Alphen aan den Rijn    
Sunday September 11 , a day on which 10 years ago, the world changed
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

A day to remember this 11th of September. As everybody else,  I clearly remember  what I did on the moment the planes flew in the Twin towers. I just had a drink with my dad during my holiday in Holland and saw on a TV,  while ordering the beer in a cafe on a nice market-place, how the 2d plane hit the tower. I could not believe my eyes and thought it was a movie/animation, but the faces from other people in there told me that it was happening in New York at that time!!! And….the world,  we …could follow it live! I still can’t look at it and still have problems to believe such terrible things can happen.

Talking about sadness, there was more this week as the so maniest old plane [ Yak 42] from Russia crashed killing 43 people,[ 2 survived but are in bad condition] a lot of them top ice-hockey-players and their staff from Lokomotiv Jaroslavl. Top as in …world champions and Olympic champions and from different  parts of the world. All were happy and ready to start a new season of top -ice-hockey and it all  ends on the bank of the river Wolga . Terrible!!!
Finally the Russian president Medvedev is angry about all the crashes and promised to do something. About time with 121 people killed in 7 crashes only this year!!!!! Investigation has to show us what happened, maybe bad fuel????? as they suggest now!???? Let’s wait and see!

One of the last comps  flown in this summer season 2011 here in Europe, is in the UK at Aboyne, where  the Deeside Gliding Club , THE place to be in the UK for wave, hosts the UK Mountain Soaring Championship from September 4 till 11. And…though the weather is horrible here, they managed to fly on Sunday [ 246 km. ] with 9 finishers out of 15 pilots and on Thursday with a 2 hour AAT.
John Williams in the Antares /20m. won in 1hour 56, nicely under the set time and flying 259 km. with a speed of 129.4 km /h. Not bad!!!
Friday was scrubbed and yesterday was the last day and they tried hard. Briefing at 2PM. But another scrubbed day , we are used to it this season.
So John Williams won in the Antares with 1739 points before David Latimer in Ventus CT/17.6.

 
Mountain flying here above  Argentina.Picture courtesy Bruce Cooper

It is  great to stay in contact  with a lot of our guests/friends from the Sportavia period. Last week I got a mail from Hisashi from Japan, written in the Boeing 777 on his way to Cairns for a holiday. Hisashi was one of those guests who was most grateful for what we could offer him. He loved his cross country soaring, as that is not too easy in Japan. Most airfields are on the banks of rivers and those places are not the best for hours of good soaring, yes they are perfect for starts and landings , flying from circuits.Hisashi is planning on going back in the 2012/13 season. In the past he always brought friends with him, now it will be friends with their children!!!! And of course Tocumwal will be the place to go to.
He caught up with George and they had a good time. Great to see how good Hisashi looks, due to more exercise and healthy food!! Compliments.

 
Hisashi and George in Cairns

 
Greetings from Hongkong[courtesy Hisashi]

We had an earthquake on Thursday night at 9PM here in Holland. YES, an earthquake!!
That is pretty unusual  certainly with 4.5 on the Richter scale, but I did not feel anything while people about 15 k from here did feel it. Nothing happened but it was a real phenomena. The epi- centre was just over the border from Nijmegen on German soil. Even  journalists from all over Europe were interested as for our country this was a pretty heavy earthquake and the 3d worst in 100 years.
Experts predict/expect that in the future we might have a REAL one…..!Hope not!

As said already too many times the weather is not too good in Europe this season. One of the places to be were the mountains, specially the Alps. Over the last days longer -European -soaring -tasks were mainly in the mountains from France and Italy .
The USA was pretty blessed with good weather as I noticed at the OLC. Also this last week the longer flights were flown  in both North and South America, occupying since September 2 the top-2 spots at the world-list .
Yesterday we had a splendid day here, with up to 29 dgr. not a soaring day bytheway, but today autumn is back. Atleast we had a great spring!

This next article is not new but as  we look ahead to the start of the season soon in Bitterwasser  and as I have never shared it with you before, I do now as it is a bit of “cucumber-time” for soaring news at the moment. It is a great interview on the site of the Southern Riverina Gliding Club at Tocumwal airport, [ www.srgc.com.au] where Ingo Renner [ 70 years old since June this year] is the chief instructor and I am still a proud member. Don’t get me wrong, I “love”and support and I am proud on Eddie [ Happy Birthday!!!!] and Sheryl as well, as soaring and Tocumwal belong together!!!![ www.sportaviation.com.au ]
The interview was with Lothar Arndt who is an instructor at the SRGC with pilot Milan Petcovic from Serbia after he flew his first 1000 km at Bitterwasser. In “our” time we had quite some nice pilots arriving from Melbourne from the East European countries even bringing their families  to visit Sportavia for the weekend for joy-flights  and  soaring for theirselves.
Enjoy the article!

http://www.srgc.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90

To finish 3 pictures from my archive[2006]  from one of my favourite soaring-photographers Kai Monkkonen from Finland .Enjoy the beginning of your week and see you on Wednesday,cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Wednesday September 7 2011     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

The season is nearly over. Let 2012 be as good as this day in 2011.

To be honest the answer on that question is… NOT TOO MUCH! Some pilots are busy to clean the mud from this season from their gliders to ship them to their over-seas destination in the hope to REALLY fly over there and believe me , there will be a lot of mud!
Specially Australia ‘s quarantine does n’t like to see one bit of sand!Luckily Australian Soaring in Corowa, from Grietje and Francesco have a lot of experience and know how to deal with this and as their customers are regulars they do know what to do as well. Never a problem there!
For a few moments we hoped we would have a real nice after-summer-period ,we were HAPPY already,….. but after 3 nice days we are back to 15 dgr. tomorrow and rain -as usual-.
Now we had our first autumn-storm, yes a left-over from Irene, but no real harm has been done.

I looked with interest to the results from  Gary Ittner’s  flights last week. Being 2d behind Bruce Taylor in the Uvalde Glide 18m. pre-worlds a few weeks ago , he seems ready for the 2012 WGC at Uvalde [Texas] . Now this USA top-pilot,  from the Houston area, so used to flying in Texas, flew 2 super -fast flights in his ASG 29/18 over the Eastern Sierra ridges;on Sept.3 an 870 km. flight with a speed of 165.94 km/h. and on Sept 4 a 1013 km.distance with 164.48 km/h. NOT BAD!
Gary is already for a long time [1995 as far as I could find] on and off , in the National Team and participated in several WGC’s, till now in the 15m. class. Lately he flew as well in Eskilstuna and Lüsse.

During the last JWGC at Musbach  I was amazed/shocked to hear that one young man from the USA was removed from the team and comps. 
This is what I found about it on the SSA site News and Information [ www.ssa.org ] and if you have not read it/found it, I copied the statement as it is an important one for young people. I admire the openess they give now and hope others will learn from it and NEVER get into such a situation!!!!!!

US Team Committee Statement Regarding the 2011 Junior WGC

During the recent JWGC, the US Team Committee (USTC) determined that the behavior and conduct of one member did not meet the standards or Code of Conduct set forth in the US Team Policies and Procedures (210 USST Team Policy & Procedures Ver 14, 01/14/04 ). The behavior and conduct were discussed with the team captain and this team member.  It was made clear that the behavior would not be tolerated; and, that if not corrected, the next course of action would be removal from the team and competition. 

Inappropriate behavior persisted, leaving no option other than removal from the team and the competition. In addition, further disciplinary actions are being taken by the USTC to include, but not limited to, a reduction in the amount of reimbursement from US Team funds. 

While the USTC deeply regrets that this action was necessary, we cannot and will not abide serious material failures of the US Team members to hold to the standards of conduct expected of all team members while representing the SSA, US Team and USA.

Bill Elliott, Chairman
US Team Committee

 Of course I asked Bill for permission first. You might know Bill who together with Rand is “the engine ” behind the SoaringCafe, the very interesting site with lot’s of news not only from the USA but also from everywhere in the world;  www.soaringcafe.com add it to your favourites!
So straight away some news from Bill;
—-we do receive many posts from pilots from all over the globe.  We are just eight months old and have nearly 500 posts !
We average over 20,000 visits per month with roughly half of our visitors from outside of the US.  It is our desire to have a strong international presence with articles from around the globe. 
AND
We would be very happy for you to create a post on SoaringCafe.com.  Perhaps a short excert with one photo and then a link back to your blog to read your entire post. 
And here is Rand;

And yes , that’s what I am going to do! Very pleased to hear that such dedicated and much more professionel people as I am, like what I write in both Gliding International and in my blog. So co-operation will happen from today on!!!! Love it!!!
What we have in common is passion for soaring!!!!!!

Something totally different and less nice and…as a hotmail user [ gmail users are a target as well!!] it scared the hell out of me!!!
This is what I received from Iain Baker from Jonker Sailplanes. I , luckily, DID NOT [yet]  get such a mail, but this is an extra warning to be careful. Iain is such a nice hard working guy and now they STOLE his email account and used it for spam-fraud;
Read and shiver!!!!

It would be helpful to resend any emails sent to me or by me recently (or indeed, at anytime) as I used my email account to store a history of email correspondence with around 3500 emails

Alphen aan den Rijn     Sunday September 4 2011       ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

 Nice quiet weather in Holland with balloons passing by!

Finally some weather-improvement,that means,  for the last couple of days! Today we will have rain again but still 24, after we had thunderstorms during the night, tomorrow we will back to 18, so I enjoyed the last couple of days!!!Yesterday was an old-fashioned summer day, not only for soaring but also for swimming, as at some places it was 30 dgr.
Best flight yesterday here in Holland; 265 km. in a DG 800/18m. It was a bit stable and later during the day we could see cumulus-clouds and thermal-activity  started . Just over the border in Germany, somebody flew 484 km. in a Hornet from Aachen, with a good 300 FAI in it.
On Thursday the best flight was a nice 300 FAI triangle in a Mosquito. Yes those  “oldies”
are still going strong.
Best OLC- [wave] flight yesterday was in the USA with 941 km. in an ASH 26 E. Someway I thought they had MUCH better weather this season in the USA,  as we here in Europe , but Tom who flew the ASH 26 wrote in his comment; ” Summer is FINALLY here”. So it might not have been THAT good either.

Very pleased to see that Carsten Bauer ,[Germany]  who flew with us in Tocumwal in the past flew a nice 300 km. FAI triangle in his Carat, on the last day of August. Finally a good day again with some after-summer weather/conditions. By the way a Carat is an aeroplane and a glider more or less based on the discus. The motor is based on the old 4 cylinder horizontally VW air-cooled engine. It has a folding prop and a special undercarriage.
The  German juniors are still enjoying themselves in the mountains from Puimoisson in France, with flights just under and above 700 km. last week.
I guess , kilometer -eater Alfredo Giretti loves his new ASH 31 /21m. as well , making long flights in Rieti; another over-800 km-flight was added to his total on August 31.
I heard a few more friends have ordered an ASH 31/21m.

Great to find out that 100 years after Mr. Fokker,  flew his first plane, a Spin,  which was pretty daring, over Haarlem -town , the Fokker 100 will be back in production. NGA [Next Generation Aircrafts] before their name was REKKOF, the other way around you read FOKKER, has announced that within 2 years the prototype should be ready. The 120 -passenger-plane should be  most economical and environment-friendly.Good luck!!!

The 2d Belgian Masters at Saint Hubert, sponsored by Glider Pilot Shop, started on August 28 but had only one day till Thursday September 1. They went , at least a few went , for a speed task of 139 km. but the best flight was from one of the organisers Yves Jeanmotte with 32 km. So an invalid day!
A pity as high level pilots from France, Belgium and Holland mix here and devote their energy to be on the highest places. Goal; who proves to be the best pilot from Belgium?!
On Friday the weather there was most probably as “milky” as here, bad visibility but nice temperatures.

 Patrick Stouffs [picture from archive]

Yesterday they finally could go into the air. A task of 285 km. and 12 from 19 finished. Best was Yves Jeanmotte, putting 955 points in his pocket. Runner up was Jean Luc Colson and Bert Schmeltzer was 3d.
When the weather is the same as here they might have a window in the afternoon, when all rain and thunderstorms have passed by.

Season is more or less over, GOOD, let’s concentrate on the 2012 summer now with the 2 WGC’s in Uvalde and Chaves and hopefully exciting- good- soaring -weather, so CU on Wednesday, and….the overseas season starts soon too, so no time to worry anymore about rain and wind, we just go on, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn          August 31 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Last day already of this month of August  and what a wet month it was here in Holland and in more parts of Europe. The meteorological autumn starts tomorrow and it feels like that. We had a great spring and a “quickly-to-forget-summer” . Surely lots of pilots will book in winter for a good destination for soaring. So every disadvantage has an advantage![a quote from Johan Kruijff.]
Also last minute holidays to sunny destinations are HOT!
Hurricane Irene, hit the East Coast from the USA badly, as well as some islands earlier. Luckly the sting is out of “it” now and “it” tries to please us here in Europe, with some late summer weather by pushing the low away and the high into our direction.
Note; just heard that we had the dryest EVER spring in history , 49 mm. instead of the normal 172 and the wettest EVER summer with an average of 350 mm. about 100 mm.  MORE then normal!!!!!.

The UK open class nationals finished on Sunday. They tried harder then hard last Sunday,  to have another soaring day, they even launched after 3 pm. but pilots could not go far, as showers were active in their task area, so …they came back. It all ended after 5 , more or less marginals days with lot’s of outlandings.
1. Pete Harvey      Nimbus 4T      3991 points
2. Steve Jones       Nimbus 4T      3877 points
3. Andy Davis        JS1-B               3703 points
Very good from Andy to be 3d in an 18m. glider in a class full of “big ones”, even ahead of the EB with also a top pilot Robin May. Also well done for Patrick Naegeli occupying a 7th place in the ASG 29 E/18m.

 
Steve talking to Ronald Termaat and Andy [middle] at Eskilstuna[picture archive]

 
Pete winning the bronse with Michael Sommer on spot 1 and Giorgio Ballarati on spot 2.[Eskilstuna picture archive]

At  Husbos they managed to squeeze out a 5th day for the 15m. class pilots , also a dificult one, last Sunday,  with only 5 pilots from 26 who finished. An interesting day however for the final scores as Dave Watt belonged to the non-finishers and Leigh Wells finished. So the former world champion won this class.
1. Leigh Wells    ASG 29        3666 points
2. Dave Watt     Ventus 2      3619 points
3. Steve Ell        ASG 29         3568 points
Steve Ell won the last day ;241 km. with a speed of 80 km/h, that says enough of the weather. But good on him!!

 
Andy Davis, Leigh Wells, Phil and Steve Jones and Pete Harvey [Eskilstuna picture archive]

Leigh lined up as WGC CHAMPION to receive the cup in Eskilstuna [picture archive] 

 I read  that last Sunday was a bad day for 4 people flying nicely in a Cessna and Dimona. One way or another they touched with their wings during landing at the airport of Zell am See, and  crashed killing all 4; 2 from Austria and 2 from Germany. Tragic!
On the same day I saw on the German news a small green Cessna, that had landed in a street in the middle of a town, only hitting and bending a lamp-post and a dish areal on a roof. The couple overlooked the situation and was happy to have no injuries.The plane looked pretty bend!!!

In Holland we do have a lot of pilots flying with the very enthusiastic aeroclub  of Friesland  up in the Northern part of Holland.Yesterday I visited for the first time in my life the capital of Friesland,Leeuwarden. What a great town. I have seen a lot of the world, but missed out on some beauty in Holland itself. We had a look in the leaning, curved and unfinished tower from 1529. [www.historischcentrumleeuwarden.nl ] and of course the big sailing boats, “skütjes” , in the canals in Leeuwarden look magestic.

 See you on Sunday again,  cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Sunday afternoon August 27   ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Back home again! We , Kees van Schaick and I, departed with heavy rain and arrived back with it. In between it was OK, with less heavy rain and today no rain till Holland. Even at Mönscheide it was raining with our arrival, but later in the evening it was dry and the cold was chased by a warm bon-fire  and nice champagne. It was Doris Wiesenthal’s party. She turned 50 in March and invited some of her [inter]national friends and of course her family including Ute and Hans, Karin and Marcus . I was pleasantly surprised to catch up on this new airport I had never been before, with Australian mates Tim and Laurel, also good friends from the Wiesenthals, after they both visited Räyskälä and mutual friend Kari. From Tim , who visited Lasham as well, I heard that the weather during the Nationals was not very good, so due to out landings he missed out in meeting more friends. All these friendships originate from the good old times in Tocumwal at Sportavia.
As it was a private party I did not make pictures there.

While we were sitting in the rain, the UK had a bit of a better day of soaring at Lasham, on day 3 last Wednesday;444 km. sun combined with showers. Steve Jones got the very first 1000 points in this competition,  for his day-win and only 5 pilots finished and stayed out of trouble with those showers;  Andy in the JS1 b, Robin in the EB , Pete in the Nimbus 4T and David Allison, in the Nimbus 4D.
On Thursday they could fly again; 209 km. !!! We had rain here ..again, but to be honest some sunny intervals as well! This time it was Pete who won and an extra 719 went into his pocket. BAD day , unfortunately for Steve, as he was one of the 22  “out-landers” . At least they have a valid national competition to find out who can go to Uvalde.
Overall after 4 days, Pete tops the list with Steve behind him and Andy.
Friday was scrubbed and Saturday Steve was ” 2 points better”  then Pete. Today is their last day….will they fly??? No change in the overall scores. 

In 15 m. class at Husbos, also 4 days  of flying including Thursday. Day 3 had 4 ASG 29 in the top and a nice speed of 115 km./h over 331 km. for winner Chris Curtis. Only 2 out-landings.
Day 4 showed that Chris was the best AGAIN. Well done with a pretty strong field of pilots. After 4 days good old Dave Watt is number 1 overall and Leigh , former WGC champion at Eskilstuna is on a 2d place. Chris was on spot 7; he had a 22 d. and 12th place earlier.
They scrubbed 2 days and today is their last day with a set task of 204 km.The margin between the first 3 is only just under 100 points , so WHEN they can fly eveything is still possible!

Some of the young under 25 pilots from Germany  continue their soaring season now in Puimoisson in France with pretty long flights.
Fuentemilanos still has nice soaring conditions and some of our former guests , as Pepe, Michael and Hans enjoy those circumstances.
Rieti was good as well with flights up to 874 km in ASH 31/21m.. The bad weather was mainly in the middle from Europe , were a low persisted in making our lives miserable.
Last Friday it was according to one of the pilots flying there,  “the best ridge soaring day in the Eastern Alps. ”
In the duo discus they flew 1.149 km. from Wiener Neustadt and 1068 km. in an ASW 20. Hammer Wetter in the Alps  and Heinz Hammerle flew 1.292 km. in his LS 8 [ speed 120km./h] , while Werner Amann must have surprised himself by flying 1.555 km. with a speed of 128 km./h. in his Ventus 2C18m. Both flew from the Austrian airfield of Hohenems. What a great flow of super weather in that whole area there including Unterwössen [Germany]and Serres La Batie [France] .

The Vergulde Venturi only allowed for some local soaring yesterday and they hope for a window today.
Seabreeze at Deelen Airport cancelled yesterday as well, and also hope for a window today!!!

Better unpack now! Great weekend, Ritz

  picture courtesy Katja Soikkeli

Alphen aan den Rijn           Wednesday August 24 2011     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Hope you liked the in-between- special about Tim! Becoming a  junior world champion  in such a strong field and with such difficult circumstances is JUST GOOD!!!!
We do not have a WORLD CHAMPION EVERY YEAR .

In the UK they are flying the open class Nationals  at Lasham, a big beautiful airfield which I visited a few times. Quite a lot of friends fly there some of them visitors from Sportavia in the past. I counted atleast 4! One of the pilots I always follow with extra attention is Pete Harvey. Since we met in Finland in 2005, I find him an interesting pilot/ former hang glider pilot.
On day 1 only 7 from 28 finished and Steve Jones won the day. On my first visit to Lasham it was Steve’s dad who I met first and who welcomed me at “his”  field. I knew him and the then “little Jones-brothers” already earlier from Angers and other comps.
Steve won also day 2, a day on which ALL 28 finished their task over 300 km. So after 2 days Steve is on spot 2 , Pete on 2 and Kim on 3 all of them flying Nimbus 4T . Former world champion Andy Davis is on 4 in the JS-b!
Due to rain yesterday was scrubbed.

Also in the same time frame 20-28 of August the 15 m. class  fly their nationals at Husbos. Out of 3 days they also flew 2 days and here it is Mathew Cook who tops the list after 2 days. Also here a lot of very well known glider pilots, as former world champion Leigh wells, Phil Jones, Paul Crabb and Jay Rebbeck! Good old Dave Watt is 2d, after 2 days, good on him …. but Leigh, Paul, Phil and Jay are only a few points behind, so a great “battle” for the next couple of days. Hope the weather allows them to fly!!! Yesterday was scrubbed.
We had yesterday SOOOO much rain, both in Belgium and Holland;up to 36 liter on 1 sq. m. in 25 minutes!!!! THAT IS RAIN!!!!

 The Jones brothers [ archive]

I like Husbos, we had not only tragedy there in 2005 ,[ one photographer killed and a total loss car and damaged glider and trailer from one of the Dutch team members, due to an accident with arrival from Holland at 200 m from the airfield;  the driver from the other car was injured]  but also great memories and my team then,  the Dutch juniors , still are a great bunch of young men and I like seeing them and talking to them; gives a good and familiar feeling. Specially when you know that I did not know them and they did not know me, before the JWGC started,  only heard about me and I heard about them. I follow them with interest ,where they go. One is only flying for pleasure now, the others are still competitive.

As I was so busy with all these EGC’s and the JWGC , I lost track on what happened in Europe , so I looked back till August 10 to see what was going on on the OLC.
Great to see that Fuentemilanos had an old fashioned 1000 km day with 11 flights OVER 1000 km even up to 1.280 in an ASH 26E. I liked Pepe’s comment ;dia bomba !!! That’s what we need such a day, to forget the rain and less good conditions, this summer. Pepe flew his 3d 1000 km. task this season.
Good soaring also in Vinon where Paul Janssens and  Gilles Navas had some long distance flights up to 901 and 909 km.
Also good to see that Greece had a great day and Alexis flew 866 km.
Rieti pilots flew over 800 km. as well on several days as well as pilots at La Cerdanya in Spain.

 Gilles Navas [archive]

This upcoming weekend, [which I am going to spend at the airport of Mönchsheide in Bad Breisig for a 50thiest birthday ….yes from a soaring-friend] ,  a nice competition takes place at Malden , the place I visited last week and club from Tim; the Vergulde Venturi. Also a 2 day-competition at Deelen, SEABREEZE with 32 participants in 2 classes. [ www.vliegbasisdeelen.nl]

 airfield of Malden
pict. from their site http://verguldeventuri.weebly.com

They are building one of the most interesting hangars at Malden, with under-ground-space for more then 30 trailers with gliders. In the hangar on the  floor will be a work shop and place for rigged gliders from the club NIJAC.

No early- weekend- news but later on Sunday when I am back home. I drive with Kees and he has to be back at 1 PM. , so enough time to start writing.

cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn             Monday August 22 2011   ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

This is an extra special in word and picture, to share with you the happy moments from our new World Champion Tim Kuijpers  in the club class from the under 25 juniors,  held at Musbach in Germany.
A surprise party was organised by the Aeroclub from Malden to celebrate the 4th world champion gliding in Dutch history. Lots of friends, arrived to be part of this moment.
Baer Selen was there , he was the coach for many years to get our junior team on a good track and of course he  was in Chateauraux the first Dutch World Champion. In 1991 he repeated this by winning in Uvalde Texas and in between Kees Musters won gold in Hobbs in New Mexico.And now “we ” have Tim ! The family was there and even the Mayor and the alderman of sport,  a kind lady. Ronald Termaat, yes our former European champion , spoke some kind words in his function as director of the KNVvL, as well as Robert Jungblut , the president of the Dutch gliding association.Many pilots involved in the “education” of our young team , walked around proud,  so they should as what they started a few years ago, shows off now!!

Proud dad Ferdi, sister Maaike with boyfriend Gijs, brother Caspar, uncle Ger [TC in Musbach] and even more proud mum Frouwke

“It was not easy to win” Tim said , everybody expected a lot from the German team, the wonder -boys as they were called, but Tim kept his head cool , flew as he wanted to fly, did his utmost best to stay close to them and where they more or less failed [ there is only ONE place and that is FIRST place !] , he won. It is a title on which everything fell in place for Tim.

Natasja from Dutch- Soaring-PR, invited TV and they arrived for some very nice shots, broad-casted yesterday evening on SBS6 during the local Dutch news.

As in Musbach Tim was thrown in the pool , after a flight first to show gliding for the TV cameras.

Town donated a cask of nice cool beer, very welcome on a humid day with 30 dgr. Souvenirs from Musbach were brought home and Bart the owner of 2 B was happy with the result from Tim and his glider. NOT FOR SALE, he said!!!

Grand ma was more then proud on her grand children and children , so were all friends. One of his instructors at Malden were Tim spend his flying -youth, was Dick Teuling and for the viewer with a good eye, he is on my Facebook picture as my instructor as well in 1967.

 A lovely hot day with a great winner , an extremely happy TIM, a very happy family and more then happy friends. The cool pool was awesome not only for Tim but also for others who jumped in with a big splash. Tim is ready now for ” the real thing”. After concentrating on soaring for a few years, he has reached what his goal was, being the best!”
Now it is time for the future and  he leaves already this Thursday for Oxford in the UK , to start his flight education , to be a pilot. But….”when I have finished I will be back”! Good luck Tim!

Alphen aan den Rijn        Sunday August 21 2011      ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Both pictures ; courtesy Katja Soikkeli

What a great moment, specially for Tim, to be “crowned “as winner from the club class at the JWGC in Musbach. For Felip it was the 2d time , so he was a bit used to it.
Tim did not win one day, he was good but not even VERY good he thought himself in the beginning [ spot 12- then 7 and 6 climbing every day up to 3 were he stayed till the last but one day!!] and pretty amazed in the end he ended at the number one spot , gaining enough points to beat the German boys, but he was always  very determined to do his utmost best to get as high as possible on the scores-list. Great attitude!!!
Flying against the top 3 top-pilots in his class from Germany was an extra stimulant; they ended behind him on 2-3 and 4 after 7 days of soaring under pretty marginal circumstances.
On the last but one day he passed them all, mainly because the German team was not one  at that moment, with Sebastian winning the day [329 points]and climbing from 5 to 4 overall, while Alexander and Tobias only gained 190 and 193 points, being 26 and 27. That surely was not according to their coaches  plan! Tim who was 3d at that moment in the overall scores was 6th with 301 points and …passed Alexander and Tomas. ” Sweet revenge ” I read several times in the Dutch shoutbox, as the German soccer team always beats us in the last moment and you know the Dutch are soccer fans even at an airfield.Very kind of the young Germans to belong to the first to congratulate Tim. Good on them! Of course they did well too, but Tim did extremely well.

These pictures are from my archive when the Dutch soccer players were busy with their EGC and we were in Eskilstuna during the WGC .

 Champion and number 2 and 3 in club class

We continue were I was; And as they did not fly on the last day the final very close  scores in club class  were as follows;
1. Tim Kuijpers from Holland in the st. cirrus      4536 points
2. Alexander Späth from Germany in st.cirrus    4508 points
3. Tomas Welsch from Germany in st. cirrus       4504 points

 
Tim and his dad Ferdi, who flew WGC and EGC himself in the past. Mum Frouwke is a TC for years for the Dutch team,as well as steward for the FAI and sister Maaike is a glider pilot as well as brother Caspar. A REAL Dutch  soaring family!!!And….not to forget “uncle ” Ger, brother from Frouwke, who was the succesful TC in Musbach.
picture;courtesy Katja Soikkeli

2 Other Dutch pilots, Steven and Rik,  flying for the first time in such big event were both on spot 6, very good on them!!!! So our soaring-future looks pretty bright , is n’t it!? But a lot of very experienced people have been “helping”  our  young ones through the years, one of them Tim’s mum Frouwke. Chapeau for all of them!!!!

Not to forget there was a  standard class  as well. Also this class suffered from the bad weather and the very difficult / marginal circumstances , not expected before when all happily left their country. It was a real challenge in both classes, but as we all know the weather is not in our hands. Let’s call it character -building.
Felip Levin from Germany started on spot 1 overall and was still there on day 6 the last day, never losing the spot , so a well deserved winner and with a big marge!!!
1. Felip Levin from Germany in discus 2A      3832 points
2. Lucasz Grabowski from Poland in LS 8       3325 points
3. Jon Erik Lygren from Norway in LS 8         3341 points

A nice mix of countries not 3 from Germany or France or the UK or another country on the first spots, as you see so often.
Picture from the prize giving.

 Happy standard class winners!

Uvalde  finished their Uvalde Glide. As said Mac won in the Diana 2 with 7140 points out of 8 days in 15 m. class. He was lees then 100 points ahead of USA pilot John Seaborn in a Ventus
2 bx.
In 18 m. it was Bruce Taylor winning in the ASG 29 with 7394 points. He was more then 600 points ahead of runner up Gary Ittner from the USA.
Looking forward to the 2012 WGC in Uvalde.

One of the Red Arrows, flying a demo at Bournemouth yesterday, did not show up after they finished their show. From the 9 planes only 8 landed at Bornemouth airport. It seems the 9th plane crashed in a field . No news at this stage about the pilot. The Red Arrows is the famous British- formation- team with spectacular shows. I saw a few myself. Hope the pilot was able to save himself. No he did not I just heard on the news. Sad!!!

Something totally different , but it is nearly September now and  Gliding International starts a  new email service on September 1. 
“Our world wide network of correspondents search daily for news related to gliding. Our new service will email you the hottest gliding intelligence every Friday. Not more then 10 lines per news item will make for easy reading from this instant email form “.
If you are interested contact; subs@glidinginternational.com
 It will cost you 80 cents US a week, or the equivalent in local currencies and is  only available for Gliding International Magazine subscribers. [ www.glidinginternational.com ]

And…to finish some pictures taken by Tim’s Sister Maaike and her boyfriend Gijs.

sorry dont get it right, but it is a nice picture,cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn   Friday August 19 2011     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Both pictures courtesy Katja Soikeli. Fun and rest after parties and crewing show the JWGC at it’s best.

Looking back on Musbach;
Sunday…..the top pilots who found in the rain a safe landing place,  some after just not yet 30 km. must have hoped that it would not be a valid day this sunday. Tragic bad weather with showers and more showers and it was nearly impossible to go on track. But…in the end in both classes pilots finished. In club Dutch pilot Tim , already runner up in the 2009 Europeans, arrived back in the rain, flying the 238 km. in nearly 5 hours BUT HE WAS BACK. Sole finisher in club , gaining 548 points and climbing overall to 3 behind the 2 young German pilots.
In standard class unfortunately NOT ENOUGH over 100 km-pilots. BUT also here 3 heroes who finished, what a pity for them, that the day turned out invalid!! But great class!!!!!They deserved more then ZERO points!!!!

Monday;official rest day and good days to arrive with up to 32 dgr. ! International evening was very succesful!!

After fun and rest, utmost concentration for the pilots . Courtesy Katja Soikeli.

Tuesday; The expectatation was for finally a great day, but in the morning the pilots woke up with 6/8 of alto cumulus and still a lot of moisture in the air . Another more then though day asking for all skills from each pilot. After postponing the start they finally were launched at 1 PM.
 for club and even later for standard hoping that the overcast would have passed.
Nobody except ONE pilot , Filip Levine, the current JWGC champion,  finished. Great job! Luckily for him MORE then 25 % were over 100 km. so he really won the day!!!
Clubclass outlanded about 20 km in front of the goal.
After 5 “flying-days” , on which pilots REALLY had to work, you can call it caracter building, but I do not know about that the overall scores showed the next points:
Club ;
1. Tobias Welsch  [ Germany ]   3430 points
2. Alexander Späth [Germany]  3428 points
3. Tim Kuijpers [Netherlands]    3392 points

Standard;
1. Filip Levine [Germany ]         2532 points
2. Radek Krejcirik [ Czech Rep]   2249 points
3. Kristian Larsen [Denmark]      2248 points
As you see enough excitement with 3 days to go [last day Friday August 19]

Wednesday;Still not a real great soaring day this day 5 , but getting better. Still showers en route and pilots who were forced to out land. “Only” 11 this time in the 2 classes , so MUCH better then the days before with ONLY outlandings.Felt sorry for Horatio from Argentina. Nice fellow, good pilot. Till yesterday on spot 5 overall but this day he was one of the “outlanders ” after 124 km, while the others flew the racing task from 237.4 km..He dropped to 16.
The atmosphere seems to be more then good, that’s important as well. The karaoke evening was a succes I heard!

Thursday last but one day!!!!!And…another difficult day!! Brian, the chief-steward could not find really usable thermals , so the AAT for club class was changed to 1.30  after a meeting on the grid from the TC’s. First launch at 14.15.
In between the weather had improved , not only bleu thermals but also some cumili!! And…base at 2400 m!!!!! The young pilots might get scared after so many low days.
A day , and this is very special, it DID NOT work for the German team. Sebastian Nägel won and flew SUPER , but the numbers 1 and 2 [Alexander and Tobias only were 26 and 27 OUCH!!!!!]overall lost lot’s of points making it possible for our Tim Kuijpers to get on spot ONE overall!!!! Great effort!!! Of course he was already runner up during the EGC 2009, but being ONE on the last day on a JWGC , specially with these weather circumstances, is perfect!!!!!
9 outlandings in standard class and one young Aussie did nor fly due to problems with himself and his glider and weird but true the young pilot from the USA seems to have been asked to leave the team for disciplinait reasons!!!! He even won 2 days!!!’

Friday today;  lots’s of efforts to get pilots in the air; tasks were handed, gliders on the grid etc but the weather looked SH;;;;!!! They first cancelled standard class making German Pilot Filip Levin Junior WORLD CHAMPION for the 2d time. Good on him, congratulations.
Then the club was cancelled as well….hurray for Tim who won!!!!! The German team was really happy for a last day, to get things straight but…the weather gods said ENOUGH!!!!

Rene, 2009 European champion and Tim [r] JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION [archive]

Uvalde;  On the official pre-world-site was written, that the last day was on the 14th and the Awards dinner as well. It is still there and called “preliminary!”
But…. on soaringspot the comps continued. They should do better in 2012.
So we just continue! There were day 6 and 7 but day 8 was special.On day 8 Gary Ittner flew with a speed of 150 km. over a 3.30 AAT making 564 km. in 18 m.class.
In 15 m.148 km./h. WOW, over 599 km. in Ventus 2 AX.

More news on Sunday!!! Guests have just left , but I wanted to quickly give you an update. Cheers Ritxz

Alphen aan den Rijn       Sunday August 14 2011      ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Pictures; courtesy Jeroen Kroon

“Don’t fool around on the last day ” , Zbigniew must have thought, so he straight away won the last day in 18 m. class. So both “mates”,  on top for a while ended, also on top in the end , from these by great and less good weather flown EGC comps.
Karol wins and Zbigniew is 2 so 2 Polish pilots on top in ASG 29. Good for Poland! On spot 3 UK pilot Russell Cheetham in JS1.
In 15 m. Henrik Breidahl was the best on this last day 10 and I am pleased to see he still flies SO well.
He settles himself between the 3 French and is number 2 OVERALL , coming from 5th place,  good on him. The French are 1-2-4. Great guys!The points….. look at this, real exciting;
1. Christophe Ruch with 7323 points THE winner, the champion!
2. Henrik Breidahl with 7175 points AND
2. Denis Geurin ALSO with 7175 points!!!!
4. Louis Bouderlique with 7173 points ONLY 2 less!!!!!
In open class Pete Harvey won the day and he shows that he still is a great pilot, but …not the winner of this ECG. Markus Frank our German pilot was after 9 days, this time the best; and ….he was on top for the last 4 days!!! A great champion.

On the last day they all had to fly. Short 2 hour AAT’s for some still TOO long, as Peter from Holland had to use his engine after 40 km. OUCH that hurts !!!!!. But he only dropped 2 places overall !
With a base of 650 the open class pilots started after a few delays. In the end the day turned out not too bad and most pilots finished. All in time to celebrate the final day of these comps.
Good to have had a flyable last day.
In the top 10 in each class everybody could have been the winner. One has more luck then the other  or things fall better in place. Anyhow great comps and well deserved champions and runner up’s.
A pity from the broken gliders , what can you do. Atleat the mix of weather with very good to just soarable showed the talents of the pilots. I enjoyed it, from home!

Uvalde Texas, Pre worlds; Mac from Japan ended on spot 1 after 6 days of flying in 15 m. class. He never won a day but was pretty consistant and ready for next year for the “real thing”.
In 18 m. it is Bruce Taylor who won  4 out of 5 days! Gary Ittner was a good runner up BUT about 700 points less good!!!
In the open class Nationals;Ron Tabery is on top aftrert 5 days.
Thought it was over but they just continue! Sorry about that!

1.30 h. and 2 hours [club] AAT for the young ones! Yesterday they had a tiny bit better weather in Musbach so a new window gave new energy for the pilots. In the end the weather was allright,meaning not so many outlandings and certainlygood for the winner in standard; USA pilot Devin Bargannier who managed to fly 129 km.
In club class our young Danish friend Mads won again; 167 km. Good on him!!!He won 2 marginal days in a row! Hope he is good in nice-speedy-weather-flying as well, as that’s what is expected .

Short message this time due to guests and more to come, but you had a nice long one lasdt Friday. Enjoy your week see you most prtobably on Friday August 19. When I have time I put some picturtes on later.

Cheers Ritz