Some extra news AND pictures, before I spend some time with my grand children.

July 11 2015

As said in my last blog Art got married last Saturday;

Happy chappies; CONGRATULATIONS Arthur [it is now]  and Judy.
As shared by them with the remark;”Is n’t life wonderful“.

a very happy and relaxed  Judy and her flower girls.

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Last Saturday the MEMORIAL for Rick was in Minden in Nevada. Max, who I met in 2012 in Uvalde went to the memorial and will send me pictures to share. Unfortunately , also because of the time difference, I can only show them next week. Sorry about that, but  most important is the SCHOLARSHIP.

Rick our soaring mate, Rick who fell with his bike, Rick who died from a head trauma.
His mates , some driving for over 500 miles,celebrated and remembered with his family, Rick’s life, his soaring and each other .
IMPORTANT is the RICHARD FREDERICK WALTERS SCHOLARSHIP for Junior Glider Pilots. Established for all US junior pilots.
This way Rick will remain part of the soaring fraternity for ever.
Donations can be made, checks sent to;
Minden Soaring Club denote Rick Walters Scholarship
Minden Soaring Club
PO Box 361
Minden Nevada 89423.

THE FRENCH NATIONALS.

Yesterday the French Nationals in Mont Lucon-Gueret, finished. When I left you ,last Wednesday, the pilots were busy with a 2 hour AAT. A new name in the top that day; Guillaume Girard in the Ventus 2 flying 182.3 km. in 2 hours AT the dot.
Dutch HC pilot Steven Raimond flew 205 km. but needed 22 minutes more;he was 4th.for the day.

On Thursday , finally the good FRENCH weather and a BIG task was set; 505 km.
It turned out an extremely good day with ALL pilots finishing and as winner Frederic Hoyeau gaining the 1000 points for a speed of 111.67 km./h.
A great day for Guillaume Girard , as runner up climbing from 6 to 2 overall.[3527]
On spot 1 , after 5 days, still Christophe Cousseau [3564] and number 3 , dropping from 2, Louis Bouderlique[3501] . Then a gap from 120 points.

Friday;2.30 AAT. AND…it turned out an ” expensive day”  for a lot!Late starts , around 3.30, but also finishers;5 in total with Benjamin, TC for France at many occasions and a great pilot as well, winning the day;187 km. with the “pure ” speed of 59.65 km./h. Some penalties for low finishes, so it seems they just made it.
A change in the overall scores now after 6 days; Guillaume finished and is on top now. Christophe was out but only lost about 60 points , so he is on spot 2 now.Louis remained on 3.
Benjamin climbed with his ARCUS from 17 to 11.

10 Gliders in the same BEAUTIFUL paddock,
as shared by Philippe de Pechy.

Saturday, AND last day; So an interesting last day was what we all hoped for.
256.75 km. was set for them.
The last day was won by Guillaume, his first daily win and after starting on spot 8 on day 1 he slowly moved to the top winning the last day AND winning the comps in his Ventus 2 with 114.14 km./h..Good on him.[4831 points after 7 days]
They showed that they belong to the top of French soaring; Louis , Christophe [Ruch] and Christophe [Cousseau] by being in the top 5.
Runner up was Christophe Cousseau in the Discus 2 with 4788 points and with only 3 points less [4784] Louis [ASG 29] was on spot 3.

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18th FAI-EGC in Ocseny Hungary.

Practice days have started on July 8 , but not everybody flew.
A 2 hour AAT was set that day and the UK and France showed already that they have high plans to get far. THEY practiced.
On Friday more pilots , nearly all of them, tried the Hungarian skies  this time , a  3 hour AAT was set.
In 18 m. 20 pilots went flying and as said the UK pilots have high goals; Russell won the day , Andy was 2d followed by Sebastian ,from Poland of course. 428 km. with a speed of 137 km./h.
In 20 m. also 20 pilots went “up” and the Finnish couple , Hannu and Ilpo, had the best practice in the ARCUS T nearly flying 400 km. with 130 .57 km./h.
Open class had ” practicers”  as well; 422 km. in 3 hours in a JS 1 C, by Lucasz Woicik followed by Iain Evans , same glider , about the same distance and about the same time , only 7 points less for the day.
Pete Harvey [ also in a JS 1] flew 433 km. but needed a few minutes [6]  more.
A GOOD day!!!

GOOD practice day, Ready to go.
As shared by the organizers.

Yesterday’s Officiel task and LAST training day;

Tasks in the opposite direction as the day before, so they are more familiar with the ground under them.
Sebastian showed his supremacy in 18 m., by winning the day with 361,67 km with a speed of 113 km./h. Russell showed he wants to win this EGC and flew a few more kilometers but a tad slower.
In open class, the practice was good for Killian [France]  Ricardo[Italy]  and Jim [Sweden] each winning a day.
In 20 m. the last day was NOT for the ARCUS but for the DUODISCUS, both at the top .
BUT now it starts for real,…….
By the way a lot of pilots fly with “fancy DELUXE by GAGULA”  -interiors in their gliders ,as Erazem Polutnik , Russell Cheetham and Toni Sibanc. www.deluxbygagula.com
” Personalized luxury interiors for gliders made from finest materials.”

The openings ceremony and festivities for today look very good.

Look at this RED BULL DEMO, as shared by the UK team;the WOW factor.

During my absence , you can look for all the news, also about all what happened today at ;
www.egc2015.hu or the site of your team.Enjoy.

Picture from the Dutch team as shared by them, with crew Frans and pilots Jeroen,Francois and Harry, who is TC and father of and co pilot with Steven.

AND
from the UK team shared by them. With Andy, Pete ,Iain and Russell.

————

On July 11, some great flights in Europe. Mathias Schunk, loves as we know, his cross country gliding and added a new German Out and Return record to his list; From Koenigsdorf ,in the Quintus, he flew 1.025,78 km. with a speed of 100 km./h. So nice weather in the Alps with an interesting flight from Switzerland [Yverdon Les Bains] as well by Daniel Rossier in the 21 m. ASH 31;912 km [850 FAI triangle], starting with thermals over relative low ground and flying up at one stage to 5453 m. MSL.[3559 AGL] He flew over Switzerland, France and Italy.
One day later he “visited” Klippeneck and Hahnweide and the border of the mountains.;1.oo1.05 km.!!!!!
Mathias flew from Koenigsdorf again and just missed out due to different optimizing;999.2 km.For me he flew a 1000!!!!
Both are MILVUS fans!!

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And then some new world records!!!
The FAI has ratified the records flown by Morgan Sandercock in his Ultralight glider, the Sparrowhawk on July 3 2015 in ELY. He flew a triangle distance of 738.6 km .[ was 507.28 by James Payne flown on June 28 in 2009] and a free triangle distance of 772.4 km.[previous record was by James ; 530.13 km. ]
They were North American records as well.
Morgan lives in Australia but is heavily involved in the Perlan Project as you know.

AND,…..from Ross important news for observers, instructors, coaches TC’s  etc:
Friends,

The IGC Sporting Code Committee is pleased to announce that the 2015 edition of the Sporting Code for Gliding, Section 3 (SC3) has been published on the FAI website.( http://is.gd/udvSKE )  This edition comes into force on October 1^st 2015. It has many changes from the current version and is the result of 3 years work by the committee to simplify the Code and set it out in a more accessible fashion.  This has led to some duplication of material with requirements for badges (Chapter 2) being separated from record requirements (Chapter 3).  I wish to record my thanks to the members of the committee, especially Tony Burton (Canada) who acted as editor, and who led the discussions.  His contribution cannot be too highly stated.  There was considerable input from outside the Committee, which was very much appreciated.

Ross Macintyre, Chairman, IGC Sporting Code Committee.

———–

And to finish , before my holiday starts , this great picture from Arne Martin, flying the VOSS GRAND PRIX[Bomoen Airport in Norway]
and circling over the 2d TP !!!!!WOW !!!!!
Cu on the 22d .
Ritz

July 2015 started with a BANG.The first night of July was the hottest ever in Holland since they started measuring.
Europe was under a huge HIGH and everybody was “HOT”,France , Germany and Spain “suffer”  from over 40 dgr. C.
July 1 was also the hottest July 1 in history here in Holland.July 2 the hottest day ever in July.
Saturday the Tour De France started in Utrecht with 37 dgr. C. but the weather record from 1944, 38.6 was NOT smashed.We had however the 40thiest official HEATWAVE …AND in ARCEN in Limburg they nearly got the record; 38.4 dgr. C..
16 million liters of water were necessary on DAY 1 for the more than 350 .000 enthusiastic people, to keep their thirsty throat  ” wet”  at this exciting start of the Tour and on Sunday when they departed from Utrecht on their LOOONG way to France, the same amount.A total of one million ” cycle-lovers” visited Utrecht.
Winner on day 1 and in the yellow on day 2; Aussie Rohan Dennis from Adelaide.
Lot’s of weather records in parts of Europe have been broken.As said over 40 in Germany with SEVERE thunderstorms in the Berlin area.
On Sunday SEVERE thunderstorms were predicted here as well and lot’s of wind. NOT good for the cyclists who had to go in the end of their Dutch trip over a bridge with sea-water AND wind to the right and left. Luckily the severe weather at the finish line, was 1 hour ahead of the cyclists so when they thought ,” this will be the first finish without spectators” the sun was shining again and they could finish WITH spectators, but after having been dealing with tough wind , hail and rain.
Difficult day at what to look as well; Tour de France, from Utrecht in Holland to Zeeland  “NEELTJE JANS ” an artificial island. Formula 1 at Silverstone, World championship soccer for ladies [in the evening in Vancouver Canada] between Japan and the USA and the World championship Beach Volley in Holland in the Hague; Holland against Brazil.” We ”  lost ,…missing 5 match points.
Not to forget ,…keeping an eye on Greece where nearly 10 million people during an historic ballot had to say “nai” or “oxi”.well, THEY voted for NO , what happens now…… ????????
Still unknown.

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This upcoming Saturday , JULY 11, my good friend and I should say OUR GOOD FRIEND , Art [Grant] is going to marry his Judy.When I checked how is jitters were he seemed all in control;
” We are almost ready – church is booked, a big tent is going up in the yard, and the caterer has our order.  We have to pick up our rings in Winnipeg on Thursday.  Guests will begin arriving on Thursday, too.
This is so much fun.”
In short; He met Judy when he was young, AND,….again after they both had lived their lives and found there was still some “spark”  between them. They stayed for a few months in the neighborhood of Uvalde escaping the Canadian cold and finding out how special their connection was.
They moved in together after that and,….the result,…a wedding on July 11.
I wish them the VERY BEST for the MOST HAPPY LIFE together.I know I speak for all of you.
As soon as I have them I will share pictures, but I won’t be writing between July 13 and 22 due to my 2d holiday this summer.

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The OLC- July- 1 started with just over 800 km. flown in Hungary with a Nimbus 4 T.
Laszlo Hegedus was the pilot and he was just the number 3 from the Hungarian Nationals [flown between June 12 and 22] in the National Mixed[with 18 m]  open class.Over 8 days he won one and was runner up twice.
Next week he participates in the 18th EGC 2015 flown from OCSENY in Hungary.His home country.That should open perspective for him.
3 Classes in Hungary with a total of 85 pilots from 21 countries . Poland participates with 7 pilots,  Czech Rep , Germany and Hungary with 6.
18 m. Class has 33 entrees, open 26 and there are 27 x 2 pilots in the 2-seater class.
Interesting in this class , a father son combination from Holland, a husband and wife combi from Germany and from Japan, but they fly HC.
I more and more like this 20 m. class.17 ARCUS types , 7 DUO DISCUS types and 3 ASG 32 types.
They all start on July 12 continuing till July 25.
The first week is in my holiday time with the grand kids but most of the 2d week I can check for you.
The site where you can find it all is ; www.egc2015.hu

This week is practice and the UK team has arrived early to do some practice. Gliders from Andy and Russell are on the grid. yesterday some flights were added to the OLC and they went from one tug to 3, so all was smoother and quicker.

As shared by the BGT. And Baldrick, who cleaned the JS 1 N1, for Pete ,who flies it in open class.

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From Mont Lucon-Gueret, the French Nationals in st./15m and 20 m. are flown in ONE class with 41 participants and HC by Dutch pilot and former European Champion Steven Raimond.
They started on the 5th with a 2.30 AAT won by Louis Bouderlique [ 939]in the ASG 29.Runner up was Christophe Ruche [ 936]and Philippe de Pechy was 3d.[934]
On Monday they had a 3 hour AAT. And it was tough to fly a lot of kilometers in that time. Best pilot was Adrian Henry from Bailleau [member of a well known gliding family in France] in an LS 8;239.32 km in time 3.04,50.[923 points].
Runner up was Frederic Hoyeau in the Discus 2a.[ 910 points]
15 Pilots did not finish.

245.60 km. Was the distance set for yesterday.Christophe Ruche flew the best distance and that was not 245.60 but 187,64 km.
All pilots out-landed.
After 3 days 2 pilots are on spot 1, Christophe and Louis both with 2.182 points.

For today a 2 hour AAT is set.

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I own you the last 2 days of the US Nationals . In Open class Heinz [Weissenbuehler ] won the last but one day in his ASW 22 BL. A day with mainly blue thermals.
DB and Ron were 2 and 3.
In 18 m.day 7 was for Ray Gimmey again. Good on him! Jerzy was 2d . Ken Sorenson , the Uvalde 2012 CD was on spot 2 overall with 2 points on the number 3.
In Club class day 8 was a prey for Garret [Willat] in the ASW 19 and the last day was be between him and Sean [Franke] in the LS 1f.

Enough excitement on the last day , but not so much about the flying. A 3.5 AAT was set, later reduced to 2.5 and then with possibility of thunderstorms open and 18 m. were cancelled. Club had to try ………….
And they did and  squeezed out another day in this class. TAT [turn area task] was set ,with around 117 miles.The gate opened at 15.35!!
Only 1 pilot did not finish. Quite some changes in the top as there was a difference in the unofficial scores from day 8 from 3 points  between 3 and 4 Mike Westbroek [7305] and Boyd Willat and Robin Clarc , both 7302 points.
Day 9 was good for Garret with a runner-up-daily-spot. NOT so good for Mike with a 13th spot and pretty good for Boyd with a 5th place.The winners below.By the way,… Mike dropped to 6 and Robin to 4.

So the winners are;

Dick [DB] to the r. Ron in the middle and Heinz to the l.

———–

The SOLAR IMPULSE 2 landed after 4 days, 22 hours and one minute in Hawaii. What a great effort from Andre Borschberg; a once-in-your-life-time-thrill.20 Minutes naps in that period was the max !!! Unbelievable. A hero, a LEGEND!
WITHOUT fuel, only solar power he flew from Nagoya in Japan over the Pacific Ocean.A new record,
Notifications were received by the FAI for a claim in  sub class;
Straight distance of 6449.8 km. in 117 hours 52 minutes.

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From ELY 759 was flown on the first day of July  in an ARCUS with a speed of 158.17 km./h.
Last Monday was good in several parts of Europe.Look at this;
1.067 km. from Grosses Moor in Germany in an EB 28.
882 km. from Ocana in Spain in a 21 m. ASH 31.
791 km. from Joensuu in Finland in an 18 m. DG 808.
766km. from Barcelonette in France in an 18 m. ASH 31.
779 km. from Aosta in Italy in an 18 m. LS 8.
815 km. from Soesterberg in Holland in a DUO DISCUS XLT.

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Peter Ditmar  in Holland is the  new owner from the very first Ventus 2cxa FES.[Front Electric Sustainer]
Here is the news about this glider from Schempp Hirth.
—” FES is an innovative, environment-friendly sustainer system and very different from all former systems. The reliable and lighting-fast starting and stopping of the engine with any noticeable additional drag allows to spontaneously use the electrical engine, which opens completely new perspectives. The powered flight is perceived in a very new way and can be enjoyed by puristic glider pilots.

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The new GLIDING INTERNATIONAL [July/August] has some interesting stories again. About;
—the AERO 2015 in Friedrichshafen, with news from Elke who visited the biggest of the 12 exhibition-halls full of gliders and soaring news .She mentions…” Gliding goes ELECTRIC.”
—Markus and Karin, write about their soaring-experiences in KURUMAN in S. A. and compare 4 S.A soaring sites with statistics;Douglas, Gariep,New Tempe [Bloemfontein] and Kuruman.
—Aldo ,writes about the benefit of simulators for clubs , especially the SUPER simulator in Varese, the venue for the next final of the FAI SGP .
— Nature shows us how to fly by Miles
—A look inside the WINTER Instruments by Markus and much more divided over 64 pages.

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You are up to date, CU next week.
After you will “see”  me again on the 22d of July

cheers Ritz

–

QSGP at ZAR.

Fabulous airport on the slopes of the ZAR mountains, where the ZAR Mountain Gliding school has been host for many pilots.
As shared on FB by the SGP.
courtesy Fot. Wojciech Englert.

The Qualifying Grand Prix in Poland [ 18 m. class gliders] flown from the airfield of ZAR,  finally, after 4 days,  got a day with points. GOOD!!

Nice finish from Sebastian, as seen by Fot. Wojciech Englert and shared by the organizers. An album with 69 great pictures.
More pictures and news  to be seen at :http://www.sgp.aero/poland2015.aspx?contestID=6452

Last Wednesday a task of 123.87 km. was set and the daily winner was ,……Sebastian [ASG 29] even with a turn to the right before the start-line opened,  which was not allowed according to the rules [SGP rules p.8.7] .
He was not the only one as 4 from 6 did the same.
Anyhow he got the 7 points for the day;speed 107.78. km./h.
Runner up Petr Panek got 5 points flying with a speed of 101.33 km./h. in his JS1C.
Rasmus got the 5 points.[ASG 29E]
See picture below , when the podium was out for the first time.

On Thursday the regatta start was at 1.07 PM, for a 132.4 km. flight. Before I knew they were all back. First,…of course Sebastian with 103 km./h.
Runner up was Rasmus with 101.44 km./h.
Only 7 pilots were flying.
On Friday the regatta start was at 12.05  and pilots had a nice task from 270,51 km.and the 8 points went to,….Rolf Gerzmann from Germany.
After 3 days , with ONE day to go, Sebastian tops the list with 18 points, followed by Rasmus with 12 and Petr [Panek] with 9.

Preparations to be ready for the last day.
as shared by the organizers.

Saturday,last day of this QSFP. Briefing at 10 so early starts expected.
At 11.10 AM launching was supposed to commence for the last time.
But..it was postponed till 2 PM.THEN the day was …….. cancelled!!!!

3 Days out of 8. What can you do?Look at the happy smiling faces of the 3 best??? YES!

With Rasmus , Sebastian and Petr.
As shared by the organizers.

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Zwickau, German Nationals for club and 20 m. class.

As shared by the organizers.

In Zwickau , the club and 2-seater pilots flying their German Nationals, finally could fly for their 3d day. Launches at 15.15, so pretty late , BUT they flew.
In the 2 -seater class nobody finished during a 2.30 AAT. Best distance was by Uli  Gmelin, in the ARCUS T;164.6 km. and for that he got 215 points. Better than nothing!
Did the ARCUS gliders perform well in the 20 m. class ,in club class the St Libelles  had a good day as well. No, ….nobody finished ,as it was a tough day for the 42 pilots in this class, even to fly a 1.30 AAT .
Most pilots started straight away at 16.53, some pilots started after 5 PM., one even after 6 PM. It all was in vain as it turned out an invalid day.[ 25 %  should have had over 100 km.] Best distance 85 km.but the Libelles were with 5 in the top 10.

Indeed as expected and hoped for the weather changed and on Thursday, a “good”  task was set for the 2 seaters, ” dosis”  called in Germany;417.6 km. straight over the Bayerischen forest. So a nice day 4.
The club class had to go on their day 3, more N. for a 3.30 hour AAT.
They started first and for the 2 seater-pilots a new task B was handed out at the strip; one about 50 km. shorter.
At 13.30 they were launched.

Club class was won again by Stefan Delfs in the St Libelle;998 points as he got 2 penalty points, as he was a tad too high passing the start line.41 Pilots in this class finished!
After 3 days Stefan leads.
In the 20 m. class Marcus Geisen, partner from Karin [Wiesenthal] and a colleague- writer for Gliding International, won the day!! Good on him. In their ARCUS M.He flew the B task, 357.8 km. with a speed of just over 100 km.;108.51.
16 Pilots flew over 100 km. Uli was the last of those 16 and NO outlandings here either.

Friday LAST DAY;Another tricky day and not only the weather was unsettled, it made a proper mess of the overall scores as well.It turned out a valid day so they finished with 4 days out of  11 in club class.
Stefan who flew so well did not do so on this last day.During the 2.30 AAT he out landed and was 12 th for the day.
Only 8 pilots [from 42] finished and as said the overall scores changed.
BUT NOT FOR Stefan [St Libelle]  on all 4 days he was the number 1 overall,  in the club class so a deserved winner with a small marge, but who cares; 3591 points. Runner up Jan Rothardt [LS 1 d] one of the finishers, still 6 on day 3, had 3558.
Fabian Peitz , [St Libelle] another finisher, climbed from 6 to 3 so at the podium;3549 points.
And whilst it is so close; number 4 coming from 8, with 3546 points, Dennis van Deest-Behnke [St Libelle] who finished as well.
By the way these 4 gentlemen form the new German club class team for this year.
Our young junior pilot Nick Hanenburg, did well finished on a 26th spot with 2895 points in the St Cirrus. Both, glider and pilot, will represent Holland in Narromine. Nick had a “bad”  last day, not only because of the weather ;he flew a while, with the wheel out, after he opened the doors earlier to loose and keep height before the start.Better now then in Narromine.

Stefan in his St Libelle.
As shared by the organizers.

In the 2 seater class, they flew 5 days and the last day was for some, “hell” too.Not for Serena Triebel she stood firm with her ASG 32 MI; 3298 points.
11 From 32 finished the 2 hour AAT. We had one Dutch team participating and by being 3d on the last day ,they moved overall from 12 to 7. Well done Bart [Renckens] and Max [Dolfin] in the ARCUS M.
Norbert Sommer, ARCUS T, moved up from 8 to 3[2972]  , even with an out landing and Uli Gmelin, dropped from 4 to 5. Martin Theisinger from 3 to 6. Thomas [Viehmann] stayed on 2
The new German 2 seater team for the upcoming year is; Serena, Thomas, Norbert and Martin.

A pity that such a last day has such an influence on the scores but that ‘s soaring too.At the party on Friday night for sure, everybody had forgotten about the weather and only celebrations were on.

Very happy Club Class Zwickau winners , with Jan, Stefan and Fabian.
courtesy Daniel Seitzinger.

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1.026 km. in an LS 6 with winglets is “not bad”!!!This happened in Parowan and Thorsten Streppel from Germany was the lucky one.More pilots [at least 17 from Parowan] enjoyed the great wave-conditions there on June 24. Though the visibility as I read , was not everywhere too good, due to forest fires.
Also Ely had that nice wave-weather.
The next day was a as good in the USA , Thorsten flew a 1.063 km.flight and from Ely an FAI triangle  from 1.006 km. was flown by Steve Koerner.[ASW 27]
On June 26, Ely had a 1.011 km. [889 FAI triangle] by Uwe Kleintempel in the 18 m. Ventus 2CM. Parowan had flights up to 987 km. again in the LS 6 with Thorsten.
The top 35 on this day had , a total of 21 flights from Parowan and Ely[Arpt] ,so only enthusiastic pilots about the fabulous weather the cloud streets , with great thermals and wave:” the thermals under 15K where rough so stayed in the upper levels; worked great” was what one of the pilots mentioned on the OLC.
AND…….June 27 was a great one as well. A great week over there now with the 2d 1000 for Steve flying from ELY and the 3d one for Thorsten. That is called,” being on the right day,… at the right spot.”
June 28 was also good in this area but better in Europe, A SUPERDAY .
3 Pilots flew an FAI 1000 km. triangle and one just; he flew 932.6 km. [1.025 km]
3 Of them in open class gliders , but kilometer eater Matthias Schunk in an 18 m. ASG 29;
June 29; Mitch Polinsky-day from Ely.” Declared 1002.5 km triangle. Made all the turnpoints except the finish line. Very challenging day weatherwise. Plus all three turnpoints turned out to be in the blue.”
On the last day of June, yesterday Utah with wave/thermal flights from Nephi, had great weather: Nicholas Kennedy in an LS 3 flew 815 km. He mentioned on the OLC;
“Nephi OLC event is on fire; the awesome mountains and desert thermals and the fine rural Utah hospitality. Awesome day with a few scattered storms cells to play with and some friendly gliders to thermal with.”
At least 31 gliders were flying that day from Nephi.
Germany topped the list with kilometer eater Bernd Goretzki with 944 km.in the Ventus 2 CM/18 m. from Locktow.

Last Monday [June 29] another good 500 km. day in Holland and Finnish pilots flew up to 733 km. from Rayskala.On the picture below from Juha, you can see how beautiful Finland is from above.
By the way we are going to be HOT. 38 Is predicted for Saturday when the Tour De France starts in Utrecht , the heart of Holland. That’s 16 dgr. higher than the average for this time of the year.

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2015 US Club, 18 m. and Open class Nationals  flown at Hobbs
between June 23 and July 2 2015.

They started with 2 practice days and their first day was on last Tuesday. Assigned task’s for all on a good day with a cloud base up to 10.000 MSL. Weather ,the older ones between us, remember as Kees [Musters] became world champion in Hobbs with such great racing conditions.
Open class had 10 participating pilots and Dick Butler in his majestic CONCORDIA straight set the level in this class winning and gaining the 948 points for the day. Ron Tabery was 2d and Heinz Weissenbuehler  4th both flying ASW 22 BLE. They all had to “fight”  with the wind!
Day 2; This day Dick got himself 1000 points , another assigned task and he flew 301 miles using 3 TP’s.
Day 3; AAT’s for all classes and Dick is now used to them. He did not win, Ron did,[391 miles.  with 83 miles./h. and 1000 points] .. but he was runner up.[990]
day 4; no task, due to the loss of 1 tug by mechanical problems , due to cross wind and expected thunderstorms.
day 4;DB is going strong,…another 1000 points for him.
day 5; more points for the CONCORDIA , Dick won again.336 miles with a speed of 84.10 m./h.Not an AAT but a MAT  today for all classes.Not everybody seemed to be happy with a MAT [Mod. Assigned Task] as ” they don’t prove anything.”
Restday, well deserved for all!
Day 6;” NO ” news DB won [5938 total] and leads the pact and Ron [Tabery is runner up with 5723].The number 3 with 2 days to go including today has 400 points less.

DB’s CONCORDIA DB at the strip in Hobbs.
Shared by the US Sailplane Grand Prix Qualifyer in in Ionia in 2016.

In 18 m. class Gary Ittner flew himself to 1000 points in his 18 m. ASG 29. A lot from the 21 pilots in this class I remember from Uvalde 2012 as Ken Sorenson, then the CD, Jerzy Szemplinski who won the first PANAM  this year, Ray Gimmey, Pete Alexander and Dennis Linnekin , the TC from the USA team at many occasions.
Day 2; 1000 points for Jerzy.
day 3; same story,..1000 points for Jerzy. He flew 335.88 miles. with a speed of 83 miles /h.
Day 4; no task
day 4; a good day for Ken , he won the 1000 points. Jerzy was 3d.
day 5 ; Good old Ray Gimmey won this day with Jerzy as runner up again.
Rest day!
Day 6 ; Jerzy won and this time Gary {Ittner} was runner up. Good on him. Gerzy leads with nearly 200 points.

Club class with 18 pilots, with as the best on day 1 Sean Franke in the LS 1f. Garret Willat in the ASW 19 was runner up.
Day 2 ; was for Robin Clark in an LS 6  Garret was runner up.
day 3; was for Bif Hus in his Discus 2b.
day 4; Mike Westbrook is doing well in his St Cirrus. He won the 2.30 AAT and leads overall as well , before Sean and Garret and Boyd Willat. The first 6 pilots are between 3537 and 3675 points!!!!
day 5 ;Daniel Sazhin in the LS 4 won the day; 223 miles one more than the runner up with a speed of 65.3 miles /h.
day 6; 1000 points for Garret.
Rest day !
day 7; A Dutch name Tony Smolder won this day and the toppers Sean and Garret finished on 5 and 3.Between the number 1 and 4 [Boyd ] only 130 points so there is more possible in this class.

You can follow it on www.ssa.org

———–

And then there is out of the blue this message on FB. I nearly got a heart attack!!! Remembering Rick Walters,…uh was he dead!!?? He was supposed to fly the nationals in Hobbs!!!!!

Rick, who we got to know in Minden[ Nevada] during the pre worlds in 1990 and even  better one year later in Uvalde in Texas, when he “gave”  his glider to Bear Selen, who became world champion in it!!!
We celebrated with bubbles.Have lot’s of beautiful pictures from those moments.
Rick who I met again in 2012  again in Uvalde and we went on where we stopped in 1991, lot’s of stories and changes in our lives. I knew he had been  sick ,but battled it.
Rick ,  a guy NOBODY had trouble with to like , he was beautiful inside and out side and someone you connected to straight away. What a tragic loss for his family.What a tragic loss for all of us , his mates!!!
Only 60 years old!!

Rick and me with Andreea in 2012.

Rick with Andreea [made by me] and with me [made by Andreea].
R.I.P dear friend.

And then I heard that he had an accident with his bike !!!!!He had a new high tec. bike and went to ride it in the Alpine County, riding the Blue Lakes Loop…. he lost control…fell…. striking his head…. suffered blunt head trauma …..then the shocking news , that he died. A bloody BIKE!!!!!?????
How is it possible?I am lost for words.

CU next week when we will have some kind of heatwave in Holland with temperatures up to 38 dgr.
The highest we EVER had was 38.6 dgr. C. in August 1944.
By the way Spain has OVER 40 dgr. From Ocana 24 pilots fly in 4 classes for the Spanish National titeles.[you can find their scores at www.soaringspot.com] They will be “HOT”  but are more used to it and flying high is “COOL”.
Cheers Ritz

Back on track after a lovely sunny holiday at the beach with my 5 high-school friends,  just on the border of Holland and Belgium.

———-

The FAI Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix in Poland started last Saturday at Zar, with a difficult 130.61 km. day.
9 Pilots , 1 from Denmark [Rasmus Orskov] and Germany [Rolf Gerzmann]  , 5 from Poland , among them Sebastian and 2 from the Czech Rep.[Petr Krejcirik and Petr Panek] , try to qualify for Varese.
When you have read the book from Sebastian, SKY FULL OF HEAT, you know all about ZAR
Day 1 had as best result 84 km. by Rasmus, not enough to make it a day.
Day 2, had another small task, just over 100 km., they tried HARD, BUT……
—” No flying today. First briefing took place at 10:00, second at 13:15. During the second meeting some rain appeared. Next briefing was scheduled at 15:00. Then the task was cancelled.” —

No flying on day 2 .
As shared by the SGP site.

On day 3 138 km. was set, many tried hard again, but it was n’t meant to be, so no valid day.
No task set yet for today!

Sebastian had time to upload some pictures. Here one of his out-landings as shared by him on FB.

———–

The German Nationals flown from Zwickau, this time for club-pilots and 2-seaters, started on June 15 with a practice day and are still in progress till the 27th.
Not the best weather there either, though day 1 was a 1000 points day for the 43 club class pilots.
321 km. was set and only one pilot out-landed just:292 km.Several toppers in this class as former Junior World champion Cristophe Nacke.
The 2 seater pilots flew on this good day as well, got points but the day was “neutralisiert” ! According to the rules everyone had to be weighed before and that had not happened. After the protest….. ZERO points in this class a pity!

day 2 had a pretty long task for the clubbies; 404.9 km. and Stefan Delfs in the St. Libelle , who won day 1, could add another 988 points to his overall scores for winning this day as well.
423 km for the 2 seaters was flown by 31 from the 32 pilots; 325 km.
Casten Freier in the ARCUS T won the day.

Then 4 cancelled days in club class and 3 for the 2-seaters, but,..they flew last Sunday again, their 2d day.This 2 hour AAT was won by Serena Triebel in the ASG 32 MI. Runner up was Angelika Mayr in the ARCUS M, so the ladies are doing well.
Well known team captain from the German teams, Uli Gmelin was 3d in an ARCUS M.
A total of 23 ARCUS- types in this competition with 32 participants [ by 2] .

No action due to the weather.
As shared on their site;
 http://dm2015.acz.de/bilder-2/#gallery/2763/601

So 2 days out of 6 in week one. AND week started not too good either, but what can you do, just keep the spirit up. Monday rain, yesterday thunderstorms and wind so both days were cancelled.
BUT,..with 4 days to go there is hope, as the weather seems to improve. Summer started like it was autumn, but the meteo promised a few summer days again, here so most probably for Germany as well.

Today they FLY!!!!  Tasks are “in the make” and briefing is at 12. At 1 PM, they have to be ready at the grid for launching.

———–

Talking about 2-seaters ,…what a great addition these nowadays TOP- gliders are for soaring. The ARCUS is till now the best 2 seater and the ASG 32 MI is going to prove that it is good as well.
Nowadays many club members “take”  a glider for a week of flying and between 1300 and 2000- plus km will be flown with a crew in the car following. From Holland they go to Germany or France as I noticed.Great fun and a more social aspect of soaring as in the evening with some BBQ food and a good beer or wine,they all still “fly” and talk gliding.

No Competition,…just flying for fun.All members from the EAC, since YEARS!!!
Jos, who specially flew over from Canada, Gerrit, Chris and Marc.
Courtesy Marc v.d. Putte [Putje]

———–

First day of Norwegian championship was on June 22 flown from Elverum Starmoen in the Sports class.
” As usual bad forecast, but we’ll fly anyway.” is what Arne Martin said. And as he mentioned about this day 1 :” Well that was an awful start, a completely unnecessary outlanding.”
So a not too happy chappie.
No more flying after.

The Nationals in Norway are in progress.
Courtese Arne Martin Guettler.

———-

Last Sunday we had the longest day and summer started. Not that it WAS summer. Rain and 17 dgr. BUT the rain was necessary!!!
If I was a pessimist I would say now; ” Winter is around the corner, days are getting shorter”. But summer is still to come yet.
I remember how much fun we had at the several Midsummer night festivities in Sweden and Finland during the several comps I attended over there.
For that reason I was pleased to see some pictures from Finland shared by Katja. It brings all feelings back.

Mid summer night with the bonfires.
Courtsey Katja Soikkeli

———-

Last weekend, at Saturday, the AMSTELGLIDE should have been at Soesterberg. It’s a one-day-competition in 3 classes, BUT, though the weather on my way back home from Cadzand was not too bad ,[they were flying at Woensdrecht] I could see already that the Soesterberg weather this time was not so good. 46 Pilots had entered but it was unfortunetely not meant to be.

———–

Whilst on holiday I got the next message;

Dear all,

After a long and difficult illness, my mother passed away this morning at the age of 84. She was a Belgian National Gliding Champion, a feat I have never been able to achieve, a Pelagia Majewska Medal recipient and she has always been a big inspiration for me; not only in this sport but in life in general.

Baude

Exactly as on the picture below I remember her. Big smile ,very outgoing, always a word ready and when we were at comps she mostly flew with Gill [VandenBroeck] in a 2-seater . Both were pioneers in female soaring and put it on the map.
As you can see Geogeo received the Pelagia Majewska medal as well. I feel very humble, but mostly proud to be on a list with her.
Will get mine in September and will, at receiving, think of Georgette.

St Hubert, where , not long ago the BENELUX comps were flown, was in 1983 host of the European Championships for women. Gill was CD and Geogeo flew herself to a 3d spot. Geogeo flew also several records and was Belgian National Gliding Champion.
R.I.P.

R.I.P  Geogeo.
Picture courtesy Baude.

———-

The application period for the RANGA Scholarship for the coming year will close on the 3rd July in AUSTRALIA.
I love this way of supporting young and talented glider pilots, several countries here in Europe support their young ones,  in several ways here is what’s all about down under;

—” The Royal Australian Navy Gliding Association (RANGA) has established a scholarship valued at up to $1500 annually to be awarded to a person who can demonstrate a strong commitment to aviation but who is not yet at solo standard in any form of flying.

The money is a grant to assist in training in gliding, and will be paid to the club which provides that training.

The rules for the scholarship, and the process for applications, can be found on the GFA Website in the GFA Awards section.

The scholarship runs from 24th July 2015  to 23rd July 2016.  Applications can be made until 3rd July 2015.  Navigate to the GFA Awards documents in the Administration area of Docs/Forms on the GFA Website.

———–

Before I left , 2 soaring friends were so kind to drive up and down for 250 km. to help me with my buxus.VERY GRATEFUL!!! Thanks Max and Dillen.

Great guy’s, great job done AND we had lot’s of fun that afternoon.

That’s it for today.
Cheers Ritz CU next Wednesday.

3 x a declared 1000 from Holland, special, VERY SPECIAL.
soaringminded-Holland is celebrating!
UNIQUE !!!!!

I was a bit disappointed in the evening, to see no 1000 km. on that great Sunday,but it was SO good to see an other EXCELLENT day of soaring in Holland. The best distance was 880 km. [697 FAI triangle] and with that Paul [Wijsman] topped the OLC list.In the Ventus CT /17.5 m. he flew direction ENE into flat parts of Germany and commented later;there was MORE in this day, but still a lovely flight!!!
Another top flight from the S. of Holland Venlo, close to the German border. Andy [van Helden] flew in his ASW 19 a distance from 733 km.[ 642 FAI triangle]
A declared 750 by Stefan Telkamp in the ASW 20 16.6 m. is fabulous as well.He started early, had the wind in the back and at Bremen 6m. integrated.He had clouds , blue holes, blue thermals and was home in time.

AND THEN,on Monday morning early, …….. no disappointment anymore , only joy, maybe even too much…if so,…sorry!!!!;
Last Sunday we HAD ……3 x a 1000  from HOLLAND all 3 DECLARED!!!!!!
Finally and who would not have wished for him this 1000 km. badge flown in HOLLAND  one for Sikko Vermeer. He tried often and Sunday was HIS day.So deserved!!!Congratulations Sikko. As a young pilot he was ” with me”  in Finland in 1988 at the EGC and in 1991 in Uvalde Texas.
In his Ventus BT 17.5 m.he flew a more or less  out and return [ first leg was 493 km. ] declared,  from 1.018 km. [Plau – Hodenhagen – Uelzen – SSB (task of  1116 km) and in his comment he writes VENTUS BT FOR SALE. He has done it!!!!!!
By the way , on task, he lost one of his bug wipers. No worries together with Peter Jansen he runs the SERVICE CENTER TERLET, a top repairplace.  http://www.sct-terlet.nl/nl-NL/contact

Finalglide to Soesterberg at 21.15 , after more than 11 hours of flying and a  1000km FAI diploma
Shared by Mark.

And MORE excitement; You remember Alfred Paul and Mark who flew a few weeks ago a 1000 from Soesterberg ? They DID IT AGAIN!!!! Chapeau gentleman!! Their new ASG 29 E pushes them to huge achievements. Congratulations to both Mark and Alfred Paul.
So,…3 Declared 1000 km. flights from Holland, [Soesterberg] you can’t be anything else than excited!!!!
Alfred Paul mentioned in his comment;
“Official 1000km FAI flight. Went for 1120km task Soesterberg-Plau (495km out) – Hodenhagen – Uelzen – Soesterberg. Needed the turbo for the last 100km after 1020 declared km. ”

OLC Sikko Vermeer: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2…/gliding/flightinfo.html…

OLC Mark Leeuwenburgh: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2…/gliding/flightinfo.html…

A bit later today as I waited for the scores of the last day in Italy and most of you were flying on such a great day anyhow.
And WHAT_A_LAST_DAY in ITALY at Ferrara. Mind you those scores are still preliminary.
Had to check some Dutch results as well before publishing.
In between I enjoyed tennis. What an epic match between Stan and Novak at Roland Garos.
Tonight the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Canada and that after a superb day outside as well.Anxious to see what happened in the air today. More on that on Wednesday.

When you don’t know what to say you talk about the weather.
No , it’s not that I have nothing to say, TOO much happening at the moment, as you can read below.
BUT,…..
We had absolutely weird weather here last week .
4 Seasons in 4 days!!!!
Last Tuesday we had some kind of winter day ,cold, wet and 13 dgr C. On Tuesday it was a bit better , you could call it a nice autumn day with 17 dg. C but very windy. Thursday gave us the feeling of spring, an even good spring day with 21 dgr. and Friday it was SUMMER, with a predicted temperature of 32 dgr.
When I arrived from Amsterdam in Alphen passing the pole with time and temperature,… it was 35 dgr.!!!!
It was an official  tropical day with over 30 dgr. in The Bilt where they measure.
Last year the first one was on July 18.
Thunderstorm arrived here at 6.30 Code Orange was given for the West of Holland.Some fire-damage by lightning not too bad ,….bad enough however for those involved and a drop of 10 dgr.in temperature.
In Germany , at a Rock festival, 33 people were injured, 4 of them badly.

Thunderstorms in Belgium as seen by Jeroen, in France as shared by the AAVE
and
in Holland shared by Frank.

This morning I had breakfast in my garden at 10 and friendly strong clouds popped up, mind you that is 9 AM sun-time.With some polair air, pretty fresh Northerly wind , but in the sun marvelous, it might be another great day in Holland.
By the way in the South of Holland they had 0.2 dgr. C. this morning , the coldest ever June 6/7 night since they started looking at it.
At FB I noticed early birds at Terlet and Soesterberg,  as well as a  great picture from Marlous  on her run  around the Terlet gliding center this morning.

What about this? Can’t have it better as PR is n’t it?
Thanks Marlous!

———–

German Nationals in standard and 15 m. class.

STANDARD CLASS:
On Wednesday June 3, day 6,  a hot and blue day, the pilots had to go for a nice distance 411 km.  and with very tight overall scores, EACH day is important. For sure a long-task-day!
Unfortunately the distance was just a bit TOO long. Only out landings and a lot of pilots JUST could n’t make it and were about 30 km. out. SO CLOSE!!!
One of them Felipe [Levin] and as it was a 1000 points-day, they were all for him bringing him on an overall score from 2 to 1. Felipe [4339] an Robert [Schroeder] flew 381 km. and Robert [4264] just “got” 4 points less, making him number 2 on the overall score list at this moment. Jan [Omsels] lost unfortunately more than 200 points by being 19th, but still is at this stage on a number 3-overall-spot.[4167]

Thursday June 4, day 7, 3 days to go!Today’s task; 353.1 km.
The Schroeders did well today, Simon and Robert in a Discus 2ax and an LS 8 both 1000 points!!! And good to see young Sebastian Naegel as runner up. Felipe was 8th.
Overall he stays on 1 but the runner up , Robert, comes closer.[5289 for 5264]
Jan [Omsels] is still 3d with 5112.

A 3 hour AAT- task for the very last day, number 8. It’s all happening NOW!!!! Who is keeping his head cool with temperatures around 30 dgr.? A mainly blue day with local showers and these can spoil all fun, as you know.
Looking at the final daily scores I missed Jan [Omsels] , ouch he was the first on the list to not make it home. The Levines did finish , Robert did,…and ANDREAS BELZ. He was always hanging around a 4,5th place overall, never won a day, flew consistent and got the last 1000 points of this competition.
All of this brought of course changes in the top. ” Poor” Jan dropped from 3 to spot 10.
Andreas in the DISCUS 2a flew himself to a 3 d spot, [6032]  so bronze for him, Robert was on 2 and stayed on 2 [ 6129] , Felipe at 1 and stayed there so the is the new GERMAN STANDARD CLASS CHAMPION with 6213 points.
I am sure they celebrated till late.Congratulations!!!!!

15 m. CLASS;
When I left you on Wednesday morning very early we knew already that Michael [Eisele] was going well.
This day 6 was a day for THE GIRLS! Nobody finished, but here as well a 1000 points day and enough to win.
Anja [Kohlrausch] won these 1000 points with 348.2 km flown from the set 376.7, Stefanie [Muehl ] was 3d and Katrin Senne 7th.
Michael with 314.6 km. was 10th. and with 4909 points he still is number 1 overall.Thomas [Wettemann with 4861 points ] is still on 2 and Uli [Schwenk] with 4829 points on 3.

Thursday June 4, day 7, 326.8 km. to fly!! It changed in a B task from 264.5 km. and after ALL the out-landings, this was good as only 4 did not finish. Starts at 3 PM. or after and new name on the daily-winner-list; Felix Huttel. He got the max. 790 points for the day.
Not such a good day for Uli as he was 21st and dropped from 3 overall to 5.
Stefan Lichtmannecker climbed from 4 to 3.

On the VERY LAST  day number 8, the pilots had to go for a 2.30 AAT .
12 from 33 out landed on this last day.BUT,..the overall toppers all arrived with the first 5 so did well. Stefan however had a less good day he belonged to the out-landers and dropped out of the top 3 again but still finished on spot 5.
Who is the new  GERMAN 15 m.  CHAMPION ?Yes Michael Eisele son from Walther the CD from ,…was it Bayreuth?
He got a total of 6449 points.Runner up and silver medal winner Thomas Wettemann and a surprise on spot 3. Climbing from 5 to 3 with a great last race Uli,  taking some kind of risk by departing en route as the LAST from his class.[ at 15.45, the first to leave was Tilo at 15.06] BUT, with his experience at EGC’s and WGC’ s  you expect that he knows what he was doing.
So a tough last day for some!!Congratulations to ALL as it was HOT in the end, WET in the beginning and not always easy in the middle, but still 8 days of flying!!!!!
Stefan Brehm did a great job as Live Ticker-messenger.

Uli in the white shirt on spot 3.
As shared by the site.

———–

Italian UNICA comps and the FLY PINK CUP 2015.

As said in my last blog NO FLYING on Wednesday.No flying on Thursday either , as was already announced on the competition-schedule ,BUT,…it all happened again on Friday with a 330.63 km. racing task.
46 Pilots had 2 days rest and now 32 from 42 out-landed, the rest had fun. Most fun for Luca [De Marchi] who won the 1000 points for the day.Peter [Hartman ] did well too with 997 points. And team Alberto [Sironi] in the ARCUS T was on spot 3 gaining 988 points.
Ricardo [Brigliadori] lost 200 points, so did young Davide and Giorgio lost a few as well,  on this blue day with changing circumstances.

Yesterday they had  253,93 km. and I was VERY pleased to see that young Davide won the day. Met him at the JWGC in 2005 in HusBos when Leonardo was his coach.Speed for him 124. 109.24 km./h.Ricardo was 4th , Peter 6th ,Alberto 11th and Giorgio 15th.

Davide receives his daily prize from yesterday ,so did Ricardo on day 2.
As shared on the FB site of the Aeroclub

Today is their last day and they go for 218.64 km. The weather is less good than yesterday.And it was a day with the moment of truth. Peter Hartmann, who knows Italy as good as his homeland Austria, out landed OUCH!!! After 193.80 km. it was over and out for him. That hurts as he was 1. on the overall top over the last 2 days.
Alberto out- landed as well after 209 km. so JUST out!!!
Riccardo was  3 days at the top in the beginning. Today he was 5th but that was enough to make him the WINNER. [4975] He climbed from 4 to 1 in his 18m. ASG 29 with call-sign LEO, in honor of his dad Leonardo.
At spot 2 Giorgio who climbed from 5 to 2 with a 6th place.
Davide was 4th today and 3d overall. Good on him.
Bernd Hubka from Germany, is not scored yet and he was overall on spot 2.But oh, oh he out landed as well after 189 km.
Great to see the Fergnani “kids”  both finished on such a difficult day.
As they said on their FB site;
“ With today’s flights the ranking is completely changed. Today it was important to start immediately as soon as the starting line opened, so, there were good climbing values everywhere. Gliders who started the task later had to switch on the engine or to go for outlanding. “

By the way there are 3 comps at Ferrara at the moment, This UNICA competition, then the Campionato Italiano Promozione with 6 competitors and very important the competition for ladies for the FLY PINK CUP 2015 with 9 ladies among them 3 Russians, 2 from Hungary,  Liz Sparrow from the UK and 3 Italian ladies.
Some ladies drove for 6000 km. WITH a trailer to participate on this competition.
No worries for the 7 tuggies,  they launch a total of 70 pilots in 1.30.

On day 1 Liz had the best speed over 229 km.[ 74.96 km./h.] in her St. Cirrus and the most points;786.
4 From 10 finished.
Day 2; with a 2 hour AAT was again for Liz, this time flying 133.68 km. in time 2.22. She and and German pilot Andrea Broker were the only finishers.
Day 3; with 246.51 km. was a prey for Liz again, 3 daily wins in a row, good on her!!!Only 1 pilot did not finish.
Day 4; slowly the days are getting better and a 253.56 km. task was set. No, not Liz this time on top as she out-landed just before Ferrara, after 247.98 km.
A good day for Russian lady Irina Gajnulova in her St.  Jantar 3.Only 8 girls left in this Pink Ribbon Competition.
Day 5; 247.82 and an other daily winner this time from Hungary; Timea Markus with just over 80 km./h.
And 3 days in row Italian pilot Margherita Acquaderni was runner up.
Day 6; yesterday and the last day for the ladies, 201.63 k. was set .
On the beginning of this  day the overall scores were for 1.Margherita, 2. Liz and 3. Timea.
At 4 Andrea and these 4 girls flew their-selves in the 3000 points.
It was AGAIN Liz who won day 6 , this time with a speed of 80.40 km./h. Slower than the Ventus 2ax,  from Margherita/Margot ,  but on handicap she won the day.7 Girls still flying and 1 out-landing from Russian pilot Irina.
7 pilots finished at 17.34 and 4 at 17.35. Busy, busy!!
Day 7 ; very last day is today with 170.70 km.! The 3 overall toppers from this morning all finished;  Margot [Italy] , Liz [UK] and Viktoria [Hungary] .
Liz won the day with 586 points , whilst Margot finished 4th  with 396 points and Viktoria was 2d with 479 points. All preliminary. This means that LIZ passed Margot/Margherita and WON, [4649] , Margot was 2d with 4506 points and Viktoria 3d with  4067. They were also the only 3 girls in the 4000- range.The next one Andrea from Germany is 400 points behind, so it should be all OK, though preliminary.
Congratulations to ALL.

Some GIRL POWER in ITALY!

Margot Aquaderni from Italy and Nina Shalneva from Russia.

Irina Gaynulova from Russia and Andrea Broker from Germany.
all pictures shared by the AEROCLUB VOLOVILISTICO FERRARRA.

———–

OMK in Holland

No action on Wednesday, as seen by Maurits van Lelyveld.

The sniffer did his best on Wednesday, but in the end he had to land. New possibilities had to be looked at, but could not be found. The day was cancelled, BUT the good weather was on it’s way! THE ABSOLUTE GOOD DAY is supposed to arrive on Thursday.

Here you see my former 2005- junior Rens, tear up his task for the day.

As shared on FB by Adrie Batenburg.

Thursday was a blue, but warmer and indeed better day.Not for some though.
Club class; 310.9 km. 2 From 12 did not finish and the winner Jeroen van Dijk in a Mosquito, flew with a speed of 87,63 km. and “got”  1000 points. Father Ben and son Frank Hiemstra did well. Ben was on spot 8 and Frank at 2 ! Nick Hanenburg was 3d. Jip landed after  7.30 PM, but finished!!!He arrived more than 3 hours after the first finisher in this class. Chapeau for JIP!!!500 Well deserved points for him.

Combi class; 368. 3 km. Quite some out-landings in this class as only 3 pilots finished. Winner former Dutch National Champion Peter Millenaar in the Discus 2a.

open class ; 508.6 km. later changed in 413.56 km. Jeroen [Verkuijl] won again and has the full amount of 1780 points overall after 2 days. He was the only one flying over 100 km./h;108

Another great picture from Rens at 2000 m. on his way , retrieve, from Borkenberge to home [Malden]  where the BBQ was waiting.As he said; “: Being too late for the BBQ, is no option“!!! So Rens!

The last day!!!!! An all or nothing day? The weather was so-so, pretty stable and 35 dgr. C. Just TOO hot.Also possibility of local thunderstorms, with heavy rain, and hail and severe wind. I which corner from Holland was that going to happen!?
So small-not-too-far-away- tasks to finish this great OMK, from just over 100 km.

Before they could go they all tried to find shade, the gliders however had the full HOT sun.

Pictures courtesy Frouwke Kuijpers one of the competitors.

They started and flew but not all finished. At 5.30 the message;” FX en 2T finished, HJ buiten en PI op Emmerich.”
It was more or less a battlefield in CLUB class; Only 3 from 13 finished on this last day, so you would expect changes in the top. Alexander Venema won the day and flew himself  in the DG 300 with winglets over 105. 59 km. to 80 points!!!But with less than 100 points nothing really changed overall.
Runners up had 74 [Joop Gooden in the St Cirrus] and 70 points [Jip]  points.
We had in the overall scores Nick, Ben and Alexander on top after 2 days. After 3 flying- days it remained NICK who is the new OMK champion and…. with his St Cirrus AG, ready for Narromine in a few months.[1527 points], good “old”  Ben  is the runner up [1397] and  Alexander 3 d, with just 9 points less[1388] and an excellent last day.
By the way, just heard he flew 650 today from Veendam in his DG 300

The COMBI CLASS had on day 2 many out-landings on the last day they ” only ” had 11 from 19. Young Apache pilot, Ard Tielenburg , was with his mate the daily best in the Duo Discus XL, over 104.91 km.After 2 days Adriaan Oudhuis in the ASW 20, was overall on 1 and with a 5th place on day 3 he stayed the NUMBER 1.[1970 points]On spot 2 Johan [Lemmens] defended this place and remained runner up.[ 1875] The Duo Discus from Haamstede got 155 daily points and with that they kept their 3d place.[1577]At spot 4 the Duo Discus from Adrie Batenburg and Rens Van Broekhuijsen and with that Adrie was the military champion in this class.
The Kuijpers family,  Ferdi and Frouwke finished on 11 and 14.

Adrie to the left with Rens in the middle receive the Military Cup.To the right on picture 1, Ard.
And ,…the helicopter he flies on picture 2.[from my archive]
As shared by the organizers.

In the open class a 124,29 km. task was set. Not much but at least a 3d flying day. 5 From 9 finished but topper Jeroen was out after 56 km. NO WORRIES he had a good lead and still won the OMK.[1874]

Jeroen was again the best. With him on the picture  Aukje who finished as 12th in club class. Both are members of the Aeroclub from Rotterdam. Aukje runs her business Flight Deck Business Consultancy at Terlet .
The black and white picture from Jeroen is just excellent and courtesy to Martin Smit[“Smitje”  and father of Robin who flies later this year in Narromine at the JWGC.]

That was all the news from Malden. A pity that there were only 3 days , but they had fun for a full year!
Picture from Malden shared by Alexander.

———-

That’s it for today. Will look a bit later again to see if the official scores  are different from the preliminary ones in Italy.
More news on Wednesday with glorious scores today in Europe have a look at the OLC already!!!
2 Times 750 from Holland in an ASW 20 [FAI triangle] and Duo Discus [630  FAI triangle] are already on.
726  flights added at this moment. And that will be MUCH more!!!!
Then you have to excuse me till the 24th of June, as it is my annual high-school holiday. NO LAPTOP permitted!!!
Cheers Ritz

Swiss Nationals in mixed open and mixed 15 m. class.

Who is going to win the cups!?

Last Sunday was the last day from the Swiss nationals and with marginal point-differences in the 15 m. class , it could be a very interesting day.
Tasks were set; 15 m. got a 170.51 km. on their plate and open had to go for 217,28 km.
In open where Markus [Gauman]  has a lead of nearly 500 points the tension was less big than in 15 m. where there were possibilities for 3 pilots each sharing daily wins; Rene[Schneebelie], Stefan [Leutenegger] and Juerg [Haas].
Specially the “fight”  between Rene and Juerg with a bit more than 100 points between them , kept my attention.

Ready to go, as shared by the organizers on their site http://www.sgzuerich.ch/

Start lines opened at 13.13 for open and 13.36 for the 15 m. class and the weather was sunny and good.Stefan , Rene  and  Juerg started about the same time;13.32.
A new daily winner,Simon Gantner, but it was all about who was going to be the CHAMPION. It was Rene, with 4193 points, followed by Juerg 4036 and Stefan with 3914. So nothing really changed in the final scores! Here they are , the Swiss heroes as shared on their site.

The open class , turned out in the end to be more exciting. Gabriel in the ASH 31 MI, /21 m. won the day. Markus was “only” on spot 7 loosing more than 200 points, but NO WORRIES, he had such a good lead , that those points were peanuts.4606 was his final score  and the runner up, Marcel Duenner [ASG 29/18m]  had 4202 points. Gabriel was on spot 3.
Markus, a gentleman pilot , who has flown many WGC’s was in the overall lead EVERY day.
Congratulations to all and with the news-tickers and pictures a nice competition to follow. THANKS!!!

——————

HUSBOS; UK-15 m. and standard class nationals 2015.

On the last day, Sunday, the weather did not co-operate at Husbands Bothworth , so the Nationals had already finished one day before . A total of 5 soarable days.
The message from Mike was ;
“The clearance behind the fronts is not good enough to offset the 25kts+ wind. Prize-giving will be at 13:00″.

They had a good day , the best of the comps on Saturday, with even the first 1000 points in the standard class for Andy Holmes; 393.07 km. with a speed of 117 km./h. which was 6 km. faster than the number 2.
A lot of LS 8 gliders in this class.
Out of 5 days Ayala [Truelove] was the best. She did not win a day but flew consistent over all days. She gained a total of 3388 points and is with that she is the new UK standard class CHAMPION.Congratulations Ayala !
With 3354, Richard [Hood] was the runner up.Howard Jones was 4th [3304], Jez Hood 5th [3252]and Matt Davis 7th.[3213]

In 15 m. class the 1000 points on Saturday were for Ed Johnston. [ASG 29] ; 391.8 km. with a speed of 123.3 km./h. AND,..with that he was also the new 15 m. UK CHAMPION.[3675]
Runner up with 2 daily wins but loosing over 100 points on the last day, was Phil Jones with 3666.
Former world champion Leigh Wells finished on spot 5.[
They had an” an enjoyable and safe competition.”

Adam [Woolley] shared on FB this impressive picture from a UK finish. As far as I can see on the call signs the picture is not from this competition, but a very nice picture to close this item.

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The German Standard and 15 m. class NATIONALS 2015.

When I found out they were flying , they had one week behind them with 2 flyable days . They started on the 26 th with a scrubbed day , then had 2 flying-days , another 2 scrubbed days and continued again last Sunday. Here we look back on the days.

Standard class;
May 27 day 1, with 169.1 km. and all 39 pilots in this class finished. Winner and runner up both “a”  JAN, one Omsels , one Umlauf , who I know from his long flights with us in Australia.Nice guy!Both fly a Discus [2a and 2br] and both flew about the same speed 100 km.h.
May 28, day 2, with 462.3 km. another good day for Jan Omsels; he was 3d with 864 points. Not so good for the other Jan, he was on spot 34 loosing quite some points.
Robert Schroeder had a good day as runner up and tops after 2 days the overall scores. The Levine boys are trying to get in the right groove, so is Sebastian Naegel.
May 31 day 3, with a B task from 300 km. to fly.In this class quite some pilots finished 31 in total. Robert had another good day , 9th, with 918 points.The Levine brothers were at 5 and 10 and Jan [Omsels] on spot 4.

June 1, day 4, the meteorologic summer has started not yet in Ulm- Erbach, as a racing task from 169 km. was set, later changed in a 2 hour AAT. They managed to get 72 pilots in the air in 1.25.
22 From 39 finished the task.A good day again for Jan [Umlauf] as he was 4th,  not so good for Jan [Omsels] who was at 19.Felipe at spot 6 did well , Enrique was ” au vache” but flew 260 km. The winner today, Simon Briel,  flew 268 km. with a speed of 128.19 km./h.
After 4 days Robert is at spot 1 with 2802 points , then Jan [Omsels] 2979, at 3 is Felipe with 2763 and at spot 4 Simon with 2754.

June 2, day 5, with 346 km. SO close all those top 4 pilots so today with a long task, new chances and possibilities.
232.6 was however the new task number C.
8 Times a Discus in the top today.
2 Pilots flew over 100 km and “got” over 600 points. A good day for Jan [Omsels] and Felipe. The overall changed; 1. is now Jan,[3382]  2. Felipe [3339] 3. Simon[ 3315] and Robert dropped with a day spot 26 from 1 to 4[3268]

15 m. class;
May 27, day 1, with 210.5  km. In this class 32 pilots finished , one unfortunately was out, after 139 km.Lot’s of nice girls in this class but day was not for them; winner Henrik Bieler in the Ventus 2b .
May 28, day 2, with a big task 512.2 km. A 1000- points -day for the winner Michael Eisele, the winner from day 1 Henrik had 925 points. Freddy Hein had 2 good days and after 2 days he leads the pact with 1497 points and the next 6 pilots are within less than 100 points.
May 31, day 3, with 416.8 km. and for most that was TOO much. Not however for Kai Lindenberg in the ASW 27, as he won the day with a speed of  83 km./h.Tilo [Holighaus ] had till now not really great days, but today he was runner up in his VENTUS 2ax. Stefanie Muehl, just one of the winners from the Hahnweide comps, was the only girl finishing and also the last finisher with a speed of 69.64 km./h. But she made it.
Some were just out; on 401 km.
Only 12  from 33 came finished !

June 1 , day 4, started with a 2 hour AAT. Also here, 22 from 33 finished, so a tough day.Thomas Wetteman was the winner with a speed of 124.07  km./h.over 270.8 km. Michael had the same amount of points 619. Tilo finished on spot 9. 22 From 33 came home.
After 4 days 2 pilots have the same amount of points and share the first spot; Michael and Thomas….3026.

June 2, day 5, with REAL tasks; a racing task from 403.5 km. Unfortunately they had to change to task B; 327.9 km. and only 5 did not finish. One of them Kai Lindenberg [ after 265 km.] who was at an overall spot 3 , when the day started.On the end of the day he was at spot 10 overall.
Extra hard ,….as it was a 1000 points-day in this class; Those points were for Ulrich Schwenk and runner up was Michael with 979. Thomas was on spot 5 with 965 points.
After 5 days the overall scores look as follows; 1. Michael 4005, 2. Thomas 3991, 3. Ulrich 3926

No tasks set yet but the weather looks good. More on Sunday.
Mind you the last days scores are not yet official.

——————

The Italian UNICA class championships 2015.

With 46 compititors in ONE class [unica] the comps started in Ferrara [ where a new hangar was opened in 2014] on May 30 with a lot of friends and well known names and a good looking ,  very kind but above all very experienced and talented meteo- man, Guido Guidi, a lieutenant colonel but also an Italian meteo man at TV!
I met him at several comps in the past.

In Rieti 2008, had to really search for ”  him” in my archive.

Good looking or not, for the first day he could not give the pilots very good weather.But,…264.6 km. is not bad to start with and this day was won by Giorgio [Galetto] and 34 from 46 finished with him!!! 8 pilots flew over 100 km./h.
Riccardo [Brigliadori] was the runner up.
May 31, day 2,  had less weather and an AAT from 2 hours was set. This time Riccardo won and Giorgio finished at spot 8.
Great to see young Davide [Schiavotto] is doing so well 6 yesterday and runner up today. Also good to see 3 members of the Vergnani family flying , where I know Elena and Nicola , but not Michelle.
June 1, day 3 ,was for Giorgio again. He flew with a speed of 109,14 km./h. over 295,35 km. Thermals with 2 m./s. average as Clara mentioned. Giorgio [Ventus 2cx /18 m.] , Davide [ASG 29 e]  ,Peter [Hartmann ASG 29 e] ] and Alberto[Sironi ARCUS T] ] followed.
June 2, day 4, a better day again with cu’s and a cloud base of 1500 m. so 301 km. was set. A new name for the daily prize; Antonio Soffici in the Nimbus 4 T, followed by Peter and Giorgio.
After 4 days the overall scores look like this; 1. Riccardo 2893, 2. Peter 2875, 3. Giorgio 2874 so ONE point less.
On 4. Bern Hubka from Germany in the JS 1 with 2832 and Davide on 5. with 2806.

The next days will be exciting to follow.They continue till the 7th.

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The Open Military Championships at Malden in Holland.

The 50thiest version of the OMK. Congratulations!
They started on Monday and continue till Friday, last day. 42 Pilots in 3 classes , club, combi and open.
Summer starts with not -too- soaring weather, for that reason pretty good tasks to begin with and ….they promise that midweek the temperatures will go up from 17 to 27. BUT,…as we all know nice weather does n’t mean per definition great soaring weather.
The skies looked great as you can see, but  quite a few pilots had to out-land.Here is the story.

A total of  outlandings on day 1.
As shared by the organizers.

Club;
Monday June 1; 184.64 km. The first to finish was Ben [Hiemstra] instructor at the Friese Aero Club and ” an engine ” for EVERYTHING, p.e. as webmaster from Zweefportaal .He flew the distance in nearly 3 hours, and had good clouds, lot’s of shadow, but also rain en route.He thought it was a tough day. He was NOT the daily winner.[3]
Another topper had that honor,   tracking -systems-genius ,  Jip in the LS 4; speed 96 km./h. He started last at 3 PM , when the weather improved , the first started at 13.15.

Runner up, was one of the juniors who travels to Narromine in November Nick Hanenburg in the St Cirrus AG , also travelling down under.
Nick keeps a blog in Dutch to share his comps with all of us , on his way to Narromine;
http://www.dutchjuniors.zweefvliegen.net/
There is still some money needed for our Dutch young ones. They are saving hard , are supported by their parents and friends and if we Dutch friends want to see our mates become junior world champion a donation can be made at ;
rekening nr NL17 FVLB 0226197212   van C.N.Koster, Hellouw onder vermelding van:  WK junioren
They will be for ever grateful.

Back to club class.From 13 in this class 5 finished.
Poor Alexander he was 3 km. out!
Tuesday was cancelled for all classes!!! Wind up to bft. 8 and showers etc. All gliders stayed in the trailer or hanger. No worries that 2 storey hangar is HUGE.

Everything fits, even the” brand-new-tug” !!!
As shared by the organizers.

Combi;
Monday June 1; 218.27 km. Johan Lemmens in the Ventus 1, frequent flyer at all comps at Keiheuvel in Belgium , was runner up  this day with 74 km./h.[833 points] .
Adriaan Oudhuis in an ASW 20 won the 844 points for the day.
11 from 19 finished!

This picture was taken by one of ” my”  HusBos JWGC  pilots Rens, who flies in Team M 1 in   the DUO DISCUS in the combi class
Beautiful Malden from above! with the huge double storey hangar , the camping to the right and the bar, not unimportant to the left.

Open;
Monday June 1 ;247.38 km. Frequent WGC pilot, Jeroen Verkuijl won in his JS 1 with 101 km./h. 4 others from 10 finished as well.

HJ ,[ the Janus c RG, ] finish.

No task set yet for today.

————

SOLAR IMPULSE.

Somebody wrote under this by Kiki shared picture;
” bon voyage, incredible courage, can only support that.

It’s a big step so many kilometers over the ocean, only 20 minutes naps and gone for days and all by ONE man Andre Borschberg.; 8000 km. from China to Hawaii with the great Ocean in between. Unfortunately the weather was too bad , so an in-between -landing in Japan at Nagoya had to be put in. When the weather improves the flight will be continued.
As Betrand Piccard said from the control-center in Monaco; ” We are no daredevils, we are explorers!!!
And WHAT explorers!!!!!
This flight from China to Hawaii is the 7th leg, still 4 to go to final destination Abu Dhabi , were they started in March.They hope to arrive in August,  to make this dream come true.

————-

And to finish 2 great pictures from the recent  French Nationals.

As shared by the AAVE. [Association Aeronautique du Val d’Essonne]
Till 2016!!!

Cheers Ritz

Tomorrow our summer starts , with temperatures not really summer-like but we should not complain.
Our spring here was so-so. March and April were pretty good, May was too cold.
For soaring we had some really great days this 2015 SPRING, as you have read in my blogs.
Let’s wait and see what summer brings.

Yesterday I visited Terlet, the beautiful airfield N of Arnhem, in the middle of the VELUWE, fabulous nature, the best Holland has to offer.So a great place to visit, certainly cause I lived there in the past most weekends with the kids for at least 15 year at the caravan area.
3 Clubs were flying, 2 in front of the restaurant THERMIEKBEL and one the biggest , The Gelderse, with over 200 members, “on the Hill” , at the L-strip.
A feast of recognition even with only about 20 members active on a pretty cold but great soaring day with 4 m. lift and nice clouds.
Caught up with members I had not seen for 25 years but also with one, Wim who was tuggy for the day on the HUSKY and  who I had not seen since my ZES time in 67/68, when he was a member from the Delft Student Aero Club.

We stayed for dinner ,after George [my ex] was launched for the first time in more than 25 years on a cable of a winch ,…sitting in the Duo Discus XLT with instructor- for -the- day Bas , friend now and in the past from my kids, but also from us.
The old KA 6 was at the field , noticed a KA 8 but also an EB 28 with it’s majestic wings passed on final nicely over our heads. I was surprised did not even know there was an EB in Holland. But,…4 of the young kids from the caravan park at Terlet, now end 40 , early 50 thiers , bought one!!

I was looking forward to the dinner, we were 6 on a table and more tables were occupied, but the chef had the day off and we had to eat what the sous-chef had prepared.She did a great job and with 6 different choices we all had a great looking dinner with lot’s of vegies, salad, french fries and chips.
Sander, the new young manager,member of the Frysian Aero Club and very out going, was in full swing pouring beers [they have a huge list of all kinds of beer] and good wines. Good luck to him in the Thermiekbel.

Sander Terpstra the new manager [so you recognize him when you come in] , pouring beer and wine.

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Uppsala Masters 2015 from Sundbro.

The last  Masters in 2013, version number 1, put this competition on the map and what a great job they did over there again.Great champions/MASTERS , excitement, good and less good weather , good and less good days for some pilots also toppers, it was all there. You can read it below!
When I left you, the 2 classes each had 2 Hour AAT’s , possibility for showers, but pretty good looking clouds to the South as well.So let’s continue!

Day 4 weather looking to the S. As shared by the organizers.

RACING CLASS;
Wednesday May 27, day 4, it turned out to be a difficult end of the day. Marginal final glides, out landings, it was all mentioned. The last pilot [EY] even landed in the rain, but the day was set well, both task and meteo info.
19 From 30 finished among them, Teresa, Tapio, Markus ,Ake, Gunilla and the Letho’s.
Winners as well;Simon Landqvist in the LS 8 [592 points] ,Janne Nordh [ 586] and Ronny [583] .

Thursday , May 28, day 5.They woke up under blue skies ,but a 395.33 km. racing task was set,  as clouds popped up nicely.
” Met man says:
Healthy airmass with good opportunities for XCflying. High and medium high clouds drifti in during the day from SW. Holes where the sun shines exist but exactly where is a tough call.”
With a 1750 m. cloud base at Sundbro and a good looking task -area all pilots went on their way.
Ronny won the day and got the 1000 points for his speed of 106.83 km./h.
Aku from Finland was a tad slower; 101.65.
Somewhere “on the road” Ronny lost Gunilla , she finished about an hour later and unfortunately, that cost!
Specially the pilots who had already troubles en route had it difficult in the end when the weather-window was closing on them. One of them was 9 X Markus [Ganev] , who fought till the end;345 km…..just not enough. Also Teresa was out.

Friday May 29, day 6. 2 Hour AAT and the weather looked good, as you can see on the by the organizers shared picture,  so they could go straight away.But it turned out a weird day with huge differences in start times and unexpected out-landings.
Good to see…young Aku , who started early at 12.56, won this day ;229 km.in time  2.25.[755 points] Janne, who started very late at 14.23 ,so finished late as well.[just after 5 PM.]  was runner up with 699 points and Gunilla was on a good 3d spot. This time she lost Ronny en route. He out landed after 52 km. Another 6 out landed too.
Differences in the overall scores now, as Ronny dropped from 2 to 8, Janne stayed on 1, about 239 points ahead of Aku.
It will be an exciting last day!

OPEN CLASS ;

Wednesday May 27, day 4, They had a better day only 2 pilots out-landed and Goran missed out on staying in the overall top by an airspace violation.[48 points]
Best distance and with good speed for Martti; 237,68 km. in time 2.01, so nearly at the dot. Speed 117 km./h. and 608 daily  points.
1P , team Acketoft, was runner up with 561 points.
The organizers “closed”  the day with the next words;”We shouldn’t loose sight of the fact that the main point of doing this is to have fun and share beautiful experiences!” Totally agree!

Thursday ,May 28, day 5. 393.90 km.
With 3 daily wins for the Acketoft team , there are 2 days now in a row for Martti;1000 points for a speed of 111.71 km./h. The Acketoft’s were runner up with 49 points less.[speed 108.99]
They are the only pilots at this moment, in the 4000 margin of the overall scores;4231 for 4144!!

Day 5 weather looking EW.
As shared by the organizers.

Friday May 29, day 6. 2 Hour AAT. with the message:” Sniffer reporting 2.4m/s and cloud base at 1250m.” , the pilots knew they definitely had another day of flying.
A bit less exciting as 18 m. as the same toppers are on top; Martti won the day,.. number 3 in a row …with 221.54 km. in time 2.03.[623 points]  The Acketoft’s had more kilometers and more time ;595. Both had 3 daily wins!!!So with one day to go the difference is ONLY 63 points!!!!!!!
BUT WILL THERE BE A LAST DAY?????? The weather forecast was not too promising.

Weather on Friday morning, as shared by the organizers,
AND
Fridays daily winners both from Finland Martti and Aku with CD Boerje in the middle.
As shared by the Finnish team.

Saturday May 30 NO  flying-day 8.
The FB message I got yesterday morning , one from at least 200 to keep us all informed was :
“ The last day is officially cancelled. Checkout in the clubhouse from 12:00. Banquet lunch will be held in the briefing hangar with a showing of the film at 13:00. Prizegiving will begin at 14:00. Welcome”.
That is a pity! Certainly for those who still had hope.
But it was a great 2d version of the UPPSALA MASTERS  with deserved MASTERS.
Open;
1. Team Acketoft [EB 28] with 4830 points.
2. Martti [ASG 29 E/18m] with 4767,
3. Ronny Eriksson [ASH 25 MI] with 4200,
4. Goeran  with 3865 points.[ASH 31 MI/21 m]

In fourth place and Swedish bronze medalist: Göran Ax. In third place and Swedish silver medalist: Ronny Eriksson with co-pilot Mika Saväng. In second place and Uppsala Masters silver medalist Martti Koivula. Finally in first position Winner of Uppsala Masters and Swedish national champion we congratulate Jim Acketoft with co-pilot Wilhelm Wendt!

Racing;
1. Janne [Discus 2 T] with 4640 points,
2. Aku [Discus 2A] with 4401 points
3. Mikael Widen [ARCUS M] with 4395 points
4. Gunilla [LS 8] with  4299 points.
The rest of the scores you can fins as always on www.soarinspot.com

That’s it about the MASTERS 2015 .In 2017 the Uppsala Masters will be flown again, something to look ahead to.

In fourth place and Swedish bronze medalist: Gunilla Lindell. In third place and Swedish silver medalist: Mikael Widén with co-pilot Bengt Göök. In second place and Uppsala Masters silver medalist Aku Jaakola. Finally in first position Winner of Uppsala Masters and Swedish national champion we congratulate Jan Ola Nordh!

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French Nationals in 18m. and open class from Buno.

What a wonderful competition with some good long tasks. Also on Flying-day 7 the very last day, 585.88 km. later changed in  a B task from 356.23 km., still good enough to make the difference, you can follow it below!!!

But first back to Wednesday; 604 km. was set  for both classes. Pretty exciting!!!What happened?

Before they left for their 600 km., the  QUINTUS M pilot Laurent and JS 1c pilot Sebastien, shared their thoughts.Thumps up!
As shared on FB.

OPEN CLASS.
Wednesday May 27,  day 4. 15 Finished and 11 of them flew over 100 km./h. ,  1 out landed and still did well; 584 km. Daily number 1 was German pilot [ so HC] Stephan Beck with “our” call sign MM, in the ASW 22 BLE, winning the day with a speed of 116.21 km./h.over 604.32 km;1000 points.
Daily winner ; Laurent [991] and runner up Killian [980] just ahead of Pierre who flies HC.
After 4 flying-days the overall scores are lead by Sylvain, followed by Killian and then 2 HC pilots Stephan and Pierre with  Arnaud .At 3 Sebastien in the JS 1 c.
Glider PAP did not fly. The Duo Discus out-landed earlier in “high ” circumstances, but so to see nice soft grass.

As shared by the AAVE.

Thursday May 28, day 5, a 2.30 AAT was set.
With 383 km. in time 248.21 , Killian was today the winner. The Bocciarelli’ s in their 26 m ASH 25 E,  were runner up.The 2 Quintus gliders finished with ONE point between them, 840 and 841 points on 3 [Sylvain]and 4 [Laurent ]
Killian tops the overall scores again with 21 points on Sylvain.
Friday May 29, day 6, with a 232.69 km. task in both classes later changed in a B task from 189.38 km..
The 3d daily prize already for Killian flying with a speed of 110,43 km,.h.A difficult day but not to many points won or lost.
With one day to go, Killian still leads with 59 points on Sylvain. It’s ALL about these 2 pilots …..who will be the new 2015 champion.
THE VERY LAST DAY was yesterday with a 585.88 km. task for both classes, later changed in a B task from 356.23 km.
Except for one, ALL pilots finished and the winner was ….Killian . He got the 1000 points [108.52 km. /h.] and with that also the title of FRENCH CHAMPION in OPEN class.[5690 points flying the JS 1c]
Well done Killian, such a nice guy! !
Sylvain was runner up with 5612 points in the Quintus M.
3d [HC] was Pierre  in the EB 28 with 5077 and bronze was for Sebastien in another JS 1 c.[4993]

18 m. CLASS .
Wednesday May 27 ,day 4. Ouch Didier out-landed!!! And he was so close;547.26 km. Another pilot was out after 543 km. and Jean Louis Bouderlique after 109 km.
The rest , 17 in this class, survived the 604 km. and with nice speed as well.10 Flew with a speed of over 100 km./h.
Best in this class Denis Guerin with 109.24 km./h. over 604.32 km. good for 1000 well deserved points.
Gilles had 8 points less, Jean Denis 22 , Eric 25 and Louis [Bouderlique] 27.All pretty close!
One pilot nearly flew 7 hours but FINISHED!!! Good on him.
Thursday May 28, day 5, a 2.30 AAT as well.
Except for one ALL finished.Best distance and time for Denis ; 287.88 km. in 2.41. good for 875 points.
He won 2 days in a row and is overall after 5 days on spot 2 just 22 points behind Eric. AND,…Gilles is 18 points behind Denis. AND,…17 ahead of Jean Denis .
Gilles was runner up, Louis 5th , Anne [Ducarouge] on 8 and Didier on spot 9.
Friday May 29, day 6,  a task of 189 km. and a 3d daily win for Denis, good on him! ALL pilots finished and the runner up was Louis.With one day to go the overall scores are; Denis, Eric, Louis and Gilles with only 155 points difference between them.
The last day will show who is going to be the CHAMPION.

And yesterday , day 7 had as said a task with 585.88 km. later changed in 356.23, so fast brave pilots still could make the difference. As we all know pilots can loose on a last day as well. In fact that happened today to Denis. So many times daily winner and proud -number- 1- overall -on the last day.
He just had a bad day, did not start too early or too late but finished as number 13 for the day loosing more than 200 points and with that dropping to spot 3.[5486]
The new FRENCH CHAMPION in 18 m. after 7 days of flying ;Louis Bouderlique with 5529 points  he moved from 3 to 1 and look at the difference with runner up , Eric  with 5517 points…. ONLY 12 points!! He will think ” where did I loose them” .HC pilot Olivier Sevrin from Belgium  won the last day and moved from spot 5 to 3 with 5115 points only 2 points difference!!!!
So /but the French bronze medal is for Denis.

Both pictures shared by the organizers on FB. Thanks!

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Swiss Nationals from Buttwil.

After a non flying day on Tuesday, they continued again on Wednesday with racing tasks from 387,27 in the mixed racing class and and 433,42 in the mixed open class. Good tasks to show quality.
Compliments for their very informative and clear news tickers with copies of the tasks.I was impressed!
At noon the people ….there were many,  on the ground could look at a superb show from the Patrouille Suisse.
Impressed again !

As shared on http://www.sgzuerich.ch/index.php/sm2015  news ticker day 5.
With an awesome 15 minute show video as well…. have a LOOK!!!!
And
THANKS FOR SHARING !!!!!

In the mixed 15 m,..13 from 14 finished and the more well-known names were on top;Stefan Leutenegger [1000 points ] and Rene Schneebeli.[995 points]
Jurg Haas was 5th.
On Thursday the pilots got a 285.1 km. racing task for day 5. They had to postpone the first start a few times but at 2.15 PM it was so far.With the late start the task changed as well;183.10 km.
Start line opened at 3.12.With a late start , you have a late finish as well.But all arrived before 6 PM.
Bad day for Stefan who missed a TP  and new names upfront.
Rene who was 10th today is still on top overall with 73 points ahead of Juerg , who had a good day[5th]  and moved up to spot 2 and Stefan is now on 3.
On Friday a 333.04 km. task was set for day 6. They had a strong wind from the W and the flight was again over the Jura. The task was changed to a 2.30 AAT , due to less good circumstances and a later than foreseen first start.
The day was won by Stefan with 223 km. just ahead of Rene with 222 km. starting together and finishing together. With them as well Juerg. 6 Out-landings.

One but last day, number 7, a 1.30 AAT! With a late briefing at 12.and a TOO TOUGH day for this class, so it ended as an invalid day.
Last day  flying day 7;  170  km.More on Wednesday.

In the mixed open,…Markus Gauman had his 2d win;1000 points for him and his NIMBUS 4M. Gabriel Rossier had 5 points less. One out-landing; ONLY just out….427.86.
318 km. was set on Thursday their flying day 5. Later they changed it in a B task  with 216,45 km.due to the late starts.
Only 3 finishers and one of them was, Marcel Duenner who won the day in the ASG 29 with a speed of 107 km./h. the other  Markus, who has a big overall lead now.
For day 6 a 402.03 km. was set but later changed in a 2.30 AAT  when the sniffer could not find good lift and the first start had to be postponed several times.The day was won by Thomas Suetterlin in the ASH 25 EB28. Gabriel was runner up and Markus 5th.4 Out-landed.

One but last day , number 7. In this class Markus went,  as I read to the Jura,  at 1400 m. later came low climbed up again to 1400 and won the day;199 points.43 Other pilots managed to fly over 100 km. so a valid day 7 for them.
214 .3 km. Today for their last day.More on Wednesday.

———–

15 Meter  and Standard class Nationals in HusBos [UK]

The 15 m. Nationals in the UK showed a list of 18 pilots among them Phil Jones, Leigh Wells and a bit older pilots as Chris Starkey , Richard Kalin and Dave Watt.
After 4 flyable days,  2 won by Phil  and no 1000-points-days, Phil was in the lead with 2 days to go ahead of Nick Tillett and Leigh. On 2 days nobody finished, pilots really had to struggle with the elements.
These 3 pilots are still in the race for the title.
Friday was scrubbed but yesterday looked like a good day;

The standard class pilots , 17 in total, had also 4 days . Among them ,and good to see,  Ayala and Alisson.
All pretty marginal days , but DAYS with points however and on 2 days only out-landers  . After 4 days Howard [Jones] leads the pac.
5 Pilots between 2500 and 2570 points so exciting 2 days with better weather.
More on Wednesday as today is their last day, but ,…it was raining in the morning. You can read it all on Wednesday.

———–

Great flights over the last couple of days;
Lesce Bled !!!1.405,50 km. by Bostjan and Milan in the EB 28. They MUST have had fun!!!!!117 km./h. not bad either.
843 km in the St Cirrus by Boris Zorz is worthwhile mentioning too.
Noetsch in Austria with 1.210,49 in a Ventus 2c/18 m. and 1000 from Feldkirchen. The ALPS were HOT and worked!!!
Rayskala in Finland with Kai in the DUO DISCUS flying 700 km. on Wednesday  and 795 for Kristian Roine . Thursday it even got better. He had already some practice , now he flew 1006 in his ASW 20.… good/great  from Kristian !
With a PROUD comment;” Finnish 15m class record in “Free Distance using up to 3 TPs”, 918 km. First OLC-1000 km flight!” Well done Christian!
Lot’s of great flights from Rayskala that day ;915 in ASG 29E /18m, and 629 in LS 1f.

The good old ASW 20.

———–

Sad news as well for my Japanese friends. On FB I read the news from Gavin Wills who is doing a cross country course in Japan.
” We were all shocked this afternoon when one of our course members Matsuda-san was killed in his glider only 11 km from the Takikawa Sky Park. It appears that the glider may have spun in while he was preparing to land on a good meadow field between the mountains and the rice fields.
Matsuda-san was from Tokyo and had over 1000 hours gliding in Japan and Australia and was the youngest member of our course. Our thoughts and condolences go to his family at this sad time.”
Tragic !!!! My condolences and sympathy to his family, the pilots doing the course with him and to GAVIN and ….to all my Japanese friends!!!!!

For those who want some extra practice in Australia; The Standard Class now has been added to the Lake Keepit comp in November and  entries are filling fast;  already 29 starters.
When you are interested don’t wait too long.If you wish to compete in this comp here is the entry form to be found;  www.keepitsoaring.com.

 There is a limit of 60 entrants. Up to 31st July, entries will allocated to paid applicants on the basis of IGC ranking. After the cutoff date, any places not filled by the above process will be filled in the order that valid entry applications are received and paid for.

Just to let you know!

CU back on Wednesday.
with more news from the UK, Germany and the Open Military Comps from Malden in Holland. They look ahead a GOOD weather.
Cheers Ritz

To start with….. the Champions from the FIRST BENELUX comps at St. Hubert.

Robbie with his daughter, Dennis as Champion and Jeroen as number 3 in the combi class.
Courtesy Willemijn.

Jean Luc, Yves on the highest spot and Maurits on 3.
Courtesy Willemijn.

Looking at the scores for Holland only to determine the Dutch Champions in the combi class;

Sjaak on 2, Robbie on 1 this time with his son, and Steven on spot 3.

and in open / 18 m.

Marco on 2. Maurits on 1 and Mark on 3.
Courtesy Willemijn

And the Belgium combi- podium as seen by Loes Reynders

With Jeroen on spot 2, Dennis on spot 1  and on spot 3 Jeff, but for sure he had to work again so his wife Gitte is there with their kids Leon and Anna.

To be totally complete;
Belgium winners in open/18 m. Yves on spot 1, Jean Luc on 2 and Wim on 3.

———–

Uppsala Masters;

Briefing with ” good old  ” Ake Pettersson to the r.
as shared by the organizers

The Uppsala Masters , with Boerje Eriksson as CM, continued on Monday unfortunately not with a flying day, but a cancelled day. No worries, they had a long first day with for some 5 hours of flying only and a few out-landings and an easier 2d day, with only finishers!So,…they flew already !

Great pictures from day 1, as shared by the organizers .

So 2 flying days and 1 cancelled day, when “we” continue on Tuesday .
But ,..as I read  ” A lot of energy in the air today -our meteorologist promises showers with a chance of meatballs!” 
Racing class;
May 26, day 3,  3 hour AAT,  with a start-line-opening at 12.05.
290,61 km. was flown by Ronny Lindell in time 2.52,38.With that he got the 1000 points.All 33 pilots finished.
Team Lehto from Finland was at spot 8, young Finnish pilot Aku at 4 and talking about Finland, Tapio at 7.
Gunilla Lindell, yes Ronny’s wife,  in the LS 8, [2417] was on spot 2 with 3 points less than her husband and tops after 3 days the overall ranking. Good on her!
Aku is 2d after 3 days and Janne as well, both 2407 points, so only 10 points less.
It’s always nice to see a husband and wife flying in the same competition.I know a few couples in Australia, at least one  in Africa, but not too many in Europe and to see Gunilla and Ronny both in the TOP is TOP.
Ronny , who lost 265 points on day 2 is on an overall spot 6. They always start together, but of course not always finish together.
Today; 2 hour AAT task…. first task at 12…showers predicted.

open class;
May 26, day 3, with Jim and Gert, team Acketoft in the EB 28 with callsign 1P,  strongly on top after 2 daily wins.
Day 3 is another day,….also with a 2.45 AAT.
At 12.23 their start line opened! One pilot [Ulf, on spot 5 overall] returned back to the field with a technical [motor] problem.A pity.
After 117 km. Peter Johansson returned home as well.
The rest finished and who was the daily winner??? Yes again Jim and Gert. 280,47 km.in time 2.42,20.
Goran was runner up [286,69 km. in time 2.50,54]  and Martti Koivula , [ASG 29…another Finnish mate,[I was there of course a few times!] was 3d.[270,92 in time 2.31,52]
After 3 days , team Acketoft is on spot 1 [2719] , on spot 2 is Martti [2536] and Goran is on spot 3.[2428]
Today; 2 hour AAT task.

———–

French Nationals in open and 18 m. class at Buno.

FRENCH NATIONALS from Buno with Benjamin Neglais as CD.

They started on May 21 and 22 with practice days, not used by all.
The REAL thing happened on May 23 last Saturday for the 23 pilots in 18 m. class among them 3 HC as they are from Holland [2]  and Belgium , so they can’t be French champion, and 20 in open class with 3 HC pilots from Belgium [2] and Germany.
Top pilots in Buno, so a great competition to be expected!!

Glider 41… PH-1341 is of course Dutch , the VENTUS cxt from Irene van der Swan, flying HC.
As shared by Philippe de Pechy flying at Buno.

18 m. class;
May 23, day 1 with a 2.30 AAT:
A 1000 points-day  for Eric Bernard, [299.84 km in time 3.11 so not a too easy day] with 14 finishers.
Eric was the WGC champion in Finland in club class in 2014.
Among the finishers ,Anne Ducarouge [3] Louis Bouderlique [4] Didier Hauss, Denis Guerin and Gilles Navas on 6-7 and 8.
May 24, day 2, with a racing task from 249.39 km.
Best speed , 108.14 was for Gilles [Navas ] winning the 722 points. All pilots flew the distance.
May 25, day 3, no briefing before  1 PM. Still a small task ;1.15 AAT. First launches at 3 PM. But all pilots had to return to the field.
The day was cancelled!
May 26 , day 3, with a 2.45  AAT . Jean Denis Barrois was the daily winner with 283,19 km. in time 2.39,50; 866 points.
Eric,Didier and Louis followed. All pilots finished.
Today;604.32 km. Good luck to all.

As just shared by Philippe

open class ;
May 23 , day 1, with an 2.30 AAT as well.
Different distance 270,97 km. and time 2.39 for the winner Killian [Walbrou in the JS 1c] ] and 860 points. Runner up was Sylvain Gerbaud in the Quintus M with 270,51 in time 2.40.
15 Finished and 4 from them had a bad start by entering the airspace of Orleans.
May 24, day 2, with 243,81 as racing task. This day they changed places,Sylvain was daily winner [ speed 125,97 km./h.] and Killian runner up.[ 125,78 km./h.] All pilots finished among them Sebastien Dubreuil on 3 and Pierre de Broqueville [HC but between 3 and 4 Laurent Aboulin] .
May 25, day 3, briefing after 1 PM and also for them they try a 1.15 AAT with the launching starting at 3 PM, so a later-in-the-day-window!But,..it did not work for a valid day.
May 26, day 3, with a 245 AAT.  It turned out not to be a fast day, as the daily winner flew the 277.12 km. with a speed of 95,71 km./h. Sylvain won again;958 points.
The other QUINTUS M with Laurent was runner up.
Today; 604.32 km. Briefing at 10 first launch at 11.30.

For more news;http://aave-buno.net/

———

The Swiss Open Nationals 2015 at Buttwil.

They started in 2 classes a mixed open [ 11 pilots] and a mixed 15 m. class [14 pilots] on May 23.
Mixed open.
May 23, day 1;
They set a 2.30 AAT and it was a good day for Markus Gauman, [Nimbus 4M] who flew till now many WGC’s , as he won day 1. A bad day however for Gabriel Rossier, as he was one of the 3 ” outlanders.”
May 24, day 2, another 2.30 AAT .Gabriel [ASH 31 MI.21 m.] corrected that straight away, he WON and this time Markus was runner up.
May 25, day 3,with a 1.45 AAT and a BAD day for most, not only because of violations. A day however, on which pilots did not loose a lot of points, as the daily winner only got 159 points. Only 3 finishers Markus was one of them.

Mixed 15 m.
May 23, day 1, with a 2.30 AAT, won by Juerg Haas in the ASW 27. When I remember well he flew the ASW 27 from Swiss Chris in Tocumwal.He was one of the 3 finishers. Renee Schneebeli , Edi Inaebnith and Stefan Leutenegger were not so lucky and belonged to the “out-landers”.
May 24, day 2, a 2.30 AAT and all finishers, no out-landers. Rene, did what Gabriel did in the other class, he corrected straight away his position and won the day.
May 25, day 3, a 2.00 AAT with NO finishers  and no points. Best was Juerg with 72 km.

No flying yesterday in both classes.
Today;no tasks yet.

———-

And to finish some flights interesting enough to mention;
One from Riesa Canitz where they did a training- camp for cross country pilots.
On Sunday one of the pilots, Florian Heilmann in the LS 1d,  started before the briefing for  the famous  “trip around Berlin” ;606.1 FAI triangle [ a total of 645.6 km] on not the easiest day.So a great job!
Several between 600 and 800 km. flights in gliders as LS 1f, LS 4, LS 6, LS 8 and St. Libelle.
Luesse not far from Berlin, hat several pilots flying for the Luesse Cup. A lot over 600 km. flights.
Holland was blessed with another St Cumulus day; flights over 600 km. from Terlet and Soesterberg.
A great way to spend Pentecost; 150 flights on the OLC from Holland only!!
1630 Worldwide!!
And as John Williams mentioned yesterday a nice day from Kinross in beautiful Scotland in the UK :
” A low level cloudy wave day. Easy to fall out of the wave by pushing too hard, but great fun.”
604 in the Antares 20 m.  and and 553 in the Discus bt.

———-

Last but not least news for my Aussie mates. I wrote about it already but now tomorrow it will be ACTUAL;
“The radio frequency at the Tocumwal Aerodrome will change from 122.9 to 125.5 on the 28^th May, 2015.  A NOTAM will be placed from the 26^th May, 2015 and for a period after the change to assist visitors to the aerodrome.  The lights will be left on from sunset on the 27^th to daylight on the 28^th in case there is confusion with airmen in relation to the timing of the change.” 

———–

Cu , most probably, on Sunday with the latest on Uppsala and the French and Swiss Nationals.
cheers Ritz

Happy Pentecost.
A bit later than normal on Sunday, as I waited for the preliminary final results from St. Hubert and Arnborg.
The changed final results are under P/S.

The BENELUX Championship 2015.
Always a bit difficult for a blogger doing research on ALL what’s available, when soaringspot is out for improvements/upgrades,  even temporarily , but …in the middle of several comps.
Have to get used to the new soaringspot , but it looks spiffy. Poor scorers at those comps in progress, felt sorry for them.

Mats and Piotr at the Uppsala Masters, have to deal with the new system
As shared by the organizers.

NO BENELUX- news to be found at the official site or at the soaring spot site.Always a pity as we can’t ” feel or taste at home ” what’s going on.
Excellent pictures however…. ,on FB,  from the BENELUX  comps, at least something !!! AND ,live tracking of course!
When you have 2 cancelled days, 2 flyable days and again 2 cancelled days, the weather gods seem unhappy, BUT a change arrived just in time to add  a few more days.
We had 12 dgr. and a slow “LOW” over Belgium and Holland, with pretty heavy rain,  but no worries friendships were renewed or started.

A good moment to mention 50 years of COMPETITION_soaring for “my” instructor DICK TEULING. He and his wife Liesbeth have visited lot’s and lot’s of comps together. They met on a ZES-soaring-camp in Venlo in 1967 ,.. I was there as well.Dick flew already comps then.The ZES  had NO field at that time, but 3 camps a year ,one at Venlo, one at Malden and one at Terlet together with the Delft Student Aero club.

Dick and Liesbeth “honored”  by Patrick during the BENELUX Nationals.
As seen by Willemijn.

and in 1967/8 when I went solo at Malden. Pretty serious stuff is n’t it?

No flying news at the moment,…..but NEWS ENOUGH.
Here is the brand-new ASH 32 MI rigged and ready to go for promo flights in St. Hubert. For all news contact Rene de Dreu,  the BENELUX agent.
Francesco and Grietje, from Australian Soaring Center Corowa ,are the first to have one flying down under this upcoming [for them] summer.

As shared by Rene, who is in St Hubert at the moment.
And  Willemijn shared the very first action of this great looking glider, on tow and in landing!!

Willemijn, really has an eye for glider details look at this;

The FES on the Ventus 2 cxa from Francois [agent for Schempp Hirth in Holland] …Front Electronic Sustainer,…the future?

BUT,….back to soaring. As said the next couple of  days look good.
Thursday May 21;
For the combi class  a 4 hour AAT was set for day 3 and the most kilometers were for one of my HUSBOS juniors Robbie Seton in the LS 8 ;448 km. in time 3.57,8.
Also the runner up was from Holland Sjaak Selen, yes brother from…..
Jef , Dennis and Jeroen all from the Keiheuvel in Belgium, followed.
The overall scores are close; Robbie now on spot 1 with 2730 points, Jeroen, Dennis,Jef and Sjaak all within 100 points.
By the way lot’s of penalty points for airspace violations and altitude in both classes most in this class.
And,…the LS 8 SR, from Robbie will be shipped soon to Australia, as he and his dad Jan, “give”  the glider to use by the Dutch team,  in Narromine at the JWGC. Great gesture!
So the Dutch team travels down under, with 2 St. Cirrus gliders  and 2 LS 8 gliders. GOOOOOD!!!!!

Sjaak and Mark [Leeuwenburgh]
As see by Willemijn.

In 18m./open also a 4 hour AAT on day 4 ; 474 km. in time 4.01 was flown by Yves Jeanmotte in the ASG 29 and also the runner up was from Belgium Francois Delfosse.
The overall scores here are pretty close as well. Yves has 3117 points, Jean Luc 3070 and Maurits 3011.
VERY bad luck for the number 3 overall from day 3, Sebastien Mercier, he did not fly this day he was sick. What a pity on such a great day, with such great days behind him.

NOT flying the BENELUX comps but enjoying the Luxembourg weather, that is what Guy Bechtold did, he flew a 1000 [932 FIA triangle !] from Useldange in his Quintus M.

Friday May 22;
And yes the weather was GOOD and tasks in a style to lift this competition to a higher level.
5 days of flying in 18m/open class till now and Friday showed a good racing task of 407.60 km !!
Nearly all pilots finished, the best 3 were from Belgium; Wim [Akkermans] 1000 points, Yves 998 and Jean Luc 994. Then 3 Dutch pilots; Marco, Mark and Dick.

The smaller ships also got a nice long racing task on day 4 from the ST Hubert BENELUX comps; 367.52 km.
Sjaak from Holland won this day with a speed of 112.47 km./h, just ahead of Robbie with 110. 04 km./h.
All pilots finished and Robbie and Sjaak seem to be in a winning mood.

Saturday May 23;
A little dip in the weather again,  but small tasks are maybe possible; 1 hour,  [open /18m.] and 1.30 AAT’s.
They were possible ,but what a terrible day !!!!!!!! Luckily not too many points to loose.
Bert jr and Tijl,  the Schmelzer brothers gathered each others strength and were 1 and 2 and got 66 [114 km. in time 1.37] and 63 points.[95 km. in time 1.25]  They started early and finished before 4 PM.
The first Dutch pilot and the ONLY finisher was Sjaak on spot 9 flying 104 km.. He flew 2 hours and 35 minutes. It could be worse ;Jef flew nearly 3 hours for 56 points over 88 km.
13 Did not finish, one of them Patrick [Stouffs] with 11 points for 23 km.
Total scores after 5 days Dennis [Huybreckx ]with 3722 points ,just ahead of  Robbie [Seton] with 3718 and on 3 Jeroen [Jennen] with 3690. Sjaak is on spot 4 with 3682. It will be an exciting last day !!!!

In open class , Wim won again gaining 68 points for 98.83 km in time 58 minutes and 47 seconds.21 Pilots finished 3 did not fly.Total scores after 6 days; Yves [Jeanmotte] 4160, Marco [Vermeer] 3865, Mark [Leeuwenburgh] 3856, Maurits [Dortu] on 4 with 3832 and Olivier [Brialmont] with 3808 points . Also still in the race Wim with 3769 and Hans [Biesters] with 3764.Father Schmelzer with 3738 points,…who knows!

Ready to go,…..as seen by Franz Bertrand.

Sunday  May 24; It ALL depends on THIS day !!!!
The last day of the BENELUX comps,…who are going to be the champions?
In both classes still possibilities enough,… though to be honest, in open Yves has a nice lead.BUT, on a last day everything is possible, certainly when pilots play ALL OR NOTHING.
What happened?
Combi class ;2.30 AAT
The daily winner was Daan Spruyt in the LS 6, he started with a ” win” on day 1 and finished with one on the last day.[227 km. in time 2.31,22]  Good on him.
Dennis was 2d and Jeroen 3d; with that the 2 Keiheuvel boys/cousins won the comps, Dennis as Champion , [4474] Jeroen as runner up with 49 points less. [4425]
Robbie who was on spot 8 today dropped to spot 3 in the overall scores! [4420] ONLY…5 points behind Jeroen!!!!
Daan finished on 11 overall.

The NEW CHAMPION DENNIS.
As seen by  Gitte.

18m./open ; 2.30 AAT
With a speed of 98 km./h over 277 km. Jean Luc won the last day.Yves had ONE point less;999.
No worries , for Yves, more than enough to keep the first spot overall and to be the new CHAMPION.[5159 points]
Maurits climbed from 4 to 2 as Marco [daily spot 9] and Mark [daily spot 15] had a less good day and dropped to 4 and 6. Wim was 3d , so had a good day and climbed from 6 to 3.
A lot happened that last day!!!
Sorry could not find a picture from Yves.
Both classes have a CHAMPION from Belgium !!! No worries, they /we are ALL mates !!!

Last finish of the first BENELUX Championships.Till next year ….at…..TERLET.
Great picture by Willemijn.

P/S
As said the scores were preliminary and changed later in the evening.
Here are the correct results:
Open ; 1. Yves [5181], 2. Jean Luc [5126] 3. Maurits [4697].
Combi class; 1. Dennis [4464] , 2.Robbie [4420], 3. Jeroen [4415].
Congratulations again!!!

———–

DANISH NATIONALS with an excellent last day,..for some!

Arnborg in Denmark, with the Danish Nationals, was not much better, they started with 2 flyable days , added then another 4 scrubbed days , to continue again on Wednesday.
Club class; had a 2.30 AAT on day 3 and for the 3d time Jan [Andersen] won with a speed of 90.6 km./h. over 231 km. in the ASW 20C, good for 798 points.
Henrik was runner up, Ole 3d ,but Rasmus had a less good day; 199 points for 175 km. and it must have been a real tough day for him ,….but he gave not up…. as he needed nearly 4 hours [3.41]
Both Jan and Rasmus started at 3 PM.
Standard class; day 3, also a 2.30 AAT. 6 From 10 finished and 4 LS 8 gliders in the top. Frederik Noddelund flew 212.8 km. in time 2.26.700 Points were his!!!
15 m. class; day 3,  a bit more time for this class a 2.45 AAT and good old Stig Oye still knows how to fly; 250 km. in time 2.47, pretty good and good enough for 900 points. Johnny Jensen was runner upo with 222.2 km. in 2.46. Ib was on spot 6.
18 m.; got a 2.45 AAT on their plate as well on day 3. Arne and Peter started at 14.39, Arne flew in time 2.54,27 a total of 272.5 km. [ 900 points] and Peter in 2.45,49 a total of 247.3 km. good for 831 points.
2 Seater class; day 3 with 245 km in the ARCUS over a 2.45 AAT in 2.45.50.

Thursday was scrubbed for all classes.

Friday May 22; was a valid but pretty difficult day.
In Club class only 4 from 12 finished among them Jan [Andersen]
In 15 m. a task from 210.8 km. Stig was runner up.
18 M. had 176 km but it was a slow race with Peter [Eriksen] as the fastest with 87.8 km. Except for 1 pilot all finished.

Saturday May 23;
Standard class had a 160 km. racing task, Club ,140.5 km. ,20 m., 173.3 km.,15 m., 160.2 km. and 18 m., 173.3 km.
They waited , tried , hoped and had to give up. Sunday should be better,

Sunday May 24; also here the very last day it all should happen NOW!!!!
And,..the weather-gods were pleased so was the meteo ;
“The weather forecast promises fine competition-weather, and we hope that we will not be cheated this time.
The race organizers are ready with exciting tasks to the east and northeast, and the pilots should expect a relatively early start time. 11.30.”
AND….indeed exciting tasks for a last day,tasks on which “the difference can be made ” .
Early starts as announced , as they expected a front coming in from the NW around 17.00.
Great use of the day !!
Club was the last to be launched and their start line opened at 12.25. Would there be the “last-day-cat- and- mouse -start-game”  ???
Standard class 329.2 km ;
start times between 11.51 and 13.13.4 From 9 finished!Hoelgard Mogens [Discus 2A] who started at 13.00 was the daily winner and runner up in this class in the overall scores.
Champion Kim Larsen Poul in the LS 8 . He started today at 12.19 and finished as runner up. So it did not really matter ,an early or later start.
Club 299.5 km ;
all started within 4 minutes[12.26-12.30] Jan and Ole had a great day as daily winner and runner up. Henrik missed out on 20 km. and Rasmus just did not finish ,……he flew 298.2 km. !!!!
Champion in club class; JAN ANDERSEN about 700 points ahead !!!
2-seaters 346.9 km;
start times between 12.12 and 12.47
2 From 7 finished!Also here one pilot with 345.6 km.
CHAMPION in the 20 m. class;team Hansen /Joergensen in the ARCUS.
15 m. 329.2 km ;
start times between 12.12 and 12.40
6 From 14 finished and the daily winner was Johnny Jensen in the ASW 27 b just ahead of Stig Oye. Stig is older now but still sharp as a knife and  wins the Danish Championships in 15 m. class [3866] Johnny was runner up.
By the way for the young ones, Stig was world champion in 1983 in Hobbs New Mexico in standard class in an LS 4 !!!!
Ib was 4th.
18 m. 346.9 km ;
start times between 11.55 and 12.33. Peter Eriksen won the day and climbed from 4 to 3 , [3730] , so on the podium.Arne was runner up today and moved from spot 3 to spot 2 overall.[3748]
Elmgard Steen was 1 and stayed on 1 overall, he is the new Danish champion in 18 m. class.[3815]
8 From 11 finished!!!

According to the scores at SOARINGCAFE they had no task on Sunday, BUT THEY DEFINITELY had.
Look at dm.dsvu.dk

———–

One way or another Poland had better weather and the many pilots over there flew 4 days in a row during the POLISH OPEN CLASS NATIONALS.
Day 5 however with a 2.15 AAT, was in the end cancelled.
Also the next day with a 1.15 AAT was not valid .Only 3 from 30 flew over 100 km….but they did …. CHAPEAU. They started at 4 PM.Among them Sebastian and Adam flying 147 and 143 km. in a time OVER 2 hours…but for no points.
After 4 days Sebastian was again the CHAMPION with 3300 points . Adam [Czeladski] was the runner up with 3235.

A Happy Sebastian , with another MEDAL!!!!
As shared on FB by Ecc Czeladz.

———-

NO flying in Italy, from Varese for the 20 m. NATIONALS, on Wednesday. The 2 seaters could stay tied up.
No flying on Thursday either , I heard it was snowing in the mountains.
But on Friday they continued with a good 1000 points -day and those points were for Luciano [Avanzini in ARCUS T] .
BUT,…he had to share them with Alberto [Sironi in ARCUS M] who got the same amount of points both flew the 317.5 km. with a speed of 98 km./h.
On Saturday a small window with a small task; a 1.30 AAT and Peter Hartmann who missed out on winning the last days , must have thought it was  HIS turn again, so he won;128 km. in time 135.5.
Only 357 points for him but it helped to get back to spot 3 overall [ 2957] , passing Stefano [with 2952 points], who  just missed out on 5 points . Top spots for  Luciano [3155 ] and Alberto [3035].

———–

The UPPSALA MASTERS .
Sundbro.

Ready to go! And,…the last glider on tow.
As shared by the organizers.

Started yesterday in 2 classes with 46 participants.

Flight tracking with a very interested new generation.
As shared by the organizers.

Follow the action here;
http://www.flightradar24.com/59.33,18.07/7
Like we did in Holland during the Nationals, they use  SMS groups, for all special and  important announcements. It works SUPER.
After  a practice day, they started day 1 yesterday, with SUPER weather;500 for open/18 m. and 416 for  a racing combi class.
With a speed of 113.21 km./h. over 500,47 km.in the EB 28 team Acketoft was the daily winner in open/18m.
All pilots finished!!!!

26 From 32 finished after 416 km. among them Aku Jakuula and my friend Teresa Toivonen as well as Markus Ganev who won not long ago at Hahnweide, the speed- prize to visit the Chateau from Pierre de Broqueville in France.
Daily winner with a speed of 114 km./h. flying a Ventus 2 bx was Finnish pilot Tapio Tourula. 71 Points ahead of Ronny Lindell in the Discus 2t.

Today on Sunday, day 2,  the pilots were asked the evening before, to be at the grid BEFORE briefing.
Tasks from 220.82 for the racing class and 276.62 km. for the big ships.
Some started at 1 PM others at 15.35 !!!

Ready as the organizers mentioned ” for an uncertain future” for today.
It looks at least less good than the day before.

All pilots in open/18 finished .The EB 28 with team Acketoft, early starters, early finishers won the day with 108 km./h.
About the same speed for Finnish pilot Martti Koivula in the ASG 29E. He started 34 minutes later!
In the racing class all 31 pilots finished as well.Best was Janne Nordt in the Discus 2T.
Aku was at spot 12 and  team Lehto at 16 in the ARCUS.
More on Wednesday.

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Some great flights last Thursday! What about 748 [720.8 km. FAI triangle] in a St. Cirrus [Pirmasens-Germany] and 828 [ 577 FAI triangle] in an LS 6? And of course the earlier mentioned 1000 from Useldange.
A 750 FAI triangle in an LS 8 is not bad either [914,92 km]
Friday was even better, 1000 km. from Bamberg and Bayreuth in EB 29’s and many over 800 and 900  km. flights. 2 Of these over 800 km. flights by 2 LS 4 gliders with winglets from Ludwigshafen.
Even Tilo got one of his gliders out [Ventus 2ax/15 m.]  for a nice run starting at Hahnweide to far up NE and he  claims a new record  for an out and return in this 15 m. class. Good on him! Great practice for the German Nationals soon at Erbach.
The Riesa Canitz cross country week had quite a lot of participants and pretty nice weather. Some pilots mentioned they would , on days, never have flown without the support from pilots as Tassilo Bode and a great weather forecast.
And on Saturday the Canadian Rockies “rocked” with a 969 km. wave-flight in a Ventus 2ct /15 m.  ,from Invermere, which started pretty rough.
“Rough start (in more ways than one) so abandoned task and went cruising.”[Ian Spence on the OLC]

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Enough news
Till Wednesday
Cheers Ritz