Post 1.486 on March 6 2024

——Regatta’s are fun. Not so serious, but serious enough!!!When you can’t fly every day, you show up when you can .
Mathias [Kopp] did not fly during the first days , but on task 4 [3 hour AAT] his ASG 32 Mi, was on the score board as number 2 for the day, behind another new face Justin [Smith] in JS 3 at the podium. Justin missed day 1 ,was present on the next 2 days and won task 4 with 356.67 km/ 111.11 km./h.
This day overall leader David [Pickels] did not fly so others passed by .
Ayala who was 6th for the day, tops the overall scores now.
Then…… a 3 hour NOT FLOWN AAT.
The last 2 days showed scores again and 12 pilots went for another 3 hour AAT. Good old Brad,[ I heard he is going for the 3d time to Uvalde,] was the daily winner during task 6; 421.66 km/131.71 km./h. Decent speed in his ASG 32. Ayala , who started 1 minute later , was runner up. Great performance in “her” LS6.
From the 13 starting pilots 6 were out.
The last day had a 2 hour AAT, but it was not flown.
Ayala in the LS 6 won the Regatta with 3.981 points .Good on her!!!!

——-As you know I am a big fan of Rieti and it really pleases me , that at the IGC plenary in Toulouse, [March 1 and 2 2024, ]choose Rieti as THE place for the WGC 2027 for Club, 15 m and standard class!!!!
I have been there at 3 CIM’s, the JWGC in 2007 and 2 WGC’s already starting in 1984 with the pre worlds and then the WGC from 1985 and 2008.
Aldo shared the new from a paper;”In the meeting underway in Toulouse, France, the votes expressed this morning by the members of the International Gliding Commission in favor of the Rieti candidacy were decisive for the assignment, which thus beat the competition of the French town of Vinon in the second round of voting, after an initial phase that ended in a draw.”
Like Uvalde it’s their 3 WGC and till now I was part of all of them. Not bad is n’t it?

In 2026 the European Championship will be flown in Poland from Ostrow, good on them another Cat1 competition!!!Soon they host the JWGC.

–—–There was more news at the IGC meeting. I wait for the summary of decisions and share the most important with you, when I have them.
Still have n’t got them, so stay with me on this item.
Important for some pilots are the changes on handicap.
Matthew [Scutter] always an honest and fair -to-the-point-“thinker” on many items shared the list with the words;
“New IGC handicap list – the LS3 and ASW20’s got what was coming to them!
What do you think? What’s the best choice now?
I reckon the LS4/LS7 are back in business as the best.’

——The very first flying day in the new 2024 season here in the Netherlands was on March 2 and it felt like spring, sunny, “fresh” , as in pretty cold, but flyable, as you can see on Arjan’s pictures. AND,…. a bit of thermal activity as well, what do you want more?! Indeed a bit,…as the first out-landing was fact as well.
HUGE NEWS in a paper, as if disaster had struck, but just an out landing.
Great day for annual checks however!!

Also the Aeroclub in the Northern part of Holland started ; the always very active Friese Aeroclub.

Due to the HUGE amount of rain in February in fact over the last part of winter , some airfields are muddy and one is even more like a lake. Their season now starts at Terlet too.[Kennemer Aeroclub near to Leiden]

—–in the UK they had some thermals and pretty good wave , also not the best weather yet for flying , but for sure great pictures.
And the Highland Gliding Club had a great wave day on March 3
” Sunday was a spectacular wave day for us, with conditions far exceeding the forecast. We enjoyed multiple 2+ hour flights, a few reaching up to 10,000 feet, and even some cross-country ventures!“
Even up to 12.000 ft. Good on them!!!

——–FABULOUS FLIGHT from Gil Souviron and Baptiste Innocent; on February 27 they flew from Perpignan in France to Badajoz in Spain….retour flight from 1.533 km. speed 150 km./h….in a Stemme S12.
https://www.weglide.org/flight/364591
On the OLC [ https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=9740034#map=] they said;
“Fantastic flight with Baptiste, over 1400 km in Out and Return
One of my dream is done.
Not so easy day, very cloudy with almost no waves over 4800 meters.
We hoped that the return was better, but it was worse with a very humid air mass.
Never Mind, very good flight with a marvelous glider the Stemme S12. More comment to come..”
Both sites share pictures as well.

——For my Aussie mates;

“The summit will include a mix of edgy presentations, and discussions led by prominent figures in the field, focusing on the latest in safety protocols, technological advancements, and community-building strategies. The day will start at 8:30 AM for a 9:00 AM kick-off, concluding with networking drinks until 4:30 PM“
https://magazine.glidingaustralia.org/…/gliding…

——-In between the F 1 [cars] has started again and nothing changed. Max won. And,….we have another TOPPER; Femke Bol. World champion on the 400 m. at the athletic indoor-world comps in Glasgow with a new world record. Dutch Lieke Klaver was runner up.
Cycling at the road has started as well, with more Dutch toppers.
Love sport. Don’t get me wrong,OF COURSE ALSO when other nationalities win!!!!!

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.485 on February 28 2024

—–The Lake Keepit REGATTA is still in full swing and with a “light , but fierce” competition always great fun. Great place too as they have their airfield at the LAKE.
Nice accommodation AT the field as well and a good club house , I know , as I slept in the back of it in a nice room, always full of laughing friendly people, the club house NOT my room.
Nearly no water in the lake , when I was there last with the WWGC in 2019, but it has filled up again.
Wish I could send ALL our rainwater to that Lake. TOO MUCH RAIN HERE!!!!!
Talking about that WWGC, another pilot participating there Ayala from the UK, flies in this REGATTA and Kathy from the USA has just left them again.Good to see them back down under.
They flew good tasks, as said task 1 was a 3 hour AAT, but not all had arrived back from Tocumwal. Good winner though; David Pickles in a PIK 20 D;356.67 km/ 111.11 km./h.
Task 2 , another 3 hour AAT straight away showed the practice Allan [Barnes] had already during the National 2 seater comps and he won the day in his LS 8, but David [Pickels] in his ASW 20, who won day 1 was equal on spot 1 now, both with 115 km./h and Ayala [LS6] was on spot 3 all flew around 350 km.
Task 3; 2.30 AAT …again 3 WGC pilots in the top; Allan, Brad and Ayala...but also a nice 4th place for Nick [Singer] , not a world champion pilot , but a great instructor at Keepit.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT, but no scores yet.
As the Toke-pilots arrived later the overall scores now are David 2.629 p, Ayala 2.495 and Nick 2.483 p.
They continue till March 2.

–——Talking about the WWGC in Soria here is the latest from the FAI – World Air Sports Federation
“Alena Netušilová has been named as FAI Gliding Commission (IGC) Champion Pilot of the Year 2023, for winning the 18m class at the 2023 FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships in Soria, Spain.
Yet her career as a glider pilot may never have taken off at all, if it hadn’t been for her courageous attitude…
Back in 1986, she and a classmate noticed a flyer saying that the local aeroclub was recruiting “brave boys” for glider pilot training. Together, they decided to sign up and show that gliding was not just a sport for men!“
Alena has already achieved a lot!!!
“She has been competing in the European and World Women’s Championships since 1993 and has stood on the podium no less than six times, twice winning the title of World Champion. In total she has flown 4500 hours and over 120,000km in competition.”
More on https://www.fai.org/…/Alena-Netusilova-IGC-champion…
CONGRATULATIONS ELENA!!!
By the way, she flew the WWGC in Lake Keepit as well and was 5th there.

—–The 2024 UK convention is over and the BGA also invited Schempp Hirth;
“thank you BGA for inviting us during your 2024 convention. It is Always a great event with good balance between serious things and entertainment.
Big thanks to all the Southern Sailplanes team family, our local dealers, and Southern Aero Supplies, for all the help to get the 2 Ventus-3 (3ES prototype and 3M) displayed in perfect conditions. We had the honour to be invited also to make a 20 minutes talk and many conversations indicate the technical choices/solutions/compromises made on the prototype of the Ventus-3ES are going in the right direction to make a real life great glider. Thumbs UP for our technicians and Engineers and thank you all pilots who made us many feedbacks during these last seasons.
Next step? Let’s fly this New beast! More infos soon.’

Their next stop is the 2024 Friedrichshafen Aero-event between April 17 and 20 in in Hall A1..
This picture with Ralf [Holighaus] Wolfgang [Janowitsch] and Ludwig [Starkl] is from last year .

—–Not long anymore and the OSTROW JWGC starts;AND,…they, the young UK pilots, were at the BGA conference as well.
I read that Oliver is only 18 years old and a member of the Oxford gliding club.He feels well and truly honoured to represent his country.

JWGC combined or parallel with the 13.5 m; July 13-27 2024.

–—-The meteorologic spring starts here on Friday, so time to look ahead at hopefully dryer and more sunny weather. The prognoses are pretty good, with here in The Netherlands, soon 20 dgr, C…they say,… I hope.
After the 17 mm of rain on 1 day, last Monday, we are fed up with grey skies and rain!!!!
Worse is the situation in the South of Australia where temperatures in the 40 dgr. C cause huge fires, forcing people to leave their houses.
Every year again…so sad!!!!

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.485 on February 25 2024

Extra blog because of the end of 2 comps yesterday.

First the 2-seater NATIONAL comps in Tocumwal;
With 3 more days it was rather exciting to see if the ARCUS M could stay in front of the ASG 32 MI. In both gliders top pilots, though the ASG has a former WGC champion in it with Brad.
Here we go again with Thursday’s
Task 5; 3.45 AAT…..COMPLIMENTS to the Duo Discus pilots from Narrogin; RUNNER UP!!!!!The difference between the ASG 32MI with Bruce and Brad was big; 124.26 km./h and 111.83 km./h, but great effort!!!!!
Bruce and Brad flew 478.12 km and team Geerlings /Tang 436 km.
Interesting is also …can Adam/Keith stay in front of Bruce/Brad overall in the end?
This day they were 5th, but still ahead overall but now only with 23 points!!!!!
“Unfortunately, because we were the ones to lead out at the beginning, we got shafted on this windy day. Those following FIG [callsign of their Arcus M] pulled into a great climb just behind us & that was that, we struggled away from low in something far less & couldn’t recover.” Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
AND,…what about David and his mate they ONLY lead with ONE POINTS over Brad and Bruce.
So only a few points between 1 and 3; 4.636…4.615 and 4.612!!!
Exciting last days!!!
All 9 flew AND finished, so a nice day for all.
Task 6 a 2.45 AAT was cancelled due to the weather…such a pity…..only 1 day to go now….and close scores!!!
Bruce;“It was windy with weak, low convection, and there was a large fire started down near Bendigo to the south-west which made our possible task area pretty smokey. So for something new we sat around eating, drinking coffee and talking about gliding.”

Task 7 VERY LAST DAY , after a great competition!!!! 2.45 AAT…..
Most started around 14.40 . Adam and Keith at 15.00 as they could not get high enough to start. They did their utmost best to keep on spot 1 overall,but as Adam said; “We survived a couple of low spots , but we are very happy to be home,…. we did our best flight, but the best was not good enough“.
From day 1 they had the overall leading position, now they end on spot 3.
So team David/Steve was the best in the AG 32 MI;264.38 km / 95.17 km./h and moved from 3 to 1 overall. They won task 3 and 7 and flew very consistent. Good on them!!!
They passed by the numbers 2 Brad and Bruce as well. They were 3d for the day.
Bruce;”What a tough day! No excuses… you have to fly every day, no matter how crappy they are, and I didn’t do the best job of flying today. It was blue, seriously blue like the photo shows, and the thermals were hard to find and harder to use. At one stage we descended to 750 feet before we found a climb, and we both seriously thought we were finished. However, we staggered home for an overall second place”.
9 started and 7 finished. Not a good day for Lumpy and Joergen, they had to start the engine after 82 km and dropped from 5 to 6 overall.
Great comps, but with more teams it would have been even more exciting.
Final overall scores out 6 from 7 days;
1. David Jansen/ Steve Evans in ASG 32MI with 5.523 points.
2. Bruce Taylor/ Brad Edwards in ASG 32MI with 5.477 p.
3. Keith Gately/ Adam Woolley in ARCUS M with 5.346 p.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL.

AND,
as shared by Adam

The final dinner was on a “spiffy” place. In the restaurant of the new Tocumwal Aviation Museum AT the airport called the Drome.

To finish some kind words from the Kingaroy Soaring Club where David and Steve fly.
“Kingaroy has another two Australian Champions, congratulations to Steve Evans and David Jansen The competition was held at Tocumwal NSW which is one of the spiritual homes of gliding in Australia. Toc pronounced “toke” is an absolute must visit for any soaring enthusiast.“
LIKE!!!!!!

—————————————————————————

The NZ Central Districts Gliding Championships 2024 have been flown in 3 classes, racing [10 pilots] , open [6] and sports class with only 3 participants . The weather was not “flash” , more and more days were cancelled or had out landings so, here are the stories as seen through the eyes of blogger Jason Kelly;
—-“The 2024 Central Districts competition at Waipukurau started on Saturday 17th February with practice day. This saw fantastic convergence and thermal lift which allowed a number of gliders to fly up and around Lake Taupo and back with distances of over 500km recorded. A great start for the week.”
—-Sunday was a contest day with good thermals and convergences. A steak BBQ evening meal was appreciated by all.
From 10, 6 pilots finished and 4 were out in racing class. In open only 1 from 6 was out …BUT, 4 had an airspace penalty from 2 minutes. In sports, John Tullett in KA6e won 1000 points for a distance of 131,28 km/ 61.30 km./h. during a 2 hour AAT. Good on him!!!
—-The weather on Monday was untaskable but the sky was alive with energy from wave. No task.
—-Tuesday saw a task set but cancelled due to persistent low cloud and drizzle.
—-Forecasts for Wednesday were not promising but the sky delivered and an adventure task was set for the Open Class. Flying turned out to be an adventure with Pat Driessen perhaps setting a record for the longest retrieve by landing at Taupo.
6 Started that day and 4 finished. Daily winner from this 2.30 AAT in open class, was Tim Bromhead flying 385.28 km/ 76.57 km./h. Till then Patrick[Pat] was overall leader but now he  lost over 400 daily points.
—-A weak local sky greeted pilots on Thursday with broken local thermals proving difficult to work. This saw a number of pilots landing out.
In Racing, 2.30 AAT was set. Only 1 from the 8 starters finished for 269 points.
Open pilots also had a 2.30 AAT; 5 flew 3 were in and Tim [Ventus CT]was the daily best for 416 points. 1 Point more than Patrick who flew in his AS 33es, 323 km/ 111.11 km./h.
—-–The news update on Friday was;”we wait for the sky to develop. It is grey high overcast with a westerly flow, calm on the ground.There is heating getting through so there is hope we will fly.“
Where would we be without HOPE. BUT,…..They did not fly.
—–Saturday showed pretty marginal flying.
“The final day saw a challenging sky with rough lower level conditions with wave above. There were thermals and also convergences around the task area which allowed another competition day.”
In racing only Alain [LS4] finished for 282 points, flying 234 km/ 64.05 km./h during a 2.30 AAT, which says enough. Most of the days he topped the overall list so also on this last day.
In open it was Patrick winning the last day AND the comps , even after that out landing which really cost him. He flew 332 km./128 km./h .
David [Johnson] was 1 overall before he started the last day. He finished, but “only” flew 174 km./69.71 km./h and that meant loosing 200 daily points.
Racing class winner after 4 out of 7 days ;Alain Marcuse in LS4 with 2.014 points.
Open class winner ; Patrick C. Driessen in AS33es with 2,416 points ahead of Tim with 2.358 points and David Johnson [Discus 2CT] with 2.336 points. All pretty close.
Sports class winner ; Dennis Green in LS 4a. On the last day he flew during a 2 hour AAT 120 km/60km./h. He gained 400 points more than his close concurrent Graham Player in a Apis 13, who flew 25 km without finishing. [2.069 for 1.680 points]A pity!!!

More about the Lake Keepit regatta on Wednesday. They started with 16 pilots for a 3 hour AAT, including UK pilots Ayala and Simon . It takes a FULL day to drive from Tocumwal to Lake Keepit, so Brad and Allan and Bruce , all flying normally at Keepit could ‘n’t fly the first day.
cheers Ritz

Post 1.484 on February 21 2024

2024 / 20 m and 2-Seater Australian Nationals.
17 February 2024 – 21 February 2024
TOCUMWAL

It’s great to see another competition in good old Tocumwal. 9 Teams have entered and they fly in gliders as Duo Discus x 4, ARCUS M x 3, ASG 32 MI x 2 .
In the end they only flew in 20 m.
Duo Discus IE is back “on his old nest”.It was sold to the pilots of the Hunter Valley Club for a very nice price during the auction, when sole owner Richard Cawsey, to our sadness and frustration, sold EVERYTHING which was “holy” for all of us at Sportavia!!!!!
After 20 years I am STILL ANGRY and SAD!!!!
The Duo however, still has IE as registration and I hope it does well…good luck!!!A real good glider it was and the Hunter Valley pilots seem to treat it well….it found a good home.

Last Friday some practiced already and it was a “good-500k- day”. Only 5 days earlier on the 12th Sportavia Tocumwal -owner, Lumpy flew in his JS 3/18m a 947 k. [ 832 FAI Triangle] hopefully this weather stays for the comps.
More practice on Saturday but more official now;
“It’s time for the 20m/2-seat Nationals and the fun group have descended on Tocumwal for the week.Today we had a practice day, 335km up to the North-East towards the back side of the trough line which has been wandering back and forth for a few days now.” Much more in Taylor’s Gliding Page
Speed by Bruce/Brad and Adam/Keith; 121 km./h.
Time for a nice BBQ offered by Jane and Tom Gilbert from Temora [ Gliderstuff.com] time to socialize and to be ready for day 1.

Task 1; 3 hour AAT....A nice day ,but difficult, ” due to the upper level clouds cooling the heating and the strong wind down low at the end of the day.”
Best speed was 101.56 km./h by Adam and Keith flying a distance of 307.57 km.They were the daily winners. Alan and Greg were runner up; 263 km/ 87.69 km./h also in ARCUS M.
They all started between 14.05 and 14.43 with in the end the A task.
Bruce said about the day :”Phew! Today had a couple of parts… Brad was in charge of the ship and the first 80% of the flight went really well, and the last 20% was a fairly desperate attempt to defy gravity and stay afloat.” Taylor’s Gliding Page
“ Another day that fortunately went our way. Before launch we were thinking, start as soon as the gate opened, but when launch was delayed & we stayed on task A, it was definitely go asap! Unfortunately, even thermalling in light sink near the time of opening to stay high while we waited for another climb, didn’t help. We ended up low, downwind of the line & the gate open”..but then they were more lucky ..you can read it on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures He also shared 5 tactic-points for the day.
7 From 9 finished.

Task 2; 389.75 km…..ALL 9 teams started AND Finished…….GOOD Tocumwal-end-of-season-day!!!! Daily winners Alan and Greg; 133.40 km./h. Just ahead of Brad and Bruce 133.01 and David with 133.35.
These 3 teams , as 3 other teams, started at 14.19 like a regatta start and raced back “home” as quick as possible.
Adam and Keith were 5th.
Tough days for the Duo Discus [handicap 975];great gliders but on a good day, against an ARCUS M [Handicap 1055] or ASH 31[handicap 1065] it’s more or less a “wasted effort”, BUT still GREAT FUN to be part of the 20 m NATIONALS.
“Funny day today. It was my turn up the front and we began with a rush. We had a longish glide out from the start (unbeknownst to us almost everyone left at the same time) down over the river towards Benalla. I pushed on a bit and our first climb was solid, but I left it early as the first cumulus were just ahead, and the next climb was huge! It was bumping on 9 knots for a few turns and really got us up and running.”
More on Taylor’s Gliding Page
Task 3; 455.13 km…..another good racing day and on this 3d task again another winner; David Jansen/Steve Evans 135.44 km./h.starting as the first team, which in the end was the right decision. With this fast weather the performance of the ASG32 gliders is clearly “better” than the ARCUS… it should be like that looking at all “figures”.For the DUO DISCUS it is even more difficult, but they hung in, though the Hunter Valley-boys were “out” after 285 km.
Bruce and Brad in their ASG 32MI were runner up; 128.75 km./h. so showing good speed by David!!!
Bruce writes :”Today’s forecast and sky promised more than it delivered. I think a lot of us were expecting about 135kph and (with no scores available just yet) I hear that David Jansen and Steve Evans were the only ones to get anywhere near that. Many a cloud and line of clouds looked like magic, but much of it was a little disappointing. There was a trough line and plenty of mid- and high-level cloud approaching, and the shadow seemed to take the edge off the climbs, especially later in the flight. David and Steve left quite early and likely had a much brighter sky to play with… well done guys, good call.”
More on Taylor’s Gliding Page and here is already 1 of the pictures.

Swiss Chris ,in his ASWC 27, flew 505 [430 FAI] from Toc as well on this 20thiest Februar……nearly autumn over there and spring here. After all the rain I “long” for spring and summer.
Task 4;3 hour AAT….today they flew good distances again, but all scores are still very preliminary. All 9 started AND finished and nearly all started at the same time around 14.15. Allan started last at 14.48, not good unfortunately, they were last and lost nearly 300 points. It might have had a reason.
411 km was the best distance and with 127.53 km./h. this was the winning combination and 1000 points for the B1 and B2 , Brad and Bruce.Adam and Keith in the ARCUS hold on and were runner up.
They still lead the overall scores with 3.766 points for 3.647 points for David and Steve.
Adam just mentioned;
“Another great day in the skies over Tocumwal, though we are super grateful to even have a XC Speed – we got down to 900′ & climbed away in a 3.6kts (a good climb for the time). However, It was the first time I can remember, that I actually slowed down mid task to let second place go by.”
And,...”Fun day & we will keep the overall lead for another day.“
More in his Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Bruce just mentioned;
“Today began with a whimper, and finished with a whoosh! The entire crowd were topped out in one thermal right behind the start line, and despite it being a bit before our planned start time the position and height were too good to miss. Off we went!“
And,“Out onto the plains the cumulus were just beginning, but they were very wavy looking and short-lived. We had a cracking climb amongst the crowd, then for the rest of the flight used generally 6-7 knots or better. The flight finished with 100km of beautiful streeting as we bounced up above final glide and extended our last turnpoint close to the limit. Such a hoot, and what a way to finish the flight.”
More on Taylor’s Gliding Page

The 24th is the last day….NOT the 21st as is written on soaringspot.

Other news;
—–The Beverley Regatta had 24 entries.
Host; the Beverley Soaring Society,  located 130 km east of Perth Western Australia.
As you know there is something serious ,but also a lot of pleasure and sharing knowledge in such a regatta.
They started straight away on day 1 ,February 11,….they continued till the 16th…. with task 1 a good 3 hour AAT. In the end of day 1 “only” 14 pilots had flown and 1 was out. Chris in a JS1/18m. was the best with 412.53 km./126.48 km./h.
Task 2 had a 2.30 AAT and it was flown by 11 pilots and from those 11, 6 finished.Greg and Norm flying each a DG 1000 S/20 m. had their own competition with a rather late start but a different distance. Greg flew 214.84 km./ 78.93 km./h whilst Norm flew 187.10/74,84 km./h. Of course both had a “student” onboard.
Task 3; 2.30 AAT.…284 km was flown by Chris in a JS1. He was the only one with a speed of over 100 km./h. 11 started and 1 was “out”.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT….and won by Greg with Steve as “pupil” in the DG 1000 S/20m; 320.45 km/98.31 km./h.
12 started and 1 was “out”. 1 Day to go and the whole West of Australia suffers from 38 dgr. C or more.
By the way; here we had on February 15 18 dgr. C that is a “whopping’ 10 dgr more than the average for that day and the “hottest” ever!!!!.
Task 5; NO task on the last day, so winners/grinners are
1. Chris Runeckles in JS 1 with 3,321 points
2. Ross McLernon in SZD-48 Jantar Std. 2 with 3,167 p.

–—-AFTER the Club class Nationals in Waipukurau in N.Z. they continued on the 17th [practice] with the N.Z. Central Districts Gliding Championship 2024 in 3 classes, open [8], sports [5] and racing class.[8] They finish on the 24th.
Now they fly the New Zealand Central Districts gliding champion ship till the 24th and till now they had 3 , 2 or 2.30 AAT’s in all 3 classes [racing, open sports] after 2 out of 4 flying days.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

R.I.P. NAVALNY!!!!!!R.I.P.
“Listen, I have something very obvious to tell you. You’re not allowed to give up . If they decide to kill me ,it means that we are incredibly strong.”
Alexei Navalny

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ritz,

will be back on SUNDAY, for the latest on the 2 seater championship in Tocumwal and the NZ Districts Gliding Championship in Waipukurau.

Post 1.483 on February 14 2024 …….VALENTINES DAY.…… HAPPY VALENTINE!!!!

CLUB CLASS NATIONALS N.Z.
Papawai 7 February 2024 – 15 February 2024

Papawai; “Join us at Papawai to celebrate over 60 years of contest flying in New Zealand with the 2023/24 Club Class Nationals.
Perfectly located in central NZ, Papawai offers a superb gliding location with fantastic club facilities including plenty of camping spaces and local accommodation options.”
Host is the Wellington Wairarapa Gliding Club.
In the Easter-weekend of March 28 Wairarapa the much-loved Wairarapa Balloon Festival will return as well, with a five-day festival of flying.
Club Class Nationals;
Practice day on February 7 and then..
Task 1; 2 hour AAT....the “little Libelles’ did well.Mark [Wilson] and Dane [Dickinson] flew 132 and 121 km. with a speed of 65.98 and 60.84 km./h. for 575 and 530 points.
Dane flew in Rieti during the JWGC in 2007, where I met him. I only now found out, that Kathy Fosha flew there as well. Both in Standard class in an LS8. Our gliding world is “small”.
Task 2 ; 2.30 AAT…not flown.|
Task 3; 1 hour AAT.…..CANCELLED with the message;”It was a no flying day on Saturday at Papawai due to wave, so Terry flew 400km.”
Task 4; 2 hour AAT.…not flown…
Task 5; 2.30:00 AAT… and YES, they could fly and all 8 competitors were EAGER to go. Dane in the Libelle flew 200 km with a speed of 80.15 km./h good enough to be the daily winner. He was 12 km./h faster than the runner up Alain in the LS4.[68.12 km./h over 171 km]
2 Did not finish.
Task 6; 2.15 AAT….and YES they flew again and YES it was Dane again who won. Such a pity I can’t find my memory sticks with all pictures from Rieti 2007 and 2008, otherwise I could show you a young Dane.
Both Libelles are good in this weather as Mark, who flies the other one was runner up.
With 1.940 points for Dane overall after 3 out of 6 days , and 1.649 for Mark it’s rather clear what’s going to happen but you only know for sure when the last glider from the comps has finished.
Task 7; 1 hour AAT... short tasks but they fly , that means some fly, as at this still preliminary stage, 5 started and 4 finished. Those 4 started and fished together and both Libelles were upfront. This time Mark won with 95.79 km/78.46 km./h. for 349 points. Dane was runner up; 84.28 km./77.38 km./h. for 344 points.
The comps are between February 7 and 15. Tomorrow might be their last day when the 15th is included, if not,it could be today as well .
Will be back on that with an update.
UPDATE:
Indeed they flew on the 15th and Dane won the 1;30 AAT with 123 km./h. Task 8 was a fact and Dane won 3 days.
So after 5 out of 8 ,sometimes marginal days, the Kiwi’s had a NEW CLUB CLASS NATIONAL CHAMPION.
1. Dane Dickinson in Standard Libelle 201B with 2,984 points.
2. Mark Wilson in St Libelle with 2,651 points.
3. James Austin in Discus B with 2,448 p.

Karen Morgan shared this picture with interesting clouds, from the last day;

Parallel with these comps they fly in an open class with 8 pilots in gliders as AS 33es, LS8, Ventus 3M and CT , ARCUS and ASG 29.
Till now they flew 3 out of 6 days and the Ventus 3M with Jason is in the lead overall.It looks like they did not fly today.
They had a task 8; a 1 hour AAT and nobody bothered to fly the task, ONLY Terry in an LS 8 who flew 188 km /150 km. looks like a real wave day. Terry got 550 points for his flight and with that he was the winner.
Final result after 4 out of 8 days.
1. Terry R. Jones in LS8/18 m. with 2,306 p.
2. Jason Shields in Ventus 3 M. 2,019 p.

–—–HORSHAM WEEK: continued….

Club;
Task 5; 274.63 km…..best speed was 84.55 km./h. in an LS3 WL but David [Nugent[ was NOT the daily winner. George[Schuit] won the day in the St. Cirrus with 79.93 km./h.
A pity from the out-landing in front of the finish line on task 3, costing him more than 600 points. He was high enough for final glide but got ONLY sink 6-7 m per sec .
14 started 11 finished.
Task 6; 2 hour AAT....Steven in the St Libelle was one on the daily podium 172.70 km/86.11 km./h. ahead of George with 178.95/ 82.11 km./h.
12 started and 1 was “out”.
Task 7; last day …CANCELLED.
“Our final briefing for Horsham Week 2024. Unfortunately the conditions today are not strong, so the day has been canceled“
No way anymore to gain or loose points so ,
the final scores after 6 out of 8 days, are now;
1. Steve Jinks in the Mosquito with 5.012 points. Clear winner.
2. Jaroslaw Mosiejewski in PIK 20 b with 4,768 p.

Standard class;
Task 5; 287.16 km… Neil [ASW 24WL], who won 2 days, outlanded,….loosing more than 500 points [a pity, not good] and Jack won another day his 2d too ; 89.17 km./h.
Gordon [Trollip] in the LS6 won task 1 and flew consistent so overall he is on spot 2 with 2 days to go.
7 started and 5 finished.
Task 6; 231.06 km….Jack and Neil-day again; 93.68 km./h for 89.34 km./h. Jack leads with one day to go with 5.457 points for 4.878 from Gordon and 4.695 from Neil.
Task 7; cancelled.
The overall scores after 6 out of 8 days are;
1. Jack Hart in ASW 20b with 5,457 p. Very clear winner.
2. Gordon Trollip in LS6 with 4.878 p.

18m/open;
Task 5;  397.88 km…..Daily win for Geelong pilot Hamis [Nazari] in LS6c; 97 km./h. Ryan Nimbus[ 3T] had another good day, runner up and his overall- lead grows day by day. [4.416] Craig [AS33es] was runner up and “holds on”. [4.111]
Great job from Hamis, flying between top gliders in the good but old LS 6 is daring, but SO GOOD!!!!
5 started and 3 finished.
Task 6; 245.09 km….All 9 started and 7 finished and no news Ryan won 110.14 km./h. With 1 more day to go Ryan has 5.106 points overall and Craig 4.722 p.
Task 7; cancelled.
Overall scores after 6 out of 8 days after a very pleasant competition as I heard;
1. Ryan Driscoll in Nimbus 3T with 5.106 points, no doubt a clear winner.
2. Craig Vinall in AS 33es /18m with 4.722 points.

At the final dinner and closing ceremony James Nugent, the brand-new Narromine- WORLD CHAMPION, shared his experiences.

Other news;
–—I often refer to stories from pilots or other people AT the spot.
Also Bruce [Taylor] is one of them. In his Taylor’s Gliding Page you can read why he changed to another glider. The ASH31Mi from Pam is in his hangar now. AND,..he will fly it in Tocumwal at the 2-seater Nationals.

——One of my daughter’s colleagues starts her retirement today. Yesterday was her last flight with family .As usual drinks later with her colleagues, more family and friends.
She wanted to be a hair dresser, but flew as an F 16 fighter pilot, then went into Boeing’s at Transavia [100 % daughter of KLM] where she flew till yesterday as captain and still young she is going to be a truck driver now.
What a great life!!!!

—-The Gelderse- one- day -competition one of the nicest in Holland they say, is on April 27 [28 when 27 is not possible] Just to let you know.
https://www.zweefvlieg.net/gnl/inschrijving/

—–On February 9 Worcester had a 1000 k -day!!!Even a 2x 1000 k day. A real nice ridge-soaring day for Swiss guest Rudy and local pilot Sven;1.112 and 1.033 km.speed 136.44 and 129.62 ,both in JS1.
Sven shared a beautiful video on youtube.com [ 9 february 20241033 km] and mentioned ;”A major portion of the flight was thermal flying – the first leg to the east had the wind parallel to the ridges, and after turning Klawer I ventured to Graaffwater in the west – lured by the clouds and the promise of thermals 🙂 All in all a great day.“
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s30Oj3PFCc

–—–Romania had his 2d wave-flight in the Eastern Carpathian; 1.121 km/ 129.15 km./h. One of the pilots , Nicolae Balan nailed it in the comments:
“So, now we have to wait for March to fly the next 1000k or is it allowed to have one more in Feb?”
In WeGlide is the story about the 1000 k’s in Romania.
https://magazine.weglide.org/gliding-in-romania/

——-Denbigh Ridge/Wave Hunters  ; “Day 3 of the UKJG winter series gave us some ridge soaring!After a slack low cloud morning, the sun shined and the wind blew, allowing the juniors to have a great time!A few sore heads were spotted this morning after we hosted The Wee Bag Band! Another fantastic night had by all.”

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Cheers Ritz looking ahead at the 2-SEATER NATIONALS in TOCUMWAL starting on the 17th.
and to finish,… this beautiful picture I found on the net, shared by DG Aviation GmbH in 2014 so 10 years ago and it remains gorgeous.

Post 1.482 on February 7 2024

—–Soaring in Australia is still GOOD. From different fields,…. they still fly long tasks.
Mak flew first from Temora and had a flight from 705 and 784 on January 10 and 11 and then from Narromine with flights from 764 and 856 km. on January 30 and 31. All flights in the LS 8.
Beverley had a great flight on February 2, with Norm in the JS3/15m; 775.29 km..750 FAI triangle. Top job!!!
They had a 3-day-heat wave in Beverley, so many flights on this February 2 and 681 k. in a Discus a by Allan.
Tocumwal is busy with guests from Lumpy [TSC] and Eddie, [ SSC] even very “old” mates as Jochen and Stefan, who flew already in Tocumwal in the Riley-time.They come back for years ,as does Anton from Austria. Sadly enough his wife who always came to fly with him, passed away, but for sure we all remember Andrea as a lovely lady.
Good to see Ojars , from Melbourne ,flying again in Tocumwal, also a frequent guest in our past, this time with the ASH 31/21m.

Also great see USA pilot Cathy Fosha back in Lake Keepit where she flew the WWGC in 2020.
“Special thanks to Jacques [Graells …awfully nice guy and a good pilot who will be soon flying the Keepit Regatta] for allowing me to use his LOVELY JS-1-C here at Lake Keepit. First flight in type, so I took it easy with a little jaunt around the Keepit area – day was better than forecast. Strong smooth thermals overall, thought the airmass to the north of Kaputar was noticeably different than the area over Kaputar and to the east. New to me instrumentation revealing some observations of my flying that I think I knew were a thing, but are now backed up with data. Happy to be back, and happy to be doing some less intense flying after all the contesting.” by Kathy.
I noticed Ayala from Lasham also on that list. Great to see the girls return to the spot they flew a WWGC to . 22 Entered that regatta at this stage and it will be flown between February 24 and March 2.

“Lots of aviation happening here at TSC. We have visitors from Germany, Japan, China, Czech Republic and even down town Melbourne
Many personal bests are taking place with both times and distance for our pilots. All gliders from the Turbo Duo to the Boomerang are taking to the skies.
We’ve had some good days along with some softer blue days which has been great for teaching good thermal techniques.
Families flying together, first time flyers, pilots coming back to soaring after a long break, it’s all part of the fun.” Tocumwal Soaring Centre

I always loved that time of the year. Less busy, more time for guests and things to do, as there was no time in the busy months before. Not too hot as well, just very pleasant.
Now, I am super happy to see that gliding in Tocumwal is on it’s way back to what it was. Splendid!

——Of course on this side of the world the season starts soon too. On January 27, 530 km. was already flown from Lienz -Nikolsdorf, in a HpH 304 MS Shark. The season mostly starts there with good flights.
“The Lienz-Nikolsdorf airfield is located in the middle of the sunniest and most weather-resistant region in the Alps, approx. 10 km east of the sunny city of Lienz. Because of the excellent thermals, our region is considered an insider tip among glider pilots https://www.nikolsdorf.at/de/flugplatz-lienz-nikolsdorf.html
WeGlide mentioned ;”Gerhard Keuschnig did a nice warm-up in Lienz. The airfield is a season-opener for many ambitious pilots from all over Europe. Keep your heads up, it won’t be long anymore.“
Of course theere is wave as well as is ridge soaring.
Flight to be seen on ; https://www.weglide.org/flight/361014

——By the way the wave season is on too and in the UK they fly “HIGH”.
The BGA ladder showed a declared flight on February 2 by Chris from 770 km. in the ARCUS M.
In the end they flew 680 km on February 2 and started on Lleweny Park!!!!
Chris is one of the pilots/wave hunters running the Denbigh Ridge . They had some great wave days up to 19.000 ft, several diamond and gold badges.
“This is a group designed to give a ‘heads up’ on weather to potential wave/ridge run action.”
Denbigh Gliding
His comment;
“Needed another hour to do Milfield really. Very marginal on time, so we turned back while we knew we’d get back with no issues.“https://bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/112682

–—–Horsham Week started last Saturday on February 3- till 10. This is a serious ,but “at your-leisure” competition. Already for years and years on the soaring agenda in Australia.
31 Pilots in 3 classes.

Open /18 m with 10 pilots, Club with 18 and 15m/standard with 8 pilots. GOOD!!!!
But,….when the comps started with task 1 there were 6 in open/18m, 13 in club and 7 in standard/15 m.
Open/18m;
Task 1; a 2 hour AAT….237 km./111.69 km./h was the winning combi for Craig in the AS 33es, for 649 points. Diana and Ron decided to fly together in the Nimbus 3 DM and were on spot 4.
in the end 7 pilots flew and finished
Task 2; 426.44 km….that’s more like it!!!Good task. Ryan in the Nimbus 3 T was the best ;129.31 km./h , for 1000 points. Craig was runner up and Ron and Diana on spot 3.
Only 1 from 7 did not finish.No flying on Monday.
Task 3; 359.17 km…..Good speed …125.80 km./h by Bruce in the JS3 RES/18m. After 2, 3d places, he won the day for 942 points.Not a good day for Ron and Diana, they were “out” ,…….only just 3 k,..but safety first… .It cost them 600 points!!! The other 8 were in!
Task 4; 306.66 km……good to see Ryan is on his way up. I met him once at a Benalla competition when they were REALLY young and “they” told me then, that he and Matthew [Scutter] had a bright soaring future. Matthew proofed it already and I did not hear a lot about Ryan but here he is.
He won the day with a speed of 110.49 km./h , and leads his class now .
Only 5 have been scored by now , so that means also that the scores are still very preliminary

Standard/15 m;
Task 1; 2.15 AAT….7 started and 6 finished. Best for the day Gordon in the LS6; 226 km/93.44 km./h.
Task 2; 337.51 km…..Neil a local pilot [ASW 24WL] was on spot 6 on task 1, but won task 2;106.42 km./h!
Now 6 pilots started and finished. NO flying on Monday.
Task 3;  334.05 km…..a 1000 points-day in this class with a speed of 110 km./h by Jack in the ASW 20B.
Tim, normal a scorer at Nationals/comps, flew too so 7 and all finished.
Task 4; 305.88 km…….Neil is in the right flow now and won the day wit a speed of 90.38 km./h. This day 5 started and 1 was out after 33 km. He is runner up now in the overall scores bur 200 points behind Jack.

club class; in the end they had 13 participants.
task 1; 2.30 AAT...218 km /84.56 km./h was the best daily result for Arnold in his Pegase. George [St Cirrus] was runner up in his first comps since years.
Task 2; 3.30 AAT ….I felt for the pilots in the “little gliders”! Long retrieves, when things go wrong, though the last leg was the longest, 140 km, depending how far you go in the circle,…. so no worries.
From 13 starters 11 finished.
Arnold, in his Pegase, was the best again; 333 km/95.13 km./h.
No flying on Monday.

Task 3; 3 hour AAT..…Steve in the Mosquito flew as the only pilot in this class over 100 km./h.and won the day; 320.74 km. /100.30 km./h.
Arnold was 4th. Not a good day for George he out landed and dropped from 2 overall to 6.
15 Started and 3 did not finish.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT….. another 3 hour AAT with starts between 13.54 and 14.51 and all 14 starters finished. Steve flew 285 km /91.70 km./h and with that he earned another 1000 points for his Mosquito. He leads by now overall but the difference with Arnold who won 2 days as well, is only 38 points , but still 3 days to go.

—-Ostrow is well known for good comps and excellent PR.
They host the 5th FAI 13.5 m WGC and the 13th JWGC , this year.
Of course I will follow it for you.
On FB they introduce already the several teams. Good on them.
Dates: 13/7/24 – 27/7/24.
At this stage 21 have entered in club and 14 in Standard.

Today the New Zealand CLUB CLASS NATIONALS started with a 1 hour AAT, but it looks it was not flown. More about them in my next post. The comps are flown from  Papawai and continue till February 15.

——South Africa’s Worchester and Potchefstroom had flights up to nearly and just over 500 km…[567 by Katrin Senne in JS 3] not bad either for this time of their year, in Arcus and Duo Discus.
And yesterday USA pilot Brad flew in the Ventusv 2CM/18m a distance of 837 km.from Worcester.

CU next Wednesday

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.481 on January 31 2024 already the last day of the first month of 2024,…time flies.

–—– The Australian Nationals had only one more day.And that was straight away the last day on Friday.
Overall leader with 1 day to go shared his thoughts about the week. Here is Pete;
“After 2 days off due to dismal grey and wet conditions we are up to the final day of the multiclass national gliding championships at Benalla – one to be remembered for low and weak conditions. I don’t think I’ve ever flown so many low tasks in a row – so much so that I’m getting comfortable cruising at 100 knots when below 2000 feet above the ground. I really shouldn’t be since there’s not much between that ‘comfort’ and being on the ground. Some of the time the top of climbs has been 3000 feet or less so as soon as we left a climb we are looking for the next one. Pretty tough finding any sort of rhythm but it’s the same for all of us. I’ve been lucky so far and found the climbs when I needed them – right up to the last day with a near disastrous start when I went through the start line and found absolutely nothing until I was at 900 feet, so had to take the poor offering and wasted a lot of time. Anyway, some points lost but I still retained the overall competition lead.
The final day tomorrow promises to be a reasonable soaring day with some stronger climbs but 15-20 knots of wind to contend with. We might even see 6000 feet.
It’s a bit of a sad day since after owning it 10 years it will be my last flight in my ASG29 – it’s heading off to a new owner in WA. But with my current lead of 119 points I hope to finish on a high with a competition win.”
Bruce added;”
“There’s still hope for a final day tomorrow, though it looks like it will only be south of the river, and it will be breezy.
A shame, but I don’t have any higher level contacts to change the weather.”

TASK 8 out of 11 days and 6 flyable days: January 26 AUSTRALIA DAY!!!!
Nice to know that on this special day one of the most important ladies in soaring, Beryl Hartley, in Narromine , has been awarded Narromine Citizen Of The Year. Well done and very much deserved!!!!Congratulations Beryl.
More GRAND LADIES in our sport but this time from Benalla; Vivienne Drew; she got an OAM [ medal of the Order of Australia] for her services to gliding.
Congratulations too.I have the honor to know them both.
Very last day and luckily flyable.
Overall scores with 1 day to go; 1. Pete [Temple]…4.599 p 2. Bruce [Taylor]…4.476 p. and 3. Greg [Beecroft].4.467 p.
A racing task from  370.92 km was set and flown by 12 of the 14 starters.
David [Jansen] in his ASG 32MI was the daily best and “got” the 1000 points for a speed of 123.67 km./h.
Interesting;finally the 3 open class gliders were on this last day in the top 3.
Pete was on spot 7 and Bruce on spot 6, good enough to remain on the top spots overall.
Bruce for the last time:”
We’re all done and dusted then! Today was slightly frustrating for me, but I won’t be too sad about it as I have finished in a strong second place overall. It was windy and rather low, with plenty of cumulus for a change. I chose a line that appeared to be a good solid-looking street and it seemed to start slightly right of our first upwind leg, but was swinging back on track as far ahead as I could see. But as I began running that way another street out to the left was beginning to cook up, so I pulled up and returned for a re-start.
What a smoking first leg that was! It was all straight flying except for a short 5 knot top up along the way, and I rounded the turn and immediately connected with a good climb to head cross-wind. And so it continued for more than about 2/3rds of the task, which had a lot of turn points today.”
the full story on Taylor’s Gliding Page

Overall results after 6 out of 11 days in open class;
1. Pete Temple in ASG 29 with 5,390 points.
2. Bruce Taylor in ASG 29E with 5,277 p.
3. Greg Beecroft in LS 8 with 5,242 p.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

The last words are for Pete;
“It’s been a bit hectic packing up and travelling home to post before now. I finished champion in the combined 18m and open class. My 12th national championship win – most of them at Benalla so it’s definitely a happy hunting ground for me.
Thanks to the Gliding Club of Victoria team running the competition; thanks to my fellow competitors for the safe and tough competition in the challenging weather; and of course thanks to Mandy for supporting and crewing for me. I look forward to defending the title next year in my new JS3.”

—————————————————————-

–—–The NZ Nationals were only a tad more lucky with the weather. On January 24 and 25 they had tasks in both classes. In my last post I wrote that Brett and Keith [open] had equal 1000 points on that 3 hour AAT day and Henry and Davy [racing] got NO points for their flown 2.45 AAT.
Open class;
Task 6; 2.45 AAT.…another challenging/marginal day and only 2 pilots managed to finish, Keith and Tim [Bromhead] [both overall leaders as 1 and 2], for 280 and 272 points. Brett lost as number 4 a total of 151 points.
Starts between 14.20 and 15. 55!!!!
Task 7; 369.12 km……Keith in his ASW 27 /18E had a top-day….He was the only one flying over 100 km./h and winner of the day with 1000 points followed by Tim [Ventus CT] and Brett [JS3] AND good old Tony Van Dyk.[ASG 27/18E]
“ It was meant to be a blue day but there were clouds to the north on task marking the way but the conditions were very soft in areas and the speeds were not achieved in either class. Once again some struggled and there were land-outs on track and some  before the start. In all it was a good day.”
One more day to go…?????????
Task 8; 1 hour AAT,…you see they tried hard BUT, author David Austin mentioned;
“Another day of low cloud and rain. Unfortunately we have had to cancel the day.”
There was no task 8 so the overall scores after 4 of 9 days;
1. Keith Essex in ASW 27-18E with 2,681 points.
2. Tim Bromhead in Ventus 2CT with 2,502 p.
3. David Johnson in Discus 2CT with 2,172 p.

Racing class;
Task 6; 2.30 AAT …3 pilots from the 11 “starters” managed to finish. Georg in the Duo Discus with 189 km / 73.80 km./h. And Mark in his St Libelle [217 km/ 54.51 km./h It took him nearly 4 hours [3.58.51 km./h] to achieve this, but he hold on !!!!!David in the SZD -55-1 was the third with 170 km/51.53 km./h.
Chapeau for these 3 pilots!!!!
Task 7; 251.93 km……This time it was Nigel in the Duo Discus, winning the day . Only 5 finished so a lot of outlandings again and not all of the pilots started.
Good to see Mark [Wilson] in the Libelle “holds on!!!” He leads the racing class at the moment.
Also in this class task 7 was the last one, so the
OVERALL scores are;
1. Mark Wilson in St Libelle with 1,503 points.
2. David Moody in SZD 55-1 with 1,268 p.
3. John Robertson in Discus 2B with 1,238 p.

Congratulations to ALL.

—————————————————–

–—–Western Cape Regionals from January 20 -27 continued after 2 NO TASK-days and 1 flown task with 2 racing tasks on the 24th and 25th in open class.
Open;
task 4; 348.74 km…flying day 2…..Oscar was in the mood and raced to the daily victory; 156.17 km./h. The ARCUS M with Nick and John did not start the rest , 10 pilots 1HC, did. Christian Hynek from Austria used his engine after 46 km, “- tried out the handling of the jet,involuntarily today” and took the very nice picture below.
task 5; 328.05 km…..was won by HC pilot Tokkie [Pieter Carstens] in the LS 4.…speed 169.44 km./h!!!!!!
He can’t be number 1 so that honor was for Peter Farrell in a JS3 ; 175.40 km./h!!!!

According to Christian the magic was shown on this task 3; “3rd competition day in Worcester: You think you’re more ahead with an average of 166 kph, but an LS4 with an average of 169 kph shows you where the magic happens, the red line at 180 kph!” He flew around with 166.17 km./h in the JS1/18m.
Task 6; 525.87 km….great to see Sven [Olivier] in his ASW 27 on top of the daily list with 164.72 km./h. He started later than the rest.” I really enjoyed this day win in Western Cape Regionals.”
Oscar was on spot 5 [speed 148.69 km./h]
7 Started and finished.
Task 7; 2 hour AAT…with smoke due to fires at Wolseley…!!!!!! Oscar won the day with 398 km and with that distance there must be good speed too; it was 166.95 km./h!!!!
10 started and 2 were “out”.
“Last competition day in Worcester, high and fast thermal into the Karoo … it was wonderful” by Christian who was 3d for the day.

The Sports class had only 2 participants and each of them won a day.In the end Laurens [Goudriaan] in ASG 32 was runner up with 2.009 p and winner was Brad Jackson from the USA in Ventus 2CM/18 m with 2.472 points.

Overall scores in open after 5 out of 7 pretty fast days:
Fast days as in…….task 1; 170 km./h . Task 4; 156 km./h. Task 5; 169 km./h. Task 6 ;164.72 km./h Task 7; 167 km./h.
1. Oscar Goudriaan in JS 3 /18m with 3,588 points.
2. Rene Lans in JS 1 Cjet/18m with 3,364 p
3. Andreas Spielmann from Switzerland in JS3 with 3,098 p.
Here they are ,all happy chappies!
As shared by streckenflug.at

OTHER NEWS:
–—–Bitterwasser shared their stats;
Bitterwasser statistics for the 2023 / 2024 season
117 satisfied pilots reported 778 beautiful flights in the OLC and flew 624 853 km (667 384 points). On average 800 km and 858 points per flight.
A total of 252 flights were longer than 1000 km. 2 of them > 1400 km, 9 > 1300 km, 39 > 1200 km, 57 > 1100 km, 145 >1000 km.
These large flights were possible from the beginning to the end of the season. Accumulations at certain times were due to the number of pilots.
Elmar Fischer flew a total of 36700 km and almost 40000 points with 55 launches and 312 hours.
The fastest flight >1000km was made by Ilka Elster-Back and Holger Back with average speed of 160.13 km/h
Simon Briel made the longest flight with 1413 km and Niels Fecker flew with Hans Ulrich Meuters the highest scoring flight with 1541 points.
(by Dirk Skura, Quelle OLC)”

As every year I add my statistics looking at the OLC on January 24 2024.
Most busy airfields;
1. Bitterwasser ; with 117 pilots during 779 flights ; 624.853,94 km.
2. Veronica ; with 84 pilots during 587 flights; 436.641,89 km.
3. Kiripotib; with 90 pilots during 627 flights; 425.968,35 km.
4. Pokweni; with 39 pilots during 410 flights; 299.432,42 km.
5. Worcester; with 32 pilots during 148 flights; 91.286,68 km.

5 Pilots REALLY flew many hours during many flights, so stats of all flights;
1. Elmar Erik Fischer ; 55 flights and 36.745,90 km.
2. Garry Coppin; 45 flights and 31.377,44 km.
3. Nicolas Bennett; 40 flights and 29.022,83 km.
4. Axel Nuss; 37 flights and 28.735,78 km.
5. Dmytry Borovyk; 38 flights and 26.945,57 km.

Speed OLC CHAMPION:
1. Juan Pablo Vertura [Argentina] ; 1.028,18 points. On 18 -11 2023 he flew 231.69 km./h !!!
2. Reinhard Schramme [Germany] ; 985.88 p. On January 5 he flew 154.48 km./h.
3. Alejandro Pettenazza [Argentina] ;972.85 p. On December 1 he flew 198.75 km./h.

—-Kiripotib said farewell to their last guests as well;
“Days at Kiripotib fly by too quickly, another season is over. Many thanks to all Kiripotib friends who made the last three months something very special again.We look forward to welcoming you back to Namibia in autumn/winter.”
They had 90 guests, making 627 flights and flying 425.968,35 km!!!
Next years bookings can be done on kiripotib-soaring.com/en/contact/

——-The latest IGC ranking list is studied by Adam and he shared it with us. He also wrote a long article on the low numbers on comps,interesting reading on ;Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

—-VERY INTERESTING flight on January 26 and the first 1000 km [wave ] flight in Europe has been flown from Romania from the airfield Targu Jiu in the mighty ARCUS M over the Făgăraş mountains
Pilots Nicolae and Iulian flew 1074 km speed 126 km./h.
“As they say in their own words: “It’s a milestone for us, long studied wave patterns come out to light… There is great potential for long flights in the Carpathians, gliding is such a beautiful sport, I can’t wait to explore and discover more“ WeGlide
On both WeGlide [https://www.weglide.org/flight/360846] and the OLC https://www.weglide.org/flight/360846 you find many pictures!!!!

——Last weekend some female Aussie pilots had a long AUSTRALIA weekend of flying in the gorgeous area of Mount Beauty.
“Day 1 of Rockettes x Victorian Soaring Association Women’s Soaring in the hills weekend. 18 flights and 10 girls got to fly yesterday. Woohoo“
Picture shared by Rockettes 

That’s it for now. The last couple of days it was cold here, but sunny and the days really are getting longer. Spring is around the corner. Slowly we can look ahead of MORE GOOD SOARING in Europe!!!!
You can already apply for the SUMMER COMPS here in The Netherlands between July 13 -19-/2024.

VERY INTERESTING; The FAI SGP at Terlet in May 2025 [ 11-17] for 18 m. gliders can only accept 20 participants. At this stage they have 34 preliminary bookings. SO THERE IS INTEREST IN this kind of soaring.

The Horsham Coaching week has started which means that Horsham Week, one of the last comps in the down under season is around the corner. Last one this season is the 2 seater NATIONAL championship at Tocumwal.[ February 17-24]
The 2024 Lake Keepit Regatta is between February 27 and March 4 .

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.480 on January 24 2024

Australian Nationals
Benalla
16 January 2024 – 26 January 2024

In my last post you could read what Bruce thinks about comps nowadays in Australia and it looks ,if world wide, comps lack participants.
If you look at Namibia …there are MANY PILOTS , ALL ENJOYING THEIR LONG DISTANCE TASKS WITHOUT SCORES. Are the goals for pilots different nowadays???Is pure pleasure more satisfying?
OR,…are WEGLIDE points or from the OLC more important, a bit of extra status when you end on top in the end of the day????
Luckily in several countries young ones are rising and shining ,so there might be still a future.
Matthew Scutter, CD from the last Joeyglide mentioned :
“I had the privilege to be the contest director for this great event – which is so important for the longevity of gliding in Australia.
More support is needed, but ahead of money & volunteers, the one thing the movement needs more than anything else is more juniors! If you have young pilots at your gliding club, be sure to let them know about JoeyGlide and the opportunities it offers!
Alongside the contest is a parallel ab-initio and coaching program ready to develop young pilots into great pilots, and there is a great track record of doing exactly that.“

As you heard/read Sebastian Kawa was not all that happy at the last WGC in Narromine . He was the “target-to-be-chased” every day!!!
I do understand Sebastian; you run out of ideas when to start and how to surprise the followers.
The IGC should really look into this matter at their next meeting, as PEV’s are for sure not enough.

Back to Benalla/Australia.
SO,…..Only “25 pilots” for 18m, open, 15m and standard class is not good.
It’s even worse,….as, when you look at 18 m. , you see 11 pilots and only David Jansen,[ASG 32MI] Phillip Ritchie in the Quintus , Ryan Driscoll in the Nimbus 3/25.5 m are added for open .
So 14 pilots in total!!!!!
I have been at Benalla at several Nationals, 1 even in which Bruce Brockhoff [ R.I.P.] got father and he still continued, with more than 50 pilots. They all wanted to be part of the nationals and,…qualifying for World comps. A bit different now!
I concentrate on open, so I have them ALL.
Task 1; 3.30 AAT.…. was flown and won by Bruce Taylor.In open by David Jansen.
No task on January 17.
Task 2 on January 18 ;3.30 AAT…..Phillip Ritchie in the Quintus started as the only 1, after 2PM. The rest around 1.30.
395.33km. was the best distance in combi with the time for a speed of 112.95 km./h.AND,….1000 points.
Pete [Temple] was the winner. Ryan [Driscoll ] in the Nimbus 3 was runner up .
David and Bruce had a less good day on spot 8 and 9 loosing more than 200 points, but,..they have only just started the comps.
Here is Bruce;”Today was very challenging. Strong post-frontal wind turned the sky into a washing machine and made it hard to figure where the climbs were, then difficult to work them when you did find one. My pattern-seeking mind was all awry and a number of times I found myself low, with no idea how I got there, and even less idea of how I might get up again!“
Much more on Taylor’s Gliding Page
Also a picture from AFTER the flight when it looked good.

Task 3; 3 hour AAT.…318 km./95.28 km./h. The speed says enough ,….another challenging day but Bruce won and was more happy with himself.
“It was a hard day, blue, low, and variable climbs, but I had a picture in my head of what was happening and I flew with much more confidence.” more on Taylor’s Gliding Page
Lumpy was runner up , Greg Beecroft 3d and it was a bit of an off-day for Pete, though he flew 312 km/89.27 km./h. he finished on spot 7.
Pete still leads overall followed a bit closer now by Bruce, Greg and Lumpy.
Task 4; was a 3 hour AAT but the day was CANCELLED.
Bruce;”Unfortunately today had to be cancelled. A big mass of high and mid-level cloud spread into the area overnight, and there was some hope that we might get a gap around midday to get away, but it just kept coming.
The next few days look hopeful, but there will be a few challenging flights coming before we finish. There has been so much rain this season and everywhere we go there is plenty of water visible on the ground. It’s a sure thing that we aren’t going to get any booming weather.”
In the East of Australia at Lake Keepit, Lasham pilot Andy Aveling flew in the Duo Discus XT, a distance of 802 km/
Task 5; 240,69 km…..a race won by Pete but a very slow “race”;87.90 km./h. Good to see Norm [Bloch] as runner up and open class pilot David was 3d.
ONLY 12 started and from them 7 finished.
Bruce was one of them on spot 4 with penalty points for a too low finish but as he wrote “I struggled back a bit behind and just a bit low to get over the finish circle. There was nothing left to get that last 150 feet of altitude, and searching further in dead air and a steady headwind was going to cost too much time, so I accepted the height penalty as a better option.”
Bruce;
“a horrible blue sky, the wind blowing, and cold, wet ground. Challenging? You bet. But the tough days are fun in their own way.” the full interesting story on Taylor’s Gliding Page
Task 6 ; cancelled.…“We really are having a run of very marginal weather.”
Task 7; 351.50 km…….Another racing task and Greg in the LS8, is slowly on his way to the overall top. Task 7 was his!!!! Speed 103.75 km./h. [handicap 1010] Norm , runner up, was the fastest in the JS3 ; 112.09 km./h.[handicap 1110]
Both are with Pete in the race for the top-spots!
Pete was on spot 7, still with 4.549 on top overall. Bruce 5th for the day, now has 4.433 points , Greg 4.427 and Norm 4.281 p.
12 Started and finished in open class.
Bruce about the day:”a few small cumulus arrived unexpectedly. By the time we started they had mostly gone. As usual the trip north as far as the river was very challenging, with a couple of 3-4 knot climbs from quite low.” the full story on Taylor’s Gliding Page
Task 8; today…. no flying Bruce mentioned in his post yesterday “Looks like we may only fly one more day on Friday… we’ll see.”
And it is only Wednesday now.
More next week.

———————————————————————

70-thies NATIONALS in open and club in Argentina[ continued].
 6 January 2024 – 19 January 2024

I left you on Wednesday January 17 when they, in Tres Arroyos , started in
club class;
Task 10; 3.15 AAT.…4 x an ASW 20 in the top with Martin Bossart as daily winner and Felipe Girado as runner up; 385.36 km/ 117.85 km./h. for 384.93 km/ 117.60 km./h.
All 23 started and finished!!!!
In open from 3, only 1 pilot was left over to fly; Juan Pablo Verdura; 3 hour AAT and he flew 414.58 km/ 138.19 km./h.
Task 11; 2 hour AAT,……173 km/84.14 km./h. for Matias Lanzinetti in his ASW 20. Lucio Zanassi was runner up bringing him from spot 3 to 2 for the moment.
Javier was 4th and Felipe 7th.
Task 12; racing task 280.22 km….Last day with 116.12 km./h Felipe won the day. Javier was 3d and only lost 12 daily points .But what did Lucio do?
He was 10th and lost his runner up spot with ONE POINT to Felipe!!!!!
Only 20 pilots started on this last day.

Overall scores after 9 out of 14 days;
1. Javier Gaude in DG 200 with 6,265 points.
2. Felipe Girado in ASW 20 with 6,010 p.
3. Lucio Zanassi in ASW 20 with 6,009 p. ONE POINT!!!!!!

In open class only Juan Pablo Verdura, was still flying , so no surprise he won in his Ventus 2cxM/18 m. with 6,829 points.
Congratulations to ALL.

—————————————————————-

2023/2024 Multi Class Nationals in New Zealand
19 January 2024 – 28 January 2024

From Taupo, in a very beautiful area around Lake Taupo, an area I visited with John {Roake] [R.I.P.] and his wife Chris, the Nationals started in 2 classes with 35 pilots.
On January 19 they had a 2 hour AAT as practice but it was not flown.

Open;
Task 1; . Low cloud. Rain.” Why do these words so often go together?? “David Austin [blogger].
So no flying.
Task 2; 1 hour AAT….. from 14 only 2 finished Keith [Essex in an ASW 27/18E] and David Todd in Ventus 2CT. Keith flew 324 km/82.71 km./h and David 303 km/ 67.79 km./h. VERY challenging day with lot’s of engine starts or road retrieves!!!!
Then the news from the organizers on January 22 :”It was decided early that the day was to be cancelled due to weather. However, after this front goes through the rest of the week is looking good. We wait, and wait as soaring pilots do.”
SO,..no task 3 or 4 in both classes. BUT,……
Task 5; today……3 hour AAT….was a good one again …AND,…a 1000 points-day…. AND, for 2 pilots!!!!!Brett Hunter in his JS 3 AND Keith Essex in the ASW 27 /18E…both had 90 km./h for a flight from 274/270 km.
14 started and 8 finished.

Racing;
Task 1; they look forward to hopefully better weather tomorrow.
Task 2; 1 hour AAT....in the end 12 started and 6 finished. Daily winner,John Robertson in a Discus 2b with 230 km/ 65.88 km./h.
Task 5; today…2.45 AAT, more challenging for this class, as from the 17 pilots only 2 finished and that was not enough to make it a valid day!!!!
The Discus B and SZD 55-1 pilots, Henry Miller and David Moody, flew 200 km with a speed of just over 70 km . They started and finished,for ZERO points; worthwhile mentioning!!!!

———————————————————————

The WESTERN CAPE REGIONALS 2024 CAPE GAUNTLET
Worcester 20 January 2024 – 27 January 2024

Would the magic from Worcester be available this week?????
Yes ,……straight away I read; 40 dgr.C at the ground and 4000 m base, with the words “WorcesterMagic”.
They had a good practice day on January 20 with a racing task from 422.41 km. in open class [ 10 pilots plus 1HC pilot,..Tokkie in an LS4] and 330.76km in sports class.[2 pilots]
Open class;
Task 1 ; 433.61 km…..In this class a pilot from Switzerland, from Austria , from the UK and a combi team from the USA and N.Z. [Bennett and Coutts] in the ARCUS M.
BY FAR the FASTEST was Oscar [Goudriaan] in his JS3!!! What about 170.81 km./h. 7 pilots flew over 160 km./h and the LS 4 144.32 km./h.
I guess Austrian pilot Christian Hynek or his crew are writing for streckenflug.at
“All 10 pilots in my class flew the 400 km task without circles today (150-170 km/h average)!”
NO…Task ;on January 22 and 23….24. so the magic has stopped, most probably till after the last flying day. A pity.
Sportsclass;
Task 1; 334.50 km..only 2 participants Laurens {Goudriaan] in ASG 32 and from the USA Brad Jackson in Ventus 2CM/18m Brad won and Laurens was out after 306 km.

————————————————————————-

—–Talking about New Zealand ; they had one of those epic flights with Norbert Scarlat & Justin Wills flying the DUO DISCUS over 1.047 km, with a speed of 103 km,./h NO not in wave but just pure thermals.
Norbert mentioned;”What a fantastic day in New Zealand. Probably the first predeclared 1000k done in NZ using only thermals and also the first one for me. It was a bit difficult in the morning, but it improved once we were past Tekapo. Amazing convergence in the north. Thank you Justin, I think this was one of our best flight we ever done.”
It took them 10 hours and 11 minutes.
You have to see for yourself how they flew by heading over to WeGlide to see the full flight…with pictures: https://www.weglide.org/flight/359625

—–Namibia ,more specific Bitterwasser, is now looking back at their season.
I was impressed to see how long it went on.
“Season finale
The season in Bitterwasser is slowly drawing to a close.
One by one, the gliders are being loaded into the containers. And still some teams fly over 1000 kilometers every day.
The results of the whole season are impressive! Over 230 flights have already exceeded the 1000 kilometer mark.
January has also allowed a lot more distance to be covered. So far, the strongest days in January have been 5.1.24 and 14.1.24 with 10 flights over 1000 kilometers each. And in the meantime, the thermals also showed their best side.
The clouds developed early, the bases were high and the temperature often rose above 35 degrees.
Well over 580,000 kilometers were flown over Namibia from Bitterwasser.
The best flying day this season was 22.12.23, when Simon Briel flew a total of 1413 kilometers, closely followed by Björn Gintzel with 1402 kilometers. Simon Briel thus covered the longest distance this season. Nils Fecker also managed an incredible distance of 1375 kilometers on this day. A total of 9 other pilots exceeded the 1000 kilometer mark.”

On January 18 still 9 Namibian 1000 km-flights!!!!!

My Lasham mates Roy and Patrick were more than happy in Bitterwasser and another 3 days in Kiripotib and shared the next message:
“Thank you to Bitterwasser Lodge & Flying Centre and Kiripotib Soaring for 3 weeks of super flying in Namibia and especially to my partner in crime, Patrick Naegeli, for the excellent company.
14.600 km and 96 hours flying (yes double checked those numbers and it really is 152 km/hour average!}.”
—-Kiripotib had a superb time too. Lasham pilot Garry Coppin shared the next words :”Well that just about wraps up part 2 of my Namibia season. Thoroughly enjoyable time flying with friends and guests in an area made for glider pilots.
A total of 35,000km & 325hrs flown now means it is time to have a little rest
My goodness me that “sounds” like WORKING!!!!

AND,…they were still flying long tasks, ….On January 19 still a flight from 1.335.63[ 1.022.17 km FAI] in the ARCUS M and the mighty EB 28 flew 1.373.78 km.with Reinhard Schramme in it.
Reinhard is since October 25 in Bitterwasser and only had a “holiday” from soaring in December, to be back again on January 4 and since then he had 15 flights and 10 over 1000 km.
This flight on January 19 was his best for the season and late in their season too.
And who said that the “good” season is “only between half of November till max. half of January???
Still big showers already, but they can fly around them.
On January 21; still 4 over 1000 km flights one even 1.266 km, again by Reinhard /Bernd Goretzki and in an ASH 31 a declared 1000 triangle by Frank Fuchs.
From Veronica in the TWIN SHARK a DECLARED flight from 1.042 km/ FAI 10008,14 km. by Czech pilot Jan Kantor .

—–For my Aussie mates;
Flying a 2-seater is getting more and more popular. When you look at Namibia, where the pilots fly together with a former or current champion , to learn from them , or at comps where younger pilots take elderly pilots to still enjoy competition flying, or “just” husband and wife or mates ,for a lovely trip.
Australian Two Seat Nationals
This year the open two seat has been changed to “The Sports two seat Nationals”
So you can enter with everything from a Nimbus 4dm to ASK21Mi, so this can be a lot of fun …. Also, a great coaching opportunity !
The 20 mtr Two Seat Nationals is still the same format as before and the Handicaps have been reviewed for the Duo’s and DG’S…. so round up some mates and come along.
We have kept the entry fee to a minimum to encourage more entries.
The entries will be open very soon via the Tocumwal Soaring Webpage, if you have any questions, contact us on info@tocumwalsoaring.com

AND,…more announcements ,this time already for the next season down under;
“Information for next SkyRace GP
The SkyRace GP will again be held at Leeton, NSW
Dates :
27th December 2024 to 5th of January 2025
The 27th and 28th will be practice days, with the first official competition day held on the 29th of December allowing for an 8 day event.
Classes :
F1 Class – will remain the same
F2 Class – will allow entrants from LS-4 to Duo Discus & everything in between.
For a full list of eligible gliders for both classes, please check out the Glider Eligibility section on this page https://skyrace.com.au/entry-form/

CU next week,
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.479 on January 17 2024

Sky race GRAND PRIX 2024
January 3 January 12 2024 at Leeton.

I left you when they had 2 more days to go. And after the rain and the good weather they continued with day 8 on flying day 4.
Formula 1 class;
Task 8; 221.2 km…..good day for Kevin or Sarah sharing the St. Jantar 2; speed 111 km./h. Quite a bit faster than runner up Scott with 106 km./h.
Jasper was on spot 4 behind Nick , with 103.1 km./h. One more day to go
Task 9; 178.2 km…..Final day ….and launch is complete!!!!
The F1 Start Gate opened at 14:25 with a maximum height of 5500 feet and speed below 90 knots.
And a nice win for Nick with 101.7 km./h the only one over 100 km./h.
From 9 days 5 were flown with Scott winning 2 days and on the other days , each day another daily winner. Nice.
Jasper, who is a member of the Dutch junior squad ,flew, after he helped out at Narromine, a 600 km flight from Tocumwal in the Cirrus , to travel on to Leeton.
His last day in Leeton, was super exciting. Scott and he flew a 40 km. final glide together tip on tip , but Scott just moved his fuselage a tad earlier over the finish line.
First soaring hours for Jasper in Australia and he loved it. Specially this GP-kind-of-competition in gliders of the 70 -ties , still flying over 100 km./h. “Relative short tasks, during the best part of the day create a good mix between soaring and fun on the ground.” [ Jasper.]

Final results in FORMULA 1 class;
1. Scott Lennon in St Libelle with 37 points.
2. Jasper Jansen in St Libelle with 33 p.
3. Nick Gilbert in St Cirrus with 21 p.

Formula 2 class;
Task 8; 259.8 km….. Jack in his ASW 20 was clearly faster than the rest; 107.2 km./h. Spot 3 was for Tony with 98.8 km./h One day to go between the 2 of them….
Tony;”The towing was a challenge today and the lift around the airport was tough. I had to get a relight and the gate opened right as I was landing. So I ended up starting the task low and 35 minutes after the gate opened.
It was an awesome soaring day with high bases and strong climbs. I had three 8 knotters. I had good speed, but with grand prix scoring, gave up 3 points. I’m now 1 point behind with tomorrow being the last day.“

Task 9; 238.1 km….…The F2 Start Gate opened at 14:45 with a maximum height of 6500 and speed below 90 knots.
It was close on that last day but Jack won with 119.7 km./h . Jack won 4 from the 5 days!!!
Tony flew around with 116.5 km./h and won 1 day.
He mentioned;”I learned today that there is an extra bonus point for winning the final day on top of the normal bonus point for a day win, which means that no matter what might have happened yesterday, today was a must win.
Either way I knew I had to win the day today to win the contest. I had an amazing flight and went absolutely flat out landing completely exhausted after only 2 hours on task. And lost by 2 SECONDS! It was an incredible finish but I was on the receiving end so congrats to my Aussie crew and guardian angel Jack Hart who even though he landed out the first day came back to win the contest.“

Overall scores in Formula 2 class;
1. Jack Hart in ASW 20 with 22 points
2. Tony Condon in Discus B with 18 p.
3. Steve Jinks in Mosquito with 10 p.

Great see that ,with such a low budget ,but good competition, our “old” gliders can perform on high level. Pure gliders…it still remains a “dream” from the past.
AND….This comp is all about fun and we had it in spades![Steve Jinks]
” that’s a wrap!!!”[organizers]

Where would they be without Charlie ,[see picture] who combines fun and seriousness and who says THANK you to all who helped to make this competition possible and to my surprise even me
“Thank you also to Ritz de Luij who gave the best overall commentary. Sadly, she wasn’t in Leeton, but did a fantastic job of collating everything she found from her many sources.” Very kind of him.
AND more important….THANK YOU to Nick Gilbert and Charlie I’Anson. None of this would happen without them. They make it look easy and relaxed, but a lot of work goes into making Skyrace happen all year and at the comp.”

Congratulations to ALL.

—————————————————————-¹
JoeyGlide 2024
Narromine…… 7 January 2024 – 13 January 2024

Picture shared by Narrogin Gliding Club in Western Australia.
Courtesy Joshua Geerlings.

The young ones at Narromine had rain, storms around, sunshine and great cu’s all in one week time.
We saw already on task 1, [2.30 AAT] that they had to fly with lot’s of water on the ground, had to avoid the storms , found good lift but then…… were back at new problems with incoming storms rolling through the task area.
Not too easy for the 6 under 25 year old pilots, but “great lessons in soaring life”.
Task 1 [2.30 AAT] was won by Kengo in an LS 4.
Task 2 [ 3 hour AAT] won by Joshua in the LS 4. All 6 flew the task as did their coaches Ryan in Nimbus 3 [25.5 m] and Jayden in Kestrel 17.
Now with 3 days to go we continue where we left them.
Task 3; 3.15 AAT….Joshua Geerlings [LS4b] won the day with 321.37 km speed 90.91 km./h. Dress up day in Hawaii clothes,.…. a fun thing for the youngsters.
AAT to the South and flown by all but Kengo in his LS 4, who won task 1. Only ONE out,…HC pilot Ryan in the Nimbus 3.
Here is Joshua; “well another very interesting day!! my plan was to start late once again, but once I was in the sky I could see that the clouds were already overdeveloping. So decided to start 45 minutes earlier than anticipated on the eastern side of the start line, so I could once again run the ridges into the first turn point which worked well again. Coming into the first turn the over-development was thick and lots of shade on the ground, I decided to turn early and stay in the sunlight and rather go deeper into the second turn which worked out well. The second leg was slightly softer and I decided to stick with the weaker climbs and not get into trouble today. I had to go right to the edge of the second circle in order to get my timing right. On the final leg I managed to find 3 good climbs that got me to final glide. As I approached Narromine it became abundantly clear that I should have started 5 minutes earlier, as a huge thunderstorm was just about to hit the airfield! I decided to stick my nose down and race for the runway hoping to get there before I hit the storm. I turned onto finals doing just over 100kts, looking at all the dust being picked up! I kept to 100kts to try and land long so the glider behind me had room, then I hit the storm which had such a vicious down draft that I hit the canopy, and couple seconds later was in ground affect 20 metres short of the runway doing 50kts this is why I always keep heaps of speed when landing into a storm. All in all very happy with the day and glad I decided to start early.”
Pfffff, glad I am not his mum…..I hate downdrafts, they are a really HEAVY /SCARY/POWERFUL weather phenomena.
Picture below , Josh in the storm, shared by Narrogin Gliding Club

Task 4; 3 hour AAT, with one more day to go….
Joshua, firmly supported by his club members from the Narrogin Gliding Club won another day. He flew 291.46 km/ speed 982,63 km./h.
All 11 started and finished!
Task 5 ;  309.26 km…a racing task to define the winners , though Joshua is a class apart. He won again. Except for task 1 he won the rest of the days. Anoushka de Chelard , [good to see a young female pilot as well]was runner up and moved up to spot 3 overall. Good on her.
After 5 out of 7 days the winners are;
1. Joshua Geerlings in LS 4b with 4,779 points.
2. Jason Tang in Discus CS with winglets 3,667 p.
3. Anoushka de Chelard in St. Cirrus with 3,349 p.

Aidin Curtis did a great job as CD as PR entertainer and on top of that he flew the tasks!!!Great job!!!
Congrats to all young ones!

—————————————————–

——-Between January 6 and 13 2024 there are 3 different National Comps in Chile from Municipal de Vitacura and I concentrate on Cordillera with 12 pilots.
They had long tasks and fast, great soaring weather .
They started with a practice day on January 6 and
Task 1 on January 7 was a 3.30 AAT. Daily winner CARLOS ROCCA  in Ventus 2cxa /15 m.; 469.88 km/speed 134.25 km./h.
From 11 6 finished.
Task 2; 3.15 AAT….with 534.79 km /speed 159.73 km./h and exceptional good day specially for Carlos as he won again. All 12 started AND finished!!!
Task 3; 3.30 AAT…and it looks like the ” Carlos Rocca comps” …. 559.44 km./speed 144.24 km./h. and daily winner. 12 Started and 7 finished.
Task 4; racing task from 360.03 km....Different pilots on top with this kind of task BUT still Carlos as number 1. Not the fastest Jean Pierre Ohaco flew in his JS 3 TJ/18 m. with a speed of 154.76 km./h. but Carlos has a handicap from 115 against 122, so winner of the day for 733 points with 151.08 km./h..
11 Starters and 1 out.
Task 5; 3 hour AAT…..The ARCUS M won the 1000- last-day-points 132.81 km./h. Carlos was runner up had about the same distance 398 for 396 but got a penalty for a too high departure.
No worries for the final scores though.
Task 6; 2.30 AAT….Rocca -day again.324,86 km /speed 120.38 km./h. winning on handicap. The ARCUS M was further by 3km and faster by 3km./h.
Overall scores after 6 out of 7 days;
Here they are and exactly the same as EVERY day;
1. CARLOS ROCCA in Ventus 2cxa/15 m. with 5,459 points
2. ANDRES ERRAZURIZ in ARCUS M with 5,100 p.
3. HANS WEINER in Ventus 2c /15 m with 4,206 p.

—————————————————–

—— The 70thiest Nationals in Argentina from Tres Arroyos, were between 6 January 2024 – 19 January 2024. They fly in open [ 3 pilots, Sergio Reinaudo in LAK 17b/18 m] and Juan Pablo Verdura in Ventus 2cxm/18 m] and later also Frederico Buscema[Nimbus 3DM.]
Club class has 24 pilots ,….and had they had less good conditions as the pilots in Chile. The only names I know are; Javier Gaude, Martin Bossart and Felipe Gerado and Juan Pablo Verdura.
I concentrate on club.
After 2 days of practice they started on January 8 with NO TASK , same on January 9.
Task 3 flying day 1, on January 10 was a 2 hour AAT. Carlitos Iucci flew 217.44 km/105.80 km./h and this was the best combination for 622 points.
All 24 started and 22 finished.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT.…with 312.44 km/99.90 km./h. Felipe was the daily winner for 1000 points.Martin was runner up and Javier on spot 3. All started and finished.
Task 5; 2 hour AAT....CANCELLED
Task 6; 1.45 AAT…..short and late start,after 3PM and several penalty points for too high starts. But also a winner; Dino Germán Ghioni in the LS 3 without penalty points, and a speed of 97.93 km./h over 177.46 km.
23 started and 1 was out.
Task 7; 3 hour AAT....283.76 km /speed 94.59km /h was the winning combination in an ASW 20 by Carlitos Iucci.
23 started and 1 was out.
Task 8; 2 hour AAT....and Javier was the daily best ; 198.32 km /speed 96.17 km./h.
23 started an 1 was out.
Task 9; 2.15 AAT....259.81 km/ speed 109.55 km/h was the winning combi for 749 points.
23 started and 18 were IN.
With 2 days to go Javier in his DG 200 clearly leads with 4.189 points followed by Bruno Andres Quinteros in an LS4 with 3,947, followed closely by Dino Germán Ghioni in LS3 with 3.933 p.
More next week.

————————————————————

In between the Nationals started in Benalla.
16 January 2024 – 26 January 2024

With only 25 pilots in open, 18m, 15 m, and standard class flown because of the numbers in 2 classes
NOT MANY.
Bruce Taylor reacts on that below.
Their first day on January 16 was straight away a good, but challenging one.
18m;
Task 1; 3.30 AAT....
11 pilots in this class and Bruce Taylor was the first daily winner , with 393.45 km/112.42 km.h. followed by Pete Temple both flying ASG 29.[383.93/108.54 km./h

Open; a mix from gliders including a Mini Nimbus, the ASG 29’s and LS3’s, but also ASG 32MI, Quintus, Nimbus 3/25.5 m and
task 1; 3.30 AAT….won by David Jansen in the ASG 32 MI. [Handicap 1065] Followed by Bruce and Pete in their ASG 29. [handicap 1100]
David started late nearly half an hour [14.08] later as Bruce[13,45] and flew 404.59 km/109.53 km./h.
More next week.

Bruce wrote a long story about the comps in Australia ,..very interesting….
I share it in total for those who can’t find it:
“Hi everyone. After the worlds in Narromine I thought I’d just sneak down to our multiclass nationals in Benalla and stay quietly under the radar. No blog, no fuss, just relax a bit and try to get some of my mojo back. I can’t deny that Narromine was personally disappointing, despite the fact that as a team we were very successful. I desperately wanted to be flying again, but just on my own easy terms. Then a few listeners suggested that they were missing my stories… Strangely, here we are after a practice day and Day 1, and I’m back on the keyboard.

I’m concerned about the state of play at our bigger competitions, exactly because of that… they aren’t BIG anymore. We have a total of 14 gliders here in four classes, with the 18m class being the only one that can achieve a stand alone class. There is one Standard class entry, one 15m class, and three Open class gliders. My home club at Lake Keepit gets more than twice that number at one of our GP weekends! People obviously want something else from their gliding, or maybe just from their leisure time.

And then there is the fact that this competition is a final selection in the 18m and Open classes for the next WGC in Uvalde, Texas, which is a super site that typically we Aussies love and do well at. Probably our best two or three pilots are missing from the entry list, so it feels a bit off-beat. And there is the weather… Benalla and the surrounding countryside is as green as I have ever seen it, and there is water lying all over the place. Serious flooding was making the news just west of here less than two weeks ago. We have cumulus, and it’s low. The Benalla artist has finally run out of blue paint…

I drove down under the obligatory booming sky, as per the photo, and managed to get all the formalities completed on Sunday afternoon, in time for the practice day on Monday. The second photo shows the sky after landing. Climbs were on the soft side, and bases mostly at 5,000 feet. I actually love this sort of flying as I see a lot of it at home, and in SE Queensland in the winter. It’s more gentle, and patience is the key. I had a good day, got slightly slow in one spot but finished at 113kph with no low points. I’m great at practice days and pre-worlds… notice that?

Day 1 yesterday, 3.5 hour AAT in what looked to be similar conditions, and we sat on the grid and watched the radar showing rain at our North-West turn near Deniliquin. It was going to clear in time, but a few of us stretched our first sector up past Albury as far as we possibly could to avoid the N-W, and that proved wise. Climbs were harder to find and work than the day before, I think due to some wave influence over the top, and indeed the cloudbase and strength came down as we headed west. Fortunately once we did the Southbound leg then turned back towards the East to come home it improved again.

I managed the highest speed at 113kph but was just pipped by David Jansen in the Open class on handicap. Distance was about 400km. I was happy, as it was a challenging day and it wouldn’t have been too difficult to make a mess of it.
Today has been cancelled due to the arrival of some weather around midday, then tomorrow looks tricky. After that we should fly most days as far as we can see. Sorry, this has almost become a novel, so I’ll stop now.“
Picture and story on Taylor’s Gliding Page

SO,…NO TASK 2 today.
——————————————————————–

BIG NEWS from Schempp-Hirth and looking at the “older” gliders this looks like new perspectives.
“Big news! We now offer the option for retrofitting many popular glider types!
To integrate our modern gliders to already produced gliders, we offer the up to date features to gliders even if produced more than 50 years ago. With that, we commit even more to sustainability at Schempp-Hirth and ensure a future for our beloved gliders.

– For all “original” Arcus, we now offer the possibility to retrofit to “Arcus20” new aerodynamic features with winglets and stabilizer.

– Perfect for clubs and long-awaited: the upgrade from your Discus-2c to a Discus-2cFES!

– Another FES-retrofit is possible for every Ventus-2cxa! A few of them are already flying with lots of happy faces inside!

– Upgrade from a Venus-3 Sport Edition to a Ventus-E with the new electro engine and experience flexibility with a self-launcher!

– Not only the production of Duo Discus FES are starting at the end of 2024, also the option for retrofit a FES-engine into your Duo Discus with carbon fibre wings!

For more details and to know who to contact visit our homepage on:
https://www.schempp-hirth.com/en/company/latest-updates/latest-updates-details/retrofit-optionen-fuer-ausgewaehlte-typen-jetzt-verfuegbar?

—–-Bitterwasser still has extreme great soaring weather till nearly the end of their season. Last Monday , already January 15 , Israeli-an pilot Anton Minskey from the Negev Gliding Center, flew 1. 311.24 km [FAI 942.77 km] with a speed of 143,76 km./h.
Bernd Goretski wit Guy Bechtold flew an FAI 1000 and a total of 1.268.31 km.
Still 20x a more than 1000 km, that day, also from Pokweni, Kiripotib and Veronica……. they have a great Namibian season.

More next week Cheers Ritz

1. ↩︎

Post 1.478 on January 10 2024

Whilst we were having loads of rain here for a LONG period and temperatures around 12 dgr C in the first week of January , my friends in Scandinavia are freezing.
MINUS 43.6 in the high North of Sweden ,but very cold in Norway and Finland as well, the coldest in 25 years.
Finland has minus 20 to minus 35 and later even over minus 40 too… ….
The 2d part of the week was different. Last Monday the wind here turned to the NE and we got the cold weather too, but not as bad as in Scandinavia….-8 during the day and with the windchill factor minus 15!!!!
AND,….days are getting longer…spring is around the corner!!!!
The sun is shining bright at the moment with very blue skies , but COLD!!!!!!!!!!

—————————————————————

The LEETON F1 SKYRACE GP
January 3 [practice]– January 12.

January 3 was a practice day and quite a few flew. No task was set , but it is always nice to check the area when you have never been there and the instruments in the glider .
The weather was not good enough to create day 1, …NO task…. so the 14 pilots in 2 classes, had to wait. No worries, they are all mates or , are becoming mates and all different ages young and “older”!!!
Their type of “pure” gliders; Standard Cirrus x 3, Standard Libelle x 6, Standard Jantar x 3 , 1 Hornet and 1 LS 1f.
They have a F 1 and a F 2 class with different tasks.
The Streifeneders [Sarah and Christian ]organised the welcome BBQ for the start of Skyrace GP….a sausage sizzle. They are one of the sponsors.
Glasflügel-Glasfaser Flugzeug Service
“We are very proud to offer the updated Winglets NG.
These new winglets have use the latest technology and included extensive research and testing, and as always, we are proud to offer the high Streifeneder quality.”
Glasflügel Winglets NG for the Standard Libelle, Club Libelle & Hornet.

After storms ,even a real dust storm ahead of a freak storm and rain, they finally could fly on January 5.
F1 class;
Task 2; 165 km and won by Scott Lennon in the Libelle followed by Dutch pilot Jasper also in Libelle. Scott; “ it was not a day to push hard!Under the clouds there were decent climbs“
He had to chase Jasper ,who was also most of the time higher, but Jasper got [387 sec.] penalty points for starting too high.
10 flew in this class.
Task 3; no flying.
rain and no tasks till
January 9 TASK 6; 111.4 km.….and Scott still knew how to fly,… he won! 88.6 km./h. so 9 points for him bringing him to a total of 16 points .
Christian was runner up and Jasper on spot 3 ; 87.9 and 77.9 km./h. Overall; 11 for Jasper and 10 for Christian, with a few days to go.

Task 7 on January 10, TODAY; 218 km....still very young Jasper from The Netherlands …21 years young…won the day. He ” got a glider Libelle [never flown it before] and a car ” and moved from Sydney to Tocumwal and then to Leeton . It was already in his planning to fly this competition with another Dutch young man, but by circumstances beyond his control this young man had to go back home again.
Jasper flew 2017.6 km with a speed of 88.7 km./h. for 10 points. Scott flew the same distance , in the same glider but was a bit slower for 6 points.
Scott still leads with ONE point; 22 for 21.

Task 2 in F 2 class was 205.7 km; Tony won the day ,but Leoni flew very well too.She got penalty points [ 89 for starting too high] so became runner up. Both fly Discus B.
Tony flew carefully as when he started the first out landing was already reported. He tiptoed over the first leg, but Leonie and he came home together.
Task 3; no flying. “Short window today. Late start might give us enough time to watch Australia win the test match.” They could see it.AND,…the Aussies won the Benaud-Quadir Trophy1. Good on them, though I do not know ANYTHING about cricket, not even after living there pretty long.
Task 4;rain…..more rain.
Task 6 on January 9; 152.2 km…..ASW 20 pilot Jack Hart won the day ahead of Tony with 100 km./h. Tony was runner up; 94 km./h.
After 2 flyable days Tony leads overall with 7 points.Jack has 4 and Leonie 3 points.
Task 7 on January 10; 283.5 km.…Jack flew around with a speed of 99.8 km./h whilst Tony flew 95.5 km./h.
So with 2 more days it’s Tony with 11 and Jack with 9 points.
Tony got a bonus point today:”The task today is a double triangle with a bonus point for being the first one back over Leeton.”

All the sponsors AT the glider

———————————————————————–

JOEYGLIDE 2024
7 January 2024 – 13 January 2024
Narromine

8 Under 25 pilots are trying their best in this Joeyglide, presented by SkySight.
The young ones fly in Club class ; there is 1 girl, [good] and they fly LS 4 x , A 15 x 3, Club Libelle, Discus CS with winglets and St. Cirrus.
All 8 are from a different club in Australia.
VERY GOOD to see that the young ones from a few years ago , like Adam and Matthew are supporting the new ones in a really fabulous way ….they give them back, what they got.
Practice showed a 2.30 AAT. Joshua flew 273 km / 98.69 km./h.
Task 1 on Sunday the 7th was cancelled .
“Due to weather, task today is CANCELLED! Social activities to follow. Here’s Competitor Anoushka with her Welcome Pack and JoeyGlide Shirt!
Let’s Go JoeyGlide!”

On January 8 they had an official rest-day of Joeyglide 24 Presented by Skysight it’s still raining! They are not bored as a lot of things are organized;
“We’re at the RFDS Museum in Dubbo! What a great place to visit” on Jan 7.
And “We’ve got paper plane competitions, simulator sessions, scavenger hunts and a pub dinner planned.” on the official rest day
And finally the weather co-operated ;
Task 1 ; 2:45hr AAT….. today for our first competition day. Some wet airfields and paddocks around, so plan is to get and stay high. Launch at 1pm.
Lets go!”
They flew,… the first proper flying day… and Kengo Matsumoto in an LS 4 was the first daily winner; 210.56 km /speed 80.97 km./h. AND,..such a pity Aidin missed the start and got no points. He will never do that again.
Task 2 on January 10 ; 3 hour AAT...GOOD task, but,…with the message :”Few cells of rain around”.
It was now really playing outside,… high in the sky …. for the Joeyies ; Joshua Geerlings won from Kengo both in LS 4; 260 and 245 km speed 85 and 81 km./h.
The 2 HC pilots ,more coaches than participants ,won. Hopefully still a few good days to go!!!!
3 Days to go, more next week.

—————————————————————–

2024 SAGA State competition
South Australian Gliding Association
31 December 2023 – 6 January 2024
Waikirie

They fly with 11 in an open class, between St Libelle and ASH 31 MI21 m. on the beautiful field in South Australia where in 1974 the WGC was held.
After a practice day with a 2.30 AAT to get in the right mood they started on January fresh with
Task 1; AAT with 2.07 task duration……and the only one flying exact the 2.07 was Pete Temple in his 18 m. ASG 29. He covered in that time 282 km.So a nice speed of 132.63 km./h.
Task 2; 3 hour AAT....only pilot flying 0ver 400 km [409] was Pete and with a good speed too; 127.16 km./h.
3 did not finish.
Task 3; was not flown. NO TASK.
Task 4; 2 hour AAT…. cancelled.
Task 5; 2 hour AAT…but not flown.
Final results;
1. Pete Temple in ASG 29/18m. with 2,487 points.
2. Adam Stott in LS 4 with 2,092 p
3. Grant Hudson in ASH 31 MI/21 m. with 2,069 p.
Good to see “good old “Pietschi [David Pietsch] was on spot 4 in his JS1 /18m.with 2,057

——————————————————————

The South Island Gliding Championship in New Zealand.
3 January 2024 – 9 January 2024
Omarama

OPEN CLASS; with 8 well-known NZ pilots….
Task 1; 420.18 km…Not bad for day 1!!!!! Nick Oakley won the race with a speed of 122.13 km./h. in a Discus 2A. His normally biggest concurrent,…. they fly often comps together already since they were juniors, …..Alex McCaw was 3d in the Discus 2C. In between well-known “racer” Keith Essex from the USA who lives partly in NZ, in his AS33es.[134.63 km/h]
Task 2; 2 hour AAT.…Interesting day!!!! Nick started at 15.25 ….Alex ONE HOUR later, so all in all , late starts but GOOD SPEED!!!! 146.37 km./h over 337 km. for winner Nick for 1000 points.
Even 147.49 km./h for Keith for 908 points over 335.38 km.. Alex was 3d.
The most km. were flown by good old Tony van Dyk; 347.33 km [speed 138,49km./h] in his ASG 29.
Reason for the late start is just looking at the skies

Task 3; cancelled.No competition tasks for today. The weather will probably be ok for general flying but not good enough to get some competition tasks in.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT...and only 3 were lucky /good enough to finish. With 362.65 km with a speed of 86 km./h Keith won the day, but to see the speed it must have been a struggle. Bad day for Alex and Tony ,both were out after 60 km and “got” 39 daily points.
Nick and the ASH 25 team were the other 2 finishers.
High clouds were for both classes the annoying factor.
Task 5 3.30 AAT….message in the morning;”Could be another interesting day with some high cloud moving in and not much wind at the airfield. Grid is due to launch at 13:00 but we will see…”
Another win for Keith in his AS33es; 471 km speed 133 km./h. Nick flew just a tad less far , 454 km but was much slower; 111.86 km./h.
1 was out and 2 did not start anymore [Alex] ;reason below.
Overall Nick is still in the lead after task 5, but only with 17 points!!!!!
Task 6; 2 hour AAT…and Nick is even more strong on spot 1 overall after task 5 as he won the day; 280 km./ speed 106 km./h. gaining another 33 points on Keith.
7 Started and finished.
“For the first time that I can remember, we have a tie for second place in the Open class. This is not unusual for Racing tasks but very, very rare for AAT tasks!” Keith and Derek [Kraak also in AS33es] had the same amount of points.
“Alex McCaw in RM landed out way down south yesterday and did not get back from the retrieve until the wee hours of the morning!
We have a smaller task for each class today as high cloud has been forecasted. And looking at the sky, high cloud is what we have!” South Island Gliding Championships
Task 7; 3 hour AAT...very last day.…..it’s either Keith or Nick , but good to see, Alex is back on track as well. They were on spot 1,2 and 3.
Keith flew 449.86 km /speed 142.57 km./h.
Nick; 431.15/speed 126.39
Alex; 425.82 km/ 120.17 km./h.
“We have another day of high cloud for the final day of the competition and a couple of quite interesting tasks set that should challenge people. The scores are tight at the top of both classes so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top!”

FINAL OVERALL SCORES after 6 out of 7 days in OPEN CLASS;
1. Nick Oakley in Discus 2a with 5,045 points
2. Keith Essex in AS33es with 4,997 p.
3. Hamilton & Morgan in ASH 25 with 4,316 p.

RACING CLASS; with 7 pilots.
Task 1; 282.18 km…..Terry Jones in his LS8 was clearly the daily best; 112.76 km./h. Runner up the team from the Duo Discus with 103 km./h.
Task 2; 2 hour AAT....only 3 could really get away from the field between 15.36 and 16.26 and finish in the end. Compliments to the Duo Discus pilots finishing at 18.35. They flew 285 km with a speed of 132.09 km./h Daily winner Terry flew 296 km with a speed of 132 km./h.
The organizers wrote about the day:
“It was difficult for most people to get going but once they got up into the wave the speeds were quite high; Nick Oakley (2A) and Keith Essex (TC) both breaking 145 km/h in the Open class and Terry Jones (TK) breaking 140 km/h in the wee wing class! Unfortunately, the Racing class was devalued as a number could not get away.”
Task 3; cancelled.
Task 4; 2.30 AAT….only 2 from 7 finished but the 2 pilots in the DUO DISCUS deserve our attention!!! 213.92 km ,speed 80.74 km./h!!!!
Also LS 8 pilot Terry Jones, deserves applause; 230 km but it took him 4 hours and 22 minutes to achieve this speed. BUT….he finished!!!!!
Task 5; 3 hour AAT....ALL 7 flew the task. Daily winner AGAIN, Terry; 319.61 km , speed 104.74 km./h. Overall after task 5 Terry leads but with less than 100 points on the Duo Discus “heroes”.
Task 6 ;2 hour AAT and more then 200 km for Terry; daily winner. The only 1 with a speed over 100 km./h.
Task 7; very last day….2.30 AAT and Terry wins ; 281.39 km/speed 105.87 km./h., Except for 1 challenging day [task 4 with 2 finishers Terry was runner up behind the DUO!!!] all days!!! Chapeau!!!!

Overall results in Racing class after 6 out of 7 days;
1. Terry Jones in LS 8 with 4,424 points.
2. Davy & Team NS in DUO DISCUS with 4,252 p.
3. Kieran Cassidy in Ventus 2B with 4,025 p.

They also showed overall scores from the open unhandicapped class and there it is Keith who wins ;5,061 p. Nick is runner up ; 4,614 p.

————————————————–

–——KIRIPOTIB; When you put Alexander Mueller in a glider you know you can expect many kilometers. When he flies an EB 29D even more.
His first flight on December 21 was straight away 1.236,80 km with a speed of 139 km from Kiripotib.
On January 4 [ in between he flew 3 more 1.200 km tasks] he flew 1.217 km /FAI TRIANGLE of 1.122 km. This time he was the “co” behind Christian Daenzer.
On January 5 they had another long top flight; 1.332, 42 km. FAI triangle 1. 11,88 . Speed 152,73 km./h!
Alexander flew this time.
One of my friends Harold is for the third time in Namibia after flying in Pokweni once and now for the 2d time in Kiripotib….. AND in his own glider VV;
“8 m per sec and at 4.5 km.” [last Monday]
“Glider pilot’s paradise “
He enjoys EVERY minute also the fabulous sunsets.

Harold has written a book as well about his 43 year flying as airline pilot for Transavia [ 30 years] and later Arkefly/TUIfly. [10 years] The book is in Dutch and can be ordered at ; harold@soaring-eagle.nl

——- TOCUMWAL; Bas , after 36 years back in Tocumwal, fitted only in the Cirrus,[ he is pretty tall,]but after he knew the glider better, he flew nearly 2 and a day later nearly 300 km. The tug bringing him up in the skies is one of the Belanca Scouts his mate Dennis was flying in 87/88, when he was still alive.
VH SFO is owned by George now.
Bas is a senior instructor at the Gelderse in The Netherlands.
In between he is back home.

Tocumwal Soaring Center seems to bring gliding in Tocumwal back to a higher level again. Good to see. Enough PR and enough guests that really pleases me.
“It was back to the 70’s day today ! Ironically with our youngest pilots in the oldest gliders. 19 year old Peter got to experience his first wooden glider flying our Boomerang, with our Czech tuggie Michal 23, flying our Blanik. We are unable to recall the last time we’ve seen a Boomerang and Blanik in the same thermal !
We are proud of our fleet here at TSC. Pilots can fly the hot ships, but also take a trip down memory lane with our older gliders, or even make new memories!
To us, it’s all about the experience.”
They are one of the sponsors from the F1 Skyrace as well.

——-Bitterwasser;
“2024 turns up the heat!
The new year starts and the thermals take off again! High liability ensures good thermals, which provide pilots with many exciting experiences.
On 4.1.23, a line of thunderstorms developed early in the west, forcing pilots to find their way between the over-developments. Thanks to the continuous weather updates from the flight office via radio and WhatsApp, the flights could be planned ahead.
The weather was more stable in the east, with triangles extending to over 1000 kilometers in this direction.
For the second day in a row, a large sandstorm moved from the west towards Bitterwasser in the afternoon. This storm, which could be used as a convergence, made it possible to fly in special conditions until sunset and to land at sunset.
Already 19 flights in January exceeded 1000 kilometers! It can go on like this in the last month of the season!”
On January 5 my Lasham mates had an aborted first take -off after engine problems but….at 11.50 they launched again and managed to fly 1.118.37 km. after leaving Bitterwasser at 12.03!!!! Speed 152 km./h.
Roy was the pilot in command this time.
One day later another 1000, so nothing exciting new anymore but the weather is going slowly in autumn mood there with thunderstorms and rain. Maybe only a good week to go.
“Scrappy and poor locally until after noon then improving. Potentially tricky return to BItterwasser so very conservative final glide,until we could see the local weather. Luckily thunderstorms to NE & SE of airfield but not problem landing at sunset.“

On January 8 still 4 over 1000 km flights from Bitterwasser and 1 from Veronica and Pokweni

More and more pilots fly declared over 1000 -plus km. triangles!! TOP- gliders and TOP- pilots .
Every day too many 1000 km flights , so just have a look at weglide or the online contest;
https://weglide.org/ or https://www.onlinecontest.org/

–——Worcester in S.A; Jan and Caroline Rothhardt from Germany flew a nice 1.100 flight in the ARCUS and Sven Olivier in his JS 1B a 1.138.06 km!! Both an Out and Return on Saturday Januaru 6.
Also Worcester started the year GOOD!!!!
Douglas Backhouse has also several 1000 km. flights….. AFRICA is BOOMING.
Czech pilot Ondrej Dupal has flown 2 already .

More on the 61 st Chile Nationals and the 70 st Argentinian Nationals in open and club class next week.

Cheers Ritz