Yes they did! First of all JOEYGLIDE ,….BUT, they UNFORTUNATELY, had a corona positive case at the airfield of Benalla and the organizers anticipated straight away and effective; the competition was cancelled.
The weather was still WET in Narromine, 800 km more to the East and as expected their hope was at least, for 1 or 2 more day’s to fly.
The rain stopped on Thursday and the sun showed up, but the wind was fierce,… too strong for the tuggies.
So Friday and Saturday to go and with the 2 days they had already, it still could be a valid State Competition .It turned out to be!
Task 3;
a 240 set task was set for open class/18m. and Bruce , who had a walk in strong winds all by himself in the Warrumbungles, to “empty” his head [an ancient volcanic landform which rises out of the relatively flat landscape to the North-East of Narromine. It has some spectacular hiking trails, so I took one up to the top of a feature called Split Rock] , did well after this exercise and won the day , not by being 1 or 2 km/h faster than the runners up, but 16 km./h. Tim Wilson and Brian DuRieu in ASG 29 and Ventus 3m neo, had 98 km. on their “clock”.
Brian did well, by being 1 overall, but after more checks on the scores he lost ONE point.
“At last, back in the air! Today was still challenging, but felt much better for me and I think I have done OK. The day was almost blue, and the view out the front was just as the photo shows”.is what Bruce mentioned.

Overall scores , with ONE MORE day to go are CLOSE
Ed Marel [ASH 31 Mi/21m] is on spot 1 with 2.141 points, then Brian with 2.140 and Tim with 2.129 p.
Looking at the 18 m. class only,…. Brian leads.
Task 4; 3 hour AAT.
AND,…yes it was again Bruce ,[ASG 29] who with and “empty ” head beat them all in a glorious way; 427 km in time 3.12 so a good speed of 133 km./h.
To put it in perspective , the runner up, Geoff Brown in JS 1 had 346 km in time 2.58 , so a speed of 115 km./h.
Brian dis well in his neo-Ventus 3, with a 3d spot.
Unfortunately for Ed, who was on spot 1 overall, was “out”.
Overall final scores in OPEN CLASS/18 m. after 4 days of flying;
1. Brian DuRieu from Temora in Ventus 3M -neo. with 2.960 points.
2. Tim Wilson from Victoria in ASG 29e with 2.929 p.
3. Geoff Brown from Canberra in JS 1c with 2.692 p.
Looking at 18 m. only, the scores are the same for the top3 but Kerrie did a great job in being 4th!!!!!

5 Pilots still flew in club class after all the wet days and they got a 2.30 AAT. Paul Dickson won in his LS 3 with a speed of 82 km. /h over 204 km.
On number 5 was Peter Hoogland [he must be Dutch with such a name] and he flew in his SZD 55 a distance of 145 km ; speed 46 km./h TOP JOB!!!! For 786 daily points.
Sarah Thompson was runner up in her Jantar 2…great job. She is the daughter from Jenny .
“NSW state comps.. back in the air after 3 days of bad weather. Much better than forecast despite 20 knot winds.”
Task 4; last day...3.15 AAT and a sky full of clouds!!!
Very well deserved 1000 points for Paul, yes he won again, in his LS 3; 348 km. in time 3.19.[speed 105 km./h and the only one over 100 km./h.!!!
Sarah was 4th on this last day. Good on her!!!
Overall scores in club class after 4 days of flying;
1. Paul Dickson from the Hunter Valley in LS 3 with 3.064 points.
2. Ross Whittle from Kingaroy in a Discus with 2.607 p.
3. Sarah Thompson from the Darling Downes in Jantar 2 with 2.381 p.

The weather on the last day, CLOUDS as said before and look at them.

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The weather in the WEST of Australia has been better then ever over the last season.
Norm Bloch used such great weather for a great flight in his 18m/ JS 3 last Sunday; an FAI 500 km triangle with a speed of 155 km./h. Good on you Norm .

That the weather in the WEST is already good for a long time shows this news from the Adelaide University Gliding Club.
They “attended Coaching Week at Waikerie, from 26th of December to 1st of January. Several days with thermals over 10,000ft made for some great flying! The Janus did several 300km+ flights, and a club member achieved their first 750km flight. The Motorfalke was also used to help an Alice Springs member complete their outlanding checks to achieve their ‘C’ certificate. Daily lectures as part of briefings were interesting and informative, and as usual the meals after flights were exceptional with a great bunch of people.“
That’s what it is ALL ABOUT.
I see myself again as a young girl flying with the Student Aeroclub of the University from Eindhoven. I still fondly remember those times.

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With 5 out of 12 days the Argentinian Championships for Club Class more or less “fell apart”. No tasks at the last days so we can quickly see who were on the highest 3 spots .
1.Felipe Girado in ASW 20 with 2.803 points. He won one task number 8.
2.Dino Ghioni in ASW 20 with 2.769 p.
3. Jose Dentone in ASW 20 with 2.767 p.
Such a pity!!!!!!!

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From Argentina to New Zealand for the next , this time, MULTI CLASS NATIONALS.
Matamata is the place to be between January 22 and 31.

Task 1 showed after a good practice day, a good 310 km distance in open class.” Day one had a good day of 4500’ cu based in the morning building to 6000’+ later in the day.”
8 Pilots started and 4 finished. Brett Hunter was runner up and what about other more well known names ; Patrick Driessen [JS 1] was 3d and Tim Bromhead [Ventus cT 17.6m] out for the day after 174 km.
Task 1 in racing class was 204 km. 22 Pilots started and 3 were out. Steve Wallace in the MOSQUITO won the first day and “got” 1000 points.
Mark Wilson in the St Libelle was runner up. Good “old” Tony van Dyk was 8th.
Sports class had 166 km and from the 6 pilots in this class , 3 finished.
Then a few non flying days and today they had a task again
Task 2; 2.30 AAT for open with only 3 finishers and from them Patrick was the best; 279 km. in time 2.37 for 288 points.
Racing class had a 2 hour AAT and from the 19 who started 7 got to the finish. Number 7 was Tony van Dyk. speed 65 km./h so still going strong on his age!!!
Jason Shields in Discus 2t won the day ;169 km. in time 1.51 [speed 85 km./h]
More next week.

AUSTRALIA DAY; the official national day, so time to honor people who have been good/excellent in their area and to put new Aussies on the citizen-list.
One of the receivers from the Order of Australia today, is Bob Brown. A real good friend and one of the people who already in our time put huge and persistent effort in the history of the WW2 hangar and the total WW2-airfield.SO PROUD ON HIM!!!! And on Gina.
“A proud day for Tocumwal’s aviation history and heritage with Matt & Kaz [running the museum] being nominated as Berrigan Shire Citizen of the Year. More significantly Bob Brown received a well deserved OAM for his contribution to the collection and preservation of artefacts and memorabilia associated with Tocumwal’s Historic Aerodrome over the past 25 years. We’re honoured to have the collection within our care and proud to be able to carry on Bob’s work collecting and exhibiting Tocumwal’s aviation history and heritage for future generations to explore.”

Whilst this was all happening today the weather was top for soaring as well. Yesterday Tocumwal pilots flew 680 km in ASW 27 by Swiss Chris and Grant flew in his St Jantar 619 km. Today over 500.
Sadly Toc is not the well known soaring resort anymore as in the past with many overseas guests, but the weather stayed and is STILL great.
Bitterwasser still had so late in their season another 1000 km flight and they continue to “make kilometers.”
And in Worcester they fly the Western Cape Regionals …Cape Gauntlet…since January 23 and they had already 2/3 days in 3 classes club [ 6 pilots] , 15 m. [4 ] and open [ 10]
More next week.

WEGLIDE announced some news in their magazine;
WeGlide Segments.
“They are a new way to compare your performance to other pilots in your area. Segments are popular routes from a start to a finish gate. All pilots automatically get scored on all segments they pass during their flights.
You can earn medals and cups for your performances on different segments.”
Have a look .
Comment from an instructor;
“Especially for newbies in our club, WeGlide Segments are nice challenges. Beginners can fly popular local routes, earn a medal and try to improve over time.“
OLC had news too, shared by Soaring News by Paul Remde of Cumulus Soaring, Inc. :
“Cool New Online Contest FlightFinder MapsYou can view all your (or anyone’s) past flight on a map. Just login to the OLC, then go to the “FlightFinder” menu and enter your name. Then click the “Find” button, then click the “Map” button.
The map below show many of my flights out of Nephi, Utah. It probably doesn’t show all my flights, because I usually fly a 2-seater and the other pilot would share half the flights. Nephi is an amazing place for soaring adventures!Thank you Ramy Yanetz for sharing this cool tip!“

Enough for now , back next week.
Cheers Ritz