The flight and the task.

The winds stop. Everyone agrees that it looks great and that we should go up Emu. When everything is great there is no need for sophisticated tools to foretell the future with a high level of accuracy. Looking up at the sky is plenty good enough. None the less I turn to the Victorian RASP again. I can't help but look, of course.

We all scrambled up the newly bull dozed two wheel road up to launch. We were all happy to be finally flying here at the Bogong Cup.

The task committee set a 114 km polygon task, north up the Kiewa valley to the intersection at Gundowring, then across the valley over the hills and over to the intersection at Ovens near Myrtleford. Next back to the Kiewa along the Pinnacles to the turnpoint at Running Creek, then up the west side of the Kiewa back to the Mt. Beauty airport.

The RASP called for no cu's today along our course, but fortunately there are a few tiny wispies right above launch (and later over Mt. Bogong which is not any where near our course.). Jack Simmons got off first and soon was climbing out. There were no wind techs, so Jack took all the risks. There was little to no winds (thermals) on launch so there were few indicators of lift (other than that friendly wisp above launch).

With the no wind launch conditions you would think that pilots might hesitate, but that didn't happen. We piled off launch at a rapid pace and climbed right up to 8,400' MSL as forecasted. (It is 1115' at the goal at the Mt. Beauty airport below launch.)

The twenty five kilometer radius entry start circle was six kilometers away, and the first start gate opened half an hour after I launched, so we meandered about the sky just trying to stay up as it looked like this was the highest we were going to get. I pushed on a bit and, and got to the inside edge of the entry circle with Joerg four minutes before the window opened. Joerg found some lift a bit further into the hills and I joined him. This got me back to almost 8,000' just as the start window opened. I was in a good position and ready to go with the first start time, so off I went near the lead. Joerg stayed until the next start time.

It was a 10 km glide across the Coral Bank Gap before I picked up a thermal on the north side right at the highest most point. The north wind was only about five mph, so we didn't drift backwards too much as we climbed back out to 7,800'. One more thermal on this 31 km leg and it was a glide to the turnpoint with a thermal right after it.

Next came the jump to the hill sides to the west where we found some lift but not enough for our pleasure and we moved on to a thermal over a small valley before jumping to the next hills to the southwest where the lift got much stronger (averaged 450 fpm). I noticed right away that the lift here at this meet is much different than what we were experiencing in the Forbes Flatlands. The thermals there didn't have these sharp edges and much bigger around. You've got to actually turn in these thermals and turn sharply. Still I was falling out of them a lot.

A long glide following two pilots toward Myrtleford Hill was rewarded with 600 fpm on average (the twenty second averager showed 900 fpm) eleven kilometers before I got to the hill. This is the kind of lift one would expect at the hill, and it was nice to find it here. It was actually a bit smooth. Many pilots came in to join us in this one.

I raced out in front of the pack and went straight over the hill not stopping in the scattered lift that was less than 500 fpm to get the turnpoint six kilometers further and then came back to the hill. I figured that I was too high the first time over the hill to be in the best climbing range, and I would be just right when I came back

I found only 400 fpm coming back, when I expected 700 fpm or more. Still it was enough to get high enough to continue toward the Pinnacles and the Running Creek turnpoint. I headed out front again with one other pilot and we ran the "ridge" toward the turnpoint.

The lift was weak as we found it, merely 350 fpm, so after a few turns to get back up again we continued along the ridge to the turnpoint. He was out in front of me now and low. There were two pilots who had stayed high and found better lift at Myrtleford Hill above us.

I got the turnpoint high enough and headed for the right side of the Kiewa going back to goal. The right side of the ridge line was lit up by the western sun and I raced right along the top of the ridge but considerably above it. It would turn out that I didn't need to turn at all, but I was twenty kilometers away from goal and my 6030 said I didn't have goal yet. Of course, it didn't know that I would be running a ridge line that for the most part would produce lift all the way to goal.

I climbed a couple of thousand feet in 500 fpm lift and then went on glide right down the ridge line. The pilot that I has been with was low over the trees on the dark side of the ridge. I finally caught him as he had to circle up to get up on top of the ridge. It was a quick glide into goal to be the sixth person in.

A few minutes later, Jonny Durand who started at the second start time came roaring in low. I saw many pilots from the second start time about twelve kilometers behind me as I left the second turnpoint. I was a bit too slow on the third and fourth legs as there was plenty of lift and I should have just pressed ahead instead of stopping for some of it. That would have saved five or ten minutes.

Results aren't out yet. I'll publish them as soon as I get them.

Scott Barrett over Mt. Bogong on the second day of the Bogong Cup (but before the first task).