Alphen aan den Rijn     Monday August 8 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

 the airport on Sunday

Wonderful to have been back at Keiheuvel Airport. I just have the best memories on being there. Those days the Keiheuvel competition still was a week and we had a ball, flying and socializing. Nowadays, mainly due to the continuing restriction of airspace,  specially around Eindhoven, but also in Belgium, it is only a weekend but a great weekend with still the same atmosphere, only a few less pilots flying.

 The Keiheuvel Cup 2011.

Here is the story!
For the weekend of  August 6 and 7 I really wanted to go back to Keiheuvel; just tasting another comps over there after so many years! I made arrangements for myself and Ans who started soaring with me in 1967 and quickly I found out that old good friendship NEVER disappears it remains till you die!
In no time a caravan was organised by one of the well known soaring families of Belgium; The Huybreckx family. Father Huybreckx, with his wife the first generation of this dynasty I got to know, still in great health being 83 and 81 now , borrowed us his “small”caravan as , grandson Jeroen[3d generation]  used the big one in Musbach with his dad Rudy[ husband from Chrisje] and grand daughter Sophie [daughter from Eddy] the camper, with her partner Wim.Wim flew this weekend in the Nimbus 4D [ with transponder Sport XPDR class]  with Maarten Baltussen importer from JS1, as you know. Chrisje,the only girl in the 2d generation family [with brothers Mark and Eddie  , sadly enough Gert passed away many years ago!] , who owns and runs the fantastic restaurant “De Kei”, [with Rudy] , welcomed us straight away, dad and brothers Marc and Eddie followed.
The 4th generation , little Anna, from Gitte, nearly 2 years old now, is already interested in soaring. No girls talk, when her mum and I were talking, no she wanted to go to the CM. Not even 2 and she knows the call signs of the gliders within the family. So the future looks bright for soaring at the Keiheuvel , specially with a little son “arriving” this month.

 

We arrived on Saturday afternoon. The weather was great for walking 24 dgr. a bit sticky but nog good enough for soaring so we started socialising straight away.No BBQ this evening but chicken and salad yammie!

 

Yes socialising is easy with friends. Another great and warm Belgium soaring family is of course the Schmelzer family. Just back from wet Nitra , where Tijl and Bert sr. flew in the 2 seater class and Bert jr.in the standard class, with mum Hilde, not as TC this time, but as crew . We always pick up in our conversation, where we stayed when we ended the last time. This weekend Tijl flew the nimbus 4 d with Ken in the  sport class. Dad Bert the ventus. Bert jr. had to go back to Zürich where he lives and works.

 

More socialising as so many good old friends were part of the chicken-evening. As the de Wachter family, Emiel and Godelieve, the de Coninck family, Eddie and Mia, and more 3d generation Huybreckx family members. And children who were small when I met them first.

 

 

 

On this last picture; Dennis H, Gitte H, mum of Anna and soon from ….. uncle Marc H. father from Gitte and Tim H. and uncle Eddy father from Sofie H. and Dennis H.

After a great night,  Sunday would be the day to fly. Briefing at 10 and about 33 participants. The meteo announced a low cloudbase in the morning but getting better up to 1100 m., at noon. Only the wind up to 40 km/h . could be a problem , as well as some isolated showers. First start was announced for 12.30 but the base stayed a bit too low,  so after an hour the skies looked great and the Scout and 2 Pawnees , yes the one we had in Holland at the Dutch Nationals as well, towed all pilots up for their task of 136 km in Sport class XPDR [ transponders] and 131 km for the club/sport class.

 

 

 The skies looked better then expected but the pilots did not agree with us on the ground. Some had problems to go to the first TP due to a shower over there. They came back and started again. Some struggled with the 40km/h wind and a shower on the way home others had 2.5 lift up to 1100. Not an easy day. Several pilots had to go “au vache” so the price giving was at 8.30. No worries as a lot enjoyed a great dinner in the KEI, where the beautiful presentation of the food draws all attention. On top of that the food is fantastic!!!
5 Pilots from sports class  finished at Keiheuvel and with a speed of 98 km/h Tijl Schmelzer and Ken Evens were the winners in this class. The standard Libelle finished as well and became 2d. Great job!!!
In the other class Wim Akkermans and Maarten Baltussen won with a speed of 60 km/h. Nobody else made it home!
The Albert Schmelzer prize for the best young pilot during this 2011 edition of the Keiheuvel Cup was for Tijl as well. Albert was first generation, Bert sr. is 2 and Tijl and Bert jr are 3d generation. Great to win such a prize with the name of granddad.

 

 

It was awfully nice to meet also friends who flew with us in Tocumwal in the past. I have Ewald and Emiel on a picture but not Patrick [sorry] ,  who I met as well. Of course Hilde and Bert were with us as well as Eddie Huybreckx who visited when he was young and Bill Riley still was the boss.

 

Some as Tim and Dennis worked for us. Tim, air traffic controller at Kleine Brogel is just back from Nitra so is Dennis, who is co pilot at KLM now .

 

 Not for the first time pilots took pity on doggies at the airport. You know for sure Nitra the doggie with the 3 legs, from the German TC Rainer. This time we got to know Duke , also born in  Nitra, who was saved after the pup was thrown away by a young person on a bike. After a visit to the vet the doggie is going to be the happiest dog in the world. A new little Nitra , from the same stray-mother-dog, is in Belgium as well.

 

By now you understand that we had a great weekend and if possible we will be back next year again. To finish I share with pleasure some more pictures. I hope you like this more private blog as well. See you on Wednesday with the regular news on Pocuinai, Rieti and Musbach.
Cheers Ritz

  Stijn the very kind and good competition director

 partner [r]from Gitte and father of 4th generation

  Tijl , now with short hair

  Bert sr and Hilde , lovely couple

  Libelle still a great plane

 pilot and crew for “over 100 years”!!!

  Ans in front of the fleet

  Bert sr. and Ewald

  Sofie en Wim

 the “holy grass “of Keiheuvel greener then green

 

Alphen aan den Rijn     Friday August 5 2011     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

 nice looking clouds [archive]

Day 3 in Pociunai  was a long one and normally that divides the “men from the boys”.
Was very pleased to see that Henrik won the day in 15 m. class. climbing up overall now to spot 6. Amongst the first 5 are 3 French pilots. Strong pact!!!
In 18 m. class Arne Boye flew the anger of the violation earlier, out of his system with a great first place and a speed of 121 km./h over 473.8 km. in the JS 1.Compliments to the Danish pilots they are doing pretty well in this EGC. Still 3 ASG 29’s in the overall top then the Ventus from Wolfgang and then  3 JS1’s.
Our Dutch pilots had a good day with a 3d and 5th day place.
Very good to see Kim Tipple on spot 1 in open class. All the bad luck he had,[ a not good working Flarm and a leaking dump valve]  must have motivated him. Speed of 123 km/h in the Nimbus 4T. And….the 2 former toppers are still toppers now. Bruno and Janusz are on spot 1 and 2 overall. But a few more days to go . The battle is not yet over!!!!!

On day 4 strong and long tasks  again . ALL classes flew over 500 km!!!15 m. 501, 18. 521 and open 528. The “high”  was there now , the country dried out, so more possibilities!!!
So much better this good weather, you just really  see what pilots can do. A pity still for Nitra that such weather was not allowed to them by the weather gods!
In 15. m class another of my favourites Gyorgy, was 2d behind Tomasz from Poland, with a speed of 122.3 km/h.!! “Poor” Henrik who won yesterday lost a few points ,  by being 22d . 3 Diana’s in the top 5 at this stage!!!!.
In 18 m. even better speed! 131 km./h for day-winner Karol from Poland in ASG 29. The UK boys did well being 2 and 3. Wolfgang lost 180 points,. ouch!Here 2 pilots from Poland , 2 from the UK and 2 from Holland in the daily top 6!
In open class that German pilot Frank Marcus, who I never met , not even heard of till now, is doing a great job in his EB! Though 132 km./h for him , is not even that much more/better as the ASG 29 from the Polish winner in 18 m. A very STRONG top 7 in open class with at this stage ONE point difference between the number 1 and 2 [ Frank] .

 In the middle Gyorgy and Janusz[archive]

Day 5 , TODAY,had even bigger tasks and an early start at 11.00, but posponed to 11.30; 15 m. has to fly 632 km., 659 for 18m , and 684 for open class. There was a B task as well. But when you expect [temp trace] a cloud base 0f 2000 m and dry air with good lift it should be all possible, so task A it was.
By the way we had lovely cauliflower-look-alike-cumulus-clouds over Alphen at noon, when looking at them they were still growing.And…all afternoon as well.
I had to smile when I read on the official site; ” Due to good weather we need more airspace and updated zones in distant areas”. What a luxury problem, is n’t it!? So new files have been added on internet to study tonight!
Fantastic that the pilots made it back so quickly. In 15 m. the French pilots flew with 130 km./h!!! They must have felt at home, with this weather!
What a SUPER day! What about 18m and open??? They had a great day as well. Very pleased to see that in the preliminary results Russell Cheetham leads the day.[134 km./h]  Good on him. Those 2 pilots from Poland however have a strong pact together, anxious to see what happens in the 2d week.
In open class Pete Harvey won the day [130km/h] with Steve Jones as good runner up. Great day for the UK pilots finishing it with a surely lovely party tonight with my Dutch friends.
Maybe a not too late night would be good as the grid opens tomorrow at 8 again.

 Pete Harvey [r] and Ronald Termaat[l] Andy in the middle in Eskilstuna[picture my archive]

The CIM pilots  did not all have a flying day yesterday .Standard class had a 2.30 AAT with best distance by Vitorio Pinni with 306 km.in 2.53h. Out of 21 pilots 9 outlanded!
15m and the 2 seaters flew an AAT in 2.30 as well.
Today all 5 classes [ no club class this year] flew and an AAT for all of them from 3 hours except for 15 m. they had 2.30 .

In between  they flew yesterday 439 km. from Jondaryan on the East of Australia. It is MID winter over there. They had cloudstreets and lift up till 5 PM.
In Spain, NE from Ocana at Cuenca Sotos,  Guy from Luxembourg flew 1.014 km. with a 700 km triangle in it! Good on him!Lots of good flights from Fuente as well and from Rayskala.

Forgot to tell those who are interested,  that the August news letter from the Perlan Project is out. Interesting news about “How will Perlan pilots survive at 90.000 ft.” I ‘ll give you the link as I got it from Morgan, so you can read it  yourself. Enjoy!

http://www.perlanproject.com/pdfs/Perlan2011_7.pdf

Off to Keiheuvel tomorrow morning early, where they are going to fly the 5th edition of the Keiheuvel Cup, so see you on Monday again.Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Wednesday August 3 2011     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

The glorious winner from the Grand Prix 2011 at Wasserkuppe; Giorgio Galetto. I received the picture from Marina yesterday. She is rushing to be in Musbach in time to do her FAI duties, starting this weekend. Busy lady! THANKS!!!! In between Giorgio won day 1 during the CIM in Rieti.

Finally the perfect weather arrived for holiday makers  at the beach. Maybe just in time to “save” the people running clubs at the beach.
Yesterday 28 , today 26, what do you want more!?NO RAIN, as it rains AGAIN!!!
Last Sunday I really enjoyed sitting on the boat and cruising the canals of Amsterdam, with my family and friends. Even Australian mate Kait was with us. A bit chilly still that day, but we had heaps of fun.

 picture by Kait from her BB.

I kept myself out of politics about our National Gliding Center Terlet. The main group of users, about 400,[ all together in  a corporation]  went broke last June due to “quarrels” and ” debts” , but the good news is that Terlet CONTINUES, which really pleases me! Love Terlet!!!

Day 1 in Pociunai was cancelled. So nothing new this season, just another scrubbed day. Though Day 2was much better and AAT’s from 2hours 30, were flown,  some had to outland again.BUT…quite a lot finished! Still not a 1000- points-day , but they will get there! Local showers and a not too high cloud base
were the ingredients for that.
872 points in open class  for the winner Killian from France, what an ace he is! And such a nice young man! Helicopter pilot by profession and when I spoke with him last , he served in Afghanistan.
Expensive points for those who outlanded, 4 in in this class! Feel sorry for Pete [N1]  as I know how good he is!!
Was impressed with Bruno [YY] he still can fly!!!! His Nimeta [ 30.5 m. span!!!!] gave him 258 km and a 2d place for day 1.Good on him.
In 18 m.the number 3 on the world list from FAI, behind Michael Sommer and Sebastian Kawa, Polish pilot  Zbigniew Nieradka, won the day [949 points] before Peter from Denmark.14 Pilots in this class were so unlucky to go ” au vaches ” under them Ricardo from Italy.4 ASG 29’s in the top.
In 15 m. class 12 outlandings and also one of my  favourites Gyorgy did not finish!!! The French have a strong pact to try to win. Denis was 2d and  Louis 3d and he defends his EGC title.

Day 2;  The meteo forecast was good as I noticed on the official site, with a great looking sounding and 1/8 to 3/8 of cumulus!
379 km for 15 m class, 402 for 18 m and 425 for open. Finally some real soaring conditions with nice tasks!The 15 m. class flew with the trackers.
In 45 minutes all gliders were airborne, good from those 15 Wilgas.
Pilots had straight after their start 2m/sec. And…finally 1000 points for the winners, it should be like that!!!As they flew around the Kaunas TMA pilots really had to be careful to not go wrong. Some did it in the end. Arne Boye Möller [Denmark] was winner of the day,  but …..violated the TMA and got an outlanding on the place of violation. So did 3 other pilots in his  18 m. class , 1 in open and 1 in 15 m. class.
The day was good but not real good, due to less good circumstances up N.But nevertheless with what we are used to in summer till now, a good day.
Great to see that the top- pilots who outlanded on day 1 were in the top now.Pete Harvey in open at spot 2 and Ricardo Brigliadori in 18 m. at spot 3 .They straight away showed that that outlanding was a misser.

Today , day 3, looks good again, sunny but cool morning conditions and flights in to Poland.
15m-452 km.to the NW, direction Baltic close to the Russian border;18m.-473 km. and open 501 km. both into Poland.Interesting to see the open class with in the overall scores 5 pilots between 1753 and 1722 points.
In 18m. class Peter Eriksen [1934 points]  from Denmark is on spot1 overall but behind him are the Polish pilots [1927 and 1906 points] and they fly over home country.
In 15 m. also small differences between the number 1 and 5; 1855 and 1845 points!!!!
A nice long distance as today shows who will be best.

Uvalde is preparing for their Pre World Championship 2011 .They will be held from August 6-14! Won’t be there but will inform you with news I receive and read!

The CIM in Rieti has started yesterday  with 71 participants in 6 classes!! 412 km. on day 1 for open class. So a nice Rieti day!Italian pilot Vittorio Pinni got the 1000 points in standard class. 3 Swiss pilots are on his heels.
In 18 m. Giorgio Galetto wast not too tired from winning the GP and travelling from Germany back to Rieti, he straight away won day 1. 1000 points in his pocket!
In open class the Austrian pilots Josef and Sebastian Eder were the best with close behind Alexander Müller.
Some pictures from my archive from Rieti WGC in 2008 .Wave, town and airfield.

 

And….George found on you tube the most wonderful “Bird” a smart bird; a lightweight airplane [ 450 grams] modeled on a seagull which flies by flapping its wings. AMAZING!!!! Here you can see it yourself! Enjoy!!!

www.flixxy.com/airplane-flies-like-a-bird.htm

Some analyses from the EGC and CIM on Friday!
No news on Sunday as I will be for the weekend at Keiheuvel, another favourite airfield just over the Dutch border in Belgium.Have n’t been there for a while so looking forward to catch up with friends. Jeroen, son of the owners of the restaurant Chrisje and Rudy, will be not there , he is in Musbach, flying the JWGC for Belgium, but all who got back from Nitra will be I hope!! Will tell you all about it on Monday, CU then, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Sunday July 31 2011   ritzdeluy@hotmail.com 

This July Holland had the coldest ever day with 13 dgr. Glad August starts tomorrow with better weather!

It must be weird to fly again on the reserve day after a party, but that’s what the world class did. The window was hopefull, so AAT’s from 2 hours and between 100 and 170 km. had been handed out! No rain but pretty strong wind this time so  pilots were send to the mountains to be able to do some ridgeflying!
But….the day ended as a non valid day! Luca Urbani flew the best distance 83 km. but not enough. What a pity for all the effort from pilots crew and organisers!
As it was not a valid EGC there are no champions but for sure WINNERS!!!!!!
Jakub Barszcz from Poland on spot 1 ,[ 731 points] and the 2 French pilots on 2 and 3.[681 and 665]
By the way, I loved following the new 2 seater class in this EGC and guess it will have a bright future! At least I hope so.

The one but last day at Wasserkuppe was one full of excitement. I wrote already that Sebastian flew the first leg by himself loosing time on Tilo and others. He lost points on that day as well as he got nothing. So very experienced pilot and good friend Giorgio won the day and straight away dominated the top position, with 31 points while young Sebastian still had 25 points. There are a few very young pilots in this race and it is great to see how they can fly and mingle with the toppilots and listen to them and learn.
A bit of an anti climax was the weather on the last day, so pilots could not “attack ” the first place from Giorgio anymore , but no worries , he is a great pilot and deserved to win!!! Congratulations.I hope for a picture today, but you know how hectic it is after a competition, a party and prizegiving with bubbles.
Sebastian now has to rush to Musbach to fly the 7th  JWGC over there! Atleast he shows good form.

Pociunai had a bit of a damp practise period, but sunny conditions on the openings day. So as the opening was in the evening, pilots still could fly.I really hope they get better weather then in Nitra. The 74 pilots start flying today and there are a few favourites, if I may give you my opinion;
In open class UK -hope, Pete and Steven , Killian and Sylvain the 2 French pilots and German pilot Bruno Gantenbrink , a bit older now then when I met him at several WGC’s but still never to underestimate. Also Janus Centka is such an “old” topper. And maybe my Dutch friends see possibilities to be high up in the scores!
In 18 m. “our ” Ronald is a favourite, no doubt about that,  UK pilot Russell, Austrian pilot Wolfgang [ still put my money on him ] and the 2 Polish pilots.
In 15 m. Hungarian pilot Gyorgy, I still believe in Henrik Breidahl from Denmark and Finnish pilot Markku Kuusisto. And..of course Stefano and Thomas from Italy.
Let’s wait and see, as long as they can fly under good to very good conditions , this will be a great event.

Klippeneck , the famous competion in Germany the 43th edition,  always attracks lot’s of pilots. Also this year; 91 in 5 classes!!!

The CIM in Rieti starts on August 2  with Giorgio as one of the pilots! Love this Coppa Internationale del Mediterranio.

See you on Wednesday, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      Friday July 29 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Friday; ONLY 4 days for club, standard and 2 seater class, at least a VALID EGC , but for sure not what pilots and organisers had hoped for in Nitra. The “poor PW 5 pilots ” still have to try tomorrow on the reserve day to make it a valid competition for them as well. Hope so , as this is their last EGC combined with club and standard class. It should finish with good memories, before the 13 m. class will have their own WGC in 2013.

One big lottery, being on the right spot on the correct place , what do you think….in fact clearly said by the organisers in the summary of July 27;
“First outlandings were reported quite early and we were afraid if the pilots will be able to make it home. Fortunately, the development of showers on the south that were causing the troubles has decreased and the weather situation has improved. Arrivals have started and after a while we knew that this day would be valid.  “,
Is this bad luck when you land early , or is it smart to arrive when that weather has passed. In my eyes it has more to do with the factor LUCK!!! Certainly when this happens en route when a shower blocks a TP. Correct me if I am wrong!
There was  no way to “beat” the ones in front of you to get higher on the scores list on this last day. Very disappointing….. and all pilots hoping for race weather had to fight in very marginal circumstances with those pilots who “like”  rain and thunderstorms.
Top Pilots always are in the top, that’s why they are top pilots, but also some of them would have loved to improve like Mario, who is only 4 points behind his country -pilot Franz Poch.But then only with a REAL soaring day! It did not happen.
Weather is weather, no way to close a roof to continue with the sport, but….this happens since we started gliding!!! We all know.

Sad for the organisers , who have put a lot of effort in the preparations. Normally they calculate their budget also on income from tows, but as there were not a lot of launches that money stays in the pocket from the pilots. For sure they would have loved to spend it on launches and good long flights.
Now some have to drive back home many kilometers with good memories on friendships, parties site-seeing, but not on great soaring. And that’s why they were there. Hopefully the party tonight brings more great memories on new camaraderie.

Here are the preliminary results from the 3 classes who had 4 days and for that reason CHAMPIONS;
Club class;
1. Roman Mracek [Czech Rep] in standard cirrus    1495 points
2. Jozef Kozar [ SVK] in LS1 f                                     1446
3. Tomasz Krok [Poland] in stand. jantar 3               1400

Standard class;
1. Sebastian Kawa [Poland] in Discus 2A                    1466 ALWAYS GOOD. A real TOPPER!
2. Franz Poch [Germany] in Discus 2B                       1386
3. Mario Kiessling [Germany] in Discus 2A                1384 Would have loved to fly on the last day!

2 seater class;
1. Harry and Visa Matti [Finland] in Arcus                1440  Good on you Visa Matti!!!!
2. Dmitriy and Ilya [Russia] in Duo discus                1391 Better then Finland! Remember!?
3. Viktoras and Marius [Lithuania] in LAK 12           1350 Good glider for these weater conditions!! Welldone!! And congratulations to all pilots for flying safe!

So next stop is Pocuinai! And a week later,  the JWGC in Musbach.

The Grand Prix Final today was posponed till 15.30 and had a C task as well. Start line opened at 16.15, with pretty marginal [ grey ] conditions and prospects, but they fly and reading this weather is very important. It is nice to follow it on life tracking.All pilots follow each other except for Sebastian Nägel who flies  all alone a bit more to the East. Interesting!!! 
But at this stage Tilo  has turned the first TP, while Sebastian is still on his way to it .
Have to go but if you have time follow the 19 pilots on your laptop!Today Holger Karow is guest speaker.

Stay tuned,  see you maybe tomorrow, but for sure on Sunday and SORRY that I forgot to publish my blog last Wednesday. It was short,  but ready.  I did it this morning.
Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wedenesday July 28 2011      ritzdeluy@hotmail.com 

Finally better weather!!!!! Yesterday morning the sun was shinning at Wasserkuppe after 2 scrubbed days and in Nitra they looked hopefully at less dark skies then the days before and finally no rain. As they let pilots launch in non-soarable circumstances earlier, they had to launch for sure yesterday.
And yes…they flew, still marginal conditions but flyable as most pilots finished. 3 outlandings in club class and the winner got 346 points.After 3 days a standard Libelle, standard cirrus and standard jantar on top. Best total score 1182 points.
In standard class 8 outlandings and 338 points for the 2 daily winners from Germany. Sebastian lost 39 points.
In the 2 seater class 382 points for the winners from Poland in their ARCUS. But after 3 days the Czech Duo discus is on spot 1 total. 
Difficult circumstances today as well with early fog, and rain predicted for the afternoon.
Some do not real believe in day 4.

Wasserkuppe started with a 124 km race after a regatta start on Monday. David Jansen from Australia had 2 outlandings before , one on the last practise day and one on day 1 when the day was sacrubbed later. This first day HE was the one who got the 10 points!
Didier Hauss from France had 8 points.
Yesterday they flew after the regatta start 123 km. and this time German pilot Uli Schwenk was the best. So after 2 days the most consistent pilot Giorgio Galetto from Italy is on spot 1 with 14 points with David and Didier following him.For today a new 125 km is on the menu for the pilots , but the weather seems not too good, with early rain/drizzle.

In Pociunai they prepare for the 16th EGC for the big ships starting this weekend.And…the weather is glorious if you compare it with Nitra. But they have had their first thunderstorms as well.

More news later as 2 little ones do not really help to concentrate.
Cheers Ritz maybe till Thursday evening or Friday morning.

Alphen aan den Rijn       Sunday July 24 2011     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com 

14.30; Update!! They really tried at Nitra, Vladimir and his team!!! No doubt about that. But…the weather does not want to co-operate. A pity, pilots were up in the air but there was no way to go on track for distances just over 100 km. What a pity but what can you do,..yes just wait till tomorrow …..it might be better.
No good news either from Wasserkuppe : ” Competition director Hanno Obermayor has cancelled day 2″. 
Great on days like this that there is TV. I am not a great fan, mainly look at news and sport, but this afternoon is full of Tour De France [last day] and racing, Hamilton is on spot 1 at this stage and of course I enjoyed the World champions swimming in Shanghai. “WE”  , I mean our Dutch 4×100 freestyle ladies WON after being 5th after the first 100 m!!”
And…what a great and pretty unexpected gold medal for the Aussie 4x freestylers. Good on them. They won from the USA and France, who were expected to be the best.
Before that I cried with Norway during the morning- mass in Oslo.

  RAIN!!!!!!Forgot who made this picture during the Dutch Nationals.Sorry!

A good Sunday morning! We need that certainly here in Holland. It looks like autumn and it feels like it. The disaster in Norway still keeps me and us here in Holland in a grip with hourly updates and the 1500 pages manifest this murderer wrote and found by a USA blogger yesterday on internet, shows how deep this normally looking young man believes in what he did and started organising it more then a year ago. A clever boy , this Anders, with a sick , very sick mind.

Nitra hopes for a new soaring day, but though it looks not TOO bad, hope is not BIG yet. It seems the International party was great , so for a few, mainly crew ???, it might be better that it all starts tomorrow again with really good weather and clear heads. We can only wait. Atleast they have a grid order today and briefing as normal at 10 AM.
Then Amy Winehouse died [27] and… a top actress here in Holland [84] and a top singer from  Dutch songs about life [94] and my favourite Andy Schleck lost the yellow, but…an Aussie, Cadel Evans is the best ” replacement.” Great bicyclist this Cadel and after 20 years of Tour de France he finally shows some feelings, good to see he is not that gruff person anymore. And…if Mark Webber wins today the Formula 1 at Hockenheim,he is on pole position,  Australia can be very proud on their “sons”. And as ” old ”  Aussie, I do feel so too.

Serres had a SUPER day on Wednesday. Great wave conditions over the Alps from France to Italy and where the Tour De France luckily had no snow on the Galibier or Alpes d’Huez over the last days, the 4 pilots flying distances over 1000 km must have tremendously enjoyed theirselves. Klaus Ohlmann, 1.328 km with a speed of just over 100 km/h. in the Stemme. We know he is good , but his biggest joy was that the rest of his pilots was so good as well.A total of 5 pilots flew great distances,  thanking the ATC of Milano for their kind co-operation. YES good on them!!!
Gliders as ASW17 [ 1.307!!!!] DG 400 /17m,[ 1.311]  DG 800/18m. [ 1.315] and a ventus 2 cm /18 m.[1.146]  all had the pleasure of this fabulous wave -weather. What a great night they must have had as well celebrating so much joy.

In between the last landing of the space shuttle Atlantis was a fact and “it” can go to the museum now. A era has ended after 30 years of  travelling up and down in space!

In between also great deals for Boeing and specially Airbus , putting a foot on USA soil, in aviation. American Airlines has ordered a total of 460 planes at Boeing and Airbus , between 2013 and 2022.

The Wasserkuppe Grand Prix just started till 31. This 4th FAI World GP Gliding Championship FINAL 2011has only well known pilots; 19 of them winners and number 2 and 3,  of the qualifying GP during the year.It is combined with the Centenary of  gliding at the Wasserkuppe. Congratulations WASSERKUPPE, THE historic place for soaring!
Day ONE  was scrubbed after it started so hopefully , they have day 2 today, but the weather should be better then , then here. And it does not look like that at this stage, with pictures from foggy early morning conditions and the message that it is only 6 dgr.!!!!

Pretty marginal weather also for the Zomerwedstijd at Malden. In the end they squeezed 3 days out so a valid competition but look at the total amount of points from the best pilots; Boris Broere in club class with 390 points.
In the combi class , Peter Millenaar who studied and finished his flight education recently, at the Global Academy Amsterdam  [NLS] , yes the main sponsor of the Dutch Nationals, and who is just  back from the USA and  a “real ” pilot now , just missed out on 4 points to win [493] , while he won 2 of the 3 days. On those days …he was the only one who finished in his class!!!! But winning  a task of 111 km. this way,  only gives 24 points.  In open class Bart Groen had a total of 545 points.

That’s it…. waiting for my young guests to arrive soon and they stay till Friday.If you are truly interested in the Nitra EGC then look at the blog from Howard and Matt with their view on day 1 and 2. It is great reading!
www.glidingteam.co.uk

Cheers Ritz

 More rain.Daan , who made this picture a few years ago at Ely, was back there last week and flies now from Minden [Nevada]

Alphen aan den Rijn       Saturday July 23 2011     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

9.00 AM; Have to start with Norway today. No soaring, but about young under 25 “kids”,  who lost their lives due to a lunatic of 32, an extreme right extremist, dressed as a policeman,  who killed/executed  more then 80 people and caused a blast in the center of Oslo, killing 7 there.
I feel sad with the parents who lost their children. Young democratic socialists on a camp!!!!! Young engaged people with a view for live. Poor parents, family and friends, poor young ones who had to be part of this.
WHAT A TRAGEDY!!!

What’s soaring news then?? But as always life continues so it does today! Will there be soaring again in Nitra and who will win the Tour de France!?
From now on I will be busy with guests till Friday, but if I find a few minutes I continue my analyzes.

No gridding before briefing…..so still not the real Nitra weather.

Today also starts the FINAL of the GRAND Prix at Wasserkuppe with a race task with regatta start and 175 km. .
They had 2 practise days, one fell in the water the other one , yesterday, was difficult , more then difficult but the 2 Polish pilots managed to fly over 100 km in their ASG 29, while the others did not start or just flew around at the field.

12.AM ; Day cancelled in Nitra,  but at this stage not yet for world class. Tonight is the international party, a great social happening for everybody, pilots , crew, officials and organisers. And ….one day, there will be good weather , only hope it will not be there on the prizegiving day, though at this stage there would be only winners as you need more then 2 days to call it a [WGC ]competition.

At the Wasserkuppe; no further news yet!

Alphen aan den Rijn     Friday July 22 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

9.30 AM; RAIN in Nitra, BUT…..it is not so bad/steady as it was , so there is hope and with that hope, MAYBE another small window and  MAYBE soaring day 3 will be a fact.Briefing at 10 and even a grid at 12.45, I presume a bit of a wet one, but who cares when soaring is possible and the wheel does n’t get stuck in too wet, muddy grass.

11.AM; First start posponed to 13.30, no tasks yet! Have to go now, see you later!

3 PM; No flying today!

Alphen aan den Rijn        Thursday July 21    2011           ritzdeluy@hotmail.com 

8.30 AM; Looking at the weather for Europe this morning I worry about day 4 at Nitra. As you might have seen on the official site briefing is at 10 and no gridding till further notice. Guest speaker during the briefing is Werner Scholz  {IGC} who speaks about IGC ideas,  how to improve  safety at competitions in the future. ALWAYS good and interesting to hear.
Advise; Please look at the pictures on the official site,[ www.pribinacup.sk/egc2011]  by clicking on the pictures from Elfo, AMAZING!!!!! 97 and 67  Pictures one better then the other, but ALL terrific!!!! I loved the 4 Blaniks behind the tug and later the dancing Blaniks in the air. Super!!!!
The final scores for day 1 are to be looked at now ;   www.soaringspot.com 

See you later!

2 PM; The briefing seems to be very interesting and I hope that all pilots listen well, as nothing is so important as SAFETY. On none of the sites is any news, so I decided to find out in between, who are the stewards and jury at the EGC.Could not find it at the official site only “to be decided” in newsletter 1. So I checked with Marina who always knows everything and she was so kind to write me from Wasserkuppe,  where they were waiting for good weather as well.
Jury president ;Fred Gai and member Angela Sheard, with remote juror Josef Snirc, who was the competition Director in Prievidza and steward in Rieti during the WGC. He is flying as well in the 2seater class.
Chief steward; Jaroslav Vach and steward Jiri Cihlar.
So you know now as well.

Still no news so I check the Tour De France now! See you later!

8 PM; No soaring at Nitra today, but no snow at the Galibier either. So I enjoyed one of the best days in the Tour De France in ages .
Talking about Wasserkuppe.  This year it is 100 years ago that the first flight from Wasserkuppe was flown.; a centenary! Celebrations will be combined with the GRAND Final of the 2011 FAI GRAND PRIX from Wasserkuppe with 20 pilots from all over the world, under them ONE lady! More on Sunday in the regular blog.
On July 11 in 1911  it was also the first time the cyclists had to “fight” that monster- mountain the Galibier, another Centenary!!!
And if you like great wave flights look at the OLC from yesterday. More on Sunday!

Till tomorrow. A more busy day , but I will see what I can do! Cheers Ritz