The Belgium Nationals were flown in the really bad-weather-period in Europe. …too cold….too wet !!!!
Also last Wednesday NO TASK ….
No boring waiting…but precision landings when you were in for that.
But as said,….the weather improved .
The Danish Nationals , just before had the same bad weather but,…were valid, hopefully it will work out well now too.
May 28 and 29 to go!!! Weather looks OK….so 3 days would be possible.

Flying task 2 was finally on May 28 . The waiting was OVER,…and how!!!
Club; 248 km….later changed in 220 km…..and all 10 stating pilots finished with Frederic de Groote as daily winner in his St Libelle [handicap 0.994]
So 852 points in the pocket.
mixed 15 m; 354 km…later changed in 309 km….and all pilots finished with my 2 Keiheuvel -mates Dennis [Huybreckx] and Jeroen [Jennen] as the best for 923 and 918 points , flying both an LS 8.
mixed 18m/open; 413 km…later changed in 361 km!!!! And another “name” in soaring won the day here; Jean- Luc Colson….1000 points for him.
13 From 17 finished and my other Keiheuvel mates had not the best day. The Schmelzer family was on spot 8…Tijl in Ventus 3 T…Bert jr also in Ventus 3T on 10 and dad Bert sr. just missed out on the finish…he was in the finish ring.[477 points]

Flying task 3 , the last one, was a great race. When I woke up and looked outside, fabulous blue skies and great “fluffy” white clouds/cu’s. It looked like a PERFECT soaring day here in The Netherlands but for sure also in Belgium.
All classes had a 5 hour AAT!!!
Club; Thomas de Bruyn flew in his LS 4 , 484 km in 5 hour at the dot!!!!
A 1000 points-day, so not bad.
10 pilots started and 10 finished.
Thomas flew himself to spot 1 overall and is now Belgium Nation Club Class Champion.
Frederic missed out on 10 points overall BUT…. won 2 days! So a real a good runner up. On the last day he was also runner up but lost 90 points.

mixed 15 m; Pieter Daems flew 595 km. in time 5.03 ,nice speed of 117 km./h. in his Discus T. He went from 8 to 5 overall.
Runner ‘s up for the day Jeroen and Dennis with 586 km.
With Dennis cousin Tim, the 3 started and finished together.
Final result;
1. Dennis in LS 8 with 2.155 points.
2. Jeroen in LS 8 with 2.154 p. SO ONE POINTS difference! Ouch!!!
3. Daan [Spruyt] in Ventus 2AX with 2.013 p. He won 1 day.

mixed 18 m/open; Young Bert Schmelzer raced over 619 km. in time 4.59 to the 1000 points for this last day. Nice speed ;124 km./h.
Bert had a miserable first day , being “out”.[15 overall with 103 points]
On day 2 he was 10th and with only 3 ,out of 8 days , it’s difficult to win, even with a great last day.
The former WGC champion moved from 13 to 9 overall.
BUT, the new National Champion in this class is Jean Luc .Good on him!!!!
1. Jean-Luc in ASG 29 with 2.195 points.
2. Geert van Duyse in ASH 26e with 2.017 p.
3. Francois Delfosse in JS 3 -jet with 1.989.
Tijl Schmelzer was 5th [1.987…..2 points difference!!!], Pierre de Broqueville in EB 29 [1.919]was 6th and Vladimir Voltin in JS -jet 8th.[1.838 p]

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With the great weather , after those awful autumn conditions, we here in the Netherlands enjoyed sitting on a terrace or in the garden but soaring -at-high-level as well. “We” even topped the OLC list on May 28, with Peter [Millenaar] in his ASH 26e with 862 km [726 triangle] from Hoogeveen {N }into Germany and back.

Of course the expectations for Saturday were Sky-High!!!! And I was not disappointed, it looked like Bitterwasser results.
1814 Pilots added their flight on the OLC and 31 flew a 1000 k!!
2 Of them a 1000- FAI -triangle, one of them was Tilo[Holighaus] who declared this 1000 k.
The other one was flown from Neresheim by Gerrit Illenberger in an LS 8 neo, first Standard class 1000 km. so a bubble-shower for him. BRAVO!!!

From Germany, Luxembourg and Finland and 1 flight from the USA .[Minden]
Between those pilots great result for an LS 4 pilot with 947 km [796 FAI] CHAPEAU!!!!
By the way Robin Smit flew in his LS 4 WL in The Netherlands also 805 km [597 FAI]
663 in the St. Libelle is not bad either from Belgium.
Sunday was another good day and Michael Sommer saw that too .He took his EB for another long flight…..he flew 1.113 already on Saturday from Oberhinkofen; now 1.227 km.
A 1.187 km. FAI triangle!!!! Good on you Michael!
11 x a 1000 and 2073 added their flight to the OLC.
On Monday he still was not “tired” and went again now for 1.244 km. He topped the OLC-list again.
AND,…it continues…on Tuesday ,..no not for Michael, …..3.584 km. is enough for a weekend…. but AGAIN several 1000 km-flights in Europe.[Austria, Switzerland, Germany]
900 added their flight on the OLC.

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FRENCH NATIONALS 2021 May 29-June 5.

The French Nationals started on the 29th with 59 competitors in 2 classes; standard/15 m and 20 m . Within these Nationals they crown the best female pilot as well. Comps are flown from the well known soaring place Bailleau.
May 29 was practice on May 30 they started with 45 pilots in
15m/standard;
Task 1 with 297 km; only 4 were “out”. Some started early as did Frederic Hoyeau on 2.31 PM and some later….Adrien Henry at 3.11 PM.
Not that it really mattered as Adrian won the day with a speed of 112 km./h in his JS 3 and Frederic was runner up with 106 km./h. in his Discus 2A.
Task 2 with 311 km; not a fast day, by no means but Marilyne Abadie-Berard won the day in the JS 3 with 70 km./h and that was nearly 4 km faster than the next lady, Valentin Leleu-Lambour in the LS8.{66 km./h}
Looking at the “girls” Aude Untersee was 7th, Anne Ducarouge 10th.
At least 6 other girls were unfortunately out…. in total 25 from 46 were out.
Task 3 with 247 km....but nobody finished…a dip in the weather….Benjamin Neglais flew 225 km and was the best. These results are preliminary as not everyone has been scored a day later.

20 m. class; 10 teams and 3 HC teams.
Task 1 with 298 km. ; All flew the task and the local ARCUS T was the daily winner with 99.87 km./h. So a tough day!
Task 2 with 305 km; HC pilots Bouderlique and Arnaud the Broqueville won the day in the ARCUS . They were nearly home , missed out on 2 km, but nobody finished. The runner up/ daily winner in the DG 1000,was 20 km out.
Task 3 with 224 km….and in this class it was worse. The best team flew 71 km. so preliminary I say….not a valid day.
No tasks yet…more next week.

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Austrian Nationals between May 29 and June 5 2021.

Host is the soaring club from Sankt Johann in Tirol. Only 35 pilots are allowed to fly these comps in club class and mixed.
Club class;
Task 1;191 km….14 pilots started and 13 finished. Peter Hartmann, this time flying a Libelle [201b] won the day with a speed of 99.71 km./h.
Mario Schupfer was runner up in ASW 15 b ,with nearly the same speed.[98.94 km./h]
Task 2; 323 km….Again it was Peter who won the day now for 1000 points. And…again Mario was runner up.
13 from 14 finished!
Task 3; 293 km…..It was David Richter-Trummer[H-301] who was the fastest today though he and Peter had an “issue ” with their start.
It’s great weather in Austria, all “little ones” with respect finished and 5 from them over 100 km./h
Today …3.30 AAT.

Mixed class;14 competitors .
Task 1; 303 km…Guido Achleitner was the daily best in his AS 33es; 117 km.h. Other more well known pilots as Andy Lutz and Werner Amann were 4th and 8th in Ventus 3 sport/15m. and ASG 29.
Task 2; 452 km….The AS 33es is good as far as I heard and Guido is good too, I know from International comps,..so not difficult to guess…he won again. Speed 114 km./h and that’s quite a bit faster than runner up Bernhard Leitner in the LS8 with 105 km./h.
Task 3; 374 km….one airspace violation [49 points] but all were “in” here as well. Not Guido today but, Eduard Supersberger in his Ventus 2 won the 1000 points; speed 121 km./h.
Today…4 hour AAT.

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The BGA shared some news about their juniors;
“The British Junior Gliding Team are currently out training in Tabor, Czech Republic which is the host club for the Junior World Gliding Championships in 2022. After 4 scrub days, there have now been 2 racing days for the club class and 1 for the standard class. The results have been mixed but the learning has been extremely useful ahead of the Junior Europeans in Lithuania later this summer.”

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It ‘s June now. The meteorological summer started here with 27 dgr. C and today it will be around 28.
Our spring belonged to the worst ones, so better forget that quickly.
My mates in Tocumwal started their winter with minus 1 in the night, but “nice” temperatures during the day.
Yesterday it was Ingo’s birthday ,so I congratulated him in time.
The Sport Australia Hall of Fame congratulated him too.;
“Happy Birthday to #SAHOF Member Ingo Renner OAM (Gliding).Ingo Renner is a 16-time national gliding champion, having won seven titles in open class, two in the 15m class and seven in standard class. He has won numerous international events, including the Smirnoff Derby in 1977, Austraglide 1986, the Hitachi Masters of Soaring in 1987, and the Tour Lilienthal in 1991. He has held almost every Australian gliding record. Renner won the standard class world championship in 1976, followed by world championship wins in the open class in 1983, 1985 and 1987. He holds the Guinness World Records record for the 100km triangle at 195.3km/h. Ingo Renner was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987 for his contribution to the sport of #gliding.Read more: https://bit.ly/3uEh9l5

CU next week.
Cheers Ritz