Post 1.505 on July 10 2024

Quite a few comps finished last week. Most had not the best weather, but still scores to see who was the best.
I looked at a few interesting competitions for you.

—–47th INTERNATIONAL Issoudun finished with marginal conditions due to rain and wind like most comps do in Europe.
Multi class;
Task 6 on July 3 was 309.49 km …..ONLY 3 finishers , all from France. An SZD-56-2 Diana 2 FES won with Olivier Momege ,then a Duo Discus and LS6/18m.
Task 7 ; 2.30 AAT..…All back ……the UK pilots were on spot 1 to 5 with Tom [Arscott] as winner. All 17 started AND finished.
Task 8;  164.15 km….Tim Milner won the day.128.30 km/72.13 km./h. Tough day again but character building I hope.
Task 9; 1.30 AAT.…VERY LAST DAY. OUCH,….cancelled!!!!!!
Anyhow great results after 6 out of 9 days and very close, look at this;
1. Henry Inigo-Jones [UK] in LS8 with 3,387 points….. ready for the JWGC.
2. Oscar Butlin [UK] in LS 8 with 3,329 points.
3. Tom Arscott [UK]in LS7 with 3,310 points.

Club;
Task 6; 252.54 km…4 from 12 who started finished as well. George [Downing] won with 83 km./h. The other George [Whiting] was 3d with 78 km./h.
Task 7; 2.15 AAT....227 km/98 km./h was the best result by George W. All 12 started AND finished.
Task 8;  156.08 km later 103. 11km….with starts at 4PM the “oldies ” with respect showed how to handle not the best day; Brian [Spreckley] won with 66.58 km./h whilst Shaun [Lapworth} had 66.30 km./h.
From 13 only 7 finished.
Task 9; 1.30 AAT... THEY FLEW!!!!! 9 started and 7 finished. George White flew 159 km/ 93.02 km./h. He seems ready to for the JWGC.
The other George out landed as dis Brian, but better now than next week during the JWGC.
Overall scores after 7 out of 9 days;
1. George White [UK] in ASW 20 with 4,064 points. CLEAR winner .
2. George Downing[UK] in ASW 20 with 3,658 points.
3. Thomas Chapman[UK] in ASW 20 with 3,481 points.

—–The FAI SGP in Lesce -Bled continued with

Race 3 on July 3; 106.29 km….late start at 16.05……”Congratulations to Patrick Puskeiler for his daily win! Mario Kiessling arrived second before him but he has more penalties. Jernej Lokovsek is 3rd.“
Race 4; 159.11 km with another late start at 15.50.”Nailbiting” some call the days with these tricky weather conditions. But they flew and there were winners; Stanisław Biela in a Ventus 3TS , 113 km./h for 10 points.
Gilles Navas was runner up. Mario Kiessling had for the 2d time 5 minutes penalty for not crossing the finish line, this time he was too low. He leads anyhow with 30 points at this stage.
Race 5;  363.76 km ….the weather improved , so finally a nice task and a fast one; 144.7 km./h by Mario and no, not more penalties [just a waste, those lost points] Tilo was just a fraction behind him 144.2 km./h.
David Bauder from Germany was 3d with 143.8 km./h ,and Boris Zorz and Luca Znidarsic 1.43 km/h..
Start was at 13.45.

Race 6; 386.18 km.LAST DAY!!!!! Spot 1 is firm ; Mario has 40 points and the runners up Boris and Patrick both 23. So it’s all about the runner up spot and a spot for the SGP final.
When I saw the speed I had to look TWICE!!!
Mario added 11 points to his 40 by flying the 386 km in 2 hours and 11.12 minutes.speed; 176.6 km./h. WOW!!!!
12 Pilots flew OVER 170 km./h!!!!!! WHATADAY!!!!
final scores;
1. Mario Kiessling in Ventus 3 TS with 51 points.
2. David Bauder in Ventus 3TS with 29 points.
3. Patrick Puskeiler in Ventus 3TP with 28 points.

The next FAI SGP will be flown in France from Saint-Sulpice between July 21 and 27 2024.

——-The German club class nationals continued after 3 flying days with 3 non flying days ,2 with no task and 1 cancelled, but they tried hard and on July 3 they had task 10 ,a 1.30 AAT, on flying day 4.
From 43 starters 31 finished. Best result; 130 km./86km./h.
Task 11 was cancelled so on day 15 , flying day 5, they started with
task 12; 183.03 km….Toni Kittler won the day;130.89/65.87 km./h that IS work in the office. But nothing changed in the overall scores;
Overall scores for German club class title with 5 out of 12 days and with 45 pilots;
1. Stefan Langer in LS3WL with 3,131 points and German Champion in club class.
2. Uwe Wahlig in LS3 WL with 2,917 points.
3. Toni Kittler in LS4a with 2,794 points.

—–The OBGN, the open Belgian Gliding Nationals in St Hubert had 1 flying day on Wednesday but they suffered from the miserable weather conditions too. Last day was on July 7.
On July 4 they flew again :
Club;
Task 3; 2hour AAT….Thomas De Bruyn in LS4 won; 180km with 89 km./h.13 started 12 finished.
NO FLYING till the last day July 7, when the weather has improved;
Task 5; 278.11 km….flying day 3 out of 9. Jelle Vandebeeck in an ASW 24 won the day;74.89 km./h. He moved up from 9 to 4. Good on him.
Hope for him that 3 days makes it a valid championship. Indeed 3 out of 9 days in all 3 classes.
1. Thomas De Bruyn in LS 4 with 1,704 points.
2. Jules Mathay [Luxembourg] in LS 4b with 1,476 points.
3. Edwige Colson in ASW24 WL with 1,408 points.

Combi standard/15m/20 m;
Task 4; 2 hour AAT...Thomas Leduc in Ventus2cxa won; 215 km with 105 km./h. 9 Started and 1 was out.
No flights till the last day;
Task 7;  335.29 km….flying day 3 out of 9, such a pity!!!!!BUT,.. a nice task to finish on a more “high”.
Patrick Stouffs, yes indeed, he is still flying and HOW?? After an early start he flew in the Janus CT RG a speed of 86 km./h. He moved up from 9 to 5. From 7 starters 4, finished.
1. Thomas Leduc in Ventus 2cxa with 1,468 points.
2. Michiel Van den Borne in LS6A with 1,282 points.
3. Pieter Lievens in Duo Discus T with 1,162 points.

Combi 18m open and 20 m;
Task 4; 2 hour AAT.…Tijl Schmelzer in Ventus 3T won; 271 km with 129 km./h. All 15 started but 1 started too early ; meaning no start.
NO FLIGHTS till JULY 7 …..VERY LAST DAY!!!!
Task 7; 427.58 km….13 started and 9 finished. A good day for Jean-Luc Colson in the ASG 29 es; 103 km./h. Tijl Schmelzer in the Ventus 3T flew also over 100 km./h [101 km./h.]
Final scores;
1. Tijl Schmelzer in Ventus 3T with 2,055 points.
2. Jean-Luc Colson in ASG 29 es with 1,977 points.
3. Dennis Huybreckx in Ventus 3T with 1,854 points.

——Time to look ahead at the 13th FAI JWGC combined with the 5th and very last 13.5 WGC.
21 countries have entered with 67 entries; 23 in standard and 43 in club. The first pilots/crews have arrived last Saturday.
Looking at the entries the first arrival picture should be from Andrea Paganin from Italy with call sign RB.
Our neighbours , from Belgium , Martijn [Eerdekens] and Robbe [Van Brandt] , have left too ;

——EUROGLIDE had the final presentation for 2024. What ‘s better than let the WINNER “speak”
“That’s all folks! Out of 69 gliders on the 2662km Euroglide task, we had just two finishers, myself in 5 days and TP (the ‘pesky’ EB29) in 11 days.
Honorable mention to a PURE Arcus that got to just 100km short with 4 outlandings enroute.
Euroglide was a lot of fun and I’d recommend anyone to get some friends together and have a go as a group. Engine absolutely not necessary but of course much more comfortable.”
Congratulations AGAIN Matthew and thanks for keeping us up to date. On Saturday there was 1 more finisher.
Here is the FULL story in ;
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
He finishes with:”The final evening was a somber affair with balloons released for the pilot who left us midway through. We didn’t know him but he clearly was special to very many people. RIP“
Indeed he was!!!!!!

It’s not often that I write about a book. Yes I remind you on books like “WINNING in the wind” from George Moffatt on a sad occasion as his death recently, but this time the writer of Goodbye Papa Golf, contacted me and George’s death, was more or less the reason.

I have n’t got it or read it yet, but I will and then I will come back on it.
So I asked Chip, to give me some background on and inspiration for this book. 
“It’s a flying book for pilots and non-pilots.
A marathoning book for runners and non-runners.
An adventure story written in the universal human language of doubt, fear, success, tragedy, failure, comeback, triumph, love, and ultimate redemption in a remarkable life’s journey of an ordinary man.
Here are some quotes to give you an idea.”
“The book began 40+ years ago in the pre-dawn hours in a hotel room as I scribbled down details, before they faded, of the darkest day of my life, when my father crashed and died while I watched after flying most of the task with me and former world champion George Moffat at the 1980 U.S. 15M nationals.”
“Throughout the book, I discuss the risks associated with soaring and other activities. I explore the complex emotions and motivations around risk-taking, winning and losing, grief, identity, and purpose.“
Sarah Arnold the 2020 WWGC champion said about the book:”“Couldn’t put it down. Your story is compelling. The audience doesn’t have to care about soaring or running. It works because you’re vulnerable and raw and honest. The humanity.”
Much more about Chip on; https://chipbearden.com.

With the JWGC , a CAT 1 competition, I try to publish a bit more to be up to date.
Today, it’s still Tuesday ,I publish a few hours earlier as code orange is on here from 7PM onwards till tomorrow with the prediction of big hailstones, severe wind with heavy gusts and thunder and lightning.
My laptop stays OFF then.
On top of that I am still in the middle of renovations to my house.
CU soon .
Cheers Ritz