Tomorrow our summer starts , with temperatures not really summer-like but we should not complain.
Our spring here was so-so. March and April were pretty good, May was too cold.
For soaring we had some really great days this 2015 SPRING, as you have read in my blogs.
Let’s wait and see what summer brings.

Yesterday I visited Terlet, the beautiful airfield N of Arnhem, in the middle of the VELUWE, fabulous nature, the best Holland has to offer.So a great place to visit, certainly cause I lived there in the past most weekends with the kids for at least 15 year at the caravan area.
3 Clubs were flying, 2 in front of the restaurant THERMIEKBEL and one the biggest , The Gelderse, with over 200 members, “on the Hill” , at the L-strip.
A feast of recognition even with only about 20 members active on a pretty cold but great soaring day with 4 m. lift and nice clouds.
Caught up with members I had not seen for 25 years but also with one, Wim who was tuggy for the day on the HUSKY and  who I had not seen since my ZES time in 67/68, when he was a member from the Delft Student Aero Club.

We stayed for dinner ,after George [my ex] was launched for the first time in more than 25 years on a cable of a winch ,…sitting in the Duo Discus XLT with instructor- for -the- day Bas , friend now and in the past from my kids, but also from us.
The old KA 6 was at the field , noticed a KA 8 but also an EB 28 with it’s majestic wings passed on final nicely over our heads. I was surprised did not even know there was an EB in Holland. But,…4 of the young kids from the caravan park at Terlet, now end 40 , early 50 thiers , bought one!!

I was looking forward to the dinner, we were 6 on a table and more tables were occupied, but the chef had the day off and we had to eat what the sous-chef had prepared.She did a great job and with 6 different choices we all had a great looking dinner with lot’s of vegies, salad, french fries and chips.
Sander, the new young manager,member of the Frysian Aero Club and very out going, was in full swing pouring beers [they have a huge list of all kinds of beer] and good wines. Good luck to him in the Thermiekbel.

  

Sander Terpstra the new manager [so you recognize him when you come in] , pouring beer and wine.

 

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Uppsala Masters 2015 from Sundbro.

The last  Masters in 2013, version number 1, put this competition on the map and what a great job they did over there again.Great champions/MASTERS , excitement, good and less good weather , good and less good days for some pilots also toppers, it was all there. You can read it below!
When I left you, the 2 classes each had 2 Hour AAT’s , possibility for showers, but pretty good looking clouds to the South as well.So let’s continue!

Day 4 weather looking to the S. As shared by the organizers.

RACING CLASS;
Wednesday May 27, day 4, it turned out to be a difficult end of the day. Marginal final glides, out landings, it was all mentioned. The last pilot [EY] even landed in the rain, but the day was set well, both task and meteo info.
19 From 30 finished among them, Teresa, Tapio, Markus ,Ake, Gunilla and the Letho’s.
Winners as well;Simon Landqvist in the LS 8 [592 points] ,Janne Nordh [ 586] and Ronny [583] .

Thursday , May 28, day 5.They woke up under blue skies ,but a 395.33 km. racing task was set,  as clouds popped up nicely.
” Met man says:
Healthy airmass with good opportunities for XCflying. High and medium high clouds drifti in during the day from SW. Holes where the sun shines exist but exactly where is a tough call.”
With a 1750 m. cloud base at Sundbro and a good looking task -area all pilots went on their way.
Ronny won the day and got the 1000 points for his speed of 106.83 km./h.
Aku from Finland was a tad slower; 101.65.
Somewhere “on the road” Ronny lost Gunilla , she finished about an hour later and unfortunately, that cost!
Specially the pilots who had already troubles en route had it difficult in the end when the weather-window was closing on them. One of them was 9 X Markus [Ganev] , who fought till the end;345 km…..just not enough. Also Teresa was out.

Friday May 29, day 6. 2 Hour AAT and the weather looked good, as you can see on the by the organizers shared picture,  so they could go straight away.But it turned out a weird day with huge differences in start times and unexpected out-landings.
Good to see…young Aku , who started early at 12.56, won this day ;229 km.in time  2.25.[755 points] Janne, who started very late at 14.23 ,so finished late as well.[just after 5 PM.]  was runner up with 699 points and Gunilla was on a good 3d spot. This time she lost Ronny en route. He out landed after 52 km. Another 6 out landed too.
Differences in the overall scores now, as Ronny dropped from 2 to 8, Janne stayed on 1, about 239 points ahead of Aku.
It will be an exciting last day!

OPEN CLASS ;

Wednesday May 27, day 4, They had a better day only 2 pilots out-landed and Goran missed out on staying in the overall top by an airspace violation.[48 points]
Best distance and with good speed for Martti; 237,68 km. in time 2.01, so nearly at the dot. Speed 117 km./h. and 608 daily  points.
1P , team Acketoft, was runner up with 561 points.
The organizers “closed”  the day with the next words;”We shouldn’t loose sight of the fact that the main point of doing this is to have fun and share beautiful experiences!” Totally agree!

Thursday ,May 28, day 5. 393.90 km.
With 3 daily wins for the Acketoft team , there are 2 days now in a row for Martti;1000 points for a speed of 111.71 km./h. The Acketoft’s were runner up with 49 points less.[speed 108.99]
They are the only pilots at this moment, in the 4000 margin of the overall scores;4231 for 4144!!

Day 5 weather looking EW.
As shared by the organizers.

Friday May 29, day 6. 2 Hour AAT. with the message:” Sniffer reporting 2.4m/s and cloud base at 1250m.” , the pilots knew they definitely had another day of flying.
A bit less exciting as 18 m. as the same toppers are on top; Martti won the day,.. number 3 in a row …with 221.54 km. in time 2.03.[623 points]  The Acketoft’s had more kilometers and more time ;595. Both had 3 daily wins!!!So with one day to go the difference is ONLY 63 points!!!!!!!
BUT WILL THERE BE A LAST DAY?????? The weather forecast was not too promising.

Weather on Friday morning, as shared by the organizers,
AND
Fridays daily winners both from Finland Martti and Aku with CD Boerje in the middle.
As shared by the Finnish team.

Saturday May 30 NO  flying-day 8.
The FB message I got yesterday morning , one from at least 200 to keep us all informed was :
“ The last day is officially cancelled. Checkout in the clubhouse from 12:00. Banquet lunch will be held in the briefing hangar with a showing of the film at 13:00. Prizegiving will begin at 14:00. Welcome”.
That is a pity! Certainly for those who still had hope.
But it was a great 2d version of the UPPSALA MASTERS  with deserved MASTERS.
Open;
1. Team Acketoft [EB 28] with 4830 points.
2. Martti [ASG 29 E/18m] with 4767,
3. Ronny Eriksson [ASH 25 MI] with 4200,
4. Goeran  with 3865 points.[ASH 31 MI/21 m]

In fourth place and Swedish bronze medalist: Göran Ax. In third place and Swedish silver medalist: Ronny Eriksson with co-pilot Mika Saväng. In second place and Uppsala Masters silver medalist Martti Koivula. Finally in first position Winner of Uppsala Masters and Swedish national champion we congratulate Jim Acketoft with co-pilot Wilhelm Wendt!

 

Racing;
1. Janne [Discus 2 T] with 4640 points,
2. Aku [Discus 2A] with 4401 points
3. Mikael Widen [ARCUS M] with 4395 points
4. Gunilla [LS 8] with  4299 points.
The rest of the scores you can fins as always on www.soarinspot.com

That’s it about the MASTERS 2015 .In 2017 the Uppsala Masters will be flown again, something to look ahead to.

In fourth place and Swedish bronze medalist: Gunilla Lindell. In third place and Swedish silver medalist: Mikael Widén with co-pilot Bengt Göök. In second place and Uppsala Masters silver medalist Aku Jaakola. Finally in first position Winner of Uppsala Masters and Swedish national champion we congratulate Jan Ola Nordh!

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French Nationals in 18m. and open class from Buno.

What a wonderful competition with some good long tasks. Also on Flying-day 7 the very last day, 585.88 km. later changed in  a B task from 356.23 km., still good enough to make the difference, you can follow it below!!!

But first back to Wednesday; 604 km. was set  for both classes. Pretty exciting!!!What happened?

Before they left for their 600 km., the  QUINTUS M pilot Laurent and JS 1c pilot Sebastien, shared their thoughts.Thumps up!
As shared on FB.

OPEN CLASS.
Wednesday May 27,  day 4. 15 Finished and 11 of them flew over 100 km./h. ,  1 out landed and still did well; 584 km. Daily number 1 was German pilot [ so HC] Stephan Beck with “our” call sign MM, in the ASW 22 BLE, winning the day with a speed of 116.21 km./h.over 604.32 km;1000 points.
Daily winner ; Laurent [991] and runner up Killian [980] just ahead of Pierre who flies HC.
After 4 flying-days the overall scores are lead by Sylvain, followed by Killian and then 2 HC pilots Stephan and Pierre with  Arnaud .At 3 Sebastien in the JS 1 c.
Glider PAP did not fly. The Duo Discus out-landed earlier in “high ” circumstances, but so to see nice soft grass.

As shared by the AAVE.

Thursday May 28, day 5, a 2.30 AAT was set.
With 383 km. in time 248.21 , Killian was today the winner. The Bocciarelli’ s in their 26 m ASH 25 E,  were runner up.The 2 Quintus gliders finished with ONE point between them, 840 and 841 points on 3 [Sylvain]and 4 [Laurent ]
Killian tops the overall scores again with 21 points on Sylvain.
Friday May 29, day 6, with a 232.69 km. task in both classes later changed in a B task from 189.38 km..
The 3d daily prize already for Killian flying with a speed of 110,43 km,.h.A difficult day but not to many points won or lost.
With one day to go, Killian still leads with 59 points on Sylvain. It’s ALL about these 2 pilots …..who will be the new 2015 champion.
THE VERY LAST DAY was yesterday with a 585.88 km. task for both classes, later changed in a B task from 356.23 km.
Except for one, ALL pilots finished and the winner was ….Killian . He got the 1000 points [108.52 km. /h.] and with that also the title of FRENCH CHAMPION in OPEN class.[5690 points flying the JS 1c]
Well done Killian, such a nice guy! !
Sylvain was runner up with 5612 points in the Quintus M.
3d [HC] was Pierre  in the EB 28 with 5077 and bronze was for Sebastien in another JS 1 c.[4993]

18 m. CLASS .
Wednesday May 27 ,day 4. Ouch Didier out-landed!!! And he was so close;547.26 km. Another pilot was out after 543 km. and Jean Louis Bouderlique after 109 km.
The rest , 17 in this class, survived the 604 km. and with nice speed as well.10 Flew with a speed of over 100 km./h.
Best in this class Denis Guerin with 109.24 km./h. over 604.32 km. good for 1000 well deserved points.
Gilles had 8 points less, Jean Denis 22 , Eric 25 and Louis [Bouderlique] 27.All pretty close!
One pilot nearly flew 7 hours but FINISHED!!! Good on him.
Thursday May 28, day 5, a 2.30 AAT as well.
Except for one ALL finished.Best distance and time for Denis ; 287.88 km. in 2.41. good for 875 points.
He won 2 days in a row and is overall after 5 days on spot 2 just 22 points behind Eric. AND,…Gilles is 18 points behind Denis. AND,…17 ahead of Jean Denis .
Gilles was runner up, Louis 5th , Anne [Ducarouge] on 8 and Didier on spot 9.
Friday May 29, day 6,  a task of 189 km. and a 3d daily win for Denis, good on him! ALL pilots finished and the runner up was Louis.With one day to go the overall scores are; Denis, Eric, Louis and Gilles with only 155 points difference between them.
The last day will show who is going to be the CHAMPION.

And yesterday , day 7 had as said a task with 585.88 km. later changed in 356.23, so fast brave pilots still could make the difference. As we all know pilots can loose on a last day as well. In fact that happened today to Denis. So many times daily winner and proud -number- 1- overall -on the last day.
He just had a bad day, did not start too early or too late but finished as number 13 for the day loosing more than 200 points and with that dropping to spot 3.[5486]
The new FRENCH CHAMPION in 18 m. after 7 days of flying ;Louis Bouderlique with 5529 points  he moved from 3 to 1 and look at the difference with runner up , Eric  with 5517 points…. ONLY 12 points!! He will think ” where did I loose them” .HC pilot Olivier Sevrin from Belgium  won the last day and moved from spot 5 to 3 with 5115 points only 2 points difference!!!!
So /but the French bronze medal is for Denis.

Both pictures shared by the organizers on FB. Thanks!

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Swiss Nationals from Buttwil.

After a non flying day on Tuesday, they continued again on Wednesday with racing tasks from 387,27 in the mixed racing class and and 433,42 in the mixed open class. Good tasks to show quality.
Compliments for their very informative and clear news tickers with copies of the tasks.I was impressed!
At noon the people ….there were many,  on the ground could look at a superb show from the Patrouille Suisse.
Impressed again !

As shared on http://www.sgzuerich.ch/index.php/sm2015  news ticker day 5.
With an awesome 15 minute show video as well…. have a LOOK!!!!
And
THANKS FOR SHARING !!!!!

In the mixed 15 m,..13 from 14 finished and the more well-known names were on top;Stefan Leutenegger [1000 points ] and Rene Schneebeli.[995 points]
Jurg Haas was 5th.
On Thursday the pilots got a 285.1 km. racing task for day 5. They had to postpone the first start a few times but at 2.15 PM it was so far.With the late start the task changed as well;183.10 km.
Start line opened at 3.12.With a late start , you have a late finish as well.But all arrived before 6 PM.
Bad day for Stefan who missed a TP  and new names upfront.
Rene who was 10th today is still on top overall with 73 points ahead of Juerg , who had a good day[5th]  and moved up to spot 2 and Stefan is now on 3.
On Friday a 333.04 km. task was set for day 6. They had a strong wind from the W and the flight was again over the Jura. The task was changed to a 2.30 AAT , due to less good circumstances and a later than foreseen first start.
The day was won by Stefan with 223 km. just ahead of Rene with 222 km. starting together and finishing together. With them as well Juerg. 6 Out-landings.

One but last day, number 7, a 1.30 AAT! With a late briefing at 12.and a TOO TOUGH day for this class, so it ended as an invalid day.
Last day  flying day 7;  170  km.More on Wednesday.

In the mixed open,…Markus Gauman had his 2d win;1000 points for him and his NIMBUS 4M. Gabriel Rossier had 5 points less. One out-landing; ONLY just out….427.86.
318 km. was set on Thursday their flying day 5. Later they changed it in a B task  with 216,45 km.due to the late starts.
Only 3 finishers and one of them was, Marcel Duenner who won the day in the ASG 29 with a speed of 107 km./h. the other  Markus, who has a big overall lead now.
For day 6 a 402.03 km. was set but later changed in a 2.30 AAT  when the sniffer could not find good lift and the first start had to be postponed several times.The day was won by Thomas Suetterlin in the ASH 25 EB28. Gabriel was runner up and Markus 5th.4 Out-landed.

One but last day , number 7. In this class Markus went,  as I read to the Jura,  at 1400 m. later came low climbed up again to 1400 and won the day;199 points.43 Other pilots managed to fly over 100 km. so a valid day 7 for them.
214 .3 km. Today for their last day.More on Wednesday.

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15 Meter  and Standard class Nationals in HusBos [UK]

The 15 m. Nationals in the UK showed a list of 18 pilots among them Phil Jones, Leigh Wells and a bit older pilots as Chris Starkey , Richard Kalin and Dave Watt.
After 4 flyable days,  2 won by Phil  and no 1000-points-days, Phil was in the lead with 2 days to go ahead of Nick Tillett and Leigh. On 2 days nobody finished, pilots really had to struggle with the elements.
These 3 pilots are still in the race for the title.
Friday was scrubbed but yesterday looked like a good day;

The standard class pilots , 17 in total, had also 4 days . Among them ,and good to see,  Ayala and Alisson.
All pretty marginal days , but DAYS with points however and on 2 days only out-landers  . After 4 days Howard [Jones] leads the pac.
5 Pilots between 2500 and 2570 points so exciting 2 days with better weather.
More on Wednesday as today is their last day, but ,…it was raining in the morning. You can read it all on Wednesday.

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Great flights over the last couple of days;
Lesce Bled !!!1.405,50 km. by Bostjan and Milan in the EB 28. They MUST have had fun!!!!!117 km./h. not bad either.
843 km in the St Cirrus by Boris Zorz is worthwhile mentioning too.
Noetsch in Austria with 1.210,49 in a Ventus 2c/18 m. and 1000 from Feldkirchen. The ALPS were HOT and worked!!!
Rayskala in Finland with Kai in the DUO DISCUS flying 700 km. on Wednesday  and 795 for Kristian Roine . Thursday it even got better. He had already some practice , now he flew 1006 in his ASW 20.… good/great  from Kristian !
With a PROUD comment;” Finnish 15m class record in “Free Distance using up to 3 TPs”, 918 km. First OLC-1000 km flight!” Well done Christian!
Lot’s of great flights from Rayskala that day ;915 in ASG 29E /18m, and 629 in LS 1f.

The good old ASW 20.

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Sad news as well for my Japanese friends. On FB I read the news from Gavin Wills who is doing a cross country course in Japan.
” We were all shocked this afternoon when one of our course members Matsuda-san was killed in his glider only 11 km from the Takikawa Sky Park. It appears that the glider may have spun in while he was preparing to land on a good meadow field between the mountains and the rice fields.
Matsuda-san was from Tokyo and had over 1000 hours gliding in Japan and Australia and was the youngest member of our course. Our thoughts and condolences go to his family at this sad time.”
Tragic !!!! My condolences and sympathy to his family, the pilots doing the course with him and to GAVIN and ….to all my Japanese friends!!!!!

For those who want some extra practice in Australia; The Standard Class now has been added to the Lake Keepit comp in November and  entries are filling fast;  already 29 starters.
When you are interested don’t wait too long.If you wish to compete in this comp here is the entry form to be found;  www.keepitsoaring.com.

 There is a limit of 60 entrants. Up to 31st July, entries will allocated to paid applicants on the basis of IGC ranking. After the cutoff date, any places not filled by the above process will be filled in the order that valid entry applications are received and paid for.

Just to let you know!

CU back on Wednesday.
with more news from the UK, Germany and the Open Military Comps from Malden in Holland. They look ahead a GOOD weather.
Cheers Ritz