NARROMINE.
2 seater nationals in 20 m. and open class !
7 days out of 7 !
Day 5;
Finally it was their turn to win a day and it will get them more and more excited for comps. Dutch Evelien and William had no clue about flying AAT’s when they started this competition in their ARCUS T, from their home-field, but they learn quickly.
The set task from 370 km. was won by them with a nice speed of 141.04 km./h. and the runner up, team David Jansen ” only ” had 135 km. p/h. BUT in a DUO DISCUS, whilst the Tocumwal team Joergen and Lumpy, flying an ARCUS M had 139 km./h.
So that shows that it was a good day for Evelien and William, spending more and more time in Australia at Narromine where they run their own business during the season. All 10 teams in this class finished!!
Looking at the combined class with open Peter Sheard and Ron Sanders were just a tad better. In their Nimbus 3 DM, they flew around with a speed of 141 .41 km./h. So close!!!!!
Bernard in his ASH 30 MI did not fly.
Storms as forecasted to the north, north-east and Cu’s in the task area. But a great Narromine day ….A real good one.
Allan Barnes is SO good in describing a day, so I give the “word” to him:
“Day 5 of the Narromine 2-seater Nationals. The forecast was for 14-15000ft but strangely it turned out different. We had a lot of points to catch up on Dave Jansen so we had to leave later and catch him. We hid off the upwind end of the start gate until we were sure most of the pilots had started, then raced down the first downwind leg at 100kt. A few good pullups but the 10kt thermal just before the downwind turn never eventuated. Had to turn low, by which stage the trough line coming in from the west was shading the courseline. We found 5kt which got us to the second turn, and had a fairly good run north, making distance on most of the others. I left a 7kt when it turned to 6, in order to catch another one on the next downwind leg. But we never found one, and ended up taking a weak 3-4 to get the penultimate turnpoint. Almost on final glide but not quite, the final indignity was a 2-kt climb onto final glide. Then the really really final indignity was getting good lift from then on all the way back and finishing at VNE. Faster than yesterday but not much, and we had to be much.” [OLC comment]
The difference in points when they started that day was 169 points so their hope to catch up was reality.
After today it is 243. BUT,…that still means nothing……
Joergen in the back of his ARCUS M.
Courtesy Lumpy Paterson.
Day 6;
This day was for the “Tocumwal”-team, both import- Tocumwallers, but no worries and,…they were the only team finishing!! Joergen and Lumpy flew during the 2.30 AAT 253 km. in time 2.35 .
Matt and Ailsa flew 324 km. but did not finish.
Allan gained a few points on David ; 631 for 562. Looking at the open 2 seater class, the only winner there was of course also team Joergen/Lumpy in the ARCUS M. Peter and Ron were runner up .
Day 6 as seen by daily winner Lumpy;
“Well what a mixed bag today. The WX was overcast and looking pretty ordinary this morning, so much so that we had the pilots meeting. The sky opened up very quickly and it was suggested the trough to the north would be working well if we could get to it…. 15kts from the SW on the ground. Engine away and we where struggling to get above 3k….finally got up and looked for wave …..and low and behold we connected, managed to climb up to 7500….about 3k above cloud base….(scattered Cu) massive wind change at height..15kt SW to 35kt NW… So picked this energy line for half to the first leg, mind you once outta that it was hard work to connect to the trough line….some did, some didn’t get there …..(landed out in paddocks) The trough line was so far to the east, it was almost out of the sectors…. We managed a climb to 8100 right on the edge of the line and set out for home needing 1800 feet with a 3kt ring setting…..we did not turn all the way home, 115 kms final glide with at 50 to 1 ….sweeeeeet
Yippee…..the only glider to get home today….and thus a day win 
😀😀
Very happy day in the office….”
Day 7;
LAST DAY on Sunday and it looks like Joergen and Lumpy finally had the right groove together in this beautiful ARCUS M. They won another day!!! Not enough to climb up higher than spot 5 overall but still,….a great result.
A speed task from 345 km. was set and flown with a speed of 122.45 km.h. and the max 928 points were theirs.
Here is Lumpy about the last comp day..
“ SW wind 15kts with thermals to 6k….4 to 6kts…345km racing task. The plan was to get out front of the gaggle and stay there….and it worked. Really good first and second leg, got bogged down a bit on the third as conditions softened again out around Nyngan (this place got me durning the NSW comps as well)….. Tip toed along this leg and managed to get a reasonable climb just before the last turn which gave us final glide …. Great way to finish the comp with another win…
Thank you very much to Birgitte and Jorgen for giving me the opportunity to fly your amazing Arcus M (JT) greatly appreciated.”
Last day winners Lumpy and Joergen with Beryl.
As shared by Lumpy.
Team David Jansen [Duo Discus] was only 5th on this last day , but there was room to fly defensive,…. though ….that’s not how I know David.
Anyhow team David and Lesley, are the new CHAMPIONS in the 2 seater 20 m. class and open!!!!6169 points.
The Jansen family; David, Lesley and Rebecca. AND,…June, David’s mum is there as well.
They were in Uvalde in 2012 as well,….. indeed a real family affair!!!
Allan was runner up on the last day and decided to defend his 2d place , which was necessary [ 3 points !!!!] and did that, they even got a bit closer to David; 6056 points AND…..he defended his 2d place as the difference was 34 points now with team Stewart [6022]
David Holmes and Allan Barnes.
Both pictures courtesy Sharon Dennis and shared by the Australian 2 -seater comps.
Looking at open, team David and Lesley had 6038 points and team Ron and Peter 5983.
As Allan said;”Great comp – 7/7 days flying, good competitive spirit and a very challenging and entertaining mix of weather.“
Some impressions as shared by the Comps organizers;
With Ailsa [ here without Matt] …. Good old Bob Ward , HI BOB,….Catherine talking to Ron [Sanders] with Bob’s son Andrew listening.
Catherine selflaunching the Stemme S10…….Task setter “Rowy”, John Rowe …HI JOHN…..the all important briefing.
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CHRISTCHURCH !
as seen by top photographer Geoff Soper, who lives in Christchurch.
TRAGIC, devastating, what can I say more…..
Talking about the weather phenomena last week, this week Christchurch was in “the sad picture”. Not because of an earthquake …yes they are more or less well known for them…but because of dangerous all overwhelming fires!! Geoff Soper , top photographer , shared a few with us and seeing that ,your heart breaks for the people living there. Quite some of our soaring mates live there or in the surrounding.
One of the fire-brigade- helicopter- pilots ,crashed and died, whilst helping out.He was a veteran pilot , as I read an hero in the past and…. NOW again. Too sad for words.
Heroes they are!!!!!! And what skills…..
What great coverage of these fires by Geoff, sad only is the occasion !!! Lot’s of native forest has been destroyed.
“Decades of conservation work has gone up in smoke as the Port Hills fire rages across some of the region’s last remnants of native forest.
While the fate of several important reserves remains hidden beneath smoke and beyond cordons, some reserve land has been confirmed destroyed.
The fire spread across the hills at a rapid pace, finding plenty of ammunition in the highly flammable gorse, broom and pine forests threaded across the hills.” source ENVIRONMENT.
Last Saturday ,the fires were not out , there was a bit of rain but not yet enough.On Monday they were still busy.
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NEWS FROM ITALY !
2 Competitions one in Santa Cilia and one in Rieti; this new initiative ,called the N42 Gliding Cup ,is launched by Luis Ferrera and Aldo Cernezzi.
Currently Aldo is the Competition Director in Rieti for a full month between July and August and happy to help organize a new competition in early September as well.
Gliding races/ competitions on the parallel 42°N.
The final rankings of the N42 Gliding Cup are the combined results of the two competitions in the same year.
“We love both these places and we wish to invite you to a new experience. And also, we want to provide the opportunity to extend your racing season for a couple more weeks.”
When you are interested,….by the way both fields have a very nice swimming-pool for the family.
Coppa Città di Rieti, 14 – 20 August 2017
http://www.aeroclubrieti.it/w/
http://www.aeroclubrieti.it/w/?page_id=2030
http://www.soaringspot.com/…/coppa-citta-di-rieti-rieti-20…/
The grid in Rieti. Have been there many times!!!!
Copa Ciudad de Jaca, 3 – 9 September 2017
https://m.facebook.com/Fly-Pyr-Santa-Cilia-366824703500341/
http://www.fly-pyr.es/contentwk/en/
The grid in Santa Cilia de Jaca in the Pyrenees.
Pictures courtesy Aldo.
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Interesting OLC flights.
I missed one on February 13 .A flight from an airfield I never heard from but not too far from Tocumwal…Weird! It is South from Swan Hill,… know that area and West from Corowa…. know that area even better. All in the game ,…Yando Airfield Boor is the name!!
Marlies Eicher flew in an Archaeopteryx, ….never heard from either,…some kind of goal flight without destination ,… guess flying with the wind as far as possible,…distance 586 km. in 9 hours and 19 minutes 68 km./h. BUT all under 2000 m!!!!!
The highest point was 1.714 MSL and 1.577 AGL.
Looking at GOOGLE;
The Ruppert Archaeopteryx (English: ancient wing) is a Swiss high-wing, pod-and-boom, single-seat, microlift glider that was designed by Roger Ruppert and is produced by Ruppert Composite GmbH.
The aircraft is named for the feathered Archaeopteryx dinosaur.
No idea if this was the glider but here is the picture from the standard version [from 2011] I found on Google .
http://www.ruppert-composite.ch/
Never to old to learn something new. Very interesting!
On February 18 Benalla had a super -late- summer- day with flights up to 845 km. [ 800 FAI triangle] in an LS 4 by WGC meteo-man Toby Geiger!
It seems there was an “excellent cold SW airstream with good cu’s” , so all good flights were flown direction West.
The Kestrel flew 577 km !!! 8 Flights between 500 and 845 km !!! Not bad!!!! Still wish they would have had more of this weather during the WGC, but what can you do.
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That’s it for now.
CU Ritz