Goondiwindi, keep that name in mind; an excellent place for soaring!

It’s definitely autumn NOW in Holland, rain wind [Bft 10 at the coast about 40 km. from here and gusts to 100 km.p/h. !] and 12 dgr. C.!!!!
But,……Last Saturday we had a new warm-record on October 18; 23 dgr. official and 24.4 in the South of Holland.It has never been so warm here in history. The last record was from 1921 when it was 22.9 dgr. C.
Very special to have had such a great and long summer after that horrible long winter last year, we still remember.

The last 2 days in Goondiwindi [ they had 9 in total!] were as hoped for; nice-soaring- conditions and pretty long distances with good speed.
Goondiwindi , with a population under 6000, is not so long known, as a good soaring spot, it even turns out an excellent spot as we saw already last year and again this year.
It’s on the way from Dubbo [close to Narromine ] to Brisbane [ about 358 km.SW from Brisbane] .Gliding Queensland was this years proud host of the Sport Class and Club Class Nationals there.

The name Goondiwindi derives from an Aboriginal word ,meaning “the resting place of the birds”.Just to let you know!

ZZZ Goondiwindi

Goondiwindi aerodrome and weather. As shared by Mike

On Thursday a set task in the sports class with 417 km. and all toppers did their utmost best with one day to go.
David [Jansen] won the 999 points with a speed of 139 km./h. Tom, David and Butch stayed on the first places overall and with one day to go the differences were still possible for some extra  excitement; 7333, 7276 and 7144.

As on the last day [Friday] a 4 hour AAT was set in the blue to finish these comps with 9 days!
Peter Trotter who had not won a day, set that straight on this day 9; 487.2 km. with a speed of 118.8 km./h. in his LS 8 gave him the 1000 points.
In the end the new CHAMPION  in Sports class was Tom Claffey with 8295 points followed by David Jansen with 100 points less.
Butch lost his 3d place to Andrew who had a few more points on this last day which gave a final result of ; 8082 and 8076.( Days of good soaring in Sports Class. Good to see young Andrew Maddocks on spot 7

In club class day 8 was again a prey for Benalla pilot Don [Woodward] Their set task was 401.2 km. and great efforts by Allan [Barnes] and young Matthew [Scutter] for flying fast on this day in their LS 1 f and Discus b.
Don flew with a speed of 123.7 km. /h. whilst Allan and Matthew followed with 116/117 km./h.
Bruce lost 140 points by being as fast,117 km./h but he has a higher handicap.
This is the view on the day by Allan;
” Day 8 of the CCN. Racing task just over 400km. Underset – everyone waited around at about 8500ft for an hour before starting. I was thinking about 100km/hr in the blue, but there were wispy cu and some very good climbs. Took the first turn into wind nice and low, but had an average trip across to the second, then hooked up with a good gaggle on the third leg and found a couple of great climbs. Overcooked the final glide and ended up coming in at 120kt for a task speed of 116.2. Very nice day.” 

Day 9 showed a 3.30 AAT with breakfast in the morning. Terry Cubley  [I can visualize him in his LS 3 without hesitation as I have seen him in his glider often]  had not won a day either and to do it he had to fly best on the last day. So he did!
With 422.1 km. and a speed of 116.9 km./h [yes in his ” old”  LS 3] he “got” the 1000 points before heading home again to the Adelaide area , thousands of kilometers to the West. But they could travel in convoy as a few participated from that area.
Adam Woolley [Cirrus 75] had a good day as runner up and the ” old ” Libelle with Steven, was on spot 3 with 367.6 km. and a speed of 102 km./h.!!!!
CLUB CLASS CHAMPION; Jim Crowhurst with 8177 points. Runner up with 8027 was Bruce Taylor and on spot 3 Terry Cubley. The young ones Adam and Matthew finished on good spots 7 and 6. Allan moved up even higher again and finished on spot 8 and Lisa  moved up to 13.

Very kind of former junior pilot Adam to mention some of the awards with congratulations:
” To Dylan Lampard for taking out the GFA Club & Sports Class nationals – best place novice trophy. Many great names have won this trophy in the past & gone onto big things, well done mate”
” Matthew Scutter takes out the M.Bradly junior trophy, this is the 3rd time for memory that it’s been awarded since 2005. It’s awarded to the highest places junior, above 15th position – so not just a participation award.”

 

Benalla night 042 Benalla night 010

On these pictures The Trotters and Maddocks during the prize giving 2 years ago in Benalla.

Nice comps over there in Goondiwindi. keep the name in mind!

What happened more? A sand storm in South Africa on October 16! A weather-phenomena all glider pilots are interested in.
Great pictures , but for some more difficult circumstances.  I share a few shared by others as a reaction on this storm.
I remember them from Australia . Daan Pare flew in front of one and raced home to be back in the hangar just in time. More of my mates have flown over or along such a sand storm. A bit N of Tocumwal, Oaklands,  where you find big potato farms , they usually “disturbed” soaring as well. Most of you might still remember.

zzz Sandstorm by Free State

ZZZ sandstorm by Mako Mosotho ZZZ SANDSToRM by Shaum Mohammed

ZZZSAndstorm by Winnie Mafeo

Pictures shared by ” I love Free State” ,Mako Masoto, Shaum Mohammed and Winnie Mafeo.

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More comps in Australia;Here is the latest. Just to keep you informed!!!
” Waikerie Gliding Club with the generous support from the GFA, SAGA, Banrock Station Winery and Coopers Brewery are hosting the 53rd Australian Multi Class National Championships from the 5th to the 16th January 2015.

The competition website http://multiclasswaikerie2015.blogspot.com.au is up and running and will continue to be populated over the coming weeks in the run up to the event.

We have managed to pull together a very experienced, professional team tomanage the competition who together with the enthusiastic members and friends of WGC should make this an event to remember.

I can nearly assure you all of at least a couple of big Waikerie days and we’ll do our best to minimize the amount of “classic” South Australian blue days thrown at us 😉

On behalf of the members of the Waikerie Gliding Club and the competition management team I look forward to welcoming you too Waikerie MCN’s 2015.”
Waikerie had a good day early-spring-day yesterday with 500 km. flown by Grant Hudson, who send the invitation for the multi Class Nationals. CD there is Mandy Temple, known by most of you as TC from the Aussie team, crew for husband Peter ,[who is the task setter at Waikirie ] and more other jobs!!

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And even more , this time the NSW State Gliding Comps flown from Temora one of those REALLY good soaring-spots as well.Here is the news I got:
The competition will cater for Standard, 15m, 18m, Open, and Club Class with classes combined for tasking based on entry numbers received.

The championships run from Saturday 13th December – Saturday 20th December 2014 with the first Saturday allocated as a practice day.”

Flying over the slopes of Porta Westfalica was “on”  last weekend  and some Dutch pilots drove to Germany ,  to enjoy this type of soaring over the slopes, using the uplift. One group with Martin, who flew with us in the past in Australia as one of them as well as Hinse and Jasper. Philippe [Hendriks] is as far as I can see one of the most enthusiastic pilots for this kind of flying, looking at the pictures he shared now and in the past.

zzzPorta1  ZZZ PORTA3

ZZZ PORTA 4  ZZZPorta 2

As shared by Philippe.

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What happened worldwide as seen on the OLC?
Orient, in South Africa NE of Potchefstroom, had a great 500 km. [ 338.3 FAI triangle] day of soaring in an ASW 20 on October 20.
On the same day 710 k.[686.5 km. FAI triangle]  was flown in an ASH 31/21 m. in Brazil, from LEM.
Not an easy day as you can see in his comment;
” Good day to start with but over development and lots of CB’s and many rain curtains. I had to abort my final glide ! Landed with rain all over the place!
One day earlier the RIDGES were overly- friendly to Devin Bargainnier , starting at Ridge Soaring to mainly the SW and back; 1. 106,1 km. with a nice speed of 134.74 km./h. in a Ventus 2.
” Doing” 981.59 km.  in a Janus c FG is not bad either! Very good! Ridge soaring must be such fun! And you can do it in any glider.

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That’s it for now . CU next week when the overseas season is about to begin. WINGS NIGHT IN TOCUMWAL by the SRGC is on November 1, opening the new season.Their Annual General Meeting is on November 22, with 14 points on the Agenda.

Cheers Ritz

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