IN MEMORIAM LEONARDO BRIGLIADORI

Leo in Eskilstuna in 2006

It’s with great sadness, that I have to mention the loss of a good soaring mate; our Leo.
Soaring brings people together, it’s one of the goals of our beautiful sport to fraternize with people from all over the world.
Sometimes you meet somebody and you feel straight away a strong connection, one which never goes away, also not when you do not meet regularly.
This is what I had when I met Adriana and Leonardo Brigliadori, LONG time ago. I can’t even remember which competition. For sure in 1984 when we were in Rieti with the Pre Worlds.
Arriving at an airfield I heard and still miss  that, Adriana’s cheerful voice “CIAU Ritz “and we dropped or stopped doing what we were doing and hurried to meet each other.

Still see/visualise  Leo in my beloved Tocumwal , where we were with 50 pilots from so many different countries, attending a HOLY CHRISTMAS mess in the practise period for the Benalla world comps in 1986/87. Outside, as it was hot even  in the middle of the night and we were too many for the small church .We all in our summer clothes, moths flying around and settling down on the white clothes of the priest.

 

Adriana [to the r.] at the WGC in 2008, when she was already sick, but still so strong minded.

I spend quite some time in Rieti later , as editor as both Leo and Marina were “fans”. I noticed the drive Leo had to be a fantastic CD in 1987 and 1988 with the JWGC and WGC.
Even when Adriana was diagnosed with cancer .
Marina deputy contest director during the JWGC in 2007, kept a good eye on him as being so busy he sometimes forgot things and she was there to remind him. And on the days he HAD to go home ,  deputy Giorgio [2008] took over as CD . Oiled teams! All great mates!

  

Giorgio and Leo working together at several comps.

Adriana died a few years ago. Leo struggled, but still was involved in soaring and found his friends helping him through the dark period.

Can’t tell you HOW MUCH he did for Italian soaring!!!! Others can do so better! A HUGE amount! He really was of great importance for Italian soaring.
Since October 2008 he was the president of the Italian Gliding Federation.
In the end it sometimes was a bit of a struggle,  as there are [maybe too] many important people in Italian soaring, at least that’s what they think.
Not that long ago I got a mail he had given up all his functions .

 

Leo always active as CD , here with his stewards in 2008.

Of course he was World Champion in 1985 in his Rieti,  won more comps,  as the EGC in 1982;  he just was a great pilot.
He also wrote a book “Competing in gliding”, with his son Ricky , sharing the experiences both had in competition flying. Promoting this book,  he was invited to Holland , where I met him again.
I received the most beautiful book about the WGC in 2008,editorial co-ordinated by Aldo Cernezzi, full of great pictures and most of my stories,  in which Leo as CD said:
The most important factor of a gliding competition is always the weather. And in this respect we can certainly say that Rieti’s skies have offered the best 11 out of 13 available days inclusive the compulsory rest day, with generally much higher speeds than in other places”

And,
” one of the goals we wanted to achieve was safety, in flight and on the ground.”

He was a true gentleman, a lovely and caring person to ALL of us, a lovely husband and father and grand father.
Last time I was in Rieti we,[ Leo and Giorgio’s aunty,]  went to the old town of Cantalice, close by and he was fit as a young man walking up and down along all the stairs. No cars allowed there!

Big walking and climbing. Now worries for Leo.

When in Uvalde I made some pictures from Ricky and his wife and children and send them to Leo, to make him a bit part of that WGC. He was more than pleased and grateful. That’s the last contact I had with him.

Last weekend Leo unexpectedly died of a heart attack. Only 74 years old!
A great man/pilot, has flown away from us…buon volo LEO. He was buried yesterday and the ceremony took place at the airport of  Verzago.
As I heard more than 500 friends attended and Luigi Bertoncini flew with a low pass as an ultimate SALUT over the field.
He will be sadly missed by MANY, also by me. Rest in peace Leo.

Marina wrote on FB;
“Leonardo Brigliadori left us tonight for his last flight. The whole Italian gliding  community is weeping for a great champion of life and Sport.
We will miss him so much.
Marina Vigorito Galetto

 

Leo and Marina and Giorgio in Sweden and also in Sweden with the German TC Rainer, taking the FAI flag home for the 2008 WGC.

Life continues [ Leo would only agree with me!!!,]  and as said, we look ahead on the JWGC the last BIG FAI Soaring cat. 1 event this year.

 

Flags are ready for the  JWGC.

The British juniors have practised already and on their first practise day…”we were treated to 6,500ft cloudbases with 6 knot climbs. We had a good look around the local area and checked all the kit still works. Everything seems to be going to plan so we’ll look to do a task tomorrow.” Which was Monday.
Quite a few people from Ostrow moved to Leszno. As said 3 of the Dutch pilots flew there as well!
“Leszno wakes up…! Office is being set up, restaurant is getting ready for us, new tents and caravans are appearing on the camp ground. Looks like big part of Ostrow is now in Leszno.”
News as written on the official site.

Yesterday was the last un-official trainings day and scrutineering and registration started. More young ones arrived and today the official practise starts.I love the way the juniors deal with the social media, they have blogs , make pictures and share them, a great way to make our sport more popular.

 

As shared by Belgium pilot Jeroen; on his way to Leszno!
To all; good luck and safe soaring!

My Aussi friends have arrived in Leszno as well. TC is the well known Beryl Hartley. Whilst being there she looks ahead already on the next JWGC in Narromine.[Australia]
“Today we are ready for both Ailsa and Eric to fly. The weather is expected to be excellent again. The numbers are building daily and the first large briefing will be held in the hangar this morning. The team is settling and we have set up Aussie base camp.
Beryl”
Aisla is one of the girls flying in Leszno. Great to see so many.
Met Aisla last year in Benalla where she flew the Nationals. She will when she has time share news with us in the blog.
Of course Matthew flies there as well and by now you know how good and informative a blogger he is.
Today he mentioned; “Rigged, weighed and ready to get back in the saddle for training day 1.”

Courtesy Matthew AND glider with the brand NEW covers. Must help!!!!!

 

We ,[ atleast I do, ] enjoy a real HEATWAVE , yes HERE in Holland; 5 days above 25 and 3 of them over 30, even up to 34.5!!!! Who would have thought that after a winter from more or less 6 months.
Last Sunday it was not only hot but also nice cu’s appeared  and flights from over 400 km. were flown from several airfields here in Holland and on Monday even 600k.  from Malden in a Nimbus 4DM .

Congratulations to our Belgium friends with their new young king . Belgium has now 3 queens [Fabiola. Paola and Mathilde] and 2 kings [Albert who stepped aside for his son Filipe] as they all keep their title.
Congratulations as well to the UK friends and from the Common Wealth Countries; a BABY boy is born 3d in line for the crown. Nobody has missed that news!!! Poor little kid!

Cheers Ritz
on Wednesday July 24 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com      www.glidinginternational.com

 

OSTROW

The morning from Thursday looked fantastic but was more or less hectic for the TC’s . What happened? Some club class gliders were lighter than the reference weight, as set with scrutiny for the acceptance check, before the comps.
There is a tolerance of 10 kg. ;10 pilots were under weight.
Penalty points were given for those who had between a 4 and 23 kilo weight discrepancy; 2 points a kilo!!!
On Thursday long tasks for the 8th day of flying with the prediction of 1600 m. cloud base and maybe thunderstorms in the evening;
Club 408.1 km
Standard  541.4 km and
the 20 m. had to go for 479.1 starting last.

Launches in progress!
As shared on FB.

In general the crews on the ground were a bit worried during the day, as it looked that the weather the day before was better!!!
This could have been  an “expensive day when you miss the boat”.
Toppers as Roman Mracek in CLUB class, showed why they are 1 in the cumulative scores; he just flew over 100 km./h. over the 408 km. in his standard cirrus and won the day.
Told you already that we should keep an eye on Rasmus Orskov from Denmark. He won day 7 , was on spot 6 today and is on spot 5 now overall, with 7160  and Roman had at this stage 7496.

In standard class the KAWA -team/collective/train,  collected the 1000, 999 and 996 points for Poland …. AGAIN.
GREAT effort from the Dutch pilot Peter to be just behind them with 944 points after already winning one day.
At that stage the runners up in the overall scores on 4 and 5 are my Belgium friends Bert and Tijl and then Peter on 7!!!

You clean your own wings!!! AND??????…Nothing new in soaring, BUT ,…when Sebastian is cleaning ….all photographers hang around.
Picture as shared on FB.

 In the 2 seater class I heard Wolfgang left and the whole “circus” followed him.Wolfgang however did NOT win the day, he was 7th , BUT he is still 200 points ahead of Janusz overall.; Janusz won the day.

FRIDAY one but LAST DAY OF EGC!!!! And,.. during the last 2 big comps,  EGC in Vinon and WWGC in Issoudun , it ALL HAPPENED on the last 2 days!!!!
Tasks;
club ; 237.9km.
standard ; 366.4km.
2 seaters ; 353.4km.
Expectation of first finishes at 15.30. Pretty early closure of start time as well [ standard class 14.09] Tough wind was forecasted even stronger later in the day. PFFFFF, what a day!

At 4 I looked if something was going on. A lot was going on. OUTLANDINGS!!!!My Belgium friends shared on FB , that the Schmelzer brothers had outlanded in 21 and ALB at the first TP. On spot 4 and 6 overall in standard class, such bad luck.
Club class pilots had to land out as well; German toppers Gerrit and Lars on spot 4 and 6 overall, before the first TP!!!!
Was this  day going to be a battlefield????

In club class Roman Mracek belonged to the finishers, he finished on spot 3. Not only the 2 German pilots who did so well during this EGC outlanded, also 15 other pilots were out. Polish number-2-overall- pilot Jakub Barszcz was the runner up on Friday.

In standard class, TA …TA… Peter Millenaar won again, starting very late , at 13.42 just behind the German boys Felipe  and Michael. The Kawa-team started on different times, Sebastian at 13.04 and Pawel and Lucasz at 13.13. Interesting!!!!
Sebastian finished on spot 13, lost some points nearly 200 , but,…no worries he can have it.
Peter is “best of the rest ” , when you don’t count the Polish team, but of course it does n’t work like this.
A total of 19 outlandings! Bert jr. and Tijl dropped to 9 and 13.

 

Peter was already winner on day 6! Good on him!
Picture shared on FB.

In the 2-seater-class , ” tiny -little- disaster – struck” for Janusz with an outlanding after 316 km. That COST!!!!
Also they were not the only ones;8 gliders landed out!
Good effort from the French [ Jeremie and Marc] and the Belgium team [Pierre and Arnaud] who slowly move to the top. The French in the ARCUS S won the day starting at 12.53, whilst Pierre and Arnaud were the runners up starting at 13.12.They were with ONE day to go on a good 3d spot overall behind the German team with Florian Theisinger.
A good day for Visa Matti finishing as 3d with Harry. Good on them!
Dutch team Peter Batenburg and Ard Tielenburg had a great 4th place. Ard is one of the juniors who is going to fly the JWGC in Leszno soon in club class. SUPER to “find out “, this way, with a very experienced pilot,  about flying in Poland and the area from Leszno is not that far away.

Happy family; uncle and cousin on spot 3 overall on Friday.
As shared by Arnaud on FB.

 YESTERDAY was the last day!
Briefing at 10, grid at 10.30 and club upfront with standard and 2 seaters behind them. Weather forecast; it should be good!!!!!
AAT’s for all classes;
Club class ; time  3.00 …157.4km/350.7km
Standard class ;time  2.45…..211.8km/394.1km
2 seater class;  time 2.30…..164.3km/332.1km

Before departure Matthew wrote on his blog; “Last day, three different air masses with conditions improving substantially as the day goes on. 11am launch, and start gate set to close an hour after opening as they want people to start early so the scores can be done in time for a closing ceremony tonight. General consensus seems to be that this will cause a Grand Prix start of 100 gliders on the same task one minute before the gates close… At least it’s an AAT.”

 Picture Courtesy Matthew!

On the grid they changed the task from the 2 seaters. A bit of confusion, but no worries in the end. Task was now B, not smaller but bigger/more kilometres/ more distance, same time.

Indeed most pilots started just before the line closed!
Sebastian had a problem, came back to the field, crew and more helpers rushed out to help him and off he went again.

 

As shared by one of the teams.

Problems!? But,..they seem to have been solved! No stress! He started before 13.20, the closure of the start-line in this class.

In between it was HAMMERWEATHER, with wave up to 1900 m.,  lift from 5/6 m. per s. and some “sadness” as the weather is SO/too good , for such a short task, in fact some called it the best day of the comps. But in the evening it was party time and the scores had to be ready for the prize -giving-ceremony, on the same evening.
In club class 321 km. was flown by Lucasz from Poland in 3.01.54,with that he stayed on spot 3 BRONZE for him![ 8897]. His mate Jacub defended the SILVER , but lost more than 100 points by being on 13 today, no worries .[9065] Roman was 3d and kept the GOLD steady in his possession![9415!!!!!] All pilots finished , so they could all enjoy the party.
Lot’s of confusion as in first instance the 2 Dutch boys Jeroen and Tim got the 1000 and 999 points. But it seemed they started just after the closing time and were set back. Interesting/weird was that , as far as I heard, the jury neither the CD wanted to listen or accept the protest which was given in time! As far as I know a protest should be accepted, also  on the last day in a shorter time.

The champion , runner up and number 3 from thids 17th EGC.
As shared by the Ostrow FB site.

In standard class “our” Peter Millenaar won AGAIN; 366 km in 2.46,54 a speed of 131.7 km./h.
3 days the day-winner , in a class with Sebastian, [who was 15 yesterday] at an EGC ….good on him!!! He really deserved that 4th spot ,he truly was the “best of the rest”!!! behind the Polish mates who all 3 flew themselves in the 9000 points -ranch. Congratulations to Sebastian for another EGC title.[9353] Of course his mates, Lucasz and Pawel,  won the silver and bronze.
Peter mentioned after his flight:
” What a day! Before the start line opened, there was wave till 2370 m and a cloud base of 1600 m. After starting regularly lift up to 3-4 and 5 m.
After rounding the second sector the average speed was 131.5 km/h.
What a day!!!! What an EGC!!!”
Looking forward to see him fly in Leszno during the JWGC. Next step in his still short, but long-looking- soaring-life!!

Matthew finished his blog on a “low” with 413 points for the day ….
“Ended on a low unfortunately… around the start there was clearly wave going on, but only a couple of people managed to climb in. It’s quite depressing to make a start and see someone starting 4000ft above you on the FLARM. With the start line closing early I gave it a solid go, but just couldn’t get the right cycle of the cu for the climb in.”
For the rest of this last story, he had troubles with the water ballast in his wings,  on these comps you can go to https://www.facebook.com/MatthewScuttersGliding/posts/485297118228541?notif_t=notify_me
There you can also follow his participation in the JWGC . Good luck Matthew!

Champion Sebastian with his Polish mates.
As shared by the Ostrow FB site.

The 2 seaters had a B task which was still not long enough to make it a 1000 -points- day. Wolfgang raced with 129 km./h. over the 333.3 km. and got 834 points. THE GOLD was his and Andreas’.[9250]
The Belgium pilots Wim and Dennis had a good runner-up-spot on this last day 10;317.7 km/807 points.
German pilots Florian and Thomas, won the SILVER [ 8877 in a DUO DISCUS XLT and the Broqueville-family goes home with bronze.[8710] The other 5 gliders in the top 6 were ARCUS.

The champions and numbers 2 and 3 in the 2 seater class.
As shared by the Ostrow FB site.

With 10 days of flying and 5 days of forced rest, this was a wonderful EGC. As usual the last 2 days were pretty spectacular!
Thank you to the Ostrow team for sharing via the social media stories and pictures!!! Here are the last ones!

All participants and lot’s of gliders.

 

Photographers, antennas it ALL helped to share our sport!

Other news;The Dutch SUMMER COMPETITION at Malden had just the best weather.
Starting on the 14th of July, they flew every day, 7 in total. This competition is the “road” to the Nationals.
A new young talented pilot is Robin Smit, the son of one of our Friends,  “Smitje” who,  when he was about the age of Robin , was regularly our crew at comps. Now his son is winning the Summer comps. Time flies!!!!!
Robin flew LS 4 and was more than 500 points ahead [4130….winning 4 days] of the runner up , another young Dutch talent Sander Luimes.[ 3597…in LS4]

Our future is pretty secure, hope the juniors show that as well in the JWGC. 3 Of them flew in Ostrow now.
The opening of the JWGC will be next Saturday July 27 at 7PM. That’s the next BIG competition to follow! This weekend the Practise week started.

 

 

“Team Neil Deijgers” from Belgium on the road to Leszno for a 980 km. drive from Diest.
Teams from the UK waiting for the ferry also on their way.
And,..Ard who had practised already in the “back” from the ARCUS T with WGC pilot Peter Batenburg during this EGC in Ostrow.

 With 5 days, one non flying in between with each a 1000 km. Guy Bechtold ,[Lux.] proves he is a real kilometer eater. He flies with some of my friends in Fuentemilanos. It’s already a long time ago I visited them there. Yesterday 23 pilots started from Fuente for nice long flights!

Cheers Ritz
On July 21 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com        www.soaringcafe.com       www.glidinginternational.com

 

 

 

OSTROW

 

Arrivals on one of the 5 first good days with Jeroen Verkuijl.
As shared on FB .

With Issoudun over and most pilots from Europe  back home, we can look again at the EGC where they did not fly over the last couple of days. Yesterday was “practise rigging and de-rigging” ,as I heard but to day might be the day again and then it should improve. Everybody is MORE than eager to GO!!!!!

Ready!!!

So after 5 days of flying in a row , then 5 days of enforced rest, pilots started for a BIG task on a sunny blue day ;
Club class had a 3 hour AAT. and some of the pilots “normally ” in the top , were a bit out of “their groove” after the days off.
It was a Russian daily winner [280 km. in 3.16 in a St Jantar] , a Finnish runner up  and a Polish number 3 whilst the German pilots still were in the top 5 , just before Dutch “topper” Tim.

In standard class a 3.30 AAT and what happens? Sebastian is on spot 2 but Peter  got 106 points more for his 390 km. in 3.36. Sebastian and his team mates had 361 km. in 3.33. No too bad from Peter to beat the 3 Polish boys on their home ground and,…with marge.
That’s when you are as good as Sebastian and in the past as Ingo Renner; you want to beat them over their “home-soil”.
The Belgium brothers Tijl and Bert did well with spot 6 and 7.

 

Peter is still young but was already Dutch National champion and flew JWGC.
Very talented young pilot. AND,.. Peter ready to go in Ostrow with mum as crew!

In the 2 seater class with a 4 hour AAT, the THE Broquevilles showed what they can do by being runner up behind the Polish DUO DISCUS XLT. 399 km. for the winners in time 4.09 and the Belgium friends flew 400 km. in 4.08 in the ARCUS T.
The toppers in this class overall where on spot 3 and 4 Janusz and Wolfgang with their “mate”.

Exciting finishes as most of the pilots arrived in a mass finish.

TODAY a very EARLY briefing at 9.30 with grid time at 10.30!!! BIG task I would say!!!! But no, just 3x 3 hour AAT’s. Maybe the expectation of thunderstorms in the evening. Keep an eye on it.

Good weather on MORE places in Europe, here as well but more for sunbaking, but in Spain {Ocana and Fuentemilanos} and in Germany { Bayreuth and Dahlemer Binz} 1000 km. flights were topping the OLC.
One 1.089 in an ASH 26E with a finish just before sunset and the last thermal at 9PM with still 2 m/s. and a 750 FAI triangle in it.

To finish this blog some pictures I received from the Dutch TC [WWGC] a bit closer to the club class ladies and one from the TC’s who got a ”  thank you” as well.

 

Pretty unique ,…4 ladies on the podium!

TC’s ; a lot of familiar faces from my TC time and some new ones.
Great job done by all, as usual, experienced or not they all want the best for the team.

And one from Sarah who is enjoying Paris with her crew Joy. They are having a well deserved break.
“Joy and I are still in Paris taking in the sights, and for me catching up on all the blogs. I had a really good time, made friends, and learned lots of lessons.”

Sarah and Joy at the Eiffel Tower.

CU next Sunday,  off to the beach with the grand children
cheers Ritz

on Wednesday July 17 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

ISSOUDUN from above and a last THANK you to MARK PAL for sharing his great pictures with us.

Unbelievable those 2 last days of the WWGC.
Women “fighting” against the wind and each other. Were the first 8 days in retrospect just easy -going for most, the last 2 days mostly in the blue and with a tough head wind, were nearly “hell.” But for us at home it really gave some exciting soaring to follow!

Congratulations to the new WORLD CHAMPIONS, to the silver medal-winners even 4 this year as in club class there are 2 silver winners and to the bronze girls and also for the girls on that “nasty” 4th place, but what did they fly well too.

And what about the difference in points!?
In club class Chrissie wins, she has never been on spot 1 overall during these comps , but slowly climbed to the top and on the last  day with very small differences in scores , she was NOT even one of the 3 finishers  but the first from the toppers being “out”with still 193.6 km. AND….. she climbed from 3 to ONE.
After 10 years she is back as WWGC Champion. [ 8419]
10 Years younger not having a child,  she was 1 in Romorantin in 2003, now with Uli and Fin, both for sure sharing in the festivities , she can just be HAPPY.
Great performance from Ayala and Doerte sharing the silver spot [8405] each with a medal. And absolutely great flying from Sarah, [8364] in the first ever year the USA participated. She gave  her country and her many fans, immense pleasure. She  got the bronze medal!!!!!
So 4 medals in this class quite unique, I never saw this before.
Great flying from Elena [ 8072]as well.
Unlucky this year in this class, was Swaantje with her rolling-out-incident , loosing her spot 1 -place and Kerrie with a hard landing on the one but last day.

  

The TOP 4 and Sarah, congratulations!

This is what TC Francois said about the bronze medal and I can only agree and back this up:
—-” After several meetings and discussions among officials and powers to be, a decision was reached that 1, 2, 2, empty, on the podium was neither elegant nor appropriate for the Women World Gliding Championship, and that Sarah would be awarded the bronze medal and third place in a 1, 2, 2, 3 on the podium. So, we had the pleasure to see Sarah step on the podium, the pride to see our flag fly at the ceremony for the Club Class, and the joy to witness Sarah getting her bronze medal. We are all very proud to bring one of those special FAI World Championship medals home for all of you who have been so supportive of Sarah.—“

In standard class it was pretty sure that Sue was going to continue her title. She did ….with a marge of a bit less than 200 points.[ 8618]  A good silver for Connie [8439] and the bronze medal was for Meike, a total- German -top.
Well done by the Czech girls, Jana ,Jana and Dana , mostly consistent around   spot 4-5 and 6.
Unlucky girls in this class Nina from Russia landing in a tree and Natasja from Holland getting sick.

3 VERY happy German ladies!!!
Picture as shared by the team site.

The top girls in standard class.

In 15 m. it was the French team taking the highest spot ,GOLD and the silver and it was a bit of a disillusion for Jutta finishing on spot 5,  but how fantastic did she fly.
Most probably a bit of a disillusion as well for Susanne on her way to prolong  her title but is was not meant to be. On day 8 and 9 she still topped the overall list but the last day her 2 team mates finished and she had to land out, loosing more than 200 points on her team mate Stefanie who won.
Anne wins the gold [9098] , Marilyne the silver [8925] and Katrin [8921] takes for Germany the bronze medal home.

And the toppers all of them in 15 m. class!

 

The French number 1 and 2 Anne and Maryline and the successful team with TC Eric to the right.
Pictures as shared on FB.

 Differences in points were SOOOO small! It could have gone either way in 2 classes, but it ended like it did.
Great comps. Absolutely!!!
Thanks to EVERYBODY, pilots, crews, organisers, photographers and bloggers on home sites and FB, for sharing a wonderful time via the social media.
And thanks to Mark, for the great pictures!

And here 2 pictures from the so SUCCESFUL German team. They won the TEAM CUP! Well deserved with 6 medals from 10.

 
The German top girls , as shared by the German site!

That’s it about the WWGC.

Back to the EGC in Ostrow where they did not fly yesterday , maybe today , they had a grid order.Looking at the weather map ….Tuesday looks really good. Let’s hope wait and see.

Some great flights, several 1000 km. from Germany last Friday and yesterday, from Bayreuth, Burg Feuerstein, Hahnweide and Klippeneck to give you the most wellknown airfields.

Cu on Wednesday. Have the grandchildren this week, so busy enough!

Cheers Ritz

ISSOUDUN last day!!!!

Courtesy Mark Pal

It turned out more hectic yesterday than earlier expected and hoped for. Several girls could not  come back AT the field due to the 20 kts wind. Some landed within the 4 km. finish ring,  but one of the Russian girls “landed “in a tree and was hanging there,  till she could be saved, but it seems she was lucky and had no injuries. The glider stayed in the tree over night as I heard.
Aussie pilot Kerrie made a hard landing [they say from 3 m. high] also she seems to be all right, after a check in hospital. Being 5th for the day must have made her happy.
Everybody complained about the wind, a tough head wind on the last leg, forcing some to react different than they normally would. Also the gaggles were a bit scary as Jutta said in her [French written] story; “The UK girls called it “a fight in a phone cell” with about 50 pilots from 3 classes more or less on the same route.

Jutta in her glider C.
Courtesy Mark Pal

Jutta thought at one moment she was ” OUT” , but a miracle happened . After a late start , as they heard from the club class girls that it was difficult en route in the beginning, they easily got away but after 30 km. the lift stopped and they tried to get as high as possible. They moved a bit more to the East finding a meter. Then she had quite a pleasant flight. Heard lot’s of girls complain, but Jutta did not know why,  it all went well, even up to 2 m. and 3m.  lift. Later,..at that moment she flew alone , she did not find any lift, good looking cu’s but they did NOT work, she went down from 900 to 400 to 300, hoping for a miracle, and,…the miracle was there; lift up to 900 m. again and 3 other pilots , so not alone anymore in the blue and the wind.
Then the girls  slowly make it home against the tough wind. Jutta WON the day!!!AND,…..WHATADAY!!!!!?????

 
THANKS to Mark for allowing me to use his great pictures and for sharing them with ALL of us on his FB site!!!!

Ayala took advantage of the 4km finish ring to land safely in a good field.  As written in Melissa’s blog:”  She ended up about 3.7km from the airfield so we got to watch her turn and land.  There is no way she could have made it home into the steep headwind. She won the day and is 1 overall on this last day.”

 

Ayala yesterday within the 4 km. finish ring. AND,… in a nice fresh cut crop.
Courtesy UK blog site!

Here is the report from USA TC Francois Pin about yesterday the rest you can read on their blog.
http://ussoaringteam2013issoudun.blogspot.de/
It says it all about yesterday:
—“All eyes then turned toward the Southwest from where the finishers would come. The last 3-4 Km before the runway threshold are fields, about 30% of which are now harvested, and before that about 10 Km of forest along the arrival course line. It was a blue day, so the entire fleet was flying in gaggles, 5 or 6 “packets” as they call them here. We heard a lot of “10 Km out” calls and saw waves after waves of gliders reaching over the edge of the forest and landing in the fields between it and the runway, some low enough over the edge of the forest that they must have been very relieved to see something else than trees under their wings and be able to put it down in a field. You can imagine that the sight generated some anxiety among the waiting crew.

Sarah with her crew Joy McKee.

 

Time to reflex today and a later briefing at 11.30. Good that the TOUR and WWGC can continue each in their own way. They are expected to pass by around 4 PM.
For that reason it was in the morning decided that they would start at 2 , not later to avoid problems with the helicopters. Safety FIRST!!!!
Hopefully the film-crew makes some pictures from Issoudun airport as well.
Let’s see what happens today.
Tasks for the last day: 197 km racing task,….Standard  3.00 AAT [155-290 km.]   …..15 m. 2.30 AAT.[157-305 km]
First take off 13.30.

With in the back of their head the knowledge, that the weather was similar to yesterday, the girls were launched for their last day. Wonder if the tuggies do a nice fly pass to say farewell to the crews. Always loved that moment.
Still a lot of wind as I noticed looking at the TOUR, but according to what I hear less than yesterday.
By the way I looked at the TOUR de FRANCE on TV, saw them cycling through Issoudun at 4.10 PM , but no view on the airport or mentioning the WWGC. “WE “/gliding is  still  not important for the press.
A great pity.

So the ladies all went up eager to consolidate,  or to gain more points,  or to just fly relaxed for those for whom  scores were not important anymore.
They mentioned less wind, the bicyclists really struggled with the tough wind.

Not a lot of news during the day, everybody is busy.
In club class it seems to have looked like a regatta start as all ladies moved forward at 15.30.  This time was set as last possible departure/ closure of the gate, to not get into conflict with the helicopters from the TOUR.
Around 6 we should know a bit more.
It’s 10.30 PM now and still we do not know the scores of Club class as this last day was another crimi-day with unexpected and  many out landings. Really a lot!!!! Only 3 finished as I see in the preliminary scores! Edita from Lithuania won the last difficult day , starting late at 15.21 with Helen from the UK as runner up and she started one hour earlier and Magalie from France on spot 3.
BUT WHO will be the champion now??? Chrissie ????? It looks like it at this stage.
Not everybody is back from the retrieve so it’s still waiting!!!!
Was the whole competition more or less predictable the last 2 days it was tension all over!!!!
Heard that Sarah was out about 30 k. Ayala was out as well.

In standard class it looks pretty sure that the 3 first places are for the German girls!!! It looks like Sue has defended her title with verve. Cornelia goes home with the silver and Meike with the bronze. Great effort from Germany.
The 2 Jana’s were the best today and climbed up to spot 4 and 5 with Dana on 6 . Not bad either from the Czech girls!!!

In 15 m. only 6 girls finished. Jutta was “out” so was Susanne. Would it still be enough for her to defend her title. It does n’t look so. It’s Anne from France than Mailyne from France and  with Katrin on spot 3 and Susanne on 4. Jutta finishes on spot 5. Her dream was “ruined.”
Great effort from the French in this class.

All preliminary, so when you want to know for sure keep following soaringblog.
I am off to bed CU on Sunday.

 

OSTROW  no flying today!

Courtesy Matthew!
https://www.facebook.com/MatthewScuttersGliding?hc_location=stream

Extra edition on July 11 2013 at 10 PM.

ISSOUDUN

Pictures courtesy Mark Pal.

Of course I checked the preliminary scores from the toppers first thing in the morning. It all looked alright. In 15 m. Susanne will feel the breath of the 2 French girls,  Anne and Jutta, “together we are strong” in the tail of her Ventus 2ax. TC  Eric will give them instructions over the last 2 days to be better than Susanne, BUT Uli will do the same. Both teams have lot’s of “helpers” including meteo men, so tactics will be important . Big advantage for the French girls is, that they fly “at home”, for Susanne that she knows what it is/how it feels, as she defends her title. May the best win , in each of the 3 classes.

Today , day 9, had a later briefing than normal; 11 sharp. 233 km. for the club ladies 3 hour AAT for the standard ladies [179,0km/292,0km (233,1km)] 267.4 km for the 15 m. ladies

In club 4 Libelles in the top 4 and on 5 an LS1f. 12 Points between Doerte and Chrissie who was a bit out of competition soaring due to having little gorgeous Fin, but before already a topper as in 2003 she won in the Czech Rep. the WWGC in club class. Between Chrissie and Sarah only 14 points difference.

It turned out that the weather was less good than expected, blue skies and wind with 15 to 20 kts. . Tasks were changed from A to B to C;  AAT’s from 2.30 for 15 m. and 2.15 for the other ladies! They also had a little break after the 15m. was in the air. Club started at 3 PM.
Altitude between 1200 and 1300 m. This makes it even ALL more exciting.

Just saw that the Tour De France finished today in Tours. And heard that they pass by tomorrow at Issoudun, also with their helicopters!!!! The whole circus!
Would that give the same problems as on the last day in Hobbs 2 weeks ago,…no flying????? Hope not! Though the TOUR has a status of HOLY.
By the way, when I would have been there , I would have taken time off to see the TOUR passing by. Always loved it!

In standard class Natasja bravely tried again but it did not work out well. Out after 13km. as the ears did not clear/co-operate. Fever was gone, pain in the throat less but ears are important too, better to not ruin them as she is still young and has a long life ahead  of her.

A difficult day , but ONE GOOD THING, even when the comps are nearly over,…..the harvest is in full swing and IF necessary there are now fields to land in.
What happened?
The message on the official site was not TOO hopeful.
“Some more outlandings now, about 20km south-west of the finish line. Seems that the conditions are now less and less good and gaggles are growing and growing, with all classes mixed.”

Luckily most crop was gone! But,…would this day cost “heads ” in the top rankings?????
With the late start and for that reason later arrivals , the waiting was long and nailbiting, even for me sitting at home. Can tell you it’s better to write at location , then reading all you can read , to share the best info about this competition.
Read already that Sue and Conny are in a paddock, but who makes it home? The tough head wind to come home was for some too much.

Preliminary scores from 15 m. are first published , so here we are. They all started within 8 minutes from each other.
Not a TOO good day for Susanne, nearly loosing 100 points on Jutta who had a top day.
Orsolya did well as runner up and Anne was on a day-spot -4 ,  just behind Joanna Biedermann from Poland.
With [HOPEFULLY] ONE day to go the scores are very tight!!!!
Look at this; Susanne….8288, Anne 8279,….and Jutta 8213.
Katrin Senne who was WWGC champion in this class in Romorantin [France] in 2007, still has a chance too with 8077 and only ONE point less, another French lady Marilyne surely wants to be in the top with  3 French ladies. DEMAIN…….. tomorrow evening we know.
Will be difficult but everything is still possible., Maybe NOT everything,…a lot!

In standard class Gill had a top day, flying together with Meike from Germany. As I read, Meike was very happy with the fantastic flight with Gill, who was also WWGC champion in Romorantin in 2007;  she called it a DREAM flight and they flew 155 km.
Sue and Cornelia did not make it home but still flew 153 km. but lost about 250 points. Now did they have some “room” to loose,  Sue more than Cornelia, who dropped to 3 with Meike above her now with 33 points. Gill went from 8 to 6.Good on her! Most outlandings just a few k out.

I read already that Sarah made it home. Francois who keeps the blog, wrote that earlier, so all her fans at home could breath again. Also knew that Chrissie and Doerte finished,..
In club class  the UK girls, used to wind,  living on an island, did the same as Gill, topping the list and now with 2 ; Ayala and Claudia…. 157.8 tough kilometres! They started late at 4PM. Most of the rest about 10 minutes earlier.
Also in this class most of the outlandings just before arrival. One of them Elena , but she keeps her 5th place.
Changes in the top, as Ayala is number 1 again!!!!!![7827] Then Doerte and Chrissie [7775 and 7768] and Sarah on 4 with 7760!!
And Kerrie seems to get used to her glider and “the new French world”  now and finished on a good 5th place!!!
I don’t say anything anymore I’ll see what tomorrow will bring, this is like a crimi!
I only hope the TOUR and the WWGC can get through ONE door together!

Ostrow

The organisers news at 23.38 yesterday night, which I missed as I was sound a sleep was; NO grid, NO briefing NO task on July 11 2013. So hopefully they have a good restday after the International evening. Some might need one!

Here a picture from the party;

Party time!!! Sharing friendship, booze and lot’s of talking!

AND, from a VERY HAPPY BELGIUM CHAPPY

Belgium  crew member….. thumbs up! And Sebastian in ORANGE ,..good on him
As shared by my Belgium friends.

CU tomorrow for the last extra edition , then back to normal on Sunday.

A demain,…Cheers Ritz

ISSOUDUN

One  of the 70 pictures from the air by  Mark Pal.

Yesterday evening she was still going , not as strong as normal maybe, but still. This morning she went to the doctor and she found out she had a throat infection with fever. She got medicines and still was able to start,  but when her ears gave problems too, she had to abort the flight and she flew back to Issoudun.
Poor Natasja from Holland had to give up . I know how much she LOVED to be part of the WWGC. It was not totally what she hoped for with flying, as she said I can do much better and I know she can, ….she was not planning to get sick either,….. but it all happens and you have to deal with it.
It was however all she hoped for qua friendship and being together , an unforgettable experience and great practice for next time!!
Good decision to fly back, you need to be fully fit to fly a task.
Also a next time for Natasja! No worries!!!

 

Natasja is now a new WITCH.

Jutta is already longer part of the WITCH -TEAM. A great ceremony for the flying-ladies!

In briefing Jill van den Broeck was remembered and will NEVER be forgotten. She “was the mother ” from  women-soaring,  she did such a lot!

Gill here with Natasja , last year during the Pre Worlds in Issoudun.

In between the other ladies were flying.
In club class some took a risk to start later, but it turned out to be a good decision. The German girls and Elena started at 14.25, Sarah even one minute later as the last in the class, whilst Ayala started already early at 13.47.
The daily winner was Sarah, “rolling them all up” and winning the 878 preliminary points. Kerrie did not have a good day and was “aux vaches ” after 59 km.

You come all the way from DOWN UNDER to see the cows!!??
as shared on FB.

The toppers swapped places, it is now Doerte on 1, Chrissie on 2 Sarah on 3 and Ayala on 4 [ finishing 9th today] with Elena on spot 5. Will one of these 5 be the WORLD CHAMPION in 2 days????? It remains all very tight and exciting!!!!
Last day on Friday including the party and prize giving at Saturday.

 

Sarah on her first WWGC , winning day 1 and 8!! Good on her!!! And her induction into the “flying witches” at the official Babayaga ceremony.

In standard class, also late starters , this time the Czech team Dana and Jana, winning the day. Sue keeps the lead overall, as Cornelia lost nearly 500 points today. Dana and one of the 2 Jana’s are climbing on the overall-ladder!

In 15 m.  class 4 outlandings , ….Teresa flying again which is  good and ….also a Czech winner before Susanne, Eva! On 3 Alena [Czech Rep] who flew in Uvalde.
Susanne has past Anne now [41 points ahead] , who  lost 62 points by being 5th. All scores preliminary.
Tomorrow is the last but one day.
Who keeps the head cool who get’s the jitters?  Let’s wait and see.
The weather seems to look OK, so we can expect day 9 for sure!!!

OSTROW

What an original view on the grid!
As found  on FB

It turned out to be a 3 hour AAT for Club class. Was not mentioned in the morning , but looking at the distance I expected this.
A day with a front coming in, so would you wait and take the risk “it” comes in later or go as quick as possible???
On top of that the International Evening is tonight!!!
Early launches at 11.30.
Decisions, decisions today for the pilots. They shared a nice weather picture on FB , so I show you as well what’s going on, here it is!

Indeed the clouds are hanging over “my” part of Holland too.
Lot’s of teams have their own “meteo-man” , he/she can advised on days like this.

In club class we see more good Polish pilots. Poland is very blessed with such a large bunch of flying toppers including a TOP TC. A great soaring culture over there!
Well done as well by the 2 Dutch pilots being on spot 4 and 5. The bad weather did not come . Some pilots started early at 12.09, others at 13.41.

About the weather Matthew  clearly described in his blog what happened. He flies in standard class and here is his news from de day, couldn’t do it better:
—” Feeling pretty cheated today – short task set because thunderstorms were forecast for 3pm with the front coming through and unsoarable after that. I started at about 12.40 with a few other gliders in the weak/developing conditions and was quite happy with having navigated my way along the first leg and a half at 85kph in 4000ft blue/haze dome conditions with 30km/h crosswind. I was keen to get moving and head south as the cold front was visible on the horizon maybe 50-100km away. After a bit of a tumble down the bottom leg I got things going a bit quicker in the rapidly strengthening conditions with a few 5kt climbs and 5000ft cloudbase – and then was ecstatic to find quite a few big names in a gaggle on the way home, seemingly having turned much shorter than I in the bottom sector. Or at least, so I thought… until they left the climb… heading in the opposite direction…. seems they all started over an hour after me having known the cold front had stopped moving! I would have restarted, but the start gate had already closed.
So, quite disappointing – I thought I’d done well to hold together a somewhat respectable speed in fairly poor conditions, ended up thrashed over flying in drastically different weather. 7pm now and the cold front is still visible at least 50k away.—“

Indeed Matthew started at 12.4o,  2 minutes after Howard Jones from the UK who finished on a 25th spot with Matthew. Sara Kelman from the USA who I know from the CIM in Rieti, started at 12.48 , but finished on a 10 th place for the day. The late starters or re-starters departed at 13.26 my Belgium friends Bert and Tijl even at 13.38. In the end it was the Czech team, Radek and Miloslav who finished first and 3d, with Sebastian in the middle.

In the 2 seater class my Dutch friends Peter and Ard got a bit disillusioned with their outlandings or slow flights, with only one 6th day – spot. But today they put the “fire” on and ended on a good 2d place behind the German pilots, Florian Theisinger/Thomas Starck, who got their 2d daily prize!
It is rather interesting to see the “jumping -up- and- down ” from several pilots, wellknown too, on the scoring list in this class.

All scores of course preliminary as I just grabbed them from soaringspot.

Another interesting day both in Issoudun and in Ostrow. Looking forward to see what happens tomorrow. Will be back tomorrow evening or when the scores are late the next morning.
Cu Ritz
on Wednesday evening 10 PM. July 10 2013.

 ISSOUDUN

 Monday at noon;
“Line is now open for all classes. Good conditions 1200m and cumulus above Issoudun and on the flying area for today.”

 

Nice pictures shared on the French site, taken before start.
Courtesy Mark Pal, who has downloaded about 70 air-to-air-shots yesterday evening to be shared by all. Good on him!!! Thanks!

 Monday afternoon at 5 PM,  I read on the official French site:

“Pilots will be back in few minutes, sky is great, it will be fast and furious today”
That sounded MORE than good!!!
While waiting I noticed that SEI from Natasja had a problem over the last couple of days with the LX , and this was caused by failure of an GPS-antenna.
Then you see what friendship means in soaring; The German team had a look and borrowed her one of their team. That’s what soaring is all about.

How good was it?
In club class 9 girls flew in the 900 till 1000 points range, with as best team,…Germany; Chrissie and Doerte and Elena who started 2 minutes later on a good 3d spot. Speed of  83.8 km.h. for Chrissie! 3 Girls did not finish one of them only 5k out!! Ouch!
Between number 1 and 5 overall, the difference in points is only 49 points !!!!! That keeps us all eagerly waiting for MORE!!!!! Swaantje is still on spot 1 but there are Doeerte and Chrissie “nibbling on her wings” ,as well as Elena [It] and Magalie [Fr] and don’t forget Sarah who is cheered on by ALL Americans. “Nearly” the same “burden” as Scottish Andy Murray in tennis.
You can read all Sarah’s news on their site: http://ussoaringteam2013issoudun.blogspot.fr/

Frauke Elber from the USA Hangar Soaring Magazine wrote an addition to what I blogged about her,  in May;
“when she came to Chilhowee, she had no glider experience whatsoever. But within
a few years she had progressed from a novice to a Diamond pilot and instructor
and now to a world class competition pilot. I have followed her progress over
all these years and I am absolutely smitten by what she has done. On the way she
has gotten almost every WSPA scholarship she has been qualified for. And as you
mentioned the Sarah Fund drive was absolutely amazing. In one year we got $11 600
for her. I can’t thank the soaring community enough for its generosity.”
I guess a lot of people who have sponsored Sarah to participate both in Chaves and Issoudun are true fans as well as all her students and pilots visiting Chilhowee.

In standard class French Celine Gantie, flew the 3 hour AAT in 2.59 min. over 278.6 km.
German- defender- of -her -title Sue, was on spot 2 with more km and more time; 319 km. in 3.19.
The Czech girls flew just over and just under 340 km. in 3.45 and were on spot 4 and 5.
The number 1 Cornelia from Germany was 7th loosing 70 points but still leads with 13 points!!!!

In 15 m. the French team members, Marilyne and Anne,  flew with 102 km./h. over the 327.8 km. The overall toppers lost a few points , so Anne is after 6 days on top of the overall list. Current world champion Susanne is on her way to the top, being number 2 now. Still not over yet.
Sorry to see Teresa was not flying on day 6.

As the USA TC Francois Pin said yesterday ; “ needless to say with just 5 days to go including today, the competition is getting “serious,” if not intense already, among the top contenders. The last 4 days, all forecasted to be flyable, are going to be interesting, for sure…”
I can only totally agree!!!

Yesterday  day  7, started VERY difficult for Swaantje , as she had the day before a collision with a Polish Jantar , while rolling out. VERY SAD , and even worse…..Swaantje could NOT continue the race.
What a tragic moment for her being on spot 1 . I really feel for her!!!!!I have never heard such a story in my life; being on spot 1 and out by a “stupid” ground incident.
BUT,…as said so many times the last day is the day and the champion the one for whom EVERYTHING felt in place.
Luckily  the Polish Jantar pilot  could continue in another glider.
Even more lucky nobody was hurt.
And for Swaantje; there is ALWAYS next time!

 

 

Swaantje in happier times!
Pictures as shared on FB.

Briefing was at 11.30. Tasks;
Club 276.5 km., standard class 291.9 km., and the 15 m. class went for a 3 hour AAT [Dist.: 267.7km/383.1km.

FINALLY a real good day for the UK club-girls , I thought already “where are they” , as I expected them to be pretty good, certainly Ayala! But they were yesterday on spot 1-2-and 3!! Good on them. Only day 3 till now showed a good UK-team- flight.
Ayala “jumped ” from spot 8 overall to spot ONE. [6548] You can call that a good jump! Still EVERYTHING is possible certainly when they fly today , a day with maybe thunderstorms.
Between 6 [Sarah 6431] and 1 is only a difference of  a bit more than 100 points.

In standard class UK pilot Gill did well too with a 3d place, but  the German girls Sue and Cornelia are slowly increasing their lead by winning day 7, both with 1000 points.
They are now 500 points ahead so Sue who defends her title , has to deal with her mate Cornelia over the last days who is going to be the CHAMPION, or,…am I ahead of myself now??? Let’s wait and see!

In 15 m. the WWGC champion Susanne , who was so fair to abort her flight in Uvalde when she saw the mid air and stayed over the spot to keep the radio contact going, to have help as quick as possible , won day 7. She flew 287 km in time 3.14!
Susanne is only 19 points behind Anne from France now and I am sure both will do their utmost best to win this WWGC.
I am still impressed by Orsolya. She was runner up yesterday and is on a 9th spot overall as loosing 200 points on day 6, was a bit of  bad luck!

Yesterday evening there was a mutual BBQ and the very SPECIAL only in female soaring to be seen/felt ;BABAYAGA!!!!! Witches at the airport????

the beginning of the evening,……spooky!!
As shared on FB .

One also in the morning?????????
Elena from Italy had her glider on the scales and canopy closed with the cover over it, “against the sun”.
Standing on the scales the glider was MUCH heavier than before. Astonishment on the officials faces!!!! Unbelief!!! Then,….the reason,…..a young man was hidden in the glider. So no witch hunt necessary.

Today’s tasks; Club has a 3 hour AAT,….. Standard a racing task from 239.2 km and the 15 m. girls go for 265 km. Noticed a the European weather forecast this morning, possible thunderstorms in the evening for the SE of France.
And 4 more great pictures from Mark Pal;[double click to enlarge]

  

Glider YS [Celine Montorio Fr. ] and 3S [Cornelia Schach-Germ.] in the air.

  

Thanks Mark!!!

OSTROW

A lot of people share or tag the pictures from Ostrow, I do too as I see such a lot of really nice soaring pictures. These 2 ones are  from Moje Zdjecia.

 

As shared on FB.

Day 3 was a prey AGAIN for Sebastian; a total of 3000 points , you can only say, ……for the best pilot ever!!! His mates started ,flew and finished with him and was it on day 2 the runner up position, for Pawel and than Lucasz ,on day 3 it was the other way around.
Who is going to break this pact?
Matthew found “the European groove” and would have been 4th if he was not an Aussie but he was pleased with 993 points and in Leszno later he will be properly scored.
Here is part of what he said in his blog:
—“Decent day today! Started with the Poles, lost them, found them, lost them, found them, found the poms, lost everyone, found the slovakian, found the poles etc etc. Key lesson of the day was; if Kawa wants to jump off a cliff, don’t follow him! A small gaggle of us chased him down to 1500ft, having passed up several good 3-4kts climbs only to grovel away in 1-2kts (while Kawa just disappeared?…). Was then very surprised to bump into the Poles again before the last turn at the same height for final glide. They say there are no old, bold pilots, but the trio of Poles pushed down hard on glide and I eased up just a bit for the sake of my trousers and they pulled away in the last 20k.–“

And later he added ; “it came down to a game of who would leave the last thermal the furthest below glide. Kawa left 1200ft below glide, I stayed just one extra turn thinking it wouldn’t be quite enough, but it turned out an excellent run home (should have left at 1600ft below!). So, first lesson of the day is don’t always trust Kawa. Second lesson is always trust Kawa! I don’t think it would have been very ‘honourable’ to have a crack at overtaking him on the glide home after having him lead all day anyway… very valuable experience though – I’m trying to adapt my flying already. He really is a magician!”
Is n’t it great to see these  “MASTERCLASSES ” from Sebastian, for all young ones who are eager to learn from him!!!!???
No outlandings and a few pilots are flying not so good yet , but they might find the correct groove soon as well.
Talking about Sebastian. Loved this picture from Piotr Góżdź, shared on FB.
These are the 3 men who are making all other competitors “groan “. Not the doggy he is cute!

SO relaxed, that’s the way to win it seems.
Love the doggy!!

In club class the German pilots , Lars Hagemann and Gerrit Feige are ” the masters in their class , till now , that is! > BUT….the Czech team is as good! Roman  won already 2 days and Peter was 4th today, so Gerrit , Lars  and Roman are the leaders after 3 days and don’t underestimate Danish Rasmus Orskov, who I remember as a good pilot on JWGC’s. Here in Finland in 2009.

The 2 seaters; ALL pilots finished that ‘s good or maybe the task could have been longer , but that is easy said in the evening.
Wolfgang and Andreas got 1000 points again . Harri and Visa-Matti [ who changed his FAI- IT- Manager-chair in Lausanne temporarily for a seat in the ARCUS ] , from Finland climbed overall from 7 to 5 and Janusz Centka was 3d today and is on that spot overall.

Day 4 started with great pictures again. GO ON like this dear Ostrow team!

 

Tasks for day 4;
CLUB, 355.4 km., STANDARD class 438.1 km. and  the 2-seaters went for 423.5 km.

Did the UK club-girls fly well in Issoudun Liz Sparrow did the same yesterday at the EGC in Poland being 5th with 958 points in their club class.
Winner of the day was Hungaryan pilot Zoltan Hamar, till now on 10 on day 1 ,24 on day 2 and 17 on day 3 . He flies an LS 1f. So a good day for him.
Roman was the runner up and Finnish Antti Koskiniemi had a good 3d spot.
The 2 till now, very good flying German pilots were on spot 11 both with 916 points!!!!

In standard class Sebastian LOST!!! ONE point only, he still got 999 points, would have loved to see him with the full scores in the end, “when they were planning  on winning every day. “That would be an effort in his own.
Lucasz was the winner Pawel on 3, nothing changed , still 3 Polish pilots in the top.
Would Bert jr be able to have any influence on this top 3??? He is on a great 4th place.

In the 2 seater class it moves a bit up and down with some pilots having good days and bad days. Pretty consistent is Wolfgang [ARCUS M] as well as  Tomas [DUO DISCUS] who won today and Janusz [ARCUS M] . They are also topping the overall list after 4 days.
Good 4th place for Wim and Dennis and also the THE Broquevilles are climbing! Hup Belgium!

Tasks for today;
Club; AAT  Dist.: 178.4km/396.6km…… time????
Standard; AAT Task, 02:30:00 Dist.: 176.4km/375.1km…..
2-seater class; AAT Task, 02:30:00  Dist.: 184.3km/392.2km

Early starts due to incoming front. Estimated at 11.

Enough now.
Cheers Ritz back maybe every day now for the last days of the WWGC.
Wednesday July 10 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com     www.glidinginternational.com

ISSOUDUN!!!

 

Natasja in the air and on the ground.

Weird!!! After looking at the finish of the Formula 1 yesterday ,{ pleased to see Vettel win again}I read
“It’s really a good day, more than 1800m and climb rates up to 3,5m/s.”
An hour later….outlandings ???? and not from the lower placed women, no women as Helen Hingley in club class who was already 2d and first on days and Amelie Audier in standard class.
Soaring can be cruel!!!!
Then there was TENNIS, Wimbledon,… and after 77 years the UK friends have a new Fred Perry  now named Andy Murray! And the Tour de France with 2 Dutch cyclists on spot 3 and 4 , long time ago that this happened.
Then back to soaring, strong wind on the last leg,…who is going to finish who not????
Long days for the girls!!!
Then finally the results:
The German club-girls were just GOOD. Chrissie on top this day , with Uli, who is not only her   TC,  but her husband as well and father of their gorgeous little son Fin, surely waiting for her.
Swaantje on a second spot analysing the day by saying
“I was rather surprised when I looked at the scores today. It did not feel THAT good, probably because I had to take a rather weak climb to get final glide. I am happy but no celebrations yet. Many more days to come!”
And French- Leatitia and USA -Sarah both sharing a 3d place!
Very pleased how consistent Sarah flies , so far from home and impressed by the support from her Chilhowee mates! Good on them. Sarah started as the last pilot in this class at 14.07!
All girls between 750 and 1000 points except for the unlucky Helen who got 145 points. That hurts!!!As Melissa writes in her blog:”Helen unfortunately got lured to a nice field by a series of climbs that were totally absent. ”
The rest you can read on; http://www.glidingteam.co.uk/?q=blog/womens-day-5-review
The first 14 pilots in this class are within 4130 and 4474 points in the overall scores. So a lot can still happen and Swaantje sees that well, being on the first spot at the moment.
Can’t say anything else than GOOD ON HER!!!!

In standard class as said an early message about the out-landing from Amelie, who got “only” 140 points. Also in this class Germany in the top , not 2 but 4 girls, Cornelia, Sue, Meike and Kirsten!!!
A bad day for Gill loosing more than 300 points on the German ladies, dropping from 3 to 9 overall. A pity!
It looks good for the German ladies,  but it is only a fact how good, when the last day has been flown.

In 15 m. it was France , Germany and the UK yesterday. Jutta is in great spirit and has her 2d daily win!!! Katrin Senne is on her heels and Anne [Fr] and Susanne the current WWGC champion were on a 3d spot.
Overall after 5 days it is Katrin with 29 points more than Jutta and than Anne and Susanne not 100 points behind her team mate Katrin. It’s not over yet!!!!
6 Girls in this class did not finish!

Today the girls have the next task direction S. where there should be more cu’s than over the “blue” field;
Racing Task Club
Dist.: 288.6km.

Speed Task, 03:00:00 Standard class
Dist.: 214.6km/368.7km

Racing Task 15 m.
Dist.: 327.8km

 

 

OSTROW.

 

What great photographers in Ostrow!
Courtesy

Day 2 yesterday for the pilots flying the EGC in Poland. Pretty long tasks , pretty good weather and pretty good results , certainly for Poland where in standard class Sebastian had his 2d day-win , so 2000 points!!! He started together with his mates Pawel and Lucasz and occupied the first 3 places! No out-landings in this class.
My Belgium friends Bert jr. and Tijl did well by being 4th and 6th. And also Young Aussie Matthew had a good day by finishing as number 6/7 but HC, so no score but 905 points for him.
He “saw” Sebastian en route , but lost him as quick as he saw him.
This is part of what he wrote in his blog;
“Ran down the Poms on the first leg, and hung off them until we were joined by Kawa near the first turn (he’d started again, 5 minutes later than us). The Poms and I tried to hang off Kawa but he lost us less than 50k down the next leg. Kawa managed to scrape us off – we followed him down to 1500ft, and from the same height in the same thermal, he effortlessly climbed away in perhaps 4kts while the Poms got 3kts and I found 1-2kts.”

Club class had like standard  an AAT of 3.45!!! Lot’s of Standard Cirrus’ in this class! Roman Mracek took the 1000 points by flying 390 km. in time 3.51.
A good day for Dutch JWGC champion Tim Kuijpers, after an outlanding on day 1 he reached spot 7 yesterday. Good on him.
The German pilots had a good day , not as good as day 1 but still on spot 5 both.

Interesting to follow is the 20 m. class. Most of the early starters had a good day and here it was Germany on top, followed by Wolfgang.
Also in this class Holland did well, with Jelmer and Robbie [once both juniors in my team in Husbos]  in the DG 1001 on spot 4 and Peter and Ard on spot 6. Peter flew till now always open class . After a not-so-good-day-1 , they are back!!

They share some fantastic pictures on the site ,I share 4 with you for the rest you can look at day 2 on their FB site.

 

Tasks for today;
—Racing Task Club
Dist.: 329.1km
—Racing Task Standard
Dist.: 394.2km
—AAT Task, 03:45:00 2-seaterclass
Dist.: 293.4km/568.0km

Weather for today on the picture below, as shared on FB 2 minutes before launching.

The 15 m and open class pilots from Hobbs , can’t get enough of soaring. Gary Ittner flew yesterday from Inyokern, 925 km. [682.6 FAI triangle] in the discus 2A and gained 1.046 OLC points.
Ken Sorenson flew from Houston  842 in the Ventus 2cxa [643 Fai triangle] .
And as said the weather in Europe is good , so Patrick Puskeiler flew from Hahnweide a 1000 in the Nimbus 4.
Talking about 1000 km. John Williams flew one from Kinnross [UK , Scotland ] in the Antares on Friday.

That’s it for today.
Cu on Wednesday
Ritz on Monday July 8 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.soaringcafe.com      www.glidinginternational.com

ISSOUDUN

 

Launch on day 4 as seen on the German site!

Yesterday the 3d day of the WWGC was flown, with pretty long tasks after rainy days. In the past organisers  said; “after rain the area is still wet,  so we don’t set too long tasks”. But La Douce France is HOT and it dries quickly over there!
That was correct as the girls had a fun-day, certainly the UK pilots  Ayala and Helen. Ayala won the 3.15 speed task  in club class with 263.3 km. in 3.39,07 in the St. Libelle. With the 1000 points added to the scores from the first 2 days she is overall in the lead now. Helen was runner up and cumulative she is on spot 11. [in LS4]
The German girls had a pretty good day too , no first places yet, but that might come . Christine and Doerte  flew 300 km.  in the ST Libelles with winglets but needed 4 hours 33/34.
I was very pleased to see Elena from Italy on a nice 4th spot yesterday and 5th overall.
In standard class French Amelie won the day followed by the German girls and Gill on 5.
That’s about the order overall as well. The 2 German girls Cornelia and Sue on top with Amelie and Gill on spot 3 and 4. Enough days to go however!!!
In 15 m. it was France, Germany and Poland with the best 9 daily places. Overall 3x LA FRANCE and 2 times Germany.

Day 4 was A DAY!!!! The tasks said it all; 15 m. goes for an AAT with a min. of 4.30 and the standard and club girls have to fly a racing task from 434.5 km. and 413 km.
The weather was OK, with a cloud base of 1250 m. lift about 2 m. average and 3/8 of cu’s.
What happened?
In Club class the girls flew between 5 and 6 hours and 3 of them outlanded.
Best was the runner up from the day before,  UK pilot Helen Hingley , starting FIRST in this class.
Swaantje went 7 minutes later and she finished on a 2d spot.
Sarah ended on spot 3 for the day.
In standard class also a UK lady on spot 1 for the day; Kay Draper, with 85.4 km./h. The German girls Cornelia and Sue have an overall lead of more than 200 points on Gill who is at this stage on spot 3 overall. EVERYTHING can still happen!
In 15 m. the ladies had an AAT and 4.30 was the min. time. The German girls started at 13.41 so did Orsolya from Hungary. Katrin and Stefanie flew 426 km. in 4.40. 4 Outlandings in this class.

Tasks for today;
Speed Task Club, 04:30:00
Dist.: 301.2km/502.8km

Standard class
Racing Task
Dist.: 408.0km

15 m. class
Racing Task
Dist.: 440.8km

Standard class starts,  followed by 15 m.  and last on the grid are the CLUB-  ladies! Every day one class at least , will have an AAT. So to hear everybody still has a lot of fun , even after outlandings. Every day is a new one with new possibilities!!!

 

OSTROW

 The EGC in Ostrow was opened last Friday in town. What I see till now is that they are very well organised over there.

4 Busses brought all pilots ,crews and TC’s to the town where they , after a short walk through the streets , arrived at the main square.
Good to see Matthew Scutter from Australia has arrived as well. Matthew is going to fly the JWGC in Leszno, but sees this EGC where hew flies HC, as great practise.

Matthew keeps a blog and you can read what happens to a young Aussie boy in Europe at all the different soaring fields , his happy moments and less happy ones.
https://www.facebook.com/MatthewScuttersGliding?directed_target_id=0

 

The town square and the Polish team. Sebastian had to read the official oath and as I read the excellent TC from Poland got the Tanski medal , the most significant award  in Polish gliding. I can only say. WELLDESERVED!!!!!
Pictures shared on FB .

 

The Belgium and Dutch team, as shared on FB.

Yesterday they started flying and ,…there was a bit of a complaint from the pilots and crews,…the long waiting for the scales as one pilot said ; “Every glider is weighed every day (even club class). About 50 gliders ahead of me in the queue…”
Some  teams hoped to be finished with weighing before briefing. The organisers postponed the briefing from 10 till 10.30 and “got the point”.

 

As shared by the Belgium team and Matthew; WAITING!

The first day in Ostrow had the next tasks;
330.1 in club class with 32 pilots ,
standard 383.2 with 33 participants and
the 2 seaters went for 396,5 km., they fly with 23 gliders , so  x 2  pilots.
Finally good weather in most parts of Europe , even here with 25 dgr. and very sunny conditions.
SO,…. gliders ready , pilots ready, weather ready,  crew standby and TUGGIES ready.

 

Tow planes ready, weather ready , gliders ready.
As shared on FB.

It turned out to be a tough  and for some a disappointing day 1 as there were quite a few outlandings.
Not for Sebastian as he straight away won the day in standard class where he defends his title. It seems he and Christophe Cousseau are having the same ” friendly rivalry” as in Vinon. It was not long ago that Sebastian won and Christophe was the runner up in the 18 m. EGC.

In club class young Aussie Matthew , who flies HC, had not a good day as he comments, but he is very fair about it:
–“Not such a great start 🙁 Outlanded 340/380k around.
Started a bit late thinking conditions would improve and 100kph would be achievable, but I think the new airmass moved in sooner than expected and everything turned to worms at the last turn. The loose gaggle I was running with (HAL, YA, YB, 12F) seem to be scattered across the country side on the last leg too.

Kawa’s book talks about gliding being quite unique in that you can’t just do a time trial and a few laps to see if you’re in form or not, and while flight analysis is useful, without something to compare it to it’s rather meaningless. The best way to improve your form is to fly (high level) competitions, and that’s what I’m trying to do here. Today it felt like I was picking the right routes, taking the right climbs, but whenever things got a bit low and the thermals narrow and choppy, I couldn’t get the D2 full of water to climb like some of the other pilots seem to get theirs to. Climbing away from 1000ft with the Hungarian, from going around tip to tip he somehow pulled 4kts and I was working 1.5kts. More practice needed!

7 Outlandings in this class. For all results you can go of course to www.soaringspot.com

In the 2 seater class  4 outlandings and 4 toppers on the first 4 places ; Former world champion Wolfgand Janowitsch and Andreas Lutz in the ARCUS M deserved/got the 1000 points. Multiple WGC contestant Tomas Rendla was on spot 2 with Ludek Kluger in the Duo Discus . Dutch pilot Wim Akkermans with his future brother-in-law Dennis Huybreckx from Belgium both flying for Belgium, on spot 3 in the ARCUS M  and former world champion Janusz Centka was on spot 4 with Lucasz Grabowski.

Fantastic  pictures on FB from Narcyz Przybylski , I share 3 with you . Tuggies at their best!!

 

Courtesy and thanks to Narcyz.

Tasks for today:
Club class;   AAT  04:00:00   Dist.: 216.7km/495.5km
Standard class ;  AAT Task, 04:00:00   Dist.: 289.0km/546.4km
2-seater class; AAT Task, 04:00:00   Dist.: 293.4km/568.0km
Later they changed the tasks for standard and 20 m to 3.45.

Last but not least compliments [again] to Maria Szemplinska. The outstanding picture on the centre-spread of the latest Gliding International, from Heinz and Karin Weissenbühler-Schlösser is just so human , romantic and awesome beautiful , as well as the view on the Uvalde strip with the text; Our estimate 12.69 million US dollar, worth of glass, who said we are an inexpensive sport???? I did n’t!!! But it is SOOO much fun!!!!

Enough interesting news for everybody as well;
—the competitive 2 seater market
—The Twinshark
—New motorglider the CROSSOVER
—Latest in instruments by Paul Remde
—Greece,….Glidings hidden paradise
—AERO 2013 in Friedrichshafen
and the evaluation of the Schemmp Hirth ARCUS by Aldo Cernezzi, who flew 250 hours in 2 ARCUS types. As you know the number 100 has been sold already!! In the EGC in Ostrow 10 from 23 two-seaters are Arcus types.
63 Pages full of news.  www.glidinginternational.com

In my  blog today for Soaring café, I [re] introduce you to Manfred Radius the best ever aerobatic glider pilot, still active but not rushing from one show to the other anymore.

See you soon again depending on how much news there is about the WWGC and EGC.
Cheers Ritz