More from this and that….!

Alphen aan den Rijn      February 22 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

Uvalde is still a few months away, but  it is always nice to look ahead. You might miss on the preliminary list Australia, but don’t worry they will be there. They are still not 100 % sure who’s going. I heard that there is a change in the compilation of the team. Butch [John Buchanan] pulled out  and is replaced in open class with Tom Claffey. He will fly in that class with Gerrit Kurstjens,  who “transformed” from a clockie into an Aussie!In 1991 Gerrit was pilot in “my” Dutch team in Uvalde.
In 15 m. class the Trotters will fly to win and in 18 m. 2 potential winners; Bruce Taylor and Dave Jansen.
Nice to see a husband and wife in a competition competing against each other in one class . Would that be the first time in WGC history???
I never heard about it earlier. Cool! Don’t know if Jill Spreckley flew a WGC together with Brian, pretty sur not, but she  certainly  flew WWGC’s and even won there.Same with Pam and Gerrit Kurstjens., yes Nationals ,yes WGC and WWGC but no WGC together.
Maybe… Adele Orsi and her husband from Italy???? I remember “Mr. Orsi ” flying in open class and I know Adele flew as well but I doubt if they flew in one class together.
Lisa Trotter is also the first female pilot from Australia flying in her own right. My good friend Janet [Hider-Smith]  who sadly died a few years ago of cancer , was flying the WGC in New Zealand, as an invited guest. [Thanks Tom for reminding me]

 
Husband and wife , Peter and Lisa Trotter will “fight” for the best places at Uvalde’s WGC in 15m. class.
picture courtesy Anita Taylor

At this stage, 101 pilots from 23 different countries have entered and wow there are some well known names on this preliminary list!!! It will be a great competition as there are , as usual, in each class a few potential WINNERS.
Deadline as I read on the official site from Uvalde for entrees and fees is April 4.

 
One of the French participants Killian Walbrou.He will fly in JS1 in 18 m.!!! Another potential winner and a very nice young man!

 No news about our Prince Friso.When no news is good news that would be OK, but it somehow does n’t feel good . He has to remain for a week in coma, the situation is stable but still life-threatening.I guess we will know more in my Sunday-blog.
Mum Beatrix, wife Mabel and brothers Willem Alexander and Constantijn and even one of the 2 daughters from Friso and Mabel visited. As well as “his skiing- mate” , who after being in shock visited yesterday. It is now said that he dug the prince out with his bare hands.

Carefully pilots “hop” in their gliders, also in Germany and not only in areas with mountains but also in more flat land enjoying the first nice cumeli. A good flight from Bruchsal ,263 km. in a DG808C. /18m.
In Belgium pilot Daan Spruyt flew 351 km. in an 18m. LS 6
But it is still cold, though this weekend temperatures are going up to 12 dgr.PLUS!!!! Yes it is going to be defenitely better, even nice clouds!!!

Still strike in Frankfurt, they added 2 more days to their strike. The ground-traffic controllers , about 200, organizing the traffic on the ground, are on strike for more money. Not good….more delays…..more cancellations.!

Friend Tibor is already very busy with Fatraglide at Martin Airport. The comps will be in May [ 5-13] there is prize money 3000 Euro and as they say ” the winner takes it all”.
Combi class will be flown as usual but…..CLUB CLASS MASTERS is a new concept which is replacing Club class known from previous years.
WHY!!??
—-“Until 1978 there were only 2 world gliding champions every two year. Now we have 6 classes at WGC, 3 classes in women gliding championships and 2 in juniors, which is fine but can you name the winners from last year? Probably not. Who is the best pilot?
Only way how to find out is to get back to the roots and let them compete together. One class, similar gliders, one winner, no tears. That´s what we call „Glider racing as it should be“. Interested?—-”
Rules?
–only racing tasks (no AAT – because we are not in math competition)
–Turn points FAI sectors (because if you fly 300km we should not cheat it 1km on every TP)
–club class with handicap max. 1,06 (it´s old club class we all remember – without retired standard/15m gliders because handicap can´t make it fair all the time)
For more news go to ; www.fatraglide.sk/2012
On the entry list I noticed several pilots who have been overseas at Corowa, this winter.
The Fatraglide boys on a picture from last year!

 Tibor, Brano and a friend in the middle.

Still nice flights from Tocumwal and Benalla, after some showers the good weather arrived back and today pilots flew 500 km in Nimbus 3/25.5 m. and 453 km. from Kari in LS 6 from Toc.
And….don’t forget to listen to the interview from Rand Baldwin [soaringcafe] with Dick Butler busy with a race against the clock to have his Concordia ready for the Uvalde WGC.
There is a picture [in an old Flugrevue] in this article, from Dick’s ASW17, the one he flew at Paderborn and that glider is NOW owned by [my ex] George  and “lives” in Tocumwal .
You can go to www.soaringcafe.com for  the interview;
—-“He talks about the status of the project and a few of the many remaining items that have to be tackled before Concordia debuts on the world stage in July”—-

That’s it CU on Sunday,cheers Ritz

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