What a day last Sunday !!! At 10 AM, I could see clouds popping up already and I felt during the day the cold but strong wind from the thermals here in Alphen.
Looking in the evening at the OLC , it indeed was a great day!
Cloud Streets till late in the evening, good thermals  and convergence ,  it was all there.
From Venlo,  a new Dutch record was flown over 1.061,40 km. by Robert Werts and Luc Stalman in the Nimbus 3DT. Robert flew a 1000 from Holland last year as well.

Ready to go early in the morning!

 

  
Pictures courtesy Luc Stalman from the back seat. One from  Robert  after they just were on their way and a “happy- thumbs -up- Robert “in the end of the flight.

From Eindhoven, long time friend Gerrit flew in the Duo Discus 645 km.
Mark [Ventus 2] and Alfred Paul both flew from Soesterberg straight South to,….St Hubert, 802 km. yes the place where they only could fly 3 days during the Belgium Nationals. When they finished the comps the better weather arrived. Grrrrrr…..have seen that too often!!!!
Holland had a total of 111 flights and the first 49 flights were between 327 and 1.063 km!!!!! Mostly flown over Holland and a bit into Germany and Belgium. VERY special!!!!!
Several out and returns as well.

The weather at 7.30 PM as seen and shared by Natasja close to Soesterberg.

 With this great weather, how lucky can you been, the open military comps started at Malden and on Monday they got an AAT in all 3 classes.
But what AAT’s; Club 5 hours, combi 4.5 hours and open 4.5 as well. When you are interested you can follow the pilots the rest of this week, if you did not do so already,  on
www.live.glidertracking.com
40 Participants in total and day 1 was well spend by Jeroen van Dijk [ club class with 13 participants] ] who arrived home last week with 2 CUPS from Romorantin and won in Malden day 1 with 405 km. in the Mosquito in 5 hours and 4 minutes! He clearly was still in the winning mood!!!Good on him! Normally you go to France for good soaring weather , but after one day of competition-flying there,  he found out that the weather here in Holland is TOP!!!!
Oh oh that weather!!!
In the combi class with 13 pilots, Adriaan Oudhuis won the 1000 points flying in the ASW 20 384.5  km. in 4 hours and 32 minutes.
In open class [ 13 pilots] Tim Kuijpers [DG 800 S/18m.] won the 1000 points before his mate, Rene de Dreu [988 in JS 1 Revelation].Tim flew 391 km. in 3.48.
3 Of the Kuijpers family are flying. Dad Ferdi, in the Duo discus was on spot 2 in the combi class and mum Frouwke had a less good day in this class being last after an outlanding on 85.5 km.

 

The weather as seen and shared by Rene on day 2 of the Open Military Championships in Holland [Malden] . Not bad is it?

On Tuesday an other nice day , number 2, with for the CLUB pilots 260 km. on the menu and the winner for the day was Frank Hiemstra one of the boys behind GLIDERTRACKING.
He flew his St. Cirrus with a speed of 74.5 km./h. over Holland and into the 1000 points.
Jeroen was with 830 points runner up!
In the combi class the 13 pilots had a much more difficult day to fly their 270 km., with only 385 points for the winner in the Duo-Discus and 11 outlandings . In Open class Tim and Rene departed again together and finished in the same time as well. But on handicap Tim won the 1000 points, Rene had 7 less.
6 From 13 made it home!
Today they fly again till June 7 and they keep this great weather!
Tasks today;Club 325km Combi 443km Open 451km. NOT TOO BAD !!!!
The day ended however TOO BAD! Very sad but the day was neutralized after a deadly accident with one of the single seaters killing the pilot.Tomorrow is cancelled as well.
Condoleances to the family and friends of the pilot and a lot of strenght for those who had to witness the crash after the cable broke.

Today’s tasks as shared by glidertracking.

From Diest in Belgium a nice flight in a Duo Discus last Sunday, nearly all over Holland with a cloud street in the evening till 9.30 PM!!!

Also Finland had it’s share. On TV the meteo said already that the North of Europe had great weather and yes they were correct ; Olli Teronen [ASG 29 e/18m.] flew 714  within it , a nice 500 km. triangle from good old Räyskälä. Young Aku Jaakkola flew from the same field in the LS 8 645 km. The best flights till now for this season from this field, where I for sure go back one day!!On June 8 the Finnish Nationals start in Räyskälä and Woolley has arrived already from Australia to practise for next years WGC.
There are 19 pilots flying in St.Class, 7 in Club amongst them Australian guest Adam Woolley and 23 in the handicapped class.
The official news;
—” Welcome to Finnish Open Nationals and Club Class Trophy – the Pre-WGC.
The Pre-WGC in Club, Standard and 20-m Multi-seat Classes will be organised from 8th to 16th June 2013 in Räyskälä in conjunction with the Finnish Open National Championships in Standard, 15-m and 20-m Multi-seat Classes.—“

For our UK friends in club class and the pilots flying the  regionals,  the comps is over and what comps they were.
What an epilogue of the UK club class nationals last Sunday.
What a hero that Will Ellis, flying his KA 6E to 1000 points with a speed of 103 km./h. Stunning good!
Great to see how many pilots flew this competition and lovely to see they had atleast 4 top days weather-wise and a total of 6.
As my English is less good than the real ” pommie English”,  I copied and pasted a few words I firmly back up.
—“Massive congratulations to Pete Masson on becoming the UK Club Class Champion . An epic achievement, especially after a few years without competing.
We can only hope some of the talent  rubs off on us—“
I had no time to write about the Regionals so here we go;. Andy Davis also put on a masterclass
Dave Watt won the 1000 points on the last day before Andy, who clearly won the regionals in the ARCUS;5869 points. Dave did well too with 5708 points.
For the PW 5 pilot  the 407 km. were a bit TOO much. He flew 138 km.! On day 2 he flew 430.2 km. but it was too difficult with those long tasks to finis on either of the 6 days.
Still a great effort!!!
And,…..—“Andy Davis also put on a masterclass in the Regionals to win another title.”—NICE!
More pilots flew that Sunday from Lasham and Roy was one of them flying 790 km[700FAI triangle] in his ASG 29 E.

Dave Masson had the day of his life as well. Maybe not even realizing how good the weather was, as he had not really had a look at it, he finished his day flying his LS6 WL, with a great out and return up N.
—“If the paperwork etc  is ok then it is the first 15m 750 O/R so I can get the distance and speed records and I’ll be jolly pleased with myself .—“
So a great day in the UK as well and it seems we keep this weather for a while!

Germany , specially the South and East, however struggle with too much rain, too high rivers and for that reason FLOODING, the highest level of water in 100 years.
Passau has a risen water-level of 15 m. and this has not happened for 500 years. 3 Rivers join there and all are full of water!!!
I heard that even the airfield from Unterwössen , where some of my friends fly, is flooded!!!I checked with Maria;
–“ that’s correct the airport is flooded but the gliders are on a safe place. They count on a level of 2 or 3 meter at the field. It seems a dyke has been broken at Bernau as well.—”
Not good, also Prague is in problems and the army tried to keep the beautiful old town safe from too high water. Switzerland and Austria suffer as well.
People have been killed and several people are missing.

Kilometer-eater Guy Bechtold from Luxembourg moved to Ouarzazate and the 3 gliders flying there had quite good weather.Janusz Centka [ARCUS M] flew his 5th over-1000-km. flight and the manager from the German soaring business Fly Down Under at Stonefield in Australia , Konrad Mayerhofen just missed out on a 1000 in the DG 500 M /22m.
Since May 23 pilots  flew 11 over 1000 km., flights in Morocco and you cannot always count there  on a 1000 , as I heard last year from the Schmelzer boys.

On Monday I was in Amsterdam again and after picking up the kids from school we went for a “cruise” on the canals with an Australian guest. Mike, Moo for insiders,  arrived, flying his Airbus 340 as captain  to Amsterdam from Hong Kong and spend the day with Inge and later with all of us. Both Inge and Mike made their hours as former Sportavia tuggies.
Sad news as well for “old” Sportavia fans;  a couple of  years after Maureen died, Dolf her husband died yesterday.  Though Dolf was not involved in Sportavia [ his wife Maureen was…. as secretary for years!!!] he visited the WW2 hangar a lot and flew his own light plane.

Around 70 people and 20 gliders have registered for the “special -student-summer-camp-day on June 22 in a paddock in the middle of Holland. One of the highlights of the ZES- lustum- 50 years!Will be a lovely happening! I am invited but unfortunately I can’t go.

Good luck for all pilots participating in the VINON EGC with 20 pilots in 15 m. class, 23 in 18m. and 24 in open.
Looking foreward to see how the JS 1 with Killian and Ronald will fly compared to p.e. the Quintus, EB ‘s, Nimbus , ASH 25 , ASH 31 and Antares.
And a special HAPPY BIRTHDAY  in Vinon to Marion the more than faithful crew from R1 , Steven Raimond! Such a great team together , such lovely people and already for years and years and years!
No news this upcoming week as I will be on holiday WITHOUT a laptop. SORRY.Next news on the 16th. Have fun. Here is a link to follow the EGC;http://www.egc2013vinon.fr/en/

Cheers Ritz

 

With 2 nice sunny days last Monday and Tuesday , this SPRING is one to quickly forget.
I loved Amsterdam however last Monday,how different does the world look with blue skies, a bright sun and with all the  fresh light- green leaves on the trees.
Some pilots who really had some great flights this spring, must have loved their few great days, but for sun-bakers and people liking to sit on terraces, it was a tough time certainly after the too long winter.
Overall it was much too cold, in the beginning too dry , in the end too wet, more autumn than spring.
Looking forward to the 2013 SUMMER , which started yesterday, here with 9-15 dgr and dry.
Hope we will have one!!!!!15 dgr. is 5 under the average for this time of the yaer.

By the way it was Ingo’s 75 th birthday yesterday, celebrated as I heard , with birthday cake and champagne and dinner later in the Terminus , for those who wanted to come along. Congratulations Ingo.

 

Know I have showed this picture before but I like the happiness on both  faces!And one shared by Judy from yesterday!!! Go Ingo!

The Austrian Nationals in the end squeezed 3 days out of the 8. Last day was yesterday and the pilots  in 4 classes got an 1.30 AAT and in open 15 minutes more!
A day to gain some points for some as they needed only a few,  to be winners.
It turned out different as I read on their site,  as the day was cancelled for 18 and open and neutralized for the rest as some pilots were dropped off in wave [outside the drop zone!] , others had huge problems to stay in the air as rain showers passed by . So the organisers took the difficult decision before opening the start lines, to be fair to ALL and neutralized the day. In the end it seemed a good decision as they said it would have been a lottery.
National champion in club class Andreas Hudler ,winner in this class Karel Mares from the Czech Rep.
In standard class Jan Jagiello  and winner in this class was Miloslav Cink .
In 15 m. Heimo Demmerer was the National Champion and the winner was Dominik Jancik.
In 18 Peter Hartmann is the National Champion, also with the most points.
In open Sebastian Eder Austrian Champion and winner in his class.

The Swiss Nationals ended up with ONE day in the mixed 15 m. class, winner Manfred Hahn with 708 points in Ls 8 /15 m. and 2 in the mixed 18 m. and the open class.
In the 18 m. class Rolf Friedli won in the ASG 29/18 m. with 1179 points and in open Marcus Gaumann in the Nimbus 4M /26.4 m. with 1193 points , only 11 more than Dirk Reich in the EB 28/28 m.

The Belgium Nationals had their last day yesterday and….that day was scrubbed! With that , they had 5 cancelled and 3 flyable days!
Bert Schmelzer jr. is the Belgium CHAMPION in 15m/21 m. before his brother Tijl  and in open class it was Jean Luc Colson before Olivier Brialmont.

The Grand Prix Slovakia in Prievidza had 2 out of 7 days giving Roman Mracek the 10 points. 8 For Sebastian Kawa and 7 for Lubor Kuvik. So nothing changed there , no more flying!

In the UK they managed to fly the last days again with better weather,during the Club Class Nationals and Pete Masson started day 4 with 3000 points in the pocket. He did not add another 1000 as he lost 20 points to G . Dale in his Libelle. Former tuggie Tim kept doing well and was on a shared 5th place.
Brian and Ayala both had a not too good day in their Libelles, both outlanded and lost over 500 points.
304.08 was the task on day 5 , not bad! .
38 From 40 finished and a new name on the daily top; Jon Meyer in a Libelle 201 b.But most important was how the top 3 would fly!?
Pete was on 3, G. on 13 and Tim on spot 4. So changes in the overall scores with one day to go!
Pete with 4903 points, Tim with 4638 and Jez Hood moved from 4 spot 3 and by loosing 200 points G dropped out of the top 3 and ended on spot 4 with John Meyer climbing up to a nice 5th place.[from 7]

A last day always brings extra tension, but also “all -or- nothing -games -as- only- spot- 1- is- THE- spot”. Don’t have to tell you that.
So only tonight we know the CHAMPIONS. BUT of course I will come back with an update tonight!
UPDATED with today’s news: Briefing for day 6 last day of the comps , was at 10 AM and gridding was BEFORE the briefing.
Everybody is up in the air for 510.8 km. Well yes ,……why not!!!???
Will be a long day for some but tonight we know the CHAMPION in the UK Club Class.
Stay tuned! So here we are!
————————————————————————————————————
Today had another winner this time in a KA 6E,  Will Ellis was the one who collected the very much deserved 1000 points for the day. And,….with a speed of 103 km./h.
WOW!!! In a KA 6E!!!!!
His handicap;81! The day before Will  outlanded as one of the 4 from 41 in total.
He must have thought “bugger it” I am going to fly at my best this last day, no guts,  no glory!
Scores,…all preliminary of course!
Pete was on spot 2 , Jon on 3 and G. on 5 with Tim on spot 13.

So the final results look like this;
Pete is the clear winner with 5847 points. Jez stayed on spot 2 but with the same amount of points as Jon, who did so well the last 2 days.[5557]
G ended on spot 5 [5546] and Tim dropped from 3 to 6.[5470]
A very interesting competition to follow! Congratulations to all.

——————————————————————————————————————

In  the REGIONALS Andy Davis leads the class on day 4 after winning that day on which only 12 from 35 made it home, just before Dave Watt .
On day 5 a 327.5 km.  task, long enough to see an interesting day again. Kim Tipple was the daily winner with Andy on spot 3 and Dave on 2.
VERY INTERESTING day today with 407.4 km!!!!!!!!Also the PW 5 in this class has to try and fly it!!!!
By the way,….We have GREAT soaring-weather here in Holland too today!
Robert Werts , [with Luc Stalman,] managed like last year, to fly a 1000 km.from Venlo in the S of Holland in the Nimbus 3DT. More on Wednesday!!!

National Air 2013 at Romorantin: After 6 cancelled days and a lot of patience by all, the pilots FINALLY could fly on the 27th and 29th ….that is,…only on the 27th for Club class.
Denis Geurin and Eric Soubrier , both flying a St Cirrus, bundled their efforts with success and “got” the 1000 and 999 points for a distance of 321 km. during a 3.30 AAT in 3.28!!! Very experienced pilots. So Denis won the comps with one day of flying and 1000 points.
Good to see a Dutch pilot , Jeroen van Dijk, flying his Mosquito to a 3d place with 993 points in 3.33.

Only one day of flying, but being 3d means a deserved CUP, even 2.
Picture  courtesy AC van der Vlist , as shared on FB by Ton Staassen.

901 Points in 15m./.21 m. were for Frederic Hoyeau in the Discus flying with 108 km./h over the set 282 km. and the 1.30 AAT was won by Amelie Audier, in her Discus 2 A.
Winner after 2 days Frederic with 1290 points.
In open class the 2 days were both for Gerard Lherm flying the EB 28. Total amount of points;1726!!!!
It says enough about the weather! But,…good winners!And a 3d place for a Dutchie!
By the way the Dutch Military Comps will be flown next week .

 As time is running out for the wave season in the USA , Jim and Dennis “tried ” the 29th, knowing there was much more NW wind then hoped for but ,…they still managed to fly 1.587 km. from Minden in Nevada.
One day earlier Janusz Centka had a good day in the ARCUS M. flying from Ouazarzate [Morocco] 1.182 km.
June started good for the Ouazarzate pilots with 2 nearly 1.300 km flights.

Last time I wrote about great conditions in Norway. Because the flight was so high I presumed it was flown in wave. It was NOT, as I heard from Arne Martin, the pilot, good on him….. like the interaction, as you know;
—“I was the pilot who flew at Hokksund. It was not wave, just regular thermals
that went quite high (over 3000 m in some places). This was by far my longest
flight, so cool that it’s noticed and mentioned here, thanks.—“

Thanks for the info, Arne Martin!”And,…. he had some extra info about the Norwegian Nationals
class) this week and….. I was allowed to use some very nice pictures!

—“Yes, it’s the Norwegian open class nationals this week (really just one handicapped class].Longest flight yesterday, and also day winner, Jo Inge Bjørø, with his  16  year old son Sondre, after finishing the task climbed up again and flew a couple of hundred km more!  Apparently they thought the task was too short “—
434 km one part Nationals, one part fun-flying in the Duo Discus!
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=3007058

 

Arne Martin’s Discus bT ready for his longest flight till now!And…Norway from above with the airfield of Fyresdale.

 

A great picture of the Lake Bandak. AND…Rjuka, Valley, looks like you have to stay high there, pretty remote area.

On the question of one of the admirers of the picture, about landing possibilities the answer was :
“From this height (or even 1000 meters less) I can easily reach Notodden airport. There are some fields along the way there too, if I can’t reach all the way.
And there are a few possibilities down in the the valley below too, although they are not good fields, so would only use those if I can’t reach any of the better fields.—

 And for those who want to fly there once,  I add the comment of Ragnar Stenerson, just to completely inform you :
“Several huge, good fields where the Rjukan valley ends up in Tinnsjø – very few (if any) usable fields along the west/east side of Tinnsjø towards Notodden.
I outlanded there a few years ago; 6-700m available, no obstructions, easy acces by car/trailer. Can recommend a daytrip by car covering Telemark/Buskerud, inspecting different landing areas.”

Last Friday I visited with Inge, George and Diana the Captains Dinner at Terlet. The manager from the club house at Terlet, starting in 1984 till ????, was cooking for those who were interested and a lovely bunch of old friends visited, nearly a reunion. More about this in soaringcafe later today.

Young Australian pilot Matthew Scutter travelled to Europe to learn, see , fly AND participate in the JWGC in Leszno! He keeps a blog and when you are interested you can follow what happens to him on
https://www.facebook.com/MatthewScuttersGliding?fref=ts
It looks life is good for him, but he found quickly out about the 2013 European spring:
-“Rained all day yesterday and all day last night. The airfield appears to be underwater, but they assure me it will drain quickly.Turns out the hangar leaks quite badly, so I ended up making some makeshift rain covers for the glider at midn…ight and then precariously balancing buckets all over the wings to stop the dripping water. Accuweather says it’ll be a hot and dry summer, looking forward to it!! —“

Here the Midnight makeshift rain covers, as shared by Matthew on FB.

AND…………

Nice way to be introduced to soaring in Poland, is n’t it?
Picture from Matthews blog.

And to finish a link to the pictures Bert Schmelzer jr. took on his 1.011 km. declared Out and Return. A great story goes with the pictures. You have to see and read this.
https://picasaweb.google.com/101367179377196465151/180520131011Km
DeclaredOutAndReturn#5884133680741302466
Here are a few already:

 

Rene Schneebeli  as pictured by Bert and direction Arlberg pass.

 

Rene and the HOCH König were they “had ” 3 m./sec.

The National Dutch Female Soaring- day is this year not one day, but a whole weekend , THIS weekend and on one of the Northerly islands Ameland. With 40 to 60 km./h wind from the NW it was yesterday no flying weather but time for lot’s of fun also walking along the beach.

  

As shared by the girls on FB.

 Cu on Wednesday and then NO news  from Friday to Friday as I am on my annual holiday with my High School-friends, this time with 5 , so one less as Lily is married for 45 years and spends her time with family in Italy.
A bit unfortunate that the EGC and some other comps are in this period. Sorry, but we will pick them up or analyse them later!!!!

Cheers Ritz
On Sunday June 2 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com     www.glidinginternational.com

 

As I told you the Austrian Nationals are NOT flown in Austria, but in Nitra in Slovakia this year and in 5 classes.
Reason; the Austrian Military top did/could not allow flying from Wiener Neustad[West]  , the WGC place  we have such good memories on.
The club class counts 15 pilots and …..nearly a miracle…., they could fly straight away on Saturday and Sunday.
Day 1 had 7 finishers [2 hour AAT] with 2 Czechs upfront Karel Mares [ASW15]  and Tomas Suchanek,[St Cirrus] not “just ” pilots!
Day 2 was for Tomas , 1000 points over a 3 hour AAT, with Karel on spot 4.
The Standard class has 15 participants and an Austrian winner on day 1,[2 hour AAT]  and a Slovak winner over the 3 hour AAT. 5 LS 8 gliders in the top.
In 15 m. class 7 participants amongst them wellknow pilots as Guido Achleiter and Heimo Demmerer.Same tasks and Guido won the 1000 points on day 2.
In 18 m. of course Austrian toppers, Wolfgang Janowitsch and Peter Hartmann as well as Slovak topper Vladimir Voltin. Wolfgang won day 1 and Peter day 2. Same tasks and 11 pilots in this class .
In open class an interesting mix of good Austrian and German pilots, 7 in total. Day 1 was for Josef Kammerhofer before Frans Jozef Eder and Alexander Müller. Day 2 gave the full 1000 points and they were for Sebastian Eder just before Alexander.

 

Wolfgang Janowitsch former WGC Champion.

Then a few days with silence, no news ; on Tuesday they continued.
Day 3 was a difficult day for some.
In Club the 1.30 AAT was won by Ondrej Dvorak in the LS 1 f, while Tomas outlanded after 68 km. loosing some 400 points.
In Standard Class one outlanding , same task.
In 15 m.also a 1.30 AAT with Heimo Demmerer as the daily winner, being on spot 2 overall after 3 days.
In 18 m. it was after 1.30 Peter Hartmann upfront then  Vladimir Voltin and Wolfgang Janowitsch.
In open all pilots made it back after around 136 km. in just over and a bit more over 1.30.

The UK Club Class Nationals , in combination with the Regionals started last Saturday as well and ….with amazing good weather, an even bigger miracle and …..not such a miracle,…lots of TOP pilots.
As I read on the site from the UK juniors, the club pilots,  42 in total,  left first on day 1 and had a great run to the first TP.
Pete Masson won the day and got the 1000 points and only 2 outlanded.
Former WGC Champion Brian Spreckley flew the Libelle to a shared 4th place while our former Sportavia tuggie Tim Milner was on spot 8 followed by G. Dale!
On day 2 another long task 437 km.and another 1000 points for Pete Masson, [DG 101] with as good runner up Ayala Truelove -Liran in the Libelle. She is practising for the WWGC and so to see , she defenitely is on the right way. Pete is the coach from the UK  juniors , how lucky can they be and Simon Barker will be their TC in Leszno!
Pete won in Australia [Gawler] the Club Class WGC in 2001 , where I was supposed to be as a steward, but it was our high-season in Tocumwal, so I had no time .
He participated in 2008 in Rieti ,where I did the “writing”.Of course he flew many more comps! If I remember well he visited us in Tocumwal after his glorious WGC-win and I welcomed him with bubbles! What else!?

Pete Masson and junior Sam Roddie, who will fly an ASW 24 in Leszno and flies now at Lasham as well. Courtesy UK junior site!

Day 3 was a tougher one with a strong wind but no worries for Pete , he won for the 3d time in a row! 24 Pilots from 40 finished.
Day 4 , yesterday, was SCRUBBED for both classes! The great weather left the UK and arrived in Holland and we had a sunny warm day, like yesterday, FINALLY!!!!
Hope the good weather returns today in the UK.

In the Regionals 37 pilots and even a former WGC Champion as Andy Davis, [ARCUS E] who straight away showed “he can still do it!!” 458 was their task and he won day 1! On day 2 good “old” Dave Watt [Ventus 2A]won just ahead of Andy. But day 3 was a prey for Andy again.

Prievidza started with the GRAND PRIX SLOVAKIA in 18 m. and day 1 had to be cancelled but day 2 was a nice one with 206 km. Roman Mracek [10 p] won the day before Sebastian [8] and Lubor[Kuvik 7] and Alena Nitusilova was on spot 6 and received 4 points. Yesterday was cancelled as well.

 

Alena here in Uvalde. Courtesy Andreea.

 

The Belgium Nationals are in progress in St. Hubert and also the pilots there  started straight away on Saturday with 183 km, though Sunday had to be cancelled.
2 Classes 15 m. and open.
In 15 m. Yves Ruymen won in the Discus A [568 p.] before Bert Schmelzer jr. [567] . Brother Tijl was on spot 7 and the first outlander on the list. 6 From 20 finished and I felt sorry for Emiel who only flew 21 km and “received” 50 points.
In open class 13 pilots and 913 points for day 1’s winner Olivier Brialmont. [ASG 29/18m]

On Monday they continued with sunny and dry conditions,  from a wet field but good enough to fly from. The task was this time 403 km. for open and 305 for 15 m. class.
My friends from Keiheuvel flew them selves to the top with Dennis Huybreckx as best , followed by Bert and Tijl Schmelzer, Emiel de Wachter, Jef Kell and Tim Huybreckx with points between 806 and  673.
In open Yves Jeanmotte was the best, gaining 1000 points.
Yesterday a 1.45 AAT was on for 15 m. and Bert Schmelzer jr.]Discus 2]  took the 534 points as daily winner, just before Jeroen Jennen in the LS 4 and Dennis Huybreckx in the LS 8.
The Schmelzer brothers are on spot 1 and 2  after 3 days and the comps finish on June 1.
In open class Dutch pilot Maurits Dortu won the day in the JS 1.An 1.45 AAT as well.
After 3 days Jean Luc Colson is the overall-leader with a few days to go.

The Swiss Nationals with 32 pilots in 3 classes will be flown till June 6 from Amlikon a field celebrating it’s 50 thiest birthday.
After 2 cancelled days , there was hope to fly on Monday and after a postponed briefing tasks were set. 263 for the mixed open and Rolf Friedli won in the ASG 29/18m.
Yesterday the open class flew 188 km and Rolf won AGAIN!!!
In the mixed 15 m. a task from 252 km and all [17 pilots] but one finished.

It was interesting to see the OLC list on Sunday with some good flights from Italy; Giorgio Galetto in his Ventus from Bolzano with 840 km. and friend Alberto Sironi flying from Calcinate in the Quintus with a 750 km FAI triangle!
A 750 diploma for a Danish pilot flying a DG 808C /18 m. from Norway. Elverum , but also Hokksund really had a few good [wave] days.
Doug Haluza [Janus cFG] flying  2, 1000 km. flights in a row from Ridge Soaring had the days of his life!!!As he happily mentioned; “Nearly 2500 km. in 2 days!” Not bad!
Guy Bechtold flew in his Quintus his first 1000 km in this glider from Useldange. He even passed by his mates flying at St. Hubert. Two days earlier he just missed out ; 991 km.
750 from Räyskälä yesterday shows the great weather has arrived in Finland as well.
Kai Mönkkönen , one of my favourite photographers, flew over 500 km. in the Duo Discus.

Last but not least;
Uys Jonker applauded his team for their fine efforts to obtain  the TYPE CERTIFICATE for the JS 1-C 21 m.  It was handed over by the South African Civil Aviation Authorithy, who fully approved this glider on May 27! From now on the JS 1-C /21m. can fly in Europe in open class and Ronald Termaat is one of the pilots flying this beautiful glider in Vinon. We saw already in Uvalde how good the glider is . Oscar flew himself to a third place in it!!!

Off to Assen today and still troubles with my laptop. Internet Explorer just stops , and all sentences are in ONE row, very frustrating!!!
But, …have a happy week CU on Sunday!

Ritz

What about  1000 km. in a Standard Cirrus!?
It was flown last Thursday  and believing in the weather forecast from TOP METEO, Michael Ebel flew it and had the day of his life.
As I heard from my Lasham friends Alix and Roy, who happened to be there it was shivers all over. Here is Alix and THANK YOU !!!!!;

—” Roy and I are on a week’s holiday in Reinsdorf near Berlin with our friend Michael Ebel.
You will have seen from OLC that yesterday was a Hammertag in this area.
Michael flew his first OLC thousand (average 92.87km/h) in a Standard Cirrus! Andy Gesell and Marcus first OLC thousand in the Gesell Arcus.
The excitement the night before when Top Meteo had an orange spot in Poland even more excitement when, in the morning, it was a bigger orange blob.
There were lots of good flights from Reinsdorf including a circumnavigation of Berlin in the Aero Club Berlin ASK21 by Andre Huhnd and Hermann Bantle.
Roy flew 800k in the ASW20 he has chartered and even I went cross country. Amazing countryside -windmills every where, woods and old military exercise grounds. –”

A few more 1000 km. flights in this area also from Stendhal, where several  Dutch Nationals have been flown in the past, but also from Ouarzazate and Moriarty.
Finally some smiling pilots again!

It was Laurent Aboulin,  who  after the pretty late regatta start at 16.25 on Wednesday,  raced as fast as he could, over the 117 km. to arrive back home just after 18.00; 10 points for him.
The day before he missed a reporting point , missing out on a higher score!
Quite a few penalty points concerning the height of the finishline[ for 6 pilots]  and even worse, ….a non-valid-start for Ricardo[Brigliadori] and as far as I could see he did not fly on day 1 either. With Didier [Hauss] as runner up on this day 2, with 8 points , Didier leads after 2 days [ 13 p] before Laurent  [10 p]

Whilst Day 3 , was world wide not everywhere normal , as in India  people were struggling with a heat wave and lack of water , we here in Holland  could add to the history books the coldest EVER 23d of May and  the Berlin area a day with HAMMERWETTER , it was for the French GP  a day with a “normal-start-time” , but,..also a very challenging day.
ZERO points till then for Ricardo, but he changed that on day 3 winning the day over 313 km. and collecting 10 points.
As Laurent outlanded and Didier “only” got 1 point , there were some chances over all;Didier and Sebastien[ Dubreuil] share the lead with 14 points and Laurent and Ricardo share spot 3 both with 10 points. In between with 12 Tilo and Nicolas[Veron].

Day 4 had a 20% chance of flying!!!It ended with 0 %. scrubbed day ……….

BUT Day 5 , [yesterday and the last one], had an over 300 km task again, with 307 km. direction OCEAN. The weather looked as I read , great and after a night with music , everybody must have been relaxed and ready for this last day.
German pilot Kai Lindenberg flew with a speed of 108.2 km. p/h. Earning the 11.01 points. So he wins the day and ends up with 18 points in total, so does  Laurent and Nicolas as well .
According to the tiebreak rules Laurent wins, Kai is 2d and Nicolas 3d.
SO winner of the FRENCH GP is Laurent Aboulin.
Congratulations!

The COPA PIRINEOS 2013 in Santa Cilia in Spain [May 19-May 25] counts 10 pilots , amongst them 2 from Italy, one from the UK and 2 from France.
Not the very best weather either but they had already 2 days with a 1 hour and 1.30 AAT and the French did well topping the list after 2 days with 644 points for Vicente Bilote [ Janus 18.2 m] and 643 for Tanguy Benoit,[ DUO DISCUS]   but Italian pilot Vitorio Pinni also had 643 points .[DUODISCUS]
Then 2 cancelled days!

On Thursday they continued again and the Spanish Nimbus 4DM won the day with nearly 100 km. more than the runner up a Nimbus 2.

The last day had a small 132 km. task which was won by the Spanish Nimbus 4D again; 149 points. A few pilots did not fly anymore so Serge Leqlerco from the Nimbus 4D won; 2637 points over 5 days!!!
Runner up was Jorge Madrigal in the Ventus  2CT/18m.and if I remember well he flew once with us in Tocumwal.

Feel sorry for all organisers who worked so hard to get pilots to their comps and were “punished” by bad weather. Also the Uppsala Masters had a few scrubbed days , but they continued also on Thursday.
2 Hour AAT’s were handed over , so pilots could fly within the rules between about 165 and 300 km. in the 2 classes. aprox. 225 for racing and 233 km. for open class. Only 5 finishers from 36 pilots in racing class with Janne Nordh in the Discus 2T as winner with 197 km.
In open class 6 from 14 in open class, with Andreas Kingbäck as winner with 180 km. 2 .09.
Göran flew 193 km. but needed 2 hour.51.

Day 4 had a 2 hour AAT as well, no worries at least  THEY FLEW!!! BUT,…it turned out to be not a valid day! Only racing class flew and 2 pilots finished the rest did not make 100 km. even only 37 km. and less.
The 2 finishers were Janne and Ronny [Lindell] flying together in time 3.42 a total of 134.5 km!!! Compliments , however ZERO points do not feel good then, but proving yourself and maybe the others might have.

New comps have started this weekend as the Austrian Nationals with 62 competitors in 5 classes from Nitra in Slovakia, the Belgium Nationals from St Hubert with 35 in 2 classes, the UK Club class Nationals in combination with the Regionals with 79 pilots in 2 classes and the Swiss Nationals with 38 in 3 classes.
Also the Slovakian GP [ 18 m.]  started yesterday in Prievidza, with 16 pilots amongst them, Gilles Navas from France, Sebastian Kawa from Poland, and Roman Mracek from Czech Rep. Their first day was cancelled!
Mostly ASG 29’s flying!

Will keep you updated!

And as I just read on FB in winter Oscar is still able to fly from ground to 14.000 with 5 m./s. from Potchefstroom. Not bad.
AND,….a 1.609 km ridge flight in a PIK 20 is perfect. First soft ridge than strong , also good thermals up to 6500 plus and wave , Brian Collins, the pilot in the USA flying from Ridge  Soaring, did not use the wave but as he mentioned.—“Completed 1250 km with 3 TP’s then added on another 2 legs of distance.”
The day before he flew 1.254 km in much more difficult weather circumstances.
A few more pilots did fly over 1000 and the 1.404 in the Janus CFG is perfect as well, also from Ridge Soaring.

Sorry quite some problems with my internet explorer program. Write now in word and copy and paste. No pictures today, too many problems.

CU next Wednesday cheers Ritz        on Sunday May 26 2013 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com      www.glidinginternational.com

 

The Pentecote- weekend was weatherwise not too good here. Only Sunday was OK and that only for a few hours ! The “poor” pilots flying a long weekend in Belgium, this time for the Kiewit Cup, had 2 cancelled days but the one in the middle was reasonable.
41 Competitors in 3 classes and in club the 5 pilots had to fly 96.1 km. 3 Of them finished.
In the sports class 8 pilots and 7 finished amongst them longtime friends as Eddy de Coninck [ Pegase 627 points] and Emiel de Wachter [LS 8 588]
In the sport class X,  several soaring-friends, I counted 11 from 25! It was good to see that sons are “beating “dad’s , meaning, the young ones in Belgium are doing well!

The winner of the Cup in Club class Neil Deijgers.

Young Belgium blogger Niel Deijgers won the day in the Libelle [601 points] followed by Dennis Huybreckx [ Discus] who was with 563 points just ahead of dad Eddy.[ 551–LS 8]
Cousin Jeroen [Jennen—547 p.  LS 7 ] was on spot 4 and Tijl Schmelzer was on 6 [ 519 in Discus 2A] , dad Bert sr. on 11 [441 in Ventus 2CT/18m]. A total of 18 finished flying 159 km..
And,…Bert Schmelzer jr. won the lottery [as he calls it] , flying during his first flight in the Alps [ he lives in Zurich-Switzerland] straight away a declared 1000 km. OUT and RETURN , as mentioned in my last blog.
A lot of these pilots will fly in St Hubert during the Belgium Nationals next week.

The Uppsala Masters continued and were also struggling with the weather as Baldrick , who crews for Antti told us on FB;
—“Finally we have just started on an 1.30 AAT having fell back from a 3.30 task at the start of the day. Its nice and sunny but even the snifter had to take 4 launches before he could stay airborne.—“

Great picture from Peder Lindbom as shared on FB.

What did  day 2 bring them?
It  brought victory and 587 points for Ronny Lindell [195 km. in 1.36]  in the Discus 2T and 530 points for Göran Ax in the ASH 31 MI,[199 km. in 1.30 on the dot!]  his 2d win in a row!
All pilots finished!

 

Börje Erikksson , who did a lot of PR for the Masters and runs the show at the moment. Walking around in sommer clothes is IMPOSSIBLE at the moment in Holland! Picture as shared by Magnus Schön on FB.

Day 3 was cancelled………. WHY???? OF COURSE,…..BAD weather!
From Eskilstuna I remember some very good photographers. I noticed a few are flying the MASTERS, as Fritz Schweikart and Tonny Olsson .

 

                                       Tony Olsson and ……….Fritz Schweikart;  pictures from the 2006 WGC dvd.

Glider FC , a JS 1 21 m was flown by Killian Wallbrou in the St Aubain area and Sven Olivier was so kind to share some pictures on FB  .Brilliant pictures!

 

  

As shared by Sven Olivier. Published by; Page officielle de l’Equipe de France de Planeur et lieu de partage privilégié avec les supporters des bleus. Retrouvez les infos des équipes sur http://www.equipedefranceffvv.fr/

Talking about France, the Grand Prix in France [Rennes Saint-Sulpice]  started on May 18 with 15 pilots amongst them Jutta Sturm and  Didier Hauss , who won day 1 and many other well known pilots from France, the UK,  Germany  , Italy and Slovenia.
Good to see that  SEE YOU [ NAVITER.com] co-owner Erazem was not working on new ideas , but flying !
Task length on day 1 was; 200 km.  with 4 finishers! Didier had the most; 5!
Unfortunately the days after,  it was grey and wet[, where not???] , and pilots looked at pictures , as p.e.  shown by Tilo from the GP in Chile and Laurent Aboulin with a slide show from Uvalde.

As shared on their site; Laurent talking about Uvalde. Pilots listening in “winter-“clothes.

There is a link to a 2.20 [time]  video by Philippe de Pechy  introducing all pilots on www.vimeo.com  called  FAI SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX FRANCE 2013 teaser. Enjoy!
It seems they expect good weather TODAY ;
message on the site;
—“Good morning. We expect an interesting competition day. Gridding runway 27. Briefing at 10:30.—“

And more news from France; In the far past ,when we visited a few years in a row the airport of Angers to fly the HUIT JOURS d’ANGERS , we had lovely parties with some of the pilots, I remember Bernard Belay,  from ROMORANTIN.
Never forget the onion soup full of onions, [of course] BUT   even fuller of white wine. They added a few bottles, but the pan was BIG!!!!
Some “lost” a few hours after that night. I love soupe , but did n’t eat too much of it , still could not stop laughing!
At this stage there is a competition at Romorantin, the military base for soaring pilots in France. A few Dutch pilots fly as well and of course Gerard Lherm, who we met in those years in the 70thies as well, but as far as I remember he was not part of “drinking” the onion soupe.
Around 47 pilots from different countries in Europe are participating amongst them Amelie Audier, Gill Spreckley and Celine Gantie. 9 In open, 21 in Club class and 18 in 15m/21m.

Day 1 on Monday May 20 was cancelled. I guess I don’t have to tell you this spring except for a few great days was louzy with too much rain in the end , too dry in the beginning and TOO cold!!! Let the SUMMER begin, only 10 days to go!!!!

A nice picture from a finish on the one and only good day during the Dutch Nationals. There were not that many finishes but this one from Peter Millenaar is good one.

Peter Millenaar, finish at Terlet Courtesy Boris Broere.

 To finish my deepest sympathy for all people killed by the tornado in Oklahoma.I HATE wind and don’t even want to imagine how scared those kids were at school and those people who could n’t go anywhere. Very sad!

Cheers Ritz on Wednesday May 22 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com      www.glidinginternational.com

IT’S ALL  ABOUT THE WEATHER;
CANCELLATION OF DAYS ,
BUT ALSO 1.750 km.
THAT’S SOARING!!!!

I left you with the message that in Holland,  the Wednesday,  would have a GO or NO go for flying ,at 13.30. And,.. when you really try to make it a valid competition with 4 days you have to try everything within safety rules. That happened look at this and compliments to the organisers. The message arrived and was;
runway  22R, box will close at 14.30.Briefing at the field , tasks at yellow car at 14.45.
That sounded pretty good and I believed it straight away,  as here in Alphen  the weather at 2 was reasonable, after tough rain showers in the night and morning.

About 30 k. N. from us about the same weather as we had! As shared by Jeroen Beeke on FB.

If we were, as fore-casted , to have the dry weather in the W. first , the E. maybe would have another window to fly in later.
Club got 106 km. Combi  km.  117.3 km and 18 m./open  zero [0]  km.
First launch at 15.00!

What happened???
They cancelled open class/18m. BUT,….the other 2 classes had a go! Pilots in club class started  just after 5,  like we saw at Hahnweide, no problem, when the skies are good and the expectation that they stay good for atleast an hour is there!
You know that NOT every pilot will finish but when a few do , the organisation is “correct”in their decision.
3 Pilots in Club made it back and I guess they did n’t worry about the 70 points they received for the day!!! Frank [ St. Cirrus] won and took revanche on himself, when he outlanded as the only pilot in his class the flying day before. GOOD on him; speed 73 km./h. Junior World champion Tim Kuijpers [LS 4] was on spot 2 [speed 75.2 km./h] and Hinse Osinga [Pegase]  , a member from a Dutch soaring family, was on spot 3. [ speed 73.4 km./h] The rest , applauded the finishers as they did choose NOT to fly. After 3 days the result was a TOTAL of 794 points for Stefan Telkamp, 723 for former European champion Rene de Dreu and 705 for JWGC champion Tim Kuijpers.

In the combi class who else then Steven Raimond would make it home with a speed of 50.3 km./h . He got 102 points!?! Together with 2 other pilots , Peter Millenaar [Discus 2A and a  speed of 50.2km./h] with 104 points  and Peter Batenburg in the ARCUS , 115 points [ 63.5 km./h. 115 points] he finished. This was also the TOP -3- overall result till than; 660 for Steven, 655 for Peter M. and 595 for Peter B.

Thursday; cancelled. Rain, forecast for thunderstorms in the E. and gusty wind. No weather to fly, not even at 5.

Friday last day; a valid competition in club class with a CHAMPION was still possible. Combi class had 3 days of flying but one with NO points[unvalid day] , so there will be a winner in this class, as well as in open/18m.
Briefing was postponed till 12.
And then,…the message …..video [The Sun ship Game] at 3 with free beer sponsored by Glider Pilot Shop.
So that was that!
The Dutch Nationals were over with ONE good day and 2 marginal days.A pity!!! NO Champions this year but WINNERS, but, last years winners continue their title for a year and guess what , they were this years winners; Stefan Telkamp, Steven Raimond and Ronald Termaat.Congratulations!

Jeroen Verkuijl finish! Picture courtesy Willem Den Baars.

  

NO words needed. The difference between the first day of the Dutch Nationals and the last day!!! Courtesy Frank Hiemstra!

The Danish pilots had NO day on Wednesday [ cancelled again]  , but were most probably still enjoying their , till that time  ONE AND ONLY,  soaringday! Arne shared again some pictures on FB [from  Luise Bruen] , which is really nice of him !!!!

 

 

Arne ready to go on flyingday 1 [day6!] and Peter having fun.

BUT….there was a day 2 ,….like in Holland. Being brave as a CD, you have to take the weather as it comes, but you should  use every window possible! As long as it is not a real lottery and as long as you can send pilots on track in a safe way!
So day 2 showed 3 times a 2 hour AAT. ……. Ole Arndt won the day , being the only one flying OVER 100 km. [112] BUT,..it was no valid day, so 0 points for doing a good job!
In Standard Class also one just over 100 [100.4] for Jan Andersen. ZERO points!
In 15 m. NOBODY over 100 km.
In 18m. Per Giskov flying the Ventus 2CT, flew a remarkable 158 km. , but also 0 points, though Henrik flew 132 km. not enough over 100- km -pilots, to make it a valid day.but good soaring from a few , no doubt about that!
Also in the 2 seater class one pilot in a Duo Discus T with 108 km.
As Arne said : “Defeat …..and out comes the turbo – after nearly 3 hours on task and only 83km! but want fun and excitement. Alas only two made it past the meagre 100km so the day was invalidated.”

AND,…..they had a valid 2d day yesterday WITH points over a 2 hour AAT!!!!!! 468 in club class for the best pilot,546 in standard, 583 in 15 m .,  499 in the 18 m. class and for  the 2 seaters, 600.
TODAY is the last day , maybe day 3, let’s hope, wait and see!

From Denmark to Sweden is not so far. Yesterday the Uppsala Masters started at Sundbro Airfield, with a lot of well known pilots! Specially Börje did a lot of PR  on FB to get a lot of pilots there, mentioning everybody individually after they applied. Compliments for the way he did that,… full of enthusiasm!
Officially this was the invitation;
—“We kindly invite all glider pilots and their support teams to the international competition – SM Masters the Swedish nationals in Open and racing classes. Contest is open for all nationalities. The Racing class is a mixed class where all gliders with index from 107 to  114 can take part. Water ballast is allowed.  We will use DAeC index  list.–”

50 Pilots have entered amongst them young Aku Jaakkola and “a tad older ” ,…Antti Lehto from Finland. Also some pilots I met during WGC’s as Torbjörn Hagnander , Göran Ax  and Ake Pettersson. Looking forward to these MASTERS!

Day 1, after 2 practise days [ 1 cancelled] , yesterday was day 1 and also in Sweden the weather was not top. BUT ,..they flew and good old Göran Ax won the day and only saw one other pilot finish; 154.5 km in 2 .18 giving him 233 points. In racing class one finisher , not enough to make it a valid day.

While we were suffering from bad weather the SE of Germany , Poland and Switzerland had temperatures  in the 30thies on Wednesday and the Alps created TOP weather and a FÖHN wind.
15 Over 1000 flights, mostly in the Alps! The one in the Quintus by Mathias Schunk is just SUPERB!!! The first 50 flights on page 1 from the OLC that day are all OVER 500 km. except for one; 498 in the Duo Discus. Not bad!
Then there is THURSDAY; Again Mathias Schunk in the Quintus, this time 1.750 km. !!!!!!!!!! He tried and set a task to fly a European record but unfortunately the 3d TP was in rain. Still a European record for a free flight in so to see great wave/föhn conditions. Not bad! Topping the OLC- list with nearly 1000 km. more than the 2d pilot on the list with 855 km. More news about this longest flight-ever,  in Europe from Mathias on www.soaringcafe.com written in a good and interesting article by Helge Zembold.
And yesterday looked like a Bitterwasser- day on the OLC, but  now in Europe.
Bert jr. from Belgium was one of the pilots flying from Hausen an Albis a declared 1000 in the Discus 2; ” Declared Out-and-return of 1.000 km.  What a fantastic day !!”
18 over 1000 km. flights. One from France in the STEMME with Klaus Ohlman, 1.530 km.;  the rest from Switzerland , Germany and Austria. Look for all those great flights at the OLC site.

CU,  cheers Ritz
on May 19 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com     www.glidinginternational.com

On  Thursday  May 9, one day before the Dutch Nationals started, pilots flew nearly 700 km in an LS 8 and Ventus 2 here in Holland as well as 543 in a St. Cirrus , though Bart did not make it home ,…but still. The weather -gods presented after that day , typically Dutch- Nationals -weather .
Also this beginning of the week with ” low’s”  around us was unstable ,  with a NW stream bringing on top of that cold temperatures.From tomorrow onwards it will be warmer, good for those who suffer in their tent during the nights at Terlet, but it also looks like the rest of the week will be WET!

 

Small camping for organisers behind the briefing hangar!

Monday was a day with …..yes,  a window or ….no,  no window. With a second briefing at 12, posponed to 13.00 and still hope for a “window” , but in the end the day was cancelled. The “window” here arrived at 6 PM.
Nice pictures on FB that day from Frans Guise from the really good BBQ we attended on Saturday night with about 80 other friends, as you can see! Great night!

 

Inspection by CD Natasja first , than dishing out, with Ans, Bas and Inge. Pictures courtesy Frans Guise!

Yesterday was another window-day. Still only ONE valid day for the combi class and to make it a valid competition for them they need 3 more days. Last day is Friday , so a bit of pressure is on, but nothing is impossible, as we all know. And,…you can’t say they did n’t try!
Open class was cancelled , club and combi had to go for a 1.30 AAT .
At 3,  I got the “a bit-sad-sounding-massage”; the day is cancelled for all classes. A pity!
A bit of a dark morning as well there at Terlet, as there was for some time a power failure, so no coffee or tea, no internet ,no light ,no “nothing”, but that gets the best out of some.

They had coffee and cake!

From TODAY it should be better weather, as is warmer……. but more RAIN, clearing in the afternoon from W to E! No tasks yet , SMS message with a YES or No at 13.30!!!

Last Sunday was Paradise for wave and ridge pilots in the USA .
What about 1.412 km. in an 18 m. ASW 28 with 152 km./h ?????
The flight was from Ridge Soaring.
And 1.335 km. from Knoxville in a Discus 2 is pretty good too!
—“No problem thermaling upwind, ran the ridges and thermaled the few gaps to get to the Tazewell, VA. area”–
It sounds too easy but this is a sentence from the story from Linwood Stevenson, who described his 1.335 km. flight on the SOARINGCAFE-site. He flew and declared 1.263 km.!!! Interesting story to read!

A total of 7 over-1000km. flights ,from them  5 over 1.100 km. Over 1000 k in a junior [SZD 55] or Janus C  are remarkable as well, even in ” steady ridge”.
Baudouin Litt had a good one again too; in the LS 8 he flew from Mid Atlantic 1.153 km.!!! His comment; — “No water and one gear door opened for the whole flight (hence the noise marks on the barograph, LBL does not have an engine)! Probably my last big flight before I return to Belgium definitively. Very nice day!” — A bit of a milestone flight for Baudouin , is n’t it?

So Sunday was for some a good day for gliding, also in Italy [955 km.] and France [867km. ] and even  in nearly-winter-time in Australia Allan Barnes flew 562 km. —“Great day, max height 7000ft, great cus all day, just fabulous for this time of year. Another 500km added to my collection _ I’m trying to do one in each month of the year!–” Wow, a great resolution!! “Only ”  434 flights that day , guess not every dad was allowed to leave on Mother’s Day. Never saw , by the way, so many people walking at the station with flowers to go to MUM. Good day for flower business and the railways.

FINALLY,…after 5 cancelled days the organisers could set a task during the 2013 Danish Nationals at Arnborg,  where 58 pilots in 5 classes had to be VERY patient!!! But patience was rewarded with good tasks on flying day 1,…FINALLY!
Club class had 234 km and Felipe Cvitanich won in the ASW 20 the first 915 points of this comps. The class counts 16 pilotys and had one outlanding. Ole was 10th.
Standard class with 7 participants was a prey for Jan Andersen flying the LS 8 291.7 km. in 3.09 , during the set 3 hour AAT.Don’t know if this is the Jan Andersen , lways flying at WGC’s in open class, if yes it seems …..he is still good! Nice family too. One outlanding .
15 M. Class had a 3 hour AAT as well and the 15 pilots in this class all finished. Amongst them Stig Öye at spot 3 and Ib Wienberg on spot 8.

 
Stig in the middle , rigging the glider with some friends and ready to go as shared by Arne.

18 M. class with 12 pilots had a 3 hour AAT too and Peter Eriksen [ASG 29]  , flying 341.5 km in 3.05 won the 1000 points, chased by Arne Böye Möller in the Ventus 2CT;951 points. Henrik Breidhal  [ASH 26E] was on spot 6 with 880 points.
Double-seaters were part as wel flying 234.5 km. and the Duo Fiscus without a turbo from Thomas Leander , [all other 7 gliders in this class have a T behind it ] won the day and the 810 points.
Hope the organisers will be allowed by the weather gods to give them some more good days.
No tasks for today set YET.

 

Uvalde as seen by Anita Taylor in Uvalde ;Bruce and Arne.
Also Uvalde ; Wonderful Danish ladies, wife , sister and daughter from Arne!!!

It’s getting boring, BUT,..the weather was not too good in Belgium either for the pilots who wanted to fly for the Kempen Cup. A competition flown over a few weekends at different Belgium  airfields, this time Weelde.
From 4 days only ONE day could be used. Junior competitor Jeroen Jennen prepared well for Leszno and won the day over 274 km. in his LS 4,  ahead of  his cousin,  Tim who was runner up.
Jeroen is trying to find a glider for the Belgian Nationals; Any ideas????
—” currently looking for an LS8 or d2 (no turbo) to fly the Belgian Nationals (25th mai until 02 june) for a reasonable price.”—
38 Competitors in this class and 59 in total over 3 classes!

 Weelde Airport in Belgium. Courtesy Jeroen Jennen via FB.

You remember maybe that I wrote about the ZES lustrum I visited. During the Nationals,  the ZES presented a flyer with another item of their 50-year-celebrations; A FLY IN somewhere in a paddock. This paddock will be changed for ONE day into a soaring field and everybody can fly in. There will be a BBQ, a bon-fire, facilities to camp for one night, a party with booze and music, with other words a real UNIQUE celebration! This summer-camp- day  will be on June 22 , and when this day is a “non-day”, it will be on June 29 2013. It is special and only for Dutch pilots. More news on www.zweefvliegen.nu and all guests,  who always wanted to taste the hospitality and atmosphere of a student aeroclub can do so on June 22. I know,…it is GREAT fun!!!! Never forget our camps in the past, great fun!!!!!Only 45 pilots are allowed at this unique event and after a wild party and a short night there will be NO launch facilities so abe aware of that. You can read it ALL on their site under weilanddag.

Another playful event in this 50 year celebration is flying a task in the shape of the 6 between May 11 and June 22 in the middle of Holland. All flights will be on the OLC and there are prizes to be win for the most special 6-shape-flights. Prizes will be presented on the PADDOCK- day on June 22. The TP’s are on the site to be down loaded and the flight can be part of a cross country or just the 6. You have to be a student or a former student, to think about such nice events.

Cu next Sunday cheers Ritz
on Wednesday May 15 2013

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

Sorry , no last updates yesterday evening as it was late before I arrived home after a great BBQ and talking too much with lot’s of friends at the Dutch Nationals.

  

With Brutus {Peter} and Bas and Frits in the bar.

Here they still hope to fly till Friday , last day! This morning, is grey and wet! Briefing was at 10.30.

 

Hans explains the weather and warm dressed pilots and crew.

For those who missed the daily news since Friday , you can just scroll down to read it.

It’s 3 PM now and I arrived home after an easy trip by train, no rain and typical Dutch skies, low grey clouds , bleu spots and a bit of sun.

 

Grey low clouds with blue sunny spots on the way N. from Terlet.

On my mobile I also got the message from the NK team, that straight after the 12 0’clock briefing , gliders had to be in the box [13.15] as the first launch would be at 13.30 and,..the QNH was 1013. Combi and open class have to fly 116 km. and the club class pilots got a B task with 104 km.

  Ready to go! Courtesy Ben and Frank Hiemstra via FB.

To have a real valid NATIONAL competition here , 4 days are necessary !

And ,…YES there were finishers today. All club class pilots made it home except for one , glider 74.
In open/18 m. 10 from 21 , amongst them Ronald Termaat and Jelmer Wassenaar.
In the combi class it looks like everybody has outlanded. More on Wednesday!!!
For all results from today  and next week , you can look at www.soaringspot.com or at the NK site ; www.nkzweefvliegen.nl and look for “uitslagen”  and klick on live scoring. A very nice rotating system.

HAHNWEIDE; The champions are known, the aspergus eaten and the party is over now. Unfortunately for those who wanted to get more points out of the last day, it was not happening as the day had to be cancelled. So the results are easy. 15 m. had 5 days and the winner is Tim Englert in the Ventus a AX, with 3119 points. Standard class had 4 days and the winner there was Joachim Hörsch in the Discus 2A;2608 points. 18 m. had 4 days and 4 from 5 UK pilots in the top! Winner Francis Derren in the Ventus 2 cxaj with 2859 points just ahead of Russell Cheetham in the JS 1 , as the difference in points was only 20 points. Open class winner is after 4 days Alexander Späth just ahead of Killian Walbrou; 2753 and 2739 points both flying the Nimbus 4 and 4 T. In the double seaters 4 days and 2 ARCUS T gliders on top; 2456 and 2360.

France; 18 m and Female National Comps at Buno; After 6 days of soaring Jutta Sturm  in the Ventus 2a[2863 points] won the female nationals and in 18 m. Christophe Cousseau in the JS 1 was the champion [4388] ! On the last day the number 2 overall dropped to spot 3 due to an outlanding and the daily winner from Belgium Yves Jeanmotte climbed to  spot 2 but as he flew HC, Louis Bouderlique was on the silver spot just before the bronse winner Alain. Congratulations to all, specially the 2 champions!!!

 

18 m. champion via FB [AAVE] and the top female pilots, Jutta, Amelie and Magali.

This week, Frank Versteeg will be at Terlet to sell his book “Niet voor piloten ” a MUST for pilots.
All revenues for this book will go to the foundation KIKA. So who still NOT has the book,…..but will be at Terlet this week,……. can buy it there,……it is only 39.95 and shows even videos from earlier NK comps and has over 100 QR codes with videos.
The exact date will be announced on FB and in the shoutbox  www.nkzweefvliegen.nl .
Frank send me a nice picture today as well from the far past.

 

 

In todays soaringcafe blog later more news about glider tracking.

 

Jens, Frank and Jip from Glider tracking.

Cheers Ritz on Sunday May 12 2013 from the POSTILLION HOTEL. It was again a pleasure to stay here.

10 AM;
The meteo forecast from TV for today here  is not splendid, even pretty bad , but there should be always hope! A bad morning with bad wind gusts is what they think , but ,… maybe better in the afternoon. Let’s wait and see.
Briefing at 10.30 ,…gliders in the box when asked for but not yet and ….weather from Hans, he might bring “joy”!
In the evening the BBQ is on, so at least some people will stay instead of going home.
NO JOY, unfortunately……no weather to fly,…DAY 3 CANCELLED at TERLET!

As you can see Hans wears his rain outfit and in ORANGE!!!!!!!

In France [Buno] it was yesterday not much better with a cancelled day for the ladies  flying the Nationals,BUT,….atleast they had 5 days till now.
Only ONE 1000 points-day, however, a 3 hour AAT won by Amelie with 287 km. in 3.01,50 and the first day had kilometers but NO points.
After 5 days Jutta  leads the ladies with 2554 points. Amelie is the runner up with 2487 points.
Today a task from 114 km. is set.
In 18 m. the 1000 points on day 4 were for Christophe Cousseau in the JS 1. He leads the class with 3924 points. Alain is on spot 2 and Gilles on 3.
Today on the last day for both classes 202 km. for the 18 m. class.

Picture from the UK ASG 29e  from Graham Smith
as shared on FB by the AAVE.

The Hahnweide day was a bit better yesterday. THEY FLEW! At least in the 3 classes which got a task. The “window” to fly in was small but OK. Typically UK weather and 2 UK boys won the 1.30 AAT -day in 15 m. class!
In the open class Alexander Späth lost some points as he finished on spot 11 .[1.30 AAT] but he is still on spot 1 overall.
In the 2 seater class Ludwig and Holger flew best again starting at 5 PM and racing over 153 km. in 1.37! But,….when I was having fun, they out landed at day 4 and lost more than 500 points. So,..they won 2 days but are “only ” on spot 8 with only today to go!
LAST day today and they seem to go for it, though showers are forecasted as well and nothing has changed at the field  looking at it as “mud”.
Gliders in 18 m. and standard class are ready to start at 12!
Later more , will be updated!

The Danish 3013 Nationals in 5 classes have only had 2 cancelled days! So lousy weather there too.

Fatraglide 2013  was nearly the Lubor Kuvik-show. In the combi class he won 3 out of 4 days in the 18 m. ASG 29E. He tops the list with more than 300 points on the runner up and with that he is the CHAMPION!
2 Days in the club class with a 2.30 AAT and a 251 racing task and a winner in an ASW 15 and a local runner up in a St. Cirrus.
Agnete ended in her Libelle on spot 5!
Not the weather they hoped for at Martin Airfield but the annual- final-goulash-dinner and the good beers and great wines tasted as good!

The Swedish Qualifying Grand Prix is not doing too bad with hopefully day SEVEN 7 today; task 227.3 km . What a pity only 5 pilots “perform” in this GP.
Gintautas is still with 22 points on the top , but Uli is climbing up the list quickly and has 18 points now!

After the BBQ I will update those who not follow it directly tonight with news from Hahnweide. Now  for a walk with the umbrella and a few pictures from the birthday I visited.

  
The first 2 girls to the r. are highschool friends the other 3 are friends from “kindergarten” when we were 4 years old!

 

 

Terlet.
WELCOME at the CAE Dutch National Championships 2013!
Till Sunday I will spend time with friends at Terlet, staying overnight in the warm-well-coming Postillion Hotel , thanks to a special arrangement between the organisers from the NK and the hotel.
It will be no live story as it is difficult to write at the airfield [very slow!] but from the hotel room it is my pleasure to keep you informed.
Still have some problems with both my blogs , but “help” will be organised!
“Our”  webmaster Ben , who knows [nearly] everything , has had a look already, made a diagnose and new eyes will look later.

Ben, great web master, great guy!

It ‘s not the best weather for day 2,club class is already cancelled   and the other classes are rigging their gliders now! The expected wind today is 15 to 20 kts. gusting to 33!!!!
But day 1 was a good one. I spend that day at Malden and the pilots there had a great day with , as I heard lift at it’s best up to 4 m., but average 2/  2,5.
It’s only 30 km through the air between Malden [S. from]  and Terlet.

 

Terras at Malden yesterday ,……………….. plus the nice clouds!

The pilots at Terlet , I just heard , had up to 4 m. as well. They launched the bunch of 48 pilots  in 3 classes just in an hour, with 4 Pawnees with very experienced pilots.
The participants at Terlet had tasks from over 200 km. in open and combi class and just under in club class.
Winner in club [ 16 pilots] with 520 points was Stefan Telkamp, [ASW 19] with a speed of 102 km./h over 184.2 km.
In the combi class [ 11] Steven Raimond, who needs no introduction , won the day in his ASW 27, with 117 km./h. over 221.6 km.;558 points.

Steven Raimond by Frans Guise!

In open/18m. [21] Ronald Termaat , no introduction necessary either, won the day in his brand new JS1, which arrived in Holland by ship just a few days earlier .
132.2 km./h. over 219.5 km. is not bad and gave him  464 points!!!

The middle one is XT from Ronald!
Many happy and safe flights in it Ronald!!!!

The first day from the Dutch Nationals is a fact! Now we all hope for good weather, which is , as I heard not a set fact.

Some impressions by Frans Guise from day 1.

 

 

 

 

Jelmer before the start on day 1. Courtsey Frans Guise.

The first launches would be at 13.30, but before also the combi class was cancelled!
Also the open class pilots could de-rig again as they could stay at the ground with hot cafe or tea as well.
Day 2 was cancelled in all classes!

What do you do when you not fly?

 

Trying to throw over a pile of blocks throwing a little plane!!!!

What happened more since I left home!?
They still fly the Qualifying GP in Sweden and only one day was cancelled till now. Today , day 6  , a small task from 149 km.6 .
Gintautas has 20 points , Gunnar 16 and Uli 14, for the rest it will be difficult!

Hahnweide; 18 m. and standard class are cancelled today. The rest had a task and with optimism they hope to start at 3.15 and even hope for scores!
Hopefully the 5th day for 15m.  class today, 4 days till now for standard and 18 m. and 3 days for the open and 2 seater pilots with hope for them for a day today!

 

Different weather circumstances in Hahnweide as well.
Pictures courtesy Hahnweide FB site!

Off to the Thermiekbel for dinner ,  a drink and a “few” words.
Ritz , CU tomorrow.