HAPPY MOTHERS DAY !!!!
Today I start AND finish with overseas news !!!! Yes I know, the summer season here has not yet really started and after some great spring days we hope for more great weather here in Europe, but WHEN you plan, you have to do it in advance so here is the exciting , interesting and pretty HOT news I got from Ludwig first .
“We are glad to announce that together with the Bitterwasser-team we can offer ‘Flying with the Champions’ at the biggest and most traditional gliding site in Namibia. Additionally to the event in Kiripotib we will offer two courses in the first two weeks of November 2015, for four pilots each.
Gliders available will be EB 28, Arcus M and the new ASG 32 from Schleicher, we are quite excited about that!
There will be some new faces among the champions, for sure Arndt Hovestadt, Holger Back and Reinhard Schramme from Germany, Brad Edwards from Australia and Phil Jones from Great Britain. With some others, we are still negotiating.
In the meantime, our event became so popular that capacities in Kiripotib are at their limits. Therefore, we appreciate the cooperation with Bitterwasser to give even more interested glider pilots a chance to participate in this worldwide unique training event. The top quality we can offer – thanks to our champions – has made the rounds!
From now on you have the choice to book our courses in Bitterwasser as well, find more details on our homepage
http://www.rent-a-glider.com/view/p-1485/Flying-with-the-Champs/
or on the Bitterwasser-link:
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At more and more competitions, STAR photographers appear. Also at the QSGP; Jan Smekal!!!!!
Shared by the organizers on FB.
The QSGP in Czech Rep.
April 6..Flying day 4 ,take 1; On day 2 young Martin Piskacek got the honors at the prize giving for his spot 3. Unfortunately on day 3 he out-landed . The organizers shared some pictures.Beautiful BIG field.
After the briefing at 12, the meteo was optimistic;there would be a window!In the end it was task B for barbeque. the day was cancelled.
April 7 …Flying day 4, take 2; Already day 6 and 2 scrubbed days. If they have the weather, we had here, I do understand that soaring is not possible.
In Holland on May 6 even 2 girls , ONLY 20 YEARS OLD, were killed by lightning. They were walking in a park and from nothing it started to rain, they rushed to a tree, there were many of them and just this tree was hit by lightning. This bad weather comes in a flash. Short and snappy.
In the N of Germany a tornado ruined part of a small town on May 5.
Just to show you a bit of the European weather last week.
But back to soaring.
After the cold front had passed flying day 4 started with a 350 km. task!!!!
7 Pilots managed to fly this distance . Best was ,…it’s getting boring, Sebastian with 104 km./h. But he is ” SIMPLY THE BEST.”
8 Points for him. A few just made it, getting some penalty seconds for a too low finish height.
Petr [Panek] was 2d, this is also the overall scoring list;Sebastian 32 and Petr 26.
Some spotters make great pictures as well, look at this one shared on the FB from the organizers by Mr.SALADYGA.
April 8…Flying day 5. Better weather was forecasted AND a 4th tug was added o the fleet. Briefing was at 12 and a task of 245.7 km. was set.Regatta start at 2 PM.
It turned out a real racing day, as Sebastian got his 10 points for a speed of 127.8 km./h.
The runner up with 8 points, Luka, got 8 points for his speed of 112.6 km./h.
In their comment the organizers thought of PR as well.
“ After the start over the airfield at 1500m AMSL, the pilots had to round the “beloved” turn point, Lysa Hora, below 1500m for the benefit of the spectators expected to be present on top of this mountain, the day being a national holiday as well as to be filmed by the organisation’s cameramen.”
With 42 points Sebastian is already the Frydland-QSPG -champion in Czech Rep.
Runners up are both Petr [Panek] and Luka with 28 points ,..who is going to keep that spot on the last day????
And Sebastian could help his Polish mate Zdislaw, on spot 4 with 27 points, a bit higher up.
By the way,….Next QSGP will be in Zar [June 20-28] in Poland, home place from Sebastian, so,……He and his mate do NOT have to qualify anymore,….
One of the 4 Tugs as seen by SPOTTER Mr. Saladyga.
April 9 last day; number 6.
The briefing was set for 12 for this FINAL RACE. Tricky weather they said, but there would be a last short race,
118 km. was set ,when the sniffer found up to 1 m./s lift with a cloud base of 1200 AMSL.
At 14.50 the last regatta start from this QSGP.
ONLY 2 pilots finished Sebastian,…and,…..Zdislaw who got the 4 points, Sebastian who did n’t need points got 1.All in all Zdislaw was 2d with 32 points.So both go to the final in VARESE.
I don’t think Sebastian ever flew with a speed of 37.6 km./h. A great , never-giving-up QSGP champion with 43 points. Now on his way to win Zar, Varese,…the world.
Sebastian , with dad and daughter, seems to say “What can I say,…it ‘s really not that difficult”
As shared by the organizers .Courtesy David Dorda who made 247 great pictures on the last day.
https://www.facebook.com/david.dorda/media_set?set=a.10203046584200456.1073741827.1680885458&type=1
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KLIX 2015.
When I left you they were about to announce what was going to happen on Wednesday.With 4 days to go EVERYTHING was still possible.
Wednesday started with a later briefing at 11.
Overcast, without hope. Day was cancelled.
Flying day 5;sunny but still a pretty strong wind, gridding BEFORE briefing.So all had to get back in their rhythm again.
Tasks were set; AAT’s , from 3 , 3.15, 3.30 up to 4 hours mainly because of the difficult weather, [wind and showers] But faster than expected high clouds covered the field and club and 15 m. class were cancelled before the start.
A tough day for the others.
In the end it was a valid day for 18 m./open and for the 2-seaters. Unfortunately not for the Standard class pilots.
Great to see that Frouwke and her husband Ferdi [Kuijpers] won the day in the Duo Discus XL , but they nicely took 981 points to their tent.They flew the 345 km. with a speed of 89.07 km./h. They moved to spot 4 overall.
I told you about the Belgian family , THEY, the Kuijpers, are a Dutch soaring family; Frouwke flies and is very much involved in gliding activities and one of our Dutch IGC delegates, Ferdi flew nationals and international competitions , Tim was junior world champion and Maaike and Caspar both fly as well.
The Dutch had in both classes a good day , as Hadriaan in his 18 m. DG 808 was 2d in 18 m./open gaining 999 points.They had a 3.30 AAT and he flew 403 km. in 3.50.[105.21 km./h] The winner 422.8 km. in 4.02,58[104.45km./h] After 4 days Hadriaan tops the overall list.
Frouwke and Ferdi, daily winners, as shared on FB.AND Ferdi..with Steven and Marion
Flying day 6 started with sun, less wind but this time middle high clouds “rolled” in.
Racing tasks between 295 and 355 were set.
A day with out landings , but also “6 m./s lift” , so some had a good ,…..some had a bad day.
294.90 km. for club class and 1000 points for Rolf [Engelhardt] in the LS 1f.
354.75 km. for standard and the Belgian boys did not disappoint me , this time they were 1 [Dennis] , 2 [Jef] ,3 [ Wim ] and 9 .[Tim]
Wim has a total of 4445 and Dennis 4408,….what will happen on the last day?????? Flying together or against each other,….I think I know.
354.75 as well for 15 m. class and the good old LS 6 did well; Dutch pilot Ronald flew around with a speed of 106,64 , whilst the runner up Tobias [Barth] 101,92 in the Mosquito.Ronald , a junior from the Delft Student Areo club, won the day!!
Not even 100 points difference between number 1 and number 2 so all is possible here. Tobias is now on spot 2 behind Sebastiaan Maas.
308.30 km. for open/18 m. and the low countries are doing well as Dutch pilot Hadriaan won the 1000 points. [speed 124.84] Overall he has 4556 points so nearly 300 points ahead of the runner up, for the last day.
316.61 km for the 2-seaters and NO this time no Dutch or Belgian pilots , but German in the DG 1000/20m
The ASG 32 MI has 4547 points and the runner up in the Duo Discus 4261. It looks easy but it still has to be flown…tomorrow.
Dutch daily winners Hadriaan and Ronald. Lot’s of calendars [ read daily prizes] go to Holland.
As shared by Frouwke.
With Steven handing over a calendar to Robert.
BUT,….there was NO tomorrow! At least not for soaring in Klix. Already in the evening before they mentioned that ” maybe the champions would be already sure”.In the morning from Saturday they had rain, then for a short while a sunny window and then it would be rain/hail/thunderstorm etc, so no day to fly.
So yesterdays overall winners are still the best. A pity for those who wanted to excel on the last day and gain those points to be just a step better. BUT,….of course you can loose as well.
Here are the final results .
Club class; Rolf Engelhardt in the LS 1f with 4122 points. Runner up, Helge Liebertz , same glider , but with winglets ; 4095.
Standard class; Wim Akkermans from Belgium in the LS 8 with 4448 points just before his brother in law Dennis Huybreckx also in LS 8 with 4408 points.
15 m.; Sebastian Maas in the DG 800/15 m. with 4285 points just ahead of Tobias Berth in the Mosquito [4191] and ahead of Dutch pilot Steven Raimond who won 3 days but out-landed on day 4.[4159]
18 m./open; Hadriaan van Nes , one of our top pilots in his DG 800/18 m. with 4556 points. Runner up in an 18m. LS 6 Herbert Horbrugger with 4278 and Peer Konitzer in the Discus 2c/18 m. 4197 and with 20 points less Robert Werts from Holland in the Nimbus 3.
2 seater class ;Leucker/Anklam with 4546 points in the ASH32 MI, followed by 2 German Duo Discus’ with 4261 and 4088 points.
NICE comps !!!!!! And ….they were happy as well; all Huybreckx grand- children, as said before , the NEW generation. Partying and prize giving in the evening for all at 8.
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The Polish 15 m. Nationals.
Rudniki-Częstochowa
These Nationals were between May 2 and 10 and count 13 participants. Parallel were some regional comps from this field.Quite a strong “fight” in the top as 4 competitors were close to each other on the last day.
Thomasz Krok in the LAK 19 had after 4 days 3879 points. Lucasz Blaszczyk flying a DISCUS 2A, had 3745 points and just behind, Leszek Staryszak in the LAK 19T, had 5 points less.
They got a 1.45 AAT on day 5 and 500 points were ready for the daily winner. Leszek was 3d, Thomasz 5th and Lucasz 9th and though there were not a lot of points to earn , the number 1 held his spot ,Lucasz and Leszek swapped places.
Thomas Rubaj in the DUO DISCUS won 2 days, but finished on spot 4 overall.
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LX Cup 2015 in Hungary
Szatymaz May 2-10
43 Participants in one big mixed class, between EB 28 and LS 3 . Only 4 days of flying and they were all won by Bostjan Pristavec in his EB 28.[handicap 126]
No rain, but tricky conditions in Hungary like in many European countries.
Gyorgi Gulyas flew as well, but could not make this time the difference. He finished on spot 12 overall in a Janus C FG.
Laszlo Halasz in the JS 1 won the last day and moved to spot 2 in the total scores.
They had not one 1000 point-day, but a great atmosphere as I read and that’s important too.
Bostjan was ” only” 4th on the last day but no worries, he was the new winner of the LX CUP.[3061 points]
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FATRAGLIDE 2015
Martin Airfield Slovakia
26 Participants in 2 classes. After a few cancelled days they started with a BANG, as on the first flying day, 508 km was set in combi and flown by one pilot Lubor Kuvik;1000 points. 7 Pilots flew between 196 and 423 km.
Club had 350 and also in this class ONE finisher in an ASW 15 B. 1000 points for Zsolt Siket and 16 pilots flew between 4.2 and 269 km.
The next day they had 2.30 AAT’s in both classes and most pilots flew the task.
Yesterday was flying day 3 and the last one.
” In between warm and cold fronts we will try to make one small task. This evening is party and prize giving ceremony.”
Last year, after the comps one competitor , who was part as a competitor of Fatraglide for 15 years, died in a car accident. Tragic!
” At to days briefing we paid tribute to late Roman Kříž – our friend who died last year after fatraglide competition in car accident. Roman family very generously donated money for all todays competitors for towing fees. We as well agreed to prepare Roman Kříž trophy for next years to keep his legacy among our gliding community. We would like to thank Roman’s family very much, we appreciate that a lot.”
So on donated towing fees the pilots went with mixed feelings, I guess, but determined to honor their mate, for 1.45 AAT’s. It was not meant to be for all, yes they were launched but over development spoiled the day and most club class had to land again.One pilot, Szolt, fought HARD for zero points.He was the winner anyhow.[1856 points after 2 days]
In the mixed/combi class ONE pilot flew 149.2 km. in just over 2 hours and got 172 points, Lubor did not finish , he was forced to use his engine on final glide, due to rain, but flew 131.7 km.[130 points] It turned out a valid day for them! Lubor was the overall winner![1929 points after 3 days]
At least there was the famous goulash in the evening. Not bad.
The weather on the last day, as shared by the organizers.
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THE 49th HAHNWEIDE 2015
A Dutch arrival at the Hahnweide; Jeppe [de Boer], Rob [Looisen] and Francis [van Haaff] All 3 KLM pilots, flying the Duo Discus XT. They fly in the 2 seater class class with 28 other teams.
Registration was on Friday between 4 and 8 PM and they just started yesterday with day 1.
5 Classes 121 gliders;
Standard class with 22, among them toppers as the Levin brothers , Sebastian Naegel, Mac Ichikawa from Japan , Eduard Inaebnit and a friend from Italy, Manuele Molinari.
15 m. with 12, and among them Phil Jones and Bernd Weber.
18m. with 38 among them TOPPERS as Andy Davis, Reinhard Schramme, Russell Cheetham, Mario Kiessling Werner Amann and Boerje Eriksson.
open with 20 , toppers here as well as Killian Walbrou , Werner Meuser ,Sylvain Gerbaud, the THE Broquevilles and Bruno Gantenbrink in the Nimeta and as said
29 in the 2-seater-class with Sigi Baumgartl, Holger Karow together with Uli Schwenk, Robert and Helene Pratt and my Dutch friends.
Day 1; Windy , but afternoon flying was possible. That is,…NOT for the open class and the 2 seaters.
At 14.30 launching started for 3 classes;st. class with 172 km., 15 m. with 187 km. and 18 m. with 203 km.
You can find pictures of the 3 best in each class on the site.
More next Wednesday and in between Katrin , who is a female-top-glider-pilot-herself, keeps you informed with all the latest at ;
http://wettbewerb.wolf-hirth.de/
Nice clouds on day 1 for the classes who could fly, but as you can see a tough wind with pretty strong gusts.
As shared by the organizers.
TODAY; Big distances, great weather. 515 for open class, who is up front at the grid. 401.9 for the 2 seaters, 457 for 18 m. class,439.9 km. for 15 m. ,399.3 for standard class.
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The FOR-DM 2015 in Denmark started with a cancelled day , yesterday but there are still a few days to come , I guess , with better weather, as Denmark and Holland are not that far away.45 Pilots in one mixed class,[from St Libelle to ARCUS T] with Peter Eriksen , Arne Boye Muller, Henrik Breidhal, Rasmus Orskov and some more to me well known names as, Ole Arndt and Ib Wienberg. More on Wednesday.
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In the latest GLIDING INTERNATIONAL you find news about the new VENTUS III [Schempp-Hirth press release] , about how to soar the Himalayas, about the GLOW… the birth of a new era , an evaluation by Aldo from the STEMME S6, but also about drone-rules , solution to battery storage and the story from the Solar Implse and much more as the May-June issue counts 64 pages.Enjoy!
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And LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
For those who are interested to have some Australian practice before going to the the JWGC this Club and Sports National Championship might be a great opportunity.
Place – LAKE KEEPIT SOARING CLUB
Date – Monday 9th to Friday 20th of November 2015 at Lake Keepit Soaring Club.
Entry fee – $400 per aircraft, plus $50 per additional pilot, less $50 discount if paid before August 1st.
Entries – Maximum 60 entrants will be accepted with maximum 40 in one class. Up to the cutoff date of 31st July, entries will allocated to paid applicants on the basis of IGC ranking of the pilots. Up to the cutoff date 5 places will be reserved for International pilots, allocated by pilot ranking. After the cutoff date, any places not filled by the above process will be filled in the order that valid entry applications are received and paid for.
http://www.keepitsoaring.
Of course in 2017 the WGC is in Benalla between January 8 and 21 and some news from the OSTIV;
” The OSTIV president, Rolf Radespiel has advised that the OSTIV board has agreed to hold their next congress alongside the Benalla world comps. Benalla has excellent facilities to host such an event.”
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Enough! Cu on Wednesday again and,..next Thursday the OPEN BENELUX comps start at St. Hubert.So more Belgian and Dutch soaring-power!
Cheers Ritz