—With the terrorist attack on innocent people in their mosque, New Zealand sadly found out ,that their till now relative safe country , [Christchurch had of course terrible earth quakes], lost it’s innocence as well, due to a fanatic weirdo.
50 People dead and a lot injured. TOO tragic for words. The HAKA-tribute  brought tears to many eyes.
In Utrecht , the travel hub from Holland , we had an attack as well; 3 people dead ,3 very badly injured and 2 more injured.
In a tram on their way to school, work or just having a coffee with mum. Our innocence is gone too.
Holland is part of Europe and several European countries had to deal with this  violence already earlier, whilst we “escaped”.
A Turkish weirdo born in Turkey ,but living in Holland, with a past of violence, took our Dutch innocence.
If it was a terrorist attack or a relational attack , maybe a psychopath, or a “crack-related” one, maybe even a reaction on Christchurch, [ I hope they find out in the end] , that does n’t matter for the families , their husband [49] son [29]and daughter [19] will be gone forever;  this guy ruined their lives.
Now sadly enough, it was our turn , but compliments for the police and other instances, they did a great job.

New Zealand and The Netherlands share their grief. The world shares with them.

—We were not the only ones, 2 weeks ago, with the very bad spring storm. Also Germany and Belgium SUFFERED!!!!
With this weird heavy weather, it must be , that insurances are going to raise their prices.
Only Holland had a damage bill from several millions. 2 Injured people luckily, no fatal accidents here in Holland.
It’s sometimes unbelievable to see how people crawl out of their by a tree,totally smashed car, with only a blue eye!! Great guardian angels.

—Last week I could not remember the name of the president of the jury later at the WWGC in Lake Keepit. Lilian, who flies WWGC’s for Holland straight away updated me. Thanks.
Gisela Weinreich. Of course I know her name and her input in female soaring, even met her, but a long time ago.
Lilian shared some info about her;
“She has been more often steward at WWGC’s. She is one of those champions and heroes in female gliding.
Here is a link to a documentary about the history of “women in gliding”, from the WWGC in Klix in 2005.Lot’s of history and the foundation of the WWGC. Deep respect for the ladies from the “past“.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjq9xx09fMk

 

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29 th Senior championship from Seminole Lake Gliderport.

courtesy Bozena Michalowski

The oldies, with respect, are still going strong,  at their senior championship as always at Seminole Lake Gliderport.
The contest management decided to “only” have 55 entrees for safety reasons.
Those 55 started on March 9 and continued till Friday the 15th.
What happened?
On contest day 1 Karl Striedeck showed his great soaring experience in a Duo Discus X, winning the first 1000 points,after an early start . Jim Lee in a 15m version JS 3 was runner up. Ron Ridenour in an ASW 27 was 3d.
A day with nice temperatures and a few clouds as well, but conditions seem to have been not as good as expected/hoped for.

Karl Striedeck with to the r. his brother.
Courtesy Bozena Michalowski.

Contest day 2 was for Jim, starting with a bunch of his mates, using [convergence-] cloud streets as much as possible. He straight away took over the first overall spot. Karl was 15th so moved to an overall spot 3. Not bad either!!Ron was 6th and stayed on 2.
“Today’s task is a 2 hr. area task. Weather forecasted similar to yesterday, but more moisture and encroaching clouds from a system along the gulf. Grid time was delayed and a slight change of task with the gate opening 14:20ish. Cu began to form in the airport area near launch time and bases rose to 4000+. All appear to be on course at this time.” by Kathy Lee.

1 of the pilots Pete Alexander with his “co”. I met Pete in Uvalde, [2012] where he mostly did the sniffer flight’s.
Courtesy Bozena Michalowski

“One special part of the Seniors Contest is the support that the competitors, crews, & friends give to help the next generation of pilots, particularly the junior team. Pete Alexander, chair of us team committee shared progress in preparing our Juniors for the upcoming contest in Hungary. The seniors stepped up with generous donations, back seat rides, etc. to help our 2019. it’s encouraging to see so much support for Juniors. Great job Seniors.”
US Soaring Teams

Contest day 3 , was the 2d daily win for Jim, so he was strongly on top with a relative late start at 3 PM. Karl was 3d and moved to spot 2 overall. Ron had a less good day, finished as 17th and dropped overall to spot 6.

Gary Carter and his lovely wife Christine, who I met in Uvalde as well. They were crewing for Bill Elliott that year and as I wrote for their Soaring Cafe, I met them a lot.
Courtesy Bozena Michalowksi

THEN …..NO flying,….but a CREW day!!!! Rick writes;
” At the Seniors, it is traditional to call the Rest Day the “Crew Day.”  This is because, at this event, the day is chosen by the crews, in consultation with the Competition Manager.  The CD doesn’t get a say in it.
The Crew Day is chosen well in advance, to allow the pilots and crews a full day to enjoy the Florida attractions.
This year it was a good call; we’ve had a solid overcast all day.”

Contest day 4 on March 13. After the overcast ,some cirrus stayed and made it not an easy day for some.  Lee is still on spot 1 overall, but was 8th for the day and Karl only 20thiest, but he stayed on his spot 3 as well. In between ,  Ron in his ASW 27, who is back in the top, with a relative early start at 2.04 PM and daily winner, so he returned to spot 2 overall.  Jim started 15 minutes later.

The tuggies, “you guys are the greatest. Such an incredible & efficient routine launching so many planes in such a short time!”
Courtesy Bozena Michalowski

Contest day 5; Leigh writes about the weather;
“Roughly 4000 ft. cloud bases, cu, light winds from SE.  Possible horizontal spread out, no cirrus.”
So a 2.5 hour area task was set.
The day even turned out better than expected but some kind of seabreeze interrupted some good flights.
Leigh writes about it;
“About halfway thru the course- 5-6 knot thermals.  Unfortunately for some competitors, a lake wind shadow set up approx. 15 miles west of last turn and as a result those returned home for a finish short of minimum time.”
Daily winner;Billy Kerns in an LS 8 /15 m. Ron was 2d and Lee 3d. Karl 5th, so no changes to the overall top;Jim, Ron and Karl.

with Doug Jacobs and his crew.
Courtesy Bozena Michalowski.

Contest day 6 last day!with good weather up to 5000 ft and 9 knot climbs!!!
Not a great day for Jim , finishing as number 21 for the day, but he was so far ahead he could fly defensibly.
Al Simmons in the ARCUS M won the day , the best day of the contest and with that he took over spot 3 overall from Karl.
FINAL RESULTS;
1. Jim Lee with 5.703 points.
2. Ron Ridenour with 5600 p.
3. Al Simmons with 5548 p.
4. Karl Striedeck with 5528 p.
5. Rich Owen with 5505 p. [in LS 8 /15 m.]
6. Doug Jacobs with 5477 p. [in Duo Discus X]

The older ones under my readers know of course names as Karl Striedeck and Doug Jacobs. I met them at several comps in the past. Karl was honored and here is what ,I guess looking at the style, Rick wrote about him;
“The awards ceremony opened with a special presentation. Karl Striedieck received the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Diploma, in honor of his 50+ years of accident-free flying in everything from F-86s to the Duo Discus he now flies. In his remarks after the presentation, Karl, who has flown gliders all over the world, reminded us how lucky we are to have the freedom to fly in this country without the restrictions most other glider pilots endure.”

This was the 29th version of the Seniors Contest so we are looking ahead of a great 30thiest contest next year.

Booming Weather.
All pictures Bo Michalowski

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SKYSIGHT.

News;
Today we are announcing the launch of the first revision of our User Manual.
We have a comprehensive manual in English, and a Quickstart guide available in German and English.

Manual (EN): http://static.skysight.io/Manual-v1.pdf
Quickstart (EN): http://static.skysight.io/Quickstart-v1.en.pdf
Quickstart (DE): http://static.skysight.io/Quickstart-v1.de.pdf

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UPPSALA MASTERS
UPDATE:

An important update about some changes;
“ the Official Comp starts 8th of June and ends 16th of June. 9th of June is a non-flying day.”
Why?? “our second competition day must be cancelled due to a verdict in our court of appeal some years ago, that prevents us from performing glider towing at Withsunday.”

 

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Some nice long flights last week;
March 14; In an ASH 25 Baptiste Innocent flew 1.065 km. from Fayance.
March 15; Kilometer eater Klaus Ohlman took his Stemme out the hangar from Serres for a long “ride” 1.612 km. with 166,95 km./h!!!!
730 in a Ventus 1 by Gerard Lherm from St Martin, is good too.
March 16 ;1.121 km. mostly ridge soaring by Dan Reagan in an ASH31/18m. from Grant County.
“Good day. A little of everything, wave, ridge, thermals, show showers, etc., etc. Lots of fun.”
March 19; 722 [600 FAI triangle] by 2 pilots flying an ARCUS from Alzate in Italy. And,…756 km. by 2 German pilots  flying from Bad Neustadt in an ASG 32 MI.

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And to finish;
Enough “troubles” again with the BREXIT. Love this cartoon shared by Peter Tutuarima. To be honest I do not understand some of the British people.

By Peter Tutuarima.

 

AND…..to finish once more this great sunset in South Africa.

after the roll out, from the 50thiest JS 3, owned by Katrin Senne, she made a few pictures.
So courtesy Katrin Senne
“What a happy day. Being able to join the roll out party of the 50 JS3 of Jonker Sailplanes in Potchefstroom SA today. And having the possibility to take the first pictures of my new BK glider was even better,”