Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Gulgong Clasic day 2

Today was not looking so good with a 10-15knnt east wind and a funky looking sky, we decide to hold off for a task. At 12pm we set a 100km task downwind to Wellington then goal at Yeoval. I went for a quick testfly on Blay's new glider before hoping in the line up and towing up. Preparing to test fly.. I decided to do the first start with Flocky and a few others,starting at 5,500 ft. I headed towards the mountains and was rewarded with a light climb back to 5,000ft. I dove over the back of the hills and got a little low before hitting a 700 fpm climb to 6,000ft asl. There were a few clouds and some shade in front of me so I took it slow and detoured to the north of the Turnpoint for the only cloud in reach. I was rewarded with a good climb and then headed back to get the Turnpoint. I could see the others not far behind me now as the sky was looking better behind me. I rounded the turnpoint then headed for the hills west of Wellington and found a 300 fpm climb. A cloud formed a few kms ahead on the flats so I left and headed there getting drilled on the glide but when I arrived the thermal was a solid 500fpm. As I climbed it got stronger and eventually turned into a solid 800 fpm climb, so I took it to 7,500ft 25kms out from goal. I went on final and flew at 120kph all the way to goal under some good clouds. The weather was just getting good and we could now proabably fly another 100kms. I think all but a handful pilots made goal with me winning the day in 1hr 47 mins. Flocky will be second 7 mins behind me and then I think Blay who did the second start will be third.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Gulgong Classic Day 1

Well After a cold wet and windy day we woke up to sunny skies and a moderate SW wind blowing.The task committee wanted to make a long task as they wanted to make the most of the conditions we have as the weather is going to be up and down for the week. After some discussion a 207kms task was set with one turnpoint to keep people following the road north to a small town just SE of Narrabri. The wind was about 15 knts and turned out to be crosswind most of the day making for a difficult task. I started at 1:15pm and headed off on course trying to stay upwind for the first leg of 52kms. I went past nearly everyone apart from Bruce Wynne who I met at the turnpoint. He got low on the hills just after the TP and I flew over his head and kept going by myself. I flew trying to stay close to course line but kept getting blown downwind and this became even harder to do as we were now heading more crosswind on the 2nd leg of 155kms. About 70kms out from goal I spotted another glider about 4kms downwind of me so I decided to fly over to him as it had been along time since I had seen another pilot. It turned out to be Chris Jones who I had actually left with and had not seen for the last 150kms. We flew together for the next 50kms the I went more upwind to make for a easier final glide to goal. He went straight and landed 11kms short of goal. I hit a light thermal and could afford to drift with it before getting enought height to make goal. Not long after Curt Warren came in who started at 1pm and will be the only other to make goal. Just as we were leaving goal we saw one glider land about 2kms short which turned out to be Bruce wynne. Many pilots had trouble getting away on the first tow which meant some pilots did not leave until around 3pm making it impossible for them to complete the course.
Sunday, November 23, 2008

Gulgong Classic

I arrived 2 days ago here in the lovely small outback town of Gulgong in central NSW.The weather here has been terrible with a low pressure pushing strong gusty WSW winds across much of the east coast. Today is the first day and the wind is about 30-35 knts outside with a temperature of 6 degrees. There are only about 20 pilots here as many backed out due to the weather situation for the week. We are quite lucky with our accomodation at least having a big house right in the middle of town with heated beds( well at least mine is heated). Here is Blay's bed.. and here is my bed..
Saturday, November 01, 2008

Classic day 8

Well it was off to Beechmont to try and fly the Southerly change that was due in at 10am. We all set up and set a task to Kalbar straight line of 60kms. The wind starts picking up and only a few from the Alternate launch. The main window opens and no one appears to want to take off. So I hop in my harness and push to see if that would help the situation as the first start was now only 30 mins away. I managed to push Adam and Big Jon off before Kenny closed launch. The wind stayed strong and the day was cancelled a couple of hours later. There was a big dissapointed World Champion walking around launch keeping to himself. I actually suprised myself by catching back up after not flying on the 1st day of the competition. I feel like a deserving winner winning 4 of the 5 days that I flew and coming in 10 secs behind Attila on the 5th day. It just goes to show you that you can never give up on a result even if you have one bad day. you just need to put it behind you and fly each day as it is given to you. Well it is off the accept my 8th canungra classic victory and party the night away. Would just like to thank all the people that helped me whislt I was sick and also Leeroy for driving for me and picking me up from goal everyday..:-)

Canungra Day 7

well back to Mt Tamborine for a stable northly day. A 66kms task was set to Palen Creek then back to goal at Rathdowney. Only 8 pilots made goal with a few not to far short. I won the day completing the course in 1hr 40 mins on the 1st start with scott coming 2nd at 2hrs 03 mins on the 2nd start. Missy and Enda dont make goal so they will move back to 4th and 5th place. I will beat Attila by 9 minutes, He did the 3rd start so he will get nothing for leading bonus. This should be enough for me to move into first place going into the last day.