Alphen aan den Rijn  TUESDAY  September 18 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

Overseas soaring is in progress now and starts normally first in the East of Australia. Kingaroy had  great weather last weekend. One of the young pilots said,  his satisfaction level was 10 out of 10.
“Cracker of a day, though not easy – certainly had to work at it.”
Adam flew in the standard cirrus 410 km. [360 triangle]
You can read Adam’s  full report on www.facebook.com/W3Racing

Also Hank Kauffmann , daddy from Anita Taylor, had a nice 433 km. flight in his ASW 19/18m. from Kingaroy,  as well as many-times-Aussie-WGC -pilot John Buchanan  .

By the way one of the first comps in this new season will be in Jondaryan, as between October 8 and 19 the 32d Club and Sportsclass Nationals will be flown.Lot’s of top pilots , also Hank and John, will attend and for the long list , counted 42 including 4 Uvalde participants , you can look under registrations at the site;

http://www.kingaroynationals.com/

And even a bit earlier between September 29 and October 6 2012 the Queensland State Comps will be on, just got the news via Jo, so for all the details you can look at;
http://www.ddsc.org.au

Always wanted to “have” a Nimbus 4 T, here is your chance!
—“A reminder that our Nimbus 4T is for sale, Gerrit’s Quintus is on the way here so the only addition to the advert is ‘o.n.o.’
The glider is currently at Jondaryan, and has a fresh Form 2
http://www.glidersales.com.au/motor.php
Pam—“

Aukje made here in Holland some pictures from the “packing” of the Corowa- containers”  last week at Terlet. Ready for Australia! Wishing all gliders a safe trip. Here they are before departure;

It’s even nicer to write about pilots adding their flights on the OLC when you know them. Got to know Dave Leonard in Uvalde, flying his ASW 27 ZL and noticed his top position last Monday morning.
He called it a “nice fall pre-frontal [SUN-] day” , flew 639 km.,  in that a 543 km. triangle and he launched from Kelly [ Colorado] .Good on him.
Another pilot I met in Uvalde as team member and mate from Dave  in the 15 m. class , is John Seaborn , he flew on Saturday from Boulder [ NW of Boulder], a nice distance 606 km. on as he called it a , ” Colorful Colorado day” .
From Hollister in the USA [CA] several pilots flew using the convergense line,  over more then 700 km. also in ASW 27 ‘s. One day earlier on Saturday they even “touched” 800 km.
Here is the comment from one of the pilots;
—“A second epic day out of Hollister, this time team flying with with Ramy, Buzz, and Darren (two ASW-27’s and two DG-800’s!) and Morgan out of Avenal (Duo Discus).  The convergence had moved far to the east and the day threatened to be blue — but turned from cloud wisps to nice streets.  We flew fast most of the day and getting home was never seriously in doubt.  A productive and enjoyable team effort.  This kind of flying really cries out for Power Flarm – I’ll have mine fully installed soon.—“

Europe showed that the mountains are always good for long distance soaring on Friday,  when French pilot Robert Prat flew from St Gaudens, a fantastic and high- wave-flight over the Pyrenees, with 6 legs , longest leg just over 300 km. , in the ARCUS M, one of those magic Schempp-Hirth -toys; 1. 272,42 km.
Last Sunday Gilles Navas flew from Vinon 626 km. in an ASG 29/18m.

Robert Danewid, CD in Eskilstuna enjoys and loves wave flying in Freya in Norway. Here is a link from FB to the pictures he made while flying “high” last weekend in the DG 1000 with a friend.
https://picasaweb.google.com/107081188854455519605/FryaTopLeir2012

The inaugural AUSFLY Fly-in, in   Narromine  was a big succes, on a nearly 6 minutes video , made by Mark Rowe, you get a bit of an impression about what was flying there. A lot of different planes and helicopters. It’s on  www.youtube.com   AUSFLY-2012 Narromine Australia. Enjoy!

The more sad part of this blog. As you might have experienced life is not only fun and joy but …can be sad as well. When you are in a great mood and want to keep that ….skip reading the rest.
We lost last week a young and enthusiastic new pilot. I told you about it in SoaringCafe. 2 Day’s ago I read the full story in the paper and I remain sad and very much touched reading that kind of news.
He was already solo, went for his VFR exam and something must have gone terribly wrong, as he, the instructor and examiner,  did not survive ,by hitting a mountain in a remote area during this test-flight, not long after they started.
I did not know the young boy, Lucas,  but it is TOO tragic for words to see those kids loosing their live doing what they love most.
He was the son of a KLM pilot, a bit the same story and ordeal we had to go through nearly 25 years ago.
His examiner was an old collegue from George with Air Holland [69] and the USA young man [instructor] who died as well was only 26. Certainly the examiner was VERY experienced.
The KLM Flight Academy is stunned and tries to help their students as much as possible.
Unfortunately I do know that situation too good!
Wishing them all well.

More sad news or memories.
In memoriam….. Gert Huybreckx who died on September 17 , 20 years ago in France while flying over the mountains. He was one of those young charismatic friends you never forget. And..such a talent in flying!!!! It’s weird…. sometimes they say ” the best go first ” ,.. could be true!!!!
He was the brother from my good friends Marc,  Eddy and Chrisje and the uncle from young [J]WGC pilots as Tim and Dennis Huybreckx and Jeroen Jennen. Also from Sofie and Gitte!
Gert’s parents , still alive, are wonderful people and have been involved with “De Keiheuvel” ,both the airfield and the great hotel at the Airfield of Keiheuvel, part of  their live and Chrisje and Rudy are running it now!
A real dedicated soaring family!!!!! Have to see them all soon.

Off to the funeral from our good friend Peter, now [Tuesday morning]  . Peter was in gliding for about 50 years. The EAC in Eindhoven was his club! On the card is written that there will be a Fly-BY, at 12. Maybe finally, he gets the credits he not always got in life.
Straight after off to Amsterdam. I stay over there , that’s why the news is one day/24 hours  earlier. Back on Sunday!

Take care, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      Sunday September 16 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

The world and certainly Europe was looking over our shoulder to see what the people in Holland would do with their votes. Though it was pretty  important for us, not everybody thought so , with about 3/4 of the population allowing to vote, indeed going to an election office.The lowest in 10 years.
Why did the world look at us? To see if we would vote in favour or against EUROPE. It was in favour of Europe and the Liberals are now the biggest party bigger in their nearly 65 year of existence,with 41 “chairs” in parliament and the Labour party, a few months ago only on 15 chairs got 39!!! Great job from a young guy , Diederik Samsom, who is smart, charismatic and when he was even younger a real front man for Greenpeace here.
Wilders , extreme right and strongly against Europe, lost 9 chairs, to the relief of many in Holland and Europe. Also interesting; Our prime minister Rutte can continue his work he started and in Europe’s time of recession and euro- crisis, NONE of the big leaders survived the elections, Sarkozy in France is ” out”, so is Berlusconi in Italy and 8 other European leaders had the same fate.

This is the Uvalde dust as seen by Roberto. Our political dust has hopefully cleared now as well.

Had a look for you at the new world rankinglist and after the WGC in Uvalde we see of course some changes.
Number 1 is now Zbigniew Nieradka [can write his name now without looking twice!] and he came from spot 3. Rating score is 997.4.
On spot 2 we see and saw  Sebastian Kawa [ 996.1] and on spot 3 Michael Sommer [992.8], who was on spot 1 before.
Big “jump-up”  for Laurent Aboulin who climbs 21 spots!!![991.7]
On spot 17 the biggest climber, 147 points higher…Oscar Goudriaan!! Rating score 972.0.

3 Containers are ready to travel from Holland to Australia. Today they were supposed to pack the 3d container and the days before the first 2 were already packed. BUT , with their experience and a new lifting-toy, they were ready on Friday!
Tomorrow a last check and I know how critical both Grietje and Francesco check if everything is OK, [they are experts by now in sending containers up and down, ] before the containers will be picked up on Tuesday.
YES the overseas season starts again with pilots from everywhere flying to mostly South Africa,[Gariep Dam had some changes]  Namibia [ Bitterwasser has/gets a new lodge manager] and Australia,  but also New Zealand and Argentina. Will keep an eye for you on what’s going to happen at all those overseas destinations. And of course I report straight from Tocumwal, Benalla and Corowa when I am there.
Of course containers travel from everywhere in Europe as well to Argentina, for the WGC in Chaves.

Busy and booming weather in Uvalde, same in Chaves? Hope so!
Picture courtesy Roberto.

On this site of the world on Thursday , pilots flying at Puimoisson had a good day with flights up to 823 km.in a DG800/18m. But also the LS 8T/18m did well with 788 km.

In Australia Geoff Pratt flew in his PIK 20 a nice 522 km [FAI triangle 380].
First Japanese guests arrived in Narromine as well; Kimiko and Yoshi.

Frequent flyer in Narromine; Mac Ichikawa, here with TC Beryl Hartley who lives …and is very much the face of Narromine.
Picturte courtesy Roberto.

 It’s nice weather already according to Anne , cool, blue and a breeze and Narromine is “buzzing” from incoming flights with pilots for AUSFLY; The first ever, recreational history making aviation event in Australia.
As they say;  “It unifies our vibrant and diverse aviation organisations during a  spectacular weekend of airborne action . ”
You can find all the news on http://www.ausfly.com.au/
Upcoming events for Narromine; Narromine Cup Week, NSW State Gliding Championship and the 20 m. 2-seat Nationals. Will come back on them when they are on.
Oh yes, not to forget just got some news from Jo.The Cup week is special this year .Why?

—“Something very special at Narromine Cup this year is the presence of G. Dale, one of the best cross country gliding coaches in the world.  G is employed full time at Lasham Gliding Club in the UK as a coach and has been coaching each season at Omarama with Gavin Wills for many years.

 G will be providing coaching theory lectures (not to be missed) and practical each day as a part of the NSW GA coaching initiative set up by Bryan Hayhow for Cup Week.  Narromine Gliding Club will have two Duo Discus and a Grob Twin Astir available for hire for one-on-one coaching.

 G’s coaching is provided at no cost to GFA members.—”

One of the German pilots in Standard Class in Chaves is Patrick Puskeiler,  like I am a busy blogger. I always try to keep an eye on the “young ones” too, to help or promote when necessary. Not long ago he was damm lucky to survive a power plane crash with the man who shared his glider [Ventus] with him and who was in a way his sponsor, mentor and best friend.
Unfortunately Klaus Lennart did not survive. Patrick tries to continue, living Klaus dream; soaring!
Now, as I read,  he “cries out for some financiel support”  to fly in Chaves. Who loves young enthusiastic pilots in sport and has some money left , please give him a “hand”. He is a terrific good pilot, won 2 times the German junior comps and certainly has potention to win more. I met him at JWGC’s. His site ; http://www.kilolima.de/ it’s in German. When you click on Informationsblatt also in German, you can see what he needs , the cost are clear, in every language. Normally I don’t do this, don’t know why now , but I did! Hopefully it helps him.

It is always sad to loose friends! Lost one last Thursday. I told you about our house-friend for 50 years, Peter, who did a lot for me, but also for the gliding club EAC in Eindhoven. Lot’s of pilots got his help, specially when it was about instruments and radio’s. He was a real radio- amateur as well. Will miss Peter!

CU next week, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday September 12 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

Now Uvalde 2012 is part of our soaring history, we straight away look ahead at a new high-light in soaring, the WGC for non-flapped gliders in Argentina; Chaves. Part 2 of the 32d WGC.
Last year I heard already how great the atmosphere was there, so it can’t be else then another topper. Of course you can only say after it’s finished HOW good it was, but the news from the Pre Worlds was promising.
Today I noticed on the site that the final documents from the entries are available and …it is also possible to check on your glider when it is on a ship  ” on full sea” , for departure and arrival dates.
First flying-day will be on January 6 and the last one on January 19, a total of 14 days with for sure one rest-day! Still have some pictures from last year from Jeroen who will fly there for the Dutch team, by the way a pretty strong team.

Looking at the entries I thought straight away; would it be possible for Sebastian Kawa to win this championship as well??? And ……I guess it is possible, he defends his 2010 title in standard class and will be very motivated to keep that title. With the winning mood still in his brain, he should do well. His mate Tomasz Rubaj will be there as well and number 3 pilot from Poland in standard is Michal Lewczuk.
BUT…of course there are more potential winners!!!!!! 29 Competitors in this class will do their utmost best to win.
In club class even 44 , with USA tuggie now glider-pilot Sarah, as somebody we met already in Uvalde,  as well as the Russian pilot Dmitry Timoshenko and Louis Bouderlique, who was so unfortunate to be involved in that midair in Uvalde on the one-but-last-day. Wishing him this time an incident/accident-free competition, full of fun!!!!
It will be the last time for world class, as they will be on their own in the future and 25 pilots have entered in this PW5 class.

Sebastian Kawa after winning the 3d WGC in 15 m. class in Uvalde and “performing” in 2 WGC’s in one season.
Picture from FB.

Today it’s election-day in Holland and a very important one as we are going to choose who will get us out of the financial [European] crisis over the next 2 left-over years, as the last team did not agree anymore and left Holland in a bit of a shock already after 2 of the 4 years. 2 Parties have the same amount of “voices” both would have 35 “chairs” in parlament, so this morning we all go through rain , sun and wind to our election-stations.
Last weekend there was a clash in the air, that sounds less bad then a mid air,  as 2 light planes with banners behind, one for the CDA[  christen-democrats] and one from the SP , [socialists,] were flying along the crowdy coast line to get the attention from the many visitors on the sunny beach and a 3d plane making pictures from the SP -plane,  hit the CDA-banner-plane . This one had to land at the beach, where the pilot found a quiet spot and said after the ordeal, he had for sure a “little angel flying on his shoulder with him”. 
On the ground you could see how the wheels had “bitten”in the left wing of the CDA plane. It was only a few seconds of being stuck together , then they were loose again. The other plane with 3 passengers flew back to the airfield, both planes however are in custody for investigations. The 3d plane was OK.

The weather has changed into a more then 10dgr. drop of temperature [17 dgr.! now] and …..rain. More places in Europe have the same weather, so less soaring, though the young German pilots in Puimoisson with their companions, are still having fun with p.e. a nice flight by former Junior World Champion [Husbos]  Christophe Nacke in an LS 1 d; 469 km. They also have trouble however with rain and thunderstorms. Not the VERY best weather.
Some of those young ones , are the 2012/13 Sport Soldiers, having their training-camp and one of these Sport Soldiers will be in Chaves ; Marco Barth and 3 others go to Australia in November; Max Lecker[ got some pictures from him in the past] Felix Bauer and Simon Rautenberg. What experiences those young people get!!!!

The Netherlands will be one of the first European countries to “stream-line” air traffic. In short they are going to create more direct lines from A to B by rearranging the “lines”. There will be separated flying routes for airliners to Schiphol and for the regional carriers as well as for military traffic. No files anymore so traffic will be faster.
This makes the growth of Schiphol impressing; from 437.000 movements in 2011 to 510.000 in 2020. 
It also means that air space now only open for military flying, will be open for civil aviation.
I guess it means as well that with the increase of traffic….. gliding at Eindhoven Airport will be more and more impossible. After more then 70 years they have to find their selves a new field and that’s not easy.

The overseas season in Australia will start soon and on October 18 Dundee is already travelling back to Tocumwal. Looking at the Sportaviation site from Eddie and Sheryl,  I noticed that young Jake is a tuggie now as well. Good on him!!!

Tocumwal from above by Ronald Hermans.

The Southern Riverina Gliding Club , also flying from Tocumwal, [ Ingo and Judy]  just had their annual meeting and are ready for a new season . Wings night was part of the event and a dinner, this time at Neil and Glenda’s, who live permanently in Tocumwal now, instead of Melbourne.
New tuggie as well good old Bruce Wilson. We worked with him in the past as well. The other long time tuggie, chief-tow-pilot Bill Harvey of course keeps going also.Bill was awarded a LIFE membership as well as former president Mike Burns and long time chief instructor Ingo Renner.
The club is the proud owner of  a Cessna 150 with an upgraded engine and a “new” Bergfalke 2. 
It is great to be able to see the guests and friends flying at both locations at the field in the beginning of 2013, [till Jan 24 when I depart again]

A bit more to the East about 80 km. is the soaring center from Corowa and they are packing the 3 containers this upcoming weekend. They also installed an ADS-B base station , to have the most accurate height and position reports from the pilots, flying from Corowa.
On the 18th the containers,  leave Holland/ Terlet and 10 days later they leave the harbour of Rotterdam for a long trip to Melbourne where the estimated arrival day would be October  23. First estimated flight in Corowa is expected on November 1 2012.
Of course I will travel to Corowa as well to catch up and…to Benalla.

Benalla about 100 km in a straight line from Tocumwal is ready as well for their overseas guests and club members from the Gliding Club of Victoria. I noticed they celebrate “a 60 years Benalla party” with a big band on November 24 and of course the 51 Multi Class Nationals will be hold in Benalla as well in January 2013.

Of course there are more great places in Australia as Narromine where the next JWGC will be in 2015 , the first one outside of Europe , there is Stonefield, Gawler, Lake Keepit, Waikirie, Jondaryan and Kingaroy and even more, but I will talk about them when something interesting happens, or when they send me news!

That’s it , quickly off to vote and then to Amsterdam ,pretty busy till Sunday afternoon, but try to be there on Sunday as “normal”,

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday September 9 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

With temperatures here in Holland, up to 28 dgr. TODAY, this autumn is awesome. And ..not only the temperatures are good also the clouds at some days work harder then in summer. Good on them!!! On Wednesday Spain [Fuentemilanos] had a good day and Pepe managed to fly in his ASH 31 a great 745 km. distance with 118 km./h.
“Un dia increible”.. Such a great day made him forget some other more frustrating days.One day later he flew 830 km.
Paul van Dingenen a former Belgium airline pilot,[met him at several Keiheuvel comps]  flew from Santa Cilia Jaca also in Spain  also in an ASH but a 26 E. version , with 3 m. span less; 685 km. Friday he flew 713, while Denis Flamant in the same glider flew 945 km. after a 1000 on September 3. Good conditions over there in the Aragonese Pyrenees.
The French places as Vinon, Gap Tallard, Puimoisson, [ training-camp from the German Sport soldiers to close the European season] ] Sisteron and Serres La Batie are still making pilots from different countries happy with over 500 km. flights.
In the USA the DUST DEVIL DASH [ from Mountain Valley] was on….flying straight out as far as you can get…in a DG 1001 or an ASW 20, an LS 6 or Discus 2a.
A glorious autumn-day with between 700 and 880 km. as best results. Poor crew,….but some pilots made an out and return from it!!!!!!

While we are looking ahead at winter , down under they look ahead at summer and as they called it at Mount Beauty with the season “well and truly started ” , they should fly for “OLC points and review their look out procedures!” It’s nice to get their [Mount Beauty Gliding Club…S of Australia Victoria] updates via Ian Cohn, every week, VERY active club!!!!
Yesterday Geoff Pratt flew already 465 km. from Jondaryan [E of Australia Queensland] in the PIK 20.

Yesterday the ACvZ  [the Amsterdam Club for Soaring] celebrated  their 80 year anniversary/jubilee with a fly inn , a BBQ and a jubilee-task for members with a start point outside of Soesterberg and the finish OFCOURSE AT Soesterberg! The fantastic weather , the many guests and the always great atmosphere from the club will surely have made it an unforgettable party.

 First start was , after coffee first,…… at 6.49….early-morning-soaring!!!see picture from FB.
Distance for open was 165 km en for club/wooden gliders 85 k.

pictures from FB [Zwevers]  via one of the jubilee-organizers Ilse Hiemstra.
Ready to fly and for the party.

AND…also the club from the other big town in Holland Rotterdam [ZCR] celebrated an 80 year jubilee yesterday with BBQ for 107 guests, Fly in, passenger flying and a competetion day at Terlet . Task; 118 km. from Terlet. Before the BBQ  and to close the day in style a demo in the FOX by one of our best glider-demo-pilots Peter Houtman.

Pictures from FB [Zwevers] via one of the jubilee organizers Aukje Engel.
Below ready to go!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH CLUBS

What a fantastic line-up from ASK  13’s!!!! All happening at the Airport/aerodrome from St Crepin .[September 1] What a great event from and for  K 13 pilots !!!! There were 35 teams from different places in France and several  from Europe. [Germany, Holland and Switzerland]

picture from FB.

Lufthansa passengers knew in advance that last Friday they were better out to take the train, as after 2 short brakes in work the cabin staff [ 19.000 in total] now was on strike all Friday and all over Germany. But…there was good news as well as the direction and the representatives from the cabin staff were on speaking therms again, so this was one was the last one.
A total of 1000 from 1800 flights were cancelled, 100. 000 passengers had no flight! Specially the big towns/airfields had a problem as  Frankfurt, Munich , Stuttgart and Berlin. The railway did great business. And…as passengers knew before  they took it easy, one said with a big smile; “I had no time to see the town, now I go and visit it”.

In Aboyne, Scotland,  in the UK, the 15th open – mountain/wave -championship was flown with 15 participants organised by the  Deeside Gliding club, renowned for being the foremost wave- flying-site in the British Isles with the UK height altitude of 38.600 ft. .
They even had great weather with 6 days in total and a well known winner for distance , John Williams in the Antares [Z7] . [ 5253 points]
Pilots fly for the task but some prefer the height-comp. HXH , pilot Roy Garden [DISCUS] was concentrating more on height then distance during this competition.
Also on  Friday he asked for opening of the wave-box [13.49] and flew up to 14.939ft .3 Days in a row HXH won the height climb up .
In the end Roy won the height comps with a total of 56.634 ft.
As I read on their news site, on a strong wave day traces showed wind with 60 kts at 10.000 ft.
On the last, also warm day in the N of the UK, a 3 hour  AAT was set between 178 and 480 km. and David Williams won that day as well with 280 km.
Interesting competition never really looked at it good, but it seems great fun! Next year between September 1 and 7 it happens gain!!!! Will keep a better eye on it then!

Neil Armstrong who died age 82 last month, get’s his grave in the sea! That in a way that “belongs”to him. When he was “young” he flew fighters for the marine and it seems that quite a lot of those pilots choose for a “sailor’s grave”. An extremely interesting person. More about him in the next G I.

Expensive???? But you sleep well……Cost of this project ….280 million Euro.
What do you get for that money? 8 Private SLEEPING rooms , each with a dressing-room, in a Boeing 747-8 AEROLOFT  business jet, the newest biggest passenger plane in the world!!!
Necessary??? Don’t know, but when you have the money, or your business has the money, you work hard and travel a lot, it makes you a fitter person after arrival!!! Certainly when you are over 60. I feel it more and more and I look ahead at the next long flight already in the end of this year!!! Atleast ONE week of “suffering” in Tocumwal and one week back here in Holland,…but less!!!!

Another busy week ahead for me , even voting for a new government on Wednesday CU then. Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday September 5 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

A nice flight this week in an ASH 26 in Spain  by French pilot Denis Flament; 1.093 km. with 128 km./h. from Santa Celia flying in wave over the mountains far to the East, to Cerdanya even up to 7000 m. with 25 kt wind.
One of his French mates flew a bit less[841km.]  but in a MOSQUITO , not bad!!!! It’s autumn there as well.
Most other flights were under 500 km , more normal for this time of the year.

Nice to get such an enthusiastic reaction —“and what a flight it was !!!!!—“by Niel Deijgers,   on my report about the flight from the 2 Belgium Libelle pilots flying ALL the way over Holland and back on the first autumn day. Niel is a blogger himself and you can find his blogs , including the one about this great flight at;   http://nieldeijgers.blogspot.be/

The next IGC meeting/ plenary will be as announced in soaringcafe in……The Netherlands in March. Frouwke is in the organisation and I am helping her a bit with the touristic and ladies program. Looking forward to see many of my friends in HOLLAND. And….of course you share in that happiness as I will write ALL about it. This month we start “talking-about-it, ” meaning WE are in the mood already.

From the 4 weekend-days they could fly  for the BELGIUM MASTERS -title, only one day was good enough to fly. Last Saturday on September 1 when Holland had those nice long flights, the Belgium Ardene’s- area [St.Hubert] had a 247 km task and…the ARCUS won with Wim Akkermans flying it. With handicap 107 he won the day with a speed of 96 km./h. gaining 800 points. Runner up Jean Luc Colson in the ASG 29 [handicap 111]  with 30 points less and Olivier Brialmont in ASG 29 E with 775 points.

And last but not least something different. One of my friends Frank Versteegh , yes the one from flying under the Erasmus Bridge in Holland, the one racing between the pillars during many Red Bull Air Races WORLD WIDE, the one who landed AT the racing circuit of Zandvoort and started there again in a spectecular way, he Frank, wrote a book “Niet voor piloten” [“NOT FOR PILOTS”] and dedicated this book to Kay Howe, a beautiful 10 year old girl, who sadly died of cancer [acute leukemia]  in 2010. All revenues will go to the foundation KIKA, [children cancer-free] and the Ronald Mac Donald House! What a great gesture!!!
Frank describes his flying moments from the beginning when he was 17 and flew gliders,  to his triumphs during the Red Bull Air Races; 30 years of adventure, excitement , sensational aerobatics and passion for flying, with pictures from exotic places as Monument Valley, where he flew one of the best races in his life. But also with links you find in the book, to several impressive video’s at Internet.
228 Pages of inside information about a passionate pilot and an inspiring view in the world of aviation.
I ordered the book straight away , you can do so to;
Look at www.nietvoorpiloten.nl  , here  is a link to one video as well and I will sort out if this book will be out in English too. And….YES it will be out in English in 2013, so stay tuned!!!!

CU on Sunday, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn  Sunday  September 2 2012 

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

Another link to a great photo series from Bert Schmelzer jr. This time about flying from Vinon. Here is the link and the above pictures are his as well. He takes you with him during his flight explaining where he goes and where he is/was. Fabulous!

https://picasaweb.google.com/101367179377196465151/TheBestOfVinon2012

We are in September already. Time to think of autumn , overseas soaring and travelling to Australia or Africa, to New Sealand or the USA. Last time I spoke about the few days with over 2000 entered flights on the OLC. Checking the year 2011 it was even less only ONE day with 2816 entered flights on June 12.
Getting MORE curious I had a look at 2010 as well with this result:
May 23 2306 flights
May 29 2202 flights
June 26 and June 27 were good days with 2603 and 2081 flights
July 18 with 2553 flights.
July 31 with 2058 flights.
So …a pretty good season in 2010!

The season is nearly over but the USA still has some great soaring weather. As I heard from most pilots visiting Uvalde, they had a great season. Still now they fly up to over 700 km. in Moriarty  [yesterday 747 km.] and Boulder. In Europe Rieti [Italy] Vinon [France, last Sunday 1.137 km. by Gilles Navas!!!] and Fuente [Spain] showed some longer flights last week. 
AND…….YESTERDAY Holland was good, while coming back by train from the S. I could see nice cu’s everywhere so checking Holland on the OLC I found great early autumn flights; Nico Koster in the ASH 31 ;649, and I say it again, no wave, no mountains, only flat-as-a-pancake-Holland.
595 km for Jeroen Kole in the discus…..young pilots Alfred Paul and Bart with  614 and 514 km.in LS 8 and st. cirrus. A total of 106 entered flights ..not bad!!!!
Also from the N. of Belgium 2 LIBELLE flights all over Holland, one from Bert who flew with us in the past in Tocumwal;
—“a great team flight with Bert Van Eyken! Started out with the idea of a FAI500 Diest, Hoogeveen,Dinsdlaken,Diest. When flying north it looked like overcast in the direction of Dinslaken so decided to fly further North so we had 245km out of Diest and then returned. When we turned south we thought we would never make it back home. Some great thermals surprised us in the evening, a whopping 2m/s above Lommel @19h in the evening !—”
Today looks a bit grey so it might stay with this ONE GREAT day in Holland, but atleast they had that day!

I did not even know it existed but just received the results of the 14th FAI World Helicopter Championships. Clearly is that the Russian friends are good in this, winning OVERALL and with the women in their class on spot 1-2-and 3 as well.
Russia won the team cup too , before the UK and Germany ,…but in the groupe of juniors are no Russian pilots in the top 1 and 3 is for Belarus and 2 for a young German.
The comps were in Russia at Drakino Airfield. Just to let you know!

Schiphol Amsterdam International Airport was in the news this week and though it was n’t all so important it stirred a lot of  noise. First they found a German WW2  bomb [delays and cancellations, certainly for hall C and less for D] and let it explode controlled. Better then in Germany where they found one in an area in Munich, an English bomb this time and that one could  not be moved,  so they tried to explode it controlled as well…AT the spot. But that worked out not too good, as some houses got fire and lot’s of windows were broken.All people were before evacuated  and fire brigade was ready to get in action straight away!
Back to Amsterdam,  where a Spanish prize- fighter from Vueling [A320 with 180 passengers!] entered Dutch airspace without using the radio. No contact was possible so 2 fighters [ F16] according to the routine in cases like this, [quick reaction alert] went up to accompany the plane. The “tower ” had heard Arabic music and combined that with the fact they had no contact with….. maybe a highjack.
Another “thing” triggering the huge reaction was that when there was short contact with the pilot, who said that everything was ok, the plane went in  the opposite  direction as was said by the tower….mmm… maybe a silent sign something WAS wrong. But no…all was OK. Funny was that the people in the plane knew that nothing was wrong and with their social media contacted family and friends not to worry.
Good exercise for our anti-terror-unities.

Last Thursday Andre Kuipers was officially welcomed back on earth here in Holland [Noordwijk] where he lives and works [ESA] .He himself found it too much honour [ the crown prince and premier and thousands welcomed him!] , but we all think he deserved it as he is a “master-entertainer” with his stories and the way he even got me interested in a 193 -day-life around the world in a small , he thinks it is big enough, station.

Last but not least; There was a bit of pressure on me[ did that myself!]  in Uvalde to also have the story ready for Gliding International. John the editor had the September/ October -issue on hold and waited for the WGC-story , send to him straight away after the scores were known , so with only 2 days delay it was send to the printer and yesterday still before September 1,  I had it already on my doormath. Great job from them. The scores are also shown in a new format.
The centre spread has a TOP picture from Maria Szemplinska!!!!! www.glidinginternational.com
What’s more in it? A salute to DB ]Dick Butler]; his CONCORDIA project deserves the highest salute! A pity that cause we were all so busy there was not a lot of time to talk, but I read all about the CONCORDIA at SOARINGCAFE.
We had however  one evening time for a few words .

 

Alphen aan den Rijn   August 29 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

The QUINTUS M. winner in open class in Uvalde.

Quite a few pilots told me,  when saying good- bye,  that they were looking forward to read my blogs to find out what has happened in Uvalde .They had no time to read  during the comps , but “saved ” it for later at home. ENJOY!!!!
When you go to soaringcafe and you click on Uvalde, you will find under there ALL my stories in a long row, thanks to Bill.

Uvalde as showed on the Dutch site.

 I was pleased to see that after leaving Uvalde, Tilo Holighaus moved to Marfa for a couple of days with the Quintus M. to fine- tune it even more. As he said he gave full gas under the cloud streets to get the best out of the glider. Liked his remark: ” Texas -weather or Quintus -weather”? He flew 555 km. with 134 km./h. His friend Andy Lutz had about the same speed and distance in the other Quintus M. but mentioned as well that they only started at 15.30 and that he was astonished to see, what was still possible in this weather. Good on them! And yes we/the pilots had that weather-experience as well in Uvalde.

Tilo with “his ” Quintus M.
Picture courtesy Frans Guise.

And did you see Alan Barnes report on the OLC??? The Australian kilometer-eater was in Marfa as well, flew an LS 8 and this was his comment when you missed it:
—“ Day started overcast but slowly burned off to blue. I was first to launch at just before 3pm. My plan was a 500km flight around Big Bend National Park and I did most of it, but cut one corner as the area was in a blue hole. There was a fantastic cloud street that I ran for an hour without turning. Had a B1 bomber fly under me in the middle of nowhere – saw its shadow coming but couldn’t spot the plane until it was too late to do anything anyhow – fortunately it was 2000ft below me.”—

One week after the WGC some of the pilots still had not enough of soaring. I noticed David Leonard , flying for Team USA in 15 m. class , on the 3d spot from the OLC list last Sunday.He did not even use the best hours of the day only the late afternoon, [maybe this IS the best time of the day!]   but raced anyhow from Kelly CO over 615 km. with a nice speed of 147 km./ h. One of his mates called it an outstanding day . Good on them!

Dave to the left!

The Belgium Masters were less lucky with the weather last weekend. The competition , over 2 weekends was cancelled, hopefully more luck the upcoming weekend as over 20 pilots would love to fly in St Hubert  and  quite a few I know.

Some of my friends flying at Minden told me in Uvalde, that it had been an exceptional season, weather-wise over there in Minden and the Truckee area.Last Saturday pilots were still flying over 800 km.

On the picture above; Rick Walters one of the soaring friends from Minden. On the picture  together with Andeea  the operations manager from Seminole-Lake-Gliderport. She did a perfect job in escorting the media, to where they wanted to go in Uvalde and did some good PR for the comps. Great to see young people,  slowly taken over, this is as it should be!!!!

Forgot all about it , but….from Rick I heard that he was one of us, on the Albatross, when we had that pretty decadent picnic at the Lake Tahoe on the wings of the Albatross in 1990, flying from Carson City Airport.
 Never forget the experience, what a day!

Talking about the Albatross ,only yesterday I heard that Bob, who worked for us on this plane, after it arrived in Australia  in Tocumwal in our old WW2 hangar, had “a bit of a rough time” with heart problems. Just spoke to him [he is in Darwin-hospital ] and he sounds much better  again. Very happy with that.
I will even see him, I heard in the beginning of next year when I visit Tocumwal. He lives in Darwin and works now on the Mallard another water-plane flown by Bones [ Ashock] our former tuggie!!! Bones flies the pearl fishers from” Paspaly Pearls” to their work in the sea. The world is small!!!

On the left picture you see Bob the second on the right.My ex George is to the left with Bones [ captain on the Mallard now] on his site.
In the middle both with white shirts Michael Giles, who flew with us and flew WGC’s as well in the past  and Cameron Bodey[tuggie with us in the past now A 300F captain]

After arriving home more bad news as one of our long- time- house -friends Peter, was diagnosed with a brain tumor! He always searched for me the Internet to give me nice , scientific or funny stories/pictures. Wish him well and a speedy recovery.

Good news as well when Jo and Tony visited us last week  in Amsterdam. Tony was at so many WGC’s I lost track, both as pilot and as TC and very anxious to know what had happened in Texas. So enough to talk about! Tony still flies his Ventus at age 76 and the Lanceair they both own and was build by Tony!

Looking back at the OLC this summer, as the metereological summer is nearly over now, “we ” had a few top days with over 2000 entered flights; 
May 13 with 2858 flights
May 16 with 2490 flights 
May 27 and 28 with 2061 and 2713 flights.
June had none …..but July 22 was a good one again with 2598 flights.
August 11 shows 2013 entered flights.
So…maybe we can say that when OLC flights are a norm ……SPRING was TOP!!!!

And ….because I am VERY proud on the readers, taking the opportunity to send me comments….I share a few more thank you’s .

—” Ritz, it was a great pleasure to meet you after several years of reading your writing. Many gliding fans who were not at the contest have said that you brought the experience to them. I would like to add that those of us who were there also benefited greatly from talking with you. Your international perspective is unique, and we enjoyed learning about our fellow pilots and teams from you. No international gliding event is complete without Ritz!—”

—” thank you so much for your wonderful reports around the clock from the WGC. We were very well informed thanks to you. You are deserving a triple A from all readers .—”

 Those were the very last I share otherwise you start thinking I am too big for my boots!!!! 
Still suffering a bit from jet lag but I should say nothing as my South African friends travelled for 36 hours. They are allowed to be tired from jet lag.

cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    August 26 2012   

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

Hello dear friends back home and back to “normal” again!
What a great time I had in Texas, but with all those MANY kind remarks, I felt for a few days another person in another world! What about

“world famous reporter”…..

“I can unequivocally say that Ritz, on her own, has “MADE” the WGC 2012 for me. Almost everything I have watched, followed and enjoyed regarding this incredible contest, has been through her blogs and photographs. From the parties and the parades, to the ceremonies and the contestants, to the tasks and those awesome “tuggies”, to the ships and the sand storms, to the triumphs and the tragedies.  And, yes, even to the heat. It has all been right there in living words in her amazing blog postings. Never before have I been able to have such a rich and rewarding soaring experience by vicariously attending an event taking place over a thousand miles away. Thank you Ritz… I am forever in your debt !!!”

THANK YOU, for all the positive reactions, I got the feeling I did something really good this time.
Glad I could do this job and could keep you WELL informed about all what was going on in Uvalde.
THANK YOU to Bill [+Carol] and Rand for inviting me,  straight away after I mentioned to them that the WGC organizers on my request to finish my career as WGC- blogger in Uvalde, had written me they had already somebody else. They came back on that later but then I was committed already to Soaringcafe and my plea to combine things and co-operate did not work out unfortunately.

With Carol, Bill and Rand.

 I will look back in today’s blog at soaringcafe, but mention here some personal high lights as well.

—Meeting my idol Ed Kilbourne,[ country and western singer with fabulous text about gliding and glider pilots ; his  cd’s L/D and Cloudbase are in my cd recorder since I am home!] , just sit with him and talk about “things” , the way he dealt with a brand new text on one of his songs about the USA and Aussie pilots, the way he song along with Rebecca [ David Jansen’s daughter] , a truly interesting guy. You should hear his funny song     ”  the 65 dollar LS4 ” and the more sad song “CLOUD BASE”  about his and our mates we lost in soaring.
Very pleased I met him.
www.edkilbourne.com

—meeting my hosts and founders of SOARINGCAFE  , Bill and Rand. Knew them only from mails got to know them both in real and found in them soul mates. Carol , Bill’s wife is a sweetheart and all I could not do cause I was sitting in the tent and observing and writing,.. she did,.. she was my eyes and ears. Friends for EVER!

With Rand and Bill.

—catching up with my ”  flapped- glider- friends” ,  I  had not seen for several years due to writing at the unflapped comps. The friendship continued as if not 6 years had gone.
Also with friends I had not seen for more then 25 years involved in gliding but not in this competition. Jos Jonkers now living in  Canada and Ralf Holighaus from Germany , Karin Schlosser now living in the USA and 21 years for Rick Walters.

—the warm welcome by the USA soaring team and TC Dennis, taking me under their wings as one of them. Sharing their “team-hut” , walking with them in the stadium and wearing their shirt WITH my name on it!!!!

Dennis in action at the USA/SSA  party.

—The vendors in the the big white tent, [ I shared  after I was “moved ” out of the office] buying tea for me [ they all seem to drink coffee over there] , sharing their thoughts and being always KIND, taking care of my bike and laptop when I had to rush to the briefing or the field ! As well as the lady , selling local craft and the famous Uvalde honey,  who offered me a pillow to sit on as the bank was pretty hard.
The parents in law from one of them, Les and Kay, my land lords, what great people!!! Such a comfortable bed and pillow, a real” little Ritz house” , it was.

Les and Kay, lovely new friends!

—all those friends/readers not knowing me , but taking the opportunity to see the UVALDE WGC and me. “Are you Ritz?”
FANTASTIC!!!!All the drinks they offered me and the food I had to refuse to keep on my weight! By the way I lost 2 kilo, finally I am back om my normal weight from 5 years ago.

Ole from Denmark , on a holiday in Washington with his brother Jörgen and his wife came to visit the WGC.

—my 2 day extra holiday in San Antonio offered to me by the SoaringCafe team. What a great town, loved the RIVER WALK and the great Alamo as well as the cathedral. Celebrated Art’s birthday there with a real guiness in an Irish pub, together with Kimberlee who drove me from Uvalde to San Antonio.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ART!!!!!And the GREAT ALAMO HISTORY below!

You were NOT alllowed to make pictures inside, but history there is GREAT.

 Last but not least a THANK you to my hosts for organizing a SURPRISE  “send-off -in-style- party ” as editor AT location during WGC’s, for me and for the guests attending and going to bed a tad later then normal. THANKS!!!!!

THANKS!!!!

Next Wednesday back to the normal blog you are used to. CU then , cheers Ritz

San Antonio Texas on Sunday the day after the closing party and closing ceremony!

 It’s over and out. Loved every minute except for 2!!! Loved the friendship from all, loved to catch up with friends I had not seen ” for ages ” and loved being part of this 32d WGC.
It had for me 2 downs but 98 UP’s!!!!!! And the up’s will remain in the memory.

My name Ritz was the “Hottest topic ” on google for several days, what about that,I seem to have brought soaring-joy to many I do not even know. People called their friends in Uvalde and wanted to talk briefly with me as they knew I would be busy. I was even asked for signatures???!!!!
I was really touched. This job is so easy for me, I sit down and I write that’s it!!!
Observing is a gift, more then writing I guess.
Got a mail from
—my idol Ed Kilbourne, [ when I wrote about the dust at the field , he could taste the dust between his teeth] —a big friendly hug from DB,[seems special! was special! ]he was during the comps as I said before SO relaxed and pleased with his big ship]
— invitations to several private parties[I could not attend all as I did not want my friends to drive me up and down all the time!] and to be honest I sometimes feel “age” as after a long day of sitting in a hot steamy windy tent I fell at 8.30 PM in bed and slept!!!!
I met the young man , the brilliant former student , as Loek Boermans calls him, of the University of Delft , heavily involved with the Concordia. He happened to be a fan from me and I am a fan from him now, what a down- to -earth -pleasant young man.On the picture to the r.;Johannes Dillinger.To the left Stefan Benardie also from the University of Delft.

My bosses Bill and Rand were HAPPY with me , the blogs put their soaringcafe even more in the middle of the attention!
They  paid 2 nights in the fancy Sheraton for me on the RIVER WALK in San Antonio, to relax and…wow is it beautiful here.

Carol her husband Bill and Rand.

The mid-air-collision on the last but one day was a bit of a damper on the joy of the earlier days. Luckily Peter Hartmann [Austria] bailed out safely and landed with his parachute in a pretty remote area,  while the French pilot Louis Bouderlique could fly home. 2 Young German pilots Susanne and David saw the emergency of the situation straight away, they aborted their task to stay over the crash and warned the SAR and CD ,giving them the co-ordinates of the spot. When he heard the SAR helicopter would take longer , Mark Hufstuttler the CD from 1991 jumped in his helicopter and flew straight to Peter to pick him up. After they arrived , Peter was checked straight away by the WGC dr. at the side of the helicopter and Mark carried the life saving parachute in his hands. In between Louis had landed at the field escorted by David and Susanne!!! What a great way of showing ….you are a friend/mate!
Peter was checked in hospital as a precaution but was back on briefing the next day together with Louis. This morning they walked in the farewell parade.

Back to other business.

 Glad readers keep reading my own blog as well, now it is less “good”.
Got a mail from Holland [Thanks Frank] with the correct scores of the Pre JWGC in Poland. On soaringspot they combined the 2 classes in club one from the ” older boys/girls ” and one from the JWGC club class. I could have figured that out when I would have had more time. Sorry about that
So here you are;

Official results:
Junior Pre-World Club
1. Stefan Telkamp
2. Fabian Stumpfl
3. Erich Hinetrholzer

Junior Pre-World Standard:
1. Petr Svoboda
2. Martin Piskacek
3. Jacek Flis

Team Cup Results:
1. Austria
2. Czech Republic
3. Netherlands
Again CONGRATULATIONS to all young ones!!!!!

6 Days and 2 cancelled ones during the Club class Nationals in France. Guests won; Roman Mracek and Miloslav Cink from the Czech Rep. but they few HC and can’t be CHAMPION, so Julien Henry [LS4] won these French Nationals with 3523 points. Runner up Eric Soubrier [Pegase] with 3486 points.
Brian Spreckley flew as well HC in the Libelle. In the end of this year he will be chief steward in Chaves, while Peter Ryder will be again the president of the JURY.

Uli Gmelin and his wife Chrissie and their kute little son  Fin, will go slowly from Uvalde to Chaves as well , travelling  4 months with the camper to the next WGC. What a life!!!!

First time since 3 weeks that I have time to check the OLC again. Pleased to see Bert Schmelzer jr. had another nice flight this time from Vinon, visiting the Matterhorn and fly around it. Gilles Navas had some great flights from  Vinon as well. Looking forward to Bert’s pictures!

 When I am back home I will be back to my normal self in my own blog. Cheers for now, Ritz

UVALDE TEXAS on Wednesday August 15 2012

Good morning, from Uvalde and look at this news we got!!!

See http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2686332 .—

On top of that young Stefan Telkamp was 2d during this Pre WGC with only 37 points behind the number 1. Good on him and congratulations to ALL boys for such a fantastic flight!! Also the last day showed a day win in club class for Nick Hanenburg from Holland. As you see Holland has a future in soaring, it even looks bright!!!!

The CIM in Italy continues till the 17th and my friend Jelmer was last on day 7 what a pity. He lost some places now overall in the 2 seater class and is on  spot 6 after 7 days!
Pleased to see that after 7 days Alvaro is first in open class in his ASH 31.And as pleased to see young Davide on spot 1 in the club class scores after 7 days! Only 40 points ahead of local pilot/hero Luca Urbani who flew several WGC’s as well in the past.
The Austrians are always flying well in Rieti, and Werner Amann shows it by being the best in 18 m. class after 7 days! Mate Gregor Stögner is on spot 2 .

These Italians are NOT in Rieti this year. They are here. Alberto Sironi, Stefano Ghiorzo and the hard woirking TC Roberto[specially for Marina and Giorgio!!!!]

Heard there have been some 1000 km. flights on the OLC in Germany, over the last month. Sorry have n’t had time to check.It pleases me to hear that the weather in Europe seems to be good.

For all the news about the WGC you can go to www.soaringcafe.com 
Unfortunately some people can not read us anymore. We are on a public net and have been hacked. We mentioned it to the server, the problem should be solved by now I hope!!!

Greetings from Ritz in windy Uvalde where we are about to begin day 10 with AAT’s . Cheers