The end of June had a lot of rain ! Parts of Berlin flooded, as in a few days, MORE water ” dropped from the skies”than in a month.Too much for the systems.
June here was 2 dgr. C. warmer than normal, dry in the beginning and wet in the end with up to 70 mm of rain on one day.
We just missed out on the average hottest June ever with 0.1 dgr. Regional we had a real heatwave in Holland with a top temperature of 35 dgr.C., a daily record.
Comps with lot’s of days in the beginning and nearly no days in the end. BUT,..July is promising again, for sure NOT day 1.
Today is pretty good again only some local showers.
On the last day of June a 1000 from France [Fayence] by Baptiste Innocent [ASH 25] and on the first from July one by Keith Essex in Ely.[JS1]
Down under it is pretty cold for Australian standard; up to -7 /-10 in the South [Victoria] and still – 0.3 at Merimbula on the beach, which is cold for the coast.
JWC [John’s weather Channel]
As shared by Mary Anne
————-
SGP in BUNO in FRANCE.
as shared by Philippe de Pechy, winner of race 3!!!
A very TOUGH day for some!!! 110 km. was set and race 3 , after 2 cancelled day’s, was on.Some of the “toppers” missed out and did not finish, names as Christophe Abadie [66.6 km.], Didier Hauss [92.3 km.]and Daan Spruyt [53.7 km.]
Who won race 3?? Philippe de Pechy [9 points] !!!AND,…Aude …good on her….Grangeray [7] was runner up and Kai Linderberg [6] number 3!!Only 8 finished.
Christophe still leads with 20 points and Aude now has 17, Didier 14 and Philippe now 12.
Only 2 races to go!!!!
Some impressions from BUNO shared by AAVE.
still no smile on Benjamin’s face and,….he walks around with an umbrella,…no not to avoid the sun…..
Race 4;Not on,…such a pity!!!VERY POOR WEATHER!!!!So was the next and last day. So no race 5.
So after 3 out of 7 days the winners are;
1. Christophe Abadie 2. Aude Grangeray, 3. Didier Hauss.
As shared by the organizers.
Next race from Slovakia [July 29-August 5] !!19 Participants at this stage ….. 8 from Germany.
———–
Zwickau; German Nationals in standard and 20 m .class …..the last days.
June 20/July 1 2017
Waiting in the rain for better weather.
As shared on their site.
“Deutsche Segelflug -elite hofft auf besseres Wetter.” So the Top German pilots hope for better weather. It was not yet there on Thursday so …scubbed. 4 Days in a row ,…scrubbed,…such a pity, but what can you do…..?
Friday tasks were set ,….task 6 from 11. And,……also in Germany a tough wind!! The B-task had to be flown with 191 km. in club and as well a B task for the “dosis” from 205 km..
Indeed they flew on their last day!! Marginal weather but still Robin Sittman flew in his Discus 2A around with 88 km./h.Robert only finished on spot 22 and dropped from 1 to 3 missing out on ONE point to be the runner up overall.
9 outlanded, so 29 finished.
Kilian Biechele was in the end the standard class winner[LS 8 NEO] with 4639 points.
In 20 m. former TOP coach Uli Gmelin won with his wife Chrissie [former WWGC champion] the last day and they were the only team reaching 100 km./h.in the ARCUS T. This brought them from spot 4 to spot 2 overall.
16 From 26 finished and the overall number 2 [Theisinger/Habschied] out-landed and dropped from 2 to 8!!Quite a day!!
Winners;team Ladenburger/Krohmer with 4210 points.
The German Nationals continued for 15 and 18 m./open class in
———–
STENDAL
German Nationals in 15 m.,18 m., and OPEN class!!
July 04-14
It looks like 105 pilots have entered this National competition in 3 classes.A huge amount of TOPPERS in each classes certainly OPEN!! Always GREAT FUN to follow the different German Nationals.
Monday was a real good training day with good tasks.
15m; got a 354 km. racing task for the 34 pilots and young Alexander Spaeth in the Ventus 2 A won the day ahead of Kai Lindenberg [ASW 27B] just back from the Grand Prix in France. Busy busy!!
18 m;Matthias Sturm was the best from 42 pilots in this class [ ASG 29] over 378 km. Mario Kiessling in the Ventus 3T was runner up and “our” Dutch topper Sikko was 5th.[ASG 29es]
Open; 484.5 km. for the open class and Felipe Levin in the EB 29 DR was the best with a speed of 125 km./h. , 10 km. /h. faster than good old Bruno Gantenbrink in the Nimetax and Michael Sommer was 3d in his EB 29R.
Quite some names,.. as I said before…. young and “old[er] toppers.”
29 in this class and “only” 14 of them finished. But practice,…so who cares!
Weather for day 1 as shared by Arnaud.
day 1;Yesterday…
15 m; 400 km.
So many well-known names and a for me total stranger won the day .Good on Soeren Noelke who got the first 1000 points. Only 6 out-landings and a good flight from Katrin Senne; spot 6!!
18 m; 320 km.
NO out-landings and Mario {Kiessling }won just ahead of “our” Sikko. Nice speed…129 km./h. only 793 points for Mario.
open; 416 km.
Micheal Sommer still knows how to win, so he did so on day 1…. 1000 points for him.Speed 122 km./h.
8 EB variations in the top 10!!!!
In the daily top 10 only “toppers” as Felipe Levin, Markus Frank, Olivier Binder,Pierre de Broqueville, Alexander Mueller, Uwe Foerster, Werner Meuser, Bruno Gantenbrink and Klaus Kalmbach.
26 started and 2 did not finish
Nice day 1.
Day 2; today. More news next week.
15 m.;
18 m.;
open;
———–
Czech Open Nationals…..PRE WORLDS in 18 m. class and nationals in Czech Rep.
June 25-July 7 2017.
The first 4 days were difficult.
It turned out that day 2 was flyable, so task 1 was set in all 3 classes[club, combi 15 m. and combi open] ; 2.30 AAT’s for all of them.
302 Km was flown in the open class in time 2.33 by one of the Lukasz’ses from Poland, this time Lukasz Wojcik in .[JS 1 CJ EVO 18 m]
306 even in 15 m in time 2.33 by young Czech pilot Radek Krejcirik.[Ventus 2A]
217 in the St Cirrus in time 2.43 by Czech pilot Jiri Fousek.
Day 4 showed task 2 , but only for 15 m.[ 2 hour AAT] The weather was very poor and just when the day was cancelled the day improved and the 15 m. pilots went for it. Still scattered CB’s in the whole area according to Adam [Woolley] who shared the picture below. Adam is flying 9 events this year and 5 in Europe.
“Spain for fun, HWW17, here, POLAND [ pre-worlds 15 m] , finally the UK EGC!” AND,…as he told me , he is on the verge of his 1000th competition- flying-hour.
Miloslav Cink and Pavel Louzecky both in an LS 8, started and finished more or less together and flew 211 km. in time 2.08 and gained 657 and 654 points. Radek was 3d with 580.
Keep an eye for the future on Radek and Miloslav, I know them as juniors and from other comps,…they are GOOD!!!
As there was no flying for Wolfgang, Steven, Butch and Adam we could chat on FB.
I knew it was Wolfgang’s birthday last Wednesday, so I asked Adam to give him a big hug from me. As you can see ,…NO WORRIES!!!!
Wolfgang rather looks surprised!!
Picture shared by Adam.
“Every morning is different. Yesterday’s fog replaced heavy rain connected with low pressure over Germany.As we don’t want to miss any chance to fly we watch satellite pictures and weather development. There is a chance for short task for at least one class in the afternoon.” From the official site by Tomas Rendla.
Briefing was at 11, but unfortunately NO flying on Thursday.
“ Due to very slow progress of weather improvement we decided to cancel the day for all classes. Chance for flying in the afternoon is very very low.”
Friday June 30;” It’s blowing a gale, but sky looks ok“.
as shared by Adam.
210, 259 and 289 km.were set for the pilots in the 3 classes.
13 From 21 in club flew the task. Best speed 79 km./h in a St Cirrus.
Combined 15 m. was cancelled.
Combined open; Lucasz Wojcik [JS1 EVO /18m.] won with 116 km./h.He started straight away at 13.35 and won the day. The last pilot started at 14.18 and [virtual-? flew back? ]out-landed after 14.05 km.
Adam was 4th for the day and extra happy as indeed “Today I clicked over 1000hrs competition time, of which 400hrs of them are in Europe – beginning in 2005 at the Junior World Gliding Champs in U.K.!Some useless stats, I’ve flown 63,869 declared Kilometers over 256 starts in 14 different glider types, of which 300+ hours are in a Cirrus; My two fastest tasks have both been at 158kph; best placings, two nationals wins;Having a great time!”
On July 1 tasks were set, day 3 from 7 till now; 2.30 AAT’s in club and combined 15 m. and 2 hours for open, later changed in 2.30.
Only 2 classes flew as club was cancelled.
4 LS 8 gliders in the top in 15 m with Karel Novak as best with 196 km. in time 2.27. Only 6 [ from 16] finishers and “poor” Radek was out. Such a pity , he dropped overall from 1 overall to 7 and he is such a good pilot. Weather,…it’s all in the game.
Another good young pilot Miloslav leads the pact now and was 3d for the day.
So 2.30 hours in open class , with also half of the pilots ‘OUT’. Among them Aussie -Adam. Not Butch he was 5th for the day. My Dutch friend Steven was out as well and Wolfgang did not start anymore, as he had to go home to fly the Austrian Nationals.
244 k. for the winner in time 2.42; ROMAN MRACEK ,…..I missed him in the top…..till now.
So one week over, hopefully good weather in week 2.
July 2 had already nice set tasks. CLUB; 257 km. MIXED 15 m.;272 km and MIXED OPEN; 263 km.
Still some doubt with the organizers as they mentioned ;
“This morning it doesn’t look as a perfect day for gliding. The sky is cloudy with 7/8 of clouds. On the positive side the wind speed decreased significantly compared to previous days. There should be less clouds in the afternoon and we believe at least some task will be possible.”
Start / take off was mandatory from the concrete runway!!!Still very windy!
VERY difficult day with lot’s of out-landings and only in open class 2 FINISHERS…..1000 and 999 well deserved points.!!! The 2 Polish pilots , Lucasz [JS 1 EVO/18 m.] and Zidslaw, [ASG 29E/18m.] managed to fly the task travelling together with a speed of 74 km./h.
So definitely a VALID day in this class.
ALL pilots in the other 2 classes DID NOT FINISH!!!!BUT,…both had a valid day!!!!
In club 7 pilots flew over 100 km.!!!
In 15 m. 2 pilots nearly reached the field but missed out on 12 km. Still a 1000 points -day.
2 Hour AAT’s to start the new week with on Monday.
The morning-news:”After morning rain, low clouds and not really optimistic forecast the weather now is almost unbelievable. There are ⅜ of beautiful cumulus clouds over the airfield and all the competitors are already in the air and some competing already.”
To avoid so many out-landings AGAIN and “ because of forecasted increasing quantity of clouds and possible showers,”they decided to keep the 2 hour AAT’s.
It turned out a “fab-day”!!!!! Great speed and all pilots home!!!This was the weather the organizers hoped for from the beginning.
Club; 225 km. in the St Cirrus with 112 km./h.
15 m; 269 and 274 k. by Radek Kucirek [Ventus 2Bx/15m.] and Radek Krejcirik in the Ventus 2A/15 m.]Speed;130 km./h.
open;289 km. with a speed of 144.60 km./h.!!
AND,…… a valid competition now in ALL classes!
Tuesday;
Club a 3 hour AAT, the other 2 classes 3.30 AAt’s. Enough time to show each pilots quality!
But it turned out totally different.
Official news;”Front between warm air from south and cold air from north caused spread out on Cumulus clouds to Stratocumulus grey layer which stopped all thermal activity. So after one and half our of friendly talks on grid the day was canceled for all classes.”
DAY WAS SCRUBBED.
Today’s tasks; AAT’s from 3 hours, 3.15 and 3.30.
————–
FINNISH NATIONALS open and club class
June 25-July 2 2017.
as shared by the organizers from Purjelennon SM 2017
14 gliders in a mixed open class and 8 in club class at the well known airport of Rayskala “battle” for the highest spot.
Day 1 showed 2 hour AAT’s and in both classes 3 out-landings.Best distance 226 in 2.04 in the Lehto/Sorri-ARCUS M.
Then,…as everywhere in Europe not the best weather so 2 day’s scrubbed.
Task 2 had 3 hour AAT’s so better expectations for the weather. And indeed in Open 380 km. was flown in the Hirvola/Leinikki-ARCUS with a nice speed of 127 km./h. .
In Club also a 1000 points-day and all those points went to Sakari Pyorre in his LS 7 flying 301 km. with a speed of 100 km./h.
Task 3 on Thursday showed 497.87 km. so nearly 500 km. to fly for the pilots in open class, one of those great days in Rayskala, I have seen many of them.
All 14 pilots in this class finished and best [1000 points] was Kristian Roine with a speed of 130 km./h. in his 18 m. LS 8T.
Visa Matti in the ARCUS followed with 132 km./h. in the ARCUS.
In club,404,53 km. was set and also here a 1000 points-day and 1 out-landers. Anti Koskiniemi was the best in his St Cirrus.
After 3 days the overall scores in club look like this; 2.580 points for Sakari and 2.320 for Anti.
After 3 days in open;2.438 points for Antti Lehto and Juha Sorri in the ARCUS M and 2.408 for Kristian in the LS 8.
On July 1 task 4; 2.30 AAT’s for both classes.
312 k. was flown by team Hirvola/Leinikki in time 2.30 at the dot!!!! After an early start they won the day and moved from 6 to 5 overall in the final scores.
Antti and Juha lost 100 points for the day but still had just enough to win the comps with 2 points!!!!
3147 for them and 3145 for Kristian!!!!!
Antti and Juha and Paula ,Antti’s daughter ,who won a gold medal with “100 year Finland” earlier as well, with synchronized skating with Team Dynamique.
In club, Antti , this time Koskiniemi, in the St Cirrus won again and moved up to 2 overall. [3221]Winner was Sakari in his LS 7 nearly 200 points ahead.[3431]
4 Days out of 7 .
———–
By the way the USA club class nationals in Hobbs were won by Mike Westbrook in the Discus 2BW[5095 points]
Runner up Mike Opitz same glider,…. a few less points ;4965.
Michael Marshall in the 15 m. ASW 20C was 3d with 4902 points. He won the last day!!
———-
13.5 m WGC in Hungary.
I follow some of my “mates” flying this WGC in Hungary.There are 18 participants and the ones I know;
Tony Condon and Francois Pin from the USA flying the Silent 2 Electro 13.5m.
Stefano Ghiorzo [last champion!!] and Thomas Gostner from Italy in the Diana 2 VersVS.
Sebastian Kawa from Poland in the GP 14 Velo.
Uli Schwenk from Germany flying the mini Lak.
Contest period; July 3-July 15 with a reserve day on the 16th.
Combined with this competition the 18 m. will be flown.
Team USA with Tony and Francois and crew.
Team USA!
“Finally, after a bit of ferrying between Italy and Hungary, and some lost luggage, car repairs and trailer fixing, we are all here with all our stuff: 2 pilots, 2 crew, 2 cars, 2 trailers, 2 gliders, and all luggage. Gliders went through scrutineering yesterday, and we spent yesterday and today finetuning things with test flights, as the weather was not conducive to tasks. Just a bit more paperwork and registering, etc., and we’ll be all set.” by Francois.
On Saturday July 1:”Good morning from Szatymaz. Front just passed with some rain overnight. Field is wet. No task for the final practice day. Probably some local flying possible late afternoon. Tomorrow is opening ceremonies at 5 PM, flying will be allowed as long as we are home for the ceremonies.”
Sebastian’s glider GP 14 in the rain…
As shared by Sebastian who had critic as well on the FAI;
“FAI please remove wing loading limits in 13.5 competitions. It causes step back in designs and will kill the class.
Well. Good thing about WL is that we will have more girls ( they eat less ) in the 13.5m class and more young slim pilots. That will be fun ! Heavier and usually older pilots will be eliminated due to FAI policy and I don’t think it is something to be proud of. ”
It created some discussions.
Last practice day AND opening at 5, on Sunday with nice weather and a nice dinner and the company of many good friends.
As shared by Sebastian AND by US Soaring Teams.
The 14 pilots in this 2d WGC for 13.5 m. started with a set task of 255 km. on July 3;
day 1;4 pilots managed to reach the first TP ….88km. against the 35/40 km./h. -wind…….and if they did it meant that they could finish the full 255 km. as well , as the problems were in the beginning.
Sebastian,[GP VELO] Uli and his young German mate Florian and Sebastian Reira from Argentina , all in a the mini-LAK [one with FES] were the heroes for the day for only 500 points max though!!!
He got a warning for spate delivery of the file,…..but Lithuanian pilot Vladas Motuza[ mini lak] fought this flight to come home as well. He did with a speed of 59.77 km./h. arriving at 19.12, when most of the others had had a beer or 2 already.Good on him!!!!
With Sebastian [1] , Uli [2] and Florian.
As shared by the German team.
Day 2; 351 km. It might get boring,…Sebastian won again. The “other” Sebastian from Argentina was runner up, so a real “Sebastian-day! Uli was 3d and Stefano and Thomas followed. Pretty good day for Tony and Francois on this Independence Day ;7 and 8.
Day 2 as shared by US Soaring Teams.
Today they expect the first launch at 11.45. No tasks yet.
THOUGH…….US Soaring is quick;
“Today’s task in Szatymaz is a 331km Racing Task. This will be our first time exploring the area to the East.” There you are!!
————
MORE next week…..Cheers Ritz
to finish this fabulous picture from NZ from Geoff Soper Photography.
