Pribina Cup !
March 25-April 2.

With the Pribina Cup the European competition season started. 94 Pilots gathered in Nitra and with an early Easter , the weather is very important, as it can be still very unsettled . On Good Friday it was raining here cat’s and dog’s but in Nitra the news from the competition was :
—-“Good morning everybody!
Grid is open from 8.30 a.m. Runway in use 33. Grid sequence is 15m, 20m Multi-seat and Open class on 33R and Club class, 20m Multi – seat selflaunchers, Open class selflaunchers on 33L.
You can still register in the info office under the tower.
Opening briefing at 10am in the hangar.  See you all there!—”

So good news! The Pribina Cup was about to begin.And,….at 12 they started the launching and that went fast; in 45 minutes they had them all in the air. Good on the tuggies!!!
Racing tasks for all classes: Club class 153.8 km, 15 m class 189.4 km, 20 m double seat class 182.5 km and Open class 202.6 km.
Unfortunately the weather deteriorated during the afternoon, so out-landings were reported.
BUT ,…it was a valid day 1 ,for all classes with a base up to 1600 m. but only  after the starts and 2 m./s.
Winners on day 1;
CLUB; only 3 finishers from 24; Pegase pilot Marin Jurovic and 2 ST Jantar pilots all flying 153 km.with speed between 58 and 52 km./h..
The 2 pilots flying the 13.5 m Silent 2, who flew against each other in Pocuinai during the first WGC for this class, Italian Stefano and USA pilot Francois started well as number 4 and 15.
In 15 m. a good , very good first day for my young Belgian friend Dennis Huybreckx in his LS 8. [619 points]In this class 12 participants and only one out-landed. The task was a set 189.42 km.
In the 2 seater class 182.54 km. was set and flown by 12 of the 19 participants. 12 Of them finished among them more Belgium friends the Schmelzers in the ARCUS , the Tourula’s from Finland, Wolfgang and a mate and more.
11 ARCUS gliders in this class further on the good old Duo Discus and the DG 1000 and a Janus CRG.
Open/18 m.; From 22 in this class,  the set 202 km. was flown by 12 of them. Winner ; Matthias Sturm in the ASG 29 /18m. He is the Rieti 2008 WGC champion in Club class.

The next day was cancelled, weather conditions were too weak,so a happy sight seeing Easter Saturday for all.

Day 2 ; EASTER Sunday; Tuggies were ready, tasks were set and it turned out to be a 1000 points-day for 2 classes.
Club had 268 and the straight-away-starters had the best results in this class.
Michal Lesinger in the ASW 19 won the day; 950 points. The Silents [ handicap 96] had a great day and were on 2 [Francois] and 4 [Stefano].
15 m; 343 km. and 1000 points for Martin Schwab in de Discus CS. Dennis was runner up.2 From 12 out-landed.
2 seater class;352 km. and Wolfgang showed his class; 1000 points for him and his mate.
18 m./open; Simon Briel , who flew the JWGC in Narromine and Enrique Levin won together the 1000 points in the EB 28 with a speed of 117 km./h.
Matthias was fast as well in his ASG 29/18m. ;110 km./h so he was the runner up.

Francois mentioned: “The Pribina Cup in Nitra, Slovakia, is the first big contest of the year in Europe, about 75 gliders in 4 classes. Cloud base has been ABOVE the freezing level every day !!!! Everyone here arrived prepared, with electrically heated in-soles.
After nearly getting toe frost on the first day, my only resource was to get a pair of bedroom slippers from the local Tesco … With 3 pairs of socks, it almost makes the climbs to sub-zero cloudbase bearable… Plus, aren’t they cute? I had to remove the pompoms, though…
The air masses are very cold, but very convective, so we get to reach to the mountains to the North, near Poland and Czechia. Beautiful views on The Tatras, Fatras, and Carpathian Mountains that still have snow on their peaks.” 

     

Very cute, indeed but WARM that’s the most important! Shared by Francois on FB.

Day 3; Easter Monday. 2 Hour AAT’s and 2.15 for open/18m. Launches were postponed to 1 PM and with a B task the pilots went on track. In between we , here in Holland, blew away from storms gusting to 110 km./h.
In the UK it was even worse with wind up to 170 km./h. and lot’s had no power.Also Germany, Belgium and France got their “portion”.
In the end the weather in Slovakia, improved quicker than expected and it turned out a to be a rather good day.
club; 26 started, 24 finished and nearly 200 km. was flown.
15 m; 12 started and 12 finished.
20 m;18 started AND 18 finished! ARCUS 2x in the top one of them Tilo with a mate [240 km.]  on 2 , together with Hannu and Lasse [243 km.] from Finland.Good on them.
open/18 m; 21 started AND 21 finished, best “deal”  and 714 points for Simon and Enrique flying 2.99 km. in 2.17, so for B task- weather a great 131 km./h. But then,…of course the EB 28 is a fabulous ship.
Thomas Suchanek did well as runner up with 280 km. in 2.20 in a 17.5 m. Ventus c.

Tuesday, yesterday….cancelled !
BUT TODAY, same grid order but runway 15, so they might fly.
More next week.

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Warwick Easter Regatta 2016.
March 25-April 2.

On the other side of the world in Australia, the last competition of the season started in Queensland at Warwick with 39 competitors in one combined handicapped class.
On day 1 there was no task.
On the first flying-day a 2.30 AAT was set. Among the pilots husband and wife Tom and Kerrie Claffey, father and son Chris and Adam Woolley , the Ichikawa’s Mac and Akemi and one of the very early Sportavia season instructors in the 87/88 season Alain Potier.
It turned out to be a very marginal day , due to heavy overcast in the Western part of the task.
NOBODY finished.
The day was  won by Kris Kaufmann [When I remember well Anita’s brother] flying 158 km. in the ASW 24 E.
Brett Buchanan , yes son of Butch was runner up.[ASG 29/18m.]

Day 2; Here is Peter Summerfeldt:
—“A few out landings yesterday, but, overall, a good day of Regatta Style Competition.
The task was suitable and I think we all pretty much had an enjoyable day.
Today is quite different, overcast at about 9000feet, continuous light rain.  There is a low-level cloud bank to the south so we won’t be flying for quite a while, today might be good for resting.

“Late Mail”,   the weather is a little questionable so we meet again for a new briefing at 11:00am, day decision will be made and ready for that 11:00am briefing.  The rain has stopped but there is still quite a bit of low cloud around.—”
A 1.30 AAT was set for this Easter Sunday and FLOWN by 18 and 10 finished. Speed from number 10 , John Tucker in that great bird, the St. Libelle, 36 km./h BUT he finished. Good on him.
Daily winner, Mal Williams,  in the ASH 31 MI/18 m. with a speed of 79 km./h over 131 km.

Yesterday they continued with a 3 hour AAT and dad Woolley was the best in this combined class. Chris flew 381 km in time 3.13 in his 18 m. Ventus 2CM; 1000 points. Son Adam was 4th.  They both started and finished in about the same time , but dad flew 25 km. more!!His speed was 118 km./h.,  Adam’s 110 km./h.
Kris was runner up, so after 3 days of soaring the overall scores are; Chris with 1439, Kris with 1434 and Brett with 1379. All 3 are members at Kingaroy.
One dad from Adam and 2 sons, one from Hank Kauffmann and one from John “Butch”  Buchanan.Nice to see the different generations.
By the way 21 pilots finished and 3 out-landings.

More next week.

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Lasham Glide 2016.

To keep you informed:Here is news from Andy Davis, shared by Graham Garnett:
—-LashamGlide Entries Accepted, 21st March 2016

At the deadline for entries prioritised according to IGC ranking we have received 70 entries for LashamGlide: 31 in the 15 metre class, 13 in the 18 metre class and 24 in the Open Class. We are pleased to confirm acceptance of entry for all Overseas pilots who applied for entry before the deadline.

Late Entries: We now invite further entries up to our agreed class limits which will be accepted in order of date of entry (late entries from British pilots entering the 15 metre and Open Class Nationals will be handled in accordance with BGA Competition Rules late entry procedures).

Lasham Airfield,..I was there,…it’s big and beautiful!!
Shared by Lasham Glide 2016.

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EUROGLIDE 2016.

The 13th edition of Euroglide will be flown between Monday June 20 and Saturday July 2. It’s not possible to register anymore. As every year it was booked out straight away.
83 Teams from Belgium , Germany , the UK and Holland will try to be the “first one”  back after 2000 km . Mind you some teams exist out of 8 pilots, some gliders have only one pilot and a crew driving behind him/her with the car and trailer. More and more pilots have interest in this kind of adventurous flying. Good to see. They start from Venlo in the S of Holland and fly this time direction EAST to discover Poland and back. Here is the route concept.
They always started from Eindhoven but the airport is after more than 70- years- soaring -pride now ONLY for military planes and airlines. All soaring is banned and glider-pilots moved to Venlo, Malden , Terlet and Soesterberg.

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OLC flights last week.

A few impressive flights one by Davide Giovanelli from Switzerland who flew in the St. Cirrus  from Locarno a flight from 607 km.
By the way MILVUS has sponsored the Swiss juniors with Delta jackets.
Also still good weather in Lake Keepit with a nice over 500 km. flight in DG 800/18m.
On March 28 a nice long wave- flight from 752 km. in France from Issoire Broc  in the Auvergne.[Discus 2T]
Same day other field ;USA ….Inyokern…Perlan Project pilots Dennis [Tito] and Morgan [Sandercock] ….SPEED 170 km./h. over 480 km.
Yesterday the first flight [ the last one was on 4-12-2015] added to the OLC list from ridge soaringparadise Ridge Soaring was straight away a 1000 km. flown in an ASG 29/18m.by Dan Reagan with a speed of nearly 150 km./h..
A bit of wave helped as well.
From Tocumwal Swiss Chris topped the OLC list on March 25 with a 502 [400FAI triangle] in his ASW 27. He was pleased with that. Chris lives in Melbourne but flies as long as I know him from Tocumwal, first Sportavia , now Sportaviation.

Very dedicated to his soaring; Swiss Chris.
Picture shared by him.

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The aftermath from Brussels.

A lot happened after Brussels. 2 Dutch families lived for 3 days between hope and fear about their loved ones. Even FB was used to get info about their whereabouts.
Finally after they were identified a Maastricht [Lanaken] family heard on Good Friday morning that their son and daughter both in their early twenties and on their way to New York, were among the death. Bizarre is that the young ones were talking on the phone with their parents to tell them they had arrived safely at the airport when the bombs exploded and the poor parents could here the impact and the falling glass. After that,….. only silence till Friday morning.
Also a 41 year old lady from Deventer was on her way to New York and did nor survive this disaster , leaving a 13 year old daughter behind. SO sad.
Heard  that among the casualties and injured people at least 40 different nationalities were, making the already VERY difficult identification even more difficult.
At this stage 3 people have not been identified and the total loss of lives is tragically enough 32 now.

On March 24 it was an other  turbulent day. After all the extra breaking news about Belgium we had a day full of extra news about our SOCCER HERO Johan Cruijff, who died of lung cancer age 68.He was the face from Holland, everybody knows about Amsterdam, Ajax and Cruijff. Sad he died so young. He was and will remain a LEGEND an ICON,UNIQUE and for EVER number 14, the best soccer player ever.

In the Hague , at the Yugoslavia Tribunal Radovan Karadzic heard that day the verdict ; 40 years of prison due to the war crimes he was responsible for and for the murder on many men in Srebrenica.
He was the former president of the Bosnia Serbian Republic Srpska. Being 70 he will never be free again, though he  appealed straight away.

At the airport of Schiphol the coach from our prof tennis player Robin Haase was arrested for possible murder on a well know Dutch guy.Terrible week !!!

It was also a year ago that the German Wings plane with 150 people crashed in the mountains of France, CRASHED because the co pilot deliberately directed the plane against the rocks of these mountains. 150 Innocent people died among them several gymnasium students coming back from a study week in Spain.

Yesterday a hijack from an Egypt Air plane was scary for all involved but ended with no harm done by a “weird professor” .

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Slowly getting better.
Cheers Ritz