Alphen aan den Rijn   Wednesday July 20 2011     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

8.30 AM; Day 3 has been called a restday. Rain changed into heavy rain so that’s it for day 3. Time to check on gliders , get the mud out of the undercarriages for those who landed in the wet soil, or to just rest after 2 pretty difficult days and maybe a heavy night from the party.

Pretty heavy weather  as well.  I heard last evening they even warned everybody at the field  via radio for the soon-to-arrive-thunderstorms and what a day. I wrote Ole to congratulate him with his team but as said I was too early,here is what he says about it in yesterday evenings mail ;
—Unfortunately I was aware of the fact,that my pilots had used the engine!This was not caught by the computer,so that is the reason.It has been squared away by now.Together with other computer problems,like thunderstorms forcing the scoring office to shut everything down,this was the reason that no winners were announced at the briefing this morning,in any classes!—
So that was the reason the scores were late yesterday. Ole also told me I made a mistake in one blog [slip of the mind] , by calling Vladimir the CD, Dimitry, sorry Vladimir. Don’t have to tell you all , he is an excellent [competition] pilot himself and very dedicated to soaring as I have seen myself.

” Poor ” French pilot Richard Montigny  finished as only pilot in the world class, received for all the work 34 points and then as he is the only one over 100 km competition,  day 2 is not valid in this class!!
In club class ,day 2 showed 10 finishers, so lot’s of outlandings. Not a lot of points to loose or gain.[303 at this stage]
In Standard class 606 points for winner Sebastian Kawa. “Only  9  au vache” in this class.
In the 2 seater class  the Danish team landed after 54 km.  That costs. They received 66 points while the winners got about 400 more.
Surely better days will arrive soon, with real Nitra weather.

9.00 AM; More happens in the world; and as it is Wednesday I continue with my “normal  blog.  The UK 18 m. Nationals finished after 5 days , also the last day was cancelled. Mike Young won in ASG 29 s. Congratulations!
Derren Frances was runner up in Ventus 2 cxa and 3 JS 1’s were on spot 3-4-5.

Last sunday showed pretty good conditions in the mountains .Wiener Neustadt the place from the WGC  in 1989, had a great ridge-soaring-flight of 825 km in a Duo Discus T., while the Terminillo in Rieti helped out, to give up to 728 km in the ASH 25 /26m.
The young German pilots enjoy soaring in Puimoisson with distances of nearly 700 km and yesterday I was impressed with a very nice flight in an LS 3a from Nardt [SE of Lüsse] in Germany;504 km.

Today the weather is pretty normal here  though too cold. We are about 4 dgr. under the average for this time of the year which is 22. In the USA they suffer from terrible heatwaves. In the West 13 people have died already.The American National weather buro, claims that over 1000 heat-records have been broken. As the humidity is too high as well it is not pleasant to be there at the moment. Poor oldies!!!

Some of my Aussie friends  travel now to Uvalde Texas to be present/ practise  at the pre worlds over there. It can be very hot in that desert over there as I felt myself. But you forget that heat when you go home as TC with a WORLD CHAMPION, Baer Selen.  Was a great time by the way!!!! The nextWGC in Uvalde will be from July 28 till August 19 2012.
Their site; www.wgc2012uvalde.com

That’s it for now. See you tomorrow. Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Tuesday  July 19 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Today a continuing story.  All pictures from my archive. 

Indeed a very difficult day yesterday  and not too many points to win . I guess you finally could get through to the preliminary results as well. Now , at this early  time, they are easy to reach.
Interesting to see that in world class 8 from 11 finished! For 128 km the Slovak winner [home advantage???, nothing wrong with that by the way] only received for all the hard work 398 points. This might change a bit as one file is not yet counted for.
In club class 11 from 33 finished! 611 points for German pilot Christian Lang,  flying172 km. in the  standard Libelle Y . Good on him!A mix of countries in the top and one of the Dutch pilots Tim made it home the other 2 JUST outlanded, missing out on still around 100 points!
In standard class 9 from 31 finished. The French pilots were best and Baptiste received 300  points for the 146 km. Sebastian did not miss out too much, he landed with a Slovak pilot and 2 Dutch and they,  all 4,received  291 points. Mario Kiessling ‘s file was not yet in.
In the 20 m. 2 seater class  interesting scores. The Danish duo discus flew 196 km for that the pilots got 732 points and the Dutch Arcus with the 2 former Dutch champions was 2d with 696 points. The Danish team has  Ole Arndt, as TC, also in the past a great fan from soaring in Australia with us and still now, where he flies at Corowa. 

Of course everything is still possible , but I noticed at TV this morning that “our ” bad weather moves East so I hope it will not disturb soaring in Nitra. On the official site  they already announce rain and maybe Thunderstorms for the afternoon. Would there be another window to fly in????
Let’s wait and see. Briefing is at 10 AM.
Back later!

11.AM;  Good on Mario Kiessling. His file showed the most kilometers in the best time, so he won day 1 in standard class; 280 points!!!!! Mario won in 1991 the very first JWGC here at Terlet in Holland.

 Mario Kiessling [white longsleeved pullover and black hair]

AND great news for the young Dutch boys in the 2 seater class , Bart and Patrick, they won day 1!! Excellent!

 Bart Berendsen [left] one of the pilots winning in the 2 seaters

And for today ” maybe”  AAT’s from 1 hour and 30 minutes!!! It is not sure if the window will be big enough. More waiting.

2.00 PM; Sometimes my enthusiasm runs away with me.  Made a beginners mistake!!! Never congratulate on preliminary results, be happy or sad inside, but FIRST wait till they are official, so you know that the files have been checked by the organisation. SORRY!!!!
So the Danish team did not win in the 2 seater class  ,a pity for them as after 188 km. they had to pull their engine.
The organisers are a bit slow with the scores and with news but for sure it will be better after a few days.

 At this stage the club class and 2 seater pilots are on their way. Standard and world plus some pilots who landed back and got a relight, will follow soon. They go for just 1 hour and 30 minutes for a max of  still 280 km.
YES this is an EGC and…when soaring is possible you have to use the day, even when thunderstorms hang around later  or when you hang in in a gaggle above the field lower then the point the tuggies dropped you off. You HAVE to find lift and go on track. And…there was lift so pilots go on their way. If you are interested you can follow the 2 seaters via the tracking system. I straight away did and noticed 2 gliders above 1100 m.[ SP and T]  ,  the rest under and far under  even, 148 m.
www.http://glider.tracking.lt/

Harri and Visa Matti from Finland [ KA] are now at 1304 m. and Alberto Sironi from Italy [AM] at 1208m.

All gliders are flying, weather seems to be OK/ reasonable , but it is “brewing” over there, hopefully they are all back in time before it gets nasty,  so waiting is the best we can do now. It’s only 1 hour and 30 minutes and for sure they did not wait too long before going on track.

4 PM; The weather seems to be pretty bad and trailers leave to pick up their pilots. Some 2-seaters have arrived back home but if they finished is not sure. I will be more careful now. Rain might close of the last leg for club and standard class.
In between I looked at the Tour De France. Nice to see Serres and Gap from the helicopter, but terrible weather there as well. The Alps [ Galibier] even have 10 cm. of snow!!!!!!
It looks like another day , with low scores and happy pilots who were at the right time at the right spot and less happy for those who were not and were stopped on their track due to heavy rain or bad visibility. On these days skills are important but the luck factor is big as well.
Luckily it is not so bad in Nitra but it does n’t sound really flash either.

6 PM; The thunderstorm arrived just around 5 when pilots still were finishing in strong rain. Most pilots who had not out -landed tried to keep their position between the showers , but you can only do so for a while.
At this stage; 12 pilots from standard class finished under them Sebastian Kawa, Gert Peter Lauer, Dennis Huybreckx[ very good Dennis!] and the 2 French pilots.
In club at this stage only 3 pilots in,  under them Vittorio Pinni and Mario Schupfer.
 In world class one French pilot in flying 109 km. and atleast 5 landed  between 12 and 22 km. out and in the 20 m. dual seater class at this stage one outlanding, 2 Italian teams not yet delivered the file, as well as Russian pilot Dmitrye and co pilot Ilya and all the rest has finished. Best preliminary distance 148 km in 1 hour 44 minutes for the polish team. Not bad with weather like this!

Look for the results on www.soaringspot.com  hope you can reach them tonight. Tomorrow I will be back, I have a little break in between guests,  so time to write.
Slovak Welcome  party tonight hosted by  Aeroclub Nitra, I noticed on the program,  time to relax for pilots and crew after coming back home from wet retrieves. As long as pilots , crew and gliders are OK , nothing to worry about and with the predicted “bad” weather for tomorrow, everybody can sleep in as well. I hope!

CU tomorrow, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Monday July 18 2011          ritzdeluy@hotmail.com          all pictures from my archive

 little kute Nitra from the German TC, is he back in Nitra???

After a friendly opening with  tradionel dances, live music and shows from different gliders , even Vladimir [Voltin wellknown competition pilot himself] ,the competition director gave a demo in his modern LS10, after demo’s from “vintage gliders ” as Z23 Honza [40thies] and Zlin 425 Sohai [60thies] , the ” EGC-SHOW” starts today!
Thank God,  they do not have the weather we have here. Still terrible and we keep this autumn- fore- taste till at least end of this week, grrr……  
Last time during an EGC that World class will fly together with standard and club as, during last IGC plenary the 2 seaters have been choosen above the PW 5’s in EGC’s and WGC’s. Looking forward to see how the 2 seater 20 m. pilots will enjoy this competition.
There are 11 PW 5’s competing this EGC [including  pilot Brendan from Australia] ,33 pilots in club class,  31 in standard class and 16 in the 2-seaterclass, so 38 here in total including their co-pilots who will be , “finally ” mentioned at the prize-ceremony as well.
It’s going to be a fantastic 2 weeks with great pilots and an area well known to many through the Pribina Cup. Also the organisers have been through all this before, so reasons enough to believe in great soaring.

The first briefing has been posponed to 11 instead of 10 AM. For all classes there is a 2 hour AAT between 102  and 290 km. So pilots who love AAT’s have a good first day!!!First start at 12.30. There is  lot of wind and they are just in between 2 air masses!!! A bit tricky! But….The first of 12 days has begon!!!!

Some analyses before the comps really start ;
In the world class  2 pilots who would be able to win due to experience are, French pilot Jeremie Badaroux and Italian doctor living close to Rieti Airport, Luca Urbani. But the 2 Polish pilots certainly working together will go for the number 1 spot as well. Let’s wait and see. Good luck to all 11 pilots including Brendan , if I remember well he flew with us in the past at Sportavia.
In club class  of course I hope that young  Rene, the current champion can defend his title. He and mate Tim , runner up last time form a great couple together with great intention to be the best. And….don’t underestimate an other young pilot from Holland Frank Hiemstra, very talented as well.
Vittorio Pinni from Italy is good, Vitautas from Lithuania is another young topper and the French and UK and German pilots always have strong teams on the ground and in the air. I do not know all of them,  so they can surprise me.
Mirsolav Cink [Czech Rep] is also young and very talented  and I expect something from Mario Schupfer [Austria]  as well. Of course I wish EVERYBODY good luck and a safe competition.
Great to see the German TC Rainer Wiencek at Nitra . Would be his doggie Nitra there as well???

  Frank Hiemstra [middle standing]and Tim Kuijpers [right]

In standard class  I have to start with Sebastian Kawa and the title defender Mario Kiesling. Also here the UK and French and German team have possibilities , as well as Bert Schmelzer jr from Belgium and Jan Louda from Czech Rep. I would love to see Dennis Huybreckx from Belgium doing well.  In the past he was “helper”at our Sportavia. His cousin Tim , flies in Club class and was “helper” as well one year. And Alfred Paul from Holland won a 2 week long distance competion  called “shootout” with us flying with Ingo Renner in the Duo Discus. And…. Sjaak from Holland flies ,he is Baer Selens younger brother and as you know Baer was 2 times World champion.
Great to see Alessandro from Rieti in this class flying the LAK 19 /15m!
In fact all pilots representing their country should be able to fly well, so good luck here as well for All standard class pilots.

  Luca Urbani [world class] and Luciano Avanzini[middle right] in 2 seater class

Last but not least the 2 seater class. I expect a LOT from both Italian teams flyiong the ARCUS. They are just good! Also Visa Matti and Harry from Finland [ ARCUS] are very experienced. The Dutch team has 2 young former national champions, Bart and Patrick in ONE ARCUS that gives good hope!!They also flew Junior world comps.
Good old Russian team Dimitry and Ilya can surprise us , as well as Tijl [son]and Bert [father] Schmelzer sr. and Sigi Baumgartl and Brigitte. Also Swiss team Edi and Christian are very experienced WGC and EGC pilots.
Tijl was one of the lucky ones as well to fly the Shootout with Ingo in the past at Sportavia.
One Lak 12 in this class , 6x ARCUS and 9x duo discus.
Let’s wait and see. Don’t put money on it, it is just what I think !

  Bert jr., Bert sr., Tijl and Hilde Schmelzer 

They fly and 2 hours is 2 hours; just try to make as many kilometers as possible in such short time. You know already it will not be a 1000 points day , but an outlanding on such a day still costs.
All pilots were up in the air just before 2PM. 10 Tuggies are responsable for the 95 launches and they did it in about 45 minutes. Now tactics can begin, go on track early or later depending on the weather and of what others do. It is only 2 hours of flying so when we know the starttimes , we know when they SHOULD be back. Startime from club opened at; 13.55 and from standard at 13.47!

Surely an interesting first -EGC- 2011- day. The response of several pilots is that climbs are not terrific under the 2/8 of clouds, while others “find” 6 k. So speed might be less important then coming home. Reading the official site I might conclude that an early start was the right choice as they announced that the weather deteriorated while the first pilots finished.
 But….pilots at least finished and a few, who HAD THEM,  had to use engines to come back home, or had to land somewhere.
In the end it turned out a difficult day for many pilots. But …it was the first soaring day of the EGC in Nitra. Scores are late and at 10.00 PM still not available, so you better look later  when you can reach soaring spot [ I can’t it might be too busy] or when the official site has them available. A bit late to be honest even with an AAT.

See you tomorrow, for the scores analyses and day 2
cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      Sunday July 17 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

 

Was a bit worried about the pilots coming back from Lüsseto the Dutch weather on Thursday! My goodness me did we have some weather!!!! Rain was smashing the houses , trees and people and wind was even worse. In my street several trees had to give in , so did my nice old lavendel plant, “gone with the wind”. But…the fence is still upright.
My area here , with the Hague and Leiden, was the worst with 7 CENTIMETER of rain. New records also on the time of the rain; 20 hours and 30 minutes!!!
That day, Tocumwal Dundee [ Dieter] and I went to Amsterdam but only going from a little roof above our heads on the platform,  to the train,  we were soaked. Luckily Amsterdam was a bit better. But …only 13 dgr. on that high pole in front of the RAI.
Anyhow Sikko arrived home safely from Lüsse, but “felt” the horrible rain and wind as well.
On Friday we were back to sunny conditions with 23 dgr. Weather???????
We even made a SUPER trip on the new boat from my kids touring for 2 hours over the Canals. Loved it!!! So nice also to make pictures from the boat; here are a few. On top the Amstel hotel with in front to the right our Prime Minister enjoying the beginning of the weekend with a cool drink and the Anne Frank Museum were at 7 PM still a long queue was waiting to get in.

 

The new Gliding International is outand as always I just give you a little “look” in it. Interesting items are; the story from Jean Marie Clement in Argentina for those who have not read it yet. The Quintus, —China; the sleeping giant,—“upwind and down wind”, by John Cochrane[ It’s not take upwind tp’s low and downwind tp’s high” but……..
Further on a very interesting article about EAA, the Young Eagles program in the USA to grow pilot population, and “cockpit too small for an iPad???? Read it all in the latest GI.

Of course today the EGC starts in Nitra with the opening ceremony at 7 PM. Enough to enjoy again, so I will try to write as much as possible to keep you posted my way, with an everyday blog, when neccesary. Comps will go from July 18 till July 29, for the unflapped gliders.

The Issoudun comps finished also with rain on the last day. So everybody is back home again and the winners in each class were; Brian and Dick with nearly 800 points on the runner up , flying also a standard Libelle; Bart from Belgium.
In open class Ronald won from Holland with ASW27 and 6080 points , also here just more then  800 points in front of the runner up;Antoon in the duo discus!!!

The UK 18 meter Nationals have 5 flying daysnow and Mike Young still leads but just with a very small margin;69 points. There are 5 JS 1 gliders in this competition. Day 5 was won by Russell Cheetham in JS1, with a speed of 121 km/h. Only day 3 was a 1000 points day, so pretty marginal weather in the UK. Yesterday was bad as well with rain and wind.So …no flying day!Today is their last day.

The French 18 m. Nationals  and 2 -seater Nationals have finished yesterday with the 7th day. Russian pilot Dimitri Timochenko is flying the duo discus T, well and is on top, but as he is not French he can’t win , but only be “the best”. By the way in France you just fly HC.Best pilot is now Pierre Lemaire with ARCUS.
 Last task day 7 for this class, was an AAT with 2.30 hours and between 183km/ 306. The Russian pilots did not fly,and best distance was flown by Dutch pilot Herman Muller; 240 km in 2 hours and 37 min.
In 18 m. day 7 had an AAT as well; 2.30 and between 215/405km. Here Didier Hauss is the best , with Gilles Navas on 2 and Laurent Couture on 3. All 3 top pilots.By the way the last day was won HC by UK pilot Afandi Darlington;ASG29-314 km.-2hours44 and again not a 1000 point day.
Winners;
15 m. class Jose Jaime from Belgium in LS 8
18 m. class Didier Hauss from Vinon in France in Ventus 2cm National Champion
2 seater class Pierre Lemaire in ARCUS [France] National Champion
open class Dmytry Borovyk from Ukraine in Nimbus 4 DM
Only 2 seater and 18 m were Nationals.

Delta Airlines  had a bad day this week, when 2 of their planes collided at the airfield. One a 767 was on it’s way to Amsterdam and hit with a wing the tail of a smaller plane. Both planes were replaced and a total of 288 people including crew could continue , though one person went to hospital with neck problems.

Talking about problems this is the news I got from Australia, pretty sad!

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/man-dies-in-bluff-knoll-glider-crash-80km-north-of-albany/story-e6frg13u-1226095043801
 
And a brief update from the ABC:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-15/glider-killed/2795954

To finish a picture from the Rijksmuseum[ under construction]  and the famous Theater Carre. CU Ritz and…when the EGC is really interesting I come with special blogs.

   

Alphen aan den Rijn     Wednesday July 13 2011     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

After 27 dgr. yesterday we are back to 17 today. Summer finished abruptly with a change of wind , bringing us colder and very wet weather. They expect for this week about 100 ml. which normally falls in ONE month [ of July].

In Lüsse the exciting competition continues! No doubt about the quality of pilots over there. On Monday , day 7, pilots got tasks from 331 km.  in 15 m. class, 395 km. in 18 m. and 414 in open class. Work for the boys and girls! And looking at the weather not the easiest day.
In open class Michael Sommer won AGAIN, with 128 km/h on the clock, there seems no limit on him. Alexander Müller had a bad day loosing about 500 points on Michael. A pity for him.
In 18 m. Michael Streit , number 1 overall, won the day with 123 km/h. Sicco from Holland was THIRD, good on him. Holger Back 4th.
In 15 m. Mathias Sturm was the best with 104 km/h.
 It is nice to follow the news on Facebook about the pilots.

In Issoudun the pilots in open class had a 551 km. task  on Monday their 8th day of flying and all flew it. As said lot’s of Dutch pilots in this class, who I all but one, know. Nice to see the duo discus with Antoon, got the 1000 points. They are 2d overall now behind Ronald Kaay who is sabout 800 points ahead at this stage. Natasja did well, and is back to 5th place overall after a good day. She flew her very first 500 km something to be proud of!!![www.natasjavanderneutblogspot.com]
They cancelled yesterday and today will be their last day,…… hopefully!

Kilometer-eater Guy Bechtold  from Luxembourg arrived in Fuentemilanos and straight away flew 1000 km!  But Holland had great weather as well with a flight from 657 km from Terlet in the Nimbus 4D. Yes terrific looking skies here on Sunday !
Also on Monday it  was fantastic with a nice 600 km triangle from Malden by Rinus van der Steen [ 693 km in DG 600/18m] and by Jeroen Koole from Terlet 626 km. in a discus bt.
While yesterday ELY had another 1000 km flight in DG800 B /18m.Wilfried Krüger flew it and one day before he just missed out on 1000 km ;959 km.

As said Lüsse continues and today is their last soaring day. Great weather, so they must have thought what they can do in France , we can do too. On flying day 8, they had a long task to go for ALL classes; the open class pilots;565 km. over a mountain area, 18 m. flies around the “church”of Berlin [538km] , and 15 m. goes to Poland .[518 km]
Sikko is 3d again; 988 points in the pocket!!!! He really handles that JS1 well.
He wrote on Facebook on Monday about day 7;
“After the start the cloud base was at 800 m. At around 2 most pilots started. I waited till 14.06. Mostly cloud streets on the first leg, but  the 2d turnpoint was in a not so good area south of the Elbe. It’s here that I made the difference, The gaggle followed the cloudstreets but I flew straight to the TP having a 2 m. climb just before.
In the end I was too careful on the 3 and 4th leg on my way home, but I was satisfied with my 3d place!!!

So yesterday he was 3d again , that long distance task of  538 km. speed, 123 km/h. Good on him!
His news on Facebook;
” Today 538 with 4 T’P’s around Berlin. Started at 12.14. On the first leg of 120 km. no really top weather but I did not have to turn. Around 50 km in front of the TP the first good climb. Cloudbase up N. had lowered a bit. After TP 1, I just flew up with a gaggle[ direction  East] , who had started about 15/20 minutes earlier. At TP 2 I lost them and it was more difficult. At Frankfurt on the Oder I had to dig myself out, was pretty low, but after that I went like a rocket, till TP 3. The last 150 km. I only turned a few times and coming back I was 3d. [Yes IF I only…..]

 

Picture”[I guess by Joop if I remember well]; Sikko here with Ronald Termaat at the Dutch Nationals
The numbers 1 and 2, flying together, won in their ASG 29 , starting about 15 min. later.
In open class Alexander Müller won the day, after being last the day before, he must have been on a mission! Long distance flying, what he loves is pretty different to competition soaring, but on day 8 he just started 15 minutes later then the groupe and won, before Michael who was 2d. Speed 124 and 123 km/h.
In 15m. the French and Italians had a good day occupying spot 1-2,3 and 5, with just ONE point difference.
If they have the same bad weather as we have here today, it might be over, let’s wait and see and hope for one more day.

BUT……as the day was just cancelled we know the winners now!
open class
1. Michael Sommer   7548 points in EB.
2. Tassilo Bode           7399 points in ASW22BLE
3. Holger Karwow     7122 points in Numbus 4 M.
Young Sebastian Nägel was 16 in ETA and Alexander Müller on 14. Uli Schwenk is on 7 and good old Bruno Gantenbrink on 9 .

18m class
1.Michael Streit                 6814 points in ASG 29 E
2. Robert Schröder            6626 points in ASG 29 E
3. Reinhard Schramme    6534 points in Ventus 2cxa
Great 9th place for Sikko just before Werner Meuser and Holger Back was 4th.

15 m. class
1. Matthias Sturm             6942 points in ASW27
2. Louis Bouderlique         6576 points in Ventus 2a
3. David Bauder                6500 points in Ventus 2ax
Stefano Ghiorzo and Thomas Gostner were on spot 4 and 7 while Tilo Holighaus was on spot 16.
A GREAT competition!!!!!!CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!!!!

The 18 m. class in the UK is flown as well  and several of my friends are competing. First day was on the 9th and the winner Mike Young “only ” received 312 points for finishing together with another pilot. All others found a field or pulled the engine. Mike I know already since 1987 when we were all in Benalla for the WGC. He was about 17/18 years old then, teaching our kids how to play cricket but already then we said  “they are our [soaring]  future”. So Leigh Wells was there with sister Sally, the Jones boys if I remember well and all of them indeed are making our comps now, by flying terrific!!!! Great to see, their enthusiasm then and still now!!!
Mike won day 2 and 3 as well from 28 participants, under them Russell Cheetham, Patrick Naegelie, Roy Pentecost , Jez Hood and Andy Davis.
Day 4 yesterday was an AAT in 2 hours , presenting the day winner with 157 points. Nobody finished best distance was 127 km.
They continue till the 17th!!

The EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS  in Nitra in Slovakia start on the 17th. and go till July 30. Enough to look out for as lot’s of pilots would like to take over the winning  Cup in each class. In 2009 it was Mario Kiesling who won in standard class, Mr. Sklodowski[too difficult first name!] from Poland in world class and “our” Rene de Dreu from Holland in club class. The world class will be replaced for the 20 m. 2 seaterclass so this year we still have 4,  next year 3 classes.

That’s it for now , see you on Sunday! Cheers Ritz
To finish pictures from the JS1 Revelation. This glider was flown in Lüsse by Sikko . On the picture it was flown by Maurits Dortu during the Dutch Nationals. Pictures courtesy Bert Kuijper.

 

Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday July 10  2011      ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

 

Back home again  after a great time with good weather , lot’s of castles , gardens and ice cream with chocolate topping, and what topping, the best we ever had. Last day was one of “shop till you drop” and off we went all home till next year.

 

Last weekend, on Sunday July 3,  70 women in the age between 14 and 70 visited the National Female Flying Day at Malden in Holland. SEVENTY, that is a lot of  women interested in soaring!!! This was the 10th edition and every year more women participate. A press message was sent by Natasja, who explained the non-soaring women what happens and she invited people to come and see and be part of this “party” in the cafe at the airfield.Next year I will be there as well.

What happened more; The USA still has great soaring weather and several 1000 km. flights have been flown. Finland has what I noticed on TV every day 27 dgr. and I looked if this was great soaring weather as well, and…it was , great flights in Finland!!! Also Spain had nice flights with another 1000 km flight from Fuente by Pepe .For sure you kept an eye on it as well.

The National comps in both Austria and Germanyare still in full swing.Did you keep an eye on that too???? Hope so it looks very interesting with the top pilots up front at this stage. Was very impressed with the day winner on Friday Sicco, from Holland flying in the 18 m. in Lüsse. He flies the JS 1-b with registration GPS and it looks “he found  new/extra wings himself ” flying it. Sicco was always good in the past and still is now. I remember a day he just made it home in/before a thunderstorm somewhere in Sweden or Finland. I was the TC and talked him more or less home , stayed at the radio, after warnings I should let go. No… I first wanted to know if Sicco made it in safely. He did! Then the lightning hit close and I did not know how quick I had to put the radio off.  With other words Sicco is very talented but gave competition flying away for in his eyes more important things in life.

Both Lüsse and Austria have world -level-pilots flying in the Nationals. In Lüsse the first 3 days were cancelled but then it started on July 5 with 2 hour AAT’s up to over 300 km.! They even had 400 km. days. In open class Michael Sommer is still TOP!!!! He flies the EB 29, but also Tassilo Bode [runner-up at a WGC ]and Holger Karow {WGC champion in 1999 and 2003} are in winning-mood/ condition.
Yesterday, was a TOP day with an AAT of 3 hours in 18 m. class between 220 and 628 km.
Open class had between 243 and 458 km. and 3 hours and 19 pilots had between 900 and 1000 points.Best distance;342 km.
In 18m. Sicco had a less good day loosing 400 points on the number 1, dropping from 4th overall to 13.

In Austria they flew in 6 classes. Yesterday was their last day.I am always interested in Wolfgang Janowitsch, cause I got to know him pretty well. He flew the Ventus 2 cxa and won with  500+ points ahead of the runner up after 4 days of flying. He won EVERY DAY!!!!
In club class they had only 3 days and luckily  last day’s weather made up for the less good days.
In standard class they had 5 days and good old Reinhard Haggenmüller won.
Also 5 days for 15 m. class and another friend Heimo Demmerer won. He won 3 days and runner up Peter Hartmann 2.
The 2 seaters had 4 days and the open class as well with Mr. Eder winning. Sven Kolb [Antares] who I met in Rieti was 2d.
As said the last day was a real competition day due to good weather.

The 36th International competition at Issoudun, where in 2 years the ladies will fly for th WWGC- cup, has indeed an international caracter. 15 Pilots from France, Belgium, Holland, Germany,even S.A/UK, with the combination Brian Spreckley/Dick Bradley, sharing the Standard Libelle in club class. That little glider remains a great and good “toy”. Brian and Dick are first overall after 6 days of flying.
In open class most of the pilots are from Holland, so on spot 1 at this stage is Ronald Kaay. Natasja is doing super! She is on spot 4 with the LS6. Great practise for the WWGC in 2013. Most distances/tasks were around 300 km.
In the same time the French Nationals are flown for 18 m. class in Vinon.

 Natasja as deputy director at the Dutch Nationals.

That’s it for now , have to look after 3 guests so see you on Wednesday. Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn   Wednesday June 29 2011  ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

  HOT!!! Also here in Holland![picture from archive.]

Hot here!! 35 Yesterday and 32 on Monday.Noticed that Stockholm had 26 on Monday, what a pity that weather came too late. It was , as on more comps I visited, during prizegiving, maybe the best day of the comps?!
I really felt sorry for the poor meteo man, even more when I saw the picture.
On Monday I was in Amsterdam. The train in Holland can be good but when the weather is too cold or too hot , with too much snow or thunder and lightning , they are hopelessly lost.
In 32 dgr. I travelled in train , bus and a fully packed metro , where you could only “hang” between the other people. 40 plus I guess in it. Normally it takes me from house to house 2 hours this time 4!!!!! The heat had upset rails and points.
Anyhow today it is back to 17 dgr. and around 20 is what I expect for my one week holiday. The damage in the Southern part of Holland after the severe thunderstorms yesterday evening, with hail and wind gusting to 120 km at some places was quite substantial.

 picture from Archive.

The 20 m. 2-seaters in Italy just finished their Nationalsin Voghera and winner is the ARCUS T with Alberto Sironi with 2040 points. Great pilot, friendly guy! Only 3 days of flying, and Alberto won 2 of them.Also NOT one 1000-points-day!! All devalued days. 2d Was another Arcus T . There was one more ARCUS and the rest of the class were duo discusses.

A lot of Polish friends are flying in Leszno  at the moment to be the best in club and 18 m. class. Club- A counts 41 participants and 18 m. 31. They fly till July 3 and till now they have flown 3 days with yesterday an AAT in 18m. class,  from 232 /660 km in 4 hours.
Nice to see Steve Crabb is flying there is well. He is married to the daughter from a former Polish friend of mine Stan Witek. Well known pilots in this class; Tomasz Rubaj and Janusz Centka.

Mondays OLCwas topped by Pepe and that pleases me. He really loves his new ASH31/21 m. “Best glider I ever flew”. He showed it again with a nice 896 km. flight from Fuente. Spain slowly gets busier and places as Fuentemilanos and Beas de Segura will be soon full of soaring-enthusiasts. Another friend Hans, flies from Beas, and “made ” 682 km. in his DG 800B/18m. And in Greece , even with all the strikes, Alexis flew 784 km.  in his ASW 22 BLE.
In Norway Erlend flew a nice 760 km. flight in the Nimbus 4 D with speed ; 107 km/h.
Yesterday I liked the 750 FAI triangle in an LS 8 in Germany and I was pleased to see Räyskälä had good weather with Martti flying 668 km. 

I was touched by the crash in the USA  where a young 16 year old boy survived his 2d crash flying with his father in a light aircraft. First he lost his mum and brother and sister,on their trip to their holyday house,  this time his step mum and dad on the way back from again the summer house. Investigations are on why the plane flew into a garage. Last time the main reason was bad preparation by the dad, who’s plane lacked fuel in the end. This time , I read in the paper, he saved the life of his son by “kicking” him out of the plane before it burnt.

That’s it for now. 2 Guests this week and Dundee arrives this afternoon to keep an eye on my house/garden when I am gone.Cheers Ritz and see you on Sunday July 10.

The pictures arrived and I have added the ones from the winners in the blog below with the names of the winners in their classes. Enjoy! Just put the browser on the picture and you see the text. Double click to enlarge!

    

      

    

to the l. team coach Walter Eisele to the r. top-team captain Uli Gmelin

And last but not least “my ” team for this WWGC  Teresa , top- photographer Mikael and crew Björn-Olav.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Sunday June 26 2011  ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

 Prize giving under a great sky!!! Saw that before!!!

While I am writing  the ladies are preparing for the prize ceremony. Great winners and a good mix of countries as well; here are the best 3 in each class , now it is official;
club class;
1. Agnete Olesen [Denmark]  2435 points Standard Libelle WL
2. Ayala Liran [UK] 2362 points Standard Libelle
3. Amelie Audier [France] 2328 points in Standard Cirrus
From Australia I received a message from Anne Elliot; ” Congrats all…especially Agnete,I am almost sure she flew Keith’s [former] glider LS8 in Narromine a few years ago. A truly delightful person”.
There you go!!!
Swaantje ended last, but she just had bad luck, this was not her competition,  as I know she is a fine and really good pilot.A pity ,Liz [UK] flew for 0 points yesterday, she flew 123 km , they needed 4 more to be over 100 km.and they flew between 94 and 99 km. SOOOO close!!!It was not her day!

Standard class ;
1. Sue Kussbach [Germany] 2443 in LS 8. She defended her title with true colors.
2. Gunilla Lindell [Sweden] 2432 in Discus 2T.
3. Gaby Haberkern [Germany] 2364 in Discus 2B
This was not the best comps for Gill Spreckley [UK] and Nathalie Hurlin [France] both former WWGC winners in 2007 and 2009 , but I felt most sorry for Joanna Biedermann. She won day 1 and the last day but lost  points on that one and only 1000- points- day after an early [ 26 km ]outlanding , receiving only 65 points, while the best got between 916 and 1000. A real pity!!!

15 m. class;
1. Susanne Schödel [Germany] with 2908 points and again defending her title with verve in Ventus 2AX
2. Anne Ducarouge [France] with 2637 points in ASG 29, sole finisher on day 5 in her class.
3. Alena Netusilova [Czech Rep] with 2572 points in ASG 29 E. World champion in 2003.

Congratulations to all participants for flying safe, specially the best 9. What I felt here at home with the info I received I think it was a pleasant competition even with the not so pleasant weather. A pity there was only ONE 1000 points day but that’s all in the game.
That’s it about Arboga !
The sad looking but very honest and good predicting meteoman Gunnar Larsson. Feel sorry for him! He did not MAKE the weather!
What an unrewarding task he had.

 

As said back to normal again. The Austrian National Championships will start on July 1 with 58 participants in 6 classes. Under them Wolfgang Janowitsch who celebrates if I remember well his birthday tomorrow, Happy Birthday Wolfgang, Heimo Demmerer, Guido Achleitner, Werner Amann, Josef Eder and more. Looks like a tough competition. I will be not home so for results I advise you to look at www.soaringspot.com or to their home site. www.aeroclub.at/ssm2011
Also in Lüsse is an interesting competition . The Nationals in 15-18 m class AND open!!!
http://contest.fccberlin.de
I will analise them when I am back on July 10 in my sunday morning blog.

On the OLC a lot of flights yesterday from Hobbs in New Mexico from Industrial Park where the USA is flying day 5 from their 18 m. Nationals. Flights up to 741 km . The USA has a real nice soaring season till now, Ely, Minden, Moriarty, Hobbs they all seem to have good weather.

A small aircraft accident,  a flying boat,crashed in the Lake of Jindabyne. Look when you are interested to the next link. Thanks Vanessa!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/25/3253359.htm?site=newcastle
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/24/3252714.htm

That’s it for today, CU maybe later with the pictures. Tomorow a tropical day here with expected temperatures of 33 dgr. WOW! First seen , it is grey here now cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Saturday- evening June 25 2011   ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

I continue with the ARBOGA story. When you scroll down you find the rest of this exciting last day. Pictures still arriving later, also from the prize giving tomorrow and the party tonight.

At 14.00 the pilots were launched, while it was still raining. Would the lines open? Another tricky day  !!!??? Club class goes enroute their line opened. Launching continues! The “rest ” goes on track as well. Start line from 15 m. was open at 15.25  !!! THEY ALL FLY ON THEIR LAST DAY!

20.00; It was another tricky day! Already soon outlandings were reported. The tasks were very small so it could not take that long before they should come back.
Unfortunetely NOBODY from club class , returned to the field, luckily the task was close to Arboga, so it wont be too long before they can join the party. Only one pilot seems to have  more then 100 km. so I presume it is not a valid day for club class.
In standard class it is a- nail- biting -event for the Swedish fans. The current number 1 Sue Kussbach from Germany and the current number 2 Swedish hope Gunilla Lindell are at this stage ONE point far off each other, in the prelimanary results. In this class even 2 girls made it home; Joanna Biedermann from Poland, who really flew well this competition and who won the first and last day and Danish pilot, Helle Lundgrun.
In the end after looking at more results Sue moved away and IS world CHAMPION in standard class.
In 15 m. class also one finisher Jutta Sturm from France, good on her!! Chapeau!!!Here it is pretty clear German pilot Susanne Schödel is the world Champion!!
A total of 44 outlandings, but I guess they were still all happy with the soaring today. It is a WWGC and not a regional competition. A pity for Liz Sparrow who had the best distance, over 100 km.  in club class. All work done for 0 points .
Both Susanne and Sue defended their world title from 2009 in an excellent way.

I just read on the Swedish site that indeed it is not a valid day in club class so the scores for club class will be the same as yesterday which means that Agnete Olesen from Denmark is WORLD CHAMPION.

More later……