Confusing weather in Europe, bad, good, better ,best!!

13.5 m. WGC in Pocuinai.

Winning these prizes is the mean reason they fly ….extra motivation/inspiration.
As shared by the SSA.

When I finished by blog last Sunday I just could add the news , that the day was cancelled. Thunderstorms appeared faster than expected, so after 7 days of flying this is no problem, in fact it is GOOD!!!
Monday was an official rest day so they continued again on August 11.
” After 7 straight days of racing, we get two days off (storms today and official rest day tomorrow)“. by team USA.

Team France;Antoine and Frederic
As shared by Pole France Planeur.

August 11 ; ” we have good weather again, with a 340km task .”
—Mostly sunny. Clear. High 31C ,low 17 dgr. C. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 km/h.—
So,…the start gate opened at 12.55 and off they went for another day.
WOW….Stefano did SO well. He was the only pilot to finish. Great job as well from Morgan coming close ;314 km.French pilot Antoine Havet had 307 km.
Local hero Vladas had 304 km. !!!So except for Stefano , all out-landed in real or virtual.
Not bad those FES engines!!!!

I share the Aussie report including news from the pre -worlds flown parallel with this 13.5 WGC. Aussies Toby and Dylan fly/practice in that competition.
“A great day for the Aussies yesterday. A day win for Tobi, now leading the club class and Morgan was 2nd (only one got home), solidifying 3rd overall. Dylan also solidified his 3rd overall in the mixed class – none of whom got home.

The weather shut down with what felt like a sea breeze crossing the airfield, only it came from inland. The best guess was that the cold front that cad crossed the day before had reversed back into us. This shut down all thermals on the last leg much earlier than predicted.”

August 12; “ Today we have a 2 hour AAT – we need 35 degrees to break a low inversion, but 36 degrees will cause widespread thunder storms.”
More on that later.

———–

WWGC …ARNBORG in DENMARK.

  

Italy [Elena]   AND Australia [Kerry]

  

Holland [Natasja] AND  France [Aude]

Sunday August 9;
The ladies fly!!!Finally a day with cu’s and a base between 1200 and 1700 m. So the girls were “high”!! The best even got 1000 points for the day.
standard class; 315 km.Most started just before 2 PM.All finished within 4 minutes. The last came in at 6.30 PM. One out-landing.
It was France , then twice Czech Rep, France again and Czech Rep and 4 times Germany.2 Times Poland, once Denmark and the out landing for Australia. Daily winner ,Melanie Gadoulet, 3 overall now after Jana and Dana.

Club class; 303 km.best speed 80.4 km./h. by Aussie pilot Jo Davis in the LS 4, but due to handicap Elena was faster in her LS1f.[77.93 km./h/]Her 2d daily win over the 6 days they flew.
The Dutch girls did well,   on spot 3 and 4 the German girls , early starters were on spot 11 and 12 from 17.
Sarah, who won even 2 days was on spot 14.
The overall top 4 is CLOSE; 3011 for Sabrina from Germany in the St Libelle, Lihuanian Edita in the St Jantar 2999,Italian Elena with 2994 and Chrissie from Germany with 2945 points.

15 m. : 310 km. and one out landing. 2 French girls in the daily top Marilyne and Anne, then Anette and Katrin from Germany and Jana from Czech rep. ALL flying 80 km./h.
Overall; Anne leads with more than 300 points on Marilyne. Then Annette and Katrin.

Monday August 10; cancelled!!
International Evening.
AND,..Annemiek who won day 1 ,”got ”  her prize, a flight in the open 2-seater G2 from 1950.According to steward Frouwke Kuijpers , this is from the 10 built , the only one still flying.

Tuesday August 11 ;
1.30 AAT’s in each class.BUT,…the weather changed ,….and a longer B task , 2 hours was predicted , but when they did so, the weather turned back to “so-so” again.
Reason to cancel club and 15 m. class and as the standard has one day less ,they were allowed to fly for the B task back to 1.30.
The line opened at 3.35 PM with a base of 800 m. and 1 to 1.5 m lift. Reason for several pilots to stay close to the field.BUT ,…they started so they had to go!The 13 girls left within 4 minutes between 4 PM and 4.04.
12 Flew over 100 km./h. Nearly all were back just before and 2 just after 6PM.
French girl Melanie and Aude are “chasing” the Czech girls for the overall top.

August 12;
Decent tasks today; 331 for standard, 300 for club and 373 km. for the 15 m. girls.
More later.

———–

EGC in RIETI.

Nice picture of Davide at Briefing, after he won the day, on August 8.
as shared by the organizers.

Sunday August 9;
“For today, the Contest Director, decided “no task” because of bad weather forecast with many thermo-convective thunderstorms all around Rieti. As we can see in the photos Terminillo mountain is in the clouds. Tomorrow it will be rest day: a weather system coming from Atlantic is pushing a cold front over Italy with heavy thunderstorms and some risk of hail.” 

The Terminillo.

 BUT,….lot’s of FUN with the preparations of the NATIONAL EVENING!!!!!!
AND… enough happening as you can read in Terry’s  story for the day;
“First part of my post fell off? We had the international evening tonight, a great event. My favourites were the Russian Vodka, the Polish Vodka, the Austrian clear stuff, the Dutch orange stuff, the British gin stuff, The Czech beer, the Czech Vodka, The Slovak Vodka, the Spanish Sangria, the Finnish Korsakova stuff, the Belgian beer, plus various food tastings plus a whole lot of other clear stuff that I cannot remember for some reason. ” 

And  TEAM UK;
“A full report of last nights international evening, we won. Although most teams might not consider international evening as a competitive event we did, and it went well. We quickly decided that for environmental reasons it was better to serve our eton messes straight into the mouths of our victims, and this was then quickly washed down with a appropriately strong glass of gin and tonic. This led to some competitive sausage eating and more eastern european vodka than is healthy for anyone. I wouldn’t expect many more posts from the team today, the camp is very quiet and we are two team members down at the moment, location unknown.”

Monday August 10;
Official rest day! GOOD,….looking at the pictures and video of the INTERNATIONAL PARTY, , they might need 3 days of rest !!!!!!

Tuesday August 11 ;
The morning-weather in Rieti as seen and shared by team UK.

NO TASK…

Wednesday August 12;
They are flying again, not yet with the great Rieti circumstances but they fly;
Today area task of 340 km for club class, 430 km for standard class, 379 km for 15m.

———-

GERMAN OPEN and 18 m. CLASS NATIONALS.

During practice!
As shared by the organizers.

In Stendal Borstel, they started yesterday with the always exciting open and 18 m. class Nationals.
A few HC pilots as well; from Holland Alfred Paul Alfers [ASG 29] and Sikko Vermeer.[ASG 29 E]  From Belgium Pierre de Broqueville [EB 28] ,from Sweden Boerje Eriksson and Markus Ganev [both ASG 29 E] and from Rusland Maksim Okhapkin.[ASH 25]
A total of 76 pilots !!!!
August 11..Day 1 ;
estimated first launch at 12.30, tasks to the east. In the end the first launches started at 2.30 PM.
18 m.;272 km. but after a field briefing reduced  to a 2 hour AAT.
open class ;269.5 km. C tasks were valid but nobody flew higher than 500 m. so the day was CANCELLED in both classes.
Can’t say they did not try!!!

August 12 tasks; are not on yet but according to some people over there the weather is not yet “flash”.They set a racing task as task A and the B task will be an AAT.
More later.

———-

Bailleau.

70 at the grid as seen and shared by Ken.

They carefully tried with a 1.30 AAT for the experienced pilots;speed class. One class ” The friendly one” was cancelled the other called ” long flights” got a 2 hour AAT.
After 2 cancelled days pilots are eager to fly again. But it is waiting and waiting as you can see on the picture shared by Frank Hiemstra.

No worries ,..they flew last Sunday. Stijn Vanden Boer from Belgium flew 163 km. in his 15 m. version LS 8, with a speed of 109 km./h. good enough for 378 points. Frank [Hiemstra] from Holland in the St Cirrus was runner up ; 161 km. in 1.39.
The Long flight pilots flew as well, had indeed a longer flight just over 200 km and the Bailleau- locals did best!18 from 19 finished.

August 10;
228 k. in the ” friendly”  class, 435 in the” long flights” and the “speed ” class got 302 km.
Rik and Stijn Vanden Boer did well in the speed class starting pretty late , chasing and winning the day in an LS 8 and St Libelle.
Except for one pilot they all flew the 435 km.in the “long flights” ,good on them!!
August 11;
19 Pilots left in the Long Flights and with a 2.30 AAT ,the 4 best spots were for the locals from Bailleau; 270 km. with a speed of 108.12 km./h. in a Duo Discus XT gave 760 points.
The speed -pilots had 2.15 as time for their AAT.A good day again for Stijn winning the day with 195 km. in his St Libelle.Not such a good day for Frank as he was 23 and loosing more than 200 points.

Bailleau as seen by Dennis Terpstra one of the competitors.

August 12; 396 for the long flights and 297 for the speedy ones!

———–

Fuentemilanos ;  was hot again during the last days, hot as in HOT /warm and hot as in many good flights.
Kilometer -eater Guy Bechtold added number ???? to his list of thousands.
Vinon;” Sometimes difficult, sometimes easy”. was the comment from Bert Schmelzer jr. on his 811 km. flight in his “new”  ASG 29. Together with his partner Barabara and his brother Tijl they fly in Vinon this week.

Unfortunately I read some VERY sad news too about the French mountains in Le Figaro. One pilot ,53 years old died when flying from Serres already on August 2 but they only found him on the 10th, another one both German by the way, only 32 years old crashed in the Haute Alps [Embrun] yesterday. TRAGIC!!!!

———–
For those interested;

“The countdown to one of the most exciting and competitive sporting events this fall has started. 20 of the best pilots in the world will be coming to Varese, Italy, where they will compete for the title of FAI World Sailplane Grand Prix Champion. Using the latest 3D presentation and video technology, the organising team at Varese will bring you all the drama, tension and excitement live, with race coverage every afternoon from 5th to 12th of September. Follow all the action each evening!”
I will follow it as well , with so many others!

———-

To finish also for those interested ;

Kingaroy Soaring are the proud hosts of the 2015 Gliding Queensland State Championships.

All information can be found at the following link – http://kingaroysoaring.com.au/

Save $50 by registering by the 3rd September meaning all you will pay is $100 registration.

You are up to date, with the latest,CU when there is enough and exciting news again.
Cheers Ritz

I start with the comps that finished and continue then with the cat 1 comps who finish on the 14th/15th.

KLIPPENECK.

Klippeneck ready to go.
As seen and shared by Fabian Mauchle.

I left you on Friday morning, just be able to give you the daily distances for all classes. Here is the last  day!!!!
Flying on Saturday, August 8,  was for private reasons cancelled.
5 out of 8 days !!!!
It was after day 2 , either Jeroen and Dennis or Dennis and Jeroen on TOP of the overall scores-list.Who is going to win this family get-together in St class???

August 7;So this was the LAST day in Klippeneck and one with hail and showers
“One of the most difficult flights ever, made it home by just 50m! Hard day to stay together, couldn’t follow Dennis today. Finished together though, amazing finish of a strange but excellent week.” as shared by Jeroen [Jennen].
Standard class got a 280 km. task and the Belgian boys/cousins flew 272 km. , best of the day but the handicap factor from the St Cirrus and LS 4 gave more points for the winners[258 and 264 km]  then for the 2 LS 8 pilots. Nobody finished.
The Klippeneck winner in St class is Dennis, ONE POINT AHEAD of Jeroen.They were in this class the only pilots with over 4000 points; 4366 and 4365. Number 3 with 3975 flying an LS 7 was Lutz Heydecke.
Don’t forget Jeroen is a JUNIOR!!!!
Jeroen; “ Overall winner of the standard class, second place and best junior performance at the competition! Proud to be part of the team, proud to fly with Dennis! Amazing week with difficult weather and hammer weather.. Credits to the organization and our helpers!”

In 15 m. 276 was set and ONE pilot managed to fly that distance;Stefan Knoll in the Mosquito. He “jumped”  from 6 to 4 overall. On the last day Winfried Schulz [ASW 20] missed out on just 10 km. and this brought him from spot 2 to 1 overall.

In 18 m. 364 km. and this last day was for “The Schmelzers” club mates from Jeroen and Dennis.With 6 other pilots they managed to finish on this difficult day.Only 7 from 28 did so.No real changes in the top Rolf Friedli won , 12 points ahead on Marcel Duenner , both flying ASG 29.

2 -seaters. All 22 gliders FINISHED in this class so they had a good run.292 km. was the set task . Hermann & Bieber [ARCUS T] were more or less EVERY day on  top in the overall scores , so also on the last day!!

open class ;Markus Gaumann won 4 from the 5 days and was the deserved winner;4348 points.

That was Klippeneck for this year! Next year version 48!!!

———-

DUTCH JUNIOR NATIONALS.

Happy crew members. Pilots are in bed,……….
As shared by Emmo Koetje jr.

5 Out of 8 days.
Last day , yesterday, had a 2.30 AAT. After Friday was cancelled,… one more chance to “shine”.
Guess the crews are tired I noticed on FB , happy party times.Good on them, they are young and still have the “power” to continue for hours.We did as well.
4 Young pilots are in the 3000 range so it looked one of them would be the WINNER.
Jelmer Vis [St Cirrus 3531] ] , Arne Kaas [Discus 3408] ,Mathijs Huls [LS4 3351]  and Sjors van Loon [LS8 3289] and well known Dutch pilots Andy van Helden and Rob Looisen are the SCOUTS today.
The weather did not co-operate straight away, AND also not later, so it was over and out for the juniors.The day was scrubbed.
Party time for some of the crews again, this time not with beer, but they could fly the glider!!!!
The Champion is Jelmer, runner up Arne and Mathijs did well with his 3d spot. Congratulations!!!
The first “injection” of competition-soaring is now in their blood, the future will show how this works out for them.

———-

13.5 m. WGC IN POCUINAI.

Just before he left Tony mentioned that it was hot and that it could be a tricky day. After some delay  the launches started at 13.30.
It turned out to be tricky for team USA, as they had to “motor” home. Good the USA team flies Silent electro’s. After 240 from the 255 km. they run out of thermals. Late starts at a quarter to 3 PM.The others finished between 5.12 and 6.08 PM.
Great job again for Stefano and the Diana as “they” won again and slowly the marge between him and the runner up grows over 200 points but local pilot Vladas keeps in the race being 2d again.
Tony had an interesting day ; he flew with eagles.

About day 6 some news from the organizers:
“A combination of a short towrope and a sudden prop blast resulted in Stefano Ghiorzo (Italy) losing control of his glider on takeoff. He quickly released, and there was no harm done. During the preparation for his second launch, somehow his tracking device was left behind. So those of us on the airfield did not know how he was doing until he flashed across the finish line, ahead of everyone else. His speed of 103 kph made him the winner of the day, with 795 points. His barogram confirms his report that it was a struggle until he reached the forest in the south part of the task area.

Vladas Motuza (Lithuania) had a similar experience and was second across the finish line, earning 783 points. Third place went to Frederic Hoyeau (France), with 636 points.” Ricardas Rusteika.

The Aussie team is now used to Europe and here is their news;
” Day 7 and more good weather. When was the last time we saw 7 consecutive competition days? Tomorrow we may get a task. Monday will be a rest day (and probably bring some needed rain)
Visibility is not the best here, so Morgan is enlisting some help for the Flarm from one of the clip on koalas we brought.”

August 8;
This day 7  ,yesterday , gave the pilots another good task with 378.64 km.
The weather; Sun and clouds mixed. Very hot. High 33C. Winds S at 10 to 15 km/h.
Next message; ” Tony launched at 1:45 pm and the task opened at 2:14pm. He and Francois are out on task over Poland.”
Not such a good day as Tony had to “motor” home again; 85 km. for him.
” Bad day for me. Didn’t make first turn point.”
9 pilots finished and it happened the TOP 3, was among them. 2 Just missed out on 10/15 km.
Good to see Morgan is “hanging in” during his first competition.
Stefano won with a speed of 97 km./h. and his lead is increasing.

August 9;as shared by Team USA

—” Lots of hope going on today. First Launch at 1. Temp peaks about 2 PM. Front approaching from the west.  Vytas confirmed today is flying day, tomorrow rest day. Finish ring with 250m minimum and 500m maximum. Penalties for being low or high.” —
Task 1.45 AAT.
team cup after 6 days.
1 Italy with Stefano and Alberto ; 876.
2. France with Antoine and Frederique ; 808.
3. USA with Francois and Tony; 748.

And as shared by the Aussies:
—” Yesterday was good for Morgan. With a late start to the day and predicted early cut off, everyone started close together.
The early cut off happened, trapping all except Morgan, Vladas and Stefano before the up wind turn point. Most of them made it back, but slowly.

Today we have a 1:45 AAT with late start and storms predicted for the end of the day. Cloud cover right now may make the start even later.
Tomorrow is a rest day (today may become one as well)”—
Today is cancelled!!!!

———–

WWGC in ARNBORG.

Low flight  and traditional rituals as shared by Arne Boye Moeller.

  

AND
One shared by Frans Guise with the Dutc witches.

No, the pilots are not SO frustrated by the weather that they move to brooms instead of gliders. this is TRADITION and it is an honor to belong to this exclusive club of girls/witches.
But yesterday,  they flew again as well,…in gliders ….and yesterday a task was set from 301 km. in standard, 258 in club and 307 km. in 15 m. class. Finally the weather gods are good for the girls,….maybe the witch dances……??????
A cold air mass , for the ladies today, was the message from the meteo.

Standard class; The Czech girls , Jana and Dana, flew well again.There is only a difference of 10 points between them, so this upcoming week will be interesting. Former World champion Sue from Germany is slowly making her way to the top as well; from 7 to 6 and now on 4.
12 from 13 Finished today.

Club class; 1000 points for German pilot Sarah who just flew a tad faster[69,79]  than the French girls Amelie and Aude.[69,69 and 69.50 km./h.]16 Finished in this class.
7 Girls in this class are between 1926 and 2071 points; 2 from France, 3 from Germany and 1 from Lithuania and from Italy. So a lot can happen next week.

15 m. A German day with 3 girls in the lead. Then 2 from France. though the overall-differences in this class are bigger , it can go ALL ways.

August 9 …today’s tasks. Standard class 316.53, club class 303.96 km., 15 m. 310.70 km.More in my next blog.

———-

EGC IN RIETI

August 7;a difficult day.
” 5th day. The air was very unstable: there were good thermals with base of cumulus at 2800m, from the start to Val Roveto, and some thunderstorms from Poggio Bustone to Val Nerina. Some pilots said that the visibility was very poor and was difficult to see the cumulus in the distance. Peter Hartman was very fast, 130 Km/h, but he said the yawstring was wet for more than one hour!” as shared by the organizers.
For some even a “terrible” day.Par example for Davide who out-landed after 233 km. from the set 370 in club class.
2 St Libelles in the daily top with German pilot Helmut Koelle and UK pilot Ge Dale. Juhani JUST made it home but lost a few [over 400] points and dropped from 1 to 7!! Ge moved up from 4 to 1 and Roman Mracek, who flew so well in Ocseny, is doing so again; he is now 2 overall.
Standard class;a 3 hour AAT was set and Couttsie did well;” 1024″  points for him but HC.[373 km. in time 3.05;120.67 km./h.]
Daily winner……SJAAK. Good on him and 1000 points for him , bring him back to spot 2 overall.He flew 365 km in time 3.04; speed 119.03 km./h.

John Coutts [NZ] as HC winner of the day and Sjaak Selen …..both got a bottle.
As shared by the organizers.

15 m. also a 3 hour AAT.
as said already a speedy day for Peter Hartmann, who knows the Rieti-mountains as well as the  mountains in Austria; 401 km. in time 3.03; speed 131 km./h. Speedy day as well for his mate Michael Rass and also former WGC Champion Leigh Wells had a great day;he was 3d with 407 km. but needed 3.20.

  

Worried faces in the tower during the finishes and after the sunshine from the last days…..some cool rain.
As shared by the organizers.

The day seen through the eyes of the steward Terry;
” Well, that was a surprise. A nice day expected again, with 3 hour AAT for the heavy gliders and 370km fixed task primarily in the northern part of the task area for club class. The cloud base was 8-9000 ft but visibility made it alittle tricky – when you cannot see if there are clouds ahead until you get there it is a little unsettling. Despite that all classes has a great day – until the thunderstorms hit. A couple of spits of rain which upset my afternoon in the shade suddenly escalated to a fierce thunderstorm over the top of Rieti with lighning and thunder and torrential rain. Perfectly timed to coincide with the expected return of club and Standard class.  Many gliders finished at 2-3000 feet so they could cross the finish circle and then escape to the east to wait for the storm to move away. G Dale did confess that this extra 3000 feet was gained in a 9 knot climb so not a major imposition. One glider has supposedly gained a small burn hole in the surface of the glider, from a lightning strike. 5 gliders outlanded, a couple quite close to the airfield. One glider suffered major damage in a paddock and will not be able to fly again. Another needs a bit of work. I spent my evening earning my keep with holding a Jury meeting to review a protest. Brian Spreckley and Max Bishop are the remote jurors and we held the meeting using a rather shaky skype connection. More on that later.” 

And by the UK TC;
” Leigh was blinded by multiple huge flashes of lightening whilst on final glide, he was 4600’ feet over glide and lost 3000’ having no choice but running through the heart of the storm with awful visibility, mountains on each side and sinking at 12 and when he landed there was a hole in his left wing about 5-7 mm round, we have no idea what could possibly have caused it.”
Leigh was 3d that day.

AND the still full of adrenaline story from TEAM UK;
“A bit different today… Our start was aimed pretty much straight away, to attempt to get round the thunderstorms before they got bad, but not to be too early in the weaker first area to the north. I started too late again after a minor delay but made good progress by taking large detours off track to score some strong climbs. I caught G as we ran back south back towards the higher mountains, but it was already too late and the storms had developed with large showers and lightning starting. We had to dive through some strong rain to get to the bottom point, where we climbed in the sunshine to cloudbase at 9000ft. Now we had to get back past the storm so headed back around the other side. It wasn’t looking good as another large cell had developed just to the north. We saw a small gap on track between the rain and it seemed to be the only option.. With regular lighting all around we hit 6kts lift which built to 10kts. As we climbed, the two large showers merged, closing the gap just behind us. We raced out of there at 100kts and a line of lift was marked in the clearer skies for the remaining 50km to our last turn. All the while, the radio was alive with the status of the storm at Rieti – Dave and jay were on glide and it was pouring down at the airfield with rain, thunder and lightening, and all classes were approaching home. G and I found a strong climb which peaked at 9kts to get to a really safe height before racing back into the stormy valley. The rain had just cleared the airfield as we approached but the run into the valley was adrenaline filled.

Proof of the 9.8 lift. As shared by Team UK.

Behind Ge in poor visibility . as shared by team UK.

August 8 yesterday;
After all the hectic from the day before and still thunderstorms around , some smaller tasks. Also a morning with fog but burning off later.
Club – 2:00 AAT   15 m. and Standard. – 1:30 AAT
” Short and snappy day – incredible climbs, best peaked at 10kts to 11,200ft above terminillo“.
” some blistering speeds, Cb’s locally now“.
You can only LOVE the UK comments.
Not a lot of points to give, but great fun!!!
Club class; a great pity he out-landed yesterday, but today he won again ; Davide!! With 118 km./h. he raced with his St Cirrus over 236 km. just in 2 hours ..at the dot,…!!!!All 20 pilots finished and raced ,…as local thunderstorms were predicted for later in the day.
Standard class ; French pilot Christophe Cousseau,  raced harder than hard; 160 km.h.!!!
He flew 244 km. in 1.30 .01.
4 Discus 2 gliders in the top. All 21 gliders finished . Sjaak was on 6 with 146 km./h.!!
The SLOWEST pilot flew 134 km./h. over 200 km. What weather again in Rieti!!???
15 m. class; 166 km./h. for Italian pilot Luca De Marchi !!!!!! He flew 250,73 km. in 1.30 AT THE DOT!!!One outlanding and the slowest pilot flew around over 207 km with a speed of 135 km./h. WOW!!!Crickey!!!

Words from the organizers;
” A very fast day, as we can see on Soaringspot, 166 km/h in the 15m class! The early start at 12pm and the short area task were a good choice to allow the gliders to come back to the field before the thunderstorm. Gliders could exploit the instability of the air before the thunderstorm, flying back to Rieti. During the landings there was a spectacular sky: dark and full of rain to the east, blue with beautiful cumulus to the west (see the photos). When the landing finished we had a very strong wind gusting up to 30 km/h and some rain.”

August 9 ;Today 
News shared by the UK team, GREAT GUY’s they KNOW about PR!!!!!
—” Another sunny start to the day here but trouble is on the way in the form of Cb’s later on. At the moment we aren’t sure whether there will be time to get a task in before it starts to go bang. Briefing is at 10.30 so we’ll
know more then. International evening this evening, Gin and tonic, Eton mess ( if we can find any strawberries) with a rest day tomorrow, probably in the rain guaranteed..”—

———–

BAILLEAU .

The last 2 days had to be cancelled.

————

What’s happening more?

My friends in Australia shared some news I want to support. The Snow family did not only rebuild Canberra Airport to the best, most modern and innovative one in Australia, but son Tom is a “fighter” for equal marriages as well.
” This evening from around 5:30 pm Canberra Airport will be taking a big stand on marriage equality. This is an issue that you all know is close to my heart [ Tom Snow]  I’d ask that you all “share” some of the images I post. And please retweet @CanberraAirport on Twitter. ‪#‎WeCanDoThis‬

Canberra Airport welcomes politicians with rainbow terminal.
As shared by Tom.

Our Soaring world does n’t exist ONLY out of comps. You might think so , as I write a lot about it, I know,..but I LOVE to follow them.
Pilots just love their flying where ever , how ever. A good day is a good day and gives EXTRA joy.
Last Friday a few 1000 km. flights have been flown again, from Bex in Switzerland and from Sisteron and Puimoisson in France.
940 in an LS 6 from Vinon is worth mentioning as well and 951 with an LS 6 with winglets from La Motte also.

Cheers Ritz,
CU you on Wednesday or earlier when I write TOO much [again!!!].

Arnborg
WWGC.

Briefing as seen by Frans Guise.

August 5;
Another “so-so-day”, though the task from 2.30 would make you think it would be a rather good day. It was IN THE end,…. before they waited and waited , downsized the task to 2 hours and off they went with a cloud base THEN at 700 m.
The end of the day was better with cu’s and a higher cloud base, but for some that was too late, they out-landed. One of them “our”  Annemiek, number 1 in the overall scores, but after 40 km. it was over for her.
She was not the only one, from 17 in club class 9 finished, one of them and the number 9 was Swaantje.
Great day for Elena [Italy] she won. Flying 138 km. in 2.10, gave her the highest amount of points for the day,…351.
After 4 days with 2 tasks ” our”  Doortje, mother of 3, is on spot 1 with a total of 557 points , that says much about the poor weather in Denmark.Such a pity, but,…part of soaring, though the Aussie girls might think,..what are we doing here??? At least they have fun and see more of Europe.

Elena, as shared by the organizers.

Standard class;
a Czech day as Dana, Hana and Jana flew together from beginning to end and did well;the 3 top places were theirs. They were followed by Juditha from Poland an 2 French girls, Melanie and Aude.
2 From 13 out-landed, one of them Kerry, from Australia, so more sight seeing for her.
After 4 days and 1 flyable day the overall scores here are for the Czech girls.
15 m. class;
first start in this class at 15.35 , last at 16.21.So with the better weather in the end it looked like a good idea to start late. It did not show in the points. The French girls started at 15.41 and flew over 140 km. in just over 2 hours . Annette and Katrin from Germany were the late starters , Annette finished with 145 km in 2.30, Katrin out landed/flew back “under steam”. So did 2 other girls.
In this class after 4 days from which 2 ,Marilyne and Anne from France top the overall list.

Here is what the Aussie team mentioned about this day;
—“A mammoth effort for both our pilots yesterday in very testing conditions. I’m pretty sure in Australia the day would have been canned at briefing. Jo and Kerrie spent most of the day at or below release height on a 2 hour AAT. Maximum height just over 1000 metres with a stiff headwind on 2 of the legs. Jo made the decision to restart after a soft patch the first time across the line. In the end both outlanded as the day died.”

August 6 ;
They all started after 2 in club class,….Bad luck this time again for the number 1 overall,this time  Doortje. Real bad luck !She could not start anymore as the wind was to tough and the lift to marginal to reach the field, when waiting for the startline to open. Luckily the girls had a look at the surrounding airfields, so a safe landing was made just out side the airfield. Doortje has her husband and 3 kids as crew , so that should be no problem!!
The others went for 244 km.
When one is unlucky with her performance , another stands up. Daily winner” our”  Lilan in her LS 4; 133.5 km. and that was the longest distance as nobody finished!By the way that was 10 km. more than Sabrina Vogt, from Germany in her St Libelle.
Annemiek was 3d.
Doortje dropped from 1 to 10 overall. The overall score is leaded now by German pilot Sabrina after 3 valid days she has the total amount of 798 points. Elena is on spot 3!
Standard class, for 256 and not long after the start Kerry was already on FB , in a paddock, and not alone:
“Ok here’s one for the books – VS,[Swaantje in club class] LB [Aussie matye , Jo in club class] & UG [Kerry..standard class] all in the same paddock – and we weren’t even flying together! That was right after I got the strongest thermal 4kts to the highest alt 4200′ for 3 weeks!”
No finishers either in this class but slowly Sue [Kussbach] twice World champion already , climbs up . Today she was runner up with 142 km. just a tad behind Hana, who leads the overall pact just 2 points ahead of team mate Dana.[929 for 927]
15 m. had 310 km. to deal with. Our Dutch Natasja only could fly 20 km.
187 km. was the best distance and Jana [Treslova] managed to fly so many kilometers. That was 8 kilometers more than her team mate Eva.
Anne from France is still the overall leader and in this class they have risen above 1000 points after 3 days of soaring; 1472.

TODAY, they fly 170 km. in St class,156 in club and 193 km. in 15 m. class.More on Sunday.

———-

EGC in Rieti.

Rieti skies seen by the UK team.

August 5.
According to the UK team, ” Best day yet – hot on the ground but a quick climb to 10,600ft in the start was cooling.
Tricky round the first turn for me into the sea air, as I missed G’s 7kt climb – but had good company of the French std class,  until we ran back into the convergence line. From there it was cruising at 90kt and an overcooked final glide .”
Club class…374 km. Finnish pilot Juhani, is on his best! A 2 d daily win for him with a speed of 117.75 km./h.
UK pilot Ian was runner up this time [117.34 km./h.] and started as last pilot in this class.[13.55,18…Juhani started at 13.37 and the first pilot at 13.16]
Davide who flies so well was last with  98.46 km./h.

—” Patrick Stouffs who is in club class said it was a strong and violent day! In the north thermals were violent and broken, between 2 and 4 m/s. The club class was the only class to find it difficult to reach the first turning point in the south. From Carsoli to Norcia there was a great long line of high cumulus with bases at 3300m! Flights were only thermal: no good wind for ridge soaring.”—as shared by the organizers.
Standard class; Not a good day for Sjaak who unfortunately dropped from 1 to 4 overall, after not even a bad day finishing as the last in his class on spot 19 [2 out-landings due to violations of airspace and Swiss pilot Renee could not start] but still with a speed of 114 km./h.over 471 km.
Polish pilot Lucasz won [again] with 129.33 on the clock and UK pilot Jay[Rebbeck] had a good day as runner up.[128.16 km./h.]
In 15 class  with 479 km as task, it was a “French day” Louis [Bouderlique] and Christophe [ Ruch ] topped the daily list .

Terry had his daily report again and I share it with you;
” Another day in paradise. 35 degrees, cloudbase at 3200m (about 11,000ft for you ossies). The slowest finisher in club class today around a 370km task was 98kph, with the max at 118kph. Std and 15m were doing 130kph. Lots of smiles form the pilots, but the rest of us were just hot. Not sure that I like the sitting on the ground bit whilst others go flying in the cool.
Good chatting to some of the Pommes this evening, sounds like Lasham is a great place to fly – they are promoting the 2017 Europeans at Lasham. Something in the back of my mind says “rain” but I must be mistaken.
A couple of pilots had airspace penalties today, lots of airspace areas to avoid here and the task went quite close. Another apparently did a low pass of the airfield and received a penalty for that. Photo shows the start of the 15m class launch. The launching is taking 90m minutes which is way too long, but we don’t seem able to make any changes?” 

August 6;
—” It was impressive to see about 15 gliders on the ground together at about 6,30pm in the sunset light! Weather conditions were similar to yesterday. Cumulus base was from 2800m up to 3300m. No wind for ridge soaring, weak and strong thermals and some areas without energy. Air mass is getting old because the high pressure is ending so thermals are often broken.” —

The message from the organizers with a nice picture.

Club class had to fly 419 km. and Ge from the UK was in the winning mood, in his St Libelle; just over 100 km./h.
Juhani in the PIK 20 B did well again on a 3d spot. This seems not the best competition for the french Gilles and Denis, they are on 8 and 9 overall and lost some points today by being 16 and 18 .Roman was 7th and slowly making his way to the TOP.
Standard class had 494 km. and an Italian daily winner Vittorio; 118 km./h. Young Miloslav Cink, was runner up with 994 points.5 Of this class are out of the race, so still 17 flying.
Sjaak is on his way back to the top and on spot 3 now overall.
15 m. class ,only NZ pilot Dane out-landed, the rest finished and the best was the Austrian pair-flying team Michael and Peter;1000 and 994 points.
Peter leads the overall scores with 26 points ahead of Christophe [Ruch ] and less than 50 on Louis [Bouderlique]

The news from steward/reporter/jury president/ etc Terry:
—“It gets even better, and hotter in Rieti. 500km + tasks, 120kph. It was hot on the ground 38 degrees so we went up to Mount Terminillo, about 6000 ft altitude, and the temperature was 23 degrees – very nice. We met a glider as we drove up the hill and he only just outclimbed us. The German crew on the Mountain said we were 30 minutes late to see a large gaggle go past. Great views and oh so pleasant. We arrived back at the airfield just as Club class was finishing, and then a long weight and starting to wonder if the blue conditions to the NW was causing some trouble, when we heard the first of the 15m and Std Class gliders. 30+ gliders landed in about 3 minutes. An excellent job by the pilots in a crowded runway, a few making use of a good wheel brake, but expertly handled. More of the same tomorrow I suspect, but the task setter has to introduce Assigned Area tasks which will give the pilots a chance to utilise their skills in some different parts of the task area.—“

Have been many times on the Terminillo and it is beautiful over there. Indeed you see gliders pass by on eye height. “On top of that ” it is a place you can hear the radio for a long time.

———-

13.5 WGC in Pocuinai.

August 5; task 4 so every day good weather here. 345 km. today! Hot and blue day.
Vladas in the mini LAK is doing well. Today his 3 daily win!!
He and Stefano  and Aussie pilot,Morgan, started as the last pilots at 14.14.
Stefano won day 1 , whilst Vladas out landed, but then it was each day Vladas and Stefano as runner up. In the total scores after 4 days Stefano leads with more then 300 points. Morgan is on spot 3.
Morgan mentioned;
—“A great result for Australia in the 13.5m Worlds today: third for the day and now ranked third overall.
I got a good start 11 minutes behind the American team and managed to stick with the eventual day-winner for the whole first leg. I lost him when we caught the Americans so I stayed with them for the rest of the day. I thought I had jumped a gap to catch the French team but the Americans also crossed that gap. The final leg was in the blue with very poor thermals so it took all 5 of us searching the sky to find the remaining scraps of lift to struggle home.” —

August 6; 362 km. and 30 dgr. on the ground.
I was amazed and touched by the words from Sebastian that he and his new glider would not be welcomed by all in Pocuinai. Can’t imagine that!!!!!!!!!!!Such a lovely guy , an ace in soaring and,…a new glider is a new glider, it’s just a pity it was not ready in time, they both will prove  by flying it , how good it is. That will happen no doubt about that.
“Unfortunately not all want to see me there, or rather there are some who dislike the GP 14 Velo.”
The other pilots had more or less a slow day. Reason for other pilots to “shine” at the daily top;Luka from Slovenia in the Silent 2 electro “got”  the 1000 points, same glider different pilot, Alberto Sironi from Italy was runner up.[963 points] He moved from 8 to 5 overall.

” National Night entertainment warming up.” by Tony.

Today they have to be ready for 255 km.!! AND, latest news; …according to Tony it’s going to be a tricky day with a late start.

———–

Klippeneck.

August 5; Another day with good distances.
315 for standard , my young Belgium friends Jeroen and Dennis, are still doing well with a “glued-together” 5th place.
322 in 15 m. best speed 90 km./h.
18 m. class ;365 km. and another Dutch pilot showed his soaring capacity, this time Mark Wering in the JS 1 B, who “got”  the 1000 points for a speed of 111 km./h.
dosies; 344 km. and best result for the ARCUS M.
open; 366.93 and not Markus [Gaumann] today but Bruno [Gantenbrink] as winner!!

Dennis [Huybreckx] as seen by Jeroen Kroon.

August 6;
AND,….they did it again. Dennis and Jeroen were the daily winners.115.99 km./h over 253 km.Overall there is ONE point difference between them with 2 days to go.
The Schmelzers [Ventus 2cx T.] did well in 18 m.spot 5. They belong to the same club KEIHEUVEL in Belgium as Jeroen and Dennis and I hope to see them all inthe weekend of August 22 over there.
In open it was Markus [Nimbus 4 M] turn again to win the day.
The ARCUS T , yes it is getting boring won in the 2 seater class with ….2 Dutch pilots… Joost Wolff and Evert Zwolsman.Both very experienced pilots.

As shared by Jeroen Kroon.

Today; St class 272 km., 15 m. 276 km., 18 m. 346 km. ,2 seaters 292 km., and open 356 km.
Saturday last day, more news here on Sunday.

———-

Bailleau.

The speed class has 37 participants from Germany ,Belgium, Holland and France, so a nice mix of pilots and a few good ones as well.
As said Frank Hiemstra from Holland won day 1 in the St. Cirrus; 398 km. Day 2 was for Belgium with Stijn van den Boer in the St Libelle; 241 km.
Day 3 with 206 km. for Holland again, even with 2 pilots in the top 2 . One of them Robbie [Seton] who was in my junior team at the JWGC in Husbos.He won this competition before as far as I remember.
A team from Bailleau leads the total scores now with 2559 points. Frank has 2549 and Robbie, 2521.
The day was won by a Dutch pilot club member of Frank from Friesland ;Pieter van Vliet in the LS 1f.

Gaggle close to Bailleau as seen by Ken Evens.

———–

Junioren NK.

Only 7 finishers on Thursday , when they got a task of 184 km. Jelmer Vis had his 3 daily win and leads with 2 days to go.
Today; 116 km.

————

CU again on Sunday!
By the way, I forgot to tell you that my town was world news , due to the fact that 2 cranes lifting a bridge part back on the spot it belonged to ,[all 3  ON a floating platform/ponton ON  the RHINE] , collapsed WITH this bridge part. A miracle happened as many ran for their lives but nobody was injured. 2 Shops and 4 houses are “flat/crushed” .From 17 houses the people had to go and live somewhere else for a while. A REAL miracle and a total mess along the Rhine.
Cheers Ritz

As shared by my paper AD.

ARNBORG.
WWGC.

August 2 2015.
Finally the ladies could FLY!!! They were supposed to start at 12 but that was postponed  to 1 PM.
With the delay they got a B task, which was bigger than the A task;180  km.
BUT….. but the cloud base got low again and some could not even depart for their task.Some had to be launched again.
The weather was supposed to improve , but quickly the pilots found out that it would be not a day for speed but distance.
That happened and “our”  Dutch girls did well with this Dutch/Danish weather. They won the day  and runner-up-spot in club class.Good on them. Annemiek 210 and 209 points for Doortje.
Who cannot keep a penny, shall never have many…..

Day 1 – as seen by Kerry from Australia;” 2 relights, a new battery & an outlanding at a lovely Gliding club – as I write 2 trailers are leaving, a rotax drones above & another glider is on final!”
day 1 -as seen by Swaantje from Germany;” First day is over. At least we got a few points for the fight we put up against the weather!” 

In Standard 125 km. was the best from the set 212 km. flown by Joanna [Biedermann from Poland , but as she was the only one OVER 100 km. it turned out an invalid day.
In 15 m. a task from 224 km. and the French and Germans did well. 162 km.was the best distance by Anne [Ducarouge] ;423 points. Katrin [Senne] was runner up:419 points.
The daily prize was a ride in an open vintage 2-seater. Not bad!!!

the 3 Dutch club girls, Annemiek, Lilian and Doortje.
As seen by Frouwke.

August 3 2015.
A blue day for a change and a nice temperature of 20 dgr..
St. class 189 km.
Club class 172 km.
15 m class 204 km.
No flying in the end! Cloud base 600 up to 900, blue and with up to 25 kts.Tasks were scrubbed on the grid.

August 4 ; official rest day.

August 5 shows a 2.30 AAT for all classes.

———-

POCUINAI.
WGC 13.5 m.

As seen and shared by Morgan [Australia]

August 2 2015.
With one brand new type not yet ready, the one for Sebastian and a Russian pilot, the day was marked by disappointment, not only by those pilots , even by the concurrents.
But,….it turned out a good flying day with 1000 points for the winner; Stefano [Ghiorzo] in the Diana 2 versus.
Tony and Francois did well as runner up  in the Silent 2 electro ;910 points for each of these USA pilots.
Morgan from Australia was in as well; ” On my first day in international competition, I think I’ve done quite well for myself. It was a blue day, which meant flying in a gaggle or with a team was the best way to find thermals. The Americans did very well at this and I wasn’t able to catch them, despite getting within a few km twice. The two other gliders that I caught and passed ended up outlanding, along with many others from the other class.”

Team USA.With Francois and Tony to the left.
As shared by Eric Frere.

August 3;
No points for Sebastian so hopefully his glider will be ready today. He won several times with 1000 points marge , so it is still possible, BUT the plane has to be ready.
BUT,…when I read this ‘” Yep the GP 14 isn’t complete. They hope to have it here next week to show what it can do.” , it will take more than a day. A pity as they worked hard at Peske to have it ready in time.
The competition is not waiting, not even for Sebastian , so it continued with a 252 km. task. Morgan wrote;
“13.5m class had a better day today: almost like Australian conditions with cloudbase above 7000ft. I followed the American team today except one of them led me away while the other found a great thermal and beat me by a significant margin.” Those were Tony and Francois, Tony finished on spot 4, Francois on spot 8 and Morgan on spot 7.
So a Lithuanian pilot won the day in a mini LAK , with Stefano as runner up. The other Lithuanian pilot had to out-land.

August 4;
Same winners,as yesterday,  so the mini LAK with Vladas number 1 [315 km. with a speed of 102 km./h and the Silent 2 from Stefano on number 2, BUT on 3 it was Morgan, this time.

Overall WGC scores after 3 days;
Stefano Ghiorzo [Diana 2 Versvs] with 2683 points
Vladas Motuza [Mini LAK] with 2243 and
Morgan Sanderkock from Australia in the Sparrow Hawk with 2216 , 4 points ahead of Tony Condon from the USA.

Today , August 5, they fly 345 km.

———–

RIETI.
EGC

August 2 2015.
Opening in town at the stadium.
” Today at 5pm the opening ceremony took place in the stadium of Rieti. All the teams presented with their flags, pilots and team captains.
The FAI flag was displayed by the tow pilots.
The President of the Aeroclub displayed the Italian flag during the national anthem.”

August 3 , first flying day.
A good day with 339 km. in Club class and Ge [Dale] in the St Libelle had a really good first day;931 points.[speed 96.64].
This is what UK pilot Ian [Macarthur] had to say ;
“Well… Storming run south in a convergence to catch and fly with G round the first turn.
Early start seemed to work – it was incredibly fast and I pushed ahead on the second leg up front alone. Got to the top turn at 110kph but was then rinsed by the invisible easterly which was flowing over the range. The pain of watching the whole field scrape away above me 3/4 hour later was quite intense! Hero to zero in the blink of an eye!! Glad that G could get out of there and to the podium.”
Ian [LS4] was one of the 3 out-landers in this class.
Best the good old  PIK 20 with Finnish pilot Juhani Sahlberg he got the max 1000 points;speed 104.80.

Standard class; WOW, ” we ” did well, again. Sjaak, [Selen] yes brother from, won the day!!!1000 points and a speed of 113 km./h. Good on him. Always nice to start with a win.
Runner up French pilot Christophe Cousseau and on 3 Lucasz Blaszykzc.
4 Out-landings among them 2 from the Finnish team one of the Aku.
In 15 m. the Austrians who always fly very well in Rieti flew the 460 km. just under 100 km.h. Winner; Czech pilot Jaroslav Tomana in the ASG 29 E.
10 Pilots out landed!!!

Day 2 as seen by steward Terry, who really is inspiring with all the jobs he does, even a lot of writing. Chapeau! This is the jury president job.

—” another great day in Rieti. Sun was shining and no storms, so a good start to the competition. Wind was from the North East so Roberto Romano the task setter described it as “tricky” as the wind would be blowing from the back of the hills. Certainly a good description. The early starters did better as the top turn at Gualdo Taldino blued out and a couple of standard class gliders ended their flights at that point. 15m class who were last to launch with the biggest task suffered the most, with half of the glider in fields. Speeds slower than expected due to the weakening conditions. We went out for dinner with the Austrian team to a magnificent restaurant at the top of a small hill just 15km from Rieti. This probably describes most of the restaurants in this area. Great food and great views and lovely company. We got back to the airfield to find that the verandah of the admin building had been turned into a workshop as the German glider factory staff made some repairs to two glider that had had problems in their fields – one ASW19 hit a pole and a Discus 2 had damaged a wing going through a ditch. They are hoping that the two gliders will be flying tomorrow. Another glider arrived in the finish circle but had to land in a field, field too small and the glider ended up in a channel – luckily no damage to the glider or pilot. Tomorrow is meant to be better.—“

August 4; He was last in club class on the day before, this day he WON.
Ian from the UK;345 km. with a speed of 113 km./h.
The runner up Roman [Mracek] had a speed of 108 km./h.
In standard class Coutssie [New Zealand] did well by winning the day ;HC that is but he got 1.014 points!!!
128 km./h over 385 km.
The 1000 points were for Polish pilot Lucasz and Aku who was last yesterday , now had 967 points and a 3 d daily spot.
Sjaak was 6th.
In 15 m. another HC pilot from New Zealand , Dane Dickinson] won in this class. Both know the mountains and have been in Rieti before. Good on them!!!126 km./h over 427 km.

Today 475 and 471 km to fly.

———-

KLIPPENECK.
popular competition.

August 2 2015;
The first flying day and young Bert Schmelzer who spoke about his WGC performance in Finland , added an extra day , ” sniffed” for all pilots to see the conditions,  flew HC …and WON with 129 km./h. over 501 km!!!!Later I heard, F2 is his new glider.Good luck with it.

The 2 young Keiheuvel -boys Jeroen and Dennis are doing well.On flying day 1 they occupied spot 4 same departure same arrival time and on 2 Dennis won and Jeroen was runner up.In open class Marcus Gaumann won both days.
Bruno [Gantenbrink] out-landed.

Yesterday was cancelled tomorrow should be good!

August 4;315 in St class. 322 in 15 m. 365 in 18 m. 2 seaters/dosies 344 km and open 367 km.

———-

VENLO.
Dutch Junior Nationals

As you can see enough juniors in Holland.
As shared by the organizers.

August 2 2015.
This competition , with 20 participants, might be the start point of a soaring career, for one of the young ones today. For some older ones it is one of the the ways to the Nationals in Holland.
In any case it is a place where  pilots socialize, fly and learn from toppers who fly with them during a day.
They could start straight at day 1 on August 1; 223 km. was set and Arne Kaas from the Student Aero Club from Delft was the best;866 points.
Day 2 with 142 km. was a prey for Mathijs Hulst, who I got to know in Leszno last year.2 Gelderse members got 456 and 431 points for the day.
Day 3 showed a 3 hour AAT for the boys and girls.
Day 4 no task
Day 5 today 207 km.

———-

On day 1 in the French soaring mecca Bailleau Frank Hiemstra from Holland was number 1.
398 km with a speed of 105 km./h in a St Cirrus.
The Dutchies are doing well at the moment at several comps at top level.
GOOD!!

Cheers Ritz

To not make my blogs TOO long, I will publish a bit more than normal.
This is an extra blog about the preparations and latest on the important comps. There are so many, so lot’s of news and pictures. Keep looking and you will find……

18th. EGC for club, standard and 15 m. class
in Rieti.

The first practice day , last Wednesday, showed real practice for all, briefing, good tasks and though they change over the years, pretty experienced organizers.Very nice presentation of the teams at FB ,compliments!!!!!
290 for club,[ 3 finished] 378 [ 2 finished] for standard and 398 to get in the cross-country-mood for 15 m. class.[4 finished]
On Thursday 286 km. was set and finished by  4, some got penalty points, better now than in a few days and in st class the pilots got 323.65 km to fly 10 finished  and in 15 m. 18 from 24 flew and finished the task from 350 km.

One sad , very sad note. The restaurant on the beginning /end of the runway is GONE. It was the meeting point for all after flying. Can’t remember how many times we have been there.And always with great pleasure.

Once a lovely restaurant with great food and company.It will be MISSED!!!
Shared by Terry Cubley.

With 2 hour AAT’s in each class ,the last day of July, showed that “our depressions” moving East, passed by N. of Rieti as well.Thunderstorms were predicted . From 11 tow planes, 8 had arrived already!!!
A not too bad day, as Roman[Mracek] flew 216 km. in 2.06; speed of 103 km./h in the St Cirrus.The 3 Czech pilots practiced together, showing their interest in a high ranking this EGC.
241 km. was flown in St Class by French pilot Lucas Delobel in the Discus 2;speed 116 km./h. and in 15 m. nearly 300 km. , a bit over the time, 2.25;speed of 122 km./h.by Austrian pilot Michael Rass.
Saturday no flying “due to weather condition”.So pretty relaxed on their way to a for sure grande EGC again.
This evening , at 5 the EGC will be opened by Terry, chief steward and because of unexpected absence of the jury president, also president . It all happens in the local stadium and all 17 participating nations will be there . THEN ….it starts!!!!!

A great picture by the Finnish team in Rieti. As seen and shared by Aku [Jaakkoola]

———-

The 13.5 m. WGC
in POCUINAI.

Antonov AN-2s parked on the edge of the field.
As shared by team USA.

2.30 AAT was set for the 13.5 m. gliders as practice last Wednesday. As said before, some gliders were just finished before this WGC. Looking forward to the results, as some top pilots fly in nearly each of them.
This one is from one of my USA mates Tony [Condon] who I personally got to know in Uvalde. I wrote about him in my blogs and had contact about that via email and when I was in Uvalde he flew up with a friend and we met. His wife Leah completes his team in Lithuania. A great team!!!

  

” Rigged, registered, and weighed today. Good news is that I was under weight.” Tony.

No flying, during practice,  so more pictures this time from the new RUSSIA, shared by Tony.
A carbon fiber pure glider.

Pociunai: Day 1 – Finally we have some better weather for the start of the competition proper – no tasks were completed during the practice week.

Predictions are of small amounts of Cu, possibly going blue later in the day.

Task for the 13.5m class is just over 300km [317.76] with the first turn point in Poland.”  as shared by the Aussie team.

The latest I just heard!
” Manufacturing delays have meant that the new GP14 glider hasn’t made it to the comp for Day 1!”
That IS a pity!!!!

Parallel with this WGC , some international pilots practice already for the WGC next year in Pocuinai. 2 Aussies are there as well ” Tobi and Dylan also have fixed tasks in the same general areas.“

———-

The WWGC in Arnborg
in Denmark.

The women still had one more day to wait but then, slowly , after 2 cancelled practice days, they could get in the groove as well with a 107 km. task for all classes on Wednesday. For some the first inspection of the area from above.
Many looked ,on the rainy days, to kill the time,  around in the area, certainly close to the airport,  for good landing- fields and mentioned still high hay and grass. Always good to know.
In the end also this day had to be cancelled;cloud base 700 m. and 40 km./h wind not the best to fly a competition but “practicing launch and seeing the field from above” is always good.
So in fact no real practice!But ,..the welcome party was good .
A strong high pressure system is reaching the West of Europe from Friday onward, so August will be better.

On August 1, yesterday,  they tried again with 104 km. tasks as last practice, first for some!!!.BUT,….before they all went up, they had to be present at the opening- ceremony of this event in Herning .

  

Team Australia   and      Team Holland

  

Czech team         and       German Team

From August 2 till 14 the comps are ON.They start today with 154 km in st. class, 136 in club , 176 in 15 m.More on Wednesday.

———–

KLIPPENECK 2015, version 47!!

Unfortunately not the best weather to start with.
As seen by Jeroen Jennen.

A very popular competition and already in Mai it was impossible to enter anymore. All places booked out in 5 classes!Also pilots from Belgium, Holland and Switzerland “like”  this comps very much and are eager to fly here.
They started on July 31, started is a bit much said as both the practice day and first day’s had to be cancelled.

After Bert jr. [Schmelzer] on August 1 shared his experiences about his WORLD- title in Finland, they finally could start on August 2, today.They are rigging and looking at the skies the pilots are satisfied.
These are the tasks for today; Standard 357.08 km., 403 for 15 m., 501 for 18 m. ,2 seaters go for 387 and open for 462 km.
More on Wednesday or earlier when the blog is going to be TOO long.

————

The last day of the month JULY was a good one on the OLC. Several 1000 km flights!!Some German airfields had that great weather even good enough for an LS1 d to fly 750 km.[775 …FAI triangle 737]
719 from Czech Rep. in St Cirrus [602 FAI triangle] , is worthwhile mentioning too.
2 Dutch juniors flew from Terlet in the DUO DISCUS 806 km. So Holland had after all the rain , a good soaring day again.From Midden Zeeland even 893 was flown in the ASH 31 /21m.
several 700 plus and an 800 km. task were on the list as well here in Holland.
By the way the Dutch JUNIOR NATIONALS are in progress in Holland.
On July 30 2 French [from Buno] and 1 German 1000 km. flight.

——————

Whilst other fly , a huge amount of people were visiting or participating at the Gay Parade in Amsterdam. The busiest ever .As seen by Fallon.

————-

As always I get the Australian Alpine Flyer, a social monthly magazine from the Mount Beauty Gliding Club as well as the weekly updates from what ‘s going on by Marisa.
As the president Andrew Evans mentions: ” This edition has plenty of winter themes, from flying over snow-capped peaks to our Club ski team carving some turns at Falls Creek. How lucky are we to enjoy this beautiful environment right on our doorstep?”
Nice life style!!
The CFI Mark Bland is slowly thinking of the new season again :”Well we’re over hump of winter and last Sunday we had our first decent soaring day for many weeks. I managed to fly my Libelle past Mt Feathertop and enjoy the spectacular views of the recent snow dump.”

———–

And to finish one of the soaring heroes from this time;
Sebastian Kawa with his dad Thomasz as seen by Zsolt Mattburger and shared on FB.
Great picture, so relaxed.

The huge storm last Saturday here in Holland, has cost the life of one person, sitting in his car when a tree fell on it/him.He had no chance and died at the spot. Several people were lucky to escape death, some were injured. All in all I hope the next summer storm will be in another 100 years again.It was pretty wild and the cost will be higher than 13 million.
This morning we had another thunderstorm and torrential rain, I hope it is OVER NOW!!!!
The same weather ” hangs” over Arnborg.
Loved the , pretty tough Tour de France this year and  the Formula 1 in Hungary last weekend. Vettel as winner and “our” Max on a 4th spot, he is only 17!!!
Good to see they all remembered Jules [Bianchi] who crashed in Japan last year and died last week.

———-

Looking back at the 18th EGC through the eyes of the pilots , Akemi and Mac,who lost with one point.
On my question I got an answer and I share it with you.

—” Akemi and Mac what a fabulous job you both did!!!!! Congratulations ONE point I hope this will not be a trauma for the future. Do you have any clue where you lost that point? If you would have known it ,you would for sure have taken one curve less  in good lift .
When you have time I would love to have your vision on HC flying and on loosing with ONE point. A pity that you are on none of the pictures. Hope that they congratulated you and that you got ” something” too. Have a safe trip home both and CU in Toc. Cheers Ritz

—-” Thank you! No it will not be a trauma. We know we could have saved many minutes. Not just one point. We had some issues with bug-wipers and also LX9000 in two seater setups.

My bugwiper motor worked so slow, that Tassilo taught me (he told me this particular motor is made by his club member) I must start extending it before I arrive into thermal, so it is finished by the top of thermal;)) Unfortunately we had to use it in straight glide at speed 110 kph, (that was maximum speed for this wiper;) on two occasions for prolonged time, while others went past us at 170kph+. so others were some kilometers ahead of us by the time we could retract wipers.

It is my second time to finish second place in EGC as HC. First time was 2002 in Beckescsaba, also in Hungary. I was second in Standard Class after my team mate Tomas Suchanek. Back then they did not even call my name during prize giving. (To which many of my friends complained kindly.) This time they at least called me and gave me a bottle of wine!! Thank you!!!

We go to Europeans nowadays to try new things (new glider, new class, new instruments, new site etc) and also to try out different strategies.
I think my direct competitors know that too, by now.
(They seemed not concerned when I was in the lead, as they did not need to beat me to become European Champion.) Furthermore, it is great opportunity to meet long time friends in the gap year of WGC. With many of them, this is only opportunity to physically meet once a year. I am most grateful each time the organizers let us foreigners fly in EGC as HC.

This year, we had only two flights with ASG32 before we arrive to Hungary. It was very nice and easy glider with excellent performance. Akemi struggles with piloting Arcus (we had flown Wolfgang’s TWO in Namibia before, so we knew we are battling with the best Arcus in the world;),  but she could normally climb with others pre-start in ASG32. I was smiling in the cockpit. I flew 98% once we started on task. It was really great glider and we really enjoyed this EGC.”

Thanks Mac and Akemi.And….off he is again ,..this time to the Pre-Worlds in Pocuinai.

———–

They are on their way as well , or already there .Lot’s of pilots with their crews to Arnborg for the WWGC and lot’s of pilots with their crews to Rieti to the 18th EGC for 15 m., standard and club class. Not to forget 16 pilots and their crews for the very first 13.5 m. WGC in Pocuinai.
Here a picture from Annemiek, one of the Dutch juniors and competing in the AU, the St. Cirrus owned by the Foundation Glider events Holland[ so is the AG the other St Cirrus by the way] , in the WWGC.
Annemiek is back from South Africa where she finished a work placement with Jonkers Sailplanes.
After the WWGC the AU will be packed in the container together with the AG and travel to Australia where the gliders will be part of the JWGC. Annemiek is reserve there and crews for Stefan Telkamp who will fly the AU over the Aussie paddocks.
Talking about Australia, 2 Aussie ladies, Kerrie Claffy and Jo Davis participate in Arnborg and their trip was much longer and not always easy.When you arrive in Europe after more than 24 hours , you have to collect a car and  a trailer with a glider .Then drive on the “wrong” way of the road and deal with the not so good weather in Arnborg till now. But,…in Australia it is winter so the difference is not TOO big, though the North and East never get really so cold as in Melbourne or so.

Annemiek in the clean car , with a nice clean trailer and the glider in it. I hope, you surely heard in the past the story about the crew who collected the trailer to fly at a daily competition and with arrival the pilot was stunned to see an empty trailer .
as shared on FB by her crew Jan Willem.

17 Pilots are on the list from club class among them, 3 from Holland, Annemiek, [St Cirrus], Doortje [DG 300] and Lilian [LS 4]
4 Pilots from Germany one of them  Swaantje [ASW 19b] who just recovered from cancer and I applaud her for her attitude and I am pleased to see her back in top soaring. Good on her.
Also Chrissie flies in this class, as said last time she was world champion once and has to travel quickly from Ocseny to Arnborg with husband Uli and great little son Fin.Uli and she were 4th in Ocseny just out of the podium with 9 points.
A French topper is Amelie Audier and from Italy Elena [Fergani] is participating.
10 Pilots in 15 m. class. 5 ASG 29’s in this class and 4 Ventus types and 1 LS 6 from Sweden with Gloria Stenfelt. A few toppers from Germany and France in this class and ” our” Natasja.
In standard class 13 pilots at this stage with 10 LS 8 gliders and 3 Discus ‘ 2a.
40 Pilots are hoping at this stage for better weather, MUCH better weather, ….that “stupid” low pressure system!!!!

Arne shared this picture with the message;” There must be a glider competition nearby.” So true!!!

Loved this picture shared at the Dutch FB site!!!!!!!

———

The very first 13.5 m. WGC 
in Pociunai.

Will start TODAY with practice, with 16 pilots from all parts of the world. They fly from August 1 till 15.
Morgan Sandercock from Australia , heavily involved in the Perlan Project , will fly the Sparrow Hawk.
Tony [Condon] and Francois [Pin] both from the USA will fly the Silent 2.
The Italian pilots Alberto Sironi ,Stefano Ghiorzo and Ricky [Brigliadori] , yes he had to rush from Ocseny to Pociunai, fly the Silent 2 as well.
Sebastian [Kawa] also rushing from the one to the other competition, flies a brand new type which should have it’s check flight today; GP 14 SE velo, a Peszke glider. Russian pilot Vitaly Borovik flies this new type as well.
The French pilots Frederic Hoyeau and Antoine Havet fly a Silent 2 .

Today they have a practice day; a 2.30 AAT.

———-

The EGC in Rieti

No secret ,…I love Rieti. Have been there many times and seen great comps. It’s not the easiest field to fly from as it is surrounded by huge mountains, but those who have flown there, always go back.
Who is flying between August 3 and 14 ?
In club class 20 pilots among them Roman who has to rush from Ocseny to Rieti and also Patrick Stouffs whose father flew there as well during my early years in gliding.
Ge Dale, an ace in mountains and the French pilots Gilles Navas and Denis Geurin are well known too as well as young Italian pilot Davide Schiavotto, who knows the place well.
In 15 m. 24 pilots , among them John Coutts and Dane Dickinson from NZ who flew there during the JWGC in 2007 . They will fly HC.
From Holland “our”  Sjaak Selen and Jelmer Wassenaar, who flew there a few times as well also the JWGC if I remember well.
Former world champions Leigh Wells from the UK and Giorgio Galetto from Italy who does n’t live there but spends with Marina and Chiara a lot of time in summer in Rieti. AND,..a few good Finnish, Swiss,  Czech and French pilots
We are going to see it all , so stay tuned.

No troubles over there with the weather. The UK team mentions;” another beautiful day at this soaring paradise called Rieti.
Today is the first official practice day so there will be a full weather and task briefing at 10.30 and a proper grid with, we are promised 8 tugs.
It’s lovely and cool at the moment but that will not last much longer.”

The weather yesterday looked good as well and who was ready with the scrutineering  and paperwork choose to fly:

Dutch pilot Sjaak Selen, ready to go.
As shared by the UK team.

Official practice….TODAY; 290 in club class, 378 in St class and 398 in open class.

———-

The 43 Rally of vintage gliders will be from July 27 till August 6 in Holland flown from Terlet.
This great poster was shared by the THERMIELBEL, the restaurant at Terlet. Unfortunately the weather is just lousy, but there is hope for the next couple of days.

and a picture from the strip sitting at the Thermiekbel.

———-

In Rennes the French Club class Nationals with 22 participants finished with 4 out of 8 days. The last day, last Saturday was won by Spanish pilot Jorge Arias Riera , in the St Cirrus with the appropriate  name OLE!! Of course he flew HC as Spanish pilot, but he did well, very well.During the 4 hour AAT that day he flew 411 km. in time 4.09 and won the day.
Less than 2000 points in total for the winner Christian Mallick, in the St. Libelle with winglets [1964] , which says enough about the weather.
Jean Denis Barrois [Pegase] and Jorge both had 1885 points and Mickael Charuel [LS4] 1840 points.
Here the International AND National podium.By the way, Belgium pilot Pieter Lievens was 6th.[1727]

  

———–

THE ARBOGA OPEN 2015 in SWEDEN.

They suffer from that low pressure system as well and had till now NO flying days. 47 Pilots are waiting to fly in 2 classes,club and 18 m.
They have set tasks on day 1 and day 3 but in club class the best pilot flew 34 from the set 153 km. and on day 3 , a 165 km. task was set but it turned out a non flying day. A pity.
In 18 m. on day 1 a 181 km. task was set but here the best pilot flew Ulf [Ringertz] flew 47 km.
202 was set yesterday but they did not start, the day had to be cancelled.

Today looks better here, maybe there and in Arnborg in Denmark too.

———-

On July 23 it was THE DAY in Fuentemilanos. My goodness me, too many 1000 km. flights to count.
Kilometer-eater Guy [Bechthold ] had the longest flight, that is in kilometers; 1.210 [985 FAI triangle]
A total of 18 x a 1000 means being on the right time at the right spot with many.
All types of gliders, lot’s of different nationalities and GREAT FUN!!!!!
Just fabulous weather!!!
Ken from Belgium shared some pictures from Fuente here you are , one from the field and when you are tired from flying 1000’s,  from the beautiful town of Segovia. All beautiful.

Fuente from above as seen by Ken.

Palacio Real de La Granja de San Ildefonso

Acueducto de Segovia, a beautiful town I was there a few years ago and visited Pepe and the Wiesenthals.

Also Ely added last week a few 1000 km’s to their list.

———-

Some SOARING-news .

—- Vladimir Foltin (Slovakia) has replaced Peter Eriksen (Denmark) as IGC Secretary.
—- The World Air Games (WAG) will be held in Dubai in December 2015. Not an ideal site for gliding (50 degrees and no thermals) so gliding will be represented by a pylon type race.
—- GP Final at Varese from 5^th to the 12^th September . Entry to the Grand Prix Final is a hard earned process, through placing at one of the qualifiers.We followed them all and are going to see who will be the CHAMPION this time. See www.sgp.aero/final2015

———–

And to finish a picture from Sebastian {Kawa} .
ONE thermal with lift, before the start in Ocseny,  used by nearly ALL pilots during the EGC.
Cheers Ritz CU next week

Saturday July 25. Autumn here today!!!19 dgr. C ,torrential rain,storm up to 9 at the coast, gusting to 110 km./h.Not often we have a summer storm here in Holland.Just arrived back from Amsterdam where they had code red as all coastal provinces , the rest of Holland code orange and yellow[more to the east] .Never seen so many fallen trees and so much “red”  from fire brigades.The first summer- storm in 100 years!!!
Busy day for rescue teams in Holland, but here I am.
Just heard that no trains travel between Amsterdam and Utrecht anymore , so I was lucky.

It’s all over again, this 18th FAI EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP at the airfield of Ocseny in Hungary and it was a great competition to follow from home, even when I could do so only for one week.They had great weather and 9 out of 12 days which is terrific. One day was an official  rest-day one day a non flying day and they had a invalid day.
It looks from far , that Hungary was a great host.
As the UK TC mentioned:” A quick reflection on the past three weeks in Hungary. The club at Ocseny has just 30 members, but they have gone “above and beyond ” to welcome us and help us.”
I missed a bit an organizers blog with news, as I could only find “sec” important facts , as runways and delays of first launch, both on FB and the site.But,…luckily a lot of countries shared their news in blogs which is good.
We want our sport to be well known and LIKED by MORE.

Ready to go home after the last flight, the party and the prize giving ceremony.
As shared by the organizers and below by team UK.

How was the situation before they started for their last day of soaring in Ocseny.
In 18 m. Sebastian will not give easily away his lead of 207 points, or he must out-land. So I guess it’s between the numbers 2 and 5 , Andy, Yves, Thomas and Roman, to see who will follow him on the podium.
In 20 m. is the difference in points  the most exciting as at least 6 teams have a possibility to win and  5  of them to be European Champion, so tactics and help from others team members is welcome.
Between Wolfgang [TWO] and Mac [32, who flies as you know by now HC] is a difference of 7 points . Then the Polish team [EL]  is 37 points behind Wolfgang on spot 2 and the German team [WA] on 3 with 116 points to win from TWO. THEN,…the Polish team with Janusz [CS] is ONE point behind WA and the German team with Chrissie and Uli [V8] is 7 points behind CS.
In open ; Would the 2 Polish pilots Lucasz and Adam fight each other for spot 1? And between “our” Jeroen and my friend Ricky is only a difference of 65 points. May the best win.
Here some impressions from my Finnish friend Katja!

What happened on the last day???

Friday July 24 2015 last day of the comps with 2.30 AAT’s in each class. The first start was postponed to 1PM. Then the B task was handed out for 2 classes, so more delay, BUT,…they all went up at 2 PM for 2.30 [18 m.] 2. 15 [20 m.] and for open 2 hour AAT’s. It was another scorcher-day!!!!With other words,…BLOODY HOT!!!!
No cu’s either.
On such a last day , nobody shares news DURING the day, I would n’t do either. So I understand.

18 m.class ;
Roman is a kilo-meter-eater and today he showed that by flying the most kilometers in the best time and winning the day;826 points for him for a speed of 115.79 km./h. [2.33.57] His young Czech mate Radek started 22 minutes later and finished 12 minutes later and with that he was runner up on the last day; 755 points!!
So Radek was not in the top 5 Roman was. He “jumped” to spot 2 overall, coming from 5. [ 7642]Good on him!!!
Sebastian lost more than 150 points but no worries he was far ahead and so the NEW EUROPEAN CHAMPION. AGAIN CONGRATULATIONS for him and his dad.[7885]
Andy who was on 2 dropped by being 13 on this last day, to 3 [7606] , Thomas to 4 , Yves to 5 and Radek stayed on 6.

As shared by the UK team

20 m. class ;
Team Mac finished on a daily spot 10 and team Wolfgang on a 12th spot.Mac and Akemi got 665 points, Wolfgang and Andreas 659….!!!!6 points!!!!!! The difference was SEVEN!!!!
So Mac/Akemi  lost with ONE point. As said you don’t even wish that for your worst enemy, loosing by ONE point. But it happens/happened.
Hope Mac will not think for the next couple of years : ” Where did I loose that point?” I will ask him.
So; easy Wolfgang and Andreas are the new EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS. The so ” maniest”  title for Wolfgang and for them both nowadays as well.
Task 2 and 8 AND 9 were won by team Erazem and that brought them to a 15th spot overall, after a bad start on day 1 where they were last [23] with 94 points.
So Mac was runner up in HC mode.
The “real” European runner up was team Poland with Jakub and Christoph [7644] and the number 3-spot on the podium was for the German team Marco and Sebastian [7570] . Their mates Uli/Chrissie, just missed out on that spot and finished on 4. [7561]
A pity; I miss Akemi and Mac on pictures.

As shared by the Finnish team.

open class ;
Bostjan flew 278.11 km. in 2 hours  on the dot, so a nice speed of 138,51 km,.h. Good enough to receive the last bottle of wine for a daily win.
No ” brother-fight ” between the 2 Polish mates, they nicely share the title EUROPEAN CHAMPION and RUNNER UP!!!Well done.[7886 and 7767]
Proud as well on our Dutch pilot Jeroen who was on a 3d spot overall EVERY DAY [except for day 2 when he was second] and KEPT that spot till the end.[7619]
Ricky remained on spot 4  and Tassilo had 2 great last days and he managed to climb up from 8,after task 7.

And to finish this fabulous picture I found on FB by TOP photograher Jacek Lewinski
Not from this EGC but a beauty!!!

Cheers Ritz cu on Wednesday.

 

First launch at 12.
As shared by the organizers.

Thursday  July 23;with 37 dgr.C in the shade another difficult day for the crew and family on the ground and a good reason to climb as high as possible for the pilots.
3 Hour AAT’s were set for this day in all classes.Showers might spoil the day in the end so do you start early or late and take a risk, because the weather might be “slow”??? The poker-game  can start!!!
It seemed that around 4 PM the over-development started but all pilots , except for one,came home, so they were correct.
“ The start line opened for all of the categories. The weather is sunny, but the evening will be rainy. This is a short task (3 hours), the gliders should arrive before the rain.” as written by the organizers.

As shared by the UK team.

18 m. class ;
414 km. in 3 hours was THE result and the one who flew this was Sebastian in his ASG 29. Nice speed as well;138 km./h. Not bad!!!!He started rather late at 14.22.
So,… kilometers combined with 3 hours at the dot, that’s the trick. Some had many more kilometers but used more time as p.e.Thomas [Gostner from Italy] who flew 429 km. but needed an extra 15 minutes and was with that on spot 6.
Sebastian increased his lead [7220] and with one day to go he has to keep Andy on distance [7013 so about 200 points ] and Belgian pilot Yves Jeanmotte who is doing a great job!!!!![6920]
He and Tijl [Schmelzer] belonged to the early starters at 13.45.
BUT,….he is only 3 points ahead of the Polish mate from Sebastian, Thomas Krok.
Another 100 points behind for Roman on spot 5.
Sebastian does n’t know ” final-day-jitters”  , he will just fly and maybe take Thomas with him.
But,…Russell [ who is on 10 overall now ] will help Andy so it is not over yet.
Exciting!!!!!
As you can see on the pictures shared by Sebastian, the clouds were great in the beginning later they had to deal with showers.

   

20 m. class ;
East-European countries had THEIR day. Erazem get’s the hang of this European soaring and won the day. So Slovakia, then the Polish, the Hungarians, the Czechs, another Polish team and an Austrian one.
With one day to go, Wolfgand and Andreas are on top overall , just ahead of Mac and Akemi ;70012 and 7005!!!!
At spot 3 Jakub and Christoph from Poland.One ARCUS on top 2 ASG 32 ‘s [MI and EI] following!!! It proves  to be a great glider as well that ASG 32.
All pilots started between 14.11 and 14.31.

Wolfgang and Andreas. On this picture winners at Hahnweide 2015.
Will the be European Champions as well ???????

And ready to go .
As shared the Austrian team.

The winner today Erazem ,without Sebastian but with Danish pilot Arne to the r. As shared by the French team.

open class ;
” REVENGE ” !!!!!!! Nothing to loose, Jan [Andersen] won the day.  After his misfortune yesterday he showed spirit and his ability to fly in the top,  by winning!!! Good on him. The MOST kilometers [426,95] and AT the dot,[2.59,25]  means a speed of 142.32 km./h.,  so 1000 points!!!!!
A good day for the flat land pilots as Francois and Jeroen from Holland [3 and 6] did well so did Belgian pilot Daan Spruyt.[on spot 10 in his Nimbus 4 DM at on spot 11 overall]
A bit of an off day for Pete and Ricky [Brigliadori, started last at 14 .36, 25 minutes behind Jan] ] being on spot 11 and 15, which had not too bad consequences for the overall scores. Markus had a bad day by entering forbidden airspace and dropped from 18 to 23.
The Polish pilots are still on top 1 and 2 followed by Jeroen!!!!

To finish some impressions from the ALWAYS great International Evening, as shared by the Dutch team.In the end it was inside due to thunderstorms.

Frans and Dillen, top [Dutch] crews!!!!

The last day: They announced early in the morning, that the grid in use will be 17.
That they try to start launching at 12 .30 and the grid closes at 12.
That the briefing for pilots is at 10 AM.
What will this last day bring us all especially the competing pilots and for sure the ones in the top????
Tasks today on the 9th [out of 12  GOOD!!!!] flying day; 2.30 AAT’s in all classes

———-

By the way, great see that Karin and Marcus flew a 1000 yesterday in their ARCUS from Villacastin in Spain.[127 km./h.]

———-

And to finish 2 nice pictures I found at FB, shared by the UK team.

The Polish team with many times [9?] world champion, Sebastian and his dad and mates [ the tall gentleman is a fabulous TC] and Janusz above Sebastian, who flies WGC’s already since ages was WGC champion in 1989 in Wiener Neustadt and in 1991 in Uvalde Texas in 1993 in Borlange and in Eskilstuna in 2006
and
2 former World champions in a ” tete-a-tete”,Andy [UK in 2003 in Leszno and 1993 in Borlange] and Killian [France JWGC champion in Rieti]

———-

Cheers Ritz CU on Saturday when it is all over again, but ,…Rieti is starting soon for the smaller ships. AND,..of course the WWGC with as I noticed on the site, 10 German women!! A few very “strong”  ones. Including Chrissie, former world champion in club class , now still flying with her husband Uli in Ocseny in the 20 m. class and doing well there and Sue [Kussbach]  a 3 times world champion in st .class.

Wednesday July 22 2015;
31.6 degrees gives 500 metres
34.3 gives 2000 metres
37.5 gives 2980 metres.
Max task altitude is 2743 amsl

—” The start line opened for each class (18m= 12:52; 20m=13:20; Open=13:55). Because of technical problems the launching was longer (1h50m). The weather is perfect. This is the longest task, more than 500 km. The competitors may arrive around 18:00.—” was the message from the organizers.
One of the tuggies got sick.
The weather was GOOD , as a Glasfluegel 304 flew a 606 km. flight from Ocseny. Many pilots put their flight on the OLC.

18m. class ;
558.51 km. racing task.
The last to return to the field, some arrived after 7 PM . A bad day for my mates Russell, Arne andMartti, they JUST out landed.
Russell was 17 km. out, Arne 60 km. and Martti flew 473.69 km.
Winner of this day; Sebastian with a speed of 126.60 km./h.His Polish mate Tomasz Krok started with him but finished a few minutes later ,for him not 1000 but 985 points.
Andy finished on 10, Roman on 18.
So changes in the overall scores;Sebastian is now on top!!!
Followed by Andy , coming from 1 and Tomasz climbing from 6.
The first 6 are still pretty close, EVERYTHING can happen here.
6220 for Sebastian on spot 1  and 5944 for Roan on spot 6.

20 m. class ;
503.99 racing task.
The German pilots are SO good in their team/pair flying. They start at the same time, finish in the same time and get the same amount of points; today….1000 for each of the German teams ; Uli and Chrissie [V 8] and team Marco and Sebastian [WA] . Wolfgang and Andreas did well on spot 3 and my Dutch mates Harry and Steven as well [spot 8]
Best speed in this class today ;131.71 km./h.
Mac and Akemi were the last pair to start .They were on spot 12 loosing just over 100 points.
The Polish pilots lost over 116 points finishing both on spot 13.
Most pilots started around 1.30 PM.
Between the first 8 in the overall scores are interesting. Mac and Akemi lost some points over the last 2 days and are only 51 points ahead on Wolfgang/Andreas.[6.149 for 6.098] On spot 8 Peter Hartmann and Michael Rass have 5.823 points.

Chrissie and Uli and Marco and Sebastian.
As shared by the team.

open class ;
509.15 km.racing task.
A mix of European pilots in the top today with as best speed 132.78 km./h by Pete [Harvey UK] .So 1000 points for him. 999 Were for the runner up Ricardo [Brigliadori from Italy] Both flew a JS1.
Tassilo did well again , he finished in the EB 29 on a nice 3d spot.
A “bad”  day for Jan Andersen who lost quite some points by entering a restricted area. He had a virtual out-landing after 330 km..He dropped from 10 to 16.
Lukas and Adam from Poland are still in the top, Ricardo is closing in on 4 with 10 points less than Jeroen who is still on spot 3.I presume these pilots are the ones who will fight for the honors.The difference between the 4 is;6.482 and 6.189.
Most pilots started around 2 PM.

 Pete with the daily -prize.
As shared by the team.

Today on July 23 is the one but last day.
3 Hour AAT’s have been set.More on Saturday with the final official scores from Friday.
All scores in this blog are unofficial.

———-

And to finish today some stunning pictures I found on FB from Gilles [Navas] WOW!!!!
CU tomorrow I hope, depends on a few”things”.
Cheers Ritz

Back from a lovely week with my grand-kids. We had reasonable weather but I could see that at least on 2 days , glider-pilots must have had great fun. [I noticed up to 700 km!!!] Fabulous skies over our house in the East of Holland. I showed my grand-kids how good the skies were for gliding and whilst looking up a glider past by at great height. What about that!?

  

Climbing and under water scooters, all great fun!!

Got the promised picture from Max , who attended with about 300 people the memorial of Rick.THANKS Max.

As shared by Max , a friend of the Walters family.

———–

Ocseny
the 18th
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP.

Of course you followed the first week, so I will start with this week and the overall scores from day 9 when they start with the 7th task in each class.
In 18 m. Andy, Roman and Sebastian , 3 top pilots on the 3 top-spots and a total 9 pilots in the 4000 points-range.
In 20 m. my longtime good friends from Japan Mac and Akemi, both flying with us years and years ago and already practicing THEN competition- flying during the by Mac with us organized RECARO CUP, are on top!!!!!
Yes HC as they are not European, but a top -job.They fly the ASG 32 MI,followed by Jakub and Christoph in the same glider and Wolfgang and Andreas in an ARCUS M.a total of 5 pilots in the 4000 points range at this stage.
In open class 2 Polish pilots top the ranking, Lucasz and Adam and on spot 3 a great and pleasant surprise Jeroen from Holland.  9 Pilots were at this stage in the 4000 point-range.

Jeroen in black and white.|
Courtesy Martin Smit.

July 21 2015, a hot day with 31 dgr. at 8AM. BUT,…it seems finally a normal day with normal visibility. A heat-wave is not always pleasant during comps, often it is too stable. Finally a day with an early start at 12.
Trigger temp lower than the day before;at 31 degrees gives 1500 m. Max temp of 35 gives 2500 meters.

First launch at 12.
As shared by the organizers.

18 m. class ;
441.18 km. to fly. It turned out a nice FAST day [136 km./h.] with 2 German pilots winning the day ;Sebastian [Huhmann] 1000 points and Claus Triebel 999.
Andy was on spot 3. ” Fantastic day out. This is what we came for including one 8 knot climb over the scrubby forest to the East.”
Sebastian [Kawa ] was 4th. “Lowest”  score in this class 694, so a good day!

Sebastian with his daily prize.
As shared by the German team.

20 m. class;
401.83 km. to fly.
1000 points for the Czech team, Petr and Ludek and for my Finnish friends Harry and Visa-Matti.Good on them!!!! Speed 117 km./h. On spot 3, Erazem [ yes from NAVITER /Soaringspot] with his mate Sebastian [Ramsak] from Slovenia.With a 7th day-spot Mac and Akemi keep their position overall.

OPEN class ;
435.81 km. to fly.
WOW, what speed for Tassilo during a competition;145.22 km./h. A great day for the German team.But also for the French with Sylvain and Killian on spot 2 and 3 and the UK team Pete and Iain on 4 and 5 and ” our ”  Jeroen , who won day 2, and who had a “just-in-day”  the day before yesterday, on spot 6 !!!

July 22 2015,   today, with impressive tasks again; 558.51  for 18 m.,504 for the 2-seaters and 509 for the open class.Looking at the web cams it is still VERY blue over there.
First start is supposed to be a 11.30.

2 More exciting days to come, looking forward to them. When possible I “see” you every day with the latest on this 18th EGC.

Some EGC impressions shared by the Dutch Team, who are , by the way ,doing pretty well. Jeroen on spot 3 in open and Francois on 11, Harry and Steven on spot 12 in the 2-seater-class.

  

In the middle;Francois and Pete pondering about……….and father Harry and son Steven ready to go.

———–

RENNES in FRANCE 
Club Class Nationals

Not the very best weather in France for soaring . Day 1 had a task of 150 km and the daily winner , who was one of the 4 finishers ,got 79 points.
Then,…3 scrubbed days.
Today they fly again;254 km is the task for the 20 pilots [one Belgian junior-pilot among them]
They continue till the 25th.Let’s hope for great weather.

———-

What happened when I was gone in our world looking at the OLC.On the 20thiest Spain was  the place to be for long-distance-flights.
From Fuentemilanos Guy Bechtold flew,  1.3 01 km. [1000 FAI triangle!!] One of my Belgian friends Ken flew a 1000 as well;” Started with an assigned 750 but changed to a free 1000. Difficult to circumnavigate the thunderstorms during the last 300km. Fun flight with Kris Van Dam. First 1000K for him .”
From another field Cuenca Sotos,another friend  , this time German , Hans flew his so maniest 1000.
But also Luesse had a 1000 that day and several other great flights.
Yesterday Guy a well known kilometer -eater, who loves CC- flying flew another 1.303 km.in his Quintus. A DG 400 /17 m.-pilot from Germany flew a 1000 as well.

  

Ken and Chris over the Fuente area and with the vultures over the vulture-valley.
Courtesy Ken.

———–

The WWGC in ARNBORG in Denmark is about to begin.[August 1-15]  Not the best weather at this stage.I will keep you informed.
And to finish ………news from the 13.5 m. WORLDS, about to begin as well .

Yesterday Sebastian wrote :
—” This is incredible. One week ago Peszke sent us pictures from production of the GP 14 . It was still early phase. Wings were formed, but fuselage was still constructed. I had some thoughts, that the glider may not be ready for the beginning of WGC in Lithuania. But in the factory They have been working heavily, and today it seems, we will have not one, but TWO GP 14 Velo for this competition !!! Even more, they will have two different fuselages: slim and wide. Amazing.
Good job Peszke Team!” —

  

As shared by Sebastian on FB.

AND

The 13.5m Worlds are about to start in Pociunai, on the 1st of August.
The American SparrowHawk R is the first to arrive at the airfield, with
its Australian pilot.

The 13.5m LAK is being prepared for a Lithuanian pilot. The first test
flight is expected to occur on Friday this week. See photo of the new
wings in the paint booth. The winglets are fixed on this prototype but
they are expected to be removable for the production version.

Rumour has it that the first GP14 Velo from Poland will have its first
test flight on the 29th of July, only a few days before the start of
competition. This is expected to be Sebastian Kawa’s glider.

  – Morgan Sandercock

As you know Morgan is heavily involved in the PERLAN PROJECT and is an Aussie glider pilot.