ANOTHER EXTRA SUNDAY BLOG!!!
Looking back at South Africa’s season; It ‘s getting pretty quiet now on the soaring-scene with Namibia and most South African destinations closed till next season. Talking about South Africa , more of my friends than other years, visited South Africa. A very enthusiastic Max shared his Nimbus 4DM with other pilots when he had to work and flew himself a lot of new Dutch overseas records, with several pilots , as Jeppe ,Herman and Edo. All 22 flights were from Douglas Backhouse in November and January. He shared this interesting picture on FB, from all his impressive flights.
Looking at the OLC statistics for South Africa ,we see that Gariep Dam was very busy and 4th on the list under the 3 Namibian destinations. Gariep had 62 pilots flying a total of 296.499,63 km. during 514 flights.
Douglas Backhouse had 57 pilots as guests, they flew a total of 225.915,38 during 360 flights.
Bloemfontein had 31 pilots flying 89.771,57 during 215 flights.They have lots of UK guests, but also from Holland, the USA and France . They continued till the end of January and still had some very nice flights on January 29;860 km. in an ASG 29.
Kuruman Johan Pi had 13 guests, mainly German families as the Wiesenthals and the Kalisch’ with their friends, but also Dutch guests. Together they flew 78.564,59 km. during 98 logged flights.
Worcester ,Potchefstroom and Welkom had under 50.000 km. .They had great comps , Worcester that interesting QSGP, but are not really called ” big “-overseas destinations.
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This last week Australia still had some great flights, their season continues a bit longer.
Corowa had on January 28 still 8000 ft. for their tasks and pilots flew up to 850 km. [800 FAI triangle] in the ARCUS M. On the 29th a 900 km. was still possible and flown in the Ventus 2 CM/18 m. Some pilots are ready to prepare the glider for the way back home in February so for them it was their last flight for the season and they all sound HAPPY.Some continue till February 19 when they are starting to pack their containers . Their estimated time of unpacking in Holland should be then April 11.
From Tocumwal Stephan flew 560 km. in his LS 4 and earlier in the week over 600 km. On the one but last day from January he even flew 641 km. A great day with clouds and Tery [Ryan] flew in his ASH 26 e a distance of 773.7 km.
February started with a 1000 km. task[ 800 FAI triangle] by Gerrit Kurstjens in his Quintus, flying from Narromine] Speed 133 km./h. VERY good for February , but still possible as we can see and have seen in the past . His wife Pam flew in her ASH 31/21 m. 922 km. A nice day out for my friends!!!
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Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix in Santiago/Chile 24-1-2015 – 31-1-2015 Club de Planeadores de Vitacura
Day 5´s task consist of 397,8 km. with the Northern point at Pelambres Mine! As shared by the organizers.
After day 4 they easily continued with day 5 [397.8 km.] and Thomas who was already 2d on day 4 was now in the right CHILE-grove and won the day with a speed of 140 km./h.;8 points for him, as a few did not finish!!
Day 6 had another 356 km. task, but it was difficult. The toppers managed to finish , the rest did not and that showed in the points; 5 for Carlos , 3 for Juergen, 2 for Thomas and 1 for Rene. The organizers:” Today´s race was full of tricky areas, it appeared to be a simple task but the results show it otherwise. Only 4 pilots finished the race in an intricate ¨fierce battle¨ for positions today,a fierce head to head race till the end!” On this picture shared by the organizers you see they great environment the pilots fly over and this is one of the TP ‘s on day 6 Inca Lake, deep inside the Andes and close to the Aconcagua. WOW!!!!!
Last Saturday at 3 they started for day 7, but also this day some pilots choose to abandon the task from 356 km. 5 Of them finished and Thomas and Rene arrived about the same time;speed 123.5 for Thomas and 123.3 for Rene, but,..it shows again in the points 6 and 4. All the way Thomas was a bit higher than Rene , but all the way they stayed together. Only in the end Thomas passed and won the day.As the SGP team wrote : ” Today´s race was full of surprises and by far was the most breathtaking race we´ve seen on all these days!”
After 7 days and with ONLY one to go the scores overall are as follows; Carlos 38, Thomas 35 and Rene 30.Pretty exciting!!! A lot is possible! NO ROOM FOR MISTAKES!!!! Which pilots could qualify for the finals in Varese. What happened? This is how the organizers described it and they WERE there!!! “ What an amazing breathtaking race we had today! Sometimes Vidal leaded then Gostner took the first position, finally Wenzel passed them all from high up above (5400m) with one magical lucky thermal which helped him mark the southern turnpoint from a straight line and also the northern one after recharging a little bit of altitude in the same thermal!” You will ask what happened to Carlos? It was a 7 points day. Carlos did finish got 4 points for this race over 217.4 km. which brought his total on 42!!! Congratulations. Thomas did well got 3 points for the day, and Rene did a bit better , he got 5. Not enough to be the final runner up as Thomas [38 points] got that place and Rene [35 points ]was third. Juergen Wenzel won the day. A great pity he got during the races several penalty points , maybe he COULD HAVE EVEN WON.Now he was 4th with 32 points. As I read it was great fun over there , here in Holland it was fun too , to follow it. Next QSGP is in the Czech Republic.Looking forward to that race. After it will be Poland and then the FINAL in VARESE.
Line up at the grid.As shared by the SGP team.
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The Club Class Nationals at the airport of Drury on New Zealand’ Nord Island 20-1-2015 – 31-1-2015
With a low cloud base, as I read it was NOT supposed so be so low, the pilots were send for a 2.45 AAT on already DAY 9. For some it was difficult ; only 7 from 17 finished Best in club class again,…Steve Wallace in the Mosquito. His 5th daily win!!!! Michael [Strathern] in the ASW 20 was runner up and this was his 4th runner- up -spot,on top of that he won 2 days as well. Both top the overall scores on the last day but with a small margin of 45 points.
The MSC Contest 2015 parallel on these comps but starting later, have 6 days now and PAT DRIESSEN [Ventus ct 17.6 m] ] won each of them; 6000 points!!! On day 5 Pat and Nigel [Mc Phee in ASW 27] were the only 2 finishers [ from 7] and with that they topped the overall scores as well. That day was a REAL struggle as I read!!!
Day 9 and day 6 were the last days as the very last one had to be scrubbed. No tactics anymore as the game was played. After 9 days it was Steve Wallace [Mosquito] who won the club class nationals and he is the new club class CHAMPION.[7405 points] Runner up with 7360 points was Michael Strathern in the ASW 20. The MSC contest had a very clear WINNER; Pat Driessen, 6 days ,6000 points what do you want more!!!
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For those who live in the USA and with interest in the 13.5 gliders and comps and WGC, here is some news from the Soaring Society of America. One of the participating pilots at the first 13.5 WGC in Lithuania this year will be Sebastian Kawa: “Team EY (USA), myself (Tim McAllister) and my wife Susan McAllister, are proud to announce that the GP Series of 13.5 meter span gliders from the manufacturer Peszke S.C. of Krosno, Poland, are now on offer to the North American gliding community.
As the exclusive North American sales broker, more information and requests for more details may be accessed at www.gpglidersusa.com
The rollout of the product line is a work in progress, as is our website, but you may expect to see and be able to receive more detailed product specifications, photos and product renderings, calculated performance numbers, blog posts, as well as pricing details, including special promotion pricing for the first 15 units (any model) of the GP Series sold wordwide (11 positions still available). It is our pleasure to introduce you to the gliders that we feel offer performance minded pilots, of all means and aspirations, terrific value in today’s glider marketplace. Say Hello to the Evolution of Performance. Sincerely, Tim McAllister EY (USA) GP Gliders USA Dallas, TX”
GP 11 Pulse Proto Type www.gpglidersusa.com
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And to finish 2 pictures I found interesting on FB this week. About…the weather . A MICRO BURST as shared by Gary Adams
And thunderstorm this week over Perth as shared by my friend Vanessa who lives there [Perth Now Sunday Magazine] more on http://trib.al/Ev6zktJ
Cheers Ritz