Lake Keepit!

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN   WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

SORRY, have been SO busy , that I forgot it is Wednesday!!!
Here you are with today’s news!

As said “we go this month with the QSGP-flow” , so from Potchefstroom SA, where as you know the JS 1 is manufactured, to Australia and on day 1,  we saw that not everybody had learned from the mistakes during the 2 practise days, as several pilots got penalty points for exceeding the start -line- height- limit and the start- line- speed-limit.
Tom Claffey was the fastest [128.2 km./h.]on day 1, over 360 km. and got the 10 points. Brett Hunter from NZ got the 8 points and tasksetter and competitor Bruce Taylor the 7 points.


winner day 1 Tom, here on this picture in Uvalde.

By the way Lake Keepit is about 5 hours NW of Sydney, between Tamworth and Gunnedah, on a great looking lake and the club running Lake Keepit is active 7 days a week. I always loved it there!!
Along the 18 m. GP , they run also the standard class GP [ sanctioned by the FAI ], starting one hour later and returning as they hope 1 hour later, as is written on their site. But on soaringspot I noticed they all started  every day at the same time!!!
Anyhow, that’s why you see on Soaringspot 2 classes!
Day 1 in standard class was won by Allan Barnes  getting over the 320 km.   points, but he was also 6 on the 18m. list.
The day started blue but,…. as the task was set direction N. the conditions rapidly improved.

As Bruce mentioned on his Taylors Gliding Page for all those who are not on FB;
–“ Yesterday was day 1. The task worked out well, with a triangle of 321 km to the north. For the later part of the first leg we had some nice cumulus, but the start was very difficult and almost all of us had our first climb close to 1,000 feet agl in the lake shadow. Then there were climbs of 6-7 knots to 8,500 feet until out in the blue on the second leg when it was more difficult. I made a good start and led the pack until close to the second turn, where they caught me again. Then as we came over the Kaputar range I went slightly the wrong way and Tom Claffey got away for the day win. Graham Parker should have been there too, but had a horror run of sink on his glide home and finished fourth. Brett Hunter and I were 2nd and 3rd. Pretty good day, but some strong sink in places.–”

Day 2, as seen through the eyes of Bruce;
—Another day of racing fun. The task went east then north, with a bonus point for the first turn at Manilla, just 23 km from the start. Tom Claffey and I were at the front of the pack at the start, so it was our charge for the bonus point, but Tom soon saw the insanity of diving at the ground and let me have it. I arrived there at 900 feet, but there was a climb right at the turn… Fortune favours the crazy! Later I was to discover that I was 3 metres high at the start and didn’t get the point anyway! We all ran together through some nice cu heading north, but then flew out into some very average blue rubbish around the top turns. Tom made the best of this section and pulled out a substantial lead. The trip south was all about getting back to the clouds, and sure enough they were still working a treat. I had a fantastic run home and arrived first, but managed to score a penalty for not making my 10 mile call, so finished equal with Tom. Great day’s racing.”–“

So great racing on day 2 over 334.7 km. with best speed from Bruce [121 km,./h.] and Tom[120.9km./h.] both “receiving” 9 points.

Bruce in the middle during the Nationals in Tocumwal last year.

 

Day 3 , so today, with 309 km. was an ASG 29 day! Both best places were for Tom [128.8 km./h.] and Graham Parker [ ASG 29 E ,121.4 km./h.] . In the past we had over a few years Graham’s glider on line with us at Sportavia and we were very pleased with that,  so were out guests.
So a valid QSGP already now, with after 3 days 29 points for Tom , 22 for Bruce and 21 for Graham!!!!!A lot can still happen as it is not over yet!
The best pilot after 3 days in standard class is   “our ” kilometer eater Allan [Barnes] with  8 points same as Narromine’s Shinzo. Allan is not only a good pilot but also a great writer sharing his flights with us and  here is his story about day 3. Integrated in the 18 m. list Allan is on spot 7 [LS8 and 7 points] and Shinzo on spot 8 [ Discus 2A and 6 points] .

—Task Premer Narrabri. Got to almost 10,000ft and it was painful to wind down to 4000 to start. Got a really good climb a few k out and left it because I was worried about drifting back over the start line. Took a while to find the next one and then got low over the forest but recovered and then met up with Shinzo. Finally managed to shake him, and found a 9kt climb that got me around Narrabri. Then it was just a final climb to get me on a 30:1 glide which ended up embarrassingly high with ridiculous lift most of the way in. Good day.”—“

Not a TOP day for Bruce here is his daily comment:
—“Today was hard… for me at least. It was forecast to be a high, strong day with big winds, and it was indeed. Cloudbase was around 11-12,000 feet, and I certainly saw one climb that was 11 knots for quite a while. However, that was not the whole story. There was a steady 20-25 knots of breeze from the west/north-west. I launched first, climbed well, moved to another climb, even stronger, which took me quite high. I went out on track, finding good climbs easily. Came back and started with the crowd… DO YOU THINK I COULD FIND ANYTHING GOING UP? I did the whole first leg low, working rubbish. Very frustrating business indeed. Finally got up on the trip north to Narrabri, and had a reasonable run, but it was hard to stay high. I was low around Narrabri, then dribbled home, somehow managing fourth for the day. Tom Claffey once again took the chequered flag, but the radio was full of “Here I am high” and “Why am I so low?” all day. Oxygen on… oxygen off. There was some strong wave overhead, and long runs of very heavy sink. Graham parker was second, and Andrew Maddocks third. How will we stop Tom? He’s on a bit of a roll, and flying well.–“

Andrew Maddocks here to the right at Tocumwal Airport.

 

In between pilots enjoy their soaring at the overseas-destinations. Still no 1000 km. flights but the open class gliders in Namibia “circled ” around 750 yesterday.
Stonefield, put on the map last year mostly by flights from Fabian and Benjamin is pretty active already and

Maybe a bit early but…planning ahead is always good. The next invitation I got from Börje;

—“Swedish Nationals in Open and Racing classes. Contest is open for all nationalities. The Racing class is a mixed class where all gliders with index from 107 to 114 can take part. Water ballast is allowed.—“

It starts at  Uppsala – Sundbro Airfield, on Saturday May 18 till May 25 2013.

Börje Eriksson from Sweden , busy for the Uppsala Masters.

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME” , was the comment of one of the lucky ones looking in Australia at the total disappearance of the sun , behind the moon ; the total solar eclipse to be seen in N. Queensland!
It was dark and colder and the chatter of birds and other animals stopped. It was the first solar eclipse in a  decade in Australia and the last till 2028. The North of Queensland has to wait 200 years!!!
About 50.000 tourists from all over the world travelled to several places as Cairns and Port Douglas. Some organized a room in a motel already 3 years ago and some of them were disappointed,  as clouds moved in and they could not see it.
We here in Holland have to wait till the year 2135 to see this!!!!!

Total eclipse in Australia in 2012.

CU next Sunday, and SORRY again for the delay,
Cheers Ritz

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