The weather was very unstable, and by the time we started launching there were already rain showers about, but the lift was very good and cloud base high. Heights of 13000ft were obtained by some. Although this sounds very high, the land at Guyra is about 5000ft, so 10000ft sounds a bit low. Harry Medlicott flew over from Lake Keepit in his Ventus and Ken Flower came over in his Grob 109.
Finding Kentucky again was a bit of a challenge for me - the tuggie towed me upwind and when I release I couldn't see where I had come from. Fortunately I found a thermal and climbed up, so didn't have to find it straight away!
The trip to Guyra was OK but lots of rain showers and storms on the way back. The trip to Walcha was abandoned and the gliders headed out more to the west. Ken decided not to land at Kentucky and headed back to Lake Keepit, but all the other gliders got safely back to Kentucky having enjoyed some very interesting flying.
On Saturday the task set was Guyra, Wollomombi Falls, Walcha Kentucky for lower performance gliders, with higher performance gliders going to Glencoe instead of Guyra. Cus started popping quite early, but some of the gliders initially had a slow climb out. I was lucky and had a really good climb off the tow straight to 12000ft, and was joined in the thermal by Brad Edwards, who came over to share the fun. Ken Flower and Peter Shiels came over in the G109 and Nick Singer and Dave Turner flew from Lake Keepit in their respective Pik 20 E and Hornet. They joined us somewhere near Armidale and joined in with some of the task, but departed back to Lake Keepit earlyish as they had a headwind to face.
Good clouds to start with, climbs to 12,000 ft. I overshot Glencoe, not having the proper turnpoints in my GPS and being out of practise with the MAP. When I realised where I was I was 22km from Glen Innes airport, so I thought I go there. As is my usual luck, when I got there, the clouds all spread out and hid the sun, and it all got rather iffy. Meanwhile those who were doing the proper task reported similar conditions and were beetling back to Kentucky. I got very low north east of Guyra (8000 ft - but only 3000 above the ground) and spotted an ag strip which made me feel better. Then I decided the clouds weren't working - or I didn't know where to look under them so flew out to where there were some landable looking paddocks. Luckily I got a good climb there, slowly back up to 12000 ft, which enabled me to get back some where within glide of Brad's strip. A really good climb to 13000ft there gave me final glide back to Kentucky. Phew, made it! All the others got back too, and most of them were able to see the Wallomombie falls in their travels. It really is spectacular flying.
That evening Anita and Bruce Taylor put on a Barbecue meal for us and we had a very social evening, with musical entertainment from Brad Edwards - a man of many talents.
Next day Allbutts , Ray Tilley and I derigged, but Ken and Peter, Garry and Todd all flew back to Lake Keepit, arriving before the dust storm hit.
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