Last Wednesday the African weather was really on!!! Full throttle for many pilots and there are a lot at the moment over there;
What about 42 over 1000 km-flights only on the 27th!!! That sounds more like it!!!The first 33 spots on the OLC were over 1000 km. flights .
Bitterwasser had 14 and,…a great one from Luxembourg pilot Guy Bechtold who flew a 1.162 km triangle!!!!On a total of 1.220 km.
Pokweni had 6 and has Alexander Mueller in his EB 29, who raced around;
1.083 triangle and a total of 1.400 km!!!!!Speed …159 km./h.
Sebastian Eder in the EB 29R flew from there 1.376 km. [ 1.081 triangle] with a speed of 156 km./h.
Kiripotib had 9 and Juha and Antti flew this time 1.211 km. and this one was a 1.020 triangle!
Bloemfontein had 2 great ones by UK pilots Mark [Clark] and Edward [Downham] and both flew the 1000 triangle. Edward flew the distance in an ASW 27 and hopes for a new UK 1000 km. record. Hope it for him as well.
And Mark flew in the JS 1 his very first 1000 km. Great feeling for him!!!
Douglas Backhouse had 5 over 1000 flights and 3/4 of them were by Dutch pilots. Max [Dolfin] flew 1.111 km. in the Arcus M, Tjeerd [Reitsma] 1.114 in JS 1 and Lodewijk and Hans in the Nimbus 4DM a distance of 1.073 km. They flew a declared 800 km. with a speed of 131 km./h. and flew the rest as OLC km’s.
They called it a SUPERDAY.
Kuruman had that day 2 pilots flying and both flew the 1000 in ASH 31/21m. and ASG 32 MI.
Veronica had 7 over 1000 km. flights.
WHATADAY!!!!! Even Namibia was in hurrah- mood!

And,…no worries, the next day was about the same;another over 40 x 1000 km. flight’s, BUT,…only 3 triangles one by one of the Polish” Lucaszes” this time Grabowski together with a mate; 1.007 km.[total 1.190 km.] from Gariep Dam.
One by Jake from Bloemfontein; Great flight from “hotshot” Jake [Brattle] from the UK in a JS 1.
He is the current junior world champion and he flew a 1000 km. triangle with 150 km./h. His very first one!!!
Well done!”been there,…done that!!”
“ First 1000km flight and I think a new British Open Record – what an epic glider (thank you Tim).
Thanks to SkySight for convincing me the task was on!
Thanks to Soaring Safaris for letting me take the day off! “
Guess he “works ” at Bloemfontein, nice job. Another junior who spreads his wings as Robin in N.Z. We did that in the past as well.
And one by a French pilot in the JS 3 also from New Tempe Bloemfontein.
Another 25 on the 29th. Indeed the season is ON!!!!!
This weather will continue for hopefully a few more weeks.

And an interesting flight also on the 29th, in Argentina, where Klaus [Ohlmann] took his Stemme for a “ride” over 1.822 km. First “on steam”, to wave and then racing is on.
” The plan was different, but wave did’nt work at all in the south. A lot of convective activity with clouds and rainshowers everywhere. But a Stemme goes, where it works.
We found finally wave in Esquel and then it works really very well especially between Zapala and Chos Malal .”

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JOEYGLIDE

Started from Kingaroy with 12 young pilots. December 1 was their first day, not a real flash one, but flyable for 5 from the pilots. The 2 hour AAT was won by James Nugent, who has flown a few already. Good pilot!!!
He flew 238 km. in time 22.3
Miserable day for young Ryan Driscoll in his LS 3; he had no valid start.
JoeyGlide in progress now ,till December 7.

AND,…….”The GFA has provided us with trackers again this year! Track the pilots on the task today using the link below!”
http://track.gtracklive.com/track.html?dayID=397

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When you see this picture you know we are talking WWGC’s.
The containers from Czech Rep and the UK have arrived in Lake Keepit. The WWGC starts there on December 31 2019 and runs till January 18 2020.
When this one is over the next one will be in the UK;
Here is their news:
” Calling all women of other nations hoping to fly in WWGC2021 at HusBos – the 2020 HusBos Challenge Cup International from 18 – 26 July is a great pre-Worlds practice opportunity. A number of places are reserved for overseas entries but the entry list is filling up fast! For more detail and link to enter click: https://wwgc2021.co.uk/

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Those calender’s are really impressive!!!
+++Really impressive+++
The new picture for the 1st Advent invites you to dream. Time for the contemplative hours to let the old season pass in review and to dream of new deeds in the coming year.
Now in the Gliding Calendar – Fotokalender Segelfliegen.
Have you ordered your new copy yet? If not, click here to go to the homepage: www.fotokalender-segelfliegen.de

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Latest news for EUROGLIDE fans;
The track from 2500 km. has to be flown in 13 day’s.
Start June 22 2020 at Venlo, till July 4 final day plus prize giving.
 http://euroglide.nl/eg2020/eg2020route912.jpg

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Today Sunday it was raining in Tocumwal, but the weather seems fine when I arrive on Wednesday.
All organized, suitcase packed, health not TOO bad, so off we go tomorrow.
Cu on the other side of the world with the
AUSTRALIAN DIARY.

Cheers Ritz

Still sand and smoke in parts of Australia.
BUT,…I decided after I got the “thumps up” from the neurologist and cardiologist, that I will travel down- under, to be able to catch up with all my friends and to write AT the spot for one more time, about the Tocumwal Nationals, as this is the spot ..where home was for over 10 years!!!
My daughter found me a real good deal last Monday evening…we booked….a ticket and a visa,…BUT,….there was one “problem” ….. I had to leave on December 2 …so upcoming Monday and leaving Australia on January 21…so after 7 weeks.
No worries for me, after more than 30 times up and down to Oz , I know what to take with me.
So the next news on Wednesday might already be from Tocumwal, when I am fit enough after 30 hours of travelling
So as usual I will do the Australian Diary, which also includes writing from the field when the Australian Nationals are in progress.
Still have to ask permission from Lumpy to hang around at his premises, but he is a nice guy ..I do not expect any problems there.
Looking so much forward to see all my friends in Tocumwal and at the Tocumwal Airport. Certainly after the last 5 months!!!

The weather is already good for flying in good old Tocumwal . Chris [Davison] and Lumpy[Paterson ] flew both 750 k . triangles in JS 1 /21 m. and JS 3 /18 m. from Toc. 2 day’s ago.
From Benalla our former long time guest Richard Kalin flew a very nice 655 km out and return, all the way past Leeton, so NE. And that on a very blue day as he mentioned;” A superb blue thermal day. “
The Corowa containers were this year a bit unlucky and have not yet arrived. Last obstacle is customs and quarantine in the harbor.

In between Robin is “working” hard in Omarama and flew in the Discus his 2d 1000 km. On request of his Dutch mates, NOT only in nice wave but also following a convergence -line. He has for sure the time of his life there.

My Finish mates Antti and Juha are flying from Kiripotib and have some great flights in the ARCUS M under their belt during their first week; shortest 731 km, longest 1.039.83.
Finally again a REAL good day in Namibia yesterday, with 10 over 1000 km. flights and lot’s of other good and long flights.
Antti and Juha flew their 2d one.
One over 1000 km flight from Zapala Neuquen in Argentina as well; in wave by Juan Pablo Verdura in Ventus 2CM/18 m.

Worcester’s MAGIC is working and Markus flew another 1000 and according to him this was a memorable flight. Looking at the track he is totally right.
Here is his comment so you can see it for your self:
” This was an incredible flight across the Atlantic Ocean at “false Bay” and then to the north up to Claver.
Please see the video at TopMeteo:
https://blog.topmeteo.eu/wpstream/incredible-film-footage-of-soaring-across-the-atlantic/

St. Gaudens and Omarama were on the highest spots last Friday on the OLC with superb flights.
St. Gaudens had a wave-flight in an ARCUS by Robert Pratt from 1.307 km. with a nice speed of 162 km./h!!!
“ SW Waves very wet conditions west Pyrénées , excellent to Mediterranean side “.
Omarama had also ,of course , a wave flight from over 1.300 km…. 1.308, 6 to be precise..with enormous speed…209 km./h!!!!
In an ASG 29 by Keith Essex, who was a bit laconic about it in his comment :
” Back and forth in the wave, blah, blah, blah. Had a plan for a triangle. Was waiting on the weather to improve and ATC to give clearance but neither happened. Southern portion was meandering and tricky but fun. It was so turbulent on decent that my sustainer got thrown half way up and didn’t notice until I was on the ground .“
I can imagine when you are somewhere for a longer time, the “back and forth” might be boring .

Not a long blog today, as you can imagine that I am pretty busy at the moment.
So CU from Tocumwal next week
Cheers Ritz

Omarama:
John Roake called Omarama, in his Gliding International already, the mecca of wave- soaring, and …they have a great early season with many long and high flights! Speed up to 180 km./h. over a 497 km. flight by Keith Essex [Nov.13] and distances, as said in my last blog, from 1.839 km.by Justin and Norbert.[Nov 8].
With guests from the USA, Romania ,Germany, The Netherlands and Austria they are more and more international as well. Good on them.
I was asked to be TC for the Omarama WGC 1995, but refused cause I had never really been in wave/mountain areas , so could n’t tell my pilots anything how to fly there or how to deal with the weather. In the end the pilots went first to a mountain course in France [forgot if it was Vinon or St Auban, think the last one] and Dick Reparon , who died last year , was their TC.
By the way, the winners that year were Ray Lynskey in open class flying a Nimbus 4 {RIP 2009}, Markku Kuittinen in standard flying a Ventus 2{RIP 2012} and Eric Napoleon in 15m. flying the Discus A, all Schempp-Hirth gliders.Eric still is the TC for many French teams, male and female and a real good one!!!!
Both Ray and Markku were lovely guy’s…. I met them at several comps.
Ray was the first to complete a 2000 km. wave-flight in 15 hours and Markku managed to be a WGC champion TWICE.

When I visited N.Z. a few years ago, I was only at the N. Island, which was absolutely beautiful. So…never have been in Omarama or at Mount Cook, my daughter Inge, however was there, together with Lizzy [Wells] . They even landed on the Mount Cook heli landing spot .

Last Sunday young Dutch Robin Smit, working at the moment at Omarama, flew his very first 1000 km!!!! Good on you Robin.
He is still learning, coming from a flat-as-a-pancake-country, but reflects on it in a way we can expect more 1000 km. flights from him this season;
“Wohooo my first 1000km, Another day in paradise!
Should have launched earlier and straight to Omarama Saddle instead of trying to get in to the wave near Twizel..
Lost 1.5hours with this, ones connected with the wave it was possible to do some good runs only it was not perfect sometimes really needed to stay in a good hotspot for good clime rates, and also the big amount of clouds made it really hard sometimes. “

They also hosted the South Island Championships at Omarama, between 9 November 2019 – 16 November 2019 .
They had 4 out of 7 day’s in a mixed open class and some great speed at day’s.10 Pilots among them Keith Essex, Nick Oakley , Derek Kraak and Max Stevens .

Best day’s at the Southern Island comps were task 4 and 6 around and over 500 km.
Task 4 was won by young Nick with 487 km. and a speed of 219.84 km./h!!!!
Task 6 , a 511 km. distance , was won by Keith with 214 km./h.!!!
Last Saturday the final day was cancelled so we knew the winners;
1. Keith with 3.894 points in ASG 29E.
2. Nick with 3.501 p.in Discus2.
3. McCormack & Jackson with 3.211 p. in DUO DISCUS!!! On task 4 they were runner up, behind Nick and flew 465 km. with a speed of 208 km./h Good old Duo Discus!!!

This year both the South Island Regional Gliding Championships and the Club Class National Gliding Championships were running concurrently at Omarama .
Also in club class 4 out of 7 day’s
Task 1 only saw 2 finishers; Norbert in his St Astir III and Gavin Wrighley in an LS 4; 1000 points and 904.
On the last day Norbert won 250 points MORE than the runner up by flying around with a speed of 182 km./h over 460 km.!!!Runner up Philip Plane in a Hornet flew 391 km with a speed of 152 km./h.
National winner and National champion;
1. Norbert Scarlat with 3.453 p. winner.
2. Gavin Wrighley with 2.803 p. champion.

Sanpetru; another wave topper!!!
Learned about this airfield only last week and I promised to keep an eye on them.
Last Wednesday the top 3 flights on the OLC were from this airfield in Romania. All 3 over 1000 km…..2 in the 2 seater SZD 54-2 Perkoz 20m WL and one flight by Alex Pop in a Discus 2A.
AND,..the very first 1000 km. flights in Romania.

As they mentioned in their comment;
“The first 3 flights over 1000 km performed in Romania. 
Super effort from all involved, super teamwork on the ground and in flight, management, pilots, super ATC service mechanics. ”
Congratulations!!
7250 MSL and 6756 AGL was the best height during their yo-yo flight on this top wave day!! Not bad!!!

Argentina; More WAVE news!!!
Zapala Neuquen in Argentina had a Stemme-day with 4 pilots in 2 Stemmes flying 2.107, km and 2.040 km. Nice speed last Friday as well 160 and 163 km./h.
Stemme means,…Klaus Ohlmann is flying and indeed he did the first flight and the 2d was by 2 other German pilots, Thomas Horz and Dieter Memmert.
The 18m Ventus 2CM flight was super too; 1.508 km.by Juan Pablo Ventura.
“ One of those great wave days in Argentina. “

Germany;
Stendal is preparing for the 2020 WGC. When you want to know more just out of interest or because you participate the INVITATION Bulletin is out now!!!
And also news from Schempp-Hirth;
”  Ventus-3M has just been EASA certified? Just saying… Congratulation to all the Schemppp-Hirth team, engineers at first, and all people around the world involved for this achievement! “

Bitterwasser;
Most pilots have heard the name Winfried Grosskinsky, he is already so long in our world.
Last year he was awarded , with a special palm tree, for his support to young pilots, WELL DESERVED.
” Wilfried Großkinsky invites several juniors to Bitterwasser every year for his 1000 km training camp. With him in the EB28 they get to know the country and later have the opportunity to fly with the new Ventus 3 from Wilfried for the 1000 km diploma. You can really earn the invitations with top rankings at German and Junior Championships and in the Online Contest. “

By the way, the weather for the CHAMPIONS in week 2 was less good!No 1000 km-flights, but ” less is sometimes good too”, though for some , the 1000-magic lacks.For sure the real Namibia weather will come.
Luckily already yesterday the day in Namibia was better again, with a 1000 from Kiripotib, Bitterwasser and Veronica.
S.A. ‘s Worcester had already a few earlier this week.

Australia;
At Kingaroy the Juniors start their Aussie Nationals on December 1 till December 7 and yesterday they shared this picture and message;
” 10 Days until JoeyGlide! Time to start assembling your outlanding kits (looking at you QLDers) and reading those local rules! More info on the JoeyGlide website. “

First from Benalla the Victorian State Comps will be flown between November 24 and 30.
Then from Tocumwal the 2020 Australian Nationals!!! Between December 10 and 21.

More news next week.
Cheers Ritz

This concept , a 7 day-package, from/created by Ludwig Starkl and Wolfgang Janowitsch from Austria , to fly from Kiripotib and Bitterwasser with a champion you can learn from, works very good and already for a few years now.
Early November was n’t always the best time, but this year it was superb, specially in Kiripotib. And champions like Wolfgang enjoy it to the fullest as well.
What about a flight from him with Swiss trainee Valentin Maeder; 1.035 km. with a speed of 189 km./h. The “poor” trainee had no time to look around!!!Haha.
The first leg had a speed of 140 km./h with 8 thermals ,then,…..900 km. without turning. Amazing!!!!!
The ARCUS M is such a great glider for these flights!!!!

Junior Christian Lampert , from Germany, has the time of his life, flying with toppers as Alexander Mueller[ 3 x] and Olivier Darroze [4 x ] ;2 nearly 1000 k’s and 1 x a 1000 and 3 over 1.100 k with as best speed 178 km./h.
A short flight on the last day!
They learn how to deal with weird weather as well ” On yesterdays final glide, some of our pilots could fly over a sandstorm, there they had up to three meters laminar lift. It was just amazing. “
Christian shared his experience and I share it with you:
“And again an incredible day for me. On my third flight during this camp, I reached not only the magical mark of 1000km , I even topped it with more than 1.100 km. Perfect how my trainer Alexander Müller guided me to this distance, to fly with such a champ is the best way to improve.
In the late afternoon, a wonderful convergence build up. Next to a showers line we followed it without circling, unbelievable climb values you just push away and make speed and km.
During the final approach there was another highlight, which I had never seen before. In the evening, the sea breeze reached the area of Kiripotib and we had 3 to 4 meters lift in straight flight at 19:00, only sunset stopped our flight. The absolute madness.
I am very excited what the next flying days still have to offer and look forward to it. From today on I will fly with Olivier Darroze, the “mister speed” under the champs.“

Most 1000 km. flights in the first week of November from Kiripotib, [19] a few from Veronica [11]and Bitterwasser.[4]
Also Pokweni started the season now with some good just-under 1000 km. flights.
Not a bad season- start till now !!!!
Though it looks at this stage that the second week is less good.
Flights up to 900 km. are as good to learn from.[927 from Veronica last Monday!]
Of course Kiripotib is proud so they should. Here is their news from today;
“Kiripotib is first.
With yesterdays flights, our pilots reached the first place in the worldwide overall scoring on OLC, congratulations to all of them. Not only the participants of Flying with the Champions, helped to reach it, also many individual pilots flying from Kiripotib where part of this success.
In the next weeks we are sure Bitterwasser will come to the first place again, too many pilots flying there. But at the moment its a nice feeling to be up there.”
At this stage 62.069.32 km. flown by 20 pilots in 85 flights. Great average!!!

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New Zealand‘s top wave resort OMARAMA;
Has a great season-opening with awesome flights.
On November 8 Keith Essex flew over 1.117 km. with a speed of 140 km./h. on as he called it a “weak low stress wave day“.
Though the rest of the comment showed maybe a bit of stress;” Took a while to dig myself out using a rough convergence where two valleys meet at a 90 degree angle with 30kts blowing from each direction .”
A fabulous flight as well by good old Justin Wills;
Terry Delore shared this message and picture on November 8;
“ Outstanding 1.850 km flight by Justin Wills and Norbert today landing shortly before dark .”
Romanian pilot Norbert , really has the time of his life:
1.839 km. with a speed of 153 km./h. AND THAT IN A DUO DISCUS!!!!!
This time a “sit” of 12 hours and 1 minute!! Great stamina from Justin!!!!!
3 Day’s earlier Norbert flew 1.312 km. a sit of 10 hours and 54 minutes.

The smoke from the fires in Australia had influence on the flights from Saturday from Omarama. The cloud-base dropped rapidly.
1500 k and 1000 k attempts were “killed”.

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Some interesting news from last week;
The Netherlands;
A bit of scare, when the message on TV said something “serious” was happening at Schiphol Airport last Wednesday; a “suspicious” situation.
Next message was in extra news; A hijack !!!!????
In the end it turned out that the captain from Air Europe on a flight to Madrid, showed his trainee, how the alarm system/code for hijacking worked .He did it TOO well.
The captain apologized to his passengers for the delay .
It showed however that Schiphol reacts very adequate.

UK :
British Gliding Association and Top Meteo;
“Yesterday, [on November 5] Bernd Goretzki flew almost 600km at 232 kph Olc speed! It must be one of the fastest flights in thermal. 
Congratulation to him and Reinhard Schramme, that its is really impressive.
We are waiting to have more insides about their flight but according to their OLC comments, all that matters is a good flight plan (the convergence was where it was expected) and a lot of fun!”
The flight had an OLC- scoring -distance of 852 km. and a speed of 192.7 km./h. and was flown from Bitterwasser.
Loved the comment from Reinhard; ” Also granddads can have fun“. So it is, he is damn right!!!

Narromine;
Like Africa parts of Australia suffer from red dust, thanks to sand storms. Here a picture from Narromine.
And,…”they come rolling in“…!!!!

Even worse!!!! After the dry hot years in which lot’s of people suffered,…NOW they suffer again both in NSW and Queensland, where more than 125 fires ,[75 in NSW and 50 in Queensland] are terrifying the states.
Horrible fires burning down houses, killing people and lot’s of animals.
Several people are not accounted for and several injured!!!!
Poor koala’s are sitting in the top of the trees, as normally this is safe for them ,as fires creep over the ground. These fires however are high!!!
Another disaster!!!!
And,…it takes a lot of time for the gum trees to grow again, meaning less food or no food for the koala’s still a life.
Also kangaroos and iguana’s suffer, as well as birds ,spiders, snakes and possums and more….not only fauna also flora.
The WORST thing is ,…that it is only early spring. What about when summer is on , the “normal” time for fires!!!

I feel for my Aussie mates!!!!1200 Men fire brigade are working day and night ,but the storms ignite the fires and all is out of control.
Even Sydney is in danger now, I heard on Sunday morning.

Anni who lives close to Port Maquirie shared these pictures and story;

She marked herself as safe now.

Worcester;
The Worcester Magic straight away started too when the real kilometer-eaters from overseas, had arrived. Marcus and Philip flew on their first flight for the season 1.152 km.

Germany;
Celebrations on Saturday November 9 when the 30thiest anniversary of the fall from the wall in Berlin was remembered.
I remember that day too. Could not believe what I saw and sat with tears in my eyes in front of the TV. Some of my friends “raced” to Berlin to celebrate this wonderful and historic moment. They wanted to be part of it!!
I have been several times after that moment in both parts of Berlin.
I was amazed to see p.e in Potsdam, how they had renovated very old dilapidated buildings into something “spiffy”.
But after 30 years you can’t really say that all is “thick as thieves” in united Germany.
November 9 1989 was a day which influenced many lives.

OLC;
Between all that African-power , last Sunday, there were 2 interesting flights , on page 1 from the OLC, from Europe. In Romania they have more good pilots, as I see now I keep an eye on Norbert as well.
They even have fields I never heard from; So the 2 wave- flights in an SZD 54-2 Perkoz 20m W and Discus 2A from over 700 km. from Sanpetru got my attention. Wave till over 6000 m. MSL,…not bad!!!!
Learned something again,…never too old to learn.

EUROGLIDE 2010;
The date for this event is now set.
Here is all the news, as many are interested in this event.
Briefing ….June 21 2020.
Flying from June 22 – July 3 at 5 PM.
Prize giving at July 3 at 9 PM.
The global track will be announced on December 1 at 10 AM.
Registration starts on December 15 at 10 AM.
I know many hearts are going to tick faster now!!!!

That’s it for now. Off to the hospital. Tomorrow as well. Results on the 21.
Cheers Ritz

As I wrote already in my last blog, containers have arrived in Namibia.Just in time!!!
Kiripotib straight away was in full action as you can read on their news:
“It was a busy day.
Yesterday morning 8:00 our three containers, with together 14 gliders arrived, after a long trip, just in time, in Kiripotib. They wherent even on the ground, as we started already to unload them. Lots of boxes, ground handling equipment and many many other things had to be unloaded. But first of all, how are the gliders? Everything was ok, no damage. After unloading and inspection, we started to rig one after the other. At the end of the day 5 gliders where ready to fly. A really busy day for all of us, my watch showed me 23.500 steps, 18km done.”

They started also straight away with flying.
Day 1 from Flying with the Champions and 6 champions are flying from here with their trainees;
On November 2 , 4 flights in an ARCUS M and one in a Ventus 3M. All over 650 km. Best by junior Christian Lampert and Alexander Mueller;958 with a speed of 130 km./h. /906 FAI triangle!!!!!
What a great experience for Christian!!!!!
Day 2 was booming ; 1.129 km in ARCUS M….and 2 more 1000 km. flights.
On November 4, day 3; 2 x an over 1 .200 km. flight and another 5x a 1000 plus ,…one of them from Christian and Alexander; 1.149 km.
Yesterday another 5 over 1000 km.-plus flights and many more long flights just under the magic number.

Also action from Bitterwasser.
“Pre-briefing 1000 km camp
Some junior pilots were looking forward to the upcoming trip to Bitterwasser, the others brought with them beautiful experiences from the gliding center. They met on invitation of Wilfried Großkinsky in Cologne to prepare for flying in southern Africa. The participants of the last camp reported on their experiences.

Bitterwasser’s day 1 started with 10 good flights, 1 even over 1000 km. by Reinhard Schramme and Bernd Goretzki; 1.021 km.[882 FAItriangle] speed 130 km./h.
On Sunday; 1.150 in EB 28 , 1.067 km. FAI triangle, speed 146 km./h.!!!
And same pilots , same glider on Monday;1.150 km. AND,..the only FAI triangle that day as on Sunday.
Yesterday ;several just under 1000 km.-flights.

VERONICA..started with 2 great flights as well; 930 by Bernd Dolba /Juergen Depil and Michael Koester flew in a HPH 304S Shark 852 km.
On Monday also 3 x a 1000, one in the ETA by 2 German toppers in the past and still now; Bruno and Uli.
Yesterday; 2 more 1000’s.

And also in SOUTH AFRICA the Cape Gliding Club has really started with 14 flights up too 733 k. in a DG 80 B/18m.last Saturday.
Last Monday 2x a 1000 from Bloemfontein;UK pilot Shaun and SA topper Mannie.

N.Z had great weather last week. Young Dutch ” season-helper/crew” at Omarama, Robin, made already a few nice but not so long flights, last Sunday however he flew in the Discus 916 km. in wave and blue even warm circumstances!!! Good on him. And,…a seriously fast one for our junior pilot; 158 km./h.
Keith Essex , back in Omarama flew 1.025 in the ASG 29. As he commented he wanted ”  to stay low and run the ridges but the sky sucked me up. Blue weak wave and unusually warm for this time of year. “
Yesterday another TOP day with a TOP performance from 1.312 km. with a speed of 120 km./h. up to 6701 m. MSL/5435 AGL.
Romanian guest Scarlat Norbert-Alin flew this great distance in a DUO DISCUS!!!!!
A “sit” of 10 hours and 54 minutes.
Part of his is comment;” Not the best wave day and it was weaker than expected, but Skysight suggested it will be an arch above South Island and we wanted to see how good is.
Couldn’t reach the first TP because of the front coming in. “

Unfortunately the Taupo Central Plateau Soaring competition on the Nord Island , between November 3 and 10 ,has less good weather .
The 10 pilots in racing and 7 in open class had only cancelled day’s till now.

So a great early start of the overseas season!!!!!
From now on all these places will be “hot” as in news and weather. Too much to keep an eye on and maybe a bit boring to describe all those 1000 -plus- k’s , but still amazing for those who fly all those huge distances.
You can check all flights on the OLC.
I’ll pick the most interesting for you.

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All kind of interesting news from:
Skysight……. SkySight
“We’ve now integrated with SoaringSpot to pull today’s tasks automatically into SkySight! 🎉
Simply select your competition and class from the new dropdown on the left. How neat is that??? 😎
Thanks to Naviter SeeYou for making it possible ♥️’
Too easy, will be for sure used frequently!!
AND …more exciting news a few day’s later;
“Today we’d like to announce our most exciting development yet – our partnership with the Deutscher Wetterdienst (German National Meteorological Agency) to develop the next generation of the Toptherm/pcmet software package, utilizing their innovative ICON mode

We have loaded all of the ICON data into SkySight so now our European users can choose between the models as you prefer, and we will be developing new visualizations for this data to make Toptherm/pcmet users feel at home within the SkySight interface, while presenting the same data with more detail and clarity.
And more on FB or their site; SkySight.io

The Netherlands;
Thanks for all kind reactions on the 3- women- in- gliding- story.
After it was published, I got a lovely picture from Jos, a member of the EAC -Eindhoven in the past , where one of Indya’s instructors Marco, who by the way has his birthday on the same day as Indya, went solo.

Lake Keepit;

The Australian female squad is practicing for the WWGC at the venue with help of male top pilots , who share their knowledge with them.
Adam is one of them. He always valued all help he got in the past when he was young, very highly and wants to do something back now.
So team training for him is on with Lisa Trotter, but also with Lisa Turner, Jo Davis, Jenny Thompson . Claire Scutter got coaching as well.
“PAYING IT FORWARD: In 2005 I was fortunate enough to represent AUS @ the JWGC. I was supported by the whole country, a big mover and shaker was Paul Mander who rallied together with Paul Matthews and Miles Gore-Brown to match any donation made at a competition we were all at, dollar-for-dollar up to $1000 for memory. This helped greatly and I’ll forever remember it & be grateful.
I along with John Buchanan, decided to pay it forward (but up to $500 each) towards fellow Kingaroy Soaring Club members, Lisa Turner and Trotter – who put together a raffle on the last night of the AUS Club & Sports Class Nationals.
Go get them ladies (& the rest of the Aussie team), we’re proud to help & support!“
You can read it all in Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

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And to finish….the latest GLIDING INTERNATIONAL from the year 2019 has been published.
I read it all digital and share some interesting news with you;
—-It starts with some sad news, but we need to read it to avoid hopefully accidents in the future; in 2019 there were 43 fatalities!!!!!!NOT GOOD!!!!!!!
“It was NEVER my intention to write an article on gliding fatalities. This one wrote itself.”by Joseph King. Got goosebumps from each of the 96 incidents and accidents , some with pictures, he evaluates.
—-The lesson to be learned from Sebastian Kawa, [I wrote about it already in my blog] is here more into depth with a final comment from Sebastian.
—-pictures from the most wonderful clouds in N. Z.
—–Australian pilots are mourning the death of Harry Schneider.
—–the Brexit and what it means for flying…
—-lot’s of International aviation news for glider pilots [10 pages]
—-and of course “things with wings”
And much more news as; Has carbon fiber a successor? … Buying an older glider for personal use ?…..Tesla and batteries…..etc.

And to finish this stunning picture ….

That’s it for now. Cu next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

I am sure we are not the only ones in the world,…but I still think this is a real milestone!!!!
When I went SOLO on July 9 in 1968, I never ever thought there would be 3 generations doing the same. I went solo in a Grunau Baby, age 20. Instructors, Dick Teuling [at the picture] and Kees Musters.

My daughter Inge went solo in Tocumwal in December 1987, age 14. She flew in the Blanik.
She was ready for a solo flight in Holland on her birthday November 7, but the Dutch season had finished.
So December ’87 was her month, she went up in the air behind her brother Dennis in the Belanca Scout in Australia.
I nearly got a heart attack when I found out, but later of course very proud on them.

Now last Wednesday October 23 …2019…my granddaughter Indya went solo at Terlet , she just turned 16 in September. She flew the ASK 21 solo.
I know her instructors Bas and Marco from when they were as old as Indya is now!!

So 3 generations of female pilots in the family!!
Very proud grand ma and ma!!!!!
Indya has been during her life at several gliding fields,dragged with mum and dad or granddad and grandma.
As a 2 year old toddler she walked around in the hangar between all gliders, at Sportavia, with her doll in a pram.
She was never interested in flying a glider herself.
Till this year,.. when she became a member of the the Gelderse and during this autumn soaring camp, she was allowed to fly SOLO after 50 starts.
All of us flew at Terlet .Granddad George mainly during many Nationals.
As my club, the ZES, had no field we were guests at other fields in 1967; Venlo in spring, Malden in summer [ that’s where I went SOLO] and Terlet in autumn.
My flying-career was “poor” and only exist out of a few solo flights, then the camp was over. So I don’t call myself a real glider pilot, but for sure I know the feeling of going SOLO!!!!!
The lack, total lack for orientation, ….after 3 circles I had no clue where the field was,….finished my gliding aspirations, but my enthusiasm for soaring stayed very much alive, hence blogs over soaring for more than 30 years.
Inge and her brother Dennis both were members of the Gelderse, in the 80-thies, a very active club with at this stage quite a lot of young enthusiastic members.
Indya is now a member of the Gelderse as well.

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Interesting news from last week….from
GERMANY;
DG Flugzeugbau GmbH
” Quality, performance, safety and all-round capabilities have always been the most important characteristics of our well known DG-1000 family since its roll-out. With more than 300 units sold, the DG-1000 family is flying in all areas of gliding. For us it was a logical conclusion to run this successful model through an update now.

With the DG-1001e neo we present the world’s first double seater in serial production powered by the well-known and popular FES system.

The glider will feature new 20m wingtips with neo-winglets as a result of numerous successful aerodynamic projects that we conducted together with Johannes Dillinger during the past years.”

Find out more on our website:
https://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/…/aircraf…/dg-1001/dg-1001eneo

AND from Schempp-Hirth
”  French Air Force has chosen Discus-2 as their single seater glider. During their training, all future pilots for transportation or jet fighters will have to fly this glider type during their studies and training. “

Australia;
LAKE KEEPIT, the venue for the WWGC has some international guests. I wrote already about the nice long flights from Lasham pilot Andy Aveling. This time he flew with KIWI Grant Nelson in the duo Discus;874 km.

And 806 from Temora in an 18m LS 10 by Brian Du Rieu. Temora is more NE from Tocumwal , so closer to the heat and a great spot for soaring.
He tried and set a 1000 but the weather did not co-operate and flew just over 800 OLC kilometers. Good on him.

And ….from Beverley [W.A.] 700 km. [680 FAI triangle] in an ASW 20,on a blue day with strong lift by Daryl Mackay.

Holland/The Netherlands;
Las weekend the temperatures dropped from 24 to 10 and about ONE [1/0] in the night!!!!!!
We had a few great unexpected sunny nice warm day’s even the hottest 24th of October ever and then,…it was over, back to zero…time to get the “woolly’s” out.
Time to also change the time, in the night of October 26/27, so the difference in time with most of my friends down under will be 10 hours again.

ARGENTINA:
Last Saturday it was such a day again…this time from Jachal in Argentina and on such a day Klaus Ohlmann jumps in his STEMME and flies and flies; 2.131,90 km!!!! Speed 167 km./h.
Straight after the start he had 10m. per second in bleu wave, then it was less easy [read his comment on the OLC] but with ridge soaring and thermals he found wave again and passed places as Minivitacura and ChosMalal, well known names in Argentina in the “wave-world” .
An interesting flight ,not easy and a “sit” of 12 hours and 44 minutes.

Containers have arrived in Namibia so the busy time start again in Bitterwasser, Pokweni, Kiripotib and Veronica. Looking forward to many long ,safe and interesting flights.

Cheers Ritz, by the way, plans for Australia are on hold at the moment due to new investigations of my heart.[myocardsintigrafie]

Not a lot happening this time of the year. The gliders are “travelling” to their overseas destinations, some even have arrived already in Africa.

In between we got to know a lot about the drought, not only bad in Australia, but also in several parts of Africa, whilst others, as South Sudan, suffer from flooding. A huge problem…this weather…the climate change!!!!

Of course I heard over the more than 30 years that I have been in Tocumwal, stories about the good and bad years. We even did not see some of the farmers in the drought period , for a flight, as they just had no money. Other years they arrived with a big smile in a brand new car.
A farmers life can be hell!!!To see your animals suffer, or see your crop getting more and more yellow, is devastating!!!

The worst thing , also in the in the Tocumwal area, is that there is water, the Murray is full, but due to allocation-rules it can not be “given” to the farmers ……TOO CRAZY for words!!!!
The TV station 7 News shared an item which was shared by my Toc friends and I share it with you.
“It’s been dubbed one of the biggest scandals of the big dry: While desperate farmers hit breaking point, 7NEWS can reveal part of the Murray River is overflowing and flooding a forest in the south as water flows out of the state.
The waste mandatory under the Murray-Darling Agreement.”

In the end a lot more will suffer, when there will be no milk, no meat no rice or barley. Businesses will close, job’s will be lost it’s all TOO SAD FOR WORDS.

Pilots going to Tocumwal, Corowa and Narromine and other soaring destinations ,will see this tragedy as well,…may I suggest to buy locally!!!!!

” The drought is overwhelmingly unrelenting and tough at the moment, especially for our Central NSW farmers. The worst in living history and things don’t look good weather wise over the next few month with the summer heat now. We did not get RAIN!”
At the picture the area close to Narromine.

The outlook for the weather between November and February looks pretty good for soaring but again devastating for the farmers, according to the Bureau of Meteorology on October 17 .
“Australia has recorded its driest January to September since 1965. So, what’s driving our climate at the moment?
A very strong positive Indian Ocean Dipole continues. This means high pressures, with dry and warm weather, is likely to be a dominant feature of Australia’s climate for much of the rest of the year. Find out more in our Climate and Water Outlook: http://ow.ly/B5Hu50wNhos

All kind of short interesting news;
FRANCE;
The French teams for the 2020 WGC’s have been announced and “strong” teams they have!!!
For the 36th WGC at Stendal from July 19 till July 31 in 2020;
open; Éric BERNARD / Philippe DE PECHY
18 m; Christophe ABADIE / Sylvain GERBAUD
20 m; Louis BOUDERLIQUE / Maxence STAWSKI

For the 36th WGC at Chalons en Champagne from August 8 till 22 in 2020;
15 m. ; Jean-Denis BARROIS / Maximilian SEIS
standard; Méric MOREL / Benjamin NEGLAIS
club; Antoine HAVET / Adrien HENRY
For them it is a “home -WGC”.
There are 7 replacement-pilots if necessary ,2 of them are girls!!!!!

SOUTH AFRICA;
Jonker Sailplanes announce their JS 4!!!
” The JS4 is setting a new standard in every way with a 5^th generation winglet design, an optimized low drag fuselage, a high wing configuration for improved climb performance and wing airfoils designed with new optimization algorithms which includes cross-country models. The JS4 will be available with the jet sustainer system as well as the new electric self-launch motor option which retracts into the fuselage for low-drag ultimate performance. “

And more news from South Africa, Potchefstroom in particular. Oscar was already runner up during the 15m nationals there, now, on October 19 he flew a 1.071,1 km distance with a speed of 161.8 km./h. / 1.051,8 km FAI triangle with a speed of 159.8 km./h.
In a 15 m. JS 3 conversion!!!! Must be a new record!!! A world record???????
A bit later Oscar’s news:” Did n’t know the 15m class had their own records.
So yesterday’s flight was a world, African and SA record. Previous record was 149.06, new record is 166.96 kmh ‘
Great start of the season!!!!
An out and return, also from Potch, by “our” former Tocumwal guest Uwe Thiele from 939 km. is worth mentioning too in a DG 808 B/18 m.
686 km./ 566 triangle in a St Cirrus by Jasom Adriaan is a great start of the season too!!!
It’s all happening again the 2019/2020 season is on!!!!

AUSTRALIA;
” Qantas‘ world first non-stop flight from New York to Sydney has successfully landed after 19 hours in the air! “
Last Sunday!! Big achievement.
16.200 km in time 19 hours and 16 minutes. That’s a big sit ,even in a Boeing 787-9 Dream liner.
Goal was to check how crew and passengers ,40 in total and 10 crew, would react on such a long trip , to see if it would be interesting in the future to start such huge operations.
Qantas has already direct flight’s between London and Perth in the West of Australia.

Good early spring /autumn OLC flights.
Max Stevens flew in NZ a distance of 646 km in his Ventus 2C/18m. from Wellington and Allan Barnes , down under, in an LS 8 533 km. from Lake Keepit .
The Alps were good last Sunday when a 1.104 km. was flown from Kufstein in Austria in an ASH 26E by German pilot Phillip Stahl. Wave was up to 6128 m. MSL/3168 m. AGL.

Not a lot to add. Next week 2 hospital visits and when I get the OK , I hope to be able to travel later in the month, when I still can find a ticket, to Tocumwal.

Cheers Ritz

The final day’s from this National Championship for 15 m, 2 seaters and club class were more than interesting, mainly due to the weather and the tactic’s!!!!

Wednesday October 9:
First some news from , Jonker Sailplanes ,as they are proud on their men:
“A JONKER’S DAY at the South African Nationals! It’s only the second father & son combination in the South African Nationals history, both winning a day! The first father & son constellation was Klaas and Laurens Goudriaan back in the 1980’s.
For young Phillip Jonker, only 16 years old, it must be really fun to leave school at 11 o’clock every morning, jump into the glider and compete at the Nationals in the afternoon. This must be life! After a disastrous air space violation on day 2 on final glide, Phillip is back in the lead. “

He just is a”puppy”. Unbelievable!!!! A new soaring-star is born???

The Wednesday turned out to be pretty good! Some worries for some, but not too bad.
15 m….. 426 km.; The best 4 from S.A. are always somewhere in the top. This time Attie was the best with a relative late start and a speed of 162.64 km./h., that was just a tad faster than his brother Uys with 161.71. They started together. Oscar went a bit earlier …8 minutes… arrived at the same time ,so was a bit slower;155 km./h , so was Laurens.
11 Still flying in this class.
club….348 km; a new face on the daily podium , Jaco Burger. Of course not new, but he had not win a day these comps yet. In the LS 1f ,he had a speed of 114.89 km./h and with that ,he just beat Wilhelm Moosehuus with 114.83 km./h., who won already a day.
Young Phillip was 4th in the ASW 19 with 102 km./h. The other 16 year old, another talent , Dicky Daly is flying the St. Cirrus.[6th for the day]
Jaco and Wilhelm started early at 12.36, the rest at 12.52.
2-seaters….348 km; The ASG 32 MI flew with a speed of 128 km. The DG 505 with 109 km./h.

Thursday October 10; flying day 6 and task 6 for 15 m and 2 seaters and flying day 5 for club .
During briefing ” With the revision of the handicaps it was good to see that in fact there were different daily winners for 7th October – Sven Olivier, and for 8th October – Jean du Plessis – well done to them both. “
Both in 15 m.
Weather;”  today has cloud on the deck according to Couttsy and there is a cold front moving in from the east, which in theory will arrive over Potchefstroom this afternoon which will result in very strong winds and runway 15 may be the landing runway to be used. All will depend on how fast the front is moving as to where the pilots are sent. “
”  “A” task would take the pilots in a more northerly direction hopefully ahead of the approaching front, and then off to the better weather in the west before heading back towards Potchefstroom. So it could all change before launching!  ” A,B and C tasks were ready.
15 m…..A task 382 km;changed in 2 hour AAT; CANCELLED.
club….A task 253 km;changed in 2 hour AAT; CANCELLED.
2 seaters……A task 253 km.; changed in 2 hour AAT;CANCELLED.
after trying hard, very hard , harder than hard, as I read… a club class glider went up for “sniffing”…then the task-setter went up in a plane to check the situation..then 2 club class gliders with as tuggy ..the CD. That’s really trying hard. But then you know for sure it will not be a flying-day.

Friday October 11;” the air has definitely changed with very much cooler temperatures and a stiff chilly wind. The sun is shining and there are blue skies at the moment, and the gliders are already gridding.  “
That was the news before briefing on the last but one day.
After briefing;”  The cloud base could get to about 11 000 ft and in the task area there should be good flying conditions. There is a strong inversion, and clouds might push through with possible over-development later.  “
And off they went…..The day turned out not as good as expected.
15 m….396 km; task 6….changed in 1.45 AAT;Still a rather fast day as Oscar won with a speed of 140 km./h over 280 km.
Laurens was runner up, Attie 3d but Uys lost a few points being 9th for the day. So with 1 day to go , these 4 pilots are in the 4000 margin. The number 5 has at this stage is nearly 700 points behind.
Oscar is on 1 again but only 18 points ahead of Attie.
Exciting last day!!!!
club….315 km; task 5…. changed in 1.45 AAT;Phillip in his ASW 19 flew pretty fast. The only one over 100 km./h over 177 km. Overall he is still 10 points behind Wilhelm, who was 4th today.
Dickie out-landed. A pity.But he has a whole soaring-life in front of him.
2-seaters….315 km; task 6….changed in 1.45 AAT; and another win for Nathalie with a speed of 119 km./h she won the day; an all female crew by the way today.

Saturday October 12; VERY LAST DAY and a good day to fly;blue skies, a stiff breeze and sunshine, is the first news.
After briefing;” The high pressure is dominating and capping any over-development, so conditions remain similar to yesterday’s weather with bases up to 12 – 13 000 ft and thermals 4 m/s. There could be possible spread-out later in the afternoon.”
Overall scores in the morning are CLOSE in 2 classes. Difference in club between 1 and 2 is 33 points. So tactical games might be on in 15 m. and club.
15 m…..400 km;AND,…they were on. Attie and Uys decided to start early at 13.15. About half an hour later Oscar and Laurens started their race. The speed was furious again with 160 km./h for Attie and Uys and 159 km./h for Oscar and Laurens. That say’s it all with that speed ;Attie had 788 points , Oscar 753.
OVERALL SCORES in 15 m;
1. Attie in JS 3 ………5.161 points.
2. Oscar in JS 3………5.144 points.
3. Laurens in JS 3…..5.026 points.

club….363 km; 115 km./h. for Jason Adriaan, the daily winner, with a rather late start. [12.44] .Wilhelm [start at 12.29] was runner up and Phillip 4th.[start at 12.44] So early starters had the better choice.
OVERALL SCORES in CLUB CLASS:
1. Wilhem Moosehuus in St. Cirrus with 4.685 points.
2. Phillip Jonker in ASW 19 with 4.647 points.
3. Jason Adriaan in St Cirrus with 4.438 points.

2-seaters….363 km; The ASG 32 MI was in,…the DG 505 “out”, but it was all not important as with 2 in one class you have a winner and a runner up.
1. Nathalie Lueben in ASG 32 MI with 5.238 points.
2. Riaan Denner in DG 505 with 4.020 points.

At www.pilotspost.com a more inside story of these nationals with many pictures.
Enjoy!!!

Interesting News from ;
France;
They got the next Final of the GRAND PRIX….good on them. St Auban will be the place to be!!!!
https://www.fai.org/news/france-chosen-final-10th-sailplane-grand-prix-series?

Tocumwal;
VERY SAD NEWS from our former chief instructor Eddie Madden. His health is not to good and he was forced …and I know this will cause him a lot of pain…., to stop his business Sportaviation Tocumwal.
Dear customers
After 12 years of gliding and power operations my health has finally said no more
I will cease all operations immediately existing customers try to secure aircraft from Tocumwal Soaring
Lumpy or Sharon
Eddie madden
The 12 years stand for his job as owner/chief instructor of SPORTAVIAVIATION TOCUMWAL.
Before he worked with and for us and for Don and Jeff and for the founder Bill Riley.
His life was soaring for at least 50 years. Thousands got to learn from him how to fly a glider or light aircraft.Lot’s of tuggies have been checked out by him.
Hope he has time to recover now and live a more private life, with his sons and grand child and many friends.

Germany;
“The AS 33 the first time rigged in our factory“
https://www.alexander-schleicher.de/

AND

Another new toy for a “rich” boy. The first test flight was “OK” !!!!

Bitterwasser;
The ship with the gliders has arrived in the harbor and the 7 containers arrived last weekend at their spot, so flying can start soon.

Lake Keepit;
It’s nice to see that one of the LASHAM pilots , Andy [Aveling] is flying at the moment in Lake Keepit in a Discus 2A and some good flights as well up to nearly 750 km. He can share a lot of info with the WWGC girls from the UK. Their gliders are en route.
Also the French gliders have left now.

Japan;
after the vigorous typhoon in Japan Takeshi , one of our former Sportavia guests, shared some pictures. Luckily he was safe!

Australia;
Burketown the mecca for the MORNING GLORY!!!!

OLC;
Some very nice long high flights from St Gaudens with Robert and Helene Pratt flying 989 and 826 km. in ARCUS M and ASG 29E/18m.last Sunday and yesterday from Germany from Koenigsdorf and Kufstein , also high and far ..772 km. in ARCUS T and 779 in ASH 26 E.

That’s it. CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

KINGAROY
Aussie Nationals for club, sports-open and sports-15m.

They flew 2 days, in club when I left you and 1 in the other 2 classes. They had “poor/nasty weather”, rain and low clouds.
It needs a competition for rain, as the drought is terrible there and they had not seen rain for a while.So that was good!
October 3 was a flying day for all classes again and a good one, so here we go;
club; Task 3…350 km; On task 1 and 2 Jim Crowhurst was runner up,… on this day he was the daily winner, in his ASW 20. Speed ….131 km./h!!!
By the way 3 ASW 20’s in the top 3 this day.
Only Brett [Hunter] from NZ was out BUT, after 249 km!!! He nearly made it in his Discus; only 295 points on an 865 points-day.
open; Task 2 …405 km; All 14 who started …finished. Best for the day , Adam, who really puts a lot of effort in his flying which shows.
He was one of the last to start and won the day with a speed of 143 km./h!!! Better speed by young Ailsa in the JS 1 C/18m. ,a glider which is at her disposal this season , as I heard, also during the WWGC and the combination is good!!! She flew around with 149 km./h. !!!!
Here is Adam;” I won today & have moved up to 1st overall at the Sports Open Class Nationals, with 3 days to go. The weather was better than forcast, 143kph for the day – very pleased! Had great pace & decision making today, slowed up a little at the end to coast on home – bring on the challenge of tomorrow! “Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
And here is Bruce;
” ” Today I felt much more like I was back in the groove again. It was a pretty fast day, with speeds off the stick at close to 150kph, and some nice little cu at around 9,500 – 10,000 feet out on track. I didn’t make too many mistakes, stayed high and generally only worked good strong climbs.
It has been really interesting to feel my way back into competition mode – amazing how much of the edge you lose after a couple of years out of the scene. That being said, it is so good to see the young pilots right up there pushing hard, working at getting everything in place to put up a good performance. Shame we have only flown two days so far, but hopefully we can get the next three days in a row to finish up. “Taylor’s Gliding Page
15 m.;Task 2…405 km; A 1000 points-day in this class and those points were for Peter [Trotter] in his LS 8. Speed 130 km./h As fast as David Jansen in his ASW 20B.
The girls did well too, as Lisa and Claire were 3 and 4 and Akemi 7th, all 3 in LS 8.

October 4; A real good day!!!All classes flying!!!
club;Task 4 ….412 km;A 1000 points-day and all those points were for Jim. He flew around with a speed of 136 km./h. Not bad for the good old ASW 20.
NZ pilot Brett was 3d with 127 km./h in his Discus.
open; Task 3….447 km; As said, Adam puts a lot of effort in his soaring. He traveled the world to find out about weather and other situations. He talks and talks AND listens and it pays off. He won again and with a great speed of 152.46 km./h.
Bruce in his ASG 29e was even faster with 156.82 km./h.
The girls did extremely well . Ailsa was 5th with 154 km./h. and Lisa [Turner] who is an instructor at Kingaroy, with 150 km./h.
15m; task 3…417 km; Trotter-day , as Peter and Lisa were the first for the day with a speed of 139.69 and 136.83 km./h
Good speed also for Claire Scutter [Matthew’s sister] ;136.57 km./h.|The 3 started and finished together.

October 5; Another pretty good …blue…day with 3 classes up in the air.
club; task 5 ….3 hour AAT; He flies WGC’s , so travels enough and knows about all kind of different situations. This time, Brett Hunter from N.Z. traveled with a few mates to Australia . During the first day’s he had to get used to the Kingaroy circumstances, did n’t make the top 10.
On Task 3 he was the only one “out”. Now on the one but last day ,he is at the top with a daily win. Good on him!!! He flew 371 km. in time 3.02 in the Discus.
Milan Petkovic, who was “out” on day 1 , was runner up. [DG 100 G]
So with one day to go Jim still leads comfortable and the rest of the top 5 is within 100 points of each other.
open;task 4…..417 km; When you read Adam’s blog, it’s clear that with ALL his flying he feels more and more confident, that he is on the right way and flies according to his thoughts and experience.
It shows as he won the 3d day in a row!! With 136 km./h he beat his a bit older mates as Andrew, Butch and Bruce.
That it is not “an easy job” ….a child’s play….also not for Adam you can read in his report;
“What a day! What a tough day, exhausting day, technical day, there were no parts to it that were easy – for me at least.
I started later than I wanted to, as I couldn’t find a climb pre-start. It was important to start quickly I feel because the CU was receeding & there was predicted to be a sharp cut off in the day. It almost caught a few people out I think.
I started from FL110 & took my first turn 90km down track, 6kts. It soon became evident that a fast centered 6kt climb was work its weight in gold.
I’m tired now, so will leave my post here & get some shut eye, but least to say, I was very surprised to win the day today!!“

15 m; Task 4…417 m; David Jansen was the man of the day. Very experienced pilot at both WGC’s and Nationals. In his ASW 20b, he flew around with a speed of 127 km./h.
The ASW 27, from Michael Codling followed and then the 6 LS 8’s.

October 6;LAST DAY!!!! A low blue day!!
Club; Task 6…2 hour AAT; And a new face at the podium; Ray Stewart from Kingaroy. He was just a tad better than Jim. A tad???? Bit more 108 km./h over 219 km. for 98 km./h .over 203 km.
Tough day for the young guy’s Andy and Ben. Ben was on spot 3 overall when he started the day , but both were out. Ben dropped to 5.Andy from 6 to 10.
A pity I know both are good pilots.4 Out in total and 4 did not fly . Jo, who was runner up on the last day was “out” dropping to 6.Such a pity, she just missed one climb!!!!

FINAL SCORES in club class;
1. Jim Crowhurst in ASW 20 with 4.676 points.
2.Mark Dalton in ASW 20 with 4.304 p.coming from 4.
3. Michael Keller in Mosquito with 4.284 p.

Open; Task 5 ….2 hour AAT; Butch won the day with Bruce at his heels and Adam on his!
Butch flew 245 km. in time 2.09. Bruce flew 237 km. in time 2.01 and Adam 224 km. in time 1.59.
As they were at the top already overall when they started the day, the results did not change.
FINAL SCORES in sports- open class;
1. Adam Woolley in Ventus 2 A with 4528 points.
2. John “Butch” Buchanan in JS 3 /15m. with 4.418 p.
3. Bruce Taylor in ASG 29 E with 4.366 p.
Bit of an off-day for the girls. Ailsa was 10th and dropped from 4 to 6. Lisa [Turner] was 12th and dropped from 7 to 10 and Kerrie was 10th for the day and moved up from 14 to 13.

15 m;task 5…2 hour AAT; Trotter-day again with Lisa upfront 229 km. in time 2.09 and Peter with 220 km. in time 2.05 as runner up.
Claire was 3d and David 4th.
FINAL SCORES in sports-15m;
1. Peter Trotter in LS 8 with 4.543 points.
2. Lisa Trotter in LS 8 with 4.498 p.
3. David Jansen in ASW 20 B with 4.230 p.

Congratulations to all.A lot of his mates were very proud on Adam. Also his club:” Well done Adam, to fly is one thing, to fly and contribute is the true Kingaroy way 👏
To see your dedication, passion and professionalism paying off is rewarding for all of us at Kingaroy. “
I agree.
For all scores www.soaringspot.com

Straight after the Comps Adam flew to Germany. Why? Beer at Octoberfest?? Buying Ventus 3? Have a look!!!
He certainly “lives his life”!!!!

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South African Nationals in 3 classes;
October 4-12-2019.

They started on October 4 at Potchefstroom, straight away with a real good practice day, though I could not find any results.
” A good day but with a seriously strong cross wind, so a few interesting take-offs. A number of pilots are still to arrive and will hopefully be ready in the morning.”
15 m; 416 km.…with 15 participants among them, Laurens and Oscar ,Attie and Uys and Sven.#Of them fly HC.
club; 373 km.…with 7 pilots in this class one of them John Coutts in a Libelle 201.Later he changed to JS 1 in 15 m. class.
2 seaters; 373 km….only 2 in this class a DG 500 e from with Schaap Denner and Nathalie Luebben in the ASG 32 MI.

OCTOBER 5 ; this is what they wrote;
” Good morning – day 1 and after briefing, safety briefing and other essential information we are set for a good-looking flying day for the pilots. The 15m. class have a 501,2 km. task with the Club & 2-seater classes 399,6 km. task. Conditions out to the west could see up to 17 000 ft by about 14.30. Thankfully the winds are a lot lighter than yesterday. There could be some sheer wind with a convergence line to the NW and there might be a 30% chance of some local over-development. All in all it sounds like it should be a great day for the pilots. “
15m; Task 1….501 km.;What-a-day!!!!! 17.000 ft. and Oscar flew around with 179 km./h. A new speed-record ????
Brother Laurens , who started at 13.01, which was 22 minutes earlier than brother Oscar, with 169 km./h.
In between the Jonker-brothers, Uys with 174.77 km./h and Attie with 174.01 km./h.
The slowest speed was 144 km./h!!!!!
According to Oscar a ” Leisurely Saturday cruise .”
Club; task 1….399 km;Phillip Jonker , yes a member of the Jonker dynasty as oldest son from Uys, flew in the ASW 19 around with 127 km./h quite a bit faster than the runner up,Jason Adriaan, with 118 km./h.
6 from 7 finished.
2-seaters; task 1 ….399 km;with 160 km./h Nathalie was fast. Great effort.
Her handicap is 116 against 104 for the DG 505. They arrived back with 126 km./h. Nearly 200 points difference, but no worries.

A great day and indeed, a great start of the new season, as from Orient a task from 767 km. was flown by Mike Barenbrug in Ventus 2CM/18m.

OCTOBER 6. A new day with another long task, what will the speed be today? BUT,………
15m…..task 2….550 k; Later changed in 3 hour AAT;
AND ….EVEN WITH A 3 HOUR AAT THEY FLY OVER 500 KM.!!!!6 pilots did!!!!
Uys flew 508 km. in time 2.55 and won the day in the 15m. JS 3!!! Speed 169.54 km./h!!!!
Oscar was runner up with 511 km. in time 2.57. Speed 170 km./h.!!!
Also Laurens,[168 km./h] Attie[169 km./h.] and John [167 km./h] flew over 500 km.
club…task 2….460 km.;Later changed in 2.30 AAT;
329 km in time 2.41 was the best result for the day by Wilhelm Mosehuus.
3 Pilots had an airspace violation.
2-seaters…task 2…460 km;Later changed in 3 hour AAT;
Natalie won again but not with huge margin.She flew 435 km. in time 301 for 1000 points and the DG 505 flew 405 km. in time 3.31.
Another fast and furious day!!!

October 7; with trickier weather , hence shorter tasks.
” Interesting weather conditions today with a line lying NW/SE, as well as cold air moving in from the south, as well as dry air from the W and S. Winds are also expected to be quite strong and lift although strong will be broken, and by 16.30 p.m. no lift at all. Depending where the pilots are in relation to the NW/SE line will determine the wind strengths, which could be as much as 25 – 30 kts. They also expect higher cloud bases to the east, but the drier air to the west should push them further east. There is also a lot of subsidence which is preventing over-development. As a result, the task setter has set speed tasks A & B but with a back-up C AAT task. ” by the organizers
”  Pilots were advised to be careful if needing to out-land and to make sure of the wind direction when selecting their field. Hopefully there will no outlandings. “
15 m.; Task 3 ……398 km;Later seriously changed in 140 km.Due to the distance and speed the points were worth “nothing”.;141 points for Oscar and Sven in his ASW 27. Both number 1 for the day.
Oscar won with a speed of 166 km./h.and started at 15.12 and Sven at 15.15 with 164 km./h and they arrived with the same difference of 3 minutes.
Uys as number 10 only “got” 77 points!
Club; Task 3….307 km; Task was cancelled.
2 2-seaters; 398 km;Later changed in 140 km. Nathalie flew the short distance with 142 km. /h AND the DG 505 with 139 km./h, so Riaan Denner won the day on handicap.

October 8; After some relights in club class, tasks were changed to B.
15 m; 398 km….changed in 377 km…brothers-day!!!First Uys and Attie, then Oscar and Laurens …difference in speed between Uys and Laurens….1 km./h…so they came in together. Difference in points 1000 fore Uys and 985 for Laurens with the brothers in between.Speed;121.44…121.06…120.49 and 120.47 km./h!!!!
After 4 tasks the overall scores are; Oscar 3.027 p,…Attie 2.980 p…Uys 2.947 p and Laurens 2.930.
The last couple of days they will “fight” for the best spot,..luckily they are great mates!!!!
club; 344 km….changed in 307 km….Family-day as well, as Uys oldest son ,Phillip, …is he 16 or 17?????…at least VERY young won the day with a speed of 97.55 km./h .With a relative late start at 13.30 [others started at 13.06] he passed them all for 1000 points.
2-seaters; 398 km….changed in 377 km….Nathalie has not a lot of concurrence , but we know she is a great pilot! She won the day with a speed of 120 km./h.in her ASG 32 MI. The DG 505 unfortunately was “out” after 321 km.

More about the last couple of day’s next week, as scores are close in the top and a lot can still happen.
Tasks for today: 15 m….426 km….club 348 km,…..2-seaters 348 km.
” Greetings to those following the Nationals. Another clear day this morning with bright sunshine already, no cloud and little to no wind.
As one can see from the results [from yesterday] when not rounding the control point, one loses quite a lot of points, so pilots weigh up gaining points or having to outland and preferred to land back on the airfield. ”
South African Nationals

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Interesting news from ;
FRANCE,..the shipping of the gliders from the ladies. Different than I noticed over the years in other containers,… room enough and looking good!

Germany;
DG shared this news;
“ Paul Dudey
19 y., started his apprenticeship as light aircraft constructor at DG in 2018.
His parental home in Muenster is right next to a small airfield for rc-models. So he started rc-model flying at the age of five. At the age of eight, he took part in the club’s championship for the first time and won some years later in 2014.
His biggest success is the 3rd place at the indoor aerobatic world championships (F3P-A). Since 2019 Paul is one of the official team members of Multiplex, a well known rc-model manufacturer.
This year, he was able to catch lots of applause for performances with his Yak-54 with 2,8-metre span. Soon a 3,2-metre P47 Thunderbolt will join his squadron of round about 30 model aircraft.
He likes to experiment with the power train, aerodynamics or new construction materials.
However, his big passion is building the models, especially with fiber reinforced plastics. His apprenticeship at DG helps him a lot to successfully conduct his projects.
We are proud to have such a passionate and talented (rc-)pilot in
our team! “

Australia;
Brad Edwards, a longtime friend, who won the 1991 Uvalde WGC, owns an aviation business and shared this news;
” Edwards Aviation would like to thank Drought Aid for the opportunity to donate a flight to assist with the transportation of donated items to the New England region.
It is humbling to see the generosity and kindness of so many othersARE YOU WANTING TO HELP? Maybe you could try one of the following.
Visit the drought aid Facebook page.
Make a donation at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/aussie-drought-aid
When travelling stop in drought affected towns, buy lunch in the pub, have a coffee at the local cafe, grab some vegies from the local green grocer, stay in the local caravan park or motel, support local small town farmers and business, every little bit helps.
Despite recent rains. Many communities are still suffering severe drought with dwindling or non existent water supply’s.
Special thanks to Skymed Aeromedical for coordinating the flight

The Netherlands;
Last Monday it was 100 years ago that KLM started their airline. It’s the oldest airline in the world. Lot’s of festivities this week for the blue birds and their employees.

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And to finish a great picture from Arjan Vrieze as proof that autumn has arrived here, also at Terlet.

CU next Wednesday. Cheers Ritz feeling a bit better.

Autumn now has arrived with rain,wind and lower temperatures! Started the central heating in my house last Sunday and that’s still late in the season.
Though there still will be a bit of soaring, [my granddaughter joins the autumn soaring week from the Gelderse at Terlet,] we can call the season CLOSED! And it was a long and pretty good one.

Down under it all starts now and also Africa has had some comps already.
5 Youngsters flew in Potchefstroom for the Junior Title.
They had 6 out of 7 day’s between September 22 and 28.
Austrian pilot Lukas Kirchberger flew well, though he missed a day , but also won 2 day’s was runner up on 2 and once at spot 3.
This “kid” from Mariazell, finished in his LS 1d as the best, with a score of 2.810 points.The runner up Dick Daly in St. Cirrus had 2.587 points.

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The OLC, finished her year 2019 on September 23 with 44 starts from different parts of the world. A lot already from Australia, as they flew the Queensland State comps.
The year 2020 started on September 24 and the highest flight that day was 650 km from Brasil.
Then of course it’s looking straight away at the stats world wide.

Busiest Club; 2 from Holland ,2 from Germany and 1 from Australia in the top 5 from 2019.
1. Koenigsdorf in Germany had 372.025,32 km. flown in 985 flights by 95 pilots.
2. The Gelderse Gliding Club in Holland with 343.521,63 km. flown in 1028 flights by 98 pilots.
3. Gliding Club of Victoria in Australia with 280.163,80 km. km. flown in 773 flights by 68 pilots.
4. Amsterdamsche Club for Soaring in Holland with 279.574,62 km. flown in 749 flights by 85 pilots.
5. Unterwoessen in Germany with 259.250,85 km. flown in 777 flights by 66 pilots.

Busiest airport; 3 in France 1 and 2 in Namibia in the top 5 from 2019;
1. Puimoisson in France with 749.316,15 km. flown during 1,780 flights by 277 pilots.
2. Bitterwasser in Namibia with 605.197,51 km. flown during 783 flights by 134 pilots.
3. Vinon in France with 435.111,44 km. flown during 1.173 flights by 184 pilots.
4. Veronica in Namibia with 385.920,36 km. flown during 508 flights 82 pilots.
5. Serres La Batie in France with 382.521,96 km. flown during 1.080 flights by 160 pilots.

Looking at all flights world wide: ONE pilot is clearly the best.
KEITH ESSEX from the USA with 90.057,89 km in 128 flights.
Runner up,…with 53.158,73 km in 85 flights; Axel Nuss from Germany.

Looking at the BEST FLIGHT world wide;
1. Morgan Sandercock from Australia flew from Chos Malal in Argentina 2.321,54 km with a speed of 219 km./h. in the Perlan Project ARCUS J.
2. Jean-Marc Perrin from France flew from Jose De San Mart in Argentina
1.717,86 km with a speed of 132,29 km./h. in the DG 808/15m.!!!
3. Klaus Ohlmann flew from Serres in France 1.856,51 km with a speed of 123,60 km./h. in the Stemme S10 / S10-VT .

The OLC CHAMPION 2019 WORLD WIDE;
1. Klaus Ohlmann with 8844.03 points.
2. Jean Marc Perrin with 8705.10 points.
3. Keith Essex with 8381,13 points.

The SPEED CHAMPION 2019 world wide;
1. Keith Essex with 1074,11 points.
2. Reinhard Schramme with 993,41 points.
3. Lukas Blattmann with 979,78 points.

Congratulations to ALL.
Of course each country has his own champion as well, here are a few from Europe;
Holland; Steven Raimond with 4839,72 points.
Belgium; Tijl Schmelzer with 4984,58 points.
Germany; Bernd Goretzki with 6656,21 points.
Denmark; Mads Lykke with 3428,57 points

Australian’s champion is Mac Ichikawa with 6427,80 points.
South African champion is Philip Goralski with 7050,42 points. The first South African is on spot 13; Mike Barenbrug.
Namibian champion is Keith Essex with 7677,11 points.
ALL South American champion is Jean-Marc Perrin with 8705,10 points.
ALL North American champion; Keith with 7832,41 points.
and many more!!!

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CLUB AND SPORTS CLASS NATIONALS.
KINGAROY
30 September 2019 – 6 October 2019

Last Sunday the sports [open and 15 m.] and club class Nationals 2019 started in Kingaroy. The first Nationals for the new season. In December the next Nationals are in Tocumwal, where they flew today in LS 4’s nearly 300 km..
49 Competitors in 3 classes now.
And for early spring they started with good weather and nice tasks!
Day 1;
Club; 325 km....from 24 in this class 3 out-landed and the best for the day was Andy Maddocks, flying around with a speed of 102 km./h in the good old HORNET.
Open ; 404 km….16 in this class and John Buchanan ” Butch” ,won day 1 in his JS 3/15 m. with a speed of 127.84 km./h.
His young mate Adam[ Woolley] flew around with 126 km./h in the Ventus 2A. Best speed,131.63 km./h., was by Andrew Georgeson in JS 1C /18m.
15 m; 404 km....in this class 7 participants and Lisa Trotter is practicing well for the WWGC in January in Lake Keepit. She won the day, just ahead of her husband Peter. Both fly LS 8 and their speed was 124.40 for 122.76 km./h.
2 More “girls” practicing in this class Claire Scutter and Akemi Ichikawa.

Day 2 ; Cancelled.

Day 3;
club; 1.30 AAT....All 24 pilots finished. Best for the day,…Michael Keller in a Mosquito;170 km. in time 1.30 at the dot. Nearly as good with also 170 km but 1.28 as time was Jim Crowhurst in his ASW 20. He had 9 points less [400 and 391] Day 1’s winner Andy was 15th.
Practice for the WWGC for Jo and Jenny in this class.
open;cancelled
15 m.;cancelled

Still not the fittest person on earth, hence a not so long blog.

Ritz