Post 1.393 on November 30 2022

—–When you have to make an out landing at this stage in the wet parts of Australia you have to be prepared that this can be difficult. A landing in a crop might be pretty safe as long as the canola is not too high .
Such a landing happened around Tocumwal and Joergen was so kind to share some pictures from Bernie ‘s outlanding.

And when you wonder who is Joergen, here you are;

—–It ‘s nice to see that USA pilot Kathy Fosha is back in Lake Keepit. She must have good memories on flying from that field during the Aussie- Keepit- 10th-WWGC in January 2020.
Her first flight back down under was in a Discus ; 447 km.
Last Monday she flew in a Discus A 361 km.
“Day was better than expected. Was a bit pessimistic and grumpy on the ground, and pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a great day. Good fun!“

–—–Also great to see that my friend Daan [Pare] flies in Kiripotib with his son Thijs ; a father-son-week in the ARCUS M. One day Daan “leads”, the other day Thijs, who I know since he was a toddler.
On Friday Thijs was “the leading man” ; “Plan A was to go around the Windhoek TMA, however some showers in the north made us chance our minds. So we conjured plan B which was to go south, where we joined the giant motorway that ran into Botswana. Great day!“1.063 km with 140 km./h!
Last Friday , indeed, they had in Namibia “one of those days” again.
With 26 x a 1000 km,; one 1.169 km [1000 FAI triangle !!!!] by Eric Schneider in an Ventus 3 M /18m. with 150 km./h.! He is one of those young ones who “get” a glider from the junior sponsor for Bitterwasser Wilfried Grosskinsky. Eric felt “over the moon”, grateful, but was a bit annoyed with himself that he/it started half an hour late. So the flight could have been even better!!!
During his very first flight in Bitterwasser, with Klaus [Reinhold] in the Arcus, they flew with great lift and lines, 1.145 km….so great practice.
Those young Germans say it more enthusiastic; Toller tag, Geil, Hammer steigen and tolle Linien.
Longest flight that November -day -25, was 1.240 km. in the mighty EB 28 from Bitterwasser.

—–They started last Friday on November 26 in Bitterwasser with Wilfried’s 1000 km. camp for young pilots.
Wilfried himself took young Max Maslak for a ride in the EB 28;
“A very good day with the usual first hour in the blue, but then under lines to SS….! For Max, the first flight in Africa was full of excitement….! All in all, a very good team performance, with Max getting along excellently with the big plane!“
Tobias Pachowsky another young talent, flew the Ventus 3 on this day 1 and was as enthusiastic as all others flying solo or “with” during the camp.
He mentioned it was a pity that the final approach thermal didn’t want to come. But at least they flew the 1000 k.
“What a day today. Was really incredibly fun. Especially with Eric together in the team. At the beginning it was really tough up to the clouds. After that, going north, things went very well in the team. The leg to the southeast was the absolute top hammer. Lift everywhere. Maybe we flew a little too far to the southeast. On the way back, the line deteriorated properly and we had a headwind. In the end it wasn’t quite enough for the 1000 fai.
Still a great day and the Ventus is an absolute machine. Thanks for this opportunity!!!”
Wilfried and Tobias had another good flight yesterday in the EB 28, together with Max , now in the Ventus 3;
“Day 4 1000km Camp Bitterwasser.
A weather situation with high instability, overdevelopment and thunderstorms in the evening.
The right routing and timing was the prerequisite for the success of the day!
Another new experience for Tobias and Max, which can only be mastered in a team flight.
Definitely exciting up to the last minute, with a common frequency providing great help and security for everyone!” 1.215 km [ 995 FAI] with 150 km./h. and 1.159 km. with 143 km./h.
Those young ones must have the best time in their lives, whilst en passant, learning more than ever before.

——Veronica is getting more and more a host for all International pilots. I noticed pilots from Germany, Israel [6!!!! all from the Negev Gliding Center] ] Poland, Czech Rep. and the UK.
Kiripotib shared great news;
“Gabriela Beláková and Antónia Sulírová set a Slovak record today (not yet confirmed). The 750 km FAI triangle was never flown before by a female Slovak team. Congrats ladies!”
125 km./h in the ARCUS M.

———South Africa’s MAGIC WORCESTER, had the same great weather last Friday; 1.154 km by Mathias Schunk together with our -long-time-ago-in-Tocumwal-kilometer-eater Uwe [Thiele] ;143 km./h.
On Saturday they went up again and had an even longer flight, what do you expect else from 2 kilometer-eaters in One ARCUS M;1.302 km. with a speed of 145 km./h.
One of our other frequent-Toc-flyers is in Worcester too; Michael Godoj.
2 Over 700 km flights till now.
This OLC is such a fabulous way of “following” old mates.

–——–The weather down under is in spring mood. When you can fly 507 km. in a St. JANTAR [SZD 48-1] from Beverley in the West, that’s just good by Ross McLernon!!!! 95 km./h.
What I remember from the past is that the weather in the early season was good in the East moving through the time/seasons via the South to the West.
Last Saturday Norm [Bloch] flew already a 730 km in his JS 3/18m with 130 km./h. so a
great start of the Western season.
Also Tocumwal on the Murray river had a good day and frequent-Toc- flyer Ken from Japan, tried out his beautiful “toy” again after the covid -years.

—–Staying down under, with lovely news about Beryl from the FAI AWARDS
“Beryl Hartley, has been awarded the prestigious FAI PAUL TISSANDIER DIPLOMA, named in honor of Paul Tissandier, Secretary General of FAI from 1919 to 1945. This diploma is awarded to those who have served the cause of aviation in general and sporting aviation in particular.”
And I have personally seen and heard how she served gliding…in an unbelievable way.
NOTHING WAS TOO MUCH FOR HER!!!!
MORE THAN DESERVED!!!
Congratulations Beryl.
Also the Integrated Training Panel has won the FAI award for Group Diplomas of Honor.
“Gliding Australia is proud to announce that its training programme steering group has won this award.
This award recognizes the team’s hard work in developing a common pathway for training pilots in core skills as well as soaring and cross country through standardising materials and adopting modernised training techniques.”
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

——one of the kilometer eaters flying in Argentina Juan Pablo Verdura flew last week, for the first time far South from his departure spot Zapala, passing many other departure points to fly a total of 1.844 km [131 km./h] in the Ventus 2CM/18m.
The South indeed was good, as another kilometer-eater Swiss pilot Jean Marc Perrin started from Jose De Saint Mart, where Juan Pablo turned. Jean Marc flew in his DG 808/15 m 1.484 km. [130 km./h] !!!

——-One of the colleagues of both my ex George and my daughter Inge, Harold ,wrote a book about his time in the cockpit, flying for Transavia.
It could be a nice Sinterklaas or Christmas present for Dutch reading friends.
With exotic destinations, inside stories and exciting news from the cockpit.
Now no cost to send it and only 22 Euro as” end-of-the-year-present”.
If you order from Australia there might be cost for sending??!!

–—–And to finish this fabulous picture from Kurstjens Farming Australia / Beefwood Farms,
The pictures has nothing to do with gliding but with gliding pilots.
My friends Pam and Gerrit have created an awesome business in Australia. CHAPEAU!!!!!
With help from hardworking, very motivated people from different parts of the world their business is huge!
In between they fly their gliders [EB 29 R and ASH 31/21m] from Mccaffrey Field [Queensland] as well.
And once in a while when they are back in Holland , they visit me. Belgium beer, TRAPPIST with grenadine for all 3 of us in bar Jo d’un Urste! Early spring 2022.

CU next Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.392 on November 21 2022.

NAMIBIA:
With 5x a 1000 km (1x FAI), 3x 1.100 km und 1x 1.200 km on November 15 , it turned out to be one of those good/better days in Bitterwasser.
‘The season has now really taken off. With almost 50 guests Bitterwasser is very well visited already at the beginning.
The participants of “Flying with the Youngsters” already got their money’s worth on the second day and were all able to record flights over 1000 km. “

Veronica had that same day, the same perfect gliding weather with distances from 1.282,00 km. [911,19
FAI] …1.151,50 [1000 FAI] in the Eta,….1.129,37 [827,42 FAI] ,….1.050,63 [773,26 FAI] ,….1.102,89 [693,72 FAI] ….1.035,14 [721,46 FAI],….and 3x more 1000 k.

Great -Total-Namibia- Day, as Pokweni and Kiripotib showed 1000 km flights as well!!!
Many happy guests, champions and “students”.
There will be for sure MORE great flights over the Namibia season you can see them on the OLC or WeGlide. I will follow the very special ones, but I congratulate EVERYBODY with their 1000, that magic “number” already for years in soaring.

One of those SPECIAL flights is the one from Bruno[Gantenbrink] on November 17.
Jonker Sailplanes used it to praise him quite rightly;
“Yesterday “the legend” Bruno Gantenbrink flew again the fasted speed in the category “bigger 1000 km” 1041 km from Veronica (Namibia) with a speed of 148 km/h in the JS2 Revenant 21m new self launcher from Jonker Sailplanes.”
Great effort, certainly when you know he is not the youngest anymore. Seeing him at many comps in the past , he must be now in his early eighties.

And one of the guests from Soaring Safaris in Bloemfontein shared;
“Soaring safaris South Africa, wow. Get up. Look out of the window, do breakfast, arrive at the field. The team have the covers off and the glider washed, go to briefing, put fuel, oxygen and task into the glider, the team tow it to the grid. Get in and fly. Love it”.
Soaring Safaris

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Info ; For the 2023 EUROPEAN season.

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Info for this overseas season;
Long, long ago in the early eighties, when we visited Tocumwal for the first time as guests from Bill Riley at the SSC [ Sportavia Soaring Center] , we got flyers like below with promotion for flying over there. Ingo as instructor, was, with respect, the main attraction. But the airfield, the WW2 hangar, the people in town and the staff from Sportavia made us so happy, that we came back every year , bringing more and more people.
As you know we took over half of the business …50 %…. in 1994, together with Jeff and Margie.
From guests to owners was a huge step. In 1997,as …on that sad day on January 5, Jeff our partner unexpectedly died in a midair, we had to do it by our selves [ full owners] with of course help of most of the staff who was there already for a long time.
At that stage , it really was and even became more, a famous soaring paradise for pilots from all over the world, till November 2006 ,……when the then sole owner Richard, auctioned it all in one go.
There are still people who think we sold it by auction, we would have NEVER done so.
Mid 2005 Richard , who slowly became a partner , took over and after a year it was not what he wanted/hoped for and organized the auction, whilst he promised me to never ever do so. [ I was already scared /worried he could do so!!!]
We had lived for more than 10 years at the camping area with many others and were just ordered to leave!!!!!!Of course we lived in a beautiful house as well, but the caravan always stayed a favorite spot AT the field!!!!
Close to the white gum-tree in honor to Kees Musters [R.I.P. December 27 in 1987 and Dennis,[January 3 1988] planted on the funeral day of Dennis on January 10 1988.
I left Australia , back to The Netherlands.
Whilst writing , I still feel sad!!!!
But,….I still have contact with a lot of happy guests/mates and had unforgettable and lovely years in Tocumwal….. that stays FOREVER…even when we lost everything!!!!!
So I hope this flyer works as well for Sharon and Lumpy , the owners nowadays, who really have put a lot of effort in building it all up again.

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OLC news; OLC – onlinecontest.org
A vision has become reality – OLC-Live has started.
The innovation to bring logger data and the internet together and thereby generate a worldwide daily updated ranking was the basis for the development of the OLC more than 20 years ago. Already at that time, the dream was born to be able to present the sport of gliding not only daily updated, but also live. It was not only about a pure presentation of the current positions. Rather, the live presentation should be integrated directly into the current daily ranking.
This vision has now become reality.
Read more: https://www.onlinecontest.org/…/segelfl…/cmsnews.html…

The young WeGlide entrepreneurs started already with a new way of sharing flights and are doing a great job.

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News from FAI Sailplane Grand Prix
“The FAI Sailplane Grand Prix is currently engaged in the 11th series of national contests with the succesful completion of 7 qualifying national contests in Europe . The next contests will be held in Australia and South Africa during January 2023. The final of the 11th series will be held at Pavullo in Italy at the end of August 2023.
The FAI/SGP management team are pleased to announce the schedule for the 12th FAI/SGP series of contests.
The national contests for the 12th series will take place during 2024 and the 12th final will take place in 2025.
Bid documents and conditions for organising a national event will be published in December 2022 on sgp.aero “

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News from FAI – World Air Sports Federation;
“German pilot Conny Schaich crowned IGC Champion Pilot of the Year 2022 after glittering competition results .
Conny is the current world champion in the Standard Class, winner of the 2022 FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships at Husbands Bosworth, United Kingdom, where she achieved the highest percentage in comparison to the maximal possible points over all the other current gliding world champions. This result shows her dominance over the world’s best female glider pilots in her class.
Full story on https://bit.ly/3tKp4zm
Congratulations Conny….so welll done!!!!!

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Out of the blue we had another weather record this year 2022.
After a hot summer, many the hottest- ever- October- days up to 20 dgr. C, we got an unexpected northerly stream bringing us snow, icy temperatures up to minus 10 last weekend.
The coldest -ever-November-temperature in the Netherlands.
No not as much snow as in New York, but snow and the first die-hards went speed skating on natural ice already on 1cm thick ice, by sprinkling water over a running track.
We Dutch have been born on bikes and skates!!!!

Lot’s of snow in The Pyrenees as well as you can see on this picture shared by our former guest long time ago, Olivier.

Clearly the winter sport holidays can start.
F1 is over, with Max as glorious winner and a farewell to great driver Seb.
But world-soccer starts now . I am interested in seeing the scores, but due to ALL what happened in Qatar, not so much in the matches.
Though I was proud on the Iranian soccer- heroes to NOT sing the National hymn.
I also still believe that sport is and must be sport and politic is politic.
But nowadays everything seems controversial.

CU next week
Cheers Ritz

When I looked for the results at soaringspot for the last days of the Matamata contest, I only noticed a wind map,….so to see,….not good,….. so no flying. The message with the pictures was;
“Might be an interesting tasking day tomorrow with 30-40 knot winds at 4000 feet… wave anybody?!”

That was for Thursday November 10. However , only 1 day earlier John McCaw flew a great flight from Springfield into the main divide ; 11.000ft cloud-base and wonderful views.

They did not fly anymore in Matamata, but for what it is worth,…..a “few” points were given.
Brett had 248, Jevon 215 and Michael 48……

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The Aussie season just started and sadly enough the first accident was mentioned by Gliding Australia:
“Wed 9 November 2022, at about 2:50 pm QLD time, an Astir CS sailplane piloted by a Sunshine Coast Gliding Club pilot and an RAAus Kappa KP-2U Sova aircraft were involved in a mid-air collision, just South of Gympie aerodrome. The glider and aircraft crashed into a nearby paddock. Emergency Services attended the accident site.
Both the glider pilot [ 80] and the powered aircraft pilot [77] died in this tragic accident. The pilot was an experienced member, who loved soaring flight.”
“We are determined to understand the safety implications of this tragic accident, as our focus is on preventing recurrence.“
R.I.P.

Just to remind you BE CAREFUL!!!!!

Another mid-air was this weekend in Dallas at an Airshow from 2 historic military planes, 6 casualties….tragic!!!
The planes, a B17 Flying Fortress Bomber and a P-63 King Cobra fighter plane went up in fire after the collision.
My thoughts are with the family and friends from the pilots.

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November 10 was a real Namibia -day! Not yet the BIG one but big enough for those who are interested in 1000 km-flights. VERONICA had 4 and Bitterwasser 1 .
All speed around 138 km./h.
Veronica with good old Bruno [Gantenbrink] in a JS 2 SL 21m.topped the list.
https://www.onlinecontest.org/…/gliding/flightinfo.html…
https://www.weglide.org/flight/224514

Further on flights in an ETA, JS 3/18m and HPH 304 MS Shark 18m.
Stefan and Bernd Goretzki flew the Bitterwasser-ARCUS over 1.000 km.
10 over 800km flights as well.
On November 11 same story 4 from Veronica ….one in a JS 3 from 1.111 km with a speed of 141 km./h [800 FAI triangle] by Bernd…..and 1 from Bitterwasser. It was the first JS3 RES electric self launch in Veronica Namibia.
November 15 looked more like a TOP day with many 1000 km-flights and 2x a 1.200 ; 1.288 by Bernd Dolba in the JS 3 /18m from Veronica and 1.209 by team Guy Bechtold in the ARCUS from Bitterwasser.
South Africa is heating up as well; from Worcester Sven Olivier flew in his JS 1 B 980 km [ FAI 583 km] the longest distance for the new season till now and,…it just begins.

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I often share news from Adam Woolley, as he flies and I do not .He has a nice way of writing.
For that reason I was very pleased that after all the covid-19 problems and many airlines had to temperately stop some of their action , he is totally back into it. Meaning money and a possibility for new gliders in the future.
“Good news, today I passed my check to line on the B787 with Air Japan. A great feeling to have life finally back on track after a tough (yet still enjoyable) few years! Thanks to all my course mates & colleagues who I enjoyed the journey with, we’ve all overall had a great time.
Bring on the gliding comps, investing for my future & continuing to save for an EB29RX “
Congratulations Adam, well-done!!

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In my last blog I wrote about the ARCUS M flight from Gordon Boettger. I got a comment on the picture of the ARCUS M from my Danish mate Ole; “The Minden Arcus is really an Arcus J. It is the only jet-powered Arcus in the World.”
So I checked his next message, that I would be able to see it on a picture in Gordon’s comment on October 22.
AND,…yes indeed, I know Ole knows his facts, he was correct.
THANKS Ole!!!! Here is the picture.

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A WOW flight in wave, incredible soaring conditions, last Saturday in a LAK 17 A T/18m. from Postojna in Slovenia, South from Lesce Bled, all the way to Livno in Bosnia Herzegovina; 1.536 km with 163 km./h.!!!!High wave up to 6629 MSL, and very constant. Pilot; Bernard Dobre!157 km./h
A Czech pilot , Milos Pajr was there as well and flew in the HPH 304 MS Shark 18m, 1.407 km. [speed 157 km./h]
Boris Zors,a more well-known name and local hero, was there too and flew in his JS 3 a distance of 1.070 km.
Great day! 5 Pilots enjoyed it!!!!
Full flight of the LAK to be seen on
https://www.weglide.org/flight/224809

MORE WOW-flights!!!! This time from Argentina, another top day with 1.600 km. flight’s!!!!
On November 14, Juan Pablo Verdura flew in his Ventus 2CM/18m a magic flight from 1.600 km with a speed of 185 km./h!!!Up to 7834 MSL wave and again pretty consistent.
“DIA BOMBASTIC!!!” Those words say enough!!! A rotor and lenticular-party.

34 km. less in an ARCUS M is fabulous too. Both flights from Zapala Neuquen.
At the moment, the annual CNVVM wave camp (Centrol Nacional de Vuelo a Vela en Montana) is held in Zapala.

AND,….it was not over yet with the top-wave. Yesterday Jean Marc Perrin, one of the kilometer-eaters from Switzerland, flying often in Argentina, this time from Jose De San Mart, flew 1.608 km in a DG 808/15m!!!! Speed 167 km!!!
His first flight again since 28-01-2020 .
And WHAT-A- FLIGHT!!!!

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The SKY RACE in Corowa has been cancelled due to the weather circumstances.
“The Skyrace GP organising committee has made the difficult decision of cancelling this year’s event due to the risk of having a poorly attended and potentially unsafe competition due to the weather situation and it’s affect on our tasking area.“
They will be back next year BIGGER and BETTER!!!!!
This morning I heard that due to opening of the Hume Dam, even more flooding has occurred. At this stage you can’t drive from Toc. to Cobram [school, big supermarket, hospital etc] neither by main or cause road.
Eddie just flew over the bends;”Water is finally starting to flow over the road at the start of the Bends Tocumwal”

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Back to the past for a moment;
As a farewell- present for 10 years Sportavia- involvement, I got a flight with Ingo in the Caproni in November of the 2006 season!
My family was there at that stage too. 2 Days ago I got these pictures from Rodger, husband of my daughter Inge. Joris , family friend of Inge and Rodger was there as well and took these pictures.

And to finish this nice areal shot from

CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

Post ….1.390.. on November 9 2022

—–Since November 2 also Veronica is active in Namibia, so a full start of the season now. AND,…as usual over the last couple of years, lot’s of well known names, CHAMPIONS, are helping out as tutor for those who want to improve their skills, in Kiripotib and Bitterwasser.
Reinhard Schramme, Wolfgang Janowitsch , Holger Back, Tassilo Bode , Pete Harvey are some of the CHAMPION-names!!
Other well-known names fly in Veronica as Petr Krejcirik who flew 747km in the Twin Shark.
What makes everybody happy there in Namibia is the mostly great soaring weather, not always to be honest…., often not in the beginning of November, indeed also now….. but above all the camaraderie ; somebody mentioned ‘” it’s incredible fun to spend time with like-minded people”.
“Again a difficult day in Namibia. A lot of low flying and then came the rain. We started the engine to fly to the better weather and started again to fly past the rain on the way back. A lot of engine hours .”

—–Jonker sailplanes shared interesting news;
“What a historic day for JONKER SAILPLANES. First self launch ever of a JS glider in Namibia! The JS2 SL took off for the first time today from Veronica and kissed the Namibian sky. What an amazing glider! 21m wingspan but it feels as light to handle and operate as a 18m wingspan glider. The rudder needs a bit more input, but the glider is still very agile, responsive, and absolutely easy to fly.
Absolutely smooth and direct operating controls. The ailerons need a 2 finger operation only. Flaps almost as light to operate as in a JS3.
We will test the new JS2 prototype selflauncher thoroughly over the next 4 weeks in Veronica and Bitterwasser.
The first JS3 RES (Electric Self Launcher) from Bernd Dolba will also be flying in Veronica for the next 3 months. So both new developed JS self launchers are 2022/2023 on stage in Namibia and will have to earn their merits in extreme weather conditions.
After the update the JS engineers had done to the SOLO engine it now runs as smooth and quiet as a Wankel engine. Absolutely vibration free!
What a privilege to fly this 21m ship for a short test flight today.” as written by Katrin Senne in the OLC News Magazine.

—–Corowa starts a new episode in it’s soaring-life. I wrote already that Keith Gately bought the soaring center from Francesco and Grietje. He is setting up a permanent gliding club.
At this stage they are host for the Mount Beauty Gliding Club, who will soon have a brand new runway.
“Introducing Soar Corowa, a new gliding enterprise – operating through the GFA affiliated Murray Valley Soaring Club – being established at Corowa Aerodrome in 2022.”
https://soarcorowa.com/
Registration for the GFA 20m Dual Seat Gliding Nationals 2023 now open!

In the summer 2022/2023 the Corowa Aerodrome will be the location of two gliding competitions, the Skyrace 2023 and the GFA 20m Dual Seat Gliding Nationals 2023 which Soar Corowa is proud to be hosting.
By the way the EB from Keith is on it’s way to Corowa;
“EB29r VH-GYH packed away and finally setting sail towards Australia. Looking at an arrival to Melbourne docks around the 10th December. With some luck I could be flying by Christmas Day. Antwerp to Australia via Spain and South Africa.“

——Staying down under with the BEVERLEY CUP. [30 October 2022 – 5 November 2022] in the West of Australia.

On the 30thiest the message was ;”No flying today due weather – better luck tomorrow, folks!”
And they , the 17 pilots, were lucky as they had straight away a few 3 hour AAT’s won by Don [Woodward] on task 2 [308 km ..speed 83 km./h] in his ASW 20 .
Task 3 ,was for Norm ,in his JS 3TJ/18m 397 km ..speed 126 km./h.
Task 4 , 400 km for Don ; speed 121 km. Norm was runner up and faster but he has a faster glider; 133 km./h.
Comment from John Welsh; “Mid afternoon cu streets forming in the West Coast Trough under high Cirrus. Norm did more than 130kph“
Task 5, continued with another 300 k. AND….again it was Don first and Norm runner up; 415 and 427 km….123 and 140 km./h.
Task 6 ,”ONLY” a 2 hour AAT, that changed but not the order; Don first and Norm runner up. About 230 for both the ASW 20 and JS 3 and about the same speed’ 109 and 107 km./h.
Task 7, LAST day! 3 hour AAT again and windy…..and Ai/Ouch Norm was “out” after 100 km and yes Don won the day. Ross McLernon was in his Jantar 2, 3d for the day and moved from 3 to 2 passing Norm .
So the final scores are;
1. Don Woodward in ASW 20 with 5.589 points.
2. Ross McLernon in Jantar 2 with 4.229 p.
3. Norm Bloch in JS 3/18m with 3.834 p.

—–The weather down under really improves. Still a lot of water and not so many places to land-out, but great skies and up to 500 km-flights. My mates Gerrit and Pam had a great flight from McCaffery Airfield in their EB 29 [ it replaced the QUINTUS] and ASH 31MI/21m.last Sunday.
My Toc mates looked at great skies and had a busy weekend.
“We’ve had a few busy days, with 4 pilots doing their BFR’s and some refresher training.
Nice big Cu’s yesterday saw flights of 400 kms done and some 8 and 10 kt climbs put smiles on our faces.”

So did my Benalla mates;

Though looking at the next picture it’s still WET

—-Good and sad news about our soaring mates. Aussie competition pilot, Allan Barnes married his Katrin , on the east coast of the north island of New Zealand ….wishing them a very happy life together…..and our long time Japanese soaring mate Yoghi Oshinomi , I only heard now, died on April 19 in 2021. He loved his soaring in Tocumwal, mostly together with Junzo-san.
R.I.P dear Yoghi-san.

——Not everybody could be at the wedding as there was a soaring contest in N.Z. as well.
The GREAT MATAMATA SOARING CENTER CONTEST 2022 is on in…of course Matamata, between November 4 and 12. Unfortunately unlucky with the weather….only on November 7 they had their first tasks, small 2 hour AAT’s and they had to be cancelled in all 3 classes.[open racing and sports]
On the practice day on November 5 they flew.
Brett Hunter [JS 3] in open class [5 participants] won the 2 hour AAT with 229 km and a speed of 111 km./h,
In racing [ 7 pilots including “good old Tony van Dyke] it was Colin Kelly in Ventus 2 B with 175 km during a 2 hour AAT ; speed 87 km./h
In sports class [4 pilots] also a 2 hour AAT with as daily winner Raeburn Kerr in a T.51 Dart 17R; 166 km …speed 60 km./h.
But as one pilot wrote;
“What to do on a Contest practice day…when you aren’t actually entered in the contest…and it’s a ridge day, and no one is interested in going to Port Jackson again (or at least I’m not interested in going to the top of the Coromandels again).One suggestion was to see if you could get to the West Coast…run along the coast (which is quite fun – see video)…AND get home again.”
https://youtu.be/OTN8J-lpQGM

Last Tuesday they had another tricky flying day but they flew. Brett won the 2.30 AAT with 179 km and a speed of 71 km./h, in the open class, that says enough , certainly when you fly a JS 3. Runner up in the DG 808 C ,Jevon McSkimming, with 167 km ,speed 61 km./h Great effort from both!!!!
Racing had a 2.15 AAT but it turned out an invalid day, but Tony still flew 63 km whilst the runner’s up flew 11 km.
No flying in sports class either, 1 pilot started but….. [2 hour AAT]
“Hows the current MSC comp going? Not great! Although well done to Brett and Jevon today for getting around a tricky task“

–——Minden Nevada; an extra long flight again by Gordon Boettger in his ARCUS M. Such a fabulous glider for so many “goals”; 1.403 km with a speed of 193.30 km./h!!!!!
“Had to wait in the morning for the wave to regenerate after a small system came through the day before. The wave I used was from a cold front coming in after landing. Watched the clouds from the ground and when it looked like it was finally working I took off and had an easy climb and went north in soft conditions. Things were forecast to get stronger as the day went on so I was careful not to fall out. Turned in fairly soft conditions north of Susanville and went south. Things got really soft and a lot of cloud cover from Bridgeport to south of Mammoth. Stayed above the clouds and nothing marked well at all so I was very careful. Picked up Sage 2 clearance and ran the Owens Valley in less than classic conditions. Northbound there was even more cloud cover but got a clearance with OAK to stay high above the clouds. Wave was not really marked by the clouds at all. Made it into Carson Valley and all was easy then.“

I remember with huge pleasure my stay in Minden. Though it was practice for the 1991 WGC , that competition was never flown in Minden but had to move to Uvalde, where I have great memories from too!!! From both comps as in 2012, I was in Uvalde too.
The next one in Uvalde is in 2024, if I will be there ..????? Most probably not.

CU next week
Cheers Ritz
Look at this…..The weather in Tocumwal today!!!!!! As shared by Bruce Wilson, 2 SRGC- tugs ready to fly /tow.
Lumpy flew in his Nimbus 4T 590 km.[500 FAI triangle] Indeed the news season starts!!!!!

Time passes by and not a lot stays the same.
I can’t remember Tocumwal airport WITHOUT the red, white and black colored bus to find some high needed shade, at the strip at the “soaring-department”.
Also on the sides blackboard’s, to make drawings from patterns from circuit’s for those who needed it. Sportavia had , through the times, many ab initio pilots, who wanted to learn how to fly a glider within a week, and that mostly was a success.
So many of the Sportavia guests have been sitting there. At home having great chairs to sit on, here at the field comfortable enough for everybody, “rich and poor.”.
It’s gone now. Eddie drove it behind his Ute to Christie’s museum around the corner of the airfield direction Cobram, for a well deserved rest after many years of “hard work”.
“After 50 years the bus is on the way to its new home.
At Christie’s Museum“
I looked for pictures in my books and here you are the bus in December 1986.

Whilst looking I found lovely pictures from former guests, I have n’t seen for a long time and,…..who became friends.

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During my visit in New Zealand , I had of course a look at gliding places. From Tauranga, where I stayed with John and Chris [picture see above], we drove from the highest point to the lowest point on the NORD Island.
Not far above the Taupo Lake is the airfield of Matamata.
On October 16 they had a great spring day there, a fantastic early season day.;
“A bit of a record…6 gliders make it to Port Jackson…and back…well I think everyone got home in time for tea and scones. Helped by a useful cloud streety-covergencey-ridgey sort of cloud setup at the critical point where you move from the front ridge to behind Coromandel township.
Also, we had a couple of 500kms plus flights as well.[ Tim Bromhead in the Ventus 17.5 m …503 km. and DP Jensen in a JS1 B….525 km] Not bad for a mid-Oct day.
A total of 21 launches…so long flights, training flights and trial flights…what more could you ask for???“
Matamata Soaring Centre

MORE great soaring, now from the UK where on OCTBER 28!!!!!, a DECLARED 750 from which 680 was flown in an ARCUS by Chris Gill….he just fell short .
” So close yet so far. Great day out. Almost 800KM OLC.“
“an amazing day and lots learnt, flying over Wales, England, Scotland and views of Ireland.”
Sonny Rising, a JUNIOR and co pilot during this epic flight , had the day of his life, not only learned a lot, but shared this picture from the wave they found en route as well;

https://bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/105960

Even more great autumn soaring, now from France, St Gaudens, where Pierre De Broqueville flew in his EB 29DR, over the beautiful Pyrenees in wave up to over 5000 m MSL; 704 km.
And another flight from 1.105 km with an average speed of 131 km./h, good wave nearly up to 6000 m MSL at places, BUT…the co pilot had “frozen” feet!!!!
“again a nice day but with some tricky points due to wind not stable in direction.” comment from Pierre.

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Something TOTALLY different;
Climate defense activists are active at the moment, in the whole wide world, throwing soup or mashed potatoes to very special and expensive paintings….ALL cultural heritage!!!!!
Here in The Netherlands as well; The famous “Girl with the pearl” was the object of their anger and on an other occasion ,a guy glued himself on a table where he was invited in a talk show, to talk about climate change. He had good arguments but , started to talk nonsense, so everybody had to laugh and the whole point he was going to make was LOST. A pity!!!
With 25 dgr. C here last Sunday it is clear that the weather is changing and I guess the whole world sees and feels it AND wants change, but the way those activists are disturbing culture, is beyond me and MANY more. I understand and support their case , but not the way they are doing it.

By the way …..We changed from summer time into winter time last weekend, so we had an extra hour sleep.
Wintertime with still 24.6 dgr. C is weird!!! But no complaints from my side.
Daily records for October 28 and 29 were broken as the hottest days ever here.
More European countries expire the same records.
Time difference with my mates down under in NSW and Victoria is now 10 hours and they have still rain but spring is around the corner.
Though,…on November 1 , MELBOURNE CUP DAY, it was the coldest day for 70 years in Victoria.
In the USA they have at some places snow already .One of our soaring mates Colin shared this picture.

.

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Looking ahead at 2023 and the French announced their pilots for the next 2023 BIG championships;
12ème WWGC (club, standard and 18m) – Soria-Garray, Spain, from July 1 to 15 2023
Club class; Aude Grangeray / Alizée Petit / Louise Rodriguez
Standard class; Maryline Abadie-Berard / Anaïs Gaubert / Aude Untersee
18 m. class; Anne Ducarouge / Mélanie Gadoulet / Astrid Galaret
replace pilots if necessary; Chloé Dalle-Palle / Estelle Tarbouriech
TEAM CAPTAIN; Éric Napoléon

6th JEGC (club and standard) – Arnborg, Danmark from July 30 to August 12 2023
Club class; Alexandre Fierain / Matthieu Henin / Lucas Oyaux
Standard class; Kevin Faur / Timoté Gard / Philippe Lata
TEAM CAPTAIN; Éric Bernard

21st EGC (18m, 20m and open ) – Leszno, Poland from July to August 13 2023
18m class; Anne Ducarouge / Yacine Vigourel
2 seater class [20m] ; Philippe de Péchy / François-Xavier Poisson
open class; Mélanie Gadoulet / Sylvain Gerbaud

37st WGC (15 m, standard, club) – Narromine, Australie from December 2 till 16 02 2023
15 m. class; Christophe Abadie / Adrien Henry
Standard class; Julien Duboc / Maximilian Seis
Club class; Louis Bouderlique / Hugo Corbille
replace pilots if necessary; Kevin Faur / Sylvain Gerbaud
TEAM CAPTAIN…. Éric Napoléon
I just heard yesterday that the PRE-WORLDS at Narromine have been moved from November 2022 to the end of March 2023, due to the heavy flooding, also in their region.
http://narromineglidingclub.com.au
Also the NARROMINE CUP WEEK is POSTPONED TO 4 – 11 MARCH 2023.
“The Narromine Gliding Club Committee has just taken the difficult but necessary decision to postpone Narromine Cup Week to the 4th to 11th March 2023.
This is due to the unprecedented amount of rain in NSW which has closed roads and flooded surrounding paddocks making soaring difficult and outlandings and retrieves all but impossible and possibly dangerous.
The Narromine Gliding Club wishes to extend an apology to all of you for the disruption to your, leave, travel and accommodation plans but in order to ensure everyone’s safety and enjoyment it was considered a necessary decision.
We hope you will be understanding and agree with the decision. The Narromine Gliding Club extends a warm invitation to all to come for Cup Week in March 2023 and hopes to see you there.”

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Last week I shared news about the N.T. [in the heart of Australia,] winch this time closer by; the winch from the Gelderse here at Terlet. A fabulous looking toy. No NOT NEW,as in new, but a totally overhauled and updated BUSIO. Definitely looking NEW, spiffy and big !!!!

Huge toy for 6 ropes!
Courtesy Arjan

Also….The end of 2 weeks- autumn -camp at Terlet. Enough young people and another young lady , Marin, went solo! Top!!! My granddaughter could due to study, only visit last weekend, when she had her winch duty. Anxious to find out if she could deal with the BUSIO. But,…….No she operated the “old” winch.

AND,…this is a great picture from the Friese aeroclub in the N of the Netherlands, also on their last regular soaring-day, for the season.

To finish another exceptional flight shared on October 26 but now by a bird, by Great BIG Nature
“Exciting news: A New World Record Godwit Flight!!
A juvenile godwit just 5 months old (tagged in Alaska) touched down in Ansons Bay in northeast Tasmania. This godwit (number 234684) departed from Alaska on October 13, 2022 and certainly looks to have flown non-stop to Tasmania. This will not be the first one to make this flight as godwits are frequent visitors to Tasmania, but it’s the first time a tagged bird has flown between Alaska and Tasmania. In the process it flew a minimum of 13,560 km in 11 days 1 hour. The previous long distance record of 13,050 km set by the adult male 4BBRW in 2021 is blown out of the water by this young upstart.
Connect with Nature!“

CU next Wednesday……… probably with more news from Namibia where the season started yesterday on November1.
HOWEVER,…….they started already in Bitterwasser on October 29 and the first flights was straight away 887 km. in an Arcus with Reinhard Schramme!!!
Reinhard flew the seasons first 1000 yesterday as well.
Kiripotib and Pokweni are ACTIVE too.

Cheers Ritz

NO secret that I am a fan from Max. Last Sunday in Mexico he was for the 14th time WINNER from a race in this season. NOBODY DID THIS BEFORE.
He equalized Vettel and Schumacher sr. already but now in Mexico he passed them.
A MASTER CLASS in racing!!!!!!