WWGC 2022 !!
Got a mail from the UK with happy news about the fundraising for the 2 Ukraine pilots, yes they now can participate in the Husbos WWGC. GREAT news!!!!
“The fundraising for the Ukrainian pilots achieved its goal which is fantastic.“
AND a bit more about what’s going to happen and how you can “find” them.
“It’s 3 months to go and the Women’s World Gliding Championship preparations are racing ahead… Gliding would be nothing without our amazing and supportive international community. Glider pilots from all around the world helped raise funds to allow two Ukrainian pilots to compete, once again thank you all! The organizing team has members from all over the UK working hard to make WWGC2022 a special event, and we have volunteers from as far afield as New Zealand coming along to help out at the championships!  Director Liz Sparrow said ‘It’s great that we have women – and men – from so many gliding nations keen to be part of WWGC2022′.

The Championship starts with a Parade and Opening Ceremony in Market Harborough and Lutterworth town centres on Saturday 13 August.  Around 50 of the world’s top female pilots will be racing each day around courses up to 500km long at speeds up to 130kph depending on weather conditions.  You can follow the racing online throughout the competition at wwgc2022.co.uk. 

On Saturday 20/Sunday 21 August we’re inviting everyone to the exciting programme of events running alongside the Championship – come and see the action! With lots of activity for all ages, it’s a great family event. There will be gliders from all over the world racing and competing and the day includes watching the gliders launch, hangar visits,  live aircraft tracking screen,  children’s area and activities, glider simulator, full size aircraft, craft stalls, music, food stands.  The Sustainable Aviation Show area includes aircraft, cars, machines and stands, and there is an exhibition on Women in Aviation – find out about famous women in history and meet some current aviation pioneers!
Website: wwgc2022.co.uk
Facebook/wwgc2022 
Twitter and Instagram:   @wwgc2022

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I owned you one more day on the USA 18 m. Nationals!!!
The last day was a good one,… but blue, not everybody’s favorite weather.
“considering the wind, the forest, the swamp, the angles, and the awards dinner, we settled on a 317 km star-shaped task that took the fleet over familiar territory.” was the final verdict at the briefing.
Off they went ,with Sean Murphy to chase, if they wanted the first prize.
That was an extra stimulant for the other Sean , Fidler, who raced as fast as possible and won the day and the title, with only 16 points difference!!!
With a speed of 106 km. he was the only one flying under 3 hours!!!
Sean M. was 10th for the day.
So the USA Nationals are won by
1. Sean Fidler in ASG 29 with 4139 points.
2. Sean Murphy in JS 3 with 4123 points.
3. Robin Clark in ASG 29 with 4000 points.

Huge thank you to Rick, who kept me informed about what was happening!!!!

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OPEN BELGIAN GLIDING NATIONALS 2022

the Open Belgian Gliding Nationals 2022 continued on Wednesday, when I left you , with another 3 hour AAT in both classes.
Task 5;
In CLUB, 293 km in time 3.08 was the best result and it was flown by Robin Selfslagh in an LS1f. Runner up was Thomas De Bruyn in LS 4 with 292 km in the same time .
14 started and 14 finished…good!
In the Combi class Nick Fremau won with 327 km in time 3.07 [speed 104 km./h in his LS 8.
The day earlier he was one of the “out-landers”, so a good revenge.
No flying on Thursday as a heavy line of thunderstorms passed from France over Belgium and our country.
A new storm line arrived on Friday even worse. I have never see such violence of wind here in Europe.

This news I got as well from Bert sr., always nice to hear inside stories;
“Saint Hubert, Friday May, 20^th
Michel Pihard (ex-General) is a dynamic organizer and the president of the annual OBNG (Open Belgian National Championships This morning I could make this snapshot after Michel made a weather-flight with his wife Emilie. Unfortunately, no contest day in St.Hubert, because of heavy thunderstorms with hail and wind-gusts up to 100 km/h are expected. But tomorrow we will definitely fly, unfortunately our last competition day over the beautiful landscape above the Ardennes, in the middle between the French Champagne and the Eifel mountains.
Bert Schmelzer Sr.

So tomorrow was Saturday…indeed the last day and,…yes,… they flew, with pretty good weather circumstances.
Club class; 305 km.…Michel van den Borne “got” the 1000 points for a speed of 83 km./h in his Discus B. He was not one day in the daily top 5 , but had a great last day. He had a late start ,[40 minutes after the first who went on track, ] together with Bart Leysen, who was runner up.
Thomas de Bruyn , the overall leader over most of the days was “only” on spot 10 loosing 350 points on the last day BUT,…..he had 3 points left to remain the number 1…pfffff!!!!!
Overall results after 5 days;
1. Thomas De Bruyn in LS4 with 4.254 points and Belgian CHAMPION.
2. Jelle Vandebeeck in ASW 24 with 4.251 points.
3. Peter Bertels in St Libelle with 3.898 points.

Combi class; 380 km. ...2 pilots flew over 100 km./h. The daily winner Emmanuel Litt [ 103.05 km./h] and Francois Delfosse[ 101.71 km./h] both in JS 3 jet. Koen van der Putten was 3d and this meant, no changes in the top.
1. Koen Vander Putten in the Ventus 2CT with 3.986 points ; CHAMPION.
2. Francois Delfosse in JS3 with 3.965 points
3. Andre-Emmanuel Litt in JS 3 with 3.961 points

Looking at 15m/st class, who participated in the combi -class here are their scores thanks to Bert sr.
1. Nick Fremau in LS 8 with 3.814 points.
2. Thomas Leduc in Ventus 2cxa with 3.681 points.
3. Daan Spruyt in Ventus 2AX with 2.740 points.

The ” Willy Grandjean Challenge” , presented at this OBGN, is a speed trophy for the fastest flight in Belgium within a year. Since the early sixties they present this prize at the annual OBGN.
In 2021 Bert Schmelzer jr. was the winner of this prestigious prize. As he was already at the Hahnweide , his dad received it for him.

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Polish CLUB CLASS Nationals

May 18; task 4 ….2 hour AAT….
Jakub -day!!!! Jakub Barszcz [Brawo] won a day for the 2d time and Jakub Kaczorowski [St Jantar] was 3 for the day.
Bit of an off-day for Jacek ,who finished on spot 16, he is now 2 [from spot 1] overall behind Jakub B.
38 started and 32 finished…the 6 who were “out” did so in the first 50 k.
May 19; NO TASK…maybe they got the last bit of that storm line too.
May 20; task 5…2 hour AAT.... and LAST day as on the 21th there was no task.
38 started and only 2 were out. Jakub, Jacek and Mikolaj, the top3 overall from the last days did not make mistakes and kept their positions, Jakub was runner up, Jacek number 8 and Mikolaj on spot 11, from 38.
So after 5 tasks the overall scores were[
1.Jakub Barszcz in Brawo with 4.010 points and Polish Club CHAMPION.
2.Jacek Flis in LS 3 with 3.890 points.
3. Mikołaj Zdun in LS3 with 3.788 points.

Polish SGP. They finished on May 21 after 7 days of flying. The last race was won by Tilo,[Ventus 3T] the races 4-5 and 6 by Lucasz. [JS1c] Clear he had a lot of points; 40!!!!!
The runner up Marek [ASG 29] had 26 points, whilst Tilo had 24 points.
www.sgp.aero
“Congratulations to Lukasz Grabowski from Poland for winning the SGP of Żar, Marek Sawczuk and Tilo Holighaus complete the podium.
Lukasz will join for the SGP Final, Stefan Langer and Klaus Kalmbach , qualified during Sweden SGP, and Sebastian Kawa , the current SGP World Champion.”

On May 29 the Lithuanian FAI SGP starts. They fly till June 4 from Paluknys.

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HAHNWEIDE.
21 May 2022 – 28 May 2022

The 54th HAHNWEIDE- competition started last Saturday with 105 pilots in 5 classes. Pilots from ALL parts of Europe, 13 different countries, nearly make this a European championship.
Standard class has 20 entries, among them many young toppers from the UK and Belgium.
2-seaters show 20 teams , so 40 pilots, among them toppers as Steve Jones [ARCUS M] and Martin Theisinger [ARCUS M]
Open class with 17 pilots , as Bruno Gantenbrink and Uli Schwenk in ETA, Sylvain Gerbaud in EB 29R [France] , Pierre de Broqueville [Belgium] and Jim Acketoft in EB 29DR, [Sweden]
15 m class shows 17 participants with Werner Amann in AS 33es, [Austria] Kevin Faur [France] in Ventus 2A,
18 m. class 37 pilots as Wolfgang Janowitch [Austria] in Ventus 3T, Pete Harvey [UK] in Ventus 3T, Bert Schmelzer jr[ Belgium] in Ventus 3T.
Lot’s of CHAMPIONS in all kinds!!!!

Task 1 ; on May 21,…….luckily not a 1000 points day!
18 m; 297 km....36 started and only 6 finished, so straight away a “shift”. The winner was Wolfgang Janowitsch from Austria [82.77 km./h] in his Ventus 3T and that speed shows how difficult the day was. In the same glider, Bert Schmelzer jr. [Belgium] was runner up [80,67 km./h]
Only 4 in ,so the number 3 was German pilot Christian Maex in AS 33es and number 4 Thomas Ingerfurth also from Germany in Ventus 2CT.
Russell Cheetham [UK] was only 15 k out and his UK mate Andy Davis both in JS 3, was about 36 k out.
Standard; 218 km….best speed, 83 km./h was by French pilot Valentin Leleu-Lambour. From 20 also here a lot of “out-landers”; 6 from 20.
Not a good start for team UK, they started later than the rest and all 5 pilots were out.
15 m; 245 km....Here the UK did well with Timothy Scott as winner in his ASG 29, followed by 3 French pilots among them young Kevin Faur. From 16 there were 8 IN.
Good to see that one of our former guests at Sportavia, Jan Umlauf, ”the kilometer-eater” was in. Werner Amann was the first who was out.
Open; 336 km....Pierre and his cousin Arnaud de Broqueville were IN ,as the best, of course in their EB 29DR. You needed real long wings to come home ,as also the ETA from Uli [Schwenk] and Aussie mate Matthew [Scutter] was back.
The only 2 from the 15 who started.
Best speed 79 km./h. Challenging!!!!
2 seaters; 264 km….NOBODY, from 14, finished!!!One pilot was really close; Norbert Sommer in his ARCUS M;253 km. The runner up Steve Jones from the UK in the same glider, flew 214 km.
10x an ARCUS M or T, 2x an ASG 32 M or MI and 2x a Duo Discus XLT or T.

Task 2; was , due to the weather, a short window, so only for 2 classes;18m and open, the rest had a day off to relax after the out landings.
18m; 203 km….
open; 219 km...
at 4 PM there was this message on the official site;
“Unfortunately, it was not possible to fly a competition task today due to the warm air.”
On Monday no flying either. Storms and thunderstorms went over my house in their direction.
On Tuesday,….same recipe….BUT, a window to fly for 18m. class and the 2-seaters. 232 km….and late starts around 3.30 PM.
A good day for Pete [Harvey] in 18 m. who, with a speed of 107 km won the day in his Ventus 3T. A very challenging day, as from 37 “only” 24 were IN. But again NOT too many points to gain or win. Pete got 580 whilst his mates Andy [Davis] Phil [Jones] and Derren [Francis] had around 50 less on spot 8 to 10.
246 km...for the 2 seaters and starts around 4 PM. From 14 , 5 were in and Martin Theisinger won in the ARCUS M with a speed of 104 km./h.

More on this exciting top event next week.

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On the OLC some interesting flights as well last week.
On the day I left you, so on Wednesday, Simon Schroeder flew a 1.103 km flight in the VENTUS 3 m. from Woerishofen.
Alessandro Busca [18m. Ventus 2cx] flew one from Aosta in Italy last Saturday. A good weekend weather-wise as many flights were flown between 500 and 996 km that day.
Sunday…1161 pilots had fun,…..and 2 had a 1000 as well from the famous Wasserkuppe in an ASH 26 AND from Braunschweig in an ARCUS T. Several flights between 800 and 988 km.
Monday the “booming” weather had reached Finland too, making several pilots very happy, with flights up to over 800 km..
Unfortunately Sweden’s Eskilstuna International Open did not get a tiny little part of it. On May 21-22 and 23 they did not fly.
Last Monday they had small tasks [under 200 km.] yesterday another small task , but they flew.

There are many comps at the moment, as the Eskilstuna International Open 2022 from Ekeby in Sweden, 20thiest Fatra Glide from Martin in Slovakia, [both continue till May 28] and from Chipman, Canada, the 2022 Canadian National Soaring Competition [23 May 2022 – 3 June 2022] more,……it’s that time of the year, too many to follow for me but no worries, for scores and sometimes pictures or a story you can find them all on
www.soaringspot.com

Today also the Dutch Nationals start with 51 competitors and will be flown from Terlet. nkzweefvliegen.nl
More next week.
Cheers Ritz….though I have to reflex on Uvalde 1991 and 2012 ,when I was there. Lovely town , great people [except for one] and fabulous comps .
Yesterday 19 school children between 7 and 10 and 2 teachers, were killed by an 18 year old lunatic . Poor parents and grand parents, poor family and friends, not too think of the children who survived and have to live with this. I hope the USA stops it’s “easy” weapon sales!!!!
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!
Too sad for words!!!!
In 2024 Uvalde is host of the next WGC.

The FAI SGP in Boras had to deal with not the best weather in the beginning. They had to cancel race 1-2-3-4 and 5 with 2 days to go.
With 2 flown races, on Sunday and Monday, race 3 would have been on Friday the 13th!!!!!They had hope.
BUT,….the weather refused to co-operate…too much wind…..so cancelled.

Race 3; YES, there was a race 3,….pfff. Hard for organizers and pilots to host and fly a GP with NO-WEATHER.
But 256 km was set , so a nice distance to show the pilots ability and Stefan Langer won the 10 points and 1 extra for the last day. So he added 11 points, to his total and won with 21 points in total in his ASG 29.
Klaus and Hermann, both in JS 3 had 18 points.
Young Stefan, [29] who was quite amazed he won the GP, said there was still a lot of wind, [speed 45 kts.] but he was lucky at several points. It was important to stay high and the final glide was a race with the others but he had more margin and enough speed.
He was happy that the predicted bleu thermals were not there, only nice cu’s.
A pity they had only 3 days, but at least they flew 3 days and there is Stefan who is the first from this 11th series who goes to the Grand Final in Pavullo in Italy between August 26 and September 2023.

The next stop from this 11th Series is in Zar in Poland and started last Sunday. 14 Entries, all Polish, except for one guest Tilo Holighaus who loves this GP flying.
Also 2 Lucaszes and Judytha. See for more below.

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The 18 m. Nationals in Bermuda High ,had not such great weather to start with either. But ,after they missed 1 practice day and 1 contest day, they happily went up in the air. Maybe happily was too much said ,as it was for a lot a struggle
“We’re still under the influence of a cool North Atlantic airmass, and we still have the unfamiliar brisk wind from the northeast.  Basically, the same breezy, weak conditions as yesterday. But unlike yesterday, we decided to go for it.  “
Report from Sean Fidler on practice day 2;
“Bermuda High Soaring is suffering from a rare “Bermuda Low” pattern that is pulling cold air down from Greenland and suppressing the typically magnificent spring soaring conditions. This pattern will stick around for a few more days and will likely make for some challenging conditions.”
He was totally right.
21 Started task 1 on May 11 and 17 finished and good” old” Gary Ittner in his ASG 29 won the day [AAT] with 244 km in time 3.38.
Then it was waiting again for better weather.
“The anomalous mid-latitude depression is still out there, and for the third day in a row we have boisterous north winds and a convective clamp at approximately release altitude.” from the CD.
BUT he had good news too…” the weather will begin to change and after one more day off, we’ll probably get back to racing on Saturday May 14.”
Saturday May 14; after 4 cancelled days , the pilots were ready to go for it again….but the day had to be cancelled again.
“ it was clear that we were in for a day of low bases, overdevelopment, and scattered showers. At least the wind would not be a factor, for a change.“
4 days left and what I heard,…they look promising!!!!
Sunday ;May 15, YES ,..finally,…..a REAL racing day!!!!! Task 2!
“Our forecast was for four hours of good soaring conditions with light winds and cloudbases above 4000 feet AGL.  The downside was a possibility of thickening cirrus toward the end of the day.”
“ In a blatant attempt to get a 1000 point day without landing anyone out, we set a 3 hour, 4 circle Area Task with a nominal distance of 316 km, figuring that the winner would go the requisite 350 km to make it a full-value day.”
That did not happen, 983 points were waiting for daily winner, Sean Murphy in the JS 3. He also leads at this stage overall with 1578 points.
One of the pilots I mentioned earlier, Sean Fidler ,mentioned in his report;
“I started first, as soon as the gate opened, hoping to leave the gaggle behind playing games. Forecast showed potential risk of storms, cirrus, or even mid level spread increasing throughout day so leaving early seemed like a good plan.“
Though he struggled trough the day “I finally connected at 1500 AGL in 1 knot and then stepped up slowly toward the good clouds until finding 4 knots for final glide home.”
He was 3d for the day.
Monday; Task 3.….Rick mentioned in his CD report, which I am happy to share as he is THERE, of course after asking him;
“Another beautiful day at Bermuda High Soaring.  It turned out to be even better than forecast, which is normally good news.  However, in a competition it can lead to the dreaded undercall, and this is what happened today.
The forecast was for high temperatures and moderate lift to 4000 AGL, with cumulus.  The wind was supposed to be brisk from the southwest, and the day was supposed to end before 17:00, due to an encroaching cool front.
Because of the possibility of overdevelopment and the uncertain arrival time of the front, we went with another Area Task.  The nominal distance was 235 km, and the time was 2.5 hours.  It was a bowtie aligned with the wind.”
The 2 Sean’s had a good day being 4 and 3 for the day, but they lead the overalls; Sean Murphy [JS 3] with 2362 points and Sean Fidler [ASG 29] with 2283 p.
3d overall is close by; Robin Clark [ASG 29] who was 6th for the day on 2273 points. Jae Walker in the Ventus 3 won this day!
Task 4; one but last day.….“Finally!  The famous Bermuda High Spring weather is back! Finally!   Strong lift to lofty heights in all quadrants.  And no cumulus,  just to make it interesting.”
They set Racing Task, a 392 km zig-zag with six turnpoints!
Bob Fletcher won the day in his ASG 29 with 97 km./h. Sean M and Sean F are still on top overall, even with their 9th and 6th daily spot, but Bob is on his way to the top; from 5 to 3!
One more day to go you can read it in my next blog.

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The CCV, the Coppa Citta di Varese in Italy , flown between May 6 and 15 started with 3 no-task-days. It was the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP for 20 m class and along flies a mixed class, counting the 20 m as well.
Task 1 was on May 9 and a 2.15 AAT had to be flown by the 7 Italian pilots and 2 HC pilots from Austria [Team Peter Hartmann in HPH 304TS/ 800kg ] and The Netherlands [Team Erik Borgmann in Arcus M] in 20 m class.
The HC pilots started and finished for 154 points.
Task 2; 327 km...this time Alberto[Sironi] with his mate was daily winner ; 89 km/h, in an ARCUS T, which says enough about the weather. 5 teams were IN, 3 of them fly for the title.
Task 3; 2.45 AAT.…won by the HC pilots from team Borgmann/Van Houweninge;283 km in time 2.58. One way or another the other HC team from Austria, disappeared from the 20 m. scores and was to be seen in the mixed class where they were 7th.
For Erik this is great practice as he flies with his Dutch mate Joost Wolff the WGC in Hungary.
Task 4; 2.50 AAT….a real Italian day with team Montemaggi/Prodorutti on 1, team Stefano Ghiorzo/Passardi on 2 and Alberto on 3. The Dutch team was 4th. Team Aquaderni/Aquaderni in the ARCUS T was on spot 5. Good on them as till now they were out every day. And I know Margot flies very well.
AND,…she will be busy too with other “things” as she is the president of the Aeroclub Adele Orsi in Varese, from where they fly.
Aero Club Adele Orsi Acao
Task 5; 200 km.…7 started and ONLY ONE team finished…… Team Sironi with a speed of 62 km./h. You can call that a challenging day!!!
Some others were close….Team Erik and Team Stefano flew 189 km.
Looking at the MIXED class 4 from 15 finished.
Task 6; 2.10 AAT..… Only ARCUS M or T in this class and this one but last day, former 2 times 13.5 m WGC champion [2015 and 2019] Stefano Ghiorzo with his mate was the best. Another difficult day so to see at the speed ;96 km./h
They started together with Prodorutti & Montemaggi, but finished earlier; both flew 216 km.
The Dutch boy’s flying HC, had a bit of an off day, lost points , dropped from 2 to 3 overall, but less than 60 points with number 1.
Task 7; very last day!!!NO TASK!!!!!
So the final results for the 20 m NATIONALS;
1. Sironi & Venturini in Arcus T with 3.560 points and CHAMPIONS.
2. Prodorutti & Montemaggi in Arcus M with 3.513 p.
3. Ghiorzo & 1 in Arcus t with 3.370 p
The Dutch pilots flew HC [they cant be Italian champion as Dutch citizens] but did a great job with 3.504 points, so in fact 3d.
In the mixed class they, Van Houweninge & Borgmann ,were the winners with 4.655 points, ahead of Aldo Pigni in the 18 m.Ventus 3f with 4.492 p. and Ugo Pavesi with 4.432 points in ASG 29E.

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Last weekend Terlet hosted the one-day-competition from the Gelderse Aeroclub. And boy ,….were they lucky with the weather.

One day with perfect weather and 311 km for CLUB, with 12 pilots, 375 km. for COMBI with 16 pilots among them 11 2-seaters[Duo Discus types] and 413 for open/18m including 9 2-seaters, meaning a lot of people at Terlet! GOOD, after corona pilots finally meet again at comps.

CLUB; With 111 km./h Roelof [Corporaal] in the LS 7 NEO, won the day for 902 points. He had some practice already, as he was very good in Nitra in April, where he was runner up for the Pribina Cup.
Former runner up at the JWGC in Australia, Robin [Smit] in LS 4 neo, and runner up now, flew around with 106 km./h.
COMBI; 4x a Duo Discus and 1000 points for winners Lakeman/Boonstra. 16 started 1 was out.
10 from 16 gliders were a Duo Discus type.
OPEN/18 m; 17 started and 15 were back. Lars Groot in ASG 29 won with 124 km./h Good on young Lars. A nimbus 4DM was runner up with 119 km./h.
They closed the day with a BBQ , beer, of course and lots of talking and for sure, some red faces from the sun, who was shining fierce.

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In Belgium the Nationals started at St Hubert on May 14 [till 22] with 2 classes; club [15 pilots] and combi.[20 and several teams in 2-seaters] , so also a big bunch of nice pilots together.
Day 1; task 1 .
Club; 297 km….14 started and half of them ,7, finished. Best speed was by Bart Leysen, who flew 90 km./h in his ASW 20f, 10 km. faster than Thomas De Bruyn.[LS 4]
Combi; 343 km....Daan Spruyt in his Ventus flew 2ax ,flew around with 96 km./h which was 5 km./h faster than runner up Nick Fremau.[ LS8]
Day 2; task 2.
Club; 213 km.…Peter Bertels won in his St Libelle[ 68.58 km./h] . 14 Started 11 finished.
Combi; 283 km....flown with a speed of 82 km./h by Koen Vanderputten in the 18m. Ventus 2CT. 19 Started and 12 finished.
Day 3; task 3 was set but had to be cancelled due to the weather .
Day 4; task 4 , flying day 3, was a big one.
Club; 3.30 AAT....15 started and 9 finished and the daily winner was Thomas de Bruyn in his LS4; 290 km. in time 3.30 at the dot!!!
Combi; 3.30 AAT….”day of reckoning ” as only 5 from 19 finished. Number 5 was Bert Schmelzer sr. with 319 km. in time 3.50,..BUT IN!!!!! Winners , both in JS 3 jet, were Francois Delfosse and Emmanuel Litt, son from the well known Georgette.
By the way brother Baudouin Litt flew yesterday 900 km in his LS 8 from Mid Atlantic Soaring in the USA, and then you know there were good to excellent ridge conditions.
More next week.

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Polish CLUB CLASS NATIONALS.
Grudziadz Lisie,
13 May 2022 – 21 May 2022

With a lot of well-known names between the 40 participants, this championship is , with so many strong Polish pilots, as always one you have to follow!!!!
They started with a 3.30 AAT, so the weather was strong too.
Jacek Flis in his LS 3 [handicap 0.947] won TASK 1 , with 417 km. in time 3.29. TOP!!!
He was already runner up in Prievidza, so had good practice!!
40 started and only 1 pilot was out, he flew 409 km but did not finish.
Task 2; 3 hour AAT….Jakub Barszcz in a BRAWO [handicap 0.995] won the day with 314 km in time 2.59.50!!!! Jacek was runner up with more kilometers 335, but in time 3.04.
All 40 started 2 were out and 1 missed the startline,..bugger!
Task 3; 3 hour AAT.….257 km in time 3.11 for SZD 55 pilot Marek Herbreder for 1000 points. Jakub was runner up and Jacek was 4th. A few more exciting days to go as the difference between Jacek and Jakub is now 14 points.
Still 40 pilots in the running , but only 32 finished today.
More next week.

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In between , also in Poland, they fly in Zar the Polish FAI SGP, with perfect weather.
Race 1; 377 km…..Stanisław Biela won in his AS 33 the first race for 8 points. When Lucasz Grabowski would not have started above the maximum speed he would have won; he lost 30 seconds. Tilo was 7th. Only 7 flew on day 1.
Race 2; 380 km. ….This time Lucasz [JS1] won with 104 km./h…… 8 started from them 5 finished. Now Stanislaw got 44 sec penalty for a too low finish.[730m] The day turned out more difficult than expected as the organizers mentioned in their daily report.
“The air masses were mixed up and the Pilots had to stay high under the clouds bases which were 2750MSL.”
Race 3; 305 km….8 started ,2 were out and another ” difficult name ” Zdzisław Bednarczuk, [JS 3] won the 7 points for the day. Tilo was runner up. Still good weather in Zar, but again more difficult conditions. You could see that on the speed of the winner; 94 km./h.
Yesterday was cancelled and for today there is not yet a task, so more next week.

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For those who want to visit Australia and practice for the WGC 2023 in Narromine, here is some news;
“AusGlide 2022:
The Narromine Gliding Club is hosting the 2022 Standard, 15 Meter & Club Class National Gliding Championships at Narromine Airfield from 27  November to 10 December 2022.
The NCC have advised that this competition attracts 100% selection points for the Australian Team to compete at the 2023 World Gliding Championships at Narromine in November/December 2023.
It is also the Pre-Worlds event for the 2023 World Gliding Championships and will attract a lot of International Competition Glider Pilots.
Entries are now open, click on this link AusGlide_2022 to go to the Comp website and Register Online.”

For us the season starts NOW, but DOWN UNDER they look already at their new season.
Here is the news from Tocumwal Soaring Centre:
“It’s going to be a great season and we are really looking forward to seeing all our friends at Tocumwal again.”

A lot happening at the airfields in the beginning of this summer and already later this year in the “down-under-summer” .
Hope you enjoy it all as much as I do.
Did you look at WeGlide or the OLC last week, some nice flights , up to 1000 km. [ Bernd Goretzki in Ventus 3 M] here in Europe with high temperatures for spring. We touch 30 dgr. C. today. Interesting to see that Fuente is already good too, normally July/ August is their top period.
Cheers Ritz

Prievidza, [ 24 April 2022 – 5 May 2022] had a few days to go when I left you last Wednesday. So here we go with the last days!
After 6 days of soaring they had on
May 4; Task 10, flying day 7.
Club ; 2.15 AAT…
15 m; 2.15 AAT…
combi; 2.30 AAT….
All tasks were cancelled due to bad weather.

May 5; very last day!
Club; 2 hour AAT….196 km in 2 hours at the dot, [98 km./h] means somebody who knows what he is doing; Uwe Wahlig also won the last day. So 5 in total .
32 Started 25 finished.
Overall points and winners in this class;
1. Uwe Wahlig [Germany] in LS 3 WL with 5.543 points.
2. Jacek Flis [Poland] in LS 3 with 5.437 p.
3. Mikolaj Zdun [Poland] in LS 3 with 5.409 p
4. Tim Milner [ UK] in LS 3 with 5.261 p.

15 m; 2 hour AAT....Lukasz Blaszczyk won in the Diana 2 , with 221 km in time 2.02 [speed 108 km/h, the only one over 100 km./h] ,but 4 Czech pilots hold on on their top positions. 3 starting on a different time, one more than half an hour earlier .
22 started 17 finished.
Final results in 15 m. class;
1. Miloslav Cink [Czech Rep] in LS 8b with 5.374 points.
2.  Pavel Louzecky [Czech Rep] in LS 8 with 5.345 p.
3. Jan Pavlik [Czech.Rep] in LS 8 with 5.313 p.

combi; 2 hour AAT...265 km. in time 2.12 was the daily winning combination for Sebastian. Radek was runner up holding his 3d position.
It was all about Gintas and Wolfgang this last day ; Wolfgang was 3 and Gintas 6th….but it was just not enough …..for Wolfgang.
25 started 27 finished.
Final results in combi class;
1. Gintas Zube [Lithuania] in ASG 29e with 5.418 points.
2. Wolfgang Janowitsch [Austria] in Ventus 3 with 5,415 p.
3. Radek Krejcirik [Czech .Rep.] in JS 1C EVO with 5.383 p.

As always a nice competition to follow, but it remains very sad that 2 pilots , will not be there next year.
R.I.P.

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KLIX 2022.

Klix; [ 29 April 2022 – 7 May 2022] started on May 4 with task 6.
And they were lucky with the weather again!!!Hence long tasks!
Club; 2.30 AAT..… 3 German pilots ,1 Dutch and 1 from Denmark formed the top 5, by flying between 211k. in an LS1f and 267 km in a LAK 13.5 FES. Already the 4th daily win for Christoph [Mathowski] .
11 started and 10 finished.
Standard; 3.30 AAT…397 and 389 km. for our Danish mates Filipe and Poul Kim, in time 3.35/6. The ladies are doing well too. Sabrina [Vogt] was 6th and Chrissie [Grote] 9th.
17 started and 17 finished, great result with such a long task during a competition.
2-seaters; 3 hour AAT.…Hagemann / Auen [ARCUS T ]were winner again with a speed of 114 km./h and Jeroen and Sjoerd [Duo Discus XL] runner up with 105 km./h , with the Dutch Arcus with Rooij/vd Zwan as 3d.[105 km/h.
open/18m; 3.30 AAT.…and Sjaak [Selen] was the daily best.399.78 I call that 400 km in time 3.42,48; speed 112.72 km./h.

May 5; after 6 days of flying they set NO TASK.

May 6 ;2 days to go, the final- end -sprint. AND,…what days!!!!!
Club; 5 hour AAT..…”Poor little ones” ,….but I am sure they enjoyed their selves, though only 1 flew over 100 km./h so it was pretty tough.
12 started and 9 finished and 3 were not scored for airspace infringement.
Christoph Matkowski is good… or his LAK 13.5 m., or BOTH!!!5 daily wins already. He flew 506 km in time 5.02, speed 100 km./h for 938 points.
Standard; 4 hour AAT....16 started and only 2 were out, but they flew over 400 km. Filip was runner up and Jan Kretzschmar won the day in his LS 8 neo, he was 1 km./h faster and got the 1000 points.
2-seaters; 4.30 AAT.…18 flew 17 finished and the Duo Discus did well on spot 1,2 and 3 before the DG 1000 and Arcus T.
Jeroen and Sjoerd were runner up with 489 km in time 4.33; speed 107 km./h for 965 points .
18m./Open; 519 km in 4.06 for Bas in the Nimbus 4Dm and 494 km in 4.03 for Sjaak in the ASG 29. The Dutchies did well. Helge Lieberts an other top competition pilot was 3d in the ASH 25/26m.
28 started, 28 finished….good on them!!

May 7 very last day in Klix;
Club; 262 km ……WELL,..why not another winning day by Christoph; 6 daily wins and then you know for sure that he wins in club class this competition. Look at his scores!!!!!
He was the last to start and the first to finish today!!!!! All 12 finished!
FINAL RESULTS IN CLUB CLASS:
1. Christoph Matkowski in LAK 13.5 FES with 6.439 points.
2. Paul Seiler in LS 1 moving up from 3 ; 5.092 p.
3. Maximilian Brune in Hornet WL moving up from 4 with 5.070 p.
Lars Heiko Hering , in the St Libelle had a less good last day and moved from 2 to 4.

Standard class; 310 km….with 114 km./h Felip won his 5th daily win.
14 started and 14 finished.
FINAL RESULTS IN STANDARD CLASS;
1. Filip Bojanowski from Denmark in Discus 2a with 6.287 points.
2. Poul Kim Larsen from Denmark in Discus 2a with 6.030 p.
3.  Jan Kretzschmar from Germany in LS 8neo with 5.988 p.
Sabine and Chrissie were on 7 and 8.

2-seater class; 320 km….Jeroen and Sjoerd did well on the last day , winning with a speed of 118 km./h .16 started and 1 was out.
FINAL RESULTS IN THE 2-SEARTER CLASS:
1. Verkuijl & van Empelen from Holland in Duo Discus XL with 6.224 p.
2. Wollschlaeger & Kaufeld from Germany in Duo Discus XL with 5.721 p.
3.  Hagemann & Auen from Germany in ARCUS T with 5.580 p.

18m/open; 386 km….Bas ,Sjaak and Helge started as the last pilots about 12 minutes behind the daily winner Steven Staudte, won with a speed of 124 km./h in his Discus 2c and moved up from 3 to 2 overall. The later starters were on spot 7, 9 and 10.
FINAL RESULTS IN 18m/OPEN;
1. Bas Seijffert from Holland in Nimbus 4d with 6.145 points.
2. Steven Staudte from Germany in Discus 2C with 6.118 p.
3. Sjaak Selen from Holland in ASG 29 with 5.990 p.

This year Klix had superb weather and with 1 ,more or less compulsory rest day, after 6 days of flying , they flew each day. So 8 out of 9 good -weather-days with 180.000 flown hours.
With 500 starts there were only 15 out-landings!!!!!!
Jeroen; “Had a great week at the Klix competition. We had great weather (flyable every day!), with nice speeds. First time for us we went to the mountains at the border with Czech Republic (twice!). Also a first time I flew with Sjoerd van Empelen (Junior World champion 2017) and it appears to be a good match. Had great fun as well“

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FRENCH NATIONALS.

The French Nationals [1 May 2022 – 7 May 2022] were flown in ONE class with 38 participants, male and female in standard, 15 m and 20 m [2 seaters]
Not so lucky with the weather as in Klix, as till now they had only 2 days of flying out of 4 with 3 days to go. Task 2 and 4 were cancelled.
May 5; task 5 .Big task for all types of gliders;
400 km….39 started and 29 finished.
Difficult day as the speed was pretty low for France;107 km/h by 2 pilots in a “better” glider…AND they were the only 2 “with over 100 km./h”; Daniel Vincent-Genod won in JS 3 and Philippe de Péchy in ARCUS M.
Good 3d spot for Ayala truelove from the UK who flies HC in her LS8;97 km./h.
May 6; Task 6… 317 km...flying day 4.
39 started and 29 finished….best speed 95 km./h , so not an easy day for the Pegase pilots. Winner; Julien Duboc in Ventus 2ax and he now leads the whole bunch overall coming from spot 3.
Young Kevin Faur was 5th and Philippe de Péchy in the ARCUS M, 14th. Eric [Napoleon] 19th in an Arcus T.
May 7; Task 7 …..256 km; flying day 5 and last day!!!!
Marilyne Abadie-Bérard in JS 3 won clearly the last day with 119 km./h. and won the Nationals with 3.260 points.
So a French female as new French Champion!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
Christian Dupeyron [ARCUS M] was number 2 with 3.237 points and on spot 3 was Julien Duboc in Ventus 2ax.
Niklas Lofgren from Sweden flew HC and was runner up with 3.247 points.
Philippe was 4t and Kevin 5th.

In the end the weather turned out better,…. more French….. and they could fly 5 out of 7 days.
The pilots were grateful to the Aéroclub d’Aire sur l’Adour , as well as to Régis Kuntz ,the competition director.

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The Swedish FAI SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX

On May 6 I read the next news;
“First official training day. No task today due to the bad whether forecast. Time for initial weighing, water ballast filling and exploring the surroundings of Borås.”
FAI Sailplane Grand Prix

After practice , the 2d day had 250 km. and was won by German pilot Hermann Leucker in a JS3/18m with 116 km./h, they started on May 8 [till 14] with 16 pilots from Sweden, Finland, Germany, Czech.Rep and the UK.
Race 1; 289 km….the first 10 points were for German pilot Hermann , for a speed of 119 km./h.
As always in the beginning a few penalties, either for a too low finish or a too high maximum speed whilst starting.
“Chequered flag! Very exciting finish for our pilots and the public of Boras. Nice and safe arrivals for everyone.” by the organizers.

Race 2; 218 km….Klaus won the daily prize for a speed of 97 km./h and has a total of 18 points after 2 days. There are 3 AS33 gliders flying in this GP.
One from Jon Gatfield from the UK, Petr Krejcirik from Czech Rep and German pilot Patrick Benoist.
15 flew 14 finished

Race 3; CANCELLED!!!
Race 4; “No race today in Boras. Light rain and cloudy sky. We need to wait for the cold front to pass… and we are hoping for great races at the end of the week in a new air-mass!“

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Last weekend had superb weather again…cracking conditions someone called it,….with 1000 km flights in several countries in Europe , but also the USA had strong weather.
Friday ; 2x a 1000 in Germany and 1.277 km from Minden in the USA in a JS 1, with high wave by James Lee.
Saturday; 1.150 from Bayreuth by Alexander Mueller [EB 29] , Jan Rothhardt flew a 1000 from Jena in a Ventus CM 17/6 m and one of the Lucaszes flew in Poland a 1000 as well.[ASG 29 /18m]
And what about Julia and Eric both flying an LS 4 ;820 km.
Great out and return by Tilo Holighaus,[Ventus 3 T] most probably a new German class record. He declared a 905 km flight from Hahnweide to Klix and back.
His full story is on https://www.weglide.org/flight/148375
In the USA ,James left with a mate again from Minden, now in a Duo Discus for 1.157 km. Another long “sit”.

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The 18 m. NATIONALS in the USA flown from Bermuda High started on May 10, so yesterday and will continue till May 18, with 2 practice days on May 8 and 9.
Till now no flying “It was a sunny day at Bermuda High today, perfect for kite flying, but not gliding” was the written in the CD report.
A strong “field” with well-known names!!!
All about it in next weeks blog, with co-operation from my USA mate Rick, who is there.
I heard that from team USA, only Sarah and Karl are flying in the 2seater class in Hungary at the WGC.

Finishing with this picture from the 18 m. Nationals in Bermuda

Cheers for now,
Ritz

Prievidza in Slovakia, was the next stop for competition pilots and as in Nitra lots enter. A lot even travel straight from the one to the other comps.
FCC[First Challenge Cup] gliding 2022 is popular and 120 participants were on the list flying in 3 classes.
They started on April 24 and continue till Mai 5!
The first 2 days had no tasks and task 3 ,266 km., in CLUB was won by Uwe Wahlig who had Nitra already behind him .
In the 15 m class class 340 km .
In the combi class it was Radek, who won the comps equal with Wim in Nitra already ,who got the 1000 points for a speed of 120 km./h over 368 km.
But then you don’t know what had happened.
Day 4 had no task.
Then you start to think.
And yes SADLY enough we lost 2 of our mates again. Happily and eager going to a competition and not coming home again.
There are TOO many.
This is the official report on April 26
” Today, in the afternoon, two gliders collided near the village of Trebostovo above the Končiar hill. Both gliders fell down into the forest in the difficult terrain. Based on a report from the Fire and Rescue Corps, we were told that both pilots were dead. All other competitors returned to the airport in Prievidza, or outlanded in the field. The organizers of the competition express their sincere condolences to the families and the entire Polish and Lithuanian team.”
On April 28 the organizers cancelled the first flying day in total.
“We would like to announce to all FCC 2022 participants the organizers’ decision regarding the last discipline. The results of the first competition day will be cancelled. We are aware that this decision should have come sooner, but our priority was first and foremost to deal with the situation from a human point of view and at the same time to cooperate with the rescue and investigative forces. Scoring the competition was not our priority.“
I do understand!!!
The next pictures are NOT to upset you, but to EXTRA warn you to fly safe!

I guess with emotion at both sites, organizers including field runners and tuggies AND pilots with their crews, but for sure new energy to do things correct, they started with a clean slate on Thursday April 28. Sometimes just continuing,…. helps to deal with the losses.
After a minute of silence ” dedicated to our deceased racers ” the pilots left from runway 04.
It sounds easy, but it is n’t ,as I remember VERY well ,when in 1991 Anssi Passila passed away in Uvalde.
club; 255 km…. the start gate opened at 12.48 and pilots went on track.
30 from the 38 who started [7 did not choose to fly] finished the task.
Uwe [Germany] in his LS 3 was the best again and he started 1` hour after the gate opened. He was the only one over 100 km./h
The first 4 flew LS 3.
15 m; 307 km….gate opened at 13.22 From the 26 starters 17 finished and 3 did not fly.
David Mach from Czech Rep won the day in his JS 3 with a speed of 130 km./h .
Alex Pop and Norbert Scarlat from Rumania were runners up but quite a bit slower in their Discus 2a; 116 km./h
combi; 349 km...gate open at 13.17 and 1.35 km,./h was the speed by Wolfgang [Janowitsch] in his Ventus 3T. The first 4 were all toppers at WGC’s. On spot 2 Radek [Krejcirik] , on 3 Gintas [Zube], on 4 Petr [Radeks dad] and on 6 in the ASG 32 MI team Janus Centka and on 9 Sebastian [Kawa]
But that changed later in spot 40 as Sebastian horizontally or vertically flew in forbidden space. Expensive points for a top pilot!!!

April 29 with task 5 flying day 2;
club….342 km; Start line open at 12.11. I told you already that Uwe was a very good pilot. He had one off day in Nitra but straight away won the next one again.
Here in Prievidza he won another day; 119 km./h. The Polish pilots Mikolaj and Jacek followed with 117 km./h. in their LS 3’s.
Our former tuggie in Tocumwal always flies this competition as well. Tim [Milner from the UK] was 5th in the LS 3
15m…..394 km; A Czech LS8-day! 3 Of them upfront. Jan,Pavel and Miloslav. In an otherorder they are the overall best at ths stage as well; Pavel, Miloslav and Jan .
26 Are still flying in this class and 3 were not scored due to entering forbidden airspace.
combi….422 km; Zdislaw from Poland in the JS 3, Radek [Czech Rep] in the JS1 and Leszek [ASG 29] also from Poland both with difficult names , formed the top 3. Sebastian was 8th and Wolfgang 12th. Gintas 16th.
After 6 days and 2 tasks Radek leads [1.807] for Wolfgang [1.777] and Gintas [1.723] The Hungarian pilots in the ARCUS T. are doing well on 4 with 5 points less.
40 Flying in this class now 2 were out.

April 30 last day of the month. Task 6 flying day 3.
Club; 3.15 AAT…Well,…I was very pleased to see our former tuggie doing so well. He won!!!! 335 km. in time 3.14 “gave” him the 1000 points.
37 started and only one pilot did not finish.
15 m; 3.15 AAT…AND,…as pleased to see that Judyta won the day and “got” her 1000 points. I met her last in Lake Keepit, where she won a day, if I remember well.
She started and finished with Lucasz Grabowski who was runner up;408/9 km in time 3.21/20.
26 started and one was out.
combi; 3.15 AAT…440 km for Sebastian in the Diana 3 FES and Karol Staryszak in ASG 29, in time 3.16, both from Poland of course;1000 and 977 points.
40 started AND 40 finished! Good!!!!

May 1; Task 7, flying day 4.
club; 2.45 AAT....299 km. in an LS 4 W in time 3.04 was the 1000 points-winner. Ionut Tudor from Rumania was the one who got them.2 Of the Polish runner ups flew 304 km. in time 3.10.
Tim was 5th. Uwe 9th.
Not an easy day as 23 from the 35 starters finished. A lot , 12 to be precise, were punished by entering a forbidden zone.
15 m; 2.45 AAT...the winning combination from km’s and time was for Czech Rep Pilot Pavel Louzecky in his LS 8; 303 km in time 3.01.
26 started 21 finished. The polish “Lucaszes” did well; Grabowski on 2 and Blaszczyk on 8. At this stage they are on 5 and 6 overall whilst the 3 Czech pilots lead in their LS 8’s.
combi; 2.45 AAT…336 km. in time 2.57 was the best for Janus[Centka] and his mate in the ASG 32 MI. Sebastian was runner up with 351 km. in 3 hour at the dot!!!
39 started but the ARCUS T was not scored as they could not find a valid start. So from 38 starters ,35 finished. Good day for them. Wolfgang was 12th and Gintas 5th, they still lead the overall scores, but it is still close in the top and a few more days to go.

May 2; task 8 flying day 5.
Club; 242 km...The 5 Polish pilots are combining their efforts , start at about the same time and fish so as well. So spot 1 to 5 is for the Polish pilots.
33 From 34 finished , the one “out” was from Poland too.
Speed from the 5 ;between 106 and 109 km.
15 m ; 264 km...best speed was 130km./h by Lucasz Blaszczyk in the Diana , BUT he was 4th with it. Winner was Jan Pavlik in LS 8 with 125 km./h [handicap 111.7]
open/18m; 289 km….also in this class 2 Polish pilots combine their efforts. One of them Sebastian in the Diana 3 FES and he won; 150.41 km./h!!!
6 Pilots flew between 148 and 150 km./h!!!
Among them  Karol Staryszak, [runner up] , Wolfgang ,Radek, Andre [Weidlich in Ventus 3 M] , Lucasz K and Gintas. The last 2 had equal points.

May 3; task 9 , flying day 6.
Club; 281 km…Already early in the day ,I noticed 2 outlandings….. BUT ALSO, early returns to the field….indeed finishes before 3PM.
In the end the LS3 from and WITH Uwe was the fastest;126 km./h Runner up Jacek had 120 km./h[same glider]
37 started and 5 were out.
15 m; 293 km.…138 km./h for David Mach, good speed !! His mate and runner up Miloslav had 129 km.h.
22 started 2 were out after 279 and 230 km. A pity!!!
combi; 318 km.….Here the speed was about the same in the top; 14 pilots finished between 15.06 and 15.11.Winner RADEK!!!!
He won earlier the ” for good reasons cancelled” task, but flew around now with 141 km./h in his JS 1for only 704 points.
The scores from May 3 are still unofficial at this stage.
For now , with 3 days to go the overall scores are;
Club; Jacek,[4.964] Uwe,[4.941] Mikolai [4.926] and Tim.[4.764]
15 m; Miloslav ,[ 4.839] Pavel [ 4.830] and Jan [4.810]
combi; Gintas [4.805] ,Wolfgang [4.764] Radek [4.731]

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Flying from Switzerland to the UK, from Courtelary to Lasham…..Why not??? But in a glider????
Yes …..In a 21 m JS1 C. TJ.
Swiss top pilot Yves Gerster did so…. Crazy??? No , adventurous maybe ,as he commented;
“UK-experiment part 1. The transition didn’t quite work, but I still wanted to see the other side of the Channel.“
516 km,…..speed 84 km./h !!
Even the Lasham-boys were surprised;
“Lasham doesn’t often see a sudden international glider cross country flights. But it did today from Yves Gerster who made his way from Switzerland to the UK, dropping into Lasham in a JS1 Jet Glider. He will complete the remainder of his flight later this week back to Europe. Potentially the most enterprising flight we’ve seen in decades!”

This flight was On Wednesday April 27 and many more good flights were flown that day, also from Belgium and The Netherlands.
From Keiheuvel [B] Jeroen Jennen flew in his LS 8 771 km and from Malden [N] 652 km was flown in an LS 4 by Tim Kuijpers. Both are former top juniors flying JWGC’s.
In the USA Evan flew 1.404 km [speed 138 km./h] in wave and with ridge soaring from Eagle in van ASW 27.
“Task was roughly Lock Haven PA – Gate City VA – Lock Haven for a 15m National O&R record.
This being my first solo ground launch ever, I opted to leave ballast for another day.
All went well enough, albeit with hellish turbulence at times, until 40 miles from the finish I switched batteries and got nothing! Post flight inspection reveals a battery terminal detached in flight (the turbulence was really that bad!).”
Also in the USA Dan flew 1.512 km. [speed 146 km./h] but he just missed out on his goal:
“Some days you win and some days you lose. Declared a 1500k three turnpoint task for a 1500k diploma. After 10 hours 45 minutes came up about 40 km short. Rough and tumble ridge, some wave thrown in with some gang buster thermals. A good day overall. At least I did not break anything.“
3.221 m MSL 2.602 AGL at one point, but mainly ridge soaring.
GREAT effort!!!!

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The Royal Air Force Gliding & Soaring Association started their 2022 expedition to Aéroclub International Sisteron on Wednesday.
Great weather with” 9 knot thermals. 13,000ft+ cloud base. Amazing views across a gliding paradise.“

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The 2022 Gauteng Regionals, talking South Africa now , Orient to be precise, were flown between April 23 and 30!
First flying day was on the 26th for both classes club and open.
Club with 6 participants and open with 12 had 3 flying days.
In club the 3 tasks were under 200 km. In the end the winner was Gregory in a DG 200 with 1.041 points, which says enough.
In open some “strong” pilots and tasks under 300 km with as winner John Coutts who won 2 days;1.789 points. Uys and Oscar were on spot 2 and 3 with 1 points difference between them;1.655 for 1.654.

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The 28th edition of the KLIX 2022 , with 72 competitors in 4 classes started on the 29th.[till May 7] after 2 practice days.
Club has 12 pilots, standard class 19, the 2-seaters are with 18 teams and 18 m./open has 29. Quite a few Dutch pilots have entered, as in the years before.
Task 1;
Club…277 km and flown by 9. A 1000 -points-day, for the 13.5 m. LAK /FES for a speed of 76 km./h with German pilot Christoph Matkowski.
Standard…340 km. 98 km/h for Filip from Denmark in the Discus.19 started and 18 finished.
2 seaters…340 km. won by Team Holland Jeroen Verkuijl / Sjoerd van Empelen in the Duo Discus. 9 From 18 finished, 4 less than 10 km out.
open/18m…426 km; 2 former world/European champions Sjaak and Steven fly in this class both in ASG 29 e. And 2 other WGC pilots Bas from Holland in the Nimbus 4 and Henrik Breidahl from Denmark in the 3.MD026 18m, whatever that is!
Christian Schneiders in the Discus2C FES won the first 1000 points in this class.

Task 2; With B tasks at the field and cancellation for the 2-seaters.
Club…1.41 km...best speed 77.43 km./h in an Astir CS 77.Great flight by Lilian from the Netherlands in the DG 300WL; 2d spot with 76. 89 km./h.
All 12 started and finished!!
standard…Jan Kretzschmar, who was runner up on day 1 , won the day now in his LS 8NEO.speed 105 km./h.
2-seaters… CANCELLED.
open/18m.…AND,..there is Bas Seijffert from Holland a “speedy gonzales”. Also today; 117.66 km./h whilst the runner up Sjaak, also from Holland flew 109,72 km./h. And to complete the top 3 TOTALLY; Dutch, Steven Raimond was 3d.
27 Started and one was out. Why Henrik did not fly I don’t know.

Task 3; turned out to be a good day with blue skies and nice cu’s and height up to 2600 m MSL! In the evening some pilots reported up to 7 m/s lift.
Club…250 km; 5 pilots flew over 100 km./h. Daily winner in a LAK 13.5FES was Christoph, who won day 1 as well.
standard…298 km ;19 started 18 finished and Filip won as he did on day 1!
2-seaters…307 km; Another Duo Discus XL won now with team Wollschlaeger & Kaufeld ; speed 123 km./h.16 from 18 finished.
open/18m…282 km; with a speed of 143 km./h Andreas Kuhl , in his JS 3, was the clear winner. Sjaak was runner up with 128 km./h!

Task 4; more or less the same conditions as for task 3. Thermals a bit weaker and starting later, so tasks a bit smaller too.
Club; 210 km...All went on track within 15 minutes and ALL 12 finished! Best speed 92 and 94 km./h
Standard ; 172 km…131 km. /h. and again Filip was the best…3d time.
17 started and finished!
2-seaters; 272 km….BIG speed for the Dutch Duo Discus with Jeroen and Sjoerd;122.25 km./h. The runners up had
From 18, 17 finished
18m/open ; 343 km.…the Dutch are doing well. Speedy- Bas won another day in the Nimbus 4DM[ 120 km./h]. The next best speed 113 km./h was from Steven.
26 Started one was out and one had an invalid start.

Task 5; a day full of hope and long flights, look at this…So early starts at 11.15 and an extra tug [Breezer] to help out.
Club; 4.30 AAT...433 km was flown by Christoph , winning his 3d day!!!!
11 Started and only 1 did not finish and he was with 321 km. in his Astir close by. But you have to finish.
Standard; 4.30 AAT...The Danish pilots are doing well. 2, Poul Kim [Discus 2A] and Jan [LS 8 neo /e] starting about 6 minutes behind each other and finishing like that too, for 1000 and 975 points.
16 started and 1 was out.
2-seaters; 3.45 AAT…One ARCUS T ahead of 4 Duo Discus types. 450 km in time 3.59, for Hagemann en Auen. Sjoerd and Jeroen were runner up with 398 km in time 3.48.
ALL 18 started and 3 were out.
18m/open; 4 hour AAT…..Dutch day with spot 1 and 2 and 6!! Bas flew 486 km in time 4.13 and won another day. Sjaak was runner up with 480 km. in 4.19.
27 started and 3 were out.
More next week.

a great aerial picture from Bo in the back of the tug.

AND,…the French Championships in standard,15m and 2 seaterclass have started as well from Aire-sur-l’Adour, on Mai 1[till May 7]
39 Pilots/teams fly in ONE handicapped class and on day 1 the first start was after 4PM. Task was 183 km.
Till now they had 2 out of 3 small tasks. More next week!!!
AND the Swedish FAI Grand Prix at Boras has 16 entries.
Busy busy! More next week.

AND,…….there are 89 final entries for the WGC in Hungary end of July.
Attention! “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the location of the 37th FAI WGC 2022 has been changed from Kecskemét-Matkópuszta (Hungary) to Szeged (Hungary).” Contest; July 24-August 5 2022.
I know there are still a few on that list who have withdrawn.

Today on Mai 4 we remember all those who died in the war. At Terlet Arjan, who always takes such great pictures flew around in a glider with Ray Whitwell , a 103 year old veteran from the UK who fought in the area , he now flew over.
It was broadcasted on regional TV as well;
“103 year old WWII veteran Ray Whitwell up in a glider for a flight over Arnhem and Oosterbeek.”

Cheers Ritz and ….. very special…..Judy Renner found the picture of Ingo and Inge and I HAVE to share this 20 year old photo with all of you….sooo nice.

Don’t forget to read the SPECIAL BLOG below this one!!!!!!!

To give this news MORE space ,I share it with you in an extra post and I hope it works out well for them.
When you have donated already, you can skip the first part of this post and THANK YOU.

It’s from the

WWGC2022 – The 11th FAI Women’s World Gliding Championship
The Gliding Centre, Husbands Bosworth August 2022
wwgc2022.co.uk

They are working to support entries for two female pilots from Ukraine and invite everyone in our gliding community to help support this effort.

Good afternoon everyone,

we now have the fundraising page for the Ukraine pilots to join us at WWGC2022 set up and ready for donations.  You can find it at

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-ukrainian-women-pilots-to-attend-wwgc2022

Thanks to those of you who have offered to donate!  There will be posts going out on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter later on today, please share those across your networks when you see them. 

Many thanks,

Liz
Liz Sparrow
Competition Director, WWGC2022 
British Gliding Team Pilot and Women Gliding Founder Member
director@wwgc2022.co.uk
01794 342309
07767 848229

IMPORTANT!!!!!!

After the accident in Prievidza Sebastiaan Kawa wrote some words about safety in our beautiful sport.
I share them with you;
“This is a translation of a post that Sebastian Kawa sent to whatsapp a few days ago. Very nicely and clearly said and straight to the point!.

Dear gliding fellows.
Many aviation and gliding traditions follow similar traffic rules and good aviation practices. Unfortunately, these rules are not part of international air traffic regulations and have never been published in official publications.
Even in countries where such rules existed as national or club rules when international rules were introduced, the specifics of our traffic have been ignored along with the abolition of national rules. There are no traffic rules published in FAI documents governing the conduct of sailplane competitions.
That is why when we meet together at competitions, we can adapt regulations, which aeroclubs have had for years, as good practice or aviation etiquette. As a general rule of thumb, let’s assume that a sailplane that is flying behind another sailplane is responsible for separation and safety as a sailplane flying in front cannot see what is happening behind.
Secondly, avoid sudden maneuvers in the immediate vicinity of the second sailplane. The closer we fly, the slower the approach speeds and the smoother the maneuvers should be. Flying head on deviate to the right.  And specifically for our  
1a) Never fly over another sailplane in such a position and so close that you lose sight of it under the fuselage and when it is possible that a sailplane below may pull up and collide with those flying above. When the pilots cannot see each other, a collision is highly probable. This should be avoided in straight flight at high speed when pulling up may change altitude very fast, but also when circling in the thermal. Overtaking vertically on the final is especially dangerous. Fly at least a wingspan aside. 
1b) – You must not overtake when flying under another sailplane in a position where a sailplane flying above could dive and collide with you.

2a) – Circling sailplanes have priority. They fly at a slower speed and have less maneuverability. The gliders in the thermal need to focus on observing each other. If you want to join a thermal you should also respect the job pilots already did to find a core.  
2b – When joining the thermal, it should follow a tangent line to circling sailplanes and join in the same direction of circling. Adjust the speed as early as possible and be careful not to collide with the sailplane above when you pull up. Look around. In the vicinity of the thermal there may be gliders circling in a different orbit or gliders approaching the thermal from a different direction, which sets a particular risk of collision.
2c) – When gliders enter the same thermal accidentally and start circling in opposite directions, the higher glider sets the direction of circling. If the vertical separation is over 300m, you can circle in opposite directions, but if gliders enter the thermal at altitudes in between, they should start circling in the same direction as the highest glider, so it is better to adjust the direction of circling in advance if you are the lower glider.2d) – When leaving the thermal, before you start to accelerate, make sure that there is no glider below. When you leave a crowded thermal, it is better to accelerate after you level off your wings. Especially Dangerous situations are when more than one glider leaves or enters the thermal at the same moment. In this case, you should check the position of each glider in the vicinity several times during the entry.
3- Flying by the mountain slope, give way to the glider with the slope on his right side. The usual rule of right-hand traffic does not allow him to deviate to the right to pass, and for this reason, the glider with a slope on the left has the option of flying wider into the valley and giving way. The exception is the left end of the slope (looking against the wind), where immediately after making the turn, gliders that were flying directly behind us and are still before the turn should be given way.

Read it carefully……..
THANK YOU Sebastian.