Latest news at the Keepit WWGC …18! UPDATED!!!

8 AM:
What an EXTRAORDINARY flying day the “girls ” had yesterday.
No Ritz,this is the normal Keepit weather“.
Glad we have ALL seen and felt it now too.
A great “drink” after at the bar ,with lot’s of pilots and the total German team had dinner here in front of the club house.
We had dinner here as well.
The men cooked us a great curry!!! Dave is not only a good weatherman but also a great cook with help from Jay and Nick.

Part of the German table with us in the back.
Part 2 of the German Table. They had delicious food as well.
Part of our table with Gisela, Jay and Captain Bluebeard.
Lindy, Nick and Dave. All in good mood!

They had a great flying day. The most unlucky person was MM, Diana. She had to fly the whole task with the wheel out. NO way she could get it in. Lost a lot of points [got only 422] and dropped from 10 to 14. She loves her brand new JS 3, but flying with the wheel out is no fun!!!
It’s to be seen if she can fly today.
Best in her class, 18 m, was again Ailsa. She is really in some kind of winning mood/flow now!!!
The first 8 flew over 140 km./h!!!!! Ailsa and Lisa [Turner] did 147 km./h for 1000 and 995 points.
With 4 day’s to go the overall scores are :1.Melanie and 2. Anne with 6.177 and 6.159 points with at 3 Liz with 5.991.
But others are getting closer: Katrin with 5.966 and Ailsa with 5.909.

In Standard class it was AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI.!!!! With Lisa and Claire on the top spot’s!!They started together and finished nearly at the dot!!! Time 3.46 at the 3.45 AAT !!!1000 and 994 points!
Sarah, unfortunately, miscalculated her time and was home too early with a time of 3.26. She said she had a great flight, fast and smooth till then.
With 4 day’s to go ;1. Sarah with 6.128 points, 2, Lisa and Aude both 5.966 and Anna is now at 4 with 5.904 p.[She was 8th yesterday!]

In club class 2 German racers in yesterday’s top!!! Chrissie in the LS 4 and Sabrina in the same glider but with winglet’s, flying together and finishing together for 1000 and 990 points. Speed 114 km./h.
Barbora and Elena did very well too. [ 112 and 114 km./h….. handicap Discus is 1.045]
Till spot 8 the points were between 916 and 1000.
With 4 day’s to go; 1.Jo with 6.260 p. 2. Celine 6.232 and 3 Chrissie with 6.158. VERY close scores here as Sabrina is only 50 points behind her.

Club class;
Chrissie and Sabrina from Germany on spot 1 and 2 and Barbora from Czech Rep on 3.
Standard class:
With Lisa and Claire on spot 1 and 2 and on 3 from France Aude [Untersee] Such a pity she lost so many points on day 1.
18 m. Class:
Another 2 Aussies on 1 and 2 Ailsa and Lisa with Katrin from Germany as number 3.

Welcome to day 9 was the message this early morning.
Grid order standard, 18 m and club class.
Briefing at 9.30.
So breakfast now and off to the briefing.NO need for airco today , as there is a nice cool wind going straight through one door to the other.
Having a few goose bumps ??????? now.

Today’s task’s;
18 m…..501 km.
standard…..511 km.
club…4 hour AAT

Even had time for a little walk.

10 AM;
Briefing over.
Today’s sponsor is Glasfaser Flugzeug service from Hansjoerg Streifeneder. Thanks!!!
Domestic news:
—Problems with internet , this morning, but seem over now.
—Competition shirts for sale 45 dollar.
—Babajaga this evening at 8 after dinner in the Sport and Rec. Tell Chris if you attend for dinner.

News from the FAI flag. It’s “owned” by somebody now who writes in name of the flag “For me there was too much sun ,so I had to find a shadow place” And that happened to be over Elena’s glider in their hangar.

They might have to change runway before starting the launches.
If they do:
—first the back row moves
—Then the next row
—in order
They will allow enough time and go then to the B task, so ONLY IF….

Safety report by Anita:
Another good one also for the readers who fly.
it seems that club class has consistently more encounters than other classes. 18 m have rarely any encounters.WHY?
Do they have a different gaggle culture?
It seems so.
A gaggle is a delicate balance, it relies on everyone behaving predictably.
Looking at video’s they observed ….
— lot’s of adjusting in thermals [ in a gaggle you can’t have the best climb]
—Atypical thermal entry [enter the way you are meant to]
—Atypical thermal leaving [leave the way you are meant to]
Recommendations:
—Enter thermals from outside not from middle.
—Fly the same circles as the others or find your own thermal[not circling inside but also not at the outside]
—When leaving the gaggle,…leave it.
—scan complete field of vision in straight flight and in the thermals.
—put your FLARM antenna in the best position and do not switch it off
.

I wanted to publish this great cartoon already earlier but could not download it.. I took a picture from the window of the office where it is hanging. Quality could of course be better but the cartoon from Alannah is TOP, even with some words missing and “wrapped” in plastic.

The weather by Dave from Sky Sight.
High in Tasman sea has moved S. and a mini-low off to the E.coast directing winds from SSE.
cooler drier air and lessening dew point, fewer cu’s.

Forecast for Thursday and Friday….RAIN!!!!
Today’s weather;
5000 ft. soarable height by 12
day finishes at 6.30/7 PM, so a rather long day.
Thermals..5 kts.
up to 7 8000 ft.
SSE winds 10 kts.
Landing wind 10 kts BUT
Possibility of stronger winds coming in from the S in the end of the day ….maybe bringing in smoke….hope not!!

We only know at 11.30 if they have to change runway.

A real “GHETTOBLASTER” brought in for some music before and after briefing by team Australia. Mat [Cage] looks with “suspicious ” satisfaction , Mike [Codling] more amused.

Task setter Bruce is optimistic about the day but advises:
Don’t take too many risks!”
USA shared nice chocolates with the message “kisses” and a bottle opener at all the tables and The UK ,sticker’s and a pen .

little presents by the USA and UK.

“Kangaroo-chase-toy” is ready for action later in the day.

One of the few quads here at the field.

Back later.
Don’t know if I should publish this picture by SkySight ,but it could help the mind set for tomorrow Wednesday and maybe Thursday ,when they find a “window”. Not loosing points might be more interesting now.

as shared by SkySight
The rain is coming! To put and end to both the bushfires and the WWGC I suspect! Better make those points while you still can!
AND
Local weather service is predicting 35-70mm of rain to fall from Thursday to Saturday around Lake Keepit. Lake Keepit may become a Lake again! ” by Matthew.


11.45 AM;
Tuggies are going to the grid. It seems no change of runway and change of task. So runway 32 is THE runway.
Update on wheel story MM.
With 2 hands she can get the wheel in today. “An unidentified object” …the only thing they could think of….a snake maybe….had moved the break cable…hanging in on it…. and blocked the cable of the wheel.
IF it was a snake it could not get into her cockpit, as said before it is totally closed,…. if TOO hot an oven , but in this case rather safe.
IF it was a snake it dropped out somewhere….without a parachute…not good for him/her.
Good luck for her today.
Jacques has gone up in K1 , 15 minutes before the launches start, but did not find a good thermal yet.

12 PM;
So launches delayed with 15 minutes! Jacques reports now 3 kts. to 3500. …then 4 kts up to 4000 ft. Time to share the tasks.

Different colors today. Yellow is 18 m…blue is standard and…green is club class.

12.15 PM;
Jacques is going down,…2800 ft, but found something NOW.
Tuggies ; 2 minutes standard class first .by Greg.
AND,……off they go!!!
EU is the first to be launched.[Hana]…full power, full power… followed by FX [Dana]… W8.[Jana ]..XBY [Sarah]…. ET [ Aude G] …..JPA [Aude U.]
First 6 tuggies on the way.
Another plane, passing by , disturbs a bit,…must be shocked to fly in an area with 6 tuggies and 47 gliders. NOTAM???????
12.30 PM;
CC is next [Claire] ….XZ [Kathy] …LT….[Lisa] L7 [ Ayala]…1A [Akemi] …PO [Serena] …4 to go in this class!!
FQF [Cornelia]…..S7 [Ulrike] …..P1 [Agata]….LOT [Anna]
12.25 standard class is UP and has to “travel” 508 km.

12.37;
18 m in progress ..now for 501 km. task..
Wind at field, still OK for towing!!! No wind here by the way..
HS [ Lisa] …J 7 [ Jenny] …OG [Ailsa] …1B [Katrin] …PT [Stefanie]…XM [Alena]…ZF [Eva] …..half way….. …ZE [Jana] …57 [Margot]….MM [Diana] …P [Joanna] …FM [Anne] …51 [ Liz] …FQ [Melanie]….

12.59 PM;
Club class, J1 is the first to be launched.[Judyta] This class is much lighter ,…. passes by higher….. and then the shade- cloth is in “my ” way, …..so I can’t spot the call signs. Sorry……..but I still listen.

Line standard opens at 13.05.
Line 18 m.opens at 13.25

line Club opens at 13.50.

Back later. Still have to share a picture from Jordan the 22 year old instructor at Lasham and having already been here 2 seasons and now here just for a few day’s to see his old mates , who are very complimentary about him.

Happy chappie,……Jordan.

4.15 PM;
The skies still look fabulous specially to the NW and W. No wind here, but at the terminal, where the flags are you can see there is quite some wind from the W. at this stage.
The far S. looks a bit “Iffy” “Smoky” “Hazy” , but checking with Allan, nothing bad shows up yet at the radar.GOOD!!!
The “standard girls” are happily flying around between 5 and 8000 ft. according to G-Track and they are with 15 min. delay close to the 3d TP.
Meaning they have flown already, around 305 km. with 200 k to go .A few km to leg 4 and the final 23 km.
The long leg still is 158 km. from TP 3 to 4.

The” club girls” are nearly at TP 4, some have passed it already and on their way to “conquer” their longest leg of 103 km. and for the first on track they only need about 100 k. A few however still have to reach TP 4.
On the way to Mount Kaputar the leaders surely find some good clouds.
The “18 m. ladies,” are flying in a nice long row behind each other. They have had 2 TP’s already and are in ” this nice row” flying to TP 3.
Jenny should be nearly there.
Then a leg of 160 km with the final glide from 23 km to home.

Skies this afternoon at the field .

As shared and seen by Pôle France Planeur


5 PM;
Anna did n’t look in the best mood this morning, but for sure is “on fire” now leading her class. [standard]
In club Amelie, has passed Mount Kaputar already and is “only” 40 k out I guess ,so I put my radio on!!!
18 m. slowly moves to the TP 5 the last one .

5.05 PM:
170/180 dgr…. 8 kts…. landing 14…nicely in time to see them…
The first have landed here, a nice bunch of gliders with Elena in 40 as the first to be back here.
Followed by CQL…SC…WH…V57…BM…
Then a few minutes …silence,…..IC comes at 10 k out….

5.40 PM;
In between more gliders IN,so to hear on the American voice Kathy landed on 20. Wind 180 dgr…8 kts.
CQO…XJY…KW…UKE…T1…FX…EU…coming now.

6 PM;
3 classes mix now. Ailsa is also in but landed 20 because of too much gliders and kangaroos.
W8…ZE…51…FQ…PV…EY…J7…LOT…FX…OG…ZF…FM…XZ…LT..MM…HS…XZ…1 B …CC…PT…XM…

6.10 PM;
57…PO…PT…XBY…XM…ET…PA…S7…L7…P1…JO..

In club class all pilots are back as JO just landed.
Jo Davis from Australia won the day but she does n’t get 1000 points as she just was too fast!!!”Spectacular ” she said about the day and added there was nice” streeting” as well. Very happy with her performance. Also Celine who was 6th today is happy with the task and weather.

Jo and Celine after a speed of 130 and 123 km./h.

6 pilots in 18 m. have flown around with a speed of 154/156 km./h.
Ailsa seems to win the 1000 points and 996,994,993 points for Anne, Melanie and Liz.

Not too many scores yet in Standard. Will be back on that tomorrow. Sarah took a, I guess calculated risk, in leaving half an hour after the other pilots. She leads at this stage with a speed of 136 km./ h, just a tad faster than Ayala who started at the same time.

For all scores; www.soaringspot.com

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