It’s definitely autumn NOW in Holland, rain wind [Bft 10 at the coast about 40 km. from here and gusts to 100 km.p/h. !] and 12 dgr. C.!!!!
But,……Last Saturday we had a new warm-record on October 18; 23 dgr. official and 24.4 in the South of Holland.It has never been so warm here in history. The last record was from 1921 when it was 22.9 dgr. C.
Very special to have had such a great and long summer after that horrible long winter last year, we still remember.

—

The last 2 days in Goondiwindi [ they had 9 in total!] were as hoped for; nice-soaring- conditions and pretty long distances with good speed.
Goondiwindi , with a population under 6000, is not so long known, as a good soaring spot, it even turns out an excellent spot as we saw already last year and again this year.
It’s on the way from Dubbo [close to Narromine ] to Brisbane [ about 358 km.SW from Brisbane] .Gliding Queensland was this years proud host of the Sport Class and Club Class Nationals there.

The name Goondiwindi derives from an Aboriginal word ,meaning “the resting place of the birds”.Just to let you know!

Goondiwindi aerodrome and weather. As shared by Mike

On Thursday a set task in the sports class with 417 km. and all toppers did their utmost best with one day to go.
David [Jansen] won the 999 points with a speed of 139 km./h. Tom, David and Butch stayed on the first places overall and with one day to go the differences were still possible for some extra  excitement; 7333, 7276 and 7144.

As on the last day [Friday] a 4 hour AAT was set in the blue to finish these comps with 9 days!
Peter Trotter who had not won a day, set that straight on this day 9; 487.2 km. with a speed of 118.8 km./h. in his LS 8 gave him the 1000 points.
In the end the new CHAMPION  in Sports class was Tom Claffey with 8295 points followed by David Jansen with 100 points less.
Butch lost his 3d place to Andrew who had a few more points on this last day which gave a final result of ; 8082 and 8076.( Days of good soaring in Sports Class. Good to see young Andrew Maddocks on spot 7

In club class day 8 was again a prey for Benalla pilot Don [Woodward] Their set task was 401.2 km. and great efforts by Allan [Barnes] and young Matthew [Scutter] for flying fast on this day in their LS 1 f and Discus b.
Don flew with a speed of 123.7 km. /h. whilst Allan and Matthew followed with 116/117 km./h.
Bruce lost 140 points by being as fast,117 km./h but he has a higher handicap.
This is the view on the day by Allan;
” Day 8 of the CCN. Racing task just over 400km. Underset – everyone waited around at about 8500ft for an hour before starting. I was thinking about 100km/hr in the blue, but there were wispy cu and some very good climbs. Took the first turn into wind nice and low, but had an average trip across to the second, then hooked up with a good gaggle on the third leg and found a couple of great climbs. Overcooked the final glide and ended up coming in at 120kt for a task speed of 116.2. Very nice day.” 

Day 9 showed a 3.30 AAT with breakfast in the morning. Terry Cubley  [I can visualize him in his LS 3 without hesitation as I have seen him in his glider often]  had not won a day either and to do it he had to fly best on the last day. So he did!
With 422.1 km. and a speed of 116.9 km./h [yes in his ” old”  LS 3] he “got” the 1000 points before heading home again to the Adelaide area , thousands of kilometers to the West. But they could travel in convoy as a few participated from that area.
Adam Woolley [Cirrus 75] had a good day as runner up and the ” old ” Libelle with Steven, was on spot 3 with 367.6 km. and a speed of 102 km./h.!!!!
CLUB CLASS CHAMPION; Jim Crowhurst with 8177 points. Runner up with 8027 was Bruce Taylor and on spot 3 Terry Cubley. The young ones Adam and Matthew finished on good spots 7 and 6. Allan moved up even higher again and finished on spot 8 and Lisa  moved up to 13.

Very kind of former junior pilot Adam to mention some of the awards with congratulations:
” To Dylan Lampard for taking out the GFA Club & Sports Class nationals – best place novice trophy. Many great names have won this trophy in the past & gone onto big things, well done mate”
” Matthew Scutter takes out the M.Bradly junior trophy, this is the 3rd time for memory that it’s been awarded since 2005. It’s awarded to the highest places junior, above 15th position – so not just a participation award.”

 

On these pictures The Trotters and Maddocks during the prize giving 2 years ago in Benalla.

Nice comps over there in Goondiwindi. keep the name in mind!

—

What happened more? A sand storm in South Africa on October 16! A weather-phenomena all glider pilots are interested in.
Great pictures , but for some more difficult circumstances.  I share a few shared by others as a reaction on this storm.
I remember them from Australia . Daan Pare flew in front of one and raced home to be back in the hangar just in time. More of my mates have flown over or along such a sand storm. A bit N of Tocumwal, Oaklands,  where you find big potato farms , they usually “disturbed” soaring as well. Most of you might still remember.

Pictures shared by ” I love Free State” ,Mako Masoto, Shaum Mohammed and Winnie Mafeo.

—-

More comps in Australia;Here is the latest. Just to keep you informed!!!
” Waikerie Gliding Club with the generous support from the GFA, SAGA, Banrock Station Winery and Coopers Brewery are hosting the 53rd Australian Multi Class National Championships from the 5th to the 16th January 2015.

The competition website http://multiclasswaikerie2015.blogspot.com.au is up and running and will continue to be populated over the coming weeks in the run up to the event.

We have managed to pull together a very experienced, professional team tomanage the competition who together with the enthusiastic members and friends of WGC should make this an event to remember.

I can nearly assure you all of at least a couple of big Waikerie days and we’ll do our best to minimize the amount of “classic” South Australian blue days thrown at us 😉

On behalf of the members of the Waikerie Gliding Club and the competition management team I look forward to welcoming you too Waikerie MCN’s 2015.”
Waikerie had a good day early-spring-day yesterday with 500 km. flown by Grant Hudson, who send the invitation for the multi Class Nationals. CD there is Mandy Temple, known by most of you as TC from the Aussie team, crew for husband Peter ,[who is the task setter at Waikirie ] and more other jobs!!

—-

And even more , this time the NSW State Gliding Comps flown from Temora one of those REALLY good soaring-spots as well.Here is the news I got:
“The competition will cater for Standard, 15m, 18m, Open, and Club Class with classes combined for tasking based on entry numbers received.

The championships run from Saturday 13th December – Saturday 20th December 2014 with the first Saturday allocated as a practice day.”

—

Flying over the slopes of Porta Westfalica was “on”  last weekend  and some Dutch pilots drove to Germany ,  to enjoy this type of soaring over the slopes, using the uplift. One group with Martin, who flew with us in the past in Australia as one of them as well as Hinse and Jasper. Philippe [Hendriks] is as far as I can see one of the most enthusiastic pilots for this kind of flying, looking at the pictures he shared now and in the past.

  

  

As shared by Philippe.

—-

What happened worldwide as seen on the OLC?
Orient, in South Africa NE of Potchefstroom, had a great 500 km. [ 338.3 FAI triangle] day of soaring in an ASW 20 on October 20.
On the same day 710 k.[686.5 km. FAI triangle]  was flown in an ASH 31/21 m. in Brazil, from LEM.
Not an easy day as you can see in his comment;
” Good day to start with but over development and lots of CB’s and many rain curtains. I had to abort my final glide ! Landed with rain all over the place!”
One day earlier the RIDGES were overly- friendly to Devin Bargainnier , starting at Ridge Soaring to mainly the SW and back; 1. 106,1 km. with a nice speed of 134.74 km./h. in a Ventus 2.
” Doing” 981.59 km.  in a Janus c FG is not bad either! Very good! Ridge soaring must be such fun! And you can do it in any glider.

—-

That’s it for now . CU next week when the overseas season is about to begin. WINGS NIGHT IN TOCUMWAL by the SRGC is on November 1, opening the new season.Their Annual General Meeting is on November 22, with 14 points on the Agenda.

Cheers Ritz

Both Australia and South Africa were blessed last week with fabulous early-spring-conditions. GOOD!!!
Heard from my friends in Munich that they still had 24 dgr. C. on October 7, pretty weird but lovely autumn conditions over there.
Saint Gaudens , in the SW of France , situated at an altitude of 405 m. overlooking the valley of Garonne and facing the Pyrenees, had a great nearly 1000 km. wave-flight last Wednesday. Robert Prat flew the Arcus M. ” solo” over 943.6 km.
He said in his comment that is was not so easy;  “ Not easy, wind shear, half task in blue waves.” Nice flight so in autumn, you might remember Robert flew a 1000 on April 1 in early spring.
One day later they flew the first European 2014/15 OLC -1000 in Switzerland from Hausen Am Albis direction East; Rainer Crohnjaeger in his ASH 31 MI/18m. was the one.[1.061 km]
From Brazil Egon Rehn had a good nearly 750 FAI triangle. First flight in the new ARCUS M!! 766 km. [739 FAI]
On the contrary in Genua in the N. of Italy they have flooding [even killing one person, ] due to heavy rain.
Finland had the first snow.
Last Sunday I was outside again [after being ill]and enjoying the beautiful day .It looked like EVERYBODY in Alphen was on the bike or walking. 19 dgr. C. on October 12. The upcoming weekend might have 24 dgr. for Holland after a few days of rain.
The Formula 1 in Sochi even had 29 dgr. C.
And last but not least Tocumwal “enjoyed” a great Saturday.
As Eddie and Cheryl mentioned;” Great start to summer, with the temperature 30.5 c …..3 degrees over forecast resulting with the thermals going to 13,000 ft .”  BUT,… in the night it is around ZERO, freezing cold, that’s spring too.

—

Mike Codling called it ” a cracker of the day.”  After day 2 was cancelled at Goondiwindi ,the new day 2 showed fabulous weather.Look at this.

Great skies!As shared by Mike.

The South African-“born”- JS 1 fom Ian Craigie, must have felt ,that these were the same circumstances as in it’s country , so his glider won the day with BIG speed; 156.2 km./h. over  the set 408 km. Next best was 150.2 km./h by Andrew Georgeson in the Ventus 2 CX.
Too fast so no 1000 points but ” only” 847.

368 km. was flown that day in Club Class by the St. Libelle and it’s pilot Stephen Cesco all the way from the other site of Australia from Adelaide; 1000 points for him. We normally do not realize how FAR pilots have to travel to compete in an Australian National Competition. Some travel for 2/3/4 days.
Bruce Taylor in the ASW 20 b was runner up with 420.5 km. over a 3.15 AAT , in time 3.26.

Flying day 3 was a fast one again with this time David Jansen [ASG 29E] as daily winner;465.3 km. with a speed of 139.6 km./h. and finally a 1000 points-day for these fast racers.
Interesting top places after 3 days; Andrew on spot 1 with 2633 points, David with 2630 and Tom with 2623. So close!!! But still a week to go.
In club 411.8 km. was set and with 121.3 km./h. Jim Crowhurst won in the ASW 20. Bruce was a tad slower and runner up.After 3 days of soaring 3 ASW 20 -gliders topped the overall scores.

On Saturday [flying-day-4] a 3.45 AAT was set for sports class and another “old” topper won the day; Butch [John Buchanan] flying 538. 2 km. with a speed of 140.8 km./h. By the way Butch is the junior performance coach and busy enough with the JWGC in 2015 in Narromine.
Quite a difference in start times, between 12.01 and 13.02.
In club class Bruce won “easy” ; 413.6 km. in a set 3.15 AAT with a speed of 124.2 km./h. gaining 1000 points . A better day as well for the “younger” toppers as Adam and Matthew being 4th and 5th for the day.
A just ” rotten ” day for kilometer-eater Allan who flew 367.7 km. but did not finish. Only 347 points for him and dropping from 7 to 17 overall, but,…it is not over yet!!!!

Sunday,…WOW,….what about 3 pilots flying with “about”  the same speed; 156.4-3-2 km./h. during a 3 hour AAT.
That happened on day 5. Tom , I should call him Speedy Gonzales, won with 475.6 km., [1000 p. ASG 29] then it was David with 469.7 km.[997 p. ASG 29 E] ] and Ian with 468.9 km.[962 p JS 1] ] On spot 3 Butch followed with 959 p.[ASG 29 ]

A 3.30 AAT for club class with Bruce winning the day again with 475.5 km. and a great speed of 134.6 km./h. in the ASW 20. Terry in his LS 3 still goes strong and was on spot 3 behind Jim. The young[er] ones as Matthew and Adam were on spot 4 and 10. Under ” full steam” they approach the overall top and are on spot 4 and 5 now!!!
Allan had a much better day with a 5th place, as well as Lisa who finished for the day as number 7.

Day 6 was on yesterday . Another day with good speed in both classes;142.9 km./h. over 434.6 km [3 hour AAT] by Andrew in the Ventus 2 cx and 115 km./h. by Jim in his ASW 20.[ 3.15 AAT–390.8 km.]
But not an easy day as Philip mentioned;
“ A low save, good to be home, very tough day in the office.”
With 3 days to go the scores looked VERY interesting.In sports class the difference is at that stage 16 points between Tom and David!
In club class even less , only 14 points between Jim and Bruce.
After his very unlucky day 4 where he was the only ” out-lander” and ended as last on spot 25, Allan climbed overall from 17 to 10 with 3 days to go.Good on him !

 !

Mike with as comment on day 6;
” Cool, blue and windy at the nationals. I’m on the front of the grid for a 3:15 task. Should be fun.” 

Day 7  today was according to Allan in his comment on the OLC, a day with ; “a fixed task for a change, 350km. Another strong wind day, lots of cu but a lower base. I started just after the gate opened, trying to get a jump on everyone else. Had what I thought was a good run to the first turn, with a slightly slow patch just before it. Turned a little high, then had a good run with Bruce down the second leg to Warialda. The third leg was a bit of a struggle, with every climb not quite good enough to get me onto final glide. My final top up was right at the final turn point, only 10km from the finish line. Got in easily then but it cost me a couple of turns.” 

Winners on day 7 [preliminary] Ian in the JS 1 with a speed of 129.3 km./h. over 437.6 km. and Don Woodward from Benalla in the ASW 20 c with 111.1 km./h over  347.7 km.
No changes in both classes in the overall scores.

Friday will be the last day of this 34th national Championship with in the evening the presentation dinner/closing ceremony. About the last 2 days more in my blog next week.

—

Potchefstroom continued as well with their regionals and another good and fast day 4 with this time not Pieter but Markus Nouwens winning the day with a speed of 143.5 km./h. over 549.2 km.

Uys Jonker went back to his “roots” the Cirrus for one day , as I read on FB and flew HC in club class on day 4 ,his first participation-day. He straight away was on a daily spot 2.
Third win for AP in his Cirrus; 412 km. with a speed of 108.2 km./h. Not bad for the ” old ” Cirrus, big distance good speed.

Day 5 had not such booming weather but still a speed of  142.2 km. /h. over 315.9 km. in 18 m. class. Uys moved back to his from Leszno returned JS 1 and was the last to finish, whilst behind him the pilots went ” au vache”.  The first 7 other pilots all had a speed between 126.9 km./h. and the 142.2 km./h.
In club class 194 km. was set and won by Jaco in the LS 1f.

Happy pilots again, their toys are back home.
As shared on FB.

Friday was cancelled ,so  one day to go. And a”  difficult”  one, looking at the task ; a set 1.15 AAT for the small ships and 2 hours for the bigger ones.
In the end setting a task was no deal for the weather-gods , so the comps finished,with 2 non-flying- days, but  still in good mood. Great speed  and good tasks were  flown.
Club class;  AP won in the Cirrus,[ 4109]  followed by Tommie in the ASW 20[ 3924]  and on spot 3 Jaco flying the LS1f.[ 3863]
Sports class;  Pieter,[4414]  Attie [4375] both JS 1 and Oscar, [4350] and…Laurens had 30 points less than Oscar.[both ASH 25]
The season has definitely started in South Africa! AND,…..I am 100 % sure that the pilots flying in Leszno were over the moon when their gliders returned safely home again.
Full scores on www.soaringspot.com 

—

You are up to date.
Unfortunately the checked spot on my eyelid was not good, but isolated and without metastasis,so surgery will follow soon in November.
Nothing to worry about….they say.
Cheers Ritz

Our summer is over and till this weekend we had up to temperatures in the low 20-thies, very special for October.No complaints about the summer, though August was MUCH TOO wet!
Even Norway and Sweden had up to 17/18 dgr.  Slowly however autumn shows now,not only it’s great colors but also some rain, more falling leaves and specially this year LOTS of spiders.
The early- morning – “art” looks fabulous.
We even had our first autumn storm yesterday and I noticed between the cars, slowly passing by in the street in front of my house, a light garden-table as well. Was pretty rough for a few minutes during that thunderstorm.

—

It’s good to see more comps again on soaringspot .
First I will look back at the last 2 days of the State Comps flown from Kingaroy.

2.30 AAT’s on the one but last day, won by Peter Trotter with with 302 km. with a speed of 120.9 km./h. and Tom Claffey with 323.4 km. and a speed of 129.3 km./h.
And then there was the last day including dinner after all the fun that week.
292.8 km. was set in st./15 m. and 373.1 in 18m./open class.

It was Kerrie Claffey who won this last day , just ahead of Greg Schmidt the CD from the Nationals in Goondiwindi next week.
Peter Trotter flew for only 4 days, winning 3 of them and being runner up on one. After 6 days,he finished for that reason on spot 4.
Local pilot Mark Dalton won the state comps with Kerrie as a good runner up.
Tom won again in both 18 m. and open with a speed of 141.3 km./h.
No doubt that he is the winner of these state comps in both classes after 6 days of flying and more than ready for the Nationals in Goondiwindi, this week in the sports class.Between the 24 participants in this class ,he will have some good/strong concurrents there .24 Competitors as well in club class.

—

In Potchefstroom another Regional Competition [NW] this time in South Africa,  they started last Sunday with a practice day, and what a practice day!!! Not everybody flew , but they might have regret that later, as winner Pieter Nouwens flew with a speed of 150 km./h. over the 316 km.
And,… it looks Pieter is in ” hot/fast”  soaring-mood as he won day 1 and ….day 2……and…day 3!!!
Day 1 with a speed of 143.4km./h. over 334.7 km—— Day 2 with 149 km./h. over 467.4 km.—–Day 3 with 142.3 km./h. over 459.4 km.

Pieter flies the JS 1 -C /21 m. and both Oscar and Laurens an ASH 25.I guess because their gliders are not yet back from Leszno.
The 5 toppers started all around the same time on day 2. They flew for 467 km. and Pieter arrived back 1 minute earlier than the rest who finished within seconds from each other.
Same ingredients on day 3 , only difference now was that the difference in speed was smaller; 142.3, 142.0 and 141.8 and 141.4. Close finishes. Must have been exciting!

237 km and  333 for club class with an AP [Kotze] on a mission. Winning day day 2 in his Cirrus and being runner up on day 1.
On day 3 AP was the best again flying the 338.4 km. [3 hour AAT] with a speed of 102.4 km./h.

Akavlieg Potch Gliding shared about 195 pictures and I share a few with you. Was difficult to make a choice! But you can find them on their FB site.

” Hi Oscar”
As shared by Akavlieg Potch Gliding

 

Also the first NATIONALS from this season and they are flown at Goondiwindi in Australia not that far South-West from Brisbane;
the 34th Australian Club and Sports Class Nationals.
BIG speed as well on the practice day in Goondiwindi. David Jansen flew the 2.30 AAT around with 152 km. /h.  over 379.9 km.
” There is always someone better!”

But on day 1 , when the real “thing”  happened,  Tom Claffey was the best with 127 km./h. over 359 km. over the 2.30 AAT.

In Club class a lot of top- pilots but they were not straight in the top on day 1.Don Woodward [ASW 20 c] from Benalla won the day with a 2 hour AAT. Pilots as Terry [Cubley] ,Tobias [Geiger] ,Adam [Woolley] , Bruce [ Taylor] , Allan [Barnes] and Matthew [Scutter] lost a few points. Lisa [Trotter] unfortunately out-landed and lost 300 points on this day 1.
No flying today! Scrubbed.

 —

ARCUS M number ONE HUNDRED is a fact. Tilo and Biggo delivered the number 100 to Mr. Lodes. Congratulations to the new owner and to the 2 faces and the full hardworking team from Schempp-Hirth.

As shared by Schempp-Hirth.

 —

And…..GREAT news for my friend Jelmer and all the people at DG Flugzeugbau; After the USA and Australia they “conquer”  Brazil!!!!Congratulations.Look at the news below,shared by one of the DG dealers from Australia Jane and Tom Gilbert.
http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/

—“ New Air Force Contract for DG Flugzeugbau

DG Flugzeugbau recently won the tender process for 10 training sailplanes.
The request was published by the BACE, the Brazilian Aeronautical Commission in Europe, during the first quarter of 2014. Analysing all requirements and composing a tender took several weeks, but finally DG Flugzeugbau was able to deliver the winning bid to BACE and therefore received the contract to supply 10 DG-1001Club training sailplanes to the Brazilian Air Force Academy in Pirassununga, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Established in 1960 the Academy is the largest Air Force Academy in Latin America today, covering an area of more than 250.000 m². An average of 1.200 cadets are trained in these facilities each year.

More next time.
Cheers Ritz
on Wednesday October 8 2014.
Already sick for nearly a week,…grrrr…..

 

 

October 1 2014….. only 3 months to go and 2015 starts. Time flies ……TOO fast.
By the way we had a warm month of  September with not much rain and lots of sunshine. Different to France where in the area of Montpellier thousands had to be evacuated for the water after HEAVY rainfall. They mentioned  300 liter per square meter ,in 36 hours , that had not happened since 1957. Also Spain had a water-problem.

It was interesting to look at the 2014 -OLC- Plus- list from several parts of the world.
Looking at Australia the CHAMPION was James Cooper from Western Australia , but with a very small marge, as young Matthew Scutter from South Australia, was JUST behind him. Look at this; 6428,65 and 6412,31. On a nice 3d spot Terry Ryan from Tocumwal.[NSW]

 

  

Recent picture from Tocumwal Airport as seen by Eddie and Matthew seen here in Benalla [2013].

New Zealand had an international pilot on top as Finnish pilot Jyri Laukkanen topped their list, flying from Omarama.

Africa, looking at all Africa ,had a German guest as Champion; Reinhard Schramme and Guy Bechtold from Luxembourg was runner up.

The USA, looking at all North America had of course Jim as champion, followed by Mitch Polinsky with all his wonderful flights.

All South America was a prey for Jim as well, with Jean Marc Perrin from France as runner up.

Asia is either Japan or Israel and Japan won with pilot Shigeru Ishiyama from Nagano and as runner up Rafi Luski from the Negev Gliding Center.

Europe has several VERY enthusiastic OLC -die- hard -fans.
Looking at all flights from Europe Alexander Mueller was the best, before Michael Sommer and Guy Bechtold.
I looked at a few soaring-minded-countries for you as well.
Germany ….Alexander and Michael.
Italy…..Allesandro Busca before Giorgio Galetto.
Spain….Guy again followed by Jose Sancho.
the UK…..David Masson and Robin May.
Holland….Mark Leeuwenburgh, Nico Koster and Alfred Paul Alfers.
Belgium….Wim Akkermans, Herman Peeraer and Dennis Huybreckx.
Poland…Pawel Krakowski.
Czech Rep…..Tomas Suchanek.
Switzerland…Rainer Crohnjager.
Austria…..Johannes Hausman.
For the other countries you just have to go to the OLC site.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/champion.html?sp=2014&rt=olc&st=olc&c=C0&sc=

Mentioned the winners from the world wide OLC PLUS last week, have to add the speed OLC info from 2014 as well.
Here you go!
CHAMPION….Jim Payne
FIELD…..Bitterwasser
CLUB…..The Gliding Club of Victoria
Now you are totally up to date!

Looking ahead now at the 2015 season!

—

AND…….That starts soon in Africa and Australia.
Containers are on their way. 4 Travel to Corowa in Australia .
For all the news about Corowa;  http://www.australian-soaring-corowa.com/

I don’t know how many to Kiripotib , but I was impressed with the gliders; 6 x an Arcus M, 1x an Arcus E, 1 x an ASH 25 MI and 1 ASHE 25 EB 28. Also an Antares 23 and 1 x 304 MS Shark and last but not least 1 Ventus 2CXM.
I guess flying with the CHAMPIONS will; be a great success again.
At some periods you still can charter a glider ;http://www.dolba.de/kiripotib_flying/index.html

Also  Gariep Gliding has packed containers for the 2014/ 2015 season and are ready for a new season.
http://www.gariep-segelflug.com/

Bitterwasser has some glider-availability as well have a look at their site when you are interested. www.bitterwasser.com/en/glidercharter.html

Pokweni waits for containers as well and also they have some charter-possibilities for gliders as p.e. an ASH 25 MI.
http://www.pokweni.de/

Several places in Australia as Narromine, Benalla, Lake Keepit, Waikirie, Kingaroy , Jondaryan and last but not least Tocumwal are ready and fly already.
Also Potchefstroom , where the North West Regionals will be flown between October 4 and 10 [next week] with a lot of top pilots and a forecast for pretty good weather , will be very busy this season.
Also the Soaring Safaris from Bloemfontein will be popular.
And what about Brazil , with a 948 km. flight —750 Fai triangle— last Friday by Egon Rehn in the Quintus M from LEM and from Bahia Gliding a 930 km.—860 FAI triangle—-  by Branco Stojkovic , a personal best,in the Nimbus 3T/25 m.  last Sunday [bahiagliding@gmail.com]
Argentina  and New Zealand, will be busy again soon too, so for everybody , there is something.

—-

One of the first new season comps is flown from Kingaroy from September 27 and will continue till October 3 . 25 Pilots compete in 3 classes during this Queensland State Gliding Competition .
Day 1 and 2 had a 303 km. racing task  and a 3 hour AAT in standard /15 m. class and Peter Trotter won both !Day 1 with a speed of 129.9 km./h. day 2 with 112 km./h over 352.6 km.
18 m. Class had the same task and Ivan Teese [ASG 29 E] won day 1 with a speed of 141.7 km./h.  Tom Claffey [ASG 29] was runner up with 138 km./h.
The 3 hour AAT was won by Bill Hatfield in a LAK 17/18, with 384.8 km. in 3.10,54.
Open class  mixed as well with 18 m. ; Day 1 was clearly won by Ivan, day 2 by the DUO DISCUS X from Kingaroy flown by Stephen O Donnell;  358.9 km.

Tom Claffey; won a day in Leszno this year.

Day 3 had another AAT , different weather and  different winners. Kerrie Claffey… yes indeed wife from…won in St/15 m.  class in her ASW 28. Peter was 2d. They more or less all started on the same time, 2 out-landed 4 finished and Kerrie was the fastest with 98.1 km./h. Peter had 95.1  km./h.
In 18 m. husband Tom won the day flying 317 km. over a 2.30 AAT; speed 121.1 km./h. No out-landings in this class.
In [the combined] open class Tom was the winner as well.

On day 4;  winning the day before,  tasted good for Kerrie,  so she did it again. Not on a 1000 points-day but still 666, winning the 2 hour AAT with 243.2 km in time 2.09,50.After 4 days she is 20 points behind Mark Dalton who flies the  ASW 20 B .
BUT..this is all preliminary as Peter Trotter has not yet delivered his file from today.
In 18 m. husband Tom won as well, so a double party  again.
Tom flew 327.9 km in 2.37,5 over a 2.30 AAT.
With that result he won the open class-day as well, with the Kingaroy-Duo Discus X on spot 2.

2 Days to go in Kingaroy and then already again the next event in Queensland; The 34st Cub and Sports Class Nationals in Goondiwindi between October 6 and 17. More about that next week.

—

The Dutch Nationals and the Belgium Nationals are combining their efforts and will be flying TOGETHER as the BENELUX CHAMPIONSHIP . Place to be; St Hubert in Belgium, between May 14 and 25 in 2015. They can fly over Belgium and Luxembourg and use the Ardennes as “lift -tool”.
Sounds good! Try to be there as well for a few days.

—

And to finish a great picture from a fantastic painting by artist and enthusiastic glider pilot, Ralph Keller, who flew a lot with us in the past at Sportavia  and still does so now at Sportaviation, just not as often anymore as when he was younger. My old crashed laptop had, as screen saver, another painting from Ralph ; a glider and tug over Tocumwal.
This painting is shared by the Bendigo Gliding Club with the next text:
“The way it used to be, the elegance of a bygone era. The great glider WIEN over Germany’s Rhoen mountains in 1929. The aircraft was flown by one of the pioneers of soaring flight, the famous Austrian pilot Robert Kronfeld. Picture by BGC Artist in Residence, Ralph Keller.”

Cheers Ritz
On October 1 2014.

Egon Rehn in the Quintus M. as shared by Marcel Cavilha Juppa.

25 Pilots gathered in Formosa in Brazil for their 56th National Championship in 3 classes and in combination with the Copa Sul Americano de Voo a Vela 2014. They flew for 6 days!
They started with pretty good weather and in open class the 8 pilots got on the first 2 days,  3 hour  and 3.15 AAT-tasks and on day 3 a racing task. Egon Rehn flew with  great speed over a distance from 444.5 km. ;164.4 km./h.

 

      

Great skies and finishing gliders as shared by Marcel.

Also day 4 had good weather with in open class a 3 hour AAT, won with a speed of 150.5 km. h. , by Henrique Navarro in the Nimbus 4T. With that “win”  he moved to spot 1 overall , 14 points ahead of Egon.
The ” fight” in this class was interesting to follow.
Day 5 was a racing task from 356.4 km. and Egon was the best that day, but only by 10 points.
So day 6 , the last one with another 3 hour AAT, was important and it was a difficult one with several out landings! In the 13.5 m. class only 1 pilot finished,  in racing class 2 and in open 4.
Henrique finished as 2d ,  Egon 4th , so the ”  fight ” was over and Henrique won with a total of 5561 points , followed by Egon with 5458.
3 Of the 6 days were won by Henrique, Egon won 2 out of 6.

For the scores from the other 2 classes you can look at www.soaringspot.com 

The Copa Sul Americana was won by Argentinian pilot, Luis Colombero in an ASW 20. Mauricio Delfabro [Argentina] was runner up and after 6 days he only had 37 points less.

A couple of days after the comps , on Sunday, the weather was still good as Felipe Dantas showed with his flight in the Nimbus 4T; 631.69 km. It looks like he flew his glider home in an OUT and NO return, but when I checked I heard it was a “fun-flight” to LEM [ the airfield of Luis Ed. Magalhaes].Must have been GOOD fun!

—

The FAREWELL FLIGHT from the MD 11 from KLM on November 11 2014, was sold out in 3 minutes. Enough fans for this last flight world wide  in a beautiful  MD 11- passenger- plane . The 3 engine plane will start from and land at Schiphol Airport. Nice price as well; 111 Euro. I was TOO late!!!
The end of an era. The last regular flight will be from Canada [Montreal]  to Holland on October 25.

—

 Our European summer season is over and lots of gliders are already on their way for the overseas season. Australia showed already some good -early-spring-weather. It even became better with a 739 km.[500 km. FAI triangle]  flight by David Jansen from Kingaroy last Saturday in the ASG 29/18m; nice speed as well speed 120.22 km./h.

Also our Israelian mates had a top – Saturday with flights up to just under 500 km. in a DG 505/20 m. A total from 7 flights were added by the pilots from the Negev Gliding Center.Not bad.

An other interesting flight was flown by Jim Payne, this time in the new ARCUS M from Dennis. From Minden he did 5 test flights and shared;
“ This flight completes the FAA Phase One flight test (5 flights and 5 hours) of Dennis’ new Arcus M. It can now soar more than 50 NM from Minden.”

—

Last Monday  the OLC finished year 2014 and on  that day we knew the CHAMPIONS from 2014. No secret that Jim Payne with his LONG flights was the world wide winner.He also had the best flight .
Looking at all flights Klaus Engelhardt had the most ,80 which was a total of 51.791,11 km., and the highest score; 52.209,88.
Bitterwasser won as “busy airfield with  long flights”as 134 pilots flew a total of 710.940,28 km. in 913 flights. Runner up Puimoisson had 576.419,73 km. with 269 pilots who made 1533 flights.
AND…this year the Gliding Club from Victoria was according to the OLC stats, the ” best”  club just ahead of 2 Dutch clubs de Gelderse and the Amsterdamse.
Congratulations to all, as well as to all individual pilots winning in each of their countries. WELLDONE!!!

—

AND,…..it’s spring in Australia ,…time to run/chase the roller clouds again at Burketown in the N. of Australia .
The  Burketown region will host its first morning glory festival later this week.The first pilots have arrived and the first clouds have been “flown”.
As you know this rolling cloud formation can sometimes be several hundreds of kilometers long, it’s pretty rare and not too much is known about it.But all my friends who have been chasing it were “over the moon”, when they did so. Sometimes it’s waiting and waiting, but when the phenomena is there they “use” to the fullest.

This picture from Burketown was send to me in the past by Jo and Tony Tabart.

—

And to finish….do you remember ” A bridge too far”?
Operation MARKET GARDEN, was remembered  by many here in Holland!! Also a few of the still living International veterans were invited. This operation to free Holland in 1944, was unfortunately stopped by the Germans when they bombed the bridge in Arnhem.That was a disaster for the people in the N. who entered the hunger-winter.  Eating flower bulbs was a way to stay alive, but sadly enough a lot did not survive.
What I heard the festivities  were MORE than impressive. The regio around Arnhem as Oosterbeek and Groesbeek, shared in the memory-festivities, as the bridge at Nijmegen over the river Waal,  coming from the S. direction Arnhem ,was conquered  by the Allies, the next one over the Rhine in Arnhem was one too far . A lot of brave men , around 15.000 died in these actions.
This is MARKET GARDEN 70 years later as seen by my sister in law Henriette, who lives in Groesbeek.

  

Parachutists over the Ginkelse Heide.

Next week back with more news.
Cheers Ritz on Wednesday September 24 2014, one day after they took a biopsy from a little suspicious spot on my left eyelid, so I look now  more or less with one eye.

 

In the end of the season the “old members gliding club” here in Holland, gathered during their autumn camp and Bert [Kuyper] was there to fly , to tow and to make some great pictures which I share with pleasure.

Great pictures! Thanks Bert.

—

In Spain at La Cerdanya the QSGP continued on Wednesday with flying day 3.

But first the press release I had to share with you before it all started so you knew why  a Libelle flew against an ASW 27.
“In the beautiful setting of the Valley of Cerdanya in Catalonia The Aeroclub of Sabadell is host to the Spanish Sailplane Grand Prix where 15 top sailplane racing pilots will compete to qualify for the final of the Sailplane Grand Prix series in Varese in 2015.

There are several experienced SGP pilots competing who are committed to gaining a place in the 2015 final and from this group we expect the winners to emerge.

Four of the favourites flew in the last SGP finals in Sisteron in May this year Tilo Holighaus (GER), Kai Lindenberg (GER), Petr Panek (CZE) and Mike Young (GBR), of these pilots Mike and Tilo are the most experienced SGP pilots and on current performance we would expect them to be near the top in the final results. However in sport you never know, ask Lewis Hamilton about that.  Sailplane racing provides excitement and entertainment as the leading have to keep flying on the edge to stay at the top, lots of surprises come every minute producing great entertainment in great scenery. A real modern sport drama.

The contest also has several new pilots who have entered to find out what SGP racing is all about and we will bring you more news of their progress as the week goes by. Two of the competing gliders are of a much lower performance than the new hot 15 m. sailplanes but if you want to get a taste of SGP racing you have to compete in the sailplane you have.”

By the way the SGP is better and better with their PR. I got the news in time but unfortunately, not on my favorite email-address.
Loved the interviews with the daily winners.

They were all in good mood on day 3 as you can read;
“ Pilots have smiley faces this morning, so everything is perfect. The race 3 is now on, a double flat triangle mainly towards west part of the area as showers are still expected on the eastern part. Up to 3000m under cumulus and good lift will make it fast. “

As shared by the organizers.

253 km. was set, so a nice day to race with and against the concurrents. The start was at 2.40 PM , cloud base at 3100 m.,  so a good racing-day.
Just after 4 the news was that most pilots were on the 2d run and that Tilo was in the lead.Indeed it  was going fast. Tilo won the day just ahead of Kai. Just ???? Tilo flew with a speed of 116.6 km./h. and Kai with 109.9 km./h.
Most unlucky pilot was Fridolin who could have been 2d BUT, used the wrong start point,…..the one from the day before. OUCH!!! That hurts as he dropped from 3 to 6 overall.

day 4 was another racing day with 250 km. and this time with a mass finish and again somebody was the best , but it was close . Look at this; winner Kai got the 10 points as he flew with a speed of 132.9 km./h. whilst Tilo flew 132.8 km./h.
Last but not least was the St Libelle with 89.2 km./h. the rest flew between 105.9 and 132.9 km./h. 10 from them were between 128 km./h. and that 132.9 km./h. So indeed a mass finish.

Great picture from Kai , finishing on day 4 , as shared by the organizers with the great text showing the ” concurrence-fight” between the pilots:
“ Don’t dream other pilots. Kai’s gear is down so it was not his speed finish and he will not get penalties.” 

  

And Tilo above La Cerdanya.

Day 5 had a task of  288.6 km. so they expected even better weather ,a bit more wind from the NW  and less moisture.
The message from the organizers was super enthusiastic;
“Her comes the race of today with an astonishing finish crossing the mountains just north of the airfield and last control point on Puycerda for a great show. ”
At 2.45 they started and the St. Libelle was set to go straight away as nearly 300 km. is quite a bit for this gorgeous little plane, certainly when there is a race on.
I found it very brave/courageous/challenging from this French pilot , Jean -Francois Billy, to join in between the others. Chapeau!
And,….he finished again; 72.4 km./h.
That was different to the top speed from Tilo who won the day with 114.9 km./h. And what a great finish between Tilo and Werner who flew the task with 114.8 km./h.
A not-so-good-day for Kai, who somewhere got low , returned home and “received”  0 points.

LAST day of the QSGP in La Cerdanya,was with live comment from Brian, which was great. With the 0 points from Kai, Tilo was clearly on top with 38 points and Kai with 28 on spot 2 , Werner on 23. So on the last day they were the pilots for the top spot. We know how much CAN happen on a last day so it was interesting to follow it.
Only when Tilo would have  0 points and Kai would win the last race , Kai could still win.
193.8 km. was the task and I was ready to follow the pilots and Brian. It all was a bit later as the weather was not co-operating as expected.
Mike Young looked as ” on a mission” when they were on track , with Werner behind him but 500 m. higher. They had to get over a mountain top but Mike was only at 2000 m. too low to get over the top. Werner passed him, so did the rest of the followers. Kai was 2d then behind Werner, who moved on alone after a good climb at 3000 m. on his way to the first TP flying back N of the track where the others tried to reach the first TP.
Mike, not giving up quickly,  joined in with Kai, combining efforts.
Tilo was in the ” bunch”  behind them, but higher meaning he could pass them.

Werner crossed the valley, still very high [2700] reached TP 2 ,whilst the others were still struggling to reach TP 1. Mike and Kai decided to go straight on track to TP 2, not like Werner going N of track and then passing the valley.
According to Brian, the last part of the race would be more difficult as clouds were spreading out.
Kai and Tilo cruised through the skies enjoying the scene as they were not ” really’ in a hurry, they only had to stay up and finish.
Werner did an amazing job, staying high and going FAST, passing the 5 TP’s and cruising home.On his way to the final TP 5 he was high enough to be on final glide.
A great WIN for Austrian pilot Werner , [32 points] smoking home, [116.6 km./h.] on this last day and a well deserved spot 2 overall for him, behind Tilo [43 points]  and ahead of Kai .[33]
Interesting to see how Serge [Leclercq] [103,09 km./h.]  flew low over the slopes after having  3 m. lift first and then still found enough energy to race pretty low, there  AND  feel comfortable and  be 3d for the day behind Mike, [109.8 km./h.]who called Werner an ” ACE”. As Tilo was high,  he could pass the slopes easy with 200 km. on the clock to be 4th.

With the bonus-point Werner got 11 points and was just ONE point ahead of Kai. Some pilots elected to abort the task and fly back, as they were low and late, but not Mr. Billy, he finished again this time with 74 km./h. He nearly had ONE point; I give him 10 points!!!!

Werner, Tilo and Kai the ACES of La Cerdanya. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Pictures shared by the organizers.

The organizers were happy in Spain , so were the pilots and “we”  looking over their shoulders how they were doing, as well.
“La Cerdanya will definitely become a “classic” as it gets beautiful scenery, great weather conditions, nice airfield facilities and great people who always carry on. “ 

—-

From Potchefstroom in South Africa a first real nice flight from 541.07 km. in the JS 1-C by Pieter Nouwens on September 12. Also Oscar Goudriaan flew that distance in the ASH 25.
The beginning of the season is there!!!!
Holland still had up to 350 km. flights in autumn on the same day. And Brasil had 832 km. [750 FAI triangle]  .
The East of Australia 502 in a PIK 20E and the USA had a few over 700 km. flights.
From Formosa in Brazil they fly with 25 pilots the Nationals with till now pretty good weather with flights just under 500 km..

Talking about South Africa some sad news: The Soaring Society of SA shared the next news:
“It is with a sad heart that I have to announce that Klaas Goudriaan has passed away. Our heartfelt condolences go to the family during this time. Klaas was an Icon in the world of gliding and a true humanitarian. He will be missed. RIP” 

One of the reasons Oscar was not in Lesno during the last WGC was the health situation of his dad. Indeed Klaas was  as I heard a GREAT man and a fantastic glider pilot. A pity I never met him. Without Klaas soaring in South Africa would have been different.
I wish Oscar and Laurens with their families  and their mum, a lot of strength. May he rest in peace!

And to finish this blog another great picture shared by the Tocumwal Residential Air Park. I remember those great clear nights with skies FULL of stars, indeed no pollution there:

Brad Perkins captured this stunning shot of the Tocumwal rail bridge against a dramatic starry sky. No “light pollution” here!

CU in a week.
Cheers Ritz
On Wednesday September 17 2014

 

I found this great picture this morning on my FB site . It’s shared from Soaring Club House by Robert Fadini; just beautiful.
Soaring Clubhouse is a page for sharing Soaring and glider related photographs and video’s. A place for soaring pilots to share their activity through pics.

What a great week we had , with lovely weather !Not only here in Holland but on a lot of  places in Europe. Just nice autumn weather and not only to sit on a terrace or in the garden , also for flying.
On Sunday flights up to 260 km. were possible and on Monday the skies looked fantastic here.
I thought that those who would be so lucky to have the  day off, could have a ” ripper-soaring-day”. And they HAD !
At 8 AM I looked at the OLC AND,…..the world wide scores were topped by 8 DUTCH flights!!! What about that and in SEPTEMBER !!?
425 km. [371 km.FAI triangle]  in a St Libelle  by Hinse Osinga.
459 km by young Robin Smit who had to swallow a bit when he was about 200 km. OUT, but made it home in the St Cirrus.
450 in the LS 4 ,”  a real racing day today”  was what Sander Terpstra called it.

What happened more in that week ?????….enough!
Puimoisson was good for flights up to 959 km. in a Ventus cM 17.5 m,., on September 1.  Not bad so late in the season even for the mountains.
700 km. flights by the German pilots on September 4 in the Discus and Ventus is not bad either. It looks like a good German autumn camp over there with lots of keen pilots, among them their TC Uli and Wolli Bayer .
One of the pilots Walther said ; ” what a day and that in September ” after his 830 km. flight in the DG 800/18 m. on September 3.

—

The Qualifying Grand Prix in Spain [ La Cerdanya] started last Friday with 15 pilots from different European countries as Germany [ 4 including Tilo] , France [ 3] , the UK [1] , Poland,[ 1]  Czech Rep. [ 1 ], Italy [2] and of course Spain.[3]
What happened till now?

Pictures shared by Philippe de Pechy, who flies CT and VV with of course Tilo.

A relaxed CD Brian with UK pilot Mike.
As shared by the SGP on FB.

They had one practice day with 199 km. and a regatta start at 3 PM, with 2 finishers,8 [virtual] out-landings and some pilots not flying . Some got penalties and that’s better on such a day then on a real GP day.

On Sunday the ” real thing”  started with a 177.8 km. task. A day on which all  15 pilots started at 2.50 PM , all of them finished between 4 and 6 PM, but there could only be one the best and that was Kai Lindenberg from Germany, who got the 10 points.
Werner Amann , about 3 seconds later , got 8 and Tilo, about 36 seconds later,  7 with Philippe following with 6 points.
From the 15 pilots 7 got penalty points or warnings.
Kai flew with a TOP-speed of 148.3 km./h. in the ASW 27 , whilst the last one coming in finished with a speed of 57.4 km./h in the St Libelle. But ,…he made it!!!!
As they wrote in their special report about day 1’s SGP news;” The leaders were able to use the edge of the convergence to run back to the east with sufficient energy to make the last turn without stopping to gain altitude.” 

Great scenery as shared by the organizers.

Day 2;  173.5 km . with an other pretty good weather forecast, after the thunder and lightning on the evening of day 1 had disappeared. Still however, some drops of rain during the start.

As shared by the SGP organizers.

The start was at 2.30 and the first up in the air were the 2 ladies Jill [Spreckley] from the UK flying the LS 8  and Eva [Mensan] from France in the Pegase.
An other good but difficult  day , with a much more technical race than day 1. A slow day and you had to be a patient pilot . Those ingredients fitted Werner but he got penalty points for a too high start, [62 m.] so Fridolin Hauser won day 2 [5 points] with only 4 finishers and the best speed was 72.9 km./h.
La Cerdanya , for sure a place to race but not so much last Monday.

day 3;

  

Day 3 about to begin after a humid foggy early morning.
Picture shared by the organizers and Philippe.

Day 3, started , with lots of low clouds, as some called it ” typical British smog”.
A task was set from 198.5 km. but later changed in a B task and even C task from 139.9 km.
WHY??? Have a look at this picture from Philippe.

They were launched but a bit later , just before the regatta start, there was the message from the organizers;
Pace plane is in the air and Brian send by radio : “due to safety conditions, race is canceled”. Some thunderstorms are surrounding the race area and turn point 1 is already a dead end.

As they wrote in their daily report which you can find on the SGP site   http://www.sgp.aero/
” The race was now between the two storms, and the count down for the start line started at 15.30. During the countdown we watched as two storm cells started to merge to the east of the field and this could only be bad news for the race, so at 5 minutes to the opening of the start line the decision was made to cancel.” 

Day 4 is today, but no task as yet.

For the latest, they continue till the 13th,  you can go to  ; http://www.sgp.aero/spain2014/broadcasts/live-tracking.aspx?contestID=6066

Next Sailplane Grand Prix will be in Australia flown from Lake Keepit between November 16 and 22 and then between January 3 and 15 2015 in South Africa – from Worcester.

—-

Jonker Sailplanes published their latest  newsletter and I share it with you;

“—Jonker Sailplanes is proud to announce our improved 18m sailplane, the JS1C-18 EVO. This dream sailplane that evolved from the JS1-C18 model was recently revealed at the 33rd World Gliding Championships in Leszno, Poland.

The JS1C-18 EVO redefines handling in the 18m class, offering both an improved roll rate and superb control at slow speeds. The increased wing loading, combined with new tip aerofoils and 3rd generation winglets, also gives JS1C-18 EVO the edge at high speeds.
JS1C-18 EVO offers the serious competition pilot a performance advantage while remaining suitable for every pilot due to its handling qualities.

The design of the JS1C-18 EVO started in October 2013 with our Chief Aerodynamic Engineer,Dr. Johan Bosman redesigning the outboard wing using the latest Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) design methods.
It was planned to have the improved outboard wing sections ready for the WGC of July 2014. Within six months the project went from a paper design to reality, with 2 sets of the new outboard tips making their debut on the gliders of Uys Jonker and Attie Jonker.-–”

 —

The weather starts to be pretty good in Australia.Also in the mountains and in the Alpine Flyer , with all the news from Mount Beauty,  I could read that August  had some excellent thermal flights and also perfect wave conditions up to 10.000 ft.
August is, as they call it , ” a good indicator”  for the upcoming summer.
Last Sunday WGC pilot Craig Collings flew in his ASW 20 227.9 km.

Let’s hope Australia has a good and safe season and a bit later South Africa and Namibia as well. Worcester [SA] had already a great wave and ridge day on September 7. ” full airbrakes in the late afternoon to stay below the TMA running in and out of Villiersdorp” was the message from Sven going with his flight on September 7.[290.45 km] 

Dieter Dundee has left Germany last Sunday and is settling down in Tocumwal for 6 months and catching up once a week with Ingo for a VB at 4. They love to do that and speak German on the veranda of the ” Schloss”.
The Toc. crew called the weather last week; glorious and the town-beach in Toc at the Murray river is already popular now! After the weekend some wild weather was passed by.

 

And as you can see Dundee arrived “home” in his 2d country. Here with Eddie from Sportaviation  who shared the picture.
and
The always popular Murray River White Beach as shared by the Toc. Residential Air Park.

Wild weather passing by. Shared by Sportaviation.

Kingaroy had already flights up to just under 500 km. and August counted already 50 flights on the OLC from Kingaroy where more or less the Aussie season starts.

In October the 34th Club and Sports class Nationals will be flown from the excellent new gliding site of Goondiwindi. All the info on; http://glidingqueensland.org.au/comps/info.php?comp_id=2

The Corowa – fans will bring their gliders for shipment soon as the packing date for 4 containers will be on September 19-20 and 21  2014.The containers will leave from the harbor of Rotterdam on October 1 and arrive in Melbourne on November 11 and the first possible flying day will be then from Corowa on November 14.
Pilots can fly till February 19 and they can use their gliders in Europe again after April 11 when they unpack again in Venlo.With their experience over the years and the fact that Grietje and Francisco are there with packing and unpacking, this is a very safe and great way to fly your own glider overseas.
All info about gliders for rent and daily prizes are on

http://www.australian-soaring-corowa.com/fleetANDrates.php

—

When you like to read about GLIDING you surely read the Gliding International  and I must say the latest issue is a ” topper”  again. I loved the 2 articles by Aldo Cernezzi . One about his participation in the Rayskala WGC in his 20 m. glider and one from his way back from Finland to Italy, visiting several manufacturers, as HPH and Schempp -Hirth.
The news that Sebastian is going to be a contestant in the 13.5 WGC in Pociunai [Lithuania from August 1-15 in 2015] in 2015 was new to me and he seems to fly there  and promote a  Polish glider the GP 10 by Peszke from Krosno. Robert Downe looks with a critical eye to all the classes after the profusion of the FAI classes.
Elke writes about the ” long down -wind” and interviewed Gordon Boettger about that. Great pictures go with the very interesting story.
Gravity waves;an atmospheric research by Germans in the New Zealand skies.
And much more as Major Advances in battery technology, remote control towers in Sweden, the Perlan Project, newsy aviation news about what happened in the world.
In the ” three liners”,  I was sad to see that Hank Meertens died age 70 in July. Hank was in the past, the president of the Australian Gliding Federation, chairman of FAI’s CASI committee and representative of the IGC for years and on top of that  a real nice guy. His wife died about 6 weeks earlier.

And to finish a great picture from 3 juniors lining up  on a great soaring day in the USA,….. a day the hangar was completely EMPTY, for the first time this season !!!WOW!!!!

As shared by the Harris Hill Soaring Corporation.
Picture by Noah Reitter one of the pilots, together with Evan and Eric.

Enough news so CU next Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz on September 10 2014.

 

 

Great skies in parts of Europe last Wednesday.
As seen by Kathrin in Germany and by Ben in Holland.

Last Wednesday might have been the last glorious day for the time of the year, from this summer, for soaring. Great clouds and those who could fly, went flying.
And yes 525 in a Discus, 537 in a Duo Discus , it was all possible that day specially more in the N of Holland. It’s weird but Holland has had MORE rain  this summer than normal, except in the N. were it was dryer than normal. And that in such a small country.They promised some nice after-summer-days as well for September , so let’s wait and see, it was pretty cool and wet over the last week.
Well they were right, it was 22 dgr.C yesterday up to 26 for tomorrow [where the normal average should be 20] Lovely another few days in the sun, NO rain, NO wind as in the last weeks.
But even with the cool  weather with lots of showers,  you could fly 257 km. as Sikko proved.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=4039076

—

Days mixed with rain and sun for the RENCONTRE-ASK 13-2014 , which was flown between August 24 and 30 . Members from clubs all over Europe gather to fly the nostalgic wooden ASK 13  2-seater, from St Crepin in France the N. of the HAUTES ALPES !!! One of the teams was from Holland; called team BLUE.
35 Teams  rigged, de-rigged and flew for 2 days, when disaster struck.

  

Busy, busy….

Gliders ready to go on Wednesday August 27 when the sun was back!!
As shared on their site.

AND up in the air.

All happy pictures and happy people but then as said, disaster struck!!!!
On that day , with a rather late start just before and after 3 PM, 2 pilots [ age 32 and 59] in one of the Nancy-ASK 13’s were missing in the evening and sadly enough found dead in the forest, after searching all night during  the next early morning . Tragic!!!!! VERY TRAGIC!!!! Both were instructors and VERY experienced also in the mountains, both were real good mates in this group of ASK 13 pilots!!! RIP!!!!

They flew for 2 more days, as I guess everybody thought, maybe even knew,  that this is what both pilots would have wanted/wished.Of course the other Nancy team stayed on the ground.

picture shared by Jerome Renault, the ” fresh”  number 3 on this years 18 m. Nationals in France.

—

In Australia the weather starts to heat-up and the big event in 2015 is the JWGC flown from Narromine in December. Of course you can practice before at several places,  JoeyGlide will be flown and the ” old”  juniors help a lot to make it easier for the ” World-pilots” .
Here is the message I share from Adam, flying already in September from Kingaroy;
” G Dale, Juniors Coaching Week

G’day all,

Another awesome opportunity is presenting itself to you, all you have to do is to take it by the horns!

While most 14-year-old boys are eyeing up their dad’s car keys and dreaming of buying their first beat-up Holden, Alex took to the skies on his first solo glider flight. As with learning to drive, training is closely supervised by an instructor (he is now certified as one) and flying solo comes only after its completion. “While it’s important to know about the glider and how not to crash, flying a glider is mainly about situation awareness, knowing what’s happening on the ground and what’s happening around you in terms of weather. It’s not something you can be taught; it’s more about slowly absorbing the knowledge of others.”

– See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/going-with-the-wind/#sthash.zysri9eK.dpuf—

—

After the disasters for Malaysia Airlines with the MH 370 and MH 17 , they re-organize, which will cost about 6000 jobs. A lot of the stewards and stewardesses resigned already as they were scared.
The state Malaysia had a share of 69 % and is now 100 % share holder.
Here in Holland the Schiphol Group claims that they had 4 % more passengers in the first half of 2014; 25.7  million. A few of them were Aussie friends.
Not bad!
And German wings the budget daughter from Lufthansa was on strike for a few hours on Friday.

—

Most comps are over now, so that part is getting quiet till the activities are starting again at the overseas destinations.
News will be shorter for a while till it’s booming again in our soaring world.

Cheers Ritz
on Wednesday September 3 one day before the 11th birthday of my granddaughter Indya. She is so much like me, but then also so different as you can see.

  

10 years old at 30 m!!!!!

This weekend a lot of comps finished and the 2014 season is slowly going to an end.
It was a nice year, with 2 WGC’s , lots of good Nationals and other high quality comps , but also comps with no flying and TOO much rain.
We could not complain about sunshine here in Holland, we even had tropical sunshine in July, but this summer was here and not only here, one of the wettest, due to tropical rainfall.Unfortunately August was too cold for the time of the year.
In Germany , by the way, the first 4 cm. of snow “dropped” on the ” Zugspitze”  the highest mountain in Germany with 2962 m. and that ‘s pretty unusual and very early for the time of the season. It is STILL only August!!!
Time to slowly  look ahead to the overseas season and when you belong to the lucky ones, make plans to go to South Africa, Namibia or Australia/New Zealand. September/October is the time again to send the gliders.
Still pondering about my own plans. When I go now in January 2015 it will be a great fun, but when I go in December 2015 I can go a few days to Narromine as well,  to see how the young ones are doing there during the Junior WGC and to see if the overseas pilots,  love Australia as much as I do.

 —

In Denmark the Women Pre Worlds in Arnberg had ZERO days and the toughest trip was the one  back home, without a competition-day.
Driving in the car over 1000 km. for some of them as the family Fergnani , with pilots Nicola and Elena, from Italy and Kathrin from Germany, was a big deal certainly after missing the fun of soaring.
Kathrin made some great pictures, [you can see she looks with an artist-eye] , so she has at least been in the air.

Beautiful Denmark from above as seen by Kathrin.
Pilotessa Design-com

She called it the ” land of the rainbows”.

For sure it is!
Pictures by Kathrin from Pilotessa Design-com

—

No doubt about the weather during the Lasham Junior Nationals combined with the 15 m. class. For their future WGC some people raised their eyebrows, but they had better weather than a lot of other European countries.
Last Sunday the juniors and 15 m. pilots started with their last day, number 8!!!!

Day 6 and 7 had a 3 and 4 hour AAT , so pilots could show their talents. Matt clearly seems to have the genes of dad Andy and won day 7 with 378 km. in the St. Cirrus in 4. 05. So father,….so son!!!!
Matt and his dad both were runner up this year at a big event [WGC in Leszno and UK Junior Nationals] and both appeared on BBC News to talk about gliding. Great exposure for our sport.
Matts biggest concurrent was Timothy Fletcher flying the St. Libelle. Overall , after 7 days , Timothy was on top with a bit more than 100 points.Quite some out-landings on that one but last day, as showers  and ” tricky patches”  spoiled at some places the fun.

So Sunday’s last day was an interesting one. An early start ,  a small window an A task from 138 km.  and lots of finishers, at least 45 and that has been different during the last days.

But in the end it was straight away clear. Timothy won another day [ 3 in total and  2x on spot 2 ! ]and got the max points for that day; 593 !! Matt was on a good 5th place. Matt started 7 minutes earlier and flew with a speed of 100 km./h. whilst Timothy flew around with 107.2 km.h on the clock.
So the new UK JUNIOR CHAMPION is Timothy [ 5261] followed by Matt [ 5101] and Luke.[4946]

In 15 m. class they flew 7 days and not Leigh Wells but Derren Francis won these Nationals , with consistent flying. [5415]
All 20 starters finished at this last day!

The competition ended with a de-briefing for the juniors, a demo by Colin Short in the B4  and a great party for all in the Pimms tent.

—

Also interesting weather for the last days of the Rieti -competition.Did you look at the scores?? They were much different than when I left you last Wednesday. They cancelled 2 days in total and flew for 4.
They  had a top -last-day with 456 km.,  won by Sebastian and his mate Lucasz.
They got ” the hang of flying  the ARCUS T ” and rushed from an overall spot 6 on day 3 , to spot 2 in the end, flying on the last day with a speed of 127 km./h. over the task area, gaining the 1000 points.
Unfortunately Luca De Marchi dropped from spot 1 overall to spot 14 after an out-landing on the last day after 151 km. gaining 208 points from the 1000.

Great Rieti soaring weather and the winners, Alberto and Andrea, runners up Sebastian [with daughter] and Lucasz and young Austrian pilot Aurel Hallbrucker.[ASH 31MI/21m.]
Pictures courtesy Rieti-site.

—

The French finished their juniors and 18 m. Nationals flown from Vichy with 6 days of flying.
In club class all flights were around 200 km.In the end the new French champion in club class is Valentin Leleu Lambour who topped the overall scores EVERY DAY!!!! So a real topper; 3816 points flying the Pegase.
100 Points less for runner up Thibault also in a French Pegase.
In st./15 m. Antoine Havet was on the last day, the only regular pilot [one HC pilot from Italy finished as well] finishing the 271 km. task. With the 1000 points he moved from 3 to spot 1 to be the new French Champion in this class.

The French new 18 m. champion is…Francis Svobodny.On the last day over 313.5 km. he got the 1000 points flying 103 km./h whilst the runner up had 86.3 km./h.
Jerome Renault who flew so well,  had a a bad day 5 with an out-landing and dropped from 1 on day 4 to spot 3 on the last day.
Other pilots lost ” a good spot ” because of infringements.

—

Talking about the overseas season”  I am back in my mind”  straight away in Australia. During  the  Gliding Federation of Australia Board meeting in Adelaide last weekend, Anita Taylor resigned as president of the GFA after 2.5 years. She did a tremendous job and it will be tough for her/him to succeed her .
” The last two and a half years have been both challenging and deeply rewarding, and I’ve valued every minute!” she said and ” I know that the existing GFA Board and Executive is a fantastic bunch of gliding tragics, all working tirelessly (instead of gliding on their day off!) for our freedom to fly gliders, so I leave knowing that our sport is in good hands!” 

Picture shared by Drew Mc Kinnie with the words.
” In Adelaide for the Gliding Federation of Australia Board meeting, chaired by the eternally cheerful Anita Taylor”.
So  a bit later they found out, this was her last time.

 

More Australian news ; The Victorian Soaring Association annual general meeting, was held at Benalla on 23rd August 2014.  CFI Ingo Renner , from the Southern Riverina Gliding Club at Tocumwal, was presented with the prestigious award “Living Treasure”!
Ingo is just 250 hours short of 36,000 flying hours!!

Ingo Renner still going strong!!
Picture shared by the SRGC.

Talking about Tocumwal, the Berrigan Shire seems to have a new PR person.A good one!!! Finally some great pictures and good stories about the old town.This all to promote the Tocumwal Residential Air Park at the aerodrome. Always dreamed of having your own hangar  with a taxiway to the runway, here is your chance!!!!
AND…finally some support from the shire for the airfield. That always was DIFFICULT, very difficult in the past, they were against EVERY good idea !!!! But NEVER TOO late !!!
When you are interested have a look at http://www.berriganshire.nsw.gov.au/Residents/Airfields.aspx
Mind you stage 1 is sold out, this is stage 2.

Runways and taxiways to Airpark marked in black.
As shared by the TRAP.

and some pictures to show Tocumwal’s beauty at it’s best.

The Antique shop and Palms pub, both great places to be and the canola crops in full flower at this time of the year.
as shared by the TRAP.

and the important Murray River with it’s white beaches.

—

Last  Sunday we had some great looking clouds but also showers. In Belgium Jeroen Jennen [ LS 8] flew 415 km. with an out-landing in Holland just over the border; Budel an airport for light aircraft. TOO heavy and  too early  rain spoiled the fantastic day.
In Holland the best distance was  313 in a DG 1000/20m., best result by Stefan Telkamp in the St Cirrus; 283 km. Some got a shower over their glider.

As seen by Frans Guise with the message ” we got wet”!!

—

CU next Wednesday!! Cheers Ritz
On Wednesday August 27 2014.

2014 started for us here in Holland with perfect ,  early summer weather. Nature was at least 2 weeks ahead of itself.
Unfortunately the summer seems to stop early as well. We have temperatures of around 17 dgr. C which is 6 dgr. lower than the normal average for the time of the year.
Yesterday we had the coldest day on August 19 since 1924 ; 16.9 dgr.!!!!
2014 in France and Italy was wet!!! Since ages they did not have such a wet summer.
Holland had some really rain as well [and damage]  and for that reason high damage bills and most probably for the future  higher insurance cost.
The weather is definitely changing.

–

THE CIM in RIETI

The CIM, [ the Coppa Internazionale  del Mediterranio 2014, [ have been there a few times!] was flown between August 4 and 15 from Rieti in Italy.With 72 international pilots always a big event!!

The CD was a lady Franca Vorano, as we had here in Holland over the last couple of years during the Nationals, with Natasja.
No worries with ladies as CD!!!

Day 1 straight away was a good one! AND,…an interesting one as the racing task had 7 TP’s for open and 2-seaters.
356.  km. for club class was a nice racing task. 5 From 12 finished this race,  as the the so well-known sea breeze from the Adriatic Sea,entered the task area and scattered the nice clouds.
421.1 km. in standard class was a tough race as well.1000 points were for an Aussie pilot and 4 out-landed among them 2 toppers as Manuele Molinari and Corrado Costa.
421.1 as well for the 15 m. class pilots and in this class and 7 from 12 finished.
441 km. for the 18 m. pilots and a few of the normally- flying – CIM-pilots , were in Leszno as in open and 15 m. class.5 From 19 finished the best with a speed of 117.2 km./h.
355.4 km. in the 2-seater class was a bit too much. None from the 7 pilots finished.
355.4 km. in open was no problem for pilots as Bruno Gantenbrink , Alexander Mueller and Ezio Sarti but the other 2 in this class could not make it.

2.30 AAT’s for day 2 and 4 and 3 hours for day 3.
On day 5 another racing task, between 314 and 407 km. and a speed in open class for the EB 29 from Alexander from 132.4 km./h.and 120.3 km./h in the standard class by Rene Schneebeli in the Discus a.

After 5 days of flying , pretty intensive flying in those mountains, it was time for some rest, the weather was not good anyhow,  so time to look at the results after 5 days.
In club class Austrian pilot Jan Jagiello in the Libelle H 301, was on top with 4412 points. Always a lot of Austrian, Swiss  and German pilots in Rieti.
In standard class Italian ” speedy gonzales”  , Vitorio Pinni leads after 5 days with 4344 points,before Ben Flewett from N .Z.
In 15 m. Steffen Schwarzer in the ASW 27 from Germany leads with 4230 points before team-squad pilot Denis Geurin from France.
In 18 m. Austrian pilot Werner Amman leads with 4402 points in his ASG 29.
The Austrian Duo Discus leads the 2-seater class with 4008 and Alexander Mueller in the EB 29 the open class.

After day 5 they got more marginal weather, later -better-conditions and a tough wind. Lots of out-landings and then 3 cancelled days in st. class, 15 and 18 m. and open and the 2-seaters.
The club class however had a day 7 and Jan in the Libelle remained on spot 1. Good on him.Somebody to keep an eye on , as he is nearly 400 points ahead on the runner up.

Final results;
club class after 7 days; Jan Jagiello [RT] from Austria with 5939 points over 7 days in the Libelle H 301.
standard class after 6 days; Vittorio Pinni[GG] from Italy with 4786 points in the LS 8.
15 m. class after 6 days; Steffen Schwarzer [ L7] from Germany with 4892 points in ASW 27.
18 m. class after 6 days; Werner Amman [ WG[ from Austria  with 5179 points in ASG 29.
2-seater class after 6 days; Aldo Cernezzi [ 61] my colleague at the Gliding International Team with 4081 points in ARCUS M.
open class after 6 days; Alexander Mueller [AM] from Germany with 5065 points in the EB 29 , just 16 points ahead of Bruno Gantenbrink in the ETA.

Not the best speed ever during this competition, as I remember 165.8 km./h. in the past, was it Vitorrio?
Biggest speed in open class by German pilot Alexander Mueller on day 2 with 133.3 km./h. over 353.5 km.
In 15 m. by French pilot Denis Geurin; 120.2 km./h on day 5 over 375.4 km.
In 18 m. by Austrian pilot Werner Amman ;121.1 km./h. on day 2 over 316 km.
In st. class by Swiss pilot Rene Schneebeli; 120.3 on day 5 over 375.4 km.
In  club class by  German pilot Helmut Koelle;  93.3 km. on day 5 over 314.6 km.
The 2 -seaters best speed was by the Swiss pilots  Mathias Koch/ Reto Frei; 117.2 km./h. on day 2 over 297.8 km.

BY THE WAY: On August 15 Sandro Montemaggi flew from Rieti 805 km. in the 18 m. ASG 19. Another TOO late good day! 752.6 km. in a 15 m. Ventus 2 ax is not bad either [Luca De Marchi]

 

The German Championship for JUNIORS in Zwickau with 74 pilots.

They had some good days as well….finishes here.
As shared by the Dutch team.

NO doubt about “our”  future , as a total of  74 juniors entered in Germany [4 of them Dutch; Annemiek, Robin, Nick and Sander]  45 in the UK and 37 in France .
A GRAND TOTAL OF 156 young under -25-pilots, in only 3 countries.
Some of the Dutch juniors flew the Junior comps in Holland, others went to Germany to fly the Nationals over there. International experience combined with competition experience.
They flew 6/5 out of  12 days.
On the last but one day they stopped the launching for club class,  as the drop -off -point was in the rain.Then they cancelled the day.
As the forecast for the last days was not too good this was the last chance to get points. And indeed the last day was cancelled as well.

Rain in the drop-off zone.
As shared by the Dutch team.

In standard class Sebastian Naegel finished on a 3d place and Benjamin Bachmeier on a 9th.
They are the only ones I ” know” . Winner was Karsten Leucker in the Discus 2B , 22 points ahead of Simon Briel the runner up in LS 8.
34 Pilots in this class.

In club class 5 Dutch pilots from 40. A great 3d place for young Dutch  top pilot Robin Smit in the LS 4 a.
2 St. Libelles on spot 1 and 2 with young German TOP-talents Julian Klemm [ 3629] and Arne Roepling.[3627] For sure Arne would have loved to fly a few days more. TWO POINTS DIFFERENCE ONLY!!!!
The other Dutch pilots were on spot 4 Nick Hanenburg[LS1f]  and  Sander Luimes [ St. Cirrus AG] on spot 12. Annemiek [Koers] flew the other St. Cirrus [AU] to spot 35.

Annemiek and Robin as seen by Robin’s dad, Martin Smit.
More of his GREAT pictures  www.sierramike.nl

ALL young ones got a certificate and the numbers 1-2 and 3 a prize AND a certificate.
Pictures from club class and shared by the Dutch team.

ONE BIG lesson was learned by ALL the young ones; don’t underestimate your final glide certainly not over an un-landable part of the town and certainly not with 30 to 40  km. wind on the nose !!! .
2 Gliders landed in a SWAN-lake in town, not good but they only had wet clothes and luckily no real damage on their gliders.
The ASW 15 pilot [on the picture with his glider],  could  continue and finished the comps on spot 32 overall from 40
As shared by the Dutch team. Pictures via  FREIE PRESSE , picture by Ralph Koehler.

–

When the German Juniors finished the French and UK juniors were ready to start on August 16 [till 24.]  The UK juniors fly from Lasham combined with the 15m. Nationals and 65 participants have entered.
47 UK juniors that’s fabulous!!!!! 20 Pilots in 15 m. among them Leigh Wells and my mates Roy and Patrick.
In France 54 pilots started on the 16th in 3 classes for their Nationals combined with the 18 m. French Nationals.
37 in the French Junior league. And 14 French pilots and 3 HC [From the UK, Belgium and Italy] in 18 m.
Before that the 16 [ 2 HC]  Dutch juniors flew 4 out of 8 days during the Dutch Junior Championships in Venlo in the beginning of August. Thijs Bastiaanse from the Gelderse won. They were supported/coached in the air, by Dutch top pilots.
The 4 Dutch Zwickau junior pilots were not there, they represented Holland in an  international way.

–

 

The UK championship for juniors and alongside they run the 15 m. Nationals.

Day 1 started with 203 km. for the juniors and 267.7 km.  for the 15 m. class changed into a B and later C task.
A few DUO DISCUSSES fly HC, with the juniors with coaching pilots as Ayala Truelove , Liz Sparrow and Mark Holden. Also an ASK 21.
Junior coach Pete Masson is very involved,tries to do the meteo and fly in 15 m. class. AND he writes as well, keeping us informed. A buzy bee. So is his wife, she runs the office with a few others.

They are doing a great job in the UK with their juniors. In June they announced the creation of the first ever Juniors Development Squad, for the year 2014! I know countries as Australia, Belgium, Germany, France and Holland are doing a similar thing. The soaring world ALL over,  invests a lot in the future pilots and with that in the future of  the sport.

“ The British Team coaches and members of the previous Junior Team have selected a group of pilots that they feel have the potential to represent the British Team at future Junior World Championships. The idea is that the Squad gets brought up to speed with British Team ways of working in plenty of time, and that the internal competitiveness really drives them all on to become better pilots. ” 

Day 1 from the juniors;
a tricky one with many out-landings , ” all over the task-area” as Pete said, but also great winners!!!!
The line was open at 12.13 and pilots went around 12.30 ” en route”.

18 from 47 managed to finish and winner was Mark Holden in the Duo Discus with Piers Murray, flying HC.
The REAL winner of day 1 was pilot Luke Dale [852 points] with development-squad -pilot Sam Roddie on his tail.
Matt , also in the squad and the son from Andy Davis, who was 2d in Leszno, was on spot 5.[829 points]

In 15 m. 12 pilots finished with a ” low”  speed, [69.9 km./h]  telling us the day was difficult. The 227 km. C task was smaller but for some still to big,as 12 out-landings said enough as well.
Leigh wells and Steve Jones were among the finishers, Patrick just made it, Roy just not.

Day 2; briefing at 1.45!!! They expected a small window in the afternoon after the rain had passed, so everybody had to be ready. 87.9 km. was set for the juniors and 150 km. for the 15 m. class.
It turned out to be a tricky but flyable day WITH finishers but also LOTS of out-landings.
Not a lot of points to gain as the winner in the Nimbus 2,Stefan, was the best of the 14 finishers and  got 277 points, but…. he won the day. Good on him.

In 15 m. class all pilots finished, except for Steve Jones, who just landed after 181.9 km. from the 186.2.km Not too expensive, still 142 points,  as the winner ,Leigh Wells got 399.

Day 3 ;174.7 km. was the task and the best pilot flew 139 of them for 151 points. Pretty good certainly when you see the runner up flew 85.9 km.
In 15 m. the day was scrubbed/not valid, as the best pilots just flew over 60 km..from the 153.6 set km.

Day 4 yesterday;with 171.7 km. the juniors had a big day ahead again with forecasted showers.26 Pilots finished and this time the good old Libelle won the day with a happy Timothy in it.VERY happy as he tops the overall scores after 4 difficult days , with Matt Davis and Luke Dale as runners up.
In 15 m. a total of 16 pilots finished the 247.8 km. 3 Pilots flying a Ventus are in the top after 3 days of flying.
Derren with 1975 points, Dave with 1935 and Matthew with 1925, the only ones in the 1900 marge.Leigh wells is on spot 5.
More next week.

–

The French Championship for juniors combined with the 18 m. Nationals.

Their day 1 also on Saturday, started with a 213.2 km racing task in club and 261.9 km. in st./15 m. class.
Valentin flying the Pegase won day 1 and all 24 pilots finished in this class.
In 15 m/ st. class Simon , also in a Pegase, won the day and 4 pilots from 13 did not finish.

In the 18 m. class Gilles Navas showed he still belongs to the best pilots, winning day 1 with a speed of  105 km./h. over 307.3 km. 4 Out-landings all on the last leg.

Day 2 had a 3 hour AAT for ALL. He must be a talent as Valentin won day 2 as well in his Pegase; 1000 points;260 km. in 3.05.In st/15 m. it was Maximilian who deserved the 1000 points for 275 km. in 3.14.in a Discus 2A.

In 18 m. Gilles had NO problem to win again. He flew 288.8 km. in 2.55.

Day 3 was a marginal day with a 2 hour AAT  and the best speed was 51 km./h. so not a lot of points to earn;13/14 points for the 9 finishers.Among them…Valentin!
In st./15 m. NO finishers from the 2.15 AAT.

In 18 m. a 2.30 AAT and not a daily win for Gilles who belonged this time to the 12 out-landers and lost about 200 points.
5 Managed to finish.

Yesterday they had day 4 with 188 km. and 218 km. in St./15m . Another Pegase won the day in club and in 15 m./st. a new name Antoine Havet in a Ventus 2 ax. Overall after 2 LS 8 gliders on top after 4 days and Antoine on spot 3.Also 4 out-landings.

The 18 m. pilots had to go for 250 km. Jerome Renault won the day and leads overall after 4 days, before Gilles and Italian HC pilot Alberto Pozzi.

–

The Coppa City di Rieti

Straight after the CIM , a lot of pilots stayed for the the other Cup,  the one from the town of Rieti, always VERY supporting to gliding. Lots of Leszno -WGC – pilots entered this competition,  as they had time now.

They started on Sunday and on Friday they had that great 800 km.-weather. Just in between 2 comps. Not fair!
ONE MIXED class this time, with 40 participants and even Sebastian Kawa, now in a 2 seater , ARCUS M, with Lucasz Grabowski entered.

Day 1 , with a cloud base over Rieti from 2700 m. , was a prey for French topper Louis Bouderlique who won the 345.4 km. task with a speed of 137.8 km./h. in the ASG 29/18m. with handicap 119.

Day 2 had a 458.1 km. task and the 1000 points were for Luca De Marchi in the Ventus 2ax. The 2 ARCUS gliders M [Alberto Sironi] and T [Sebastian Kawa] were 2d and 3d. Not as easy day as 11 from 36 out-landed!!

Day 3 was scrubbed at 3.30 ; poor conditions.

To see how they all go over the next couple of days , you can look at the scores from all these comps at www.soaringspot.com

–

Talking a lot about the ” young ones”  in this blog , an important new schedule is  the Preworlds in Narromine called JOEYGLIDE.
” The contest will be run from 5-13 December 2014, with the 5th being the official practice day. Unofficial practice will be run from 1-4 December.” 

Narromine a wonderful soaring place.

–

World wide on the OLC,  Mitch had a great flight again on August 15, this time from Parowan; a declared 1000 out and return. Here is his comment:
“Declared 1031.5 km out and return flight and completed it at 118.89 km/hr.
Will claim three U.S. national records in single-seat motor-glider category:
declared out and return distance,
free out and return distance ,
speed over a 1000 km out and return task.
Was one of the most difficult flights of my life.
Never got much above 12,000 feet for about the first three hours. Never got above 15,000 feet the rest of the flight.
Exhausted but happy!” 

Talking about an out and return; The FAI has approved the African Continental 1000 km.- O&R-record from Dutch pilots Max Leenders and Edo Kwant….145.37 km,./h. flown on January 19 from Douglas Backhouse.[SA]
Congratulations.

Enough to read for you about last week, looking ahead at next week again. CU then,

Cheers Ritz on August 20 2014.