The 2020 Club and multi class Nationals are on NOW , between March 14 and 20 in 2021. Due to covid-19 they had to be postponed.
The airfield to be is Mc Caffery Field named after good old Dennis Mc Caffery , [R.I.P.]who I met several times, once I was his dinner partner and we had such a great time. A really nice outgoing person. In my eyes some kind of Bill Riley or John Roake.
So they fly the Nationals there now, with 8 pilots in each of the classes.
March 13 was practice with a 2.30 AAT in club won by Jo Davis who could have won the WWGC, if all had gone according to the rules. But rules are rules!!!!Still a pity!
She flew in her ASW 20, 270 km in 2.31.
In the multi class it was a great practice day for Ray Stewart [JS 3 /15m.] and Matthew Scutter. [DIANA 2]. With a speed of 125 km./h they flew during the 2.30 AAT distances of 333 and 336 km. in time 2.39 and 2.42.
Club had a 3.30 AAT on day 1 which was good and young Reuben Lane in a DG 100 won with 340 km. in time 3.30 at the dot!!!!1000 points for him.
The runner up, Mark Dalton in ASW 20b, flew 382 km. but need a bit more time ;4 minutes which cost him 1 point.
Multiclass; some kind of same scenario. 1000 points for Ray and ONE point less for Matthew.
Matthew flew there, looked via his SkySight to the weather of the upcoming days and the organization decided to listen:
“Unfortunately due to current and forecast weather it has been decided to cancel the competition.”
So one practice day and ONE good day and they all had to come home again,…such a pity. You understand that in Australia distances are huge, so some arrived flew 1 day and went home again….some driving over 8 hours. It is as it is!!!
The organizers opinion;
“The options for any more days flying are worse than zero.“

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The USA SENIORS , as always fly their comps from Seminole.
With Covid test’s on site, they started the 31 edition on March 13 and continue till March 19 with 58 pilots. Always a very busy competition with lot’s of “old’ with respect toppers as Doug Jacobs and Karl Striedeck …in his early eighties… ,who flies as practice for the German WGC in the Duo Discus with Sarah…… and with John Good as the CD.
After 2 practice days the real “thing...contest day 1” started with 2 hour TAT.[ Turn Area Task]
The day was won by a new name for me ,Jake Alspaugh in an ASW 27.John Seaborne, who I met during the 2012 WGC in Uvalde was runner up in his JS 3/15m.Sarah and Karl were 6th in the Duo.
It was a blue day with the forecast for afternoon cirrus, so most thought,….”an early start is the way to go”.

Contest day 2 , another 2 hour TAT, this time won by Fernando Silva [JS 3/15m] and Jake was runner up .Blue day was fore- casted again , BUT CU’s popped up, but also disappeared.

Contest day 3, with a 3 hour TAT, was a prey for a “shark 18”, flown by Sam Giltner. Sarah and Karl were on spot 3 but overall now on spot 45.
“Very nice day. 5000+ cu. Good streets. ” was the comment from Ken Sorenson, the CD from the Uvalde ’12 WGC. He flew 456 km in his Ventus 3F/15m.
No contest day on March 16.
So in the middle the overall scores are; Jake on 1, team Bennet [Nic practiced a lot in Worcester] &Krolikowski in the ARCUS M on 2 [ on day 3 they had a “Very late launch due to technical problems. This probably helped us as by the time we started cloud base had gone up a bit and there were some good streets” ]and Steve Fihlen in ASG 29/15m on 3.
Will be back with the last days next week.
For results; https://www.ssa.org/ContestResults

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The MARCH issue of GLIDING INTERNATIONAL, has a beautiful picture on the cover from Tobias Barth, over the town of Hamburg, only possible because of Covid-19 ,as normally airliners fly there.
What’s more in it;
—–Pre World War 2 Gliding …Germany and Japan unite…by Arthur Liddington…14 pages of history…..to be honest I learned a lot from it.
—–Japan Aeronautic Association and gliding in Japan today. I do have a lot of Japanese soaring mates since Sportavia and visited 4 airfields there in that time…an interesting GREAT experience it was!!
—–Wolf Hirth…German Soaring pilot extraordinaire.
—–Gliding and the World Olympic movement
—–R.I.P. Hans Werner Grosse….
—–In the accident report…..there are still unresolved battery problems.
—–Lot’s of International Aviation news for glider pilots and “things with wings”.
What got my special attention in the Aviation news was;
“Late 2020, Sebastian Kawa joined a group of European pilots who over-flew the Tatra Mountains in Poland – a dedication in memory of those who died on the mountain. Sebastian read a list of all climbers and pilots who lost their lives. A video of the flight is available on YouTube.”
AND
“Omarama Airfield Update: The ‘Omarama Gliding Club’ is now the organization for overseas pilots to contact and who want to soar from this location. Glide Omarama no longer exists in its previous form. You can contact the club via their web site – https://www.omarama. com/ A number of the personnel from the former operation are now working for the “Omarama Club”.

Some good over 1000 km. flights over the last couple of days, have a look at the OLC.
March 16; Ugo Pavesi flew one from Calicinate in Italy in an ASG 29/15m. and Klaus Ohlmann from Serres in France in the Antares 20.
March 15; Gil Souviron 1100 km in the Stemme S12 from Perpignan.
March 14; young Swiss pilot Davide Giovanelli flew one from Locarno in Switzerland in a DISCUS 2 …” WHAT A DAY“….and Alessandro Busca from Alzate in Ventus 2CX/18m.
NOT a 1000 but a SPLENDID flight on March 16; Alessandro Busca flew in the ASK 21, a distance of 598 km. from Aosta, on a pretty good wave day.

CU next week with the latest on Seminole and other news.
Cheers Ritz