Post 1.506 on July 14 2024

13th FAI JUNIOR WORLD GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ostrów Wielkopolski Michałków, Poland
13 July 2024 – 26 July 2024

—–Well,…. they all arrived, said hello to each other, changed ideas about the trip to Ostrow ,[some were more than exciting , ending at the police station in Dresden!] , went to the administration for badges and more, went to the hangar for scrutiny AND,…..had to begin flying ;
Unofficial practice day [ 262.54 km] was on Wednesday July 10, with good results for The Netherlands and South Africa, each “producing” a daily winner. Lars in club in his LS4bneo, who was quite a bit faster the the runner up; 108.67 for 99.38 km./h by Nils Zitzelsberger from Germany.
27 started , 14 finished and 17 still were busy preparing and did not fly.
In standard South African Phillip in LS 8 ,yes member of the well known Jonker family, not flying a JS but an LS 8, as indeed not long ago they confirmed their co-operation with DG.
Thomas Greenhill from the USA was runner up in Discus 2a; 295.32 km was their distance….124 and 120 km./h!!
The day finished with a race back to Ostrów before the forecast thunderstorms rolled in;”All gliders are derigged and in their trailers, as there are heavy thunderstorms passing by the airfield.” British Gliding Team

The next practice-day was a 1.30 AAT in CLUB with another Dutch pilot on top this time Wout in LS 4a with Lars on his heels. Nobody finished the task but they flew 68 km which was 12 km. more than the number 3 from France in ASW 20.
In STANDARD it was a young Polish pilot Jakub with 59 km. and a French pilot Lucas with 50 km.

—–The evening before the opening and before the official start of 13th FAI JWGC, they organized a WELCOME PARTY for the guests. It looked very informal and happy in an awesome hangar.

SATURDAY; OPENING with parade!
“The opening ceremony of the World Championships will take place on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.
Start of the march from 3mk Arena Ostrów to the Market Square in Ostrów, where we will welcome the pilots and officially start the sky competitions.”

Here are already a few of the teams
The French team with TOP TC Eric Napoleon to the r.

Team UK;

Team Italy; with Elena as their TC,.She is the WWGC champion from Lake Keepit !!! Marina Galetto , also from Italy, in the president of the jury.

Team USA;

Team Germany;

Dutch team; With TC Ger to the r. of the sign

THE JWGC started;
Day 1; on July 14; First launch postponed to 13:30. …..blue skies and 24C but the UK mentions; “the weather outlook for today is a short weather window and showery outbreaks expected”
And that for the first day….
Club; 2.30 AAT…. changed to task B, 2 hour AAT..…won by young Dutchie Lars [LS4 NEO WL] for 623 points.Good on him. Starts after 3PM. So waiting at the grid and more waiting!!!
The 3 Dutchies flew together when possible and were the first to start at 15.09. Alexandre [ASW 20] from France was runner up [start at 15.32] and  Alessandro [Discus B] from Italy was 3d.[start at 15.35]
It turned out not such a “blue” day as expected, they had CU’s and even a squall line .
From 44 only 2 were out.
We can call that a good first day!!!!

Standard; on July 14
Task 1; 2.30 AAT….B task 1.50 AAT; As Lars in club, another winner from a practice day wins day 1; Jakub from Poland in his LS 8; 199 km / 101.98 km./h. for 580 points. Runner up Victor  [LS8] from France and on 3 Max [LS8] from Germany. I expect a lot from Max.
From 23 starters 2 were out. Also Jasper, such a pity he flew 173 km, but did not finish, so only 183 points. His FES brought him home.
Some finishes and the showers in the back as seen by the French.

All scores are of course still preliminary. Tomorrow is another day in Ostrow, we will follow the young ones there and verify the scores again.

INFO;
My grand daughter Indya crews for Dutch pilot Jasper [ Glider 71] in Ostrow. She is a very good photographer , as you might have seen in the South African diary [ if you missed it, you have to scroll down] .
She is so kind to sent me pictures when she has time. I finish each JWGC story then with her pictures. I got a few last night already,… bit Dutch , but it will go totally international later she said, as , as you know, my blog is INTERNATIONAL.

“INDYA’S CORNER”. for more pictures you can go to her Instagram account at
[@indya._]
This competition is a place for international FRIENDSHIP , as you all know. Here are several international friends.

———————————————————-

In between the French Nationals have been flown in Standard and 15 m. and for the 2-seaters. VINON, was the place to be between July 7 and 13.
They had 6 out of 7 days , so finally a bit of good soaring weather in Europe. Some parts are “bloody HOT and others WET WET WET.
Stand. /15 m had a 2.30 AAT, a set task from 350.51 km, 399 km, 330 km, 329 km and 2.30 on the last day.
Jean-Denis Barrois had a 300 points lead over Philippe Lata and Max Seiss on this last day. Aurélien Doriat was also still in the race for the medals.
Max had a final good day ; 289 km/109.47 km./h and kept his amount of points.
1. Jean-Denis Barrois in JS3 with 4,408 points.
2. Maximilian Seis in JS3 with 4,181 points.
3. Aurélien Doriat in LS8 with 4,078 points.

2 seaters; had about the same tasks however on task 3 they had 452.66 km . Excitement enough on the last day. As HC pilots Jurgen Wenzel from Germany and Mike Young from the UK [ both in Arcus M] can not win the French title, it was Didier Hauss, who won in a DUO DISCUS. He also won the last day.
1. Didier Hauss in DUO DISCUS with 4,914 points.
2.  Thierry Boilley in ARCUS M with 4,587 points.
3. Svobodny & Bellec in ARCUS M with 4,570 points, just missing out on 17 points, by nearly missing out on 221points on the last day.
Jurgen and Mike stayed on 2 and 3 but without a title [4.806 and 4.686 points]

————————————————

I wrote last week about the book “Goodbye Papa Golf” from Chip Bearden.
He is with Tony [Condon} at a the ISVM at Harris Hill a vintage meeting with the most gorgeous vintage planes as this beauty.

Cheers Ritz and stay tuned I publish whenever I have nice news on the JWGC.

Post 1.505 on July 10 2024

Quite a few comps finished last week. Most had not the best weather, but still scores to see who was the best.
I looked at a few interesting competitions for you.

—–47th INTERNATIONAL Issoudun finished with marginal conditions due to rain and wind like most comps do in Europe.
Multi class;
Task 6 on July 3 was 309.49 km …..ONLY 3 finishers , all from France. An SZD-56-2 Diana 2 FES won with Olivier Momege ,then a Duo Discus and LS6/18m.
Task 7 ; 2.30 AAT..…All back ……the UK pilots were on spot 1 to 5 with Tom [Arscott] as winner. All 17 started AND finished.
Task 8;  164.15 km….Tim Milner won the day.128.30 km/72.13 km./h. Tough day again but character building I hope.
Task 9; 1.30 AAT.…VERY LAST DAY. OUCH,….cancelled!!!!!!
Anyhow great results after 6 out of 9 days and very close, look at this;
1. Henry Inigo-Jones [UK] in LS8 with 3,387 points….. ready for the JWGC.
2. Oscar Butlin [UK] in LS 8 with 3,329 points.
3. Tom Arscott [UK]in LS7 with 3,310 points.

Club;
Task 6; 252.54 km…4 from 12 who started finished as well. George [Downing] won with 83 km./h. The other George [Whiting] was 3d with 78 km./h.
Task 7; 2.15 AAT....227 km/98 km./h was the best result by George W. All 12 started AND finished.
Task 8;  156.08 km later 103. 11km….with starts at 4PM the “oldies ” with respect showed how to handle not the best day; Brian [Spreckley] won with 66.58 km./h whilst Shaun [Lapworth} had 66.30 km./h.
From 13 only 7 finished.
Task 9; 1.30 AAT... THEY FLEW!!!!! 9 started and 7 finished. George White flew 159 km/ 93.02 km./h. He seems ready to for the JWGC.
The other George out landed as dis Brian, but better now than next week during the JWGC.
Overall scores after 7 out of 9 days;
1. George White [UK] in ASW 20 with 4,064 points. CLEAR winner .
2. George Downing[UK] in ASW 20 with 3,658 points.
3. Thomas Chapman[UK] in ASW 20 with 3,481 points.

—–The FAI SGP in Lesce -Bled continued with

Race 3 on July 3; 106.29 km….late start at 16.05……”Congratulations to Patrick Puskeiler for his daily win! Mario Kiessling arrived second before him but he has more penalties. Jernej Lokovsek is 3rd.“
Race 4; 159.11 km with another late start at 15.50.”Nailbiting” some call the days with these tricky weather conditions. But they flew and there were winners; Stanisław Biela in a Ventus 3TS , 113 km./h for 10 points.
Gilles Navas was runner up. Mario Kiessling had for the 2d time 5 minutes penalty for not crossing the finish line, this time he was too low. He leads anyhow with 30 points at this stage.
Race 5;  363.76 km ….the weather improved , so finally a nice task and a fast one; 144.7 km./h by Mario and no, not more penalties [just a waste, those lost points] Tilo was just a fraction behind him 144.2 km./h.
David Bauder from Germany was 3d with 143.8 km./h ,and Boris Zorz and Luca Znidarsic 1.43 km/h..
Start was at 13.45.

Race 6; 386.18 km.LAST DAY!!!!! Spot 1 is firm ; Mario has 40 points and the runners up Boris and Patrick both 23. So it’s all about the runner up spot and a spot for the SGP final.
When I saw the speed I had to look TWICE!!!
Mario added 11 points to his 40 by flying the 386 km in 2 hours and 11.12 minutes.speed; 176.6 km./h. WOW!!!!
12 Pilots flew OVER 170 km./h!!!!!! WHATADAY!!!!
final scores;
1. Mario Kiessling in Ventus 3 TS with 51 points.
2. David Bauder in Ventus 3TS with 29 points.
3. Patrick Puskeiler in Ventus 3TP with 28 points.

The next FAI SGP will be flown in France from Saint-Sulpice between July 21 and 27 2024.

——-The German club class nationals continued after 3 flying days with 3 non flying days ,2 with no task and 1 cancelled, but they tried hard and on July 3 they had task 10 ,a 1.30 AAT, on flying day 4.
From 43 starters 31 finished. Best result; 130 km./86km./h.
Task 11 was cancelled so on day 15 , flying day 5, they started with
task 12; 183.03 km….Toni Kittler won the day;130.89/65.87 km./h that IS work in the office. But nothing changed in the overall scores;
Overall scores for German club class title with 5 out of 12 days and with 45 pilots;
1. Stefan Langer in LS3WL with 3,131 points and German Champion in club class.
2. Uwe Wahlig in LS3 WL with 2,917 points.
3. Toni Kittler in LS4a with 2,794 points.

—–The OBGN, the open Belgian Gliding Nationals in St Hubert had 1 flying day on Wednesday but they suffered from the miserable weather conditions too. Last day was on July 7.
On July 4 they flew again :
Club;
Task 3; 2hour AAT….Thomas De Bruyn in LS4 won; 180km with 89 km./h.13 started 12 finished.
NO FLYING till the last day July 7, when the weather has improved;
Task 5; 278.11 km….flying day 3 out of 9. Jelle Vandebeeck in an ASW 24 won the day;74.89 km./h. He moved up from 9 to 4. Good on him.
Hope for him that 3 days makes it a valid championship. Indeed 3 out of 9 days in all 3 classes.
1. Thomas De Bruyn in LS 4 with 1,704 points.
2. Jules Mathay [Luxembourg] in LS 4b with 1,476 points.
3. Edwige Colson in ASW24 WL with 1,408 points.

Combi standard/15m/20 m;
Task 4; 2 hour AAT...Thomas Leduc in Ventus2cxa won; 215 km with 105 km./h. 9 Started and 1 was out.
No flights till the last day;
Task 7;  335.29 km….flying day 3 out of 9, such a pity!!!!!BUT,.. a nice task to finish on a more “high”.
Patrick Stouffs, yes indeed, he is still flying and HOW?? After an early start he flew in the Janus CT RG a speed of 86 km./h. He moved up from 9 to 5. From 7 starters 4, finished.
1. Thomas Leduc in Ventus 2cxa with 1,468 points.
2. Michiel Van den Borne in LS6A with 1,282 points.
3. Pieter Lievens in Duo Discus T with 1,162 points.

Combi 18m open and 20 m;
Task 4; 2 hour AAT.…Tijl Schmelzer in Ventus 3T won; 271 km with 129 km./h. All 15 started but 1 started too early ; meaning no start.
NO FLIGHTS till JULY 7 …..VERY LAST DAY!!!!
Task 7; 427.58 km….13 started and 9 finished. A good day for Jean-Luc Colson in the ASG 29 es; 103 km./h. Tijl Schmelzer in the Ventus 3T flew also over 100 km./h [101 km./h.]
Final scores;
1. Tijl Schmelzer in Ventus 3T with 2,055 points.
2. Jean-Luc Colson in ASG 29 es with 1,977 points.
3. Dennis Huybreckx in Ventus 3T with 1,854 points.

——Time to look ahead at the 13th FAI JWGC combined with the 5th and very last 13.5 WGC.
21 countries have entered with 67 entries; 23 in standard and 43 in club. The first pilots/crews have arrived last Saturday.
Looking at the entries the first arrival picture should be from Andrea Paganin from Italy with call sign RB.
Our neighbours , from Belgium , Martijn [Eerdekens] and Robbe [Van Brandt] , have left too ;

——EUROGLIDE had the final presentation for 2024. What ‘s better than let the WINNER “speak”
“That’s all folks! Out of 69 gliders on the 2662km Euroglide task, we had just two finishers, myself in 5 days and TP (the ‘pesky’ EB29) in 11 days.
Honorable mention to a PURE Arcus that got to just 100km short with 4 outlandings enroute.
Euroglide was a lot of fun and I’d recommend anyone to get some friends together and have a go as a group. Engine absolutely not necessary but of course much more comfortable.”
Congratulations AGAIN Matthew and thanks for keeping us up to date. On Saturday there was 1 more finisher.
Here is the FULL story in ;
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
He finishes with:”The final evening was a somber affair with balloons released for the pilot who left us midway through. We didn’t know him but he clearly was special to very many people. RIP“
Indeed he was!!!!!!

It’s not often that I write about a book. Yes I remind you on books like “WINNING in the wind” from George Moffatt on a sad occasion as his death recently, but this time the writer of Goodbye Papa Golf, contacted me and George’s death, was more or less the reason.

I have n’t got it or read it yet, but I will and then I will come back on it.
So I asked Chip, to give me some background on and inspiration for this book. 
“It’s a flying book for pilots and non-pilots.
A marathoning book for runners and non-runners.
An adventure story written in the universal human language of doubt, fear, success, tragedy, failure, comeback, triumph, love, and ultimate redemption in a remarkable life’s journey of an ordinary man.
Here are some quotes to give you an idea.”
“The book began 40+ years ago in the pre-dawn hours in a hotel room as I scribbled down details, before they faded, of the darkest day of my life, when my father crashed and died while I watched after flying most of the task with me and former world champion George Moffat at the 1980 U.S. 15M nationals.”
“Throughout the book, I discuss the risks associated with soaring and other activities. I explore the complex emotions and motivations around risk-taking, winning and losing, grief, identity, and purpose.“
Sarah Arnold the 2020 WWGC champion said about the book:”“Couldn’t put it down. Your story is compelling. The audience doesn’t have to care about soaring or running. It works because you’re vulnerable and raw and honest. The humanity.”
Much more about Chip on; https://chipbearden.com.

With the JWGC , a CAT 1 competition, I try to publish a bit more to be up to date.
Today, it’s still Tuesday ,I publish a few hours earlier as code orange is on here from 7PM onwards till tomorrow with the prediction of big hailstones, severe wind with heavy gusts and thunder and lightning.
My laptop stays OFF then.
On top of that I am still in the middle of renovations to my house.
CU soon .
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.504 on July 3 2024, the day our son and brother Dennis would have turned 55!!!! He sadly enough, only got to 18.5 years. [03-07-1969/03-01-1988] R.I.P. dear Dennis.

Hobbs New Mexico is the venue , as you know, for the 18m, 15m and club-class Nationals 2024.
After task 7 in each class they had a day with NO TASK on June 26. So 2 day’s to go as June 28 was the last day.
In the end they flew 7 out of 10 days, so not too bad, but I guess , more or less, what you can expect from Hobbs.

The UK Nationals I wrote about last week,had many good days and perfect winners. I noticed “an Oli Ramsay” from Oxford. Must be a student, I thought and saw he won task 3, did not fly task 6 was 3d on task 7 and won the last task the 3 hour AAT for 1000 points. Not being there, I can’t ask him why he did not fly whilst he was so good.
Then I am lucky that I have good UK friends,they filled me in.
“One point you might have missed from a distance is the performance of Oli Ramsay in the Std Class.Oli is 18 and still at school. He was given some time off to compete but with some mandatory school commitments during the week. On Day 3 he sat a Physics exam in the morning before coming to the airfield and launching at the back of the grid.
On Day 6 he was committed at school all day and could not fly.
Day 6 was a 1000 point day. Judge yourself whether you think Oli would have scored just over 800 points he needed to win the Std Class.
Definitely one to watch, starting at the Junior Worlds this summer where he flies for Team GB. He and Henry Inigo- Jones will be a formidable team.“
I totally agree with Roy [ThanksRoy] My grand daughter Indya will be crewing for the Dutch team and she will keep an eye on him in Poland. What a very talented young man !!!!
Looking forward to see their performances. Of course also from our Dutch mates. We do have a few “good ones ” too. And ,..never underestimate the French and German team and some Danish pilots were good too in the past.

Less than 2 weeks to go before this JWGC starts, to be precise 10 days. Found this picture from a great poster made by @maddycdraperart

The GERMAN CLUB CLASS NATIONALS flown from Burg Feuerstein between June 21 and July 5 count 45 pilots among them 2 real good ones often flying comps; Stefan Langer and Uwe Wahlig.
After 4 practice days they flew on June 24 their TASK 1; 367.91 km. not bad to start with for clubbies.
Uwe and Stefan, both in LS3WL, were the 2 best; 99 and 96 km./h.
Task 2 a 3 hour AAT was a prey for Stefan with 278.60 km and 87 km./h whilst Uwe was 4th, with 81 km./h. Pretty expensive for the points; 1000 for 872.
45 started and 39 finished.
Task 3 was short; 175.03 km. Stefan won again and was the only one with a speed over just 100 km./h. Uwe had a bit of an off day with an 28 th spot, after a “earlish” start at 13.01. Stefan left at 13.22.
44 started and 1 was out, after 144 km.
Then 2 days with very short tasks, showers and wind so both days were cancelled.
Then 2 days with NO TASK, maybe better NO WEATHER!!!!
On July 2 a very small task; 112.91 km to keep the spirit up…..BUT not flownn.
For today there is a task; 1.30 AAT.

The 47th INTERNATIONAL ISSOUDUN in France has many UK pilots. For a few years the young UK ones fly there as competition training . Also this year they prepare for the JWGC as Henry and Oli both flying in the
multi class;
On task 1 on June 28 [they continue till July 6] a 2.30 AAT, the first 5 places were for the UK with Tom [Arscott] as daily winner. The next 5 places for France. Only 1 pilot from Belgium flying a Duo Discus.
From 16 in this class only 7 finished.
No flying day and then
Task 3, 2 hour AAT and this time it was really great practice. 7 UK pilots topped the list and Tom , again the best won the day with 215 km/97km./h. Quite a bit further and faster than Henry, but what practice for him; 184 km/88.90 km./h. Oli was 4th. Starts after 4.30 PM.
Task 4; 276.57 km…. only ONE pilot managed to finish. Ludovic Hirtz in the Duo Discus; speed 73.85 km./h. 9 Pilots flew over 200 km.
Today; task 6…..309.49 km

Club class has 13 pilots among them the other 2 UK JWGC pilots George Whiting and George Downing both in ASW 20 and former 1987 world champion Brian Spreckley [LS1f] . Shaun Lapworth, [St. Cirrus] speaker at some GP- races, is a competitor as well.
task 1 was a short 2 hour AAT . 5 From 13 finished all with around 153 km and best was Thomas Chapman in ASW 20. Both Georges finished as well. Good practice!!!
Task 3 after a cancelled day was a 2 hour AAT again. Meaning the French summer weather is not yet “ON”.
From 13 pilots 10 UK pilots in the top 10 3 Belgian pilots followed but 1 was out. George White won with183 km/87 km./h.
task 4;  226.03 km….8 from 13 managed to finish in this class. The 2 future JWGC pilots had the best practice; the 2 Georges [ W and D] won the day with 228.83 km./ 85.26 km./ and 239.41/ 78.31 km./h.
Today task 6;...252.54 km.

The USA team for the JWGC has been introduced and I saw a nice video from 2 boys on the National TV in the USA; team Members David McMaster, Jacob Barnes started young and “live” for their sport. Also flying in Poland, but not on TV, Thomas Greenhill and Steven Tellman.
https://www.weny.com/story/50978595/two-local-glider-pilots-heading-to-poland-for-the-2024-fai-junior-world-gliding-championships
We will wait and see and GOOD LUCK also for them.
13th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships & 5th FAI 13,5m WGC 2024! Go Team USA!!!

EUROGLIDE;

BUT,….for a lot of pilots the innocence was gone after the fatal crash from Johan. Quite a few knowing him well, went home.
Matthew memorized him is his blog but after the day-off in honor of Johan ,he had to go on. He was not sure if he could, as the weather was not the best, but in the end he flew over 700 km and he hoped to be already back in Venlo on Friday afternoon. BUT, first he had to wait” for a front to pass, before 400km into a 25kt headwind.”
His adventures are sometimes hilarious, [Landing on a CIA black site???] but always very informative.
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding
He made it!!!! In total 400 km was the last part to get him over the line in Venlo. “Extremely hard work Matthew said in his spoken blog,“headwind was about 45 km, but on the end of the day it went easier.”
The scores will take a while, but he thinks he might be not winning by hours but by a day or more.
Great result from ,I know, a” “very good and efficient pilot.”
Through this week more and more pilots returned, unless the sad moment still full of joy, excitement and adrenaline.

Keith Essex, who won the 18 m. Nationals in the USA , was still not fed up or tired from gliding so on June 25 he flew from ELY. 1.234,48 km with a speed of 156.14 km./h. He seems hooked to gliding and WHY NOT??

VERY SAD news…..GEORGE MOFFAT; passed away, an hero/ icon for many. His book ” Winning on the wind” has been on our book shelf ,as by many others. I met him and his wife Susie in the 70thies, when he flew in France, the 8 jours d’Angers. A true gentleman in his way of walking , very straight, with his nice grey hair, but even more as a person ; always kind and friendly also to me as a young- pretty- new-to-soaring-girl.
George was 97 years old.
He was twice world champion in 1970 in Marfa in open class and in 1974 in Australia in Waikirie where he flew against Ingo Renner another soaring icon. Both times in a NIMBUS. The video” ZT good finish” about Waikirie is one of the most loved and seen video’s in our soaring world.
He received the  Lilienthal Medal and you can see him in the US Soaring Hall of Fame.
He loved his writing,….. sharing what he knew with others.
R.I.P. George.
P/S I must have a picture from George and Susie in Angers in one of my many books. Till now I could not find it, but when I do, you can see it too.

As promised
THE HOBBS CLUB CLASS WINNERS;

The qualifying FAI SGP in Slovenia flown from Lesce-Bled, has started as well.
https://sgp.aero/slovenia2024
Follow the race live on : https://sgp.onglide.com/

Race 1 was last Sunday; 290.44 km and regatta start at 13.25. Local pilot Jernej Lokovsek [JS3] won the 8 points. Jernej has NL on the tail as call sign [LIKE], don’t have to explain you why….though over the years it was/is the call sign from Dutch top pilot Daan Pare. Like “we” always had/have MM.
mentioned;
“Congratulations to Jernej who crossed the finish line first, almost half an hour ahead of the second-placed Mario Kiessling from Germany and third-placed Luka Žnidaršič  [Slovenia] The pilots encountered difficult weather including a strong shower on the first leg that forced them to wait. It was a game of skills and patience.Let’s see what today’s bring.”
Race 2; cancelled due to strong rain.
Race 3; 187.77km....14 started and quite a few penalty points BUT…..Message this morning;”Congratulations to Mario Kiessling for his daily win! He is closely followed by Boris Žorž and Tilo Holighaus.”

More next week

The OBN the open Belgian Nationals suffer from rain as well in this marginal WET summer.
They fly from St Hubert between June 29 and July 7 with 42 participants.
16 in club, 10 in the combi-standard, 15 m and 20 m and 16 in the combined 18, 20 and open class.
Till now they had tasks but only flew in each class on one day, July 1;
192.87 km in club won by Thomas De Bruyn in LS 4, he was NEARLY home; 190 km. No finishers.
261.97 km in the combi, won by Thomas Leduc in Ventus 2cxa. He flew nearly 250 km. nobody finished.
333.52 km in the combi for bigger birds ,won by Dennis Huybreckx in Ventus 3T.;74 km/h.Only 4 from 16 finished.

More next week.
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.503 on June 26 2024

Hope you liked the post about South Africa . I loved, as said, every minute. It’s below this post ,when you missed it.
The picture on top of that post was from the weather here in The Netherlands on June 9 on my way from the airport to my house and later I noticed that more than 100 Dutch pilots added a flight to the OLC.
https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/daily.html?st=olc&rt=olc&c=NL&sc=&sp=2024&df=2024-06-09&f_map=

After I spend a great week with my high-school friends all between 76 and 79 now.Nice little house for 6 “ladies” in the “bush” . Some of us know each other from kindergarten and though we meet regularly, we seem to have ALWAYS something to talk about. We know each others past and families.
The weather was OK, but finally last Sunday we had the first real summer-day in summer, as till now we had a lot of rain since june1 when summer started. Today we will “see: more “feel” 28 up to 31 dgr. C.
I don’t complain.

–—-I am not going to look back at all comps over the last 3 weeks, as I am sure you found your way on the internet.
But interesting comps in progress will have my attention.

———————————————————————-

GERMAN NATIONALS for standard and 15 m;

They started with 69 pilots on June 7 and have finished last Friday.They flew from  Zwickau. From 11 days , only 5 days were good enough to fly, so there are winners and National Champions in both classes.
Standard class , with 40 entrees ,started with a 3 hour AAT and 2 pilots managed to win the 1000 daily points. Karsten Leucker in Discus 2B and Jan Knischewski in LS8 Neo.
Flying day 2 showed a set task with 223.84 km and after a late start, after 3 PM, Karsten was runner up again.
Flying day 3 , task 5, had another set task 205.09 km., and Jan was runner up again.
Flying day 4, task 6 had a big task; 3.30 AAT, but OUCH this time Jan was out , loosing 400 points and another Jan Kretzschmar in LS8 won the day.
Flying day 5, task 8, had 219.09 km on the menu, AND Jan Knichewski found his good form back and won the day. Only 14 from 39 finished.
Standard class CHAMPION and WINNERS;
1. Jan Kretzschmar in LS 8NEO with 3,850 points.
2. Philipp Lauer in LS8 NEO with 3,826 p.
3. Karsten Leucker in Discus 2B with 3,691 p.

15 m. class: 29 participants.
Flying day 1 [task 1] 2.30 AAT; Daily winner Steffen Göttler with 104.44 km./h. over 260 km.All 29 finished.
Flying day 2 [task 2]  261.69 km; Steffen was the best again and added 678 points to the 819 he had.
Flying day 3 [task 5] 2.30 AAT; NO Steffen today , he was on spot 8, but Oliver Springer in AS 33es was the best with 290.95 km and 116.24 km./h quite a bit faster than the runner up with 105,46 km./h
Flying day 4 [task 6] with 330.46 km and ONLY 3 finishers!!!!Jonas Florin in ASW 27 was the daily best;104.16 km./h.
Flying day 5 {task 8] 238.83 km and Steffen started with a win and finished with one. Pretty clear he was going to be the new German champion.
15 m. CHAMPION and Winners;
1. Steffen Göttler in Ventus 2A with 3,351 points.
2. Steffen Schwarzer in JS 3 with 3.307 p.
3. Oliver Springer in AS 33es with 3,291 p.

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UK Nationals for 15m, standard and open class;
Aston Down……15 June 2024 – 23 June 2024

A lot of very good pilots young and “old” , as in,…I know them from my time.
Out of 9 days they flew on 7, GOOD!!!!
15 m. class; the 20 pilots started with a very short task 1, but it was not flown.
Task 2 was better; 304.05 km. and 8 pilots flew over 100 km./h . The best was Phil Jones with 105.74 km/ph.in a Ventus 3TS. The Jones family is well-known and I remember the times when their father was still flying and the boys were kids! Tom Arscott [Ventus 2A] was runner up. He is younger ,but I still met him at comp’s. Ayala was unlucky she was out after 76 km.
Task 3;  211.57 km and 3 Lasham- boys reached the top spots; Chris Starkey, [ASGes] Tom and Phil. All 107 km./h. whilst Chris started 15 minutes later. 3 were out.
Task 4;  150.81 km on a pretty marginal day but ONE pilot finished!!!! Tom; with 60.56 km./h normally he would leave his glider in the trailer on such a day. 2 were very close. Mind you Tom was JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION in 2015 in Narromine in club class and yes,..I was there and congratulated him.
This season, year 2023, he was world champion in standard class also in Narromine at the WGC.
Task 5; 266.84 km ….and ONE pilot flew over 100 km./h. TOM!!!! Leigh Wells was runner up. Good to see him high up in the ranking. I was there when he became world champion [Eskilstuna 2006] and we all met earlier in 1987 with the world comps in Benalla, where dad Wells flew and our kids and the UK kids played cricket. The Dutch “clockies” had to learn the rules first. My daughter Inge and Lizzy [Wells] are still friends. All 20 started and finished.
Task 6; 341.13 km….higher speed. Daily winner Phil flew around with 118.09 km./h. for 958 points. Leigh was 3d and Tom 4th.Still not a 1000 points-day. All 20 did well and finished!!!
Task 7; 279.45 km…..Timothy Scott was daily winner and the day before runner up. He moved up from 6 to 4 overall. Leigh , Phil and Tom “hold on” overall on spot 3 2 and 1.
Task 8; 3 hour AAT.…AND, what they did not know then….., their last day task 9 had to be scrubbed.
Derren Francis won what turned out this last competition day; 352,33 km with 100 km./h and YES…he ” got ” the 1000 points. Leigh was runner up with 995 points. Tom was 6th with 889 and Phil 7th with 881 points. 15 from 19 starters finished.
Changes in the top 3,…….and it was CLOSE , VERY CLOSE!!!!! The former WORLD CHAMPION was now again UK CHAMPION:
Overall scores in 15 m class after 7 days ;
1. Leigh Wells in JS 3 with 5,727 points and NATIONAL CHAMPION.
2. Tom Arscott in Ventus 2A with 5,724 points ,…..3 points not even a full turn??!!!
3. Philip Jones in Ventus 3Ts with 5,627 points.

Standard class; 15 pilots….Also their day 1 was scrubbed but their task 2 was straight away good for 1000 points.
Task 2; 302.55 km...Jon Arnold in Discus 2c won the day with 94 km./h just ahead of Henry Inigo-Jones in LS 8. Quite a few UK ladies in this class.
Task 3; 159.00 km….Oliver Ramsay in LS 8 won the day. 4 flew over 100 km./h. One of them Jez Hood in his LS 8. 15 started 12 finished.
Task 4; 150.81 km….NOBODY finished, but a few did well with 144 km.
Task 5; 327.80 km…another 1000 points-day, but nobody flew over 100 km./h. Best was Howard Jones in Discus 2A; 97.96 km./h The runner up Jon had 88.74. 15 started and 12 were in.
Task 6; 321.61 km….Paul Fritche was the best. He started with Henry who was was runner up. Jez was 3d all in LS 8.
Task 7;  279.45 km….In the right mood, Paul flew to another win; 87.86 km./h. AND …for 1000 points. It turned out a difficult day with only 5 finishers. 9 LS8 gliders in the top 10.
Task 8; 3 hour AAT and also they did not know it was their last day. Oliver won with 286 km and 94.22 km./h. and was 7th overall. By the way ALL competitors had to fly into Wales.
Standard Class, overall scores after 7 days :
1. Jez Hood (352 – LS8) | 5,215 points UK NATIONAL CHAMPION.
2. Howard Jones (6 – Discus 2a) | 5,114 points
3. Henry Inigo-Jones (95 – LS8) | 5,055 points

Open class; 20 pilots including a few champions.
Task 2;  361.86 km….Andy [Davis] won day 1 . I was there , when he won in Borlange the WGC title in 1993 in standard class. He flies JS1C as does Russell Cheetham who was 3d and the former WGC champion from Benalla in 2017.Indeed I was there too, this time as a visitor.
Task 3; 257.67 km and Tim Jenkinson in JS 1C won the 668 points for the daily winner. 19 started and 16 finished.
Task 4; CANCELLED.
Task 5;  358.02 km…Andy -Davis- Day- again. 1000 points for 113.17 km./h . Tim was runner up and Russell 3d. 17 started and finished.
Task 6; 388.14 km…..Another JS1C pilot , Richard Browne won 1000 points. Russell was runner up and Andy 3d.
Task 7; 354.51 km…..Only 16 started and only 6 finished, a challenging day. Andy won, Tim was runner up.
Task 8; 3 hour AAT; and …indeed NO knowledge that this was their last day, though they knew the next-day- weather was not the best, but MAYBE a window could be found. No worries for Andy he just won again; 104.85 km./h.Another 1000 points, No doubt who would win the open class Nationals and,…as always in glider 80.
Open Class OVERALL SCORES after 6 days :
1. Andy Davis (80 – JS-MD 1C) | 5,547 points
2. Tim Jenkinson (TJ – JS1c) | 5,285 points
3. Russell Cheetham (E1 – JS1c) | 5,203 points

—–When I was gone, the 18 m UK NATIONALS were flown and won by Matt Davis, yes Andy’s son.
Jonker Sailplanes Marketing via gmail.mcsv.net was proud on Matt flying 1 of their gliders you can hopefully read it in the link.
They also shared some words from Matt , the winning pilot,…always good to read ,a winners review…. I share it with you too, when you have not read it ,this is your chance;

“I went into this competition feeling particularly rusty, having only flown two cross country flights this summer. The weather forecast looked very changeable, so I decided the best tactic for the week would be risk-averse, ‘no lose’ flying. That consistency paid off as I emerged as 18M National Champion for the first time in a nerve wracking finale for the podium places.
There are two decisions that stand out as making the difference during the week. The first was on day two when a big line of showers came through our out-and-return task area as we reached the furthest point. I had fallen behind the gaggle having taken a different route, and they attempted to push round the leading edge of the shower line to get home. By the time I’d scratched away from low down in the rain, that route looked terminal, so I made the decision to make a big detour behind the shower, into the sunshine, where I could see scrappy cumulus forming. I managed to tiptoe home along this route, including a lucky low save where I had the engine out and started the ignition sequence, to find the gaggle had all landed out and only three of us had finished.
The second decision was on the final day, where we’d been set an AAT on a day with a good cumulus forecast, which turned into a blue day with weakening climbs. I’d gone into the day in second place but with a big 168 point gap to first, so knew I’d have to try something a bit different to take first place. The decision point came as we flew into the first sector with weak blue climbs, and the first placed pilot turned round, back towards the cumulus in the second sector. My pre-flight planning highlighted that we had to go deep in the first sector to avoid having to make some big detours around airspace in the second sector, so I pushed on, hoping the detours they’d have to fly would negate the likely higher speeds flown under the cu. The rest of the flight was fairly straightforward, and I knew I’d had a good day in relation to others who took the same route, but had no idea how those that turned early had done. After a nervous wait it transpired our route had been more favourable, but with a big enough speed differential to make up the points difference? The gap slowly closed as more and more traces were scored, and I eventually sneaked into first by 19 points, with the top three separated by only 22 points.”

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HOBBS 2024 Nationals for 18 and 15 m and club class.
19 June 2024 – 28 June 2024

We here in The Netherlands do not quickly forget Hobbs in New Mexico, the place where Kees Musters became WORLD Champion in 1983 in 15 m in a Ventus A.
Now they host the Nationals and after 2 practice days they missed out on Task 1 as it was cancelled. No task on the next day either, but then it started;
18m; with 22 participants
Task 3; 2 hour AAT….4 pilots flew around with 140 km./h. Best was Bob Fletcher in an ASG 29. Gary Ittner in ASG 29 , Erik Nelson in Ventus 3 and Sean Murphy in JS 3 were the other 140km./h pilots.
All 22 in this class started AND finished.
The day turned out better than expected, as blogger Rich mentioned;  Not bad for what we all thought was going to be a terrible day.
Task 4; 4 hour AAT, …better…..16 pilots flew over 500 km. Best was Sean, with 545.80 km with 136.45 km./h. Rick Indrebo [ASG 29] ; 524.50 km. was runner up with 130.15 km./h. All 22 started and finished.
Task 5; 377.89 km….Erik Nelson in his Ventus 3T was the daily winner with 119 km./h followed by Rick with 116.75 km./h. Only 1 pilot did not finish.
“The first leg was good and bad depending on the time.  Many pilots got low and almost landed out.  Everyone had a part of their day that was tough.  Thermals were not round, smooth and constant.  It took patience and a smooth hand to get a good climb.” Rich Owen.
Task 6; 3.30 AAT…..450 km with 125 km./h was the best result by Andy Blackburn in a JS 3, starting rather late but not last. 21 started and 19 were “in”.
Task 7; 3 hour AAT.…with 466 km. Dave Springford [Ventus 3T] won the day; 125.83 km./h just a tad faster than Robin Clark in ASG 29. “Good old” Garry Ittner was 3d.
19 started and ONLY 9 finished. Tough day as Rich wrote;“All the classes had similar tasks.  The threat of rain was in the front of everyone’s mind, including the CD’s.”
After 7 tasks Gary is leading with 4.110 points . Runner up; Nelson Howe with 4.077 p and 3d Dave with 4.046 p.Very close. Also Robin Clark is still in the race with 4.018 p.
Exciting stuff!

15 m; with 17 pilots.
Task 3; 2.30 AAT....13 finished and Jared Granzow in ASW 27 b was the best; 313 km/125 km./h.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT...17 started and finished.Timothy Taylor in Ventus 2cxa won; 424 km/136 km./h.
Task 5; 369.70 km….Noah Reitter in ASG 29 won; 125 km./h. Only one of my USA mates Gary was out.
Task 6; 3.30 AAT.…Mike Sorenson flew 442 km with 117 km./h in the blue.
Task 7; 2.30 AAT….Jared Granzow had another daily win; 383,53 km/ 138.57 km./h quite a bit further and faster than the rest with an average of 345 km and 120 km./h. His speed was the fastest of ALL classes, I read in Rich post. Good on him!!!
After 7 tasks Mike Sorenson leads with 4.411 points ahead of Noah Reitter with 4.345 points.

Club ;16 pilots.1 Pilot has a very Dutch name; Marco Raaijmakers but I do not know him or have heard of him. Only persons in this class I know are Tony Condon, who I met in Uvalde and Sylvia Grandstaff who I met in Lake Keepit.
Task 3; 1.30 AAT..…Andrew Brayer in ASW 20 c won the day; 189 km/ 125 km./h.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT…Greg Shugg in LS 4 won 368 km/116.65 km./h. Good to see Sylvia was runner up loosing 24 points. Tony was 3d. 17 started and finished.
Task 5; 377.89 km.…with a late start at 14.44.44 Christopher Gough in a Ventus cb, won the day; 109 km./h. All 17 started and finished on this blue day.Tony was 3d, Sylvia 5th.
Task 6; 3 hour AAT;…Andrew Brayer in ASW 20C won the day; 346 km./107.26 km./h. Tony was runner up and Sylvia shared spot 8.
Here is Andrew, the guest reporter; “The challenge today was that it was again blue, but with turn areas, we wouldn’t all be funneled onto the same course line. My strategy was to go early and use the other classes as markers, rather than play start roulette. Coming out of Jal I ran down a gaggle with a great climb and got connected with the group. Later in the flight I dove for a dust devil and got a much-needed climb headed into Tatum. The final glide was a nail biter. I lost my reserve to oppressive sink and flopped over the finish at minimal speed, with 100 feet to spare.”
Task 7; 3 hour AAT and won by Sylvia Grandstaff…good on her!!!!! 328 km/ 98 km./h. ONLY 3 from 13 finished.Tony was runner up and Tyler Byron in an LS3A was 3d.
Tony mentioned IT WAS A WILD DAY.; “First two legs went pretty good really. Then a big storm was on the path home. I opted to go east along a cloudstreet that didn’t work and evaporated. Tyler and I found climbs under crummy clouds and complete shadow and made it home with only a little rain falling on us along the way. Saw a lot of lightning.”
After 7 tasks Tony leads with 3.872 points ahead of Sylvia with 3.774 points. Tyler is 3d with 3.712p.

More next week.

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EUROGLIDE;
Started on one of our nice summer days last Monday June 24. Cloud base ar 2000 m so the pure gliders, [7 with many participants] or with turbo[ 30 with even more different pilots.crews] or self launchers [ 33] will have great fun. They have to fly 2500 km start at Venlo in the S of the Netherlands and the first back is the winner. They had to change the route a bit as the airspace over the many soccer fields during the world championships is closed.
Pilots/teams from The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and Czech Rep participate AND Australia’s Matthew Scutter.
Matthew Scutter’s Gliding shares all the news in videos.
This EUROGLIDE is the 16th edition and for those who do not know anything about this race;
“Contrary to a standard gliding competition, when each day a task is flown from the same airfield, Euroglide has only one task of approximately 2500 km:”Depart from Venlo airfield, round the turnpoints and return to Venlo as soon as possible, but at latest on the last competition day.”Each day, after landing (out) the teams have to find a suitable airfield for the next day and arrange take-off facilities themselves. To a certain extent, it is allowed to travel towards a turnpoint with the glider in the trailer.”
I know a lot of my mates “long” every time when they have finished already for the next one.
“This kind of competitive gliding is:
Adventurous.
At the daily take-off, it is unknown how far you will get and where you will spend the night.
Freedom.
After the take-off on the first day of the competition, making the turnpoints in accordance with the regulations and returning to Venlo at or before the last day of the competition are the only restrictions.
Team-work.
A team can consist of more than one pilot, thereby creating the opportunity to fly and to crew. Furthermore, the team-work is more intense given the fact that strategic decisions are also made outside the cockpit.
Surprising.
Sometimes the fog and rain in the morning forebodes nothing good, while in the evening you have flown hundreds of kilometres. Unexpectedly you will meet other competitors in the air or somewhere in a bar or clubhouse. Party time!
https://www.euroglide.nl/
After the first day a lot arrived already in the Czech Rep.It’s hot and skies are looking good, this might be a fast edition!!!!
You can follow Matthew:”The day was a bit slow to start, and I almost used the engine right out of the start. I basically straightlined it while almost everyone else went north or south of track to the “classic” good routes. Less deviations got me ahead even after my indiscretion near the start and I should be first overall, or near it. One other glider landed here with me.”
Yesterdays news was sad as as well as in all those editions NEVER a fatal accident happened as far as I can remember.
“Halfway mark! Landed at the Wasserkuppe. Possibly my longest duration flight at more than 9 hours airborne, for 830km using the very first to very last thermal. Probably 200km ahead of the next competitor.

Unfortunately today is a sad day because another pilot in the contest had a fatal takeoff accident this morning. Tomorrow is cancelled in their memory.‘ Which is today.
Only 2 months ago Johan ,president of the NIJAC, the very active club at Malden[close to Nijmegen] helped “us” derigging the gliders on the last day of the Dutch Nationals in the heavy rain. Such a nice guy.
Now he is not with us anymore, but he will not be forgotten. A great loss specially for his family and the club, but also for all the glider-mates in this “small” world.
As Bruce from Australia straight away wrote;”Sorry to hear bad news about the accident, always a downer and our thoughts go out to everyone involved.“
It all happened in Thuringen at the airport of Suhl-Goldlauter. Why????….,that will be sorted out by police and accident investigators. A lot of his mates at the ground saw it happen.
R.I.P. Johan.

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—–Newsflash from DG/Jonkers in June; As you know they co-operate now.
“Their JSDG production started .The first DG-1001, produced by the newly established JSDG Production GmbH (Production Organisation), has been completed at DG Aviation in Bruchsal!
This accomplishment marks a new chapter in the collaboration between Jonkers Sailplanes and DG Aviation. “The cooperation has been seamless, and it’s truly inspiring to witness the dedication and enthusiasm of the entire team of eight – four from Jonker Sailplanes and four from DG Aviation – involved in our daily operations”, says Holger Back CEO and Managing Director of DG Aviation GmbH.
A team from Jonker Sailplanes will collaborate periodically with DG Aviation GmbH for five weeks every few months to help build DG-1001 gliders at DG’s facilities. This partnership presents a fantastic opportunity for both teams to learn from each other, fostering a center of excellence and strengthening German-South African friendships.
By the time the Jonker’s team departs on June 12th, three gliders will have been completed – a remarkable achievement for JSDG Production GmbH!”

—-Soaring Society of America shared the next news .

“Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Open Class Nationals in Minden, NV. In first place was Keith Essex, flying IC, whose average speed for the entire contest was 100.95 mph. Jim Lee, flying UC, came in second with an average speed for the contest of 99.78. John Cochrane (MP) was third, with an average speed of 98.73 mph. Jim Lee won the speed trophy with a 111-mph run on the last contest day.”

You are more or less up to date. Still a bit upset…..
Next week Wednesday the next post.

Cheers Ritz

This post is only for those who are interested in my travels, like the Aussie diaries.
The next blog about soaring is on June 26.
By the way we had marvellous soaring-weather ,last Sunday [June 9]when I travelled back from Schiphol to my home town in the SE . The skies” “exploded” and you just have to look at Weglide or the OLC, to see what happened.
Many European 1000 km flights and nearly 1 from The Netherlands ;956 by Francois in an EB 29. Even more special was the flight from Jeroen flying an LS 3WL over 879.23 km. The club from Amsterdam at Soesterberg , had their 1-day-competition and they gave pilots the option to fly 1000 km.VERY UNIQUE!!!!Task 2 was; 1.043,36/2.320,49 [ 1.150.92 k]

THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIARY.

When the World Gliding Championship was hosted by the organisation of Mafikeng in S.A. more than 20 years ago, I could have been TC for team Holland, but I reckoned it would be better to sent a male person, as I did n’t like to go there as nobody could guaranty the safety of the pilots after an out-landing. Of course that problem can be everywhere, but in that time S.A was a bit “restless”.

Hence,…this was my very first vist to this great part of the world and I loved every minute!!!!!.
My family invited me to come with them to Madikwe, where they had stayed earlier in the Madikwe Game Reserve. My grand children , now 18 and 20, tried hard to convince me and were more than pleased when I said YES, and….. I thought WHY NOT.
We stayed 2 nights in the Hilton at Johannesburg, travelled to close to Rustenburg, to a great holiday park from ANEW, where we stayed in 3 bungalows also for 2 nights. During the trip the rain was pouring down and heavy thunderstorms with a huge amount of rain accompanied us, but we knew it would be better.
It is winter in S.A. and at 6 it is dark outside. Temperatures between 0 at night and 24 during the day.
At the ANEW resort you could swim, play tennis, or golf, race on quads, so a lot of sportive events. But also a place for congresses and readings.
The 3 ladies , my daughter, granddaughter and I, choose to have a massage, and / or foot pedicure. I had the 1 hour massage and felt new. My neck could move again to the r. and l, which was good for the safaris waiting for us.

The total trip from Johannesburg to the Madikwe Reserve was nearly 5 hours, so a 3 hour voyage was still waiting. My main goal was to see a giraffe and the first animal we saw when we entered the reserve, was a GIRAFFE.
Madikwe has over 20 lodges surrounded by villas-for-rent and a lot of private houses.
We stayed at the Rockfig lodge, a small and intimate lodge nestled in the unspoilt wilderness , with a pool, a “braai” area ,garden and point to look over the wilderness and a waterpoint to see animals passing by for a drink. And YES we saw them, just behind the house; zebras, impalas, monkeys AND elephants.
https://rockfigmadikwe.co.za/villas/inkwe-private-family-house/

We arrived at 2 PM and 4 very friendly staff-people were waiting for us with a warm wet towel and a drink in front of the lodge.
We straight away felt welcome. We got a lovely personal assistant, bringing out the food but also “reading” all our wishes. The ranger , Kagiso, was one of them and at 3 , after a short high tea, we had our first safari trip already in the open 9 person jeep.
Amazing how many animals we saw during our first drive with Kagiso, who was very good. He knew the places where to go and could tell us all we wanted to know.
At sunset around 5.30 , he stopped EVERY day, somewhere on a nice spot, for a drink and a “bite” and to see the sun go down in 5 minutes .
Then to finish the safari, we left to the waterhole where giraffes, elephants, zebras, buffalos, rinoceros and many other more small animals finished their day with a drink .
A 3 course dinner in the lodge, finished our day and off we went to our beautiful ‘ Inkwe private family’ house for 6 persons…totally in in oriental style!
Warning; you put on weight!!!!

Wednesday June.5…..Alarm was set for 5.40….Light breakfast before departure . Kagiso had put blankets, a hot-water- bottle and a cape with fleece inside and wind protection outside, on the chairs. There was frost over night.
Inge told me before to take “layers: with me. So several clothes over each other [ to remove when necessary ] and a warm hat and gloves.
Excitement …a lion was spotted by other rangers!!!! And yes …. we saw the lion , with a “fat: belly after a good meal overnight, sunbathing in sand. He was sleepy from the hard work, but when he heard us he was willing to put his “photographic ” face on.

After the morning safari it was time for a continental breakfast, combined with a cooked one to your taste. Then time to swim, sunbath or read a book completely undisturbed by noise. You hear only birds……totally relaxed.
At 3 high tea with sweet and sour again, prepared by 3 good chefs, an experienced one,a younger one and a nice young lady.
3.15 safari. A total new route with giraffes keeping an eye on us . And of course ALL other animals.

Kagiso, driving through the gorgeous flora.

The day was finished at the waterhole again now with nearly 200 buffalos trying to get in the water and to drink. And of course all the other “usual suspects” ,but it’s weird how quick you get used to it.
The ranger had a big light and the buffalos all looked in that. Very interesting specially because there were SO MANY.
I found the elephants sometimes intimidating!!!! Certainly when they were close b

Thursday June 6; A special day as in the evening they would prepare a “braai” for us outside along the bonfire! BUT,…first we went on the safari trip again and this time we “found” 2 lionesses. About 4 and 6 years old according to our ranger. We really needed the jeep, as we drove over bushes higher than the car, to see them. Unbelievable how strong that jeep was.
In the evening I did not go for another safari, as I hit my knee on the stairs from the jeep.
So I could see all preparations for the “braai”.
Table was beautifully set out side, bonfire was burning with chairs around it to keep warm. The chef and his assistants cooked our bread rolls and meat on the “braai”.
Very special evening.

Friday June 7; On the early morning , on another very special day…we left at 8 and would drive till 6.15PM to see all Madikwe flora and fauna this time with a lunch in the bush.
And …..another high light, as “we found” a cheetah. Another gorgeous animal. Look at it.

We drove to nearly the Botswana border and followed the Madikwe river on our search for hippo’s. They were not where they should be. We saw/smelled a dead giraffe,…old age, according to Kagiso Party time for wild dogs and hyenas, and not to forget vultures.
We had wine with our cooked lunch. Yes he “cooked” spare ribs outside and had all yummie, bites going with it, for us, as meat pie , a wrap and scones.

Mountains existing out of red stone were new again and beautiful.Not glued together, but not falling down. Amazing.
We noticed 3 wind socks and a plane. I had a few words with the 2 young pilots , making hours to continue later in the aviation world. There are 2 runways, 1 from gravel and a 1.2 km. long concrete runway. Lot’s of cross wind there. They often fly guests to the reserve.

Another long day was over.

Saturday June 8, day of our departure but first AGAIN a safari at 6 AM.BUT,…no worries, we had to go through the bush again as the message was …4 lionesses. Another car was already there and indeed we saw the 4 animals.
That was pretty scary as Kagiso drove very close and we were surrounded by 3 of them. I felt a bit sorry as those poor full -eaten- animals, just wanted to sleep. Indya took pictures.

At 1 we had our last lunch, said good bye to the chef and his helpers, to the GM and Kagiso.
We had a SUPERB time!!!!

Here is a 38 sec video from a lot of the animals we have seen by Indya.
5f8ae71f85e2450497e2e91f994c4791.mov

5 hours over toll roads this time and at 6 we were in Joburg. During the nearly 11 hour flight I only slept 1 hour, so I was worn out, but made time to share the diary with yo over the next days. Mind you . I had to go to the dentist too on Monday as I lost my golden crown and just missed out on swallowing it.
It’s back now in my mouth.

What a HAPPY week with my lovely family and all those hardworking, caring staff members of the RESERVE.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
A SPECIAL THANK YOU to Indya for her excellent pictures.
To make it an even better HAPPY END, we just heard that Dexter has passed his high-school -exams with good notes!!!! TOP!!!!!

Cheers Ritz
P/S Off now for my annual 1 week holiday with my high-school- friends.
Back for you on June 26!!

Post 1.501 on May 29 2024

FAI QUALIFYING SGP in NORWAY
Elverum Starmoen
MAY 19-25

Race 3; 260.22km…start at 14.40;
“We are ready for another competition day under a sunny, blue sky! A task of 260km is set, proposing different challenges for the pilots.First they will visit the flatlands to the south of the airfield. Then the task will take them towards the mountains and valleys in the north.” the organizers
Good to see that the Scandinavian pilots “topped” this day. Ronny [ Eriksson] from Sweden, won the 10 daily points with 101.4 km./h in his brand-new JS3RES.
Norwegian Arne Martin [Güettler] was runner up with 99.6 km./h in the same brand-new glider.
Joachim and Matthew were virtual out after 256 and 254 km. , as 3 more pilots.
Matthew; “new game plan – under NO circumstances would I lead out onto final glide. Got myself to the top of the lead gaggle and refused to lead out. Went with a couple of other great pilots and sat behind them waiting for them to find the final glide climb. We all started engines and those behind us got something and got home. WTF. 0 points.”
Here is Arne Martin;
“Another blue day today at the third race of the Norwegian FAI Sailplane Grand Prix. It went well for the first half, as I was able to keep up with the leaders. Then I got in trouble on the leg towards Lillehammer. Got low, had to circle in a 0.5 m/s thermal to have enough altitude to move on, and watched the entire field pass over me. Then it was a change of gear, climb up again, and try to stay high for the rest of the task.
And on the return towards Starmoen, I suddenly found myself at the top of the gaggle. I was then even lucky and got a nice 3 m/s thermal which most of the others missed, which got me onto a comfortable final glide, which got me to the finish in 2nd place, only behind Ronny Eriksson!”
https://www.weglide.org/flight/403981

Race 4; 295.62 km…estimated first start at 13.00….it was in the end 13.35.
Conrad Hartter won again 126.1 km./h and added 10 points to his score!33 now!!!
Joachim was just a tad slower; 125.8 km./h. Another German pilot, a bit of a German day,Michael Pfenning had 124 km./h. Matthew was 4th and Kato from Norway, 5th for 5 points.
Kato shared some pictures after his flight. This is on the way to TP 1.

FAI Sailplane Grand Prix

Arne Martin; “Today I made life difficult for myself, by getting low and far behind on the first leg. Good fun chasing the rest down afterwards, but it was too much of a task to catch them all, so 9th and a single point was all I could do.
Still I have scored points every day, and miraculously, my single point today moved me up from 4th to 3rd overall! But very close from 2nd down, while Conrad has an almost impossible lead by now.”

Race 5;176.28 km…Start time; 13:20… Matthew won with 122.8 km./h. Klaus and Arne were on 2 and 3 with 121.3 and 120.3 km./h.
With 1 day to go, Conrad is still on top with 39 points. Followed by Arne Martin with 25 points, Matthew with 24 and Klaus with 23 p. So for the last 2 younger ones, it all depends on the last day.
Here is Arne Martin Güettler
“Unstable weather with Cb and showers expected. But we found good lift and I was able to stay with the leader group, headed by Matthew Scutter’s Gliding.
Had an exciting moment when I started getting smoke from the SDCard reader of my flight computer! But luckily I was able to eject the SDCard, and the smoke stopped, and the flight computer worked after a reboot. But lost some concentration there, and lost contact with Matthew.
And towards the end the chasing group started catching up, and Klaus Kalmbach managed to sneak by with a more risky final glide. But I still ended up in 3rd place, and moved up to 2nd in the total results.”
Matthew; “Overcast skies, slow building CB’s everywhere. My kind of weather. A major routing decision had to be made out of the gate, and almost everyone got it wrong. Lead out the whole day and home first without any big issues. 10 points!”

Race 6;penultimate day!!!!!189.38 km.…start;13.00 .
” All pilots are launched and the start-line will open @13:00. The conditions are booming“
Even without flying Conrad was the winner, [39 points before flying on the last day] but excitement enough for the runner-up-spot.
It turned out however, more difficult than expected, “overdeveloping Cumulus today, which eventually became spread out and made the flying difficult. 2 pilots returned to the field after the start, as they used their engines. A Norwegian pilot and young Joachim Schwenk, a pity. He will stay on 16 points.
Daily winner was Swedish pilot Ronny Eriksson. He got the 11 points for a speed of 105.1 km./h.
1. Conrad Hartter [Germany] in JS1C with 39 points.
2. Klaus Kalmbach [Germany] in JS 3 with 31 points.
3. Arne Martin Güettler [Norway] in JS3 RES with 31 points.

Arne Martin explains why he is 3d:
“Coming into the final day I was in second place, with 3 other pilots barely behind. We were all flying as part of the leading gaggle, so it was going to be a close finish. In the end one of them managed to sneak past me by the narrowest of margins. So I ended up in 4th place today, and 3rd overall by the tiniest of margins. Equal on points to second position, but lost out due to him having a day win, while my best result was second.“
“Those points I lost due to being 3m too low on the first day turned out to be costly.Never the less, I’m very satisfied with 3rd place overall in my first ever international competition!“
The “wrap” from Matthew on Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

The 17 competitors and the last words are for the organizers;

———————————————————-

——Off to Germany now for the next races from edition 12 in mixed / standard/15 m class. Practise at the airport of Aalen was last Saturday, but was cancelled due to RAIN!!!! Race 1 was on Sunday May 26 continuing to June 1.
A lot of good pilots ; a mix from very young and “older”. A total of 33!!!!! But 20 in the SGP among them 2 pilots from the UK
Along the FAI qualifying SGP they fly the Ostalb GP in 2-seaters. 13 Teams in ARCUS and DUO DISCUS including ,an Austrian and Belgian team.
EXPERIMENTAL.
“As part of the experimental development of Sailplane Grand Prix in our sport, the SGP Germany 2024 team offered to test SGP format and rules with a new class, the popular double seater 20m class. This Sailplane Grand Prix is therefore not part of the official Serie 12 and will not qualify any pilot for the official Finale in 2026. But many pilots are looking forward to compete SGP in double seater in next future!“
https://sgp.aero/germany2024

18m;
Race 1; on Sunday May 26……280.85km start at 1.31 PM. A tough day with 4 “outlandings” among them …Tilo after 242 km. The winner in Ventus 2A was Steffen Göttler; speed 105.5 km./h.
Monday was CANCELLED for good reasons , as you can see,

but on Tuesday a new race was set….
Race 2; 228.46 km…with an early estimated start at 12….but it was 13.06.
News from the organizers;”Today’s race will be intense!The weather forecast isn’t very optimistic for the next few days so the pilots know that they need to collect points today if they want to have a chance to step on the podium.To add a bit of challenge, the weather conditions are forecasted as “tricky” along the race with very wet areas.But the pilots are ready and it will be very exciting to watch!”
In the end it was an interesting race, with all pilots a bit in the same situation TILL nearly at the end ,30 km before the finish, when some out-landed, some were low “but found something and some made it home!”
Daily winner; Björn Gintzel just 30 seconds ahead of Jan Knischewski; 98.7 for 98.3 km./h. David Bauder was 3d.

So after 2 days of flying , but hopefully 4 more to come, the overall scores are; 16 for Jan, 15 for Steffen and 13 for David.

2-seaters;
Race 1; 241.66 km….ALWAYS GOOD!!!! Wolfgang [Janowitsch] and Andreas [Andy Lutz] won the day in the ARCUS M,[102.5 km./h] followed by another ARCUS M with Alexander Schmidt.[95.6 km./h]

Monday was cancelled
Race 2; 205.55 km….start at 13.40. 9 were “in” and 3 were “out” and 1 did not start.Winners. Wolfgang and Andy for 10 points !!! Team Schmidt got as runner up 8 points.
18 points for Andy and Wolfgang now so topping the list with 4 days to go. Runners up; team Schmidt with 14 points.

——Straight after it’s ITALY , running the race from Varese , between June 2 and 8. Very strong “field” of pilots. 14 From the 20 participants are well-known toppers!!!!!
You can follow it all on https://sgp.aero/italy2024

———————————————————-

18 m and 20 m UK NATIONALS;
Lasham May 27- June 4.

A great way of announcing the NATIONALS with such a picture shared by Lasham Comps
52 pilots in 2 classes. Can’t wait!!!!!
“A fast window is expected today before an occlusion arrives from the west this evening. Racing tasks have been set for both classes.”
June 25...
18m;
task 1; 347.63 km…..41 pilots in this class and only 2 were “out”. Best speed by  Gary Stingemore in the AS33es; 120.58 km./h
Just a tad slower ; Pete [Harvey] in VENTUS 3; 119.04 km./h.
2 JS3 pilots Ian MacArthur and Russell had 118 km./h.
20 m;
task 1;  347.63 km….11 pilots/teams in this class and daily best; Garry Coppin in the ARCUS 2. Mike [Young] in ARCUS M was 4th and Andy [Davis] in DGA 1000 s was on spot 8.

June 26 had tasks ,239.14 km and 160.84 km. but they were CANCELLED.
It seems this will be the WETTEST spring ever in Europe.

June 27; same task for both classes.
18m; 239.14... changed in  160.41 km….. With better luck , but only for some, as from the 35 starters , only 4 finished and best was AGAIN Gary.86.37 km./h. The AS 33es is going well.
Chris Starkey, Liz Sparrow and Matt Davis were “IN” as well. GOOD!!! One of the pilots was only 10 k out.
20 m; 239.14 km.…changed in 160.41 km……still too long as NOBODY FINISHED!!!
4 Flew over 100 km.

June 28 had NO TASK.

———————————————————

The French 18 m and OPEN CLASS nationals.
Beynes Thiverval 26 May 2024 – 1 June 2024

36 pilots in one mixed class of open and 18m gliders with also here several TOPPERS.
4 HC pilots ,Guillaume[ Dohet] in ARCUS 2 T Pierre [de Broqueville] from Belgium in his EB29DR and Peter [Eriksen] from Denmark, who was 3d at the Danish Nationals and should be “in the groove”.from Italy Luca [Urbani] participates.
They started last Sunday with day 1 ; a 2.30 AAT.... BUT,…the day was CANCELLED.
Task 2 was last Monday; 2.30 AAT....UNFORTUNATELY, CANCELLED as well.
NO TASK on Tuesday..

–—-Some of the French ladies are flying the AZ CUP 2024 in  Zbraslavice in the Czech Rep.
82 Competitors in 3 classes ;15 m mixed, open mixed and club. They started on May 24 and continue till June1.
Aude and Melanie, fly in 15m mixed together with 15 other pilots among them some ladies from Czech Rep; Dana Novakova, Jana Treslova and Barbora Moravcova.
In the mixed open ; 38 pilots among them more Czech ladies as Alena Netusilova and  Hana Treslova.
26 fly in Club class among them Tomas Suchanek. He won in his ASW 20 task1; 1.30 AAT.
They had till now 2 tasks in the mixed 15 and today a 3 hour AAT.
In mixed open 1 task and today also a 3 hour AAT.
In club 2 days flown and today also a 3 hour AAT.

As I am not there you can find all results on ; www.soaringspot.com

——————————————————–

The CANADIAN NATIONALS 2024 flown from Cu Nim, were hit by rain as well and a lovely gorgeous evening rainbow.
Till now the weather was not good at that part of the world either, so only 1 day was flown and Dave Springford was the only finisher from 7, on an AAT of 2.15 , flying 227 km with 89 km./h.
In club they had a 2.30 AAT and 4 from 15 finished.

——————————————-

—-VIRTUAL SOARING NEWS.….. Overall Results of the Pro Championship – FAI Virtual World Gliding Championship 2024 .

The month of MAY is nearly over and it was here in The Netherlands the wettest ever. Specially in my area we had , close by, up to 200 mm rain in 1 day due to a cloud burst. That’s much more than normally in a whole month. Result, flooding’s !!!

Hope you find your way on the net, when I am away.
I often hear that people read my blogs to follow the comps, short and compact in one go.
CU again on June 26.

Cheers Ritz

To finish these BEAUTIFUL pictures shared by John McCaw
“Most beautiful light yesterday, returning from a wave flight at Springfield over the Torlesse range and the Canterbury plains with Greg Tucker flying the Canterbury Gliding Club‘s Janus C”

Post 1.500 on May 22 2024

WOW 1500!!!!!! Proud. And that’s mostly from around 2006. Before , in the nineties, I wrote a daily blog at Sportavia for 10 years.

I own you the last 2 days of the great and exciting Danish Championship. Pilots dropped places after out-landings , but still WON!!!
This is what happend on the last 2 days!

Danish Nationals 2024
9 May 2024 – 19 May 2024

With 2 days to go,after task 6, the overall scores in the 5 classes looked as follows;
Club; Uffe [3.093] , Jan [ 2.899] and Felipe [2.824].
Standard; Filip [ 2.421] Lasse [ 2.397] Kevin[ 3.283 ]
15 m; Rasmus [2.499] Morten [ 2.444] Knud[ 2.835]
18m; Jan [2.792] Arne [2.727 ] Peter [2.617]

May 18. big tasks!!!!! meaning great soaring weather.
Club; Task 7…. 403.66 km..a day on which 17 club class pilots started, 7 finished and 7 got “airspace” behind their call sign.
2 ASW 20 WL in the top. Jan Walther [Andersen] used to fly in open class, when I knew him, won the day for 1000 point; 94.45 km./h. Runner up Steen [Elmgaard] started and finished at the same time and “got” 993 points.
Uffe [Edslev] proudly on top overall was out and “got” 414 points meaning he dropped from 1 to 3. Ouch….
Standard; task 7….442.47 km…..Lasse Edslev had a better day ; 1000 points for him.105.82 km./h for him.
2 points less for Jacob in a Discus 2a.
All 8 started and finished. TOP DAY!
15 m; task 7… 442.47 km…Morten Bennick, flew with 105 km./h to the 1000 points.
10 started and 2 were out. Henrik was 4th.
18 m; task 9 ..572.40 km….weather can be really good in Denmark as in other Scandinavian countries , but wet as well. This was a “nice” day. Specially for Arne Boye Møller in his JS 3.With 113 km./h he was the daily best and after his out-landing on task 6, when he dropped from 1 to 2, he is “fighting” himself to the top again.
20 started and 14 finished and several got “airspace” behind their call sign. Stig was one of them dropping from 7 to 11. A pity.
2-seaters; task 8..515.60 km…….Jørgensen & Rahtkens won the day in the ARCUS T, moving up from 6 to 4 overall.
All 13 started and 8 finished.

May 19 LAST DAY.….one more day of tough work in the “office”, meaning more hours in the air.
Club; task 8…4 hour AAT.…Not for Jan Walther Andersen, he flew 426.28 km with 98.47 km./h. Good enough for spot 1 overall with quite a marge. Jan won 3 days.
18 started and 14 finished;
Overall scores and the new Danish CHAMPION in CLUB CLASS;
1. Jan Walther Andersen in ASW 20 WL with 4,899 points. Congrats Jan.
2. Jens Andersen in MOSQUITO with 4,615 points.
3. Uffe Edslev in LS4a with 4,479 points . That was 6 points more then Steen.

standard class; task 8….4 hour AAT [ 360.66 km  /  632.80 km  (486.43 km)….with 427 km in an LS 8 neo Lasse Edslev won the last day; 104 km./h. over 427 km, but just missed out on the title with 7 points.
Philip in the Discus was 3d.
All 8 started and finished on a ‘high’.
Overall scores in standard class and new Danish Champion ;
1. Filip Bojanowski in Discus 2b with 4,404 points . He won 1 day but flew very consistent.
2. Lasse Edslev in LS 8 neo with 4,397 points. Won 4 days but on the day they all were out he lost 136 p.
3. Kevin Kjær Andersen in LS 8 with 4.270 points.

15 m class; task 8…4 hour AAT….490 km with 110 km./h was the best result for Poul Kim Larsen in a Ventus 2cT. Rasmus and Henrik were on spot 3 and 4. Morten was 7th and lost just 7 points too much and tumbled from 1 to 2. Henrik passed him on the last day to be for the first time during these nationals , on spot 1 overall. That’s called “peaking” at the right time.
Overall scores in 15 m class and Danish NATIONAL champion;
1. Henrik Breidahl in JS 3 with 4,279 points. Congratulations Henrik!!!
2. Morten Nørgaard in ASW 27B with 4.272 points.
3. Rasmus Ørskov in JS3 with 4,248 points. Good on you Rasmus!

18 m. class; task 10….4 hour AAT….Arne managed to fly 496.54 km with 120.91 km./h good for again 1000 points. He started pretty late,14.22, taking I guess a calculated risk to be in the end THE CHAMPION. Peter started at 14.08 was runner up and only lost 2 points on Arne.
Stig was 6th and going up again from 12 to 11.
Overall scores in 18 m class and Danish national CHAMPION;
1. Arne Boye Møller in JS 3jet with 4.727 points. Great job Arne!!!!
2. Jan Jørgensen in ASG 29 with 4,679 points. Don’t know Jan but congrats!!!
3. Peter Eriksen in AS33es with 4,471 points. Well done Peter.

2-seaters; task 9…. 4 hour AAT.…Mix & Christensen in a Duo Discus XLT won the last day.452.77 km with 111.93 km./h.
All 12 starters finished.
Overall scores for the 2 seater class and National Champions;
1. Dantoft & Dantoft in Duo Discus WL with 4,643 points.
2. Mix & Christensen in Duo Discus XLT with 4,602 points.
3. Sørensen & Sørensen in ARCUS T with 4,387 points.

With 7 out of 10 days and on some of them, absolutely perfect soaring weather, these nationals have been really nice to follow!!
Between 1970 and 2023 , I read, there have been several top pilots participating. Jan and Stig both won 21 nationals. Jan added this year another title…22!!!! AMAZING!!!!
Arne had 14 titles and added 1 too. And Henrik had 8 ..now 9!!!
Nice to see that they keep going for years and stay on a high level!!!.
GOOD ON THEM.

Jonker Sailplanes added :
“The Danish Gliding Nationals 2024 saw two new JS3 RES pilots participating in respectively the 18m and 15m classes – and it was a nail-biting race to the end with a total of 7 mostly blue flying days of 10 possible where both champions had to fight hard to crawl up the ladder. The competition started with mediocre conditions and turbulent (low buoyancy / sheer ratio due to 20knot winds) and some 3.600′ when it was good – but later the weather turned stronger and the last two days were strong with 6.600′ base – and nearly all of Jutland was traversed from central Jutland to the North and to the South with often stunning views of the west coast and inner fjords.”

Thanks AGAIN Arne for the Pictures. Here is the last one a funny ,but a VERY SERIOUS one, looking at the face of this little one.

—————————————————————

The QUALIFYING FAI SGP in NORWAY.
Elverum Starmoen
19 May 2024 – 25 May 2024

After Spain, this is the 2d race from edition 12 ; flown in 18 m.
Race 1;
“After several practice days in good weather, the pilots have been exploring the contest area with the hills and mountains to the north, and the flatlands to the south.”
“Our pilots showcased incredible skill over the 177.93 km course, starting strong in this thrilling series!”
Start at 13.45. 15 pilots attend and they are from Germany, Sweden ,Australia, Czech Rep and of course Norway.
Matthew mentioned; “Strong first day at Norway Grand Prix with 2nd place. Complex weather to the north resulted in a task under the 5500ft airspace to the south, which was very challenging with a heavily overdeveloped 8000ft cloudbase. Very hard to pick the climbs up under 8/8ths when always so low. Eventually dribbled back out into a booming convergence (pictured) for final glide.I did all the right things and made no major errors, but could only cover so many bases and a few got away from the pack, with one making it work! Congrats Conrad“
Arne Martin Güettler from Norway mentioned;
“That didn’t go as planned! Got way too low twice, but was lucky to make it out of it both times with a decent thermal. Raced Matthew Scutter’s Gliding to the line for second place, but was beaten by one second. And was a few meters too low too, giving me a some more seconds of penalty, dropping me two more places. If I was only 3m higher and 2 seconds faster I would have been 2nd… But at least got some points for 5th place.The Grand Prix is underway at last.”
Mind you;….Arne Martin is the WORLD CHAMPION of the VIRTUAL SGP .
You can read all about it on
https://sgp.aero/news/warm-up-a-dive-into-the-mind-of-a-arne-martin-gettler-world-champion-of-the-virtual-sgp
Winners from day 1;

Race ; “New day, new opportunities!Weather situation has given us a calm morning after a great day of racing yesterday.A layer of clouds is covering the task area until late noon. Weather looks good for afternoon and early evening with dry thermals and maybe some whisks of cloud up to 1800m AGL.”
In the end the day was cancelled.
“Todays temperature never reached 20 degrees as forecasted. Thus the thermals never reached the strength and height needed to compete today.”

Race 2; start at 13.30 and 257.24 km to go!! Start-line open at; 14.30.
“The sun and the heat is on for our third day and 2nd race for QSGP at Elverum, Norway. Gliders are gridded and the launch is about to start at 12:30.The competitors will fly a task of 257km today mostly in the valley of Østerdalen to the north of the airfield. Task will be flown in blue thermals up to 1900m AGL.
We are expecting an exciting and challenging race in the valley today.”

Indeed a very blue day, not good for everybody!
Klaus Kalmbach from Germany in a JS3, flew 119.7 km/h and got the daily 10 points. Runner up was another German pilot Conrad ,[119.3 km./h ] who won race 1 already and 3d was Joachim Schwenk; 118.05 km./h for 8 points. It seems the finishes were impressive!
Quite a few penalties as well.
Arne Martin Güettler; “Was forecast to be mostly blue, but we actually got some clouds in the northern part of the task, which helped. Still, I lost a bit too much time on the long southbound leg, never felt I got the good climbs I needed.” he was 6th for the day.
Matthew had to use his engine after 253 km and here is why?;
“The SkySight convergence forecast on the LX didn’t save me from myself today – I utilised it to get myself into prime position for a day win, but leading the gaggle out from cloud base to find the final climb of the task, I missed it and the gaggle behind got something else. Just needed 3kts to make it happen and instead got my first engine start in as long as I can remember. 10 points to 0 points!“

You can follow the next races on live tracking ; https://sgp.onglide.com/
Race 3 today; 260.22 km..…estimated regatta start at at 13.30.
More next week…
It seems that the “The automatic scoring has been full of errors in dishing out penalties, so they’ve had to do it manually, and it’s still being updated.”
So scores I wrote down are for now preliminary.

——————————————–

—–News from 13th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships & 5th FAI 13,5m WGC 2024
“Dear Pilots and Team Capitans Championship is getting closer We have confirmed 67 entries on JWGC from 21 countries Today self briefing have been publishedYou can find it on the competition website https://jwgc2024.pl/en/2024/downloads

–——The Boeing 777 from Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 took off from London Heathrow last Monday night and had a scary few minutes.:
“A British grandfather [ 73, on his way to Australia] has died and dozens are injured after a Singapore Airlines flight was hit by extreme turbulence.There were 211 passengers, including 56 Australians, and 18 crew members on board as the plane dropped 6,000 feet in just a few minutes before being diverted to Bangkok.” 9 news.
It seems the granddad died of a heart attack. All passengers , who could still fly, have landed in Singapore this morning.

That’s it for now. Enough writing over the last week, so CU next Wednesday again.
Just to let you know already; NO BLOGS between May 31 and June 26, due to renovations to the house and holidays.

Cheers Ritz.

Post 1.499 on May 20 2024 on WEDNESDAY post 1500.

Words combined with pictures!!! It’s a real clear way of sharing our sport.
You might have seen in my last blog, the picture from the 6 Dutch juniors participating in the JWGC in Ostrow in July 2024.
I met a few last Saturday , among them Tim and Jasper. Lars was there as well, he even won the last day.
Both Tim and Jasper, were in Australia during the WGC period in Narromine.

This is Tim helping out to put the glider in the trailer. Evelien really helped hard as well and was soaked from the rain.

Jasper had the time of his life, visiting even my family in Tocumwal. He flew a competition as well in Leeton and was runner up.
History repeats I can nearly say; His dad Edgar, was a friend of our Dennis. I picked him up at the station of Woerden and he stayed with us at several weekends soaring at Terlet, as did Wouter and Niels .
Now my granddaughter Indya travels with him to Ostrow, as his crew. This world is so “small” and recognizable.
By the way Edgar’s dad and Jaspers grand dad, Ben was a colleague of George at Transavia.
No picture from Jasper, he out landed on the last day.

BUT,…I found one later in the day in the glider with his mates among them Tijs Vermeer on the r. son from Marco!

Thies ; relatively new for me, was runner up during that WGC, but had an incident with his glider behind the car on his way to the grid, meaning he could not fly the last days and a “may-be” title was gone. BUT a very well deserved Dutch NATIONAL CHAMPION TITLE is pretty good too.

Former Junior Robbie [Seton] , [I was his TC in Husbos, years ago,] won in the combi class. Robbie and his family are real Keiheuvel [ Belgium] members. Robbie is over the last couple of years the CD at the Keiheuvel comps in August. He was a good young pilot , he still is a good pilot.

The BB team Hans Biesters and his LONGTIME crew, was ready just before the storm and as you can see they were really pleased to have the glider in the trailer in time. This couple “works” together as long as I know them.

It’s always GOOD to be back at Terlet. I lived with my children many years in the caravan on the camping , best place to be!!!Our caravan was a “home” for several young ones. Great fun.
It’s good to see that our granddaughter Indya loves gliding as much as I did .
With my daughter Inge she stood in the pouring rain , even with big smiles, to help granddad and Diana with their gliders. Mind you the youngest was 20 during this National Championship the oldest nearly 75 and that was George.

The open class winner was Francois. I have been at several comps were he participated. In August he travels with Frans ..the photographer of the pictures in my last blog from the prize winners, to Uvalde for the WGC over there. THANK YOU FRANS, got them !!!!!
He allowed a picture as well, straight after the closing ceremony.

Did I see mates from my age??? Yes several, Harold was there, Hans and not to forget Eagle.
I had to have a few words with him, but a NICE picture was allowed.Here you are.

Last but not least a picture of Steven and Marion, specially again for Art in Canada.
Steven and Marion both retired from KLM . Steven bought a new glider the AS33es , he told me he is very happy with it, he won the Nationals as well. He is not so much in the mood anymore for big comps, but the nationals remain on his list.

That was the “story” of Terlet NK 2024 for me. 1 Day ,but enough to catch up again with the atmosphere of soaring I inhaled, for so many years.

A BIG THANK YOU to the very experienced,already for a few years, organizing team with Rik as CD.

Wednesday more about the 2 last BIG days during the Danish Nationals and the start of the FAI SGP in Norway.

Enjoy your 2d Pentecost- day.
Cheers Ritz.
P/S lot’s of rain creates super mushrooms even on the holy grass of Terlet.

P.S 2. I found a much better picture of the thunderstorm from Robert Jungblut

Post 1.498 on May 19 2024

Dutch Nationals flown at Terlet.
May 9-18 2024.

Wednesday May 15; small tasks BUT …tasks!!!!
First the winners were cheered on from Tuesday. Steven[18m] was one of them.

Club; 121.81 km….task to the NE …The LS3 from Jeroen [van Dijk] flew fast!!!! 99.96 km./h Runner up Robin [Smit] in LS 4 neo flew 86.29 km./h.
All 9 started for this short task and ALL finished.Some started at 13.40 the winner at 14.07 and the last on 15.08!! Maybe problems??? I don’ t know….Lars is still very young.
18m; 158.99 km….There was a difference from 3 points in the scores between winner Hadriaan and runner up Steven [Raimond]; 110.90 and 110.88 km./h.
All 14 started between 14.04 and 14.22 and they all finished.
open;  173.31 km…CANCELLED.
combi; 134.31 km….start times between 13.38 and 14.42; Ralph Nijhoff from the Gelderse flew the ARCUS with 94.29 km./h. and he started at 14.25. All 11 started and 2 were out

Thursday May 16; NO TASK.

Friday May 17; small tasks due to uncertain weather, but they fly. Tasks more to the NE where the weather should be best. Flying day 7 out of 9, for Club, open and 2 seaters and 8 for 18 m class.
In the evening there is a a special event to raise money for the juniors travelling to the JWGC. Part of the payment for all drinks will be for the young ones.
See picture below.
Club; 114.95 km….
18 m; 163.49 km….
open; 173.81 km..
combi; 133.18 km….
All flights were cancelled. So no changes in the scores with 1 day to go;

Saturday May 18. Possibility for showers and thunderstorms on the very last day of these interesting NATIONALS.
Should I go to Terlet or not?
I went, and good I did as they flew on the last day. And as always it was great fun.
Club; 185.22 km….the last couple of days 3 pilots were in the top 3. Thies, Robin and Jeroen. On the last day , number 4 Lars [van Breemen] in LS4b Neo did well; 80.59 km./h.They were in before the thunderstorm arrived.
One was out .
After 7 out of 10 days we got a NATIONAL CHAMPION , a runner up and a 3d place in club class;
1. Thies Bruins in ASW 20WL with 4.567 points.
2. Robin Smit in LS 4 neo X with 4,424 points.
3. Jeroen van Dijk in LS3 with 4,321 points.
Lars who won the last day missed out on 10 points to be on spot 3 as well.

18 m; 233.75 km….We heard at the ground that some pilots had difficulties with the showers but before we knew they were back. Jeroen won the day with a speed of 123.35 km./h in an ultimate attempt to get on spot 2. That worked; 10 km/h faster than the rest. Steven was on spot 1 most of the comps and with a good last flight as number 3 , he was sure of the CUP. By the way Dutch Lasham pilot Mark Weering was runner up.
Hadriaan had a bad day. Starting as number 2 overall in the morning, he was only 10th BUT IN. Unfortunately for him he moved from 2 to 3 overall.
4 from 14 were “hit” by showers with bad air behind them, so they used their engine.
After 8 out of 10 days we had a Dutch 18 m CHAMPION we had seen before;
1. Steven Raimond in AS33es with 4,106 points.
2. Jeroen Verkuijl in JS 3 with 4,017 points.
3. Hadriaan van Nes in JS1 BTJ with 3,976 points.

Open class; 262.78 km….there was no doubt that Francois in the EB was going to be the champion, but also he had to fly the last task first. He did; he was runner up with 122,45 km./h. Rien Bastiaanse & Jeroen Kole [ASH 30 Mi] were the Daily winners and all 9 started and finished on this last day.
So the new Dutch CHAMPION was CLEAR;
1. Francois Jeremiasse in EB 29R with 4,465 points.
2. Marco Vermeer & Ronald Termaat in the NIMBUS 4DT with 4,083 points
3. Max Leenders & Bart Renckens in EB29DR with 3,715 points.

Combi class; 216.34 km ……Sylvain van der Meer won de last day in his LS6.Great effort.102 km./h. All 11started and 2 were out. The had a better window than the rest.
The champion is this class;
1. Robbie Seton in LS 8 neo with 4,439 points.
2. Tom Conings in LS8 with 4,082 points.
3. Ralph Nijhoff in ARCUS T with 3,988 points.
Eric Borgmann and his mate flew HC , practiced hard for Uvalde and “got” 4,039 points.

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The Danish Nationals flown from Arnborg
9 May 2024 – 19 May 2024

They continued on Wednesday with short tasks, but in all classes TASK 5 was cancelled.
Till now 3 tasks out of 7 in club, standard and 15 m and 4 out of 7 in 18m and the 2-seaters.
So we look at Thursday May 16;
But the message was clear no flying BUT,…. HOPE for better weather.

So after 2 non-flying days they continued on Friday with small tasks indeed also here counts; THEY FLY.
Friday May 17.
Club; 173.34 km…..a difficult day and only 3 pilots from 18 finished. Felipe Cvitanich did well and won the day in his DISCUS CS.57.15 km./h!!!!!!!!Uffe Edslev in LS4 a and Jens Andersen in Mosquito are worth mentioning for their finish.
Standard; 170.73 km…Lasse Edslev in LS8 neo won with 67.24 km./h and 5 from 8 finished.
15 m;  170.73 km….Poul Kim Larsen [Ventus 2CT] won the day with 81 km./h that was faster than Rasmus who flew 67.62 km./h. in the JS 3.
18 m; 169.06 km….Arne Boye Møller showed what he can and won the day’ 90.44 km./h 18 started and 13 finished.
2-seaters; 159.84 km….Døssing & Knudsen in the ARCUS t were the only finishers from 13!!What a day for them.80.46 km./h was their speed.

BUT the better weather arrived and on the last 2 days they REALLY had some tasks. Nearly 600 and a 4hour AAT in 18 m.
I write more about them on Wednesday as today is not yet scored and they deserve time as well.

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——-The British Junior Flying Team has 2 pilots in 2 classes. They travel to Poland to fly from the well known field of Ostrow for the JWGC between July 13 and 27 2024. Here they are;

—–The DUTCH Junior flying team has 6 pilots and here they are;

–——Tocumwal Soaring Centre; this is their news for the new season….. LOOKING GOOD!!!!
“We will have two new gliders on line for this season !
In addition to our already awesome fleet which includes,
4 X LS4’s
Discus B
Ventus B
Ventus 2CXT
2 X Duo Discus
and many more !
We are adding an almost brand new JS3RES and Ventus 3M for our customers
These are the latest 18m world class ships from Jonker Sailplanes and Schempp-Hirth, both having self launching capabilities.
These will be available from the first of October this year, please check the terms and conditions before booking these awesome gliders.
Any questions, drop us an email at
info@tocumwalsoaring.com

——- News from WeGlide
” 8000 uploads in 4 days – you guys are amazing .We want to thank you . From the 9th to the 12th of May we had record-breaking uploads stats. The best day was last Thursday with more than 2300 flights worldwide.“

The spectacular finish of the Danish Nationals with big tasks nearly 600 and a 4 hour AAT for 18 m, on the last 2 days you will find on Wednesday.

Cheers Ritz, tomorrow I will share some pictures and stories I made on Saturday.

Post 1.497 on May 15 2024

Dutch Nationals at TERLET
 9 May 2024 – 18 May 2024

In one year , May 2025, the FAI SGP will be flown in The Netherlands from Terlet and I hope they have the same good weather as till now. Many pilots are interested. Also from Belgium and Germany.
You might have seen, that I published a blog last Sunday. TOO many words..it’s not interesting for you readers ,so a new blog today with the rest of the Dutch Nationals AND the Danish.

Sunday May 12; Task 4
club; 318.24 km…it turned out not to be a speed day ,but a distance day. Thies flew most kilometers; 241.18 and that was really good ,when you look at the next best distances; 224 [Robin] and 219 [Alexander] the rest was Under 200 km. BUT,..all 9 tried hard!!!
18m;  307.05 km…4 finishers in this class. Steven, Hadriaan, Piet and Jeroen. I don’t know Piet but he did well!!!He flies a DG 808b and was equal runner up with Hadriaan.
The others fly ECG’s and WGC’s and you more or less expect good results.
Daily points for these 4 pilots; 534, 531×2 and 522, the rest , among them real good pilots had less than 400 points.
All 14 started and 10 finished.
open; 299.38 km….3 finishers in EB 29R [Francois] Nimbus 4DM Marco and Ronald] a JS1C21m. [Jaap Horsten] Speed from Francois; 81.15 km yes in the EB, meaning a real tough and challenging day!!!!!
REAL WORK in the office.
All 9 started.
combi; 342.23 km…NO FINISHERS. 295.64 km was the best distance by van Breemen & Danen for 451 p.
All 12 started!

Monday May 13. Task 5 ONLY for 18 m and open due to predicted thunderstorms and hail.
18 m; 158.86 km….Steven [Raimond] is doing so well in his new glider the AS33es. He won the day 95.08 km./h whilst runner up Steven [Huiskes] in Ventus 2CXT, flew around with 85.99 km./h. Not many points to gain or win; 268 for the winner and 115 for number 13 and 14 [equal] meaning they all started and finished.
Open; 174.17 km.…Francois in the EB won with 273 points and the number 9 had 188 points. All in this class flew and finished.

Tuesday May 14;it’s already a valid competition as 4 days have been flown.
warm, with up to 28 dgr. C , but with a forecast of local thunderstorms.
They arrived later in the day in the East of the Netherlands and here in the SE at 5.30 PM. Result; flooding in little towns, as the storm STAYED ABOVE them.
Club; 243.14 km….All 9 started and except for 1 , finished.Robin [Smit] won the day; 95.95 km./h.
18 m; 272.35 km…with 123.86 km./h. Steven [Huiskes] won the day just ahead of Steven. [Raimond] 123,86 for 123.09.
All 14 started, 1 was out and 1 by an airspace problem.
open; 309.34 km….The EB from Francois was clearly faster; 126.88 km.h Runner up Hans[Biesters] in a JS1c/21 m flew around with 118.35 and the NIMBUS 4DM with 112.99 km./h.
All 9 started and finished.
combi; 257.05 km….3x an LS8 in the top and Belgian pilot Tom[Conings] flew with 103 km./h. Robbie [Seton] Dutch but flying for years already at the Keiheuvel in Belgium was runner up with 100 km./h.
11 started and 1 did not finish.
Task 7 for each class today; club;  121.81 km….18 m; 158.99 km….open; 173.31 km and combi; 134.31 km
BUT,..another day with possible thunderstorms and a huge difference in temperature between 27 up N and under the showers here,in the SE 18. Normally it’s the other way around.
Already 6/7 out of 7 days ….that is, if they really fly today .WOW….NOT BAD….GOOD!

On my FB site this picture showed up as a memory of 14 years ago. The organizing team in 2010!!! I was the editor that year ,of course with writing stuff and camera in my hands.Nice to share!

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The 2024 Danish Championships
9 May 2024 – 19 May 2024 from Arnborg

These Nationals are flown in 5 classes.
They had NO TASK on May 9 , on May 10 task 1 was cancelled
May 11 task 3;
club; 317.80 km...18 in this class started and 3 were out. Daily winner Jan Walther Andersen in ASW 20 WL and Uffe Edslev in LS 4,got both 1000 points!!! Speed 86.72 and 82.46 km./h.
Handicap for ASW 20 is 1.114 and for LS 4 1.059.
Standard; 300.56 km..…8 in this class and 2 were out. Kevin Kjær Andersen in LS 8 was the daily best with 96.27 km./h.
15 m; 303.56 km…….Rasmus Ørskov in a JS 3 won the 1000 points ; 95.56 km./h. Good to see Henrik is flying too. I follow Jan from club and Henrik as well as Rasmus already for a long time.
10 Started AND finished.
18 m;  313.42 km….20 in this class and also here a few I know from comps. Peter Eriksen [AS 33es] won and Arne Boye Muller [JS3 jet] was runner up. ….The only 2 flying over 100 km./h. Only 1 was out and Good “old” Stig Oye in a Ventus 3m and still going strong was 12th.
2-seaters; 290.13 km…..Hans Christian Hoeck in ARCUS M was the daily winner and the only 1 flying over 100 km./h.
All 13 started and finished.

May 12; task 3/4. a bit of a weird day with many “outs”.
Club; 288.21 km….. Morten Hoeck Petersen in a Glasfluegel 304 won the 1000 points. Uffe was runner up and Jan on spot 3.
ONLY 8 from 18 finished!!!
standard; 372.11 km….NO finishers. Filip Bojanowski had the best distance as it turned out a distance day and not a speed day.; 363 km,…nearly home! All starters flew more than 250 km.
15 m; 372.11 km….Finishers!!!! 3 from the 10 FINISHED!!!!Knud Møller Andersen in Ventus 2CT flew around with a speed of 66 km./h. Good on him. Rasmus finished as well as runner up and Morten Nørgaard was the number 3; 64 and 61 km.h.
18m; 371.44 km…. Only 19 started and 12 finished. Jan Hald in a Ventus 3T got the 1000 points. 29 more than Arne. Stig was 4th.
2-seaters;  323.85 km….Thomas Dantoft in a Duo Discus WL was the best; 77 km./h. The Arcus T was a tad faster with 80 km./h. but lost on handicap.
13 started and 8 finished.

May 13; only 2 classes got a task; 18 m and 2-seaters;
18m; 2 hour AAT...Another win for Arne,with 166.60 km. and a speed of 83.30 km./h.for 218 points. Only 3 from the 19 starters finished. Peter and Carsten belonged to the 3 finishers.
2-seaters; 2 hour AAT...NOBODY FINISHED, but the distance was giving up to 144 points.144 km. in a DUO Discus.

May 14;
Club; 2:30 AAT…Uffe Edslev …daily winner again, with 177.12 km and a speed of 61.43 km./h. Good, when you see that from 17 starters only 7 finished.
Standard; 2 hour AAT…Another Edslev this time LASSE inLS8neo, won with 166. 80 km in time 2.34. So tough for them as well.BUT,…from 8 6 finished.
15 m; 2 hour AAT…Knud Møller Andersen [Ventus 2CT] was daily winner with 199.49 km with 59.40 km./h.
10 started and 2 were out among them a potential winner of the championship Rasmus.
18m ; 229.26 km …..20 started and 10 were out. Among them Arne and Peter..ouch! Not too many points lost on a day like that; Arne “:got” 352 and Peter 326.
Jan Schmeltz Pedersen , daily winner, won the 533 points for a speed of 75.77 km./h Stig was “in”.
2-seaters; 212.67 km…… Sørensen & Sørensen did their best with a speed of 75 km./h. That means ,..they had to work hard for it.
No tasks yet.

Briefings are busy in Arnsborg.

More next Sunday or Monday as it is Pentecost weekend and I might go to Terlet on Saturday.

Cu most probably in the weekend.

Cheers Ritz.