Day 10…….had tasks….
open: race 407 km
18m: race 356 km
15m: AAT 256 / 467 km (Task duration: 3:30)

BUT

Matthew shared this picture with the text;”Launching in 2 hours. Righto.”

After a lot of rain in the morning,..then everybody at the grid,..then launching begins,…then TOO much and very gusty crosswind and….the day is cancelled!!!!! Another day,..how is it possible.In the afternoon it looked much better but still gusty wind.
So if tomorrow is a flying day there will be only 6 days in 15 m. ,7 in 18 m. and 8 in open class. Such a pity for a country as AUSTRALIA.

On the way to the grid as seen by Swiss Chris.

Swiss Chris describes the day :
“Wait and see
Grid orders have been received 15m 18m Open at 9am
We drove through the rain to the scales, which don’t like moisture
The satellite scans promise some blue sky after lunch time.
Soon thereafter 18m and Open class got cancelled.
The 15m had to grid on the hard runway 26.
The procedure created some more waiting time at the weigh station and on the taxy way.
Finally the weather got better but wind also increased, turning from SW more to S just while we started with towing the gliders out.
Some tow pilots seemed at the limit of their comfort zone with the combination of cross wind and heavy gliders in tow.
After two borderline tows the day unfortunately had to be cancelled for 15m as well under a sky full of cumuli.
The gliders got unstacked, turned around and towed back to tie down.
Fortunately Tim makes phantastic coffee at the Gliding Club House 🙂
Gliders are ready for the last competition day.”

His next pictures at 7.30 in the morning show what was going on.

    

Another day to visit wineries, pet kangaroos or just sit in the pool. Not really why they all came to Australia, but as said a thousand times,…the weather is the weather!

Time also to check out the new gliders as Sebastian did already earlier.

“only just finding out if it fits “??
Sebastian in the JS 3 RAPTURE
As shared by the USA team.

Angry/concerned people as well . Born Dutch, but already living in the W of Australia for ages is Robert Smits. I guess he says what a lot of people think;
“Now I am confused… Again at briefing we’re told dangerous flying “is unacceptable”.
Yet it seems nothing is been done to stop it. So in fact it actually is accepted.
In my club if you show bad airmanship you get grounded. At the worlds you might get a day win and get away with risking other people’s lives.
If there are no rules in place to penalize such behavior it might be about time something gets changed....”
Please read the story below about gaggles!!!!!!!!It looks like nothing has changed!!!!!
AND,…when they know those dangerous pilots are only a few and known by the organizers….do something!!!!!!
This is DEFINITELY NOT GOOD FOR OUR SPORT!!!!!!

And time enough now to read what Bruce has to say about the day before:”
“ Sorry, I was distracted by the international party last night, and didn’t get to post my usual story. However, the party turned out to be everything that the Australian night wasn’t. It was free, it was fun, and the entire WGC gliding community came together to enjoy each other’s company.
Yesterday? In some ways it was more frustrating than the day I outlanded. At this stage of my competition, a day win would be a good outcome, and I went within a whisker of getting one. Andrew and I left last, and that part worked a treat, except that he sadly missed a climb that I got as we went into the hills at the first turn. It was at a really critical point, and meant that while I flew ahead and caught the early starters, he had to spend a lot of time surviving before he got going again. I ran along just behind the Germans, until 10km before the second turn, where we all got low and I managed to find a better climb and jump the gaggle. Then I lead for a while, around the next turn, with the three big German gliders breathing down my neck! At this stage I knew I was very well placed, and we had come together with both the other classes heading home. The last 70 km to Benalla was more challenging, and unfortunately I missed two climbs under other gliders, from where I got very low. I used a lot of time to get up, and by then had lost my lead. I swore a bit, but I had been pushing hard and finally paid the price. It was fun while it lasted, and seeing the tracker blinking quietly on my shoulder, I knew that there were plenty of spectators enjoying the ride too. Bit of a shame, but gliding is such a game of consistency, and I didn’t quite keep that going.
Last night it rained a lot, with storms and rumbling, but the weather looks like it may be flyable today. Strong winds are forecast, which could be the limiting factor.
Sorry no photos, but if you go back and look at all the others, then yesterday was just the same….. blue, blue, blue. 😎

More fun news now!

Young meets “old”.
loved this story from Antti Lehto on FB yesterday.

“ Today in the WGC2017 international evening I met George Lee. George won his first World Champion title in the open class in Räyskälä 1976. I was 15 years old and worked in the hangar restaurant cleaning the tables. George was back then one of my biggest sports heroes. Just like Ronaldo or Messi for today’s kids. I had an interesting conversation with him and George is still active in gliding flying his Nimbus 4 DM.”

George and Antti now
And
George and his wife
in 1987

Not really changed!!!Still the same smile.

————-

And back to the fut…no past.
Day 10 in 1987 in Benalla;
The briefing was already set for 9.30 AM, so something was “brewing”, certainly,… when was said that the first launch would be at 10.30. The wind expected to come from the N. bringing good dry conditions, made everybody think of long distance’s ,but looking out side they could see a band of cirrus and the satellite pictures confirmed that and showed ,it would stay during the day.
So tasks from just over 500 km. again for all classes.
A great day for the USA pilots winning the day,  in 2 classes. BUT also a day to think about!!!
No big gaggles necessary with this weather , but still it happened. Stan Witek in my friends glider and Leonardo Brigliadori touched in a gaggle over the TP at Deniliquin.

Here is what FINAL GLIDE said about it, after one of the USA pilots said over the radio around 5 PM:
” There is a piece of wing fluttering down through my gaggle”

“There had been a midair. Brigliadori’s glider pitched down violently .He reached for the canopy jettison knobs and prepared to leave his Discus. A second pull on the stick showed him that the plane might still be flyable. After getting it under control, he slowed his airspeed and jettisoned the ballast.Fortunately he was direct over the [Deni] airfield .Carefully he pulled the spoilers and landed. What he saw when he climbed out sent a chill through his body.Fully half of the Discus elevator was gone. Witek requested an air-to-air inspection of his glider by a nearby pilot and was told there was no visible damage. He flew back to Benalla ,where he landed safely.” 

As far as I remember Leo could not open the canopy to jump, but in the end it was not necessary. He was damn lucky.
And…. you remember I wrote he out-landed a day before , LOOSING A LOT OF POINTS, cause he HE DID N’T WANT TO FLY IN A GAGGLE AND FLEW ALONE!!!!!
And hearing what happens now in 2017 in Benalla in blue thermals, 30 years LATER, the situation has not changed at all. A huge job is waiting for the FAI/IGC.

Open 512 km;As said the USA had a fabulous day. Ray Gimmey won the 1000 points racing with a speed of 127.3 km./h. Runner up was Bruno with 941 points so a few k. slower [124.3 km./h.]
And Ingo flew consistent over the area he knows so well . In fact he sends all guests from Sportavia who wanted to fly their 300km. to The Rock.

Standard 519 km;John Byrd was the other USA pilot winning the day. According to FinalGlide, he radioed his wife, while preparing for final glide “this could be an opal day” referring to the daily prizes that year; fine wines and /or opals. Finnish pilot Pankka was runner up and Austrian pilot Heinz Hammerle was on spot 3.

15 m. 509 km.;  Holger Back was the man of the day. He flew the distance with 120. 6 km./h. His 2d win that week in the LS 6 a. He was slowly closing in to Brian in his LS6, still 1 overall ,as Holger jumped up to spot 2 . A late  start and slow flight was not good for Gilles Navas;he only got 468 points and “tumbled down”  .Werner [Meuser] was runner up and Sefano Ghiorzo 3d, with ” our “Kees as number 5 behind Lizzy’s and Leigh’s dad  Martyn Wells.

That evening the notice board said; PREPARE FOR AN EARLY LAUNCH AND LONG TASK.
AND ….it happened!!!!! You can read it tomorrow.

Some more nice pictures from Mount Buffalo on the rest day.

to the left Gerrit Kurstjens and Heinz Hammerle, Adrian in the middle with camera and Robin Riley, George, Kees, Janet and Giep.

Janet Hider Smith involved in the daily bulletins . She died of cancer a few years ago.

Our daughter Inge, who had not only a fan club of birds,…….LOL.
She is an airline captain now.

CU tomorrow, when Trump is PRESIDENT of the USA, I hope he looses his bad temper and bad manners and behaves like a real president.
Cheers Ritz

Have to start , with this very DRY comment from USA TC John.
“Benalla’s dry heat can be put to other uses than keeping motorless aircraft aloft: it provides about the best clothes-drying conditions found anywhere.  Homes in this area typically have a washing machine but no dryer – the latter would be a waste of money and space in a climate where the first clothes hung on a line are dry before the last ones are pinned up.”

What happened today with 2 more days to go?
Steve, the Aussie pilot involved in the mid air who had to bail out [,as had the other one , German  pilot  Michael [Eisele]]mentioned:
“At the Briefing this morning, Stephen O’Donnell described his experience bailing out last week.
He impressed upon all of us the need to”rehearse it in your mind,” and to anticipate the difficulty of getting out under a g-load.
He also urged us to look into the sizing of our parachutes – he said that his canopy looked “like a beach umbrella.”
The audience gave him an extended ovation.
Here is how Carol TC from SA describes it;
“At Briefing today Stephen O’Donnell, the Australian pilot who was one of the pilots involved in the mid-air a few days ago, spoke to everyone present. It was a very sobering experience to listen to him – he is obviously still understandably quite shaken by the experience, but he had some excellent advise to all the pilots. He asked them if they know what size the canopy is of their parachutes. The majority of pilots did not know the size. He said when he eventually got out of the glider, he looked up and thought the chute looked like a ‘beach umbrella’. He also said having loads of straps to undo on landing is not the best, but rather have quick release clips, as with the strong winds he was dragged along the paddock on landing which was not nice as he was unable to get rid of the chute quickly. He also said trying to get out of the cockpit was difficult and he battled to decide how best to get himself out and eventually put out one leg and then the forces helped him finally get out. He also recommended that all the pilots should rehearse in their minds how they would best deal with such a situation and to think about what they would do. He extended many thanks to all who had supported, sent wishes and of course those who had deal with everything. He was given a long applause.”

In the evening is the INTERNATIONAL PARTY so I guess everybody wants to be back in time, though the soaring is more important for the pilots than partying. On top of that most out-landings are technical anyhow!!

courtesy Swiss Chris.

The FAI FLAG IS STOLEN…sigh …again….and there were some witnesses,no it was not Baldrick but somebody dressed up as an ape!!!! I guess/hope just fun and then it will be back in time for the ceremony.
As the UK team mentioned;”They tried and they failed. The FAI flag has been knocked off. Solid effort” and “Despite threats of dangerous snakes and spiders lurking, and even threats of electrocution, it’s gone!”

NO FAI FLAG!!!
Courtesy Charlies Towing Adventures.

The weather for today;base at 5000/6000 ft….wind 5/10 kts….from N. but changing to W during the day, accompanied by a mid level cloud layer,  forecast to move over the task area later in the afternoon by about 5:30 PM ….32/34 dgr.C and lift up to 2/2.5.

Day 9: task 5 for 15 m. class; 370 km.
Sebastian and young Matthew started at 2.57 and 2.58 so about the same time. AND…what’s even better,…they finished again with 3 minutes difference as there should be between the “master and the pupil”. So a good day for both with a speed of 118 and 117 km./h and this was also the case for Mac who was 3d. and started at 2.59 PM.
It looks like Matthew and Mac fly together and keep a BIG eye on Sebastian who’s right-hand Lucasz was 4th today.
This is going to be an interesting “situation” over the last 2 days.
Mac still leads overall with 4450, Sebastian has 4417 and  Lucasz 4303 points.Louis has only 28 points less on spot 4!!!!
Only one out-landing today!
Here is Matthew;
“Had two back to back good days (3rd and today 2nd) after the outlanding, thanks to the weather improving. The weather has been strong enough that individuality is starting to get (slightly) rewarded, and Mak and I have been flying accordingly.
Unfortunately it’s not strong enough for the gaggles to not form at all though, and the ones that are forming are atrocious. Despite a sobering talk from Steve at briefing today, the behavior in thermals was like a pack of wild dogs fighting over a scrap of meat. I left thermals several times because of other pilots behavior. We were given forms to report such behavior (which we filled out and returned) but the usual suspects were back at it again today.
I had a GoPro facing forwards in the glider today which I expect will be interesting to review.”
Good on you Matthew!!!

Day 9 :task 6 for 18 m. class;384.5 km.
And after winning a day Wolfgang is back in winning mood and won another day . Good on him!124.4 km./h. AND the other VENTUS 3 T flown by Mario  was runner up ;123.9 km./h.
Wolfgang must have “lost” his mate en route as Andy [Lutz] finished on spot 30.
Matthias [Sturm] left more than 35 minutes EARLIER than Wolfgang and finished on spot 3. He likes flying by himself and is good in it. A bit like Ingo who likes to fly by himself too even in the blue!! Good job ….COURAGE!!!……and Matthias still is 2d in the overall scores [5593] behind Killian who was 4th today .[5661]
Mike Young is on spot 3 overall with 5588 but Mario is on his tail with 5583!!!!
Wolfgang is on spot 8 now with 5509 points….you never know…., but it will be hard to be the champion as the other pilots are top too.
All pilots finished today except for our Chinese friend who landed after 160 km.

Day 9: task 7 for open class;499.51 km.=500 km!!
Hungarian pilot Peter Szabo flew himself in his JS 1C to a daily victory!!! Nice speed as well 120.68. Just a fraction slower …Tassilo with 120.60 and just 1 more fraction Stefan Beck 120.54 and 3 more pilots arrived at the about the same time;Andy, Sebastian [Eder] and Gyorgy another Hungarian pilot.
A lot of finishes in this class around 5.40 PM, great for spectators.
Disappointment for Jan Andersen from Denmark and Aussie Andrew;they did not finish.
The UK pilots top the overall scores with 2 days to go and they started earlier than the German pilots,  so they do their “own thing”.
4 out landings today and 2 pilots in this class do not fly anymore.

All scores for today still preliminary.

——–

THE OSTIV.

Another good week for all OSTIV participants and interesting news about the Perlan Project by Aussie Morgan Sandercock who moved to the USA to be better involved in this project. I heard that also the event with the TOP manufacturers was a good one.
Here is some of the news shared on the organizers site;
“The congress is always held alongside the competition, and many of the presentations attracted pilots, as well as those in Benalla specifically for OSTIV.
 “Ostiv is the worldwide scientific and technical research organisation for sailplanes, and we try to promote technical progress of sailplanes,”
“We give advice to sport organisations like FAI and the International Gliding Commission to get many things right in the sport.” 
Subjects covered by the 43 presentations included flutter in ageing sailplanes, monitoring physiology such as oxygen saturation levels in pilots, FES development, mountain wave research and a report from the Perlan Project’s year in Argentina.”
The rest you can find at ;www.ostiv.org

The TOP manufacturers and DR. Loek Boermans.

30 years ago OSTIV was active as well in Benalla.

The OSTIV in 1987 as shared by Anni Kehn . Her mum Elke, did all the administration for OSTIV  that year.

OLC.

The most interesting flight on the OLC yesterday was from German pilot Philipp Butz, not in Australia where Gerrit flew from Narromine 774 km. in the Quintus, not from Namibia or South Africa,where father Hans and daughter Karin flew 831 km. task[750 FAI triangle] from Kuruman Pi, in their ARCUS,…. but in the middle of winter in Germany from the airfield of Offenburg not far from the Black Forest; 741 km.in an 18 m. ASG 29.
Extraordinary good conditions in the SW part of Germany,[ between Karsruhe and Freiburg, ] was the comment from the pilot.
The only thing I know is that it is extremely cold here.

————-

More later!!!!

Continuing story DAY 9 IN 1987!!!

Day 9 in 1987 was a pretty good one with tasks from 621.9 km. in open, 536.1 in 15 m. and 521.2 km. for standard class.
BUT,…. not a good day for George and Dennis in open class, who just missed out on 300 m and out-landed at the other site of the airfield. 285 points on a 1000 points-day, that hurts!
On day 9 blue thermals again;I quote;
“With the prevailing blue thermal conditions, pilots  were still finding that the fastest routes around the course meant finding the largest gaggle and staying with them until the opportunity came to make a break.
This type of flying was both dangerous and very unsatisfying , but the point penalty one faced if he attempted to fly alone and was not succesful [ as Leonardo did the day before!!!]was enormous!!”
SO ,…after 30 years NOTHING changed which should make us THINK!!!!!!

With Daan [18 m. mate] , Adrian, brother from George, Inge,[daughter and sister]  Giep,[ TC] Hans, [TM] George and Dennis.[pilots]

Open class;Marc Schroeder won the 1000 points with a speed of 112 km./h.  Ingo as runner up lost 26 points on him but he still was in the lead overall.[his speed 111.5 km./h]  Bruno was 3d.[111.3 km./h.

Standard class;  a nice long-over-500-km-task, and the French pilots Aboulin and Delylle “mastered” the gaggles best and won the day; 1000 and 997 points. New overall leader was Marco Kuittinen and the French slowly could nearly  ” sniff ” him as he “only had 827 points for the day.

15 m. class;Great day for Danish pilot IB Wienberg. HE WON.
Now  in 2017, Ib is TC for the Danish team. The 2 UK pilots Dave and Brian followed with 986 and 979 points, so Ib did something REALLY good that day!

    

Ib in action 2 years ago in Tocumwal at Sportaviation. He opens a champagne bottle with a sword!!!

More tomorrow!!

Cheers Ritz still the 1987 day AND task 10,11 and 12 to go!

On this picture of the Bureau for Meteorology you see and band of mid level clouds move slow , too slow. So pilots and gliders were in the shade.Only 20 dgr. C instead of the 40. Later in the day it moved away and there was a bit of sun. Too late ……

Good tasks , as 324 for 15 m., 296 for 18 and 286 for open, were still set  and they tried HARD, but in vain.

First 18 m. and open were cancelled and for 15 m. they prepared a new task, postponed the launch to 2.30 PM,  but also that task had to go in the “fridge” No flying, canned as the young ones use to say.So time to cheer us up with the daily cartoon from Richard.

 and for day 8

Love them !!! Thanks Richard!!! I have seen more daily cartoons over the years but these are very special and to the point.

Tomorrow it seems to be better. The forecast for tomorrow is sunny with temperatures in the low 30s. It looks like it will be a blue day with 4-6 kts up to 4000 – 5000 ft.
Only 3 days to go. Who would have ever thought that Australia ‘s weather , would create so few days.

Carol, TC from South Africa was sad as well and you “feel ” her sadness:
” Another sad day in Benalla. The top cloud cover was definitely not moving as had been hoped for and the temperatures were a lot cooler than was required for the trigger temperature. So first the expected first launch time was delayed at least twice, then the Open & 18m. classes were cancelled, so their gliders were removed from the grid. The 15m. class was kept waiting with a further delay in launch time, then a change of task to the C task which would have been a 2 hr. AAT, and then finally the sniffer/task setter took a launch. Tow ropes were deposited at each glider with a call for 20 mins to first launch, before the decision was taken to cancel the day.
Sadly another non-flying day. We will hope for better conditions tomorrow. It should be noted at Briefing this morning that tomorrow was definitely more promising, with Friday less so again. We have heard on several occasions that the weather in Victoria can be very changeable, and so it is proving to be the case.” 

Tomorrow INTERNATIONAL EVENING, so time enough to prepare.

 

Back a bit later with the “old ”  news with nice pictures send by Anni.

Here we are again. First a nice picture from Clear Goal Media shared by an Aussie friend Ernst.

This brings it all in perspective!! Australia “filled”  up!!!

BACK TO 1987.

Day 8 in 1987!!!
Finally a real Aussie day,…did I say that yesterday as well for 2017…?!
Open had a task to the Rock and Jerilderie all N of Benalla and N of Tocumwal.
15 m. got 339 and standard 367 into the Berrigan area.
A blue day BUT, lift up to 6000 ft and increasing wind later on the day.
No worries you would think ,…go early,… but some still played the waiting game.
NOT INGO!!! He just “disappeared”  in the blue  and yes he found some cirrus but his long-winged-ASW 22 B [first time in Australia] but he kept a good ground speed over an area he knew so well as Tocumwal was his home base.
Here is FINALGLIDE on Ingo that day and I quote:
“Ingo had been frustrated in the contest so far. The weather was strange and his competitors were extremely good, especially the French ,Schroeder and  Chenevoy, but also Gantenbrink.
Renner needed to uncork a great flight and put some distance on the dangerous French.
After finishing and putting the glider back on the tie-down he and his crew began to wait. They had started close together and Schroeder was not back yet.
Could today be the day?
Schroeder arrived 20 minutes later and Ingo knew he had finally done it.He had beaten Schroeder by 20 minutes and Bruno by 17.”
1000 points for Ingo and 810 for Schroeder and 825 for Bruno. Marco Gavazzi, Janusz Centka and Ray Gimmey all got more points and finished on spot 2,3 and 4.
The day victory started for Ingo??!! YES on the last 4 days he was always in the top 3 and even won day 11, the last but one day!!

 

Bruno with his lovely wife Inge,
As shared by Anni Kehn.

AND

Ingo won already in 1984 in Rieti as well.

A happy Ingo in Italy. This picture was always in our, better said Peter’s work shop, in the Sportavia WW2 hangar now owned by Lumpy and used by the Southern Riverina Gliding Club where Ingo is president.

Here is Ingo now,.. with Katja from Finland …the excellent webmaster.

As shared by Katja.

15 m.;a great day for Doug Jacobs again. He won the 1000 points , 2d in a row, ahead of “our”  Kees Musters , who started rather early and got the 918 points. Quite some difference in points though , but Doug had the race of his life. Flying to Urana  he NEVER circled and arrived at 4500 ft. The difference with Brian and Holger was even bigger,…250 points and with Gilles 120.

Kees and his wife Gretha and Kees with one of the tasksetters Tony Tabart and Daan Pare another Dutch participant in 15 m.
After a few less good days [3, 4 and 5] he was on his way to the TOP.

Standard class; A good day for team USA as Mike Opitz won the 1000 daily points and as runner up John Byrd the 978 points. A bad , no very bad day for my good old mate Leonardo Brigliadori. He, the then current world champion from Rieti,  out landed. He wanted to avoid gaggle- flying, left the “white Cloud” to enter cirrus and had to pay for that. Not fair!!!
Leo won 3 days in total …day 1, 5 and 12 and “only finished due to the 162 points for this day on an overall spot 14.

Leo’s son Ricky flies NOW in 2017 in Benalla and is nearly a “copy”  from his dad.

Some more pictures from 1987 shared by Anni.

AUSSIE team; With behind the flag TC Peter Griffith “Griffo” and Mike Giles and in between Ingo. And Jimmy Coutts.

Holger Back from the German team.

And a young Herr Waibel.

And to finish a nice picture from old mates George [Schuit] and Bruce in the Benalla Club House, as shared by the Dutch team.

CU tomorrow!!
Cheers Ritz

After a good walk through minus 1, but nice cool and sunny, fresh again for the old news.It’s quite a lot of work but I do enjoy it. Would not have had so many pictures if my 11 year old grandson  Dexter would not have taught me how to do this scanning. Thanks again Dexie.

BUT first again another cheer-up cartoon by Richard.

As shared by many.

Back to day 7 in 1987.

The day was forecasted as blue up to 5000 ft., BUT when they started launching cu’s popped up everywhere and ….up to 7000 ft.
Tasks from 351 for open, 368 for standard and 385 for 15 m. were set and with the cu’s also en route it was a rather fast day with speed up to 123 km./h..
In open, Dennis and George had a pretty good day with a 10th spot. Not all cu’s were good and some pilots did not know how to deal with them.Bruno [Gantenbrink] did and won the day with 123.3 km./h. His 2d win !!
Marc [Schroeder] was back in about the same time. 132.1 km., so he missed out on only 5 points.
Ingo [Renner], always very much protected by his crew Gaby and our former head of the work-shop Peter Menhennet , was on spot 3 busy with his race to the top spot!!

The prototype of the Nimbus 3D from George and Dennis [SX] with a sponsored VOLVO in front.

AND

the master himself [ AS] with Gaby and Peter [to the r]

I believe to the r. with the umbrella is Justin Wills.
And
Marc Schroeder [France CF] ]with his wife Denise and crew.

In Standard class, our Dutch pilot Baer Selen finished on a 2d spot. In front of him Chris Garton from the UK, his 2d win !!!Here are some standard class pilots as Stan Witek from Poland and Simon Leutenegger from Switzerland.

Stan [SO] Bruce Brockhoffs Discus a.

Simon [T5] with his crew Fred.

In 15 m.  class Aussie pilot Maurie Bradney mentioned and I quote what was written in Final Glide;
“ Maurie summed up the general mood of the day when he said that the CU’s must have been placed thereby the government because they promised much ,…but delivered nothing”
No worries for Doug Jacobs who won the day and also for him a 2d daily win.[120.2 km/.h]  Gilles Navas from France was runner up [118.4 km./h]  and Werner Meuser finished on spot 3. [ 116.9 km./h]
Werner visited over the last couple of years Tocumwal and flew Ingo’s glider.

Gilles from France [CA]with his crew his lovely mum!!

That’s it for now….. ENJOY!!!
Tomorrow day 8 mind you they had 12!!!!

Cheers Ritz

Finally a real worthy Aussie day, with tasks up to 747 km. 40 dgr. C. and “legs” going as far as 300 km. from Benalla, no worries on such a day with lift up to 4-6m/s, a base of  2500-3600 m., not too much wind 20 kts from the NW.
First launch at 12.30.
A day in paradise, finally! Not yet,….another day in paradise as we always used to say.

And OFF they went…..

Picture courtesy Swiss Chris.

15 m.; day 7…task 4 …with 484.7 km. a good day a good task and a valid competition now as well for 15 m. It should be in a country as Australia.
With 137.7 km./h. Uys took revenge on his out landing and just showed how good his new JS 3 RAPTURE is by winning the day. 1000 points. That’s the spirit!!!
Mac who started 11 minutes earlier than Uys , started together with Matthew and both did well being 2d and 3d; 136.7 and 134.6 km./h.
Mac is in a real good flow hopefully he keeps this flow till the end.
33 From the now 35 participants in this class finished , 2 out-landed.
Overall scores after 4 tasks; 1. Mac [3469]….. 2.Sebastian [3417] 3…. Lucasz [3342] .
Still a lot possible, as you see that you can drop from 2 to 25 as in the “case” Uys , who now is at 14 again up on his way to the top.

18 m. ;day 7 …task 5 …with a 5 hour AAT.  Good to see my Austrian friend Wolfgang on top today. Together with his best mate Andy they formed the daily top. They flew 715 and 705 km. in time 5.04 and 502, so a nice speed over such a big distance of 141 and 140  km./h. Wolfgang and Andy practiced last year already in a 2 seater in Benalla. Not Wolfgang’s first time of flying in Australia.
Good to see Roman Mracek in the top 3 as well. Flying together with his young team mate Petr Svoboda, who finished on spot 4 today.
40 from 43  Finished in this class,  2 out landings,   due to airspace violation  and USA pilot Sean just missed out after 621 km..

A nice picture from the Hahnweide competition from Andy and Wolfgang.
I made a real nice one last year but I can’t find it.

 

open ;day 7….task 6 with a racing task from 747 km.

Well that is A DISTANCE!!! And some might not have believed such a task, after all what happened over the last week. But it happened I would nearly say as usual, and it happened with HUGE speed as well. Michael Sommer who used to live in Australia and flew a lot in Benalla and Tocumwal was the best with 161.3 km./h on the clock!!! So a real good day!! Tassilo was with him and just was a tad slower 1000 for 982 points.
Here is Bruce with his day:
“That’s more like it! Strong climbs to 11,000 feet and some serious speeds again. There was time in the blue and time under cu today, and a couple of the best climbs way up between West Wyalong and Rankin Springs that were uncanny in how silky smooth they were. We covered 750 km in good time, though I am still seriously off the pace of the good guys. I seem to start well and run close to the front of the pack, then lose the plot a bit in the middle of the flight. I am feeling easily distracted, and there are stages where I run out of ideas!
Good fun flight today, and the grizzles about the task being too long were (just) unfounded.”
Bruce finished the day on spot  22. The UK pilots Russell and Andy on 9 and 13, with that Russell still leads the overall pact with 4804 points ahead of Andy, 4769 but with only ONE point less he feels the breath from Michael Sommer. Oscar has 4601.

Before start the Chinese team was busy, busy .In the end and Mr Peng Du flew just over 300 km. So out landings as well, but only 2 from the 33 who started.So a GOOD TASK!!!!

team China with their ARCUS.
Courtesy Swiss Chriss.

————

So when they fly 743 in Benalla there will be good soaring in Corowa and Tocumwal as well. Indeed good with flights from 857 in the Arcus from Corowa [750 triangle] and 819 in the ASH 26 from Toc.[792 triangle] Good old Stefan Soll is back there and flew in his LS 4  a distance of 715 km. all the way up N and back.
Tocumwal pilot Neil Burns had a good flight with Tilo Holighaus in Roger Druce’s ARCUS;722 km.
And,…great to see Jan Umlauf is back in Toc as well ,…a real kilometer eater and his 2d flight was 703 in the LS 4.
Best flight in Australia today was from John Buchanan in an ASW 27 from Narromine; 858 km.[796 triangle]

And for those who do not know where Tocumwal, my 2d home place is,…here is an 18 M task from today shared by Arne .
You see looking up N W from Benalla a little place Cobram where I always did my shopping. Cobram is on the Victorian site of the Murray River,  Toc on the NSW site just 10 km. apart. Not far from Rutherglen more to the East on the river is Corowa.
Toc-Jerilderie  was the 50 k distance for beginners and Finley in the middle is the spot where Dennis had the fatal accident with the tug.He was on his way to pick up a first-50 km.-pilot.

And as Craig ,the enthusiastic video maker from Team NZ is leaving there will be different video’s now , [hopefully they continue with their funny met man,]  but when you want to see them you find them on youtube.

History and more added pictures later!

Cheers Ritz

courtesy Swiss Chris.

Highest temperature for the day 35 dgr….lift up to 2.5/3m up to 2000 m. Blue as usual and a forecasted day with lift till relatively late.
Ingredients for a good day.
So tasks were set accordingly. A 5 hour AAT for 15 m. a racing task from 503 km. for 18 and open 526 with an earlier start of the launches at 12.30.
14 Tuggies were ready all strong Pawnees and the nice colorful “ugly ducky” by others called NEMO.
So another day!

15 m. 5 hour AAT; Their 3d flying day, so task 3  and another great one for Sebastian Kawa who managed to fly in his Diana 2 a distance of 530.7 km. in time 4.58.57, so 106.1 km.h on the ” clock.” He flew together with his team mate, same glider , about the same start time but  just a fraction slower;Lucasz Grabowsky….984 for 982 points.
The 1000 points however were for good old Mac from Japan who flew 535.8 km. in time 4.58.6. He started 2 minutes  later than Sebastian and Lucasz .

 

Mac and Akemi before the start of an for him great day.
Courtesy Swiss Chris.

as shared by Sebastian.

Bad day for young Matthew Scutter as he out-landed after 66 km. I admire Matthew for his view on soaring ,such a wise young man and full of self-mockery as you can see :“‘fraid I cooked it, 60k short. Was having a great day, but the gaggle got a 7kt climb just ahead that I missed. Was flying pretty well all the way up until I wasn’t.”

As shared by Matthew a huge TALENT in soaring.
On the remark from the  CD from the JWGC in Narromine, Adam Webb, who mentioned his nice legs,  he straight away answered;  ” Probably would have got home if I’d shaved them.”

Bad day as well for the Jonker brothers both landing out.” unfortunately Uys & Attie have outlanded safely. So crew now getting organised to retrieve them.”

  

Uys ready to go. and…. TC Carol helping out.
As shared by Swiss Chris.

18 m… 503 km;task 4….. Was it a bad day for Aussie team member Matthew , it turned out to be a good day for Peter Temple. He won with a speed of 111 km./h . 1000 points for him and 3 less for German pilot Matthias. First 3 places for ASG 29, as Tom Claffey was on spot 3.
Good day for Belgian pilot Manu Litt who was 5th together with Derren Francis from the UK.
The scores in this class are so close, very exciting.
The first 15 pilots are between 3507 points [15] and 3788 [Matthias on spot 1]

open 526.5 km.; Task 5…..Was it a good day for Aussie Peter in 18 m. it was not a good day for Bruce Taylor who was “out” after 472 km. A few more “out’s” as Italian pilot Ricardo and Dutch pilot Mark just stranded 10 k out!! What a pity, they had to pull the engine!
Winners  of the day, yes 2 winners with 1000 points  , this time European pilots from Austria Sebastian Eder [EB 29] and from Italy Alberto Sironi in the Quintus. Both flew with 120.4 km./h round the track . German toppers Michael and Tassilo flew with 119 km./h.
Chinese pilot Peng Du did not finish but flew 94.5 km. and all scores are preliminary!

Dutch pilot Jeroen was happy,”finally behind NEMO”, nice and noisy…..
As shared by Jeroen.

That this whole world of soaring is ONE big family I have said many times before. Great to see that Attie from Jonkers helped Swiss Chris ,when his ASW 27 flown by Fridolin was damaged on an aileron.
”  A small inattention was enough not to see the wing go down behind the car and the outermost part of the aileron broke. Thanks to the Jonkers team and especially Atti, who assessed the damage and checked it after I fixed it yesterday afternoon and let it cure over night. Thanks heaps for carbon, resin, micro balloon, cotton flakes and double sided adhesive tape.”

   

As shared by Swiss Chris.

And an ASG 29 was damaged; “The best part is that Tilo and Max from Schempp supervised/helped with this repair on a Schleicher glider.”

For those who are interested here is a link to one of the papers about the news on the incident. As far as I know it is not the ankle but the shinbone which is broken from Michael.
http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/story/4404235/gliders-crash-over-yerong-creek-photos/?cs=147

Another busy day for the tuggies.
Courtesy Swiss Chris.

————–

55th Nationals in Chile

Briefing on the very last day.

It turned out that January 14 was the last day. So the overall scores are;
CHAMPION Carlos with 6924 after 8 days of soaring and Rene with 6494 points. Congratulations, a nice comp!!

All pilots together.
As shared by Angel Cassado

————

Short blog today.
Off to Amsterdam soon.
More tomorrow.
Ritz

BUT,…first this great cartoon again as we need to laugh as well.

As shared by the organizers, cartoon by Richard Geytenbeek.

AND THEN to not forget

Anita shared some pictures from the NSW Police Force from the incident. As both pilots are fine, I share them this time.
Both men were flown to Canberra Hospital by the Snowy Hydro Southcare helicopter.

  

      

NOT GOOD!!!!! Let’s not forget to fly SAFE. And to have a good parachute!!!!

—————-

Back to 1987 and I got help from Anni Kehn. They were like we a real soaring family.
“1987 was so great, volunteering at Benalla. Elke [ Mum from Anni and Chris] was doing all the administration for the OSTIV Congress and the rest of Team Kiehn were meteo assistants. I even went for a fabulous flight with Dr Jörg Hacker from Adelaide Uni in a Grob around Mount Buffalo, doing some other met readings. Felt important holding a clipboard, taking notes! We certainly had a great time.
It all started for Chris at Benalla, meeting Klaus Holighaus and thinking about an apprenticeship at Schempp/Hirth, which he started a year later. ”

Here are Anni and Chris in 1987.

  

“Birthday cake! Not sure if it was for Wally Wallington or Manfred Reinhardt. We were doing the weather balloons”

“Chris hard at work tracking the weather balloons. I did all the conversions and directions ready for the met people prior to briefing. Us Kiehn’s were a great team! Was fun!”

 and the meteo team

Chris now at Benalla with mate AJ. and Anni in Africa.

   

Day 6 in 1987!! After a rest day they continued and this was the beginning of a good week weather-wise. So there is hope for “now” .
The day started however late and most pilots went on track after 2 PM for tasks as 445 for open,344 for standard and 405 for 15 m.
In open George and Dennis had a real handicap as the allowed weight for the NIMBUS 3D was 750 k. and the best speed was possible with 800 kilo. They just could not take enough water with them.
It was the first task with legs into the mountains and like now they did not all like that.
Dutch st .class pilot and twice world champion had difficulties that day and had to dig himself out; 20 minutes lost.
Unfortunately the thermals in the mountains were weak. Some saw the hang-gliders along the slopes of Mount Buffalo , but the approaching pilots  also saw that the gliders were low over the mountains.
As the TP was at Mt Buffalo some climbed as high as possible before flying to the hang gliders and back. The late starters got into trouble and a lot out landed.
In open Marco Gavazzi from Italy was the winner, used to fly in the Apenines he used the best “route” and with 106.9 km.h he won the day.
In standard class Finnish pilot Marko Kuittinen won the day [112.3 km./h] and in 15 m. Brian Spreckley won with a speed of 101.3 km./h.

Nice anecdote from GOOD FINISH.
John Byrd from team USA flew in standard class and did not like gaggles so he flew his own track; directly to the ridges bordering the valley .
Normally the good decision, not now ,..he struggled and finally had to land. He walked to the farm and the farmer was kind let him use the telephone to talk to his crew. But the farmer was also busy and returned to his job; installing an electric water heater on the roof. John, an electrician climbed with the farmer on the roof and both finished the job.

 

Mr Marco Gavazzi.

The overall scores after 6 days from GOOD FINISH.

Marko Kuittinen , flying in standard class was of course from Finland!!

Mind you after 12 days the Champion  in open was Ingo Renner,[Australia]  with Marc Schroeder [France] and  Bruno Gantenbrink [Germany] with silver and bronze. In the next 6 days they only swapped places.
In Standard class the title champion went to Marco Kuittinen with the silver for Mike Opitz from the USA and the bronze for Jaques Aboulin from France.
So in those last 6 days a lot happened in this class!!!!
In 15 m. UK pilot Brian Spreckley finished a fun time with relaxed flying on the golden spot. Holger Back, who before  or after flew his first 1000 in Tocumwal, [I am pretty sure after as in the beginning of February they flew with 6 a 1000 from Toc.] got the silver and the bronze was for Doug Jacobs from the USA.
Also in this class some changes, more about them next week.

Cheers Ritz

Benalla on Sunday January 15

It feels for me,….. like a WGC NOT FLOWN in Australia. This weather!!?? But what can you do?
Another cancelled day, though all pilots were sent to the field.
Tasks were set but after a forecast of blue thermals , 1 to 1.5 lift  and postponed first launches,… they all could go back to their swimming pool again and hopefully think about the solution HOW TO AVOID in the future mid airs!
For some who feel a bit scared , very understandable, now another rest-day to relax.
For TC’s and official’s MORE talking to get our beautiful sport SAFE/SAVER!!!

My late blog yesterday was about the glorious win of Stephen O’Donnell on day 5 in 1987. The same Steve who had to bail out yesterday. Thank god for parachutes.
Here is the comment from Steve and a picture they shared.
“As most of you are aware I was involved in a mid air collision on task while racing yesterday. Due to the amazing care and kindness of emergency services and Yerong creek locals, Michael (the German pilot) and I were air lifted from the crash site to Canberra hospital where we are undergoing treatment.

With Michael in bed and Steve on his side.So good to see them smiling!!!

In between Michael’s wife has been flown over from Germany and she will be with him after the operation today, as Michael hopes to be out of hospital tomorrow ….?

As said the expectation for today was VERY blue thermals. You can see on Matthew’s picture that this is true and a wise text for a young man as he is.

“Day scrubbed. Right from briefing you could feel an absence of desire to fly, almost as strongly from the organizers as the pilots.”

Some pictures shared by Robert from how the town Benalla shares the fond feeling for gliding. All of them “adopted”  a country to represent.

    

“and even live-tracking in one of the local pubs.”

————-

Another day at the 55th Nationals in Chile and Jeppe on track from Argentina to Chile.

Task 8 had a 2.30 AAT and the Vidal-show continued! Carlos won with 368 km. in in 2.36 so a nice fast speed of 141.45 km./h.
Rene was faster in his Ventus 2 cxa and flew 455.78 km. in time 3.07; speed 146.08 km./h.
Carlos “got” 841 points , Rene, 823.
all 17 pilots finished!

Sightseeing for Jeppe on his last day.
“Toured this national park towards cerro Tronador. This volcano is on the border with Chile. Again a beautiful drive through the area with lakes and mountains. Caught some wave: this time in the water. Tomorrow back towards Chile via the village of Villa la Angostura and the forrest of Parque Nacional los Arrayanes. Ciao.”
Thanks Jeppe!!!!!!

    

Volcan Tronador at the national park Nahuel Huapi .

———-

Cu later with “old news”
Cheers Ritz

Benalla  some more news from now and the past.
Now; Michael “Michi”  Eisele has send info from his room in the hospital in Canberra where they brought him.
“Hello all, thank you for the best wishes , I am in Hospital in Canberra. Looking at the circumstances I am pretty well.Shinbone fracture due to the landing with the parachute and it will be operated at 9 tomorrow. I hope it works out well and that I can leave the hospital  on Monday again. Thank you to the guardian angels!!!”

Sounds good but still,…….Get well soon Michael and all the best to Dad.

No news as yet from Steve but when I hear something I share it with you.

John Good from Team USA , and former Uvalde WGC vice/deputy competition director is not only a friendly and kind guy, but a wise man as well, at least that is how I know him and it shows in his comment on today as well. His full story is at http://ussoaringteams.org/january-14th/

As shared by team USA.

” I’m not sure how to react to the fact of two midair collisions (one quite serious) in two days of flying.  Every pilot here is both highly experienced and eager to avoid this sort of problem.  Yet, collectively, they are not succeeding.  Various ways to address the gaggling problem get proposed from time to time, including fewer gliders in a class, start schemes that discourage big groups, and scoring rules that better reward individual initiative.

An issue that gets increasing attention is complicated cockpit instrumentation, including displays interesting enough to distract a pilot from looking outside. At least one WGC2017 glider has been spotted with six (!) display screens in its panel.  When these screens can show such things as where nearby gliders are finding the best lift, it’s easy to understand why pilots might like to devote attention to them.  I certainly do not assert that this issue has anything directly to do with today’s accident.  But I do feel our sport must find ways to do better.”

———-

Old times and pictures.

Day 4 and 5 in Benalla in 1987.

Day 4 in 1987; Tropical cyclone Connie in the N. was still bothering the soaring in Benalla and high cloud was supposed to move direction S. On top of that the day was fore-casted as short as an upcoming thick band of Cirrus was around the corner too.Cu’s were expected at 5000 ft and lift would be 4-5 knots.

And off they went for 307 in open, 227 in standard and 258 in 15 m class.Start early or late??? That was the question you would think early.In the end the early starters were the victim as the base was more than 8000 ft. and some ended up in shear wave up to 10.000 ft.
As the tasks were short and the speed high the day was devalued.
Daily winners; Open Ray Linskey with a speed of 144.9 km./h. for 747 points.
In Standard class a Finnish pilot A. Pankka, was best with 142.6 km./h .[ 379 points] BUT,….as I read in Final Glide and I can’t remember that  “ he touched down short of the airport and bounced over the fence and onto the runway, barely crossing the finish line , receiving the largest penalty [50 points] for violating the ground effect rule“.
In 15 m. Werner Meuser, who was so lucky to find the shear wave won the day with Holger as runner up. 142.7 and 142.6 km./h. for 529 and 528 points.

Ray [RIP] such a nice guy!!!!!!

Day 5 in 1987;a bit longer distances a bit better weather and “wave ” again and high tough wind and blue skies. And EVERYBODY wanted to find that wave but not all found it or could reach it.
Open went for 457 km. and George and Dennis flew the first 80 km. between 2000 and 2700 m above the clouds, the 2d leg they were low again.As they flew to the W. spotters were send out to see where the wave was to inform their pilots.Marc Schroeder from France was best with 115 km/h.and Ray and Gabriel had 114.9 and 114.4km./h.
In 15 m. it was most difficult[ with the 314 km.- task NOT to the W,]  to find this wave and in the end 7 pilots landed in a paddock.
Steve O’ Donnell from Australia won the day with 114.5 km./h.
” Pilots gaggled up in the blue and the blue thermals were rough and narrow.Those who started high from the wave leap-frogged to the leading gaggle.Most effective in using this technique was Steve he rode the wave to an 8km.h. win!!”
In standard class the mountain and wave experience from Leonardo  as well as French pilot Alain Delylle helped them to win the day; 102.3 km./h. and 101.5 km./h.

Famous TC from France Jacky “Kiki”  Clairbaux and co pilot in the ASH 25 Didier

More on Sunday.
Cheers Ritz

After Dutch pilot Ronald Termaat, had given and excellent safety briefing earlier,the news, when I started my research this morning hit me. I was called already from Australia too.
After some near misses earlier and a  mid air in 18 m. class  with both pilots landing straight safely,but some “patching up ” had to be done ,..  this is other and official news;
“Due to a midair collision while on task between two gliders in the 15 M Class, the  day for 15 M has been cancelled. Both pilots are accounted for and OK. The pilots involved are Stehpen O’Donnell from Australia and Michale Eisele from Germany. The accident is being investigated and we will issue more information as soon as we are able to. ”
The OK seems to be more or less OK, as I heard that one has a broken leg the other a broken nose, BUT they are ALIVE!!!!

With the “bad” weather and these “incidents”  it feels here for me in cold and snowie Holland, like some bad curse rests on this WGC. And Australia is such a great place to fly and Benalla such a welcoming warm town. But there is another week to go, so let’s hope this week makes us ALL forget what happened.
More official news on Friday the 13th!!
“This was the second no-fly day of this competition due to weather, when we might have expected there to be none except for official rest days at this competition.”
“We now have the potential for five straight task days to come, followed by a mandatory rest day and a possible two further racing days. After three difficult days, (and only two in 18m and 15m classes), a rest day seemed in order.”

So here we go, life continues, so do the comps and the weather was finally good ,[a new air-mass, not so much wind and some high cu’s ] for longer tasks !!
Day 4 on Saturday January 14;
15 m. ; 419 km.……due to the incident the day was cancelled for this class. A normal procedure and not the first time unfortunately. Luckily both pilots are OK, after they bailed out about 160 km. from Benalla.
German pilot Michael’s dad is the TC for Germany and this news must have been a shock for him. I remember how terribly sad Walter was after a mid air during the  Bayreuth WGC , killing one pilot and we as TC’s had to convince him  to continue to be the CD as he was a good one and wanted to give up!!! Never forget that!!
So only 2 days till now in this class but for sure MORE to come with the new cycle!!!
I totally agree with statements from pilots as Sebastian
” It is incredible that for so many years we are not able to change rules to avoid gaggles.”
and Aussie crew Robert;
“Another mid-air today, this time both pilots bailed out and survived. Facebook posts from pilots the last days keep mentioning people are flying like idiots. How the hell can it be possible that that kind of flying isn’t heavily penalised in a world gliding comp? Consensus seems to be that it’s all part of the game.
I don’t think risking your own and others lives is part of any sport, let alone gliding. Stuff that….”

Here is JWGC champion and pilot representing Australia in 15 m. class Mathew Scutter in a very REAL but of course emotional blog:
“(Everyone is ok)

Easily my worst ever day gliding. After a good start, I lost a very expensive bugwiper and one of my wings started leaking badly, but I still managed to keep it rolling and was having an excellent day at the top of the gaggle.

18 m.; task 3,…a 4.30 AAT was set for this class and German pilot Matthias Sturm raced around over 505 km. in time 4.35!! 1000 points in the pocket !!!
Killian was runner up and Mike Young on a 3d spot. Arne was on spot 21.
22 Pilots flew over 100 km./h. Matthias with 110 km./h.
Overall scores after 3 days; 1. Killian [France] with 2895 points, 2. Sean Fidler USA with 2807 and 3. Matthias with 2791. The rest follows with not so much difference.

open class: 557.3 km……task 4
8 JS 1c in the top 10 and an outlanding from Tassilo and an off-day for Michael in the EB 29R maybe due to the hectic , this day, in the team.
So Russell Cheetham won the day with a speed of 116 km./h.
UK pilot Andy was runner up and Aussie pilot Andrew on spot 3.
Only short news from Bruce today:”Horrible blue Benalla day, and there was a mid-air collision. Both pilots are OK, thank heavens. I love this game with all my heart, but I hate it too.”
Bruce finished on spot 5 just behind our Dutch pilot Jeroen Verkuijl who had a good day!!
Good to see Gyorgy flew on day 3 [ he was not scored for a long time] and he was 8 today.
So after 4 days the UK pilots top the overall scores with Russell and Andy [ 2989 and 2986]  and on 3 now Michael Sommer.[2778 and 2773 for Oscar Goudriaan on spot 4]

Carol the TC from South Africa shared the view from Ronald.
“A number of very experienced pilots were far from happy with the near-miss encounters, and at this morning’s briefing Ronald Termaat, one of the safety committee, gave a very good safety briefing with some excellent examples of where the near misses occurred and how close they had been pointing out the risk areas. He ran through some recommendations – entering the thermal from the outside and not from the middle, to fly the same circle as the others or find your own thermal, if leaving the gaggle then leave it, scan the complete field of vision both in flight and in thermals, ensure the Flarm antenna is in the best position and that the Flarm is not switched off, and as we learnt at the last Nationals – try waving to other pilots thus creating an awareness of knowing that the other pilots have been seen and vice versa. One interesting track he showed a glider having left the thermal and flying for approx. 6 km. with a glider closely following him – the pilot apparently never saw him and the pilot had to take avoiding action when the following glider pulled up too close to him.”

Something else now as there is also fun and I need that now.
I better look to one of these funny videos from the NZ team on FB, to cheer me up.They are loved by MANY .
“From dancing with a toy kiwi to getting a bucket of water tipped over him, David has managed to capture the fun of the 2017 World Gliding Championships, attracting thousands of views. ”
These 2 funny NZ guy’s are the weather man from  team NZ, David Hearst and someone who never saw a glider before in his life; Craig Walsh a creative director,who works for a video production company in Auckland. He is there with his business partner Steve Wallace who participates in 15 m. class.
Here is what the WGC media team, shares about David, written by Andrea Johnston [Twitter: @AJairwaves ]
“Given that all I’m doing is blathering on in my usual immature style. Craig’s the one that puts it all together and produces a seamless and professional quality product at the end of it.”
“This week was the first time I ever saw a glider so it’s all very new to me, but the subject matter didn’t really matter, it was more about telling the story of what was happening with the New Zealand pilots,” Craig said.

shared and to be seen on the Gliding New Zealand FB page.
GO,GO,GO guy’s!!!!

——-

Some other news.

There was some confusion over the speed in the message from the FAI , when Tijl Schmelzer was “added” to the list of  FAI records, from Friday, 06 January 2017 09:46.
I shared the news with you, as I was very proud on Tijl.
Here is the correction from the FAI.
“Two years ago, Tijl Schmelzer and his father Bert were the very first to pass the 200 km/h barrier using thermals rather than mountain waves.
Flying a Binder EB28 glider from Kiripotib, Namibia, they broke the African record for speed over a triangular course of 100 km by reaching 205.89 km/h on 6 January 2015.“

Tijl and Bert straight after finishing this fast flight.
Picture courtesy Bert sr.

——-

55th Nationals/Andes Cup in Chile and more South American news.

Task 7; 3.30 AAT,
AH,ouch,…no , not Carlos today he was “only” 4th [LOL], but Rene was the daily winner, so it stays a Vidal- show .Rene flew 433.78 km. in time 3.36. From 18 pilots 13 finished.
The difference in overall scores,   between the 2,with Carlos on top, changed a tiny little bit; from 559 after task 6 to 412 after today’s task.

Jeppe still enjoys Argentina :”Enjoying the day after.
Spent the morning on the Playa Serena which is 10km to the west of town. Nice food as well in the Bahia Serena restaurant. Then to the airfield for preparing the Nimbus of Jean-Marie which will fly on monday towards Chile. Bringing the oxygen bottles to the plane was interesting… Spoke to a local flying hero that built the so called ‘Lenticular’ sailplane in 1972’ish. Only 14 were built. Last flight in 1991. This one is hanging on the wall in the hangar, ready for a big ‘asado’ fire. Just as the clubs Blanik and Jantar. Unfortunately a lot of old days glory here. The future is unclear. Sad to see actually with these extreme good weather conditions around...”

courtesy Jeppe.

By the way from Santa Rosa in Argentina 29 pilots fly the Club class Nationals. See for results www.soaringspot.com 

——

More later or tomorrow as I am a bit off now. but day 4 and 5 from 1987 are waiting too.
Glad Michael and Steve are not badly injured.

Cheers Ritz here one funny daily cartoons by Richard Geytenbeek.