Post 1.414 on Wednesday April 19, the day my daughter Inge celebrates her jubilee of 25 years flying for TRANSAVIA.
CONGRATULATIONS dear Inge!!!

PRIBINA CUP.…NITRA
7 April 2023 – 15 April 2023

I left you last Wednesday with good tasks for all 4 classes and the organization was happy with their decision and mentioned at 1 PM ;
“All gliders are in the air. The sky is blue with many Cu clouds. Weather conditions are improving. Thermals are getting stronger and the cloud base is raising.” What do you want more????
So hopefully a good /strong day for the pilots with confirmed first launches at 11.30.

Day 6 task 3, flying day 2; What happened???Still a marginal day with ONLY 3 pilots flying over 100 km./h. That says enough and……… they flew in 18m/open.
Club class; 252.08 km…… 5 German pilots in the top 5 ,one of them the German coach Wolli Beyer in a Discus. [5th] Also one of the girls; Eva Senne in an LS 4 [runner up]
Daily winner in LS1f with winglets; Etienne Dollhausen 75.95 km./h and 1000 points!!!
from 21 starting, 5 were out.
15m;  324.20 km….with 88 km./h Czech pilot Jan Pavlik was the daily winner from the 25 who started the day. 11 Pilots were OUT.
An expensive day for Robbie who won day 1 but was punished now for entering forbidden airspace.
Open/18 m; 360.16 km….As said the only 3 pilots flying over 100 km./h were in this class.
Matthias Sturm flew around with 107 km./h in his JS 3TJ, team Dierscke/Schwenk in the ETA with 105 km./h and Simon Briel in the EB 28 edition 28.3m with 103 km./h . So you needed long wings or a fancy glider to get over 100 km./h.
From the 32 starting pilots ,5 were out.
20 m; 320.02 km…..also 1000 points in this class for daily winners Sibanc/Knez in the ARCUS T; speed 86 km./h. The TWINSHARK from German team Dawert & Novatscheck was runner up .Interesting to see that they went as the last in this class on track, at 13.33. The first start was just under an hour earlier.
From 13 starters , 5 were out!

The daily summery of the organizers; “ First cumulus clouds appeared quite early so launching procedure was confirmed to 11.30. It looked optimistic at the beginning however the clouds started to disappear from the southern part. Low cloud bases were a big challenge for the pilots. Northern part of the tasks was much pleasant for flying, some pilots were upset that their task did not reach to Martinske hole, where it looked amazing. It was not an easy day, but luckily many pilots made it home so we have another valid contest day.”

Day 7; RAIN….no flying.

Day 8; Great “Soaring-skies” here in the Netherlands, hopefully in Nitra too.
BUT,….NO it was NOT!!!!
Their early morning news was sad:
“Due to the unpleasant weather forecast we have come to the decision to end the competition. We are very grateful you started the flying season with Pribina cup and we hope to see you next year. Good luck on your flying days, stay safe and enjoy gliding. The FAREWELL PARTY starts at 4 pm. PRICEGIVING ceremony is scheduled for 5 pm.“

So after only 2 days luck is a factor as well in the scores. In my opinion scores do not really represent the capability of the pilots. But still,…..well done to the winners.
So when you want to see the scores please look at; www.soaringspot.com
57 great ELFO pictures to be seen at
Photos » Day7 2023-04-13
Still a lot of smiling faces. THE WEATHER!!!!!! Yes we all know! Next year Easter is a bit later!

The FCC [Flight Challenge Cup ] 2023 in Prievidza is waiting now ; 16 to 27 April 2023 with 32 pilots in 15 m class, 28 in club class, 41 in the combi class .[ 18 m ,open and 20 m]

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The FCC Cup Gliding 2023
16.04. – 27.04.2023 
Prievidza – Slovakia

With 100 participating pilots this FCC is always a busy competition. Aussie blogger, Adam flew after a few weeks working for the Airline Company he flies for in Japan, to Europe to be part of it.
In Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures you can follow him at this competition.
‘Just met my new toy, a syndicate of three with two other great lads “
He flies a Discus with call sign GX. ND,…he started well.

Task 1 on Sunday April 16;
A BIT OF A DIFFICULT DAY ACCORDING TO THE ORGANIZERS, BUT THEY SOLVED ALL PROBLEMS;
“The first day of competition is always tough. Today we were unpleasantly surprised by the grass part of the track, which was wetter and more soft than we expected. Some of the heavier planes from the 15m class didn’t want to get off the ground and had to restart. This of course caused multiple aborted launches as we had to wait for the runway to clear. Thanks to the turbo “Čmelák” and also the turbo dynamic we got all the competitors safely in the air at the end.“
Club class; 2.15 AAT…..19 pilots started in this class ,9 were punished and 3 out.
Winners of course too; Alin Simion from Rumania in his LS 4 A with winglets; 233 km with 95.70 km./h. Runner up was Hungarian pilot Frenc Tamas in an LS 3 /15m with winglets; 236 km with 96.19 km./h.
Good old Stan Wujczak, he flew already in “my” time was 3d in a Mini Nimbus B.
One pilot had “no valid start”.
15 m; 2 hour AAT….. Aurelien Doriat from Poitiers was the best! In the LS 8 he flew 242 km with a speed of 114.83 km./h. Aurelien was in 2019 ,3d at the French National junior comps.
Maros Divok [Slovakia] was runner up and….in a DUO DISCUS XT; speed 113.43 km./h 3d Was Adam [Australia] in his new Discus 2A; 242 km with 113.40 km/h …… pfffff close!!!!!
Max Seiss was 4th, Kevin Faur 7th, Milos Cink 8th and Sebastian Kawa 10th.
All 31 started, one had an invalid start[ 100 m above start altitude] and 4 were out.
Adam;” What an awesome little day, though the start & finish was pretty sketchie! Very pleased to have achieved my goals today, felt really great” and “Big shout out to Lukasz Blaszczyk who team flew with me today, our combined strategy at the start really helped get the result.” “Unfortunately for Lukasz, he missed a climb that I managed to get behind him, a communication barrier saw him decide to not come back.”
Much more in Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
Combi class; 2 hour AAT….German pilot Andre Weidlich was the best in his Ventus 3 M; 252 km with 118 .84 km./h.
Czech pilot Ivan Novak was runner up; 237 km with 118.37 km./h and another Czech pilot Petr Krejcirik , dad from Radek was 3d in the JS 3 TJ 249 km with 118.63 km./h. So all 3 nearly as fast for 517,515 and 510 points. Radek was 27th in an AS 33es; 260 km but no finish.

Task 2 on April 17; WEIRD DAY!!!! No more news by the organizers. So NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS.
“Gridding has been suspended, there has been a bomb threat on the airfield As I drove out, all gliders have been left where they were at the time of the notice, on the runway, in the ballast area, etc – airfield now deserted, very strange! Awaiting more info from the Police now..” by Adam.
Club class; 2.30 AAT…...CANCELLED
15 m; NO TASK
Combi class; 2.30 AAT…..CANCELLED.
Later news from Adam; “Bomb threat now cleared at the Prievidza airfield: Super interesting experience, gliders literally left in the spot, & moment in time that the owners learnt of the threat. Covers half taken off, gliders half rigged, cobra trailer lids left up, etc – felt like I was in a popular series on Netflix which portray history events..!”

Day 3, April 18… with new hope! But,…only for 15 m pilots.
The organizers; “IN the morning we were almost 100% convinced that we would not fly today. But in the end we managed to find a short interval in the weather forecast models which should allow a competition for at least one class. We chose to go with the 15m class because there are significantly fewer competitors than the combi class“
So 15 m got a task; 1.30 AAT, but the first launch time was rescheduled to 13.30 as the “window did not open earlier”.
Adam was optimistic though ;”15m class only to grid today, 1.5hr AAT. I’m at 460kg again today, I think the optimum window is between 1330 & 1400. If we’re fortunate, we can fly on the convergence on three legs”
Unfortunately the day was cancelled. They tried HARD!!!!
AND,…there is MORE hope for Wednesday!!!

Day 4; today…..Short news yet.” Good morning. The weather is keeping us in check so far. Although it doesn’t seem like it, several models show that there is still a chance for a short discipline. We have no choice but to wait for actual data.“
More next week .
Only 1 flying-day till now but weather, as you know , can change in a flash, so I hope that happens now.

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—–Juniors!
Some news about the planning of the UK juniors;
“Last weekend the Junior Development Squad travelled to Lasham for the first training camp of 2023. 10 squad members were joined by a few pilots from the Women’s team to take advantage of the favourable forecast. Coach Jake Brattle led the weekend with daily briefings and post-flight analysis sessions in the evenings, showing the juniors where they could improve their flights.
Everyone enjoyed 3 days of racing, giving a small taste of what’s to come this year.
The squad will travel next to Issoudun, France as part of the annual overseas coaching week. They will then fly the 46e International Issoudun, where the coaching can be put into practice in a competition setting. Plenty to look forward to!”

——-Top flights, photos and reports – Peter Millenaar in a very nice interview OLC – onlinecontest.org
Dutch pilot Peter is a top pilot, 4x Dutch champion and Junior World Champion [Leszno 2013] and great photographer. He is introduced in their magazine.
I shared already some news and pictures from St Auban a few weeks ago.
Have a look at https://www.onlinecontest.org/…/segelfl…/cmsnews.html…

–—-Last Friday was a top day here in The Netherlands, but also in other countries in Europe. The sky looked fabulous and I was eager to see how many flights we had here. We had 53!!!And,…ALL over Holland from N to S from W to E..
Best flight was in the ARCUS M from Soesterberg;708 km.
8 Flights over 600 km. and lots of pictures with happy messages.
Germany had 133 pilots up and best result; 861 km. in ASH 31/21 m.
Best flight for the day was in Romania with great wave up to nearly 7000 m. MSL in an ARCUS M., from the airport of Ghimbav Brasov. 1.127 km. and 164 km./h.

One of the Dutch juniors , Maurits Hebels, flew from Calcinate in Italy and managed to fly 859 km in an LS4 with call sign AG, one of the Dutch gliders specially for the juniors. Good on him. Last Monday he flew in ARCUS T another 762 km with Joep Heesakkers. Yesterday; 853 km.
Quite a few Dutch pilots over there in Calcinate. 26 Flights from there last Monday, with Italian, Swiss , UK and Dutch pilots.
Another former junior, Davide Giovanelli flew in a DISCUS 2, 1.205,67 km , last Sunday from Locarno in Switzerland. Great effort. Wave up to 5661 MSL.
Best flight last week in Calcinate on April 18; Jon Gatfield with an Alpine 1000 km flight;1.024.52 km …speed 113 .83km./h ….https://weglide.org/flight/246863

2 VERY long and impressive flights again in the USA and both with “huge ” speed.
Gordon Boettger flew in an ARCUS J…… 2.099 km with 191.37 km./h., together with Bruce Campbell, sitting with him for nearly 11 hours in the “cold”.
James Lee flew in the JS 1 a distance of 1. 829,83 km with 162 km./h.
MINDEN was the place to be!!!!
Gordon; “Takeoff a little late but wasn’t expecting it to be that great early in the morning.“
And” The clouds were simply amazing today. I feel really lucky to experience this. What a RIPPER!!!”
More on; https://www.onlinecontest.org/…/gliding/flightinfo.html… with many great pictures , here is one of them.

Kiripotib Soaring announced their fleet for “our” winter…..
Gliders; The glider fleet for the upcoming season has been finalized: We are pleased to announce 5 Ventus3M and 9 AcrusM for charter – on top: two of them will be ArcusM20 book now:
https://bit.ly/3KOID1G

Enough news again, more about the FCC next week.
Cheers Ritz