It’ has been 18 dgr. C here, insane on February 25, the hottest 25th ever. We have had in the past speed- ice-skating- races and the 11 steden tocht [ ice skating in the N of Holland …Friesland,…over frozen canals between 11 towns] in February, but NEVER these high temperatures. Even the UK, often wet and chilly in this time, had record breaking temperatures of 20 dgr. and even 21 dgr.C!!!!
Yesterday we had 20 dgr. WOW!!!! Another new record….Today there should be a new record again…..
So far for global warming……??!!!
The weekend however will be wet [90% chance of rain] and “cold” [still 11 dgr.C. but 5 bft. wind, which is not good for the huge moving carnival cars]  like autumn, just when the CARNIVAL parade is on and my town FULL of party-guests.

 

——————

——-Well done to Billy AND Daniel AND James AND Tom AND Paul and last but not least Lisa .Good on you!!! All flights last week. It seems the future does n’t look that bad!!!

“Congratulations to Billy Thomas who flew Solo for the first time yesterday. The photo shows Mark Rushton congratulating Billy after one of the 3 flights. ”
shared by Welland Gliding Club

AND

Congratulations Daniel on your first solo flight! He enjoyed every minute of his 1.5 hour flight and Manager Ops, Steve, was happy to do the honours with the obligatory solo christening!! Welcome to the ranks….now the journey starts!!😁 shared by Gliding Club of Victoria

AND
same club ,….same procedure

And congratulations to James [from Sydney] who soloed today! Woo hoo!! And …..he knew there was no escaping; just bring it on Steve!!😁

AND

“Tom Foale being congratulated by Carol Pike after his first solo.
Great day at Shalbourne GC today.[February 24!!!!!] 53 flights, first solo by Tom Foale, Bronze theory test and Bronze flying test passed by Matt Beckett, Annual checks and P1 mutual checks completed by Nick Jelev, P1 mutual checks completed by Jeremy Knight and annual BI checks completed by Chris Bessent.
With the warm weather there were plenty of T shirts on show,
lets hope 2019 is a great year for gliding……. British Gliding Association UK Junior Gliding”
Shared by  Shalbourne Gliding

AND

“Congratulations to Paul who completed his first solo today! Paul took out our fixed price to solo deal and has been working to progress through the BGA syllabus – seen here with proud instructor Rob!”

AND

“Huge congratulations to Lisa for her first solo flight today! Lisa Baker was sent solo by Brian Gough today after several rigorous training flights ensuring she could safely deal with anything. Lisa’s flying was supported by a bursary from RAFA YOUTH which has enabled her to learn to fly a glider here at Kestrel!”

Shared by RAF GSA Kestrel

Congratulations to ALL.
AND,…a first 300 k is worth mentioning too. From Tocumwal flown by Bruce.

“First 300 km flight for Bruce today
Late start with blue thermals to 8500ft‘”
As shared by  SportAviation Tocumwal

—————-

 

—-Shared by  Graham Garnett;
“Brian Spreckley reports that there will be an Overseas Championship at Issoudun in France held in conjunction with the Issoudun International contest. The task setter and local organiser will be Brian Spreckley and tasks will be DHT, AAT and AST. Gliders at any level are welcome.

Issoudun is a large grass airfield in the centre of France with a possibility of some great flatlands flying in the excellent conditions usually experienced in this region.

 

——-SOME INTERESTING FLIGHTS;

February 20 ;Allan [Barnes]tried a 1000 km. out and return from Lake Keepit in his LS 8. It looked like a chance, but,…unfortunately “it was not there”. Still some great conditions and convergences to fly this late in their season; 886 km.!!!!
February 21;Orient had a good day with 844 in a Ventus 2CM/18m. And 518 in an ASW 20/ 16.6.
Narromine was still good with 753 in an ASH 31/21 m.
February 22; USA pilot Kelvyn Flavall, flew just over 1000 k in blue conditions during a not always easy flight from Omarama, dropping from 4993 MSL [4447 AGL]  to 1641[ 467 AGL] in his ASG 29E/18m.!!!!He called it “a complete mystery“.
That same day Keith [Essex] flew 1.802 km. with a speed of 153 km./h in his ASG 29, on what somebody called a weak and slow day!!???
Keith mentioned in his OLC comment;”It wasn’t the usual wave flight where you could sleep through most of the flight. Tricky, blue at times and unstable with discontinuous lines. Wave system fell apart in the north and the south stayed relatively good. It was cold, was worried about frozen water ballast so tried to stay relatively low. That caused some excitement and a few slow downs.”
Romanian pilot Norbert -Alin Scarlat was in the Duo Discus learning MORE every day;1.605 km. AND Max [Stevens] also flew over 1000 wave kilometers.
February 24; Sven Olivier flies in the JS 1 B a distance of 866 km. He topped the OLC list that day and his comment was :”Late season flight – rain on the first leg 🙂 but dried out on the return leg – blue in the north – convergence at the airfield – Worcester Magic.”
February 25; Good to see Michael Godoj flying from Worcester in South Africa, In the past he flew with us. Now he had a great flight in a DG 500 M/22 m. of 561 km. and topped the OLC list.
February 26…today;still over 600 km. flights in “good”  gliders as ASG 29 /18m. and ASG 32 MI from Benalla and Corowa and over 300 in LS 4 from Tocumwal.

————–

——Some interesting news;
from the BGA about Aussie former JWGC Champion Mathew Scutter ; “Matthew is founder of SkySight, which enables glider pilots of all disciplines to get accurate, long range weather forecasts, and will be sharing ‘Advances in soaring meteorology’ as a guest speaker.”
Matthew will be joining  this year’s BGA Sporting Conference!
Lake Keepit Regatta;  a fun, friendly and informal regatta, with entries restricted to 30 gliders,…started on February 23 and continues till March 2. First day’s were cancelled, day 2 and 3 had Allan Barnes in Duo Discus and Leo Davis in LS 8 as winners. Both day’s 3 hour AAT and 316 and 349 km. as best for 1000 points.
Scores on www.soaringspot.com.
WAGA STATE COMPS; start today [till March 7] with 21 pilots in one class .Flown from Cunderdin with a few toppers as Norm Bloch, Don Woodward and Greg Beecroft .

 

And to finish the EB over the Kalahari, shared by many over the last week, so I do too, as it is a great picture.

Fabulous picture.
Courtesy John Sullivan.

Cheers Ritz CU next week looks like blog 1100!!!!

NARROMINE 2-SEATER NATIONALS….continued.

Picture from above shared by Narromine Gliding Club Official

“Narromine today from above courtesy of the sniffer. Thank you Jack. (Vojta Hájek)”

They continued in Narromine with the 2 seater comps on Thursday with
Day 5..with a 3.30 AAT in which Adam and Keith had a good run again; 1000 points for 412.86 km. in time 3.39. Of course we want to know again how they did it and with Adam’s blog we are always up to date.
“A late task change on the grid [ task A and B were direction N] saw us flying to the South, then West, North & home again on a 3.5hr AAT. As it turned out, we should’ve trusted SkySight [From Matthew Scutter] as the North looked much better – but certainly didn’t prior to launch!

Keith & I started straight away & quickly learnt that the CU’s weren’t giving great climbs nor glides, so an average run South really. We then deviated a long way North to follow the CU’s, which turned out to be the right thing.

Keith is sharing his happy opinions as well;
“Day 5. The waiting game. Waiting for task C due to incoming upper level clouds slowing the heating on task A and B. Task C locked and loaded. 3h30m AAT task under the clouds. Fun day ahead. Sweet Narromine.”

394 km.  for runner up Andrew and Steven for 989 points. and…3d with 399 km. Harry and Allan for 947 points.

They also got “HIGH” visitors on Valentines day. Lumpy flew his plane from Toc to Narromine with in it Ingo, Joergen and Birgitte. Lumpy and Joergen were, as you know, supposed to fly the 2-seater Nationals but a damaging” cell” ruined this possibility.This way they said hello to their mates!!

…… 2 former WGC champions!!!Ingo in Rayskala in 1976, in Hobbs in 1993 , in Benalla in 1987 and in Rieti in 1985 and Brad [Edwards] in Uvalde 1991
Picture shared by Tocumwal Soaring Centre

 

Day 6..with a 3.30 AAT;
Another task C, but also another nice long flight,  a challenging one looking at the speed from 107 km./h over 373 km. by winners Andrew, Georgo called by Adam and Steven.That ARCUS M is a bloody good glider.
The Edwards were runners up and as Brad did in Uvalde in 1991, SINGING, he and his brother Bill did now too in the evening.
Miles out landed ” went too far into top sector ran out of daylight and out landed 10km short. Tim had lots of scratching practice at the end of the flight and his first field landing.”
One more day to go.

Day 7.. with on the very last day a 2.30 AAT;
Rock & Jacobsohn from the Hunter Valley in the Duo Discus GIE won the day and that makes me think it’s the old Sportavia Duo, which was sold during the auction to members of the club from  the Hunter Valley . They were very pleased with the purchase of this Duo GIE, still the same call sign. NICE!!!!I am pleased to see they are happy with it.
They flew 278 km. in time 2.35. Adam and Keith were runners up and Akemi with her team mate Smith were 3d.
So pretty clear who are the 2019 2 seater champions;
1. Adam and Keith in the ARCUS M with 6.394 points.
2. Andrew and Steven in ARCUS M with 6.252 points.
3. Harry and Allan in ARCUS M with 6.023 points.
Then 3  Duo’s on spot 4,5 and 6 with team David Jansen/Styewart, team Akemi Ichikawa /Smith and team Edwards brothers Brad and Bill.
I do agree with Adam’s next words as I have seen at many comps that being your usually you is the best.
“20m final day run down.. My father told me as a young boy, don’t change anything just because you’re at a comp. Pretend it’s just any other day at the local club. That’s exactly what I did, slept the same, ate the same, prepared the same, chilled on the grid the same, it really felt like just another day to me.”
National Champion 😎👍🍻

and the champions and other winners in a cosy setting, with Beryll in full charge .

With from left to right  Keith , just behind him Andrew then Adam, Steven , Alland and Harry.
Narromine Gliding Club Official

 

—————-

—— Who is trying to find something very special for the cockpit of the glider for the upcoming season,should have gone to Styrian Gliders Day  in Austria where Gagula Darko showed his DELUX fine product. It was last Saturday and a bit far for most of us but here is a picture and a link to see more.

http://www.deluxbygagula.com

—————

 

–—-Sebastian Kawa travels a lot. After he left the comps in N.Z. he moved to South Africa to fly a JS 1 for a film-shoot.
Here is the news shared by Sven;” Sebastian pre-flighting the JS1 before a film-shoot – I was privileged to fly the chase plane – what a demonstration of flying skill.”

   

As shared by Sven Olivier.

—————-

It’s mid February end of summer in Australia  and nearly autumn , BUT they still have glorious flying weather.
The Benalla-Corowa-Tocumwal triangle had flights up to and just over 800 km. and 11.000 ft.  cloud base.
Lumpy Paterson flew in his JS 3 /18m. from Toc. 824 km [738 triangle] with a speed of 137.59 km./h.  , Bernie O’Donnell in his ASH 26 from Corowa 803 [598 triangle] and from Benalla Bob Nicholls in the Ventus 2CT/18m. 666 km.
Other great flights on this Sunday February 17, when we here in Holland had a record breaking 18 dgr. C. were from Grant in his Jantar 563 km. from Toc and Joerg in the LS 4 ;606 km. till he out-landed NW from Leeton.
Also the ARCUS M. from the Grampians Soaring Club flying from Toc. was worth mentioning, topping the OLC list with 815 [714 triangle] km.!!!!
Not to forget the very first flight in an ASG 29 [being used to ASW 15 and Pik 20] by Bernie Sizer;778 km. [608 triangle. His OLC comment;“First flight in an ASG29. Unbelievable.”
Temora; they had the  same great weather ,maybe even better as they are a bit more to the N. E. ; Brian DuRieu flew in his LS 10 a distance of 829 km. [738 triangle] and Lesly Kinsley in a St. Libelle 504 km.
I guess this must have been the driest , hottest and toughest summer ever . I have seen a few when I lived there, felt the pain from the farmers, saw the big ‘hoping’ eyes from the animals , but this summer was even more TRAGIC.
It’s a dream however for gliding. How cruel the weather can be!!??

By the way, Keith Essex is back in wave -wonder-land Omarama and flew 1.404 km. with 177 km./h. yesterday in his ASG 29!!!!Also a Romanian pilot learned a lot in a Duo Discus flying over 1.460 km. in wave up to 7291 m. MSL.

—————-

—-Holland, Germany, France and Belgium slowly get their gliders out or their winter-sleep and either do the last job’s or flew already locally.Here is one of my favorite glider fields in Belgium; Keiheuvel.

From above and shared by Kon. Aeroclub Keiheuvel

——————-

——And,…for those who like to fly in Sweden, here is an update on the Masters.
“Dear Uppsala Masters competitors and Teams! 
We will within days publish Local Procedures and some other relevant documents such as price list and good to know info. Final day to register your self is 31st of March. This is also final day of payment. Payment and registration after this date is possible however will cost you 750 sek extra. At this moment we have some 40 gliding ships on the list. Amongst Swedish pilots we are happy to see that our Finnish gliding friends will visit us with a big team. This year we also have visitors from Norway and Germany, and not to forget our new world champion in 18m class from Austria mr. Wolfgang Janowitsch, this time flying with his mate Andreas Lutz in an Arcus. Last but not least we are glad to see that a competitor all the way from Canada has found his way to Uppsala, very welcome Jean Yves Germain. 
So, stay tuned and we will return soon with updates!“

——————-

—–Received the latest WSPA [ Women Soaring Pilots Association] magazine “Hangar Soaring” from editor Frauke Elber with news about Gliding, specially from and for women. This time also with some sad news as her husband for 50 years Wolf died on January 12 2019.Some might know him as well.
This is how he was remembered in her magazine.

IN MEMORIAM ;
Wolf Elber 1941-2019
Wolf and his family came to the US in February 1970 and joined the Tidewater Soaring Society in May that same year.
Wolf had a distinguished career first with NASA and later with the US Army. His professional accolades are immortalized on the Internet and in technical publications.
Few know about his contributions to soaring. He, in conjunction with Steve Sliva, wrote the first display scoring program for the 1982 Nationals in Elmira, NY. For the first time, this program made it possible to see schematically the location of pilot’s land-out places. It was a great hit with crews and the pilots who had already returned to Harris Hill.
A year later, he wrote the program for the ground start-clock that was used during the 1983 World Championships in Hobbs, NM. He also was one of the three scorers at these World Championships. He tinkered with home-calibrating variome-ters using the car manifold and home fridge. In the early eighties, he developed a thermal sniffing sensor that Helmut Reichmann in his plane and Frauke in their Ka8 test-flew. It worked, but too slowly for practical use then. It was about 20 years ahead of its time.
He was an avid supporter of Women Soaring (no wonder, it was a woman, who got him into soaring) and attended about 20 WSPA seminars together with his wife Frauke. At the seminars he was known as mister-fix-it all, especially non-functional toilets. For his efforts in this field, he was awarded the “Golden Plunger Award” (not mentioned on Google).
Over the years he owned a Ka 8, a Libelle, and an ASW 20 and was always willing to share the planes with others. For 10 years he flew in the Senior Championships at Seminole Lake Gliderport.
On January 12, 2019, three weeks before his and Frauke’s 50th wedding anniversary, he took off for his last flight.
Good Finish, Whisky Echo” 

AND,…to finish this fabulous picture shared by the WWGC team. They are very good in their PR and know how important it is to start early with news and pictures. Let them come!!!
Every time in the future when I write about the WWGC I will start with this picture.[ with permission] .

 courtesy  johnlund.com

You are up to date, it’s getting ” slow” with news now as most comps are over , but in Mai the 20 thiest FAI EGC starts already in Poland [Turbia] in open, 18 m. and 2 seater class and even earlier there will be comps as the Pribina Cup 2019 in Slovakia between April 19 and 27.
In between I “scan” the news with my eyes and scan some vintage pictures from “old” comps.

CU Ritz

New Zealand Club Class National Gliding Championship 2019.

 

    

“As you can see Dave the weather man was completely sure which way to go yesterday at launch.”
Yesterday was last Wednesday. Courtesy Matamata Soaring Centre

After the rest- day everybody was eager to go for the last couple of day’s. The weather was not flash but good enough to fly again on Thursday February 7;
Day 11 ..task 10;
Club..2.30 AAT; AND,….only 1 pilot from 9 finished!!! Tim [Bromhead] in his DG 300.He flew 182 km. with a speed of 55 km./h, so a hard working and character building-day , but well deserved 545 points for him.
Tom still leads with 6.116 points, then Mike with 5.673 and Steve with 5.505 points.
Less excitement here as in the other class, but you never know. INDEED!!!!!
Combi..2.30 AAT; and huge differences in start times. Some left at 1.35 PM others like Keith at 2.39 so an hour difference in looking at the weather in different way’s.
4 Finished, but not Sebastian ,he was the first to be “out” after 226 km. Daily winner Patrick [Driessen] in his JS 1; 308 km. in time 3.51.
Also in , Keith and the Taupo ARCUS and,…an LS  6 C with 206 km in time 3.19. Good on David Moody !!!
Sebastian still leads with 6.309 points with Keith on 2 with 6.257 and Patrick on 3 with 5.344.
Interesting to see what will happen, as it is between these 3 pilots, who will be on spot 1 in the end.

 

Courtesy Sebastian who had time to make this great picture as well. Not far from Roturua where I was as well and looked in amazing at the boiling mud.

Day 12 ..task 11;
Club..3 hour AAT; Tim seems to be in a winning flow,…he won again already his 4th win; 289 km./in time 3.08. Steve and Mike “hang in ” on spot 2 and 3 .
6 Finishers and 4 out. Nothing changed in the top 3.
Combi..3 hour AAT; The toppers all started at the same time, but not finished at the same time. Difference in speed between number 1 and 5 was 114.05 for 91.50 km./h..
The first speed was from Sebastian, the last one from Patrick, which meant in points a loss of 250 p. on Sebastian who won the day with 346 km. Patrick had 314 km. In between Keith as runner up with 344 km.
Keith mentioned in his OLC comment :”A variety of conditions today. Areas of overcast to the north and east with good Cu in the west. Very scenic in the west looking out over the pacific. To be safe I did a detour into the sun to get on final glide.”
Nothing changed in the top 3.

Day 13..task 12; In fact they had  9 out of 13 valid day’s. So PERFECT.
What was more perfect was the influence Sebastian seems to have had on the spirit of pilots during the week.
“It has been such an inspiration to so many of us gliding kiwis to have the world champion here flying with us and giving his time so generously and graciously to help those of us still struggling to learn the mysteries of the skies and how to use them. So thank you, Sebastian, you have made a huge difference to our little part of the gliding world.  Combine that with a flying visit from world record holder Terry Delore, and we have certainly been given plenty to aspire to over the last two weeks!” as said /written by Hugh de Lautour .
What happened on their last day :”tough going in places, but again showed how the experienced pilot can fly the energy lines and make the most of what is there.”

Club..3.30 AAT; So a nice long task to even more separate the boy’s from the men.
2 Pilots flew just over 100 km./h. GOOD!!! Daily winner Mike and Mark in the Libelle. Mike flew 353 km in time 3.29 and Mark even 399 km.in 3.58 but with a “little” punishment for airspace.
Tim who had 389 km. had a red sign behind his name as well. AND nearly lost 600 points on this last day, 4 too much!!!
Tim who was 600 points ahead on the last but one day, just lost his first spot overall.
It’s only over after the last finish.
Overall scores after 9 valid [day 1 had great distances but all for zero points] and good day’s !!!
1. Michael “Mike” Strathern in ASW 20 with 7.535 points.
2. Tim Bromhead in DG 300 with 7.531 p.
3. Steve Wallace in Mosquito with 7.440 p.
Mark Wilson in the Libelle stayed on spot 4 with 6.920 p.

Combined class..3.30 AAT; And also in this class the “airspace-disaster” struck.
Patrick won the day with 439 km. in time 3.31 so a nice speed of 124 km./h. for 984 points. Sebastian was runner up with a few kilometers AND minutes more.But Keith only got 500 points for the airspace infringement, whilst he flew 439 km. with a speed of 125 km./h. He will scratch himself behind the ear, though he stayed on spot  2.
Overall scores;
1. Sebastian Kawa in Duo Discus with 8. 254 points.
2. Keith Essex in ASG 29 with 7.720 p.
3. Patrick Driessen in JS 1 with 7.251 p. Just to let you know; Patrick did not fly task 8.

    

As shared by Sebastian.

 

——————–

53th HORSHAM WEEK.

Continued with better weather again and for that reason longer tasks on February 7.
TASK 6:
15 m./standard..3.45 AAT; Another win for Rolf [Buelter] who flew in his LS 8 305 km. in time 3.42. Tim [Shirley] was a good runner up, though “he found it a tough day in the office” .
open..4 hour AAT and John [Orton] in his ASG 29 won the day with 369 km.in time 4.04. Only 4 from 8 finished.
club..3.30 AAT; Only 4 from 12 finished and the daily winner was Craig [Collings]  in his ASW 20 from the Mount Beauty Gliding club;341 km. in time 3.51.

TASK 7;
15 m./standard..204 km; Tim won the day and Rolf was 4th. Gary 7th. A bit of a difficult day for some but not too many points to be lost or gained. With 1 day to go the overall scores look like this;
Gary [Stevenson in Discus 2 ] still on 1, with Bruce [Cowan in  Ventus 1] now on 2 and Rolf on 3.
Open… 239 km; With 129 km./h Craig Vinall raced over the circuit in his ASG 29E. John and Mike on his “tail.” So nothing changed in the top 3 with 1 day to go. On 1. John, 2 . Mike and 3. Craig .Diana is on 4 good on her.
Club…204 km;Steve [Jinks] From the Beaufort Gliding Club in the St Cirrus won the day. Craig was runner up and Ailsa’s dad Alf McMillan was 3d in the LS 4.
Excitement enough in this class for the last day as the overall scores are close between Craig and Jaroslaw, just over 50 points.

TASK 8 last day!!! NO task!!!
A pity so the scores stay as they were.
15 m./st.class;
1. Gary Stevenson in Discus 2 3.520 p.
2. Bruce Cowan in Ventus 1 with 3.364 p,.
3. Rolf Buelter in LS 8T  with 3. 335. p.

open;
1. John Orton in ASG 29/18 m. with 4.181 p.
2. Michael “Mike” Durant in Jantar 1 with 3.906 p.
3. Craig Vinall in ASG 29E/18 m. with 3.866.

Club;
1. Craig Collings in ASW 20 with 3.772 p.
2. Jaroslaw Mosiejewski in PIK 20 B with 3.717 p.
3. Steve Jinks in St Cirrus with 3.317 p.

 

——————

2019 AUSTRALIAN 20m. TWO-SEAT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

The grid.
As shared by Narromine Gliding Club Official

They started on Sunday and go till February 16.
13 Teams in gliders as ARCUS M, Duo Discus and DG 1001-club. Among them long time friends as father Brad Edwards and his son  , Miles Gore Brown and a mate, Harry Meddlicott and Allan Barnes, Andrew Georgeson and Steven McMahon and I noticed Czech topper Tomas Rendla on the list and young Adam Woolley with Keith Gateley. Keith arrived last Thursday in Narromine with the glider.

“Short flight to Narromine. Arrived.” by Keith flying from Bathurst  normally a 900 km.drive.
Picture courtesy Keith.

It was good to see that good old Harry with Allan ,[ strong team !] won the day;1000 points for them for a speed of 93 km./h over 308 km.
Their reaction ;”Day 1 of the 20m Nationals. Tried to start late, about 14:40, on a 300km low blue day. Managed to catch up with everybody and get home first. A few low points, including the last glide before final glide. Very happy with a first place.”
Runners up….Andrew and Steven and Adam and Keith.
7 From 13 finished!!
Not there but they hoped to be there; Jeorgen and Lumpy from Tocumwal. A super-cell ,not fore-casted ,ruined the canopy of the glider on February 3 at the airfield of Tocumwal.

.

   

SO SAD!!!
Pictures by Birgitte AND her story

“Now Jørgen is ready for a road trip to a work shop in Waikerie, South Australia

3th February the forecast was “sunny and light wind” but – early in the evening a supercell passed by the airfield and all the security straps under the front fuselage cover were ripped. The extreme wind tore the canopy off the glider at it landed 100 m away

The gust was so strong that an old bus was moved 30 meters and turned 90 degrees. This bus has been parked on the hard stand for 20 years

Luckily Julie and the trailer were secured and they didn’t move. A group of trailers on the hard stand broke loose the wire at the anchor point

This week Jørgen and Lumpy should fly the Australian 2-seat championship in Narromine, so it’s bad luck.”

They call their ARCUS Julie, just to let you know. AND,…that bus ,[everybody who has been at Sportavia in the past has sit at this bus]is nearly unmovable… very heavy.So that was indeed a SUPER CELL!!!

Day 2; with 407 km.

With Tomas and ,so to see, his daughter, with Adam and Keith, Steven and Andrew and more.
As shared by Narromine Gliding Club Official

I guess it was just waiting to see Adam and Keith winning a day. They did straight away on day 2 and got the 1000 points for a speed of 128 km./h. Here is Adam;
“This two seat flying is a lot of fun, Keith & I are getting along great. So much quality info coming from the back, it’s making my life a lot easier.

Straight off tow we high tailed it towards TP1, a good decision as we had clear air, stayed high, relaxed & watched the fleet start. We started at 14:25, which was just inside our late start planned time.

Andrew Du, in the China -ARCUS, had on both day’s “problems” with the height after the engine shutdown. On day 1 he got a warning on 2 the sign was red behind his name.Only 164 points for Andrew and his mate, a pity.

 

Team China with Andrew and Team KDX with Miles Gore Brown and Tim Hood.
 Narromine Gliding Club Official

Day 3... with 557 km;
A good day with GREAT speed from Adam and Keith .Their co-operation is working magic. Speed of 147.58 km./h .
That was quite a bit faster than the runner’s up in the Duo Discus from Stewart and Jansen with 133.70 km./h.Father and son Edwards with 130.81 km./h did very well too.
A clear explanation from Adam in his Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
“Dusty day, but good fun, naturally. 558km racing task under 13,000′ CU. Keith & I held our nerve at the start, we noticed that the CU was getting closer, so we focused on a slow climb to maximize our start height at the latest possible time.
1st climb was 10kts & so was our final glide climb. Stayed out of trouble all day, despite the 30kt winds, thankfully the climbs were 6kts plus all day & smooth!
The visibility was about 20km at the Southern turn, this caused some concern, so we topped up in some slower climbs to stay high. Worked a treat I think. Day win, happy day’s.”

        

Adam and Keith …happy chappies!
As shared by Adam.

 

Keith who enjoyed an other first place as well, added his comment and is learning a lot!
“The dust was being blown off the paddocks and taken to 12,000 feet by the thermals. Great learning day for me, keep on moving when the thermal strength drops . Make a good plan and stick to it.”

The dust raised high as you can see on this picture from Keith.

Day 4 with a smaller task;2.30 AAT.
Andrew /Steven-day with a speed of 109 km./h. so to see a tough day …blue with a forecast to 5000 ft.with a max of 817 points. Good day for the Rendla’s as well as runner’s up.Adam and Keith were 3d.
Reactions on flying day 4;
Allan and Harry…”set off quite late, about 15:10, with Georgo, not quite as high as we had been earlier. I think we were the last to leave. Had a fair run south, but turned early in the first area at the top of a good climb. Georgo continued so we were on our own. We had planned to use the NW as far as possible, but a few good climbs meant we had to max it out completely. A weaker run on the 3rd leg meant we no longer had any chance of coming in under time, and the final glide was a touch on the fast side but OK.”
Keith shared this picture after an other good day.

.

—————

—Good to see the UK sends 4 ladies to the 2020 WWGC in Lake Keepit.

Liz in 18m; Ayala in Standard; Claudia and Mel in Club Class and Team Captain Justin. Good luck to all.
As shared by British Gliding Team

——–AND,…the first meeting from the Dutch Junior Team preparing for JWGC in Hungary

As they mention themselves” this is a pretty good team!!!”
And,..believing in your self is VERY important as we heard from Adam earlier.
Picture shared by Alexander Venema.

 

—————–

………. in Corowa they finished packing the containers and had a last check today and the estimated time of arrival in Rotterdam will be on the 6th of April to be sent then on trucks to Venlo, where they arrive on the 9th. They unpack on the 10th and then the European soaring season can start .
On their last flying-day , last Monday, they still flew over 600 km.
Best flight that day , on the world OLC, was from Tocumwal in an LS 4 with 593 km by German guest Joerg Nothmann .Today Joerg flew in the same LS 4 639 km. Good on him!!!
Not the best distance today on the Australian OLC as local Corowa pilot Bernie O’Donnell flew 783 km. … a declared 750!!…in his ASH 26 E.Well done, as it is pretty late in the season already.
By the way, good old Kari Lappalainen is back in Toc as well.

CU next week, this Sunday it will be 15 dgr. C. I sniff spring!!!
Cheers Ritz

HAPPY VALENTINE TOMORROW.

 

New Zealand Club Class Nationals 2019 from Taupo.

As shared by the organizers.

 

January 31; 2 day’s out of 3 till now! Good days as well,… even the invalid first day!!!
“Big news today is that Terry Delore is planning to attempt a flight tomorrow from Omarama to Taupo! Apparently conditions are looking good for a crossing of Cook Strait, so there’s lots of eager anticipation here as well as lots of crossed fingers. Go Terry!”Written by: Taupo Gliding Club TGC .
So what’s happening??
Club…3 hour AAT; Very challenging for some. Among them the winner from the 2 earlier days Mike [Strathern] He was “out” in his ASW 20. A pity. He was nearly used to 1000 points, now got only 511.
Good day for Tim [Bromhead] in his DG 300, who flew 243 km in time 2.59!!!
Steve [Wallace] in the Mosquito was runner up with 187 km. so quite a few less in time 2.50.
Combi..3 hour AAT; Maybe it was just waiting for Sebastian [Kawa] to win a day, as that day would come. It was there already on flying-day 3. Sebastian flies with other interested pilots in the rear seat and no secret, these spots sold out straight away.
294 km. in time 3.08 in the DUO DISCUS.
Patrick [Driessen] flew around 50 km. less and was runner up. 3 Outlandings 1 of them the ARCUS.
Keith who was 3d in, mentioned in his OLC comment;“Tough, funky, weak day. Got stuck for a half hour right before I turned for home. Good to be back.”

February 1; Cancelled.
Early morning news by TGC ;” Visibility about 5km in misty drizzle. ”

1210. Update on the good news and the bad news; Terry Delore has made it across Cook Strait. Yay – good news!  Bad news is it’s still overcast and barely flyable in Taupo. Contest director says “Hurry up and Wait”. Will do.

1310. We hurried – we waited – the day is cancelled. Terry is abeam Masterton at 14000ft, so if the weather clears we may see him here yet.

1448. The (ASH 25) Eagle has landed! Terry and his co-pilot John Ahearn have landed at Centennial Park to a well-deserved round of applause. What an inspiration.”
End good all good, nobody worried about the cancellation.AND,…Terry and his mate specially flew to Taupo, to listen what Sebastian had to say.

“Terry Delore and Ian Finlayson arrive to hear Sebastian Kawa talk in Taupo. Terry flew from Christchurch in his ASH 25 climbing at 19 kts! Into the wave to straight line it to Taupo.”
Courtesy TGC.

February 2; Cancelled.”It is 8/8ths overcast and not forecast to improve sufficiently for a task.”

February 3; The Taupo Gliding Club mentions for the day :”The day holds more promise than yesterday, so a task has been set and a launch has been programmed for 1300.  It was hoped to get a racing task in today, but after reviewing the weather models the task-setters have decided today is not the day for that, so another AAT task it is. ”
So,….
Club..3 hour AAT; Mike won another day a 1000 points-day[ 291 km. in time 3.23] ! Mark Wilson in the Libelle did well as runner up with 275 km. in time 3.13.988 points for him and the ‘Little” Libelle. Tim was 3d, still 1 overall at this stage.
Combi 3 hour AAT; Patrick won the day with 360 km. in time 3.16 and Sebastian was runner up and HE, is already a few days on spot 1  overall !!! BUT,..it ‘s only over on February 9.

February 4;TPG news;”The task setters again looked at a racing task, but there is a possibility of overdeveloping so again it’s an AAT, but Hey! – we’re having fun and enjoying a few days of good weather in a row.”
Club..3.30 AAT; so time enough to fly a few kilometers and they did; Tim flew 331 km. in time in 3.33 in his DG 300, enough 3’s. Steve was runner up and Mike on 3.Mark 4 .
So it looks it’s all going to happen for 1 of these 4 pilots. BUT,…still a week to go and a lot can happen. Overall scores after week 1;Tim..4.635. 2. Mike..4.295 and 3. Steve..with 4.257. Mark is also in the 400 range with 4.051!!
Combi..3.30 AAT; Sebastian feels more and more at home in N.Z. and managed to fly 455.71 km. in a DUO DISCUS  with a speed of 122 km./h. TOP!!!!
Keith had 416 km. with 111 km./h. The other DUO DISCUS just started 1 minute later to spot 3 for the day;98.64 km./h. Patrick was 3d as well both had 733 points.
Overall scores after 1 week;1. Sebastian..4.841. 2. Patrick ..4.511 3. Keith ..4.474.

February 5; 2.30 AAT’s for both classes.
Club; 237 km. was flown by Mike in time 2.40 and that meant another 1000 points!!!Tim lost a few points as runner up but is steady going on 1 in the overall scores.
Combi; 259 km. in 2.30 at the dot for Keith ,winning the 1000 points, after a rather late start. [14.03]
Sebastian started at 13.40, raced around over 325 km. in a bit more time [3.08] but was still runner up with 991 points. Speed 103.27 for 103.80!!!

February 6; Well deserved resting day with BBQ in the evening.
Last day’s in next blog.

 

HORSHAM WEEK.

With 33 participants, the always relaxed-with-a-serious-touch- Horsham -week, started last Saturday in 3 classes. Not the toppers who are always winning, so possibilities for all.
15 m/standard;
Task 1..2.45 AAT; And “mr . SCORES”, Tim Shirley won the day in his ,with 272 km in time 2.46 in his ASW 28. 8 pilots in this class. One “out” by use of engine.
Task 2..2.30 AAT; Not “out” by engine this time; Rolf Buelter won the day in his LS 8T with 374 km in time 2.26,…so I quickly looked at the speed, as this was fast. Indeed it was 149.94 km./h!!!
All flew over 100 km./h. and Tim did not start, guess he was busy with scores again.
Task 4..254 km; after a rest-day due to the weather, they could fly again. Rolf, a member of the Geelong Gliding club, spending their Christmas often flying in Tocumwal at Eddy’s, won the day in his LS 8T. Not a fast day as speed from finishers was between 87 and 62 km./h. Last one in LS 6 , but… Gordon was IN!!!!
Tim mentioned;”50km mostly between 3000 and 4500ft. Not easy. Happy just to have completed the task.”

open;
Task 1…3 hour AAT; 9 in this class and Pete Buskens in a JS 1 won the day, 343 km in time 2.58; so 114 km./h. Best distance was 405 km. but in time 3.55 by local pilot Arnold Niewand..
Task  2..2.45 AAT; 464 km. in time 2.43 !!! VERY fast!!! 168.84 km./h. WOW. They must have had fun. John Orton won the day in an ASG 29 /18 m. Runner up in ASG 29E/18 m. was Craig Vinall with a speed of 159 km./h, Quite a difference.
Diana has a real good practice period for the 2020 WWGC, with 3 comps this season. She flew around with 139 km./h in her Discus CT/18m and was 5th.
Task 4..234 km; He started as last of the 10 pilots and won the day again ;John  in his ASG 29/18m.  Though the expectations for the day were not so high, it turned out a pretty good day. Rolf mentioned that it was a difficult, low, slow,  blue day.
Runner up was Michael Durant in his Jantar 1 and Diana was 3d.

club;
Task 1.. 2.30 AAT for the 13 pilots and Jaroslaw Mosiejewski won the day in his PIK 20B; 255 km. in time 2.32. Jaroslaw flew with the Geelong Club in Tocumwal this season and had some great flights. One flight even 959 on Dec. 27!!!
Task 2.. 3 hour AAT; 375 km. for Craig Collings in his ASW 20 in time 2.53 with a nice speed of 125 km./h.
Task 4..172 km; Daily win again for Jaroslaw with Craig as runner up. 4 Out-landings.

No flying today …..and what happens the rest of the week , you can read next week.

 

—– Women in aviation;
In Holland women started on January 25 2019 a Foundation for Dutch women in aviation. It’s for all kind’s of aviation of course including gliding,  as support for what they are doing.
The International link is with the Federation of European women pilots.There are already 13 European countries part of this Federation.[FEWP]

—-And to finish,…it’s COLD!!!! Not only here but at a lot of places.I guess the MIDWEST in the USA has the worst circumstances with up to minus 40 , …with the windchill factor up to minus 60!!!…the coldest EVER and already 21 people died,from cold and by accidents on the road!!! I read somewhere that the difference in temperature between Australia where it was extremely hot , up to 49 in the Adelaide area, and the USA was over 80 dgr. C.
People in Australia really suffer either from the many heat-waves creating one of the worst drought’s or flooding in the NE, where Townsville is under water!!
Even N.Z. was hot, with up to 32 dgr. C.!!!That’s not normal either.
Lasham in the UK, shared these wonderful winter-season-pictures !!

   

Photos by Matt and Jordan.
As shared by Lasham Gliding Society

CU next week it’s nearly March again and spring starts. Last Sunday we really had a nice but very cold day [around 0-2 here] with 6/8 of cu’s. When I looked at the news in the evening the weatherman shared great radar pictures from cloud streets. A few pilots even dared to fly local and loved the visibility.
CU Ritz

P/S. Sorry I am a bit late. Just heard I lost a wonderful Aussie friend Lynn , proud mother of Isabeau and James. Too young to leave us all. R.I.P. my dear Lynn. [Piskorz]

R.I.P Lynn.
As shared by Isabeau.