They had 2 magic competition days , then 2 days off and on Wednesday a difficult day for some.
Talking about the 48th Horsham Week.
Only for standard class it was a 1000 points day, with still 3 from 9 going ” aux vaches “. The other 3 classes had less points.
Last Thursday , day 4, was a good one again with a 4 hour AAT for 3 classes and 3.30 for club. In this class the Sparrow Hawk from Morgan won the day, with 336 km. in time 3.54.
1000 Points as well in 3 classes except for open where Tony Tabart won the day with 893 points.
The very last day, day 6 was a topper again!!!
15 m. had 565.8 km. and the winner was Gary in the Discus b with a speed of 131 km./h. Gary won this class with more than 400 points ahead on the runner up.
Club class had a 404 km. task and the 2 seater Janus 18.2 m. was the best with a speed of 131 km./h.
By winning the last day they just were the best in the overall scores but VERY marginal as Morgan and his Sparrow Hawk only lost with TWO points!!!!!
In open class they had to fly 510 km.and Graig , from Waikerie, did so in his ASG 29 with a fantastic speed of 166.3 km./h!!!! He was the overall winner, before Tony Tabart in the Ventus 2CM, [154.2 km./h.] , who still is a top -competition- pilot at age ” over 70″ !
Most soaring places say or said goodbye to their guests but in Tocumwal, where they fly till Easter,still new guests arrive. 4 Japanese pilots are using the less busy season for flying and as they are not there to fly a 1000, they have enough time on a good day to do something ” nice”.
After the cool change, the weather-cycle has built up again and they are back in the low 40thies .
A bit more S. in Victoria , 9 spots are in danger due to fires and tough wind. That’s the less good part!
Also Bjoern [Norway] and Kari [Finland]are still there.
Kari flew on Friday 766 km. Not bad for the LS 6, but a keen pilot in it!
Joergen and Brigitte [Denmark arriving from Stonefield] as well as Roger, [Australia- arriving from Corowa] fly with their ARCUS from Tocumwal now.
Our Danish mates flew yesterday a 760 km., declared FAI, which is a New Danish distance and speed records.
And Kari flew on the same day, in the LS 6 , 744 km. whilst Swiss Chris who was over for the weekend got his ASW 27 out for 810 km.[750 FAI triangle]
Car and glider in Tocumwal and Joergen with some friends from Stonefield, who passed by.
Great back ground, yes our old hangar!
Pictures courtesy Birgitte and Joergen from their shared diary.
Corowa has packed 2 containers and they are already on the way home. The last container will leave in the end of February so those pilots still have a few days of soaring fun.
Pilots still there are p.e. Pepe and Peter Zander who both flew on Friday just under and just over 600 km.Hans Juergen who flew the 1000 a few weeks ago, had 765k. on his OLC list now.
Yesterday they had a great day; Peter with 727 km., Hans Juergen 845 and Pepe 851.
Great late- season- fun!!!
Like Tocumwal , Benalla is open for club members and guests till late in the season.Also their pilots had a great week. Bob Nicholls [UK] is THE kilometer-eater over there and he flew yesterday 713 km. and today 642 in the Ventus 2CT/18m.
Still good flights from the training camp in West Wyalong with flights up to nearly 1000 km!!!
Allan Barnes and Matt Gage are practicing for their WGC this year in Europe by flying together and both sound as if they are VERY happy with the co-operation.
“ Final day team flying with Matt Gage, we set a 750 km. triangle and managed to knock off Tom’s ancient speed record! 134km/hr, and we both took the same time to get around, down to the second! Great day, a lot of remote scenery and some stonking climbs.” was Allan’s last comment.
Yesterday Chris Becek nearly flew a 1000 k in the ASH 26 [ 938 km.] and today Paul Mander in the ASH 25 a distance of 700 km. whilst the others were driving home in different directions, after a beaut week.
Other Aussie pilots coming to Europe this year are Matthew Scutter, Adam Woolley, Ben Loxton all 3 still very young. A tad older, Tom Claffey , Andrew Georgeson and Craig Collins.
I noticed on the entry list from Finland in the 2 seater class Heinz Weisenbuhler and Karin Schloesser. Good on them! They will fly the ARCUS.
Enough ARCUS gliders in this class also T and M, but also an ASG 32MI flown by the Austrian pilots. Interesting!
Finnish pilots Anti Lehto and Nikke Luukkanen, who practised in Bitterwasser this season fly an ARCUS M.
http://www.wgc2014.fi/entries-2014-by-country
Karin ,Heinz and Hannah in Uvalde.
The French are already very busy promoting their GrandPrix and their PR is good. They keep coming with news and pictures and that keeps the attention as happens to the Finnish WGC .Good on both of them!
Here a great picture I found on FB and shared by the organizers of one of their TP’s . Ever seen such a great spot as TURNPOINT?
The Mont-Saint-Michel is in the turn-point database of the Grand Prix France 2014
LOVED the opening of the Olympic Games , certainly the ballet and though I have my own opinion about Russian Human Rights , for me that’s on the back ground now.
Our prime minister promised to talk with Putin and with human-right- groups among them the homo’s, which he did already. Hope it works but I am a bit skeptic.
And all that money!!! And the ” holy ground ” of the first people who lived and were killed there? Must say the Olympics have given us a better view on things we did know, but also we did not know in detail.
SPORT IS NOW FIRST ! And the Dutch are not only born on the bike, but also on skates! Speed skating is in our blood and when we don’t do it ourselves, we support our heroes in orange !And how!!!!
Holland was more than happy, with the ” clean sweep” we made in the first discipline in the great looking skating hall.With a 1-2-3 and today at he ” place of honor” 3 Dutch flags and gold, silver and bronze for the men of the 5000 m. , we can be very proud!
We even topped for a few hours the medal list and as a very small winter-sport- contingent , we should be very proud on that.
Due to the fact that it is the quiet in- between-time for soaring, I will write only on Wednesday for soaring.eu and on Sunday for Soaring Cafe. Just to let you know!
Cheers Ritz
on Sunday February 9 2014.