Courtesy Fabio Bossi, he makes such fabulous pictures!!!!!
Wednesday September 9 race 4;
I left you on Wednesday morning early, so in Amsterdam I had no time to see what was happening. First I noticed back home, this picture from today’s happy winners .
Look at them.
Uli , Christophe [R] and again Sebastian.
As shared by the organizers.
The organizers helped me with a short message having everything in it we need.
” Todays Race 4 won by Ruch (FRA) followed by Schwenk (GER) and Kawa (POL). The circuit was 157 kms won at a speed of 113kph with all pilots finishing – the slowest speed (after penalty) was 86 kph.
and the task shared by Fabio, not the 210 A task , but the 157 km. B task had to be flown.
Overall results after Race 4; 1. Max with 26 points, 2. Christophe [R] with 25, 3.Sebasian with 23 and on 4 Roman with 22.Giorgio still has 21 points so it is NOT OVER YET.NOT for these 5 pilots!!!!Everything is possible as long as they can fly!
Christophe , Uli and Sebastian, the daily winners as shared by the organizers.AND troubled by penalty points Laurens,[this picture courtesy Jill]
Every day is a day and the winner gets 10 points. 10 Points can make or break a pilot- score. Giorgio had not such a good day and “dropped ” from 1 to 5 overall.So points are very ” expensive ” here.
Laurens was fast ; he get’s the hang of the Italian mountains, won the day ,…..but got penalty points for a too high start altitude and a too low finish altitude, so no 10 but 5 points for him. At least POINTS!!!!
Tom had his own way of saying what he found of this day : “Not such a good day today, only 150km. I got an OK start, a little low, late and slow but on the correct side of the line for the first hill. The first few turnpoints were very close with weak, low conditions and thermalling up the sides of the hills in 2kts max. Once back near Varese we got a 5kt climb (almost the best climb I have seen), to a nosebleeding 1500 metres (start altitude). I was with Christophe Ruch at this stage, who eventually won the day. Typical of this comp I didn’t go with him over the flat country as I could see a bunch ahead quite low, I took the scenic mountain track with Didier. Had a pretty good run but the flatlanders did better. Around the last turn I could see more than 10 ahead and above so dumped most of my water and took a long climb for a conservative final glide home. Gee points are hard to get here.”
Yesterday Tom did SO well he was on his way to be with the best 3, but then,
” Tom was now on the most the direct route, deep in the valley, but Tilo managed to find the best thermal of the day in the foothills near the train station just South of Como, allowing him to lead the group home on what was sure to be a very exciting final glide for the lead pilots. Tom found himself a few meters low on the glide and approaching the ridge line at Varese town decided he did not have the altitude to cross it safely and made a very good decision to land in a field before he had no options available.” as shared by the SGP journalist.
A WOW -factor picture shared by today’s winner Christophe who raced with Laurens to the finish line.
Thursday September 10 race 5;
208 km. is on the organizers schedule today as an A task and the B task will be 162 km., so also for the 20 pilots.All depending on the weather.
The south of Italy had appalling weather yesterday with flooding, but Varese is up North and they could fly .
“Today is dawning a little grey in Varese but the airfield is beginning to come alive for SGP Final day 6 – Race 5.”
Race 5 started at 14.30 and had in the evening 3 worthy winners !
The first 6 finishing pilots arrived with a speed of 123 km./h.
Max, the race 5 winner, said that he was during the day not in the lead ,but he was in the end and raced to the finish, winning from aces as Sebastian and Christophe [R] .
Christophe had a great final glide as well and passed Werner and Sebastian, but,..Max was too far ahead.
Werner was more than happy with his 3d place .
“Race 5 was about as close as it gets for a 200km circuit. The first eight gliders finished within 45 seconds of one another and the winners speed was 123kph. There was one ‘outlanding’ Tilo Holighaus who was forced to use his Front Electric Sustainer (FES).”
Another series of great pictures by Fabio from todays winners!!!!
Today’s podium as see and shared by the Aussies.
Tom was happy with his point and finished in style.
Sebastian stirred up our soaring-world a bit by mentioning in an interview about the wingloading from participating gliders. It’s good he brings this in the open and many will talk about it and this discussion is not over yet.
He confirmed what he then said in writing;
” I think it is obvious now that equal wing loading is not fair in GP. Gliders have been designed with a different philosophy, to fulfill equal weight, 600kg limit. Some designers choose to have bigger lift coefficient others choose bigger wing area. Now as a result gliders flying equally in world gliding championships have no chance with those who have bigger wing because they had almost not changed weight! ASG had to reduce it by almost 70kgs. You can’t win when they stick to your tail all day, you start final glide 40m higher and come one minute later than they on finish line.
I hope next days we will have weaker, more complicated weather and that this is the last competition with this rule which originally was to force.”
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Told you about the Dutch juniors who packed their 4 gliders in the containers from Corowa together with several other guests for this season.
The UK juniors have done the same now. Also their gliders are on the way down under.Here is what they shared: “After several weeks of hard work fitting, packing and painting the container the junior teams gliders are now on the way to Australia for the Junior World Gliding Championships. Special thanks to the British Gliding Association and Will Chappel from Apogee Industries for all of their help with getting the container on the way.”
The UK juniors have packed their gliders for Narromine.
As shared by British Gliding Team.
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More news on Saturday evening/Sunday morning.
Cheers Ritz
Last Sunday I published a blog already on day 1, a cancelled day,BUT …..with launches, some flying and practice for a finish, last Sunday the RACE really started here we go;
As shared by the organizers.
Sunday September 6 race 1;
as said before….
A Sunday with lot’s of visitors due to “a day off”.
The pilots will start with blue conditions but going East they will find cu’s, that was what Giorgio had to say during briefing this morning. Grid 12.30 and compressing straight away.First launch expected at 13.00.Regatta start expected at 14.00. ” CU on the grid fly carefully ” and off they went to prepare their loggers for a task of 264.8 km.!!!!
Giorgio [B] and Brian during briefing.
Picture courtesy Fabio Bossi and shared by the organizers.
So off they went and it turned out a ” clean sweep ” for France with 3 pilots in the top claiming the 10,8 and 7 points before Giorgio with 6. Not because the ” 3 musketeers” were the fastest, but this happened AFTER some pilots had lost points to penalties.
Late regatta start at 14.30 due to the fact that some pilots the first, were released at 1000 , some at 750 m and in the end they had some problems to keep high so, the organizers wanted a fair start for all.
For those who have not read the story on the site, here it is fresh copied and pasted:
“ The thermals started slowly causing some difficulty for the first gliders launched to gain altitude which caused a delay in opening the start line. But by 14.20 everybody had climbed up to start altitude and were able to make a maximum altitude start. During the first leg of the Race to Gandino there was a slow seperation of the competitors as the leading gliders slowly pulled ahead by better choice of route and starting their climbs quicker. Thomas Gostner was first at the turn and scorched along onto the second leg but his strategy of flying low on the south facing hills did not pay off as the valley wind had not become strong enough to give him the energy he needed. Riccardo Brigliadori also pushed hard onto the second leg but did not find a good enough climb and eventually had to take a weaker one. This combined with the extra distance he had to fly on the ridges cost him a lot of time.
During this leg a small group came together and working together slowly pulled ahead of the rest of the field. This group with Sebastian Kawa, Romans Mracek, Cristof Ruch, Christof Abadie, Maxmilian Seis, Giorgio Galetto and Peter Panek. Sebastian lead this group as they came onto the Campo Fiori mountain near the airfield but the rest stopped to climb behind him and he continued to the end of the mountain. When he turned he realized they may be climbing better and returned to their thermal losing the slight lead he had built. The group flew into the 2nd turn point with Giorgio out front then back to the Campo Fiori where they climbed together. It was now a game of tactics, no one wanted to take the risk to push ahead or to lose the group, they stayed together taking two more climbs until they all had a comfortable final glide. The outcome was a spectacular finish with all the group crossing the finish line within a few seconds of each other but Sebastian and Romans descended just a little too low in the last kilometre and incurred a time penalty which knocked their position back several places. The top three places were taken by French pilots with Maximilian 1st Christof Abadie 2nd and Christof Ruch 3rd a great day for the French pilots but a special day for Max. He is the youngest pilot in the competition and probably the least experienced at this type of racing a warm congratulations to him for his excellent performance.”
” The race coverage was very intermittent due to some technical problems with the tracker data but the presentation on the new Silent Wings viewer was very special causing Giorgino Ballerati to remark that is was just like being up there with them.”
2 Pilots even “out-landed” before start due to a airspace violation. A total of 11, so more than halve of the competitors was punished for flying too low, too fast or in forbidden areas . REASON to take better care of start and landing AND airspace.
You come from far to be the best and loose already on day 1 by “things you could/should have known” .Such a waste!
You can find the scores on www.soaringspot.com .
RACE 1; A great day for the French pilots.
Number 1 ;Young Max[imilan] Seis in the JS 1 EVOLUTION.
Number 2 ;Christophe Abadie in the ASG 29.
Number 3;Christophe Ruche in the JS 1 EVOLUTION.
picture courtesy Fabio Bossi.
Max is still a very young pilot , so we do not know a lot about him. He flew once in an 18 m. class competition [this year during the French Nationals …spot 8] , he started this GP with only 2 flights in the JS 1, he is sponsored by his parents , studies for his ATPL in Coventry [airline pilot] , likes flatland more than mountains because he is from Bordeaux ,so he has not a lot of mountain-experience. He loves the pure racing experience and has not flown at Varese before. The long story is on the FB-site from the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix.
Max with Brian and in his glider.
As shared by the organizers.
Monday September 7 race 2;
The “high” is OVER Varese, no wind and mainly blue thermals , some cu’s and thermals up to 2.5 in the afternoon.So a pretty good day, not tricky but you never know is what Giorgio said and as the day before he explained all out-landing possibilities en route and special those spots where there are none!!!
Grid /push back at 12.30 and first possible launch at 13.00. Task; 250 km.
KILOYANKEEPAPA was mentioned, during briefing, as sponsor and one of the prizes for the winner will be a tailor-made SPEED TASK overall. Also daily prizes will be theirs. Here is the 2016 premiere.
The race started at 14.10 and the winner with 121.81 km./h. was “the wild card” ,local hero Giorgio Galetto, followed by Roman and the 2 French Christophes. Giorgio decided already in the morning, to take “this flight in his own hands”, in the beginning he flew with 3 other pilots to where nobody else went , but at the TP they were all together again . So he took his own decisions once more, admitted he was lucky as well and after finish he did not know if he had won, but it turned out he was the best .During the flight he raced over the ridges and turned less then the other pilots to achieve this.
Max was 6th behind Sebastian.
Giorgio .
As shared by the organizers.
Giorgio [G] “walks around” in our soaring-circus already for years. ” This year my family celebrate 100 years of flight.” Both his dad and granddad were pilots.His dad, 91 years old now still flies , his granddad started flying in 1915. In 1999 Giorgio was WGC champion in Bayreuth. I was there!!
In 2012 he was awarded the Otto Lilienthal medal.
This year [September 24] as you might know this medal will be awarded to Prof. Loek Boermans AND ,….. still very proud on that I will get the Pelagia Majewska medal. 2 Medals for Holland VERY unique!!!
You will hear all about it later.
Here are the race 2 winners;
Roman, Giorgio in his new first-prize-jacket and Christophe.
Courtesy Fabio Bossi.
And,….an excellent picture of a finish, shared by the organizers.
And some words from Tom who is a bit disappointed about his ranking but,…it is not over yet!!! “Well the scores show the story, less than 5 minutes off the lead for 10th place, zero points. Last launch by a margin, got dropped off in sink but managed to climb up to a good starting position. Got left a little on the first leg but recovered well and apart from a few small mistakes getting onto final glide almost had a top five result.”
Sebastian mentioned that he has never flown before in Varese and really has to get used it.Small mistakes and being extra careful , flying conservative, cost some time.
Tuesday September 8 race 3;
Briefing at 10 and when possible I am ready to follow it. Today I was !
Roland [Stuck] was honored for ALL the work he does. The race 1 scores are official now.
I noticed pilots wear jackets so it is not warm.
The final control point has moved 1 km. to the East, so it should be safer.The hospital in town was the reporting point ,but yesterday an emergency helicopter coming in at the roof of the hospital was n’t too happy, with the glider-mates passing him!!!!The new weigh points list is on the internet.
Giorgio told the high pressure is still there but it does n’t look like like it,not on the maps neither when you look at it,….clouds appeared in the morning and the temperature and clouds are low!
They still prepare for a race as “glider pilots are optimistic”, as around 13.00, cu’s could appear and the “rubish ” should disappear.
A short task was set in the very close area.
Grid at 12.30 and push back and the estimated first launch will be at 13.00
“Another day….another weather. This morning is a bit grey but we are planning to race later. A task of 149km has been set.” “The pilots have an exciting last few minutes in final-glide, crossing the large town of Varese which is 150m higher than the airfield.Today the reporting point will change to give pilots a better line past the higher ground in the last few km’s.” as shared by the organizers.
So that should be much better!!!
All middle high clouds and the drizzle from the morning have disappeared and at launch -time at 14.00, it was sunny and blue with some clouds.All times were delayed so the regatta start was quite late at 15.15, but no worries as the task was only 150 km.
1600 m. before start for some, showed the weather was much better than expected.
The first leg is only 35 km.
After 15 minutes Laurens was leading the pact with Tilo and Rasmus.
As Giorgio [B] said ; “Being low is not an option today.Pushing is not good ,flying conservative is better.” Luckily all pilots are flying very well and climbing, so they can cross the Lake of Como. Rasmus was a bit too low to cross the lake , so he went back to the mountain to find lift.He found it and with ridge flying he could hang in again with the 5 best !!!!!!
Didier reached the TP first but LOW, starting another 43 km.leg.No worries,… back in the mountains he pulled up and climbed back to the rest.Meaning he had a 6 km. lead on the rest.All around 1500 m.
Max was 2d and Uli, who celebrates his 31th marriage- anniversary, was 3d.
The group is divided ,the only one pushing today seems Didier.
Sometimes it is a bit to exciting for me, certainly when I hear the voices from Shaun, Giorgio or Brian, going flat /worried, because a pilot is low.
Didier is a bit low again ” uncomfortable ” the guy’s call it, but goes and goes over those ridges at “only” 800 m./450 m. He is all by himself but found lift. And,..there is forbidden airspace as well, he has to avoid that and fly around it.He is using the energy of the slopes, doing pretty well and Brian who thought it was over for Didier long ago, is amazed to see him still flying.
He needs a “killer climb” to finish them all off, or the others will pass him; they mentioned.
Still 6 km. ahead.
It’s interesting to see that pilots go to the left and others to the right on such a small task.
Sebastian keeps it safe and flies high ALL day, very conservative the guy’s call it; it makes me feel better. Tomorrow and the next 2 days, I can’t follow it , which might be better for my heart.
Didier , who is at the next TP now at 4.11, starts his 39 km.leg, followed by Ricky and Rasmus. BUT,…Max goes better and higher with Christophe, so they are the number 2 and 3 at this TP with Tilo behind them.
Didier continues his “aggressive” ridge flying, where others are patient, find lift and glide; so a difference from height between 500 m. and 1500 m.
But,…he climbed again over the city of Varese.So it was working well in the “flat” now.
Werner, Tilo and Kai “use” the valleys to climb the rest [about 10 pilots] stay over the mountains.
Only 13 km. to go, for the last TP and NOW Tilo leads the pact.
Aussie TOM is doing well too, flying all alone, over the valley on his way to the TP and HOME;Only another 200 m….lift.
Giorgio [B]finished his comment and moved to the finish line to do the radio.
Who will have the best final glide????A pretty stressful final glide according to Brian, certainly when you are not that high.
The weather started bad, got better with the start and less again during the flight.
Sebastian moved from his group to reach the leaders.3 Different groups race to the TP now and then it is ” just going home”.
Didier is behind now after such an adrenaline-race …..a pity!
Tilo is going straight to the finish line with 1000 m. and 24 km.including the check point.
Werner is still in the race as well, a bit lower so more stress for him.
Tilo is the first to reach the control point with 200 km on the clock just before 5 PM.
Werner is 2d and Sebastian 3d all according to the tracking system.Max on 4 and behind him a big gaggle.
Now it is waiting for penalties and the scores.
All came in with low energy.
No “killer climb” for Didier today, the current GRAND PRIX Champion, was 12th with 0 points after such a day!!!!
Great pictures by FABIO BOSSI!!!!!!
“ Tilo is first to cross the line today. Tilo’s winning glider today is a Ventus 2 cxa with Front Engine Susutainer. The glider is owned by Luca Znidarsic from Slovinia who developed and fitted the installation into the Ventus2 amongst other gliders. Tomorrow we will review the glider with some of the others flying this week.” As shared by the Organizers.
Today’s flight made it a valid competition/GRAND PRIX .GOOD!!!
Werner, Tilo and Sebastian
Courtesy Fabio Bossi
and
a REAL HAPPY CHAPPIE!!!!
When we were in Uvalde and went out for dinner to the Italian team, Tilo told me how much he loves the GRAND PRIX.For that reason I find this picture TOP.
As shared by the organizers.Courtesy Alexander Georgas.
After 3 days the scores are; 20 points for Max and for Giorgio [G] and 18 for Roman, who flies very consistent,[Roman may very well be the dark horse of this competition according to the SGP journalist] . 16 for Sebastian and 15 for the 2 French Christophes ,13 for Werner and 10 for Tilo.
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Euroglide 2016
Preparations for Euroglide 2016 have started.
Date Euroglide 2016 will take place from Monday 20 June 2016 until Saturday 2 July 2016.
Take off in 286 days
Subscription will open on Sunday 29 November.
Route concept ;The south of Poland is explored.
There will be a rush again to enter this EUROGLIDE.
Picture and text shared by the Organizers www.euroglide.nl
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With the message yesterday I share some pictures from Narromine from above:
“Not long now (83 days 12 hours 15 minutes) until our little airfield is buzzing with JWGC2015”
Talking about Narromine,…the Dutch Junior gliders and other gliders ,have been packed yesterday in Venlo under supervision of Francesco and Grietje from the Corowa Soaring Center in Australia. They continue today with more gliders as they fill 3 containers with 17 gliders from Europe [from Germany, Italy, Spain ,Sweden , Finland and Holland as far as I could see].
Several pilots do this every year and stay in Corowa for most of the overseas season.
Grietje and Francesco are very experienced and pack gliders already for years.[18??]
The juniors will get used in Corowa to climate and flying and move then to Narromine.
First estimated flying day in Corowa will be 31-10-2015.
As shared by the Dutch Junior Team.
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CU most probably next Sunday with the latest on the FAI GRAND PRIX FINAL
Cheers Ritz
To NOT create a TOO long blog, I publish already today on Sunday at noon.
Lot’s of news about the GRAND PRIX, which is good. The PR and maybe for that reason , the interest is getting better and better.
Varese from above as shared on the site.
I share one of the “teasers” by Terry Cubley from Australia, so you know all the in’s and out’s as well. Of course their Tom Claffey flies in Varese.
” From 5 to 12 September 2015, twenty amongst the best gliding pilots in the world ,will battle out to win the 6th FAI World Sailplane Grand Prix Championship at Calcinate Del Pesce Airport in Varese, Italy. This exciting competition, which can be followed live online, is the finale of a series of seven qualifying races that took place during the course of the year in different places around the world.
The line-up of the competition is impressive: fresh from his victory at the 18th FAI European Gliding Championships in July, multiple FAI Sailplane Grand Prix Champion Sebastian Kawa from Poland will try to gain back the title lost to Didier Hausse from France at the 2014 Finale in Sisteron. This year he will certainly want to make sure that he doesn’t let the gold medal slip through his fingers.
Among other favourites are Giorgio Galetto from Italy, who will have the advantage of flying with detailed knowledge of the competition area, Cristof Ruch from France and Roman Mracek from the Czech Republic, while Rasmus Orskov from Denmark may create a surprise after his great second place in the Polish Qualifying FAI Sailplane Grand Prix. In total, five of the pilots who made their way to this finale are in the top 20 of the World Ranking List.
The format of the competition, which is designed to be media and spectator-friendly, will allow the general public to see most of the races just as they would in a yacht race. They will also be able to follow the race at the airfield, next to lake Varese and at the Volandia Museum on giant screens set up for the occasion. A series of animations on aviation including seaplanes, model aircraft, hot air balloons and a glider simulator are planned to provide a good insight into different air sports.
A 3D video representing the flight both graphically and accurately will be streamed directly via the web to the public sitewww.sgp.aero/final2015, thanks to an electronic tracking device fitted in the glider and which transmits its position in real time. Regular updates will also be made on the dedicated Facebook page and Twitter account. Videos will be also published on the SGP Youtube Channel.”
They started at Saturday ,after a few practice days with pretty crap weather , lot’s of wet- sight- seeing in the area and preparations, specially for Tom as he comes from far.
Here you see him with his wife Kerrie, nowadays his secretary,one of the members from his crew and faithful supporter. ” Today was scrutineering, weighing, paperwork for registration etc. we arrived at lunchtime at the hangar so waited for the crew to come back, worked well as we were able to sort out the paperwork.”
Picture courtesy Jill Spreckley and shared by Tom.
On Friday the weather improved and pilots had a real race on the last possible and compulsory practice day.
After briefing they went for a 126 km. task.Ricardo [Brigliadori] was the fastest and ONLY one with a speed over 100 km./h. he got the 8 “practice -points”.
2 Pilots with airspace violations, meaning outlanding at THAT spot, so better now than during the race.
” Today is the last practice day at the long awaited FAI Sailplane Grand Prix Final in Varese. Giorgino has briefed the task, the pilots are rearing to go.The sun is shining.”
The competitors at Fridays briefing as shared by Jill[Spreckley]
AND.
their names and nationalities.
During the flights this week, 2 experienced pilots ,one from the UK Shaun [Lapworth] and one from France Benjamin [Neglais] , will “take you by the hand” and accompany you, looking at the tracks, departures or arrivals from the 20 pilots.So you can SEE and HEAR everything.Interviews before and after flying belongs to their job as well and indeed a few interviews you can follow on their site. www.sgp.aero and click on live coverage.
With the message; “Mind the wires”!
Saturday September 5 day 1; The early morning had a thunderstorm, and the weather during the day would be still under the influence from a frontal system, but maybe they could fly later in the day;that was what Giorgio [Ballaratti] had to say during briefing.He will be doing the radio on the finish line as well.
A task was set , gridding after briefing and ” compressing” at 12.30 and the first launch ,depending on the weather, at 2 PM or maybe [last opportunity] for 3 o’clock and mainly from and to airfields so easy to land when necessary and just in the close area of Varese. Distance 149.43 km.
A dry air mass is arriving in the evening and the weather will improve for the next days.
At briefing they all got an umbrella with their name on it.
An umbrella for sun and rain. Rasmus, the youngest pilot, still fiddling around with his glider on the practice day.
As shared by the organizers.
DAY 1 unfortunately had to be cancelled . They launched but as Tom mentioned ” the day was cancelled a while after that and we scurried for home from about 20kms away. Some practice comp finishes were done!”
Sebastian was so kind to make some pictures and shared them with us. Here you are;
Thank you Sebastian.
AND thank you to Giorgio and Tom, who by the way flies Mike Young’s ASG 29, showing us why the day was cancelled.
Sunday September 6, day 2, race 1;
A Sunday with lot’s of visitors due to “a day off”.
The pilots will start with blue conditions but going East they will find cu’s, that was what Giorgio had to say during briefing this morning.
Grid 12.30 and compressing straight away.First launch expected at 13.00.Regatta start expected at 14.00.
” CU on the grid fly carefully ” and off they went to prepare their loggers for a task of 264.8 km.!!!!
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It feels like autumn here and it looks like it. EVERYTHING is WET.Wetter than ever before. I heard September had in it’s first 4 days more rain here than normally in a whole month!!!!
In the area where I live we had 52 mm of rain , whilst the average for September is 75 !!! Rieti still has good weather with up to 900 km. flights.
” A rare 2015 wave day – declared 611km at 157kph. Nice views of west coast and Iona” was the news from the UK by John Williams flying the ANTARES from Kinross.[648 km]
September started with only 78 flights world wide!!!Last year this was 243 on September 3 and 579 on September 7. Porta Westfalica had a great day of ridge soaring; several nearly 500 km flights gave a lot of joy!!
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When in Australia, I will visit the Preworlds at Benalla.Tim Shirley , writes here what’s happening and how for ONLY a few, there is still place available. “Hi all,
Look at the entry list and I can see there are currently 51 Australian and 13 foreign entries for the Nationals and Pre-Worlds at Benalla. Total of 64.
We have set a limit of 80, 60 Australian and 20 foreign.
So right now we have just over a month to go before the early entries close and in that time we can accept 9 more Aussies and 7 more from overseas before we have to start looking at seeding lists.
So if you are considering an entry, or you know anyone who is planning to come but is not on the forum, could you please let them know?
Website iswww.ozglide.com. I have just put up Version 2 of the Local Rules there, which includes some clarification on team flying and mobile phone use.”
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I will be also visiting the JWGC for a few days in Narromine, from December 9 till 13 , so I can attend the prize giving as well at 11 on Sunday.The official entry list was closed on August 30, but till the 30thiest of September reserve pilots can still enter.
I counted now 29 in club and 23 in standard class.
I was pleasantly surprised to see countries as Lithuania, Czech Rep. and Hungary with quite a big delegation. So one way or another,they managed to find funds for their young ones.
Lithuania has entered 5 pilots, Czech rep. 6 and Hungary 2.
Lot’s of Standard Cirrus’ in club and a lot of LS 8 gliders in standard.
On the site I noticed a great picture from August 9, mind you their winter, with great clouds.
“ This is Narromine today. Not bad for winter. Bring on December.”
By Brad Naylor.
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The German team for open class and 18 m. looks as follows;
Open class: Michael Sommer, Stephan Beck, Tassilo Bode and Holger Karow.
18m-class: Mario Kießling, Matthias Sturm, Michael Streit and Sebastian Huhmann
An early blog [as I go for a short break] on the very first day of September. A warm but also very WET month here and more thunder and lightning, WITH damage than I can remember in any other year.
We even go from 31 in the SE yesterday to 18 dgr. today!!!But summer was not too bad, in fact pretty good.For sure weird!!!
VARESE;
The Grand Prix final in Varese in Italy should be great fun again.They start on September 5 and continue in their 18 m. gliders till September 12.
19 Pilots have qualified for this event and 1, Giorgio Galetto , got the wild card for the pilot from the home country.
Aussie Tom Claffey prepared in France for a couple of days , but the weather was n’t too good,… as it was in Varese. He managed however in the weekend to fly from Sisteron to Varese. Easier job for his wife Kerry who flew the WWGC in Arnborg [also in pretty marginal weather] , as she had to drive the now “lighter” trailer through the mountains.
She mentioned it was “an epic trip” from Sisteron to Varese.
Tom and Kerry enjoying life before the GP starts.
As shared by them.
Luckily the weather improved and Sebastian, who is there too with already 3 GP-wins under his belt , had a nice “ride” to the Mont Blanc not in the car but his glider, as you can see on the picture he shared,a bit further than they will fly this upcoming week.
As he said;” A warm up, easy task for fun. Weather was much better so it was possible to go where you have no turn points for GPX. “
The latest GLIDING INTERNATIONAL, arrived again and I was straight away touched by the very personal story from the editor John Roake [my ” boss “] writing about the loss of his friend Bill Walker who died in Namibia about 8 months ago. Bill and his mate /colleague, both from New Zealand , crashed with the EB 28 , both very experienced pilots.
A ” special Minden Experience” by Elke [Fuglsang-Petersen] , brought me back at that soaring field where we practiced for the WGC , later “given” to Uvalde in 1991.Jim [Payne], who lives in the Minden area nowadays, invited her for a flight in the new Perlan ARCUS M, over this area.
Elke also visited the WSPA [Women Soaring Pilots Association] Seminar 2015 in Minden and shares her thoughts about that.
Aldo [Cernezzi] shines his light over the ” SUNSEEKERDUO ” …flying with solar cells on the wings; the future?
Joseph King mentions that ” the Perlan project” is closer to lift off .
Robert Downe, tell you all about “how to improve your contest flying”.
And more stories and lot’s of short world aviation news.
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Talking about the WSPA, who celebtated it’s 30thiest birthday [ it was foundedin June 1986 in Tucson Arizona]; the August Hangar Soaring is posted on www.womensoaring.org
The next WSPA seminar will be in Varese, Italy from June 27-July 1,2016.They hope that many of the European women will join them. Also the locale for the 207 seminar ,date pending, has been announced: Chilhowee Gliderport (Sarah Arnolds gliderport).
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Talking about Minden /Tahoe and talking about Jim,….. then you know a long flight has happened again; on the 29th of August Jim flew on a good wave day in the ARCUS M a flight from 1.328 km. [500 FAI triangle in it ] with a speed of 134 km./h.
Keith Essex in another ARCUS M flew about the same distance , a bit less, but he had some problems with a broken cable at start and other stuff in the glider did not function as normal. Luckily nothing to really worry about.
Looking at the longer flights this week, Rieti had some really good ones!!!
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The meteorological autumn started yesterday in this part of the world and spring down-under and how can you better share and show that , then with beautiful pictures.
Gorgeous purple heather as seen by Joke [Termaat] at the Veluwe.
Spring tulips as shared by Leslie [Daniels] in Australia’s ; Araluen Botanic Park
and from Narromine, the venue of the 2015 JWGC you can see the yellow canola in full flower already.
Lovely last Sunday of winter flight taken by local member Kah Chong flying VH-WVS one of the clubs Duo Discus.
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Busy week so more pictures than text.Last I showed you some WET pictures from the RENCONTRE ASK 13 in St Crepin. Also there the weather improved and now I can share some, by them shared pictures in the sun and ,…from flying gliders!!
Looking back shortly on the UK and German Nationals and as every year I made a picture-diary from my visit to Keiheuvel.
Lasham.
They squeezed out another day on Friday,[ number 5] , during the 18 m. Nationals in the UK last week.
254 km. was set but nobody managed to finish.
The best pilot flew 213 km. Andy 207 and Pete 202 km.
Saturday the final day , was cancelled.
Pete [Harvey] was on the first overall spot during the whole competition and won in his JS 1 ; well deserved 3.898 points .
Andy was 2d with 3464 points also in JS 1 but this time a JS 1-c and on a third spot Steve Jones with 3576 points.
The Parallel-Regional comps were scrubbed the last 2 days, so they had 4 days.
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Stendal.
To make it a valid German 18 m and open class National Competition, they added the extra available day and then it worked out well.
Pffff….IT WAS A VALID NATIONAL COMPETITION WITH CHAMPIONS.
And I am really happy for the organizers and pilots.I read that unless the weather the atmosphere remained TOP. So it should!!!
In 18 m. class it was Mario Kiessling in the ASG 29 ,who is the new champion ;2620 points, I guess the lowest he ever had to become a champion.
Runner up was Matthias Sturm with 2619 points also in an ASG 29 .
Michael Streit was the number 3 pilot with 2518 points and on spot 4 Swedish pilot Markus Ganev with 2431 points.
2015 NATIONAL 18 m. classs CHAMPION. MARIO KIESSLING
As shared on their site.
Open class was won by Michael Sommer with 2954 points in the EB 29.
Runner up was Stephan Beck in the ASW 22 BLE with 2842 points.
On spot 3 Stefan Langer in the NIMBUS 4 with 2776 points.
GREAT to see Bruno Gantenbrink on spot 4. He is been in competition soaring ” for ages” and got 2747 points.
2015 NATIONAL OPEN CLASS CHAMPION MICHAEL SOMMER.
As shared on their site.
A bit “tough” for all , to see that pilots last Sunday flew up to 588 km. again, at least the comps pilots had 3 fast days as well!
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THE KEIHEUVEL DIARY.
This year the friendly competition— with a very serious touch— ,was a bit later than normal and you could see that. Most pilots were back from other comps and pleased they could go to THE KEIHEUVEL as well. Instead of 23 they had 48 participants now.GOOD!!!!
The atmosphere was as always unique- pleasant. Maybe because I have been there so many times that it feels like coming home.
Great to see many young pilots as well, a great mix.
I was late there at Saturday, so I was pleased that Joeri shared a picture from the start. We just noticed the last 4 launches in the car and arriving at the field the last incoming tuggy.
Junior pilot Robin Smit, behind the tug on Saturday.
As shared by Joeri Cools.
The Huybreckx family always takes care that we have a ” roof over our heads ” and this time we had granddad’s camper -van. Very posh!Only sad note was that granddad is not so fit. We wish him all the best.
Unfortunately we straight away forgot the key, so our neighbor Eddy[de Koninck] helped my friend Ans, [ I started gliding with her in 1967,] to get in.
They had a nice task in each of the 4 classes;
Club had 112 km and the sport class 208 . The 2 classes with transponders, sport 235 and open 260 km.
It turned out to be a tough day in the blue with some high cirrus-firmaments and as the weather later during the day would supposed to be best to the West , the last leg was in that direction.
Finishes took place between 4 and 6.30 PM and as we sat first row, we could see them all. Except of course those from the “out-landers” and there were many.
In club only 1 glider [ from 4] finished; team Claes and Keymis in the G 103 twin II.
In the sport class 5 from 10 finished and Geert de Palmenaer was the best in the Pegase with 685 points , just ahead of Stijn Vanden Boer in the LS 8 who flew faster but lost on handicap.
In the transponder-sport-class 14 participants and 5 finished. Best was junior Nick Fremau in the LS 7 who won from pilots as Jeff [Kell] , Dennis [Huybreckx] and Tijl Schmelzer, so a great job done; 895 points.
In the open-transponder-class, it was , former European champion, vice WGC champion and many times Dutch National Champion, Ronald Termaat who won. [815 points]He was the only one with a speed above 100 . He flew the JS 1 from Marco Vermeer and Jeroen Kuijl. When I complimented Marco with his good results lately he mentioned that this is a TOP JS 1 ; it’s call sign APU.
7 From 19 finished. Dutch junior Robin, “Smitje” Smit, was runner up [ 739] and another Dutch pilot Robert Werts was 3d, [714] just ahead of WGC champion Bert jr Schmelzer, [701] who drove up all the way from Zurich in Switzerland, to participate in this for him, home-field- competition and drove back in the afternoon of Sunday again.
Johan Lemmens , his SO MANIEST time at Keiheuvel, was on spot 5 in the ” old” MS from Kees Musters.
Some impressions from the pilots:
Belgium junior Pieter Daems and Dutch junior Robin Smit and Dutch senior Robert Werts.
Marco vermeer [left] and Hans Biesters [right] both from Holland and World champion Bert jr . from Belgium.
Sunday was another day with big hope.Briefing was at 10 AM.Daily prizes ready to hand out.
The weather should be difficult with cirrus coming through first, then some cu’s and an early finish of the thermal activity around 4 PM. If it all fitted, they had a window to fly in.
They tried hard , but in vain. It did not fit.
The sniffer could not stay up, then they tried again, it was better but not good enough and the time went on ; after 2 PM they decided to cancel.
So the winners from day 1 are the total winners as well.A pity as it looked rather well at 2 PM, with some cu’s , but at 5 the first rain arrived and it turned into torrential rain, so a good decision by CD Stijn.
Marco, waiting for the first prize won by his mate Ronald, as he could not fly on Sunday … AND the CD Stijn in action.
For Ronald, who had to go home, Marco was there to fly on Sunday,so he got the prize to share.All first prizes are money prizes , sponsored by the family Emsens, so in fact you have a “free” weekend.The other 3 sponsors donate as well; TOP METEO , with a one year free connection to the weather.GLIDER PILOT SHOP with vouchers for a discount on their products and LTB Antwerpen, with nice cleaning material for the glider.
A special prize , sponsored by the Schmelzer family , the ALBERT SCHMELZER -prize, a beautiful bronze eagle for the best junior of this competition , was for the winner from the transponder sport class Nick Fremau.
Nick and Bert Schmelzer sr.
The next competition will be on August 20 and 21 in 2016. From March onward you can have a look at their site to see if you can enter, as 50 is the limit for this field. AND,…I can tell you it is great fun and as I heard more new guests thought the same.So don’t miss out! I won’t !!
The only not-so-good-news , this weekend, was that NONE of the Belgium juniors can go to Narromine, which is really sad as they have potential top 10 pilots. A REAL PITY. No money.
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last but not least; RENCONTRE ASK 13 IN the rain, at Aerodrome St. Crepin.Some special pictures as shared by them;
A short blog in between my trip to Amsterdam and Keiheuvel with interesting news about the VERSVS and great pictures from SAIL from one of my friends ,yes from the ZES, Theo.
By the way JULY is the warmest month ever worldwide, according to NOAA an organisation involved with meteorology and oceanology; 16.61 dgr. C.!!! Also Europe was “hot” with heat waves and temperatures up to and over 40 dgr. Lot’s of rain as well.
The 13.5 m. VERSVS.
When I heard about the Diana 2 VERSVS, I was highly interested. After the first WGC in Pocuinai with excellent weather and great soaring, this glider proved itself by winning with big marge.
There was the Silent 2 Electro, already a great project and from this same company ALISPORT , there was as we know now, also a co-operation with Stefano.
Of course I knew Stefano is a great pilot and former world champion, but even a great pilot needs a good glider to perform.
In fact it is even more of a pity now that the GP 14 VELO could not fly with Sebastian, due to the fact that it was not ready.
If we were doubting this 13.5 m. class, there is enough to look forward for the future.
So here is the latest by Stefano about this winning “little ship”.
Here below I send you some further details about my glider. Please note that:
– I modified my “old” Diana 2 glider (15m wingspan), which had a temporary permit-to-fly (PtF) since 2009 pending EASA certification.
– F-CAP (Federazione Club Aviazione Popolare, i.e. Italian Homebuilder Association) helped me in checking modifications. F-CAP strongly supported me with advice and competence for the issuance of “experimental plane” papers through the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC),
– All modifications were made at Alisport workshop, where I work as GM since 2014.
Remark: Alisport is the manufacturer of the self-launcher electric motorglider “Silent 2 Electro” (microlight),
– I cut my wings by 95cm each in order to get 13,5m wingspan,
– New winglets for the 13.5m wingspan were designed after a long computer-aided test phase,
– Both flaperons and rudder were reinforced,
– Water ballasts and water valves/vents were modified to fit new 13.5m winglets,
– Fuselage modified to get 2 battery packs (see FES batteries in “Silent 2 Electro”),
– Air extractor installed (fuselage),
– Plane was completely re-painted with acryl paint (gelcoat totally removed) in order to get lighter fuselage and wings,
– New avionics installed and sponsored by LX-NAV (Slovenia).
Finally I got my glider flying with 2 wingspan options (13.5m and 15m) with a maximum take-off mass (MTOM) of 500 Kg each.
As official manufacturer (home-builder) for ENAC, I could also give a new name to my glider. I chose “VERSVS” (written in latin, where V is U), which remind my contest number (VS) and also means my future development style (read new “direction”) of sailplane design at Alisport.
This autumn I will install a FES engine and make my “VERSVS” self-launcher.
Well what about that !!!!!!!!!
13.5 m. get’s a “face” and the ambition from Stefano, reading this all, for his company is wonderful.
13.5 is more and more ALIVE!!!!!
One of the engineers was in Pocuinai during the comps to keep an eye on the performances.They worked 2 years on this project.
Thanks Stefano and Kathrin, please keep us updated.
We will keep an eye on the GP 14 VELO as well.
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Lasham.
Sorry to tell you but day 4 and 5 were cancelled and yesterday no task was set. Hopefully today they can continue.
After the 3 flown good -distance- days [3 and 3.30 AAT and 411 km.] Pete Harvey [ 2812] leads the pact from 35 in this 18 m. class with Andy Davis as runner up [2593]
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Stendal
AND….THEY FLEW!
As shared by the organizers.
Yesterday the weather finally was good enough and a 2 hour AAT was won by Mario Kiessling in the ASG 29E, flying 256 km with a nice speed of 121 km./h.
278.8 km was set for open class and after all the waiting the “big ones” were going for it. Bruno [Gantenbrink ] in the Nimetax won the day with his big- wings -glider; 109 km./h.
He tops after 2 pretty marginal days the overall list as well with 1058 points followed by Michael [Sommer] in the EB 29 with 1035 points and Norbert Kalisch [ASW 22 BLE] with 1003, all others are under the 1000 points-marge. TODAY’s task is more like it ; 505.6 km. for open and 521 for 18 m.
THAT IS SOARING again from Stendal and ALL will forget about the bad weather.
Estimated first launches at 11.30.
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Told you about the promotion from gliding during the introduction week of the Technical University Eindhoven. They did a great job; 22 very enthusiastic first -year-students AND 8 became a member straight away , 3 are pondering, so between 8 and 11 new glider pilots for the future!!! Well done.
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And the promised pictures from Theo. Love them all. SAIL 2015 in AMSTERDAM.
CU on Wednesday with all the latest and my visit to KEIHEUVEL.
Last I saw; 49 from 50 available places in this 2-day-competition .
So a FULL HOUSE!!!!
Cheers Ritz
The 18 m. and open class in Stendal had a tough day last Sunday. Yes they flew and yes some pilots got points and whilst waiting longer it WAS a day in both classes!!!!
18 m. was won by Michael Streit ,..he got 166 points 1 point more than Claus Triebel. Best speed today; 65 km./h over 145 km.Both fly ASG 29E.
In Open class Norbert Kalisch was the best in his ASW 22 BLE. He flew 183 km with a speed of 70 km./h and “got 260 points. 20 More than Michael Sommer .
Monday unfortunately had to be cancelled again.How terribly unlucky can you be with such weather.Feel for the organizers , pilots and crews. BUT,…..It looks the weather will improve and the overall scores are low, so EVERYTHING is possible!!!
By the way we had here in Holland, the lowest EVER August 18 with 15.2 dgr, C. and at some places 100 ml. of rain.More than normally in one month!!!As said the weather is the weather , nothing has changed.
Tuesday; cancelled.
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The 18 m. Nationals at Lasham in the UK [ August 15-23] started last Saturday with 34 participants and another 29 [2 HC] in the regional’ s, flown parallel with this competition. Day 1 had a 3 hour AAT won by Pete Harvey in the JS 1. He flew 12 km. more than the runner up and in a time to be happy with ; 3.01. Frank Davies was runner up, Philippe de Pechy from France on spot 3.
Day 2 with a 3.30 AAT, was for Afandi Darlington; 401 km. with 113 km./h. with Steve Jones as runner up.Quite some toppers missed out on some points. Andy Davis was on spot 15, Russell Cheetham on 20, Mike Young on 22 and my Lasham/Tocumwal friends Roy and Patrick on spot 25 and 26. The other Toc/Lasham friends are David flying the Duo Discus T in the regionals [amber] and Hugh, but I could not find him on the entrance list, but for sure he will be there!!! MMMmmmm, ….I might be wrong.
David in the Duo Discus T ,flying in the REGIONALS AMBER and after 3 days on spot 5.
As shared by his wife Sandra.
Hugh on a boat ?????
As shared yesterday by Graham Coules.
It’s nearly unbelievable but on Monday , day 3, they flew 417 km. from Lasham.We are all sitting in the rain, THEY FLY!!!And…from 34 pilots 31 flew the task plus 1 HC. Only 3 out -landings.
Who said it’s always raining in the UK??????? When I was there a couple of years ago, I even got sun burnt!!
Andy [JS1-C] won; 112.71 km./h. He climbed from 6 to 2 overall behind Pete.
A picture from Lasham.As found on their site.
Tuesday;and off they went again for a 237.9 km. task.HOWEVER,….this time the weather did not co-operate. The start was postponed from 12 to 12.30 and later, the task changed in B task and then they had to cancel the day.
Most probably you know already, that Lasham Gliding Society have been awarded the 2017 Flapped European Championships. ” A great boost for UK gliding.” they say.It IS!!
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Kathrin and Eberhard Woetzel , her dad, with the wooden sculpture , created for every WGC or EGC which takes place in Pocuinai!!!!What a great idea and a permanent memory!!!
So next year another will be added for the WGC over there for standard, club and 2 seaters. They can start already.
Just read that the Diana 2 VERSUS is NOT from the DIANA factory but it’s ” done ” by Stefano [Ghiorzo ] himself and the team from Alisport. So,…. Stefano modified his own Diana 2 to a Versus ; his own project and the practical site was done by ALISPORT an Italian firm where Stefano is nowadays the managing director .
And ….ALISPORT means …: ” SILENT 2 ELECTRO, with its nose-mounted electric propulsion system constructed specifically for the Silent, is the most modern and environmentally conscious design capable of satisfying the needs of ever increasing sailplane performance. ” The number 3-4-6-7-8-9 during this first 13.5 m. WGC.
What a small world!!!!www.alisport.com
Did not know that, so I checked with Kathrin ,who gave me already some info, but more about this by Stefano himself. SO STAY TUNED!!!!!
Stefano in his Versus as shared by Kathrin.
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JWGC in Narromine: Dutch team;Already DURING her participation in Arnborg junior pilot Annemiek, who WON 2 days, heard that she is selected for the JWGC in Australia as well. During the “road to Narromine ” , 2 pilots decided with pain in their heart that their graduation- study at the Delft University [Steven] and the pilot training for KLM [Stefan] HAD to be more important, so Annemiek fills in for Stefan, for whom she was in first case crewing in Narromine , and for Steven it will be Robin Smit, who showed his talent already a few times over the last years!
Together with Nick Hanenburg and Ronald Deerenberg they will start in Corowa , where the 2 St Cirrussen [AU and AG owned by a foundation to support young pilots ;Stichting Zweefvliegevenementen Nederland] and 2 LS 8’s arrive with the COROWA TRANSPORT. Young and former JWGC CHAMPION Tim Kuijpers will assist as coach and Ger Kwant ,[by the way his uncle] who brought home already 2 JWGC CHAMPIONS, will be the TC.
Team UK; goes with 4 pilots as well, 2 in standard 2 in club. One of them Andy Davis’, [who is the TC, ] son Matt, who participates in a JWGC for the 3d time. Twice before he flew in club class.
The other pilot in this class is Mike Gatfield, who flies a JWGC for the first time.
Club class pilots are Sam Roddie , who competes for the 2 time and Tom Arscot , for whom it is the first JWGC as well.
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A REAL ADVENTUROUS FLIGHT AND NOT WITHOUT RISK!!!!
Through my writing I get to know many very interesting people.
Also last week; Got some news by a now 77 year old pilot, Peter Asam, who checked if I might be interested in a story and he gave me the link, WITH the message/advise; don’t do this!!!!!
So I wrote him back to get some more details about a flight in FOEHN/wave over a top from 9100 m.
The pilot was Peter himself flying his 3d diamond in the end of the 70thies.
Over the top of this mountain , the ZUG SPITZE, 3 airline-tracks cross, so a fiat/validation to fly there was then and now NOT possible.Those years however the air traffic was not as busy as now , so he took the risk to fly with his glider, LS 1f, a glass- fiber plane invisible for radar, around Christmas,over and around the top.
First they flattened the snow from the piste/launch area, by driving up and down with cars and then a brave tuggie took him up during a very turbulent “ride”.
Peter is still top fit, but does not fly anymore!!Thanks Peter….for sharing your pretty daring flight with us.
Here is the story with pictures.AND,…he is busy with another project …and you will hear about that later as well.
Interesting guy.
In the foehn/ wave, which comes from the South, he flies direction West .He turns here to fly/surf back in the wave. On the right site of the picture below, the top from the ALPSPITZE.
Flying in wave from West to East .In the middle ” das ZUGSPITZPLATT” up to 8000 m MSL.
Of course with oxygen.
To avoid the fact to NOT see the ” ground” anymore through incoming clouds , it was time to quickly go down.
Here you can see the incoming clouds/front with the “bad” weather.
Going down….. the beautiful view on the “Walchensee” and the river ISAR.
Mask off at 4500 MSL , as you can see a bit of a provisional army- mask. He had an emergency-one on his parachute as well. Peter was an experienced parachutist, one of the reasons he “dared’ to start this adventure.
Home sweet home, end good all good!!AND a 3d diamond in the pocket!
THANKS for this picture -story Peter.
You can find the FULL story on FB now too and all pictures in ;
Föhnflug über der Zugspitze…9100 m. where you find as well a story about the Speed Canard and the Bolkov Bo 209:
To finish a picture from the PR from my club the ZES. Though I am only an “interested/extraordinary member nowadays, I loved my time with this club and it formed the base from what I am doing now.
All students at the technical university over there should go and see if gliding is something for them.
During the introduction week of the new university year the ZES promotes her sport .Heard already that there is a lot of interest also by the ladies. GOOD.
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Cu next Wednesday with news from the VERSUS [maybe already on Friday]and pictures from my annual trip to the airfield of KEIHEUVEL in Belgium this upcoming weekend, where over 45 pilots have entered. 4 Places to go,…then all available places are gone.
Some juniors will be flying too,so I can check what their situation is on “the road to Narromine”.Will be great fun again!!!
Talking about Narromine I just booked my accommodation arriving on Wednesday the 9th and departing on Sunday the 13th of December after the prize giving.
AND,…just noticed Geoff Pratt flew already 538 [500 FAI Triangle] from Mareeba in his PIK 20 E.. GOOD ON HIM. The season down-under starts already.
Off to Amsterdam , where SAIL starts today with about 600 ships among them some ” TALL SHIPS ” from everywhere in the world.
Pocuinai, after-fun!
What a nice competition it was over there in Poncuinai.
And what a great and memorable last flying-day , won by Francois with Tony as runner up. T
Due to this achievement, team USA took home the bronze for TEAM CUP as well. Behind Italy [876 points]and France [ 783] they were the number 3 with 766 points!!!
Again congratulations to CHAMPION Stefano, VICE CHAMPION Vladas and “still a bit unexpected” on a 3 place… Francois!!
Vladas , Stefano and Francois proud on the podium
Courtesy Kathrin[Pilotessa Design-com]
And Stefano’s glider the Diana versvs.
AND
team Italy
with Alberto , [Luciano Avancini ] and Stefano winners of the TEAM CUP.
and the prize ceremony for the TEAM CUP with the recipients representing Italy, France and the USA.
team USA ,Leah and Tony, thanks for the updates!!!
Happy chappies!
AND Tony and Francois, last day-winners.
Sorry I do not have much info or pictures about VICE CHAMPION Vladas so I publish this one again.
THAT WAS ALL ABOUT POCUINAI; THE FIRST 13.5 m WGC.
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Stendal, hoping for good weather.
As they say; Good morning Stendal, good morning world”.
Shared by the WM organizers this morning early, and at 11, so there is hope.
They bravely continue with trying-hard!! A new day, new hope and today not in vain.
At briefing small tasks were handed out , 2 hour AAT in 18 m. class and 2.30 in open; an estimated first launch at 11.30.
AND……… they have started, open class first then 18 m.Start lines opened at 13.17 and 14.02!!!!!
If all goes well and they started straight away, they will be back in 2 hours.
Most after a few kilometers already,though one open class pilot flew already 130 km.
For news and scores you can look at http://dsm2015.lsvst.de/
My next news on Wednesday.
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To keep the blogs going with interesting news sometimes really time. To figure it all out is a big job with many pages open on my laptop, but I am VERY pleased with the great PR by some sites and mainly by team members or people over there.
The news by stewards this season was interesting. I did n’t want to do that job anymore because it is expected that as a steward you are totally neutral and as you know I am pretty out going, so I like to talk with anybody and I like to say what I think.
SO THANK YOU TO ALL for your PR. I only delivered that news to a bigger audience, within my own stories as an extra appendix.
Just to let you know!
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After all the happy news I finish again , UNFORTUNATELY, with sad news. The mountains bring joy and happiness BUT…..it looks for this year too much sadness.Tragic news again, as we lost 2 mates yesterday. This time in the Mont Blanc- area, the Italian site of it, during good weather .A Swiss [65] and New Zealand pilot [66] , both very experienced, lost their lives when their brand new ARCUS M crashed. Bizarre, all ingredients for a SUPER day and it ends so TRAGIC.
The competition season is nearly over. Days are getting shorter here, longer down under. We had a fabulous season I think, the weather did not always co-operate but, …this is Europe mate….Some comps struggled more than others. Pocuinai had so to see, the best weather.So that’s good for the next WGC over there.
Still a few interesting comps in August as the French Juniors from Tours and in the UK, [August 15-22] the 18 m. Nationals from Lasham combined with the regional’s.[August 15-23] Lasham is promoting their field for a WGC, and a PR talk was held in Rieti during the EGC, good idea, great field and you can NEVER predict the weather.
And in September the FINAL GRAND PRIX from Varese.
Pocuinai;
The first 13.5 m. WGC is over with CLEAR winners. Still a pity that Sebastian could not fly. That would have stirred the scores maybe as well.
Leah, crew and wife from Tony Condon keeps us updated.
” first launches 12:30pm. The area task opened at 12:57 pm. ”
And before I know Tony is back : ” Home sweet home. Total blue. Good climbs. 83 kph.”
What happened?
With an early start at 13.55, Stefano took it all in his own hands. He started raced , flew 260 km. and was 3d ,…he is the very deserved WORLD CHAMPION.Morgan and Alberto, left with him , Vladislav as expected, about 15 minutes later.
With 10.879 Stefano showed his ability as TOP pilot. Vladislav with 10.487 is a worthy vice World champion.
Then,…about spot 3…….WINNER TODAY,…Francois PIN,[ who started at 14.06, ]from the USA, 1000 points, less kilometers [254] than Stefano but a better time 83 for 81 km./h.
With this day he moved to spot 3 overall. Good on him!!!8954 points.
Morgan was 4th.Great day for Tony as well, who ” practiced pair/team flying ” with Francois. He was runner up today.
” Team USA 1st and 2nd for the day and Francois appears to move up to a Podium spot! 3rd Place! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO” by Tony!
The winners from today again on the pictures I showed already as tribute to 3R, Rick Walters!!!!!!
A quick first reaction from Tony;“It was a tough day in the blue. We got a good start at 2 PM and had a pretty rough first leg. The whole flight I felt OK but not great about how our speed was. Climbs were pretty good but we weren’t pushing very hard between. Maybe that was the secret…
We won the day! 1st and 2nd. What a great way to end the contest. AND, Francois moved up into 3rd place for a podium finish. Fantastic!! We are pretty excited of course. Not sure about the Team Cup. Will let you know when we know. Lots of excitement here. Farewell party tonight, and we gotta get the gliders all cleaned up and packed up for the drive tomorrow. More later!!”
Francois
AND the new WORLD CHAMPION in 13.5 m.
Stefano Ghiorzo
As shared by his wife Kathrin, who flew a HORNET in the parallel pre -worlds these weeks.
Stendal;
After they cancelled the 18 m. class , the open class start was postponed to 3PM, then 4 PM. The short 2.30 AAT, should be still possible.In the end it turned out to be day 5 which was cancelled, ..but still 7 days to go, so EVERYTHING is possible.Only a bit of a nuisance now.
Rieti;
Pictures from the Champions and TEAMCUP Prizes ; 1. France, 2. Czech Rep. and 3. the UK.
15 m.
1. Didier Hauss France 7188
2. Peter Hartmann Austria 7112
3. Christophe Ruch France 7086
1. Ondrej Dvorak 7341
2. Jan Louda 7302
3. Josef Kozar 7256
AND the Champion and runner up both from Czech Rep.
AND the FRENCH team as shared by Pole France Planeur, with Eric [Napoleon TC] to the right and the CHAMPION Didier in the middle and Christophe 2 more to the left.
This it IT!!! Rieti 2015 is over now.Czech Rep is next.
As shared by the SSA. Picture courtesy Eric frere.
“ How Lithuanians do grid time!”
August 15 ;
Aussie team; ” Day 12 – last day. We have a 3 hour AAT. The forecast is for blue conditions, and today I believe it.”
A 3 hour AAT to finish indeed is a good final for these great first 13.5 m. comps. What weather they have had and such good flying. Yesterday Stefano consolidated his first spot by starting and staying with his biggest concurrent Vladas. They were 2 and 3 for the day.
Daily winner was French pilot Antoine Havet, on his way to the podium, as Morgan in his first BIG competition was only on spot 10 loosing some valuable points and his 3d overall spot to Antoine.
So if nothing goes wrong , spot 1 and 2 are occupied but today will be interesting for the spot 3. Will it be Antoine, now with 8146 points, or maybe Morgan with 8032 who might play all or nothing, or maybe the 3d pilot “fighting” for this spot Alberto Sironi with 8017. As a very experienced pilot I expect the “all or nothing-attitude” more from him.And let’s not forget an other experienced pilot who “smell chances ” ; Francois Pin.
Let’s wait and see.Tonight we know!!!
Yesterday was forecasted as a blue day. It turned out a GREAT day with the one but longest task till now.;347 km.
The organizers write today:
” A useful part of every weather briefing is a thermal forecast for the afternoon, based on an actual sounding from a station upwind of the home airfield. Today the wind was from the east, and we learned that there are no radiosonde stations east of here. Something to do with politics. Instead, metorologist Viktorija based her cloudbase forecast on a sounding from Latvia, to our north, and her forecast was “no clouds all day.” It turned out that the air to our east was not as dry as the air in Latvia. As Tony and Leah Condon brought JEN to the grid one of them took a photo through the windshield of the crew vehicle. By the time launching began, we had 3 octas in all directions.”
Blue………….???????
as shared by the organizers.
———-
EGC in Rieti
Italy
It’s over and out, great flying, difficult flying and no flying,…it was all there in Rieti.
—” A difficult start for the last competition day: climbs of 0.5 m/s at the start, but going to Celano, thermals were up to 5.8 m/s and in that area there was some rain, it was also raining over L’Aquila. Wind was from south, south/east but very weak: 16/18 km/h. Cumulus base was 2500m at the beginning of the task and after up to 3000m. Somewhere along the mountains there was a beautiful line of cumulus. The top speeds for the day for club class was 108 Kmh, standard class 125 Kmh and 147 Kmh for 15m class. Now all the gliders are in their trailers and at 8.00pm we will have the farewell party at airport restaurant.”—-As shared by the organizers,
That was it ….in Rieti. As always great!!! Only a pity that several gliders were damaged.
What happened on the last day? club class; 2.30 AAT,
2 Italian daily winners who started early and again young Davide won a day. A pity from the days he out -landed. Luca Urbani was runner up.
6 Times a St Cirrus in the daily top.
What does this all mean for the overall score??
Ondrej was today on spot 5 and Jan [Louda] his mate on 4. They started late together to see what was possible on this last day. Chasing the rest and passing them,…. it worked more or less.;they did not win the day but consolidated and climbed up.
Ondrej Dvorak is the new CLUB CLASS EGC CHAMPION.[7341] Good on him. Winning task 8 a few days ago, on August 12, together with Jan, brought him from 8 to spot 2 overall. Only Josef Kozar from Slovakia was in his way, but on the last day he was on spot 11, so the runner up is JAN LOUDA.[7302]
Josef is on spot 3.[7256]
UK pilot Ge Dale who was on top for quite a few days finished on spot 4, having a few relatively “poor” last days.
standard class;2 hour AAT.
Lucasz had to defend his first place overall and he did,…but only just 236 km in 2.08. He was on this last day on spot 18 !!! But he was far enough ahead to be THE NEW EUROPEAN CHAMPION in Standard class.[7408]
Runner up ” our ” Sjaak Selen, a very consistent pilot.On this last day he started 13 minutes ahead of Lucasz and flew 251 km. in 2.03.A total of 7293 points.
On spot 3 at the podium;Russian pilot Dmitriy Timoshenko, with 7071 points. He slowly made his way from 8 to 3 over the last days. Well done by Dmitriy.
Sjaak as vice European Champion.Proud on him.
As shared by EK Zweefvliegen and the podium by Frouwke.
15 m. class; 1.30 AAT.
I thought NOTHING could go wrong for Peter Hartmann. But on the last days it did n’t go as well as before. Yesterday he was one of the out -landers today he was on spot 11 , loosing points again. Unfortunately for him too many as he is now runner up with 7112 points.
THE NEW EUROPEAN CHAMPION IN THIS CLASS IS DIDIER HAUSS.[7188] After day 7 he was still on spot 9 overall, but he raced to the top eating every day a bit of the points from Peter who topped the overall list for 6 days.
The French had a strong team together occupying spot 1 ,3 and 4.The number 3 is Christophe Ruch.
The last day was won by Jaroslav Tomana with a speed of 147 km./h.
Good bye Rieti by TEAM UK.
———-
Looking back at Arnborg!
It’s a tough job to win a prize.
Sabrina with the club class trophy and for her and the other champions ,…a trip to the USA, as I heard from Frouwke who was steward during these comps.
Picture courtesy Frouwke.
It was not always easy for the girls.Certainly in the beginning, the weather did not co-operate. Already during practice it was impossible to do good training- flights. They still managed to fly 9 out of 13 days, some pretty marginal.
But all went well. We have great CHAMPIONS , fantastic runner up’s and good third- place-holders.
What is AS is important is the friendship created over the days. I hear and read above all sadness that it is over. SO IT WAS GOOD!!!!
I was pleasantly surprised by the flying of the Dutch girls. Natasja [ spot 8 from 10] had only flown 1 WWGC , for the others , Annemiek [spot 9] and Lilian [11] and Doortje,[12] it was the debut. All 3 flew in club class with 17 participants.Dutch female gliding is up and running.
Annemiek, as said still a junior, won 2 days , was 2 times 3d and 3 times at the bottom of the list. So a bit more consistency and she will win in the future; her talent still has to be developed over the future years.
Elena is such a rough diamond as well and for sure more young girls, but I don’t know them all.
I sometimes felt for the Aussie girls Kerrie and Jo, flying in total different circumstances as down-under, on days they would not even think to go the airfield home.
Jo mentioned; “ It’s always a bit sad to end a comp. Especially one as special as this one! Lots learnt and new friends made. While the flying was supremely difficult I wouldn’t have missed a moment.”
Kerrie, who is full of humor, mentioned;
“ Denmark is a wonderful country – green countryside, neat farmhouses and fields, extremely friendly & hospitable people – we’re determined to come back and visit again – but next time in summer!” She was grateful to many also ” to the to all the Danes who offered help, encouragement, support and a shoulder to cry on – esp the two pilots at Christianshede (gliding club) who individually came up to apologize for the Danish weather!”
Jo shared the pictures from the prize winners, who are all on their way home now again with awesome memories on a very friendly easy going competition. Compliments to all !!!!
Specially for Swaantje who after battling her cancer, was in full swing again during this WWGC. She was 14th , but who cares, she PARTICIPATED!!! Good on her.She is on the left ,first row on this picture with ALL the German team members , who were so successful!! As shared by Frouwke.
The Club Class Champions: Sabrina ,Chrissie and Edita.
The 15 m. class winners; Anne, Marilyne and Katrin.
The Standard class winners; Aude, Dana and Jana.
———-
Bailleau
NO FLYING on the last day in Bailleau so nothing changed in the scores.
—” Frank Hiemstra is “Le Champion Grande Vitesse de Bailleau 2015″.—”
Best of 37 ,so a good result!!! Congratulations to Frank .Runner up was another Dutch pilot Robbie Seton, also one of my former juniors. He just missed out on 4 points!!!Well done Robbie!
In the friendly class 2 Dutch pilots on top Stefan Knoop and Thomas van Heeswijk in the Duo Discus and Michael de Wert in the Discus.
In the long flights class the winners are from home; Bailleau pilots Henry and Negri in the ARCUS T.[750 kg.]
As shared by Ben Hiemstra……Robbie, Frank and Jan.
Already for years and years a VERY PLEASANT competition!!!!
——–
18m and open class in Stendal
NO FLYING for 4 days.
NOW WE KNOW WHY!
By the way we had yesterday, 43.000 lightnings here as well.
As shared by the organizers.
BUT they try today ; Racing tasks were set, BUT the thunderstorms started again. 18 m. in the back of the field was cancelled at 12.30.
Open has to try;2.30 AAT. But first they secure the gliders till after the storm.
More tonight or tomorrow.
———-
Slowly a very careful beginning of the season in Australia with 300 km. flights from Warwick and Kingaroy.
AND a great ridge soaring day in the EAST from AUSTRIA. From Wiener Neustadt they flew yesterday, 1.150 km. in a DUO DISCUS.And here we are looking ahead at autumn.
