July 2015 started with a BANG.The first night of July was the hottest ever in Holland since they started measuring.
Europe was under a huge HIGH and everybody was “HOT”,France , Germany and Spain “suffer”  from over 40 dgr. C.
July 1 was also the hottest July 1 in history here in Holland.July 2 the hottest day ever in July.
Saturday the Tour De France started in Utrecht with 37 dgr. C. but the weather record from 1944, 38.6 was NOT smashed.We had however the 40thiest official HEATWAVE …AND in ARCEN in Limburg they nearly got the record; 38.4 dgr. C..
16 million liters of water were necessary on DAY 1 for the more than 350 .000 enthusiastic people, to keep their thirsty throat  ” wet”  at this exciting start of the Tour and on Sunday when they departed from Utrecht on their LOOONG way to France, the same amount.A total of one million ” cycle-lovers” visited Utrecht.
Winner on day 1 and in the yellow on day 2; Aussie Rohan Dennis from Adelaide.
Lot’s of weather records in parts of Europe have been broken.As said over 40 in Germany with SEVERE thunderstorms in the Berlin area.
On Sunday SEVERE thunderstorms were predicted here as well and lot’s of wind. NOT good for the cyclists who had to go in the end of their Dutch trip over a bridge with sea-water AND wind to the right and left. Luckily the severe weather at the finish line, was 1 hour ahead of the cyclists so when they thought ,” this will be the first finish without spectators” the sun was shining again and they could finish WITH spectators, but after having been dealing with tough wind , hail and rain.
Difficult day at what to look as well; Tour de France, from Utrecht in Holland to Zeeland  “NEELTJE JANS ” an artificial island. Formula 1 at Silverstone, World championship soccer for ladies [in the evening in Vancouver Canada] between Japan and the USA and the World championship Beach Volley in Holland in the Hague; Holland against Brazil.” We ”  lost ,…missing 5 match points.
Not to forget ,…keeping an eye on Greece where nearly 10 million people during an historic ballot had to say “nai” or “oxi”.well, THEY voted for NO , what happens now…… ????????
Still unknown.

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This upcoming Saturday , JULY 11, my good friend and I should say OUR GOOD FRIEND , Art [Grant] is going to marry his Judy.When I checked how is jitters were he seemed all in control;
” We are almost ready – church is booked, a big tent is going up in the yard, and the caterer has our order.  We have to pick up our rings in Winnipeg on Thursday.  Guests will begin arriving on Thursday, too.
This is so much fun.”
In short; He met Judy when he was young, AND,….again after they both had lived their lives and found there was still some “spark”  between them. They stayed for a few months in the neighborhood of Uvalde escaping the Canadian cold and finding out how special their connection was.
They moved in together after that and,….the result,…a wedding on July 11.
I wish them the VERY BEST for the MOST HAPPY LIFE together.I know I speak for all of you.
As soon as I have them I will share pictures, but I won’t be writing between July 13 and 22 due to my 2d holiday this summer.

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The OLC- July- 1 started with just over 800 km. flown in Hungary with a Nimbus 4 T.
Laszlo Hegedus was the pilot and he was just the number 3 from the Hungarian Nationals [flown between June 12 and 22] in the National Mixed[with 18 m]  open class.Over 8 days he won one and was runner up twice.
Next week he participates in the 18th EGC 2015 flown from OCSENY in Hungary.His home country.That should open perspective for him.
3 Classes in Hungary with a total of 85 pilots from 21 countries . Poland participates with 7 pilots,  Czech Rep , Germany and Hungary with 6.
18 m. Class has 33 entrees, open 26 and there are 27 x 2 pilots in the 2-seater class.
Interesting in this class , a father son combination from Holland, a husband and wife combi from Germany and from Japan, but they fly HC.
I more and more like this 20 m. class.17 ARCUS types , 7 DUO DISCUS types and 3 ASG 32 types.
They all start on July 12 continuing till July 25.
The first week is in my holiday time with the grand kids but most of the 2d week I can check for you.
The site where you can find it all is ; www.egc2015.hu

This week is practice and the UK team has arrived early to do some practice. Gliders from Andy and Russell are on the grid. yesterday some flights were added to the OLC and they went from one tug to 3, so all was smoother and quicker.

As shared by the BGT. And Baldrick, who cleaned the JS 1 N1, for Pete ,who flies it in open class.

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From Mont Lucon-Gueret, the French Nationals in st./15m and 20 m. are flown in ONE class with 41 participants and HC by Dutch pilot and former European Champion Steven Raimond.
They started on the 5th with a 2.30 AAT won by Louis Bouderlique [ 939]in the ASG 29.Runner up was Christophe Ruche [ 936]and Philippe de Pechy was 3d.[934]
On Monday they had a 3 hour AAT. And it was tough to fly a lot of kilometers in that time. Best pilot was Adrian Henry from Bailleau [member of a well known gliding family in France] in an LS 8;239.32 km in time 3.04,50.[923 points].
Runner up was Frederic Hoyeau in the Discus 2a.[ 910 points]
15 Pilots did not finish.

245.60 km. Was the distance set for yesterday.Christophe Ruche flew the best distance and that was not 245.60 but 187,64 km.
All pilots out-landed.
After 3 days 2 pilots are on spot 1, Christophe and Louis both with 2.182 points.

For today a 2 hour AAT is set.

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I own you the last 2 days of the US Nationals . In Open class Heinz [Weissenbuehler ] won the last but one day in his ASW 22 BL. A day with mainly blue thermals.
DB and Ron were 2 and 3.
In 18 m.day 7 was for Ray Gimmey again. Good on him! Jerzy was 2d . Ken Sorenson , the Uvalde 2012 CD was on spot 2 overall with 2 points on the number 3.
In Club class day 8 was a prey for Garret [Willat] in the ASW 19 and the last day was be between him and Sean [Franke] in the LS 1f.

Enough excitement on the last day , but not so much about the flying. A 3.5 AAT was set, later reduced to 2.5 and then with possibility of thunderstorms open and 18 m. were cancelled. Club had to try ………….
And they did and  squeezed out another day in this class. TAT [turn area task] was set ,with around 117 miles.The gate opened at 15.35!!
Only 1 pilot did not finish. Quite some changes in the top as there was a difference in the unofficial scores from day 8 from 3 points  between 3 and 4 Mike Westbroek [7305] and Boyd Willat and Robin Clarc , both 7302 points.
Day 9 was good for Garret with a runner-up-daily-spot. NOT so good for Mike with a 13th spot and pretty good for Boyd with a 5th place.The winners below.By the way,… Mike dropped to 6 and Robin to 4.

So the winners are;

Dick [DB] to the r. Ron in the middle and Heinz to the l.

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The SOLAR IMPULSE 2 landed after 4 days, 22 hours and one minute in Hawaii. What a great effort from Andre Borschberg; a once-in-your-life-time-thrill.20 Minutes naps in that period was the max !!! Unbelievable. A hero, a LEGEND!
WITHOUT fuel, only solar power he flew from Nagoya in Japan over the Pacific Ocean.A new record,
Notifications were received by the FAI for a claim in  sub class;
Straight distance of 6449.8 km. in 117 hours 52 minutes.

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From ELY 759 was flown on the first day of July  in an ARCUS with a speed of 158.17 km./h.
Last Monday was good in several parts of Europe.Look at this;
1.067 km. from Grosses Moor in Germany in an EB 28.
882 km. from Ocana in Spain in a 21 m. ASH 31.
791 km. from Joensuu in Finland in an 18 m. DG 808.
766km. from Barcelonette in France in an 18 m. ASH 31.
779 km. from Aosta in Italy in an 18 m. LS 8.
815 km. from Soesterberg in Holland in a DUO DISCUS XLT.

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Peter Ditmar  in Holland is the  new owner from the very first Ventus 2cxa FES.[Front Electric Sustainer]
Here is the news about this glider from Schempp Hirth.
—” FES is an innovative, environment-friendly sustainer system and very different from all former systems. The reliable and lighting-fast starting and stopping of the engine with any noticeable additional drag allows to spontaneously use the electrical engine, which opens completely new perspectives. The powered flight is perceived in a very new way and can be enjoyed by puristic glider pilots.

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The new GLIDING INTERNATIONAL [July/August] has some interesting stories again. About;
—the AERO 2015 in Friedrichshafen, with news from Elke who visited the biggest of the 12 exhibition-halls full of gliders and soaring news .She mentions…” Gliding goes ELECTRIC.”
—Markus and Karin, write about their soaring-experiences in KURUMAN in S. A. and compare 4 S.A soaring sites with statistics;Douglas, Gariep,New Tempe [Bloemfontein] and Kuruman.
—Aldo ,writes about the benefit of simulators for clubs , especially the SUPER simulator in Varese, the venue for the next final of the FAI SGP .
— Nature shows us how to fly by Miles
—A look inside the WINTER Instruments by Markus and much more divided over 64 pages.

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You are up to date, CU next week.
After you will “see”  me again on the 22d of July

cheers Ritz

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