Yes , yes the polar air is still brought in by a wind stream from the NNW[ and sometimes NNE], it remains cold here but mostly sunny and so clear!!!
Looking at the weather- map the ” NW-stream” glides between the UK and Denmark far in to Germany , so still long flights.
Last Thursday,…Germany …1000 km. from Stillberghof in an ARCUS M. That glider gives so many SO much joy.
On the OLC list, 6 from the 15 gliders were that day ARCUS types T or M.
So double joy/fun.
The UK.…702 km. in a T.
The Netherlands…. flights up to 707 in the ASH 26 or nearly 600 in the ASW 20, flown as an FAI triangle.
For that reason it really is SAD , that the Dutch Nationals, scheduled in May had to be cancelled, due to COVID-19.
Also Klix was cancelled.
As shared by Bert Kuyper
Last Friday, another top day!!!! Some still young pilots ,not juniors anymore but still young, flew great distances. Davide from Italy flew 1.041 km. in the JS 3, Boris from Slovenia in the St Cirrus WL 670 [500 FAI triangle] and here in the Netherlands Tim with 720 [also 500 triangle] in the ASW 20.
He flew partly over water but that was no problem as perfect cu’s were surrounding the Markermeer up in the N of Holland.
The last couple of days we had rain, hence not a lot of flying here. But Saturday was still pretty good in Italy and Switzerland with flights up to 868 km. by Bert Schmelzer also a former top junior. He mentioned that parts of his flight were in an “extreme good polar airmass”.
Courtesy Kyra Versteege
After the rain there was sunshine again. Yesterday showed already long flights from Switzerland and Italy….952 by Rainer Cronjaeger from Hausen am Albis in the ASH 31 Mi/21m [ “a great day but lots of showers“]and 932 from Alzate in the JS 1 C/21m. by Massimo Roncone.
Also the UK] and The Netherlands had over 500 km. flights again. Former EGC champion Steven Raimond flew 577 in his ASG 29.
AND…BELLA ITAIA from above as seen by MM.
“La bellezza del volo a vela!“
Patrick Stouffs shared the next picture.
You might think ,like I did, mmmm….what’s that;
“Bug wiper flew away and blocked the elevator. Luckily all went well. Janus C 20 m“
Another helpful lesson in soaring- life.
“What happened? as shared by Patrick.
Manual bug wiper. I was flying a Janus C owned by my club in a competition. On arrival at kilometre 40 at about 180kmh, and 1300 meters the right wing wiper was unlocked, I don’t know why. It left at high speed and then went back and forth violently before leaving the leading edge and going behind. At that moment it hit the back of the fuselage, the fin, etc. I should have had a knife to cut the cable at that moment. I didn’t have one. Then silence and the stick could not move forward.
I warned my co-pilot of the situation and considered the worst, leaving the glider. We were very calm and the glider was flying in a straight line at a speed of 110kmh.High enough to jump, I pushed on the stick and the situation became free. I decided to fly quietly to my destination and after landing I saw what you see on the pictures.
My conclusion: check the manual bug wiper lock. Always have a knife available to get rid of this type of accessories.
Schempp-Hirth had news as well;
“#prototype #duodiscus #FES This time we are not on 1st of April, Schempp-Hirth and LZ Design are really happy to announce first flight of the Duo Discus FES prototype. After many months of work in these very special circumstances, today was a great day, not for any distance flight with the low cloud base, but already with all the heads turned to the next adventures and flying school possibilities this new aircraft enables. The SH team wants to thank all the workers and partners who made this new type possible and the next few months will focus on extended test flights.”
LZ [LZ design] shared news about the video of the first flight of the Duo Discus;
https://youtu.be/u-8LXTi5P58
To finish;
She, Amber Ditmer, was on the beach for the day;
“We went to Cocoa Beach today to take photos. We ended up a few miles further south at Table beach due to an Air Show and Cocoa’s public access being crowded. As I was snapping pics to get my settings correct, a plane was coming in low. I didn’t even move, thinking it’s pilot was just getting close for the show, but awfully ballsy 
Until he hit the water! This pilot did an amazing job and literally skipped over the people in the water! No one was hurt! It was a sight to see for sure …. although his misfortune, thankfully everyone was safe!“
That’s it for now..CU next Wednesday!
Then the curfew will disappear, we can have 2 visitors and…we can have a beer again out side on the terraces….we are happy with not much, it’s all relative??!!!
Cheers Ritz