Unfortunately the WGC 2021 in Stendal in Germany has been cancelled. Such a pity. Hopefully the other WGC for the small ships , a bit later in summer, can go on in France!!! At Montlucon-Gueret Airport (LFBK)
From the official site;
“We are sad to inform you about our decision to cancel the 36th FAI World Gliding Championships at Stendal-Borstel airfield. After continuous exchange with the relevant authorities of the Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt and the county of Stendal, they finally stated that an approval of the championship event cannot be expected at this point in time due to the ongoing restrictions of public life related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now 2 months before the beginning of the training period, this leaves the cancellation as the only option to us.

We would have loved to host the event back in 2020, 100 years after the first gliding competition on the Wasserkuppe. Now also in 2021, it is not possible for us to welcome legends of our sport in Stendal. While being sad, our disappointment stands small in the light of the overall tragedy caused by the pandemic.

All the best wishes from our end go to Thierry Paris and the team in France for the WGC of the Club, Standard and 15m-classes. We hope it’s going to be a great competition!“

The last 2 days of April still had artic influence…no not here for soaring,… but we felt the “artic”.
This time it was the UK [Lasham with 728,775 and 527 km. ] and Scandinavia with just under and over 500 km.
Denmarks pilot Mads Lykke, flew in his ASH 26 E a distance of 460 km. He started in the middle of “the leg” from the airfield of Hammer Flyveplad and flew to the NE and back to the SW, via a convergence-line, from the borders of “flat” Denmark and the seas to the right and left.

Here it was grey and WET!!!!
BUT,…the first days of May however were pretty good again, look at this great picture from Robin Smit.

May 1 showed 4 over 700 km. flights in The Netherlands and with that they topped the worldwide OLC list, with flights from Mark and Alfred Paul from Soesterberg. They flew 882 km. but in not always too easy circumstances…..rain and slow flying due to other circumstances than fore casted, they decided to fly in a window direction East. Good decision….streets to race.
Challenging flight with a 2 minute engine use to come home safely. “Final glide with +50 was a bit too sportive”
Robin flew in the LS 4 a 750 k. from Gilze Rijen.
Steven Raimond 720 in his ASG 29E and all 4 “praised” the weather.

Together with club member Marissa, who flew the LS 8 neo, Robin flew on May 2 in the LS 4 ….766 km!!!!!They went in to Belgium , Marissa never flew there before , so Robin lead the way and when it all went well , even into France. Mind you no engines!!!
She even used for the first time her just obtained RT license AND ,…it was her first flight in the LS 8 NEO.
Great soaring girl!!!
Tim flew from Malden in his ASW 20 a distance of 839 km.

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On April 30 , last day of this great soaring month , I read this very sad news:
“In memory of Dave Shorter. Exceptional pilot and exceptional man.
Today’s flight started with the sad news of Dave’s passing. I already had a task in mind so flew it in his memory.” by Alan Barnes.
Got to know Dave pretty well in Lake Keepit. He was the WWGC-meteo-man, a very wise gentleman. He visited us in Tocumwal as well.
He loved cooking, was good in it, as were Nick and Jay and we “girls” Frouwke, Gisela and I joined in at his table with more friends of our age , at many occasions during the Lake Keepit WWGC.
On April 5 Dave was still flying in his JS 1.
A statement of the president of Gliding Australia:
“It is with great sadness that I advise of the sudden passing of Dave Shorter, yesterday 29^th April.
Many of you will know Dave as a strong and successful competitor in Club, State and National competitions where he regularly finished on the podium.  As recently as a month ago, heavily handicapped, Dave was winning days in a Club GP at Lake Keepit in his JS1. For many years he served as Treasurer of Lake Keepit Soaring Club where he oversaw the great revival of that Club. In recognition of his tremendous contribution to Lake Keepit Dave was made a Life Member of the Club in 2013.He has also been an extraordinarily generous contributor to our sport as an official.  Dave was Treasurer of the GFA for seven years up until last August and he excelled in that role. For the last 2.5 years he has also been Chair of the GFA’s Investment Committee through which he has contributed significantly to the Association’s financial strength.”
R.I.P. Dear Dave!

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Good news from Italy;
A lot of cancellations in Europe , BUT, Italy opens her soaring-doors for comps. You might be interested. Here is some news from Aldo;
“Gliding competitions are GO in Italy!
The Club Class Nationals are going on in Alzate Brianza.
Then, first will be the Coppa Città di Varese, MAY 8th – 15th 2021;handicapped, valid for IGC Ranking as well as for the Walter Vergani memorial trophy, and open to pilots from all countries.
https://acao.it/coppa-citta-di-varese-trofeo-vergani/

Current anti-Covid rules allow social dining in the open air, with 1m distancing. Briefings will be via Zoom.
You are all invited! We are ready to offer good organization and help you have a lot of fun.

The next Italian comps are already on the agenda as well;
Trofeo Città di Torino: MAY 22nd – 30th. www.torinoglider.com
Trofeo dell’Oltrepò in Voghera: JUNE 04-05-06th + 11-12-13th. http://www.flyavm.it/trofeo_oltrepo.html
Coppa Città di Ferrara: JUNE 18-19-20th + 25-26-27th. http://www.voloavelaferrara.com/copia-di-2020-comp…
Coppa del Mediterraneo CIM, Rieti: AUG 3rd – 13th. http://www.aeroclubrieti.it/w/?page_id=2014Coppa Città di Rieti: AUG 15th – 22nd. http://www.aeroclubrieti.it/w/?page_id=2030

I have been a few times at the CIM in Rieti and I ALWAYS had the best fun there. Great weather, exciting flying, good food and with a lot of well known, but also new faces …great company!!

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THE SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX is on again.
In Rion des Landes in France.
With 3 practice days to get in the right soaring-mood after covid 19. BUT,..they only used one of them on May 1 [159 km.] with Adrian Henry as winner in the JS 3.
Race 1 was on Sunday;288 km. and 4 pilots flew around with 127 km./h. They got 10 [Christophe Abadie in JS 3] 8 [Didier Hauss in JS 1C] 7 [Mike Young in Ventus 3] and 6 points [Sylvain Gerbaud in JS 1-MD 1C]
Race 2 ; 240 km. and this time Philippe Depechy won the 10 points with a speed of 127 km./h.[JS 1c EVO]
Runner up Sylvain.

There is one pilot from Belgium and one from Germany in this GP. Pierre de Broqueville flying this time an ASG 29 and Steffen Trapp., flying a Ventus 2 CXT.
2 Ladies as well, both participating in last WWGC Melanie [Gadoulet in JS 1 C EVO]and Anne [Ducarouge in JS 3] and winning the gold and the silver!!!!!

Race 3; 126 km. 4 other French top pilots got the 10, 8 and 7 points today with a speed of 101 km./h so a more difficult day where 6 stayed more or less together with up to 26 seconds.
Then the differences were more up to 8 minutes
Race 4 is today, 162 km….more next week. Last day on Sunday, May 9.
After 3 days of flying and 5 to go the overall scores are; 1.Christophe with 23 points, 2. Max Seiss and Philippe with 18 and 3 Jean- Denis Barrois and Sylvain with 16.
You can follow the race on
sgp.aero/france2020.aspx

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Soaring is all about safety first, for that reason I share this message from the Australian Gliding Forum;
“This email is directed at all who fly gliders, the pilot and the daily inspector. Its intent is to reinforce pre-flight inspection, daily inspection and daily inspection duplicate inspection safety value. The GFA regularly receive defect reports advising of occurrences involving rigging errors which have the potential to kill. There was a fatality in England recently involving a Standard Cirrus where the tailplane locking lever safety pin was inserted with the locking lever in the unsafe position. Just because a pin is inserted does not mean it is carrying out its intended function. I ask you to question when you inspect.  

In the EASA Safety Information Bulletin 2019-07 issued 30Apr2019 which was reissued as GFA AN 178,you can read it all.”

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More news about “problems”: as shared and written by Arne Martin Guettler from Norway. Pictures by his partner Kristyna Kachtikova.
“Oh no! My trusted PS ended up in the lake today.”
A Discus T at the lake not far from Notodden Airport, Tuven.

The story;
“Not me flying, but my co-owner was piloting when the tow plane experienced loss of power soon after take off at about 30m altitude. At Notodden there is not many options when taking off on runway 12, so in the lake it went. Pilot made a great emergency landing, without injury, and the glider was rescued too. And the tow pilot managed with great skill to barely make it back to the runway, without further damage or injury.”

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To finish another ” lesson in life”, as we got over 30 years ago as well…hitting power lines!!!.You might remember we lost our son , due to such an accident.
FLY SAFE this summer!!!!!
General Aviation Accident…(28/April/2021)-
New Zealand :
“A Tecnam P92 Echo Classic, owned by the Canterbury Recreational Aircraft Club Inc, registration ZK-RGB, clipped powerlines and impacted open field terrain in North Canterbury, New Zealand. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the two people onboard, an instructor and a trainee, were seriously injured.”

By the way, “our” April was the coldest since 1986, with an average of 6.7 dgr. C.
BUT……this weekend spring / summer starts after the spring/autumn/winter period.
Sunday 25 dgr.C….love it!!!Maybe only ONE day!!!
Today after 76 years we celebrate our freedom. Yesterday we remembered all those who died for this freedom. Lest we forget…..
All events were without the normally thousands of people…second year in covid-style.
Cheers Ritz

When I finished the last words of my blog a week ago, Mathias Schunk was already at the field in Koenigsdorf [Germany] to prepare his Quintus M for a long flight. At 9 AM he was on his way to be back at 7.43 PM and a spring-1000 km. was under his belt.
He even had time to make pictures , here is one of them.
Have a look at his OLC trace on April 21 for more.

Another 1000 was flown, now from Austria, from Trieben; 1.120 km. in an ASH 31/21 m. An out and return with the start on a leg.
And absolutely worth mentioning the “Hammertag and Hammerflug” in the LS 8 from Baden Baden in Germany, also on that Wednesday by Roman Hoeflich, 877 km.[600 FAI triangle]

Also here in Holland the weather was good again. 2 Young airline pilots, temporarily out of work, have time to fly and Peter in his ASH 26 flew 748 km [600 FAI triangle] from Hoogeveen and all over flat country in thermals up to 1700 m. at it’s best. He started late as till 11 there was overcast,… the sky was 8/8, but when a “hole” appeared, he went and found enough lift in 7/8 .
Tim from Malden in his ASW 20 flew a distance of 700 km . He aborted the set task but though it was not easy he made it back home.
Just over “my” border in Belgium a flight from also 700 km was flown by Wim Akkermans [, another young airline pilot] , from Keiheuvel.
50 flights from Holland and a lot over 400 k.
NICE spring!

AND….the nice springtime continued during the long weekend.
Friday had 2x 1000 km. flights from Germany in top gliders, Holland had 3 700 km-plus flights in ASW 20, ASH 26 and Discus 2CT/18m.
Saturday was a super wave day in Minden in Nevada [USA] ;1.949 km for James Lee in JS 1 and 1.636 km.in the Ventus 2CM/18m. by Uwe Kleinhempel.
Sunday was even better , but then here in Europe…more pilots as they have the day off…but also more 1000 km. flights; 5 in total…4 from Germany and 1 from Austria ….and NO wave, but only thermals for these pilots.
Of course the Austrian flight had wave as well, even up to 4675 MSL /3373 AGL.
Germany’s best;1.243 km in a Ventus 3 /18m.by Frerk Frommholz; his highest point during the flight 2069 MSL/2028 AGL.
The OLC showed 1502 flights that day, 81 from them flown in Holland and the best again by Peter in his ASH 26E;822 km[782 FAI triangle]
“What a day. Originally planned 918km FAI. Finally started under 8/8 (almost 9/8) octas of nothing. Somehow it worked; the air was amazingly unstable. After about 70km I finally felt the first ray of sunlight, then it went great. Amazing conditions in Hamburg TMA with unlimited visibility and -12,4 degrees at 2200m. It should have been possible to extend the flight to Denmark. The way down south went super quick with 20km/h tailwind.”
Another former junior Robin Smit flew in the LS 4WL, a distance of 732 km. He mentioned that the start was difficult, as he was ready but the thermals not yet. Later clouds popped up , and what clouds; good ,better ,best, to use our old Sportavia slogan.
To achieve 750 he added a bit ,but the weather thought different again so he was just “out”, but had a great day out.
Also Denmark had great conditions and Arne [Boye Moeler] used them 619 km in the JS 3;
“Freezing Artic cold air, strong thermals and incredible visibility from 2.000m. Had a nice warm up flight to Kolding before starting on the task with the National Team from Arnborg on the 4 hour Assigned Area Task. The task made for good challenging decisions and it was great to hear the many excited pilots on the radio today.”
More great flights from Denmark as 753 in ASH 26, 656 in LS 1-c ,653 in St Libelle and 712 in the ARCUS T.
44 Pilots added their flight to the OLC.
And many on WeGlide as well; weglide.org
A total of 1029 flights worldwide, so VERY good for this new platform created by young pilots.
“Join the next-generation gliding platform. Built by Pilots for Pilots.“

And then it was Monday!!
The Czech Rep. was added to the list of “HAMMERWETTER” and Radek and David flew from Hranice and Velke Porici [never heard of this field] 1.230 and 1.253 km in JS 1/21m. and JS 3/18m.
Radek, a young top pilot and son from Petr Krejcirik, I met both at several comps, mentioned;
“Probably the best weather in the Czech republic what I ever flew.
1250km declared was possible today!“
SkySight said about this weather;
“Cumulus at almost 2000m at 8.30am yesterday? Some would not believe it is possible – those who did were justly rewarded!”
A total of 6 x a 1000 k. this day. Not too bad for spring!!!!
A father-son combination is worth mentioning;
“Super geiler Flug! Schön den ersten 1000 mit Vatern zu machen.“
A great flight and so special to fly the first 1000 with dad.
Flight was from Hoepen in Germany; 1.017 in the ARCUS by Uwe and Arne Kerlin.
Frerk is wearing his Ventus 3 out,… haha,…after the 1.243 km. flight today a 1.120 km. flight.

And …AGAIN, Holland shared in the soaring happiness; 667 km by the Corporaal-family in the Duo Discus XLT from Terlet and Peter had another good one from Hoogeveen; 723 in his ASH 26E.
“Another awesome day.
Started with in mind “a quick 500km triangle”, while sight seeing in the north (thank you Wittmund ATC!) and be home by 4 o’clock. Turned out to be truly one of the best conditions I’ve ever experienced in western Germany. Regularly skipping potential 3m/s thermals because there would be a better one (4-4,5m/s) next. Crazy conditions: I saw 5,4m/s integrated over a swamp…
The last leg back home was a bit more tiring, I had to settle with 1,5m/s climbs again in the blue…”

Yesterday Poland enjoyed the special weather conditions as well and Jacek Flis flew in his Discus 2a 898 km!
667 From Leszno in a St Jantar is pretty good as well!!!!

So everybody here in Europe is excited about this special month of April in 2021. I could see already on the satellite map on TV that there were cloud-streets from here to nearly Russia.

More soaring related news;
—-Aero Friedrichshafen [July 14-17] cancelled for 2021 due to Covid restrictions.
—-WeGlide;“News: The outlanding information of the ‘Landewiesen’ project is now available on our map, a click on the airfield symbol (green) leads directly to further information and images. We are very thankful that Streckenflug.at made this data available free of charge. Landing areas are not only available for the Alps, but also for Namibia and parts of North America. Everyone can help and improve the available information for as many areas as possible!
—-The Bayreuth German Nationals had to be cancelled again, due to corona. Hopefully finally next season NORMAL German champions.

To finish this great picture shared by Alberto Sironi from him and a mate in the Arcus T as seen through go-pro-facilities.
During the SAP, the high performance stage from Calcinate del Peche, between April 18 and 24 , they every day perform at the highest level with Italian Team pilots there present as well.
“The exceptional weather conditions, the mixture of alpine and foothills flight area, the structures of the Adele and Giorgio Orsi Airport and the organizational skills of ACAO are now known to gliding pilots from all over the world. Spring flights of high sporting value with take-off from ACAO are countless. Among these, some European records, numerous Italian distance and speed records, all FAI insignia up to the 1,250 km diploma, numerous flights of over 1,000 km, including the first 1,000 km in FAI triangle declared with take-off from Italy, up to arrive at flights of over 1,600 km. To allow all glider pilots to take on their challenge flights (insignia, distance and records), from 18 to 24 April ACAO offers its airport with its organization, its equipment and its staff.”
If you like flying in the mountains this way, keep it in mind for next season.
There is a video from Alberto’s flight as well, a 500 k. Italian speed record;
https://youtu.be/-bqDjvcGkHI

CU next week.
By the way this morning the curfew stopped here in Holland, at 4.30 AM after 3 months. At 12 the pubs OUTSIDE open again….the terraces have been closed for nearly 6 months. Only open between 12 noon and 6 PM, at this stage.
Shops open their doors again, nearly back to normal, though the numbers in hospitals and IC’s here, are not good yet.

Sorry I am late,…had for whatever reason…NO INTERNET…hence no publishing.
cheers Ritz

Yes , yes the polar air is still brought in by a wind stream from the NNW[ and sometimes NNE], it remains cold here but mostly sunny and so clear!!!
Looking at the weather- map the ” NW-stream” glides between the UK and Denmark far in to Germany , so still long flights.
Last Thursday,…Germany …1000 km. from Stillberghof in an ARCUS M. That glider gives so many SO much joy.
On the OLC list, 6 from the 15 gliders were that day ARCUS types T or M.
So double joy/fun.
The UK.…702 km. in a T.
The Netherlands…. flights up to 707 in the ASH 26 or nearly 600 in the ASW 20, flown as an FAI triangle.
For that reason it really is SAD , that the Dutch Nationals, scheduled in May had to be cancelled, due to COVID-19.
Also Klix was cancelled.

Last Friday, another top day!!!! Some still young pilots ,not juniors anymore but still young, flew great distances. Davide from Italy flew 1.041 km. in the JS 3, Boris from Slovenia in the St Cirrus WL 670 [500 FAI triangle] and here in the Netherlands Tim with 720 [also 500 triangle] in the ASW 20.
He flew partly over water but that was no problem as perfect cu’s were surrounding the Markermeer up in the N of Holland.
The last couple of days we had rain, hence not a lot of flying here. But Saturday was still pretty good in Italy and Switzerland with flights up to 868 km. by Bert Schmelzer also a former top junior. He mentioned that parts of his flight were in an “extreme good polar airmass”.

After the rain there was sunshine again. Yesterday showed already long flights from Switzerland and Italy….952 by Rainer Cronjaeger from Hausen am Albis in the ASH 31 Mi/21m [ “a great day but lots of showers“]and 932 from Alzate in the JS 1 C/21m. by Massimo Roncone.
Also the UK] and The Netherlands had over 500 km. flights again. Former EGC champion Steven Raimond flew 577 in his ASG 29.

AND…BELLA ITAIA from above as seen by MM.

Patrick Stouffs shared the next picture.

You might think ,like I did, mmmm….what’s that;
“Bug wiper flew away and blocked the elevator. Luckily all went well. Janus C 20 m“
Another helpful lesson in soaring- life.
“What happened? as shared by Patrick.
Manual bug wiper. I was flying a Janus C owned by my club in a competition. On arrival at kilometre 40 at about 180kmh, and 1300 meters the right wing wiper was unlocked, I don’t know why. It left at high speed and then went back and forth violently before leaving the leading edge and going behind. At that moment it hit the back of the fuselage, the fin, etc. I should have had a knife to cut the cable at that moment. I didn’t have one. Then silence and the stick could not move forward.
I warned my co-pilot of the situation and considered the worst, leaving the glider. We were very calm and the glider was flying in a straight line at a speed of 110kmh.High enough to jump, I pushed on the stick and the situation became free. I decided to fly quietly to my destination and after landing I saw what you see on the pictures.
My conclusion: check the manual bug wiper lock. Always have a knife available to get rid of this type of accessories.

Schempp-Hirth had news as well;
“#prototype #duodiscus #FES This time we are not on 1st of April, Schempp-Hirth and LZ Design are really happy to announce first flight of the Duo Discus FES prototype. After many months of work in these very special circumstances, today was a great day, not for any distance flight with the low cloud base, but already with all the heads turned to the next adventures and flying school possibilities this new aircraft enables. The SH team wants to thank all the workers and partners who made this new type possible and the next few months will focus on extended test flights.”

LZ [LZ design] shared news about the video of the first flight of the Duo Discus;
https://youtu.be/u-8LXTi5P58

To finish;
She, Amber Ditmer, was on the beach for the day;
“We went to Cocoa Beach today to take photos. We ended up a few miles further south at Table beach due to an Air Show and Cocoa’s public access being crowded. As I was snapping pics to get my settings correct, a plane was coming in low. I didn’t even move, thinking it’s pilot was just getting close for the show, but awfully ballsy Until he hit the water! This pilot did an amazing job and literally skipped over the people in the water! No one was hurt! It was a sight to see for sure …. although his misfortune, thankfully everyone was safe!“

That’s it for now..CU next Wednesday!
Then the curfew will disappear, we can have 2 visitors and…we can have a beer again out side on the terraces….we are happy with not much, it’s all relative??!!!
Cheers Ritz

April 14 2021 post 1260
—-When I left you on Wednesday, Italian pilots Alberto Sironi and Andrea Faggioni, flew their ARCUS T from Calcinate over 1.261 km. Like the days before the Alps were still working fabulous, so they flew straight there…. and then up and down from Aosta to far East. Racing over the mountain-tops sometimes at 150 m. AGL, but mostly higher and at some places with good wave up to 4914 m. MSL.[3101 AGL]
From Alzate a bit more to the East as Calcinate, also in Italy, Swiss pilot Rainer Crohnjaeger flew in his ASH 31/21 m. 909 km.

—I wrote already about the WWGC in August 2022 in Husbos [Husbands Bosworth] You can follow them now too via instagram
#wwgc2022#womengliding
https://www.instagram.com/wwgc2022/

Soaring in spring can be FABULOUS,…can be….when you can fly. The ice-cold air from the N. is good for great cu’s and fantastic visibility ,but it IS COLD!!!!
Some glider pilots have no problems with it and as it is for most of them the very first flight of the season, I share a few pictures from happy chappies in their gliders enjoying spring-circumstances.

Last weekend showed a few good flights and on the pictures you could see already that the UK had perfect , though cold soaring weather.
Last Sunday Gary Coppin and Andy Aveling, took the ARCUS T for another good spring -trip. This time 635 km. and topping the OLC -list that day.
In Wiener Neustadt ,where I spend in the past, a great time as TC for the Dutch team at the WGC in 1989 , Markus Gusenleitner even flew 904 km.in the Ventus 2cM/18m.
During the 1989 WGC,2 French pilots won the title and in 15 m. Bruno Gantenbrink in another Schempp-Hirth glider, the Ventus C.
Jean Claude Lopitaux won in open [ASW 22 B] and Jacques Aboulin in standard in the Discus.

Last Thursday was a good spring-day in Italy up to 725 km. and in Luxembourg where Guy Bechtold flew from Useldange in his Quintus M 728 km.]500 FAI triangle] and from France, Vincent Hayos flew in an LS 1 C 519 km!!
AND,…455 k. from Enemonzo in Italy in an ASTIR CS by Enrico Consutta, is worth mentioning too. A declared FAI triangle!!!!
AND,….a “Declared 300 km FAI triangle…. extended a bit the last leg
Super nice condition today, pretty soft on the mountains
Spectacular views, super scenic flight” in a SDD 54-2 Perkorz/20 m./WL in Romania.

Yesterday was an other fabulous soaring day with still the same polar air brought in by the NW wind , so cold, but great visibility again and huge cauliflower-type cu’s in parts of Europe and not to forget THE NETHERLANDS, without mountains or wave!!!
Monday was already good with a flight from 742 km. by Peter Millenaar in the ASH 26.
But yesterday was superb for many.
From Hoogeveen Peter flew in the same glider a distance of 833 km. He flew from the N of Holland to the E into Germany [Oerlinghausen and back via the S of Holland .
His comment; “Beautiful, but chilly day once again: I’ve seen -10,0C. Brrr.”

“Our” 2 ASG 29E long-distance-racers Mark and Alfred Paul flew from Soesterberg distances of 899 km. They mostly fly together and have a lot of fun. This was such a great day for them too, but with some difficulties in the beginning, as only after 2 hours it really” boomed” .
Showers and snow were involved and forced them sometimes to re-direct. BUT…as Alfred Paul mentioned “along the snow showers they found a nice convergence line”, so they could make speed. With the now longer days they landed at 8.
One of our younger pilots Lars mentioned that it was a bizarre good day! He flew from Terlet 751 km. direction past Paderborn in his ASG 29 [https://weglide.org/flight/47088] and till now his 2d farthest flight.
Hadriaan in the JS 1 flew from Lemelerveld 782 km.
One of those perfect soaring-days,…have a look at the OLC for all their traces.
48 Dutch pilots had time to fly on the Tuesday and 17 flew between 500 and just under 900 km. NOT BAD!!!!!!GOOOOOODDD!!!!!!
https://www.onlinecontest.org/
The UK was still good too;
“Pete Harvey flew a 604km declared task today” April 12 https://www.bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/88261

A great day out by many! That’s what soaring is all about,…AND the shared happiness for all of them by us on the ground.

On a more sad note, we share happiness and sadness, the next news;
“Črtomir Rojnik (1949-2021)
The gliding community has lost one of the greatest pioneers. A true aviator, inventor, visioner, genius, and entrepreneur.His ideas, inventions, products have changed the way we are flying today. Safer, faster, higher, longer. He was passionate about the sport he loved and spent his lifetime exploring the beauty of flying.He was an exceptional entrepreneur. His passion for flying and technology grew and evolved into LX navigation. Through his career, he helped other companies including LXNAV, Kanardia, Navteh, and LX track on their way to success and support dozens of individuals to grow in the gliding community and professionally. He selflessly invested his time and effort to support gliding and flying locally and worldwide.With great pain, we say our farewell to our friend. He is now, and forever soaring.Share your thoughts, memories and condolences: inmemoriam@lxnavigation.com

Cheers Ritz

“What a fantastic day of soaring! Varese Martigny Aosta Zermatt...” Aldo Cernezzi was ecstatic about flying in this area and shares it with us in pictures. Of course still a lot of winter-snow on the mountains, but spring is there.
France, Italy ,Germany and Switzerland were the places to be for Europe. Flights up to nearly 800 km. in cold but good conditions.

Over Easter there was NO soaring here, it felt like winter, with hail and snow and ZERO dgr. C. brrrrr……..
We had a WHITE EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!! So did Denmark ,..but that is more “normal”.

Luckily Easter Saturday was pretty good here, with one 600 km by Sikko Vermeer in his ASG 29 E/18m. and 9x 500 km.-plus flights!!!

In Germany kilometer-eaters Alexander Mueller and Michael Sommer, took their EB’s out for an EASTER-flight and flew 983 and 1000 km flying from Bayreuth and Oberhinkofen!!!
The Southern part of Germany had no problems with the tough NW wind, it created here, high waves,…no not for soaring….but on the coast and dykes.

The Hahnweide, Bamberg , Unterwoessen and Burg Feuerstein had great soaring conditions as well.
So did parts from N. Italy, where Giorgio [Galetto] flew 729 km. in his Ventus 3F/18m. from Thiene with TP’s in Lienz Nikolsdorf [Germany] close to Austria and Lesce Bled in the NW of Slovenia, using the Alps for height.
All in all 677 pilots enjoyed Easter-Sunday in their glider.
Yesterday Alessandro Brusca flew from Aosta a 1.158 km. flight in the Ventus 2cxa 18m. At one spot he had 6418 MSL/3408 AGL.
Aosta is a great place to fly your 3000 or 5000 m. height but for skiing as well, you travel high up in the mountains to Pila and off you go on skies down again. Have been there a few times.

Also the UK had great but cold conditions to fly. Whilst we were looking at snow flakes falling down, they had that super polar air with great visibility on Easter Monday. The BGA shared this picture from Alex Holswilder.
Garry Coppin and Andy Aveling flew from Lasham a 684 km. flight in the Arcus T.

Well, it’s still snowing here and we have about 5 cm. now. More south in Limburg….15 cm!!!!
Mind you only 2 weeks ago we had 26 dgr. C here.
Accidents and incident and traffic jams are the result.
4 Seasons in ONE day!!!!!!A weird spring.

Corona vaccine for me on Friday and on Mai 14. We are still in a lockdown here.
Not so much soaring news so I finish with a beautiful picture shared in “glider forever”.

Back next Wednesday with hopefully real spring weather here and NO problems after the first vaccine.
Cheers Ritz

As co-owner of the business ,Uys Jonker, can’t say anything else I guess, but interest was great. Even in my house the live stream of “JS 2 Prototype- first -flight” was welcomed with some enthusiastic mutters.
When you missed it,…here is the link;
https://youtu.be/29G3zEEhXWc
“The JS2 Revenant, a high-performance, versatile, easy-to-fly self launcher! The name Revenant was inspired from the French verb Revenir, meaning “to return”. The JS1-C is now making a return with an amazing powerful self-launching system!”

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With the flooding in the S. E of Australia lot’s of people are devastated, BUT….with full energy trying to clean up and repair. Look how some found their house back after evacuating.
“Love being back home. But sadly, it’s all different this time. What a freakin’ stinky mess. The farm is uninhabitable and 90% of possessions lost (dad’s tools virtually all that remains). An unforgiving weather event that took it all.” Annie Kiehn.
The Kiehn family is a well-known soaring family in Australia with Annie and Chris [ of Fibremites and the Australian agent for Schempp-Hirth] and their parents Elke and Hartmut.
I wish them ALL the best.

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Who has flown in Finland might recognize these pictures send to me by Kari. “This how Räyskälä looks like at the moment. I flew my first airplane flight of the season and took pic.”

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So in Finland they slowly think of starting the season. They did already in the UK.
Lasham, one of the biggest soaring places with lot’s of pilots, opened last Monday on March 29, with the next info:
“We’re delighted to re-open tomorrow, 29th March, for member solo flying for approved qualified pilots. Our daily weather briefings also return to our YouTube channel every morning from tomorrow.
Our restaurant and bar remain closed for now but we look forward to them re-opening to our members in mid April alongside the resumption flight training.
Details on booking Courses and Trial Lessons will be available very soon so please stay in touch via our website www.lashamgliding.com or our Facebook Page.”

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Newsy news;
—Still some good around 500 /600 km. flights all over the world this last week;
Puimoisson in France, Alzate in Italy, Lodrino Mil in Switzerland,[all Eur.] Orient [S.A.]Beverley [Austr.] Ridge Soaring [USA]
—Talking about Beverley one of their longtime tuggies finished his career. John Welsh: “Feeling quite emotional about finishing my Private Pilot flying on Friday with two hours of glider towing Pa25 Pawnee VH-TOJ among my good friends at Beverley Soaring Society. After 54 years of PPL flying, not renewing my CASA Class 2 medical, AVMED finally won…...”

—The 1700 km. flight on March 21 from Baptiste Innocent and Gil Souviron, in the Stemme, I wrote about it last time, seems to be a new European record. The earlier record was now 10 years old.
Gil mentioned that specially the overflight of the sea was a first for them. They had flown over 20 km. already once , but not 80km!!!!
They knew the weather on the way back would be the same;” the conditions would be identical to those on the outward journey and with an eastern component at altitude rather favorable on the return. “

Congratulations again to Gil and Baptiste.

To finish this lovely picture;

We had up to 22 dgr. C. here over the last days,…wow…and today we might reach 26!!!!!. Easter weekend will be only 8 again.
I straight away got a cold from all these changes over the last weeks, decided to go for a corona test to be safe for all around me and it was negative. Pfff….
In between the time changed as well, so we had 1 hour less sleep. No worries….nice long evenings. For that reason they changed the curfew from 9 till 10 PM here and finishing at 4.30 AM.

HAPPY EASTER dear friends.

I am always looking forward to pictures from Bo Michalowski. She knows how to translate soaring with her pictures, into a the feeling you are part of the fun. That’s what I try with words.
Gliders at the ground, in the air at finishes, but also the people who “make” the comps the pilots and their crews/family.
Certainly with only elderly pilots, with respect, the atmosphere is different , more cozy.
Some pictures.

Only later I found out that the cancelled day on March 16 was due to an unfortunate incident during launch. It looked like a good soaring day :
“Cloud bases were expected to be just under 6,000ft with lift being strong and consistent.”
The official version “As the launch proceeded, Tom Johnson in his Mini Nimbus had an incident during the launch.  Tom was air lifted to the Osceola Regional Medical Center where he has undergone two surgeries to repair a number of injuries.  Tom’s wife is with him at the hospital and we all pray for his speedy recovery and return to his glider family.
All launches after the incident were terminated and the contest day was cancelled.”
I pray for him as well and hope as we all do for a speedy recovery and return next year for Tom.
March 17…Contest day 4; a 2 hour TAT. The ARCUS with Nick did well and was runner up. They are on spot 1 overall now. Jake was 18th and dropped from 1 to spot 5. He had a “bad” day already on task 3, where he was 22d and only still had 22 points overall on The ARCUS pilots.
Only 2 days to go!!!!
March 18…No contest day. “rest day and cold front passage.“
March 19…Contest day 6 …last day; 1.30 TAT, short task, ….but a task!!!, …with an hour delay before the first launch. A much more “cool” and also mostly blue day, with 2-3 knots up to 1500/1700 and a NNW with 12/15 kts decreasing to 10.
Jake was back in action and 3 on the daily spot on this last day. Before him, on spot 1 another ARCUS with team Simmons. At spot 2 the DUO DISCUS from Karl and Sarah, moving up to spot 27 overall. Nick and his mate in the ARCUS were on spot 4. A real good glider that ARCUS…a WINNER. Not bad either that Duo Discus .
The final scores ;
1. team Bennet&Krolikowski in ARCUS M with 4820 points.
2. Team Simmons&Simmons in ARCUS M. with 4797 p.
3. Jake Alspaugh in ASW 27 with 4727.

Where are we without tuggies and helpers?????? Nowhere….So here they are…

And to finish this part of the USA Senior Comps another 2 “STRONG” action pictures from Bo.

For all scores;
https://www.ssa.org/ContestResults.asp?contestId=2497&ContestDetailId=21565&ContestName=Senior+Soaring+Championship&ContestDate=3/19/2021&ResultsUpdate=True

Great first prize…look at it!!

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Terrible floods in the S .EAST of Australia, specially the beautiful town of Port Macquarie. Friends saw how their furniture and fridge “floot ” out of their house. Even a house,… yes a total house passed by in the flooding areas. Sydney got warnings as well.
An intense weather system delivers this record- breaking flooding also in Hastings.
It’s a tough country, either too dry or too wet and with thousands of mice, the farmers in NSW have another burden.
The water, after torrential downpours and wind raised the rivers and a few days later, also lot’s of people from Sydney had to be evacuated.
The worst flooding in 60 years I heard.

Heavy and sad floods in the East, still happy soaring in the West where from Beverley still over 400 km flights have been flown. 543 even by Norm on Sunday in the JS 3.

Our astronomical spring started last weekend with minus 6 in the night , but sunny conditions during the day.
Last Friday was a great looking day here with fabulous cauliflower-clouds on purple blue skies. I noticed good CC flights already from Terlet by Steven Raimond [388 km in ASG 29e…out and return far SE to Dahlemer Binz. ] and Soesterberg from Mark Leeuwenburgh [368 km in ASG 29 e/18m. ] who flew up N. direction Groningen.

Last Monday good ridge soaring; lots of “low-racing over the mountain-tops…once 190 m AGL “with a wave moment up to 5594 m. MSL” as well, from Noetsch [Austria] where Johannes Hausmann flew in his DG 600/18 m a distance of 1000 km.
The weekend had “special” weather for Klaus Ohlmann, who started from Serres and 2 French “kilometer eaters with name” Gil Souviron and Baptiste Innocent, starting from Perpignan, flying the Stemme S10 and S12; 1.707 km. [147 km./h] and 1.753 km.[150 km./h]
Comment from Klaus “What a pity… phone made no wakeup call due to empty battery. So I lost 1 hour of flight time. But nevertheless, it was a great day and connection from Alps via central massif to the Pyrenees worked, even if it was a little bit tricky. Thanks for all the nice work from ATC.
Without their help the successful flight would not have been possible.”
The OLC wrote extra about the flights;
“Twice over 1700 kilometers…A lot can be done with a Stemme S10, especially if your name is Klaus Ohlmann. On Sunday (March 21), Klaus started at Serres, on the edge of the Maritime Alps. Directed to the Pyrenees, which once again produced magnificent waves in the north wind. At the edge of the Alps, south of the Glandasse, he climbed to over 4000 meters, high enough for a glide into the waves on the west side of the Rhone Valley in the Massif Central. These waves took him into the Pyrenees waves. When he landed in Ampuriabrava in Spain in theevening 1707 kilometers (147 kph) were on the clock.With his flight, Klaus Ohlmann was ahead of Gil Souviron with a Stemme S12, who had already been successful on the previous Sunday from Perpignan with 1500 kilometers in the Pyrenees wave. On this Sunday the French pilot had Baptiste Innocent from Fayence with him. (http://onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html…)

Interesting news shared by Matthew, no not about weather this time but about …
“It’s official – the ASW20B/C have entered IGC club class, at 1.06 (0.05 higher than ASW20A).https://www.fai.org/sites/default/files/sc3ah_2021.pdf

AND,….when CORONA is finally over end of the year and next year….we ALL hope for it….here are some dates for the comps down under.
“The Multiclass Nationals will be held at Kingaroy Soaring Club from Monday 4 October to Monday 11 October 2021, immediately after the QLD State Comps which runs there from Sunday 26 September to Saturday 2nd October. Sunday 3 October will be an extra practice day for anyone who wants a launch. See kingaroysoaring.com.au for registration details.

The Club and Sports Class Nationals will be held at Tocumwal from 12-18 December 2021.

And I “stay” for a moment in Australia…..I told you earlier about the morning glory, here is a great picture. Found it on FB. Several of my mates have “done” this already.

That’s it for today. Looking ahead for a nice spring-week. Next week might be 20 dgr. C again….like!!!
CU next Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz

The 2020 Club and multi class Nationals are on NOW , between March 14 and 20 in 2021. Due to covid-19 they had to be postponed.
The airfield to be is Mc Caffery Field named after good old Dennis Mc Caffery , [R.I.P.]who I met several times, once I was his dinner partner and we had such a great time. A really nice outgoing person. In my eyes some kind of Bill Riley or John Roake.
So they fly the Nationals there now, with 8 pilots in each of the classes.
March 13 was practice with a 2.30 AAT in club won by Jo Davis who could have won the WWGC, if all had gone according to the rules. But rules are rules!!!!Still a pity!
She flew in her ASW 20, 270 km in 2.31.
In the multi class it was a great practice day for Ray Stewart [JS 3 /15m.] and Matthew Scutter. [DIANA 2]. With a speed of 125 km./h they flew during the 2.30 AAT distances of 333 and 336 km. in time 2.39 and 2.42.
Club had a 3.30 AAT on day 1 which was good and young Reuben Lane in a DG 100 won with 340 km. in time 3.30 at the dot!!!!1000 points for him.
The runner up, Mark Dalton in ASW 20b, flew 382 km. but need a bit more time ;4 minutes which cost him 1 point.
Multiclass; some kind of same scenario. 1000 points for Ray and ONE point less for Matthew.
Matthew flew there, looked via his SkySight to the weather of the upcoming days and the organization decided to listen:
“Unfortunately due to current and forecast weather it has been decided to cancel the competition.”
So one practice day and ONE good day and they all had to come home again,…such a pity. You understand that in Australia distances are huge, so some arrived flew 1 day and went home again….some driving over 8 hours. It is as it is!!!
The organizers opinion;
“The options for any more days flying are worse than zero.“

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The USA SENIORS , as always fly their comps from Seminole.
With Covid test’s on site, they started the 31 edition on March 13 and continue till March 19 with 58 pilots. Always a very busy competition with lot’s of “old’ with respect toppers as Doug Jacobs and Karl Striedeck …in his early eighties… ,who flies as practice for the German WGC in the Duo Discus with Sarah…… and with John Good as the CD.
After 2 practice days the real “thing...contest day 1” started with 2 hour TAT.[ Turn Area Task]
The day was won by a new name for me ,Jake Alspaugh in an ASW 27.John Seaborne, who I met during the 2012 WGC in Uvalde was runner up in his JS 3/15m.Sarah and Karl were 6th in the Duo.
It was a blue day with the forecast for afternoon cirrus, so most thought,….”an early start is the way to go”.

Contest day 2 , another 2 hour TAT, this time won by Fernando Silva [JS 3/15m] and Jake was runner up .Blue day was fore- casted again , BUT CU’s popped up, but also disappeared.

Contest day 3, with a 3 hour TAT, was a prey for a “shark 18”, flown by Sam Giltner. Sarah and Karl were on spot 3 but overall now on spot 45.
“Very nice day. 5000+ cu. Good streets. ” was the comment from Ken Sorenson, the CD from the Uvalde ’12 WGC. He flew 456 km in his Ventus 3F/15m.
No contest day on March 16.
So in the middle the overall scores are; Jake on 1, team Bennet [Nic practiced a lot in Worcester] &Krolikowski in the ARCUS M on 2 [ on day 3 they had a “Very late launch due to technical problems. This probably helped us as by the time we started cloud base had gone up a bit and there were some good streets” ]and Steve Fihlen in ASG 29/15m on 3.
Will be back with the last days next week.
For results; https://www.ssa.org/ContestResults

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The MARCH issue of GLIDING INTERNATIONAL, has a beautiful picture on the cover from Tobias Barth, over the town of Hamburg, only possible because of Covid-19 ,as normally airliners fly there.
What’s more in it;
—–Pre World War 2 Gliding …Germany and Japan unite…by Arthur Liddington…14 pages of history…..to be honest I learned a lot from it.
—–Japan Aeronautic Association and gliding in Japan today. I do have a lot of Japanese soaring mates since Sportavia and visited 4 airfields there in that time…an interesting GREAT experience it was!!
—–Wolf Hirth…German Soaring pilot extraordinaire.
—–Gliding and the World Olympic movement
—–R.I.P. Hans Werner Grosse….
—–In the accident report…..there are still unresolved battery problems.
—–Lot’s of International Aviation news for glider pilots and “things with wings”.
What got my special attention in the Aviation news was;
“Late 2020, Sebastian Kawa joined a group of European pilots who over-flew the Tatra Mountains in Poland – a dedication in memory of those who died on the mountain. Sebastian read a list of all climbers and pilots who lost their lives. A video of the flight is available on YouTube.”
AND
“Omarama Airfield Update: The ‘Omarama Gliding Club’ is now the organization for overseas pilots to contact and who want to soar from this location. Glide Omarama no longer exists in its previous form. You can contact the club via their web site – https://www.omarama. com/ A number of the personnel from the former operation are now working for the “Omarama Club”.

Some good over 1000 km. flights over the last couple of days, have a look at the OLC.
March 16; Ugo Pavesi flew one from Calicinate in Italy in an ASG 29/15m. and Klaus Ohlmann from Serres in France in the Antares 20.
March 15; Gil Souviron 1100 km in the Stemme S12 from Perpignan.
March 14; young Swiss pilot Davide Giovanelli flew one from Locarno in Switzerland in a DISCUS 2 …” WHAT A DAY“….and Alessandro Busca from Alzate in Ventus 2CX/18m.
NOT a 1000 but a SPLENDID flight on March 16; Alessandro Busca flew in the ASK 21, a distance of 598 km. from Aosta, on a pretty good wave day.

CU next week with the latest on Seminole and other news.
Cheers Ritz

With minus 7 ,our spring feeling was gone for a few day’s. Tomorrow it will be “autumn” as wind will reach bft 9 with heavy gusting’s.
I guess that’s March.

Victorian State Comps continued in Benalla.

The Victorian State comps started with a practice day on March 3 and on March 4 they had to fly for the points.
They did in 2 classes, unballasted [ 10 pilots] and ballasted.[10]
Not TOP weather but flyable ;a low and blue day.
2.45 AAT’s were set and in the “gliders without water”, the Mosquito from Bendigo was the best; 163 km. in time 2.26.
Only 3 from 9 finished.
In the other class , home pilot, Toby Geiger in his Ventus 2ax flew 243 km. in time 3.08.
3 From 9 finished!!!
They did not fly on the 5th but the 6th was a flyable day again .
2.45 AAT for the “empty” gliders .
6 From 10 finished task 2 ;winner with 216 km. in time 2.44 was Mark Goodley in the HORNET for 900 points.
Bernie Sizer , with Tocumwal as home base, in his PIK 20 B WL was runner up with 245 km. but needed more time ;2.57.
Ailsa McMillan, who flew with the Aussie team the WWGC in Lake Keepit, flies the LS 4 and I had not seen a lot of flying from her over the last period. Good to see her in this State competition; 4th for the day.
Of course with Covid, EVERYTHING is different.
Task 3 in this class had a 2.15 AAT and 2 pilots flying the local DG 1001s/18m got the daily prize; 206 km. in time 2.17. Bernie was runner up and Ailsa 3d.
After an outlanding on task 1 [ flying 175 km which was 10/20 and 30 km further than the finishers, BUT you have to finish!!] she is now 3d overall.
Task 4, after a non flying day was a 2.30 AAT.
199 km. in 2.41, was the result for Ailsa and SHE WON the day. Good on her. She is a good pilot. 875 points. Only 76 points behind the overall number 1 Jack in the MOSQUITO. AND,…with ONE day to go!!!
4 From the 7 who started finished.
Task 5 was squeezed out….a 2 hour AAT and won by Jack with 188 km. in time 2.02….for 614 points.
9 From 10 finished on this last day.
The top 3 from the last few days stayed the same with a little change after task 2 ,….it was then Jack, Mark and Ailsa now it is
1. Jack Hart in the MOSQUITO with 3.713 points.
2. Ailsa McMillan in LS 4b with 3.568 p.
3. Mark Goodley in the HORNET WL with 3.434 p.

In the ballasted glidercomps task 2 was a 2.30 AAT and won by Tim [Wilson]a lovely guy , with a Dutch girlfriend, but due to Covid they have not seen each other since last season, when we all met in Tocumwal and had dinner together;256 km. in time 2.33. The only one over 100 km./h that day flying his ASG 29E.
Task 3 was a 2.45 AAT and not Tim’s day. He was “out” after 262 km.
Winner was John [Orton] in his ASG 29/18 m. ;327 km. in time 3.14.
Toby was 3d but still leads the pact, followed by John and Matt [Cage].
No flying on Monday!
BUT,….YES flying again , Task 4, on Tuesday with a 3 hour AAT. Prey again for Toby,267 km. in time 3.02 for 1000 points!!! Nearly 200 points in the lead before the last day.
8 Did start, 5 finished.
Task 5; 1.30 AAT and all 9 who started finished!! Toby won another day [175 km. in time 1.30] ,pretty clear he won this competition. Tim was runner up for the day. Overall he was on spot 4!
1. Tobias Geiger in Ventus 2ax with 4.034 points.
2. John Orton in ASG 29/18m with 3.729 p.
3. Matt Gage in Ventus 2CX/18m with 3.407 p.

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On March 7 several clubs started their season in Holland with great looking skies, but it was terrible cold when you were not sitting or standing in the sun. By the way, that sun is really good already!!!!
Soesterberg [ACVZ] and The Gelderse , the club from my grand children, did open their season. Great day for the seasonal test flights when you wear thermal clothes!!!!
And masks!!!!!

Some started straight away with nice CC flights, as my friend Daan [Pare] who flew 259 km. from Soesterberg [ nice weather, good test flight, with streets , but a “bit” chilly] straight to the East and other friends Vincent and Bart flew from there in the ARCUS 275 km. They went full of enthusiasm to the SW following the line of the Nordsea to Cadzand a famous Dutch seaside resort ; “fabulous, but on the way back,….there was wind,..no cu’s anymore” BUT,…no worries…..they had an engine”
They loved every minute.

In Germany great weather as well last Saturday with a 539 km. from Stadlohn [-East of Terlet just over the border]in an ARCUS T.
This is early-season-2021-fun, but there was late season-2021 fun as well. Sven [Olivier] flew 866 km from Worcester in his JS 1, and on Sunday New Zealand [Matamata] had a FUN-day with several flights between 500 and 600km-plus km. in Discus 2, SZD 55and DG 300.
When the weather is really good, we call that “kastelen- weer” in Germany they say “hammer wetter” .
One of my friends Bertje, decided to use that literary and followed in the air a few great castles on “castle-weather-day” !!
That extremely cold weather from the North gives great visibility.

Sunday was not as good but still some good early-season-flights. This time just over “my” border into Belgium where Pieter Daems flew in his Discus 2T a nice distance/ jo-jo from 417 km. starting from Keiheuvel.
A weekend full of “happy, but frozen” chappies.
I found the word “chilly” an understatement!!

Last but not least ;
Peter Eriksen from Denmark is ,last weekend, elected as the new president of IGC, The International Gliding Commission.
Our Dutch Frouwke Kuijpers is now first vice president of the IGC.
Eric Moser , who was president for many years ,is now in the EB from the FAI.
Congratulations!!!!

To finish. I found this picture on FB with the message “High altitude crossings”….in my eyes….pretty scary!!!!

Better stay further away from each other, this upcoming season.
CU next week
Cheers Ritz

And.…..not to forget….for WOMEN’SDAY this picture from USA pilot Sarah, and WWGC Champion in Lake Keepit, who is this year flying the WGC in Stendal in the ARCUS with Karl Striedeck…old and new with respect,…. for this picture and the “nice combination”.

The British Gliding Association and WWGC 2022 news;
“We’re celebrating International Women’s Day in style by launching the Women’s World Gliding Championship 2022!”
www.wwgc2022.co.uk

13-17 August 2022 at Husbands Bosworth…HUSBOS…. in Leicester in the UK.

It seems when you get older ,that time is flying even faster !! We just started 2021 and it is already March again,…the beginning of the meteorological spring here and autumn down under!
As I told you last week we have “weird” but lovely weather. 6 Days over 16 dgr. C has never ever happened before.
I told you about the Sahara sand here in Holland,… they wrote about it in Germany as well on the OLC:
“Not over North Africa, but the sand of the Sahara, which the strong southern current has carried to Europe in the last few days, Robert Prat was able to fly around 1,100 kilometers with an ASG 29E on Sunday. After starting in Saint-Gaudens the French pilot used the lee waves of the Pyrenees for the distance between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. He spent most of the flight at around 5000 meters above the dust cover. .”
Robert flew 1.122 km. with a speed of 150 km./h on February 21 2021 in mostly high wave nearly up to 6000 m. /5.901 MSL!!!!
His comment ;”Wave flight above Sahara dust .
Unfortunately air mass changed in Cu instable on West area.“

We are back here, to zero in the night, so we have to be careful with our trees and plants who “think” summer has started.
I noticed already spiders, yellow butterflies, bumblebees and even more important, great clouds on a nice blue sky!!!
On TV that evening from February 26 ,they showed great cloud streets!!!!!
Sander Terpstra shared it on FB.
Here you are,….really clouds street over Holland.

Not long and the gliders are going up again.
WHAT,…….????? Some are UP already.
Just over the border here, is the KEIHEUVEL, I love that place!!!?…..
They noticed the great early spring conditions as well.
Wim Akkermans flew already in his LS 8 on that day a Cross Country flight of 374 km.
“What a start of the season! Never flew this kind of distance in Februari. Really enjoyed the flight.”
From Stadtlohn in Germany ,[ also just over the Dutch border], Hermann Rosing flew 460 km. in a Ventus 2CM/18m.
To be seen,….Not only on the OLC
http://onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html…
but also on
https://weglide.org/flight/25222
” Quantifying air sports….The next generation Gliding Platform.”
By the way Matthew announced on March 1 the next news:
“We have now partnered with WeGlide to enable all your favorite SkySight charts inside their flight planner and logbook! Connect your WeGlide and SkySight accounts together inside your WeGlide account (Profile -> Settings) and give it a try today!”

They do still fly in Benalla, where the Victorian state comps will be flown from tomorrow, March 4 till March 10.
19 Pilots will attend. More next week.
The Lake Keepit Regatta was still in full swing, though full is maybe too much said, as they had 2 days without a task and a short one on Friday .
2 Hour AAT’s for both club and sports.
In club Sofie [Curio] was doing a great job in her LS 4 winning 2 days.
In sports it was Matthew [Scutter] again.
On the last day no flying either so the winners on 2 days [from 4] Sofie and 3 days [out of 4] Matthew were the overall winners with 2.599 points for Sofie…good on her….and 3.152 for Matthew…good on him!
Diana-2 New Generation reacted with this message and picture:
“Matthew Scutter with Diana-2 FES NG won 2021 Lake Keepit Regatta Competition! We’re so Happy! Congratulations Matthew!“

The last day of February was a good [Sun-] day ,as in Australia they still had 42 flights between 230 k [in a Cirrus] and 619k in an ASH 31/21 m.
Nearly all over Australia….East, South and West.
NOT bad, as day’s are shorter and temperatures not as high anymore as in summer.
March 1 , down under, was not so good with NO flights on this Monday but in Europe , where days clearly get longer and temperatures “sometimes” increase, the sun was shining after fog. However not too many flights [14 on the OLC, 11 valid] ,..the best in France from Fayence [277 k.in ASW 17] and La Motte.[243 k in Ventus]
It’s ONLY the beginning!!!!
On March 6 several Dutch clubs open their doors for the new season. Of course corona proof AND with respect for nature.

CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

To finish,...”the past” 1965, the winners from the Dutch Nationals that year,…sophisticated is n’t it? Suit and tie.
As I started in 1967, I do remember their outfits and I met Rijk Breunissen [3] and Aart Dekkers [2] well known because he had, already in 1968, a “spiffy” glider, a DIAMANT. He did not SIT in the glider but he “LIE” in it.