ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN    SUNDAY DECEMBER 2 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

The meteorological winter has started here and the summer down under.We had already some wet snow a while ago , but now it seems that there was REAL snow in the East.
Last month of the year 2012 already and I  had just planned to not write about 1000 km. flights anymore as it is always interesting to know where the first had place,  but then a 1000 is just a 1000 if you know what I mean.
But you can’t write and not mention the GLORIOUS day in Namibia on November 28 with 24 happy pilots flying over the magic 1000 km. border, on a day full of clouds ending in  ” rain-showers from thousands.”
On top of the OLC list German top pilot Reinhard Schramme [Bitterwasser] who showed that the ARCUS M is flying well under all circumstances  ; 1.301 km with a speed of 140 km./h. AND the 2d 1000 FAI TRIANGLE for the season after Allan Barnes flew one from Narromine in an LS 8.
Also UK pilot Robin May ,[Kiripotib]  he is about the same generation top pilots as Reinhard flew the magic 1000 FAI triangle with 145 km on the clock in the EB. Another 4 pilots one of them another generation-topper Walter Binder flew this dream flight!!!

Reinhard here on a picture from my WGC -Eskilstuna-file.

For some the very first 1000, others are happy with “FINALLY GOOD WEATHER ??????” and for some it was the first declared 1000  { Young German pilot Rene Hanses with 1.204,7 km/FAI declared 1.017 km.} and he was very happy with his PALM.
From South Africa also one with Uwe Thiele who flew his 1000 in the DG 808 C/18m.from Gariep Dam, his first for this season and when the weather is good he will fly more as he loves long distance flying.
Best speed that day , with 150 km./h.,  was flown from Bitterwasser by French pilot Didier Hebrard.
When the weather is good and there are enough guests with good gliders it all seems easy, but you still have to do it.
AND,…another fact from the 1000 k.  , it remains something you always want to achieve AND, you are always happy with the fact you achieved another one. AND….the atmosphere is so much more exciting on a soaringspot, everybody talks with everybody, smiles all over. I know the fantastic feeling from Tocumwal when we had on one day also 10 such awesome flights and I enjoy it now as well from far away. For owners of a gliding-business, the season is a success with such days, even in the worst case, when it deteriorates after , which of course is sad for the guests flying at that time.

November 29 was a good one for the Bitterwasser pilots again, with Reinhard flying the 2d successive 1000 plus in the ARCUS M. The other ARCUS M from Pokweni, will be flown now by Daan [Pare] and Henk [de Waard], 2 Dutch pilots and good for lot’s of kilometers!!! After preparing ” their ” glider in the morning they had a first flight together [with Henk in the front seat]  from 860 km. On one leg they nearly did not have to turn and both are happy to be back in Pokweni,….and mentioned they love the ARCUS!!!!
By the way another kilometer-eater this time from Germany , Alexander Müller has arrived as well in Pokweni, flying the EB 29.
AND,…. from Pokweni we can expect some nice long flights from Polish pilot Janusz Centka who flies from Kiripotib in the yes,…ARCUS M.
Great pilot, who won the open class at the WGC in Uvalde in 1991 and in Borlange in 1993 and the 15 m. class in Eskilstuna in 2006.

Jausz, picture from my Eskilstuna-archive.

On the first day of December Reinhard topped the OLC list again with this time, 1.238,70 km with 135 km./h. His 3d 1000 km in the ARCUS.

From my friends in Tocumwal I heard they are “suffering” from a heat wave. No they are not all glider pilots and value the heat in a different way, feeling flat and tired. But with 45.8 dgr. in Mildura and 43 in Toc it must have been VERY hot.
It does n’t always mean  that it is great soaring-weather, sometimes it just is too stable, but I quickly looked at the OLC for nice long flights in the Toc/Corowa/area, but the best flight was from Ingo in his Discus, nearly a 700 k in his Discus A. Good flight though!
Also Narromine still is “hot” with temperatures up to 42 and VERY humid!

You can’t call the Narromine Cup Week, now it is over, anything else than SUCCESFUL. Showing again how our sport depends on the weather. Last year no flying cause of the bad weather, this year lot’s of great soaring , including 4 x 1000 km. and several flights between 343 km[ in an LS 1 f] and 869 km. thanks to the nearly perfect weather.
As one of my friends Brian said;”Another great Narromine Cup put to bed.”
One of the Japanes pilots Goe Teramoto, flew with G Dale in the Duo Discus. Earlier on , on the 25th of November he flew 750 km. in the ARCUS. In this glider he flew with several other pilots as David Burrell, Pepe and Hans[Raschke] .
Since yesterday the NSW State Comps are flown as well from Narromine.43 Pilots have entered and will compete till the 8th of December . One of the pilots is Bob Ward. Quite a few years ago he had a terrible accident with his glider and for a while we thought he would not be able to compete anymore. BUT Bob recovered totally and is “very much alive and kicking ” and still flies comps. Good on him!!!!!!
These NSW state comps are organised by the Bathurst Soaring Club and the Narromine Gliding Club.
Will keep you informed!

Last Friday finally again a good day for the  Perlan Project pilots. Jim Payne and Morgan Sandercock flew in their DG 1001M a 1.210 km. flight from Chos Malal.
Morgan started his trip with a blog full of expectation, …..than some kind of denial,”it can’t be as bad as last year”  and than …..still hope that “as the proper wave-wind blows from the West, the air will be clear ” , after a blow from the North East “raising vulcanic ash which had settled downwind  on the rocks and ridges , to return,……than a long silence….and  finally Christmas Greetings from the Perlan Project yesterday.
AND….Today a message that this MIGHT BE THE DAY, after a 842 km. flight yesterday. Surely hope they can fly something special!

Joey-glide, the 9th edition,  is about to begin on December 8 from Lake Keepit. The comps for the young ones in Australia is more and more popular. This year 2 young pilots from NZ will be part of Joey glide, Nicolas Oakley and Alex McCaw. Alex is the son of one of my FB friends Jill, who produces the official soaring Magazine of Gliding NZ “Soaring NZ”.
Alex became  the youngest pilot in the world to complete a FAI 1000 diploma at age 18 and was brought up AT the airfield, no miracle with a flying dad and mum and no miracle either he is so good!
Nicolas is not only a junior top pilot but also an ace in ballooning, being a champion- balloon -pilot. Will follow them and the Aussie pilots from December 8  till 16.

From Mount Beauty the news in the Alpine Flyer that “the bird has left the nest”. Their brand new ASK 21 went up in the air , “has taken to the sky “as they mention it so nicely. Lovely pictures as well and for the rest of their news you can go  www.mtbeauty.com/mt-beauty-gliding-club/
Nice to see Mart Bosman , still so very much involved in soaring after being a top hang glider pilot and conversing to a glider pilot with us in the past at Tocumwal.

First flight from the brand new ASK 21 and AFTER the flight proud members with the double-seater.
pictures courtesy Greg Sujecki.

And….some news from NAVITER.
–“Happy to announce that we have a new reason for you to retire the trusty old iPaq—“:

http://www.naviter.com/2012/11/oudie-2-lite/

AND more great news about the Antares:
“One more big step in Langes glider development, his Antares 18t had its maiden flight.”
Here two links to Langes homepage, where you can read the details.

http://www.lange-aviation.com/htm/deutsch/aktuelles/news_2012_11_30.html

http://www.lange-aviation.com/htm/english/news/news_2012_11_30.html

AND…from the Upssala MASTERS;
–“Notifications are perfectly flows into the Masters – Experienced and many times Swedish champion from Örebro Gunnar Karlsson will be a favorite in the racing class. There are rumors about a new aircraft .. Welcome Gunnar–”
–“Masters is really a challenging contest. Perhaps the best line-up ever. Newest machine one Arcus M from Örebro with Christian Wikström and experienced Bengt Göök challenges in racing -. Welcome–”
–“Stefan Löfgren from Avesta logged in Racing class with his ASW 20 – Welcome–”
–“Scoring office says welcome to our latest entry – Magnus Alm. Magnus from Herrljunga Glider Club “enlisted” with a Duodiscus T. This is the first Duo-entry, who’s next?–”
And MORE……..

See you next Wednesday and than it is counting off , till I depart for my 2d home country Australia on December 29.
Cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN    WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 28 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

After the very hot and booming weather a southerly change passed by in the evening with rain and storm, pretty typical for Narromine as they say and normally the day after is good again and the weather building up to very good. Terry Bellair  managed to fly  517  km. during the day, before the approaching storm and of course turned back in time . Today he flew over 700 km, as you see it is building up!
To get back on that ” beaut” very first 1000 FAI km. triangle, for the season  from Allan Barnes on Sunday in the LS 8,  it was NOT that sure he was going to fly that 1000, as he got low in the beginning and even choose himself a good paddock already for the outlanding, than….the day improved but he still was not happy and wanted to abort the flight, but “couldn’t glide back to Narromine so deviated left (NE) to the only cloud in the sky.”
In the end he just made it back before sunset and must have been excited, tired and worn out but  making the evening on adrenaline! Great DECLARED flight!!!!!

Also Temora had some storm after their great and hot weather as you can see on the picture from my friends the Gilberts.

Talking about adrenaline enough from that also for Sebastian Vettel. What a nailbiting last race of the season 2012!!! I was ready to sit and look, but when my favourite was pushed by young Senna and drove after a spin against all racing competitors in the first round, I could not look anymore. Vettel was out in my head! But no ,…when I looked half an hour later he was on spot 15 and then on round 69 from 71 I kept looking and saw how he still managed to be world champion by finishing on spot 6. What a character that 25 year old boy has and now he is a triple  world champion the youngest ever and winning the 3 in succesion. Admire Alonso as well !!!Loosing with 3 points only , in the way he did shows class!!!

YESTERDAY, the weather was top in Namibia and SA and the first 33 places on the OLC were for Africa.
4 x 1000 km., from Bitterwasser and once form Kuruman, where HW flew over 900 km. in total and over 850 as an FAI triangle.
From Narromine one of my friends , Gerrit, flew TODAY for the 2d time in his new Quintus M with  700 km and a speed of 121 km./h. on the clocks, good to see Andy back in Corowa and also Peter shipped his glider to Corowa and had his first flight for his so maniest Australia -year.
And with the forecasted 40 dgr. for tomorrow more long x-country flights in the Tocumwal/Corowa region are to be expected.

It is good to see how many people have been touched by the death of Gill Van den Broeck from Belgium.
To all I have written already,  I have translated a comment from JC and add that here;
” Gill was one of the first female pilots who flew the European Championships and since then visited nearly every world championship even when she was not flying anymore.I don’t know how she flew but, her enthusiasm was overwhelming. She ” invented” the ritual of “the hexen” at ladies comps. You can call her the MOTHER of international gliding comps. There she worked on her books and 2 have been published. In these books she comments on comps , the flying and the results with black humor…with criticism.”
So far the comment as a onther tribute to Gill. AND…..THANK YOU, Jutta!
Last Sunday I had lunch with Natasja who is going to fly as the first Dutch lady in a WWGC. Gill visited her during the comps as she wanted to meet the first Dutch girl in such a competition. Natasja straight away got her 2 books with a nice message in it and Gill hoped to be there next year to see her flying.
A pity she can’t do this anymore.

 
Natasja came over for lunch last Sunday.And with her crew Hans and Hobbit , last year [and in 2013.]

Today starts the trial against Argentinian [ but living in Holland ] pilot Julio Poch, who was arrested on his final flight in Spain before retirement with Transavia. Hope with many more, it will be a fair case.It might take 2 years before it is over as 67 are on trial with him.

Talking about Argentina, here is some news from Bruce [Cooper ]:
–“Last year we blamed the bad weather in Argentina on La Nina, this year we have El Nino and its still poor so far. Almost 1/4 of the way through the 3 month expedition with only 3 gliding days. Some good weather on the long term forecast for Saturday onwards .–”
In the past Bruce flew with us in Tocumwal where I long ago , got to know him. Later he flew from Corowa and he is happy for his friends in Australia that they had such a good day.
–“Nice to see the guys in Australia having a good season though.—”
Atleast on one of those 3 days 2 long flights have been made , one on November 21 with USA pilots Jim Payne and Dennis Tito in the DG 1001M 1.110km. and one on November 18 by Swiss pilot Jean Marc Perrin in a 15m DG 808; 1.366,77 km.

And as the news from Uppsala is coming in every day send on FB by enthusiastic organisers,  I share it with you, maybe you get excited too and want to fly the MASTERS in May 2013.
—“We welcome former silver world-champion Åke Pettersson. Åke is a flying legend with several championships medals. Åke will fly his Ventus 2 in the racing class. – Welcome—“
—“One more pilot from the Swedish Uvalde team will attend – Ulf Ringertz in his Ventus 2 Cxt try to challenge the big gliders in Open class.”
—“First edition of Local Procedures
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5W5xndPpQYAaTVTSm4wOW9WSXM
—Tonny Olsson med ASG 29E i sin hemmaterräng kommer att utmana i Open klassen. Välkommen”–
—“Eskilstuna new chairman with old chairman will attend in racing class in a two seater. They have probably a lot to talk about….–” [Peter Wlassiks and Mattias Hemborg]

That’ s it see you on Sunday,

Cheers Ritz

 ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN    SUNDAY NOVEMBER 25 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

While the West Coast [ specially the SW coast] from the UK suffered from severe wind and rain, causing huge problems for people living there even, sadly enough,  killing one person stuck in high water in his car, we had easy going autumn weather till today. Yesterday France was pretty hard hit, last night parts of Belgium and now it is our turn with wind expected this afternoon to Bft. 10 on the NW Coast. Wind gusting to 110 km./h. So a real storm!

The place to be on Thursday was clearly South Africa.
The first Gariep Dam-1000 km. was flown ,  by Berlin based pilot Carsten Lindemann; 1.028 km. [521 FAI triangle] with 125 km./h. in the ASH 25. Also an 18 m. glider flew the 1000 km. [300 FAI triangle] ; a DG 808B.
Also Bloemfontein “fell in the prizes” with flights up to nearly 700 km.
BUT …what about Allan Barnes, I can nearly fill blogs with his achievements. He must have learned very quickly  and MORE, from G Dale as he flew from Lake Keepit in the LS 8 a flight from NEARLY 1000 km.; 921!!!! He tried a 1000 km. out and return to Roma but changed that in a 750 to St George still far up North NW, after been “struck”  by vario problems. Using convergence lines  and a sea-breeze convergence with lift up to 13.000 ft. but also sink over the flat land. The BEST to- the- OLC- added-flight in Australia till now.
AND… Jenny Ganderton flying the Mosquito tried a 750 cat’s craddle from Lake Keepit , but had to turn short on 2 of the TP’s ,but still flew her longest flight ever; 761 km.[ 361 FAI triangle]
ONLY 39 flights that day on the OLC but halve of them over 500 km. Not bad for spring!!
The other kilo-meter-eater in Australia is Terry Bellair. He arrived in Narromine for the Cup Week [ starting on November 6 till November 30] in his 17 m. DG400 and at this moment he tops the Australian-OLC- list ahead of Allan.

 
the dam from Gariepm Dam ;picture courtesy Doris .

Noticed 3 young German sport soldiers are going to fly in Stonefield.
Guess the young pilots in Germany have been the best support in the world. I admire the German soaring world for that. They have strong junior comps and club members, who spend a lot of time and money in the youngsters . Some share their own gliders with them , they also get a Nimbus 4  from the German Aero Club  [DAeC] . This upcoming year this open class glider will be shared by Patrick Puskeiler and Alexander Späth, both former sport soldiers and already at young age very well known  because of their great results in soaring. Last but not least the army is a great plus for them.
The different squads meet several times a year to keep the friendship going.
The Sportsoldiers are offered trips to p.e. Australia to brush up their skills and what I like is that those young pilots really appreciate what they get, they don’t take it for granted., they are not some spoiled brat’s.
Was it last year Fabian Peitz and Benjaminn Bachmaier flying as sportsoldiers in Stonefield this year there are 3 young ones in the good hands of the owners Konrad and Edeltraud Maierhofen for 3 months.
But Max, Simon and Felix , flying a DG 1000 which was shipped in September and an 18m. LS 8, got a lot of support from the Army  , who makes this all possible for them, from the Club [SFG Tannheim] and NAVITER  for putting 2 NAVITER OUDIES to their disposal.
Now we can only hope that the 3 boy’s will  have the same unforgettable experience as the 2 boys last year.
One of the other sportsoldiers is Marco Barth and he is at the moment already in Argentina where he will fly the WGC in Chaves. Now he flies at Arrecifes , great practise and flew over 500 km. this week in an ASW 20.
Whyen you are also interested in their experiences they keep blogs , mainly in German but sometimes also in English at ; www.sportsoldaten.de

Of course a lot of other countries are doing great jobs for young  pilots as well. In  Holland TABOE,”  training for young and old beginning x-country-pilots ” , had to close their courses for more interested pilots, as they were already FULL. This is a great development and progress in soaring. Also the speakers on such days are as I heard as enthusiastic as the “pupils” . It is on 3 Saturdays and 4 different subjects as water ballast, making speed, efficient soaring and thermal flying,  show the beginning x-country pilot how to get to a higher level.
I know the Aussies with Joey Glide and the USA with their program for the young ones are pretty good busy as well and from the other countries I do not exactly know what they are doing.
Anyhow enough young ones, which is necessary as we, the baby boomers are all over 65 now and a lot choose to stop while a few others try to continue till 80 but fly less [competitions] then!!

The Narromine Cup is on and some pilots,” early birds ”  really flew nice distances already. Some of them have just flown at Lake Keepit and had good practise.
Was the weather last year “crepe” this year started top and when the weather is good , you should use it to the fullest!!!
Allan Barnes declared a 1000 for him and his LS 8, but got stuck in cirrus and decided to abandon his declared task ,to be ready for a new declared 1000 for today , weather permitting, but he expected it to be better. Yesterday was still good for a 716 km. triangle [ 680 FAI] A photo impression from Narromine from my file.
Today flights as 700 k were flown from Narromine in a Discus , making one of the pilots day; ” a classic Narromine -day” and I guess still a few flights to be added for today.

Narromine is also the place for the next JWGC and allows  80 young and enthusiastic pilots to “feel” the Aussie weather, hospitality and ‘wideness ‘ of nature in all senses on the ground and in the AIR.
A fantastic experience certainly for the European pilots who have never been in my 2d home land. The JWGC is in 2015 from December 1 till 12 and the PRE JWGC in December 2014. Just to let you know already as it takes a bit of preparation, certainly for the pilots from FAR AWAY and willing to take their own gliders.
But I am sure the organisers will help you in every way they can, as I know a few of them.

Enough flights also this weekend from Waikirie [WA] where the Waikirie Orange Week is on and attracted several pilots. Day 1 was yesterday so a full week to go.
It seems REALLY great weather over there in Australia, as today a real “pilot  of leisure” , good old Anders, flew in his ASW 22 nearly 600 km. meaning the weather is maybe good enough for 1000 km. flights from Corowa and Narromine for the die-hard-pilots. In Narromine it is 38 dgr. and BOOMING weather!
AND YES there is also the first Australian 1000 km. flight by Brian du Rieu .I was waiting for that; flown from Narromine in an LS 8/18m. Good on him!
AND BY ALLAN BARNES; —“First 1000km! Woohoo! “—a 1000 FAI TRIANGLE in his LS 8!!!
Great flights from
Narromine; Terry Bellair with 869 km.[800 FAI triangle],
Tocumwal; Ingo Renner in discus A;670 km.[346 FAI triangle]
Corowa; Hans Jürgen Lange 801 [787 FAI triangle]
Temora; Tom Gilbert with 594 km.[580 Fai triangle] in st. LIBELLE. AND…former JWGC pilot Nathan Johnson in st. Cirrus with 670 km[ 643 FAI triangle]
First 500 km. flights,  as well as 750 km flights and even first 1000 km. flights for several pilots! It’s ALL happening!!!!
More news ,  as I expect more great flights , in the the soaringcafe blog a bit later!

The people behind the Uppsala Masters are working hard and attracted pilots already as Göran Ax [with his brand new ASH 31] and Patrick Stouffs for their happening in May 2013.

Busy times with several birthdays, plus Sinterklaas and Santa Claus ahead,  but I try to keep going. Cu Next Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN  WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 21 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

The sad news that Gill Van Den Broeck died last weekend, made me sad as well. Just last week I was thinking of her, as she was a good friend from Georgette Litt [ I wrote about her in SoaringCafe last Sunday] , both were great gliding-girls not only well known in Belgium, but also in more European countries and even in the world. The ladies flew several comps/flights  together  , p.e. in Benalla in January 1993 and when Gill was the competition director during the WEGC in 1983, 10 years earlier her friend Geogeo, flew and finished on a great 3d place in the mini nimbus.
Gill was not only a competition pilot but loved flying records as well, she was TC for the Belgium team,  steward, member of the jury and president of the Jury at several WEGC’s and 2 times chief steward at a WWGC in 2001 and 2003. [source flying info; Zweefvliegen in Vlaanderen by Bert Schmelzer sr.]

A picture from Gill and Natasja , last year in Issoudun, where she was so pleased to see a Dutch girl flying in the Pre Worlds. A pity that she can’t see how Natasja will perform at the WWGC in 2013.
Natasja would have had her full support!!
picture via Natasja.

Gill will be buried on Friday and just missed out on her 85th birthday.[ December 9 1927-November 16 2012]
She will be missed! We and our sport lost a great LADY.
Unfortunately I was not able to download the beautiful picture from Gill.

Something totally different.
Do you know how they say thank you to the team that organised the Dutch Gliding Nationals in Holland??????????
By inviting other flying- friends!!!!!!!!!!
Look at and enjoy the pictures from Frans Guise!!

Sietske

Tuggie Bert and Natasja

The team

Top photographer Frans Guise and NK director Natasja van der Neut.

YES with a visit from other flying friends at Terlet!!!!!!!!

Several kind of big and smaller birds flew over a small area at Terlet. A business called  Birds @work [ www.valkenieren.nl]  brought 12 different birds as an eagle, sea eagle, vulture, owl,  buzzerd and falcon , all in perfect condition and looking well. Great idea by Natasja to spend the collected money on such a fun day with “familiar” flying friends.

After the QSGP in Lake Keepit G. Dale took over with one of his by now famous x-country-courses; Glide Fast. One of his “students” ….winner in the standard class QSGP Allan Barnes, flying with him in a  Twin Astir and follow and lead on other days.
Normally Gary Speight is the local/hero/x-country- instructor with over 15.000 flights and a person described as somebody who ” never gives up, …never surrenders.” Have n’t seen Gary for ages!

TOP FLIGHT on Sunday on the OLC was from Swiss pilot Jean- Marc Perrin flying in Argentina;1.360.77 km. in a DG 808/15m. from Los Antiguos on a day with started with nearly no wind , but great wave conditions.
Namibia added 2 more 1000 km. flights and it is just waiting for Australia to have theirs as well.
Liked the ARCUS -1000 km-flight from Pokweni! Those German boy’s are ready and eager for MORE fun!!!

In the past they flew many flights and comps together; Gerrit Kurstjens [ from Holland but now already for a long time living in Australia] and Paul Bourgard, [Belgium]  and now with another friend Pepe, [Spain] they have fun together again in Narromine. Good on them!!!! In the past all 3 flew with us in Tocumwal as well.
Robin May, flying comps in the same period as Gerrit and Paul, added in Pokweni a 2d 1000 km. flight to his list.

When you are planning your competitions when you fly or live in Australia, here is some news I received from Jo;
For December between 8 and 15 ;
At Bacchus March Airport for sport and standard/15m. and open and 18 m. class. Look for more news at the web site at ; www.gliding.asn.au
—“ The team are ready to go, this will be a fun comp, flying from what can be at times a challenging site. Sometimes fickle, sometimes booming, I hazard to say the former does dominate but the location is excellent, the proximity to Melbourne is a bonus for crews and no doubt the Bacchus Marsh personalities colourful.
Remember, in 1975 the 750 + km. task set was at that time the longest set and completed task anywhere in the world. The record stood for just over a week when bettered at Horsham.
So, no excuses, just come and enjoy.
Regards, Patch.  Comp. Director.—“

and for January 2013;
—” Narromine Gliding Club is hosting the 20Metre 2 Seat Class National Gliding Championships at Narromine from Tuesday 22 January 2013 – Thursday 31 January 2013 inclusive.

This is only the second time this class has competed nationally and the first time it has been held as a separate National Championship. The winners are eligible for selection to compete at the 20m 2 Seat Class World Championships.

Duo Discus, DG1000, Arcus and any other 20 metre 2 seat gliders are eligible for entry. There must be a crew of 2 and so this is a great opportunity to put an experienced pilot in the back seat and try your hand at competition flying.

Supporting this competition Narromine Gliding Club will also run an “Open” 2 Seat competition in which ANY 2 seat glider will be eligible to compete, there must be a crew of 2 as this competition is designed to encourage new entrants to competition with an experienced mentor in the other seat.  So grab your club 2 seater and your local Coach and come flying at Narromine in the peak of the soaring season.

You can register online at the competition website

http://www.narromineglidingclub.com.au/NarromineTwoSeat/20mTwoSeat2013.html

You can also get there from the Narromine Gliding Club website by clicking the “20m TWO SEAT COMP” menu button

http://www.narromineglidingclub.com.au/index.html

It promises to be a great competition and an ideal way to sharpen your cross country skills with an experienced comp pilot in the back seat with you.

Registrations are open now.—-“

Did you have had time to read the story  from the Morning Glory from Tony Tabart with awesome pictures from Jo Pocklington on SoaringCafe and from Pete Harvey flying the Antares in Uvalde? The FULL story  [not the link] is now also on SoaringCafe.
And to finish 2 more great  pictures by Frans. CU next Sunday
Cheers Ritz

 
Dillen and Joop, each with a new soaring-friend.

 ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN  SUNDAY NOVEMBER 18 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

a “bunch” of relaxed pilots/boys in Lake Keepit!
Courtesy Anita Taylor.

Regatta start at 12.50,…. 372. km.,… a speed of  140 km./h…. and some called it a day with “heaps of high cirrus”, others a “brilliant day. 12,000 ft thermals” anyhow these  were the  ingredients for day 4 in Lake Keepit …and the winner from the 10 points was Graham Parker! Bruce followed with 8 points.
And Allan Barnes was really doing a great job flying in his LS 8 to a 6th place in the 18m. scores! Of course he won in the standard class  the max. 5 points and is 3 points ahead now of Shinzo [11]  in that class, with 2 more days to fly!
Brad Edwards joined in on day 4,  but missed some TP’s , so was only scored to TP 2 and you read WHY in Bruce’s daily comment;

—“Another big day, with cloudbase at about 12,000 feet, and a whisper that one of the JS1’s saw 15 knots on the averager for a while. We went north to Moree, then east to a little airstrip in the middle of nowhere, and home for around 380 km. The wind was not as strong as yesterday, but still had a big effect, with some heavy sink to deal with. I had a pretty good start, climbed well and got running quickly, but had a slower spot after leaving the Kaputar mountains. I was low close to Moree, but the aforementioned monster climb helped a bit! Brad Edwards (first day of competition for him) and Graham were close by and we stayed out the front for the rest of the flight. Graham did the last leg better than we did and took the win, I was second and Brad third, though Brad missed a turn due to no waypoints in his computer (he was trying to guess where  the turns were!). It’s a little bit closer at the top of the list after today…”

On day 5 the message was “scrubbed”!  So with only ONE day to go ,  the scores after 4 days , were in 18 m.
1. Tom with 35 points, 2. Graham with 31 and Bruce with 30 points.
In standard class;
1. Allan with 14 points, Shinzo with 11 and Matthew [ Atkinson] with 7.

Final day  of another interesting and exciting Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix. A bit of a mixed-feeling-day, a challenging day  with some good and some disappointing clouds but good enough for Graham , who won flying day 5 in the ASG 29E.; regatta start at 12.45,….325.4 km. with 133.km./h. Great to see Andrew Maddocks flying so well on spot 3 for the day.

Flowers for the winners Tom,[43 p.]  Graham [ 41 p.] and  Bruce [ 37 p.] in 18 m. for Allan [19 p.] , and Shinzo [11 p.]  in the standard class and for the rest of the competitors for giving us another nice GP!
Here is Allan’s last comment;
-” With 4 points lead all I had to do was play it safe. Prior to the start though they missed the 10 minute call and then made a 7 minute call instead at 6 minutes. I was on the wrong side of the line and had to fly fast to get back in time for the 1 minute deadline, then I ended up starting at 3000ft instead of 4000ft. Cost me in the first climb.—”
But …he still won the day in standard class .In fact out of 5 days he won 3 and was 2x on spot 2.

On November 14 in 1912, the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina gave the KNVvL, our Dutch Gliding Association the title ROYAL; so ONE HUNDRED year of aviation with the predicate ROYAL. AND……the next 25 years they will remain ROYAL.
Congratulations and I share the cake they virtual shared with us from this special moment, with you.

And…also on November 14 but this time 2013 the first 1000 km. flights were made in Pokweni and Bitterwasser . Both in open class gliders in Pokweni by Axel Nuss in the Nimbus 3DM [ 1.001.85 km. /75o FAI triangle] …..”With love to all at home”   and in Bitterwasser by Japanese pilot Kenzo Umetani flying the EB 28 with a speed of 138 km./h. over 1.016 km.[679 FAI].
An 18m Ventus with French pilot Jacques Tavernier flew  from Pokweni  already 930 km. Getting close to the magic 1000 as well!
One day later 2 x 1000 again one AGAIN by the Japanese pilot from Pokweni[ 1.060 km. / 750 FAI triangle ] , he must be “over the moon”  and one by Robin May [1.119 km with a speed of 159 km./h. /  500 Fai triangle] from Kiripotib also in the EB 28 , who flew in the past several WGC’s , once my daughter even helped with crewing for him.
The 18 m. gliders, 2 Ventus 2CM flew 950 and also Gariep Dam had some good flights up to 868 km.[781 FAI triangle]
From Douglas were the cloud base was 14.500 UK pilots had great fun in the JS 1’s and Iain Evans declared and flew 800 km.!

AND …what about the 809 km flight [ FAI 799 km.TRIANGLE] in an ASG 29 from Cunderdin in Western Australia last Friday by Swain Johnson.
From my Perth- friends I heard already it was over 30 dgr. in the West, and luckily also good soaring conditions.
Even a 637 FAI triangle was possible in a junior!
Also yesterday they had the awesome weather you hope for as a pilot. 735km.[ 718 FAI] yesterday from Bevertley in an LS 8 and today with not all OLC flights added yet, a good over 600 km. from Benalla in Victoria by Tobias Geiger in the LS 4. And what about 624 km from Mount Beauty pilot Graig Collings flying at Benalla in the ASW 20.

The Bariloche is also  a place for overseas soaring. The wave can be very good there , though last year they had one of the worst years as the vulcano in Chile ruined the season. This year should be better again and one of my friends Bruce has arrived already and I noticed Morgan Sandercock from the Perlan Project and a few of that team are there as well.
You can keep track on what Morgan sees,  finds and shares on http://perlanproject.org/news/
They will be flying from Bariloche and Chos Malal,  in November and December so keep an eye on them.
Here is a picture from the Perlan Project News [October/November] I received this morning and I am looking forward to some long great and exciting flights :

From left ro right;
Jackie Payne, Dennis Tito, Sander, Marcelo Yanguez (Esquel Air Traffic Controller), Tago dePietro, Jim Payne.

In my last blog I wrote about the Uppsala Masters! Here is the latest by Mats Larsson!
—182 days until first competition day, but web-site is now up running. “–   
http://masters.flyg.org/

From the SRGC from Tocumwal I received some pictures with CFI Ingo and some Chinese guests learning to fly in the still quiet early season.

                                  With Ingo in the middle!

And LAST BUT NOT LEAST,….the links in German and English,  to the VERY interesting  story from Peter Harvey who flew the new Antares at the Uvalde WGC. Full of humour , totally [as we know] Pete! ENJOY!!!!! A very small part of the story  from Pete, to “tease” you! Thanks Ludwig!!

—-” It was beyond my hopes that 2012 would begin with a phone call from Axel saying he thought the machine would be ready and would I be interested in flying it in Texas?

YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS, AXEL!!! Actually, I’m a cool competition pilot so tried to hide my excitement and stupidity, while asking almost intelligent questions about the design, performance projections, timescales, logistics, arrangements, blah, blah. I don’t remember too much of the phone call, but it was clear that this was a project involving a lot of people – a real team effort – and that there was a lot of responsibility on everyone to work hard and deliver. —”
For more…..

English: http://www.lange-aviation.com/htm/english/news/news_2012_11_16.html

German: http://www.lange-aviation.com/htm/deutsch/aktuelles/news_2012_11_16.html

As you can see on the top, I live on the Rijn at least not far from it and on that river passed by this week the brandnew ship from Steve Jobs , now of course after he died, the ship from his family. It really looks futuristic was built from 2006 till now , is 78.2 m. long and designed by Steve himself. They started building the boat in Aalsmeer and now it goes on it’s own power to Rotterdam for the finishing touch. The aluminium ship, light and economical,  cruises on iMacs, 7 Apple computers from 27 inch. have been specially designed for the wheelhouse to make life easy for the shipper. You can imagine a lot of pictures were made.

Next Wednesday I hope not to forget that it is Wednesday. LOL!!!

cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN   WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

SORRY, have been SO busy , that I forgot it is Wednesday!!!
Here you are with today’s news!

As said “we go this month with the QSGP-flow” , so from Potchefstroom SA, where as you know the JS 1 is manufactured, to Australia and on day 1,  we saw that not everybody had learned from the mistakes during the 2 practise days, as several pilots got penalty points for exceeding the start -line- height- limit and the start- line- speed-limit.
Tom Claffey was the fastest [128.2 km./h.]on day 1, over 360 km. and got the 10 points. Brett Hunter from NZ got the 8 points and tasksetter and competitor Bruce Taylor the 7 points.

winner day 1 Tom, here on this picture in Uvalde.

By the way Lake Keepit is about 5 hours NW of Sydney, between Tamworth and Gunnedah, on a great looking lake and the club running Lake Keepit is active 7 days a week. I always loved it there!!
Along the 18 m. GP , they run also the standard class GP [ sanctioned by the FAI ], starting one hour later and returning as they hope 1 hour later, as is written on their site. But on soaringspot I noticed they all started  every day at the same time!!!
Anyhow, that’s why you see on Soaringspot 2 classes!
Day 1 in standard class was won by Allan Barnes  getting over the 320 km.   points, but he was also 6 on the 18m. list.
The day started blue but,…. as the task was set direction N. the conditions rapidly improved.

As Bruce mentioned on his Taylors Gliding Page for all those who are not on FB;
–“ Yesterday was day 1. The task worked out well, with a triangle of 321 km to the north. For the later part of the first leg we had some nice cumulus, but the start was very difficult and almost all of us had our first climb close to 1,000 feet agl in the lake shadow. Then there were climbs of 6-7 knots to 8,500 feet until out in the blue on the second leg when it was more difficult. I made a good start and led the pack until close to the second turn, where they caught me again. Then as we came over the Kaputar range I went slightly the wrong way and Tom Claffey got away for the day win. Graham Parker should have been there too, but had a horror run of sink on his glide home and finished fourth. Brett Hunter and I were 2nd and 3rd. Pretty good day, but some strong sink in places.–”

Day 2, as seen through the eyes of Bruce;
—Another day of racing fun. The task went east then north, with a bonus point for the first turn at Manilla, just 23 km from the start. Tom Claffey and I were at the front of the pack at the start, so it was our charge for the bonus point, but Tom soon saw the insanity of diving at the ground and let me have it. I arrived there at 900 feet, but there was a climb right at the turn… Fortune favours the crazy! Later I was to discover that I was 3 metres high at the start and didn’t get the point anyway! We all ran together through some nice cu heading north, but then flew out into some very average blue rubbish around the top turns. Tom made the best of this section and pulled out a substantial lead. The trip south was all about getting back to the clouds, and sure enough they were still working a treat. I had a fantastic run home and arrived first, but managed to score a penalty for not making my 10 mile call, so finished equal with Tom. Great day’s racing.”–“

So great racing on day 2 over 334.7 km. with best speed from Bruce [121 km,./h.] and Tom[120.9km./h.] both “receiving” 9 points.

Bruce in the middle during the Nationals in Tocumwal last year.

Day 3 , so today, with 309 km. was an ASG 29 day! Both best places were for Tom [128.8 km./h.] and Graham Parker [ ASG 29 E ,121.4 km./h.] . In the past we had over a few years Graham’s glider on line with us at Sportavia and we were very pleased with that,  so were out guests.
So a valid QSGP already now, with after 3 days 29 points for Tom , 22 for Bruce and 21 for Graham!!!!!A lot can still happen as it is not over yet!
The best pilot after 3 days in standard class is   “our ” kilometer eater Allan [Barnes] with  8 points same as Narromine’s Shinzo. Allan is not only a good pilot but also a great writer sharing his flights with us and  here is his story about day 3. Integrated in the 18 m. list Allan is on spot 7 [LS8 and 7 points] and Shinzo on spot 8 [ Discus 2A and 6 points] .

—Task Premer Narrabri. Got to almost 10,000ft and it was painful to wind down to 4000 to start. Got a really good climb a few k out and left it because I was worried about drifting back over the start line. Took a while to find the next one and then got low over the forest but recovered and then met up with Shinzo. Finally managed to shake him, and found a 9kt climb that got me around Narrabri. Then it was just a final climb to get me on a 30:1 glide which ended up embarrassingly high with ridiculous lift most of the way in. Good day.”—“

Not a TOP day for Bruce here is his daily comment:
—“Today was hard… for me at least. It was forecast to be a high, strong day with big winds, and it was indeed. Cloudbase was around 11-12,000 feet, and I certainly saw one climb that was 11 knots for quite a while. However, that was not the whole story. There was a steady 20-25 knots of breeze from the west/north-west. I launched first, climbed well, moved to another climb, even stronger, which took me quite high. I went out on track, finding good climbs easily. Came back and started with the crowd… DO YOU THINK I COULD FIND ANYTHING GOING UP? I did the whole first leg low, working rubbish. Very frustrating business indeed. Finally got up on the trip north to Narrabri, and had a reasonable run, but it was hard to stay high. I was low around Narrabri, then dribbled home, somehow managing fourth for the day. Tom Claffey once again took the chequered flag, but the radio was full of “Here I am high” and “Why am I so low?” all day. Oxygen on… oxygen off. There was some strong wave overhead, and long runs of very heavy sink. Graham parker was second, and Andrew Maddocks third. How will we stop Tom? He’s on a bit of a roll, and flying well.–“

Andrew Maddocks here to the right at Tocumwal Airport.

In between pilots enjoy their soaring at the overseas-destinations. Still no 1000 km. flights but the open class gliders in Namibia “circled ” around 750 yesterday.
Stonefield, put on the map last year mostly by flights from Fabian and Benjamin is pretty active already and

Maybe a bit early but…planning ahead is always good. The next invitation I got from Börje;

—“Swedish Nationals in Open and Racing classes. Contest is open for all nationalities. The Racing class is a mixed class where all gliders with index from 107 to 114 can take part. Water ballast is allowed.—“

It starts at  Uppsala – Sundbro Airfield, on Saturday May 18 till May 25 2013.

Börje Eriksson from Sweden , busy for the Uppsala Masters.

“ABSOLUTELY AWESOME” , was the comment of one of the lucky ones looking in Australia at the total disappearance of the sun , behind the moon ; the total solar eclipse to be seen in N. Queensland!
It was dark and colder and the chatter of birds and other animals stopped. It was the first solar eclipse in a  decade in Australia and the last till 2028. The North of Queensland has to wait 200 years!!!
About 50.000 tourists from all over the world travelled to several places as Cairns and Port Douglas. Some organized a room in a motel already 3 years ago and some of them were disappointed,  as clouds moved in and they could not see it.
We here in Holland have to wait till the year 2135 to see this!!!!!

Total eclipse in Australia in 2012.

CU next Sunday, and SORRY again for the delay,
Cheers Ritz

 ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN   SUNDAY AUGUST 11 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

Visited yesterday the OPEN day from the glider pilot shop in combination with Schleicher  BENELUX at EPST in Maarssen.
CLOUD and cloud-making-machines were some trigger words for the day and the guest speakers Bert[ jr.] and Tijl Schmelzer and Andrej Koller.
In the big room a display of several instruments , as well as that beautiful “toy for the boy ” the ASH 31 and lot’s of guests.
The ASH 31 is very popular by some of my friends who really “love” this glider. Noticed this morning that Hans who arrived for the season in Kuruman [SA] had a great first flight in it; 891 km.[815 FAI triangle!]  He flies there with long time friends the Kalisch. And Pepe started his season-soaring in this glider in Corowa.

  
With the engine out and from above!

After arrival I rushed upstairs straight to ” Morroco” , as I heard that Bert Schmelzer jr. was going to talk about the family trip with Belgium and SA records in Ouazarzate. Great slide show and the story about solid preparations, very hot conditions and unforgettable flights. Ouazarzate is  situated on 30 dgr. N. as is Uvalde in Texas but also Gawler in Australia. Did not know that.
Though it is according to Bert the best place in the world for thermal-long- distance- flights,[ looking at Namibia the average is around 750 km. for Ouazarzate it is over 1000 km.]it is not a place to have fun,  as soaring there is HARD work and May seems to be the best month to fly there. The answer on the question if they would do it again was YES!

 
Bert jr. with his father and Daan Pare and Bert jr. answering questions.

Bert talking to attentive listeners in the small room , later in the big room.
Picture courtesy Frank Hiemstra.

After a nice lunch and a look in the battery room and a simulator from the EPST -European Pilot and Selection Training [students continued while we were there]  we listened to Andrej Koller,from Naviter/SeeYou,  who had after working hard for a year, BRANDNEW NEWS!!!
The SEEYOU app is out for Android and as soon as the approval is in… also for Apple ‘s iPad and i Phone.
I am not very familiar with all those new gadgets , but the  new SeeYou  “cloud ” as in social media-language is secure and private and can be shared with those you want them to share with, but on www.naviter.com you can find all the news.
“The SeeYou mobile helps glider pilots of all levels understand soaring while it is happening!!!”

Andrej with Dutch Jip,  both” wizz-kids” and with the young good looking TC from Slovenia.

Tijl Schmelzer told us all about his 1000 km. flight from Belgium and again was PREPARATION a key-word, he prepared himself over a long period, looking at all different weather models, trying out flights and using ” the cloud making machines”  the power plants for good lift .And then it is still waiting for THE day. You can read about his preparations on his face book site.

Tijl with his mum Hilde.

It was really nice to catch up with a lot of friends and thank you to ALL specially Maurits and Rene on the pictures below!
More in SoaringCafe as well!

Back to South Africa to Potchefstroom now;

 
Line up at Potchefstroom
Courtesy; Hennie Boshoff.

Of course after 3 days of great racing the QGP is a valid and official one, as 3 days were necessary. This you can’t take for granted , as QGP’s have had in the past also  ZERO days. But unfortunately the next days they were struggling with the weather in Potchefstroom. Not on day 3 , as you can see on the pictures.

preparing his glider before the start
and

finish
and

 
touch down on day 3 by Oscar
Courtesy; Hennie Boshoff.

NO-Day 4 ; it ended  in a day- safari for some and a night safari for others!
The weather was not good, the sniffer went “up” and came “down”, after not too long.   Houston did not have to get their act together and after the 3 days of concentrating and really pushing hard the boys had a well deserved day off, not that they wanted that , but it was “forced upon them” by the weather-gods!
So after 3 days the overall scores are as follows; 1. Andy, [ 28 p.] 2. Oscar [18 p]   3. Laurens [16 p]  4. Robert [11] and on 5 John [10] . The other 10 pilots have between 0 and 9 points!
Time to think also on other things on such a non-flying-day, so here is what I copied and pasted for you:
—“Whilst some of you are aware of the amount of history involved in gliding world wide, you will be please to know that the SSSA is celebrating 100 years of glider flight in South Africa this year. It just goes to show that we are one of the finest soaring destinations anywhere in the world, in any part of our amazing country. The first recorded glider flight was conducted by a pilot by the name of Sydney Vine. He was assisted by 6 people in launching his bi-plane glider off the hills in Krugersdorp, and soared down to the bottom of the slope to achieve the first non powered fight in South Africa. With the advancement in technology, gliding has moved forward in leaps and bounds world wide, but closer to home, South Africa is proud to be one of the finest 18m and Open class glider manufacturing countries in the world.—“

No  GP -flying on Thursday, they had an A [251.4 km] and B [206.4 km.] task, but with the message about thunderstorms in the NE. But…moving off to the NE as well. 7 Pilots were launched but ….it was difficult to stay up. So launching was stopped. Attie and Uys were airborne “and gave the remaining spectators a wonderful   air display to end the day.”

Last Friday the day had to be cancelled and that happened with the pilots already up in the air, by not opening the start-gate. A storm was brewing up  and as safety goes first , the day was scrubbed.
“Storms are not normally a problem, but this monster is slap bang in the middle of the task area.”
Can’t say they were not trying hard!!!
Some took the opportunity to fly and used wave for and enjoyable afternoon. One of them, Sven Olivier who shared some pictures on FB.

 
South of the Vaal River on the left picture and  “with a rotor cloud below!”
Courtesy Sven Olivier.

Yesterday we ALL hoped for a last day!BUT IT WAS NOT MEANT TO BE! A pity but what can you do. Anyway the soarable days were great ones and even here at home they gave me goose-bumps.
Congratulations to Andy ,[28]  super job done but also by Oscar, [20] the runner up,  loosing that day instead of winning it!!! Brother Laurens was with 16 points on spot 3.
The first 9  gliders were JS1 and 2 S.A pilots flying the  ASG 29 ,Mannie  and Pieter [Ventus 2 CT, ] shared spot 10 with 6 points.
I really liked it , THANKS for sharing the news!So up to the next one in LAKE KEEPIT.

Over and out! GREAT  3 days a pity from the rest of the days during this QGP, but”all in the game”.

The first practise day in the Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix in LAKE KEEPIT was yesterday and will be flown in  18 m. Not the best weather in Lake Keepit either!Best distance was 52 km..
Today was the 2d practise day and a BETTER one! Tom Claffey got the 10 points before Graham Parker and some were punished as they exceeded the start speed limit, but this is practice!
Will keep you informed over the week!

Soaring in Australia and Africa , elsewhere then Potchefstroom continued . From Raywood in Victoria Peter Rafael flew in his MAUPIN WOODSTOCK 11.9 a nice 244 km [206 km. triangle] Long ago Peter used to fly at Sportavia in Tocumwal. Always pleased to see he is still enjoying it and taking his beautiful “toy” out for a ride.
Flights in Namibia from Pokweni and Kirpotib just don’t make 700 km. in open class gliders,  but this is good practise for the first 1000 km. and 1000km.- PLUS flights, later.
They try hard for the first 1000 km. in Namibie and with 941 in an ASW22 BE,  they are getting close.
Gariep is pretty active now with flights from 878 km. in DG 808/B 18m. Kilometer -eater Uwe Thiele flies there as well as Klaus Engelhardt. By the way there is Gariep Dam Aviation and Douglas Gliding Center now. Bit confusing , but we will sort it out! On both sites you can read news about  what’s happening.
http://www.gariepgliding.com/  and http://gariepdamaviation.com/wp/

Soaring along the coast line in Holland started on November 7 with the first 2012/2013 flights. Using the lift of the dunes along the west coast with a favourable west wind , direction dunes. It started with 10 to 15 kt. also used by the parapenters, later by the ASK21 and then also by a KA 6 and junior. Not yet high and stable enough, but still 2 1/5 hour along the beach [close to Castricum]  is not bad. Here some pictures from last years dune- soaring!
November 8 was a bit of a better day with 2 hour flights.

An update from the Geelong Gliding Club send by Rolf.
—“Another short note on activities of the Bacchus Marsh clubs. Members of all three, the Victorian Motorless Flying Group, Beaufort Gliding Club and Geelong Gliding Club went to the traditional cross country seasoning oper at Raywood for the Melbourne Cup day long 4 day long weekend. the weather was mixed with some nice flights on Saturday and a few more extended ones on Sunday. Local ace Terry Belair was oncle again unbeatable and posted the highest score on Sunday. A trough line, stretchin all the way from the far north of western Australia down to southern Victoria prevented us from cross country flying on Monday and Melbourne Cup day tuesday. Meanwhile back on the farm (Bacchus Marsh Airfield) the vintage crows had a very successful few days with most of their airworthy fleet getting airtime. —”

You are up to date enjoy later in the day the news on www.soaringcafe.com
Cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN     WEDNESDAY November 7 2012
HAPPY 40thiest BIRTHDAY TO MY PRECIOUS  DAUGHTER INGE!!!!

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

The first 10 points during the QGP in Potchefstroom were for Oscar Goudriaan. He still seems to be in that great soaring mood he was in Uvalde; relaxed, which makes him a STRONG contestant, already for years!!!!
Big brother Laurens was on spot 3 with 7 points and in between Andy Davis [8 points] from the UK. But they only just started so more great soaring to expect.
You see Oscar’s YELLOW hat on the picture below??
They have introduced the RACING HAT.
The YELLOW hat is for the daily winner.
The GREEN  hat is for the OVERALL LEADER of the comps!
A RED hat for the “KING OF THERMALS”, which will be worn by the pilot who had the biggest/largest thermal on the previous day and a
BLUE hat for “SPEED MERCHANT’, which is for the fastest inter -thermal- speed recorded for the previous day.
On day 1 the yellow hat was proudly on the hat from Oscar, the red one on the hat from Tassilo [Bode] , recorded 4.6 m./s, flying the glider with JET as call sign which was flown before the GP by  ” our ” Jeroen and the blue hat was for Mannie [Mclaughlan] with an intern thermal speed of 133-277 km./h .
Great idea , those hats!!!!

Winners on day 1.LOL!!!

Impressions from day 1 before the first launch of this QGP.
Pictures coutesy African Sailplane Grand Prix FB site!

Day 2 in Potchefstroom was a fantastic day…. “nail biting” as they called it,  with 6 m/s lift up to 16.000 ft. and a photo finish for number 1 and 2,  Oscar and Andy or ..Andy and Oscar and what SPEED!!!! Words as “holy smoke ” were used and YES such a race  is what a GP is all about!!and later; “Everything less then 5m/s. lift , we just neglected and continued”!
I love the stories and comments on the African- Sailplane- Grand -prix -2012-  FACEBOOK- site, it makes it all so vivid to follow. All GP ‘s should do so and ALL comps big or small.
Thanks for that!
But then …disaster struck for Oscar. His reaction: “Win by a second, miss the finish line by 13 m”.
He won the day ,…BUT missed the finish line by 13 meters!!!!! Can’t believe it! GONE …10 points!!!!!
On my shout of despair,  his reaction came straight away:” Stupid mistake, but with a finish line of 500 m. and 4 pilots arriving at the same time with 250 km on the clock I did not look at the instruments. But tomorrow is another day.”
What a “cool”  hero!
In the end the yellow hat, so the winner from day 2 , was Andy with a speed of 170 km./h.He also wears the green hat as overall leader with 19 points.
The number 2 was Attie [Jonker] with 169.3 and a tad slower with 169.2 km. /h. was Laurens.
Sven [Olivier] said; “Must be the best weather I have ever flown in  .” And do you know how many comps he flew!??! And how many flights he made!?!? A lot!!!!

Day 3 was fore casted on  the day before,  as “expected to be even better than day 2”!
And what I read ; “Another cracker of a day!” BUT…not the speed of day 2, though 127 km./h is not bad! At some places it was faster and better and higher,  at other places it was difficult, but another interesting great QGP-day.
Same winner however,  as Andy got the yellow cap again. Oscar was 2d and Robert Schroeder from Germany was 3d.
But they “stick to the rules” as they should , so quite some penalties!
Even up to 546 penalty points for one pilot ; missed finish line violation and finish height violation, others for start height violation or finish line violation.[ www.soarinspot.com ]
But on the fun site the green hat is for Andy as overall topper, the red hat was for Pieter Nouwens and the blue hat for Andy Davis with 276 km. /h.

Spectecular finishes on day 3!
Courtesy African Sailplane GP.

Andy back on day 3 with another win in the pocket!
Courtesy;  Hennie Boshoff.

And what about day 4, it still has to start but expectations are HIGH. 7m. /s. is the forecast and look at this picture from Oscar;

with text;If this is true we are going to the moon today! Somebody tell Houston Space Control and tell them we will be in their airspace !!!
GOOD LUCK TODAY GUY”S!!!

BUT;  The organizers are a bit more modest for today this is their morning reaction;
—“News from the ground reports that the weather is going to be, well, challenging today. Reports of “iffy” weather to the south of the field that is moving in a north easterly direction. Welkom, which is further to the south west south of Potch, is cold and overcast at the moment. But, onward we go. Sniffer will be launched at 12h00 local, with first competitor expected to launch at 12h30. Good luck for today guys, its going to be a testing day—“

Snow in Switzerland and Bert [Schmelzer] jr. went for a short but good flight with some mates to check the West-wind-wave and as you know he shares his flights with us in word and picture so here you are , ENJOY;

https://picasaweb.google.com/101367179377196465151/03112012WestwindWave#5807021397965166786

And here is an example , why he loved his Saturday afternoon, with a visibility of more then 200 km. and lenti’s on FL 200 and the first snow from winter on the mountain tops.

Soaring over spring-snow this time in New Zealand where my FB friends Jill and John had great flights  in their single seat glider , which they bought with a few others, specially for YOUTHGLIDE!!!!
Last Sunday they  attached a GOPRO on the back of the tail flying from Springfield and this lovely picture , flying over Castle Hill Peak  is one of the results;

Soaring in Australia and Africa continues with nice long spring-flights not only in open class gliders. Looking on Sunday in Australia a 500 FAI triangle in an LS 3 is just good.
The first flight from Stonefield is a fact as well, when the first German guests “checked” the area in the Marianne.
Evelien Nijland and William Stalenburg are both collegues from my daughter , flying as captains for Transavia here in Holland. In winter they both disappear to Narromine flying their duo discus and the first flights have been made . They do what I did for more then 20 years ……..avoiding the Dutch winter as long as possible!

Melbourne CUP  long weekend ….yes the race [horses] who still brings Australia to a standstill……brings  lot’s of guests from Melbourne for a visit to Tocumwal.
In Judy’s e-news for the last week, I read “460 km and had a five hour flight“, …..”comment on the flight sheet was “MAGIC”!  “…..”Saturday night everyone enjoyed a good Aussie BBQ in the hangar “…..” Ingo took up our grandson, Braden, after school.  He is only 6 but thoroughly enjoys gliding and told his class about how to use the controls for news on Friday”…..Wednesday it was also over 30 degrees and this time the cloud base was about 12,000′”.
Longtime friends Tim and Laurel , David and Swiss Chris visited as well from Melbourne at Eddie and Cheryl’s Sportaviation, all enjoying local flights and each other’s company. And with a week full of days with 30 dgr. that’s just fun, however on Sunday the weather deteriorated a bit and the WEEKEND had rain.
The RACE by the way was GREAT AS ALWAYS [thanks Jo for the update] ;
—“Green Moon upstaged a field of international stars and former victors to win the 2012 Melbourne Cup.
The Robert Hickmott (Australian)-trained horse stormed clear in the final 200m to win the $6 million race ahead of European stayer Fiorente and Jackalberry.
Ecstatic winning jockey Brett Prebble, who rides predominantly in Hong Kong, said he had realised a dream.
“It’s my life’s dream to do it,” Prebble said.  “Was never going to get beaten.”—“

The other RACE in the USA by OBAMA.Interesting , the question here in Holland was who would you like as president? Nearly all voted for Obama! So he has another 4 years to lead the country. As he said in a touching, convincing and enthusiastic acceptance speed he wants a UNITED America not red or blue and , “the best is still to come”. Hope so for all the people in the USA and for all of us!!

On Saturday November 10 there is an OPEN DAY in Utrecht [Maarssen] from the GLIDER PILOT SHOP [Maurits Dortu] ,  in co-operation with EPST [European pilot selection and training….young Tim Kuijpers, world champion Juniors in Musbach,  studies here to be an airline pilot] ] and Alexander Schleicher BENELUX [Rene de Dreu runs this business and he was our young European Champion]; it starts at 10 AM and closes at 7 PM. Andrej Koller will be there from NAVITER talking about gliding soft ware in the 21 century .All about batteries you get to know from Noud Vermeulen from XCap Batteries.
You can bring instruments for calibration , updating or upgrading and reparation for special prices and parachutes for re-packing and all kind of the latest instruments are to be looked at ,  all about the ASG 29, ASH 30 and 31 and all kinds of batteries!

http://www.gliderpilotshop.nl/winkel/product_info.php?products_id=609

By the way, on November 11 , they do it ALL OVER AGAIN now the day will be organized in Belgium in the officer’s mess at Beauvechain.

CU next Sunday, or  on Saturday in Maarssen,  as it looks I can go.
Looking forward to the end result in Potchef, you too?

Cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN   NOVEMBER 4 2012
“It’s light again in the City that never sleeps!”

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

November has started with wind and rain here and it is going to really blowing tonight  specially at the NW coast ;code yellow!
Not too bad however in other European countries as Thomas Suchanek flew from Krnov  in Czech Rep. an 886 km.in the Ventus 2CT, as the mountains [Karkonosze] in Poland “did their job”, to give him a good day.
Happy shouts from pilots flying from Rinteln in Germany [ 658 km. in Discus 2/218m. and from Portawestfalica in Germany [555km. in cirrus], where they fly up and down on and over the mountains using HANGWIND.

Nice weather in Australia on the last day of October as on Wednesday 466 km./368 FAI triangle in a St. Libelle and the first start of the season for Tom Gilbert from that more up N. from Tocumwal situated airfield ,Temora. The more N. the better when you look for good/hot weather, specially in the morning!
ON NOVEMBER 1 ; 678 km.[ 500FAI triangle]  in a CIRRUS is top and flown by Adam Woolley who is convinced that a 750  is possible in the CIRRUS! His last flight for the time being , as he starts his Fokker 100 training in PNG after having not flown for 8 1/2 months, due to the collapse of the Airline he worked for.
He caught up on track , with Allan Barnes and as I heard flying together gets the best out of both of  them. Allan by the way flew 645 km. [500FAI triangle] in his LS1f.

And yes we can now see the start of the season in Namibia too. Axel Nuss flew 400 km. in the DG 800/18m. the first flight from the season at POKWENI. The 2 containers have  arrived , all gliders , amongst them a brand new ARCUS, were in good shape so the season started as planned on November 1.
So it did… as Axel flew 800 km. [600 FAI] in the Nimbus 3D with 135 km. /h. on November 2 and straight away topped the OLC list that day! Yesterday he flew 872 km. [750 Fai triangle] in the Nimbus 3DM.
Also good flights from Bitterwasser [713 km. in Nimbus 4DM] and Kiripotib.[595 km. in EB 28] I am ready to follow it all. Some Dutch pilots settled already in both Kiripotib and Pokweni. More will follow also in Bitterwasser and SA.
On the site from Bitterwasser [ http://www.bitterwasser.com/  ] you can see that their airspace has changed and even is bigger now!

6 Days flown  in Taupo [NZ]  .A few blue days  and on day 5 a small very challenging AAT from 2 hour with 10 out-landings. Yesterday they had rain.
Today was the last day. And it was the best day from the week, the first from 6 with 1000 points over a 2.30 AAT; 272 km. in 2.37!
Here are some lovely pictures by Australian pilot Robert Smits, who was one of the competitors and finished on spot 6 flying the duo-discus in open class.Winner ;Steve Wallace in the Mosquito.

Lake Taupo [1] and the lake with in the back Mt Ruapehu and uofront Mt Tahara[2]
and the beautiful little town of Taupo.
Courtesy Robert Smits.

The Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix in Potchefstroom started yesterday with the practise day and it promises to be a great race , with so many fantastic pilots. That practise day by the way, was for former WGC Champion Andy Davis [in Borlange when I remember well] Will keep you updated!

One of our Dutch pilots Jeroen has not enough time [ he flies as a captain since a few weeks for a German Airline] to fly the Grand Prix , but flew a few days before in the JS1 and loved it!!!He is lovely outgoing fellow and shared his thoughts and pictures. His 3d day of soaring in SA was fantastic. He flew from Potchefstroom to Mafikeng,  where he flew the WGC 12 years ago and now he saw it back from above again, flying with big speed at 13.000 ft.

Courtesy Jeroen via FB.

An interesting  story on the OLC Magazine from October 31. All about Jim Payne and his LONG distance flights. Have a look when you have not read it yet on www.onlinecontest.org and on the right site under Latest News you find “JP,..every flight a hit”.[You have to scroll down to October 31]

At Tocumwal Airfield.

The new ASK 21 has arrived at  Mount Beauty as I read in the Alpine Flyer I just received yesterday.
President of the club Andrew Evans and CFI Mark Bland picked up the glider in the brand new trailer  from Melbourne on October 25 and it was in the hangar on November 2. In the same container also a brandnew ASH 31 for a club member.
Ready for a good and exciting new season!

The latest issue from SEGELFLIEGEN das MAGAZIN is out. 76 Pages with all kind of news as;
Uvalde the WGC
The Duck Hawk
Share your experience; the accident with the OLC duo discus.
Maroc; soaring over the Sahara and the ATLAS
More at www.segelfliegen-magazin.com including a photo- contest with prizes to win ; 2 loggers!

Received the STORY ABOUT THE MORNING GLORY  from Jo [crew] and Tony Tabart [pilot] and I have send it to Bill and Rand to publish in SoaringCafe, with pictures!!Enjoy!
Here is a tiny little bit to “taste”, this once-of-a-life-time-thrill.

—“Then at the convergence point between the primary and secondary there appeared to be total cloud cover, with great lumps of cloud being ripped upwards and illuminated by the red morning sun.  As I reached the convergence area, I felt the first violent bumps of this turmoil, as if explosions were going off underneath me.  This was very different from any turbulence I’d ever felt in gliding.—“

and with one of the pictures: “clouds roaring over the airfield.”

CU next Wednesday! Cheers Ritz

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN   OCTOBER 31 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

Pretty shocked  seeing the devastation after Sandy had hit parts of the North  East Coast, specially between Washington and New York and killing several people , at-least 45 at this stage and not to forget the 61 in the Caribbean before.
For the first time in the 108 year history the underground in New York was full of water [” the NY – subway-system has never had such a devastating disaster”]  and flooding was terrible everywhere specially in New Jersey, also in the old famous areas of Manhattan [ “rivers flowing through the streets”] and in Delaware , where I spend a few summers with my kids. Fires, exposions by blown up transformers, no power for over 8 million houses/businesses, no public transport , no stock market and costs estimated on 1 milliard a day, that is TERRIBLE!!!
Also one person killed in Canada [Toronto] due to Sandies vicious wind-power.
And…it is not over yet as they expect 1 meter of snow in Tenessee.
Good luck to all my friends living in the stricken areas in the USA and Canada, hope they do not suffer too much and stay/are safe. All I contacted are OK!!!!
Not all of them were so lucky as you can see on the pictures from one of my FB friends, Dianne, “the effects of Sandy the storm – my back yard with two tall evergreens down.  One on the house and one in the yard.”

When you see these pictures hear about how many people did not survive  and how the economy is hit , it is a bit weird that some here in Holland are worried about the fact if the NY Marathon will be on this weekend!? Of course they practised hard, are ready to jump in the plane [they fly again I heard on the news, only not to La Guardia yet and from Schiphol the first 2 planes will leave today] and most probably they just run, but still,…..

Some say they have never flown cross country in November here in Holland or Belgium, both with their W. border on  the Nord sea , some did and had a good time.
Last weekend ,when the wintertime started with minus 10 in some places , while it one week earlier still was  13 dgr. in the night, some pilots did their best. 5 Flights from Holland on Sunday and 2 above 200 km. but one using the engine to go to the nice weather and the other could not make the last 50 km. so “motored” home as well, but still enough to really enjoy, on maybe the very last day.
In Belgium,  Saturday was the day to go up, with 3 under 100 km. flights [ 2 in Libelle] but also here, GREAT FUN even,….with the first official out-landing by one of the 3! Of course that IS SOMETHING even in a Janus C FG!!
Tomorrow November starts let’s wait and see if soaring x-country is still possible.

Australia has of course already great spring weather, one place better then the other but still. Young and talented Matthew Scutter flew 749,28 km. from good old Gawler in the West in an LS 4, last Monday. Nice speed as well with 117 km./h. on the clock. He flew high up North and started with blue conditions but on the way back he had cu’s as well, due to “a bit of convergence”.
On Tuesday this nice weather also reached Tocumwal and Corowa where one of the owners Francesco decided to “use the first great day, for a nice first flight from 588 km [500FAI triangle] in the 21 m. ASH 31 from Corowa Airfield.
On November 1 they expect the 2 containers with gliders in Melbourne and about one week later they can fly!!!!
Good old Anders is already in Corowa preparing his glider for the new season. Have fun Anders!
Ian Cohn , who is so kind to keep me informed about Mount Beauty, had a good day flying there  240 km. in the ASK 21.
Tocumwal pilot Robert Brodie had a 400 km triangle [460 km. in total] in the ASW 28/18m.
And today even Eddie , who runs Sportaviation in Tocumwal, took the glider out for a nice flight with mate Terry in the Janus CT RG;418 km [335 FAI triangle]
And kilometer -eater Terry Bellair added another nice long flight in his DG 400/17m.  from Raywood , this time also a triangle [570 km. but 650 in total] and as he said he ” achieved an average climb rate in the blue of 4.6 kt. up to 10.000 ft.” Not bad for OCTOBER!!!!

At Taupo, talking about New Zealand now, not far from that fantastic lake I visited 2 years ago, a competition is on it’s way with 15 pilots. The 2012 Central Plateau is flown between October 27 and November 4 in a handicapped open class. Day 1 was cancelled due to a very wet front passing by, but as I saw myself in NZ , the weather can change quickly and that happened on Monday. However…a 15 knt Easterly did n’t promis any goods.
They set a 2 hour AAT on Monday, but the best flight was 144 km. in a Duo Discus ,[124 points] the winner with one point more was an LS 6, with 76 km..[125 points]
A 3 hour AAT on flying-day 2 , but only ONE pilot finished after 234 km.
7 from 14  Over 100 km.,  so a valid day!
Yesterday was cancelled as well.

On Saturday the Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix  [18m.] will start in South Africa’s Potchefstroom with 17 pilots, with 7 indeed from SA. Further on 4 toppers from Germany [ amongst them Holger Karow and Tassillo Bode and Robert Schroeder] , 2 from the UK, [Andy Davis one of them]  1 from Czech Rep. and1  from Belgium [Patrick Stouffs] and Japan [Mac Ichikawa] and John Coutts from NZ. From these 17 pilots , 8  flew the WGC in Uvalde. It is nearly a JS1 competition as 11 from 17 gliders are JS 1.

Did I show you last time the hail , here is a recent picture from Jeroen [via FB]  from Holland who flies in Potchefstroom at the moment. It clearly cleared!!!

Schiphol Airport has had in 2011 around 50 million international visitors a new record and it looks like 2012 will be even better.From those 50 million,28 million had not Schiphol as final destination but Schiphol was a “hub” for Europe specially the UK and Germany. So Schiphol more and more seems to be THE HUB for European travellers.

The WWGC has as I mentioned already before, 2 countries who participate for the first time in a WWGC; The Netherlands and the USA. And,..maybe even more “new” countries will be there.
I wrote you already about the sponsoring by lot’s of people donating money for Sarah from the USA, to participate in the 32d WGC in Chaves, where the organizers now mention that they provide tow ropes and help with cars as it seems VERY difficult to find cars with tow bars.
The story even gets nicer more like a fairy tale, as now a former UK world champion “has made a Libelle available for Sarah and somebody else has donated his,  soon to expire frequent flyer points,  enabling her to buy her flight ticket already!!!!”  [source Hangar Soaring]
More about power- girls- in- soaring,  in Sunday’s SoaringCafe.

Having said that, we do have power-girls in Holland as well and 2 of them Natasja , yes the one who is going to participate in the WWGC for Holland and she also was the CD from the last Dutch Nationals and Aukje,  are opening their office at Terlet on Friday. They started FLIGHT DECK BUSINESS CLUB and are going to do PR, organise network- drinks and business events and gliding-arrangements.
Aukje works full time and Natasja, who loves her own long-time-job , will do as much as she can in the evening and weekends!!!!CHAPEAU!
It seems business is going VERY well and they deserve that.
One of the events , in co-operation with just AIRBORNE.com and the University of Delft, will be the National Congress in Delft at the University called “Passion for Flying” and a famous Dutch TV Programming and Positioning Consultant AND pilot, Leo van der Goot will be the talk- hos-t and- forum -discussion- leader on Saturday December 1.
One of the speakers will be Tim Kuijpers the Junior World Champion,  studying now at EPST to become an airline pilot. Another speaker is top pilot and director of the KNVvL Ronald Termaat.
Try to go there .

CU you next Sunday, busy week ahead.
Cheers Ritz