Some of the readers knew exactly which year it was; the yellow shirt I am wearing on the picture last week, was from the 2011 NGC,…so that’s solved.
Thanks for being happy with me, friends!!!
We had snow and blizzards and ice cold temperatures. Last Sunday it was code red here,…I guess my Nordic friends laugh their “heads off”, …but our cold and snow, was even news on Aljazeera and CNN.
Tomorrow we will have minus 15 and with the wind chill factor minus 20!!!!!!!In the weekend minus 20 and I don’t want to know how cold it will be WITH the wind chill factor.
Last Sunday, no trains for the day and no planes.
AND,…the ZOO in Arnhem has brought their penguins INSIDE ,…it’s too cold for them,…NO JOKE!!!!
They call it already now “a winter for the history books.”
By the way there are more countries in Europe at the moment with artic circumstances.
Courtesy Arjan Vrieze.
And more fun in the neighborhood of Nijmegen,…yes skiing behind a car in Holland on a quiet road .
Kari in Finland, used to lots of snow and cold ,shared 2 pictures and indeed there is much more snow over there, but,…… they are used to it.
This, on the pictures, is Rayskala!!!The field and the area in front of the club house where I had great fun, good food and many beers!!!!
The pictures are courtesy to his friend Alfons. If you read the story under the picture you see how small this world is.
holiday house near Räyskälä. Alfons took these pics around a week ago.
Ski tracks at our airfield. Track is quite popular, not only some pilots
who use it but also people from village and from holiday houses around
here. So, this track is a kind of public relations with public.
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Time for soaring again.
The Club class Nationals in New Zealand had a lot of days with good soaring.
8 out of 9 in open for the THE MSC comp and 8 out of 9 in club,..so really good nationals!!!
Both classes did not fly on the 3d of February, but from then on they flew till the end.
Here is what happened in open class;
Task 6 had a 3.30 AAT and Tim [Bromhead] in his Ventus CT/17.5 m. flew 361 km. in time 3.33 and 3 pilots had violations to the air space, one of them Brett [Hunter] who was on spot ONE in the overall top. With 0 points he moved from 1, with more than 300 points ahead , to 3 overall,…that hurts!!
Good old Tony[van Dyke] in his LS 8 was runner up with 3.45 km. in time 3.45. And more or less out of the blue he was on spot 1 overall now!!!
Task 7, 2.45 AAT won again by Tim and Tony and Brett was 3d.
Task 8, 347 km. Only 5 finished but a good day for Tim , [1000 p] Tony [946 p.] and Brett [914 p.] as it was a 1000 points day. Best speed 92 km./h.
Task 9, 280 km. Brett won the last day with a speed of 114 km./h starting relative early at 12.53, whilst runner up Tim, started at 1.23 . Tony was 4th and it pleases me to see that an “old” mate won this competition with 7.058 points.
Tim had 6.883 p. and Brett 6.459 p.
Club class NATIONALS:
Task 6 , 3.30 AAT and Mark [Wilson] in his Libelle flying 279 km. in time 3.26.
10 From 15 finished and 3 had a violation. Robert, it’s all between him and Mark, lost some points [96] by being 4th.
Task 7, 3 hour AAT, another nice task for the “little ones”.251 km. for Mark in time 2.58. Robert[ Gray] in the DG 100 G elan, was 3d but it is still between these 2 pilots.
Task 8 ,239 km. only 4 pilots finished and the best speed was for Alain Marcuse in the LS 4 ;90 km./h. Mark and Robert belonged to the finishers.
Task 9, with 221 km…. 14 from 15 finished . Robert won the 1000 points and Tim was runner up with 996.
In the end it was really exciting. Mark won 4 day’s and Robert 3.The handicap between the Libelle and DG was about the same ;89/90. It looks like task 6 , in the end, was the decider.
N.Z. NATIONAL CLUB CLASS CHAMPION:
1. Mark Wilson with 6.987 points.
2. Robert Gray with 6.952 points.
3. Alain Marcuse with 6.596 points.
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The HORSHAM WEEK in Australia, between February 6 and 13, started with a lot of wind but good CU’s.
3 Classes, 15m./standard [8] , open/18 m. [ 12] and club.[19]
Always a lovely comp to attend.
5 days and till now 3 day’s flown in st/15m , same in open/18 m. and 2 in club.
Today the pilots have a “big one” on their soaring plate;
3.30 AAT for club, 553 km. for open and 18 m. and 464 km. for St. and 15 m.
Only 6 pilots in at the moment,…and Grant is at this stage number 1 with 347 km. in time 3.36..
Great to see Grant [Heany] from Tocumwal is doing WELL in his St Jantar. Number 1 at this stage in club. He is a REAL good pilot, already 20 years ago and still now!!!!He “feels” soaring.
Grant but also Attila, were top hang-glider pilots years ago when they decided on a non-flying-day on a world championship-hang-gliding, not far from Tocumwal,…to convert to gliding. They both still love their soaring , like Mart Bosman, who did the same.
More next week. They had tough days as well with only 1 from 8 finishing in 15m./st.
Scores are on www.soaringspot.com
The GLIDING INTERNATIONAL from February 2021 shows a fabulous picture from 2 Stemme’s above the Gepatsch glacier in Tirol[Austria]
The Stemme has been frequently in the news lately and with their long interesting flights, they were in the center of the attention. I wrote about those flights as well.
What’s in the magazine this time?
——The AIR TO AIR photo shoot, by top photographer Simon Rainer ,from 2 Stemme’s is just stunning!!![www.simonrainer.com]
ALL you need to know, about the Stemme in this magazine; 14 pages of “beauty and history”!!!
——Take flight- with proven security …..about Aussie mate Matthew Scutter …about loggers, vario meters and other devices, of course his software platform SkySight, which as you know provides weather forecasts for glider pilots.
His new glider AVIONIC Diana 2-FES, will arrive soon in Australia.
“ I’ll be posting a series of videos on how I recommend to
get the most out of your device to the SkySight YouTube channel.”
——the transcription of the Timeless content of Helmut Reichman’s lecture presented at an International Symposium in 1988. I got to know him and his wife long ago at several WGC’s. Nice fellow….who has written a great and much read book about cross country flying.
——–managing batteries in 2021.
——–the significance of the BREXIT for European soaring.
——What comes after carbon fibre.. nanotechnology.
——-the Yuneec EViva is a Chinese low-wing, two-seat motor glider that was designed by Martin Wezel and is reported to be under development
by Yuneec International of Kunshan, Jiangsu. Interesting!
——-TOO many accidents in the accident report from November and December 2020.
And lot’s of International Aviation news and the page full of “things with wings.” Enjoy!!!!
www.internationalgliding.com
To finish a picture from some REAL cold. My mate ,Art [Grant] from Canada shared it “A bit brisk for my 6:45 AM walk this morning! A few layers were added.”
That’s it for now.
All heating in the house is on “full”.
CU next Wednesday
Cheers Ritz