Klix.

After the accident during landing at the field, killing a 21 year old female pilot, the organizers neutralized the next day and on that day they also decided to not continue with the competition.
When you are interested in the final scores after 5 days [4 for st class] you can go to www.aeroteam.de

You can go  to Wettbewerbe , then to Wertungen and Gesamtwertung from every class.

———-

Hahnweide.

The skies on day 5 and the morning-message from the organizers;” Any questions”?
As shared by the organizers.

So day 5 was a great one!!!!No doubt about that. So after the miserable weather with several cancelled days the organizers and pilots had GREAT fun, and that’s what’s all about.
Standard;  had to go for nearly 400 km. and Michael Buchtal raced over the course with a speed of  127.7 km./h. in his Discus 2 A. The runner up , Cornelia in her LS 8, was fast too , but not as fast; 124.93 km./h .
NO out-landings  of course ,but a few struggled with the start height and got some penalty points.
After 3 days Michael leads followed by Howard from the UK and Adam from Australia.
15 m; got a task from 445 km. and all 9 pilots raced over the course as well and nearly all flew with a speed of over 120 km./h.
Freddy Hein was the fastest with 127.39 km./h in his Ventus 2ax.
After 3 days he leads the pact but only just;14 points difference with Nils Prokisch in the Ventus 2a.
18 m ;498.64 was set for the 38 pilots in this class and they were like all others ” in a hurry”. Matthias [Schunk] only needed 3 hours and 42 minutes and was back home; speed 134 km./h. He was followed by French pilot Christophe [Abadie] and Tijl and Bert Schmelzer from Belgium.
Some were so eager to go that they went too fast some too high , but great soaring on track.
Matthias out-landed on day 1 but won day 2 and 3 and moved up from 19 to 10 to 7 overall.
open class; “only” their 2d flying day and they were on a mission. Task 543 km. gave them all possibilities.
All 16 pilots had a ball and the winner was Conrad Hartter in a JS 1, ahead of ASW 22 BLE,  Antares 23 T as well as Nimbus 4 DM or EB 28.
After 2 days former World Champion Holger Karow [Antares 23T] is on spot 1 just ahead with 25 points on Stephan Beck in the ASW 22 BLE.
2 seater class; they had to go for 410 km. and they did,…ALL of them. Best was the ARCUS T with Mayer and Willems 135.14 km./h  as Wolfgang and Andy flew a tad slower; 134.85 km./h.
After 2 days the daily winners were on 1 and Wolfgang and Andy on spot 3.

Day 6 on May 5 had reasonable but tricky weather. Only 3 days to go including this one.
A difficult day with mainly blue conditions , a strong Easterly and early in the morning a low base,  later good visibility.
St. Class; 249 km and the 3d win in a row for Michael. Howard was runner up , Cornelia on spot 3.
15 m; 254 km. and the 2d win in a row for Freddy Hein. Bernd Weber from Schempp Hirth was runner up. Tim Scot [UK] on spot 3.
18 m; 295 km. Daily win for Belgian pilot Bert Schmelzer jr. He was the fastest for the day with a speed of 116 .69km./h. Runner up Swiss pilot Rolf Friedli.[ 116. 59]  Matthias was 3d.
open; 292 km. and  Swedish pilot Jim Acketoft was in before French pilot Sylvain Gerbaud.
2 Seaters; 246 km.and Theisinger /Koster won the day in the ARCUS M.

On the first row; Matthias Sturm, Katrin Senne, Conny Schaich and Bert Schmelzer jr., not former as I wrote last but still the current WGC Champion.
Behind them 3 Jones brothers [Phil, Steve and Howard] , behind them  Wolfgang Janowitsch and Michael Buchtal and to the r. Holger Karow and Andy Davis. Great shot!!!!!Shared by Boerje Eriksson.

Very INTERNATIONAL but also a very high level as I read on their site:”  The 50th International Hahnweide competition has totally 114 Teams in all classes. This year participates 11 world champions. It’s the highest level of pilots ever seen in our competition. That means statistically: in one of ten gliders is flying a world champion.” NOT BAD !!!!!
You can find pictures from the 11 and of course their names on the site; http://www.wettbewerb.wolf-hirth.de/

   

Some air-shot’s from the field as shared by the organizers.

Day 7 ;”Good morning! The sun is shining! We are expecting another great competition day.”
AND….. “In our area we will have mostly blue thermals, but over the mountains there are some good cumulus with cloud-base up to 2400 meters. For this reason today’s  tasks are going direction Black Forest.”
What ‘s there more to say ??!!
Relative late starts, so no time to mess around at the start-line , as ALL had to go for the A task.

Standard class; 336 km….4th consecutive win for Michael, now 129 points ahead of Howard.
15 m. ;356 km….3d consecutive win for Freddy , 372 points ahead now of Nils and UK pilot Tim Scott.
18 m; 375 km…. 3d win for Matthias , after climbing up from 7 to 3 he is now at spot 2 !!!! REMARKABLE run from him.
open; 389 km…each day another winner, now French pilot Sylvain. At spot 4 now overall.
2 seaters; 329 km….also here each day another winner. Thos time the The Broquevilles from Belgium, climbing from 5 to 3 opverall.

THE VERY LAST DAY on May 7;
Morning message; ” Today we are expecting good weather conditions again. Later in the afternoon there will be some showers, into the black forest might be some thunderstorms as well.The tasks are between 354km (15m) and 399km (18m).”
So a very interesting , maybe even tricky day where the correct choice of departure might be more than important.
Small differences in overall scores,  so EVERYTHING is possible in the top 10.

St. Class; as Michael Buchtal was the best on the last day AGAIN, it was no secret that he was the new champion in this class. He flew the set task of 357 km. with a speed of 126 km./h.
On day 1 he finished on spot 7 after he won EVERY day, so a deserved winner.[5294] Runner up was Howard Jones [UK] with 4996 points and on spot 3 German pilot Soeren Noelke.
5 out-landings one of Andreas Belz, who was on spot 3 when he started the last day, but out-landed and dropped from 3 to 10. He started in the middle not too early not too late…..

15 m.: Freddy Hein did not win the last day but  the result was still good enough to win the 15 m. comps;5238.
UK pilot Tim Scot , 3d on the last day moved up to a runner up spot [4912]With being 7, Nils lost around 240 points which gave him a 3d place.[4811]

18 m.; Young Swiss pilot , [the Swiss do have a few good young ones] Rolf Friedli, got the 1000 points on the last day, ahead of toppers like Reinhard Schramme and Bert Schmelzer jr, on spot 2 and 3.
Overall Simon Schroeder was the best. He did not win a day but flew very consistent. Good on him.In his ASG 29 E he gained a total of 5060 points over 6 days. Matthias was runner up [4948 and a great result!!!] and Bert on number 3.[4886]

open; 5 out of 9 days so less days to proof themselves .But some did. Specially the last days , Swedish pilot Jim Acketoft in the EB 28 proofed his class .[4591] He did not win the last day, he was runner up, but overall he just was better than Holger [Karow] and Sylvain [Gerbaud].Sylvain won the last day and moved from 4 to 3[ 4519]. Holger remained on spot 2.[4550]

2 seaters; Team Martin Theisinger and Juergen Koster  won the last day in the ARCUS M and with that result the comps. [4338]
They started after 2 days on a 5th spot overall. They won task 3 and 5 and moved from 5 to 4 and to 1 at the LAST day.
On the morning of the last day  Mayer and Williams were still on spot 1 , but they did not have a good last day and lost nearly 300 points dropping from 1 to spot 4.
Runners up were the THE BROQUEVILLES [4278] and Andy and Wolfgang finished on spot 3.[4261]

And then it was over and out ; a great competition that 50thiest edition at the Hahnweide!!

Finishes on the last day as seen by Kathrin.

———

With a check by Uli Kremer  at the Schleicher Airfield, the brand new ASG 29 Es, with call sign GPS was ready for Dutch pilot and former European champion [Pocuinai] , Rene de Dreu to take home. Rene is the Schleicher representative for the BENELUX.
Good luck with and in the beautiful glider.

     

As shared by Alexander Schleicher.

———-

Denmark ; Danish Nationals in 5 classes .

Ready to go as shared by Arne Boye Moeller.

They started on May 5 with good/top weather and still have good weather.
11 Pilots in club and after 6 days Jan Andersen is on spot 1 followed by Rasmus Orskov only 28 points behind and on spot 4 good old Henrik Breidhal.
9 Pilots in St class and Mogens Hoelgaard is the leader at this stage, with only 22 points on Frederik Noddelund.
13 Pilots in 15 m. class and at this stage, also after 6 days Jan Schmelz Pedersen tops the overall list.Good old Stig Oye is on spot 4.
12 Pilots in 18 m. and a better difference in scores for Arne Boye Moeller in this class; over 300 points on Peter Eriksen. Arne won 45 of the 6 days and on the not-winning-day he was runner up.
11 Teams in the 2 seater class and Tom Joergensen leads with his mate with quite a big margin in the Duo Discus [3991] . They won day 1 , flew consistent after and topped the overall list till now. My friends the Arndts in the DG 1000T are on spot 2 at this stage as the comps continue till the 15th.[3545]

TODAY  TASK 7 and long distances;
Club 325 km,……St. Class  398 km……15 m. 398 km…..18 m. 3.30 AAT…..2 seaters 33.30 AAT as well.
More next week !!!!!

———–

Interesting OLC flights ! SO MANY!!!!!!!

The great weather was “ON” and you could see that on the fabulous flights. Some toppers were flying comps so could n’t do what they wanted to do , but others enjoyed soaring to the fullest. Clouds EVERYWHERE!!!! On the map it looked like a million sheep had disappeared out of Australia and walked over European soil !!!
May 4; 33 over 1000 km. flights ,  flown from Germany, Holland[1 ]  Luxembourg [1 by Guy Bechtold 1.141 km. 1000 FAI triangle in the Quintus M] and Belgium [1 by Jean Luc in the 18 m. ASG 29 E], what about that and what about a 970 flight [700 FIA triangle] in the St. Libelle by Marco Barth!!!!!?????A total of 1284 flights on a Wednesday, but in Holland most had the day off because of Memorial Day.
From the 33 even 4 x an FAI triangle !!!
Tilo [Holighaus]flew  in his brand-new Ventus 3, the longest flight till now in this fabulous looking ship.1005 km.[817 km. Fai Triangle]
On FB he said ;  “I was a bit hesitant in the morning and only declared an 800km FAI flight. After finishing, the weather still looked great so I added another 200 km to the flight.”

EVEN a 1000 from Holland flying direction NE. Great flight by Robin van Maarschalkerweerd and Jeroen Kole in the NIMBUS 4 DM. AND,…784 [641 FAI triangle] in an LS 4 by junior team squad member , Rick Boerma, is not bad either. All in our flat-as-a pancake- country. Great stuff as well; junior pilot Jelmer Vis flew 786 [ 300 FAI triangle] in the St. Cirrus.Both flew more or less together from Hoogeveen.
By the way the Dutch 1000 km. was on spot 71 on the OLC for points. So a tremendous good day!!!!
A 700 km. out and return in a Duo Discus is worthwhile talking about too. A total flight of 830 km and the out was to Stendal 350 km from home and back to Veendam in the N.E.  of Holland by Alexander and Allard. Clearly happy chappies!!!

  

Well deserved cold beer after a long flight!!!
Picture shared by Alexander. Chapeau !!!  And the 1000 km from Robin and Jeroen. Picture shared by Lars Groot.

May 5; We in Holland celebrated our Freedom , LIBERATION DAY, so a day off , but blue.
2 Dutch top pilots Sikko Vermeer and Alfred Paul Alfers started for a short European tour leaving on Thursday and coming back on Sunday direction Germany ,Czech Rep and Poland.They first flew to Bayreuth and from there they flew into the Czech Rep to eventually land later in the day at Klix.
One 1000 was flown in an ASG 29 /18m. from Burg Feuerstein.

May 6;1.100 km. flight by Matthias Schunk in the Quintus M. from Ohlstadt. 818 in the St. Cirrus by Boris Zorz from Lesce Bled.

May 7; Matthias Schunk was not yet tired and flew now 1.155 km.[Germany]
904 km. from Lienz in a Kestrel 17 is not bad either; [Austria] 851 in an LS 6 from Bolzano, just TOP!!!![Italy]
Rainer Cronjaeger flew his first declared 1000 FAI tringle in the ASH 31 MI/21 m. from Hausen an Albis [Switserland].
So another 3x 1000 km.
SO YOU SEE GREAT WEATHER IN PARTS OF EUROPE !!!!!

May 8;On this day a 372 km. was flown in Australia from Kingaroy in a Mosquito and from Itakura in Japan 303 km. in a DG 400/17 m. So not only the middle of Europe is good.
Rainer added another 1000 km. flight to his list .
From Mifflin County in the USA great outstanding ridge-soaring-flights from 1.032 km. in a Schweizer  [1-26] by Dan Sazhin and        1. 240 in an ASW 20 by Evan Ludeman.

Pictures shared by Dan on FB.

May 9; a just-1000 km, from a place I never heard of in Germany . So good the flight was added to the OLC , as I know now about Alkersleben !!![NW of Bayreuth] Must have heard about it when I was at the WGC in Bayreuth.
great weather in Norway, where Arne Martin Guettler [Discus BT] flew together with Per Morten Lovsland [LS6]  ; 608 and 554 km.

May 10; yesterday Poland topped the OLC list with an 822 km. flight in an 18 m. ASG 29 E.

———-

Sailplane Grand Prix in Russia.

The new airfield of Usman had a total of  7 days out of 8. Sebastian Kawa was the clear winner with 45 points. Petr Krejcirik had 35 points and Vladas Motuza had 30.
The last day had 265 km. task
I copied and pasted for you the organizers news of the last day.
“Eighth (seventh racing) day of FAI Sailplane Grand Prix Russia 2016 Usman. That was really grand finale: unexpected champion of the day, [Anton Minskiy] expected champion of the whole competition (who else but Sebastian Kawa) and overall joy. This was the open day, so general public came to designated area, got acquainted with small aircraft and gliders, and enjoyed the aerobatics show by Chelavia and First Flight aerobatics teams. “

VARESE in Italy is next ;May 14 till 21.

———-

French St Class, 15 m and 2 seater Nationals.

43 Pilots were active and with 6 out of 8 days it was a good competition in one handicapped class.The first flying day, straight away had a 500 km task which  was won by Christophe Cousseau in the ASG 29.
After,.. it was more around 300 km and AAT’s from 3 and 2 hours.
Champion; Louis Bouderlique Discus 2A and 5133 points,  runner up, Christophe Cousseau in ASG 29 and 5032 points and Christophe Ruch finished on spot 3 with 4899 points in a Ventus 2 AX.

GIRO d’Italia!

Not the Tour De France , but the Giro D’Italia, talking about cycling now,  raced through Holland. Starting at Apeldoorn with a time trial and the next day racing from Arnheim to Nijmegen and on Sunday the other way around. After ,…all ” bikers” and staff fly to Italy.
Close by Nijmegen is the NIJAC the club at Malden. So as helicopters flew over, a bit of great PR was made to draw some attention for soaring as well.

Picture from TV . Shared by Albert Alders from the NIJAC.

———-

That’s it, feeling a bit better now.
By the way we moved up in temperature from the coldest April 27 [ 8 dgr C. winter coats] to the hottest May 5. [25 dgr. C.shorts] Last Sunday we had 27 dgr. C. Upcoming long Pentecost-weekend back to 12!!! Yes the weather remains the weather.
Hope it will be flyable for the 51 participants from the CAE- BENELUX comps here at Terlet in Holland.[May 17-27]

AND
My soccer club PSV won the Dutch title on the last day and totally unexpected . Ajax was the favorite for the title with equal amount of points but a difference of 9 goals in their favor,when they started on the last day. With  3 points for Eindhoven and 1 for Amsterdam, a huge party exploded in the S. of Holland.
Very pleased.

Cheers Ritz

One of my good friends , Theo, passed the flower beds in Lisse,…… great is n’t it?
AND
Please do not forget to read the article below. It’s important for everyone.

I got this article via my Australian friends and it is a MUST-READ-story not only for competition pilots but for all pilots. It’s written after the accident during the competition [Flight Challenge Cup]  at Prievidza. I wrote about it in my blog.
This season has started with TOO much incidents and accidents. NOT GOOD !!!
So I publish it straight away !!!!!!
A reflection on our sport should make us think and hopefully fly safe.
We all want to go home after a competition or a soaring camp,  to share exciting stories with friends and family at home.
As I have said many times before;[competition] flying is good, winning even better, but going home after ….best.

Here is Karol’s story;

To Turn Back Time.
We’ve all had a moment in our lives when we’ve wanted to undo what has already happened. It is not possible; we don’t have a time machine to change the course of events. That’s life; our every action has irreversible effects. It is impossible to restore life to our friend Marcin, though I would give everything for it. Somehow I cannot pack and leave Previdza. My instinct to repair and improve things doesn’t let me sleep at night. My friends went to collect the remains, and I want to do something, and the only thing that comes to my mind is to pour on paper all my rattling thoughts. I apologize to all whom I may hurt in this time of mourning and wistfulness, but I cannot do anything else except brutally state the truth. I’m crying as I write this, but I know I have to do something.

Haste In Aviation Is a Recipe For Disaster.
This tragic day started nervously; briefing had been rescheduled from 10:00 am to 9:00 am. Although this had been mentioned previously, it was still a surprise to many. There was rushing to fill gliders with water and confusion on the grid. Some of the pilots were ready but I was in a different mindset. Fortunately, something clicked, and I decided that a quiet breakfast was more important, so I finished eating and decided to skip the briefing and fill my ship instead. However, all the water spigots were still taken, so I did go to the meeting, picked up the task sheet, and went to fill my plane. The Cu were forming and the start was confirmed for 10:00 am. Too soon for me, but I could still make it…. I positioned myself behind the grid, knowing that they would let me start after all classes were launched. I was ready few minutes before the start, I still had time to look at the sky, send a text and relax. I also saw many pilots in first rows, running to their planes.

Flying Behind the Best Pilots.
For most of my flight I was following Sebastian. It was an unbelievable run along the slopes in difficult conditions. At any time I could reach the fields or return to the valley. We approached the Tatra Mountains and it got very difficult, with only a turbulent ridge lift, snow clouds covering the mountain tops, and gusty winds up to 30km/h. I wasn’t surprised when suddenly Sebastian went up and I stayed 300m below. Instead of staying in this lift, I followed a different glider along the slope above 500m AGL. I was still full of water—why? We only did 100km and had 500 km to go. Pure stupidity. The weather on the Polish side was getting worse. I had serious doubts about finding landing fields in front of us and I told my colleague that there was no place to land ahead. He reminded me that he had an engine, and that was a sobering moment for me. I turned around, returned along a no longer working ridge and landed on beautiful even grass, with my heart rate exceeding 300 beats per minute. I got out of the glider. It was intact, so with a smile of relief on my face I said aloud, “Life is beautiful!” I was so happy that this fight ended safely for me that I wanted to sing.

In the Field.
I was happy. I have achieved Zen and I was delighted that the weather had improved and that gliders were thermalling above me. I was thrilled they were still flying while the sun was out and new, and healthy Cu were forming. It was quiet, the birds were singing, the mountains around were beautiful. I went for a little hike and enjoyed the views. I called Marcin—he was supposed to retrieve me—but he didn’t answer. I thought he was lucky; he most likely had stayed in the back, waited out the weather and was going back home…or maybe he had made the turnpoint and was on his way home…

 

Like a Herd of Sheep.
We fall into a trap by following someone else; we forget about ourselves. This someone may be much better than us, as is the case with Sebastian and me. He may see more, he may have a plan of his own, and we are counting on him for help. Wrong! In critical situations we are alone, without any help! We always have to have our own plan! A pilot who is in front of us and higher than us has a different perspective, sees more, can fly farther, is less stressed and therefore makes less mistakes. Usually, the higher you are—the stronger the lift is, the ridge works better, and there is less turbulence. If we are lower and want to catch up, we actually might need to slow down, take a good lift to the top, and avoid their mistakes by optimizing our own flight path. On this ill-fated day I forgot all about that, I followed Sebastian, even though I was lower than him, in very difficult terrain. I’ve heard quite often that you fly behind someone to learn. In my opinion, you can learn only by working together on the radio, where you can discuss and consider options, such as what to do when the ridge or cloud does not work. Passive following only makes you dumber. The only way to learn is to compare your and others’ decisions. Sometimes you will pay for your decision with a landout but sometimes your idea is better. This brings the biggest satisfaction. I used to fly with Janusz Centka; I remember one competition when we flew two Jantar 2B in weak weather. It started to rain; I was a bit lower and it looked like a landout was inevitable. Janusz was telling me about a certain field further down past the road. I couldn’t see it, but there we were approaching another field, and I decided to land there. I turned and landed with the wind, of course forgetting about the landing gear. Janusz landed comfortably 2km further on a big field without any problems. Was my decision right? Of course! It’s just a shame I made it too late.

 

Flying With an Engine.
I wish I had an engine, I thought at the foothills of the Tatra Mountains, I would have been home by now. It seems to me now that I would have taken the risk and flown further. Maybe I would have made the turnpoint but maybe it would have ended much worse. I cannot exclude the possibility that I would have pressed forward as much as Marcin did. Flying with an engine requires mental and practical preparation. You need to assume that the engine will not start. You should find a good field, plan the landing, make a pattern, drop the landing gear, and with safe altitude—preferably on your downwind leg— start the engine. Starting an engine without the starter requires strange maneuvers low to the ground—we never practice them that low. I once saw my friend starting the engine over the airport; he almost crashed but landed with the tail wind in the field nearby. Twice, I have landed an engineequipped glider in a field, knowing that I was too low to try to start it. A few years earlier my engine didn’t start at 500m so I had to land in the field. A few too many cases like that.. Do you remember Henio Muszczynski? I don’t think his engine ever started.

Always start your engine OVER THE FIELD. You need an option in case of an unsuccessful start!
In gliders with an engine without a starter, a raised propeller creates a significant drag. Acceleration with a windmilling propeller results in a big loss of altitude, so if you need to try again you can lose up to 300m. You have to remember that; you have to have an altitude limit below which you will not risk starting the engine—you just land in the field.

Outlanding Penalty.
It is difficult to make a decision to land out, especially when others are still flying; you know it is the end of the flight for you and that you will give away hard-earned points. I landed once in the field on the last day of the World Competition and dropped from first place. It was a great disappointment. But do you know what I think now? I don’t give a damn. I don’t remember what year it was; if I didn’t have a video clip from the award ceremony I wouldn’t even remember that I was there. So what if I didn’t get the first place medal—I have another one and I don’t even know where it is. The most important thing is the satisfaction from flying. If you can’t get satisfaction from the competition where you didn’t finish first, stop competing. It’s pointless and will only get you in trouble. Landing in the field always is a setback. Sometimes it costs you a competition, sometimes just a late night return, with a hurried morning the next day, but we should allow ourselves to be rewarded for a good, safe outlanding. Buy yourself something, go out for a nice dinner. Let’s reward others for the same. If you think that a landout or a lost competition is a failure, think about Marcin…

Before the competition.
I have often heard “Show them how it’s done,” or “Get them,” before a competition. This is the worst thing you can tell other pilots before they fly. What should you say? “Fly for pleasure.” “Have fun.” “Enjoy your time out there.” “Make your own decisions.” “Gain some experience.” “It doesn’t matter if you win, it is important that you are happy.” “Fun first, then the result.” “If you are not sure that what you are doing is right, don’t do it.” It doesn’t matter if it is the World Championship, FCC or maybe KZS; the name of the competition is meaningless if you don’t come back healthy. I once wrote on a piece of paper, “Think ahead,” and attached it to the instruments panel so I could see it all the time; I had (and still have) an issue with that—quite often my quick and poorly thought-out decisions got me in trouble.

Responsibilities of Organizers and Task Committees.
It is often said that the organizer should do this or that… They should call a day, they should create an easier task, they should make sure there are landout fields along the task route, they should not launch so many gliders at the same time, etc. But the task is not an order, you do not have to fly it; the decision to fly is yours and yours only! Whether I go over an area with no fields and no option to return, or my final glide is below the glide path, or I fly in a peloton, or in the clouds—this decision is only MINE! The last day of the FCC was so close to being successful—perhaps one more thermal or a moment of sunshine would have allowed Marcin and others to return to better conditions. There would have been many stories that evening of how some of the pilots had recovered. It’s worth keeping in mind how fine the line is between good fortune and tragic bad luck. Never, after a flight, tell yourself that you should have taken that risk, that chance. If you made a certain decision that resulted in a safe outcome, it means that it was the best decision, worthy of the title of World Champion.

 

You are a Champion if you made a professional decision to abort the task, landed in the field and landed safely!
I assure you there are plenty of professional pilots who cannot do that. Obviously, the organizer ought to consider every aspect of the competition, but sometimes it isn’t so. We need to assume that the organizer could unknowingly send us into trouble and may unintentionally endanger our safety. In 1999, just before the start, I had a technical problem. I ran to the grid manager, who was overseeing the launch, and said I could not take off. “Get out of here!“ he shouted, pointing at my glider, so I pulled my 2B (which was full of water) by the tail to the side. Sometimes we meet people who do not wish us well. They are frantic, have their own goals and don’t pay attention to others and their problems. We, the pilots, have to be immune to this, we need to stop the course of events—and say STOP to ourselves.
My request to the organizers and managers: take into consideration the weaker pilots—don’t look only at Sebastian, who flies at the speed of sound. My request to competitors and pilots: don’t criticize the CD for setting a task short, not following the streets, or on a blue day. If you see that he needs help—help him. Create a group that can help with task setting; maybe it is not very sportsmanlike, but soaring is not fair anyway. My request to the teams and ground crews: if you see something is not right—address it! Do not ignore the voices of others; perhaps they are justified. My request to everyone: if things do not go as they should, if you feel that something is out of control—stop the course of events, land out, and go back to the airport. Do everything to end the day well. In a month, or a year, when you want to compete again, you will take off to fly another task, you will fly another pattern, you will practice again.

Enormous energy.
We do not realize how much energy we have to manage when we fly a glider. It is so easy: we fill the wings with 150–200 liters of water, we hook it up to the car and pull it to the start; we get a plane tow to 600 meters. Then, with gentle movements of the stick we turn, accelerate, and release. We do not feel the energy used to bring us up to 600m and how much additional energy we got from the thermal. All this energy returns to zero after our 150m roll after landing. Think how tiring it is to walk up 10 flights of stairs. In a glider 10 times heavier, in order to lift it 10 times as high, we can do it with two fingers. When gliders collide or when one crashes to the ground, we can compare it only with an explosion; if someone survives such a moment it should be considered a miracle.

 

Winning the competition.
I am writing that it is not worth it, that it’s better to let go, that we shouldn’t take risks, but if we are serious about soaring, we want to be successful. We cannot collect laurels without putting something at stake. The win is just the opposite of the disaster. You begin with good preparation, you arrive for the competition early, fully rested and ready to start your first day. You have to be mentally prepared for success, but also failure. Winning consists of a series of good decisions without unnecessary risk (a necessary risk, for example, is landing out but never endangering your health). The guy with bigger balls wins sometimes, but those are isolated cases. Flying this way, you can win a competition but you can also lose your life. A competition which you are going to win usually goes well; you feel like you’re not forcing anything, it just “works”. If you are trying hard to win and things do not go well—just let it go. Instead, focus on why you fly at all and why you like it. Soaring is beautiful and you spend time with people you like. If you can reach the balance between the fun of flying and the fun of competing—I guarantee you are going to win. You may not necessarily win the race but you will gain the satisfaction from flying.

Life goes on.
Marcin is already gone. Why did it affect me so much? Maybe because he was a wonderful man. I didn’t know him very well but I felt I was his friend—as simple as that. He was open, honest, and extremely humble. He was normal! One would want to be around people just like him. It moved me so because I know how tough it was, where he ended up; because I know how hard it is to land out when others are still flying. I know I could have been in his shoes, I could have been in a situation where I would run out of luck, skill or common sense. I also know that when it is too late you need to save yourself, set full flaps, go upwind and control the glider. But would I be able to do this properly under unimaginable stress, with critically low altitude and the sight of approaching trees? I do not know and I hope that I never will. We will continue to fly, continue to compete, but to our surprise, we will catch ourselves getting too low. Marcin would want us to draw conclusions from his tragic flight. He would certainly say: “I put myself in a situation with no way out; never do this.” Thank you, Marcin. I am grateful that I knew you, that I was a part of your circle. I regret that I couldn’t tell you my thoughts, I regret that we had so little time together. You don’t know how much I wish I had accidentally driven my car over your wingtip so that you couldn’t fly that day, and how—I know—you wouldn’t even have cared that much, you would have just smiled wryly and then said, “No problem, nothing happened.” That is how Marcin was. I wish for myself and for everyone who reads this, that we can, at the right moment, say.
“Thanks guys, I am landing now.”

Karol Staryszak

This article has been translated from Polish This article can be reproduced only in its entirety.
www.szybowce.com

Swaantje.

R.I.P.

We all knew it was going to happen, we knew we could do what ever we wanted to do ,  to keep her alive ……. but,…we could only loose against this form of cancer.
The way she fought it, she dealt with it and she shared it with all her mates, made her extra special.
In Benalla I knew this was our last encounter. As I said before it was a miracle to me that she WAS flying there; so fragile, not eating much and still be able to fly under hot circumstances. I guess she had to do it, as she knew as well that this would be her last competition.But still……the determination struck me.What a trooper !!
She loved competition soaring, was a member of the German female  team and nearly won the WWGC in France ,when her brakes would have not caused her problems.
She loved Australia .
One of her Aussie mates [ Baldrik Hovood] published this picture from the sculpture at Benalla. I share it too as this is just a beautiful tribute to her.
Farewell Swaantje you can lay your head to rest now, too early , …..but life is not always kind. You will be sadly missed by many!

———–

Hahnweide 2016.

One of the comps Swaantje might have flown,  would have been  the 50 thiest edition of the HAHNWEIDE competition at Kirchheim Teck, HOME OF SCHEMPP-HIRTH.
They started last Friday with a practice day, with  117 competitors in 4 classes;  shared over standard, 15 m,. 18 m., open class and 2-seaters. Unfortunately the weather was not always kind during the first days . The first 2 days  for open and 2 seater class had to be cancelled.
Till now they flew in the other 3 classes 2 out of 5 days.BUT today seems to be  GOOD!!!!!

That Friday,as it was so close by anyhow, former world champion Bert Schmelzer jr, flew the latest “ship”  from Schempp-Hirth the Ventus 3 and straight away made the longest flight till now in it;700 km. and with a speed 126 km./h.
great practice, next day he flew for the comps his ASG 29 E again.
In his OLC comment he praised the new glider; ”

—“Thank you for the opportunity to fly this amazing glider.
During the first 10 seconds I already felt at home in the well designed cockpit.
Thermalling is easier than ever before and cruising underneath strong energy lines is a shear joy with this agile racing machine.
Congratulations with your new flagship.—“

Patrick Puskeiler started the comps in the ARCUS T with a first flight for the season and straight away an unforgettable one flying over the Jura area, over the Alps , the Vogesen, Schwarzwald and the Alb. Sightseeing at it’s best !744 km.

Flying day 1 had tasks  between 187 and 250 km.
In St Class Andreas Belz was just ahead of UK pilot Howard Jones; 627 for 622 points, both flying a Discus 2 A. Australian mate Adam Woolley finished on spot 8 in an 15 m. LS 8.
13 From 26  finished. Not all pilots at the field had finished but returned of bad incoming weather.
15 m; the 229 km. were flown by 6 of the 10 pilots in this class.A pity for the girls Katrin [Senne] and Stefanie [Muhl] , they only got  34 and 36  points, whilst the winner  Stefan Lichtmannecker “got” 784.
18 m; Reinhard Schramme is still a pilot to keep an eye on. He won day 1 in the 18 m. Ventus 2CXA. 657 points. French pilot Christophe Abadie was runner up for the day.[ASG 29E/18m.] 12 From 36 finished.

Flying day 2 on Sunday May 1; ” labor-day”. With a morning still grey and wet, but hope for better circumstances.
“NO LABOR ” for the pilots as in flying,  as the day was cancelled for all classes.

Flying day 2 on Monday May 2. AND,..the first flying day for open and 2-seaters and WHAT day; 533 km. and 394 km.
And not bad either; 390, 394 and 490 km. for st.,  15 m. and 18 m.
14 from 15 in open managed to fly the long distance. Best speed was 114 km./h.in a Nimbus 4 M.
23 teams started for the 349 km. and finished. GOOD! Best speed 121 km./h in the ARCUS T.

Yesterday was cancelled for all classes but the forecast was good for the next day.

For today the message after briefing was; “Good morning! Briefing is over. We are expecting a fantastic flying day with lifts between 2.5 – 3.4 m/s. Cloudbase over the Alb up to 2400m.” 

———-

KLIX.

Another top competition at the same time flown from Klix, the 24th edition with a fabulous first day last Friday; cloud-streets over 500 km.
First launches straight at 12 last Friday and within an hour all pilots  in 4 classes were airborne.
433 km. on this first day for the 26 pilots in open class and a Dutch winner Hadriaan van Nes in his 18 m. JS 1.
In St class 33 competitors and a great first day for the LS 8’s; 1-5 for LS 8 !
Club with 30 pilots had a 213 km. task and Sabrina Vogt in the St Libelle won the day.
22 In the 2-seater class and best for the day; a Polish ARCUS M.

Day 2; Last April day.Saturday with booming conditions and 470 for the open class pilots. Booming turned out not too booming and only 7 from 22 finished. Among them 2 Dutch pilots Hadriaan and Tim Kuijpers former JWGC Champion.
339 for standard and again good places for Dutch pilots. Most of them don’t fly there for the first time. Sjaak Selen was the daily winner and Tims mother Frouwke was one of the finishers. Good on her, as only 17 from 33 finished!!
In club 26 from 30 finished so a good day for all of them.
415 km. for the 2 seaters was in the end TOO much. Only 6 from 24 made it home.

Sunday May 1;day 3. In 1 hour and 14 minutes all 116 gliders were up in the air.
Open class; Helge Liebertz in the ASH 25 with 2 Dutch pilots as runner up; Robert Werts on spot 2 in the Nimbus 3D and Hadriaan who had a good day again on spot 4 in the JS 1. A 2.30 AAT was set.
Standard had a 3.30 AAT and best distance combined with time was flown in an LS 8;319 km. in 3.36.
3 Hour AAT in club and Sabrina in the St Libelle had the best score ;1000 points for 268 km. in time 3.26.
2 Hour AAT for the 2 seaters and 600 points for the ARCUS M with call sign WK.

Monday May 2; Day 4….another flying day !!! Great weather there in good old Klix.
AAT’s from 2.30, 3 and 3.30 were set. The 3.30 was for the 2 seaters and nearly all finished.

Yesterday, day 5, another good soaring day.3.30 in open class, 2.30 in Standard and club and 3 for the 2 seaters.

Today is neutralized as yesterday during landing an accident happened with one of the female pilots. Sadly enough she did not survive it. TRAGIC. As I read, only 21 years old.
TOO many incidents AND EVEN WORSE accidents this season and it only just begun !!!!!

———–

Usman,…Russia.

http://www.sebastiankawa.pl/9192/przystanek-moskwa/

Nice to see a QSGP flown from the new airfield at Usman in Russia. Even nicer to see that all pilots fly a JANTAR.
” Just ” a Jantar or a St Jantar or St. Jantar 2 or 3.
The PR machine started straight away with the introduction of the pilots and certainly toppers like many-times-world- champion Sebastian are fabulous ” PR TOOLS.”

    

Sebastian inside with Sergey Klyuev and outside with press and TV, ….and not yet the best weather.

Among the pilots who started on May 1 as did Sebastian, other names as Petr Krejcirik and Petr Panek from Czech Rep and Jakub Pulawski from Poland.
The only participating Russian  pilot I know is Dmitriy Timoshenko.
Day 1 was a day with several penalty points and Sebastian who won , but no points were given.
The next day was cancelled.
Day 2 yesterday was again for Sebastian but this time with 10 points. Petr was runner up with 8 points.

The first 10 points in the pocket for Sebastian.
As shared by the organizers.

———-

Gauteng Regionals.

Oscar in the new ASG 32 MI with    Martin Attwell.
Shared by Jason Adriaan.

Day 4 was on and a small, just under 200 km. task was set in open class. Not many points to gain but still 420 for a nice speed by John [Coutts] of 127 km./h.
Day 5 was better . 376.76 was set . After 4 days John [ JS 1] and Oscar top the list with a marge of less than 150 points, so everything was possible.
All 8 pilots in open started and finished and best was Mike Barenbrug in the 18 m. Ventus 2CM; 607 points for a speed of 125.65 km./h.
Oscar was 2d and John 3d. He still leads the overall scores with 99 points now on Oscar.
Day 6 was for John and s the last day was cancelled the pilots knew who were the winners of this regional competition; John Coutts in open , Wayne Schmidt in 15 m., and Mark Howse in club.

———

OLC flights.

Pretty special the flight in Japan [Kakuda] from Takeshi Saito on the last day of April; 909 km. in a Discus BT. Have a look at his track, flying over the island with a sea to the left and right.
One day earlier a few 1000 k’s in Germany, one of them a 1000km FAI triangle; good on Alexander Mueller in the EB 29, flying from Bayreuth.
Swiss pilot Daniel Rossier flew 1.120 from Yverdon in Switzerland in the ASH 31/21 m.
May 1; great weather in Finland and 620 km. in an ASW 20 by Kristian Roine.
May 2; Great weather over Holland with 500 km. flights!
May 3; 1000 km. from Locarno by Swiss junior Davide in the St Cirrus. “763 km 3 TP flight declared for the badge”
Also in Holland TOP weather with a 726 in a St Cirrus by runner up at the last JWGC Robin Smit.
Even 939 km. was possible yesterday from Holland, after WORK so a relative late styart at 12by Mark Leeuwenburg . As Mark said; ” Never had such a day in Holland” . He even claims that 1100 would have been possible.
For some pilots in Holland it was a first 300,500 and 600 km.!!!

———-

Still not well. Sorry !

Cheers Ritz

PRIEVIDZA.

When I left you, there was only 1 more day to go, but we still have to look at Wednesday soaring day 9 with long distances. Here we go;
At the grid they changed for club into a B task from 300 km. as the 500 km task would lead them into bad weather circumstances over the High Tatra mountains, their first TP.
The other classes still got 553 and 631 km.
BUT,…..Club was cancelled.
For 15 m. it was a STRUGGLE 553 is far, 631 even further but with better gliders they were supposed to get farther.
BUT THEN …. the day was stopped/neutralized ..…..

AS there was the sad message/official report from the director:”On Slovakian – Poland border one glider fell down into the forest. Based on reported SAR it was told that the pilot is dead. We immediately announced to all participants immediate landing. There would be no mass crash,as reported by the media. All other competitors have returned to the airport in Prievidza or safely landed at other airports or on the ground.”
” Commemorative farewell to the deceased racer Martin Mężyk will be tomorrow morning at the briefing at 10:00. This is followed by the declaration of the results. Organizers express sincere condolences …”

Sad very sad…..another accident….. TOO many in a TOO short time.Some pilots only heard it when they were in radio contact again after a long flight. Sebastian flew 552 km. not knowing that his Polish mate had died during his flight in the same combi class.On flying day 6, Sebastian and Marcin were even 1 and 2!!!!!
R.I.P Marcin and condolences to the many Polish pilots flying from Prievidza and all other mates involved in this competition.Not to forget the organizer,s also for them these are tough moments, I know all about that.

The last day was cancelled.When you are interested in the final scores you can find them on ; www;soaringspot.com

 

———-

LA CERDANYA.

Racing the mountains around La Cerdanya.
Courtesy Philippe De Pechy.

Day 4 turned out to be a tricky day and the race was postponed to 14.30. They started at 15.20.
In the end the winner, Christophe Ruche flew the set task from 176 km.  with an average speed of 198 km./h.
Louis flew 187.2 km./h and Philippe 174.2 km./h.What do you want more?
Philippe has not only time to race the mountains , but also to make another interesting picture from 6 balloons.

Courtesy Philippe.

Day 5 ; Rain in Spain.

Courtesy Philippe.

Day 6;Ready to go!! With the morning news:”weather clearing for a possible race today starting at 14.00 with low cloudbase and weak thermals it should be very exciting.”
So race 5 was on and……Won by “racer”  Mike Young from the UK  ;9 points for him, though he did not round the last TP correctly. He accepted a 5 min. penalty, which was 300 s.but still remained the leader for the day. [a total of 24 p after 5 races]
Christophe was runner up [33 p] and Louis 3d.[39 p]

   

Courtesy Philippe de Pechy.

Race 6 never happened unfortunately:” The last day is cancelled because of Thunderstorms growing on the first track. Congratulations to Louis Bouderlique a worthy winner.”
I can only agree.

From l to r. the 3 French Musketeers; Christophe, Louis and Philippe.
Courtesy Philippe.

By the way the Qualifying GRAND PRIX from France will be in June at Rennes. As far as I know the 2 winning participants Louis and Christophe will fly there as well.

Before that the “circus ” goes to Russia, with Jantar’s only [May 1-8 at Usman] and Italy [May 14-21 at Varese] .

Courtesy Laurent Couture

———–

The CAE OPEN BENELUX Comps 2016.

This contest will be flown between Mai 18 and 27 and till May 10 you can enter. At this stage 53 pilots have entered; 11 in 15 m./standard, 13 in club class , 12 in open and 17 in 18 m. class.

———–

In between the Dutch pilots flew a ONE-DAY-COMPETITION in Holland from Terlet.; organized by the Gelderse for that reason called  The Gelderse-one-day-competition.
The weather , last Saturday, looked and was pretty miserable at times, cold, {minus 10 in the cockpit}hail , a bit of sun as well but also unstable and  great clouds…… the organizers ” FOUND A WINDOW” ,…..SO THEY flew. And good they did as one day later there was PURE snow in the East of Holland, not in the air but at the ground causing several incidents and accidents on the road.
4 Classes,.. 44 pilots ….so for this weather still enough die-hards. And what’s more,…they had GREAT fun!!!!

Picture courtesy Ronald Stellaard.

In club class 138.44 km. was set and 8 pilots were ready to try. They did well!!! 5 Finished and the winner was  Frank Hiemstra with 87 km./h in the St Cirrus. Runners up were Nick and Robin who participated earlier in the year in Narromine at the JWGC.
In the combi class 6 pilots started for 154 km. and 4 finished; Winner Jeroen Verkuijl in an LS 6 with a good speed; 103.59 km./h. The runner up in LS 8 had 97.48 km./h.
Open class had 16 on the list but 12 started and flew the task from 193 km.and 9 finished. Winner; Peter Millenaar in the ASG 29 with a speed of 117 km ./h. Ronald Termaat was on spot 3 in the JS 1-C/21m.
12 Teams for the 2-seater class and 8 finished their 159 km. task. Jasper Keuper and Jan Willem van Doorn in the Duo Discus flew remarkable faster than another duo Discus who was runner up;113.83 km./h. for 94.21 km./h.

All in all a nice day, one of the first of the many competitions in Holland this year. Some impressions as always great, from top photographer Willemijn.

       

———–

AND…GP GLIDERS.

finally a picture of a GP glider. They were supposed to fly at the first 13.5 WGC , but everybody had to wait a bit longer. Nice result here at the picture by Sebastian from the glider at the big AERO in Friedrichshafen.

Roomy cockpit.
Courtesy Sebastian Kawa.

     

———–

FATRAGLIDE.

In Slovakia at Martin Glider Airport,  FATRAGLIDE 16 , started last Saturday and they continue till May 4. They do have some problems with the cold and bad weather in parts of Europe. No flying till yesterday. A 2 hour AAT was set in club class and 2.30 for the combi class.
3 From 7 finished in the combi class with the SHARK on spot 1.[206.63 km. in 2.14]
In club the St Cirrus did a great job again; 141.37 km. in 1.56.

———

Club class NATIONALS in Italy.

The Italian Club Class Glider Pilots gathered at the airport of Alzate Brianza, to find out who will be the new 2016 National Champion. For me all new names from the 8 Italian pilots and 1 Swiss pilot with a very Italian name; junior Davide Giovanelli. I wrote about him not so long ago after he added a very nice flight on the OLC. He is a member of the Swiss Junior team.
They started last Friday with a set task of 208 km. and Davide won day 1.
A non flying day followed and on Sunday they continued with 263 km. won AGAIN by Davide.
Finally a good day of soaring with a 3 hour AAT on Monday. Italian pilot Franco Poletti won the first 1000 points during this competition in the Discus B wl; 362.24 km. in time 3.48. Other pilots flying that day from Alzate flew up to 781 km. in a Ventus 2cxa, flying up N to the mountains.
No task yesterday.

———-

GAUTENG REGIONALS  S.A .

From Orient the Gauteng Regionals were flown starting last Sunday in 3 classes.
Open class has 7 pilots among them Oscar [Goudriaan] and John [Coutts]. They got on their first day a set task from 294 km. and  the weather was ” challenging”,all 7 went on track, but nobody finished .
Oscar flies the new toy the ASG 32.
In 15 m. class 8 participants among them husband and wife  Maneste and Wayne Schmidt.
Dick Bradley flies HC in an ASH 25.
They set on day 1, 203 km. for 2 ASW 27 ‘s , 1 Ventus and 5 ASW 20’s.In the end the day was cancelled also for club with 3 pilots.
Today they have a set task from 261 km. in open, 205 in 15 m. and 145 for club.

———

Some great OLC flights last week;
Last Sunday, one from Italy Aosta, by Alessandro Busca in an ASW 24; 1.020 km !!!!
And 2 from Switzerland, Locarno; 2x just over 1000 km by Bert Schmelzer jr [ASG 29/18m] and Rainer Cronjager.[ASH 31 MI/21m]
One later on Monday an ITALIAN WAVE- day with 5 x a 1000 plus, though Austria Lienz,  was good as well with 1.126 in the Antares.
1.211 km. for Giorgio Galetto from Trento in the Ventus 2 cxa and from Calcinate Alberto[Sironi], Davide [Schiavotto] and Peter [Hartmann] each with an over -1000 km.- flight.
Yesterday was pretty normal again with over 500 k-flights in the UK !!!COLD though….!!!!!!

———-
Pneumonia is back in full action. Extra heavy antibiotic now! Hope it helps this time.
A month ago ,a lower dose did n’t do the job.Never had pneumonia now 2 times in 2 months.
Very tired, so not too much news!!!!!
Kingsday in Holland. I was supposed to sell “things”  at the free market with my grand children. Looking to the TV in bed now!!
Cheers Ritz

With the words ” The essence of happiness, my fave photograph of you ” Vivienne Drew from Benalla supported Swaantje in her battle against cancer.
Many, many support her on FB and I guess she got strength out of that, so we keep going on with SUPPORT.

I caught up with Swaantje last in Australia. First in Narromine. When I saw her ,I was to be honest ,shocked. She was very fragile and had lost a lot of weight and spoke with a very  soft voice. Her face had some kind of “aura” , it was sweet like an angel , her blue eyes, shining as never before and then for the first time I thought this might be her  last visit to Australia. I keep hope like so many other friends.
I wondered how she coped with the 24 hours between Germany and Australia, she only smiled.
She told me she was going to participate in the Benalla pre- worlds. I was more than pleased  that she could fly with somebody in a 2-seater and told her so. NO she said I am flying the ASW20. I doubted if she was able to do that.
AND……. SHE DID. This ” fragile little bird”  flew under hot circumstances the comps. NEVER seen such a fighter. For me that was a miracle and I hope the miracle will continue in a longer life , more visits to Australia. When Kathrin another top female pilot from Germany and good friend, shared the news on FB after visiting her in hospital, that things were not good,her body did not accept the chemo anymore, I was truly sad.
This is the last picture I took from her during the closing-dinner at Benalla .Only 3 months ago.

Only 3 months ago, after she flew the Pre Worlds !!!
With her crew to the r. Swaantje even organized a flight for her crew.

BUT THEN…..Last weekend her friends took her out from hospital straight to an airfield for a flight in a 2-seater;TEARS. It must have done her so good. She was worn out though but must have felt the power of friendship.
Latest news;   she started chemo again and fights on. Catherine Conway [to the left on the first picture] arrived from Australia and so did Kerrie Claffey, yes down-under-friends caught up with her as well.

     

——–

More sad news as our former Sportavia secretary, tuggy and glider pilot , Michelle Lappin , mother of 3 and wife from Gerard died of lymphoma after a battle of 18 months.  When I met her first, she was one of those young “dogs”, a real cool chick,  running through life with pleasure. She was already with Sportavia ,when we arrived there for the first time in the eighties. Our son Dennis joined her as a tuggy for a season “to make hours ”  in 1987/1988 [ he died on January 3 1988].
She combined a job as secretary,[she knew all the guests every year again, as did Maureen our other secretary, who died already a couple of years ago] and tow pilot and when necessary she hopped in the back of a Scout to retrieve a glider  from a paddock.The pilot then took over the back seat in the Scout and she brought the glider home.
When we were involved she stayed for a short time and did all jobs she used to do.
She left Tocumwal somewhere in 2002 and her husband Gerard and she started their own business Aereal Extras,  somewhere at Latrobe Valley. Flying was in her blood. She was still young , only 49 and her youngest son [I met him only once] is 12 years old. Daughter Chloe and son Ben are in their twenties.I know them as little children ,nicely strapped in, flying in the backseat of their power plane with mum. Even their doggy flew sometimes with her. I wish the family well!!!!!

Michelle Lappin ….RIP.

———

PRIEVIDZA !

When I “left”  you the pilots started on flying day 3 and that turned out to be a good one. A 1000 points -day and more finishers than out-landers on this day with a 3 hour AAT in each class.
Day 3 in club;
Fabian Peitz from Germany won the very first 1000 points in this class. 272 km. in 3 hours a the dot in his St Libelle!!
He is not only busy with great pictures for the blog Segelflug Hoch Zwei but flies well too as we knew already from his early junior time. Also his mate Dennis shares in good flying, news and pictures.
49 From 57 finished. 2 German pilots [Fabian and Dennis] in St Libelle in the top on spot 1 and 3. In between Boris [Zors] in the St Cirrus.
Day 3 in 15 m;
1000 points for Lithuanian pilot Arturas flying an LS 6!!He flew 323 km. in 2.57. He was “followed” by 3 Czech pilots , Pavel, Miloslav and Jana. For them 999 points and 960.37 From 42 finished!!
Day 3 in the combi class;
368 km. in 3.59 was good for 1000 points in this class and the one winning them was Karol Staryszak from Poland followed by Sebastian 993 points. Sebastian “lost”  on handicap, the JS1 [ 121.1] against the ASG 29 /18 m.[120.9]
All 28 starters FINISHED, 2 did not fly!!!!

Pilots were happy with the day though for some specially the last part was difficult “it was not easy and specially on the last part of the track it was difficult to find  lift.” 

They expected a front to pass by so no flying on April 14.

Some of the pictures shared by Segelflug Hoch Zwei [Fabian and Dennis] on April 13.

   

Flying day 4; a non-ballast-day.
With another 3 hour AAT for CLUB  and 208 km. in 3.15 for the Ukraine winner Darius;756 points for him.
From 57 a group of 21 managed to finish.
Fabian, with call sign FH just made it. Still 629 points for him.
So off they went and some came back. Already before the start they knew from the meteo and saw from the field a thick shield of clouds approaching from the SW. A good beginning of the day, less good end for a lot.

    

Pictures shared by the organizers on www.fccgliding.sk

In 15 m. class a 3 hour AAT was set as well and won by Maros Divok who flew 237 km. in in 2.57. ONLY 8 from 42 finished.
In the combi class Pavol Cerny [18 m. Ventus 2CX] won and Sebastian [JS 1 b/18 m.] was runner up. Both pilots were the only ones flying over 100 km./h. flying just under and over 230 km. 21 From 28 returned home.

Flying day 5;with  ….3 hour AAT’s and ……..water allowed again and 2 fabulous pictures shared by  Sebastian from his mates Karol and Adam close to Priviedza.

Pictures[ by Sebastian] with the WOW factor.

Back to flying day 5 , sorry, my attention was diverted by the awesome pictures.
Club had a 3 hour AAT as the other 2 classes and with 39 from 54 finishing it was a better though still a tough day. In the morning they heard :
“There are several nice cumulus clouds over Bojnice already, but they are not very high. Exactly as was predicted by our meteorologist Mr. András Gyöngyösi. He is not expecting very high cloud bases today. Only around 1700m MSL on north and 1500m MSL south of Slovakia. So it seems that there will be another hard task for our competitors. Good luck and good lifts to everyone!”
2 St Jantar’s in the top with a Polish and a Lithuanian pilot.
In 15 m. the LS 6 was the best with Polish pilot Piotr Jarysz. 1000 points for a nice distance of 316 km. in 3.04. The runner up “only” had 304 km. in 3.02.[LS 8A] 38 from 42 finished!!
In the combi class only one out landing and 1000 points for Sebastian, what a pity about the invalid start on day 2!

Flying day 6;
Club was cancelled due to too strong wind.
211 km. for 15 m.was set and good to see,….the Duodiscus won the day with one of the pilots Radek Krejcirik from the Czech Rep. Not JUST a pilot,…… a good one!
549 points for a day better finishing than starting,….with good clouds.
In the combi class Sebastain AGAIN was the best.He flew together with Polish mate Marcin, starting together and nearly finishing together; 392 for 387 points.Only one pilot did not make it home.

After 6 days the overall scores are as follows;
club ;Tim from the UK, with 3.148, Petr from Czech Rep. with 3.101 and Kestutis from Ukraine with 3.046, they are the only ones in the 3000 marge.
15 m; Pawel, Pavel and Pjotr are over the 4000 marge with 4.091, 4.030 and 4.018. Excitement enough. 2 Polish and one Czech pilot.
combi; Polish pilot Karol[ASG 29 /18m]  is the only one in the 4000 marge with 4.140 points, Polish pilot Adam [JS 1C /21 m.] has 3.737 points and Romanian pilots Kessler and Jurca in the ARCUS T have 3.711.
After a zero points day Sebastian “fought”  himself to spot 4 Good on him; 3.671 followed by another Polish mate Marcin with 3.662 points.

As shared by the organizers.

Flying day 7; with set tasks up to 248 km. in 15 m. and the rest had a bit shorter.On a day in the morning NOBODY believed it could be a flying day, surprise, surprise. In the end the tasks were changed in each class to a 2 hour AAT AND they flew.
” Now we can see that Andráš really has the weather under control! Exactly as he told, the frontal clouds are disappearing, here comes the sun and the competition starts exactly at 13:00.”
Till now Sebastian was 4 times 1 and 2 times on spot 2.ONE unlucky day with zero points , but nobody doubts he is the best pilot . After 7 days he moved OVERALL from spot 20 on that “rotten” day to 3 now!!! AMAZING.
30 From 55  finished in Club and best was Boris in the St. Cirrus with 155 km. in 1.59.
In 15 m. some flew over 200 km. A bad day for Miloslav Cink  as he was the first out-lander from 3. One of them virtually out-landed by flying in a restricted area.
In the combi class Sebastian added his 4th win to his impressive list.4 Polish pilots in the overall top 4. They are so good those Polish pilots!!!!

Flying day 8 yesterday and now they got the weather we got here before; tasks OVER 500 km. in each class.
—“Today’s route is among other things also interesting by the fact, that it runs through three states. The first turn point is the town of Glisy in Poland. The second is Lysa Hora in the Czech Republic and then pilots returned back to Slovakia.” —
Another preliminary 1000 points for Sebastian flying the set 526 km. in this class with 123 km./h. nearly 8 km. faster than the Romanian pilots in the ARCUS.[116 km./h]who were runner up.
Czech pilot Pavel in his LS 8 won in 15 m.
In club 2 Czech pilots ,Jan and Marek and Tim from the UK, all 3 flying St Cirrus in the top.
All scores from this day preliminary and not all are scored
www.soaringspot.com 

Pictures from flying day 8 as shared by the organizers on www.fccgliding.sk

TODAY FLYING DAY 9 ; 500 km. for club, 553 for 15 m. and 631 for combi !!!!! They are first at the grid. First start expected at 10. Briefing was at 9 AM.
Closing ceremony and last flying day tomorrow!!!

———-

LA CERDANYA.

www.sgp.aerospain2016 for info
http://www.sgp.aero/spain2016/results-sgp/results

One by one the guests arrived and the early birds straight away started with their practice under good circumstances.Here is the news from last Thursday.
—-“Good morning from La Cerdanya valley!
We wellcome Silverio della Rosa and Jean-François Billy, who have just arrived and are ready to take off!
Expected conditions for today are:
– cloud base 2.700 msl, dry thermals to the east and scatttered cumulus to the west. There are also some cirrus, but moving away
– Westerly Wind 15 knots at 1000 msl and 25-30 knots at 2.600msl, so west wave is possible
– No rain expected.-–“

Sunday April 17th was the first race day of the second Sailplane Grand Prix 2016 in the beautiful valley of Cerdanya, nestled in the eastern Pyrenees. After a quiet sunny morning ,…..but ” by the time launching started we had a westerly wind of more than 20 knots (37kph) and broken cumulus on the mountains. The forecast was for 30kts (54kph) of wind at flying heights, cumulus clouds at around 3000 m. and possibility of over development and showers on the massif. ”
French Louis Bouderlique coped best with the circumstances to win the 10 points with behind him his mate Christophe Ruche, who gained 8 points . UK pilot Mike Young got the 7 points.
Day 2  showed that “pushers”  are not always winners. From the beginning Mike pushed as he did in the QSGP in France at some days as well. This time it was not good; no lift when necessary. A group went via the W , in the end the best one , another one via the E.
French pilot Philippe de Pechy was the best and “got”  the 10 points followed with-in 8 seconds by Louis.[8 points]

Winners of day 2 as shared by the organizers.
1. Philippe. 2. Louis and 3. Jon Gatfield from the UK.

Day 3 was yesterday was a prey again for Louis [7 points] followed by Swiss pilot Fridolin Hauser [5 ]  and Mike from the UK[4] .
Louis is clearly at the top with 25 points.Philippe and Christophe have both 16 points. So 3 French pilots. Mike and Jon from the UK have 15 and 13.

———–

OLC NEWS.

THE BETTER, OR LONGER OR MORE INTERESTING FLIGHTS from last week.
—-Dennis Tito with Morgan Sandercock in the DG 1000 from Inyokern;1.343 km.SUPER wave up to over 7718 MSL [ 6932 AGL].
—-a declared 500 km. triangle from Locarno [Zwitserland] by Davide Chiovanelli, a member of the Swiss junior team. Total distance 750 in a St . Cirrus.
—-870 km last Sunday [April 17] from Holland [Soesterberg]by Mark Leeuwenburgh on an extremely good but cold spring day. He flew together with his mate Alfred Paul [862 km.] both in ASG 29 E/18 m. ” dealing with ” rain, hail and snow,  but also a terrible good view. They topped the world-wide-OLC -list with their flights.
Our young ones did well too; Runner up in Narromine Robin flew 536 in the S. Cirrus from Deelen and junior Jelmer Vis [St. Cirrus] flew from Deelen as well he flew 559 km. More top junior achievements that day ; Rick Boerma from Hoogeveen ;559 in LS 4 and Narromine pilot Nick Hanenburg 532 km. also in a St. Cirrus. He called it a day to never forget flying mainly over Holland along the IJselmeer up to the N.to Friesland . They followed an “epic convergence-line” up NE first and later direction Wadden Isles. Pretty special indeed, a flight with everything as rain, hail and snow and incredible visibility.
2 St Cirrus-gliders belong to the junior foundation; AG and AU.
Daan Spruyt from Belgium flew 589 km. in an ASW 27.
In the UK great weather too; Dave Masson flew 653 km. in the 18 m. LS 6.
—-Monday was another great day but not everybody had the day off. Jean Luc Colson from Belgium had….. and from St Hubert he flew 689 km. in the ASG 29E/18 m.
And from Malden Frouwkes son Caspar flew in an LS 4 a distance of 502 km.
Yesterday Caspars brother, former Junior World Champion Tim Kuijpers added another 548 km in the ASW 20.A few REALLY good days in Holland.

  

Holland , Terlet to be correct, as seen last Sunday by Frank Hiemstra and a “superstreet” shared by Robert Jungblut who just turned to be a granddad for the 2d time.

———–

AZ CUP 2016 !

With in the end 131 pilots participating in Prievidza you would think that nearly all competition pilots in Eastern Europe are busy. Not true!
Another 77 flew in 2 classes the AZ CUP 2016 from Zbraslavice in the Czech Republic.Among them Tomas Rendla and Tomas Suchanek.
The first days no tasks could be set. They flew only day till now.A 2 hour AAT. They must be weather-wise just on the wrong spot.
They continue till April 23.

———–

Till the end of this month entrees are accepted for the very first Rayskala Masters 2016 at one of my favorite airfields.
“Räyskälä Masters will be arranged from 11th to 18th of June 2016 in 15 meter Racing class and Open class, Finnish gliding nationals will be arranged at the same time in 15 meter racing class. Finnish national rules, which are very similar to FAI Annex A section 3, will be used. Handicaps will be used in both classes.”
www.rayskala.fi

Cheers Ritz,
not to forget that our deceased friend and former WORLD CHAMPION in Hobbs [New Mexico] Kees Musters, would have turned 70 last week. [1946-1987]

The overseas-“Corowa”  gliders are back in Holland and as always the organizers Grietje and Francesco had the lead in how to do things. They are GOOD in that and very experienced. The Dutch Juniors , flying last December in  Narromine, were eager to get their gliders out to fly in the Dutch and European skies, as all other pilots. Several not from Holland as gliders from Finland , Sweden Germany and Italy were in the containers as well. Some participated in the Benalla Pre Worlds.

Grietje and Francesco surrounded by eager pilots to get their gliders back again before the good weather really starts. Many, many gliders……. big job.
All pictures courtesy Dutch Junior Gliding Club.

As you can see on the picture below ,lot’s of gliders back “home”. Upfront ,AG and AU, belong to the Dutch Junior foundation .

   

2 Juniors Annemiek and Ronald helping out .

Closing a dream-year for the young ones!!!
As they say; ” The end of an epic adventure”!!!

———–

PRIEVIDZA FCC Gliding 2016 !

131 Pilots gathered for the next East European contest. This time in Prievidza to “fight” for  the 9th  Flight Challenge Cup.They fly in 3 classes between April 10 and 21.
59 In club class, very popular class and many from Poland, 42 in 15 m. and  30 in a combi [mixed] -class. Not only East European pilots also from Germany [Fabian Peitz] , the UK  [ Tim Milner ] Austria and France.
Another well oiled competition with experienced organizers as the flight- school Košice and the Aeroklub Prievidza .
As the competition director  Ing. Jozef Horňák said;
” As the founders of one of the biggest competitions we are glad that we managed to organize races, which all participants enjoy and come back to us again.
I am delighted that even young pilots have an opportunity to compare their flying skills with experienced gliders.”

On the site http://www.segelflug-hoch-zwei.de/ you can find the news from Fabian Peitz, a young German pilot who participates in this competition. He flies the St. Libelle /WL with call sign FH.

No practice-flying on Saturday . RAIN there as well.
My goodness gracious ….rain ,rain and more rain here in Holland and in between a tiny little bit of sun…..between 10 and 12 dgr. C. Not bad though for my newly planted bay- bushes.
So they started last Sunday and  the weather improved on this part of  Europe . But unfortunately not in the East so the official opening was held, the meteo was done, but the message was short …..RAIN and no flying.

   

Pretty clear; TOO wet!!!
Pictures shared by the organizers in their gallery
www.fccgliding.sk

On Monday was the first day and though the meteo was still not flash, tasks were set and pilots left , some to finish later in the day, some to find a hopefully not TOO wet field somewhere else.
Start for club class was at 12:42, for the 15 m class at 13:30 and for combined class at 14:13
Flying day 1;
Club class had a 2.30 AAT and best-of-the-day was UK pilot Tim Milner, “our”  former tuggie at Sportavia. [St Cirrus] Good on him!!!
He flew 161 km. in 2.32. From 59 pilots in this class 9 finished. Some flew around after the start and landed again.
For a hard-day-work Tim got 175 points.
In 15 m. the pilots had to fly a 2 hour AAT and Gintas [Ventus 2ax] from Lithuania was the best. He flew 167 km. in 2.02.
18 From 41 finished.
In the combi class not” what else” [George Clooney] but WHO else than Sebastian Kawa won the 2 hour-AAT-day with 190 km. in 2.07 flying a JS 1B/18m.
3 Polish toppers in the top!!!

Flying day 2 :
At 12.30 the sign was there; GO.
For CLUB they had set a 2 hour AAT and 192 km. in a St. Jantar 2 in 2.15 gave the Polish winner, Mikolaj Zdun  615 points. Tim was on spot 8. Polish female pilot Joanna Biedermann flying an LS 4 was on spot 13 and Czech female pilot Hana Treslova was the first on the list of out-landers; spot 37 was hers. 36 From 57 managed to finish.
15 m. had a 2 hour AAT as well; 229 km. was the best result in this class in 2.14. From 42 , 28 pilots finished. Gintas was 4th this time.Young Miroslav Cink, great pilot, shared spot 1 with 695 points.[LS 8A]
In the mixed or combi class a “black”  day for Sebastian as he missed the start; it was not valid. Not like Sebastian! He flies the JS1 with call sign GPS. As he mentioned on FB it was in the morning all to fast and too much so not every instrument was set correct.
The ARCUS M was the winner with 217.87 km. in 2.02 so a nice speed of 106 km./h. A tad faster was the ASG 29E from Polish top pilot  Karol Staryszak with a speed of 109.65. On handicap was he runner up. Roman Mracek was on spot 6.

Yesterday,….shared by Segelflug-Hoch-Zwei. Fabian [St Libelle] was one of the out-landers and on spot 41.

Day 3 today ; 3 hour AAT’s in all classes so better weather there now as well.

———–

Looking at some flights on the OLC!

Australia still has nice soaring weather. Kilometer eater Terry Bellair flew in his 17 m. DG 400 a 300 triangle and a total of 493 km. last Saturday.
That’s from Raywood, his home field ,  in the SW of Australia close to Bendigo.
But the East [Kingaroy] was good as well with flights in an ASW 20 from 485 km.
Europe’ soaring get’s more awake every day and though most longer flights are over  the mountain areas , places as Burg Feuerstein had flights up to 728 km. in an 18 m.  Ventus 2 CM last Friday.
The weekend was just GOOD; 1281 flights on Saturday and 1217 on Sunday.Several nice some [first] flights on Saturday; From St Hubert 582 km.  in the 18 m. ASG 29E and 591 km.  by Jean- Luc Colson]
From Dahlemer Binz 722 in DG 800/18 m.and 935 km. in Nimbus 4 M.
From Useldange in Luxembourg a 729 by kilometer eater Guy Bechthold [Quintus M] and so slowly on all pilots we know fly again.
Also on Saturday ; great flights in Holland….567 km.  in ASG 29 /18m …..596 km. in ASW 22 BLE….496 km. in DG 500.
Sunday was even better!!!!
Sunday was a fabulous day for Klaus [Ohlmann] in the Stemme, flying from La Cerdany in wave to the West to see the Mediterranean Sea and back, passing St Gaudens where Carl Audissou started for his flight in the 18 m. DG 800, to fly to the West as well but not as far as the sea but still  close by;1263 km.
Monday was an Austria-day with  several flights up to 808 km.
Yesterday the weather in Austria was still  GOOD and hopefully that weather moves to Prievidza NOW.
1.065 km. for kilometer-eater Alexander Mueller, flying from Lienz Nicolsdorf flying in the EB 29. Great flights as well by gliders with less wingspan, as the ASH 26E flew 821 km. and the 18 m. DG 800 also over 800 km. Great racing over the ALPS.
“Best” flight , 1.133 km. however yesterday on the OLC was by Klaus Ohlmann and then you know already the Stemme did well again as well as he. From Morgal in Spain he explored this time the Cantabric Pyrenees with Stemme and Mountain-Wave-Project e.V. He flew to Cerdanya and used the engine to cross some stratos field. The full story is on the OLC comment and I copied it for you.
“A fantastic plane, great weather and some long-term dreams…A good mixture..
After a really good day in the French Pyrenees, the rest-day was welcome, but as well used to fly with Motor to Morgal, a nice airfield just south of the Airport Asturias.On the way first notices of wave-activities were made.And today was absolutely fantastic. We could even have an earlier start and fly much more to the west, but once again we had to make a “deicing” in the morning. But the…nice Rotors, beautiful mountains and very cooperating Controllers…thanks a lot to Asturias, Santander,Bilbao und Madrid..and finally Montpellier. Just a pity that there was a huge Stratos field with very low cloud base. I preferred to use the Motor to cross it.Thanks as well to my Russian friend Alexander who shared this new adventure. “

———–

QSGP in LA CERDANYA.

Talking about Cerdanya ….they have superb weather at the moment. Hopefully it continues , as in the weekend the Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix in Spain starts and that goes on till the 23d of April. They fly in 15 m. class and among the pilots Christophe Ruche, Louis Bouderlique, Mike Young, Fridolin Hauser and Philippe de Pechy.
At this stage 15 approved pilots flying ASG 29 [4x] in different variations, de Ventus [4x] also in different variations, ASW 27 [3x] in variations, ASW 20 and ASW 20 C with winglets , Discus CS and a LAK 17 b.
With 4 days to go and already 2 pilots there to practice the “bubbling”  starts.

———-

The season in Europe has not yet really started, but “things”  are not good. Another incident, this time in the area of Braunschweig-Wolfsburg in Germany !!!
A  25 year old pilot was badly injured after he  crashed on a playing ground for children,……. but nobody was hurt , as there was luckily nobody there at the moment.
PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU START YOUR SEASON and remain safe DURING the season.

picture courtesy DPA.[ www.bild.de ]

Cheers Ritz and I wish ALL strength to our soaring mate Swaantje, who really suffers with her health NOW.

PRIBINA CUP .

After 2 non flying days they continued in Nitra with a  small task. Early Easter means that the weather is not always too good and unfortunately that week was not the best and in this year March is very cold, certainly higher up for the pilots.
The organizers wrote for March 31;”The weather outlook for today:
There is fohn creating over the Alps that might effect the weather today. Due to the fohn effect the coming air mass will be drying up and warming which will lead to stabilizing the air (not what we would wish for). Therefore there will be higher temperature needed to create thermal activity. Accoarding to the predictions the maximum temperature should be high enough to create cu clouds with 1,5 m/s clims and 1600 m cloud bases. It means RACING TASK for all classes from 150 to 230 km and first launch planned for 12:30. ”
SO,… they set tasks and they flew. 154 km. in club class and 19 from 26 finished, Francois [Pin from the USA] being the last finisher .
In 15 m. Belgium mate Dennis [Huybreckx ] won another day; 187 km with a speed of 76.74 km./h. After 4 days he tops the overall list ahead of 4 German pilots and Jana Treslova. Good on her !
The 2-seater-class had 7 ARCUS gliders in the daily-top. 15 From 19 pilots flew the set task from 192 km.
In open/18 m, another EB 28 won the day, ahead of Matthias [Sturm] in his 18 m. ASG 29. 16 From 22 finished the 224 km. set task.

And,…then it is APRIL 1.But April started with a cancelled day. There was a strong blowing wind . The day had to be cancelled, though some pilots tried some ridge soaring,

April 2 had great tasks between 250 km. and 400 km. and sunny conditions ,BUT, the weather changed a bit and B tasks were handed out.
No flying in the end, as an incident , a mid air collision between an 18 m. class glider and a club class glider, caused the cancellation of the day. They straight away said; All pilots OK which was good for followers at home.
One pilot could land at the airfield, the other , 38 year old Czech pilot, jumped out of his plane before it crashed on the roof of a house. Luckily the  family living in the house was out for lunch.The pilot had minor injuries on his nose and landed in the garden according to the Slovak News Now.
They flew 4 out of 9 days.

Normally I do not like to share pictures after incidents but as they were already on FB and nobody was hurt…… here we go . Maybe to learn from ??? Lessons in life?

As shared on FB by Mattheus Nube and Zweefportaal with the message ” A parachute is your best friend”.

TOP-Competition- Director Vladimir Voltin took his responsibility also in less easier times and informed all pilots and crews about the incident before the prize giving. Serious faces, serious listening.
As they wrote on their site;” The final speech of Vladimir was a heart talk that earned standing applause. For those who were there it was quite a memorable moment.”

   

Pictures shared on the NITRA site.
Courtesy ELFO.

Prize giving;

To the right my Belgian friends Bert and Tijl, Dennis and USA mate Francois Pin.
Courtesy ELFO.

Winner in club class Michal Lesinger from Czech Rep. in ASW 19.

1. Michal Lesinger,2. Stefan Delfs, 3. Zsolt Siket.
Courtesy ELFO.

In 15 m. Dennis Huybreckx .

1. Dennis from Belgium, 2. Thilo Scheffer,from Germany 3. Michael Buchtal from Germany.
Courtesy ELFO.

In 20 m former World champion Wolfgang Janowitsch and Mathias Wersonig from Austria.

20 m. winners; 1.  Wolfgang and his mate from Austria, 2.  Lasse and Hannu from Finland and 3. Tilo and Sebastian “Krumel” Nagel from Germany.
Courtesy ELFO.

In open /18 m. there was only 8 points difference between the winners in the EB 28 Enrique and Simon with runner up former world champion Matthias.[ASG 29/18m.]

1. Enrique Levin and Simon Briel, 2. Matthias Sturm, 3. Robin Sittmann.
Courtesy ELFO.

WARWICK EASTER REGATTA.

On the last day of March , a VERY nice day, the combined class flew a 3 hour AAT.
ONLY AAT’s during this regatta, to promote self initiative. Tom  [Claffey] won the one and only day he flew with  368 km. in time 3.02.
In the Woolley family, Adam was this time the best and runner up  with with 348 km. in time 301 whilst dad Chris was on spot 3 with 350 km. in time 3.04.
April started great here in Holland, with sun and temperatures up to 13 dgr. C , in the weekend even 20 !!!
But Warwick prepares for winter and still …….they had flights from up to 446 km. during their regatta [ASH 31/18 m].
But also the St. Cirrus- pilot ,Phillip Southgate,was impressed with the weather flying 355 km.
He mentioned  ;” Another cracker day at the Warwick Easter Regatta …..it just gets better and better.”

Unfortunately April 1 had to be cancelled. NO joke.
April 2 , last day of the “comp”  was good again with flights up to over 300 km.in gliders as St Cirrus, LS 1f, Speed Astir , ASW 20 and Lak 17/18m.

Everything was there again this year, time for speed/winning, coaching , learning, fun flying etc.
As they said;
” Team flying encouraged – this is a regatta to encourage XC – not a competition !”

Look for all the different scores in 7 disciplines after the 5 out of 9 days at  www.soaringspot.com

Great OLC flights.

” ARCUS M solo, not the engine, the pilot ...” was the comment from Robert Prat on his wave-yo-yo- flight over 1.379 km. from St Gaudens.[Pyrenees]And a couple of day’s later he flew with Helen another flight from 1.252 km !!!! For a couple of hours,…. just racing at 5000 m. MSL.
SPEED:182.51 km./h. Great effort in the cold.
LA Cerdanya in Spain is settled on the same good wave line over the mountains and from there 3 x a 1000 was flown by German guests on MARCH 30, most of them on a Akaflieg Frankfurt Wave Research Camp.  Klaus Ohlmann,flying the Stemme  started 2.5 hours late due to ice on the wings and canopy but still flew 1.195 km.  and the 2 the 2 ARCUS gliders just over 1000 km.
The weather forecast was better than they found but still a great day.
On April 1 the enthusiastic Dutch “young dogs” Mark Leeuwenburgh and his mate Alfred Paul Alffers, flew 553 km over flat- as- a- pancake Holland to Oerlinghausen in Germany and back. WOW, great early spring flight for Holland, flown from Soesterberg, with not the best thermals , but with nice “streets”. Both fly the ASG 29 E/18m.
From Innsbruck in Austria a nice LS 8 flight. Out and return from 936 km. by David Richter-Trummer!!!!
Yesterday the UK had some good early spring flights as well . From Lasham 2 good flights ; 440 km. by Gary Coppin in the ASG 29 E/18m and nearly 400 [398]  by Dave Masson the LS 6/18 m..

———-

The Australian team for the Lithuanian WGC  is announced. 5/6 Pilots are going.
Club class Tobias Geiger and Allan Barnes.
Standard class Adam Woolley and John “Butch ” Buchanan.
2 Seater class 2 TOP young pilots; JWGC Champion Matthew Scutter with his mate/co pilot a very talented young man Dylan Lampard.
All of them experienced in WGC flying only for Dylan it is a new experience though he flew the JWGC in Naromine in 2015. As Matthew said he was a great “right-hand”.
WGC is between July  30 and August 15 2016.

———-

Quickly off to Amsterdam. CU next week.
Cheers Ritz

Pribina Cup !
March 25-April 2.

With the Pribina Cup the European competition season started. 94 Pilots gathered in Nitra and with an early Easter , the weather is very important, as it can be still very unsettled . On Good Friday it was raining here cat’s and dog’s but in Nitra the news from the competition was :
—-“Good morning everybody!
Grid is open from 8.30 a.m. Runway in use 33. Grid sequence is 15m, 20m Multi-seat and Open class on 33R and Club class, 20m Multi – seat selflaunchers, Open class selflaunchers on 33L.
You can still register in the info office under the tower.
Opening briefing at 10am in the hangar.  See you all there!—”

So good news! The Pribina Cup was about to begin.And,….at 12 they started the launching and that went fast; in 45 minutes they had them all in the air. Good on the tuggies!!!
Racing tasks for all classes: Club class 153.8 km, 15 m class 189.4 km, 20 m double seat class 182.5 km and Open class 202.6 km.
Unfortunately the weather deteriorated during the afternoon, so out-landings were reported.
BUT ,…it was a valid day 1 ,for all classes with a base up to 1600 m. but only  after the starts and 2 m./s.
Winners on day 1;
CLUB; only 3 finishers from 24; Pegase pilot Marin Jurovic and 2 ST Jantar pilots all flying 153 km.with speed between 58 and 52 km./h..
The 2 pilots flying the 13.5 m Silent 2, who flew against each other in Pocuinai during the first WGC for this class, Italian Stefano and USA pilot Francois started well as number 4 and 15.
In 15 m. a good , very good first day for my young Belgian friend Dennis Huybreckx in his LS 8. [619 points]In this class 12 participants and only one out-landed. The task was a set 189.42 km.
In the 2 seater class 182.54 km. was set and flown by 12 of the 19 participants. 12 Of them finished among them more Belgium friends the Schmelzers in the ARCUS , the Tourula’s from Finland, Wolfgang and a mate and more.
11 ARCUS gliders in this class further on the good old Duo Discus and the DG 1000 and a Janus CRG.
Open/18 m.; From 22 in this class,  the set 202 km. was flown by 12 of them. Winner ; Matthias Sturm in the ASG 29 /18m. He is the Rieti 2008 WGC champion in Club class.

The next day was cancelled, weather conditions were too weak,so a happy sight seeing Easter Saturday for all.

Day 2 ; EASTER Sunday; Tuggies were ready, tasks were set and it turned out to be a 1000 points-day for 2 classes.
Club had 268 and the straight-away-starters had the best results in this class.
Michal Lesinger in the ASW 19 won the day; 950 points. The Silents [ handicap 96] had a great day and were on 2 [Francois] and 4 [Stefano].
15 m; 343 km. and 1000 points for Martin Schwab in de Discus CS. Dennis was runner up.2 From 12 out-landed.
2 seater class;352 km. and Wolfgang showed his class; 1000 points for him and his mate.
18 m./open; Simon Briel , who flew the JWGC in Narromine and Enrique Levin won together the 1000 points in the EB 28 with a speed of 117 km./h.
Matthias was fast as well in his ASG 29/18m. ;110 km./h so he was the runner up.

Francois mentioned: “The Pribina Cup in Nitra, Slovakia, is the first big contest of the year in Europe, about 75 gliders in 4 classes. Cloud base has been ABOVE the freezing level every day !!!! Everyone here arrived prepared, with electrically heated in-soles.
After nearly getting toe frost on the first day, my only resource was to get a pair of bedroom slippers from the local Tesco … With 3 pairs of socks, it almost makes the climbs to sub-zero cloudbase bearable… Plus, aren’t they cute? I had to remove the pompoms, though…
The air masses are very cold, but very convective, so we get to reach to the mountains to the North, near Poland and Czechia. Beautiful views on The Tatras, Fatras, and Carpathian Mountains that still have snow on their peaks.” 

     

Very cute, indeed but WARM that’s the most important! Shared by Francois on FB.

Day 3; Easter Monday. 2 Hour AAT’s and 2.15 for open/18m. Launches were postponed to 1 PM and with a B task the pilots went on track. In between we , here in Holland, blew away from storms gusting to 110 km./h.
In the UK it was even worse with wind up to 170 km./h. and lot’s had no power.Also Germany, Belgium and France got their “portion”.
In the end the weather in Slovakia, improved quicker than expected and it turned out a to be a rather good day.
club; 26 started, 24 finished and nearly 200 km. was flown.
15 m; 12 started and 12 finished.
20 m;18 started AND 18 finished! ARCUS 2x in the top one of them Tilo with a mate [240 km.]  on 2 , together with Hannu and Lasse [243 km.] from Finland.Good on them.
open/18 m; 21 started AND 21 finished, best “deal”  and 714 points for Simon and Enrique flying 2.99 km. in 2.17, so for B task- weather a great 131 km./h. But then,…of course the EB 28 is a fabulous ship.
Thomas Suchanek did well as runner up with 280 km. in 2.20 in a 17.5 m. Ventus c.

Tuesday, yesterday….cancelled !
BUT TODAY, same grid order but runway 15, so they might fly.
More next week.

———-

Warwick Easter Regatta 2016.
March 25-April 2.

On the other side of the world in Australia, the last competition of the season started in Queensland at Warwick with 39 competitors in one combined handicapped class.
On day 1 there was no task.
On the first flying-day a 2.30 AAT was set. Among the pilots husband and wife Tom and Kerrie Claffey, father and son Chris and Adam Woolley , the Ichikawa’s Mac and Akemi and one of the very early Sportavia season instructors in the 87/88 season Alain Potier.
It turned out to be a very marginal day , due to heavy overcast in the Western part of the task.
NOBODY finished.
The day was  won by Kris Kaufmann [When I remember well Anita’s brother] flying 158 km. in the ASW 24 E.
Brett Buchanan , yes son of Butch was runner up.[ASG 29/18m.]

Day 2; Here is Peter Summerfeldt:
—“A few out landings yesterday, but, overall, a good day of Regatta Style Competition.
The task was suitable and I think we all pretty much had an enjoyable day.
Today is quite different, overcast at about 9000feet, continuous light rain.  There is a low-level cloud bank to the south so we won’t be flying for quite a while, today might be good for resting.

“Late Mail”,   the weather is a little questionable so we meet again for a new briefing at 11:00am, day decision will be made and ready for that 11:00am briefing.  The rain has stopped but there is still quite a bit of low cloud around.—”
A 1.30 AAT was set for this Easter Sunday and FLOWN by 18 and 10 finished. Speed from number 10 , John Tucker in that great bird, the St. Libelle, 36 km./h BUT he finished. Good on him.
Daily winner, Mal Williams,  in the ASH 31 MI/18 m. with a speed of 79 km./h over 131 km.

Yesterday they continued with a 3 hour AAT and dad Woolley was the best in this combined class. Chris flew 381 km in time 3.13 in his 18 m. Ventus 2CM; 1000 points. Son Adam was 4th.  They both started and finished in about the same time , but dad flew 25 km. more!!His speed was 118 km./h.,  Adam’s 110 km./h.
Kris was runner up, so after 3 days of soaring the overall scores are; Chris with 1439, Kris with 1434 and Brett with 1379. All 3 are members at Kingaroy.
One dad from Adam and 2 sons, one from Hank Kauffmann and one from John “Butch”  Buchanan.Nice to see the different generations.
By the way 21 pilots finished and 3 out-landings.

More next week.

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Lasham Glide 2016.

To keep you informed:Here is news from Andy Davis, shared by Graham Garnett:
—-LashamGlide Entries Accepted, 21st March 2016

At the deadline for entries prioritised according to IGC ranking we have received 70 entries for LashamGlide: 31 in the 15 metre class, 13 in the 18 metre class and 24 in the Open Class. We are pleased to confirm acceptance of entry for all Overseas pilots who applied for entry before the deadline.

Late Entries: We now invite further entries up to our agreed class limits which will be accepted in order of date of entry (late entries from British pilots entering the 15 metre and Open Class Nationals will be handled in accordance with BGA Competition Rules late entry procedures).

Lasham Airfield,..I was there,…it’s big and beautiful!!
Shared by Lasham Glide 2016.

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EUROGLIDE 2016.

The 13th edition of Euroglide will be flown between Monday June 20 and Saturday July 2. It’s not possible to register anymore. As every year it was booked out straight away.
83 Teams from Belgium , Germany , the UK and Holland will try to be the “first one”  back after 2000 km . Mind you some teams exist out of 8 pilots, some gliders have only one pilot and a crew driving behind him/her with the car and trailer. More and more pilots have interest in this kind of adventurous flying. Good to see. They start from Venlo in the S of Holland and fly this time direction EAST to discover Poland and back. Here is the route concept.
They always started from Eindhoven but the airport is after more than 70- years- soaring -pride now ONLY for military planes and airlines. All soaring is banned and glider-pilots moved to Venlo, Malden , Terlet and Soesterberg.

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OLC flights last week.

A few impressive flights one by Davide Giovanelli from Switzerland who flew in the St. Cirrus  from Locarno a flight from 607 km.
By the way MILVUS has sponsored the Swiss juniors with Delta jackets.
Also still good weather in Lake Keepit with a nice over 500 km. flight in DG 800/18m.
On March 28 a nice long wave- flight from 752 km. in France from Issoire Broc  in the Auvergne.[Discus 2T]
Same day other field ;USA ….Inyokern…Perlan Project pilots Dennis [Tito] and Morgan [Sandercock] ….SPEED 170 km./h. over 480 km.
Yesterday the first flight [ the last one was on 4-12-2015] added to the OLC list from ridge soaringparadise Ridge Soaring was straight away a 1000 km. flown in an ASG 29/18m.by Dan Reagan with a speed of nearly 150 km./h..
A bit of wave helped as well.
From Tocumwal Swiss Chris topped the OLC list on March 25 with a 502 [400FAI triangle] in his ASW 27. He was pleased with that. Chris lives in Melbourne but flies as long as I know him from Tocumwal, first Sportavia , now Sportaviation.

Very dedicated to his soaring; Swiss Chris.
Picture shared by him.

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The aftermath from Brussels.

A lot happened after Brussels. 2 Dutch families lived for 3 days between hope and fear about their loved ones. Even FB was used to get info about their whereabouts.
Finally after they were identified a Maastricht [Lanaken] family heard on Good Friday morning that their son and daughter both in their early twenties and on their way to New York, were among the death. Bizarre is that the young ones were talking on the phone with their parents to tell them they had arrived safely at the airport when the bombs exploded and the poor parents could here the impact and the falling glass. After that,….. only silence till Friday morning.
Also a 41 year old lady from Deventer was on her way to New York and did nor survive this disaster , leaving a 13 year old daughter behind. SO sad.
Heard  that among the casualties and injured people at least 40 different nationalities were, making the already VERY difficult identification even more difficult.
At this stage 3 people have not been identified and the total loss of lives is tragically enough 32 now.

On March 24 it was an other  turbulent day. After all the extra breaking news about Belgium we had a day full of extra news about our SOCCER HERO Johan Cruijff, who died of lung cancer age 68.He was the face from Holland, everybody knows about Amsterdam, Ajax and Cruijff. Sad he died so young. He was and will remain a LEGEND an ICON,UNIQUE and for EVER number 14, the best soccer player ever.

In the Hague , at the Yugoslavia Tribunal Radovan Karadzic heard that day the verdict ; 40 years of prison due to the war crimes he was responsible for and for the murder on many men in Srebrenica.
He was the former president of the Bosnia Serbian Republic Srpska. Being 70 he will never be free again, though he  appealed straight away.

At the airport of Schiphol the coach from our prof tennis player Robin Haase was arrested for possible murder on a well know Dutch guy.Terrible week !!!

It was also a year ago that the German Wings plane with 150 people crashed in the mountains of France, CRASHED because the co pilot deliberately directed the plane against the rocks of these mountains. 150 Innocent people died among them several gymnasium students coming back from a study week in Spain.

Yesterday a hijack from an Egypt Air plane was scary for all involved but ended with no harm done by a “weird professor” .

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Slowly getting better.
Cheers Ritz

All I wrote already under here about soaring,  seems unimportant as you see what happened in Brussels yesterday. With the euphoria of 4 days ago, when they finally caught the top terrorist Salah Abdeslam, involved in the terrible attacks in Paris, the happiness about that changed in to a very BLACK mood, when , most probably his mates created a nightmare scenario with multiple attacks in Brussels.
The airport Zaventem was attacked at 8.04 AM with 2 bombs and 11 people were killed and the metro station under the EU buildings  Maalbeek  at 9.11 YES 9.11 AM. A bomb exploded in one of the compartments of the metro- train, killing 20 people.
IS announced already that this was going to happen. German, French and Dutch intelligence services warned already too, but nobody knew were exactly the deadly attacks would be.It happened NOW in Brussels !!!
Suicide attacks and bombs , killing at this stage, more than 31 innocent people and injured over 260, some very badly, hit by glass and nails from the bomb!!!!
The European heart with the EU institutions was HIT HARD.
Brussels had a “lock-down” and everybody had to stay where he or she was. Noway to get into Brussels either, all traffic,all transport with  trains, planes, metro’s etc was cancelled.
Several Belgium soaring friends live in Brussels and around, so I feel in thought and friendship united with them.
As said to Patrick [Stouffs] ;” We are united in friendship”.
I heard that Pierre de Broqueville was AT the airport during the disaster. He arrived, went out of the car,  to find himself a luggage trolley to put his heavy luggage on and heard a big bang. He rushed back to his car ……..but  he was thrown to the ground by the blast of the second bomb and found himself between parts of the totally destroyed glass windows.He had a guardian angel with him that morning. Pfffff,……

Of course my sincere condolences go to all who lost their loved ones world wide, as Brussels is, like Amsterdam ,a very international town.
A black day, but life continues and as all politicians call out loud : “They are NOT going to win, we have to continue our lives”,….I have to do so too. It won’t be easy certainly not for those involved in both attacks in Brussels and have to live with what they saw/heard.
TERRIBLE. Having followed it on TV already “hurts”.

————

Seminole’s “young from heart ” pilots. Picture courtesy  Bozena Michalowski.

Last Friday was the last day. Not a real flash day , one with solid overcast.So ….cancellation was the only option and it seemed, nobody was sad about that.
During the 4 days of competition, Karl [Striedeck] did extremely well in the Duo Discus, but just missed out on 71 points. The winner was Ken Sorenson, the CD from Uvalde 2012 in the Ventus 2cxa.
Quite some mates were there. Yes I turn 70 this year , so I belong to the “young-from-heart-oldies” too !!!!
Last words by good old John Good [deputy CD in Uvalde in 2012] who I met again in Benalla and Narromine this year;

“So the 26^th Senior Contest is over.  Ken Sorenson is the winner, thanks to a couple of excellent flights.  Karl Striedieck takes silver, and Ron Ridenour bronze. [Duo discus]  We had a safe contest with 4 decent flying days (many pilots enjoyed 4 more very good days in the week before the contest).  And Seminole Lake Gliderport has enhanced its already formidable reputation as a soaring destination.“

Next year they all will be back!!!
Picture courtesy Bozena Michalowski.

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DG Flugzeugbau GmbH.

News from DG where one of my friends Jelmer works:
” LS8 – New Winglets Maidenflight
Today, Jelmer Wassenaar, chief engineer and test pilot at DG Flugzeugbau, successfully performed multiple flights with our brand new 15m winglets for LS8! After the flights he was completely satisfied. Our impression is, that we were able to achieve our goals in all areas!
Now we can start to perform flights to test performance and complete certification.”

Pictures shared by DG Flugzeugbau GmbH.

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When I looked at the News on Dutch TV last week, I saw in a shock reaction, that in Japan , a 2- seater had crashed in a suburb from Tokyo between houses. Sadly enough the pilots both did not survive. On the ground nobody was injured.
Several people will be VERY sad again. I do have many good friends in Japan from my Sportavia -period. I wish them all well.

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You remember FOKKER? Our Dutch manufacturer from many types of Fokker planes , as the Fokker 11, the very first one  in 1920 [in one Fokker of this  type we had a share  in the past] , but also for airlines as KLM with Fokker 50 and 70.
An era is over, as the last Fokker 70 ‘s will be replaced for the Brazilian Embraer 175+. In total KLM City Hopper will have 17 of them. Till now they had already 30 from the 190-type.
Fokker went broke 20 years ago which was very sad. City Hopper [KLM Europe] will be the biggest “user”  from the Brazilian Embraer in Europe now.
“Our” old  Fokkers will continue flying from Curacao and also people in Suriname will see them in the air.

Talking about Holland,…..last Monday , at 11.40 AM, we welcomed resident/inhabitant number 17.000.000. It seems to difficult to find out who it is. For sure is that “we”  grow faster through refugees/immigrants  than through new born babies.
Mind you , Holland is just a “stamp”  compared to my 2d home- country Australia. MANY people on a relative small spot, but it does n’t feel worse or so for me,  than the last 10 years.
In the year 2000 we had 16.000.000 people.

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Italian Squad.

The Italian squad got a tad better weather  on the last days. So …they flew for 3 days in a row on the 17th,18th and 19th. But,…the weather was still soso and none of the days was a 1000 points day.
Austrian pilot, but mostly flying in Italy, Peter Hartman won 2 of these 3 days, Alberto Sironi 1.
Alberto flew the ARCUS and on the winning day a 3 hour AAT was set. That it was a struggle but a character-building struggle showed the distance and time; 253 km. with a speed of 84.58 km./h. Only 16 from 24 started and 3 finished.
Peter flew the H 301 .
This handicapped competition was  good practice for the upcoming summer.

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Nitra….Pribina CUP.

Courtesy Aero Bistro via FB.

As you can see it’s still quiet at Nitra Airport, but not long and it will be ” buzzing ” there.Over Easter the Pribina Cup will start and around 100 pilots will participate.More later.
Tracking at; http://live.glidernet.org/#c=48.28303,18.14494&z=13&o=1&p=3

The Czech container with JWGC gliders is back home from Australia , back from 40 dgr. C PLUS to SNOW. If the gliders will be ready for the CUP , I don’t know, maybe for those who really want it. First they will be checked and prepared for the new European season.

        

Pictures shared by the Czech Rep. Gliding Team.

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Back on track, but still not totally fit and with very low energy, so back to the doctor this afternoon. Have a bacterial infection in my right lung.
Wishing you a VERY HAPPY EASTER PERIOD/  FROHE OSTERN / JOYEUX PAQUES !!!
cheers Ritz

With the Senior Soaring Championship at Seminole Lake from March 12 till 18,  the USA started it’s soaring season as well. Straight after,  between March 20 and 26 , Seminole  also organizes  the Seminole Lake OLC Camp.
So the seniors , always very active and glad to see each other again after winter arrived with 63 confirmed pilots , one of them Karl Striedeck and on the waiting list still 10 pilots.A VERY popular event !!! On the practice day 68 participated

Pictures shared by Seminole-Lake Glider Airport and courtesy to Bozena Michalowkski.
AND
Practice by the seniors.

   

Day 1 with a 1.5 TAT ,was won by nobody else than KARL STRIEDECK in the Duo Discus. He still knows how to fly, so 1000 points for him.
Dennis Linnekin [ASG 29] was 3d and Sam Zimmerman 5th [ASH 31 MI]. I know both mainly from Uvalde. Gary [Carter]was on spot 46, he was Bill Elliott’s crew in Uvalde 2012.

Day 2 had ” few well defined cumulus under a diffuse overcast.  The forecast is for storms in the late afternoon.” Due to the quickly incoming thunderstorm, they cancelled the day during the launches.

Day 3  yesterday, was better with clouds and later going blue. 3 TAT’s [Turn area task] were set so with A [minimum time 2.15] or B [2 hours] or C [1.45] they surely would be able to fly. The unofficial scores show that Ken Sorenson won the day in the Ventus cxa in time 2.27.
Karl was 6th with 911 points still good enough for spot 1 overall.

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The Air Expo in Abu Dhabi.

Kathrin , as I wrote in my last blog is there and after we saw great pictures from the Ritz, a beautiful stand in the Expo building but last Wednesday her news was less good:
—“ Today we had a very bad thunderstorm @ about 12 a.m. on the AIR EXPO in Abu Dhabi. Some aircrafts are damaged and the airport around the buildings looks in some places totally destroyed. All people have been evacuated quickly, because the tents wasn’t anymore safe. What a chaos!!! So fare we was very lucky with the Stemme aircraft, because it is protected between two large helicopter. Still raining in Abu Dhabi. Many trees crashed, the roads are floated.—“

This is how it should be; selling art at the exhibition.

Kathrin and Peggy at work.
Picture shared by Peggy.

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Keith Essex was flying in NZ in February and flew a nice 1000 there and many more good flights. Back in good old Minden he flew , maybe with the overseas experiences, on March 10 1.609 km. with a speed of 251.58 km./h in a SW wave , high and fast in the ARCUS M!!!!!! WOW!!!Flying N of Minden, passing Minden going to the S.  , he mentioned in his OLC report;” Lots of moisture north, blue and soft to the south, good in the middle.”
A flight from Air Sailing, NE of Minden , by Robert Spielman in an ASW 20 finished with a speed of 192.71 km./h.over 712 km. When the weather is good, the weather is good!!!

THEN,……on March 13, Minden explodes resulting in awesome flights one of them  2.053 km. by Jim [Payne] in the ARCUS M; 178. km./h.
This time his mate Dennis []Tito] flew the DG 1010 M and for him 1.651 km.: speed 150 km. /h.
Fabulous MINDEN-WAVE!!!
Jackie , Jim’s wife added:
—-“Yesterday Dennis and Roger Tanner soared over 1600 kilometers in the DG 1001 landing at Inyokern. Third best flight in the world thus far this year. Jim and Miguel Iturmendi soared just over 2050 kilometers in the Arcus landing at Rosamond. Four Perlan pilots wave soared almost 12 hours each for excellent wave experience.“—-

The next day Jim tried a fast 300 declared km. out and return from Rosamond flying the 300 between Inyokern and Big Pine, during their legs on a  1.223 km. flight . Here is Jim’s OLC comment on the flight.
—-“” The forecast said the wave would be weak early with winds and lift increasing in the late afternoon.
During the first lap, the wave was not good between Cindercone and Manzanar…the turn was covered in cloud.
During the second lap, the lift was better…the speed was 278 kph.
By the third lap, the lift was ripping and the clouds much better…the speed was 305.12 kph (189.62 mph)…”—
As Jackie said in her report;
“300 km O&R is not a world category only a national record category. The fastest world record is 306 kph set in Argentina.”
Dennis started from Inyokern and flew another 1.135 km. flight.
They both LOVE their long-distance-wave-flying and are on a mission!!!

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21 Pilots from the Italian National team registered to fly this week from Varese for their first 2016 meeting.Unfortunately day 1 on March 14 was cancelled and in the end 3 pilots in the 2 seater class [ 2 x ARCUS and 1Duo Discus] and 7 in 15 m. class  and the rest in 15 m. , 18 m. and open were ready for the “fight” .
Day 2 was cancelled as well. So early in the season  March behaves sometimes not as you wish.

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Lot’s of young German pilots have their mountain camp in France. It’s that time of the year again.
Some fly from Serres as Benjamin , who shares so now and then a great picture, others fly from Puimoisson , Vinon, or La Motte . Also Fayence and St Auban are active with mountain [wave ] flights. Around up to 500 km. flights…not too bad.

Benjamin [Bachmeier] shared this great picture, flying from Serres La Batie over the area there!

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The Bailleau competition is NOW on line.

This is what I got from France and be aware, this competition is very popular, so when you want to participate there, you should be quick.
—“Hello ! From the 2nd to 12th of August, this summer, will be held the 42nd Bailleau International Gliding Contest, a classic flat-land gliding contest.
And like every year for 19 years now, Bailleau International will be accompanied by the now famous “Amical” Contest, one of the best ways for a pilot to take his first steps in competition …
The website http://2016.planeur-bailleau.org has just opened, you will find there all useful information and the online registration form …—” 

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Still NOT fit, off to the doctor tomorrow. He has no time due to all flu cases. I am one too but it’s over ONE month now!!!!!!!
Cheers Ritz