8.30 AM;
Bit late for “good” reasons!
BIG news,….we had rain last evening. This time we could not count the drops ,…but it was real rain, big drops. Some danced outside under the shade- cloth as the cooler air and the cold rain-drops were very refreshing.
Looking at the radar there was more rain to the East ,so I hope it helped to settle the dust and “delete” some of the smoke.
On the way to dinner there was no dust, the red sand was darker and we could see the traces from other cars. First time since I arrived here on December 28.
For sure not enough rain, but every drop is welcome here.

A great flying/racing day yesterday. Speedy flights and 2 winners AGAIN in ONE class.
But first Alena in 18 m….. her second win . Looked at the tracking and she flies SO smart!!!!20 km more than the French ladies and we know they are good and 10 k faster.
4 x a JS 3 in the top. The first 6 pilots were all over 130 km./h!! Good job!!!

In standard class, a Polish lady was the best; Anna Piotrowska in LOT with a speed of 114 km that was just a tad faster than Sarah who was runner up and Ayala from the UK. Both 113 km./h.
In club class as said 2 winners; Elena from Italy and Chrissie from Germany. Elena flew 373 km. in time 3.35 in a Discus and Chrissie in a Tocumwal- LS 4 ,367 km in time 3.36. Handicap; 1.045 for 1.022.
The first 10 in his class overall are very close with less than 300 points between 10 and 1.

Happy faces at the bar yesterday and talks about “maybe a good day for tomorrow” =now.

Tasks for today January 8 are already on soaringspot…pretty long ones.
18 m…561.75 km..
standard…454.29 km
club …406 km

Off to briefing soon……it’s a crisp nice cool morning.

10 AM;
Prize winners first and here they are;

What happened more:
— The FAI flag is back.
—Sponsor of the day: Edwards Aviation from Brad.
—International Night…plans are for January 10 ..depending on the weather.
—Flights in the Dimona are available … see David Conway.
—new dinner list has been sent out.
—some club class gliders are …for what reason…too light you will be notified
—Protest time expires every day at 8 AM

Safety;
—Make your 20 km. call!!!!You can say;” copy the weather”if necessary.
—Make also 10 km call , depending on congestion, with landing intentions; center…right short…right long.
—remain predictable.

Weather; by David and sponsored by SKYSIGHT.
—early mid level cloud
—early start ..5000 ft at 11 AM
—reasonable landing conditions today;light and variable at 5 pm
—still the same weather pattern.
—Possibility for late showers.
—Cu’s through most of the day.
—37 dgr. C….9000ft.
—-early finish at 5.3
—late landings; possible gusts and outflows later [less chance than yesterday]

Tasks are to the NW and one of the legs from 18 m.is 230 km from the NW back to “home”.

COMPLIMENTS today for the scorers Pete Temple for 18 m and Neil Campbell for the other 2 classes.
They depend on the quick “send-off” by the ladies straight after the flight.
BUT,…it is pretty rare that scores are in SO QUICK after the flight at a WWGC or WGC …. GREAT JOB!!!!

11.30 AM:

5 or 6 club members who wanted to fly on this nice day have been launched already by 2 tugs. One of them Jacques.
First start at 12.
Get some pictures later from the tuggies and some of the volunteers.
Tugs …3 of the 6…are at the pictures.
Val is now the only lady AND the TUGMASTER!!! Doing a fabulous job. She not only flies but when she sees something she advises the other pilots too.

11.45 AM;
15 minutes to go for the first launch. Tuggies at the strip.

12 PM;
there they go 18 m. first for their A task from 561.8 km.
“full power,full power”
XM [Alena] is the first on tow. Followed by ZF.[Eva]
In between Prime News has arrived and….. I was offered a ride in an ASG 32 self launcher next week. It’s all happening here!!!!
Still blue skies!

12.20 PM;
All 14 gliders in 18 m. launched .Last one is PT with Stefanie.
Line opens after 30 minutes at 12.45
CLUB class launch in progress. First to go ; JO, another Tocumwal glider.
12.40 PM;
JY Sylvia from USA comes back at 20, with a problem with her wheel door.
Last from club has just been launched now… 12.20, line opens in 30 minutes at 13.05 .
Something wrong with my or their time. Will check.
Hope the USA girls Kathy and Sylvia find each other again, as they like to fly together!!
AND,…indeed Kathy waved yesterday. Pretty “cool” during landing!!!Top girls!!!
Standard towing in progress NOW.
Just saw SF.

1.PM;
Still blue here , but clouds over the ranches in the N.W. and East [ not interesting] . Looking good! As they all go to the NW.
Akemi just passed by.
Launching is over already. Pretty quick!!!
Just over an hour!!!
Clouds popping up NOW over field as well.
Relight JY ….she is launched now at 1.12 PM.
St class line opened at; 1.30.

CU Later; Having a little rest, after a poor night!!!

4.15 PM:
Did n’t miss anything. Everybody is happily flying, crews are checking the track of their pilots , the kangaroos have organized their selves under the trees in front of the club house where there is water for them in buckets and I first looked at the skies and to the NW it really looks nice as you can see.

18 m. is already busy with their LONG 230 K leg and all have rounded it already or rounding it now which means with the delay that we will have nobody stuck at 230 km from here!!!Speed from the “best” 143 km./h [Aussie girls]
Clubbies are busy with their 160 km.leg and are going fast with a few at 113 km./h.
Standard shows 128 km./h at this stage and they flew already 275 km and started their long leg from 148 km. so 170 km to go.

4.35 PM;
From the East some “milky stuff “is slowly approaching the field here, but still with nice clouds under it. Seems to be as I hear ” far away showers” to the east. It looks it’s not coming.

4.50 PM:
Clubbies are about 100 k out
18 m about 120 and standard less than 100 k. BUT,…there is still the 15 minutes delay. So they are closer by.
Finish line Radio just says that the first will land in approx.16 minutes so they are ready to welcome them.

5 PM;
wind is 160 dgr. 8/9 kts. Runway 14.
Some of the local pilots are landing now.
The German girls in club announce their arrival ; Chrissie and Sabrina.
IC , Jo Davis is arriving too.2 More coming, one is KE. AJ..

5.15 PM;GLIDERS ARRIVED
QL…BM…IC…KE….JO…40..WH…PT…KW..AG…QO…

18 M; 1B.. XM..MM…

5.45 pm; GLIDERS IN.
S 7….51…FQ…ZEV…MF…XJY…ZF…L 7…LOT…18…PO…SC…OGV…ET…P1..P..PV…XBY…CC…LT…w8…EJ

I might have missed a few but ALL scores will be very soon at soaringspot.
Nearly all club class pilots are already scored or in.

6.10 PM:
A REAL AWESOME day, 152 km./h at this stage for Ailsa in 18 m. I told you already those girls are on fire!!!Liz had the same speed and according to her UK mates she ” was beaming from ear to ear as she handed over her loggers, she was saying something about it was “outrageous that you could have that much fun”
At this stage 3 in standard with 129 km./h.
Club class with Aussie Jo, flew 121 km./h. that is at this stage 5 km faster , a than the runner up Chrissie who won yesterday. Jo,…the real “Speedy Gonzales”
So a glorious day here in Keepit and all girls seem to be back, with big smiles, what do you want more.
BUT,…..still a call for one pilot ,…but she seems close by, I heard from Bruce.
YES, she will be in soon ,…..XZ is ready to land. “Maybe a bit low”, but….kangaroos are chased and she is IN.
Anita;”Welcome back Kath” she answers, “It was a bit of a day”
“Damn good landing” by radio -man Peter Sommerfeldt
Great fun had by all, even here at the ground!!!!

Also by German crew member Tanya Ziegler who flew herself in Christian Werner ‘s ASG 32 MI. Sorry lost the picture.
Make a new one tomorrow.

CU tomorrow.