http://corinnaflies.blogspot.com/



http://westcoastbrit.blogspot.com/



http://www.jonnydurand.blogspot.com/



Results



The flight and task.



What a day! Yesterday it looked like we might not fly, but RASP came through
again saying that there would not be any OD, even though the local weather
service thought that we would have a chance of thunderstorms. The Victorian RASP isn't so good
on the winds, as the Boundary Layer Average winds don't break out the winds well
enough for our purposes. I use XCSkies for that and it said northwest at 10
knots at 2,000' and 19 knots at 6,000'. We would be launching at 3200'.



Heather really wanted us to go to the Tawonga Gap launch, which fifteen pilots
cleared out a few days earlier. It faces north northeast. The winds would be
coming from the left side up the Kiewa valley which goes northwest to southeast
at Mt. Beauty. We weren't sure that the winds would be light enough to allow us
to launch and climb up on the hill side.



Once we got up to launch it looked good. The launch was much more open than I
remembered it. It has all been cleared out. There was indoor/outdoor carpet down
the somewhat flat launch. There was a nice thermal breeze coming right in. I was
excited about the possibilities.



The nearby cu's, of which there were only a few, were showing a bit of wind. We
sent out a paraglider and Cameron to check things out. The paraglider showed
light winds and Cameron reported back that it was light. We got the task set and
got going.



Back in 27th place I pushed and folks who were not suited up got ready in a
hurry. The thermals had stopped for a minute and it was quiet on launch then
they started again and continued through the launch sequence.



The task was to go 21 km up wind to Running Creek on the same side of the Kiewa
valley (west) as the launch. The back downwind to Mongan's bridge in the middle
of the valley. Then back up wind to Dederang intersection on the west side of
the valley, with a final leg down wind 31 km back to Mt. Beauty.



When I came to launch the winds stopped for a few seconds then came back up
again. I had one of my longest runs ever with the nose down and Belinda was very
happy as I got off and out through the slot. The lift was just to the right and
it was easy to get up in the chunky lift to over 5,500'.



We had to move upwind over 6 km to get to the edge of the entry start cylinder.
It was difficult as we dropped back whenever we were circling. The wind was
northwest 5 to 8 mph. I was only at 5,000' when the first start gate opened at 1
PM and decided to keep working my way up and wait for the second clock at 1:20
PM. There was plenty of lift, even if it wasn't all that pleasant, so I figured
I would have a good chance at the later start.



I made the second start time 11 seconds after it opened at 6,200' so it was
worth waiting. Steve Blenkinsop was a couple of hundred feet over my head. There
were now more cu's out ahead coming from our left at a fair clip. I worked the
west side of the ridge line trying to stay under the fast moving clouds.



The air was rough, but not so rough that I wanted to run away. I kept watching
the shadows and pushed as hard as I could upwind, staying above the ridge line.
Finding over 400 fpm, I climbed above 7,000' and watched many pilots who started
before us low at the Running Creek turnpoint. We used their bad example to stay
high.



I headed out to the turnpoint and came back to the hill to find a sweet climb of
over 500 fpm to 7,900'. This made it easy to get Mongan's bridge just to the
east and get over to the east side of the Kiewa Valley. Steve got a bit higher
and did the smart thing, ignoring the hill side and taking the lift in the
middle of the valley were the clouds running from left to right were streaming.




I worked the hillsides with Julia and Scott and I wasn't happy about it as the
lift was weak and broken. Steve had already caught Jonny from the earlier start.
The lift was much smoother out in the valley and stronger also.



Hitting 1000 fpm down on the hillside I ran toward the valley, found good lift
on the lower hills and climbed out. The Dederang intersection was  seven
kilometers to the northwest across the valley and I faced a 10 to 14 mph
headwind to get to the turnpoint. I climbed to 5,200' and then went out into the
valley, the flats.



Down to 2,200' AGL over a hang glider pilot with his glider packed up and 4 km
from the turnpoint, I found a thermal over the shadows and under the clouds and
climbed back to 7,100' but I was now 7.5 km away from the turnpoint.



I could see below me a dozen pilots low and turning and gliding over the shaded
ground. They had already made the turnpoint. It looked like they might get up,
but it would take a while. I sure wished at that point that I had made the
turnpoint that was still way upwind.



Flying along a small ridge line getting a 5.6 L/D over 9.1 km, I found myself at
900' AGL and a kilometer yet to go to the turnpoint. Julia came right under me
after getting the turnpoint as I climbed up to 2,500' (1,800' AGL) and drifted
away from the turnpoint which I still hadn't made.



Finally I just had to go get the turnpoint as Julia continued climbing and
getting high. I came back with 800' AGL and tried to get back into the lift that
we were in before. I just couldn't find a core and flailed about drifting
downwind and afraid that I would land. I headed out away from the little rolling
hills over to the sun backed flats assuming that I was going down and opened up
my harness.



Then again at 800' AGL I found a steady weak core. It very quickly turned into
450 fpm and later much more. It was so smooth unlike what I had experienced on
the hill side. I would find 700, 800 and 900 fpm in this thermal and climb to
8,800' in a 15 mph northwest wind. When it petered out I went on glide from 26
km with a required glide ratio of 12:1.



There were plenty of nice dark bottomed cu's ahead and I went right down the
middle of the valley. I was not making 12 to 1 (even with the strong tailwind)
and wondered when or if I would ever get into neutral air. It was only after I
got passed Red Bank and over the ridge line that goes out into the valley that I
found buoyant air and it was easy to make it into goal.



Belinda radioed that the wind was strong (I was measuring 25 mph) at goal and
very gusty. I could see the windsock and the trees waving. I came in fast with
both hands on the base bar. As I got close to the ground I moved my hands first
the left one to low down on the down tubes. As I moved my right one I got hit by
a strong gust from the right. Immediately I was flying directly sideways over to
the tarmac on the runway.



I ended up with minor damage to the glider, scuffing on the leading edge at the
tip and a bit of a grinding on the corner bracket. Thanks to three pilots they
got me out of trouble.



Check the results to see who did what. Not too many at goal. I don't know what
happened to Julia after she climbed out on me. Corinna may have been the first
in but three pilots came in together. Blay started at the second start clock
unlike Corinna and may have won the day.



Jonny landed short as did Scott and many others. Steve Blenkisop stayed in the
valley and came in early.



Task Three:

 

#	Name	Nat	Glider	Time	Dist.	Total
1	Blay Olmos	ESP	Moyes Litespeed S 3.5	02:10:58	77.4	941
2	Ben Dunn	USA	Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5	02:30:49	77.4	833
3	Pedro Luis Garicia Morelli	ESP	Aeros	02:31:00	77.4	832
4	Corinna Schwiegershausen	DEU	Moyes Litespeed S 3.5	02:31:15	77.4	830
5	Steve Blenkinsop	AUS	Moyes Litespeed S 3.5	02:23:34	77.4	825
6	Tony Lowrey	AUS	Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5	02:36:02	77.4	799
7	Curt Warren	AUS	Moyes Litespeed RS 4	02:33:28	77.4	766
8	Davis Straub	USA	Moyes Litesport S 4	02:39:52	77.4	734
9	Lukas Bader	DEU	Moyes Litespeed RS 4		73.5	534
10	Scott Barrett	AUS	Airborne C4		69.1	513

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