A quick update before we go out flying again. I’ve found a Internet access point and can write a little more than when using my phone.

We arrived in Deni driving directly from Sydney after picking up the gliders. My bag was of course delayed in Hong Kong, and it had to be sendt with the next flight to Wagga Wagga, and then by car to Denni. I had my harness and most of the flight gear so I could fly the first day. But it was too windy and no flying anyway. Good for us with jetlag and all.

Day 2 we got a 187km task north via Hay to Booligal. All on the team except me made goal, I got low and alone in a slow period just east of hay, after drifting in zero lift over the highway for 10 minutes I had to abort and land to avoid powerlines. 100km flight was a good test flight on the glider, it was pulling left making my glides very poor, and thermaling efficiently was hard. Some clouds in the beginning, but only 1700 meters height.

Day 3 was a 138km task around the area and back to Conargo. I had a good start and flew fast and stayed with the gaggle for a long time. I had probably not drunk enough water earlier in the day, because I got sick and extremely tired during the flight. I was in reach of goal, but I was too tired and sick to take the last thermal. I gave up and glided out to land 15 km from goal. Blue day with around 1800 meters height.

Day 4 saw a 133km task to Tocumwal. I got a bad start time, making a detour to a gaggle in the start circle that left when I came. Lost 10 minutes there. The conditions were very good, strong climbs to 2600 meters in the beginning. The cirrus grew and slowed down the conditions more and more. Nils and me flew togehter and got to goal after struggling in some weak lift around the last TP. Jon also made it in, Johnny Robin and Otto landed out.

Nice small New Years party with barbeque at the pool in the Tocumwal airport that was goal.

Today was forecasted strong winds, but it’s no wind outside now. We have a delayed briefing at 11:30 at the Golfclub.

The official HGFA site for the worlds can be found at http://www.hgfa.asn.au/~worlds/ I find it lacking in both form and content for such an event as the worlds. It says “Under construction” right on the front page, while it’s less than one month before the competition. The site should have been complete 2 years ago.

There is a link to a forum – not working, link to photo album – not working. Actually most of the links are either coded wrong, or dead. The link to pilot registration lists 5 Australian pilots, where is the rest of the world? The deadline for registration was a month ago. Let’s hope the rest of the worlds crew is more on the ball than the webmaster who glued their site together.

The dynamic flight site has even less, and redundant content.

I’ve planned to blog from Oz on this site as usual, if Telstra provides GPRS to roaming international phones I can even post photos directly from my mobile. The GSM coverage in the towing field is very weak, so expect updates at night Oz time

It was the last day of the comp, with good looking clouds early in the day. The task committee wanted us at takeoff early, to make a short final task with landing at the center. They set a 47km task, in the area in front of Salknappen takeoff, with Vole, Blåhø, Vole, Tordkampen, Vågå bru and to goal at Sørem.

The nice clouds were growing, and the takeoff was in shade for long periods. Some freeflyers did not get very high, and the first pilots taking off had to struggle. I took off in a nice cycle, but had to get out to Gråhø before finding usable lift. I waited in cloudbase for the last start time since I was 5 minutes late on the previous one.

Flying the course was quick and fun, with plenty of pilots in the air to mark the best lift. Conditions were strong at times, and it was some fighting with the cores to get up efficiently. I made the final glide from the last TP with quite good altitude since I was unsure of the wind at the goalfield. It turned out to be almost no wind, I had 100 meters to spare arriving at goal with full speed.

I flew the course in just over 1 hour, Andreas beat me with 3 seconds, and Nils Åge was the fastest and day winner 30 seconds faster than Andreas again. Lots of pilots in goal.

After the bomb out on day 4 I had very little chance of taking a top three place, Jon Gjerde and Olav Opsanger was fighting over it, and I had to catch up more than 300 points today. Winning day 6 only gave 330 points, and Jon was just behind me on that day. I got 5. place in the Nordic Open, and 4. in the Nationals, got to be happy with that.

The comp has been the best I’ve flown ever! We had good organization, pretty good weather with safe conditions, no injuries, lots of people in goal, and 8 out of 8 days flying.

Now it’s the prize giving party, and tomorrow we travel back to Oslo. I’ll upload some pictures and links to the complete results later.

Another blue day, with moderate to strong south-east winds. Task to the north via Dombås, Lora, and back to goal at Dombås. Only two pilots made it, I landed halfway. The day seemed good around takeoff, and I just flew too agressively for what turned out to be slow conditions.

It was blue and no wind in the morning. We went first to Vole, but the wind was southeast and conditions seemed quite stable, so we drove up to Salknappen which is further up the mountain and 400 meters higher.

The task was 90 km, to Heidal, north to Otta, back south to Kvam, and to goal in Vågå. The clouds indicated a nice day, but the first pilots were struggling to get high. I took off quite early, and spent quite some time getting high. I finally got to cloudbase, and took the 4. start time. I glided to Lalm, got up with Johannes and Jon, and got over to Heidal. It was weak and difficult thermals and I hoped it would improve later. In Heidal it was even more difficult, with little to no lift over the peaks.

I took the TP, and went straight south around to Sjoa to ridge soar back up to Otta, there I crossed over to the east side of the valley and go a nice lift to cloudbase, the first since Lalm. When I came back the lift was weaker as the cirrus was now thick, and I could not get the last 50-100 meters to cross over to Kvam and the last TP directly. It was nice clouds at Kvam, but I had to take the long way around Sjoa again, and landed there in totally dead air. Geórgia picked me up, and we got Nils Åge on the way back who landed just a few km behind me.

I might have won the day, only Andreas might have gone further that we know of.

A nice day from the morning, but cirrus cover delayed the task until 14:45. We got a short task due to late takeoff and stable blue conditions. It was an out&return of 62km, from Vågå to Sjoa and back.

I wanted to fly a safe and fast task, without taking too big risks after yesterday’s loss of points, so I took the 16:00 start gate when there were plenty of pilots on course. It was difficult to get really high at start, but I took the start gate at 1800 meters and got the next lift at Lalm where it should be. I stayed below the inversion, and tried to go fast over to Heidal where it normally is stronger and better lift. I did however not find the strong core I needed to keep going fast, and lost some 10 minutes getting back up.

On the way back from the TP Jon and Jens came under where I had stopped in a weak thermal, we slowly got up, and I spotted Johannes above me and a little further in over the top of the ridge. I flew under him and got a nice lift back up to the inversion at 2000 meters. It was enough to go on an easy final glide the last 15 km to goal.

Andreas won the day, Nils second and Olav third. I had the 4. best time, but lost a little on the late departure and arrival. After Yesterday I fell from 4. to 10. place, now I gained only 1 place, but it’s quite close up the next places.

It was grey this morning, and a layer of Cirrus clouds made the conditions very weak. The window was opened at 14:00, with a 78 km task from Vågå to Dombås, Sel, and back to Vågå. The first pilots all fell through, and we all waited for the Cirrus to break up.

At 15:15 it was some signs of better conditions, and about 6-7 of us took off. We could soar in weak lift, but no one got more than 100 meters above takoff. After a while the Cirrus cover got thicker again, and we started to get lower. I went to Skagsnebb and then Hologsetrene to try and get up where some of the earlier free fliers had got good lift. It was more sun in that area too, but I did not find any usable lift, and had to glide back out to the main landing. Erik Vermaas was below me, and suffered the same fate.

The other pilots saw our misfortune, and visely stayed in zero at takeoff. When we landed the cirrus broke up, and everyone got high and away within 10 minutes. I was not very happy at the landing watching the field get away. Nils Åge, Jon Gjerde and Andreas made goal.

By nine in the morning it was already overdeveloping, and it was some heated discussion at takeoff on what to do with the day. The weather forecast was for nice weather in the afternoon, and at 11:30 it was lots of showers around us. Eventually the decision was to open an early start window at 11:45 for another one way to Frya task. The window closed early at 13:00, to get people out and away.

Andreas, Olav and me waited 15 minutes in cloudbase at 1900 meters for the last start. The conditions were good along the course, and we got a good run together. Andreas took what seemed like a detour to Teigkampen and some nice clouds, after Torgeirkampen, while Olav and I went straight for Vinstra. It turned out to be a good move by Andreas as he got in 3 minutes before us.

We went on a very fast final glide together from Vinstra, and got to goal with Olav 3 seconds before me. I had more height, but got thrown around in turbulence that forced me to a 360 halfway to goal, and that was some distance that is hard to catch up at those speeds.

I think 18 pilots made goal, unfortunately we flew too fast with the three of us under 1:10, and that devaluates the day quite a lot. Some pilots who took off too late did not get away from Vågå as became shaded and weak. It was raind and thunder at Frya when we packed up at goal. It was a very lucky task, it could easily have overdeveloped on course and stopped us.

I woke up at 06:00 and it was raining hard outside, by 9:00 the sky was blue but it was very windy. We postponed until 1:00, and then went up to Vole. It was flyable, with some showers from collapsing clouds in the area. The task of the day was the annual one way to Frya, 61 km.

It actually turned out to be difficult as the wet ground made the lift broken and weak. When we in addition got a strong headwind instead of cross-tail wind it became hard to get out to the Gudbrandsdalen valley.

I had a hard time around the start circle, and had to take the start very low. I got up to 1800 meters by Kvam, but could not get over to Heidal and was blown back to Otta. From Otta to Sjoa it was strong headwind, and I barely made it around the turn and onto the ridge soaring past Sjoa. I got a nice 4 m/s there and met Robin and Johannes. From there it was just one more weak lift at Vinstra and glide to goal. Johannes was above me and went first in what turned out to be a tailwind glide. I did not want to risk it first as I drifted back in the last thermal, and could not see any sign of tailwind before Johannes glided.

Andreas won the day, Olav and Nils Åge on second and third. I came fourth with 2:08. 7 people in goal.