—–R.I.P. Paul and Tomas.
Before I share my latest news, still fully euphoric from the GREAT last day at Vitacura , I received the tragic news about a good friend, Paul Mander, [ a young 75]  who crashed his ASH 25 close to Bathurst flying from Pipers Airfield last Sunday afternoon. He was alone in his glider.
“NSW Rural Fire Service Operational Officer Brett Taylor said the powered glider was on fire when it crashed ,which then ignited a small grass fire”
“The wreckage was located in a field not far from the airstrip.”
I know Paul since the 1984 pre- worlds in Rieti! We were both TC’s/coaches from a junior team in Hus Bos in the UK during the WGC in 2005. Paul loved gliding, but also sailing. I feel for Sandy and the [grown-up] kids and their grand children.
Lost for words!!!!VERY SAD !!!!!He was one of my mates!

The official news;”
We regret to advise our GFA members and colleagues of the death of Paul Mander on Sunday 21 January 2018.  Paul was flying solo in his ASH-25M Jet glider, and crashed at Pipers Field, home of Bathurst SC.  Some witnesses reported seeing smoke was coming from the fuselage while it was descending in the circuit area in a steep nose low attitude, but all else is speculation.  The glider was destroyed in a fire at the point of ground impact.  Emergency services attended the scene.

AND THEN,…… more sad news on the same day, it’s getting TOO much;
The official news;
“Sad news from the last race day;
Local Chile pilot Tomas Reich had an accident on the ridges south of Santiago. The Chile SAR recovered Tomas and took him by helicopter to the hospital in Santiago. Unfortunately Tomas died during the evening from the injuries he sustained during the accident. Our thoughts and prayers are for his family and friends during this tragic time.”
“During the last race day the tracker signal from GN Tomas Reich was lost whilst he was flying along the ridges south east of Santiago.
An aircraft was dispatched from the airfield and the Chile search and rescue were alerted. They found the glider on the hill side and Thomas was found to be alive but injured. Once he was stabilized by the paramedic crew he was taken aboard the helicopter to Santiago hospital.
Unfortunately Tomas died during the evening from the injuries he sustained during the accident.”

R.I.P. Paul and Tomas.

Picture shared by Bryan Hayhow on the last glorious- trough-day at Waikirie. I found this picture appropriate for my sad feelings. I asked Bryan permission first.

Back to the regular blog.

—–Last Thursday we had a scary and extreme storm here. The official meteorological termination seems to be  ‘bombogenisis’. A Bom-cyclone….pressure that drops dramatically in a short time [as a bom]
I noticed Ireland and the UK had it already before us. They not only had storm with terrible gusts but also a full pack of snow.
Also Germany was hit, as well as Belgium.
In Holland we had gusts up to 143 km./h. [bft 11] in the coastal areas and that is NO fun!! I expected/hoped it would not be too bad in Brabant where I live but in the end we were hit as well with Bft 9. Nearly the whole country had code red!!
Schiphol was “closed”, so no departing air-traffic and those on their way to Amsterdam from far away, tried several times but in the end overshoot and  did not land. No trains in the country , no trams in Amsterdam and the question to not go on the road if not necessary.
This storm created chaos…. total chaos!!!Fallen trees everywhere ,66 trucks were blown away at the highway causing severe traffic jam’s and roofs from schools and houses blew up high in the air. At least 2 casualties here, 8 in Germany where the force of the wind was less than here and 1 in Belgium.
Pffff,…. put on my FB site a video from Stuff Dutch People like,…. NOT in this case!

By the way the damage bill will be over 100 million and that’s for small business and private insured people at this stage only !!!!

———–

EXCITING FINAL of the SGP in Vitacura.

——Race 3 even brought excitement for Sebastian Kawa, who nearly “lives” in his glider and has had/done it all. His comment on the day; “What a race“. And others even commented with words as “insane race” or “impressive final“.
I could not follow it due to other business, but you get really curious reading those words , so I sat down and looked.
Luckily on www.sgp.aero you can find everything when you miss out.
Sebastian K. said in his comment,  that lift was better than expected and noticed that some pilots stayed longer than necessary in the lift.” When we did not need any more altitude they still were climbing ” , which in his opinion was a mistake, whilst he followed the slope, to win in the end the day just before Tilo and Bostjan.
This means that we have 2 Sebastian’s with 25 points and on 3 Werner with 18.

As shared by Sebastian K.

Race 4; 339 km. to go and Mario Kiessling was this time the best. [speed 149,5 km./h.]He was already once runner -up, but got some penalty points for a too low finish.This time he got the 10 points ,and he was even 3km./h. faster than runner up Rene Vidal also in the Ventus 3T.
Sebastian K was 3d flying very precisely , but with all the high technique gathered over years of flying, he just did n’t manage to pass Rene. He leads the SGP- final now , with 2 races to go, as the “other”  Sebastian was 8th for the day with 2 points.
Mario took his own decisions going more N., found there thermals bringing him up to over 4000 m. which separated him from the group. Rene got him nearly close to the 3d TP, doing better over the ridges , but in the end it was all ridge flying with 220 km./h on the “clock”.
Sebastian K 32 points, Sebastian N 27 and Mario 21.

Mario and Rene as shared by www.sgp.aero

Race 5; one but last race. with start problems and for that reason penalties for some up to 186 seconds, because it was difficult to fly back to the start line and they started from the wrong side of it. To manage the start height and speed was difficult this day.
It ‘s all about decisions in these Grand Prix’s, going right , going left and lot’s of ridge flying.
” Fight ” was between the 2 Sebastian’s and it was VERY close!! Sebastian N won  [10] just ahead of Sebastian K [8] who still leads with 3 points now. Both had penalty points too; 2 and 6 seconds for a too low finish.
Thomas was 3d today.
In the end another very exciting race with 4 pilots fighting for the honors..2 Sebastian’s and Mario and Thomas.. , that adrenaline in those bodies must be sky high.

Friday’s heroes!!! As shared by the organizers.

And what about this picture, “white ants on a pile of sand”????

NO,….gliders!!!!

With as text:”#CHILE2018 #RACE5 Tilo Holighaus gave us this morning this amazing picture of the first thermal he was on the top with almost all the other pilots in the picture!!! And yes he took the picture from outside the cockpit!!!!! This is what we will watch live in less than 3 hours now on www.sgp.aero !!! — metFridolin Hauser, Rene Vidal, Jon Gatfield, Thomas Gostner, Mark Tingey, Roman Mraček, Łukasz Wójcik, Yankee Galetto, Sebastian Nägel, Sebastian Kawa en Schempp-Hirth.

Race 6 LAST DAY; In fact it’s between the 2 Sebastian’s [40 p. and 37 p.] and Mario [27 p.] .So 2 Ventus’3 T and a JS 1c.
When Sebastian N does not start and Mario wins the day he get’s 11 points [1 bonus point for the last day] and that way he could achieve 38 points. NOT to be expected!!!
When Sebastian N wins he will have 48 points and  Sebastian K as runner up would get 8 points, so equal.
What will happen???

It turned out different than I thought.
Mario indeed was still keen to be in the top 3 so he started straight away with Tilo each on one site of the track.
May be they were helping their Sebastian.
Not the best day weatherwise but the heroes managed to deal with it.
Mario won the day and the 11 points so a well deserved 3d place for him. Sabastian N and K looked of course at each other and both made no mistakes though Sebastian K lost a point to Sebastian N. 5 for 4 daily points.
No worries the glory and honor were for him. 44 points and only 2 points more than Sebastian N.;42. Mario got 38. Great effort from all. Didier was runner up on the last day and had 19 points in the end and Werner 3d; 27 so 4th overall.

HEROES.
As shared by the organizers.

Great races, superb pilots and absolutely GOOD fun to follow it. Well done to all !!!!!Congratulations!!!!

Time to go home for pilots and gliders as you can see on this picture shared by Sebastian K.
The tragic death on this last day of Tomas Reich overshadowed in the end all euphoric.

——On Monday started the first SGP for the 2018 season in Australia at Horsham; Jan.22-28. Quite a bunch of Aussie toppers so again fun to follow it.
Graham [Parker] got the first 10 points ahead of Brad Edwards and Pete Temple.
More next week, when I try to be in a better  read more enthusiastic mood again.

———–

WAIKIRIE AUSTRALIAN NATIONALS.

——-The Nationals at Waikirie have finished;
The one but last  day showed a 4 hour AAT for open class and Andrew Georgeson won the day with 580 km. with 143 km./h. Scott was “only”  on spot 6 with 115 km./h. loosing nearly 500 points,…BUT, he had such a big lead, it did n’t hurt him.
18 m; also had a 4 hour AAT and the JS 3 from Norm was “on the go”!!! He won the day with 583 km with a speed of 144 km./h and that was “much” better than the runner up for this last day; Adam had 561 km and a speed of 139 km./h.
15 m.; 345 km for the “boy’s” and an Adelaide pilot Leigh Stokes in the ASW 20 won the day;125 km./h.
Standard; Tobias Geiger from Benalla won in his LS 4 the  day with 476 km. and a speed of 127 km./h. He jumped from spot 5 to 3 overall. Great job!!

Adam about this one but last day :“Great day racing around outback Australia, check out the terrain I was flying over! Didn’t really make any mistakes today, nice glides in good air, looking for 6kt climbs, tactically well around all the turns, nice final glide – all felt easy & good.
The JS3 that won flew a great flight too of course. However at 59kg-sq.m on my final glide with him (first sighting all comp), the glider was clearly better than the G29 – I was using him & a JS1c to improve my glide & still he was getting away, both in normal glide & in the dynamic pull ups.
Tomorrow maybe we’ll have 15,000′ CU – so our first good look at how it really hums under the energy lines against the G29. Still wish I had the new Ventus though – it would’ve been the top performer over the whole comp here I’m sure;
Still very happy with my performance today though, bring on tomorrow!”

The last day was on Friday Jan.19 and a real classic Waikirie day.
AGAIN good tasks were set and HUGE speed was flown and what about 15.000 ft cloud base;
open; 3.30 AAT…Andrew won again with 608 km so a speed of 173.77km /h.
18 m; Terry [Cubley] showed he “masters” his Ventus 2cx, as good as his LS 3 in the past. He won the last day flying 609 km. with a speed of 170,78 km./h. “Slowest ” speed for the day 150 km./h.
Peter and Adam followed with just 1 km. over and one under 600 km.
15 m; O’ Connell-time….with Joseph in the LS 3 winning the last day before Stephen.
What about this LS 3 flying 447 km with a speed of 147.92 km./h.!!!!!
Standard class; 3 hour AAT and flights over 500 km.!!! Speed for  winner Don over 509 km. ;166.63 km./h. and Allan [Barnes] 493 km. with 164.51 km./h. in the LS 8.

The O’ Donnell’s!!! 4 Brother’s and Stephens son Joe. And good music taste as well !!!
As shared by the Waikirie Gliding Club.

Looking at the final results and the new CHAMPIONS after 8 out of 11 day’s ;
open;1.Scott Percival – ASH 25[7.168 ] 2. Andrew Georgeson- JS 1 C/21 m. [6.809] 3. Benno Beesten- ASH 25 E [6.697]
18 m; 1. Peter Temple – ASG 29E[7.466] 2. Norm Bloch-JS 3 /18 m. [7.366] 3. Adam Woolley-ASG 29 e [7.043]
15 m ; 1. Stephen O’ Donnell -Ventus 2A[7.715] 2. Joseph O’ Donnell -LS 3[6.989] 3. Tom O’ Donnell -LS 7 [6.739]
Standard; 1. Don Woodward-ASW 24 [7.610] 2. James Nugent-Discus A [7.052] 3. Tobias Geiger -LS 4 A[7.007]

Straight after it was a big rush to get the gliders in the trailers as a sand storm was approaching.And indeed a micro burst arrived and NOT all gliders were in their trailers yet.

——-Tocumwal, had on the same Friday [Jan.19] glorious weather as well ; Eddie from Sportaviation wrote;
“Big flag, Big tasks 1000km (2 X 500) for team Japan🇯🇵 
Mamoru Shinohara & Shinji Asakura . A first for both”
Congratulations to both with their first 500 km. .
Ingo flew in his Discus 700 km. and Bernie [Sizer] in his PIK 20 719 km.

More good news from Tocumwal that day ,as the Danish “girls” Brigitte and Christina flew 7 Danish records;
“Happy girls 🙂 Birgitte Ørskov and Christina Solberg Hansen . 7 new Danish records on this flight :-)”

As shared by Joergen.

Birgitte’s comment;
“We did it!!

Yesterday Christina and I declared a 421 km task with 3 turnpoints. First leg was 161 km to the west. 2nd leg was back to Tocumwal. 3rd leg was 50 km to Jerilderie and then back to Toc

—–The Nationals in Argentina flown at Chaves;
36 Pilots in the combined standard class and 32 in the combined 15m./open class. In both classes one “Goldenzweig”.
The weather was not really flash as most tasks were 2, 2.30 or 3 hour AAT’s in both classes. Still day’s with sometimes ONE finisher. In the end [ last day at the 26 th, ] they will have enough days to see who is the best pilot in each class.
At this stage after 8 days they flew 5/6 days and it is still to close to call future winners as the differences in st class are small. Between 3.532 and 3.693 points for the first 6 pilots.
In 15m/open it looks pretty good for Sebastian [ Riera ] with 4.016 points and runner up Damian [Goldenzweig] with 3.831 .

—-On January 20 the fabulous flying  season in Namibia was over .Time for packing containers. Namibia had out standing weather!!
On the OLC the difference is visible;
160 pilots made from Bitterwasser  1056 flights, making a total of 883.255,82 !!!!! In 2016/17 that was 118 pilots with 781 flights and a total of 625.356,35 .

81 pilots made from Kiripotib 458 flights and a total of 318.853,00 km. In the last season it was 78 pilots, with 395 flights and 275.423,88 flights.

53 pilots made from Pokweni 466 flights and still 377.274,59 km. During the last season 58 pilots made 448 flights and 344.633,04 km.

58 Pilots visited Veronica  with 328 flights and 255.538,89 km. Last time; 45 pilots with 231 flights and 184.608,56 km.
A few flights still might be added!!

Great picture;” In January rain season sets in. Farmers in Namibia are looking forward to it. So they can feed their animals. 
For glider pilots it means you have more difficult tasks. Often you have to fly a detour to avoid that rain in your way. But still it is fun. And it just looks great‘
As shared by Bitterwasser Lodge and Flying Centre.

Cu next week.

Cheers Ritz,…very sad week, but life goes on and sometimes the weather helps; already at 8 AM 12.2 dgr. C the warmest January 24 ever and we expect 14!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

—–Back on track with the regular blogs from now on again and,….looking at a pretty white world. Horrible weather with thunderstorm, strong wind, big hail stones and wet snow, which disappears today as quickly as it drops, but the expectation for  tomorrow is snow everywhere and it STAYS.
Our hot family holiday was exciting , healing and awesome, so I guess this tells you we had more than fun.

—–My flight back home was uneventful, which is what you like whilst flying . The 777  and the Boeing 787 on the way home, are comfortable planes.

—–Of course I looked back at what happened over the last couple of weeks and a few flights were really remarkable
First of all the claim for a new world record flown from Potchefstroom on January 6 .
4 South African pilots , Oscar, Pieter, Attie and Uys ,each in a JS 3, declared a 1.250 FAI triangle and Pieter, flew it with a speed of 166 km./h. which was not done before;  a WORLD RECORD over this triangle and it “smashed” the old one with more than 15 km./h..
The boy’s flew OVER 1.300 km .Attie 1.259,53 km.
All 4 flew the OLC distance with a speed of over 153 km./h.
Congratulations to these friends!!!!

As shared by Bertus Le Roux. Absolutely love the African language!!!

It’s an extremely good season which means many happy pilots. I resume again..
On December 25 my friends Karin and Marcus flew in the ARCUS M from Worcester  a yo-yo flight from 1.259 km. with a speed of 157 km./h.
On December 27 the Kiwi-friends Dane and John flew from Bitterwasser a declared 1.250 Fai triangle with a speed of 140 km./h.
On December 30, Keith Essex flew in the ANTARES 23 a distance of 1.358 km [1000 FAI triangle] He gave up on his declared task.
On January 13 Max Leenders from the Netherlands flew the JS3 in 18 m. version over a declared 1.250 FAI triangle from Douglas Backhouse!!! Speed133.km./h. Good on him, congratulations!!
Jonker Sailplanes reacted on the flight from Max;
“Max Leenders, one of the Netherlands’ top pilots showed today why he such a great record flying pilot.
Max completed a 1250 km task in conditions less optimal for big tasks. The day started very slowly – his first leg of 464 km took him 4hrs 22 mins, with average climbs below 2m/s.
Max never gave.up, completing the 1250 FAI triangular task 5 hrs after reaching the 1st turnpoint! Amazing what can be achieved with only 2.5m/s climbs..
This is only the 5th 1250 km FAI declared task completed this year. And all in the JS3.,,, makes you think! Well done Max!”

My Lasham friend Roy set a 1.270 km FAI triangle but the weather spoiled his plan. He still flew 1.178 km.in the 20 m. Antares from Bitterwasser.
The day before he flew with Chris Starkey in the ARCUSM an 1.100km FAI triangle declared and completed.
” Another stunning Namibia day with Chris Starkey in the Arcus M.
We declared and completed an 1100km triangle @ 149kph then extended after the finish to make 1.212km OLC distance.”
Roy had a fabulous time with his Lasham mates;
“The sixth ‘holiday of a lifetime’ is over.
13 possible flying days, 12 days flying, 88 hours of flying, 11,424km. Average flight 952km @ 129.8 kph,” GREAT EFFORT!!!!
On the same day Tobias Welsch set an even bigger triangle but also his plan was disturbed by showers. He still flew in the ARCUS M a distance of 1.364 km!!!!

The weather in Namibia holds on, though the showers start to win terrain, but there are still  many 1000 km. flights .It’s an unbelievable and long  season  there. Also South Africa was blessed with SUPER -weather during this season!!!!

Picture shared by Roy; “But a few showers on the homeward leg were not a problem.”

On January 15 Worcester had 5x a 1000 km with as Sven mentioned;
“ridge – thermal (4m/s from 2500ft msl to 7500ft 🙂 final glide onto Klawer ridge – down to 1500ft from 7500ft – weak ridge in the east – drop water and scrape away 🙂 connect thermal wave to 8000ft to make it back to Kleinfontein and Worcester.”

–—-With 7 out of 8 days the 56 Campeonato Nacional y 13 Andes Open, was flown from Municipal de Vitacura in Chile between January 2 and 10. Sebastian Kawa won the comps in a JS1 C with 5.929 points.
Runner up was Rene Vidal with 5.899 points in a Ventus 3T.
Several European pilots flew in Chile during these Nationals, as practice for the FINAL OF THE SGP.

As shared by Sebastian on FB.

—–Straight after the Nationals on January 14 the SGP WORLD FINAL started in Chile as well. First with 3 practice day’s from which the last one was cancelled ,as the weather was not strong enough.
During practice one of the German pilots had a lucky escape after he crashed his JS 1 on a mountain. He was OK,… the glider a mess.
” We are delighted that Klaus is ok and recovering, probably partly due to the safety cockpit structure of his JS1 sailplane and the bushy area he hard landed in.”
There is a video from the recovery of the plane by an helicopter on You Tube.[ sgp.aero]
7 Days are scheduled for all the toppers, winners from qualifying GP’s in different parts of the world.
Race1; was won by young German Pilot Sebastian Naegel. He received the 10 points flying over 266 km. with a speed of 143.8 km./h in the Ventus 3 T.
“A real race “foot on the floor”,  as Brian said in his competition comment. Sebastian had wave [2100 m.] before the start and departed at the maximum altitude!!
Werner Aman from Austria was just a tad slower with 143.4 km./h and Sebastian Kawa was on spot 3 with 139.6 km./h.
The next day was cancelled.
Race 2; 305 km. and a scoring speed from 144.7 km./h…..and again young Sebastian was the fastest. Good on him!!!
Just a tad slower was the “other” Sebastian [JS 1C] ; 144.5 km./h. and German pilot Mario Kiessling was 3d flying a Ventus 3 T.
6x A Ventus 3 in this final Grand Prix and 3 other Schemmp-Hirth gliders.
So a total of 20 points now for Sebastian N. and 15 for Sebastian K. 14 For Werner, who was 4th with 142.6 km./h.
More next week.

As shared by the organizers at www.sgp.aero

—–The 56 th Australian Nationals In Waikirie continue till the 19th . Not the very best weather and till now 2 cancelled day’s and one task scrubbed.
Task 3 was long and created problems for many. In open 488 was set and 1 from 8 finished.
In 18 m. it was 480 and 2 from 14 finished, one of them Norm in his brand new JS 3.
15 m. Had a 488 as well and NOBODY finished though Stephen O’ Donnell and Brian Hayhow managed to fly 433 km. still receiving 1000 and 999 points.
St class with 426 km. had Lisa Trotter as winner and with her 2 more pilots finished from 14.
A tough day special for the scores of some.
Then 2 day’s off and 2 day’s of flying with hotter , higher [5000 ft.] and blue conditions with between 300 and 400 km. tasks.
Yesterday and today flights up to over 500 km.
TODAY;
St class…475 km and Don Woodward won the day in his ASW 24.His 3d daily win and he leads at this stage this class with 5.668 points. the Runner up James Nugent has 5.244 and not far behind young James, is Peter Trotter who is “an old hand” in the Aussie soaring scene.[5.201]
15 m class ; 475 km. and the daily win was for Danish pilot Bjoern Rechinger. Stephen, who was in the unlucky mid-air at the Benalla WGC  was runner up but leads the group with 5.754.
No idea if all these O’ Donnell’s are family but there are 5 in this class!!!!!
18 m.; 517 km for the 10 starting pilots in this class and Norm in his brand new JS 3 won the day. After he arrived back from an intercontinental flight, Norm who is an airline pilot, had only one or 2 days I heard, to sit in the new glider look at it and,…off he went.
Peter Temple another “old hand ” in Aussie competition soaring is at this stage leading the class with 5.612 points with Norm as runner up with 5.401 points. Adam is 3d; 5.115
Open; 517 as well and winner was Scott in his ASH 25. Diana did well, she flew the distance and finished too. Scott leads this class with 5.685 points and runner up is Andrew in the JS 1C./21 m.[4.918]
More next week.

—–The 64 th Argentinian Nationals are flown as well between January 15 and 26 from Chaves with 70  pilots, in 2 classes; 36 in the combined st. class and 34 in the combined 15m/open class.
Not the best weather yet, but it will surely improve. They started with 2 hour AAT’s ,
More next week.

That’s all for now still a bit wobbly on the legs due to jet lag.

Cheers Ritz

     

The main street starting with the post office….The Palms hotel-motel…The antique shop.

The big fish…The glider at the tourist information center…the new boat ramp.

The Mighty Murray River.

      

The river….the fish in it….the mighty trees.

Practice at the river with lot’s of fun, different than normal when the fire brigade has mostly a tough job.

      

And last but not least great colorful trees.

And of course good food and yummie drinks.

      

 

This upcoming Wednesday the regular blog again.
CU then
cheers Ritz

December 4;

This morning the family left. Diana brought them to Shep ,where they had the 12.49 train to Melbourne, the one I hope to catch in a week as well.It was a fabulous family week and we got all out of it we hoped for, though Inge would have liked to even catch up with more people;e than she did already and playing golf was on the wish-list as well but did not happen due to lack of time.

Yesterday was just a real good day though of course still sad.

We caught up with several friends in town as Glenda and Ross, Deslee and the coffee ladies at Lynne’s.

    

Lynne from the Antique Shop with Deslee and Glenda

 

Due to Dennis our relation with the Riley family is very close.
David arrived at noon and Chrissie and Stuart later in the day.

We had real Russian bubbles brought by Diana from her Novosibirsk trip and Aussie bubbles.

All in all a day full of memories and very healing.

Grietje arrived this afternoon and took the Scout SFO to Corowa and she arrived in style with Rudy Herzog , former long time guest here, in a Cessna.She was wearing a Sportavia Cap from 1999 in which, I had written a small message for her.

By the way on the last day of the year Dundee donated his glider ,the ASW 15 ES, to the Southern Riverina Gliding Club. They had it on line already now they own it under the supervision of Ingo.
Great gesture from Dundee to the club he supports already for many years.

This is the last blog. I move my laptop now and can’t see news or mails for a week  neither write . No worries there was enough to read.

Hope you enjoyed the more private diary.

Cu from Holland on Wednesday the 17th of January.

Cheers Ritz

January 3;

MEMORY-tree for Dennis and Kees.

R.I.P 

DENNIS
never forgotten…always in our heart and not only ours.

03-01-1988

Ritz

January 1 2018 !!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!

Life continues,…. also in 2018, I have to get used by the 18 though.
Tried to stay up till 12, but as we had only one designated driver and she had to go at 11 my family spend the time around 12 together ,but I was there till 11 and this morning they visited me at my “house”.
It still felt like being all together.

Looking back at yesterday.

Dexie went for a flight in the DOT. Indya and Rodger go today.

    

At 5 I had drinks with Ingo and Dundee at his balcony. We found a little present for Dundee showing some similarity with him.

“Dundee” in his holiday out fit.

At 6 we visited Eddie and Cheryl and some other friends as those from Horsham , Laurel and Tim, Glenda and Graham, Wayne, Peter and Ginny and more. Though Cheryl is sick, she was there ,as the as always very strong wife of/behind Eddie . She loved to see Inge and her kid’s.

Dinner was at the golf club and for sure we were not the only ones liking the carvery.
After a short visit again to Eddie, we went for another short visit to Sportavia were Lumpy had ,with us arriving as well, 10 different nationalities at the tables in “our” former sun room.
Catching up with Pam and Butch and Andrew [Georgeson] and many more friends.

A big bunch of people you know for sure a few of them. You can see us in the left corner with Judy.
as shared by Sportavia Tocumwal.

This morning Kait left again and with her, the by now at the beach famous ,red-haired dog.
We went into town and caught up with Mary Anne and good old Mary and her granddaughter Emily. Know Emily is a little baby now she is a gorgeous young lady.
Val Riley was out with her grandson[ son from Denise] and his girl friend.
Both elderly ladies will be visited this upcoming week.

–—-FORMULA 0.1 day 4;

winner in the LS 1f , starting at 13.45, was Scott Lennon;10 points for him.
In the 14.20 start-group best pilot was Nathan in the Hornet.
All pilot’s finished!!!
Today they fly 305 km.

—–OLC news; Last day of 2017 was topped by Gariep Dam with a Duo Discus flying over 1000 km. [FAI triangle] and Douglas with a few very good flights also a 1000- FAI -triangle.My friends mentioned a high base and cu’s and 5m. thermals.
Lot’s of happy pilots on this last day of 2017!!!

THOUGH,….a sea plane crashed North of Sydney after it nose-dived in the Hawkesbury- river. All 5 passengers from the UK, on holiday in Australia, and the very experienced [10 000 hours of flying, 9000 in seaplanes ] 44 year old pilot from Australia died .
One of the passengers  was the chief executive of one of the world’s largest catering companies, the Compass Group.

—–The beautiful table and chairs are now rigged, mostly by Rodger and we can eat in style out side now!!
The first-of-January- 2018-bbq is on tonight!!!!

     

By the way, I should have cleaned it before making pictures!!!

December 2; SHEPPARTON-day;
All ladies who stayed with us in the past remember the day’s we visited Shep. Shopping, coffee and lunch with bubbles at the Australian Hotel.
I told my granddaughter all about it, but in a way it was a bit disappointing. The shops we visited were not there anymore, lot’s of shops were empty and it all looked a bit poor, whilst the restaurant was fancy but lacked the atmosphere from years ago.

No worries we had fun , left Toc at 9.45 and were back at 4.30 after a quick visit to the Big Strawberry for some fresh red summer fruit!!!

After we caught up with Peter and Mary Anne Menhennit and their family. Most we saw in the past in Amsterdam as Libby, Mary Anne’s sister and her daughter.Also Mary Anne visited last year.

Lovely family.

      

Part of my family, ……Libby and her mum Mary 90 years old and wife of Dessie Russell the CFI from Sportavia in the past. I call her the “MADRE FAMILIAS”……Children and grand children.

After Inge and Diana hang around the Scout, before putting it to sleep.

Yesterday we had a great BBQ and had the food in the hangar under the wing of the SCOUT.Very special.

        

Another great family night.
Picture from shopping.

Cheers Ritz

December 31;

Last day of the year 2017, no clue where it went!!!!
We have great quality-time here in Tocumwal with our family and some good friends.
It’s busy at the moment at the field.
4 Tugs and lot’s of gliders …..the FOX from Eddie, the Cessna from the SRGC, the Pawnee from the Geelong mates and the Scout from George who will launch Diana with Dexie.
It’s all happening now at 2 PM. Some early birds started already around 12.
Tug after tug brings gliders up…..the airfield is “buzzing” ,…not as in the past,…. but nearly.
For sure the busiest day of the year, since I am here.
At 3 it got quiet again. The ARCUS M flies over just to the NW. It’s still blue

So today, part of the family is flying, part at the beach where it is still peak hour.

This morning it was power-flying-time and Dexie had an hour flight already in the DOT, Bruce’s Cessna 150. When it was  Indya’s turn little DOT refused and needed a break, so later she will fly as well.

Looking back at yesterday we  had another good time in the air and at the beach and a nice meal at Kelley’s……another hour waiting but with some drinks and a good “talk” time flew.
Great to see Kait who all the way traveled up from Yacandanda, with doggy “Cricket”.
Diana spend her afternoon in the air, flying her set task about 220 km. as practice for the nationals.

A photo-impression from the later part of yesterday.

  At the airfield.

    

Dexie helps Diana at the launch,” opa” operates  the tug.

 

At the beach.

 

    

At the PUB.

    

The girls had enough of the paparazzi “oma”.I am having FUN!!!

——FORMULA 0.1 GRAND PRIX 2017;
Day 1 was a prey for Todd Sandercock in the Hornet starting at 14.50. He got the 6 points.
The other 6 points, for the group starting at 14.00 were for Andrew Horton in the St. Jantar 3.

Today they fly 258,82 km.

——The first 24 flights on the OLC, on December 30 were 1000 km plus flights from Namibia and South Africa. Keith Essex topped the list flying the Antares 23 E, over 1.358,45 km with a speed of 158 km./h. He gave up on his task but still flew a 1000 km FAI triangle.
Also 3 over 1.200 flights one from Anja Kohlrausch in the Antares 20 m.;1.217,56 with a speed of 137 km./h. Good on her!!!

To finish this year , THANK YOU for your interest and support.

HAPPY NEW YEAR DEAR READERS ,
wishing you a year in good health and with many safe flights.

Cheers Ritz

 

December 28.

Inge and Rodger left early for Shepparton [about an hour driving] to pick up Diana who arrived this morning at 6 in Melbourne and travels by train to Seymour and bus to Shepparton. After arrival she was straight ready for a check flight in the Blanik as Simon left again . The weather was poor with wind and lot’s of rain, so he traveled home.
GREAT THANK YOU to Simon as my grand kid’s loved his lessons!!!!
Each had 10 lessons and they know now what gliding is. They also already know now,….they want to visit next year again!!!

Thank you Simon and Thank you opa George, who organized this all.

In the storm and rain you can still do shopping, so that’s what we did bringing a visit to Cobram.

At 10 George and Simon, as well as Raf, brought glider and tug to 09 for the last day of training.
Dexie already was excited about doing everything by himself during the last flight to show what he had learned. OF COURSE with the instructor in the back to see his progress.

We had quite some rain yesterday evening as well, but the BBQ could continue outside ,though dinner was inside.

      

Even with the rain and some cool air, we had a lovely time with Margie and Bracey, Raf and his lady friend  and Simon, the instructor both children like a lot..

——The opening in Leeton from the FORMULA 1.0 2017,  was done by Ingo. I was invited to come as well, but with the family here that was not a real option.

“The great Ingo Renner. An incredible pilot and a gentleman.”
shared by the Leeton friends.

If they have the same weather as we have here, they won’t fly. Just noticed day 2 is cancelled. A pity!!!!

December 29;
Today the Tocumwal Market was on and you “could walk over the heads of the many people”. Unbelievable, never saw it SOOOO busy here.

With 200 stands this is the biggest market in the area. With all the Melbourne guests at the river it is crowdy as hell.
Indya and Dex wonder all the time, where all these people come from.

    

Busy market and town, busy river and busy ice cream shop with my favorite ice cream which they had to fill up as it seems I am not the only one loving it.

Yesterday evening we went to several pub’s, but NO place available….. ALL tables booked. We started at Kelley’s where we caught up with some Toc. friends and via the Palms we ended up in the Terminus , close to the railway station. We found a table but had to wait, as they announced at ordering, for over an hour.
We did.
For tonight and tomorrow , we learnt,…we made reservations for Kelley’s and for the Golf Club.

In the afternoon Diana went for the first time in her Discus 2 cT, up in the Toc skies. Dexie wanted to be there!!!
pictures tomorrow.

In the afternoon Kait arrived for a couple of day’s to see Inge.Her doggy ,…dog, Cricket…arrived with her.

 

—–203.69 km. is on the menue for the 27 Leeton Pilots,  their first flying day!

Enjoy the last day’s of December/2017.

Cheers Ritz

 

 

December 28;

Overcast so great weather for practice!!!! 28 dgr.C at 10 and it feels as 26!!Humidity is 42 %. Visibility 16 km. No rain expected. Tomorrow thunderstorms. Reason for some Narromine friends to NOT fly here, but come by car.
By the way at 4 it was 36 dgr. C and it felt so,  luckily the humidity dropped to 23 !!!

As you can see Dexter our grandson has downloaded some video’s from their landing [ I did n’t even know this was possible in my blog.] Long live the young ones!!!AND….Landing,….all by their selves!!!!!

After 4 lessons, not bad it seems they both have the  Schuit-flying-hand.

It’s lovely to see their enthusiasm and their discipline at this young age!! Not something to take for granted at this adolocent age. At 10 AM the whole family left again to 27 ,for a new load of fun.Inge and Rodger as enthusiastic and George doing the tows today,..yes a family affair!! And,…yes we know  many gliding families!!!!

     

ready to go.

——Looking at yesterday’ s weather for soaring the OLC showed for Australia the best flight from Benalla by Tobias in the LS 4; 755 k. and Jenny , yes the 1000 km. lady, flew from Narromine a 750 triangle extended to 850 km in total in the ASH 26E.
Good, better ,best by 2 TOP-Kiwi’s , young Dane [Dickinson]  and a tad older John [Coutts] , flying from Bitterwasser and the combined power of the 2 resulted in a 1.326,48 km. flight, a declared 1.250 in it as FAI triangle in the ARCUS M.[148 km./h.]
Their OLC comment;” 1250 FAI declared. The big mac with extra cheese.”
Keith [Essex] , still there [ but in Kiripotib] flew the Antares 23 , over 1.262 km.with a speed of 142 km./h.
3 More flights from Bitterwasser over 1.200 km. One of them by German female top pilot ,Susanne [Schoedel] 1.235 km. with a speed of 143 km.h.in the Nimbus 4M. She is now more or less involved in paperwork, as since March 2014 she is the  Secretary General of the GFA , but she shows she still belongs to the German TOP as a pilot as well.

Interesting to see ….. most flights from Namibia nowadays are flown in 2-seaters and the ARCUS M is a real “gem” to fly in, also for records and very long distances as it shows!!!

—–Leeton is the host of the very first FORMULA 1 here in Australia. Leeton is also the place where George became Australian Champion years ago. Of course he was called WINNER, as he was not an Aussie citizen. Weird weather that year with rain, hail and at height even snow.
They start TODAY with 27 pilots in club class and a 160 km. task.
In the end the day was scrubbed.

F1GP Scoring Explained

Grand Prixs are fun right? Yeah! Everyone starts together, the first pilot over the line wins. But, when you have a large number of gliders in a small amount of airspace, the risk of collision increases. So, the list of F1GP competitors is randomly split into 2 groups (Group A and Group B) on Day 1, and both groups go around the same course, but approximately 30-60 minutes apart. Each group is scored independently (like a normal GP), and then the points of both groups are tallied to form an overall leaderboard

However, the next day (Day 2), the top half of the pilots from Day 1 go into Group A, and the bottom half of the pilots go into Group B. Both groups are scored independently again, but the winner of Group A scores 10 points, and the winner of Group B scores 7 points.

On Day 3, the cumulative scores (from Day 1 & 2) are added up, and the top half goes into Group A again, and the bottom half goes into Group B. Winner of Group A earns 10 points, winner of Group B earns 7 points.

Second, third, fourth, etc place getters earn progressively less points than the winner, down to the 10th place getter (and below) in each group, who will score zero for the day. Outlanders also score zero points.

A good performance in Group B will likely lift you up into Group A for the following day. A poor performance in Group A will likely see you lowered into Group B the following day.

On top of that, the organisers can award bonus point(s) on any day, to a competitor for:

• Being the fastest pilot in their group
• Being the first competitor to a given turnpoint

Due to potential variances in weather, at least one competitor from each group must complete the task (get home) in order for the day to be valid. If no one gets home in one or both groups, the day will be invalid and not scored.

At the top of our score sheets on SoaringSpot, you’ll see information about each group, like the number of finishers, whether the day is valid, the maximum points that can be awarded in the group (10 points in Group A, 7 points in Group B from Day 2 onwards) and bonus points awarded. We also list the competitors in each group. With this type of scoring, there will be many equal scores each day, but over the duration of the competition, the scores will spread out to rank the pilots accurately.

To accommodate for the small differences in glider performance, the lower performance gliders have a larger circle around their turn points – this means they can turn earlier than the higher performance gliders, and effectively their task is shorter.

——-At 5, one could see lightning to the SE. For a short while some more wind as well.No worries  kid’s on the ground, they fly in the early morning and evening when the air is more quiet and only Rodger flew, with an instructor. He had not flown since his last visit here, years ago.
Before we all had lunch in the Big Strawberry with pancakes filled with warm strawberries, cream and strawberry ice cream. MMMmmm….

——-And to finish……Our grand children start at age 12 and 14. You see in Argentina they even start younger.

Great picture!
As shared by Damian [Goldenzweig].

Another day in Tocumwal paradise.
CU tomorrow last flying day of the “kid’s” ,so other exciting things/visits are waiting now.

Cheers Ritz

DECEMBER 27.

R.I.P. 

KEES MUSTERS

27-12-1987

First things first, we should nor forget the world champion of Hobbs in New Mexico and a long time family friend.

—–Yesterday we visited Ulupna Island, after Ingo had made the check flight with the Blanik. So today both “kid’s ” started with Simon Holding, their 10 flights each in this Blanik. Granddad gave them another Christmas gift as well; each a one hour flight in a Cessna 150 with Bruce Wilson.

Picture courtesy Rodger. I never saw so many koala’s over there.

     

George and Bruce did the towing and all had a great time. Even Inge went up with Simon. Temperature 33 dgr. C…… feel temperature 36 !!!
Great clouds again . Though yesterday the clouds “only”  reached to 7600 ft. as I heard from one of the pilots, the other ones might have been higher.
The B C T triangle looks to have had the best weather yesterday in Australia with flight’s up to 808 [750 triangle] from Corowa [8 flights] in a ASH 31/21 m. 657 in an LS 4 from Benalla [ 13 flights] and 562 in an LS 4 as well from Tocumwal. [7 flights and one check flight from Ingo] No flights anywhere else down under.
Today Swiss Chris flew over 500 k in his ASW 27 and I heard the cloud base was over 8000 ft.
Except for Rodger and me all family members flew today.Pictures tomorrow.
One of our friends flew with Ingo in the Caproni.
The family is at the beach now and the kid’s will do one more flight tonight. Nice long and hot day!!

CFI Simon brought some great Brown Brothers bubbles which we really enjoyed !!

     

—–the 10th WWGC will be held in Lake Keepit.  The dates have now been changed from November/December 2019, to January 2020 ,to fit in with European holiday time.

Natasa shared this picture in Female Glider Pilots , great PR !

—–www.borderaviation.com.au; Here you can find Jamies business,….. light aircraft maintenance and Restoration. He worked on the from Holland imported Piper Apache and is waiting for the paper work to come, as it is ready to go.

Here in George’s office but his own business is a bit more up road.

Off for dinner now CU tomorrow.

Ritz