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05-Feb-2009 |
    
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End of Comps Dinner Nice alfresco meal in the breezeway at the clubhouse at night to finish off things. Don Woodward (ASW20) won by eight points from Greg Beecoft (Cirrus 75), Hilmer Geissler (Nimbus 3) third and Mike Yankee fourth! Greg deservingly won Standard Class, Beverley picked up the team trophy (Greg Beecroft, Daryl MacKay, myself) and Andrew Greig - Best of the rest. Dick Sasse (Astir CS and a spritely 89yo) picked up the Kulin Trophy for the most meritorious performance. Thanks to Dayle Found and his team, and to Narrogin Gliding Club for putting on a great Championships, it was a great show! Results Here. 24th January 2009 AAT Nrg- 20k Pingelly - 20k Bullaring - 20k Dumbleyung - 20k Arthur River - Nrg 2.75 hours Last day, RASP forecast a reasonable day to 6-7,000'. Started at C3 to minimise headwind (NW) then turned early in Pingelly sector to maximise tailwind in Bullaring & Dumbleyung sectors. Got low at Yealering and couldn't find a consistent climb, getting frustrated because kept seeing other gliders at height. Finally got good climbs abeam Wickepin and Tincurrin but almost outlanded north of Dumbleyung, as there was a southerly change there. The grovel out turned into a nice climb, then a bit of a push into wind and hazy conditions towards Arthur River. Got Final glide and an ETA of five minutes over, SW of Piesseville, but hit lift all the way in and was 3 minutes early for a knocked back speed of 87kph, eighth for the day, IGC File Here 23rd January 2009 Started at B3 to maximise any tailwind, good thermal just after start, caught with a bunch of gliders, stormed into the lead, didn't hit anything until 1500'agl at Pingelly, turned short of Brookton spotting someone climbing hard near Aldersyde, got some good climbs to just after Yealering, then got low again. OK after that, with some great climbs near Tincurrin went deep to minimise headwind on last leg. Had a bit of trouble getting final glide height, so diverted to rocks and forest/ ridge areas crosswind to track. Minimal final glide over Narogin Hill again with a straight in approach as the inbound traffic was building up. 82kph Fourth for the day, just nudging ahead of Jeff Woodie into fourth overall. Very tight at the top three, down to the wire on the last day. IGC File Here 22nd January 2009 Low cloud welcomed us in the morning and RASP forecast it to continue throughout the day, so the day was cancelled. Naturally it had broken up up to 4 oktas at 5000 by 2pm and local flights went to 6000. Most of us appreciated the rest day as we were stiff and sore from the efforts yesterday. I went into the town leisure centre and spent some recovery time walking in the very flash indoor swimming pool and steeping myself in the Jacuzzi area. We held the pilot's meeting in the late afternoon, the main decision taken was to recommend Flarm fitment within two years. After dinner, Kevin Saunders from GCWA entertained us with his usual excellent brand of folk singing. RASP is forecasting a good day for tomorrow. 21st January 2009 AAT: Nrg - 25kms Bulyee - 25kms Mt Kokeby - Nrg 2.5 Hours Was sniffer today, got 5 knots to 5,500 prior to start, in spite of the 15 knot south westerly wind, then went straight down to low level again! Got up and had a good run after Pingelly, with best of the day at Aldersyde 6.5 kts to 5,600. Absolute rubbish after that, the conditions around Beverley were terrible for me, got away from 1,200 AGL, and the airfield looked very attractive, as I had difficulty getting above 4,000. Superscratched down to Pingelly and met up with some of the fleet. Thermals very narrow and got my last good one at Popy to 4,800. Some scrappy stuff under Cirrus shadow which I couldn't stay in, including five minutes of grovelling 15k out. Chose to outland safely 10 kms north, which has really blown the mission for the Comp. John Kenny came in with Pawnee TUG and pulled me out. Five hours in the air, quite tired tonight. More than half the fleet outlanded, hope the weather is better tomorrow, apart from day 1, the weather has been crap. Surprised by eighth place with 790 points! 5th overall just behind Jeff Woodie. IGC File Here. 20th January 2009 AAT: Nrg - 30km Harrismith - 30kms Corrigin - Nrg. 2.5 Hours Promise of better thermals to 6500' didn't eventuate for me early part of task, went straight down to 1500 agl from the start, took me a while to get up to 5500, then turned at 15kms from Harrismith, and couldn't get high again, getting low a couple of more times. I had one smooth thermal where I was joined by a wedgetail that formated within a couple of feet off my starboard wing for about five minutes, examining me closely and totally without fear. a great experience! Went to some rocks 10kms east of the turnpoint, and worked a very tight rough thermal up to 5500 then turned for home. Started mixing it with the fleet on the way back but missed out on the bottom of a thermal chasing a gaggle, did better looking for my own lift finally geting up to 6500, the thermals were getting progressively tighter and rougher with heavy sink in between. Had final glide twice, but took +800' insurance the second time and needed every foot of it. Arrived in a gaggle and had to insert myself between two in the circuit as I was running out of height. 80 kph, 14 minutes over time and 5th for the day ~ 800 points. Greg Beecroft Is going great guns in the lead, Jeff Woodie 2nd, Denis McNeall outlanded today, I'm 5th 30 points behind Hilmar. IGC file Here. 19th January 2009 Huge storm to the North and east overnight, with heavy rain at the strip around 4am. RASP indicated around 6,000, wind from the South; AAT: Nrg - 30kms Kojonup - 30km Dumbleyung - Nrg. 2.5 Hours I started at 14:53 around 5,500 and had a good run into wind with some tight strong thermals marked by wisps of Cus. Hilmer in his Nimbus 3 joined me in a good one then streeted off looking like climbing a step ladder in front of me and soon disappeared into the distance, ah for a 60:1 glide angle. Met up with Astir WUO and we shared a couple of thermals, and the Cus burned off. I wanted to turn about 15 k short of Kojonup, and, of course, you should go as low as you dare for classic tactics, but I did it without trying, scraping along the top of a crosswind ridge and having to take a two knotter to get into the height band. WOU got the jump on me through this bit of drama and stayed one thermal ahead of me until south of the Lake, when I caught up in a delightful thermal shared with a couple of frolicking wedge tail eagles. I headed across the lake and got a line of no sink parallel to the south shore and turned just SE of the town. Then it went to bits and I lost the plot slightly and ended up being drifted north of track looking for strong lift from rocks. Eventually I realised this and turned more towards home, and got a strong one 40 k out which took me to 700' above final glide. Unfortunately I hit heavy sink abeam Highbury and suffered another gut tightening flyby of the hill SE of the field but the lift coming out of the forest and a big bubble over the quarry gave me enough for a circuit on RWY 10. Eleven minutes over time for 78 kph. IGC File Here. 18th January 2009 Weather windy and low altitude, possibility of Thunderstorms, no contest day. 17th January 2209 WAGA Comp Day 2 The met was not optimistic again, correctly forecasting mid level instability leading to cloud cover for competition area. Another 2.5 hour AAT was set: Nrg- 15kms Arthur River - 15kms Woodanilling - 30 kms Moulyinning - Nrg. The launch was delayed until Sniffer Dick Sasse got above 4000' in blue skies, but as the rest of the fleet launched, the Mid level cloud developed from the NW and soon blanketed the area in cloud shadow. Time was getting on and the Start gate didn't open until ~15:20, at which time I was searching for another thermal to take me back up to 6000', but made do with 5,500. I started at 15:32, with most of the field in front of me, which enabled me to bounce the gaggles and pick only the best. I ended up in a gaggle of 6, which was going along quite nicely until the Arthur River Sector, then everyone disappeared! I diverted to the TV Tower Rock at Wagin and got a good climb off that, overflying quite a few below scratching. The thermals seemed to be topping out at 5000 now, and I just touched the Woodanilling Circle and turned East to try and catch up with the sunshine patches. I failed to do that, but the tops of ridges, woods and rocks seemed to be working. Allan in the Pik entered a thermal with me and ballooned up in front of me, missing by about 50 feet and shaking me up a bit. By this time the cloud shadow was quite dark and after touching the Mouly circle at the south east corner of Lake Dumbleyung, I decided enough was enough and hightailed it for home with the wind right behind me early or not. Running back along the southern edge of the Lake, I picked a two knotter which drifted me right over the middle of the lake, building to 4 knots. The radio was alive with outlanding reports, so I turned down my radio to concentrate on staying airborne, as the wind would get me within striking distance of home. Picking the ridges at right angles to the wind, rocks and woods, I manage to stay around the 4500 mark for a while, with GVE joining me for a while, but then heading of to an outlanding 17kms out. I had a long quiet glide at 50knots without anything. I picked a nice looking paddock near Highbury, but got a 2 knotter to a marginal final glide height. Another one knotter got me showing some green on the XCSoar, and picked up height gliding over the hill to the south east of the field, gaining enough for a circuit. 15 minutes early but glad to be back! 75kph knocked back to 67kph by being early, but third place for the day! Heaps of outlandings, but everyone got back safely. We got a few spots of rain in the evening. IGC File Here. 16th January 2009 WAGA Comp Day 1 Met was uncertain this morning, trigger temp 38 degrees, if we didn't get +40, RASP prediction was for 5-6000 only, with BoM predicting trough through Narrogin ~ 18:00 Local. Task set 2.5 hour AAT, Nrg- 30km Harrismith - 30km Corrigin - Nrg. A real stinking hot grid on dusty Runway 36. Launched behind 180hp Pawnee, descended for a while after 1,000 agl, but bunged off in a reasonable climb. On Oxygen, eventually got to 9,200, then worked some wave up to nearly 10 grand for a start, strong Northerly wind, good first leg but took a 5 knotter to stay in height band. Turned at NE of Harrismith circle with objective of going to NW corner of Corrigin circle with northerly crosswind. Wrong! Wind swung to NW and strengthened to 20 knots, so very slow leg. Spotted wispy cus ~10 ks outside circle, so went for them and got a great climb to 10 grand for final glide along trough. Struck some 7 knots down for a long period and got under final glide abeam Yornaning, so took some turns in 13 knot thermal until 1500' above final glide, then of course overcooked final glide arriving 3 minutes early - 86.36 kph I reckon, Don did 110kph = 101 for 1st, and Greg did 97 kph for 2nd, I got 791 points and 8th for the day (sigh!). I should have gone deep east into Corrigin and made it a crosswind task. Very busy arrival sequence, everyone came in at once, but no problems I could see. Three incidents (that I know of):
A Day 1 a lot of people would like to forget, Kevin Saunders had Colibri problems and didn't have a valid trace! 15th January 2009 Practice Day 2 RASP said it was going to be rats, and verily it was right again! Hilmar set us Nrg- 25km Pingelly-30km Bullaring-20km Tincurrin-Nrg. I got up to Pingelly and got low, the wind was 15 kts from the NE, ans chopped up the thermals, I was gaining more heading into wind in a straight line rather than thermalling. Jeff Woodie in OQ outlanded near Aldersyde, I was stroking the undercarriage lever a couple of times just south of there, it was hard work pushing into wind. Just touched Bullaring circle then got away from 980'AGL before just touching the last circle and hightailing home with a hefty tailwind. 67kph for the day and glad to be home. I needed a Bex and a lie down after landing. RASP says rubbish again tomorrow for Day 1, with a TMax of 40 degrees, could be a very uncomfortable day. 14th January 2009 WA State Gliding Championships Competition Website Practice Day 1 Rigged Mike Yankee with the help of some willing helpers, then weighed to get empty weight - 343kgs, so can take 20 litres of water to stay under reference weight. Fingered to set task by Comps Director David Harris, expecting 6-7,000', Narrogin - Piesseville - Harrismith - Yealering - Narrogin, 20kms circles, 2.5 hours. First off at 13:30, straight into 7-9knots off tow from the quarry thermal to 6,500', wispy cus marking the thermals. Straight forward to Harrismith sector, extended on eastern side as ahead of schedule. Ran into some problems with overhead Cirrus cloud shadow out of Yealering, missed a thermal and scratched for five minutes. Hit some bad sink on final glide, so took a security top-up at Cuballing, 11 minutes over time. 236kms, 87kph. Flight Log Here. Only 6 launched on task. People still arriving, late into the evening, RASP indicated much the same for tomorrow, with wind round to the North East, Elders predicting 41 degrees on Friday (Day 1) may be a burster straight off the mark.
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