Unfortunately I had no time to see my friends in Finland but I try to be in Leszno for a couple of days! Working hard to organize that. A few pilots have arrived already in Leszno, some are on their way, some are unpacking containers and others are happy and ready to participate in their 2d 33d FAI WGC. Picture below courtesy Walter Mirasso.
In between several international pilots flew, better said ” visited ” the annual open Issoudun comps ,as they had BAD weather.
Also the Females had to deal with this weather during their nationals also in Issoudun. They all had only 2 days of soaring, whilst the 18 m. Nationals in Husbos were flown with better weather, which is pretty weird as normally France has the good/better weather.
The UK Nationals were interesting till the last day! When you have read my last blog in SoaringCafe you know all about it.
Except for the last day as THAT day was last Sunday . Another spectacular last day, with some unpleasant results for some.
A pretty marginal day with a late start , around 4 o’ clock, to use a ” window” to the NW. For some a real bad day with finishes up to a quarter after 7 !
Pete Harvey outlanded in this championship flying an 18 m. class glider, a JS 1 instead of his open class glider [ he is a real open class pilot!] and dropped from 2 to 5 in the final scores.
Andy Davis had a really good run,looking at the 7 days and finished as the new CHAMPION, in the JS1.[5439 points]
Russell Cheetham was a good runner up, yes also in the JS 1 ,[ 5268] but the number 3 ,Stephen Ell flew an ASG 29 . [5239]
The “oldies…. WITH respect” are still doing well.
The 7 th edition of the Tropheo Dello Oltrepo, we are in Italy now [Terme], was won by one of my many Italian mates, Manuele Molinari. He must have been very pleased!
The 14 pilots had 4 pretty difficult days out of 6, not one with the real Italian racing weather and on day 3 Manuele was the only pilot finishing a 2.30 AAT , flying 192 km in 2.48.
Parallel with this competition 8 pilots flew for the National Standard Class title. Congratulations to Manuele, who won in the Discus and is the new National Champion in standard class.
Manuele in MM, as some of you know “our” callsign at comps for years.
Pictures courtesy Manuele.
The Dutch SUMMER comps are on and flown from Malden .Normally seen as an upgrade for the best pilots with enough points,to continue with the Dutch Nationals next year.
Always a great week of soaring over there.
Close to Malden is Nijmegen and the 4 days-of-walking, called the Nijmeegse 4Daagse, with around 43.000 national and international participants is there this week as well.They started yesterday and the last glorious day for those who make it will be Friday. They will be cheered on by thousands of people.
They walk through Malden as well.
The first soaring-day , Sunday, was cancelled , but the rest of the week looks very promising.It’s going to be HOT!!!
Monday a short task to start with from 150 km. for club and open went for 195 km.
Though short ,…it was still TOO long. No finishers in both classes.
Yesterday was cancelled due to showers [ mixed here with great clouds] and today they are surely flying, no rain, maybe no clouds either , [ it is VERY blue here] but dry thermals can be good as well.However during the day clouds popped up and over 300 km. tasks were set for both classes.
Malden from above.
The 21st Female Nationals in Poland, flown from Ostrow, parallel with Ostrow Glide , had a very difficult day 2 for 10 of the 11 pilots , but not for Joanna [Biedermann] who was the only pilot to finish the 308.4 km. in the BRAWO.
2 of this kind of glider in this competition , 1 LS 1 f and the rest are St. Jantars.
Ostrow Glide counts 64 participants in 3 classes.
Yesterday the ladies had a 2.30 AAT and both Brawo’s were on the daily top-spots.Joanna leads the pact after 4 days with over 300 points on Judyta who flies the other Brawo.[a Polish glider from the SZD manufacturers]
Another great flight from Mitch Polinsky from Ely in Nevada. He declared a 1257 km. TRIANGLE, but had to abort this task just 35 miles short of the second TP due to a blue hole to reach and fly back from this TP.
He then tried for a large free triangle, but as he said “ I got greedy and went too far north. Difficult return home from Elko, as the day died. Got withint 35 miles of Ely and had to start my engine to get the rest of the way home.”
He still flew 1218 km.
On th 14th of July Fuentemilanos spoiled it’s guests with great soaring weather over the mountains. Frequent Fuente-pilot Guy Bechtold from Luxembourg flew straight away a 1000 in his Quintus M to set the level for the Spanish summer. Other guests from the UK and Germany flew over 700 km.
Yesterday it was only Fuentemilanos in the top of the OLC. It ‘s that time of the year again for our Spanish friends and all their guests.
13 x 1000 km. NOT BAD, a good day!
Guy had his 2d Fuente flight and another 1000, this time 1.132 km.[873 FAI]
” Klasse flug” an” dia completo’ were some comments; a total of 24 flights from Fuente from 150 km. in an Astir via 300, 500, 600 and 937 in a St.LIBELLE by French guest Pierre Roumet. Good on him!
Pepe nearly flew a 1000 FAI triangle.[1.028 km…939 FAI triangle]
Also Ocana and Villacastin had super flights .
Spain is hot as I heard from my grand son who is looking for snakes and foxes on a father/son wild-nature -holiday.
When you live IN Australia or are planning an overseas trip TO Australia , this might be of interest for you.
It’s only in November but it seems fun to participate as last year was a great success,:the Speed Week organized by top pilot Paul Mander [ flew the WGC in Rieti in 1985] and attended by other toppers as Ingo Renner, Brad Edwards, both former world champions and Tony Tabart [flew several WGC’s]
Last year Alland Barnes and Matt Gage practiced their pair-flying at West Wyalong. They used it in Rayskala this year.
From l. to r.; With Ingo, Tony,Paul, Brad, Tom and 2 others, in front of Brad’s jet.
Courtesy Paul Mander .
–—”Only 120 sleeps until SpeedWeek, and the good news is that we will again have both our world champions, INGO RENNER and BRAD EDWARDS, as our special guests. Participants will have a week of flying in Ingo’s company, and on our Meet the Stars evening in a casual environment have the opportunity to pick their brains on matters gliding. This is a repeat of the event of last year, which was a huge success thanks to these two legends of our sport. TONY TABART will be there too.
If you meet the criteria and have an independent operators rating then you may like to consider furthering your cross country skills by participating in Speed Week. This is run by Paul Mander in a relaxed and friendly environment. The aim is not to win but to improve your own performance.
The venue is West Wyalong, a glider pilot’s heaven. It has a marvellous airport with almost no traffic, a welcoming community and plenty of good accommodation, well priced.
The dates are November 9th to 15th inclusive.“—
You are up to date with the latest day-to-day-news, CU next Wednesday here, or earlier on Sunday on www.soaringcafe.com
Cheers Ritz