Post 1.555 on November 20 2024 AND ……6 blogs to go.
Indeed 6 blogs to go , the last one will be on TUESDAY December 31, last day of this year.
AND,…when the weather is there,…either in Africa or Australia or New Zealand , or wherever…you can fly a 1000!!!! It happened again !!!!
—–Namibia had since November 11 again TOP DAYS!!! I am sure you found them on WeGlide or the OLC. Not only 1000 km, but with this great weather and those good gliders ,distances from over 1.200 in Veronica on November 15, over 1.300 on November 16 in Bitterwasser and again on November 16 , this time a special one as the “founders” from Flying with the Champions, Ludwig and Wolfgang flew together in the ARCUS M from Kiripotib; 1.315.21 km. and they were in a hurry; 163.20 km./h.
The EB flew even 1.326 km!!!AND ,…the pilot commented;” “What an absolute chaotic flight. Where I wanted to go it did n’t work and then there was every time something, “dark” or wet in my way. Not my day!” But what happens when it is his day, now the scoring distance was 1.328,68 km [948,16 FAI] and a speed of 148,55 km./h.
And for sure a lot of happy pilots on those airfields with bubbles in the evening , and lot’s of stories. REAL HAPPY CHAPPIES , I know the euphoric feeling of such a day!!!!
After 2 fabulous weeks the news from Kiripotip on November 16 was;
“Flying with the Champions 2024″ is history 
.We enjoyed fantastic flights, engaging presentations, learned so much new, and, most importantly, had an incredible amount of fun 
. Thank you for two amazing weeks at Kiripotib with our wonderful guests.” Kiripotib Soaring
——-Australia had great soaring- weather too. Narromine and Lake Keepit both had over 1000 km flights. Here is a story from Adam about Tomas in Narromine;
“Fantastic opening flight Tomas,[Suchanek] 60km further than I’ve taken G1, in 15m too none the less .
He says, “My suitcase got lost somewhere around Singapore on the way to OZ. Lucky I could borrow Adams Ventus and Beryl donated lucky T-shirt and shorts to me .
No sunglasses no hat today no phone today on board. Only shoes, socks and Oudie were mine. It is a new Czech national record distance via three turnpoints”
On November 15 Tomas flew 1.178 km with 125 km./h. in the Ventus 3 T/15m. from Adam.
Lasham pilot Andy , [I believe for the season in Lake Keepit ,] flew in the ASG 32MI ; 1.028 km.
It might be a superb soaring season on both sides of the world. HOPE!!!!!!
–—-Recent news from Schempp-Hirth;
This picture says it all.
“This Wednesday, [November 13] we celebrated a significant milestone: the delivery of the 250th Ventus-3.
This occasion was not only seen as a simple business success of our 18- and 15-meter-high performance glider, it was above all a moment of pride and fellowship that brought together the entire team, without whom the production of such a modern, elegant and efficient aircraft would not be possible.
The handover ceremony took place in our final assembly, which was cleared for this special occasion. The entire team, from the engineers to the sales department to all the employees who use their extensive know-how and experience to build such aircraft from scratch, gathered around the Ventus assembled to its final form. It was a great opportunity to recognize the work and dedication of everyone who contributed to this success.” Schempp-Hirth
The new owner is from Belgium, Ward Gysemans and for sur he will be very happy with his new “toy”.
Through the years, George was always happy with all the Schempp-Hirth gliders we bought. A Cirrus 75, a Discus, a Ventus [2x] and Nimbus 2 and Nimbus 3 [3x].
The Nimbus 4DM George and our Dennis, flew in Benalla at the WGC of 1987 , was a proto type . We not only got to know Klaus and Brigitte , but also their sons , Tilo and Ralf. Not to forget Schempp-Hirth “VIP” Biko ,always busy to keep the customers happy. Both Klaus and Ralf stayed with us at Sportavia in the year George won the Leeton Australian Nationals .
Looking back at how we arrived down under and got to know AND LOVE Tocumwal;
In 1984 we met in Rieti in Italy at the PRE WORLDS, the Aussie team. You might know a few as 2 are still flying; Tony Tabart [R.I.P.] Peter Griffith, Bruce Brockhoff,[R.I.P] John ‘Butch” Buchanan, Paul Mander [R.I.P] and Terry Cubley.
We had great fun together and the Aussie pilots invited us to come to Australia to fly there, especially against Ingo in Tocumwal, as he was the best.
Deal was that Butch would fly our Ventus in Rieti and George could fly one of Griffo’s gliders down under.
A nice “swap” convenient for all.
Bruce would be our host ,as he had a caravan at Tocumwal Airport, we could live in when we were there.
Off we went, suitcase full of summer clothes. We arrived at Melbourne and it was just SO COLD!!!!
We called Bruce, but he was not home [ Melbourne] ,he was flying a local competition at Mildura,” we should travel straight on to meet them all there”, he said.
We did . The plane was a small one[ I believe Kendell Airlines] and it was pretty turbulent. I felt miserable!!
We arrived at Mildura ,a lovely small town at the Murray River and it was “bloody” hot over there. Whilst walking to our friends, millions of grasshoppers tried to “climb” in our ears, mouth and nose . Never saw them before and it looked grey ,even when the sun was shining brightly.
Pretty shocking, I longed for the Netherlands, but you get used to everything in life, is n’t it?
We had a sterling time. George flew several new records and I could “HOP” in a Bonanza from Griffo with a stopwatch to check the start from above and later finish time.
When the comp was over we got a radio and a car to drive to Tocumwal, over 500 km with no houses or towns. There was ONE pub in the middle and off course we visited that.
The radio was to keep in contact with Bruce ,as we had no clue where to go too and getting lost down under is not funny.
We arrived safely in beautiful Tocumwal, found a nice motel [ there are many, as people from Melbourne come in bus-loads , to play the poker machines at the golf club over there], as Bruce stayed for a short while in his caravan, to be with us.
So Tocumwal entered in our lives and it is still there!!
Looking at comps!!!
I have been at many comps, too many to write about or even to remember.
But most of all ,I was in Rieti in Italy.
I was their as crew at the Pre Worlds in 1984. In 1985 as guest.
In 1994 as TC of the Dutch team at the EGC and “our” Ronald Termaat won bronze!
I had as TC, 2 pilots in standard class with 36 participants; Baer Selen [finished on spot 9]and Erik Borgmann.[spot 6]
The final scores in this class were very special;
As Tapio and Fred ,the stewards wrote in their final report;
“Peter Fischer, Reinhard Schramme and Erwin Ziegler [all 3 from Germany] TOGETHER on place ONE, with 9358 points each. It’s the first time in history of gliding, that 3 pilots share the first place on an important international championship.”
3 Pilots in 15 m. with 34 pilots ; Steven Raimond , Jaap Horsten and Ronald Termaat who finished as 3d, behind Stefano Ghiorzo [gold] and Werner Meuser [silver] and the other 2 pilots finished in the top 10.
In open 1 pilot Gerrit Kurstjes who finished also in the top 10, so the Dutch Gliding Association was happy, I got a nice THANK YOU letter.
A picture from a picture, but still very clear though in Italian.
More Rieti as in 2007 I was invited as writer at the JWGC and in 2008 as invited writer of the WGC and,…. as one of the jurors could not be there , I “helped” Tor Johannes as replacement-juror.
All great fun ,also with John Roake from N.Z. who was chief steward.
We eat too many ice creams in the evening , every day, as some kind of relaxation!!!!
After that 3 times [years] as writer about the C.I.M.
I love Rieti and the people I got to know through the years!!!!
Comps were always well organized and they really took good care of their guests. The comps were special as the mountains are not forgiving there. I once had to write about an Austrian pilot who did not come back during the CIM, till they found him the next day with help of all pilots and many others. That was tough, very tough!
The pictures from Rieti are on one of my memory- sticks. Will try to find them.
Yesterday I had a small tear when Rafa lost his first match in the Davis Cup, but I was also pleased to see Botic win, it might help him to be less insecure!!!
More “old” and new news next week.
Cheers Ritz