Public Library in Tocumwal at January 8 2013

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

It’s 1.30 PM and after a very sunny, humid and windy morning , there is overcast now and the wind dropped totally. We even had 5 drops of rain.
Was early [, already at 9 ] at the airport as yesterday while having a great dinner with Pam and Gerrit and Pam and Butch, we got a phone message to be ready early for an interview with the local paper with the record-flying-pilots . Why I had to be there was not really clear as I did say a few words already to the local journalist.
Pam, Butch and Mac were all in time , but the journalist was n’t ;she/he even called off. No worries time to make some pictures from Pam and for briefing. Eddie already straight away mentioned ,it would not be a flying-day cause of the tough wind and the extreme high firedanger rating. In case of an outlanding , he would not be able to get into a paddock, neither with a plane or a car.

Due to lightnings yesterday a few fires started in NSW and the one in Tasmania is really being a “hell” for a lot. Tragic!
Mac yesterday used the nice popped-up clouds after 4 , for a good race but not fast enough for a new 300 km- record.

Time to talk to Pam, about her Australian Womens  750 out and return speed record over 500 and 750 km .last Sunday.
First of all congratulations for breaking the records. In the morning she was already pretty sure that it was possible, but “you only know for sure when you are back home.”
She went  from Tocumwal straight up North, direction Mount Hope,a very remote area you would not like to be in , but flying over it for 100 km., with a good height,  a cloud base up to 12.000 ft.  was no problem.
Did she fly only with 90 km./h over the first kilometers , when it was still  blue,  she caught up with  the first popped- up-cu’s after 50 km. Going up North it turned out much better as expected  and speed increased every hour from 145 to 155 km./h.
In the very North she even flew through rain and looking at the showers she was a bit more cautious.
Coming back home the cloud base even increased to 15.000 ft. , she used the through line as everybody did that day, but found some rain along the line as well.
No worries she came home in her ASH 31,  without a problem and with a new Australian record with 137.5 km./h. Well done!

Pam is still holder of 5 WORLD RECORDS in open class, one a 750 triangle flown in ELY in the USA with 150.75 km./h. These records are flown for GBR. She now lives in Australia. Pam has flown a lot in the past at Sportavia and it is great to see her and her husband Gerrit back here again.

 
Pam this morning in the blowing wind.

The first day in Chaves was a valid day for only standard class pilots.15 From 25 managed to fly over 100 km. In the other classes no valid day!
Day 2 with a 2 hour AAT was better ,specially for the standard pilots from East Europe.
Club class had their first valid day flying a 2.30 AAT, with a nice “win” from our young Dutch pilot Tim Kuijpers who already was junior world champion.
The PW 5 pilots had a racing task from 116 km. and the day was won by an Argentinian pilot.

In Benalla the Multi classs Nationals have started today. A practise day yesterday showed 2.30 AAT’s . Today 302 km. for 18 and open class and 316 k.  for 15m. and standard class. I guess some pilots will have difficult times as Finley just 10 k. North of us , is one of the TP’s  and while writing the wind picked up again , less overcast but still enough and the rest is very blue .

From Antti Lehto I got the next news
—“You must have heard the sad news from Finland.  Markku Kuittinen passed away just before christmas. This is very sad and a big loss to our gliding community.  I wrote  an obituary for Markku.–”

and YES of course as soon as I have it I will publish it.

Enough for now,  off to do lot’s of other things.

Cheers Ritz

To finish a picture from one of the 1000 km.-men .Terry flew last Sunday one as well in the ASH 26 and that was the 2d in his life!

Terry today!