It is June 21 ,..summer has started and we have today the longest day here and shortest night, time to start up the blog again….on my way to 1000!!!!!
It’s really summer here as the temperatures reach over 32 dgr. C and tomorrow they hit the 35.
A bit later then expected as the server in the USA was down and they “serve”  my blog. Good old Bill quickly fixed it so I really can start now.
The move to the South was  tough,…..  but many hands make a job light and before I knew I felt happy and really settled. Then it was waiting for internet, TV  and a landline. It’s not all working perfect yet as I need more gadgets to see TV upstairs and to not see all the time ” no connection to internet”.
The last technician was here yesterday as well and he organized my internet upstairs. A few extra euro’s but now it works well and I get not frustrated.

So back on track after a pretty tough removal and my one-week-out-with -the- high-school girls last week.
Refreshed now so let’s go.

 

The weather here was weird. May started colder  than ever [[the apple harvest was lost]and finished hotter than ever before [2 tropical days with up to 34 dgr. C]. June was mainly HOT here.
All in all it was a good month for gliding and as there were several comps so that was perfect!!!
No time for real research and a daily eye on the news, but in retrospect I can share my views with you, when you should be still interested.

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HAHNWEIDE 2017.

Hahnweide , edition 51, was on with lot’s of interesting top pilots from all parts of Europe even from the world with participants from Australia, Matthew and Adam and South Africa Laurens Goudriaan who really enjoyed himself and will be back.
Great weather with 6/7 out of 9 days made it to the best ever competition in their history as they mentioned.
They flew in 5 classes and in all of them the first day was cancelled.
St Class had 28 pilots among them Matthew Scutter the JWGC -champion from Narromine and Adam Woolley, but also toppers from the UK as Howard Jones and Mike Gatfield. Not to forget the best pilots from Germany as the Schroeders Simon and Robert, Jan Omsels, Enrique Levin, Sebastian Naegel and from Holland Sjaak Selen who always flies well at  “the weide”.
With 6 out of 9 days Simon [5482] and Robert Schroeder [5395] were the best. Matthew won 3 days, but had also days he was “aux vaches” and finished overall on spot 15 .
In 15 m. class 2 German pilots, Steffen [ASW 27] and David [ Ventus 2A] managed to get exactly 1000 points each on a 449 km. -day. They repeated that on another day with 373 km.and when they were not equal in points they missed out on 2 . Clearly flying together with a good result;both on spot 1 with 5759 points after the 6 days in their class. Phil Jones [UK] followed with 5447.
In 18 m. it was a former Dutch National champion in 2009 AND Junior World Champion in 2013,Peter Millenaar [ASG 29E/18m] who turned out after 7 days of flying to be the best!!![6247]
Steve Jones was runner up and the JWGC champion from Husbos Christophe Nacke was 3d.
In the 20 m. class ” the dosi’s” ,some great names as well. What about Killian Walbrou and Holger Karow. It was VERY close between the ARCUS M from Andy Lutz and the ARCUS T from Killian; 6013 and 6006. They had 7 days and there were 27 competitors.
Open class is always nice to follow. Felipe Levin junior world champion in Rayskala flew an EB 29DR and with that glider he won! [5876] Very clearly as the runner up, Uli Schwenk had ” only” 5487 points.18 Participants and 6 days for them.

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BELGIUM NATIONALS 2017.

The Open Belgium Gliding Nationals were flown from St Hubert and they had 7/8 out of 9 days.
In club class it was mainly between good old Patrick Stouffs in the Silent 2 [friendly put at his disposal by Stefano] and young pilot Pieter Lievens in the St Cirrus. There was no last day ….cancelled….but the final flying day was top for Patrick and more or less a disaster for Pieter who outlanded after 31  from the set 168 km.
No worries though Pieter was more than 600 points ahead and kept a difference of around 200 points in the overall scores and was Belgian CHAMPION.[3182 for 2967 points]
In the combined 15m./20m. and st.class , Manu Litt lost nearly 600 points on day 1 but,….won 2 days as well. Here it was mainly between Daan Spruyt and Dennis Huybreckx; Daan won [6353] and Dennis was runner up [6098] with Manu on spot 3 and Tijl [Schmelzer] on spot 4.They flew 8 days in this class.
In the 18m./open class it was between Yves Jeanmotte [ASG 32 MI] and Bert Schmelzer sr.[Ventus 2CX/18 m.] Yves won 5 from the 8 days and with that he was the new champion.[5455 points]  Bert sr was a good runner up [5442] …….the number 3 had 4710 points.

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DUTCH NATIONALS 2017.

The Dutch Nationals nowadays called the KLM FLIGHT ACADEMY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS were blessed with some good 400 km. -days, but also with struggling days to “just make it home or not”. 3 Days in a row had to be cancelled but they still had 7 days out of 11 and after those 3 scrubbed days, the “real” thing started.
On the last day of May, the weather really improved and Ronald Termaat [open class] won the 1000 points for a 532.39 km. task. 6 From the 8 participants finished.
In club class a 4.30 AAT and 391 km. was flown by Jelmer Vis in a St Cirrus.
In the combi class some pilots even flew 457 km.
On June 1 with 2 days to go again long tasks.4.30 AAT’s for 18 m and open and 412 for the “combies” and 350 for club!!!
The last day was as always exciting and good tasks , maybe a bit underestimated , were set.
234 in 18 m. class and looking at the distance, the speed and for that result the “low”  points, tasks could have been longer, but,….it was the last day and the weather was going to change. It did not …yet. Jelmer Wassenaar in his LS 10 a won the day with the best speed of the day; 130 km. p/h.
Jelmer was already 3 overall, so he stayed on that spot. Good old Sikko Vermeer won with 99 points over Hadriaan van Nes and is the new Dutch Champion.

Open class, had on the last but one day also a 4.30 AAT and Jeroen [Verkuijl] won with 430 km. On the last day the best speed was just under 120 km./h. No worries for Ronald Termaat he is the Dutch National champion for the so maniest time!!!5657 points just 51 points more than Jeroen.

In the combi class Joost and Erik turned out the best in their ARCUS T. They had 361 points more than Robbie [Seton] in his LS 8 who flew an excellent competition as well.

Joost and Erik, as shared by Joyce.

In club the former junior beat the new juniors. Frank Hiemstra in the St Cirrus was nearly 200 points ahead of Sjors van Loon [same glider belonging to the junior team]Frank had a total of 4954 points.

Congratulations to all!!!!! Hope to be there next year again.

As shared by ZWEEFPORTAAL.

And to finish, 2 spectacular finishes from this championship by Arjan Vrieze. WOW!!!!! Thanks for using them.

In front of the Thermiekbel where lot’s had a great time as always.

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THE WWGC IN ZBRASLAVICE.

A WWGC.
As shared by Pole France Planeur.

The WWGC in Zbraslavice, Czech Republic, was also blessed with good to very good weather. Out of the 14 days they flew 12.
The last day was the ALL- deciding -day in the 3 classes. 3 Hour AAT’s ; task C [showers were closer than expected], in all 3 classes were set to define the champions!!
Australian young lady Ailsa , 23 years old so still a junior, was on top of the racing board for most of the days in club class but in the end the German girls , Sabrina and Sarah, bonded together and against Sabrina who was already the 2013 world champion it is a tough fight!!!And don’t forget the “other” Sarah from the USA who was 3d once.
Ailsa’s outlanding on day 11 cost her dearly,” despite being just 4km short of the finish line. 500 points lost compared to the winner and has shuffled her down to 4th place overall.”
She is still young her time will come. She did a GREAT JOB now and maybe in her home country she will win .[at Lake Keepit 2019.]
In all 3  classes by the way  the German girls were superb after a pretty bad/difficult start  . Also the French and the Czech girls did extremely well.
Congratulations to all ladies!!!!!

 

Ailsa from Australia ready for Lake Keepit.

Looking back at the last day in club class;
The French ,Amelie and Aude, started and finished together at 13.02 and were the best on this last day with Elena [ about the same start time] from Italy on a daily spot 3.
Amelie flew 331 km in time 3.04, Aude about the same.
Sabrina lost 36 points, Sarah 71. But no worries. Sabrina [St Libelle] stayed on spot 1 overall [8662] , Sarah Arnold [St Cirrus] who I met in Uvalde in 2012 and 2 years ago in Benalla, stayed on spot 2. Sarah Drefenstedt had a great run over the last 3 days. She moved from 6 to 3 and stayed there.
Elena was 4th [LS 1-f] , Ailsa 5th and our Annemiek [LS 4] was 6th.For all scores www.soaringspot.com

Claire Scutter ,…yes sister from Matthew,….from Australia flew in club class, her very first WWGC; Here is part of her last comment ;
“After 12 days of competition flying the contest has now come to an end. The last day was the best day of flying that we had for the whole competition. Cloudbase was up at 7000ft and quite often we experienced climbs up to 10knts. What a fantastic end to the competition flying!”
And;“The final night party was absolutely fantastic, everybody was invited and food, drink and entertainment was supplied by the organisation.The organisation at this competition went above and beyond in every aspect. I am so very impressed with how well this competition has been run and I think that they have absolutely nailed it! 10/10! From gridding, to task setting to party events (and even the weather!), everything has just been fantastic.”

    

Amelie daily winner  and Aude in her HORNET, as daily runner up.
As shared by Pole France Planeur.

   

Sabrina and Sarah Arnold.

   

Sabrina between 2 Sarah’s,….no not 50 years old but top glider pilots from the USA and Germany.
As shared by Sarah Arnold.She wrote me . ” I had the time of my life!”
And with the picture;”I’m happy and proud to stand with these amazing pilots and represent the USA. Thanks to all for the help and support along the way.”

Club Class as shared by the organizers.
1. Sabrina Vogt, Germany
2. Sarah Arnold, USA
3. Sarah Drefenstedt, Germany

Last day in standard class;
A good last day for Dutch pilot Doortje Grunder who won the day in her LS 8 with 349.80 km. in 3.07. She moved from 10 to 9 overall.She won before, task 7 as well.
French Aude Grangeray won 3 days in her Discus 2A and won the overall scores; 8881 points. She was already world-champion in 2015 so she extended  her title GOOD ON HER!!!
Cornelia Schach [LS 8]  from Germany moved slowly over the last days from 4 to 2 [8736] and Jana , one of the 3 very strong flying Czech girls was number 3. Dana and Hana flew mostly together with her to top 1- 5 spots during the comps.

  

Aude ; a continuous success!!!
As shared by the FFVV.

Standard Class as shared by the organizers.
1. Aude Grangeray, France
2. Cornelia Schaich, Germany
3. Jana Veprekova, Czech Republic

Last day in 18 m. class;
Also here “strong-flying ”  Czech and French girls and not to forget former WWGC champion [2007] Katrin Senne[ASG 29-E] . She was most of the time “on top overall” as well on the last day so champion again.
On the last day the toppers started about the same time and Melanie Gadoulet won the last day in her JS 1C-EVO;378 km. in 3.05.
Alena from Czech Rep flew the same glider and was 2 overall. A pity she out-landed on task 2.
Then the 3 French girls Anne [ last WWGC champion in Herning] , Marilyne and Melanie on 3-4 and 5…strong team.

18m Class as shared by the organizers.
1. Katrin Senne, Germany
2. Alena Netusilova, Czech Republic
3. Anne Ducarouge, France

So 4 German ladies in the top 3[2 x gold , 1x silver and 1x bronze], 2 French [ 1x gold and 1 x bronze] and 2 from Czech Rep [ 1x bronze and 1x silver] and one from the USA.[1x silver]

The team CUP was for France with Germany as runner up and Czech Rep as number 3.

Picture shared by Benjamin [Neglais] TC of France proudly in the middle.

An other interesting WWGC and the next one will be in Lake Keepit in Australia!!!! Will try to be there!!!

AND,…….the FAI- flag goes to,….Australia.

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The FAI SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX was in between in Spain, Poland and Italy.

Spain; May 7-14 at Santa Cilia with 11 participants and UK pilot Jon Gatfield as winner [30 points], runner up Italian pilot Thomas Gostner [28 ] and on spot 3 Swiss pilot Fridolin Hauser. 5 Races from 7 were flown.
Poland; May 27-June 23 with 17 participants in Wroclaw and no doubt,…Sebastian as winner with 45 points.Runner up was Lucasz Wojcik [23] and on 3 Gintas Zube from Lithuania.[19]   5 Races from 8 and 4 were won by Sebastian.
Italy; started on June 10 with their GP in Varese and 15 participants quite a few from Germany and ,…from the UK …Jon again.
On Thursday with 2 days to go it was Mario Kiessling [Ventus 3] from Germany in the lead with 26 points after 3 from 4 days flying. Interesting, certainly with only 2 days to go,the same amount of points for Tilo and Giorgio….[.both in a Ventus 3] with 21 and both keen to be better than the other. Alberto [Sironi] is still in the race as well with 19 points.
Race 5 was “bad” for most, only not for Ugo Pavesi in his ASG 29. He was the only one who finished.But,…not a lot of points for the winner. Mario still on spot 1 overall.
“Ugo Pavesi, was able to complete the task because he was the only one who was able to interprete the day.
He flew, in fact, as a perfect windy day trying to stay always very high”.
The last race 6 was won by Giorgio, so 11 points for him. A weird day as they expected not to fly. It was raining early in the morning,.but,…it changed to a pretty good day. Giorgo stayed high and was not full of water and reached the highest speed of the week; 120.2 km./h..
For Mario it was not a good day, he finished ,….yes but slow 1 hour and 19 minutes later than Giorgio, so he must have been in real trouble,….but made it home. What was his trouble? He missed TP 1.
He dropped to spot 3 and Tilo was the good runner up!!

     

Numbers 1-2-and 3 and all pilots and Margot [l.] and Aldo[r].

The last news from the GP -site:

“Wonderful day today !
The conditions were great in spite of that there were some surprises along the task. It was a good mixture of wind and thermals, quite rough but some pilots could also fly the wave.
Jurgen Wenzel, the fastest pilot, at 125km/h, touched an aerospace just before the starting line.
Mario Kissling missed the first turning point so he had to go back to do it.
The winner of the day was Giorgio Galetto, followed by Ugo Pavesi and Tilo Holigaus.

JS-3 news

The new owner of the Tocumwal Sportavia hangar , Lumpy Paterson flew to Potchefstroom in South Africa:
Here is the story shared by Jonkers.
“What do you call someone who flies halfway around the world to try out a modern streamline cockpit? A passionate glider pilot. Lumpy Paterson just did that!

Attie did design the JS3 cockpit for a 1.94m, 120kg pilot, but in reality we were all a bit nervous when our better-build customers were placing JS3 orders.

Lumpy did us a big favor playing model for a couple of days, evaluating our computer aided ergonomically design cockpit.