—–The Lake Keepit REGATTA is still in full swing and with a “light , but fierce” competition always great fun. Great place too as they have their airfield at the LAKE. Nice accommodation AT the field as well and a good club house , I know , as I slept in the back of it in a nice room, always full of laughing friendly people, the club house NOT my room. Nearly no water in the lake , when I was there last with the WWGC in 2019, but it has filled up again. Wish I could send ALL our rainwater to that Lake. TOO MUCH RAIN HERE!!!!! Talking about that WWGC, another pilot participating there Ayala from the UK, flies in this REGATTA and Kathy from the USA has just left them again.Good to see them back down under. They flew good tasks, as said task 1 was a 3 hour AAT, but not all had arrived back from Tocumwal. Good winner though; David Pickles in a PIK 20 D;356.67 km/ 111.11 km./h. Task 2 , another 3 hour AAT straight away showed the practice Allan [Barnes] had already during the National 2 seater comps and he won the day in his LS 8, but David [Pickels] in his ASW 20, who won day 1 was equal on spot 1 now, both with 115 km./h and Ayala [LS6] was on spot 3 all flew around 350 km. Task 3; 2.30 AAT …again 3 WGC pilots in the top; Allan, Brad and Ayala...but also a nice 4th place for Nick [Singer] , not a world champion pilot , but a great instructor at Keepit. Task 4; 3 hour AAT, but no scores yet. As the Toke-pilots arrived later the overall scores now are David 2.629 p, Ayala 2.495 and Nick 2.483 p. They continue till March 2.
–——Talking about the WWGC in Soria here is the latest from the FAI – World Air Sports Federation “Alena Netušilová has been named as FAI Gliding Commission (IGC) Champion Pilot of the Year 2023, for winning the 18m class at the 2023 FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships in Soria, Spain. Yet her career as a glider pilot may never have taken off at all, if it hadn’t been for her courageous attitude… Back in 1986, she and a classmate noticed a flyer saying that the local aeroclub was recruiting “brave boys” for glider pilot training. Together, they decided to sign up and show that gliding was not just a sport for men!“ Alena has already achieved a lot!!! “She has been competing in the European and World Women’s Championships since 1993 and has stood on the podium no less than six times, twice winning the title of World Champion. In total she has flown 4500 hours and over 120,000km in competition.” More on https://www.fai.org/…/Alena-Netusilova-IGC-champion… CONGRATULATIONS ELENA!!! By the way, she flew the WWGC in Lake Keepit as well and was 5th there.
—–The 2024 UK convention is over and the BGA also invited Schempp Hirth; “thank you BGA for inviting us during your 2024 convention. It is Always a great event with good balance between serious things and entertainment. Big thanks to all the Southern Sailplanes team family, our local dealers, and Southern Aero Supplies, for all the help to get the 2 Ventus-3 (3ES prototype and 3M) displayed in perfect conditions. We had the honour to be invited also to make a 20 minutes talk and many conversations indicate the technical choices/solutions/compromises made on the prototype of the Ventus-3ES are going in the right direction to make a real life great glider. Thumbs UP for our technicians and Engineers and thank you all pilots who made us many feedbacks during these last seasons. Next step? Let’s fly this New beast! More infos soon.’
Their next stop is the 2024 Friedrichshafen Aero-event between April 17 and 20 in in Hall A1.. This picture with Ralf [Holighaus] Wolfgang [Janowitsch] and Ludwig [Starkl] is from last year .
—–Not long anymore and the OSTROW JWGC starts;AND,…they, the young UK pilots, were at the BGA conference as well. I read that Oliver is only 18 years old and a member of the Oxford gliding club.He feels well and truly honoured to represent his country.
JWGC combined or parallel with the 13.5 m; July 13-27 2024.
–—-The meteorologic spring starts here on Friday, so time to look ahead at hopefully dryer and more sunny weather. The prognoses are pretty good, with here in The Netherlands, soon 20 dgr, C…they say,… I hope. After the 17 mm of rain on 1 day, last Monday, we are fed up with grey skies and rain!!!! Worse is the situation in the South of Australia where temperatures in the 40 dgr. C cause huge fires, forcing people to leave their houses. Every year again…so sad!!!!
Extra blog because of the end of 2 comps yesterday.
A great picture from Bruce. THANK YOU for sharing your posts Bruce and for always allowing me , to use them. Courtesy Tocumwal Soaring Centre
First the 2-seater NATIONAL comps in Tocumwal; With 3 more days it was rather exciting to see if the ARCUS M could stay in front of the ASG 32 MI. In both gliders top pilots, though the ASG has a former WGC champion in it with Brad. Here we go again with Thursday’s Task 5; 3.45 AAT…..COMPLIMENTS to the Duo Discus pilots from Narrogin; RUNNER UP!!!!!The difference between the ASG 32MI with Bruce and Brad was big; 124.26 km./h and 111.83 km./h, but great effort!!!!! Bruce and Brad flew 478.12 km and team Geerlings /Tang 436 km. Interesting is also …can Adam/Keith stay in front of Bruce/Brad overall in the end? This day they were 5th, but still ahead overall but now only with 23 points!!!!! “Unfortunately, because we were the ones to lead out at the beginning, we got shafted on this windy day. Those following FIG [callsign of their Arcus M] pulled into a great climb just behind us & that was that, we struggled away from low in something far less & couldn’t recover.” Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures AND,…what about David and his mate they ONLY lead with ONE POINTS over Brad and Bruce. So only a few points between 1 and 3; 4.636…4.615 and 4.612!!! Exciting last days!!! All 9 flew AND finished, so a nice day for all. Task 6 a 2.45 AAT was cancelled due to the weather…such a pity…..only 1 day to go now….and close scores!!! Bruce;“It was windy with weak, low convection, and there was a large fire started down near Bendigo to the south-west which made our possible task area pretty smokey. So for something new we sat around eating, drinking coffee and talking about gliding.”
Task 7 VERY LAST DAY , after a great competition!!!!2.45 AAT….. Most started around 14.40 . Adam and Keith at 15.00 as they could not get high enough to start. They did their utmost best to keep on spot 1 overall,but as Adam said; “We survived a couple of low spots , but we are very happy to be home,…. we did our best flight, but the best was not good enough“. From day 1 they had the overall leading position, now they end on spot 3. So team David/Steve was the best in the AG 32 MI;264.38 km / 95.17 km./h and moved from 3 to 1 overall. They won task 3 and 7 and flew very consistent. Good on them!!! They passed by the numbers 2 Brad and Bruce as well. They were 3d for the day. Bruce;”What a tough day! No excuses… you have to fly every day, no matter how crappy they are, and I didn’t do the best job of flying today. It was blue, seriously blue like the photo shows, and the thermals were hard to find and harder to use. At one stage we descended to 750 feet before we found a climb, and we both seriously thought we were finished. However, we staggered home for an overall second place”. 9 started and 7 finished. Not a good day for Lumpy and Joergen, they had to start the engine after 82 km and dropped from 5 to 6 overall. Great comps, but with more teams it would have been even more exciting. Final overall scores out 6 from 7 days; 1. David Jansen/ Steve Evans in ASG 32MI with 5.523 points. 2. Bruce Taylor/ Brad Edwards in ASG 32MI with 5.477 p. 3. Keith Gately/ Adam Woolley in ARCUS M with 5.346 p. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL.
To finish some kind words from the Kingaroy Soaring Club where David and Steve fly. “Kingaroy has another two Australian Champions, congratulations to Steve Evans and David Jansen The competition was held at Tocumwal NSW which is one of the spiritual homes of gliding in Australia. Toc pronounced “toke” is an absolute must visit for any soaring enthusiast.“ LIKE!!!!!!
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The NZ Central Districts Gliding Championships 2024 have been flown in 3 classes, racing [10 pilots] , open [6] and sports class with only 3 participants . The weather was not “flash” , more and more days were cancelled or had out landings so, here are the stories as seen through the eyes of blogger Jason Kelly; —-“The 2024 Central Districts competition at Waipukurau started on Saturday 17th February with practice day. This saw fantastic convergence and thermal lift which allowed a number of gliders to fly up and around Lake Taupo and back with distances of over 500km recorded. A great start for the week.” —-Sundaywas a contest day with good thermals and convergences. A steak BBQ evening meal was appreciated by all. From 10, 6 pilots finished and 4 were out in racing class. In open only 1 from 6 was out …BUT, 4 had an airspace penalty from 2 minutes. In sports, John Tullett in KA6e won 1000 points for a distance of 131,28 km/ 61.30 km./h. during a 2 hour AAT. Good on him!!! —-The weather on Monday was untaskable but the sky was alive with energy from wave. No task. —-Tuesday saw a task set but cancelled due to persistent low cloud and drizzle. —-Forecasts for Wednesdaywere not promising but the sky delivered and an adventure task was set for the Open Class. Flying turned out to be an adventure with Pat Driessen perhaps setting a record for the longest retrieve by landing at Taupo. 6 Started that day and 4 finished. Daily winner from this 2.30 AAT in open class, was Tim Bromhead flying 385.28 km/ 76.57 km./h. Till then Patrick[Pat] was overall leader but now he lost over 400 daily points. —-A weak local sky greeted pilots on Thursday with broken local thermals proving difficult to work. This saw a number of pilots landing out. In Racing, 2.30 AAT was set. Only 1 from the 8 starters finished for 269 points. Open pilots also had a 2.30 AAT; 5 flew 3 were in and Tim [Ventus CT]was the daily best for 416 points. 1 Point more than Patrick who flew in his AS 33es, 323 km/ 111.11 km./h. —-–The news update on Friday was;”we wait for the sky to develop. It is grey high overcast with a westerly flow, calm on the ground.There is heating getting through so there is hope we will fly.“ Where would we be without HOPE. BUT,…..They did not fly. —–Saturday showed pretty marginal flying. “The final day saw a challenging sky with rough lower level conditions with wave above. There were thermals and also convergences around the task area which allowed another competition day.” In racing only Alain [LS4] finished for 282 points, flying 234 km/ 64.05 km./h during a 2.30 AAT, which says enough. Most of the days he topped the overall list so also on this last day. In open it was Patrick winning the last day AND the comps , even after that out landing which really cost him. He flew 332 km./128 km./h . David [Johnson] was 1 overall before he started the last day. He finished, but “only” flew 174 km./69.71 km./h and that meant loosing 200 daily points. Racing classwinner after 4 out of 7 days ;Alain Marcuse in LS4 with 2.014 points. Open class winner ; Patrick C. Driessen in AS33es with 2,416 points ahead of Tim with 2.358 points and David Johnson [Discus 2CT] with 2.336 points. All pretty close. Sports class winner ; Dennis Green in LS 4a. On the last day he flew during a 2 hour AAT 120 km/60km./h. He gained 400 points more than his close concurrent Graham Player in a Apis 13, who flew 25 km without finishing. [2.069 for 1.680 points]A pity!!!
More about the Lake Keepit regatta on Wednesday. They started with 16 pilots for a 3 hour AAT, including UK pilots Ayala and Simon . It takes a FULL day to drive from Tocumwal to Lake Keepit, so Brad and Allan and Bruce , all flying normally at Keepit could ‘n’t fly the first day. cheers Ritz
It’s great to see another competition in good old Tocumwal. 9 Teams have entered and they fly in gliders as Duo Discus x 4, ARCUS M x 3, ASG 32 MI x 2 . In the end they only flew in 20 m. Duo Discus IE is back “on his old nest”.It was sold to the pilots of the Hunter Valley Club for a very nice price during the auction, when sole owner Richard Cawsey, to our sadness and frustration, sold EVERYTHING which was “holy” for all of us at Sportavia!!!!! After 20 years I am STILL ANGRY and SAD!!!! The Duo however, still has IE as registration and I hope it does well…good luck!!!A real good glider it was and the Hunter Valley pilots seem to treat it well….it found a good home.
Last Friday some practiced already and it was a “good-500k- day”. Only 5 days earlier on the 12th Sportavia Tocumwal -owner, Lumpy flew in his JS 3/18m a 947 k. [ 832 FAI Triangle] hopefully this weather stays for the comps. More practice on Saturday but more official now; “It’s time for the 20m/2-seat Nationals and the fun group have descended on Tocumwal for the week.Today we had a practice day, 335km up to the North-East towards the back side of the trough line which has been wandering back and forth for a few days now.” Much more in Taylor’s Gliding Page Speed by Bruce/Brad and Adam/Keith; 121 km./h. Time for a nice BBQ offered by Jane and Tom Gilbert from Temora [ Gliderstuff.com] time to socialize and to be ready for day 1.
The gorgeous BBQ area. I spend MANY hours there in front of the restaurant and bar. It still looks good. The “blue” wisteria , blooming in spring is nice green now, in nearly autumn. With pilots David [standing ] and Bruce and Brad, Adam and Keith and many more. Sharon, sitting between Bruce and David is with Lumpy the new owner from this beautiful Tocumwal Soaring Centre
Task 1; 3 hour AAT....A nice day ,but difficult, ” due to the upper level clouds cooling the heating and the strong wind down low at the end of the day.” Best speed was 101.56 km./h by Adam and Keith flying a distance of 307.57 km.They were the daily winners. Alan and Greg were runner up; 263 km/ 87.69 km./h also in ARCUS M. They all started between 14.05 and 14.43 with in the end the A task. Bruce said about the day :”Phew! Today had a couple of parts… Brad was in charge of the ship and the first 80% of the flight went really well, and the last 20% was a fairly desperate attempt to defy gravity and stay afloat.”Taylor’s Gliding Page “ Another day that fortunately went our way. Before launch we were thinking, start as soon as the gate opened, but when launch was delayed & we stayed on task A, it was definitely go asap! Unfortunately, even thermalling in light sink near the time of opening to stay high while we waited for another climb, didn’t help. We ended up low, downwind of the line & the gate open”..but then they were more lucky ..you can read it on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures He also shared 5 tactic-points for the day. 7 From 9 finished.
Task 2; 389.75 km…..ALL 9 teams started AND Finished…….GOOD Tocumwal-end-of-season-day!!!! Daily winners Alan and Greg; 133.40 km./h. Just ahead of Brad and Bruce 133.01 and David with 133.35. These 3 teams , as 3 other teams, started at 14.19 like a regatta start and raced back “home” as quick as possible. Adam and Keith were 5th. Tough days for the Duo Discus [handicap 975];great gliders but on a good day, against an ARCUS M [Handicap 1055] or ASH 31[handicap 1065] it’s more or less a “wasted effort”, BUT still GREAT FUN to be part of the 20 m NATIONALS. “Funny day today. It was my turn up the front and we began with a rush. We had a longish glide out from the start (unbeknownst to us almost everyone left at the same time) down over the river towards Benalla. I pushed on a bit and our first climb was solid, but I left it early as the first cumulus were just ahead, and the next climb was huge! It was bumping on 9 knots for a few turns and really got us up and running.” More on Taylor’s Gliding Page Task 3;455.13 km…..another good racing day and on this 3d task again another winner; David Jansen/Steve Evans 135.44 km./h.starting as the first team, which in the end was the right decision.With this fast weather the performance of the ASG32 gliders is clearly “better” than the ARCUS… it should be like that looking at all “figures”.For the DUO DISCUS it is even more difficult, but they hung in, though the Hunter Valley-boys were “out” after 285 km. Bruce and Brad in their ASG 32MI were runner up; 128.75 km./h. so showing good speed by David!!! Bruce writes :”Today’s forecast and sky promised more than it delivered. I think a lot of us were expecting about 135kph and (with no scores available just yet) I hear that David Jansen and Steve Evans were the only ones to get anywhere near that. Many a cloud and line of clouds looked like magic, but much of it was a little disappointing. There was a trough line and plenty of mid- and high-level cloud approaching, and the shadow seemed to take the edge off the climbs, especially later in the flight. David and Steve left quite early and likely had a much brighter sky to play with… well done guys, good call.” More on Taylor’s Gliding Page and here is already 1 of the pictures.
Great skies on their way to Hay, a pretty remote area, as seen by Bruce in the back of the glider.
Swiss Chris ,in his ASWC 27, flew 505 [430 FAI] from Toc as well on this 20thiest Februar……nearly autumn over there and spring here. After all the rain I “long” for spring and summer. Task 4;3 hour AAT….today they flew good distances again, but all scores are still very preliminary. All 9 started AND finished and nearly all started at the same time around 14.15. Allan started last at 14.48, not good unfortunately, they were last and lost nearly 300 points. It might have had a reason. 411 km was the best distance and with 127.53 km./h. this was the winning combination and 1000 points for the B1 and B2 , Brad and Bruce.Adam and Keith in the ARCUS hold on and were runner up. They still lead the overall scores with 3.766 points for 3.647 points for David and Steve. Adam just mentioned; “Another great day in the skies over Tocumwal, though we are super grateful to even have a XC Speed – we got down to 900′ & climbed away in a 3.6kts (a good climb for the time). However, It was the first time I can remember, that I actually slowed down mid task to let second place go by.” And,...”Fun day & we will keep the overall lead for another day.“ More in his Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures Bruce just mentioned; “Today began with a whimper, and finished with a whoosh! The entire crowd were topped out in one thermal right behind the start line, and despite it being a bit before our planned start time the position and height were too good to miss. Off we went!“ And,“Out onto the plains the cumulus were just beginning, but they were very wavy looking and short-lived. We had a cracking climb amongst the crowd, then for the rest of the flight used generally 6-7 knots or better. The flight finished with 100km of beautiful streeting as we bounced up above final glide and extended our last turnpoint close to the limit. Such a hoot, and what a way to finish the flight.” More on Taylor’s Gliding Page
The 24th is the last day….NOT the 21st as is written on soaringspot.
Other news; —–The Beverley Regatta had 24 entries. Host; the Beverley Soaring Society, located 130 km east of Perth Western Australia. As you know there is something serious ,but also a lot of pleasure and sharing knowledge in such a regatta. They started straight away on day 1 ,February 11,….they continued till the 16th…. with task 1 a good 3 hour AAT. In the end of day 1 “only” 14 pilots had flown and 1 was out. Chris in a JS1/18m. was the best with 412.53 km./126.48 km./h. Task 2 had a 2.30 AAT and it was flown by 11 pilots and from those 11, 6 finished.Greg and Norm flying each a DG 1000 S/20 m. had their own competition with a rather late start but a different distance. Greg flew 214.84 km./ 78.93 km./h whilst Norm flew 187.10/74,84 km./h. Of course both had a “student” onboard. Task 3; 2.30 AAT.…284 km was flown by Chris in a JS1. He was the only one with a speed of over 100 km./h. 11 started and 1 was “out”. Task 4; 3 hour AAT….and won by Greg with Steve as “pupil” in the DG 1000 S/20m; 320.45 km/98.31 km./h. 12 started and 1 was “out”. 1 Day to go and the whole West of Australia suffers from 38 dgr. C or more. By the way; here we had on February 15 18 dgr. C that is a “whopping’ 10 dgr more than the average for that day and the “hottest” ever!!!!. Task 5; NO task on the last day, so winners/grinners are 1. Chris Runeckles in JS 1 with 3,321 points 2. Ross McLernon in SZD-48 Jantar Std. 2 with 3,167 p.
–—-AFTER the Club class Nationals in Waipukurau in N.Z. they continued on the 17th [practice] with the N.Z.Central Districts Gliding Championship 2024 in 3 classes, open [8], sports [5] and racing class.[8] They finish on the 24th. Now they fly the New Zealand Central Districts gliding champion ship till the 24th and till now they had 3 , 2 or 2.30 AAT’s in all 3 classes [racing, open sports] after 2 out of 4 flying days.
R.I.P. NAVALNY!!!!!!R.I.P. “Listen, I have something very obvious to tell you. You’re not allowed to give up . If they decide to kill me ,it means that we are incredibly strong.” Alexei Navalny
Post 1.483 on February 14 2024 …….VALENTINES DAY.…… HAPPY VALENTINE!!!!
CLUB CLASS NATIONALS N.Z. Papawai 7 February 2024 – 15 February 2024
Wellington Wairarapa Gliding Club “Great start to the Grey town Honey Club Class Nationals here at Papawai. The sun was out and so was the banter.” for day 1.
Papawai; “Join us at Papawai to celebrate over 60 years of contest flying in New Zealand with the 2023/24 Club Class Nationals. Perfectly located in central NZ, Papawai offers a superb gliding location with fantastic club facilities including plenty of camping spaces and local accommodation options.” Host is the Wellington Wairarapa Gliding Club. In the Easter-weekend of March 28 Wairarapa the much-loved Wairarapa Balloon Festival will return as well, with a five-day festival of flying. Club Class Nationals; Practice day on February 7 and then.. Task 1; 2 hour AAT....the “little Libelles’ did well.Mark [Wilson] and Dane [Dickinson] flew 132 and 121 km. with a speed of 65.98 and 60.84 km./h. for 575 and 530 points. Dane flew in Rieti during the JWGC in 2007, where I met him. I only now found out, that Kathy Fosha flew there as well. Both in Standard class in an LS8. Our gliding world is “small”. Task 2 ; 2.30 AAT…not flown.| Task 3; 1 hour AAT.…..CANCELLED with the message;”It was a no flying day on Saturday at Papawai due to wave, so Terry flew 400km.” Task 4; 2 hour AAT.…not flown… Task 5;2.30:00AAT… and YES, they could fly and all 8 competitors were EAGER to go. Dane in the Libelle flew 200 km with a speed of 80.15 km./h good enough to be the daily winner. He was 12 km./h faster than the runner up Alain in the LS4.[68.12 km./h over 171 km] 2 Did not finish. Task 6;2.15 AAT….and YES they flew again and YES it was Dane again who won. Such a pity I can’t find my memory sticks with all pictures from Rieti 2007 and 2008, otherwise I could show you a young Dane. Both Libelles are good in this weather as Mark, who flies the other one was runner up. With 1.940 points for Dane overall after 3 out of 6 days , and 1.649 for Mark it’s rather clear what’s going to happen but you only know for sure when the last glider from the comps has finished. Task 7; 1 hour AAT... short tasks but they fly , that means some fly, as at this still preliminary stage, 5 started and 4 finished. Those 4 started and fished together and both Libelles were upfront. This time Mark won with 95.79 km/78.46 km./h. for 349 points. Dane was runner up; 84.28 km./77.38 km./h. for 344 points. The comps are between February 7 and 15. Tomorrow might be their last day when the 15th is included, if not,it could be today as well . Will be back on that with an update. UPDATE: Indeed they flew on the 15th and Dane won the 1;30 AAT with 123 km./h. Task 8 was a fact and Dane won 3 days. So after 5 out of 8 ,sometimes marginal days, the Kiwi’s had a NEW CLUB CLASS NATIONAL CHAMPION. 1. Dane Dickinson in Standard Libelle 201B with 2,984 points. 2. Mark Wilson in St Libelle with 2,651 points. 3. James Austin in Discus B with 2,448 p.
Karen Morgan shared this picture with interesting clouds, from the last day;
“Unusual clouds in the Wairarapa this afternoon, at the gliding Club Class Nationals, last days of the event. “
Parallel with these comps they fly in an open class with 8 pilots in gliders as AS 33es, LS8, Ventus 3M and CT , ARCUS and ASG 29. Till now they flew 3 out of 6 days and the Ventus 3M with Jason is in the lead overall.It looks like they did not fly today. They had a task 8; a 1 hour AAT and nobody bothered to fly the task, ONLY Terry in an LS 8 who flew 188 km /150 km. looks like a real wave day. Terry got 550 points for his flight and with that he was the winner. Final result after 4 out of 8 days. 1. Terry R. Jones in LS8/18 m. with 2,306 p. 2. Jason Shields in Ventus 3 M. 2,019 p.
–—–HORSHAM WEEK: continued….
Task 5 winners in each class; George in club, Hamid in open/18m. and Jack in st/15m Horsham Flying Club
Club; Task 5;274.63 km…..best speed was 84.55 km./h. in an LS3 WL but David [Nugent[ was NOT the daily winner. George[Schuit] won the day in the St. Cirrus with 79.93 km./h. A pity from the out-landing in front of the finish line on task 3, costing him more than 600 points. He was high enough for final glide but got ONLY sink 6-7 m per sec . 14 started 11 finished. Task 6; 2 hour AAT....Steven in the St Libelle was one on the daily podium 172.70 km/86.11 km./h. ahead of George with 178.95/ 82.11 km./h. 12 started and 1 was “out”. Task 7; last day …CANCELLED. “Our final briefing for Horsham Week 2024. Unfortunately the conditions today are not strong, so the day has been canceled“ No way anymore to gain or loose points so , the final scores after 6 out of 8 days, are now; 1. Steve Jinks in the Mosquito with 5.012 points. Clear winner. 2. Jaroslaw Mosiejewski in PIK 20 b with 4,768 p.
Standard class; Task 5; 287.16 km… Neil [ASW 24WL], who won 2 days, outlanded,….loosing more than 500 points [a pity, not good] and Jack won another day his 2d too ; 89.17 km./h. Gordon [Trollip] in the LS6 won task 1 and flew consistent so overall he is on spot 2 with 2 days to go. 7 started and 5 finished. Task 6;231.06 km….Jack and Neil-day again; 93.68 km./h for 89.34 km./h. Jack leads with one day to go with 5.457 points for 4.878 from Gordon and 4.695 from Neil. Task 7; cancelled. The overall scores after 6 out of 8 days are; 1. Jack Hart in ASW 20b with 5,457 p. Very clear winner. 2. Gordon Trollip in LS6 with 4.878 p.
18m/open; Task 5; 397.88 km…..Daily win for Geelong pilot Hamis [Nazari] in LS6c; 97 km./h. Ryan Nimbus[ 3T] had another good day, runner up and his overall- lead grows day by day. [4.416] Craig [AS33es] was runner up and “holds on”. [4.111] Great job from Hamis, flying between top gliders in the good but old LS 6 is daring, but SO GOOD!!!! 5 started and 3 finished. Task 6;245.09 km….All 9 started and 7 finished and no news Ryan won 110.14 km./h. With 1 more day to go Ryan has 5.106 points overall and Craig 4.722 p. Task 7; cancelled. Overall scores after 6 out of 8 days after a very pleasant competition as I heard; 1. Ryan Driscoll in Nimbus 3T with 5.106 points, no doubt a clear winner. 2. Craig Vinall in AS 33es /18m with 4.722 points.
At the final dinner and closing ceremony James Nugent, the brand-new Narromine- WORLD CHAMPION, shared his experiences.
“Have you meet our son the World Champion. James Nugent (holding his 25 kg trophy) with his parents Marg and Dave along with Mike Durrant [Narromine WGC CD]and Mike Sudholz. James gave a very impressive pre-dinner talk on this Club Class World Championship win.” Horsham Flying Club
Other news; –—I often refer to stories from pilots or other people AT the spot. Also Bruce [Taylor] is one of them. In his Taylor’s Gliding Page you can read why he changed to another glider. The ASH31Mi from Pam is in his hangar now. AND,..he will fly it in Tocumwal at the 2-seater Nationals.
——One of my daughter’s colleagues starts her retirement today. Yesterday was her last flight with family .As usual drinks later with her colleagues, more family and friends. She wanted to be a hair dresser, but flew as an F 16 fighter pilot, then went into Boeing’s at Transavia [100 % daughter of KLM] where she flew till yesterday as captain and still young she is going to be a truck driver now. What a great life!!!!
—-The Gelderse- one- day -competition one of the nicest in Holland they say, is on April 27 [28 when 27 is not possible] Just to let you know. https://www.zweefvlieg.net/gnl/inschrijving/
—–On February 9 Worcester had a 1000 k -day!!!Even a 2x 1000 k day. A real nice ridge-soaring day for Swiss guest Rudy and local pilot Sven;1.112 and 1.033 km.speed 136.44 and 129.62 ,both in JS1. Sven shared a beautiful video on youtube.com [ 9 february 20241033 km] and mentioned ;”A major portion of the flight was thermal flying – the first leg to the east had the wind parallel to the ridges, and after turning Klawer I ventured to Graaffwater in the west – lured by the clouds and the promise of thermals 🙂 All in all a great day.“ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s30Oj3PFCc
–—–Romania had his 2d wave-flight in the Eastern Carpathian; 1.121 km/ 129.15 km./h. One of the pilots , Nicolae Balan nailed it in the comments: “So, now we have to wait for March to fly the next 1000k or is it allowed to have one more in Feb?” In WeGlide is the story about the 1000 k’s in Romania. https://magazine.weglide.org/gliding-in-romania/
——-Denbigh Ridge/Wave Hunters ; “Day 3 of the UKJG winter series gave us some ridge soaring!After a slack low cloud morning, the sun shined and the wind blew, allowing the juniors to have a great time!A few sore heads were spotted this morning after we hosted The Wee Bag Band! Another fantastic night had by all.”
Great picture. Love it as well, when I get pictures from the Dutch Nord Sea ridge soaring. I shared them in the past.
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY
Can’t remember how I got this picture but it is still in my archive.
Cheers Ritz looking ahead at the 2-SEATER NATIONALS in TOCUMWAL starting on the 17th. and to finish,… this beautiful picture I found on the net, shared by DG Aviation GmbH in 2014 so 10 years ago and it remains gorgeous.
—–Soaring in Australia is still GOOD. From different fields,…. they still fly long tasks. Mak flew first from Temora and had a flight from 705 and 784 on January 10 and 11 and then from Narromine with flights from 764 and 856 km. on January 30 and 31. All flights in the LS 8. Beverley had a great flight on February 2, with Norm in the JS3/15m; 775.29 km..750 FAI triangle. Top job!!! They had a 3-day-heat wave in Beverley, so many flights on this February 2 and 681 k. in a Discus a by Allan. Tocumwal is busy with guests from Lumpy [TSC] and Eddie, [ SSC] even very “old” mates as Jochen and Stefan, who flew already in Tocumwal in the Riley-time.They come back for years ,as does Anton from Austria. Sadly enough his wife who always came to fly with him, passed away, but for sure we all remember Andrea as a lovely lady. Good to see Ojars , from Melbourne ,flying again in Tocumwal, also a frequent guest in our past, this time with the ASH 31/21m.
Also great see USA pilot Cathy Fosha back in Lake Keepit where she flew the WWGC in 2020. “Special thanks to Jacques [Graells …awfully nice guy and a good pilot who will be soon flying the Keepit Regatta] for allowing me to use his LOVELY JS-1-C here at Lake Keepit. First flight in type, so I took it easy with a little jaunt around the Keepit area – day was better than forecast. Strong smooth thermals overall, thought the airmass to the north of Kaputar was noticeably different than the area over Kaputar and to the east. New to me instrumentation revealing some observations of my flying that I think I knew were a thing, but are now backed up with data. Happy to be back, and happy to be doing some less intense flying after all the contesting.” by Kathy. I noticed Ayala from Lasham also on that list. Great to see the girls return to the spot they flew a WWGC to . 22 Entered that regatta at this stage and it will be flown between February 24 and March 2.
“Lots of aviation happening here at TSC. We have visitors from Germany, Japan, China, Czech Republic and even down town Melbourne Many personal bests are taking place with both times and distance for our pilots. All gliders from the Turbo Duo to the Boomerang are taking to the skies. We’ve had some good days along with some softer blue days which has been great for teaching good thermal techniques. Families flying together, first time flyers, pilots coming back to soaring after a long break, it’s all part of the fun.” Tocumwal Soaring Centre
I always loved that time of the year. Less busy, more time for guests and things to do, as there was no time in the busy months before. Not too hot as well, just very pleasant. Now, I am super happy to see that gliding in Tocumwal is on it’s way back to what it was. Splendid!
Stefan with Jochen, longtime and frequent Tocumwal pilots and,…very nice “guys” [with respect.]. Tocumwal Soaring Centre
——Of course on this side of the world the season starts soon too. On January 27, 530 km. was already flown from Lienz -Nikolsdorf, in a HpH 304 MS Shark. The season mostly starts there with good flights. “The Lienz-Nikolsdorf airfield is located in the middle of the sunniest and most weather-resistant region in the Alps, approx. 10 km east of the sunny city of Lienz. Because of the excellent thermals, our region is considered an insider tip among glider pilots https://www.nikolsdorf.at/de/flugplatz-lienz-nikolsdorf.html WeGlide mentioned ;”Gerhard Keuschnig did a nice warm-up in Lienz. The airfield is a season-opener for many ambitious pilots from all over Europe. Keep your heads up, it won’t be long anymore.“ Of course theere is wave as well as is ridge soaring. Flight to be seen on ; https://www.weglide.org/flight/361014
——By the way the wave season is on too and in the UK they fly “HIGH”. The BGA ladder showed a declared flight on February 2 by Chris from 770 km. in the ARCUS M. In the end they flew 680 km on February 2 and started on Lleweny Park!!!! Chris is one of the pilots/wave hunters running the Denbigh Ridge . They had some great wave days up to 19.000 ft, several diamond and gold badges. “This is a group designed to give a ‘heads up’ on weather to potential wave/ridge run action.” Denbigh Gliding His comment; “Needed another hour to do Milfield really. Very marginal on time, so we turned back while we knew we’d get back with no issues.“https://bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/112682
The part over water was 100 km!!!!!!!!!! ……..Chris Gill
–—–Horsham Week started last Saturday on February 3- till 10. This is a serious ,but “at your-leisure” competition. Already for years and years on the soaring agenda in Australia. 31 Pilots in 3 classes.
Horsham Flying Club” Here we are at Horsham Aerodrome for the annual Horsham Week gliding competition. We welcome pilots and crews from across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.” With George, Diana and Ron to the r. on row 1.
Open /18 m with 10 pilots, Club with 18 and 15m/standard with 8 pilots. GOOD!!!! But,….when the comps started with task 1 there were 6 in open/18m, 13 in club and 7 in standard/15 m. Open/18m; Task 1; a 2 hour AAT….237 km./111.69 km./h was the winning combi for Craig in the AS 33es, for 649 points. Diana and Ron decided to fly together in the Nimbus 3 DM and were on spot 4. in the end 7 pilots flew and finished Task 2; 426.44 km….that’s more like it!!!Good task. Ryan in the Nimbus 3 T was the best ;129.31 km./h , for 1000 points. Craig was runner up and Ron and Diana on spot 3. Only 1 from 7 did not finish.No flying on Monday. Task 3;359.17 km…..Good speed …125.80 km./h by Bruce in the JS3 RES/18m. After 2, 3d places, he won the day for 942 points.Not a good day for Ron and Diana, they were “out” ,…….only just 3 k,..but safety first… .It cost them 600 points!!! The other 8 were in! Task 4; 306.66 km……good to see Ryan is on his way up. I met him once at a Benalla competition when they were REALLY young and “they” told me then, that he and Matthew [Scutter] had a bright soaring future. Matthew proofed it already and I did not hear a lot about Ryan but here he is. He won the day with a speed of 110.49 km./h , and leads his class now . Only 5 have been scored by now , so that means also that the scores are still very preliminary
Standard/15 m; Task 1; 2.15 AAT….7 started and 6 finished. Best for the day Gordon in the LS6; 226 km/93.44 km./h. Task 2;337.51 km…..Neil a local pilot [ASW 24WL] was on spot 6 on task 1, but won task 2;106.42 km./h! Now 6 pilots started and finished. NO flying on Monday. Task 3; 334.05 km…..a 1000 points-day in this class with a speed of 110 km./h by Jack in the ASW 20B. Tim, normal a scorer at Nationals/comps, flew too so 7 and all finished. Task 4;305.88 km…….Neil is in the right flow now and won the day wit a speed of 90.38 km./h. This day 5 started and 1 was out after 33 km. He is runner up now in the overall scores bur 200 points behind Jack.
club class; in the end they had 13 participants. task 1; 2.30 AAT...218 km /84.56 km./h was the best daily result for Arnold in his Pegase. George [St Cirrus] was runner up in his first comps since years. Task 2; 3.30 AAT ….I felt for the pilots in the “little gliders”! Long retrieves, when things go wrong, though the last leg was the longest, 140 km, depending how far you go in the circle,…. so no worries. From 13 starters 11 finished. Arnold, in his Pegase, was the best again; 333 km/95.13 km./h. No flying on Monday.
Our three class winners for Day 2 at Horsham Week 2024. Arnold Niewand (Club), Neil Campbell (15m/Std) and Ryan Driscoll (18m/Opn). Horsham Flying Club
Task 3; 3 hour AAT..…Steve in the Mosquito flew as the only pilot in this class over 100 km./h.and won the day; 320.74 km. /100.30 km./h. Arnold was 4th. Not a good day for George he out landed and dropped from 2 overall to 6. 15 Started and 3 did not finish. Task 4; 3 hour AAT….. another 3 hour AAT with starts between 13.54 and 14.51 and all 14 starters finished. Steve flew 285 km /91.70 km./h and with that he earned another 1000 points for his Mosquito. He leads by now overall but the difference with Arnold who won 2 days as well, is only 38 points , but still 3 days to go.
—-Ostrow is well known for good comps and excellent PR. They host the 5th FAI 13.5 m WGC and the 13th JWGC , this year. Of course I will follow it for you. On FB they introduce already the several teams. Good on them. Dates: 13/7/24 – 27/7/24. At this stage 21 have entered in club and 14 in Standard.
Today the New Zealand CLUB CLASS NATIONALS started with a 1 hour AAT, but it looks it was not flown. More about them in my next post. The comps are flown from Papawai and continue till February 15.
——South Africa’s Worchester and Potchefstroom had flights up to nearly and just over 500 km…[567 by Katrin Senne in JS 3] not bad either for this time of their year, in Arcus and Duo Discus. And yesterday USA pilot Brad flew in the Ventusv 2CM/18m a distance of 837 km.from Worcester.
has been named as FAI Gliding Commission (IGC) Champion Pilot of the Year 2023, for winning the 18m class at the 2023 FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships in Soria, Spain. 
for inviting us during your 2024 convention. It is Always a great event with good balance between serious things and entertainment.
More infos soon.’
