In the night from Saturday to Sunday we moved one hour back in time and most countries in Europe did so, even Russia. They experimented with an ongoing summer time , but after 3 years the people complained about the lack of light , so they are in the normal pattern as well now.
The difference with at least the Southern part of Australia, is 10 hours again, so I have to keep that in mind, when I skype with my friends in Tocumwal.
Still pretty nice weather here, 18 dgr. C. , so nothing to complain.
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Gliders, in containers, have arrived or nearly arrive at their destinations in South Africa and Australia.So it ‘s unpacking again and a new season starts.
The containers from Kiripotib have arrived already on October 24 as they start their season straight away.
The first week of FLYING WITH THE CHAMPIONS is from November 1 till 7 , the 2d week from November 8-14 2014.
And …it is great to hear that they are sold out both weeks.
They had a bit of a slow start but filled up all places! Good on them!! And ” them” , when you might not know, are Ludwig Starkl and Wolfgang Janowitsch, both from Austria.
Do you still remember their idea to found this company? Here you are;
” Most of us find the time to fly some 50 to 100 hours a year. Presuming an average airborne time of 3 hours for one take off, this makes about 20 to 35 flying days.
Some private owners of a glider spend several hundred thousand Euros for these few days. Money earned by hard work, reduced by tax and saved for years and years.
An example: An Arcus M costs almost a quarter million Euros, so if you save 1000 Euros a month, it will last 20 years to be able to buy one. That’s long! Besides that you have to spend time and money for annual inspections, maintenance, costs for insurance, maybe a place in a hangar… If I use the 12.000 Euros already in the first year, it enables me to use one of the best gliders around for at least one and a half month. Even with half the money – 6.000 Euros – I can spend three weeks of soaring with the best equipment.
Do you want to wait 20 years for it?
- We want to give you the chance to fly the best gliders, even if you are not prepared to pay the price of a small house for it.
- We want to give you modern double-seaters to exchange your knowledge and your experience.
- We want to share the enthusiasm for thrilling soaring sites like Namibia.”
They had a very successful start of ” FLYING WITH THE CHAMPIONS” last year , supported by fantastic weather as they flew 14 days out of 14 days .
Here is Ludwig about this year:
” Our biggest problem in this time was to find Champions with free time in the first two weeks of November, but finally we made it and this year we will have for one week
Holger Karow, Germany
Markus Frank, Germany
Andy Lutz, Austria
Uli Schwenk, Germany
Steve Jones, England
Pete Harvey, England
and for two weeks
Janusz Centka, Poland
Olivier Darroze , France
Stefano Ghiorzo, Italy
Wolfgang Janowitsch, Austria
” All of them World or European Champions with a lot of experience trying to give their knowledge to our trainees, from Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Ireland. We hope the weather will be as good as last year, when we could fly 14 of 14 days.
As gliders we have again 4 Arcus M, 1 Arcus E, 1 ASH 25Mi and 1 ASH25EB28.
The first participants will arrive on Thursday, starting unpacking and rigging the eight gliders we need from Saturday on.
As forecasted 33 deg, it will be the first challenge for all of us.
Starting on Friday Ludwig will write on their homepage a daily report about their flying and whats happening.
So please keep an eye on what’s going on there in Namibia, it means THE OVERSEAS SEASON HAS STARTED!!!!
Here is the link http://www.rent-a-glider.com/view/p-1408/Flying-with-the-Champions-2014/
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Gariep Gliding in South Africa has a full container as well, as you can see on this picture they shared on their site.
On the DAL KAROO from Bremerhafen nach Port Elisabeth.
www.gariep-segelflug.com
Pokweni‘s 2 containers have arrived in October in Walvisbai with the ” Yellowstone” , so they are ready to go for it.
Bitterwasser ‘s containers have arrived as well in Walvisbai and they are for sure going to have a BIG season again. Look at the amount of containers.
As shared on their site.
www.bitterwasser.com
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In Australia the season has started already for the locals , the gliders will arrive with 4 containers in Corowa, on November 6 and their first flying day will be on November 14.
Corowa with the containers in the past and great looking skies as shared on their site.
http://www.australian-soaring-corowa.com/
Great to see Stephan and his son Niklas back in Tocumwal at Eddie’s Sportaviation. We know Stephan already from before we owned it [December 1996] Their first flight this season was in the Twin Astir; 155 km.
By the way half of the blocks of land AT the airfield of Tocumwal have been sold already.
AND… the Wings Night from the Southern Riverina Gliding Club at Tocumwal will be on November 1 in the hangar with a presentation of WINGS and AWARDS, some nice food and good friends.
And more news from Australia this time specially for the young ones;
” Hi All,
It’s less than five weeks to go until JoeyGlide 2014 – aka the Junior Preworlds, to be held at Narromine from 5 to 13 December. We now have 30+ entries in the competition from all over Australia and overseas, as well as another 16 taking part in the coaching week making it the biggest JoeyGlide in years (if not ever?). A reminder that the $100 early bird discount on entry fees ends at the end of this week, so if you or a junior you know are thinking about joining us then jump on to our website and get your entry form (and payment) in. If you would like to come, but you’re having difficulties getting there for any reason, please get in touch and we’ll do our best to help you join us.
We are also pleased to announce AvPlan EFB as the major sponsor for this years event. Sponsorship has been provided courtesy of Simon Hackett, one of the owners of the company and a long time supporter of JoeyGlide, and host of this list. Check out AvPlan’s website at www.avplan-efb.com for more information.
More information on JoeyGlide is available on our website – http://joeyglide.juniorsoaring.com.au. If anyone has any more questions or wants any more information on JoeyGlide, then please get in touch.
Regards
Adam Webb Contest Director JoeyGlide 2014″
And flying in the mountains close to Melbourne is possible too. You can see all the news on the Mount Beauty- website http://www.mtbeautygliding.com/ and also read the latest news letter , the October issue ” Alpine Flyer” by Andrew Evans.
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When the overseas-season really starts there is more than enough to write. This is an “in-between” part of the season with not a lot of soaring, but I still found some nice flights, as the one from Minden in Nevada , where on October 23 Keith Essex flew with a speed of 145.22 km./h. over 1.505,42 km. in wave on a not even strong day, as he mentioned. He flew the ASH 31/21 m.
Keith had 4 great flights. One on October 14 [1.308, 93 with 151,65 km./h.] and 15 [ 1.110,44 with 173,75 km./h.] and now on October 23 and 24.[1.176,06 km with 118,17 km./h.].
Only 25 registered flights on the OLC that day but the 5 wave and ridge-pilots had fun even with tough conditions and flew between 581 km. and 1.505,42.
Also the French wave was active with 4191 m. MSL [2856 m. AGL] flying from St Martin de Londres and the Italian wave from Aosta went up to 7379 m . MSL [6441 m. AGL] .
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The strike from the French pilots from Air France has NOT been good for the KLM/Air France combination.Today the employees will hear how many will loose their jobs. Rumors are about 7500!! Hope not only in Holland !!!!
That’s it for now. CU next week with more news . Cheers Ritz