Alphen aan den Rijn     Sunday February 12 2012

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

The “field” at Tocumwal .Courtesy Anita Taylor.

The good news first! Had contact with both Pam and Gerrit and after a few moments of concern, Gerrit is back to normal and will have NO problems! Good on him.
More good news as I booked my ticket [ a present from a friend— THANKS !!!!!] for Uvalde and I will arrive on the 28th of July with BA.
Bad news as well, the 11 cities tour/race/marathon has been cancelled but there is still a bit of hope for the millions here who are disappointed. Not everywhere 15 cm thick ice! But enough certainly on the N.part of the tour to enjoy skating this weekend.They expect atleast a million people on the skates! 75 Safe tours have been written out all over Holland. Today they expect temperatures above 0.
Here is a link by friend Jens Bouma who flew over the Frysian area and took some great shots from above. THANKS Jens!! Jens was the one who made those TOP videos to start the Dutch comps with and you surely can still find them on You Tube.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jensbouma.nl%2Fdownloads%2Fwinter&h=4AQELqixI

Several comps finished this week [end].The multi class Australian Nationals which moved from Narromine to Tocumwal, the multiclass Nationals in Matamata in New Zealand and the Horsham week in Horsham, which means a great season is over and we can start soon with the new 2012 season in Europe soon. Looking forward to it!

I left you on Wednesday with the latest Tocumwal news. Bruce had a good day , here are his words.
—”  My flight went really well today. The start came with a group of us topping out directly over the start point, just about at the time I wanted to leave. I wondered whether anyone would go, and figured that they would all come along if I did… and sure enough, they did! It went well, with a couple of good climbs in the blue before we had a short period of fun under some cus as we headed down towards Lake Mokoan near Benalla. But it was soon to stop, and as we tracked north it was all blue. I thought the pack might overtake me, but I managed to keep finding good climbs. As I travelled further north the glides started to get difficult and sinky(!), but still I didn’t see anyone else. Turning for home there were some stubble fires within reach, and the last one was a ripper. I arrived low and was greeted with plenty of bouncing and thumping, almost IFR, and the vario singing nicely! It took me up to final glide and a fast run home. Fantastic day for me.
Tonight a group of us went out to a beautiful cafe over the river near Cobram for dinner. It is right beside the Murray River, sunset, full moon, lovely food and good friends… sad that Anita was not there to join in though.—“

On Thursday with one day to go , more news from Bruce: “The trough line is within reach today, and the nice task setters have given us the chance to use it. We have a 3 hr AAT (only 3 hours?) that has circles that will give us the choice of a line under the lovely, fat cus we can see building to the east. STD and 15 m have a 3.5 hr AAT in a similar area.–“

 The trough line seen by Bruce.

And…he had a great day again , ” sitting in his office”. Bruce flew 469 km with a speed of 156.4 km./h.!!!!!
459 km for Terry in the 15 m class 3.30 AAT with a speed of 129 km/h. and he is back on the overall-scores-top as “poor” Lisa had to go “au vache “after 172 km. A pity , she was /is so good!!
In 15 m. an other good friend Miles won the day with 449 km and a speed of 128 km/h.
Due to the fact that Gerrit and Pam had “other things on their head, ” Chad and good friend Griffo moved to spot 1 in an open class glider .[nimbus 4DM.]

   
                      Griffo the left.                                     and                   Miles to the left.

What was there more to say??? Enough here is Bruce again;
—“What a day! There was indeed a super trough line, but it was not all as straightforward as it might have been. The whole system was complicated by some big storms further east, which were sending some outflow into the trough and creating an additional convergence effect. There were parts of the flight that were like our convergence that I see a lot of at home, some of it was overdeveloped and sogg…y, and some was just good old fashioned strong cumulus weather. Picking a good line required some experimentation, a bit of experience, and probably a touch of good fortune! It was an interesting day for all, with a few sad outlandings, and some high speeds. The task setting was perfect… there, I said it out aloud! Well done guys.
Tomorrow was suggested to be unlikely to be a flying day, but a quick check of the weather tonight shows that it might be another good day. We’ll see!—“ That would be Friday and ..it was good!

But Thursday was  a  very good day as well for the non-competition -pilots.  Some called it a ripper- day, for Tocumwal and surroundings and Kari flew in the LS 6 , far up North to Lake Cargelligo; 621 km. From Benalla a flight in the Ventus CT/ 17.6 m ;752km. by Irish pilot John Mc William.
He just did not make it home but I loved his comment , “  towed the Ventus in at 7.30 with a 1950s Harry Ferguson tractor – a fine product from a fellow Irishman, the first man to fly in Ireland, in 1909 – and in a plane he designed and built himself.—”
There you go another interesting outlanding , otherwise we would not have known this and very close as Violet Town is only a few kilometers from Benalla. I like that!
In Corowa they are nearly ready to pack the last gliders in the containers and they had more problems with showers around them, though they kept it dry and sunny, look at their great February -10 -pictures at  http://www.australian-soaring-corowa.com/news.html

 
The trough line seen over Tocumwal Airport by Dundee.

THE VERY LAST DAY of the Nationals  another great day.Not Bruce winning the day in 18m. but Tom Claffey . He flew his glider over 568 km. in a 3.30 AAT , so  he travelled around with big speed; 148 km./h.
2d was Andrew [ 509 km and 144 km./h] and Bruce 3d.[ 495 km. 141 km./h] But he could not loose anymore and is the WINNER with 6811 points with Tom,  as runner up [6410] , Lars was 3d and Andrew 4th.
No changes in scores in 15 m class so THE WINNER  is Terry with Craig and young Matthew on spot 2 and 3. Matthew won the 3 hour AAT on the last day .It is good to have several new upcoming young pilots for Australia!!!Joey glide is a great “instute”. 
Good old Miles must have loved the troughline and the AAT’s as he won the last 2 days! He ended up 4th and no changes here either as Peter [Temple] and Peter [Trotter] are on top and Mac on place 3.

A nice farewell and presentation- dinner was the finish of a great competition, organised in 2 days but with the co-operation of SO MANY!!! Proud on my mates overthere [Dundee who helped the gliders in the air] and my friends from Narromine [ p.e. Hans Raschke, Arney Hartley and more], who came to Toc to help out.   Glad it all worked out so well. Congratulations to ALL!!! Heard another good friend Bruce Brockhoff was invited to the party as well to speech for all guests. Nice!!! I will share his life with you in my next blog! VERY interesting.Why was he NOT competing in his own country during the Benalla WGC in 1987 , while he was the best 15 m. pilot at that time ??????

The last words are for Bruce Taylor, who not only made me happy, but I guess all who love soaring , with his inside-stories. THANK YOU BRUCE and CU in Uvalde!!!
  —“Another day, another competition completed. We were set a 3.5 hr AAT west to Deniliquin, then a long leg to the north. I found the weather difficult for the first part of the flight, and much easier after that. Initially it was hard to find good climbs and I seemed to be doing an exemplary job of finding all the sink. As I crossed a blue stretch on the way north there was a huge increase in wind …speed, almost like the jet stream was touching down there. Right in the middle of that I found my best climb, which I did not really understand. Further north there was quite a lot of overdevelopment, and with my points lead I was reluctant to be too adventurous, so I turned for home as soon as my computer suggested I should. Of course from then onwards I could only find incredibly good climbs, and all the sink vanished. Soon it became obvious that I was going to be home early. I used all of our last area but was still arriving too soon, so lost some speed for that. Tom Claffey was in top spot today.
The presentation went well, Chris Stephens did a great job as MC, and I have some trophies to take home! It has been a good competition for me – almost everything went to plan. Thank you so much to all those listening and watching, and for all the kind words. The next real competition I fly will be the worlds in Texas in August. See you all then.—”

. 
Received this picture from Dundee. Appropriate now after the comps!

Great flight for Kari as well in the LS 6 on Friday ; All the way up to Hillston in the N.;792 km. Though…he was n’t satisfied too much with his flight in any case he did not call it great.

 
Kari ready to go. Courtesy Dundee.

The Matamata comps in NZ finished last Wednesday  after 7 days of flying in both classes. Due to the fact that the points from day 4 were re- scored we had to wait for the final results but here they are. As I read , those air space penalties from day 4, have been successfully protested. In the end they looked more to the literal interpretation of the rules rather then the intent of the rules as applied by the contest director.” The virtual outlanding scores given at the point of the airspace violation will be rescored to 25 penalty – points. ”
When that was done,  this was the result;
Winner in standard class Lyndsay Stephens with 5903 points in ASW 27.
Winner in the combined open class and also winner of the last day; Patrick Driessen with 6388 in Ventus CT.
Winner in open class Brett Hunter who just flew his first comps in a JS 1.
Tony Van Dyke won the standard class for all results look at   www.soaringspot.com

Hosham week had good weather   with 41 participants in 4 classes. My friends the Tabart’s did well. Father Tony and son Tracey  both flew and shared  TT….and won in open class .Look for all results at www.soaringspot.com

To finish this blog some great Dutch pictures with snow and ice. Got the link from Meteo-Hans who is our top meteorologist.
http://gigapica.geenstijl.nl/2012/01/winter_in_the_netherlands_thro_1.html

Off to Amsterdam. No news on Wednesday. Will be gone for a few days. Back on Thursday. Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Wednesday February 8 2012

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

 
Great pictures from Kari who made them from the LS 6 JJ, just before the competition gliders were launched!Thanks a lot Kari!

In Tocumwal the multi class Nationals continued and there was some doubt about the weather , trough/front/wind,but as I know very well the weather can change quickly in Toc, so it was good for soaring when you see Bruce fly with a speed of  123.4 km/h. over 392 km. and win the day [3 for him 4 for st and 15m.].
In 15 m. Lisa won.Good on her .Well done!!!
In the combined open class it was Bruce as well but Gerrit with the first open class glider.
In standard class 2 Japanes pilots gathered their strenght and Mac and Shinzo were 1 and 2.

Daily winners. All pictures courtesy Anita Taylor.

 

 
Andrew to the r. Courtesy Anita Taylor  and in the back row from r. to l. Andrew,  Matthew and Adam.In the middle Adam Woolley who was a tuggie with us in the past for a short time. He is very involved in the juniors as advocate to the GFA, and he also keeps a blog.

Now the SSA 2012 convention in Reno is over,[ for ALL that news you can go to www.soaringcafe.com  ]   we look ahead at the IGC plenary in South Africa and I received already some info. Rick Sheppe from the USA will be there and inform you and me straight from the source.
Here is what he send me already;

  The 11 towns and the lay- out of the tour.

As promised in today’s blog 499 [under here] some pictures from the BBQ in Tocumwal in Mike Toth’s hangar  and hosted by the Southern Riverina Gliding Club.
 All pictures made by Dundee. Thanks! To enlarge…just click on them.

Alphen aan den Rijn      Sunday February 4 2012

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

 
Tocumwal Nationals 2012. Day 1
picture courtesy Dieter Albrecht.
CD Chris Stephens and VIP /CFI from the SRGC , Ingo Renner.
picture courtesy Bruce/Anita Taylor.

We should not complain with minus 22.9,  when Russia has minus 43,  but I can assure you that I have never been so cold , outside, as during the last days and…it is not over yet. We have a white world now after all the snow last Friday. We also had the first ever in history ,  43 year old homeless person freezing dead, TERRIBLE!!!!! ALL of them have been warned for the cold ALL over Holland, they do not even have to  pay the 2E.,  they normally pay when they stay for a day and night with food , a heater,  a bed and a drink and still some refuse!!! Can’t force them.
Further on Friday was total chaos in Holland,with over 800 km of traffic jam, people who were waiting for trains which were not going and even Schiphol Airport had some problems, with 1000 people who had to stay overnight!!! Yesterday was not much better, but SUN and bleu skies made ice- skating,  walking etc fun.
Also cold circumstances in Japan and the USA. One of my USA friends continues flying, till spring arrives like this!

 
The Lake Cup 11 on skis, great way to fly till spring starts.
Picture courtesy Rick Shepperd

Would have loved to be in Tocumwal now, but you can’t have it all!

    
  
Nice clouds over Tocumwal on day 3! And…over Narromine TODAY!

You can’t have it all!!! No….After all that great weather , day 1 started not too flash. Open and 18 m. were cancelled and pilots from 15m. and standard got small tasks both a 2 hour AAT and not everybody finished.
In 15 m. Terry Cubley [LS 3] won the day with 220 km in 2 hours 19. As long as I know Terry [ since 1984 he flies this LS 3 and it is a real good one! He is a good pilot as well!!]
In standard Paul Mander [SZD 55] won over 218 km in 2 hour 28.

 
No flying for 18 m. and open class so a bit more time to relax for Gerrit and his wife Pam, who both fly in open class and for Bruce and Anita.
Pictures courtesy Dundee.

Here is what Bruce had to say about the practise day;
—“Yesterday was a nice day. Tom Claffey did a super flight and shamed us all by about 10 kph … glad it wasn’t a comp day! The air was quite moist on our first easterly leg, with fast cycles and some lying clouds, then down to the south-west it was blue. For me the flight went well till the end, when things started to die with a stronger southerly breeze and dead air around the river.
Today could be pretty interesting. To the east looks flyable, but overhead and north, west and south is overcast.—“
These pictures show why day 1 was a more then difficult day! Those who flew and had to land in a paddock , had to deal with a storm .

Still raining, but the band looks thin on the radar. Will pass by morning (surely!!)
Tweet from Anita.

So day 2 started and was better! After 40 mm. of rain on day 1,[ you can see what’s left over on the pictures above from Dundee,]  the pilots could start from the tarmac runway  09.

  Ready for day 2!

Open class had 381 km. Interesting was that Bruce was faster in the 18 m. JS 1 then Gerrit in the Nimbus 4T; 127 km and 113 /h.
In 15 m. Lisa Trotter had a good day winning from the young[er] ones Matthew and Adam and also from Terry. Good on her! Young Matthew is on spot 1 overall after 2 days , with his “older-club-mate” Terry on spot 2!

 
Above Lisa with her ASW 27 and as you can see better weather on day 2, also for Louis in his Ventus A. Pictures courtesy Dundee.

In standard class 5 x an LS 8 topped the scores for the day; Peter Temple on 1 with 1000 points and Peter Trotter,  Lisa’s husband with 999.5 points!!! 
Here is Bruce’s view on “things”; —“Successful day for the JS1. Starting was tricky, with bands of cirrus coming through, plus some local effects (river or rain from last night?) that gave a huge blue hole over Tocumwal. I think I left last, but I was soon happy with that decision as the cirrus cleared and conditions improved. By halfway round our 380 km task I felt like I had caught the crowd. Conditions were a bit changeable, with some areas of spreadout and long glides, but the run home was good and I did the last 40 km on full throttle, just getting higher and higher. Lots of fun, and a nice start.—“

Day 3 was TOP, a day on which Terry Ryan flew 784 km. from Tocumwal  in his ASH 26 and pilots from Corowa , about 70 km. to the East,  over 800 km. and Harry even over 900, nice triangles as well. And..from Benalla about 70 km to the South , one long road, Tobias Geiger flew in his LS 4 a great 903 km [ 835 FAI triangle.] The first ever over 700 km flight from Richard Robinson starting from Benalla in an LS 3 was good as well.[732 and 664 FAI triangle.]
So…a good day with a 3.30 AAT for all classes and….with a  speed in standard class of 142.4 km/h over 505 km. and….the 1000 points went in the pocket from Peter Temple!! Good day for Mac as well , being 2d. Mac has flown a lot in Tocumwal, so he knows the area!
In 15 m. Graig Collings won with a speed of 134 km/h over 474 km. Adam Wooley was 2d and he knows Toc as well, as he flew a few weeks for us as tuggie before he left up N. where he got unexpectedly, a job.
In 18 m. Lars Zehnder [Ventus 2CX] won with yes….154.3 km./h over 542 km. Bruce  was 2d with 560 km and a speed of 152.3 km/h. in his JS1.
In open class it was Gerrit who flew best in a real open class glider, {Nimbus 4T} ; 478km. with 136.6 km./h.
Bruce about day 3;
—-“Great day in the office! Not totally straightforward, but a super day all the same. The 3.5 hour AAT could possibly have been longer, but that is easy to say in hindsight. At the best we got to about 9,500 feet, with a few climbs better than 10 knots, but some parts of the sky were a little overcooked and it was difficult to keep up the fast pace. For me that happened along the second leg, after a nice high glide over a long stretch of irrigation near Leeton. The sky ahead went soft, and I had to take a detour to some better clouds to get up again. As it turned out Lars also had some soft spots, but was a couple of kph faster than I was – great flight!—“

 
Mac [ Hi Mac] and Lars [Hi Lars]and Andrew [Hi Andrew]  and……..Arney Hartley, [Hi Arney] Bruce and …sorry I forgot, HELP!

And Peter Temple mentions on Bruces blog;
—“Another good day for me yesterday over the moonscape of the Hay plain. Cloud streets seemed to form where-ever I flew. I flew 505km at an average speed of 142km/hr, helped by the strongest thermal I have ever flown (thanks to Tim for finding it) – mostly 13-14 knots on the average peaking at around 16 knots near cloudbase.
The engineer in me is thinking about the power required to lift a 525kg glider straight up at 30km/hr. And that’s just one glider, putting 50 gliders in a thermal doesn’t seem slow it down.”–

 
Peter Temple and his wife Mandy. Mandy is a longtime TC for the Australian team.And on the other picture Lisa and Peter Trotter, [Hi to all 4] pictures courtesy Anita/Bruce Taylor.

Today on Sunday on what should be day 4 a tweet from Anita;
—“front and trough coming together and coming thru today. Windy. Window too small. Tomorrow looks poor as well. Forecasts changing so??—“

There was a nice BBQ  as well, organised by the SRGC from “easy to say” Ingo and Judy, as , ofcourse they have a president,  secretary and treasurer as well .But Ingo is and remains a great PR-“tool “. [sorry Ingo!] On the picture Ingo and Dundee your/my photographer!And later today the pictures from the BBQ in Mike Toth hangar.

  Ingo and Dundee….great mates.

And …the 2d INTERNATIONAL edition from Segelfliegen is on line NOW!
This is what you can read on your PC, Mac, iPad or Android-based tablet PC among many other exiting stories on more than 70 pages:
– Two birds with one stone: Antares 23E and Quintus M
– Basic principles of thermalling
– Flying with flaps
– A work of art in tin: Red Bull’s Blanik formation team
– The secret to being a good instructor
– “Rock me” Mountains: Soaring in High Altitude
– Flying with the girls: WSPA seminar
– The Turbine – better than its reputation
– PowerFlarm – one device for three systems

Please give it a go and please send this information on to anyone who
you think may also be interested in the latest stories from the
worldwide gliding scene. To find out how it works just check
http://www.segelfliegen-international.com/digitaleng.php

And…for those who liked the pictures from the lightning last time here is more.
—-“It’s old news now, but we had simultaneous skyshow displays in Perth on Australia Day – one by nature and the other man-made. Some  great photos on flickr here:—“

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/yahooeditorspicks/galleries/72157629046450149/

And to finish this blog some more then good news! [thanks Jo] 
—“A major initiative to reduce glider accidents has won the 2011 General Aviation Safety Award. The British Gliding Association’s (BGA) Safe Winch Launch Team scooped the award after judges heard the initiative, which has been running for six years, had dramatically reduced the number of fatal glider accidents. The Team, led by Hugh Browning, are the seventeenth recipient of the Award, organised by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), since its inception in 1994.—“

Would love to reduce fatal accidents to ZERO, but that is, I guess,  an utopia!
Cheers Ritz and ….some impressions from the cold here in town. And …sorry the blog is a bit long, but it is SUNDAY. Enjoy!

Alphen aan den Rijn      Wednesday February 1 2012

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

While the first containers are leaving or have left their overseas destinations, Europe is in the grip of King Winter.Sadly enough over 50 people died from the icy conditions in Poland and Ukraine.
In Holland they all jump up and down and the 11-town-skate-marathon in Friesland is on everybody’s lips. Will it finally happen again? An “Elf-steden tocht”??? The “fever” is already here after 3 days of frost.
Ice-speed -skating and fun-skating on canals , lakes and whatever can freeze in the top from Holland. One of the most well known and loved “parties” in Holland; as skating goes parallel with great fun, be part of it, drinking, singing, dancing and everybody who cheers on will be in orange. You surely have seen it at “normal” speed skate events. This one is not “normal” so it is even “worse” but so good!!!!
Did we have till now a very mild and generous winter the last day from January changed that with below 0 all day and up to -6 in the night. It will continue this week with minus 13 in the night and with the wind chill factor it will feel as – 20, so is announced!!!!
I “see ” friends in Scandinavia , East Europe and Canada “smile” about me and these temperatures, but I find it cold, too cold!

I was touched by some remarks  from pilots who have not been in Tocumwal for a longer time and are back now unexpectedly for the multi class Nationals.
—-Great to see everyone getting involved to help set up camp at Toc, and nobody complaining… But a bit sad to see the state of the once-fabulous Sportavia Soaring Centre. We thought of you, Ritz!–”
Paradise around the WW2 hangar has changed in a sad and desolate environment with too high grass and dead trees, on a spot where in the past ” mostly ” happiness was  and great soaring, good food, lot’s of laughter , enthusiastic  jumps in the pool and nice to very nice accommodation at the spot. If  necessary you could stay there for weeks without leaving the field.

But that’s the past and we live NOW….Eddie and Sheryl from Sportaviation and Ingo and Judy from the SRGC kept soaring alive in Tocumwal and  new hangars, a very nice  caravanpark and the ” good old feeling from the past” and not to forget the fantastic soaring-weather and the quick connection to the N. where it is dry and sunny, but a bit “empty”  with however HUGE paddocks to land in, if necessary, make soaring still to great fun .
Enough guests for the small scale commercial operation {Eddie and Sheryl run it together with a tuggie this year Petr and in holidays and weekend the help from Jake and when necessary an extra instructor Rolf } and the club with  about 70 members has grown enormously, where other clubs suffer. 
Can only hope for the real Tocumwal weather to make everybody happy during the Nationals.
Good luck to all and enjoy!

 
Tocumwal WW2 hangar hidden behind too high grass and some dead trees.[2010]

After one practise day the game starts tomorrow. Some pilots have been there quite a lot and know the area as their “trouser pocket”, some have never been there focused on Narromine and now have to focus on TP’s etc from the Tocumwal area.
But…during the practise day today with 2.30 AAT’ s up to 410 km. it seems to have gone smoothly.
Gerrit Kurstjens flew 300 km in open class in 2.33 with speed 117.6 km./h. .
In 18 m. Tom Claffey won with 343 km and a great speed of 132km/h.
In 15 m. Terry Cubley flew his LS 3 over 318 km with also a nice speed of 121 km./h. and in standard class good old Miles Gore Brown flew 309 km with speed 124 km./h.  The young, new fresh 1000 km pilot Matthew Scutter from Adelaide, was 3d! [303 km with speed 118.6 km./h]  You can call that good practise certainly when you see that some pilots got penalty points for missing start points etc. Better today then tomorrow!!!

In between the “normally ” last comps/coachingweek of the season in Australia, called the Horshamweek  has started as well. Tony Tabart flies Horsham for the 45 st time and for that reason he can’t compete in Tocumwal where he was an instructor for gliding in the far, far past!! for all the news about the Horsham coaching week [now] and the comps [ starting on Febr 4 till 11]  www.horshamweek.org.au

From Matamata  25 pilots are flying the multi Nationals in New Zealand in 2 classes. After 2 days of flying and one day rest due too too late good circumstances , I was pleased to see that Tony van Dyk, who I met at a few WCG’s in the far past is still flying so good. He is 3d at this stage in the combined standard class. Lyndsay Stephens was on spot 1 overall EVERY day! He won todays task; 282 km with a speed of 142 km./h.
In open class [combined] Patrick Driessen , also with a very Dutch name tops the overall list after being 5th and winning a day.Still on top today but the winner Alan, flew 308 km. with 143.4 km./h!!!!!!

 
One of the soaring fields I visited in the 2010/11 season in NZ on the N.Island.
Matamata is on the N. Island as well.

Talking about NZ , here is a link I received from friends in Australia about the selling of a book for charity. Should have published it last Sunday. When you are interested just follow the rules.

Folks,
I have a pre-loved copy of Philip Wills’ “Free as a bird” published in 1973 in very good condition that needs a new home with the proceeds going to charity. I’ll sell it via a Gliding-Bay (gBay) auction and here are the rules:

 1. Auction starts today and ends at 6pm AEST on Monday 6^th February 2012.

2. Opening bid is $1 and subsequent bids need to be in whole dollars.

3. Place your bid by replying to this email. Uninterested list-members can automatically delete emails with this subject.

4. The person with the highest bid at the close of auction will donate their pledged amount to Lymphoma Australia via this link https://secure3.everydayhero.com.au/event/directdonationlymphoma/donate/1075

5. Email me your donation receipt with your mailing address and I’ll pay the postage and send you the book.

 Happy bidding.
Best regards,
Patrick Barfield

The end of January  showed after all the long flights a bit of a dip with only 18 flights registered on the OLC on January 30 and even less on January 31 with 15!!!! But with Horsham week and the Tocumwal Nationals it will be up tomorrow again on February 1.

To finish a nice picture from Catherine Conway via Glider forever .Cu you on Sunday Ritz

“The old and the new” by Catherine Conway.
AND
her reaction .
—“Thanks they are both my gliders. The front one is a Nimbus 4DM which I hire to Fly Down Under at Stonefield South Australia. The glider behind is an ES52 Kookaburra wooden two seater trainer built in 1960 by Edmund Schneider Ltd. The same company that designed the Grunau Baby before relocating to Australia.–“

Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday January 29     2012

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

AUSTRALIA. Courtesy Jörgen Thomsen . 

Hope you don’t mind that I am still “full” of Australia, after living there for 10 years and spending another 10 winters over there , I feel , as said before, still a bit of an Aussie girl even more maybe a…….. Tocumwal girl.
Running a soaring center is a tough job, certainly in years when the weather does not co-operate, but it remains very special , is a great life style and you “bond” with so many people. The good thing is that I am still in contact with a lot of them.
For that reason it pleases me that , now the  top- soaring-season  is over in Africa, though Gariep Dam has a very nice long season as well, Australia tops the list of the OLC nearly every day.

Great flights again this week;  What about the 952 km in the 18m. LS 10 from Jörgen Thomsen from Denmark in Corowa. His wife Brigitte,  who flew several new Danish records this season, had to leave him and Australia,  due to illness in the family at home and Jörgen puts all sorrow away and tries to forget it in some good gliding.
No doubt about the qualities of Stephan Soll; 819 km. in LS 4!!!
Nice to see Vincent from Holland back in Corowa, young, enthusiastic and a good and keen pilot. Dad Max has flown for a while and now Vincent flies the glider and started his season with an 810 km flight in the DG 800/18m.
Also very nice to see good old Shad from the USA back in Corowa. I liked him as a guest, not only because he was from the USA and we did not have too many guests from there in the past, but more as he could tell great stories .Lovely fellow!!

On Australia Day, January 26,  Australia was divided in very bad and wet weather more to the East [ Queensland and part of NSW , Narromine had 25 mm in a day —really hope the weather improves there quickly for the multi-class-nationals,….it CAN BE SO GOOD] and still super weather more in the S. and W. Sorry for the floodings dampening the parties and cancellation of BBQ’s and other festivities.
Heard the Narromine weather is still not good and they hope for soaring-weather to have the first multi-national-class -day on Wednesday.
LAST NEWS FROM THIS MORNING!!!!! 
—“Narromine nationals have moved to Tocumwal because of weather – decision made today at 12.30pm.Practice days are now Tuesday and Wednesday.—”
Means that a lot are driving to the W. for about 6 hours to move from Narromine to Tocumwal . Guess tuggies and tugs and organisation moves as well”.
Tocumwal has a lot of motels [14] because of the pokie machines at the golf club and the huge golf club itself. Also great food in Kelley’s , Antiqueshop and Chrissies book shop.
The Sportaviation-caravan -park AT the airfield is Hilton-like-style!!! I mean high quality!
This is the news from Narromine and I feel sorry for them as I had several comps there and they were always nice and good and well organised.

—“Well I’ve just announced the most difficult decision of my gliding life – to move the 50th Multiclass Nationals away from Narromine due to poor weather, especially as Narromine was the site for the inaugural nationals. After a long look at the next two weeks there is a very real risk of not getting a nationals championship. This soaring season has not been kind. This morning four options were put to the pilots already at Narromine: cancel the championships; postpone them; stay at Narromine and hope for better weather; or relocate to a site likely to have better weather. Timing and costs were important considerations. The general view was to relocate. Consequently the organising committee set about considering options. Weather, organisational challenges, safety, task area, watering points, tugs, and distance from Narromine were key items. To cut a long and painful story short, after consultation with the SC, NCC and CTO the 50th Multiclass Championships will be relocated to Tocumwal. Ingo and Judy Renner, and Eddy Madden have offered their generous assistance. In effect the organisation will move from Narromine to Tocumwal. Finally my heart felt thanks to those at Narromine for their unstinting help and enthusiasm over the past year. A special thanks to the SAAA for allowing access to their significant Narromine Airfield facilities. Afraid it has rained on our parade.  CS CD.–”
Signed by Chris Stephens the CD who was in Tocumwal several years and indeed a tragic decision, but hopefully it turns out well for everybody!!!!

Life goes on, so pleased , on the other hand, to see Kari from Finland back in Tocumwal. He flies the JJ , [LS 6] , where the glider is stationated already for many years. Also good to see a great female pilot back in Toc; Pam. They get some more “mates”now to talk to and fly with.
Still the perfect soaring weather in Corowa too,  and topper Lubor from Slovakia managed, nicely late in the season a 1000 km. flight a 945 triangle with some added kilometers in his ASG 29 E/18m. Good on him. They have packed the Prievidza container now , as the pilots want to fly their gliders at Nitra, the first BIG event in soaring for our European 2012 season.
Great flight again in the LS 4 for Stephan, this time, 775 km. from Tocumwal and also from this field,a great flight from Lothar [ 631km.  in ASW 28]
Great flight also from Beverley; 899km. Last news from Beverley last year was bad as their hangar went with the wind and damaged a lot, including gliders. I showed you the pictures then !It nearly made me cry!! This is much better  news!!!
 I know that in the past a 1000 has been flown in mid February  , so a lot is still possible. And…the first one in mid October, as you see the season can be long in Australia , but….not always is.

Gariep Dam is the place where a Dutch pilot tries and succeeds to set new Dutch records. Max shipped his Nimbus 4 DM and chases with Bart for records. Yesterday it was an 800 km. out and return which was a prey; from 133 km. ph/speed up to 145 km.ph. Not too bad!!!!
The day before; a declared 600 out and return with 141 km/h. Also a new record!!! It was 147 km before till 18 km before the finish but a “bad” cloud made them loose some speed.

Swiss pilot, Jean- Marc Perrin  “found” a good day again to fly with speed over the Andes and 1.383, 58 km. was the result with a speed of 144 km./h!!!! And that in a 15m. conversion DG 808.
From 5 flights he flew one under 1000 ; 998.78 km. and 4 far above 1000 with still as best flight the 1.708.51 km from the field of Esquel. He “used” 3 different airfields to start from. Perito Moreno is far S. from Esquel and the other field where he flew this last flight from was Los Antiguos.

Norwegian Price fighter, Norwegian Air Shuttle, flying 16 million passengers in 2011 with 60 planes, has ordered as I read in the papers another 222 planes with Boeing and Airbus and an option on an other 150 planes!!!!
They want to be the biggest in Europe as market leader for city-trips and trips to the holiday destinations in the South of Europe. Let’s wait and see how this works out.

Keep an eye when you have time on Soaringcafe. Every day there will be a picture about the CONCORDIA!!!!! The owner Dick Butler wants to fly this prestigious glider during the WGC in Uvalde. Still “a few things to do ” , but for sure he will be flying it during the comps. The whole history is to be found at www.soaringcafe.com and I find it fascinating. One of the first things I do after arriving in Uvalde is see Dick again as it is a real long time ago we met. George has bought his very special ASW17 . This glider lives now in Australia and is still stationated in Tocumwal, but has n’t flown this season as it get’s some upgrades .

Only oh’s and ah’s during the match between Federer and Nadal!!! What a GREAT MATCH!!! Luckily the temperature had dropped to around 14 dgr at 11 pm. Better for the players but it did not help Federer.And maybe the match between Djokovic and Murray was even better!!!!

Busy!! Cu you next week, Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn   Wednesday January 25 2012

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

And this is the promised picture send by Natasja!
If you click on it, you see us “bigger”, that is ,…when you would like that.

Very interesting  to see the kind of yo-yo flight with 2 long legs from 345 and 324 km.,  from Australian junior pilot Matthew Scutter; 1000 km. in an LS 4  from Gawler. Great effort!!!  Here is his comment when you would have missed it;

—-“Declared a 750k, abandoned an hour later after jumping across the hills to find the air dead, dumped my water and eventually scraped away from circuit height. Tried to make the most of the day after that, explored the trough line and the seabreeze? convergence. At one stage I was doing 130kts through the rain at 11,000ft trying not to get sucked into the cloud.
Not sure why everyone went home at 5pm, the day was still thumping and the thermals continued to last light.
Gawler is an underrated XC site – not bad for a dry LS4, someone want to lend me a ballasted EB29?—“

Also interesting,  a flight from Benalla 934 km [ 856 triangle!] in an ASH 26 by Polish pilot Chris Becek .Pretty late in the season the perfect weather in Australia, continues .
From one of my friends at Corowa I heard on Monday morning that a few HOT days were about to come. So more flying again  for the pilots over there and for Stephan  from Tocumwal, a nice 500 km triangle [total of 582km.] was added to the many kilometers he has ” eaten ”  already.

Stephan preparing his LS 4.
Picture courtesy Cheryl Madden from Sportaviation in Tocumwal.

Both Corowa [ 2 gliders packed ] and Stonefield [the fuselage from the Discus 2 was in the container on Monday] have started with packing some gliders in the containers. Those who are so lucky to stay till the end to help with the final packing ,will be very pleased to even enjoy more of that fantastic weather from this season.I lived in Tocumwal for 10 years, was there as guest another 10 years but I can’t remember many of these great  January-months,  with continuing super soaring conditions. Of course December and January should be weather-wise the best months with sometimes excellent days in November and February.
We had an average temperature for January sometimes  from 33 dgr. Lot’s of days over 40!!! For sure this did not happen last year. This is the real Australian summer  again.

Perth is hot! Look at the minimum temperatures for the rest of this week, as I got them from Vanessa.
Thursday     Very hot. Partly cloudy.               Min 26     Max 40
Friday       Very hot. Partly cloudy.               Min 25     Max 39
Saturday     Very hot. Sunny.                       Min 26     Max 42
Sunday       Very hot. Sunny.                       Min 24     Max 40
Monday       Very hot. Sunny.                       Min 23     Max 39

On the contrary Narromine suffers still from pretty wet and bad weather. Hope this changes quickly as the multi-class-comps start this upcoming weekend.
Anne  who lives in Narromine mentioned last weekend on FB ;”Narromine Gliding Club caught out in the huge storm yesterday … its pie cart parked on 040 landed up against the orchard farm fence adjacent to the a/d! Could have caused problems if it had ended up on a runway! But all is well, good old KennyMac (not so old) will fix it!–“

Stonefield  still had a nice 857 km. flight in the Nimbus 4DM and in a St. Libelle, 577 km [ 405 FAI triangle] , circumstances showed great cu’s but also lot’s of showers, as I read. And yesterday they were so lucky that the trough stayed in the S. part of Australia and…another 1000 km flight was added in the Nimbus 4DM, this time flown by Thomas Seiler.

The better weather in South Africa  was last days over Worcester ,where some top pilots as , the brothers Goudriaan and Sven Olivier flew just over and under 500 km. distances,  but as Sven said in his comment; ” the storm washed anything out,” but “having fun over the ridges and a beautiful  finish ” made up for it again.
They fly the Western Cape Regionals from January 22-29. Together with Mark Holiday they form the handicapped open class with 2 ASW 27 gliders , 1 JS1 and one ASH 25. During the week more pilots arrived as Jenifer Bradley with the Duo discus. A nice and friendly competition and this is the first formal edition. 

Also Gariep Dam  had some good flights just over and under 500 km. One of our Dutch pilots mentions that “they explore other gliding possibilities at Upington van Ryn Airport”. Will find out more about it, but  as my interest was straight away raised I had a look already. With help of a friend I found out that Upington looks like a fabulous airfield. With a runway of 16.000 ft.,  4900 m. and 60 m. wide,  one of the longest in the world , it was or is a huge airport . The height of the field is 2800 ft. Should have possiblilities enough.
The runway was built to accomodate  a Boeing 747 full of passengers cargo and fuel for a nonstop flight to Europe. The airport was opened as Pierre van Ryneveld  Airport in 1968. 
Will find out more as this sounds VERY interesting!!!!But…hopefully it is or will be not too busy with airliners. I read that in 2007 they had 19.961 departing passengers. As said I am going to investigate. You can also look at www.gariepgliding.co.za  but I cant get it to open, neither with com. nor with sa. Will try later have to go now.

Off to  Zwolle , so cu next Sunday.
Cheers Ritz

 
One happy 2011- Dutch- Nationals- family!

Alphen aan den Rijn     Sunday January 22 2012

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

Of course you know the terrible feeling of loosing “something” in your computer, even more when you have saved it all the time and it still disappears in “the nothing”!!
Hate it ; it happened to me yesterday afternoon when I looked satisfied at the new Sunday blog!GONE!!!!!!
So I have to start over again. Here we go!

Chaves  finished with their Pre worlds and the 3d South American Nationals. A good competition as far as I could follow it on the different social media. NOT the best weather , but still organisers could find out where it went well, what could be better and what should be different.Pilots could look at the environment , “read” the weather, get familiar with the South American habits and people, and that was no problem, as I heard.

In standard class   the French pilots were 1 and 3 after 7 days, with in their middle a very good 2d place for young Argentinian pilot Damian Goldenzweig. Not too much points difference in the end; 6195 for Didier Hauss and Laurent Aboulin, only 90 less for Damian and he leaded Killian Walbrou and Denis Guerin with only 10 points.
Our reporter from Olanda Jeroen won the last soarable day with a nice speed of 126 km/h. won the so-long- longed for -bottle of Argentinian red wine and ended in his hired Jantar with call sign 11 on spot 11;
Jeroen; –[ Last ]Day cancelled 🙁 11th place, if battery stayed alive and I would have been with the first 20 on day 3, I would have won. Still room for improvement, but I’m satisfied! :-)-
Thank you Jeroen for you great human and analysing blogs.  http://pre-mundial.blogspot.com/

Jeroen flying on a cancelled day like the French did. As Jeroen said; It was interesting to see  the difference of opinion what can be a contest- day between Europeans and Argentinians .

In 15 m. class  local pilot Raul Garda won after 8 days in an ASW 20 . He was pretty consistent , won day 3 and had a few 2d -day -places. The first overseas pilots were on spot 5 and ..from France.
In open class  Egon Rehn from Brasil was the best in the ASW 22 26.6 m. He won 5 days out of the 9.
For all results; www.soaringspot.com

Nice to read on the new FAI site  that Visa-Matti Leinikki [Finland] has been appointed as the new  IT manager from the FAI , working from May 1 onwards ,  in Lausanne at the FAI head office !! I have met Visa-Matti on several occasions where he was steward,  juror and guest at comps. Never forget my trip on invitation from him,  when he, Dick Bradley and I travelled on the Ferry from Helsinki to gorgeous Tallinn and also our early morning walks to a nice cafe in Rieti to have breakfast together,  I remember with a smile. Good guy, and the right person on the right spot! Congratulations Visa-Matti!

The weather in Australia is still hot and good. Look at yesterday when “our” kilometer -eater Stephan Söll flew a distance of 796 km. FAI triangle from 538 km. in his LS 4 and declared ….NO engine..NO water, only skills ! Weather at Tocumwal at 3 , 35 dgr and a cloud base of 10.000 ft.
Stephan flew now in 7 days with one rest day in between; a total of 4.415.18 km!!!!! The good old LS 4 is still “hot”. And …to be honest Stephan is still TOP. Today he took a well deserved rest day , flying more or less local, but still relaxing while flying! And….he allowed young- helper -and -more from the field, Jake , to fly in his KYO. First time for Jake in a “fancy” glider.Look at the pictures at  http://sportaviationtocumwal.blogspot.com/

Corowa is making a real race with lots of super flights, to be in the end runner up behind Bitterwasser on the stat’s list of the best airfield.  11 Flights added again today above 500 km. so they are @ SPOT 2 now! What’s still possible!? Anyhow WELLDONE!!!!

Stonefield; yes we know now about Stonefield. The young pilots Benjamin and Fabian have made their last flights and are heading home on Wednesday after a great holiday and…with each a 1000 in their pocket! One of the last great flights was by Andreas Kreil and Konrad Maierhofen , flying the Nimbus 4 DM for an out and return of 800 km.  coming back in ONE go!!! No thermalling, just the view on unendless and go!!!!Great stuff and the fastest flight this season from Stonefield; 139km./h.

 
Last flight for this season from Fabian.
courtesy  Fabian Peitz via FB.

We had a lovely evening yesterday  with all the organisers from the last Dutch Nationals . As a “Thank you” the crew got a dinner voucher , from all the competitors,  so we went to the middle of Holland,  Utrecht,  to a nice Japanese restaurant.Food was good, though for some pretty new and “interesting”, but we left with a full tummy, huge laughter and good mood. Maybe the sake helped a bit as well. THANK YOU COMPETITORS from the 2011 NATIONALS!!!
As I made these pictures you don’t see me, but Natasja will send me one for next Wednesday.

Great flight again from Gerard Lherm. Wrote about his last flight already, this time he “used” the Cevennes again and with more problems then during his last flight [showers in the area and tough wind] he made it home. Another very early in the season 1000 km and mind you days are still very short in Europe, getting longer since December 21 but still… He remains a top pilot. In Angers , in the 70thies he or George were the pilots who “fought” in open class,  for the first prize from the HUIT JOURS d’ANGERS, the first unofficial European championships . Sometimes George won , sometimes Gerard. Those were good times!

 In Soaringcafe,  is a nice article about the first flight of the Quintus M, written by Bernd Weber who flew in the past , yes you guess it already….with us in Tocumwal. Here is the link.
http://soaringcafe.com/2012/01/first-impressions-of-the-quintus-m/

It is always tragic to read that we lost one of our “soaring mates”  due to an accident. A 60 year old pilot died not far, 17 km NW  from Omarama. Another pilot witnessed the crash , asked for help but sadly enough , all help did not help anymore.

Perth now by Vanessa; —“ know you like a bit of weather, and we’ve had plenty of it in Perth. It has been very hot and humid (a hangover from a cyclone up north) and we finally had some thunderstorms yesterday morning (although it reached 37 again later in the day, & 23 degrees overnight is the norm – yuk).
Great , no fabulous pictures about lightnings!!!
—” The forecast is hot for as long as I can see, and Australia Day on the 26th is forecast to be 39 degrees. It is a shame that it will be so hot – Perth has a large fireworks display by the Swan River, which this year is preceded by a series of air show events – including an aerobatic display by a motorised glider. It will probably be too hot for a lot of people to sit in the sun by the river and watch.— Look at the links and thanks Vanessa!
CU next week! Ritz

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-20/lightning-luke-baker-psjpg/3785438
and another dozen photos here http://www.watoday.com.au/photogallery/wa-news/perth-lightning-storm-january-20-2012-20120120-1q9eo.html

 Alphen aan den Rijn     Wednesday January 18  2012

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

Flowers for all happy pilots this season!!Picture courtesy; Maria Böttcher.

We had a few very nice days, weather-wise! Up to minus 6 in the night and plus 6 during the day, very sunny conditions, blue skies and very clear. Never saw so many trails from planes on the sky and on FB,  I read that the visibility was so good that one of the young pilots who flies for KLM mentioned he could see Paris and Amsterdam in one view, and that is by car still 500 km.
In the North of  Greece it is bizarre cold. Minus 24, never happened before, they even closed schools. Athens has 7 dgr.
The weather!!!???

 Talking about the weather , it remained good in the South of Australia and Harry [Wondergem] managed to fly from Corowa a 1000 km FAI triangle in the Ventus 2CT 15 m conversion  and that is JUST AWESOME !!!Good on you Harry! Not that it is his first time ,because when I remember , well he did it in Toc in the past as well.
This all happened on Monday, after a few really good days already.
I translate his comment for you in English:
First leg; tough against the strong wind and a relatively low cloud base.
Second leg; was OK, with tailwind and still a not too high base.
Third leg; finally the cloud base raised and  time to make speed.
4th leg; quietly flying and a bit of a detour to be on a good final glide.
On such great days we always said:” Heaven on earth!!! ” Or…”this is paradise…”It even still makes me proud to see “our ” pilots fly so well at their new destinations.

More great flights in Corowa in Benalla, and Tocumwal that day.  That really pleases me!!! Caspar Garrelts , son from one of the former owners Harm in the very beginning of Corowa Soaring, flew his very first 1000 km.,he must have been over the moon. Guess Harm will be as pleased!
In Toc kilometer-eater Stephan flew in his LS 4 641 km. and yesterday a  662 km. triangle!!!
YES IN AN LS4!!! In 4 days in a row he flew a total of 2. 391 km. Chapeau!!!
One day earlier on the Sunday , Hans flew from Gariep his 5th 1000 and on Monday his 6th, except for 1 [on December30] all these flights were in January!!Polish pilot Adam Czeladski topped that Sunday the OLC list but what a day for both Gariep and even more Corowa!!!!
With 7 x1000 , 5 x 900 and 5x 800 Corowa  can loud say: WHATADAY!!!
 I heard there were some big showers in Gariep while coming back, but in the S of Australia it was pretty good and 32 dgr. but to start with a tough wind ;25 km.
Corowa is 3d on the statistic list for airfields now behind Pokweni and Bitterwasser. In Bitterwasserthey still had pretty late in their  season a 1000 km [Nimbus 4DM] missing out on 22 km. on Jan 15. A record year for Bitterwasser this 2011/2012 season!!!
And…believe me , the season is not over yet , certainly not in Australia!!! Days are getting shorter, we can’t stop that,  but the weather still can be very good! I should have been there this January instead of the next one!!!!
Tocumwal said yesterday and what do you want more; 8000 ft cloud base, streeting with a fresh northerly wind and 33dgr. at 3.
And from Corowa Ivo flew a nice 849 flight while others had a well deserved rest.

Finally Narromine had a bit of a good day as well. A few over 600 km-flights.  They were not too blessed with great soaring weather this season and I know how good it can be there. Hope the Nationals they host , though pretty late in the season will have super-competition-weather.[January 30-February 10]

At Chaves day 7 was cancelled for the standard class. So Jeroen could go to the beach. No beach for the 15 m. pilots they had to fly a 2 hour AAT and again Francois Pin was the best. Only 32 points ahead on Argentinian pilot Javier Gaude, but still…..The day devalued so “only” 676 points for the day-winner and as Francois is on spot 14 overall,  it will not make the difference in the end, this time. As we saw in SA; loosing with one point!!!!
A 1000 point-day for the combined -open-class pilots also flying a 2 hour AAT. 288 km in 2 hour 11 is a nice result for Fernando Repicky.
See also the blog from Jeroen about day 6; ” That’s flying AAT over unknown countryside!”
http://pre-mundial.blogspot.com/

 Time to go to the beach.Courtesy Jeroen Verkuijl

 Busy week, so short news but with a very nice picture to finish send by Dundee.

 
Fresh bacon from the grill .

 Corowa weather, a beautiful day with cu’s.

Just published my Sunday blog with the expectation of more 1000 km. flights in Corowa  and yes when I had an extra look at it and I noticed it all  happened  …..my enthusiasm runs away with me and I have to add that I really find the 1000 km FAI triangle for Lubor in the ASG 29 E 18m a “stunner”!
As well as the flight from Pepe, a great FAI 1000 in the ASH 31
Also great flights from Jozef from Prievidza [Discus 2T] and Eric { LS 8T}  and Jos from Holland.[ASH 31]  all a 1000 km. AND… a nice one [triangle] from Lubik in the Duo Discus. The Slovaks are having great fun!

Jozef flying his first 1000 km. for this season and here on this picture ,  after winning last week the prize donated by the motel he stays in with the Slovak team, the Arcadia, where owners Anne and Peter have  this season made a trophy for their guests, and the daily winner on the OLC, will get the trophy in the evening.
Picture and story; courtesy Jörgen.

A few “just not” flights  as well , the most impressive by Alojz Maros also from Prievidza who flew 999 km in an 18 m. discus.[937 km FAI]

I presume the beer and wine tastes extra good in Corowa tonight. So it should. Congratulations to all pilots not only those who flew a 1000 but also all who really enjoyed a great day of soaring!

Benalla and Tocumwal  both enjoyed great weather as well. Benalla with flights up to 714 in a 17 m. Kestrel [triangle with added kilometers] and a 757 km.[ triangle] in a Speed Astir and 878 km.[ also a triangle Hay-Temora]  in an ASH 26E. In Tocumwal Michael flew in the ASW 15 from Dundee and flew 460km.  after a late start! 27 Flights in this area over 500 km. A fabulous day with great soaring weather after the cold interval last week!

Slowly the season goes to an end in all overseas areas, slowly days are getting shorter, but it’s not over yet. Let’s wait and see! Cheers Ritz