10 AM; On Sunday December 29.

Briefing is over . We could see some smoke already to the N. but the S. should be OK.
They started with “ the less rules, the better“.
That’s in a nutshell the feeling you get , when you are here. It’s all very easy -going at this stage during the practice.
We have to be very careful with water as they have to buy it.
The weather looks good according to Al, who shares the maps from Sky Sight with the ladies.
An average of 7/8 kts. thermals, up to 7000 ft in the early afternoon and later in the day, when clouds might show up in the blue , up to 10.000 ft in the ranges even to 15.000.
Wind is light and variable, both at the surface and a bit higher, the ranges will have some more wind.
BUT,….from 6.30 onward, “it falls all apart“.

They use 3 tug’s today for the launches and in the end of the day you should, when you are later, announce your arrival at 20 and 10 km. so they can chase the kangaroos from the field. No worries this is “normal” here.
Mac got a real beautiful CUP, for the longest flight last year flown in NSW, from Tocumwal; 1.193 km.

About the fires; There are a few around. As said not direction S.
Pilots are asked to report a starting fire which they might see from above to Brisbane Emergency on 127.1.
The instructor for the day Nick,also mentioned that you are NOT allowed to fly closer than 5 n.m. from a fire.
And …look out….There might be water bombers as well.

Task; 320 to 350 km.

Yesterday evening we had quite an “International table ” for dinner, here at the club house. Chris was so kind to “cook” our steaks on the BBQ and for sure he has done this before, they were PERFECT!!!

You are up to date ,…more later,

12 PM;
I walked to the strip to make some pictures from the pilots in their glider .I stopped at the hangar for scruteneering.
It happened that it was the turn for the brand new JS 3, with call sign MM from Diana. She is the first female pilot competing for Luxembourg.
I was allowed to make pictures, so I did.
May I tell you,…this was the most advanced system I have ever seen since 1981!!!
Somebody told me it was the idea from the president here, Tim Carr, just genius!!!Compliments!
SO,….You have a big hangar…. You open the door at one side and roll the wheel of the glider on a trolley. So far nothing new. But,..then in the hangar at the floor are rails.You bring the glider to the scales and roll it off.

Then they do the “normal” checks look at the weight and measure the wing span, check the paperwork etc and then the glider is moved back- wards to and other trolley on another set of rails. One door opens for the next glider, MM rolls out and the other door opens to push the glider out.

JOB done……JUST MARVELOUS!!!!

2 PM:
Back from the field. 38.7 dgr. C in the shade under a roof where you can have water and a rest before flying.

Strong thermals at the ground.It looks like a real good day. The 3 tuggies go up and down.Here are some of the girls ready to go.Still struggle a bit with the names as the call signs are different or not available in my book.So I hope I have it right.

3 PM;
Visited the Lake,….can’t say it’s a lake anymore just a bit of water. It’s SO sad to see this terrible drought here. All trees are dead, no grass to be seen and only just a drop of water. I heard 0.4 % water of what it should be.

4 PM;
With an average of 6 meter lift for some, pilots must come down with big smiles.HAPPY PILOTS I guess!!!
A few are landing at the moment. The wind has changed now as some come in at 14.
Dave Shorter has arrived. He is the meteo- man for this competition.
Nearly all championship officials have arrived here now.
Jacques is here already for a few day’s , in fact Lake Keepit is his home base. He has 4 important jobs; IT, Trackers, Maps and Air Space.
Still miss Bruce and Anita [ they seem to be here] and Sean will be here on Jan 2.
I had the names correct from the girls, we only found some mistakes in the call-sign-list. For that reason there was some confusion. No worries!!!

CU tomorrow we are going to the sports center for dinner.
More about that tomorrow.