PRIBINA CUP:
On April 13 they started with the practice days. On Friday April 15 the first flying day was cancelled as was the next day !They tried hard ,but no chance to fly a task, due to wind and “no lift” ,….a lot had to return to the field after they started.
So on HAPPY EASTER, April 17, tasks were set AND flown. AND WHAT TASKS!!
Task 3;
At 12.25 the organizers shared the next message ;
“All gliders are in the air. Weather looks promising, with 3m/s lifts and cloud bases above 2000m QNH“
Club class; 361 km…Dutch pilot Roelof Corporaal just missed out on 2 points to “have” the first 1000 ;998.
In his LS7 WL he flew around with a best speed of 121 km./h.
23 Finished, 1 was out and 4 entered forbidden airspace.
15 m class; 446 km…David Mach from Czech Rep flew in his Ventus 2a around with a speed of 132 km./h. German pilot Max Maslak in a Discus 2T was runner up [123 km./h.]
All 24 finished but 3 got zero points for an airspace infringement.
20 m 2-seater class; 444 km…1000 points for Tilo and his mate Jan Lucas flying the ARCUS M. All 9 teams flew, nobody was “punished” and all finished.
open class; 501 km…146.48 km./h in the 18m JS 3 was the best daily result for Jernej Lokovsek. He was followed by some well-known names, as German pilot Matthias Sturm, Belgium pilot Wim Akkermans and Radek in A JS1/21m. so not in the brand-new AS33es, because …his dad Petr flies the new toy.
43 from 46 finished.

April 18 Task 4;
At 1.30 the message was ;”Everyone is in the air. First gliders are already on the 1st turnpoint at the north. Some snow/ rain showers in the task area but it does n’t seem like a trouble for pilots.“
Club class: 251 km.…fast day and not too many points to gain. Uwe Wahlig [LA3 WL] won the daily 571 points with a speed of 130 km./h. Quite a bit faster than the runners up from Czech Rep in ASW 20 and KKB-15E FES, who flew around with 111 km./h. Only one outlanding [from 28] , so a GOOD day!
15 m class ;335 km...Polish pilot Wiktor Lacinski was ONE minute faster than German pilot Max Maslak , so 921 and 914 points for the boys.
Czech pilot Karl Novak was 3d in the JS 3 and one of the Lucaszes , Lucasz Grabowski was 5th.
Aurelien from France, Juditha from Poland and the Czech girls Dana and Jana were on spot 18,19, 20 and 21. [3x LS8 and a Discus 2a]
25 finished only one was out.
2 seater class ;333 km…Team Aberle/Holighaus won again and added 962 points to their scores. With 115 km/h. they were 1 km./h faster than the other German ARCUS, but about 7 km./h faster than the rest.
All finished.
open class; 371 km....45 started and 44 finished and the daily best was Matthias Sturm [JS3] with 135.78 km./h speed. Runner up Hungarian pilot Zoltan Hamar was a tad slower ;131.62 km/h. Radek was 3d, he was the fastest for the day with 136.25 km./h ,[higher handicap 127.7] his dad 17th.
45 started 44 finished!

April 19 Task 5;
The early morning news at 8.45 was; “Grid is already opened, briefing is scheduled for 10 am as usual. The weather situation looks a bit complicated today, so we are closely monitoring it to see how it develops. First launch is expected at 12 loc for now. So get ready“
AND ,…it was at 12 PM!!!
AND,….at 1.01 PM all gliders were in the air. Great job!!!
Club class; 2.30 AAT…Dutch pilot Roelof won another day. He is a member of the club the Gelderse, where my granddaughter flies as well.
In his LS 7WL he flew 267 km in time in 2 .31. He was followed by 2 Czech pilots.
At this stage, with many scores still preliminary, Roelof is 3d overall with 2.157 points. Ahead of him 2 Czech pilots Michal Lesinger and Jiri Kusbach with 2.198 and 2.189 points. Tibor, who flew with us in Tocumwal is 4th with 2.140 points. So EVERYTHING can still happen.
From 28 starters 1 was out.
Uwe who won task 4 unfortunately had a bad day; 24th. He dropped from 1 to 10, but” it ain’t over yet”, he is a winner.
15 m. class; 2.30 AAT.…a fully German day with a German top 4 in Discus and LS 8. Daily winner Jan Schulz with 319 km. in time 2.29,56. good timing!!! Runner up Max Maslak also in Discus 2T with 318 km in time 2.30,08, also great timing.
On 3 Sebastian Nagel[ who I met at 1 or 2 JWGC’s ] in Discus 2A, with 317 km in time 2.30,05 and the 4th pilot in the LS 8 was Jan Kretzschmar with 314 km. in time 2.34.
After task 5 it is Max who leads with Jan as runner up; 2.665 for 2.620.
All 25 starters finished as well.
20 m-2-seaters; 2.30 AAT …. 8 teams started and finished, best for the day an HC pilot from Poland flying 318 km. in time 2.33 in an ARCUS.
Aberle /Holighaus lead the overall scores at this stage with 2.727 points. The Runners up in a Duo Discus have 2.648 points.
Open class; 2.30 AAT…Good to see that Andreas [Lutz] won the day. Like his mate Wolfgang Janowitsch he is a frequent WGC pilot. He flew in the Ventus 3/18m 339 km in time 2.29,55. Those pilots are really good in their timing, better than I remember. Matthias in his JS 3 started 9 minutes earlier flew about the same distance in time 2.27,49.
At this stage the preliminary scores look as follows; 1. Matthias with 2.642 points. ….2. Radek with 2.470 p and ….3. Zoltan from Hungary just ahead of Wim from Belgium ;2.437 for 2.426. By the way number 5 has 2 points less, so also here everything is possible.

The news for today Wednesday April 20 is;
“Good morning! 
Hope You sleep well and You are ready for the next competition day. Runway in use 33, online briefing at 10 am. Sun is shining so get some vitamin D before the flight.”
You can expect they fly today and next week you will read it all. When you want to keep an eye on it yourself you can use; https://www.pribinacup.sk/2022/

I was shocked to read that top-soaring-journalist Gerd Marzinzik died on April 12,due to a fatal accident in the mountains [Tirol]. Together with him a young co-pilot…. so terribly tragic! Only 17 I read.
What a loss!!!!
I met Gerd , mainly in the past, at several WGC’s and he flew with us in Tocumwal. He was a professional writer about soaring and I read the “Aerokurier” only because of his gliding stories.
Lately I did not see him anymore, but I read most he wrote. Nowadays he was part of the Bitterwasser team and they were ,like anybody who knew him very sad!!!
They wrote;
“For 3 years, Gerhard enriched the Bitterwasser team as a highly valued permanent member. Numerous exciting reports and photo contributions were written by him and informed the international gliding community online about the current events at the Bitterwasser Lodge.
Gerhard was a quiet, fine person with a mischievous sense of humor. His flying expertise was appreciated and recognized by all.
He died in the pursuit of his great passion, gliding. Our deepest sympathy goes to his relatives and loved ones as well as to the relatives of his co-pilot. Gerhard leaves a big gap.
We will miss him.”
I will miss him too!!A lovely very down-to-earth-guy.
R.I.P. Gerd.
R.I.P. young co pilot as well, I better not think of one of my soaring grandchildren.

Gerd contributed to the OLC as well;
“It is with great sadness to announce the death of our long-term team member Gerhard Marzinzik”
“We greatly appreciated not only his comprehensive experience in competitive gliding, but also his unparalleled ability to communicate and write about our sport in an entertaining, exciting yet highly professional way. With no doubt, Gerhard’s contribution laid the foundation for the global success of the OLC“
“His name will always be inseparably associated with the OLC.”
as shared by Stefan Harries for the entire OLC-Team

On April 14 there was another accident with a private DG 800,” over mountainous terrain at an elevation of about 3,500 meters on the Lys glacier, Monte Rosa, Italy.
The sole pilot onboard was fatally injured. This is the third glider crash in Italy so far in April.”
Not good, please be careful!!!!!!!

And then just also over Easter, the TRAGIC news of Silva’s death. Unbelievable! He , Juha “Silva” Silvennoinen, was my “boss” in Rayskala , where I wrote and was steward during the EGC, with Dick Bradley as the chief steward. Silva dared to set a 1000 on the first flying day for open class and we supported him.
I was there during the JWGC where I met him again and his wife and daughter Maria, such a nice and big family. They have to continue without him and I feel deeply for them.
He was so dedicated to soaring , a top CD and a good pilot. A great family man, had military discipline and loved Finish folklore, wearing special cloth for an occasion as opening or closure of an event. He loved nature.
Don’t know what happened during the last flight of his life,…but he crashed and left us all.
R.I.P Silva.

With all this sadness, it’s good to look to a happier item as well,…. young ones who love their soaring too and try to achieve goals. As young Dan who flies at the Cotswold’s in the UK.
Congratulations Dan with your silver C.

News from WeGlide;
On https://magazine.weglide.org/taking-the-next-step/ you can read all about their new plans .They are now launching a subscription model.
“Our main focus is and always will be to improve the free version and to build features available to all pilots.”

News from the European Gliding Union.
They had their annual conference, which was to be in Oslo, on February 26, but in the end was virtual due to COVID.
The EGU has 21 full members and represent 80.000 glider pilots.
Their new president is Arild Solbakken from Norway.
After 10 years Patrick Naegeli announced his well deserved resignment and he is now appointed as Honorary President.
“Patrick Naegeli had announced his resignment from his position as EGU President by the end of the EGU General Meeting 2022. He retired from the Executive Board after having served for 10 years as president.“
You can find ALL their info on
https://glidingunion.eu/

Friedrichshafen Germany; The worldwide leading platform for General Aviation is coming back live! 500 exhibitors, 50 conferences, new trends and contacts – be part of it!
April 27 -April 30 2022.

We had the most beautiful weather over Easter and I hope that you had the same great time ,as I had.
Glider pilots had fun as well. Specially Easter Saturday was a top-day in the Alps.
780 pilots added their flight on the OLC and the most impressive flight was in a NIMBUS 3 ; 1.365 km. with a speed of 132 km./h. flown by Joachim Hirt and Tobias Breithaupt. They flew from Lienz Nikolsdorf. So did Tobias Welsch and Steffen Goettler in the Arcus M with 1.286 km .Also Jan Omsels in a Discus flew from there 922 km and in the EB 29 Alexander Mueller flew 1.119 km.
And one more over 1000 km flight in a Nimbus 4 DM with in it Yves Klett and co pilot Marius Jaeger and for him it was the very first 1000.
Bert Schmelzer jr started at Alzate Brianza in Italy and flew in his Ventus t/18m. a distance of 1.128 km.
Wave went up to 3.835 MSL but the ridge-soaring -knob was on as well.
Down under , in their autumn period, they enjoyed great Easter- Saturday- weather as well with flights from 400 km by Robert and Jenny in the ASK 21 !!!,from the Heart of the Continent , Mac with 534 in his LS 8 and Adam with the same distance in the Ventus 3 both flights from Temora.

Easter Sunday and Monday had top flights as well, so …..many happy pilots…..AND in the end as I heard later, unfortunately many very sad ones as well. Sorry , but I can’t get used to loosing mates due to gliding. And it happens TOO OFTEN!!!!! As said PLEASE BE CAREFUL.

Cheers Ritz, till next week. With so much sadness it ‘s difficult to write!