Alphen aan den Rijn 12-2008
Sorry…No Pressrelease today but the blog’ s from Jo.Just to keep you informed.
Australian Qualifying Gliding Grand Prix
Narromine, NSW, Australia
briefing Comp Day 5 Thu 4 Dec 08
Henk Meertens announced day 3 18m winners – after very careful scrutiny: equal first Graham Parker and Riccardo Brigliardori and third Michael Sommer. Graham Parker achieved the bonus point for being first to the first turnpoint, Eumangerie.
Provisional double-seater winners for day 4 are tied: Shinzo Takizawa and Peter Summersby / Mal Bruce winning 3 points each – Mal & Peter achieved the bonus points for being first to Trangie.
Overall winners after 4 days are Peter Summersby & Mal Bruce with 10 points.
Shinzo Takizawa has 6 points; Ross McLean & Mark Rowe are on 4 points.
Provisional day 4 winners in 18-meter class were: John Buchanan with 10 points, Brad Edwards 8 points and Graham Parker 7 points.
Andrew Georgeson scored yesterday’s point for being first to reach the first turnpoint – all agreed that he demonstrated “extraordinary skill and daring!” – Andrew reached the point at 1,500′ then pulled back up to 2,000′ and found 6 knots.
Provisional overall leaders after 4 days are: Graham Parker on 29 points, John Buchanan 25 points and Michael Sommer 21 points.
Henk Meertens emphasised the need for safe finishes and asked non-competition pilots to stay out of the way of the competing gliders.
Jenny Thompson reported that today’s weather will initially produce easterly winds, swinging around as a trough approaches. Winds are all over the place, but less than we’ve had for the last few days; variable down low, but kicking to the west higher. There’s varied information on expected temperatures, with the Narromine anticipated maximum ranging from 26 to 32 degrees. Thermals will be easy to work and similar strength to yesterday. The high cloud will move in from the west as the trough approaches but is not expected to have a significant effect on the day’s flying until much later.
Day 5 task for 18m: Trangie, Eumungerie, Tullamore, Tomingley – 317.9km – bonus point for the first to Trangie.
Day 5 task for 2 seaters: Trangie, Microwave, Tullamore, Tomingley – 257.5km – bonus point for the first to Trangie.
All gliders will start at the same time today – midday – estimated start gate opening 1330 hours.
Australian Qualifying Gliding Grand Prix
Narromine, NSW, Australia
1pm Comp Day 5 Thu 4 Dec 08
The day did not heat up, so launch was held and the day re-tasked. Both classes – Gilgandra – Trangie – Tomingley – 243.5 km – start time 1405 hrs – max start height 4,500′ QNH.
The bonus point for the first to Trangie remains. Pilots desperate for a point questioned the necessity to first fly to Gilgandra – the contest director reinforced that requirement!
While the launch was delayed, Nikki Douglass, comp IT manager, took the opportunity to synchronise the spot trackers and pilots activated them at the same time. The aim is to have the trackers update simultaneously, giving a better idea of where they are in relation to each other on track.
(blog by Jo Pocklington)
Australian Qualifying Gliding Grand Prix
Narromine, NSW, Australia
5pm Comp Day 5 Thu 4 Dec 08
First across the line appear to be – no particular order – Riccardo Brigliadori, Brad Edwards, Bill Hatfield, Lars Zehnder, Terry Cubley, Mac Ichikawa, Thomas Gostner, Graham Parker and Hank Kauffmann. We need to wait for the traces to be sure!
There were some good thermals on track, then big large areas of shadow from cirrus. One of the best climbs of the day was 7 knots in shadow: “a real 7 knots all the way around and smooth”.
Tony Tabart experienced several incidents with a wedge-tail eagle. He was approaching Trangie in the 7 knot thermal and decided to go for the1 point; he went through Trangie at about 1,000′. The eagle attacked east of Trangie as he was heading out to the sunshine.
Tony had found a good core on the edge of the shadow, did one turn and then the eagle hit the canopy – “he had his claws out, was flapping and screaming and was very determined”. Two turns later, the eagle had another go and slipped over the wing, brushing it. Tony was worried about the eagle hitting the tail plane so he moved half a kilometre, found another weak core and within a couple of minutes the eagle was climbing up under him, and attacked several more times. This thermal was only one knot, so it took a while for the eagle to outclimb the glider. Each time the eagle got above TT, it again attacked. Tony decided to fly as far away as possible, which put him really low and he ended up at 800′. He was heading back to Narromine but found 6 knots, so continued on task.
Tony Tabart noted the high standard of airmanship at this competition – “the first gaggles post-start from 2,800′ AGL are very busy with everybody searching for a core. Once found, it becomes pretty crowded but everybody is very well mannered in the thermal, lettings others in. Quite unlike some of my world competition experiences!”
(blog by Jo Pocklington)
