Bassano again… The Swedish comp in feltre was after Easter, I did not check the dates at first. I think we need all the vacation days this summer for the Worlds and Pre-Europeans, so Feltre is off for me at least.

Instead we’ll arrange a unformal competition in Bassano, during the vacation days in Easter. Please let me know if you want to come and fly with us, and I’ll help arrange transport and hotels.

Erik Vermaas Journal from last winter is also online here.

I had instructor duty this weekend, Saturday was good, the students got 3 high flights each from Sundvollen. Nice takeoffs and some good landings, not all nailed the spot but there’s plenty of space on the frozen fjord. Sunday was supposed to be good, but it was blowing from the back on all the sites we could use. No flying for anyone except those winch towing on Mjøsa lake.

Yesterday we did some winch towing on the frozen lake Mjøsa, Erik had 9 flights and I 7. It was light snow and almost no wind, pretty cold at the end of the day, but nice just to play around in the still air and improve landing technique.

The last time I derigged the glider I had to wear gloves to avoid burning my hands on the warm battens, this time I had to wear gloves so my hands would not freeze stuck to the battens. (Tounge on rail syndrome :-))

I got my glider from Australia on Friday, the box was reasonably whole, but had a hole that looked like a forklift had hit it. The speedbar was lying loose inside the box, the forklift had hit and dented it, saving the sail and tubes inside the glider. I have not set it up completely yet, but everything else looked whole.

There was soaring on Sundvollen in the weekend, but I was in Trondheim celebrating a friends birthday.

The competition in Bassano is cancelled, this seems to be the final decision now. The Swedes are arranging a comp in Feltre, maybe we should go there if they want to expand the comp a little? Le me know what you want to do! I do not want to freefly all easter …

Oh yeah – Sorry guys, but I have sold my old Litespeed to Tenho from Finland, first come first serve. (And he drove from Helsinki and back)

Photos are now online, klick on pictures to the left, and select Hay and Forbes.

The Bogong cup had some bad weather the first days, it has improved now and five tasks have been flown so far. Andreas is in second place after Betinho, way to go!

Back at work in Oslo, another month in Oz would not have hurt :-) Here it’s cold and full winter, Erik got only one flight from Sundvollen while I was gone, I got about 45 hours in thermal conditions.

I’ll upload most of the pictures today, and the rest when I have the film developed and scanned.

Sydney, NSW, Australia
The car got fixed the same day in Forbes, and held together the 400 km back to Sydney. A fan blade had come off, and embedded itself in the radiator mounting, since the fan is big and made of steel it unbalanced the engine badly. The shock absorbers in front are also totally gone, the driver side rattles around and sounds like its about to fall off. The AC compressor had damaged bearings, and the mechanic cut the AC belt. After that the fuel and oil consumption is halved, what a car… I hope it holds together a few more days, since it’s much cheaper than taxis I’ll keep it until I leave.

Driving back to Sydney without AC was quite hot, sticking your arm out the window only makes it hotter, and you get hit by big bugs all the time. Only when I got up in the Blue Mountains did it cool off for a while. I met up with Gordon again at Bill and Mollys place, and we slept there. Their place is by Bronte Beach, and we had a swim before breakfast. Very nice place, with cafes, green free areas, and a clean beach. Today was quite hot, and since the humidity is much higher than inland you feel quite sticky after a while.

We went out to the Moyes factory, to check that our gliders had arrived in one piece. We got a peek at the new Moyes harness that is under development, looks pretty good. I went back to the beach after dropping Gordon off at the Airport and did some body-surfing for a few hours, got some pretty good waves. I’ll play tourist in Sydney for a few days, might pick up my glider at Moyes and fly Stanwell if it’s soarable. Writing this from a internet cafe in Kings Cross.

Forbes, NSW, Australia
Two days ago we got a 135 km task to the SW. It was blue and quite good conditions, but inversion at 1800 meters. After a late tow all tree of us flew together almost all the way, Gordon went ahead after the first TP, and got stuck low around 25 km before goal. Andreas went a little off track to catch a thermal off a dustdevil 16 km before goal, and got a good one that took him high enough to get to goal. I found a weak 0.5 m/s 18 km out, and was joined by two other pilots that came in over me. The thermal took me to 1750 meters, and the three of us glided in headwind all the way in without finding anything, and I landed 100 meters before the goal line, the two others had 20 meters more height, and made it. I lost 250 points on those 20 meters, but still got 20. place that day, would have been 8. if I got over the line. It was over 5 hours flying to make that distance, Gordon got stuck low, and landed out 5 km before goal.

Yesterday I was hit by a gust right before lifting off the trolley, and broke the weaklink and a upright. I was back in the line as last tow out of the paddock. I was really tired and demotivated and really just wanted to land. A layer of cirrus moved in while we were setting up, and only the first gaggle got off before it shaded the area. I flew under it in weak conditions for most of the fligth, got up to 2800 meters over the TP, but after that I never got over 1800. 20 km before goal I was down to 100 meters over the gound, and preparing to land, but got up again and crossed the goal line quite high at 130 km/h. Gordon and Andreas had made goal earlier with good time, about 58 pilots in goal. The task was short, only 118 km.

On the way back out Ford Falcon started to vibrate followed by a bang from the engine, and a even stronger vibration. It still worked all the way back to Forbes. Now it’s in the Ford dealer for diagnosis, they hope to have it fixed today. I’m stuck here waiting for it, and then I’m off to Sydney. Gordon drives a car for one of the tug pilots back to Sydney so that he could reach the plane back to the UK tomorrow. Andreas is leaving for the Bogong cup with Alberto and Johnny Jr.

Forbes, NSW, Australia
The hot day that got cancelled was the hottest day in 18 years according to the local news, our driver had left a thermometer in his car, and it showed 98 degree inside the car…
Four days ago we had a 136 km task SE, I released from the tow too early into a thermal that died, landed, and had to join in at the end of the line. Got off as the third last pilot, by then the cirrus coming from the west moved in and made the whole area shut down. It had been blue all day. I flew with a Japanese pilot for about 40 km, the last glide was from 1800 meters and straight down to the ground without any thermal activity. The main gaggle met a seabreeze front just before crossing the goal line, and about 10 pilots went down a few hundred meters short of goal. Gordon 2,7 km short, and Andreas 20 something short. The next day was cancelled in very strong winds.

Yesterday the wind had changed to SE, clouds were forming, and we got a 130 km straight line task West. I got off early, and struggled to get to cloudbase for a while. I found the conditions quite shitty whith turbulent and difficult thermals, you had to resenter the core all the way up. It’s been turbulent all the days here, in Hay it was very smooth and predictable thermals, but here it’s really hard work, I have trouble getting all the way up. I was pretty tired towards the end of the flight, after 2 really low saves, and made a mistake just 20 km from goal. Came down in the middle of nowhere, found a thermal 100 meters off the ground and drifted with it in strong crosswind for 5 km without gaining any height. I came in over a farm and landed near the farmhouse 25 km out from the track. The farmer was quite suprised to see me, and his kids did not belive him until I showed them my glider :-) He let me use their radio so I could get into contact with the driver. He then drove me back to the highway planning to pick up Andreas, by then Gordon and Dale the driver had contact.
Gordon got to goal and won the day, Andreas bombed out on first tow, and had to pack up and get back to tow up again, he landed in the same area as I did. There was over 50 pilots in goal, and I only got 340 points for a 136 km flight.

Today it looked good from the morning, though no good clouds had formed in the area. We got a 226 km task NE, I towed up early, got a good thermal off the tow and climbed to 1200 meters above the paddock. The thermal got very weak, and I glided towards a gaggle of gliders circling a few km out. They had been in zero lift, and everyone glided back towards the towpaddock when I arrived. I was too low to reach back, and landed 1 km out after flying thru 6 m/s sink all the way back. I packed up and went back to town, just too tired and pissed off to set up and refly. Andreas came back down from 1900 meters, and just made it back over the fence around the paddock, Gordon locked out on tow at 200 meters, and almost went upside down, he towed up straight after me, we where in the same thermal but he flew to the right on the way back and got slowly up again. Last I heard they were struggling with strong crosswind around the first TP. We have two days of flying left here in Forbes. Gerolf is still in hte lead, but it’s quite tight in the top places.