Friday 3 January

No flying yesterday and it was cold and rainy! Got the glider weighed - looks as if I can only carry 30 lt of water ballast.

Today was cold and grey in the morning with a strong wind. People were busying themselves around their gliders, convinced there would be a task, but it looked unlikely to me.

Gridding Time

After a comprehensive weather briefing, we were given the tasks - A and B tasks, both AATs. The sports class was launched after the club class. Being the only self launcher here, I was put away from all the other gliders on the grid, and perilously close to the tow ropes where the tugs were landing. Not only that, I got to launch last :(

Launching Time

Although the clouds look good here, they had
all disappeared by the time I got to launch!

We are using a start line which is 10km long, but of course, everyone crosses it at the same point, being where the best thermal is! Our task was a 2 hour AAT Armstrong 10km, Copeville 20km, Pata 30km and back to Waikerie. There was a strong South Westerly wind which made things a bit difficult. When we launched it was blue, but there were clouds to the west, and they gradually came over the task area, but the lift under them wasn't very good.  The max height above ground that I got was about 4500ft, but got down to 2000 AGL a few times. Waikerie is suprisingly low lying, only 150ft AMSL.

I had a bit of a mix up with the AAT time at the last turnpoint, thinking I was going to come in early, dithered about a bit and ended up coming in 20 min late. Something to improve upon!

The locals here are all used to flying in the blue - they call clouds "umbrellas"!

Looks as if tomorrow will be a similar sort of day. The wind is raging outside, and it's cold! Reminds me of the safari.

Waikerie Sports Class Nationals

Thought I'd let people know my impressions of Waikerie - it's my first visit here, and its a place I have always wanted to fly from. Oh, and there's a competition on too!

Left Keepit on 30th December with ASH26E in tow in the trailer :( It would have been nice to fly it down, but too impractical. 1200 km later arrived at Waikerie at about 4.30 pm the next day in searing heat. Some gliders were flying, but by all accounts it was rather stable despite the heat. Much too hot to rig the glider.

Very good facilities here, including a glider workshop, large briefing/dining area, and good members kitchen. Heaps of tie down space and lots of runway space - but rather a lack of water compared to Keepit.

The weather today has been hot, but overcast, and no task was called for the practice day. Gave me a chance to get the glider rigged, washed and taped. Bernie Sizer, whom I met at West Wyalong, and his mate Phil put the wings on for me for which I am very grateful, as they are very heavy. Still have to do scrutineering weighing tomorrow.

Tomorrow's weather is not expected to be good either, with strong winds expected. Looks from the OLC as if the weather was better at Keepit. Plenty of people here have remarked about the good flights we have been putting on the OLC lately, and I'm sure it will encourage more people to visit.

Cath Conway is here, flying Harry Medlicot's former glider KRJ, and David Pietch, flying Todd Clark's former glider. Another of Todd's former gliders is here too - IID, the LS4. Robert Smits is here flying Astir - comes to Keepit every year to fly the Duo in the regatta.

There has already been a glider collision - fortunately it happened on the ground, not in the air. Both gliders were damaged quite severely, but the innocent one, which was tied down at the time, is able to be repaired in time.

There appear to be 46 gliders registered - which is manageable I think.  However there are a lot of seriously good pilots flying, so I hope I can learn something from them.