Alphen aan den Rijn Sunday May 8 2011 Mothers Day ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY
All guests have left so a bit more time to “dive” in our soaring world.Pictures above are from Pierre Wolf from 2006 [WGC] ; there are so many comps at the moment and the preparations and the waiting are everywhere the same is n’t it ?
April was great , May till now has been wonderful as well in Holland , we got the highest temperatures in Europe together with Belgium and the nicest clouds and flights up to nearly 800 km. and I do not have to tell you , we have no wave or ridges here.Look at the flights if you are interested on the Dutch OLC. And please check the FAI km. as well!!!!! Most of the pilots are flying the Nationals as well, so what better practise do you want? Only hope the weather still will be good from the 16th onwards!!!!
This weekend we are going for nearly 30 dgr. at some places,again the highest in Europe, but yesterday the skies here were full of cirrus, quite some gusting wind , but in the afternoon,also blue strong thermals; I felt them.
At Teuge here in Holland , 23 pilots fly a 2 day competition in 2 classes, mixed and club.See for results at www.soaringspot.com
The Grand Prix in Saint Auban was blessed with good weather and had 7 out of 7 days . Didier Hauss, one of the pilots, is not only a good instructor but also a great pilot and a really nice guy. I met him a long time a go and better during the WGC in Benalla in 1987 ,where he was co in the ASH 25 with Gabriel Chenevoy, while George and Dennis flew as first father-son combination ever, in the Nimbus 3 d specially prepared by Klaus Holighaus, with “Turbulators”.
He then invited Dennis to do a mountain-flying- course in Saint Auban, I still have the card.
I am pleased that since the last IGC meeting, the 20 m two-seater class will mention both pilots as winners in the future!!!
I just had a look in my photo book and can’t believe how young we were and full of life, while several who flew or were in Benalla then, are not with us anymore. Dennis, Kees Musters, Stan Witek, Klaus Holighaus, Ernst Gernot Peter, Janet Hider Smith, Ray Linskey and more. 4 by accidents with flying,[ power plane, hang glider and glider] and by illness.
It is interesting to read what the press wrote in 1987 in Australia. About the Swedish team with Ake sitting in the glider , the team around him [for the picture ] at the airfield of Corowa, where they practised and Alf Ingesson Thor , the TC, did the talking.
” There are times that it is easier to fly a jet fighter[ he was a jetfighter pilot then on a Viggen AJ 37!] , then a glider. Gliding is all about judgment ,where you have to make a decision in the air every second you are up.100 % concentration is a must” .”
To get back to Didier; He just missed out on ONE point to win!!!On the last day over 268 km he received 5 points while the number 3 Nicolas Veron [ASG 29] got 8 points and 52 in total!
The FAI Qualifying GP in Romania had less good weather and only 3 flying days out of 7. They continued flying on Friday ; day 3 with 210 km gave the 8 points [ max!] of the day to young Patrick Puskeiler, while Tilo got 60 sec penalty for a dangerous landing and received 5 points.This way Tilo is ONE point ahead of Patrick !!! Wow, the last day will be full of excitement.
BUT…..Yesterday pilots got the message that the day was cancelled. Spoilspot was a low pressure system/front in the NE of Romania.
So Tilo wins this GP with 1 point on Patrick. [14-13 points] Today they have the prize giving and an airshow to finish this GP. Hope the weather will be better.
Fatraglide 11 started yesterday [till May 17] from Martin Field in Slovakia with 12 pilots in the mixed class and 23 in club class. Tibor is the task setter and Brano the competition director. Both flew with us in Toc in the past, very active “boys” and as most glider pilots “real nice” and both own an ASG 29. Lubor Kuvik who flies in winter at Corowa is one of the participants, also flying an ASG 29.
They started the comps, with a 409 km task for the mixed class and 315 for club. But that was a bit over-enthusiastic as nobody finished.Reason; midlevel clouds connected with a low pressure area over Ukraine approached much faster as the meteo forecast had said. Even the wave did not help.A pity ! But more days to come!
All their news is at www.fatraglide.sk scores only at; www.soaringspot.com
Tibor send me the next picture;
I sent you picture – third guy is Mara Pechanec our Czech friend maybe you met him in AUS. He came from Vietnam just to fly our ASG 29 in fatraglide.
The OLC showed great ridge – soaring- flights from Mid Atlantic Soaring -area , where one of the pilots called this day ” one of the best ” he had ever flown in. A 1000 km flight in the ASW 20 is worthwhile mentioning, certainly when that pilot thinks this is the best soaring- day in his life !!! ” Ridge, thermals, wave and 240 km. from home…..””!!!!! Love the enthusiasm !!! And hope with him his crashed LK8000 shows enough evidence of his 1000 km.
4 x 1000 km flights in this area and the LS 4 flight from 988 km with a 750 km triangle in it, is just GOOD !!!!
The still good triangle over the ALPS, [ area of Unterwossen, Bolzano, Paterzell, Lienz, Königsdorf etc ] showed long flights up to around 900 km. yesterday , while the ” Bobergers ” had a nice day with 900 km in the Nimbus 4DT, last Thursday.
Good ridge weather in France over the Pyrenees as well, where Rober Prat flew just over 1000 km in as he calls it, ” thermowave and ridges,” from St Gaudens in a DG 500/22m.
The new Gliding International is out with all kind of interesting news. I mention,the Taurus E, 13.5 m Electro Silent,China gearing up to take on European manufacturers, Blaniks can fly, but at cost, increasing the number of women pilots, the BGA versus the FFVV[ the British Gliding Association versus the Federation Francaise de Vol a Voile, ] the IGC 2011 annual report and Johan Bosman the 3d key- character at the JS1 business and much more!!!! Nearly 4000 readers ” we ” have now!
On the front page a great picture of the ASH 30 m., this new ship from Alexander Schleicher flew for the first time on April 11 2011. When you are interested to be a member as well, you can subscribe trough the web page; www.glidinginternational.com
Would like to point out to you the Official website of the Belgian Gliding Team for the EGC ‘s in 2011 and WGC’s in 2012. It is in English, looks great , fantastic pictures and gives good info about the competing pilots and later about the comps; www.glidingteam.be
To finish this blog some more pictures from Pierre Wolf . Hardworking crew and busy pilots! Enjoy!
And….my Mother Days present; My daughter made me very happy with a visit to ” We will rock you” the musical with music from Queen!!!!!! Lucky me!
Cheers Ritz
