Alphen aan den Rijn Sunday February 4 2012
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com www.glidinginternational.com www.soaringcafe.com
Tocumwal Nationals 2012. Day 1
picture courtesy Dieter Albrecht.
CD Chris Stephens and VIP /CFI from the SRGC , Ingo Renner.
picture courtesy Bruce/Anita Taylor.
We should not complain with minus 22.9, when Russia has minus 43, but I can assure you that I have never been so cold , outside, as during the last days and…it is not over yet. We have a white world now after all the snow last Friday. We also had the first ever in history , 43 year old homeless person freezing dead, TERRIBLE!!!!! ALL of them have been warned for the cold ALL over Holland, they do not even have to pay the 2E., they normally pay when they stay for a day and night with food , a heater, a bed and a drink and still some refuse!!! Can’t force them.
Further on Friday was total chaos in Holland,with over 800 km of traffic jam, people who were waiting for trains which were not going and even Schiphol Airport had some problems, with 1000 people who had to stay overnight!!! Yesterday was not much better, but SUN and bleu skies made ice- skating, walking etc fun.
Also cold circumstances in Japan and the USA. One of my USA friends continues flying, till spring arrives like this!
The Lake Cup 11 on skis, great way to fly till spring starts.
Picture courtesy Rick Shepperd
Would have loved to be in Tocumwal now, but you can’t have it all!
Nice clouds over Tocumwal on day 3! And…over Narromine TODAY!
You can’t have it all!!! No….After all that great weather , day 1 started not too flash. Open and 18 m. were cancelled and pilots from 15m. and standard got small tasks both a 2 hour AAT and not everybody finished.
In 15 m. Terry Cubley [LS 3] won the day with 220 km in 2 hours 19. As long as I know Terry [ since 1984 he flies this LS 3 and it is a real good one! He is a good pilot as well!!]
In standard Paul Mander [SZD 55] won over 218 km in 2 hour 28.
No flying for 18 m. and open class so a bit more time to relax for Gerrit and his wife Pam, who both fly in open class and for Bruce and Anita.
Pictures courtesy Dundee.
Here is what Bruce had to say about the practise day;
—“Yesterday was a nice day. Tom Claffey did a super flight and shamed us all by about 10 kph … glad it wasn’t a comp day! The air was quite moist on our first easterly leg, with fast cycles and some lying clouds, then down to the south-west it was blue. For me the flight went well till the end, when things started to die with a stronger southerly breeze and dead air around the river.
Today could be pretty interesting. To the east looks flyable, but overhead and north, west and south is overcast.—“
These pictures show why day 1 was a more then difficult day! Those who flew and had to land in a paddock , had to deal with a storm .
Still raining, but the band looks thin on the radar. Will pass by morning (surely!!)
Tweet from Anita.
So day 2 started and was better! After 40 mm. of rain on day 1,[ you can see what’s left over on the pictures above from Dundee,] the pilots could start from the tarmac runway 09.
Ready for day 2!
Open class had 381 km. Interesting was that Bruce was faster in the 18 m. JS 1 then Gerrit in the Nimbus 4T; 127 km and 113 /h.
In 15 m. Lisa Trotter had a good day winning from the young[er] ones Matthew and Adam and also from Terry. Good on her! Young Matthew is on spot 1 overall after 2 days , with his “older-club-mate” Terry on spot 2!
Above Lisa with her ASW 27 and as you can see better weather on day 2, also for Louis in his Ventus A. Pictures courtesy Dundee.
In standard class 5 x an LS 8 topped the scores for the day; Peter Temple on 1 with 1000 points and Peter Trotter, Lisa’s husband with 999.5 points!!!
Here is Bruce’s view on “things”; —“Successful day for the JS1. Starting was tricky, with bands of cirrus coming through, plus some local effects (river or rain from last night?) that gave a huge blue hole over Tocumwal. I think I left last, but I was soon happy with that decision as the cirrus cleared and conditions improved. By halfway round our 380 km task I felt like I had caught the crowd. Conditions were a bit changeable, with some areas of spreadout and long glides, but the run home was good and I did the last 40 km on full throttle, just getting higher and higher. Lots of fun, and a nice start.—“
Day 3 was TOP, a day on which Terry Ryan flew 784 km. from Tocumwal in his ASH 26 and pilots from Corowa , about 70 km. to the East, over 800 km. and Harry even over 900, nice triangles as well. And..from Benalla about 70 km to the South , one long road, Tobias Geiger flew in his LS 4 a great 903 km [ 835 FAI triangle.] The first ever over 700 km flight from Richard Robinson starting from Benalla in an LS 3 was good as well.[732 and 664 FAI triangle.]
So…a good day with a 3.30 AAT for all classes and….with a speed in standard class of 142.4 km/h over 505 km. and….the 1000 points went in the pocket from Peter Temple!! Good day for Mac as well , being 2d. Mac has flown a lot in Tocumwal, so he knows the area!
In 15 m. Graig Collings won with a speed of 134 km/h over 474 km. Adam Wooley was 2d and he knows Toc as well, as he flew a few weeks for us as tuggie before he left up N. where he got unexpectedly, a job.
In 18 m. Lars Zehnder [Ventus 2CX] won with yes….154.3 km./h over 542 km. Bruce was 2d with 560 km and a speed of 152.3 km/h. in his JS1.
In open class it was Gerrit who flew best in a real open class glider, {Nimbus 4T} ; 478km. with 136.6 km./h.
Bruce about day 3;
—-“Great day in the office! Not totally straightforward, but a super day all the same. The 3.5 hour AAT could possibly have been longer, but that is easy to say in hindsight. At the best we got to about 9,500 feet, with a few climbs better than 10 knots, but some parts of the sky were a little overcooked and it was difficult to keep up the fast pace. For me that happened along the second leg, after a nice high glide over a long stretch of irrigation near Leeton. The sky ahead went soft, and I had to take a detour to some better clouds to get up again. As it turned out Lars also had some soft spots, but was a couple of kph faster than I was – great flight!—“
Mac [ Hi Mac] and Lars [Hi Lars]and Andrew [Hi Andrew] and……..Arney Hartley, [Hi Arney] Bruce and …sorry I forgot, HELP!
And Peter Temple mentions on Bruces blog;
—“Another good day for me yesterday over the moonscape of the Hay plain. Cloud streets seemed to form where-ever I flew. I flew 505km at an average speed of 142km/hr, helped by the strongest thermal I have ever flown (thanks to Tim for finding it) – mostly 13-14 knots on the average peaking at around 16 knots near cloudbase.
The engineer in me is thinking about the power required to lift a 525kg glider straight up at 30km/hr. And that’s just one glider, putting 50 gliders in a thermal doesn’t seem slow it down.”–
Peter Temple and his wife Mandy. Mandy is a longtime TC for the Australian team.And on the other picture Lisa and Peter Trotter, [Hi to all 4] pictures courtesy Anita/Bruce Taylor.
Today on Sunday on what should be day 4 a tweet from Anita;
—“front and trough coming together and coming thru today. Windy. Window too small. Tomorrow looks poor as well. Forecasts changing so??—“
There was a nice BBQ as well, organised by the SRGC from “easy to say” Ingo and Judy, as , ofcourse they have a president, secretary and treasurer as well .But Ingo is and remains a great PR-“tool “. [sorry Ingo!] On the picture Ingo and Dundee your/my photographer!And later today the pictures from the BBQ in Mike Toth hangar.
Ingo and Dundee….great mates.
And …the 2d INTERNATIONAL edition from Segelfliegen is on line NOW!
This is what you can read on your PC, Mac, iPad or Android-based tablet PC among many other exiting stories on more than 70 pages:
– Two birds with one stone: Antares 23E and Quintus M
– Basic principles of thermalling
– Flying with flaps
– A work of art in tin: Red Bull’s Blanik formation team
– The secret to being a good instructor
– “Rock me” Mountains: Soaring in High Altitude
– Flying with the girls: WSPA seminar
– The Turbine – better than its reputation
– PowerFlarm – one device for three systems
Please give it a go and please send this information on to anyone who
you think may also be interested in the latest stories from the
worldwide gliding scene. To find out how it works just check
http://www.segelfliegen-international.com/digitaleng.php
And…for those who liked the pictures from the lightning last time here is more.
—-“It’s old news now, but we had simultaneous skyshow displays in Perth on Australia Day – one by nature and the other man-made. Some great photos on flickr here:—“
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yahooeditorspicks/galleries/72157629046450149/
And to finish this blog some more then good news! [thanks Jo]
—“A major initiative to reduce glider accidents has won the 2011 General Aviation Safety Award. The British Gliding Association’s (BGA) Safe Winch Launch Team scooped the award after judges heard the initiative, which has been running for six years, had dramatically reduced the number of fatal glider accidents. The Team, led by Hugh Browning, are the seventeenth recipient of the Award, organised by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), since its inception in 1994.—“
Would love to reduce fatal accidents to ZERO, but that is, I guess, an utopia!
Cheers Ritz and ….some impressions from the cold here in town. And …sorry the blog is a bit long, but it is SUNDAY. Enjoy!
