Alphen aan den Rijn
Mai 28 2007

The Dutch and Polish Nationals have finished and it is great to see that “our” under- 25- junior Bart Berendsen was winner in the club class in his ASW 19 w.He will fly the world comps in Italy in Rieti and this “WIN” must a great boost to him. They had 6 days, number 7 never happened.

Other interesting winner was Sjaak Selen in the combination class. He flew in an LS 8. He is the younger brother from the two-times-world-champion Baer Selen, who won in Chateuraux and in Uvalde in 91. I had the honnour of being the team manager that year.
Runner up was Dick Teuling. Interesting news about him is that he was my “teacher-in-gliding ” , and dared to let me go solo during a camp from the ZES [Student aeroclub from Eindhoven!] in 1967.All those years he flew in the Dutch TOP. Great guy, great pilot!

In open class a Dutch National -team -pilot Hadriaan van Nes [ DG 800s ]won with as runner up another team-pilot, Roland Termaat.

The Polish Nationals had winners I did not know, though Centka and Jarysz,as well as Wujczak were participating!

The German Nationals are still going strong till Thursday.

In June lots of other Nationals will be flown in different classes;P.E.
Finland, England, Norway, Russia,Austria and the German clubclass comps. Will try to keep you informed!
In Norway they even flew a 1000 km . a few days ago. Great effort!

Rain here, cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn
26-05-2007

With National championships in Poland, Germany and Holland [= in Germany] it is pretty busy with gliding, though weather circumstances are not always the best. Lots of thunderstorms today and foggy circumstances in Germany cancelled the day for both the Dutch and German Nationals. Last day tomorrow for the Dutch comps and with 7 flying days not TOO bad, but no really nice long flights.Still interesting winners if tomorrow will be cancelled too, which is not impossible. Of course everybody hopes for a last good day!
Look for the Dutch info and results at www.nk.zweefportaal.nl/2007/
Look for the German info and results at
http://dm2007.acz.de

The German Nationals started for their 4th day , but as said the day was cancelled due to the expectation of thunderstorms.
Their last day will be on Mai 31, so a few more days and chances.

Poland , has had as far as I saw on TV very heavy rain with a little town even “locked off from the world.” But they also had great flights,but no long flights , 365 km was the best one!, but still 8 days of flying.Look for info at http://smpo2007.gliding-leszno.pl

Norway has better weather and former competition director of the World comps in Sweden and friend, Robert Danewid, flew a 500 km. from Elverum Starmoen.[NO]
But….what beats all is a flight yesterday in a Kestrel 17 with 2.715,89 km. Amazing!!!!The flight was made in the USA, Warner Springs and flown by Bill Richardson.No comment by the pilot, not by the OLC not by me! Look for yourself!

That’s it for now!Thanks Brutus, for your info!Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn
May 22 2007

With the Dutch Nationals flown in Stendhal close to Berlin, a lot of Dutch pilots left for Germany. Not that the weather is so much better there.On their first flying day they flew around 300 km while a Nimbus 4 DM from our National Gliding Center Terlet a distance flew ,from 653 km. But today , for sure they are better of there , as it is FOGGY here.

After 2 days it is very interesting to see that our young and upcoming pilots are doing well! When I started gliding in 1967 I met Willem, a member of the ZES , the Dutch student aero club from the University of Eindhoven. He is still flying, even flies the nationals, but….his son Maurits is flying too and WON a day! Good on him!

Another young guy is Tim, who also won a day. His dad flies very good , already for years and is in and out of the Dutch National team. His mum flies and is coach from the junior team and was /is Team captain for the Dutch team .His sister Maaike is a good pilot and will be the team manager for the Dutch team during the world junior comps in Italy starting in July. Young Tim got the “gliding-spoon” in his mouth and he loves it!And….it turns out ….he is good too! I remember him as a little baby in the pram, “hanging” around on our national gliding center where mum and or dad were flying.
It means I am getting old!

Dieter Bottcher is/was in Hahnweide and helps the organizers with the comps over there. Dieter Dundee, arrives here in Alphen today for a short stay and to help with a few things in my new house.Friend Daan is still in the USA and Harry had a HUGE operation on his back and hopes to be fit for gliding in the new season.

Had some problems with my computer but will keep in touch Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn
14-05-2007

The weather was not good for gliding in Holland but ….extremely good in Austria and Switserland. Young Stefan Leutenegger , who will participate in the world junior comps in Rieti in July, flew in na discus ,a distance of 1164 km according to the the OLC with a speed over 96 km/ph.Great flight! What will he “do” in Rieti this summer? I know he is an excellent and very dedicated young pilot.Surely we can expect a lot of him and his mates from Switserland.

In Austria 2 more 100km-plus flights were flown this weekend and in Germany some long flights , just under 1000.Even up North , the weather is improving and friend Kari flew a 500 km. plus from Rayskala!A few days earlier Antti flew from the same place 853 km.Good old Hannu flew 369 in his PIK.
Another friend Daan is in the States at Ridge Soaring and made a nice 586 km flight.Evelyn flies in the Rockie Mountains so is Ernst, all good mates!All having fun!

No we did not have this great weather here. After 1 month of very nice weather we suffer from wind, rain and cold temperatures as 14 dgr.
Good weather to visit an artfair! Yes I spend last week on the Art Amsterdam. Due to the weather we had 2500 people more then last year, making it 18.000 visitors. There is still money between “us” as they spend for 5 million, 16 % more then last year.We had our share!
I have soar knees from the concrete floor, a soar back from carrying around “huge” paintings and I feel so tired that I can’t think anymore.
Good thing is that it is over tomorrow and with the knowledge that we had a very good fair we can be proud and drink champagne tonight with fresh aspergus, something we do every year.

Got the news from Eddie Madden from Tocumwal that they will collect their new Sportstar this week, flying it from Brisbane to Toc. I know Eddie and Dom LOVE such a flight!!!!So next season they will have 2 tugs again in Tocumwal.

Have to rush again to finish of paperwork from the fair and to go for drinks. See you next time. Will have a bit more time now! Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn
29-04-2007

With the Queens birthday in Holland tomorrow we have a long weekend and lots of pilots spend their time at the gliding field with absolutely great weather!
Flights up to 450 km have been flown and “apres-soaring” is nice too.
In Belgium the weather was even better! Yesterday Begium top pilot Yves Jeanmotte flew in his Ventus 2 cm/m a 920 km flight with a speed of 119 kmp/h. Great Effort!!!
Patrick Stouffs , another top pilot, had a great day flying 657 km in a duo discus T.

We had a very interesting day here, specially when you like soccer. 3 Teams were ready to win and all over Holland people had radio’s and mobiles to keep in touch with what was happening. Men who never met before, forgot to look after their children and were discussing the goals made on the 3 soccerfields.Tension and laughter as still evything was possible till the last minute!
I was in Amsterdam in a beautiful park with my grand children, and faces from men changed with the news!!! As I am from the South of Holland ,PSV is my club. They lost 11 points over the last couple of weeks, so gave it out hand, but still MADE it today with a 5-1 win, just 1 point more then Ajax Amsterdam. My happiness “in the hole of the lion” was not understood by the real Ajax fans, so I just showed it once.But…..had a great day!

Though I still do not understand the rules from cricket , even listening and looking at it when I lived for over 10 years in OZ, I am happy that Australia won a record third successive world title!
I remember in 1987 when the world glidingchampionships were in Benalla , that all our youngsters played it. The Clockies against the Pommies.The young English kids even learned the Dutch ones, how the rules were played. Some of those kids are top pilots now and one , young Leigh Wells, even WORLD CHAMPION in Sweden in 2006 in standard class.

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn
27-04-2007

“My” webmasters in Oz have bent over the problem and what is “hacking” in the photograph and comments sector is NOT a VIRUS, but spam track backs.
Phill is migrating the blog to word -press, which is a multi-user blog with better comment/spam protection.
So now you know too.
It will not take long before it is changed!
Keep reading!

Got a nice mail this morning with great pictures from the Japanese cherry blossom trees. Hisashi send me the view from his balcony.I will check for you if the Japanese gliding season has started already.
They are VERY active but as it pretty difficult to stay up there for a long time and to make long cross country flights, some of them visit places outside of Japan [USA, Australia]. So more “chapeau” for the still many,pilots who MADE /MAKE long flights IN Japan.
Quite a lot of them fly in Australia. I had the honnour of meeting many , many Japanese pilots, being involved in Sportavia ,all very nice people.

I was invited to Japan a few years ago, welcomed like a queen and had the privelege of visiting 3 different gliding places and they are all situated at the river banks, pretty small but good. Pilots have good material and nice towplanes.Nothing wrong there! Also lots of members and nice club houses.They even flew me from one field to the other in a nice motor glider.
I know we are soaring.eu but it is nice to hear about other pilots in the world too.

That’s it for now see you soon again.Have to work. By the way , weather is superb here. 28 dgr. is predicted for today and it is ONLY April 27.
The first accidents with BBQ’s have been mentioned. Sad! Specially youngsters get into hospitals with burns. NO GOOD !
Further on the coca cola company can not handle the big demand for soft drinks and on top of that they have a problem in the factory with a new system here in Holland.So we drink something else for a while.
No worries for me as I do not drink cola.
cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn
24-04-2007

Sorry but due to the fact that virussen have “entered” my blogg I have to stop writing till it is fixed. It seems that the photo section and comments sector are full of them, so better action first to get rid of it.
Sorry about that. As soon as they have fixed it in OZ, I will be back on line.I hope they CAN fix it!

Weather here is great. Holland has the driest and warmest April ever, with the most sunshine ever. I love it!!!
The farmers here start complaining now as they have had no rain for 1 month. They should go and live for ONE year in OZ to find out what drought is!!!!
CU soon again. Keep an eye in between on Rieti and Luesse and all other places to read about top gliding.

If you want to buy a good gliding place close to Tocumwal; Corowa ‘s Australian Gliding Centre is FOR SALE.

Sorry but I was not able to place the picture from the army cadets, as promised.
Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn
12-04-2007

Hope you enjoyed a happy Easter time, with not eating TOO much easter eggs!
Gliding weather was rather good here in Holland and even better in the rest of Europe.
In Germany and France pilots flew over 700 km on Easter Saturday and an even more interesting flight was made that day in the USA by a pilot flying 972 km in a KA 6 E. Wow, that IS good!

On Easter day the results were even better !What about John Williams who flew in the UK in an Antares 1243 km so early in the season!!!!
Is this the first 1000 km flight in the UK????? Can somebody tell me!!!!!Superb!!!!Congratulations JOHN!

Good friend Bruce Cooper flew nearly 800 km. Congratulations!!!!
In Germany Holger Back had a long flight and in Italy Giorgio Galetto did very well. YES gliding in Europe was HOT over Easter! And so were the temperatures!!!
In Belgium and Holland , pilots managed to fly nearly 500 km. They surely have had a GREAT Easter sunday!
Look for all results at the OLC on www2.onlinecontest.org and click on gliding! Enjoy!!!But….there are also very good flights made by pilots who do not want to be on the OLC, don’t forget that.

Back to work as combining Art and gliding is , as said before , not so easy.

Oh, not to forget; Gliding in OZ still continues but mainly from Kingaroy. Tocumwal had their annual army cadet training and they had a fantastic time , even after the changed situation. I will try to put an article from a news paper on the site later Cheers Ritz.

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn
April 1 2007

Hello everybody,
No this not an April joke! But….spring really has started now. Though we had a cold easterly, we had 16 dgr. with nice sunny conditions and blue skies. While sitting in the sun I even felt some turbulence on the ground and yesterday somebody mentioned seeing the first glider in the air; an LS 4 at the airport of Valkenburg , a military airfield not far from the coast and about 30 km. from here.

Not long and the Dutch Nationals will be flown in Stendhal in Germany, not far from Berlin. I heard that in the Luesse area , also not far from Berlin, some pilots flew already around 400 km. NOT BAD!!!
One of my friends Sikko Vermeer who flies for the Amsterdamse Gliding Club, even flew 725 km in the duo discus, in Saint Auban {France}where they have their annual camp.

More countries will have their Nationals soon and I try to keep an eye on them.

In Rieti they are very busy with the preparations for Sabina Glide ,the pre-worlds of the 30thiest FAI WGC in 2008 [July 8-15-2007] and the junior world comps [July 8-August-11-2007].After that they host the traditional competiton in August AND the Grand Prix.

The deadline to enter the Junior World Comps was yesterday March 31 2007, so I hope that all 59 preliminary entries from 16 different countries will come and fly!And if possible also some reserve pilots. The deadline for reserve pilots acceptance is on May 31.

In Germany they are in full swing for the WGC in 2008 in Luesse. First they will fly this year the preworlds:Lilienthal-Glide.As you know these comps are for 15m. 18m. and open class pilots.The Lilienthal-Glide will be also the German Nationals for open class and 15 m.
Time schedule; July 15- July 28-2007.
Look for info at www.wgc2008.de

It is rather busy , to have a job in art with lots to do and to keep in touch with the gliding world, but I will try.
The weather is OK , so I wish everybody in Europe, a safe and enjoyable new gliding season, with lots of personel-best- results and if you fly competitions a nice gold medal!
Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn
March 24 2007

With a day like this in Holland, with sun, nice clouds and blue skies the gliding-feeling straight away comes up!Not that there is a lot of gliding here as most airfields are too wet from too much rain. But the beginning is there!

No rain in Australia!” Dry as a bone”! So bad that , as I was told, Melbourne will have no water when it not rains within 50 days!Also the farmers struggle as never before! I wish them RAIN lots of it!!!!

Good friend Gerrit Kurstjens still managed to fly an 800 km flight yesterday from the Jondaryan airfield. It is autumn now in Queensland were he lives.
He will be one of the pilots flying at the Baron Hilton Ranch this June in Nevada.He had to make 2 flights to qualify. What happened!?
On February 3 he flew an FAI triangle, 1130 km. but….the next day he saw that the time and date on the logger were not correct, thanks to a software bug in the new system.He had a second logger with him , but this one was not yet approved!
No worries! 3 Days later he tried again. This time with FOUR 4 loggers!! He flew 1134 km , another triangle and…an invitation to visit the Baron Hilton Ranch. Congratulations to Gerrit!

In Rieti, Italy, they are very busy with the preparations for Sabina Glide , the preworld comps for st. class, club class and PW 5 . Straight after those comps the World Junior Gliding Championships will be held. Look for all information, names from the pilots and competing countries to .

With 66 preliminary entries we will have a ” a good field ” of young pilots.I will keep you posted as I will be the editor there.Look for info at the same website but click on Junior world competition. Have fun. Cheers Ritz