Post ;1.396 on December 21 2022….
longest day down under…. SHORTEST here …so we look ahead again at spring and summer.

JOEY GLIDE
Lake Keepit 11 December 2022 – 18 December 2022

Since the WWGC in Lake Keepit ,I am very fond on that airfield and the people over there. For that reason I am very pleased they organize this National Junior Gliding Championship. I can visualize where everything is and I have great memories on “my room” in the back of the club house….always close by news.
After 1 practice day and one scrubbed day , AND 2 x a 3 hour AAT day, we continue with ….
task 4; another 3 hour AAT.…and good news ALL 9 started!!!Some shear-wave was expected.
Ryan Driscoll is in really good “shape”, winning earlier the 3.30 practice day and task 3 and now task 4. This time he flew 310 km in time 3.03 in his ASW 20 C; speed 101 .65 and again he was the only one over 100 km./h.
His biggest “concurrent” at this stage Jayden Bashfort, who won task 2, in the 17 m Kestrel unfortunately lost 200 points,…..loosing time somewhere en route, though he only started 3 minutes earlier than Ryan. But,…no worries he is still runner up and a few more days to go.
Rueben Lane is going strong too . He flies the DG 100 and is about 30 points behind Jayden.
Matthew Scutters SKYSIGHT is a great sponsor , presenting awesome video’s with catchy music, it looks like a really HAPPY event!!!! Fabulous way to attract young people!!!!
https://www.facebook.com/JoeyGlide/videos/day-3-4-wrap-up/866172631311523/
Bruce Taylor is flying as one of the coaches for the coaching program, with young ones in the Duo Discus.
I noticed Pete Temple as well on the lovely video’s they shared.
“We look forward to the final few days of our competition and coaching program and will keep you up to date on our social media channels.”
Task 5 was on my birthday and it was a GOOD one. 4 hour AAT, GOOD!!!
look at this , the REAL AUSSIE weather!!!!

433 km for Ryan and 1000 points for this task 5 ;speed 108 km./h. Well done. Paul Merlaud [LS 4B] was runner up, good on him.
Noah from Mount Beauty was not too lucky with his days till now, but he is in the correct “groove” at the moment being 7th.
Bit of an off day for Rueben,..no worries tomorrow is another day.
task 6 on December 17 was good again; 3 hour AAT and won,..AGAIN…by Ryan; 351 km. with a speed of 112 km./h.
One point LESS , so 999 for Paul in the LS 4b.
task 7 and LAST day!!! 3 hour AAT. No not Ryan won , but somebody who was not yet at the first-spot-podium; Josh Geerlings in the Discus A. He consoled his 3d overall-spot!!
Nothing changed in the overall top 3 it stayed as it was over the last days!!!
So here are those TOPPERS after 6 out of 7 good competition days!!!!All with 300k or more.
1. Ryan Driscoll in ASW 20 C with 5.733 points. Well done Ryan.
2. Jayden Bashford in the Kestrel[17m] with 5.552 p.
3. Josh Geerlings in the Discus A with 5.245 p.

“And that’s a wrap on JoeyGlide 23 Presented by SkySight. We all had an incredible time at Lake Keepit and looking forward to taking what we learnt back to our home clubs.“

—————————————————-

In between Matthew [Scutter]himself continued his adventurous trip;
“Did you think the trip was over? Last week I slowly slogged back home in the blue and crawled into Kingaroy early on Saturday. A long week in the office and I was just able to pop out this afternoon to reposition to Boonah for another leg south for this weekend.
Joining me will be Finn Sleigh (current JWGC champion) in my sister’s LS8, and Jack Tonkin in Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures Ventus 3.
Let’s hope we’re able to get out of Boonah tomorrow! It’s looking challenging...”
You can follow them on..Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

LOVELY stories from Matthew and Adam, both former Australian juniors!
And what an extraordinary for them unforgettable trip from Matthew and his 2 UK mates Finn and Jack.
He finishes with;
“A few clips from the trip last week along the high country convergence, ft. Finn Sleigh, Jack Tonkin, Maddog Composites, and of course, powered by SkySight“

————————————————–

Another National Championship is in Progress:
2022 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONALS.
16 December 2022 – 23 December 2022

Host Kroonstad . They started on my birthday with a practice day, so I was busy but quickly found out later that the weather was not too good.
“Day 1 – welcome to Kroonstad and like much of the country – it is all very wet. There have been storms, lots of rain, and everything is drowning in water. There are small rivers running alongside the roads with run off from fields, where the roads are low-lying they are under water and fields are swimming.
Yesterday was the practise day and only two pilots took a launch as the weather closed in quite rapidly and there was then later afternoon rains for a few hours. Thankfully both pilots were back on the ground before the rain fell. So the tasks set for yesterday were not flown!” shared by Akavlieg – Potch Gliding
Task 1 in open class with 11 pilots; 2 hour AAT. We all know that big tasks should not be set straight after wet weather, so a small task was set and won by AP Kotze in the JS 2/21 m. with 304 km and a nice speed of 139 km./h.
Uys was runner up in JS 3 /18 m. and,…it stays in the family…. Philip 3d.
They were the only 3 finishers!
“Today, day 1, and let’s hope there will be flying. Despite a lot of rain overnight, there are blue skies and sunshine this morning, but thunderstorms are expected later on as things warm up.”
They flew!!!
Task 2; 2 hour AAT...won by Oscar Goudriaan in in JS 3TJ; 233 km with a speed of 116 km./h. Swiss pilot Yves Gerster was runner up.
Task 3; 2 hour AAT...and now it was the other way around. Yves , with 261 km. on the daily spot 1 after an early start and Oscar, with 249 km. on 2.Speed Yves….129 km./h and Oscar 119 km./h
Together with Oscar his brother Laurens finished as well.
Task 4; 372.74 km…..with 130 km./h Uys was the daily best. Interesting,…followed by the Nimbus 4DM [120 km./h] and Duo Discus [115 km/h] .Laurens was a tad slower than Uys; 128 km./h.
Oscar was 7th and Yves 9th.
They continue so next week the final results.
For now it is still young Philip on spot 1 [2.468 p] overall followed by Uys [ 53 points behind] and Laurens [2.333]

For the scores from the 5 pilots in Sports class you can look at ; www.soaringspot.com

————————————————

Between all the over -1000 km-flights in Namibia on December 18, there was a 1000k flight from Australia as well. Norm Bloch flew from Beverley in his JS 3 1.007 km with a speed of 135 km./h.
And….yesterday they flew between 487 in a LAK17B fes/18m and nearly 800 in an LS8.
Looking at Mondays Namibia flights; 2x over 1.200 km and 7 over 1.100 and 14 x a 1000.
Pffff…….GOOD!!!!
Yesterday Damian added a 1000 km. free / 1000 km. FAI triangle flight in Argentina from San Felipe in his Ventus 2CM/18m.

——————————————————-

I have to set things right!!!!
I missed one day from the Argentinian Championship. Moving my head between 10 hours earlier with Holland and Australia, I forgot that South America is at least 4/5 hours later…so I MISSED ONE DAY!!!
In the end they had not 9 but 10 days out of 12 ….EVEN BETTER!!!!
SO ,…more points as well. AND,...it turned out a short but interesting day.
Thanks Damian!!
Task 12; Standard class had a 2 hour AAT won by Martin Fernandez, who moved from 5 to 4. [8,141 points]
Overall scores standard class after 10 flying days;
1. Gonzalo Riera in LS 4 with 8,304 points and CHAMPION.
2. Cristian Franzini in LS 4 with 8,297 p.
3. Dino Ghioni in LS 4 with 8,168p

Task 12; Open class had a 1.30 AAT won by Damian AND Santiago both got 400 points for 202 km with 135 km./h!!!
Overall scores open class after 10 flying days;
1. Damián Goldenzweig in Ventus 2CM/18m. with 8,771 points and CHAMPION.
2. Santiago Berca in Ventus 2CM /18 m. with 8,739 p.
3. Federico Buscema in Nimbus 3DM 24.6m with 8,675 p.

Task 12;15 m class was a 1.30 AAT won by Manuel Darrain with 170 km and a speed of 113 km./h.
Just not enough for the podium missing out on 3 points.[8,255]
Overall scores in 15 m class;
1. Sebastián Luengo in ASW 20 with 8,315 points and CHAMPION!!!
2. José Dentone in ASW 20 with 8,295 p.
3. Felipe Girado in ASW 20 with 8,258 p.

Pfff,….luckily the names of the winners remained the same , they only GOT more points!!!
Good on them and AGAIN,…….SORRY.
Must be old age,
Talking about age, yes indeed I turned 76 on December 16!!!
Thank you SO much for all wonderful reactions from all over the world. I felt TRULY LOVED!!!!
And, now “I am in Argentina again ” virtual of course, CONGRATULATIONS to all of you who love soccer. ARGENTINA SOCCER WORLD CHAMPION.

——————————————————-

Sadly enough we lost another active French “mate”.
“In memory of Bernard Chabbert, the voice of French aviation. Blue Sky.“
R.I.P. Bernard.

————————————————

WISHING YOU ALL OVER THE WORLD, A WONDERFUL and MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Frohe Weihnachten.
Joyeux Noël
Feliz Navidad.

Cheers Ritz