A bit later than normal….had some problems to get in the blog error 500 it was called, BUT Bill fixed it, as he did with the pictures!!!
THANKS AGAIN BILL!!!!!!
2 Days to go and we finish this weird year and start ,with high hopes, the year 2021.
Looking back….2020 started good. I was in LAKE KEEPIT at the WWGC and I believe we all had a superb time, though it was dryer than dry, for that reason no grass at the airfield so lot’s of dust and there was smoke from the surrounding fires.
It still felt all pretty good as it was very well organized.
BUT,…the message in the last week, that the home team apparently had done things, which were not allowed, kept and still keep a lot of people busy.
Such a pity that this TOP-WWGC had to end like this.
By the way it might not take that long anymore before we hear the result of the appeal,….the highest soaring-gods are {still} busy.
Straight after travelling home , we heard that a new COVID-19- virus was already in China. No worries,….we thought,……far away.
We know now! And HOW!!!!
The whole world knows.
Carnival in February, created more “cases” here in Europe , so did the winter-sport and other holidays.
And now, as in a flash, the year is already over , after we were in a “friendly, intelligent ” lockdown, as our leaders called it,
….. a tough lockdown ,
…… after staying at home and more at home
…… after not seeing many friends or family,
……. after doing not a lot ,except of course for them who take care of the elderly, the doctors , nurses ,police etc…..HUGE RESPECT FOR THEM ,…..but we all did it / still do it….no worries, the virus HAS to disappear.
The world agrees on that!!!!
Lot’s of comps were cancelled, some flown but all with “zoom” briefings, 1.5 m. , mouth masks etc. Also no worries, they could fly!
AND,…flying is NOT the most important “thing” in life.
CORONA PROOF was the word!!!
Now there is the vaccine and the hope that there is light on the horizon.
HOPE!!!!What a nice word.
The BREXIT ,finally in the end , creates a softer farewell from Europe to the UK , now a trade-deal has been reached. One, where the top on both sides, think they did well.
I read already many angry articles. Yes,…from both sides.
BUT,…everything is better than a NO DEAL!!!!
This morning the post-Brexit-trade-deal was signed by Europe and send by plane to the UK, where the UK parliament and Boris Johnson signed it too.
It’s all happening.
I read that Europe “looses”, on January 1, a population of 68 million , 243 thousand square km sea and an economy of 2200 billion euro.
Storm BELLA, raced last weekend over parts of Europe and …The coastal areas of the UK and France had the worst part of it, with damage and flooding. Worst wind in the UK at the coast up to 195 km./h. in France up to 174 km./h.
We had wind here, on the Nord Sea coast from 90 to 110 km./h. Even here, inland, it was noisy!!!
Code yellow and BFT 9 and 10 in our coastal areas.
The first winter-storm.
Norway had a land slide today with several people missing and Croatia had a 6.4 earthquake yesterday, with several people killed and injured.
VERONICA is hot this year. In Namibia they fly with real good weather -circumstances and the 2 Polish pilots,..one of them Sebastian Kawa…flew before the weekend in the ARCUS M. distances from up to 1.252 km [1.115 km FAI triangle] .They continued….
On Sunday ;they flew 1.275 km. with 149 km./h.
On Monday….1.132 km. with 137 km./h.
The TWIN SHARK flying from Veronica flew with Bernd [Dolba from the VERONICA team] and a “pupil” 1.274 km.
In the “shark” Petr and Radek flew earlier a new Czech record ; a declared 1.150 FAI triangle, I wrote about it last time, but now I see it was a new Czech record!!!
As shared HpH Sailplanes
Bitterwasser, saw young Simon Briel arrive there again and straight away he flew on Christmas and Boxing-day , 1.012 and 1.131 km.in the ARCUS M.
One day later, on Sunday, it was even more fun for him; 1.318 km. with a speed of 143 km. h. He flew 4x, flew 4x a 1000-plus and off he had to go again.
As I wrote earlier, Bitterwasser has now weather cam’s , sponsored by Wilfried Grosskinsky, looking to the Nord ,East , West and the Palmalley.
Great picture last Monday.
Yesterday Sven [Olivier] flew a 1000 from Worcester.
Today, Grant [Heany] flew from Tocumwal, in his St Jantar a distance of 734 km …..A 600 FAI TRIANGLE !!!!! Chapeau Grant!!!!He called it ” a nice day out”.
Grant came to Toc , years ago, as a hang-glider pilot and straight away loved gliding and was and is good in it!!!He and his Norwegian wife Tove [ a world champion hang gliding] even came to live in Tocumwal and for a short while they were managers under then sole SSC owner, Richard, who then sold the business. Argh…..
Eddie shared this picture today with the message; “Splendid day early start;”
As shared by Eddie from SPORTAVIATION Tocumwal.
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THE GRAND PRIX FORMULA 1.0 in LEETON has started and before it all began, there was already big news!!!
“Last night two of the founders of the GP got married, at Leeton, of course!”
Congratulations to Christian and Sarah Streifeneder.
FROM ME TOO!!!!!
Tune into http://tracking.livegliding.com/#!c=27 for live tracking!
They started on the 28th with a practice day.
Day 1 saw Jenny Thomson win in a HORNET ….”Low, blue but with less wind than the practice day, we’re off to Coolamon and Ardlethan for a total round trip of approx 178km.”
As shared by F1.
Day 2 “Today’s task is a double triangle, with the all-important bonus point for the first pilot to claim it when they round Leeton the first time. Weather looks to be unstable… a large trough line has set up shop over the top of the area, promising big climbs and potentially bigoverdevelopment.”
Winner for the day; Nick Gilbert in the CIRRUS.
They continue till January 5, so next week more news, but you can follow the tracking at the above link and here is the link to the site; https://f1gp.com.au/
You can read there more about the GP and see the results.
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Wishing you ALL a very
HAPPY, HEALTHY, SAFE and CORONA FREE 2021.
In which we can go back to NORMAL!
Hope this happens when summer starts or,….if possible earlier for smaller gatherings!
Let’s “work” on it, in doing the CORRECT things.
CU next year and…
THANKS FOR STILL READING THE BLOG since June 2006!!!
Cheers Ritz