Terlet Sunday May 15 2011 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
Dutch Nationals also on twitter #nkzweefvliegen
even when it does not feel like spring at the moment, it looks like it!
Greetings from Terlet, where our Nationals will start on Tuesday and everybody is ready except for ….the weather. Did we have some kind of summer in spring with great cumulus clouds and flights , now it feels we have autumn in spring. Temperatures dropped from 29.5 to 14 !!!!
Rain however was/is good for the farmers as Holland really needed some rain!?
All in the game, it is just Dutch weather and we know it will improve again!
This morning we had a good shower at 6 AM, but now at 9 the sun is shining and lot’s of people are active already.
Tomorrow the opening-briefing will be at 8 and the next day the comps will start.
It feels SO good to be back here. Lived here several years every weekend, with the kids but also with a lot of their friends. It seems , as I heard from the new owner of the caravan that this is the last year. They are ready for a modern one.So extra special to be in it for 2 weeks.
Lots of friends still spend their weekends/ holidays here, so it is a feast-of-recognition.
A Fokker 50 from Cityjet was very unlucky , I read, at Rotterdam Airport. It just went through the wheels, the landing gear collapsed totally!!! It came on the ground with a big bang and that was it. The expectation is, that the plane is total loss. Only one engineer was on baord with the crew. They were fine.
Fatraglide had a few difficult last days.Would day 5 be valid or not? Yes it was for the mixed class as 4 flew over 100 km.in their 2 hour AAT, but for the winner only 223 points were waiting. In the club class it was not a valid day, so they have 4 out of 8 days. Yesterday was the prizegiving and the wellknown goulash evening and 100 pots of beer were donated by the organisation.
See for final results at www.soaringspot.com
Soccer; only for ONE day; It is Ajax Amsterdam against FC Twente today and…it is the very last competition day. How fantastic that the number 1 Twente and the number 2 [only ONE point difference] are playing this game against each other. And yes we have Tukkers here from Twente but also members from the soaring club Amsterdam. Now …I do know that most glider pilots are not interested at all in soccer, but the world seems to be.
90 Journalists from all over the world, 40 photographers and 20 TV camera’s are in the Amsterdam Arena, 80 countries show it on TV— live— and even the Arabic Al Jazeera is one of them. Don’t have to tell you Dutch soccer has a high level.
I upgraded my internet explorer as requested to Explorer 9! Wanted to be ready with the latest version , to be perfect for the comps. BUT…..Just don’t do it! I lost half of my “know-how” . Could not work in this blog as I could not save!!!!! Every time I had written a part, I saved [ learned a few lessons there] and …all words were lost.That part/field was not changed into the new system!!! Luckily our web master Anne gave me the tip to work via google, which I do now. I heard from many more people they have problems,also in Australia.
I knew last Thursday would be a good day here in Holland , as I felt the thermals while sitting in my garden. Great skies then in Alphen with first 4/8 of cu’s later 6/8. Only problem a pretty tough wind. Best flight that day was from Soesterberg with 525 km in a Ventus 2 CM. But from here an LS 8 pilot flew 498 km. I always feel sorry when it is just not 500 or 750 or 1000. It happened more this week; 973 km in Austria, 966 in Luxembourg etc.
So more good practise for these Nationals. Though….the forecast is not TOO good for the practise day on Monday and the first day, atleast not as glamorous as we have had. Showers, but sun as well, no worries as pilots here are used to this type of weather; lets’wait and see!!! You can read it all on www.nkzweefvliegen2011.nl
Will write , whenever time left , a bit more these 2 weeks to keep you updatet in English as well.
See you ….Ritz
What is it going to be?