The weather was not really flash last Wednesday on June 1,with local showers, but good enough to set tasks for nearly up to 400 km. …That’s what they thought, at least hoped for, but it was not meant to be.
Club; 270 km....cancelled.Combi; 287 km…cancelled.18m; 326 km…cancelled.open; 360 km..cancelled2-seaters; 319 km….cancelled.

June 2; Task 7. Big tasks again, so now the weather should perform as well,…and now in the evening I am happy to say…IT DID!!!!1000 points-day in each class and only 1 pilot out.[in 18m]
Club; 332 km.…Robin flew in his LS 4neo to victory with a speed of 110.51 km./h. That was 5 k faster than runner up Roelof ;105.71 km./h.
Robin moved to spot 1 overall with 2 days to go, as Thies who was on 1 overall, had a bit of an off-day, or maybe was pushing too hard; last spot and nearly loosing 250 points. A pity as he is a very good pilot. BUT,…so is Robin.
combi; 356.75 km.…with early starters at 13.01 and later starters at 13.33. It really did n’t matter too much . Daily winner, Steven[ Ventus 2CT] started at 13.13 and won the day with a speed of 112.96 km./h whilst runner up Max [ JS3 ] was a tad slower with 112.88 km/h. and started 10 minutes later. The number 3 was one of the later starters.
18m; 407.97 km….3d win for Peter who flew his JS3jet with a speed of 116.37 km./h over the track, gaining the 1000 points, making his first spot overall even more firm. Sjaak [ ASG 29 es] was runner up and Jelmer [ LS 10] 3d.
The overall scores stayed the same with Peter, Steven and Lars.
open; 416.65 km...122.12 km./h was the speed in the EB 29r with Francois . Bas in his JS1 was runner up ; 115.35 km./h. for 889 points. So Bas who was number 1 overall over ALL days, now moved to 2 , but 64 points behind…with 2 days to go….everything is possible.
2-seaters; 411.29 km.…between the power of the ARCUS M and T, there is ONE Duo Discus WL, with Annemiek and Sikko AND,….they were runner up; 99.15 km./h. AND with 2 days to go…runner up overall.
Joost and Erik won the day;111.98 km./h
They are 600 points ahead overall.

June 3; Task 8. It’s not that often, that the Dutch Nationals have 6 days AND still one more to go. Sometimes it was squeezing in a day to make it a valid competition. This year is pretty good.
Club; 274.43 km....yesterday he was last, today he won again. Thies flew with a speed of 92 km./h to daily victory, his 2d win.
With one more day; Robin leads with 4.512 points, Thies with 4.464 and Frank 4.442.
Combi; 284.40 km; Good day for my former junior during the JWGC in Husbos; Robbie was the best ….3x an LS 8 in the top 3. Yesterday Steven won, today he was last. All 8 finished.
And with 1 day to go the overall scores are; Marissa with 4.344 points, Mark with 4.310 and Robbie with 4.115.
18m; 322.89 km....Once a world champion,so we all know how good Sjaak is. He won, but Peter is for sure a future world champion and as I told you already he was a JWGC champion.
He was runner up and Lars still is in the race, good on him. Looking ahead on tomorrow; Peter leads with huge margin; 4.718 points…..Steven with 4.321 points and Lars with 4.291 points ,…..BUT, they are trying to “get” him, as Sjaak has 4.276 and Jeroen 4.235 points. Who has the best nerves. Exciting!!!!
open; 327.43 km....Marc van Bremen won the day in the Nimbus 4 DM. Hard work as the speed was “only” 97.63 km./h. All 9 had a speed in the 90 -plus -km./h range.
Well with 1 day to go Francois still leads , Bas is runner up; 4.584 for 4.456 points. Ronald is 3d with 4.191 points.
2 seaters; 314.56.…A bit of a “rest-day” for toppers Erik and Joost , they were on spot 7 for the day, a 1000 points day for this class. No worries they could have it. And those points were for team Bart Renckens/ Max Dolfin.
Overall at this stage; Erik and Joost with 4.858 points. Then Sikko and Annemiek with 4.357 and team Rein Groot[ dad from Lars] / Paul Wijsman 4.212 p.

June 4; Task 9….LAST DAY!!! The weather was ,according to the TV, still good enough to fly. After tomorrow we get a few day’s of rain, so the Nationals had a great period.
It was rather fresh this Saturday morning and it took a long time here [about 125 km. SE] to heat up. Also at Terlet.
Tasks were set , not big ones but 2 hour and 1.30 AAT’s.
I heard already that the task for 18 m, open and 2-seaters was cancelled. It just started too late.
So winners and DUTCH CHAMPIONS in 18 m, open and the 2-seater class were known early and they could start celebrating straight away.
2 hour AAT’s were still on for Club and Combi, so task 9; BUT,….for combi only 3 from 8 just flew over 100 km, so not enough to make it a valid day.
More celebrations and maybe a bit of emotions for Tom, Steven and Marissa as they flew over those 100 km. for zero points. But with this result, Marissa is, I think, the first National female CHAMPION!!! Top!!!!
Then it was waiting for Club class
Task 9; 2 hour AAT....The juniors and former juniors started around 4PM.
And yes,…7 of them managed to fly over 100 km.
So task 9 was for them a fact. Simon and Jelmer [Vis] and Frank former junior flew between 114 and 128 km. in time 1.50 for 299, 295 and 255 points.
It did not change the overall results as scores were “low”.
Thies was one of the 4 “out-landers”, but lost not much [120 daily p] so kept his runner up spot. Robin was 6th with 246 p.
Overall winners in CLUB class over 7 out of 10 days;
1. Robin Smit in LS 4 neo with 4.758 points and DUTCH CHAMPION.
2. Thies Bruins in ASW 20 with 4.584 p.
3. Frank Hiemstra in LS 4WL with 4.479 p.
4. Jelmer Vis in LS4 with 4.445 p.

Robin and Marissa are from the same club at Gilze Rijen. I noticed already over the last year ,looking on the OLC, that they practiced together in a Duo Discus quite regularly. I asked Robin and he wrote that they ” checked out a few things” and they did some pair-flying each in their own glider as well. She learned a lot from that, I heard. We could see……
For this National Championship, they prepared each flight together , now they are both CHAMPION each in their own class……. Good on them.
AND,…indeed Marissa [30] is the first female Dutch champion.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

Overall winners in the combi class after 6 out of 10 days;
1. Marissa Prins in LS 8 neo with 4.344 points and CHAMPION.
2. Mark van den Ham in ASW 24 with 4.310 p.
3. Robbie Seton in LS 8 with 4.115 p.

Overall winners in 18 m;
1. Peter Millenaar in JS 3 jet with 4.718 points, a clear champion.
2. Steven Raimond in AS 33es with 4.321 p.
3. Lars Groot in ASG 29Ewith 4.291 p.

Overall winners in open class;
1. Francois Jeremiasse in EB 29 R with 4,584 points.
2. Bas Seijffert in JS 1c with 4.456 p
3. Ronald Termaat in JS 1c with 4.191 p.

Overall winners in 20m/ 2-seaters;
1. Borgmann & Wolff in ARCUS T with 4.858 points. CLEAR CHAMPIONS!
2. Vermeer & Koers in Duo Discus WL with 4.357 p.
3. Groot & Wijsman In ARCUS T with 4.212 p.

This was a bit more writing than normal about a National Competition, but it WAS IN THE NETHERLANDS , my home country. So forgive me. I have lots of great memories on Terlet and the Nationals since the 60thies.
And,…we do have good pilots too!!!
I do have to apologize too, I called Thies a Dutch Champion, last week, but he was a runner up in 2019. Sorry for that …still good. Roelof Corporaal ,who flew the Nationals this year as well ,won club class that year in a Pegase. This year Roelof had a few out landings and that does n’t help. He was still 9th.

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The qualifying FAI SGP in LITHUNIA and ITALY [Varese]

On May 31 they had the first valid flying day in Paluknys, Lithuania, where the FAI SGP [qualification] from series 11 is flown. The first time a SGP is in this country, with 5 Lithuanian pilots and one from Germany.
They fly in 4 ASW 20’s and 2 LS 3 a’s.
After 2 cancelled days, the weather was still not really co-operating, but 1 pilot, Tomas Kuzmickas, in ASW 20, managed to fly the 224 km. task.

On the site of the Vilniaus Aeroklubas was written:
“The day started with promising forecast for the race and 224km task even looked rather short in the beginning. But low cloudbase and strong wind made the day difficult for everyone at the start sector. Almost everyone outlanded in the first 30km and made it into a two horse race till the very last leg“
The weather for June 1 was not good either.

4 days cancelled and only 1 race with 2 points and 2 days to go on Friday.
BUT. ….the one but last day was flyable so on Friday race 2 was set.
100 km with a speed of 75 km./h and won by Darius Gudziunas in the ASW 20.
“The day started with a lot of humidity and looked nothing like forecasts promised racing day. But with the short task drawn we waited patiently for a sunny gap in the skies. First take offs attempt was unsuccessful but luckily everyone landed back to the airfield. In a while the sky started clearing up a little and we went for the second round of take offs. This time successfully“
Last day on Saturday with race 3 and 169 km;
“Finally, we had weather conditions that we’ve been waiting for the whole competition and it helped to put up a great show for everyone. We had an amazing last race with top pilots fighting for the overall win until the very last seconds – the real grand prix style, pure racing. Finishing up with Linas taking the win over the finish line and claiming a champion’s title!“
In the end the organizers could smile.
“A very tight race for the win and we have a winner ! After a very exciting race with the overtake just before the finish line, Linas took the winners title of the FAI SGP Qualification and claims a ticket to the World Sailplane Grand Prix Final in Pavullo“
15 points out of 3 days for Linas. Tomas had 12, so had Darius. Both won a race.

And it’s VARESE now for the next qualifying FAI SGP . President Margherita Acquaderni from Aero Club Adele Orsi Acao welcomed everybody and hoped for a fantastic competition from the airfield of Calcinate Del Pesce, between 4 June 2022 – 11 June 2022. They started last Saturday with practice and 20 pilots, also from the UK, Germany and France. Very interesting mix!!!!
race 1; 197.98 km; As always in the beginning, the scores are colored with penalty signs. There was a winner too; Alberto Sironi . It was a struggle because of the weather; low cloud base , heavy rain along the task, poor visibility at places and a severe thunderstorm in front of the Varese airfield at landing time, hence a lot non-finishers. But as some pilots called it ” INTERESTING!!!
“It was a very difficult task due to a thunderstorm that caused impressive lifts and sinks. Only 6 out of 20 pilots were able to complete the task.”
Mario [Kiessling Germany] passed the line first [15 seconds], but was penalized for a too low finish. He was 3d behind Yves [Gerster Switzerland].

Race 2;a nice sunny day in Varese….193 km…
“Today pilots will fly to Lago Maggiore, then very close to Bergamo and back. Weather conditions should be nice, probably we will have a very fast race today.”
“The first part of the race was very selective, some pilots flew very low, and others decided to stay high, flying slower in order to wisely manage their next move. The meteo boomed after the last turning point, letting pilots increase considerably their average speed on the task.”
7 from 20 flew over 100 km./h , so not that fast. Yves was the best, 10 points for him. Pete [Harvey] was runner up . [8 p]
It turned out to be a tricky day, specially in the beginning.
Yves; “a lot of fun, the ridges worked but the first part was difficult.”
Pete;” first part was horrible and So low”!!
From the finish line interviews with Margot.

Race 3; cancelled…During gridding it was raining already and heavy thunderstorms were expected for the day.

More Next week!

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My Finish mates were less lucky with their weather during the Nationals, between 26 May 2022 – 4 June 2022 from good old Rayskala.
They only had 3 days out of 10 and the winners in Racing class were
1. Kristian Roine in LS 8st with 1.974 points. That says enough!!!
2. Antti Koskiniemi in Discus 2b with 1.671 p.
3. Pasi Pulkkinen in ASG 29E with 1.660 p.
There were 8 participants.
They had to deal on those 3 days, with low cloud base , but also a cloud street, sometimes a howling sea- wind and early end’s of the day.

The combi class also had 3 days for their 13 participants ;
1.Mikko Nurminen in Ventus-2 cxa FES with 2.177 points.
2. Martti Koivula in JS 1Cn 21m with 2.114 p
3. Sami Rissanen in EB 28 edition with 2.038 p.
Other pilots in this class I know were Aku Jaakkola in Ventus 3T on spot 6, Hannu Halonen in Ventus 3M on spot 7, Martti Sucksdorff in AS 33es on spot 8, Heikki Horma in ASG 29 on spot 9 [if I remember well he was a real good meteo man, BUT there were a few Heikki’s in the years I was there] and Lasse Virtanen in ARCUS on spot 10.

Club class results, all very close with so less days;
1. Kim Toppari in LS 7 with 2.082 points.
2. Mikko Ylihärsilä in LS 7 with 2.069 p
3. Sakari Pyörre in LS 7 with 2.062 p

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My Danish mates finished their Nationals , from Arnborg as well on June 5.
The overall results, after 4/5 out of 11 days;
Standard class; 10 pilots….one 1000 points-day with a 4 hour AAT
1. Jacob Bøgelund Lassen in Discus 2a with 3.155 points.
2. Filip Bojanowski the same glider with 2.906 p.
3. Poul Kim Larsen, same glider with 2.650.
Jacob and Filip have been mostly on top overall.

club class; 15 participants….4 days out of 11….one 1000 points-day on a 4 hour AAT won by Rasmus….one only outlandings.[task 11 last day]
1. Rasmus Ørskov in ASW 20 f with 2.997 points. He won 2 days!!!
2. Jens Andersen in LS 4 with 2.781 p.
3. Jan Walther Andersen in ASW 20 with 2.745 p.

15 m; 11 pilots …..not a 1000 points day…last day all out.
1. Morten Nørgaard in ASW 27b with 3.307 points.
2. Henrik Breidahl in JS 3 with 3.016 p. Pleased to see him still in the top.
3. Knud Møller Andersen in Ventus 2cT with 2.871 p.

18 m; 14 participants….Stig was the only one in on the 4 hour task….
1. Stig Øye in Ventus 3M with 2.464 points. GOOD ON HIM.
2. Peter Eriksen in AS 33es with 2.378 p. won 2 days.
3. Arne Boye-Møller in JS 3 jet with 2.324 p. also won 2 days.

2-seaters; 5 teams….2x a 1000 points day on a 4 hour AAT and 300 km race.
1. Jørgensen & Nielsen in ARCUS T with 3.039 points
2. Mix & Talenter in DUO DISCUS XLT with 3.002 p.
3. Døssing & Knudsen in ARCUS T with 2.939 p.
Michael Mix flew the comps with 2 talents. He lost his lead on the last day. As I heard we will “see more of him in the future”.

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When you are planning to avoid the winter in Europe and don’t want to go to Africa for a change, you can go to Australia where they fly AUSTRAGLIDE from Narromine.
“AusGlide 2022: The Narromine Gliding Club is hosting the 2022 Standard, 15 Meter & Club Class National Gliding Championships at Narromine Airfield from 27 November to 10 December 2022.The NCC have advised that this competition attracts 100% selection points for the Australian Team to compete at the 2023 World Gliding Championships at Narromine in November/December 2023.It is also the Pre-Worlds event for the 2023 World Gliding Championships and will attract a lot of International Competition Glider Pilots.“
Entries are now open, click on this link http://www.narromineglidingclub.com.au/…/AusGlide2022.html to go to the Comp website and Register Online.

What a great weekend the UK offered the world, with the platinum jubilee of their 96 year old queen, already for 70 year their QUEEN.
I loved with million of other people ‘TROOPING THE COLOUR” , AND the FLY PAST, the music festival opened by the Queen and Paddington, with toppers as Queen, Duran Duran ,Andrea Bocelli ,Rod Stewart and many more in front of the palace and that fabulous colorful” platinum Pageant” with thousands of performers from the Common Wealth. They showed dance , music, cars, motors etc. from the time the Queen reigned.

More than enough news
CU Next week
Ritz,
OH, also interesting…. the amount of glider pilots in 2005, 2015 and 2021.Look at Japan …increase of 376 %!!!!!And Argentina….458 %
As shared by Dinant Riks
https://drive.google.com/…/1d_SYhbOgDSZ…/view