When I finished the last words of my blog a week ago, Mathias Schunk was already at the field in Koenigsdorf [Germany] to prepare his Quintus M for a long flight. At 9 AM he was on his way to be back at 7.43 PM and a spring-1000 km. was under his belt.
He even had time to make pictures , here is one of them.
Have a look at his OLC trace on April 21 for more.

Another 1000 was flown, now from Austria, from Trieben; 1.120 km. in an ASH 31/21 m. An out and return with the start on a leg.
And absolutely worth mentioning the “Hammertag and Hammerflug” in the LS 8 from Baden Baden in Germany, also on that Wednesday by Roman Hoeflich, 877 km.[600 FAI triangle]

Also here in Holland the weather was good again. 2 Young airline pilots, temporarily out of work, have time to fly and Peter in his ASH 26 flew 748 km [600 FAI triangle] from Hoogeveen and all over flat country in thermals up to 1700 m. at it’s best. He started late as till 11 there was overcast,… the sky was 8/8, but when a “hole” appeared, he went and found enough lift in 7/8 .
Tim from Malden in his ASW 20 flew a distance of 700 km . He aborted the set task but though it was not easy he made it back home.
Just over “my” border in Belgium a flight from also 700 km was flown by Wim Akkermans [, another young airline pilot] , from Keiheuvel.
50 flights from Holland and a lot over 400 k.
NICE spring!

AND….the nice springtime continued during the long weekend.
Friday had 2x 1000 km. flights from Germany in top gliders, Holland had 3 700 km-plus flights in ASW 20, ASH 26 and Discus 2CT/18m.
Saturday was a super wave day in Minden in Nevada [USA] ;1.949 km for James Lee in JS 1 and 1.636 km.in the Ventus 2CM/18m. by Uwe Kleinhempel.
Sunday was even better , but then here in Europe…more pilots as they have the day off…but also more 1000 km. flights; 5 in total…4 from Germany and 1 from Austria ….and NO wave, but only thermals for these pilots.
Of course the Austrian flight had wave as well, even up to 4675 MSL /3373 AGL.
Germany’s best;1.243 km in a Ventus 3 /18m.by Frerk Frommholz; his highest point during the flight 2069 MSL/2028 AGL.
The OLC showed 1502 flights that day, 81 from them flown in Holland and the best again by Peter in his ASH 26E;822 km[782 FAI triangle]
“What a day. Originally planned 918km FAI. Finally started under 8/8 (almost 9/8) octas of nothing. Somehow it worked; the air was amazingly unstable. After about 70km I finally felt the first ray of sunlight, then it went great. Amazing conditions in Hamburg TMA with unlimited visibility and -12,4 degrees at 2200m. It should have been possible to extend the flight to Denmark. The way down south went super quick with 20km/h tailwind.”
Another former junior Robin Smit flew in the LS 4WL, a distance of 732 km. He mentioned that the start was difficult, as he was ready but the thermals not yet. Later clouds popped up , and what clouds; good ,better ,best, to use our old Sportavia slogan.
To achieve 750 he added a bit ,but the weather thought different again so he was just “out”, but had a great day out.
Also Denmark had great conditions and Arne [Boye Moeler] used them 619 km in the JS 3;
“Freezing Artic cold air, strong thermals and incredible visibility from 2.000m. Had a nice warm up flight to Kolding before starting on the task with the National Team from Arnborg on the 4 hour Assigned Area Task. The task made for good challenging decisions and it was great to hear the many excited pilots on the radio today.”
More great flights from Denmark as 753 in ASH 26, 656 in LS 1-c ,653 in St Libelle and 712 in the ARCUS T.
44 Pilots added their flight to the OLC.
And many on WeGlide as well; weglide.org
A total of 1029 flights worldwide, so VERY good for this new platform created by young pilots.
“Join the next-generation gliding platform. Built by Pilots for Pilots.“

And then it was Monday!!
The Czech Rep. was added to the list of “HAMMERWETTER” and Radek and David flew from Hranice and Velke Porici [never heard of this field] 1.230 and 1.253 km in JS 1/21m. and JS 3/18m.
Radek, a young top pilot and son from Petr Krejcirik, I met both at several comps, mentioned;
“Probably the best weather in the Czech republic what I ever flew.
1250km declared was possible today!“
SkySight said about this weather;
“Cumulus at almost 2000m at 8.30am yesterday? Some would not believe it is possible – those who did were justly rewarded!”
A total of 6 x a 1000 k. this day. Not too bad for spring!!!!
A father-son combination is worth mentioning;
“Super geiler Flug! Schön den ersten 1000 mit Vatern zu machen.“
A great flight and so special to fly the first 1000 with dad.
Flight was from Hoepen in Germany; 1.017 in the ARCUS by Uwe and Arne Kerlin.
Frerk is wearing his Ventus 3 out,… haha,…after the 1.243 km. flight today a 1.120 km. flight.

And …AGAIN, Holland shared in the soaring happiness; 667 km by the Corporaal-family in the Duo Discus XLT from Terlet and Peter had another good one from Hoogeveen; 723 in his ASH 26E.
“Another awesome day.
Started with in mind “a quick 500km triangle”, while sight seeing in the north (thank you Wittmund ATC!) and be home by 4 o’clock. Turned out to be truly one of the best conditions I’ve ever experienced in western Germany. Regularly skipping potential 3m/s thermals because there would be a better one (4-4,5m/s) next. Crazy conditions: I saw 5,4m/s integrated over a swamp…
The last leg back home was a bit more tiring, I had to settle with 1,5m/s climbs again in the blue…”

Yesterday Poland enjoyed the special weather conditions as well and Jacek Flis flew in his Discus 2a 898 km!
667 From Leszno in a St Jantar is pretty good as well!!!!

So everybody here in Europe is excited about this special month of April in 2021. I could see already on the satellite map on TV that there were cloud-streets from here to nearly Russia.

More soaring related news;
—-Aero Friedrichshafen [July 14-17] cancelled for 2021 due to Covid restrictions.
—-WeGlide;“News: The outlanding information of the ‘Landewiesen’ project is now available on our map, a click on the airfield symbol (green) leads directly to further information and images. We are very thankful that Streckenflug.at made this data available free of charge. Landing areas are not only available for the Alps, but also for Namibia and parts of North America. Everyone can help and improve the available information for as many areas as possible!
—-The Bayreuth German Nationals had to be cancelled again, due to corona. Hopefully finally next season NORMAL German champions.

To finish this great picture shared by Alberto Sironi from him and a mate in the Arcus T as seen through go-pro-facilities.
During the SAP, the high performance stage from Calcinate del Peche, between April 18 and 24 , they every day perform at the highest level with Italian Team pilots there present as well.
“The exceptional weather conditions, the mixture of alpine and foothills flight area, the structures of the Adele and Giorgio Orsi Airport and the organizational skills of ACAO are now known to gliding pilots from all over the world. Spring flights of high sporting value with take-off from ACAO are countless. Among these, some European records, numerous Italian distance and speed records, all FAI insignia up to the 1,250 km diploma, numerous flights of over 1,000 km, including the first 1,000 km in FAI triangle declared with take-off from Italy, up to arrive at flights of over 1,600 km. To allow all glider pilots to take on their challenge flights (insignia, distance and records), from 18 to 24 April ACAO offers its airport with its organization, its equipment and its staff.”
If you like flying in the mountains this way, keep it in mind for next season.
There is a video from Alberto’s flight as well, a 500 k. Italian speed record;
https://youtu.be/-bqDjvcGkHI

CU next week.
By the way this morning the curfew stopped here in Holland, at 4.30 AM after 3 months. At 12 the pubs OUTSIDE open again….the terraces have been closed for nearly 6 months. Only open between 12 noon and 6 PM, at this stage.
Shops open their doors again, nearly back to normal, though the numbers in hospitals and IC’s here, are not good yet.

Sorry I am late,…had for whatever reason…NO INTERNET…hence no publishing.
cheers Ritz

Yes , yes the polar air is still brought in by a wind stream from the NNW[ and sometimes NNE], it remains cold here but mostly sunny and so clear!!!
Looking at the weather- map the ” NW-stream” glides between the UK and Denmark far in to Germany , so still long flights.
Last Thursday,…Germany …1000 km. from Stillberghof in an ARCUS M. That glider gives so many SO much joy.
On the OLC list, 6 from the 15 gliders were that day ARCUS types T or M.
So double joy/fun.
The UK.…702 km. in a T.
The Netherlands…. flights up to 707 in the ASH 26 or nearly 600 in the ASW 20, flown as an FAI triangle.
For that reason it really is SAD , that the Dutch Nationals, scheduled in May had to be cancelled, due to COVID-19.
Also Klix was cancelled.

Last Friday, another top day!!!! Some still young pilots ,not juniors anymore but still young, flew great distances. Davide from Italy flew 1.041 km. in the JS 3, Boris from Slovenia in the St Cirrus WL 670 [500 FAI triangle] and here in the Netherlands Tim with 720 [also 500 triangle] in the ASW 20.
He flew partly over water but that was no problem as perfect cu’s were surrounding the Markermeer up in the N of Holland.
The last couple of days we had rain, hence not a lot of flying here. But Saturday was still pretty good in Italy and Switzerland with flights up to 868 km. by Bert Schmelzer also a former top junior. He mentioned that parts of his flight were in an “extreme good polar airmass”.

After the rain there was sunshine again. Yesterday showed already long flights from Switzerland and Italy….952 by Rainer Cronjaeger from Hausen am Albis in the ASH 31 Mi/21m [ “a great day but lots of showers“]and 932 from Alzate in the JS 1 C/21m. by Massimo Roncone.
Also the UK] and The Netherlands had over 500 km. flights again. Former EGC champion Steven Raimond flew 577 in his ASG 29.

AND…BELLA ITAIA from above as seen by MM.

Patrick Stouffs shared the next picture.

You might think ,like I did, mmmm….what’s that;
“Bug wiper flew away and blocked the elevator. Luckily all went well. Janus C 20 m“
Another helpful lesson in soaring- life.
“What happened? as shared by Patrick.
Manual bug wiper. I was flying a Janus C owned by my club in a competition. On arrival at kilometre 40 at about 180kmh, and 1300 meters the right wing wiper was unlocked, I don’t know why. It left at high speed and then went back and forth violently before leaving the leading edge and going behind. At that moment it hit the back of the fuselage, the fin, etc. I should have had a knife to cut the cable at that moment. I didn’t have one. Then silence and the stick could not move forward.
I warned my co-pilot of the situation and considered the worst, leaving the glider. We were very calm and the glider was flying in a straight line at a speed of 110kmh.High enough to jump, I pushed on the stick and the situation became free. I decided to fly quietly to my destination and after landing I saw what you see on the pictures.
My conclusion: check the manual bug wiper lock. Always have a knife available to get rid of this type of accessories.

Schempp-Hirth had news as well;
“#prototype #duodiscus #FES This time we are not on 1st of April, Schempp-Hirth and LZ Design are really happy to announce first flight of the Duo Discus FES prototype. After many months of work in these very special circumstances, today was a great day, not for any distance flight with the low cloud base, but already with all the heads turned to the next adventures and flying school possibilities this new aircraft enables. The SH team wants to thank all the workers and partners who made this new type possible and the next few months will focus on extended test flights.”

LZ [LZ design] shared news about the video of the first flight of the Duo Discus;
https://youtu.be/u-8LXTi5P58

To finish;
She, Amber Ditmer, was on the beach for the day;
“We went to Cocoa Beach today to take photos. We ended up a few miles further south at Table beach due to an Air Show and Cocoa’s public access being crowded. As I was snapping pics to get my settings correct, a plane was coming in low. I didn’t even move, thinking it’s pilot was just getting close for the show, but awfully ballsy Until he hit the water! This pilot did an amazing job and literally skipped over the people in the water! No one was hurt! It was a sight to see for sure …. although his misfortune, thankfully everyone was safe!“

That’s it for now..CU next Wednesday!
Then the curfew will disappear, we can have 2 visitors and…we can have a beer again out side on the terraces….we are happy with not much, it’s all relative??!!!
Cheers Ritz

April 14 2021 post 1260
—-When I left you on Wednesday, Italian pilots Alberto Sironi and Andrea Faggioni, flew their ARCUS T from Calcinate over 1.261 km. Like the days before the Alps were still working fabulous, so they flew straight there…. and then up and down from Aosta to far East. Racing over the mountain-tops sometimes at 150 m. AGL, but mostly higher and at some places with good wave up to 4914 m. MSL.[3101 AGL]
From Alzate a bit more to the East as Calcinate, also in Italy, Swiss pilot Rainer Crohnjaeger flew in his ASH 31/21 m. 909 km.

—I wrote already about the WWGC in August 2022 in Husbos [Husbands Bosworth] You can follow them now too via instagram
#wwgc2022#womengliding
https://www.instagram.com/wwgc2022/

Soaring in spring can be FABULOUS,…can be….when you can fly. The ice-cold air from the N. is good for great cu’s and fantastic visibility ,but it IS COLD!!!!
Some glider pilots have no problems with it and as it is for most of them the very first flight of the season, I share a few pictures from happy chappies in their gliders enjoying spring-circumstances.

Last weekend showed a few good flights and on the pictures you could see already that the UK had perfect , though cold soaring weather.
Last Sunday Gary Coppin and Andy Aveling, took the ARCUS T for another good spring -trip. This time 635 km. and topping the OLC -list that day.
In Wiener Neustadt ,where I spend in the past, a great time as TC for the Dutch team at the WGC in 1989 , Markus Gusenleitner even flew 904 km.in the Ventus 2cM/18m.
During the 1989 WGC,2 French pilots won the title and in 15 m. Bruno Gantenbrink in another Schempp-Hirth glider, the Ventus C.
Jean Claude Lopitaux won in open [ASW 22 B] and Jacques Aboulin in standard in the Discus.

Last Thursday was a good spring-day in Italy up to 725 km. and in Luxembourg where Guy Bechtold flew from Useldange in his Quintus M 728 km.]500 FAI triangle] and from France, Vincent Hayos flew in an LS 1 C 519 km!!
AND,…455 k. from Enemonzo in Italy in an ASTIR CS by Enrico Consutta, is worth mentioning too. A declared FAI triangle!!!!
AND,….a “Declared 300 km FAI triangle…. extended a bit the last leg
Super nice condition today, pretty soft on the mountains
Spectacular views, super scenic flight” in a SDD 54-2 Perkorz/20 m./WL in Romania.

Yesterday was an other fabulous soaring day with still the same polar air brought in by the NW wind , so cold, but great visibility again and huge cauliflower-type cu’s in parts of Europe and not to forget THE NETHERLANDS, without mountains or wave!!!
Monday was already good with a flight from 742 km. by Peter Millenaar in the ASH 26.
But yesterday was superb for many.
From Hoogeveen Peter flew in the same glider a distance of 833 km. He flew from the N of Holland to the E into Germany [Oerlinghausen and back via the S of Holland .
His comment; “Beautiful, but chilly day once again: I’ve seen -10,0C. Brrr.”

“Our” 2 ASG 29E long-distance-racers Mark and Alfred Paul flew from Soesterberg distances of 899 km. They mostly fly together and have a lot of fun. This was such a great day for them too, but with some difficulties in the beginning, as only after 2 hours it really” boomed” .
Showers and snow were involved and forced them sometimes to re-direct. BUT…as Alfred Paul mentioned “along the snow showers they found a nice convergence line”, so they could make speed. With the now longer days they landed at 8.
One of our younger pilots Lars mentioned that it was a bizarre good day! He flew from Terlet 751 km. direction past Paderborn in his ASG 29 [https://weglide.org/flight/47088] and till now his 2d farthest flight.
Hadriaan in the JS 1 flew from Lemelerveld 782 km.
One of those perfect soaring-days,…have a look at the OLC for all their traces.
48 Dutch pilots had time to fly on the Tuesday and 17 flew between 500 and just under 900 km. NOT BAD!!!!!!GOOOOOODDD!!!!!!
https://www.onlinecontest.org/
The UK was still good too;
“Pete Harvey flew a 604km declared task today” April 12 https://www.bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/88261

A great day out by many! That’s what soaring is all about,…AND the shared happiness for all of them by us on the ground.

On a more sad note, we share happiness and sadness, the next news;
“Črtomir Rojnik (1949-2021)
The gliding community has lost one of the greatest pioneers. A true aviator, inventor, visioner, genius, and entrepreneur.His ideas, inventions, products have changed the way we are flying today. Safer, faster, higher, longer. He was passionate about the sport he loved and spent his lifetime exploring the beauty of flying.He was an exceptional entrepreneur. His passion for flying and technology grew and evolved into LX navigation. Through his career, he helped other companies including LXNAV, Kanardia, Navteh, and LX track on their way to success and support dozens of individuals to grow in the gliding community and professionally. He selflessly invested his time and effort to support gliding and flying locally and worldwide.With great pain, we say our farewell to our friend. He is now, and forever soaring.Share your thoughts, memories and condolences: inmemoriam@lxnavigation.com

Cheers Ritz

“What a fantastic day of soaring! Varese Martigny Aosta Zermatt...” Aldo Cernezzi was ecstatic about flying in this area and shares it with us in pictures. Of course still a lot of winter-snow on the mountains, but spring is there.
France, Italy ,Germany and Switzerland were the places to be for Europe. Flights up to nearly 800 km. in cold but good conditions.

Over Easter there was NO soaring here, it felt like winter, with hail and snow and ZERO dgr. C. brrrrr……..
We had a WHITE EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!! So did Denmark ,..but that is more “normal”.

Luckily Easter Saturday was pretty good here, with one 600 km by Sikko Vermeer in his ASG 29 E/18m. and 9x 500 km.-plus flights!!!

In Germany kilometer-eaters Alexander Mueller and Michael Sommer, took their EB’s out for an EASTER-flight and flew 983 and 1000 km flying from Bayreuth and Oberhinkofen!!!
The Southern part of Germany had no problems with the tough NW wind, it created here, high waves,…no not for soaring….but on the coast and dykes.

The Hahnweide, Bamberg , Unterwoessen and Burg Feuerstein had great soaring conditions as well.
So did parts from N. Italy, where Giorgio [Galetto] flew 729 km. in his Ventus 3F/18m. from Thiene with TP’s in Lienz Nikolsdorf [Germany] close to Austria and Lesce Bled in the NW of Slovenia, using the Alps for height.
All in all 677 pilots enjoyed Easter-Sunday in their glider.
Yesterday Alessandro Brusca flew from Aosta a 1.158 km. flight in the Ventus 2cxa 18m. At one spot he had 6418 MSL/3408 AGL.
Aosta is a great place to fly your 3000 or 5000 m. height but for skiing as well, you travel high up in the mountains to Pila and off you go on skies down again. Have been there a few times.

Also the UK had great but cold conditions to fly. Whilst we were looking at snow flakes falling down, they had that super polar air with great visibility on Easter Monday. The BGA shared this picture from Alex Holswilder.
Garry Coppin and Andy Aveling flew from Lasham a 684 km. flight in the Arcus T.

Well, it’s still snowing here and we have about 5 cm. now. More south in Limburg….15 cm!!!!
Mind you only 2 weeks ago we had 26 dgr. C here.
Accidents and incident and traffic jams are the result.
4 Seasons in ONE day!!!!!!A weird spring.

Corona vaccine for me on Friday and on Mai 14. We are still in a lockdown here.
Not so much soaring news so I finish with a beautiful picture shared in “glider forever”.

Back next Wednesday with hopefully real spring weather here and NO problems after the first vaccine.
Cheers Ritz