2021 USA NATIONAL 18 m. CHAMPIONSHIP at Nephi.

The 608 km. set race from last Tuesday was flown by 26 from the 29 pilots still flying. A “fast and furious” race by Andy Blackburn who “drove” his JS 3 over the track with a speed of 171 km./h!!!
With one day to go it was Sean Fidler and Rick Indebro [both in ASG 29, Rick in the 15m version] on top overall ,with Andy Blackburn on spot 3 after his fast race.
But task 7 on July 7 was even faster!!!! John Seaborn [ then at spot 5] flew his JS 3 over 568 km. with a speed of 190 km./h. [he won the trophy for the fastest contest flight ]
28 from 29 flew the task.
Andy was 3d and Sean 4th , whilst Rick had unfortunately an off-day on spot 26.
Task 8 was a difficult one for Sean, he was 18th whilst John was 6 for the day. Gary Ittner won the last day with 495 km and a speed of 157 km./h. Rick was 5th but finished on spot 6 overall, after his “off-day”.
On the SSA site the story about the last day by one of the competing pilots, Clemens Ceipek, flying a Ventus 2CX /18m, here are some parts[ full story on :FB under ZWEVERS,a gliding community.
“We were given an Assigned Area Task (AAT).The task required us to cross the mountains and valleys back and forth. There were a lot of decisions to make and a number of traps to avoid. Thermal conditions were very strong, and cloud bases were well above the legal maximum of 17,500 ft, but there was much more wind to contend with than in the past few days. We saw west-south westerly winds of close to 30 kts today in some parts of the task area.

The start was once again a problem. This time it was the changing wind on the ground.
I was among the early starters launching at 13:21 and had no problem climbing up to 16,000 feet right off tow. Then the wind picked up and the launch had to be paused. Then the wind direction changed and the remaining gliders had to be moved to the other end of the runway.
But the delay was substantial nonetheless. The start gate eventually opened at 15:33. I had already been in the air by more than two hours and had flown well over 200 km by that time. But now the race was on and the task distance was another 432-718 km, to be flown in no less than three hours.

It was 18:30. I had another 150 km to go to the finish and was in need of at least two more climbs.”

I was still about 2500 feet low on Final Glide at MC 4 and the clouds ahead were quickly disappearing.
Gradually I made it above Final Glide Altitude and just felt my way towards the finish, increasing my speed as the glide ratio improved.”

These were amazing Championships with blazingly fast flight. On six of the eight contest days the winner’s speed exceeded 100 mph.

So the final results are;
1.Sean Fidler in ASG 29 with 7.455 points.
2. John Seaborn in JS 3 with 7.375 p.
3. Andy Blackburn in JS 3 with 6.452 p.

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The 2021 Swedish Nationals at Feringe

The 3 classes did not fly on Wednesday, but on Thursday there was action again. The news was not too good when I read “Massutelandning och motordragning”
I thought it would mean mass outlanding and use of engines.
Not a bad guess…“There has been massive landing in the club class and several in the 18m have reported technical landings. A rainy weather swept over Feringe as competitors headed home.“
BUT,…there were finishers as well in all 3 classes.

Club; 1.45 AAT Norwegian pilot Kato was one of the 3 finishers, in fact the daily best with 162 km. in time 2.18….that was fighting for the points .
18 m.; 1.45 AAT…Only 3 finishers in this class as well.
Hannes in the ASH 26E, Peter in the ASG 29/18m and Ulf in the Ventus 2 CXT/18m.
2 seaters; 1.45 AAT….Only the Lindell’s were “IN” with a low finish ,..but IN. 411 points for them..
In fact this was the last day as there was NO task on July 9 in all 3 classes, so the final scores after 5 out of 7 days are;
Overall scores for Club;
1. Kato Kvitne from Norway in ASW 20 with 2.866 points.
2. Martin Ekdahl in LS 4 with 2.702 p.
3. Lars Jauring in PIK 20d with 2.500 p.

Overall scores for 18m;
1. Börje Gustavsson in JS 3 with 2.666 points.
2. Börje Eriksson in VENTUS 3 with 2.644 p.
3. Peter Johansson in ASG 29/18m. with 2.624 p.

Overall scores for 20 m; 2 seaters;
1. Lindell & Lindell in Duo Discus XLT with 2.525 points.
2. Acketoft & Wendt in Duo Discus T with 2.507 p.
3. Jobs & Ganev in ARCUS M with 2.414 p.

Difficult days , small tasks ,close scores in the top, but for sure still fun by ALL.

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The 45th International Issoudun 2021
4 July 2021 – 13 July 2021

53 competitors in 2 classes …Club and Multi class.
CLUB CLASS;
no flying on day 1 the 4th of July!
106 km was set for Flying day 1 and 13 from 16 flew the task. German pilot Uwe Wahlig flew 69 km./h in his LS 3 [handicap 104.9] and Aurelien Doariat from France in a Pegase, [handicap 101.5] 67 km….they were the best…for 260 points.
Flying day 3 showed another racing task now from 203,59 km. Uwe was the best again with 75 km./h. From other comps I know he is an excellent pilot.
Wolli Beyer, coach from the German team was 4th and Elena who won the WWGC in Lake Keepit was 6th.
No task on day 3 and 4.
Another small task…125 km. was set on July 10,….BUT…cancelled.
Flying day 4;251 km,…only a bit better weather arrived, the bad one moved up N. but slow.
Fergnani-day as Elena won and brother Nicola was runner up, both in Discus. They started and finished together; 69 km./h.. Uwe was 4th and only 5 were IN.
No task on the 12th and the 13th.

Overall scores after 4 from 10 days in CLUB CLASS;
1. Uwe Wahlig from Germany in LS 3 with 2.170 points.
2. Nicola Fergnani from Italy in Discus with 1.983 p.
3. Elena Vergnani from Italy in Discus with 1.857 p.

Multi class;
No flying on day 1 and a small task on flying day 1 a 2 hour AAT.
16 from 32 only finished. Best was “Juliette Charlie” , Jutta Sturm ,in her JS 1 /21m.; 163 km in time 2.05.Good on her! Only 336 points however for he winner.
Flying day 2 had a bit longer task with 279 km. and Jutta did well again. Runner up behind that top talent Kevin Faur.[Ventus 2A] Kevin “got” 1000 points , Jutta 968.
25 from 33 were “in”.
No task on the 7th, but a 2 hour AAT on the 3d day. A marginal day for some… as JC. She was 29th , BUT IN. On the other hand she drooped from 1 to 9 overall.
Her husband Christophe in the ASH 25 choose the better track and was 7th for the day.
Flying day 4; another 2 hour AAT 194 km. was flown by Daniel in an LS 8 in time 2.04 and 212 km. in time 2.08 by Francois, a member of the Aeroclub Universitaire de Louvain in a JS 3/18m.
Jutta was 5th and Kevin 14th. He had a bad start, hoped for 2.or 2.5 lift , but got only 0.3. and was straight away 20 km. behind the rest. He chased them and still did not loose too many points. Overall still on spot 1.
Flying day 5; 311 km….only 3 pilots finished the task. Francois won the day with a speed of 74 km./h in the JS 3, which says enough about the circumstances.
Kevin was 3d with 57 km./h. Most flew between 500 and 800 m.
No task on the 12th and 13th.

Overall scores after 5 days in multi class;
1. Kevin Faur [France] in JS 3/18m. with 3.036 points.
2. Valentin Leleu-Lambour [France] in LS 8/15m. with 2.962 p.
3. Ludovic Hirtz [France] in Duo Discus XLT with 2.913 p.

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the 5th FAI Junior European Gliding Championship.
Pociūnai, Lithuania
7 July 2021 – 23 July 2021

46 competitors in 2 classes are “fighting” for the 2 titles in club and standard class
The 3 practice days were used well.
Nuutti Luukkonen from Finland really trained well in standard, flying as the only one the 2.30 AAT task with 209 km. in time 2.31!!! He used all 3 days. Good on him!!
I have been at a few junior WGC’s and it was GREAT fun.

The Dutch Junior Team has arrived in Lithuania for the JEGC.

The comps started at July 11…GOOD LUCK TO ALL;
Club;
July 11...task 1…1.30 AAT…cancelled, but the forecast for the next days was good..
July 12; Task 2….2.30 AAT.…after postponing about 8 times they started with this EGC for juniors. All those who started today, were still full of dreams, after today some dreams might have gone. Such is life.
The gate opened at…14.42.
The best distance was 239 km. in time 2.33 by Romanian pilot Tudor Ionut in a St. Jantar and the runner up was flying together with him, in the same glider and was from the same country.
From 27,4 were “out”. Not too many points lost on day 1, as the difference between 1 and 20 is 825 and 601.
July 13; task 3 ……cancelled.
Scrubbed as the English say it so nicely;
“A short 1.5 hour AAT was set, but due to storms building in the task area the day was cancelled after a few hours waiting and hoping on the grid.“

Standard;
July 11…task 1 …1.30 AAT…cancelled.
July 12; …task 2…2.30 AAT…gate open at 14.58. Hot day. The 2 Pommies and the 2 German juniors did well . 3 Of them flew over 100 km./h.
Best was the result from Henry Inigo-Jones in LS 8; 264 km in time 2.37. Followed by his mate Thomas Pavis,[ Discus 2A] …they flew together.
The German boys flew together too, Simon Briel in a Discus 2A and Phillip Lauer in LS 8neo, both already pretty well known.
9 From 16 were in. One of our Dutch pilots , Nick Faber, was out and had a difficult retrieve, the empty trailer got stuck on a little hill, the cable to pull the glider out broke and the clutch from the car nearly gave up BUT it all ended well and they arrived “home” safe with a new experience.
July 13; Task 3….cancelled.

Today; 2 hour AAT’s in both classes. First start postponed to 1PM, still a bit of rain…..

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The Summer competition at Malden started on July 11 and the weather for the whole week was not really hopeful, variable they called it,…. but windows might appear.
2 classes club with 5x an LS 4, an LS 3 , 2x a St Cirrus , a Discus DG 505, Mosquito and Pegase and an open class with all kind of gliders between ASW 24e to Nimbus 4T.
Club class;
For the 12 pilots in this class a racing task 1 from 127 km. was set,..but that was already too much. 60 km. was the best result,..so not a valid day.
Task 2 ;182 km.…only 20 km. out for Jeroen van Dijk. He flew 169 km in his LS 3. Great effort .

Combined open class;
Task 1 ; cancelled.
Task 2 ; 228 km.…on the first flying day, for the 11 pilots in this class, with a nice good looking sky in the morning , but less weather for the afternoon….overdevelopment and local showers.
None of the pilots finished. Very experienced competition pilot Hans Biesters won the day ,he reached 188 km.
Due to worsening weather , 2 pilots could not depart.
Task 3 cancelled but better weather might arrive on Friday. Bit late as they continue till July 17, but you never know!!!!

SO much rain in The Netherlands,…unbelievable. Specially the state Limburg, in the S has torrential rain . In a couple of days over 100 mm of rain causing severe flooding. Also the East and SE [ where I live] are WET VERY WET, but not as bad as Limburg.
For today and tomorrow they expect another 150 mm !!!!!
Rain at a lot of places so I guess….No flying today at Malden.

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And to finish this great picture

CU next week and MAYBE next Sunday, when the weather is good enough for the juniors to fly in the Ukraine and there is more news.

The UK NATIONALS for 15m. standard and open class.

In the UK, from the big airfield of Lasham, the UK Nationals continued and as said in my last blog , the weather was not nice for them.
They flew between June 26 and July 4 and till July 2 they had in 2 classes only ONE day, the first one.

Then,…..only open flew on July 1 ; 177 km. was set and 6 from 16 flew the task whilst 4 did not fly at all. With a speed of 76 km./h Ian Macarthur won the day in a JS 1 b/18m.
Pete Harvey and Steve Jones belonged to the finishers, Russell Cheetham did not.
But the weather improved a bit and on July 2 they set small tasks, ….a window might open…. :
But……it was not happening….cancelled.
SO,…still only ONE day for St. and 15 m and 2 for the open class.
That changes on July 3 ,when the early morning message was NOT, “grid open at 10, DO NOT GRID BEFORE BRIEFING.”
BUT;” Good Morning, Grid on Runway 27. Grid open at 0830L. Grid order – OPEN, STD, 15M. Briefing at 1100L. Grid lists available from control “
Small tasks again; CANCELLED!!!!
AND,….this was the news on July 4 the very last day;
“No flying today due to the weather. We have tried to use every available slot in the weather all week but it wasn’t to be. Prize giving was held this morning and the results of the competition can be found at the link below.
Congratulations to our new National Champions and see you all again in august for the 18M and 20M Nationals.”

Such a pity , but we know ALL how it works. It does n’t really show who is the best pilot, but for now…..there are scores.
After 1 day of flying in 15 m. the overall score is
1. Andy Davis in JS 3 with 1000 points.

After 1 day of flying in Standard class 2 winners in LS 8.
1. Steve Eyles and Jeremy Wood both with 1000 points.

After 2 days of flying in open class;
1. Ian Macarthur in JS 1 B/18 m. with 1.596 points.
2. Pete Harvey in Ventus 3 with 1.590 p.
3. Steve Jones in ARCUS M with 1.539 p.

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THE SLOVAK NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP at NITRA.

As said they were blessed with better weather. Out of 13 days they had one day off and 1 cancelled day .AND,…Nitra is a great place to fly from.
So 11 out of 13 days and I own you the last 2 days and the final overall scores.
July 1;
Club; 2 hour AAT …only 16 started and they all finished. 2 Pilots flew over 100 km./h in a DG 400/17 m. and KKB-15FES. ….227km in time 2.13 and 212 km. in time 2.07.
15m. ..2 hour AAT; 233 km. by Pavel Louzecki [ LS 8] in time 2.06 and Miloslav Cink also in LS 8 ,231 km. in time 2.05.
Combi class..2 hour AAT; Radek [Krejcirik] flew 274 km. in time 2.07 in his JS 1 C/21m EVO and Pavol Cerny 244 km in time 2.13 in a Shark 304 MS. Radeks dad Petr was 3d in his JS 3/18m.
All 22 who started , finished!

July 2,last day:
Club ;1.45 AAT….The last couple of days the overall scores were between Tibor Fratrik in Pegase c 101 a and Jose Kozar in LS 1f.
There was one point difference after the last but one day in favor of Josef.
As Tibor was 3d on this last day and Josef 11th it was clear who was going to be the champion in club class.
15m;.1.45 AAT...On this last day, 2 “girls” in the top 5. Dana Novakova on spot 1 and Jana Treslova, on 5. In this class it was all about Miloslav Cink and Pavel Lousecki. BUT, Miloslav was more than 500 points ahead.
Pavel was 3d on this last day and Miloslav 4th.
Combi; 1.45 AAT.…in this class it was about Radek and Pavol looking at the overall scores. The last day was not for both of them , but Radek was runner up and Pavol 7th.

Final scores;
Club;
1.Tibor Fratik with 7.892 points and CHAMPION.
2.Jozef Kosar with 7.867 p.
3. Milan Surovčík Jr. [Pegase] with 7.754 p.

15 m;
1. Miloslav Cink with 7.976 points and CHAMPION.
2. Pavel Loužecký with 7.431 p.
3. Tibor Arpáš [LS 8] with 6.793 p.

combi ;
1. Radek Krejčiřík with 7.507 points and CHAMPION.
2. Pavol Černý [Shark 304MS] with 7.138 p.
3. Branislav Jesenský [ Ventus 2CXT/18m.] with 6.828 p.

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Much-better -weather- flying in the USA
2021 18 meter NATIONALS from Nephi.
June 27-July 8.

With 2 practice days on the 27th and 28th with good distances and good speed [362 km. and a speed of 158 km./h. by John Seaborn] the REAL THING started on June 29 with 32 pilots.
Task 1; 2.30 AAT.….was a good one , though the forecast was not too promising, with storms and overdevelopment around.
In the end the winner , John Seaborn flew 440 km. with a super ….they call it BLAZING ……speed of 173 km./h.
THEN,…… no contest day on June 30. No weather but the long range weather in July looked OK.
Task 2 on July 1; 3 hour AAT…..Robin Clark in an ASG 29 won the day with 484 km. and a speed of 160 km./h. I read that Robin was “showing that flatland flyers can still win in the mountains. “
Sean Fidler , also in ASG 29 was runner up and Rick Indebro , in the same glider BUT 15 m. version, number 3.
Task 3 on July 2; 3 hour AAT.…Another 400- plus- k- task for the pilots and Rick flew 509 k with a speed of 163 km/h. Sean was runner up and both are the overall leaders as well.
Bif Huss who once won the title was 3d.[ Ventus 3M]
Task 4 on July 3 ; Again the SAME NAMES and they keep performing. Sean flew the set racing task from 441.86 km. fast with 163 km./h whilst John did so with 162 km./h. Rick was 10th for the day but still 3 overall.
Task 5 on the FAMOUS 4th OF JULY!! 3.30 AAT....490 km. for a new face on spot 1 , Josef Bostik in a Ventus 2CMX/18m.
25 were in, 4 were out [ 2 on engine ]and 5 did not fly anymore.
John had a bad day being 24th , dropping overall from 2 to 6. Sean was 5th and Rick 11th., they are both on spot 1 and 2 overall.
Jim Lee in JS 1C/18m. was runner up and moved to spot 3 overall.
Points are VERY close though!!!
“Day 5 at the 18m Nationals in Nephi had it all: 15 kt lift and 15 kt sink. Long glides across big blue holes over unlandable terrain with totally still air. We had heat, storms, rain, snow, and graupel showers. We were fighting against being pulled up into the clouds and minutes later we were fighting to stay airborne. We worked with dust devils and massive gust fronts. We were flying in huge gaggles and alone in the wilderness. We also had to avoid a wildfire TFR and a Restricted Area that occupied about a third of the second turn cylinder. The flight was spectacular and exhausting. Calling the day dynamic would be a total understatement. We had 2 landouts but everyone is safe and accounted for.”
Impressive day, as shared by Soaring Society of America

No task on the 5th,…… BUT
Task 6 was yesterday. and…it was a good one. 608 km. The first 9 pilots flew faster than 160 km./h. The best, Andy Blackburn in JS 3/18m. , had a speed of 171 km./h!!!! Rick in the 15m. ASG 29 was runner up whilst John and Sean were 3d and 4th.
More next week.

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The 2021 Swedish Nationals from Feringe in 18m. club and 20 m.
 3 July 2021 – 10 July 2021

Club with 11 pilots started with task 1, a 3 hour AAT on July 3. The only Norwegian pilot flying in this class Kato Kvitne, won with 318 km. in time 3.06 flying an ASW 20.
Task 2, a 2 hour AAT was for Kato again. 204 km. in time 2.07.
Task 3 , a 1.30 AAT…the LS $ with Martin Ekdahl in it flew 153 km. in time 1.39 for 464 points. Kato in the ASW 20 flew 174 km. but needed 1hour and 54 minutes.
9 From 12 were in.
Task 4 ;185 km…..NOBODY flew the task but 2 pilots were close; Martin and Kato …183 and 180 km.

18 m. class with 13 pilots started also with
Task 1 ,a 3 hour AAT, which was won by Börje Gustavsson in a JS 3 ; 338 km. in time 2.58.
Task 2,… was a 2 hour AAT won by Björn Regnström in JS 3….126 km./h.
The 2 Börjes[ Gustavsson and Eriksson 119 km./h.] were next on the daily scores list.
Task 3 …1.30 AAT with the Boerjes upfront again.The JS 3 flew 200 km. in time 1.34 whilst the Ventus 3 flew 204 km. in time 1.41.
11 From 14 were in!
Task 4….set task from 220.85 km. ONLY 2 pilots in, Boerje Eriksson and Jan Hasslid in Ventus 2CXM/18m. Meaning that the other Boerje was out, but not too far .He flew 201 km. Overall Boerje Gustavsson leads with THREE points.

20 m. class with 7 teams flying 5 x a Duo Discus in different variation , 1 DG 1000 and 1 ARCUS M.
Task 1,….a 2 hour AAT won by Lindell & Lindell ;257 km. in time 2.16 in Duo Discus XLT.
Task 2..another 2 hour AAT; 274 km in time 2.15 by Jobs & Ganev in ARCUS M with 122 km.h. The runners up had 114 km./h.
Task 3…1.30 AAT ARCUS-time again; 168 km. in time 1.33.
5 From from 7 were IN.
Task 4…190.87 km….Only the Lindells were in!

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News from the FAI SGP.

“The 20 pilots who will be competing for the World title in September are now known. The level will, once again, be very high. We are looking forward to a very exciting final in September! “
Here is the press release;
“The last 18 months of restrictions due to the covid pandemic created some significant challenges for the FAI/SGP 10^th series. In 2020 most scheduled events were postponed until 2021 with the anticipation of being able to complete the series in preparation for the final at St Auban in September 2021.

The continuing restrictions for 2021 cast a shadow over the events planned for 2021 and raised doubt about there being enough competitors to maintain a high standard for the final. The anticipation of cancelled events proved correct with eventually four of the national events being cancelled. This was a huge disappointment for the pilots and organisers who had gone to great effort to try and hold the events.

To enable early decisions and planning for the final to go ahead the FAI/SGP team in conjunction with the FFVP decided that each of the cancelled events should be allowed to nominate pilots for the final and the organisers would automatically be accepted to hold an 11^th series event.

Joining the 10 pilots who qualified from the events that took place are 8 pilots invited by the cancelled event organisers and the SGP team, the reigning champion and a wild card entry for the host country. 

We are pleased to announce there are 20 pilots accepted to compete in the 10^th final from 10 countries. We are looking forward to a very competitive and exciting final in September!“

CU next week. Nearly start of the Junior European Gliding Competition [JEGC] in Lithuania. More in the next weeks.
Also about the Dutch Summer Competition from Malden and the 45th International Issoudun 2021, with 16 pilots in club from France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain. And 32 in the multi class, with pilots from France, Belgium, Hungary, Spain ,Germany and Italy.
Cheers Ritz

To finish some nostalgic news from the Tocumwal Aviation Museum about the 6 hangars at the WW2 airfield. In the past we owned 2 of them, whilst one of the 6 collapsed and one got fire. I had to call Bill Riley who owned it to tell him about the fire. He rushed out!!
“Recently one of the three remaining giant timber World War 2 hangars was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register following an application by the current owners. This is a great result and will ensure the significant history and heritage associated with these great buildings will be retained. There were originally six of these buildings on the aerodrome, four in the northern repair depot area where there are two remaining, one where SportAviation Tocumwal is today on the southern end of the airfield and the iconic Sportavia Tocumwal hangar, now home to the Tocumwal Soaring Centre. The southern hangar, Hangar 2, was destroyed by fire on the 2nd of October 1944. The 2 northern most hangars also suffered disaster with one collapsing in 1968 and the other also being destroyed by fire in 1998. When built, these hangars were the largest single span timber buildings in Australia and that claim remains to this day. These hangars were built to cater for the assembly, repair and maintenance of the largest aircraft operated by the United States Army Air Corps in the Pacific at the time including B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator. We’re thrilled to know the current owners of the remaining buildings from WW2 are working to ensure these time capsules remain standing in honor of the men and women who constructed them and worked within them over the last 79 years.“

Qualifying FAI SGP at VARESE.

Race 4; 253 km; was set on Wednesday….halfway through the GP…. Clear skies in the morning and clouds popping up, for sure better weather. They could go into the mountains [Alps] , now the weather allows it.
Who will win the 2 tickets for the FINAL in September??
Official news; “The sky looks great but a coverage is forecasted quite early in our area. That’s why the first launch is planned from 12.15.Today’s task will let the pilots fly more to the north, crossing the Alps of the Bergamo area. Cloud base should be more than 2000m and for sure it will be an exciting race!!“
What happened?
Start at 13.40.
2 German pilots in a Ventus 3 T were the best for the day; Mario [Kiessling] and “good old” Uli [Schwenk]. Followed by 3 French pilots in JS 1C [Didier Hauss] Gilles[ Navas] in ASG 29 and young Kevin[Faur ]in a JS 1.
Kevin is still a junior!
Speed 118 km./h.
Gilles still leads with 29 points but Mario and Didier are “at his heels’ with 25.

Race 5; a short task …..156 km…..as there was a forecast for thunderstorms at mid afternoon. First take of at 12 and at 13.05 was the start.
“The race has started and the pilots are at 10 km from the northern point of the task. 2 options already appeared with a group taking a straight route while the other going more West”.
With a speed of 124.7 km./h. 2 pilots came in first and they had not been at the podium till now. Werner Amann in his ASG 29 [ 1 hour and 15 minutes] and Aldo Pigni in his Ventus 3. Till now Aldo had zero points today he got 10!!! As did Werner. Aldo honestly admitted he “followed” Werner.
Werner mentioned he was lucky to enter straight away a good thermal and just went for it. Mario was 3d with 7 points. Didier had no points,..not good for his totals…but Gilles had 5.
The weather turned out better than expected, the task was a bit too short but you never know ahead.
2 more days to go!!!!
So Gilles still leads with 34 points followed by Mario with 32 and Didier with 25.

Race 6; 289 km …nice long task as the weather was good!!!
Official news:”Waking up the sky gifted us an amazing view of the Monte Rosa today. The pilots will fly a longer task, excellent conditions have been forecasted with only isolated thunderstorms that should not affect the race. Everyone will anyway overflight awesome landscapes. Take offs from 12.45 p.m. Two races to the end and everything can still happen!

An interesting flight/race with Gilles as winner [10] with 117.2 km./h followed by Katrin [8] with 117 km./h. and the French junior Kevin on 3 with 7 points. “We ” have to keep an eye on this young man.
Only 1 point for Mario, but he is still in the “race” with a total of 33 points.
Gilles leads and is already sure of a place in the finals….he qualified. He has 44 points now and that’s 11 more than Mario, who had a poor start today.
Katrin has 30 so has Didier.
A lot is still possible.

Race 7; 306 km…..good weather so a race to follow, as a lot can happen. They expect more instability, so they go again in the high mountains as well as passing the Lake Como.
A lot happened today! Only 8 pilots finished, several got penalty points but Mario won the 10 daily points, he was the only one with over 100 km./h speed, where Katrin turned a point wrong and was penalized and missed out on points ,whilst young Kevin got the 7 points for being 2d!!!!
He had a superb amount of 25 points being 6th overall from 15, during his first visit to Italy.
The QUALIFYING SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX was won by
1. Gilles with 50 points, followed by
2. Mario with 43 points and
3. Didier with 33 points.

Interesting; The pilots which were interviewed by Margot, mentioned that comparing a SGP to the “normal/ classic competitions ,they like “ the small amount of competitors and the regatta start when all depart in the same weather.”

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Buno Bonnevaux in France; 18m and open class Nationals
June 20-June 26.

They had 2 practice days before the event started for 23 French pilots in 18 m. and 4 HC pilots from Belgium, Dennis Huybreckx and Francois Delfosse and Denmark Henrik Breidahl and Arne Boye Moeller.
In open class 14 French pilots and 4 HC from Belgium [3] and Germany [1].

18 m. class
Task 1; 2 hour AAT …..but task was cancelled.
Task 2; 236 km. AND,…105 km./h was the best speed in a JS 3 by Anne Ducarouge. Good on her! Only 2 were “out” one an LS 6 c/18m who missed out on only 20 k.

Task 3; 1.30 AAT, this time ONLY 2 pilots finished. Arne won the day with 215 km. in time 1.59. He got 332 points.
His comment :”Constantly measuring up alternatives and striving to balancing risk in a potpourri of weather systems.”
He had at some places nice cu’s and then an unstable air mass, unexpected shear wind “pushing one up the wall of a cumulus” and with 46 km to go and “after 170km the plot thickens as expected. And the fun begins“. he went through rain,” the last chance for climbing to final glide 27km to go in strong winds now and very wet air…a surreal climb against the rising wall and pouring rain to final glide.” picture below.

Not always easy to find a good spot for an outlanding.

Task 4; after a cancelled day, task 4 was set and 255 km. was on the sheet.
Here is what Arne had to say about the day:
“So we waited amiably till after four in the afternoon under a sad steel gray sky with a solitary wisp of cu underneath to the east that we were towed out to. With 22kph wind the distance from there to the startgate in the west quickly became more than 25km and at least another 10km to any chance of climb. The task was cancelled which was very fair. I dumped my ballast in an attempt to reach the cu’s and set out the jet to accomplish contact. Climbed up, returned to start and flew the 208 or so km with 109kph.“
You can’t say they don’t try hard!!!!

Task 5 on flying day 3; 151 km……with a speed of 91 km./h Adrien Henry won the last but one day, followed by my Belgium mate Dennis Huybreckx. Anne was 9th loosing 100 points.
With one day to go “only” 1.084 points for leader Adrien .
3 Did not finish. Arne was one of them; “Kudos to everyone else that didn’t land out like I did. After starting late and nearly a hour later painstakingly catching up with the lead group after some 60km..most managed to scrape away towards the 2nd turnpoint except I. But the jet worked perfectly.“

Task 6; 2.30 AAT on the very last day. A pity about the weather!!!
CANCELLED. Pilots out of their gliders and water on the grass.
So it stays as it was;
With 3 out of 7 days the new National Champion in 18m is;
1. Adrien Henry in JS 3 with 1.084 points.
2. Christophe Abadie in JS 3 with 1.001 p.
3. Anne Ducarouge in JS 3 with 993 p.

Open Class;
Task 1; 154 km was set …not much for the big birds…but it was difficult, very difficult. Only 6 were in and best was Christophe Sturm with a speed of 58 km./h in a JS 1C/21 m. for 118 points, …but sometimes you loose with 2 points so every point is good!!
In this class gliders as ASH 25 ,ASW 22 and ASH 30 MI, Nimbus 4DM, EB 29 ‘s and of course ARCUS T and M.
Atleast they had a day 1.
Task 2; 237 km. and another difficult day, but this time the big birds “stood up” and showed why they are good; 2 EB 29 ‘s in this class and they were upfront. Team Pierre de Broqueville and Jean Luc Colsson [EB 29DR] were on spot 1, but they are from Belgium so HC.
Winners in EB 29D team Paris/L’herm with 89 km./h!!!! Normally they would not take out the EB for a ride on such a day.

No flying on day 3 and 4.
Task 4; 286 km.…..as you could read they tried hard but it was not meant to be.
Task 5; on flying day 3….200 km…and again the EB won the day with Pierre and Jean Luc from Belgium.[ HC] Not a a speed you dream of flying an EB ;96 km./h. but …..
Great job from Philippe de Pechy flying his JS 1C/21 m. to a runner up spot;95 km./h , BUT to a first daily prize for the comps. Eric had one point less [467 for 466]
All 20 who started flew the task.
Task 6; 2.30 AAT....last day!!!NO FLYING, so no changes.
With 3 out of 7 days the French champion in open class is;
1. Eric Bernard in JS 1c/21 m. with 1.137 points.
2.Philippe de Pechy in JS 1C/21m with 1.107 p.
3. team Bouderlique /Astrid Galaret in ARCUS-20 with 1.062 p.
In between was team De Broqueville in EB 29DR with 1.101 p.

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Omarama was closed after so many years, then Keith Essex took some gliders and a tug to fly from there for a season, as he loves it, but he lives in the USA. SO,… new life has been blown in Omarama now.
“Dear Friends of Gliding,
My professional gliding school, KahuSoaring, is open for bookings for the upcoming season.
I would like to invite you to discover this spectacular gliding site.
From September through April we experience excellent conditions, wave, thermal and convergence soaring – often on the same day.
Come and enjoy the entertaining puzzle of the elements, the crystal clear air and breathtaking scenery of New Zealand.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Milan Kmetovic“

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The new Italian 15 m. CHAMPION is Ricky Brigliadori, who won 3 days in a row out of 4 flyable days…AND he did not fly on day 1.
The new Italian Standard Class National Champion is Elena Fergnani in a Discus. She won 2 days out of 4. Since she became WWGC champion I did not see a lot in the media , but here she is again .
Both comps were flown from Varese, 13 participants in Standard class and 9 in 15 m.

More about the UK Nationals in St. 15m and open class flown from Lasham, next week. Till now they had, thanks to the weather, only 1 day, the first day of the comps. [June 26-July 4], but it was a 1000 points day.
15 m. class with 19 participants…328 km.; won by Andy Davis JS 3 [MD] and 7 finished. Andy was the only one with 100 km./h.
Standard class 311 km; NOBODY from the 19 pilots finished but 2 [ in LS 8] flew 252 km. for 1000 points each.
Open class; 370 km.;Richard Browne in JS 1C won the 1000 points with a speed of 96 km./h. Shaun Lapworth was runner up in the same glider.

The Swiss Nationals [June 26-30] in mixed open and mixed 15 m. suffer from the same bad weather. Grenchen is the place to be.
They had only 2 days till now; in open 320 km. won by Yves Gerster in JS 1C followed by Juerg Haas in the same glider.
AND,…a ONE hour AAT…won by Yves again;148 km. in time 1.07, so a fast flight …132 km./h. for 98 points.
Rainer Crohnjaeger was runner up for 88 points in the ARCUS. Jurg had 4 points less.
NO task yesterday. 19 pilots in this class.
In 15 m also 2 days….262 km. flown by 4 from 15 pilots. David Leemann won in an LS 6 with 88 km./h.
The 1.15 AAT was flown by 11 from 15 .The winner in ASW 28 km flew 128 km. in time 1.23.27 for 234 points.

The Slovak National Championship had definitely better weather. They fly from Nitra in 3 classes till July 2.
Club had tasks from 163 km till 308 and at this stage after 9 flyable days , it’s Tibor Fratik in a Pegase who leads; 6.907 points…when I remember well, he flew several times with us in Tocumwal… .
15 m; between 205 and 354 km. At this stage Miloslac Cink [LS8b] has 6.840 points winning 2 days and several runner-up-spots.
The combi-class pilots had to fly distances between 246 and 408 km. Best at this stage is Radek Krejcirik in JS 1.21 m.[evo] with 6.483 points.
During the 408 km task he started together with dad Petr [JS 3/ 18m.] ; speed 111 km./h. for 102 and they were 1 and 2.
Peter is now on spot 6.
TODAY all classes fly task 10 out of 11, a 2 hour AAT.
They had one day with NO TASK.
More next week.

That’s it for now,
Cheers Ritz

The Norwegian Nationals [ June 13-June 20] unfortunately missed out on the good soaring weather.
They flew in an open class with gliders between LS 6 [handicap 101.5] ASW 19 [94] and ASH 31 MI/18m.[106.5] and Nimbus 4DM [107.5]
16 Pilots , one female Rebecca Hansen.

Task 1 ;258 km…..won by LS 6 pilot Per Morten Lovsland with 87 km./h..Arne was 3d and 10 from 16 finished.
Task 3; after day 2 was cancelled now 350 k for the pilots. With 101 km./h the LS 6 won again. 12 From 16 finished on what Arne called “ a day with good conditions except for one area, where there was no lift to be found and I had to use the engine to get back. I wasn’t the only one to get in trouble there, but still annoying.”

Task 5 ….as day 4 had “no task”,…. showed a 1.45 AAT. Henning [Lassen] was the winner with 177 km. in time 1.54. Per Morten in the LS 6 was runner up with 188 km. but he needed 2 hours and 10 minutes.
10 from 16 were “in”.
There was task 6 , but the set task of 146 km. was flown but turned out invalid with as best distance 92 km. by Per Morten..
With the last small task 5, they had a total of 3 days and a champion.
1. Per Morten Lovsland in LS 6 with 2.393 points.
2. Marin Bjornebekk with Rebecca in the Duo Discus T with 2.106 p.
3 Henning Lassen in Ventus 2CM/18m. with 2.091 p.
With the win of the last day Henning moved up from 7 to 3 and passed Erlend Sorbye in the Nimbus 4DM with ONE point.
Arne Martin was 8th.

Arne Martin about the last days;
“Day 3 of Norwegian Championship had dry and difficult conditions. I was doing ok, until just before the last turnpoint, where I got very low, and lost quite a bit of time climbing back up again.
Day 4 was yesterday, and was an even more difficult day, where no one was able to complete the task.And with rain today, that is the end of the championship this year. My outlanding on day 2 cost me dearly, and I ended up in 8th place, which is my worst result ever in the Norwegian championship. But I was not helped by my glider ending up in a lake a month ago, and the most important thing is that it is flying again!Huge congratulations to Per Morten Løvsland for masterful flying, and another well deserved win of the Norwegian championship!

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The Spanish Nationals had 6 out of 7 days and were flown between June 13 and 19 from Garray.
They had 3 practice days for the 15 club pilots [plus 5 HC pilots] and for the 12 open class pilots including 1 HC pilot.
Difficult/ miserable weather here as well, definitely not the real Spanish weather ; on several days nobody finished.
Club started with task 1 ;167 km. flown by 2 pilots one in a St. Cirrus and in a Mini Nimbus.
Task 2 showed 160 km. on the task sheet flown by 12 pilots and 4 HC pilots.
Task 3 was a small AAT; 1.30.The St Cirrus from Jorge Arias Riera was the best again;151 km. in time 1.31.
Task 4; 1.30 AAT won by an ASK 21.
Task 5; cancelled.
Task 6; 1.30 AAT. ONE finisher Jorge!!! For 27 points!!!!|
Task 7 ; last day….1.30 AAT…flown and finished by 4.

Spanish Club Class Champion;
1. Jorge Arias Riera in St Cirrus with 1.250 points, that says ALL about the weather, after 6 out of 7 days.
2. Toquero & de Albert in ASK 21 with 1.151 p. Was 2 remains 2.
3. Sergi Puyol in MiniNimbus with 1.083 p. was 3 stayed there.

Open class sum up;
Task 1; set task of 324 km. and straight away 2 winners one in an LS 6 and one in a Ventus1.
8 From 13 were in.
Task 2; 310 km. but not flown by one of the pilots, best result 275 km in an HC Nimbus 4DM
Task 3; 1.30 AAT , best result 195 km. in time 1.35 in an ASW 27.
Task 4; 2 hour AAT and the winner was again Francisco Ortego in the ASW 27. He flew 194 km in time 2.02.
Task 5; cancelled.
Task 6 ; 2 hour AAT nobody in and 19 points for the winner.
Task 7; 2 hour AAT winner the ASH 25/26m. 172 km in time 2.15 for 167 points.

Spanish Open Class champion;
1. Rodriguez & Lanzieri in ASH 25 with 1.736 points.
2. Miguel Jurado Navas in Ventus with 1.558 p.
3. Carlos Gonzalez de Herrero in ASW 27 with 1.461 p.

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The postponed qualifying FAI SGP is hosted this week by the the Aeroclub Adele Orsi (acao.it) and flown from Varese with 15 pilots from 6 different countries, between June 20 and 26.
They fly in 18 m. class.
Official practice day on Saturday June 19, with some small cu’s appearing along the task in a highly covered sky.
In the end the first 2 pilots will be qualified for the finals at St. Auban France in September 2021.
One of the pilots is young Kevin Faur from France, who did so well in the French Nationals. This is his very first visit to Italy and his very first SGP. Good luck.

RACE 1; First flying day on Sunday with 125 km. …regatta start at 14.55 …..won by UK pilot Mike Young in the Ventus 3, [9 points] followed by Katrin [Senne 8] and Klaus [Kalmbach 6] both in JS 3 and both from Germany.
The weather was tricky and as rain appeared during the last 15 km. some outlanded and a few finished too low.
“Take Offs have started after 1 hour delay due to weather conditions. The sky is highly covered but anyway there are some cu‘s.”

Race 2; was more one out of “the gliding-book”.
157 km. was set with good weather circumstances and French pilot Gilles Navas won the 10 points in his ASG 29. Followed by Giorgio Galetto in his Ventus 3 FES [8 p.] and Mario Kiessling from Germany for 7 points.
The official news from day 2;
“Today’s race was a perfect Sailplane Grand Prix performance! The task was set to a limited distance, as the area providing the best thermal conditions didn’t extend to the East, further than the city of Lecco. Gilles, the winner, achieved a remarkable speed of 125 km/h. He covered the task in just 1hour 15 minutes, during which time he barely had the opportunity to watch the beautiful scenery, as any second lost to other than looking for the best and more energetic route would probably has cost him the first place for today. All the competitors were able to complete the task, mostly at speeds above 120 km/h. Real sailplane racing!”

Race 3; 195 km.
official news;
“Spot-on perfect forecasts, a tailored task and excellent pilots, that’s the recipe for a fantastic race and a lot of fun!.Most of the finishers flew faster than 118 km/h, rounding all 3 turnpoints in little more than 90 minutes. Today, 5 minutes late at finish meant Zero Points. The GP can be cruel, but the smiles on the faces of the early finishers was heartwarming..After 3 races, Gilles Navas is leading by just 4 points over twice WWGC Champion Katrin Senne, and 5 over Didier Hauss. We expect ever improving weather in the next days.“

More next week, but you can follow it on http://www.sgp.aero/italy2020.aspx

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News from Schempp-Hirth;
“We are very proud to announce that the 15m tips on Ventus-3T are now certified by EASA  These short wings rocks so fast!!! Thank all pilots who supported this development and the team here for this crazy design!!! We wish all users many more hours of fun with these “small ears” like we say in german .”

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And to finish , thanks to my brother in law Adrian, a link to a video with “weird” weather over Oklahoma. I found it scary and have no idea why somebody would fly there, but….we are all different.
www.youtube.com
Title; insane close encounter & intercept
link; https://youtu.be/1SnkxQSNj8

Talking about weird weather, we had a downburst in the middle of the Netherlands creating HUGE damage, hundreds of trees flat in one direction and beautiful houses collapsed, 11 of them are now inhabitable.
Belgium had the same problem.

CU next week…the longest day in 2021 here is already “history” ……but winter is still far away.
Next week also the FRENCH nationals for 18m and open from Buno Bonnevaux [June 20-26]
Cheers Ritz

Purjelennon SM 2021

THE RAYSKALA MASTERS were blessed with great soaring conditions, so the pilots had the time of their lives. “We” continue as they continued too.
June 9; after a cancelled day….a bit of rest for the pilots was not bad either… a better one, with good tasks again. BUT,….

Task 5; good distances till a thunderstorm “on track” spoiled the fun. A lot flew back to Rayskala.
Open; 507.47 km…it looks like good soaring weather for a Duo Discus. NOBODY finished the task but they flew 418 km. and with their handicap they beat the AS 33es with young Petri with 15 daily points.
13 From 15 flew over 400 km.
Racing; 456.19 km…the best 7 for the day flew all over 350 km. NOBODY finished. Scores for them between 600 and 573 points.
Club; 417.88 km…..5 over 300 km and no finishers.330 was the best distance

June 10; 4.30 AAT’S for all classes

Task 6;
Open; 4.30 AAT...Petri’s [Dad Martti’s] AS 33 is “fitting ” him like a glove and he flies the stars from the sky. He won with 500 km. in time 4.30 at the dot. He knows already how to plan that too. He was the only one with 500 km. and all 15 pilots finished,…a good day.
racing: 4.30 AAT..Kristian [Roine] flew 485 km. in time 4.30 at the dot , which was about 20 km. further than runner up Aku. 2 Were out.
Club; 4.30 AAT…..Tapio Turula….the name Tapio reminds me ALWAYS of Finnish TC Tapio, [Savolainen R.I.P.] who was flamboyant and so good,…..flew 441 km. All were in.

Task 7;Last flying day!
Open….504 km…a great distance to show what you can. Of course Petri who is on spot 1 overall, should be NOT nervous on this last day and keep an eye on the number 2 at this stage Tapio . That’s what he did. He started 3 minutes later than the Ventus 3 T and arrived 6 minutes later with 119. 81 for 116.97km./h as speed.
7 From 15 were in and 8 “punished” by hitting just a bit of restricted airspace.
Final scores from this very successful edition of the Masters in Rayskala.
Open;
1. Petri Sucksdorf in AS 33 es with 5.030 points.
2. Hanu Halonen in Ventus 3T with 4.877 p.
3. Mikko Nurminen in Ventus 2/18 m. with 4.357 p.

Racing class; 485 km. and Harri was 7 km./h faster than Kristian, so the overall scores changed on this last day. Harri moved to 1.
1. Harri Hirvola in Ventus 2a with 5.314 points.
2. Kristian Roine in LS 8 st with 5.269 p.
3. Aku Jaakkola in Discus 2A with 5.153 p.

Club; 460 km. nearly through the whole competition the overall scores were lead by Tapio followed by Sakari and Kim. That did not change on the last day;
1. Tapio Tourula in LS 7 with 5.546 points…great lead!!!!
2. Sakari Pyorre in LS 7 with 5.013 p.
3. Kim Toppari in LS 7 with 4.833 p.

Nice comps to follow.
As said I met Aku when he was still a junior.
“Great week at #rayskalamasters. Six days of long tasks with variable weather and nice speeds. Another podium finnish at nationals. Farewell run with my #discus2a. AlfaJuliet served me well for years. Now it is time for some 18m fun in #Ventus3!”
I wish all of them a great MIDSUMMERNIGHT!!!!

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US National 15m & Open class Championship in Minden, NV.

I was in Minden in 1990 at the Pre-Worlds,[ WGC later held in Uvalde Texas] and what I remember most was the heat, the little golf-cars driving around with oxygen and the huge Fire Bombers operating from the field when necessary, reason later to move the WGC from Minden to Uvalde.
AND,…of course the flight with the ALBATROSS and the landing at LAKE Tahoe with a picnic on the wings. Will never forget that.

Back to 2021;
Open class;
Task 1….3.30 AAT; Keith Essex flew in his JS 3, 563 km. with huge speed ; 157 km./h.
Jim Payne in the Nixus flew 536 km. but slower; 140 km./h.
13 In this class, one out.
Task 2….3.15 AAT; Jim Lee flew 588 km. with even bigger speed;174 km./h.
12 From 13 flew over 150 km./h the last one in an ASW 29 148 km./h.
Task 3…..4 hour AAT and it gets better and better…Dan Mockler in the JS 1/21 m. flew 792 km. with a speed of 151 km./h.
2 were out after flying 686 and 677 km.
Task 4…3 hour AAT; Dan won another day now with 477 km. in time 2.58 [speed 159 km./h.]
Good to see Dennis Linnekin as runner up in his ASG 29. Dennis was the USA Team Captain in Uvalde in 2012. Nice fellow!
Task 5…3 hour AAT and Jim was daily winner again;462 km. in time 3.30.
9 From 10 were in and 4 did not fly.
Task 6….492 km; Only 9 started and 2 were out, one of them Peter Alexander. He is a lovely fellow , maybe not the very -best-every-day-winning- pilot, but somebody who never gives up and his presence makes a competition “better/nicer”. He flew the new AS 33-es.
Dan won ,492 km. with 141.78 km./h.
Not too difficult to figure out the Champion in open class after 6 out of 11 days;
1. Dan Mockler in JS 1/21 m. with 5.727 points.
2. Jim Lee in JS 1/21 m. 5.702 p.
3. John Cochrane in ASH 31 /21 m. with 5 526 p.

15 m. class; more familiar faces in this class.
Task 1…315 AAT for 15 pilots in this class. 3 Were out.
Gary Ittner won in ASG 29;494 km. in time 3.38 [speed 136 km./h.]
Task 2….3 hour AAT ;and Rick Indebro raced with big speed over 558 km. in time 3.09.48 meaning a speed of 176.52 km./h!!!!
Task 3….4.15 AAT and a prey for Rick again; 775 km with a speed of 176.86 km./h That ‘ s flying in Minden!!!
Task 4…3 hour AAT; 509 km. for Gary[149.52 km./h] and runner up was Francois Pin in the ASW 27FES.[471 km. in time 3.09…speed 149.38 km./h]
Only 9 were “in”.
Task 5…. 3 hour AAT; 412 km. for Gary in time 3.10… speed 130 km./h]
Task 6….492.17 km; A new face at the podium Peter D Eane in JS 3/15m.. A consistent pilot flying himself every day in the top 5 .
Only 9 flew the task.
15 m USA Champion;
1.Rick Indebro with 2.996 points.
2. Peter D Eane with 5.817 p.
3. Gary Ittner with 5.769 p.

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In the past I wrote about the Sport soldiers in Germany. From these young guys/girls a lot made it to TOP- soaring.
My eye felt on this picture;

These young students all from the Military University of Air and Airspace in Munich learned, not only from lectures and theory lessons but also “moving” in 3D in a 2-seater and flew the/a glider to solo.
Great initiative.

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A DECLARED FAI-1000 from Hausen am Albis in a Discus 2CT by Bert Schmelzer jr;
“FAI triangle 1000 KM declared :-))))I’ve been planning this flight for years and finally could give it a try: Muri – Bellelay – Rocher de la Balme – Krummgampenturm – Muri and at the same time Tour de Suisse (and a bit of France): Swiss Mittelland – Jura moutain range – Chartreuse/Vercors – Wallis – Ticino – Engadin – Graubünden – Swiss Mittelland.
Not the easiest day: Blue start in the Jura. Only the western part around Genève was ok. Vercors beautiful as always, but tough to find the good climbs. The forecasted high cloudbase in the Wallis and Engadin never appeared. Lots of high clouds and overdevelopment during the last 400km due to the strong northerly flow. In the end the Discus and I managed to get back home thanks to some nice ridges, rotors, weak waves and late sunset.
In the end the triangle wasn’t properly closed, not due to lack of altitude, but due to lack of daylight (sunset+30 min was 5 minutes early https://weglide.org/flight/73318

This season is really a 1000-km-season!!! The weather is so good after a dip that everybody loves soaring long distances. Also in the USA.
Hot here, we are up to 33 dgr. C. BUT,…it’s SUMMER!!!!
Saturday; 2 x a 1000 in Switzerland.
Sunday; in the USA, Austria, France and Germany[2] and up to 800 k in The Netherlands.[ASG 29]
Monday; 2x a 1000 from Grants-Milan with Keith [Essex] in the ASG 32 MI and Moriarty .. by Ramy [Yanetz] who started his summer soaring trip there. This time he flew in his ASG 29 his fastest 1000 with a great speed of 171 km./h.
Yesterday; not wave but GOOD thermal activity in the Alps;929 km. from Koenigsdorf by Mathias Schunk in the Quintus M.
A huge amount of over -500 km.- flights last week.

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You surely remember the “water-landing” from Arne Martin’s glider , in the beginning of Mai, whilst he was up in a 2-seater. I spent quite some time on it.
Here is the latest as written by Arne Martin[ Guettler]:
“Finally came the day, when PS could back in the air after it’s water landing on May 1! Thanks to a lot of help from Lars Rune Bjørnevik the last week we managed to get PS ready at the last moment, on the first day of the Norwegian Gliding Championship.
Needless to say; I’m not well prepared this year, and among other things I had no time to test the water ballast system, so had to fly dry on this first day. But it was wonderful to get PS back in the air, and I took it mostly as a practice day, and did manage to complete the task in a respectable 3rd place!
The instruments and other electronic devices were still pretty good.
“Only radio died. All other electronics survived without damage (power was turned off before landing), the mechanical instruments were repaired. Luckily it was fresh water There was a little bit of physical damage: a wheel door and transponder antenna broke off, the canopy air scoop was broken too. But mostly the damage was very light. Most of the work to get it flying again was doing all the inspections and everything had to be re-lubricated.”
Great to read.

More about the Norwegian Nationals next week. They have pretty good weather and till now 2 days with tasks from 258 and 350 km.

“Less than 7 days before Varese Grand-Prix! For the pilots, it is the last chance to win a place for the 10th SGP World Final next September! Follow the GP of Italy here;”
http://www.sgp.aero/italy2020.aspx?contestID=22995
Will follow that SGP too.

CU next week.
Cheers Ritz

Life is nearly back to normal, at least here in the Netherlands 10 million have been vaccinated already and slowly the world here opens up again.
We still have high temperatures up to 29 dgr. C. and soaring in Europe is back to normal too, except for heavy thunderstorms.
A pity they had to cancel the WGC in Stendal, would have been a great comps!!!
Enough National comps at the moment ,…. the next TOP/class 1 competition is WGC in France [ Montluçon-Guéret,] and will be flown in August [7 till 21] with at this stage over 90 pilots.

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In Bailleau ; French Nationals for standard and 15 m class …female Nationals included…and for 20 m. class !!
When I left you on Wednesday-morning, there was no task for the small ships and 20 m had a 1.30 AAT ,….but just over 60 km. was all that could be achieved ….so no valid day either.
The heat created some tough thunderstorms there and we got them from the South here as well. My town was like a lake, with cars and houses ” sticking” out and cellars full of water.
The organizers in France really tried hard and” created” days.
15m./Standard had a 2 hour AAT on Thursday June 3 and task 5 was a fact.
Max Seis was the best in the JS 3 [ 197 km.] and Benjamin [Neglais] was runner up in the Discus 2A.[180 km.] Young Kevin Faur in the Ventus 2AX, is every day in the top 10 and I read,…to his own surprise.
He even is on spot 1 overall after this day.[2.612 points]
Benjamin has 2.561 p.

20 M. had a 2 hour AAT as well; 201 km for HC pilots Arnaud de Broqueville and one of the Bouderliques. 527 p.
Winner for the day the DG 1000….447 p.

No flying on Friday.
BUT….look at the weather for the last day…really French weather.

Flying again on the last day June 5 ,as their rain has disappeared there and arrived here with a SW wind!!!
15m/standard; 278 km…..the 45 pilots in this class [1HC] started and finished. Frederic Hoyeau, in his Discus 2A flew around with a speed of 104 km./h. and was number 1, whilst Max in his JS 3 flew around with 107 km./h.
The only 2 above 100 km./h.
And,…on this last day Kevin flew only 92 km./h good for a daily spot 19.
He dropped from 1 to 4, but I am sure he is proud on himself!!!
He should!
French standard/15 m. CHAMPION;
1. Max Seis who “climbed” from 4 to 1; 3.315 points.
2. Frederic Hoyeau who moved from 5 to 2; 3.298 p.
3. Meric Morel , was on 3 and stayed on 3.297 ONE POINT!!!!
So the last day had a huge impact on the overall scores. All possible because of close scores the day before.
Could not find the final results for the women, will try to find them.
AND …. found them….shared by Philippe Depechy …good on him;

20 m; 266 km…..The Depechy family won the last day with 106.72 km./h just a tad better than the HC pilots 105.61 km./h.
The FRENCH 20 m. CHAMPIONS are Phillipe de Pechy and I guess his dad Gerard ; 2.666 points.
THE WINNERS were Arnaud and one of the Bouderliques in the ARCUS. [2.802 p.]

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The Austrian Nationals in St Johan in Tirol in club and mixed class had good to perfect soaring weather and they flew EVERY day!
Club;
Task 4 ….On Wednesday , after I published my blog , the clubbies had to fly a 3.30 AAT.
The 1000 points were again for Peter Hartmann in his Libelle who flew 399 km. in time 3.32!!
Mario Schupfer in the ASW 15 was runner up again. All 14, who started finished as well
Task 5…pfffff…another 3.30 AAT for the small ships and off he went again , Peter, for his 4th daily win; 408 km in time 3.32.
No not Mario this time as runner up but Michael Rass in an LS 4 ;416 km in 3.31.
Task 6…1.45 AAT and Michael was in the mood, he won another day ;220 km. in time 2.14, so clearly not an easy day.
Peter was 3d and Mario 4th.

Final scores;
1. Peter Hartmann, National Champion in Libelle with 4.967 points.
2. Michael Rass in LS 4 with 4.854 p.
3. Mario Schupfer in ASW 15b with 4.767 p.

Mixed class;
Task 4….a 4 hour AAT and Eduard Supersperger flew 505 km. in time 3.58….1000 points for him and his Ventus 2B.
2 From 14 did not finish.
Task 5…another 4 hour AAT and Guido Achleitner [AS 33es] was back on track; 522 km. in time 4.05.
2 Were out and the more well known names all flew themselves to top-positions. Andy [Lutz] in Ventus 3/15m.was runner up ….Werner [Amann] in ASG 29 number 3 and Eduard was 4th.
Task 6…2 hour AAT.….262 km. for Guido with a speed of 121 km./h.

Final scores;|
1. Guido Achleitner and Austrian Champion in AS33es with 5.319 points.
2. Eduard Supersperger in Ventus 2b with 5.031 p.
3. Werner Amann in ASG 29 with 4.946 p.

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Rayskala Masters 2021 between June 5 and 12 ….flown in 3 classes.
PURJELENNON SM 2021

They started with that typical Nordic weather, clear, so great visibility and blue skies with great clouds .
Already on Friday a 1000 was flown from Elverum Starmoen in Norway by Henning Lassen, so the top weather was “hanging around”.
By the way I remember the 1000 km-pilot ,Henning, very well from the pre-WGC in Borlange in 1992. He was a nice very young guy then , pony-tail and Doors-t-shirt ,flying/practicing for Norway.

I also remember very clearly the European Championships in 2005, in Rayskala, where Silva was the CD and I was one of the stewards. On day 1 “we” set a 1000 km. flown by many in open class!!!!18m. Would have loved to have the same task, they said later.
Weather now looks about the same.

June 5…superb weather.
Open; …606 km….15 pilots , amongst them my “former boss” Silva [Juha Silvennoinen] and father and son Petri and Martti Sucksdorf. For sure, Liisa [mum, wife] is there to help.
AND,…young Petri wins the first day!!!! Good on him!!!!
All 15 started and finished!!
Racing; 506 km….9 pilots…and all 9 had GREAT fun! Kristian Roine in the LS 8st, won the day with a speed of 123 km./h.
Aku Jaakkola [Discus 2A] who I met when he was still very young…not married ,no children…was runner up.
Teemu Patja in the LS 6 needed 5 hours and 39 minutes , but was back home.[89 km./h]
Club; 422 km…..11 pilots and yes, yes all started and finished. Daily winner in LS 7 Tapio Tourula.118 km./h.

June 6; Another great looking day with tasks “belonging to the weather” ,but with the cautious mentioning of “may-be” showers developing.

open; 510 km.…114 km./h was the best speed by Mikko Nurminen in the 18mVentus 2.Petri was 3d with 112 km./h.
2 were out, one after 45 [34 points] and Juha after 203 km. Juha flies his LAK -20T.
racing; 439 km….The 3 pilots I still remember from Finland were the top 3 for this day. Harri [Hirvola] in the Ventus- 2a flew around with a speed of 127 km./h.
Aku with 115 km./h and Kristian [Roine] in the LS 8-st.
AND,..I remember that forbidden area Tampere as well, one pilot “hit” it.
club; 375 km…..10 from 11 finished . 4 LS 7 gliders in the top and the best Sakari [Pyorre] just flew over 100 km./h.

June 7; TOP weather again.

Open class; 3.30 AAT
After the pretty miserable day before, Martti Koivula [he was one of the 2 “out-landers” ] raced to a perfect win! 453 km. in time 3.27.Nearly 130 km./h.
A “whopping ” 23 km. further than runner up Mikko Nurminen.123 km./h. Petri was 3d with 117 km./h.
Racing class; 3.30 AAT.… I had to look twice, the same pilots in the top 3 as the day before??? Yes indeed same daily winner, Harri, with 416 km. in time 3.30 at the dot. Same runner up Aku, 391 km. in time 3.34 and Kristian with 398 km. in time 3.39.
The “poor” LS 6 pilot flew 335 km. but did “something wrong” ;zero points.
Club class; 3.30 AAT.…366 km. and another daily win for Tapio Tourula in LS 7. 10 started 10 finished and 2 flew faster than 100 km./h.

June 8; it can’t be “party-time” every day.
2 hour AAT’s in the 3 classes. They postponed the starts a few times but you have to be able to stay up to fly.
In the end the day was cancelled.

June 9 today and….the great weather is back.
Open; 507 km….
racing class; 456 km…
club; 417 km….

And to finish this blog one of those spectacular pictures finishing over the lake in Rayskala.

CU next week.
Cheers Ritz

The Belgium Nationals were flown in the really bad-weather-period in Europe. …too cold….too wet !!!!
Also last Wednesday NO TASK ….
No boring waiting…but precision landings when you were in for that.
But as said,….the weather improved .
The Danish Nationals , just before had the same bad weather but,…were valid, hopefully it will work out well now too.
May 28 and 29 to go!!! Weather looks OK….so 3 days would be possible.

Flying task 2 was finally on May 28 . The waiting was OVER,…and how!!!
Club; 248 km….later changed in 220 km…..and all 10 stating pilots finished with Frederic de Groote as daily winner in his St Libelle [handicap 0.994]
So 852 points in the pocket.
mixed 15 m; 354 km…later changed in 309 km….and all pilots finished with my 2 Keiheuvel -mates Dennis [Huybreckx] and Jeroen [Jennen] as the best for 923 and 918 points , flying both an LS 8.
mixed 18m/open; 413 km…later changed in 361 km!!!! And another “name” in soaring won the day here; Jean- Luc Colson….1000 points for him.
13 From 17 finished and my other Keiheuvel mates had not the best day. The Schmelzer family was on spot 8…Tijl in Ventus 3 T…Bert jr also in Ventus 3T on 10 and dad Bert sr. just missed out on the finish…he was in the finish ring.[477 points]

Flying task 3 , the last one, was a great race. When I woke up and looked outside, fabulous blue skies and great “fluffy” white clouds/cu’s. It looked like a PERFECT soaring day here in The Netherlands but for sure also in Belgium.
All classes had a 5 hour AAT!!!
Club; Thomas de Bruyn flew in his LS 4 , 484 km in 5 hour at the dot!!!!
A 1000 points-day, so not bad.
10 pilots started and 10 finished.
Thomas flew himself to spot 1 overall and is now Belgium Nation Club Class Champion.
Frederic missed out on 10 points overall BUT…. won 2 days! So a real a good runner up. On the last day he was also runner up but lost 90 points.

mixed 15 m; Pieter Daems flew 595 km. in time 5.03 ,nice speed of 117 km./h. in his Discus T. He went from 8 to 5 overall.
Runner ‘s up for the day Jeroen and Dennis with 586 km.
With Dennis cousin Tim, the 3 started and finished together.
Final result;
1. Dennis in LS 8 with 2.155 points.
2. Jeroen in LS 8 with 2.154 p. SO ONE POINTS difference! Ouch!!!
3. Daan [Spruyt] in Ventus 2AX with 2.013 p. He won 1 day.

mixed 18 m/open; Young Bert Schmelzer raced over 619 km. in time 4.59 to the 1000 points for this last day. Nice speed ;124 km./h.
Bert had a miserable first day , being “out”.[15 overall with 103 points]
On day 2 he was 10th and with only 3 ,out of 8 days , it’s difficult to win, even with a great last day.
The former WGC champion moved from 13 to 9 overall.
BUT, the new National Champion in this class is Jean Luc .Good on him!!!!
1. Jean-Luc in ASG 29 with 2.195 points.
2. Geert van Duyse in ASH 26e with 2.017 p.
3. Francois Delfosse in JS 3 -jet with 1.989.
Tijl Schmelzer was 5th [1.987…..2 points difference!!!], Pierre de Broqueville in EB 29 [1.919]was 6th and Vladimir Voltin in JS -jet 8th.[1.838 p]

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With the great weather , after those awful autumn conditions, we here in the Netherlands enjoyed sitting on a terrace or in the garden but soaring -at-high-level as well. “We” even topped the OLC list on May 28, with Peter [Millenaar] in his ASH 26e with 862 km [726 triangle] from Hoogeveen {N }into Germany and back.

Of course the expectations for Saturday were Sky-High!!!! And I was not disappointed, it looked like Bitterwasser results.
1814 Pilots added their flight on the OLC and 31 flew a 1000 k!!
2 Of them a 1000- FAI -triangle, one of them was Tilo[Holighaus] who declared this 1000 k.
The other one was flown from Neresheim by Gerrit Illenberger in an LS 8 neo, first Standard class 1000 km. so a bubble-shower for him. BRAVO!!!

From Germany, Luxembourg and Finland and 1 flight from the USA .[Minden]
Between those pilots great result for an LS 4 pilot with 947 km [796 FAI] CHAPEAU!!!!
By the way Robin Smit flew in his LS 4 WL in The Netherlands also 805 km [597 FAI]
663 in the St. Libelle is not bad either from Belgium.
Sunday was another good day and Michael Sommer saw that too .He took his EB for another long flight…..he flew 1.113 already on Saturday from Oberhinkofen; now 1.227 km.
A 1.187 km. FAI triangle!!!! Good on you Michael!
11 x a 1000 and 2073 added their flight to the OLC.
On Monday he still was not “tired” and went again now for 1.244 km. He topped the OLC-list again.
AND,…it continues…on Tuesday ,..no not for Michael, …..3.584 km. is enough for a weekend…. but AGAIN several 1000 km-flights in Europe.[Austria, Switzerland, Germany]
900 added their flight on the OLC.

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FRENCH NATIONALS 2021 May 29-June 5.

The French Nationals started on the 29th with 59 competitors in 2 classes; standard/15 m and 20 m . Within these Nationals they crown the best female pilot as well. Comps are flown from the well known soaring place Bailleau.
May 29 was practice on May 30 they started with 45 pilots in
15m/standard;
Task 1 with 297 km; only 4 were “out”. Some started early as did Frederic Hoyeau on 2.31 PM and some later….Adrien Henry at 3.11 PM.
Not that it really mattered as Adrian won the day with a speed of 112 km./h in his JS 3 and Frederic was runner up with 106 km./h. in his Discus 2A.
Task 2 with 311 km; not a fast day, by no means but Marilyne Abadie-Berard won the day in the JS 3 with 70 km./h and that was nearly 4 km faster than the next lady, Valentin Leleu-Lambour in the LS8.{66 km./h}
Looking at the “girls” Aude Untersee was 7th, Anne Ducarouge 10th.
At least 6 other girls were unfortunately out…. in total 25 from 46 were out.
Task 3 with 247 km....but nobody finished…a dip in the weather….Benjamin Neglais flew 225 km and was the best. These results are preliminary as not everyone has been scored a day later.

20 m. class; 10 teams and 3 HC teams.
Task 1 with 298 km. ; All flew the task and the local ARCUS T was the daily winner with 99.87 km./h. So a tough day!
Task 2 with 305 km; HC pilots Bouderlique and Arnaud the Broqueville won the day in the ARCUS . They were nearly home , missed out on 2 km, but nobody finished. The runner up/ daily winner in the DG 1000,was 20 km out.
Task 3 with 224 km….and in this class it was worse. The best team flew 71 km. so preliminary I say….not a valid day.
No tasks yet…more next week.

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Austrian Nationals between May 29 and June 5 2021.

Host is the soaring club from Sankt Johann in Tirol. Only 35 pilots are allowed to fly these comps in club class and mixed.
Club class;
Task 1;191 km….14 pilots started and 13 finished. Peter Hartmann, this time flying a Libelle [201b] won the day with a speed of 99.71 km./h.
Mario Schupfer was runner up in ASW 15 b ,with nearly the same speed.[98.94 km./h]
Task 2; 323 km….Again it was Peter who won the day now for 1000 points. And…again Mario was runner up.
13 from 14 finished!
Task 3; 293 km…..It was David Richter-Trummer[H-301] who was the fastest today though he and Peter had an “issue ” with their start.
It’s great weather in Austria, all “little ones” with respect finished and 5 from them over 100 km./h
Today …3.30 AAT.

Mixed class;14 competitors .
Task 1; 303 km…Guido Achleitner was the daily best in his AS 33es; 117 km.h. Other more well known pilots as Andy Lutz and Werner Amann were 4th and 8th in Ventus 3 sport/15m. and ASG 29.
Task 2; 452 km….The AS 33es is good as far as I heard and Guido is good too, I know from International comps,..so not difficult to guess…he won again. Speed 114 km./h and that’s quite a bit faster than runner up Bernhard Leitner in the LS8 with 105 km./h.
Task 3; 374 km….one airspace violation [49 points] but all were “in” here as well. Not Guido today but, Eduard Supersberger in his Ventus 2 won the 1000 points; speed 121 km./h.
Today…4 hour AAT.

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The BGA shared some news about their juniors;
“The British Junior Gliding Team are currently out training in Tabor, Czech Republic which is the host club for the Junior World Gliding Championships in 2022. After 4 scrub days, there have now been 2 racing days for the club class and 1 for the standard class. The results have been mixed but the learning has been extremely useful ahead of the Junior Europeans in Lithuania later this summer.”

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It ‘s June now. The meteorological summer started here with 27 dgr. C and today it will be around 28.
Our spring belonged to the worst ones, so better forget that quickly.
My mates in Tocumwal started their winter with minus 1 in the night, but “nice” temperatures during the day.
Yesterday it was Ingo’s birthday ,so I congratulated him in time.
The Sport Australia Hall of Fame congratulated him too.;
“Happy Birthday to #SAHOF Member Ingo Renner OAM (Gliding).Ingo Renner is a 16-time national gliding champion, having won seven titles in open class, two in the 15m class and seven in standard class. He has won numerous international events, including the Smirnoff Derby in 1977, Austraglide 1986, the Hitachi Masters of Soaring in 1987, and the Tour Lilienthal in 1991. He has held almost every Australian gliding record. Renner won the standard class world championship in 1976, followed by world championship wins in the open class in 1983, 1985 and 1987. He holds the Guinness World Records record for the 100km triangle at 195.3km/h. Ingo Renner was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987 for his contribution to the sport of #gliding.Read more: https://bit.ly/3uEh9l5

CU next week.
Cheers Ritz

What I like from the Danish Nationals…this time in Arnborg…. is that they fly them in 5 classes, so nearly everybody, interested in competition soaring is there.
When you have 5 “off-days” to begin with, it’s less bad as there are enough people to socialize and bonding is easy.
You feel a bit unhappy, ….you came for soaring, some to win….realize that the weather is the weather, BUT, with talking, eating and drinking together there is NO BAD feeling at all. Of course you prefer TOP WEATHER but,…..
When I left you last
Wednesday…May 19,…. the task was not set for that day , but not long after there was one. AND a good one!!!!
BUT…. in all classes it was changed to 2 hour AAT’s.
15 m; 329.51 km…..2 hour AAT, won by Henrik [Breidahl] in the JS 3..129 km. in 2 hours at the dot….10 from 13 were in.
18 m; 388.14 km….2 hour AAT…Arne flew 163 km. in 2.06 winning the day. 12 From 17 flew over 100 km. but it turned out an invalid day.
I checked WHY the day was invalid;
The reason was that the organizers adopted the international rules 1:1 and that required a min. of 140 km in the 18m class!
So not to smart to declare an AAT with less than 140 km. as min. and only 2 hours in really weak and low (4-700m) weather.
For the earlier task it would have been OK.
club; 292.25 km……2 hour AAT….Rasmus [Orskov] in an ASW 20, won 159 points for 140 km. in 2.04. From 22 a total of 15 finished.
2-seaters; 388.14 km….2 hour AAT….The ARCUS T with team Skov/Hoelgaard won with 138 km. in time 1.57, followed by 2 Duo Discus’. 7 From 11 finished.
standard; 329.51 km…..2 hour AAT….Paul Kim Larsen flew in his Discus 2A, a distance of in 2.04! 9 From 10 finished.

Thursday May 20 showed a bit better weather, hence longer tasks.
15 m; 304 km…..Best speed 75 km./h by Morten Noergard in the ASW 27B.
6 From 13 finished.
18 m.; 307 km and won By Arne in his JS 3 with a speed of 83 km./h ,which says it ALL about the weather, BUT They flew!!!
7 From 16 finished. Good old Stig Oye was runner up!!!
Club; 272 km….6 from 22 finished…GOOD on them. Best was Felipe Cvitanich in the Discus CS; 71 km./h. Rasmus was 3d.
2-seaters; 307 km.…1000 points for Skov/Hoelgaard in the ARCUS T. The first in this competition…..and the only. 88 Km./h.
4 From 11 finished.
standard; 304 km...won by Jan Joergensen in the LS 8 NEO….78 km./h

Then 2 non flying days. They continued on
May 23 the very last day with very small tasks !!!!
15m ;144 km…….When they started 4 pilots were still in the race with 30 points difference between 1 and 4.
292 points for daily winner Henrik, for a speed of 75 km./h on this last day.!!!
With those points he moved from 4 to 1!!!! Good on him. Only 3 points difference with Thomas [Grove] who was on 2 and remained there.
Morten moved from 1 to 3 and shared that spot with Thomas [Leander] in the Ventus C.
Final results in 15 m. after 4 flying days;
1; Henrik Breidahl with 1.738 points.
2. Thomas Grove with 1.735 p.
3. Morten and Thomas Leander 1.670 p.

18 m; 156 km…..with 1 day to go 3 pilots had a total of over 1000 points…overall…after 2 valid flying-days.!!!!
Peter Eriksen won the 3d day in the AS 33 e, just with a few seconds difference with Arne who was runner up; ONE daily point …310 for 309.
Overall final results after 3 valid days;
1. Arne Boye-Moeller with 1.460 points.
2. Stig Oye with 1.302
3.Jan Schmeltz Pedersen in ASG 29ES

Club; no task…only 3 days of soaring and out of them also one day with no finishers.
Overall results ;
1. Rasmus Orskov in ASW 20 with 1.572 points.
2. Lasse Edslev in LS 4NEO with 1.537 p.
3. Mathias Valentin in LS 1-D with 1.431 p.

2 seaters; 156 km….Very good flying from team Skov/Hoelgaard in the ARCUS T they won EVERY day including the last one.
Overall results after 4 days;
1. Team Skov/Hoelgaard with 1.736 points.
2. Team Joergensen/Nielsen in ARCUS T with 1.475 p.
3. Team DSvU in Duo Discus XLT with 1.344 p.

standard; 144km….2 daily winners on the last day Jan Joergensen who won the last 2 days and Poul Kim Larsen both got 351 points.
Overall results after 4 days out of 11 ;
1. Jan Joergensen in LS 8 NEO with 1.832 points.
2. Filip Bojanowski in Discus 2A with 1.528 p.
3. Peter M Jensen in Discus c with 1.489 p.

A pity from the weather but,…all in the game…part of the sport!

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Open Belgian Gliding Nationals .[OBGN] …will be flown from St Hubert between May 22 and May 30 , with 39 pilots in 3 classes, club, a mix of standard, 20 m and 15 m. and a mix from 18 m. and open.
First day had to be cancelled but May 23 had some windows so tasks were set.
In the “standard-mix” the 2 hour AAT was won by Daan Spruyt in the Ventus 2ax. He flew 174 km in time 2.07.
From 10 only 6 pilots finished.
In the open-mix, Pierre de Broqueville won in his EB 29 .
225 km. in time 2.22. The windows opened late as most pilots left after 4PM.
From 17 pilots only 9 finished.
In club 11 pilots and 3 finished. Winner with 144 km. Frederic de Groote in the St Libelle in time 2.07.
All in this class started between 4.03 and 4.52 PM.

No flying on day 3 and 4, but at least they have ONE day and for the weekend the weather looks better.
Will keep you informed! No task yet.

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On my news on Klaus” great flight from France to Greece, I got a comment and I like to share it with you;
“Klaus already flew 3000km in 2003, at 204km/h.
What he does is way different than “flying ridges”. He flies high in the wave, and it’s not that easy. You’ll notice that many pilots also go flying to Patagonia, including many very good ones, and none has achieved anything close to Klaus’ flights. The wave had been there for ever before he started flying the Andes, and no local pilot had ever achieved even 1000km.

One story that happened one of the very first seasons Klaus flew in the Argentinean south, many years ago: his wife and an Argentinean pilot (who had significant experience in those mountains) were “trapped” in a valley, and couldn’t get out for hours. When Klaus heard about this, he took off with one of the available gliders, went to the valley, found them, and showed them how to climb.”

And what about the amazing wave flight yesterday , inspired by Klaus, from Gil Souviron and Baptist Innocente.??!!! Partly over the Mediterranean Sea …1.165 km in the Stemme!!!!
Have a look at the trace which started in Fayence!!!
Here is the comment from Gil;
“I dedicate this flight to Klaus which bring for me, and I believe for all pilot, dream and the adventure in our sport.
His recent flight to Greece was really amazing.
And of course to Baptiste which has designed this flight, and has piloted all the strategic point of our flight especially in Italy.

This flight FAI triangle 1133km , is not a European record, because due to the very weak waves at Fayence at the beginning of the flight we pass the line at 4300 meter and we finish at 1600 Meter. But I think is one of the most original in Europe.
After trying for almost two hours to climb, I propose to Baptiste to restart the engine of the S12 and to climb up to 4000 Meters. Still the waves were weak and we decided to start to Corsica at 4900 meters.
The circuit was a pure mix if different flight: Waves for Corsica, Rotor with no waves in Italy then convergence, cumulus, blue thermal to cross the italy plain of Pô, then Waves again at the return to the Alps at Val de Suza.
The really tricky part of the flight was to come back from Italy to close the circuit, and especially at one time Baptiste managed wonderfully to recover some waves in Italy near Pavullo.

But to achieve that you need a Glider, I am very happy that the Stemme S12 has allowed to achieve with success to close such original circuit.“
Gil

AND,…talking about long wave flights here is another one from yesterday ;1.209 km. from Puimoisson in the ARCUS M, with pictures on the OLC.
Both flights on
https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/daily.html?sc=&st=olc&rt=olc&c=C0&sp=2021&df=2021-05-25

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The Tocumwal Aviation Museum is nearly ready to open it’s doors. Just a few more months waiting, instead of years. Look at this fabulous picture lifted from a truck to finally enter the museum.
“A historic day today with the relocation of the 1/4 scale B-24 Liberator from the entrance of the Tocumwal Golf & Bowls Club to the museum’s display hangar where it will receive a thorough clean and some minor repairs before becoming one of the major exhibits when we open in a few months time. The fibreglass model is showing signs of its 10 years exposure to extreme heat, cold, wind, rain and dust and by relocating it under cover in the display hangar it will be preserved for future generations to see and learn of Tocumwal’s considerable military and civil aviation history and heritage. The B-24 model was mounted at the golf club on the 14th of October 2010 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the closing of the RAAF Station Tocumwal and was donated by the Tocumwal Historic Aerodrome Museum. The THAM collection will transfer to the new Tocumwal Aviation Museum for future preservation and curation among many other private and public collections, artefacts and memorabilia. Today’s move would not have been possible without the coordination and assistance of the following locals and local businesses:
Bob & Gina Brown……. Crawford’s Civil….. Babcon Plant Hire…..Eddie Madden……Andrew Wilmot……Stewart Kedar…..Paul & Lachlan from the Tocumwal Golf & Bowls Club

And to finish a nice THANK YOU to ALL tuggies!
Great picture!

CU next week hopefully with better weather circumstances.
Cheers Ritz

They had 3 more days at the Rayskala Open 2021, with 2x a 2hour AAT and 1 day a set 347 km task for pilots flying in the open. About the same for the club class only 277 as set task.
The 2 hour AAT’s delivered in open, a max. of 186 km in a Ventus 3 and 242 km in Ventus 2bx. The 347 set task delivered a speed of 121 km./h also in the Ventus 2bx flown by Nuutti Kankare. In the end good for an overall runner up-spot.
Winner after 4 out of 7 days… in the JS 1/21 m. Martti Koivula.[2.308 p.]
In club the best distances for the 2 hour AAT’s were 153 km. in LS 7 and 209 also in LS 7.
The set task showed a speed of 110 km.
From 9 gliders 4 were LS 7.
Winner after after 4 out of 7 days…..Tapio Tourula [2.455 p.] in …LS 7…..

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5 Out of 7 days in Varese for the 18 m. Nationals and the Coppa Citta di Varese.
The Coppa was an easy prey for 2 Arcus T gliders specially for Stefano Ghiorzo, still such a talented pilot. He had to keep Alberto Sironi behind him, but with a difference of nearly 500 points [498 precisely] that worked out well in the end.
Only task 1 and 2 showed 1000 points for the winner….both were for Stefano.
Overall number 1; team Stefano with 3.849 points and runner up team Alberto with 3.351 p.
The 18 m. class was more exciting. Flown within the Coppa, the last day showed a difference in points by only 5, between Ugo [Pavesi] in ASG 29 E and Margot[ Acquaderni] in Ventus 3 FES.
Thomas Gostner [Ventus 3T] was nearly 200 points behind….but there was still one day to go.
175 km. was set…..a difficult day with a speed NOT over 100 km. BUT they flew.
Thomas was the daily runner up , Margot was 4th and Ugo 5th. Ugo played it well, started 2 minutes behind Margot BUT she was 3 minutes faster and had in the end 20 daily-points more.
So the 18 m. champion in Italy is
1. Margot Acquaderni 3.367 points.
2. Ugo Pavesi as runner up with 3.352 p
3. Thomas Gostner with 3.227 p.

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Out of 10 days , they flew 3 in Chilhowee, such a pity for this USA National Club Class Championship . Sarah [Arnold] who won the last day in her Libelle…a 342 km. set task,… got the 1000 daily-points.
Tony [Condon] in the St Cirrus was runner up and stayed ahead in the overall scores.
1. Tony had 2.584 points,
2. Daniel Sazhin in the LS 4 2.478 and
3. Mike Westbrook 2.473 only 5 less than the runner up.
Daniel who had a better last day, passed Mike in his Discus CS.[880 for 867 daily points!]
Sarah was 4th with 2.459 points and Sylvia 7th with 2.235 p.

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The long-weekend -edition from Weelde in Belgium, part of the KEMPEN CUP , was flown between showers and sun shine. They started on May 13 in 3 classes, a “friendly” one, [10 pilots ]sport [ 7 ] and open.[ 14] and finished on Sunday May 16.
Best day was Thursday with 180 km. in open class and winner Pieter Daems with 104 km./h the only one over 100 km./h. He flew the ASH 26.
Friday was so-so. Longer task in open, …211 km….but nobody finished.
Daan Spruyt flew 157 km. for 185 points.
Saturday…no flying possible.
Sunday…looked very good here and as said before, I live close to the Belgium border.
I felt …sitting in the sun the thermals ……….BUT,…overdevelopment and [isolated] showers were close by as well. At 5 we REALLY had a shower here, so I did not expect a task, but they had one ,flown by one pilot. [ out of 9 pilots flying that day] …..good on him; 201 km. and Jeroen Jennen in the LS 8 “did it”!!!! Speed was only 64 km./h but what character.
Geert de Palmenaer flew in the Ventus 17.6 m. a distance of 197 km.!!!!!
Good on him!!!

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The weather is pretty off here in parts of Europe. Did we have high hopes for the beginning of spring, because of some awesome flights, it’s just wet and cold now. Next week’s Pentecost might be the coldest in 70 years.
So the 73 pilots flying the Danish Nationals between May 13 and 23 in Arnborg have to deal with it too.
They fly in 5 classes. Club, Standard, 15 m. 18 m. and 2 -seaters.
The first 4 days were either cancelled [2] or no-task-days.[2]
On May 17 they had a 2.30 AAT in each class. Later changed in 2 hour AAT. AND,…….in the end cancelled.
BUT on Tuesday there was hope again ; set tasks in all 5 classes;
278.90 for 15 m. with 13 pilots…..and only ONE pilot finished Thomas Leander in Ventus c. Some came “close”; 202 and 203 km. For years I “follow” already Henrik Breidal and he was runner up with the 204 km.
308 for 18 m. and 17 competitors…..NOBODY finished,….but still some good flights; Peter Eriksen with 222km. was the daily best in the AS 33e. From the more well-know names, Stig Oye was 5th in the Ventus 3M and Arne Boye Moeller on 8 in the JS 3.
255.92 for club…..22 pilots…no scores for club so I guess no day!
308 km. for the 2 seaters and 11 teams...4 teams over 200 km… no finishers! 3x ARCUS and 1 x Duo Discus.
278.90 for standard with 10 participants either flying Discus [ x5] or LS 8 [x5]….2 from 9 who started finished!!63 km./u in the Discus 2a and 61 km. in the LS 8-a were the best daily results.

No tasks yet for today.

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—–And in Worcester in S.A. they had the first winter-wave. Sven [Olivier] flew in it and took this picture.

—-AND,…look at this AMAZING.
SkySight shared this picture and message yesterday about Klaus Ohlmann:
“Klaus has finally done a flight from France to Greece, with three water crossings!
Now we await the trace to see if he needed the engine – it looks pretty clean though!“
I wait too. Could not find the flight on the OLC or WeGlide, which of course is understandable. But it was on later ; flown on May 17 from Serres and turned in the end out to be “only” 1000 km!
The comment from Klaus;
“For all those who share my deception. There will be another day for my dreams. Hopefully on a Saturday or a Sunday. A military area was activated and has lead to leave a lift too early. What a pity to separate such a flight in two parts. So, it was once again only a little training day. A great thanks to all involved ATC’s for their help.“
Still a huge achievement.

And to finish this VERY INVITING picture
CU next week
Cheers Ritz

The RACE was REALLY “on ” during the last days of this SGP in Rion Des Landes, BUT they were not all flyable.
Last Wednesday , when I published, Christophe Abadie had a comfortable lead of 5 points on Maximillian Seiss.
That day , race 4, a task of 162 km was set and the race was won by Adrien Henry in a JS 3. So…10 points for him. Christophe had no points and finished on spot 12. He remains on 23 points, BUT, Adrien is now on 22 as is Sylvain [Gerbaud]

Race 5 was a real good, better said “strong” one by Philippe [De Pechy]. 112 km. was set but the weather was not their friend. Philippe managed to “fight” for 2 hours, flew 37 km. BUT,…all in vain, as the day in the end was invalid.
6 Pilots went “aux vaches”.
Race 6 was cancelled due to poor weather so it all depends on Saturday, the last day …299 km. was set ,….but no it was not happening again….the weather refused to co-operate.
On Sunday morning I read :”Congratulations to all the pilots for this great event. Christophe Abadie is the GP France champion followed by Sylvain Gerbaud and Maximilian Seis completing the podium. The two 1st pilots have already a ticket for the Final: http://sgp.aero

So out of the 4 days, Christophe won 2 and was 7 and 12 on the other days.
Sylvain was on spot 4,2,8 and 4.
Max on spot 5,5, 2 and 6.
Adrian [10,6,4 and 1] and Philippe [6,1,6 and 8] had both 20 points.

Heads are now turning to La Cerdanya for the Grand Prix of Spain in 3 weeks.

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That Sunday, the Rayskala Open had it’s 2d day. Not the very best weather either, but they were prepared/ready to go for it.

Day 1 showed 7 pilots in open flying an AAT of 2.30.
Juha Sorri , in an ARCUS M, flew 275 km. in time 2.38, so a nice speed of 104 km./h.
9 pilots in Club with the same task. Antti Taimioja in a Discus a won with 230 km in time 2.34. Petri, son from Martti Sucksdorf, who flew in the past with us in Tocumwal and brought his wife Liisa and Petri along, was runner up, in an LS 4a. I got to know Petri when he was 5. He is 30 now!!![see picture below]
Day 2 had the same task and pilots,,…,but was cancelled in the end.
No task on Monday., neither on Tuesday but for today a 2 hour AAT is announced.
They continue till May 15.

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On May 1, they started in Belgium the Coupe Maurice. 18 Pilots flew that day and winner was Wim Akkermans in an LS 8. 11 Finished.
This coupe, named after Maurice Huybreckx, [R.I.P.]the pater familias from this well know family and father of my friends Marc ,Chrisje and Eddie and grandfather of Jeroen [Jennen] and Dennis , Tim , Sofie and Gitte is a gliding competition with four different starting places. Kiewit, Weelde, Brasschaat and Keiheuvel. They depart from their own club, this can be any club in Belgium, and then fly to the starting point. The finish height is at 500m AMSL in a sector of 3km so that the height is enough to fly back to the home club after finishing. (You may also land at the finish airfield if your crew likes to drive the trailer]
Last Sunday was race 2 , a small one from 139 km. on a hot and sticky day with rain and nice but sometimes ” awful” weather, with rain , and thunder- storms. The day was cancelled.
Hopefully the next one has good weather again. It’s a nice concept.

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In Calcinate Del Pesce in Italy started the Coppa Citta di Varese [CCV] on May 9 with a 3 hour AAT for group 1, with 18 pilots…. quite a few real toppers!!!!They continue ..hopefully… till May 15.
The National Championship of the 18 meters class will be held within the CCV. [Varese City Cup]
7 Two-seaters, 4 x ARCUS and 3 x ASH 25.
Margot Aquaderni won the first day in 18 m. [8 pilots] with 286 km. in time 3.05 [
The open was won by Stefano Ghiorzo in the ARCUS T with 332 km. in time 3.19, before Peter Hartmann in the ANTARES 32 T. [305 km. in time 3.01]
Today they have a 3 hour AAT.

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Last Sunday it was Mothers day , but not all men stayed home.
Very understandable as they must have looked at the weather and have seen that it was GOOD, specially in Switzerland and France, and not to forget JAPAN,…with this time good wave.
Not often they fly a 1000 in Japan. Shigeru Ishiyama did from Nagano;1.007 km.!!! In a Ventus 2cT/18m. GOOD ON HIM!!!
I have been at several fields in Japan and I can tell you it is not easy to fly a 1000 there. He flew from Nagano to the slopes of the “good” more- mountain- like -area and flew a yo-yo-type of flight in high WAVE, up to 6750 MSL.
On Monday Kenshi[ Tagami]flew one in a DG 400/17 m. from Itakura,..very special flights; 1.114 km!!!!!!
Good on you Shige and Kenshi!!!!!!

The European flights were TOP as well; Christoph Heidemeier flew in the Ventus 3 T/18m a distance of 1.205 km. in high wave as well. He started from Hausen Am Albis.
He mentioned “Thank you that Mothers day turned today in to Fathers day “.
Jeurg Haas, who in the past flew with us in Tocumwal in the glider from Swiss Chris, flew 1.155 km!! Good on him.
Carl Audissou flew 1.029 km in France and Rolf Friedli from Hausen am Albis a 1.063 km. flight. Lots flew between 500 and 900.
We had that top spring weather here in Holland one day earlier with 85 great flights up to 919 km. in the ASH 26E.
Sunday here was humid, hot 28 dgr. C and showers and thunderstorms.

On Monday the weather was still good in Germany and Switzerland.
1.643 km. from Koenigsdorf in Germany in a Quintus [Matthias Schunk]
1.503 km. from Courtelary in Swintzerland in a JS 1 [Yves Gerster]
and 2x a 1.200 km. flight.
Between May 9 and 11 the foehn-wind was on full “trottle” , hence super flights.

Yesterday the weather was awesome again in Austria and parts of Germany close to Austria. Have a look at the OLC, 2x 1.800 km. flights from Wiener Neustadt and Trieben in Ventus 2 CM/18 m. and ASH 31/21 m.
1.513 km.in a Ventus and 1.498 km in an LS 6 both from Niederoeblarn , 1.170 from Ried Kircheim in a DG 1000 T/20m. and 1.044 from Mariazell by well-known pilot Heimo Demmerer.
The flight in Germany was from Koenigsdorf in a Ventus 2CM/18m.;
1.561 km. in wave and ridge soaring, all in co-operation with a super foehn wind.
Congrats to all!!!! One of those top days not often happening, with high and strong wave AND FOEHN.
Romania had 3 up to 600 km. flights in a Discus.

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Between May 4 and 13 they fly the Club Class Nationals from Chilhowee in the USA. Sarah [Arnold] and her husband Jason run this airport and participate in the Nationals as well.
20 Competitors and 3 HC.
On May 5 task 1 was set ….a 2 hour AAT,….Tom Holloran in the LS 8 flew 140 km. but not enough pilots flew enough kilometers, so the day was invalid.
Contest day 1, was won by Tony [Condon] who I know through my blog already for a few years. During the 3 hour AAT he flew 262 km. in time 3.04. in his St Cirrus. Sarah flies the St Libelle and was 5th. Sylvia [Grandstaff} who I got to know at the WWGC in Lake Keepit was 7th in her Discus a.
17 From the 20 who started finished!
Contest day 2, was for Daniel Sazhin, a former USA junior team pilot. In his LS 4 , he flew the set 324 km with a speed of . 116 km./h.
All 20 finished!!!!!
Then 4 days with NO-weather,… ” a complete rainout” and too strong wind were the wrong-doers.
Till now 2 out of 6 days and Tony leads with 1622 points followed by Mike Westbrook in the in the Discus CS, and by Daniel with 1598 points.
Yesterday Tony mentioned about day 3 which was in the end was not a valid day
;”No time for in flight photos today. This was a lot of work to make it 75 km. Averaged 100 fpm. Pure survival flying. Won’t have a day. World Champ Sarah Kelly Arnold and I went the further than anyone else. I’m perfectly satisfied to be in that company!”
Daniel said;”We tried, but another no-contest day, despite some outstanding flights by Sarah Arnold, Tony Condon, and David McMaster.”

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Sometimes you hear of very special flights.AND,…as you know I like them! This one was flown on April 16 by Mark [Wering] from Lasham.

What do we see here? A flight to the Isle of Wight.
” I fly here above Newport the middle of the Island of Wight ,looking to Cowes on the end of the river Medina and the New Forest and Southampton on the other site of the Solent.”
He flew the Duo-Discus solo that day. To add some kilometers he flew to Wimborne close to Bornemouth and back to Lasham; 284 km.
Looking at the OLC it is very clear what interesting flight this was.
https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=8314019

Also SPECIAL,…..AS 33 Es with call sign WS makes it’s first flight in Finland 10.05.2021. Pilot Petri Sucksdorff. His dad Martti was the tuggie.

AND,…one more;
“Nordic Gliding Magazine has today published a nice article comparing the V3 and the JS3 with stunning photos of each flying over the heaths in Jutland, Denmark. In the beginning of the article there is a link to an immediate translation to English: https://nordicgliding.com/ventus-3-vs-js-3-mer-lika-an…/

We had last Friday SNOW and last Sunday 28 dgr. C…..what to say.
Bizarre.

Cheers Ritz..CU next week, I have had THEN 2 vaccines..so more or less safe, BUT, last week in 100 people there was 1 corona case here in Holland . That person had both injections.