Post 1.477 on January 3 2024

WELCOME IN THE YEAR 2024!!!! Already post number 1.477…

—–My family really had an INTERNATIONAL change to the New Year.
3 were in Windhoek in Africa [Namibia] ,1 on a yacht in the harbor of Sydney looking at the fireworks on the bridge in front of the Opera house ,1 in Tocumwal, 1 in Zhengzhou and I was in The Netherlands!!!
2024 is a leap year , so one more day in February.
Let’s get started……

–—We finished 2023 with a lot of rain and the start of 2024 was about the same…a lot of rain.
65.000 people here in the Netherlands were BRAVE and ran into the ice cold Nord Sea or a lake in their neighborhood, an annual tradition!
The first gliding flight world wide in the new year 2024 was for French pilot Hugo, who just flew the WGC in Narromine and then left for NZ to give instructions.

——WeGlide is doing more than “sharing flights/tasks ” from pilots on their net. Their magazine with all kind of stories is more than interesting.
They are really the next-generation gliding platform.
Here is their info about Schempp-Hirth:
“Insights about the new Ventus E, FES retrofits for DuoDiscus and Discus, and a possible increase in the Wingspan of the Ventus. Have fun reading!”
https://magazine.weglide.org/schempp-hirth-ventus-e…/

Through the years “we” bought Schempp-Hirth gliders and we got to know all of them pretty well.
On top of that Klaus and Ralf stayed with us at Tocumwal before they left for the Nationals in Leeton a long time ago…… early nineties. We really had good times. Ralf was even so kind to drive me to Tullamarine before travelling to Leeton….an extra 650 km!!!!

AND

The new generation Ventus 3

—–On December 30 a very special flight from NZ. As you know, New Zealand is an island , long and not wide, with sea influence to the r and l. A Nord part and a South part with the mountains.
Norbert Scarlat and “good old” Justin Wills gathered their strengths and flew an out and return from 1.962 km.in a DUO DISCUS X.
“There is always something fascinating about gliding. You look at the forecast for days before the flight, you plan everything and you never know how good the day will be until you try. Probably one of the most difficult wave days I have ever had in New Zealand, wave was weak, almost no clouds and manage to collect all the downdraft. Thank Annie for the tow and everyone for helping on the ground. Thanks ATC and Justin for the flight, very close to complete the task.” by Norbert.
What a way to close the year 2023 for them!!!!
More about this excellent flight on https://www.weglide.org/flight/356080?

——On January 1 a 1000 km FAI TRIANGLE from my friends Roy and Patrick in Bitterwasser. I am thrilled to see that. Not that it their first 1000 ,but because they are such nice guy’s. In the past they were regular guests at our SSC in Tocumwal together with David and Hugh [R.I.P.] They tried hard but never flew their 1000 in Australia, the weather was better before or after their stay….Murphy????
This time Roy flew the 1000 km FAI triangle and yesterday Patrick.Good on them!!!

January started great in Namibia with SO MANY 1000 km flights that I stopped counting. SO,……a lot….
They have a great season.
Young German pilot Nils [Fecker] flew his 5th flight over 1.100 km all in the magic ARCUS M;
December 20…..1.302,99 km
December 22…..1.375,11 km
December 27…..1.180,69 km
January 1 …………1.203,75 km
January 2……………1.233, 06 and an FAI triangle from 1.098 km.
You have to be young for that, though I know a few more “aged” [of course with respect] pilots who can do this too.I am sure he will never ever forget this time in Africa.
The same counts for Simon [Briel] in Bitterwasser since December 18. All his flights in the mighty EB 28 are between 1.119 and 1.413 km and 6 with FAI km.
A total till now from 106 hours in this EB 28 and 12 LONG flights.
AMAZING!!!!!
At 15.51 during his flight yesterday from 1.1251 km, he was at 956 km with a speed of 148 km./h and at 17.26 at 1.203 km speed 213 km./h.

The Palmallee in Bitterwasser continues to grow! The last tree in 2023 was planted by Bjoern
Shortly before the year 2023 came to an end, the Palmallee grew by another palm tree.
Björn Gintzel from the Dahlemer Binz airfield flew a registered triangle of 1.003 kilometers on the 25 th of December.
A successful end to the year for Björn and, of course, for Bitterwasser!

—–The Perlan Project looked back on the highlights from 2023 and one of them definitely was the world’s first automated aerotowing connections from Magpie Aviation.
Last spring this was another “first” for the Perlan Project team. This is how it works;
“Perlan Pilot Tim Gardner towed Chief Perlan Project pilot Jim Payne up in a glider. On the end of the tow rope was a Magpie receptacle Active Hook, the device responsible for autonomously connecting the two aircraft in the sky. On the nose of the glider was a probe. Jim released from tow separating from the receptacle. Then Jim chased the end of the tow rope to slide the glider nose probe into the sensor receptacle. It was the first ever in-flight hook up with a glider. They were 8 of 8 for positive re-connections after which Tim could tow Jim higher to do it again.”

–—–As I shared with you earlier, the current WWGC champion [2023 in Garray] Barbora [Czechia] stayed after her volunteer job in Narromine at this years WGC, in Narromine. She flies Adam’s glider the Ventus 3 T G1 and had last week several good flights in it, over 700 km..
Even a declared 777 km out and return with a speed of 111km./h. on December 27 https://weglide.org/flight/354812
On 26 a 775 km with 116 km./h. Good on her!!!
Tomas [Suchanek[ also still in Narromine after flying the WGC, flew on December 27 in the ASW 20 a distance of 897 km. also an out and return , which means that with an outlanding at the furthest point, he would have been out 379 km!!!!
Only a few km up NE wild storms passed by killing 9 people. Hailstones were as big as tennis balls. Unreal, but I know it is real as I had that once whilst visiting Brisbane. Wild weather in parts of Australia and the coldest Christmas time ever with 16 dgr. C. In high summer…..

——-“2023 Gliding Wrapped – probably my biggest and most exciting year of soaring. Happy New Year and here’s to a great 2024. I am taking a bit of time away from gliding but perhaps we’ll meet again later in the year!” by Matthew Scutter’s Gliding…you can read it all when you use the link. Very interesting and GOOD year for him.

—-The place were I live is surrounded by great nature with hundreds of walking and bike tracks . As we have never had so much rain, I believe this December was the wettest and nearly warmest ever, many of those tracks are flooded. Insane!!!!!
WORLDWIDE this was the HOTTEST year. Not good!

——The SKYRACE Grand Prix in Leeton starts today, with 14 pilots one of them WGC pilot from the USA Tony Condon, not his first time flying this GP, though I did not see him on the list of entries.
But he is there and had the first launch on the first practice day without a task.

Also a young pilot from The Netherlands Jasper, participates in a St Libelle. He stayed in Tocumwal for a few days with our family. He is the son from Edgar and Edgar was a friend from our Dennis.
Their last news;
“We have had a huge storm come through and we are a little shaken…. Tonight’s free welcome sausage sizzle will now be tomorrow night (Wednesday).”Skyrace GP
more in the next blog.

——January 3,….. even today, always emotionally.

The gorgeous red oleander was cut down 2 years ago, by what the Shire thinks, vandals.
I don’t think so, the cut is very clean!
No clue WHY!!!!!!!!
Eddie noticed whilst flying over, that the grave looked different, so he went to have a look and found this;

Today, Bas ,the friend from Dennis, who was with him in that 87/88 summer-season, visits after 36 years AGAIN.
And drinking a beer at the spot is “popular” ,he has to drink for many of the mates ,..
Such a heart warming thought!

R.I.P DEAR DENNIS!!!!!

Ritz

Post 1476 on December 27 2023.

—–Hope you had lovely Christmas days , fine company, good food and nice drinks. Now it’s soon 2024. In between, we have had the shortest day here [ December 21….summer around soon!!! HOPEFULLY] and my friends down under their longest.

–—-Not everybody traveled back home straight away after Narromine. Some went sight seeing in other beautiful places down under as Canberra, some went to the beach in Sydney or the test cricket in Melbourne and….I read that French pilot Hugo Corbille arrived in New Zealand and will be there for the next 3 week’s as the weekday summer instructor from the Auckland Gliding Club .

—--Really enjoying the South African Gliding Nationals at Welkom. Great flying the new JS5, but also great energy from the local gliding club, great atmosphere and good friends.” was the message from Oscar. Their Nationals have been flown between December 16 and December 22. I was pretty busy in that time so I better quickly look back at their NATIONALS for OPEN and SPORTS CLASSES.
They started on the 16th with 6 pilots in open and only 2 in the sports class. Not many, such a pity but with the new JS 5 as hot TOPIC, certainly when it was flown by Oscar .
They flew 6 out of 7 days, had good tasks in open with 333.40 km. 395.07 km, a 2x 2.30 AAT , 2 x a 3 hour AAT and it was either Dawid Pretorius [ JS-1 C Jet 18m] or Oscar Goudriaan on spot 1 or 2 in open.
Task 7 on flying day 6, with a 2.30 AAT ,was important for the final scores between Dawid and Oscar, but missing out on nearly 200 points on task 6, was “Killing” for Oscar.
With 4.226 and 3.992 they started their last flight for this National championship, a 2 hour AAT , neither won nor Dawid or Oscar; it was Mike Tiffin in the JS 3, who won the last day for 398 points.
All in all Dawid was EVERY day on spot 1 in the overall scores.
Pretty clear Dawid won the NATIONALS; 4.599 points, and 4.356 points for Oscar.
Oscar won the prize for the fastest speed award; 159.44 km./h on task 2 the 395.07 race.

—-Skyrace GP is in 1 week at Leeton Airport in Australia, a race for gliders as they always say:
“The SkyRaceGP is a gliding race held annually in Leeton, NSW. Unlike conventional gliding competitions, our event has been designed to be accessible to those who enjoy racing, but like to spend time with their families. We have also designed the event so anyone can win regardless of budget.”
“One thing we love about the F1GP/SkyRace concept is the number of gliders that had been sitting in trailers around the country that have returned to the air.“
In October they shared the next message;
“We are very proud to announce that the major sponsor for this year’s SkyRace GP is GliderStuff.com.au
Tom and Jane Gilbert are the brains behind GliderStuff, using their 50 years of experience in serving the Australian Gliding community.
That’s right – 50 years!”
Jane and Tom are/were the dealers for DG in Australia but I believe they have retired now.
More about the RACE when it is on….it starts on January 3 2024.

Looking forward to these comps

—-Bitterwasser, had whilst I was busy with the WGC an endless amount of 1000 km flights. December is mostly their ABSOLUTE top time for soaring.
Last week a few were added with also 3 FAI triangle -1000-km.-flights. Interesting to see how those young enthusiastic German pilots, some on invitation , fly a 1000 if they do it every day;
Simon Briel flew in the EB 28 , 1.288 km [1.009 FAI triangle] last Thursday .
Nils Fecker flew in the ARCUS with Luxembourg pilot Guy , 1.278 km [ 1.005 FAI triangle]
No wonder they have 5 pilots in the top 9 from the last WGC in Narromine.
They learn from CHAMPIONS and fly the best gliders. Good on them!!!
Both Nils and Simon, participated in the 5th Junior European Gliding Championship in Pocuinai in Ukraine in 2021 and Simon won in standard class and Nils was 3d in club class. Finn Sleigh from the UK won that class.
Last Friday, December 22, they had another top day in Namibia and specially for Bitterwasser.
The first 26 places on the OLC were “for Namibia”.
Best flights were from Bitterwasser; Nils plus Hans Ulrich in the ARCUS with 1.375.11 /FAI 1.131.65, speed 152.10 km./h.
Simon with 1.143.00 km./ FAI 1.413.61 km in the EB 28 speed 155.61 km./h. Longest flight for the season till now .
Also in an 18m. Ventus 3M Bjoern Gintzel flew 1.402,62 km with a speed of 153.55 km./h.
When the weather is ON, the flights are ON.
Have a look at Simon’s flights since his arrival on December 18. He has till now 8 over 1.100 flights all in the mighty EB 28 the best till now; 1. 413 km.
https://www.onlinecontest.org/

——The very first of a series of new Airbusses for TRANSAVIA, has arrived in Amsterdam. As you know my daughter flies with them as airline captain. She works for Transavia already for more than 25 years.
Over the years they went from Caravelle, to Boeing 737 and now AIRBUS. These are  bigger planes BUT,..with reduced noise production.

–—–Talking about new planes. IMPORTANT NEWS!!!!
“We are excited to introduce our new aerial firefighting business unit, Aquarius Aerial Firefighting! This new chapter in Cargolux’s history is a diversification of activities for the all-cargo carrier. This unit aims to provide assistance in the fight against devastating wildfires that threaten natural resources and human lives, and significantly contribute to global CO2 emissions worldwide. The two first aircraft of the Aquarius fleet, Air Tractor AT-802F Fire Bosses, were delivered to Luxembourg today. We will tell you more about this great project soon, so stay tuned!”

——–I read that Sebastian is 17 times WORLD CHAMPION now!! What about that. Of course times have changed. In the far past there was one world-level-competition then 2 in 2 classes, nowadays 6 classes on 2 events. Some pilots fly in the smaller ship- and later also in the big- ship- comps. A wing tip can make the difference from 15 to 18 m. on a glider….read change class.
And when you have time and money, you can do them both.

—–Adam shared this message and beautiful picture on December 24;
“I just got sent this beautiful picture of G1, taken by Klara in the Duo-Discus! Barca (the current standard class WWGC & my good friend) is currently flying #GliderONE out of Narromine & into the new year
It always brings me joy to lend it out, pay it forward for all of my years as a junior. Barca is now the 5th Czech friend to fly G1 (V2a or V3TS)“
The current Standard class champion with full name is, Barbora Moravcova.

——-Sailplane Grand Prix NL shared; “Website is live, registration for the Dutch Sailplane Grand Prix is open! Welcome to the Netherlands in May 2025!“
After the announcement they had straight away 19 pilots on their list. 5 Only allowed from abroad and 2 pilots from Belgium, Jeroen[Jennen] and Dennis [Huybreckx] have entered already and 2 from Germany Jan [Omsels] and Steffen [Gottler.]
So 1 to go as 20 are allowed.
Let’s see how it works out.

All the best and I wish you all a
HAPPY,HEALTHY and SAFE 2024.

Till next year…….on January 3 2024….
Ritz

Post 1.475 on Sunday December 24 2023

This 1995 story, was written –in German- for a German newspaper after a call for war stories in remembrance of the 50^th anniversary of the end of WW II , by Frauke Elber from the USA.
She is WSPA’s [Women Soaring Pilots Association] editor for the Hangar Soaring newsletter,s published four times a year.
She also wrote the book ;” The tall man in the dark suit,….The diary of a World War II naval cadet.
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2014)

“As it has become a tradition I send with my Holiday Greeting a story. I wrote this year’s story in 1995. But since then not much has changed.”

” Christmas 1944

Christmas 1944, “PEACE ON EARTH” was the dream of many people.  WW II had raged for five years. Many countries and cities lay in ruins. Fathers, sons, brothers had become victims of this devastating war. Millions of people had been uprooted and driven from their home countries.

St. Wendel, a town of 12 000, had not been touched by the war yet. There were no war-time industries. But a major rail line and a spur line converged in St.Wendel. There was a marshalling yard, a locomotive repair facility and a locomotive roundhouse. The town had on its west side a garrison. A FLAK battery protected the town and the rail lines.

In 1953, my parents built a house in St. Wendel. In 1985, doing some research at the National Archives in Washington, DC on the air war in Germany I stumbled on documents and pictures dealing with bombing raids on the town during the Christmas Season 1944. Targeted were the railroad facilities and rail bridges. The human toll is not mentioned in these documents. But at the town’s cemetery stands an obelisk type monument showing the human side of these raids. The monument has the following inscription:
HERE REST IN PEACE

ANNEROSE SCHNEIDER                                           1932-1944

RUDOLF SCHNEIDER                                                 1935-1944

CHRISTEL SCHNEIDER                                               1940-1944

PAUL SCHNEIDER                                                       1904-1944 (RUSSLAND)

MARIA DETEMPLE NEE SCHNEIDER                       1895-1944

On Christmas Eve 1944, a bomb hit and destroyed the house in which the family had sheltered in the basement. They probably prayed for PEACE ON EARTH. Instead two generations of one family perished that day.

I did not know anyone in the family although I grew up in the same neighborhood during the 50s.But every time I see the monument at the cemetery, I get goose bumps.

 Yet, another thought comes to my mind. On this Christmas Eve 1944, ten young men, most of them under the age of 25, flew in their bombers over a small German town in 30,000 feet altitude. They too hoped for PEACE ON EARTH, while releasing their deadly bomb load. Did these sons and brothers return to their families overseas or are somewhere in Europe ten simple white crosses on a military cemetery with the inscription UNKNOWN 1944?

(note: the paper did not publish the story because of the last paragraph. I refused to take it out)

This war is now 50 years in the past and is history. But there are still wars going on. Humans kill each other and get killed in senseless wars. And still people hope for PEACE ON EARTH.

Christmas 1944-continued.

Back in the 1990s, I befriended an American WWII fighter pilot, Jack Curtis from Roger, Arkansas, who was in the European war theater 1944-45. Via e-mail we exchanged our views and experiences of the war, he being a dashing aviator doing his thing in the air, while I was a three-year old experiencing the war on the ground. As it turned out, our lives intersected three times during that time. When I sent him the above story, he responded with a story of his own of that fateful day:

Christmas Eve 1944, he flew bomber escort on the raid on St. Wendel. He lost his wing man north of town somewhere between St. Wendel and Trier. The crash site was not found until summer of 2000. Thanks to Jack’s tireless efforts, the wreck and human remains were found and identified as the plane and remains of Lt. James Baxter. The remains of Lt. Baxter were flown to the US and buried in his home soil of Kansas. Jack attended the funeral and later received recognition from the Defense Department. The following is an excerpt from the letter:
“I am moved by your commitment to Lieutenant Baxter and commend you for your selfless devotion. The extraordinary dedication you exhibited in accomplishing your quest to find your friend is evidence by the manner in which you resolutely refused to yield to many difficulties you encountered. Your determined efforts not only resulted in locating the crash site but provided the United States Army Central Identification Laboratory the evidence it needed to recover, identify, and return the Lieutenant’s remains to his family and his native Kansas soil. Your actions are a testament of strength of your character; and Lieutenant Baxter was truly fortunate to have a friend like you who could not forget, could not abandon him on a foreign field of battle, and could not be daunted by barriers encountered along the path to accomplishment of this noble feat.”

footnote: Jack also was instrumental in identifying the airplane that was discovered in the Mediterranean in the 1990s as the one of author and aviator Antoine de Saint Éxupery (author of “The Little Prince”). Jack died in July 2007 at age 85. My husband and I were the last ones seeing him alive when, on the spur of the moment while driving westward on I-40, we decided to make a detour of about 60 miles to visit Jack in Roger, Arkansas.

I keep hoping for PEACE ON EARTH “

I do too. Thanks Frauke!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you ALL!!

Post 1.474 on December 20 2023

—-Packing containers; preparing to go home for the Overseas teams, is a hell of a job after partying ,so quite a few skipped the party and started packing straight away.

—–RENTED cars have been brought back and cleaned, busy ,busy times for all.

—–Last words from Tony Leah and Peter on this WGC;
“Today we left Narromine and the WGC. One final stop at the blue Heeler coffe shop and we were off to Tocumwal to drop off the Discus. Along the way we even enjoyed the classic Aussie Errol station meat pies.”
Nothing better in the world than in Australia MEAT PIES!!!!
They traveled to the Tocumwal Soaring Centre to bring the glider and trailer back. Via Canberra to see the capital.

——Australia has showed it’s potential for gliding and as you have to strike ,when the iron is hot, Lumpy invites you to his place, our place in the past:
“An awesome Australian gliding experience!
We are based in Tocumwal, 2 1/2 hrs drive north of Melbourne and with some of the best soaring conditions in Australia.
Tocumwal was the home of Sportavia gliding for nearly forty years and I’m sure people will remember the fun times.
Tocumwal Soaring Centre is a commercial operation and operates seven days a week for eight months of year.
We have the biggest fleet of gliders with something to suit every pilot,
4 x LS4’s, Discus B, Ventus B, Ventus 2CXT, Ventus 3M, 2 x Duo Discus, Nimbus 4t and lots more!
Great on site accommodation
Check us out of Facebook page or our website:“
www.tocumwalsoaring.com

——–In the past they had several female tuggies in Tocumwal ,Inge and Diana both flew in Tocumwal as a tuggie, to make hours for their aviation careers.
Lumpy keeps the tradition going and Millie is there now, just fresh young and new as tuggy.
Millie; Yes daughter of Dennis and Kathy and grand daughter of Patsy and Gary!!! An real original Toc /Finley family. When we visited Tocumwal first in the eighties , I walked with founder Bill Riley through the WWII hangar and he introduced me to a young man called Dennis. Dennis was his tuggie for the season and Bill told us “this young man will have a great future as airline pilot. ” And,..he was correct.
He was a “born pilot” .Bill was lucky as he had a few born pilots. He knew how to choose them.
So Dennis was tow pilot , then later also his brother Michael, [Moo for friends]in the same period as Inge. They are still friends. And now there is the 3d generation Millie ,together in Toc with OUR 3d generation , Indya. Both 20 years young! Indya flew in the weekend , the St. Cirrus NS in which Diana flew the WGC .
Lovely to see how families, who know each other for a long time ,from soaring, years and years later enjoy soaring at Toc airfield again via their children/grand children.

…….And then it IS quiet again,in Narromine...back to the normal procedures, but for sure with a good and proud feeling!!!!!

—-Striking when the iron is HOT, that’s important for the Diana 2 as well. With a DIANA 2 winning the standard class in Narromine with Sebastian in it, it’s hot news.
WeGlide had an interview with Avionic, the Polish company behind the successful Diana 2 glider who are now turning to 18m class with the Diana 4, an electric self-launcher.
All to be read on; https://magazine.weglide.org/avionic-polish-gliders…/

—–At home Adam looked at his statistics;
“My Statistics for the WGC with thanks to SeeYou, & the flight map overlay thanks to WeGlide
Over 10 tasks I flew: 4554.1km flown at an average speed of 123.1kph.
I climbed in an average of 5kt climbs for the entire event.
Cruised at an average of 101kts (186.6kph) at 48.5:1.
In sinking air, I averaged 105kts (195kph) & in rising air, I averaged 88kts (164kts).
My usual big deviation style stayed true, I covered an extra 501km, which equals a staggering 11%!!“
Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

——The French team is back in Sydney , don’t have to tell you where. They are all lovely people and Kevin is young enough to be world champion in the future.

——Luckily this gorgeous trophy stays in Australia, with James. Easier to be taking home in a car as a plane.

—–-I missed pictures from the Paul Bennet airshow but I found 3, here you are;

—–-On Sunday I will publish an old story about the war and pilots ,shared and written by Frauke Elber from the USA, who writes for the Women Soaring Pilots Association.
She is WSPA’s editor for the Hangar Soaring newsletters.
Christmas 1944…….unfortunately still actual.

I keep hoping for PEACE ON EARTH too.

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.473 on December 16 2023
VERY LAST POST! With many pictures as they say more than I can do in words.

With the 50 volunteers and a good team with Beryl as deputy CD and Michael as CD, I believe we can look back on a great WGC. The weather helped…., always important….. and the pilots were from an extraordinary class.AND,…very important a lot of them were very YOUNG!!! Good new CHAMPIONS who all 3 stood out.
The scores are correct and the president of the jury could close with a light heart, these comps.
It’s waiting now again for the Uvalde WGC in 2024.
I was there in 1991 [TC] and 2012 [editor for Soaring Cafe] and hopefully with “help” from friends I can write from home again to share with you in my [Ritz-] style all what’s going to happen there.

Here is Bruce on the last day with part of his Taylor’s Gliding Page:
“We’re finished! And what a show the Aussies put on! We have one world champion in the Club class, with James Nugent taking a very convincing win, and likely one of the youngest open world champions ever. We have a silver medal in the Standard class with Greg Beecroft flying his first world comps, and we have a bronze medal in the national teams award. All in all a fantastic result for our team. A huge thank you to our captain Miles Gore-Brown, and our coach Peter Temple. It was one of the most friendly and cohesive teams I have been a part of, which must surely have played a part in our success.“
More on the flying on the last day in his blog.

Here is Adam, who started celebrating early;
“No big deal, just hanging out here with Australia’s next senior World Gliding Champion!!! Congratulations James (& Daniel) on a truly outstanding performance. Hearing you two work on the radio was music to the ears, it’s of zero doubt why you’re now the current champ “

Last words from Adam on this event;
“Last flying day wrap up. Unfortunately Tobias & I lost a critical 100pts the day prior, but what this did for the final day, was to take the focus off us & our start time for one of the first times in the competition. We figured that the RSA/ITA, GER, POL & NED teams would be more concerned about each other, rather than us. This allowed Tobias & I to continue with our comp philosophy, start at the optimum time each day, work together, forget about the gaggle & let the results average themselves out. This is exactly what happened, the later starters came home in the dieing conditions..
Tobias & I had a strong start, thanks to the Americans marking the first good climbs for us. The blue seemed to work better for us than the CU on the first leg. Right at the bottom turn though, the conditions turned it on for us, classic racing sky.
Running North we slowly held back our climb expectations as we went back into the blue. Unfortunately we missed just one good climb to keep us high & out of trouble. I found myself separated from Tobias & had myself in a position that I was getting nervously low. Fortunately I kept a clear head & put all my energy into moving on & slowly getting up with the 18kt tailwind..
I managed to come home in the top of the mid-field speeds, those who were in the top top, sounds like they got a great climb to high or ran the convergence line well in the North – congratulations to these few, well played!”

Party time and a dinner followed and with so many young ones that must have been gone on through the night.

Prizegiving this morning under blue skies and hot conditions and here are the 37th WGC HEROES.

15 m. class;

Standard class;

Club class;

The German team won the TEAM CUP...well deserved. Here they are all young “blokes”

The Dutch team was runner up at the TEAM CUP. Here they are;

And the Aussies were 3d GOOD on THEM.

AND the 3 TC’s who inspired their pilots to great heights.

A great Aerobatic Display at the closing ceremony was cheered on by the crowd; https://paulbennetairshows.com.au/home

The VERY proud Aussies honored their 2 top pilots EXTRA; so they should.

On another note!
Today I turn 77!!! On my way, I hope, to 80! OLD yes INDEED!!!!
Looking back at my soaring life it started in March 1967 , 20 years old, when I saw a glider for the first time.
Had a flight, liked it, started flying lessons, got solo, had no feeling for orientation at all, stopped flying again , stayed in the soaring world and started all kind of jobs.
Crew, TC, steward, juror and editor at many big comps as WGC’s ,JWGC’s and WWGC’s.
VERY PROUD on the honor I got when unanimously was decided that I should receive the Pelagia Majewska medal for my service to gliding in 2015.
Had the pleasure of flying and hanging around with many interesting people, certainly when we were running for 10 years the Sportavia Soaring Center in Tocumwal. Huge job, but a very rewarding life style.
Now in 2023, the young ones in the family are slowly taking over. My daughter Inge was crew in Narromine and grand daughter Indya [20] TC for Luxembourg. That really pleased me,..3 generations now in our beloved sport.
AND,….I still could do my writing , but from home this time, a lot of work but with all social media it is possible, certainly when you have a lot of friends/mates who share their words with you.
I hope to add 2 more years of writing when hands and head keep going.
Thanks for your ongoing support in reading with so many the weekly blogs.
As always MY PLEASURE!

Time to celebrate now, AND Thank you for the many congratulations I got already now not even noon, so mostly from my 2d homeland.
Cu on the regular midweek blog on Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.472 on December 15 2023

8 AM here in The Netherlands and no scores yet, pretty normal on the last day and most probably not a lot of news by the different teams during the day, as they keep their cards to their chest.
I did too in the past.
BUT,…they flew and could try either all or nothing or keep consisting to stay where you are.
NICE LONG TASKS, to separate the “boys from the men”. How those words are for the 3 ladies, Sarah Petra and Dian,a I don’t know, but everybody knows what I mean.

More thank you’s to the Dutch team;

And I want to add my personal THANK you to the scorers who did a fabulous job to have them as quick as possible on soaringspot, for us followers at home very important.
I do see already now that many are going there, as it is busy. Everybody wants to see who are the CHAMPIONS!!!!
And of course a HUGE THANK YOU to Bruce, Adam and Tony, who allowed me to use their posts, so somebody with knowledge about the daily flying in each class, was in my blog as well.

Some final actions as well on this last briefing;
please drop all tow ropes at out landing office
please submit flight logs immediately after landing
please settle financial accounts at earliest convenience.

the weather; 36 dgr at the top, light winds,

thermal; 4-5 kts 3 at 18.30 and end of legal daylight at 20.36

LAST FLYING DAY: scores appear now; it was a long last day , as the finishes I see now, are mostly after 6 PM. Start times on a last day are very important and “games will be played”!
Then also party time later, so quite tiring, but yes this is a WGC and as far as I can see a good one.

15 m; 4 hour AAT….start gate opened at 13.42. 20 from 25 are scored NOW.
So carefully I say that Sebastian who was at this stage is 11th and Uys not yet scored, will be for the so maniest time WORLD CHAMPION, but with less points difference than in the past.
German pilots Henrik and Steffen [14th and 17th for the day] are on 2 and 3.
UPDATED:
Swiss Yves , who also won task 7, won the last day; 530.29 km. speed 131.54 km./h. UK pilot Phil was runner up with 1 points more than Belgian pilot Manu.
All pilots are counted for and scored. Less good day for Ricky and Uys with a 22d and 18th spot.
Sebastian is WORLD CHAMPION again.

Standard; 3.10 AAT....nearly all are scored I carefully say that the new standard class CHAMPION is TOM ARSCOTT , the only one in this class in the 9000 points range!!!!
Tom was 3d for the day behind the 2 German “boys “, Simon [392 km, speed 120.99 km./h] and Enrique on 3 and 4 overall. Aussie Greg had a good race over the last days and will be on the runner up spot!
BUT the UK knows already they have a CHAMPION!!!!!

club; 3.30 AAT...start gate opened at 14.15…still 8 not scored…
Updated;
Dutch pilot Roelof won the day;394.95 km ,speed 112.58 km./h, after 2 runner up spots over the last 3 days, the comps should have been longer for him, he is now in the right groove.
James was runner up and French Hugo 3d.
All 29 pilots finished!!!!

AND
Matty ,JWGC CHAMPION IN NARROMINE in 2015 shared this picture already with the text
“Congrats to the latest Club Class World Champion, James Nugent of Australia!”
James was runner up today behind Roelof,[395 km speed 112.58 km./h] who really had a great WGC as well……8 overall.

The Australia junior squad was quickly on the media:Australian Junior Soaring
“ And with that, we officially have an Australian CLUB CLASS WORLD CHAMPION!!!
James Nugent, our ex-AJGC president, current junior and all round top bloke has won the WORLD Gliding Championships! Words cannot describe how proud we are of James after flying a stellar competition.Please join us in congratulating James, teammate Daniel Summers, his crew, and the entire Australian team.
What an incredible week of competition in Narromine. We’ll see you all there soon for an awesome JoeyGlide…James has won a few It’s amazing how far you can go!
Awesome work Nugget, you flew an amazing comp. You should be extremely proud.”
Indeed he should and will be!!! Hats of to you James!

Scores are still coming in, will update soon again.

Ropes have been as requested by the organizers, collected also by the Dutch team.

More Updates;
Final OVERALL scores in each class; Not official yet, as they have to be approved by the jury.
15 m;
1. Sebastian Kawa Poland in Diana 2 with 9,121 points. GOLD and WORLD CHAMPION!
2. Henrik Bieler from Germany in Ventus 3T with 8,995 p. SILVER for him!
3. Steffen Goettler from Germany in Ventus 2ax with 8,978 p bronze!!

6 Certificate holders from this 37th WGC;
4. Jeroen Verkuijl from the Netherlands in JS 3 with 8,955 p.
5. Philip Jones from the UK in Ventus 3TS with 8,952 p.
6. Uys Jonker from S.A. in JS 3 with 8,936 p.
7. Adam Woolley from Australia in Ventus 3 with 8,926 p.
8. Erik Borgmann from The Netherlands in JS MD3 with 8,921 p
9. Christophe Abadie from France in JS 3 with 8,919

Standard class;
1. Tom Arscott from the UK in LS 8 with 9,013 points CLEAR WINNER and WORLD CHAMPION!
2. Gregory Beecroft from Australia in LS 8 with 8,638 p. SILVER!
3. Enrique Levin from Germany in LS8 NEO with 8,552 p. BRONZE.

6 certificate holders;
4. Simon Schröder from Germany in LS 8 NEO with 8,494 p.
5. Phillip Jonker from S.A. in LS 8B with  8,467 p.
6. Sjaak Selen from The Netherlands in Discus 2A with 8,389 p.
7. Lukasz Blaszczyk from Poland in Discus 2A with 7,934 p.
8. Makoto Ichikawa from Japan in LS8T with 7,873 p.
9. Julien Duboc from France in Discus 2A with 7,862 p.

Club class;
1. James Nugent from Australia in LS 3 with 9,438 points, gold and WORLD CHAMPION!!
2. Uwe Wahlig from Germany in LS3 with 9,219 p SILVER!
3. Stefan Langer from Germany in LS 3 with 9,148 p.BRONZE.

6 Certificate holders.
4. Rasmus Ørskov from Denmark in ASW 20CL with 9,113 p.
5. Tomas Suchanek from Czechia in ASW 20L with 8,894 p.
6. Jacek Flis from Poland in LS3WL with 8,881 p.
7. Tim Milner from the UK in LS3 with 8,816 p.
8. Roelof Corporaal from The Netherlands in LS7NEO with 8,776 p.
9. Adrien Henry from France in ASW 20 with 8,766 p.

The TOP 9 places , 3 in each class, are for ;
Germany with 2 in 15 m , 1 in standard and 2 in club, so 5 medals TOP JOB!!!!
Australia with 1 in club and 1 in standard .
Poland with 1.
Great Britain with 1.

TEAM CUP:
1. Germany with 900.30 p.
2. The Netherlands with 881.57 p.
3. Australia with 871.17 p
4. Great Britain with 870.88 p.
5. France with 852.95 p.

Preparations for the closing dinner as seen by Pôle France Planeur no doubt where the French are sitting LOL.

And here is Tony about his last day in Club class;
“The task was a 3.5 hr AAT. Forecast was blue. Launch started at 1 the gate opened at 2:42. We took a start on our second PEV window then hit a great climb and drifted back to the line so took the third window and started high but late.
South end of task had good cu and we enjoyed real climbs and some nice lines.
We were punished at the end for our late start with some weak climbs along with the 15m class getting home.
It was a really really nice flight with Mike and a good flight to end on. I’m all warmed up for the Skyrace GP in Leeton in January”

I guess Bruce and Adam are celebrating already so they should.
So more last news on this 37th WGC tomorrow.

Cheers Ritz

Post 1.471 on December 14 2023

Briefing at 10;

Task 9 prize winners were cheered on;

Unfortunately NO picture from standard class winner Pavel.

More briefing news;
Earlier start, 10,000ft, Cumulus Gusty NW wind turning W mid day. Storms possible (not predicted). Rain last night Trigger: 5,500ft 34° 1130; 9,000ft 36° 1230 (QNH) Thermals on task: 5 – 6kt, <3kt at 1830 Wind: Take off: 13kt W, Gust 26kt Landing: 14kt W, Gust 25kt Flying: 23-26kt W QNH 1009 Last Light 2036
No Total Fire ban today in our area.

That’s what the pilots saw at briefing this morning with more news of course.
The tasks were set and the first launch was supposed to be at 12.
First on the grid ;standard class with 526.8 km.
Then 15 m with 508.4 km and last club again with a 3.45 AAT.
But it turned out different.
And,……Interesting to know, it rained nearly all night!

On their way to the strip the Dutch pilots saw this;

And the UK team mentioned;”Today is looking interesting, with surface temperatures lower than forecast and blue/cu conditions hopefully appearing soon!“

The first official message was grid time and first launch delayed by 1 hour, first launch at 13.00
The 2d message was that C tasks were available to collect and for signatures at 12.30.

They flew;
Here is DAY 12 with TASK 10 on FLYING DAY 9.

15 m; 375.32 km….all 25 started pilots are counted for and 4 are in a paddock [2 Swiss and 2 Czech pilots] after between 76 km. and 55 km, it looks like the Dutch pilots Erik and Jeroen, did well with a 1 and 2 for the day! Nice speed 140 km./h!!! But only 865 and 855 points. They nearly all started together around 14.30 .
Though Sebastian was 11th ,Ricky 13th and Uys 17th they did not loose too many points.
Adam and Toby were on 16 and 18 with 746 and 687 daily points.
Adam;”One single climb? Yes, we didn’t get a reasonable (note I didn’t say good or great) climb at mid-convection on the first glide out. It’s all we needed to connect to the strong clouds & gust front up ahead.Instead, we got lower & were pushed to the side, further & further. The later starters eat is up in the first glide, by getting that one climb, then being able to go direct. I heard the Belgium’s got a 7kt climb, we would’ve been happy with 4kts, but such is life..” the interesting full story on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Still 8 pilots in the 8000 range overall between 8.282 and 8.008.
Will there be pilots going for “all or nothing on the last day ?”

Standard; 413.34 km…..first on the grid and starts after 2 PM. Most around 14.15 , the 2 Polish pilots Lucasz and Tomasz started 10 minutes later and were out after 50 km.
2 pilots not yet scored!
What happened? Bruce explains as he was out after 78 km;
“If you look at these photos, you might well ask why on earth I’m parked on an airfield with a soaring sky like that in the background. Well, there was a storm in our way, and I was a little impatient to get on with the job when really I should have stopped and got really high before I moved. It’s been the story of my competition, so I’m not totally pleased with myself. Before the storm it was a bit sketchy, but afterwards to the north it looked fantastic, so I think there will be some good speeds today.“

club : 3 hour AAT….last on the grid and first starts around 3 PM!!!! Rasmus did well. He flew 372.64 km and did that with a speed of 109.66 km./h for 1000 points, which brings him to spot 4 overall.
Our Dutch Roelof flew himself like the day before to a runner-up-spot .Good on him! He moved from 12 to 10 overall.
4 are out at this stage and 1, Tony, not counted for/not yet scored. Hence no news from him yet.
BUT,…..
Here is his story ,so he is safely back “home”;
“The wx slide said “storms possible but not predicted”. Pre start a big cell built up over our old friend Warren, the wettest place in New South Wales where we were tasked over again on the second leg.
We started immediately in a good position. Possibly our best start of the contest. Found a few climbs. Didn’t banana left far enough after nicking the first turn and ended up in the dead air shadow. A few wisps were giving us hope. Mike had bubbled above and ahead of me. I angled back northwest for the clouds and some bogan castles but found nothing much.
A few bubbles down low briefly raised my spirits but the resulted in nothing solid so I retreated a bit to a nice airstrip.“

Well, back again with all kind of news .

Looking to STANDARD CLASS the biggest and toughest changes are in this class. For Lucasz this was a bad day. He dropped overall from 2 to 8 and that with 1 day to go. I feel for him.
Sjaak finished,…late at 18.33, but he was in , lost his 3d place overall to Enrique from Germany but only 26 points difference. Sjaak had to climb up from 350 m, he did!!!!!
The other way around was happening too; Great result for Aussie Greg …with his 3d spot today and some others, higher placed with a bad day, he moved up from 7 to 2!!!!
Silently all the German pilots are consistent and good.
Overall in 15 m on 2 and 3, in standard on 3 and 6 and in Club on 2 and 3!!!
And ,….from experience I know they mostly have a good last day as well.

Looking at the TEAM CUP with 1 day to go;
1. Germany with 902.54 p.
2. The Netherlands with 884.77 p.
3. Great Britain with 869.02 p.
4. Australia with 867.06 p.
5. Poland with 867.06 p.

I miss the French team in the top. At least they all look happy .
They are overall with one day to go on spots; 12 and 15 in 15 m, 7 and 9 in standard and 8 and 9 in club.

I am pleased with the performances from the Dutch team. All in the top 10.

Some pictures from Peak Pictures, I found out that the photographer is Michael Zupanc, Zuppie for insiders.

It’s a bit vague but still interesting enough to share

News from the USA!!! Yes indeed Sarah in a tree!!!!
“To say this contest hasn’t gone the way I’d hoped is an understatement. Today there was a storm on the first leg and I wasn’t able to connect with the shelf and got flushed instead. Knowing how hot and windy it would be on the ground, I landed close to shade trees near the edge of a giant wheat field. I had gotten a couple InReach messages out, but knew Jason would prefer to hear my voice. Way back at the WGC in Argentina, some advice given was to try climbing a tree if there is no cell service, and that is what I did. The phone worked fine up there, and I got to feel like a kid again. Ultimately Jason arrived in a Ute with 13 yr old twins (Will and Lochi) who drove him out to find me. They had been up running farm equipment since 3 am. This is an 80,000 acre farm and I was several miles from the homestead.“

Some sad news today as well;
William Stalenburg died in The Netherlands , last Tuesday on December 12, after being sick for a short time. He died still rather unexpected ,when his heart stopped beating.
William and his partner Evelien lived already for a long time, part of the year, in Narromine, on the border of the airfield having the best view over it. When I visited them in their beautiful house in 2015, I was very much impressed.
They are both real gliding fans. They flew in their ARCUS many Dutch records and were more than helpful, when the Dutch juniors arrived at the Narromine JWGC .They were allowed to put all their gliders every evening in their hangar.
Whilst partly in The Netherlands, they lived at their caravan at Terlet, where I visited them last summer. William was very fragile, but the sparkle in his eyes was still there.
They even planned and hoped to fly to Narromine for this WGC.
Sadly enough his health deteriorated in a very short time, no trip to Narromine anymore , but a trip to “heaven” now.
R.I.P. William and ALL THE BEST FOR EVELIEN.

Post 1.470 on December 13 2023

To be honest I have no clue who is going to win this 37th WGC not in each of the classes.
Mostly I have a gut-feeling, this time not.
With 3 days to fly including this one a lot can still happen as scores are pretty close.
That makes it EXTRA interesting!

Briefing;
A short one as the day before there were no winners . Very nice to find the briefing now on line.So I use it straight away to share some facts for today
Of course more important for those there, but nice to see it at home too.

Push Back Time: 11:30
First Launch Time: 12:00
Start Frequency: 120.125
Safety Frequency: 122.025
Finish Frequency: 130.00
Pre-Start Altitude Point Below [ft]: 7500 MSL
PEV: Wait Time = 10 min PEV Start Window = 5 min, maximum of 3 PEVs per launch
Minimum Finish Altitude [ft]: 2300 MSL
Airport Elevation: [ft] 782 MSL
QNH: 1015
End of Legal Daylight: 20:35
SAR Watch: 121.500

Earlier start, rain expected late, Storms possible 7,500 – 8,500ft,Cumulus expected, moderate N winds all day
Risks at the end of day: Cloud, Rain, Smoke Trigger: 4,800ft 33° 1130; 5,700ft 35° 1230 (QNH) Thermals on task: 5kt, <3kt at 1830 Wind: Take off: 12kt N, Gust17 Landing: 12kt N, Gust 19 Flying: 18kt N QNH 1015 Last Light 2035 No Total Fire ban today our area
First start at 12

TODAYS flying;

The tasks :
Club; AAT 3h15 191.3km/432.0km..upfront
Standard; speedtask 395.5
15m. speedtask 381.3 km

Extra tip; From friends over there I heard that the trick today was deciding when to start. The conditions got better during the day,but it was important to get home before the storms arrived from the W.

Task 9 on flying day 8 out of 11;
15 m; 381.34 km….with the weather forecast most started before 2PM ,some dared to start later, unfortunately they paid…Swiss Yves, winner from task 7 started at 14.11 and finished as number 22 from 25.
Who won? Poland’s Lukasz Grabowski, [136.83 km/h] who started at 13.57, 2 minutes later than Sebastian [135.37 km/h] who was 3d for the day. Both fly a DIANA 2. In between on 2 was French pilot Christophe [135.61 km/h] who started at 13.45 in his JS3. Good to see the French in the top, I missed them there.No 1000 points but 915 for Lucasz.
Nice speed!!!!
2 Had to leave the comps already, so 25 started AND finished. Some just made it IN.
With 2 days to go Sebastian leads with 7,482p closely followed by Uys [7.442] and Henrik and Steffen….., you tell me who will be in the end the winner.
Between the first 10 pilots in this class the difference is; 1. 7.482 and 10. 7.203 points.
Toby was 5th today , Adam lost some points as he was 16th , but he still believes he can do it:
“Today was a day not to lose, & I did achieve that. Tobias is now within 33pts of me & I’m just 143pts off Sebastian & 103pts off 2nd. The competition is tough, but I can do this“
Much more about the day on Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures

standard; 395.47 km….Pavel Louzecky from Czech Rep. started [13.47] and flew and nearly finished together with Miloslav and they were 1 and 2 with a speed of 119.37 km./h and 118.78 km./h. 1000 points and 991 in this class for them.
South African pilots Laurence and Phillip did well on 3 and 4.
Sarah [USA] with an early start was 5th.
The French , Julien and Max, on spot 18 and 20; weird they are such good pilots. Dennis from Belgium was out after 91 km. A pity!!!
UK pilot Tom lost 250 points [spot 14 for the day] but still leads the group with 7.277 points.
Lucasz has 7.061 p and Sjaak 6.917.

club ; 315 AAT.…29 left in this class and they all finished. Best for the day was Polish pilot Jacek Flis flying 363.65 km in time 314.45; speed 111,89 km./h for 1000 points! In the top 5 , also 5 different nationalities; Roelof from The Netherlands was runner up [987 p.] Stefan from Germany on 3 [969 p] James from Australia on 4[ 946p] and Michael from Denmark on 5 [ 923 p] Uwe was 6th.
James is on the good way…he is 1 overall with now 7,560 p, followed by Uwe and Stefan with 7.371 and 7.336 points.
Not a good day for UK pilot Tim, he dropped from 3 overall to 6 by being 18th for the day, after a rather late start, [13.55] but not much later than Roelof , [13.50] James [13.53] and Michael.[13.53]
A pity!
Tony mentioned about the day;
“A nice day. Trough approaching from the west threatened to shut the day down early. Expectation was rain at Narromine at 5pm. We finally had some nice climbs under cu.
We didn’t realize how shadowed the second area would get and should’ve went further in the first. Came in 5 minutes early.” Tony Condon
I heard there is a lot of rain and it will rain all night and maybe even tomorrow whilst gridding?????

World Gliding Championship 2023 shared pictures and good interviews with Rick Sheppe President of International Jury WGC Narromine and Uys Jonker on the JS5 and the Future of Glider Design.

A THANK YOU FROM and FOR ALL VOLUNTEERS!!!!

AND for ALL TUGGIES, here they go to do their job

Time for breakfast back later with some nice pictures I received in my box from Czech Republic Gliding Team by Peak Pictures. Another top photographer.
“World Championship Gliding. Narromine.The 15 meter gliders have been flying for a week already, so here are a few photos from what will be the third last day of the competition (better late than never)Part 1 for today. Tag your mates“

UPDATED;

A REAL French crew member. I met him at several comps!

Finishing the day with the actions on ONG

CU tomorrow with the last -but -one- day...PENULTIMATE DAY!!!!
Did I see the approach from a cyclone from the West?????
Hope not, the rain now is OK but cyclone-wind is not!!!
Cheers Ritz

Post 1.469 on December 12 2023

SMOKE!!!!!!!

YES tasks,….but cancelled…..
I was VERY worried ,when I heard about bush-fires not that far away, about 200 km. In Lake Keepit it cost a day or 2 as well at the WWGC , [though they flew also through the smoke] , so I hoped the wind would drive them away. But I just see that did not happen.
Such a pity when the comps are going so well with great tasks and mostly happy people.

I heard that there was a milky grey sky today. They were unlucky to be over -run by a narrow band of smoke. Impossible to forecast of course. All 3 classes were gridded and ready to go and the tasks were cancelled one at a time, with the last class [Club] at 2.40.
I also heard that visibility was thick 500 m.

My Czech mates shared these pictures, also the one above;

Tasks were, but that’s irrelevant now ,281.20 km for 15 m, 282.41 km for standard and a 2 hour AAT for club. They hoped that club could be launched and fly the task direction South away from the smoke, but not such luck.
Then there was the OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE ORGANIZERS;
“Heavy thick smoke from the fires in the Piliga Forest today have shut down flying for the day. Day cancelled.”

Anne mentioned;”it was so thick that when I went out mid-afternoon I could hardly see gliders on the grid from the aero club! Hopefully it will clear for tomorrow.”

Belgian Gliding Team shared an interesting picture as well;
“With the heat wave in Australia, the bushfires have picked up… Needless to say that this is impacting the air quality and the weather. The smoke and dust decreases the heating of the ground.
Task cancelled y’day, and delayed today.”

For yesterday’s prize winners you have to go to Sean’s interviews on https://www.facebook.com/people/World-Gliding-Championship-2023/100093208068838/
they shared NO pictures today from Yves from Switzerland winner in 15 m, James in Club and Tomasz from Poland in standard class.

Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures today
“Just three possible days to go now before the WGC is all over, I’m currently sitting in 5th place with 108 pts behind the leader & 29 points behind 2nd place – you could say things are hitting up!
I’m feeling good & charged with positive energy to fly strongly to the end, my eyes are firmly set on the prize – “I Can” do this, words that George Lee helped me believe in since my course with him in 2004″

I just spoke with my family and they are very optimistic about the weather AND flying over the next 3 days.So I am in better mood again.

–—-Looking back to Narromine 8 years ago.
The JWGC was won by Matthew Scutter and Dutch pilot Robin was there as runner up; silver for him!
8 Years ago time flies!!!

I updated the international post with NZ and Luxembourg, Italy and Poland.

CU tomorrow, 3 days to go!!!!
Ritz

Post 1.468 on December 11 2023

Looking back at some of the countries present at the INTERNATIONAL NIGHT.Unfortunately a few “hided” and I have no pictures from them.
If I do find them, I share them under these ones later.

Team Denmark ; made Risalamande, 8 liter, cherrysauce and port-wine to go with it. Very popular .
Very nice evening.

Team Germany ; with gluhwein and Christmas Cookies

Team South Africa; with South African Lamb Stew and South African wines.

Team Lithuania; looks as good “poison” “only” 43 % haha.

Team Czech Rep; They always have really good beer. USA team captain Pete tries it out.

Team USA; with Melissa, Leah and Sarah.
“Great comradery, food and drink. Team USA had bite sized pineapple teriyaki meatballs with rice, fruit skewers and Mai Tais.”

Team Belgium; with Dennis and Lux. mate Diana AND their FAMOUS Belgian waffles this time the recipe of Joëlle Litt’s family recipe.

And to finish this item words from Gliding Australia:
“From WGC Narromine , Sláinte agus saol agat, Na zdrowie, santé, saluti, prost, and in every other language, we wish you good health and good cheer and may there always be a thermal beneath you, a wave above you and a ridge to bring you home.“

Tomorrow it’s back to soaring again.
4 very special days as scores are close and you can be out before you know,….. BUT also high on the list.

The blog from today is below. CU Ritz

UPDATES;
Team New Zealand; Team effort . Bernie and Derek sourced the materials , Bernie learned how to use a mixer and whipped the cream, Derek and myself chipped fruit and I decorated the top!
Wish I was there MY FAVORITE!!!!!Michael Strathern’s Gliding

Team Luxembourg; with a lovely and what I heard delicious drink.

Team UK; Monday 11th was declared a rest day late on Sunday evening due to high temperatures (ironically several degrees lower than the preceding few days), which meant the team had plenty of time to prepare for International Night.
Good fun was had by all!!!!

Team Italy; with real Italian food.

Team Switzerland with yesterday’s winning pilot Yves in good mood.

Team Poland;