Just a small notice to point out that some of Dad's photos have been added to the Pictures section.

9 days of flying, 7 gliders, 11 pilots, 2 twin seat records, over 14,000km flown, and most amazingly, 0 significant trough days. Although the weather tried to spoil the fun the inaugural SX Expedition will surely be a memorial experience for all of us who participated. Today we all packed up and shipped out of the caravan park, by road and air. Myself, Owen, Cookie and Allan all trekked back to Beverley by car while Dad, Phil, Daryl and Ross all flew gliders back in weak weather conditions but with a handy tail wind.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
You could tell it was a grovel as I noticed a glider thermalling as I drove through Doodlakine, it looked somewhat like a Hornet, but I assumed not as I saw Dad disappear into the horizon while at Southern Cross. When I got to Beverley Dad proved my assumption wrong when he exclaimed that I overtook him, and apparently he took some photos of me driving past him! Again I'll upload some more photos to the blog, when I have a look at what Dad has snapped over the last 10 days. But everyone ended up at Beverley safely in the end and we all headed off home to relax for a while.

Southern Cross has given us a preview to what could be a candidate for one of the best gliding locations in not just WA, but the whole of Australia. The town is only a minute from the airfield, the townspeople are friendly and welcoming, and who knows what could be achieved when a deep trough is lying over the wheatbelt and the mercury heads over 40 degrees. But that is for future expeditions to explore and experience.

That's all from me for now, I shall get Dad to write something up for his views of the expedition from both a pilot's and the organiser's point of view. Thank you to all the people who e-mailed saying they enjoyed reading the blog, I enjoyed bringing it to you (as there wasn't much else to do sitting in a cabin waiting for Dad to get back!). Thanks to Dad for organising a smoothly run major gliding event and an interesting experience to remember. Also thanks to the pilots for the present in this morning's briefing, very grateful. Let's hope it gets bigger and better (and higher and longer) in years to come.

8th December 2007 Robby Welsh
Winding down:

Another busy day out at the airfield. Initial weather predictions indicated a similar day to yesterday, with a large inversion at around 4-5,000ft.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
Stephan and James headed off home this morning, James was quite content with two 750km flights and a 600km, a good effort in somewhat average conditions compared to what could have been (see entry on 25th November). So that left the Hornet, Jantar and DG for cross countries, in which a smallish AAT was set which was SX - Babakin - Merredin - SX (Distances - Min: 263.6km, Nominal: 343.0km, Max: 433.2km).

Dad and Allan grovelled around the AAT, which neither could complete, although Dad said he got the best thermal of the day after final glide then ended going to Ghooli to edge over 300km flown for the day. The big wings of the DG had no such trouble however, breaking the 18 year old twin 300km Triangle speed record, which I doubt will last another 18 years, but still 93km/h in today's conditions was a good effort. Ground crew were once again worked hard as the twin had another 4 AEFs, including SX Aero Club President John Hall. The Aero Club is really looking to include a gliding wing to their operations, which is a great outcome of this expedition for gliding in Western Australia.

So tomorrow Beverley member Ross Richardson will be ferried up here in Peter's Jabiru to fly back the Twin Astir (as it's an absolute pain to derig and rig), and Dad and the DG will join him on the trip back by air, which everyone hopes the conditions will be much better than today, while the remainder of us left here will have a long drive back home. Just before I end this penultimate blog post, I'd like to direct you to the Pictures section, where I will have some pictures uploaded which Allan has taken over the whole expedition.

4:30pm: Finally got back from the airfield to update the blog. Been a busy day so far, firstly with launching everyone off then we had 4 AEFs in the Twin in addition. Weatherwise, a northerly wind is providing some warmer conditions to the area, and Allan who's been doing the AEFs says it's the best weather he's experienced so far this expedition. There's been some huge thermals going through the airfield, anyway.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
So once again a very broad trough is sitting over the wheatbelt, providing reasonable soaring conditions. An AAT was set again this morning, except providing much longer task options, which is SX - Bruce Rock - Wyalkatchem - SX (Distances - Min: 311.4km, Nominal: 429.1km, Max: 557.2km). Everyone is doing this to my knowledge except for James who's trying for another big flight. Unfortunately Greg had to go home early this morning due to an injured knee, we hope it mends quickly Greg.

8:30pm: Everyone is back home and safe. Just returned from the Palace Hotel, where Gary was holding a Christmas event with free drinks and nibbles. In terms of the gliding done today, it was rather successful:

Cookie and Stephan also got around the AAT, haven't seen their flights though. James' flight will be on OLC sooner rather than later I should imagine also. The weather should improve a little, although the ASW has been packed away as Stephan is leaving tomorrow. James has also indicated he'll be departing for home in the morning, so we will be down to 3 gliders going cross country tomorrow. The twin is lined up for more AEFs however.

10am: So everyone is dusting off their gliders and getting ready to get back into the air after a good rest. Really chilly here at the airstrip, with gusty westerlies continuing, which are forecast to die off as the day continues. Overnight we even got a sprinkle of rain and the temperature got down to 7 degrees, definitely not what I would have predicted before we came here. So we are expecting good post-frontal conditions here today, and the Cu began to form very early at around 9am. The sky is very populated with Cu at the moment.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
Since the film night is on this evening Dad has set another 3 hour AAT, SX - Kununoppin - Burracoppin - SX (Distances - Min: 208.6km, Nominal: 283.8km, Max: 400.3km), but I think some guys will be going for bigger distances.

Phil gave me a bunch of photos he has taken so far, and I have uploaded them on the Pictures section.

1pm: Most pilots have launched and are on task. Haven't heard any reports on how strong the conditions are up there. Most of the Cus have burnt off now so it's a blue day today. The westerlies have died down now so the wind shouldn't cause too much grief for the pilots. I'll try to repost before we head off to the Palace Hotel for the film night this evening with an update on what happened for the day.

11pm: Back from the Palace Hotel now, finally updating the blog. The film night was good, with some of the Aero Club members joining us in watching a glider promotion video, then a SX Expedition presentation in which the State Twin Distance Record was officially presented to Daryl and Owen, then we watched some of the Gladiators of the Sky 2006 world gliding grand prix video. Many thanks were exchanged between the Shire and Dad and the SX Expedition looks to have a healthy future.

Anyway onto today's results. Greg was the adventurous one today, launching just before 11am to take full advantage of the morning Cu before it burnt off, and completed an out and return to Dalwallinu for over 560km flown on a really tough day (maximum temperature: 21 degrees), great effort. Others grovelled around the AAT on what was probably one of the weaker days in terms of weather of the expedition so far.

Peter also did well to get around the task at almost 100km/h. So tomorrow should bring some better weather, although it's still very cold. Looks like it will get back up to 30 degrees tomorrow which should strengthen conditions. But now it's time for some much needed sleep.

Just a brief update. So after a big day yesterday and windy forecasts for today it looks like everyone will be having a well earned rest.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
The trough is lying over Kalgoorlie now and a cold front is quickly approaching the southwest of the state. From tomorrow onwards should be decent weather, with another broad trough on Friday, which could be interesting. Anyway today Dad and I are heading over to Kalgoorlie to have a look around.

8pm: Dinner time here at Southern Cross after an interesting day at Kalgoorlie. On the way there we stopped at Coolgardie to find the main road blocked off since they were shooting a feature film. We had a good meal at Coolgardie and continued onto Kalgoorlie where we went to see the Super Pit, which was an incredible sight. The guys working at the bottom looked like ants from the lookout, it's unbelievable. Also had a visit to the museum which had interesting exhibits of gold and history from the gold rush period. It was well worth the visit.

As for the weather today it was a good thing no-one flew. A huge mass of cirrus dominated the sky for the majority of the day, and strong westerlies were blowing dust everywhere. The gliders are going to be really grotty tomorrow. The cold weather is continuing, I have heard it is pouring with rain in Perth and here it's going to be 23 degrees tomorrow. So much for summer. Anyway I have finally uploaded some pictures (new link in the menu to the left), a local photographer Ray came out with a big lens on Sunday and took 2 CD's worth of high resolution photos of the gliding operations in the morning, so I've picked out some of the best ones and put them up on the website. Definitely more to come though.

1:30pm: Today is the day. Although the trough is very broad every pilot has planned to go over 500km today. The cirrus has passed through to the south and there is Cu everywhere to the south and east.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
So since the weather is as good as it's going to get for the expedition everyone is going for it, and we were all down to the airstrip as soon as briefing was over filling up with water and heading down to the flight line. Peter and James aimed for a 1000km FAI triangle (SX - Morawa - Narrogin - SX) and launched at 10:20 and 10:30 respectively. Peter headed off quickly and didn't seem to gain much height before radioing in half an hour later reporting he had outlanded 42km northwest of SX. James reported 1 knot thermals to 5,000ft and is still on task to my knowledge.

So Dad aero-retrieved the ASW which delayed launching by 30 minutes, although no-one was too enthusiastic to go in a hurry after Peter's outlanding. During this period Cu began to form and thermals began to become more frequent around the airfield. So the DG with Daryl and Owen next launched, aiming for a 750km FAI triangle (SX - Wubin - Beverley - SX). Dad, Cookie and Greg planned a 500km FAI triangle (SX - Cunderdin - Beacon - SX) and launched, but by this time there were hundreds of Cu to the south, which were irresistible for Dad, who is now planning a 600km FAI triangle to the southwest (SX - Kulin - Dowerin - SX). Greg and Cookie are still on the original task.

3pm: Small update - Peter came back to SX, and Stephan hopped into the ASW to have a float around.

8:30pm: Well everyone is finally home, after a highly successful day. The Cu line gradually moved east and the sea breeze and cirrus came in to try and spoil everyone's day. Firstly, one strange aspect of the day was the fact that wave was around. Lenticular clouds appeared west of SX, and Stephan managed to get up to 12,200ft using this wave lift, about 2,000ft above the thermal limits. I will try to upload some fantastic pictures of tonight's sunset featuring numerous lennies on the horizon. On the terms of cross country flights:

James was in fact planning a 900km task but obviously adjusted for the weather. As for the DG it just needed one more thermal to get home, outlanding 42km (a familiar number!) west of SX. Great distances for the weather conditions, the trough was not that strong and the the amount of cirrus around was incredible, by the time it covered SX the temperature plummeted. Again the advantage of coming home with the sea breeze behind you was apparent, Dad again found himself cutting short because of seeing the front coming in, but still completing just under 600km. Just imagine what could be achieved on a booming trough day.

So tomorrow looks like a fizzer, so maybe everyone can get some much needed rest. Weather looks reasonable afterwards though, much alike previous days. So that's all from me tonight, once again I'll try to get some pictures up soon, everyone has been taking some here and there.

3pm: Another pleasant day here at SX, again the temperature hasn't really gotten too high today (which is good for the crew at least). However saying that, the gliding conditions seem to be still reasonable. Again another AAT was set for today, this time the task is SX - Bruce Rock - Burracoppin - SX with 3 hours minimum task time (Distances - Min: 230.2km, Nominal: 282.3km, Max: 340.1km). This ended up being fortunate as a huge cover of cirrus was dominating the eastern to northern sky, while Cu dotted the sky to the southeast (which once again formed very early in the morning). Dad phoned me to say he's continuing to Pingelly for 500+km, so the conditions must be rather good up there.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
So the trough is beginning to form and tomorrow is looking good. Looks like this will be the only trough this expedition, as on Sunday the trough will be formed but will be off the western coast. It should be interesting to see how strong it will be tomorrow as only 32 degrees is the prediction. That cutoff low has definitely resulted in some strange cooler weather.

7pm: Once again everyone is home and happy. Dad cut short at Yoting since he saw the sea breeze front coming in from the west. Unlike Beverley once you see the sea breeze you can just turn around and fly away from it! He continued onto Kellerberrin, then headed home for a 400km triangle, with reports of 10 knot thermals up to 8,000ft. The remainder zoomed around the AAT at around 90-100km/h, so what looked like an average day on the temp traces turned into a bit of a boomer (with only a max temp of 27!):

So Greg comes away with another victory. Doubtful we will see another AAT tomorrow, hopefully we get some 500km flights. The trough isn't looking as prominent as forecast earlier, however it seems Southern Cross is producing weather above expectation everyday of the week, so even a weak trough may result in big flights. Just a little unfortunate that we couldn't get one strong trough for the expedition, but that's the weather for you. Saturday and Sunday might still deliver some good trough conditions, we'll have to wait and see. Looks like the temperature will finally get over 30 by then, anyway.

12pm: Sunny morning here at SX Airstrip, but yet that cutoff low seems to have kept the warmth away for the beginning of summer. Perth is forecasted to be below 30 degrees all week for a very cool start to December, even getting a sprinkle of rain around the city. It's a little warmer here, and the gliding conditions look reasonable today, with a bit of Cu around. Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow and Tuesday for the trough though. Today an assigned areas task has been proposed with the State Comps coming up next month: SX - Mukinbudin - Merredin - SX with 20km circular sectors for the turnpoints, and a 3 hour minimum time limit. (Distances - Min: 223.8km, Nominal: 287.2km, Max: 352.0km)
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
Still some impressive thermals blowing past (One is going by as I type) so the conditions are quite good. It certainly seems to start early around here compared to Beverley no matter what the conditions are.

So the majority are doing the AAT, while James said he's aspiring to try SX - Kalanie - Cunderdin - SX for a 585km triangle, and Ashley is flying back to Beverley after a brief visit.

7pm: Once again everyone home safely. James quite couldn't make it to Kalanie, cutting short wisely as a blanket of cirrus descended from the north-west. The Twin Astir had a few AEF's today as the Aero Club held a BBQ out at the airstrip today. I assume Ashley made it back to Beverley also, but he's had some battery problems lately so we couldn't get any radio from him. The remainder successfully went around the AAT:

Greg narrowly won the mini-comp for today. Great effort by James who cut short at Kalanie but continued south of Cunderdin to get over 600km flown for the day. So tonight for dinner we have a BBQ at the Palace. On Thursday we are planning to have a film night there also to showcase gliding to some of the town. The town has really been interested by the whole expedition, the Aero Club have even hinted at possibly starting some gliding operations of their own, which is a great result from this visit alone. Gary, who's done lots to make us feel welcome and make the expedition run smoothly had a two hour flight in the Twin yesterday and by the sounds loved every minute of it. So hopefully we will get some reasonable trough conditions over the next two days if the cirrus doesn't spoil the fun. Additionally it looks like next weekend will have strong trough conditions also, so I think some people will be heading back to Beverley with some rather large detours on the way on Sunday.

1:30pm: So yesterday a few people rigged their gliders and some didn't even bother with the strong winds. Only Stephan was game enough to have a fly around after arriving yesterday. However he had one problem: he couldn't see anything on take-off. It's so dusty here at the airfield you can kick up a dust cloud just by walking almost. So you can imagine how much dust the tug kicks up. So Stephan had about 30 minutes in the air yesterday with the weather not doing anything special yesterday.

So this morning we had an organised briefing by 8:45am, and the weather looked a little bit more promising. The strong winds were not forecast in the Area 61 so everyone decided they would at least get their gliders rigged and have a fly around.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
As you can see on the MSL chart there is a cutoff low south of the state - something Dad says he has never seen occur before. It was still quite windy out in the airfield but there was Cu dotted around the sky at about 6,000ft and a few dusty thermals were around.

IZG was first into the sky again today and gained height to 5,000ft quickly, while the other gliders followed. I heard reports on the radio from Dad talking to Ashley Boyle in Beverley saying he was getting 6-10kts to 6,000ft. Looks like Ashley will fly up here from Beverley today in his Std Cirrus GZU. While as I type this it is still sunny and plenty of Cu around, to the west it looks a bit overdeveloped, and I overheard on the radio that conditions seemed a bit weaker also that way. KYK has already had one AEF go up this afternoon also, and a few townspeople have come out to see what's going on around here, so the word is out.

6:30pm: So everyone got back safely today, most people just had a local glide to accustom themselves with the Yilgarn region:

Those who went to Kellerberrin and back were faced with a strong head wind on the way there. Most pilots enjoyed strong thermals up to a cloud base of almost 7,000ft. Ashley also made it here from Beverley for a couple days of flying, after a bit of a struggle until getting near to Southern Cross. As for the weather forecast the weather should continue to improve each day, with a trough developing on Monday and Tuesday should have very good trough conditions. Later forecasts show that next Saturday we could get another trough, but we'll see. The focus is on Tuesday for now.

30th November 2007 Robby Welsh
Welcome to Southern Cross:

Well we are here. Most of us anyway. Yesterday MY, AN and XIF all came up in trailers, while Owen towed up the DG’s trailer. Daryl and Phil had all the fun doing a goal flight from Beverley to Southern Cross:

The DG reached just under 7,000ft and was well aided by a 26km/h component of tail-wind. Phil described the flight as "scenic". The drive was much the same, with the only topographic features of the journey being Mt. Stirling and Mt. Caroline.

So once we dropped off the trailers at the airstrip we went to settle into the caravan park. Although there was a small mix-up with the room arrangements everyone found a bed to sleep in. After dropping everything in our rooms and cabins it was about 7:30, and it was time to go to get a bite to eat. We went into the Palace Hotel and received a warm welcome from some of the Aero Club members and had a very good meal. Just as we were about to leave we were summoned by Stan to see his coin collection. And what an unbelievable collection it was, having all sorts of coins from ancient to modern times and from all origins. Also other rare items were on display such as a full set of Australian service medals, early Australian proclamations and a massive book showing a detailed timeline of mankind. I certainly wasn't expecting to see anything like this in the quiet country town of Southern Cross. Once we finished the tour we went back to the caravan park each with an Australian penny in our hand.

This morning we sorted out the sleeping arrangements with the park owners, so everyone is in their intended rooms now. Our tuggie Roy also flew up here in CSN this morning in 69 minutes also with a nice tail-wind assisting him. A seasonally unique cold front and forecasted strong winds effectively cancelled the day, despite Owen indicating he wanted to do a downwind dash to Ravensthorpe. However some of the thermals which were brewing up from the airfield were quite impressive, showing potential for when the weather is more permitting.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
Although tomorrow has probably not much potential for cross country, flying will start tomorrow at the airfield so the pilots can have a float around and get used to the area.

The townspeople have welcomed us all very kindly. Posters are up in the town claiming world record attempts which is a bit optimistic, but we got a page in the local magazine Crosswords which a bit more accurate saying pilots are attempting state and national records. When we went to stock up on groceries we picked up the Merredin-Wheatbelt Mercury and found we had an article in there also, which reads:

Expedition to gauge suitability for gliding
THE Beverley Soaring Society has sought permission from the Yilgarn Shire to use airfield facilities for gliding operations.
The society is planning to be in Southern Cross from November 29 to December 9 when members will explore the better soaring conditions reported in the area.
The society will attempt to break State and National gliding distance and speed records while in Southern Cross and wish to establish good relations and aviation networking in Southern Cross and its surrounds.
The Southern Cross Aero Club has been supportive in the society's attempts to travel to the Yilgarn.
As many as 15 pilots and crew will make the trip from Beverley for the 10 day expedition with 10 gliders and a tow plane.
Expedition co-ordinator John Welsh said preparations were well underway with all necessary permits and permission in place.
"The best conditions for gliding occur in the west coast trough which during the last few years has moved into the Yilgarn area," he said.
The society hopes to break many records during its visit to the Wheatbelt and is welcoming members of the public to visit the airfield and see the attempts.
A two seater glider will be based at the air field for trial and instructional flights at a cost.

So the coverage of the expedition has been quite good to the area and town. Ian and Stephan have arrived just recently this afternoon with UKT and IZG, but unfortunately Fitzy and Swain pulled out in the last week so we are down to 7 gliders. I assume KYK has been driven up by now too. For dinner tonight we are having a BBQ at the caravan park. We have sorted out the wireless Internet here now, which should make the briefing a bit more organised tomorrow morning and I should be able to update the blog earlier tomorrow as well as later in the evening.

25th November 2007 Robby Welsh
Hopefully a sign of things to come:

After hearing about great trough conditions in Beverley yesterday, I looked at the temp trace for Kalgoorlie today (the Kalgoorlie trace will be more indicative of the conditions at SX than the Perth one), as the trough moved east to lie over SX today.
Today's Weather: MSL Analysis - Soarcast
Quite interesting. Soarcast recommends top of lift almost 27,000ft, with cloud bases at 14-19 thousand. If we get one day like this it will be worth the trip.

Recently I added a link to WeatherZone's last 24 hour observations for SX airfield to the left, which takes data directly from BOM and displays it quite nicely in graphical form. Each day of the expedition I'll try to get the Soarcast trace uploaded in the morning, and also to get the pilots' flights up on OLC in the evening.

Today Dad is doing a final XC flight before SX, and we'll pack up the Hornet tonight. Also tonight CSN will fly from Beverley to Jandakot for its 100-hourly, which has come up in perfect timing for the expedition. Early forecasts indicate that Thursday will have strong gliding conditions, which will aid any pilots flying from Beverley to SX (~250km). However it seems a cold front could spoil Friday and Saturday, with cloudy conditions and max temps in only the high 20's. This is probably a blessing in disguise though as it will give us all some rest after the long trip over. Hopefully the weather should pick up after that though.

16th November 2007 John Welsh
Status check: