The great -over-seas-flying continues and pilots will be happy, to spend memorable hours over the deserts, scrub or mountains.
It still ” rains” 1000 k’s plus, in Africa. GOOD!!!! Though the last days were less good with 415 as max on Monday from Pokweni.
BUT,…also the 800 and 900 k’s create smiles.
Some flights are with HUGE speed, as one from John [Coutts] on November 20 from Potchefstroom; 1.067 km with 171.17 km./h. [according to the OLC]

John flew that day partly with Uys [Jonker] .Here is Uys’ touching-WEGlide story ,where the speed shows 177 km./h. over 1.062 .24 km.
“Interesting, incredible and impressive” were some of the comments.
“What a great flight with John Coutts! The sky looked quite wet with moisture coming in from Mozambique. John explained that the weather 50km west of Potchefstroom will be great – with possible great convergence lines.After launching the grid as tug pilot, I managed a late start and pushed through the wet air mass where I found the first decent climb, peaking at about 4m/s. John joined me here having already completed around 150km. Halfway to the base, he asked me “Shall we go” – quite hard to understand if you are climbing 4m/s. But then the master of the sky showed me how you only waste time if you stop to climb on the edge of the convergence.

We managed to fly to Lesotho in no time. Sadly 1 avionic battery charger and I had not the same understanding, and after 2.5 hrs I realized all will go black soon. With the last bit of battery power I asked John to stay with me when I disappear off air – with no navigation in an area where we normally don’t fly, or any mechanical vario I might end up farming without a wing man helping me to find the lift.It soon went black, 300 km from home and downwind. The phrase “being on tow” got a complete new meaning. After the first “guided” climb I lost sight John after looking down to see if my iPhone can provide any form of navigation. Ten minutes later I was really happy to find him again – after this I never let him out of my sight until safely on final glide for Potch.

During these dark panel moments I managed to find SeeYou navigator on my phone, and after setting some altimeter and vario boxes, I realized that it would be possible to extend the flight. Big thanks to Naviter – what a great navigation tool. We passed Potch on the way north on the edge of the convergence, and turned approx. 100km to north. I climb more than 5m/s to 15000 after 17h00, but John just followed the lift lines without stopping – just amazing. John did an incredible 1060km just over 6 hrs, and I managed over 900km after starting just before 13h00.”

Some flights are with pictures so we can see how endless “the NOTHING” looks.

——The weather down under is not too bad either.
Tocumwal showed last Monday a nice flight from Grant [Heany] 405 km in the St. Jantar…..AND with that he even topped the WorlWide OLC list.
Adam moved for a few weeks to Narromine and from this time of the year till at least in January they have interesting and GOOD weather there
He flew straight away 898 km. in his new Ventus 3T, which he loves “to the moon and back”.
As you know Adam shares a lot of his soaring expeditions/flights. They started the annual Narromine Week , a more social event with new and “old ” faces.
Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
He is also very organized .Look at this;

–—-Women in soaring can reach a lot, as you can see on the pictures.
Not only women, it counts for young men as well. When you are a glider pilot, your chances to become a pilot are really bigger.
In the past they said; When there are 10 new young ones, who want to be a pilot, they mostly take the one who is a glider pilot.

–—-From Denmark to Sweden is not so far, so the next news is from the Sundbro Airfield where Boerje Eriksson is the CD of the Uppsala Masters.
Uppsala Masters in June 2022.

“Dear gliding friends! On behalf of Segelflygarna Uppsala FK and the Swedish Soaring Federation, we are very happy to welcome You all to the 2022 edition of Uppsala Masters. Our ambition is – as always – to arrange the most Competitive, Friendly and Safe gliding event within the Nordics. Preliminary registration will open on nov 19 2021. We have a limited number of participants, so please hurry up. Uppsala Masters means Swedish nationals with international guests in Racing and Club class. All classes will use an index/handicap system issued by the Swedish Gliding Federation:
Club
https://www.segelflyget.se/…/svens…/shb/shb731-2021a.pdf
Racing
https://www.segelflyget.se/…/svens…/shb/shb732-2021a.pdf
In addition we are happy to organize JSM at the same period in Club Class as a separate competition. JSM will be held in Club class according to rules issued by the Swedish Gliding Federation:Club
https://www.segelflyget.se/…/svens…/shb/shb733-2021a.pdf
Index/handicap
https://www.segelflyget.se/…/svensk…/shb/shb711-2021.pdf
Index and rules issued by the Swedish Gliding Federation are adapted to the FAI regulations. Differences will be highlighted in Local Procedures. Uppsala Masters also means great social events during the week, such as VR gliding, grill party and sauna evenings. Tracking and social media coverage will make it possible for friends and families to follow the competition remotely.

It is as usual held at Sundbro airfield, just ten kilometers north of beautiful Uppsala. The competition will officially start on the 11th of June and will close on the 18th of June. Training flights are possible 09th and 10th of June for those who would like to get familiarized with the local conditions and the bright summer evenings of Sweden. Watch out for more info on our web page as well as social media where relevant documents, links and downloads will be published shortly. Finally, I would like to welcome both old and new friends to the 2022 years edition of Uppsala Masters.
See you soon!
Börje Eriksson
Competition Director Uppsala Masters 2022

Finally preliminary registration is now open. You can sign up here:https://forms.gle/mDiavYSvPSktUQWBAAlso take a look here to see who have already found their way to join the competition through the pilot list page:https://idrottonline.se/…/Upp…/UppsalaMasters2022/Pilots

–——In N.Z the SPRINGFIELD SOARING CHAMPIONSHIP ,has just finished.

They were hosted by the Canterbury Gliding Club, between November 14 and 20.
They had quite a few good days .
Day 1 was cancelled but day 2 was straight away a prey for young Alex McCaw in his Discus 2C. He flew 470 km with 123 km./h speed.
Its nice to see that Alex who was already a very enthusiastic junior, who flew with his mate Nick [Oakley] many junior comps and JWGC’s , now flies with him, in the same competition as their dads John and Mike. If I remember well, Mike was already TC for N.Z. in Benalla in 1987.
The way they set tasks and make the scores is different here then to a “normal “competition.

Task 3 was smaller with marginal weather, only 14 finished. The big ships as the ASH 25 and ASH 25 M have an advantage then and they won the day. Of course they have a handicap as well.

Task 4, was an excellent day …a ripper as they called it …..with distances up to 715 km.
Daily winners ; ASH 25 Team TF – Mike Oakley and Karen Morgan..715 km with a speed of 97 km./h. and ASH 25 team Team ZF – Terry and Abbey Delore with 547 km [92 km./h] and Alex as number 3[615 km and 90 km./h]
Task 5 was interesting. The task distance was max 957 km
“Pilots have a pre declared turnpoint that’s worth whatever points distance away from Springfield. You make it you get the points, the catch is… if you don’t… you lose that amount of points. EG: a turn point 100km from Springfield = 100points
Daily winner with 567 km was Mike again…speed 117 km./h. . Terry flew 509 km with a speed of 104 km./h.
Task 6 [day 5];” ‘Big Circles’ ridge and wave day.”

Tasks between 63 and 850 km. were set last Saturday on the last day. The “The Delore family ARCUS ZF ” won the day ;432 km and a speed of 147 km./h Terry is of course a well known top pilot and also a kilometer eater.
Yes “Wave there was” , up to till at least 3556 m. MSL.
“Concurrent ” Mike flew 409 km with a speed of 142 km./h.

And winners of course as well. Here they are;
1. Mike Oakley in the ASH 25 with 4.898 points.
2. Team ZF in the ASH 25 M with 4.670 p.
3. Alex McCaw in the Discus 2C with 4.595 p.
Nick was 5th just 23 points behind Tim Bromhead, due to his better last day. They swapped the 4 and 5 spot several times.

—–And to finish this superb picture from a Down burst, called a micro burst, which will be published in the 2022 Aussie calendar [ for the month of February] from the Bureau of Meteorology
NEVER EVER forget the downburst we had in Tocumwal!!!!!
Whilst living there we always ordered those superb calendars, for ourselves but also for our guests. You can order them on
http://ow.ly/pMeB50GRyXj
Taken from a plane “From the seat of the cockpit of the plane, on a flight from Mornington Island to Normanton in Queensland on 25 March this year, pilot Will Log was in the perfect position to capture this incredible aerial view of an isolated downburst.”

Cu next week.
Cheers Ritz