2014 started for us here in Holland with perfect ,  early summer weather. Nature was at least 2 weeks ahead of itself.
Unfortunately the summer seems to stop early as well. We have temperatures of around 17 dgr. C which is 6 dgr. lower than the normal average for the time of the year.
Yesterday we had the coldest day on August 19 since 1924 ; 16.9 dgr.!!!!
2014 in France and Italy was wet!!! Since ages they did not have such a wet summer.
Holland had some really rain as well [and damage]  and for that reason high damage bills and most probably for the future  higher insurance cost.
The weather is definitely changing.

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THE CIM in RIETI

The CIM, [ the Coppa Internazionale  del Mediterranio 2014, [ have been there a few times!] was flown between August 4 and 15 from Rieti in Italy.With 72 international pilots always a big event!!

The CD was a lady Franca Vorano, as we had here in Holland over the last couple of years during the Nationals, with Natasja.
No worries with ladies as CD!!!

Day 1 straight away was a good one! AND,…an interesting one as the racing task had 7 TP’s for open and 2-seaters.
356.  km. for club class was a nice racing task. 5 From 12 finished this race,  as the the so well-known sea breeze from the Adriatic Sea,entered the task area and scattered the nice clouds.
421.1 km. in standard class was a tough race as well.1000 points were for an Aussie pilot and 4 out-landed among them 2 toppers as Manuele Molinari and Corrado Costa.
421.1 as well for the 15 m. class pilots and in this class and 7 from 12 finished.
441 km. for the 18 m. pilots and a few of the normally- flying – CIM-pilots , were in Leszno as in open and 15 m. class.5 From 19 finished the best with a speed of 117.2 km./h.
355.4 km. in the 2-seater class was a bit too much. None from the 7 pilots finished.
355.4 km. in open was no problem for pilots as Bruno Gantenbrink , Alexander Mueller and Ezio Sarti but the other 2 in this class could not make it.

2.30 AAT’s for day 2 and 4 and 3 hours for day 3.
On day 5 another racing task, between 314 and 407 km. and a speed in open class for the EB 29 from Alexander from 132.4 km./h.and 120.3 km./h in the standard class by Rene Schneebeli in the Discus a.

After 5 days of flying , pretty intensive flying in those mountains, it was time for some rest, the weather was not good anyhow,  so time to look at the results after 5 days.
In club class Austrian pilot Jan Jagiello in the Libelle H 301, was on top with 4412 points. Always a lot of Austrian, Swiss  and German pilots in Rieti.
In standard class Italian ” speedy gonzales”  , Vitorio Pinni leads after 5 days with 4344 points,before Ben Flewett from N .Z.
In 15 m. Steffen Schwarzer in the ASW 27 from Germany leads with 4230 points before team-squad pilot Denis Geurin from France.
In 18 m. Austrian pilot Werner Amman leads with 4402 points in his ASG 29.
The Austrian Duo Discus leads the 2-seater class with 4008 and Alexander Mueller in the EB 29 the open class.

After day 5 they got more marginal weather, later -better-conditions and a tough wind. Lots of out-landings and then 3 cancelled days in st. class, 15 and 18 m. and open and the 2-seaters.
The club class however had a day 7 and Jan in the Libelle remained on spot 1. Good on him.Somebody to keep an eye on , as he is nearly 400 points ahead on the runner up.

Final results;
club class after 7 days; Jan Jagiello [RT] from Austria with 5939 points over 7 days in the Libelle H 301.
standard class after 6 days; Vittorio Pinni[GG] from Italy with 4786 points in the LS 8.
15 m. class after 6 days; Steffen Schwarzer [ L7] from Germany with 4892 points in ASW 27.
18 m. class after 6 days; Werner Amman [ WG[ from Austria  with 5179 points in ASG 29.
2-seater class after 6 days; Aldo Cernezzi [ 61] my colleague at the Gliding International Team with 4081 points in ARCUS M.
open class after 6 days; Alexander Mueller [AM] from Germany with 5065 points in the EB 29 , just 16 points ahead of Bruno Gantenbrink in the ETA.

Not the best speed ever during this competition, as I remember 165.8 km./h. in the past, was it Vitorrio?
Biggest speed in open class by German pilot Alexander Mueller on day 2 with 133.3 km./h. over 353.5 km.
In 15 m. by French pilot Denis Geurin; 120.2 km./h on day 5 over 375.4 km.
In 18 m. by Austrian pilot Werner Amman ;121.1 km./h. on day 2 over 316 km.
In st. class by Swiss pilot Rene Schneebeli; 120.3 on day 5 over 375.4 km.
In  club class by  German pilot Helmut Koelle;  93.3 km. on day 5 over 314.6 km.
The 2 -seaters best speed was by the Swiss pilots  Mathias Koch/ Reto Frei; 117.2 km./h. on day 2 over 297.8 km.

BY THE WAY: On August 15 Sandro Montemaggi flew from Rieti 805 km. in the 18 m. ASG 19. Another TOO late good day! 752.6 km. in a 15 m. Ventus 2 ax is not bad either [Luca De Marchi]

 

The German Championship for JUNIORS in Zwickau with 74 pilots.

They had some good days as well….finishes here.
As shared by the Dutch team.

NO doubt about “our”  future , as a total of  74 juniors entered in Germany [4 of them Dutch; Annemiek, Robin, Nick and Sander]  45 in the UK and 37 in France .
A GRAND TOTAL OF 156 young under -25-pilots, in only 3 countries.
Some of the Dutch juniors flew the Junior comps in Holland, others went to Germany to fly the Nationals over there. International experience combined with competition experience.
They flew 6/5 out of  12 days.
On the last but one day they stopped the launching for club class,  as the drop -off -point was in the rain.Then they cancelled the day.
As the forecast for the last days was not too good this was the last chance to get points. And indeed the last day was cancelled as well.

Rain in the drop-off zone.
As shared by the Dutch team.

In standard class Sebastian Naegel finished on a 3d place and Benjamin Bachmeier on a 9th.
They are the only ones I ” know” . Winner was Karsten Leucker in the Discus 2B , 22 points ahead of Simon Briel the runner up in LS 8.
34 Pilots in this class.

In club class 5 Dutch pilots from 40. A great 3d place for young Dutch  top pilot Robin Smit in the LS 4 a.
2 St. Libelles on spot 1 and 2 with young German TOP-talents Julian Klemm [ 3629] and Arne Roepling.[3627] For sure Arne would have loved to fly a few days more. TWO POINTS DIFFERENCE ONLY!!!!
The other Dutch pilots were on spot 4 Nick Hanenburg[LS1f]  and  Sander Luimes [ St. Cirrus AG] on spot 12. Annemiek [Koers] flew the other St. Cirrus [AU] to spot 35.

Annemiek and Robin as seen by Robin’s dad, Martin Smit.
More of his GREAT pictures  www.sierramike.nl

ALL young ones got a certificate and the numbers 1-2 and 3 a prize AND a certificate.
Pictures from club class and shared by the Dutch team.

ONE BIG lesson was learned by ALL the young ones; don’t underestimate your final glide certainly not over an un-landable part of the town and certainly not with 30 to 40  km. wind on the nose !!! .
2 Gliders landed in a SWAN-lake in town, not good but they only had wet clothes and luckily no real damage on their gliders.
The ASW 15 pilot [on the picture with his glider],  could  continue and finished the comps on spot 32 overall from 40
As shared by the Dutch team. Pictures via  FREIE PRESSE , picture by Ralph Koehler.

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When the German Juniors finished the French and UK juniors were ready to start on August 16 [till 24.]  The UK juniors fly from Lasham combined with the 15m. Nationals and 65 participants have entered.
47 UK juniors that’s fabulous!!!!! 20 Pilots in 15 m. among them Leigh Wells and my mates Roy and Patrick.
In France 54 pilots started on the 16th in 3 classes for their Nationals combined with the 18 m. French Nationals.
37 in the French Junior league. And 14 French pilots and 3 HC [From the UK, Belgium and Italy] in 18 m.
Before that the 16 [ 2 HC]  Dutch juniors flew 4 out of 8 days during the Dutch Junior Championships in Venlo in the beginning of August. Thijs Bastiaanse from the Gelderse won. They were supported/coached in the air, by Dutch top pilots.
The 4 Dutch Zwickau junior pilots were not there, they represented Holland in an  international way.

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The UK championship for juniors and alongside they run the 15 m. Nationals.

Day 1 started with 203 km. for the juniors and 267.7 km.  for the 15 m. class changed into a B and later C task.
A few DUO DISCUSSES fly HC, with the juniors with coaching pilots as Ayala Truelove , Liz Sparrow and Mark Holden. Also an ASK 21.
Junior coach Pete Masson is very involved,tries to do the meteo and fly in 15 m. class. AND he writes as well, keeping us informed. A buzy bee. So is his wife, she runs the office with a few others.

They are doing a great job in the UK with their juniors. In June they announced the creation of the first ever Juniors Development Squad, for the year 2014! I know countries as Australia, Belgium, Germany, France and Holland are doing a similar thing. The soaring world ALL over,  invests a lot in the future pilots and with that in the future of  the sport.

“ The British Team coaches and members of the previous Junior Team have selected a group of pilots that they feel have the potential to represent the British Team at future Junior World Championships. The idea is that the Squad gets brought up to speed with British Team ways of working in plenty of time, and that the internal competitiveness really drives them all on to become better pilots. ” 

Day 1 from the juniors;
a tricky one with many out-landings , ” all over the task-area” as Pete said, but also great winners!!!!
The line was open at 12.13 and pilots went around 12.30 ” en route”.

18 from 47 managed to finish and winner was Mark Holden in the Duo Discus with Piers Murray, flying HC.
The REAL winner of day 1 was pilot Luke Dale [852 points] with development-squad -pilot Sam Roddie on his tail.
Matt , also in the squad and the son from Andy Davis, who was 2d in Leszno, was on spot 5.[829 points]

In 15 m. 12 pilots finished with a ” low”  speed, [69.9 km./h]  telling us the day was difficult. The 227 km. C task was smaller but for some still to big,as 12 out-landings said enough as well.
Leigh wells and Steve Jones were among the finishers, Patrick just made it, Roy just not.

Day 2; briefing at 1.45!!! They expected a small window in the afternoon after the rain had passed, so everybody had to be ready. 87.9 km. was set for the juniors and 150 km. for the 15 m. class.
It turned out to be a tricky but flyable day WITH finishers but also LOTS of out-landings.
Not a lot of points to gain as the winner in the Nimbus 2,Stefan, was the best of the 14 finishers and  got 277 points, but…. he won the day. Good on him.

In 15 m. class all pilots finished, except for Steve Jones, who just landed after 181.9 km. from the 186.2.km Not too expensive, still 142 points,  as the winner ,Leigh Wells got 399.

Day 3 ;174.7 km. was the task and the best pilot flew 139 of them for 151 points. Pretty good certainly when you see the runner up flew 85.9 km.
In 15 m. the day was scrubbed/not valid, as the best pilots just flew over 60 km..from the 153.6 set km.

Day 4 yesterday;with 171.7 km. the juniors had a big day ahead again with forecasted showers.26 Pilots finished and this time the good old Libelle won the day with a happy Timothy in it.VERY happy as he tops the overall scores after 4 difficult days , with Matt Davis and Luke Dale as runners up.
In 15 m. a total of 16 pilots finished the 247.8 km. 3 Pilots flying a Ventus are in the top after 3 days of flying.
Derren with 1975 points, Dave with 1935 and Matthew with 1925, the only ones in the 1900 marge.Leigh wells is on spot 5.
More next week.

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The French Championship for juniors combined with the 18 m. Nationals.

Their day 1 also on Saturday, started with a 213.2 km racing task in club and 261.9 km. in st./15 m. class.
Valentin flying the Pegase won day 1 and all 24 pilots finished in this class.
In 15 m/ st. class Simon , also in a Pegase, won the day and 4 pilots from 13 did not finish.

In the 18 m. class Gilles Navas showed he still belongs to the best pilots, winning day 1 with a speed of  105 km./h. over 307.3 km. 4 Out-landings all on the last leg.

Day 2 had a 3 hour AAT for ALL. He must be a talent as Valentin won day 2 as well in his Pegase; 1000 points;260 km. in 3.05.In st/15 m. it was Maximilian who deserved the 1000 points for 275 km. in 3.14.in a Discus 2A.

In 18 m. Gilles had NO problem to win again. He flew 288.8 km. in 2.55.

Day 3 was a marginal day with a 2 hour AAT  and the best speed was 51 km./h. so not a lot of points to earn;13/14 points for the 9 finishers.Among them…Valentin!
In st./15 m. NO finishers from the 2.15 AAT.

In 18 m. a 2.30 AAT and not a daily win for Gilles who belonged this time to the 12 out-landers and lost about 200 points.
5 Managed to finish.

Yesterday they had day 4 with 188 km. and 218 km. in St./15m . Another Pegase won the day in club and in 15 m./st. a new name Antoine Havet in a Ventus 2 ax. Overall after 2 LS 8 gliders on top after 4 days and Antoine on spot 3.Also 4 out-landings.

The 18 m. pilots had to go for 250 km. Jerome Renault won the day and leads overall after 4 days, before Gilles and Italian HC pilot Alberto Pozzi.

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The Coppa City di Rieti

Straight after the CIM , a lot of pilots stayed for the the other Cup,  the one from the town of Rieti, always VERY supporting to gliding. Lots of Leszno -WGC – pilots entered this competition,  as they had time now.

They started on Sunday and on Friday they had that great 800 km.-weather. Just in between 2 comps. Not fair!
ONE MIXED class this time, with 40 participants and even Sebastian Kawa, now in a 2 seater , ARCUS M, with Lucasz Grabowski entered.

Day 1 , with a cloud base over Rieti from 2700 m. , was a prey for French topper Louis Bouderlique who won the 345.4 km. task with a speed of 137.8 km./h. in the ASG 29/18m. with handicap 119.

Day 2 had a 458.1 km. task and the 1000 points were for Luca De Marchi in the Ventus 2ax. The 2 ARCUS gliders M [Alberto Sironi] and T [Sebastian Kawa] were 2d and 3d. Not as easy day as 11 from 36 out-landed!!

Day 3 was scrubbed at 3.30 ; poor conditions.

To see how they all go over the next couple of days , you can look at the scores from all these comps at www.soaringspot.com

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Talking a lot about the ” young ones”  in this blog , an important new schedule is  the Preworlds in Narromine called JOEYGLIDE.
” The contest will be run from 5-13 December 2014, with the 5th being the official practice day. Unofficial practice will be run from 1-4 December.” 

Narromine a wonderful soaring place.

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World wide on the OLC,  Mitch had a great flight again on August 15, this time from Parowan; a declared 1000 out and return. Here is his comment:
“Declared 1031.5 km out and return flight and completed it at 118.89 km/hr.
Will claim three U.S. national records in single-seat motor-glider category:
declared out and return distance,
free out and return distance ,
speed over a 1000 km out and return task.
Was one of the most difficult flights of my life.
Never got much above 12,000 feet for about the first three hours. Never got above 15,000 feet the rest of the flight.
Exhausted but happy!” 

Talking about an out and return; The FAI has approved the African Continental 1000 km.- O&R-record from Dutch pilots Max Leenders and Edo Kwant….145.37 km,./h. flown on January 19 from Douglas Backhouse.[SA]
Congratulations.

Enough to read for you about last week, looking ahead at next week again. CU then,

Cheers Ritz on August 20 2014.