Post 1.408 on March 15 2023.

AUS GLIDE
13 March 2023 – 24 March 2023
NARROMINE

The club, standard and 15 m pilots rushed from all parts of Australia and even from the world to Narromine for the Pre Worlds. I noticed Jack from the UK and Tony from the USA.
Tony went via Temora where he borrowed glider C2, from the Gilbert Family. It’s a Cirrus with LS8 tips and Discus panel.
Long ago in 1984, the world arrived in Australia too, to fly the AUSTRA GLIDE. There is a beautiful video from this event, an ABC documentary ,about this 1984 gliding competition in Benalla, Australia. It was the largest gathering of gliders in Australia ever, and a precursor to the world championships in 1987.
Austraglide 84 is still to be seen at YouTube.……and WORTHWHILE looking at, [just under 30 minutes] when you have not seen it yet. I just looked at it again and it still impresses me.
It’s mainly about Ingo [Austr] , Kees and George [The Netherlands] Herbie [Eric Moser USA] , Griffo [Peter Griffiths Austr.] ] and shows all in’s and out’s of soaring in that time .

To AUS Glide now. Adam had to travel/commute again via Singapore and Japan to Sydney for these Pre Worlds. He mentioned ;
“this is the selection event for the Australian team, cut throat, 1st or 2nd make the team, 3rd does not. “
So tension enough and expectations HIGH for a great COMP.
Official practice day was yesterday and today the comps start. I will post what I hear and find.
Adam Tony and Bruce share their posts so you can follow them for “hot DIRECT news”.
Tony Condon…..”It was nice and cool up at 10,000 ft! Final leg made sure that it wouldn’t all be easy. Good tour of the area.”
Taylor’s Gliding Page “We had a nice practice day today, great weather for this time of year with mostly 7 knot climbs to about 11,000 feet out west“
Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures…”This was a fantastic leg towards Condobolin, classic Australian weather, 7.7kt average up to 10,000′, confirmed by SkySight XC Speed predictions beautifully” about practice day.
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding about the practice day on the 14th. “We got about halfway through the morning met brief before Telstra cut all phone comms in Narromine for ‘maintenance’, and with a nasty blob of altocumulus locally we didn’t even have a satellite picture on the grid to know whether it was moving or breaking up. Eventually the day was cancelled and the gaggle went to Coles to buy Optus SIM cards. Telstra outages expected to last 7 days!”
During flight by Narromine Gliding Club Official “Wow! What an exciting finish to the first day of the Pre-Worlds. The entire fleet is pouring down the last leg at a great rate of knots and it is literally anybody’s race at the moment.”
Standard class;
task 1; 3 hour AAT…….a 1000 points day..9 participants amongst them Bruce ,David [Jansen] and Miles [Gore Brown] and Allan [Barnes] as winner of the day with 390 km in time 3.07 so a nice speed of 125 km./h. That was 2 km faster than the runner up. The first 5 flew LS 8.
A total of 6 LS 8 gliders and 2x Discus B.
15 m class; 3 hour AAT…..also 9 pilots in this class and a few well-known as Matthew [Scutter] Adam [Woolley] Brad [Edwards] Mac [Ichikawa] and Norm [Bloch.
“Poor” Tim was out after 383 km.
Daily winner Matthew in his Diana 2. 403 km with a speed of 133 km./h! Adam was runner up.
Club class;
Task 1; 3 hour AAT. 19 pilots in club!! Good!!! Best for the day, young James Nugent in his LS 3. Tony was 13th . “Day 1 complete. Nothing earth shattering for me but I had a nice flight. One thermal averaged 11…that was nice.“
Female pilot Jo [Davis] was 4th.
More next week.

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USA 2023 Senior Soaring Championship
March 11-March 17

As always the seniors travelled to Seminole Lake for their championship. They meet already for the 33th time and to be part of it you have to be older than 55 years.
Last Friday was a practice day with a 2 hour task. Pretty good weather but as Nick mentioned; “Clouds all day, but again, climbs were often not what we hoped.”

On March 12 they started the comps and this time also , with a total female crew for the fist time in those 33 years.

“US Teams Night at the Seniors. Monday was a “Rest Day” from flying with rain off and on all during the day, so everyone was in good spirits and excited for a nice dinner with extra libations and dessert from the US Team committee, plus an interesting presentation from recent WGC competitions and plans for the future. One of the highlights was Sarah Arnold’s recap of the day that she and Karl won last year in Hungary.“

More next week.

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The South African pilots , a mix of young and old had a practice/training week at Tswalu as mentioned last week. They had superb weather with speed up to 160 km./h “Look at those skies.”

The German pilots are in St Auban mixed with some USA pilots.
The Tocumwal pilots still fly nearly 500 km in Discus and ASW 27. Today even over 600 km!! Nearly autumn there.
From Aosta in Italy, Swiss pilots flew 1.012 km in the ARCUS M and from Serres Klaus Ohlmann flew 950 in the ANTARES 20 to SE of Aosta.
From Soesterberg Sikko mentioned that he flew Cross Country already for the 3d time “and it is only March11”. Contrarily with the S.A. pilots he had no sand and scrub to look on but SNOW.

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SIXTY YEARS Z.E.S.

On March 27 the ZES [Aeroclub of Students from Eindhoven] celebrate their 60thies birthday. All kind of festivities have been organized to celebrate this happy moment.
It all happened with the “thoughts” of a few students on March 27 in 1963. On the picture below you see them but then not as student anymore.

My first acquaintance with the ZES was in 1967, only 4 years later on March 29 .
That visit is as a common tread through my life and the fact that I still write is because of the ZES. I only was a member for 2 years but it all had a huge impact on me. The last couple of years since I am back from Australia, I am a donor .

As you know soaring got in my blood. I was crew, TC, Juror and Steward, and nowadays I still write my blog to share my thoughts about what I read and see or experience, so you can read it every Wednesday.
World wide I got to know so many lovely people, I travelled the world for comps and on invitation to be editor on WGC’s, WWGC’s and JWGC’s.
Soaring enriched my life. SO ,…in the past we always shouted out loud to toast ….. 1-2-3-4-5-6 fly up.
I do that now too.

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.407 on March 8 2023.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN DAY!!! SO,……..More women in this blog.

LAKE KEEPIT REGATTA.
26 February 2023 – 4 March 2023

20 Competitors fly this fun event, with a serious touch. With a few 3 Hour AAT’s and a 2.30 and 2 hour AAT the first 5 days were covered with good soaring conditions.
“The Regatta is all about fun and learning and that’s what we’ve been doing.”
One of the very enthusiastic members of the Club , Jacques [Graells] in his JS 1a, could not fly every day , missed out on day 1 and 2, but on the day’s he could, he won or was runner up.
But winning in this REGATTA, is not important just gives you a good feeling and is for some, an extra dimension on such a week.
Jacques is a lovely guy . On day 3 with the 2 hour AAT he flew 270 km. with a speed of 125 km./h, 5 k faster than Justin Smith in the ARCUS.
Instructor Nicolas [Singer] another of those lovely members and a REAL good cook, was 4th that day. Another well known-to-me fine pilot, Mathias Kopp, flew in his ASG 32, but was unlucky; “out” after 156 km.
Day 4, task 4, with a 3 hour AAT was for Justin with 381 km and a speed of 119 km./h. He beat Jacques on handicap ; 368 km. /speed 121 km./h.
Day 5, task 5 with another 3 hour AAT was for Jacques again; 422 km/speed 137 km./h. Nick [Nicolas] was runner up ;390 km/123 km./h. Justin was 5th and Mathias did not fly.

Day 6…another 3 hour AAT and it was between Jacques and Justin again; 410 km for Justin with 119 km./h and 438 km with 122 km./h for Jacques;1000 and 976 points.
Tim Carr in the Duo Discus XT, was 3d. In the time I was there Tim was the enthusiastic president of the club.
Day 7…last day…2.30 AAT won by Jacques, with 306 km with 122 km./h. Justin was runner up with 295 km with 116 km./h.
No secret that Justin won the REGATTA. He flew every day. In the end Jacques was 3d, missing 2 days…pretty GOOD!!!!

LONG ago we visited Lake Keepit too when the Nationals were flown there. I also have good memories on that competition with our pretty unit at the Lake . A special event,….One of the toppers flew then his beautiful ASW 22 KG. After launching he had a problem, he had to return but was full of water. In the end the wings were on the ground and our mate was sitting on the “wheel.” No flying for him anymore……..

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Information about a competition in The Netherlands; Gelderse 1 daagse wedstrijd

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——We could see on several days [3] the Aurora Borealis. I only saw pictures , but they were stunning. We call it “NOORDERLICHT” . Pretty spectacular and very rare here.

—–Another happy and colorful picture this time from the UK .
“Congratulations to all the recipients of BGA trophies for their amazing performances during 2022! “

MORE HAPPINESS ; “Cornelia “Conny” Schaich being awarded the 2022 International Gliding Commission Champion Pilot of the Year! Congratulations!“

——-And Liz Sparrow received the very prestigious Pelagia Majewska medal, for the few who don’t know;
“This Medal was created by the FAI in 1989, following a proposal by the Aero Club of Poland, in memory of Madame Pelagia MAJEWSKA, eminent Polish glider pilot awarded the Lilienthal Medal for 190, and holder of 17 world gliding records, who lost her life in an air accident in 1988. The Medal is offered to the FAI by the Aero Club of Poland. It may be awarded annually, on recommendation by the FAI Gliding Commission, to a female glider pilot to reward : a particularly remarkable performance in gliding during the past year, or eminent services to gliding over a long period of time.”
I got mine in 2015, obviously not for great soaring but by “hanging around, “observing and writing my blogs, crewing, being TC and steward ,[Finland] member of the jury [Italy, one of the choosen jurors could not come so I wrote my blog AND was Juror, no worries with a boss as Tor] R.I.P.

——–And the senior and junior team from South Africa have started a week of training in the Kalahari .

—-–And…..6 of the 7 containers full of gliders flying in Namibia have safely arrived;
“On Saturday we were able to unload six containers with the aircraft. On Friday, after extensive inspections at customs in Rotterdam(X-ray) and Bruchsal(gas examination), they arrived safely and without damage in Waghäusel. The seventh container disembarkes in Hamburg and will reach its destination Celle next week.
Only 7 months to go and we are already heading in the other direction again.“
For bookings: hog@bitterwasser.com

——And a fabulous sunset as see by Gerrit in Australia. The EB …..A Royal glider and a Royal sunset.
Gerrit is/was in Narromine for the Narromine Gliding Cup Week as is the Geelong Gliding Club.
They mentioned; “Unfortunately, high winds have grounded us for 2 days but the rest if the week is looking good.” But they also PRAISE Narromine as place for gliding AND place to be.

—–The NSW State Comps [February 6-12] FINALLY have the correct winner.
“Congratulations to Miles Gore Brown who, after correction of his score, is now in first place in the NSW State Championships!
And huge thanks to Ian Steventon, whose diligent investigation into the scoring issue lead to producing a correct score!”
I had the wrong one too, so herewith also my correction.

To finish this impressive MONUMENT in the water to remember all pilots from the war who drowned there. Between 1941 and 1945 117 crews of Allied planes got killed in the lake called IJSSELMEER and around it.
It was placed in 2012 on April 18 and the design was from Arend Kleinpaste.

CU next week, by the way the 2023 FI season opened last weekend in Bahrein. YES,….Max won. And what about Alonso……. Another hero.
Our Dutch soaring season started at some places as well. The Gelderse at Terlet [Arnhem] did…so did Soesterberg [Amsterdam] Sikko flew 184 km between showers, but it was a nice 3 hour “in the office”.
So not yet big tasks as the weather was very poor, but checks and “feeling the glider again”.,,,,why not, …….perfect, being ready when the weather is there. Not this week temperatures between minus 4 and plus 8 and SNOW!!!!!
The GOOD flights in The Netherlands were already on February 26 , with 6 flights from Soesterberg between 141 and 416 km.[See last blog]
TO ALL now the season starts; Have a safe and fabulous new 2023 season.

AND,…be aware of unexpected incidents as with towing out. CHECK THE TOW OUT GEAR before the season starts.
Benjamin [Neglais] added under this picture:
“Never drive back. Never drive faster as first gear idle. Always triple check before getting in the car. Never turn steep. If any doubt, ask for help. You Can ruin tailplane, aileron, wingtips so easily and neither will Be easy and fast to fix.”
Benjamin is Sales Manager at Schemmp-Hirth and pilot for the French Team.

cheers Ritz
This morning I woke up with snow and at least 3 more hours we will see SNOW!!!! I thought and hoped it was SPRING!!!! Yes March brings gales.

Post 1.406 on Wednesday MARCH 1 2023….the beginning of the meteorological spring here and autumn on the other side of the world. The snowdrops and daffodils in my garden start to flower and that is 40 days TOO EARLY.
We still have however, minus 4/5 in the night, but great , though cold sunny conditions during the day.
Even a bit of wet SNOW!!!!! Majorca,[Spain] one of those places lot’s of people go to to miss out on winter conditions, had more snow than ever before. AND,…they are not used to it, certainly not up to half a meter.

Also for soaring, as that freezing cold air creates, as we know, great soaring circumstances. Last Sunday they flew already here in the Netherlands,….. VERY early in the season.
417 km for Bart and Vincent in the ARCUS M from Soesterberg topping the All Europe list just ahead of my Lasham mates Roy and Andy [379 km.] and Sikko in the ASG 29 E 332 km. TOP!!!!!! [333km]
5 Pilots started from Soesterberg.
“What a day! Only time I was cold was during riging/deriging!” by Bart and Vincent on WEGLIDE.
“Incredible skies for the UK in February” by Roy and Andy.
Andy flew already 1 day earlier with Kim 526 km in the ARCUS also from Lasham. And yesterday another 418 km. CC.
Also my Belgium mates just over the border started their season from Keiheuvel with 353 km in an ARCUS T.
WHAT A SEASON START!!!!!

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Dual Seat Nationals at COROWA!!!!!
19 February 2023 – 25 February 2023

With only a few days to go , the 2-seat Nationals continued on Thursday.
Adam wrote; “The sun has set on another day, congratulations to Brad & Bruce on a great flight & one that has 95% likely won them back to back, 20m Nationals!”
Another win for the long-time-WGC-pilots :
Task 5; 370 km…..
From the 9 teams , 3 were out, so not an easy day. The ASK 21 MI started early 13.39 but was out after 233 km. Gutsy way of flying a competition in the ASK, but for sure great fun. You” participate “, you don’t fly to win.
B[rad] and B[ruce] started at 14.52 as most of the other pilots. And they had a great run and were faster in their “mighty machine” as all others; 116 km./h whilst the runner up in the DG 1001 had 93 km./h.
“The rest of the fleet finally spread out in desperation to find a climb, which just never really came. Hats off to Lumpy who was able to push out in front after he caught us back up, to find us a climb from low down. Unfortunately for Lumpy, he pushed on again at a medium threat height looking for better, only to miss out on his found climb of 6kts to 6000′ not long after.” Adam and as always you can hear the full story on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures. He shares nowadays a vlog with his post-flight-analyses and a blog.
Lumpy and Joergen were 4th for the day.
Allan and Harry were only 10 k out!! 7th for the day.
Bruce; “ my pilot remains a wizard!”
And….”But the chauffeur wound the pace up a little, finding a few solid climbs to allow us to pull away, then crossing the Murray River just east of Tocumwal he magically hooked a great climb to the best height of the day.”
Taylor’s Gliding Page for much more!

B[rad] 1 and B[ruce] 2 having fun at the briefing, with Lumpy and Joergen to the l behind them.
20m Dual Seat Nationals 2023

Task 6; 321 km.... another racing task.
They started at the same time, the FIG with Keith and Adam and the ZBE with B&B. And,…NO they did not finish together. The FIG won the day with a speed of 116.77 km./h and the ZBE with 107 km; 900 points and 747 p. “A fun blue day out,” a bloody fantastic blue day “according to Adam, who then did not yet know they won the day.
Good weather forecast again, basically cu’s on the first leg , then blue. But as said before blue down under is not the same blue as here. You find strong thermals in “their” blue.
Runner up David and Leslie and 3d Allan and Harry
The ASK 21 is hanging in, brave flying, but out after 127 km.
Bruce flew and here is a small part of his story;
“Phew, tough day today for us… for me. We travelled up north, westwards and then back south for about 320 km. The day began well with a strong climb off tow, and soon after that some little cumulus started to form out on our track. The thermals were easy to work and we seemed to have no trouble staying up, and after a bit of a wait we started at about 1445, which was right in the middle of our selected start window. As it happened we were right with Adam and Keith, our closest competitors on the scoresheet. Under normal (serious) circumstances it would have been prudent to sit with them for the whole flight and completely protect our substantial lead, but that isn’t me at all.”
Task 7; the very last day!!!! Still a “few” points difference between the 2 best ,B&B and Adam and Keith; 4.304 and 4.136.
What will bring this last day ……. a 3 hour AAT.
A win for David and Lesley!!! They started early and went on track straight away, still not too high 4/5000 ft. but they made it. Good on them….378 km in time in 3.20 in the ARCUS T for 1000 points. Speed 113 km./h.
111 km./h for Brad and Bruce so my good “old” mates win the comps.
As Bruce mentioned;” I think we did enough for an overall win. Super flight by Brad, zero risk and plenty fast enough. He has flown so well this last week, not really very current but all the old skills remain, and the weather suited his style. He is a master in changeable, difficult conditions, and that’s what we flew in all week.”
Much more in his Taylor’s Gliding Page
And Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures…”A disaster of a last day, it was like we flew in totally different conditions on a totally different task than anyone else!”
They were 4th for the day [846 points]

The Australian National 2-seat CHAMPIONS after 7 days and 7 tasks from Corowa;
1. Brad Edwards & Bruce Taylor in ASG 32 with 5,232 points.
2. Keith Gateley & Adam Woolley in ARCUS M with 4,982 p.
3. David Jansen & Lesley Scott in ARCUS T with 4,589 p.
Congratulations to ALL.

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The SSA CONVENTION in RENO in the USA was in full swing between February 23 and 25. It’s every 2 years. Enough interesting and inspiring speakers also women, as Leah Condon about crewing ….”What your Crew Wants to Know”……and WWGC pilot Kathy Fosha who spoke at the WSAP breakfast .
Subjects as the amazing MINIMOA restoration, the SSA membership meeting featured report on committee reorganization and growth/retention effort and not to forget the annual OSTIV meetings and dinner.
At the OSTIV also a young Dutch glider pilot , Simon van de Eijkel, speaking on Building the next generation platform for WEGLIDE.
Simon was so lucky to fly on Sunday from Minden in Nevada with Gordon Boettger in the ARCUS M; 709 km and an awesome speed of 215 km./h!!!

In total they had over 50 excellent speakers & presentations on soaring. A convention floor full of gliders , equipment and so much more with over 40 exhibitors.
Presentations on the last day also by Uys Jonker about Jonker Sailplanes [ Design, development and performance of the JS 2Revenant 18m/21m and JS5 Rey 24 m glider.] and Tilo Holighaus about Schempp-Hirth.[ The Philosophy behind Schempp-Hirth] Each speaker gets 45 minutes and there is a tied schedule.

Met Tony for the first time in 2012 in Uvalde Texas, when he flew in to be part of this exiting WGC. Later we were having a drink with Dundee in Narromine.

Also the BGA Conference was held on February 25. HpH Sailplanes UK will be there with the TWIN SHARK.
By the way they were in Reno too.
“Belated congratulations to Lasham member Graham Garnett on being awarded a diploma for services to gliding at the British Gliding Association conference over the weekend.
Graham has been involved in the organisation of competitions and grid launches at Lasham for over 30 years and has also spent the last 10 years as the British Gliding Team manager.”
Lasham Gliding Society
WELLDESERVED, Graham.

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from; FAI – World Air Sports Federation just to let you know…..

The Gliding competition season looks promising this year!

5th FAI Pan-American Gliding Championship – Hutchinson, USA (6-17 Jun)

12th FAI Women’s World Gliding Championship – Garray, ESP (1-15 Jul)

21st FAI European Gliding Championships – Leszno, POL (29 Jul-12 Aug)

6th FAI Junior European Gliding Championships – Arnborg, DEN (30 Jul-12 Aug)

37th FAI World Gliding Championships – Narromine, AUS (2-16 Dec)
https://bit.ly/3xGIZBc
WWGC 2023
Lotnisko Leszno
Narromine Gliding Club Official

In the weekend of August 19 and 20 the annual KEIHEUVEL competition will be flown. I try always to be there. To enter
https://www.lvzc.be/index.php/inschrijven

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News from Lumpy Paterson from Tocumwal Soaring Centre
Lumpy;”Pretty exciting day ….
Bit like 5 years ago when the first Aussie JS3’s arrived in Australia, only today it’s the first RES JS3’s into Australia.
The RES is a self launching electric JS3-18mtr glider and they look awesome, and looking forward to seeing them flying ( real soon )
5 Years ago I was there and was allowed to make pictures from the 3 JS 3 gliders from Butch, Norm and Lumpy. I published them in my blog with a short story.
NOW ,..I am not there but I can share it anyhow , as news travels so fast and easy, in fact I don’t have to go anywhere anymore.
Though , to be honest, the feeling from being present is totally different. AT LOCATION, gives you the real feeling!!!!

Kiripotib Soaring shared their news for 2023 and I am more than pleased to see that what Ludwig and Wolfgang started ,continues in their style; GREAT CONCEPT.
November 2023: Nine top pilots, one chance! World and European champions share their expertise in cross-country flying with enthusiastic glider pilots. Take your flying skills to the next level! Seven days in a dual-seater with various champions – increase your speed, refine your technique and master your equipment. Join us! The best of the best are looking forward to an amazing time with you.
This is what awaits you:
https://youtu.be/64AyW9p_9iE

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I got several reactions on the death of my good mate Bruce who died on February 13 of a heart attack. Even one of his University friends wrote to me after googling the name “Ritz, he often heard from Bruce in his gliding time“.
A Memorial Service on March 10 in Melbourne is arranged by his wife Kristine.
Some memories on Bruce.

CU next week.
Ritz, still sad…….

Post 1.405 on February 22 2023.

—–I finished my last blog with the hope that a lot of my Dutch “fellowmen” would donate for victims of the earthquake from Syria and Turkey.
They did ,……in the evening there was 89 million Euro, PERFECT!!!!
And,…the amount is still growing…..

——With the start of the 2-seater Nationals in Corowa [NSW.Australia] , I thought it would be appropriate to share this news from Chris Kiehn;
“Congrats to 30 years of the Schempp-Hirth Duo Discus. It’s been over 30 years in other words since I did my apprenticeship there as I helped build the wing plugs and molds for this aircraft that pretty much created a new class of aircraft that no one new they needed. Was it foresight or staunch belief from Klaus Holighaus that people would accept the idea of a 20m glider at the time? Either way, it’s rare to find a 20m 2 seat comp these days without a Duo or the Arcus being represented. Job well done

—–News from Tocumwal Aviation Museum
“On this day 79 years ago: 15 February 1944, Number 7 Operational Training Unit formed at RAAF Station Tocumwal.
The Royal Australian Air Force’s first Heavy Bomber training unit formed at RAAF Station Tocumwal on the 15th of February 1944 with an initial establishment of 473 personnel and 9 aircraft. This would grow to over 2,100 personnel and over 70 aircraft by mid-1945.
Over the next 18 months, 7 OTU would train over 4,000 aircrew and 2,000 ground crew.
Known primarily for the iconic B-24 Liberator, 7 OTU would also operate other aircraft including P-40 Kittyhawks for fighter affiliation, Vultee Vengeances for target towing and Airspeed Oxfords for transport and training.
7 OTU would become the largest and most significant of all Operational Training Units operated by the RAAF during World War 2“
Very proud to have been a very small part of this history by opening at our time the WW2 hangar for busloads of guests to see the WWII memorabilia’s in our briefing room.
We also got to know some of the survivors with great stories and many family members who brought memories from their dad to our little exhibition, ran by Gina and Bob Brown.

—–Dutch Nationals; 18/27 May 2023.

—–Jordan [Johnson] flew his first declared 300k on February 18!!!! He launched from Lleweni Parc in the UK and is a member of the Bidford Gliding and Flying Club. He had a bit of wave over beautiful Wales, but did ‘nt use that too much ,as he was on a 300 km mission. He flew an ASW 20 B.
https://bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/

—–Back to a competition!!!!

Dual Seat Nationals in COROWA.
18 February 2023 – 25 February 2023

Above you read the news from Chris already ,so in Corowa there are 9 teams and from them 6 Schempp-Hirth gliders.
3x an ARCUS M, 1 ARCUS T and 2x a DUO DISCUS and one ASK 21MI, an ASG 32 and a DG 1001.
It could well be that the Duo from the Hunter Valley is “our” former Duo sold for a very nice price at the auction in 2005. We were glad the Hunter Valley “had it”.
Adam [Woolley] arrived from Japan to fly with the new owner from Corowa Keith.
Good old Harry, in his nineties who flew the last WGC with Alan [Barnes] are as team reunited again in Corowa.
Brad Edwards and Bruce Taylor arrived from Lake Keepit and Lumpy with Joergen from Tocumwal. For them it is about 80 km, for Harry , Allan , Bruce and Brad about 844. A long drive over the Newell Highway,…we did that with the WWGC.

Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures started his stories as well both have pictures too.

Task 1 ; 141 km……on Sunday February 19, when we start our carnival- festivities here.
And,….when you start a NATIONAL COMPETITION, you have to use every possible window even if only a 141 km tasks fits in.
4000 ft in the blue , best climbs 4 to 5…….. according to Adam in his vlog.
So off they went, the 9 teams, for a day with not a lot of points to gain or loose,….but A DAY.
Daily winners as well; Brad and Bruce, …112 km./h….2 WGC pilots for a long time. I met Brad for the first time in Uvalde Texas in 91 when he became world champion.
With a late start at 4.03 they left, as did Keith and Adam; 295 and 291 points.
2 were “out”.
Bruce mentioned;”Again I was witness to the fine work of Brad, setting to his business in the front seat while I enjoyed the ride in the back. It wasn’t a day that could be called treacherous, but it wasn’t straightforward either.’ more Taylor’s Gliding Page day 1.
Task 2; 3.30 AAT..…much better weather much longer task. 445 km in time 3.59 was the best result and for 1000 points. They were for Bruce and Brad with as the day before Keith and Adam as runners up.
3 From the 9 teams were “out”.
Bruce was the “driver ” and part of his story was ;”Climbing out of the glider I felt totally drained and quite dejected. We’d come so close to doing a really nice flight and I’d managed to throw it away… … … until half an hour later when we’d heard everybody else’s stories and realized we’d had a great day. This gliding game is crazy!”
Interesting statement from somebody who is in this world already for such a long time.
The full story on; Taylor’s Gliding Page
Task 3; 221.86 km….. Interesting day as a DUO DISCUS was runner up. Brad and Bruce had their third successive win with a nice speed of 139.41 km./h. The Duo [handicap 990] was slower than the ASG 32, [handicap 1074] pretty normal, but they did well with 123 km./h.
Starts between 14.21 [ASK 21MI] and 15.36. [ASG 32]
Tocumwal Soaring Centre mentioned; “They say taking a Duo to the Nationals is like taking a knife to a gun flight !Jack and Dave have their knife very sharp !The team are flying our Duo and having a great time, well done guys.”

Task 4; 2.30 AAT….today…..
According to Adam ,…..Another cracking day, though heavily influenced by strong surface winds & wave on the first leg. Something happened on the 2nd leg, the day organized itself & it was all go go go!”
Indeed Adam and Keith won the day with a speed of 121.32 km./h over 327 km. They started 2 minutes behind Bruce and Brad.[121.27 km./h. over 320 km.]
Bruce mentioned about the day: “Quite a fascinating day today. Even as I was taking my morning walk down by the river the sky was full of alto-cumulus… for the non-flying populace that is puffy clouds with a flat bottom (like a cumulus) but not connected to lower level convection. Often if the day is good enough the lower level convection improves until the alto-cu actually becomes cumulus, but this is difficult to pick and to get your head around how best to use it.” the full story on Taylor’s Gliding Page
More next week.
Overall scores after 4 tasks; Brad and Bruce with 2.585 points,2. Keith and Adam with 2.498 p and david Jansen and Leslie with 1.981 p.[ARCUS T]

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It’s with HUGE sadness that I have to share this message from Belle Brockhoff. My LONGTIME good friend Bruce passed away not long after I had contact with him on his 80thiest birthday, on January 28!!!

Don’t know what to say, it’s a bit of a shock to me. Yes he was old but still……..only 80!!!
R.I.P. dear Bruce! You have been the most inspiring person to invite us to Australia , where we stayed to live for more than 10 years. Your introduction to Sportavia opened a brand-new world to us, with countless new friends….and a lot are STILL FRIENDS.
I wrote a long article on Bruce in 2012 which was published in SOARINGCAFE, GLIDING INTERNATIONAL and in my blog on February 16 2012.
You have to scroll down to February 2012 below and it is worth doing that. He was so much more than glider pilot Brockie.
www.soaring.eu
Title of the blog;

“Some pilots in life remain friends for ever…time to introduce Bruce Brockhoff“

Sad , yes I am very sad, as his longtime “best friend” as he called me till now, but glad to have known this outstanding man.

Ritz

Post 1.404 on February 15…hope you had a good VALENTINES-day yesterday.

Matamata N.Z. CLUB CLASS NATIONALS
3 February 2023 – 12 February 2023

They had already 2 good days of ridge flying and we continue with
Task 4 another 3 hour AAT…..and again good ridge soaring. This time DG 300 pilot John Robertson was the daily best with 285 km. in 3 hours at the dot!!!!! In his “ELAN” he was 1 km. faster than MOSQUITO pilot Steven Wallace. [283 km] The other Steven ,Care, flew in his ASW 20 also 3 hours but less kilometers.
Task 5 was much slower; a 3 hour AAT was set , the daily winner was again John, but now not for 1000 points but “only” 333. He had to fly for that, 265 km with a “speed” of 88 km./h.
Winning 2 days in a row, means for John that he leads the overall scores now, after 4 flying days , but only just; 3.189 for 3.166 for Steven W.
Task 6; 2 hour AAT....challenging day with start times between 13.10 and 14.22. Only 11 pilots started , 3 were out and the daily winner was Steven in the Mosquito, flying 206 k. in time 2.14. All flights under 100 km./h. A good day for him as he was back on spot 1 overall again.
As task 7 was not flown, the last day had to be cancelled, this win to be NATIONAL CHAMPION was important;
Here are the final scores after 5 out of 8 days.
1. Steven G Wallace in Mosquito with 3,980 points…NATIONAL CLUB CLASS CHAMPION
2. John Robertson in DG 300 Elan with 3,952 p.
3. Michael Strathern in ASW 20 with 3,717 p.

Task 5 a 3 hour AAT in the open class was a race again between Brett Hunter in the JS 3 and Tim Bromhead in the Ventus 2C. Tim flew 290 km with a speed of 97 km./h , Brett, 294 km with 96 km./h.
After 4 flying days their overall scores are very close as well; Brett 3.565 and Tim 3.623 points.
Exciting last days ahead!!!!
Task 6; 2 hour AAT …won by Tim 208 km in time 2.03. Brett was runner up missing out on 15 daily points.
No task the next day, so winners in this class after 5 out of 8 days are;
1. Brett Hunter in JS 3 with 4.619 points.
2. Tim Bromhead in Ventus CT with 4.602 p
3. David Johnson in Discus 2CT with 4.016 p.

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2023 NSW State Comps flown from NARROMINE

The continuation of the State comps was stopped for 1 day, due to the weather. The message on Thursday morning was; Thu 9th Feb Day Cancelled.
The reason will be clear when you read Anne’s report:
“A huge storm hit the Narromine area a couple of hours ago with reports coming through of 30 to 45mm in parts of town but so far no major damage. There was hail, around 30mm of rain at Tomingley and trees uprooted. The attached photo of hail was taken by Bev at Hamilton’s Pride, producers of the best eggs ever, around 50km s/w of Narromine .. but only about 7mm rain.
I contacted a friend who is taking part in the NSW State comp here in Narromine who advised that all gliders were safe as hangared this morning.“

The day before, won by Hunter Valley pilot Paul as written in my last blog, was specially for him and extremely good:
“Yesterday has to be one of the best days gliding that I have ever had!
10,000′ cloudbase, great cloud streets in line with the task and the vario on the pegs. I was leaving thermals at 9kts to look for better climbs and at one point, when I got low, I had to force myself to slow down and accept a 7kt climb to get back in touch with the clouds. 462km @ 127kph in a dry (no water ballast) LS3
Just magic Narromine weather!“
I have been many times in Narromine and indeed I have seen fabulous weather there, but sometimes it can turn violent, I have seen that too.
So no flying, but they still enjoyed the great weather from the day before, as that Wednesday was also good enough for a 1000 flown by Tomas Suchanek. He flew Adam’s VENTUS 3T over 1.072 km…good on him as it rather late in the season already. 120 km./h and even passing West from Lake Keepit .
It was G1’s 3d 1000 km. flight.

After rain there is sunshine, also in Narromine so off they went for day flying-day 4 , different and challenging.
Task 5: 2.30 AAT.…with 260 km, Peter was the daily best again with a speed of 103 km./h, the only one flying over the 100k-mark.
Task 6; 2.30 AAT…..”Unfortunately, because of high wind speeds over 25-30+ knots we have had to cancel the day.”
task 7; 3 hour AAT….Only 6 pilots started and 2 were out, but there was a daily winner as well; Tocumwal pilot Bernie in his PIK 20. He flew 246 km in time 3.17 and flew himself from spot 4 to 3 so on the podium. Well done!

Winners from the NSW state comps in CLUB CLASS are;
1. Paul Dickson in LS 3 with 4,410 points.
2. Richard Frawley in LS 4A with 4.110 p.
3. Bernie Sizer in PIK 20B- W with 4.077 p.

In the sport class they had the same task 5 and task setter Mick Webster won the day in his LS8. Miles was runner up.
In Narromine’s blog you could read;
“And it was fun watching Miles Gore-Brown managing his final glide from what looked like about 70k out. Miles roared down the final leg (LOL 70kts) without turning and then extended into the final circle and that is the tactic that got him into Second place today.”
No task 6 but yes a task 7 ….a 3 hour AAT for the LAST DAY.
Miles won the last day, Kerrie was faster but on handicap runner up. Mick was “out” but so far ahead in the overall scores that it did n’t harm him at all. Mick is like Paul a member of the Hunter Valley Gliding Club.
1. Mick Webster in LS 8 with 4,313 points.
2. Miles Gore-Brown in LS 8 with 4.293 p.
3. Kerrie Claffey in ASG 29/18 m. with 4.117 p.

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News from Kiripotib for those who have not been there yet:
Safety first! Those who have not flown in Kiripotib before often have questions about safety and safety equipment when gliding in Namibia. Peter Harvey has summarized the answers for you in a video.
YOUTUBE.COM FLY SAFE AT KIRIPOTIB SOARING….about safety procedures and approaches…
https://youtu.be/SH3CCcg49i4

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The down-under-season slowly reaches the Easter period and that’s mostly the end of the season.
When you look at the picture from Kingaroy, it looks more like mid season, with 20 gliders in the row for a launch last week !
They indeed had nice weather with Butch [John Buchanan] flying a 538 free distance in his 15 m. AS 33es.

SOAR COROWA is preparing for the 20 m NATIONALS. New owner Keith brought in German tables and German beer for some extra fun.
The 20m Dual Seat Nationals 2023, will be flown between February 18 and 25 .
At this stage there are 6 teams flying 3x an ARCUS M 1x an ARCUS T, an ASG 32MI and Duodiscus.
BUT,…”Sadly at present we don’t have enough entries for an official competition, due to a couple of late withdrawals.“
Hopefully a few teams will put their hands up. Corowa is a nice place with good weather and a swimming pool to relax after with a drink.
UPDATE; After Bruce [Taylor] spend news in his Taylor’s Gliding Page, ;
“Many thanks to all who chimed in, sharing messages and spreading the word. As of late this morning we had 9 entries, so we have a competition again! There’s room for more, and still an easy glider available close by. Come along and join in the fun“
That’s where friends are for……
More next week.

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Alexander Schleicher shared the winning pictures from their Winter Photo Contest.

——Last Monday 2 “kilometer-eaters” in an ARCUS M, Alejandro and Alejo, flew from Zapala in Argentina a huge distance 1.604 km…..with 177 km./h. At some places the fabulous wave was up to over 8000 m MSL [over 7000 AGL].

That’s it for today. Still shocked by over 40.000 people who died in the earthquake in Syria and Turkey and totally amazed that they found people alive after ONE WEEK under the rubble.
Some” who think to know”, predict up to 180.000 deceased people. Just incomprehensible ………not to understand……totally beyond me!!!!! Too SAD FOR WORDS!!!!!
In the Netherlands , people and government, already donated around 38 million Euro, for help now and in the future. Tonight it will be more as all day actions are on TV and radio.

Ritz

Blog 1.403 on February 8 2023.

2023 New Zealand CLUB CLASS NATIONALS flown from Matamata.
2 February 2023 – 12 February 2023

Club class comps are VERY popular and also in N.Z. there are a lot of participants!!!
The practice day, for this NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, was not too flash but for the next day they expected nice soaring weather up to 3000 m.
But the first couple of days the 22 club class pilots could not fly, yes they had a 2.30 AAT on February 5 , but it was not flown.
Along the club activities, 10 open class pilots had that day a 2 hour AAT, but no flying.
The first flying day however, was on February 7, with a 3 hour AAT for club, won by Steven Wallace in the MOSQUITO with 329 km in 3 hours at the dot!!!!
The open class had 340.98 km. and Brett Hunter won with a speed of 118 km./h.
Task 2;” Day 2, ridge task, good thermals around ” so hope for a GOOD day in both classes and it happened!!!!
3 pilots in club ,with a racing task of 329 km flew around and finished with the same speed and ALL 3 got 1000 points; Steven in the Mosquito, Michael Strathern and Steven Care in the ASW 20. They did NOT start together but finished together and all had a speed of 118 km./h.
Matamata mentioned; ‘Results for the club class champs are up, and they are weird. But we can confirm they are correct. Three 1000 points given today! Never seen that before.“
In open Brett won the 3 hour AAT with 408 km in time 2.59 in his JS 3 ;speed 136 km./h which was 10 k faster than runner up Tim [Bromhead] in the Ventus CT.
More next week.

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—–Better weather for the 2023 NSW State comps flown from Narromine, between February 4 and 12.
After 2 practice days with each a 3 hour AAT, the comps started on February 6 with another 3 hour AAT in both Club and Sport class.
The 8 pilots in club class all finished and the best for the day, Peter Brunton in his ASW 20 flew 324 km in time 3.02. He was followed by 2 Tocumwal pilots ,Phil and Bernie in an ASW 19 B and PIK 20 B each with winglets.
5 Pilots in the sport class and 4 finished. Daily best with 310 km in an LS 8 was Mick Webster.
Task 2 was even longer; 3.30 AAT with 422 km by Paul Dickson,[LS 3] with Peter as runner up.
In sport class it was good to see Miles [Gore-Brown] winning the day in his LS8a. Another long time mate.
Miles had a lay-day on task 1 but with 405 km in 3.33, he gained 1000 points, after a late start. Mick was runner up.
Kerrie [Claffey] , she was one of the participants in the WWGC in Keepit, had the fastest time in her 18m ASG 29,120 km./h over 439 km, but on handicap she was 4th. By the way she won the practice day!!!
Task 3; 3.30 AAT....The LS 3 from Paul is still a great and fast glider. He won the day again with 463 km. in time 3.37 so a speed of 127 km./h. All 8 finished and 5 flew over 400 km.
In open the 2 participating LS 8 gliders topped the list with Mick as daily best with 447 km in time 3. 26, speed 128 km./h.
Narromine Gliding Club Official posted;” Well Day 3 has well and truly started, with most of the fleet around the first turnpoint and well established on the second leg. Skysight is predicting strong climbs over 6 kts to 8-9,000 ft AGL later in the day so I expect we will see a lot of pilots extending well into the third and fourth turnpoints. Final glide should be a screaming jet ride from 7,000 ft well before the last turnpoint at Trangie. Expect some fast times today!”
More next week.

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—--In my last blog I wrote about Jochen who was back in Tocumwal and flew with Stephan, who was back too. I know them both for many years. Jochen since 1985. Stephan had his own LS 4 KYO in Tocumwal AND,…he still flies it!!!!!! AND,…even his sons came to fly in Toc.
Eddie was so kind to share a picture and here they are, for all other Toc fans who know them too

And….look at the weather in Alice Springs today. WOW!

Not too much news today. I have spend hours and hours on downloading Windows 10. So I struggled more or less through the week and hope I can keep this laptop as I like it.
I CAN,….a nice volunteer “for elderly people with digital problems”,mmmmmm……… visited me yesterday and he fixed it all…no worries!!!!
But to be honest he mentioned I prepared it all for him , he just had to finish it off. [Thursday- morning extra news]
More next week.
Cheers have a good week
Ritz

P/S….I should have started with this, though it has nothing to do with gliding.
The earthquakes from 7.8 and 7.5 in the South of Turkey and the North of Syria are not only a huge shock for all people living there, but also to ALL people in the WORLD. What a disaster!!!!! What a HUGE disaster. Already 8500 [the latest news speaks about 11.100] people died under the to pieces fallen flat -buildings and houses.
I am afraid there will be many more. HEARTBREAKING!!!!!!
It’s heart-warming to see private help/SAR/White Helms/Red Cross etc. from all parts of our world,…… which feels good in a time of hate and polemic, …..co-operating to find , also with special trained dogs, for survivors. I think of them.

Post 1.402 on February 1 2023.

Qualifying SGP from Worchester in South Africa.
21 January 2023 – 28 January 2023

They continued with race 3 on January 25, last Wednesday. At that stage ,2 German pilots [ Mathias Schunk and Michael Pfennig] on top with 15 and 13 points and 4 pilots with 11 points; Laurens Goudriaan, Sven Olivier, Erik Borgmann and Oscar Goudriaan.
Race 3; 322.39 km..…AND,….it was UYS who won the 10 points; During the day we read” The pilots have spilt into 3 groups each taking drastically different routes! Which one will be fastest?”
But in the end race 3 was cancelled.
Reason;”Following an accident during Race 3 of the Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix of South Africa in Worcester, well-known German Pilot Mathias Schunk unfortunately had an accident while racing with other pilots along the ridges.
Mathias has been able to communicate with the local organisation and his wife Pia shortly after the accident. He was retrieved by Helicopter and transported to the Christian Barnard Memorial Hospital in Cape Town where he was diagnosed with a fractured L2 vertebra.
Mathias is in good spirit. He is very grateful for the support he has received, and we are all looking forward to seeing him back in the air soon.” as written by the organizers.
Mathias had a bad landing, was saved by SAR [Their story below] who had to land at the mountain and as Mathias said himself “I had what felt like at least 1 million guardian angels helping me“.” .

Race 3; again on January 26 339 km..…cancelled.
Race 3; now on January 27; 420.65 km…..After only 2 flying days due to weather and circumstances, the pilots had to get in the racing mood again to fly this penultimate race.
With 142 km./h it turned out a pretty good day, for all except of course Mathias in hospital, as he would have loved to defend his spot 1 overall. But he will recover totally so good to hear, even better!!!
Winner was Uys with as runners up Katrin [Senne] and Laurens with 141 km./h.
3 new overall toppers now; Laurens and Oscar both with 15 points and ONE day to go!!!!
BUT…Mathias had already 15 points as well……so he is still on 1 too.

Race 4 on January 28, very last day;
NOT GOOD NEWS...”Unfortunately due to low cloud and rain, today has been Cancelled. Prize giving will be held later today.”
The MAGIC left Worcester, with only 3 days of soaring, but will be back next season!!!!!
As they did not fly Mathias “lost” no points by not flying, so there are 3 winners with 15 points; Laurens, Oscar and Mathias.
Good on them!!!!

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WAGA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Beverley
20 January 2023 – 28 January 2023

With 27 pilots this West Australian State competition had a lot of participants even MORE gliders/pilots than in the Nationals. Something to think about.
They had already 4 out of 5 days [ day 1 was cancelled] and all were 3 hour AAT’s.
Task 1 was more than challenging, in many ways, with late starts after 3 PM and several “punishments” for airspace and exceeding start height .
Only 1 pilot managed to finish. Andrew Herwig in an 18m. Ventus 2CX. He flew 279 km in time 2.27. Norm Bloch flew a bit more [289 km] but did not finish.
Task 2 had better conditions NO penalty points and 3 toppers which could be the final 3 toppers; Greg Beecroft in LS 8, Don Woodward in Ventus 2B and Norm in JS 3/15m. Speed from Greg was 139 km./h over 421 km.
Task 3 Greg,Norm and Don were the top 3 with Greg as daily winner with 415 km and 126 km./h.
We continue with
Task 5 on January 25; 3 hour AAT and the weather looked like this.
They had to wait for a long time , but then they could go around 4 o’clock.
They still flew 326 km with a speed of 97 km./h. That was Norm[1000 points] who won the day with Don [981p]and Greg [933 p]not too far behind him. Only 18 started and 3 were “out”.

Task 6; 3 hour AAT,.….AND, very interesting the Geerlings family on top of the daily results .
Arnold as winner in the ASH 25E, with 362 km in time 3.09 and as runner up Joshua in the JS 1 [18m] with 352 km in time 3. 03.
Norm and Greg were on 3 and 4 and Don on 6.
Overall with 2 days to go; Norm,[4.571] Greg [ 4.283]and Don [4.039] and then Joshua.[3.776]
Task 7 on January 27…penultimate day…..3 hour AAT....and,…..Greg really went for the title. He had the best speed [handicapped] in his LS 8 over 413 km; 136 km./h. Norm was a tad faster in 15 m. the JS 3.
1000 and 955 points for them. But the lead from Norm is huge; 5.526 for 5.283 points.
Task 8; 3 hour AAT..…VERY LAST DAY..….Don also still in the race, when one of the 2 in front of him would outland on this last day, won the day 430 km. in time 3.18; speed 130 km./h. But the toppers did not outland….Norm was runner up and Greg 3d.
Overall scores after 7 out of 8 days;
1. Norm Bloch in JS3/15 m. with 6.441 points.
2. Greg Beecroft in LS8 with 6.152 p.
3. Don Woodward in Ventus 2B with 5.767 p.

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NZ multi class Nationals
Omarama…… 20 January 2023 – 28 January 2023

Pretty good conditions there in NZ on the South Island, in the end, meaning 7 out of 9 days.
Open class;
Task 7; Last Thursday they had another 2 hour AAT.
Keith [Essex] flew 304 km in time 2.53. He went for a longer time but also nearly 100 km further, something which is no problem for his ASG 32MI.
The last 2 days had to be cancelled,…NO weather to fly a task….
“ Unfortunately there is no task for today (the last day of the competition).”
Well, there was a CLEAR winner anyhow…here are the final scores
1. Keith Essex in ASG 32MI with 6.661 points!!!!!!
2. Derek Kraak in ASW 29E with 5.844 p.
3. Dickinson & Harrison sharing a Ventus 2CT with 5.251 p.

Racing class;
After his “off-day” earlier with an out landing in his LS 8, Tony [Van Dyke ] straightened his back and went full throttle on to the next day.
task 7; 2 hour AAT . And,…..he won….226 km in time 2.28. He won 142 points on Terry [Jones] in the other LS 8, but still needs 53 to be on top overall again.
On January 27 the task was cancelled, same on January 28.
“Despite the really striking looking wave cloud to the north west of us, there is way too much moisture in the atmosphere as you can see from the satellite picture. The conditions are going to get wetter as the day goes on so No Competition Flying Today.”
Overall scores for RACING CLASS;
1. Davy & Wallace in the Duo Discus with 5.502 points,
2. Tony van Dyk in LS 8 with 5.449 p. No possibility anymore to catch up…..
3. Terry Jones in LS 8 with 5.142 p.

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9th Club class Nationals in Argentina
Pigüé….16 January 2023 – 27 January 2023

Last Wednesday they were on Task 9 on January 25, with 3 men still in the race to be champion;
Jose Dentone 4.156 points, Javier Gaude with 4.146 and Felipe Girado with 4.124.
Task 9; 1.30 AAT……Quite a few flew over 130 km. Starts between 3.15 PM and 4.04 PM. Start games as in waiting for the best time to go on track. AND,…a day with great differences in scores but for some luckily the best score was “only ” 395 daily points.
A new face at the podium; Guillermo Spolita in an LS4. From the toppers “only” Javier did well on spot 2. Jose was 12th but only lost 87 points on the winner. Felipe was 17 th.
The brothers Goldenzweig 18th and 24th.
Task 10; 2 hour AAT ……and a great result for Damian and Lucas winning and nearly winning the penultimate day!!!! They started together and flew together and the difference in points was 2 on this day; 600 and 598.
Javier was 4th, Jose 11th and Felipe 13th.
Task 11; 3 hour AAT..…LAST DAY..…and another new face at the podium , this time Dino Ghioni in the ASW 20. He flew 344 km in time 3.02, speed of 113 km./h.
What happened with Javier, Jose and Felipe?????
Javier was runner up and flew himself in his DG 200 to the CHAMPION TITLE.
Jose was 5th, lost 40 points but as scores were close he dropped to spot 2 with only 16 points difference.
Felipe was 6th and hold on, on his 3d spot.
Final overall club class score after 8 out of 12 days;
1. Javier Gaude in DG 200 with 6.075 points
2. Jose Dentone in ASW 20 with 6.059 points.
3. Felipe Girado in ASW 20 with 5.908 points.
Lucas and Damian stayed on spot 6 and 7.

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Not such good news from Temora, …..in my opinion, a great place for soaring. At Temora the NSW State comps were supposed to be flown.
“As most of us already know, Work Safe Australia, in an extraordinary decision, effectively closed Temora Airport for all events and so Narromine Gliding Club was asked by the NCC and SDP to hold the NSW State Comps at Narromine from the 4th to 12th of February 2023.”

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As every year after the season, statistics from flying in the 2022/2023season in Namibia.
Busiest airfield according to the OLC.
1. BITTERWASSER; was the busiest again with 114 guests, flying 709.630,07 km., during 852 flights.
2. VERONICA; great runner up with 89 guests, flying 455.248,77km., during 577 flights.
3. KIRIPOTIB; 96 guests, flying 433.274,31km., during 632 flights.
4. POKWENI; 36 guests , flew 253.311,75km., during 345 flights.

All OLC flights , ….best for the season;
1. Elmar Erik Fischer[Germany] who flew between October 29 2022 and January 21 2023, from Bitterwasser ,a total of 35.448,42 km. during 56 flights in the ARCUS M. ; 315.13 hours
2. Nicolas Bennet from the USA….29.601,05 km, during 42 flights . Between November 9 2022 till December 31 2022 from Bitterwasser and then from January 2 till 23 in 2023 from Worchester in South Africa; 255.04 hours in the ARCUS M.

Longest OLC- flight;
1.879,95 km. by Jean Marc Perrin in a DG 808/15 m!!!!!! Flight was on December 3 in 2022. He flew in Argentina from the airport of Jose De San Marino.
By the way Jean Marc flew in his DG 808 /15 m another spectacular flight last week on January 24 ;
1.415, 73 km. also from Jose De San Mart in Argentina.

Champions OLC- plus;
1. Tobias Welsch with 8696,15 points
2. Guy Bechtold with 8286,57 p.
3. Bernd Dolba with 8082,12 p.

Kiripotib also said FAREWELL;
“Time flies … the season has ended. We would like to thank you for all the great moments and your trust in Kiripotib Soaring. We look forward to welcoming you again next year in Namibia. “
Book your gliding vacation for 2023/24 now: www.kiripotib-soaring.com/en/contact/

When you have time and money, Namibia is the best place for long-distance-flying.

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AND,……Great picture between 2 Cells from Marie-Christine in the ASG32 with her husband Mathias, flying from Lake Keepit. In the gliding season Jacques Graells organizes always “Lake Keepit Grands Prix” and not only club members also other clubs as Bathurst and Narromine participate there.Lot’s of fun and great camaraderie , as I am used to at Keepit.

—–Slowly we are looking ahead at the new season in 2023.
So do the French, here is their announcement for the next French Club Class Nationals.
AND, The famous well attended HAHNWEIDE competition.

—-News from Rieti;
CIM competition dates: 1-11 August
CCR competition dates: 14-22 August
Promozione: 14-20 Agosto
aeroclubrieti.it/w/?cat=324

—–COROWA is active again with Keith now as “the new boss”. They host the 20 m NATIONALS from February 18-25.
When you are interested; https://soarcorowa.com/20m-two-seat-nationals-2023/

—–-360km in January. Many great flights today but with an early start Andy Davis managed this one.
https://bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/106066
He was launched from Nympsfield in the UK and flew his JS 3 No secret,…he is a top pilot as well.
“With an 80km ridge, if you know where to go, some great flying is possible from Nympsfield.”

CU next week. AND,….absolutely WONDERFUL, to see that Jochen and Stefan are flying the Duo Discus together in Tocumwal. LONG- long-time die-hard Toc.- fans. Enjoy to the fullest, guy’s!!!!!
Cheers Ritz


The FULL SAR report, to learn from; published at most media and as ALL went well except for Mathias’ lower back injuries, I share it too for when you missed it ; Mountain Club of SA – Search And Rescue………HUGE COMPLIMENTS for them.

“A foreign gliding competition pilot participating in the African leg of the International Sailplane Grand Prix was rescued from high up a Western Cape mountain after his sailplane crashed (Wednesday, 23/1/25). Speaking from his bed in the hospital, he said that he was very fortunate to survive the close call and thanked the professional and efficient rescue coordinated by the South African ARCC (Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre).

It is understood that the pilot got into difficulties overhead the mountains West of Villiersdorp and was able to put the fixed-wing glider down on a steep slope some distance below the top of the peaks. Fellow pilots (also participating in the competition) that saw the crash raised the alarm with Air Traffic Control, which in turn activated the ARCC. This information and the location sent by the pilots’ onboard satellite tracking device, which pinpointed the exact crash location, assisted in guiding the Western Cape Department of Health EMS/Air Mercy Service (AMS) rescue helicopter directly to the scene.

With no level terrain to land at the scene, a Provincial EMS paramedic and MSAR Rescue Climber were hoisted down by the helicopter to the wreckage. The pilot (who was conscious and managed to provide additional information via phone) was extracted from the wreckage and hoisted in a stretcher into the helicopter. He was flown to a Villiersdorp sports field, where Western Cape Metro EMS, SAPS Rescue, Overberg Metro Rescue management, and SAPS Villiersdorp assembled to prepare and secure a landing zone for further treatment and remain available should further resources to support the first team be required. Several other resources, including SARZA and K9 was also on standby. The pilot was admitted to Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital with lower back injuries. He commented, “under the circumstances, I feel surprisingly well; I had what felt like at least 1 million guardian angels helping me”.

He remarked that his survival is in no small part due to the cockpit of the Jonker sailplane that he was flying protecting him during the crash. Jonker Sailplanes is a proudly South African company that designs sailplanes for local and international markets (in fact, all the sailplanes participating in this leg of the International Sailplane Grand Prix were manufactured by Jonker manufactured).

The scene has been handed to the SAPS and SACAA AIID (Accident and Incident Investigations Division) for further investigation.

The South African ARCC is the legally mandated function (South African Maritime and Aeronautical Search and Rescue Act No.44 of 2002, as amended) that coordinates all aviation search and rescue-related occurrences in South Africa. The ARCC reports to SASAR and the Department of Transport. Under international aviation agreements and ICAO regulations, the South African ARCC is responsible for aviation incidents extending South of South Africa across the international waters in the Southern Oceans down to the South pole. The Mountain Club of SA, along with many other emergency response organisations, is a dedicated SAR Unit to the ARCC.

Post 1.401 on January 25 2023.

2023 NATIONALS at WAIKIRIE.

Task 6 at day 9 of the Nationals showed a set task of 371 km. for open class. With a start at 1PM , Matthew and Pete left to race over the distance. With around 120 km./h they were back in 2.40; Matthew got 875 points and Pete 798.
Nearly the end of the comps, so start-games were played;
“A day of defending for me at the Nationals. Taylor departed first with two others, with the thermals great & to a decent height at the start time, I thought it was better to start 5 min behind him, rather than worry about Peter Temple & Matty Scutter behind me. My thinking was that if I get caught up in any sort of game with them, then Taylor will get the day win & be rewarded with his early start decision.
Unfortunately Matt & Peter are cunning & played the same on me, which linked Taylor & myself up – easy climbs marked all day.” more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Adam was 3d and Bruce 6th.
Task 7; 3 hour AAT,… Bruce was one of the 2 who flew over 100 km./h over 324 km. The other one was Lumpy in his Quintus; 105 km./h. He flew 315 km.
Bruce went as last on track and won the day.
Adam; “The scores are tied, it’s time for the big one! Scutter, Taylor & I are separated by 38-48 points going to the last day, fortunately it’s me in #1 spot atm, & they need to effectively fly further than me. I’m up for it Kasansky.”

As already mentioned by Adam, Matthew has chances too ;”second place for the day, which brings me within a whisker of first with one day to go.” Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
Bruce; ‘Today was a day of chasing sunshine and dodging shadows. This was in air that was quite similar to yesterday, as in blue and a bit crappy, but with less wind. The tricky bit was that we had bands of cirrus pushing in overhead, and the trigger temperature was critical enough to have the shadowed areas quit.”
Taylor’s Gliding Page

Task 8 VERY LAST DAY….383 km; and WHATADAY!!!!!

AND….his last story on the same site. What an effort and believe in himself.
Here is the NATIONAL CHAMPION ; MATTHEW SCUTTER.
“It’s all over – the last day forecast was a ripper and I knew I needed to deliver something special.
With both Bruce and Woolley in strong contention and Pete nearby there was no way to cover everyone and the only solution was to ditch everyone and go for a big day win.
I’ve been ‘working hard’ on relaxing in the glider because previously I’d land exhausted and burnt out every day from being tensed up and focused the entire flight, but there was no relaxing allowed today – I dosed myself to the eyeballs on caffeine and sugar, tanked the glider to the gunnels and aimed to just keep running at cloudbase and hope Wool and Bruce pushed too hard.
I made some fake starts and waited and waited until everyone left so I had the sky to myself, then cruised 110kts all day and only took 6kts, never getting out of touch with the clouds.
I’ve learnt a lot this week from some excellent competitors who’ve kindly punished me every time I blinked, and I’m very thankful to Waikerie Gliding Club, Mandy, Peter and many others involved in the organisation who ran a dream competition. We had almost the perfect task for every day, almost no outlandings and no hassle at all.”

So you have read Matties view on this last day which he started with 44 points less than Adam.
He “got” 846 points for this “coup”….speed 146 km.
In the end Bruce was runner up with a speed of 147 km./h.
Adam lost quite a lot of points on this last day. He dropped from 1 to 3, being 7th on the last day , he was 7th and “got” 579 points.
He started his day full of energy and hope “ Last day, let’s roll” Had a solid start at the correct time,7n kts, 7000 ft. kept pushing also after not the best lift under good looking clouds, though he had to dig himself out, and we know that costs time . In the end,…..”easy day, freaking awesome day, but I lost it“.
“If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. My debrief on the day I lost the nationals, I think you’ll enjoy it – I’m still smiling, laughing, that’s racing.” he said on his last video to his RACEFANSSSSS………!!!!!in Waikirie.
Great when you are a gracious “loser”! Unlucky, but still looking ahead of making the team. He should be in it….
Bruce was runner up.
Bruce:’It was a smoking last day, and the best fun of the competition. Initially we had a 500km flight set, then it seemed to be very slow starting so we flew the B task of 385km. Once it fired up it improved very quickly… not super high at just over 8,000 feet, but the climbs were big and strong, and generally beautifully smooth. South, then east, north then home. What a ride!
Matthew Scutter had a great day, enough to jump into first place overall for another nationals title. I just pipped him in raw speed but stayed in second place for the day and overall. Sadly Adam had a low spot and it took enough time to get up and running to drop him back into third place overall. He’s been flying so consistently all competition and I was sorry to see him finish on a bit of a low note. It was the only day he was really off the pace all fortnight.”

Overall scores from this NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP;
1. Matthew Scutter in Diana 2 FES /15 m. with 5.932 points.
2. Bruce Taylor in ASG 29 E /18m. with 5842 p.
3. Adam Woolley in Ventus 3T/15 m. with 5.703 p.

Only 4 pilots finished the Nationals in sport class and as expected David Collins won in his ASW 20 with Bernie Sizer as runner up in the PIK 20; 5.773 points for 5.444 p.
David won 5 from 8 flying days out of 11 in total ,Bernie 2.

Thank you to Adam, Bruce and Matthew for sharing their “at the field” stories!!!

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Good news for female pilot Reiko from Japan;
“The experienced gliding instructor, professionally a helicopter pilot, has already traveled to almost every gliding destination on the globe, from Australia to Argentina and South Africa as well as the French Alps.
During her first flight experience in Namibia, she was surprised by the consistently very good cross-country flight opportunities. Reiko was flying an Arcus M mostly as a single-seater, and also in the club class version: fixed landing gear and no water ballast.
All the more impressive the flight performance of the petite Japanese without fear or reproach.“
On the last day of her 2 -week-stay in Veronica, on January 16, she flew a new Japanese 770 FAI triangle-female-record!!!
Good on her! Congratulations.

The flight was just before the end of the Namibian season ;
“The Bitterwasser season 2022/2023 is history.
This morning the last container with airplanes was picked up in Bitterwasser.
Between October 29th and January 23rd 856 flights (856 times “have fun” on the radio) with a total of 709,000 route kilometers were flown.
299 flights greater than 1000 km
2 x > 1400 km; 20 x > 1300 km; 48 x > 1200 km; 87 x > 1100 km
and a lot of flights that were just fun.
All this without any accidents and without any damage to the planes.
Many thanks to all pilots, guests and staff who contributed to this.
We are already looking forward to the season 2023/2024.“
Also the Pokweni gliders are in the containers.
Next year they all come back to Namibia after such a great year.
More stats in next weeks blog.

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Western Cape Regionals;

Weird weather in Worcester during these comps. 2 Days were cancelled, though a few flew nice distances and speed; on January 16, 3 from the 6 flying pilots that day, flew over 350 km. with a speed over 145 km./h for ZERO points. Task was a 2.30 AAT.
You would think a de-valuated day …..not cancelled….
So I decided to check with Sven about these zero points for nice distances. A simple answer; “the day was canceled before the gate opened – thereafter the weather improved and a few of us flew the task. This happened on the other two days as well.”
Well that says it all.
On January 18 a 476 km distances was set , task 5 and this time nobody finished , though Sven and Laurens tried hard and flew just over 110 km. That was it. No points.
January 19, task 6, had another long distance; 479 km. , only 7 pilots started and 5 finished the task…..for points this time.
Laurens won with 162 km./h. Andreas was faster , 169 km./h, but was punished for a low finish.
January 20 task 7 with 494 km.....LAST DAY!!!!! Another interesting last day with Laurens on 1 overall, 2.286 points, followed by Andreas with 2.135 p and Sven with 2.105.
These 3 pilots are going to decide who will be the winner from Cape Gauntlet Cup.
Guest Andreas was the winner of this last day and consolidated his overall runner- up- spot ; speed a whopping 171 km./h
Laurens won the day and the comps ;3.180 points and Andreas had 3.090 p. and Sven 2.990. He was 4th on the last day.
Laurens will fly the South African Qualifying Grand Prix in Worcester, straight after this competition. So does Andreas, Peter [Farrel] and Sven. They had great practice.
In 15 m. Findlay Smith [15 m. Ventus b]was the clear winner with 3.550 points more than 600 points on runner up Tokkie [Pieter Carstens] in LS 4.
In club the scores were CLOSE; USA pilot Brad Jackson won in his Ventus 2CM/18 m [handicap 120] with 8 points over Kevin Mitchell in DG 400/17m.
2 young men Wozniak & Groenwald, shared an Astir CS 77 and deserved, 1.117 points.

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The South African Qualifying round of the Sailplane Grand Prix at
Worcester will be held from the 22nd to the 28th of January 2023.

Also in Worcester this qualifying SGP, series IX with 12 participating pilots in 18 m. class.
You can follow the action on
https://glideandseek.com
Practice race ; Saturday January 21…...484 km
Uys showed his skills with a speed of 161 km/h. Oscar was runner up and our Dutch guest Erik Borgmann was 3d.
Race 1 on January 22;412 km….. Great race , with a regatta start at 13.44 and 5 pilots , from 10 starting, with about the same speed; between 143 and 145 km./h. Winning team , 1 and 2, was from Germany, Michael Pfennig and Mathias Schunk with Erik just behind them , then Oscar and Laurens.
Uys was unlucky with some penalty points for a too high start [56 sec]
“Fun first race at the SGP in South Africa. We saw great ridge riding and an exciting finish.“

Race 2; 549 km…..10 started and 10 finished the longish task. With 147 km./h Sven won the day; 10 points in the pocket. Good on him. As always there were some “mistakes” as a too low finish, a missed finish and a too early start.
Runner up was German pilot Lorenz Dierschk in JS1.
Laurens was 3d , Oscar 5th and Erik 6th.
“The 2nd race of the South Africa #SGP was fun with Oscar Goudriaan and Sven Olivier managing to take the lead. With the penalties, it is Sven who is winning the day.”
Full results at southafrica23.sgp.aero
January 24; was cancelled.
Race 3 ; 412.41 km is today, so next time the rest of thisSGP.

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The CLUB CLASS NATIONALS in ARGENTINA.
16 January 2023 – 27 January 2023

They did not have the best weather there in Pigüé. The pilots continued, but flew over the first 4 days only 1 task, on January 19, which was won as you can still see in my last blog by Jose Dentone.
Then another off-day, but January 21 showed a 2.30 AAT [task 6 on flying day 3] and the daily winner was again Jose…..245 km in 2.29; speed 98 km./h.
44 Pilots started and 2 were “out”.
Task 7 ; 2.30 AAT….changed in 2 hour AAT….and,…again Jose was the best. He flew 250 km. with a speed of 121 km./h.
In between Lucas and Damian moved up , after a daily spot 5 and 6, to an overall spot on 6 and 7.
Javier Gaude and Felipe Girado, familiar names , are on 2 and 3 overall, after 7 days and 4 tasks in total.
Task 8; 3 hour AAT....From 46 there are 40 pilots still in the race and 3 were out this day. A 1000 points-
day and those points were for Javier; 321 km in time 3.03; 105 km./h.
Jose, still on 1 overall was 7th [873 points]
Yesterday they had no task. More next week.

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New Zealand National Multi class championships.
Omarama
20 January 2023 – 28 January 2023

Quite a few championships at the moment. Here we go with N.Z.
On January 20 , 6 pilots started in open and 5 in racing class.
OPEN;
Task 1; 2 hour AAT..…283 km for Keith Essex in the fancy ASG 32 and the very best speed of all; 134 km./h. On day 1 already nearly 160 points ahead.
“AATs have been set for both classes. There is a front coming though soon and we’re gridding for a late afternoon launch with a 60% to 70% (depending who you ask) chance that we’ll get to fly the task. “
Task 2; 371.88 km....with 131 km./h. Keith won day 2 as well, after a rather late start.
Task 3; 3.30 AAT….500 km flown by ….Keith…. speed 134 km./h and number 1 again. Max Stevens was unlucky….out after 450 km.
Task 4; 2.30 AAT…..”Today the task setters are expecting it will take a while for the cloud base to lift so there is a later start with launching expected at 14:30.”
And indeed Keith started at 15.25, but no worries he still flew 368 km with a speed of 144 km./h. Back just before 6 PM for dinner.
Task 5; 389 km…..5 still in the race. Keith won, but was not the fastest as the ASH 25 flown by “a few” [Morgan & Hamilton & Oakley] was 1 km./h faster but had on handicap [114] less points.
Keith started as the last pilot at 14.45.
The lead from Keith is growing and growing; more than 600 points and 4 days to go.

Task 6; 2.30 AAT…..indeed a bit boring but also very strong flying of Keith;1000 points for 343 km flying with a speed of 118 km./h.

Racing class…..please look at www.soaringspot for more about their scores.
In short…..on task 2 Tony Van Dyke won in his LS 8; 350 km…speed 107 km./h.
Task 3 ;3.30 AAT …won by Tony again 423 km…… speed 120,80 km./h. 4 pilots flying and 3 were in.
Task 4; 2.30 AAT and 319 km in his LS 8 for Tony . He is leading overall now with more than 250 points. Good on him. It’s quite a long time ago that I met him for the last time . Though he lives already for ages in N.Z. he still spoke decent Dutch.
Task 5; 280 km....Like Keith in open , Tony is winning often in this class, as he did today; 101.92 km./h.
Task 6; 2.30 AAT and ouch Tony was out after 104 km whilst Terry flew flew 249 km in time 2.33. He lost more than 500 points…….

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Some long flights, seem to just happen.
Normally you prepare, find the best option for a strong departure ,and a strong area to fly in weather-wise ,to reach the best result.
This is what happened to MASTER KILOMETER EATER Klaus Ohlman; 1.426 km. with a speed of 149 km./h. in the Antares 20. This time it was more ad hoc, no worries, he knows all wave-areas and all mountains.
He flew from La Cerdanya in Spain.
Gil Souviron started from Perpignan and flew in the STEMME 12, 1.380 km.
“between the decision to fly home and a very nice day in the Pyrennees there are always the adventurer is winning. So, to try something new, I decided to fly downstream at the end of the day to the famous airfield of Fuentemilanos. No regrets, tomorrow, I will try to go home with other means of transports, taking the trailer and make the long journey to get the glider home again. Great thanks for my friends, GiIl, who gave me the motivation, to use this beautiful day. Joan, who helped me so early in the morning and alerted his friends in Fuente. Phantastic day, nice evening with new friends, thanks Miguel,, and a lot of new stories to tell.
Great thanks as well for all the controllers who allowed to use their airspaces.” by Klaus.
Pierre de Broqueville used the same air/wave , started at St Gaudens in his EB 29DR, but had a more than bumpy ride;”20 m/s sink and then again 10 m. lift. Brrrr what a contrast “. He is a very experienced Pyrenees pilot.

More than enough news .
The WAGA state comps , in Beverley Australia are in full swing with 27 pilots, a lot for a regional competition and good pilots as well. What about Norm Bloch, Don Woodward and Greg Beecroft.
More next week.

Cheers Ritz

POST 1.400 on January 18 2023.

2023 AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS from WAIKIRIE.
10 January 2023 – 21 January 2023

In 1974 the 14th WGC was flown from Waikirie. George Moffat won in open class [Nimbus 2] and Helmut Reichmann in Standard.[LS2]
ZULU ROMEO..GOOD START, the video on you tube of this WGC is still famous!
Ingo lost the lead here on the last day, after a mechanical problem [airbrakes] . Straight after he was launched in ZR ,he had to land in the relight area again. After looking and repairing the problem, he started again.
Helmut was back after a fast run, not sure if it was fast enough he went for a 2d run,….. for Ingo there was no time for a 2d run. Helmut’s 2d run was slower ,but he still won, 29 points ahead, as his first score was the fastest. Scoring in those years was slower and pretty inefficient due to cameras and barographs.
Helmut’s extra run was not necessary ,but it shows how he eager he was to win his 2d title.
By the way for George it was the 2d title as well.
They both won already in 1970 in Marfa in Texas.
ZR has been on line for many years at Sportavia [SSC]

Back to Waikirie NOW!

OPEN /18m CLASS:
TASK 1; 1.45 AAT.…
The first day …January 11….showed in the end participation of all 11 pilots and smiling faces from the winners in open/18 m ,Adam [Woolley] …..Freakin cool glider, still can’t believe I own it. In 15m config, it just talks to me, carries the water so effortlessly & handles so beautifully, a little rocket ship …..and Matthew [Scutter] ….”when I started everyone else had left. I made good use of the storm convergence, took a few 4kts to keep the flight low risk, and got home with a respectable speed”….both flying in a 15 m configuration.
Adam called it a fantastic/sensational day, after they first thought they had to cancel the day.
“161kph!! And to think that we almost scrubbed today, turned out to be amazing” . They “found” between 7 kts and 11 kts, en route.
Craig Vinall, a local “hero” was 3d in his 18 m. AS 33es.
They all started after 3 PM.
Task 2; 255 km.…Bruce must have thought…I have an 18 m glider [ASG 29e],….. so I fly an 18 m. glider, anyhow if these were his thoughts I don’t know, but he won the day;112 km./h. and a rather early start.[15.06, Pete started half an hour later]]
Runner up was Pete who had already a great practice period behind him in Gawler and Matthew and Adam in their 15m conversion-gliders the Diana 2FES and the VENTUS 3T.
Pete and Lumpy were the last to go on track.{15.36]
11 started and 6 finished.
“Extremely challenging day – I was very concerned about the southerly and the influence of the flooded area on the later sections of the task, so I went with the big gaggle and played safe all day. Everything went to worms about sixty kilometres from home and the gaggle almost parked it at Renmark airport – late starter Pete ran into the back of us here and we grovelled away for a slow final glide.
Points defended with minimal risks required, so a satisfactory outcome.” Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
And daily news on Taylor’s Gliding Page
On Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures you can see and hear his daily update on video. “RACEFANS!!!!!!!!!!“….
Lumpy, also from Tocumwal was last and it is good to hear a comment from a good pilot finishing last, as well.
“Well that didn’t quite go to plan….
Very difficult day yesterday with a lot factors influencing the WX which I didn’t read correctly. There was certainly safety in No’s if the day didn’t go as forecast and the gaggle did really well to get around, especially navigating through the wetlands of Renmark.
My worst ever day result at a Nationals but I will draw from it and reflect on decisions made. I love that this sport can be so rewarding one day and bring you back to earth ( literally) the next, I’ve still got a lot to learn.”

Task 3; 3 hour AAT...so better weather and a good task. BUT,….it’s awful when you prepare for such a start and you have a flat tire!!! That happened to Matthew.
“I had not one but TWO flat tyres this morning during gridding, which caused a bit of excitement and left me launching a bit late and overheated, but thanks to Jack and Mandy I got away with it.
High and fast day, blue locally with cumulus at FL130 on the hills to the west. It was strong enough that I wasn’t concerned about flying alone so I made a start by myself and barely saw anyone the whole day.”
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
AND,….his first day-win during these Nationals with Adam as runner up and Bruce as number 3.
Matthew; 414 km in 3 hours. Adam about the same 425 km in 3 hours, for 1000 and 982 points.
All 11 started and finished.
AND,…Lumpy was 4th!!!WITH the highest speed however; 144 km./h. over 437 km.
Adam; “Another cracking day at the 18m nationals, loving getting to know the V3 in 15m config, little rocket with great feel! A very close 2nd today to Matty Scoote” more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

“Unfortunately the internet was down at Waikerie which has taken the OGN tower with it, so sadly no live tracking for Day 3 until further notice.“
Task 4; 311 km….”Big windy cu+wave day with a late start and an early and sharp finish, I made a really clean start just about the perfect time of day as cumulus were forming ok track and didn’t give too much away to the wave starters behind me.” as Matthew started his blog, but then it went wrong for him, why and how you can read in Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
Daily winner was Pete with Adam, Lumpy and Bruce following.
Matthew was 7th and lost some points .He got 453, Pete 593
4 Flew with a speed of over 160 km/ph. Lumpy in the Quintus even with 167 km./h.

January 15……REST DAY!!!! Time to “listen” to Lumpy, who after a bad day recovered very well.
“The WX although seemingly looking great ( based on the speeds ) has been very challenging, with shortish tasks, it’s all been about the timing. Picking the right time to start to maximise the best of the conditions. When your racing with pilots who make every second count, leaving to soon or a tad too late will cost you positions.
Over the past two days, we haven’t had flights all under Cu, so it’s been very tricky to work out what part of the flight you’d like in the blue ( cause it’s going to happen ) and how you transition too and from these different air masses loosing the least amount of momentum. It’s been interesting to see the different thoughts and strategy’s as these flights unfold.
The two days have seen me with the fastest times, however the handicap pulls the points to reflect a fair race ( as it should ) but it’s nice to be up there again !“
AND to Bruce;“I tried hard to ignore the booming sky behind me and to make the best of things in front of me. Despite being really high the climbs were not super strong. 7 knots was pretty normal, with one that was 9 for quite a way, but heights were now up around 12,500 feet and it was lovely and cool. Strange to look down and know that it was 42 degrees on the ground!” much more on Taylor’s Gliding Page
After 4 days the overall scores look like this;
1. Bruce with 2.812 points. 2. Adam 2.803 p.3. Matthew 2.705.
An exciting 2d week to go!!!!

2d Week…..
January 16...no flying. Day “canned” as they call it.
January 17; challenging..…would they be able to fly??? Yes they were…..and HOW!!!!
A 2 hour AAT was set and many flew over 300 km and with GREAT SPEED; winner Craig in his AS 33es had a speed of 157 km./h!!!!|
Craig started as last raced over the circuit, passed them all and was back after 2 hours at the dot!!!!!
All 11 started and finished. 4 Pilots flew over 150 km./h. Adam was runner up. Matthew 5th.
Bruce who was 4th mentioned ;“Home safe, another exciting day. The task was near perfectly set (again) and there ensued many and varied ideas about how to approach it.” much more in his Taylor’s Gliding Page
Matthew;“The weather forecasting was trickier than the flying today – approaching front with 45kt gusts expected to go through Waikerie at 2.30pm meant a very small window.” Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

SPORTS CLASS;
Task 1; 2.15 AAT…..
5 pilots in this class and the winner was David Collins in ASW 20. He flew 260 km. in time 2.17 and had a late start. [15.28] Robert from “the Alice” started an hour earlier, ….after 35 km he was out in his Cirrus. ” First day of the sports class nationals, first day in a paddock for a long time…. Bugger, got it all wrong today.…”
Hopefully many more days to come. Bernie [Seizer] in his PIK 20B was runner up.

Task 2; 2.30 AAT...they all started within 15 minutes but after 3 PM. Bernie won the day flying 247 km in time 2.38,41. David was runner up.
All 6 started and 1 pilot was out.
Task 3; 2.30 AAT….Same task than the day before, but more kilometers flown. Bernie did well again with 287 km in time 2.29. David was runner up again; 800 for 731 points.
Task 4; 208.97 km....It’s either Bernie or David, they are a real match for each other, though David was quite a bit faster during this task; 138 km./h for 119.
January 15; RESTDAY!!!!!
After 4 tasks it is; 1.David with 2.702 points.2. Bernie with 2.655p 3. Sid with 2.365p.

2d Week;
January 16...cancelled, not a good beginning of the last week.
January 17…2 hour AAT….task 5 was again between David and Bernie. David won the day with 276 km with a speed of 125 km./h. Bernie flew 249 km with 117 km./h.
Robert did not start.
January 18, it looks like NO FLYING TODAY IN BOTH CLASSES.

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On January 11 , an other SUPER-Namibia-SOARING-DAY, my friends Patrick and Roy declared and completed 1.267km task with 3 TPs @ 143kph from Bitterwasser!!!
Great result. I am very pleased for them.
“A grand day out today for Patrick Naegeli & I.
We declared a 1.267km polygon and took off at about 1020 and started the task at 1038.
Felt like a hairdryer at the launch point, 15-20kt wind and temperature 33C.
So set the task directly downwind first. A good plan as the wind at altitude dropped from 34kph on the first leg to 18kph in the middle and end of the flight.
We finished at 1932hr so the average speed on the task was 142.4 kilometres per hour.“
Apparently this is the first flight from Bitterwasser over 1.250km., 3 or less turning points which were pre-declared before take-off in a two seat glider. If so,…CONGRATULATIONS and SO DESERVED!!!!
https://www.onlinecontest.org/…/gliding/flightinfo.html…
They flew 1.307 in total and that was NOT enough to top the day.
That spot was for the Twin Shark with Bernd Dolba flying from Veronica; 1.338 km [1.263 FAI TRIANGLE]
AMAZING 5 x a 1300 km flight and many FAI TRIANGLES, what a year!!!!!
It seems the weather predictions are spot-on as well.
Belgian pilot Johan Luyckx flew in a Ventus 2CXM/18 m his 1.250 FAI Diploma!!!!1.297 km with 141 km./h. also from Bitterwasser.
On January 12 another 4 flights over 1.300 km. …..one in a Ventus 2CM/18 m. by Markus Langemann from Pokweni. He started in Pokweni on the 19th of December and flew till now 10 over-1000-km-flights.
34 Over 1000 km-flights in total last Thursday.
On FRIDAY JANUARY 13 only ONE 1000 km flight flown by young Fillip Jonker in his JS 1 from Douglas in S.A.

Yesterday , and it was already January 17 …pretty late in their season, BITTERWASSER still had 6x a 1000 km flight with even an 1.202 in the magic ARCUS M by Bernd [Goretzki] with Florian in the back.
And put 2 top pilots in such an Arcus M, Reinhard [Schramme] and Stefanie [Muhl] and they fly nearly 1.200 km. as well.
4 from the 6 flew an FAI TRIANGLE!!! TOP!!!……Lothar in a Ventus 3M.

KIRIPOTIB, is already slowly starting to look back at their season and what season they ALL had in Namibia.
Could this be the best ever Namibian season???
Eager to find out!!!
“It’s colorful at Kiripotib – we enjoy international flair. This season we were happy to welcome guests from 14 nations: Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Slovakia, Poland, England, Slovenia, Spain, France, USA, Canada, Germany and Austria.

They are still flying. On January 15 they still had 4 over 500 km flights. Yesterday still 2x over 600 km.

It’s nice to see that between all those “power-flights” from Africa, in fancy gliders, you find 2 former top- hang -glider- pilots, flying from Narromine down- under in an ASW 20; Tomas [Suchanek] 723 km and Atilla [Bertok] 692 km/650 FAI triangle .
Both once flew a hang glider competition in Tocumwal with us. It might even have been a world championship??

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The British Women Pilot’s Association handed over in the beginning of this year a Special Recognition Award for 2022 to Liz Sparrow.
“Liz worked tirelessly to ensure WWGC 2022 was a success, giving up her chance to compete for Team GB in order to take on the role of competition director.”
A very much deserved recognition for her hard work. I totally agree!!!!

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The WEST CAPE REGIONALS started on January 14 in 3 classes at Worcester.
Open with 10 pilots amongst them 1 HC. 15 m with 3 and club with 4.
I concentrate on open, but you can find all scores on www.soaringspot.com
On day 1 a task from 426 km was set. An International top 3 for the day. Laurens [Goudriaan] from South Africa as number 1 with 149 km./h.[JS 3] Runner up Andreas Spielmann from Switzerland with 147 km./h [ JS 3] and a strong “combi” in the Arcus from the USA and New Zealand, Nick [Bennet] and John [Coutts] on 3.[ARCUS M]
day 2; 279 km....Sven[84 km./h.] and the STEMME S12-pilots [77 km./h] flew the task, but it turned out an invalid day, as the rest did not fly far enough or did not fly at all.
day 3; 2.30 AAT....5 Pilots flew the task but AGAIN it turned out an invalid day. A pity for the USA/NZ combination in the ARCUS M as they flew 367 km with a speed of 148 km./h.
They , Nicolas and John mentioned ;”Day cancelled again. We flew the task anyway, with a speed of 148kph.” And shared this picture.

Task 4; 2.30 AAT….yesterday…..won by Sven, good on him. Only 7 were scored and only 2 were “in”. Sven and Laurens; both flew 265 km , no they did not start together, as Laurens started about 15 minutes earlier, but they had the same speed106 km./h. and about the same points;535/532.
Sven moved up from 5 to 3 [1.249 p] with a few more days to go and Laurens clearly leads now ;1.416 points. Andreas is in between them with 1.266 p.
All scores still preliminary.

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9th NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP for CLUB CLASS in ARGENTINA
Pigüé…16 January 2023 – 27 January 2023

45 Pilots fly in this Club Class for the National Argentinian title from Pigüé ! Never heard from the field, BUT, never too old to learn.
Task 1; 3 hour AAT….so the “little ones” straight had to go for “a few ” kilometers. And they did!!!!
Well known pilot Javier Gaude was the daily winner in his DG 200 with 343 km in time 3.07, speed 110 km./h.
Then 4 ASW 20 gliders with among them Jose Dentone and 3 LS 4 gliders with p.e. my soaring mates, Lucas and Damian Goldenzweig.
Task 2; there was NO TASK 2.
More next week.

That’s it for now, more than enough news for this week.
Cu next Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz

January 11 2023; POST 1.399.

FAI SGP XI QUALIFYING ROUND AUSTRALIA.

The SGP in Gawler with 5 pilots flying in 18 m. gliders, finished after 6 races!
More about race number 2: in my last blog I mentioned already the winner Pete, [Temple] ….but there were no points on the scoring list then.
Now they are; Pete got 4, Geoff [Brown] 2 and Matthew [Hutchinson] 1 point.
David and Mac got ZERO points , as they were out of the boundary after 25 km.
Race 4; 273 km...won again by Pete for 6 points and all 5 pilots got points.
Pete in his ASG 29 flew around with a speed of 108.8 km./h.
Runner up was Mac, in Adams VENTUS 3T with 106.7 km./h for 4 points.
3d; Geoff in the JS1 with 105.3 km./h.
David in the JS 1 got 2 and Matthew in the VENTUS 2CXA, 1 point.
6/7 kts thermals en route , not too bad,…..and in the end from the border control, 30 k out he stumbled into 7.5 kts climb again , took a few turns and off to “home” ,was what Pete mentioned after the flight.

After 3 races and 3 to go it’s Pete on top overall ,with 12 points, followed by Geoff with 11 and Mac with 8.
Race 4; another day …258 km. was set….and all got points again. Pete won the day ,but they flew in a “5-formation-bunch/gaggle” from start to finish, so speed between 115 and 117 km./h..
So “all” going out and coming in around the same time.
Race 5..381 km.…and hang in as it is getting boring, but Pete won again, a longer distance however and a very nice racing speed from 152 km./h!!!! Great conditions, good air.!!!
A high day as well 9000 ft., they could just skip the first thermals after start and go on track straight away.
Also Mac and Geoff flew over 150 km./h!!
Mac was runner up and 1 minute behind Pete. “Again,” he said with a smile.
With one day to go Pete leads with 24 points, but there is still a “fight” going on between Geoff and Mac; 17 and 16 points!!!!
Race 6 out of 7 day …last day ;had over 300 k again; 314 km. and sadly enough,….an off-day for Geoff who was out after 178 km. loosing his runner-up -spot. Pete and Mac were the best with a speed of 149 and 148 km./h.
With a trough predicted they hoped to be on the easterly side of it for even faster speed. The really high fast, cool, comfortable day was not really there .They hoped for 170 km./h ,but 150 km./h is not bad either.
“After 6 Races on the final day Gawler provided magnificent soaring conditions. A trough crossed the task area bringing 12,000ft plus  cloudbases and 10 kt plus climbs throughout the task area.”
SO IN THE END THERE WAS A CLEAR WINNER; PETE TEMPLE with 30 points.
Mac was runner up with 19 and Geoff third with 17.
Nice race!!!! Pete’s wife ,Mandy, was the competition director, [as she was in Lake Keepit during the WWG] and all went smooth and fine, she said with a big smile. She is good, also as Aussie TC.
Several videos are on YOUTUBE.
Sean did a good PR/coverage-job.

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Good weather at more places in Australia. In the East my friends Gerrit and Pam flew 929 and 652 km in their EB 29R and ASH 31/21 m. Speed 121 and 109 km./h. [January 7]
Back to the West again…..Horsham this time, Jarowslav in his PIK 20 b flew 661 km.
And,…The Australian Nationals are soon in Waikirie and some as Lumpy, practice already; 616 in the Quintus M.
Bruce Taylor was on his way.

And Adam was on his way too;
“My commute to the 18m nationals, about 36hrs on a jet straight from pickup in Bangkok to Adelaide (4 sectors). I’m just arriving in Gawler now for the last day of the SGP, they’re up there enjoying a 12,000′ CU day.” And more blogs to enjoy. Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

The Australian Nationals will be flown from January 10 [ practice] till January 21 in Waikirie in 2 classes; open/18m and sport class.
They had their first day TODAY. A 1.45 AAT for open /18m won by Adam, who mentioned; .
“Day 1 of the Australian 18m nationals, I’m flying in 15m configuration in order to learn how to find this beauty before the pre-world’s in March “
Preliminary score;586 points for 161 km with a speed of 161 km./h. Craig Vinall was even faster in his AS 33es, but he flew 297 km.
Bruce was 4th and Pete, who rushed from Gawler to Waikirie 6th. So did Geoff and David ;7th and 5th for the day.
Here is Matthew [Scutter] about day 1;
“I had to withdraw from the 20m nationals due to a date change, which left me without any competition practice prior to the 100% selection event in Narromine in March, so instead I decided to drag my little 15m glider to the big boys 18m nationals in South Australia.
I was quite behind the 8ball for the first day, not quite focused or in the right mindset. I compounded this into blowing the start, needing a ‘relight’ while I could see competitors just a bit further away climbing through 10,000ft.
When I started everyone else had left, so I resigned myself to just putting up a clean flight to salvage the points. I made good use of the storm convergence, took a few 4kts to keep the flight low risk, and got home with a respectable speed.
More tricky weather to come.” Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
2.15 AAT in Sport class and only 4 started and 3 finished.
More next week!

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Still great soaring conditions in Namibia. Sometimes the day starts a bit later , there are weaker climbs and a lower cloud base, but in the afternoon convergences “rescue” the day and a 1000 is still possible.
“1000km rescued by an excellent western convergence at the end.” Patrick.
Even a nearly 1.250 was flown in a Quintus M from Bitterwasser on January 4.
Last Sunday Simon Schroeder , one of the young German hotshots flew in Guy’s Quintus M.a new distance record with a speed of 154 km/.h. ; 1,445.32km/1,278.47km FAI.
“What a day!!!
Started very early this morning and initially had difficulties making good progress in the headwind. Everything was blue.
 When we got to the cloud base it was relatively relaxed. The convergence wasn’t quite as pronounced as you can sometimes experience here, but I still progressed fast enough to break the kilometer record.” by Simon in his OLC comment.
More about the young ones below .
The first 23 flights on Sunday January 8 on the OLC were over 1000 km. a total of 27.
6 flights were over 1300 km.
4 flights over 1200 km. amongst all those flights, 6 FAI triangles over 1000 km!!!!!
What a season they have in Namibia!!!!
Bitterwasser, Veronica, Kiripotib and Pokweni ,…they all shared in the 1000 km-plus–happiness and euphoria.
Simon flies in Namibia since December 20 . He flew 4 days in the EB 28 all over 1000 km. On December 26 a 1000 in the ARCUS M.
Then a flight to get used to a new type, the Quintus to fly with that glider on January 6 and then on January 7 and 8 a 1.247 and 1.445 km. flight , both FAI triangles as well.
Pffff…he must be worn out ,but full of adrenaline! And he is YOUNG.
During those 8 flights he was 64 hours in the air.
“7-year-old record topped – Bitterwasser again basis for a new distance record in Namibia.
The 2022/23 season seems to be a very special one. We have been able to watch countless thousands enthusiastically in the last few weeks. So it was only a matter of time that the seven-year-old distance record of 1434 km by Matthias Arnold from 2016 would be set.
Yesterday was the day: under optimal conditions, Simon Schröder raced to a new absolute kilometre record over Namibia with the Quintus provided by Guy Bechtold. OLC – onlinecontest.org

“Admittedly, the Quintus is also the optimal weapon for making kilometres,” said Simon in his commentary on the flight.”
8 January 2023 is definitely one of the most outstanding days in recent years.”
January 9, the first 29 flights are over 1000 km. and another 4 completed 33 flights.
15 of them FAI TRIANGLES!!!!!
All in Namibia.
It’s such a SUPERB season.
NO WONDER that at this still early stage,…..as the season is not yet over, …. Bitterwasser tops the Stats from airfields with 106 pilots flying 741 flights and till now 609.662,63 km.
Interesting,…VERONICA …not that long ago not even on the list ,is runner up at this stage with 87 pilots flying 523 flights and 405.811,93 km.
Yesterday another 17 x 1000 plus including 5 FAI TRIANGLES.

And look also at the skies last Saturday in Bloemfontein in S.A!! 670 km. by Dutch pilot Ronald in a JS 1, member of the Delft Student Aero Club.

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WEGLIDE has a nice story about all the young German “hotshots’ flying those amazing flights in Namibia, on the last day from 2022 and the first day from 2023.When you missed it, here you are;
“What happens in Namibia, when early developments make an unusually early start possible? The young guns finished 2022 properly. On the last day of the year, three gliders tried to squeeze the maximum out of the desert. Together, they covered nearly 4000km.
Let’s start with the top-pointed flight. Max Schäfer & Eva Schröder lined up for a big L with two long legs along the famous edge with defines the border between the Namib- and the Kalahari Desert, congrats.”
In my last blog I wrote about those fabulous flights. Here are some links to the flights;
1.373,98 km @ 143,04 km/h on https://www.weglide.org/flight/229179

“Now a special one! Tore Graeber & Simon Schröder aimed for a big triangle. They headed into South Africa turned west and flew deep over the Namib back north. In the end, they completed an unbelievable 1300km FAI, congrats”
So a huge set, TRIANGLE over huge areas, qua weather and land. The first one in Namibia, and that says something!!!!! Also my congratulations!!!
1.335,27 km @ 143,34 km/h on https://www.weglide.org/flight/229176,229166

“Nils Fecker headed for a big triangle too and challenged Tore & Simon. Slightly ahead, Nils, unfortunately, made a mistake near Gamsberg and had to use the engine to get back to Bitterwasser. But that’s gliding as Nils mentioned correctly in the comments: “An expensive lesson. Everything can’t always work out.”. Nevertheless an amazing flight as well“
1.267,58 km @ 144,79 km/h on https://www.weglide.org/flight/229166

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And to finish some nostalgia for me, not for my family as they were in Tocumwal!!!!
Pictures from the BELANCA SCOUT, VH-SFO, loved by all in the family and flown in the far past by Dennis [1987] and Inge and a huge amount of tuggies, now by George and Diana and the last winters by Grietje from Corowa.
And now by more family members…it really is a family affair and I share it with you…..when it makes me happy , it might make you happy too, specially those who visited Tocumwal.
Dexter is not on these pictures as he had to fly home earlier because of school, but he flew as well.
By the way Inge’s husband Rodger flew with Diana in the IS 28 too. He was solo a few years ago.

And then,…it’s evening in Tocumwal and slowly one by one they depart from Tocumwal, back to Amsterdam, one to Sydney and 2 to Perth. Tomorrow everybody should be home again.
AND,…though I was n’t there I had as much fun with their stories and pictures.

They went hiking in the Grampians as well.

Cheers Ritz
To finish ;