It is MARCH 1 2017, the beginning of the meteorological spring here and autumn/fall, down-under.
It does n’t feel like it ,as it looks more  ,that the weather-gods  swapped the weather from them and us and autumn started here.
We had also a severe February-storm last Thursday  up to bft 11. Code orange was set for all coastal areas and that just reached us here too. Not long anymore as I am moving to the SE of Holland, but now I had to deal with it and I do not like storms. Lot’s of damage in the UK [and even 1 dead] , Belgium , Germany ,the Eastern countries as Hungary and Holland, but “our”  damage bill stays under  10 million Euro.Still sounds like a lot of money !!
Tomorrow looks bad again for parts of Europe.

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Looking back at November 30 2016 in NAMIBIA !

As said they had an excellent season and I showed you the OLC stats on the 4 places, Bitterwasser, Pokweni, Kiripotib and the new place-to-be- Veronica.
Looking back at November 30 2016, even the organizers there, were stunned by the circumstances. Over all these places a total of 43 over-1000-km-flights on one day!!!! That had never happened before.
Weather wise it was special, no convergences only reliable and fabulous thermals up to 5000 m.
From Pokweni , they flew 11 x a 1000 and mentioned on their site:
“in the entire gliding area of ​​Namibia there were good cumulus that were not overdeveloped and absolutely reliable thermal with high climbing values ​​and that at a high base. This day will certainly be remembered for a long time.”

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NEWS from/via Schempp Hirth !

Congratulations to Luka Žnidaršič, founder and owner of LZ Design, who was awarded this year’s OSTIV Prize for the Front Electric Sustainer (FES) system designed and produced by his company.

OSTIV stand for Organisation Scientifique et Technique du Vol à Voile and is a body associated with the FAI Gliding Commission (IGC). The FAI IGC oversees the sport of gliding worldwide and is a department of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).

FES is an innovative, silent and user-friendly sustainer engine system and is available for various Schempp-Hirth models, including the new Ventus and the Discus-2c.

CONGRATULATIONS to LUKA!!!!

AND,…. Dave Springford who flew the Benalla WGC for Canada has news as well;
“I am happy to announce that I am now the Canadian Representative for #SchemppHirth and their line of amazing gliders, including the new Ventus 3, Arcus, Quintus, Duo Discus and Discus.”

http://www.foxonecorp.com

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NEWS from Waikirie!

Announcement;
The next Multi Class Nationals in Australia will be held at Waikerie .
Practice Day 8th January with a possible 11 competition days from the 9th January to the 19th January 2018.

By the way,….last Monday , pretty late in the season, 2 Japanese pilots flew 629 km [570 FAI triangle] from Waikiri in an ARCUS M.

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News From FAI SPG in the USA.

Not long and the very first USA- FAI- SGP will be held in Orlando at the Seminole Lake Gliderport  in Clermont Florida;March 26-April 1. |As I read at their site they have grown ” to become one of the most active glider operations in the United States. ”
They are a commercial operation, but a private airfield,all to be seen at  http://www.soarfl.com/

One of the sponsors, USA dealer for Schleicher, Williams Soaring Center , shares some news and a link;
“Top US Soaring supplier Williams Soaring Center provides substantial support to the FAI SGP USA Orlando.”
http://www.sgp.aero/usa2017/news_add_here/sgp-news

11 Pilots have entered with their 18 m. gliders and at this stage , as far as I can see, nobody is approved yet. Gliders of less than 18M span are welcome too. A total of 20 is allowed.
Only know Tony [Condon], Pete [Alexander] and Jerzy [Szemplinsky from Canada]
Jon Gatfield from the UK will be there as well, [5 foreign pilots are allowed ]  so will be Sean Fidler [USA] who flew the WGC in Benalla.
Sean is the  FAI SGP USA Orlando Event Manager

They use IN-REACH trackers [GARMIN] and as I did not know them and you might not either, I share what they write about it,
“InReach offers pilots, fans and commentators much more detail in the live sailplane tracking experience.  It also provides excellent signal reliability.  Unlike Spot devices which provide only 10-minute cycle, “location only” tracking data, InReach provides location tracking cycles of as little as 30 seconds BUT ALSO INCLUDE altitude, ground Speed and heading.  This critical data makes the experience of live sailplane tracking much more exciting for all involved.  For example, with a Spot device you might appear to be sitting in the same location for 20 minutes (2 cycles) on the tracking page (such as Glideport.Aero or the SSA tracker).  Fan’s viewing your flight live do not know if your climbing or struggling to stay up, over a field (or landed).  They also won’t know how you’re doing vs. other gliders in the same area.  With InReach we can see that you came in fairly low, found a weak thermal after a few minutes of scratching around and then climbed out from 1100 AGL to over 7000 MSL in a weak 2 knot thermal (all in great detail).  This data is amplified when other gliders around you provide the same tracking detail. There is simply no comparison, and the slightly extra cost of an investment in InReach is WELL worth it, not only for SGP purposes but in your normal flying.”
BUT, you can also use there mobile trackers
Android users can download the Android App ($10) – IGCDroid app.
iPhone owners can download the free tracking app GlideTrack app

AND in the past “we” were fiddling around with 1,2 or 3 instruments in the glider, camera’s, barographs and real paper maps! A lot has changed in the 50 years I “walk” around in this world!!!

Will come back on the USA SGP when it is on.
Seminole hosts, as every year  since 1991,the Senior Soaring Championship, the 27th version from March 10 onward !!!
“The Seniors” started almost 25 years ago when Tom Knauff and Charlie Spratt talked about a “fun” contest for seniors.”
Good old Charlie , such a nice and colorful guy,who died after a long battle of kidney failure in 2009.[RIP]

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NEWS FROM INTERESTING FLIGHTS ON THE OLC !

We could not call this Aussie soaring season one of the best, no ….it was pretty “poor” , but after the WGC in Benalla was over the weather improved and in February , unfortunately with shorter days, the weather improved even more and mainly Aussie pilots could enjoy it.
End of Februar [23]  Ian de Ferranti still flew 806 km [600 FAI triangle] from Pipers Field in a Ventus 2C/18m.
One day later on Friday he improved this flight and how;1.022,85 km. with a speed of 141 km./h.
A flight up to 322 km. OUT from Piepers field passing Narromine and Gilgandra to the NW and back. Nearly up to 4000 m.[ 3980]  MSL [3052 AGL] Great weather ;February 24 ,…nearly autumn, there you go!!!!

Also from Narromine and already on February 11, a great flight, with a good video from the flight on youtube.com, from young female pilot, Ailsa [Mc Millan] and Matt [Cage] during the 2 seater comps. On a 46 C. dgr. day, they went up in the Geelong Duo Discus  and attempted a new speed record over 100 km !!!
” We started our task at about 3500m, and finished a touch over 2700m, finishing with a speed of 163.11kph. The climbs went to almost 4300m, where we climbed to later on.
The record claim paperwork is in the process of being completed as of 24/02/2017 – here’s hoping everything’s ok!” Ailsa mentioned.
So do I. Well done congratulations!!!
A great video by the way, very good for seminars were also young [future] pilots visit. It’s also on FB .

And talking about young pilots,….the RAAF gliding club from Richmond [close to Melbourne] took their DG 1000/20m. to Forbes to fly there a 750 km …. more or less out and return with some added kilometers to reach 750!! Good on them.

They took an IS 28 as well with a .,………REAL GOOD trailer!!!! What an advantage to be a member of an RAAF club.
In the past [2004]  we had at Tocumwal the Australian Army Cadets from the Sebastopol Cadet Unit. They all learned to fly with us within one week!!

The weekend of the 26th and the 27th was good in Benalla,  664 km.[500 Fai triangle] in Ventus 16.6 m, Corowa, 611 km. in ASG 32 MI,  , Tocumwal 628 km. [400 FAI triangle]  in ASH 26, , Temora 592 km. in DG 800/18m and Mount Beauty had a nice flight from 367 km. [300 FAI triangle] in the ASK 21.
It seems the day was MUCH better than forecasted .
Swiss Chris flew from his homefield Tocumwal and mentioned:
“Tocumwal Sunday Feb 27: Better than Saturday and much better than forecast. Cloudbase 2000-2500msl, climbs up to 4.5m/s and nice CU’s. >555km with 110km/h and <14% circling. 🙂 Average L/D of 75 isn’t bad for an ASW27″
He shared some pictures as well.