With 38 cm of snow in Stockholm on ONE day,  winter presented itself early in the Scandinavian countries. In 100 years there had been not so much snow as in the first week of November.On pictures last week we saw more early snow in Finland but not as much as in Sweden.
It caused quite some problems, even for a country totally used to lot’s of snow!
We had minus 5 and that meant “first-time-window-scratching”.Now it’s only raining!

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WORLD FINAL OF THE 7 th FAI SGP at Potchefstroom.

On top and making the picture,…Sebastian.
Courtesy Sebastian Kawa and processed by the SGP media team.
” Next technology step is coming very soon and we will be able to get these beautiful footage live from the air ! Many thanks Seb.“

Day 4 Race 4 ;
was cancelled due to thunderstorms so 3 days to go!!!
They tried hard . Here is their news;
” With the last sailplanes still launching, the thunderstorm announced its presence with  lightning and approaching rain. The entire area to the West was being closed down and now the question was whether we would have enough time to make the start. The twenty minute start procedure was initiated on the radio, with hopes that the pilots would be able to make their start on the right side of the line, but in the end the thunderstorm came in too quick, taking down with it the route to the first turn point.”

Gliders return to the field.
As shared by the organizers.

Day 5..Race 4.. 294.05 km.
with the early morning tweet AND picture;
“Today’s menu. You will find a “plan B” and a “plan C” on the picture but let’s be optimistic with a possible start gate opening at 11:30 Paris time (12:30 local time) for a just less than 300km race to go !”

So an early start at 12.40 and good speed to be back again. French pilot Christophe Abadie flew around with 146 km./h. Just a tad slower, 145.8 was to be seen at the log file of Oscar.So,….Oscar sees how his lead grows a bit with these extra 8 points. Now he has 25 ,just 3  ahead though ,on Sebastian ,who was 3d and gained 22 over 4 days.
Bad day for Mike loosing nearly 23 minutes on the toppers. I know he can race as the best, but sometimes has to dig himself out and that cost.
Here is part of the official review:
“With Oscar and Sebastian maneuvering to get the best possible energy lines, Christophe, who was lower, elected to fly straight on following the shortest possible path. This was a significant gamble, as he would have to slow down significantly and lose his position, should he encounter bad air. By the end, Christophe had managed to inch ahead and win the day, finishing with as speed of 146 km/h, with Oscar and Sebastian finishing seconds behind him.”

Christophe on his way to win the day after passing Sebastian who took the picture!!
146 and 145.8 km./h.

Day 6.. Race 5..169.03 km.

    

The morning briefing looked very relaxed, but Brian is ,as long as I know him pretty relaxed, but the soaring- news was …..waiting;
“Briefing is postponed to 12:15 local time. Weather conditions were quite bad this morning but blue sky is coming now but competition direction needs to fine tune the task of the day. Pilots are heading to hangars to prepare the sailplanes. Wait and see.”
How bad you can see on the picture where Sebastian makes an African snowman from hail. Happy pilots whatever weather, as you can see on picture 3 throwing their hats in honor of sponsor Daly Land Rover. All pictures shared by the organizers.

So with a late start at 2.30 PM the pilots had ,after a lot of morning excitement, to go for race 5 with 169,03 km.
No start-games as they all start at the same time at the same place. Will be interesting with such a short race ,who keeps the calm.
It was a battle field!!!!! Holger [Karow] and Christophe were about “in”  at the same time, slow [83.8 km./h ]but finished!!!
9 points for Holger and 7 for Christophe. ” Poor”  Oscar out landed after 112 km and and even more “poor “Petr, as he was nearly back [163.4 km]
The full story is on www.sgp.aero but here is a little part ;” There could not have been two more different flights than Andy and John, one taking the high level wave route and the other pushing hard ow down and using thermals in the blue conditions.”
Andy was 4th John 3d this day.
At FB the organizers mentioned:”Andy Davis (GB) has been the hero of the day, definitely, just missing one good thermal but what a courageous move he made before turnpoint one ! Guest of yesterday was also Mr Wind, blowing the pilots away and killing efficiency. Impressive.”

Day 7 ..Race 6..205.89 km.
Last day and EVERYTHING IS STILL POSSIBLE!!!
On the last day the weather did not co-operate as you would expect and hope for in South Africa. Not a “dream-day” ,but real European weather and that showed as Matthias Sturm won the day with a speed of  123 km./h. and UK pilot Andy Davis was runner up.
Matthias got the last-day-11-points and Holger who had that fabulous day earlier was 5th and got the 5 points added to his 30 which was enough to make him the CHAMPION!!!Well done Holger, congratulations!
Oscar was 3d and received 7 points , not enough for spot 1 but certainly enough to be RUNNER UP.
French pilot Christophe was the 3d at the podium. Good on him. He surely would have loved a better last day but with a 7th spot he was number 3 in the final scores.
Andy and Sebastian followed.

   

The happy- chappie-CHAMPIONS ans Shaun talking with Holger .
As shared by the organizers.

A great race as expected with a top winner ,safe pilots and beautiful gliders. Here is one from the JS 1 flown by LucianoAvanzini . Picture courtesy Bertus Le Roux.

AND
a GREAT one from Robert Atkinson from Oscars JS1 EVO TJ

AND
After the race the 5 SA-gliders and 2 trailers went in the container in again a different way of “packing”.

   

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Staying in South Africa and Namibia.

When November starts and the gliders have arrived the “overseas-circus” starts straight away. Pilots rush to their destination and with mostly not too much time difference they hop in the glider and start aiming to fly as much kilometers as possible and to have a great time. Some just like the soaring in spectacular weather and do not need long distance flights. They enjoy it to the fullest.
So for all kind of pilots and their crew or family, there is something there.
Flying with the champions has started and top pilots fly again with upcoming pilots to show them “the tricks”  or to give them the boost to fly long distance or short distance in co ordination with looking at the weather.
Great concept from Ludwig and Wolfgang both from Austria and long time friends.
Mind you after they travel to Australia to get used to the Benalla weather and circumstances. Wolfgang flew there already many times and also last season as practice.
The first 1000 km flights from Bitterwasser and Kiripotib have been added to the OLC and we will see many more!!!!
Also Pokweni is busy and in South Africa the first long flights have been posted from Gariep Dam and Douglas Backhouse.

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36th Australian Club and Sports  Nationals in Waikirie  .

Allan Barnes top-Aussie- pilot shared this picture from the practice day with :
” Big storms through Waikerie this afternoon. Nationals practice day called off – I was first launch and spent an hour below 2500ft in rough hot windy conditions.”
And
“Unfortunately after an interesting looking sky the practice day has been scrubbed. Heating has been slow after alto-cumulus popped during the morning briefing and virga has been evident.”

They started last Saturday with 14 pilots in club and 12 in sports class and a bit better weather, though very tough wind. Among them the 2 Chinese participants for this WGC in Benalla. They know they will not win there, but they practice as much as possible to have at least a few competitions under their belt. Good on them.Their promotion for soaring in China is a great effort.

Gliders ready for day 1, as seen by Robert Smits, who did not fly on day 1.

November 12 day 1;2 Hour AAT’s were set for both classes.
In club Allan [LS1f] was the best with 171 km. in 2.44; 655 points.
In sports class Peter Temple flew 233.33 km in 202.34;617 points.
November 13;no flying. Message from the organizers:
“No flying today. We look forward to the comp continuing tomorrow.
A special mention by Peter Temple (our day one sports class winner) of the good job the Club Class pilots did in flying under very difficult and windy conditions yesterday. Couple of other lessons were; keep flying straight ahead into wind, don’t turn and ensure a safe final glide angle of something like 1 in 12.”
November 14 day 2;it looked like another scrubbed day , but they started for a 2.30 AAT in both classes.As Grant Hudson one of the participants [ASH 31/18m.] mentioned:
“A lot of cloud cover early made for softish conditions but as the day dried out cloudbase went up and so did the climb rates. Good fun but tough in places.”
Allan won the day again but he took 2 rides for the victory, here is his own OLC comment:
“they launched us on a 2.5hr AAT when the first sign of lift appeared. I came off tow and ran to the only thermal in the sky, then struggled to get up. Made an early start, then after a long dead glide into wind found a weak climb and took it all the way back to the airfield. Restarted with a few others and had a much better run. Caught the first turnpoint just inside it at about 1400ft (they say to take into wind turns low, don’t they?), and got a good climb so decided that I would head for the second. Conditions soon improved and I ended up running to the far side, until I was 15min over time. Managed to pull that back to 5 min; it would have been less but I took a security climb halfway back just to be on the safe side.”
9 From 14 finished Terry [Cubley] was runner up. Allan flew 219.49 km in 2.35.
In sports class Andrew [Georgeson] won the day in his JS 1 racing over 307 km. in 2.49. Peter was runner up.
November 15 day 3;the official morning message;
“Today we have Sports Class first off the grid with a distance task of 252.4km – Club class distance task of 205km. Light winds some small Q now but predicted to be a Blue day. Trackers should be working today.”
In club class I was pleased to see that young Ailsa won the day in the St Cirrus [handicap 990]. She started and finished in about the same time as Allan who was 2d in the LS 1 f[ handicap 1010].
As Allan mentioned ;” Bad timing – Ailsa who was with me recentred into 5kt just after I bailed. Flew hard to catch up and got a 9kt just before the second turn – hurrah! That turned out to be the thermal of the day for me – could not shake the gaggle and we all finished roughly the same time.”
In sports class Andrew [JS 1 c handicap 1075]won again with on his heels the ASH 25 [handicap 1065] from Scott [Percival] and the ASG 29 from Peter [handicap 1075]
Some called the day “underset” others “it was hard work.”
November 16 day 4…. today; 2.30 AAT in both classes.
Ailsa is in the right “groove” ,… she won AGAIN . Good on her!!!! Overall with 3 days to go she is now on spot 3 behind Allan [ nearly 300 points ahead] and Bernie who is doing a great job in his new glider; PIK 20 b. In the past he rented the club’s [SRGC] ASW 15 [Dundee is the owner of this glider] but he liked competition gliding so much, that he bought himself a more competitive glider, so he did well.
Today he called it an ” Interesting day, some big climbs but way apart. Had to dig out of two holes today.”
In sports class Peter won again and leads the class with more than 300 points. GOOD!!!
As scores are very fresh they are preliminary.

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Some interesting OLC news.

November 11 showed some great flights and very different. In the USA Baudouin Litt raced in his LS 8 over the mountain tops with a nice combined thermal, wave and ridge flight from Mid Atlantic Soaring; 919.2 km.!!!!
Same day but in the spring time in Australia Brian Du Rieu flew from Temora in the 18 m.LS 10 a 600 km. FAI triangle. He “went” for a 750 but as he said ” the cu in the NE was further east than forecast so most of the flight was in the blue. South of abeam Forbes to 50 km out from Temora on the last leg the ground generally is still wet and flooded around Lake Cowal.”
On November 14 Dennis [Tito] this time flying with Bill Hill, nearly 2000 km. [1.985,94 km] with a speed of 206 km./h. From Chos Malal in Argentina. One day earlier Jim Payne and Morgan Sandercock flew 1.130 km. with a speed of 127 km./h. Both flights in the Perlan Project DG 1001 M.
It’s great to see how many 2-seaters  nowadays give joy to “teachers/champions and students”, to friends and family members. LIKE!!!!!!
As usual and as expected it starts to rain 1000 km flights in Bitterwasser, Pokweni and Kiripotib.Have a look at the OLC;
www.onlinecontest.org
And Australia’s weather is top too, certainly in the East ; Today Chris Woolley , yes father of… flew already 820 km[600 FIA triangle]  in his 18 m.Ventus 2CM from Kingaroy. Former Sportavia instructor Alain Potier flew from there in the St Jantar 531 km. Adam flew too and called it an awesome day.

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And to finish a great picture from Joke Termaat, [yes, Ronald’s mum]
Autumn in Holland.

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Cheers CU next week.