11 Days of soaring are planned and supposed to give us a new Aussie champion in each class during the Multi Class Nationals in Kingaroy and they expected and hoped for good weather for each day. Till now that worked out well, except for Friday!!!
All pictures from Kingaroy are courtesy Arne Boye-Möller
” using” his good mates car [Bruce] and glider[Brad]
Thursday was a new day with new chances for all.
398 in Standard class was set and Greg Beecroft won the day with a speed of 96.2 km./h. Greg is in top form winning all 3 days and of course topping the overall scores!
Dutch solar racer Annemiek had a bad start on day 1, [0 points] recovered from that straight away on day 2 finishing in the St. Cirrus after flying 425 km. . As I read;
“There were no outlandings even the dry Cirrus made it around.”
On day 3 , a blue day, Annemieks/Adams W3 , experienced a real paddock outlanding as well.
In 15 m. Mac won day 2 and 3 [280 km] and you can see he knows the weather and area as he flies a LOT in Australia , mostly in Narromine, but he follows sometimes the weather, that’s why I met him last year again in Tocumwal, where he flew in the far past every year. Even organised competitions in Tocumwal for other Japanese pilots. Mac is after 3 days 2d behind Pete Temple in the overall scores.
Mac here with one of his mates in Tocumwal in January.
In 18m./open Arne won the day. As a Danish guest and not familiar with this area, he flew the 371 km with a speed of 122 km./h. AND after 3 days he is on top of the “pack”.Good on him!
The airfield and the beautiful colours from Australia.
No flying on Friday!
On a non flying day in Australia during the Nationals , they always address important items in soaring during a special pilots meeting . David Pietsch already “ages” in soaring and with a military back ground, spoke about;
” Vigilance and Airmanship. He made the point that Safety and Risk Management should be given priority over Results.
For this to work we need an open culture to address any issues that occur or are noted.”
Something we all can/should listen and live to!!!
It was not all hurray yesterday on flying day 4. The incoming sea-breeze , announced at briefing, spoiled for some the end of the day.
Weather;
26C forecast today slightly warmer in the task area.
Wind is SE 8-10kts.
21C will give 3000′ max temp will give 5500′ AGL
Cus throughout the task area climbs should be 3-4kts average.
Overnight storms did not deposit much rain in the task area.
The winners;
In St. class Greg had his 4th win of the day , he seems unbeatable but still a few days to go! 315 km. with a speed of 125 km./h in the LS 8 is just good!
It was Matthew Scutters day in 15 m. class finishing with a speed of 138.5 km./h over 315 km. in his DISCUS 2. Not bad either! “Poor” Lisa lost some points by being slower. Sea breeze?? So did Craig Collings, a pity he did so well, now he dropped from 5 to 10 overall, but as said, it’s not over yet.
In 18m./open it was David Jansen who “raced” home with 141.6 km./h over 407 km. His second win after a bad start and ready to go up and climbing the scoring list. On spot 11 now and Arne and Tom still in the lead.
TODAY; 400 km in 18m./open and preliminary it looks like David won again.
In 15 m. 398 km and here it looks like a “replay” as well, as Matthew is on top at the moment but all scores are not there yet.
In St. class ….no not Greg winning today it looks he will be 4th.
All scores later in the day at www.soaringspot.com
Not so far from Kingaroy to the South extreme fires have ruined already about 100 houses in the outskirts of Sydney. On TV I saw that a layer of black smoke hung over the Opera House, but the wind turned and it cleared that area again.
Due to high temperatures and a strong wind these fires started early in the season. NOT good!
As Anne from Narromine [ about 5 hours driving up North from Sydney] mentioned;”There’s even smoke out here from the dreadful fires. Our thoughts go with all those people who have suffered losses and to the brave personnel who put up such an effort to contain the fires.”
This picture by Ebony Langdon and shared by my Aussie friends, shows 2 dehydrated , scared koalas, but these 2 are SAFE! Unfortunately you cannot say this from all animals living in those areas.
Those fires are so NASTY!!!!
The competition on FB about the most likes for a picture , a great idea by Antoine Latulippe, is over and won by Andrew Maddocks [Australia]. Indeed a great picture. For more pictures and prize winners, you can look at FB under Glider Forever.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/276794012352083/638754746156006/?notif_t=group_activity
Finish over the lake from LakeKeepit.
And YES it’s that time of the year again ….flying from Castricum in Holland along the coast line!!!!On the first day 7 glider pilots put their flights on the OLC. Have a look and here is a link to some pictures from this year as shared by zweefportaal.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/daily.html?df=2013-10-17&sp=2014&rt=olc&st=olc&c=NL&sc
As you can see they kept flying over a distance of even 136 km. in an SZD 51, but also great flights in an LS 6. The weather could have been better, they had some showers as well, but all in all this first day of coastal -ridge-soaring was for all a dream come true.
https://www.facebook.com/philippe.hendriks.3/posts/602212829836352
Here some pictures from last year I showed you already but they remain “COOL”!!!
Courtesy Lars Boom.
Another hot item in soaring in Holland is EUROGLIDE 2014 . I will be flown end of June , beginning of July. The first news is on the site now and I am sure that in the first week of registration the race was booked out, with a waiting- list for those who missed out . It’s very popular in Holland, Belgium and Germany.
http://www.euroglide.nl/
A SPECIAL EVENT!!! The 12th edition will be over more than 2000 km. again.
Back on Wednesday, cheers Ritz
On Sunday October 20 2013, one day after Sarah’s birthday Happy Birthday Sarah.