Post 1.485 on February 25 2024

Extra blog because of the end of 2 comps yesterday.

First the 2-seater NATIONAL comps in Tocumwal;
With 3 more days it was rather exciting to see if the ARCUS M could stay in front of the ASG 32 MI. In both gliders top pilots, though the ASG has a former WGC champion in it with Brad.
Here we go again with Thursday’s
Task 5; 3.45 AAT…..COMPLIMENTS to the Duo Discus pilots from Narrogin; RUNNER UP!!!!!The difference between the ASG 32MI with Bruce and Brad was big; 124.26 km./h and 111.83 km./h, but great effort!!!!!
Bruce and Brad flew 478.12 km and team Geerlings /Tang 436 km.
Interesting is also …can Adam/Keith stay in front of Bruce/Brad overall in the end?
This day they were 5th, but still ahead overall but now only with 23 points!!!!!
“Unfortunately, because we were the ones to lead out at the beginning, we got shafted on this windy day. Those following FIG [callsign of their Arcus M] pulled into a great climb just behind us & that was that, we struggled away from low in something far less & couldn’t recover.” Adam Woolley’s Gliding Adventures
AND,…what about David and his mate they ONLY lead with ONE POINTS over Brad and Bruce.
So only a few points between 1 and 3; 4.636…4.615 and 4.612!!!
Exciting last days!!!
All 9 flew AND finished, so a nice day for all.
Task 6 a 2.45 AAT was cancelled due to the weather…such a pity…..only 1 day to go now….and close scores!!!
Bruce;“It was windy with weak, low convection, and there was a large fire started down near Bendigo to the south-west which made our possible task area pretty smokey. So for something new we sat around eating, drinking coffee and talking about gliding.”

Task 7 VERY LAST DAY , after a great competition!!!! 2.45 AAT…..
Most started around 14.40 . Adam and Keith at 15.00 as they could not get high enough to start. They did their utmost best to keep on spot 1 overall,but as Adam said; “We survived a couple of low spots , but we are very happy to be home,…. we did our best flight, but the best was not good enough“.
From day 1 they had the overall leading position, now they end on spot 3.
So team David/Steve was the best in the AG 32 MI;264.38 km / 95.17 km./h and moved from 3 to 1 overall. They won task 3 and 7 and flew very consistent. Good on them!!!
They passed by the numbers 2 Brad and Bruce as well. They were 3d for the day.
Bruce;”What a tough day! No excuses… you have to fly every day, no matter how crappy they are, and I didn’t do the best job of flying today. It was blue, seriously blue like the photo shows, and the thermals were hard to find and harder to use. At one stage we descended to 750 feet before we found a climb, and we both seriously thought we were finished. However, we staggered home for an overall second place”.
9 started and 7 finished. Not a good day for Lumpy and Joergen, they had to start the engine after 82 km and dropped from 5 to 6 overall.
Great comps, but with more teams it would have been even more exciting.
Final overall scores out 6 from 7 days;
1. David Jansen/ Steve Evans in ASG 32MI with 5.523 points.
2. Bruce Taylor/ Brad Edwards in ASG 32MI with 5.477 p.
3. Keith Gately/ Adam Woolley in ARCUS M with 5.346 p.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL.

AND,
as shared by Adam

The final dinner was on a “spiffy” place. In the restaurant of the new Tocumwal Aviation Museum AT the airport called the Drome.

To finish some kind words from the Kingaroy Soaring Club where David and Steve fly.
“Kingaroy has another two Australian Champions, congratulations to Steve Evans and David Jansen The competition was held at Tocumwal NSW which is one of the spiritual homes of gliding in Australia. Toc pronounced “toke” is an absolute must visit for any soaring enthusiast.“
LIKE!!!!!!

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The NZ Central Districts Gliding Championships 2024 have been flown in 3 classes, racing [10 pilots] , open [6] and sports class with only 3 participants . The weather was not “flash” , more and more days were cancelled or had out landings so, here are the stories as seen through the eyes of blogger Jason Kelly;
—-“The 2024 Central Districts competition at Waipukurau started on Saturday 17th February with practice day. This saw fantastic convergence and thermal lift which allowed a number of gliders to fly up and around Lake Taupo and back with distances of over 500km recorded. A great start for the week.”
—-Sunday was a contest day with good thermals and convergences. A steak BBQ evening meal was appreciated by all.
From 10, 6 pilots finished and 4 were out in racing class. In open only 1 from 6 was out …BUT, 4 had an airspace penalty from 2 minutes. In sports, John Tullett in KA6e won 1000 points for a distance of 131,28 km/ 61.30 km./h. during a 2 hour AAT. Good on him!!!
—-The weather on Monday was untaskable but the sky was alive with energy from wave. No task.
—-Tuesday saw a task set but cancelled due to persistent low cloud and drizzle.
—-Forecasts for Wednesday were not promising but the sky delivered and an adventure task was set for the Open Class. Flying turned out to be an adventure with Pat Driessen perhaps setting a record for the longest retrieve by landing at Taupo.
6 Started that day and 4 finished. Daily winner from this 2.30 AAT in open class, was Tim Bromhead flying 385.28 km/ 76.57 km./h. Till then Patrick[Pat] was overall leader but now he  lost over 400 daily points.
—-A weak local sky greeted pilots on Thursday with broken local thermals proving difficult to work. This saw a number of pilots landing out.
In Racing, 2.30 AAT was set. Only 1 from the 8 starters finished for 269 points.
Open pilots also had a 2.30 AAT; 5 flew 3 were in and Tim [Ventus CT]was the daily best for 416 points. 1 Point more than Patrick who flew in his AS 33es, 323 km/ 111.11 km./h.
—-–The news update on Friday was;”we wait for the sky to develop. It is grey high overcast with a westerly flow, calm on the ground.There is heating getting through so there is hope we will fly.“
Where would we be without HOPE. BUT,…..They did not fly.
—–Saturday showed pretty marginal flying.
“The final day saw a challenging sky with rough lower level conditions with wave above. There were thermals and also convergences around the task area which allowed another competition day.”
In racing only Alain [LS4] finished for 282 points, flying 234 km/ 64.05 km./h during a 2.30 AAT, which says enough. Most of the days he topped the overall list so also on this last day.
In open it was Patrick winning the last day AND the comps , even after that out landing which really cost him. He flew 332 km./128 km./h .
David [Johnson] was 1 overall before he started the last day. He finished, but “only” flew 174 km./69.71 km./h and that meant loosing 200 daily points.
Racing class winner after 4 out of 7 days ;Alain Marcuse in LS4 with 2.014 points.
Open class winner ; Patrick C. Driessen in AS33es with 2,416 points ahead of Tim with 2.358 points and David Johnson [Discus 2CT] with 2.336 points. All pretty close.
Sports class winner ; Dennis Green in LS 4a. On the last day he flew during a 2 hour AAT 120 km/60km./h. He gained 400 points more than his close concurrent Graham Player in a Apis 13, who flew 25 km without finishing. [2.069 for 1.680 points]A pity!!!

More about the Lake Keepit regatta on Wednesday. They started with 16 pilots for a 3 hour AAT, including UK pilots Ayala and Simon . It takes a FULL day to drive from Tocumwal to Lake Keepit, so Brad and Allan and Bruce , all flying normally at Keepit could ‘n’t fly the first day.
cheers Ritz