Post 1.554 on November 13 2024 AND ……7 blogs to go.

Slowly I start with a THANK YOU to several people who have been fabulous to me. This time some of the best photographers in my eyes. They allowed me to use their pictures in many of my blogs as great illustrations.
From the USA Bo[zena] Michalowski, from N.Z. Geoff Soper, from Finland Katja Soikkili from the Netherlands Arjan Vrieze and sometimes from Willemijn de Lange.
I used more very good pictures, always shared the names of the photographers and always they enriched the stories!!!!!
Thank you so much!!!!
One of the pictures from Bo;

One of the pictures from Katja;

One of the pictures from Geoff;

and from Arjan ;

—–Not the very best weather for all who hoped for many 1000 km-flights in Namibia. But there is so much to do and see, as a safari. I loved my safari in South Africa last year and will never forget the most beautiful wild animals in nature. They , for sure, will love it too.
Though , YES , I know they are there for flying!
But …..1000 k’s were there again on Saturday.

–—-Not the very best weather either at the Central Plateau comps in N.Z. In 7 days they started task 7 on November 8 with a 2 hour AAT in both classes, open and racing. That was FLYING DAY 3!!!
Not good either, as in racing only 5 pilots flew between 9 and 36 km!!!!!
In open only 1 pilot finished. In his Discus 2c-FES , Frank Excell won the day with 127 km in 2.01, so 63 km./h.
On November 8 and 9 they tried hard, set tasks and a few kilometres were flown , but that was it. On the total scores you can see that there were nearly no points on the scoring list.
In the end there were winners after 2 days -with-points for task 2 and 3;
Open….Frank Excell in Discus 2C -FES with 617 points and
racing.… Trace Austin in Discus CS with 355 points.

–—–Narromine; ” The dynamic-duo who keep Narromine Gliding Club functioning.
During the recent inaugural Womens’ Instructor Course held at Narromine 28 Oct – 1 Nov:
Beryl did all of the catering, and other wrangling. Her husband Arnie did every tow. and the BBQ’s and when necessary maintenance “ Dee Mac  
Great duo. I know Beryl and Arnie for a long , long time and mind you , they are not the youngest anymore!!!!
I always think of Arnie as some kind of “guardian angel”, as during the soaring-safari from South to Nord Australia with a few pilots, gliders and crew members. My daughter, then as old my grand daughter now, was one of the crew members . She had an unforgettable trip, loved every minute, but was very pleased to not have to drive back more kilometres to Narromine, as she was allowed to fly back with Arnie in the tug!!!!!

–—–As you can read the season has slowly started on the other side of the world. A check for pilot and glider is compulsory, so you will not fly around in a glider like this.
Nice picture though.

–—-In between the world has changed and we can only hope for the best. Trump back as president, somebody who abuses who ever he can, was chosen by the USA people, so hopefully they knew what they were doing. I don’t have a political opinion is this blog not about the Democrats neither the Republicans. With all the wars I only hope for peace;
The red poppy is a symbol of both Remembrance and hope for a peaceful future.
“The poppy is a well-known and well-established symbol, one that carries a wealth of history and meaning with it.“

–——In Amsterdam we had black night!!! And that after a great soccer comps between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. 5-0 for Ajax , NO WORRIES peace at the field and straight after, TILL organised mostly very young ones started to fight. And HOW,…..
The war in the East between Palestine and Israel was on our doormat, with a “chase” on Jewish people.
DEEPLY TRAGIC!!!!!!

—-AND,…looking back at 1 of the first blogs written on June 21 2006 from Sweden;
“Where can you better start with the first article, then in the MEKKA of gliding at this moment; Sweden,of course in Eskilstuna on Ekeby Airport, where tomorrow on June 16 2006 the last day of the 29th FAI Multi Class Gliding Championships will be flown.These are the very last Comps with 4 classes involved.So a very special day! With 116 pilots flying, also one of the bigger gliding events in history.26 Different nations are here and with 12 tow planes all pilots are launched in a very short time.

And …they are great comps! The weather was not all that flash , for that reason the tasks were not too big, but it was till now a real competition with ups and downs and weather circumstances with a variety I have never seen before in my life. The weather can change here very quickly and we have had, snow, hail, rain, sun, temperatures around 0 and temperatures around 30, lenties, clouds, blue days, tough wind and weak wind and a sunset at 22.15.Yes it seems it is never dark here and you go to bed too late for that reason.”

On invitation of Robert Danewid the CD of the comps in Eskilstuna,…… I was the daily writer!

To finish a story and some random pictures from the past.
It’s 1988! The EGC was in Finland at Rayskala. Already a year earlier Kees [Musters…1983 world champion in Hobbs] had lobbied to make me the TC of this competition. I assisted already at the 1987 WGC in Benalla, where I organized the shipment for the gliders and the accommodation at Tocumwal [practice] and Benalla. But I was not in the best mood due to tragic losses.
Kees died in December 1987 in France [ hang glider] and our son Dennis, died after a crash with the tug on January 3 in 1988, so within a week.
In the end the lobby still worked out both for the pilots and myself and I went with 5 men to Finland and 7 or 8 crew members.

Onno, [ 18 from 30 in 15 m] Gerrit, [ 6th from 13 in open], Daan,[ 9th in 15 m] ,Sikko [5th from 28 in st. class] and George.[10th in 15 m]
A competition with rain and thunderstorms, midsummer night and good spirits, though with 2 hiccups; a marriage break-down and the police in my tent to find out why somebody drove over the runway in the middle of the night on their motorbike. Yes the life of a TC is more than sitting behind a map with a radio.
One difficult landing as well by George as you can see .

A European competition with familiar faces;

and some friends

1989; , at home ,early morning in my nighty. Not too bad is it. Can’t remember this picture!!!!Nice to have found it, for those who did n’t know me then.

Next week I will go through more of my photo books and share some more soaring history.

CU next week. I have to stop now, as they are going to cut the electricity for a few hours.
By the way in Kiripotib an ARCUS M20, came available between December 13 and 31. So if you always dreamt of a 1000 k , of “outstanding weather conditions, full support, lot’s of fun ” and catching up with soaring mates, here is a possibility.
info@kiripotib-soaring.com
Cheers Ritz