Alphen aan den Rijn     august 3- 2008

Unfortunately the weather in Luesse is not as it was over the last week ,with speed up to over 140 km. p/h. Today I hear they have overcast and..it is cold. Art even mentioned he got his winter jacket out of his back- pack, which had not been out before! And…he is from Canada and does not really feel cold quickly!
Anyhow today is the first competion day in Luesse and for sure they have not yet given up as I write this. Briefing is at 10.00 and the competition journalist reports sun and “it looks like a flying day”, with a front expected later during the day.
Keep an eye on it , when you are interested! www.wgc2008.de under Race diary you can read the daily bulletins. A lot of countries have their own site with home-country-news!Easy to find with google!

It seems there was a bit of friction between the organizers and some countries represented by their TC’s , but this all will be most probably solved this morning in the briefing.Items were p.e, speed limit before start and use of engines to avoid an out landing.

Ingo Renner [ Australia] the one and only 4 times world champion, was presented yesterday on the market in Belzig , where the opening- celebration was. More former world champions were invited to be there. Ingo’s [ German ] friends ,even the Australian team did not know he was coming!So surprise, surprise!

GOOD LUCK to ALL pilots and safe flying over the next 14 days!!!

Not everybody flies on world level, but that does not mean that they do not get a lot of fun and pride out of their flights. Lots of friends are in Fuentemilanos in August for their annual soaring. 850 km. on the 30thiest of July for Guy from Luxemburg and Pepe with a good 750km.
On the 31th the pilots flying in the French mountains had their day with 14 flights over 700 km. One nearly 1000 and number 15 just missed out on  6 km. to make another 700 km flight. Not bad! A lot of German guests enjoyed these great circumstances and go home with sweet memories.
Good old Rieti, yes I do have great memories on this place, still has fantastic gliding- weather with flights up to 826 km yesterday!

Well, gridding before 11,  first launch at 11.15 tasks are to be found on the site, so Luesse is on with it’s first competition day. For sure a tricky one I dare say, even when I am not there. You can loose the comps on day 1 , if you are a bit unlucky. But good weather for the Dutch , the Belgians, the English, the Germans and the Eastern countries as these are “normal” circumstances for them. Well even MORE good luck to everybody!!!And…safe landings!

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn              27-07-2008

Back on track! Wow Rieti was just great! I am sure you have enjoyed reading the Ritz Corner too, atleast I hope so. We had nearly 1.00.000 readers and another 1.377.000 reading the result site!!!

According to many pilots Rieti was one of the best organized competitions EVER and that is a big feather in the cap from Leo and even more young Giorgino! Giorgio had to take over in fact the total organization at the field, as Leo had to go home and was more then busy, with the illness of his lovely wife Adriana. Giorgio is only 30 years old and did a marvellous job! But also all helpers were totally dedicated to making these comps to a success.
I spend a lot of my free time with the members of the jury. A privilege as 2 of them  Tor and John are next year 80 and have a knowledge  and know-how about gliding as nobody else. All different stories came over table and they were all great to listen too; ” Did I tell you this story from 19….. ” and we were spoiled with more gliding news. John ‘s wife Chris is a gem and a lovely easygoing person/friend! Angel ,the 3d jury member was a bit younger and full of humor!!!Not difficult to see that I had quality-time in Rieti. Even climbing and descending 1400 -plus-stairs to see from 3 different points the Marmore Waterfalls. Pretty spectecular. Tor, as said 80, did this too. Amazing!

Now we are going to see how things will go in Luesse.
I have some friends who are going to keep in touch with me, about the comps for flapped  gliders.To have 11 out of 12 days , like we had in Rieti, might be difficult, but you never know. Till now, while practising from airfields in the area ,as Luesse was closed till 2 days ago, they had lots of rain and now thunderstorms , as I heard.Practise is on now and the inspection of gliders will start too.

 Some sad news; Or… perhaps is the best way of dying for an “icon of soaring  dying in the harnass”.
85 Year old Richard H. Johnson from Dallas, crashed with his glider in a wooded area , near Midlothian. He flew SOLO and witnesses saw his glider go up , before going straight down!
Richard was a pioneer in many ways. He was  the ” fine-tuning” pilot who checked with new gliders if indeed a performance was according to the book. He even develloped aerondynamic improvements for gliders by checking them.Look for more news about this
pioneer in soaring” on www.ssa.org/myhome.asp?mbr=8022257685

A big loss for the soaring community.

Better news , not the very best however, from Roland Stuck who had a bad out landing on the slopes of a mountain covered with flat stones, during his gliding holiday .

“I remember that I extended the landings to attenuate the impact! The glider then slipped upwards on about 100 m.Fortunately a clump of trees stopped it very quickly, by removing both wings, which saved me from going over the edge of a steep drop, of some 200 m. ‘
He managed to call his wife who started the rescue and an helicopter lifted him to hospital 1 1/2 hour after the accident, where they diagnosed him with a severely damaged 4th lumbar vertebra.
Roland had an operation which was very succesfull . He hopes to be back home in august . We wish him well with the fysiotherapy and we wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on gliding fields soon, either as steward or jury or as a pilot. All the best Roland!!

On the 16th and 17th of August there is a “2 day” competition in Belgium at the airport of Keiheuvel. Try to be there! On the 11th or 12th of august I try to be in Luesse .

The weather here in Holland is HOT, just very hot and humid. With the expected thunderstorms there was no gliding here yesterday, but a lot of inconvenience with high water and cellars full of water. Quite some damage on some places, we were lucky here, only rain, good for the garden!!
In Rieti it is still good with a 703 km. flown by Alfredo Giretti. But Spain is as always good too with nice long flights.

Well that’s it for now , see you next sunday,  with the first news from Luesse and if something spectecular happens there, already earlier.

Have a great and safe week! Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      29th of June 2008

Great day for soccerfans as the final between Spain and Germany surely will be a good one!

Today is the last bulletin for soaring.eu, till Sunday the 27th.,as I move today to Amsterdam, stay there tomorrow and will leave for Rieti on Tuesday. So I hope you all “come” with me to www.wgcrieti.it so we can stay together.You find me on the homepage and the longer stories in the Ritz corner.

The weather is unfortunately not the very best in Italy at the moment, but we can only hope that it will improve. But it seems the atmosphere is good, so I better go and look for myself.

The last couple of days looked great here in Holland.Last Thursday pilots flew over 700 km in Holland. Great effort! Fantastic day!But on more places in Europe the weather was great that day. In Luesse they nearly flew 1000 km. and the young Belgian pilot, Bert jr. flew 700 km. in his discus. Great practise for Rieti, where he might find less good weather in the next 3 weeks.He and his brother Tijl , who also flew 624 km., are both competitors in Italy.

Well I am in a hurry, will leave you know and “see you in Rieti”. Will take the good weather with me in my allready heavy suitcase.

Ciao Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn       22-06-2008

Last night’s story was a bit”flat”. It was not the Midsummer evening I hoped for. Holland lost, no worries, they did not play as good as in the first 2 matches. But…still a huge disappointment.
On top of that I realized , that the funeral last tuesday of a good friend [59], dying within 2 months [breast cancer] and the diagnose of ” we can not do anything more for you, enjoy life ” [63] for another friend, had a huge impact on me. Sorry about that!

So to cheer my self up and perhaps you;
I got the nice news from Oz, that the moter-glider  VH-SSUwhich has been in “hands ” of Sportavia from 1969 to 1997, has been found by George,former owner,  just 30 km. South of Cairns. It is like a lost friend found!
This moter glider was always used by former instructor Des Russell and by Ingo Renner. They took pilots before they went solo in the IS 28 M2 and showed them around. It was not only “used” for cross country checks, but for nearly everything you could use it for.
A gentleman with a nearly Dutch name,is the proud new owner now.
Amazing!!!! A pity I can’t show you the pictures as it looks fantastic!!
It is good to see that it is in “good hands”.

Straight to work now. Busy, busy!

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn             21-06-2008

As I have to start working at 10.30 tomorrow, due to an opening from art from all our artists called”Summerguests” , I write NOW. It is more an escape, as I find it difficult to see Holland play against Russia in the European championships.
The first 2 games of the Dutch were superb, the best soccer I have ever seen and I saw already a lot of matches. But with Hiddink as trainer the Russians know exactly how “we ” play.
Well the first half was not too best , right now it is 1-0 for Russia , so here I am behind the laptop, while NOBODY is to be seen outside. No cars, no people walking their dog ; Holland is behind the TV and its team.Even Maxima and Willem Alexander have flown to Bazel.

It is June 21, so the longest day on this side of the world and the shortest downunder. I have been at several Midsummer-night-parties , while being in Sweden and Finland , due to comps over there.They all had something special.
Would be a win for Holland special enough for this year?????Well the best should win, is n’t it? Same as in gliding!

Good mate Richard van Grunsven from the USA, designer from a very good  power-plane, flew just over 1000 km. in Parowan [USA],while Hans flew a great 800 in Ocana in Spain. Hans always SETS a task {FAI}and flies it. Amazing!!!The USA had a great week for top-soaring!With atleast 10 1000 km flights and so many other great flights!

The people in Rieti are a bit worried about the weather. I heard that it has never been so bad as this year. It surely will be OK when we are ALL there in 2 weeks.
In Luesse they fly nice long [753 km.]flights .On the 17th 4 1000km .flights were flown in Germany . The weather ALL over Europe was super as several friends flew in Holland and Belgium over 750 km. flights. Guy even flew a 1000km from Luxemburg his home country in his Ventus 2 C.I do not know how many 1000km flights he made allready in his life. Most flown from Fuentemilanos.

Well it was good I left the TV as now it is 1-1 and they have another 30 minutes to go. Hope it will be decided before “we” have to go for penalties. But…van der Sar is TOP!!!!

Enjoy your gliding this week, or….maybe soccer???Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                                    June 15 2008

Back from a nice week of bike riding , walking and talking with my school mates in Winterswijk, the east of Holland close to the German border. 3 of them I know , since I was 4 years old, 2 since high-school.And every year,  we just continue our conversations , where we stopped last time.
First day on the bike was tough with 52 km. For me, who has been on the bike twice this year to the shopping mall ,extra tough! But I managed !Next day 30 km ., easy……and the last bike day 20,…….no worries!
Then one day of walking [8km.] and the last day shopping.
The weather was great with temperatures up to 30 dgr. in the beginning of the week finishing with 17 on the day of departure.

Before going home my friend Ans and I visited the gliding field of Malden. Ans lives in Malden,[close to Nijmegen] and both of us went solo on this gliding field in 1967. Both of us have great memories on our student-gliding-holidays. We were member of the student aero-club ZES from Eindhoven. The boys all studied on the Technical University and even built their own winch during their study.As there was NO homefield, we travelled from field to field, as guests of other clubs. A very old winch hanging behind a very old pick-up truck and a 4wheel drive, also very old used for retrieves ,always went ,where we went.
So early spring was a visit to Venlo in the South of Holland, summer was Malden and late season flying was at the National Gliding Center Terlet , together with the students of the Delft aeroclub.Unforgettable times!! So for old-time-sake, we visited for a coffee the gliding field.
We were more then surprised to see lots of gliders and lots of pilots. So ….we arrived on the last flying day of the KLU comps; the comps for military pilots , but open for all who want to participate.
Lots of well-known faces and kisses and handshakes all over! Pilots I had not seen for 15 years, lots of really old good mates!
Also here at this field the top pilots were in the top. With 40 participants it was fully booked! Pilots new to competition gliding can qualify for next years Nationals if they have points enough!
In Standard /15 m. Bas Seiffert won. Good practise for the World comps in Rieti.
Martin Smit former Dutch team pilot won in open class . Runner up was A9, I think I remember that call-sign from Hein en Anneke since the beginning of my visits to championships in 1974.Hein is 78, looks like 68 and did not change at all!Still flies comps!!

Last week was nice enough weather in Europe. Distances between a first 50!!! and 1000km [ASW22 BLE] from Burg Feuerstein were flown.
The Minden area in the States had good weather, so had Truckee not far from Minden. I liked Minden when I was there for the pre worlds in ’90. Unfortunately one year later they had to move to Uvalde as the “bombers ” from the fire brigade HAD to fly , even if finishes were on, when there would be a fire.And that happened regularly.
In the end it was not too bad for us, as Baer Selen won the comps in Uvalde in Rick Walters glider[Rick flies in the world comps in Luesse!]and I was his “boss”. Of course Baer was a great pilot , already world champion in Chatauraux, but team building and team spirit were the ingredients of his new success and the fact that George Schuit managed to “talk” Baer home one day around a severe thunderstorm during the  finish . I remember there was no sight at the field and p.e Patrick Stoufs had to land with nearly no visibility, touching with one wing one of the lights on the runway.Luckily no real damage, as far as I remember.Pretty spectecular weather it could be there in Minden.

Don’t forget to take CALIBRATED flight recorders to Rieti or Luesse!Not long and the first “divided” world comps will start. 108 pilots are on the list for Rieti and with their TC’s and crews it will be a huge family. Looking forward to see many familiar faces and catching up with my “mates”.A bit more then 2 weeks and I will “see” you all from Rieti.

Have a good week, Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      Thursday june 5 2008

Just a few words as I leave on a well deserved holiday, for one week only, to a nice place in Holland I have not been before, with my former schoolmates , still my friends.

So no news on Sunday. Just to let you know.
In between good friends Hans and Pepe have great flights in Beas De Segura in Spain. I even think Harry has left for that field last weekend too.
Scandinavia still enjoys great weather and even Lasham had in this summer , now 5 days “old” , a nice 500 k flight.
Let summer begin! Great gliding weekend!

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn            Sunday June 1 2008

Yes the metereological summer has started , can’t see it here, which means that on the other site of the world the winter has started.
 Downunder!?
Yes it is still a lot of time in my mind.
This week I had some guests for dinner and ALL of them have flown in OZ at the 
S[portavia] S[oaring ]C[enter].So we talk gliding, Murray River and the new operation from our former chief pilot Eddie Madden and his wife Sheryll.
I could tell my guests , as I just got news, that the caravan park will be fully operating in the new season. Only 24 places, but my caravan has a spot so has Dieter Dundee’s van.
The hangar is finished and they “ponder” already to make it bigger.

Dundee is one of my guests at the moment. The other ones were Marianne, who was our tuggie in one season , her husband Sape who visited her in that season and made some dual -flights with her, Harry long time guest at the SSC and Peter another but earlier- in -the- season- guest. Gliding -stories are NEVER boring!

In the Rieti story about the editor Ritz, is a small mistake. My own fault. When Marina asked me to update “the story of my life” I was pretty busy , so we decided to “use” the old story. Of course the SSC does NOT exist anymore so the web site and email adress are irrelevant. But…..the new adress from the new operation for soaring and ultra-light-flying by Eddie and Don is;www.sportaviation.com.au
The email adres to reach them is;flying@sportaviation.com.au
As it is TODAY the first anniversary of the Sportaviation Gliding Center I say;
HAPPY BIRTHDAY and lots of safe flights in the upcoming season.

What happened more?
Great news from Japan. Good friends Shige and Mikiko received a baby girl last week.Her name is CHIHIRO. It sounds like “chee “and “hero” ,which, according to Mikiko, means directly “thousand” and “sky/space”.
Shige is an instructor in Japan and Mikiko a very good glider pilot. Both were long time guests at the SSC and even married each other in the gardens from the Sportavia complex.

Spring has been pretty good for most parts of Europe. Holland had an average temperature of 17 dgr. while about 12 is normal.
No complaints, though the countries were the weather is always good as Italy, France etc had some problems with rain and severe thunderstorms.
Last week the best flights in Europe, were in the Scandinavian area , as Eskilstuna, former WGC field, Rayskala, former WGC and EGC field.
 Unterwoessen , on the Austrian border in the South of Germany,had some great flights too, though yesterday the S. of Germany was hit by hailstones big as eggs and real downpours, causing flood in Stuttgart.

In the Rockies {Canada} they enjoy soaring to the fullest, now too. Good old friend Ernst , long time guest at the SSC in the past,is very much involved over there. The USA was more or less the place to be last week.

Only one month to go and I will depart to Rome to be picked up for my editing-holiday in Rieti. They are very busy, as in Luesse. Carsten had a great flight from Luesse last week, Rieti ‘s weather is pretty poor at the moment, bur for sure it will change soon , so that the world comps not only have fantastic pilots, but also great weather.

Will keep you informed,
Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                        May 25 2008

The Dutch Nationals in Stendal in Germany are over with a Japanese winner in open class. The Dutch National Champion in that class is Hadriaan van Nes.
Mac [Ichikawa] was the best and this is great as a preparation for his WGC in Luesse.
Just 60 points difference between Mac and number 3 Rien Bastiaanse, so pretty tight and lots of tension for the last day!
In 15 m. class Steven Raimond was the champion , with 500 points ahead of young Alfred -Paul Alfers as runner up and Steve Crabb as number 3, another good preparation for the WGC for 1 and 3.
In Club class young and talented Rene de Dreu won before a German guest -pilot Christoph Barniske and Frank Hiemstra, another young Dutch talent.Yes the Dutch have GREAT NEW TALENT in soaring.
Holland [Germany] here they are. Europe and world here they come!!!

With 6 days out of 10 , this was a good competition and worthwhile to go for a second year in a row to guest country Germany to a place Stendal , close to Berlin, which nearly turns orange in that period.The Dutch pilots and their crews LOVE it there!!!!
One interesting day was a 500 km flight AROUND Berlin for open class!!!!! What do you want more!!!! And…who would have thought 25 years ago, that this would EVER be possible !!!!!!!And….most pilots did fly the task!!!!!!
Compliments for the tasksetter and the organization.

Of course the prize giving is on a day when the weather is great. So on the 23d ,one of the pilots decided to fly home to Holland to his home club Malden [close to Nijmegen] and DID SO!!! 583 km !In 6 hours and 17 minutes.

Well, there was more! Got a message from Jo from OZ. As you know women in gliding is nothing new ! But a total female crew for a competition is at the least INTERESTING! As you can see by an article from former -junior -team-pilot Lisa!

Women take the controls for the Club Class Nationals

Women interested in the sport of gliding have offered to take up key roles in the

Club Class National Championships being hosted by the Kingaroy Soaring Club from 5 – 17 October 2008

Competition Executive Positions
Position	Name
Director	Wendy Medlicott
Weather Person	Jenny Thompson
Task Setting	Lisa Trotter
Scoring	Jo Davis
Grid Marshal	Anita Taylor
Safety	Julie Maddocks
TugMaster	Val Wilkinson
Radio MasterSecretary	Jo Pocklington Lorraine Kauffmann
Media Relations	Jo Pocklington
WebnewsStewards	Jo Pocklington Pam Kurstjens & Jo Pocklington
Outlanding Coordinator	Jan McKenzie
Bar Manager	Suzie Scoles
Treasurer	Linda Kolb
Office Administration	Louise Ransby
Legal Advisor	Lisa Turner

“Women are more likely to be attracted to the sport of gliding and stick around if they feel that they fit in and can see themselves as being part of the gliding scene. Because there are a lot more men than women involved in the sport of gliding, women can easily feel that they don’t belong.

“The men of our sport are welcoming and supportive to women and this helps women feel comfortable and encouraged as participants in our sport, but men can’t provide role models for women.

“We need women to be more visible in high profile and competent roles in gliding so that other women – and men – see the participation of women as a normal part of gliding.

“For this reason, a number of women have taken the bold step of offering to take up key roles in the Club Class National Championships being run by the Kingaroy Soaring Club this year.  So, you can look forward to the above line-up which brings a great depth of experience and competence to the organisation of the competition.”

(Lisa Trotter, April 2008)

I know that Marina is planning a total-female-crew for the women-WGC in Rieti.

In between nice flights were STILL flown in OZ , where former Dutch team -pilot Gerrit Kurstjens flew 515 km in “nearly” winter from Jondaryan airport .
But…also Rayskala had great weather again. You remember the 1000 km task for open class on the first day of the European champions over there a few years ago!?? 799 in an ASW 20 is great!

Good friend Daan  , former Dutch top-team-pilot, but STILL toppilot is back in the USA for his summer holidays and flew 829 km. from Ridge Soaring.

On wednesday morning while sitting for half an hour in the sun, before going to the gallery I enjoyed looking at the sky and thought; Don’t forget to check if a good flight is made today, as the sky looked superb. And YES from the National Gliding Center Terlet a great 814 km flight was flown by Marc Smeets in a nimbus 4 DM. 500 and 600 km flights were flown in discus and ventus!
Holland , Belgium , Germany and the Northern part of Europe had the great weather last week, while it was raining in the mountains and more south in Europe.

In Rieti and Luesse they are working VERY HARD to prepare the world comps. Not long and I will “see” you from Rieti.

More news next week,Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                                     sunday 18-05-2008

 Sorry…. I have been TOO busy!!! But…the fair is over and we did quite well, though both of us are exhausted now!!!!!Due to the fact that it was a 2 week school holiday, it was Whitzun, 28dgr. outside AND MOTHERDAY, it was less busy during this European Art Fair in Amsterdam. But….the good thing is that the turnover was better then last year for this fair and we had our fair share too.Nothing to complain about!

I had the worst cold ever during the whole period [and still ], with bad coughing and sniffling and it felt like my whole body was full of slime, not a nice story but ..it is as it is!As you already expected ,I just went on , but there was no time for writing. Sorry about that!My days started at 10 and finished around midnight!!!!!

The Dutch Nationals are in full swing and started on Mai 13 going till Mai 22[included].As I told you before, they are flown in Stendal in Germany. The week after the fair the weather changed here, but also in Germany, so till now they have only 2 days out of 5, but…a task is set for today!
From the 8 competitors in clubclass a junior member, Renee de  Dreu, is at this stage number 1 on the list. Good on him!!!
From the 17 15-m. pilots former European champion Steven Raimond is number one. In this class some pilots practise for the worlds, so is Steve Crabb from Ireland. They know how strong the Dutch competition is and compare their flying to see where they stand.
From the 27 pilots in open class Dutch top pilot Hadriaan van Nes is ahead of Mac Ichikawa [Japan] and Wolfgang Janowitsch [Austria], former world champion, all within 70 points, so a lot can still happen and the weather for next week will improve!!At least..that is what I heard!

Tasks for today: 201 km for club class, 270 for 15 m and 288 for open class.

The very wellknown Hahnweide competition has finished last week with a Dutch winner in 18 m class.
Ronald Termaat , current European champion won this event, with former world champion Werner Meuser as runner up.
This was already the 42d edition of this competition with a very strong field of compititors and also here …a lot of pilots were practising for the worlds in Luesse.

What more!? The weekend from 8-9-10 Mai was specially good in Austria and Switserland, with nice long cross country flights even a few over 1000 km flights were flown.
One day earlier on the 9th 4 over-1000-km-flights were flown from Wiener Neustadt, former WGC town. One in an ASW 20 AMAZING!!!
Trimmel Hermann, as they call him ,was one of those pilots too. He presented the [very good] meteo during the world comps in WN.
Another ASW 20 flight from over 1000km was flown from Innsbruck. This day more then 50 flights were over 700 km. THAT IS GOOD GLIDING WEATHER!!!!!!OR NOT!??And…yes I know they are flown in the mountains with the advantages of the mountains.
But Holland is as flat as flat can be. Here in Holland they flew on Mai 12 800 km in a Ventus CT 17 m. In Belgium a nice flight was flown by Stan in his PIK 20, 636 km!!!!Worthwhile to mention also; a flight in the ST Libelle from Bert , a former field runner at “our” Sportavia Soaring Center;469 km. Goed gedaan Bert!!!

So …no worries …about soaring in Europe in this spring period. Hope it will continue so Europe has a great season of good gliding.

Well good luck to all flying in the several comps and may the best win. All other pilots enjoy your soaring to the fullest, as it remains a great sport! A first 50 km is as important as the first 300, 500 or 750 and the 1000 remains the icing on the cake!
All pilots preparing for the 30thiest world comps in Rieti and Luesse good luck and….I will be 2 or 3 days in Luesse. The weekend from the 10th of August, so…see you there too!

Ritz