Already blog 900. I started on June 20, 2006, so nearly 10 years soaring.eu as well.
I should celebrate on that day. Will put the bubbles already in the fridge!!!
Before,… I  wrote several years the daily news at Sportavia.
And,….Before that I wrote articles for the Dutch magazine THERMIEK, about comps I visited or attended as TC.
A nice fulfilling way to spend days, certainly now I get older.
I hope to continue for a few more years.

My “office” .

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The season is coming!!!

Enthusiastic friends took pictures of the very early beginning of the season in Europe.

A picture from Holland by Natasja

     

and one from Giorgio in Italy; A post frontal day in February.[the 11th]

    

The same enthusiasm from France by Philippe; CUMULUS , so beautiful they make you/him already nervous!!!!!

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Africa is more or less  “out of the running” as their season is over but for sure they will have nice “hick-up’s” ,..now it is Temora , Benalla, Corowa and Tocumwal topping the OLC list. Brian flew the flights from Temora , 803 km.  on the 8th and 813 on the 10th, a 750 FAI triangle in his 18 m. LS 10.
Terry flew 557 in his ASH 26 E and 641 in the Janus CT . I saw the great clouds on a picture and I was pleased to see a nice after-summer-period for all pilots in the Benalla- Corowa-Tocumwal triangle.
By the way, Jos from Holland, passed Terry [Janus-flight] with a 745 km. flight in his ASH31/21 m. from Corowa.
The last flights for the season in Corowa as the containers will be packed now for the return to Europe.
They enjoyed on the 12th flights from up to 857 km. and Benalla even 875 km. in an ASG 29E/18m..
Temora’s 12th of February, showed a 754 km. flight by Nathan Johnson in his St. Cirrus.
Very nice weather in that area at the moment and pretty late in the season, but as said before you can fly in this region till Easter.
Words as “splendid day” , “great day “, “excellent day ”  passed by.

AND THEN,…..there is out of the blue Bloemfontein with a 1000 km. flight flown by Anders Andersen from Denmark last Friday in the JS 1 and an FAI 1000 Triangle as well!!!! And fast too; 154 km./h.
What about the season is over in Africa…..????? In South Africa they still fly.
619 From Worcester in a Twin Astir is worthwhile mentioning too; 125 km./h.
So 2 days in a row for the top position on the OLC last Friday and Saturday.

In between  the ASG 32 MI arrived in South Africa and a happy Oscar and Laurens [Goudriaan] , could unpack a new toy.
I was anxious to find out what glider Oscar would fly now in comps, so I asked.
This GRAND glider was ordered by Klaas their dad, but sadly he died before he could see it in Africa.
The boys/sons/brothers decided to bring the glider anyhow to South Africa and decided also to share it with young upcoming pilots and already more experienced pilots for  advanced training in honor of their father. What a GREAT MEMORY to keep Klaas “alive” and a FABULOUS idea.
For that reason the call sign is KG !!!!!!
So Oscar remains flying in open class in the JS 1 and he and Laurens, enjoy flying with their family and upcoming friends in this beautiful new 2-seater. I guess we can expect long, fast flights!!!Good luck for ALL in this new toy!!!

    

As shared by Oscar.

Straight away they compared the JS 1 with the brand new ASG 32 MI , Oscar flew the JS 1 , Laurens  the 32 and commented:
“Compared the ASG 32 against the JS 1-21m yesterday. Very impressed with the 32’s performance. We flew a fast 350km @ 155km/h average. Both at max weight.”

Yesterday Brits topped the OLC list, and to be honest I had never heard from BRITS in South Africa, South of Orient. 2 Nice flights from 500 [ASW 20] and 400 km.

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The Grong Grong -boys were back in Tocumwal.

It’s great to see a team of Japanese pilots in Tocumwal again. 4 Pilots this week, a few of them belonged to the early Grong Grong boys [flying with us in the past] trying to fly a 300 k to Grong Grong every day,[ when possible of course] , till they had it.
They always arrived after the peak-season, to have the airfield and the skies,  more or less for their selves.
Now they do it easily and practice on their speed . Good on them!!
One pilot mentioned :
“FIRST 300 DECLARED
Team Japan
Now an official member of the world famous GRONG GRONG BOYS!”
LIKE !!!!!!!!!

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50- thiest-Horsham week.

Flying task 7  was stressless. As everybody in the South of Australia they had a good day.
In open /18 m. the 3.00 AAT , produced 419 km. with a speed of 111 km./h.
Mark Paterson from the Southern Riverina Gliding Club[Tocumwal] is so far ahead that he has to out land straight away and the others have to finish, to loose this Horsham week; 520 points ahead.
He won 2 days and was runner up on 3 day’s in his HPH 304S Shark.
In 15 m. the 3 hour AAT showed 367 km. in an SZD 55; 34 km. further than the runner up in a DG 400, meaning 97 points difference for the day.
Only 6 points difference in the overall scores .
In club the longest day with a 3.30 AAT and well done for Philip Ritchie from the Adelaide Soaring Club in his Mosquito; 397.20 km. meaning he earned 117 points more than the runner up in PIK 20 b.
Only 14 points difference in the overall scores between Philip and Bernie [Sizer] .

For the last day a small AAT-task was set, but had to be cancelled.
So winners from this Horsham week;
Mark Paterson in open/18 m……Jack Hart with only 4 points in 15 m on John Orton……and in club Philip Ritchie with 14 points on Bernie.

This was the 50 thiest version of Horsham Week and one of my friends Tony Tabart participated in ALL of them. From 1966 till now!!!
Also Haidyn Dunn flew all 50 versions!!
Congratulations to Horsham!!! And also to Tony and Haidyn.
Here is a link to a story in the papers.

http://www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au/2016/02/10/stalwarts-still-gliding-at-
50th-horsham-week-gliding-competition/

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Narromine 2 -seat NATIONALS.

Clouds popping up in Narromine.
As shared by the Narromine Gliding Club.

The 2-seat Nationals have started at Narromine with 13 couples in mostly Duo Discus, [9 of them in different versions ]and 2 times ARCUS M and 2x a DG 1000 S. This airfield is very busy this year and oh boy, had they most of the time good weather!!!?????
For some it might be too hot , this 40 dgr. C at 6 PM in February, but earlier it gave the best weather and still does.

Briefing on one of the practice days as shared by Gliding Club Narromine,…with upfront…Beryl busy as always!!!

Also the official practice-day was a good one as Allan Barnes, for this competition flying a Duo Discus T, described;
” The day started out blue and we climbed to 7000ft pre-start, then had a very long glide into the first sector without any action. I found a nice 6kt climb in the blue and then turned west for the far cu. Eventually reached them and was rewarded with good netto but no real climbs for quite a while. Then we had some great climbs, and maxed out the second circle at about 13000ft. There was some virga on track so I deviated a fair way left of track and topped up in about 4kt to 13000ft again to make the glide home safe. Great Narromine day!”
A 3 hour AAT was set ; 413 km.for him and his mate [129 km./h ]and 404 for Terry [Cubley] and a mate.[130 km./h.]

One of the couples is a REAL couple, husband and wife Harry and Wendy Medlicott, already in their 70thies but still going strong.
This year they flew as usual a while at Corowa and achieved more goals;
—” GFA has ratified the following Australian Record flown by Harry and Wendy Medlicott in their Arcus M on 18/1/16 from Corowa:
20m 2-seater class
Free Distance via up to 3 TPs
Distance awarded: 948.5 Km.—“

The first competition- day was on Monday the 15th [and the last day will be Sunday the 21st]  with a 2.30 AAT.
With a start after 3 PM and only 2 finishers it was a tough day.
As the organizers said:
“Monster day Sunday and Monday a struggle contrary to prediction. Task B but a strong inversion kept all to 2500-4000 with a few hot spots up to 6400 but never in the right place at the right time. ”
The 2 finishers were the Adelaide team [Peter Temple/ Brian Rau] in the Arcus M and the Duo Discus team from the Hunter Valley;781 points and 771.

   

The weather on the picture shared by the organizers on day 1 explains more. And waiting,…. waiting, …..as shared by Mark Rowe.

Day 2 is a GO as well !!! Pretty blue day at the looks. Task ; 2.30 AAT
Mark commented that it was a great day:
“What a difference a day makes, 7kt averages could be seen with happy smiles after the day.”
“ Tops around 7000 with many climbs av 6-7kts. However strong winds at the tops made first leg slower.”
All 12 teams were up in the air, best speed 121,15 km./h over 315 km. by Peter and Brian which was 10 k faster than the runner up Allan and his mate. Only one out landing after 229 km.

Day 3; today “blue 6-7,000ft and 4-6kts. Launch at 1 pm so watch it on live track 24.”
Peter and Brian won AGAIN; 881 preliminary points  !!! Good on them.
This time Terry Cubley and his mate were runner up.
The task was a 2.30 AAT and the ARCUS-winning- team flew 294 km. with a speed of 92 km./h another nearly 10k faster than Terry.
10 From 12 finished.
Most pilots started around 3, Allan and his mate at 3.42 PM. They flew 182 km., finished but lost around 400 points.
Allan’s comment on the OLC;” Tough day in the office. Had to restart after a dreadful run out took me down to 600ft. Struggled to get height again for the restart then did the whole task on our lonesome.”
Character building flight!

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Metereologica.

2 Pictures from Alexis and his story with it about the forecast and development of the weather and to see how accurate this forecast is!!!!!.

   

As shared by Alexis with the text:
“A nice climb in the second wave bar to 6,250m. The gaps were closing and the battery was misbehaving so we had to descend before we would need to use the attitude indicator or the engine to return from a hole further away.
The amazing cloud in the photos is the first bar of Mount Parnassus exactly where the best climb was forecasted. The cloud grew in a matter of minutes.”

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The German FAI National Team has gathered at the good old Wasserkuppe and not only had fun but shared and got information as well.I met in the past 11 of them.

As shared by Segelflug-Hoch-Zwei.[Fabian Peitz]

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And to finish some wisdom I found on FB;

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CU next Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz on my way to blog 1000.