The OLYMPICS have brought euphoria in Holland, we are ALL sitting on an ” orange cloud”!!!!
After 3 days, we were number 1 on the medal list in Sochi [ at this stage on 4] and had won each day a gold medal!!! AND, on 2 days even 3 orange colored men on the podium; gold, silver and bronze. Unbelievable! So 6 male and 1 female speed-skater, did more than we ever dreamed of. AND,….it’s not over yet!
We expected more or less gold from Kramer and Wust ,but for sure not 3 orange training outfits on the podium for 500 m. speed skating, among them the twins Ronald [bronze] and Michel [gold] Mulder.
Since the beginning of the Olympics , “we” have now 3 times a clean sweep with 3 Dutch athletes on the podium , once in 1998 and now 2 times in 2014.
Last time in Vancouver we had a total of 8 medals and we beat that already now!!!!!
Not bad for a small flatland country with 16 million people and only 40 athletes in Sochi, most of them speed skaters.
That’s progression!!!! A fantastic staff of old toppers take the young ones by the hand. And success leads to success and those successes attract more young skaters and the many ice halls we have here in Holland will be crowded.They all want to be Sven or Irene or Michel.
That’s how it works!
Yesterday , on day 4, another historic day of success with a bronze medal for the by the male sprinters, very inspired female speed skater, Margot Boer who just lives around the corner[about 15 km. from here] , on the 500 m. and also that has n’t happened before. ” We are in a winning flow”!!!!!
The first clean sweep in 2014 with Jan, Sven and Jorrit and 3000 gold winner Ireen.
Pictures shared on FB by Nick and Simon 2 VERY popular singers in Holland.
Ingo and Miro cruising last Sunday at 15,000 ft in Caproni Calif A21S, VH-GUB
Is n’t it great to fly beside each other instead of behind in a GLIDER? This is soaring too!!!!
Ingo estimated they flew for just over 500 km!!!!!
He was pretty busy as last week he also made the first flight for years on our old Blanik VH GXO, which was first hidden in an hangar since 2005, then restored and inspected by good old ” master in repairs” David Riley and now is part of the fleet of the SRGC in Tocumwal.
Wish the old work-horse many happy and safe flights and landings!
Just received some pictures from Dundee, THANKS Dieter.
And this is soaring as well. Found it on FB , as it was shared by Tony Condon from the USA and the long story finishes with;
“ I open the canopy, but do not get out. You want to sit a moment, to keep the magic and not break the spell. You are reluctant to leave this link with ecstasy, your heart and mind are filled with reverence and beauty. This is soaring.”
airfactsjournal.com
Last Monday, Narromine, venue of the next JWGC, was the place to be for soaring, with perfect soaring weather so late in the season and Hungarian guest Gabor used that weather to fly in the DISCUS a great 750 FAI triangle, extended to 919 OLC kilometers.
Frequent flyer in Narromine, already for years, is Unterwoessen- pilot Hans Raschke and he flew in the DUO DISCUS a 600 FAI triangle extended to 783 km. His comment;
” Last flight of Australian season turned out the best day.”
It must have been a MAGIC day as other pilots called it; ” Best sky I have ever flown” .
That promises enough for next year ! I have mostly been there in November and December but we see now that even in the middle of February Narromine is good. A nice long season over there!
Heard there were super-cu’s up to 12.000 ft. and an average lift up to 6 to 8 kts.
Some pictures from my archive; Narromine from above and clouds over Narromine.
Only 27 flights on the OLC last Monday and 23 yesterday , mainly due to activities in the USA from Seminole Lake, where they had a ” super-day” with clouds .
But…..Europe’s season starts in about 2 month as well , with a BIG competition at Nitra in Slovenia. Between April 19 and 26 , pilots have to be fully awake from their hibernation to compete in 4 classes against each other.
They fly in club, 15 m. and 20 m. [2 seaters] and open class.
At this stage 17 different countries have entered with a total of 114 pilots. The max is 150 with 50 max in each class, plus the winners from last year.Of course they have to enter as well.
That number is nearly reached in club class, where at this stage 48 pilots have preliminary entered.
No news on Sunday here, but yes there will be news on www.soaringcafe.com
Till then and enjoy your country fellow Olympic sportsmen and women as much as we do here!!!! There are so many fantastic sports with great athletes from all over the world.
And don’t worry we are ONLY going to win in the ADLER ARENA ,the skate-hall.
Cheers Ritz
on Wednesday February 12 and have a wonderful VALENTINE-day on Friday.