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Daily News
Before the comp: View from the rear (Emilis Prelgauskas) / First comp for 7 years (Martin Gregory) / In brief (John Hudson) The 2004 Clubclass Championsips Waikerie is still putting on great sporting events 30 years after the 1974 World Gliding Championships. The aerodrome layout, club facilities and infrastructure which were put in place for the Worlds make this site ideal for holding large scale gliding competitions. Apart from the lack of water due to the dry conditions experienced throughout the area over the last couple of years the aerodrome performed magnificently. The grassed take off pads were a great place to sit whilst waging physiological warfare and doing those last minute flight preparations. During the contest period Australia experienced rain patterns that frequently covered the entire continent. Waikerie produced soarable but challenging conditions. Sea breezes pushing up from the south, along the back of the Mt Lofty Rangers influenced the weather patterns in the area and caused southerly winds to dominate throughout the contest. Optimistic pilots came expecting hot conditions and long tasks, after all in 1989 Waikerie provided the worlds first successfully flown 1000km competition task. It could happen again but we will have to wait till next years comp to find out. A very informative Web page has been developed by Pete Siddall of Riverland Internet www.riverland.net.au. Interested pilots should visit the club class site www.waikerieglidingclub.com.au/clubclass regularly for the latest in news, competition applications forms, rules and information. Thanks to Martin Gregory and Emilis Prelgauskas for their regular daily news updates. Volunteers are always appreciated and for next year the comp's web page will have a separate roster page, if you can help, register by email listing name, tasks and dates you can assist - you will see your name appear on the roster. We particularly would like assistance in areas of cleaning and food preparation. The web site will again have a mailing page to allow you to keep in touch with your friends and other competition pilots. The organising committee lead by John Hudson worked tirelessly for 18 months to ensure the success of this event. Acknowledgement goes to Maurie Bradney for his "how to do it" papers which were past on and used by the organising committee. The competition organisation provided a floating crew to assist in retrieves and getting crews back when several pilots crewing for each other outlanded. What other competition held in recent years have you been able to outland and get back after midnight and still have someone to greet you, offer you a meal and a drink. The catering was first class the last night dinner spectacular, congratulations to first place Phil Ritchie second place Tobias Geiger third place Terry Cubley, look forward to seeing you all next year. From Greg Jackson, Aug 17 2004. ^ top Comp finished The comp is over, all the gliders are home, trophies have been presented, and the after dinner talking is still happening. The top results are: 1 Phil Ritchie 2 Tobias Geiger 3 Terry Cubley 4 Wolli Beyer Full results here From Pete S, Fri 23 Jan 2004, 23:36 CST. After the comp First, one gripe: I realise I should probably keep my opinions to myself till I've participated more and got some results to back me up, but I can't resist this one observation: I was disappointed by the number of times I heard references to the "handicap being the reason someone didn't do well", and "the raw time being the really interesting thing". This type of observation only comes from pilots flying hot ships, of course... I wonder how quickly one forgets how nailbiting it is trying to find that next thermal from 3000' at a handicap of 1ish compared to a handicap of 0.9? That 10% makes a huge difference. I guess a sermon on what handicap competition is all about isn't needed here... suffice to say this attitude was a little suprising & disappointing. Especially given that even the multiclass competition has now moved to being handicapped: if handicapping is the way of the future, we'd better get used to it, and get used to accepting pilots having older ships beating newer ones fair and square. Enough on that! One gripe is all there was from a whole competition! Organisation: pretty-much flawless! Darryl was an outstanding comps director: right blend of stern decision making ability and sensible discretion, and the other roles were filled equally well. Task-setting: excellent. There were 10 out of 10 days of flying, and on each day a challenging task was set that matched the conditions. On only one out of the 10 days were a significant number of gliders sent to inevitable outlandings, and no-one could really have predicted that sea-breeze. With the tough weather, it was hard for the task-setters to keep it fun and interesting: I think they did a great job. Weather: really tough. One of the pilots receiving a presentation got it right when he observed that this kind of weather really sorts out the skills of the competitors, and the winner was a truly deserving champion. That being said, it wasn't exactly what you could call "fun flying weather". Just a couple of Cu days would have created a lot more smiles all round I'm sure. But 10 out of 10 days flying is good: flying is what we came to do! Facilities: excellent. Having a swimming pool and grass all round is so good, not only for pilots, but crew & kids! What I'd like to see next year: selected track logs made available from the scorer for display on a big projector screen using a program like SeeYou to show the gliders doing what they did on the course... God willing, we'll be back next year! From Martin Gregory, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 21:53 CST. ^ top Day 10 Here was Anna's chance to meet her goal of exceeding 70kph in the challenging weather that we've had. The temp trace was promising: big fat area under the trace, and the forecast maximum predicting thermals to 8000'. The forecast maximum was not to materialise however: on the grid the organisers changed to Task B: a 3.5 hr AAT out to Lake Cullulerain (instead of 4 hours out to Pirlta). So - another similar weather day started happening, and off went Anna... and had a good run! What with de-rigging and presentation dinners etc, we didn't find out till the next day that Anna had indeed cracked 70kph... 75 kph in fact! She was extremely pleased... she ended up on the first page of the results for the day too, which exceeded her expectations. She felt she'd made a real step forwards in thermal selection and thermal leaving. As mentioned, the day concluded with the presentation dinner. This was superb: the chef, who is also a glider pilot, did a fantastic job with the regular dinners, and excelled himself with the presentation dinner. There's nothing like a good dinner to make everyone feel good! The comp had been a lot of hard work for the Waikerie team, especially straight after performance week, and in the later part of the comp there was some feeling that perhaps running the whole sheebang again next year would be too much. But with all the accolades and good spirits at the dinner, the feeling did seem to have transformed into "see you next year". From Martin Gregory, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 21:53 CST. ^ top Thursday contest day 9 A 4 hour run task set, with Waikerie within the course leg quadrilateral surrounding it. South-west wind up to 15 knots, early cu burning off, cirrus coming in from the west, sea breeze then regenerating cu up the river valley from the south toward Morgan. Some pilots chose to do precautionary landings back at Waikerie as conditions weakened (died?) under 4 hours having started late, expecting to take a speed penalty by being scored for 4 hours. Instead, any outlanding less than 4 hours on task was scored as outlanding, a double whammy. Expecting the day to tail off early, I took an early start. Prepared to take the pre-gate penalty in preference to both outlanding after the 4 hour task while trying to return to Waikerie, and the 10% score penalty this involves - again double whammy. Which seems to be the essence of run task. Flew 4 hours at a slightly better speed than previous days, with convection going a bit higher (5000'). Good cores still a long way apart. I watched 'on scratch' & better going core to core, while I worked 2 intermediate weak ones to get to the next good core; even so having a good look at the ground from close up a number of times. My good climbs came over farmers harrowing, with me working the dust. One dust devil actually triggered 4 paddocks downwind and gave me my best climb for the day. I abandoned my day on the quiet glide in toward Morgan with cirrus overhead, the sea breeze pushing me along, and the wet river environs beckoning. A quiet climb back to the inversion gave a gentle glide back to the aerodrome, glad to be home and not worrying about what the scoring wants to make of it all. Having started with 76 points on day1, its all up from there every day thereafter. From emilis prelgauskas, Fri 23 Jan 2004, 09:22 CST. ^ top Day 9 Interesting weather: Cu's that should by rights have burned off were filling the sky, and the forecast was for 5-6000 tops. A 4 hour Run Task was set, going clockwise around Waikerie: Woolpunda, Maggea, Notts Well, Morgan. 4 hours meant that at least 2 laps would be expected from most gliders. This was a lot of fun. There was good lift under the clouds, while they lasted, and the speed task lines the gliders up on track as interesting thermal markers. I felt like I was flying sensibly, changing gears to suit the varying conditions. It was booming in the east, while over by Morgan it was covered in cirrus and felt really quiet. Unfortunately, "sensibly" turned out to be "way too conservatively". I did 300kms in the 4 hours. The winner, in a similar glider, did 390. Wow. Looking at my trace later revealled that I had been taking way too many weak thermals way too high. Since this was my last day to fly, I have to resolve to sort this all out before next year! From Martin Gregory, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 21:53 CST. ^ top Day 8(b) Back to normal weather again. The window of lift was expected to be slightly less, so a 2.5hr AAT was set: Notts Well, Loxton - 164kms. Anna again got back in 67kph. She came down feeling good about how she flew, and knowing that a less conservative final glide might have got her up to the target 70kph. Later in the evening she was kicking herself that she got have had even a few more kph (and hence positions) by pushing to the back of the Woolpunda circle at the end. Another day, another lesson: that's gliding. From Martin Gregory, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 21:53 CST. ^ top Wednesday contest day 8 The cool air inflow yesterday had only affected the lower atmosphere, leaving hot upper air and a need for mid 30's temperatures for good soaring. At less than this the conditions of the contest so far would prevail. West to South winds, broken lift to modest heights. With promise of strong winds. A 2 hour AAT was set. On the grid, takeoff was delayed at 27 degrees until the sniffer reported climbs to over 3000'. Lift moved around with gained height, varied in strength, and streeted in line with local winds. A number of pilots found the day hard, including Simon & Catherine in TCP, who claim that 23m wings don't fit in 10m thermals. Winds didn't eventuate as strong as forecast, 'only' 10-15 knots out on track. Today I did more than minimum task distance in just over time, changing task leg each time I felt the conditions were changing. 'This isn't happening, going home now' was the decider to go to the next leg of the quadrilateral. Including the pereception that southerly influence was cutting up the convection halfway round the course. Achieved speed 60kph (woohoo) Generally height band 3500' to 1200', only occassionally lower or higher. Still had to work a lot of weak thermals to get to the few strong cores on task, and saw the ground from close up, though less often than on previous days. A friendly farmer ploughing was the saviour on one occassion where I worked the dust plume. From emilis prelgauskas, Thu 22 Jan 2004, 09:22 CST. ^ top Day 8(a) For the first and only time, the weather forecast was completely off. It was a hard one for the weather man to call: strange things in the traces, and strange clouds in the sky. An A Task was set that assumed a narrow window of 10,000 feet. Yes, four zeros. A B Task was set on the premise that maybe things wouldn't be that good. In fact, Plan C was required, which was a "no contest day". The organisers wisely looked at the sky and all the pilots in the clubhouse and didn't go as far as marshalling. The "Pilots Meeting" was held instead. At the Pilots Meeting, interesting topics were discussed, and some sensible motions passed.
Day 7 A slightly improved version of Day 6. This time the AAT was 4hrs and 304kms - out to Lake Culluleraine via Allawoona, and back via Renmark. For the first time, I didn't enjoy the flying on this day. I just could not centre a thermal for a decent climb. I started early, with the intent of using the gaggle on the first leg, then cutting the first corner to use the gaggle again on the second leg. The first part went OK, but unfortunately the timing for the second part was off, and the only gaggle I saw was going out to Lake Cullul at the time I was coming back. In between then, I had had to dig myself out of Meribah (1000' over the airfield), which had caused me to turn back somewhat early. I found myself having to take every puff of weak lift to get into Renmark, and was on circuit for the airfield there when I found a rescue climb on downwind over the scrub. At least the trip home from there was pleasant: huge strong thermals over the scrub north of the river got me home 8 minutes early. All of which added up to a slow flight: I felt I had better in me, but don't know how to get it out! From Martin Gregory, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 21:53 CST. ^ top Monday contest day 7 Finally northerly wind and expected high temperatures. Nevertheless start was late and weak. If Friday was 'tuggies benefit day' then today is 'tasksetters' revenge'. Task minimum runs straight through the 'seabreeze' area of the irrigation south of Loxton in these winds, twice across the bushland at the Victorian border, and across the river swamps to reach Renmark. Pilots also report poor conditions around Taldra, the stretch from the main contest area toward the border, which everyone has to cross in the run toward Lake Cullulleraine. The day offered thermals up to 6000', varying in strength consistent with earlier days. With the bottom end aircraft, I skirted south of the Loxton dead area, but still took a single glide across wind to one of a number of low points for the day, which are having such an effect of reducing average speed. Several attempts to enter the bushland area with enough height to cross comfortably, and diversion north to cross the river; all add to the mileage and reduce the speed. I turn at 44.9km from Lake Culleraine. (Guess what the assigned area radius is). Then 3 successive low points around Renmark aerodrome including drifting in weak lift out into the middle of the irrigation (where Tim & Sue Laidler's strip is a possible 'out'), all add to the stress. My toes are cramping, despite the mantra - relax, relax.... Finally get home at 50kph again. Any day I try faster, I land out, even if only a few km down the road. So now I've made it home on 2 AAT tasks out of 5 flights here, at speeds representing survival, not racing. On a POST task, I wouldn't have gone anywhere near the places I've visited today. From emilis prelgauskas, Tue 20 Jan 2004, 08:03 CST. ^ top Day 6 Day 6 was a typical "Waikerie Day". Not what locals call a "Waikerie Day" - that is a 14,000 foot 10 kt thermal day. Day 6 was forecast to be a typical Waikerie Comp Day - 5000', 3-4kt thermals in a southerly. A typical task was set: 3 hr AAT, with a nominal distance of 280km. Anna launched on her quest to better 70kph in these conditions. She got around in 67kph. Not quite the goal, but no disgrace either. Sitting here on the last day, there is not much else memorable about Day 6! From Martin Gregory, Tue 27 Jan 2004, 21:53 CST. ^ top Day 5 The topic of the day at the briefing was "sea breezes". We were told how to recognise them, and how they behave in the Waikerie area. We were told by the Met-man that an upper level trough directing SW winds had the possibility to cause an amplification of the sea-breeze much like Day 2. So... you would expect all the pilots, me included, to have that in mind out on course, wouldn't you? Well, not so. The next thing they did was hand out the weather, and it was saying maybe 8000' thermals later in the day. 8000'!! The thought of that after 4000' struggles is obviously enough to put a sea-breeze out of mind for many pilots... including me. So... 3hr AAT was set, this time 380k nominal distance and 200k minimum. This allows for good 8000' thermals providing sizzling speeds from the hot ships at the same time as asking the low-performers to do only 50 kph. I had been talking to various pilots about how to do better, and getting some concrete ideas: today seemed like the day to try it out! Gliding is sure a sport that challenges the psych, isn't it? Could I get a good pre-start climb? No. After much struggling, and seeing gliders higher, I decided what I had would have to do, and I set off from the top of a 4kt 4000' climb. There were clearly another 1000' to be had, but time was getting away, so I figured I'd get that 1000' in the next thermal. Down down, feeling-the-air and not-taking-rubbish I went. Hah! At about 1800' I was saying "please please, give me some rubbish!". At about 1500' I got some rubbish, and commenced a 15 minute dig. But I'm glad to say that I dug out, things came good, and off I went again. I was in the first turn sector, a good way west (into wind) as I had planned to be, so I could head off downwind and into the second leg. I didn't give up on feeling-the-air and not-taking-rubbish, and miraculously it started working! I diverted off track towards red paddocks in the distance, and lo... there was lift there. I flew through 2 kts, and lo... there was 4kts further on. A top-5 pilot in his hot ship came barrelling in below me, and showed me I still had things to learn about centering. But... I kept up in the thermal. At the top, we left at the same time, I did not linger! He selected negative flap and receded into the distance ahead and below me. I stuck with my McCready setting and persisted. Lo... I caught up to the hot ship in the next thermal, and climbed with him and others who joined. Needless to say, this was feeling good. After a couple more glides of sticking with it, I headed directly to the scrub line west of Peebinga, while the hot ships obviously needed to go further south for distance. It was here I got my best climb and again discovered that gliding is a mental sport. Picture it... I climb in 6 kts to 6000', when I've only been seeing 4kts to 5000' before. At the top, I think to myself "gee, it's kinda hazy here. A bit like a sea breeze". What do I do now, at the furthest point from Waikerie? Sigh. I push on with Plan A, heading north, feeling good while feeling-the-air and not-turning-in-rubbish, filing the "sea breeze" thought for later analysis in the paddock I ended up in 30km short of Waikerie. At least it was comforting to have an Astir to share the last thermals with (hence not outlanding at Loxton!), and it was comforting that 20 other pilots similarly did not heed all the warnings, or heeded them too late! From Martin Gregory, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:14 CST. ^ top Friday contest day 5 Thanks to those who have emailed, that the daily reports are useful to glider pilots further away keep a handle on what is going on at the nationals. Friday was a mixed bag. In some places better than previous days, but dead patches, places where convection was 1500' lower than the mean, and the odd report of climb to 7000'. With the persistent southerly, tasking again to the eastern Vic border part of the contest area. Peebinga must be getting a complex about so much glider traffic overhead. A southerly buster came in similar to Tuesday. The higher performance sailplanes were able to do long glides from as far away at Renmark, some leaving gear up to clear the aerodrome fence. Those without a final high climb landed in diverse places, the roads being full of trailers heading away and back. I joined the retrieve to 3 gliders at Kingston. The last left the paddock after a night derig with headlights from another retrieve combo. With strong wind persisting, big crews were the order of the day. Sat is declared rest day. TJ didn't have the legs to get home from its last climb near Loxton. Landed next to the highway 6km out, doing a precautionary to avoid low level flight over the intervening properties to the aerodrome boundary. As I was walking toward the finish line (zero points for finishing but failing to bring your glider with you), a police car investigated this dishevilled looking untrustworthy character; so I got the taxpayer official limo service back to get the car & trailer complete with the official report of the precautionary aircraft landing, no damage, no injuries. (No I didn't use the 'only one wheel down, engine not operating' line). From emilis prelgauskas, Sat 17 Jan 2004, 08:16 CST. ^ top Day 4 Anna's day again. The weather forecast was similar but improved, and a 4 hour AAT was set. Anna's goals: as before... take each step one at a time and get home. And four hours later, with her parents and nephew at the finish line to watch, she duly arrived back successfully! There was much rejoicing. Completing a 4 hour 280km task at a nationals 3 months after re-soloing put a big smile on Anna's face for the rest of the evening. From Martin Gregory, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:10 CST. ^ top Thursday, contest day 4 Wednesday contest day 3 was a 'RUN' task, involving triangle racing and a leisurely flight back to Waikerie after the time interval. This can be reported by those taking part, as I totalled the pre-start, task and fly home time as being beyond the Super Arrow capabilities, and chose not to fly. Thursday I was selected on the front 6 sailplanes of the grid. With low convection after launch, the sky around the airfield got pretty busy. So we set sail, and returned after 4 hours. The flight was in conservative 'stay airborne' mindset, including diversions over country I considered would work, and diversions off track when low to run with the wind and maximise finding the next thermal. So a conservative speed (50kph) in conditions much like previous days. Some glides went from 4000' to circuit height before encountering the next thermal. So there was little option to select lift by preferred strength. On the subject of what is appropriate to race in Club Class, I copy part of an email from Sue Laidler: "...Tim's...opinion is that Emilis is flying an aged glider, no longer competitive even on handicap. I point out that these older gliders are the types that clubs should have, thus allowing cheaper flying. I know that there are vintage regattas for these older gliders, but it would be nice if they could come out in mixed company and still hold their own". From emilis prelgauskas, Thu 15 Jan 2004, 17:57 CST. ^ top Day 4 AAT Task, Waikerie Start - Pinnaroo - Repeater (east of Renmark) - Wunkar - Woolpunda - Waikerie Finish. Winner: Jonathan Shand, Libelle 90.54 Km/Hr 363.2 Km 2nd: Lisa Trotter LS8 90.34 Km/Hr 367.6 Km 3rd: Phil Ritchie DG200, (Adelaide Soaring Club) 89.97 Km/Hr, 367.4 Km Generally good conditions, with a couple of outlandings. From John Hudson, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:25 CST. ^ top Day 3 The experience of the day before (outlanding half the fleet!), and yet another similar weather forecast (4-6000 ft thermals over a narrowish band of the day) caused the task-setters to bring out the "Run Task" from their kit of tricks. This would be the first time that this style of tasking was used in a national comp. And a very enjoyable and entirely appropriate choice it was! An ideal run task would be a set of waypoints around the home field. The task to to fly out from a start and then as many times around the circuit as possible before the preset time expires. However far you get, that is your distance. All you have to do after that is gently fly home (you lose 10% of your distance if you don't get back). At Waikerie a task around the airfield is not possible: there is yucky river and scrub all to the north. So the task setters chose a small (130k) triangle for us to fly around to the south. It was great fun, and achieved its goal superbly. With hindsight, the setters possible could have arranged for lower performance gliders to be close to home at the end of their time (as it was, 60-70kph would leave you at the maximum distance after the allocated 2.5 hours!), but the ability to just float home with the tail-wind compensated for this. What a pleasure to finish a task and just stooge around on the way home! At the start I was again absolutely swarmed: with the predicted short flying window, I decided to start from the forward start point early. Man, I must have been thermal-marker number-one for the whole fleet, all at once! The organisers reported at the next briefing that there were some safety issues they wanted to make adjustments for before trying Run Tasking again. They didn't say what those were, and I didn't encounter them. (Even when I was swarmed, it was really perfectly normal gaggling, and can happen with any task.) From Martin Gregory, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:08 CST. ^ top Day 3 RUN Task : Waikerie Start - Woolpunda - Maggea - Loxton Wheat Bunker - Woolpunda - Waikerie Finish. Winner : Peter Robinson Nimbus 2 (Waikerie/Whyalla) 87.2 Km/Hr, 218.1 Km 2nd : Tom Gilbert, Libelle 86.7 Km/Hr, 216.9 Km 3rd : Gary Stevenson, Libelle 86.58 Km/Hr, 216.5 Km First RUN task in a National Competition? Conditions improved as day developed. Lots of gaggles. From John Hudson, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:08 CST. ^ top Day 2 Day 2 was Anna's day. The forecast was similar again, but with a sharper tail at the end of the day, presumably due to the front that was passing by to the south. No-one was suspecting the amplification of the sea-breeze that this front would provide, hence another similar 3 hour AAT was set. Anna's goals were simple and step-by-step: launch successfully, gaggle successfully, start successfully, fly round. She made a fine effort of all of these, though the unexpected sea breeze arrival that shot down half the fleet caught her too. No outlanding is risk free, no matter how well planned & executed. A landing site that has not been inspected can contain suprises no matter what it looks like from on high. Anna did well in picking a stubble paddock with a farmer and his son looking up from their work in it. It was a little unfortunate that the paddock was soft sand with embedded stones. A nice controlled hold-off on landing minimised the problems with this: we scored just a few scratches on the nose after the wheel embedded in the sand and the glider nosed to a stop. The assistance of the kind farmer was invaluable. Clear and correct directions to the paddock were good to have, and the offer from the farmer to tow the trailer into the soft paddock with his 4wd saved us the choice of bogging the car or carrying the parts off the paddock. We were home in time for tea. A successful outlanding, and a result that was not at the bottom: great day! From Martin Gregory, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:05 CST. ^ top Day 2 Today was hard work with many outlandings, about one half of the field; a brisk southerly (20 knots plus) on the first leg left many gliders on the ground. Definitely survival mode around the first turnpoint with scrappy thermals to only 3000' or so. Fortunately heading East after the turn conditions improved and slow but steady progress could be made. Conditions continued to improve on the third leg with the 20 knot winds on the tail now a help rather than a hindrance. The odd strong climb to 5000' helped. The run home across Berri and the irrigated areas was challenging, arriving back over the wheat paddocks at only 1500' and needing 1500' to get home. After several false starts a half decent thermal gave me the height and I headed back with spare in hand (I thought). This was quickly eroded on the way home requiring a straight-in, but home at least for 77kph! From David Conway, Tue 13 Jan 2004, 21:18 CST. ^ top Contest Day 2 - 13 Jan Similar size AAT to day 1, but tasked to the south. Sea breeze came in 'early' and violently, catching those who started late, or as in my case those who were forced by the task setting to travel to places they wouldn't under POST. ie a long way upwind into cool ground before being permitted to track away east. AAT today showed the bias in-built. I climbed and glid back & forth in the one place near Wanbi, prevented by the sea breeze from getting within the turnpoint 'area'. So I was excluded from the rest of the task that gliders with more into wind poke could then score on. I retreated to Wunkar and waited in the pub for the crew. Clearly Club Class is entirely about attracting Ventus and better glide performance entries. Well, you've convinced me. I didn't come here to do 50km every day into a paddock. Clearly, Club Class doesn't want Sports Class sailplanes around. I'll fly out the contest period, but I won't use the start gate that puts me repeatedly in outlanding position to the airfied, and I won't go on the set part of the task which clearly is set to shoot me down. From Emilis Prelgauskas, Tue 13 Jan 2004, 21:02 CST. ^ top Day 2 AAT Task: Waikerie Start - Sandalwood - Peebinga - Taldra - Woolpunda - Waikerie Finish. Winner : Don Woodward Pik 20 (Beverley WA), 82.44 Km/Hr, 249.8 Km. 2nd: Bruce Taylor ASW 20B, 80.13 Km/Hr, 240.4 Km. 3rd: Harry Wondergem, Ventus 2 ct, 73.45 Km/Hr, 328.5 Km. Difficult conditions, strong southerly winds picked up after start. 17 outlandings, 18 gliders finished. From John Hudson, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:21 CST. ^ top Contest Day 1 - 12 Jan A fleet of 36 launched for a 300km base AAT set at 3 hours. Condtions intially to 4000', later to 6000', moderate thermals, with some patchy areas. The tie down was full when I returned. I pushed hard, achieving 55kph into a paddock 55km out, having found the patchy area larger than the glide angle could cope with. A simple fact of flying decisions inappropriate to the day; the PW5 went around at 72kph, Keith showing how to do it in modest performance sailplane; even if the high performance stuff average over 100kph. Underlying my decisionmaking was that on paper the minimum task AAT allows would take me 4 hours to complete. So for me the AAT is in effect a fixed task; requiring me to just clip each turnpoint radius at the track bisector. So no opportunity to follow the weather; just fly on direct course hoping to not still be flying when it gets dark. Perhaps I should try staying airborne until it gets dark, and then outlanding. (This is my fourth contest where AAT tasks are set; and I haven't got home on any of such tasks yet.) From Emilis Prelgauskas, Tue 13 Jan 2004, 21:00 CST. ^ top Day One Another great Waikerie soaring day starts the 2004 National Clubclass Championship. Climbs of 6-7 knots to 6,500 feet provided pilots with great conditions to test their skills. Some pilots reported having a testing day, as racing pressures produced many low saves. My day was punctuated by some low saves which made for a slow day's flying, but as this is my first national competition, just getting to the airfield and completing the task makes for a good day's flying. The organisation of this event is a credit. Great food produced by a professional chef and his team cap off the day. My thanks must also go to the following sponsors who have made my participation possible: Mike Griggs Caravan Service Centre, ALKO International, The Camec Group, Supreme Caravans, Air Command Australia, Tyre Power Holden Hill, Aviation Acrylic Mouldings, Universal Metal Cleaners, The University of Adelaide, and Proline Signs. From Andrew Wright, Mon 12 Jan 2004, 23:13 CST ^ top Day 1 Day 1 emerged as pretty similar to the practice day: light-moderate winds with thermals to 4-6000 ft predicted. A 3hr AAT was set with a nominal distance of 300km. I figured that if I did 87kph yesterday, then I should plan for that today, and applied pretty much the same thinking as the day before: go as short as possible into the first turn-point, then adjust the second leg depending on how I was going. And it all turned out just like the day before: what fun! I ended up going at practically the same speed round the task: 88kph, and got back within minutes of the 3 hours. When the scores came up, I was on the first page! (20th place) I was even within 3 kph of 15th place and 5 kph of 12th. I didn't have any horrid low points, but I was starting to recognise a sensation that was to be repeated often: being "swarmed"... Swarming: I head off not long after the gate opens, into sky containing a couple of gliders ahead. I join them, only to have the thermal fill up with plastic from behind. For an incredibly short amount of time they circle around me, then "whoosh" the swarm heads off never to be seen again, leaving my head swimming and the sky empty of reachable thermal markers. From Martin Gregory, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:03 CST. ^ top Day 1 AAT Task: Waikerie - Blanchetown - Peebinga - Woolpunda - Waikerie Finish. Winner: Don Woodward Pik 20, Beverley (WA) 107.25 km/hr, 330 km Second: Phil Ritchie Adelaide DG 200, (Adelaide Soaring Club) 104.04 km/hr, 322.8 km Third: Rolf Buelter (Pik 20), 103.59 km/hr, 328.5 km Trying conditions initially, improved as day developed. No outlandings. From John Hudson, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:19 CST. ^ top Day 0 The first thing that has to be said is how smoothly and competently the organisers are running the competition, right from Day 0. It felt as if they have been doing this kind of thing for all of their lives. The effort they had put in prior to the event and the experience they'd been able to draw on from past events really showed. Waikerie is also a great place to run an event like this - comfortable with all the amenities you could reasonable ask for. Grass launching strips are wonderful, so is having a swimming pool. The next thing that has to be said is how good AAT tasking is. There is quite a good spread of gliders competing... PW5/Super-Arrow through Libelle/Cirrus and up to LS8 etc. Tasks were able to be set that made sense for all of these gliders, and have them travelling in somewhat predictable lines safely over distances suitable to their performance. I was once entranced with POST for this purpose, but I've been fully converted to the popular AAT by my experiences here, of which Day 0 was the first. [ It is true that on days where the thermals are low and widely spaced the "sports class" (handicap > 1.1) gliders still have a problem not taken into account by the handicap: that each glide is to a paddock unless a thermal intervenes. The answer to this really seems to lie in having enough sports class gliders to make a class of their own... not the case in this comp, regretably. Still - the PW5 has shown, each day, that the challenges are not insurmountable. ] So... off I went on an 2 hour AAT practice task with a nominal distance of 212 km. Before the start opened, I went and sussed out some of the start-gates. I certainly wasn't anticipating doing 100km/hr, so I planned to go as short as possible on the leg to the first turnpoint, then head for the second until 1 hour was up, then turn around and come back. This strategy worked. And at around 1 hour, the nifty little etrex was telling me that my ETA back at the finish was less than an hour away, so I pressed on some more, and turned when it said to. Lo and behold, I arrived back pretty much spot on 2 hours. The success of this rough calculation was to help bring me undone on Day 5... (etrex doesn't know about headwind return legs, or sea breezes, does it!?) So - I got back feeling happy - a nice flight, great practice day! It turned out I'd done 87kph, which is as fast as I've ever gone on a 4000' 3-4kt thermal day! From Martin Gregory, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:01 CST. ^ top Official practice day - 11 Jan The majority of entrants flew, and the system geared up and scored. The usual suspects take up the top placings, leading to the usual discussion about handcapping, and not just the mount. Keith Willis is chasing his 1000hours in the PW-5 before Jan 19; so finished at 6000' and continued soaring for hours afterward. He is also in form, and so pushing the PeeWee as well as polar curves would suggest is possible. Launching is with 5 tugs including the Super Dimona, with talk about those who prefer the gentler launch vs those who want the acceleration the Pawnees offer. Today's half hour launch period augers well for full fleet launch within the normally hoped for hour window. Those who didn't fly today had been flying at the Performance coaching Week being held here the previous week, and felt in the zone and didn't want to over train. There were also other walking wounded. I had come back from the Australian Vintage sailplane rally at Bacchus Marsh in the wee hours of this morning, and wasn't fit to fly. So a leisurely day of rigging was about all I could cope with. Tom Gilbert had arrived with his Libelle CK, but having felt unwell over a number of days still has the sailplane in its trailer and has declared a number of lay days. Ken Horlock had the engine on the DG400 misbehave on climb out, and he has been delving into the complex innards of spark and fuel. The absence of Simon Hackett involves his travel to Sydney to get the Stemme trailer be able to look at jacking up TCP to fit a new undercarriage leg, with the aircraft currently at Meningie. From Emilis Prelgauskas, Tue 13 Jan 2004, 20:58 CST. ^ top View from the rear The Club Class Australian National Gliding Championships are underway at Waikerie, South Australia. The class is traditionally dominated in entry numbers by the 'on scratch' sailplane type in the handicap system, characterised by the Standard Libelle. With other entries falling across the about 20% range above and below in performance spectrum. This year, amongst the 45 entries are only 6 Libelles, with other similar generation Standard Class including Cirrus & Jantar making up less than a quarter of the fleet. The majority of entries are newer 15m and Open Class entries, in particular various models of Ventus. I am flying the ony traditional wood structure sailplane in the entry list, a Super Arrow. This sets the rear of the field, with the closest comparabe entry the PW-5. So these occassional notes will be looking from the rear, when I'm not still beating into wind toward the finish line while everyone else is comparing notes around the bar in the evening. From Emilis Prelgauskas, Tue 13 Jan 2004, 20:55 CST. ^ top First comp for 7 years This is the first competition Anna & I have entered for seven years - we came here to have a fun gliding holiday. Since Tim (5 1/2 year old) arrived, Anna has had almost no flying. In the three months before the comp, Anna literally had to start from ab-initio, go solo and get her skills & currency back up to a safe competition standard. I've been lucky enough to be able to stay current and do one or two XC flights per year. So suffice to say we didn't come to win! But we did come to do our best, while having fun. We're flying as a pilot pair in Std Libelle GZS, which we own in partnership with Bryn & Sonja Williams. Our primary nav-aid and logger is a Garmin "etrex" lent to us by Bryn & Sonja. Since this was our first time using this neat little toy, we agreed I'd better fly first and sort it out, having had more experience playing with that sort of thing. So, Day 0 (practice) and Day 1 were for me. From Martin Gregory, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 14:56 CST. ^ top In brief 40 Gliders entered in competition. Great to see Don and Dave Woodward from WA at the competition, well done guys, great effort, among a large interstate contingent. Daryl Connell is the Comps Director. Insuffient numbers for a separate Sports Class. 5 Tugs - 4 Pawnee and 1 Super Dimona. Lots of keen competition and good fun. From John Hudson, Sun 18 Jan 2004, 15:17 CST. ^ top |
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