Post 1.402 on February 1 2023.

Qualifying SGP from Worchester in South Africa.
21 January 2023 – 28 January 2023

They continued with race 3 on January 25, last Wednesday. At that stage ,2 German pilots [ Mathias Schunk and Michael Pfennig] on top with 15 and 13 points and 4 pilots with 11 points; Laurens Goudriaan, Sven Olivier, Erik Borgmann and Oscar Goudriaan.
Race 3; 322.39 km..…AND,….it was UYS who won the 10 points; During the day we read” The pilots have spilt into 3 groups each taking drastically different routes! Which one will be fastest?”
But in the end race 3 was cancelled.
Reason;”Following an accident during Race 3 of the Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix of South Africa in Worcester, well-known German Pilot Mathias Schunk unfortunately had an accident while racing with other pilots along the ridges.
Mathias has been able to communicate with the local organisation and his wife Pia shortly after the accident. He was retrieved by Helicopter and transported to the Christian Barnard Memorial Hospital in Cape Town where he was diagnosed with a fractured L2 vertebra.
Mathias is in good spirit. He is very grateful for the support he has received, and we are all looking forward to seeing him back in the air soon.” as written by the organizers.
Mathias had a bad landing, was saved by SAR [Their story below] who had to land at the mountain and as Mathias said himself “I had what felt like at least 1 million guardian angels helping me“.” .

Race 3; again on January 26 339 km..…cancelled.
Race 3; now on January 27; 420.65 km…..After only 2 flying days due to weather and circumstances, the pilots had to get in the racing mood again to fly this penultimate race.
With 142 km./h it turned out a pretty good day, for all except of course Mathias in hospital, as he would have loved to defend his spot 1 overall. But he will recover totally so good to hear, even better!!!
Winner was Uys with as runners up Katrin [Senne] and Laurens with 141 km./h.
3 new overall toppers now; Laurens and Oscar both with 15 points and ONE day to go!!!!
BUT…Mathias had already 15 points as well……so he is still on 1 too.

Race 4 on January 28, very last day;
NOT GOOD NEWS...”Unfortunately due to low cloud and rain, today has been Cancelled. Prize giving will be held later today.”
The MAGIC left Worcester, with only 3 days of soaring, but will be back next season!!!!!
As they did not fly Mathias “lost” no points by not flying, so there are 3 winners with 15 points; Laurens, Oscar and Mathias.
Good on them!!!!

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WAGA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Beverley
20 January 2023 – 28 January 2023

With 27 pilots this West Australian State competition had a lot of participants even MORE gliders/pilots than in the Nationals. Something to think about.
They had already 4 out of 5 days [ day 1 was cancelled] and all were 3 hour AAT’s.
Task 1 was more than challenging, in many ways, with late starts after 3 PM and several “punishments” for airspace and exceeding start height .
Only 1 pilot managed to finish. Andrew Herwig in an 18m. Ventus 2CX. He flew 279 km in time 2.27. Norm Bloch flew a bit more [289 km] but did not finish.
Task 2 had better conditions NO penalty points and 3 toppers which could be the final 3 toppers; Greg Beecroft in LS 8, Don Woodward in Ventus 2B and Norm in JS 3/15m. Speed from Greg was 139 km./h over 421 km.
Task 3 Greg,Norm and Don were the top 3 with Greg as daily winner with 415 km and 126 km./h.
We continue with
Task 5 on January 25; 3 hour AAT and the weather looked like this.
They had to wait for a long time , but then they could go around 4 o’clock.
They still flew 326 km with a speed of 97 km./h. That was Norm[1000 points] who won the day with Don [981p]and Greg [933 p]not too far behind him. Only 18 started and 3 were “out”.

Task 6; 3 hour AAT,.….AND, very interesting the Geerlings family on top of the daily results .
Arnold as winner in the ASH 25E, with 362 km in time 3.09 and as runner up Joshua in the JS 1 [18m] with 352 km in time 3. 03.
Norm and Greg were on 3 and 4 and Don on 6.
Overall with 2 days to go; Norm,[4.571] Greg [ 4.283]and Don [4.039] and then Joshua.[3.776]
Task 7 on January 27…penultimate day…..3 hour AAT....and,…..Greg really went for the title. He had the best speed [handicapped] in his LS 8 over 413 km; 136 km./h. Norm was a tad faster in 15 m. the JS 3.
1000 and 955 points for them. But the lead from Norm is huge; 5.526 for 5.283 points.
Task 8; 3 hour AAT..…VERY LAST DAY..….Don also still in the race, when one of the 2 in front of him would outland on this last day, won the day 430 km. in time 3.18; speed 130 km./h. But the toppers did not outland….Norm was runner up and Greg 3d.
Overall scores after 7 out of 8 days;
1. Norm Bloch in JS3/15 m. with 6.441 points.
2. Greg Beecroft in LS8 with 6.152 p.
3. Don Woodward in Ventus 2B with 5.767 p.

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NZ multi class Nationals
Omarama…… 20 January 2023 – 28 January 2023

Pretty good conditions there in NZ on the South Island, in the end, meaning 7 out of 9 days.
Open class;
Task 7; Last Thursday they had another 2 hour AAT.
Keith [Essex] flew 304 km in time 2.53. He went for a longer time but also nearly 100 km further, something which is no problem for his ASG 32MI.
The last 2 days had to be cancelled,…NO weather to fly a task….
“ Unfortunately there is no task for today (the last day of the competition).”
Well, there was a CLEAR winner anyhow…here are the final scores
1. Keith Essex in ASG 32MI with 6.661 points!!!!!!
2. Derek Kraak in ASW 29E with 5.844 p.
3. Dickinson & Harrison sharing a Ventus 2CT with 5.251 p.

Racing class;
After his “off-day” earlier with an out landing in his LS 8, Tony [Van Dyke ] straightened his back and went full throttle on to the next day.
task 7; 2 hour AAT . And,…..he won….226 km in time 2.28. He won 142 points on Terry [Jones] in the other LS 8, but still needs 53 to be on top overall again.
On January 27 the task was cancelled, same on January 28.
“Despite the really striking looking wave cloud to the north west of us, there is way too much moisture in the atmosphere as you can see from the satellite picture. The conditions are going to get wetter as the day goes on so No Competition Flying Today.”
Overall scores for RACING CLASS;
1. Davy & Wallace in the Duo Discus with 5.502 points,
2. Tony van Dyk in LS 8 with 5.449 p. No possibility anymore to catch up…..
3. Terry Jones in LS 8 with 5.142 p.

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9th Club class Nationals in Argentina
Pigüé….16 January 2023 – 27 January 2023

Last Wednesday they were on Task 9 on January 25, with 3 men still in the race to be champion;
Jose Dentone 4.156 points, Javier Gaude with 4.146 and Felipe Girado with 4.124.
Task 9; 1.30 AAT……Quite a few flew over 130 km. Starts between 3.15 PM and 4.04 PM. Start games as in waiting for the best time to go on track. AND,…a day with great differences in scores but for some luckily the best score was “only ” 395 daily points.
A new face at the podium; Guillermo Spolita in an LS4. From the toppers “only” Javier did well on spot 2. Jose was 12th but only lost 87 points on the winner. Felipe was 17 th.
The brothers Goldenzweig 18th and 24th.
Task 10; 2 hour AAT ……and a great result for Damian and Lucas winning and nearly winning the penultimate day!!!! They started together and flew together and the difference in points was 2 on this day; 600 and 598.
Javier was 4th, Jose 11th and Felipe 13th.
Task 11; 3 hour AAT..…LAST DAY..…and another new face at the podium , this time Dino Ghioni in the ASW 20. He flew 344 km in time 3.02, speed of 113 km./h.
What happened with Javier, Jose and Felipe?????
Javier was runner up and flew himself in his DG 200 to the CHAMPION TITLE.
Jose was 5th, lost 40 points but as scores were close he dropped to spot 2 with only 16 points difference.
Felipe was 6th and hold on, on his 3d spot.
Final overall club class score after 8 out of 12 days;
1. Javier Gaude in DG 200 with 6.075 points
2. Jose Dentone in ASW 20 with 6.059 points.
3. Felipe Girado in ASW 20 with 5.908 points.
Lucas and Damian stayed on spot 6 and 7.

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Not such good news from Temora, …..in my opinion, a great place for soaring. At Temora the NSW State comps were supposed to be flown.
“As most of us already know, Work Safe Australia, in an extraordinary decision, effectively closed Temora Airport for all events and so Narromine Gliding Club was asked by the NCC and SDP to hold the NSW State Comps at Narromine from the 4th to 12th of February 2023.”

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As every year after the season, statistics from flying in the 2022/2023season in Namibia.
Busiest airfield according to the OLC.
1. BITTERWASSER; was the busiest again with 114 guests, flying 709.630,07 km., during 852 flights.
2. VERONICA; great runner up with 89 guests, flying 455.248,77km., during 577 flights.
3. KIRIPOTIB; 96 guests, flying 433.274,31km., during 632 flights.
4. POKWENI; 36 guests , flew 253.311,75km., during 345 flights.

All OLC flights , ….best for the season;
1. Elmar Erik Fischer[Germany] who flew between October 29 2022 and January 21 2023, from Bitterwasser ,a total of 35.448,42 km. during 56 flights in the ARCUS M. ; 315.13 hours
2. Nicolas Bennet from the USA….29.601,05 km, during 42 flights . Between November 9 2022 till December 31 2022 from Bitterwasser and then from January 2 till 23 in 2023 from Worchester in South Africa; 255.04 hours in the ARCUS M.

Longest OLC- flight;
1.879,95 km. by Jean Marc Perrin in a DG 808/15 m!!!!!! Flight was on December 3 in 2022. He flew in Argentina from the airport of Jose De San Marino.
By the way Jean Marc flew in his DG 808 /15 m another spectacular flight last week on January 24 ;
1.415, 73 km. also from Jose De San Mart in Argentina.

Champions OLC- plus;
1. Tobias Welsch with 8696,15 points
2. Guy Bechtold with 8286,57 p.
3. Bernd Dolba with 8082,12 p.

Kiripotib also said FAREWELL;
“Time flies … the season has ended. We would like to thank you for all the great moments and your trust in Kiripotib Soaring. We look forward to welcoming you again next year in Namibia. “
Book your gliding vacation for 2023/24 now: www.kiripotib-soaring.com/en/contact/

When you have time and money, Namibia is the best place for long-distance-flying.

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AND,……Great picture between 2 Cells from Marie-Christine in the ASG32 with her husband Mathias, flying from Lake Keepit. In the gliding season Jacques Graells organizes always “Lake Keepit Grands Prix” and not only club members also other clubs as Bathurst and Narromine participate there.Lot’s of fun and great camaraderie , as I am used to at Keepit.

—–Slowly we are looking ahead at the new season in 2023.
So do the French, here is their announcement for the next French Club Class Nationals.
AND, The famous well attended HAHNWEIDE competition.

—-News from Rieti;
CIM competition dates: 1-11 August
CCR competition dates: 14-22 August
Promozione: 14-20 Agosto
aeroclubrieti.it/w/?cat=324

—–COROWA is active again with Keith now as “the new boss”. They host the 20 m NATIONALS from February 18-25.
When you are interested; https://soarcorowa.com/20m-two-seat-nationals-2023/

—–-360km in January. Many great flights today but with an early start Andy Davis managed this one.
https://bgaladder.net/FlightDetails/106066
He was launched from Nympsfield in the UK and flew his JS 3 No secret,…he is a top pilot as well.
“With an 80km ridge, if you know where to go, some great flying is possible from Nympsfield.”

CU next week. AND,….absolutely WONDERFUL, to see that Jochen and Stefan are flying the Duo Discus together in Tocumwal. LONG- long-time die-hard Toc.- fans. Enjoy to the fullest, guy’s!!!!!
Cheers Ritz


The FULL SAR report, to learn from; published at most media and as ALL went well except for Mathias’ lower back injuries, I share it too for when you missed it ; Mountain Club of SA – Search And Rescue………HUGE COMPLIMENTS for them.

“A foreign gliding competition pilot participating in the African leg of the International Sailplane Grand Prix was rescued from high up a Western Cape mountain after his sailplane crashed (Wednesday, 23/1/25). Speaking from his bed in the hospital, he said that he was very fortunate to survive the close call and thanked the professional and efficient rescue coordinated by the South African ARCC (Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre).

It is understood that the pilot got into difficulties overhead the mountains West of Villiersdorp and was able to put the fixed-wing glider down on a steep slope some distance below the top of the peaks. Fellow pilots (also participating in the competition) that saw the crash raised the alarm with Air Traffic Control, which in turn activated the ARCC. This information and the location sent by the pilots’ onboard satellite tracking device, which pinpointed the exact crash location, assisted in guiding the Western Cape Department of Health EMS/Air Mercy Service (AMS) rescue helicopter directly to the scene.

With no level terrain to land at the scene, a Provincial EMS paramedic and MSAR Rescue Climber were hoisted down by the helicopter to the wreckage. The pilot (who was conscious and managed to provide additional information via phone) was extracted from the wreckage and hoisted in a stretcher into the helicopter. He was flown to a Villiersdorp sports field, where Western Cape Metro EMS, SAPS Rescue, Overberg Metro Rescue management, and SAPS Villiersdorp assembled to prepare and secure a landing zone for further treatment and remain available should further resources to support the first team be required. Several other resources, including SARZA and K9 was also on standby. The pilot was admitted to Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital with lower back injuries. He commented, “under the circumstances, I feel surprisingly well; I had what felt like at least 1 million guardian angels helping me”.

He remarked that his survival is in no small part due to the cockpit of the Jonker sailplane that he was flying protecting him during the crash. Jonker Sailplanes is a proudly South African company that designs sailplanes for local and international markets (in fact, all the sailplanes participating in this leg of the International Sailplane Grand Prix were manufactured by Jonker manufactured).

The scene has been handed to the SAPS and SACAA AIID (Accident and Incident Investigations Division) for further investigation.

The South African ARCC is the legally mandated function (South African Maritime and Aeronautical Search and Rescue Act No.44 of 2002, as amended) that coordinates all aviation search and rescue-related occurrences in South Africa. The ARCC reports to SASAR and the Department of Transport. Under international aviation agreements and ICAO regulations, the South African ARCC is responsible for aviation incidents extending South of South Africa across the international waters in the Southern Oceans down to the South pole. The Mountain Club of SA, along with many other emergency response organisations, is a dedicated SAR Unit to the ARCC.