Post 1.421 on Sunday May 21 2023.

High season for comps, so I will write and publish a few more posts to make them not too long and for that reason “boring”.

55TH INTERNATIONAL HAHNWEIDE COMPETITION
13 May 2023 – 20 May 2023

I told you already that the weather was improving and yes it did. The F1 in Italy was cancelled due to heavy rain , land slides and flooding ,with already 14 casualties, TOO SAD for words.
This part of Europe was better and our soaring mates had a good day.
Good is maybe a bit over done, but they FLEW and in all 5 classes!!!!
Big tasks but not flown by all. Here is the story about Wednesday May 17:
Task 2 on competition day 5.
Standard class; Task 2 4.30 AAT..…As more and more happens during comps, team mates fly together for a better result…together we are strong… NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. But,…when something goes wrong, it can go wrong for all.
The UK pilots and the French pilots in this class fly as teams. Result ;The UK pilots were on spot 1-2 and 5 and the French 3-4 and 6.
Tom [Arscott] had another daily win , on task 1 for 86 points, now the full 1000. He flew in his LS 8 393.24 km. in time 5.02; speed 77.97 km./h. that meant “fighting”.
From 20 ,10 finished the other 10 were “out”.
Adam was one of them ,[18th] his story is on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures. He started well “Was having a cracking day too, 120kph to here.”, but had to land out .
15 m class; Task 2 4.30 AAT….Same procedure as in St Class. This time Tim [Scott] won his 2d day and team mate Derren [Francis] was on 3. To the 96 points from task1, now 1000 were added for Tim. He flew, to get them, a distance of 377 km with a speed of 82 km./h.
Christophe [Abadie } in JS 3, was runner up. From 4 to 7 it was all red white and blue; Kevin Faur in JS 3, Max Seiss in Ventus 2A, Julien Duboc in Ventus 2 and Guillaume Ottolini [he is from Angers where we spend many summers to fly the Huit Jours d’ Angers]
16 Started 10 were “in”.
18m class; Task 2…. 4.30 AAT...Jurg Haas from Switzerland who flew in the past in Tocumwal in the glider from “Swiss Chris” ,was the daily winner with 437 km. Speed 91 km./h. He started in his JS 3 relatively late at 13.32. Many flew over 5 hours.
From 30 only 13 were “in”.
open class; Task 1 , 4 hour, later reduced to 3.5 hour AAT….due to  delays in the start procedures .
Several EB’s and ETA’s in this class, so great performing gliders. Still from 12, 6 were “out”.
386 km for Dutch pilot Francois Jeremiasse in time 349, speed 101 km./h. From ALL classes he was the ONLY ONE over 100 km./h.
Keith Gately from Down Under flew in the ETA not with Uli this day, but with Joachim Schwenk :“I will discover if he laughs the same as Uli Schwenk today.” They were 5th. Enjoyed however some great ridge soaring to climb up to final glide .[about 20 km. to the finish]
Open only could grid after the 20m was, launched as they had to test how soft the runway really was.
Dosi class; Task 1…..4 hour AAT…..UK Pilot Steve Jones in the ARCUS M, flew 392 km in time 4.16; speed 91.74 km./h. Well known Austrian pilot Andreas Lutz was runner up .
6 from 12 finished; 5 from them ARCUS M or T and on 6 a DUO DISCUS XLT.

Resume from Tilo Holighaus in WeGlide:
“Very exciting first day of the Hahnweide competition.
A lot of humidity, many showers but also a lot of fun 🙂
After the take-off deep dark clouds, but they even lined up. Then again longer shaded glide paths until a really great cloud sausage built up past the Klippeneck, which partly rose with more than 3 m/s and one could cruise along underneath it. Towards the south, the base dropped sharply, but the climb was still great.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t get to the second turning sector directly – it simply rained down. But even with turbo help, it was quite a challenge to get home fully. Either showers or airspace got in the way…”

MAY 18; Competition day 6 task 3 for standard ,15 and 18 m and task 2 for open and dosi’s;
“For today, meteorologist Jupp predicts partly good thermal conditions, however, humid air will enter our competition area from the southeast in the afternoon. This is expected to lead to spreading and a significant increase in humidity, which may affect the thermals. Base altitudes of up to 2000m above sea level are expected.”
First launches at 11.30. 18 M is first at the grid. All classes have a racing task!
By the way ,in Germany it was FATHERSDAY! and they were not forgotten.
Standard class; Task 3 ;300 km…..3 LS 8 gliders in the top 3 one from Germany, France and the UK.
Daily winner German pilot Felix Herold; speed 107.80 km./h. Tom had 106.34 and young French pilot Philippe Lata 106.23km./h.
Adam was 14th but finished!!“I saw an opportunity to start early in the weaker conditions with a strong tailwind, then when the day cooked up, I’d be flying home in the stronger part of the day. Easy…I had a fabulous first leg, 153kph I think was the best I saw, epic streeting. I climbed as high as I could in the downwind turn, then pushed into wind. It was at this point that the weather transitioned from 4kts & easy, to terrible & broken. The gaggle caught me here..”
Full story , so you hear straight away from a participating pilot; on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
19 Started and 4 were out.

15m class; Task 3 ;317.20 km….Another sole-flying-pilot Lars from the Netherlands won the day. Good on him. A very enthusiastic, young, eager pilot who will fly his first WGC in Narromine Down Under, end of this year. Speed 111 km./h which was quite a bit faster than 2 French top pilots, flying already WGC’s for a longer time ; Maximillian Seiss and Christophe Abadie;101 .56 km./h
16 started and 3 were out, among them UK topper, Philip Jones.
The UK and French pilots started at 12.53, Lars a bit earlier at 12.49.
Tim Scott proudly on the overall-top-1-spot lost 249 points by being 12th. A pity for him!
I decided to write to Lars to check what he did different to the others:
Here is his story;
“I expected a lot of spread-out, around 4 PM , so I decided to go early.
I hoped that the gaggle would “play their waiting-game” , so I would have a good lead and time enough before they could get me.
My first leg was SUPER, 154 km./h. and on the 2d and 3d leg, I found great lift whilst the gaggle was “fighting” for a meter. THEN I WAS GONE!!!!
2 Days ago I had to start my engine , I was too busy with the action from other pilots than with my own decisions. I was sick and tired of that. That’s why I wanted to do it all by myself to get my self-esteem back.
I wanted to know that I could still DO IT!!!And I could!!!!” INDEED HE COULD!!!!
Thanks Lars!!!
18 m class; Task 3;344.08 km….A great day for the Dutch pilots and for the JS3 pilots; 5x a JS 3 in the top 5. Best for the day Peter Millenaar with his 2d win!
30 started and 9 were “out”. One of them Tilo who got a father-day-rose before start.
Open class; Task 2; 386.32 km….I told you, A GOOD DAY FOR THE DUTCH PILOTS; Francois Jeremiasse, won the day in his EB 29R;113 km./h Dutch daily winner number 3. Real Dutch weather!!!And,…sorry for my Dutch enthusiasm.
3 Daily winners…… GOOD!!!!!!
13 Pilots started for their Task 2 but only 4 finished, among them Pierre de Broqueville on 4.
Francois was quite a bit faster than Marcus Frank and his German mate Max Kolmarr; 97 and 94 km./h.
Dosi’s; task 2 ;317.13 km…..4 From 12 finished. All Arcus types [M or T] and 2 from Germany 1 from Austria [I noticed that Andreas flies together with former WGC champion Wolfgang Janowitsch] and 1 from the UK; Matthew Cook. Best speed 99.96 km./h meaning another very challenging day!

MAY 19; Early morning news;
“Due to the humid air masses moving in from the south-east and the high degree of overcast, meteorologist Jupp sees very little chance of a competition day today. As the 2-seater and Open classes have only 2 valid scoring days so far, they remain on hold. The other 3 classes have been neutralised for today.
The 2-seater and Open Class will receive another briefing at 12 noon.
Adam started early with clening up ;”Glider X, freshly polished for my syndicate members, tidying up small things. Standard, 15m & 18m classes cancelled for the day, 20m & Open is on standby for an afternoon flight“
Open and dosi’s were in the end cancelled as well.
BUT “For tomorrow, the chances are good that there will be a nice last competition day.”

May 20; LAST DAY!!!!

To be honest, it does n’t look TOO great at this picture, to launch a big bunch of gliders. But they try hard. First on the grid is 15 m. then standard and 18m, dosi’s and open; last but not least.
First launches at 12, but……”We continue to struggle with humid air mass from the south, which will slowly move into our competition area. The west is forecast to have a lower cloud base and worse thermal conditions than the east. However, the various temps in the east for the afternoon show an increasing unstable air mass that may lead to isolated showers and thunderstorms.” from the organizers.

Standard class;
task 4 is 282.12 km….It turned out to be a good day for 6 of the 20 pilots as they finished.UK pilot Howard Jones was the -last-days-best; 91.53 km./h. Another challenging day, BUT A DAY!!!! 6 Did not start at all.
Adam was launched but did not start, his story is on  Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
A great competition for the Lasham guy’s as they were 1-2 and 3 overall.
Overall scores after 4 tasks in standard class;
1.  Paul Fritche [UK] in LS 8 with 2.603 points.
2. Howard Jones [UK] in Discus 2A with 2.593 p.
3. Tom Arscott [UK] in LS 8 with 2.579 p.

15 m.class;
task 4 is 306.56 km.…15 started and only 6 were in. The last one to finish was former JWGC pilot Christoph Nacke who won in Husbos. I saw then how happy he was after he won his title.
He was on 6 and Lars on 7 but out. Also out and on 8 Christophe Abadie, who lost his first overall spot to Max Seiss ,who was one of the finishers with young Kevin Faur..
Julien Duboc was the last daily winner and another tough race as the speed was 73.72 km./h.
Overall scores in 15 m class after 4 tasks;
1. Maximilian Seis from France in Ventus 2 with 2.358 points.
2. Derren Francis from the UK in Ventus 3T/15m with 2.346 p.
3. Kevin Faur from France in JS3/15m with 2.326 p.
4. Julien Duboc from France in Ventus 2/15 m only 2 points less than Kevin

18m class;
task 4 is 331.59 km....13 started and only 8 finished. Best for the day; PETER [Millenaar] in his JS3;95.02 km./h. Peter won 3 days!!!!!TOP!!!!
Runner up Yves Gerster from Switzerland had; 92.03 km./h .
Other “toppers” in this group of finishers were, Andy Davis, Tilo, Thomas Gostner and Stefano Ghiorzo.
The overall scores were thoroughly shuffled.
Overall scores in 18 m class after 4 tasks;
1. Peter Millenaar from The Netherlands in JS3/18m with 2.536 points. He moved up from spot 8!!
2.  Jürg Haas from Switzerland in JS 3/18 m with 2.446 p. Moved from 1 to 2.
3. Andrew Davis from the UK in JS 1C/18m. with 2.388 p.

open class;
task 3 is 336.31 km..…Only 10 started and 8 finished. Sylvain Gerbaud in the EB 28 was the daily best; speed 100 km./h!!!! 2 German pilots Max Kolmarr [Nimbus 4T] and “good old” Uli Knauss [ EB28] followed.
Francois was 4th.
Overall scores on open class after 3 tasks;
1. Francois Jeremiasse from The Netherlands in EB 29R with 2,807 points.
2. Max Kollmar from Germany in Nimbus 4T with 2,626 p.
3. Pierre De broqueville from Belgium in EB 29DR with 2,398 p.

dosi’s / 2-seaters;
task 3 is 285.73 km….with 100 km./h Norbert Sommer won the day in his ARCUS M.
Andy and Wolfgang were 10 k slower on spot 8…would/could they stay on spot 1?????
11 Teams started and 9 finished.
Overall scores after 3 tasks in the 2-seater class;
1. Andreas Lutz from Austria in Arcus M with 2,485 points.
2. Eva Senne from Germany in Arcus T with 2,381 p. She and Ben Fuglsang-Pedersen moved from 3 to 1.
2. Steffen Clement from Germany in Arcus T with 2,359 p. His team moved from 2 to 3.

The prizegiving was on Saturday evening at 8.30.
A pity from the weather but “it is what it is”.
ALWAYS A GREAT COMPETITION not only to participate, but also to follow.
A picture from ALL PARTICIPANTS organizers, pilots and crew ;

See you next year! Your webmaster Kathrin [and photographer!]

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DUTCH SOARING NATIONALS 2023
16 May 2023 – 27 May 2023

After a less and a pretty good practice day [ 400 km in open class ], the comps started on Thursday May 18 ,with good tasks in all 3 classes; Club with 9 pilots, combi class with 14 and open/18 m. with 22 participants. So the pilots had to get straight away in the correct competition rhythm.
task 1 on May 18.
Club; 261 km…Thies Bruins in ASW 20 won , not for the first time in the Dutch Nationals, the first day; 82 km./h. 9 Started and 6 were in.
Combi class; 303.59 km...former runner up at the Borlange WGC in Sweden Erik Borgmann flew together with his long time mate Joost Wolff in the ARCUS T; 80.49 km./h. Runner up Tom Conings from Belgium flew around in his LS8 with 70.43 km./h.
14 Started 9 were “in” also in The Netherlands challenging weather, whilst the skies here looked fabulous!
Open class ;355.26 km…3 Dutch toppers in the top 3. WGC pilots Jeroen Verkuijl and Hadriaan van Nes and former JWGC champion Sjoerd van Empelen.
21 Started only 2 were “out”.

Task 2 on May 19;
Club; 308.45 km…..Former JWGC pilot and runner up in Narromine behind Matthew Scutter, Robin Smit , won the day but only just; 107.45 km./h.
Jeroen van Dijk in his LS3 ;107. 48 km./h.
All 9 started and finished.
Combi class; 346.57km…..All 14 started AND finished!!!! GOOD!!! Erik and Joost had their 2 successive win. Tom from Belgium his 2 successive runner up spot.
open/18m; 369.32 km….good day for Max Leenders who moved from open to 18m[JS-MD 3J] ;speed 128.87 km./h. Just a tad faster than Sjoerd who had 128.49. Steven Huiskes had 128. 33 and Hadriaan 128. 16, very close!
21 started and finished “together at home together”.

Task 3 on May 20;already 3 out of 3 days!!!
Club; 238.22 km….they swapped places Robin and Jeroen. Speed Jeroen; 106.95 km./h and Robin 99.50 km./h!
All 9 started and finished!
Combi; 276.73 km….there is no measure on Erik and Joost. 3d time daily winner.
14 started and finished!
open/18m; 313.51 km....22 started and finished; LIKE….
Hadriaan won the day with 114.55 km./h . In the daily top 5, younger as Jelmer Vis and Sjoerd van Empelen mix very good with a bit older ,very experienced pilots as Hadriaan, Sjaak[Selen] and Steven[Raimond].

Task 4 on May 21, day 4 and task 4 BUT with code yellow in the East [Terlet] and South East [me] for heavy local thunderstorms with gusting wind and HAIL forecasted in the early evening.25 to 27 dgr. C.
Club; 129.06 km....
Combi; 143.13 km..…
open/18m; due to the short good-weather-window. NO TASK.
More on Wednesday!

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The 48th Polish Open class championship combined with the Leszno Cup, [11 May 2023 – 21 May 2023] struggled after a great start also with the weather. They could not fly for 3 days but on on
Thursday May 18 a 3.30 AAT was set; Task 4.
Won by Zdislaw Bednarczuk in a JS 3 /18m ; he flew 469 km with a good speed of 128.64 km./h. .
Karol Staryszak was runner up;449 km speed 127.91 km./h in ASG 29E/18m.
Task 5 was small but a task!!! 1.30 AAT.….BUT,…not flown.
No task yet for today so I guess it’s over in Leszno, with 4 days out of 10. If not I let you know on Wednesday.
Preliminary final score for the Leszno Cup; in 15 m. Maciej Adamski in LAK 19 with 2.011 points.
In standard B after 4 tasks out of 10; Kinga Tchorz in BRAWO with 3,276 points .
Preliminary final score for Open ;Karol Staryszak in ASG 29 E/18m with 3,630 points.

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The Rayskala CUP 2023 [ 13 May 2023 – 19 May 2023] was after 3 pretty good days also hit by less weather; result 3 non flying days. But on the penultimate day they got a 4th flying day [out of 7] a racing task from 298 km and for open 375.75 km.
8 pilots flew for the Cup and 4 finished. Daily winner Mikko Ylihärsilä in LS 7.[74.83 km./h]
In open Tourula Kankare in Ventus F was the best.[91.87 km./h]
And YES they had a final day yesterday; Task 5 [out of 8] 3 hour AAT’s for both classes to define the “winners”.
Sara Salonen in LS 4 won the day and Mikko Ylihärsilä the CUP in this class; 4,787 points
Open; Tourula Kankare was the daily winner in Ventus 3F as well as the champion in open class; 4,526 points.

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From Frauke Elber from the USA I got the sad news that her friend for over 50 years died on May 18.
“America’s highest decorated woman gliderpilot, Bertha Ryan, passed away this morning. She was two weeks shy of 96 years old. By a strange coincident we ended up in the same retirement community. Bertha was the first American who got the Majewska medal and the first woman who was awarded the Paul Schweizer Lifetime Service Award (beside  many other awards). She was a member of the Soaring Hall of Fame.“
Paul Remde added;
“Martha was an brilliant engineer. Some of her accomplishments related to lifting body aircraft are documented in the book, “Soaring Beyond the Clouds”. She was a very impressive person.”
https://www.cumulus-soaring.com/

More posts whenever I have time, as it is VERY BUSY in the air!!!!
Cheers Ritz.
P/S Hope to be next Saturday at Terlet to be part of the last day of the Dutch Nationals,