Alphen aan den Rijn        May 4 2008

 TODAY, MAY 4 IS A VERY SPECIAL DAY HERE IN HOLLAND, AS WE REMEMBER THE PEOPLE WHO DIED IN THE WAR .
It is 63 YEARS ago that men and women died for the freedom of Holland in 1945.
The Queen will be in Amsterdam to start the parade at the memorial.
Tomorrow May 5 ,we celebrate our freedom!

The Klix competition was practise for a few pilots participating in the Worlds. Did you follow it? Indeed after 5 days , the last day yesterday was cancelled due to rain, Mac [Ichikawa] was the winner in the open classand for him it was really good practise before going to Luesse later in the season. For sure he will practise more in Germany!
Borje Erikkson ,also a WGC pilot, was 5th in the mixed class after 4 days.
I was VERY pleased to see that young Tim Kuijpers, son of the Dutch TC in Luesse Frouwke and brother of Maaike, the Dutch TC in Rieti, WON the big Club class in an ASW 19 B WL. With 100 points ahead on the runner up. Great effort!! Compliments and congratulations!!!I always forget that life goes on, I remember him in his pram while we parents were joking , that our children would be the next generation of top pilots. For sure he is one and there is another young “Kuijpers” to come as a topper!!
Yes this is a REAL gliding family! They fly all 5!!! They even get the regional papers with it.

More flying as we nearly reach the 1000 km badge flights in Europe already in this great spring weather. Yves Jeanmotte made a beautiful flight from St Hubert in Belgium, mostly over Germany as Belgium is very difficult at the moment with the different airspaces.He flew  955   km. in a Ventus 2 with a speed 106 km p/h.
In Germany , yes from Burg Feuerstein were a few of my friends fly, a pilot flew just over 1000 km. in a nimbus 4 M. A total of 2292 flights were send to the OLC. Not bad! A lot of pilots are flying and think it is interesting enough to put it on line!
In Rieti , WGC town 2008, one of the pilots flew on Mai 1 776 km. Let the great weather stay there! So had Luesse some good flights too one of the former juniors of the Dutch team flew on Mai 2 a nice long flight from 651 km with a speed of 88 km.p/h   in an LS 8.
While that same day Alberto [Sironi] flew nearly 1000 km.in a ventus 2 c t in Italy, with just over 100 km.p/h.

This is going to be a big week for me and I am not too sure if you will “see ” me next weekend. The European Art Fair in Amsterdam starts tomorrow with 2 days of furnishing and carrying of paintings and sculptures!Wednesday at 2 is the opening for the VIP guests and at 6 it STARTS!!!! Next monday will be the last day and I can tell you alreadsy now,” I will be dead then”.

Enjoy your life, your soaring and jobs and see you whenever…..!?

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn            April 27 2008

As I wrote last week, the weather is OK!!!! So it’s ALL happening !! First competitions are on and first great flights , [over 1200 last friday on the OLC] , mean that soaring conditions are just great!

In Klix [ NE of Dresden -Germany ] a competition started on the 25th with a very nice first day on the 26th. A few WGC pilots take the opportunity to practise already in Germany for their WGC in August in Luesse. Mac [Ichikawa] won the first day in open class in his ASG29. They had a task of 374 km..and  30 pilots participate in this class
2 More classes; a mixed class with 41 participants , they flew 343 km and a big clubclass [42 pilots] with 267 km.

All over Europe the weather seems perfect. With 1236 pilots using the OLC to publish their flights on saturday the 26th ,you can say “a good day”. Luesse as said the WGC town for the big ships, had a flight from 852 km. flown by Carsten Lindeman in an ASW 25.
Another great flight that day was flown from Reinsburg NW from Klix.;732 km in a standard cirrus!!!! ” Kilometer-eater” Uwe Tiele flew 771 km in his DG 800-18m.
From Bolzano in Italy pilots flew a few nice flights  as well , with 700 km in an ASW 20.
But 576 km from Trento Mattarell [Italy] in a standard libelle, is worthwhile mentioning too!!! 

On thursday the 24th, Tomas [Suchanek] practised too for his WGC . He participates in Rieti in july and flew in his home country [CZ]  a 663 km flight , while pilots practising in Klix flew 868 km in a Ventus 2 ct. that same day.

So you see I do not exaggerate- IT IS GREAT SOARING WEATHER in Europe!!!!!
But….I still have to say that , in OZ they had an amazing long season this year. They still flew 558   km TODAY and it is nearly winter in Australia. Good old mate Gerrit flew it from his homefield Jondaryan in the E. of OZ [Queensland] .Alan Barnes flew 521 km triangle in an LS 1 from the same field. Great flight!

Time to go outside and enjoy a bit of sun. Yes it is nice weather in Holland too. We are spoiled with 23 dgr. today, but ……tomorrow is an other story. Back to 16 and rain, so I better leave you now.
Good luck to all pilots participating in all different comps, no or not too much retrieves for their crews and let the summer be as it was the last couple of days. ENJOY!

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                         20-04-2008

In oktober 2007 we had 15 dgr C. here! Today after 6 months we reach that temperature again. Hurray! It took quite a long time ! Last year we had 27 dgr. already in april, that was very warm for spring and in the end, it was the best weather for the year 2007.

It means…..that soaring defenitely has started in Europe. Nice long flights. One of them made by km-eater Wilfried Gosskinsky, who flew 950 km in area between 2 places I visited during the Worldcomps over there. His area over mountains was between Paderborn ,N. of his track and Bayreuth S.E of his track.
That day the 17th, we had great flights in Holland too, as flights from 0ver 400 km [463]were made over absolutely FLAT land. In Belgium , the same . Keiheuvel pilots flew 445 km. A good European day and we hope we will get a lot of them.YES…….It’s all happening again!!!!!

Rieti has published their list of participants of the World comps over there and 26 different countries will send pilots in the 3 classes;standard, club and world class. Really looking forward to catch up with so many I know . A very strong competition with reigning world champs, but also several former champs. Can’t predict who will winn , but I do have my guesses.In any case the best should win! I will keep you informed. In Rieti I will do the daily bulletins , but on sunday I will do my regular soaring.eu news.
The site for Rieti is;www.wgcrieti.it and if you are a pilot flying in Rieti and you do not have a glider yet or want to have something different then you have already, they have a ” last minute ” ASW24 and a standard cirrus for rent.See for contacts to that site!

Luesse has its list too. With 133 participants a “huge” competition. 38 in open class, 47 in 18 m and 48 in 15 m. class. Impressive! Also in Germany many top pilots so it will be very intens, both those world comps, the first “split” ones!
Look for info at ;www.wgc2008.de
My early guess as said before, for the top 3; open class Michael Sommer, pushed by Tassilo Bode and Pete Harvey. In my opinion they are equal good!And don’t forget about Holger Karow,could it be 3 German toppers???????In their home country??!! We just have to wait and see as there are more rivals in the field.

In 18 m. class Wolfgang is still a topper but the USA and the UK have very good pilots as well. Don’t forget about the French!
In 15 m. class Leigh Wells?????And what about the Italians and Dutch pilot Steven Raimond!! It is nice to guess but it ONLY remains a guess . On the last day ‘s we will know, how will be the winners in both countries!
There is a bit more then one week in between both comps. Rieti is from july 6-20   and Luesse from august 2 -16.

That’s it for now. Another sunny day here with clouds , so pilots will be eager to go up again.Sometimes I forget there is more then gliding in this world.
Soccer then; A very tensed day for soccer here in Holland . Ajax Amsterdam can be champion today , but they have to win. PSV Eindhoven “only” has to play 1-1 or so, one-alldraw, to be champion.

I jump on my bike today for a nice trip through the polder landscape! Enjoy your sunday as well.

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                            Sunday april 13 2008

Time flies! When you are [very] busy, it seems to still go faster! In the gallery everything is under controle and the opening last weekend was a success like all other openings. With a feeling of satisfaction you try to lay back then, but….that’s impossible as the next jobs are waiting.

Not a lot happening in Luesse and Rieti.
For sure they are working “damm” hard ,but for now we can’t see it.
So we have to wait to see which competitors will be defenitely in , for both world comps.

29 More gliders are back in Europe after their owners /guestpilots had a great time in Australia [Corowa] . No scratch on a glider , no incident or accident in the season; what do you want more!?

For all my Australian readers;
If you are interested in vintage gliders and you happen to live close to Tocumwal, then you should go and look on the 29th of April to the first start, after the restoration from the CONDOR 4.

I got the next press release.
The condor 4 restoration project was started in Japan and later transported to Mike Burns business Aviation & General Engineering in Tocumwal for completion of the project.
The restoration is now almost completed and arrangements have been made for the official first flight after the restoration.
Among the visiting group of Japanese will be a representative of the late owners family.The flight is planned to take place at around 2 pm on April 29.

8 Japanese friends are visiting from Yokohama. All of them worked on the initial restoration of the airframe in Japan.
These Japanese friends are first visiting the Vintage Glider Regatta at Lockhart on the 25th-26-and 27th of April.
A number of the vintage planes will be coming through Tocumwal and most probably do some flying on the 29th.
Ken Uyeama, long- time -visitor of Sportavia in the past and still a good friend, will fly his T21 2 seat vintage glider. I love that “machine”.
The jet Caproni will do a few demonstration flights for any interested parties.
The day will finish with a BBQ and even the president of the Vintage Gliders Australia and some more executives will visit from Melbourne.

The weather is improving here in Europe and I was impressed with the nice flight from Alfred Paul from Terlet[Dutch National Gliding Center]; 578 km in an LS 8. I was enjoying the morning sun that day and KNEW that good flights were possible.
In the Nimbus 4DM Marc even flew one day earlier [april 9] a 655 km flight with 108 km.p/h.
Spring and soaring have finally started in Holland.

Best pilot in Germany “only” flew 526 km last week and in Belgium it still has to start too, so Holland did not bad!!! I know that we have really good pilots here; they even fly when nobody else would fly. Great practise to stay UP!!!!

That’s it for now, hope you have a good week and see you next sunday.

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                     Sunday April 6 2008

The flatland-thermal-soaring-activities have not yet really started , but the mountains are the place to be here in Europe.

Great flights in the mountains from Austria , Switserland , France and Italy.

The next Dutch Nationals were supposed to be in Holland. “We ” have the system that every 2 years the Nationals will be “at home”. Last year they were in Germany in Stendhal, not too far from Berlin.But….This year they will be again in Stendal. Reason!!! TRANSPONDERS!!!!!

The last 5 years “hot” negociations have been organized , between the Dutch authorities and specially the members of silent planes, unmotorized, as balloons, hang gliders parapentes and gliders, to carry a transponder.
Deadline was March 31 2008!!!!
From June 5 2008 onwards it is compulsery to fly with transponders especially in areas around bigger airfields as Eindhoven, Maastricht and Rotterdam.

With a -mode S transponder -these “silent planes” are better visible for fighters and airliners and…it is now an international obligation to protect aviation.Of course this is a safety issue! Due to the fact that it took 5 years of talking and negociating, not everybody is happy with it.
And…not everybody is ready and HAS a transponder in his glider, so as transponders are [not yet] compulsery in Germany they leave the Dutch National Gliding Center Terlet as it is and move to Stendhal for a “second-in-a-row-Dutch -National -Championship in Germany. No punishment I heard as they all had a great time in Stendal last year!

No news on the front of final entries in both Luesse and Rieti, so we have to wait and see how many participants will fly in both world comps! Surely they work hard to put the defenite entries on their site a.s.a.p.

Very busy, so a short story today as in an hour I have to be at the opening of another exhibition in our gallery. This time a teacher and his pupil. Very famous and now 90 year old early- Cobra artist Aart Roos and his pupil from many years ago Warffemius. It turned out to be a great decision to mix them on the wall.  Warffemius is a great sculpturist too. He makes trees from steel and cortensteel. As both artists will be here in Alphen, we expect quite a lot of guests. So I better rush to my next hobby.

Have a good week, Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn       March 30 2008

They were n’t wrong with their weather prediction last weekend here in Holland. We GOT the snow with EASTER!!!!!!! And…it was interesting to see how lots of people suffered from just 5 cm of snow on the ground [on some places], snow and hail storms and just when these showers happened no view, just a grey mass!!
On tuesday morning we had “our -morning-spits”, which means heavy traffic after a weekend. A disaster for the cardrivers but just a fantastic day  for those who make statistics, as the morning traffic jam was 888 km that morning!!
You should be in it!!!
To make it even worse with the new navigation toys as Tom Tom , they found out that, when they were not only looking at the jam on the highways but also at the secundary roads “we” had 1250 km of traffic jam. Hurray for Holland!
Only one day in 1999 was worse with nearly 1000 km. in the morning.
Am I glad I just have to drive 5 minutes to the gallery !
But the good news is , that this was the last twitch of winter!

Enough of the weather, though last weekend between the showers they managed to fly in Eindhoven [Southern part of Holland-Phillips_PSV ]on Easter sunday. They made a few starts I heard from Peter and even reached 1600 m., but they were more or less frozen!

George , no not Lee, but my ex Schuit,mentioned that my guess of 2 world titles was not correct. Thanks!
So…George Lee won 3 titles in open class;
first one in 1976 in Rayskala in Finland, in open class in an ASW 17
second  one in 1978 in Chatauraux in France in an ASW 17 and
third one in 1981 in Paderborn Germany, in a nimbus 3.
Lee flew in those years for Great Brittain,but lives now in Australia and as I mentioned, has his own airfield with his name!He flies for fun, no “hot-shot-worldcomps for him anymore.

Talking about “hotshots”. I was wondering last time, if there would be a pilot to be the successor for Ingo Renner, being  still now, the one and only 4 times worldchampion. And….I “found” one. It is just my very own expectation, but I reckon Michael Sommer has it in him, to do so. He won already last comps in Sweden, is a potential winner in Luesse [advantage of playing at home, though he lives at the moment in Melbourne] .Of course he still HAS to win there, but won the pre-worlds for whatever that counts. 
He is also young enough to fly more world comps.He  has the guts, ambition  and willpower to win. Another point is that Tassilo Bode,  another top pilot from Germany will fly with him in open class and both will push each other to big heights. My expectation!We will see in  the future if I am correct.

Grietje and Francesco with little Frank, have closed the doors from their Corowa -gliding-operations, to open them in the next season again. Enough work for them here in Holland too, as the containers have to be unloaded and the preparations for the containers for the next season , have to be made.
Only minor point in this for them very busy and succesfull season is,  that they did not get the possibility to organize the bid for the 2012 world comps. They were really hoping to do so, but the place to make the bid is Narromine. With Beryll Hartley there, I am , to be honest , not surprised that they got it. IF Narromine gets the honour , and IF I am still in good health and IF I can afford it, I will be there!!!!

Some nice [wave] flights over the mountain ridges last week in the USA. On March 25 a flight was made from Minden {Nevada } from 1400 km in an ASW 17 , with an  interesting speed of ; 154,10 km/h.One day later good old Jim Payne, flew also an O&R [ with Minden-Truckee as turnpoint in the N]this time 1726 km.His speed was;150 km p/h. His very interesting comment , if you are interested in this flight , can be read in the information  on the OLC site.You can as well look there, at his flight and height.

If you are interested in vintage planes. In Tocumwal Mike Burns and his team have nearly finished a CONDOR. The [Japanese] owners will be there for the first flight , scheduled on April 29.Ingo Renner has been involved in this project.

That’s it for now. Enjoy your week and I will be back next sunday.

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den rijn             Easter Sunday 23-03-2008

Yes, same with you?? At least if you live in Europe.
Not that we have snow already here , but close by in Germany , in Belgium and Luxemburg , they have snow. And….it is March 23, even spring which started on March 21 had a cold day with hail, lightning and lots of rain.For tonight and tomorrow snow is predicted here in our region.

Here in Holland we have the coldest Easter sinces 40 years. A pity for all the flowers in the greatest flower show “keukenhof”, which was opened by Prince Willem Alexander a few days ago, as we expect up to minus 7  for this night. “My poor pink blossom”.
Thinking of blossom, I remember the great atmosphere during that time in Japan. Also for Japanese glider pilots the season starts. When I visited 3 gliding fields in the Tokyo area, a few years ago, I was not only impressed by the way they have to fly from pretty windy fields on the side of  the river, but also by the great view of thousands of pink and white flowers on the trees.

Places to fly at this moment are, even if it sounds contradictional; THE MOUNTAINS. Also snow there, so all pilots enjoying , Gap, Vinon, La Motte, Sisteron, Saint Auban and other good places, do not only fly but enjoy skiing as well.
That’s what I did in 1968, when the boys flew in wave over the Aosta Valley and we enjoyed skiing over the pistes from Pila. When it was time for the apres ski, the boys flew fast and pretty low over the piste to announce that our skiing and their flying was over and the “ebo-lebo” was waiting. Just a warning if you have never had it and want to try;Don’t drink that, when you are tired, you just fall over!

In the UK they have made their first flights. Good friend Hugh mentioned a nice first flight in his duo-discus, from Lasham, 385 km., with some help of the South Downs Ridge.

George Lee, who has now his -own -after -him- named -airfield in Australia, on the East side, still makes nice long flights in their autumn. Was n’t he 2 times world champion? Like Ingo , who was 4 times world champion [will there be somebody to ever break this record?] , he still loves soaring and remains good in it!

I got some info from Rieti, how they are going to visualize the world comps over there in July and I was most impressed. When I have ALL the details , I will share them with you. One more week and those who are interested, can start thinking of who will be going to win in either Luesse or Rieti, as the defenite entries will be known on the 31 of March.

One of the early-season-comps is the one on Hahnweide which starts on the 25th 0f April. This competition is for st. class, 15 m and open.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter, wherever you are!

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                             March 16 2008

Everybody realizes that we have to do something to keep this world in good condition. No need to tell you , that the weather has changed. And it might happen every 1000 year or so, nothing new, as some people claim,but just looking outside or even worse on TV, you are confrontated with it daily.
A hurricane trough the heart of Atlanta is not something that happens every year. Most people can not even remember a day that such a storm with up to 230 km “hit ” a town, but with the CNN head quarters damaged, we are fully informed. Sad enough that so much is damaged and that people happily waking up in the morning, die unexpectedly on such a day. And…more hurricanes are expected in the USA.
What about Australia? They “suffer” from 41 dgr. in Melbourne and the first Grand Prix , won by Hamilton , was a very unusual one due to the fact that the circuit “heated up ” to 50 dgr.
Some cars did not like that! Then a crash in the first curve , some more incidents , perhaps due to the dehydration and only 7 cars make it to the finish, 15 from the 22 had to go back to the pitch, by theirselves or with some “help”.
But Heidfeld and Rosberg, won’t complain about their 2d and 3d place!
In Holland they plan on building whole new towns in the future, on 5 meter high levybanks, to avoid flood when the water would rise .As you know half of Holland is BELOW sealevel.And…today we can ,again, expect steady rain .

So no gliding in Holland today, though the season has started with annual briefings for ALL club members, to inform about the rules for this upcoming season.
Some of the clubs move to their spring camps and they mostly visit the mountains in Saint Auban , Gap Tallard, Sisteron or Vinon for wave and if possible thermal flying.

2 More weeks and we will know the final entries for both world comps! 31 of march will be the deadline! As you know I visit as editor Rieti again and to our social drink with a nice bottle of red, more and more people join in. The parents ,[ both glider pilots and very much involved in gliding, ] of the Dutch TC Maaike, will visit us for a few days. Some pilots will visit as well, you will read it when they have arrived.

The TC for the UK is appointed. Good friend Hugh Kindell [ he will join in with the social parties ] will have the very busy job! Why so busy? His team counts 7 members!!!!Very special is, that there are 2 women flying in this team and not “just” women , as both are the reigning world champions in their class.On top of that world champion Leigh Wells will fly in Rieti as well. Here are their entries as far as I got them;
Standard class;Leigh Wells , Richard Hood, Jay Rebbeck and Sara  Kelman.
Club class;Pete Masson , Gee Dale and last but not least Jill Spreckly. Her husband Brian will be there as chief-steward.
A VERY strong team, as ALL of them flew already in World comps and….they are still so young. As I am not sure if I know Gee Dale, I can’t tell you if he was already performing in a World competition.

Only found out today that between all the spam and nonsense in the comment -part of this blog, were 2 good ones. Sorry to Zdzislaw Borawski, who commented on the nice long flight from Jelinia Gora,already on February 7 2008. He added to that story that this flight was NOT a thermal flight , as we already expexted, but one in wave , still a good one though. They hope one day to fly 1000 km from this field in autumn or winter. As I can’t read his email adress, it is too long and the final part is missing I just want to say thank you to him.

Other comment was on Tocumwal. Noel Brittoner from New Zealand wrote already on November 13 2007, that he is very much interested in the WWII airbase “Mc Intyrefield” , the airport of Tocumwal. I will quickly write him back with some more news.Thanks!

On March 9 Terry Cubley , another good friend,flew , in his LS 3, 622 km in Adelaide [Australia]. And….it is already MARCH!!!!Good practise for him as he is one of the participants in Rieti.

That’s it for now. Just booked my ticket and I will arrive in Rome on July 1. Time to write already about the practise week ! Really looking forward to those 3 weeks. Good weather, lovely people in Rieti, great airfield, LOTS of good friends from all over the world, great food and a nice glass of perhaps even bubbles! What do you want more!? Yes…a fantastic and safe competition with the best pilots of the world in these 3 classes !!!

See you, Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                     sunday March 9 2008

While I was sitting in the storm last week, good friend  Art from Canada send me his pictures from a load of snow around their club house in Winnipeg. Sorry I can’t show you pictures on this site, but IT IS a load–snowbanks he calls them!!!
Still 34 dgr. MINUS 0 ,over there, but……measured with the wind chill factor.

They start their gliding season somewhere in the beginning of April. If the snow has  melted then , they start  their operation on a remote-airfield. They look ahead as they store their tugs and trainers already away from the club.Why?
Their field is part of a swamp/lake- bottom, flat as a pancake,  so when the huge piles of snow start melting they “suffer” from flood. But….no worries, they just move to a hard   topped airfield nearby, generally , as said, the second week of April.

Also a way to start your soaring season. Thanks Art for this information.
Art will be in Rieti as “helper” , so we will meet under a blue sky again in July, for a nice glass of wine.

Europe had some nice days with blue skies , sunny but cool conditions , but while sitting outside , in my winter jacket, I could already feel thermal activity . It was nice to look at the clouds, moving with great speed and getting higher during the day.

 The IGC meeting in Rome was a success. What I heard was that the Annex A is 100% OK, but the code sportive gave some problems and one of the members  ,Ross, will keep an eye on it and it will be back on the table next year for voting. There was not so much discussion this year as in other years and as expected it was a good time for all in Rome. Vice president Fladimir Voltkin resigned and Peter Platzer from Austria took over. All other members kept “their places”.

In the French mountains , places as Sisteron and Gap Tallard ,  they already flew over 300 km. flights. But as I look on the OLC ,I am amazed to see that distances of 0ver 600 km are still flown in Australia. Terry Bellair still has not given up his “kilometer-eating” and added this distance today on his already respectable list of long and good flights.

Corowa announced that the list of gliders for the containers  for the 2008/2009 season is nearly full and they might have to build another container for next season . That will be container number 5. Not bad and good for Australian gliding!!And …..as a more or less “Aussie” ,I like this!
In Tocumwal they are going to say good bye to Dieter, better know as Tocumwal-Dundee. After 6 months his “overseas-period” is over. Not that he is still gliding, eye problems keep him on the ground,  but he still loves the soaring season in Toc.  All different Japanese glider pilots have found their way to his mobile house and even managed to cook Japanese.
Judy and Ingo Renner prepare a nice farewell party for him this week, before he travels back to Europe.

Argentinian pilot Damian will be flying in Luesse during the World Comps. He is a young pilot with a huge fanclub. If they start a “meet -and- greet -site ” in Luesse, it will be loaded with messages from his Argentinian fans. Nice young man! If he wins ONE day, like in Sweden, the world will be too small.

That’s it for now. Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                                                                                       March 2 2008

Yesterday the metereological spring has started here, so autumn has started in Australia. It might have looked sunny on this first spring day  here in Holland, but we had a terrible storm and at 8 in the morning on saturday, I was trying to save my fence from falling down over my just sprouting plants in the garden. Not a good idea with gusting winds up to 119 km p/h. My neighbor saw me, he was also the one who “built” the fence and  rushed out to help. One part was broken, so he took that part off and another part , to let the wind play. What violence wind can be!!!!So more autumn here then spring at this moment.
While in OZ Terry Bellair , who really had an amazing good year, still flew a 569 km flight from Raywood.For me he was the best Australian OLC pilot this year !

Italy:
In Rome the IGC members had their annual meeting. Last year when I was in Rieti, Marina Galetto was already very busy to organize things as accomodation etc.In the end they had some problems with the place for the meeting room , but all ended well in the Crowne-Plaza-Rome St Petershotel. The plenary meeting was held between febr 29 and March 1 2008.
The IGC is responsable for FAI Gliding activities in particular World Records and International Competitions with the excemption of glider aerobatics.
Looking forward to the results. You can find the news on the IGC site.

Australia;
The Murray Border Flying Club , a social club situated at the airfield of Tocumwal has a brand new site. With Ingo Renner as their CFI, they fly mostly in the weekends, have once in a month a meeting with a BBQ and if you are interested in their news you can find them on, www.mbfc.org.au

The more commercial club from former Sportavia CFI Eddie Madden is very busy to built up their new business and for their news you can look at  www.sportaviation.com.au Next season they will be ready to go, though they had quite some guests already this season and there are still some Japanese pilots!!

Corowa has flown 500.000 km this season, I mean of course the pilots flying over there and ended as runner- up in the race for best airfield in the world, according to the OLC information. For sure they were the best in Australia. Good friends Pepe and Roger were the last flight to leave the airfield, flying  the duo discus back to its home field, Benalla.

Bitterwasser [NA] was the best field  and they claim 147 1000 km. flights!! and nearly 600.000 km of flying by their pilots.Gariep Dam[SA] was a good 3d.

End of this month we will know who are the participants of both world comps, as the deadline of the final entries is set on March 31 2008 for both comps in Italy and Germany. The Dutch pilots are already in full training to be “just good”. Baer Selen, 2 times world champion and Ronald Termaat , the current European champion are heavily involved in this.

Well hopefully your gliders are ready , or nearly ready for a European season. When the weather co-operates ,we surely will have a busy soaring season. I try to keep an eye on “things”. For all the real hot news you can of course see the different sites and read the gliding magazines, I just try to inform you on a low-key-base, but hopefully in a pleasant way about what’s going on as far as I see , read or hear.
Ritz