Post 1.404 on February 15…hope you had a good VALENTINES-day yesterday.

Matamata N.Z. CLUB CLASS NATIONALS
3 February 2023 – 12 February 2023

They had already 2 good days of ridge flying and we continue with
Task 4 another 3 hour AAT…..and again good ridge soaring. This time DG 300 pilot John Robertson was the daily best with 285 km. in 3 hours at the dot!!!!! In his “ELAN” he was 1 km. faster than MOSQUITO pilot Steven Wallace. [283 km] The other Steven ,Care, flew in his ASW 20 also 3 hours but less kilometers.
Task 5 was much slower; a 3 hour AAT was set , the daily winner was again John, but now not for 1000 points but “only” 333. He had to fly for that, 265 km with a “speed” of 88 km./h.
Winning 2 days in a row, means for John that he leads the overall scores now, after 4 flying days , but only just; 3.189 for 3.166 for Steven W.
Task 6; 2 hour AAT....challenging day with start times between 13.10 and 14.22. Only 11 pilots started , 3 were out and the daily winner was Steven in the Mosquito, flying 206 k. in time 2.14. All flights under 100 km./h. A good day for him as he was back on spot 1 overall again.
As task 7 was not flown, the last day had to be cancelled, this win to be NATIONAL CHAMPION was important;
Here are the final scores after 5 out of 8 days.
1. Steven G Wallace in Mosquito with 3,980 points…NATIONAL CLUB CLASS CHAMPION
2. John Robertson in DG 300 Elan with 3,952 p.
3. Michael Strathern in ASW 20 with 3,717 p.

Task 5 a 3 hour AAT in the open class was a race again between Brett Hunter in the JS 3 and Tim Bromhead in the Ventus 2C. Tim flew 290 km with a speed of 97 km./h , Brett, 294 km with 96 km./h.
After 4 flying days their overall scores are very close as well; Brett 3.565 and Tim 3.623 points.
Exciting last days ahead!!!!
Task 6; 2 hour AAT …won by Tim 208 km in time 2.03. Brett was runner up missing out on 15 daily points.
No task the next day, so winners in this class after 5 out of 8 days are;
1. Brett Hunter in JS 3 with 4.619 points.
2. Tim Bromhead in Ventus CT with 4.602 p
3. David Johnson in Discus 2CT with 4.016 p.

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2023 NSW State Comps flown from NARROMINE

The continuation of the State comps was stopped for 1 day, due to the weather. The message on Thursday morning was; Thu 9th Feb Day Cancelled.
The reason will be clear when you read Anne’s report:
“A huge storm hit the Narromine area a couple of hours ago with reports coming through of 30 to 45mm in parts of town but so far no major damage. There was hail, around 30mm of rain at Tomingley and trees uprooted. The attached photo of hail was taken by Bev at Hamilton’s Pride, producers of the best eggs ever, around 50km s/w of Narromine .. but only about 7mm rain.
I contacted a friend who is taking part in the NSW State comp here in Narromine who advised that all gliders were safe as hangared this morning.“

The day before, won by Hunter Valley pilot Paul as written in my last blog, was specially for him and extremely good:
“Yesterday has to be one of the best days gliding that I have ever had!
10,000′ cloudbase, great cloud streets in line with the task and the vario on the pegs. I was leaving thermals at 9kts to look for better climbs and at one point, when I got low, I had to force myself to slow down and accept a 7kt climb to get back in touch with the clouds. 462km @ 127kph in a dry (no water ballast) LS3
Just magic Narromine weather!“
I have been many times in Narromine and indeed I have seen fabulous weather there, but sometimes it can turn violent, I have seen that too.
So no flying, but they still enjoyed the great weather from the day before, as that Wednesday was also good enough for a 1000 flown by Tomas Suchanek. He flew Adam’s VENTUS 3T over 1.072 km…good on him as it rather late in the season already. 120 km./h and even passing West from Lake Keepit .
It was G1’s 3d 1000 km. flight.

After rain there is sunshine, also in Narromine so off they went for day flying-day 4 , different and challenging.
Task 5: 2.30 AAT.…with 260 km, Peter was the daily best again with a speed of 103 km./h, the only one flying over the 100k-mark.
Task 6; 2.30 AAT…..”Unfortunately, because of high wind speeds over 25-30+ knots we have had to cancel the day.”
task 7; 3 hour AAT….Only 6 pilots started and 2 were out, but there was a daily winner as well; Tocumwal pilot Bernie in his PIK 20. He flew 246 km in time 3.17 and flew himself from spot 4 to 3 so on the podium. Well done!

Winners from the NSW state comps in CLUB CLASS are;
1. Paul Dickson in LS 3 with 4,410 points.
2. Richard Frawley in LS 4A with 4.110 p.
3. Bernie Sizer in PIK 20B- W with 4.077 p.

In the sport class they had the same task 5 and task setter Mick Webster won the day in his LS8. Miles was runner up.
In Narromine’s blog you could read;
“And it was fun watching Miles Gore-Brown managing his final glide from what looked like about 70k out. Miles roared down the final leg (LOL 70kts) without turning and then extended into the final circle and that is the tactic that got him into Second place today.”
No task 6 but yes a task 7 ….a 3 hour AAT for the LAST DAY.
Miles won the last day, Kerrie was faster but on handicap runner up. Mick was “out” but so far ahead in the overall scores that it did n’t harm him at all. Mick is like Paul a member of the Hunter Valley Gliding Club.
1. Mick Webster in LS 8 with 4,313 points.
2. Miles Gore-Brown in LS 8 with 4.293 p.
3. Kerrie Claffey in ASG 29/18 m. with 4.117 p.

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News from Kiripotib for those who have not been there yet:
Safety first! Those who have not flown in Kiripotib before often have questions about safety and safety equipment when gliding in Namibia. Peter Harvey has summarized the answers for you in a video.
YOUTUBE.COM FLY SAFE AT KIRIPOTIB SOARING….about safety procedures and approaches…
https://youtu.be/SH3CCcg49i4

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The down-under-season slowly reaches the Easter period and that’s mostly the end of the season.
When you look at the picture from Kingaroy, it looks more like mid season, with 20 gliders in the row for a launch last week !
They indeed had nice weather with Butch [John Buchanan] flying a 538 free distance in his 15 m. AS 33es.

SOAR COROWA is preparing for the 20 m NATIONALS. New owner Keith brought in German tables and German beer for some extra fun.
The 20m Dual Seat Nationals 2023, will be flown between February 18 and 25 .
At this stage there are 6 teams flying 3x an ARCUS M 1x an ARCUS T, an ASG 32MI and Duodiscus.
BUT,…”Sadly at present we don’t have enough entries for an official competition, due to a couple of late withdrawals.“
Hopefully a few teams will put their hands up. Corowa is a nice place with good weather and a swimming pool to relax after with a drink.
UPDATE; After Bruce [Taylor] spend news in his Taylor’s Gliding Page, ;
“Many thanks to all who chimed in, sharing messages and spreading the word. As of late this morning we had 9 entries, so we have a competition again! There’s room for more, and still an easy glider available close by. Come along and join in the fun“
That’s where friends are for……
More next week.

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Alexander Schleicher shared the winning pictures from their Winter Photo Contest.

——Last Monday 2 “kilometer-eaters” in an ARCUS M, Alejandro and Alejo, flew from Zapala in Argentina a huge distance 1.604 km…..with 177 km./h. At some places the fabulous wave was up to over 8000 m MSL [over 7000 AGL].

That’s it for today. Still shocked by over 40.000 people who died in the earthquake in Syria and Turkey and totally amazed that they found people alive after ONE WEEK under the rubble.
Some” who think to know”, predict up to 180.000 deceased people. Just incomprehensible ………not to understand……totally beyond me!!!!! Too SAD FOR WORDS!!!!!
In the Netherlands , people and government, already donated around 38 million Euro, for help now and in the future. Tonight it will be more as all day actions are on TV and radio.

Ritz