New Zealand Club Class National Gliding Championship 2019.

 

    

“As you can see Dave the weather man was completely sure which way to go yesterday at launch.”
Yesterday was last Wednesday. Courtesy Matamata Soaring Centre

After the rest- day everybody was eager to go for the last couple of day’s. The weather was not flash but good enough to fly again on Thursday February 7;
Day 11 ..task 10;
Club..2.30 AAT; AND,….only 1 pilot from 9 finished!!! Tim [Bromhead] in his DG 300.He flew 182 km. with a speed of 55 km./h, so a hard working and character building-day , but well deserved 545 points for him.
Tom still leads with 6.116 points, then Mike with 5.673 and Steve with 5.505 points.
Less excitement here as in the other class, but you never know. INDEED!!!!!
Combi..2.30 AAT; and huge differences in start times. Some left at 1.35 PM others like Keith at 2.39 so an hour difference in looking at the weather in different way’s.
4 Finished, but not Sebastian ,he was the first to be “out” after 226 km. Daily winner Patrick [Driessen] in his JS 1; 308 km. in time 3.51.
Also in , Keith and the Taupo ARCUS and,…an LS  6 C with 206 km in time 3.19. Good on David Moody !!!
Sebastian still leads with 6.309 points with Keith on 2 with 6.257 and Patrick on 3 with 5.344.
Interesting to see what will happen, as it is between these 3 pilots, who will be on spot 1 in the end.

 

Courtesy Sebastian who had time to make this great picture as well. Not far from Roturua where I was as well and looked in amazing at the boiling mud.

Day 12 ..task 11;
Club..3 hour AAT; Tim seems to be in a winning flow,…he won again already his 4th win; 289 km./in time 3.08. Steve and Mike “hang in ” on spot 2 and 3 .
6 Finishers and 4 out. Nothing changed in the top 3.
Combi..3 hour AAT; The toppers all started at the same time, but not finished at the same time. Difference in speed between number 1 and 5 was 114.05 for 91.50 km./h..
The first speed was from Sebastian, the last one from Patrick, which meant in points a loss of 250 p. on Sebastian who won the day with 346 km. Patrick had 314 km. In between Keith as runner up with 344 km.
Keith mentioned in his OLC comment :”A variety of conditions today. Areas of overcast to the north and east with good Cu in the west. Very scenic in the west looking out over the pacific. To be safe I did a detour into the sun to get on final glide.”
Nothing changed in the top 3.

Day 13..task 12; In fact they had  9 out of 13 valid day’s. So PERFECT.
What was more perfect was the influence Sebastian seems to have had on the spirit of pilots during the week.
“It has been such an inspiration to so many of us gliding kiwis to have the world champion here flying with us and giving his time so generously and graciously to help those of us still struggling to learn the mysteries of the skies and how to use them. So thank you, Sebastian, you have made a huge difference to our little part of the gliding world.  Combine that with a flying visit from world record holder Terry Delore, and we have certainly been given plenty to aspire to over the last two weeks!” as said /written by Hugh de Lautour .
What happened on their last day :”tough going in places, but again showed how the experienced pilot can fly the energy lines and make the most of what is there.”

Club..3.30 AAT; So a nice long task to even more separate the boy’s from the men.
2 Pilots flew just over 100 km./h. GOOD!!! Daily winner Mike and Mark in the Libelle. Mike flew 353 km in time 3.29 and Mark even 399 km.in 3.58 but with a “little” punishment for airspace.
Tim who had 389 km. had a red sign behind his name as well. AND nearly lost 600 points on this last day, 4 too much!!!
Tim who was 600 points ahead on the last but one day, just lost his first spot overall.
It’s only over after the last finish.
Overall scores after 9 valid [day 1 had great distances but all for zero points] and good day’s !!!
1. Michael “Mike” Strathern in ASW 20 with 7.535 points.
2. Tim Bromhead in DG 300 with 7.531 p.
3. Steve Wallace in Mosquito with 7.440 p.
Mark Wilson in the Libelle stayed on spot 4 with 6.920 p.

Combined class..3.30 AAT; And also in this class the “airspace-disaster” struck.
Patrick won the day with 439 km. in time 3.31 so a nice speed of 124 km./h. for 984 points. Sebastian was runner up with a few kilometers AND minutes more.But Keith only got 500 points for the airspace infringement, whilst he flew 439 km. with a speed of 125 km./h. He will scratch himself behind the ear, though he stayed on spot  2.
Overall scores;
1. Sebastian Kawa in Duo Discus with 8. 254 points.
2. Keith Essex in ASG 29 with 7.720 p.
3. Patrick Driessen in JS 1 with 7.251 p. Just to let you know; Patrick did not fly task 8.

    

As shared by Sebastian.

 

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53th HORSHAM WEEK.

Continued with better weather again and for that reason longer tasks on February 7.
TASK 6:
15 m./standard..3.45 AAT; Another win for Rolf [Buelter] who flew in his LS 8 305 km. in time 3.42. Tim [Shirley] was a good runner up, though “he found it a tough day in the office” .
open..4 hour AAT and John [Orton] in his ASG 29 won the day with 369 km.in time 4.04. Only 4 from 8 finished.
club..3.30 AAT; Only 4 from 12 finished and the daily winner was Craig [Collings]  in his ASW 20 from the Mount Beauty Gliding club;341 km. in time 3.51.

TASK 7;
15 m./standard..204 km; Tim won the day and Rolf was 4th. Gary 7th. A bit of a difficult day for some but not too many points to be lost or gained. With 1 day to go the overall scores look like this;
Gary [Stevenson in Discus 2 ] still on 1, with Bruce [Cowan in  Ventus 1] now on 2 and Rolf on 3.
Open… 239 km; With 129 km./h Craig Vinall raced over the circuit in his ASG 29E. John and Mike on his “tail.” So nothing changed in the top 3 with 1 day to go. On 1. John, 2 . Mike and 3. Craig .Diana is on 4 good on her.
Club…204 km;Steve [Jinks] From the Beaufort Gliding Club in the St Cirrus won the day. Craig was runner up and Ailsa’s dad Alf McMillan was 3d in the LS 4.
Excitement enough in this class for the last day as the overall scores are close between Craig and Jaroslaw, just over 50 points.

TASK 8 last day!!! NO task!!!
A pity so the scores stay as they were.
15 m./st.class;
1. Gary Stevenson in Discus 2 3.520 p.
2. Bruce Cowan in Ventus 1 with 3.364 p,.
3. Rolf Buelter in LS 8T  with 3. 335. p.

open;
1. John Orton in ASG 29/18 m. with 4.181 p.
2. Michael “Mike” Durant in Jantar 1 with 3.906 p.
3. Craig Vinall in ASG 29E/18 m. with 3.866.

Club;
1. Craig Collings in ASW 20 with 3.772 p.
2. Jaroslaw Mosiejewski in PIK 20 B with 3.717 p.
3. Steve Jinks in St Cirrus with 3.317 p.

 

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2019 AUSTRALIAN 20m. TWO-SEAT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

The grid.
As shared by Narromine Gliding Club Official

They started on Sunday and go till February 16.
13 Teams in gliders as ARCUS M, Duo Discus and DG 1001-club. Among them long time friends as father Brad Edwards and his son  , Miles Gore Brown and a mate, Harry Meddlicott and Allan Barnes, Andrew Georgeson and Steven McMahon and I noticed Czech topper Tomas Rendla on the list and young Adam Woolley with Keith Gateley. Keith arrived last Thursday in Narromine with the glider.

“Short flight to Narromine. Arrived.” by Keith flying from Bathurst  normally a 900 km.drive.
Picture courtesy Keith.

It was good to see that good old Harry with Allan ,[ strong team !] won the day;1000 points for them for a speed of 93 km./h over 308 km.
Their reaction ;”Day 1 of the 20m Nationals. Tried to start late, about 14:40, on a 300km low blue day. Managed to catch up with everybody and get home first. A few low points, including the last glide before final glide. Very happy with a first place.”
Runners up….Andrew and Steven and Adam and Keith.
7 From 13 finished!!
Not there but they hoped to be there; Jeorgen and Lumpy from Tocumwal. A super-cell ,not fore-casted ,ruined the canopy of the glider on February 3 at the airfield of Tocumwal.

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SO SAD!!!
Pictures by Birgitte AND her story

“Now Jørgen is ready for a road trip to a work shop in Waikerie, South Australia

3th February the forecast was “sunny and light wind” but – early in the evening a supercell passed by the airfield and all the security straps under the front fuselage cover were ripped. The extreme wind tore the canopy off the glider at it landed 100 m away

The gust was so strong that an old bus was moved 30 meters and turned 90 degrees. This bus has been parked on the hard stand for 20 years

Luckily Julie and the trailer were secured and they didn’t move. A group of trailers on the hard stand broke loose the wire at the anchor point

This week Jørgen and Lumpy should fly the Australian 2-seat championship in Narromine, so it’s bad luck.”

They call their ARCUS Julie, just to let you know. AND,…that bus ,[everybody who has been at Sportavia in the past has sit at this bus]is nearly unmovable… very heavy.So that was indeed a SUPER CELL!!!

Day 2; with 407 km.

With Tomas and ,so to see, his daughter, with Adam and Keith, Steven and Andrew and more.
As shared by Narromine Gliding Club Official

I guess it was just waiting to see Adam and Keith winning a day. They did straight away on day 2 and got the 1000 points for a speed of 128 km./h. Here is Adam;
“This two seat flying is a lot of fun, Keith & I are getting along great. So much quality info coming from the back, it’s making my life a lot easier.

Straight off tow we high tailed it towards TP1, a good decision as we had clear air, stayed high, relaxed & watched the fleet start. We started at 14:25, which was just inside our late start planned time.

Andrew Du, in the China -ARCUS, had on both day’s “problems” with the height after the engine shutdown. On day 1 he got a warning on 2 the sign was red behind his name.Only 164 points for Andrew and his mate, a pity.

 

Team China with Andrew and Team KDX with Miles Gore Brown and Tim Hood.
 Narromine Gliding Club Official

Day 3... with 557 km;
A good day with GREAT speed from Adam and Keith .Their co-operation is working magic. Speed of 147.58 km./h .
That was quite a bit faster than the runner’s up in the Duo Discus from Stewart and Jansen with 133.70 km./h.Father and son Edwards with 130.81 km./h did very well too.
A clear explanation from Adam in his Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
“Dusty day, but good fun, naturally. 558km racing task under 13,000′ CU. Keith & I held our nerve at the start, we noticed that the CU was getting closer, so we focused on a slow climb to maximize our start height at the latest possible time.
1st climb was 10kts & so was our final glide climb. Stayed out of trouble all day, despite the 30kt winds, thankfully the climbs were 6kts plus all day & smooth!
The visibility was about 20km at the Southern turn, this caused some concern, so we topped up in some slower climbs to stay high. Worked a treat I think. Day win, happy day’s.”

        

Adam and Keith …happy chappies!
As shared by Adam.

 

Keith who enjoyed an other first place as well, added his comment and is learning a lot!
“The dust was being blown off the paddocks and taken to 12,000 feet by the thermals. Great learning day for me, keep on moving when the thermal strength drops . Make a good plan and stick to it.”

The dust raised high as you can see on this picture from Keith.

Day 4 with a smaller task;2.30 AAT.
Andrew /Steven-day with a speed of 109 km./h. so to see a tough day …blue with a forecast to 5000 ft.with a max of 817 points. Good day for the Rendla’s as well as runner’s up.Adam and Keith were 3d.
Reactions on flying day 4;
Allan and Harry…”set off quite late, about 15:10, with Georgo, not quite as high as we had been earlier. I think we were the last to leave. Had a fair run south, but turned early in the first area at the top of a good climb. Georgo continued so we were on our own. We had planned to use the NW as far as possible, but a few good climbs meant we had to max it out completely. A weaker run on the 3rd leg meant we no longer had any chance of coming in under time, and the final glide was a touch on the fast side but OK.”
Keith shared this picture after an other good day.

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—Good to see the UK sends 4 ladies to the 2020 WWGC in Lake Keepit.

Liz in 18m; Ayala in Standard; Claudia and Mel in Club Class and Team Captain Justin. Good luck to all.
As shared by British Gliding Team

——–AND,…the first meeting from the Dutch Junior Team preparing for JWGC in Hungary

As they mention themselves” this is a pretty good team!!!”
And,..believing in your self is VERY important as we heard from Adam earlier.
Picture shared by Alexander Venema.

 

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………. in Corowa they finished packing the containers and had a last check today and the estimated time of arrival in Rotterdam will be on the 6th of April to be sent then on trucks to Venlo, where they arrive on the 9th. They unpack on the 10th and then the European soaring season can start .
On their last flying-day , last Monday, they still flew over 600 km.
Best flight that day , on the world OLC, was from Tocumwal in an LS 4 with 593 km by German guest Joerg Nothmann .Today Joerg flew in the same LS 4 639 km. Good on him!!!
Not the best distance today on the Australian OLC as local Corowa pilot Bernie O’Donnell flew 783 km. … a declared 750!!…in his ASH 26 E.Well done, as it is pretty late in the season already.
By the way, good old Kari Lappalainen is back in Toc as well.

CU next week, this Sunday it will be 15 dgr. C. I sniff spring!!!
Cheers Ritz

HAPPY VALENTINE TOMORROW.