377 km. was on the task sheet for the teams flying this National 2 seater competition from Narromine.
Task 6 of this flying day 5 had a new daily winner. Ron and Mac. A tad slower than Adam and Keith , but the handicap[1040] from the Nimbus 3DM put them on spot 1;117,79, for 118,88 km./h.
Difference in daily points ; ONE!!!!
Task 7 of flying day 6; with 2 days to go this was an interesting day with a nice task…439 km….
Scores are close, not so much at the top as the Edwards brothers, lost some points but still have a lead of more than 150 points on David and Butch.
Numbers 3 and 4 are close ….4.200 for Allan and Harry [89 years old!!!!] who are by the way, only 100 points behind David and Butch and 4.196 for Mac and Ron.
Who has the best nerves!!?? EVERYTHING is still possible!!!!
What happened?
With 113 km./h Adam and Keith raced for the daily win and 1000 points, so climbing up 1 spot again.
Mac and Ron did well with 106 km./h meaning a runner up spot. Brad and Bill lost more than 200 points by being 6th for the day. They are still in the lead but with less than 100 points.
One more day…
Task 8 on flying day 7. 3 hour AAT, so “find yourself as many kilometers in 3 hours.”
Well, former world champion [in Uvalde in 1991] Brad is good in AAT’s so he and his brother won the last day; 396 km. in time 3.03, so a nice speed of 130 km./h. That means they stay on top!
But then,….Adam and Keith really flew a great end-sprint over the last day’s but not enough to be in the top 3, they ended on spot 4.
Dave and Butch were on a daily 3d spot and Mac and Ron on 4.
Allan and Harry lost more than 300 points being on spot 7 so the final results:
1. Brad and Bill[ Edwards] in ASG 32 M with 6.243 points.
2. David [Jansen]and Butch [John Buchanan] in the ARCUS T with 6.025
3. Ron [Sanders] and Mac [Ichikawa] in Nimbus 3DM with 5.915 p.
4. Adam [Woolley] and Keith [Gately] in Arcus M with 5.905, they came close!!!!
“Thanks foremost to Keith Gateley for another outstanding week together, we had an absolute blast! Shame about the 1st two outlanding days, but 3 day wins & 2 very close 2nd places following, allowed it all to be ok. We finished 3rd in the 20m class & 4th overall by just 10points – so close, yet two turns too far.” Adam.

Miles [Gore Brown] flew in the Duo Discus as coach from a few pilots during these nationals . Huge experience for new-to-be-competition-pilots. They were 6 overall.!!!
Allan and Harry 5th!!!! YES indeed, Harry is 89 years old!!!I spoke with him and his wife Wendy, in Lake Keepit last year and even on hot days Harry is still active as a young guy. Amazing.

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The next Australian National Championship will be the 2020 Club & Multi-Class Nationals between 12-20 March 2021. Due to Covid they will be flown then.
Only 18 entrants, but enough to make it a valid [ 7 needed] club class championship and combined also a valid 15 m./st class championship.
Open and 18m. have only 4 so they fly for the Covid Cup.

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Great weather down under, last Wednesday when I left you. Pete [Temple] managed to fly his 2d 1000 from Gawler , for the season, in his 18 m. ASG 29. Rather late in the season. In the end of November, early in the season, he flew 1.313 km. already.
Grant, who just , won the Horsham comps in club class , flew 556 [FAI triangle] in his St. Jantar from Tocumwal and with such great weather Swiss Chris flew as well;590 in his ASW 27.
“nice CU day with cloud-streeting in the evening, tricky to find thermals on the first two legs, better lifts after that, but maybe it was just me“
Bernie [Sizer] flew in his PIK 20 B, a nice 500 triangle .
Also Ingo went for a flight, in the Cirrus, with good old Bruce as his tuggie!
Narromine had great weather too.

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Also a few 1000 km. flights from Worchester…they have a few really good final- season-days…
Marcus flew already a 1000 on February 17 in the ARCUS M, then Sven [Olivier] flew one in the JS 1 on February 18 and on February 19 both flew over 800 km. TOP!!!
Sven about his 1000 k. ;”A late season 1025 km (and 1000+ olc points) it was hard work the first 6 hours was 90% of the flight

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THE KEEPIT Regatta started on February 21.The practice day was on the 20thiest.
There are 29 pilots flying in 2 classes; club [16] and sports [13] .
Day 1 with a 3 hour AAT in sports was won by Matthew Scutter in his Diana 2, with the FES; 352 km in time 3.08.
Matthew was runner up on day 2, a 2 hour AAT, won by “the meteo man” from the WWGC , Dave Shorter in his JS 1. Speed 132 km./h over 267 km in time 2.01.
Day 3 [ 3 hour AAT] was for Matthew again;357 km. in 3 hours at the dot!!!!!
“Lots of moisture around, so most clouds did not work. Slower down South but better and higher up North.” Matthew Atkinson who flies the Ventus 2C/18m.

In club the 3 hour AAT was won by Ray Caldon flying an LS 6 /17.5 m.[290 km. in 3.06.
The 2 hour AAT by Vic Hatfield in a G 103 Twin III SL and the 2.30 AAT by Sophie in her LS 4.[226 km. in 2.30 at the dot!!!]
It looks like the days on soaringspot are a bit mixed up.

no task today yet, so more next week.

More comps in Australia as this one; the GCWA Club comp.
“The Gliding Club of Western Australia is trying a pilot and glider handicapped competition format. It will be held a few times a year as a 4 day, long weekend format. The idea being more people can make 4 days than a week and it is easier to organize well than a weekend competition. We have a wide range of pilots and gliders from Ka6 to JS3 so we use variable distance by handicap but the same route to allow us to race together. We have a Grand Prix start and the first back is the winner. We sometimes have other task to suit the weather and other events, like Round the Clubs.”
They flew between February 19 and 22 and the first 3 days were not too good, looking at the weather.
Monday was a bit better with a 300 k AAT, but not all pilots could fly the task…..only 5 went up.
That day James Cooper flew from Cunderdin 829 km [798 FAI triangle] in his ASH 31/21 m.
Lumpy in his JS 3 638 km.
Western Australia has great late summer/ early autumn weather.

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R.I.P. HANS WERNER GROSSE…..such a kind person, a real soaring hero…an epic pilot. There is much more to say about him, but you probably have read it already. I got to know him at a WGC ,I believe Paderborn and from when he flew records from the “heart of the continent”, Alice Springs. He called then to us/ George in Tocumwal to check the weather circumstances and after being fully prepared, he flew another record. GREAT personality. GREAT pilot. GREAT guy.
98….a superb age!!!!

JONKER Sailplanes shared this sad message;
“The gliding world has lost one of its greatest pioneers Hans-Werner Grosse passed away at the age of 98, finishing the last chapter in an amazing life story, filled with great gliding experiences.”
More on Jonker Sailplanes
ALL magazines have the news as Aerokurier.de and many individuals shared it as well.
Kiki; “Hans-Werner is now flying with the angels . A great pilot and a very friendly person . RIP”
British Gliding Association
“We are sorry to report that the gliding legend Hans-Werner Grosse has passed away. His 1972 flight of 1460 kilometers from Lübeck to Biarritz in southern France made Hans-Werner Grosse a legend of distance gliding. He died on February 18th at the age of 98.“
Also in the Volo a Vela
And https://nordicgliding.com/
And many more……so it should be, he was important for soaring, specially for long distance flying!!!!!!

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Bizarre weather in The Netherlands. Last week we had minus 17 here in this region, and now 20 plus!!!!
From skating on rivers and lakes ,we saw with in a week people go for a dive/swim in those lakes or rivers. WEIRD!!!!
BUT ….I LIKE IT!!!!!

CU next week. Still spring weather whilst the average temperature for this time of the year is 7!!! Today we have 20 again, most probably the hottest day ever on February 21 here, will be beaten today.
Though we “suffered” from red sand in the higher air levels, as the Southern wind from Africa brings this sand from the Sahara. No rain, so the higher levels are full of sand , hence less sun. BUT ,…we do not complain.
Sahara-sand has disappeared ,…sun is shining like in summer!!!!
Cheers Ritz

Last Wednesday they had long tasks in Horsham and the scores were not yet in, when I published.
They are now, of course!
A good day it was….up to 9 kts and 7500 ft and “chasing clouds“.
Club had a 3.30 AAT and Grant [Heany] from Tocumwal flew in his St Jantar a distance of 347 km in time 3.36. Good on him.
Craig [Collings] from the Mount Beauty club was runner up in his ASW 20. 361 km in time 3.34. He was the only one flying …just…over 100 km./h.
15 From 17 who started finished!
Andi Benton from the Beaufort Gliding Club flew 5 hours and 33 minutes in his Astir C 77! BUT,…..he finished. TOP!!!
No flying on Thursday! 2More days to go. Yes,…when…..COVID would not have hit ??????

15m./standard class;464 km….All 8 who started, finished in this class. Daily winner Gordon Trollip, in his LS 6 [handicap 1015] ;108.64 km./h.
4 Flew over 100 km./h.
No flying on Thursday.

Open/18 m.; 553 km. 8 From 9 who started flew the task.
Terry Cubley won the day in his Ventus 2CXT/18 m.;120 km./h.
Michael Durrant, who won flying day 1 and 2 in his 19m. Jantar, was 5th on this for all classes 1000 points-day.
No flying on Thursday.

AND,…no flying on Friday…tasks were set…. and Saturday..no tasks set anymore…. . COVID -19 HIT!!!!
As in Victoria 13 people were tested positive , a new lockdown for 5 days, started on Friday night at 0.00 hour. To be back home in time they all had to leave.
Also the 30.000 people,…half of the normal amount…, who were allowed at Flinders Park to see with their own eyes the tennis matches ,were not welcome anymore either.
Bloody covid,…but, indeed, the world has to be CAREFUL. There are so many different variations at the moment.

So the final , by corona interrupted …scores are in
st./15 m….
1. Jack Hart in the Mosquito with 2.963 points.
2. Tim Shirley in ASW 28 with 2.934 p.
3. Daniel Summers in LS 3a with 2.933 p.
I guess those pilots REALLY would have loved 2 more days of soaring to REALLY see the final results.
Ryan Driscoll who was 4th took his glider on Friday for a goal flight to Benalla :”A little dash back to Benalla to save some time getting back to Melbourne before the lockdown at midnight tonight.”
18m./open...
1. Michael Durrant in Jantar/19 m. with 2.663 points.
2.Terry Cubley in his Ventus 2CXt with 2.618 p.
3. Rolf Buelter in LS 8T with 2.603 p.
Also in this class CLOSE scores for the top 3.
club class.….
1. Grant Heany in the St. Jantar with 2.147 p.
2. Craig Collings in ASW 20 with 2.125 p.
3. Robertson and Ryan in the Janus CM with 1.925 p.

After 4 days the Geelong Gliding Club won the Team Cup with 852.36 points.

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A 11 minute video on youtube.com,”Recit de vol… De la Bretagne à l’Allemagne” episode 3, about Tijl Schmelzers 1.250 km. flight ,is just excellent.
The first declared 1.250 in Europe without wave!!!!
It has been released on February 2.
They look from all aspects to this flight, clearly explaining the day from start to finish. It’s really a pleasure to see it and a “lesson” for all who hope to make such long flights.
It is spoken in French, but with English subtitles.
Hugo Corbillé Gliding and his team created this video. They did more of these flight reviews. Good on them!!!

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My good mate Bruce [Brockhoff ,several times national champion soaring in Australia and many times Aussie WGC competitor] has 2 gorgeous daughters Belle and Brooke.
Last Friday afternoon ,I saw on TV how Belle became world champion ,together with Jarryd Hughes during the world championship pair-snow-boarding in Sweden. In the final race first Jarryd had his scary high flying speedy race which he won and then Belle had to finish it off, which she did in style and with class!!!Great to see it here on TV.

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The AUSTRALIAN 2-seater 2021 NATIONAL competition is ON.

Narromine is the place to be. But for you at home….still for few days
http://www.narromineglidingclub.com.au/2021Narromine2Seat/TwoSeat_Tracking.html
OR https://soarscore.com/ then just click on the day.
“The Competition is still currently scheduled to run from 13 February to 20 February inclusive, and will be subject to all appropriate COVID-19 safety protocols.”
Unfortunately the first day had to be cancelled due to rain. It seems true, “If you want it to rain just hold a National Gliding Competition.”

There are 9 teams flying; 3 in ARCUS M, [Keith Gateley and Adam Woolley …Allan Barnes and Harry Medlicott and Justin and Greg Smith]..1 in ARCUS T, [Butch and David Jansen] 3 in Duo Discus [1 XL] [Miles Gore Brown team, and 2 Hunter Valley teams] and 1 in ASG 32. [Brad Edwards and brother Bill…they do not only fly but make music sing and play guitar as well] and team Ron Sanders fly in the Nimbus 3DM.

Due to rain no task 1 , but task 2 was set and all were in the mood for some good flying during a 3.30 AAT. Scores were close in the top and only 4 from 9 teams finished, but there was a winner; 2 of my long time friends Butch and David in the ARCUS T; 1000 points for 376 km in time 3.40.
The singing brothers Edwards ,in the ASG 32 , “got” 996 points for 363 km. in time 3.34. Both were the only ones flying over 100 km./h. But it was a very blue and not really strong day!
Team Miles another longtime friend, did well with a 3d place in the Duo Discus X; 350 km. in time 4.02 and the other finishing team, 2 more friends for ages , team Ron finished with 340 km in time 3.58.
The first “not-finisher” was our old Duo Discus from Sportavia GIE. It was bought for a nice price during the public Sportavia-auction, years ago by the Hunter Valley club. A really good glider and it still seems to be good!!!
For sure there will be a good reason, but I wondered about the relative big difference in start time between 13.35 and 14.16 on a blue day.

Task 3, a 2.30 AAT was a prey for the Edwards brothers with 239 km in time 2.33.
“A blue and windy day today meant conditions weren’t easy, but with some excellent strong climbs Brad & Bill Edwards outperformed the pack and brought the ASG 32 home on top.”
Nobody flew , even with these fancy gliders ,over 100 km./h…..
93 km./h was the best by the winners ,,so a tough day in the office “.
7 From 9 were IN, and till now 2 other good mates, Keith and Adam were unlucky with 2 “outlandings” in the ARCUS M.

Task 4, a 354 km set task. AND, the ones who were out on the first 2 days , Keith and Adam won the day now.
Keith; “After 2 days having to use our engine to get home we finally had not just a finish but a first place to boot. All by 5 seconds. A great day and motivating us for the next 4 competition days.”
They started together with Harry and Allan, …more good mates….,and landed together both in ARCUS M and got 1000 and 999 points for speed of 108 km./h.
Keith and Adam followed up a good advice ;” Advice from a friend, set an altitude alarm to slow down & “don’t suck” today!“
Allan; “We had a great start with Woolley and by the first turn had scraped him off 2000ft below. Must have been pretty close to the front but then had a slow patch on the 2nd leg where we had to use 3kt. The main gaggle caught us up about the 2nd turn and then we ran with them all the way home.”
Team Ron did well in his Nimbus” ;105 km./h.
Brad and Bill lost 52 points but are still on 1 overall with more than 200 points. At 2 is now team Ron with ONE point more than Butch and David.

Task 5….flying day 4..a 3 hour AAT. Task was changed to B task..30 minutes less.
The advice given to Adam and Keith seems to be better than good, as they won the day again. Another 1000 points in their pockets, for 372 km. in time 3 hours at the dot!!!!
Allan and Harry were runner up . They had some problems in the morning:
“We had a couple of engine problems – first the water pump failed and the engine overheated, so we landed, and then the engine wouldn’t start at all. After the flight we found a loose spark plug lead. So we took an aerotow just after everyone had started. Had a great run down to the first turn of the AAT, averaging around 150kph with a 20kph tailwind. Next leg was good too, then the into wind leg I was a lot more cautious and stayed high. Conditions softened right off at the end of the day and we ended up working 3 kt, but finally got onto final glide at the back of Trangie and came home with height to spare but right on time.”
Mind you, good old Harry is not the youngest anymore….but still going strong.
team Ron lost some points by being 8 for the day and dropped overall from 2 to 4. No worries , with NO rain and NO covid, still a few days to go.
You can read it next week.
Task 5 was flown today so scores are preliminary.

I gave you some links to follow the gliders ,here is another one they advised for today;
Live Tracking from OGN (Variable reliability)
“Just click on Todays task under 2021 AUSTRALIAN 2 SEAT NATIONALS
Note that because of varying levels of FLARM visibility sometimes aircraft can disappear for several minutes. So its not always accurate. if you click on the aircraft you can see in the details the time since last fix.
Although some aircraft have better flarm setup and remain visible.”

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Great flight last Monday by Marcus [Geisen] and Uwe [Thiele] . Very late in their Worcester season, they flew together in the ARCUS M a distance of 1.168 km. with HUGE speed….173 km/h.
Uwe flew in the past a lot of seasons with us in Tocumwal. We called him the “kilometer–eater,” as he always tried long distances . He started early in the morning, straight when it was possible and landed at last light.
Nice to see NOW in retrospect, , how many great pilots ..indeed lovely people…flew with us in the past.

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Winter seems to be over, with temperatures above ZERO now. My goodness me , it was so cold here. We had a regional cold wave with 5 days in a row under zero and at least 3 of those days minus 10.But I must say the blue skies and hot sun felt GOOD.
The weekend was full of ice skaters. Every lake canal or frozen water was good enough to skate OUTSIDE.
It’s so typical Dutch and people just dream of it and now it happened.
No marathon comp or 11-cities-race as the ice is even with the minus 17 not everywhere reliable, but lots of fun but also many broken arms , hips and legs. I heard more than 30.000!!!!
Part of the fun.

The winter seems over now….first however, code red again last Monday due to freezing rain. We had minus 15 last weekend and the upcoming weekend it will be 15 dg.C PLUS!!!What a huge difference in temperature within one week. Within 2 weeks the difference was 34 dgr.
Spring on the horizon…..maybe 20 this weekend…LIKE!!!!
Not yet in the USA where they suffer from extreme cold in the Mid and South. Texas, where I had 2 great summers at the WGC in Uvalde in 1991 and 2012 was one of the hottest places I have been too. Now they are sitting , with millions in the cold….. power fails, roads are ice and lots of snow!!!!Already 20 people died….Feel for them!!!!

Hope you had a lovely VALENTINE day. In the Netherlands florists sold 152 million roses. Not bad is it?
That’s it for now.
Cheers Ritz
Nostalgic weekend ice and skating is so typical, TYPICAL Dutch, EVERYBODY loves it. So do I , but I am too old now for skating and that freezing cold!!!

AND One more because they are so beautiful.

Some of the readers knew exactly which year it was; the yellow shirt I am wearing on the picture last week, was from the 2011 NGC,…so that’s solved.
Thanks for being happy with me, friends!!!
We had snow and blizzards and ice cold temperatures. Last Sunday it was code red here,…I guess my Nordic friends laugh their “heads off”, …but our cold and snow, was even news on Aljazeera and CNN.
Tomorrow we will have minus 15 and with the wind chill factor minus 20!!!!!!!In the weekend minus 20 and I don’t want to know how cold it will be WITH the wind chill factor.
Last Sunday, no trains for the day and no planes.
AND,…the ZOO in Arnhem has brought their penguins INSIDE ,…it’s too cold for them,…NO JOKE!!!!
They call it already now “a winter for the history books.”
By the way there are more countries in Europe at the moment with artic circumstances.

And more fun in the neighborhood of Nijmegen,…yes skiing behind a car in Holland on a quiet road .

Kari in Finland, used to lots of snow and cold ,shared 2 pictures and indeed there is much more snow over there, but,…… they are used to it.
This, on the pictures, is Rayskala!!!The field and the area in front of the club house where I had great fun, good food and many beers!!!!
The pictures are courtesy to his friend Alfons. If you read the story under the picture you see how small this world is.

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Time for soaring again.
The Club class Nationals in New Zealand had a lot of days with good soaring.
8 out of 9 in open for the THE MSC comp and 8 out of 9 in club,..so really good nationals!!!
Both classes did not fly on the 3d of February, but from then on they flew till the end.
Here is what happened in open class;
Task 6 had a 3.30 AAT and Tim [Bromhead] in his Ventus CT/17.5 m. flew 361 km. in time 3.33 and 3 pilots had violations to the air space, one of them Brett [Hunter] who was on spot ONE in the overall top. With 0 points he moved from 1, with more than 300 points ahead , to 3 overall,…that hurts!!
Good old Tony[van Dyke] in his LS 8 was runner up with 3.45 km. in time 3.45. And more or less out of the blue he was on spot 1 overall now!!!
Task 7, 2.45 AAT won again by Tim and Tony and Brett was 3d.
Task 8, 347 km. Only 5 finished but a good day for Tim , [1000 p] Tony [946 p.] and Brett [914 p.] as it was a 1000 points day. Best speed 92 km./h.
Task 9, 280 km. Brett won the last day with a speed of 114 km./h starting relative early at 12.53, whilst runner up Tim, started at 1.23 . Tony was 4th and it pleases me to see that an “old” mate won this competition with 7.058 points.
Tim had 6.883 p. and Brett 6.459 p.

Club class NATIONALS:
Task 6 , 3.30 AAT and Mark [Wilson] in his Libelle flying 279 km. in time 3.26.
10 From 15 finished and 3 had a violation. Robert, it’s all between him and Mark, lost some points [96] by being 4th.
Task 7, 3 hour AAT, another nice task for the “little ones”.251 km. for Mark in time 2.58. Robert[ Gray] in the DG 100 G elan, was 3d but it is still between these 2 pilots.
Task 8 ,239 km. only 4 pilots finished and the best speed was for Alain Marcuse in the LS 4 ;90 km./h. Mark and Robert belonged to the finishers.
Task 9, with 221 km…. 14 from 15 finished . Robert won the 1000 points and Tim was runner up with 996.
In the end it was really exciting. Mark won 4 day’s and Robert 3.The handicap between the Libelle and DG was about the same ;89/90. It looks like task 6 , in the end, was the decider.
N.Z. NATIONAL CLUB CLASS CHAMPION:
1. Mark Wilson with 6.987 points.
2. Robert Gray with 6.952 points.
3. Alain Marcuse with 6.596 points.

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The HORSHAM WEEK in Australia, between February 6 and 13, started with a lot of wind but good CU’s.
3 Classes, 15m./standard [8] , open/18 m. [ 12] and club.[19]
Always a lovely comp to attend.
5 days and till now 3 day’s flown in st/15m , same in open/18 m. and 2 in club.
Today the pilots have a “big one” on their soaring plate;
3.30 AAT for club, 553 km. for open and 18 m. and 464 km. for St. and 15 m.
Only 6 pilots in at the moment,…and Grant is at this stage number 1 with 347 km. in time 3.36..
Great to see Grant [Heany] from Tocumwal is doing WELL in his St Jantar. Number 1 at this stage in club. He is a REAL good pilot, already 20 years ago and still now!!!!He “feels” soaring.
Grant but also Attila, were top hang-glider pilots years ago when they decided on a non-flying-day on a world championship-hang-gliding, not far from Tocumwal,…to convert to gliding. They both still love their soaring , like Mart Bosman, who did the same.
More next week. They had tough days as well with only 1 from 8 finishing in 15m./st.
Scores are on www.soaringspot.com

The GLIDING INTERNATIONAL from February 2021 shows a fabulous picture from 2 Stemme’s above the Gepatsch glacier in Tirol[Austria]
The Stemme has been frequently in the news lately and with their long interesting flights, they were in the center of the attention. I wrote about those flights as well.
What’s in the magazine this time?
——The AIR TO AIR photo shoot, by top photographer Simon Rainer ,from 2 Stemme’s is just stunning!!![www.simonrainer.com]
ALL you need to know, about the Stemme in this magazine; 14 pages of “beauty and history”!!!
——Take flight- with proven security …..about Aussie mate Matthew Scutter …about loggers, vario meters and other devices, of course his software platform SkySight, which as you know provides weather forecasts for glider pilots.
His new glider AVIONIC Diana 2-FES, will arrive soon in Australia.
“ I’ll be posting a series of videos on how I recommend to
get the most out of your device to the SkySight YouTube channel.”
——the transcription of the Timeless content of Helmut Reichman’s lecture presented at an International Symposium in 1988. I got to know him and his wife long ago at several WGC’s. Nice fellow….who has written a great and much read book about cross country flying.
——–managing batteries in 2021.
——–the significance of the BREXIT for European soaring.
——What comes after carbon fibre.. nanotechnology.
——-the Yuneec EViva is a Chinese low-wing, two-seat motor glider that was designed by Martin Wezel and is reported to be under development
by Yuneec International of Kunshan, Jiangsu. Interesting!
——-TOO many accidents in the accident report from November and December 2020.
And lot’s of International Aviation news and the page full of “things with wings.” Enjoy!!!!
www.internationalgliding.com

To finish a picture from some REAL cold. My mate ,Art [Grant] from Canada shared it “A bit brisk for my 6:45 AM walk this morning! A few layers were added.”

That’s it for now.
All heating in the house is on “full”.
CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

Well, ….not bad is it ,….for an old , [on my way to 75 ] lady!
Lot’s of discipline to do research and “soar” hands from writing and once in a while mistakes…, but I try to be as correct as I can.
A huge thank you to Bill as well, as he keeps my blog “running” now.
Knowing that, gives me much less stress.
So best to continue with the regionals in Worchester.

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Western Cape Regionals flown from Worcester.
I was very pleased with, / enthusiastic about the speed last time in my blog, from Uys, [185.72 km./h.] but one of the readers, a glider pilot , wrote a reaction who put me more or less back with 2 feet on the ground, though I am still enthusiastic ,
“it IS nice, but when you start high and have a long final glide, maybe only need 2 thermals and then straight on ,AND with a short task, I am not too impressed. What strikes me more is the very favorable handicap for 2 seaters. They earn a lot of points.“
A different look on it.
Here is what Uys had to say about the fast “blistering” day;”
“It was an amazing day. I don’t know the area at all, so I had no idea where to take caution or where to conserve energy. The JS3 (like the JS1) has a very high yellow line speed – it likes to fly fast – so cruising above 200 km/h for most of the task was a lot of fun. What a wonderful place – ideal for a Grand Prix Final”,
So further with flying day 4, task 5 in open class, after a non flying day on Wednesday.
608 km for open, 390 for club and 497 for 15 m. Pffff…..
In open the best speed was again for Uys,..a real speedy gonzales..in his JS 3 , 156 km./h, but the 1000 points were for Oscar and his mate in the ASG 32 .
Speed; 148 km./h but on handicap that gives more points.
Most pilots started just before 2 PM, smart with such a long task, but Marcus started at 2.25 and was “out” after 439 km. A pity.
Only later I found out the reason;
“Thanks Markus (and Martin) for delaying your launch to help remove my seatpan to recover the elevator trim knob that had come unscrewed.” as written by Nick and John who were 6th for the day.
In single-handed-racing in a yacht, you can win by helping!!!!!
4 Out in total.
Looking at the “little ones…with affection, 2 flew the distance from 391 km. The DG 400/17 m. [handicap 109] even with 133.95 km./h.
The ASTIR pilot, Colin, flew 4 hours but finished !![handicap 96]
In 15 m. there were 2 pilots flying around with just over 120 km./h over 498 km. One of them Wilhelm Mosehuus in the MOSQUITO.
Martin had, with a later start by being helpful, less chance and was out.
No “Yacht” bonus in gliding.
Flying day 5 task 6;
Open had 521 km to fly and our USA mate Nick is learning quick from John and together they won the day in the repaired ARCUS M. The team started together with Marcus , but the speed difference was 5 km./h.
156.13 km./h and 151.15 km./h. for 667 and 644 points!!!
Ouch,…Oscar with the ASG 32M was “out after 116 km. “bringing” him a poor amount of 96 points. Dropping from 2 overall to 7!!!
Flying day 6 task 7; On this last day Nicolas and John had an overall lead from 121 points on Uys.
A 389 km. task was set and a terrible fast one again, ..racing the area and those mountains…must be great fun.
Oscar won in the ASG 32 M, on handicap, with a speed of 177 km./h. But Phillip Jonker in the JS 1 had a speed of 183 km./h!!!!
Nicolas and John were on spot 3.
Nicolas; “Worcester Regional (officially the “Cape Gauntlet”) Day 7. Task speed 173kph. Great conclusion to a fine contest on very scenic ridges with excellent coaching from John Coutts. It was a short and straight forward task intended to get everyone back in time for the post-contest meeting. Mostly a drag race on the north south ridges, but there were at least three ways to get to the last turnpoint. We circled before reaching Saron, which cost a few minutes, but was a conservative solution we had high confidence would work, and it did.”

Final results from Worcester;
1. Nicolas Bennett and John Coutts in ARCUS M with 4.090 points.
2. Uys Jonker in JS 3 with 3.946 p.
3. Andreas Spielmann from Switzerland with 3.732 p.

15 m. was won by Findlay Smith in Ventus b with 4.365 points and
CLUB, by Colin Sindle in Astir CS with 2.715 points,… a “whopping” 594 points more than runner up Kevin Mitchell in DG 400/17m. who won 4 days but did not fly on task 6.

——————————————————————–

Club class NATIONALS in NEW ZEALAND
January 29-February 7 2021.

After a practice day with an 2 hour AAT they started on Saturday January 30 with the Club Class Nationals and the MSC comp at the airfield of MATAMATA. I visited this airfield in 2011 , I guess it was, when I visited N.Z.
15 club pilots and 11 open class pilots among them Brett Hunter,Patrick Driessen,Tony van Dyk and Tim Bromhead.
A great start in open class with a 4 hour AAT won by Brett in the JS 3. Not the huge speed from South Africa but a steady 103 km./h over 414 km.!!
4 Outlandings one by Tim and good “old” Tony was runner up in his LS 8 with 358 km. in time 4.03.[88 km./h.]
Task 2 was “no worries” for Tim , he shook off the loss of day 1 and won the set 340 km. task with a speed of 122 km../h in his Ventus CT/17.5 m.
Task 3 with a 3 hour AAT, ….good weather there on the Nord Island…was won by Brett again; 338 km. in time 3.22 [100 km./h]
Task 4 was 272 km. and 2 pilots flew around with a speed over 100 km./h
Tim with 112 km./h and a late start at 2PM, and Brett who started half an hour earlier with 111 km./h.
All 10 who started flew the task. Tony was 5th.
At this stage the overall scores are looking VERY good for Brett 3.700 points. Runner up Tony with 3.389 p.

Club , showed with task 1, that 9 from 16 finished. Mark Wilson in his St Libelle won the the set 309 km. in time 3.53 so a speed of 79 km./h.
Task 2 showed 282.82 km. to fly for the pilots. Robert ‘ Bob’ Gray in the DG-100 G elan, won just ahead of Mark;1000 and 995 points.
A 3 hour AAT as task 3 and the “good old Libelle” won with 245 km in time 3.11. All 15 who are still in the race,….finished!!!
Task 4 another 3 hour AAT. The winner here in the DG , Robert started also just before 2 PM. [1000 points for 246 km. in time 3.12.] He was not the last ,as half an hour later at 2.30 it was a daring attempt from the Libelle pilot Rob Lyon,….but he finished and was 7th for the day, but flew around 50 km. less than the others.
So with a few more days to go it’s between Robert[3.892 points, who also topped the world wide OLC list on February 2 for 293 OLC km’s] , Mark [3.803] and Rae Kerr in a T51 Dart 17R[ have not heard of this plane yet], with 3.725 p.

——————————————————————-

Nordic Gliding is a great soaring/aviation magazine, by Jens Trabolt. Indeed it is in Danish language but as Jens mentioned “As always please find a link to translation in the beginning of the article.”
This time [January 27] they have an article about the “Duo Discus with FES? Yes, the popular 20 meter glider enters the new electric world alongside its classmate DG 1001 e neo. A new, more powerful battery is also on its ways, says the supplier.”
https://nordicgliding.com/
And “curious on the eta concept? then read the NG-flight experience article “here: (please find a link to translation in the beginning of the article)” https://nordicgliding.com/paa-eet-langt-finaleglid-med-eta/
About the Gliding Magazine; “The gliding associations in Denmark, Sweden and Norway have joined forces to publish a professionally made aviation magazine portraying the fascinating world of gliding and energy efficient flight and showcasing exiting new technologies and products.”
AND
“From 2020 NORDIC GLIDING also has a digital presence on nordicgliding.com. The website has the largest amount of professional, high quality gliding content anywhere in the world.”

Nice news from Tasmania. I was there only once but on a very special day.
The final of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 1997, with as winner George Snow with BRINDABELLA, who learned to fly gliders at Sportavia. We were invited at the winning boat and it was SUPERB.

Now the soaring news from Tasmania;”A very exciting day at Gliding Tasmania. For the first time in the 46 year history of the club, they send 2 new members solo “. Have a look at gliding Tasmania on their FB site.

The HORSHAM COACHING week has started and Horsham week will be flown between February 6 and 13.
www.horshamweek.org.au

And to finish this great picture from pink skies by Swiss Chris from the sunset in Tocumwal on February!
Did you know that in “our” time, well known photographer’s arrived to make photo shoots from cars at the runway with this colorful sunset?? All very secret as those cars were brand-new models.

CU next week…ready for a few more….
Cheers Ritz

27-01-2021……Post 1.249!
With only 4 day’s to go the 67th Argentinian Multi Class Nationals continued from Chavez when I left you, last Wednesday.
NOT the best Argentinian weather till then!
So on the 20thiest of January they started again…AND 3 days in a row. Unfortunately the last day had to be cancelled for open and 15m..
Exciting days they were!!!

Open class last 3 flying days;
Task 9 ..2 hour AAT; Raul Garda flew 152 km in his JS 3 in time 2.04.
Task 10 was 215 km. and flown by all 15 who started.
115 km./h was the best speed in a 22.9 m Nimbus 3 by Juan Vastik. The runner up in an LS 8 flew 107 km./h.
Task 11 with 266 km. was quite a difficult one. Only 2 pilots finished and Damian [Goldenzweig] won the day and gained 800 points, good enough to climb from 5 to 3 overall!!!!The Nimbus 3 just missed out on 6 km , was 3d but did a good job over the last 2 days; being runner up.
6 Out of 12 days and not one day showed 1000 points to win..
So the open class ARGENTINIAN CHAMPION, with pretty close scores is ;
1. Juan P. Verdura in Ventus 2CM with 3.159 points.
2. Juan Vastik in Nimbus 3 /22.9 m. with 3.164 p.
3. Damian Goldenzweig in Ventus 2 CM with 3.067 p.

15 m. class;
Task 9; 2 hour AAT. Best distance combined with time;151 km in 1.59.
Task 10 ;216 km. flown by all 20 who started!!! In this class 14 x an ASW 20 …. 11 were on top before a Duo Discus.
Task 11 with 239 km. had NO FINISHERS!!! But the best distance was 163 km. flown by 2 for 306 points. The LS 6 was 3d for 284 points for 153 km.
So the final scores after 6 out of 12 days and 15m Argentinian National Champion;
1. Martin Darrain in ASW 20 with 3.278 points. He won task 2 and 3.
2. Lucas Goldenzweig in ASW 20 with 3.184 p.
3. Maximilianol Luengo in ASW 20 with 3.163. 5 points more than Mauricio Delfabro.

St. Class;
Task 9 ; 224 km. flown by 21 from the 24 who started.
Task 10; 261 km. …and also in this class only 2 finishers, both got 200 points more than the not-finishers!
12x an LS 4 in this class.
Task 11; 2 hour AAT so extra day for this class. 13 From 23 flew the task, so worthwhile to have the day.
“Terrible ” last day for Gonzalo Riera in his LS 4 .On the last days he was on spot 3 overall but on the very last day he was “out” loosing more than 200 points. So Juan Bonelli in his LS 4, who was 4th for the day, moved up from 5 to 3.
St. Class National National champion after 6 out of 12 days.
1. Nicolas Verdura in St Jantar 2 with 3.843 points.
2. Dino Ghioni in LS4 with 3.790 p.
3. Juan Bonelli in LS 4 with 3.689 p.

————————-

South Africa started with the WESTERN CAPE REGIONALS flown from Worcester, with a practice day on January 23 and continuing till January 30.
3 Classes ; Club, [5 pilots] ,open [16 gliders some with 2 pilots] and 15 m.[4 pilots]

I will concentrate on the open class.
Task 1 was a set task from 224 km. Due to the HIGH speed he flew around the TP’s ….152 km./h….daily winner Marcus Geisen from Germany won , but only “got” 389 points. Marcus flies the ARCUS M with Dawid Pretorius this day; normally he shares the glider with Karin [Wiesenthal] his wife. The entire family Wiesenthal visited us in Tocumwal, some of them, for many years.
More 2 seaters as Nicolas Bennett [USA] and John Coutts [ N.Z. but living in S.A. already for years] fly an Arcus M and Oscar Goudriaan their ASG 32 MI….2 Duo Discus fly as well.
Laurens and Uys fly the JS 3.
15 Pilots started in the end and the slowest “with respect” flew 119 km./h in the Duo Discus.

Task 2 showed 507 km.…. so the real South African weather! And what speed!!!! The first 12 pilots flew with 150 km./h or more. The best , Andreas Spielmann from Switzerland, with 165 km./h.in the JS 3.
Winner in the ARCUS M was Nicolas and John; 1000 points for their speed of 163 .81 km./h.
Karin back in the front seat and Marcus were 4th and Oscar in the ASG 32MI 3d.
One Duo was out after 300 km. A pity!
Looking at the speed of 15 m. class;138 km./h over 441 km and in club 119 km./h over 156 km. GOOD DAY!!!
Task 3; 314 km. UNBELIEVABLE SPEED!!!!!Certainly during a competition. Uys flew around in his own JS 3 with a speed of 185.72 km./h.….WOW!!! THAT IS FAST!!![478 points] Back after 1 hour and 41 minutes.
I had to look 3 times to see if I had seen it correctly!!
Nick and John in their ARCUS were runner up with 173 km./h.[471 points]
Nick, who gets coaching from John mentioned; “A real drag race“.

Looking at club, great effort as well; Cameron in a St.Cirrus with a speed of 132 km./h. over 179 km…….Colin in ASTIRCS with 126 km./h ….Kevin in DG 400/17 m with 133 km./h …
In 15 m. they flew 256.55 km. and I mention all 4 pilots ;
Findlay Smith with 158.77 km./h in 15 m. Ventus B…..Wilhelm Moosehuus in MOSQUITO with 156 km./h…..Tokkie Carstens in LS4 with 139 km./h and Martin Lessle in 15m. Ventus CM with 130 km./h!

————————————

Tuggie Bruce [Wilson] mentioned last Friday: ” Mid downwind RW 27 R Tocumwal in the mighty ROZ.
Ingo just launched in XX in what promises to be a great gliding day.”
Ingo [Renner] ,…not the youngest anymore but still going strong….indeed took his XX [Discus ] for a ride from Tocumwal. A 700 k triangle was the result!!!Topping that days OLC list.
Bernie Sizer flew in his PIK 20 a distance of 710 km. TOP!!

Lot’s of good flights down under. On Sunday John flew from Tocumwal 850 km [750 FAI triangle] in his JS 1 C/21 m. and he topped the OLC list again.

BUT THE FLIGHT LAST WEEK WAS THE ONE FROM KLAUS OHLMANN.
Not even so much the distance …1,285 km…..as the flight over water from France[Serres La Batie] to Corsica and Sardinia!!! Very high wave [ over 6000 m] BUT with a dip[570 m MSL] in lift . Scary!
But the Stemme is a good plane and Klaus of course one of the best pilots to do such things.
Have a look at his epic flight on the OLC. SPECTECULAR!!!
“Exploring the waves… The airmass was much more humid than in the forecasts. High clouds in my way to go to the lift. Airbrakes out to go under the stratosclouds.
Low ridge soaring with a lot of wind. Had to catch the wave from the bottom. South of Figari towering cumulus with tops higher than 6000 m and rain below.
And Cagliary did not allow to land there at first. Thirty minutes later they allowed me, but it was too late; Anyway, great experience.”
So to see an outlanding.

On January 23,24,25 and 26 AUSTRALIA -day they flew a long-weekend- Grand Prix in Lake Keepit.
On all the 4 days pilots could fly and mostly around 300 km.
A lot of the people I got to know during the WWGC were flying now.
Kerry was so kind to share a picture of the lake, which was nearly dry last year during the WWGC, but pretty “full” now with green grass around it.

And to finish….Bill is not only busy with my blog AND his bees, [http://blossomwoodhoney.com/ ], but he is also bringing the soaringcafe articles about Dick Butler’s CONCORDIA to another site;
“I have also started to migrate Dick Butler’s content off of SoaringCafe.com to, https://concordia-sailplane.com/ which I will make live today.  I have a few more things to do but for now it is ready for everyone to enjoy.  DB will likely provide some updates to the site which I will help him with.  I’ll let you know when he does that.”
I am sure a lot of people will be interested in new news and reading again the stories from a few years ago.
I will let you know when I know!!!!

As said AUSTRALIA day on January 26…hope my mates had a good one. Love this wonderful picture. When I stayed in Sydney I was on Lavendel bay, looking to this epic building and the old bridge.

CU next week.
Cheers Ritz
Just “found” more fabulous colors this time from an impressive sunset in New Zealand as seen by Geoff Soper.

20-01-2021………. post number 1.248!!!!
Winter in Holland…but only for a few day’s.

All kind of unexpected “things” are happening here in The Netherlands.
We had SNOW. Not abnormal, but as you have spend 30 winters in Tocumwal or at other places in Australia, it’s GOOD to see snow again.

Only one day,…. but it was clear that I was not the only happy one, as sledges, “raced” out of the shops,…which are in fact not open…. so I guess from special DIY shops and via internet.
The snow here was about ONE cm!!!!So not REALLY interesting!

On top of that our Dutch government resigned!!!! In the middle of CORONA AND with only till March 17, to go for the new elections!!!!No fighting or so, but stupid/unacceptable behavior by some[ since 2013] treating people with social security allowance more than badly, accusing them of fraud and more or less destroying between 12 and 22.000 families.
Some of those families had to pay back up to 120.000 tax-Euro!!
The tax office now has deleted their debt.
On top of that they get 30.000 Euro.
NOBODY except for 2 in the government said something about it, so they unanimously decided , “full of shame” after a shocking report…to resign,…no other way possible!!!BUT all of them promised to back up the de-missionair- government’s plans to fight corona.
In between Trump will be gone today and Biden starts in the USA.
I wish him a lot of success AND support, which he needs after all that has happened .
My USA friends I wish a united country again.
Back to soaring!!!!

———————————————————

On January 11 the 67 National Multi Class Championships started at Adolfo Gonzalez Chaves and they continue till January 22.
Host; the Club de Planeadores Otto Ballod.
This is also the 90thiest edition of Copa Eugenio Ballester !!
16 pilots in open, 22 in 15m and 24 in standard class.
They started with pretty marginal weather and then “no” weather…..

Task 1 …160 km….in open counted only 3 from 16 finishers! The other 2 classes were cancelled!
Task 2…275 km. ….was flown by 14 and with good speed. Daily winner Alberto Garcia flew around with 131 km./h in his 18 m. Ventus 2CM.
Task 3…295 km….showed Damian Goldenzweig as winner with a speed of 124 km./h. Also in 18m. Ventus 2CM.

Then NO task on the 14th.
Task 5 a 2 hour AAT was not flown.
Task 6 and 7 were not flown as well,….. , BUT in 15m. a 1.30 AAT [task 7] was flown and won by Martin Vendura in an LS 6;366 points for him. Jose Dentone and Lucas Goldenzweig were bot runner up with 362 points. Both fly ASW 20.

Task 8 was set for all classes! Better weather again…..they hoped.
Good….. as till now there were only 2 flying days in St. Class and to have a National Champion you need at least one more day.
Tasks were set according to the expected weather….335 km for open, 306 for 15 m and 330 for standard.
BUT,….Prueba cancelada para todas las clases. We don’t need a translator..cancelled.
Then task 9 yes they really tried hard!!!
Open ; 2 hour AAT won by Raul Garda in the JS 3;152 km in time in 2.04! So slow…73 km./h…. but in!!!
15 m; 2 hour AAT …best distance 162 km in ASW 20 by Jose Dentone and speed 77 km./h but 118 penalty points brought him to only spot 10 for the day. 10 more penalties, depending on different heights.
St. class; finally a good day for them so 3 tasks now!!! 3x An ls 4 then a St Jantar and again 3x an LS 4.task 2 hour AAT and best for the day Gonzalo Riera in LS 4 with 138 km. in 2- hour- at- the -dot.
So they have their 3 tasks now!
Comps are hopefully not over yet , so more next week.

————————————————————–

News from Jonker Sailplanes;
The IDAFLIEG is the binding link between all Akafliegs (academic flying groups) based in Germany and organizes every summer a 3-week meeting to do aeronautical measurements and tests for research. During their 2020 summer camp in Stendal the IDAFLIEG team measured the performance of Matthias Sturm’s JS3 Rapture-18m. Relative sink speeds at various flight velocities and flap settings were measured, with comparison flights wing-to-wing with their “holy cow”. From the measurements a composite performance polar curve was obtained for the various flap settings. The results confirms the remarkable performance of the JS3, correlating very closely with the performance predictions made by JS, with a maximum glide ratio touching the 57:1 mark.“These flight tests show that the design effort paid off and the bar has been raised for the next generation of sailplanes. A big thanks to the Idaflieg for doing such great research work and to Sturmi, giving us his ‘Black Forest Edition 55+2’ for testing.” Uys Jonker said smiling.

And to finish… Always be only happy with the best safety…
Have a look at https://aeroflash.de (or .nl) – Sophisticated Visual Awareness Light Systems!
The AeroFlash team was founded in June 2020 by a team of very experienced glider pilots. Peter Millenaar [Junior World Champion in 2013 and owner of MillenAir Glider Supplies ] and Erwin Vorenhout, both Dutch.
NEW , VERY INTERESTING and INNOVATING NEWS about added retrofitting your glider with safety-enhancing light systems.
So I checked straight away with Peter and asked for more info.
Here you are.
Canopy Flashers… Mounted in the front part of the canopy. 6 extremely bright (3400 Lumen) CREE LEDs make yourself visible for traffic up to 3km away.
https://aeroflash.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/flasher-front-trans-1000.png

Fuselage Flashers… Mounted on the top or bottom of the fuselage, or BOTH. 16 extremely bright (8500 Lumen) CREE LEDs flash like a strobe and make yourself visible in every direction. They are super super aerodynamic and compact at only 110x15x11mm and require only ONE small 4mm hole to mount it. They can be mounted on a wheel door or engine bay door if you don’t want to drill a hole in the fuselage.
 https://aeroflash.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/fuseflash-side-1-copy.png

Both are extremely easy to install (only require 60-120 minutes). Everything is plug-and-fly and comes complete with everything you need!Highly suitable for aeroclubs as well: Activate and forget!Connectable to Flarm to have additional enhanced flashing logic. 
Have a look at their smart programming! They seem to know what they are doing.
https://aeroflash.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/nexus-fusion-1000.jpg

AeroFlash has some local dealers already like in AeroTechnics in France, who can arrange installation for you, and more to come soon!
Please support them, and let’s hope many people will be installing these over the next seasons! I think it would definitely help the safety in our beautiful sport. They can be followed on Instagram as well, where they posted a few installation stories, videos and pictures.

That’s it for now . Just got 2 messages from Bill;
1. Soaring.Eu is being transferred as we speak.
2. You are back on line. That means the migration is complete.  We’re done and you can go back to editing.
Pfff, what a job that was!!! Not for me I only had to WAIT.
So another HUGE THANK YOU to Bill in the USA.
By the way no items about the GLIDING INTERNATIONAL. They publish now every month as you know, except December and January .
“We have an extra special February issue coming out next week, which will fill you in on what is going on in our neck of the woods. “as written by John.

CU next Wednesday without the scary feeling will it work or not, can I get in yes or no. My writing life will be very easy
Hallelujah.
cheers Ritz …..off to see Biden being inaugurated. Hope it all goes without incidents.
AND to make your soaring-feelings rise again now spring here is not far away….. a stunning picture from the finish at the Dutch Nationals in 2019.

SORRY,…..the transfer from my posts to another server took a bit longer than expected, hence a later post .
“Scribbles” ,….so many, from 2006 on ,with pictures,….a hell of a job!!!
But Bill did WELL as always!!
 HUGE THANK you to Bill!!!!

The Namibia season was short but strong.
Looking at the last week there were some great flights from Worcester in South Africa, where Frerk and Marcus flew in the ARCUS M a distance of 1.209 km. …853 km FAI triangle.
Also from Australia ,great flights ; the Tocumwal- Benalla- Corowa, triangle was GOOD.
Tobias Geiger flew on January 10 , a 1000 km FAI triangle from Benalla in a 15m. Ventus 2AX. GREAT JOB!!!
And what about 918 km. that day, also  from Benalla in an LS 3!!!
Francesco from Corowa flew in his ASG 32 MI a distance of 757 km and from Toc. Grant in his ST. Jantar 709 km.
Earlier on January 8 the WEST of Australia was good with 1000 km. flights from Norm in his JS 3 from Beverley and 1.134km in an ASH 31/21 m. from Cunderdin by James Cooper.
He flew 500 km OUT to the N. and returned over mostly scrub areas, where nobody lives.
Temora had a lot of pilots and several great flights up to and over 1000 km. Several set 1000 flights but even with the great weather and the longer days, it is sometimes not so easy, as we all know.
Flights from 996 and 987 and 981, are fabulous but do not give THE great pleasure of a 1000 k flight, even if you have already 10 or more.
Certainly, when you, like Matthew [Scutter] set a 1000 , fly it in your DIANA, and for the OLC is it 996!!!
“Why does OLC optimize this to 997 but LX and CU to 1000.5? Will just do it again tomorrow ”
Some pilots abandoned their flight to be fit again for the next day to fly it again.

Looking back at the Comps, the 2021 S.A State comps were won by Pete Temple in 18 m. with 6 days flown out of 7.
5.152 points and Pete won every day!
In club class Bernie Sizer won in his PIK 20B with 4.962 points.
The New Zealand National Multi Class Champions had an exciting finish in open class . They had 5 out of 9 days and Keith Essex won the last day and JUST finished 2 points ahead of Mike Oakley in the ASH 25.
In racing it was young Nick Oakley with more than 500 points ahead of the runner up [4.787 for 4.226]

Today in my post,  a mail I got from Kari [Lappalainen] from Finland. He and Jari Julin flew in our early SSC period in an LS 6 brought from Finland ; JJ.
The glider has been LONG in Tocumwal and later Martti Sucksdorf flew in it as well. Kari , every year, did the inspections!
Reading through his eyes, shows another perspective on great times in Tocumwal, than my own perspective ,which you know about now.
He send pictures with it as well and he sends his greetings to all readers who flew in his time at Sportavia.
He allowed me to share it with you so here we go.

Hello Ritz!
As you know, this time of the year, in my view in the afternoon,  it
should look like in the picture which Swiss Chris sent to you for your
blog. But in reality, it looks like in these pics here. These were taken
in Räyskälä on 6 Jan 2021 at 16.00 loc. How do I survive? Only one
summer / year this time.

But there is nothing I can do about it in these circumstances. Visitors
are not welcome to Australia at the moment and I have to stay in Finland
shoveling the snow! Blaaah!
All this means that I have to start to use the Ventus2 of my club more
during this season. During past 20 years I have done most of my gliding
in Toc but now I have to learn to navigate around Räyskälä again .

You have long story about Toc in your blog. I have a lot of warm
memories  from Toc also. And I have got many good friends and nice
memories during my holidays there.
Some friends have passed away , some moved a way, some moved away and then back to Toc again (like Tove and Grant) , some friends I have still
met every year  in Toc or at their homes in Toc or in Melbourne. Some
overseas friends  have  been faithful to Toc and been coming there 
after Sportavia died, operating under umbrella of Ed . And some oversees
friends I have not seen since Sportavia was gone and this is sad of
course. Sad because memories of gliding there is only one thing,
memories of the time spent with friends there is very important also.

 From my flights with Sportavia I have a lot of memories and some  pics.
Here you get  two memorable ones from my flights. They are like
extremes. Triumph (2003) and almost disaster (2002).  You maybe remember these.   My guess is that no one has made outlanding any closer to the airfield. If some one likes to make measurements, the JJ has been turned around in the pic. I had to make ground loop in the end and tail was
pointing to the airfield and was a bit closer.
It was the stormy day when LS4 was turned upside down by the storm. I
was coming back from NE and we were advised to land somewhere and wait until  storm was gone in Toc .  Myself and  other pilot landed on same
paddock and waited for the tug in sunshine.  Later on the storm was gone
and tug came to pick us up.
I went first. It was still windy and Ed recommended  me to land on
platform so they could  grab my wing before wind turns me over.  Well,
no problem, I have landed smaller paddocks in Finland. In strong wind
you have to keep altitude and speed high on circuit. On final I was much
higher than normally and for a moment I thought that I will overshoot.
But then downburst started from blue sky. Brakes in, nose down…speed
is still disappearing, flaps negative, nose more  down, still not more
than 120km/h. And very soon I was getting low, not sure if I could make
it over the fence and trailers. Quick decision,  less risky to try to
land in between the remains of  basement of old building and the fence
of airfield.  Now we knew better and advised the other pilot to land on
18 and aim at the crossing of runways. He tried but barely got to the
airport.  Down burst was still there!
I have had many great flights with Sportavia and under Ed’s umbrella but
those two in pics are the most memorable.

Maybe you do not remember the story how my 22 year long relationship
with Toc started. You were the key factor in process!
My self and Ilkka Toijala had our club gliders booked for our gliding
holiday periods on same time during two seasons in a row in Räyskälä. On
both times it rained. We were sitting in cafeteria on our last days of
holiday 1998. We decided that something has to be done. We went to
internet. Typed Gliding Australia in Google. Got a list of gliding clubs
in Australia.  We sent inquiries to few Gliding Centres.
 On next day (I think) we got first reply. It was from you!! Other
center’s  came  week behind and were  terribly late. We had already done
our bookings with you. And the rest is history!

Our gliding season 2020 in Räyskälä was delayed roughly one month
because of covid restrictions. But after that it was quite good as you
have seen in OLC.
Best wishes and Corona free year 2021!!!

Kari

A huge thank you to Kari as well. SO nice to see the soaring from the guest/friends site as well.

Without problems I will be back next Wednesday!
Cheers Ritz

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

——–The F 1.0 continued in beautiful Leeton, where George once, years ago 1985?, became THE WINNER, as……, as a Dutchie, he could not be Aussie champion.
There was a day with hail and snow during that competition ,but I missed that, as I was on my way home to Holland already.
Young Ralf Holighaus was so kind to bring me by car to Tullamarine Airport. His dad Klaus flew the comps too and before we all went to Leeton they stayed , as we did, at the SSC in Tocumwal.
All was practice for the 1987 Benalla WGC.
Back to now.,…On January 1 in 2021 there was the next message;
“UPDATE FROM THE FORMULA 1.0 GRAND PRIX.
It’s been a trying few days. Poor weather and storms have rolled in, and both yesterday and today we have been unable to get a sufficient window to run a task. Also, with the recent COVID-related border closures, several of our competitors and tug pilots have had to derig and make a mad dash for the border before they got locked out. It was a risk we were always aware of, but unfortunate nonetheless. The competition is still running, so stay tuned for the next task.”
So those from South Australia and Victoria who were there, had to rush home. What a weird beginning again of this year.
Eddie made a video from his Fox, flying over the highway to the Toc bridge where the border is from NSW and Victoria; ONLY CARS!!!! Huge traffic jam!!!! NEVER ever saw such a thing in Australia.

Looking back,…..Day 2 was won by Nick Gilbert, flying a St. Cirrus. He is the son from Jane and Tom from Temora. Nick is VERY involved in this F 1.0 flying. He is also the comp organizer ,but as he lives in SA he had to go back before the end ,but keeps an eye on things from there.
Then a few non-flying days and one more day for the few pilots who were still there.
Day 6 with as winner Scott Lennon in his Libelle; 10 points in the pocket!
Their daily news
“Good morning race fans! The weather has given us a window of opportunity, and we’re going for it. Newcomer ninja Jenny Thompson is currently leading on 17 points, Scott Lennon is on 12 points, but days like this can change anything. Weather is very uncertain the next two days, so this might be IT !178km racing task today, starting early, and getting home before overdevelopment or rain kicks in.”
Indeed the scores changed. Scott has 22 points in total now and Jenny 20, as she was 7th and “got” 3 points!!

Monday was cancelled. Rain in the morning but much better after 3.Maybe one more day to go???
YES!!!!!! Day 8 showed 158 km and the day was won by F 1.0 pilot from the first moment AND just married….Christian Streifeneder in the St Libelle.
A low and blue day as they called it, but at finish time great clouds!!!
“Well done to Christian Streifeneder, winner of the final day! Not the most straight forward of days, many pilots battled a long into-wind leg and very broken thermals – but Christian got high, stayed high, and smoked the field! Well done on your first day win!”
Another Libelle was runner up. So in the end, after 4 flyable days , it was
1. Scott Lennon in the St. Libelle with 30 points.
2. Christian Streifeneder in the St. Libelle with 24 p.
3. Charlie Ianson in the St Cirrus with 24 p. AND Jenny Thompson in the Hornet with the same amount.

A pity so many had to leave, as the set-up from this competition is “inviting” for all.
“Conventional gliding competitions can require a huge financial commitment. Formula 1.0 is centered around the club class handicap of 1.0, which means that pilots can buy a competitive sailplane for less than $10,000. In the first running of the contest in the 2017 / 2018 season, the contest was won by Nathan Johnson in a borrowed 1976 Glasflugel Hornet.”

——-Since 2002 the IGC keeps a list of pilots who have flown their 1250km badge.
The first to do so was Terry Delore on March 1 in 2002.
The last one , till now, was in 2020. Tijl Schmelzer on June 29.
He is number 32 on the IGC list for 1.250 badge-holders.
2020 showed 3 x a 1250-badge also for Baptiste Innocent on August 4 and Max Stevens on January 12.
It’s remarkable that 2018 had 7, the most of all in one year and 4 flown in Africa.
3 Of them on January 6 so,….a real good day by Uys, Oscar and Pieter [Nouwens] !!Max Leenders from Holland, flew one on January 13, also in S A..
April 2018 … on the 29th, it was Bert Schmelzer jr. [ Belgium], who flew one.[ number 26 on the list]
The other 2 are Carl Audissou[France] on April 2 and Mike Oakley [ NZ] on November 7.

——-Looking at the IGS lists, it is interesting to know who starts 2021 as the best ones, on the official pilot ranking list. Here is the top 5.
1. Sebastian Kawa with 1000 points.
2. Michael Sommer with 999.6 p.
3. Wolfgang Janowitsch with 996 p.
4. Felipe Levin with 990.8 p.
5.Tomasz Rubaj with 990.4 p.

——Also the Perlan Project suffers from the Covid-19 virus.
Here is their news I got;
“The world-wide pandemic kept Perlan from traveling to Argentina this year to continue our quest to reach 90,000 feet and achieve the highest, wing-borne human flight in history.”

——The first comps for the 21 season has been cancelled. The Junior Nationals in Australia are “off”. They were scheduled for end of this week but due to new “lock downs” , it’s over and out.
BUT,…….there is ….”Good News! QLD will be holding a Junior Regatta at Kingaroy from the 10th-16th of January! The single-seater competition and two-seater coaching program are full steam ahead after the disappointing news of the cancellation of JoeyGlide in Leeton.“
The South Australian State comps are on right now in Waikirie with at this stage after 3 days of flying Pete Temple as number 1 [from 4] in 18 m. and a bad day today for Bernie Sizer in club,[7 participants] as he was “out” after 103 of the 230 km and dropped overall from 1 to 3.

–—-AND: The UK team is already organized for the JWGC in Pocuinai, here they are…Good luck guy’s;

——–ALL depending on COVID -19 the The Australian 2-seatgliding championship will be flown from February 13-20 in Narromine.
Till now they have been 100% corona free and they want to keep it like that !!!! SO strict rules have to be obeyed.
“The competition will be a single class event for both 20m 2 Seat Class gliders and Sports/Open Class which is literally ANY 2 Seat Glider from a K13, Pipistrel, DG505 through to a Nimbus 3/4DM or ASH 25/30.
The competition will be ballasted and run in accordance with the GFA National Competition Rules and will employ the GFA National MultiClass Handicaps.”

——-The last day of the year 2020 showed good flights from Worcester in S.A. My friends Karin and Markus flew in their ARCUS M a nice 1000 km[860 FAI triangle]
So did Swiss pilot Yves and USA pilot Nicolas;1.053 km. to the right and to the left from Worcester about 300 k out on each site plus some more km/s.
The first day of the year 2021 showed on the OLC , still good weather in Worcester , with a 761 km. flight from Sven and a few nice nearly 600 km. flights from Beverley and Waikerie in Australia.

You are more or less up to date, so CU next Wednesday with news from the N. Z. NATIONALS flown from Omarama between January 2 and 10!
At this stage Mike Oakley/Morgan leads after 2 days of flying before Keith Essex both fly in open class in ASH 25 and ASG 32.
In 18 m it is Mike’s son Nick who leads after 2 days in a Discus 2A. Tony van Dyke won day 1 but was out on day 2. A pity.
Today was their message;
“Unfortunately the day has only got a wee bit better. Very still on the airfield with high cloud overhead meaning that nothing much is happening to keep gliders in the air! Not taskable so the day has been cancelled.”
So the 2 hour AAT was cancelled.

HUGE THANKS to Bill, who is making my blog even more safe to use..read less login-hick-ups!!!
Cheers Ritz

To finish a great picture from Swiss Chris on New Years Day when a storm approached the airfield of Tocumwal.

A bit later than normal….had some problems to get in the blog error 500 it was called, BUT Bill fixed it, as he did with the pictures!!!
THANKS AGAIN BILL!!!!!!

2 Days to go and we finish this weird year and start ,with high hopes, the year 2021.
Looking back….2020 started good. I was in LAKE KEEPIT at the WWGC and I believe we all had a superb time, though it was dryer than dry, for that reason no grass at the airfield so lot’s of dust and there was smoke from the surrounding fires.
It still felt all pretty good as it was very well organized.
BUT,…the message in the last week, that the home team apparently had done things, which were not allowed, kept and still keep a lot of people busy.
Such a pity that this TOP-WWGC had to end like this.
By the way it might not take that long anymore before we hear the result of the appeal,….the highest soaring-gods are {still} busy.

Straight after travelling home , we heard that a new COVID-19- virus was already in China. No worries,….we thought,……far away.
We know now! And HOW!!!!
The whole world knows.
Carnival in February, created more “cases” here in Europe , so did the winter-sport and other holidays.
And now, as in a flash, the year is already over , after we were in a “friendly, intelligent ” lockdown, as our leaders called it,
….. a tough lockdown ,
…… after staying at home and more at home
…… after not seeing many friends or family,
……. after doing not a lot ,except of course for them who take care of the elderly, the doctors , nurses ,police etc…..HUGE RESPECT FOR THEM ,…..but we all did it / still do it….no worries, the virus HAS to disappear.
The world agrees on that!!!!
Lot’s of comps were cancelled, some flown but all with “zoom” briefings, 1.5 m. , mouth masks etc. Also no worries, they could fly!
AND,…flying is NOT the most important “thing” in life.
CORONA PROOF was the word!!!
Now there is the vaccine and the hope that there is light on the horizon.
HOPE!!!!What a nice word.

The BREXIT ,finally in the end , creates a softer farewell from Europe to the UK , now a trade-deal has been reached. One, where the top on both sides, think they did well.
I read already many angry articles. Yes,…from both sides.
BUT,…everything is better than a NO DEAL!!!!
This morning the post-Brexit-trade-deal was signed by Europe and send by plane to the UK, where the UK parliament and Boris Johnson signed it too.
It’s all happening.
I read that Europe “looses”, on January 1, a population of 68 million , 243 thousand square km sea and an economy of 2200 billion euro.

Storm BELLA, raced last weekend over parts of Europe and …The coastal areas of the UK and France had the worst part of it, with damage and flooding. Worst wind in the UK at the coast up to 195 km./h. in France up to 174 km./h.
We had wind here, on the Nord Sea coast from 90 to 110 km./h. Even here, inland, it was noisy!!!
Code yellow and BFT 9 and 10 in our coastal areas.
The first winter-storm.
Norway had a land slide today with several people missing and Croatia had a 6.4 earthquake yesterday, with several people killed and injured.

VERONICA is hot this year. In Namibia they fly with real good weather -circumstances and the 2 Polish pilots,..one of them Sebastian Kawa…flew before the weekend in the ARCUS M. distances from up to 1.252 km [1.115 km FAI triangle] .They continued….
On Sunday ;they flew 1.275 km. with 149 km./h.
On Monday….1.132 km. with 137 km./h.
The TWIN SHARK flying from Veronica flew with Bernd [Dolba from the VERONICA team] and a “pupil” 1.274 km.
In the “shark” Petr and Radek flew earlier a new Czech record ; a declared 1.150 FAI triangle, I wrote about it last time, but now I see it was a new Czech record!!!

Bitterwasser, saw young Simon Briel arrive there again and straight away he flew on Christmas and Boxing-day , 1.012 and 1.131 km.in the ARCUS M.
One day later, on Sunday, it was even more fun for him; 1.318 km. with a speed of 143 km. h. He flew 4x, flew 4x a 1000-plus and off he had to go again.
As I wrote earlier, Bitterwasser has now weather cam’s , sponsored by Wilfried Grosskinsky, looking to the Nord ,East , West and the Palmalley.
Great picture last Monday.

Yesterday Sven [Olivier] flew a 1000 from Worcester.

Today, Grant [Heany] flew from Tocumwal, in his St Jantar a distance of 734 km …..A 600 FAI TRIANGLE !!!!! Chapeau Grant!!!!He called it ” a nice day out”.
Grant came to Toc , years ago, as a hang-glider pilot and straight away loved gliding and was and is good in it!!!He and his Norwegian wife Tove [ a world champion hang gliding] even came to live in Tocumwal and for a short while they were managers under then sole SSC owner, Richard, who then sold the business. Argh…..

Eddie shared this picture today with the message; “Splendid day early start;”

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THE GRAND PRIX FORMULA 1.0 in LEETON has started and before it all began, there was already big news!!!
“Last night two of the founders of the GP got married, at Leeton, of course!”
Congratulations to Christian and Sarah Streifeneder.
FROM ME TOO!!!!!
Tune into http://tracking.livegliding.com/#!c=27 for live tracking!
They started on the 28th with a practice day.
Day 1 saw Jenny Thomson win in a HORNET ….”Low, blue but with less wind than the practice day, we’re off to Coolamon and Ardlethan for a total round trip of approx 178km.”

Day 2 “Today’s task is a double triangle, with the all-important bonus point for the first pilot to claim it when they round Leeton the first time. Weather looks to be unstable… a large trough line has set up shop over the top of the area, promising big climbs and potentially bigoverdevelopment.”
Winner for the day; Nick Gilbert in the CIRRUS.
They continue till January 5, so next week more news, but you can follow the tracking at the above link and here is the link to the site; https://f1gp.com.au/
You can read there more about the GP and see the results.

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Wishing you ALL a very
HAPPY, HEALTHY, SAFE and CORONA FREE 2021.
In which we can go back to NORMAL!
Hope this happens when summer starts or,….if possible earlier for smaller gatherings!
Let’s “work” on it, in doing the CORRECT things.

CU next year and…
THANKS FOR STILL READING THE BLOG since June 2006!!!
Cheers Ritz

First,….THANK you for all the birthday wishes. I felt really privileged and happy. Phone calls from Germany , Australia and South Africa ,lot’s of FB-and messenger messages , e-mails, phone calls from close by and 2 visitors, as more was due to the strict lock down, not possible.
THANK YOU!!!!!

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WELKOM, hosted with the SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONALS, the last TOP-competition in 2020.
22 Pilots in 18 m. class, among them pilots from Switzerland, Germany and Denmark.
GOOD weather, not the real booming S.A. weather, but still days with a 500 and 300 km. task and several AAT’s one from 3 hours.
For some countries mouthwatering!
And…. HUGE speed, so only 2x a 1000-points-day!
Task 1 , with a 1.30 AAT, was straight away a day to try and come home. The 81 points from the only finisher, John Coutts, made him the first overall winner. At nearly 5 PM he left and it took him nearly 2 hours to fly over 178 km.
Task 2 ,with 285.78 km. was a prey again for John in his JS 3.His speed , 146 km./h was clearly more than the day earlier, when it was 89 km./h. Oscar and Laurens [Goudriaan] were on spot 2 and 3.
Task 3, was the 520 km.-day! And,..yes it gets boring , but John won again with 125 km./h. Dolf [Pretorius] and Oscar followed.
Only 7 fished some pretty close.
John is a born KIWI but lives already for ages in South Africa. When I met him the first time he was still a junior. A very talented pilot!!!!
Task 4 , had a 2.30 AAT which was won by Oscar AND on my birthday and he and his brother and Sven made even time to congratulate me.
124 km./h was the best speed and Katrin in the ASG 32 was runner up with 118 km./h. All 21 who started, finished!
Task 5,had a 2 hour AAT but was cancelled.
Task 6 showed a 3 hour AAT and Arne Boye Moeller won the 1000 points for 436 km. in time 3.09.[speed 138 km./h]!!!!
John and Oscar were runner’s up with 971 points.
Task 7, 196 km. was set and John was in a real hurry; 157.45 km./h!!!The “slowest” with respect flew with 122 km.h. so a GOOD , FAST DAY!!!BUT,….
Only 299 points for daily winner John.
Task 8, on the last day showed 351 km. Marcus Nouwens flew around with 153.56 km./h in his JS 3 , so another FAST day with devaluating points as he “got” 714 points for his speedy performance. As he was quite a bit faster than Oscar[144 km./h for 636 points] he took over his runner-up spot overall, by 4 points. Swiss pilot Yves Gerster [JS 3 /15m.] was runner up.

The 2020 South African National 18 m. champions;
1. John Coutts with 4.379 points.
2. Marcus Nouwens with 4.192 points.
3. Oscar Goudriaan with 4.188 points.
Laurens was 4th, Arne 6th and Katrin 9th.

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More and more pilots find or have found, their way to VERONICA in Namibia. A few years ago I published an article about Veronica from Prof. Dr. Bert Schmelzer sr. who had flown there and shared his experience.
Sebastian Kawa flew together with a Polish mate, last Saturday a distance of 1,137 km. in the ARCUS M with a speed of 144 km./h.
A bit slower, BUT, 2x an FAI 1000 km-triangle was flown by the Israelian mates and father , Petr and son Radek Krejcirik from CZ.
On December 10 Radek wrote:” First accomodating flight in Veronica this year. Blue with awesome cumulus in Botswana in almost 6000mtrs.”
Since then they flew in the TWIN SHARK, 6x over 1000 km. the best 1.355,79. Great effort even during top-conditions!!!

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I am very much used to high temperatures over Christmas,..no worries I spend at least 30 Christmas periods down under,…BUT, this time I am in The Netherlands and it is 15 dgr. c.,…. PLUS…. it is!!!!UNREAL!!!!
It should be less than 5!!!!
We had the hottest ever year in this world. I guess….Something has to be done. NOW!!!!
On that note,…we, here in The Netherlands, had the shortest day [around 7 hours daylight I read] here so,…we are on the way to the longest [around 17 hours] again, which means spring and summer. Let it come!

MERRY CHRISTMAS dear friends!!!!!
No pictures sorry, a hick up in the system, BUT,….as usual Bill is looking into the “case”. Where would I be without him???

CU next week.
Cheers Ritz