Alphen aan den Rijn Sunday August 15 2010 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
Feelings of relieve in Russia still suffering from extreme hot conditions and fires ;already for a long , long time. On Friday they finally got rain , but still temperatures of 30 dgr. Today the smog is back and people are advised when going outside to wear mouth-caps. On Friday Finland still had 27 dgr. and the Southern part of Europe is hot while the middle suffers from thunderstorms and heavy rain, which we seem to get over the next couple of days.
Promised you to see what happened on Wednesday, a day it really looked bright here for good gliding.But there was only ONE flight. Thursday was better with 300 km flights.Still enough “nice” flights on the OLC in Spain, Italy and France.
Though yesterday the best flights were in the USA and Canada and not in Europe.
The International competition in Bailleau is over and the pilots were happy with the weather, though it was not as good as it could be and most of them were satisfied with the results.
After 9 days Robbie won the competition in the class Vitesse with 6033 points. More Dutch pilots won as in the Grands Vols David won with 7166 points and to be complete 2 young new- comers in competition soaring, also Dutch, Bart and Bram won the Amical class with 7 flying days. So the Dutchies/Clockies did well.
Look for all the results at www.soaringspot.com
Eric Bernard is the new French champion in 18 m. class,flying 6 days in an ASG 19 /18m. Gilles Navas was 4th. Only 4 days in the A class from the French Juniors. Adrian Henry from Bailleau was the best in an LS4, with more then 150 points on the runner up. The Henry family is a well known soaring family in France. Great to see that the young generation is as good as the older was.
Last Friday the prestigious competition CIM has started in Rieti till August 22. This year the “club ” [ www.aeccvv.eu ] is organizing , while last year the excellent organization was in the hands of the “federation” [ www.fivv.org] . 79 Pilots fly in 6 classes. In standard class 19 pilots , 8 in club class, 11 in 15 m and 23 in 18 m. , 8 in 20 m, double seaters and 10 in open class.
And….now I am not there…Alexander Mueller is flying there in his ASW 22 and I would have liked to meet him one day.
More great pilots as the new World champion Stefano Ghiorzo, 3d place winner Thomas Gostner, Giorgio Galetto, Davide , one of the top- junior- pilot’s from Italy, lot’s of Austrian friends even a well known Russian pilot Timoshenko, in the twoseater class and more….. Weird is that last year lot’s of Dutch pilots were competing and now I do not see ONE!!!!! Have to check on that.
And…it was really nice to see Maurico Cocchi in F1 flying in standard class. Maurizio flew regularly in Tocumwal in the past.
Unfortunately the weather is tragically bad in the N of Italy,even worse in Poland, with LOTS of rain , so till now , no soaring-days. On one of these rainy days Alvaro showed a video about soaring in Morocco.
The 3d place in Szeged, for Belgium pilot Pierre de Broqueville and his nephew/cousin [son from his brother] Arnaud, have given a boost to the PR about soaring in Belgium. The last time that a Belgium pilot won a prize was with Bert Zegels in Waikirie in 1974….silver!!!!For years the 2 fly together already. Last year they practised in the mountains from Rieti, during the CIM.
It is very nice to read that the co-operation between the Wallonian pilots [ speaking French] and the Flemish [ speaking Dutch] was very good .This atmosphere on the ground and in the air has contributed to the great result, is what I heard /read.
The Dutch Soaring Magazine “Thermiek ” is out and is as always great reading! What’s in it? Except from my story about the Dutch Nationals , there is an interesting column from former Red Bull Racer Frank Versteegh who wants to get the PR for gliding in a more professional way, another story about aerodynamic research at the famous University of Delft, the National women day 2010 , “Bob Henderson for {FAI} president”, and much more, unfortunately ONLY for Dutch and Belgium readers.
When you are not a member of the KNvVL you can still read it digital on their site, easy to find via www.zweefportaal.nl
We had a few colder and rainy days last week, though yesterday was perfect again, but slowly “some pilots “start thinking , of moving to the other site of the world again, even after a great summer as we had. For that reason I had a look at the site from Corowa and balloons in bright colours where the first thing I noticed. Ouch, it is already 10 years ago that Francesco and Grietje started their operation.
So time to say HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY!!! Time really flies, I still see Francesco happily talking in our restaurant after he flew in at Sportavia from Narromine and felt at home straight away. Was that 15 years ago, maybe even more????
Like we, they loved Australia and soaring and created their own center with gliders brought from home in containers! And….they are doing a great job, in between taking care of 2 little lovely kids as well. Wishing them more great years !
But …I was looking when their season would start and I read that the expected first day of flying will be on November 9.The estimated departure out of Holland will be on September 28 and the packing will be between September 15 and 19, so not long anymore. This season they start their Corowa Classic. Great to see that my friend Terry Cubley from Western Australia, is the first to enter this competition already now! He will fly the DG 1000.Here is what they write about it;
—The concept is to give, up and coming cross country pilots, a taste of Grand Prix style flying in a safe training environment with the opportunity to fly with and along side some of the worlds best glider pilots.
| Dates | 21-01-2011 | 29-01-2011 |
| Practice Day | 21-01-2011 | |
| Competition Days | 22-01-2011 | 29-01-2011 |
| Presentation Dinner Night | 29-01-2011 |
20m 2 seat Grand Prix style competition hosted by Australian Soaring Centre Corowa & Corowa Shire Counsel. A friendly competition designed to introduce competitors to Grand Prix racing. Opportunity to learn from the some of Europe’s best pilots.
Daily Prizes include: Daily Winner Plaque, Extra 300 Aerobatic Flight , Go Soaring Products
Sponsors include: Australian Soaring Centre Corowa,Corowa Shire Council, Go Soaring.
Look for all info at ; www.australian-soaring-corowa.com
And then this;……….
—An historical Dakota C47 was moved from an Open Air Museum in the South of Holland to Katwijk not far from where I live in the middle of Holland. They used a special deep truck , during the night, but it still went wrong as the truck got stuck between 2 walls of a viaduct on one of the main highways in Holland. Luckily they got it “on the road again” before the heavy morning traffic started.
Why moving such a great old vintage plane?
They will use the Dakota as a decor in the musical “Soldier of Orange “. The musical opens on October 31 in an hangar at the military airport of Valkenburg.
They hope to restore this 70 year old beauty, before or after the musical has finished.It is squeezed in the middle as there was only “room ” for 6.80 m but the plane was 7.20!!!!! And then they claim they made very secure preparations…..
—-Heard of Steven Slater?????? He is the Jet Blue steward who escaped via an emergency -slide , from the plane he just flew “his last flight for “, with a beer in his hand. After 20 years he was sick of the intolerance of some passengers. Like his style!!!!! However he can be “punished “with 7 years max. Hope it will be not that bad!
See you next Wednesday, Ritz