Champions, YES we have them!!!. First of all of course from the Multi Class Nationals in  New Zealand .

”  the final day is over! 3 outlandings and some landbacks but all pilots home. Final presentation has been completed – a great competition had by all. “

Here the final results and CHAMPIONS in each of the 5 classes.

Mixed class;

1.	Steve Wallace	Aviation Sports Club	5310
2.	Tony van Dyk	Gliding Hutt Valley	4958
3.	Nigel McPhee	Auckland Gliding Club	4638

15 m. class;

1.	Steve Wallace	Aviation Sports Club	4979
2.	Tony van Dyk	Gliding Hutt Valley	4714
3.	Nigel McPhee	Auckland Gliding Club	4476

18 m. class;

1.	Brett Hunter	Tauranga Gliding Club	4964
2.	Terry & Co	Taupo Gliding Club	4778
3.	Gray / Dennison	Piako Gliding Club	4747

and open class;

1.Brett Hunter    Tauranga Gliding Club      53772.
2. Trevor Terry  Taupo Gliding Club            45223.
3. Bob Gray           Piako Gliding Club               4473

 

The 33d Nationals in Club and Sports class in Waikirie got their 5th , 6th , 7th and 8th day and I mentioned already the expectation for GOOD weather.

Day 5;
In the mixed class ,a 3.30 AAT and Matthew flew 444 km, but “used”  4 hours,  half an hour too much,  Butch  flew 433 in 3.37, whilst Peter Temple flew 429 in the ASG 29 [15 m.version] in time 3.41.
In club class the 4 hours were spend well by Don Woodward in the 15 m. ASW20 flying 389 km. in 3 hour 58.
The LS 4 from Tobias and the LS 3 from Terry , both WGC pilots in the past and maybe future, followed.

Day 6
a BIG ONE, as the mixed class got a 4.30 AAT and yes the well known kilometer eaters did their best; Matthew won the day with 640,5 km. with 142 km./h. whilst Allan and Graig from Mount Beauty followed with 611 km. with 135.8 km./h.!!!
After day 6 Matthew topped the overall list for the first time during this competition, but only with 80 points over Allan, who occupied the top spot for 4 days.

In club class Tobias Geiger [LS 4]  was on the top-overall-spot for 5 days, only missed out on day 1 when he was 2d. On day 6 he was 2d behind good old Terry in his LS 3, who added 1000 points to his total , making him runner up. Terry flew 494.2 km. with a speed of 123 km./h.Not bad for the old LS 3, but both pilot and glider know their way between Gawler and Waikirie.

  

Tugs and tuggies ready for the last couple of days.
Courtesy Robert Smits.

Day 7,
had another 4 hour AAT ,in both classes,…. yes the weather turned really good as predicted and….
in case there would be thunderstorms during the finish time, the organizers changed  the local rules for the day, to make the finish circle 10km .
In Sports class BB, John ” Butch”  Buchanan flew 667.5 km. with a speed of 158.8 km./h. in his 18 m. ASG 29. BUT,…he was not the winner of the day.Matthew got the 1000 points in his Discus 2 flying 631 km with a speed of 155.2 km./h. FAST DAY!!!!
” Matt left a bit later to try to maximize the effects of the convergences over the hills.”
In club class Adam, in the standard cirrus,  finally got what he hoped for ; 1000 points!!!He flew in 4.02,36 a distance of  521 km.[ speed 129 km./h.]

Interesting to see that Brian DuRieu was in the overall scores every day [except for day 1 when he was on spot 7 ] , on spot 6, very consistent flying in his LS 10.

Day 8 ;
“ All gone for the last time into a milky blue sky. HDL [ Tobias] currently leading the class was one of the last to launch. VN is not re-launching.
The last gate will open around 15.15.
The organizing team here have done a fantastic job with good humour and endless patience.
The task setting has been achieved in very difficult weather conditions with gust fronts, troughs and sea breezes to contend with.” as published  on  the GFA FB site.

So after a couple of fantastic days back to less good circumstances on the LAST day.
What would it bring?
First of all a C task for both classes; 300 for Sports and 250 for Club, later changed in a D task for club pilots [2 hour AAT]  in mostly blue conditions and a steady 15 kt.wind , so they all stayed more or less together, which , you would expect, should not change the results very much.
But,… Peter Temple just missed out on 5 km. to finish, missing out on 200 points on local ” hero” Craig Vinall who won the day in sports class.
6 From 16 finished on this last day.

In club no worries for Tobias , no stress either as he won the day. But for a few others ” something”  did not work on this last days , so indeed changes in the top, as p.e Adam lost nearly 170 points on Tobias and Terry 139 points.

The final results in the mixed class ;
1. Matthew Scutter in the Discus 2 with 6642 points and the new 2014 Aussie  champion.
2. Allan Barnes in the 15m. LS 8 with 6461 points
3. John Buchanan in the ASG 29/18 m.with 6276 points
4. Peter Temple in the 15m LS 8 with 6237 points
5. Brian Du Rieu who moved from 6 to 5 in his LS 10 with 5666 points.

The final results in club class;
1. Tobias Geiger in his LS 4 with 6813 points and the  new 2014 Aussie Champion
2. Terry Cubley in LS 3 with 6598 points
3. Don Woodward in the 15m. ASW 20 with 6294 points
4. Stephen O ‘Donnell in the LS 3 with 6103 points
5. Eric Stauss in the St Cirrus with 6072 points
6. Adam Woolley in the St Cirrus, the oldest glider on the grid, with 6013 points.
Swaantje was on spot 12.
Next year the National multi -class- Nationals will be flown in January in Waikirie as well .

After the comps it’s a long drive home, but as you see you meet friends on the road.
Courtesy Adam.

Bitterwasser; One of the Dutch pilots Luc Stalman, flies in Bitterwasser and flew 3 x1000 km. flights with Wilfried Grosskinsky in the ASH 25 EB 28.And yes,….???
The interesting point was that Wilfriend mentioned on January 8 ,that  never a 1000 was  flown  on such a COLD day in Namibia!
The trigger temperature was 21 and the max for the day 28!
CU’s  started already at 10.45, and good-working clouds.According to the boys it was an interesting day with a strong N Westerly and cloud streets till the border of SA. In the evening the clouds dried out and the last part had to be flown in ” the blue”.
Yesterday was according to most pilots another ” HAMMERTAG”
Quite a lot of friends are at the moment in Bitterwasser and even on a ” cold”  day , as last Wednesday, they flew between 760 and 900-plus km.
On the Hammerday  Andy with Lasham mate Hugh [EB 28] flew a 1000 and for Hugh,  at age 76 this was his very first!!!!!
There were 2 more FIRST 1000 k’s in Nimbus 4DM and ARCUS m.

Andy and Hugh after the 1000 k
Courtesy Hugh.

Lovely to see that Hans and Ronald topped the OLC list on Thursday flying in the ” family-ARCUS”  over 814 km. from Kuruman.

 FINALLY the weather turned really good again on Friday,  in the Benalla/Corowa/Tocumwal area with clouds popping up early and staying for the day except for some more Northerly TP’s, where it was blue!
With 826 km. [725 FAI triangle] in the ASH 26 Terry Ryan had a good day from Toc., and Michael who flew with us in the past already, is back on the old nest and straight away flew 781 km in his DG 600.
Back on the old nest is also very true for Klaus [Brand] ready for some nice soaring and also for the Danish boys Ib and Ole and their mates, ready for more Danish records.
Not to forget our Japanese mates , THE GRONG GRONG boys as we called them.In the past they tried their first 50 k. to Jerilderie,  300 to  Grong Grong  and 500 k;  Hiro and Takeshi, Hiroshi and Nobu!  We had flowers for them and they shared sake with us.
And as far as I heard Mac will follow soon as well. He already  travelled from Africa [Bitterwasser]  to Australia [Stonefield ,where he flew on Friday in the 22 m. DG 500  767 km.]

The 17 m. Kestrel flew from Benalla,with Charles Day in the cockpit 760 km. [740FAI trainagle] and Corowa , [very nice to see Kees back in Australia,] waited long and I waited with them, but finally had ….their first 1000 km. flight with Hans Juergen Lange ;1.018,54 in the Ventus 2 CM.
Also Saturday was a ” beaut” day with distances in this B-C-T- area up to 870 km. by Bob from Benalla.

Beverley;  ” Day One of the WAGA State Comps went ok, the fleet of 27 launched by the three Beverley Pawnees in just over an hour, 3 relights. Only one outlanding, 73 km out, aeroretrieve straightforward, GPS makes it almost too easy!” as written by John Welsh.
And,..
” Small milestone – all 3 tugs and tug pilots belong to Beverley Soaring Society at Day 2 WA State Comps. 28 competitors lauched in one hour.”
And,…
” Day 3 of the WA state comps, reached 42 C on the ground, early finishers reported FL130+, 3hour task, should be some fast times! 46 C forecast for tomorrow.”

Worcester; the Western Cape Regionals were flown there and finished with 3 out of 6 days.
The first soarable day had a set task of 436 km and was finished by 2 from the 11 participating pilots, each gaining just over 500 points.
Day 2 was won by Laurens [Goudriaan] who only had 27 points on day 1 , but could add 399 on this day.
Day 3 was a prey for Gary Whitecross and as he was with Sven Olivier a finisher on day 1 , he won the comps, with Sven as runner up and Laurens on spot 3.

Enough news for today. More in SOARINGCAFE later.

Cheers Ritz
on Sunday January 12 2014.