Post 1.557 on December 18 2024 AND ……2 blogs to go on December 24 and 31.

—-With 2 blogs to go the final is close by. Lot’s of friends have written to me already that they enjoyed the blogs and are sorry that it has to finish on the last day of this year 2024.
I am sorry too, but as 1 of my soaring-mates wrote;
”  While I miss my old WGC friends, the aches and pains of advancing years remind me that I could not do that again.  It was a great run, though, wasn’t it!”
IT WAS!!!!!!
On top of that I celebrated my 78 st birthday with so much reactions that I felt overwhelmed , but also proud and grateful, that……YOU ALL allowed me to write so long and in a way for some “closed me in your heart”.
With No readers it ‘s no fun to write.
Interesting is that a few wrote to me with a THANK YOU , and I had no idea that they followed my blog.

Back to soaring;
——The snow was kind enough to not fall down on December 13 , as an important moment for the HPH had to be shared; the maiden flight of HPH 304 MS SN:194-MS was on the airfield of Zbraslavice, in the Czech Rep.
And MORE great news from HPH;” fantastic news, the Twin Shark now has full uk CAA certification. All in good time for the Twin Sharks arriving in the uk next spring” Gliding

——-Between December 7 and 14 the NSW championship was flown from Temora, a very nice airfield with mostly good weather. Unfortunately NOT for the first couple of days, but then it changed to pretty normal GOOD Temora conditions.
They fly in 3 classes ; club standard and 18m/open class. The scoring is as a GP.
Day 1 was cancelled due to low convection and day 2 because of rain.
BUT THEN it started;
Day 3;
In 18 m/open the 10 pilots got a 246 km-task won by Richard Frawley in a JS3 with 133km./h.
In standard the 6 pilots all flying LS8 except for 1 ASW 24 had to go for 246 as well and Peter Trotter won the day ; 115 km../h
In club the 14 pilots flew the 246 km task with Jack Hart [ASW20] as the best and the only one over 100 km./h.
Day 4;
18m/open; 290 km… daily winner Norm Bloch in JS3.104 km./h.
Standard; 249 km….won by Peter
Club; 249 km….Paul Dickson in LS 4 was a tad faster than Jack; 89 for 87 km./h.
Day 5;
18m/open; 267 km…. and Geoff Brown was the daily winner with 122 km./h.
Standard; 254 km… and no not won by Peter this time , but by his wife Lisa also in LS 8;
club; 254 km…Jack in his ASW 20 was the best again; 91 km./h
Day 6;
18m/open ; 342 7 km….. won by Norm…157 km./h!!!!!
standard; 387 km… and AGAIN won by Lisa! She is a great pilot. Peter was just a tad slower.
Club; 295 km… and the Mosquito with Terry Cubley in it won the day; 116 km./h.
Day 7;
18m/open; 407 km….and best result for Richard for 11 points and a speed of 128.4 km./h.
standard: 340.7 km….Peter and Lisa started together, flew together and finished together and with the smallest margin Peter won the day 7 points for 5.[speed 113 and 110 km./h] .
club; 256 km….Les in the St Libelle won the day; 93,9 km./h.

The local Temora paper had a nice article about the NSW State comps.

Temora NSW state comps winners after 5 out of 7 days!!
18 m./open; Richard Frawley in JS 3 /18 m with 49 points, winning 2 days . Quite a “fight” in this class as Norm and Geoff both had 48 points.
Standard; Peter Trotter in LS8 with 32 points and winning 3 days!!
Club; Jack Hart in ASW 20 won with 74 points , winning 2 days and on 2 days also runner up.

All pictures were shared by Temora Gliding Club

—–Namibia has not only had a few excellent days again, on 1 of those days [December 11] a very good WWGC pilot, Katrin Senne, flew new records as well ; WORLD records , to be precise, but they have to be ratified. Katrin was WWGC champion in 2007 and 2017 and several times in the top 3. She is a Sales agent for JS.

BITTERWASSER continued.…This years 1000 km [every year] organized by Wilfried Grosskinsky from Bitterwasser had it’s last day on December 14. Wilfried flew with TOPPER Stefan Langer and for both it was a great pleasure.
On December 10 they flew together too, under difficult circumstances with overdevelopment, a huge front and a sand storm darkening the skies [ in all those years Wilfried had never experienced this before] and on top of that their logger gave up . Result the 1.242 km distance was not to be seen as well as the declared FAI 1.118 km . Bit anyhow no worries a pity and another great flight for them in the EB 28.
Last Sunday I had Luc as a visitor on my door with a parcel, but unfortunately he was not the fittest person, so talking about his recent flight at the 1000 km camp will happen in the future. He flew with Winfried on December 5 and long ago as a young pilot.
During the 1000 km camp the longest distance was flown by Wilfried and Stefan on December 8; 1.237.88 km [149,69 km./h] and FAI 1.068 km.[127.91 km/h]

Talking about Bitterwasser one of the “key-persons’ passed away last week. Very sad as Hansjörg Schweizer was the engine behind it, the founder from Bitterwasser (PTY) LTD.] and already for 30 years involved!!!!
On top of that he was a great glider pilot with 2300 hours logged in his soaring logbook. Without him Bitterwasser would not be what it is NOW!!!!
I don’t know him , but read and write about BITTERWASSER often ; the very best soaring spot for long CC flights and more. So he has done something special, excellent and epic and that ‘s what we will remember. Thank you!
R.I.P. Hansjörg…… he passed away on my birthday.

——Transavia the company where my daughter flies already for more than 25 years, is changing from Boeing 737 to Airbus A 321 NEO. They just received the 7th ‘bird’ of this new fleet. She will fly it in 2025!!!
A very old 737 I just found on the net.

To finish the story about my name Ritz.
Just noticed a really nice reel and some pictures on the net of the Ritz in Paris. You surely know what’s to come.
When I arrived for the first time in Tocumwal and introduced myself they “could n’t get their tongue around my name Rietje or Riet”.
David Riley ,then the young son of founder Bill Riley from Sportavia, thought about it to make it easier for people from down under.
Rita?? No I was not a Rita.
Ritz!!!!!!!…..yes he said you are classy as the hotel and so I turned into Ritz for my friends in the world.

2 more blogs to go on December 24 and December 31 both TUESDAYS!!!!!
Have to tell you a few words about my love for Australia and the last one will be a TANK-YOU- blog to so many who stood behind me.

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.557 on December 11 2024 AND ……3 blogs to go.

—–The Springfield Soaring Championship in N. Z. flown between November 30 and December 7, had 6 tasks out of 7 days, pretty good!!!!! BUT, the weather was not good every day! Host , the Canterbury gliding club, shared news about what happened.
Task 1 was straight away a NICE one for the 19 starting pilots in one class; 475.42 km
Terry Delore in the ASH 25 M “did it” in 4 hours and 58 minutes. They expected all more of this day. Terry had 111 km./h Only 4 pilots flew over 100 km./h and lot’s got a penalty for all kind of “mistakes”.
Task 2 was cancelled. “ Not good weather today and after a wee while the day was cancelled.“
Task 3 was smaller; 292.21 km , but only 8 pilots started NOBODY finished but the daily 330 points went to LS 8 pilot Terry Jones for 80 km distance!
Task 4; 14 went for a flight and the task was 449 km. Team Oakley in the ASH 25 won the day with 136.49 km./h ahead of Terry with 111.23 km./h and Tony van Dyk with 84.78 km./h in ASG 29E.
Task 5 ; got more pilots into action 17 started for a racing task of 265.98 km. and the Oakley ASH 25 was the best again with 111,04 km./h
Task 6; “There was quite a lot of low cloud around but that is burning off now.” was the message for the day. 17 tried hard to fly the 209.68 km and 13 finished. Terry [Jones] in the LS 8 won the day.
Task 7; 340.00 km to finish these comps. 2 Pilots flew over 100 km./h The Oakley team in the ASH 25 [ 103.64 km./h] and Patrick Driessen in the AS33es; 101.85km./h.

Overall scores after 6 out of 7 days.
1. Oakley & Team TF in ASH 25 with 4,422 points.
2. Terry Delore in ASH 25M with 4,198 points.
3. CGC Team BT in DG 1000 S with 3,667 points.

“Great organisation, lovely weather and good company. Tasks on nearly every day, with Thermals, convergence flying, and ridge and wave soaring too.
Thanks everyone for a great time. ” John McCaw

–—–Winter has started here after again one of the warmest months ever and where on the other site of the worlds gliders FLY, …..on this site it ‘s time for winter maintenance.

—–-Getting older is tough, it means also getting earlier pneumonia, even with jabs against flu and corona. So I am at anti biotics now to get my lungs in better condition again.
No worries!!!!

—— FINALLY!!!!! After 3 months the gliders from team South Africa arrived back home from Uvalde.
By now all gliders should be home again.

——One of my Aussie mates is in South Africa at the moment ,where he flew his JS 5, a few days ago for the first time. Whilst being there, he flew on December 4 , a JS 3 TJ/18m from Potchefstroom; 551,32 km @ 167,12 km/h. NOT BAD!!!! Not bad at all.
Great stats too.

Found this gorgeous picture from the new JS5 on the net ,Glider YY , for years is YY the call sign from Bruno Gantenbrink. Guess this might be his new glider!
“From all of us at JS, we wish you happy landings, endless adventures, and unforgettable moments in the air.”

—–In my blogs , the Thermiekbel regularly passed by. It’s the restaurant at the Terlet soaring airfield. The picture in the left corner from my blog, is how it looks now.
This picture below, shows how it was when I was young. I was even at the last party before it closed. Must be 1967!!!!Great times!
All pilots flying the Dutch SGP at Terlet , between Mai 11 and 17 in 2015 , will have a drink and/or meal at the new [old by now] Thermiekbel.

——For my Dutch mates;
The dates of the upcoming 2025 competitions.

–—-More then 40 over 1000 km flights last Monday in Namibia [ up to over 1200 km!!!]and on Sunday even flights over 1.305 in the EB 28. The magic is back in Namibia!
My Dutch mates Alfred Paul and Mark flew 1.253,24 in the Arcus M from Kiripotib and my other friends Rob and his sister Marianne flew from Veronica 1.109.30 km.
4 new Records for team Peter Szabó and Peter Hársfalvi from Hungary flown from Veronica in a Twin Shark; 1. 153.09 km with 136,17 km./h. Also on Monday a real HAMMER DAY!!!!!
Congratulations to our Hungarian mates.
Yesterday another TOP DAY!!!! Flights up to 1.405,79 km by 2 German pilots flying from Veronica with a speed of 155 km./h. Also 3 over 1.300 km flights!

Flying over the deserts and scrub is different than the scene in Worcester, look at this picture from other Dutch mates.

And from Kiripotib

——Spend the weekend in Luxembourg with my family and even Diana who lives in Luxemburg and has a very busy schedule, had time to join in. Grand daughter Indya lives there for 6 months. Cold and wet, but we had a great time! Luxembourg is so beautiful, I forgot all about that.

We visited the Luxembourg American cemetery and Memorial. Later also the German side and it was more than IMPRESSIVE.
5.600 American soldiers are buried here and about 1.5 km further 10 000 Germans mostly very young!

Of course fun as well; dinner in a Lebanese restaurant BAZAAR, and a visit to the Christmas Market with TOO many visiting people, but beautiful.

Post 1.557 on December 4 2024 AND ……4 blogs to go.

The Australian multi class nationals flown in 2 classes 18 m and open, continued ,but initially more with talking than flying.
It RAINED!!!!
So on November 28 , 29 and 30 ...NO FLYING.….BUT better weather was expected!
I know , that on non flying days the pilots meet and talk and talk and talk. Everybody can say what ‘s on her/his mind. For sure with the troubles ahead of the comps…. TALKING was necessary!!!!
On December 1 their meteorological summer started and our winter. Yes indeed we had minus 2 dgr. C ,but sunny and blue skies during the day.
Sunday December 1…with a 3 hour AAT the comps continued again . A task around the airfield to fly 3x!
It was looking and waiting ,what this day would bring.. Later on the day showers were expected . The first pilots however could leave at 1 PM.
Task 7 on flying day 4;
3 hour AAT for both classes!!!! It turned out a GOOD day with Norm as winner in 18 m flying 391.33 km with 119.99 km./h. for 1000 points! Only one out-landing by Jacques in his JS 1C a real nice local pilot!
In open it was Tobias with 318.80 km. with 104.47 km./h the only one over 100 km./h. also for 1000 points! Allan was 3d.
“Awesome that we got a task in, certainly the best one for the weather we had.”
“Today was a day not to lose” more on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

Monday December 2; both classes got a set task of 386.56.
It was a day for Adam to quickly forget, but …..he explained with a “smile” how he ended up back at the field using his engine and hard to be said but ,also loosing the comps!
“Today was a day that I really wished I had my 18m tips. Currently I’m flying in 18m class in 15m config – with the wrong handicap (by 0.005 to 0.025, depending on how crazy you want to stick to the national rules).”
There is a video on which he explained what happened on his site.
In 18 m it was Lumpy who won the day; 131.55 km./h Lumpy is really doing better than any year before and Uvalde might have been, what he needed to get to these results.
Runner up was Norm, [128.59 km./h] who I met in the past at many Nationals, and on 3 was Ray.[123.54 km./h. ]
From 9, 2 were out after 182 km.
In “open” class Allan was the best with 123.58 km./h , with ARCUS M team CHA as runner up [127.40 km./h handicap 1055] WOW, this was his 37th Nationals!!!!! Just excellent!!!!And as said a lovely guy!

What they did n’t know on the morning of December 2 was,….that this was in fact ,their last day!!!!! The weather was not good enough to set another task. So a pretty bad end of the nationals for Adam [his reflections are on his site “ What did I forget? That this nationals is also the 18m team selection for the POL WGC. If I had remembered this at the time, I probably would have played my cards correctly. Unfortunately, I’m now ranked #3 to go to Poland, the upside, that if one of the two above me choose not to go, then I’ll receive the funding by the smallest of margins..”
and a great one for Lumpy; his very first Australian title.
“Don’t give up on your passions and dreams ! If you have to work harder to achieve them, then reward is that much sweeter
Today I released a goal I put on myself forty years ago and it was worth every bit of the struggle.
Australian National 18mtr Champion “

Final scores after 5 out of 8 days in 18 m class!
1. Lumpy Paterson in JS3 /18 m with 4,319 points. Congratulations Lumpy!!!!
2. Norm Bloch in JS3 /18 m with 4,277 points. Great to see how GOOD you still fly!!!!
3. Ray Stewart in JS3 /18 m with 4,240 points. Good on you Ray!!!

Finals scores in “open” class also 5 out of 8 days!!!
1. Allan Barnes in LS8 with 4,779 points. Top job Allan!!!!
2. Tobias Geiger in Ventus 2/15 m with 4,627 points. Well done Tobias!!!
3. Atkinson & Durand in the Arcus M with 4,211 points. GOOD!!!!

Some more short news:
—–DUO DISCUS -story! We all know the Duo Discus as a “working horse”. Training, checks etc BUT …you can fly SUPER overland flights as well in it. Justin Wills with a guest Julian ,from the Romanian Airclub, proofed it by flying 1.214 km with 146 km./h!! 9 hours and 19 minutes!!!
GOOD ON THEM!!!!!!
Wave up to 8324 m MSL.

Kelvyn from the USA, flew an ASG 29E/18m and called it a “Stonking wave day.”. He flew just over 1000 km!!!

……..Namibia had a bit of a quiet time. Still good flights but not every day a 1000 k as some expect/ hope for! Last Sunday Russell [Cheetham] flew a 1.007 km again from Kiripotib.
Tobias [Welsch] flew from Bitterwasser a 1.014 km flight. The last 6 ,were on November 25 and another 8 on November 24.
On December 2 the over 1000 km-flights were back at Veronica and Bitterwasser. Wilfried Grosskinsky flew his EB with one of his 1000-km- students Nils over 1.017 km.

——THANKSGIVING; Hope all my USA friends had a happy day with lot’s of good turkey WITH stuffing, and still energy enough for those who wanted ,to visit the shops on BLACK FRIDAY.

—– Australian Junior Soaring “JOEYGLIDE KICKS OFF IN JUST OVER A MONTH, 12TH OF JANUARY 2025! GET EXCITED! IF YOU HAVEN’T PUT YOUR REGISTRATION IN YET, GET IT IN NOW! SPOTS ARE FILLING QUICK.”
Adam wrote about it ;“Hard to believe, but this year is the 20th anniversary of JoeyGlide – super cool to still seeing it run since I was involved in it’s inception, & initial event in 2004/2005“

——Dutch Sailplane Grand Prix
“Last Saturday I got the opportunity to present next year’s Sailplane Grand Prix to the board and members of our club the Gelderse Zweefvliegclub at our general meeting.
6 months and counting to the start of the first ever GP taking place in the Netherlands.
We plan to close registration in January 2025 and send out our first information bulletin as well as local procedures.
We’re looking forward to this event in May 2025, where the world’s best pilots will be competing!”
https://sgp.aero/netherlands2025

——I found my memory sticks but one way or another I cannot see the pictures , so no pictures as promised from Rieti.
I do have pictures from another airfield I frequently visited and that’s the KEIHEUVEL in Belgium.
These are from 2020.

And what about Benalla....? In the simulator in 2013!!!With Benalla -icon Graham Garlick.

That’s it!!! Sinterklaas ahead, a short visit to Luxembourg to see Indya , my birthday, Christmas and the start of the New Year in which we NOT meet again!
Weird feeling but good , better for my health.
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.556 on November 27 2024 AND ……5 blogs to go.

Weird weather!!!!! We had minus 1 here on Saturday and plus 19 on Monday!!!!!Storm Bert ,the depression/low with huge wind and rain, creating disasters in the UK, Ireland and Scotland , passed by some parts of the Netherlands as well, but brought also wind from the south , hence high temperatures, the highest ever in the end of November!!!
Today we get another storm with in the evening Bft 10 gusting winds to 130 km./h in the west and N of the Netherlands. Hate storms!!!!!

—–Matthew Scutter is ALWAYS busy. Mostly with his SkySight or flying his gliders. He had another very interesting article and I share it with you.
He is still VERY young but already an example for many in our world!!!
“We’re in La Nina again, it’s going to be a bad gliding year! “
Something you frequently hear around Australian gliding clubs, and we are even taught it as a fact in basic training. Is it really true though ? We supported a study with Curio Science to find out!
Results: https://curio.science/weather
The analysis was done on every WeGlide and OLC flight ever uploaded from Australia, a dataset stretching back to 2006. It is still not over a long enough period to draw a firm conclusion, but there is some signal appearing through the noise.
As expected the relationship is a bit more complex than just ENSO (El Nino/La Nina), rather the combination of ENSO with the SAM (South Annular Mode) appears significant. There is likely some connection to the Indian Ocean Dipole too but not enough data to be certain. Omitted for now is the Madden-Julian Oscillation, much more data is needed there.
Notable is the variation across states! Queensland and South Australia appear affected by different factors to NSW and Victoria.
You can see the latest status of the various patterns and medium-term forecasts at:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/
If someone would like to digitize Australian seasonal gliding performances back to the 1960’s we could have much firmer answers! We may also run some seasonal reanalysis forecasts to provide some more data.“

—–Another huge example is Sebastian Kawa;
“Gliding champion Sebastian Kawa received the FAI Gold Air Medal at the 2024 FAI Awards Ceremony in Riyadh, becoming the first Polish recipient of the Federation’s most prestigious honour.
Kawa shared his impressions and thoughts on this remarkable milestone in his illustrious career:
“I never dreamed that one day I would be the first Pole to be awarded the FAI Gold Air Medal. Did Charles Lindbergh, crossing the ocean on wings, expect that in the future a glider competitor would receive the same award? I don’t think so, because in aviation it was a completely different era. The FAI Gold Air Medal reflects the history of aviation.“
More on FAI – World Air Sports Federation  ·
Congratulations Sebastian and WELL DESERVED!!!!

—–On November 23 the The SOUTH ISLAND GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIP finished in Omarama [NZ ]
Good to see Dane [Dickinson] back from Africa in his home country. He flew the Ventus 2A and had some tough competitors to “fight” with, as Nick [Oakley], Tim [Bromhead] Tony [van Dyk] and Max [Stevens]
A total of 10 in this open[handicapped] class. Racing had 8 .
They started with a practice day on the 16th …3 hour AAT….won by Max in open and 2 hours in racing won by John Smith in LS 3a.
I concentrate on open ,but will of course look back at the racing class later.
Task 1 was 407.77 km!!!!!, was an interesting one. Dane [Ventus 2A] won with big speed; 132.14 km /h and the runner up Nick “only” flew with 108 km/h. Discus 2A]
“the Open class scores got devalued a wee bit, from 1000 to 977 points due to the new(ish) Mean Scoring rule. This is in place to try to limit the effect of an individual score that is a bit unusual compared to the other competitor’s scores for the day. A8 did an amazing speed of 132.14 km/h and that was about 20 km/h better than any one else. The mean score for the class was 795.2 points and that is just over the 200 point margin so resulted in a small, 23 point, reduction in the maximum points available for the day.”
Task 2 ; 2 hour AAT,…NO wind and blue sky, won again by Dane and as runner up again Nick.
Task 3; No task. “The weather is not quite good enough for us to set a task for the competition classes today. A lot of cloud associated with the front that is coming up the west coast, and the cloud gaps we have at the moment are forcasted to full in as the day goes on. So no competition flying today but I expect that a few individuals will have a go at flying in the wave that we have here already.”
Task 4; 2.30 AAT ….Nick won with 133 km./h he went over the start line at 16.17 to be back at 19.22!!! 412.52 km in 3.06.
The ARCUS M only started at 17.14 to be back at 20. 39!!!!!!

Task 5 ; CANCELLED.
Task 6; 2.30 AAT...Dane flew390.44 km in 3 hours and 2 minutes; speed 128.50 km./h
His biggest concurrent Nick “dared” to start ONE HOUR AND 5 MINUTES later, and was runner up; 373.40 km. with 123,43 km./h. I believe a very gutsy performance .Or a problem????
Task 7; 3 hour AAT….ultimate day and not bad ; 5 days out of 7!!!!
For this last day; “We have quite big tasks, for both classes, for the last day of the competition. The weather is meant to be not so good to the north later this afternoon and the east is not good for most of the day. Strong thermals are expected to the west and south west. The tasks are unusual in that they are going north first, in order to get there before the weather softens, and then south west. Not a lot of wind is expected so we are looking at thermals to keep everyone in the sky. Looking west and north from Omarama now we can see some wee thermal clouds on the tops so, hopefully, all is looking good.”
Nick won this time in about the same time and distance, speed 126 and 127 km./h; 704 and 689 points.
Dane won the comps with 4,173 points followed by Nick with 4,125 points. Great battle!!!!

In racing they had also 5 out of 7 days with the DUO DISCUS [ team Davey and NS] as number 1 with 4,113 points. Team GOD , also in the DUO, won the last day with the 3 hour AAT flying 319 km with 105 km./h the fastest for the day.
But the other Duo Discus won the comps . An LS3 was runner up; 3.977 points.

AND,……This will be the last competition I will write about.
The AUSTRALIAN MULTI CLASS NATIONALS in LAKE KEEPIT!!!!

With 18 participants, among them some “GOOD” ones as Adam [Woolley] ,Norm [Bloch all the way from Beverley in the west…over 10.000 miles driving, so over 1600 km.] and Lumpy [Paterson] from Tocumwal has to drive 850 km .
Allan [Barnes ]in LS8 lives close to Keepit [ we once stayed in his motel] Ayala [Truelove] is from the UK but spends part her UK winter down under and kilometer- eater Tobias [Geiger] drives all the way up from Benalla.[Ventus 2/15m]
Mind you distances to fly comps in Australia can be HUGE!!! It’s a great effort to drive down with the trailer for those big distances. We did it often too.
Just before Lumpy left Tocumwal he flew his first 1000 km for the season:
“First 1000km flight for the season! Maybe it’s a sign of the season to come.
The sky was all over the place today, launching into the blue and within an hour, I was getting rained on …. That happened five more times during the flight. It was all about the last 3 hrs of day if 1000k was possible. The sky was over developed early and then late in the day…. The day shut down out east fairly early and I was counting on the late afternoon convergence line on the west side of the trough …… and it worked !
Flying the new Ventus 3 today was fun, and having it loaded up to 600kgs was a good opportunity to stretch her legs …
1026kms at 131kph with a average L over D of 69…. Good No’s“

Practice day 1 was straight away a TOPPER!!!!! 359 km was set but,…..
Adam flew a 1.028 km. a TRIANGLE in the Ventus 3M/15m. In the end it was difficult , but he made it!!!!
SkySight mentioned and YES this is Matthew again; Is Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures going to make it? He’s 3 minutes behind schedule by our clock after 7.5 hours flying!
https://www.weglide.org/live/7C718B
“thanks to all who followed along & breathed deeply for the final hundreds of kilometres – I’m told I’m the first person to complete an FAI 1000km flight out of Lake Keepit.
The highlight was the celebratory beers hand delivered by Brad Edwards, whom told me he did 980km in an LS3 in the early eighties – incredible!!!”
Reason enough for celebrations!!!
Practice day 2 had a 3.30 AAT and Adam won but only 4 pilots flew.

They fly in 2 classes with handicap and there is a lot of noise at the moment “stirred” by Adam [ Australian Gliding Nationals, loses again today – more to follow later. Regardless of the decision, thanks in advance to the organisation for running this comp for us all] ‘; you can read it all in detail on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

18m;
Task 1; 4 hour AAT…..the 9 pilots ALL finished and best for the day was Adam in his Ventus 3T/15 m [handicap 1090] he flew 517.83 km with 128 78 km./h for 1000 points!!
Ray [Stewart] in the JS3 /18 m was runner up; 510,67 km with 122.46 km./h.
Task 2; 344.85 km…for both classes!
According to Adam [Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures]; “A fantastic task set again today! Why a great task? There is only one task, we’re all flying it together – unfortunately with different start times though. Why is it also good? Not a single complaint from Open or Standard Class pilots. What does that mean? It can be done.”
As you can see Adam has quite a lot of influence, as influencer! But luckily he is open and honest about what he writes, either if it’s good or a bit less! He even apologises openly, when he is wrong.
“Sincere apologies“.”
AND, even though he is young he has a lot of experience, hours and social skills. AND,….he knows what he wants!! Already as junior when he was involved in running Joeyglide! I was there in Kingaroy to see that and was very much impressed; only FAR in the back ground an adult , up front ONLY young ones!!!
He won task 2 as well! For starters, that makes a day too. He flew with a speed of 137.70 km./h which was quite a big faster than runner up Lumpy in his 18 m JS3; 133,26 km./h
All 9 pilots flew the task with over 100 km/h. so to see on a pretty blue day, BUT with nice fluffy clouds during the day.

18m .continued with
Task 3 a 4 hour AAT.…with a daily win for Toc-Lumpy!!!! 524.49 km with 128.32 km./h. and 1000 points in the pocket. Runner up was Norm, good on him, and Adam was 3d.
After 3 days the overall scores are; Adam on 1 with 2,668 points, Lumpy on 2 with 2,509 and Norm with 2,401 points.
More next week.

open;
Task 1; 4 hour AAT….with 491.88 km Tobias was the daily best in his Ventus 2/15m; 122.26 km./h. Runner up from 12 pilots [including 1 HC] was Allan in his LS8. 1991 WGC champion Brad [Edwards] was 3d in the ASG 32M.
Task 2; 344.85 km….124 km./h for Allan in his LS 8 and 128 for Tobias in his Ventus2/15 mfor 911 and 888 points.
Task 3; 4 hour AAT.…top day for Allan; 481.23 km with 117.87 km./h faster than Tobias with 112.87 km./h over 453.97 km.
Great weather!!!!! After 3 tasks Allan leads with 2,868 points, Tobias is runner up with 2,735 points and on spot 3 is Brad with 2,501 points.
More next week!!!!

Something different!
—–History in tennis , talking about the DAVIS CUP in Malaga in Spain and about the results from the Dutch team. A very modest team for sure not the best in the world but ” the Davis Cup ” brings them extra energy and power!!! AND,…they played the FINAL!!!!!
They won from Spain and Germany to be in the final against Italy and then you can only loose, though they were brave and did remarkably well.
After more than 20 years WESLEY KOOLHOF stops with tennis. He won 20 ATP titles in double, reached the top 1 position in doubles and deserves a good retirement.
With the final, history was written in 104 years as “we” never reached the final in the Davis Cup, but playing against Italy is playing against Sinner and he “carries the CUP on his shoulders “for the whole team. Though to be honest Mateo did a great job too!!!!!
So “we” lost, no secret, but hung in for a long time .No last game for Wesley, but a marriage soon and a new life without comps. Proud on them!!!

—–Also proud on Max!!!! For the 4th time he became WORLD CHAMPION in FORMULA 1. An easy start of the year but not so much anymore over the last weeks. A bit of nail biting, but he secured his title with 2 races to go. Proud on him too.

To finish this blog , some special pictures ,about some for me special moments!

Good old Jim [R.I.P.]planted the red oleander behind Dennis grave to “protect him” ” under an umbrella of red flowers and as a sign for his overseas friends to find him straight away, BUT,….somebody , we still don’t know who…[ It must have been people from the Shire!] cut it to the ground!!!!!
This is what’s left!!!!

To finish; VERY sorry to see that this beautiful aircraft crashed just before landing!
One of the crew died, nobody on the ground and the captain and co pilot were rescued out of the cockpit. They must be able to say what happened!!!!

Enough news, more next Wednesday!
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.555 on November 20 2024 AND ……6 blogs to go.

Indeed 6 blogs to go , the last one will be on TUESDAY December 31, last day of this year.
AND,…when the weather is there,…either in Africa or Australia or New Zealand , or wherever…you can fly a 1000!!!! It happened again !!!!

—–Namibia had since November 11 again TOP DAYS!!! I am sure you found them on WeGlide or the OLC. Not only 1000 km, but with this great weather and those good gliders ,distances from over 1.200 in Veronica on November 15, over 1.300 on November 16 in Bitterwasser and again on November 16 , this time a special one as the “founders” from Flying with the Champions, Ludwig and Wolfgang flew together in the ARCUS M from Kiripotib; 1.315.21 km. and they were in a hurry; 163.20 km./h.
The EB flew even 1.326 km!!!AND ,…the pilot commented;” “What an absolute chaotic flight. Where I wanted to go it did n’t work and then there was every time something, “dark” or wet in my way. Not my day!” But what happens when it is his day, now the scoring distance was 1.328,68 km [948,16 FAI] and a speed of 148,55 km./h.
And for sure a lot of happy pilots on those airfields with bubbles in the evening , and lot’s of stories. REAL HAPPY CHAPPIES , I know the euphoric feeling of such a day!!!!

After 2 fabulous weeks the news from Kiripotip on November 16 was;
“Flying with the Champions 2024″ is history .We enjoyed fantastic flights, engaging presentations, learned so much new, and, most importantly, had an incredible amount of fun . Thank you for two amazing weeks at Kiripotib with our wonderful guests.” Kiripotib Soaring 

——-Australia had great soaring- weather too. Narromine and Lake Keepit both had over 1000 km flights. Here is a story from Adam about Tomas in Narromine;
“Fantastic opening flight Tomas,[Suchanek] 60km further than I’ve taken G1, in 15m too none the less .
He says, “My suitcase got lost somewhere around Singapore on the way to OZ. Lucky I could borrow Adams Ventus and Beryl donated lucky T-shirt and shorts to me .
No sunglasses no hat today no phone today on board. Only shoes, socks and Oudie were mine. It is a new Czech national record distance via three turnpoints”
On November 15 Tomas flew 1.178 km with 125 km./h. in the Ventus 3 T/15m. from Adam.
Lasham pilot Andy , [I believe for the season in Lake Keepit ,] flew in the ASG 32MI ; 1.028 km.
It might be a superb soaring season on both sides of the world. HOPE!!!!!!

–—-Recent news from Schempp-Hirth;
This picture says it all.

“This Wednesday, [November 13] we celebrated a significant milestone: the delivery of the 250th Ventus-3.
This occasion was not only seen as a simple business success of our 18- and 15-meter-high performance glider, it was above all a moment of pride and fellowship that brought together the entire team, without whom the production of such a modern, elegant and efficient aircraft would not be possible.
The handover ceremony took place in our final assembly, which was cleared for this special occasion. The entire team, from the engineers to the sales department to all the employees who use their extensive know-how and experience to build such aircraft from scratch, gathered around the Ventus assembled to its final form. It was a great opportunity to recognize the work and dedication of everyone who contributed to this success.” Schempp-Hirth

The new owner is from Belgium, Ward Gysemans and for sur he will be very happy with his new “toy”.
Through the years, George was always happy with all the Schempp-Hirth gliders we bought. A Cirrus 75, a Discus, a Ventus [2x] and Nimbus 2 and Nimbus 3 [3x].
The Nimbus 4DM George and our Dennis, flew in Benalla at the WGC of 1987 , was a proto type . We not only got to know Klaus and Brigitte , but also their sons , Tilo and Ralf. Not to forget Schempp-Hirth “VIP” Biko ,always busy to keep the customers happy. Both Klaus and Ralf stayed with us at Sportavia in the year George won the Leeton Australian Nationals .

Looking back at how we arrived down under and got to know AND LOVE Tocumwal;
In 1984 we met in Rieti in Italy at the PRE WORLDS, the Aussie team. You might know a few as 2 are still flying; Tony Tabart [R.I.P.] Peter Griffith, Bruce Brockhoff,[R.I.P] John ‘Butch” Buchanan, Paul Mander [R.I.P] and Terry Cubley.
We had great fun together and the Aussie pilots invited us to come to Australia to fly there, especially against Ingo in Tocumwal, as he was the best.
Deal was that Butch would fly our Ventus in Rieti and George could fly one of Griffo’s gliders down under.
A nice “swap” convenient for all.
Bruce would be our host ,as he had a caravan at Tocumwal Airport, we could live in when we were there.
Off we went, suitcase full of summer clothes. We arrived at Melbourne and it was just SO COLD!!!!
We called Bruce, but he was not home [ Melbourne] ,he was flying a local competition at Mildura,” we should travel straight on to meet them all there”, he said.
We did . The plane was a small one[ I believe Kendell Airlines] and it was pretty turbulent. I felt miserable!!
We arrived at Mildura ,a lovely small town at the Murray River and it was “bloody” hot over there. Whilst walking to our friends, millions of grasshoppers tried to “climb” in our ears, mouth and nose . Never saw them before and it looked grey ,even when the sun was shining brightly.
Pretty shocking, I longed for the Netherlands, but you get used to everything in life, is n’t it?
We had a sterling time. George flew several new records and I could “HOP” in a Bonanza from Griffo with a stopwatch to check the start from above and later finish time.
When the comp was over we got a radio and a car to drive to Tocumwal, over 500 km with no houses or towns. There was ONE pub in the middle and off course we visited that.
The radio was to keep in contact with Bruce ,as we had no clue where to go too and getting lost down under is not funny.
We arrived safely in beautiful Tocumwal, found a nice motel [ there are many, as people from Melbourne come in bus-loads , to play the poker machines at the golf club over there], as Bruce stayed for a short while in his caravan, to be with us.
So Tocumwal entered in our lives and it is still there!!

Looking at comps!!!
I have been at many comps, too many to write about or even to remember.
But most of all ,I was in Rieti in Italy.
I was their as crew at the Pre Worlds in 1984. In 1985 as guest.
In 1994 as TC of the Dutch team at the EGC and “our” Ronald Termaat won bronze!
I had as TC, 2 pilots in standard class with 36 participants; Baer Selen [finished on spot 9]and Erik Borgmann.[spot 6]
The final scores in this class were very special;
As Tapio and Fred ,the stewards wrote in their final report;
“Peter Fischer, Reinhard Schramme and Erwin Ziegler [all 3 from Germany] TOGETHER on place ONE, with 9358 points each. It’s the first time in history of gliding, that 3 pilots share the first place on an important international championship.”

3 Pilots in 15 m. with 34 pilots ; Steven Raimond , Jaap Horsten and Ronald Termaat who finished as 3d, behind Stefano Ghiorzo [gold] and Werner Meuser [silver] and the other 2 pilots finished in the top 10.
In open 1 pilot Gerrit Kurstjes who finished also in the top 10, so the Dutch Gliding Association was happy, I got a nice THANK YOU letter.

A picture from a picture, but still very clear though in Italian.

More Rieti as in 2007 I was invited as writer at the JWGC and in 2008 as invited writer of the WGC and,…. as one of the jurors could not be there , I “helped” Tor Johannes as replacement-juror.
All great fun ,also with John Roake from N.Z. who was chief steward.
We eat too many ice creams in the evening , every day, as some kind of relaxation!!!!
After that 3 times [years] as writer about the C.I.M.
I love Rieti and the people I got to know through the years!!!!
Comps were always well organized and they really took good care of their guests. The comps were special as the mountains are not forgiving there. I once had to write about an Austrian pilot who did not come back during the CIM, till they found him the next day with help of all pilots and many others. That was tough, very tough!
The pictures from Rieti are on one of my memory- sticks. Will try to find them.

Yesterday I had a small tear when Rafa lost his first match in the Davis Cup, but I was also pleased to see Botic win, it might help him to be less insecure!!!

More “old” and new news next week.
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.554 on November 13 2024 AND ……7 blogs to go.

Slowly I start with a THANK YOU to several people who have been fabulous to me. This time some of the best photographers in my eyes. They allowed me to use their pictures in many of my blogs as great illustrations.
From the USA Bo[zena] Michalowski, from N.Z. Geoff Soper, from Finland Katja Soikkili from the Netherlands Arjan Vrieze and sometimes from Willemijn de Lange.
I used more very good pictures, always shared the names of the photographers and always they enriched the stories!!!!!
Thank you so much!!!!
One of the pictures from Bo;

One of the pictures from Katja;

One of the pictures from Geoff;

and from Arjan ;

—–Not the very best weather for all who hoped for many 1000 km-flights in Namibia. But there is so much to do and see, as a safari. I loved my safari in South Africa last year and will never forget the most beautiful wild animals in nature. They , for sure, will love it too.
Though , YES , I know they are there for flying!
But …..1000 k’s were there again on Saturday.

–—-Not the very best weather either at the Central Plateau comps in N.Z. In 7 days they started task 7 on November 8 with a 2 hour AAT in both classes, open and racing. That was FLYING DAY 3!!!
Not good either, as in racing only 5 pilots flew between 9 and 36 km!!!!!
In open only 1 pilot finished. In his Discus 2c-FES , Frank Excell won the day with 127 km in 2.01, so 63 km./h.
On November 8 and 9 they tried hard, set tasks and a few kilometres were flown , but that was it. On the total scores you can see that there were nearly no points on the scoring list.
In the end there were winners after 2 days -with-points for task 2 and 3;
Open….Frank Excell in Discus 2C -FES with 617 points and
racing.… Trace Austin in Discus CS with 355 points.

–—–Narromine; ” The dynamic-duo who keep Narromine Gliding Club functioning.
During the recent inaugural Womens’ Instructor Course held at Narromine 28 Oct – 1 Nov:
Beryl did all of the catering, and other wrangling. Her husband Arnie did every tow. and the BBQ’s and when necessary maintenance “ Dee Mac  
Great duo. I know Beryl and Arnie for a long , long time and mind you , they are not the youngest anymore!!!!
I always think of Arnie as some kind of “guardian angel”, as during the soaring-safari from South to Nord Australia with a few pilots, gliders and crew members. My daughter, then as old my grand daughter now, was one of the crew members . She had an unforgettable trip, loved every minute, but was very pleased to not have to drive back more kilometres to Narromine, as she was allowed to fly back with Arnie in the tug!!!!!

–—–As you can read the season has slowly started on the other side of the world. A check for pilot and glider is compulsory, so you will not fly around in a glider like this.
Nice picture though.

–—-In between the world has changed and we can only hope for the best. Trump back as president, somebody who abuses who ever he can, was chosen by the USA people, so hopefully they knew what they were doing. I don’t have a political opinion is this blog not about the Democrats neither the Republicans. With all the wars I only hope for peace;
The red poppy is a symbol of both Remembrance and hope for a peaceful future.
“The poppy is a well-known and well-established symbol, one that carries a wealth of history and meaning with it.“

–——In Amsterdam we had black night!!! And that after a great soccer comps between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. 5-0 for Ajax , NO WORRIES peace at the field and straight after, TILL organised mostly very young ones started to fight. And HOW,…..
The war in the East between Palestine and Israel was on our doormat, with a “chase” on Jewish people.
DEEPLY TRAGIC!!!!!!

—-AND,…looking back at 1 of the first blogs written on June 21 2006 from Sweden;
“Where can you better start with the first article, then in the MEKKA of gliding at this moment; Sweden,of course in Eskilstuna on Ekeby Airport, where tomorrow on June 16 2006 the last day of the 29th FAI Multi Class Gliding Championships will be flown.These are the very last Comps with 4 classes involved.So a very special day! With 116 pilots flying, also one of the bigger gliding events in history.26 Different nations are here and with 12 tow planes all pilots are launched in a very short time.

And …they are great comps! The weather was not all that flash , for that reason the tasks were not too big, but it was till now a real competition with ups and downs and weather circumstances with a variety I have never seen before in my life. The weather can change here very quickly and we have had, snow, hail, rain, sun, temperatures around 0 and temperatures around 30, lenties, clouds, blue days, tough wind and weak wind and a sunset at 22.15.Yes it seems it is never dark here and you go to bed too late for that reason.”

On invitation of Robert Danewid the CD of the comps in Eskilstuna,…… I was the daily writer!

To finish a story and some random pictures from the past.
It’s 1988! The EGC was in Finland at Rayskala. Already a year earlier Kees [Musters…1983 world champion in Hobbs] had lobbied to make me the TC of this competition. I assisted already at the 1987 WGC in Benalla, where I organized the shipment for the gliders and the accommodation at Tocumwal [practice] and Benalla. But I was not in the best mood due to tragic losses.
Kees died in December 1987 in France [ hang glider] and our son Dennis, died after a crash with the tug on January 3 in 1988, so within a week.
In the end the lobby still worked out both for the pilots and myself and I went with 5 men to Finland and 7 or 8 crew members.

Onno, [ 18 from 30 in 15 m] Gerrit, [ 6th from 13 in open], Daan,[ 9th in 15 m] ,Sikko [5th from 28 in st. class] and George.[10th in 15 m]
A competition with rain and thunderstorms, midsummer night and good spirits, though with 2 hiccups; a marriage break-down and the police in my tent to find out why somebody drove over the runway in the middle of the night on their motorbike. Yes the life of a TC is more than sitting behind a map with a radio.
One difficult landing as well by George as you can see .

A European competition with familiar faces;

and some friends

1989; , at home ,early morning in my nighty. Not too bad is it. Can’t remember this picture!!!!Nice to have found it, for those who did n’t know me then.

Next week I will go through more of my photo books and share some more soaring history.

CU next week. I have to stop now, as they are going to cut the electricity for a few hours.
By the way in Kiripotib an ARCUS M20, came available between December 13 and 31. So if you always dreamt of a 1000 k , of “outstanding weather conditions, full support, lot’s of fun ” and catching up with soaring mates, here is a possibility.
info@kiripotib-soaring.com
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.553 on November 6 2024 AND ……8 blogs to go.
–—-GREAT!!!!! Several people are busy to look into preserving my blogs and when it all works out, you can read BACK, what happened on championship level and on fun during gliding between 2006 and 2024.
I am more than pleased ,they are doing this.
From 2006 onwards it should be archived and put on a server. Will inform you later how it works as I don’t know either now.
Sadly enough, in the past [1996-2006] most of my “latest news ” blogs have disappeared one day from the server from Sportavia. We thought,…a hack, but I have never been sure, what happened exactly.
Such a pity!
I know , quite a few guests arrived at Sportavia, because they had read the blogs and felt somehow familiar with us when they arrived.
From that early period there are still enough readers alive and they know!

Back to soaring now!!!

—–Matthew Scutter’s Gliding;
“Day 1 of my first safari of the year. The goal was Narromine, which was forecast to be impossible but the radar looked promising so I thought I’d give it a try – it was impossible. Deviated to Keepit.“
But look then to day 2; 1.032 km with 130 km./h!!! On November 1!!!!!! Still early spring, flying his DIANA 2 /FES.
“First 1000k flight of the Australian season! https://www.weglide.org/flight/492771
Straightforward convergence bash up and down the Great Dividing Range following the bright red line on the LX (also possible to follow the clouds outside). This system is there almost every day, but I keep an eye out for strong ones on SkySight and today delivered.
I landed back at Kingaroy because I seem to be coming down with a cold.
The finish was very exciting – I was below glide to Kingaroy even with FES and the air had gone completely still, but I encountered an area of quite severe turbulence near Toowoomba – and sure enough, when I pushed inland a couple of kilometres, I’d hit the sea breeze in the blue again, now pushing through towards Kingaroy.
In the end I still had to use the motor to get in before last light. Such is the luxury of the FES system.“

GOOD ON YOU MATTHEW!!!!!!!

—–FFVP – Fédération Française de Vol en Planeur is happy that the gliders from the very successful French team are back home from Uvalde.

——-And also the UK gliders are back home!!!

—–Lasham Gliding Society  
“As of 1st November 2024 we are delighted to welcome Ron Smith to the role of Chief Flying Instructor at Lasham Gliding Society.
Ron will be well known to many at Lasham having been with the society in the role of Deputy Chief Flying Instructor since Spring 2024. He has played a key role in delivering a safe and efficient operation and will work closely with our engineering and general manager on interfacing our flying activities with the wider activities on site.“
Good luck Ron and many SAFE flights!

—–Kiripotib Soaring:
“A brilliant start: The first day of “Flying with the Champions” was a complete success . Lots of happy faces and big smiles . We are incredibly happy !“
Indeed pictures with very happy pilots!!!!
kiripotib-soaring.com/en/soaring/flying-with-the-champions

Also 4 OVER 1000 km flights on day 1 , in Bitterwasser …GOOD!!!! And several over 700/800 km in Kiripotib and Pokweni.
Great start of the season!!! Though the next day was less good. But November 3 had a 900 km flight again.
Mind you on less good day’s, during p.e a 300 km flight you might learn as much or more from a champion, than on a long 1000 km -plus- flight.
Veronica started with over 400 and 600 km flights by 3 pilots from Israel.
You can find all flights ,as there will be MANY, for sure till half of January on the OLC at https://www.onlinecontest.org/
Or at WeGlide at weglide.org. They just announced that they now support video uploads as well.

“What happens at Kiripotib when the weather isn’t the best?

Relaxed outdoor briefing

Great presentations by champions Tilo Holighaus and Markus Frank

Firefighter training for the team

Cake and coffee together with our friends from Bitterwasser

Game drive with an impressive sunset

Conclusion: lots of fun and great talks

——Schempp-Hirth
“The first ever self launches with a Ventus-3 FES are done Congratulations Luka Žnidaršič and LZ design for this achievement. With a high landing gear and a more powerful FES-system they made it happen.We are excited for the next steps!”

——-Tocumwal Soaring Centre is gearing up for summer that’s for sure !
The JS3 RES and Ventus 3M will be in the big hangar very soon adding to our already awesome fleet,Every thing from a Boomerang, Blanik up to the mighty 18 mtr super ships and just about everything in between….. Hazzah !”

—–Skyrace GP in Australia shares “bad/sad” news;
“Statement Regarding SkyraceGP’s Future.
The primary organisers have made the difficult decision that the upcoming season’s event will be the final one for the foreseeable future and will be followed by a hiatus of unknown length.
If you have been toying with the idea of attending, we urge you to get your entry in and join in the fun.”
That would be a real pity, as it was not only a fun event ,but also important for flying a competition in a less expensive but top glider.

——The Central Plateau Competition 2024 is in progress at Taupo, between November 2 and 9 .Loved Taupo when I was in NZ, specially the gorgeous area around the lake.
Till now the 14 pilots [ 7 in open and 7 in racing] had 2 out of 4 days. A 3 hour AAT with no finishers in open and a 1 hour AAT with 3 finishers.
In racing NO finishers either on the 3 hour AAT and 2 on the 1 hour AAT..
They did not fly today!

That’s it for now. Have a good week.
Bit short blog maybe BUT, I have to stop as due to renovations in my street the electricity will stop at 8AM till 11 AM.
Very interesting ; archaeology researchers found very old,[ a few hundred years] parts of a street at 1 meter deep in front of my house. Horse-roads as cars were not invented, as well as a little square and a small chapel. Will try to make pictures today.
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.552 on October 30 2024

Thanks for the many reactions I got already on the news that I have to stop writing my blogs end of this year. Even friends I did not expect to read my blogs , seem to have read it. Good to hear.
Luckily people understand my position.
I started actions to find out if the FAI or IGC have a server to host my blogs to “preserve” gliding history as some call it and I am hopeful, as the best of the best in IT , look into the matter!!
Will keep you informed.
Logistics for these last 2 months;
The next blogs will be on Wednesdays November 6 and 13 , 20 and 27 and on December 4,11, 18 and on Tuesday December 24 and Tuesday ,December 31, last day of 2024 AND,…last day of Ritz’ soaring.eu blogs.

–—–Mind you, on one of the last flying days in the season 2024, they flew in The Netherlands still over 300 km. We had the warmest day’s ever in the end of October, with up to 23 dgr C in my region.
Great weather also for the autumn camp at Terlet from the Gelderse.
Sikko flew from Soesterberg in the 15m ASG 29 E340 km.
“Nice flight at the end of October. Started with cloudbase of 600m but after Apeldoorn it went down to Max 500. After Holterberg cloudbase went up to 600m again after turning 10km past Twente weather improved and at Deventer cloudbase rised to 900m. Turned at Soest en then went to Terlet and back to soesterberg. 340km…… Nice“

—–The down under season slowly starts. After a huge amount of rain on ONE day, they got the next day 30dgr. C in Tocumwal, not bad!!!
Lumpy loves his flying and shared last Sunday;” If today was an indication of the season ahead …… bring it on !! We had a trough sitting over a good portion of NSW which generated some nice Cu’s. The wind made it a little difficult to work out where the lift was, however when you found them it was a good ride ….
650kms at 105kph in the might Duo”

–—–John McCaw also loves his gliding , but he flies over the mountains in N.Z. Lucky for us ,he often shares pictures , as he did also last Sunday. A nice Sunday- afternoon out.

——Deeside Gliding Club at the airfield of Aboyne, [I have written often about their wave weeks] shared the next news;
“We’ve had some great wave flying this week with visitors from Booker, Lasham, Chilterns and Wolds exploring the Scottish mountains and glens and making lots of high altitude flights, many up to c.15,000ft, several to c. 20,000ft with Gold height for Patrick Clear and Diamond height for John Otty. Visitors and DGC members have been out as far as Callander, Dunkeld, Strathspey and North of Inverness, with notable x-countries by Roy Wilson (500km) and Sant Cervantes (300km).”

—–HpH Sailplanes is pretty active. They shared news and a picture from the Maiden flight TwinShark SN 40-TS.

—–For all those who have been at Terlet, OR will go there for the FAI SGP in May 2025, [ https://sgp.aero/netherlands2025 ,many top pilots are involved already and a long waiting list!!] ,the famous and very GOOD “workshop” [Service Center Terlet] got a new roof!

—–Benalla has next week the MELBOURNE CUP REGATTA, no this time not the running horses , they run in Melbourne,…the day the nation stops…. but flying gliders. Here is the announcement.

–—-Most of us have seen TOP GUN. I read that the instructor of Tom Cruise and all other pilots for that movie, were trained by Charles Thomas ’Chuck’ Coleman .With more than 100 flights he prepared the cast in F 18 Hornets for their amazing jobs.
SADLY enough he died on Sunday October 20 ,in a small plane, a 2-seat Extra Flugzeugbau EA300 as single pilot, during an AIRSHOW at Las Cruces Air and Space Expo at Las Cruces International Airport, when it crashed. They stopped the show.
Chuck had 10.000 hours in his logbook, participated in hundreds of air shows and flew more than 3000 stunts.
R.I.P.

—–and to finish this post, this spectacular airfield, belonging to the most dangerous in the world.

CU next week,
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.551 on October 23 2024

Not a lot happening in “our” soaring world at this moment, so time to tell you in time ,that I stop writing blogs end of this year. SORRY ABOUT THAT !!!!!
Minor ,but chronical health issues force me to do so.
Was in hospital at neurology and though I only get the results of the MRI on November 1, they could tell me already that the diagnose was PPPD, a chronic dizziness.
A nuisance, but if that is the worst , I can live with it, but having no balance and feeling dizzy is not a real pleasure either.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the post you can see also the archive and see that this soaring.eu started in June 2006, when I was just back from Australia ,sad and and angry after “loosing” the business, we loved so much and worked so hard for , day and night.
Before ,I wrote already for 10 years, the daily news at the SSC site [Sportavia Soaring Center]
So, a life full of writing, research for good articles and enthusiasm, specially writing about comps!!!
The invitations by organizers trough the years to be AT the venue of a WGC, or WWGC, or JWGC or EGC’s and writing whilst I saw it happen , were unforgettable.
Loved doing it. Always with ONE finger, but getting faster and faster.
Writing for GLIDING INTERNATIONAL and SOARING CAFE in the past, was an extra pleasure and honour.

Talking about soaring.cafe;
Caught up with Bill [Soaring Cafe] and Carol from the USA in Amsterdam, last Saturday and we had a great time talking together about a lot of things. Such lovely people!!!!
Also discussed what to do with the many blogs and the archive from soaring.eu. It would be a pity to loose it for readers. At this stage it is on the server from Bill in the USA but I try to get it on the server from either the IGC or FAI.
Will investigate the next weeks.
Of course I will keep you informed during the period.

And 12 years ago in 2012 in Uvalde Texas, with Carol ,Bill and Rand.

—–Some gliders are nicely back in time from Texas.

In between the Dutch gliders are back home, from Uvalde in Texas. Many helping hands and the Dutch , Danish [Arne] and Belgium [Arnaud] pilots, could take their gliders to their home fields.

——–Looking at the season the other way around…BITTERWASSER will start soon. Gliders have arrived in containers for the November, December and January -season.

—-AND,…Kiripotib Soaring is ready too;

—- Of course the overseas season in Australia starts soon too. I heard they had last Tuesday already 30 dgr. C in Tocumwal, after a lot of heavy rain. But they will be ready in the East, [ Kingaroy and Narromine] , South [Benalla and Tocumwal] and West [Adelaide and Waikirie] and of course more glider-fields as Bacchus March [Victoria]
The season in N.Z. started with some flights in Omarama and Matamata and on November 2 the CENTRAL PLATEAU COMPETITION 2024 starts till November 9 with at this stage 13 pilots.
Talking about New Zealand; look at these fabulous pictures from 2 Cirrus’ taken by John McCaw IN a Cirrus.

——-For my USA mates ; Soaring News by Paul Remde of Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
Paul was very active during the latest WGC in Uvalde Texas.
“Soaring Product News Presentation
SSA Convention
Saturday, October 26, 10:00 AM
Room 200AB
I will be talking about the latest soaring products and instruments at the SSA Convention this Saturday. I’ll be discussing: Condor3, LXNAV PowerMouse+ FCC, LXNAV FlarmLink, Air Avionics AC-1 AIR Com Radio, PowerFLARM Flex, LXNAV HAWK, Mountain High 2-Stage Regulators, New features in SeeYou Navigator and the Oudie N, and more… I am looking forward to seeing soaring friends from around the world. I hope to see you there!
Paul Remde “
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

——-Gliding International from New Zealand [ I wrote for them in the past] does n’t exist anymore. After John Roake passed away ,nobody could follow it up, but the German magazine “segelfliegen” [ already existing for many years] is now also in English.
“The Segelfliegen Magazin is now available online in an English format as Soaring International, with 6 issues per year. Learn more at https://soaring-international.com
And for the German version see https://www.segelfliegen-magazin.de
It’s tough in the media business these days, so support our gliding magazines otherwise they will be gone!“
Have a look, we should support them!!!

——On October 21 , Transavia, the company where George flew and Inge flies ,existed 59 years. Their first flight was with a Douglas DC 6. I can assure you that through my life the name TRANSAVIA has been used a lot. George started with the Caravelle, then Boeing’s …..Inge flies a Boeing 737 and moves soon to the AIRBUS.

——-Cambridge Gliding Centre   shared the next news;
“Started off with a foggy morning, but by afternoon the airfield was buzzing with life! Huge thanks to everyone who joined in the action and helped turn it into an awesome Friday. Can’t wait to do it all again next week!”

AND,...in my own neighbourhood.

That’s it for now. Very foggy here with code yellow, but the sun raised and the fog disappeared.
You will get used to not reading the blog on Wednesday anymore, but for a few weeks it’s still there!!!
So enjoy it.

And,…to finish. Just found this lovely picture from my “mate ” Leo[nardo] Brigliadori.{R.I.P. ] it is from 1963 when he participated in the Argentinian WGC at Junin. Great that people share these pictures.
Leo’s son Ricardo, Ricky for friend’s, flies WGC’s now.
In 1963 they only flew in 2 classes;
Open; champion Edward Makula from Poland, in a SZD-19 Zefir 2. He was honoured in 1965 with the Lilienthal Gliding Medal.
Standard; Champion Heinz Huth from Germany in Schleicher KA6. He won in 1960 as well in his home country Germany from the airfield of Koeln [Cologne] .

PilotaperSempre

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.550 on October 16 2024

——Oh those bloody hurricanes, they ruin SO MUCH and kill people, at least 16 I heard, as did the many twisters Florida had.
I hoped that Seminole would be save and spared, as I love following the senior comps at that airfield in Florida.
But NO , the next day I found these pictures and news on the internet so sad!!!
“Dear Friends of Seminole-Lake,
Our little airport had some damage caused by hurricane Milton. We are still standing and feel blessed no one was injured.
We’ll start cleaning up and rebuild as early as we can.
Seminole-Lake will reopen for business next week.
Thank you everyone for all your thoughts, phone calls, emails and messages.
God Bless!”

After those dark skies, a few days later blue skies and hardworking people cleaning up. TOP!!!!
Yesterday they opened their doors again :”Seminole-Lake will reopen for business as usual this Tuesday @9am.”

——Looking like a nice SPRING-DAY in Kingaroy! AND, a “high” day.

—-SkySight published news which might interest you as I know a lot of pilots use SkySight.
They have a new feature – Cu Overview
“For years our customers have told us they love the product, but they don’t like having to check so many charts to build a mental model of the forecast. So we have built – another chart! Don’t panic – stay with us for the moment.
Presenting, the Cu Overview chart!
-We start with a base layer of Thermal Height in soft contours.
-Overlaid on top are Cumulus cloud ‘dots’, with the size and density (oktas) of the clouds represented realistically, coloured according to altitude
-Overlaid again, we show areas of mid/high cloud in grey, and iconography for areas of rain.
For most pilots we expect this will replace the need to check the Height of Thermals, Cu Depth, Cu Cloudbase, Cloud Cover, Overdevelopment and Significant Weather charts in your preflight planning.

The development of this feature was a multiyear undertaking, requiring rewriting our cumulus modeling from a simple one-dimensional model into a full three-dimensional prediction. We are now able to understand and present both the “width” and height of the cumulus in a manner not achieved before. Additionally this has permitted us to replace the flawed “Overdevelopment” chart with a new chart “Cu Coverage”, that much better achieves the intent of the retired chart.
As always, we hope you will give us feedback about this new feature as we continue to evolve it further.”

—-–Noticed that after 10 weeks !!!!!!!the ship with gliders from Uvalde to South Africa has not arrived yet!!! It is in London, but will arrive only in November; Leaving London 20th, ETA Durban 18Nov!!!!
Their season has started then already.
The UK container has not yet arrived in the UK either….less ” bitter” ,as it will be winter here soon, BUT we and they had some lovely autumn days for flying recently!!!
AND,…here in The Netherlands we go back to 24 dgr. C today here in the S. ,whilst we had yesterday the first national night frost with minus 0.6 dgr. C!!!!!WEIRD!!!
AND,…they still fly!!!!! On October 5 still 39 flights in Holland on the OLC ,11 from Terlet ,but a week later only 2.

——Through the years ,I learned that a lot of glider pilots started as kids with model’s , no not good looking ladies or men on pictures, but model planes!!!!
I found out that ” the FAI F3F world championship 2024 for Model Gliders in Limoux, France, was well underway with seven rounds completed last Thursday and has finished now.
The event was between 2024-10-06 to 2024-10-12 and the event type is F3F Slope Race (Plus Scoring)

Here is more about it by “connoisseurs” ;
“The FAI F3F world championship 2024 for Model Gliders in Limoux, France (6-12 October) saw an impressive display of skill and teamwork by the world’s best aeromodelling pilots. Austria dominated the competition, clinching top honours in both individual and team categories.
The organisers faced the additional challenge of navigating ever-changing weather conditions during the event. The pilots were tasked with competing on three different slopes, each with its own unique characteristics. This transition between the diverse terrains tested the competitors’ adaptability and skill. In the end, a good number of rounds were completed, totalling 17.“

—-–More and more the AURORA is visible on spots it never was before.
When I lived in Tocumwal we often visited or passed by the Lake Mulwala. Look what great picture somebody took there.
It remains a fabulous phenomena.

Even in The Netherlands we could see it. I did not , but more up North you could see it without a camera just with “bare eyes”.
And also a “comet” , called C/2020 A3 [Tsuchinshan-Atlas] passed by over the Netherlands and that happens once in 80.000 years !!!!!!!! And I slept!!!!!

Great picture to finish this post. Indeed a short one ,but times are easy going in this “in-between- soaring-period”.

Cheers Ritz