Prievidza, [ 24 April 2022 – 5 May 2022] had a few days to go when I left you last Wednesday. So here we go with the last days!
After 6 days of soaring they had on
May 4; Task 10, flying day 7.
Club ; 2.15 AAT…
15 m; 2.15 AAT…
combi; 2.30 AAT….
All tasks were cancelled due to bad weather.

May 5; very last day!
Club; 2 hour AAT….196 km in 2 hours at the dot, [98 km./h] means somebody who knows what he is doing; Uwe Wahlig also won the last day. So 5 in total .
32 Started 25 finished.
Overall points and winners in this class;
1. Uwe Wahlig [Germany] in LS 3 WL with 5.543 points.
2. Jacek Flis [Poland] in LS 3 with 5.437 p.
3. Mikolaj Zdun [Poland] in LS 3 with 5.409 p
4. Tim Milner [ UK] in LS 3 with 5.261 p.

15 m; 2 hour AAT....Lukasz Blaszczyk won in the Diana 2 , with 221 km in time 2.02 [speed 108 km/h, the only one over 100 km./h] ,but 4 Czech pilots hold on on their top positions. 3 starting on a different time, one more than half an hour earlier .
22 started 17 finished.
Final results in 15 m. class;
1. Miloslav Cink [Czech Rep] in LS 8b with 5.374 points.
2.  Pavel Louzecky [Czech Rep] in LS 8 with 5.345 p.
3. Jan Pavlik [Czech.Rep] in LS 8 with 5.313 p.

combi; 2 hour AAT...265 km. in time 2.12 was the daily winning combination for Sebastian. Radek was runner up holding his 3d position.
It was all about Gintas and Wolfgang this last day ; Wolfgang was 3 and Gintas 6th….but it was just not enough …..for Wolfgang.
25 started 27 finished.
Final results in combi class;
1. Gintas Zube [Lithuania] in ASG 29e with 5.418 points.
2. Wolfgang Janowitsch [Austria] in Ventus 3 with 5,415 p.
3. Radek Krejcirik [Czech .Rep.] in JS 1C EVO with 5.383 p.

As always a nice competition to follow, but it remains very sad that 2 pilots , will not be there next year.
R.I.P.

————————————————————

KLIX 2022.

Klix; [ 29 April 2022 – 7 May 2022] started on May 4 with task 6.
And they were lucky with the weather again!!!Hence long tasks!
Club; 2.30 AAT..… 3 German pilots ,1 Dutch and 1 from Denmark formed the top 5, by flying between 211k. in an LS1f and 267 km in a LAK 13.5 FES. Already the 4th daily win for Christoph [Mathowski] .
11 started and 10 finished.
Standard; 3.30 AAT…397 and 389 km. for our Danish mates Filipe and Poul Kim, in time 3.35/6. The ladies are doing well too. Sabrina [Vogt] was 6th and Chrissie [Grote] 9th.
17 started and 17 finished, great result with such a long task during a competition.
2-seaters; 3 hour AAT.…Hagemann / Auen [ARCUS T ]were winner again with a speed of 114 km./h and Jeroen and Sjoerd [Duo Discus XL] runner up with 105 km./h , with the Dutch Arcus with Rooij/vd Zwan as 3d.[105 km/h.
open/18m; 3.30 AAT.…and Sjaak [Selen] was the daily best.399.78 I call that 400 km in time 3.42,48; speed 112.72 km./h.

May 5; after 6 days of flying they set NO TASK.

May 6 ;2 days to go, the final- end -sprint. AND,…what days!!!!!
Club; 5 hour AAT..…”Poor little ones” ,….but I am sure they enjoyed their selves, though only 1 flew over 100 km./h so it was pretty tough.
12 started and 9 finished and 3 were not scored for airspace infringement.
Christoph Matkowski is good… or his LAK 13.5 m., or BOTH!!!5 daily wins already. He flew 506 km in time 5.02, speed 100 km./h for 938 points.
Standard; 4 hour AAT....16 started and only 2 were out, but they flew over 400 km. Filip was runner up and Jan Kretzschmar won the day in his LS 8 neo, he was 1 km./h faster and got the 1000 points.
2-seaters; 4.30 AAT.…18 flew 17 finished and the Duo Discus did well on spot 1,2 and 3 before the DG 1000 and Arcus T.
Jeroen and Sjoerd were runner up with 489 km in time 4.33; speed 107 km./h for 965 points .
18m./Open; 519 km in 4.06 for Bas in the Nimbus 4Dm and 494 km in 4.03 for Sjaak in the ASG 29. The Dutchies did well. Helge Lieberts an other top competition pilot was 3d in the ASH 25/26m.
28 started, 28 finished….good on them!!

May 7 very last day in Klix;
Club; 262 km ……WELL,..why not another winning day by Christoph; 6 daily wins and then you know for sure that he wins in club class this competition. Look at his scores!!!!!
He was the last to start and the first to finish today!!!!! All 12 finished!
FINAL RESULTS IN CLUB CLASS:
1. Christoph Matkowski in LAK 13.5 FES with 6.439 points.
2. Paul Seiler in LS 1 moving up from 3 ; 5.092 p.
3. Maximilian Brune in Hornet WL moving up from 4 with 5.070 p.
Lars Heiko Hering , in the St Libelle had a less good last day and moved from 2 to 4.

Standard class; 310 km….with 114 km./h Felip won his 5th daily win.
14 started and 14 finished.
FINAL RESULTS IN STANDARD CLASS;
1. Filip Bojanowski from Denmark in Discus 2a with 6.287 points.
2. Poul Kim Larsen from Denmark in Discus 2a with 6.030 p.
3.  Jan Kretzschmar from Germany in LS 8neo with 5.988 p.
Sabine and Chrissie were on 7 and 8.

2-seater class; 320 km….Jeroen and Sjoerd did well on the last day , winning with a speed of 118 km./h .16 started and 1 was out.
FINAL RESULTS IN THE 2-SEARTER CLASS:
1. Verkuijl & van Empelen from Holland in Duo Discus XL with 6.224 p.
2. Wollschlaeger & Kaufeld from Germany in Duo Discus XL with 5.721 p.
3.  Hagemann & Auen from Germany in ARCUS T with 5.580 p.

18m/open; 386 km….Bas ,Sjaak and Helge started as the last pilots about 12 minutes behind the daily winner Steven Staudte, won with a speed of 124 km./h in his Discus 2c and moved up from 3 to 2 overall. The later starters were on spot 7, 9 and 10.
FINAL RESULTS IN 18m/OPEN;
1. Bas Seijffert from Holland in Nimbus 4d with 6.145 points.
2. Steven Staudte from Germany in Discus 2C with 6.118 p.
3. Sjaak Selen from Holland in ASG 29 with 5.990 p.

This year Klix had superb weather and with 1 ,more or less compulsory rest day, after 6 days of flying , they flew each day. So 8 out of 9 good -weather-days with 180.000 flown hours.
With 500 starts there were only 15 out-landings!!!!!!
Jeroen; “Had a great week at the Klix competition. We had great weather (flyable every day!), with nice speeds. First time for us we went to the mountains at the border with Czech Republic (twice!). Also a first time I flew with Sjoerd van Empelen (Junior World champion 2017) and it appears to be a good match. Had great fun as well“

———————————————————————
FRENCH NATIONALS.

The French Nationals [1 May 2022 – 7 May 2022] were flown in ONE class with 38 participants, male and female in standard, 15 m and 20 m [2 seaters]
Not so lucky with the weather as in Klix, as till now they had only 2 days of flying out of 4 with 3 days to go. Task 2 and 4 were cancelled.
May 5; task 5 .Big task for all types of gliders;
400 km….39 started and 29 finished.
Difficult day as the speed was pretty low for France;107 km/h by 2 pilots in a “better” glider…AND they were the only 2 “with over 100 km./h”; Daniel Vincent-Genod won in JS 3 and Philippe de Péchy in ARCUS M.
Good 3d spot for Ayala truelove from the UK who flies HC in her LS8;97 km./h.
May 6; Task 6… 317 km...flying day 4.
39 started and 29 finished….best speed 95 km./h , so not an easy day for the Pegase pilots. Winner; Julien Duboc in Ventus 2ax and he now leads the whole bunch overall coming from spot 3.
Young Kevin Faur was 5th and Philippe de Péchy in the ARCUS M, 14th. Eric [Napoleon] 19th in an Arcus T.
May 7; Task 7 …..256 km; flying day 5 and last day!!!!
Marilyne Abadie-Bérard in JS 3 won clearly the last day with 119 km./h. and won the Nationals with 3.260 points.
So a French female as new French Champion!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
Christian Dupeyron [ARCUS M] was number 2 with 3.237 points and on spot 3 was Julien Duboc in Ventus 2ax.
Niklas Lofgren from Sweden flew HC and was runner up with 3.247 points.
Philippe was 4t and Kevin 5th.

In the end the weather turned out better,…. more French….. and they could fly 5 out of 7 days.
The pilots were grateful to the Aéroclub d’Aire sur l’Adour , as well as to Régis Kuntz ,the competition director.

—————————————————————————

The Swedish FAI SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX

On May 6 I read the next news;
“First official training day. No task today due to the bad whether forecast. Time for initial weighing, water ballast filling and exploring the surroundings of Borås.”
FAI Sailplane Grand Prix

After practice , the 2d day had 250 km. and was won by German pilot Hermann Leucker in a JS3/18m with 116 km./h, they started on May 8 [till 14] with 16 pilots from Sweden, Finland, Germany, Czech.Rep and the UK.
Race 1; 289 km….the first 10 points were for German pilot Hermann , for a speed of 119 km./h.
As always in the beginning a few penalties, either for a too low finish or a too high maximum speed whilst starting.
“Chequered flag! Very exciting finish for our pilots and the public of Boras. Nice and safe arrivals for everyone.” by the organizers.

Race 2; 218 km….Klaus won the daily prize for a speed of 97 km./h and has a total of 18 points after 2 days. There are 3 AS33 gliders flying in this GP.
One from Jon Gatfield from the UK, Petr Krejcirik from Czech Rep and German pilot Patrick Benoist.
15 flew 14 finished

Race 3; CANCELLED!!!
Race 4; “No race today in Boras. Light rain and cloudy sky. We need to wait for the cold front to pass… and we are hoping for great races at the end of the week in a new air-mass!“

————————————————————————

Last weekend had superb weather again…cracking conditions someone called it,….with 1000 km flights in several countries in Europe , but also the USA had strong weather.
Friday ; 2x a 1000 in Germany and 1.277 km from Minden in the USA in a JS 1, with high wave by James Lee.
Saturday; 1.150 from Bayreuth by Alexander Mueller [EB 29] , Jan Rothhardt flew a 1000 from Jena in a Ventus CM 17/6 m and one of the Lucaszes flew in Poland a 1000 as well.[ASG 29 /18m]
And what about Julia and Eric both flying an LS 4 ;820 km.
Great out and return by Tilo Holighaus,[Ventus 3 T] most probably a new German class record. He declared a 905 km flight from Hahnweide to Klix and back.
His full story is on https://www.weglide.org/flight/148375
In the USA ,James left with a mate again from Minden, now in a Duo Discus for 1.157 km. Another long “sit”.

——————————————————————————–

The 18 m. NATIONALS in the USA flown from Bermuda High started on May 10, so yesterday and will continue till May 18, with 2 practice days on May 8 and 9.
Till now no flying “It was a sunny day at Bermuda High today, perfect for kite flying, but not gliding” was the written in the CD report.
A strong “field” with well-known names!!!
All about it in next weeks blog, with co-operation from my USA mate Rick, who is there.
I heard that from team USA, only Sarah and Karl are flying in the 2seater class in Hungary at the WGC.

Finishing with this picture from the 18 m. Nationals in Bermuda

Cheers for now,
Ritz