2011 season has really started !Cold!

Alphen aan den Rijn     Monday  November 29 2010    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

A bit later then you are used too,but as I told you already , times are hectic at the moment. Anyhow the weekend was great and very relaxed. It is however bitter cold here , but the fore-casted snow seems to only arrive today or tomorrow. My poor friends in the UK are suffering from minus -17 dgr and loads of snow. Now my friends in Munich seem to have the same problem, so better see IF I can travel to Munich on Friday. Today they cancelled 125 flights at Munich.
My friends in Scandinavia have cold weather as well, but they are used to it  and will think, “what’s new”?!

With another 9 x1000 km.  and a really impressive one by Alexander Müller from Kiripotib , an FAI triangle, as he calls it himself BIG and FAT, Namibia has presented his business-card as well. The 18 m gliders still struggle , but the big ones just go for it. Lot’s of over 900 km tasks were flown as well. Bitterwasser straight away went up to spot 1 on the OLC list for airfields with Gariep following as well as Corowa. But this will change again.
AND…..then one day earlier Argentina is in the 1000 km-picture as well, as Klaus {Ohlman} was racing the ridges up and down “making” 1543 km.

Now at Monday morning even more 1000 km flights have been flown and I even can’t count them anymore, are there 25 till now!?
Alexander has flown 6 flights since he started in Kiripotib and 2 are 950 km-plus and 4 of them are 1000 plus kilometers and VERY nice great 1000 [1.225 km] FAI triangles. Very impressed again…and the speed was 135 km/h!!!!!! 
Top pilots from all over the world are flying “overseas”now and it is good to see names as Gerard Lherm , who I met most during the 8 jours d’Angers, Walter Binder, Wilfried Grosskinsky and earlier Reinhard Schramme and Tassilo Bode.

Still meeting friends as Facebook  and last I became friends with “The Perlan Project”. I am not their only friend as 1.244 have joined in before me. The Perlan project is and I quote now  a research project to study atmospheric conditions utilizing sailplanes designed to fly at extremely high altitudes. I had never heard of it shame on me , maybe you neither so that’s why I mention it.

In Lake Keepit , Australia, the State comps are on  with 50 pilots flying in 5 classes. They started on the 27th and the 28th was cancelled but the 29th was a flying day. Look for progress and scores from this competition at soaring.spot. The comps will finish on the 4th of December. I like the field of Lake Keepit, close to a beautiful lake and the accommodation over there is very pleasant.

Sad day yesterday for a  very experienced 44 year old Dutch parachutist. His parachute and his emergency- parachute did not open……He died at Teuge Airport.

As you know I travel on December 11 to Melbourne via  Hongkong  and today a plane will fly from Hongkong to Kazachstan ,  to pick up over 300 passengers , [several from Holland,] and 20 crew , after the cabin-pressure dropped yesterday  in the 747 flight CX  270, after 6 hours of flying from Amsterdam . As precaution they landed at the closest airfield. This way the trip is 34 hours…with excuses from Cathay!!!! Hope I will not have to go trough that as I fly Cathay as well. But…at-least everybody is sound and safe.

Tonight the first marathon on speed skates will be skated on natural ice and ….it still is autumn!! A very cold one and very white one. Also Scotland suffers a lot. Greetings from cold and grey , but still not white Alphen. Don’t know what will happen on Friday but I will be back on Thursday,
Cheers Ritz

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