Alphen aan den Rijn Wednesday October 12 2011 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
When talking about overseas-soaring I should not forget to mention New Zealand as well. It is not only Omarama , of course the biggest and most well known place [WGC in 1995 with NZ top-pilot Ray Lynskey winning in open class, Markku Kuittinen in standard class and Eric Napoleon in 15 m.. Ray , sadly enough died MUCH TOO YOUNG at age 54 in 2009 ] , for mountain soaring on the South Island , but also the Nord Island has several places to fly from when over there for a holiday.
To the world famous place Omarama you go and fly to enjoy the mountains and the huge wave-systems and many pilots have been introduced to wave flying there. [ www.glideomarama.com ]
In the past we had several guests who flew with us in Tocumwal over flat land and travelled after to NZ for some good mountain flying and trout or fly-fishing.
As said in my report last year when I visited the Nord Island, it is overwhelming beautiful!!!!! To prove it some pictures made during my trip.
At this stage the beautiful coast of Tauranga , where I had the privilege of staying with John and Chris Roake, is threatened by oil from a ship stuck on a riff. They work very hard , but weather circumstances stopped the rescuers from emptying the oil from the ship. It seems worse then expected. Now they think that not 30 ton but between 130 and 300 ton from the 1700, have gone in the water just close to that beautiful mountain Maunganui , with the great beaches.
Mount Maunganui from close by and from a distance.
The beautiful clean white , beaches at Tauranga, on the foot of Mount Maunganui.
The first flights from NZ are to be found on the OLC; 298 km from Paraparaumu,[ is n’t that a great Maori name?] on the SW North Island , 50 km. N of Wellington.
In NZ at this stage the semi- finals will be played who will be this years World-RUGBY -winner. I “love” both the Wallabies and the All Blacks so , may the best win!!!!They play on Sunday , BIG match and the French and the team from Wales on Saturday.
When looking at the Omarama site , I noticed that the captain/skipper of the All Blacks , Richie Mc Caw, is a soaring-pilot as well.Good on him and a nice picture!
On the 11 th of October the OLC started their 2012 season and the very first flight from 2012 was for Ian Cohn flying at Mount Beauty in Victoria in Australia;136 km. in an ASK 21!! In the far past we had in the Mount Beauty area our spring camp with Sportavia . Flying over the mountain in a Blanik with Bill Harvey still is a great memory. Also the trip behind the tug back to Toc. was unforgettable.
Having said that the OLC champions for this year;
Overall champion Klaus Ohlmann…who else?
Statistics best flight;Gordon Boettger–2254 km. from Minden Tahoe in a Kestrel 17
Statistics all flights; Alfredo Giretti –62.365,90 km. in 108 flights
Most kilometers flown from an airfield; Bitterwasser–595.653.65 km./827 flights/127 pilots
And…the AFZ-club from Unterwössen had the most flights;797 flown by 73 pilots and 266.614,86 km.
Congratulations to all winners!!!!! But also to ALL pilots who put their flight on the OLC as it is great to follow what you are doing and even compare that and of course it is nice to see where all friends are.
Strike in the aviation-world caused some problems in Germany.On Monday first the ground personnel was on strike so people arrived but suitcases did not. Now the traffic controllers are ready to strike today and that could cause a great mess in Germany. They threatened to do so twice in the past but NEVER did it! Are they going to do it today?
The Regionals in Argentina at Ceres have had 2 days now. They fly in 3 classes with 46 participants in total. After 2 days Lucas Goldenzweig is 4th in an LS4. Look for the results at ;
www.soaringspot.com
Also at Bebedouro , Brasil, they are still active .The first day of the Nationals , the Campeonato Brasileiro de Vöo a Vela, has been flown on Oktober 10. Pepe , one of the participants, flies it in an ASH 25 E; 264 km. on day 1.
It happened again!!!!! The Russian bomber-pilots visited us…..again!!! Not that they , 2 Bear T95 bombers, were invited, neither did they announce their arrival, they just flew over Holland, I guess looking if everything is the same as a few months ago and to check if the Nato partners are alert enough.Of course they were!!!!…..they were accompanied by a Dutch F 16 and English fighters and when they left Holland up North the Danish air-force took over, when they moved over to Germany.
Last but not least! Just got some news from Rick in the USA which is really nice to share with you all. It’s about soaring with the Mount Washington Soaring Association during their Wave Camp over the white mountains of New Hampshire. His friend flew this flight in a Glasflügel 304CZ/17.4m.[the best flight worldwide on the last day of the 2011 OLC season]
Here is story and have a look at the site as well;
On October 10, my friend Rick Roelke achieved a goal that he has been
seeking for at least 10 years, a triple diamond flight (all three
diamond badge legs in one flight). As far as we know this has never
been done in the Eastern USA.
It was also the best OLC flight for that day.
He did this at the annual wave camp sponsored by the Mount Washington
Soaring Association: http://www.mtwashingtonsoaring.org
It was a big day for wave soaring at Mount Washington. Another pilot,
Jim David, reached 29000 feet that day.
Thanks Rick!
CU on Sunday afternoon, will be in Amsterdam for the weekend, but my guest takes care of the house !!!
Ritz