Vågå Open 2010, final day and results

(Delayed update)

On the last day we saw a forecast for strong winds, but good thermal conditions. Looking out before the briefing at 10:00 the wind seemed to be dying off and we saw good cu development. At Salknappen takeoff we had nice conditions, 5-6 m/s winds at takeoff and a rising cloudbase.

I was in the task committee with Bjørn and Trond, and we discussed at length what to do about the day. The wind seemed to be less than the forecasted 10-15 knots, but the direction was more easterly than we liked for flying upwind and staying locally. On the other side if we went downwind we would have to set goal at Lesja, where it’s usually stronger winds again on that direction, and the task would be way to fast to get a good scoring day. We went around and asked what the pilots wanted, and in the end we decided to fly a 80km task in the Ottadalen valley, with a headwind second leg.

It turned out to be more wind that we anticipated, and I think the task was unsafe in some areas. I decided to abort the task for safety reasons and land back in Vågå. I was a bit shaken after having a very close call with Speidern while waiting at base for the start, and getting kicked around a bit in the leeside a few times did not help. I knew I would lose my second place by doing this, but I did not feel like risking an outlanding in the windy conditions.

Nobody made goal, some made it almost halfway, and Bjørn who pushed into the potentially unsafe areas did pay for it with a bad landing. It’s very easy to see in retrospect , but I believe it would have been a perfect task for the wind we anticipated – 5 knots less and we would have lots of happy pilots in goal.

Olav Opsanger is our new national champion, with Nils Aage and me on second and third place. All three of us are from the Jetta club, and Jetta is also the club winner again this year, with Lier and Oslo behind.

Winners Vågå Open 2010
3. Øyvind, 1. Olav, 2. Nils Aage

The final top 10;

# Name Glider Sponsor T 1 T 2 T 3 Total
1 Olav Opsanger Moyes Litespeed RS4 997 111 380 1488
2 Nils Aage Henden Moyes Litespeed RS 3,5 908 127 382 1417
3 Oyvind Ellefsen Moyes Litespeed RS 4 Atea,Skyline, Elllefsen.net 966 104 125 1195
4 Johnny Nilssen Moyes Litespeed S 767 72 234 1073
5 Kjell Keogh Aeros Combat L 13 790 108 163 1061
6 Dag Ring Moyes Litespeed S4 781 60 177 1018
7 Tormod Helgesen Willswing T2 154 638 41 293 972
8 Trond Olsen Willswing T2 154 Meg 511 60 361 932
9 Vegard Hansen Moyes Litespeed S4 622 58 243 923
10 Jan Erik Gjerland Moyes Litespeed RS4 733 164 897

Link to full results

Vågå Open 2010, Day 5 and 6

The conditions were overcast and slow in the morning, but the forecast said better conditions later in the day. We went up to Salknappen and waited in the clouds for the conditions to clear. We set a 31km task late in the afternoon, staying locally in the valley.

I took off as one of the first pilots, and took the second start gate as the first pilot. The conditions were very slow and the cloudbase was down on the ridge making me fly around the clouds which gave me a crappy start as I came back low into the lift. I was a little too impatient there, should have stayed back and waited for the gaggle and the next startgate.

The gaggle took the next start gate and caught up with me halfway to the next TP, where we had a excellent ridge race going up and down the ridge to tordkampen with me, Olav and Speidern very close together. Nils Aage and Bjørn were ahead of us and got to goal first and second, I pulled away from Olav and Speidern and got in as third, but with my earlier starttime I got 5. place in the end.

The task was heavily devaluated as expected since it was short and we flew it fast.

Results here, not much changes since first day with Olav in the lead, ahead of me and Nils Aage.

Day 6 saw rain again, and we cancelled the day at first briefing, it still raining heavily now at 14:30 so it seems like the right decision.

Vågå Open, day 2 and 3

Day 2 blew and rained away.

Day 3 looked promising on the forecast, and we woke up to a sunny but windy day. We first went up to Vole, but after hanging around at takeoff for 30 minutes it was clear it was too windy to safely take off from Vole. Nobody had set up so we loaded up and drove to Heidal and the Espesetra takeoff in search of better conditions.

At Espesetra it was very nice, and almost too mellow conditions. We made a 88km task to Frya, back to Kvam, Brandstadkampen, and goal at Frya, with first startgate at 14:45.

I took off quite early, and stuggled a little to get up, and I did not get the best startgate position. But I was not too far behind the leaders, and took the first startgate working to catch up. We had an OK run to the first TP, where Olav, Nils Aage and me pulled away from the rest of the gaggle. I was above and a little behind Olav and Nils Aage at the next TP at Kvam, where I went a little more upwind and got a good 3 m/s thermal.

I went on a long glide over the Frya plateau, and Olav came in behind me at Ringebu where I we were getting a little low and had no good clouds ahead. I found a weak thermal and we took a few turns together there but it was not enough to get us through the last TP and to goal. I saw a bird tuning over the last TP and went on glide to it, while Olav went a little left and got a good thermal. At the TP the bird was gone and it did not leave any lift for me, so I was now lower than Olav before the final glide to Frya. He overtook me and got in around 30 seconds before me.

Nils Aage came in a few minutes behind us, and Dag and Speideren were not far behind either. There were lots of happy faces in goal, and I think we got a good days flying from conditions that turned out to be much better than we had hoped for. Coming back to Vågå we heard it had calmed down after we left and many pilots had good local flights there too.

Tomorrow looks like it will rain again, but the next days should be good.

Vågå open 2010, day 1

I arrived in Vågå last night,after taking the very full train from Oslo to Otta. Thanks to Stefan for picking up my glider at Finn’s place and bringing it to Vågå.

We had a very windy morning, it was forecasted to calm down during the day. We went up to Vole at 15:00 in hope of a late task to Frya, but the conditions were not good for a task and we had to cancel it after waiting until 17:30. It did calm down more and I set up to fly down at around 18:30. I took off and found a nice thermal in front of the west takeoff that took me up above launch. I boated around in weak lift and got a few more weak thermals up to 1800m where the wave started generating widespread lift.

I felt that it could get a bit dodgy with wave and strong winds, and decided to land.

Hope it get better tomorrow, forecasts are very variable.

Flying “Jaws”, heading home

I’ve spent some time at the Moyes factory the last weeks, helping Bill Moyes finishing some of his projects. One project was to make a nice cockpit for the Dragonfly, to give some shelter to the pilot flying it. I’ve gotten some first hand knowledge of how cold it can be in the winter, so I think this was  a good idea!

Bill made some brackets, and a frame from aluminium tubing and profiles. We put it all together by pop-riveting the clear perspex and black plastic sheet to the frame, some alu profiles on the side, and sikaflex to glue the trim and jaws in place. We quickly realized it needs a few improvements, like hinges to swing it up for easier entry and exit, and possibly a way to get to the rudder pedals to steer when groundhandling the plane, but all in all a very good result for a first prototype.

Looks pretty good?

Dragonfly cockpit
Dragonfly cockpit prototype

I made up some nice sharks teeth to give it a bit more “Bite” :-)

Jaws
Jaws, now with sharks teeth!

We wanted to try it out at Rylestone, but the weather did not cooperate with us the first weekend. However last weekend we loaded it into the trailer and drove to Rylestone to try it out. Saturday was rainy and shitty, so we spent the day moving a trike and some other stuff to Gulgong. Bill has some of his toys there, and I had a look at the Tempest sailplanes he built. I hope I get to try one someday!

We slept in the “Terminal” at Rylestone again, and with Bill getting up every 2 hours putting more wood on the fire it was warm and comfy inside. I woke up and had a look outside at 4 AM, with a full moon and clear skies it was getting well below freezing and the ground was white from frost. I never thought I would experience this in Australia…

At 7AM Bill is awake and it’s time to go flying, frost and dense morning fog did not matter. According to every Australian I meet – as a Norwegian I should be used to the cold… In Norway we have real clothes for real winters, not the thin and cheap stuff you find in stores here :-)

I was doing some instructing from the back-seat, flying with Roger who is buying a new Dragonfly. He’s already had many hours of flying, so we just trained some landings and emergencies between heating up in front of the fire inside. I was wearing everything I had left of warm clothes, but I did not have windproof clothes anymore as I shipped those with my hangglider. It was extremely cold in the morning, but got a little better during the day as the sun heated up the air.

In the meantime we had got the wings back on Jaws, Steve McCarthy took it for a spin after warming up the Rotax 912 and reported good behavior and vibrations. I took it up for the second flight, and found that our cockpit worked brilliantly. It was just a little turbulence down my back, otherwise nice and comfy. The local eagles were coming up in the weak thermals to check me out, and we had a brilliant sky to play around in.

It was a good way to finish off the flying in Australia for this trip. We are packing up at home now, and have a flight home to Norway on Saturday.

Looks wrong with no glider on the roof.
The Cruiser looks strange with no glider on the roof. I'll miss this car, I did 22000 km on it in 5 months with no trouble at all. The ultimate hanggliding car... She's with a very good new owner now!