Friday 20 November. Last Day of Competition :-)

Good looking trace from the temp flight, but the weather actually feels sort of stable and hot like yesterday. Forecast 42 degrees in Tamworth again today and tomorrow. Keepit is usually hotter than Tamworth. After telling us earlier that pilots did not want us to call a rest day, the people setting the task said that in Europe, they have an enforced rest day after 7 days continuous flying. However if we had done that, we would have missed one of the best days of the competition. Luckily quite a few are electing not to fly if they feel its too much, and that is a very wise choice.

A couple of people from the National Competition Committee wanted to say stuff at the briefing, and this started to degenerate into a pilots "meeting" read argument. I feel quite pleased with myself as I shut them up and got on with the briefing. I'm hot tired and cranky and no patience for them any more.

During the briefing one of the CT4s from Tamworth did a beat up of the strip followed by a barrel roll, which was entertaining. We've been ringing them up every morning to let them know what the task is.

Only short tasks set today as its the last day and everyone is tired. We were not too sure about the weather. Pilots are requesting a later start but we'll get them all marshalled.

NBN TV turned up and were interviewing me just when the launch was supposed to start, so we postponed it by 10 minutes. There were cus popping to the east, so we started launching the gliders at 1240, and none had any problem staying up. No relights. The clouds were looking good but it was hellishly hot on the ground. I gave them about 25min before opening the gate.

After the launch I decided it was just too hot on the ground, and the only way to cool off was to fly my glider. Last day of the comp so they couldn't sack me. I got it ready and launched about 1545. Good lift near the strip, though not very fast then flew out to the Carrols where there was a nice cu. Good 8kt thermal nearly to cloud base. Big stormy mass developing over Kaputar - oops thats where we sent the competition gliders. Looked nice out to the west, so I went that way, all they way out to the edge of the Pillager Scrub. Maximum height 12000ft, spent most of the time between 10 and 11 thousand. The nice cloud I was heading for at the edge of the Pillager dissolved just as I got there, and I turned back for Keepit. Got down to about 6000ft on the way back - it felt very low. But worked back up to 11000 for a nice easy glide back - after all the comp gliders had landed. A couple landed out at Barraba, one somewhere south west of Keepit and another somewhere along the Boggabri road. Garry and Maren went way out toward Narrabri to avoid the storm and got home, but missed the turnpoint at Barraba so only got distance points. The G103 landed at Barraba, beating Garry for the day, but incurring the expense of an aerotow retrieve. Another pilot missed the Barraba turnpoint because he thought it was 30 km not 20 km, (wishful thinking probably) but made it home.

It was lovely to be in the air again, and nice and cool up at 10000 ft.

Thursday 19 November Competition day 10

Yet another flying day!

The weather forecast today did not promise much, but there was talk of storms over to the east. There was high cloud to the west but quite a long way away.

First of all we had a meeting of the protest committee, with resolved in favour of the the protesting pilot. I hope they make the rules clearer for the next comptetition organisers. Then there was the task setting committee, and the safety committee. Despite all the meetings we managed to get things moving on time.

The task committee set two tasks, an A and a B. As the soaring conditions were slow to get going on the grid, we changed to the shorter B task which was Edgeroi 30km Keera 40km, Rangari 20km with a time of 3 hours. Launching proceeded slowly in the terrible heat, no one had much energy, and gliders were not climbing out very well. The Sports class task was further modified to 2.5 hours. It was difficult to communicate these changes to the pilots as they were not in their gliders but in cars trying to keep cool. Jim Staniforth our launch marshal was sick today, Vic stood in for him directing tugs, Laurie Murray did the record keeping and Trevor stood in for Vic. Luckily we had Geoff Sim, Peter Shiels and Ian Barraclough helping.

We eventually launched them all and were able to rest in the shade until they came back. Geoff Sims weather station recorded 42.5 degrees.

A few gliders landed back and decided not to go again, and a few decided not to fly at all.

It was a difficult day, but only three gliders landed out, though one or two flew back early. Two landed out at Brigalow ag strip and were able to be aerotow retrieved. It was difficult for the tug to take off to get them with all the gliders coming in. The second glider came back with the tug at about a quarter of an hour before last light. The third glider had a long trailer retrieve - 3 hours drive away. He is not back yet. Darian Thom (tuggie) had done his paddock rating yesterday and put it into practice today by doing the retrieve from Brigalow.

As I was walking out to the tie down area to check on who was back and who was missing I passed Garry Speight and asked him if he had had a good day, expecting a negative reply. However he smiled and said he and Mary had had a good day! They left at about 5500ft and flew northward, getting gradually higher all the time until they got to cloudbase over Mt Kaputar. Then they turned eastwards to the Keera circle where it was a bit grey, and difficult so they just clipped the circle and headed back. Garry said they saw Paul Mander heading west, and followed him. He was trying to get away from the high ground and make up some distance in the Rangari circle. Garry said that he thought he had done better than he otherwise would have by following.

This evening there was a pilot's meeting in the hangar. I had had enough of pilots, so I had a shower and cooled down instead of attending.

A big cu nimb built up over Tamworth, and another out to the west in the evening - the sky has clouded over so it will be a hot night.

Only one more day to go thank goodness, we are all getting worn out!

Wednesday 18 October, Comp Day 9

The pilots are keen to keep flying, but I and safety officers 1 and 2 (Vic Hatfield and Trevor West) and also Witches Cauldron staff are feeling very tired. We are sitting on the ground in 40 degree heat while the pilots get high and cool.

The forecast today was problematic - a one degree change in expected temperature made a large difference to the predicted outcome. The task committee set a bit shorter time today - 3 hours for each class, with sports class taking off first. The winds were much lighter than yesterday thankfully - the typical Keepit light westerly.

It was hot by the time 12.30 came around, but pilots were not ready in their gliders, so we were a bit late starting the launch. We sent up the first group of gliders, and then waited for a few moments to see if they climbed out OK. They did, and Val Wilkinson, one of the tuggies who is also a famous glider pilot, said there was good lift about. The launch then continued smoothly until. Al Giles did a magnificent job of running ropes. The hooker oner had to be quick to stop the rings disappearing away from the glider!

A few pilots were feeling the strain of flying every day for so many days, and elected to take a day off. Those who didn't fly yesterday felt refreshed enough to have another go today.

I have not heard much about the flying from the pilots as they are all more engrossed in the "protest scandal" to talk much about their flying to me. However I did hear that someone had got to 9000ft, and some one else "only" got to 11,000 feet during the day. It was very blue around Keepit, but high cumulus on the hills. We tasked them to the north - the old favourite Bingara Edgeroi Splitrock again.

All the gliders got back except one. A couple landed back at the field, decided that they did not have the energy to fly again after all. There were no relights. Kerrie Claffey described grovelling at about 2000ft AGL near the Carolls for ages without the height to get back to the field. She did get up eventually and flew the course.

Prime TV came out and interviewed some of the pilots and Vic- I missed watching it again.

Yesterday we had some excursions from the defined contest area, and we applied a penalty of 1 point per metre outside for this as defined by the rules. Naturally this has provoked a protest, so the protest committee will meet tomorrow morning to sort it out. The flying is the easy part! The politics are harder.

Next exciting installment tomorrow.....

Tuesday 17 November, Comp day 8

Eight days flying on the trot was a bit too much for some to take, and a few of competitors wisely decided to have a rest today. For those that flew it was quite a wild ride!

We started off by setting the task for yesterday's weather as usual! We set 3.5 hours for both classes and sent club class off first again as otherwise the grid shuffling meant that some were either right in front or right at the back, but never in the middle. Competition pilots worry about these things! We picked a task to the west and one to the east so we could pick on the grid the one that went in the direction that the storms weren't. At least that was the theory.

In the end we picked west, because there was a strong westerly. I think in the event it was the better choice, although a big storm did build up to the west of us, but it eventually moved eastwards and was clear of the field before the gliders came back.

It must have been very difficult for the club class battling against the wind, but surprisingly only 3 outlandings.

Tim Carr's comments (flying Duo Discus with Ross Edwards)

"Another magic Keepit day. Launched at 1300 into a booming sky. Started at 1410 at 8000ft and followed an energy line west to Coonabarabran. Edged into the circle and then driften north in the 20 kt winds looking for our next clumb. Had a great run north of Kaputar, so turned for home at 12000ft for an 80km final glide through the last two sectors. Magic!

Garry Speights comments (Twin Astir with Mary Gordon)

A very difficult day - unable to get high before the start. Gradually got higher as made way to the south west. Long glide with no lift to touch the circle and come back to the clouds , which were not really on the way to the second turn. Lot of smoke in the atmosphere from a fire burning in the Pillager Scrub. On the way back from the second turnpoint there was good lift at Emerald Hill, but the constant warnings about strong winds at Lake Keepit distracted me from making a proper final glide decision and we arrived back much too high.

Tim Wilson also found very little lift in the vicinity of the first turn point and after that proceeded north along the edge of the Pillager. At one point his computer read winds of 48km/hr - very slow flying into the wind. Got to 11000 feet near Mt Kaputar. Rough!

Brian Heyhow claimed height of 14500 feet in thermal lift - that was cloudbase he said - yes he WAS using oxygen.

We had a bit of a dilemma on the ground when the gliders started arriving back because runway 20 was much more into wind than 14, but no briefing had been given for runway 20 being the preferred one. Also a couple of non competition gliders had landed there and found it very turbulent. In the end we warned the pilots that there was a strong and gusty wind from the left and fortunately they mostly came in with enough height for a circuit on 20. A few did land on 14, but it would have been a nightmare if all had done so with such a strong cross wind. One glider had a very nasty looking ground loop on runway 20, but no damage appears to have been done.

The trouble will start tomorrow morning as there appear to have been several incursions into the Tamworth airspace, which incurs a penalty of zero points the first time, or complete disqualification if it occurs a second time.

Monday 16 November Comp Day 7

The best flying day yet!!

It was really hot today, very difficult for those of us stuck on the ground. The aviation weather promised showers everywhere, but it was wrong - although there are some storms about now - after dark.

The temp trace indicated a good day, but the blipmaps seemed to indicate that the day would end early. The task committee set two tasks, one to the west and the other to the east, in case there was overdevelopment in one direction or the other. The launch was planned for 1200.

We had a meeting of the safety committee to discuss weather we should declare a rest day for the pilots. The consensus was that pilots that were feeling fatigued should be encouraged to take a day off, but that we wouldn't declare a rest day unless we had a day of mass outlandings when everyone would be back late. Those of us on the ground would very much like a rest day, so that we could go flying ourselves!

Only two outlandings today - one of which was at the farthest extreme of the task.

Tales of the heights achieved were rather like a fishermans tale - got higher with every repetition. However the scorer informs me that just over 15000 ft was the height they got to in the shear wave, up above the clouds. I understand cloudbase was about 13 or 14000 feet. Lucky so many of them carry oxygen.

Lars Zender said it was "all right". He did 145 kph (unhandicapped), but it wasn't fast enough he said. He lost time by taking a 6 kt thermal when there were 8 kts about. He said he had a couple that averaged 10 all the way up.

Maren and Garry had a good flight in the Twin Astir, coming 11th for the day in Club Class. The flight is up on the OLC. Their OLC distance was 419 km. David Jansen's flight is also on the OLC - he won the day again with a HANDICAPPED speed of 133 kph. His actual speed off the stick is rumoured to have been 155 kph.

Sunday 15th November, Comp Day 6

Task setting was difficult today. A brisk southerly was forecast to come in in the afternoon, so Bruce wanted to keep the field to the east, where it was thought the southerly would not have such a great influence, but we didn't have quite enough turn points in the right area. Eventually we set Gunnedah 20km, Bingara 30km Edgeroi 40 km and Splitrock 20 km with a 3.5 hour task time for Sports class, who launched first, with the same task for Club Class with a time of 3 hours. In the event we shortened the club class task to the B task which was Upper Horton 15km, Edgeroi 40km and Splitrock 20 km.

I set a goal to complete the briefing in 20 minutes - it blew out to 25, but much briefer than other days. Unfortunately this means we do not get to hear the winner's story, but them's the breaks.

We scheduled a 12.30 start, but Hank Kaufman approached me to make it earlier, so I asked him to be a sniffer. He agreed to this, and launched first at about 1210. He climbed out easily, but the pilots were not really ready - we have been starting on the dot most days, so I suppose they thought that would be the case again. We managed to start launching the field at 1220, and then went straight through. Took 1 hour 20 minutes today I think it was, but one tug had an ASI problem and dropped out for a while. The glider with the problem release had no problem today - they took it out, cleaned and tested it and put it back with no alteration. Maybe it just needed cleaning.

After the launch, it was pretty quiet on the airfield, Vic did some mowing on the big tractor, and I enlisted the help of Ron Cameron to put the small slasher on the small tractor - but by the time we had done it, the gliders were coming back. Juho did some mowing with the ride on mower.

All the gliders came home except one - but that one got an aerotow retrieve, so no crews out on the road. One glider came in much later than the rest, but made it!!

Some pilots reported getting into wave at the start.

Ian Aspelind from Kingaroy flew with Charles Yeates from Nova Scotia in the Kingaroy Club's Duo Discus - not in the comp. "Our best thermal was straight of the tow, 12 kts peak, average 8.5kts. We went to Narrabri - conditions were good but blue. However on the way back we hit heavy sink and were down to 1200 ft more or less abeam Boggabri, without enough height to get to the mine, (usually a good thermal source) we thought we were done for. Then we hit a boomer which we took to 8000ft and made it home from there." I bet Kris, Charles wife was relieved!!

Todd Clark - Club Class, LS4: "Going really well until the ground got too close!" Todd admitted that perhaps he had pushed to hard. He said he took a 5.5kt climb which was too slow - he hadn't been working anything less than six. So he left it with his glide computer showing 2000ft below final glide - and unfortunately the computer proved to be correct.

Jay Anderson - Sports Class, LS6: "Started high 7000ft (other pilots listening at this point said they thought 7000ft was low) and had a good first and second leg working 6 and 7kt thermals. Went deep into the second circle, Bingara, a short leg to the third circle, and ran south along a thermal street showing 12kts on averager. Got slow at Barraba and had to limp home!"

Allan Barnes - Club Class, LS1."This was my worst day. Last to launch and rushed to start - started only a couple of minutes after the gate opened and had to fly alone. The gaggles did much better. Went too far to the east where the land was green chasing cumulus, but they disappeared as I got there. Nothing seemed to be working, got down to 3000ft with no obvious thermal sources in sight. Average speed at this point was only 78 kph. However got up again and managed 120 kph on the last leg, which brought the speed up to 98 kph (handicap speed) but not fast enough!

I pointed out the Allan that at least he had been flying - some of us were stuck on the ground :-(

Saturday 14 November comp Day 5

Pilots are requesting that the briefings be briefer, so I think I will have to apply a strict guillotine tomorrow! This morning the pilots were a bit restless, and were not paying serious attention to the safety briefing, and had obviously completely switched off by the time the operational briefing came around, judging by the number who did a right circuit instead of a left circuit at finishing. We introduced a control point with a 2km radius today, so that everyone would finish from the same direction. It gets very hectic with all the gliders coming in very close together in time, but luckily our strip is so large we can cope with it OK.

Anita Taylor helped with the formatting and printing of the task sheets this morning - much appreciated - and they should be even better tomorrow. I am saving all this stuff in case we ever have to do this again.

The pilots are all getting used to the drill, all got ready for a 12.00 launch, and the launch started bang on time again. We had much more help with running ropes and hooking on today, and the soaring conditions were better, so we were able to launch the gliders quite a bit faster. So fast in fact, that I missed the end of the club class and forgot to tell radio operator Jo when to open the start gate! We also had a bit of a to do with a glider with a faulty release again at about the same time which distracted me.

The task was Bingara 40km, Bellata 30km, Emerald Hill, 30 km and Start point B2 as the control point. 3.5 hours for Club Class, and 3 hours for Sports class.

Not a lot happened on the ground, so some quotes from pilots...

Bill Hatfield "lovely day, got to cloudbase, good lift over Kaputar 12 kts for a short time"

Nick Singer's experience "Good first leg with reliable lift under cus. Continued north of both turnpoints - set TP at Gurley on the northern edge of TP2. Turned around at cloudbase to find all the clouds in the valley gone! Major detour to Kaputar (unnessesary) and slowed up (mistake) went to mine E of Edgeroi and came home on final glide at 120 kts over the lake for a straight in landing. Brad Edwards came under me just as I lowered the undercarriage!!! 10 gliders landed in 90 seconds but no conflicts - good airmanship."

Bill Wilkinson "Cloudbase at around 8000ft - dome under the cloud. Almost went into cloud gliding away from the thermal as the lift was so strong. Rough flying fast in unballasted glider"

Tuggies:

• Val "All gliders released in a timely fashion - except one hung on a bit too long. Good lift on tows speeded up the launch."
• Juho: "Only had to throttle back twice to get gliders to leave."
• Garry: "One glider pilot very politely said he was going to release but that there were two gliders on my left to watch out for - how thoughtful"

Friday 13th Novwmber, Comp day 4

After the change that came through last night, it was overcast in the morning, making a temp trace impractical. So we relied on Harry's experience and the aviation forecast (always pessimistic) and the blipmaps to set the task.

Thunderstorms were expected in the afternoon - a double edged sword. Good lift where the storm is, but no live at all where the sun is blocked out, or in the blue areas.

Because of the thunderstorm prediction we set a short task yet again. 2.5 hours for Sports Class and 2.00 hours for Club class.

We launched at 12.30 again and there we cus about. Went right through the field with no hold ups except one glider kept releasing on tow. This held us up a bit but we got the field launched in 1.5 hours.

Quiet a few sports class gliders out-landed. Two got a long aerotow home, one made himself at home at the Tambar Springs Hotel. A few club class gliders outlanded two, but the majority of the fleet made it home again.

The pilots told me that the conditions were very difficult near Wimboyne and Tambar Springs - blue and very still. However if they got past that the conditions were stormy. Nevertheless the bvast majority made it home.

All the traces were put in promptly by the competitors other than those who had landed out so the scorer managed to get away by 7.00pm

12 November Competition day 3

Everyone managed to get back from their outlandings yesterday, and only one pilot elected not to fly today. However the scorer did not get all the traces until later in the day, so the scores he posted last night were very approximate. However he's got them all now. Peter Trotter won Club Class and David Jansen Sports class.

I had a call from a landowner in the morning today saying that he has a perfectly serviceable airstrip with two runways 800m long, and why did all the gliders landed in a rotten paddock when they could have used his strip? Why indeed? Anyway he's mowing it today so it should be easier to see. He'll be disappointed if a glider doesn't drop in one day during the comp!

Today the weather was a bit problematic, in that we were not sure if it would be a really good day or a really bad day. The temp trace indicated that that once the trigger temperature was reached, gliders would be able to get very good height, but that this would not last for very long, and when it cooled down the convection height would drop again quickly.

After much deliberation the task committee set a 2.5 hr AAT task, the same for both classes with Bellata Silo 40km and Barraba Aerodrome 30km as the two areas. Club class gridded first and Sports class second.

Prime news came out and interviewed me and Bruce Taylor - possible some others too, and filmed the gliders, and the start of the launch. If it was on it would have been on tonights local news, but I missed it. Probably just as well!

We started launching at 12.30 and sent off the first three gliders on the grid. Then waited to make sure they would climb out OK. They seemed to be doing OK so we launched the rest of the gridding row, and the next. There were a lot of gliders all at the same height - not very high, so we held for about 5 or 10 minutes until they reported that the climbs were going about 45ooft. We restarted the launch, and got through the rest of the fields as fast as we could. We had an extra tug today, but were so short of people to run ropes and hook on gliders that it still took us longer than yesterday to launch the field. We really need some young fit people for this job!

As I am writing this, a change has just come through, a few spots of rain and strong winds. So the weather will be quite different tomorrow I imagine.

The gliders all came back except two today. One of these has landed out every competition day so far, but luckily for his mates, he was only at the Sky Ranch today. Gliders reported achieving heights of 10,000 feet. I notice that most did not start on task until well after 2pm, and the fastest sports class glider only flew 30km further than the fastest club class glider!

Most traces were submitted to the scorer in a timely fashion, but we had to chase a few. One of the problems is that pilots do not use the same logger every day - makes it easier for Chris if they do. Only the outlanders + one other is missing, so the scores are more or less complete.

Bruce Taylor won Sports and Paul Mander won Club class.

11 November, Competition Day 2

A difficult day for the pilots, but much easier for me - at least at the launching side of things.

We gridded at 1105 after observing a minutes silence for remembrance day, and the gliders started taking off at 12.30 on the dot. Greg Smith (I think I put Wilson yesterday) took off earlier as a sniffer, but soon climbed out, so we launched the whole field as quickly as we could.

Still short of rope runners, but Lauren Goddard helped out today, and Scorer Chris Carr, and me too!! Lots of running. We managed to launch both classes in 1hr 20 minutes - not too bad for five tugs. We will have six tomorrow with the arrival of a Maule, EMA, this afternoon so it will be interesting to see if it speeds up the launch.

Some gliders have been hanging on after getting to 2000ft on tow, which annoys the tuggies because it stuffs up their pattern. We suggested they start descending with the glider on tow if it happens any more!

The task was Mullaley 10km, Togo 40km Splitrock Dam 20 km 227.3/339.4/457.5 km and 3 hours for Sports Class, and Merrylands 20km Narrabri A/D 30km Splitrock Dam 20km 155.2km/257.5 km/367.5km and 2.5 hours for Club Class.

Gliders reported getting good height, but the thermals were a long way apart and the day shut down early. There were loads of outlandings amongst the Club Class gliders, and quite a number in sports class which really tested the outlanding retrieve system. However all are accounted for and once again I had no difficulty in getting people to go out - most of them pilots who had completed the task. Its 9.30 pm now, and many still have not returned, but some are staying in Manilla and as the retrieve had to go past there they will not return to Keepit until tomorrow morning. It all pays havoc with the catering, but Wendy Medlicott takes it all in her stride - just part of the game she says.

Jo Pocklington worked wonders on the radio once again and sorted out who was missing and who accounted for - I had my hands full on the phone taking the pilots calls. Some of the pilots called inbound at 20 km and then landed out, which made it hard.

The Twin Astir and the Grob 103 Twin ll both landed at an airstrip so were able to be aerotow retrieved - phew thank goodness for that. The duo discus had to start its motor again, and then flew into a thermal just after. But they wouldn't have got the thermal without, so no way they could have avoided the technical outlanding.

I could tell you who was first in each class, but I'll save it to the briefing tomorrow. Will be a bit late getting the scores out as no traces from the outlanders yet, and some pilots have either not put in a trace, or put one in from a different logger, without notifying the scorer so he doesn't know whose it is.

Many of the top guys in club class landed out so there will be quite a shuffle in the scores. The good news is I found my camera, so may be able to post some photos tomorrow.

Tuesday 10 November - 1st Comp Day

Today was a difficult day for me. I wrestled with computers and printers to start with and was unable to get the weather briefing onto the task sheet as I had intended.

The weather itself was very difficult - high pressure, very little cloud - only over Mt Kaputar - and a late start. The same task was set for both classes except that sports class had two hours, and club class had 2.5 hours. Club class launched first. The task was Boggabri 30km, Edgeroi (40km) Splitrock Dam 20 km. Minimum distance 149km max 394km.

We launched a sniffer, Greg Smith in the club's LS6, at about 1215, but he was unable to stay up. Then at 1300 we launched Ray Tilley and Greg again, both together, and this time they managed to soar - just. We held on to 1325 and launched the first group on the grid. Then a slight pause as they were not doing terribly well, and then we continued to launch the whole field. There were a couple of relights in club class, but all the sports class got away OK.

There were about 6 out-landings, and no - Christian was not one of them this time. Also 3 couple of gliders did not start.

A very difficult day for the competitors and for me, but those who got around had good flights, some of them getting in excess of 9000 ft over Mt Kaputar. It amazes me how people manage to race in these conditions - I would have been in survival mode the whole time!!

I had no trouble getting people to retrieve those who outlanded - even though not everyone has a crew. All the pilots are really good about helping one another out.

The finishes were spectacular, with most pilots opting for a straight in landing on runway 14, and at one stage we could see four coming in together over the water. Lucky we have such a big runway!

Jo Pocklington did another superb job on the radio, keeping track of the finishers.

Some pilots have still not identified their loggers to the scorer, but other than that and the few outlandings Chris has managed to do the bulk of the scoring.

Monday 9 November

Last Friday and Saturday were very rainy - brought about by the airfield irrigation no doubt. The roof in the flight centre is leaking again! Must clean out the gutters.

Lots of pilots about on Sunday - visitors for the comps. Some needing AFRs would you believe! We had about 30 launches and used both IGR and MRP to tow. The other tugs from Queensland arrived in the afternoon just before the rain started.

Today was the first day of the comp - a practice day as much for the organisers as the pilots. The whole field flew except for one glider. We had quite a long and detailed briefing to start with - too much for all the pilots to take in judging by the questions we got asked later. Numerous pilots don't seem to have noticed that I am the comp director, because they keep asking me if I had a good flight! Comp directors in National Contests are not allowed to fly :-(

We attempted a 12.30 start, and managed to start at 12.40, so only 10 minutes late. The weather was kind - plenty of cu so the launching went smoothly and didn't have to be held up at any time.

The gliders flew Mullaley or Tambar Springs (club, sports) Narrabri and back to Keepit on a 2.5 hr AAT. Everyone made it back despite the conditions falling apart somewhat towards the end.

Chris seems to have the scoring under control - its a big job today, but once he knows the ID of everyone's logger and has entered it into the scoring program, the process should be much more automated.

It seems to have gone quite smoothly so far, although I think we can make some improvements. Jim Staniforth is very short of helpers to run ropes - we all chipped in today - including me. Quite exciting to see so many gliders all lined up, and a challenge to get them all launched as fast as safely possible.

More news as it happens!

Thursday 5 November

Flew home to Cowra on Saturday - booming thermals and Cu everywhere - all the way home. Maybe it wasn't as good at Keepit as there were a couple of outlandings - I know because I took the calls!

Vic has only just converted to flying a self-laudnng Pik, and had a problem with the motor not starting, had to land with it half extended - not pleasant. Just shows you have to have a paddock picked when using a motor. Luckily he did have one and landed in it! Graham Davis landed at Gunnedah airport. Not sure what the rest did or what they did on Sunday.

Monday was quiet when I arrived back, except that Harry had been working like a Trojan on the runway, along with Juho and Robin. My flight from Cowra was warm at 7500 ft, and completely stable, no thermals above about 1800ft. Graham packed up to go home, as apparently Sunday had also been a struggle. Harry Medlicott launched and so did Steve Hedley in OZ the nimbus. They went out west - Harry got to Coonabarabran - he says you have to fly on the difficult days or you never learn!

On Tuesday Ken Flower flew the tug to Armidale for its 100 hourly and came back with IGR, Brad Edwards Pawnee. However Juho was still waiting for a certificat of validation from CASA so couldn't fly it. CASA had a public holiday for the Melbourne cup would you believe! His application has been in since 7th October, its only six months since he was here towing, and it takes them over a month to process this???? Sometimes I think it stands for Cease All Sport Aviation. Anyway no gliding on Tuesday except OZ, but lots of runway work etc.

On Wednesday Miro Mikus turned up and flew the LS7. His Nimbus 2 is having a 30 year survey at Temora. He also spent a lot of time putting up tarps to protect tugs during the comps. Most appreciated. Paul Mander began his coaching sessions on Wednesday, but I missed most of the briefing as I had to fly to Walcha to get Charlie Szitalak to tow in IGR. Still no COV for Juho. Booming thermals on the New England tableland, much quieter at Keepit.

I did a check flight with Chris Bowman in the Puchatek, and then sent him solo then flew back to Walcha with Charlie. 2.8 hours in the Jabiru all together. Was able to sit in on Paul's debriefing session which was very interesting. It was quite a good day in parts, but quite stormy looking by about 4.30. It is rumoured that OZ (nimbus 3 DM) had to start its engine - technical outlanding - but it did start!!

Thursday I flew to Armidale early with Geoff Neely to get the Callair back. When we got back, finally Juho's COV had arrived!! However a trough was above us, and the weather looked a bit indifferent. Ken Flower was sniffer in MXP (Pik 20E) Paul Mander in AK, Phil Volk in Discus CS, Allan Buttenshaw in Cirrus, Vic Hatfield in Cirrus, and Chris Bowman and I in the Grob 103. Task was 2 hr AAT Manilla Narrabri Gunnedah Keepit, with a large circle around Narrabri. 3 gliders bombed out, and two of them gave up at that point. Four of us continued, and attempted the task, and two landed out. It was a day you wouldn't probably try to do anything, but amazingly Chris and I got to 7200ft in the Grob a couple of times and there was some sparse lift about. I thought about flying towards a big shower of rain with a black cloud to the North, but chickened out, so don't know if it would have worked or not. Rangari airfield looked quite inviting at one stage - after a very long glide under the gray sky with not a squeak, we decided to give up and head back. Outlanding the Grob is not generally my idea of fun.

After getting back to the field, Chris went for another circuit in the Grob - he's trying to master it so he can get into the Junior next. Then I did an air experience flight before we packed up. Arran, the "passenger" had done AEFs before, so I gave him a proper lesson. He flew part of the aerotow, and all the circuit until after the turn onto final, so I think he did very well. He may well be hooked!

Meanwhile Trevor West and Bruce Taylor were setting up scales for weighing competitors - flying at the right weight is a touchy subject in Club Class competitions, so we will be making sure nobody cheats! Trevor has done a great job of mowing the tiedown area and installling taps for washing gliders - how many sites are there where you get your own personal tap?

Robin has been rushing around organising the bar for the comps, and Steve Hedley has been installing a new cooker in the club house.

David Jansen flew in from a long way away - but confessed he had the help of a "little motor" at times.

The club is filling up with people in preparation for the Nationals - camper vans and tents springing up everywhere.