Africa, Holland and ……I can feel autumn!

Alphen aan den Rijn

September 17 2007

Finally back on line again. Troubles, troubles! But when it works ,IT WORKS!!!!So here we go! First news from South Africa, from Bloemfontein!

I received this news from good friend Dick and share it with you.

Hi,

 This is a quick update to alert you to what we are doing at Soaring Safaris this season.

 We will start with an experimental expedition to the Cape Gliding Club at Worcester, beginning flying on 17th October and continuing until 3rd November. We still have a few places left for anyone who would like to experience the joy of flying in this scenically stunning part of South Africa. They also have remarkable soaring conditions; a mix of ridge lift, ridge generated thermals, thermals and wave.

Our Bloemfontein performance camp will start on 5th November and will continue until the 23rd February. We still have places available during November and early December, but late December and January are becoming quite heavily booked, we still have a few gliders available. February is lightly booked at this time. Please note that hire fees for the first two weeks at Bloemfontein are reduced by 25%.

 In addition to our own fleet gliders we also have 2 LS8’s, a Ventus 2ct, and a Discus 2t available for hire.

I noticed that Air France are offering a special rate of ₤456 between London and Johannesburg, to get access to this offer click on the following

URL:- http://www.airline-network.co.uk/ and get details of flights from London to Johannesburg.

The dates of our Nationals are 2nd to 12th January, the 2nd being a practice day. They will be held at Bloemfontein and the results will count towards your position on The IGC’s International Ranking List. There will be 3 classes; Open and 18m, 15m and Standard, and Club. All scores will be handicapped based on the Soaring Society’s Handicap list.

We will be installing a 3G WiFi router in our office at Bloemfontein to help those of our visitors who wish to stay in touch with their families or their businesses.

We have decided to install Flarm systems in all our gliders and our tugs. There has been a lot of discussion about the pro’s and con’s of the system but we believe it will give our pilots an extra layer of safety.

We have also ordered RAOB weather analysis software. A friend of mine in Cape Town uses the system extensively and gets very good forecasts.

 Joss and Mengo’s twins, a boy and a girl, were born in April and are doing very well. Joss has spent the winter studying to get a tour guide qualification, which he will have completed in the next few weeks. He will be planning some routes in the Bloemfontein area and will be available during our season as a guide.

 That’s our news for now, we hope that we will see you sometime during our summer.

 Best wishes,

Dick, Reb and Joss.

So far Africa!

 Holland;

Last weekend we had a reunion in Holland from all team members celebrating the European title from Ronald Termaat in Issoudun in 18 m. class!A real nice event and I was invited as special guest, loving every minute of it! It seems that 3 of “my”  young pilots from HusBos will fly in Rieti in the Worlds!!! I am very , very pleased with that. The other great news is that Marina will work together with Leonardo to organize the Worlds. She told all of us, she did not want to do it cause Giorgo , her husband is flying, and she does n’t want any difficult situation.But luckily she decided to change her mind and I personelly hope she will be on duty too during the comps as Giorgio has a very good and longtime crew: ROBERTO!!!!But of course this is their private decision!

Sad news to finish with as my good friend and neighbour at Tocumwal- airport in the past, George Piskorz died of a heart attack.I wish Lynn , Isabeau and James lots of strenghts to cope with it.

The first signs of autumn start. Yesterday was still more or less summer here with 23 dgr and good looking clouds. I heard that on Saturday pilots still flew 400 km here in Holland, but today with ONLY rain and wind ….it was autumn. Time to put the gliders to bed or in a container to Africa or Australia.Dundee leaves this week for OZ. Good friend Maria from Munich in Germany, frequent vistor of Sportavia in the past , will visit me this week. Looking forward to that! By the way , the wedding of my daughter INGE was just FANTASTIC!!!!!!! She was more then beautiful , so were the kids and though new husband Rodger was pretty nervous he looked “cool”!Lots of glider pilots, an event to never forget!

That’s it for now. Sorry for the delay , but sometimes I can only write a title and that’s it!!!Thanks for your patience!

Cheers Ritz