—-Kingaroy October Grand Prix.
Continued on Thursday October 8… all pilots fly in one ballasted class, running the F1GP tracking software. Distance is handicapped, so the bigger planes have to fly longer distances.
It was interesting to read what Adam had to say about this type of soaring;
“This was just a fun club comp, we used the handicapped distance style format. In AUS we are struggling for numbers, & people are seemingly generally enjoying the GP format more these days – especially at the entry level. I think the regionals will become GP’s always now & the nationals will stay traditional. At least I sure hope so!!”

On task 4 Butch got the 10 points for the best performance….113 km./h!!!
Task 5 was a prey for Ray [Stewart] …126 km./h.
After 5 days of soaring Ray has 42 points…Butch 38 and David 31.
With 2 days to go , Ray in his JS 3 was 6th and first. His 3d number 1 spot. Enough to make him the winner of this GP with 58 points! Well done!!!!
“The final day was a corker. Perfect JS3 weather in fact, whereas most of the week had been blue. It was a fun way to finish the week. Shame we didn’t get a nationals in to share with interstate and kiwi visitors. Hopefully next year.“
Runner up with 54 points and 2 daily wins was Butch [ also on task 6] in Adams glider.
Adam flew the Duo Discus and was 7th!!!
At spot 3 it was David [Jansen] with 40 points.
Adam finished his Kingaroy blog with :
“Congratulations to Ray Stewart for winning his first entered comp in the Jonker Sailplanes JS3 in 15m config! We held a fun GP comp out of Kingaroy Soaring Club in place of the Multi-Class Nationals this year – so it was hotly contested John Buchanan was all smiles finishing in 2nd place in #GliderONE, David Jansen in 3rd with his LS8 – great fun, thanks Greg & everyone for a top week “

—–We stay in Australia for news about Joeyglide,
The Australian Junior Gliding Club is proceeding in the hope of running a COVID-normal JoeyGlide this coming season. 
JoeyGlide is the annual Junior Nationals and Junior Coaching program. It’s the place to be for young glider pilots in Australia, and a great place to meet like-minded people, learn lots and have some laughs.
I am afraid it will not be possible for young Europeans or Kiwi’s to travel then to Aus. Nevertheless;
Site: Leeton, NSW
Dates: 7-15 January 2021
Website: https://www.joeyglide.juniorsoaring.org/ 

—-the October issue of GLIDING INTERNATIONAL has, as always interesting news… old and new. Love the history of soaring ,so I started reading straight away.
They start with the success story about Schemmp-Hirth, how Martin Schempp, founder and aircraft engineer who died in 1984 and Wolfram “Wolf” Hirth, gliding pioneer and sailplane designer [1900-1959] met through soaring and built up a big business still known as one of the best gliding manufacturers!!!
By relocating the business to Kircheim Teck, Klaus Holighaus was asked to help them into the” composite-sailplane -era.”
The wife from Klaus, Brigitte and his sons Tilo and Ralf with help from long time well respected employees, still run the business.
Don’t have to mention how many great gliders “rolled” out of their factory.
We had a few types ourselves.
Editor John Roake writes already for over 50 years and has a huge library full of interesting books and articles.
For this issue he found an article called; ” Herr Hirth gives a lecture” , that was in London in 1931. Loved it!
Also news about Klaus life and his sad death after a crash in the mountains in 2004.
I knew Klaus and know Brigitte and the boy’s don’t see them often, but consider them as my friends.
Back to the G.I.
—-Hanger fire- foam- systems.. news for clubs .
—-history of gliding height records …currently 22.657 as absolute altitude by Jim Payne in 2018.
—–Electrifly-In in Grenchen in Switzerland …becomes a permanent feature from 2020 onwards.
—-Paul Schweizer is the gliding personality this month.
—–5 G and it’s influence on comps…..Forbidden or new rules by IGC??????
—-lot’s of International Aviation news for glider pilots and MORE……

—–When Klaus Ohlmann flies you mostly expect great weather for a good task. That was correct !!!!!
He flew 1.150 km in a STYEMME S10 last Sunday. One day later he nearly flew a 1000 “Second day of northern wave. A bit tricky, nearly blue.. My friend Gil shows his experience of “local” knowledge. Flying high and knowing personally the wave location. great day to learn and explore“.
Gil [Souviron] indeed showed his local experience by starting in the Stemme S12; 1.402 km. on Sunday.
One day later it was 1. 032 km.
“Interesting days with wind coming from North with a wave not very strong and decreasing in the afternoon.
The day before the waves was stronger but very cloudy due to more west direction of the wind, and Klaus joined us coming from the Alps, finding unlikely waves over a near overcast ceiling.”
They flew all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. Have a look at the OLC flight. There is a link too, ” of 11 October some photo and one video of the start over the waves of the Alberes always fantastic, first mountain at Mediterranean Sea.”
A good day “out”.

That’s it for now. Not a lot happening at the moment…..
Though,…I was in some kind of voluntary quarantine. I had a bad cold and then you have to stay inside. I did for more than 2 weeks.
The last week I tried to reach the health institute for a corona test. I could not get through,…too busy!!!! Not good!!!
Try next week again, but in between I am “fresh and new again”.
This virus is terrible.
In The Netherlands we had a pretty good run during the first wave in March. All country fellowmen /women obeyed the rules, so in a short time it was nearly under control, but after the summer holiday the obedience was gone, we had people reacting fiercely on the strict new rules and now Holland belongs to the worst places in Europe. Yesterday we had over 7000 new tested cases!!! NOT GOOD!!
At my age I am very careful, even downloaded the corona app.
Stay safe friends!!!!!!

To finish 2 great autumn pictures by Arjan Vrieze. He makes fabulous pictures and is also one of the instructors from my grand children at Terlet.

Cu next week
Cheers Ritz

—-I start with the picture of these 4 young men, according to Kingaroy “the future of soaring”.
And,…I believe them.

—–The Darling Downs Soaring Club, continued with the Queensland State Comps and last Wednesday the club class indeed did not fly.
Later I read the news from Lisa Turner, as you know they flew and I do understand why the clubbies stayed home
“Well we had it all today, 8/8 mid level cloud, rain, freezing cold and fire/smoke. Thank goodness for the fire! Just happy to be home today.”

So with 2 more days to go the hope was for better weather again.
It turned out to be one day in club!
It was a 214 km. task won by a “new “face.. David Nash in a Discus.
Jo was 3d and is the winner of the State comps in club class with 40 points, 2 more than Peter Brunton.
In the sports class 2 more day’s . Task 6 was won by David Jansen and Adam had some kind of off day and lost 4 points. He won the last task again …342 km…with a speed of 122 km./h.
In the end he was the winner with 28 points, 2 more than David.
He finished the comps with: “Had a ripper flight today, finishing off with a day win by around 20mins, to take the #1 spot for the comp! Congratulations to Jo Davis who won Club Class & Peter Brunton, a 15 year old who came in 2nd & obviously with the best placed junior trophy – simply awesome!!“
What a TALENT this number 2 Peter!!!!!! Talking about Future of soaring….!!!!!

——I missed a great flight last week flown in France in wave in the Pyrenees in a STEMME S12;1.1456,76 km!!!!!
“Sunday, September 27, Gil Souviron and Baptiste Innocent broke a French record from Perpignan airport ! They have realized the largest flight in France ever, with a take-off and landing at the same airport.”

——Egon Otto Rehn is still at Luis Magalhaes and had another top day; 1.018 km. in a Quintus M!!Also on September 27!!!
So the last days of September showed great weather in different parts of the world.
AND..talking about Brazil…..last Sunday Henrique Navarro flew from Bebedouro a new record;
“..and we did it. Brazilian gliding speed record on a 100km FAI triangle at 168kph.The current record was mine at a 160kph speed, but I reached it on a 500km FAI triangle some years ago. And I always though the 100km FAI triangle record deserved a special attemp, as it is so special, so small, so full of details, so fast! We are talking about a bit more than half an hour…Today the day was good for a short period of time, in a hotspot around 50km away from Bebedouro, and with the risk of a very low visibility – actually the start and mainly the finish line were crossed on IFR conditions due to strong smoke. So, perfect for a 100km tentative. And we did it, even though I am confident it is possible to do it above 180kph in Bebedouro. Maybe on next try?“

——We are in October now and the first day, looking at soaring, was average but then it was BOOMING!!!!
On October 2 …. Föhn….and the Alps had it! 3x Over 1000 km flights from Switzerland an Koenigsdorf.
Yves Gerster flew from Thun in Switzerland with a “student” who learned how to fly in wave, during a wave workshop. This was the last day and it was successful as they flew 1.155 km. in the ARCUS T.
Koenigsdorf ,a well know ski resort as well and the German spot to start long wave flights over the Alps, when you fly South first, showed a QUINTUS flight by Matthias Schunk from
5.830 m. MSL was the highest he reached rather in the beginning if the flight and then it was more ridge flying;1.122 km.
Nicolai Wolf went to the airport as well and prepared his Ventus 3 M ; 1.017 km!!
Both found it a “super, super interesting day!!!”
Unterwoessen, more to the East of Koenigsdorf had great October weather as well. When you can fly 530 km in a KA 6, that say’s enough of the weather and the pilot Jan Lyczywek.
When I was in Unterwoessen, I enjoyed seeing pilots on the slope of the mountain on a “hang wind” .
BUT.…..it was not over yet, the föhn a strong dry wind on the Nord side of the Alps, kept going and on October 3 a few more long flights. One again by Matthias in the Quintus M, this time 1.126 km. “The best föhn day I ever had!“
Young Benjamin Bachmaier , who likes blogging like I do, flew in the ARCUS T over 1.122 km.
Both did not land back at the field of departure but anyhow loved their interesting flight with different weather situations!!!

Weather which was NOT good for many little towns on the Alps in France and Italy. Some just disappeared by wild water and sand/mud slides and stones from the mountains. At least 10 people were killed and around 20 still missing.
The other side of the weather-medal!!!!!

–—-Porta Westfalica, loved also by Dutch pilots, was the place to be for them last Sunday on October 4. A great day with thermals, wave and ridge soaring over the slopes. Busy place to be as many were trying to start at the slope and race rather low over tree tops and slopes.
Great distances as well; 511 km in LS 4….508 in St Cirrus WL…507 in St Libelle WL…502 in LS 8.
This type of soaring on the slope is sometimes done here at the Nord Sea too over the dunes. Long ago I got some pictures and I found them again.

Porta Westfalica was good too. 48 Pilots from different countries lined up on October 4 on the 250 m. high slope. A real soaring traffic jam!!!!
“Good weather, but good timing was crucial in the ever-changing weather conditions.”
Robin Smit…runner up at the Naromine JWGC …wrote a nice picture story about the day. Have a look!!! Great pictures!!!!
“Great day once again at Porta!
Woke up to early today at 04:15 to drive the 3.5hours to Portages together with Marissa.
Arrived at the airfield and quick assembled the glider and put it in tow grid, good to be on time with the 35 glider who came to Porta.
Always a interesting tow with a rope what looks like a bungee… The ridge was very good straight away with also a bit of thermal influence.
The first time at the Suentel did not have the guts to go to the Ith without ant gliders there, so turned around and flew back quite far west.
Later the Ith was good doable and even some wave in the end to 6500ft, to bad there was 8/8 cloud cover….
Good day out again with some good company!”

——-On October 4 [till October 11] the KINGAROY OCTOBER GRAND PRIX started with 19 pilots. A lot of names we remember from the Queensland State Comps. They arrived at Kingaroy with good practice!!!!
The 293 km. task [1] was flown with a speed of 118 km./h by David Jansen [LS8/ 15 m.] who turned out to be the daily winner with John..Butch.. Buchanan [Ventus 2/15 m.] as runner up.
Adam was on spot 13…he flies the Duo Discus.
Task 2 was flown under “blue” skies. 281 km. was set and flown best by Ray Stewart in the JS3/15 m;121 km./h. David was runner up , Butch 3d and Lisa [Trotter] 4th in LS8 /15m.
Today was task 3 [289 km.] with many penalty seconds or warnings for starting to high or finishing too low.
The Trotter family did well. Peter won the day in his LS 8 and his wife Lisa , same 15 m. conversion glider, was runner up. Ray was 3d so 10, 8 and 7 points were given.

After 3 days they are halfway and Ray in the JS 3 leads with 24 points, followed by David with 21 and Butch with 20. Peter and Lisa are next with 16 and 14 points.

CU next week.
Cheers Ritz

—–We are really having autumn weather now. We went from 37dgr. C. 2 weeks ago …hottest day ever in autumn…to 14 in the weekend with wind and lot’s of rain.

—–The weather in Brazil was still good , also after the comps. On September 23, the pilots who stayed, flew nice long distances,
Claudio and Egon who were still there flew both in an ARCUS M, 940 km[886 FAI triangle] , topping with another great flight the OLC on last Wednesday.

—–In between they flew the Gauteng Regionals in Orient, [September 16-26], so talking about S.A. In 3 classes they had 10 days to define the winners in club, [6 pilots] 15 m. [13 pilots one of them HC] and open class. [15 pilots].
Not the very best spring-weather over there, as they only could fly on 2 days and 1 day was pretty marginal.
Task 1 with 186 km. showed no finishers in club and a max of 41 points for the winner.
Their task 2 had 165 km and 4 finishers and 434 points for the daily winner.
Task 3 on Saturday had 182 km. but was changed in NO TASK.
Winner in club; Philip Leach in Janus CM RG, leading with ONE point; 434 points after 2 days. Dave Maver was the runner up.
Philip won task 1 with no finishers but,…he flew 133 km. whilst the runner up flew 41!!!
Task 2 was won by Dave Maver in the ASW 20. Philip lost “only” 40 points; so he had 1 point left for the overall win!!!

Task 1 for 15 m. had 257 km as task but also here nobody finished. Mark Holliday flew 141 km and was clearly the best in ASW 27 for 19 points!!!!
Task 2 was a set 328 km, but only flown by 2 pilots.
Bennie Du Plessis 818 points for daily winner in ASW 20 and runner up Mike Tiffin in ASW 27 was in too for 790 points.
Task 3 was 271 km. but changed in NO TASK.
Winner in 15 m after 2 days; Bennie Du Plessies with 828 points. Runner up Mike Tiffin with 790.

In open class task 1 was 356 km and flown by 2 pilots from the 14 who started; John Coutts , as the daily best, with 309 points in the JS 3 and Nico Le Roux in JS 1 with 304 points.
Task 2 was a set task from 438 km. flown by 12 pilots. Riaan Denner , in JS 1, “got” the 1000 points!! Unfortunately he was out on day 1.
3 More pilots were between 900 and 1000 points…Jason Adriaan and Oscar and Laurens [Goudriaan]
Speed was around 105 km./h for them.
All pilots fly JS 1 or JS 3 except for 2x a Ventus CM and an ARCUS.
Mike Barenbrug is 1 of the Ventus pilots and on this day he topped the OLC with his flight!
Task 3 and the last day, had a set 348 km. task. And yes, ..also changed in NO TASK!!!
Overall results after 2 flying days; 1;Nico Le Roux 1.194 points. 2; John Coutts 1.163 p.

For sure their great South African weather will start soon,…only spring now.
Heard it will be an El Nina year ,…will that bring more rain.. in Australia and also in SA ???

——There might be now still a short Bitterwasser Season;
Here is their news!
“There is still a chance for a gliding season in Bitterwasser! Even if it can only be a short one. Namibia has opened and flights to Windhoek can be booked again. The first flights have already reached Namibia. So the traffic light is green.
After this good news, at the Bitterwasser General Assembly in mid-September the desire arose to take the opportunity and organize a small season. If the containers are dispatched at the beginning of October, the fist flights could take off in Bitterwasser at the end of November. If you want to be there and take your glider with you, please contact Executive Director Rainer Hog ( hog@bitterwasser.com).
And this is what the conditions for staying in Namibia look like now: Anyone who enters the country with a negative corona test which is not older than 72 hours can travel to Bitterwasser without quarantine. Another test is necessary after five days. If the result is negative, the country may be freely traveled
There is a new board behind the “small season” campaign. Ilka Elster-Back and Jürgen Dörrie were elected to the board of directors by the general assembly to join Rainer Hog and Ralph Bürklin. Wolf-Dietrich Bornholdt made room for them after ten years of work for gliding in Namibia, Dirk Reich had already retired before that.”

—–The Queensland State Comps will be flown between September 26 and October 2. Practice was on Friday September 25. They are flown from Jondaryan at the Darling Downs Soaring Club.
On livegliding.com you can follow all the action! They have a GP scoring system.
Adam Woolley and David Jansen lead after 2 tasks, [ 285 km. and 410 km] with 10 points in the sports class. Speed from task 2….147 [Adam] and 137 km./h.
Adam mentioned in his Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
“Awesome day, awesome flight, first past the post at 148kph !! Nailed the start, height, speed & line of energy out. First climb of 7kts took me to base, then it was run at 110kts all dayI linked up the energy lines well today & stopped in 6kts to top up only when I had to. Was always looking for 8-10kts though! Picked up over 3000 ‘on glide, typically slow in the areas of lift & 100kts otherwise all the way in. Great fun!“
Task 3 was 325 km. and yes…Adam was with a speed of 136 km./h again the daily winner. He got the 6 points. Lisa 4 and David 3.
Lisa Turner in her ASW 27 was runner up with a speed of 133 km./h and David in the LS 8 3d with 126 km./h.
2 More pilots in this class Jenny Thompson [ASG 29/18m] with a speed of 129 km./h for 2 points and Mike Codling in ASW 27 got 1 point for 108 km./h.
Adam…..From a young boy organizing already with other young chaps JoeyGlide , from tuggie also for a short time with us in Tocumwal, from an eager competition pilot flying comps all over the world, he is a very accomplished pilot now. His mum and dad [ a good pilot himself] have stimulated him through the years.
16 Points in total for him now.14 for David.
Adams daily comment;
“Another cracking day, very pleased with how I’m flying atm. I feel like I have my go-get-em attitude back, no fear of failure & willingness to learn. Special points for the day…Maximizing the glide out of the gate through the over development & generally poorer conditions, saw me able to core the first booming climb soonest (albeit from lower down).I was attacked by an eagle in my final glide climb of 8kts, so I rolled out 1800′ below glide on a 6.7kt MC (my average climb rate for the day) & tried to hold 110kts all the way in & pick it up. 80% of it worked as I’d hoped, so I feel that my final glides are getting faster (ie, steady & constant speed all the way in) now, with confidence – happy!”
AND…..”Easily a 1000km day out of DDSC yesterday I think.”

Day 5 and task 4 showed a shorter task from 169 km and Adam won again,….this time with 118 km./h. His 3d win in a row.
His daily news at Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
David as runner up flew around with 100 km./h.
Total scores at this stage; Adam 21 …David 16..Lisa Turner 10.

14 pilots in club and after 2 tasks [237 km. and 309 km] it ‘s Jo Davis leading [18] ahead of Peter Brunton, [17] both in ASW 27, each winning a day.
Task 3 was 294 km and won by Jo, flying 114 km./h which was quite a bit faster than the runner up, Peter who had a speed of 108 km./h .On top of that he got a 30 s. penalty for a too fast max speed at start[ 6 knots x5]
So 12 points for Jo and 10 for Peter.
Overall Jo has now 31 points after 3 tasks and Peter 28.
No scores or task for today.[yet]
Swiss Chris shared a picture from the weather during task 2….GOOD!!!!!!

—–Looked at the first debate between Trump and Biden…at 3 in the morning,….BUT only 3 minutes…shouting and accusing each other is not my cup-of-tea!!!!! And that for a president from the USA and maybe the upcoming president. Later I heard that I missed NOTHING!!!

—–Bill has worked hard and the blog is working fine again.
THANKS again to Bill, who had to spend some time on it.
So with less doubt than the last couple of weeks I can say…CU next week
Cheers Ritz

The comps in Brazil, to select the new National Champion 2020 in 3 classes ,continued…….so I continue too. And what fabulous soaring weather they had!!!! Have a look…..SUPERB!!!!
Even the pilots used superlatives for what happened.
They even topped the world- wide -OLC on several days and that during a competition.
7 out of 7 days for 15 m., open and 6 for Club.
Club;
task 4…4 hour AAT!!!!Another pffff…..Won by Andre with 302 km. in time 3.55.
Task 5..set task of 306 km; Won by Andre with 82 km./h.
Task 6…set task from 321 km; YES…won by Andre in his PW 5.Speed 72 km./h. over the set 321 km!!!NOT bad!!!
Task 7…252 km...but no valid flight by one of the pilots.1Pilot started and flew 15 km.
Great results and magic weather for the 4 pilots in this class.
6 out of 7 flying-day’s
Final scores ;
1.Andre Goldenstein in PW 5 AND CHAMPION with 4538 points.
2.Antonio Marinho Jr in KW 1 with 1.871 p.
3.Cassiano Corazza in PW 5 with 1.091 p.

15 m;
task 4…4.30 hour AAT !!!! BIG day for them as well. Luis Affonso flew in his St. Jantar a distance of 481 km. in time 4.39.
task 5…set task of 426 km; a “new” face in the top this time Fabio Pimenta in a Discus B, as Luis was “only” 11th, loosing nearly 300 points. But now worries he could “have” it.
task 6…504 km; and again Fabio won the day ..speed 127.58 km./h. 3 Pilots were out.
task 7…418 km; LAST DAY…
speed 132 km by the winner in a St. Jantar. Luis was 3d.
No real fight, for spot 1, but GREAT SOARING in unbelievable weather.
Final scores after 7 days of magic soaring;
1.Luis Affonso in St. Jantar AND CHAMPION with 6.411 points.
2.Ricardo Raupp in St. Jantar with 6.254 p.
3.Ben-Hur Silveira in Duo Discus XL with 6.019 p.
Some flew their first 500 FAI triangle and 3000 m. height!!!
” realmente é fantástico!!!”

open;
task 4….641 km !!!There are 7 pilots in this class but it’s ALL between 3 of them, pretty well-known too.
Winner today….Henrique Navarro in his Nimbus 4T with 137 km./h. Runner up Claudio Schmidt with 131 ,74 km./h in ARCUS and Egon Rehn in QUINTUS M was on spot 3 with 132 km./h.
task 5…653 km.;140 km./h for Henrique, 132 km.h for Claudio and 136 for Egon.
task 6…526.26 AAT; flown by Henrique with a speed of 153.82 km./h over 836.89 km.
“Today I flew the longest task ever flown in a Brazilian gliding championship – 837 km at 154 kph.”
Good on him.
Claudio was runner up with 806 km in time 531, so a nice speed from 146 km./h. Egon was 4th with 148.72 km./h over 822 km!!
task 7…531 km; LAST DAY…..
Enrique flew around with 173.49 km./h!!!!!!
“…and today I flew the fastest task ever flown in Brazil: 174 kph in a 500km FAI triangle…5 day wins out of 7.
Claudio with 162.69 km/h and Egon with 166.36 km./h.
Henrique had to travel 1800 km. to attend the nationals!!!!
Fabulous speed, weather AND pilots!!!!!!
Final scores;
1. Claudio Schmidt in ARCUS M, and Champion with 6.878 points.
2. Henrique Navarro in Nimbus 4T with 6.786 p.
3. Egon Rehn in QUINTUS M with 6.426 p.
Except for day 1 Caudio was number- 1- overall ,every day. Great job!!!!

—————————————————————

On September 9 the French championships for 2021 have been defined after all the COVID influences and changes from this year. Hopefully they can be flown at the next dates;
—General category and Women’s category Standard + 15 m + Biplace 20 m: at Bailleau from May 30 to June 5
—General category Class 18 m and Free Class: in Buno-Bonnevaux from 20 to 26 June
—General category Club class: in Lille from 11 to 17 July
—Category Junior Club Class and Standard + Class 15 m + Biplace 20 m: in Fontenay-le-Graaf from 25 to 31 July
Pre-registrations are open and will last until January 31, 2021

https://www.ffvp.fr/agenda-des-competitions
https://bit.ly/CDF2021_Preinscription

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This new season Lake Keepit is the host of many pilots who fly a GRAND PRIX type of competition there. The first has been and was won by Mac Ichikawa .There will be four rounds, the next one is on the first weekend in October, then January and over Easter.
The best 4 pilots at the first GP, were very close ; Mac Ichikawa had 29 points ,Jay Anderson 28, Bruce Taylor 26 and Brad Edwards 25.

Talking about Lake Keepit….. that fantastic WWGC comes straight up in my mind.
SUCH A PITY it finished the way it did.
A lot of people ask me if I have heard already about the appeal from the WWGC.
I kept you very much involved over all the different situations, already when I was in Lake Keepit and later, but nowadays it’s very quiet…no news.
It can’t be TOO difficult.
Here is a mail, I received, from somebody who was there and who is waiting as well. I share it with you, as I don’t know much about appeals and the way they should be handled.
“The last WWGC in Lake Keepit ended 8 month ago in January 2020.Three months later two appeals were lodged against the outcome by two very large gliding nations. Since then there has been complete silence; what on earth is going on? Appeals need to be transparent and handled in a timely fashion and not in secrecy. It is completely unacceptable for the appeals board not to give regular updates to the gliding community about its processes, meeting calendar and persons heard in relation to the WWGC scandal. Not doing so creates suspicion. Is a back room quiet deal being pursued? Who is talking to the appeals board? Why don’t we hear anything? “
Well, that person is clearly not happy!!!

—————————————————

Talking about Australia,…the Queensland State Comps are about to begin. Here is the news;
“The competition starts on Sat 26th Sept and runs to Friday 2nd October.
Sports and Club classes. Practice day Fri 25th.
Format is GP and using the F1.0 trackers.
Watch live on livegliding.com
21 Entrants incl 3 Hors de Concours (2 x Duo and 1 x DG1001Club in Club Class).
Sport Class looks very competitive and the tasks may reflect that. (But don’t tell the competitors!).
Bob Flood
CD

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Good , no great news from Tocumwal. Finally they start to build the MUSEUM for ALL memorabilia from WW2 . They have been moved several times p.e. to the briefing room at the SSC,[Sportavia Soaring Center] the Bowling Club , the tourist office and now they will be finally home where they belong in their OWN MUSEUM.
In our time we had busloads of people coming to see the hangar , the small exposition in the briefing room and they were with “open mouth” listening to the fabulous stories from Bob Brown and to see in the vitrines all what has been collected over the years. Uniforms on dress ‘dummies’ were very old but kept in good order.
We even had people who brought AND gave pictures and memorabilia to show in the exposition!!!
We had people who had lived in Tocumwal in that WW2 time,…they had unbelievable stories.
Now history will be shared for ALL who have interest.
I remember an evening where there were still a few “oldies” attending. The ” Andrew Sisters” local “girls” did a real good job and the Glenn Miller music had a fantastic acoustic . It was a night to never forget.
For those who have visited SSC in the past and now visit Sportavia Tocumwal,…and wonder where it is,…..the museum is just around the corner when you can go in a straight line to the WW2 hangar and to Sportavia.

And to finish this blog ….Congratulations to HpH sailplanes on the successful maiden flight of Twin Shark No.4.

Still struggling with my blog!!! VERY FRUSTRATING!!!
” Poor ” Bill is still helping out!!!
THANK YOU Bill !!!!!!!!!
I nearly gave up writing, but I continue for a little while. One day there is not enough “connection anymore with the soaring world” and then it is really time to stop. That time might not be too far away.
Just to let you know already.

CU hopefully next week.
Cheers Ritz

Working via another system is NOT easy, at least for me, but it seems to work which is good.

News from the FAI on September 9;
“Gliding pilot Mélanie Gadoulet from France has been awarded the IGC Champion Pilot of the Year 2019 earlier this year Mélanie was selected from the Champions in all classes of the qualifying competitions of the 2019 season. “

Congratulations Melanie!

And a great picture by Pierre [de Broqueville] who flew in the Pyrenees.

so CU next week
Ritz

UK Mountain Soaring Championship 2020 from Aboyne;
The news on Thursday was “There is no cross country task today, launches are available for the height gain until 18:00 this evening”.
And they gained height;” R1 is leading the height gain with 45,942 ft, followed by 8Q with 39,974 and FCB in third with 37,543”
So who are they?
R 1 is team Naylor and Tait in the Duo Discus, 8Q is Graham Paul in a JS 1 and FCB is Martin Philimore in a Pegase101 A.
On Friday a CC task ; 2 hour AAT…..But scrubbed because of the gusty conditions.
At 5 PM the evening wave started and so did the tuggies to bring those who wanted to be “HIGH” up in the air. They had three late launches with 8Q getting to 17,150 feet, XX to 16,744 and R1 landed out.
Saturday was supposed to be the last day but “we are going to scrub today due to the wind strength”.
At 12 they had a prize giving for both CC flying and height.
“Prize giving is over. Congratulations to Robert Tait and Stuart Naylor in R1 for winning the 23rd UKMSC. The Height Gain was won Graham Paul in 8Q. We must give a special mention to Team DGC flying the Perkoz who scored the most points this week but were flying hors concours.”
By the way I checked for you; Indeed 2 pilots with the same name John Williams and as often ,one get’s the nick name….BIG JOHN flies Z7 the ANTARES and is based in Portmoak. He was 3d in the comps. John flying the LS 8 was 5th.

Brasil had the 62d Championships Region Mid West, flown in one class from Luis between September 5 and 11, which was good practice for the Nationals straight after.

14 Pilots in gliders between Libelle/St Jantar and Nimbus 4/ASW 22BLE.
2 day’s with 4 hour AAT’s , 1 with 4.30 and 2 with 3.30 AAT’s , meaning 5 days of great soaring weather and only day 1 had to be cancelled/ no task. Distances on the 4 hour days up to 552 km in the ASW 22 BLE and a speed of 137,98 km./h.. All days were 1000 points day and in the end Claudio Schmidt in the ARCUS was the winner with 4.903 points. He won 3 days. Followed by Henrique Navarro in the Nimbus 4T with 4.883 p. At spot 3 Egon Rehn in the ASW 22BLE with 4.571 p.

Straight after the BRASILIAN NATIONALS [September 12-19 ] were flown in 3 classes; Club,[4] racing [15] and open, [7] with on Saturday the 12th a practice day for the 26 pilots!
On Sunday “the real thing started”.
Club;
Task 1; 3 hour AAT…The Libelle did not compete so only 2 PW 5’s and a KW 1 in this class.
Task 2; 3.30 AAT…pfff …many k’s for the little ones!!!! Andre Goldenstein in the PW 5 flew 307 km,in time 4.16 ..great effort!!! In fact he is the only one in this class who flew well.
Task 3; 3.30 AAT… Andre “got”the 1000 points, for 285 km. Speed 81 km. /h not bad for the PW 5.

15 m;
Task 1 ;3.30 AAT….1000 points…431 km…speed 123.39 km./h in a DG 1001 M flown by Renato Stefanuto..3 out.
Task 2; 3.30 AAT…445 km. in this class in time 3.46 in a St Jantar by Luis Affonso for 1000 points. 5 From 14 finished.
Task 3; 3.30 AAT… 2 St. Jantars with 385/388 km. in time 3.32/3.34 and a Duo with 419 km. in 3.33.

Open;
Task 1; 4 hour AAT….1000 points for 597 km…speed 149 km./h…in Nimbus 4T flown by Henrique Navarro. All 7 finished , 6 flew over 500 km.
Task 2; 5 hour AAT….5 from 7 flew over 600 km!!! Claudio Schmidt in the ARCUS M flew 673 km. in time 5.03 , so a nice speed of 133 km./h.[703 OLC km’s] Runner up was Henrique. He and Egon Rehn [ at spot 3] in the QUINTUS topped the world wide OLC last Monday.
Task 3; 439 km……All 7 pilots flew the task. Best on handicap [118] was Claudio with a speed of 149 km. /h. Egon had 154 km./h in the Quintus.[ Handicap 124]

Varese continued on Friday with the last 2 / 3days of the Coppa Citta di Varese…./ Trofeo Walter Vergani. A 2 hour AAT was set. Alberto [Sironi] in the ARCUS was the best with 194km , but only 4 [Stefano Ghiorzo, Ugo Pavese and Austrian pilot Thomas Hynek ] flew over 100 km, so a zero- points –day! Another small task for the last day; 2.10 AAT. Alberto won again , this time for 603 points. 16 from 19 flew the task. They added on Sunday the reserve day to make it 3 valid days and to define the winner of the Coppa AND the 15 m. NATIONAL CHAMPION.
A 2.20 AAT was set. 153 km. was the best result and won by….Alberto and only 7 flew the task. So winner of the Coppa …. Alberto Sironi in the ARCUS T with after 3 valid days 1.264 points. Only one other pilot flew over the 1000 points line; Luca Castelli in the JS 1 EVO with 1.167 p.
NATIONAL CHAMPION in 15 m. after 3 valid tasks is Alfio Lavazza in an LS 8 with 844 points. Runner up was Ugo Pavesi [ASG 29] with 818 points and Stefano Ghiorzo was 3d in the DIANA 2. [816 p].

Severe problems with my blog!!
Bill has been busy for a week to recover the log-in on google- chrome but it still shows problems…I can’t get in!!!
So I found out that it works now via internet explorer but I am not used to this system, so it took me 3 hours to publish this whilst the text was ready in word.
Left the rest of the pictures out .
Try to publish now…hopefully it all works perfect next time again.
A GREAT THANK YOU to Bill!!!!

CU hopefully next week
Cheers Ritz

September started with around 700 km. flights in the beginning of autumn in Europe [France, Spain and Germany] , and ….not too bad…600 k. in the UK from Lasham in the ARCUS T….and 456 km. Down Under, by our former partner in Tocumwal Grant ,who flew his St. Jantar from Kingaroy on the first spring day.
The last comps in Europe are in progress now as well.

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Coppa Citta Di Varese.
4 September 2020 – 13 September 2020
 Sat 5, Sun 6, Mon 7; then Fri 11, Sat 12 September 2020
13 is a reserve day.

After the CIM and Coppa Citta di Rietie, the pilots fly now in Varese where 20 pilots “fight” to win the CUP from Varese at the airfield of Calcinate del Pesche; “Adele and Giorgio Orsi airport of Varese “. I remember both of them.
The 15m. Nationals are part of this last competition in 2020.
The CD is the same as in Rietie…Aldo Cernezzi.
Day 1 …no task… but day 2 had a small task number 1; 2.45 AAT.
Nobody flew more than 100 km…67 km. was the best …and lots had air space violations.So NO points.
task 2; 2.20 AAT…and now they could fly a few more kilometres.
205 for Alberto [Sironi] as the best for the day, in the ARCUS T; speed 87 km./h, which says enough of the day.
No flying on Monday..cancelled.
Then they start again next Friday.
I will keep you informed.

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—-News from Alexander Schleicher;
“First flight of the AS 34 Me – Schleicher’s first electric self-starter in the airAS 34 Me – Schleicher’s first electric self-launcher has flown https://www.alexander-schleicher.de/

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—News from E2 glide;
” Congratulations! Matthew Scutter won E2Glide competition with Diana-2! September 2020, Germany. “
With 5 out of 8 day’s at the airfield of Großrückerswalde, Matthew won 3 days and was runner up on 2!!!
Number 2 was Florian Heilmann in the SILENT and at 3 Luka Žnidaršič in a Ventus 3.
Matthew mentioned ;” E2Glide turned out to be a great event – we had very marginal weather, as you would expect for September in Germany and perhaps 2/8 days were flyable by normal standards. With the whole fleet having electric engines, we were able to launch and even start in marginally soarable conditions and still manage tasks on 6/8 days. “

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Another competition which is always nice to follow is the UK Mountain Soaring Championship 2020 from Aboyne in Scotland organized by the Deeside Gliding Club.
“Things will be a little different this year, no welcome BBQ on Saturday evening, morning briefings will be held over Zoom and all all pilots, crews and the organizing team are split into 5 separate bubbles.”
“But some things will never change, we will still have both the cross-country and height gain competitions running all week, with all the task and scores published on Soaring Spot“

They started on September 6 with a “nice” 3 hour AAT, with 20 pilots and 2 HC pilots/teams.
Tasks 1 was for as far as I know one of the best in this discipline..John Williams with 254 km in the 18m. LS 8. Though there are 2 John Williams in this comps , the other one flies the ANTARES 20,….that’s always difficult when you are not there!
10 were out and the runner up Dave Latimer, had 237 km in the Ventus CT/17.5 m.
Task 2 after a non flying CC-day [ pilots could fly or practice height that day ] had a 2.30 AAT won by the Duo Discus, with 394 km. mind you , the runner up in Discus 2 CT had 256 km. 12 Pilots were out.
You can follow the days action at https://glideandseek.com/?viewport=57.02399,-3.54577,10
A 2 hour task is set for today.

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GLIDING INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2020.
It’s getting easier and easier to read the G.I, just perfect NOW!!! It reads so much easier when the lay out is superb, and that is what it is now.
More or less an e-reader.
Compliments to the G.I. team in New Zealand.
What’s in it???
—-An impressive story about “Sailors of the sky” 24 pages of stories , pictures and graphics.
It’s a reprint of a 1967 article about gliding, just the time I started soaring.
“Finding the story and buying the rights to use it from National Geographic was not a complex affair, but nevertheless gave us all at Gliding International a real sense of purpose.” John Roake the editor.
—-nice stories about Klaus Holighaus an Ingo Renner who turned 80 in June.
—-has gliding anything to learn from passenger aircraft manufacturers?
—–an update…..a sad day for gliding in New Zealand with Omarama closed….
—–Lot’s of news…p.e. the 2020 FAI General Conference edition 114,…will be like most briefings at comps nowadays electronically.
—– the August accident report did n’t make me happy….7 deaths recorded.
and INTERNATIONAL Aviation news for glider pilots and “things with wings”

CU next week
Cheers Ritz

We are in September now and the meteorological SUMMER is over here!!! Winter of course down under/southern atmosphere.
Normally I write about containers travelling to Australia and even more to South Africa and Namibia, but as it looks now, such things will NOT happen.
Most travelling is on hold, lot’s of airline pilots are waiting to start again,..that is when they have not lost their job…and borders not only from countries, but also from states are CLOSED.
Comps have been rescheduled and some just disappeared from the agenda.
We NEVER anticipated a year ago, how bad this covid-19 was and is for our way of living.
And it ain’t over yet!!!
We just have to make the best out of it.
Let’s focus for the moment, on local soaring, our good health and remain careful.

On Wednesday August 26, Adam [Woolley] showed the season down under is on the verge of beginning; 487 [300 FAI triangle] from Kingaroy in his Ventus 2ax /15m.
Not long he will fly his new toy, a Ventus 3.
“ What an awesome Winters day in Queensland & a terrific way to open the bank up since my last glide (Mid-Feb).; 305km at 132kph!! Then OLC flying to end the day under huge clouds, fires and smooth air – great fun! “

David Jansen flew ,…also from Kingaroy…the next day 726 km [541 FAI triangle] in an LS 8, with a very easy-going comment;” Gotta love Queensland in winter.. “
Adam and his dad had a great flight that day too.
Adam;” Wicked winters day, 500 declared FAI triangle at 135kph – Dad beat me off the stick at 140kph! I missed a climb that I rejected and Dad took at the end of the day, that was all the difference way. Old bull, young bull hey!?”
AND;” Sensational winters day, 513km FAI at 136kph! 5.1kt average, 17% thermalling, 37km glides at 73:1 at 180kph cruise speed!First glide out of the start: 100km at 85:1 at 180kph, into 6.6kts for 3500′! Beautiful CU for most of the task, heights, climbs, speeds, all predicted perfectly by SkySight, many happy smiles at the bar tonight .”
Indeed very “happy chappies” over there in the East of Australia where the new season normally starts.
Here clearly days are getting shorter. BUT,…..still over 700 k-flights in Europe [Germany, France],as well in the beginning of autumn.

NEWSY NEWS:

—Slowly we can look back at the 2020 season on the OLC. Not a bad season, when we look at the damage done by COVID in other sectors.
I guess not a lot will change,till the end of this OLC season, so I slowly start with the stats from the best flights.
Both were flown in a STEMME.
Both in December [-13] from Zapala Neuquen in Argentina, with huge speed ; 196 km./h.
One by Klaus Ohlman …2.816,95 km….and one by Thomas Horz…2.805,58 km.
Wave up to 8045 MSL.
At spot 3 Jean Marc Perrin in a 15m. DG 808 on December 12…..2.228,12 km. with a speed of 163 km./h also from Argentina, but this time from the airfield of Jose De San Mart  .
So to see, the first long flight not flown in wave ,was from Pokweni by Alexander Mueller in his EB 29 with 1.400 km…speed 151 km./h. on November 27.

—- News from Jonker Sailplanes;
JS2 Revenant – STEP by STEP – Our chief design engineer did not want to give any performance away with the JS2 fuselage. In fact, he designed the fuselage with even less drag than the JS1C fuselage. Obviously, this raised some concerns to our marketing team if we would be able to fit our better built customers. As soon as the seat pan, seat back and instrument console were installed we lined up our test models… The awesome models were sadly not selected by looks but for size. Being fit and in shape was not one of the criteria. In fact, we tried all sizes. Our favorite model Oscar Goudriaan fitted easily, and it seems if a 140 kg “real man” also manages to find his position. “I am confident that a 115 kg pilot exceeding 2m will enjoy a comfortable ride!” Attie says.

—-Outlanding with the tug!!! as shared by Arne Martin Guettler:
“ Glider pilots can outland anything. Here the tow plane had to make an outlanding, after an engine failure at 400ft during a glider tow. The field was about 250m long, but recently harvested. The glider made it back to the airfield.”
In the end it was a cracked cylinder.

—More outlandings.,..3 out of 5 flying days for Benjamin [and Claire] who wrote a funny but very interesting blog about the Pre world ‘s in France…
https://claireandbenjamin.wixsite.com/aero/post/kawa-beats-me-again-and-story-about-oulanding

—-Yesterday the TOUR DE FRANCE left Sisteron, passed Serres and the cyclists spend the night in Gap.
All places we know from soaring too.
One of the Dutch glider pilots Willem, made a few pictures whilst looking at the TV. You can clearly see the several helicopters used to cover the tour caravan.
I saw it on TV in Holland/The Netherlands as well.

And to finish a great picture shared by  Mamz’ailes SoFi in her L’album de Mamz’ailes SoFi She just celebrated her birthday.

CU next week,
Cheers Ritz

When I left you on Wednesday morning they were ready for short tasks in France, but even short was not good enough.
In Club, 3 from 13 finished, in Mixed 13 from 31…..The UK pilots did well in that kind of UK-weather.
Starts were mostly around 4 PM for club and around 4.25 PM for the mixed class. So a late window to fly in.

Club class;

Wednesday …Task 4…2.15 AAT;
The German and Polish pilots knew how to deal with this weather too. Uwe [Wahlig] and Stefan [Langer] started at 3.49 together and Uwe finished after 138 km in time 2.24. Stefan flew 147 km ,but seems not to have finished but still got 358 points where Uwe got 440.
Lukasz Kornacki and Arkadiusz Downar in SZD 55 and Pegase started together as well at 3.41 and both finished in time just over 2.30 and 140 km’s distance.

Thursday…Task 5…363 km;
That looks better….

But it was not really better….with what I heard, a pretty tough wind and on the tail during start, the pilots enthusiastically started their relative big task, BUT…..ONLY 3 finished. The wind on the nose at the last leg was just too much for most.
Uwe and Stefan finished,… good on them…. they started together at 1.46 and …finished around 6.50 PM. So over 5 hours in the air.
They were on a daily 2 and 3 spot ,…cause the UK has a good pilot as well; Jake started at 2.15 , finished at 7 and was number 1 with 877 points and a speed of 77 km./h
His UK mate Ge started at the same time, but JUST could not make it home missing out on a few km’s.
Belgium pilot Frederic de Groote is doing well in his St. Libelle and was on spot 4 missing out on 4 k.
So 3 IN and 10 OUT.

Friday….NO TASK! So 1 more day to go!!

Saturday …task 6...3.45 AAT !!!! LAST DAY!!
Weird day not only because the scoring system failed in the evening, just when it is important to see what’s going on.
In this class however, “things” were pretty normal.
The German toppers Uwe and Stefan , were together with Rasmus, the ONLY FINISHERS.
They flew all 3 over 300 km, …more did so, but did not finish…with the best speed for Stefan, 88.96 km./h., so he won the day.
Jake was out and lost points.
Then it was waiting for the scores till mid night. Sunday morning I had the final results, for the first 3 pilots.
1. Stefan Langer, moved from 2 to 1 with 3.961 points.
2. Uwe Wahlig moved from 3 to 2 with 3.936 points.
3. Jake Brattle moved from 1 to 3 with 3.776 points.

Mixed class;

Wednesday…Task 4…1.45 AAT;
Starts between 4.14 and 4.30….also for them a small window to fly in,…so small that 9 flew less than 100 km.
It really upset the overall scores as the “normally finishing” pilots as Sebastian and Lucasz were out as well.
So 6 pilots flew over 150 km.,among them 3 UK pilots, 2 from Italy and 1 from France.
For their efforts they got between 517 and 530 points .
The UK pilots Matthew John [Cook] and Howard [Jones] moved straight away from 7 and 14 to spot 1 and 2 overall, but scores are close very close.
My Belgian mates Jeroen and Dennis had a bad Tuesday. Their scores arrived only a day later. I noticed they had started 1 hour later than the rest and could not bring their gliders home.
So I wondered what had happened,…taking a risk for a late start…maybe rain and non way to depart…NO , they were not sure if they had a good start and flew back for a restart…now I wonder if their first start was OK.

By the way Benjamin had an other outlanding, but I was more interested in his comment;
“this time with my team mate. Still massive welcome from the farmer and his family. We will come back for sure just for the friendship !
Weather was like a « cucumber tart » and start line limited to 1400 m was just a joke many pilots paid by early outlanding… anyway welcome in Montluçon “

Thursday…Task 5….369 km;
That looks better and scores will be hopefully less upset. But,…..for some it was a “hell-of-a-day”!!!!
Though 1000 points were to be given.
They were for Belgium pilot Francois Delfosse ,who in his JS 3 flew the distance with a speed of 68 km./h. AND,…that say’s enough about the day with a real tough wind on the last leg.
Some were caught out by rain as well.
What about Sebastian, you look for him at the top, but no this time he was at the bottom!!Last spot ..41…with 163 points.
He started with Lucasz G. who was the last finisher on spot 29…but he “got” 836 points.
But we know what Sebastian can,…..no worries!!!

Friday…NO TASK!

Saturday….task 6…3 hour AAT ; LAST DAY!!!
And what a day it was!!!! Not only because of the scoring problem, but also because the changes in the overall scores….Let’s start with the day first.
Team Eric and Anne won the last day in the ARCUS T. with 333 km in time 3.10. A few more were scored and then it was waiting. Problems with the scores. I went to bed.
In the morning on Sunday, still the wrong scores as I knew that some pilots were scored as only km’s,…. but they had finished.
In the end the scores , who were all pretty close changed dramatically.
The 2 UK boy’s Matthew and Howard moved from 1 and 2 to 5 and 9!!They were 18 and 19 for the day.
The French boy’s Meric and Antoine moved from 6 and 3 to 1 and 2!!!!
They were 12 and 14 for the day.
Scores are still very close, that’s why I share the best 10.
1. Meric Morel in ASG 29 with 3.935 points.
2. Antoine Havet in JS3 with 3.928 points.
3. Enrique Levin in Discus 2A with 3.870 points.
4. Jacek Flis in Discus 2Awith 3.869 p.
5. Matthew Cook in Ventus 2Awith 3.844 p
6. Max Seis in JS 3 with 3.835 p.
7. Thomas Grove and Andy Lutz in ASG 29E and Ventus 3 with 3.831 p.
9. Howard Jones in Discus 2A with 3.830 p.
10. Peter Banki from Hungary in Discus 2A with 3.815 p.

I say often ” on a last day a lot can happen ” That happened here with scores SO CLOSE. Mind you…scores are ALL PRELIMINARY as they are still struggling with the system…but they claim that the numbers 1-2 and 3 are OK.

An interesting competition , …maybe TOO many outlandings… I had the feeling that for next years WGC the organizers have to do a few jobs . No worries, it’s practice for them and the pilots.
As I later read, most were volunteers and called on very short notice. The drought and covid-rules did not help either.

As said the Junior comps and Female comps were in La Roche-sur-Yon also in France.They had tough weather but great fun.
Here are the ladies, the best out of the mixed class…

And here the juniors from CLUB class with only 3 out of 7 days.

And the winners from the mixed class after 4 days of flying out of 7.

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Coppa Citta di Rieti

With 21 pilots hoping to be the new Italian Open Class National Champion ,they started on August 15 in 2 groups like in the C.I.M.;
Group 2 counted 28 pilots, group 1 had 12 .
They had 7 out of 8 good days up to 500 km. and a few very fast ones.
Peter Hartmann [Group 2] flew on task 3 around over 381 km. [2.20 AAT] with a speed of 163 km./h!!!
One day later he repeated that with 162 km./h over a racing task from 394 km. flying his Antares 23T.
Saturday was the last day and Peter leaded the overall scores then in group 2 , ahead of the Bouderliques, Giancarlo[Grinza] winner from the C.I.M and Thomas[Gostner] .
Great to see Alvaro [De Orleans] did win 3 tasks [1-5-6] in his ASH 31 Mi 21m. A pity he did not fly on task 3.

On Saturday was their last day and in group 2 the winner was yes , Peter again, now with 129 km./h. over 393 km during a 2.40 AAT. So easy overall scores;
1. Peter Hartmann in ANTARES 23 T with 6.085 points.
2.The Bouderliques in the ARCUS M with 5.879 p.
3. Giancarlo Grinza in Ventus 3F with 5.795 p.

In Group 1 no surprises and great flying by Luca
1. Luca Urbani in Discus B WL with 6.128 points.
2. Team Scheiber from Austria in Duo Discus XLT with 6.062 p.
3. Lorenzo Fornari in Ventus A [500 kilo] with 6.015 p.
The rest was in the 5000 scoring.

SO ….also important ,…who is the new Italian Open Class Champion;
1. Giancarlo Grinza with 6.231 points.
2. Ugo Pavesi with 6.052 p.
3. Thomas Gostner with 6.007 p.
The rest was in the 5000 marge.

Congratulations to all. Rieti had a great time with many happy pilots during the C.I.M. and C.C.R.
I think, no I am sure that, CD Aldo’s mentality , personal interest and touch, have to do a lot with these great comps.
Not to forget a THANK YOU TO THE TUGGIES, always active in hot and sometimes not too easy conditions

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—– Newsy news;
Liz Sparrow, the CD for the next WWGC ,flew a new UK gliding speed record; class….women’s open,20m and 15 m.!!
Congratulations Liz, this is some super flying. Liz’s record flight was on 11 July 2020. She flew a 400km triangle at 107.76 kph!
I add my congratulations as well. By the way she flew the record in an ASG 29/15m.
—-  regarding the rescheduling of the Multiclass Nationals in Australia, which had been planned for October 2020.
” The SDP (Soaring Development Panel) have agreed that a Nationals can not be a Nationals if all states can’t attend, or can’t do so without quarantine. So if the current interstate restrictions were to remain in place throughout the soaring season, we will not be having any Australian Nationals events in the 2020/21 season. “
They remain optimistic though…
—–The Kiripotib SOARING team , has cancelled with pain in their heart this upcoming season. So NO FLYING WITH THE CHAMPIONS.
There will be no containers from them, going to Namibia this season, but they are planning already for the 2021/22 season.
” We decided two months ago not to send our gliders, but in the background there were considerations and discussions about organizing a shortened season. However, the current Covid19 developments, especially in Namibia, have led to the decision to cancel everything. “
—–Bitterwasser had about the same message;”All hope in vain.
All the optimism of the organizers did not help: this year – due to the Covid 19 pandemic – there will be no hovering season in Bitterwasser! The Bitterwasser Board kept the decision open until the last minute. Now, shortly before the containers with the gliders should have been brought on the way, the decision had to be made. “
Travelling from and to Namibia at this stage,is impossible too, BUT ” The hope for a season in Bitterwasser has not yet been completely given up. If the development turns positive by early October at the latest, a shortened season can be organized. “
—-The Polish 18 m. Nationals [ 14 August 2020 – 23 August 2020 ] from Leszno , were won, like last year by Lukasz Wojcik in his VENTUS 3T.
29 Competitors in this “open ” class and 5 out of 10 days.
Janusz Centka was 3d in ASG 29 and team Wolfgang Janowitsch/Petkovic in ARCUS M was 6th.
—- Tassilo Bode had some super flights in the Ventus 3M from Puimoisson in France and shared some great pictures here is one of them.
Pretty busy there with 22 flights on the 21st.
One day earlier Lucas Blattmann flew a 1000 from there in his VENTUS 3T.

We finally had the last day of the regional heatwave last Sunday, pfff… 18 day’s is a pretty long time. On the other hand , we have today a REAL autumn-day,..this change is going to quick!!!AND,..again a lot of damage by fallen trees, but no casualties.
CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz

The Montluçon-Guéret International Glide 2020/ PRE-WORLDS with 60 pilots from 17 different countries is in progress.
16 August 2020 – 22 August 2020
One of the important messages was published on August 14 2020;
“Dear competitors
Due to the severe drought situation in France and particularly in the department of Creuse, measures to restrict the use of water have been taken by the authorities.
Competition will therefore take place without ballasting the gliders.
Thank you for your understanding.”
That will be very different, but less work in the morning and everybody has the same “problem”.
I heard not everybody was happy with this “on short notice” new rule.

A lot of well known and still young pilots in club class as , Rasmus Orskov from Denmark, Jake Brattle and Tom Arscott from the UK, as well as a bit older Ge Dale and from Germany their German coach Wolli Beyer.
Dutch WGC champion Sjaal Selen will attend from Holland and my Belgium mates , Dennis Huybreckx and Jeroen Jennen.
Toppers from Germany as Jan Omsels and Enrique Levin and from Poland Sebastian Kawa and Lucasz Grabowski.
Matthew Scutter former JWGC champion from Australia and Andy Lutz from Austria and many more!!!
So 2 classes CLUB and a mixed standard/15 m/20 m. class. Scoring for the standard, 15m and 20m multi-seat class will be with French FFVP handicaps. 
First official practice day after rain the day before, was on August 15 with tasks as 3.30 AAT for club [ 13 pilots] and 3 hour AAT for the mixed class.[43] In the 2 seaters of course 2, as Eric Napoleon with Anne Ducarouge in the ARCUS .
12 in the mixed class flew and finished ,2 were “out”. Winner was Sebastian with 319 km. and a speed just over 100 km./h.
The rest , as runner up Dennis and Howard [Jones] on 3 ,had under 100 km./h.

A few “girls ” flying as well. A quick look on the participants learns me : Aude, Diana, Anne and the Abadies share one JS 3.

Let’s start with this for sure interesting competition;
CLUB CLASS 13 pilots:
Day 1 ..task 1…2 hour AAT; CANCELLED
Day 2..task 2…297 km; won by the young “hotshot” from the UK, Tom [Arscott] with a speed of 80 km./h in the LS 7 WL; 865 points.
Ge [Dale] an a bit older “hotshot’ was runner up in a DG 200 and on 3 the other young “hotshot” Jake [Brattle] in LS 7 WL.
So a few “out” as well; 7 from 13.
Day 3…task 3 …3 hour AAT; OUCH…bad day for Tom…he was the only one out….after 238 km. and lost nearly 700 points, that hurts!!!!
Jake had a better day and was runner up, they started together, so something en route must have gone wrong.
Winner for the day Stefan Langer for Germany in LS 3A. [279 km.in time 3.09 for 1000 points] His mate Uwe Wahlig in the same glider was 3d.

MIXED CLASS 41 pilots:
Day 1…task 1…2.30 AAT; CANCELLED.
Day 2…task 2 …322 km; only ONE pilot/team flew over 100 km./h. so a difficult day; Yves Gerster /Hirt from Switzerland in the ARCUS M .
Max[imilian] Seis in the JS 3 lost 18 points as runner up as it was a 1000 points -day for them.
The Abadies sharing a JS 3 were 3d but fly HC ,so Matthew [Scutter] had a good day as number 3.[98 km./h]
Matthew mentioned;”Exciting climb up to final glide on the first flying day at the France Preworlds.[In the rain]
Easily the strangest competition I have ever flown in – water restrictions mean we are not allowed to ballast with water, but we’re still being scored with ballasted handicaps, so we have Diana 2’s in our class as low as 30kg/sqm and Arcus M’s at nearly 50kg/sqm, with 1% between them. I have the FES batteries in my Diana 2 so I am not suffering as badly as others.
A difficult day, with TP’s surrounded by rain and a storm for some on the last leg…then dead air!!!
From 41 6 were out. Most of them only 10 k out!!!Benjamin [Neglais] was out on 12 k, as you can see a “real aux vaches”, but still could smile;

Day 3…task 3…2.30 AAT; MUCH better day for Benjamin…19th for the day. It turned out to be a Polish day; Lucasz Grabowksi [ASG 29] was on 1 with 265 km. in time 2.40. Jacek Flis [Discus 2A] was runner up and Sebastian [Diana 2] on 3 with the other Lucasz [Blaszczyk ] on 6.[Discus 2A]
The 3 Dutch pilots were on spot 31[Robbie in LS 8] , 32 Diana [in JS3] and 33 Sjaak.[Discus 2A]

For today there is a 1.45 AAT-task for the mixed class and a 2.15 AAT for Club.
Scores are very close ,..but hopefully 4 more flying days to make the difference,…AND with ONLY ONE point more you are a winner too.

If you want to “follow” the pilots….they continue till August 22… look at; https://link.glideandseek.com/montlucon-2020

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At the same time they fly in France the JUNIOR and Female competition.
La Roche-sur-Yon in France, is the place to be for the juniors and the female pilots.
Also a mixed class [ 19] and club class.[ 22]
4 Members of the De Pechy family, with, I presume dad and one son in the ARCUS M., being runner up on task 2 but as HC and 2 young sons in the Club class with Clement winning task 2 and brother Anton with no points.

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—-Ricardo Brigliadori flew a stunning new European and Italian record ; 183 km./h.over a 100 km. FAI- triangle.
He flew his JS 1 …and/as …he is the Italian JS agent.
Ricky mentioned via Jonkers;” “the sky of Rieti is always the most magical sky of the world. Every day brings joy, fun galore and satisfaction for those who love our amazing sport: GLIDING! “

—-Talking about Italy AND Rieti the Coppa City di Rieti is in full swing with group 1 and group 2 and during this competition the Italian Open Class Nationals will be flown.
21 Pilots fly for the title. Quite a lot of the same names as the last Rieti CIM.
They had 3 flying days till now …yesterday had NO TASK….and in open it’s again Giancarlo Grinza [Ventus 3F/18m] who is at this stage leading the “pact”.
Ugo Pavesi [ASG 29] is just 16 points behind and Thomas Gostner is 3d in Ventus 3T./18m.
Yesterday Peter [Hartmann ] in his Antares 23 won the 2.20 AAT with 163 km./h. in group 2.

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—-For my Aussie mates and for those who still hope to visit Australia for the 2020/2021 season here some news from the comps.
Qld state Comps
Registration from Thursday 24th Sept
Practice  Friday 25th Sept
Comp Saturday 26th Sept – Friday 2nd Oct
Presentation Dinner Friday 2nd Oct
Format will be Grand Prix style.
Club Class will be flown Dry
Sports Class will be ballasted.
Registration at https://darlingdownssoaringclubinc.wildapricot.org/event-3922221?CalendarViewType=1&SelectedDate=9/18/2020

—-To finish some really “sad” news!!!!About Omarama, I thought the problems were sold but it seems to be more complicated!!!
“Sadly, Glide Omarama does not expect to be operating from the Omarama Airfield in the near future.
It has been an incredibly challenging six months for us on many fronts.
Many of you will know that the Civil Aviation Authority decided to discontinue our letter of exemption from part 115 of the civil aviation act earlier in the year. This decision, to enforce new compliance on Glide Omarama’s operations, was abrupt and unexpected and was made following extensive personnel changes within the Authority. Unfortunately for us, it fell in the middle of our season. Part 115 compliance for Gliding is unique to New Zealand and is a complex, lengthy, and expensive process. Requiring significant new levels of regulatory and administrative overhead it would have vastly increased our operating costs without adding any measurable safety benefits. It would also push many of our most experienced and talented instructors out of the industry.

Even as we began to tackle part 115 compliance, Covid-19 turned the world upside down. Despite some newfound local interest in gliding, many of our regular overseas clients and team are unable to travel here for the 20/21 season. We’re thinking of you all; whatever this gliding season brings it will not be the same without you.

A further hurdle has now been thrown at us by the Omarama Airfield Company. Despite our existing legal rights to an exclusive license to operate commercial gliding from the airfield, they have proceeded to advertise for new commercial operators. We have been attempting to work with them to resolve our concerns in a way which minimises impact on everybody else. Unfortunately, they have declined to engage with us around the issues raised.
As a result of all of the above, there really is no choice but to suspend operations from the Omarama Airfield until further notice.

I myself have retired and handed over the business assets and affairs to my son George in the hope that he can pull together new leadership and a future for what we have built over the last 22 years in Omarama.In the meantime, I am preparing all of the equipment for sale including gliders, tow planes, hangers, and ancillary equipment, as well as writing a book. So please watch this space for updates.

I am told that over our 22 years, Glide Omarama had grown to become one of the most successful gliding operations worldwide. It was certainly unique considering the skills and professionalism of our staff, our wonderful guests from around the world, not to mention the Omarama soaring environment.
I often said that the real reward from this line of work was the people we met and the adventures we shared. This is certainly true for both Mandy and me.

I would very much like to thank all our guests from wherever you came and our outstanding team. There is also a very special thank you which I would like to make to Rod Dew our General Manager; his outstanding leadership and steady support throughout these difficult times have meant so much.

Gavin Wills – Retired, Omarama

It makes me feel VERY sad again, as it makes me think back of how Sportavia had to be sold in 2005. It’s a life style you don’t earn a lot of money ,but it is great to meet so many mates and be there for them, share their passion as well as yours.
I feel for Gavin and Mandy but as far as I could see and hear they did a great job.
I still have a lot of contact with lots of our guests and friends from the SSC time.
I know they will have too.

Cheers Ritz