Post 1.493 on April 24 2024

When you have 107 guests you want to be , as organizer and host , on your best, BUT unfortunately in our gliding world , we ALL know; the weather cannot be organized.

FCC GLIDING 2024
Prievidza, Slovakia
14 April 2024 – 25 April 2024

Task 2 on flying day 1 out of 4;
Club; 2 hour AAT.…CANCELLED
Combi;2 hour AAT….CANCELLED
15 m; 2 hour AAT.… CANCELLED

Task 3 on flying day 1 out of 5 till now . And indeed finally the great weather arrived not only here with blue skies and great Cu’s but also in Priviedza. GOOD!!!
They had a strong wind from the N. for that reason they used runway 040…to be seen on the picture as shared by the organizers

Prievidza is THE PLACE from the Dynamic planes and their new tow planes , the WT9 – dynamics with ROTAX 915 engines ,did a great job.
So bigger tasks were set; 3 hour AAT’s;
Club ; 3 hour AAT….. First to start from the grass and at 12.06 their start line opened.
3 French pilots each in an ASW 20 were the daily best with 303,315 and 317 km ; speed 97.58, 96.50 and 99.97 km./h. AND 1000 points for the winner, 961 and 945 for the other 2.
Alexandre Fierain, Philippe Lata and Nicolas Caudrelier made it a “French day”.
A total of 27 starters and from them 21 finished.
Quite a few penalties for incorrect landings or NO PEV or crossing the boundary. For sure they will be more careful next time !!
Combi; 3 hour AAT..…. they started from the asphalt and their start line opened at 12.43.
A mix of 5 Nationalities in 4 different gliders in the top and NO 1000 points for the daily winner. 4 Of them flew around with 113 km./h over “around” 340 km.
Nuutti Kankare was the daily winner in a Ventus 3FES/18m. Czech pilot David Mach was runner up in JS1C TJ 18 EVO. Hungaryan pilot Janos Sindely also in JS1C TJ 18 EVO was 3d. Lithuanian pilot Vytautas Rasimavicius was 4th in JS1B/18 m and Rumanian team Kessler & Lingureanu in an ASG 32MI/ 800k.
46 pilots started and 39 finished.
15m; 3 hour AAT.. last on the grass with a opening of the startline at 12.57
307 km / 100 km./h was the best result by Polish pilot Wojciech Domanski in Ventus 2A was the daily winner for 740 points.The 3 Czech ladies flying in this class, Dana, Jana and Barbora were on spot 5,6 and 8. All 3 fly an LS8.
33 Started and 23 finished….Sebastian [Diana 2] finished on spot 12.”The day just did n’t go as he wanted.”

Task 4 on flying day 2 from 6 showed smaller tasks,
“Today we set the grid at 22 and considering the fact that we have an occlusion front moving in quite quickly from the west, which will spoil the thermals in our area in the early afternoon, we tried to do everything we could to take advantage of the interval that today’s weather offered us.“
First start at 11AM.
Club; 2 hour AAT....11.46 opening of start line and 200 km was flown by several pilots. Best flight was from Czech pilot Michal Lesinger in an ASW 20; 199.76 km in time 2.05.54 .Start at 11.57.
27 started and 25 finished, nice!!!
Combi ; 2 hour AAT...start line opened at 12.22 and Polish pilot Leszek Staryszak flew in his ASG 29E/18m a distance of 243.69 km in time 2.05.46and was the daily winner. He left at 12.29.
45 started and 42 finished…good.
15 m; 2 hour AAT.…12.29 opening of start line and the biggest distance and best time Sebastiaan Kawa; 239.15 km in time 1. 53.58. That was 12 km further than runner up Czech pilot Pavel Louzecky and 3 minutes.588 and 540 daily points.
3 Polish pilots including Sebastian started early , straight away, at 12.32. There are 12 in total in this class.
ALL 33 pilots started and only 1 was out. GOOD!!!!
French pilot Kevin Faur was 4th and had time to take a picture., the other 2 French pilots on 3 and 5.
Live tracking is on  live tracking

NO task on April 20- 21 and 22-23. The weather gods are still not too happy., whilst in Italy and even the UK great long distance have been flown.
“Today we regretfully had to declare a no-fly day. The weather was not the worst. But the runway and all the grassy areas of the airport were so wet that every movement of a plane or a car on the area left deep marks. We considered all the options, but in the end we had to choose the least popular one. Fortunately, our competitors took it really sporty and went on various hiking trips around the area .” on April 21.

On April 23 , very last day!....a bit of a sad message from the organizers, as the last days of the comps had finished with 4 non-flying days…. SUCH A PITY!!!!Really feel sorry for them.
“Dear competitors and attendees of FCC 2024!
We just wanted to say a huge thank you for spending nearly two weeks with us, despite the terrible weather we experienced this year. I hope you had a blast and had some fun in Prievidza anyway! While the weather was the worst we ever had, I hope it didn’t put too much of a damper on your experience. Your understanding and patience are greatly appreciated.
I understand that this was not the outcome that anyone had expected, but I hope that we took all the bad luck for a couple of next years, and we will have a nice and successful competition in the future.”
For sure they will with all their experience.

Overall winners after 2 flying days;
Club;
1. Alexandre Fierain from France in ASW 20 with 1.582 points.
2. Philippe Lata from France in ASW 20C with 1.575 p.
3. Ferenc Tamas from Hungary in LS3 WL with 1.566 p.
combi;
1. David Mach from Czech Rep. in JS1 CTJ/18 m EVO with 1.561 points
2. Kessler & Lingureanu from Romania in ASG32MI/ 800 with 1.552 p
3. Nuutti Kankare from Finland in Ventus 3Fs/18 m with 1.539 p.
15 m;
1. Sebastian Kawa from Poland in Diana 2 with 1.234 points
2. Julien Duboc from France in Ventus 2ax with 1.218 p.
3. Piotr Jarysz from Poland in LS6a with 1.215 p.

—————————————————————

—— SAP 2024….. I wrote about the several 1000 plus flights from Calicinate last week/Tuesday. All those pilots participate in a High Performance Stage organised by Alberto Sironi flying from L’Aero Club Adele Orsi . This is the 16th edition!!50 pilots from different countries were part of this SAP.
All organized by Alberto.
I remember a day in Rieti, when we had drinks with him at this caravan ,that they were talking about a set up for this SAP.

The next day, Wednesday April 17, blue skies and less wind for the 4th flying day!!! AND,…..Hope for more good results.
Many pilots flew and most between 500 and 890 km in a Ventus 2 B,by French pilot Stefane Andre.!!!!
20 went up.
They share no news, but flights are on the OLC [ https://www.onlinecontest.org/] and Weglide. [https://weglide.org/ ]
I took this picture from that gorgeous field in the N of Italy taken by Alberto from their site.

The weather was not “flash” on Thursday the 5th day of the “camp” and with the prospect of 2 more good days , Alberto gave the pilots “a day off”, for a nice rest after 2 intensive days.
A 4 minute 16 beautiful video by Andrea Venturini from this 16th SAP High-performance training camp 2024 is to be seen on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFTLxGYfgc0
Friday; a ‘free” day to spend as you like. With thermal activity and wave. Several 5000 m -height-gain-flights were flown.
35 Flights and 1 up to 758 km flown by Dutch pilots Maurits and Aert in the ARCUS T..
Saturday; LAST DAY AND GOOD weather!!!!
That’s what was promised and the picture shows it was!

Great flights one also by Alberto himself flying with Davide Schiavotto in the ARCUS T;1.501 km.
2 Toppers in a top glider!!!!
My Dutch mates Maurits and Boudewijn flew 1.309 k. [ARCUS T]
Stef Andre in the Ventus2B ;1.252 km.
AND,…5 more over 1000 km. flights What a SUCCESFUL High Performance Stage 2024!
Congratulations to all!!!!!
Alberto in his comment:”Beautiful weather and wonderful flying with my friend Davide on the last day of the 16th edition of the High Performance Gliding Training Camp (SAP) which took place in Calcinate del Pesce (Varese). On the last day of the SAP, 8 flights of over 1000 km were made, 6 of which were declared and completed! This is another SAP and ACAO record!
1.412 km declared task (3 TP FAI)
2 Italian Record
Second pilot: Davide Schiavotto.”

10 over 1000 km flights in total from Italy also from Aosta and Trento Mattarello .
To finish this item a very nice picture of Davide and Alberto.

——-AERO Friedrichshafen; last week Schempp- Hirth, this week Jonker Sailplanes in my opinion the 2 biggest manufacturers at this moment.

Jonker Sailplanes had big new as well:
“We are pleased to announce that as of last Friday, DG Aviation and Jonker Sailplanes GmbH (Germany) have obtained approval from LBA for the Production Organization of JSDG Production GmbH.This significant milestone establishes a strategic partnership poised to leverage the combined technical prowess of both entities. Through this strategic collaboration, DG Aviation can build new DG aircraft with the combined expertise of both companies. Moreover, we aim to capitalize on synergies to optimize cost efficiencies and address challenges related to skilled labor shortages within the industry.”
Good idea!!!!

——In my Dutch paper I read that the weather phenomena El Nino has finished . I do believe the people from the Australian weather bureau ,whose message it was, as they are always correct and very much up to date. This El Nino started in the summer from 2023 and created high temperatures in the Pacific around the equator. It disturbed the weather in many countries.

——We had that very cold but nice artic- soaring-weather last week on April 18 with flights again over 700 km from Belgium by Wim Akkermans from Keiheuvel in the Ventus 3T. As you know that field is about half an hour driving from where I live , so I could see again the great skies, blue and huge CU’s.
My UK mates from Lasham , Roy and Andy had a good day too; 618 km in the ARCUS T.
On April 19 Lasham pilot Garry flew 912 km just missed out on a few km’s to finish his set task.
On April 20 Italy and Switzerland had 1000 km flights up to over 1.500 km.
On April 21 a 750 flown from Lasham in an ASH 25WL[25.6 m]by Nik Smirnow and young Toby Freeland.
From Grosses Moor in Germany 2x a 1000 k in an ARCUS M and VENTUS 3 M/18m!!!!
They are all dressed pretty WARM. Also in Slovakia at the FCC.
Such a pity they don’t have that nice soaring weather.

——-Tomorrow is April 25….. ANZAC DAY.…. .In Australia they commemorate all those who have served their Nation. In Tocumwal especially those, who served at RAAF Station Tocumwal between 1942 and 1960.
LEST WE FORGET!!!!!

CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.492 on April 17 2024

Since yesterday we had 11 dgr.C and thunderstorms , rain and hail , wind up to 100 km./h better called AUTUM. Now spring is hopefully quickly around the corner again, we had here already here up to 25 dgr C, more and more nice spring pictures are shared . Here is one from the area I live in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

—-JUNIOR CUP was flown from Neresheim in Germany in ONE class between April 6 and April 13 with 23 pilots and so to see “helpers” in the Duo Discus.
They had reasonable weather with small tasks on task 1 and 2 but not flown and an even smaller on task 3 just 57 km!!!!!
8 Flew this task with a best speed of 99 km./h in a DG 300 and the less good one but still IN, from 34 km./h. [ ASW 15B] That’s what I call “stamina’.No valid day though!
These young ones will get there.
Task 5 ; was a good one ;369 km. 5 Gliders flew around with a speed of over 100 km./h BUT, in Discus, Nimbus 4 Duo Discus and ASH 26E.
17 Finished, and only 21 started.
Task 6; even better weather 4.30 AAT…..Toni Kittler in LS 4 won with 375 km /83.34 km./h. The Nimbus 4 with Nils, flew 467 km. and a speed of 94 km./h. and was on a daily spot 8.
20 started and 18 finished.
Task 7; 268.35 km.…won by Marvin in a Discus 2B. Speed 80 km./h. bringing him from 20 overall to 10. Only 7 from 21 finished.
Jannis [Discus 2CT/18m] who was 2 days on spot 1 overall dropped to spot 4 due to an out-landing.
Task 8 was cancelled so the winners of this event were;
1. Jens in a Discus 2B with 2.866 points, 2. Nils in a Nimbus 4 with 2.803 points and 3. Toni in an LS4 with 2.682 points.

—–FCC [Flight Challenge Cup] GLIDING from Prievidza [Slovakia] has started with 107 pilots on April 14 continuing to the 25th with a closing ceremony at 8PM. They fly in 3 classes club [29 pilots] combi [ 45 ] and 15 m [ 32] with some very good pilots from different countries as France, Hungary, Czech Rep. Poland [Sebastian Kawa in Diana 2 ], Germany and more.
On https://www.fccgliding.sk/ you can have a look every day about what’s going on.
Task 1 last Sunday, a 2 hour AAT for club and 1.45 for combi and 15 m was cancelled.
Monday and Tuesday ; NO TASK. They must have the weather we have !!!
For today small tasks are on the list , 2 hour AAT’s in each class, maybe a few windows could give them the first day.

——–DG Aviation GmbH is bij DG Aviation GmbH. announced the “FIRST FLIGHT DG-300neo.
“Following prototype construction and structural tests, flight testing has begun today.” April 12

–—Another heroic wave flight from Baptiste and Gil, 1.806 km in the Stemme S12. The set task was 1.752 km with 3 TP’s on April 10 partly over the Pyrenees
“The 9 of April we decided to take off from Aubenas, a very nice concrete airfield and very well located for waves. We wanted to explore the massif Central waves, then landed at home Perpignan. The waves in the morning over the Pyrenees were quite weak but became top in the afternoon. ” by Gil.

——-Last Sunday was good at several soaring places in Europe.
Germany had a flight from 749 km in an AS33es.
Terlet and Soesterberg [The Netherlands] had 4 over 700 km. flights in ASG 29E/18 m [x2] , ARCUS M and ASH 31MI.
87 Dutch pilots choose that day to fly! [OLC] Not bad!!! Only April 14!!!!!
In total on this early spring day the OLC had 552 flights!!!AND,..we know SPRING CAN BE GOOD!!!!
By the way, down under in Tocumwal, Grant and Swiss Chris still flew over 400 km yesterday, in a Discus and ASW 27!!!
When we are “sitting in the rain” YESTERDAY, Baptiste Innocent took his glider [ASH 31/21 m this time] at Fayence for a 1.744. 90 km ride a 1.128 FAI triangle.At 1 spot he nearly had 6000 m MSL.[5939]
it seems to be a new European distance record. Good on you Baptiste.
weglide.org or olc
Gilles Navas flew a 1.114 from Vinon and in Italy Ugo Vietti 1.066 k. from Calicinate.
So did our Dutch mates Boudewijn with Maurits in an Arcus T. Also Andrea Ferrero flew a 1000 from Calcinate in an AS 33es.
From Switzerland Davide Giovanelli and Daniel Frey , also flew a 1000 k!!!!

——A pity! Keith had great plans to make Corowa Soaring BIG again, but now it is for sale. Such a pity , Grietje and Francesco spend a lot of time and effort in the business through the years.
They built a beautiful club house with a pool in the front and a huge very, modern hangar.

——-The AERO in FRIEDRIFHSHAFEN is open today! the next 4 days they will receive MANY guests!!!!
Here is a picture already from Schempp Hirth ;

—–And one more excellent picture of the Total Solar Eclipse as shared by NASA.

SAD news!!!!Brazilian pilot Guilherme Purnhagen [48 years old and with a young family] ] has died due to a tragic and fatal accident in a glider on Friday April 12 2024. I never met him personally, but had a great contact with him about his activities in Brazil. A very out going mate.
“thanks dear Ritz or of course dear Ritz” I can still read on my FB news from him.
When you say Guilherme , you say Bahia Gliding. He really set up and was still busy with a top gliding center, with many overseas guests.
He participated in the Argentinian and Finish WGC and several National Championships. [FBVP – Planador Brasil ]
A TRUE glider pilot. He will be missed.
This is what I heard ,but could not verify.
“the first flight on the Caproni , the controls froze during take off. The glider rolled and and crashed inverted.“
My deepest sympathy for all his beloved ones, friends and guests.
“Pilots don’t die , they fly with their own wings into the sky”

CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

By the way, …for those who still remember Kees Musters,the 2003 Hobbs WGC champion, …he would have turned 78 today. Sadly he died on December 27 in 1987 due to a fatal hang glider accident in France.

Post 1.491 on April 10 2024

It’ s Wednesday again ,publish-day, but it took me till last Monday afternoon, before I could sit behind my laptop . Head is still not really clear, still very tired, but the influenza nearly left my body.
My muscles hurt from coughing but, I do feel better.
Time to look back on what happened.
I promised you news about comps in Nitra and Torino, so here we go.

——Nitra [Sovakia] ..PRIBINA CUP! Not as many participants as in the past, when there sometimes were over 100, but as Easter is early this year, it is normally colder and less good weather.
Was that this year also ?
They had 6 out of 9 days , both in club and open. So that ‘s not too bad.
In CLUB……most days had small tasks as 2 hour AAT’s or less for the 10 pilots. One of them , Pavol Klein, flying a St. Libelle won 3 days in a row, but got a penalty on task 5 for a too low finish and lost his till then overall-one-spot.
Then the weather improved, the tasks were bigger and task 6 had already a 2.30 AAT. Polish pilot Pawel in a Pegase won the day. 3 Austrian pilots, Jacob , Raphael and Matthias, flying an LS 4 used their “better” gliders in the better circumstances to fly consistent and even winning task 5 with a 1-2 and 3 daily spot.
The last flying day showed a 3 hour AAT ,so finishing on a “high”.
After 6 days Jacob had 3.359 points and was the club class winner.
Only 10 points less for his mate Raphael with 3.349 points.
The 3d musketeer Matthias had 3.200 points and Pavol 2.671 [5th]

Open had a quite a few “hot” names on the list. From 19, only 2 ladies Jana and Hana Treslova flying an LS 8 and JS 3, both in 18m configuration.
Also in open task 1 was cancelled and the next tasks were small; till task 6 AAT’s from 2 hours or less.
Task 6 had a 2.30 AAT and the ARCUS from team Tomas Rendla won the day with 253 km with 98.28 km./h. That says enough! Only 1 pilot flew over 100 km./h ;Petr Krejcirek in the AS 33es.
Also their last day had a 3 hour AAT, won by Kornel in also an AS 33es; 263.27 km/ 81.73 km./h.
After 6 days the overall scores ;
1. Petr Krejcirik [Czech Rep] in AS33es with 1.943 points.
2. Zdislaw Bednarczuk [Poland] in JS 3T with 1.900 points
3. Rendla & Rendlova[Czech Rep] in ARCUS with 1.816 points.

——51 Trofeo Citta di Torino 2024.
They flew 3 days in 3 classes; sports class, 18 m and a class for beginners/amateurs.
Sports class had 15 pilots and on April 1, no joke, they got task 1, a 2.10 AAT and the daily prize was for the ARCUS M pilots Etalle & Costa .They flew 263 km/ 119.78 km/h.
Task 2 was a 1.45 AAT and ONLY 1 pilot, Ugo Pavesi, in ASG 29, flew the task ; 148.60 km/ 51.97 km./h. Pfff…..but 173 daily points in his pocket.
Task 3; 2.30 AAT and Stefano Ghiorzo in his Ventus 3T /18 m was the best from the 13 still flying pilots; 237.70 km/ 95.08 km./h
Andrea Ferrero, being 3d on task 1, 4th on task 2 and 3d on the last day won the TROPHY in sports class with a total of 1.413 points..
Stefano was runner up and team Alberto Sironi /Venturini was 3d.

18 m pilots had the same tasks and on task 1 also a 2.10 AAT won by Andrea Ferrero in his AS 33es. Stefano was runner up.
Task 2 was won in this class as well by Ugo and Task 3 by Stefano.
Overall scores for 18 m were a tad different; Andrea 1.271, Stefano 1.236, and Vittorio Squarciafico [Ventus 3F] with 1.139 p.

——–WeGlide is getting better and better. Those young innovative people are doing a great job. Over winter ,their development team has been busy with a new app.
You can read all about it in their WeGlide Magazine. https://magazine.weglide.org

They are also at the AERO 2024!!
“From 17 to 20 April, you can meet our entire team at the AERO in Friedrichshafen. This year’s AERO Gliding Expo will have a special focus on gliding. All exhibitors will be represented: The major glider manufacturers, exhibitors of accessories, associations, and clubs. Many tow plane manufacturers will be there as well. That’s why it was immediately clear that we would be there too. 
There even is a separate gliding conference area with an exciting program. On Saturday morning, you can find out how the WeGlide Copilot can help you in flight. But the other presentations on electric flying, weather forecasts, and aircraft news also sound very exciting.“

–—-From Mexico to Canada the ECLIPSE was visible and millions of people travelled to the places where the “miracle” was going to happen.Not all were so lucky as at some places clouds disturbed the joy. I found this gorgeous -one-of-a-kind-picture shared by the Soaring Society of America. …and share it with you.
The last solar-eclipse was in 1991.

Sky Sight was so kind to show us where the eclipse was.

——-Not too much news this week but hopefully next week more.
In Australia the season is over but “superb late season conditions” allowed John Welsh to fly a 300 in his Hornet; https://www.weglide.org/flight/373031
The USA starts and already news as “What a great beginning for the 2024 soaring season.”
Hobbs Soaring Society
Terlet here in the Netherlands had a busy day last Sunday with flights over 400 k and Arjan was there to make some pictures here is 1 of them.

Today looks like a good day here, sunny, blue skies,about 14 dgr. C and I see cumulus clouds from my window !!!!!
CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz.

Post 1.490 on April 3 2024

They hoped for 4 days in a row in Seminole to finish of the 20 m Nationals.
That was hope….. Both in the USA and Australia the word El Nino is mentioned a lot. When I lived in Australia the El Nino mostly meant “a good season” for our soaring center, but dry and hot and often disastrous for the farmers. It’s not 1 year but more!!!
Rich with his good and funny stories about the 20 m Nationals writes about it this way:
“Experts call the weather pattern we are in now, El Nino which I believe in Spanish means boy. Well, boy I wish we had a girl in our weather pattern. The jet stream has descended into the lower portion of the US which has disturbed our normal excellent soaring conditions during the spring. This is highly unusual, and I have not seen this for the last 10 years. We still get good soaring, just not “buckle up and hang on” type of weather.”
And, I guess you understand it straight away ...NO FLYING for Wednesday the 27th.
BUT….hope for Thursday and for sure Friday.
“Weather Weather, It Has to Get Better” by Rich.

Thursday; March 28…..”No joy again today at SLGP.
This from Rich:Weather, Weather It Didnt Get Better”
“We are getting a little tired of the weather pattern this month. Next week looks great for boating, flying and anything else you want to do outside. We are still trying to get day 6th in, but we fell short one more time. Tomorrow looks like a good day to fly. This afternoon the sun came out; the winds were still 15 gusting to 20 knots.”
They tried HARD and everybody had to go to the grid after a 2d briefing at 12.15, with a 1.45 AAT in the pocket.
“The weather late looked good, but the day was going to end early. If we could get into the air by 2pm, we might have a chance.
The second pilots meeting was held and yes, we were gridding. This process went very well and soon all the ships were in launch position. Looking at the low clouds, the CD was looking for a break. Finally, the order to launch 90 came and Bob Fletcher went into the bleak looking sky. He was reporting 2,300ft maximum height at 1 to 1.5 knots. Time slipped by and Bob finally made it above 2,500ft, the minimum height for launching the grid. Unfortunately, Bob reported very weak climbs and few thermals to keep everyone airborne. The CD made the right decision to cancel the day and send everyone back to parking after Bob landed.”so far Rich. On top of that they had winds over 20 knots.
Hope gone for Thursday BUT,…….new hope for

Friday ;March 29……..Very last day and the numbers 1 and 2 overall had a difficult time finishing the day on spot 11 and 12, BUT,…still enough points for Jim in the ARCUS J and Pete and Rich in the ASG 32MI to keep ahead on the rest. A racing task was set.
Rich;”Marshall was sending us on a racing task in the blue. It was a challenging route. At the start, Pete and I wanted to get on course early and avoid a late arrival over Lakeland. We found a good starting point on the line and left hoping to hide our departure. Unfortunately, we had a few folks right behind us, but the race was on. The last leg was getting soft, and we found ourselves in some very weak thermals.”
In the end they had a very strong thermal that got them to final glide and a Mc 4.5 glide home.
1. Team Jim Frantz in ARCUS J with 3618 points.
2. team Alexander/ Owen [Pete and Rich] in ASG 32MI with 3473 points.
3. team Mandelbaum/Gaisford in Duo Discus with 3408.
Those 3 Duo Discus types did wel on spot 4 and 11 from 14 participating 2 seaters .
Loved the stories from Rich, so THANK YOU for sharing them with us. And of course Bo for het fantastic pictures!

——–Talking about the USA, Garret Willat is put in the centre of attention by Schempp-Hirth. He is their US representative. I know from the past that he helps all international questions from pilots flying from Europe in the USA as well. Certainly when it concerns World Championships. Very nice fellow!!!
Garret has a lovely family and runs Sky Sailing and Yankee Composites in Warner Springs, CA.
He is a flight instructor and a very accomplished competition pilot.
Very nice from Schempp-Hirth to put him in the spot light.
yankeecomposites
AND,…this year is the WGC in Uvalde for the 3d time.When he has time he might be able to help you.
I was there in 1991 as TC for The Netherlands and in 2012 on invitation as editor of SOARING CAFE, the on line Magazine from Bill Elliott and Rand Baldwin. We had a great time!!!Such a pity it does n’t exist anymore.

This 2024 SPRING period is SUPERB. Too much to write about , but you can find most of the flights on the OLC or WeGlide.
Have a look , worthwhile doing so!!!

–——-On March 24 we could see a very interesting flight from Swiss pilot Yves Gerster. He flew from St Auban in France , to Corsica over Italy; 1.328 km. in a JS1C/21 m.
You can find his flight on with beautiful pictures on
https://www.weglide.org/flight/368985
It was n’t over for Yves after this flight; On March 30 he flew with a mate in an ARCUS T 1.220 km!!!

–——On March 29 ....2 interesting comps started the new competition-season in Europe. One in Nitra in Slowakia ….the well known PRIBINA CUP till April 6 …..and 1 in Italy the even wellknown 51 Trofeo Cita di Torino till April 7.
The Pribina Cup has 2 classes. In 15 m we see 12 pilots. In open 21.
Task 1 had a small task, some tried but for both classes the day was cancelled.
Day 2; 1.30 AAT won by Czech pilot Pavol Klein in a St. Libelle. 6 from 9 finished.
Same task for open ; Czech pilot Jan Pavlik won in an LS8/18m with 166 km /96.47 km./h. 20 started ,5 were out.
Task 3; 1,45 AAT for both classes.…

The Trofeo has 20 pilots in one class. They have a sports class and 18 m class. Also their first day had to be scrubbed, as was their next day. They meet again on Monday morning.

——-On March 29 the weather WAS GOOD!!!!!Klaus [Ohlmann] took his glider …a Stemme S10….out for a “ride” and when he does, you know it will be a long day for him: it was 1.493,53 km!!!! Long as in kilometers ,not so much in time. With a speed of 170 km./h he raced over the nearly 1.500 km in 8 hours and 44 minutes!!!!!!!! Good on him!!!!
The comment from Klaus below. The nicest thing however is that he has flown so many long and special flights …he is still HAPPY /cheerful with each of them.
“Wow, what a day. The adventure started one day before with motor going to Oloron. After a very sportif landing under a big rotor we struggled to turn on the very wet surface. Good luck, Benoit, the chief pilot helped us to take the plane out of the mud with his car.
Great thanks again…Next morning, 5:00, it was raining. and the forecast gave us a tailwind. Good luck again, after cleaning the glider 3 times we could lift off. Meanwhile a small foen gap was closed and it was raining a little bit everywhere. We decided to look for wave more eastwards and found very good conditions southwest of St.Gaudens. Big run untilnorth of Carlit and Marseille gave us a clearence to FL 195 and approved a straight line and constant descent towards M.Ventoux. Nice rotorclouds until m.Blancwith southern winds. Wind turned more and more to west, Tailwind on the whole task. I admit, that I didn`t expect to be able to reach Nitra in Slowakia. But finally we could make it in time. But the.. Vienna control forced us to descent from our comfortable 4500 m to FL 080. No way to reach Nitra. So, we decided to land in Wiener Neustadt. Wonderful reception from our glider friends. What a fantastic experience. Thanks for all who helped us to achieve this flight.”
2 More 1.000 km flights that day 1, by Noah in an ASG 29 /15 m. from Harris Hill in the USA and 1 from Spain from La Cerdanya in an ARCUS T.
1 Day earlier, now back in the USA again , Gordon Boettger flew in the ARCUS J 1.409 km with a dazzling speed of 238.10 km./h. from Eastern Sierra. He had a back-seater , Brad Jackson, who “worked” as well.
Gordon;”Took off from Bishop after landing there last night. Waited for the wave to set up and Brad recommended doing a speed run which I had not considered. The Owens Valley wave was on fire. Climbed in rotor to the wave then it was full afterburner for the two hour speed run. Flew 568 km in 2 hours at 284 kph and then headed north back towards Minden. Decided to add some legs in the wave closer to home. A beautiful day ended with a landing in easy winds for once. SKYSIGHT was SPOT ON !!!!! Thanks Matthew Scutter for your product. Thanks to my good friend Brad for doing all the speed calculations and for the teamwork.”

–—-And MORE incredible flights this time from Germany on the 27th of March….Mathias Schunk flew 1.629 km with a speed of 157 km./h. Glider; Quintus….departure; from Koenigsdorf…..time; 11 hours and 10 minutes.
WeGlide mentioned;” Insane flight by Mathias Schunk.He maxed out the day by not returning to his home but rather landing in the eastern Alps near Wien. Funny to see how the views on his flight increased throughout the day!”
With pictures on https://www.weglide.org/flight/366859

On Saturday March 30 more great weather!!!!!Several 1000 plus km from Switzerland.
Looking at the very exciting boatrace on the Thames between the ladies and men from Canterbury and Oxford ….both won by Canterbury…..I noticed great skies above the UK as well. Indeed 500 k was flown from Lasham.
BUT,…….3x over 1.300 km and 5 x an over 1.400 km flight is for Europe pretty special...Interesting to see 2 are flown by young pilots as Benjamin Bachmeier ,who I remember from one of the JWGC’s in Ventus 2BX and Nils Fecker [ Johannes Beyer] in an ARCUS M.who did so well in Bitterwasser last season.
A 1.270 in a Discus 2CFES/18m is worth while mentioning too..
30 over 1000 km flights ..indeed when the weather is there, you have a glider and time,..you can do it.

——-News from Romain Fhal. I write sometimes about him and his wife as they are fabulous aerobatic pilots and world champions. r.fhal@extraaircraft.com
They announced on March 28 a new website.https://extraaircraft.com/
“As we put more and more focus on social media and producing content to share with aerobatic pilots and enthusiasts we’ve recognized that it’s time to overhaul our website and bring it to the appropriate decade! Today we’ve pushed our new website into production and it’s now live! We’re looking forward to updating the site and adding various informational resources as time progresses. We’re looking forward to hearing everyone’s feedback, and if you have any suggestions we’d love to hear them!”

——N.Z. now…have a look at the site from Geoff Soper. the most wonderful pictures.
To be found on Geoff Soper Photography page.
“Warbirds Over Wanaka handful of images from practice day.” so more to come.

SORRY dear SOARING-READERS, No time to check what I had written already…got a bad influenza and was in bed for a few days, “coughing my lungs out”. Off to bed again now.

Cu next Wednesday , by the way the Belgium Nationals will be flown from St Hubert between June 29 and July 7 2024
Cheers Ritz