The 18 m. and open class in Stendal had a tough day last Sunday. Yes they flew and yes some pilots got points and whilst waiting longer it WAS a day in both classes!!!!
18 m. was won by Michael Streit ,..he got 166 points 1 point more than Claus Triebel. Best speed today; 65 km./h over 145 km.Both fly ASG 29E.
In Open class Norbert Kalisch was the best in his ASW 22 BLE. He flew 183 km with a speed of 70 km./h and “got 260 points. 20 More than Michael Sommer .
Monday unfortunately had to be cancelled again.How terribly unlucky can you be with such weather.Feel for the organizers , pilots and crews. BUT,…..It looks the weather will improve and the overall scores are low, so EVERYTHING is possible!!!

By the way we had here in Holland,  the lowest EVER August 18  with 15.2 dgr, C. and at some places 100 ml. of rain.More than normally in one month!!!As said the weather is the weather , nothing has changed.

Tuesday; cancelled.

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The 18 m. Nationals at Lasham in the UK  [ August 15-23] started last Saturday with 34 participants and another 29 [2 HC] in the regional’ s, flown parallel with this competition.
Day 1 had a 3 hour AAT won by Pete Harvey in the JS 1. He flew 12 km. more than the runner up and in a time  to be happy with ; 3.01. Frank Davies was runner up, Philippe de Pechy from France on spot 3.

Day 2 with a 3.30 AAT, was for Afandi Darlington; 401 km. with 113 km./h. with Steve Jones as runner up.Quite some toppers missed out on some points. Andy Davis was on spot 15, Russell Cheetham on 20, Mike Young on 22 and my Lasham/Tocumwal friends Roy and Patrick on spot 25 and 26. The other Toc/Lasham friends are David flying the Duo Discus T in the regionals [amber] and Hugh, but I could not find him on the entrance list, but for sure he will be there!!! MMMmmmm, ….I might be wrong.

David in the Duo Discus T ,flying in the REGIONALS AMBER and after 3 days on spot 5.
As shared by his wife Sandra.

Hugh on a boat ?????
As shared yesterday by Graham Coules.

It’s nearly unbelievable but on Monday , day 3, they flew 417 km. from Lasham.We are all sitting in the rain, THEY FLY!!!And…from 34 pilots  31 flew the task plus 1 HC. Only 3 out -landings.
Who said it’s always raining in the UK??????? When I was there a couple of years ago, I even got sun burnt!!
Andy [JS1-C] won; 112.71 km./h. He climbed from 6 to 2 overall behind Pete.

A picture from Lasham.As found on their site.

Tuesday;and off they went again for a 237.9 km. task.HOWEVER,….this time the weather did not co-operate. The start was postponed from 12 to 12.30 and later, the task changed in B task and then they had to cancel the day.

 Most probably you know already, that  Lasham Gliding Society have been awarded the 2017 Flapped European Championships. ” A great boost for UK gliding.” they say.It IS!!

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Kathrin and Eberhard Woetzel , her dad, with the wooden sculpture , created for every WGC or EGC which takes place in Pocuinai!!!!What a great idea and a permanent memory!!!
So next year another will be added for the WGC over there for standard, club and 2 seaters. They can start already.

Just read that the Diana 2 VERSUS is NOT from the DIANA factory but it’s ” done ” by Stefano [Ghiorzo ] himself and the team from Alisport.
 So,…. Stefano modified his own  Diana 2 to a Versus ; his own project and the practical site was done by ALISPORT an Italian firm where Stefano is nowadays the managing director .
And ….ALISPORT means …: ”  SILENT 2 ELECTRO, with its nose-mounted electric propulsion system constructed specifically for the Silent, is the most modern and environmentally conscious design capable of satisfying the needs of ever increasing sailplane performance. ” The number 3-4-6-7-8-9 during this first 13.5 m. WGC.
What a small world!!!!www.alisport.com
Did not know that, so I checked with Kathrin ,who gave me already some info, but more  about this by Stefano himself. SO STAY TUNED!!!!!

 Stefano in his Versus as shared by Kathrin.

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JWGC in Narromine:
Dutch team;Already DURING her participation in Arnborg junior pilot Annemiek, who WON 2 days, heard that she is selected for the JWGC in Australia as well. During the “road to Narromine ” , 2 pilots decided with pain in their heart that their graduation- study at the Delft University [Steven] and the pilot training for KLM [Stefan] HAD to be more important, so Annemiek fills in for Stefan, for whom she was in first case crewing in Narromine , and for Steven it will be Robin Smit, who showed his talent already a few times over the last years!
Together with Nick Hanenburg and Ronald Deerenberg they will start in Corowa , where the 2 St Cirrussen [AU and AG owned by a foundation to support young pilots ;Stichting Zweefvliegevenementen Nederland] and 2  LS 8’s arrive with the COROWA TRANSPORT. Young and former JWGC CHAMPION Tim Kuijpers will assist as coach and Ger Kwant ,[by the way his uncle]  who brought home already 2 JWGC CHAMPIONS, will be the TC.

Team UK; goes with 4 pilots as well, 2 in standard 2 in club. One of them Andy Davis’, [who is the TC, ]  son Matt, who participates in a JWGC for the 3d time. Twice before  he flew in club class.
The other pilot in this class is Mike Gatfield, who flies a JWGC for the first time.
Club class pilots are Sam Roddie , who competes for the 2 time and Tom Arscot , for whom it is the first JWGC as well.

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A REAL ADVENTUROUS FLIGHT AND NOT WITHOUT RISK!!!!

Through my writing I get to know many very interesting people.
Also last week; Got some news by a now 77 year old pilot, Peter Asam, who checked if  I might be interested in a story and he gave me the link, WITH the message/advise; don’t do this!!!!!
So I wrote him back to get some more details about a flight in FOEHN/wave over a top from 9100 m.

The pilot was Peter himself flying his 3d diamond in the end of the 70thies.
Over the top of this mountain , the ZUG SPITZE, 3 airline-tracks cross, so a fiat/validation to fly there was then and now NOT possible.Those years however the air traffic was not as busy as now , so he took the risk to fly with his glider, LS 1f,  a glass- fiber plane invisible for radar, around Christmas,over and around the top.
First they flattened the snow from the piste/launch area, by driving up and down with cars and then a brave tuggie took him up during a very turbulent “ride”.
Peter is still top fit, but does not fly anymore!!Thanks Peter….for sharing your pretty daring flight with us.
Here is the story with pictures.AND,…he is busy with another project …and you will hear about that later as well.
Interesting guy.

In the foehn/ wave, which comes from the South, he flies direction West .He turns here to fly/surf back in the wave. On the right site of the picture below, the top from the ALPSPITZE.

 Flying in wave from West to East .In the middle ” das ZUGSPITZPLATT” up to 8000 m MSL.
Of course with oxygen.

To avoid the fact to NOT see the ” ground” anymore through incoming clouds , it was time to quickly go down.

Here you can see the incoming clouds/front with the  “bad” weather.

Going down….. the beautiful view on the “Walchensee” and the river ISAR.

Mask off at 4500 MSL , as you can see a bit of a provisional army- mask. He had an emergency-one on his parachute as well. Peter was an experienced parachutist, one of the reasons he “dared’ to start this adventure.

Home sweet home, end good all good!!AND a 3d diamond in the pocket!

THANKS for this picture -story Peter.
You can find the FULL story on FB now too and all pictures in ;

Föhnflug über der Zugspitze…9100 m. where you find as well a story about the Speed Canard and the Bolkov Bo 209:

http://online.flipbuilder.com/Asam/rxxd/#p=11

During the introduction week of the new university year the ZES promotes her sport .Heard already that there is a lot of interest also by the ladies. GOOD.

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Cu next Wednesday with news from the VERSUS [maybe already on Friday]and pictures from my annual trip to the airfield of KEIHEUVEL in Belgium this upcoming weekend, where over 45 pilots have entered. 4 Places to go,…then all available places are gone.
Some juniors will be flying too,so I can check what their situation is on “the road to Narromine”.Will be great fun again!!!
Talking about Narromine I just booked my accommodation arriving on Wednesday the 9th and departing on Sunday the 13th of December after the prize giving.
AND,…just noticed Geoff Pratt flew already 538 [500 FAI Triangle] from Mareeba in his PIK 20 E.. GOOD ON HIM. The season down-under starts already.
Off to Amsterdam , where SAIL starts today with about 600 ships among them some ” TALL SHIPS ” from everywhere in the world.

Cheers Ritz