go to http://aboutgliding.com/
ABOUT GLIDING is a blog that wants to push the knowledge and innovation of gliding forward.

“A wide range of themes is in focus: Technological innovation, analyzing extraordinary performances, state of the art practical strategies to fly faster and further, improvements to gliding mathematics and theory, rectifying common misconceptions, proposing and monitoring competition rule changes, searching for record-breaking opportunities, and discovering unexplored territories on earth and beyond. Safety & Accident prevention will be major and recurring topics.

Upcoming articles vary from Cheating in gliding competitions, over Hybrid-electrical tow planes, AI Glider Pilots, an Error in MacCready theory, Analysis of an IFR glider flight, the Potential of Crateus, to Promising methods in reducing gaggles and leaching.

In short: every story about gliding that is innovative, interesting, and if possible helpful.”
A great initiative and behind those very good stories is the well known Belgium pilot Tijl Schmelzer.

CU next week with news about the 65 th Argentinian Nationals from San Francisco, flown between 3 December  2018 – 14 December 2018.

Cheers Ritz