The FAI SGP in Boras had to deal with not the best weather in the beginning. They had to cancel race 1-2-3-4 and 5 with 2 days to go.
With 2 flown races, on Sunday and Monday, race 3 would have been on Friday the 13th!!!!!They had hope.
BUT,….the weather refused to co-operate…too much wind…..so cancelled.

Race 3; YES, there was a race 3,….pfff. Hard for organizers and pilots to host and fly a GP with NO-WEATHER.
But 256 km was set , so a nice distance to show the pilots ability and Stefan Langer won the 10 points and 1 extra for the last day. So he added 11 points, to his total and won with 21 points in total in his ASG 29.
Klaus and Hermann, both in JS 3 had 18 points.
Young Stefan, [29] who was quite amazed he won the GP, said there was still a lot of wind, [speed 45 kts.] but he was lucky at several points. It was important to stay high and the final glide was a race with the others but he had more margin and enough speed.
He was happy that the predicted bleu thermals were not there, only nice cu’s.
A pity they had only 3 days, but at least they flew 3 days and there is Stefan who is the first from this 11th series who goes to the Grand Final in Pavullo in Italy between August 26 and September 2023.

The next stop from this 11th Series is in Zar in Poland and started last Sunday. 14 Entries, all Polish, except for one guest Tilo Holighaus who loves this GP flying.
Also 2 Lucaszes and Judytha. See for more below.

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The 18 m. Nationals in Bermuda High ,had not such great weather to start with either. But ,after they missed 1 practice day and 1 contest day, they happily went up in the air. Maybe happily was too much said ,as it was for a lot a struggle
“We’re still under the influence of a cool North Atlantic airmass, and we still have the unfamiliar brisk wind from the northeast.  Basically, the same breezy, weak conditions as yesterday. But unlike yesterday, we decided to go for it.  “
Report from Sean Fidler on practice day 2;
“Bermuda High Soaring is suffering from a rare “Bermuda Low” pattern that is pulling cold air down from Greenland and suppressing the typically magnificent spring soaring conditions. This pattern will stick around for a few more days and will likely make for some challenging conditions.”
He was totally right.
21 Started task 1 on May 11 and 17 finished and good” old” Gary Ittner in his ASG 29 won the day [AAT] with 244 km in time 3.38.
Then it was waiting again for better weather.
“The anomalous mid-latitude depression is still out there, and for the third day in a row we have boisterous north winds and a convective clamp at approximately release altitude.” from the CD.
BUT he had good news too…” the weather will begin to change and after one more day off, we’ll probably get back to racing on Saturday May 14.”
Saturday May 14; after 4 cancelled days , the pilots were ready to go for it again….but the day had to be cancelled again.
“ it was clear that we were in for a day of low bases, overdevelopment, and scattered showers. At least the wind would not be a factor, for a change.“
4 days left and what I heard,…they look promising!!!!
Sunday ;May 15, YES ,..finally,…..a REAL racing day!!!!! Task 2!
“Our forecast was for four hours of good soaring conditions with light winds and cloudbases above 4000 feet AGL.  The downside was a possibility of thickening cirrus toward the end of the day.”
“ In a blatant attempt to get a 1000 point day without landing anyone out, we set a 3 hour, 4 circle Area Task with a nominal distance of 316 km, figuring that the winner would go the requisite 350 km to make it a full-value day.”
That did not happen, 983 points were waiting for daily winner, Sean Murphy in the JS 3. He also leads at this stage overall with 1578 points.
One of the pilots I mentioned earlier, Sean Fidler ,mentioned in his report;
“I started first, as soon as the gate opened, hoping to leave the gaggle behind playing games. Forecast showed potential risk of storms, cirrus, or even mid level spread increasing throughout day so leaving early seemed like a good plan.“
Though he struggled trough the day “I finally connected at 1500 AGL in 1 knot and then stepped up slowly toward the good clouds until finding 4 knots for final glide home.”
He was 3d for the day.
Monday; Task 3.….Rick mentioned in his CD report, which I am happy to share as he is THERE, of course after asking him;
“Another beautiful day at Bermuda High Soaring.  It turned out to be even better than forecast, which is normally good news.  However, in a competition it can lead to the dreaded undercall, and this is what happened today.
The forecast was for high temperatures and moderate lift to 4000 AGL, with cumulus.  The wind was supposed to be brisk from the southwest, and the day was supposed to end before 17:00, due to an encroaching cool front.
Because of the possibility of overdevelopment and the uncertain arrival time of the front, we went with another Area Task.  The nominal distance was 235 km, and the time was 2.5 hours.  It was a bowtie aligned with the wind.”
The 2 Sean’s had a good day being 4 and 3 for the day, but they lead the overalls; Sean Murphy [JS 3] with 2362 points and Sean Fidler [ASG 29] with 2283 p.
3d overall is close by; Robin Clark [ASG 29] who was 6th for the day on 2273 points. Jae Walker in the Ventus 3 won this day!
Task 4; one but last day.….“Finally!  The famous Bermuda High Spring weather is back! Finally!   Strong lift to lofty heights in all quadrants.  And no cumulus,  just to make it interesting.”
They set Racing Task, a 392 km zig-zag with six turnpoints!
Bob Fletcher won the day in his ASG 29 with 97 km./h. Sean M and Sean F are still on top overall, even with their 9th and 6th daily spot, but Bob is on his way to the top; from 5 to 3!
One more day to go you can read it in my next blog.

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The CCV, the Coppa Citta di Varese in Italy , flown between May 6 and 15 started with 3 no-task-days. It was the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP for 20 m class and along flies a mixed class, counting the 20 m as well.
Task 1 was on May 9 and a 2.15 AAT had to be flown by the 7 Italian pilots and 2 HC pilots from Austria [Team Peter Hartmann in HPH 304TS/ 800kg ] and The Netherlands [Team Erik Borgmann in Arcus M] in 20 m class.
The HC pilots started and finished for 154 points.
Task 2; 327 km...this time Alberto[Sironi] with his mate was daily winner ; 89 km/h, in an ARCUS T, which says enough about the weather. 5 teams were IN, 3 of them fly for the title.
Task 3; 2.45 AAT.…won by the HC pilots from team Borgmann/Van Houweninge;283 km in time 2.58. One way or another the other HC team from Austria, disappeared from the 20 m. scores and was to be seen in the mixed class where they were 7th.
For Erik this is great practice as he flies with his Dutch mate Joost Wolff the WGC in Hungary.
Task 4; 2.50 AAT….a real Italian day with team Montemaggi/Prodorutti on 1, team Stefano Ghiorzo/Passardi on 2 and Alberto on 3. The Dutch team was 4th. Team Aquaderni/Aquaderni in the ARCUS T was on spot 5. Good on them as till now they were out every day. And I know Margot flies very well.
AND,…she will be busy too with other “things” as she is the president of the Aeroclub Adele Orsi in Varese, from where they fly.
Aero Club Adele Orsi Acao
Task 5; 200 km.…7 started and ONLY ONE team finished…… Team Sironi with a speed of 62 km./h. You can call that a challenging day!!!
Some others were close….Team Erik and Team Stefano flew 189 km.
Looking at the MIXED class 4 from 15 finished.
Task 6; 2.10 AAT..… Only ARCUS M or T in this class and this one but last day, former 2 times 13.5 m WGC champion [2015 and 2019] Stefano Ghiorzo with his mate was the best. Another difficult day so to see at the speed ;96 km./h
They started together with Prodorutti & Montemaggi, but finished earlier; both flew 216 km.
The Dutch boy’s flying HC, had a bit of an off day, lost points , dropped from 2 to 3 overall, but less than 60 points with number 1.
Task 7; very last day!!!NO TASK!!!!!
So the final results for the 20 m NATIONALS;
1. Sironi & Venturini in Arcus T with 3.560 points and CHAMPIONS.
2. Prodorutti & Montemaggi in Arcus M with 3.513 p.
3. Ghiorzo & 1 in Arcus t with 3.370 p
The Dutch pilots flew HC [they cant be Italian champion as Dutch citizens] but did a great job with 3.504 points, so in fact 3d.
In the mixed class they, Van Houweninge & Borgmann ,were the winners with 4.655 points, ahead of Aldo Pigni in the 18 m.Ventus 3f with 4.492 p. and Ugo Pavesi with 4.432 points in ASG 29E.

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Last weekend Terlet hosted the one-day-competition from the Gelderse Aeroclub. And boy ,….were they lucky with the weather.

One day with perfect weather and 311 km for CLUB, with 12 pilots, 375 km. for COMBI with 16 pilots among them 11 2-seaters[Duo Discus types] and 413 for open/18m including 9 2-seaters, meaning a lot of people at Terlet! GOOD, after corona pilots finally meet again at comps.

CLUB; With 111 km./h Roelof [Corporaal] in the LS 7 NEO, won the day for 902 points. He had some practice already, as he was very good in Nitra in April, where he was runner up for the Pribina Cup.
Former runner up at the JWGC in Australia, Robin [Smit] in LS 4 neo, and runner up now, flew around with 106 km./h.
COMBI; 4x a Duo Discus and 1000 points for winners Lakeman/Boonstra. 16 started 1 was out.
10 from 16 gliders were a Duo Discus type.
OPEN/18 m; 17 started and 15 were back. Lars Groot in ASG 29 won with 124 km./h Good on young Lars. A nimbus 4DM was runner up with 119 km./h.
They closed the day with a BBQ , beer, of course and lots of talking and for sure, some red faces from the sun, who was shining fierce.

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In Belgium the Nationals started at St Hubert on May 14 [till 22] with 2 classes; club [15 pilots] and combi.[20 and several teams in 2-seaters] , so also a big bunch of nice pilots together.
Day 1; task 1 .
Club; 297 km….14 started and half of them ,7, finished. Best speed was by Bart Leysen, who flew 90 km./h in his ASW 20f, 10 km. faster than Thomas De Bruyn.[LS 4]
Combi; 343 km....Daan Spruyt in his Ventus flew 2ax ,flew around with 96 km./h which was 5 km./h faster than runner up Nick Fremau.[ LS8]
Day 2; task 2.
Club; 213 km.…Peter Bertels won in his St Libelle[ 68.58 km./h] . 14 Started 11 finished.
Combi; 283 km....flown with a speed of 82 km./h by Koen Vanderputten in the 18m. Ventus 2CT. 19 Started and 12 finished.
Day 3; task 3 was set but had to be cancelled due to the weather .
Day 4; task 4 , flying day 3, was a big one.
Club; 3.30 AAT....15 started and 9 finished and the daily winner was Thomas de Bruyn in his LS4; 290 km. in time 3.30 at the dot!!!
Combi; 3.30 AAT….”day of reckoning ” as only 5 from 19 finished. Number 5 was Bert Schmelzer sr. with 319 km. in time 3.50,..BUT IN!!!!! Winners , both in JS 3 jet, were Francois Delfosse and Emmanuel Litt, son from the well known Georgette.
By the way brother Baudouin Litt flew yesterday 900 km in his LS 8 from Mid Atlantic Soaring in the USA, and then you know there were good to excellent ridge conditions.
More next week.

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Polish CLUB CLASS NATIONALS.
Grudziadz Lisie,
13 May 2022 – 21 May 2022

With a lot of well-known names between the 40 participants, this championship is , with so many strong Polish pilots, as always one you have to follow!!!!
They started with a 3.30 AAT, so the weather was strong too.
Jacek Flis in his LS 3 [handicap 0.947] won TASK 1 , with 417 km. in time 3.29. TOP!!!
He was already runner up in Prievidza, so had good practice!!
40 started and only 1 pilot was out, he flew 409 km but did not finish.
Task 2; 3 hour AAT….Jakub Barszcz in a BRAWO [handicap 0.995] won the day with 314 km in time 2.59.50!!!! Jacek was runner up with more kilometers 335, but in time 3.04.
All 40 started 2 were out and 1 missed the startline,..bugger!
Task 3; 3 hour AAT.….257 km in time 3.11 for SZD 55 pilot Marek Herbreder for 1000 points. Jakub was runner up and Jacek was 4th. A few more exciting days to go as the difference between Jacek and Jakub is now 14 points.
Still 40 pilots in the running , but only 32 finished today.
More next week.

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In between , also in Poland, they fly in Zar the Polish FAI SGP, with perfect weather.
Race 1; 377 km…..Stanisław Biela won in his AS 33 the first race for 8 points. When Lucasz Grabowski would not have started above the maximum speed he would have won; he lost 30 seconds. Tilo was 7th. Only 7 flew on day 1.
Race 2; 380 km. ….This time Lucasz [JS1] won with 104 km./h…… 8 started from them 5 finished. Now Stanislaw got 44 sec penalty for a too low finish.[730m] The day turned out more difficult than expected as the organizers mentioned in their daily report.
“The air masses were mixed up and the Pilots had to stay high under the clouds bases which were 2750MSL.”
Race 3; 305 km….8 started ,2 were out and another ” difficult name ” Zdzisław Bednarczuk, [JS 3] won the 7 points for the day. Tilo was runner up. Still good weather in Zar, but again more difficult conditions. You could see that on the speed of the winner; 94 km./h.
Yesterday was cancelled and for today there is not yet a task, so more next week.

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For those who want to visit Australia and practice for the WGC 2023 in Narromine, here is some news;
“AusGlide 2022:
The Narromine Gliding Club is hosting the 2022 Standard, 15 Meter & Club Class National Gliding Championships at Narromine Airfield from 27  November to 10 December 2022.
The NCC have advised that this competition attracts 100% selection points for the Australian Team to compete at the 2023 World Gliding Championships at Narromine in November/December 2023.
It is also the Pre-Worlds event for the 2023 World Gliding Championships and will attract a lot of International Competition Glider Pilots.
Entries are now open, click on this link AusGlide_2022 to go to the Comp website and Register Online.”

For us the season starts NOW, but DOWN UNDER they look already at their new season.
Here is the news from Tocumwal Soaring Centre:
“It’s going to be a great season and we are really looking forward to seeing all our friends at Tocumwal again.”

A lot happening at the airfields in the beginning of this summer and already later this year in the “down-under-summer” .
Hope you enjoy it all as much as I do.
Did you look at WeGlide or the OLC last week, some nice flights , up to 1000 km. [ Bernd Goretzki in Ventus 3 M] here in Europe with high temperatures for spring. We touch 30 dgr. C. today. Interesting to see that Fuente is already good too, normally July/ August is their top period.
Cheers Ritz