Alphen aan den Rijn 05-12-2008
More blog news from Jo. Here you are;
Australian Qualifying Gliding Grand Prix
Narromine, NSW, Australia
briefing Comp Day 6 Fri 5 Dec 08
Henk Meertens announced that provisional double-seater winners on day 5 were Ross McLean & Mark Rowe with an average speed of 107.2 km/h over 243.5 km – they won the bonus point for being first to Trangie, giving a total of 4 points for the day.
Peter Summersby & Mal Bruce are overall double-seater leaders with 11 points. Ross McLean & Mark Rowe are tied with Shinzo Takizawa on 8 points each.
It was once again a very tight competition for the 18m leaders. Provisional 18-meter winners for comp day 5 were Riccardo Brigliadori in an ASG 29 – 10 points; equal second place – Bill Hatfield in his LAK 17 – 8 points and Lars Zehnder in his Ventus 2c – 8 points. Ricky’s average speed was 118.7 km/h over the 243.5km; Bill and Lars each averaged 118.6 km/h.
In 4th place was Brad Edwards in his ASG 29/18m at an average 118.4 km/h, followed by Thomas Gostner in a Ventus 2c with an average118.3 km/h, Mac Ichikawa in his ASG29 at 118.2 km/h and Terry Cubley in Danny Kilgariff’s Ventus 2CXM at 118.0 km/h.
Graham Parker won the bonus point for being first to Trangie. John (Butch) Buchanan is having logger problems and has not submitted a valid trace.
Provisional overall leaders after 5 days are all flying ASG29s – Graham Parker on 32 points, Riccardo Brigliadori on 27 points and John Buchanan on 25 points.
18m day 5 winner, Riccardo Brigliadori is 40 years old and graduated from the University of Bergamo in Business Administration. Ricky is married to Francesca, has one little girl, 4 years old and a boy of 17 months.
Ricky is 7 times Italian Champion and was 5th at the WGC in 2008 at Lusse (Germany). He is co-founder of the new Gliding Aeroclub in Alzate (Como). Ricky is General Manager and CEO of a company involved in aircraft and glider maintenance and repair, situated on the airfield of Bergamo (Italy).
Ricky was co-author with his father, Leo of the book ‘Competing in Gliders’. Leo is crewing for Ricky at the Grand Prix.
“My best gliding moment was when I landed my first solo and my uncle gave me a little slap. I dreamed of coming to Australia for a long time. Now it’s the time!”
Weather for comp day 6 – the thick high cloud is predicted to clear our area; thunderstorms to the north, but not in our general area. Temperatures are expected to be 36 degrees at Trangie and at Narromine about 32 degrees. Pressure will fall as a trough moves closer. Thermals will be sheared once again. Heights will be improving by 3pm and around 7,000′ by 4pm. At 2pm there will be no cu, but 4pm should have some cu with heights dropping by 5pm.
This was Jenny Thompson’s last weather prediction for the Grand Prix as she needs to return to work tomorrow. Henk Meertens expressed a sincere vote of thanks from all pilots for her excellent predictions this week.
Today we have A and B tasks set; the bonus point is the second turnpoint for both tasks. First launch 1300 hrs, estimated start gate opening 1400 hrs.
Task A: Collie, Mullengudgery, Microwave – 255.5 km
Task B: Collie, Nevertire, Microwave – 199.5 km
Our website is receiving 16,000 hits per day!
(blog by Jo Pocklington)
Australian Qualifying Gliding Grand Prix
Narromine, NSW, Australia
5.30pm Comp Day 6 Fri 5 Dec 08
The start gate opened at 1440 hrs; the first gliders were across the finish at 1638 hrs – Riccardo Brigliadori, David Wilson, Graham Parker, Hank Kauffmann, Michael Sommer, Terry Cubley, Lars Zehnder, Andrew Georgeson, Mac Ichikawa.
Andrew Georgeson: “Weather on track was patchy. Clouds weren’t working in general, but the odd good looking one really worked 7 – 8 knots. Final glide was disappointing – the track home overdeveloped with big flat-bottomed cu, but it just didn’t suck. There was a fair bit of sink coming in”.
This could be David Wilson‘s first points for the Grand Prix! David began gliding in 1963 and has about 3,800 hours. An Australian, David went solo in England during a scholarship to Cranfield University. He has been a member of the Victorian Motorless Flight Group since 1964 and is currently head coach for Victoria and a level 2 instructor in the VMFG. David acquired his ASG 29 about 18 months ago.
David has taken a keen interest in weather forecasting for gliding and has developed a computer model of the atmosphere which – given a local temperature trace – can predict the start of thermals, the height they reach and the end of convection. David has assisted with weather forecasting at many Australian competitions over the past 10 years.
David has been a regular competitor at Australian nationals since 1970. He took part in the Grand Prix in South Australia in 2000. He has occasionally won a day, and his best placing is 7th. David was team captain for the Australian team to the world Club Class Championships in Norway in 2004.
(blog by Jo Pocklington)
