New glider…JS 2!Happy Easter days!

“The best glider I’ve ever flown…” Uys Jonker
Jonker Sailplanes

As co-owner of the business ,Uys Jonker, can’t say anything else I guess, but interest was great. Even in my house the live stream of “JS 2 Prototype- first -flight” was welcomed with some enthusiastic mutters.
When you missed it,…here is the link;
https://youtu.be/29G3zEEhXWc
The JS2 Revenant, a high-performance, versatile, easy-to-fly self launcher! The name Revenant was inspired from the French verb Revenir, meaning “to return”. The JS1-C is now making a return with an amazing powerful self-launching system!”

The hard working team behind this glider. “Great team effort, thanks guys
As shared by Jonker Sailplanes

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With the flooding in the S. E of Australia lot’s of people are devastated, BUT….with full energy trying to clean up and repair. Look how some found their house back after evacuating.
Love being back home. But sadly, it’s all different this time. What a freakin’ stinky mess. The farm is uninhabitable and 90% of possessions lost (dad’s tools virtually all that remains). An unforgiving weather event that took it all.” Annie Kiehn.
The Kiehn family is a well-known soaring family in Australia with Annie and Chris [ of Fibremites and the Australian agent for Schempp-Hirth] and their parents Elke and Hartmut.
I wish them ALL the best.

As shared by my friend Annie. It’s her mum and dad’s house!!!! So SAD!!!!

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Who has flown in Finland might recognize these pictures send to me by Kari. “This how Räyskälä looks like at the moment. I flew my first airplane flight of the season and took pic.”

main thing was to show that snow is almost gone.”
By Kari
“You also witness the first glider test flight of the season, they are
still in tow. Yes it was not Pawnee towing, they are still under
maintenance
.” as shared by Kari.

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So in Finland they slowly think of starting the season. They did already in the UK.
Lasham, one of the biggest soaring places with lot’s of pilots, opened last Monday on March 29, with the next info:
We’re delighted to re-open tomorrow, 29th March, for member solo flying for approved qualified pilots. Our daily weather briefings also return to our YouTube channel every morning from tomorrow.
Our restaurant and bar remain closed for now but we look forward to them re-opening to our members in mid April alongside the resumption flight training.
Details on booking Courses and Trial Lessons will be available very soon so please stay in touch via our website
 www.lashamgliding.com or our Facebook Page.”

photo by D. Edwards Photography

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Newsy news;
—Still some good around 500 /600 km. flights all over the world this last week;
Puimoisson in France, Alzate in Italy, Lodrino Mil in Switzerland,[all Eur.] Orient [S.A.]Beverley [Austr.] Ridge Soaring [USA]
—Talking about Beverley one of their longtime tuggies finished his career. John Welsh: “Feeling quite emotional about finishing my Private Pilot flying on Friday with two hours of glider towing Pa25 Pawnee VH-TOJ among my good friends at Beverley Soaring Society. After 54 years of PPL flying, not renewing my CASA Class 2 medical, AVMED finally won…...”

54 years of PPL flying finished and still in one piece! by John Welsh

—The 1700 km. flight on March 21 from Baptiste Innocent and Gil Souviron, in the Stemme, I wrote about it last time, seems to be a new European record. The earlier record was now 10 years old.
Gil mentioned that specially the overflight of the sea was a first for them. They had flown over 20 km. already once , but not 80km!!!!
They knew the weather on the way back would be the same;” the conditions would be identical to those on the outward journey and with an eastern component at altitude rather favorable on the return. 

Flight track and Baptiste Innocent.
As shared by Federation de Francaise De Vol en Planeur.

Congratulations again to Gil and Baptiste.

To finish this lovely picture;

The best sound in the sky.”
Shared by Reno Air Racing Association.

We had up to 22 dgr. C. here over the last days,…wow…and today we might reach 26!!!!!. Easter weekend will be only 8 again.
I straight away got a cold from all these changes over the last weeks, decided to go for a corona test to be safe for all around me and it was negative. Pfff….
In between the time changed as well, so we had 1 hour less sleep. No worries….nice long evenings. For that reason they changed the curfew from 9 till 10 PM here and finishing at 4.30 AM.


HAPPY EASTER dear friends.

Seminole Lake!

Comps continued.
Courtesy Bo and shared by Soaring Society of America

I am always looking forward to pictures from Bo Michalowski. She knows how to translate soaring with her pictures, into a the feeling you are part of the fun. That’s what I try with words.
Gliders at the ground, in the air at finishes, but also the people who “make” the comps the pilots and their crews/family.
Certainly with only elderly pilots, with respect, the atmosphere is different , more cozy.
Some pictures.

Kan een afbeelding zijn van vliegtuig en buitenshuis
Great finish from Greg Shug in his LS 4.
Courtesy Bo shared by Soaring Society of America
Socializing in front of huge campers on a rest day/cancelled day.
Karl and Sarah.
All pictures by Bo and shared by Soaring Society of America

Only later I found out that the cancelled day on March 16 was due to an unfortunate incident during launch. It looked like a good soaring day :
Cloud bases were expected to be just under 6,000ft with lift being strong and consistent.”
The official version “As the launch proceeded, Tom Johnson in his Mini Nimbus had an incident during the launch.  Tom was air lifted to the Osceola Regional Medical Center where he has undergone two surgeries to repair a number of injuries.  Tom’s wife is with him at the hospital and we all pray for his speedy recovery and return to his glider family.
All launches after the incident were terminated and the contest day was cancelled.”
I pray for him as well and hope as we all do for a speedy recovery and return next year for Tom.
March 17…Contest day 4; a 2 hour TAT. The ARCUS with Nick did well and was runner up. They are on spot 1 overall now. Jake was 18th and dropped from 1 to spot 5. He had a “bad” day already on task 3, where he was 22d and only still had 22 points overall on The ARCUS pilots.
Only 2 days to go!!!!
March 18…No contest day. “rest day and cold front passage.
March 19…Contest day 6 …last day; 1.30 TAT, short task, ….but a task!!!, …with an hour delay before the first launch. A much more “cool” and also mostly blue day, with 2-3 knots up to 1500/1700 and a NNW with 12/15 kts decreasing to 10.
Jake was back in action and 3 on the daily spot on this last day. Before him, on spot 1 another ARCUS with team Simmons. At spot 2 the DUO DISCUS from Karl and Sarah, moving up to spot 27 overall. Nick and his mate in the ARCUS were on spot 4. A real good glider that ARCUS…a WINNER. Not bad either that Duo Discus .
The final scores ;
1. team Bennet&Krolikowski in ARCUS M with 4820 points.
2. Team Simmons&Simmons in ARCUS M. with 4797 p.
3. Jake Alspaugh in ASW 27 with 4727.

Where are we without tuggies and helpers?????? Nowhere….So here they are…

Both pictures from tuggies and ground crew by Bo and shared by Soaring Society of America

And to finish this part of the USA Senior Comps another 2 “STRONG” action pictures from Bo.

Thanks for sharing so many TOP-pictures!!!!!

For all scores;
https://www.ssa.org/ContestResults.asp?contestId=2497&ContestDetailId=21565&ContestName=Senior+Soaring+Championship&ContestDate=3/19/2021&ResultsUpdate=True

Great first prize…look at it!!

Looking good.
Courtesy Bo shared by Soaring Society of America

Terrible floods in the S .EAST of Australia, specially the beautiful town of Port Macquarie. Friends saw how their furniture and fridge “floot ” out of their house. Even a house,… yes a total house passed by in the flooding areas. Sydney got warnings as well.
An intense weather system delivers this record- breaking flooding also in Hastings.
It’s a tough country, either too dry or too wet and with thousands of mice, the farmers in NSW have another burden.
The water, after torrential downpours and wind raised the rivers and a few days later, also lot’s of people from Sydney had to be evacuated.
The worst flooding in 60 years I heard.

NOT good!!!!!Courtesy Nicole Galea.

Heavy and sad floods in the East, still happy soaring in the West where from Beverley still over 400 km flights have been flown. 543 even by Norm on Sunday in the JS 3.

Our astronomical spring started last weekend with minus 6 in the night , but sunny conditions during the day.
Last Friday was a great looking day here with fabulous cauliflower-clouds on purple blue skies. I noticed good CC flights already from Terlet by Steven Raimond [388 km in ASG 29e…out and return far SE to Dahlemer Binz. ] and Soesterberg from Mark Leeuwenburgh [368 km in ASG 29 e/18m. ] who flew up N. direction Groningen.

Last Monday good ridge soaring; lots of “low-racing over the mountain-tops…once 190 m AGL “with a wave moment up to 5594 m. MSL” as well, from Noetsch [Austria] where Johannes Hausmann flew in his DG 600/18 m a distance of 1000 km.
The weekend had “special” weather for Klaus Ohlmann, who started from Serres and 2 French “kilometer eaters with name” Gil Souviron and Baptiste Innocent, starting from Perpignan, flying the Stemme S10 and S12; 1.707 km. [147 km./h] and 1.753 km.[150 km./h]
Comment from Klaus “What a pity… phone made no wakeup call due to empty battery. So I lost 1 hour of flight time. But nevertheless, it was a great day and connection from Alps via central massif to the Pyrenees worked, even if it was a little bit tricky. Thanks for all the nice work from ATC.
Without their help the successful flight would not have been possible
.”
The OLC wrote extra about the flights;
“Twice over 1700 kilometers…A lot can be done with a Stemme S10, especially if your name is Klaus Ohlmann. On Sunday (March 21), Klaus started at Serres, on the edge of the Maritime Alps. Directed to the Pyrenees, which once again produced magnificent waves in the north wind. At the edge of the Alps, south of the Glandasse, he climbed to over 4000 meters, high enough for a glide into the waves on the west side of the Rhone Valley in the Massif Central. These waves took him into the Pyrenees waves. When he landed in Ampuriabrava in Spain in theevening 1707 kilometers (147 kph) were on the clock.With his flight, Klaus Ohlmann was ahead of Gil Souviron with a Stemme S12, who had already been successful on the previous Sunday from Perpignan with 1500 kilometers in the Pyrenees wave. On this Sunday the French pilot had Baptiste Innocent from Fayence with him. (http://onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html…)

Klaus in the Stemme.
As shared by OLC – onlinecontest.org

Interesting news shared by Matthew, no not about weather this time but about …
It’s official – the ASW20B/C have entered IGC club class, at 1.06 (0.05 higher than ASW20A).https://www.fai.org/sites/default/files/sc3ah_2021.pdf

AND,….when CORONA is finally over end of the year and next year….we ALL hope for it….here are some dates for the comps down under.
The Multiclass Nationals will be held at Kingaroy Soaring Club from Monday 4 October to Monday 11 October 2021, immediately after the QLD State Comps which runs there from Sunday 26 September to Saturday 2nd October. Sunday 3 October will be an extra practice day for anyone who wants a launch. See kingaroysoaring.com.au for registration details.

The Club and Sports Class Nationals will be held at Tocumwal from 12-18 December 2021.

And I “stay” for a moment in Australia…..I told you earlier about the morning glory, here is a great picture. Found it on FB. Several of my mates have “done” this already.

Motor Falke flown in Bourke Town Queensland Australia, This is the Morning Glory cloud. Something every Australian glider pilot wants to do.
courtesy Greg McDonald.

That’s it for today. Looking ahead for a nice spring-week. Next week might be 20 dgr. C again….like!!!
CU next Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz

Belated Nationals, active USA seniors and G.I. from March.

The 2020 Club and multi class Nationals are on NOW , between March 14 and 20 in 2021. Due to covid-19 they had to be postponed.
The airfield to be is Mc Caffery Field named after good old Dennis Mc Caffery , [R.I.P.]who I met several times, once I was his dinner partner and we had such a great time. A really nice outgoing person. In my eyes some kind of Bill Riley or John Roake.
So they fly the Nationals there now, with 8 pilots in each of the classes.
March 13 was practice with a 2.30 AAT in club won by Jo Davis who could have won the WWGC, if all had gone according to the rules. But rules are rules!!!!Still a pity!
She flew in her ASW 20, 270 km in 2.31.
In the multi class it was a great practice day for Ray Stewart [JS 3 /15m.] and Matthew Scutter. [DIANA 2]. With a speed of 125 km./h they flew during the 2.30 AAT distances of 333 and 336 km. in time 2.39 and 2.42.
Club had a 3.30 AAT on day 1 which was good and young Reuben Lane in a DG 100 won with 340 km. in time 3.30 at the dot!!!!1000 points for him.
The runner up, Mark Dalton in ASW 20b, flew 382 km. but need a bit more time ;4 minutes which cost him 1 point.
Multiclass; some kind of same scenario. 1000 points for Ray and ONE point less for Matthew.
Matthew flew there, looked via his SkySight to the weather of the upcoming days and the organization decided to listen:
Unfortunately due to current and forecast weather it has been decided to cancel the competition.”
So one practice day and ONE good day and they all had to come home again,…such a pity. You understand that in Australia distances are huge, so some arrived flew 1 day and went home again….some driving over 8 hours. It is as it is!!!
The organizers opinion;
The options for any more days flying are worse than zero.

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Ready to go….many gliders at Seminole Lake.
Courtesy Bo Michalowski
As shared by Soaring Society of America

The USA SENIORS , as always fly their comps from Seminole.
With Covid test’s on site, they started the 31 edition on March 13 and continue till March 19 with 58 pilots. Always a very busy competition with lot’s of “old’ with respect toppers as Doug Jacobs and Karl Striedeck …in his early eighties… ,who flies as practice for the German WGC in the Duo Discus with Sarah…… and with John Good as the CD.
After 2 practice days the real “thing...contest day 1” started with 2 hour TAT.[ Turn Area Task]
The day was won by a new name for me ,Jake Alspaugh in an ASW 27.John Seaborne, who I met during the 2012 WGC in Uvalde was runner up in his JS 3/15m.Sarah and Karl were 6th in the Duo.
It was a blue day with the forecast for afternoon cirrus, so most thought,….”an early start is the way to go”.

Contest day 2 as seen by Bo ..what a great photographer…and shared by the Soaring Society of America

Contest day 2 , another 2 hour TAT, this time won by Fernando Silva [JS 3/15m] and Jake was runner up .Blue day was fore- casted again , BUT CU’s popped up, but also disappeared.

DAY 2 winner Fernando Silva.
Courtesy Bo shared by Soaring Society of America
Great skies on Contest Day 3 of the 31st Seniors Soaring Championships at Seminole-Lake Gliderport.
as shared by Soaring Society of America

Contest day 3, with a 3 hour TAT, was a prey for a “shark 18”, flown by Sam Giltner. Sarah and Karl were on spot 3 but overall now on spot 45.
Very nice day. 5000+ cu. Good streets. ” was the comment from Ken Sorenson, the CD from the Uvalde ’12 WGC. He flew 456 km in his Ventus 3F/15m.
No contest day on March 16.
So in the middle the overall scores are; Jake on 1, team Bennet [Nic practiced a lot in Worcester] &Krolikowski in the ARCUS M on 2 [ on day 3 they had a “Very late launch due to technical problems. This probably helped us as by the time we started cloud base had gone up a bit and there were some good streets” ]and Steve Fihlen in ASG 29/15m on 3.
Will be back with the last days next week.
For results; https://www.ssa.org/ContestResults

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The MARCH issue of GLIDING INTERNATIONAL, has a beautiful picture on the cover from Tobias Barth, over the town of Hamburg, only possible because of Covid-19 ,as normally airliners fly there.
What’s more in it;
—–Pre World War 2 Gliding …Germany and Japan unite…by Arthur Liddington…14 pages of history…..to be honest I learned a lot from it.
—–Japan Aeronautic Association and gliding in Japan today. I do have a lot of Japanese soaring mates since Sportavia and visited 4 airfields there in that time…an interesting GREAT experience it was!!
—–Wolf Hirth…German Soaring pilot extraordinaire.
—–Gliding and the World Olympic movement
—–R.I.P. Hans Werner Grosse….
—–In the accident report…..there are still unresolved battery problems.
—–Lot’s of International Aviation news for glider pilots and “things with wings”.
What got my special attention in the Aviation news was;
“Late 2020, Sebastian Kawa joined a group of European pilots who over-flew the Tatra Mountains in Poland – a dedication in memory of those who died on the mountain. Sebastian read a list of all climbers and pilots who lost their lives. A video of the flight is available on YouTube.”
AND
Omarama Airfield Update: The ‘Omarama Gliding Club’ is now the organization for overseas pilots to contact and who want to soar from this location. Glide Omarama no longer exists in its previous form. You can contact the club via their web site – https://www.omarama. com/ A number of the personnel from the former operation are now working for the “Omarama Club”.

Some good over 1000 km. flights over the last couple of days, have a look at the OLC.
March 16; Ugo Pavesi flew one from Calicinate in Italy in an ASG 29/15m. and Klaus Ohlmann from Serres in France in the Antares 20.
March 15; Gil Souviron 1100 km in the Stemme S12 from Perpignan.
March 14; young Swiss pilot Davide Giovanelli flew one from Locarno in Switzerland in a DISCUS 2 …” WHAT A DAY“….and Alessandro Busca from Alzate in Ventus 2CX/18m.
NOT a 1000 but a SPLENDID flight on March 16; Alessandro Busca flew in the ASK 21, a distance of 598 km. from Aosta, on a pretty good wave day.

CU next week with the latest on Seminole and other news.
Cheers Ritz

Back to winter!-7 BUT,….good soaring conditions!

With minus 7 ,our spring feeling was gone for a few day’s. Tomorrow it will be “autumn” as wind will reach bft 9 with heavy gusting’s.
I guess that’s March.

Victorian State Comps continued in Benalla.


VSA State 2021 Gliding Championships official Practice Day.…..veeerry difficult day. Not all got home, but tested the metal!”
As shared by Gliding Club of Victoria

The Victorian State comps started with a practice day on March 3 and on March 4 they had to fly for the points.
They did in 2 classes, unballasted [ 10 pilots] and ballasted.[10]
Not TOP weather but flyable ;a low and blue day.
2.45 AAT’s were set and in the “gliders without water”, the Mosquito from Bendigo was the best; 163 km. in time 2.26.
Only 3 from 9 finished.
In the other class , home pilot, Toby Geiger in his Ventus 2ax flew 243 km. in time 3.08.
3 From 9 finished!!!
They did not fly on the 5th but the 6th was a flyable day again .
2.45 AAT for the “empty” gliders .
6 From 10 finished task 2 ;winner with 216 km. in time 2.44 was Mark Goodley in the HORNET for 900 points.
Bernie Sizer , with Tocumwal as home base, in his PIK 20 B WL was runner up with 245 km. but needed more time ;2.57.
Ailsa McMillan, who flew with the Aussie team the WWGC in Lake Keepit, flies the LS 4 and I had not seen a lot of flying from her over the last period. Good to see her in this State competition; 4th for the day.
Of course with Covid, EVERYTHING is different.
Task 3 in this class had a 2.15 AAT and 2 pilots flying the local DG 1001s/18m got the daily prize; 206 km. in time 2.17. Bernie was runner up and Ailsa 3d.
After an outlanding on task 1 [ flying 175 km which was 10/20 and 30 km further than the finishers, BUT you have to finish!!] she is now 3d overall.
Task 4, after a non flying day was a 2.30 AAT.
199 km. in 2.41, was the result for Ailsa and SHE WON the day. Good on her. She is a good pilot. 875 points. Only 76 points behind the overall number 1 Jack in the MOSQUITO. AND,…with ONE day to go!!!
4 From the 7 who started finished.
Task 5 was squeezed out….a 2 hour AAT and won by Jack with 188 km. in time 2.02….for 614 points.
9 From 10 finished on this last day.
The top 3 from the last few days stayed the same with a little change after task 2 ,….it was then Jack, Mark and Ailsa now it is
1. Jack Hart in the MOSQUITO with 3.713 points.
2. Ailsa McMillan in LS 4b with 3.568 p.
3. Mark Goodley in the HORNET WL with 3.434 p.

courtesy gliding club of Victoria

In the ballasted glidercomps task 2 was a 2.30 AAT and won by Tim [Wilson]a lovely guy , with a Dutch girlfriend, but due to Covid they have not seen each other since last season, when we all met in Tocumwal and had dinner together;256 km. in time 2.33. The only one over 100 km./h that day flying his ASG 29E.
Task 3 was a 2.45 AAT and not Tim’s day. He was “out” after 262 km.
Winner was John [Orton] in his ASG 29/18 m. ;327 km. in time 3.14.
Toby was 3d but still leads the pact, followed by John and Matt [Cage].
No flying on Monday!
BUT,….YES flying again , Task 4, on Tuesday with a 3 hour AAT. Prey again for Toby,267 km. in time 3.02 for 1000 points!!! Nearly 200 points in the lead before the last day.
8 Did start, 5 finished.
Task 5; 1.30 AAT and all 9 who started finished!! Toby won another day [175 km. in time 1.30] ,pretty clear he won this competition. Tim was runner up for the day. Overall he was on spot 4!
1. Tobias Geiger in Ventus 2ax with 4.034 points.
2. John Orton in ASG 29/18m with 3.729 p.
3. Matt Gage in Ventus 2CX/18m with 3.407 p
.

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Opening of the season for the members of the Gelderse At Terlet.
Courtesy Robert Jungblut

On March 7 several clubs started their season in Holland with great looking skies, but it was terrible cold when you were not sitting or standing in the sun. By the way, that sun is really good already!!!!
Soesterberg [ACVZ] and The Gelderse , the club from my grand children, did open their season. Great day for the seasonal test flights when you wear thermal clothes!!!!
And masks!!!!!

Courtesy Arjan Vrieze

Some started straight away with nice CC flights, as my friend Daan [Pare] who flew 259 km. from Soesterberg [ nice weather, good test flight, with streets , but a “bit” chilly] straight to the East and other friends Vincent and Bart flew from there in the ARCUS 275 km. They went full of enthusiasm to the SW following the line of the Nordsea to Cadzand a famous Dutch seaside resort ; “fabulous, but on the way back,….there was wind,..no cu’s anymore” BUT,…no worries…..they had an engine”
They loved every minute.

Courtesy Bart Renckens.


In Germany great weather as well last Saturday with a 539 km. from Stadlohn [-East of Terlet just over the border]in an ARCUS T.
This is early-season-2021-fun, but there was late season-2021 fun as well. Sven [Olivier] flew 866 km from Worcester in his JS 1, and on Sunday New Zealand [Matamata] had a FUN-day with several flights between 500 and 600km-plus km. in Discus 2, SZD 55and DG 300.
When the weather is really good, we call that “kastelen- weer” in Germany they say “hammer wetter” .
One of my friends Bertje, decided to use that literary and followed in the air a few great castles on “castle-weather-day” !!
That extremely cold weather from the North gives great visibility.

Courtesy Bert Kuiper.

Sunday was not as good but still some good early-season-flights. This time just over “my” border into Belgium where Pieter Daems flew in his Discus 2T a nice distance/ jo-jo from 417 km. starting from Keiheuvel.
A weekend full of “happy, but frozen” chappies.
I found the word “chilly” an understatement!!

Last but not least ;
Peter Eriksen from Denmark is ,last weekend, elected as the new president of IGC, The International Gliding Commission.
Our Dutch Frouwke Kuijpers is now first vice president of the IGC.
Eric Moser , who was president for many years ,is now in the EB from the FAI.
Congratulations!!!!

To finish. I found this picture on FB with the message “High altitude crossings”….in my eyes….pretty scary!!!!

As shared in “zwevers” on FB on March 5
courtesy Nicola Calo’

Better stay further away from each other, this upcoming season.
CU next week
Cheers Ritz

And.…..not to forget….for WOMEN’SDAY this picture from USA pilot Sarah, and WWGC Champion in Lake Keepit, who is this year flying the WGC in Stendal in the ARCUS with Karl Striedeck…old and new with respect,…. for this picture and the “nice combination”.

The British Gliding Association and WWGC 2022 news;
We’re celebrating International Women’s Day in style by launching the Women’s World Gliding Championship 2022!”
www.wwgc2022.co.uk

This picture is from that GREAT Lake Keepit WWGC. Next WWGC will be in the UK, leaded by Liz Sparrow [in blue polo with the big smile] as CD.

13-17 August 2022 at Husbands Bosworth…HUSBOS…. in Leicester in the UK.

Spring here, autumn down-under!

It seems when you get older ,that time is flying even faster !! We just started 2021 and it is already March again,…the beginning of the meteorological spring here and autumn down under!
As I told you last week we have “weird” but lovely weather. 6 Days over 16 dgr. C has never ever happened before.
I told you about the Sahara sand here in Holland,… they wrote about it in Germany as well on the OLC:
Not over North Africa, but the sand of the Sahara, which the strong southern current has carried to Europe in the last few days, Robert Prat was able to fly around 1,100 kilometers with an ASG 29E on Sunday. After starting in Saint-Gaudens the French pilot used the lee waves of the Pyrenees for the distance between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. He spent most of the flight at around 5000 meters above the dust cover. .”
Robert flew 1.122 km. with a speed of 150 km./h on February 21 2021 in mostly high wave nearly up to 6000 m. /5.901 MSL!!!!
His comment ;”Wave flight above Sahara dust .
Unfortunately air mass changed in Cu instable on West area.

Wave!
More about the fast flight at 150 kph average speed in the online contest 
Picture shared by Robert on the OLC comment.

We are back here, to zero in the night, so we have to be careful with our trees and plants who “think” summer has started.
I noticed already spiders, yellow butterflies, bumblebees and even more important, great clouds on a nice blue sky!!!
On TV that evening from February 26 ,they showed great cloud streets!!!!!
Sander Terpstra shared it on FB.
Here you are,….really clouds street over Holland.

Satellite image….As shared by Sander Terpstra.


Not long and the gliders are going up again.
WHAT,…….????? Some are UP already.
Just over the border here, is the KEIHEUVEL, I love that place!!!?…..
They noticed the great early spring conditions as well.
Wim Akkermans flew already in his LS 8 on that day a Cross Country flight of 374 km.
What a start of the season! Never flew this kind of distance in Februari. Really enjoyed the flight.”
From Stadtlohn in Germany ,[ also just over the Dutch border], Hermann Rosing flew 460 km. in a Ventus 2CM/18m.
To be seen,….Not only on the OLC
http://onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html…
but also on
https://weglide.org/flight/25222
Quantifying air sports….The next generation Gliding Platform.”
By the way Matthew announced on March 1 the next news:
“We have now partnered with WeGlide to enable all your favorite SkySight charts inside their flight planner and logbook! Connect your WeGlide and SkySight accounts together inside your WeGlide account (Profile -> Settings) and give it a try today!”

They do still fly in Benalla, where the Victorian state comps will be flown from tomorrow, March 4 till March 10.
19 Pilots will attend. More next week.
The Lake Keepit Regatta was still in full swing, though full is maybe too much said, as they had 2 days without a task and a short one on Friday .
2 Hour AAT’s for both club and sports.
In club Sofie [Curio] was doing a great job in her LS 4 winning 2 days.
In sports it was Matthew [Scutter] again.
On the last day no flying either so the winners on 2 days [from 4] Sofie and 3 days [out of 4] Matthew were the overall winners with 2.599 points for Sofie…good on her….and 3.152 for Matthew…good on him!
Diana-2 New Generation reacted with this message and picture:
Matthew Scutter with Diana-2 FES NG won 2021 Lake Keepit Regatta Competition! We’re so Happy! Congratulations Matthew!

LL is the Diana 2 flown by former Junior World Champion Matthew.

The last day of February was a good [Sun-] day ,as in Australia they still had 42 flights between 230 k [in a Cirrus] and 619k in an ASH 31/21 m.
Nearly all over Australia….East, South and West.
NOT bad, as day’s are shorter and temperatures not as high anymore as in summer.
March 1 , down under, was not so good with NO flights on this Monday but in Europe , where days clearly get longer and temperatures “sometimes” increase, the sun was shining after fog. However not too many flights [14 on the OLC, 11 valid] ,..the best in France from Fayence [277 k.in ASW 17] and La Motte.[243 k in Ventus]
It’s ONLY the beginning!!!!
On March 6 several Dutch clubs open their doors for the new season. Of course corona proof AND with respect for nature.

CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

To finish,...”the past” 1965, the winners from the Dutch Nationals that year,…sophisticated is n’t it? Suit and tie.
As I started in 1967, I do remember their outfits and I met Rijk Breunissen [3] and Aart Dekkers [2] well known because he had, already in 1968, a “spiffy” glider, a DIAMANT. He did not SIT in the glider but he “LIE” in it.

1. John van Melzen from the Gelderse. in KA 6
2. Aart Dekkers in KA 6
3. Rijk Breunissen in KA 6.
As shared by Robert Jungblut and published with his permission.
The National team for the 1968 WGC in Leszno. Aart in his Diamant. With Dick Reparon to the right.
To the left Joop Jungblut, yes father from Robert who shares the pictures and Ed van Bree , who died young in a TRAGIC light aircraft accident at Eindhoven, together with one of his sons. He is/was the father from Max and grand father from Caspar. I remember the accident as if it was yesterday.