Prievidza, [ 24 April 2022 – 5 May 2022] had a few days to go when I left you last Wednesday. So here we go with the last days!
After 6 days of soaring they had on
May 4; Task 10, flying day 7.
Club ; 2.15 AAT…
15 m; 2.15 AAT…
combi; 2.30 AAT….
All tasks were cancelled due to bad weather.

May 5; very last day!
Club; 2 hour AAT….196 km in 2 hours at the dot, [98 km./h] means somebody who knows what he is doing; Uwe Wahlig also won the last day. So 5 in total .
32 Started 25 finished.
Overall points and winners in this class;
1. Uwe Wahlig [Germany] in LS 3 WL with 5.543 points.
2. Jacek Flis [Poland] in LS 3 with 5.437 p.
3. Mikolaj Zdun [Poland] in LS 3 with 5.409 p
4. Tim Milner [ UK] in LS 3 with 5.261 p.

15 m; 2 hour AAT....Lukasz Blaszczyk won in the Diana 2 , with 221 km in time 2.02 [speed 108 km/h, the only one over 100 km./h] ,but 4 Czech pilots hold on on their top positions. 3 starting on a different time, one more than half an hour earlier .
22 started 17 finished.
Final results in 15 m. class;
1. Miloslav Cink [Czech Rep] in LS 8b with 5.374 points.
2.  Pavel Louzecky [Czech Rep] in LS 8 with 5.345 p.
3. Jan Pavlik [Czech.Rep] in LS 8 with 5.313 p.

combi; 2 hour AAT...265 km. in time 2.12 was the daily winning combination for Sebastian. Radek was runner up holding his 3d position.
It was all about Gintas and Wolfgang this last day ; Wolfgang was 3 and Gintas 6th….but it was just not enough …..for Wolfgang.
25 started 27 finished.
Final results in combi class;
1. Gintas Zube [Lithuania] in ASG 29e with 5.418 points.
2. Wolfgang Janowitsch [Austria] in Ventus 3 with 5,415 p.
3. Radek Krejcirik [Czech .Rep.] in JS 1C EVO with 5.383 p.

As always a nice competition to follow, but it remains very sad that 2 pilots , will not be there next year.
R.I.P.

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KLIX 2022.

Klix; [ 29 April 2022 – 7 May 2022] started on May 4 with task 6.
And they were lucky with the weather again!!!Hence long tasks!
Club; 2.30 AAT..… 3 German pilots ,1 Dutch and 1 from Denmark formed the top 5, by flying between 211k. in an LS1f and 267 km in a LAK 13.5 FES. Already the 4th daily win for Christoph [Mathowski] .
11 started and 10 finished.
Standard; 3.30 AAT…397 and 389 km. for our Danish mates Filipe and Poul Kim, in time 3.35/6. The ladies are doing well too. Sabrina [Vogt] was 6th and Chrissie [Grote] 9th.
17 started and 17 finished, great result with such a long task during a competition.
2-seaters; 3 hour AAT.…Hagemann / Auen [ARCUS T ]were winner again with a speed of 114 km./h and Jeroen and Sjoerd [Duo Discus XL] runner up with 105 km./h , with the Dutch Arcus with Rooij/vd Zwan as 3d.[105 km/h.
open/18m; 3.30 AAT.…and Sjaak [Selen] was the daily best.399.78 I call that 400 km in time 3.42,48; speed 112.72 km./h.

May 5; after 6 days of flying they set NO TASK.

May 6 ;2 days to go, the final- end -sprint. AND,…what days!!!!!
Club; 5 hour AAT..…”Poor little ones” ,….but I am sure they enjoyed their selves, though only 1 flew over 100 km./h so it was pretty tough.
12 started and 9 finished and 3 were not scored for airspace infringement.
Christoph Matkowski is good… or his LAK 13.5 m., or BOTH!!!5 daily wins already. He flew 506 km in time 5.02, speed 100 km./h for 938 points.
Standard; 4 hour AAT....16 started and only 2 were out, but they flew over 400 km. Filip was runner up and Jan Kretzschmar won the day in his LS 8 neo, he was 1 km./h faster and got the 1000 points.
2-seaters; 4.30 AAT.…18 flew 17 finished and the Duo Discus did well on spot 1,2 and 3 before the DG 1000 and Arcus T.
Jeroen and Sjoerd were runner up with 489 km in time 4.33; speed 107 km./h for 965 points .
18m./Open; 519 km in 4.06 for Bas in the Nimbus 4Dm and 494 km in 4.03 for Sjaak in the ASG 29. The Dutchies did well. Helge Lieberts an other top competition pilot was 3d in the ASH 25/26m.
28 started, 28 finished….good on them!!

May 7 very last day in Klix;
Club; 262 km ……WELL,..why not another winning day by Christoph; 6 daily wins and then you know for sure that he wins in club class this competition. Look at his scores!!!!!
He was the last to start and the first to finish today!!!!! All 12 finished!
FINAL RESULTS IN CLUB CLASS:
1. Christoph Matkowski in LAK 13.5 FES with 6.439 points.
2. Paul Seiler in LS 1 moving up from 3 ; 5.092 p.
3. Maximilian Brune in Hornet WL moving up from 4 with 5.070 p.
Lars Heiko Hering , in the St Libelle had a less good last day and moved from 2 to 4.

Standard class; 310 km….with 114 km./h Felip won his 5th daily win.
14 started and 14 finished.
FINAL RESULTS IN STANDARD CLASS;
1. Filip Bojanowski from Denmark in Discus 2a with 6.287 points.
2. Poul Kim Larsen from Denmark in Discus 2a with 6.030 p.
3.  Jan Kretzschmar from Germany in LS 8neo with 5.988 p.
Sabine and Chrissie were on 7 and 8.

2-seater class; 320 km….Jeroen and Sjoerd did well on the last day , winning with a speed of 118 km./h .16 started and 1 was out.
FINAL RESULTS IN THE 2-SEARTER CLASS:
1. Verkuijl & van Empelen from Holland in Duo Discus XL with 6.224 p.
2. Wollschlaeger & Kaufeld from Germany in Duo Discus XL with 5.721 p.
3.  Hagemann & Auen from Germany in ARCUS T with 5.580 p.

18m/open; 386 km….Bas ,Sjaak and Helge started as the last pilots about 12 minutes behind the daily winner Steven Staudte, won with a speed of 124 km./h in his Discus 2c and moved up from 3 to 2 overall. The later starters were on spot 7, 9 and 10.
FINAL RESULTS IN 18m/OPEN;
1. Bas Seijffert from Holland in Nimbus 4d with 6.145 points.
2. Steven Staudte from Germany in Discus 2C with 6.118 p.
3. Sjaak Selen from Holland in ASG 29 with 5.990 p.

This year Klix had superb weather and with 1 ,more or less compulsory rest day, after 6 days of flying , they flew each day. So 8 out of 9 good -weather-days with 180.000 flown hours.
With 500 starts there were only 15 out-landings!!!!!!
Jeroen; “Had a great week at the Klix competition. We had great weather (flyable every day!), with nice speeds. First time for us we went to the mountains at the border with Czech Republic (twice!). Also a first time I flew with Sjoerd van Empelen (Junior World champion 2017) and it appears to be a good match. Had great fun as well“

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FRENCH NATIONALS.

The French Nationals [1 May 2022 – 7 May 2022] were flown in ONE class with 38 participants, male and female in standard, 15 m and 20 m [2 seaters]
Not so lucky with the weather as in Klix, as till now they had only 2 days of flying out of 4 with 3 days to go. Task 2 and 4 were cancelled.
May 5; task 5 .Big task for all types of gliders;
400 km….39 started and 29 finished.
Difficult day as the speed was pretty low for France;107 km/h by 2 pilots in a “better” glider…AND they were the only 2 “with over 100 km./h”; Daniel Vincent-Genod won in JS 3 and Philippe de Péchy in ARCUS M.
Good 3d spot for Ayala truelove from the UK who flies HC in her LS8;97 km./h.
May 6; Task 6… 317 km...flying day 4.
39 started and 29 finished….best speed 95 km./h , so not an easy day for the Pegase pilots. Winner; Julien Duboc in Ventus 2ax and he now leads the whole bunch overall coming from spot 3.
Young Kevin Faur was 5th and Philippe de Péchy in the ARCUS M, 14th. Eric [Napoleon] 19th in an Arcus T.
May 7; Task 7 …..256 km; flying day 5 and last day!!!!
Marilyne Abadie-Bérard in JS 3 won clearly the last day with 119 km./h. and won the Nationals with 3.260 points.
So a French female as new French Champion!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
Christian Dupeyron [ARCUS M] was number 2 with 3.237 points and on spot 3 was Julien Duboc in Ventus 2ax.
Niklas Lofgren from Sweden flew HC and was runner up with 3.247 points.
Philippe was 4t and Kevin 5th.

In the end the weather turned out better,…. more French….. and they could fly 5 out of 7 days.
The pilots were grateful to the Aéroclub d’Aire sur l’Adour , as well as to Régis Kuntz ,the competition director.

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The Swedish FAI SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX

On May 6 I read the next news;
“First official training day. No task today due to the bad whether forecast. Time for initial weighing, water ballast filling and exploring the surroundings of Borås.”
FAI Sailplane Grand Prix

After practice , the 2d day had 250 km. and was won by German pilot Hermann Leucker in a JS3/18m with 116 km./h, they started on May 8 [till 14] with 16 pilots from Sweden, Finland, Germany, Czech.Rep and the UK.
Race 1; 289 km….the first 10 points were for German pilot Hermann , for a speed of 119 km./h.
As always in the beginning a few penalties, either for a too low finish or a too high maximum speed whilst starting.
“Chequered flag! Very exciting finish for our pilots and the public of Boras. Nice and safe arrivals for everyone.” by the organizers.

Race 2; 218 km….Klaus won the daily prize for a speed of 97 km./h and has a total of 18 points after 2 days. There are 3 AS33 gliders flying in this GP.
One from Jon Gatfield from the UK, Petr Krejcirik from Czech Rep and German pilot Patrick Benoist.
15 flew 14 finished

Race 3; CANCELLED!!!
Race 4; “No race today in Boras. Light rain and cloudy sky. We need to wait for the cold front to pass… and we are hoping for great races at the end of the week in a new air-mass!“

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Last weekend had superb weather again…cracking conditions someone called it,….with 1000 km flights in several countries in Europe , but also the USA had strong weather.
Friday ; 2x a 1000 in Germany and 1.277 km from Minden in the USA in a JS 1, with high wave by James Lee.
Saturday; 1.150 from Bayreuth by Alexander Mueller [EB 29] , Jan Rothhardt flew a 1000 from Jena in a Ventus CM 17/6 m and one of the Lucaszes flew in Poland a 1000 as well.[ASG 29 /18m]
And what about Julia and Eric both flying an LS 4 ;820 km.
Great out and return by Tilo Holighaus,[Ventus 3 T] most probably a new German class record. He declared a 905 km flight from Hahnweide to Klix and back.
His full story is on https://www.weglide.org/flight/148375
In the USA ,James left with a mate again from Minden, now in a Duo Discus for 1.157 km. Another long “sit”.

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The 18 m. NATIONALS in the USA flown from Bermuda High started on May 10, so yesterday and will continue till May 18, with 2 practice days on May 8 and 9.
Till now no flying “It was a sunny day at Bermuda High today, perfect for kite flying, but not gliding” was the written in the CD report.
A strong “field” with well-known names!!!
All about it in next weeks blog, with co-operation from my USA mate Rick, who is there.
I heard that from team USA, only Sarah and Karl are flying in the 2seater class in Hungary at the WGC.

Finishing with this picture from the 18 m. Nationals in Bermuda

Cheers for now,
Ritz

Prievidza in Slovakia, was the next stop for competition pilots and as in Nitra lots enter. A lot even travel straight from the one to the other comps.
FCC[First Challenge Cup] gliding 2022 is popular and 120 participants were on the list flying in 3 classes.
They started on April 24 and continue till Mai 5!
The first 2 days had no tasks and task 3 ,266 km., in CLUB was won by Uwe Wahlig who had Nitra already behind him .
In the 15 m class class 340 km .
In the combi class it was Radek, who won the comps equal with Wim in Nitra already ,who got the 1000 points for a speed of 120 km./h over 368 km.
But then you don’t know what had happened.
Day 4 had no task.
Then you start to think.
And yes SADLY enough we lost 2 of our mates again. Happily and eager going to a competition and not coming home again.
There are TOO many.
This is the official report on April 26
” Today, in the afternoon, two gliders collided near the village of Trebostovo above the Končiar hill. Both gliders fell down into the forest in the difficult terrain. Based on a report from the Fire and Rescue Corps, we were told that both pilots were dead. All other competitors returned to the airport in Prievidza, or outlanded in the field. The organizers of the competition express their sincere condolences to the families and the entire Polish and Lithuanian team.”
On April 28 the organizers cancelled the first flying day in total.
“We would like to announce to all FCC 2022 participants the organizers’ decision regarding the last discipline. The results of the first competition day will be cancelled. We are aware that this decision should have come sooner, but our priority was first and foremost to deal with the situation from a human point of view and at the same time to cooperate with the rescue and investigative forces. Scoring the competition was not our priority.“
I do understand!!!
The next pictures are NOT to upset you, but to EXTRA warn you to fly safe!

I guess with emotion at both sites, organizers including field runners and tuggies AND pilots with their crews, but for sure new energy to do things correct, they started with a clean slate on Thursday April 28. Sometimes just continuing,…. helps to deal with the losses.
After a minute of silence ” dedicated to our deceased racers ” the pilots left from runway 04.
It sounds easy, but it is n’t ,as I remember VERY well ,when in 1991 Anssi Passila passed away in Uvalde.
club; 255 km…. the start gate opened at 12.48 and pilots went on track.
30 from the 38 who started [7 did not choose to fly] finished the task.
Uwe [Germany] in his LS 3 was the best again and he started 1` hour after the gate opened. He was the only one over 100 km./h
The first 4 flew LS 3.
15 m; 307 km….gate opened at 13.22 From the 26 starters 17 finished and 3 did not fly.
David Mach from Czech Rep won the day in his JS 3 with a speed of 130 km./h .
Alex Pop and Norbert Scarlat from Rumania were runners up but quite a bit slower in their Discus 2a; 116 km./h
combi; 349 km...gate open at 13.17 and 1.35 km,./h was the speed by Wolfgang [Janowitsch] in his Ventus 3T. The first 4 were all toppers at WGC’s. On spot 2 Radek [Krejcirik] , on 3 Gintas [Zube], on 4 Petr [Radeks dad] and on 6 in the ASG 32 MI team Janus Centka and on 9 Sebastian [Kawa]
But that changed later in spot 40 as Sebastian horizontally or vertically flew in forbidden space. Expensive points for a top pilot!!!

April 29 with task 5 flying day 2;
club….342 km; Start line open at 12.11. I told you already that Uwe was a very good pilot. He had one off day in Nitra but straight away won the next one again.
Here in Prievidza he won another day; 119 km./h. The Polish pilots Mikolaj and Jacek followed with 117 km./h. in their LS 3’s.
Our former tuggie in Tocumwal always flies this competition as well. Tim [Milner from the UK] was 5th in the LS 3
15m…..394 km; A Czech LS8-day! 3 Of them upfront. Jan,Pavel and Miloslav. In an otherorder they are the overall best at ths stage as well; Pavel, Miloslav and Jan .
26 Are still flying in this class and 3 were not scored due to entering forbidden airspace.
combi….422 km; Zdislaw from Poland in the JS 3, Radek [Czech Rep] in the JS1 and Leszek [ASG 29] also from Poland both with difficult names , formed the top 3. Sebastian was 8th and Wolfgang 12th. Gintas 16th.
After 6 days and 2 tasks Radek leads [1.807] for Wolfgang [1.777] and Gintas [1.723] The Hungarian pilots in the ARCUS T. are doing well on 4 with 5 points less.
40 Flying in this class now 2 were out.

April 30 last day of the month. Task 6 flying day 3.
Club; 3.15 AAT…Well,…I was very pleased to see our former tuggie doing so well. He won!!!! 335 km. in time 3.14 “gave” him the 1000 points.
37 started and only one pilot did not finish.
15 m; 3.15 AAT…AND,…as pleased to see that Judyta won the day and “got” her 1000 points. I met her last in Lake Keepit, where she won a day, if I remember well.
She started and finished with Lucasz Grabowski who was runner up;408/9 km in time 3.21/20.
26 started and one was out.
combi; 3.15 AAT…440 km for Sebastian in the Diana 3 FES and Karol Staryszak in ASG 29, in time 3.16, both from Poland of course;1000 and 977 points.
40 started AND 40 finished! Good!!!!

May 1; Task 7, flying day 4.
club; 2.45 AAT....299 km. in an LS 4 W in time 3.04 was the 1000 points-winner. Ionut Tudor from Rumania was the one who got them.2 Of the Polish runner ups flew 304 km. in time 3.10.
Tim was 5th. Uwe 9th.
Not an easy day as 23 from the 35 starters finished. A lot , 12 to be precise, were punished by entering a forbidden zone.
15 m; 2.45 AAT...the winning combination from km’s and time was for Czech Rep Pilot Pavel Louzecky in his LS 8; 303 km in time 3.01.
26 started 21 finished. The polish “Lucaszes” did well; Grabowski on 2 and Blaszczyk on 8. At this stage they are on 5 and 6 overall whilst the 3 Czech pilots lead in their LS 8’s.
combi; 2.45 AAT…336 km. in time 2.57 was the best for Janus[Centka] and his mate in the ASG 32 MI. Sebastian was runner up with 351 km. in 3 hour at the dot!!!
39 started but the ARCUS T was not scored as they could not find a valid start. So from 38 starters ,35 finished. Good day for them. Wolfgang was 12th and Gintas 5th, they still lead the overall scores, but it is still close in the top and a few more days to go.

May 2; task 8 flying day 5.
Club; 242 km...The 5 Polish pilots are combining their efforts , start at about the same time and fish so as well. So spot 1 to 5 is for the Polish pilots.
33 From 34 finished , the one “out” was from Poland too.
Speed from the 5 ;between 106 and 109 km.
15 m ; 264 km...best speed was 130km./h by Lucasz Blaszczyk in the Diana , BUT he was 4th with it. Winner was Jan Pavlik in LS 8 with 125 km./h [handicap 111.7]
open/18m; 289 km….also in this class 2 Polish pilots combine their efforts. One of them Sebastian in the Diana 3 FES and he won; 150.41 km./h!!!
6 Pilots flew between 148 and 150 km./h!!!
Among them  Karol Staryszak, [runner up] , Wolfgang ,Radek, Andre [Weidlich in Ventus 3 M] , Lucasz K and Gintas. The last 2 had equal points.

May 3; task 9 , flying day 6.
Club; 281 km…Already early in the day ,I noticed 2 outlandings….. BUT ALSO, early returns to the field….indeed finishes before 3PM.
In the end the LS3 from and WITH Uwe was the fastest;126 km./h Runner up Jacek had 120 km./h[same glider]
37 started and 5 were out.
15 m; 293 km.…138 km./h for David Mach, good speed !! His mate and runner up Miloslav had 129 km.h.
22 started 2 were out after 279 and 230 km. A pity!!!
combi; 318 km.….Here the speed was about the same in the top; 14 pilots finished between 15.06 and 15.11.Winner RADEK!!!!
He won earlier the ” for good reasons cancelled” task, but flew around now with 141 km./h in his JS 1for only 704 points.
The scores from May 3 are still unofficial at this stage.
For now , with 3 days to go the overall scores are;
Club; Jacek,[4.964] Uwe,[4.941] Mikolai [4.926] and Tim.[4.764]
15 m; Miloslav ,[ 4.839] Pavel [ 4.830] and Jan [4.810]
combi; Gintas [4.805] ,Wolfgang [4.764] Radek [4.731]

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Flying from Switzerland to the UK, from Courtelary to Lasham…..Why not??? But in a glider????
Yes …..In a 21 m JS1 C. TJ.
Swiss top pilot Yves Gerster did so…. Crazy??? No , adventurous maybe ,as he commented;
“UK-experiment part 1. The transition didn’t quite work, but I still wanted to see the other side of the Channel.“
516 km,…..speed 84 km./h !!
Even the Lasham-boys were surprised;
“Lasham doesn’t often see a sudden international glider cross country flights. But it did today from Yves Gerster who made his way from Switzerland to the UK, dropping into Lasham in a JS1 Jet Glider. He will complete the remainder of his flight later this week back to Europe. Potentially the most enterprising flight we’ve seen in decades!”

This flight was On Wednesday April 27 and many more good flights were flown that day, also from Belgium and The Netherlands.
From Keiheuvel [B] Jeroen Jennen flew in his LS 8 771 km and from Malden [N] 652 km was flown in an LS 4 by Tim Kuijpers. Both are former top juniors flying JWGC’s.
In the USA Evan flew 1.404 km [speed 138 km./h] in wave and with ridge soaring from Eagle in van ASW 27.
“Task was roughly Lock Haven PA – Gate City VA – Lock Haven for a 15m National O&R record.
This being my first solo ground launch ever, I opted to leave ballast for another day.
All went well enough, albeit with hellish turbulence at times, until 40 miles from the finish I switched batteries and got nothing! Post flight inspection reveals a battery terminal detached in flight (the turbulence was really that bad!).”
Also in the USA Dan flew 1.512 km. [speed 146 km./h] but he just missed out on his goal:
“Some days you win and some days you lose. Declared a 1500k three turnpoint task for a 1500k diploma. After 10 hours 45 minutes came up about 40 km short. Rough and tumble ridge, some wave thrown in with some gang buster thermals. A good day overall. At least I did not break anything.“
3.221 m MSL 2.602 AGL at one point, but mainly ridge soaring.
GREAT effort!!!!

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The Royal Air Force Gliding & Soaring Association started their 2022 expedition to Aéroclub International Sisteron on Wednesday.
Great weather with” 9 knot thermals. 13,000ft+ cloud base. Amazing views across a gliding paradise.“

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The 2022 Gauteng Regionals, talking South Africa now , Orient to be precise, were flown between April 23 and 30!
First flying day was on the 26th for both classes club and open.
Club with 6 participants and open with 12 had 3 flying days.
In club the 3 tasks were under 200 km. In the end the winner was Gregory in a DG 200 with 1.041 points, which says enough.
In open some “strong” pilots and tasks under 300 km with as winner John Coutts who won 2 days;1.789 points. Uys and Oscar were on spot 2 and 3 with 1 points difference between them;1.655 for 1.654.

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The 28th edition of the KLIX 2022 , with 72 competitors in 4 classes started on the 29th.[till May 7] after 2 practice days.
Club has 12 pilots, standard class 19, the 2-seaters are with 18 teams and 18 m./open has 29. Quite a few Dutch pilots have entered, as in the years before.
Task 1;
Club…277 km and flown by 9. A 1000 -points-day, for the 13.5 m. LAK /FES for a speed of 76 km./h with German pilot Christoph Matkowski.
Standard…340 km. 98 km/h for Filip from Denmark in the Discus.19 started and 18 finished.
2 seaters…340 km. won by Team Holland Jeroen Verkuijl / Sjoerd van Empelen in the Duo Discus. 9 From 18 finished, 4 less than 10 km out.
open/18m…426 km; 2 former world/European champions Sjaak and Steven fly in this class both in ASG 29 e. And 2 other WGC pilots Bas from Holland in the Nimbus 4 and Henrik Breidahl from Denmark in the 3.MD026 18m, whatever that is!
Christian Schneiders in the Discus2C FES won the first 1000 points in this class.

Task 2; With B tasks at the field and cancellation for the 2-seaters.
Club…1.41 km...best speed 77.43 km./h in an Astir CS 77.Great flight by Lilian from the Netherlands in the DG 300WL; 2d spot with 76. 89 km./h.
All 12 started and finished!!
standard…Jan Kretzschmar, who was runner up on day 1 , won the day now in his LS 8NEO.speed 105 km./h.
2-seaters… CANCELLED.
open/18m.…AND,..there is Bas Seijffert from Holland a “speedy gonzales”. Also today; 117.66 km./h whilst the runner up Sjaak, also from Holland flew 109,72 km./h. And to complete the top 3 TOTALLY; Dutch, Steven Raimond was 3d.
27 Started and one was out. Why Henrik did not fly I don’t know.

Task 3; turned out to be a good day with blue skies and nice cu’s and height up to 2600 m MSL! In the evening some pilots reported up to 7 m/s lift.
Club…250 km; 5 pilots flew over 100 km./h. Daily winner in a LAK 13.5FES was Christoph, who won day 1 as well.
standard…298 km ;19 started 18 finished and Filip won as he did on day 1!
2-seaters…307 km; Another Duo Discus XL won now with team Wollschlaeger & Kaufeld ; speed 123 km./h.16 from 18 finished.
open/18m…282 km; with a speed of 143 km./h Andreas Kuhl , in his JS 3, was the clear winner. Sjaak was runner up with 128 km./h!

Task 4; more or less the same conditions as for task 3. Thermals a bit weaker and starting later, so tasks a bit smaller too.
Club; 210 km...All went on track within 15 minutes and ALL 12 finished! Best speed 92 and 94 km./h
Standard ; 172 km…131 km. /h. and again Filip was the best…3d time.
17 started and finished!
2-seaters; 272 km….BIG speed for the Dutch Duo Discus with Jeroen and Sjoerd;122.25 km./h. The runners up had
From 18, 17 finished
18m/open ; 343 km.…the Dutch are doing well. Speedy- Bas won another day in the Nimbus 4DM[ 120 km./h]. The next best speed 113 km./h was from Steven.
26 Started one was out and one had an invalid start.

Task 5; a day full of hope and long flights, look at this…So early starts at 11.15 and an extra tug [Breezer] to help out.
Club; 4.30 AAT...433 km was flown by Christoph , winning his 3d day!!!!
11 Started and only 1 did not finish and he was with 321 km. in his Astir close by. But you have to finish.
Standard; 4.30 AAT...The Danish pilots are doing well. 2, Poul Kim [Discus 2A] and Jan [LS 8 neo /e] starting about 6 minutes behind each other and finishing like that too, for 1000 and 975 points.
16 started and 1 was out.
2-seaters; 3.45 AAT…One ARCUS T ahead of 4 Duo Discus types. 450 km in time 3.59, for Hagemann en Auen. Sjoerd and Jeroen were runner up with 398 km in time 3.48.
ALL 18 started and 3 were out.
18m/open; 4 hour AAT…..Dutch day with spot 1 and 2 and 6!! Bas flew 486 km in time 4.13 and won another day. Sjaak was runner up with 480 km. in 4.19.
27 started and 3 were out.
More next week.

a great aerial picture from Bo in the back of the tug.

AND,…the French Championships in standard,15m and 2 seaterclass have started as well from Aire-sur-l’Adour, on Mai 1[till May 7]
39 Pilots/teams fly in ONE handicapped class and on day 1 the first start was after 4PM. Task was 183 km.
Till now they had 2 out of 3 small tasks. More next week!!!
AND the Swedish FAI Grand Prix at Boras has 16 entries.
Busy busy! More next week.

AND,…….there are 89 final entries for the WGC in Hungary end of July.
Attention! “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the location of the 37th FAI WGC 2022 has been changed from Kecskemét-Matkópuszta (Hungary) to Szeged (Hungary).” Contest; July 24-August 5 2022.
I know there are still a few on that list who have withdrawn.

Today on Mai 4 we remember all those who died in the war. At Terlet Arjan, who always takes such great pictures flew around in a glider with Ray Whitwell , a 103 year old veteran from the UK who fought in the area , he now flew over.
It was broadcasted on regional TV as well;
“103 year old WWII veteran Ray Whitwell up in a glider for a flight over Arnhem and Oosterbeek.”

Cheers Ritz and ….. very special…..Judy Renner found the picture of Ingo and Inge and I HAVE to share this 20 year old photo with all of you….sooo nice.

Don’t forget to read the SPECIAL BLOG below this one!!!!!!!

To give this news MORE space ,I share it with you in an extra post and I hope it works out well for them.
When you have donated already, you can skip the first part of this post and THANK YOU.

It’s from the

WWGC2022 – The 11th FAI Women’s World Gliding Championship
The Gliding Centre, Husbands Bosworth August 2022
wwgc2022.co.uk

They are working to support entries for two female pilots from Ukraine and invite everyone in our gliding community to help support this effort.

Good afternoon everyone,

we now have the fundraising page for the Ukraine pilots to join us at WWGC2022 set up and ready for donations.  You can find it at

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-ukrainian-women-pilots-to-attend-wwgc2022

Thanks to those of you who have offered to donate!  There will be posts going out on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter later on today, please share those across your networks when you see them. 

Many thanks,

Liz
Liz Sparrow
Competition Director, WWGC2022 
British Gliding Team Pilot and Women Gliding Founder Member
director@wwgc2022.co.uk
01794 342309
07767 848229

IMPORTANT!!!!!!

After the accident in Prievidza Sebastiaan Kawa wrote some words about safety in our beautiful sport.
I share them with you;
“This is a translation of a post that Sebastian Kawa sent to whatsapp a few days ago. Very nicely and clearly said and straight to the point!.

Dear gliding fellows.
Many aviation and gliding traditions follow similar traffic rules and good aviation practices. Unfortunately, these rules are not part of international air traffic regulations and have never been published in official publications.
Even in countries where such rules existed as national or club rules when international rules were introduced, the specifics of our traffic have been ignored along with the abolition of national rules. There are no traffic rules published in FAI documents governing the conduct of sailplane competitions.
That is why when we meet together at competitions, we can adapt regulations, which aeroclubs have had for years, as good practice or aviation etiquette. As a general rule of thumb, let’s assume that a sailplane that is flying behind another sailplane is responsible for separation and safety as a sailplane flying in front cannot see what is happening behind.
Secondly, avoid sudden maneuvers in the immediate vicinity of the second sailplane. The closer we fly, the slower the approach speeds and the smoother the maneuvers should be. Flying head on deviate to the right.  And specifically for our  
1a) Never fly over another sailplane in such a position and so close that you lose sight of it under the fuselage and when it is possible that a sailplane below may pull up and collide with those flying above. When the pilots cannot see each other, a collision is highly probable. This should be avoided in straight flight at high speed when pulling up may change altitude very fast, but also when circling in the thermal. Overtaking vertically on the final is especially dangerous. Fly at least a wingspan aside. 
1b) – You must not overtake when flying under another sailplane in a position where a sailplane flying above could dive and collide with you.

2a) – Circling sailplanes have priority. They fly at a slower speed and have less maneuverability. The gliders in the thermal need to focus on observing each other. If you want to join a thermal you should also respect the job pilots already did to find a core.  
2b – When joining the thermal, it should follow a tangent line to circling sailplanes and join in the same direction of circling. Adjust the speed as early as possible and be careful not to collide with the sailplane above when you pull up. Look around. In the vicinity of the thermal there may be gliders circling in a different orbit or gliders approaching the thermal from a different direction, which sets a particular risk of collision.
2c) – When gliders enter the same thermal accidentally and start circling in opposite directions, the higher glider sets the direction of circling. If the vertical separation is over 300m, you can circle in opposite directions, but if gliders enter the thermal at altitudes in between, they should start circling in the same direction as the highest glider, so it is better to adjust the direction of circling in advance if you are the lower glider.2d) – When leaving the thermal, before you start to accelerate, make sure that there is no glider below. When you leave a crowded thermal, it is better to accelerate after you level off your wings. Especially Dangerous situations are when more than one glider leaves or enters the thermal at the same moment. In this case, you should check the position of each glider in the vicinity several times during the entry.
3- Flying by the mountain slope, give way to the glider with the slope on his right side. The usual rule of right-hand traffic does not allow him to deviate to the right to pass, and for this reason, the glider with a slope on the left has the option of flying wider into the valley and giving way. The exception is the left end of the slope (looking against the wind), where immediately after making the turn, gliders that were flying directly behind us and are still before the turn should be given way.

Read it carefully……..
THANK YOU Sebastian.

When I left you on Wednesday the weather-forecast looked promising.
“The weather looks fantastic today!” BUT,…..not much later there was an outlanding at the airport of Martin, not so far from Nitra.
“Probably weather is not as fantastic as stated previous report.”
What happened on Wednesday April 20??? Unfortunately it turned out to be a bit of an “off-day” for the organizers ..weatherman…and the “poor” pilots. No finishers!
It was one of those days, the weather went it’s own way. Luckily not a lot of points to gain or loose….though Tilo might not agree with me.
Club class;
task 6; 401 km...335 km.
was a hero-act for 500 points by Slovenian pilot Mark in his ASW 20 W. He flew more than 100 km. further than the rest so he must have done a few things really RIGHT!!!!
Runner up Boris, flew 239 km for 430 points in his St Cirrus WL. Others 238 15 m. class; task 6....503 km....
Same circumstances in this class ONE pilot flies more than 100 km than the rest. This time David in his Ventus 2a; 419 km. for 600 points. The runner up also from Czech Rep flew 304 km.
20m/2-seater class; task 6.…503 km.…
Bad news for the number 1 overall, team Tilo and Jan Lucas, they were out after 58 km!!!! They dropped from 1 to 4. Better job was done by the Slovenian team in the Arcus with 345 km. for 600 points. They moved from 4 to 2 overall.
open class; task 6….555 km….
One of the pilots from the club of my Belgium friends Keiheuvel, Wim won the day!!!In his Ventus 3F/18m he flew 504 km. Simon flew 505 km in the EB 29, but got a warning…no loss of points.
Wim moved to spot 1 overall from 4 [2.984]and Matthias to 3 with Radek still in the middle.[2.978] All very close.

Thursday April 21;
A good soaring day .In the end it turned out to be the last one of the competition due to the weather. A pity as scores were really CLOSE!!!
Club class; 276 km…After his off-day Uwe [Wahlig] showed his class and won the day…his second win. Uwe was the last one to start at 13.27 ,whilst the first pilots went on track at 13.02. Not enough points to be in the top 3 but moving up from 14 to 7 is GOOD.
Michal Lesinger who was the number 1 overall during the last days , was 9th, but still had just enough points to win the comps.
Dutch LS 7 pilot Roelof was 3d for the day.
The overall scores after 5 flying days in CLUB CLASS;
1. Michal Lesinger [56] from Czech Rep. in ASW 20 with 3.186 points.
2. Roelof Corporaal [33] from The Netherlands in LS 7W with 3.179 points.
3. Mark Travner [24] from Slovenia in ASW 20 w with 3.169 points.
All scores VERY CLOSE!!!!

15 m. class; 328 km…2 Polish pilots and 3 German pilots formed the top 5!!!
Tomasz and Lucasz were fast with 127 km./h Max ,Jan and Sebastian were 10 km./h slower.
AND,…number 6 was David Mach who leaded the overall scores. Not real start games as most were “gone” in 15 minutes.
That results in the next final scores after 5 days in 15 m CLASS..
1. David Mach [27] from Czech Rep in Ventus 2A with 3.942 points.
2. Max Maslak [19 !!!] from Germany in Discus 2T with 3.866 points.
3. Jan Schulz [21] from Germany in Discus 2T with 3.623 points.

20 m class; 325 km….Team Beyer/Lauer,2 young German guy’s, won the last day with 127 km./h after a late start in their ARCUS.
After 5 days the overall scores in 20 m. CLASS look like this;
1. Rudolf & Kavalic from Slovenia in the DUO DISCUS XL with 3.951 points.
2. Sibanc & Knez from Slovenia in Arcus with 3.884 points.
3. Buhlmann & Kiessl from Germany in ARCUS with 3.645 points.

Open class; 381 km…133 km./h was the winning speed for Slovenian pilot Luka in his VENTUS 3f. Radek and Wim were on spot 9 and 10 with 135 and 127 km./h. on this last successful day.
This brought them an equal FIRST place. GOOD ON THEM!!!!!
Overall scores in OPEN CLASS after 5 days;
1. Radek Krejcirik [30] from Czech Rep. in JS 1 F /21 m. with 3.844 points.
1. Wim Akkermans [41] from Belgium in Ventus 3F with 3.844 points.
3. Matthias Sturm [47] from Germany in JS 3/18 with 3.753 points.

All in all another great and successful edition of this 20thiest anniversary- Pribina Cup. The prize giving was , due to cancellation of the last day earlier,… on Friday April 22 at 4. So everybody was home again Saturday or Sunday.
Congratulations to all.

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A long time ago I wrote about 6 Danish gliders which were stolen in 2017!!!
4 Club planes and 2 private ones.
Now on April 10 2022 they found a Duo Discus and LS 4. The other 4 seem to be found too, as sources in Lithuania state.
The mystery about the Danish gliders you can read in the Nordic Gliding Magazine from Jens Trabolt
“Mystery about stolen Danish gliders – now found in Lithuania, 3 Czech nationals allegedly presented false purchase contract to police at the Polish / Lithuanian border when they were stopped with a Duo Discus and an LS4.”
Very interesting and exciting reading, have a look. It’s hard to believe , but it happened.

https://nordicgliding-com.translate.goog/mystik-om-stjaalne-danske-svaevefly-nu-fundet-i-litauen/

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I really thought I had published this news already, as I always want to give you each site of a story,….. I know I have read it ; it might be double now in my blog ….no worries. It’s about the WWGC in Lake Keepit.
I shared the final verdict and not long after, the “girls” shared their opinion.
Here is their view/perspective of what happened
https://wwgcausteamstory.com.au/
And,…. as the next WWGC in Husbos is already soon [August 13-27 2022] , Lake Keepit is done and dusted now;
https://wwgc2022.co.uk/

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Short news;
On May 8 till the 14th 2022, the 1st Qualifying SGP of the 11th Series starts in Sweden in Boras.

LZ Design news; “Finally we published new FES website!”
Freedom to enjoy soaring…..front electric sustainer.
AERO 2022: LZ design is present with mighty Duo Discus FES in hall A7 stand 213. Looking forward to meet you!
front-electric-sustainer.com

Aéroclub d’Aire sur l’Adour is preparing for the French Nationals in standard, 15 m and 20 m class…..male and female between May 1 and 7 2022.
Quite a few strong names amongst the girls as Aude Grangeray, Anne Ducarouge , Maryline Abadie-Berard and from the UK Ayala Truelove.
Pierre the Broqueville will fly as well as Eric Napoleon and 2 from the De Pechy Family and young Kevin Faur.
CDF 2022 website
More in my next blog!

European weekend weather was good for several over 750 km. spring-flights.
Saturday ….804 in a Ventus 2CM.\/18m from Hodenhagen in Germany , Sunday 770 km from St Johan in Austria in AS 33es/18m.

Last but not least news from Finland;
“Our gliding season started a week ago but all taxi and rwys are not in
use because of the reason seen in these pics.
As you can see, today we had visiting aviators refueling and taking a
rest.”

CU next week!!!It’s May already then,….time flies!!!
Cheers Ritz

PRIBINA CUP:
On April 13 they started with the practice days. On Friday April 15 the first flying day was cancelled as was the next day !They tried hard ,but no chance to fly a task, due to wind and “no lift” ,….a lot had to return to the field after they started.
So on HAPPY EASTER, April 17, tasks were set AND flown. AND WHAT TASKS!!
Task 3;
At 12.25 the organizers shared the next message ;
“All gliders are in the air. Weather looks promising, with 3m/s lifts and cloud bases above 2000m QNH“
Club class; 361 km…Dutch pilot Roelof Corporaal just missed out on 2 points to “have” the first 1000 ;998.
In his LS7 WL he flew around with a best speed of 121 km./h.
23 Finished, 1 was out and 4 entered forbidden airspace.
15 m class; 446 km…David Mach from Czech Rep flew in his Ventus 2a around with a speed of 132 km./h. German pilot Max Maslak in a Discus 2T was runner up [123 km./h.]
All 24 finished but 3 got zero points for an airspace infringement.
20 m 2-seater class; 444 km…1000 points for Tilo and his mate Jan Lucas flying the ARCUS M. All 9 teams flew, nobody was “punished” and all finished.
open class; 501 km…146.48 km./h in the 18m JS 3 was the best daily result for Jernej Lokovsek. He was followed by some well-known names, as German pilot Matthias Sturm, Belgium pilot Wim Akkermans and Radek in A JS1/21m. so not in the brand-new AS33es, because …his dad Petr flies the new toy.
43 from 46 finished.

April 18 Task 4;
At 1.30 the message was ;”Everyone is in the air. First gliders are already on the 1st turnpoint at the north. Some snow/ rain showers in the task area but it does n’t seem like a trouble for pilots.“
Club class: 251 km.…fast day and not too many points to gain. Uwe Wahlig [LA3 WL] won the daily 571 points with a speed of 130 km./h. Quite a bit faster than the runners up from Czech Rep in ASW 20 and KKB-15E FES, who flew around with 111 km./h. Only one outlanding [from 28] , so a GOOD day!
15 m class ;335 km...Polish pilot Wiktor Lacinski was ONE minute faster than German pilot Max Maslak , so 921 and 914 points for the boys.
Czech pilot Karl Novak was 3d in the JS 3 and one of the Lucaszes , Lucasz Grabowski was 5th.
Aurelien from France, Juditha from Poland and the Czech girls Dana and Jana were on spot 18,19, 20 and 21. [3x LS8 and a Discus 2a]
25 finished only one was out.
2 seater class ;333 km…Team Aberle/Holighaus won again and added 962 points to their scores. With 115 km/h. they were 1 km./h faster than the other German ARCUS, but about 7 km./h faster than the rest.
All finished.
open class; 371 km....45 started and 44 finished and the daily best was Matthias Sturm [JS3] with 135.78 km./h speed. Runner up Hungarian pilot Zoltan Hamar was a tad slower ;131.62 km/h. Radek was 3d, he was the fastest for the day with 136.25 km./h ,[higher handicap 127.7] his dad 17th.
45 started 44 finished!

April 19 Task 5;
The early morning news at 8.45 was; “Grid is already opened, briefing is scheduled for 10 am as usual. The weather situation looks a bit complicated today, so we are closely monitoring it to see how it develops. First launch is expected at 12 loc for now. So get ready“
AND ,…it was at 12 PM!!!
AND,….at 1.01 PM all gliders were in the air. Great job!!!
Club class; 2.30 AAT…Dutch pilot Roelof won another day. He is a member of the club the Gelderse, where my granddaughter flies as well.
In his LS 7WL he flew 267 km in time in 2 .31. He was followed by 2 Czech pilots.
At this stage, with many scores still preliminary, Roelof is 3d overall with 2.157 points. Ahead of him 2 Czech pilots Michal Lesinger and Jiri Kusbach with 2.198 and 2.189 points. Tibor, who flew with us in Tocumwal is 4th with 2.140 points. So EVERYTHING can still happen.
From 28 starters 1 was out.
Uwe who won task 4 unfortunately had a bad day; 24th. He dropped from 1 to 10, but” it ain’t over yet”, he is a winner.
15 m. class; 2.30 AAT.…a fully German day with a German top 4 in Discus and LS 8. Daily winner Jan Schulz with 319 km. in time 2.29,56. good timing!!! Runner up Max Maslak also in Discus 2T with 318 km in time 2.30,08, also great timing.
On 3 Sebastian Nagel[ who I met at 1 or 2 JWGC’s ] in Discus 2A, with 317 km in time 2.30,05 and the 4th pilot in the LS 8 was Jan Kretzschmar with 314 km. in time 2.34.
After task 5 it is Max who leads with Jan as runner up; 2.665 for 2.620.
All 25 starters finished as well.
20 m-2-seaters; 2.30 AAT …. 8 teams started and finished, best for the day an HC pilot from Poland flying 318 km. in time 2.33 in an ARCUS.
Aberle /Holighaus lead the overall scores at this stage with 2.727 points. The Runners up in a Duo Discus have 2.648 points.
Open class; 2.30 AAT…Good to see that Andreas [Lutz] won the day. Like his mate Wolfgang Janowitsch he is a frequent WGC pilot. He flew in the Ventus 3/18m 339 km in time 2.29,55. Those pilots are really good in their timing, better than I remember. Matthias in his JS 3 started 9 minutes earlier flew about the same distance in time 2.27,49.
At this stage the preliminary scores look as follows; 1. Matthias with 2.642 points. ….2. Radek with 2.470 p and ….3. Zoltan from Hungary just ahead of Wim from Belgium ;2.437 for 2.426. By the way number 5 has 2 points less, so also here everything is possible.

The news for today Wednesday April 20 is;
“Good morning! 
Hope You sleep well and You are ready for the next competition day. Runway in use 33, online briefing at 10 am. Sun is shining so get some vitamin D before the flight.”
You can expect they fly today and next week you will read it all. When you want to keep an eye on it yourself you can use; https://www.pribinacup.sk/2022/

I was shocked to read that top-soaring-journalist Gerd Marzinzik died on April 12,due to a fatal accident in the mountains [Tirol]. Together with him a young co-pilot…. so terribly tragic! Only 17 I read.
What a loss!!!!
I met Gerd , mainly in the past, at several WGC’s and he flew with us in Tocumwal. He was a professional writer about soaring and I read the “Aerokurier” only because of his gliding stories.
Lately I did not see him anymore, but I read most he wrote. Nowadays he was part of the Bitterwasser team and they were ,like anybody who knew him very sad!!!
They wrote;
“For 3 years, Gerhard enriched the Bitterwasser team as a highly valued permanent member. Numerous exciting reports and photo contributions were written by him and informed the international gliding community online about the current events at the Bitterwasser Lodge.
Gerhard was a quiet, fine person with a mischievous sense of humor. His flying expertise was appreciated and recognized by all.
He died in the pursuit of his great passion, gliding. Our deepest sympathy goes to his relatives and loved ones as well as to the relatives of his co-pilot. Gerhard leaves a big gap.
We will miss him.”
I will miss him too!!A lovely very down-to-earth-guy.
R.I.P. Gerd.
R.I.P. young co pilot as well, I better not think of one of my soaring grandchildren.

Gerd contributed to the OLC as well;
“It is with great sadness to announce the death of our long-term team member Gerhard Marzinzik”
“We greatly appreciated not only his comprehensive experience in competitive gliding, but also his unparalleled ability to communicate and write about our sport in an entertaining, exciting yet highly professional way. With no doubt, Gerhard’s contribution laid the foundation for the global success of the OLC“
“His name will always be inseparably associated with the OLC.”
as shared by Stefan Harries for the entire OLC-Team

On April 14 there was another accident with a private DG 800,” over mountainous terrain at an elevation of about 3,500 meters on the Lys glacier, Monte Rosa, Italy.
The sole pilot onboard was fatally injured. This is the third glider crash in Italy so far in April.”
Not good, please be careful!!!!!!!

And then just also over Easter, the TRAGIC news of Silva’s death. Unbelievable! He , Juha “Silva” Silvennoinen, was my “boss” in Rayskala , where I wrote and was steward during the EGC, with Dick Bradley as the chief steward. Silva dared to set a 1000 on the first flying day for open class and we supported him.
I was there during the JWGC where I met him again and his wife and daughter Maria, such a nice and big family. They have to continue without him and I feel deeply for them.
He was so dedicated to soaring , a top CD and a good pilot. A great family man, had military discipline and loved Finish folklore, wearing special cloth for an occasion as opening or closure of an event. He loved nature.
Don’t know what happened during the last flight of his life,…but he crashed and left us all.
R.I.P Silva.

With all this sadness, it’s good to look to a happier item as well,…. young ones who love their soaring too and try to achieve goals. As young Dan who flies at the Cotswold’s in the UK.
Congratulations Dan with your silver C.

News from WeGlide;
On https://magazine.weglide.org/taking-the-next-step/ you can read all about their new plans .They are now launching a subscription model.
“Our main focus is and always will be to improve the free version and to build features available to all pilots.”

News from the European Gliding Union.
They had their annual conference, which was to be in Oslo, on February 26, but in the end was virtual due to COVID.
The EGU has 21 full members and represent 80.000 glider pilots.
Their new president is Arild Solbakken from Norway.
After 10 years Patrick Naegeli announced his well deserved resignment and he is now appointed as Honorary President.
“Patrick Naegeli had announced his resignment from his position as EGU President by the end of the EGU General Meeting 2022. He retired from the Executive Board after having served for 10 years as president.“
You can find ALL their info on
https://glidingunion.eu/

Friedrichshafen Germany; The worldwide leading platform for General Aviation is coming back live! 500 exhibitors, 50 conferences, new trends and contacts – be part of it!
April 27 -April 30 2022.

We had the most beautiful weather over Easter and I hope that you had the same great time ,as I had.
Glider pilots had fun as well. Specially Easter Saturday was a top-day in the Alps.
780 pilots added their flight on the OLC and the most impressive flight was in a NIMBUS 3 ; 1.365 km. with a speed of 132 km./h. flown by Joachim Hirt and Tobias Breithaupt. They flew from Lienz Nikolsdorf. So did Tobias Welsch and Steffen Goettler in the Arcus M with 1.286 km .Also Jan Omsels in a Discus flew from there 922 km and in the EB 29 Alexander Mueller flew 1.119 km.
And one more over 1000 km flight in a Nimbus 4 DM with in it Yves Klett and co pilot Marius Jaeger and for him it was the very first 1000.
Bert Schmelzer jr started at Alzate Brianza in Italy and flew in his Ventus t/18m. a distance of 1.128 km.
Wave went up to 3.835 MSL but the ridge-soaring -knob was on as well.
Down under , in their autumn period, they enjoyed great Easter- Saturday- weather as well with flights from 400 km by Robert and Jenny in the ASK 21 !!!,from the Heart of the Continent , Mac with 534 in his LS 8 and Adam with the same distance in the Ventus 3 both flights from Temora.

Easter Sunday and Monday had top flights as well, so …..many happy pilots…..AND in the end as I heard later, unfortunately many very sad ones as well. Sorry , but I can’t get used to loosing mates due to gliding. And it happens TOO OFTEN!!!!! As said PLEASE BE CAREFUL.

Cheers Ritz, till next week. With so much sadness it ‘s difficult to write!

Last weekend several European countries enjoyed cold, but lovely soaring weather. The Netherlands was one of those countries. Looking at the sky both on Saturday and Sunday my soaring-heart went “boom- boom”!!!!
Swiss pilot Davide, who likes long distance flying, flew 1.320 km. in a Discus 2!!!!!Wave up to 5930m MSL,[his highest point] but also ridge-soaring , over Switzerland, France and Italy, created the good result during an 11 hour and 44 minute flight! And indeed a Nord-foehn was blazing over the mountain tops.
On that Saturday 4x a 1000 k was flown. One in an ASH 26E. The Swiss had their SGT camp[Training] in Valbrembo in Italy, with these very good circumstances.
On Sunday some Dutch pilots flew up to 876 km [ASG 29] and 815 in Duo Discus .
Nearly 1000 pilots loved their flying for a goal or as important for joy and fun and shared that with us via OLC or WeGlide.

In the UK , most probably, the first declared 750 for 2022 was flown by Pete Harvey in the Ventus 3 on April 9.From Lasham Andy Aveling and Garry Coppin flew 696 in the Arcus M and Roy [Pentecost] flew 641 in his ASG 29E.
The Lasham Gliding Society added;
“Another busy weekend at Lasham is complete with close to 250 launches and flights of 750km+ at speeds of well over 100kph average! Our gliders flew cross country as far west as Plymouth and as far east as Dover! Sometimes enjoying some glides over the water and climbs to over 6000ft.Plenty of training and introductory flights during the weekend too! We train new student pilots all year round. “
Visit www.lashamgliding.com for more details.

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Interesting to read that Simon Schroeder, who I saw in Uvalde in Texas in a restaurant with his family, when he was a teenager, now 10 years later, won the WORLD SOARING CUP. Good on him!!!
At that time his dad Robert flew the WGC.
As Gerd Marzinzik wrote on the OLC news ;”He got the cup for his outstanding performance at the 2021 Standard Class Gliding World Championships in Montluçon, France. He got the most achievable points there in 2021 at world championships. The year before the today 25-year-old won the Junior World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, in the Standard Class.”
Talking about the WGC this year in Hungary; I heard, it has moved due to the war in the Ukraine, to Szeged again. The other place was too close to a military NATO base, which is needed now!!!

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Busy enough at the Tocumwal Airshow…great weather fabulous planes and demo’s and lot’s of enthusiastic people.

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Yesterday evening young Radek Krejcirik had nice news on FB.
“Good evening, let me welcome to this group AS33 sn 33033 CN 12. Yesterday 11.04. pickup at the factory. Evening CAA check in Prague (to be honest impressive work done by the officers). Today first flight at the LKCM in Czechia. Lets go for PribinaCup beginning at the end of this week. Thank AS for wonderful work, everything works smooth!”
Good luck in your new glider.
When I remember the many new gliders we had and when they were just ready before an important competition , it always gave smaller or bigger problems with wires or instruments. I hope that does not happen to him.

Vladimir Foltin , the The Sporting Director from the Pribina Cup, [ April 15-April 23 2022] always flown in the Easter weekend, that is ,when there is NO CORONA, wrote in his welcome post:
“Dear pilots,
We would like to inform you about the decisions to continue with preparation of the competition. However, there is another tragedy happening in the neighboring country, that could not be anticipated before. We monitor the developments closely and we will inform of any noteworthy aspects that may affect the preparations for the event.”
Today on the 13th the practice is starting and 117 pilots will be ready to go for it. .
There are 33 pilots in CLUB class, 25 in 15 m. class, 11 in the 20m multi seat class and in open 48 , including Radek.
Last time winners and due to Covid that was in 2019, were Simon Briel and Enrique Levin [Germany] in the Duo Discus, Mark Travner from Slovenia in Club in a DG 300, Tomasz Hornik from Poland in Discus 2a in 15 m. and Sebastian Kawa from Poland in the Diana 3FES in open class .

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When you are in the neighborhood don’t forget the best and leading show for general aviation in Friedrichshafen in Germany between April 27- 30 in 2022.

CU next week with more news and results from the Pribina Cup the first BIG European competition of the season.
By the way the Dutch Open Military Championship will be flown from Malden between June 13 and 17.From Friday April 15 the registration is open.
Cheers Ritz

When they said that there would be a “snow-winter-wonderland” on Friday morning, we looked as well at the weather forecast, as at the calendar…April 1,….mmm…..joke or….
But looking at that weather forecast, it could happen and ……yes it happened.
After the month of March broke “heat” record after record,…not sure if we should be happy with that….it was cold and WHITE on Friday morning April 1.
What happened in March here, was interesting looking at the climate change.
The average of sun was 244 hours instead of 146!!!
The average amount of rain was 8.8 mm , normally 56!!!!! The old record was from 1929 with 9.5 mm.
So the warmest driest month of March with historical low humidity.
The 20 dgr. C however the weekend before felt just SO GOOD!!!!

April started COLD with some die-hards skating on natural-ice [ thin layer of water over track] on April 2. This NEVER happened before.
BUT,…the cold , artic air brought good conditions for soaring to the Netherlands as well. AND, great visibility even with the showers.
What about the “boy’s from Soesterberg from the club from Amsterdam, Hans, Sikko and Mark? They flew last Saturday direction East, far into Germany.
3x an ASG 29 and flights from over 750 km!!!! They topped the OLC that day.
NO WAVE here, but as Dinant said after his first xc for the season; ” Beautiful crisp arctic air, dodging snow showers and never ending convergence.”
Mark mentioned: “Fantastic spring weather! Super unstable air and the forecast was spot on. Cloud base up to 2000 m where it was minus 10.8 dgr. C. We turned Luenenburg, 370 km OUT, and the last 300 km we flew home through snow showers“.
The Belgian, German and also Danish pilots enjoyed the same cold air, result; 588 km in a St. Libelle in early April from Hammer Flyveplad.
On Sunday same good air with 803 km. in a Duo Discus in Germany and 637 in ASW 15 and 758 in ASG 29 in Belgium .

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Adam was very pleased last week after the Australian League came to an end and he shared it with us in Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
“The Schempp-Hirth Ventus 3T wins the Australian Speed OLC at the 12th hour! Norm Bloch came in a very close second in his JS3, Tobias Geiger third in his V2ax Very proud of this result, as it was a goal of mine this summer. What makes it better, was that WA had one of its best summers on record, where as the East Coast had one of the worst on record “
The summer season is over now down under, so it’s waiting for the next one, end of this year. I hope to feel that sun there then as well.
WeGlide reacted as well;
“The Australian National League has come to an end last weekend. 30 clubs participated in a close race for the title. Here are the winners:
Beverley Soaring Society, 286pt
Gliding Club of Victoria, 282pt
Temora Gliding Club, 238pt
Amazingly, there wasn’t a single round where no flights were uploaded. Congratulations to the Australian pilots/clubs. ALL gave their best each weekend to achieve fast sprint results It was a big help for pilots based in the northern hemisphere to come through the winter!“
For the full result;
https://www.weglide.org/league/AU?type=total&round=24&season=2022

To stay in Australia; When we were guests at Sportavia in the beginning of our visits down under, some 35 years ago, Michele Lappin was a tuggie and helped out in the office. Her 2 children Cloe and Ben hung around at the airfield, day and night and even slept in the bar on the sofa. Daddy Gerard was a very talented pilot as well, more specialized in crop-dusting.
She even flew with the kids in the tugs, carefully strapped in, when they could barely walk.
Michele worked later for us as well ,but passed away a few years ago.
I worried about those kids, but look at Ben now,…I should not have worried at all;

“The air ambulance is a critical service for regional residents and they’re a regular visitor to Tocumwal.
Another regular visitor is former Tocumwal local Ben Lappin who is now flying for the air ambulance service.
Ben is also a Specialist Capability Officer with the Air Force’s Number 100 Squadron and he’ll be back next weekend displaying the P-51 Mustang at the Tocumwal Airshow.”
The show will be next weekend and Tocumwal will be buzzing.
“The Tocumwal Airshow returns on 10th of April 2022 and will once again showcase the significant aviation heritage of Tocumwal and commemorate the Centenary of Air Force.”

News from the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix:
“The Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix of Sweden will start in 5 weeks!
17 pilots are already registered.
Do you want to compete with us?
Don’t wait and take your chance to qualify to the World Final! https://sweden22.sgp.aero/pilots/entries
There are 20 places available and 17 pilots from 4 different countries have entered at this stage ,among them Stefan Langer from Germany, Petr Krejcirik from Czech Rep , Jon Gatfield from the UK and Boerje Eriksson from Sweden.
“Sailplane Grand Prix Series 11 Set to Start in May!
Ten Qualifying SGPs will be held leading up to the final at Pavullo in August 2023.
During the spring and summer 2022, seven Grand Prix will take place starting with Borås, Sweden in May and culminating at Vinon in the French Alps in September.”
Shared by FAI Sailplane Grand Prix
SGP.AERO

News from Kiripotib;
“Our gliders are back from summer holiday in Namibia. Thanks to our strong team we were able to unload all 14 gliders in only five hours. Thanks a lot for your effort.”

And to finish 4 SUPERB pictures from NZ top photographer Geoff Soper who shared pictures from the RNZAF 85th anniversary, Heritage flight over Christchurch.

Thanks again for sharing Geoff!!!!!

CU next week, a pity I miss the Airshow in Toc., but on the other hand I feel a bit better !!!
Cheers Ritz, flu NEARLY over!!!
The Toc line up for Sunday “After months of planning we’re excited to have finalized the flying program for the 2022 Tocumwal Airshow“
Tocumwal Airshow

I hope they add GLIDERS to the list as well. Sportavia/Tocumwal has been for years one of the soaring mecca’s of the world.

And then…… Ingo did not participate in his home country when in Paderborn in 1981 the Aussie team choose to not fly there ,as boycott because the South African pilots were flying there. The time of “apartheid”. That could have been another title for him, but of course now we will never know.
Here is the 1`981 news about it:
“Due to political pressures Australia will not be represented in the World Championships, but instead will seek to attend alternative international events to allow Australia to maintain its position as a leading gliding country. It is proposed to hold an international contest at Benalla in early 1984 by invitation to leading pilots from overseas and top Australian pilots.”
From Sailplane And Gliding the June /July edition 1981.
And,…that was of course AUSTRAGLIDE.
On you tube is a great ABC documentary about this competition, indeed with many overseas pilots.

At the MEMORIAL SERVICE at Tocumwal in the beautiful big WW2 hangar, attended by many from all over Australia, his soaring friends have said good bye to Ingo ,but he will never be forgotten, he is and remains a soaring-hero/legend….for ever.

As I have written already Ingo was in the beginning “sponsored” by Bill Riley. Bill had the vision of starting a gliding school at the huge WW2 aerodrome in Tocumwal. They helped each other in realizing this dream. Bill has been travelling with Ingo to a lot of his WGC’s to share his happiness. They shared that dream as well.
Tony Tabart , also an Australian WGC pilot, is one of the many who reacted on writing about Ingo for the INGO MEMORIAL in the beginning of Sportavia-time:

” In 1974, I had the good fortune to be invited by Bill Riley to join the team of Ingo Renner and Eddie Madden at Tocumwal as a gliding instructor.  During my years there, I was asked many times by students and pilots “what’s Ingo’s secret”.  As if he had some magic that he wasn’t letting on about. 

Hot days, poor gliding conditions, at about 6pm we’d call it a day and start the long journey towing up to 15 gliders back to the hangar. We’d spend time putting the aircraft away, and Ingo’s Blanik would be missing. We’d wait around, eventually he’d turn up, working that last little bit of lift. It became obvious to me that Ingo never lost the magic of flight over his long years of gliding. 

When people would compliment Ingo on his performance, he’d say “I was lucky”.  But the old adage rings true, the more you practise the luckier you get.  As well as natural aptitude, that was his secret. On those long low hot days, Ingo would be the last to land with a student.

My last flight with Ingo was in December 2017 in his beloved Caproni, just for fun in the skies around Tocumwal…...      Tony Tabart

And some words from his wife Jo.
” Ingo was a true gentle man, both on the ground and in the air, prompting the best out of all who came into contact with him.  Ingo was at the top, and he genuinely wanted others to join him there. 

Ingo was modest and generous-hearted.  If we were together in a group and people were complimenting Ingo, he would invariably respond:  But Tony Tabart was the first Australian to win a day in a World Competition (Yugoslavia, 1972  – the only pilot to complete the task).  Or:  But Tony Tabart was the first Australian to complete a thousand km triangle (January 1979). 

Ingo didn’t welcome personal adulation, but it was something that he shared…..     Jo Pocklington

As you know when I met Ingo first we visited the WGC in Rieti in 1985. In 1984 we got to know already the entire Aussie team there. We are all still good mates.
Ingo was then already World Champion , as he won the first title in 1976 in Finland at the airfield of Rayskala. He won in the EIRI PIK 20 B in Standard Class and he got the PIK as FIRST prize!! Later I met Hannu who was the designer of the PIK 20.
This PIK was “send” to Tocumwal and after it crashed one day a longtime ago, George decided to restore it again and it still flies at Toc.
Good little glider .
Hannu regularly flew with us in Tocumwal as did Jari and Kari.
In Hobbs in New Mexico in 1983, Ingo won his 2d title in open class in a Nimbus 3, whilst our Kees Musters won the title in 15 m. class. I was not there , but I heard it was hot and spectacular.
Ingo won the 3d title in Rieti in 1985 and we were there to congratulate him and Teresa.

They met in 1977 in Oerlinghausen where he was at that time and she was there for the ladies championships. He came to visit her in Sweden and she went to Toc the following winter and so it all started.
They married in Stockholm 19/10-1981 [ divorced winter 1989]
Teresa is born in Finland but moved as a child to Sweden. She always competed for Sweden.

Teresa;” Of course there are lots of sweet memories of all the things we did together, he became 3 times World Champion while we were married, I still remember the day he flew the new world record on 100 k triangle of 195 kph. It was a very hot day and the weather was booming but I was in the bed in our  ( hot) caravan with a bad cold. He came in and told me :
‘I got 195 kph, can you imagine!!!’
I was crewing him for all the Aussie Nationals and that was easy work, never any outlandings!“
At World comps his mate and super “lamy” on gliders and small aircrafts at Sportavia, Peter Menhennitt crewed as well. Peter worked in the workshop, first at Bill Riley’s , then with Don and Jeff and with us. One of the most reliable and kind men I know.

Teresa ; “Our Discus XX in Australia, we bought directly from Klaus Holighaus, when he did bring it to Australia with him, it was one of the first prototypes of the brand new Discus. We fell in love with it, emptied all our bank-accounts and kept it. 
I had a look at my old logbook and I had the first flight with it on 2/2-85 in Tocumwal. Two years later Markku Kuittinen flew it in the WGC 1987 in Benalla and became the World Champion in Std Class. A memorable detail was when Markku was preparing for the World Comps staying in Tocumwal a month before Benalla:
XX had a tailtank, a brand new detail for the gliders. If you had to dump the water when opening the watertanks, also the tailtank opened and dumped. The ‘problem’ was that if you only wanted to dump your waterballast partly for some seconds and then closed that valves again, the tailtank continued to empty. That was of course a security detail and requirement from the authorities.
However we thought that it would be more optimized to be able to  close also the tail-tank if needed, before all the water was gone. I made a small modification to the tail-tank valve so that Markku could close it if needed.
The big question was of course, what would Klaus, the constructor and the ‘father’ of the glider say? Klaus was also already in Australia, preparing for the World Comps in Benalla, he was a part of the German Team, however not as pilot that time. He came to look at the modification and checked it. To my relief he nodded, and fully approved the home made modification ‘no problems, that is a bright idea, Markku can use it’ was his comment!”

The month before Benalla 1987 was a memorable time in Toc. Lots of teams had arrived to Australia already well in time to adjust for the time different and to get used to the hot weather. A large number of teams came to Tocumwal as it was near Benalla and we had open arms for all of them.
Bruce Brockhoff that time had built a shed, a toolshop on the camping next to his caravan, it was a well visited place from the different Teams preparing their gliders, as he had a huge collection of different kind of tools in it. One of the evenings he organized a big party on the camping, he called the party for ATSOP: Aussie Tool Shop Opening Party!
That evening I saw our son Dennis drinking with Giles, not a good sign, beer and whisky; Ingo commented ‘ the young Dennis got drunk‘

Ingo’s 4th title was in Benalla in a year that George and Dennis flew in the same open class. Ingo in an ASW 22 B and George and Dennis in the Nimbus 3D, specially checked “before flying” by Klaus. Something with the “tapes” glued under the wings, was wrong.

In the beginning it was not the real Benalla- weather that year with many outlandings ….. 100 on day 1.
But in the end enough good days and final scores over 11. 000 points.
Winners was Ingo in Open, 11.021 points, Markku [Kuittinen] in standard 10.537 p. and Brian [Spreckley] in 15 m. with 10.347 p.
Brian had a great time there together with Kees [Musters] and George, often till late, but he was absolutely still focused and also very relaxed.
In open only 21 pilots, but a few very strong ones, among them 5 WORLD CHAMPIONS. First of all the defending Champion Ingo, with at that stage 3 titles. Then George Lee representing Hong Kong with also 3 titles , Goran Ax from Sweden with 2 titles ,Rolf Hossinger from Argentina and Marc Schroeder from France each with one title.
To win from ALL OF THEM is glorious. Ingo did!!! Yes he had a great glider, but in it was a great pilot.

This glorious picture from Ingo I received from Judy, who spoke as I heard about her life with Ingo in a touching way last Saturday and with that I close this blog.

R.I.P. Ingo.

Ritz

P/S
I had planned this part of Ingo’s life to be published last Sunday, 1 day after the Memorial service, but the FLU really got me badly and still has me in it’s grip.
NO CORONA and the doctor told me NO PNEUMONIA. So after 6 days , I guess I need a few more days “off”.
Post below is a short regularly one.

On March 30 2022….. home with the flu!!
The Dutch squad had a great practice week in St. Auban. Lars , one of the young ones , learned a lot and shared that on WeGlide with pictures and text. [in Dutch but the translator will do the job for English]
It’s interesting to read how much influence a flight with his dad 20 years ago in that area , still has on him.

Many enjoy the mountains not only the Dutch and German team, The Alps are booming for the pilots normally flying there as well. What about 800 km in an LS 6 in Italy from Bolzano, 609 in an LS 3A and 543 in a Club Libelle both from Trento in Italy!!!???

In the past I wrote already about the co-operation between the GFA and WeGlide. As a result they now have the Ingo Renner Cup .
Jenny Thomson wrote about it;
“Many of you have been supporting WeGlide and putting up flights, pictures and comments over the summer, thanks. 
The Ingo Renner Cup has been well supported, despite Covid and floods, etc.  – there are 324 pilots signed up and lodging flights.  Here is a link to the current rankings.   The Summer Cup finishes on the 31st March.  Winter Cup starts the day after.
In the Australian League, we have had 29 clubs participate, which is great. Here is a link to those rankings.  The Summer League also finishes on 31st March.“
Very good initiative.!!!

After huge delay the “Green Mountain” arrived in Rotterdam harbor . BUT still in time for the new season.
“After a long journey…The line of trailers had long opened their mouths wide on Wednesday to finally accommodate the planes from Bitterwasser. But first, customs had to look inside the containers. Patience was required beforehand. The “Green Mountain” with the valuable cargo from Namibia had reached Rotterdam with a huge delay. But on Wednesday morning, the articulated lorries should finally drop off the Bitterwasser transports in Waghäusel, where they now have their new location. It’s been a long day. For the unloading of the last planes, the scene had to be illuminated with cars, because two container trucks had only made it to Waghäusel from a full motorway blockade in the late afternoon, it was almost evening. In the end, however, all the trailers were able to head home after they had been successfully loaded – just in time for the new season. Hardly anyone had wanted to pass up the opportunity to receive their planes as early as possible. Only seven latecomers with a long journey will not pick up their planes until Saturday, as planned.“

And to finish

CU next week, I hope in a better physical condition.
cheers Ritz

EXTRA:
I just have to add the sad news that Ake Pettersson passed away yesterday on March 29, after being sick for a longer time.
Another lovely guy! I remember a competition that he got sick during the WGC and he had to go to hospital. Gretha and I visited him and he was “hanging” on all kind of instruments and tubes.
When we 2 came into his room all alarm bells started to ring as he was so pleased to see us.
R.I.P Ake, we will miss you too.

Jens Trabolt reacted like this;
“Swedish gliding legend Åke Pettersson 1945 – 2022 Åke Pettersson’s career was extremely extensive. He participated in 16 World Cups, got 14 SM gold, he logged 7000 gliding hours of which 2000 hours in schooling and at least a few hundred students can thank him for the certificate. He flew with the legends and even became one of the greatest. Yesterday he passed away after a long, long career in the service of gliding.
Read or re-read the portrait in NORDIC GLIDING by Åke from 2016

The seniors in Seminole Lake had a competition “at their leisure” as at some days the weather did not co-operate.
After the rest day, they had 2 more days to catch up, eat and drink together and hope for another day.
That day came on March 17 …contest day 3 and only one more to go! AND,..an 21 m. ASH 31 MI, with Henry Retting in it, won the day and nestled it/himself on spot 1 overall as well; 2.701 p. That is 50 points ahead of the runner up overall Phil with 2.655.p in a Discus 2B. Just a 2 hour AAT but they flew!!

As always with just a few days of flying , the scores are very close as 2.614…. 2.613 …2,603 p.
Weather man Fernando expected ” a late developing blue day with thermals topping out at 4000 feet over the hot spots.  His forecast was accurate, as usual.”

I had to laugh about the next text;
“Once again, we got the opportunity to test the definition of “loitering,” this time over a federal prison.  The CD had a pleasant conversation on the phone with the prison authority, who was easy to convince that a gaggle of gliders circling overhead posed no risk.  If only they could all be so reasonable.” LIKE!!!!
Why was that, you might ask yourself as I did here is the answer I got ;
“The background of the prison story is that we had a bad experience 10
years ago with a glider circling over a nuclear power plant.  This was
the opposite experience.”
I do understand!!!! When I started gliding in 1967, we had no airfield to operate from, but we flew from 3 different airfields, where we had a good camp.[ Venlo, Malden and Terlet]
In spring it was Venlo and to the side of the field was a military station with, as was told us, “bombs” .So we were absolutely not allowed to fly over that area. We never did,…bombs…never know if that was true.

The last day on March 18, looked good with nice fluffy cloud’s popping up, perfectly seen by Bo. A 3 hour TAT was set.
“We had a spectacular day today.  The weather was perfect for all activities, including glider racing.
It was a 4-circle Area Task with the big one in the south.  John [ the CD] was slightly concerned that it was an overcall at 3 hours, but the conditions continued to improve all afternoon.  The winners didn’t quite run out of room, but it was close.” in their March 18 report.

The ARCUS M with Nicolas Bennett /Ryszard Krolikowski, won the day AND with that, also the overall title; 3614 points. Nic flew a lot over the last couple of years, also overseas, in Australia [ after the WWGC with John, where I met them] and Europe as well.
Phil was 16th for the day and overall runner up with 3.526 points. Third was Henry in the ASH 31/21 m. with 3.513 points. He had not the best last day; 26th.
“Seniors Day 4/last day. 76 mph on course was good enough to win the day and the contest. Mostly honest clouds so we didn’t have to circle much. Thanks Ryszard for the coaching!” comment from Nic[olas] .

The results of a few well known names; Bif Huss on 4, Jim Lee on 5, Gary Ittner on 9, Pete Alexander on 13 and Karl Striedeck on 14.

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NARROMINE NATIONALS.

“The fleet is on the grid and ready to launch into what looks like a cracking sky! Things are predicted to get a little interesting weatherwise after 3pm so, hopefully they won’t be hanging around after the gate opens.”
Last day of the Nationals starts!

The Australian Nationals in Narromine finished with a different daily winner in 15 m. class ; Butch in his AS 33es.
He moved UP from 5 to 3 overall!!!
During the 2.30 AAT he flew 343 km in time 2.35 good for a nice speed of 132 km./h.
Ray did well too ,as he was over 130 km./h as well.
Adam, Matthew and Toby followed.
So the overall scores had a “tiny” shake up:
1. Matthew Scutter in the Diana 2 FES with 6.844 points.
2. Ray Stewart in the JS 3 with 6.476 p.
3. John ..Butch..Buchanan in the AS 33es with 6.459 p.
Adam was 4th with 6.417 and Toby 5th with 6.365 points.
“Final day wrap up, congratulations to Matty Scutter & Jim Crowhurst on their convincing victories! I just couldn’t piece it together today running North, so I expect to keep 4th & miss out on my revisited target of 2nd. The V3 performed great, just the pilot needs some polishing. Great fun all the same ” by Adam.

As Matthew mentioned in the morning ;”Just need to get around the task today, no games, no pushing, will go with other gliders and have an easy day. Risk of storms and recent rain might complicate.” and he did. Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

In club a different daily winner as well. David Collins in the ASW 20F. During the 2.15 AAT he flew 265 km in time 2.17.
David is a very young pilot from Mildura and one with a bright future.
In 2019 at the Junior World Gliding Championships in Szeged in Hungary, he had a day -win for Australia. A new Matthew????
“The Maurie Bradney Trophy is awarded to the best Junior Pilot (under 25yrs old) competing in an Australian Club Class Nationals and the Sir Donald Anderson Award is presented to the best pilot competing in their first National Gliding Competition.Both of these trophies were presented to an outstanding up and coming young pilot from Mildura, David Collins“
“Nearly every -day-winner ” Jim was 5th. But no worries, he had such a lot of points ,he nearly could n’t loose anymore .
So here are the overall scores;
1. Jim Crowhurst in ASW 20 with 6.698 points.
2. David Collins in ASW 20F with 6.084 p.
3. Jack Hart in the Mosquito with 5.899 p.
Jo Davis was 4th [5.535 p.] ..good on her.

“Jim Crowhurst 2022 Australian National Club Class Champion.Jim is no stranger to the winners podium, this is Jim’s Fourth Australian Club Class Nationals win, having previously won in 2019 at Kingaroy, 2014 at Goondiwindi and 2012 in Kingaroy.Our most heartfelt congratulations to Jim, a true gentleman and a Champion in every sense of the word.”
Narromine Gliding Club Official

When the last gliders were in, the sky opened the doors’ and it rained..it rained like hell.
“Heavy microburst came through that only moments earlier was a nice cumulus.” Not all were in time to put their glider in the trailer. But ,..on the other hand it had a nice “wash”.

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The weather in Europe is getting better and better. Fresh yes ,maybe even cold, but blue skies , with cu’s and sunny.
Quite a few German squad- pilots have started their [training]-season in Saint Auban in France.
The Dutch National Squad arrived there on Monday for a “decent kick-off” of the season, as one of the boys called it.
Young toppers who are eager to learn more as Ties , Nic ,Mathijs and Lars practice with Dutch WGC topper Erik Borgmann and instructor Francis Moginot. ….Dual training and” lead and follow” also with Hadriaan van Nes , Rein Groot and Max van Bree.
The Dutch team has 2 ARCUS T gliders an ASG 29 E and a JS 1. I noticed a Duo Discus as well. Not too bad!!!
Lars mentioned that the first day was perfect, he enjoyed EVERY minute of his first cross country in the mountains /Alps and as he said;” the best thing is,….. tomorrow we go again!” 411 km!!!
He shared more beautiful pictures from day 3 on https://www.weglide.org/flight/128749

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Got a message with news from HpH Sailplanes UK about their 2 seater;
“The HpH Twinshark has been proving itself as a worthy competitor in the 20m class. Many top competition pilots have been very impressed by the handling and performance. The safe handling and amazing build quality as found in the single seater range is of course present.“

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Last Sunday was SUPER weather in some countries and many had great fun so early in the season; 291 pilots added their flight to the OLC.
There were excellent ridge soaring conditions in the Eastern Alps.
What about 1.084 km by the Pirkers in their ARCUS M from beautiful Wiener Neustadt?
And a 1000 by Markus Gusenleitner in his Ventus 2 CM[18m] also from Wiener Neustadt, where I was with the WGC.
And one from Trieben also in Austria in an ASH 31. TOP WEATHER.
Also in Italy [Thiene] where Giorgio flew 772 km in his Ventus3.

Yesterday we went outside WITHOUT a coat. 21 dgr. C Love it.
Bring it on…. one of Adams quotes…..SPRING!!!!
the hottest March 22 here EVER.

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WeGlide mentioned on March 17:
“You can now open any flight from WeGlide in SkySight to analyze it in depth with the corresponding weather layers If the flight is not older than one week, just click on the small SkySight logo below the flight status.
Try it out with this awesome flight by Bert Schmelzer:
661.47 km @ 90.01 km/h
Hausen am Albis
Ventus 3T 18m
7h 36m
Head over to WeGlide to see the full flight:
https://www.weglide.org/flight/127457

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Upcoming Saturday is the MEMORIAL for Ingo in the WW2 hangar in Tocumwal.
In my next blog I write a final farewell, about Ingo’s earlier years in which he became 4 times world champion.
Ingo loved to fly with birds as well.This picture was shared by many so I share it too, this time for Ingo;

Cheers Ritz…AND …..after more than 2 years, we are free, from today on , from all COVID -19 RESTRICTIONS. Still people in hospital but they think it’s safe to give the country it’s freedom back. Big [music-] festivals are on the program already.
To finish this fabulous picture from Tobias Barth  @tobi.barth.photographer
Tobi takes great pictures also for calendars.