Happy Pentecost.
A bit later than normal on Sunday, as I waited for the preliminary final results from St. Hubert and Arnborg.
The changed final results are under P/S.
The BENELUX Championship 2015.
Always a bit difficult for a blogger doing research on ALL what’s available, when soaringspot is out for improvements/upgrades, even temporarily , but …in the middle of several comps.
Have to get used to the new soaringspot , but it looks spiffy. Poor scorers at those comps in progress, felt sorry for them.
Mats and Piotr at the Uppsala Masters, have to deal with the new system
As shared by the organizers.
NO BENELUX- news to be found at the official site or at the soaring spot site.Always a pity as we can’t ” feel or taste at home ” what’s going on.
Excellent pictures however…. ,on FB, from the BENELUX comps, at least something !!! AND ,live tracking of course!
When you have 2 cancelled days, 2 flyable days and again 2 cancelled days, the weather gods seem unhappy, BUT a change arrived just in time to add a few more days.
We had 12 dgr. and a slow “LOW” over Belgium and Holland, with pretty heavy rain, but no worries friendships were renewed or started.
A good moment to mention 50 years of COMPETITION_soaring for “my” instructor DICK TEULING. He and his wife Liesbeth have visited lot’s and lot’s of comps together. They met on a ZES-soaring-camp in Venlo in 1967 ,.. I was there as well.Dick flew already comps then.The ZES had NO field at that time, but 3 camps a year ,one at Venlo, one at Malden and one at Terlet together with the Delft Student Aero club.
Dick and Liesbeth “honored” by Patrick during the BENELUX Nationals.
As seen by Willemijn.
and in 1967/8 when I went solo at Malden. Pretty serious stuff is n’t it?
No flying news at the moment,…..but NEWS ENOUGH.
Here is the brand-new ASH 32 MI rigged and ready to go for promo flights in St. Hubert. For all news contact Rene de Dreu, the BENELUX agent.
Francesco and Grietje, from Australian Soaring Center Corowa ,are the first to have one flying down under this upcoming [for them] summer.
As shared by Rene, who is in St Hubert at the moment.
And Willemijn shared the very first action of this great looking glider, on tow and in landing!!
Willemijn, really has an eye for glider details look at this;
The FES on the Ventus 2 cxa from Francois [agent for Schempp Hirth in Holland] …Front Electronic Sustainer,…the future?
BUT,….back to soaring. As said the next couple of days look good.
Thursday May 21;
For the combi class a 4 hour AAT was set for day 3 and the most kilometers were for one of my HUSBOS juniors Robbie Seton in the LS 8 ;448 km. in time 3.57,8.
Also the runner up was from Holland Sjaak Selen, yes brother from…..
Jef , Dennis and Jeroen all from the Keiheuvel in Belgium, followed.
The overall scores are close; Robbie now on spot 1 with 2730 points, Jeroen, Dennis,Jef and Sjaak all within 100 points.
By the way lot’s of penalty points for airspace violations and altitude in both classes most in this class.
And,…the LS 8 SR, from Robbie will be shipped soon to Australia, as he and his dad Jan, “give” the glider to use by the Dutch team, in Narromine at the JWGC. Great gesture!
So the Dutch team travels down under, with 2 St. Cirrus gliders and 2 LS 8 gliders. GOOOOOD!!!!!
Sjaak and Mark [Leeuwenburgh]
As see by Willemijn.
In 18m./open also a 4 hour AAT on day 4 ; 474 km. in time 4.01 was flown by Yves Jeanmotte in the ASG 29 and also the runner up was from Belgium Francois Delfosse.
The overall scores here are pretty close as well. Yves has 3117 points, Jean Luc 3070 and Maurits 3011.
VERY bad luck for the number 3 overall from day 3, Sebastien Mercier, he did not fly this day he was sick. What a pity on such a great day, with such great days behind him.
NOT flying the BENELUX comps but enjoying the Luxembourg weather, that is what Guy Bechtold did, he flew a 1000 [932 FIA triangle !] from Useldange in his Quintus M.
Friday May 22;
And yes the weather was GOOD and tasks in a style to lift this competition to a higher level.
5 days of flying in 18m/open class till now and Friday showed a good racing task of 407.60 km !!
Nearly all pilots finished, the best 3 were from Belgium; Wim [Akkermans] 1000 points, Yves 998 and Jean Luc 994. Then 3 Dutch pilots; Marco, Mark and Dick.
The smaller ships also got a nice long racing task on day 4 from the ST Hubert BENELUX comps; 367.52 km.
Sjaak from Holland won this day with a speed of 112.47 km./h, just ahead of Robbie with 110. 04 km./h.
All pilots finished and Robbie and Sjaak seem to be in a winning mood.
Saturday May 23;
A little dip in the weather again, but small tasks are maybe possible; 1 hour, [open /18m.] and 1.30 AAT’s.
They were possible ,but what a terrible day !!!!!!!! Luckily not too many points to loose.
Bert jr and Tijl, the Schmelzer brothers gathered each others strength and were 1 and 2 and got 66 [114 km. in time 1.37] and 63 points.[95 km. in time 1.25] They started early and finished before 4 PM.
The first Dutch pilot and the ONLY finisher was Sjaak on spot 9 flying 104 km.. He flew 2 hours and 35 minutes. It could be worse ;Jef flew nearly 3 hours for 56 points over 88 km.
13 Did not finish, one of them Patrick [Stouffs] with 11 points for 23 km.
Total scores after 5 days Dennis [Huybreckx ]with 3722 points ,just ahead of Robbie [Seton] with 3718 and on 3 Jeroen [Jennen] with 3690. Sjaak is on spot 4 with 3682. It will be an exciting last day !!!!
In open class , Wim won again gaining 68 points for 98.83 km in time 58 minutes and 47 seconds.21 Pilots finished 3 did not fly.Total scores after 6 days; Yves [Jeanmotte] 4160, Marco [Vermeer] 3865, Mark [Leeuwenburgh] 3856, Maurits [Dortu] on 4 with 3832 and Olivier [Brialmont] with 3808 points . Also still in the race Wim with 3769 and Hans [Biesters] with 3764.Father Schmelzer with 3738 points,…who knows!
Ready to go,…..as seen by Franz Bertrand.
Sunday May 24; It ALL depends on THIS day !!!!
The last day of the BENELUX comps,…who are going to be the champions?
In both classes still possibilities enough,… though to be honest, in open Yves has a nice lead.BUT, on a last day everything is possible, certainly when pilots play ALL OR NOTHING.
What happened?
Combi class ;2.30 AAT
The daily winner was Daan Spruyt in the LS 6, he started with a ” win” on day 1 and finished with one on the last day.[227 km. in time 2.31,22] Good on him.
Dennis was 2d and Jeroen 3d; with that the 2 Keiheuvel boys/cousins won the comps, Dennis as Champion , [4474] Jeroen as runner up with 49 points less. [4425]
Robbie who was on spot 8 today dropped to spot 3 in the overall scores! [4420] ONLY…5 points behind Jeroen!!!!
Daan finished on 11 overall.
The NEW CHAMPION DENNIS.
As seen by Gitte.
18m./open ; 2.30 AAT
With a speed of 98 km./h over 277 km. Jean Luc won the last day.Yves had ONE point less;999.
No worries , for Yves, more than enough to keep the first spot overall and to be the new CHAMPION.[5159 points]
Maurits climbed from 4 to 2 as Marco [daily spot 9] and Mark [daily spot 15] had a less good day and dropped to 4 and 6. Wim was 3d , so had a good day and climbed from 6 to 3.
A lot happened that last day!!!
Sorry could not find a picture from Yves.
Both classes have a CHAMPION from Belgium !!! No worries, they /we are ALL mates !!!
Last finish of the first BENELUX Championships.Till next year ….at…..TERLET.
Great picture by Willemijn.
P/S
As said the scores were preliminary and changed later in the evening.
Here are the correct results:
Open ; 1. Yves [5181], 2. Jean Luc [5126] 3. Maurits [4697].
Combi class; 1. Dennis [4464] , 2.Robbie [4420], 3. Jeroen [4415].
Congratulations again!!!
———–
DANISH NATIONALS with an excellent last day,..for some!
Arnborg in Denmark, with the Danish Nationals, was not much better, they started with 2 flyable days , added then another 4 scrubbed days , to continue again on Wednesday.
Club class; had a 2.30 AAT on day 3 and for the 3d time Jan [Andersen] won with a speed of 90.6 km./h. over 231 km. in the ASW 20C, good for 798 points.
Henrik was runner up, Ole 3d ,but Rasmus had a less good day; 199 points for 175 km. and it must have been a real tough day for him ,….but he gave not up…. as he needed nearly 4 hours [3.41]
Both Jan and Rasmus started at 3 PM.
Standard class; day 3, also a 2.30 AAT. 6 From 10 finished and 4 LS 8 gliders in the top. Frederik Noddelund flew 212.8 km. in time 2.26.700 Points were his!!!
15 m. class; day 3, a bit more time for this class a 2.45 AAT and good old Stig Oye still knows how to fly; 250 km. in time 2.47, pretty good and good enough for 900 points. Johnny Jensen was runner upo with 222.2 km. in 2.46. Ib was on spot 6.
18 m.; got a 2.45 AAT on their plate as well on day 3. Arne and Peter started at 14.39, Arne flew in time 2.54,27 a total of 272.5 km. [ 900 points] and Peter in 2.45,49 a total of 247.3 km. good for 831 points.
2 Seater class; day 3 with 245 km in the ARCUS over a 2.45 AAT in 2.45.50.
Thursday was scrubbed for all classes.
Friday May 22; was a valid but pretty difficult day.
In Club class only 4 from 12 finished among them Jan [Andersen]
In 15 m. a task from 210.8 km. Stig was runner up.
18 M. had 176 km but it was a slow race with Peter [Eriksen] as the fastest with 87.8 km. Except for 1 pilot all finished.
Saturday May 23;
Standard class had a 160 km. racing task, Club ,140.5 km. ,20 m., 173.3 km.,15 m., 160.2 km. and 18 m., 173.3 km.
They waited , tried , hoped and had to give up. Sunday should be better,
Sunday May 24; also here the very last day it all should happen NOW!!!!
And,..the weather-gods were pleased so was the meteo ;
“The weather forecast promises fine competition-weather, and we hope that we will not be cheated this time.
The race organizers are ready with exciting tasks to the east and northeast, and the pilots should expect a relatively early start time. 11.30.”
AND….indeed exciting tasks for a last day,tasks on which “the difference can be made ” .
Early starts as announced , as they expected a front coming in from the NW around 17.00.
Great use of the day !!
Club was the last to be launched and their start line opened at 12.25. Would there be the “last-day-cat- and- mouse -start-game” ???
Standard class 329.2 km ;
start times between 11.51 and 13.13.4 From 9 finished!Hoelgard Mogens [Discus 2A] who started at 13.00 was the daily winner and runner up in this class in the overall scores.
Champion Kim Larsen Poul in the LS 8 . He started today at 12.19 and finished as runner up. So it did not really matter ,an early or later start.
Club 299.5 km ;
all started within 4 minutes[12.26-12.30] Jan and Ole had a great day as daily winner and runner up. Henrik missed out on 20 km. and Rasmus just did not finish ,……he flew 298.2 km. !!!!
Champion in club class; JAN ANDERSEN about 700 points ahead !!!
2-seaters 346.9 km;
start times between 12.12 and 12.47
2 From 7 finished!Also here one pilot with 345.6 km.
CHAMPION in the 20 m. class;team Hansen /Joergensen in the ARCUS.
15 m. 329.2 km ;
start times between 12.12 and 12.40
6 From 14 finished and the daily winner was Johnny Jensen in the ASW 27 b just ahead of Stig Oye. Stig is older now but still sharp as a knife and wins the Danish Championships in 15 m. class [3866] Johnny was runner up.
By the way for the young ones, Stig was world champion in 1983 in Hobbs New Mexico in standard class in an LS 4 !!!!
Ib was 4th.
18 m. 346.9 km ;
start times between 11.55 and 12.33. Peter Eriksen won the day and climbed from 4 to 3 , [3730] , so on the podium.Arne was runner up today and moved from spot 3 to spot 2 overall.[3748]
Elmgard Steen was 1 and stayed on 1 overall, he is the new Danish champion in 18 m. class.[3815]
8 From 11 finished!!!
According to the scores at SOARINGCAFE they had no task on Sunday, BUT THEY DEFINITELY had.
Look at dm.dsvu.dk
———–
One way or another Poland had better weather and the many pilots over there flew 4 days in a row during the POLISH OPEN CLASS NATIONALS.
Day 5 however with a 2.15 AAT, was in the end cancelled.
Also the next day with a 1.15 AAT was not valid .Only 3 from 30 flew over 100 km….but they did …. CHAPEAU. They started at 4 PM.Among them Sebastian and Adam flying 147 and 143 km. in a time OVER 2 hours…but for no points.
After 4 days Sebastian was again the CHAMPION with 3300 points . Adam [Czeladski] was the runner up with 3235.
A Happy Sebastian , with another MEDAL!!!!
As shared on FB by Ecc Czeladz.
———-
NO flying in Italy, from Varese for the 20 m. NATIONALS, on Wednesday. The 2 seaters could stay tied up.
No flying on Thursday either , I heard it was snowing in the mountains.
But on Friday they continued with a good 1000 points -day and those points were for Luciano [Avanzini in ARCUS T] .
BUT,…he had to share them with Alberto [Sironi in ARCUS M] who got the same amount of points both flew the 317.5 km. with a speed of 98 km./h.
On Saturday a small window with a small task; a 1.30 AAT and Peter Hartmann who missed out on winning the last days , must have thought it was HIS turn again, so he won;128 km. in time 135.5.
Only 357 points for him but it helped to get back to spot 3 overall [ 2957] , passing Stefano [with 2952 points], who just missed out on 5 points . Top spots for Luciano [3155 ] and Alberto [3035].
———–
The UPPSALA MASTERS .
Sundbro.
Ready to go! And,…the last glider on tow.
As shared by the organizers.
Started yesterday in 2 classes with 46 participants.
Flight tracking with a very interested new generation.
As shared by the organizers.
Follow the action here;
http://www.flightradar24.com/59.33,18.07/7
Like we did in Holland during the Nationals, they use SMS groups, for all special and important announcements. It works SUPER.
After a practice day, they started day 1 yesterday, with SUPER weather;500 for open/18 m. and 416 for a racing combi class.
With a speed of 113.21 km./h. over 500,47 km.in the EB 28 team Acketoft was the daily winner in open/18m.
All pilots finished!!!!
26 From 32 finished after 416 km. among them Aku Jakuula and my friend Teresa Toivonen as well as Markus Ganev who won not long ago at Hahnweide, the speed- prize to visit the Chateau from Pierre de Broqueville in France.
Daily winner with a speed of 114 km./h. flying a Ventus 2 bx was Finnish pilot Tapio Tourula. 71 Points ahead of Ronny Lindell in the Discus 2t.
Today on Sunday, day 2, the pilots were asked the evening before, to be at the grid BEFORE briefing.
Tasks from 220.82 for the racing class and 276.62 km. for the big ships.
Some started at 1 PM others at 15.35 !!!
Ready as the organizers mentioned ” for an uncertain future” for today.
It looks at least less good than the day before.
All pilots in open/18 finished .The EB 28 with team Acketoft, early starters, early finishers won the day with 108 km./h.
About the same speed for Finnish pilot Martti Koivula in the ASG 29E. He started 34 minutes later!
In the racing class all 31 pilots finished as well.Best was Janne Nordt in the Discus 2T.
Aku was at spot 12 and team Lehto at 16 in the ARCUS.
More on Wednesday.
———–
Some great flights last Thursday! What about 748 [720.8 km. FAI triangle] in a St. Cirrus [Pirmasens-Germany] and 828 [ 577 FAI triangle] in an LS 6? And of course the earlier mentioned 1000 from Useldange.
A 750 FAI triangle in an LS 8 is not bad either [914,92 km]
Friday was even better, 1000 km. from Bamberg and Bayreuth in EB 29’s and many over 800 and 900 km. flights. 2 Of these over 800 km. flights by 2 LS 4 gliders with winglets from Ludwigshafen.
Even Tilo got one of his gliders out [Ventus 2ax/15 m.] for a nice run starting at Hahnweide to far up NE and he claims a new record for an out and return in this 15 m. class. Good on him! Great practice for the German Nationals soon at Erbach.
The Riesa Canitz cross country week had quite a lot of participants and pretty nice weather. Some pilots mentioned they would , on days, never have flown without the support from pilots as Tassilo Bode and a great weather forecast.
And on Saturday the Canadian Rockies “rocked” with a 969 km. wave-flight in a Ventus 2ct /15 m. ,from Invermere, which started pretty rough.
“Rough start (in more ways than one) so abandoned task and went cruising.”[Ian Spence on the OLC]
———-
Enough news
Till Wednesday
Cheers Ritz