Tuesday January 5;

No flying yet in Benalla.BUT,…it will happen soon. The weather is weird. A too hot month of December , a too cold start of the normal hottest month of January.Look at this…..

   

This is normal and this is NOW.

The next 2 weeks will be VERY busy, [lot’s of lunches, driving around behind black Betty , dinners etc .,etc and lot’s of rest after my bones are cracked again] but after I have been in Benalla this upcoming Saturday ,where the next full week just looks good to fly, I will be back with the latest on the OZGLIDE/54th Nationals.On the last flying -day, Friday in Benalla, I will be there as well.One day later I am on my way home!!!

The gorgeous skies yesterday.

Thursday JANUARY 7;
So you wear socks , so you “sweat”  again from the high temperatures. This is AUSTRALIA , mate!!!
Yesterday the skies looked great. We were driving behind BLACK BETTY,,…I show you pictures later when I am back from lunch but after the rain, the skies looked fabulous. HOWEVER at 4 from the South some showers appeared, but then we were back home already.
The great skies meant that flying was possible in Benalla, after they had to cancel the practice day and first day , due to poor/weird weather.
We knew there would be still some rain yesterday ,but from now on they predict,…..”it will be dry”!!!

Tasks were set yesterday so a 3 hour AAT was set in open and 18 m. and the “smaller ships” had to go for 3.30 hours.
As said the rain was visible from here about 77 km. to the N. at 4, and indeed some pilots could not make it home on the first flying day.
In open class Bruce Taylor [JS 1c] was the best with 437 km. in time 3.34, so a speed of 122 km./h.
The French team in the Duo Discus, FLYING IN OPEN CLASS !!!! “lost” 2 points [998] in the Duo Discus from Narromine. 10 From 16  finished!!!
Here is Bruce’s story more to be found at Taylor’s Gliding Page . [on FB.]
—” Finally we have a competition day… It’s really not that bad, as we have only missed one day so far. It is just that the weather has been crappy for the past five days.
It started with bright sunshine and a crystal clear sky, and a water ballast seal trying to find its way out of the wing. By the time I got it back in place and filled the tanks we were almost late onto the launch grid. It is good fun waiting to launch, with all the overseas pilots wondering about how Benalla works. There is plenty of joking about; Eric Napoleon and Laurent Aboulin are flying a Duo Discus in the Open Class, which for the non-gliding folk is kind of like racing your Toyota Land Cruiser against the V-8 Supercars. But wait, between Eric and Laurent there are maybe 4 world championship gold medals, so there will not be too many mistakes made in that cockpit. Their rego is “VS”, which I thought might be Very Slow, Anita suggested Very Sexy, but at the end of the day it was actually Very Speedy!!
3 hour AAT, the first leg was fantastic, running along at cloudbase with no circling, then the thermals became difficult to work, and I found it hard to stay really high on the second leg until we were back close to the trough line. Then it was a blast again, until the sky filled in and the choice was straight on track or take a huge diversion around the west of the rain. Fortunately I took the diversion, as most of those who flew straight ahead didn’t come home. It took the shine off some high speeds, but home was a good place to be today.
I finished just 2 points ahead of Very Speedy. Better keep my mouth shut!—” 
Today they have a task from 526 km.’

David Jansen was the best in 18 m. class . He flew 394 km. with a speed of 129 km./h in the ASG 29, followed by Rolf Buelter from the Geelong Gliding Club in his LS 8/18 m.
David was more than 10 km. faster than the runner up.
Normally Rolf is here for the summer camp , his mates are here now without him and good to see he flew so well on the first day. He was one of the 18[ from 28] finishers!!!

TODAY; 466 km.

17 from 31 finished in 15 m. class.Who else than …..Matthew [Scutter]won day 1 in his Discus 2A, BUT…only after Miles [Gore Brown] missed the start-line and got penalty points for that.
Matthew  flew 420 km. in time 3.48, so a speed of 110 km./h.
Miles was 2d  with 113 km./h., Mac 3d.[105 km./h]
Fabulous to see Swaantje flying an ASW 20 in this class!!!! Chapeau!!!!
Here is his view, more to be read at Matthew Scutter’s Gliding [at FB] ;
“Day 1, Australian 15m Nationals, selection event for WGC2016 (Benalla)
Started by myself because I was worried about storms later in the day. The wind was howling through the Kilmore Gap creating a bit of a convergence which I turn on to head north, ran a long way north, then had to navigate some rain showers on the way home. Made a few errors and had to make 40km of deviation which wiped 10-15kph off my speed and lost me first for the day, but (un)fortunately first place missed the start line, so I got it after all. Sometimes you have to make your own luck, other times it’s just given to you.”
Today; 406 km.

The weather here was blue, but quickly clouds pop up every where! It looks like a good day for the pilots here and there, they started flying already early.
The day turned out good as pilots have finished their tasks already in Benalla and scores are to be found at www.soaringspot.com
Preliminary scores show nice speed as well, around 136 km./h. in open class, it looks Matthew did well again in 15 m. class with 128 km./h. but not everybody is scored yet!!!
In 18 m. it looks like a good day for Tom Claffey in his ASG 29 E, speed 131 km./h.

Benalla TODAY!!!!

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More diary stuff;
As said yesterday was the BLACK BETTY day.

Dundee with Black Betty.

Last year I already got an invitation by Richard Vincent, our former instructor to go with him through a beautiful area of unseen places here in this part of Australia. Loved it. As the sulky was in revision, we went with a little covered wagon , so Dundee was invited as well.

    

The sulky and the wagon.

    

Dundee feeding the horse and I am ready for a trip through unseen areas.

It was just so much fun, though I felt “like a milk shake” after nearly 3 hours. The views were amazing and I show a few pictures.

    

Amazing views from lagoons, creeks and plants
and
VERY OLD trees.

After the nearly 3 hour-ride, the horse got a shower and a few carrot’s and was brought back to it’s mate Clyde.

    

A very special day.

AND,..it did not finish then.After we had bubbles at Dundees and good cheese with Margie and Jeroen, another good Tocumwal-day finished with home- made- pea- soup!!

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Lunch today at the Pavillion, was with Tugger’s [Anthony, who has been a tuggy with us several years] parents who drove up from Deniliquin to see us.Lovely people.
I spoke with Anthony as well ,he just arrived home after a flight ,[ he flies as a captain with Jet Star,]  starting his day at 3 AM this morning.

     

George with Faye and Ken.

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And to finish this Aussie-news from Channel 9:

A NSW farmer will lead a convoy of 120 trucks travelling 1860km north to deliver more than 150 trailers full of hay to drought-stricken farmers in Queensland. 
The hay is expected to assist more than 200 drought-affected properties.
A record 86 percent of Queensland is currently stricken by drought

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/01/04/09/10/nsw-farmer-organises-convoy-of-120-trucks-to-deliver-donated-hay-to-drought-stricken-queensland#w7E4gvPFRfW2eyvD.99

There are still lot’s of GOOD people!!!!

Cheers Ritz