The team arrived in Sydney on time with Virgin on a virtually brand new Airbus. (Virgin have just launched a new route to Sydney.)
Miles Davidson was a bit late at the airport with one of the cars. Having had to push the car part of the way there. The radiator had cracked. Not good news on boxing day!
With the 2nd car we managed to move from the airport while the other car was returned to the hire company where Ron helped them replace the radiator.
We learnt that the Sydney to Hobart race was starting in the harbour. Of course we could have watched the start but it was decided to press on to Denliquin to avoid getting there after midnight. In fact we arrived at about 10pm pretty jet lagged.
27th December 04
We awoke in Deniliquin golf and Country Club cabins. It was surprisingly cold and windy in the morning but a superb looking sky and amazingly strong sun. We tried out the pool, which was a bit cold, and then set about putting the gliders back together.
Despite estimates of just a couple of hours we spent the best part of the day putting the gliders back together hoping to have an evening flight. The wind did not abate so the evening flight was abandoned. Not great since the 28th is the first day of the competition. Ron has not flown his new glider and Sam only has a couple of tows on his glider.
Despite the cold and wearing two shirts the sun had done its work. How can you feel sunburnt through two shirts? 1 hours exposure to this sun feels like about 2 months in the UK.
At 8.30pm we had the pilots briefing for the Australian open. We elected the task and safety committees and were introduced to most of the competition's team. The meet is being run by Tova Henie and the scoring by Zuppy (well know in Australia doing the scoring and sometime FAI steward on international competitions.) Tova's husband Grant and former Australian Team member is full time towing for this meet. Grant promises the Poms lots of "low and slow" tows.
28th December 04
Another cold day in Deniliquin. It looks a bit too windy again. Better make the most of the pool though!
Briefing was arranged for 11.00am in the new Conargo town hall.
The tow paddock is just a couple of miles NE of the small town of Conargo. (Conargo is about 20 minutes drive NE of Deniliquin.)
When we get to Conargo it really is a very small town. It appears to have a new building (The town hall / community centre) and a shop and a pub. Tova has sensibly arranged for everybody to buy their compulsory fire extinguishers from the local shop. On the 28th of December fire extinguishers prove to be their best selling line in the Conargo shop.
We are not actually allowed in the new building so the first briefing is held on the grass outside. We are introduced to the Mayor and have the fire risk emphasised.
The wind is still a bit strong so we re-brief after people have been out to the paddock to have a look.
We then all drive out to the paddock. The sky looks great but it is still a bit gusty on the ground and really not that inviting for a first day of the comp. Quite a few of the guys look distinctly worried about the prospect of towing.
We have several briefs and re-briefs. Then one of the Germans has a fly on his glider. Rigging on his own special little bit of carpet gives away that this is a new glider, harness, vario helmet etc. Still he looks the part and any misgivings about take off are hidden behind the dark visor.
Bob Bailey starts up the Dragon Fly. Take off is good and the glider and tug head off in approximately the same direction. It does look rough but not that bad and the tug is making some progress into the wind.
Sam and Bruce have not seen towing in rough conditions before. In fact they have still not seen towing in rough Australian conditions.
Watching the towing adds to the general feeling of apprehension and general uncertainty about a task. Well into the afternoon the decision is made to can the day but to allow free flying.
Team GB decide they are not that keen to even free fly but decide that an early start the next day might be the best thing to do to at least test out the gliders and towing.
The comp organizers have had a very difficult first day. The almost' days are always the hardest to call but given the fact that it was the first day, pilots had new kit and the practise day was not flown it was a very good decision supported by all the pilots I spoke to.
29th December 04
We woke to a slightly warmer day in Deniliquin. The wind seemed to have abated a little as well.
Ron, Bruce, Sam and Richard left very early in the morning to do a couple of early check tows. Briefing was at the Golf club at 11.00am and the decision was made to go straight out to the paddock and re-brief at 1pm.
There was still a significant wind with the cloud shadows travelling at 40kmh across the paddock as we drove in. It was less gusty than the day before people had being having test flights successfully and everybody rigged straight away.
Looking up it was a very nice day.
A nice little warm up flight of 168km (104 miles.) was called:
A 10km start radius,
Straight down wind 46km to TP 84 which looked like the first bit of road.
Then slightly cross wind 84 km to One tree which is a small road junction north of Hay.
Then 38km cross wind the other way to goal at Booligal. (A small town ship.)
It was getting a little late by the time we all left. Going north from the paddock there are very few roads for the first 46km which makes going down there most unattractive. I had quite a close look and was quite relived to scratch away again.
Richard and Miles led the way to goal followed by Steve, Bruce and Sam.
Ron's GPS batteries went flat just before the first turn point. This distracted him and he landed in a not very convenient place. He had to carry his glider for 1.5km, which just goes to prove his amazing recovery.
Bruce and Sam both flew personal bests of over 100 miles. There were other personal bests in the goal field including Kathy Kelly who managed to fly around the 400m goal cylinder and then do lots of beats before landing beyond goal without ever actually straying into the cylinder.
It was a very long drive back. We stopped in Hay for something to eat and got back at about midnight.
30th December 04
We awoke after a much warmer night. So warm in fact that Allan Barnes our team captain decided not to put his electric blanket on. Strangely all our beds are fitted with electric blankets.
Things had warmed up and the high pressure had moved with its center now directly over Tasmania. The winds were forecast to be a lot lighter and there were no clouds.
We went out to Conargo for a briefing at 11. From their we went pretty much straight to the paddock the only real delay being deciding the tow direction. (This is especially important for the car towers and, being in the same field, also relevant to the aerotower.)
Things looked pretty stable and quite a large closed circuit task was set at 133km. The first window opened at 1.45 but there was not much of a rush to be first off. Some of the car tows barely had enough height to get back for another tow.
The first start gate was at 2.45 but most people probably took the 3pm start. Richard and Miles made a good start with a great gaggle but decided to come back for a later start because they saw Oleg returning. In the end all of the team except Sam started at 3.15pm. Sam had a second tow and needed a minor repair to his ASI prior two his second flight. He then had a lot of delays on the ground before finally getting off almost last.
The thermals were surprisingly good with some strong climbs. Steve and Miles got a 9.8 average just before the 1st TP. Around the 1st TP we headed into a wind of about 10mph. High cloud started to obscure the sun and this leg seemed really quite slow with some weak climbs. Some started to struggle around the 2nd TP and later in the day Sam and quite a lot of pilots landed here.
We rounded the 2nd turn point for a cross down wind leg. Again disappointing climbs and I found I just couldn't properly contact the front gaggle. At the final turn point a few got low and it looked to me like there was not much more left in the day.
I flew along the river hoping to find a thermal triggered by it. Finally I got a very weak climb and feeling rather tired pushed on to the final climb marked by another glider turning and a few more on the ground.
There were loads at goal and Ron turned up at almost the same time as me.
It looked like we might be the last few in. However the rest of the team kept going and Miles led them in after 7pm followed by Bruce and then Richard. This was a tremendous effort at the end of a very long flight. A couple more pilots came in behind them.
The team is really feeling starting to feel the endurance part of the competition and we have only flown two days.
Oleg was first to goal. So won the day and also picked up the dash for cash prize. (First in goal got a cash prize today.)
31th December 04
The temperature rose again. New Year's eve morning was the hottest so far. At team de-briefing in the morning we were surprised by a visit from Pete Brown from the UK. He had cycled from Perth and round Tasmania on the way to Deniliquin. Of course he rode out to the paddock as well.
Briefing was at Conargo again and straight out to the paddock.
Len Patton gave the weather again. The high had moved slightly reducing
the wind. The temp trace looked good with thermals starting at 29 deg but 35 was forecast for maximum temperature. (Allan reported 37 later.)
This took climbs to 9000 feet on paper and as the dew point was higher another blue day was expected.
We decided to try and get at least half the team to start a bit earlier. The idea being to make more use of the better conditions and so not be so far from goal when conditions become lighter in the evening.
Sam had a weak link break and without a spare was sent to the back of the line. (A rather warm wait.) The rest of the team launched uneventfully. Climbing out was easy in nice 6 8 ups. Strangely the early start went out of the window and Ron Miles and Richard decided to hang on to the 3.15 start despite being very high. I just managed to get to the start line and almost up to the others for the 3.15 start.
We all left at 3.15 and raced off. The run to the first TP was a really good one. Some stopped to turn very early still at over 7000 feet. A significant part of the gaggle just pressed on and were finally rewarded with a nice 9.8 average to over 8000.
At the first turn point I was unable to find a really strong climb and had to make do with a 4 5 average with Steve Moyes and a few others. I became separated from the rest of the team at this point. Another strong climb of about 10 to 9000 feet put the gaggle I was with into a 15 mph tail wind. Gliding along with a ground speed of 100kmh makes you really feel like you are getting somewhere.
We went through a bit of a sticky patch and I was pleased to finally get a good climb. Coming back to the last turn point I flew past a gaggle. As Steve Moyes put it later coming back in our car, "I thought you were a bit stubborn not coming to that climb Steve." I then discovered, " We took that climb and then glided round the last turn point to goal. Craig just flew in 70kmh the whole way."
Steve Moyes tipped Craig as a man to watch for the world championships!
Bruce decided to fly straight to goal missing out the last two turn points to save his sore back. This put him in a great position to witness the first pilots to goal:
"Oleg was in first at about 400 foot followed by 2 or 3 others 20 seconds behind at 100 feet. And then another at 2-300 feet very fast into a loop followed by a landing. (Suspected Johnny Durand Jnr. Recent breaker of the Aussie open distance record and flying very well.)"
It was the perfect goal, "Sportavia" at Tocumwal. A swimming pool, bar and a barbeque plus a nice shady lawn to de-rig on.
Bruce and Steve broke new records for slow de-rigging taking short breaks to go swimming in the pool and to report the growing head wind to the others. Ron and Richard followed but Miles landed just 1.6km short and Sam was about 12 km short. Sam said, " He had a brilliant flight."
Certainly this was a great way to spend New Years's Eve. Happy New Year !
1st January 05
The temperature is still rising and we awoke to an overcast sky and an increasing wind. Those who had partied all night were hoping that the task would be called off.
The first thing we found out was that Ron had a GPS problem and had been scored back to the first turn point. He had missed it by 2m according to his GPS. Ron took his backup GPS to the scorers and confirmed that he missed the TP this time by 6m. Close but not close enough. Not a good start for Ron but hopefully we will not have any mistakes like this in the Worlds.
Yesterdays task was won by Craig Coomber. We learnt at briefing that he almost felt too ill to fly. God knows what he will be like when he is feeling well.
We went out to the paddock to a generally increasing SSE wind. It was also pretty warm. There was quite a lot of high cloud up wind and also some wave clouds down wind. (Wave clouds or lenticulars are a pretty sure sign of strong winds.)
The task was set approximately downwind 154km. People started to launch but were coming straight down. Then a couple stayed up including Mario Alonsi (From France). I had not wanted to stand around in my kit for hours before launch so did not rush then suddenly there was a very long queue, so I stood around in my kit for ages trying to stop the glider from getting blown away. Bruce decided that it would be a good day for a rest day.
Miles was first of the Brits off and was immediately off downwind. Ron towed after him and scrapped away as well. I foot launched behind the trike for what was the most difficult tow to date. Slow climb and rough. I thought I detected a thermal and released at 1950ft. It was not very good. The thermal was sort of going up but the prospect of another useful launch was remote so I decided to cling on and was wisked downwind out of the paddock.
Sam towed behind me but got well out of line pinged off, flew round and landed and decided enough was enough.
I saw another tower release a bit above me and my circling finally attracted John Durand over. Great, two is better than one and Johnny showed me how to thermal. Eventually I set off to some more climbing gliders downwind while JD stayed to milk all the height he could. Then there were four all climbing in not very good lift. We eventually found something better and I had the privilege of being on top, except here comes Johnny and a few more higher. Steve Moyes, who had a weak link break and was off late and a couple of others who I didn't recognise.
It was rough broken lift going to about 4000 feet loads of glider wash and getting a bit crowded. I pushed on again taking the most bizarre glide lines trying minimize height loss and keep an eye on the others behind. I found a 7 up and went zooming up feeling sure I would break through the inversion and leave the line of gliders descending upon my thermal. Bong nothing doing 4200! We then hovered up the other Brits but also lost a few from the bottom of the gaggle.
It was really tiring flying and finally the gaggle fanned out. We lost Ron and Miles and a few others at this stage so the gaggle was getting smaller again. (Miles had landed but Ron had got up again.)
I pressed on with the two unidentified gliders while Steve Moyes and Johnny topped up a bit more. The three of us seemed to be doing well and were approaching the sun on the ground again. This looked quite good to me. The two other gliders strayed into the shade again and started to turn. I did a couple of turns and then followed them. Too late! missed the climb and Moyes and Durand joined up again with these two. I had just been dropped off the bottom and scratched on for another 10km before landing in a pretty strong wind.
I later learnt that the two glider were John Francois' Palmarini and Gerard. I think Palmarini was dropped next but did well to get back up and scrape to goal. The three remaining kept going but I'm told Steve Moyes hung back in some weak lift. JF Gerard and JD flew on to land 20km short. Steve Moyes was the last to get to goal on a very low final glide.
Mario Alonsi won the day.
Not a great day, a long walk and by far the most trying. We even had a little rain!
2nd January 05
Hot Again! 2nd to last day of the competition.
After yesterday's strong wind landings, in the briefing, people are quite keen to find out if the wind is going to be any stronger.
Quite a long task (151km) is set to the North East. A turn point is set at the end of 'Power line Road' (38km) to try and keep the pilots somewhere near the road. Goal is at Galore. Conditions do not look that good and after struggling yesterday, the team is keen to get away early.
The Australian rules are explained again and the European competition organizers would do well to take note:
If you go through the start gate before the first start you do not get penalized. Instead you get your time moved back as if you took the first start. You do not get additional early bird bonus but you still get the early bird bonus that you would have got, had you started at the first gate.
E.g. Pilot A goes through the start gate 15 minutes before the first start and takes two hours on course.
Pilot B takes the first start gate and takes two hours on course.
Both score the same.
This system means that if it is very windy and you are getting blown out of the start cylinder you can just go. It also means that if you make minor mistakes you don't blow a whole day. There are no disadvantages to this system unless you are keen to disqualify people who make small mistakes.
Ron, Steve and Bruce took of early and were immediately struggling to stay up as they were blown from the paddock. "We did not even check the start times."
Average height for the first 20km felt like 1500 ft.
Back at the paddock Miles took two tows before climbing away in a fantastic climb "10 up briefly 12."
Richard and Sam were less fortunate. Richard had three tows and Sam had five (plus a lot of swearing.)
Miles' first climb was totally misleading for the day and he landed 18km from the first TP having done a lot of unexpected grovelling.
Ron Bruce and Steve flew together for a bit in quite a large gaggle. It finally split up with all of us pretty low. Steve flew off course watching Bruce and a lot of his gaggle get down to 500 ft. A few landed but the power of the gaggle won through and they got up. Steve couldn't risk a glide back but climbed quite well drifting in the wrong direction. Getting around the first TP was a bit of a struggle but fortunately conditions improved. Ron stuck with the gaggle but Bruce lost contact and Steve was left trailing. Ron got very low with the gaggle before a large forest but got up and in to goal with most of his gaggle. Bruno, one of the French pilots, landed nice and close to the road but in the rotor behind some trees smashing his control frame and bruising his face. Ron landed a long way from the road and power lines.
Steve took a long low glide to try and catch Bruce, got a climb fortunately but Bruce was still a thermal ahead. Steve got low again over some very large paddocks a long way for the road. Things were starting to look like a very late night. Finally, getting up, Steve glided close to the Forest. Getting low again before another weak climb at 300 feet the proximity of a metalled road was too much to resist.
Bruce kept going in weakening conditions to get another very well deserved goal.
Back at the turn point Sam got round which was a great effort considering the troubles getting out of the paddock.
Richard's flight was even more impressive if a bit lonely. Despite his late start he got to within 6km of goal staying in the air long after most had landed.
The trouble with flying so far is that the drive home takes ages.
Oleg won the day again. He now has a lead of over 400 points and has been flying extremely well
3rd January 05
Last Day of the Australian Open
The morning started with an overcast sky. We went quickly out to briefing as the organizers said they wanted to run an early task. The forecast was not good and they wanted to get the scoring done so that the prize giving could be done that evening.
When we got to the paddock the cloud shadow was already reducing the heating on the ground. In addition there was a heavier patch of stratus cloud moving in and due soon.
The task was called: South to 3 then west to 57 and the 124 goal at Sportavia. Task distance 103km.
It looked like a difficult task in the conditions. An early start seemed like a good idea. Allan got Sam to start almost at the front of the queue. Most people had pretty much the same idea and there was a real scramble to get in the queue. Steve just rushed his glider into the queue and went back for his harness. This saved quite a few places. Sam towed but was unable to transmit with his radio.
The sky got darker and so did the ground but some of the first off started to circle over the other end of the paddock above the car towers. Steve took extra special care to try and minimize and jolts during the tow that might just break the weak link and was waved off about 1km upwind of the circling gaggle. The lift was really weak 0.4 ft/ min going to massive 1.5 ft/min if you were really lucky.
Richard towed next followed by Ron, Miles and Bruce, much later than they wanted.
The gaggle was pretty big and most of the field seemed to be split between a gaggle over the paddock and another down wind at Conargo. Steve saw Kevin Carter (US) bank up in the centre of the gaggle and thinking it was a good idea did the same to be rewarded with a climb of almost 2 right to the top of the gaggle. Now seemed like the best bet to reach the next gaggle and a reasonable glide from 2500ft arrived just below 2000ft. Fortunately it was still going up. About there Sam met up with Steve there were some good pilots there as well including Oleg and Brett Hasslett.
We flew very conservatively towards the next turn point getting blown increasingly off course. The increasing westerly was making the 2nd turn point look very difficult.
Ron and Bruce never really got a 2nd climb and landed 12km from the paddock after spending a lot of time in zeros. Miles got closer to the turn point and landed 12km from it.
The top of the gaggle (3200 ft) caught an extra climb near Deniliquin. It was the first time we saw the golf club, where we were staying, from the air. Sam did not catch this climb but went for a glide and landed at the turn point. Richard had flown with Miles and also made it to the turn point after some amazing scratching to get an identical score to Sam.
Steve went for a glide with Oleg, Kevin Carter etc. The gaggle had seen a glider circling ahead but in the end we all landed a few km past the turn point.
Johnny Durand is worthy of a special mention. He did the whole course by himself and was the glider ahead circling. With such poor conditions this was a really impressive flight and won Johnny the day. Talking to Brett later he said Johnny was on the radio often saying, "I'm landing now I'll just fly into the next paddock. Oh I've got something. I definitely be landing this time. Oh what's this etc."
The task was not very valuable as people did not get far. The top score was only 230 points or so. (Check out the results at link.)
Oleg won the meet by an impressive margin of over 500 points. Brett Haslett an impressive second, Craig Coomber 3rd.
Driving back it was very worrying to hear that there had been an accident in the paddock. It was a great relief to find that it had only resulted in a dislocated shoulder: The pilot had got very out of line on car tow and had radioed, "Stop Stop Stop." The car immediately stopped and the pilot got the glider back under control. He then very foolishly radioed, "Go Go Go." When the line went tight he locked out badly and crashed! He escaped quite lightly considering.
I spoke to Brett at the prize giving. Brett Hasslett (Canada) has been steadily improving for several years with some very impressive competition results.
What does he do for a job these days? "Well I come to Australia in November for about 3 months. I fly about 6 comps, work for Moyes then go back to Europe or North America."
What do you do for the rest of the year? Brett has a long pause for a very considered response, "Well. I fly and do comps."
It's always very interesting to hear what the top pilot have to say so here is a paraphrase of what Brett has to say on final glides:
"These days with the current scoring systems the final glide is really important. I figure each final glide is worth 100 points." (Obviously you need to be near the front for this to be true. Steve.)
So what is your strategy Brett?
"Well it's all about balancing the risk; when you are a long way out, because you are high you can afford to set off on a pretty optimistic glide. If it goes wrong you can divert or catch another climb."
How optimistic Brett?
"On the 1st January, Jean Francois Palmarini got a very good climb to about 9000 feet. He estimated cloud base was a further 1000 feet but left with a 17: 1 tail wind glide from over 50km out."
When you get closer?
"As you get closer the risk of not being able to find anything gets greater and the options to divert are reduced. Thus you need a better glide angle. When you get really close you need a safe glide. You don't want to be left scratching at 800 feet with a really dodgy glide. The idea is to try and keep the risk constant."
4th January 05
First official practise day World Championships 2005 at Hay Australia.
We awoke still in Deniliquin. Sam, Richard and Allan had partied quite hard the night before and were not that lively in the morning. We packed everything into the cars and left our very friendly home. Deniliquin Golf and Country Club had been a great place to stay.
The drive north to Hay was 130 km. We took it pretty slow as we were so heavily loaded and admired the fantastic sky. There were quite strong westerly winds and flying there by hang glider would have been quite a task.
The tugs all flew up. Grant Heany said that it was quite a battle. He tried all altitudes and when he got above cloud was going backwards.
Moyes had a brand new Dragon Fly tug for the first competition. Bob Bailey, who makes the Dragon Flies at Moyes, flew it up. It was pretty gusty on the Hay runway and Bob was blown over while taxing. The brand new plane ended up upside down on the runway. Fortunately Bob was unhurt and was able to get out and start the repairs immediately.
We moved into our new cabins and did the house keeping. After our last accommodation this feels a bit cramped. We are about 2km from the centre of Hay right next to the Sturt Highway so we can hear the large lorries go past.
Ron and Val have moved into the Bidgee Motel in the centre of Hay.
We went to register in the evening and met John Aldridge who seems very well.
The scoring room is full of computers for the competitors to use. However the internet connection is not yet on line. (Hence the late report.)
5th January 05
Last official practise day World Championships 2005.
It was quite cool last night. Well not really cool but you did need a single sheet to keep you warm.
When we got up the sky was overcast and it was pretty windy.
Tomorrow is the opening ceremony so this is the last chance to fly before the competition. All except Ron flew over Hay at the start of the Australian Open and we saw where the paddock was then. However it is always a good idea to have a look at take off first hand from the ground. For those who have been before, it's the same 2000 acre paddock that we always use. This time it is a lush green, (for Hay) in other words there is actually something growing in it.
Richard decided not to bother as it was windy. He stayed at the campsite to play with his glider.
The rest of us went out to the field quite late. We started to rig and the sky improved. You can see from the photos that it was a pretty good sky.
We had been a bit spoilt at Deniliquin. Here in Hay we were sand blasted by the wind. Steve opened his glider bag not quite sure if to rig or not and it was immediately filled with sand. If the sand was not bad enough the flies made it worse. They were amazingly persistent even in this wind!
For quite a few of the pilots this was their first tow in sometime and it showed. It was not that inspiring seeing people weave all over the sky. When watching from the ground it's generally not good to see the top surface of those being towed.
Miles got straight on with it and had 4 tows. Ron had a single tow and landed back having got quite high and had a nice fly around. His radio was not working again! Sam had 4 tows just for practise. The first two were pretty good but on the second two he pinged off. Bruce decided not to bother and packed up.
Steve had put some new bits on his glider and wanted to check it out. In addition Steve had planned to do some practise final glides. The 25mph drift made it a little difficult but the sky was booming and getting up wind was possible. It was getting pretty cold at 7000 feet. Steve finally tried a final glide down wind. He did not arrive in orbit, which is better than usual.
Once on the ground the phone rang: Radio Sheffield. We tied the glider to the car and answered the questions. Were any of you listening at 7.30 in the morning?
Really quite a useful day, what a sky· and just for practise!
6th January 05
World Championships 2005, one day to go.
After sending last night's report the news arrived that yesterday really was a good day!
Rohan Holkamp's business Dynamic Flight are the organizers of the world championships. Based at Trawalla near Ballarat in Victoria they teach hang gliding, sell gliders and make harnesses. Their Flight Park has strips of 2.8km 2.5km 1.8km various directions for car towing and of course they do aero towing as well.
Contact details are:
http://www.dynamicflight.com.au Tel. 03 53 492 845.
Rohan is a real advocate of car towing which is one of the reasons it is an option in this world championships. Rohan, said, "We expected many more to go car towing."
There is one new rule though:
Maximum aero tow height is restricted to 1500 feet.
This rule is clearly aimed at trying to minimize any possible advantage the aero towers have. Of course it will be a very difficult rule to enforce and, if strictly applied, might mean that many more aero tows are required to get everybody into the air. Personally I think the normal 2000 ft tow height seems to work very well and am surprised it has been changed. Rohan tells me that the tugs are allowed to tow people around at 1500 foot looking for a thermal so I guess it should not make a lot of difference.
Rohan is still car towing and I wanted to ask him why. He said, ãWell if you are well organized you can have the line out ready. You can even have the tension on and go exactly when you want. You don't have to bother with ordered launch or anything like that.ä I guess that if you need a second tow there is no waiting around either.
Rohan told me that yesterday was the first time for a long time that he was able to go flying with a guaranteed day off the next day.
Steve Townsend towed and Rohan released at 11.25am. Steve then packed up and set off on retrieve.
The sky was totally overcast at that time. Rohan climbed in a 200ft min to 2000ft. The drift was taking him 90 degrees across highway so saw tooth flight was required to keep him near the road. With 4 or five low climbs conditions improved but cloud base still less than 4000 ft.
The first 100km took one and a half hours. As he past Gunbar the sky started to clear a bit and patches of sun appeared on the ground. By the time he got to Eugowra climbs were going all the way to 6000ft.
Eventually the last couple of climbs almost were to 7000ft. However the ground does rise a bit flying over the great dividing range (2000 ft or so).
Rohan got low (below 1000ft) six times on the flight and was attacked by eagles three times.
He was flying his New C2 13 (Airborne) for only the second time and was having to glide with one elbow hooked around the upright.
One other slight oversight that Rohan had made in his preparations was not to renew the water in his camel back. When he went for that refreshing gulp he discovered that the contents tasted more like the water from a camels hump. It was so bad that he was violently sick at the 200km mark.
Rohan flew over Mount Panorama Racing Circuit home of the famous Bathurst 5000 race and landed at Bathurst in nil wind to take the Australian open distance record out to 456 km.
Johnny Durand's 443km record was set only in November 2004. So perhaps this is going to be a really special summer!
Steve the driver got a bit left behind and arrived a little after Rohan landed. Over 600 km (1200km for the driver) of tarmac later, Rohan arrived back at 3pm today. Only to be questioned closely by me.
The rest of us were left wondering what his neck feels like and if a 9 hour flight was the ideal preparation for the comp. I did catch Rohan rubbing his neck a bit.
7th January 05
World Championships 2005, First Day.
The day started with a real air of impatience to get going. Sam Hull Bailey was pacing out side his caravan from about 9.30am. The team leadersâ meeting went on for quite a long time:
It has been decided not to use GPS for finish times. The reasons for this are well explained on Gordon Riggs web page. (What is the link on your page about this, Gordon?)
The organizers have also decided not have wing numbers on gliders. Several of the Australian's have identical gliders as do some of the Germans. This makes the job for the goal marshals pretty much impossible as far as I can see.
We had our team meeting in a slightly hurried manner and our basic tactic was to try and leave early so that we can try and get the departure points. The plan is to fly as a team so we are not out front entirely by ourselves.
After the team meeting Miles was seen under the cars. We set off to find the cars were all stuck in first gear. This might not be much of an advantage since the first task is set to Ivanhoe via Booligal. It is 210km by road and 182km as the Oleg flies.
There was quite a drift over the paddock and most of the team was in the air over an hour before the first gate. Still, conditions are better than forecast so getting up wind was not that difficult. I found myself wondering if I really need 1 ¹ hours warm up in a big gaggle before setting off on this task.
The gaggle was repositioning itself and Bruce and Steve decided to stick to the plan and set off. Sam and Miles were in a good position to start but found the gaggle drag back up wind too much to resist.
Bruce and Steve made reasonable time with a friendly local shouting at us on the Radio. I guess there are so few people out here that some hear us as very unwelcome trespassers on their personal radio frequency. We caught a very good climb while the audio of the vario was totally masked by high volume jamming listening to the local radio. With the averager touching 12 I was quite concerned not to fall out.
Bruce and Steve pushed on but were getting a bit separated. Finally Bruce called a climb and Steve turned round and flew a long way back up wind. Probably not a great idea and Allan reprimanded Steve for this poor decision later. This cost us a bit of time and by the first turn point (60km) we had already been caught by the first of the large gaggles. So that's 15minutes added to our time.
Around the first turn point Steve was at the top of the gaggle with the Aeros with number 2 written on it. Bruce was at the bottom of the gaggle and we got split at this point.
Bruce followed with a few stragglers from the gaggle but caught the bottom of another gaggle 30km from goal.
Steve stayed in touch with the gaggle until Antoine led us out over some orange desert trying to get a little up wind. It took ages to get a weak climb and the gaggle split in two. Unfortunately for us Antoine and the top half split off and set off on finals a bit earlier. We had to make do with what turned into a four and then set off on a reasonable final glide. Allan got to goal just in time to give the goal position. Steve arrived with 400 500 feet ATO. The ground has came up a bit (130 feet) so it's not so bad, but Allan said it was much too high.
Bruce landed about 10- 15 minutes later for another personal best flight. Allan weighed in straight away with a dressing down about wasting time!
Sam was not far behind but well off course down wind over the trees. He was climbing in a weak one. He thought he was with Ron who flew back up wind to be more on course and landed 12km short of goal and 1.5km off track.
Sam took an iffy final glide and managed to get the glider on the end of the cross runway to be 500m from the goal line. Strangely in the scores he was given more distance points than all of those who made goal. Sam had just flown another personal best so his thoughts were mixed between elation and frustration at not quite making the line.
Richard flew over the line about ¸ hour later. It was frustrating for Miles as he had flown with Richard for a large part of the course and just missed a very small thermal that got Richard in.
When Miles was about to land Val got out of her car and held up a windsock in a lay-by. Miles managed to get up slightly again to almost make it.
It seemed like quite a long task but there were 77 in goal. I guess they are going to have to set much longer tasks if they want to reduce the number in goal.
Oleg won the day with 999 points and 30 minutes quicker than Steve. Davis Straub apparently had a bad day landing on the way to the first turn point.
The lady in the snack shop in Ivanhoe stayed open late for us and we were able to eat before the long trip back. We saw about 10 kangaroos on the way home. Fortunately none hit the car, and we only passed one other car in over 100 miles.
We got back to score at about 11pm so are painfully short of stories about what happened to other people.
We did wake up this morning to hear that the last 3 pilots had just got back to Hay, after spending the night out. So we had a fantastic retrieve with Allan and Val. There seems to have been a mistake with Ron's score.
We also have reason to believe that the goal marshals are not getting the finish times right. Of course we can't blame them. 77 gliders with no numbers, some identical and many crossing close together and they want the times to the nearest second. I think the 13 second error in some Garmins might be more acceptable.
8th January 05
World Championships 2005, second day. News from the day before.
We heard some more great stories about the retrieves on the first day.
One of the Dutch pilots landed in the middle of nowhere. His team mates finally drove out to pick him up. They put all the kit in the car. Then they couldn't find the keys. They still couldn't find the keys when it got dark and they spent the night out.
In the morning the other Dutch car went out and they still couldn't find the keys but did find the Kangaroo traps. Fortunately they had not been snapped while rummaging around during the night. At the end of the 2nd days the keys were still missing and the car still was still out waiting for keys to be sent from Sydney.
The second task was almost the same as the first but with an additional turn point and 20km entry start at One Tree. The second turn point was still at Booligal and the goal was Ivanhoe as before. This put the task at 188km.
Before the window opened, we were entertained by an aerial dual between the green Dragon Fly and an eagle. They thermalled together over the paddock, the Dragon Fly at full throttle both climbing at much the same rate with Bob Bailey trying to hit the Eagle. The eagle looked pretty unconcerned and did not even leave the thermal but just did the occasional avoidance maneuver.
Despite the forecast, conditions were obviously not as good as the day before, with quite a lot of the early start pilots coming down for a second tow. Miles had three tows and Sam two. Sam landed in the tug lane and his glider was hit by a towline.
Then there was a parachute open at the down wind end of the paddock. Elio Cataldi from the Italian team had locked out behind the tug and done a wing over. He then reported the rear wires breaking and came down under his parachute. His descent looked pretty good by all accounts and his glider looked in good condition on the way down. When he hit the ground he was dragged a long way by the wind. A tug immediately landed next to him. The report I got, pretty much first hand, from a totally uninjured Elio. (Interpretation by Angelo Crapanzano.)
Angleo and many others felt that a rear wire failure seemed unlikely given the low loads in flight. It seems likely that the glider went upside down and the pilot hit the rear wires breaking them.
All this made launch a bit more stressful in a very strong cross wind. Bruce and Steve then witnessed two gliders turned over. One was still on the trolley and the other started with a reasonable landing that then became out of control in the wind and left the pilot hanging from his control frame in and upside down glider.
This made take off a bit stressful. Steve took his time and then went with an immediate weak link break. Landing in the prop wash was rough. Steve was allowed to launch again straight away and the next tug had the sense to line up pretty much straight into wind. Steve's tow was behind the green Dragon Fly piloted by Bob Bailey for a truly superb tow. Some of these tug pilots really are brilliant! Miles had three tows while the others go away more easily.
The gaggles were pretty big before the start. Trying to get upwind was quite difficult and did not feel risk free. The thermals were rough and broken and the spacing was large. Bruce and Sam left at the first start gate with a few others.
Ron and Steve went upwind to get the second (3pm) start. We flew out of the 20km radius in a long sweeping turn. It did not look like the large gaggle was going to start. Then it straighten up and it was off to the first turn point at high speed.
Ron and Steve caught Sam and Bruce just past the first turn point. Such is the power of the gaggle. Bruce did not really make contact but Sam changed gear and latched on well.
Around the second turn point we turned north for a long glide over the boonies. Fortunately Sam, Ron and Steve were quite high here with a good gaggle spread out in front. We had a long glide well past the most obvious trigger before getting up again. Bruce chased the gaggle from this point and unfortunately landed, ãRight out in the middle of nowhere.ä In fact he was a stone's through from the main road so Val picked him up quickly.
We did not hear much from Richard for the whole flight. He was taking a slightly different route and was slightly held up having taken the 3pm start as well.
As we neared goal the lift weakened and Steve got a lucky bubble which gave him a 1000ft or so over the others. This enabled him to stay with the gaggle and glide across a large patch of sand. At the far side he was rewarded with a 7 up with 20km to go to goal. There were a few gliders strung out in climbs. Taking a route through them left a 12 to one glide to goal. Crossing the line at about 300 ft again Allan was not there in time to criticize the over conservative height! Just under 3 hours elapsed time.
Ron, Richard and Sam were in about 9 minutes later. Richard had joined their last climb and did a well judged final glide.
Sam was delighted with another personal best. (Seems to be one every day.)
Miles had taken a later start and landed about 20km out. Milesâ flight was a very good one as he had flown pretty much by himself the whole way. The second day was very much a gaggle day with the best climbs only going to 5000 feet. Often it was necessary to leave with 4000 feet or less and there was the ever-present worry of a very hot desert with no roads just below you.
There were 72 pilots in goal today.
Things sounded quite exciting on the way in. Oleg dived in front of Rohan and Wakeâ him so badly that he lost the bar. Fortunately it hit his knees and came back.
The leaders results are as follows: Oleg Bondarchuk won the day again. Robert Reisinger was second, Gerolf third, Rohan Holtkamp forth and Antoine Boisselier fifth.
The Austrians are leading the team scores with the US second and the Aussies 3rd. Followed by the French Germans and Italians. The Brits moved up to 10th overall.
9th January 05
World Championships 2005, third day.
Last night was much warmer and today started with lots of wind.
Interestingly the forecast is for less wind. We were told that when mixing occurred with the higher level (less wind high up) the wind would reduce.
In time that was exactly what happened. Still better news the wind direction had changed. It was from the northeast. Great news; we wouldn't have to go to Ivanhoe again.
Despite Len Patton's forecast of a blue day clouds started to form and looked pretty high. Steve decided to put on a bit more clothing making the wait in line a bit warmer.
There was a new rule decided at the team leaders briefing:
"If you have a very strong weak link you will be sent to the back of the queue."
(Quite a few pilots had been flying with very strong weak links to avoid that inconvenient weak link break. Sadly this foolish behaviour is quite common in hang glider tow pilots and I have seen it often in the UK especially in the SW.)
Bruce, Miles and Sam took off in the open windowâ. Steve was near the front of the first official launch. Conditions were a bit cross again but the launch marshals emphasised that we did not have to launch.
The wind straightened up, Steve launched, and got to about 10 feet before the weak link went in the prop wash. Another landing straight ahead in the rough air of the prop wash followed and a warm walk back.
The guys in the sky reported excellent conditions, saying the thermals were much smoother and going much higher than the previous day.
Steve was quite keen to get in the air and slotted back into line about 7 places from the front. Further back in the queue Ron "pushed."
A few dust medium sized dust devils came through one going for the line next to Steve. One pilot was waiting in a dolly for launch. He was slightly lifted but people held him down. However his carbon keel snapped off. This did not look like too much of a problem as one assumed that the break would be behind the rear wires. On closer examination there appeared to be a few more problems. It was Gerolf and the keel had snapped in front of the rear wires. The dust devil had done Gerolf a big favour if he had such a badly designed week keel on his Litespeed it could have failed in flight. Gerolf was last seen running around with bits of aluminium hopefully from standard keels.
Steve took the trolley again and waited for the wind. It dropped off to be a light cross wind and Steve had a nice tow and was released just below 1500 feet at the upwind end of the paddock into a smooth 2 3 up. With Rohan below a few others joined the thermal for a nice low stress climb out. The climb was almost straight up.
Bruce got high and was calling great climbs. Oleg had got low and was forced to land. Allan said that on the ground he had been seen running around looking for a hammer. Apparently he had broken his instrument mount in the air and needed a hammer to fix it. Attila told Oleg, "Typical Russian engineering, we had to put up with that for 40 years in Hungary." Oleg replied, "I am from Ukraine not Russia."
Moments later the radio crackled, "Task cancelled."
This is one of the worst radio messages you can get. If it happens when conditions are good it almost always means very bad news.
Steve looked down and there was the fateful sight. A glider was upside down in the paddock 150m in front of launch with cars and people around it. (It's the people and cars that make it so frightening.)
I can obviously only report my own feelings. First I just hoped that it was not serious. However Richard reported on the radio that it looked, "Extremely bad, probably fatal."
I was left flying round with all sorts of thoughts going through my head. I had no desire to land at the paddock. There were already loads of people there. I just concentrated hard to do the safest possible landing in the largest field, with the most people about. This was the airfield at Hay.
Everybody always wants to know what happened. Tom Lanning (USA) was next in line and saw the accident first hand. I believe the accident was also caught on video.
Robin Strid (Norway) flying an Airborne C2 decided to take a foot launch.
There was a light cross wind from the right. Robin took off but dragged his left wing tip in the dirt. He got the wing up again and started to climb a bit. Tom said that at this point he thought he was lucky to get away with that. He could not see the tug but thinks it turned right slightly to be more into wind. (Bob Bailey was the unfortunate tug pilot. I have to say he is one of the best I have ever towed behind.)
Tom then said the pilot appeared to yaw right but he was not sure if this was related to his initial recovery. He then appeared to try to operate his release and locked out badly diving left into the ground. The tug gave him the rope but it was too late.
Robin Strid 15th September 1966 to 9th January 2005
Robin was a very keen pilot who I did not know very well. He was twice Norwegian Champion. He was known in hang gliding circles for always wearing his heavy boots. Robin flew the last competition at Deniliquin and stayed in the same accommodation as us. In fact he gave me a download of his digital camera when we were all sitting by the pool. I have included some of the images from his camera.
The Norwegian pilots say that he was a very helpful person.
Our thoughts are with his friends and family.
10th January 05
World Championships 2005, Fourth day.
It got still warmer last night and we awoke to less wind.
At the team leader's meeting the day was called off. It was decided to analyse the accident fully and have a pilot's meeting in the afternoon. The Norwegian team have invited all the pilots to the paddock at 8pm today for a small ceremony.
The team did not do much today. Ron Val and Steve went to watch some sheep shearing. The others spent most of the time by the pool.
The sky looked truly stupendous.
At the pilot briefing we found out some more details about the accident:
The accident was summarised as follows:
1. Pilot error. The pilot failed to stay in line with the tug.
2. The pilot attempted to release and had a release failure.
3. He was using a very strong weak link which failed to break
The more detailed information is as follows:
Pilot error was felt to also include choice of release and choice of weak link.
The pilot was using a type of release that has been banned in the UK and elsewhere.
It is the so called Spinnaker or Wichard (The manufacturer of the stainless boat fitting) release. In the accident the release had opened but the weak link had not released. There have been previous accidents where this sort of release has failed to work with both weak links and small rings. As in this case, the release can open but still have the weak link attached to the open end. (Don't be tempted to use this type of release.)
It was also noticed in the accident that the load on the release was so high that the rope attachment to the harness had also failed. Indeed all that kept the pilot attached was the Bowden cable to operate the release and the weak link.
The weak link will be officially tested and the organizers were keen to stress that they had not yet done an official test yet. Initial rough estimates suggest that it would break at 250kg and possibly more.
At the meeting towing was discussed a great deal. It was easy to see the problems that the organizers have: Some pilots hold such strong opposing views.
Fortunately we got some professional towers to speak. Rohan explained the merits of using a 90m stretchy tow line compared to a shorter 60m stretch resistant line as used by the Moyes tugs.
Attila Bertok argued passionately for the shorter line. In his argument the advantage is "That the tug and hang glider are closer and thus more likely to be in the same air." The advantages of the non stretch Dynema line used are, apparently, that it does not wear out so quickly and it is easier to splice. I couldn't find any other perceived advantages of using non stretch line. (For use in manufacturing releases non stretch line can prevent recoil of the release.)
Rohan explained that with the longer lines the hang glider was indeed 1 ¸ seconds further behind the tug. However he also explained that being further behind the tug, the glider could be further out of station before approaching a potential lock out angle. Rohan also explained that a bit of stretch in the line helped prevent weak link breaks.
For me the arguments seemed clear and with a bit of anecdotal personal experience. With the longer stretchy linesâ I did not suffer any weak link breaks going through the prop wash on take off. Also being further behind, the dust and prop wash experienced by the hang glider pilot on take off was much reduced.
The 60m line does also seem extremely close to the tug when coming from the 90m line also the dust is more unpleasant on the initial roll.
The organizers decided that they would provide the weak links for the rest of the comp and the pilots would not be able to by pass them in any way. Pilots could of course use their own weaker links. I was really surprised to find that even with such a serious accident a minority of pilots would probably continue to use strong weak links given the choice.
Perhaps weak linksâ should be considered for experts and stronger weak linksâ for beginners.
The pilots then got into a discussion about why there was no ambulance in the paddock at all times. The organizers explained about the paramedics that were in the paddock at all times. To me it was a curious response: Of course we would like an ambulance there at all times but analysis of the accident and the risks the pilots face, suggested that perhaps modifying other safety matters might be prevention rather than cure.
It was suggested that perhaps all pilots should wear helmets that meet a minimum standard. Davis Straub and others said, "No, don't do helmets," as if some Pandora's box would be opened.
I have spoken to several pilots who use helmets with no internal foam, basically just head fairings. They know they shouldn't and they say, "Maybe next year I will change the helmet." If the local rules were applied perhaps these guys would benefit from a reduced risk of head injury now.
It was explained to me that CIVL section 7 still does not make safeâ helmets mandatory and thus there was not point in trying to make the pilots change.
We hope that CIVL will in the near future insert this simple rule. There are many other possible modifications. For example making a weak link at competitions supplied by the organizers mandatory in front of the pilot's weak link.
At 8pm there was a meeting in the paddock organized by the Norwegian team. It was very well attended and a quite time for reflection.
11th January 05
World Championships 2005, Fifth day.
It's still getting warmer. Last night was warmer and this morning we had more wind.
We went out to the paddock again. At the team leaders meeting a 300km plus task was promised.
In the paddock it was pretty windy and it was decided to re-brief an hour later. It was the hottest day so far, in the paddock, so we decided to pop back into Hay for a quick swim. We then went back out to the paddock for briefing.
The TV cameraman was there and while we waited for the safety committee to decide what was going to happen we had a chat with him.
He had filmed the accident while in the paddock. Every evening he is required to send his film report in. This he did but he did not say that he had filmed a fatal accident. A day later, after news had got out, he was 'chewed out' by his employees. One for not telling them it was a fatal accident and two for not moving in for a close up. The accident was then shown on all the TV channels a day later.
High cloud was seen to the SW in the sky. It seemed to be related to the front shown on the weather map. Winds were also reported to be 20km stronger 300km to the west of us. Thus it was decided to cancel the day.
So it was back to the swimming pool. Richard then organized a barbeque.
As one of the American's said, "We don't want the same weather tomorrow. We either need a hurricane so we definitely can't fly or much better conditions."
12th January 05
World Championships 2005, Sixth day.
It was not quite so hot in the morning. The cold front had passed through and temperatures had dropped a couple of degrees. Looking outside the sky was not as bright as usual. There was a high layer of cirrus and poor visibility (that I put down to a strong inversion).
The wind direction was from the south and we feared another trip to Ivanhoe. However in the paddock the wind direction seemed more from the SW.
The task was called to the first turn point at Gunbar (TP 34), a NE route. It was then a more easterly route to TP 22 (Goolgowi) then to TP 22 Meriwagga and then back to Gunbar for goal. So quite a long task, a 60km flight to Gunbar with a 90km triangle at the end.
The conditions were not good. Initial climb out took us to the dizzy heights of about 2500 feet. With a strong westerly wind of about 15 mph it was quite a job just saying near the paddock. Richard had a weak link break at 500 feet and had a 2nd flight. Sam stayed up for about 1 hour and then had to go down for another tow. Bruce also had tow tows. Finally after a great deal of restarting we set off. Sam, Bruce, Miles and Steve set off after the 3rd gate. Conditions were still very poor and it was hard work. Bruce dropped off the group with radio problems and landed near the road. Sam's radio also started to malfunction about 2km after the start gate.
At about 15km from Gunbar we started to get a little low. Somebody below started doing Doughnuts' in a car just off the main road. Some teams suspected Allan. We did find a thermal somewhere above the car and then joined with another gaggle. It was hard to say if the car helped. Conditions seemed to improve slightly and we raced over the goal line for the first time. Just after the turn point (goal line) things didn't look so good the gaggle couldn't find a climb. Sam and Miles pressed on both landing. Miles made a valiant effort to stay up and remained just above his shadow for 5 minutes before finally landing.
Eventually the climb was quite good. Steve went slightly slower than the main gaggle and we had a smaller second gaggle. Ron and Richard were some way behind having taken a later start.
As we approached the turn point it was clear that the next leg was going to be difficult the cross head wind was indicated 15mph in the climbs. Steve was very keen to be as high as possible but the lift died at about 4000 ft. Steve glided carefully to the turn point and then back into wind. The lead gaggle was spread out below in front and not looking very good but finally climbed. It was then a very large gaggle. Ron and Richard were only a couple of km behind at this stage but it was such a battle into wind that they were unable to just glide to the gaggle.
We fought upwind until surprisingly we were within range of the next turn point. Rohan took a very upwind track and ended up not getting the turn point. Steve and a few others glided just slightly upwind of the turn point. At this point Ron landed about 6km from the 2nd turn point. Richard landed pretty close and said, "I don't where I am or how I got here but I am sitting upside down on my glider." We were not sure what had happened. We took him to the hospital later to be on the safe side. Richard thinks that he was probably knocked out for a bit. (He seem fine now but we have never been able to describe him as normal.)
Steve and a few others rounded the turn point at about 2000 ft. Then glided on course. The wind was even stronger near the ground. It is always a difficult decision. Several of the low pilots just pushed on into wind for an almost certain landing. Steve took a weak climb from a tree line and climbed about 1000 ft but was blown several km down wind before landing quite a lot further away than if he had just flown on course.
Rohan did not get the turn point in the end.
The top clump of the gaggle, who took the middle route, got to the turn point a little later. They got to the turn point they flew forwards. They took a weak climb and repeated this four times before they finally got high.
Brett was near the top and says, "I then glided forwards slowly and got very good air. I think it was convergence. I had noticed the different direction between the high wind and the way the dust was blowing on the ground. I was able to glide forwards with a very slow ground speed but went up a couple of hundred meters."
As the wind was not as strong higher up, you got a much better glide at altitude. (It was much worse low down.) Brett was with Mario Alonsi (France) and Antoine. They got one other quite good climb and then Brett set off again, "I was watching the glide angle and it was getting better into that head wind. I was getting such good air. It went to 13:1 then 12:1 then suddenly I got too low and it suddenly went the other way fast."
13th January 05
World Championships 2005, seventh day.It was a very warm start to the day.
Early team leaders meeting said conditions were going to be very good. The temperature trace only went up to 3000 m (10,000 ft) and we could not see where the thermals were going to stop. They did not have a humidity reading so what height cloud base was going to be was unknown.
At the team leaders meeting retrieve cars doing doughnuts was banned, though no specific accusations were levelled at Allan.
When we got to the paddock we had another weather briefing. The forecast wind on the ground was 25knots. The trike had also recorded a high level wind of 80kmh. There was quite a lot of indecision as there was virtually no wind on the ground.The task was called. 192.5 km to the east. The first turn point was just to the north of the Murrumbidgee river at Kooroongal (75.5km) Then across the river to the SE to Waddi Airstrip and then to Ardetham. With a very strong following wind and 10,000 ft climbs this ought to be an easy task.
Miles was off first followed by Bruce. Steve followed as one of the early official starters and we all found that conditions were not good. The first start gate was not until 1 ¸ hours after the window open. Thus we had ages to fly around. There was virtually no thermal drift and we struggled to get to 4000 ft. Peak heating was expected later so we waited for conditions to boom. Several start gates came and went and still there was no drift. The gaggle was wasting precious time.
Eventually we started on the 3rd gate and fortunately a lot of the gaggle came with us. Steve, Bruce and Miles set off together. Sam, Ron and Richard set off a gate later.
Miles got low almost straight away. Steve and Bruce stayed with the gaggle for a bit but glides were going very deep and conditions seemed worse than over the paddock. There was significant risk of landing with gliders down to prove it. Poor lift and quite large thermal spacing made each glide a little worrying and very slow going.
Eventually conditions started to improve. Steve was separated from Bruce but Ron caught up before the first turn point and flew with Steve for a bit. Steve and Ron glided off down the river looking for an elusive strong climb. Steve got a much better glide which put him ahead of Ron. Then we got a couple of very good climbs one at the first turn point to almost 6000 feet and were back with the back of the lead gaggle. Steve flew with Angelo Crapanzano on his personally modified Moyes and a couple of the Italian team. We glided out to the 2nd turn point and arrived at about 6pm. Only 90k left to go and still no drift!
Miles landed about 20km from the first turn point north of the river. Sam landed 7km from the turn point south of the river. Sam had crossed the river for a certainâ thermal trigger. He got over it with 1500 feet. It bubbled but then went to nothing and he landed.
Sam had been Richard with but his radio was not working again. Richard stayed north of the river and kept going. We did not hear very much from him but he did a good landing just past the 2nd turn point. It was just a shame he had not started a bit earlier.
With the lead gaggle in sight but doing badly Steve glided in. They were back on track but over rather poor looking terrain. Eventually the gaggle got a climb from very low. Steve set off again slightly north of track to a few other gliders over what looked like a reasonable area. Fortunately he found a climb and the gaggle all came in. Ron also arrived in the same climb.
We climbed at a peak of 3 up but ahead conditions did not look good. Jean Francois Gerard said it was like being back at the start gate, the gaggle was so busy. Guido came in below Steve and, sadly, climbed past. Oleg led off at the top and a lot of the gaggle straightened up and followed. In hindsight this was a mistake. At the end of the day the best place to be was the top. The terrain ahead did not look good and the gaggle found a very weak climb indeed. People started to land. Jean Francois landed in a nice field. Steve scratched for a bit under turning gliders. There was a large wooded area ahead and with not nearly enough height to cross it he landed in the same field as Jean Francois. Ron flew over and landed in the next field a few minutes later with a rather angry Gerolf.
Oleg said that he had climbed at the top of that weak climb and had enough height to cross the wood. He said he got a couple more weak climbs and then glided. He said he could have gone a bit further but feared the he would have been out all night if he had. Thus he landed by a road and farmhouse. Oleg was first on the day 15km short of goal, followed by Koos de Keijzer (Neatherlands) and Len Patton 3rd. Len, the weather man, third was highly suspicious after such a dreadful forecast,
Bruce landed a little further from goal but was pleased with, both his flight, and a useful score for the team.
14th January 05
World Championships 2005, Eighth day.
More stories from yesterday: Rohan Holtkamp had a batten pocket failure while flying. He had to put his elbow around one upright while pushing in the corner of the opposite upright to maintain level flight. Relaxing this pose cased the glider to thermal to the left way. Going the other way was impossible. Rohan landed before the first turn point as it was impossible to continue. On closer inspection of his Airborne C2 he found that at least one of the batten pockets had not been stitched in. Apparently the batten pocket had been un-stitched during manufacture but not sewn back on correctly. Rohan spent 3 hours in his sail trying to put the glider back together and checking that all the other bits were connected. Sandra, his wife, says, "Airborne better get it sorted as he has a Moyes waiting in the bag." Now the glider flies with only a turn.
It was a very warm start to the day.
This time the team leaders meeting came up with an estimate for cloud base: From 3000 ft to 18,000 ft. (One would think that would keep most eventualities covered. There would be no blaming the weather man today.)
There was quite a lot of stratus cloud in the sky. It looked as if it was associated with a front. We even heard that there had been rain in the paddock.
We went out a little later than usual. It was very hot. (47degrees in the shade was reported in a town a little to the west of Hay.) It was also rather windy. Rigging was difficult due to the wind and because the battens were so hot you could hardly pick them up.
A task was set: It was very similar to the task of two days ago but without the last leg.
The safety committee were worried about the wind and it was a rather marginal call. They decided to hold the take off window for a bit to see what happened. Some of the high cloud moved over the paddock and the wind dropped to very light. The safety committee decided that they expected the wind to resume once the band of cloud had passed so the day was canned. We were given permission to fly if we had good reason to. Miles took one of the first tows and was towed back to the airport at Hay.
Steve had made some minor changes to his glider so decided to fly as well. He had two weak link failures on take off before finally getting towed to 2500ft. The air was so smooth there was hardly a bump in it on the way down. Some had been towed higher and did appear to be circling. However it would not have been much good for a task.
15th January 05
World Championships 2005, Ninth day.
It was quite a hot morning with a mixture of high stratus and what looked like alto cumulus clouds.
The weather map showed a weak cold front further to the south but the satellite photos showed the cloud extending much further north, right over us.
The forecast was, "Light and variable winds gusting to 15 knots." Again another massive range was given for possible height gains depending the maximum heating.
We started rigging facing south in a rather hot and windy paddock. The wind switched a bit and started to blow cross. Thus the order was given to de-rig and re-rigg on the SW strips. Rigging practise in this heat and wind was not what we needed. It is interesting to note that the paddock is approximately 2000 acres and you would think you could tow in any direction without the need to move all the gliders half a mile. (In fact the car towers have to move to a new strip which is why we were all moved.)
The band of high cloud seemed to break up a bit and was moving quite fast to the NE.
A task was set to the NE. 1st Turn point: Gunbar with a 50km entry start.
Goal was set further along the main road just beyond Rankin Spring. (Goal to be, "as close as possible to the coordinates north of the main road.") Total distance 153km.
Launch opened a bit earlier at 2pm and it was quite a rush to get ready.
Sam was one of the first off and had a weak link failure above 500 feet and came down for a second launch. Davis Straub (USA) was off second. Miles took off and came straight down again. Steve took off and scratched quite hard to stay up. Bruce was also early off and Ron and Richard launched later but stayed up. The light and variable winds were blowing us away from the paddock quite fast. The thermals were rough and not going very high so the gaggles were unpleasant.
Sam's radio lasted for about 2 minutes this flight before he was unable to hear us. The gaggles kept pushing forwards to the paddock before some of us decided to go downwind to be nearer to the start gate.
The edge of the start gate was 15km from the paddock over some bush with no roads. It is a very uninviting place to land. The gaggles started to get low and were only finding weak lift. Things became a bit frantic in these gaggles with a lot of screaming and shouting. Dustin gave Steve a very odd sign it looked like it was going to be a single finger which half way through became a wave. With the tail fin on Steve's glider it is quite distinctive so perhaps he was recognised.
The drift was still quite fast and a lot of time the body of the gaggle was not much above 3000 ft. Richard, Steve and Sam were together but Sam minus radio as always. As we were drifted away towards the turn point Steve straightened up to fly back upwind for another start. It was over 2km back to the start and the gaggle ahead looked pretty low. Thus the three of us decided to start anyway and turned back on course. We were soon rewarded with a good climb to over 5000 ft. Steve pressed on while Sam climbed higher. We met again in the next climb which took us almost to 6000ft. Steve then pressed on with two others. Johnny Durand and one other.
Ron sounded like he had a very good start with a gaggle. He soon met up and flew with Richard. Miles and Bruce took the start after that. Bruce said it was the first opportunity he had to start after his re flight. Miles had had two re-flights and they met up and flew together.
Johnny and one other pilot flew left of track while Steve took a more upwind route. The band of cloud, just aheadâ was casting a shadow on the ground. Steve was concerned about crossing this shadow and really wanted to get high first. Steve did not get such a good glide as the other two but decided that he was too far away to divert to join them so went more upwind over a farm. Things were starting to not look very good and the farm did not work. Steve cut back towards the road looking round for any signs. Fortunately he saw a tractor in a field. (This has been a pretty rare sight this trip.) Steve headed towards it feeling optimistic and then saw an eagle circling to the right of the tractor. It was looking like a dead cert: 7.5 up to 5500ft right at the edge of the cloud shadow. Ron's gaggle sounded like it was catching up. Steve set off across the cloud shadow towards the turn point gliding very carefully trying to stay as high as possible and looking out for others marking the next climb.
Rounding the turn point Steve set off down the road to the next turn point. He could see no gliders ahead but thought the leading edge of the cloud shadow might trigger something. He was reluctant to fly too upwind of course since it would take him back into the cloud shadow even though it was starting to break up a bit. The sink increased and flying over a really good irrigation lake trigger failed to give much other than reduced sink. Turning more down wind Steve was now getting pretty low and flew over the place where Miles and Sam had landed on a previous day.
In the meantime Sam had rounded the turn point and found a 10 up. This boosted his confidence and he raced off down the main road and found another 10 up. He saw a gaggle down wind of course but decided to press on. On the next glide he was not so fortunate he got down to about 3000 feet but could only find weak lift.
Later that evening Mario Alonsi was heard asking, ãWhere is metal face?ä Mario was looking for Sam who has a full silver visor on his helmet:
Sam had seen Mario Alonsi circling and moved towards him. Mario said that Sam, ãFlew straight at him.ä Sam said that, ãMario appeared to fly up wind a bit to re-centre and then turned very sharply without looking." Sam said he froze and Mario missed him, ãBy 1m." Sam said, "Maybe I was flying to close up his arse."
Sam flew away from this thermal and got quite low. He managed to soar a small tree covered ridge and finally got a good climb back to 6000 ft. He then go low again on another ridge. He waited there for a climb to take him high enough to get over the trees. This ridge was too shallow to soar so Sam landed at the bottom. Steve headed to a line of trees getting down to a thousand feet. He found a very weak climb that evaporated quickly.
Things were starting to look bad. Steve diverted over some more trees with still no luck. He then flew a long to the corner of the paddock with a small, cattle watering, dam in it. There were quite a few trees but landing would still be possible between them or perhaps in the next paddock. The paddock to the left had a relatively thick line of trees along the fence line. Fully unzipped he flew slightly down wind of the dam in preparation to turn on to finals. It got a bit rough and then he got a bit of two up. He kept flying straight for a second or two and then thought, "Wow enough to do a turn." As he came round to complete the 360 there was a large dust devil kicking off to the left in the line of trees 150 m away. It was too far away to get to from his height so he just held on tight for the roller coaster ride alongside. As the ground dropped away Steve was able to re-centre towards the dust devil making absolutely sure he did not fall out of what had become a better than 7 up climb.
At the top of the climb and now down wind of track Steve, could hear that Ron and Richard were now about the same distance from goal and going well.
Steve was trying to get his bearings again, assess the cross-wind while losing height again. He then made a bad mistake and flew downwind to what appeared another large dust devil. He missed it and noticed that the light and variable had now become so strong that it was blowing long lines of dust into the air.
Steve's flight was so far off course that when Allan said that the goal had been moved about 2km into wind it did not make a great difference. Steve pressed on hoping the wind would abate or that a miracle climb to 12,000 feet might arrive. In the end he flew level with goal but landed about 40km north.
Richard and Ron made goal in good time. Bruce and Miles working together arrived a bit later.
Davis Straub had started well before the first start and few to the goal coordinates. It turned out that the goal marshals had found it difficult to get into the official field so decided to move elsewhere. Not a great decision.
16th January 05
World Championships 2005, Tenth day.
Rain and keeping up team traditions.
We awoke to the sound of quite heavy rain on the roof of the cabin. Looking out of the window it was, raining hard and the sky was grey.
Allan went to the team leaders meeting to find that there had already been quite a lot of hassle about the previous task. The problem was the fact the goal marshals had moved the goal. Pilots had landed at both and in between. In briefing we had been told specifically that the goal would be north of the road and that the coordinates were correct. It was too the south and almost 2km out.
The competition officials tried to make a few excuses to cover up what was just a foolish mistake by the goal marshals. One they tried was that the officials thought that the field was a bit exposed in the very strong winds and that a smaller more sheltered field might be better. (Really?) Then, "There were not many suitable fields."
At that point Jim Zeiser said, "Are you telling me there is a shortage of large landing paddocks in Australia?" Official response: Er...
Allan came back and let us know that, there might still be a task and that things would dry out quickly. It was pretty obvious that the day was canned and in due course it was made official.
This was good news for Steve as it meant that he would have a chance to catch up on his diary. The rest of the boys, Miles, Sam and Richard decided to take the opportunity to wash some of the dust out of their gliders.
With only a few days to go Steve decided that it was a pretty good idea, stopped typing and took his glider off the car ready to wash it. Before he had even stood it up on the A frame the great British team tradition was continued: Allan promptly drove the car over Steve's glider. Sam screamed and fortunately Allan stopped rather that just flooring the accelerator.
Kathleen Rigg had her glider run over by the meet director one year at Hay. Hilary Stephen drove over just about everything; snakes, kangaroos and, fortunately for the rest of us, Mike's glider and not ours.
These big Australian cars are heavy and aren't too good for gliders. Steve's day off had suddenly gone out the window. Earlier Steve had been thinking about the excessive spares that he had brought and not needing any up to that point. Now they came into their own. One of the inner leading edges was crushed but fortunately at the last minute in the UK one had been added to the bag of spares. It was the wrong side but Steve was able to take the glider to pieces, modify the leading edge and rebuild the glider getting it fully rigged just in time for sunset. Amazingly the washout adjustment even looked pretty even. Tomorrow would be an interesting test flight. A real busman's holiday of a day! And now Steve's miles behind with the diary.
17th January 05
World Championships 2005, 3 days to go.
Real Racing.
It was a much cooler morning. It was a nice clear blue sky but a significant wind from what looked like the south west again.
In the paddock, after the day off, there was a general feeling of apathy. It was cool and comfortable on the ground and as there was quite a strong wind. There was not much desire to get rigged. The forecast showed that at higher levels the wind was reduced. We hoped that, as earlier in the competition, the stronger winds at ground level would be reduced with thermal mixing.
The meet director Paul had had some more very bad news the day before; his best friend had been killed hang gliding at the coast. Paul had delegated the running of the task to somebody else. The new guy was under a lot of pressure. There were lots of meetings with the safety committee and a tug was sent up to assess the wind again. Quite a few of us thought that it probably was flyable and Steve Moyes was one of the first to rig.
Finally a task was set. We all knew what it was going to be; there was little choice, Ivanhoe again. (Via Booligal to try and keep people near the road.) It was getting pretty late and by the time the task was set the first start gate was going to be at 4.15pm. This did not leave a lot of time to do an almost 200km task.
Steve was a bit more nervous than usual lying in the trolley prior to take off. This was going to be a test flight with no time for a second flight. The glider felt OK as soon as it came out of the trolley and Steve was able to climb away quite fast. The lift was surprisingly good and it was quite cold at 5000 ft.
Staying near the paddock was not that difficult and given the time we were quite keen to drift nearer the start gate as soon as possible anyway. There was little doubt that it had to be the first start gate today to stand any chance of getting to goal before the thermals died.
Steve was drifting down wind with an interesting gaggle. It contained Robert Reisinger, Angelo Crapanzano and I think some more of the Italians and perhaps one of the French. It was great as soon as we started the gaggle was off like a shot behaving more like the last thermal before goal rather than the first glide after the start.
The competition has been totally dominated by gaggle flying. We have had nothing except blue days and generally those leaving the gaggle or getting left behind have done badly. Carlos, one of the Spanish pilots, was telling Steve the other day that he felt that the lead gaggle had not been really pressing on as much as in some other competitions. It was because it had been possible to catch the gaggle up again if left by it. In other major comps it is pretty rare to ever catch the lead gaggle once you have been dropped.
Robert et al glided and glided really deep (getting very low). Tremendous flying. Steve was a little more conservative climbing a bit sooner but keeping a close eye on the leaders and joining them once they started to come up.
Ron, had started in another gaggle and was slightly behind.
Ron and Steve met up after the turn point and flew most of the rest of the course together.
Bruce had a difficult start and got going a bit late. Sam had radio problems again and landed at the first turn point. Richard was really racing and catching up but unfortunately landed about half way from Booligal to Ivanhoe. Bruce landed just beyond the turn point.
As the lead gaggle got near Ivanhoe things became difficult. The climbs became weak and there seemed to be longer glides. Steve found a weak climb and did a couple of turns. Ron pressed on and then called another weak climb. Steve glided in a few feet higher and climbed very weakly Ron fell of the bottom and glided on with about 1000ft. Ron radioed that he was about to land. Then that he had a weak climb from 300ft from one of those amazing cattle water dams. Steve's gaggle glided over and arrived slightly higher. The climb was weak and the gaggle was getting blown past the goal. Below people were falling off the bottom and just straightening up and landing. There was lots of pushing on the boot of harnesses and frantic thermalling. Just before we got to a fully crosswind glide Ron set off. The rest of the gaggle straightened up from slightly higher. We had about a 12:1 to get there. Ron radioed that he would be half a km short. It certainly looked very tight. Ron crossed the line with about 20 foot and quite a strong tail wind. Steve followed at about 100 ft and turned into wind in some nasty turbulence and landed. When on the ground Ron radioed that he thought he had broken his ankle. The glider behind Steve was upside-down. In fact Ron had landed on the other side of the runway. He had failed to let his VB off fully and said that he had not chosen his landing spot very well. He managed to land sideways scrape the tip of his glider and then twist his ankle and get it caught under his control frame.
Ron sat with his foot in the beer cooler full of ice while Alan de-rigged his glider.
Miles was still flying and managed to stay in the air until after 8pm but landed a few km short of goal.
Allan was getting pretty bored with driving to and from Ivanhoe though he has memorised the route now!
A very deserving Robert Reisinger won the day, rewarded for all his pushing. Oleg was second and Gerolf was third.
18th January 05
World Championships 2005, only 2 days to go.
Light Wind.
It was warm in the morning and there was not much wind. Ron's ankle was uncomfortable and he went to have it X-rayed. Apparently it was not broken but just badly sprained. Ron decided not to fly.
At the team leaders meeting the rumpus over the cancelled task continued. Gerolf claimed that, not only had he been sworn at but physically abused in the paddock. He also told one of the other team leaders to "Sit down, shut up and listen to him." How to win friends..
Having waited days for light winds they had finally arrived. Unfortunately the officials could not decide what the tow direction should be. Things were confused because the low level winds appeared to be from the west. The weather charts suggested that the wind should have been from the east. We drove around and around the paddock while people back in Hay frantically checked the weather again. Finally it was decided to tow into the little wind there was. We towed to the west. Even more encouragingly there were good clouds to the north east.
We all rigged and take offs went without a hitch. For once it was easy to stay near the paddock without constantly having to push into wind.
We expected a triangle task comming back to Hay. Given the great sky to the north east we expected to go there. However they sent us south into the blue. From the paddock (Hay X) SSE to Hay 45 then across to the east to Hay 32 and then finally back north again to goal to the east of Hay (Hay 30. Carrathool race track). Almost three sides of a square. This did make the course line directly over a road for almost the whole task.
In the air the drift was from the north. Conditions were pretty good with climbs to about 6000ft. Steve felt that if the wind were to increase it would be best to be on the home leg before it was too late. There was a large gaggle over the start gate and a lot turned onto course when the gate opened. When gliding people looked around and it seemed like quite a good gaggle. Though one turned back having glided for a couple of km. All the team started on that gate.
As we pressed on we were able to find good climbs with averages of over 6 up. As we neared the first turn point we went for a long glide. There were about 6 pilots out front with Miles and Steve. Bruce, Richard and Sam were a little behind. We didn't find anything near the average for the day and pressed on all the way to the turn point. Still we couldn't find a decent climb and were pretty low so had to take a really time wasting slow climb. Richard and Bruce got higher before the turn point and went sailing past. Miles and Steve pressed on but got low not far past the turn point. Once again they had to take weak climbs. Sam came in below, which made them feel a bit higher. Looking up the second start gate starters could be seen speeding past way up high. Miles and Steve pressed on again and were finally rewarded with a stronger climb. When the climb reduced, Steve pushed on again while Miles did a few more turns. Steve found a stronger climb and gained a bit before Miles flew over.
Bruce at this point was around the last turn point and Richard was charging along. Sam unfortunately announced that he had landed just after the 2nd turn point. He had never recovered from getting very low.
Miles and Steve rounded the turn point and were rewarded with a nice strong climb with a large gaggle. Richard reported that he had glided all the way to the deck and landed about half way from the last turn point to goal.
Pushing on from the climb Steve's height advantage had increased. We glided in to join Bruce in a medium climb. The gaggle all climbed again and we met up with Antoine, which was a surprise. Pushing on again for a long glide and then a rather weak climb conditions were getting noticeably weaker. We approached a large area of irrigated crops. The gaggle fanned out some going to the west and others to the East. Steve aimed for a stubble field in the middle hoping to still have the option of diverting to a climbing gaggle either side. There was also a final, distant, option of a large dark field with lots of tractors in it. Steve found a weak climb and called the others. Those of the gaggle nearby dived in. Miles and Bruce were a bit low and unfortunately Bruce missed the climb and landed. Miles took an earlier weak climb staying in the air.
Allan was calling from the Goal field that people had been coming in very high. Even Oleg was almost 1000 foot high.
Steve pushed on towards the dark field again and found a better climb. Having done several turns Georg, (The German Rat) aimed right for the middle of the circle passing directly under Steve's glider by 1m. Very frightening.
Straightening up again and taking a route over the dark field gave very good air and allowed Steve a glide in without any turning and still 500 foot at goal. Allan was right; the air was very good. We had just reached the edge of that lovely sky!
Miles got up again and was in to the field a bit later followed by Tove, 20 seconds later. It was great to be there but all the scratching had cost a lot of time. With Ron flying so well the day before, the team had really missed him needed him.
Sam reported that in the car Val had said, "I have spent 10 years of my life waiting for Ron and the boys to come out of hospital." She continued, "People say that sport is good for you. If they think that they should ask me!" Val was pretty relieved that Ron had not flown.
19th January 05
World Championships 2005, Final Day.
Look at that Sky!
It was warm again in the morning and there was a bit of wind. The sky looked good long before midday.
Allan returned from the team leaders meeting with a good forecast and the message to enjoy the final day.
Ron had decided to fly given the fact it was the last day and the sky was already looking good and his leg felt a bit better. He said that, "Val encouraged me to fly."
We arrived in the paddock early and the sky was covered in little white clouds with flat bottoms very high in the sky. It was a little windy. The forecast was only for light to moderate winds. It would have been terrible had the day been blown out with such a sky.
Strangely, and perhaps because of the wind, there seemed a bit of apathy amongst the pilots. Steve was one of the first to have his glider off and in its space ready to go. Steve Moyes was also keen to get rigged and, looking at the sky, remarked, "This is what we came for!"
Fortunately the wind did get a bit lighter. Ron was not keen to have to do a nil wind landing with a twisted ankle so the wind was good news for him.
An amazingly dark dust devil went of from an adjacent paddock. This was more like the Hay of old. Steve was quite pleased to be near the front of the launch order as it meant that at least we would get into the air early hopefully before a dust devil ripped through take off.
A final task was announced. Start at the tow paddock (Hay X). Then a 50km entrance start centred on the first turn point down the Cobb Highway (Hay 42). The last turn point was just north of Deniliquin at Pretty Pine (Hay 36) and then into wind / cross wind to goal at Hay 36. (To the North West of Conargo.)
There would only be 3 start gates: 2.45, 3.00 and 3.15. The idea was to get the task finished a bit earlier so that they could get the final scores calculated in time for the prize giving later that night.
Miles took off early and was followed by Steve when the official launch window opened. The green dragon fly tug pulled in front and Steve hoped Bob Bailey was at the controls. As soon as he took off he was disappointed as the tow was horrible with several rapid direction changes from the tug. Steve was waved of next to Miles who was already climbing. There was a lot of shadow on the ground and the early climb was pretty slow. As height was gained the climb improved to a 6 up. Cloud base was about 10,000 ft and a very nice cool temperature.
There was a significant wind from the northwest so it made sense to use the time before the start to try and work well around the start cylinder to try and make the first leg as directly down wind as possible. Miles and Steve pushed west and then struggled to stay high. We heard Bruce and Richard take the first start from a more direct line but high. Miles climbed away from Steve but both drifted through the start gate on course. Steve struggled to find a good climb and pushed back upwind over the start to make sure that he got the second start. There was only 15 minutes to go until the last start and still getting high was proving quite difficult. Ron was in a gaggle well up wind quite high.
Miles was now struggling to stay up with Sam in much the same place as Steve. We saw a glider land pretty much on the start line. It was Tom Lanning from the US. Miles had been with Tom and seen him land but drifted downwind into the sun and finally got up a bit. Sam also managed to scrape up from near Tom. He was down to 300 foot and got up to 2000 ft before losing it and landing. Poor Sam and Tom had very frustrating days watching a beautiful day from the ground.
Steve aware that the last start was approaching pushed up wind to be just outside the 50k mark for the start and then turned downwind following a much higher gaggle. Steve started barely above 5000ft - a poor start. Ron took a better start at 8500ft but Bruce and Richard's now looked the best.
As Steve glided south over the river he caught a good climb of over 7 up. As he climbed he noticed Miles, in a climb nearby, and called him over. Miles had failed to get back into wind for the last start gate. Unfortunately the climb weakened and seeing the higher gliders above Miles and Steve were tempted to push further under the clouds hoping to find a better core.
Ron took a long glide and sounded like he was going very well. Bruce and Richard were also ahead going well. Miles and Steve pushed on spending most of their time below 5000ft and failing to find the climbs Ron was calling ahead. They turned a bit then pressed on turned a bit more then pressed on again. Finally they found a good climb that took them up to about 7000ft before weakening and having to push on again. They climbed again nearing the first turn point and Steve pushed much deeper and was rewarded with a stronger climb. Miles was slow to follow, content with his 5 up, and ended up taking the next glide lower.
While the team was spread both sides of the first turn point we were subject to the most amazing verbal abuse on the radio:
Around Hay people tend to use the public frequency radio a lot. There are only 40 UHF channels but because the population is so sparse everybody can effectively have their own channel. Thus if you are a farmer and you want to speak to X you turn to channel 36 etc and there they are. When a load of hang glider pilots fly over suddenly your privateâ radio, which usually sits quietly, comes to life with loads of mindless flying chatter. Of course the range from 10,000 ft is pretty good so this can go on for quite some time before they are out of range.
This results in some strange responses: Sometimes people feel the need to jam the channel by transmitting the local radio station but they usually get bored pretty quickly. Today was different this guy tried all sorts to get rid of us. Moaning, screaming tens of minutes of fake orgasam (we hope fake for the sake of the sheep) followed by what seemed like half an hour of f'ing c'ing bastard pommy cock sucking etc etc. This guy would make a really interesting psychological study but, while flying, he had us all rummaging in our harnesses for the volume control.
No doubt a lot of messages were missed. We didn't hear from Ron again. Richard and Bruce were round the last turn point. Steve got to cloud base and then took a long glide to the final turn point. Around the turn point still high the glide angle was about 13:1. There was a very good cloud slightly off course. A relatively brief detour under the cloud with few turns reduced the glide angle to less that 9:1. However into wind the numbers were getting slowly worse all the time. Bruce radioed that he was on a 7:1 final glide.
Miles was following but managed to fly past the turn point without getting quite close enough to it. He went back and re-took it.
Bruce and then Richard flew into goal. Steve took a little climb that made the numbers better and then straightened up for the final glide in. It was under a good cloud with good and rough lift making a really fast glide undesirable. Once away from the effect of the cloud, even flying at 70mph didn't bring the final glide down low over the line. Miles crossed the line 10 minutes later.
Bruce was first of the Brits in and was as pleased as punch. Richard, Steve and Miles were also very pleased to be there. To our surprise we found that Ron was not there. He had raced around the last turn point and into the ground. It was a shame as it sounded like he was going well.
The task winner was Curt from the US. Interestingly the first three places had taken three different starts. The late starters on our team had made a questionable tactical decision. Being a relatively short task of only 135km and with very good clouds it was bound to be much harder to catch the leaders from the first start than on a long blue day. In addition the plan had been badly executed by not being at cloud base when starting.
Still, getting to goal on the last day is always a nice end to a competition. It was great to be one of the first to congratulate a worthy new World Champion, Oleg.