WGC in Montluçon-Guéret, France
8 August 2021 – 20 August 2021

Friday August 13;
TASK 6..flying day 4 for club, 3 for standard and 15 m.

After the ” thunderstorm-related-race” back and landings with nearly all competitors at the field , another day in the books in which the weather refused to be kind during this first week of the WGC.
Some,[ club and 15 m. ] were ready before the rain, a lot of the standard class , who were on track already, had to dry the glider or divert to Issoudun. But as always in hectic situations, EVERYBODY helps out !!!!!

So on Friday, the 13th….today, a new day started, not blue, but grey this time, HOT and HUMID….hence not too long tasks. First launches not before 2PM….2.30. “
Weather improved, “the layer of high clouds has disappeared and thermals are generally well marked with cumulus clouds.”

Club class ; 2 hour AAT...
I was waiting already for a daily-win from Jake and Tom from the UK. Today it happened.,…both started and finished together in their LS 7WL and both are on spot 1. [ 2.14 km. in time 2.12] Behind them the LS 3 gliders from Stefan and Uwe with 2.13 km. in time 2.12.
Late starts again , just before or after 4 PM.
2 were out and 3 not yet scored!
” Average speeds in the club class were the highest of all classes. ”

Standard ; 2.30 AAT....
My Belgian mates had a real good day on spot 1 and 3 with Simon[Germany] in between. Dennis and Jeroen flew 244 km. in time 2.52/54. Congratulations guy’s!
“A new day of success! For the first time all pilots of our team landed back on the airfield! Our standard class pilots were not convinced of their performance after the flight, it’s difficult to compare to other gliders in flight with an AAT. However, they did an outstanding flight today and finished 1st and 3rd! Congrats to Jeroen en Dennis for their great team work!! ” Belgian Gliding Team
5 From 29 were out!

15 m. ; 1.45 AAT... When they were launched, most gliders already in the air ,were struggling between 400 and 800 m. But the promised better weather they found straight away on track.
All starts were after 4 PM .
190 km. was flown by Max and Laurent [France] in 2 hours in their JS 3.
3 Diana’s followed with Matthew, Lucasz and Sebastian. And the 2 Dutch pilots Jeroen and Hadriaan [JS 3]
“15m class pilots had difficulty on the way to the first sector and already had to dump some water ballast early in the flight. Nice clouds, but broken and weak thermals.” Belgian Gliding Team
24 from 28 finished!

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LAST DAY OF THE C.I.M. in Rieti.

This version of the C.I.M. was as moving as my last one , somewhere in 2010/11.
I guess you never forget the year a mate died in competition, due to our sport.
In open class Peter Hartmann, went back home after loosing his mate. I do understand.
But as said, life goes on, so the last day was an interesting one, with small tasks.
With 9 out of 11 days, better than anywhere in Europe at the moment, including one already announced rest day after 6 days of flying and one “reflex-” day, you might still call Rieti the MECCA of SOARING.
The weather for today;
“The African anticyclone carries north west wind currents rich of moisture in the medium and high altitude. In north east area NE surface wind.
Good convergences!”
Cumulus base: from 3.000 m up to 4.000;
Temp. Max 35/37 ° C

Combi class; 2.20 AAT….
still possibilities to win for a few teams.
3 Dutch pilots involved; Team van Houweninge with Austrian mate Hallbrucker are on spot 1 with 6.609 points.
Joost and Eric …by the way all 3 Dutchies are members of the Gelderse where my grand children fly…have 6.429 points and only 2 points less it s a strong Italian team ,former world champion Stefano Ghiorzo with Roberta Passardi. I never underestimate Alberto Sironi either , he is on 6.303 points and with him you never know!
I forgot another speedy pilot Vittorio Pinni …..AND,..he won the last day….in the Duo Discus XLT!
346 km. in time 2.19,58!!!!!So 148 km./h another fast day.
The toppers were all with the first 7 :
Final result in the combi class is ;
1. Van Houweninge & Hallbrucker in ARCUS M with 7.314 points.
2. Borgmann & Wolff in ARCUS T with 7.141 p.
3. Ghiorzo & Passardi in ARCUS T with 7.110 p.

18 m. class; 2.45 AAT...and 404 km…pff …speed 147 km/h!!!! By Arne Boye Moeller….good on him. A late start , just after 2 PM. He moved from 7 to 5.
Davide, ….did I see well on pictures that he has 4 children????….was 3d.
3 Airspace violations spoiled the day for 3 pilots.
Overall scores;
1.Davide Schiavotto in JS 3 with 7.793 points.
2. Jon Gatfield [UK] in AS 33es with 7.260 p.
3. Felix Schneebeli [Switzerland] in Ventus 3TP with 6.916 p.

Open class; 2.15 AAT...
It’s all about Michael and Felipe. Today it was Michael, who flew with a speed of 168 km./h 378 km. in 2 hours and 13 minutes. Felipe was a tad slower; 700 and 697 points. Those EB 29R’s are “mighty machines” certainly with top pilots in them.
Final scores;
1. Felipe Levin in EB 29R with 6.499 p.
2. Michael Sommer in EB 29R with 6.398 p.
3. Markus Frank in EB 29R with 6.245 p.

The huge mountains where the pilots fly to and over, are the Terminillo which I was at the highest top you can go to, looking at gliders passing by at eye-height,….very spectacular and the Grand Sasso.
You can see the Terminillo from the field.
The other mountain the GRAND SASSO, I only heard of , but CD Aldo shared a picture.
Seen by many pilots flying in the Rieti area.

The prize giving was modest, even after such a fabulous C.I.M. but loosing a mate does n’t invite for a huge wild party.
CD Aldo asked for ONE minute of silence dedicated to Christian.
The 4 women flying in this comps [also in the 2 seaters] got flowers from the president of the club.

And as always a BIG THANK YOU to the tuggies.

Hopefully this weekend some more pictures .

Cheers Ritz

WGC in Montluçon-Guéret
8 August 2021 – 20 August 2021

After a few difficult days, they have arrived at task 4. I had to leave yesterday early, so I checked the preliminary scores from Tuesday first….on task 3.
In the end all 36 were scored in Club class, with 3 pilots not flying over 25 km.
Some pilots still struggle with the finish altitude, no wonder when tasks are so marginal. There is a minimum altitude to cross the finish cylinder;
John Good from the USA wrote about club class :
“ In Club class, of 36 pilots, 27 finished the 128 km task – but only ten of these managed to cross the finish cylinder above the minimum altitude. Curiously, five of the finishers incurred penalties big enough to yield scores lower than some of the outlanded pilots – they’d have improved their scores by landing just short of the finish cylinder.  (I’d thought that – as US rules do – WGC rules had a provision that avoided this strange incentive.)“
Anyhow task 3 was won by Austrian pilot Miquel Schwan in LS 4WL followed by Robin Smit [LS 4] from Holland both flew just up and under 60 km./h.
Robin was not unhappy/ ” reasonable happy” he called it , with this blue day,..” the beginning was tricky and everybody came low , but later it was more stable with quite good thermals, and a higher inversion” .He was pleased with his” reasonable” final glide AND,” I did n’t finish too low today“
23 from 36 finished! Most starts after 5 PM.
In standard class all 29 were scored now, but the result I wrote was the same .
In 15 m. only 5 from 28 finished!!!! So not a good day for them a [blue] day with alto cu’s adding to the struggles of the pilots.
The sniffer had to sniff twice and was both times quickly back, but pilots had to try and do better.

August 11;task 4 flying day 3 for club and standard ; 15 m. flying day 2.

A day pretty similar as the day before, with again many out-landings. BUT,….
“Today’s briefing brought us A and B tasks of between 110km and 150km for all classes. Rather small tasks, as weather forecast is a tiny bit better than yesterday, but we thought it was a reasonable decision as tonight is the French Evening Party, so it would be nice if all pilots have the chance to land back at the airfield. Then, at 12 o’clock we got the surprise message of the day that a larger C task is activated, and that we have to keep A and B tasks as alternatives. Organization is doing their best to have a little surprise everyday. Today’s launch order is club, 15m, std. class, and is now scheduled at 14:00.” Belgian Gliding Team

Club class; 166.65 km….With around 84 km./h the German pilots Uwe [Wahlig ] and Stefan [Langer] , both in LS 3, won a day with less outlandings in their class. As far as I have followed them both real good pilots.
Most of the club- pilots went on track around 15.23. I was a bit sad to see that Killian [Walbrou] and Eric [Bernard] from France ,flying together both in LS 7,were OUT after 96 km. Killian is a former WGC champion and in Finland I had a nice interview with him about his military helicopter mission. A nice guy and a top-pilot.
Also G Dale from the UK was out,…a pity.
So 5 out from 36,…not too bad!

St. class; 170.68 km….they were the last at the grid, to be launched and stayed around the start line, as nobody wanted to go. BUT,…NOT Luca Urbani from Italy in his Discus. He left straight away at 15.46,… some others ONE hour later….and Luca was the ONLY ONE to fly and finish the task. Smart move!!! Good on you Luca!
So 29 from 30 OUT!!!! Luca was the only one over 100 km, 9 over 90 km…. so an invalid day!
Team UK wrote;” Hopefully you will have realized from the lack of updates we have been busy bees. Lots of trailer racing. We did have finishers well done Tom and Jake.[ In club class] Everyone else ended up dotted around the beautiful French countryside.”

15 m. class; 202.10 km....3 x a DIANA 2 in the top 4!!! Sebastian, Matthew, and Lucasz. Daan Spruyt from Belgium was on spot 3 with a real good flight in his Ventus 2ax.
They were the only 4 finishers from the 27 still flying in this class!!!
Sorry to say,…but the rest was OUT!!!! It was difficult to get height to fly over the line.
20 flew between 100 km. and 193 km.
According to Sebastian ,who won the day, was “dumping water in time ” the clue of the day…..very weak thermals and light gliders.
His first time flying the Diana empty. According to him his mate Lucasz dumped a bit too late and was 4th.
The French who know the area well, started and went ahead , Sebastian stayed with a group. With 0.6 they progressed slowly forward. Going ahead was “wrong” in the end, as the forest the French moved too, did n’t work.
here is Matthew;
“A day of lows and lows, weather worse than the day before with 1-2kt blue thermals to 3000ft AGL at best. The wing loading range really is showing as the critical factor here – those of us in Diana’s are not afraid to play start games until late, because we can climb much better in the end of day thermals than the turbo and jetted V3 and JS3’s. Eventually some of the heavy gliders seemed to panic start and the whole gaggle started moving, but it was too late – 80km from home the thermals dropped to 0.5kts and while we could eek towards home, the heavier gliders all either lit up or outlanded beneath us. I finally climbed in 1kt for 3000ft onto a 48:1 glide and crossed the finish line with 30ft, one of the only finishers.”
The day was NOT over for him!!!
“Then the fun started. My undercarriage folded up beneath me on landing – there’d been a heavy landing(?) some time in the past which had been fixed(?), but it seems there was more delamination below the repair which had given way and the whole undercarriage packed up. Through the heroic efforts of Jake Brattle, Tom Arscott, Jon Pring, with advice from Sebastian Kawa and Lukas Grabowski, we stayed up most of the night repairing the glider in Thierry’s workshop. I can now fly again today, albeit with only partially closing undercarriage doors. D2 lives to fight another day, but it’s again very difficult conditions and fatigue has long since set in. Hopefully we can survive until a rest day.“

By the way, I did not read or see anything about the French night!!!

August 12; Task 5 .. flying day 4 for club and 3 for standard and 15m

Finally the better weather arrived hence slightly bigger tasks and hopefully less out landings!!But it was waiting again…..The sniffer “sniffed” and had to land again.
“Today we will have the first AAT tasks of the championship, standard class will launch first for a 3h task. The two other classes, club and 15m class, will go up for a 2h30m AAT task. Weather will be mostly blue thermals again with a possibility of cumulus clouds and even thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening. Temperatures are creeping up everyday, it’s about 30°C now and much warmer on the hot asphalt runway. Max for today will be 32-33°C. Staying cool and hydrated on the grid is very important for the pilots. First launch is pushed back to 13h15” Belgian Gliding Team

Club class; 2.30 AAT...
Standard class;3.hour AAT,...
15m; 2.30 AAT….
and then the message;
“All 3 classes scrubbed in the air. Impending thunderstorm approaching. Runway is somewhat busy at the moment.”
Pffff,…. not a lot of luck for the pilots and the organizers.
BUT…. seeing it on the sunny side…NO out landings today!!!!
Though,…as everybody was in the air, some standard class pilots already over the start line, all gliders had to land back at the airport. Some returned in the rain and got a hand from many to de-rig quickly, a few went to the airport of Issoudun.
HECTIC ,… was the most used word for this mass-landing!!!
What I heard the decision from the CD was indeed the correct one!!!
And what happened to Matthew today? “My new undercarriage passed it’s test of a full ballasting, launch and landing, so I can continue the contest. Will tackle the gear doors in coming days.“

NOT a lot of overall points of course after 3 flying days in club after nearly one week;
1.303 for Dutch pilot Thies Bruins…..1.288 for Uwe Wahlig[Germany] and 1.191 for Rasmus Orskov [Denmark]
In standard class the overall scores are after 2 valid days; 672 for Danish pilot Filip Bojanowski…659 for Jeremy Hood from the UK and 645 for Sjaak Selen from The Netherlands.
In 15 m.Sebastian Kawa from Poland leads after nearly a week and 2 valid days with 1.104 points followed by Polish mate Lucasz Grabowski with 1.097 and Aussie Matthew Scutter with 953 points. All 3 fly a DIANA 2. Followed by 4 JS 3 gliders.

Another part of John’s report . I met John at many occasions and he truly is a nice guy!! VERY wise, certainly when you talk soaring. AND his reports are really GOOD READING.
“The WGC2021 task area is something impressive: 240 turnpoints cover an area about 40% the size of France.  In theory, pilots here could be sent north almost to Paris, or northwest to Mont Saint Michel (just over 400 km from Montluçon-Guéret airport). Only a few turnpoints are found in the rising ground south of here, presumably because landability declines there.  But we’re now told that this vast collection has been deemed inadequate, and we will soon receive an updated collection.  The idea is apparently to add some points near home, the better to cope with weak soaring conditions.  Whether this can be accomplished smoothly remains to be seen.”

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The C.I.M. in Rieti
August 3-August 13.

A few days to go after the heavy circumstances specially for the open class pilots, who had to deal with the loss of a mate.
Task 7 was cancelled due to the weather and the day before NO task was set to reflect and mourn.
Then there was
Task 8;
Combi class; 2.10 AAT…140 km./h for the Bouderliques in their ARCUS M. 309 km. in time 2.12.
[I guess] Sylvain [Gerbaud] and Arnaud in the ARCUS T were runner up.
20 in 3 out!
18 m. class; 2.30 AAT...354 km was flown in the AS33 by Jon Gatfield in time 2.29,…brilliant! Davide was a good runner up ….missing out on ONE point!!! Arne was 3d …all started more or less together.
22 from 24 still in competition , 3 out.
Open class; 2.15 AAT...sadly enough only 9 flying in this class now. I do understand!!!!
6 Pilots from Germany and 1 from Austria and 2 from Spain.
347 km by Filipe in time 2.22 gave him a runner up spot behind Arne Neumayr in the JS 1 c/21m.

Task 9 today ; with good convergences. Cumulus base: from 3.000 m up to 4.000; temp. max 35/37 ° C.
Combi class; 451 km…With a speed of 134 km./h Stefano Ghiorzo and his mate seem to have won, the day; preliminary 1000 points.
They are 3d overall at this stage , 2 points behind my Dutch mates Eric and Joost.
14 From 22 finished. Off day for the Bouderliques , they were out after 276 km. loosing nearly 700 points. OUCH….that hurts…
18 m. class; 528 km….Davide turns out to be a REALLY excellent pilot now. Another daily win for him.;153 km./h “gives” him the 1000 points.
At this stage with one day to go he is overall, more than 500 points ahead on runner up Jon Gatfield in the new ASes 33.
3 were out
open class; 507 km….The EB combination with Felipe is a great one; 1000 points and 147 km./h on the clock. He leads with less than 100 points on Michael, when they fly again tomorrow for the last day.
Good to see Alvaro flying again in his ASH 31 MI/21 m. Runner up today!!!
yesterday he was the best ,Arne Neumayr, today he was unfortunately out, after 362 km. A pity.
Scores from today are preliminary.

Tomorrow or Saturday, depending on what happens, the final/last day of the C.I.M. and the continuing story on the French WGC, with hopefully much better weather, but it is as it is!!!
Cheers Ritz

Storms in CIM 2021!https://youtu.be/_-ACXjqLhOI
Great short video “Raiders of the storm” with Alberto Sironi and A. Venturini.

36th WGC for CLUB, STANDARD and 15m. in Montlucon
August 8-20- 2021.

In Montlucon, they started with 3 official practice days.
Day 1 was wet, day 2 gave the opportunity to stay close and explore, to rig in the late morning and de-rig in the evening a few points were earned, day 3 showed 1.30 AAT’s, to get in the mood and launches after 1 PM, but the tasks had to be cancelled so NO “in the mood ” yet ,but extra practice rigging and de-rigging again.
On day 4 the opening ceremony was in town at noon and umbrella’s were advised!!!
The forecast was not too good for a couple of days but, there is always hope…for a “window”.
Bob Henderson is the remote president of the jury , Vladimir Voltin is there as juror and Frouwke Kuijpers , the chief steward. So you are up to date now and the 36th WGC can start.
In between …..When you have time please read Matthews long story on Matthew Scutter’s Gliding about his troubled way to fly in corona time as an Aussie in Europe. I was touched by his story and then after ALL what happened he still has to fly.

Some team pictures from the opening.

AND THEN IT START’S the 36th WGC in France.

Day 1 on Sunday August 8;
still very humid/wet circumstances but there should/could be a window for a short flight, so AAT’s were handed out.
you can follow the briefing on ; https://drive.google.com/…/1n3IUbs6x51T…/view

Club class; 1.45 AAT…Cancelled
Standard class; 1.45 AAT…Cancelled
15 m. class; 1.30 AAT ..Cancelled

Day 2 on Monday August 9
tasks were set. First launch not before 13.20,..so waiting for what will happen. AND,…catching up with mates you have n’t seen for ages.
On the picture George Schuit and Voiko Starowitz [Slovenia] flying now a DG 300 . When they met in 1987 in Benalla, Voiko was pilot and Boris his crew. On a hot day Boris went for a retrieve as nearly all pilots outlanded.
Voiko flew/leased our glider and used it’s trailer. On his way to the pilot, it went totally wrong.
The next morning , very early, a knock on the door and legendary words were said; “Sorry, trailer for total no use!”

OR,…having a snooze;

The tuggies started their engines at 15.30, the pilots from Club and Standard got their B task so did 15 m, but they could go “home” again….scrubbed.
Would it be a lottery day??? At 16.20 they were still launching St. class.

Club class; was 206 km….now 152 km…. Ok,….first day first Dutch winner…Thies…OK……good..no very good….I thought when I looked at the scores. I met him at one of the last Dutch Nationals. He won and I introduced myself as I had never heard of him, but had seen already that he was a “good little pilot”. Even made a picture…which I of course can’t find at the moment,…but….anyhow Thies Bruins in his ASW 20 won the first day with a speed of 72 km./h. during his very first WGC. Chapeau!
Interesting to hear that he entered the wave, which was visible from the ground…he had never flown before in wave. “A bit of a challenge to learn how it worked” His decision for the day was; balancing the risk, starting early and take the risk of everybody catching up, or take time and gain height in wave [wave was up to 2000 m] but miss out in the end of the day when it would die out.
An early start was the key for the day, as later in the day the weather/circumstances indeed deteriorated/died down. Thies started at 16.43 and finished at 18.50.
Only 499 points for the winner so there was not a lot to win neither to loose for the day as only 19 from 35 finished. Some had problems with the finish altitude.

Standard class; was 186 km…now 156 km….even less winning points for Danish Filip Bojanowski in his Discus 2A; 373 p. He flew with a speed of 65.90 km./h. Normally you don’t take your glider out of the hangar for such a day.
Only 8 from 30 finished. 6 Were close,…less than 10 k out.
Also in this class problems with the finish altitude.
With late launches and start times after 5PM, it must have been difficult for some to find lift to go ahead on track.
World champion Sjaak Selen, sorry yes Dutch as well, was runner up and his mate Robbie Seton was on a shared 4th spot.
“CM & LT [ My friends Dennis and Jeroen from Keiheuvel] had difficulty gaining altitude before the start and they were some of the last in their class to cross the start line. They needed this valuable time at the end of the day when the thermals died, they landed out around 20km short of the airfield.” Belgian Gliding Team

15 m. class; was 2.20 km...now 193 km.…later cancelled.

‘By all accounts it was a tricky day with many trailers heading out of the gates at dusk, the finishers we did get did so around 19:40 some having made use of wave around the task area.” British Gliding Team

“The results would have been much grimmer if this had not turned out to be a notably long-lasting day.  Most starts happened after 17:00, but pilots were able to stay in the air until after 20:00.  Contributing to this is the fact that Montluçon-Guéret airport lies close to the western edge of its time zone.  Not to be discounted is the ability of the world’s best glider pilots to keep near half-ton machines aloft using small doses of solar energy.” by my mate John Good from the USA.

Day 3 on Tuesday August 10.

All classes got their B task. First launch postponed ,…not before 2PM.
15 m. was up front and launching for club and standard stopped for a little while till the 15 m. pilots had found in weak lift a base up to 700 m.
15 m launching started at 14.30.

Club class; 249 km...now 127.99 km…a late start for most pilots ,…most after 5 PM and back after 7 PM. At this time the preliminary scores from 30 from 36 are in. 22 Pilots finished and at this time 8 are out …6 not counted for.

Standard class; 277 km....now 131.79 km..29 pilots flew and 26 of them finished. Another daily win for Filip Bojanowski from Denmark …TOP….For less than 300 points.
He flew with a speed of 66 km./h and 4 others did so; Jeremy from the UK, Norbert from Romania, Simon and Jan from Germany, either in Discus or LS 8.

15m class; 318 km....now 240.72 km...they were upfront at the grid, a wide concrete runway. The east European countries did well. Sebastian [Kawa] told us via an interview with the French media, that we should not expect too much from him. As a doctor he had been very busy in the COVID-19 period. Chapeau/respect Sebastian!
He had not seen his glider for a year.
BUT,…of course he unlearned nothing!! He won the day flying together as at most comps with Lucasz Grabowski both in the Diana 2; 648 points for both. and a speed of 76 km./h, which says it all.
Karel Novak and Roman Marek , both in JS 3 were 3 and 4.
In between them Italian pilot Ricky Brigliadori also in JS 3. The 2 French pilots Max [Seis] and Laurent [Aboulin ]were a bit more than 10 k. out.
21 were out and 2 not yet scored, one did not start.

More about the WGC on Thursday

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THE CIM in RIETI.
August 3-13-2021

After being in Rieti 7 times, I know that the weather can be excellent …..the atmosphere always is great….. the food awesome, the infrastructure perfect ,but also that mountains can be unforgiving, …. one year an Austrian pilot was lost for 2 days[ after he hit the mountains] . SAR and most participating pilots and crews were trying to locate him…unfortunately the accident was fatal…so you have to know those mountains and respect them.

This week it ALL happened in Rieti, in good and bad ways.
John Roake called Rieti after the 2008 WGC , the MECCA OF SOARING.
It’s then when he asked me to write columns for Gliding International, which I did for many years.
SO AGAIN back to the CIM..,…..Long flights , a good South Westerly wind huge speed and The Apennines did their work and the pilots flew high over them with huge speed. Wave, confluence and ridge soaring…all ingredients for the day.
Task 3 ; 18 m. class…it was Davide who flew 170,67 km./h. over 399.79 km. in his JS 3. Davide flies already for 20 years in Rieti and he called it one of the best powerful day’s ever in Rieti. The flight seems to be a record speed flight.
By the way the top 10 showed 8 JS 3 gliders and an AS33es and a Ventus 2CXM.
7 Pilots flew 165 km./h. or more!!!! Amongst them Uys Jonker one of the big bosses/owners/ manufacturers at Jonker Sailplanes, he was runner up, with 169.90 km./h. but also Arne Boye -Moeller and Katrin Senne.
All 24 finished.
They must have been even at the ground “in the clouds/ be over the moon”.
One day earlier task 2 showed 438 km. and Uys was the best with 154 km./h. Davide was runner up and Arne and Katrin 3d and 4th.
Task 4; 3.30 AAT.…Well, what can in say,…. from a bit shy but very eager junior in Husbos, Davide is a top pilot now. Guess Leonardo would have been VERY proud on him. With other words,…he won the day again, and there are real TOPPERS in his class.
543 km and a speed of 147.57 km./h.
Jon Gatfield from Lasham in the AS 33e was runner up.
After a mishap the day before, Uys did not fly . That day he could not reach the field he planned to land on and had to use a bushy scrub area. Uys was fine, the glider NOT.
Yes he had a jet-engine , it worked fine, but he had so much downdraft that he had to land.
Task 5; 431 km.…After his “off-day” Arne wanted to set things straight ,so he did! He won the day with a speed of 155 km./h. after he found out first just, before take off that he had a punctured tail wheel. With help of his mates the problem was solved in an hour. So a late start, but ridge soaring and wave helped him to reach the gaggle and then he pushed again to win the day. Davide was 4th with 150 km./h.
Task 6; 500 km. A French daily winner…Guillaume Girard, also in a JS 3 with a speed of 140.91. But Davide ,who started 3 minutes earlier was runner up with a speed of 140.22.
By the way Davide was on the WGC list as participant at Montlucon, but he clearly flies in Rieti.
After the incident earlier and the accident on Sunday,..no flying on Monday in all classes. A time to reflect and to mourn!
And then as always …life has to go on.
Official statement of Aero Club Rieti “Alberto Bianchetti” ;
“Yesterday an accident has claimed the life of a fellow pilot: Christian Derold on Antares 23. He died at 40 km from the airport coming back from the south turning point. Today is a day of mourning, reflections, prayers… Today no gliding activity in Rieti. Yesterday the open group task was cancelled.
Bob Henderson added; ” It is a reminder to us all to be mindful that our love of gliding is because it is such a wonderful sport and that aviating can be a very unforgiving environment. Best wishes to everyone.”
So true!!!

Task 7; 363 km.… “Today a special task dedicated to Christian Derold.
All the pilots resume the competition without him but surely bringing him in flight, in their minds and hearts.” Aero Club Rieti “Alberto Bianchetti”
Day cancelled due to high cloud cover over the field.

In the combi class the 2 seaters did well.
Task 2 was for Sarti/Vila in the ASG 32MI. [ 138 km./h over 409 km] then 7 ARCUS types and on 9 the Duo Discus XLT.
2 from 23 were out and gliders as ASW 27 ,Discus and Ventus have a hard time.
Task 3 with 394 km was a prey for team Leutenegger/ Ruegg in the ARCUS T.[162 km./h]
10 ARCUS types in the top 10, BUT, the ASW 27b from Francisco Ortega from Spain, was on a strong 11th place!!!
Task 4; 3.10 AAT.…1000 points for a Dutch/ Swiss team in the ARCUS M. 447.78 km. in time 3.24 was good for those points.
Task 5; 2.40 AAT….The Austrians flew in their ARCUS M a distance of 426 km in time 2.50,…nice speed of 150 km./h.938 points.
The Dutch team with Eric and Joost [ARCUS T] were 3d just behind the Dutch/Swiss combination.931 for 921 points.
Sad to see that one of the pilots in this class, missed the start line by 1.2 km. an “got” zero points.
Task 6; 3.15 AAT….The Swiss -Dutch combination flew 500 km with a speed of 152 km./h. for 1000 points.
The Austrian ARCUS M team flew 496 km with a speed of 148 km./h and the Dutch team Eric and Joost 488 km. with a speed of 147 km./h.
Task 7; 2.30 AAT.... Day cancelled.

Open class is as always a pleasure to follow. As said it feels a bit like a replacement for the Stendal WGC with so many INTERNATIONAL toppers.
Task 2 with 412 km showed the first 3 spots for German pilots Felipe Levin ,Michael Sommer and Markus Frank, all in EB 29R.
2 Austrian pilots, Peter Hartmann and Christian Derold , both in ANTARES 23[E and T] completed the top 5, with Uli in the ETA on 6.
Task 3; with 170 km./h. the 2 Austrian pilots flew to the best 2 spots in their Antares. A tad faster were the 3 EB’s but on handicap [ 126] the Antares [124] got a few points more.
Task 4; 3.05 AAT. Michael won the day. He flew 486 km. in time 3.19 , so a speed of 146 km./h. Starting and finishing with Felipe , he gained 2 points on him.
Task 5; 442 km….the EB’s and ETA from Felipe, Michael and Uli did well again. Speed165 km./h . and 155 for the ETA.
All 11 pilots finished.
Task 6; 473 km. Michael and Felipe won the day…. but how important is winning on a tragic day as one of your open class mates , 57 years old, has a deadly accident.
The task was already cancelled during the day and that always gives me a creepy feeling. Unfortunately I was right.
The other open class pilots only knew after they finished, hence the scores.
Another pilot from Austria. SO sad!!!!
It brings back so many sad memories from my last CIM.
He crashed in an inaccessible place in Cartore, a hamlet of Borgorose. I heard some stories about what might have happened but leave it to the investigators first to give us the details later, so no speculations.
R.I.P. Christian.
But life goes on , it’s not the first deadly accident in our sport, I am sad to say. It’s the hard truth.
Task 7; 2.30 AAT.... base was 1600 m…MAX.
Day cancelled.

—————————————————————————

Amazing flight by Baptiste Innocent on August 5!
1500 km, 1300 km triangle! With two major sea crossings, He started from Southern France [Fayence] flew to Corsica to Italy and back to France in An ASH 31 /21 m.
UNBELIEVABLE!!!! What an Hero….and several new records!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

KLIPPENECK only had 2 valid days……. results on www.soaringspot.com

FCC….is still busy. You can follow it on http://www.fccgliding.sk/
Scores at soaringspot.

THE OLYMPIC GAMES in TOKYO; by now most of you know that I love sport. Nowadays only looking at it, but my goodness me, did I love the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The Dutch did remarkably well. Our best result on the medal board was 25 in the 2000 Sydney Olympics with lot’s of gold in the “swimming-pool” with Inge de Bruyn and Pieter van den Hoogenband. Pieter was the chef de mission now and he is SO proud on the team with 36 medals; 10 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze.
A small country with not the money and sport infrastructure/training facilities, like France ,Italy and Germany but we are just above them on spot 7 on the medal board. Just wonderful.
Proud Dutchie. From the 27 European countries in the European Union, the Dutch were the best.
Japan can be proud too, in this covid-19 year, they did more then reasonably could be expected.
Also my second home land Australia did SUPERB. Huge country but not that many people. On spot 6 !!!!
How fabulous would it have been when corona did not exist and a huge amount of people would have applauded the sport stars!!!
Well “on my way to Paris” for the 2024 Olympics.

During the WGC I write more often to avoid too long posts . This one is too long too.
So keep in touch/stay tuned there will be a few more to read till the end of the WGC.
Cheers Ritz……. MORE ON THURSDAY!

With 34 in 15 m. class , 38 in club and 33 in standard class the 36th FAI WGC is about to begin.
Here is the schedule;
August 4-5 and 6 …official training. So first official practice day today.
August 7; opening ceremony
August 8-20 competition/contest days
August 21; Closing ceremony and an airshow/aeronautical demonstration.
One of the pilots and former junior WORLD champion Aussie Matthew Scutter shares his stories on Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
Here is how difficult it was to arrive in Montlucon:
“Well, I made it. Through a strategy that was not so different from smashing my head against a brick wall for 4 months (at least in terms of cost and ongoing brain damage), I managed to get vaccinated, get permission to leave Australia, get flights/glider/car/another car/crew and everything else organized to compete as the only Australian at the World Gliding Championships in Montlucon, France.
Getting back to Australia will be a later problem – I don’t know yet when and if I will be allowed back into Australia. I will scream if one more European asks me “Why can’t you just fly back? Aren’t you a citizen?
Tomorrow looks like the only good flying day of the practice period so for now it’s straight to bed.” Written on Sunday evening.
Matthew will catch up again with Dutch pilot Robin Smit, who was runner up at that Narromine JWGC. Matthew flies the Diana 2 in 15 m and Robin the LS 4 in club class.

The British Gliding Team shared this news;
“WGC 2021:No flying today, and a poor outlook for the next few days. However things look to improve as we head towards the weekend and the start of the competition. In the meantime, the pilots and crews are busy making final preparations to their gliders and ground equipment. Here’s a photo from yesterday’s unofficial practice day.

—–It’s august already and more and more I am convinced that time flies!!!!
A pity that even when August started last Sunday, the summer-weather is still “off” here.
Luckily “we” have the Olympic Games to look at ,..nicely warm inside.
Looking at weather; it’s HOT in the SE of Europe up to 45 dgr C.
After all the flooding in parts of Europe, now huge fires in parts of Turkey, Italy and Greece.

—–A few comps just finished , a few just started.
In France the CLUB CLASS NATIONALS finished with 5 out of 7 days, pretty good and on one day they even flew 306 km. and nearly all finished , which could not be said of several other days.
On task 2 only 1 from 17 finished, on task 3 four but,… on task 5 ALL pilots finished!!!
The new French Club Class National Champion after 5 out of 7 days is Ulysse Merlin in Pegase with 2.507 points.
Also the combined 15 m, 20 m and standard class finished after 5 out of 7 days.
2 Days with just over 300 km. tasks and 1 day with 357 flown by 16 from 26.
Julien Duboc was the winner and NATIONAL CHAMPION in Ventus 2ax with 3.638 points.

—–New comps started on August 1 , as the well known First Challenge Cup [FCC] flown from Prievidza in Slovakia, between August 1 and 13.
Originally this competition should have been flown earlier in the year between April 11 and 24, but due to Corona it is postponed till now.
Normally over 100 pilots fly this FCC, but corona is still active, so 45 have entered in 3 classes; club, 15 m and combi.
All kind of measures were necessary to enter the Slovak Rep., so not easy to organize comps in this difficult time.
No flying at day 1.BUT,..the weather-forecast for E and SE Europe is hot , to very hot.
Task 1 was the same for all 3 classes a 2 hour AAT, to get in the mood and flown by many.
Yesterday was a better weather day ; Task 3 with 3 hour AAT for all classes.
Milan flew in Club class 265 km in time 3.04.
in 15 m. Jan flew 270 km in time 3 at the dot!!
In the combi-class the German ARCUS was the best with 328 km. in time 3.07.
For today; 2 hour AAT for all classes.
More next week.http://www.fccgliding.sk

——the Swedish OPEN CLASS and RACING Nationals started on July 31 with 7 pilots in open and 6 in racing and continue till August 7 at Viared.
NO flying that day , neither at August 1
August 2; Also cancelled for racing class but open got a new briefing at noon.
Tasks on August 3; Open 239 km won by the ASG 32EL and racing 212 km. won by Jan Olah in a Discus 2T with a speed of 94 km./h. the same speed as the ASG!!!
For today; 354 for open and 309 for racing class.

—–52th KLIPPENECK 2021!!! has as always 5 classes for their 81 guests; 15m., 18m., 20 and club and open. A competition loved by many not only from Germany. They fly between July 31 and August 7.
Also the organizers there had to deal with the “bad” weather.[Dutch meteorologist’s say the weather is pretty normal here for the time of the year, only the years before were too hot]
Till now only 1 valid flying day in all classes.
Such a pity but still 4 days to go.

The CIM in Rieti in Italy is a competition I frequently went to and loved it, as all the other comps I visited in Rieti.
The Coppa Internazionale del Mediterraneo is loved by more than me, as the list of top-participants is HUGE!!!!
59 pilots in total and a lot of them former WGC champions.
Looking only at open class toppers as Michael Sommer, Alvaro de Orleans, Bruno Gantenbrink, Markus Frank, Peter Hartmann, Felipe Levin and Uli Schwenk….the ones I met.
It looks like a “replacement” for the by COVID 19 cancelled WGC in Stendal in Germany , the one for the “big ships”.
They fly in 3 classes a mixed class, 18 m and open class: MIXED max 118/ RACE 118.1-120.5/ OPEN 120 and higher.
They started yesterday, with tasks from 293 km. in the Mixed class, 342 in 18 m and 299 km. and continue till August 13 so, I hope, 10 days of real Rieti soaring. AND,…it was really Rieti soaring weather on day 1.
Task 1 was won by Ezio Sati in the combi-class in a ASG 32 MI[800 kg] with a speed of 145 km./h.That ‘s better, much better.
In 18 m. Davide Schiavotto won in JS 3,,. Speed 160 km./h!!!!
When I see his name I MUST think of the JWGC in Husbos where he was as a very young boy, with Leo [Leonardo Brigliadori] as his TC. They were pretty loud, in an Italian way, on the radio and shared the frequency with us. They were” shocked” when I told him that we were a bit overpowered and they apologized in an Italian way as well. Great memories!!! And Davide has come so far now!!!!! Good on him!!!!
In open the “hotshots” flew slower than Davide and 5 other pilots of his class, all above 150 km./h . Uli in his ETA flew 149 km./h.

Arne Boye Moeller shared his opinion on this first flight ;”Ready for take–off.…the flight was intense and mostly blue with decisions queuing for constant attention. Nice day racing with only 6% of the time climbing…and Davide showed us how it was done.” Arne was runner up with 152 km./
Aldo [Cernezzi] is the CD.
Tasks for today: combi 409 km, 18 m. 438 km and open 412 km.
More news next week.

The Dutch are doing pretty well after the first “miserable” days at the Olympics.
I guess everybody knows or has heard about the HOLLAND HEINEKEN HOUSE at all summer Olympics. Party time to the fullest for the medal-winners.
In Covid- time this is impossible, as they all have to leave within 48 hours after their performances.
So to honor the medal winners, they created a new Heineken House at the beach in Scheveningen. Straight after arrival at Schiphol they are invited at this venue and though it is cold and wet it’s a very happy moment for all.

And to finish this FABULOUS picture symbolizing soaring…this IS soaring….. shared by Discover Gliding.

CU you next week.
Chees Ritz

—–UK Club class Nationals and 2021 Midland Regionals;
Also in Husbos the last days were weather-wise not good. That effected both the club class Nationals and the Midland Regionals 2021.The last 3 days had no task or a cancelled task.
BUT,..not too many complaints as they had 6 out of 9 pretty good days during both events.
In club the comps were “dictated” by Jake and Tom.
Jake was JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION in 2019 in Szeged and Tom in 2015 in Narromine.
On 3 days they were the winner and runner up. They started and finished more or less at the same time. On one day , task 5, they managed to do that equally ,winning the same amount of points, try that!?
Club class National CHAMPION;
1. Tom Arscott in LS 7 WL with 5.200 points.
2. Jake Brattle in LS 7 neo with 5.105 p,
3. Tim Milner in LS 3with 4.689 p.

Midland Regionals final scores;
1. Russell Cheetham in JS 3 with 5.189 points.
2. Steve Pozerskis in ASG 29e with 4.945 p.
3. Steve Barter in Ventus 3TS with 4.765 p.

—–International Bailleau 2021;
After 5 days in Vitesse and 6 in Grands Vols the weather “gave up” / became weaker.
Vitesse had 2 days with NO task, but the distance pilots had 6 days before they had a rest-day. On July 26 they started with the last 3 days.
July 26 ;
Vitesse; Task 6 …1.30 AAT....As said, there are many Dutch pilots flying at Bailleau. After the first 5 tasks it’s young Dutch pilot Lars [Groot] leading this class in an ASG 29/18m. Followed by Nick [Hanenburg] another young Dutch pilot.
The first 7 places are still “close” between 2.935 and 3.186 points.
Task 6 was a difficult one, for some, but Lars managed to fly 152 km in time 1.31. He won the day.
Totally different was the day from Nick. He outlanded after 122 km and lost more than 100 points on Lars.
Luckily a day with only 220 points for the winner and Nick “only” moved from 2 to 3.
20 points behind the Corporaals in the Duo Discus XLT.

Grand Vols; they flew task 6 a 2 hour AAT on July 24 and it was won by Bert jr and Tijl Schmelzer;226 km. in time 2.06. SAME start and same finish time , but Tijl got 2 penalty points as he just started a tad too high; 658 for 656 points.
With 3 days to go young Bert is nearly 300 points ahead, but as we all know ” it is only over after the last finish.”
On July 26 they had NO TASK.
No task on July 27 as well in both classes.

It looks they fly today, on the very last day.
Task 7 on July 28, with nice long tasks to finish on a high.
Vitesse 196 km and Grands Vols 297 km.
Will update later, when the day is official.

UPDATE!!!!
Task 7 for Vitesse was changed in 2.30 AAt and later cancelled….. so the overall scores remained as they were;
Overall scores after 6 out of 10 days…and not one 1000 points day;
1. Lars Groot in ASG 29/18 m. with 3.404 points.
2. Team Corporaal in Duo Discus XLT with 3.220 p.
3. Nick Hanenburg in Discus 2ct/18 m with 3.200 p.

Task 7 for the Grands Vols was flown.
Best speed over the 297 km. was by Jeroen Oostendorp in his ASW 22BLE; 79.58 km./h That says enough!!!!
Tijl and Bert started 5 minutes ahead of Jeroen in their Ventus 3T and had a speed of 77.82 km/h.
they had 3x a 1000 points day all 3 won by Bert jr.
Overall scores after 7 days out of 10 days;
1. Bert Schmelzer jr in Ventus 3T with 5.686 points.
2.Jeroen Oostendorp in ASW 22 BLE with 5.377 p.
3. Bas Seijffert in JS 1c/21m. with 5.278 p.

—–Looking back at that nice JEGC , here a picture of the Dutch “guys” with their 4,5 and 6 certificate/diploma. They deserve it.

—–In France , from Fontenay Le Comte, they fly between 25 July 2021 – 31 July 2021 the junior Nationals and the Standard Class 15 m. and 20 m. class.
THEY had pretty good weather to start with as after 2 day’s club had 2 tasks for the 16 participating pilots ,plus one pilot from Belgium flying HC.
A 2 hour AAT with 3 finishers, won by the HC pilot Henri Philippe in an LS 4NEO with 58.60 km./h. A tad faster than  Gaël Pischedda with 58.53 km./h. Both got 239 points.
Task 2 was 121 km. and 13 from 16 were “in”. Speed 77 km./h.
The combined Standard, 15 m and 20 m. class had 133 km. as task 1 and 301 as task 2 last Monday.
26 in this class plus 2 HC pilots.
Member from the well known de Pechy family, Anton was daily winner from task 1 in his Discus b and young talent Kevin Faur number 5 in his Ventus 2a.
Task 2 was for Enguerrand Virol in an LS 8. Kevin was 3d and Anton 23d.
Today the combined group has to fly 309 km…so better weather.
The juniors fly 254 km.
More next week.

—–Tomorrow on July 29 finally, the TOCUMWAL AVIATION MUSEUM opens it’s doors to the public.
Opening hours are going to be 10am till 4pm Monday to Sunday.
SO glad, the history of the TOCUMWAL WW2 and everything belonging to it, will be saved for ever.
‘To educate, entertain and inspire visitors to foster an appreciation for Tocumwal’s unique and significant contribution to Australia’s military and civilian aviation heritage and history.”Tocumwal Aviation Museum

There will be a restaurant as well.
“The ‘Drome Cafe will deliver unique cafe experience in a modern industrial setting offering the highest quality products and service.”
“Why “the ‘drome”? Speak to any of the long time locals in Toc and mention the aerodrome and they’ll call it “the ‘drome”, and so do we.”
Tocumwal Aviation Museum

More next week. A lot of my friends will be there. Wish I could have been there as well.
Wishing them a lot of success and many guests .
Big thank you to Gina and Bob who have put all their time, during their long-Tocumwal-life in this project. Already when we were running the hangar and the Sportavia Soaring Centre between 1994 and 2005.
Amazing people and Bob is in his 90thies now!!!

…the WGC from Montlucon starts soon. The USA is preparing, so they can come, in this COVID-uncertain time.
Good on them.
To finish; my grand daughter is at summer-soaring-camp at Terlet. Between sunshine lots of showers.

AND,…we had the worst start of the Olympics ,but it seems in ONE day “we” have already 2x gold, 4x silver and 2 x bronze and the day is not over yet. Best one-day-Olympic-result since 1928…in Amsterdam… for the Netherlands!!!!!
Later during the day another bronze, so the Dutch-Olympic- one -day -record was broken!!!!
We moved overall from 32 to 10 on the medal-board.

Cheers Ritz

The scores as I had them , did not change, so we have new JUNIOR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS.
In club GOLD for Finn Sleigh from the UK AND Lasse Edslev from DENMARK both with 5.341 points.
Bronze for Nils Fecker [5.329]
In Standard GOLD for Simon Briel from Germany, with 4.893, 101 points more than the runner up…..Thomas Pavis from the UK who got the silver.[4.792]
Bronze was for Henry Inigo-Jones.[4.776]
Congratulations guy’s.
The Team gold is for the UK as well; Finn, Toby , Tom, Henry, and Team captain, Clement Allen!

I was wondering why we did not hear anything about “a stolen FAI flag”. ..an every year returning event at many comps.
But no worries ,”something happened ” and here is the picture.

NO pictures from the party, but maybe that’s better. I saw some very tired faces pass by.

As said a nice competition to follow even with the miserable weather in week 1.
The next BIG FAI EVENT class 1 is the 36 th WGC in Montlucon in France, from August 7-21. After the 2020 WGC had to be cancelled due to corona, Montlucon replaces Chalons en Champagne.
Club standard and 15 m will fly from Montlucon. Corona rules apply.
Of course!!!
Unfortunately The Netherlands have colored RED again.

Back on Wednesday with the regular blog and the final results from Bailleau, the Midland Regionals and club class UK Nationals. These comps finish this weekend.
Cu then.
Cheers Ritz

After a week of miserable weather, the week after was good. Today they could finish on a high, with a nice 3 hour AAT, in which every pilot could show again what he/she can.
Friday JULY 23;
Last day and partly sunny, in the morning, with 18 dgr. C up to 27 during the day and wind from the NNW with 7-11 km./h later from the W with 18-32 km./h.
Looking good for nice long distances!!!!!
At the morning-briefing Dutch pilot Mark got his daily prize;

During such a last day there is some stress in the air before departing and at the ground, as everybody there waits and waits ,listening to the radio.
No writing , nearly NOTHING on social media, as tactics remain important.
Time for me to look at the opening of the OLYMPIC GAMES. 206 Countries in the parade, a long sit, but everybody looked wonderful in colorful clothes. The pictograms and drones were fantastic.
After,…. straight up again, to see what was happening in Pocuinai.

Club; 3 hour AAT…..start line opened at 13:34. One of the first to go [13.40] AND to come back, [16.40] in exactly in 3 hours, was Finish pilot Kim Toppari;86 km./h. He was 20thiest for the day.
A bit more waiting and there it is…2 pilots on a daily runner up spot, Tobias from Germany and Karol from Poland behind Toby Freeland [UK] who wins the day;295 km. in time 3.02 in his ASW 20.
Of course Finn must be somewhere then too, as they fly together. He was 5th for the day; 294 km. in time 3.03.
BUT,…. the overall number 1 Nils was “only” on 13. Ouch….
You would not believe this, but Finn was on July 16, still on spot 14, then slowly up to 8,7 and 3 to seize the “power” on the last day. BUT he has to share it ,as Lasse has the same amount of points!!!!!
So Finn did not win the last day, but unfortunately Nils lost points and dropped from 1 to 3 now.
My Dutch mates, Lars, Simon and Jelmer, did and excellent job…. Being 4, 5 and 6 overall. TOP JOB!!!!They might be a bit disappointed to not hold on to the first 3 spots, but that is competition.
The future for Dutch gliding looks bright, for the UK maybe even brighter!!!
Over all results after 7 out of 13 days;
1. Finn Sleigh [UK] in ASW 20 with 5341 points .
1. Lasse Edslev [Denmark] in LS 4a WL with 5.341 p.
3. Nils Frecker [Germany] in LS 4b with 5.329 p.

Standard; 3 Hour AAT..…..start line opened at 13.48. 11 Pilots flew over 100 km. /h. Danish Jacob Bøgelund Lassen, won the last day; 335 km. in time 3.04, speed 109 km./h.
Simon was quite some points ahead overall and being runner up only loosing 7 daily points , he stabilized his position. Easy!
But then;….. young Czech pilot, Jaromir was runner up but lost points as he was on spot 9.
Scores were so close, loosing 139 points meant, overall from 2 to 4.
Then the UK guy’s!!!!Henry on 4 and Thomas on 5 for the day.
Overall that meant into the top 3!!! Great result for the UK juniors, from 3 to 2 and from 4 to 3!!!
Overall scores after 6 out of 13 days;
1. Simon Briel [Germany] in Discus 2A with 4.893 points.
2. Thomas Pavis [UK] in Discus 2a with 4.792 p.
3. Henry Inigo-Jones [UK] in LS 8 with 4.776 p.
Compliments to the 3 Czech juniors on spot 4, 5 and 6!!!!

Party time now for the young ones and I have seen in the past, how good some winners can party.
Part of being young!!!!
But also congratulations to all members from the teams, crew and pilots. It’s over , RELAX TIME!!!So it should be.
Whilst checking I was in different functions at 5 JWGC’s. The atmosphere for sure, must be here at the JEGC ,as good .
All great fun!!!!

Back tomorrow with pictures from the party and changes when necessary as these scores are still preliminary.
Closing ceremony and prize giving tomorrow at 12 according to the official schedule.
Hopefully also with pictures!!!

On Sunday more news about Bailleau , the club class nationals in the UK and the Midland Regionals and the Swiss juniors.

Cheers Ritz, it was great fun to follow these young ones!
CU tomorrow!!

5th FAI JEGC
at Pociūnai, Lithuania

Wednesday July 21;
23 dgr. C and a cold front passed by and destabilized the air. Launches later in the day.
After rain there was sunshine. Wind WNW 14 km./h gusting to 22.
Club; 1.30 AAT....”Later in the day” turned out to be at 2PM.
Some pilots started early at 15.17 others and among them the daily winners, after 4PM.
The feeling , looking at the videos of the UK pilots, was a good one, all happy chappies and it shows in their performance.
The 2d win for Finn [ASW 20] with 187 km. in time 1.39; speed 112.80km /h. . Romanian pilot Tudor Ionut [St. Jantar] was a good runner up with 185 km. in time 1.44, so speed 106.49 km./h.
UK pilot Toby [Freeland] was 3d.
Short task and finally a bit of speed.
ALL STARTED AND ALL FINISHED this AAT, so a good day!

Standard; 1.30 AAT.…AND,…another young Brit won in this class; Henry [ Inigo-Jones].He started at 15.54 ,as the last one and 1 minute behind Simon and Jaromir [ Macoun] , the number 1 and 2 at this stage overall.
Tactics are in full swing!!!

2d Daily win for Henry , in a row, who is busy to recover lost ground. 3 Days ago he was on 7 overall, then 6 and now 5.
He flew 205 km. in time 1.39…Speed 123 km./ h. Fastest day till now!!!
Cloud base 2000 m and lift up to 3.5 m.
The Czechs in this class “smell” the medals as well with a 2d and 4th spot.
Totals are VERY close, with 2 days to go, have a look;
1. Simon [Germany] with 3.012 points, 2. Jaromir [Czech Rep.] with 2.927 p.3. Thomas [Pavis UK] with 2.884 p. 4. Jan [Zapletal Czech Rep] 2.865 p and 5. Henry with 2.863 p.

Thursday July 22;
18 dgr. C with a fresh Northerly 7-11 km.h. Longer tasks again, so for all a possibility to show what they can. Pilots were in good mood as it looked like a super-day and there was hope for 1000 points for the daily winner, as only task 6 showed those points ; What happened???
Club; 270 km....The start line opened at 12.57.Most pilots waited for half an hour to go on track, so around 13.30. The German boy’s went at 19, belonging to the 4 early “birds”.
In hindsight a good decision as Tobias won and Nils was 3d with Danish pilot Lasse Edslev in the middle …… Finn was 4th.
Speed around 89 km./h ,…..the UK ASW 20’s had a speed of 90 km./h but their handicap is over 105 compared to the 102 from the LS 4.
Our Dutch mates , proudly toppers of the overall scores for several days, had a less good day finishing at spot 16, 18 and 24. We all know then that this has consequences , certainly on a 1000 points-day.
So quite a few changes in the overall scores after the last but one day. Simon dropped from 1 to 7, Jelmer from 2 to 4, Lars from 3 to 5 and the winning pilots; Nils from 4 to 1, Lasse from 6 to 2 and Finn from 7 to 3, BUT “it ain’t over yet” . Scores are very close between the top 7 [sometimes ONE point difference]; between 4.445 and 4.271.
The Czech girls are doing a great job by being on spot 6 [Tereza] and 9 [Michaela] , good on them!!!!
One day to go.

Standard; 316 km….and at 13.11 the standard boys and [Czech] -girls were allowed to go. They all started within 13 minutes.
92 km./h was the best speed flown by Dutch junior Mark, in his LS 8, followed by Philip Lauer [Germ.] Nuutti Luukkonen from Finland and Henry and Thomas from the UK. They were the last ones to depart in sink and quite low, but finished “under a massive cloud street“.
Simon the current, overall leader finished on spot 8, lost a few points but still has enough to go as overall leader into the last day.[3.900]
Jaromir was on 2 and stays there [ 6th for the day] Thomas is still on 3 and Henry moved to 4 now, so winning again one place.

The last day is today…more in a new post.

————————————————————–

Concours International de Bailleau 2021

We continue with task 3 for all classes and not one day was “missing” till now.
July 21;
Vitesse; ….. 271 km…The Duo Discus XLT team Corporaal x2, was the daily winner with Lars [Groot] as runner up in his ASG 29 and father and son Max and Caspar van Bree were 3d.
All 32 started and finished!!!
Grands Vols; July 21…..367 km...Bas Seijffert did well, yes , sorry, another Dutch top pilot. He won the day with 128 km./h.in his JS 1 C/21m.
Bert jr. was runner up just ahead of brother Tijl.[ both Ventus 3T] Dad Bert sr. was on spot 20.
In the top 10 also former European Champion Steven Raimond, and when you think “only Belgians and Dutchies”… no as on spot 7 was Nathalie Lueben, from Germany [ASH 31 MI/21 m. ] who flies a lot in South Africa and on 9 Giancarlo Grinza from Italy[Ventus 3F] .
All 21, started and finished.

July 22;
VITESSE; 261 km...Very interesting……3x a Duo Discus [XLT and T] in the top 5. Speed 113 km./h and thought except for one everybody was “in”, it looked like a rather difficult day.
Grand Vols on July 22; 386 km….Bert jr, is back as daily winner. In the end he must have “lost” brother Tijl, as he finished as 12th.
Bas was 3d and the Dutch pilots in the big birds , Jeroen [ASW 22BLE] and team Van Doorn/van Empelen in the Nimbus 4DLM were on spot 2 and 4.

————————————————————————-

UK CLUB CLASS NATIONALS
17 July 2021 – 25 July 2021

From Husbands Bosworth the nationals continued, with good weather, no rain till now!!!!!
July 21;
Task 5…222 km...Only 1 out and Alistair Emson as new face at the podium; 93 km./h in a St Cirrus. Tom was runner up and Ge 3d and good to see Claudia [Hill in LS1 f NEO] who flew the WWGC in Lake Keepit on spot 4. Jake was 4th and our former Tocumwal -tuggie Tim [Milner in LS 3] was 7th.
July 22;
Task 6;…302 km...and today they had it finally TOTALLY right. Tom and Jake started and finished together and were both on spot 1.
Tim was a good 3d!!!He moved from 7 to 3 overall , but is still pretty far away from the top.
Tom has now 5.200, Jake 5.105 and Tim 4.687.
The former top juniors are a class apart.

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The MIDLAND REGIONALS 2021
17 July 2021 – 25 July 2021

Also from HusBos, these very interesting regionals , though there is one pilot who is really good!
July 21 task 5, 161.16 km…….and Russell won 3 of them and was runner up on one day. This day he won AGAIN, so number 4 in the pocket; just 100 km. /h and a start at 4 PM.
July 22 task 6…274.15 km.… Paul [Crab] was the daily winner with a speed of 102 km./h. Steve Pozerskis was runner up in ASG 29e.
Of course Russell still leads overall, but was 7th for the day.

Blogs are getting long again, so more news tomorrow .
Looking ahead at a great last day in Pocuinai; 3 hour AAT’s!!!!!
Cheers Ritz
P/S to finish some nice pictures from the INTERNATIONAL EVENING, it’s all about friendship/camaraderie….talking about gliding with mouth ,hand and feet and of course some nice drinks and food.
Pictures are shared by the organizers in the photo section. There are many more;https://jegc2021.lt/photos/

You might have seen, that I indeed published last Sunday, to avoid too long blogs/ posts.
It’s Monday July 19 now and a new week started, also for the “young ones”. What I could read and see on the pictures, is that they “nearly” all enjoyed themselves during the official day off.

July 19;On a partly sunny Monday with 24 dgr. C. and a wind from 14 to 20 kts [ gusts] from the W. the first launches were announced for 12, midday!
As the British Gliding team said; “After a lot of scrub days at the JEGC in Lithuania we finally have a nice cumulus day! Follow on Glide and Seek: https://link.glideandseek.com/jegc-2021
Club; 216 km. race..…start line opens at 12.12,42 With 86 km./h Finn Sleigh from the UK , was the best and clearly; 86 km./h. He started as one of the first at 12.54. He moved up from 14 to 8 overall.
Finn called it a “character- building- day”. They were send over the forest and the cloud base was below 5000 ft. “Interesting and terrifying.”. He had some luck with the last 3 climbs, which were good.
Finn flew earlier in 2017 the JWGC in Lithuania.
Runner ‘s up 2 Polish pilots flew 79 km./h. they started at 13.27 but did well too.
25 from 27 finished,…a GOOD day!!!
It makes me proud to see , the first 3 places overall are occupied by Dutch pilots; Lars , Simon and Jelmer…2.390 points , 2.325 and 2.307 whilst number 4 Lasse Edslev from Denmark has 2.220 p.
But it “ain’t” over yet. 7 LS 4’s in the overall top at this stage.

Standard; 245 km race…start line opens at 12.54. Czech- Rep-day as 2 of their young ones were the daily best with 96 km./h in their LS 8.But Simon from Germany was a good 3d with 95 km./h.in a Discus 2A.
He leads the overall scores at this stage with 52 points on Thomas Pavis from the UK.
All started between 13.00 and 13.12. Quick departures.
The skies looked good , but quite a few pilots lost speed by getting low …they had to dig their self out. Result…a lower average speed.
11 LS 8 types in this class and 6 Discus types.
13 From 14 who started finished……3 in this class are not flying anymore .

July 20; partly sunny, 18dg.C. Wind from the NNW 7-11 km./h
Club; 270,93 km.…quite a bit fresher than the low thirties , but the German pilots felt good with this weather and raced to spot 1 ,2 and 4, with a speed just under 100 km./h. A special day ,…as all 27 pilots finished!
Was that because they ALL wanted to be at the INTERNATIONAL Evening?????
A few penalties , one for cloud flying,.mmmmm….!!!

Standard; 317,71 km. …. listening to the stories from the UK pilots , it seems they are feeling good in Pocuinai , [like the Dutch,] they fly well but sometimes find it a “bit” scary, for sure INTERESTING.
Henry Inigo-Jones, won the day with 105 km./h . Simon was just a tad slower and missed out on ONE point.
All 14 in this class finished so …party time! But,..the next day they have to fly again as hopefully the days will be flyable till the end. 3 days to go!!!!

For today shorter tasks;1.30 AAT for club and standard, some crews might have had a BIG night.
BUT,…..Due to a cold front passing by, launches will be later during the day.

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The CLUB CLASS NATIONALS from Husbands Bosworth
17 July 2021 – 25 July 2021

31 Competitors try to be the champion in this class and there are a few BIG names fighting for it.
Task 1 on July 17; 214 km....27 from 31 flew the task. I must say the UK had excellent weather, very hot and dry. Northern Ireland even had the hottest temperature on record. So no rain in Husbos, a nice field where I was in 2005 with the JWGC… great comps, but with some difficulties for our Dutch team, before it started.
Young toppers Jake Brattle and Tom Arscott, worked at full strength together, departing and finishing together ,..so the best spots were for them…84 km../h and 1 point difference in score. [796 for 795] Great to see Alisson Mulder on spot 3. I am pretty sure she learned how to fly a glider with us in Tocumwal years ago. She was n ‘t even that eager then.
Task 2 on July 250,69 km.…The boys did well again, but this time Carol Marshall joined in and just started a fraction later, so she won the day. All 3 fly an LS 7 and the speed was 88 km./h.
Ge Dale was 4th.
27 From 31 finished!
Task 3 on July 19; 342 km.…Greg O’ Hagan was the best in his LS 4, with a rather early start.[85.80 km./h] But just a tad, as the Discus from James Ewence flew around with a speed of 85.62 km./h. He was an early starter as well.
Task 4; 299 km....When the “hotshots” fly together, they just are the BEST. Tom and Jake in the LS 7 flew with a speed of 96 km./h. for 1000 and 997 points. With Ge Dale and Benjamin Hughes, they were the last to depart at 13.38.
Don’t forget that Jake is the current, 2019 JWGC champion!!
For today a 222 km race is on the agenda.

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The MIDLAND REGIONALS
Husbands Bosworth
17 July 2021 – 25 July 2021

Parallel to the Club Class Nationals they fly the regionals in one mixed class and also here BIG names.
Task 1 ;189.82 km.…and straight away one of the big names is upfront; Russell Cheetham in his JS 3.
Paul Crab, also a former WGC pilots was runner up in his ASG 29.
19 From 30 finished.
Former “frequent flyer” at Tocumwal ,Richard Kalin, was 11th in his Ventus 2cxt.
Task 2; 195.97 km….And again Russell led the’ troops”. Speed 95 km./h.
Task 3; 304 km....a good day …26 from 31 finished and the best was Steve Pozerskis in an ASG 29. Best speed; 98 km./h whilst Russell had 69 km./h.
Russell still on 1 overall, Steve on 2.
Task 4 ; 295 km…..a 1000 points-day and all points are for Russell in his JS 3. He was the only one with a speed over 100 km./h.
30 started and 30 finished. The UK has nice weather!!!!
Task 5 today…..211 km.

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International Bailleau 2021.
56 competitors in 3 classes
19 July 2021 – 28 July 2021

As every year a lot of Dutch pilots fly and love this competition.
They have a racing class ..VITESSE.. with 33 pilots, 14 from Holland, a long distance class…Grand Vols…with 21 participants , 11 from Holland and 3 Schmelzers from Belgium and a friendly class ….AMICALE with 2 participants.
I concentrate on the 2 bigger classes.
Vitesse;
Task 1 on July 19; 273.96 km.…The young Dutch pilots, did well on day 1. Nick Hanenburg and Lars Groot were the daily winners with a speed of 103 and 106 km./h.
32 Flew and 2 were out. One of the last finishing pilot’s was Emiel de Wachter from Belgium in his LS 8. I met him and his wife Godelieve on many comps through many years. She is one of the best crews ever. Lovely couple.
Task 2 on July 20; 382.77 km….. Team Theisinger/Buchner is flying the ARCUS and they won the day;107 km./h. Theisinger is a well known name in soaring too.
32 started 30 finished , one close by after 349 km.
Today task 3 ; 271 km.

Grand Vol;
Task 1 ..376.10 km….With former world champion Bert Schmelzer jr. you have a top pilot at the field. Together with dad and brother Tijl , they form a strong group. Bert jr. straight away won day 1 in the Ventus 3T; 99.68 km./h.
Dutch pilot Bas Seiffert, also a top pilot, in the JS 1c/21 m. was runner up with 98.90 km./h
21 pilots in this class and 16 finished. A pity Margot Aquaderni was “out” she is a good pilot.
Task 2; 5 hour AAT….Now the Schmelzer- boys, Bert and Tijl did very well together, they gathered their strength winning the day with 561 and 558 km in time 5.18. Both fly a Ventus 3T. Dad was on a good spot 11 in his Ventus 2cxt; 483 km. in time 5.26.
Bas stayed close again on spot 4 with 572 km. in time 5.24.
20 Started 18 finished.
Today task 3 367 km.

As said in my last post, the water is travelling more to the N. now and close to Nijmegen, ….the bridge at the Maas…..it looked like this last Sunday

Over the last week I heard several times the words once in 100 year. Now in China with the flooding, the fires in N Canada. California has often fires but more nowadays.
Climate change!!!
NOT GOOD!!!!!
What is good??? The 7 million donated to the Red Cross, in a very short time, here in The Netherlands for Limburg.

Back on Saturday , as Friday is the last day of the JEGC and Sunday with the other latest news.
Cheers Ritz

5th FAI Junior Gliding Championship.
11 July 2021 – 23 July 2021

The first week from the JEGC , starting on July 11, [after 3 practice days] was unfortunately not a good one. After 5 days they flew in each class 1 day, won in club by 2 Romanian pilots and in standard the best 4 were English and German pilots.
On top of that they had a mid-air on July 15, between a young Danish pilot who landed out and 1 from Lithuania , he bailed out and landed safely by parachute. This happened on Thursday, a hot day with short tasks ,but the day had to be cancelled. Of course!!!!
Hopefully lessons learnt by ALL.
Further on I noticed that Patrick Pauwels from Belgium is chief steward and Juha ‘Silva’ Silvennoinen from Finland president of the Jury. I worked with both of them nice and experienced , competent guy’s.
Last week I shared a picture from the Dutch and the British team, now the German and Finish team.

After that, the sun was shining literally and figurative. Even clouds appeared, so ACTION for the young ones! THAT IS,…when they wanted to fly, after the incident. The organizers said, it was their choice…..but the message was also; it’s an official competition-day.
32 dgr. C ,….. real feel 36…wind ESE….7-11 km./h….partly cloudy, but a lot “of blue”.
Tuggies ready so off they went;

JULY 16;
Club; 254 km….that’s more like it. Start line opened at 13.14. The 3 Dutch boys started around 13.45, rather early as many left after 2.
A good choice , as they found out later, as they finished as number 2 [Simon] and 3 [Lars] and 4 [Jelmer] with a speed just under and over 70 km./h.
A German pilot however ,Nils Fecker, was faster and quite a bit. His LS 4B raced with a speed of 76.66 km./h. over the track!!!!! AND,….he started later; at 14.32.
1000- points-day ,so all of them for Nils.
The UK boys started at 14.40, only 8 minutes later, in hind side …too late.
9 LS 4 gliders in the top 10..
Only 10 from 26 finished.

Standard; 302 km....start line opened at 13.28.In this class NOBODY finished. After the bad weather, my experience is…never be to ambitious. In the end the lift was less than forecasted, so was the height.
2 pilots flew EXCELLENT. Nick Faber from Holland and Simon Briel from Germany. Both in a Discus with 208 and 192 km. The rest [15 pilots] remained UNDER 53 km, so all good work from the 2 toppers was character-building, as the day was invalid.
A pity.

July 17;
club class;2 hour AAT... and Standard class; 2 hour AAT…
BUT,…already they saw lightning and heard thunder.
“Instead of +34 we finally got some fresh cooler winds.” by Silva.
Day cancelled, pretty clear why…

July 18; TODAY……OFFICIAL rest day!!!!!

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The French CLUB CLASS Championship was flown between July 11 2021 – 17 July 2021 from Lille/Marcq-en-Baroeul, and like most parts of Western Europe they had miserable weather!
Such a pity for the 33 pilots, among them 7 from Belgium, who fly HC.
A 1.40 AAT on day 1 , but just over 60 km. was the best result.
Then 3 days without a task.
On July 15 , they tried hard again; 1.45 AAT but, the task was cancelled.
On July 16 a racing task from 115.84 km. AND YES,….with a speed of 68 km./h. Maxence Stawski flew in his LS 4 to the first spot. Edgar Lagorio was runner up in a Pegase.
Pieter and Daan[HC] from Belgium were on spot 3 and 4 in an LS 1f.
23 from the 27 who started finished.

July 17, last day and still only ONE valid day, showed a racing task from 140 km.
3 French pilots in 3 different gliders in the top for the day.
Guillaume in an ASW 24, Pierre in a Discus b and Edgar in a Pegase.
Daily points , for them, between 267 and 259.
Overall scores after 2 out of 7 valid days.
1. Edgar Lagorio in Pegase with 579 points.
2. Pierre Prudhomme in Discus B with 518 p.
3. Alexandre Fierain in ASW 20 with 498 points.

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SUMMER COMPS at MALDEN
11 July 2021 – 17 July 2021

Continued in the same bad weather, but there was a window on July 16. Till then they had ONE valid day.
Club class; 1.30 AAT…
Combined open class; 1.20 AAT….
But,…the window was not big enough.
SCRUBBED.

It looked good for Saturday…summer was coming back.
LAST DAY;
Club ;160 km...flying day 2 out of 7!!
Jeroen van Dijk and Joep Heesakkers were the only 2 finishers with speed of 69 and 58 km./h. Character building!!! Good on them.
They were the best on the other flying day [task 2] as well, so overall winners with 792 and 762 points.

Mixed open;199 km….flying day 2!!Only 3 flew the task. Daughter and father, Lizzy and Herbert van Zomeren , flying the Duo Discus XLT, flew around with 65 km./h winning the day, but also the competition.
A total amount of 696 points says enough.
The runner up and 3d place were for Hans Biesters in ASG 29 /18m. with 659 points and young Hidde Reitsma in an LS 8 with 462 points. Both belonged to the pilots finishing on the last day.
On Sunday it was perfect soaring weather!!!!!

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Polish Club Class flown from Stalowa Wola-Turbia, were flown between July 9 and 18.
All those Lucaszes, Tomaszes and Zbigniew’s, were flying, ……a total of 40 pilots.
Out of 10 days they flew 4 pretty marginal days. Only ONE 1000 points-day on July 13 with with a racing task from 282 km. flown by 14 from the 40 who started.
Today , on the last day, another short task;1.30 AAT.
BUT we are used to it NOW…SCRUBBED!!!!
So after 4 out of 10 days the overall scores are:
1. Przemysław Bartczak in SZD 55 with 1.911 points.
2. Stanisław Biela in SZD 55 with 1.854 p.
3. Tomasz Krok in Pegase with 1.812 p.

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The weather in parts of Europe is horrifying. UNBELIEVABLE….
A once-in-100-year-event, I heard. In Holland they even said a once in 300 year event.
I have NEVER seen and heard so much rain.
All rivers are flooding and Belgium and Germany suffer even worse than we here in The Netherlands. Nobody died here, but in Belgium at least 27 and in Germany over 130 and in both counties many missing.
Houses collapsed , people were up to their neck in the water, sitting on roofs waiting for help. That is when they had a roof.
In Germany , just over the Dutch border, in Nord Rein Westfalen and Rijnland Palts, many houses were taken by the power of the wild-racing water.
Dams broke and landslides took everything in their way. Lovely little rivers ,became giant killing water masses.
Lots are still missing.
A real disaster!!!!Heartbreaking…..
Evacuations were in full swing.
Everybody helps everybody, Germans ,people from Holland and Belgium.
Lot’s of military mates build bridges…where they were gone with the water…, helped with the evacuation of hospitals and help to make dykes stronger.
In 1 hour, a place where a dam broke, went from dry to 1 m.to 10 m. high water. The speed in which the water rose, was for most people unbelievable.
That’s why so many people died.
It was like a tsunami.
One of the sad stories; The fire brigade in Belgium saved 3 people , but the boat got stuck , the saved people fell out and drowned, taken by the wild water.
With the arrival of water from Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, the rivers in Holland will rise like “hell“. Those rivers have to bring it all to the Nord Sea.
Luckily, we Dutch are known by “our” good water management, hence still a disaster ,but a bit “less”.

So …it’s not ready yet here for us.

Cu on Wednesday. With news about the club class national in the UK [HusBos] with 30 participants, a few VERY good ones and parallel with it the Midland Regionals 2021 with another 32 pilots.
And of course the last week of the JEGC.
And hopefully better news about the flooding, though it can never be really good with so many casualties.
And …..Austria , Vienna and Salzburg and Bayern [ Germany] are hit now too.
On top of that,…. after all the recent travelling and partying after the CORONA-lockdown, The Netherlands is RED again. NOT GOOD.
And,..a more pleasant note; Within a few days the people from The Netherlands donated 4.2 million for the victims of the floods in Limburg.
Cheers Ritz
P/S Always had a lot of respect for Lewis Hamilton. Not anymore after today. A huge mistake and only 10 penalty points…..and Max with an impact of 51 G , on his side, in the boarder. Car totally written off. Max seems OK.
NOT GOOD!!!! NOT the way to deal with a concurrent who has been better till now!

AND to finish on a high again…..