The seniors in Seminole Lake had a competition “at their leisure” as at some days the weather did not co-operate.
After the rest day, they had 2 more days to catch up, eat and drink together and hope for another day.
That day came on March 17 …contest day 3 and only one more to go! AND,..an 21 m. ASH 31 MI, with Henry Retting in it, won the day and nestled it/himself on spot 1 overall as well; 2.701 p. That is 50 points ahead of the runner up overall Phil with 2.655.p in a Discus 2B. Just a 2 hour AAT but they flew!!

As always with just a few days of flying , the scores are very close as 2.614…. 2.613 …2,603 p.
Weather man Fernando expected ” a late developing blue day with thermals topping out at 4000 feet over the hot spots.  His forecast was accurate, as usual.”

I had to laugh about the next text;
“Once again, we got the opportunity to test the definition of “loitering,” this time over a federal prison.  The CD had a pleasant conversation on the phone with the prison authority, who was easy to convince that a gaggle of gliders circling overhead posed no risk.  If only they could all be so reasonable.” LIKE!!!!
Why was that, you might ask yourself as I did here is the answer I got ;
“The background of the prison story is that we had a bad experience 10
years ago with a glider circling over a nuclear power plant.  This was
the opposite experience.”
I do understand!!!! When I started gliding in 1967, we had no airfield to operate from, but we flew from 3 different airfields, where we had a good camp.[ Venlo, Malden and Terlet]
In spring it was Venlo and to the side of the field was a military station with, as was told us, “bombs” .So we were absolutely not allowed to fly over that area. We never did,…bombs…never know if that was true.

The last day on March 18, looked good with nice fluffy cloud’s popping up, perfectly seen by Bo. A 3 hour TAT was set.
“We had a spectacular day today.  The weather was perfect for all activities, including glider racing.
It was a 4-circle Area Task with the big one in the south.  John [ the CD] was slightly concerned that it was an overcall at 3 hours, but the conditions continued to improve all afternoon.  The winners didn’t quite run out of room, but it was close.” in their March 18 report.

The ARCUS M with Nicolas Bennett /Ryszard Krolikowski, won the day AND with that, also the overall title; 3614 points. Nic flew a lot over the last couple of years, also overseas, in Australia [ after the WWGC with John, where I met them] and Europe as well.
Phil was 16th for the day and overall runner up with 3.526 points. Third was Henry in the ASH 31/21 m. with 3.513 points. He had not the best last day; 26th.
“Seniors Day 4/last day. 76 mph on course was good enough to win the day and the contest. Mostly honest clouds so we didn’t have to circle much. Thanks Ryszard for the coaching!” comment from Nic[olas] .

The results of a few well known names; Bif Huss on 4, Jim Lee on 5, Gary Ittner on 9, Pete Alexander on 13 and Karl Striedeck on 14.

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NARROMINE NATIONALS.

“The fleet is on the grid and ready to launch into what looks like a cracking sky! Things are predicted to get a little interesting weatherwise after 3pm so, hopefully they won’t be hanging around after the gate opens.”
Last day of the Nationals starts!

The Australian Nationals in Narromine finished with a different daily winner in 15 m. class ; Butch in his AS 33es.
He moved UP from 5 to 3 overall!!!
During the 2.30 AAT he flew 343 km in time 2.35 good for a nice speed of 132 km./h.
Ray did well too ,as he was over 130 km./h as well.
Adam, Matthew and Toby followed.
So the overall scores had a “tiny” shake up:
1. Matthew Scutter in the Diana 2 FES with 6.844 points.
2. Ray Stewart in the JS 3 with 6.476 p.
3. John ..Butch..Buchanan in the AS 33es with 6.459 p.
Adam was 4th with 6.417 and Toby 5th with 6.365 points.
“Final day wrap up, congratulations to Matty Scutter & Jim Crowhurst on their convincing victories! I just couldn’t piece it together today running North, so I expect to keep 4th & miss out on my revisited target of 2nd. The V3 performed great, just the pilot needs some polishing. Great fun all the same ” by Adam.

As Matthew mentioned in the morning ;”Just need to get around the task today, no games, no pushing, will go with other gliders and have an easy day. Risk of storms and recent rain might complicate.” and he did. Matthew Scutter’s Gliding

In club a different daily winner as well. David Collins in the ASW 20F. During the 2.15 AAT he flew 265 km in time 2.17.
David is a very young pilot from Mildura and one with a bright future.
In 2019 at the Junior World Gliding Championships in Szeged in Hungary, he had a day -win for Australia. A new Matthew????
“The Maurie Bradney Trophy is awarded to the best Junior Pilot (under 25yrs old) competing in an Australian Club Class Nationals and the Sir Donald Anderson Award is presented to the best pilot competing in their first National Gliding Competition.Both of these trophies were presented to an outstanding up and coming young pilot from Mildura, David Collins“
“Nearly every -day-winner ” Jim was 5th. But no worries, he had such a lot of points ,he nearly could n’t loose anymore .
So here are the overall scores;
1. Jim Crowhurst in ASW 20 with 6.698 points.
2. David Collins in ASW 20F with 6.084 p.
3. Jack Hart in the Mosquito with 5.899 p.
Jo Davis was 4th [5.535 p.] ..good on her.

“Jim Crowhurst 2022 Australian National Club Class Champion.Jim is no stranger to the winners podium, this is Jim’s Fourth Australian Club Class Nationals win, having previously won in 2019 at Kingaroy, 2014 at Goondiwindi and 2012 in Kingaroy.Our most heartfelt congratulations to Jim, a true gentleman and a Champion in every sense of the word.”
Narromine Gliding Club Official

When the last gliders were in, the sky opened the doors’ and it rained..it rained like hell.
“Heavy microburst came through that only moments earlier was a nice cumulus.” Not all were in time to put their glider in the trailer. But ,..on the other hand it had a nice “wash”.

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The weather in Europe is getting better and better. Fresh yes ,maybe even cold, but blue skies , with cu’s and sunny.
Quite a few German squad- pilots have started their [training]-season in Saint Auban in France.
The Dutch National Squad arrived there on Monday for a “decent kick-off” of the season, as one of the boys called it.
Young toppers who are eager to learn more as Ties , Nic ,Mathijs and Lars practice with Dutch WGC topper Erik Borgmann and instructor Francis Moginot. ….Dual training and” lead and follow” also with Hadriaan van Nes , Rein Groot and Max van Bree.
The Dutch team has 2 ARCUS T gliders an ASG 29 E and a JS 1. I noticed a Duo Discus as well. Not too bad!!!
Lars mentioned that the first day was perfect, he enjoyed EVERY minute of his first cross country in the mountains /Alps and as he said;” the best thing is,….. tomorrow we go again!” 411 km!!!
He shared more beautiful pictures from day 3 on https://www.weglide.org/flight/128749

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Got a message with news from HpH Sailplanes UK about their 2 seater;
“The HpH Twinshark has been proving itself as a worthy competitor in the 20m class. Many top competition pilots have been very impressed by the handling and performance. The safe handling and amazing build quality as found in the single seater range is of course present.“

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Last Sunday was SUPER weather in some countries and many had great fun so early in the season; 291 pilots added their flight to the OLC.
There were excellent ridge soaring conditions in the Eastern Alps.
What about 1.084 km by the Pirkers in their ARCUS M from beautiful Wiener Neustadt?
And a 1000 by Markus Gusenleitner in his Ventus 2 CM[18m] also from Wiener Neustadt, where I was with the WGC.
And one from Trieben also in Austria in an ASH 31. TOP WEATHER.
Also in Italy [Thiene] where Giorgio flew 772 km in his Ventus3.

Yesterday we went outside WITHOUT a coat. 21 dgr. C Love it.
Bring it on…. one of Adams quotes…..SPRING!!!!
the hottest March 22 here EVER.

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WeGlide mentioned on March 17:
“You can now open any flight from WeGlide in SkySight to analyze it in depth with the corresponding weather layers If the flight is not older than one week, just click on the small SkySight logo below the flight status.
Try it out with this awesome flight by Bert Schmelzer:
661.47 km @ 90.01 km/h
Hausen am Albis
Ventus 3T 18m
7h 36m
Head over to WeGlide to see the full flight:
https://www.weglide.org/flight/127457

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Upcoming Saturday is the MEMORIAL for Ingo in the WW2 hangar in Tocumwal.
In my next blog I write a final farewell, about Ingo’s earlier years in which he became 4 times world champion.
Ingo loved to fly with birds as well.This picture was shared by many so I share it too, this time for Ingo;

Cheers Ritz…AND …..after more than 2 years, we are free, from today on , from all COVID -19 RESTRICTIONS. Still people in hospital but they think it’s safe to give the country it’s freedom back. Big [music-] festivals are on the program already.
To finish this fabulous picture from Tobias Barth  @tobi.barth.photographer
Tobi takes great pictures also for calendars.