Looking back on Friday July 19 Task 5; That pilots fly SO many kilometres during a competition is pretty special, specially in those “little machines”. A day on which easy 1000 km could have been flown I heard and some pilots did. At least 5 , from Spain [Fuentemilanos with 1.200km] and France but from Poland too. Great 1000 km-day! From Leszno in Poland not too far from Ostrow, 1.016 km!!!!! The young ones even passed by Leszno. For some the best distances ever! What an experience for the young ones.!!!!! Dutch pilot Lars won in club. In a video he said that they started together, the 3 Dutchies, but Lars decided on the first leg after 50 k. to fly a bit more South, where as he experienced, could fly faster , turn more S. and that was a good decision!!!! Fantastic weather ….he could fly on 2d leg and 3d leg mostly just straight on, not bad!!!! “1000 km weather, bizar!” he mentioned too….in an LS4 NEO WL. His longest task ever till now. 568.32 km with a speed of 108 km./h that DESERVES 1000 points!!!!
Lars flying during an other occasion. Shared by Dutch juniors.With from l to r. Florian from Germany,[LS7 WL] in the middle Lars after his 2d win and to the r. Tomasz [LS3a] from Poland.
The French pilots were very happy with Victor who was 3d in standard with 637 km. The best distance in this class was 653 km for Czech pilot Lukas. And S.A pilot Phillip was runner up !!! Missing out on 5 points; 124.83 km./h for 124. 50, very close! And of course the USA team was HAPPY / EXCITED with their number 1 pilot Thomas. “Preliminary results for 2024 JWGC task 5 Standard Class appears to show a day winner for the US Team“ AND,..indeed Thomas won!
With Victor from France, Thomas from the USA and Phillip from South Africa . As shared by Pôle France Planeur
This is the last bit of a long report written by Thomas: “With all the scores in now and my official speed at 124.83 km/h over 641 km, I earned 1st place for the day on behalf of the US team. It’s a real privilege to have what felt like one of my best flights ever, and for that sentiment to be reflected by the numbers on the score sheet against the best pilots in the world. It also feels really special to have Peter Deane, who taught me how to fly cross-country nearly a decade ago, here to witness my best performance as team captain.” More on US Soaring Teams
Today is another booming day! I guess the pilots slowly get tired after 4 long tasks, 1 challenging and 3 over 500 k-days. It will be difficult to set a rest day when the weather is so good. Look at the weather for today!!! But no they are not sick and tired of the long distances. Here is team UK; “
July 20; task 6 on flying day 7. As it is 3.30 now it will take a while before the pilots will be back. So I am going to do other things and will be back later to update this post with the latest news,
UPDATE; 6.30 PM Club class; 506.29 km…..Around 5 PM the pilots arrived back . At 6.30 PM, 25 finished 4 were out and 15 not yet scored. Among them the 3 Dutch pilots. At this stage the French did well with a 1 and 3 for Alexandre and Nicolas. UK pilot George in the middle. All started around 12, the Dutch pilots at 12.29, too late???? At 7.15 , 30 pilots had finished.5 were out and 5 not yet scored.
Standard class; 604.00 km…..At 6. 30 PM I noticed 6 out-landings after 500 k. A shower, stopping the hard working young ones?????? we have to wait for their stories. In any case, around 7 the first finishers were on the score board. They all finished close to 7 PM. 6 are scored at this moment , 3 LS 8 gliders and 3 Discus 2a. 11 not scored yet. UK Henry has won the day. Good on him. Max and Jan from Germany followed. 14 finished and and 9 were out, All are counted for!
FAI SGP IN FRANCE/ Series 12. Saint Sulpice des Landes 18 July 2024 – 27 July 2024
After 2 unofficial practice days with more or less NO flying, today Saturday was an official day and looking at the task they don’t have the weather the young ones have in Poland. Only 100 km but they get in the mood then. 16 pilots fly for 2 places in the finals next year, for of them are foreigners; Steffen Trapp from Germany, Rasmus Orskov from Denmark, Yves Gerster from Switzerland and Christoph Matkowski from Poland, who is missing out on the magic Polish weather at this moment. Not a good day, so hopefully better weather for race 1.
Finish from JasperJansen in the LS 8NEO. and more smiling faces and waving hands.
Aeroklub Ostrowski courtesy of Martn Levitzky JM is Jokūbas Motūza [ Lithuania] in a St Jantar, Jacob Barnes jr. [USA] in ASW 20L.
Looking at the above pictures those young pilots have a lot of fun . Thumbs up, waving and that at the end of a long flight, stamina enough , but …then indeed, they are all under 26 and in the prime of their lives. Sometimes the difference between finishing or landing out, is only one flash moment “, missing a bubble made it difficult to reconnect, resulting in a landout.” That’s what I read yesterday, looking back at what the teams have done. Martijn indeed won task 4 on day 5, in club ….. 6 did not finish and 2 are out of the race. A PITY!!!!! In standard it was Nils, just ahead of his mates Max and Jan. I can tell you these 3 “ARE STRONG TOGETHER”. I told you about the “lower countries ” here in Europe, Belgium and The Netherlands and it is awfully interesting to see that each of those countries have at this stage a NUMBER ONE OVERALL. Martijn and Niels.
Kim from Finland, Martijn from Belgium and Nils from Germany.German team with big smiles , all 3 at the podium Aeroklub Ostrowski
With all those “hacking lunatics” I am even more careful to open news on the JWGC, but I can trust my reliable sources for extra news. Today a world wide IT- outage disturbed the whole world and airlines, hospitals ,banks and lots of other business struggled to deal with it and still struggle. It seems it was not a crime ,but a mistake during an update from software. That should NOT HAPPEN. My daughter had to fly to Tenerife but her flight was postponed for hours, but at least, at 4 PM they could leave.
Back to today!!!!The organizers had already early in the morning, good news: “Our Pilots are already flying their tasks. Today as yesterday , we managed an early start. Today’s tasks are quick 5h AATs” Well,…I like the word quick, let’s wait and see. Looking at the picture , they could be totally correct. I heard that clouds popped up already at 9AM. The estimated time of arrival should be around 17.00.
Friday; July 19, sunny, dry, enough clouds a sky full, so ingredients enough to make it a TOP DAY !!!! IT WAS!!!!! Club class; day 6. Task 5; 5 hour AAT.…From the “around-12-o’clock-starters” a few have finished already just after 17. 00 and they flew around with an average of 105 km./h over around 545 km. With the fabulous clouds and maybe longish day, some might start at the best part of what they think will be on the day. Meaning we might have to wait today. It was NOT a long wait!!!! At5.30 5 pilots finished. At 6; 28 pilots with 568 km /106 km./h!!!! The Dutch pilots , with a few others even started before 12 PM. 36 are scored now and at this stage Dutch Lars is on top; 568 km./108 km./h in LS4.
Update at 8.30 PM; Today’s club class top 5 is very international. 1. Lars from The Netherlands, 2, Florian from Germany, 3. Tomasz from Poland, 4. Nicolas from France and Kim from Finland. 2 Pilots are out of the race and 2 with very difficult names, are not yet scored; Ghazi Satriando Humaid Junior in LS1fNEO WL, from Poland and Austėja Urbanavičiūtė in LS3a from Lithuania. 23 pilots flew over 100 km./h. Good on them and it seems the next days will have good weather too.
Standard class; day 6. Task 5; 5 hour AAT.….at 17.15 the first pilot finished; Lucas from France after an early start at 12.12, flying 574 km/ 114 km./h. in the end he finished on spot 18. At 6PM, we saw distances of 641 km/ 124.83 km./h. 4 are not yet scored I will be back to check on them later. It looks NOW that USA pilot Thomas Greenhill [Discus 2A] has the best papers to win the day with 641 km/ 124.83 km./h. Unfortunately “our” Dutch Niels had not his best day [18] and dropped from 1 to 4 overall, but it ain’t over yet!!!!
Update; WONDERFUL, ALL pilots finished and ALL above 100 km./h. TOP young-pilots. Thomas won the day, but all scores are still preliminary! Czech pilot Lukas flew 653 km ./121.50 km./h. , but needed 22 minutes too much. He still moved from 2 to 1 overall.
After task 5 the Czech Rep team leads the scores from the TEAM CUP,with 905.69 points. Spot 2; is for Germany; 862.23 Spot 3 ; for France; 859.90 Spot 4; The Netherlands 854.50 Spot 5; Poland 821.77
USA Club class pilots ; Steven Tellman, David Mcmaster and Jacob Barnes Jr.
——Talking about juniors; this is Adam A FORMER AUSSIE JUNIOR and most of you know him because he is a good young glider pilot and he keeps a very popular blog; Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures This is his news this morning: “The day has finally come, on the 16th July, I achieved the dream, heavy jet captain for one of the world’s majors & national airline, All Nippon Airways / Air Japan.” I know Adam, since he was that junior, flying comps and even organising the Junior Nationals in Australia with some young mates. For a short while he was our tuggie in Tocumwal at the SSC, but he really was focused on his final goal ; being an airline pilot. He went for that, so when he got a better offer to make more hours, he left us. Good luck Adam and I wish you many dream flights !
courtesy Adam
——-For those loving to fly comps in South Africa, here is your chance.
With 500 km tasks the young ones get a “lot on their plate” , today. The tasks are more or less in the same area.
Looking back at yesterday. Indeed a lot of club pilots had difficulties. All those ,who were not counted for [except for 2 still not scored] did not finish. Even worse, some did not really get away from the field . They were out after 14,17 or 18 km. In the end , Simon won the day, as mentioned; from 44 only 19 finished and 2 are not scored! One of them UK pilot George ,who landed in high grass and had some damage at the glider, which hopefully will be fixed again quickly. The last finisher was Dutch pilot Tim at 19. 44, BUT he was in!!! In Standard it “looked” easier some could follow a convergence line; Phillip ,just won from his SA mate and 5 were out .
From left to r. Dutch Niels, South African Phillip and South African Henry Richard “Dicky” for friends. By the way Niels is at this stage the number 1 on the overall list in club class. Dutch Junior Gliding Team
Thursday July 18; to follw them https://soarscore.com/competitions/jwgc2024 Club class; Task 5….. 510.97 km…..Very proud on all those young pilots!!!! Most of them ” did it”. AND, the weather was GOOD, very important for nice flights. Most proud on Martijn from Belgium in LS 3. I know he is a TALENT, but he proves it too. Great job Martijn!!! He lives just over the border, only 15 k from where I live and studies at the LEUVEN UNIVERSITY pharmaceutical science, as I just read. He was the only one , flying with over 100 km./h!!! And 1000 points in the pocket AND moving from spot 3 overall to spot ONE!!! 8 points ahead on French pilot Alexandre. Martijn started rather early at 12.09. Runner up Nils from Germany in Discus B at 12.27. Finish pilot Kim in LS7neo WL was 3d. Yes I know, it’s not over YET, but happiness should be shared EVERY day, with the young ones. 35 finished , 3 OUT at this stage [8 PM] . 4 not yet scored. Sorry to see UK pilot George D. is not flying today, the glider seems not yet repaired.
Standard class; Task 5516.74 km….. First things first.All pilots FINISHED!!!! A German-day in this class. Flying together can be good. It helped the German young ones to a 1-2 and 3 daily spot today ; starting within seconds from each other and finishing as well. Nils was just a tad faster than the rest [Max and Jan] ; They flew 108 km./h. “Our” Dutch Niels was on spot 4 and still number 1 overall. He started 7 minutes ahead of the German pilots. The last pilot was in at 18.22 ,BUT IN!!!!!
The TOUR DE FRANCE passed by GAP yesterday and on their way they finished today at Barcelonnette, places a lot of us know.
Indya’s corner; I had difficulties to receive her pictures and even a phone call from Ostrow was not possible. But she found a solution , so here are some random pictures from her.
—–Some BAD news as well. It seems somebody is pretending via FB to be me and asks you to be my friend. Most of you know that I never ask to be somebodies friend, but only react on people asking me and also then I am very careful as some are very unreliable there too. Please forgive me when I am not accepting friends at this stage. It’s TOO dangerous as I write a lot. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Tomorrow is another day and I will try to get/find new info for you.
You expect maybe the regular blog on Wednesday morning , but during the JWGC , I try to write every day, OF COURSE, when there is enough news. If you did not know ,you can read already the last 3 blogs about the JWGC, whilst waiting for the latest one today. To be honest there is NOT a lot of news on the official site, but alas they share on FB and also the different teams do so. In between , they try to learn us some Polish words, nice idea! Some teams send news straight to my FB account, which is lovely. Thanks for that.
13th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships Ostrów Wielkopolski Michałków, Poland 13 July 2024 – 26 July 2024
Yesterday had NO TASK!!! So a day off for the pilots and crews. Most had a very relaxing day .
On July 17, flying was on the menu again with nice racing tasks and an early time for the launches at 11.10;……but that did not happen !!!!! Club class task 3;301.24 km….Changed in 2.30 AAT.…Changed again in 2 hour AAT….as the weather did not do what it was supposed to do. The first starters went over the line at 15.08 and .09. Another challenging day, so staying together, using and giving each other info was very important again . That’s what the 2 French ,Nicolasand Alexandre did in their ASW 20, starting at 15.09. They flew 200 km with a speed of 78 km./h. No, not daily winners, that was at this stage,Šimon Šiška in an ASW 24 WL, who flew 182 km / 79 km./h. with a later start at 15.26. !!! At this stage [7.30 PM] 16 are scored after a finish and another 11 are “out” and 17 not scored yet. At 8PM still 11 not scored. Among the finishers were a few flying too low over the finish ring, which means that it really was a tough day AND that they got penalty points , ONE point per meter!!! 8 PM; 10 not yet scored. Will look later and UPDATE then. 10 PM; 6 not scored yet. So 18 out and 20 finishers. Some really finished after a long “fight” and a speed of 51 km/h over 218 km.
Standard class;317.27 km…..Changed in 2 hour AAT.….and a good day for South Africa and The Netherlands! All 5 started at 15.38 not too early ,not too late. Phillip and Henry Richard in LS 8 flew 225 and 227 km with 111 km./h. Niels and Noud flew 213 km with 105/104 km./h and Jasper flew 196 km with 98 km./h. 2 French pilots Theo and Victor were out. They started early at 15.24. Also a Danish and Polish pilot [start at 16.04] were out. The last one was out after 27 km. 1 Polish pilot is not yet scored it might be that he did not fly at all. Will check for you later. 8 PM; 1 not yet scored, 18 finishers and 4″ “out”. 10 PM; nothing changed. Overall number 1 after task 3, is Niels van Nieuwland from The Netherlands
ALL SCORES OF COURSE PRELIMINARY. Will be back later.
OTHER NEWS: —–As I write a lot these days about the JWGC,there is more info for another great project for our young ones. Maybe more young pilots read the blog, so they see this news too. Look at this; It’s news from Jonker Sailplanes “Join us for the exciting conclusion of the Jonker Sailplanes Junior Challenge on WeGlide, ending July 23rd! It’s the final stretch where rankings can still shift. Two juniors will soon embark on their next gliding adventure: the South African Nationals from September 28th to October 5th, 2024, in Potchefstroom. Check out who’s leading in the European Sprint and global rankings on WeGlide! As part of the Jonker Sailplanes Challenge, the top 2 juniors earn invitations to compete in the South African Club Class Nationals. Don’t miss the thrilling updates and achievements in youth gliding! “
—– Not all clubs in France, could fly [ yesterday] on Tuesday. The TOUR DE FRANCE passed by and due to helicopter traffic they were grounded. But to make our sport even more popular, they created “art” on the ground with their planes. Good PR great picture!!!!! Today the TOUR passed Gap and gliders were happily flying, tomorrow they pass another popular gliding field.
Courtesy Pierre Bru Don’t know which airfield it is ,but I find out for you. I did it ! ….. is CVVM (Centre de Vol à Voile de Montpellier Pic Saint Loup) Merci Pierre, THANKS!!!!!
—–FAI Sailplane Grand Prix France – Saint-Sulpice starts this weekend and this edition has 4 WORLD CHAMPIONS; Rasmus Orskov from Denmark,[World champion in 2018] Eric Bernard from France, {World champion in 2014 and runner up in 2016] ,Christophe Abadie also from France [ World champion in 2022 and winner from 2 SGP’s in 2017 and 2021] and Christoph Matkowski from Poland, World champion in 2018]
More about the FAI SGP in the weekend. cheers Ritz ,till later. 10 PM updates in the blog, but not a lot changed. Tomorrow is another day!!!!!
Looking back first on day 2! In the end 34 from 44 finished in CLUB on task 2 and 20 from 23 in STANDARD. Not too bad for the big distance. Belgium was happy with their runner-up-spot [so they should] in club class and shared this picture from the daily-prize-giving.
Marina ,president of the jury up front and the boys from l. to r. Alexandre, David and Martijn. Belgian Junior Gliding Team
British Gliding Team, looked back too “A challenging day yesterday for both Standard and Club Class. George D sustained minor damage in a field landing. George is doing well and hopefully have the glider back up and running soon. A huge thank you to everyone in the UK and beyond, as well as here in Ostrów who offered their help. It is massively appreciated. The Standard Class had a tricky day, with 50km best glides back to the airfield, using the last of the days available lift Today is looking interesting, with storms forecast later this afternoon“
Czech Republic Gliding Team; they were very succesful yesterday with a 1-2 and 3 spot in standard class. Co-operation between the 3 was the key to succes, they say. Overall, after 2 days they lead also the overall scores, with Lukas and Jaromir on 1 and 2 and Michaela on 4!!!! AND,….on top of that , they lead in the race for the TEAM CUP; 942.67 points. Ahead of Germany, France, The Netherlands and Poland. Still hopefull many days to come!!!
From l to r. Jaromir, Lukas and Michaela.Is this the other key to succes??? Some kind of yoga-soaring-gymnastic before the flight???? Czech Republic Gliding Team
July 16;Today is another day with a difficult to predict weather scheme. Storms are expected , so it was a bit of waiting if they YES or NO would fly. In the end , the day was scrubbed at 12 PM; no flying!
“Indya’ s corner” I found the link to the “reel” Here you are and I hope it works;
The story goes further. I checked how to get the “reel” in my blog. Robert advised that under the reel is a sign ‘share’ .I tried, saw many names, but not my blog. Decided NOT to share. 1 Minute later I get thank you messages from my FB friends. One way or another I shared it to maybe even All my FB friends. Don’t know by now. AND,…sorry if I annoyed you with it. Anyhow,…it’s INTERNATIONAL PR for the Dutch young ones. But,…to be honest it’s a nice video from Indya and I had NO CLUE I was sharing. Have to learn more quickly on my old age.
No flying today, means a day off for me too. Back later when I get interesting news ,other pictures during the day, if not CU tomorrow! Cheers Ritz
Update; from some beautiful pictures shared by the organizers . PHOTOS Landing DAY 1 14.07.2024. Courtesy Martn Levitzky, he knows how to make good soaring pictures.
Looking back on day 1 was for most a pleasure, certainly for the winners in each class. On JULY 15 daily prizes were presented to the top 3 of each class from task 1. The Dutch pilots were very enthusiastic with a 1 for Lars, – 9 for Tim and 11th spot for Wout in club class. The UK boys did well too; both Georges were in the top 10. [5 and 6] French pilot Victor was surely happy with his runner up spot and Italian pilot Alessandro with his 3d spot. Very pleased to see that Martijn [Belgium] was on spot 10.
In standard Jakub was the best. The German team will be happy with Max, Jan and Nils on spot 3,4 and 5 and Poland had nothing to complain with Maciej and Wictor on spot 6 and 7. Czech Rep had also 2 pilots in the top 10; Lukas and Jaromir [8 and 9] and on 10 was Dutch pilot Tim.
Pôle France Planeur with from l to r Max, Jakub and Victor. Well done guy’s!!!!
Reaction from team Germany on day 1;”The first official day of the JWGC is over. With blue thermals to start with and showers on final glide. Our 6 pilots did well”.
This is a day 1 report from USA pilotSteven Tellmann from club and on 41 yesterday. “The launch today was a lot of hurry up and wait (just like any contest), crews scrambling to get gliders on the line by 10:30, expected first launch around 11:30, and the team launched around 2pm. The blue weather in the start cylinder was quite fun as the cumulus started to fill in from the surrounding areas. The flight can be found on WeGlide or OLC (in the links below). I had a great time flying with David and Jacob, I am learning a lot of team flying techniques from both of them.” https://www.weglide.org/flight/437373
“Photo when we completed our first JWGC task!”Steven Tellmann
Time to look at day 2; The briefing started with an important message:
July 15; Day 2. BIG tasks for the “little planes”, as in each class a 400 k was announced. It would be interesting to know if 1 or 2 of these 67 young ones, EVER flew a 400 k. This is a morning picture from the Dutch team, looking good and clouds popping up.
The gliders with call sign Au and Ag [LS4a] are specially reserved for the Dutch junior squad and owned by the Foundation Soaring Events Holland. As it is very difficult for young ones to get a glider from the club for a longer time, this foundation has been over the years, a huge help for the juniors. Dutch Junior Gliding TeamAs shared by Belgian Junior Gliding Team they also hope for ” some clouds/cumulus and not only blue thermals!”
CLUB class; it took a while before scores appeared on soaring spot. Maybe the server is not big enough??? Sometimes organisers underestimate, that not only pilots, but also family, friends, granddad and grandma want to keep an eye on how their [grand]children/friends do. On top of that , I read that the very good weather forecast, turned out to be different than expected. But still a lot of finishers. Task 2 ; race 403.99 km.…Not everybody is scored yet, but AT THIS STAGE, David Neumann in ASW 24 was the best for 1000 points, 90 km./h . Great job from Martijn[ Belgium] who at this stage is runner up after an early start at 13.12 ; 89 km./h. 3 French “young ones” Alexandre, Nicolas and Clement[ from the well known French de Pechy family] under supervision of TOP coach Eric, finished on spot 3-4 and 5 with 80 km./h. 9 PM; at this stage 6 have outlanded and 5 are not yet scored. More of course tomorrow.
STANDARD CLASS; Task 2; race 400.98 km…..At this stage 19 finishers ; a lot of LS 8 gliders . In the top, 3 Czech pilots and as the daily best Lukáš Kříž with 94 km./h. for 1000 points. Runner up Jaromir with 93 km./h and Michaela also with 93 km./h but just a fraction less.
9.PM; 3 were “out” both South African pilots and 1 Dutch pilot, but they were SO CLOSE. They flew 383 and 335 km . But on a 1000 points day, the differences are big; 1000 for the winner and 405 for our South African mates Henry and Philipp and 354 for Noud. Ouch ..that hurts.
All scores of course preliminary
“Indya’s Corner.” This time there is a very nice “REEL” from the Dutch Junior Gliding Team created by Floor and Indya, both along crew also great PR personalities . This “reel” is from July 14, called “what a day”., to be found on the site of the Dutch Junior Gliding Team , with great finishes. Hope you can find it , don’t know how to copy and paste them in my blog.
Everybody is for sure busy and tired after such a long day. No more news now, but hopefully tomorrow will be another good day.
—–Well,…. they all arrived, said hello to each other, changed ideas about the trip to Ostrow ,[some were more than exciting , ending at the police station in Dresden!] , went to the administration for badges and more, went to the hangar for scrutiny AND,…..had to begin flying ; Unofficial practice day [ 262.54 km] was on Wednesday July 10, with good results for The Netherlands and South Africa, each “producing” a daily winner. Lars in club in his LS4bneo, who was quite a bit faster the the runner up; 108.67 for 99.38 km./h by Nils Zitzelsberger from Germany. 27 started , 14 finished and 17 still were busy preparing and did not fly. In standard South African Phillip in LS 8 ,yes member of the well known Jonker family, not flying a JS but an LS 8, as indeed not long ago they confirmed their co-operation with DG. Thomas Greenhill from the USA was runner up in Discus 2a; 295.32 km was their distance….124 and 120 km./h!! The day finished with a race back to Ostrów before the forecast thunderstorms rolled in;”All gliders are derigged and in their trailers, as there are heavy thunderstorms passing by the airfield.”British Gliding Team
The next practice-day was a 1.30 AAT in CLUB with another Dutch pilot on top this time Wout in LS 4a with Lars on his heels. Nobody finished the task but they flew 68 km which was 12 km. more than the number 3 from France in ASW 20. In STANDARD it was a young Polish pilot Jakub with 59 km. and a French pilot Lucas with 50 km.
—–The evening before the opening and before the official start of 13th FAI JWGC, they organized a WELCOME PARTY for the guests. It looked very informal and happy in an awesome hangar.
SATURDAY; OPENING with parade! “The opening ceremony of the World Championships will take place on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. Start of the march from 3mk Arena Ostrów to the Market Square in Ostrów, where we will welcome the pilots and officially start the sky competitions.”
THE JWGC started; Day 1; on July 14; First launch postponed to 13:30. …..blue skies and 24C but the UK mentions; “the weather outlook for today is a short weather window and showery outbreaks expected” And that for the first day…. Club; 2.30 AAT…. changed to task B, 2 hour AAT..…won by young Dutchie Lars [LS4 NEO WL] for 623 points.Good on him. Starts after 3PM. So waiting at the grid and more waiting!!! The 3 Dutchies flew together when possible and were the first to start at 15.09. Alexandre [ASW 20] from France was runner up [start at 15.32] and Alessandro [Discus B] from Italy was 3d.[start at 15.35] It turned out not such a “blue” day as expected, they had CU’s and even a squall line . From 44 only 2 were out. We can call that a good first day!!!!
Standard; on July 14 Task 1; 2.30 AAT….B task 1.50 AAT; As Lars in club, another winner from a practice day wins day 1; Jakub from Poland in his LS 8; 199 km / 101.98 km./h. for 580 points. Runner up Victor [LS8] from France and on 3 Max [LS8] from Germany. I expect a lot from Max. From 23 starters 2 were out. Also Jasper, such a pity he flew 173 km, but did not finish, so only 183 points. His FES brought him home. Some finishes and the showers in the back as seen by the French.
All scores are of course still preliminary. Tomorrow is another day in Ostrow, we will follow the young ones there and verify the scores again.
INFO; My grand daughter Indya crews for Dutch pilot Jasper [ Glider 71] in Ostrow. She is a very good photographer , as you might have seen in the South African diary [ if you missed it, you have to scroll down] . She is so kind to sent me pictures when she has time. I finish each JWGC story then with her pictures. I got a few last night already,… bit Dutch , but it will go totally international later she said, as , as you know, my blog is INTERNATIONAL.
“INDYA’S CORNER”. for more pictures you can go to her Instagram account at [@indya._] This competition is a place for international FRIENDSHIP , as you all know. Here are several international friends.
These young men are from the USA and South Africa. To the left pilot Thomas Greenhill and to the right David-John Rainier his crew.These are “our” Dutch heroes , together with the Belgian heroes. “we are the “low countries” here in Europe and real mates! Maybe not so much when” we” play soccer against each other.
Dutch pilot Tim with 2 members of the Polish team
Whole families are involved as back up for the boys. This shirt was realised by the mother from pilot Lars, who won the first practice day AND day 1.
In between the French Nationals have been flown in Standard and 15 m. and for the 2-seaters. VINON, was the place to be between July 7 and 13. They had 6 out of 7 days , so finally a bit of good soaring weather in Europe. Some parts are “bloody HOT and others WET WET WET. Stand. /15 m had a 2.30 AAT, a set task from 350.51 km, 399 km, 330 km, 329 km and 2.30 on the last day. Jean-Denis Barrois had a 300 points lead over Philippe Lata and Max Seiss on this last day. Aurélien Doriat was also still in the race for the medals. Max had a final good day ; 289 km/109.47 km./h and kept his amount of points. 1. Jean-Denis Barrois in JS3 with 4,408 points. 2. Maximilian Seis in JS3 with 4,181 points. 3. Aurélien Doriat in LS8 with 4,078 points.
“What a week ! Yesterday French alps for Nat , next stop Osaka, Hiroshima. Always a pleasure to fight with Max and new talented generation !”Jd Barrois
2 seaters; had about the same tasks however on task 3 they had 452.66 km . Excitement enough on the last day. As HC pilots Jurgen Wenzel from Germany and Mike Young from the UK [ both in Arcus M] can not win the French title, it was Didier Hauss, who won in a DUO DISCUS. He also won the last day. 1. Didier Hauss in DUO DISCUS with 4,914 points. 2. Thierry Boilley in ARCUS M with 4,587 points. 3. Svobodny & Bellec in ARCUS M with 4,570 points, just missing out on 17 points, by nearly missing out on 221points on the last day. Jurgen and Mike stayed on 2 and 3 but without a title [4.806 and 4.686 points]
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I wrote last week about the book “Goodbye Papa Golf” from Chip Bearden. He is with Tony [Condon} at a the ISVM at Harris Hill a vintage meeting with the most gorgeous vintage planes as this beauty.
Quite a few comps finished last week. Most had not the best weather, but still scores to see who was the best. I looked at a few interesting competitions for you.
—–47th INTERNATIONALIssoudun finished with marginal conditions due to rain and wind like most comps do in Europe. Multi class; Task 6 on July 3 was 309.49 km …..ONLY 3 finishers , all from France. An SZD-56-2 Diana 2 FES won with Olivier Momege ,then a Duo Discus and LS6/18m. Task 7 ; 2.30 AAT..…All back ……the UK pilots were on spot 1 to 5 with Tom [Arscott] as winner. All 17 started AND finished. Task 8;164.15 km….Tim Milner won the day.128.30 km/72.13 km./h. Tough day again but character building I hope. Task 9; 1.30 AAT.…VERY LAST DAY. OUCH,….cancelled!!!!!! Anyhow great results after 6 out of 9 days and very close, look at this; 1. Henry Inigo-Jones [UK] in LS8 with 3,387 points….. ready for the JWGC. 2. Oscar Butlin [UK] in LS 8 with 3,329 points. 3. Tom Arscott [UK]in LS7 with 3,310 points.
Club; Task 6; 252.54 km…4 from 12 who started finished as well. George [Downing] won with 83 km./h. The other George [Whiting] was 3d with 78 km./h. Task 7; 2.15 AAT....227 km/98 km./h was the best result by George W. All 12 started AND finished. Task 8; 156.08 kmlater 103. 11km….with starts at 4PM the “oldies ” with respect showed how to handle not the best day; Brian [Spreckley] won with 66.58 km./h whilst Shaun [Lapworth} had 66.30 km./h. From 13 only 7 finished. Task 9; 1.30 AAT... THEY FLEW!!!!! 9 started and 7 finished. George White flew 159 km/ 93.02 km./h. He seems ready to for the JWGC. The other George out landed as dis Brian, but better now than next week during the JWGC. Overall scores after 7 out of 9 days; 1. George White [UK] in ASW 20 with 4,064 points. CLEAR winner . 2. George Downing[UK] in ASW 20 with 3,658 points. 3. Thomas Chapman[UK] in ASW 20 with 3,481 points.
Race 3 on July 3; 106.29 km….late start at 16.05……”Congratulations to Patrick Puskeiler for his daily win! Mario Kiessling arrived second before him but he has more penalties. Jernej Lokovsek is 3rd.“ Race 4; 159.11 km with another late start at 15.50.”Nailbiting” some call the days with these tricky weather conditions. But they flew and there were winners; Stanisław Biela in a Ventus 3TS , 113 km./h for 10 points. Gilles Navas was runner up. Mario Kiessling had for the 2d time 5 minutes penalty for not crossing the finish line, this time he was too low. He leads anyhow with 30 points at this stage. Race 5;363.76 km ….the weather improved , so finally a nice task and a fast one; 144.7 km./h by Mario and no, not more penalties [just a waste, those lost points] Tilo was just a fraction behind him 144.2 km./h. David Bauder from Germany was 3d with 143.8 km./h ,and Boris Zorz and Luca Znidarsic 1.43 km/h.. Start was at 13.45.
Race 6; 386.18 km.LAST DAY!!!!! Spot 1 is firm ; Mario has 40 points and the runners up Boris and Patrick both 23. So it’s all about the runner up spot and a spot for the SGP final. When I saw the speed I had to look TWICE!!! Mario added 11 points to his 40 by flying the 386 km in 2 hours and 11.12 minutes.speed; 176.6 km./h. WOW!!!! 12 Pilots flew OVER 170 km./h!!!!!! WHATADAY!!!! final scores; 1. Mario Kiessling in Ventus 3 TS with 51 points. 2. David Bauder in Ventus 3TS with 29 points. 3. Patrick Puskeiler in Ventus 3TP with 28 points.
Tomaž Jandrok This is Tilo in the VENTUS 3TS .Great picture Tomaz !!!! He was 6th overall with 22 points. This beautiful glider he and his team “created” at Schemmp-Hirth ,was the winner of this FAI SGP . Mario flew the same glider ,but on his tail was the call sign I.
The next FAI SGP will be flown in France from Saint-Sulpice between July 21 and 27 2024.
——-The German club class nationals continued after 3 flying days with 3 non flying days ,2 with no task and 1 cancelled, but they tried hard and on July 3 they had task 10 ,a 1.30 AAT, on flying day 4. From 43 starters 31 finished. Best result; 130 km./86km./h. Task 11 was cancelled so on day 15 , flying day 5, they started with task 12; 183.03 km….Toni Kittler won the day;130.89/65.87 km./h that IS work in the office. But nothing changed in the overall scores; Overall scores for German club class title with 5 out of 12 days and with 45 pilots; 1. Stefan Langer in LS3WL with 3,131 points and German Champion in club class. 2. Uwe Wahlig in LS3 WL with 2,917 points. 3. Toni Kittler in LS4a with 2,794 points.
As shared by Andrea Florence[Gliding &Soaring.]
—–The OBGN, the open Belgian Gliding Nationals in St Hubert had 1 flying day on Wednesday but they suffered from the miserable weather conditions too. Last day was on July 7. On July 4 they flew again : Club; Task 3; 2hour AAT….Thomas De Bruyn in LS4 won; 180km with 89 km./h.13 started 12 finished. NO FLYING till the last day July 7, when the weather has improved; Task 5;278.11 km….flying day 3 out of 9. Jelle Vandebeeck in an ASW 24 won the day;74.89 km./h. He moved up from 9 to 4. Good on him. Hope for him that 3 days makes it a valid championship. Indeed 3 out of 9 days in all 3 classes. 1. Thomas De Bruyn in LS 4 with 1,704 points. 2. Jules Mathay [Luxembourg] in LS 4b with 1,476 points. 3. Edwige Colson in ASW24 WL with 1,408 points.
Combi standard/15m/20 m; Task 4; 2 hour AAT...Thomas Leduc in Ventus2cxa won; 215 km with 105 km./h. 9 Started and 1 was out. No flights till the last day; Task 7;335.29 km….flying day 3 out of 9, such a pity!!!!!BUT,.. a nice task to finish on a more “high”. Patrick Stouffs, yes indeed, he is still flying and HOW?? After an early start he flew in the Janus CT RG a speed of 86 km./h. He moved up from 9 to 5. From 7 starters 4, finished. 1. Thomas Leduc in Ventus 2cxa with 1,468 points. 2. Michiel Van den Borne in LS6A with 1,282 points. 3. Pieter Lievens in Duo Discus T with 1,162 points.
Combi 18m open and 20 m; Task 4; 2 hour AAT.…Tijl Schmelzer in Ventus 3T won; 271 km with 129 km./h. All 15 started but 1 started too early ; meaning no start. NO FLIGHTS till JULY 7 …..VERY LAST DAY!!!! Task 7;427.58 km….13 started and 9 finished. A good day for Jean-Luc Colson in the ASG 29 es; 103 km./h. Tijl Schmelzer in the Ventus 3T flew also over 100 km./h [101 km./h.] Final scores; 1. Tijl Schmelzer in Ventus 3T with 2,055 points. 2. Jean-Luc Colson in ASG 29 es with 1,977 points. 3. Dennis Huybreckx in Ventus 3T with 1,854 points.
——Time to look ahead at the 13th FAI JWGC combined with the 5th and very last 13.5 WGC. 21 countries have entered with 67 entries; 23 in standard and 43 in club. The first pilots/crews have arrived last Saturday. Looking at the entries the first arrival picture should be from Andrea Paganin from Italy with call sign RB. Our neighbours , from Belgium , Martijn [Eerdekens] and Robbe [Van Brandt] , have left too ;
——EUROGLIDE had the final presentation for 2024. What ‘s better than let the WINNER “speak” “That’s all folks! Out of 69 gliders on the 2662km Euroglide task, we had just two finishers, myself in 5 days and TP (the ‘pesky’ EB29) in 11 days. Honorable mention to a PURE Arcus that got to just 100km short with 4 outlandings enroute. Euroglide was a lot of fun and I’d recommend anyone to get some friends together and have a go as a group. Engine absolutely not necessary but of course much more comfortable.” Congratulations AGAIN Matthew and thanks for keeping us up to date. On Saturday there was 1 more finisher. Here is the FULL story in ; Matthew Scutter’s Gliding He finishes with:”The final evening was a somber affair with balloons released for the pilot who left us midway through. We didn’t know him but he clearly was special to very many people. RIP“ Indeed he was!!!!!!
Matthew and Sophie and the TWICE WORLD CHAMPION Baer Selen in the back. Baer will be In Uvalde in August as TC for the Dutch team.
It’s not often that I write about a book. Yes I remind you on books like “WINNING in the wind” from George Moffatt on a sad occasion as his death recently, but this time the writer of Goodbye Papa Golf, contacted me and George’s death, was more or less the reason.
I have n’t got it or read it yet, but I will and then I will come back on it. So I asked Chip, to give me some background on and inspiration for this book. “It’s a flying book for pilots and non-pilots. A marathoning book for runners and non-runners. An adventure story written in the universal human language of doubt, fear, success, tragedy, failure, comeback, triumph, love, and ultimate redemption in a remarkable life’s journey of an ordinary man. Here are some quotes to give you an idea.” “The book began 40+ years ago in the pre-dawn hours in a hotel room as I scribbled down details, before they faded, of the darkest day of my life, when my father crashed and died while I watched after flying most of the task with me and former world champion George Moffat at the 1980 U.S. 15M nationals.” “Throughout the book, I discuss the risks associated with soaring and other activities. I explore the complex emotions and motivations around risk-taking, winning and losing, grief, identity, and purpose.“ Sarah Arnold the 2020 WWGC champion said about the book:”“Couldn’t put it down. Your story is compelling. The audience doesn’t have to care about soaring or running. It works because you’re vulnerable and raw and honest. The humanity.” Much more about Chip on; https://chipbearden.com.
With the JWGC , a CAT 1 competition, I try to publish a bit more to be up to date. Today, it’s still Tuesday ,I publish a few hours earlier as code orange is on here from 7PM onwards till tomorrow with the prediction of big hailstones, severe wind with heavy gusts and thunder and lightning. My laptop stays OFF then. On top of that I am still in the middle of renovations to my house. CU soon . Cheers Ritz
Post 1.504 on July 3 2024, the day our son and brother Dennis would have turned 55!!!! He sadly enough, only got to 18.5 years. [03-07-1969/03-01-1988] R.I.P. dear Dennis.
Hobbs New Mexico is the venue , as you know, for the 18m, 15m and club-class Nationals 2024. After task 7 in each class they had a day with NO TASK on June 26. So 2 day’s to go as June 28 was the last day. In the end they flew 7 out of 10 days, so not too bad, but I guess , more or less, what you can expect from Hobbs.
Courtesy Tony Condon picture from June 22 when they flew a 3 hour AAT in club class. Tony in the St Cirrus was 4th that day. On June 27,task 9, penultimate day, on contest Day 6 Assigned racing tasks, the same for all classes ; around 350 km. 18m;Erik Nelson in the Ventus 3T won; 140 km./h. 18 left in this class and all 18 finished. 15m; Noah Reitter in the ASG 29 won; 140 km./h! 16 started and finished! club;Tony Condon in St Cirrus; 105 km.h.17 started and 1 was “out”.
June 28 ; VERY LAST DAY!Task 10. 3 hour AAT. for 18 and 15 m and 2.30 for the club pilots. 18 m; Rick Indrebo in ASG 29 with 466 km and 154 km./h. He moved from 8 to 7 overall. 15 m; Timothy Taylor…Ventus 2cxa with 464 km. 153 km./h. Pretty good nearly the same again as the 18m winner. All 15 started and finished. Timothy started at 15.33.59 whilst the first pilot left at 14.52. Club had no scores on soaring spot but I found the scores and Tony won the last day.333 km with 106 km./h. Sylvia was on spot 8 ! Andy on 11. Soaring Society of America; they wrote about this last day: “Speed records were set on the final day of the 2024 15-Meter, 18-Meter and Club Class Nationals in Hobbs, NM. Tony Condon won the class speed trophy, and the day, with a speed of 76.44.miles/h Rick Indrebo, 89, picked up the speed trophy, and won the day, with a speed of 95.98 miles p.h. Tim Taylor, TT, won the speed trophy (and the day) with a speed of 95.11 mph”
Here are the winners and champion in each class from the HOBBS Nationals; 18 m; 1. Gary Ittner in ASG 29 with 5,838 points and CHAMPION!!!! Congrats Gary!!! 2. Bob Fletcher in ASG 29 with 5,799 points. 3. Nelson Howe in JS3 with 5,735 points. Not a lot of difference in points between 3 and 5; Dave had 5.726 and Robin 5.724 points.
15m; 1. Mike Sorenson in Ventus 2cxa with 6,125 points. 2. Noah Reitter in ASG 29 with 6,063 points. 3. Jared Granzow in ASW27b with 5,932 points.
club; 1. Tony Condon in St Cirrus with 4,868 points. 2d time NATIONAL CHAMPION. CONGRATS Tony. 2. Sylvia Grandstaff in Discus 2a with 4,686 points. 3. Andrew Brayer in ASW 20c with 4,652 points. One way or another I can’t place the pictures here. You find them below. By the way, I wrote about a Dutch name in club class; Marco Raaymakers. Received the next message from Tony yesterday; “Marco is Dutch. He’s a flight instructor at Sheppard AFB. I believe he works through the Dutch airforce training their pilots here? He flies a Ka-8 at Texas Soaring Association, very well! He did a 500km triangle in it last year. Check WeGlide. He borrowed Mike Westbrooks Discus for the club class nationals.“ There you are, a Dutch participant, in the USA Nationals in club class. Good on you Marco and thanks for the info Tony!!!
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The UK Nationals I wrote about last week,had many good days and perfect winners. I noticed “an Oli Ramsay” from Oxford. Must be a student, I thought and saw he won task 3, did not fly task 6 was 3d on task 7 and won the last task the 3 hour AAT for 1000 points. Not being there, I can’t ask him why he did not fly whilst he was so good. Then I am lucky that I have good UK friends,they filled me in. “One point you might have missed from a distance is the performance of Oli Ramsay in the Std Class.Oli is 18 and still at school. He was given some time off to compete but with some mandatory school commitments during the week. On Day 3 he sat a Physics exam in the morning before coming to the airfield and launching at the back of the grid. On Day 6 he was committed at school all day and could not fly. Day 6 was a 1000 point day. Judge yourself whether you think Oli would have scored just over 800 points he needed to win the Std Class. Definitely one to watch, starting at the Junior Worlds this summer where he flies for Team GB. He and Henry Inigo- Jones will be a formidable team.“ I totally agree with Roy [ThanksRoy] My grand daughter Indya will be crewing for the Dutch team and she will keep an eye on him in Poland. What a very talented young man !!!! Looking forward to see their performances. Of course also from our Dutch mates. We do have a few “good ones ” too. And ,..never underestimate the French and German team and some Danish pilots were good too in the past.
Less than 2 weeks to go before this JWGC starts, to be precise 10 days. Found this picture from a great poster made by @maddycdraperart
The GERMAN CLUB CLASS NATIONALS flown from Burg Feuerstein between June 21 and July 5 count 45 pilots among them 2 real good ones often flying comps; Stefan Langer and Uwe Wahlig. After 4 practice days they flew on June 24 their TASK 1; 367.91 km. not bad to start with for clubbies. Uwe and Stefan, both in LS3WL, were the 2 best; 99 and 96 km./h. Task 2 a 3 hour AAT was a prey for Stefan with 278.60 km and 87 km./h whilst Uwe was 4th, with 81 km./h. Pretty expensive for the points; 1000 for 872. 45 started and 39 finished. Task 3 was short; 175.03 km. Stefan won again and was the only one with a speed over just 100 km./h. Uwe had a bit of an off day with an 28 th spot, after a “earlish” start at 13.01. Stefan left at 13.22. 44 started and 1 was out, after 144 km. Then 2 days with very short tasks, showers and wind so both days were cancelled. Then 2 days with NO TASK, maybe better NO WEATHER!!!! On July 2 a very small task; 112.91 km to keep the spirit up…..BUT not flownn. For today there is a task; 1.30 AAT.
The 47th INTERNATIONAL ISSOUDUN in France has many UK pilots. For a few years the young UK ones fly there as competition training . Also this year they prepare for the JWGC as Henry and Oli both flying in the multi class; On task 1 on June 28 [they continue till July 6] a 2.30 AAT, the first 5 places were for the UK with Tom [Arscott] as daily winner. The next 5 places for France. Only 1 pilot from Belgium flying a Duo Discus. From 16 in this class only 7 finished. No flying day and then Task 3, 2 hour AAT and this time it was really great practice. 7 UK pilots topped the list and Tom , again the best won the day with 215 km/97km./h. Quite a bit further and faster than Henry, but what practice for him; 184 km/88.90 km./h. Oli was 4th. Starts after 4.30 PM. Task 4; 276.57 km…. only ONE pilot managed to finish. Ludovic Hirtz in the Duo Discus; speed 73.85 km./h. 9 Pilots flew over 200 km. Today; task 6…..309.49 km
Club class has 13 pilots among them the other 2 UK JWGC pilots George Whiting and George Downing both in ASW 20 and former 1987 world champion Brian Spreckley [LS1f] . Shaun Lapworth, [St. Cirrus] speaker at some GP- races, is a competitor as well. task 1 was a short 2 hour AAT . 5 From 13 finished all with around 153 km and best was Thomas Chapman in ASW 20. Both Georges finished as well. Good practice!!! Task 3 after a cancelled day was a 2 hour AAT again. Meaning the French summer weather is not yet “ON”. From 13 pilots 10 UK pilots in the top 10 3 Belgian pilots followed but 1 was out. George White won with183 km/87 km./h. task 4; 226.03 km….8 from 13 managed to finish in this class. The 2 future JWGC pilots had the best practice; the 2 Georges [ W and D] won the day with 228.83 km./ 85.26 km./ and 239.41/ 78.31 km./h. Today task 6;...252.54 km.
Briefing at Issoudun, with Brian and his wife Gill[she flies in the multi class and was world champion in 2001 in Pocuinai in 15 m.] sitting on the last row.
Briefing at Venlo before departure from Matthew as shared by WeGlide AND Departure from Venlo by Matthew as shared by WeGlide they al;so share Impressions from Euroglide 2024.
BUT,….for a lot of pilots the innocence was gone after the fatal crash from Johan. Quite a few knowing him well, went home. Matthew memorized him is his blog but after the day-off in honor of Johan ,he had to go on. He was not sure if he could, as the weather was not the best, but in the end he flew over 700 km and he hoped to be already back in Venlo on Friday afternoon. BUT, first he had to wait” for a front to pass, before 400km into a 25kt headwind.” His adventures are sometimes hilarious, [Landing on a CIA black site???] but always very informative. Matthew Scutter’s Gliding He made it!!!! In total 400 km was the last part to get him over the line in Venlo. “Extremely hard work Matthew said in his spoken blog,“headwind was about 45 km, but on the end of the day it went easier.” The scores will take a while, but he thinks he might be not winning by hours but by a day or more. Great result from ,I know, a” “very good and efficient pilot.” Through this week more and more pilots returned, unless the sad moment still full of joy, excitement and adrenaline.
Keith Essex, who won the 18 m. Nationals in the USA , was still not fed up or tired from gliding so on June 25 he flew from ELY. 1.234,48 km with a speed of 156.14 km./h. He seems hooked to gliding and WHY NOT??
VERY SAD news…..GEORGE MOFFAT; passed away, an hero/ icon for many. His book ” Winning on the wind” has been on our book shelf ,as by many others. I met him and his wife Susie in the 70thies, when he flew in France, the 8 jours d’Angers. A true gentleman in his way of walking , very straight, with his nice grey hair, but even more as a person ; always kind and friendly also to me as a young- pretty- new-to-soaring-girl. George was 97 years old. He was twice world champion in 1970 in Marfa in open class and in 1974 in Australia in Waikirie where he flew against Ingo Renner another soaring icon. Both times in a NIMBUS. The video” ZT good finish” about Waikirie is one of the most loved and seen video’s in our soaring world. He received the Lilienthal Medal and you can see him in the US Soaring Hall of Fame. He loved his writing,….. sharing what he knew with others. R.I.P. George. P/S I must have a picture from George and Susie in Angers in one of my many books. Till now I could not find it, but when I do, you can see it too.
Race 1 was last Sunday; 290.44 km and regatta start at 13.25. Local pilot Jernej Lokovsek [JS3] won the 8 points. Jernej has NL on the tail as call sign [LIKE], don’t have to explain you why….though over the years it was/is the call sign from Dutch top pilot Daan Pare. Like “we” always had/have MM. mentioned; “Congratulations to Jernej who crossed the finish line first, almost half an hour ahead of the second-placed Mario Kiessling from Germany and third-placed Luka Žnidaršič [Slovenia] The pilots encountered difficult weather including a strong shower on the first leg that forced them to wait. It was a game of skills and patience.Let’s see what today’s bring.” Race 2; cancelled due to strong rain. Race 3; 187.77km....14 started and quite a few penalty points BUT…..Message this morning;”Congratulations to Mario Kiessling for his daily win! He is closely followed by Boris Žorž and Tilo Holighaus.”
More next week
The OBN the open Belgian Nationals suffer from rain as well in this marginal WET summer. They fly from St Hubert between June 29 and July 7 with 42 participants. 16 in club, 10 in the combi-standard, 15 m and 20 m and 16 in the combined 18, 20 and open class. Till now they had tasks but only flew in each class on one day, July 1; 192.87 km in club won by Thomas De Bruyn in LS 4, he was NEARLY home; 190 km. No finishers. 261.97 km in the combi, won by Thomas Leduc in Ventus 2cxa. He flew nearly 250 km. nobody finished. 333.52 km in the combi for bigger birds ,won by Dennis Huybreckx in Ventus 3T.;74 km/h.Only 4 from 16 finished.
for his daily win! Mario Kiessling 
is 3rd.“
