Post 1.454 on November 8 2023.
Last Thursday we really had a big storm Ciaran,[say Kieran] , our 2d autumn storm and the heaviest power of this storm was not even here, but over the coasts from France, the UK and Belgium, with huge damage , flooding and at least 7 persons passed away.
France had Bft 12 and that is hurricane-power. Here we had gusts up to 120 km/h , more than enough for me.
Also Italy, Spain and Germany were hit, with also there casualties.
Due to the wet and warm weather, the trees are still full of leaves, heavy and then such a storm “attacks”….hence most people died due to falling trees.

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And to Narromine again!!!
On the last day of October all entrees were in and it looks like 21 pilots in standard class, 31 in club and 27 in 15 m class have entered. Quite a few when you look at the distance to get there , the cost and if you want to fly your own glider, the shipment.

The 15 m class has a lot of entrees and the 2 Aussies flying over home country are Toby Geiger and Adam Woolley, both with great possibilities, though Toby mostly flies from Benalla and Adam from Kingaroy. For sure Adam will write his blog too, so we are all sitting front-row with him and Bruce.
The French have a strong team with Christophe Abadie and young Kevin Faur.
Don’t underestimate the Dutch…..2 very experienced pilots on WGC level. Jeroen Verkuijl and Erik Borgmann. Erik’s wife Joyce, does the PR for the Dutch.
Italy has Ricky Brigliadori and the UK Derren Francis and Phil Jones, all 3 TOPPERS.
Lucasz Grabowski and Sebastian Kawa from Poland are “aces” and together, maybe even unbeatable.
South Africa has with Uys Jonker and AP Kotze also soaring quality.
We just have to wait till December 3 for the first competition day ,after the opening of the event on December 2.

Talking about violent weather…Storms can pop up in Narromine as well. I was once there when a huge storm hit, even one of the organisation was hurt .We had one in Tocumwal too in the past a real down burst with damage….the roof from the sun-room collapsed due to the water on it.
Adam has an extra warning and picture for you;
“HOT TIP for those coming to the World Gliding Championship 2023 : We get huge storms in Australia, so be sure to ensure your glider AND trailer are tied down properly overnight. Ie, if you haven’t packed appropriate tie downs, then think about it. Naturally, you could also buy supplies from Narromine Hardware, or in Dubbo, Mitre10 or Bunnings when you get here“

—–Great news from Jonker and DG;
“We are thrilled to announce the recent establishment of JSDG GmbH, dedicated to ensuring the future production of the DG-1000 series! In a strategic partnership between DG Aviation and Jonker Sailplanes, we are leveraging shared resources and creating cost-effective production opportunities.
As the DG-facilities in Bruchsal are ideally suited for sailplane maintenance and production, the DG-1000 series will continue to be produced here in the future.“

And more JONKER- news, it was yesterday but maybe when the weather was not good you can look at it.The weather was “good” but due to approaching thunderstorm the new glider went up at 16.00.

And this morning the news was;
“Absolutely delighted to share the exciting news! Our JS5’s maiden flight was a success, the pilots who had the honor to test it are truly impressed with its exceptional handling.”

—–Got the WeGlide Magazine number 14 from November 2 full of newsy news. You can read it all on their site.
https://magazine.weglide.org/

—-–Great news from Schempp-Hirth as well;
“That was the German Gliding Day 2023 in Freudenstadt!
The 80th Gliding Day was a total success! Many interesting conversations, a nice atmosphere and of course, the Ventus E as a highlight!
We’re very proud to present this new arrival and we are looking forward to introduce this glider further to you in the next posts.
In addition, many more news were presented: our new online shop to ease the process of spare-part ordering, retrofitting of the Arcus, exciting research problems and our merchandise.”
More on; https://www.schempp-hirth.com/unternehmen/neuigkeiten/detail/ventus-e-concept-unveiled

——–Dutch news; The Dutch have presented a bid to the FAI sailplane GP, to organize the very first ‘Dutch Sailplane Grand Prix’ , between Mai 10 and 17 2025 at Terlet!!!! The organizers got the message that their bid has been selected.
Great news!!!!!!
The very first JWGC was also at Terlet in 1999, the Tulipe Tournament.
Looking forward to it. 20 Pilots can enter and they fly for max 7 day’s as the die hard fans from GP’s already know.
For news about GP’s in general; https://sgp.aero
It looks that the Nationals also around that time have to be moved to a later date , but that has to be officially announced.

–——Bitterwasser; will have over the next months LOTS of 1000km-news!!!!
Here is very early-in-the-season-news! From last Friday.
“Three in one go!
The first three 1000s flown in one day. Despite a rather poor forecast at the morning briefing, the day turned out to be a real spectacle.
All three teams reported a surprisingly good flying day. After initially weak thermals and constant sinking, updrafts and clouds appeared as if at the push of a button.
Holger Back and Ilka Eslter-Back covered the longest distance with 1123 kilometers and made it to just before the South African border.
Armin Behrendt and Thomas Wolf won the day in Africa with a distance of 1118 kilometers.Daniel and Reinhard Schramme also flew a long way with a distance of 1048 km. The pilots reported an average speed of almost 200 km/h for up to 2 hours.
In the evening, a convergence appeared directly above the airfield, allowing the pilots to enjoy a beautiful sunset.“
And 2 more on Saturday.
At this stage there are 4 female pilots as well; Andrea Abt, Margherita Acquaderni, Petra Lauer-Zimmermann en Ilka Elster-Back.
On November 5 they were on the OLC list on spot 2,[Illka with Holger [Back] 4,[Andrea by herself in Ventus 3M] 5 Margherita by herself also in Ventus 3M] and 7 [Petra with Tassilo[Bode]. Not bad!!!!

Also Veronica had 1000 km flights ,2 on Friday and 1 on Saturday.
You can see all those flight on the OLC or Weglide.

——-Australia is heating up as well. Several over 500 km flights in the wellknown areas of Benalla, Tocumwal and Corowa.

——-Gordon Boettger and Bruce Campbell flew from Minden-Tahoe in the ARCUS J 3.143,77 km!!!!!!
Speed 186.42 km /h.That was last Sunday .
WeGlide writes about the flight;
“WOW – 3143km, a new total distance record Gordon Boettger & Bruce Campbell pushed the boundaries again Another unbelievable flight with quite interesting facts:
—Working wave system for almost two days
–11 out of 18,5 hours flying in darkness with NVG’s
–To maximize the legs, wasting 170 km (flying up north) in the morning“
They were up in the air for 18 hours and 30 minutes. Pffff……
“Actually, they planned to do a downwind or 3-leg flight. Obviously, there is still a lot to come.”

–—–Last Sunday evening a lot of people in the Netherlands, could see colorful skies due to the “Noorderlicht ” a phenomena better known international as Aurora Boreales and it was not green but mainly red here. I missed out it was dark here but many people took pictures.
One of my soaring-mates mentioned:
“Flyweek ending with a very rare and beautiful red aurora borealis this evening between the north of France and Holland. Rare because a ‘noorderlicht’ is mostly not seen at these latitudes and rare because of it’s apparent color: a red color instead of greenish.”

New Zealand also had a wonderful night as one of my mates from Christchurch shared.
So world wide joy.

————The world aerobatics championships were just flown in the USA and Romain Fhal, well known world champion himself , was there coaching a group of his students in the advanced category.A total of 8 medals for his group. Well done!!!

–—–Some sad news to finish this blog, specially for guests-in-the-past, from Sportavia [SSC]
The wife of founder Bill Riley died last week, age 93.5.
Valerie , Val for friends , was always on Bill’s side. Working at Sportavia, or accompanying him when they traveled to every WGC where Ingo flew.
Both Bill and Val organised the funeral from our Dennis ,creating a life-long bond between our families.
She was buried today, surrounded by her family and best friends .
R.I.P. Val.

You are up to date, so till next Wednesday with news about the CENTRAL PLATEAU CONTEST November 2023 flown from gorgeous Taupo in NZ! I loved driving around Lake Taupo with John and Chris Roake in 2010.
Cheers Ritz