Alphen aan den Rijn Wednesday August 10 2011 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
It still feels like autumn here. At Keiheuvel I saw the first signs of this season already in the very green grass after all the rain. Normally it is not as yellow as in Australia but in high summer it turns some kind of yellow too. As said it is greener then green. Looks good, but means it was VERY wet!
First signs from autumn in summer!
In Pociunai EGC -life continued with a day-victory from Ronald when I was not home, well done, and a rest day with rain on day 9. So we follow and analyze, what is going to happen these last exciting days before they hand over the prizes on Sunday August 14.
On spot ONE overall after 7 days of mostly great soaring and with 5 days to go;
15 m. Christophe Ruch from France and 2 other French pilots behind him.
In 18 m. Karol Staryszak from Poland with his country mate Zbigniew and Danish pilot Peter behind him .
Open class Markus Frank from Germany, Petr from Czech Rep and young Killian from France.
On Tuesday A and B tasks were set for each class, as there was a lot of wind ; 328 for 15 m, ; 361 for 18 m,;and 382 for open. Direction W and SW.
All classes went for Task A with 20 and later 30 km/h. wind and 4/8 of cu. after the morning-cirrus had disappeared.A Diane is a nice glider to fly, but start and landing is sometimes very difficult, as I saw several times in the past. Also this morning it went wrong as one had a mishap during the start and broke it’s very thin fuselage behind the seat. End of the EGC for “poor ” Thomas.”
Here is the picture send to me, from the Diana 2.
The Diana 2.
In the evening the International party made forget all trouble for those who felt troubled. And a lot felt so as the weather was “sh…”. Within a bit more then an hour after the start , gliders outlanded. One open class glider NB, broke 2 wings with his landing after hitting trees, so 2 gliders lost on ONE day! Luckily NO pilots hurt!!!
Unfortunately Marcus [NB] had a tracker, so everybody , including me, could follow how low he was; 139 m.????!!!!! And then the engine did not work well. OUCH!!!!! And then he landed as I read on the official news in the forest of Suvalkei.
A bit amused, I read as well that at 16.20 nobody had FINISHED!!!???? Did they expect that??????
Would it be a valid day!? 25 % from the participants in each class had to fly over 100 km. Most did not even reach the first TP in Poland.
In the end in 15 m. class 9 pilots flew over 100 km. Gyorgy even 126 and for all the work he was rewarded with 180 points. So a VALID day 8 for them!
In 18 m. 4 pilots managed to fly over 100 km. but that was not enough to make it a valid day! One of the French even flew 243.9 km. AMAZING!!!!
In open class the day was scrubbed as well with Killian as the best with 72 km.
TODAY , they hope to fly an AAT of 2 hours in each class.
In Musbach they scrubbed 2 days to start with . Autumn weather there as well with lots of wind up to 70 km/h . Also yesterday was not good enough to fly. They tried hard postponing and postponing but it did not help. Day 3 was cancelled too. But …today should be OK!!!!
Also Katja allowed me to use her pictures so here are 3 from the stormy days; next pictures courtesy Katja Soikkeli. She is the web master and editor during these comps.
And….when you have time look also at the great videos from Hubi. I met him at the JWGC in Finland and saw there his videos and I was “hooked”. Great young man as well!!! You find them at the site and on youtube . His full name Hubertus W. Huvermann.Keep an eye on him!!!!
Today they finally hope to fly. Hurray!!! The young ones are eager to go up!!
Tasks have been set, even pretty long tasks after so much rain; Club class 276 and standard 321 km.
Uvalde has REAL summer weather, I do remember Uvalde like that. Gosh can it be HOT there!!!!! And pilots fly there with BIG speed! Some of my Aussie friends are practising during this pre-worlds and some Dutch pilots as well.
Their first day was on August 6 with tasks between 263 and and 387 km. David Jansen won in 15 m. class. He is used in Australia to this fast weather and flew with 131 km/h over 339 km.
In 18 m. class it was an other Aussie Bruce Taylor who won with a speed of 137 km./h over 387 km..
In open class the USA Nationals are flown in this pre worlds and Ron Tabery from the USA was the best on each of the 3 days. Great to see that Mark Huffstutler , the competition director from the 1991 WGC in Uvalde flies in this class in an ASH 25. Also my friends Gerrit Kurstjens and John Buchanan fly a Duo discus to get to know the area better. Gerrit flew there in 1991 as well, can’t remember if John was there. What I DO remember OF COURSE , is that Baer Selen won his 2d WORLD title . We were all very happy there in faraway Uvalde Texas. On this picture from my archive Baer and Christianne in Stockholm.
Christianne and Baer Selen when we visited Stockholm.
Day 2 in 15 m. even had a speed of 140 km. p/h in an ASW 27 and Mac , yes Ichikawa, flying a Diana 2 flew with 139 kmp/h.
Day 2 for 18 m. showed of 153 kmp/h . in an ASG 29!!!!over 562 km.
On day 3 in 15 m. a Belgium victory for Baudoin Litt and in 18 Brad Edwards who won in 1991 the WGC title!!!!!All scores are still unofficial.Brad flew his AAT with a speed of 124 km.p/ over 655 km.
From now on I can follow it daily.
A pretty difficult -to-read-site they have at this stage.But there is a few months to work on making it more pleasant to read for those who are interested.
Bruce ,Anita Taylor with daughter Indea[archive]
The latest from Uvalde Glide;Yesterday the 15 m. class flew 446 km. and again it was Belgium pilot Baudoin Litt who won the day;speed 125 km/h.
In 18 m. it was Australia again on the top with Bruce and Brad; 135 km/h over 429 km. Dutch pilot Francois Jeremiasse was 3d. Good on him!!!
In the open class nationals Ron Tabery won his 4th day! But not far behind him, 85 points, in the overall scores after 4 days, is good old Dick Butler.
Dave Nadler is keeping a blog. He is flying the Antares. You can find him with my friends on www.soaringcafe.com and scroll down to his racing news and click on his name.
The CIM had a special day yesterday for some as p.e. in standard class Vittorio Pinni outlanded and the Swiss pilots passed him on the overall scores after 7 days of flying in Rieti in standard class.
In 15 m. a Swiss and Austrian pilot top the overall scores.
In 18 m. who else then Giorgio Galetto! After 6 days he won 3 days was 2 times 2d and 1x 3d. Yesterday he flew with a speed of 148.8 km/h. over 374 km. WOW!!!!!!!
In the 2 seater class 7 days of soaring and the Swiss ARCUS dominates there; 1500 points ahead on the runner up.
In the open class after 6 days, the “kilometer-eater” Alexander Müller is on top, before the Austrian Eders. Alexander did not win one day but was the most consistent pilot.
Enough news you are updated again, so cheers Ritz