As I wrote before , we here in the south of Holland celebrate in September the end of the second world war. The North of Holland only on Mai 5.
Holland welcomed the American, British, Polish and Canadian soldiers . Here, where I live, THE day was; September 17.
Eindhoven the first big town the “allies” found after leaving Belgium ,was freed on the 18th of September. But after joy their world collapsed again, as German bombers hit the heart of town and thinking they were free, ….227 people died!!!!

It wasn’t that easy to liberate my town. It’s surrounded by forest and the road from Lommel in Belgium was narrow. The Irish Guard with Sherman tanks were the first to arrive here in the South, but were hit by German snipers hidden in the forest.
Several tanks caught fire and young men , when still possible, had to run for their lives. Help was asked and the only help they believed in were the Typhoons. They came and so they arrived, late in the evening at the market square.
As it was dark and they had to travel over another narrow road with forest to the left and right, between Valkenswaard and Eindhoven, they decided to spend the night in their car’s and tanks and some tents at the market place.

I visited the American cemetery last week, as because of health reasons, I couldn’t be there on the 17th. On the cemetery are 2 UK, pilots laying beside each other, just in their early 20-ties. Their Dakota was shot down by German fighters near the Belgian/Dutch border a few kilometers from here. I placed a Dutch flag at each of their graves , as they remind me at my son Dennis, who died age 18, in his small plane as well. Luckily he NEVER had to fight in a war.
A bit further is private Johnson only 18 years old, whose grave I attended already as a teenager. He got flowers.

Last Saturday I was touched, when a 98 year old parachutist from the UK, jumped again in a duo-para- jump, after 75 years over the Ginkelse Heide near to the town of Ede.
About 50 veterans had traveled with their wheel- chair, stick and family members to attend the day as well as around 100.000 Dutch admirers who wanted to show their respect.
Also our former queen Beatrix was there with the future king of the UK, Charles.
They both placed wreath’s, one with poppies the other one with Dutch flowers.
All the delegations from Canada the USA and and the UK placed wreath’s. The delegate from Poland got the most applause . I wondered why. Did n’t know too much about the Polish allied contribution, till I read about their young heroes defending the Rhine at Arnhem.
They had little plastic boats and used car tubes to reach the other site of the Rhine,….. BUT most SWUM!!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!

8 Planes ,  Hercules, Transall and one Dakota dropped over 1000 para-troopers over the heath, from the UK and USA, but also from the NATO countries. The biggest para-drop after the one from September 1944. Very impressive!!!!

The goal that day was to reach Arnhem, but the bridge there after “winning” on so many other bridges ,was one too far. A drama, as now they couldn’t go East into Germany’s RUHR area to end the war quickly.
The Germans caused more trouble in Luxembourg as well, which led to the battle of the bulge. A terrible fight under awful circumstances. The allied progress was held up and the northern part of Holland was only freed on Mai 5 1945. Lot’s of people in the North of Holland died from starvation during that final “hunger” winter.

Though Market Garden was seen as a military “failure”, it’s reminded by all Dutch as a great feat eventually leading to our freedom. All American, British, Polish, Canadians and other allies, fought and died for our freedom. Most of them were JUST young!!! With a whole life in front of them. They had that courage of young men and just did what was expected from them or/and even more. HEROES!!!!
LEST WE FORGET!!!

My life in Tocumwal was between 1984, [when we visited every winter ] and 2006. From 1996 we lived in Tocumwal and there I got the most exciting and “wild” stories from the war in Europe from Bill Riley. The founder of Sportavia in 1969. He flew Sunderland flying boats as a young man far from home in the UK.
I met “old George” a German guy who worked in Peenemunde in Germany at the V1 (sort of the first cruise missile) and V2 rocket’s!!!

“Our” WW2 hangar was full of history. Bob Brown, who has devoted part of his life to preserve the history of the Tocumwal aerodrome (formerly McIntyre Airfield) has told so many stories to the many many guests who visited the hangar and the airfield. I have written in the past many stories about it.
There are still more as I noticed.
“A great article written by Geoff Goodall on part of the history of Tocumwal airfield.
If only few of these aircraft were still sitting in our big hangar.”
https://www.goodall.com.au/…/tocumwal-airfield/tocumwal.html

Indeed LEST WE FORGET!!!

A still not fit Ritz.

PAVULLO…3d FAI 13.5 WGC.

It’s a pity, ……so less gliders are flying in this class and…at a WGC; only 10!!
But those who flew now or flew this competition, in the past, love it. So I hope it will “grow” in the future. And the question of course is….will there be a future?
Last Wednesday the task was not yet set, but later it was , so we continue with the last couple of days.
September 11…2.30 AAT;
203 km. in time 2.38 was the winning combination and flown by Stefano who might well be on his way to his 2d title.
7 Out of 11 day’s now.
Vittorio flew 312 km. but needed 2.49 hour. Uli was 5th, loosing more than 200 points, which means that Stefano is number 1 overall now, with a bit more than 100 points on Uli.
Vittorio and Thomas have 31 points between each other so exciting as well .

September 12….2.30 AAT;
5 from 10 finished on this day. Uli flew 174 km. in time 2.33 ,good for a first place. Stefano was 3d , loosing 40 points on Uli. Meaning….a 66 points difference in favor of Stefano…overall. Vittorio was”out” and Thomas in ….so Thomas is 3d now, with 2 day’s to go.

September 13. another 2.30 AAT, later changed in 2 hour AAT.:
Whilst keeping an eye on it ,3 pilots [Vytautas , Peter and Christoph] were out after 54 , 95 and 75 km. after a start just before 3 AM.
BUT,….Stefano finished!!!! After he started at 2.51 he finished at 4.51 , so 2 hours at the dot,….with 162 km under his belt.
Uli ,who started tactically, 1 minute behind him, was in too, but had not enough points to make the change, as 5th for the day, so he remains runner up, whilst Stefano is still on spot 1!!! Good on him.
Daily winner;Vittorio….185 km. in time 2.13. Thomas was runner up…165 km. in time 2 hours at the dot!!!

September 14; VERY LAST DAY!!!!
Here is the weather by meteo man Sarti.

First start was expected at 12.45!! Task C ; 2.25 AAT. a bit longer than the earlier task from 2.10 km.
It nearly looked like a regatta start as most left around 14.17.

First back at 16.36 was Polish pilot Christoph. He was 3d for the day.
Thomas won with 154 km. in time 2.21 and runner up with 152 km. in time 2.20 was Stefano. NO DOUBT; the new 13.5 CHAMPION!!!!
He won the first edition, then Sebastian the 2d and now he wins the 3d as well. Good on him.

September 14 in the evening ;PRIZE GIVING , Closing ceremony and DINNER, on the central Square of Pavullo.

With 10 out of 14 day’s, the CHAMPION and winners of this 3d WGC are :
1. Stefano Ghiorzo in Diana VersVS with 5.405 points.
2. Uli Schwenk in Mini Lak with 5.301 points.
3. Thomas Gostner in Diana VersVS with 5.028 points.
The only 3 in the 5000 points-range.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

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Interesting news;

From Finland.
Date for Rayskala Masters.

From the PERLAN PROJECT;
Last week I got the next news;
“Greetings from El Calafate!
The Airbus Perlan Mission II team has just launched another flight!
Our weather team has spotted some conditions today that may give us a chance to soar to some higher altitudes.  While the weather conditions have been challenging for wave, we are going up today to see if there are any elements of strong high altitude wave and lift that we can leverage. During the flight, we will also be collecting important engineering and weather data. 

Due to the rare weather phenomenon started last week called a Sudden Stratospheric Warming, opportunities for high level wave have diminished. So this could be one of the last high level flight attempts for Perlan 2 of this season. 

Virtual Cockpit: http://perlanproject.cloud/VirtualCockpit.html

From Canada and France;
In the last 2 months I heard of 2 collisions from gliders and tow planes after release!!!! Not good!!! There are strict rules for both,… it just should NOT happen.
In France the pilots from the glider were OK , the tuggy badly injured.
In Canada both glider pilots died, the student was only 18.
Very sad!!!Both accidents are under investigation.

From TOCUMWAL [Australia];
Last Saturday the 14th of September, the huge Tocumwal airshow at “our former” WW2 airfield took place with great planes and lot’s of visitors.
A super day with good weather and all happy faces.

Here is a link to the line up of planes with great pictures
https://tocumwalairshow.com.au/
For the VERY BEST pictures from flying planes you can click on Mayday Photography
Just fabulous!!!!!

Lot’s of spectators arrived by plane and had first class views.

From Holland;
At Venlo, 2 containers were packed , last weekend and they are now on their way to Melbourne with as final destination Corowa.
Of course Francesco and Grietje were there ,to co-ordinate the packing.
In it also Diana’s brand new JS 3 with the jet engine. She had only ONE day to try her glider out at Malden, last Friday ,before it was packed for the Nationals in Tocumwal and the WWGC in Lake Keepit in January.
The brand new ARCUS from William and Evelien was in too, ready for a new Narromine season.

From Kiripotib;
What a lovely room.

And to finish this lovely picture shared by Bruce Wilson from his plane Lil Dot in his hangar, with in it his grand son Wil on the day of the AIRSHOW.
NEVER TOO YOUNG TO LEARN.

Cu next week . Still struggling from concussion. Even went to hospital to the neurologist…they indeed found a brain ….and it was undamaged.
Cheers Ritz

The 3d WGC for 13.5 m. gliders in co-operation , during the first week, with the e-glider class showed all pretty small tasks for the gliders.
September 4;
13.5 m; 2 hour AAT...won by Uli in the Mini Lak, followed by Thomas in Diana VersVS ; 131 km. in time 2.02 for 145 km. in time 2.27.
5 From 10 out-landed and after 2 flying day’s Uli leads for Peter ; 955 for 925.
e-Glide;167 km…4 day’s and 4 flights in this class; best speed 80 km./h. for German pilot Markus Uhlig in HpH 304 eS , followed by Luka Znidarsic in Ventus 3 FES /18m. with 79 km./h.
After 4 days this Ventus 3 and HpH lead ,but still no scores!!!

September 5;
13.5 m….1.40 AAT; won by Ukraine pilot Vytautas Maciulis in his MINI LAK; 160 km. in time 1.56. Alberto and Peter were runners up all in MINI LAK.
E-Glide…167 km; won by Tilo in his Discus 2C FES, followed by the Schempp-Hirth Ventus 3 with FES , both 18m, with 97 and 99 km./h.
In both classes …2 OUT.

September 6;
No task in both classes but a picture from day 5.

September 7;
13.5 m…208 km...NO finishers. Vittorio flew 184 km and the runners up , Thomas and Alexander flew 140 km.
E-Glide; 216 km….and YES here we noticed finishers on THEIR very last day. Except for one they all finished!!!! HpH 304 eS with young German pilot Markus did well with 77 km./h. The runner up Luka in the Ventus 3 flew around with 74 km./h.

E-Glide stops now ;” This evening at 7.30pm we had the prizegiving ceremony of the e-Gliding competition at the flagpoles. All the competitors were very happy and satisfied about these days in Pavullo with good weather conditions on six race days, excellent food and beautiful landscapes.
The Contest director, Aldo Cernezzi, would like to thank all the staff and all the participants. The President of the Aeroclub, Roberto Gianaroli, awarded the winners on the podium. After giving the awards pictures were taken of the podium with all the magnificent cups and the big group of all the people involved in the competition.
A very good dinner with “tagliatelle” and finger food was served to conclude the last day of e-Glide! Tomorrow the pilots will leave and return to their countries but the WGC will go on till the 14th September. “

The story on Luka as shared by the WGC 2019;
“ From early youth Luka was passionate builder and designer of many free flying models. Soon he become the winner of his first nationals as the youngest competitor. Luka participated on many international gliding competitions, including three World gliding championships. He achieved 1000km diploma, 3000 flying hours, on more than 30 different sailplane types. He is today the WINNER of e-Glide in Pavullo flying Ventus 3 FES “LZ”. Many congratulations Luka! “

September 8;NO TASK!!!!
“No compulsory briefing. No task today due meteo conditions .“

September 9;
318 km....Finally a good day and 8 from 10 flew it on the first 1000 points-day. Alberto [Sironi] was one of the out-landers, unfortunately, [after 277 km.] loosing over 500 points.3 Italian pilots in the top Vittorio,Thomas and Stefano. Best speed 103 km./h.

September 10 yesterday;
2.50 AAT;

It turned out a” terrible” day for most. Not for Stefano and Uli , however, as they both finished,…all others were OUT!!!
Stefano got 700 points ,the last one, number 10 …zero as he started his engine before start; so a virtual outlanding on starting engine.OUCH.
Uli leads overall with 3.358 points and Stefano is runner up with 3.225 p.

Not yet tasks for today! More next Wednesday.

Sebastian Kawa never entered these comps in Pavullo, due to damage on his glider during the practice week. As more and more pilots fly with all types of engines here is his story to learn from; as shared by Easy Memory Item
“Atterriaggio duro – Hard landing!
For the first time in his career Sebastian Kawa damaged a glider in a hard landing. An investigation of the events should help to avoid such events in the future!
“What happened was very surprising to me. For the first time in my career, I damaged a glider on a hard landing. A very unpleasant experience with the new GP14 on the steep slope of Puvallo! The terrain in the Apennines is not exactly inviting for landing in many areas. Almost every suitable, flat area is urbanized, the valleys are V-shaped and in the middle there is a narrow brook. Fields, if available, are on steep slopes. Thus, it is very difficult to find a suitable landing site.

What happened?
About 30 km from the finish line, I was still at high altitude and made the decision not to take any risks and start the engine. It was just a training day, where no points had to be collected. After the start with electric engine some hours ago, still 75% of the electric power was available. I could easily come home with that. I thought about how to use the remaining energy most effectively and turned knob to start the engine. Nothing happened!
I still had enough time. After a short look around, I saw no less than 10 possible landing fields – all in mountainous terrain, all on the steep slope! So I took off my sunglasses and tried to get the engine running. At first I thought I did not have enough energy to extend the pylon and turned off the navigation display. I rebooted the system and tried cranking again. Nothing happened!

My options dwindled ..
After another 15 km, only two suitable fields were in sight. Very steep, but slightly larger than the previous ones. Since the further course of the valley was not visible, I decided to land on one of the two yellow-brown fields next to a farm and a paved road. Unfortunately, it turned out in retrospect that this field was bumpy, which added to the other difficulties!
I’ve landed on similar steep hills before. On some glider sites such as Jeżów Sudecki (Grunau) or in Bieszczady there are streeps with slopes up to 11%. Even with an ASH 25 I landed (in Bieszczady) on a slope as steep as this one in Apenines. However, it was prepared landing site with smooth grass! In Italy the situation was different. The surface of the field was rough and there were trees in the approach sector. In order to land in such a field, you must be approach even with a light glider at a speed of 130 km/h in order to be able to fly uphill parallel to the ground. Fast airplanes need even more speed! I have dumped all water already so I crossed the line of trees with exactly 130 km/h and felt a hard bump just before I expected to fly for a while uphill to loose speed. The plane jumped at a steep angle loosing speed almost in seconds.

With no speed it was not possible to change anything in the situation, I saw the treetops below me again. You wait ! The next moment I was back on the ground and sliding several meters on the fuselage after glider lost it’s undercarriage. Amazingly no more damages were seen. Later I found out that instrument panel pulled two screws from the floor and belly was cracked. Very little for such landing.
Not recommendable!
My situation was worse. The same moment I hit the ground I felt a strong backache and had big difficulty getting out of the cockpit. I lied down on the wing to ease it off few minutes, a bit of relief occurred, fortunately I was able to move and feel all my limbs. Actually, this action was not right, because in such a situation, I would advise anyone not to move that much – unless you’re sure the spine is intact.
I consider it unlucky to hit such an uneven slope what was invisible till last moment. Looking from above waves, if have same colour are indistinguishable. Fortunately, the GP14 is a light and very strong glider, so it helped to get away with only a small damage.
Most important finding: even if the engine still worked at the start, it can fail at any time. It was the case with my landing in the Apennines. After the engine cooled, it did not start again because the pylon did not touch the limit switch.

Never rely 100% on the engine! Electric or digital systems fail instantly without any prior signs of wear or malfunction so it would be better to have two sets of electronic gear. We use two loggers. Don’t we?”

Happy Landings
Sebastian Kawa

Outlandings in mountainous areas / Outlandings with (turbo) engines – what is important?
After a hard landing in the Apennines Sebastian Kawa worked up his experiences and shared with us!

Decide early and have more options ready
Must land in mountainous terrain, it is usually very fast due to lack of options. Faulty starts of auxiliary engines worsen the situation dramatically. Therefore decide early, because: landing out with engine always need more height than without!

Upslope landings can be trained!
There are gliding schools that fly regularly on places with inclined landing strips. Uphill landing can be trained.

You need more speed!
A gradual reduction of the speed a few meters above the ground, which is often seen on flat airfields, does not work when approaching the steep slope. For pull up, to intercept path parallel to the ground, you have to keep your speed until last moment and flare with more energy to fly about 1m above the ground uphill. When practicing on moderate uphill strips if you have speed sufficient to hover about 0.5-1m above the ground for about 50-100m, than it is a good approach. We have very often windy conditions so more speed is required also to avoid sudden drop of speed and as a consequence falling dawn from few meters.

Use the entire length of the field.
The speed reduction when flying uphill is fast. So it is not necessary to be fixed on the lowest meters of the field because it is more dangerous to catch obstacles in the approach than roll on some at the end. In most cases there should be no problem to slow down and stop when going uphill.

Airbrakes – carefully!
Adjust altitude, the point where you want to stop. Then: set the flaps, retract the airbrakes, accelerate – to be able to pull up in front of the rising slope. Many gliders tend to sink a lot even when the airbrakes are only slightly opened. They loose speed instead of zooming up. With less flap, I would not use L -flaps for such approach as they produce more drag than lift, and a higher approach speed, this problem can be avoided ! There are planes, for example PZL 104, which can not flare enough to end parallel to any uphill slope without help of the engine.

Curved landing!
The last part of roll should be used for a 90° turn to avoid rolling back. In the worst case, you would have to remain in the cockpit squeezing wheel brake until help arrives.

Avoid obstacles!
Each approach over obstacles is more demanding than on a flat plane, as the interception angle increases further.

Green in front of brown – and not mixed!
In the mountainous areas it’s better to choose GREEN fields. Green means it’s re-cultivated at least once a year, and probably neither corn nor other tall plants will grow on it. In addition, in a re-cultivated field, the probability of encountering invisible trenches, hills and stones is reduced. Plowed fields are good too but brownish grass means it was not used for a long time and there are tall weeds.

Rules!
The competition rules should allow for a short test of the engine even if you used it for take-off.

As always with turbo’s – fly as without engine!
Even if an engine was used to start, he may well refuse service on the next attempt.

It was the same with my landing in the Apennines. After the engine cooled, it did not start again because the pylon did not touch the limit switch! Never rely 100% on the engine!

Happy Landings
Sebastian Kawa

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ABOYNE in Scotland.

The yearly height and CC- event in the Scottish mountains, the 22d version, was not blessed with good weather. After I left you they continued with small tasks, mostly with no finishers, but the last valid task number 3 had one.
Winner Bob Bromwich in DG 500mb with 605 TOTAL points. That say’s enough is n’t it? A pity!!!!
On one day they reached 19.280 ft.

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Interesting news!

From Holland;
For ALL those who love the EUROGLIDE; here are the estimated data for this big event; June 22 till July 4 2020, with the prize giving included in this day. That’s new.

From Austria;
Preparing for gliding season in Namibia / Kiripotib 😎😎
15 gliders placed in 3 containers. Then lorry to train station Vienna, train to Hamburg, ship to Walvis Bay Namibia, and then last leg, lorry to Kiripotib Soaring lodge. End of January return trip!
Complicated logistic, hat of for Ludwig Starkl, Christian Hynek and Wolfgang Janowitsch to get this organized 👍👍⛅️⛅️

Also Bitterwasser sends a lot of gliders via Germany.
” For almost 30 self launcher loadmaster Sascha Costabel had created space in one of the large steel boxes. On the first weekend in September they were packed with sophisticated suspension systems. Just six 18-meter single-seaters fit into a container thanks to good planning.
Via Hamburg and Antwerp the journey of the seven containers starts to Walvis Bay. The freighter is expected there at the beginning of October – in time for the new flying season in Namibia. “

From …..Australia on September 6 2019;
“On behalf of the GFA board and staff we extend our sympathies to the family and friends of Harry Schneider who died earlier today, with many family and friends by his bedside.
The Schneider family were very influential in developing the sport of gliding in Australia over two generations. Harry was a life member of the GFA and will definitely be missed.”

From Japan;
Nice soaring weather last week in Japan and they used it.
Takeshi shared some pictures from the weather and the field. Most airfield in Japan are situated along a river on the other side of a dyke. I have been in the past at 3 of them, one was Itakura .

From the UK;
Dave Masson [together with Nigel Mallender] flew last Sunday from Lasham a great over 300 km. flight in an ASK 13 !!!!!!!!They flew 328 from the set 340 km and had to land in a paddock rather late, but loved every minute.Pretty good autumn weather there!!!!
You can see the flight on  https://www.bgaladder.net/dailyscores/flightdetails/81740

That’s it for now. CU next Wednesday!
Cheers Ritz [with a light brain concussion and a dizzy head ….hit it in the kitchen on a point of a marble plate laying on an antic cupboard.!!]

The summer is nearly over here in Europe, though we still will have some good day’s for soaring, but of course shorter.
Fuente still has 750 km. flights in a Duo Discus and on September 1 the beginning of the meteorological autumn, Denis Flamant flew 897 km. from La Roche in an ASH 26.
On the last day of summer the Levin brothers enjoyed a good day of soaring in their EB’s [29 R and 28] ;950/939 km.from Homberg Ohm.
In September containers are leaving again for Africa and Australia, for those who love to fly the year around.
Both parts from Africa and Australia have been suffering from immense drought. NOT GOOD!!!!!
Still some comps NOW as well.

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3d FAI 13.5 m. World Gliding Champion ship
1. September 2019 – 14. September 2019
from Pavullo in Italy.

Parallel with this WGC, they fly the E-Glide with 7 pilots from 3 different countries in gliders as Ventus 3 FES /18m. [x 2] or Discus 2C FES/18m.,LS 8 eNEO, GP 15 SE JETA , Silent 2 Electro and HpH 304 eS.
It’s the first competition of this kind, specially created for electrically powered sailplanes.  Interesting to see how this works out.
In 13.5 m. 6 x a Mini Lak , 2x a GP 14 SE VELO and Silent 2 Electro and 2x a Diana VersVS ,one flown by the very first 13.5 m. champion Stefano Ghiorzo and one by Thomas Gostner.
11 Pilots in this class with also Peter Hartmann, Sebastian Kawa and Uli Schwenk.
The official opening was on the 31 st.
By the way, THEN, it was still 30 dgr. C here. Now we “enjoy” autumn with rain ,wind [BFT. 5] and 16 to 19 dgr. C.
During the practice on the last day Sebastian’s engine from the GP 14 did not start and he had to land hill-up and damaged his wheel.

Flying in the Apennines is always exciting “stuff”. And after the mandatory briefing from the President of the Jury, Bob Bickers, the chief steward Brian Spreckley and their assistants, Angel Casado and Marina Galetto, the WGC could start. But first the official opening at the town square at 4PM.
Bob opened with ;” special and grateful words to the organization and wishing to all the competitors “strong thermals in the tasking area, for the next fifteen days”. 

First flying day ; FAI flag was hoisted at 10 in the morning.
September 1…day 1…task 1;
Only flying in the E -glide-class ,where task 1 was 131 km. flown by 6 from 7.
September 2;
The weather forecast was not “flash” .”Today’s weather forecast announced thunderstorms and lightning around. However, a task was given to both classes .”
13.5 m. task 1 ; 118 km…Day was cancelled, because 7 out of 9 could not find any thermal-activity.
E -glide ..task 2; 126 km….They flew and Tilo showed he is not only good in GP- flying ,but also in this e-glide class. He won the day with 94 km./h.in his “own” Schempp-Hirth glider;Discus 2C FES/18m.
German pilot Stefan Langer who flies the LS 8e NEO /15m. [ DG Flugzeugbau GmbH] was runner up.[87 km./h.]
September 3;
Day 3…task 1…in 13.5 m. …191 km….changed in 1.35 AAT ; won by Peter who flew 171 km. in his Mini Lak in time 1.45. That “gave” him 504 points. Runner up was Uli , also in Mini Lak with 159 km. in time 1.41 .[476 p.]
Day 3 ..task 3 …in e-glide.…157 km…. Luka Znidarsic in the Ventus 3 FES/18 m. was the best with 111 km./h.
Tilo in the Discus 2C FES /18 m. was runner up with 108 km./h.
No scores yet in this class.
September 4 today;
Day 4..tasks 2/4; no tasks yet.

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59th Nationals in Romania ,
August 16 and 31, including 2 practice day’s.
Airport-to-be ;Balta Verde.

Flown in 2 classes;
Club class had 12 participants and the mixed class 13.
Mixed class;
They had 11 day’s out of 14 with pretty good soaring weather.
Several 3 hour AAT’s , but also a 425 and 456 km set task .
In this class it was all about Alex Pop and Norbert Scarlat, both flying Discus 2A. Norbert had the best speed of the comps..132 km./h. on task 6. Alex won 2 day’s Norbert 6!! But,… He did not fly on task 3.
On the last flying day August 30 , [the 31st was cancelled] Alex won the 2.30 AAT with 337 km. in time in time 2.49. Norbert lost a few points by being 7th. And,..as points between him and Ionut TUDOR were close, Ionut passed him overall with 27 points.
1. Alex with 10.077 points.
2. Ionut with 9.388 points.
3. Norbert with 9.361 points.

In club class it was between Sorin CHISU in LS 1 d and Robert Alin SIMION, BUT Robert did not fly the first day in his IS 29 D2. He was runner up on 5 days.
Sorin won 8 day’s and had a huge lead in the end.
1. Sorin with 9.108 points.
2. Robert with 7.971 p.

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KA 6 RALLY at MALDEN.
30 August 2019 – 1 September 2019

With 16 real -pure-gliders,the KA 6 happening was flown from Malden. That gives me a great nostalgic feeling.
The Vintage Glider Club of the Netherlands was the organizer.
Distances, of course were not very long, but it’s all about the feeling and,…on day 1, 2 pilots flew the task from around 35 km. Chapeau as the weather was nice but not very high.
Also some out-landings.
Over the 3 day’s no tasks were set for the Rally ,but local flying was for sure possible.

and another nice one.

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UK MOUNTAIN SOARING;
1 September 2019 – 7 September 2019

23 pilots gathered in Aboyne in Scotland for the annual get-together to find out who is the best in gaining height and or distance in cross country soaring.
September 1 ;had only height as possibility as after rain the cc flying was not on. 135 km. was set but not flown.
Best height gain was ;3.307 ft.
September 2; no cc flying but height gain was possible.
September 3;…the morning message did not sound good:
” We have woken to pea soup this morning. “
No task.
AND,..no task yet for today. Yes autumn has announced it self.

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GLIDING INTERNATIONAL.

The new September/October issue is on line and I looked already for you at the highlights.
—-As said we here in the South celebrated our freedom on September 18 in 1944. The rest from Holland after terrible times with NO food, on Mai 1945.
I live in freedom all my life which I find a huge privilege.
Gliding International looks back at the war as well. And,…specially on the gliding site!!!
A time with 6000 volunteer aviators flying gliders …one way…to fly deep in the “enemy zone with infantry and vital supplies”.
About 25 pages of touching stories to honor who “dared” to do this job!!!
Amazing stories.
—- BIRDY…..The self-launch capable motor glider, in the 120 kg class -carbon fibre construction with a Geiger HPD -E- Drive.
—–“AUSTRALIA is big, bigger than you could ever appreciate”… a warm welcome to new and “old” guests to fly in Australia.
—- Airbus promotes a new wing concept….
—- CAA’s grant on airspace in the UK is not in favor of Lasham but Farnborough…not good…It will start in 2020!! You can read the LASHAM statement in G.I.
—- AND,….Lot’s of news in “International news for glider pilots“.

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Some interesting news;

From Germany;
PURE PLANES.Got an invitation to be “friends” of PURE PLANES. Had a look, found it very interesting and share it with you.

From Kiripotib Soaring;
Rent a glider from Ludwig and Wolfgang shared the next news:
” Today our new Arcus M Nr.6, had its maiden flight. After the prototype its the first one delivered from the new type and it will be allready the 8th Arcus operated in our fleet. Thanks to the crew from Schempp-Hirth, who made it possible to get the glider ready in time, to be packed in the containers for Namibia. It will be this year the first and only Arcus M new type to explore the southern sky over the Kalahari.
Wolfgang and Ludwig are looking forward to fly this beautiful glider down there, and I’m sure they will fill it up with water to 850kilos to get maximum gliding performance .”
And,..maybe they are still available..
“Due to a cancellation, a new Ventus 3M is available to rent between 23. and 29. Dec. 2019 and 11. to 17. Jan. 2020, and an Arcus M between 15. Dec. 2019 and 17. Jan. 2020 in Kiripotib/Namibia.
If you are interested, or know somebody who is interested, let us know.
Thanks, Rent-a-Glider Team“

From BITTERWASSER;
” Bitterwasser is also a place for youngsters. With the Europe-wide Bitterwasser Cup and a success at German Gliding Championships, juniors have the chance to be invited to the Gliding Center. Two winners have already been announced: Lukas Blattmann from the Charlottenburg Flying Sports Club Berlin and Mike Bauer from the Eichstätt Flying Club have won the ticket to the 1000 km camp of Wilfried Großkinsky in Zwickau as the best juniors of the German Club Class Championship (fourth and fifth overall). Simon Briel from LSV Homberg Ohm, this year’s best junior in the standard class and second at the Junior World Championship in Szeged, was already in the camp last season. He receives a special invitation, which Wilfried Großkinsky and Rainer Hog and Bitterwasser AG take over.
The Bitterwasser Cup is still running and the winners of the OLC Junior Challenge have not yet been determined. The award ceremony for them will take place on 5 October at the OLC Symposium at the Rhön/Germany. “

From France;
More about vintage planes:
There seems to be an eccentric 87 year old gentleman ,who bought a Castle in France , in the Burgundy area, with enough acres around it to “store” his private collection of 110 fighter jets and a Hovercraft!!!!!!
His goal in life as pilot was ; avoiding the destroying of vintage planes.
LIKE HIM!!!!!

From OLC;
Boulder in the USA had a superb high wave day and Pedja Bogdanovich used that for a nice long flight; 1.272 km. in a Ventus 2ax/15m. and a speed of 151 km./h.
One of the Boulder pilots mentioned he missed this great weather in July.
And,..another great flight that same day [September 2] this time from Germany where an LS 8 flew 825 km. using cold autumn air combined with still warm “soil” mainly under 2000 m. [ from Neresheim.]
AND,…yesterday a 1.016 by Keith Essex from good old Minden-Tahoe in his JS 3. Speed 148 km./h .
I liked his comment and share it with you ;
“ On the first leg it was obvious the best route was down the Whites. Because I’m a non conformist I took the Sierras and regretted it. Got flushed off the Sierras with rain and ended up on the Whites anyway. Good but pretty overdeveloped until off the Whites. The glider got a good washing. Didn’t work very well in the east. Longish glide with no climbs into the Minden valley, once back up it was straight forward. “

And to finish this great picture from ASK 13, yes… I flew one last week. Every year they have a get-together in France in Grenoble. This time from August 24 till the last day August 31, from the aerodrome de St. Crepin.
Last Thursday they had a task with a distance between 39 and 50 km.

As you can see they are all friends/mates, help each other and have a week of great fun together. They make fabulous pictures as well from this event ,I shared a few in the past.

And they still make great pictures have a look at their site on August 27.

CU next Wednesday
Ritz

OPEN CLASS NATIONALS in POLAND.
Leszno Strzyzewi, Poland
15 August 2019 – 25 August 2019

When I left you last Wednesday , no task was set, but there was one later and the OPEN class had to fly 296 km. on day 7 with task 5!
Later changed in 206 km. And,…The ASG 32MI flown by an Aussie/finish combination combined well,as they were the daily best ;nice speed as well…135 km./h.
UK pilot Rory was runner up with 132.49 km./h .
Karol Staryszak was the 3d for the day and for a chance the first Polish pilot;132.42 km./h.
All pilots finished and all flew over 100 km./h.

Thursday August 22…day 8 …task 6;
A 3 hour AAT was set, so the pilots could make their own choices within “borders”. Nearly 400 km. was flown in time 3.13, so a nice speed of 124.24 km./h by Jakub Barszcz . Łukasz Wójcik was tiny little bit behind; 124.00. They started and finished more or less together.
3 were out.

Friday August 23..day 9…task 7;
411 km.…was set and the slowest speed was 111 km./h. The best speed 137 km./h!! Flown by Łukasz Wójcik in his JS 3. The ASG 32[132 km./h] was runner up with Karol as number 3.[134 km./h.

Saturday August 24 and last day 10 …task 8!!!
375 km. was set!!!so a nice day of flying , but not for all as Rory and Adam belonged to the out-landers on the last day. Team Adam dropped for 4 to spot 16. A good day again for the leaders overall Lucasz and Jakub winning the day with respectively 1000, 998 points. 94 km./h was the best speed for the 2 mates flying this competition together in different gliders, a great team performance. Surely they know now which one is the best under whatever circumstance.

Final results in open class and National Champion;
1. Łukasz Wójcik in JS 3 with 5.342 points.
2. Jakub Barszcz in ASG 29 with 5.201 p.
3. Karol Staryszak in ASG 29 E with 4.914 p. He lost on the last day nearly 200 points.

Paweł Wojciechowski won the standard class in St Jantar 2, during the Leszno Cup 2019 and
Maciej Adamski the 15m/18m. class in LAK 19T/18 m.

Adam was not too sad but he mentioned :“my third poor result of the EU Summer .  I am going back to Australia happy, I know with what I’ve seen, what I’ve dealt with (regarding not my own gear & the usual challenges we face by being away from home), I feel that I’m flying at a high standard & at this comp, at the top 5 standard. “

Not to sad either because he was honored with the Kronfeld Cup.
“It’s with great pleasure & also with respect, that I receive the Kronfeld Cup off Zdzislaw Bednarczuk – who was originally awarded this trophy at the Hosin WGC. The trophy is for the fastest speed over the longest task, hence the handover. So thank you for your understanding Zdzislaw!
Zdzislaw flew a magnificent flight of 522km at 136kph, myself 541km at 141kph in the Ventus 3 😍

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UK JUNIOR NATIONALS.
Bristol and Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
17 August 2019 – 25 August 2019

They continued from the airport of Nympsfield with
day 5, task 3 and 170 km. to fly.
Former junior and JWGC participant, Mat Davis, yes son from Andy, won HC the day, but Finn was in the right groove again and won the comps-day; 88 km./h. Jake was 3d
Day 6,task 4 and 85 km.to fly. BUT,…day was scrubbed.
Day 7 task 4 ;210 km…later changed in 174 and that still was TOO much for many of the youngsters as only 3 from 35 finished.
Good day for Finn who started at the same time as HC pilot Mat, but they did not finish together. Mat was back 17 minutes earlier.Jake was out but not too bad; 4th for the day.
Day 8 task 5; 2 hour AAT in the blue ….with 184 km. Jake won the day before 4 HC pilots who help/coach and lead and follow. 9 Finishers and Finn was one of them having an off-day and nearly lost 400 points , so not really consistent flying by him.

Day 9 task 6; 132 km. on the very last day!!! BUT,…the day was scrubbed, so the overall winners from day 8 are the WINNERS and CHAMPION Jake was a REAL champion. AND,…for the 3d time so we are going to hear more from him in the future. Look at the difference in points.

1. Jake with 3.870.
2. Tom Pavis in LS 6 WL with 3.652 p.
3. Peter Carter in Mini Nimbus with 3.635 p.

13 from 36 had over 3000 points. Some good juniors there in the UK and under supervision of CD Andy Davis a lot of toppers helped the young ones out in the air, during the flights.

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FRENCH JUNIOR NATIONALS.
Romorantin Pruniers, France
17 August 2019 – 24 August 2019

Club class;
August 21..day 5…task 3; 271 km….ALL 19 pilots flew the task.Best speed 90 km./h. All scores still very close so it remains exciting for the “young ones”.
August 22..day 6..task 4; 212 km….18 started and finished and the best speed was 81 km./h. First 12 gliders today all Pegases.
August 23..day 7….task 5; 2 hour AAT. 7 Pilots flew just under 200 km. and only 2 from 19 were out. The current top 3 was in the top 6.
August 24..day 8…task 6; 167 km.…very last day!! With 1 day to go Aurélien Doriat was in the lead with less than 50 points on  Edgar Lagorio, who was 6 points ahead of Timoté Gard.
What would the last day bring?? Timote was the fastest with 93 km. /h., [496 p] Edgar was runner up [468 p] and Aurelien was 4th.397 p.]So after 6 flying days, the new FRENCH JUNIOR CHAMPION in this class is;
1. Timote Gard with 4.061 points.
2. Edgar Lagorio with 4.039 p.
3. Aurelien Doariat with 4.013 p.
SO CLOSE!!!!!

Mixed class;
August 21..day 5..task 3; 307 km. The local Duo Discus flew HC but was the best for the day. The only one just over 100 km./h. Some finished a bit low and got penalty points.
August 22..day 6..task 5; 260 km…All 11, who started 9, finished.Best speed 89 km./h by Celestin in Pegase.
August 23..day 7..task 5; 229 km….2 Local Duo Discus pilots flying HC were the best with 87 km./h.
August 24..day 8..task 6; 2 hour AAT and again Paul and Patrick Blanc won the day.
No secret they won the comps but HC [4.638 p.]does n’t count for the title so
1. Florian Labatut in ASW 27 with 4.552 points and JUNIOR CHAMPION.
2. Hugo Roche in LS 4 WL with 4.437 p.
3. Kevin Faur in Discus 2B with 4.401 p.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL.

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CCR 2019 in Rieti.
Rieti, Italy
17 August 2019 – 24 August 2019

The Coppa Citta di Rieti was in the past, in my eyes, less important than the CIM, nowadays it seems the other way around.
Several top pilots fly in 2 classes ; one class , group 1, with handicap under 116.5 the other above.
Then there is some kind of class for rookie/future competition pilots; promozione.

They, there in Italy, had the good weather and flew every day except for 1.
Group 1 ;
Started with 16 pilots and one name was mostly above on the daily list. Martin Pirker from Austria in a Ventus CM /17.5 m.. They had 381 as set task and several smaller and bigger AAT’s.
Stefano Ghiorzo and Alberto Sironi flew in this class in VersVS 350kg and LAK 19/18m and Vittorio Pinni in a GP 14 SE VELO 350kg .
Best speed was on a 3 hour AAT when Mattia Costa [Discus 2A] flew 434 km. with a speed of 143 km./h.
On Thursday evening there were only 12 gliders left.
On Friday they did not fly …weather relating and on Saturday it looked “marginal”. But a 2 hour AAT was squeezed out and only 2 pilots finished!!! One of them Martin. So he added a few more points to his overall total.
Alberto [7th] was “less far ” than Mattia, [4th] so he lost a spot.
Final scores in group 1;
1. Martin Pirker from Austria with 5.847 points.
2. Stefano Ghiorzo from Italy with 5.528 p.
3. Mattia Costa from Italy with 5.174 p. That was just 11 points more than Alberto.[5.163 p]

Group 2;
Started with 29 pilots, among them, Peter Hartmann and Werner Aman from Austria, Giorgio, Alvaro and from the UK father and son Gatfield and Peter Wells.
task 1, a 3.15 hour AAT, straight away showed speed; 132 km./h by Peter H. in the Antares 23 T.
Task 2,..The next day Werner [ASG 29] flew around with 145 km./h over a set task from 395 km.
Task 3 was for Peter and Werner, 417 km. with 152 km./h by Peter and 142 km./h by Werner.
Task 4 with 420 was for for the same 2 Austrian pilots who frequently fly in Rieti; Peter Hartmann flew around with 165 km./h over 420 km!!!!
That was furiously- fast!!! The runner up, Werner in his ASG 29 flew the distance with 156 km./h .The 2 slowest in their class from 29 pilots , flew with 117 and 131 km./h. Great day!!!

Task 5 showed a 2.15 AAT and this time the ARCUS M won on handicap. Only 20 from 29 finished. Several violated the Perugia CTR and out landed were they entered.
Task 6 with a 2 hour AAT and best used by Werner who flew 307 km. in time 2.04 so great speed of 148 km./h.
Task 7…no task.. no flying as the weather “resigned”. IF they fly on the last day, Saturday was not sure either . And with 2 pilots on spot 2 , Werner and Roberto, flying would be good to see who would be on the 2d highest spot. AND YES ..also here they squeezed a day out.
Task 7….1.30 AAT. 10 flew the task and Peter won again. And with a nice speed of 138 km./h over 225 km. Werner was 6th and Roberto 9th so it was clear Werner was runner up and Roberto 3d.
Total scores;
1. Peter Hartmann from Austria with 5.362 points.
2. Werner Amann from Austria with 5.247 p.
3. Roberto Istel from Italy with 5.195 p.

The promozione was won by Pietro Silveri [ASH 26E] with 3.379 points.

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Interesting news!
From Belgium;
Hasselt, not too far from the Keiheuvel, this time the place to be for the club the Kiewit, now even Royal and the oldest airfield in Belgium as I heard, had an open day last Saturday to introduce their new 50.000 E winch. Less towing-by-tug, so less noise for the neighbors and more environmental friendly.

From Holland;
This year we remember 75 years of FREEDOM. A spectacular show from vintage planes even , and this for the first time, with German planes. Arjan Vrieze was there to make , as always, great pictures.

We also remember the war close by, at our cemetery for British soldiers and 2 pilots .This grave I visited already as a 12 year old girl. We more or less adopted this young man.

FROM JAPAN;
Takeshi shared some pictures from an open day with military planes and equipment but also gliding was a topic;

• 

From the OLC:
Still some 1000 km. flights , to be honest in “fancy” gliders . It’s rather late in the season , which was a pretty GOOD one.
Michael Sommer flew one from Puimoisson in the EB29R, Timo Nurminen in ASG 32 and Alvaro Jimenez Aguayo in ASH 31/21m. from Fuente .

That’s it for now.
Cu next Wednesday
AND, I published a more private KEIHEUVEL diary last Sunday……. just to let you know when you missed it.
AND,..not everybody straight away seems to be able to read the blog, so most comps are over and blogs will be shorter,…maybe that helps.
Our 2d official heatwave in Holland is a fact…never happened so late in the season.The 3d one here in the South.
Cheers Ritz

No “news” for the die-hard readers as they expect it , but ….every year I visit one of my favorite soaring fields, this one close by in Belgium; the KEIHEUVEL. This weekend they fly there for the FLANDERS SOARING CUP 2019. This is a competition over 2 days here at the Keiheuvel , and from 3 different airfields in 3 different time frames.
These regional comps have been flown already as the Kempen Cup [ 4 day’s in Mai] , Kiewit Cup [ weekend of June 8,9 and 10] and always as last one the KEIHEUVEL CUP in August.[24/25]
It’s a feast of meeting new and long time friends, with long and short talks and to hear the latest from pilots and friends back from everywhere during this summer.
It was a hot day, blue and for the first time in my life I “felt” the 30 dgr. C on an open field.

As Diana was there to fly her Discus 2T/18m. …which by the way is for sale as she bought a JS 3… and George to crew for her , I had an easy drive and was in time for the briefing. It’s just half an hour of driving.
41 Pilots were ready to listen what their task would be for the day;198 km. for the open transponder planes….149 for the sport transponder gliders and for those without transponder a flight from 97 km within Belgium.

30 dgr. C does n’t mean start and straight up in the air as you know. So a sniffer was send to see what the conditions were.
Eddie [Huybreckx] came to me to ask if I wanted to fly the sniffer flight…eheh, when,…eheh now….eheh with whom…with me was his answer and I straight said” yes I come.” NO time to think, as it was more around 25 years ago that I had been in a glider and more than 50 years ago that I had been flying myself.
That flight then was in a Blanik with good old Bill Harvie. He had to ferry the glider back from a Sportavia-camp at Mount Beauty behind the Scout VH- SFO.
A picture from that Scout by the way is put by grandson Dexter in my blog, so you see it every time you open it. Yesterday I flew in an ASK 13.

Unfortunately there were no thermals at that time so the launches were postponed to 13.45.
Then the temperature was reached and,…. it was “booming” ,up to 1700 m. BUT,…it was also a day from up, with great thermals and down with nearly “nothing”. Not very reliable clouds.
So out-landings as well.
16 from 28 in open class were back, the rest was out somewhere in a paddock or back “on steam” .
Diana was the last one in this class to make it home.
Best were father and son Rudy and Jeroen Jennen in the Duo Discus; 93 km./h. As son Jeroen proudly mentioned; “My dad still knows how to do it!”
I guess Rudy was in a hurry, as he knew he had to cook for us and not only for us !!! Ha ha.
Jeroen flew with dad as Wim Akkermans was “on duty’ as scorer.

Robin Smit was runner up and he did well in the LS 8 from his club. He had good news!!!
From October till April he will be based in NEW ZEALAND at OMARAMA. He has been “hired” as ground crew. I guess he will love it there in the wave paradise and they will “love” him as he is just such a nice young guy.

4 Pilots in the sport class and 2 finished and 8 in the “friendly” class and also here 2 finishers. Tijl Schmelzer ,who flew himself in open, had offered to “help/support” as coach in this class.

In between time to talk and catch up on news:

Enough news as I was surprised to hear that during the JWGC , teams seem to have used a ground team as in the Formula 1 car races , to check data and that way send their pilots to the best lift.
Not my idea of soaring. And..so think more people as..,..it won’t happen next time I heard, as rules will be changed.
And sad news as one of the better female Dutch competition pilots in the past, Lia de Jong died age 85. Lovely lady!
Johan Lemmens was at the Keiheuvel for the 37th time!!
He flew the BENELUX comps in the past and nowadays the KEIHEUVEL Cup.

After the flights and retrieves there was a BBQ for over 100 friends and between 10 and 11 PM “Happy hour” in the KEI.
As we wanted to go home in time, we had a great meal in the Kei and had left before they all went there.

day 2 ;
Briefing at 10.30 so very relaxed.

Today they have to fly ; 77 km in the friendly class, 208 in the sport class and in open 203 km.
I stayed home and OUT of the sun. We have the 3d heatwave here in Holland in the 2019 summer and we have never had one so late in the season.

What happened in open class?
Bert and Tijl left together at 15. 22 which was rather late and finished together at 5 PM. . Bert was faster, but with the handicap for his Ventus 3 he has to fly fast and furious and 125 km./h was only 2 km./h better than Tijl.
Daan Spruyt flew both days very good in his ASW 27 , 8th on day 1 and 2 on day 2.
Diana did well, flying both day’s for a ” consistent middle” spot [17 and 16 from 28.
All today starting pilots [26] finished, as it turned out a real nice day with better thermals.
Final scores for this weekends Keiheuvel Cup in open class :
1. Bert Schmelzer in Ventus 3 with 1.024 points.
2. Daan Spruyt in ASW 27 with 1.017 p.
3. Tijl Schmelzer in Ventus 2CT/18 m. and Robin Smit in the LS 8 with 1009 p. so equal points for . Good on him as he still is a junior.
All points very close but luckily not ONE point.

In the sport class Peter Bertels and Frederic de Groote both in the nice little Libelle were on both day’s number 1 and 2.
So also in the final scores;
1. Peter with 1.271 points.
2. Frederic with 1.260 p.

In the” friendly ” class day 1 was won by Bernand Botman in LS 4 and the second day by Team van den Bosch/Derre in G 103 TwinII.
1. Van den Bosch/Derre with 166 points.
2. Gert Jan Andries in LS 4 with 157 p.
3. Nand Geuens with 144 in DG 400
4. Bernand with 143 p.

Mind you; these are NOT the final scores from the Flanders Soaring Cup 2019 . All scores from the 3 events together will be the final score and I do not have them now. When I have them I will share them.

EXTRA prizes;
THE ALBERT SCHMELZER MEMORY TROPHY is for Robin, as best junior.

and
for his 37th participation Johan Lemmens was put in the center of attention as well.

As always a great day out to catch up and a good weekend for all who were there in tents and caravans.Will be there again next year. With another diary-story!

Cheers Ritz

Leszno Cup 2019.
15 August 2019 – 25 August 2019

With 73 competitors in 3 classes , The LESZNO CUP, is one of the last big events in soaring here in Europe.
Highlight of these comps the POLISH NATIONALS in OPEN CLASS.
A lot of difficult East European names and not a lot of pilots I know, but a few are familiar from comps in the past, as Stanislaw Wujczak , Janusz Centka both from Poland and Adam Woolley from Australia, flying an ASG 32 with a Finish mate.
They started on Thursday August 15, in 3 classes.
standard class..…33 in this class but no flying on day 2 and 3. Day 1 showed a 279 km. task flown as best by Szymon Rawecki and Bartosz Orchel , but they both fly HC in their SZD 55 ; 117 and 116 km./h.
Winner from day 1 task 1 was Witold Czarnik in St Jantar 3. His speed ; 110 km./h.
Only 2 were “out”. AND,…you see,…difficult names!!!
On August 18 was finally the 2d flying-day with a 1.45 AAT flown by only 12 pilots and the best pilot in ASW 20 “got” 197 points for his effort of 137 km in time 1.41.

15m/18m. …..295 km. on day 1 task 1;
9 In this class 1 out. Maciej Adamski [LAK 19 T] was far ahead of Swiss pilot Robert Gwadera[Discus 2CT] ; 125 km./h and 118 km./h
Day 2 …task 2 had a 2 hour AAT and was flown by only 2 pilots.
Day 3 …task 3 was even shorter; 1.30 and flown by 7 from 8.
Day 4…task 4; 1.30 AAT, flown by 4 of the pilots. Best result 138 km. in time 1.43.

open class:
with 25 participants among them Adam from Australia and Rory Ellis from the UK.
Day 1 …task ...390 km. showed Zdzislaw Bednarczuk , who’s name I remember from other comps because it is such a difficult name.With his JS 3 he flew 151 km./h!!! Karol Staryszak in ASG 29 was runner up with also a nice speed of 149 km./h .
Adam was 3d with 143 km./h. in ASG 32.
Part of his comment in Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures:
“They’re using the P.E.V. marker starts here in a nice method, worked today, only saw three gliders all day. We had a positive start, waited for the line, got high, rolled on through.
The second leg was fun too, look deep, choose your line, stop & turn in the best lift.
3rd leg, the downwind leg gave some concern, but 20km from the TP we get rewarded with 8kts.
4th leg, just go home with some caution.
Overall, we cruised at 170-180kph all day & only stopped when we felt that it was a sure climb.

Day 2…task 2, 2.30 AAT; was for one of the Lucaszes, this time  Łukasz Wójcik ,in JS 3 with 127 km./h.over 326 km.
21 from 24 finished one of the out-pilots was Joanna Biedermann, a pity.
Day 3 …task 3 ;1.45 AAT… Karol Staryszak in an ASG 29, flew 232 km. in time 1.44.46 good for a speed of 132 km./h
Łukasz was runner up with 235 km. in time 1.50; speed of 128 km./h.
Day 4 …1.20 AAT,…but not flown. The day was scrubbed.
Adam;” Unfortunately, the unsoarable hour that SS predicted came through the local area, which was unlucky timing for the Open Class – we scrubbed as a result. “

So we start with the new week and hopefully nicer weather.
BUT,….no tasks on Monday!!!
So we continue with Tuesday August 20;BUT…no task.
No task yet for today, so more next Wednesday.
But we get summer back with temperatures up to 30 dgr. C. , so they might have the same “luck”.

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UK JUNIOR NATIONALS 2019.
Bristol and Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, 
 17 August 2019 – 25 August 2019

With the brand-new World Champion Jake and the runner up Finn .In total 36 participants in one class.
August 17; day 1 …..137 km.…and with all the Hungarian experience Jake and Finn raced to their 1 and 2 spot as if nothing/no time had been in between. Interesting to see that Jon Pring was about that fast as those 2 with 112 km./h. He started at 13.35 , early, whilst Jake and Finn started at 14.15.; 608, 607 and 606 points.
To share more experience …4 teams fly as well in Duo Discus and DG 1000 M, but they fly HC.
Unlucky young pilots as well, their dream was stuffed up by an outlanding as only 10 from 34 finished.
August 18; CANCELED.
” Sadly today’s competition flying is scrubbed due to strong wind warnings. “

The new week started with a “careful” set task from 148 km. which,…I am sad to say… was invalid. Jake showed his class ,flew 146 km. but the rest was not able to reach 100 km. so no points.

So looking then at Tuesday
August 20; 241 km….with AGAIN Jake as the best for the day!A class apart!!! 27 Finished and not sure about the Sleighs as there is an Ollie, who was 3d today in an LS 3 ,must be family …and by now well known Fin was 9th, loosing 200 points on his JWGC mate Jake, dropping from 2 to 4, but it ain’t over yet.
There are 2 Ollies , 1 Olly and one Oliver, popular name in the UK.

Today they fly 170 km. , so more next week.

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JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS in FRANCE.
Romorantin Pruniers
17 August 2019 – 24 August 2019

And in France 32 juniors are going to find out, who is the best from them in France. Club class with 20 participants and the other class is a mix from Standard, 15 m. and 2 seaters; 12 in this class.
One practice day which was flown by 2 in the mixed class and 4 in club class.Lot’s of the French designed PEGASE in this class.
2 day’s cancelled before they could start the comps. But then the weather had really improved.
August 19;
Club class….263 km;
94 km./h was the best result by Edgar in the PEGASE after a rather early start; 911 points.
11 From 18 finished, but they did all well flying between over 100 to 251 km….which is nearly “home”.
Mixed class….334; a 1000 points-day in this class with a speed of 101 km./h for daily winner Alexandre in ASW 20.
9 From 11 finished!!

Tuesday August 20;
Club; 2.15 AAT…. All 19 pilots flew the task one further and faterthan the other. Aurélien Doriat in her PEGASE won the day with 230 km.in 2.15 at the dot!!!!Well deserved points for the day; 702…speed 102 km./h.
mixed; 2.30 AAT….ALL 11 in this class finished as well,so a happy day for all young ones.Daily winner with 324 km. in time 2.44 was Hugo Roche in an LS 4 with winglets. Best speed for the day 124 km./h in an ASW 27 for place 2.

Today they have to fly 271 km. in club class and 307 in the mixed class.
More next week.

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Other News.

From Australia;
Ingo  was presented” the Instructor of the year award, for his ongoing dedication and services in our sport, a very worthy recipient, at the VSA AGM ,which was held last weekend at Bacchus Marsh Gliding Club ” .
Congratulations Ingo.
That day Lumpy Paterson from Sportavia Tocumwal got a reward as well.

From the UK;
“ We are delighted to confirm that Ed Downham has set a new national record for the UK Open Class Triangle Distance and Free Triangle Distance by flying an EB28 around an 837.5km task on the 12th May 2019 after taking off from London GC. “
AND…..
a 600 k declared adding a “few” OLC km.on August 13.
Flown by Andy Aveling and Garry Coppin.
” During task prep I thought this declaration may have been a bit ambitious. As we pulled off tow, it was apparent that conditions were better than forecast. And it got better still. At Framlingham, I was wondering what we were going to do with the 3 hours of soaring that would be available after our LX predicted finish time. Fortunately, we decided to add O/R Birdlip to make an 800K day of it. Another great day out for Garry & I. “

From New Zealand;
“ It’s official! Sabrina has set a new NZ female record for speed over a 100km out-and-return task, making two laps of the course with a best speed of 171.77 km/h. “
The flight took place on 7th August and the record was confirmed today by Gliding New Zealand.

From Russia;
The pilot from the by a bird strike hit Airbus 321 from Ural Airlines in Russia MUST have been a glider pilot. Landing his plane after the start in a grass paddock was more or less an “out-landing”. He had no power anymore , could not pull the wheels {maybe better!!!!} and showed his class with a good belly landing.
He saved ALL passengers 233 [ 23 were injured] and the crew. Great stuff, ..
Putin straight away made them HERO’S with a high award, which was well deserved. Indeed great job!!!

From Rietie;
How Jonker Sailplanes looked back at the CIM in Rietie.
“Ten great contests days had a mix of everything – strong fast stuff but also weak blue conditions and the odd sea breeze – a nice challenge for the 50 pilots.
In the 18 m class Arne Boye-Møller flying his JS3 participated for the first time in Rieti and finished third place behind the local mountain GURU, Giorgio Galetto (Ventus 3) and Bert Schmelzer in his 29.
Ronald Termaat won the open class followed by Eric Bernard both flying their JS1C in 21m configuration. Alberto Sironi unfortunately got a wrong task sheet and then turned a turnpoint too early and fell back on third place overall in his Quintus.
In the mixed class Louis “PINK” Bouderlique and his father Jean-Louis in their ARCUS M showed everyone how it should be done. Mauro Brunazzo finished in 2nd place in front of the SA-Dutch “Dream Team” with 15 year old Annouk Termaat flying with her senior first officer, veteran Laurens Goudriaan. They were leading for most of the competition, and probably would have won wasn’t it for their “bad day”, when (according to Annouk) it was Lauren’s turn to fly.
Rieti is such a fun competition with such great people, food and weather. This should be on every pilot’s bucket list... “

From the OLC;
Several over 700 km. flights this time of the year from Rieti and yesterday even over 800 km. Also places in France show nice long flights.
Michael Sommer nearly flew a 1000 , in his EB 29 R, from Puimoisson; 962 km.
It looks we might be in for a nice after-summer-period.

Well, your up to date again.
When the blog from a week ago shows up on Wednesday morning, just refresh and the latest blog shows up or go to August [to th r.] click and the last one is there.
More next Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz

11th FAI JWGC.

Last couple of days for the junior pilots and they had a few day’s already under their belt!!But it’s only over after the last day. So being tired, tense or having last-day’s-jitters, it is all part of a JWGC and,….it all can have an influence on the performance.
Who keeps the head COOL!?

Day 11...Task 9 ;
Keeping the heads cool is important on Wednesday as the temperatures raised to 34 dgr. C in the shade. The forecast for the rest of the week is ” flying till the end”. For today,…no rain.Last day is Saturday!
First launch at 12.15.
Of course I am a tiny bit orange-colored , so pleased to see that, after a few difficulties in the beginning, the Dutch boy’s are really doing well.
Mind you we had since the beginning 3x a JWGC champion; in 2011 Tim Kuijpers,[club] in 2013 Peter Millenaar [st.] and the 2017, so current champion in St Class is Sjoerd van Empelen.
In the morning as usual the prize giving and Jelmer was for the 3d day in a row at the podium….on 3 this time.

Club class….3 hour AAT; Messages as “2000 m” , showed another good day!Some even flew in wave. But it was a tricky day with strong [head-] wind. The 3 German pilots in club did well, stayed together and finished on spot 3-4 and 5 behind the 2 young Czechs David and Daniel, who is still hanging in. Consistent pilot.
The UK had a a bit of a difficult day too.No Jake and Finn today upfront but Jake at 15 and Finn on 27!! So loosing points both, but Jake is still on spot 1 overall and Finn is now number 3 ,35 points less than Max from Germany who is in between.
34 from 44 finished.

St. class…2.45 AAT; You wish for nobody to outland, but certainly not for the number 1 in standard class, Robin. He flew so well!!!! Today he was out after 59 km!!!He started together with the other German mates , they both finished ,Simon S.even won the day with 275 km. in time 2.41.
As I read they had problems in the beginning, before start already, to find good lift and then there was the strong head wind. Height was important; weather to stay as high as possible. Robin got low and had to land, Simon was low,but found lift over the paddock. I have seen that before…one out, one continues. I remember that year, even the paddock, the disbelieve of the pilot looking at the other slowly going up and disappearing.
Robin “dived” from 1 to 4, he only got 99 points, his mates went up ;Simon Schroeder from 3 to 1 and Simon Briel stayed at 2, he was 13th for the day. A tough day for the German team, but they believe in each other and it is NOT over yet!!!.
Good day for the Czechs Jaromir and Jan on 2, and 3 .
25 From 36 finished.

DAY 12… task 10;
They all woke up in a cool morning with covering clouds but the expectation was that flying in the afternoon was possible.So small tasks,..but ….a flying day and later launches and starts.A grey/blue day.
Club…143 km;They had a day,..but what kind of day. Mass out landing again and only a few distance points no speed points.
Dave Collins in his LS 3 won the day for 166 points, and not really important for him as he was on spot 40 overall and stays there, BUT he won a day at the JWGC!!!
Daniel [Ryba] was runner up and I admire his consistence.He needs 42 points on the last day to be in the top 3. Starts around 3 PM.
No significant changes.

Standard…161 km.;Sjoerd from Holland did well flew over 100 km. but heard that most had flown back, meaning it would not be a valid day. So zero points for 104 km. He and Lucas Schneeberger were the only ones over 100 km. Well done guy’s even for zero points. They were recognized by the organizers!!! Good!!
German team shared some pictures on more difficult out landings. Hope there was no major damage.

• 

Day 13 task 10 in club and 9 in standard; One but last day!!!
After another mass outland, again very short tasks! Some tried hard for 4 hours, the day before, that’s tiring, certainly at the end of a world competition with many day’s.!!! So I hope the last day’s , will not be a lottery -day after such great friendly fights for the top.
First launch at 11.45. Lift after launches 1.5 up to 1300 m. later 1600. Stable air and high temperatures,so pretty weak weather, but CU’s were seen as well. Let’s wait and see what happens. Flying messages from the air, became more enthusiastic!!
Club….165 km.; a 1-2 for Dutchies Robin and Thijs, with a speed of around 80 km./h in St Cirrus and LS 4. Jake was 13th ,Finn 16th but not too bad with one day to go, they are together again in the overall top and Max ,who only had 428 points as number 27 for the day, shares this runner up spot.
2 Out and a top of 578 points for Robin.
Interesting to see was , that Robin started early at 13.36, whilst many others started much later; Jake and Finn at 14.48 as last and a big bunch with the German and French pilots at 14.40. That’s more than ONE HOUR difference on a short task.
This is part of John Goods view on the day:”
“For possibly the first time here at JWGC2019, the weather exceeded the forecast.  Not by a lot, and not for the whole day, but at least for a while lift strength and especially thermal heights were really pretty good. In the face of this, the tasks (no doubt set with the assumption of weak weather, and in view of zero finishers yesterday) were too short, as evidenced by the winners’ devalued scores (578 and 487 points).

At a WGC event, a short task on a good-weather day – especially one that’s mostly blue – is guaranteed to produce “start gate roulette”: everyone wants to start just a few minutes behind everyone else, then use them as markers to show where good climbs are to be found.  So for the best part of 2 hours today, it was an aerial version of “After you, sir.” “No, after you – I insist”.  The result – especially when the day weakens a bit – is that the late starters may struggle to get home.  It’s strange that top pilots would deliberately delay their start until it’s too late to achieve good speeds – but the contest format, the scoring rules, and the advantage of flying with other gliders make this a (semi-) rational choice.

Today’s Club class results show this clearly: 18 pilots had start times more than an hour later than those who achieved the best speeds of the day.  Among them were all British, German and Czech pilots – the three teams that hold the top 6 positions overall. 

It’s interesting that this effect is not seen in todays Standard class results, which show that all pilots started over a span of just 27 minutes.  Perhaps the fact that that class launches last each day has something to do with this. 

,
Don’t know the youngsters from Belgium this year but one of them was 3d. Good on him.

Standard…176 km.; a new name as number 1 for the day; Emil Dalboe-Pedersen from Denmark….487 points for him. Not so many points for the German leaders as Simon S was 26th with 296 points and Simon B and Robin had less as they finished on spot 29 and 31.But with 1 day to go the Simon’s hold on; 6.750 for 6.568. Behind them 2 Polish pilots Tomasz and Julius with 6.307 and 6.071.

Day 14…task 11/10; VERY LAST DAY!!!!
I looked at a short video from team UK [Jake and Finn] getting together to say a few words with 3 German boy’s and I must say ,…they are SO relaxed.
As relaxed as Brian Spreckley was on the last evening when he became WGC champion in Benalla.
So, today seems another blue day with dry thermals and already nice warm in the early morning. Expectation is for 1 to 1.5 lift.
The UK team members added;” The big day is upon us. Both classes have very similar AATs today, conditions are blue and not all that strong. The boys have spent the time since briefing discussing how best to play the day, and they’re now all on the grid waiting to launch. Good luck…we’re all counting on you. “
The weather during the day improved and was really better than forecasted.

Club…3 hour AAT; First launch was at 11.30; In this class it’s all about the UK guy’s, the German boys and the Czech ones.And,..between ASW 20, LS 4 and not to forget Daniel’s ASW 19. Difference in points between Jake at 1 and Czech pilot David at 6 is 7.467 and 7.234.
Till 4.40 finishes were scored then there was “silence” till 18.30????!!!
17 were scored and keeping the best for the last day’s it seems that Robin won another day. But it was weird to have to wait SO long on a last day.
We had seen that there could be more than an hour difference in start time but,…on the last day???
Lot’s waited ” Everyone is nervously waiting for scores – we honestly have no idea which way this will go. Thanks to those of you back home who are also furiously refreshing Soaring Spot ” Team UK.
They continued with the scores at 19.10!!!!

Then it is not Robin but another Dutchie on spot 1; Thijs Bastiaanse.
Meaning that all 3 club pilots, Robin, Thijs and Jelmer, had a daily win during this competition!!!
The top 3 overall was scored and as Jake was runner up behind Thijs, he won the comps with Finn as runner up and German Max as number 3.

Standard…3 hour AAT; their gate opened at 13.35 Also in this class some early finishes from early starters. They had scores till 17.00 then it was quiet there too. At that stage , around 6.45 PM Sjoerd was daily winner in the st. class.That would mean 2 Dutchies on top again in each class one.
At 8 PM still only 21 scored.BUT,..Sjoerd was the daily winner!!!!
4 Out on the last day.

And that was that. Party time and today prize-giving.
Great results and great flying by the young ones.
Top results by the German, UK , Dutch, Czech and French team.
The TEAM CUP was for Germany with 904 points.
Of course the UK team was runner up with 852 and the Dutch team 3d with 833 followed by France with 825 points.

Total results and WORLD champion in club class;
1. Jake Brattle from the UK in ASW 20 with 8.453 points.
2. Finn Sleigh from the UK in ASW 20 with 8.306 p.
3. Max Dorsch from Germany in LS 4 with 8.263 p.

Certificates for Tobias from Germany on 4 in LS 4, David from Czech Rep. in LS 4 on 5, Philipp from Germany in LS 4 on 6, Robin from Holland in St Cirrus on 7,Milan from Slovakia in Pegase on 8 Mark from Slovenia in DG 300on 9 and Jelmer from Holland on 10 in St Cirrus.

Total results and WORLD CHAMPION in Standard class;
1. Simon Schroeder from Germany in LS 8 with 7.422 points
2. Simon Briel from Germany in Discus 2A with 7.262 p.
3. Tomasz Hornik from Poland in Discus 2A with 7.000 p.

Certificates for Juliusz from Poland in Discus 2A on spot 3, Robin from Germany in Discus 2A on 5, Aude in Discus 2A and Hugo in LS 8 from France on 6 and 7, Sjoerd from Holland in LS 8 on 8, Sofiane from France in LS 8 on 9 and Jaromir from Czech Rep in LS 8 on 10!!

GREAT RESULTS, super comps even with 2 mass outlanding- day’s SUPER YOUNG ONES.Pictures later or on Wednesday.

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3d FAI PAN AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP IN ROCKTON CANADA.
29 July 2019 – 14 August 2019

After 4 day’s of flying they had no task on Tuesday. ” weather forced a rest day”.
On task 4 with NO finishes in 15m/st. and 6 in 18 m. and none in club class the comment from US Soaring teams was :”  @SOSAGlidingClub was a challenging one with many wrinkles, as CD Ken Sorensen likes to say, and many land-outs. “

Task 5 on August 7;
15m./St. ….245 km; Good on Sarah,…she won the day in her Ventus 2ax. 98 km./h. Francois was 3d.
2 from 14 were out.

18 m…255 km; Sergei is in a good flow. He won another day; 93 km./h. But spot 1 had to be shared with USA pilots Sean [Fidler] and Jae [Walker]
All 13 finished.
Club….221 km;  Greg Shugg from the USA won the day in his LS4.Carlos was runner up and Sarah’s husband Jason was 3d.
All 13 pilots finished.

No flying on Thursday. The weather is ‘off” a bit,….. it seems everywhere.

Friday August 9….day 8 task 6;

St/15 m…..3.15 AAT;249 km was the best in time 3.19 and done by Phil Gaisford . 4 US pilots in the top this day in this class.Only 7 from 14 finished. Some flew back. “Poor” Francois got ONE point for the day!!!
18 m……3.30 AAT; 338 k. was the best result in time 3.39.From 13 2, did not finish. Canadian pilot  Joerg Stieber won the 961 points.
club……3.30 AAT; 255 in time 3.05 by Argentinian pilot Carlos was TOP. One pilot had minus 23 points due to hazardous maneuver and Jason , husband from Sarah only 31 for 13 km..
The TC from Team US Colin Mead;” Weather wise the day was also frustrating as the high winds caused problems.  Thermals were weak and broken making it difficult to climb and get on task. Several pilots landed out or returned to SOSA for a relight or after one or more tries returned and quit the day. “
And…..” Unfortunately in Club Greg Shugg and Jason Arnold landed out.  Both executed great starts but ran into weak condition on task.  Jason broke a gear door on landing but was easily repaired and is read to go. “

Saturday August 10.. day 9, task 7;
15m/st; 4 hour AAT ….5 US pilots in the top with Phil as the best with 369 km. in time 4.11.
18m; 3.45 AAT…Good old Gary Ittner won the day in his ASG 29, flying 388 km. in time 3.53. Canadian pilots Jerzy and Dave were runners up.
open; 4 hour AAT...Argentinian pilots Raul and Carlos were the best with 334 km. in 4.07 in ASW 20 and 318 km in time 3.55.

More on Wednesday.

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INTERNATIONAL BAILLEAU.
30 July 2019 – 9 August 2019

Last day’s in Bailleau had better weather again. After 2 non-flying day’s everybody was ready for their best final sprint.

They have a different way of looking at comps and I share what they are doing again;
International / Speed Race : for those who prefer to fly the fastest, during the optimal period of the day, or for those who prefer to be on time for the evening barbecue.
International / Long Flights : this class is the one that best fits a “usual” contest task, where tasks are set to maximize distance, across most of the flying day
There is a side race within the Bailleau International contest : the “Trophée Le Maon” (named after a former and iconic Chief Pilot in Bailleau). This trophy awards the “fastest” pilot during the Contest.
Last year won by Sjoerd van Empelen, now flying as still current JWGC standard class champion, the JWGC.
Like every year for 22 years now, Bailleau International will also be running the now famous “Amical” Contest, for which it will be the 22nd edition : a very good atmosphere, a competition aimed at rookie racing pilots, the “Amical” was initiated by Bernard Launay, and it is one of the best ways for a pilot to take his first steps in competition …
Its main purpose is to allow contestants to discover all aspects of a competition, but with the benefits of a dedicated organisation, achieving a stress level close to 0% ! While it definitely IS a gliding contest, the “Amical” can act as a perfect springboard for the Bailleau International Contest .

DAY 9 task 6;
Speed class….351 km.: Best speed 101 km./h for Jeroen [Verkuijl] and you can’t call that real speed , meaning it was tough weather!
Only 28 finished and with 2 day’s to go Jeroen leads with 500 points; 5.045 points!!!!
Young Peter [Daems] from Keiheuvel is runner up with 4.545 points.
Distance class….576 km; Yes that’s distance again !!!!! BUT,… Later changed in 469. Still a nice distance and French pilot Christophe Delort D’Exea in his ASH 25 /26 m. flew around with 113 km./h. A tad faster than Dutch pilot Steven Huiskes in Ventus 3, who moved from 5 overall to 2!!!! Number 1 is “dad” Ronald [Kaay.] climbing from 3 after being 5th today.
The AMICAL….301 km; No…. after winning every day till now , Noud [Kaay] did not win this day; he was 3d. Maybe after a too early start at 14.50. The winner Théo Manfredi in LS 4 won after he started 27 minutes later in his LS 4.That’s learning too !!!

Day 10…task 7;Last day!!!!!!
Speed class; 2.30 AAT….The Duo Discus from the Gelderse won the day. Tjeerd will be pleased. 109 km. h. Runner up good old Patrick Stouffs in a 15 m LS 8. Good to see him back in comps again !!! Only 1 out. Margot was 25th, so a less good last day for her and she dropped from 3 to 5 overall.
Winners in this class;
1. Jeroen Verkuijl [Holland] in 18 m. JS 1C EVO with 5.829 points!!!!!
2. Pieter Daems [Belgium] in Discus 2b with 5.353 p.
3. Martin Bierhuizen [Holland] in ASW 27 with 5.187 p.

Distance class;349 km….Other team members from the Gelderse , now in their not long ago purchased Nimbus 4 D , won with a speed of 122 km./h. . A pity to see that Francois who was 1 overall is not flying his EB 29R the last couple of day’s.
Winners in this class;
1. Jan Willem van Doorn/ Ronald Stellaard [Holland] in Nimbus 4D ;6.317 p.
2. Ronald Kaay [Holland] in ASG 29 /18 m. with 6.272 p.
3. Steven Huiskes [Holland] in Ventus 3 /18m with 6.134 p.

Amical class; 2.30 AAT…YES yes young Nout won 2.35 km. in time 2.36. Good on him.Theo , a local pilot from Bailleau was runner up.
4 flying in this class and Nout and Theo are both more than 1500 and 1000 points ahead.
So true winners:
1. Noud Kaay in LS 4 [HOLLAND] 4.629 points.
2. Theo Mafredi [France] in LS 4 with 4.240 p.
3. Nicolas Peigne [France] in Pegase with 3.096 p.

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CIM in RIETI.
4 August 2019 – 14 August 2019

DAY 4 …TASK 4;
18 m….2.15 AAT; And Swiss pilot Stefan [Sidler] won the day in his ASG 29 with 137 km./h just ahead of Bert jr. [same glider] with 136.94 km./h.
18 from 19 finished!
After 4 days Giorgio, who was 4th today, is the number one overall with Bert on number 2 with 11 points less,…that is feeling pressure for Giorgio!!!
mixed….2 hour AAT; AND,…not an off-day now for Luca!!! He won; 224 km. in time 2.01.
Laurens was 3d, but still leads overall.
10 From 11 finished.
open….2 hour AAT; Only 5 pilots left in this class as the NIMETA and ASH 31 MI, are not scored anymore, but with Alberto [Sironi], Ronald [Termaat] Pierre [de Broqueville] Davide [Schiavotto] and Eric [Bernard], all strong pilots!!!
269 km. for Eric [JS 1 c/21 m] was the best result. The THE Broquevilles were runner up
They started together but Pierre was a tad slower;129.46 km./h and 129.04 km./h.
And surprise surprise the NIMETA was back again but not yet in the right mood; out after 131 km.

August 9…day 6 …task 5;
18 m….376 km. A great Rieti day with top speed by Giorgio Galetto in his Ventus 3; 140 km./h!!!All pilots did finish.

mixed….355 km.Italian- ARCUS M -day, as Istel & Cavattoni won with a speed of 126 km./h.
open…394 km. Eric and Pierre seem to fly together at least they start and finish together. 137 km./h for Eric and a tad slower for Pierre; 953 for 952 points!!!

August 10…day 7…task 6;
18 m…406 km; 6 Pilots , Giuseppe Dal Grande, Bert,Giorgio, Werner [Danz] and Arne [Neumayr] , Stefan Sidler, flew the task. Best speed of 129 km./h for Giuseppe .
But the great day was cancelled in all classes and that gave me a “creepy” feeling.
I was right. There was a mid air, for that reason, cancellation of the day, but everybody is OK.
mixed …352 km; team Brunazzo and the Leuteneggers finished.
open…371 km; Ronald finished with a speed of 140 km./h

The official news ;” Today a collision occurred between two gliders. One of them was able to fly back to Rieti using self sustainer engine, the other pilot launched with a parachute, landing totally unhurt. Now they are at the bar talking friendly about the accident. Due this reason today’s race is cancelled. “
They fly again today!

More on Wednesday.

Too much maybe but there is a lot happening. From now on it’s only the Wednesday’s again.

Cheers Ritz

JWGC in SZEGED.
–
After the rest- day last Saturday, soaring life continued again on Sunday and though it was “colder” there in Szeged than normal, flying was on for the “young ones”. So here we go again.

You might have not noticed yet that I published a blog last Sunday as well, the first after all the problems. I am still struggling a bit as pictures IN the blog are not as easy anymore as it was.The set up is changed, it’s all more modern ,so I have to go with the time-flow. But,…I am a quick learner. The blog will be published as normal on Wednesday’s again…BUT in busy times I will add a Sunday extra.

AUGUST 4…TASK 6;
Club class…341 km; A good start of the last week, as everybody is keen again to go for it. Early launches as well at 11 AM. Specially the Dutch crew is happy with the long day for their pilots,as our F 1-hero MAX VERSTAPPEN had for the first time in his life pole position AND that was at the Hungaroring in Hungary.They had time to follow it!!!
First the daily prizes were handed over and the best one was for Sjoerd who won the last flying day. Also another Dutch pilot, Thijs, got a little present. He had landed in a prison area .He called it a sort of Alcatraz. He had to wait for hours surrounded by men with weapons, but after he showed all paperwork and I guess the authorities phoned Szeged as well, he was allowed to go. Interesting story. …a bit of adventure.
On the picture you see the gift he got at the briefing. Picture shared by the Dutch Junior Gliding Team

The flying was interesting too. A real racing day !!No,…. not a clean sweep this time by the UK, the French or the Germans but by the DUTCH. Max, by the way, did not win, he was runner up , after a great strategy by Mercedes, but they did.
1-2-3!!!!! Good on them. 1000 points for Jelmer Vis, 985 for Robin Smit and ” back from prison ” Thijs Bastiaanse. [960]Speed from 93 km./h. AND,….Daniel Ryba still holds on ,….he was 4th. AND,…he is number 1 now overall, as Jake and Finn had an off day and finished as 19th and 20thiest. BUT,…..only 5 points difference!!!

Standard class….389; 7 Pilots had between 994 and 1000 points. The 1000 were AGAIN for Aude from France. Good on her!!!Then the 3 German pilots [998/7] and with 996 points Michael Marshall from the USA and 2 Swiss pilots had 994 points.
They all started and finished together as a big bunch of white plastic.

John Good , [team USA] who always writes good comments ,wrote this story about today:
” A challenging day today, with post-frontal weather that produced some very good lift and some difficult areas, with spreadout, light rain and then dead skies on final glide. In the face of a complex forecast that mentioned various sources of possible trouble, the tasks looked long-ish: 342 km for Club class, and 388 km for Standard (whose start always opens about 45 minutes later than Club class). 

It proved a frustrating day for J.P. Stewart and Noah Reitter, who achieved excellent speeds and got very close to a solid final glide, only to find nothing during a 40-km glide, leading to outlandings (safe, but disappointing) about 6km from the finish. With a warning of trouble from those ahead, Daniel Sazhin was able to get the height needed to glide through the dead area, finish (just barely high enough) and arrive safely home.

In Standard class, Michael Marshall had an excellent day, starting at about the right time with a strong gaggle (of French and German gliders) and marching smartly around the task. The result was a fifth-place finish, just 4 points out of first.  The game of starting at the right start time – with the right sort of company – is always important at WGC events and has been especially so at JWGC2019 given the way weather has played out most days.

Tonight’s airfield social event was a screening of the classic soaring movie The Sunship Game, sponsored by the US Team.  This 1971 film by Robert Drew focuses on the rivalry between George Moffat and Gleb Derujinsky, finishing at the 1969 National Soaring Championships at Marfa TX. The film has acquired near cult status among soaring pilots.  If you haven’t seen it, you should certainly track down a copy and do so soon.

John Good

AUGUST 5..TASK 7;
The Dutch Juniors shared on FB the prize giving as the special result of a 1-2-3 was more than worth doing so.Great to see.But then the daily tasks ….BIG!!!! BUT,…the weather seems OK with a height of 2400 m. predicted in the East of the flying area.First start at 11. Go go….juniors.
The UK team added :” Big day, big tasks. 500km for both classes – here’s to a good flight from everyone! Tracking link: https://link.glideandseek.com/jwgc2019-task7
#JWGC2019

Club class…501 km;!!!!!!That is a lot of kilometers for the small “ships” during a competition!!!!! In the end the task was too ambitious and ALL pilots landed in a paddock somewhere, but some nearly made it.. CHAPEAU. I could read on the different sites how they all struggled to stay up.
The UK team mentioned ;” 6:10pm, pretty much the entire Standard Class field has landed out or is about to. The Club Class is struggling, with our boys out the front of the pack with 70km to run to home. Hoping for something miraculous... ” That did not happen but they were good;6th.[470 km]
Dutch winner from the day before, Jelmer, was still in winning mood and flew himself in the St Cirrus, over 484 km.!!!!! WOW!!!!!
His 2d win in a row!!!!600 points only though.
3 pilots were only 20 k out!!! Milan Surovčík from Czech Rep and Slovenian pilots Mark Travner and Mark Polajžar reached 479 , 477 and 478 km from the set 500 in a Pegase and DG 300. GREAT job!!!
For the last pilot who flew 158 km. the amount of 191 points were waiting.

Standard class….501 km;What started full of hope and joy ended somewhere in a paddock!! Also in this class NOBODY made it home though they fought for it. 455k. was the closest glider a Discus 2A with Simon Briel from Germany. Ignas Bitinaitis from the Ukraine was runner up.
A tough and busy day for the crews.
AND ,..not too many points to win after such a “terrible” day!!600 for Simon and still 405 for the last pilot with 307 km. All flew over 300 km. so the beginning of the day was good. The over- development later “killed” the day. A pity.
John Good’s look at the day, at least part of it the rest is on https://ussoaringteams.org/john-good-jwgc-report-8-5-conte…/
“A difficult and eventful day today.  At the morning pilot briefing, we were told to expect the best weather of the contest – and when the tasks were displayed, we learned we’d need it: both classes were given assigned tasks just over 500 km.  It was also clear that we’d need some luck, as an overcast area in the Alps well west of Szeged was forecast to spin off high cloud into Hungary by mid-afternoon.  Leaving out this uncertainty, pilots were told to expect good lift to over 7000’ – easily the best since the start of competition.

Unfortunately, even before launch time satellite loops showed the high cloud marching steadily eastward.  It began to affect the western part of the task area before pilots started, and after an hour or so on task, afternoon forecasts and the achieved rate of cross-country progress made it clear that something unusual would be needed to allow many task completions in either class.

The necessary miracle did not materialize, with the result that every pilot outlanded today.”

AUGUST 6…TASK 8 ;
I guess, a lot of tired people there at Szeged and I hope NO damage!!! the day started with the prize giving and Jelmer and Simon got great support and were cheered on. To avoid another day with mass out landings, AAT’s were set , both not too far from the airfield. It’s heating up again.
A day on which the start is important and a prediction of rain in the late afternoon.
During the day I read all enthusiastic words as ” I have 4 m./s” and “cloud base at 1600 at 2 PM.” , though the day started blue.There was wave as well.
It seems club and standard could help each other!! So what will the day bring!?
Club class…3 hour AAT; and….. Finn and Jake are back in business again flying 261km. in time 3.10 for 1000 and 999 points, after a rather late start. That was quite a bit further than the number 3 and 4 , Dutchies Jelmer and Thijs with 247 km in time 3.12/09. This time Daniel could n’t hang in and was 22d. So Jake and Finn are in the lead again with a difference between them of 19 points, German pilots Maximilian and Tobias are 3d and 4th now [LS 4] and Daniel 5th.
40 from 44 finished!!!
Standard class …3 hour AAT;German team members Simon S. and Robin and Simon B. started together at 13.49 and Swiss pilot Nico Jägli went with them. They flew all 4 over 290 km.Number 5 Dutch pilot Sjors flew 262 km.
31 From 35 finished. Aude had a less good day; 29th.She dropped from 4 to 7.But,….it is not over yet!!!!
BUT,….the German boys lead with more than 400 points!!!

More next Sunday!

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INTERNATIONAL BAILLEAU.
30 July 2019 – 9 August 2019

TASK 6; They continued with a smaller task in each class and late starts.
Speed class….234 km; 3.25 PM was the start time from Jeroen Verkuijl, a good choice as he won the day with a speed of 113 km./h. in his JS 1CEVO. Not so much slower was good old Ken Evens from Belgium in his Nimbus 4DM. Ken , who moves at the airfield in a wheel chair , is one of the most enthusiastic glider pilots I know.His speed ; 109 km./h.
From the 38 participants 4 did not fly and 7 were “aux vaches”.
Distance class…..332 km;12 Dutch pilots in the top 14 but a French winner , Dimitri Choler in an 18 m. LS 6!!Speed 113 km./h! Others had a different handicap and the best speed was 119 km. by Jaap Horsten From Holland in his 21m JS1C.
27 started and finished but 2 were in a forbidden zone and got points till their mistake.

Then 2 non flying-day’s, task 7 on Monday was cancelled, no task on Tuesday, yesterday, either.Rain.
The last 3 days will be published on Sunday.

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CIM in Rieti Italy.
4 August 2019 – 14 August 2019

Fabulous to see that a lot of pilots found their way again to Rieti in Italy. I have been there many years, as crew in 1984 at the Pre -WGC and as guest in 1985 at the WGC, when Ingo won.Did the JWGC and WGC over there as competition journalist on invitation and the Cim [Coppa Internationale del Mediterraneo ] 2 or 3 times , also on invitation, and loved the field, the people and the pilots flying there.

TASK 1;
They started on Sunday in 3 classes and Aldo [Cernezzi] is the CD.
The ceiling was between 2500 and 3000 m. So a real good day!! They use five tow planes: Maule, Stinson L5 and three DR400 Robin.
18 m…425 km; And nearly local pilot Alvaro, who flies already for years in Rieti, where I met him [but also earlier at WGC’s] was the daily winner;134.80 was the speed in his 18 m. ASH 31MI.
Jon Gatfield moved quickly from the -Livno- SGP to Rieti. He was 7th for the day.
18 Pilots in this class among them Arne Boye Moeller,[3d for the day] Bert Schmelzer jr. , [11th for the day] Thomas Gostner [8th for the day] and Giorgio Galetto.[6th for the day].
Mixed class…373 km. and an Italian group from 4 were the best with Luca Urbani as their leader,with 128 km,../h. in his Discus. Till…..Laurens and his German team mate changed the scores flying Laurens ASG 32 MI to a speed of 135 km./h.
11 Pilots in this class among them Andy and Simon Leutenegger flying an ARCUS together and Louis Bouderlique. They all finished.
Open….511km; with toppers as Bruno Gantenbrink, Pierre de Broqueville, Ronald Termaat and Eric Bernard. The Gantenbrink’s won the day in the ETA with 131 km./h AND former junior Davide was runner up in an ASH 25MI /26 m. with 129 km./h.

TASK 2;
Their news ;” Day 2. For today around 400 km tasks have been assigned. Weather forecast: weak east wind on the Adriatic side and weak from west on the Tyrrhenian side. Also today there will be confluence! The ceiling will be between 2600m and 3300m. After 5pm there will be any more termical activity. “
18 m. class…455 km; Thomas [Ventus 3T] called it a BEAUTIFUL day, I understand why,..he won with a nice speed of 108 km./h Not really fast , considering the VERY fast flights I have seen from Rieti, but the winning speed . Runner up was Ugo Pavesi in ASG 29 and Bert Schmelzer jr, was 3d 4km.h. faster than Giorgio.
8 were OUT including Alvaro, after 153 km.such a pity.
mixed class...419 km;The Bouderliques in the ARCUS M won the day with 106 km./h. And another pilot, Luca, who was so good on day 1 , was out as well after 210 km.
open class...449 km; I met Pierre and Arnaud, a few times at Rieti, so they know the area well. Today they won in the EB 29DR with 117.18 km./h. Just ahead of Eric Bernard who had in his JS 1C/21 m. 117 .05 km./h.
The ETA seems to have not flown.

TASK 3;
Meteo forecast Day 3- Wind from West South / west from 10 to 35 km / h. Thermal intensity will be 2 m / sec -1 m / sec (average seeYou). Dry thermals on side west of the mountains, in the afternoon on east side there will be clouds bases between 2500m and 3200m. Convergence will be only to the East.

18 m. class…..415 km.….The JS 3 from Arne was in a hurry and with a speed of 123.88 km./h he was just a tad faster than Bert with 123.30 km./h!!Very good for what I think his first time in Rieti.
18 From 19 finished!!!
I miss this year the Austrians with Peter Hartmann, Heimo Demmerer and Wolfgang and Ludwig Starkl. They normally fly in Rieti at the CIM.
Mixed class …391 km.…S. A / German team Laurens in the mighty ASG 32 MI were in a hurry as well and won the day with 120 km./h That was much faster than the runners up in the ARCUS M with 97 km./h.
3 were out among them the Leuteneggers and Luca,…this is not his year!!
Open class….432 km….Alberto Sironi in his Quintus M, flew 113 km./h and won the day. Davide had only 74 points .The Gantenbrinks are still out so no ETA flying. Alberto leads with nearly 200 points.
More on Sunday.

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3d FAI PAN AMERICAN Gliding Championship.
29 July 2019 – 14 August 2019

In Rockton in Canada the comps continued as well

Day 3 task 3...
15m./st.class…261 km. with 2 ASW 27 ‘s in the top; USA pilot Fernando Silva won with a speed of 95 km./h. That was quite a bit faster than the Canadian runner up  Luke Szczepaniak with 88 km.h.7 From 14 finished.
18 m. class….262 km; 4 ASG 29 gliders on top. Speed by Joerg Stieber from Canada was 106 km./h for 688 points.12 From 13 finished.

Club class….257 km and 3 winners from Argentina. Carlos in ASW 20, Paula in St Jantar and Matias in St. Cirrus. With Jason dropping from 2 overall to 12 due to an airspace violation after 18 km. these 3 are in the overall top now as well.

Day 4 …task 4 :
15 m./st class….2.30 AAT and NOBODY finished!!! Luke flew 245 km. and was the best. USA female pilot Sylvia was last with only 10 k. for 19 points.
18 m….3 hour AAT and finishers in this class;6 from 13 and 2 of them, the winner and runner up, just made it in , but got a remark on a too low finish. So did Dave who flew
Club…3 hour AAT…216 km. by Carlos was the best result. He leads with nearly 300 points. But still a week to go!!!

That’s it for now. I still struggle a bit with the new set up, but I am getting there. Bill has been MARVELOUS!!!!

And last but not least some extra news from Klippeneck I got from Bert Schmelzer sr. ,who is always very kind to write about the family experience at a comps. “Direct from the horses mouth.” Also the pictures are his!

“we had once again great two weeks on the highest airfield of Germany with 1001m, the Klippeneck. During the week before the Klippeneck-competition we made some big training flights of + 700km. The competition started at July 27 with 90 participants in the club class, the standard class, 18m class, double-seaters and open class. The beautiful scenery close to the Swiss border and spectacular flights along the Black Forest and above the Swabian Alb was the playarea for 6 competition days. Steven Raymond from Amsterdam participated for the very first time at Klippeneck the 51^st Competition and was overwhelmed after all. On Soaringspot all results of all classes can be seen. Of particular interest to us from a Dutch and Belgian point of view was the 18m class, because we were among the biggest group of participants namely the Germans and a Swiss delegation, from The Netherlands and Belgium.

A top result was achieved: Tijl became overall winner with the Ventus 3, Steven runner-up on ASG29e and I was 7th on Ventus 2cT among 32 participants.The day after the competition we had again great weather, almost all participants went home, but Tijl and I took again the opportunity to perform flights for Tijl close to 1000km with 960km and for me with over 700km.
THANKS Bert[sr.]

CU on Sunday
Cheers Ritz

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