Out of 12 days they had 1 day with NO TASK , 4 non flying days and 7 between 2 and 4 hour AAT’s. So NOT the real booming Argentinian weather ,but still pretty good.
In standard they had 2x a 1000- points-day’s, both days with a good task 3, with a 3.30 hour AAT and task 10 from 3 hours .
Winner and National champion in this Standard class;
1. Cristian Franzini in LS 4 with 4,754 points
2. Gonzalo Riera in LS 4 with 4,744 points.
3. Tomas Soler in LS 4 with 4,736
SO VERY CLOSE scores!!!!! Must have been pretty exciting.

In the combie-15 m class close scores as well in the top 2;
1. Jose Dentone in ASW 20 with 5.085 points.
2. Lucas Goldenzweig in ASW 20 with 5.061 points.
3. Mauricio Delfabro in ASW 20 with 4.852 points.
Jose won 3 days. The last couple of days it was always Jose on 1 overall and Lucas on 2. So deserved winners.
Their task 3 was also a 3.30 AAT [404 km. in time 3.30 at the dot] and task 10 [384 km. in time 3.35]as well, both were 1000-points-days too.

In open /18m. also 2 fighting for the CUP;
1. Damián Goldenzweig in Ventus 2CM /18m with 5.720 points.
2. Santiago Berca in Ventus 2CM/18m. with 5.693 points
3. Juan Pablo Verdura in Ventus 2CM/18m with 5.393 points.
Damian won the 4 hour- AAT- day [task 3] with 491 km in time 4.02 speed of 122 km./h and “received” 1000 points.
The 3 hour AAT [task 10] gave 1000 points as well and was also won by Damian. He won 3 days, so also a deserved NATIONAL CHAMPION.
The Goldenzweig brothers did well.
I met Damian in 2006 at the Eskilstuna WGC , his very first participation at a WGC, a very nice guy, with a nice outgoing young crew as well.
Here is Damian;” Santiago Berca is club class former world champion… we are flying together since long time ago and it’s absolutely a pleasure for me. Good results are to be expected with a partner of his level.”
Unfortunately I have hundreds of soaring pictures on a memory stick, but they don’t work anymore on my laptop. They ‘dance”. So no picture from that past.

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The South- African Nationals flown from WELKOM, finished with a non-flying day.
“Sadly not a flying day, so prize giving was held at 10.30 a.m. and we will be holding a spit braai shortly for those who are still here. Obviously some have opted to hit the road and head homewards – some have a long drive to e.g. Cape Town.
A happy Nationals, despite the disappointing weather. Congratulations to the pilots and their achievement“.
They had a total of 4 days out of 9, with tasks from 1.30 and 2 hour AAT . So not a lot of good days to “shine” , but Yves did well winning the last day, John won 2 days and Attie the first one.

Also here CLOSE final scores;
1. Uys Jonker in JS 3 with 1.992 p.
2. John Coutts in JS 3 with 1.989 p
3. Yves Gerster from Switzerland in JS 3with 1.974 p.

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Still enough 1000km-plus-flights from Namibia, 2 special one’s in the EB 29’s by Alexander Mueller last Monday; 1.284 km and an FAI triangle of 1.128 km. flown from Pokweni and a good speed of 142 km./h. and by Markus Frank; 1.273 km and an FAI triangle from 1.207 km with a speed of 141 km./h.
And what about Mike Oakleys flight in the ASH 25 on the same Monday but from another part of the world, not Africa but New Zealand... Omarama; 1.963,89 km!!!!He went to the Ne and SW this way flying in a yoyo-flight up and down over nearly the entire Southern Island. Wave up to 7.199 m. AGL [ 7.556 MSL]…..SUPERB!!!But,…I don’t know,…. sitting in a glider in the cold for 14 hours and 21 minutes is for sure heroic,…but not for me!
On WeGlide you can read his story:”2:55 for the first 500 km. Then all hell broke loose and we ran into strong winds and a lot of turbulence. Michael Oakley tells the story of his 2000km attempt on the 20th of December:
https://magazine.weglide.org/soaring-the-length-of-new-zealand/
AND,…..
Another great father-daughter-flight from New Zealand;
“But not the only remarkable flight of the day. Together with his daughter Abbey, Terry Delore soared 1500km along the length of New Zealand in his ASH 25 ‘ZF’, flying from Bluff, the southernmost town of the South Island to Auckland on the North Island. 1.959,95 km @ 137,40 km/h Omarama, New Zealand ASH 25 14h 28m Head over to WeGlide to see the full flight:
https://www.weglide.org/flight/116691
SUPERB FLIGHTS!!!!!Great stories!

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MERRY CHRISTMAS.

And to finish I wish you all beautiful Christmas days with your loved ones in freedom and without corona.
We are in a “heavy” lockdown till January 14. Not a lot happening in the Netherlands, but we fight the virus and “boostered”, we will start 2022 a bit later .

Bit of a short blog BUT,…I got my booster jab against omicron and I was 2 days REALLY sick of it ,getting better now.

So some short but important news about John Roake, the editor of Gliding International, who so sadly passed away rather unexpectedly.
I had a mail from his son Greg:
“John had a fall while going out to lunch and fractured his hip badly. After two days they did a full hip replacement, but unfortunately he never recovered from the surgery.  He had a mild stroke and heart attack during surgery.”
‘Unfortunately GI will not continue, there is no-one with the time and enthusiasm to keep it going. As John always said – the magazine will die when I die.’
Indeed all so true!!!!!!
No short intro’s anymore in my blog about the newsy news in G.I.
Such a pity and SO Sad!!!!!

The astronomical winter started on December 21 at 16.49 ,with at some places minus 8 dgr C here in Holland.
BUT.…we had the shortest day ,so days will only get longer again. Hello to spring and Summer.

Cheers Ritz