Alphen aan den Rijn        Wednesday May 11 2011      ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

This will be the last blog from Alphen till the end of May  ;  the next will be from Terlet where the Dutch Nationals will be flown from May 17 – 27.Pictures and stories will be then mostly from Terlet. The news is also on the official site ; www.nkzweefvliegen2011.nl    Enjoy!! But…it will be in Dutch,however  scores have an international language!!!
In the end we got 51 competitors and 3 of them are former/current EGC champion. So keep an eye on “us”.

The [ still spring] weekend was hot with temperatures up to 29.5 dgr.  but it was not very spectacular soaring weather. ” Only ” flights up to just over 300 km. [362 km! was the best]  here in Holland.Our Belgian friends were luckier with as best lodged flight ;512 km in a Ventus 2 CT/18m.

From Rosemount Park Jim Payne  flew another long distance flight , last Sunday, as he called it ” another top 10 wave-adventure.” This time in the ASH 25;  1687 km with a speed of 140 km./h. From the 11 flights he made since October 24, from this paradise for wave- flying, 6 were over 1000 km. One of them even over 2000 km. 2 Of those flights were in an ASW 27.

The 19th International Gliding Competition in Klix in Germany  has finished . Lot’s of participants  ,118 in total, and a Dutch winner in 15 m class with 33 participants;  former European champion in Finland, Steven Raimond. Good on him. Congratulations! With 6 out of 7 days he “received” 4619 points , about 50 more then the runner’s up flying a DG 1000/20 m.
Wolly Beyer , who I know from Tocumwal and Oerlinghausen was 8th in this class and well-known Dutch TC, steward and mother from  the runner up from the EGC in 2009 Tim, Frouwke Kuijpers , was on number 29.
To be honest I liked the Klix site,  but found it difficult/unpleasant to read.

At Martin Airfield   the 2d valid flying day had the nice task from day 1 ,which ended up in only “aux vache”  ; 405 km. and this time it worked out well for the mixed classers. More then half of them came home , the best with a speed of 102 km./h. From the 21 pilots in club class 15 flew their 300 km task.
–“Guess the best achieved speed in mixed class today ?!  And….win a free aerowtow to 800 m. AAL at Martin Airfield. ”
That’s what they did yesterday and do today for the club class.For today 452 km. is on the menu for mixed classers and 352 for club.

Last but not least; Fokker is going to co-operate with the Chinese Aircraft constructor Comac. A contract will be signed tomorrow. This means that Fokker from Holland will produce parts for a Chinese plane and is involved in the designing. Exciting!

Busy busy, more then enough to do , so see you from Terlet . By the way, “We will rock you ”  was SUPER !!!! Dynamic !!! TOP !!!
Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      Sunday  May 8 2011           Mothers Day                      ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

      HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

   

All guests have left so a bit more time to “dive”  in our soaring world.Pictures above are from Pierre Wolf from 2006 [WGC] ; there are so many comps at the moment and the preparations and the waiting are everywhere the same is n’t it ?

April was great , May till now has been wonderful as well in Holland , we got the highest temperatures  in Europe together with Belgium and the nicest clouds and flights up to nearly 800 km. and I do not have to tell you , we have no wave or ridges here.Look at the flights if you are interested on the Dutch OLC. And please check the FAI km. as well!!!!! Most of the pilots are flying the Nationals as well, so what better practise do you want? Only hope the weather still will be good from the 16th onwards!!!!
This weekend we are going for nearly 30 dgr. at some places,again the highest in Europe,  but yesterday the skies here were full of cirrus, quite some gusting wind , but in the afternoon,also blue strong thermals; I felt them.
At Teuge here in Holland , 23 pilots fly a 2 day competition in 2 classes, mixed and club.See for results at  www.soaringspot.com

The Grand Prix in Saint Auban   was blessed with good weather and had  7 out of 7 days  .  Didier Hauss, one of the pilots,  is not only a good instructor but also a great pilot and  a really nice guy. I met him a long time a go  and better during the WGC in Benalla in 1987 ,where he was co in the ASH 25 with Gabriel Chenevoy, while George and Dennis flew as first father-son combination ever, in the Nimbus 3 d specially prepared by Klaus Holighaus, with “Turbulators”. 
He then invited Dennis to do a mountain-flying- course in Saint Auban, I still have the card.
I am pleased that since the last IGC meeting,  the 20 m two-seater class will mention both pilots as winners in the future!!!
 I just had a look in my photo book and can’t believe how young we were and full of life, while several who flew or were in Benalla then,  are not with us anymore. Dennis, Kees Musters, Stan Witek, Klaus Holighaus, Ernst Gernot Peter, Janet Hider Smith, Ray Linskey  and more. 4 by accidents with flying,[ power plane, hang glider and glider] and  by illness.
It is interesting  to read what the press wrote in 1987 in Australia. About the Swedish team with Ake sitting in the glider , the team around him [for the picture ] at the airfield of Corowa, where they practised and Alf Ingesson Thor , the TC,  did the talking.
” There are times that it is easier to fly a jet fighter[ he was a jetfighter pilot then on a Viggen AJ 37!] , then a glider. Gliding is all about judgment ,where you have to make a decision in the air every second you are up.100 % concentration is a must”  .”
To get back to Didier; He just missed out on ONE point to win!!!On the last day over 268 km he received 5 points while the number 3 Nicolas Veron [ASG 29] got 8 points and 52 in total!

The FAI Qualifying GP in Romania  had less good weather and only 3  flying days out of 7. They continued flying on Friday ; day 3 with 210 km gave the 8 points [ max!] of the day to young Patrick Puskeiler, while Tilo got 60 sec penalty for a dangerous landing and received 5 points.This way Tilo is ONE point ahead of Patrick !!! Wow, the last day will be full of excitement.
BUT…..Yesterday pilots got the message that the day was cancelled. Spoilspot was a low pressure system/front in the NE of  Romania.
So Tilo wins this GP with 1 point on Patrick. [14-13 points] Today they have the prize giving and  an airshow to finish this GP. Hope the weather will be better.

Fatraglide 11  started yesterday   [till May 17] from Martin Field in Slovakia with 12 pilots in the mixed class and 23 in club class. Tibor is the task setter and Brano the competition director. Both  flew with us in Toc in the past, very active “boys” and as most glider pilots  “real nice” and both own an ASG 29. Lubor Kuvik who flies in winter at Corowa is one of the participants, also flying an ASG 29.
They started the comps, with a 409 km task for the mixed class and 315 for club. But that was a bit over-enthusiastic as nobody finished.Reason; midlevel clouds connected with a low pressure area over Ukraine approached much faster as the meteo forecast had said. Even the wave did not help.A pity ! But more days to come!
All their news is at   www.fatraglide.sk         scores only at;  www.soaringspot.com
Tibor send me the next picture;

 
I sent you picture – third guy is Mara Pechanec our Czech friend maybe you met him in AUS. He came from Vietnam just to fly our ASG 29 in fatraglide.

The OLC showed great ridge – soaring- flights  from Mid Atlantic Soaring -area , where one of the pilots called this day ” one of the best ”  he had ever flown in. A 1000 km flight in the ASW 20 is worthwhile mentioning, certainly when that pilot thinks this is the best soaring- day in his life !!! ” Ridge, thermals, wave and 240 km. from home…..””!!!!! Love the enthusiasm !!! And hope with him his crashed LK8000 shows enough evidence of his 1000 km.
4 x 1000 km flights in this area and the LS 4 flight from 988 km with a 750 km triangle in it, is just GOOD !!!!
The still good triangle over the ALPS, [ area of Unterwossen, Bolzano, Paterzell, Lienz, Königsdorf etc ]  showed long flights up to around 900 km. yesterday , while the ” Bobergers ”  had a nice day  with 900 km in the Nimbus 4DT, last Thursday.
Good ridge weather in France over the Pyrenees as well, where Rober Prat flew just over 1000 km in as he calls it, ” thermowave and ridges,”  from St Gaudens in a DG 500/22m.

The new Gliding International is out  with all kind of interesting news. I mention,the Taurus E, 13.5 m Electro Silent,China gearing up to take on European manufacturers, Blaniks can fly, but at cost, increasing the number of women pilots, the BGA versus  the FFVV[ the British Gliding Association versus the Federation Francaise de Vol a Voile, ] the IGC 2011 annual report and Johan Bosman the 3d key- character at the JS1 business and much more!!!! Nearly 4000 readers ” we ”  have now!
On the front page a great picture of the ASH 30 m., this new ship from Alexander Schleicher flew for the first time on April 11 2011. When you are interested to be a member as well, you can subscribe trough the web page; www.glidinginternational.com

Would like to point out to you the Official website of  the Belgian Gliding Team   for the EGC ‘s in 2011  and WGC’s in 2012. It is in English, looks great , fantastic pictures and gives good info about the competing pilots and later about the comps;   www.glidingteam.be

To finish this blog some more pictures from Pierre Wolf . Hardworking crew and busy pilots! Enjoy!
And….my Mother Days present; My daughter made me very happy with a visit to ” We will rock you”  the musical with music from Queen!!!!!! Lucky me!
Cheers Ritz

   

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday May 4 2011   ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Received the next mail from the USA   to let you know the WGC site from Uvalde is up and running. Here is the message:
Hi Ritz!

News from the USA.

We here in Holland, remember all who died in the first and second world war today on May 4 and tomorrow we celebrate our freedom on May 5.

        
      Swedish fans                                                                            Martti to the r.with a mate who flew with us as well. Sorry ,senior-                                                                                                             moment, I forgot his name and that’s bad as he is a lovely guy.HELP !!!

Very pleased to see the great spring weather  has made pilots in Scandinavia happy as well. Martti Sucksdorff who flew with us in the past at Tocumwal had a ” beaut ” day with 708 km and a nice speed of 115 km/h in the ASG 29 E/18m. flying from Räyskälä and on the last day of this fantastic month of April Swedish pilot Gunnar Axelsson topped the OLC with a nice flight in his LS 8; 773km.
The first day of May was for Scandinavia again this time with a 514 km.  flight from Aaku Jaakkola in his LS 8, again from Räyskälä. And forgive me and tell me when when I am wrong, but I am pretty sure this is Aaku with his gorgeous little daughter.

     made this picture during the JWGC in Finland in 2009.

In Romania pilots are flying the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix   from Brasov and the first day was won by Tilo Holighaus, for those who do not know him; the owner of Schempp Hirth. He mentioned that it was a tough day with lot’s of wind,but also cloud streets and ..a very tight finish.
German  top junior Patrick Puskeiler was 2d.Difference in speed; 96.8 km/h, then 96.7 and 96.6 km/h for Romanian pilot Cosmin Nicolae.
 Georgy Gulyas from Hungary, I am one of his fans,  was 6 from the 7 participants in this GP, on day 1. Day 2 was cancelled , yesterday only Tilo finished received 2 points and is in the lead with 9 points overall with Patrick hanging in with  5 points.

       

                               Georgy to the left from Janus Centka in front of Gilles and Wolfgang[2006] and a bit “bigger”

Nice to see that the Potchefstroom regionals in S.A.  have been flown a few days ago and good old Dick Bradley won after 5 very marginal days the 15 m. class , beating his son Doug ,who was 3d ,with 90  points.The best overall score was ……after 5 days…..621 points!!!!!! On some days pilots worked hard but got no scores as the distances were not far enough. Tough competition.The next IGC meeting will be in 2012 in Potchefstroom.

  Dick to the right.

They found the black boxes  of the Air France plane   which crashed in heavy weather on the bottom of the Atlantic  Ocean, just out of the coast of Brasil!! This crash cost the lives of 228 people and nobody knew exactly what has happened. Hopefully they find out more now! Not too long ago they found big pieces of the plane as well.

The Florida Ridge , La Belle, in Florida   in the USA is host of  the 2011 Rob Kells meet and we are talking hanggliding now. Australian topper Jonnie Durand moved to the States to fly there between April 30 and May 5. He was 4th on day 1 and 5th on day 2 in the flexible -wing -class. A lot of pilots fly the Moyes litespeed and good old Mr. Moyes did well in inventing this hang glider. Quite a caracter this Bill Moyes. He will be 80 next year! Lovely guy.Can’t find the picture I made from him.His children Steve, Vicki and Jenny run the business now, but he is not the person to sit behind the geraniums, not at all.
From my short involvement with hanggliding I remember him and Jonni best as well as Atilla and Bela also editor Davis Straub and his wife are still ” hanging ” somewhere in my mind and not to forget Tove and Grant Heany.

April was a good month  as one clearly can see on the OLC , with 5 days with over 1000 entries and even one with more then 2000. Great spring, not every where I do realize that, but atleast in a lot of places.

That’s it for now , back to my new guests, CU you next Sunday, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday May 1 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

    courtesy Kai Monkkonen

Great news for the CAE NLS DUTCH NATIONALS. It started slow, but “we ” have after the deadline closed 50 participants. Great !!! 20 in 18 m. class, 11 in club class ,6 in standard and 4 in 15 m and 5 in the two seater 20 m. class and 4 in open class. Two former European champions  are part of it as well; Steven Raimond [15m] [ see picture l. from Kai Monkkonen] and Ronald Termaat [ 18m.]see picture r.from Frits Schweikart ]

                                             

The Pribina Cup has finished   and had not the weather they hoped for but still a few  soaring days.
Day 3  was with  a small AAT [ 2 hours] in open class , another one with devalued points, but they flew , the other classes did not!!!! Russell Cheetham[ on picture to the right in 2006] in the JS 1 /18m.  is after 3 days on spot ONE overall with 1688 points. That says a lot! Wolfgang Janowitschwas on spot 7 with 1586 points.

                                              

Picture courtesy Kai Monkkonen                                                                                   Picture  courtesy Frits Schweikart

Pribina day 4 in open class  was a good one for Wolfgang as he was 4th that day. Only 15 pilots finished the best one , Petr Krejcirik, with a speed of 125 km/h in the ASW 22 BL over 278 km, while so many had to go “au vache”. 
The last day,yesterday was a difficult one , with thunderstorms forming to the south and gusting winds and some  rain at the field, but gliders were launched. It looks like a real lottery day , making the over all scores  “tremble”.
On this last difficult day it was British weather as both the UK pilots did well in club class, with spot 1 and 4, being 2 [Ian] and 4 [Ge] in the final results.
Winner in the St. cirrus;Roman Mracek only a bit more then 30 points on Ian MacArthur.
In 15 m. the final best results were for the French pilots occupying spot 1,2 and 4.
Antti Lehto won the double class. In a duo discus. GOOD ON HIM!!! Only just over 4000 points after 5 days, that says enough!
In open class pilots really got a nasty knock  !!! Scores changed totally, as only 6 pilots finished the 2 hour AAT.
Final result; Petr dropped from 1 to 5. Wolfgang from 2 to 4 and WINNERwas Karol Staniszak from Poland and the runner up was Polish as well. The Polish pilots like thunderstorms. Russell dropped to 9 but Dutch pilot Francois Jeremiasse, used to Dutch weather with low cloud base and showers, climbed up from 11 to 6. Good practise for the Dutch Nationals!!!!
As I heard the last day should have been cancelled, but the Pribina Cup is the Pribina Cup and they go far in setting their goals. They were proved right as enough pilots finished, but it seems some had not even a chance to depart. Will find out!

See for all the news and results www.soaringspot.com

 

very relaxed Antti Lehto and Heiki the top meteo from Finland in 2006] courtesy Kai Monkkonen.

 A bit better weather in Hockenheim  with on Thursday the beginning of day 6 in open and club class and 5 in standard and 15 m. Jelmer  remains 3d but with a very small margin on number 4 ; Five points.
On the last day [8 ] in open class   Holger  flew the glider shared with Jelmer and he won the last day ;327 km with a speed of 129 km/ h. Nice !!!
In club class it was , after 8 days, Arndt Hovestadt,  who won  with ONLY 2 points differenceon another St Libelle pilot.
Patrick Gai , participant in different Junior WGC’s, won the standard class; 6243 points after 7 days.
Look for all results at   www.soaringspot.com

My Australian guests just left  and enjoyed theirselves to the fullest. They visited , Delft , The Hague, went on the bike to see Boskoop and Gouda and loved Amsterdam and here is one of the pictures Vanessa made in Amsterdam , to finish blog 400!!!!! They even “tasted” the Dutch celebrations of Queens day, but were not interested in THE WEDDING !!!! CU in blog 401 ! Cheers Ritz

 courtesy Vanessa Johnson

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday April 27 2011  ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Easter has never been so HOT  as ever before, on some places this year in Holland.The seabreeze kept temperatures lower at the beaches but a temperature of 25 dgr, was a new record!!!! Belgium even had up to 27 dgr!!! As said last time, the Benelux had the highest temperatures in Europe and…that is fantastic but pretty unusual and hopefully not only a result of this global warming.
Half a million people went for a holiday in our own country and about one million visited from other countries in the world, lots from Germany [65%] and also from Belgium and the UK. A great weekend for the catering industries and bar’s on the beach.Not so much for the fire brigade in both Belgium and Holland as kilometers of peat have gone lost with very special fauna and flora.

On April 22 the always VERY popular Pribina Cup started at Nitra ; 153 pilots, I told you already it is  popular. They fly in 4 classes club, 15m .,  dual seaters and open class. An interesting competition with pilots from nearly every country, already practising for the EGC in Nitra in a few months.
The first flying day for open class was a 701 km racing task, but…nobody finished. Best pilot was from Poland flying an ASG 29 over 644 km.
The 2d day had a 2 hour  AAT and one pilot finished.The other 3 classes had NO flying day; cancelled or unvalid because of the too short distances flown , 25 % should fly more then 100 km.Unfortunately their weather is not too good at the moment ,they are stuck with showers and they had rain yesterday night and grey conditions in the morning, so another cancelled day, but it should get better. It looks they are going to fly today!

On Easter Sunday AT LEAST 1176   pilots   went up in the air, as of course not everybody files their flight on the OLC.
On Easter Monday  amongst 1948 pilots,  the Finnish friends had a great day  and both Räyskäla and  Piikajärvi had nice first season flights. Räsyskälä ‘s first flight was on April 16.
Lovely to see that Tilo Holighaus flew such a good  750 FAI triangle in a ” borrowed ” Discus 2 A. Dutch pilots had a great day as well, with as best flight a 573 km task into Germany.
From Wiener Neustadt  Ernst Schicker flew 2 days in a row a 1000 km in an ASW 20 just before Easter. Great Easter weekend for him!
Rain coming in from the East, has spoiled the pleasure for glider pilots a bit , but it is a relief for farmers . No problems for Alexander Müller who flew his first summer-season-1000 km. [ speed 117 km.h]  yesterday from Lienz

The well known 33 International competition at Hockenheim  has had 5 days in a row in 2 classes till now and 4 in the other 2. Several top pilots fly among keen pilots, a total of 68. Henrik Breidahl from Denmark, Jelmer Wassenaar from Holland, also pilots from Belgium , Finland and Switserland.
Jelmer , was in “my” team when I was TC during the JWGC in 2005 in Husbos, a pretty difficult competition for different reasons. He is a lovely young man and great talented pilot. In 2006 he met Valentina, daughter of Luciano Avanzini who flies the ARCUS at the moment in Nitra.A great couple!!!
Jelmer won day 1 , then 2 times 5th , 7th on day 4 and yesterday they had 429 km on their day 5 and he finished as 3d. Overall he is after 5 days on spot 3 !!!!
On the picture. Jelmer on finish and …..when he met  his Valentina.

       

In a few hours my Australian guests arrive; Vanessa and Julian from Perth. Try to see you on Sunday, till then Ritz

 courtesy; Fritz Schweikart

Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday April 24 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

The Memorial Service here in Alphen  to remember the 6 people who got killed in the shopping mall, was sad,  modest  , very impressive and something to be proud on again.Life continues now also here in Alphen but for the family of the victims , a heavy period lays ahead.

Talking about Memorial Services ; Joan Escott, Don’s wife was very impressed with the turn up in Tocumwal. She said that Don would have been pleased and for sure would have been astonished as well.From different sides I heard it was a “good farewell”, for good old Don.At least it gave her a lot of support in these difficult days.

Prievidza had a great Cup Race. On Wednesday, flying day 8,  German TC Uli , finally flying himself, this time in the ARCUS, won another day and climbed up from a bad second day on which they got ZERO points,  as they exceeded the maximum altitude with  more then 100 m.,  to a spot with the first 10 in the mixed class. On the last day he flew the ARCUS to a 2d place with a speed of 122km over 388 km making him 10th overall on the final result.
Winner in the mixed class;Pavel Louzecky….. with a great marchin on the runner up; 8214 and 7536 points. Pavel flew a Ventus 2C /18m.
Sebastian Kawa is “HOT” and ready to be excellent in the next EGC. He won again;700 points now ahead on the runner up in the 15 m. class. On the last day he did it again and won the COMPS. 
UK pilot, Ge Dale seems to have found the rythm from last year and won another day , being now on top of the club class list in the DG 100 G. On the last day he was 4th but not loosing too many points so he WON the comps ;8189 and for runner up and great pilot Frenc Tamas, 7929 points. Great 4th place , by the way, for young Vytautas from Lithunania, he is ready to be good in the EGC soon in Pocunai.

The by now famous area for good weather   in the Alps, kept it’s great wave-weather. On Wednesday , a Hornet flew 704 km !!!! This time from Füssen in Bayern.
Great to see Leonardo Brigliadori back in the air flying an LS 4 and…he is still good; 545 km. from Alzate Brianza SW of Sondrio up to North of Bolzano.
Yesterday an ASW 20 flew over 1000 km from Wiener Neustadt not bad either. And an ASW 27 from Timmersdorf also in Austria had a good 1000-km-day as well.

The last week  more pilots entered the Dutch CAE NLS Nationals , so when the list was closed yesterday, we had 44 participants. It is going to be a great competition and you can atleast follow the scores as they are in an international language on www.nkzweefvliegen2011.nl  But …of course I try to make time to write all the exciting news in this blog as well.

Unbelievable but true!!!!  Holland has at the moment the highest temperatures in Europe,26 dgr. IN SPRING, warmer then Greece and Spain. We even deal with code red!!! Code red??????? Yes it is so dry here so early in the year that firebrigades are on high alert and planes circle above special areas, as protected peat-moar-areas.Also lots of Easter-fires have been cancelled. Even the rescue services on the beach have been asked to come earlier as this weeken all beaches will be overloaded with people , only…the water is 10 dgr, a bit cold to really enjoy…..or?????
Unfortunately the weather in the South of Europe is less good at the moment.

Too much to do and guests over Easter !!!!! So enjoy Easter to the fullest and if you have the same stunning weather as we have; enjoy that even more!
HAPPY EASTER !!!!
Cheers Ritz

 courtesy Vanessa Johnson

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

  Summer by Fritz Schweikart at wgc 2006.

Today we remember here in Alphen  the terrible death of innocent people by a young man who forgot to take his medicines against schizophrenia. All official buildings in Holland have the flag on half-mast, their will be a memorial service for 750 invited guests including  Queen Beatrix and Price Willem Alexander and the prime minister Mark Rutte and for 2500 people there is room outside to be part of it by looking at big screens. The rest has a TV at home for a live coverage. It is a sunny day with 24 dgr. that might at-least ease the pain.

In Italy pilots had a good final day on Sunday  of  the Club class Nationals. For sure you looked at the final results and as I , you noticed that Vittorio had a bad last day , so Stefano Ghiorzo easily won the longest task of  265 km. to be the club class national champion.Vittorio was the runner up and young Davide was 3d.after 5 flying days.
Manuele Molinari won in the discus 2 the other class after 4 days of flying.

YES they did it! The pilots in Prievidza flew 752 km during the competition.  Super-spring-weather over there!Competition Day 5 was a great day for all 3 classes . In the mixed class Pavol Cerny won the 752 km. day in the Ventus CXt/18m with a speed of 112 km.
In the club class , young Milos Cink was the best over the 510 km in club class and who else then Sebastian Kawa in the discus 2 A, won the 608 km day in 15 m. class with the same speed as in the mixed class; 112 km/h.
On day 6 pilots had another long task [ mixed 502 km, club 420 and 15 m 502 as well.]. Sebastian won again and is  500 points ahead of the runner up in his 15 m. class.
Ge Dale from the UK,  who flew so well last year is on spot 2 overall behind, Ferenc Tamas who has been on spot 1 overall, from the beginning in club class !!
In the mixed class Uli Gmelin , the professionel team captain of the German pilots won in the ARCUS T day 6!
On day 7  around 300 km. tasks and Sebastian won again and is about 600 points ahead on number 2. Ge Dale won in his class and still has possibilities to get on top,  as he is only around 50 points behind on Ferenc. But…..as both for sure want to be the best the last days will be exciting.

Last Sunday made at least 1983 pilots happy.  They put their flight on the OLC, and what flights:
Wilfried Grosskinsky, I should have mentioned him on the list of  “kilometer-eaters” ,  flew not that far from Holland from Dahlemer Binz a nice 1053 km. in the nimbus 4 [ an FAI  750 triangle in it ! ]and another open class glider/pilot flew from Austria [Lienz Nikolsdorf]
And…the top “kilometer-eater” Alexander Müller is active too with a good 989 km flight from Lienz.
All 50 flights on Sunday on page 1 were over 600 km and it is ONLY EARLY SPRING!!!!!
The LS 6 flight in Italy from Bolzano is worthwile mentioning; 904 km. as well as the flight from Gilles Navas in France at Vinon with 933 km in an ASG 29 E/18m.
I totally get exicited from so many nice flights and cannot  type quick enough !!!

  Gilles Navas in Eskilstuna during the WGC.

We live here in sunny conditions 10 dgr. above the normal average for this time of the year: 23 dgr. And these conditions …YES…..they stay here over Easter. Looking at the European weather most of Europe will have a happy Easter-time. Summer instead of spring, but….let’s hope the weather keeps going on like this and that we not peak now and get a lousy summer. But …we can’t change it anyhow, so let’s be happy.
Hopefully we will have this good weather still during the CAE NLS Dutch Nationals , starting on May 16. There are 39 pilots competing, maybe not that many , but a lot have to keep their time free for the EGC in Nitra and Pociunai and for the JWGC in Musbach.Some are so lucky to fly more comps.

Great to see that pilots fly more and more triangles   instead of just following the weather to make as much kilometers as possible and to get the most points on the OLC. A nice example is a flight on Monday ;805 FAI triangle in an LS 8 , flown in that area were the wave-weather is super this year;Köningsberg, Lesce Bled , Lienz ,Bolzano, Unterwössen.
The 2d flight for the summer -season by Alexander Müller was from Lienz again with 957 km. And the 3d was over 1000 km. That one is in the pocket.
And what about , in this same soaring-mecca, the flight from Boris Zors , who flew in his standard cirrus a very nice 751 km task. And…the 750 km in the DG 1000/20 m. from Unterwössen??

Here is a link to an interesting incident at JFK.  Thanks Peter. An Air France A 380 makes a Delta regional jet spin around 90 dgr.Though it is not a joke , I had to smile looking at the video.

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/04/air-france-a380-spins-delta-regional-jet-in-jfk-collision/155560/1?csp=obinsite

   

To finish the blog some finishers “caught ” by Fritz Schweikart [  WGC in 2006 in Eskilstuna.]
cheers Ritz

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

  tugs ready to go in 2006 ;courtesy   Johan Ersson.

When I finished my blog last Wednesday , I could see already the most beautiful cumulus clouds!!! Were those the ones making the UK pilots happy one day earlier????
The real ones!!! High and gorgeous for glider pilots. Only not for those,who had to work and for those  who’s gliders are still in the container but …….they are out now as well, since last Friday, so for the weekend they can rig their glider and go and taste the Dutch, Spanish , German and Scandinavian skies  again.
The Prievidza container is already back in Slovakia, as some pilots fly the FCC,  the 2011 Flight Challenge Cup at Prievidza.

One of the  pilots from Holland Jeroen Koole  was one of the lucky ones and able to fly that day. He loved it,  though he mentioned, that there were some small showers , over development in the East and a breezy wind from the NW. But also cloudstreets and small but strong lift. I saw those “streets”  on TV in the evening, going to far into France and Germany.
Jeroen flew 568 km. Good on him!!!! So the first 500 km. flights in ” flat-as-a-pancake-Holland” are a fact!!!!
In between the kilometer-eaters are awake as well and started their season. Guy from Luxembourg with 820 km. and Uwe from Germany with 689 km. are some of them.
Also Giorgio Galetto had a great day with NEARLY 1000 km from Trento , while Alberto Sironi flew  5 new Italian records in his 1.297 kmflight over the mountains starting at Calcinate del Pesce in the Ventus 2CT/18m.
Young German pilot Patrick Puskeiler , prepared himself really well for the Junior World Comps and flew 750 [nearly] from the famous field in Germany at  Hahnweide .
Talking about practise for the JWGC , young Jeroen Jennen  had a superflight as well from Keiheuvel in Belgium;471 km in an LS 7 and he was grateful to the Dutch CTR  at Eindhoven giving him permission to fly through nice areas in the zone with good lift. 
You can see if you “belong” to Facebook a 3-minute-part of his flight from April 13 on this medium.
 Rosamond Skypark is still in the news as , again, Jim Payne made a super- wave- flight from 1.303 km in an ASW 27 !!!!
And …a happy moment for a Japanese pilot after all the worries in Japan, and those worries are not over yet. He had a nice day flying 647 km from Nagano, in a DG 500 /22 m.

On Friday and Saturday,  the weather was still good. Lienz added new 1000 km. flights  to their list , in a DG 600, also good to mention a 929km. in a DG 200/17m., but flat-as-a-pancake Holland had a 694 km,. again by Jeroen Koole in the discus B and Edo Kwant, flew in the Ventus 2CT even more;715 km. And it shows clearly that the weather is pretty good everywhere with OVER 1000 flights on the OLC; 1405 !!!!!! The season 2011 is hot till now !!!!

Some competition pictures in between this time from Per Carlin during the WGC 2006.

   

The comps in Prievidza with 85 competitors in 3 classes, had after 2 soarable days , 4 cancelled ones.On Friday they were flying again with 3 hour AAT’s in all 3 classes. In 15 m class both days 2 LS 8 gliders were upfront. 280 and 340 km. were the AAT’s in 3 hours. Sebastian flew 351 km.,  but used 12 minutes more then the winners.
In club class 2 [former?] juniors were good; Miloslav Cink won yesterday and Vitautas was 6th.
On day 5 , TODAY, pilots in 15 m class got a 608 km. task! The great weather must have reached them as well.Not bad!!!
The mixed class got a 752 km and club class 510.

The comps in Thiene in Italy  do not have the super weather as pilots had on other places in Italy. No more flying days for the club class nationals till……. Friday and Saturday .And still small tasks , under 200 km., with devaluated scores, but Vittorio is doing a great job being JUST ahead of world champion Stefano.Last day today with 35 points to catch up for Stefano, but I know Vittorio is a topper as well.

The Dalby Big Air, we are talking hang gliding now in Dalby. Jonni and Jon Durand sr. are having a ball being after 3 flying days 1 and 3 in the total scores. On that 3d day they were first and second!!!!
 Both fly Moyes Light speed. Good to see that former Sportavia managers Tove and Grant Heany are back in the top of  the competition sport of hang gliding. After 3 days Grant was 4th and Tove 18th in the general scores.
Even better to see is , that after having a problem with his leg, Nathan who worked for Sportavia as well,is back in a competition. Good on him!!! Nathan was at spot 20 after 3 days. Nathan and Sue were so kind to take care of my cat Denim when I left Australia and I was more then grateful for that. Denim died after a great live 2 years ago at age 12.
After 5 days, the comps finished with  the “Durands”  on spot 1 and 2, is n’t that great” ? Grant was 6th , Tove on spot 15 and Nathan on 22 from the 39 participants.
Davis Straub is THE editor of the hang glider world and you can find his stories in  “The Oz report”, the international hanggliding website and forum. [www.ozreport.com]

Last Friday [our] instructor for many years in Tocumwal Don, was remembered in a ceremony after being cremated already a few days earlier amongst family and close friends. And as I expected many, many visited the service for him in the Tocumwal Bowling club . Around 150, friends ,some travelled to Tocumwal from Melbourne remembered his life with a drink. Also Rotary, Lion’s Club and Kiwani’ members , Don was a member from all of them, paid their respect, as well as lot’s of glider pilots from Sportavia in the past.
Flowers for him and for Kees.

        Today would have been the 65th birthday of Kees Musters!
Kees was world champion gliding  in Hobbs New Mexico and one of the more well known Dutch glider pilots. He also was our family friend.Kees died during a hang-glider accident in the mountains of France in December 1987. A day to remember him.

Cu you on Wednesday, Ritz

   
—You have an interesting selection of photos. I have a few photos of a friendly eagle who was kind enough to pose for his photo looking directly at the camera. —
Courtesy;  Morgan Sandercock, Project Manager of the Perle Project . Thanks Morgan!

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

This time it feels different when I write the name Alphen aan den Rijn. The town has been unexpected world news and NOT because it is called ” the beautiful green heart ” , but because of this so unnecessary shooting on a sunny day at noon, when everybody likes to do the weekend-shopping. 7 People died including the 24 year old who hated the world. Tragic. His parents , who I happen to know, are lovely people , it is just unbelievable.
Heroes we have here in Alphen as well, as some helped others to escape. One hero did not survive her help!!! With over 100 shots it is amazing that not more people were killed.
Extra tragic is the death of a poet/journalist from Syria, who came to live here with his family, in a free country, to avoid the dangers in his own land.What can you do? He survived an attack in Syria decided to leave there as he was a peace- activist and came to live here in what he hoped a peaceful free part of the world…….He will be buried this afternoon.

As always life continues. So we continue as well. Italian club class pilots are still flying their Nationals and current World Champion Stefano Ghiorzo is in the lead after 2 days. Vittorio is on 2d place and young Davide at 3d, at this stage. Not too good weather over there. On day2 only 6 pilots finished.

It looks like Gianni is the competition director so here a nice picture from him made in Rieti.

The comps in Prievidza, look like a new possibility -to-win ,  for Sebastian Kawa. Still a few days to go but he won already the first 2 days! Also cancelled days over there, so not a lot happening at this stage. The weather looks like rain for today and tomorrow, BUT …then it is clearing , still with some showers but also with dry and sunnier conditions.

OLC then , more activities there! And for good weather yesterday we had to go to……the UK!!!! Dave Masson managed to fly a nice 766 km task in an LS 6!!! Great effort!!!
Sunday another 1000 km wave flight flown in Austria in an ASW 22BLE, best flight that day with 659 pilots taking the opportunity to share their flight with all of us.
And on Monday a duo discus flight was the best from Fayence in France, flying past Aosta in Italy and back;619 km.

From Rick in the USA I received the next good news for Blanik owners; THANKS Rick!!!

—Here is some news on the Blanik L13.  There is a factory-approved
modification that is available for 6500 Euro, not including labor!
The modification is expected to receive EASA approval soon.—

http://www.aircraftdc.de/ENG/visionen_blanik.htm

  That’s about it for this time. Tonight we ,  ” Holland helps Japan”  with a concert and a soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and a top club from Japan in the ARENA in Amsterdam. Hope it generates lots of money for the Red Cross in Japan.
Cheers Ritz

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

 from left to right;Ross Bodey, Jeff’s wife Margie Close,Don Escott,Bill Riley and George Schuit, all former owners of Sportavia. Upfront Val Riley.

First the sad news for all who have been involved with Sportavia at Tocumwal. One of the former owners and long time  instructor died last night in the hospital; Don Escott, a real gentleman and a born instructor. Even people who absolutely did not dare to fly , hopped in the glider and came back with a smile.
I particularly remember a Dutch girl who absolutely did not want to go up for a joy-flight. Before she went home with her boyfriend who did an Ab initio course, she did the course as well and went solo. That was Don.
I got to know Don in 1989 when he, together with Jeff (Close) and Stewart (Crawford), took over Sportavia from Bill Riley (who wanted out after a fatal accident the preceding season).  When Don later sold his shares to George and I in 1994,  he stayed on as a full time instructor until the demise of Sportavia in 2006.  Until very recently he instructed students in his ultralight aircraft in Tocumwal and Deniliquin. I knew he was very ill, but hoped to still see him back later this year. It is not meant to be.
I guess everybody will remember Don as a gentleman,a good instructor and pilot.
He had a real talent to get people into flying who were scared or apprehensive about the activity. Many reluctant starters became avid aviators as a result of Don’s gentle way of introducing them to the sport. Good on him!
He will be sadly missed!

Here is the message I received Saturday morning early from a Tocumwal friend;
It is with saddness to tell you that Don Escott died last night. He was only put into hospital on Friday and died that night.

 Have been busy with the CAE NLS Dutch National Championships. The site is full of news and documents and when you are interested just have a look at   www.nkzweefvliegen2011.nk
Under “prijsvraag” you can even guess how many kilometers the longest flight will be and win a simulator session on a Boeing 737-800 and other prizes.
Interesting is also that pilots can buy winch or tow tickets in the web shop.Also the camping can be paid this way as well as t shirts, polo’s and jackets.

Holland has a new airline. It starts flying on April 30 , the day the Queen celebrates her birthday and we all have a day off.The name of the company is Correndon Dutch Airlines and is founded by a tour operator for trips to Turkey. This Atilay Uslu and his partner, started in 2005 the Turkish Correndon Airlines as well. This Dutch company only flies customers from the tour operator.

One of the Dutch F16 fighters ready to be sold to Chili, made a “belly-landing” as the undercarriage collapsed after a test flight at Charleroi, last Thursday. Pilot had nothing, plane had a “sore”  belly , lost some parts , some fuel and nearly the tail. Charleroi airport had  temporarily  delayed flights, making about 4000 holiday- travellers a bit angry on this Dutch pilot. The F16 was for maintenance in Charleroi.

Nice flight from a DG 200 from Kinross in Schotland  over the mountains over there; 670 km!!! To fly a 1000 km you had to be in Austria,  were over the last 2 days 5 x 1000 km. plus,  was flown from Lienz.

Nice to hear that one of the famous movie stars in Holland, maybe even the most famous, Carice van Houten, seems to have fallen in love with a glider pilot. He is airline pilot as well. I know the pilot , [a real nice and very good looking fellow,] but  not really good; he stayed with us in Tocumwal to fly there and travelled with our yellow old vintage Mercedes together with a mate , through the mountains [Buffalo ] in Australia.I wish them well.

The club class Nationals in Italy started last Friday in Thiene.  Great to see enough  young pilots as Elena [ also participant in the WWGC 2011  in Arboga and her brother Nicola Fergnani and Davide Schiavotto, all flew in the Junior Worlds .Current world champion , Stefano Ghiorzo flies in a Silent 2 as well as Luigi Bertoncini, who I know since 1984 I guess.  And since I wrote in Italy at several WGC’s and a competition, I got to know quite a lot of good Italian pilots, as Manuele Molinari, Vittorio Pinni and Andrea Tomasi, all flying this competition. So I keep a good eye on them for you.Unfortunately day 1 was cancelled.
 Day 2 was flyable , just, so a 2 hour AAT was given. Best result ;Vittorio Pinni with 196 km in just under 2 hours;result 403 points.Look for more results on www.soaringspot.com

Another shooting in my normally so quiet town of Alphen aan den Rijn. Yesterday!!!  At least 7 people are dead under them the young man, who entered the shopping mall with an automatic weapon/ machine gun , walked around and shoot  around in 2 different super markets and in the mall.Another 4 are on intensive care and about 10 more have lighter injuries.
 He killed himself with another gun in one of the 2  supermarkets he visited. He is around 24 , blond curly hair, somebody you like to see when he passes by. Unbelievable!!!! Don’t know what triggered this , but it is a disaster.
It was the shopping mall where I did my shopping for 20 years, before I left for Curacao and later Australia !! Activity of  helicopters flying over Alphen  , from police , ambulance and a military one, made me think somthing was wrong, and yes they all  were on their way to the spot where innocent people lost their lives on that beautiful sunny Saturday at 12.00 at noon.
Sat 4.30 PM they closed the shopping center in the area I live now, as well. They found signs in the house of the 24 year old that explosives could be in 3 more malls. Scaring, unreal!!!!
Got lots of phone calls, sms and mails even from friends in  the world , as it is world news, but except for a uneasy feeling I am well. Thanks dear friends!

Got this nice picture and news from Art from Canada. Not the weather we have here, “blooming ”  it is again , this whole weekend. A weird weekend as since yesterday you know that you can go shopping and not come back home anymore!!! Something to think about! Still “feel off”!!!
Cheers Ritz