377 km. was on the task sheet for the teams flying this National 2 seater competition from Narromine.
Task 6 of this flying day 5 had a new daily winner. Ron and Mac. A tad slower than Adam and Keith , but the handicap[1040] from the Nimbus 3DM put them on spot 1;117,79, for 118,88 km./h.
Difference in daily points ; ONE!!!!
Task 7 of flying day 6; with 2 days to go this was an interesting day with a nice task…439 km….
Scores are close, not so much at the top as the Edwards brothers, lost some points but still have a lead of more than 150 points on David and Butch.
Numbers 3 and 4 are close ….4.200 for Allan and Harry [89 years old!!!!] who are by the way, only 100 points behind David and Butch and 4.196 for Mac and Ron.
Who has the best nerves!!?? EVERYTHING is still possible!!!!
What happened?
With 113 km./h Adam and Keith raced for the daily win and 1000 points, so climbing up 1 spot again.
Mac and Ron did well with 106 km./h meaning a runner up spot. Brad and Bill lost more than 200 points by being 6th for the day. They are still in the lead but with less than 100 points.
One more day…
Task 8 on flying day 7. 3 hour AAT, so “find yourself as many kilometers in 3 hours.”
Well, former world champion [in Uvalde in 1991] Brad is good in AAT’s so he and his brother won the last day; 396 km. in time 3.03, so a nice speed of 130 km./h. That means they stay on top!
But then,….Adam and Keith really flew a great end-sprint over the last day’s but not enough to be in the top 3, they ended on spot 4.
Dave and Butch were on a daily 3d spot and Mac and Ron on 4.
Allan and Harry lost more than 300 points being on spot 7 so the final results:
1. Brad and Bill[ Edwards] in ASG 32 M with 6.243 points.
2. David [Jansen]and Butch [John Buchanan] in the ARCUS T with 6.025
3. Ron [Sanders] and Mac [Ichikawa] in Nimbus 3DM with 5.915 p.
4. Adam [Woolley] and Keith [Gately] in Arcus M with 5.905, they came close!!!!
“Thanks foremost to Keith Gateley for another outstanding week together, we had an absolute blast! Shame about the 1st two outlanding days, but 3 day wins & 2 very close 2nd places following, allowed it all to be ok. We finished 3rd in the 20m class & 4th overall by just 10points – so close, yet two turns too far.” Adam.

Miles [Gore Brown] flew in the Duo Discus as coach from a few pilots during these nationals . Huge experience for new-to-be-competition-pilots. They were 6 overall.!!!
Allan and Harry 5th!!!! YES indeed, Harry is 89 years old!!!I spoke with him and his wife Wendy, in Lake Keepit last year and even on hot days Harry is still active as a young guy. Amazing.

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The next Australian National Championship will be the 2020 Club & Multi-Class Nationals between 12-20 March 2021. Due to Covid they will be flown then.
Only 18 entrants, but enough to make it a valid [ 7 needed] club class championship and combined also a valid 15 m./st class championship.
Open and 18m. have only 4 so they fly for the Covid Cup.

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Great weather down under, last Wednesday when I left you. Pete [Temple] managed to fly his 2d 1000 from Gawler , for the season, in his 18 m. ASG 29. Rather late in the season. In the end of November, early in the season, he flew 1.313 km. already.
Grant, who just , won the Horsham comps in club class , flew 556 [FAI triangle] in his St. Jantar from Tocumwal and with such great weather Swiss Chris flew as well;590 in his ASW 27.
“nice CU day with cloud-streeting in the evening, tricky to find thermals on the first two legs, better lifts after that, but maybe it was just me“
Bernie [Sizer] flew in his PIK 20 B, a nice 500 triangle .
Also Ingo went for a flight, in the Cirrus, with good old Bruce as his tuggie!
Narromine had great weather too.

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Also a few 1000 km. flights from Worchester…they have a few really good final- season-days…
Marcus flew already a 1000 on February 17 in the ARCUS M, then Sven [Olivier] flew one in the JS 1 on February 18 and on February 19 both flew over 800 km. TOP!!!
Sven about his 1000 k. ;”A late season 1025 km (and 1000+ olc points) it was hard work the first 6 hours was 90% of the flight

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THE KEEPIT Regatta started on February 21.The practice day was on the 20thiest.
There are 29 pilots flying in 2 classes; club [16] and sports [13] .
Day 1 with a 3 hour AAT in sports was won by Matthew Scutter in his Diana 2, with the FES; 352 km in time 3.08.
Matthew was runner up on day 2, a 2 hour AAT, won by “the meteo man” from the WWGC , Dave Shorter in his JS 1. Speed 132 km./h over 267 km in time 2.01.
Day 3 [ 3 hour AAT] was for Matthew again;357 km. in 3 hours at the dot!!!!!
“Lots of moisture around, so most clouds did not work. Slower down South but better and higher up North.” Matthew Atkinson who flies the Ventus 2C/18m.

In club the 3 hour AAT was won by Ray Caldon flying an LS 6 /17.5 m.[290 km. in 3.06.
The 2 hour AAT by Vic Hatfield in a G 103 Twin III SL and the 2.30 AAT by Sophie in her LS 4.[226 km. in 2.30 at the dot!!!]
It looks like the days on soaringspot are a bit mixed up.

no task today yet, so more next week.

More comps in Australia as this one; the GCWA Club comp.
“The Gliding Club of Western Australia is trying a pilot and glider handicapped competition format. It will be held a few times a year as a 4 day, long weekend format. The idea being more people can make 4 days than a week and it is easier to organize well than a weekend competition. We have a wide range of pilots and gliders from Ka6 to JS3 so we use variable distance by handicap but the same route to allow us to race together. We have a Grand Prix start and the first back is the winner. We sometimes have other task to suit the weather and other events, like Round the Clubs.”
They flew between February 19 and 22 and the first 3 days were not too good, looking at the weather.
Monday was a bit better with a 300 k AAT, but not all pilots could fly the task…..only 5 went up.
That day James Cooper flew from Cunderdin 829 km [798 FAI triangle] in his ASH 31/21 m.
Lumpy in his JS 3 638 km.
Western Australia has great late summer/ early autumn weather.

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R.I.P. HANS WERNER GROSSE…..such a kind person, a real soaring hero…an epic pilot. There is much more to say about him, but you probably have read it already. I got to know him at a WGC ,I believe Paderborn and from when he flew records from the “heart of the continent”, Alice Springs. He called then to us/ George in Tocumwal to check the weather circumstances and after being fully prepared, he flew another record. GREAT personality. GREAT pilot. GREAT guy.
98….a superb age!!!!

JONKER Sailplanes shared this sad message;
“The gliding world has lost one of its greatest pioneers Hans-Werner Grosse passed away at the age of 98, finishing the last chapter in an amazing life story, filled with great gliding experiences.”
More on Jonker Sailplanes
ALL magazines have the news as Aerokurier.de and many individuals shared it as well.
Kiki; “Hans-Werner is now flying with the angels . A great pilot and a very friendly person . RIP”
British Gliding Association
“We are sorry to report that the gliding legend Hans-Werner Grosse has passed away. His 1972 flight of 1460 kilometers from Lübeck to Biarritz in southern France made Hans-Werner Grosse a legend of distance gliding. He died on February 18th at the age of 98.“
Also in the Volo a Vela
And https://nordicgliding.com/
And many more……so it should be, he was important for soaring, specially for long distance flying!!!!!!

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Bizarre weather in The Netherlands. Last week we had minus 17 here in this region, and now 20 plus!!!!
From skating on rivers and lakes ,we saw with in a week people go for a dive/swim in those lakes or rivers. WEIRD!!!!
BUT ….I LIKE IT!!!!!

CU next week. Still spring weather whilst the average temperature for this time of the year is 7!!! Today we have 20 again, most probably the hottest day ever on February 21 here, will be beaten today.
Though we “suffered” from red sand in the higher air levels, as the Southern wind from Africa brings this sand from the Sahara. No rain, so the higher levels are full of sand , hence less sun. BUT ,…we do not complain.
Sahara-sand has disappeared ,…sun is shining like in summer!!!!
Cheers Ritz

Last Wednesday they had long tasks in Horsham and the scores were not yet in, when I published.
They are now, of course!
A good day it was….up to 9 kts and 7500 ft and “chasing clouds“.
Club had a 3.30 AAT and Grant [Heany] from Tocumwal flew in his St Jantar a distance of 347 km in time 3.36. Good on him.
Craig [Collings] from the Mount Beauty club was runner up in his ASW 20. 361 km in time 3.34. He was the only one flying …just…over 100 km./h.
15 From 17 who started finished!
Andi Benton from the Beaufort Gliding Club flew 5 hours and 33 minutes in his Astir C 77! BUT,…..he finished. TOP!!!
No flying on Thursday! 2More days to go. Yes,…when…..COVID would not have hit ??????

15m./standard class;464 km….All 8 who started, finished in this class. Daily winner Gordon Trollip, in his LS 6 [handicap 1015] ;108.64 km./h.
4 Flew over 100 km./h.
No flying on Thursday.

Open/18 m.; 553 km. 8 From 9 who started flew the task.
Terry Cubley won the day in his Ventus 2CXT/18 m.;120 km./h.
Michael Durrant, who won flying day 1 and 2 in his 19m. Jantar, was 5th on this for all classes 1000 points-day.
No flying on Thursday.

AND,…no flying on Friday…tasks were set…. and Saturday..no tasks set anymore…. . COVID -19 HIT!!!!
As in Victoria 13 people were tested positive , a new lockdown for 5 days, started on Friday night at 0.00 hour. To be back home in time they all had to leave.
Also the 30.000 people,…half of the normal amount…, who were allowed at Flinders Park to see with their own eyes the tennis matches ,were not welcome anymore either.
Bloody covid,…but, indeed, the world has to be CAREFUL. There are so many different variations at the moment.

So the final , by corona interrupted …scores are in
st./15 m….
1. Jack Hart in the Mosquito with 2.963 points.
2. Tim Shirley in ASW 28 with 2.934 p.
3. Daniel Summers in LS 3a with 2.933 p.
I guess those pilots REALLY would have loved 2 more days of soaring to REALLY see the final results.
Ryan Driscoll who was 4th took his glider on Friday for a goal flight to Benalla :”A little dash back to Benalla to save some time getting back to Melbourne before the lockdown at midnight tonight.”
18m./open...
1. Michael Durrant in Jantar/19 m. with 2.663 points.
2.Terry Cubley in his Ventus 2CXt with 2.618 p.
3. Rolf Buelter in LS 8T with 2.603 p.
Also in this class CLOSE scores for the top 3.
club class.….
1. Grant Heany in the St. Jantar with 2.147 p.
2. Craig Collings in ASW 20 with 2.125 p.
3. Robertson and Ryan in the Janus CM with 1.925 p.

After 4 days the Geelong Gliding Club won the Team Cup with 852.36 points.

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A 11 minute video on youtube.com,”Recit de vol… De la Bretagne à l’Allemagne” episode 3, about Tijl Schmelzers 1.250 km. flight ,is just excellent.
The first declared 1.250 in Europe without wave!!!!
It has been released on February 2.
They look from all aspects to this flight, clearly explaining the day from start to finish. It’s really a pleasure to see it and a “lesson” for all who hope to make such long flights.
It is spoken in French, but with English subtitles.
Hugo Corbillé Gliding and his team created this video. They did more of these flight reviews. Good on them!!!

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My good mate Bruce [Brockhoff ,several times national champion soaring in Australia and many times Aussie WGC competitor] has 2 gorgeous daughters Belle and Brooke.
Last Friday afternoon ,I saw on TV how Belle became world champion ,together with Jarryd Hughes during the world championship pair-snow-boarding in Sweden. In the final race first Jarryd had his scary high flying speedy race which he won and then Belle had to finish it off, which she did in style and with class!!!Great to see it here on TV.

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The AUSTRALIAN 2-seater 2021 NATIONAL competition is ON.

Narromine is the place to be. But for you at home….still for few days
http://www.narromineglidingclub.com.au/2021Narromine2Seat/TwoSeat_Tracking.html
OR https://soarscore.com/ then just click on the day.
“The Competition is still currently scheduled to run from 13 February to 20 February inclusive, and will be subject to all appropriate COVID-19 safety protocols.”
Unfortunately the first day had to be cancelled due to rain. It seems true, “If you want it to rain just hold a National Gliding Competition.”

There are 9 teams flying; 3 in ARCUS M, [Keith Gateley and Adam Woolley …Allan Barnes and Harry Medlicott and Justin and Greg Smith]..1 in ARCUS T, [Butch and David Jansen] 3 in Duo Discus [1 XL] [Miles Gore Brown team, and 2 Hunter Valley teams] and 1 in ASG 32. [Brad Edwards and brother Bill…they do not only fly but make music sing and play guitar as well] and team Ron Sanders fly in the Nimbus 3DM.

Due to rain no task 1 , but task 2 was set and all were in the mood for some good flying during a 3.30 AAT. Scores were close in the top and only 4 from 9 teams finished, but there was a winner; 2 of my long time friends Butch and David in the ARCUS T; 1000 points for 376 km in time 3.40.
The singing brothers Edwards ,in the ASG 32 , “got” 996 points for 363 km. in time 3.34. Both were the only ones flying over 100 km./h. But it was a very blue and not really strong day!
Team Miles another longtime friend, did well with a 3d place in the Duo Discus X; 350 km. in time 4.02 and the other finishing team, 2 more friends for ages , team Ron finished with 340 km in time 3.58.
The first “not-finisher” was our old Duo Discus from Sportavia GIE. It was bought for a nice price during the public Sportavia-auction, years ago by the Hunter Valley club. A really good glider and it still seems to be good!!!
For sure there will be a good reason, but I wondered about the relative big difference in start time between 13.35 and 14.16 on a blue day.

Task 3, a 2.30 AAT was a prey for the Edwards brothers with 239 km in time 2.33.
“A blue and windy day today meant conditions weren’t easy, but with some excellent strong climbs Brad & Bill Edwards outperformed the pack and brought the ASG 32 home on top.”
Nobody flew , even with these fancy gliders ,over 100 km./h…..
93 km./h was the best by the winners ,,so a tough day in the office “.
7 From 9 were IN, and till now 2 other good mates, Keith and Adam were unlucky with 2 “outlandings” in the ARCUS M.

Task 4, a 354 km set task. AND, the ones who were out on the first 2 days , Keith and Adam won the day now.
Keith; “After 2 days having to use our engine to get home we finally had not just a finish but a first place to boot. All by 5 seconds. A great day and motivating us for the next 4 competition days.”
They started together with Harry and Allan, …more good mates….,and landed together both in ARCUS M and got 1000 and 999 points for speed of 108 km./h.
Keith and Adam followed up a good advice ;” Advice from a friend, set an altitude alarm to slow down & “don’t suck” today!“
Allan; “We had a great start with Woolley and by the first turn had scraped him off 2000ft below. Must have been pretty close to the front but then had a slow patch on the 2nd leg where we had to use 3kt. The main gaggle caught us up about the 2nd turn and then we ran with them all the way home.”
Team Ron did well in his Nimbus” ;105 km./h.
Brad and Bill lost 52 points but are still on 1 overall with more than 200 points. At 2 is now team Ron with ONE point more than Butch and David.

Task 5….flying day 4..a 3 hour AAT. Task was changed to B task..30 minutes less.
The advice given to Adam and Keith seems to be better than good, as they won the day again. Another 1000 points in their pockets, for 372 km. in time 3 hours at the dot!!!!
Allan and Harry were runner up . They had some problems in the morning:
“We had a couple of engine problems – first the water pump failed and the engine overheated, so we landed, and then the engine wouldn’t start at all. After the flight we found a loose spark plug lead. So we took an aerotow just after everyone had started. Had a great run down to the first turn of the AAT, averaging around 150kph with a 20kph tailwind. Next leg was good too, then the into wind leg I was a lot more cautious and stayed high. Conditions softened right off at the end of the day and we ended up working 3 kt, but finally got onto final glide at the back of Trangie and came home with height to spare but right on time.”
Mind you, good old Harry is not the youngest anymore….but still going strong.
team Ron lost some points by being 8 for the day and dropped overall from 2 to 4. No worries , with NO rain and NO covid, still a few days to go.
You can read it next week.
Task 5 was flown today so scores are preliminary.

I gave you some links to follow the gliders ,here is another one they advised for today;
Live Tracking from OGN (Variable reliability)
“Just click on Todays task under 2021 AUSTRALIAN 2 SEAT NATIONALS
Note that because of varying levels of FLARM visibility sometimes aircraft can disappear for several minutes. So its not always accurate. if you click on the aircraft you can see in the details the time since last fix.
Although some aircraft have better flarm setup and remain visible.”

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Great flight last Monday by Marcus [Geisen] and Uwe [Thiele] . Very late in their Worcester season, they flew together in the ARCUS M a distance of 1.168 km. with HUGE speed….173 km/h.
Uwe flew in the past a lot of seasons with us in Tocumwal. We called him the “kilometer–eater,” as he always tried long distances . He started early in the morning, straight when it was possible and landed at last light.
Nice to see NOW in retrospect, , how many great pilots ..indeed lovely people…flew with us in the past.

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Winter seems to be over, with temperatures above ZERO now. My goodness me , it was so cold here. We had a regional cold wave with 5 days in a row under zero and at least 3 of those days minus 10.But I must say the blue skies and hot sun felt GOOD.
The weekend was full of ice skaters. Every lake canal or frozen water was good enough to skate OUTSIDE.
It’s so typical Dutch and people just dream of it and now it happened.
No marathon comp or 11-cities-race as the ice is even with the minus 17 not everywhere reliable, but lots of fun but also many broken arms , hips and legs. I heard more than 30.000!!!!
Part of the fun.

The winter seems over now….first however, code red again last Monday due to freezing rain. We had minus 15 last weekend and the upcoming weekend it will be 15 dg.C PLUS!!!What a huge difference in temperature within one week. Within 2 weeks the difference was 34 dgr.
Spring on the horizon…..maybe 20 this weekend…LIKE!!!!
Not yet in the USA where they suffer from extreme cold in the Mid and South. Texas, where I had 2 great summers at the WGC in Uvalde in 1991 and 2012 was one of the hottest places I have been too. Now they are sitting , with millions in the cold….. power fails, roads are ice and lots of snow!!!!Already 20 people died….Feel for them!!!!

Hope you had a lovely VALENTINE day. In the Netherlands florists sold 152 million roses. Not bad is it?
That’s it for now.
Cheers Ritz
Nostalgic weekend ice and skating is so typical, TYPICAL Dutch, EVERYBODY loves it. So do I , but I am too old now for skating and that freezing cold!!!

AND One more because they are so beautiful.

Some of the readers knew exactly which year it was; the yellow shirt I am wearing on the picture last week, was from the 2011 NGC,…so that’s solved.
Thanks for being happy with me, friends!!!
We had snow and blizzards and ice cold temperatures. Last Sunday it was code red here,…I guess my Nordic friends laugh their “heads off”, …but our cold and snow, was even news on Aljazeera and CNN.
Tomorrow we will have minus 15 and with the wind chill factor minus 20!!!!!!!In the weekend minus 20 and I don’t want to know how cold it will be WITH the wind chill factor.
Last Sunday, no trains for the day and no planes.
AND,…the ZOO in Arnhem has brought their penguins INSIDE ,…it’s too cold for them,…NO JOKE!!!!
They call it already now “a winter for the history books.”
By the way there are more countries in Europe at the moment with artic circumstances.

And more fun in the neighborhood of Nijmegen,…yes skiing behind a car in Holland on a quiet road .

Kari in Finland, used to lots of snow and cold ,shared 2 pictures and indeed there is much more snow over there, but,…… they are used to it.
This, on the pictures, is Rayskala!!!The field and the area in front of the club house where I had great fun, good food and many beers!!!!
The pictures are courtesy to his friend Alfons. If you read the story under the picture you see how small this world is.

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Time for soaring again.
The Club class Nationals in New Zealand had a lot of days with good soaring.
8 out of 9 in open for the THE MSC comp and 8 out of 9 in club,..so really good nationals!!!
Both classes did not fly on the 3d of February, but from then on they flew till the end.
Here is what happened in open class;
Task 6 had a 3.30 AAT and Tim [Bromhead] in his Ventus CT/17.5 m. flew 361 km. in time 3.33 and 3 pilots had violations to the air space, one of them Brett [Hunter] who was on spot ONE in the overall top. With 0 points he moved from 1, with more than 300 points ahead , to 3 overall,…that hurts!!
Good old Tony[van Dyke] in his LS 8 was runner up with 3.45 km. in time 3.45. And more or less out of the blue he was on spot 1 overall now!!!
Task 7, 2.45 AAT won again by Tim and Tony and Brett was 3d.
Task 8, 347 km. Only 5 finished but a good day for Tim , [1000 p] Tony [946 p.] and Brett [914 p.] as it was a 1000 points day. Best speed 92 km./h.
Task 9, 280 km. Brett won the last day with a speed of 114 km./h starting relative early at 12.53, whilst runner up Tim, started at 1.23 . Tony was 4th and it pleases me to see that an “old” mate won this competition with 7.058 points.
Tim had 6.883 p. and Brett 6.459 p.

Club class NATIONALS:
Task 6 , 3.30 AAT and Mark [Wilson] in his Libelle flying 279 km. in time 3.26.
10 From 15 finished and 3 had a violation. Robert, it’s all between him and Mark, lost some points [96] by being 4th.
Task 7, 3 hour AAT, another nice task for the “little ones”.251 km. for Mark in time 2.58. Robert[ Gray] in the DG 100 G elan, was 3d but it is still between these 2 pilots.
Task 8 ,239 km. only 4 pilots finished and the best speed was for Alain Marcuse in the LS 4 ;90 km./h. Mark and Robert belonged to the finishers.
Task 9, with 221 km…. 14 from 15 finished . Robert won the 1000 points and Tim was runner up with 996.
In the end it was really exciting. Mark won 4 day’s and Robert 3.The handicap between the Libelle and DG was about the same ;89/90. It looks like task 6 , in the end, was the decider.
N.Z. NATIONAL CLUB CLASS CHAMPION:
1. Mark Wilson with 6.987 points.
2. Robert Gray with 6.952 points.
3. Alain Marcuse with 6.596 points.

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The HORSHAM WEEK in Australia, between February 6 and 13, started with a lot of wind but good CU’s.
3 Classes, 15m./standard [8] , open/18 m. [ 12] and club.[19]
Always a lovely comp to attend.
5 days and till now 3 day’s flown in st/15m , same in open/18 m. and 2 in club.
Today the pilots have a “big one” on their soaring plate;
3.30 AAT for club, 553 km. for open and 18 m. and 464 km. for St. and 15 m.
Only 6 pilots in at the moment,…and Grant is at this stage number 1 with 347 km. in time 3.36..
Great to see Grant [Heany] from Tocumwal is doing WELL in his St Jantar. Number 1 at this stage in club. He is a REAL good pilot, already 20 years ago and still now!!!!He “feels” soaring.
Grant but also Attila, were top hang-glider pilots years ago when they decided on a non-flying-day on a world championship-hang-gliding, not far from Tocumwal,…to convert to gliding. They both still love their soaring , like Mart Bosman, who did the same.
More next week. They had tough days as well with only 1 from 8 finishing in 15m./st.
Scores are on www.soaringspot.com

The GLIDING INTERNATIONAL from February 2021 shows a fabulous picture from 2 Stemme’s above the Gepatsch glacier in Tirol[Austria]
The Stemme has been frequently in the news lately and with their long interesting flights, they were in the center of the attention. I wrote about those flights as well.
What’s in the magazine this time?
——The AIR TO AIR photo shoot, by top photographer Simon Rainer ,from 2 Stemme’s is just stunning!!![www.simonrainer.com]
ALL you need to know, about the Stemme in this magazine; 14 pages of “beauty and history”!!!
——Take flight- with proven security …..about Aussie mate Matthew Scutter …about loggers, vario meters and other devices, of course his software platform SkySight, which as you know provides weather forecasts for glider pilots.
His new glider AVIONIC Diana 2-FES, will arrive soon in Australia.
“ I’ll be posting a series of videos on how I recommend to
get the most out of your device to the SkySight YouTube channel.”
——the transcription of the Timeless content of Helmut Reichman’s lecture presented at an International Symposium in 1988. I got to know him and his wife long ago at several WGC’s. Nice fellow….who has written a great and much read book about cross country flying.
——–managing batteries in 2021.
——–the significance of the BREXIT for European soaring.
——What comes after carbon fibre.. nanotechnology.
——-the Yuneec EViva is a Chinese low-wing, two-seat motor glider that was designed by Martin Wezel and is reported to be under development
by Yuneec International of Kunshan, Jiangsu. Interesting!
——-TOO many accidents in the accident report from November and December 2020.
And lot’s of International Aviation news and the page full of “things with wings.” Enjoy!!!!
www.internationalgliding.com

To finish a picture from some REAL cold. My mate ,Art [Grant] from Canada shared it “A bit brisk for my 6:45 AM walk this morning! A few layers were added.”

That’s it for now.
All heating in the house is on “full”.
CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

Well, ….not bad is it ,….for an old , [on my way to 75 ] lady!
Lot’s of discipline to do research and “soar” hands from writing and once in a while mistakes…, but I try to be as correct as I can.
A huge thank you to Bill as well, as he keeps my blog “running” now.
Knowing that, gives me much less stress.
So best to continue with the regionals in Worchester.

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Western Cape Regionals flown from Worcester.
I was very pleased with, / enthusiastic about the speed last time in my blog, from Uys, [185.72 km./h.] but one of the readers, a glider pilot , wrote a reaction who put me more or less back with 2 feet on the ground, though I am still enthusiastic ,
“it IS nice, but when you start high and have a long final glide, maybe only need 2 thermals and then straight on ,AND with a short task, I am not too impressed. What strikes me more is the very favorable handicap for 2 seaters. They earn a lot of points.“
A different look on it.
Here is what Uys had to say about the fast “blistering” day;”
“It was an amazing day. I don’t know the area at all, so I had no idea where to take caution or where to conserve energy. The JS3 (like the JS1) has a very high yellow line speed – it likes to fly fast – so cruising above 200 km/h for most of the task was a lot of fun. What a wonderful place – ideal for a Grand Prix Final”,
So further with flying day 4, task 5 in open class, after a non flying day on Wednesday.
608 km for open, 390 for club and 497 for 15 m. Pffff…..
In open the best speed was again for Uys,..a real speedy gonzales..in his JS 3 , 156 km./h, but the 1000 points were for Oscar and his mate in the ASG 32 .
Speed; 148 km./h but on handicap that gives more points.
Most pilots started just before 2 PM, smart with such a long task, but Marcus started at 2.25 and was “out” after 439 km. A pity.
Only later I found out the reason;
“Thanks Markus (and Martin) for delaying your launch to help remove my seatpan to recover the elevator trim knob that had come unscrewed.” as written by Nick and John who were 6th for the day.
In single-handed-racing in a yacht, you can win by helping!!!!!
4 Out in total.
Looking at the “little ones…with affection, 2 flew the distance from 391 km. The DG 400/17 m. [handicap 109] even with 133.95 km./h.
The ASTIR pilot, Colin, flew 4 hours but finished !![handicap 96]
In 15 m. there were 2 pilots flying around with just over 120 km./h over 498 km. One of them Wilhelm Mosehuus in the MOSQUITO.
Martin had, with a later start by being helpful, less chance and was out.
No “Yacht” bonus in gliding.
Flying day 5 task 6;
Open had 521 km to fly and our USA mate Nick is learning quick from John and together they won the day in the repaired ARCUS M. The team started together with Marcus , but the speed difference was 5 km./h.
156.13 km./h and 151.15 km./h. for 667 and 644 points!!!
Ouch,…Oscar with the ASG 32M was “out after 116 km. “bringing” him a poor amount of 96 points. Dropping from 2 overall to 7!!!
Flying day 6 task 7; On this last day Nicolas and John had an overall lead from 121 points on Uys.
A 389 km. task was set and a terrible fast one again, ..racing the area and those mountains…must be great fun.
Oscar won in the ASG 32 M, on handicap, with a speed of 177 km./h. But Phillip Jonker in the JS 1 had a speed of 183 km./h!!!!
Nicolas and John were on spot 3.
Nicolas; “Worcester Regional (officially the “Cape Gauntlet”) Day 7. Task speed 173kph. Great conclusion to a fine contest on very scenic ridges with excellent coaching from John Coutts. It was a short and straight forward task intended to get everyone back in time for the post-contest meeting. Mostly a drag race on the north south ridges, but there were at least three ways to get to the last turnpoint. We circled before reaching Saron, which cost a few minutes, but was a conservative solution we had high confidence would work, and it did.”

Final results from Worcester;
1. Nicolas Bennett and John Coutts in ARCUS M with 4.090 points.
2. Uys Jonker in JS 3 with 3.946 p.
3. Andreas Spielmann from Switzerland with 3.732 p.

15 m. was won by Findlay Smith in Ventus b with 4.365 points and
CLUB, by Colin Sindle in Astir CS with 2.715 points,… a “whopping” 594 points more than runner up Kevin Mitchell in DG 400/17m. who won 4 days but did not fly on task 6.

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Club class NATIONALS in NEW ZEALAND
January 29-February 7 2021.

After a practice day with an 2 hour AAT they started on Saturday January 30 with the Club Class Nationals and the MSC comp at the airfield of MATAMATA. I visited this airfield in 2011 , I guess it was, when I visited N.Z.
15 club pilots and 11 open class pilots among them Brett Hunter,Patrick Driessen,Tony van Dyk and Tim Bromhead.
A great start in open class with a 4 hour AAT won by Brett in the JS 3. Not the huge speed from South Africa but a steady 103 km./h over 414 km.!!
4 Outlandings one by Tim and good “old” Tony was runner up in his LS 8 with 358 km. in time 4.03.[88 km./h.]
Task 2 was “no worries” for Tim , he shook off the loss of day 1 and won the set 340 km. task with a speed of 122 km../h in his Ventus CT/17.5 m.
Task 3 with a 3 hour AAT, ….good weather there on the Nord Island…was won by Brett again; 338 km. in time 3.22 [100 km./h]
Task 4 was 272 km. and 2 pilots flew around with a speed over 100 km./h
Tim with 112 km./h and a late start at 2PM, and Brett who started half an hour earlier with 111 km./h.
All 10 who started flew the task. Tony was 5th.
At this stage the overall scores are looking VERY good for Brett 3.700 points. Runner up Tony with 3.389 p.

Club , showed with task 1, that 9 from 16 finished. Mark Wilson in his St Libelle won the the set 309 km. in time 3.53 so a speed of 79 km./h.
Task 2 showed 282.82 km. to fly for the pilots. Robert ‘ Bob’ Gray in the DG-100 G elan, won just ahead of Mark;1000 and 995 points.
A 3 hour AAT as task 3 and the “good old Libelle” won with 245 km in time 3.11. All 15 who are still in the race,….finished!!!
Task 4 another 3 hour AAT. The winner here in the DG , Robert started also just before 2 PM. [1000 points for 246 km. in time 3.12.] He was not the last ,as half an hour later at 2.30 it was a daring attempt from the Libelle pilot Rob Lyon,….but he finished and was 7th for the day, but flew around 50 km. less than the others.
So with a few more days to go it’s between Robert[3.892 points, who also topped the world wide OLC list on February 2 for 293 OLC km’s] , Mark [3.803] and Rae Kerr in a T51 Dart 17R[ have not heard of this plane yet], with 3.725 p.

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Nordic Gliding is a great soaring/aviation magazine, by Jens Trabolt. Indeed it is in Danish language but as Jens mentioned “As always please find a link to translation in the beginning of the article.”
This time [January 27] they have an article about the “Duo Discus with FES? Yes, the popular 20 meter glider enters the new electric world alongside its classmate DG 1001 e neo. A new, more powerful battery is also on its ways, says the supplier.”
https://nordicgliding.com/
And “curious on the eta concept? then read the NG-flight experience article “here: (please find a link to translation in the beginning of the article)” https://nordicgliding.com/paa-eet-langt-finaleglid-med-eta/
About the Gliding Magazine; “The gliding associations in Denmark, Sweden and Norway have joined forces to publish a professionally made aviation magazine portraying the fascinating world of gliding and energy efficient flight and showcasing exiting new technologies and products.”
AND
“From 2020 NORDIC GLIDING also has a digital presence on nordicgliding.com. The website has the largest amount of professional, high quality gliding content anywhere in the world.”

Nice news from Tasmania. I was there only once but on a very special day.
The final of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 1997, with as winner George Snow with BRINDABELLA, who learned to fly gliders at Sportavia. We were invited at the winning boat and it was SUPERB.

Now the soaring news from Tasmania;”A very exciting day at Gliding Tasmania. For the first time in the 46 year history of the club, they send 2 new members solo “. Have a look at gliding Tasmania on their FB site.

The HORSHAM COACHING week has started and Horsham week will be flown between February 6 and 13.
www.horshamweek.org.au

And to finish this great picture from pink skies by Swiss Chris from the sunset in Tocumwal on February!
Did you know that in “our” time, well known photographer’s arrived to make photo shoots from cars at the runway with this colorful sunset?? All very secret as those cars were brand-new models.

CU next week…ready for a few more….
Cheers Ritz