ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN SUNDAY FEBRUARY 24 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com www.soaringcafe.com www.glidinginternational.com
Beautiful area close to Taupo
Boiling mud
He did not fly on day 8 ,[ presume his main wheel was repaired after an outlanding,] but on day 9 and 10 from the Taupo Club Class Nationals, he was back in ” full glory” ,Mark Wilson, flying his St Libelle to a great daily- spot -2 , during 2 AAT’s from 2.30. One with 291 km. in nearly 3 hours, [925] while the winner Mike in the ASW 20 flew 266 km. in 2 hours 38 [1000] and the day before behind the Mosquito from Steve with 279 km. in 3 hour 6,[960 p]. while Steve flew 231 km in 2 hour 30. [ On the dot!!! and 1000 points!]
On day 9, Tim flying the Discus b , flew 4 hours and 20 minutes , BUT ,…he made it back. What about his perseverance!!!???
Mark was over-all on spot 1 on day 1-2-3, than 2 on day 4, but back on spot 1 on day 5 and 6 . On day 7 he was on spot 2[outlanding] , on his “bad” day 8,[ he did not fly ,so no points] , he dropped to 4 and on day 9 and 10 he moved back to spot 3, where he stayed as on day 11, [not bad 11 days of x-country soaring during a competition !] he was 2d again on a devalued day [AAT 2 hour] as only one pilot , Bob in the DG 100 finished!
The pilots had a meeting as well, about airspace penalties and “dropping the worst day when calculating final scores” , like they sometimes do in Australia !!
That would change the final scores!I reckon the” vote” did not win as the scores did n’t look like it.
So Steve in the Mosquito won with 9558 points. Runner up was Mike in the ASW 20 with 8617 points and Mark in the St Libelle at 3 with 8243. Congratulations!
A nice competition to follow from home! Welldone !
Mark with the Standard Libelle after a landing. And the winning Mosquito after the landing on the last day!
pictures with permission via FB.
The Matamata open-class-pilots flew 7 days out of 7 , parallel with the last week of the Taupo Club Class Nationals and well known pilot Patrick Driessen won every day except day 6, missing out on 3 points that day.With more than 1000 points , [6472] he won the comps in his Ventus 2C before good old Tony van Dyk [LS8 and 5298 points]!! Pretty good from Tony, as he is not spring chicken anymore!
And to finish these nice comps flown in New Zealand, a fantastic picture I found yesterday on FB about the superb nature in N.Z combined with our gliding-sport:
Courtesy Philipp Stapfer from the Wangarei Gliding Club and shared on FB by Jill McCaw, the editor and publisher of Soaring New Zealand and a like me a devoted blogger .
Only one week to go and the next IGC Plenary 2013 will be over again. More than 60 guests from all over the world will arrive this upcoming week, in THE NETHERLANDS to attend the meetings at Papendal,close to Arnhem, on March 1 and 2.
Frouwke, our very busy Dutch delegate ,created a nice programme, with a steward meeting on Thursday afternoon and a welcome for all guests in the evening.
On Friday they talk and talk and listen and listen…..between 9AM and 5PM.
On Friday evening time for rest and a nice dinner together.
Arnhem town
On Saturday more talking and listening… same time-schedule, so a long day again and in the evening , we than visit the airport of Malden for a farewell /final evening. Malden has a fantastic new 2 storey- hangar and it will be interesting for many to see this. On top of that evenings in the Malden pub , “Zweef-inn”at the field are always great fun.
So a lot of serious talking, some fun and during fun a lot of business will happen as well.
I have never attended such a meeting , will try to have a “glance” on how it all works and look after the female guests, who accompany their husbands involved in this top of our soaring world.
Will take my laptop for live-news [if possible ], my camera to make pictures and as Rick {Sheppe-USA} is there during all meetings ,you will have his analyses short and to the point in the blog , as every year.[I hope as I still have to ask him, but he is just such a nice guy, he won’t say no.]
Malden Airport with the “field” and the brand new 2 storey hangar.
UNDER the hangar is the same space as above the ground for all gliders in the trailers.
This part of the season is over, certainly when you see only 26 flights on a day this month on the OLC. Not much.
Noticed that in 2012 the lowest number was in February as well with 13 flights on 2 days and in 2011 ….11 flights.
Is n’t it great that we can all easily see this thanks to the OLC!!!!
But not long anymore and pilots can fly here again .On March 1 next Friday our meteorological spring will start and on the other site of the world the meteorological autumn. Time flies!!!
We can follow comps again and all kind of interesting flights shared with us via the OLC.
Benalla had by the way still a 700 km flight this week; UK pilot Bob Nicholls,flew it in his Ventus 2CT.
And yesterday Peter Temple flew 731 in his LS 8 from Gawler.
—“Brilliant day with convergences everywhere. Watched for sharks on the southern tip of Yorke Peninsula.—”
What do you want more?
Today Kari flew in the LS 6 a distance of 652 km [524 FAI triangle] from Tocumwal, Swiss Chris 610 in the ASW 27 and Terry in the ASH 26E a nice 500 FAI triangle as well.[542 total].
Graham flew from Benalla in his ASW 20 ; 659 km.
Love the weather,…there,…not here,…snow again and everything is WHITE!!!! I want to see GREEN.
From South Africa also x- country news ; 613 from Orient!
Looking at the Schemmp-Hirth site , I noticed that the OLC Discus , generously offered by Wilfried Grosskinsky, for a year of absolute perfect training for a young-one-under-25, goes to Robert Schymala. Robert flew himself in 2012 to the best 10 of the OLC junior Challenge and amongst them, he draw the lucky number to fly the glider in 2013.
A happy Robert in the OLC Discus.
picture Schemmp-Hirth site.
It’s nice to see that some stories bring back memories by readers.
—“This awoke memories. Part what Pam and Gerrit saw from the air, Wolf and I saw
from the ground driving from Sydney to Waikerie to the World Championships in
1974 in an old, battered car that every 200 km had to go in a garage. It was an
adventure in a lifetime.—” By Frauke from the USA.
They had since November NO rain, this week Tocumwal had 4 to 5 mm. due to a passing thunderstorm, not much but more up North they were pleased with over 40 mm.
Dieter Dundee had new visotors trying out his bike.
The Southern Riverina Gliding Club has bought a Caproni to replace the IS 28 which will be out of hours in 2 years.
—“I would like to announce to you all that Southern Riverina Gliding Club Inc, has now secured the purchase of the Caproni Glider and we look forward to having it ready for flying in the future. A huge thank you to those who have assisted with funds so far.
Finally rain in Toc.
Lot’s of rain in the S. of Europe as well, with over 60 mm. in Athens in Greece, with a flooding river and one person died in the strong current.
On February 20 , last Wednesday, a 747 from Cargo Lux had precious cargo; the SOLAR IMPULSE from Bertrand Piccard.
The Jumbo Jet landed at Payerne’s small military airfield in Switzerland, to pick up the ” load” [ the plane was demantled and all parts were in the fuselage] and than fly to Moffett Airfield at the Ames Research Center of NASA close to San Francisco, where from the Silicon Valley this years Across- America- mission starts.
At Moffett the 747 was parked , nose-in ,in a in 1930 built all wooden-hangar.
source; one of my friends, Wieger who flies for Cargolux, via FB.
www.solarimpulse.com
Before departure and after landing at Moffett with the crew ;
Wieger, who flew with my “kids” in the far past, to the left.
As shared on FB.
Not so much news today so enjoy your new week. Will be back from home on Wednesday , I hope as I have a very busy week ahead and than from Papendal, as much as possible.
And,…look what happens when you donate your old pictures to scan them to make them visible for everybody during and after the reunion? Somebody else send one from me during the Nationals in 1968, where we were crewing; don’t laugh!!!???
Cheers Ritz