Alphen aan den Rijn       Wednesday March 18 2009

Slowly more wellknown European destinations for cross country soaring wake up from their winter-sleep. Fuentemilanos and Rieti showed the first nice cross country flights and in a few weeks/months, it will be pleasantly busy there again.I know several people who are ready  to go to either Fuente or Rieti, some have been in Fuente for over 20 times!!!Most pilots ,specially in Fuente, stay for a longer time , as 1, 2 or even 3 months, to not miss out on any good soaring weather. For sure lot’s of 1000 km flights will be flown again and lots of other first achievements! I will keep an eye on it.

This week the famous  and very wellknown Art and Antique Fair TEFAF is held in Maastricht in the south of Holland. From all over Europe people fly in with private jets to visit,  even in these difficult economic times.
Yesterday was for some guests a bit more difficult then they planned. Due to , what they say a ” steering-failure”  from the pilot of a Cargo Lux 747-400 while taxiing , the nose wheel , did not stay on the tarmac but ended up in the grass on the site, meaning the plane was stuck and the airport closed for several hours.
After unloading 100 tons of flowers and vegies from Kenia, they brought it back with some “help from friends” on the runway then to the hangar for a check, luckily nothing was damaged and later in the day, they could still depart.
The “poor” guests arriving in their jet had to go to a small airfield over the border in Belgium and their taxi had to drive a bit further then planned.

Several European pilots, most of  Germany however, enjoy [wave] soaring in France at the moment. All well known places as , Saint Auban, Sisteron,Vinon, Serres la Batie, La Motte  [where Ingo Renner started the season in the past with club members from Oerlinghausen] Fayence and Gap have their guests.

A very weird story  today in the Philippines where a plane with 44 passengers and  busy to land on the runway, had to make a touch and go, as….a car was driving on the runway. A young man , son of an airport-official, [ read the airport-director!]was teaching his girlfriend how to drive a car!!!!!!!!!!!!

A very bitter pill for the EAC,the gliding club from Eindhoven in the south of Holland, where I was a member in the past, after being a member of the ZES, the Eindhoven student aeroclub where I learned how to fly in a Rhonlerche and went solo in a Grunau Baby!![1967]
The EAC is a  very nice club and investing since years, a lot of time in cross country flying.
2 Years ago they celebrated their 75 th anniversary, they have about 150 members ready to fly and last week , THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON, they got the message that gliding was immediately prohibited for as they claim, safety reasons by the commandant of the airforce department!! Nothing ever happened ,as in unsafe at the gliding strip on this military part of the field and the club invested a lot of money in making things even safer now that Eindhoven Airport, which is more or less connected to the military base,  is a more busy airfield in Holland.
Negotiations are still going on, but even I can’t believe this!!!Will investigate it as this is not good!!  But….as I just heard from a friend, it does not look too good!!!!CAN’T believe it!

Just to inform you, as I think this is very important for you as computer-user. I just received this message from one of my Australian readers [thanks!!!!], so it is recent news!

See you next sunday, Ritz

TREVOR SMALLWOOD
BRISBANE OFFICE
Tel   +61(0) 7 32221347  Ext 17347  Fax  +61(0)  7 32221219
www.afp.gov.au < http://www.afp.gov.au >
PLEASE INFORM EVERYONE
Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent and the moment that you open these emails your computer will crash and you will not be able to fix it!
If you get an email along the lines of ‘Osama Bin Laden Captured’
or ‘Osama Hanged’ don’t open the attachment.
This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe.
Be considerate & send this warning to  whomever you know.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:
You should be alert during the next days:
Do not open any message with an attached filed called
‘Invitation’ regardless of who sent it.
It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which ‘burns’ the whole hard disc C of your computer.
This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts.
It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.
If you receive a mail called ‘invitation’, though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer immediately.
This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.
This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.
This virus simply  destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where  the vital information is kept.

Alphen aan den Rijn     Sunday March 15 2009

Did you discover that I write a midweek blog now too? If not just continue after reading this blog! Of course only when you are interested!
I have a bit more time now that I have retired, so another blog is easy enough now ….and I still like writing.

Last Wednesday I lay down in a nice hot sun …but with factor 10 on my body. Yes I know the dangers! The skies looked great for gliding and yes in the evening I saw that Soesterberg was active again with soaring in Holland. It is not active anymore as an American military “airfield”. It was closed not long ago with a solemn ceremony. This week I saw in the paper the new development-plans for the area and…I heard that gliding fits in the plans , which is great for the Amsterdam Club of Gliding.
In the past the medicals for lots of pilots have been done at Soesterberg.

Same day Vinon-Aosta-Vinon was flown by Tobias Welsch in a discus 2T; 1.117 km. A jo-jo with 5 TP’s. Great! From France to Italy over Switzerland and back home, WOW!
Nice speed with 105 km.p/h. but he was high up to 6000 m, must have been awfully cold, even with hot clothes and boots [ hopefully with electrical heating in them????] and……. with those oxygen masks you never know if the face around the mouth freezes. For sure he said WOW too, but I hope he was comfortable during those 10 hours and 34 minutes!!!!
I loved Aosta, not so much for the flying that time, the boy’s did their thing, flying in wave as high as the could gaining their 3000 and 5000 m. [ and came back with a frozen mouth!] and the girls went up high to Pila for some good skiing or sun-baking! When the boy’s were ready they flew “low” and fast over “our mountain ” , to tell us it was time for apres-ski. This was in the 70thies!
Several clubs have a [wave-] camp now in Vinon , Saint Auban , Sisteron or Serres La Batie.

Talking about Uvalde brings also back memories on Minden. In fact the 1991 WGC was supposed to be flown in Minden, ” we” all practised there. But fires in that area and the possibility for the huge planes from the fire brigade to ALWAYS be on duty while a fire was burning, stopped the glider-pilots from going there. A temporary closed airfield during a final glide was “impossible” for a WGC!
We all moved to Uvalde in Texas and had a great time there too.
By the way I was told that Soar Minden ‘s owner Tony Sabino is trying to find a silent or active business partner; look at www.soarminden.com or email to Tony at soarminden@powernet.net if you are interested. Great place, nice people, high mountains , wave , thermals , so a top location! If you always wanted to be part of the organization of a wellknown soaring place, go for it, this is your chance!

It is nice to see that the USA has a real competiton for “oldies”! Yes in Seminole Lake the seniors are having a ball flying good distances with good weather. Different gliders, different clubs, it is all happening in Seminole Lake and what great stories they will have after flying in the bar!!!That’s the good thing from soaring, you can still belong to the best long distance flyers in the world when you are 70 years old. In fact many of my friends are 70 and + and they still love it and ….in my eyes they are not OLD and do not look old!!!!!!!!! But most of them have flown nearly all their life, so they are very experienced.On the other hand some have given up because of their age or a “problem” like diabetes. It is all very subjective.

Don’t worry about the “Pound” [1.12 Euro] for the toilet in the Ryan Air planes. They now claim “it is a joke”! I don’t see the point of it, but I found it weird!!!

And then ….after writing about 70 year old pilots I receive this message from OZ. Is n’t it wonderfull!!!! I am very proud on him too!
G’DAY RITZ
THE PILOT WHO FLEW THE 1000KM FAI TRIANGLE AT NARROMINE IN A LAK17/18, WAS BILL HATFEILD VH-OBH ,IE OLD BILL HATFEILD, AS EVERYONE IN NSW AND QLD KNOWS HIM. HE IS A MEMBER OF KINGAROY SOARING CLUB AND HE JUST TURNED 70 THIS YEAR, HE COMPLETED THE TRIANGLE AFTER DROPPING IN FOR A DAY WHILE RETURNING FROM THE BENALLA NATIONALS.WE ARE VERY PROUD OF HIM.
REGARDS MICK SLY

Jondaryan has great autumn weather, flights up to 600 km. are still flown here on the east part of OZ. Several of my friends are members of the club at Jondaryan and I feel happy for them that they have such a long season. In fact you can fly all year around from this airfield.
It is very sad however that on the same East coast this terrible environmental disaster with spilling oil happened after a Chinese ship lost , in the big storm, some containers with ” dangerous goods”,[ they have not been found yet ] and 250.000 liters of oil. Lot’s of people try to help the animals covered in thick “ugly looking” oil , specially the pelicans who are living on Moreton Island.

Shocked as most of you I presume, I was with another waste-less attack on innocent people by a young “derailed” person. This time in Germany where a 17 year old young man, went back to the school where he passed his exams a  year before, went into the class rooms killing 9 ,14/15 year old students [8 girls and 1 boy] and 3 female teachers. On his way to escape to another town he killed another 3 people, is then shot by the police in his legs and commits suicide…..!!!!!
And then you think as parents, that your child is in a safe environment at school…!!!!

Well, as I love nearly ALL sports , I was very pleased with the great results from the Dutch ice-speed- skaters in Richmond {Canada}, close to Vancouver where next year the Olympics will be held. It was a late night , I looked till 2.30 AM , so as the sun is shining brightly, I go and do some more sleeping outside! Feels good, SPRING IS REALLY coming now!

Enjoy your week, see you on Wednesday. Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Wednesday 11-03-2009

Now I am retired I have some more time to write, so when interesting “things” come up , I will write twice a week, but the Sunday remains. It pleases me that so many people all over the world, keep reading , to be honest I did not expect that, but it feels good,  so I continue! Thanks!
 It is nice to receive a comment straight away after the decision Uvalde got the 32d WGC, from a reader in the USA with the message; ” I hope you come”!

I was not totally correct last sunday.
First ,indeed the weather in Holland was nog good for flying till about 11. After lots of rain during the night , it cleared around 11 AM and a nice soaring window appeared, so one of the Dutch young talented pilots had a great first flight for the season from Soesterberg, nearly 200 km.
After those “nice” hours we were hit by rain , gusting winds , hail and thunderstorms during the night. Yes March brings gales!!!!!
Just spoke with Maria from Munich and it is STILL snowing there. They wait for a bit of sunshine , hopefully this sunday and a day without cleaning  the snow from the car before driving.

And what about the results of the IGC meeting; Next morning  already, on monday I could read that Uvalde got the 2012- 32d -FAI -open, 18 and 15 m class -WGC with Roland Stuck as chief steward and as expected Argentina [ Adolfo Gonzales Chavez-SW of Beunos Aires] the 32d standard,club and world class WGC. Brian Spreckley is appointed to help here with the organization as chief steward.
So …..not too slow [ apologies!] and….. the most important decisions , not only the places for the WGC , were right there on the next day!
Very interesting choises  for the WGC in 2012 by the way! I feel sorry for Narromine, would have loved to go there, had already my invitation to edit there, but I know it is far…! But…it remains a good airfield for the next time, as it is since 1987 that Australia had a WGC. Toooooo …….long……….!!!Is there not a rule that Australia should have it before 2016??????
The WGC in Uvalde will be from 04-08-2012 / 19-08-2012 and the WGC in Argentina from 09-12-2012 / 21-12-2012. Now you are totally updated!

In  1963 Argentina had organized already a WGC in Junin,  200 km.  West of Buenos Aires and I just heard  that one of the Dutch pilots , Arie Breunissen, went with big speed over the startline  in a Skylark 3 and ….had to bail out as….he lost a wing at that moment.
 Holland made name in gliding that year, by this incident , [ BOLS , the advertisement for Dutch jenever on the fuselage “stood” even after the crash!] but also with the inverted flights from Ed van Bree in the Sagitta, showing how great the Dutch -made-glider flew.
Not so much by the scores as Ed was 31th , Jan Selen with a KA 6 35th in standard class and Arie 22d in open class in the Skylark 3.
Unfortunately Ed died in a fatal powerflying accident, I think about 25 to 30 years ago.
Such a “thing” as bailing out, happened to Baer Selen too during an  EC in Italy. He had to jump while on final glide to Rieti as his Vega was “hit” by severe flutter….and broke.
 If you are interested in the story from Junin and the pictures, please read and look at the very special site “found ” by George, thanks !!!!

http://www.smits.co.nz/sagitta/wk_argentinie.htm 

Tibor , from Slovakia, asked me to bring to your attention the next spring competition, which I love to do.
 Sorry that I am a bit late with it, as he send me a message  already on January 3  , which I missed as …I did not read the comments-box!!!!MEA CULPA!!!!!
It is called FATRAGLIDE09………is between Mai 1 and Mai 10 2009 in Slovakia at Martin Airfield. At this stage 45 pilots in different classes have entered their names, under them Henrik Breidahl from Denmark and Vladimir Voltin from Slovakia, both WGC pilots.
Here is more from Tibor;

It is called fatraglide09 and it is 9th year we are doing it. It is spring gliding comp in our home airfield in Martin, focused on mountain gliding, and we get more and more international participants. Web is here: www.fatraglide.sk  it is all in english including briefings etc…

This year there is EGC in Nitra and next year WGC in Prievidza, virtually same area for practice.

About fatraglide: we offer free entry for best pilot, woman and junior as on IGC ranking and free T-shirt for every participant. So look at our site!!!!

That’s about it, the sun is shining, ONLY today, so I go outside and enjoy a bit of warmth after the cold winter.
CU next sunday!

 Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn       Sunday 08-03-2009

Last Wednesday we heard the first results of the investigation of the crash with Turkish Airlines. It seems that the lefthand instrument,  a radio-height -meter was failing ,so a technical problem…….but the crew reacted TOO late on that problem, so …..a combination of a technical problem and human problem it seems. You can read the  details on several web sites, if you have n’t done so already.
That instrument had failed before,…was repaired but during the last 8 flights which are “visible” on the black box , it failed according to the investigation, twice again!
Boeing had send ,as far as I have read, a memo on Februari 11 2009  to “tell” companies flying the 737-800 about this problem[ it can be rosty due to humidity they say] with the message DO NOT FLY on the automatic pilot , but by hand , if such a problem occurs.
Yesterday there was a ceremony at Schiphol airfield attended by 750 people, among them lots of survivors,ambassadors , recue- workers and politicians,  to remember all 9 victims , 5 from Turkey [ including the crew; captain , 2 co-pilots and one steward ] and 4 passengers from the USA [ 2 people employees from Boeing!]. All aircrafts and trains at Schiphol took head of 2 minutes silence.
23 Survivors are still in hospital, ONE still fighting for his life at intensive care.

Slowly Europe wakes up from its wintersleep. The first nice flights have been made in Germany with wave but also THERMALS  [Bruchsal,Hahnweide], the mountains from France [Vinon —Sisteron]  wave and ….from Dunstable in the UK.
In Holland the season opened for most clubs on March 1 with an annual  meeting about rules and regulations for the new season. The weather is not too bad but not good enough for flying at tis stage.
Also the USA wakes up from wintersleep, with lots of nice flights from p.e. Seminole Lake, even with good thermals!!
Australia still enjoys great autumn gliding weather and good old former world champion [x2] George Lee, flew from his own airfield yesterday a very nice 764 km flight in a nimbus 4 DM.
A bit more south,at Jondaryan,  Allen flew a 623 km set task in his LS1f, great effort. And….what about a Hornet flying 619 km…..same task, same airfield.
But also  in Benalla, in the south of Australia pilots flew over 300 km in an LS 4 [370 k.] and Standard Cirrus [336 k.].

Great to see Bob Ward is flying again!!!! A couple of years ago he had a really nasty accident with his glider, we were even very worried for his life, thought he would never fly again,  but….he is back,FANTASTIC!!!!!! Good on you, BOB!

It is weird, but on saturday [March 7] they flew , as said, on the East coast in Queensland great flights also from Jondaryan, while a bit higher but also in Queensland the  category 5 tropical cyclone Hamish passed by over the ocean ,tracking parallel to the East coast with wind up to 285 kp/h. It is not expected to make landfall within the next 24 hours but a warning has gone out for the NE parts. That is where my daughter and her family are on a holiday right now!!!!!!Cairns!!!But.,..everything seems to be OK there!!!!
Not so much for the Whitsundays , Fraser Island and Hamilton Island. They prepare for the worst. By the way 2 Dutch girls belong to the last 50 [ from 3500] for the “dream-job” on Hamilton Island. Hope the winds are not TOO destructive, so the “beauty” on the island and under water remains! Hamilton seems to have cyclone-proof resorts, but still….!!!
The cyclone is heading south to the Central Queensland Coast and might even hit in the next couple of days Brisbane as a category 4.
” Poor” Australia , it has been hit hard this beginning of 2009, by the elements of nature ; terrible fires, huge flooding and now a cyclone categorie 5, with lots of rain and savage winds.
Look for  the latest on www.weather.ninemsn.com.au
and
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/charts/tropicalcyclone.jsp

 This weekend the plenary meeting from IGC has been  held in Lausanne, on Friday and Saturday. One day earlier, on  Thursday the stewards, jurors and IGC delegates have met.
Will the WGC for open, 18 m. and 15 m. 2012, be held in Uvalde [ Texas ] or in Narromine [ Australia ]. I know both airfields well, so though I hope with my Aussie heart for Narromine , I can understand the vote for Uvalde.
For club, standard and world class only one bid is received at this stage; Adolf Gonzales Chaves Airfield in Argentina. Never been there!!!Would love to go there! The IGC is always a bit slow with their minutes, so till now I have heard nothing. Will keep you informed, as many more items wil have been discussed!
[look for news at www.fai.org/gliding]

One of “my” Dutch team pilots , Baer Selen, won gold in Uvalde when I was his team captain. I remember the great weather , the draught, the heat and  …….the parties at the Hufstuttlers, if I spell their name well after so many years .Was it 1991?? It was Baer’s second world title after Chatauroux in France .
This year Baer will be coach for the young and very talented team from Holland participating in Finland. So look out young -under -25 -pilots!!!!!

Sorry, but I did not look at the comment box for ages !!!! The box is filtered but I still  received 23 comments and 7 were good, the rest totally nonsense, that’s why I do not look. In the past I got up to 300 nonsens -comments so, the boys “keeping” my site in good order,have put a spam filter in. It still gives rubish, but luckily not as much anymore. Thank you for the comments and I will get back on to them.

That’s it for now, you are up to date! Enjoy your week, so will I.

cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      March 1 – 2009

Our metereologic spring starts today with 13 dgr. C. Not bad!
Our winter was cold , the coldest in the last 12 years with an average temperature of 2.1 dgr. instead of 3.3 dgr. , but dry, 135 mm instead of the normal 194 mm. The lowest temperature was minus 20.8 dgr. THAT WAS BAD, fr Holland!!!!!
According to the news nature here is slow this year, nearly spectecular slow , up to 7/8 weeks. Not very normal and as they say, not so much due to the cold winter, but more because the winter before was a “soft one”, so a huge difference!

Biggest inpact in the news this week was the crash from Turkish Airlines flight TK 1951, which just crashed short of the runway in a field which was just plowed,[which might have saved lives,] at Schiphol-Amsterdam -Airport. 9 People got killed including the Turkish crew from 3 pilots , the youngest only 28 years old and busy with his configuration to this type.
As the plane fell just out of the sky, the “poor” crew was crushed in the cockpit, by  the instrumentpanel behind them. Many people broke their back after the huge impact and at this stage still 6 people fight for their life. The plane dropped and broke in 3 parts, the tail was totally loose from the fuselage. It’s there and in the front were the dead and badly hurt people were found.
135 People including the crew of 7 were on board.
At least 2 from 4 employees from Boeing were under them and died. They were in Turkey for business and on their way home to the USA via Schiphol Airport Amsterdam. One is still in hospital .
I saw the plane inside, on the news a few seconds after the crash. One of the passengers made a video with his mobile. I t was not nice and even less nice to hear. Amazing that so many people survived. Just amazing. Maybe wednesday we will hear what happened!

Ryan Air wants to ask money for going to the toilet during their flight???!!!!Only 1 euro but if you can “fight” with it , the 100 million Euro loss from last year……?????They also want to close all check -in – desks, so lots of ground personal will be sacked!

Something totally different now; I have to admit it; Carnival last weekend, was great fun again. With my medallion , received in 1968 for “being a fanatic carnivaller” [I made with 3 girl friends the special carnavals- flag which was hanging for 5 days every year on the balcony of the town hall ], proudly on my breast ,I even went in a huge swing mill, ……after 2 beers.
Last time I did that was in 1968, with my friend Hans at 11 PM after more beers then 2. He looked very pale, I remember that VERY well!!!!!!
Hans is the one who brought me in contact with gliding. Without him nobody in the gliding world would have ever known about me! Not that this is very important for all of you, but for me it is.I lost a lot due to gliding , but also got a lot back in return.
Sadly enough Hans died after a fatal accident in his DG 400 on a club camp, a few years ago!

35.000 people have send a reaction to the Queensland bureau of tourism to apply for the 6 month  “blogger job ” on Hamilton Island.Under them 151 people from Holland!! Indeed a dream-job. It crossed my mind, but …I prefer Finland for 2 weeks!!

I was most impressed with the nice ridge flights over the Appalachians [ up to North and south from Marion-County Brown] in the USA by the JS revelation [18m] , the ASW 20, the LS 3 , LS 8 and Schweitzer SGS1-26A. The pilots , one flew 2x a 1000 k. were excited about the amazing spring weather . Gaining your diamond in a Schweitzer is pretty special too !!!!

Sadly enough fires are treathening again some of the suburbs from Melbourne.
Jo asked me to tell you that during the Horsham Week an amount of 1300,- A. D. was collected as a donation to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. Fantastic!!!

Former tuggie at Sportavia, Cameron Bodey , announced his engagement to Pan, a Thai young lady and stewardess at China Airlines. Congratulations!!! They are going to live in Thailand. Cameron is the son of Ross and Glenda Bodey , our former partners in Sportavia. Cameron’s life is a bit as ” a dream come through” in a boys book. He was asked to learn first and fly then, for Comores Airlines as co-pilot on a Boeing 747. They flew between Marseille and Moroni and  since then Cam is on the “rails”. He is a co-pilot now at Air Hong Kong, a cargo airline owned jointly by Cathay and DHL.
More or less the same happened to ” Bones ” [Ashock],another tuggie, who “ended” as captain on a Grumman Turbo Mallard , a water plane , flying employees  for  pearl- company Paspaly to open sea,[ the pearl-farms]  from Darwin. He started on “our” Grumman Albatross, an amphibian, which was flown from the USA [Nevada] to Australia [Tocumwal ]. Not a lot of young men, have the opportunity in their life  to learn how to fly such a big water-plane !
When talking about former tuggies, Simon, who is an airline pilot now in OZ, is going to marry on June 13 2009.

In Lausanne will be on March 5 2009, a meeting for ICG jurors and stewards. I was invited but had to apologize for personal reasons.
On the agenda;
1.Experience from 2008 WGC from the Chief stewards.
2.Stewards and jurors relationships and responsibilities.
3.Chief stewards role before the event.
4.Training and qualification for stewards and jury.
5.Any other business.
For sure all pilots flying ECG’s or WGC’s will benefit from the results of the discussions by having the best informed jurors and stewards.I put my opinion on paper and have send it to Peter Eriksen,{IGC secretary} who will take care that “my word will be spread”.

Interesting was the opinion from Woody Woodward in the International Gliding. He flies “for ages” in Bitterwasser. In the GI he writes; ” Contrary to what readers may have heard -we have had the worst weather for glider flying at Bitterwasser [and all of Namibia] since 1999. Very wet was the season opening with standing water everywhere. This is a very explosive situation, just add heat and you have a thunderstorm with lightning and rain and sometimes very heavy rain and high winds.”  Woody flew his new EB 28 and was more then happy with it. Read for more news International Gliding -issue March 2009.

Jo, is visiting Woody this week, so I am anxious to know more, as I had the feeling from all the stories from friends that Bitterwasser and even more Gariep Dam in S A were “hot” . Bitterwasser was as best airfield, 2d behind Corowa and Gariep Dam number 3, so TOO bad it can’t have been.What I just heard from friends was that Gariep Dam had super weather! No worries over there!
Some pilots doubt at this stage if they go to the 2009 / 2010 S.A. season as elections will be held. They first look what is happening, which seems to me a very good idea!

I just received some interesting statistics from one of my readers. THANK YOU!!!!!
He compared the OLC flights from Australia and Africa , based on the data from the 4 main soaring fields.
I give them to you as I got them and comments on his conclusions are welcome.
Here you are;
Africa in order of number OLC flights   #   km.
Bitterwasser                     747       648
Gariep Dam                      639      686
Pokweni                            369      642
Kiripotib                           108       565
TOTAL OLC FLIGHTS                         1863

Africa in order of average length of OLC flights   # km.
Gariep Dam                       686
Bitterwasser                      648
Pokweni                              642
Kiripotib                             565
                                                   AV km.
TOTAL KILOMETERS FLOWN [AFRICA]    1.219,919    655

Australia in order of number OLC flights    # km.
Corowa                                901        557
Benalla                                 677        397
Narromine                          234        369
Tocumwal                           127         413
TOTAL OLC FLIGHTS                           1939

Australia in order of average length of OLC flights.
Corowa                                 557
Tocumwal                            413
Benalla                                 397
Narromine                          369
                                                   AV km.
TOTAL KILOMETERS FLOWN [Australia]   909.816        469
His conclusion;
Africa and Australia are AS BIG as winter-destinations with about the same amount of flights.
Africa shows MORE longer flights; 30% average more!
Australia has better outlanding possibilities.
Namibia dominates the African market and Victoria/NSW the Australian.
In his opinion Africa is better for European guests , less far travelling , no time zone and Australia for guests from China and Japan.

These are statistics, I DO NOT  DARE to tell you were to go, of course you decide for yourself! But ….it is interesting.

Received a mail from the AIRBUS VISIT SHOP! [Toulouse Blagnac]
” To the occasion of the 40thiest anniversary from the first CONCORDE flight the AIRBUS shop  sells a special edition of a t shirt.” [m-l-xl-xxl]
A real collectors item. Price 22 Euro. Available from MARCH 1 2009. Look for more information at
www.taxiway.fr

Last but not least; Peter “PIP” Borrman died in a tragic and fatal accident at Shepparton Airport last wednesday. I did not know Pip very well ,I only met him twice, but saw him in his nice red “machine” fly over Tocumwal many, many times. He was an outstanding aerobatic performer. We lost another great pilot!My sympathy goes out to his family and friends and…I know he had many!

Enough, ….. the sun is shining, time to go outside…..see you next week.
cheers Ritz

 Alphen aan den Rijn                  Thursday  19-02-2009           Carnaval!

It is more or less cucumber time ,as the overseas glider pilots are nearly all back home, waiting for their gliders to arrive in a few weeks but they can  still enjoy the great weather they had and the fantastic flights. It takes some time to have filled in club friends and other friends and family with the stories!
Those, without taking their gliders, try to “dig them up” to prepare them for the new season. So not a lot of news on the gliding front, though Jo was so kind to send us the report on the Horsham Week. Thanks Jo!

When I received my paper this week, huge black letters on the front page told me that
 ” the crisis in Holland is so BIG, that the gouvernement cannot solve the problems alone , we ALL have to help”!!!!
The Dutch economy is going “down ” 3.5 % is the expectation and this is AS bad as in 1931. So….everybody will be touched by it, not only Holland but , as you might have felt already too, the whole wide world!

My neighbour came to borrow my car. He was fired  by the ING bank together with 2700 other people, so his lease-car was gone. I told him that I had RESIGNED and he nearly fell of his chair.
Yes I did! And it feels very good!!!! Just a few months earlier then planned, I started my well deserved retirement, so…more time to write and visit comps. Love it!

Another article which is of interest for all our glider pilots is;
” Spray shows in early stage skin cancer”.
According to this story, airline pilots have a 10 times bigger chance to get malicious skin cancer specially those pilots who fly transatlantic. It seems they have 15 % more chance to get it , when pilots passing 5 or more time-zones even have a chance of 25 %.
Not good all this UV!!!!!!
This new method is from Dr. Neumann from the Erasmus Medical Center and his research is published in “Lasers in surgery and Medicine”. [published on February 17 2009]  What happens!?
1. This fluorescent detection-spray is sprayed over the skin.
2. The patient then goes in a cabin with soft light for 2 hours, to let the spray soak in.
3. A digital camera makes pictures with different colours of light.
4. A computer translates this in a picture and beginning skin cancers are visible.

The article finishes with ;
” Due to further investigation it was found out that helicopter pilots wearing NO helmet get it more then average,  AS WELL AS HOBBY PILOTS WHO GO GLIDING!!! “
The author for the paper [ www.ad.nl] Marc Kruyswijk happens , as I found out, to be the husband of my daughters friend Febe. I found it very interesting.
So be careful!!! In the past I saw “our” Japanese guests wear white soft gloves, white long sleeved pullovers , scarfs to protect their neck , of cours hats and some were even wearing face-masks. I found it then a bit “weird”, but it seems they were earlier smart then I and knew already more!!!

Though my friend Jo was not in Horsham, she still has send us the report from the Horsham Week, this time written by the competition director Geoff Vincent. Thanks !!!!
 Jo’s husband Tony was flying and ended as number 1 in his class. Both are off to the USA  [have fun!]visiting Colorado and….a glider friend. Is n’t it great that we, in this world of gliding ,make and have friends everywhere in the world. It starts already with the juniors ,as I found out my self, who make sometimes life-long-friendships at their first international comps.

Enjoy the Horsham Week!

 Horsham Week 2009
by contest director, Geoff Vincent
Approx 44 pilots and 35 gliders participated, including several 2-seaters, pilot pairs and 3 self-launchers, 8 interstate pilots (4 SA, 2 NSW, 1 Qld and 1 WA).  Pilots were from Grampians, Geelong, Beaufort, VMFG, Corangamite, Temora, Southern Cross, Mt Beauty, Darling Downs, Waikerie, Gliding Club of WA, Adelaide, Bendigo and Gliding Club of Victoria.  Bacchus Marsh clubs provided half of the competitors with over half of those from Beaufort. 

Eventually, there were 4 tugs in use after initial setbacks with the non-availability of the Geelong Gliding Club Pawnee and engine problems with the Horsham Flying Club Jabiru.  Typical aerotow launch time was 57 mins for 32 gliders and 75 mins from first launch to last gate opening.  Towing heavy two-seaters (eg Twin Astir) behind the Jabiru was like watching a cruise liner behind a harbour tug – very sedate, epitomised by P2s succinct observation: “that end fence has got rust on it”.

HFC made a Jabiru available for temp trace flights.  Max Hedt’s comment on day 5 after the east wind had brought a bit of smoke over – “it was IFR above 4,000 feet, I think you should call the day off” – but it eventually turned out to be the best day of the week.

East-west runway 08/26 was used on only one day which involved sharing with the RFDS Super King Air.  Some 20 gliders moved off the bitumen strip onto the grass in 5 minutes to allow the King Air to proceed to and from the terminal. 

Black Saturday 7/02/2009 – Extreme weather conditions with 25 kt winds gusting 50 kts and temperature peaking at 46 degrees C. Grass fires around Horsham resulted in the loss of some 10-12 houses, the golf club and about 40,000 trees. No fatalities or serious injuries reported. All ideas about flying were abandoned.
     
8/02/2009 – Horsham airfield closed to glider operations due to intense water-bombing and fire-spotting aircraft traffic on the active runway. An enforced non-flying day.
     
Contest day 1 – 9/02/2009 – A generally blue day with a moderate south-west wind. A separate racing task was set for each class with the task areas north-east and north of Horsham. 30 gliders launched by 3 tugs in under 75 minutes. Most people had a good day with everyone getting home.
     
10/02/2009 – A cool and partly cloudy day prior to gridding, with good cumulus streets and a 15-20 kt southerly wind.  However, by launch time the sky was over-developed and the temperature was falling. Six 15m class gliders were launched but 3 fell down immediately, with the remaining 3 able to achieve a slow climb to 5000 ft cloudbase. Deteriorating conditions forced cancellation of the day, although several gliders later managed good XC flights in the proposed task area north of Horsham. Them’s the breaks! 
     
Contest day 2 – 11/02/2009 – Cool, cloudy and windy early in the day but cleared to a fine but windy afternoon. The task setters opted for a moderate distance AAT with 20 km circles at the two turn-points. It was a challenging day, especially the into-wind final leg, but everyone got home. 
    
Contest day 3 – 12/02/2009 – Persistent strong south to south-east winds kept temperatures down but provided some good streeting opportunities.  Open, 15m and Standard flew a racing task (range 263-313 km) with Sports battling out a 3 hour AAT. Only one outlanding, 10km from home – Philip Volk (VMFG) flying a Discus CS.   Philip got a lift back to Horsham airfield to organise his retrieve crew and that was the only outlanding for the week.
 
Contest day 4 – 13/02/2009 – Soaring conditions improving, with moderating south-east to easterly winds, bringing warmer temperatures but poorer visibility due to bushfire smoke from eastern areas.  Sports class flew a 3.5 hr AAT, with most of the field returning early.  Open, 15m and Standard flew racing tasks ranging between 280 and 370 km.
     
Contest day 5 – 14/02/2009 – The initially selected tasks to the south were abandoned before briefing due to heavy smoke in the Grampians area and replaced with a 150 km lap Run Task taking in Minyip, Warracknabeal and Antwerp to the north. It was a late start and all classes flew a 2 hr time frame with the exception of Open class with 2.5 hrs – bringing everyone home in plenty of time for getting in flight data and de-rigging before the evening’s festivities began. The soaring conditions were spectacular with many pilots reporting 11-12 kt climbs to 8-9,000 feet.  It was hard to beat Jack Hart’s 14 kt climb which he left when it weakened to only10 kts – we should all be so lucky.

Horsham Week recognises many and varied achievements.  The ‘Daily Devil’ award, made to committers of silly or noteworthy acts (offender had to wear a silver horned cap during briefing) this year went to:
* David Cleland – opening the canopy before stopping
* Geoff Vincent – use of inappropriate language on CTAF radio frequency
* Gary Stevenson – assault by motor vehicle on airport property
* Simon Brown – bunk-house break-in after locking himself out
* Craig Vinall – reverse landing on active runway
* Alex Kreti – wheel-up landing + the GCV ‘Turkey Trophy’.

One recalcitrant whined that the registration desk was run by the gestapo – Trevor Hancock retorted “I take that as a compliment”.

It was a good week that ended well with a lot of happy faces and promises to be there in 2010.  With thanks to many who helped out including Horsham Flying Club – premises, infrastructure and willing members; Horsham Council – airfield, coordination with CASA (NOTAMS etc); organising committee – treasurer Trevor Hancock, safety officer John Anselmi, tugmaster Phil McCann, scorer Brian Wood (and for provision of the PA system), met David Wilson and Max Hedt for airfield liaison and temp trace flights.  There was the usual essential support from Horsham catering crew headed by Lorelle Esmore, tug pilots, task setting team, grid teams and launch crews. Internode provided wireless broadband service which was of great assistance. 

Winners were:    
Open: Tony Tabart – Corangamite SC, Vic – Ventus 2cM
15m: Andy Smith – Mt Beauty GC, Vic – Ventus B
Standard: Craig Collings – Mt Beauty GC, Vic – ASW19
Sports: Jarek Mosiejewski – Geelong GC, Vic – Puchacz
   
The Achievement Award went to Craig Collings in recognition of his outstanding competition performance, even more noteworthy considering that he had less than 20 gliding hours in his logbook in November 2008.
    
For full results go to http://www.printerschoice.com.au/Horsham2009

 I am off to “celebrate” Carnaval in the southern part of Holland , where Carnaval is really “HOT” so enjoy your weekend and week.CU later

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                    Saturday 14-02-2009

With still 12 big fires burning, the firebrigade in OZ deserves for each fire fighter a medal. One of the agg-pilots I know is flying 6 hours a day to help distinguish the fires from above with water bombers. On the news here is , that the weather at this stage helps the fire brigade as temperatures are 20 dgr. less ,the wind decreased and some rain falls, not much but all water helps…..
On the other hand I also heard , that temperatures are going to rise again, with the wind picking up and the expectation of thunderstorms, where lightning can bring new fires. Unfortunately it seems to be ,not over yet.
As one of my friends wrote; ” I think that we will all be touched in some way by this disaster.”
At this moment , I hear, they fear for 300 people dead and 2000 houses lost!!! I don’t even want to know anymore, how many animals have been killed too. It is all too sad for words, but ….if you wish or not, life continues…..

The Horsham week is on, so pilots have gone to more or less the last competition of the OZ season. Horsham , NW of Melbourne, always has a very friendly finish of the gliding season with nice tasks, friendly people , more or less the sub top , plus some toppers, no stress to win , just relax and fly , enjoy your friends and the good food they are well-known for.

On google earth I found a site to check where the fires are and this site is updated by the fire brigade. On it I saw also fires south west of Horsham, but pilots are busy with day 5 , so they seem to have no problems ,also not with the smoke, which in some areas sometimes only gave 2 km. of visibility.

The season in Africa was already over , now the season in OZ is over too, though I know from experience that you can fly great flights with good to fantastic conditions till Easter.
The Corowa pilots have packed their gliders in the containers and one of these days they will be shipped back to Holland, just in time for their owners to start with the European season.
Today is such a nice day. At 10 AM it was blue and very sunny , though cold with 3 dgr. but I got some tan. At noon…. great clouds and high …and at 2 some overcast , but it looks and smells like “things are going to happen again”. The first motor glider flew over my house!!!

New soaring-guests however still visit Australia, as I heard  that longtime Sportavia guests Jochen and Hans arrived for some good soaring in Tocumwal at Sportaviation. They had a good season , which pleases me. Also Benalla picked up so did Narromine. Great!
Best of course was Corowa and specially January made their season.Lots of long cross country flights, also from my friends Daan , Harry, Vincent and Pepe , made them as airfield pass the 500.000 km. mark which is fabulous!

In Europe preparations for the JWGC in Finland are in full swing . At this stage 36 prelimenary entrees have been received in standard class and 42 in club class with 18 different nations participating!!!!The comps will be flown from the 24th of June till the 3d of July, unofficial training on the 21st of June and official on the 22d and 23d of 2009!

 SORRY …I just lost ALL statistics I evaluated ” checking the OLC.” I start again but it will be shorter now!And ….just take it please, for what it is worth, as some pilots can stay 4 months overseas, “using ” the bad, good and hammerweather- days and some have to fly in a shorter time -their holiday-, so it is all a bit “coloured”.But still…..very good results!!!!

First the REAL flying , which of course is the OLC-FAI;

Champion–Mannie Mc Lauchlan from South Africa , flying his ASG 29 from mainly Gariep Dam and Welkom [ SA Nationals].Great effort , good pilot! I met him in Eskilstuna during the WGC, but do not really know him. Anyhow…congratulations Mannie!!
The best FAI flight is made by “mate” Terry Cubley in his “old” LS 3 from Gawler. What an effort! 1043 km. with a speed of 114 km/h.
I know Terry and his wife Vicky,since 1984 when we met first in Rieti during the pre-worlds. Before I knew him , he was already “great” in soaring, he still is and we talk  30 years later.And…he still flies world comps , he was in Rieti last year and….WHEN Narromine would win the bid for the 2012 comps, for sure he will be there again, flying in his home -country!!!!

Looking at all the flights; the best  this season are made by Hans Wiesenthal , both in FAI -OLC or OLC.
He flew the unbelievable amount of 33.235.13 km. in 43 flights from Gariep Dam in South Africa.
 If you look at the FAI-OLC only, he flew over 9000 km. more then the runner up , who had “only” 5 flights less. Yes ,..Hans stayed for a few months in Gariep Dam, but…he is 70 years ‘young’  now and this season with the many hot days,  he had to fly nearly every day, a great effort and you really have to be fit then. Luckily he is!!His wife Ute is his very devoted crew, for many, many years.Well I think everybody agrees ,he truly deserves to be the number 1 pilot from the best flights for the 2008/2009 season.

 Of course the very long flight from Klaus Ohlmann, made him the champion of the OLC with the best flight too. You know how I think over these kind of flights, but…..flying 1806 km. in a DG 400 , makes it very special again!

The best club was the Gliding club of Victoria [Benalla] and it pleases me a lot that Benalla is “hot” again. They hosted the State comps and the Nationals,  both flown in  great weather and with a good organization. Many pilots , I heard, had the old-Benalla feeling again. 

Last but not least Corowa managed to fly a fantastic record of over 500.000 km. cross country in 879 flights . Cool!!!!!Their concept of shipping the pilot ‘s OWN glider  in a very safe way, for 3 months to Australia, is a great success. Lot’s of our Sportavia guests have moved to Corowa ,after the demise of Sportavia and it pleases me a lot , that I hear every year better stories of their soaring holiday.I can only say, job welldone and congratulations to Grietje [with 2 small children!!!! ]and Francesco with their team.

cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn       08-02-2009

With the highest temperatures ever , up to 47 dgr. C. in Victoria ,the S.S.E of Australia struggled with the heat this last week and still stuggles and HOW!!!!!!
For sure you would not mind that I am pretty sad about the huge bush fires in Victoria and NSW. I still see Australia as my second home-country and Tocumwal as my second home-town.

Till now “ASH-WEDNESDAY” in 1983 was the worst , if we talk bush-fires!  I think 75 people got killed then and it is written in every-bodies mind!!! Even in mine,  though my first visit to OZ was in December 1984. But somewhere deep in my heart I have the feeling that these wild bush-fires are an even worse disaster. From my friend Margie I just heard , that “55 people are known to be dead already”. Hundreds of houses and personal belongings….gone!!!And what about all the animals living in the bush!!!!! Very sad!!!!”
It is a bit tragic that we love the heat  for our beautiful sport of gliding, while others hate it and are anxious already when they see the “total-fire-ban-signs”.

For some of the pilots in OZ, this very hot weather is an extra bonus in the end of the overseas season for their  long distance-flying. It is pretty unusual to fly a 1000 km. flight in the beginning of February as the days are really getting shorter, but using “everything” some pilots managed to do so. Great effort!!!! On the other hand with such searing temperatures, where can you be better then high up in the cool air.

On the other hand, parts of Queensland , in the East of Australia, suffer too and are TOTALLY flooded and warnings for snakes and crocodiles on the search for food and dry land have gone out.Poor Australia, one part in fire, one in water!!!
With the “red” wind up to 60 plus km /h. on the ground it all started a couple of days ago again.I have been once in such a “blizzard”, where the fire goes with the speed of the wind. It hit Tocumwal and we were surrounded by fire at the airfield. NO way to go anywhere!!!! TRAPPED….. REALLY TRAPPED and that “horrible”  feeling of 53 dgr. C.!!!!
So with wet blankets, we were waiting on the side of the pool to jump in when the fire would hit and fly over…..January 3 it was in 1990 or 91!!!!! We were lucky that the fire-brigade and the hundreds of volunteers helped out around the town to stop the fires.The fires even managed  to jump OVER the Murray River .
Also due to the fact that the wind direction changed,  the old beautiful WWII hangar was saved. But the poor sheep at the airfield all had to be killed , as the speed-fire burnt their eyes and legs. The smell of burnt flesh from the poor kangaroos was dreadful. A memory I will never ever forget!

For sure pilots from Lasham would have loved to be in OZ, as they suffer from the worst snow up to 22 cm. in London. Not “ever” ,as in 1963 there was 33 cm. and in 1982 28 cm.
Reason for this extreme weather is ,as they told me, that very active depressions / showers activate the cold freezing air over the Noord- sea and they are pushed to the south -east of the UK by a strong Easterly. The South East even got 30 cm. of snow. Nice for the kids, not so much for the traffic, whatever train, car or plane. And….it is not over yet!

I read over the last 2 weeks with great enthusiasm the stories from Vincent Dolfin. I know his family well and it is refreshing to “see” how a young Dutch guy from just 34 years old on his first trip to Australia and his first real long distance flying, looks at this for him new world. Indeed very refreshing, outgoing and with self-discipline and self-knowledge!
I quote a few words about  his last flight on February 6:
” It is over! What a great flight to finish this holiday, what a beautiful day! Clear blue and an early start! A bit difficult in the beginning, but then…”full on”  and up to 3600 m. and go-go-go!!!Straight up to the North and back. The thermal activity stopped pretty early today , but I managed to get home without problems. One final circle around the field and the last landing for the season on Corowa airfield”
He is grateful for the possibilities he had and the experiences and for “this fantastic adventure”!!!! Luckily it is not too cold when he arrives back in Holland, though light wet snow might welcome him.
He is THE example of being on the right time , at the right spot. Perfect gliding weather nearly every day and when soaring is impossible due to the smoke of the fires , he had just left  again.

Next week we look at the statistics from the season 2008 / 2009, for whatever they are worth!!!!
I will  try, in my way, to evaluate the overseas season brought to ALL of us by the OLC. Pilots have put their flights ON the OLC to share them with us! That’s correct , is n’t it!?

That’s it for now, I am not the fittest person in the world at the moment, so see you next week in better conditions,  also with the flooding and wild bush-fires.
And  ……compliments to a for me totally unknown UK pilot, who managed to fly his first 1000 km . [1159] flight in NZ, starting from Omarama in a discus 2 and enjoying in the end the great view from 24.000 ft. While flying, he says , he even “found” Australian-bush-fire-smoke” in the wave, so not the very best visibility on lower and medium level.

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     01-02-2009

January is over and slowly the overseas season for European pilots is over too. It was as far as I heard a GREAT summer, wherever the pilots were in Africa or Australia.
Australia suffers at the moment from a heat wave with temperatures up to 45 dgr. and not for one day, but already 5 in a row. Thunderstorms might give some relieve.Since 1855 it has not been so hot in Victoria, 43 dgr. is a very high temperature for Melbourne.Sadly enough 20 people died already. Bush fires have started and I know by experience how bad they can be, no electricity for 500.000 houses in and around Melbourne due to over -use of air -conditioners.

It is a bit dual to be happy over the heat for soaring, while people die from it. But gliderpilots love the hot weather , though I heard from one pilot, that he started a bit later to be able to go straight away high up to the cool air, after all others had started. Not too much fiddling around on the hot tarmac on the ground.

Wow ….Australia finishes off the season 2008/2009 with fabulous weather. All disappointment over the less good November/December period have been forgotten.
I was most impressed with the Danish record from Hans Hoeck flown in the ASG 29/18m. over a 1000 km triangle on January 30. Great stuff! One day later he flies 957 km ., to top it off with a beautiful out and return today from Corowa up North, to Cobar, “the middle of nowhere”, another 1000 km. flight!

Michael [Sommer] only has the weekends off from work . Not long ago he flew a 1000 km flight from Benalla, now he flew one yesterday and today. WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!Good for Benalla too!!!
 Great flight from Terry [Cubley] from Gawler;1055 km. in his “old” LS3.
What about the flights from Jan Umlauf and Stefan Soell from Tocumwal. Both airline captains from Lufthansa love long distance flying. In an LS 4 [read WITHOUT engine] they flew last week over 850 km. not going with the clouds, but great set triangles.One day later even over 900 km. Splendid!!!
Corowa has a lot of guests flying in their own gliders, brought in the containers from Holland and Tjech Rep. by Francesco. Most of them stay between the beginning of November when the containers arrive and the middle of February, when they depart again.They all must have loved January!!! More 1000 km. flights and other fabulous flights, have been flown and on February 1 they top the list of airfields on the OLC over Bitterwasser and Gariep Dam. Congratulations!!

One of the Corowa guests at the moment is Vincent. This is his first time in Australia and he even celebrated his 34th birthday in Corowa with his parents Max and Carla. I know them for many years when Vincent still was a little boy running up and down the hill from the gliding center Terlet. Now he nearly flew 1000 km.  [made 952 km. ], is amazed about ” the nothing” on the ground …..yes Ivanhoe is pretty “empty, only scrub and loves it. For sure not his last time in Australia. What a way to celebrate your 34th birthday, what a great exemple of being on the right spot at the right time!!I loved his comment after flying over the Lake Mulwala full of dead grey-coloured trees;” and I thought what a lot of sailingboats.”

Great to see Chad [Dvorchak]from the USA being happy in Omarama,[ it seems he never gets old!] and kilometer-eater Terry [Bellair]who moved for a while, from Bendigo to Corowa for some great flying as did/does Roger [Druce] from the VFMG.[ Victorian gliding club.]

Trips to Finland and Australia are firmly booked. I will take my laptop with me , to keep you informed, though it is still a long time before this all happens. But it makes me happy already NOW!

 This morning started not too good for me. I got the message that last friday good friend and many times great customer at Sportavia, from the UK, Mel Eastburn has died.
Mel flew several years with us in Tocumwal. He could be really happy with a good flight. His face told it all. One year he wrote us that he could not come. Cancer was diagnosed but …he was going to fight it. He did! After ..he came back again. Around Christmas this year he visited with his wife Jan, Mikiko and Shige in Tokyo. He met them at Sportavia. He even was their witness at the wedding in the garden of  Sportavia. I wrote them an email how glad I was that Mel could travel to Japan and how good he looked on the picture I received from Mikiko.
 This morning the message was that he had died peaceful.I was very sad , as I did not expect his death so quickly after Tokyo, but I feel proud to have known him.I wish Jan and the family all the best  and I know I speak now in name of ALL his friends!!We will treasure the memories we had with him.

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn         25-01-2009

We had an extreme low pressure last friday;960 hectopascal! Since they started recording, the pressure here in Holland,  was only once lower in 1989 with 956 hectopascal. Result lots of rain and strong ,to very strong wind.
Not as bad however as in parts of France [regio of Bordeaux] and Spain [Nord] where severe wind up to 160 km p/h ., gusting to 192 km/h.,  hammered on buildings and  blew over trees and roofs . In total atleast 16 people were killed all over Europe.

No worries however in Benalla where the National championships were held with extremely good weather. What about Tom Claffey who flew with a speed of 159.9 km/h. over 498.8 km?????The SLOWEST in that class flew 128 km/h.
Out of 11 days 8 days were flown in 3 classes and 7 in open class.
Glorious winner in standard class was the number 3 from the World comps in Rieti; Peter Temple with nearly 600 points ahead on the number 2.
In 15 m. John Buchanan was an even more glorious winner. In 8 days of flying he “got” 7942 points, meaning he nearly won every day.

In 18 m. class it was another win for Graham Parker. Great pilot and great results this seaon. It is clearly HIS year. Strong pilots in this class with David Jansen and Bruce Taylor, wellknown WGC pilots, as runner up and number 3.
In open class good old friend Paul Mander won before Dion Weston and good old friend Gerrit.
On day 2 Gerrit had an airspace violation before start, loosing the day; zero points. He won however 4 days was one day 2d and on the last day 7th.

For the full story see below, as Jo was quick and efficient as ever. Thanks again Jo!!!

I was very pleased to see Jan and Stefan in Tocumwal. Jan is a real km. eater even when he flies an LS 4. He flew 857 km.!!!!!Stefan flies every year his own glider in Tocumwal and he knows how to fly long distance too, not afraid of having NO engine!!
 VERY pleased also with the 1000 km flight from Neil from Toc airport.
 And what about “mate” Daan…. He added another 1000 km flight from Corowa.Yes Australia finally has in January its REAL OZ weather!!!!!So it should!!!!

Still good in Africa too. Hans has made already 42 fights till now and is clearly leading the FAI OLC class with  22.252.95 points , flying 27,3334.88 km.
Both Hans and Pepe flew in the past in Tocumwal. Pepe also made 41 flights till now in Narromine and Corowa and  has flown 13.478.97 km.Both pilots are very satisfied over the places where they fly now, which is great to hear!

In Santiago in Chile , the Grand Prix Qualifying is on with 3 European pilots in the top 3.
After 6 days out of 8 , Uli Schwenk is leading before Tilo Holighaus and Thomas Gostner. I heard a fatal accident has happened but I could not find any proof of that till now. My source is very reliable, so I guess I should be sad over 2 fatal accidents during the GP over the last years.[New Zealand and Chile].

Then better some good news before I leave you to Jo.
I know my readers are mostly also my friends and a lot of them live in Australia.
From October 13 till November  12 2009 , I will be back in Tocumwal and I am very excited to go back again. From November 12 till 19 I will spend some time in Cairns before flying home back to Holland.

So enjoy now the story from Benalla by Jo!

47th Multiclass Nationals
Gliding Club of Victoria, Benalla
12 – 23 January 2009

Practice Mon 12 Jan 09

55 pilots entered the Nationals – Standard 19 pilots, Open x 8, 18 metre x 12, 15 metre x 16.  41 pilots launched on practice day, several resting after the Vic State Comp last week.

Cu was predicted over the distant mountains and to the north-east, with max temperature around 34 degrees, moderate instability and some thermal distortion.

The day turned out to be blue and there was less cu on track than predicted; there were 7 or 8 knots at 7,000′ but it was difficult below 5,000′ and conditions weakened at the end of the task.

Winners: 
Standard:  Tobias Geiger  (LS 4A) at 117.1 km/h over 328.1 km
15m:  John Buchanan  (ASW27) at 121.8 km/h over 315.2km
18m:  Bruce Taylor  (Ventus 2cT) at 120.8 km/h over 363.2km
Open:  Gerrit Kurstjens  (Nimbus 4T) at 114.4 km/h over 348.5km
Day 1 Tue 13 Jan 09

A day of extreme fire danger and a total fire ban is declared in Victoria.  A slow moving pressure system is situated in the Tasman Sea and a low pressure trough over the Bight will reach south-west Victoria late today.  Cu over the distant mountains and to the north-east is predicted with a max temp of 38 degrees and slight-moderate instability with some thermal distortion. Max height DALR 9500 ave lift 6-8 kts max 10+.    

6.30pm Day 1 Tue 13 Jan 09

The temperatures mid-afternoon were down a bit and there was not as much cloud as forecast; the day was basically blue.  Pilots reported varied experiences – some found great lift all day and lots of gaggles to hop across, others found sink around the last turn.  There was one outlanding, about 18km from the finish.

Day 2 Wed 14 Jan 09
Provisional day 1 winners:
Standard: Peter Temple (LS 8) – 123.9 km/h – 380.1 km
15 m: David Pietsch  (ASW 20) – 120.8 km/h – 381.2 km – “I’ll take luck over skill any time!”
18 m: Graham Parker (ASG 29) – 131.5 km/h – 487.4 km
Open: Gerrit Kurstjens (Nimbus 4T) – 119.1 km/h – 487.4km

Another total fire ban for most of Victoria.  A slow moving pressure system is situated in the Tasman sea and a trough will move over the contest area today, estimated to be at Benalla at 1700 hrs local time.  The day will be mostly sunny with scattered cu and isolated CB. Max temp expected 42 degrees, with 36 degrees to break to 4,000′.  There will be moderate instability with some thermal distortion.  Max height DALR 13-14,000′ average lift 11-12 kts max 14.   

Racing tasks were again set for all classes.

Michael Sommer, who lives in Melbourne, saw that it was to be a good day and has come up to Benalla to fly a Nimbus into the mountains.

11.10am day 2 Wed 14 Jan 09

Pilots’ meeting called on the grid. 
Day not starting as early as predicted and cirrus is moving in.
A & B racing tasks canned; task now C task – a shorter AAT for each class.

3.15pm day 2 Wed 14 Jan 09

6 club gliders launched at 10.30am to capitalise on the 36 degree trigger temperature, but there was unanticipated inversion over the top.  Feeble lift was contacted 7 km to the north of the field but conditions slackened towards the Warby range.

Non-competition pilots, English visitor Bob Nichols in his Ventus 2 scraped northwards whilst Michael Sommer in a Nimbus 3 and Graham Garlick (competition weatherman) in an ASW20 polished the Chesney rocks.  Graham Garlick succumbed to a smallish paddock to watch Michael Sommer scrape away in feeble lift.  Bob Nichols and Michael Sommer are aiming for a thousand.

In trying 40 degree heat, there was a change of runway as the wind had moved from north-easterly to a westerly, and launch commenced around 2.30pm. 

The AAT was brought back to 2.5 hours with a change to the first circle for Standard – 30 km to 50 km:  Boree Creek 169.2 km (30 / 50); Deniliquin 159.3 km (70); Glenrowan 152.5 km (15) – 319.0 km / 709.8 km (502.1 km) – Standard 282 / 745 (502.1).

At 3pm, 18m competitor Hank Kauffmann reported 7 kts climb to a cooler altitude. The heat on the ground prevails; the Wagga Wagga trace predicts 12,000 ‘ in the direction of the task. 

7.30pm day 2 Wed 14 Jan 09

Last on the grid, Open class gate opened at 4.15pm.  It took a while to break through the inversion, but the day turned out to be good in the air and very fast – strong reliable climbs, which dropped off a bit at about 11,000’. 
11am Thu 15 Jan 09

Yesterday saw Bob Nichols, visiting English pilot, complete 1,030 km – his first thousand.  Michael Sommer did 1,137 km; back at work today! 

The winning speeds for day 2 were fast:
Standard:  Tom Gilbert (SZD 55) – 144.2 km/h – 381.5 km
15m:  John Buchanan (ASW 27) – 142.9 km/h – 379.0 km
18m:  Graham Parker (ASG 29) – 158.9 km/h – 406.8 km
Open:  Gerrit Kurstjens (Nimbus 4T) – 137.3 km/h – 343.2 km

Today, a trough lies to the north-east and a cold front will cross Tasmania. A high pressure system will develop over the Bight.  There is a south-westerly stream with some subsidence, with the temps increasing as the high moves to the east.  There is a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon with a max temp of 32 degrees.  Lift will be unstable; max height DALR 6,000; ave lift 4 kts max 8 kts with a late start – 1730 hrs.  Visibility will be good but reducing in showers.  Hot temps are forecast from Sat onwards.

Today is cancelled because of the overcast conditions with low convection.

2pm day 3 Fri 16 Jan 09

Contest Day 3 has started, with gliders doing an area task of 200-500 km.  Weather was forecast to be cool and blue, with strong south to south-westerly winds.

A westerly wind change didn’t happen as predicted.  Instead the wind strengthened from the south and caused problems during launch because of strong crosswinds.  Standard and 18m were launched on a 3 hour task, and 15m were regridded and launched on a 2 hour task.  Open Class, who were at the rear of the grid, was cancelled because there was not enough time for them to do a task.

11am day 4 Sat 17 Jan 09

Day 3 provisional winners:
Standard:  Tobias Geiger  (LS 4A) – 91.3 km/h – 274.6 km
15m:  John Buchanan  (ASW 27) – 94.1 km/h – 194.1 km
18m:  David Jansen  (ASG 29) – 102.6 km/h – 312.0 km
Open:  day cancelled
There were 5 outlandings.

Graham Garlick predicts that today will be less grueling than yesterday, though the tasks are longer.  The high has moved in, with temps similar to yesterday and weaker winds.  
The day will be blue with some cirrus and cu over the distant mountains and an (optimistic) max temp of 29 degrees.  Lift will be slightly unstable in the lower level with some subsidence.  Max height DALR 7500 ave lift 4-6 kts max 10 start 1200 hrs cut off at Benalla 1800 hrs.

Racing tasks are set for all classes, with Open on the front of the grid.
7.30pm day 4 Sat 17 Jan 09
Last on the grid, 18m was altered to the Standard class task, a shorter racing task, because the day started low at Benalla.

Out on track it steadily improved to the north with some thermals 7 – 8 knots to 7,000′ AGL.  The day slowly deteriorated towards the south and the Mildura River, but then improved slightly on the way home to Benalla.  “It was a better day for golf than gliding.”  5 outlandings so far.
11am day 5 Sun 18 Jan 09

Yesterday, Jay Anderson outlanded at Corowa airfield; he took an aerotow and then landed 16 km from Benalla – another aerotow.

Day 4 provisional winners:
Standard:  Tom Gilbert (SZD 55) – 108.7 km/h – 410.7 km
15m:  John Buchanan  (ASW 27) – 101.3 km/h – 385.4 km
18m:  Graham Parker (ASG 29) – 115.3 km/h – 375.6 km – “thanks to the standard and 15m gliders for creating a trail of plastic for me to follow on the first 2 legs!”

Day 3 provisional winner:
Open:  Gerrit Kurstjens (Nimbus 4T) – 104.1 km/h – 470.5km

After calling in back up loggers, Tim Shirley will finalise day 2 scores incorporating airspace infringements today.

A high pressure system will move across Bass Strait and advance towards the Tasman Sea.  The day will be blue with some cirrus and cu over the distant mountains.  Max temp expected 33 degrees.  Lift will be moderately stable; max height DALR 7000; ave lift 6 – 7 kts max 10+.  Start 1100 hrs cut off at Benalla 1800 hrs. 

Indications are that the day may be slighter better than originally predicted with a northerly tendency bringing higher temperatures. 

AATs have been set in all classes. 18m is first on the grid, Standard, 15m, Open.
 
6pm day 5 Sun 18 Jan 09

The day was similar to yesterday, but a bit better.  Climbs were very broken, average 6 knots, improving towards the end of the tasks.  For once, many pilots were pleased to be getting south of the Murray River and back into Victoria where, today, lift was better.
There were no outlandings.

Spot tracking devices are being used in this competition. Spot is a small (mobile phone size) internal battery powered device that has a GPS for position and communicates back to base via satellite.  The device reports a position every 10 minutes.

Tracking is being displayed at the Benalla clubhouse on a big screen and is also available on the internet.

The Club has 10 spots available through the Gliding Club of Victoria and 10 units compliments of New South Wales Gliding Association.  Additionally, a number of pilots have their own spots.

With 19 gliders in Standard class, 8 in Open, 12 in 18 metre and 16 gliders in 15 metre, the Spots are being placed in one class each day + leaders in other classes.

This is proving a great way to provide interest to those at the competition but left on the ground, and to let the rest of Australia and the world know what’s happening at the Australian Nationals.

To access Spot, use browsers Firefox or Safari – not Internet Explorer.

See also:
http://www.findmespot.com/
http://www.glidingmaps.com/

11am day 6 Mon 19 Jan 09

Day 5 provisional winners:
Standard:  Peter Temple (LS 8) – 112.8 km/h – 347.6 km
15m:  Peter Trotter (ASW 20) – 115.5 km/h – 348.8 km  
18m:  Bruce Taylor (Ventus 2cT) – 122.9 km/h – 442.7 km   
Day 4 provisional winner:
Open: Gerrit Kurstjens (Nimbus 4T) – 114.3 km/h – 345.1 km 

There is a high pressure system in the Tasman Sea and a trough of low pressure will cross western and central Victoria.  The day is blue but there is a possibility of cu mid afternoon at Benalla!  There will be cu over the mountains and to the north-east.  Max temp is expected to be 37 degrees.  Lift will be unstable; max height DALR 10,000; average lift 7 – 9kts, max 12+.  Start 1100 hrs, cut off at Benalla late.                  
 
Graham Garlick launched around1100 hrs and was going through 5,000′ at 10 knots, so his prediction of a good day seems correct.  First competition launch midday – Standard, 15m, 18m, Open – all racing tasks.

7pm day 6 Mon 19 Jan 09

Today turned out to be ‘real gliding weather’ – strong thermals that worked, but some found it difficult to get a decent climb around Urana.  The day was blue – fine and sunny with no cu around Benalla at all!  There were 2 outlandings.
11am day 7 Tue 20 Jan 09

Day 6 provisional winners were the same as the previous day winners in each class:
Standard:  Peter Temple (LS 8) -126.7 km/h – 504.8 km
15m:  Peter Trotter (ASW 20) – 125.0 km/h – 519.2 km   
18m:  Bruce Taylor (Ventus 2cT) – 133.2 km/h – 490.3 km   
Day 5 provisional winner:
Open: Gerrit Kurstjens (Nimbus 4T) – 126.2 km/h – 477.9km  

Leaders after 6 days of flying are:
Standard:
1. Peter Temple – LS 8 – 5648
2. Tom Gilbert – SZD55 – 5540
3. Tobias Geiger – LS 4A – 5296
4. Lisa Trotter – LS 8 – 5025

15m:
1. John Buchanan – ASW 27 – 5941
2. Peter Trotter – ASW 20 – 5525
3. Miles Gore-Brown – LS 8 – 5341
4. David Pietsch – ASW 20 – 5188

18m:
1. Graham Parker – ASG 29 – 5714
2. Bruce Taylor – Ventus 2cT – 5680
3. David Jansen – ASG 29 – 5678
4. Tom Claffey – ASG 29 – 5411 

There is a protest meeting tonight regarding day 2 Open Class scores.
   
Today there is a total fire ban in Victoria and south-western New South Wales.  The day is difficult to predict.  A high pressure system is in the Tasman. Benalla surface wind 340/15.  Max temp predicted 41 degrees. Lift unstable; max height DALR 12,000; ave lift 7 – 9 kts, max 12+. Start 1200 hrs, cut off at Benalla late.

Graham Garlick predicts that it could be very very good because a trough of low pressure near western and coastal regions is moving north-eastwards into the task area. Cu is already popping over the mountains.    

An AAT has been set in each class – Mount Beauty (50), Euroa (40), Coreen (50), Glenrowan (10).  15m has 3.5 hrs; all other classes 3.0 hrs. Grid 15m, Standard, 18m, Open.   

5.30pm day 7 Tue 20 Jan 09

The day turned out to be spectacular and dramatic.  Heavy rain to the east and the north; most only touched the first circle because of low cloud base and rain.  There was good cu for the rest of the track, and overdevelopment with exceedingly strong conditions in the north sector.  Lift was variable, as predicted.   According to Andrew Georgeson “the thermals were square”.

3 outlandings:  Tim Wilson and Jaroslaw Mosiejewski at Porepunka, Peter Trotter at Moyhu.

11.45am day 8 Wed 21 Jan 09

Peter Gray, contest director, thanked the tuggies and pilots for such a good performance in difficult launch conditions yesterday; the pilots loudly applauded the tuggies.

Provisional day 7 winners:
Standard:  Lisa Trotter (LS 8) – 145.1 km/h – 469.0 km
15m:  John Buchanan (ASW 27) – 146.2 km/h – 552.0 km
18m:  Tom Claffey (ASG 29) – 159.9 km/h – 498.8 km – “my fastest speed in a competition by far”.

Provisional day 6 winner:
Open:  Gerrit Kurstjens (Nimbus 4T) – 145.6 km/h – 441.4 km

The low pressure trough will weaken over north-east Victoria today; the day will be either blue or become cloudy, with isolated showers and thunderstorms.  Today will not be as good as yesterday; max temp expected 38 degrees.  Lift will be unstable; max height DALR 10,000 ave lift 6 – 8 kts max 10 +.  Start 1100 hrs, cut off late, but earlier if thunderstorms develop.

The same AAT has been set in all classes – Standard and 18m 3.30 hrs, 15m and Open 4 hrs; launch Open, 15m, 18m, Standard.  First launch midday, but the day is slow to heat up and the wind has gone to the west.  Cu is forming to the north.       

6pm day 8 Wed 21 Jan 09

Greg Schmidt:  “I got more than 100 kph so it was a good day; that’ll do me!  I’ve had 132 kph and 120+ kph and my aim was to break 100 at this comp, so I’ve done that.”

John Nicholls:  “I found it mixed; slow on the first leg, then came good.  On the second leg, after the cu, it slowed right down so I was conservative and made sure that I got home.” 

Andrew Georgeson:  “A bit of a tricky day – thermals like triangles – but I blasted home, but then probably everyone else did that too.”

Kris Kauffmann: “The day was better than expected, but tricky – raging to the north of the river; I was worried that it would be dead on the way home, but it was a lot better than it looked.”

Geoff Brown:  “It was an interesting day.  The weather changed quite a bit – from going fast to slowing right down.  I’m having fun.”

Ross McLean:  “It was an excellent soaring day, regular strong thermals, high cloud base, some cu and challenging because conditions changed north of the river – it was stronger compared to south of the river.”

11.15am Thu 22 Jan 09

Day cancelled.  A cold front is moving through, bringing variable winds gusting to 45 knots on the ground.  Chance of thunderstorms with rain later in the day.  Humidity is 64%.  Pilots are securing their gliders and trailers.

noon Thu 22 Jan 09

Leaders in each class going into the final day are:

Standard
Peter Temple – Adelaide Soaring Club – LS 8 – 7636
Tom Gilbert – Temora – SZD 55 – 7065
Tobias Geiger – Gliding Club of Victoria – LS 4A – 6964
Lisa Trotter – Kingaroy – LS 8 – 6809

Explaining his move into standard class, Peter Temple said:  “I enjoyed club class, but I did a flight in Lisa Trotter’s LS 8 at Kingaroy on a no-fly day and fell in love with it”.

15m
John Buchanan – Kingaroy – ASW27 – 7942
Miles Gore-Brown – Kingaroy – LS 8 – 6976
David Pietsch – Temora – ASW 20 – 6816
Bill Hatfield – Kingaroy – LAK 17 – 6606

18m
Graham Parker – Adelaide Soaring Club – ASG 29 – 7683
David Jansen – Kingaroy – ASG 29 – 7507
Bruce Taylor – Kentucky – Ventus 2cT – 7443
Tom Claffey – 2 Wing AAFC – ASG 29 – 7333

Open
Paul Mander / David McManus – Narromine / North Queensland – ASH 25 – 6645
Dion Weston – Cudgegong – ASH 25 – 6211
Gerrit Kurstjens – Darling Downs – Nimbus 4T – 5744
Mick Webster / Graham Rock – Hunter Valley – Duo Discus – 5640
11am day 9 Fri 23 Jan 09

Yesterday’s cold front brought violent torrential rain and 145 kph winds to Benalla.  There was a lot of damage on the southern side of town with trees down and rooves blown off, but gliders and trailers at the airfield were secure and undamaged.

Another cold front will approach south-east Victoria later today. Cu is expected over the task area.  Max temp 35 degrees.  Max height DALR 10,000′; ave lift 6-8 kts max 10+. Start 1100 hrs, end 1800 hrs.  Visibility will be generally good but with areas of smoke. 

Racing tasks have been set in all classes – 15m & Standard – 430.3 km, 18m & Open  – 452 km.  Grid:  18m, Standard, Open, 15m.

1.15 pm Fri 23 Jan 09
The day is blue – not heating up sufficiently – temperature only 28 degrees on the ground at Benalla – Tony Tabart just launched as a sniffer.

1.45 pm Fri 23 Jan 09
Temp 29 degrees on the ground.  Tony Tabart reports only getting 1.5 knots and nothing above 3,500′; weak broken narrow thermals.

1.53 pm Fri 23 Jan 09
Tony reports 1.5 knots to 3,800′ – “there seem to be an inversion – milky air, but clear above it”.

2 pm Fri 23 Jan 09
Tony reports from north of the lake in the hills – “below 3,000′, haven’t got anything yet – thermals very few and far between”.

2.03 pm Fri 23 Jan 09
Peter Gray announced that the day is cancelled.
Final night diner, Fri 23 Jan 09

Peter Gray, contest director, welcomed everyone to the final dinner and presentations for the 47th Multiclass Nationals.  He thanked all pilots and crew – “this is your competition, I especially want to thank the pilots for making this a safe competition and applaud the professional and high quality of airmanship displayed over the last 12 days.  I trust that we at Benalla have made your stay one to remember and we invite all of you to return at any time to enjoy the fantastic flying from this site.

“I have enjoyed being your contest director, even though I’ve had to make some hard decisions through Penalty and Protest Committee Meetings, and also some out on the field.  This has been a learning curve for me; I have now learnt not to put my hand up at the wrong time!

“This comp would not have been such a success without the first class crew that have done all the hard work and supported me.  First and foremost, I wish to thank my good friend – your Operations Director – John Switala for many hours of work and phone calls over the last 3 months.  He and I were at the point of answering to such things as ‘hello sweetie’ and ‘goodbye honey’, much to the amazement of our wives. 

“Next I would like to thank our weatherman, Graham Garlick, for his usual top job – well done Graham for your accurate interpretations each day which assisted us in getting the best possible launching and tasking.  Please thank our task setter, Max Kirschner, who managed to get the best out of each day with challenging tasks.  And the man who efficiently and safely lined you up each day and then sent you off, our launch marshal Phil McCann (Phil is from the Bendigo Gliding Club and has given his time to assist us here at the GCV).   To keep you all in line and safe, our safety officers did a wonderful job – week one, our visiting Pom instructor, Bruce Cooper and week 2, CTO/Ops Kevin Olerhead.  Thanks also to pilot reps – Lisa Trotter, Geoff Vincent and David Jansen.

“The team that put you in the air each day in sometimes difficult conditions, thanks to our 15 tug pilots including Ziggy from the Geelong Club, Jeremy Thompson from Queensland, Sophie and Chris our midweek tug pilot, plus many of our club tug pilots – led by tugmaster Bruce Salter.  We must thank all the team that launched you in very hot dusty grueling conditions – the rope runners and wing runners – Lulu, Vivienne, Geoff, Andrew (the masked bandit), David and many others – thank you all.

“One man we couldn’t do without, our very dedicated scorer Tim Shirley, whose competition experience over the years has been invaluable in many areas.  Tim’s dedication to duty kept him in the air-conditioned office for the whole competition!  The ladies who took your registration, recorded take off times on the grid and took outlanding reports – let’s hear it for the girls in the office – Rhonda Gelletly and Sue Kirschner.  Also our scrutineers, Bob Fox and Louis Preiss – thank you both for your dedication in trying conditions.  For making our delicious lunches each day – thanks to John Millott and Louise Preiss.  Leigh Hall and the team in the kitchen for preparing top quality meals – voted excellent by the pilots and crew who ate at the club each evening.  We all thank Gerry Hogan for keeping the bar stocked and for purchasing water and ice for the helpers during the launch.  Laurie McKinlay and Ron Grant did a great job in establishing the watering points in the tie down areas, thank you.  Paul, our firefighting chopper pilot, for his wonderful display of water bombing – thanks Paul.

“Jutta Goldmann and Kah Chong took some fantastic photos, thank you.   And working hard in the background putting our news and photos on the web and compiling our report for Soaring Australia, thanks to Jo Pocklington.

“To all those that I haven’t mentioned who also helped in small and different ways, many thanks to you all too.”

Peter Gray presented trophies:

Doc Heydon Trophy – Standard Class Champion – Peter Temple
15 Metre Champion – John Buchanan
Roger Woods Trophy -18 Metre Class Champion – Graham Parker
Dr Mervyn Hall Trophy – Open Class Champion – Paul Mander / David McManus
Best Performing State Team – South Australia – Graham Parker, Peter Temple, John Nicholls
Sir Donald Anderson Novice Award (first or second nationals) – Kris Kauffman
Best International Pilot – Benny Orrsater (Sweden)
Fun Teams – Mafikeng Maruaders – Graham Parker, Tom Claffey, Lars Zehnder

For scores, tasks and more photos go to Gliding Club of Victoria website
www.glidingclub.org or www.soaringspot.com/austmulti2009/

(diary by Jo Pocklington with thanks to Graham Garlick and Tim Shirley)

That’s it for now. CU next sunday!

Cheers Ritz