Our  “old”  family club, the Gelderse, had their one-day-competition on Saturday with 14 pilots in an open/mixed class and 8 in club class. The weather, which was to ” cry for”  in the East of Europe, was  a tiny bit better  here. They flew , but only  the better -performance-gliders  gained points. The Nimbus 4DM won the 181 km. with  7 other finishing gliders in open class and in club the best distance was 66 km. from the set 130.
Another nice day for a bit of flying, ” tasting”  the field and catching up with friends, beer  and talks, but no goulash this time.

The WINNERS in open class; Paul Wijsman and Rien Bastiaanse as seen and shared by Ricky Bastiaanse.

Klix, had in  18 m. class 2 Dutch winners on day 1; Jeroen Verkuijl [Ventus 2cxaj] and Hadriaan van Nes,[DG800/18m]  both got the 711 points.
They all had to fly in changing circumstances from good lift to flying on a “zero”  but quite a few made it home;24 from 29!Distance; 223 km.
In 15 m. class Mac from Japan practiced for the WGC and was 5th from 15 on day 1, with 3 out landings.
In standard class 151 km and 2 winners  , one Dutch [ the younger brother of Baer Selen] and one German, both got 338 points.
In club class 22 pilots had to fly 108.2 km. and 18 did so.
In the 2 seater class 12 participants mostly flying all kind of varieties of the Duo Discus and one DG 1000 and an ARCUS and the last one won day 1, over 210.9 km.

Day 2 was flown only in 18 m and club class. Jeroen won again . Both classes had to fly around showers.
On day 3 small AAT’s in each of the 4 classes, but after postponing and postponing organizers cancelled the day.
Day 4 had a window for 2 classes again , so the 2-seaters and 15 m. class pilots went up to check this window. It turned out not too bad. Mac won the 1.30 AAT and one of the Duo Discusses won from the ARCUS. All starts after 3 PM.

Day 5; Finally a GOOD one, with an over- 2000 m. base and racing tasks between 388 and 491 km. with for each a  TP in Poland. Good for those practicing for the WGC in Leszno.
Cu’s all over , so lot’s of finishers and good results, so deserved after the pretty marginal days earlier.
In 18m. Polish pilot Thomasz Dul won the day with a speed of 129,16 km./h. over 490.9 km. in the ASG 29 . With 1963 points he leads the 18-m. pact at this moment.
In 15 m. another good day for Mac , winning with a speed of 126.61 km.h over 403.9 km. in the Ventus 2. At this stage Mac leads in his class.
In standard class Jacques Selen was runner up . Winner was Andreas Hillebrand with a speed of 118.86 against 118, 56. Pfffft…..A real ” fight”  here between those 2 pilots as the difference in overall points is TWO, in favor of Andreas.
In club class 2 winners, one from Holland Menno Beesten [ Hornet with winglets] and also 1000 points for  German pilot Peer Sitzmann.[Sta Jantar] They flew with 105.10 km./h. over a distance of 387.7 km.
The 2 seaters had a big task as well; 408 km and this time the pilots in the DG 1000 were the best  AND they top with ONE point the overall list till today.
More good weather is forecast so let’s wait and see what happens on the next couple of days, including today.

Yesterday in the same area Stefan Goretzki flew in the St. Cirrus from Locktow via Poland and Klix a nice 650 [500 FAItriangle] and Bernd Goretzki in the 18m Ventus starting at the same point ; 928.6 km [800 Fai triangle] So REALLY good weather .

By the way there are a lot of great pictures in the gallery of the site of this 22d Klix-Cup;
http://aeroteam.de/

The reginonals in the USA [R5N] are over and won by Dick Butler in open class in his CONCORDIA, Fernando Silva in 15 m, Jerzy Szemplinsky in 18 m. and and Sarah Arnold in sports class.

  

The SSA shared 2 fantastic pictures from Baude Litt from Dick’s Concordia- on -air!

In between they had time to raise funds for the teams going to Finland and Poland.
CD for these regionals at Perry International Airport, was Richard Maleady who is nowadays the president of the SSA .
Just to let you know!  Garret Willat  and Sean Franke fly for the USA, in club class, Bob Fletcher and Phillip Gaisford in standard class and Heinz and Karin in the ARCUS in the 20 m. class. So they travel to Rayskala.
To Leszno travels a team from 6 pilots with as TC Dennis Linneken. Dick Butler and Ron Tabery in open, Peter Alexander and Gary Ittner in 18 m. and Mark Keene and Dave Mockler in 15 m.

  

  

Dick, Jerzy, Fernando and Sarah, great winners.
Pictures shared by the SSA.

 

In Italy the 13.5 m gliders were on the grid in Alzate Brianza, combined with the club class for the Italian titles. 25 Competitors and a lot of good ones going for the titles.
All Silent 2 gliders in this competion, except for 2 PW 5’s. The Silents did well. Ricardo Brigliadori won day 1 and 2 , with toppers as Alberto Sironi, Stefano Ghiorzo, Luigi Bertoncini following him. Also UK pilot Ayala Truelove and USA pilot Francois Pin are in the race.
In Club class on the 2d day ,[ a 3 hour AAT]  , the 1000 points were for former junior Davide flying a Cirrus.
3 Flying days in the 13.5 m class till now and today is cancelled. Ricardo leads after those 3 days  with just over 100 points on Stefano.
Only 2 in club class where Davide leads after those 2 days.

  

Luckily Francois was so kind to share some pictures from his flight.
Courtesy Francois Pin via FB.

Last Sunday ,places in Finland , Norway and Japan , belonged to the good soaring-spots.With tasks just under and above 500, they had better weather than some [other] European countries. Norway even had a flight over 600 km. in the Nimbus 4Dm. And Arne Martin Guettler mentioned that the 548 km.  he flew,  was the longest ever in his life [discus 2bt] ;” Awesome conditions, although the area with good conditions was somewhat limited.” 

In my last blog on www.soaringcafe.com  I wrote about an interesting flight from Marian Novak [Canada] ;900 km in an ZSD55.
The comment was :”Actually it is a glider that he designed and built himself. He calls it an “Egret”  Because the OLC has no entry for a one-of homebuilt, he logs it as a SZD55 as that appears to be close to its performance.”
For sure interesting to know.

Talking about SoaringCafe, when you visit me in the cafe on Sunday it will be different, even better and there will me more interaction. Looking forward to the new set up. I have been asked over the last months to give my input which I did as did other contributors.
Bill and Rand , the co-founders,  mention in their latest blog yesterday,that they will  launch the new site on Thursday;
” The Café is a unique place that brings us all together to share our passion for flying. And although we come from different countries, speak different languages, work in all types of jobs and have diverse life experiences, we are a community. And we like to talk about and share our flying experiences. That’s why we made the changes to the website. So everyone has a chance to both share their stories and enjoy the experiences of others”
I can fully agree on this, have a look on www.soaringcafe.com

That’s it , you are up to date so see you next week. It’s already the last day of April, time flies and the 2 WGC’s will be there in a flash. Still pondering the possibilities of visiting both for a few days.

Cheers Ritz