Blog 1.403 on February 8 2023.

2023 New Zealand CLUB CLASS NATIONALS flown from Matamata.
2 February 2023 – 12 February 2023

Club class comps are VERY popular and also in N.Z. there are a lot of participants!!!
The practice day, for this NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, was not too flash but for the next day they expected nice soaring weather up to 3000 m.
But the first couple of days the 22 club class pilots could not fly, yes they had a 2.30 AAT on February 5 , but it was not flown.
Along the club activities, 10 open class pilots had that day a 2 hour AAT, but no flying.
The first flying day however, was on February 7, with a 3 hour AAT for club, won by Steven Wallace in the MOSQUITO with 329 km in 3 hours at the dot!!!!
The open class had 340.98 km. and Brett Hunter won with a speed of 118 km./h.
Task 2;” Day 2, ridge task, good thermals around ” so hope for a GOOD day in both classes and it happened!!!!
3 pilots in club ,with a racing task of 329 km flew around and finished with the same speed and ALL 3 got 1000 points; Steven in the Mosquito, Michael Strathern and Steven Care in the ASW 20. They did NOT start together but finished together and all had a speed of 118 km./h.
Matamata mentioned; ‘Results for the club class champs are up, and they are weird. But we can confirm they are correct. Three 1000 points given today! Never seen that before.“
In open Brett won the 3 hour AAT with 408 km in time 2.59 in his JS 3 ;speed 136 km./h which was 10 k faster than runner up Tim [Bromhead] in the Ventus CT.
More next week.

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—–Better weather for the 2023 NSW State comps flown from Narromine, between February 4 and 12.
After 2 practice days with each a 3 hour AAT, the comps started on February 6 with another 3 hour AAT in both Club and Sport class.
The 8 pilots in club class all finished and the best for the day, Peter Brunton in his ASW 20 flew 324 km in time 3.02. He was followed by 2 Tocumwal pilots ,Phil and Bernie in an ASW 19 B and PIK 20 B each with winglets.
5 Pilots in the sport class and 4 finished. Daily best with 310 km in an LS 8 was Mick Webster.
Task 2 was even longer; 3.30 AAT with 422 km by Paul Dickson,[LS 3] with Peter as runner up.
In sport class it was good to see Miles [Gore-Brown] winning the day in his LS8a. Another long time mate.
Miles had a lay-day on task 1 but with 405 km in 3.33, he gained 1000 points, after a late start. Mick was runner up.
Kerrie [Claffey] , she was one of the participants in the WWGC in Keepit, had the fastest time in her 18m ASG 29,120 km./h over 439 km, but on handicap she was 4th. By the way she won the practice day!!!
Task 3; 3.30 AAT....The LS 3 from Paul is still a great and fast glider. He won the day again with 463 km. in time 3.37 so a speed of 127 km./h. All 8 finished and 5 flew over 400 km.
In open the 2 participating LS 8 gliders topped the list with Mick as daily best with 447 km in time 3. 26, speed 128 km./h.
Narromine Gliding Club Official posted;” Well Day 3 has well and truly started, with most of the fleet around the first turnpoint and well established on the second leg. Skysight is predicting strong climbs over 6 kts to 8-9,000 ft AGL later in the day so I expect we will see a lot of pilots extending well into the third and fourth turnpoints. Final glide should be a screaming jet ride from 7,000 ft well before the last turnpoint at Trangie. Expect some fast times today!”
More next week.

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—--In my last blog I wrote about Jochen who was back in Tocumwal and flew with Stephan, who was back too. I know them both for many years. Jochen since 1985. Stephan had his own LS 4 KYO in Tocumwal AND,…he still flies it!!!!!! AND,…even his sons came to fly in Toc.
Eddie was so kind to share a picture and here they are, for all other Toc fans who know them too

And….look at the weather in Alice Springs today. WOW!

Not too much news today. I have spend hours and hours on downloading Windows 10. So I struggled more or less through the week and hope I can keep this laptop as I like it.
I CAN,….a nice volunteer “for elderly people with digital problems”,mmmmmm……… visited me yesterday and he fixed it all…no worries!!!!
But to be honest he mentioned I prepared it all for him , he just had to finish it off. [Thursday- morning extra news]
More next week.
Cheers have a good week
Ritz

P/S….I should have started with this, though it has nothing to do with gliding.
The earthquakes from 7.8 and 7.5 in the South of Turkey and the North of Syria are not only a huge shock for all people living there, but also to ALL people in the WORLD. What a disaster!!!!! What a HUGE disaster. Already 8500 [the latest news speaks about 11.100] people died under the to pieces fallen flat -buildings and houses.
I am afraid there will be many more. HEARTBREAKING!!!!!!
It’s heart-warming to see private help/SAR/White Helms/Red Cross etc. from all parts of our world,…… which feels good in a time of hate and polemic, …..co-operating to find , also with special trained dogs, for survivors. I think of them.