I had a very good run in the beginning, we had to cross the Kiewa valley and fly over to behind Bright, then back to Kiewa and to Mt. Beauty goal. I got to 2800 meters before crossing the valley, way above the rest of the pack, and could glide further into the hills on the other side, while the gaggle got flushed down on the leeside. I knew I had a good chance of winning the day if I got high again at the TP in Bright. It was blue, but some clouds far in over the hills that I could not reach.
I expected to get a thermal at the highest peak before crossing over to Bright, but it was just zeros there. I considered waiting for the guys behind to catch up so we had a better chance of finding lift after the crossing in the blue, but I thought no guts no glory, and went alone. I knew it was risky, it would have been much safer if I could get a few hundred more meters before crossing.
No glory awaited on he other side behind Bright, I could not get up on any of the ridges and slowly fell through. I landed at the Porrepunkah airport, and I could see the main gaggle stopping and tanking height before crossing 15 minutes later. Landing out did not bother me much, it was a good flight.
So all in all a blown out comp, there was some discussion about moving it later in the year when the conditions are better, I hope they do that.
Next up now it the comp in Manilla in February. We are leaving Mt. Beauty and heading for the coast in the meantime.
We drove from Forbes to Sydney, and dropped off Olav since he was going home. Lars and I went looking for used cars to buy, and Lars soon scored a Mitsubishi station wagon for $1500 at the used car street in Paramatta. I was looking for a Subaru Forester or Outback, but could not find one that had the right price and condition. I the end I found a 94 Toyota Landcruiser that looked OK and I got it for $9400. I hope it will hold up the next months, it feels solid, but probably have more km on it than the 228’ it says on the odometer.
This took most of the next two days, and we set off to Mt. Beauty on Friday night, sleeping somewhere outside Gouldburn, and arriving in Mt. Beauty on Saturday, just as they cancelled the first day due to bad weather.
The next few days were also cancelled due to weather. Yesterday we went up on Mt. Emu, despite windy conditions. We got a 109 km task, up and down the valley, and back to Mt. Beauty airstrip, with first startgate at 14:20.
It did not look like a good day, and it seemed like nobody wanted to start. Lars Olav had started before the start window as a freeflyer, got above launch and went up the ridge. Just before the first start gate we started running off the hill, and I was in position to take the last start gate.
The air was rough and I stayed away from the ridge, taking thermals further out and trying to stay high and away from the worst turbulence. I took it very slow and did not feel very motivated to fly the task, but got up in a nice and relatively smooth thermal after the first TP and decided to at least complete the task and get to goal. The final glide was OK from 22 km out with a tailwind and I came in to take 8. place.
It was a day that should have been cancelled due to the conditions, I played it safe and flew slow, while many pilots chose to land for safety, smart guys!
Today looks windy again, also the next few days look windy on the forecast. I begin to remember why I swore to never go back here after last year. At least it’s heating up a little so we can wear shorts again J
We got a 167 km dogleg task to the east and then north to Wellington. The forecast was for similar conditions as day 8, with base at 3000 and good thermal, not much wind. I took the last tow again as it was just too hot to wait in line, Bobby came over and towed me up with his camera helmet on, and joined us in the thermal. He looks like a mad scientist from a movie with the hair blowing in the wind and intent look on his face while flying.
Forbes seen from over the airport in the startgate;
Forbes
The first thermal was weak, so I left at 1200 meters gliding towards the main gaggle at the edge of the start circle, Zac came with me, and we soon found 3 m/s thermal just as the last start gate clock ticked over. We stayed for a few more turns, and got a very good start a few minutes after the main gaggle. I wanted to go over the hills, as the next glide was through the blue, and I got a good line heading for a hill with a nice cloud over it just before the turnpoint. Conrad came in under me, and we found a excellent 6 m/s thermal, smooth and strong. We got to cloudbase and joined the lead gaggle going on glide the 3 km to the TP, and then headed north towards goal.
After the next thermal we were getting out of the hilly terrain, as the courseline took us over flatlands towards goal, there was not a single cloud over the flats, and the inversion was thick as soup at 1800 meters. There were some hills to the left, about 15 km off track. Conrad, Jürg, Carl and me were thinking the same, and the four of us went 90 degrees off course staying under clouds and staying over the hills. We could see the leading gaggle gliding into the blue and not getting up, pilot after pilot landing. If we could get up to cloudbase at the end of the hills it would be a nice crosswind final to goal.
We spread out and went seaching for the thermals, but despite nice clouds, hills, and good signs of lif we just could not find it. Carl and I went over every small hill, treeline, and any trigger we could see, but finally had to realize we had lost and glided towards the only farm we could see. We had not seen a tarmac road in ages, and we were in the middle of nowhere, low and with no lift to get up. We both landed close to the farm house, and Jürg came after us landing next to me. Conrad had gone more to the left into the hills, but only got one km further.
On any other day our plan would have worked out, I think we must have just missed the lift due to the wind shifting to north, and not south as predicted. The guys who went out on the flats struggled and could not find much either. Zac made it to 2-3 km before goal.
After a long walk out we got a lift with Jamie who came looking for Carl, she drove us 25 km out to the main road, that would have been a long walk…
At briefing day 10 we were forecasted another strong day, but with a front system closing in on us in the afternoon. The last few days the pilots have been looking like zombies coming to briefing, everyone is really tired from long hard days. Davis suggested that we did not fly for safety reasons, it would be a rough day towing and landing, with so many tired pilots it would be a safety concern. The vote was split even, and the safety committee decided to cancel the day.
In retrospect that was a good choice, it’s just too warm to stay out there, and conditions were indeed rough. We soon hit 40 degrees;
40 degrees in the shade...
I went out to the airport and borrowed one of the tugs from Bill Moyes to take a flight and just feel the air out if Olav and Lars wanted to freefly. It was windy and very strong conditions, probably good for a downwind task if the pilots were more rested. After I landed with the tug I parked it in the hangar, that was fortunate since a dustdevil came through the tugs that were parked outside, ripped the tiedown ropes straight off one, and totalled the tug. All in all it was a OK day to rest and stay in the pool.
Ripped ropes
Ripped tie-down ropesBroken tailboomMore damage
Evgeniya the Russian girl was very lucky, she was packing up her glider when the dustdevil came trough, for some reason it did not get hold of her glider and it was not trashed like the tug just 10 meters away.
Tonight we have the presentation dinner, and tomorrow we drive to Sydney to have some time at the beach relaxing and letting the body get some rest from flying hanggliders. Olav will fly back home the day after tomorrow, and we will go on to the Bogong Cup.
I will get 15. place overall, not too bad, there are lots of good pilots here, and I’ve not been flying much at all since I was here last year so I think I did better than I had hoped. I made one really bad day on task 7, that kicked me out of the top 10, but I felt I was getting back into competition shape in the end. I think I’ve flown around 40 hours already, and we have had 10 days ranging from good to excellent, so it’s been a success flying wise.
Outside the flying the Forbes competition seem to have lost much of the social aspects, we did not have any BBQ or arrangements where the pilots get together. Also the organization at the airfield have not worked anywhere near as good as the first few comps here, I think the organization needs an overhaul and to get more people in to help out.
Seems like everyone else had a good and easy run to the TP, while I was struggling in shitty air. I teamed up with Jeff Shapiro and Zac at the start gate, and we waited until the third start time before we were in a good position. The first few thermals were extremely broken and crappy, felt like a day to tumble.
Jeff and I were a little low about halfway to the TP, where I was attacked by an eagle, it hit my right wing without warning scaring the shit out of me as I though I had hit Jeff. Mean bastards those wedge-tailed eagles, fearless too, attacking somehting 10 times their size.
From the TP and back it was much better lift, but a 20 km/h headwind slowed us down, we caught up with a few gaggles of pilots and had an OK run. Jeff and Zac got above me in the second to last thermal and were ahead for the 28 km final glide. The numbers for the glide was changing a lot, but I made it in with 150 meters to spare, to 9. place.
The staging system in our towing line B is not working at all, it’s chaos and pilots just line up wherever they want so those in front cannot get in the line as we are supposed to. Lukas and me just waited until the end before getting in line today. Standing there in 35 degrees with harness and helmet on for one hour is not fun.
It worked out good with the town, I got up and waited in cloudbase for about 15 minutes for the second start time. I had Atilla and Gerolf to my left, and we went on a very long glide towards the first TP. We found good air and just slowed down in the liftbands for the first 35 km. There Atilla stopped for a strong but broken thermal, while Gerolf went ahead and got a 6 m/s thermal maybe 4-5 km ahead of us. We dived for it, and got to cloudbase in good lift. I lost sight of Atilla and went right a bit to stay under good clouds to the TP, but it was not a good line, the whole area felt like a sink hole.
After taking the TP I aimed for a thermal Gerolf was marking just ahead, but it was crappy and we both left it, I was maybe 100 meters under Gerolf. From there I had a horrible line, and could not find any lift in the whole area. I was at 1800 meters when we left the last thermal, and could not get up in anything, searching under good clouds and sunny ridges that normally should work gave nada. I soon found myself landing 55 km short of goal, in a paddock full of sheep, I could just not believe I had to land in such good conditions. What a contrast to the day before.
Olave made goal today with a respectable time, as did almost everyone else. (Notable exeptions were Zac the leader of the comp, and Davis who was “not tired at all” at briefing :-))
At least I have three more days to get back in the top 10, I think it will be hard but that is the goal now.
140km zig-zag task, crosswind. Base at 3000 meters, 20 km winds. Much the same as yesterday.
Gerolf suggested a rest day, which would have been really good, but the vote failed 26 to 16 where the majority of pilots wanted to fly every day. Easy when you are warm and adjusted, hard for us coming from the north and have not had a real thermal flight in 5 months. My right shoulder is starting to act up again, hope it holds up a few more days.
129 km task today, almost a triangle back to the worlds paddock.
I took the first start with a gaggle of pilots, saw some go back to wait for the next, but I did not want to wait, the early finishers get more points in the OzGAP system. The first themal took is to cloudbase at around 2000 meters, and from there I glided first towards the first TP. Atilla and Blay came in under me at the next thermal, and from there the three of us flew the rest of the task together. We were well in front of everyone else, and I knew we were leading and if we could keep the speed up it would be a good day.
It was a full race day, with 3 m/s thermals and lots of clouds, nothing like the crappy blue we had yesterday. On the final glide I did not see the goal line, and saw a goal line on a field 7-8 km further up the road, so I took a very conservative glide, while wondering what Atilla and Blay were thinking. I finally spotted the real goal when I was only a few km away, and came in way to high, but as number 3. Johnny came in after me, but with the second start he will have a better time.
Lots of people in goal today, but Olav landed at the start feeling too sick to fly.
Davis showed us a forecast for lift up to 3000 meters today, so I dressed up for the 3 degrees there. That was a big mistake… We did get to 2000 meters twice, but it just got lower and lower as we flew south towards the first TP in completely blue conditions. I was sweating and cursing, but nothing to do about the heat. I did a OK start, and caught up with the leading gaggle just before the first TP. Since conditions were quite crap we flew conservatively and I stopped to tank up as much height as possible before the headwind leg towards the second TP. I saw Atilla and one more glider ahead of me and I glided to get to the lift Atilla found, but I got a bad line with loads of sink and headwind, and came in too low to get up and landed there just a few km from the first TP.
I heard some pilots made it to goal, but it was a difficult day so I’m not too depressed about it.
Monsters to the north of us (From where I landed)
Thunderstorms to the north
But completely blue over us and on the courseline.
149km out&return, but to the old Worlds paddock just south of Forbes. The airport complained that we were crossing the runway too low all the time, and we have to move to another goal field. As long as we get to fly back home I’m happy with it.
Weather looks good, forecast for base up to 3000 meters, and NW winds, low chance of overdevelopment. Should be a good day again. Yesterday the thunderstorms stayed to the north of us, it was actually very blue on the course line.
Olav is sick today, he thought it was the seafood from a few days back, but it’s still not OK.
Blog, pictures, videos, and articles from my flying adventures aound the world. Content in English.
