The 69th Gliding Championship in Argentina
Rafaela 28 November 2022 – 9 December 2022

——Only 2 days to go in Rafaela, after I finished my last post .
Task 10, flying day ,9 showed another 3 hour AAT in the 3 classes and in open it was Juan Pablo [Verdura] again as the best, starting as the last one. A pity from his off-day earlier. Damian [Goldenzweig] is still going strong.
So are the 3 Ventus CM/18 m gliders being 1,2 and 3 on this task 10. ALL pilots flew over 400 km and as said Juan Pablo, was the best with a speed of 147 km./h over 446 km.
4 Pilots still in the race for the title and in all 3 classes it’s an EXCITING race!!!; Damian with 8.371 p, Santiago with 8.339 p .,Frederico in the Nimbus 3DM with 8.290 and Juan Pablo with 8.265 points.
In Standard class 12 starters and 9 flew over 350 km. Many LS 4 gliders in this class, but the St Jantar won the day with 376 km and a speed of 123n km./h on handicap.
4 Pilots still in the race for champion with close scores; 7.618….7.678….7.733 and 7.740 points.
In 15 m. still 19 pilots in the race and Jose [Dentone] won the day with 382 km. and a speed of 127 km./h.
8 ASW 20 gliders here in the top.
With ONE day to go, ….4 pilots still in the race for this title with at this stage overall scores from 7.855….7.862….7.899 and 7.944 points.
What’s happening during task 11??? NOTHING,…no task for all classes, so it was OVER!!!
“Although the tests of the Standard and 15m classes had already been cancelled, meteorology was trying to find a window to be able to develop competition with the Open.
All possibilities have been exhausted to develop the competition, unfortunately it has not been possible to fly” indicated Roberto Vogt, director of the championship while suspending the day at 1:30 p.m.”
by Rafaela Gliders Press

Yes ,…..champions in 3 classes were announced!!
Standard class after 9 out of 11 days;
1. Gonzalo Riera in LS 4 with 7,740 points…NATIONAL CHAMPION.
2. Cristian Franzini in LS 4 with 7.733 p, only 7 less, he would have wished for a last flying-day
3. Dino Ghioni in LS 4 with 7. 678 p.

Open class after 9 out of 11 days;
1. Damián Goldenzweig in VENTUS 2CM/18 m with 8.371 points…NATIONAL CHAMPION.
2. Santiago Berca in VENTUS 2CM/18 m. with 8.339 p.
3. Federico Buscema in NIMBUS 3DM/24.6 m. with 8.290 p.

15 m class after 9 out of 11 days;
1. Sebastián Luengo in ASW 20 with 7,944 points…NATIONAL CHAMPION.
2. José Dentone in ASW 20 with 7.899 p
3. Felipe Girado in ASW 20 with 7.862 p.

Congratulations to ALL. AND,…THANKS DAMIAN for sharing the pictures!
Pretty good 9 out of 11 days, and a lot of GOOD ones ..that’s what the PRESS thought too;
“With this there are only two non-flyable days of this historic Argentine championship.”
Rafaela Gliders Press
With record temperatures last Wednesday of 41 dgr. C.

In the end they had 10 out of 12 days , I was TOO quick and missed a day. Luckily the winners remained the winners only they got more points.
You can see it in my next blog.
Sorry about this. MEA CULPA.

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South Island Gliding Championship 2022
Omarama 4 December 2022 – 10 December 2022

After winning 3 days Keith [Essex] and his open class mates had NO TASK on December 7.
BUT,….then the weather decided not to co-operate anymore.
No flying on December 7 [Very flat and very white today. Unfortunately the low to the west keeps things very much rubbish for tasking, so no competition tasks today.} and 8 [Even more weather around today so no tasks for the day. Friday is not looking that great either!].

So December 9 Friday [ no flying] and 10 to go……
BUT,…….Good news:
“Looking a lot more promising this morning. There is a task up for both classes and we are going for an early start of 12:00 to try and get the flying all done before forecasted rain showers and to-nights awards dinner!”
So on the last flying day they set 2 hour AAT’s for both classes. No worries for Keith ,…another win and 1000 points more.
No surprises either in the open class final scores;
1. Keith Essex in the ASG 29E with 3,594 points.
2. Hamilton & Morgan in the ASH 25 with 3,070 p.
3. Max Stevens in the Ventus 2C with 2,901 p.

Tony was runner up to Terry, loosing 8 points, not enough to change the
Overall scores in racing class.
1. Tony van Dyk in the LS 8 with 2,833 points.
2. Terry Jones in the LS 8 with 2,742 p.
3. Roland van der Wal in LS 6C with 2.048 p.

Congratulations!

More N.Z. news ; That day,…. December 10, ….John Mac Caw flew a free flight ,more an out and return from Springfield…422 km…in a St. CIRRUS. CHAPEAU!!!!

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JOEYGLIDE
Lake Keepit 11 December 2022 – 18 December 2022

Attending a competition in Australia, sometimes is a huge expedition. If you have to travel from the West to the East, you are driving your car and glider-on-tow, over many kilometers and days and nights.
So a huge job for some of the young ones, but when you are young NOTHING IS A PROBLEM.

The 8 [number 9 came all the way from Mount Beauty but did not fly] started with a great practice day on December 11; 3.30 AAT.
Ryan Driscoll was the last- but- one to go on track in his ASW 20 and flew 354 km in time 3.37; speed 98 km./h.
One day earlier Ryan practiced already too. That day showed SUPERB weather as local hero Allan Barnes in his LS 8 declared a 1000 and flew it!!! Our former co-owners from Sportavia, long ago , Mathias and Mari-Christine flew in their ASG 32 768 km.
So a top day in good old Lake Keepit. Hope this weather stays during JOEYGLIDE!!!!

It did NOT on day 1 ,so task 1 was skipped…to speak in JoeyGlide-language, but there was a 3 hour AAT the next day, as TASK 2.
Again 8 flying pilots. Noah from Mount Beauty flew but this time Paulo did not fly.
Jayden won the 1000 points flying the Kestrel/17m. over 297 km in time 3.20; 89 km./h. He mentioned it was not always easy, he was sometimes low, it was very blue, but the ridges worked well.
Ryan was runner up with 82 km./h loosing 125 points, but it’s only flying-day 1.
TASK 3; 3 hour AAT AND,….it’s looking GOOD!!!!

Ryan was the only one flying over 100 km./h; 105.26 km./h. He flew 316 km in time 2.54 for 1000 points.
Jayden was runner up.
For some juniors it’s a hard but effective way to cope with competition flying. 7 Started but one missed the startline on 0.5 km. Life can be a bitch…zero points.
More next week; When you want to follow them you can go to
https://glideandseek.com/?compDataUrl=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NeilMC311/joey23/main/joey23.json&viewport=-31.10429,150.43515,9

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AND,…from the Boonah Gliding Club Inc. 2 UK pilots Finn and Jack , are flying and having fun. Whilst it is minus 10 and with lot’s of snow ,in the UK, the young ones enjoy the nice weather down under in Queensland. Good move!! They even “got” Adams G1 to fly, very special.

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—–Mathew finished his trip but there is more to come, he loves his gliding and sees so many parts of beautiful Australia this way.
“Two very, very tricky low blue days flying back home. Yesterday was at least clear skies with nice consistent climbs, but terrible terrain requiring constant strip deviations.
Today was considerably worse, with patches of high cloud forming all afternoon, but at least after the first 50k it was back to landable country. I didn’t really believe reality would be as dire as the forecast predicted, and thought I would actually make it back to Kingaroy for most of the day – but a switch flicked about 3.30 and I had to motor to Chinchilla for the night.
The biggest predictor for how hard it’ll be to get an airport pickup by a motel seems to be proximity to a state capital, but fortunately Pete the airfield operator gave me a lift into town, thanks Pete!
Just a short flight home tomorrow, time for repairs and recuperation, and possibly departure later this week for another try to the south. TBD.”
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

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Some short news;
–—-That great working horse , the Pawnee, is a tug and many soaring places use one. Some have a long record of service, as the above one; “So today we said goodbye to a faithful friend…. after 36 years, about 50,000 aerotow launches and probably flown by 50 different tuggies, Uniform Charlie our Pawnee was off to pastures new, flown by tugmaster Paul Barker to the South Wales Gliding Club at Usk.” Southdown Gliding Club

—–PERLAN PROJECT;
“As we look ahead to 2023, we’re looking back on memorable moments of 2022.
On June 12, Perlan Project Chief Pilot Jim Payne and Pilot Alan Coombs wave soared 2,581 km in the fly-by-wire Nixus Project. Ground speed reached as high as 340 kph. It was the 2022 Best Flight OLC. Check out the stats at; https://bit.ly/PayneOLC

——-Namibia; December was another top day in Namibia. The TWIN SHARK topped twice the OLC list with flights from Veronica; 1.198 km and 1. 110 km. Bostjan and Radek with their mates have a lot of fun.
The first 21 flights on the OLC were ALL over 1000 km and in total there were 22 as the ETA was on the list a bit further.
The TWIN SHARK is making OVER-HOURS- flying from Veronica .On December 10 Radek flew 1.302 km [145 km./h] and one day later Bostjan 1.223 km. The glider is keeping perfect, after all this hard work.

—–In between the 2d 1000 km-camp for the young ones has started from Bitterwasser. Max [Maslak] is still there AND flew as one of the young ones got a tummy problem…another 1000 k in the EB. [28]
2nd lap 1000km Camp Bitterwasser Day 4
Weather forecast with early onset overdevelopment made route planning difficult. Therefore, a timely return to Bitterwasser before the thunderstorm activity in the evening was announced. But as is so often the case, instead of thunderstorms in the late afternoon, a gigantic line of convergence developed, which made the way home effortless. Another special experience for Patrick, with weather phenomena that are hard to find in a textbook.” by Wilfried who is flying now with young Patrick Benoist.

More Bitterwasser news; on December 12
“The world as a guest in Bitterwasser
For each nation represented in Bitterwasser, the corresponding flag is hoisted. 12 nations were already represented this season. From 19 to well over 80 is the range of pilot age. It is interesting that in some cockpits the age difference is more than 50 years.
All this makes Bitterwasser a very special place with a great atmosphere. And the results can be seen. More than 100 flights over 1000 km have already been completed.”

Yesterday 2 of my Dutch mates, Alfred Paul and Mark, flew in the ARCUS from Kiripotib 1.244 km. ..speed 150 km./h….Good on them.
The weather is still SUPER in Namibia.

——–Between December 5 and 16 the Royal Air force “practices” from the base Eindhoven Airport about 15 k from here. It’s called “Orange Bull” and during the flights of 2 C 130 HERCULES transport planes , they drop personal and freight at designated places in Holland and Belgium. I do hear them sometimes.

To finish this blog another view on flying. Tony [Condon] loves his soaring, power flying, but also his balloon flying, and he shares lovely colorful pictures.
On December 7 he mentioned; “Two flights today!! Rolled a lot on inflation. Some steerage. Landed next to a nice house and laid out in their yard.”

Flying to heaven is what happened over the last week with 2 of our soaring mates; Belgian multiple-times-top-crew Ollie [ Oliver]will be missed by many, specially by the THE Broquevilles. He always had a smile on his face.
Our Tocumwal friend Charlie Tootell sr. died on December 6 , a huge loss for his wife Marg and son Charlie jr.
Jr was a tow pilot with us and mum and dad regularly visited from Finley where they then lived.
“No Sambuca evenings anymore“
R.I.P dear friends.

CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz
P/S; it’s MINUS 10 here during the night and zero during the day …pretty cold for the Netherlands…and the first marathon on ice will be skated tonight.
As I have spend 30 winters in sunny Tocumwal, I do not like cold weather, but no complaints here. I straight away think then on the people in the Ukraine, without power, heating and water, all by a “stupid and intense TRAGIC” war. I wish them a lot of strength!!!!!!!