The 48th Australian Multi Class National Gliding Championships will be held at Waikerie aerodrome South Australia commencing Monday 4th January through to Friday 15th January 2010. First practice day will be Monday 4th January. Waikerie Gliding Club with the support of SAGA will host the competition.
Waikerie is approximately 174km via the Sturt Highway from Adelaide a little over 2 hours drive and located right on the Murray River. The name Waikerie is an appropriate name, said to mean ‘many wings’ and came from the indigenous communities name for the swift moth ‘wei kari’ considering the location has a long history of aviation and has been connected to gliding for over 70 years I think we can say a very appropriate name.
The aerodrome is well laid out with large open safe landing areas. Many of the gliders will have fixed tie down points with water ballast supplied through centrally located hoses. The areas we fly over extends from the back of the Mount Lofty ranges, East across to Mildura and South into the Victorian wheat belt region. Our weather is varied and challenging ranging from frontal trough lines, sheer/thermal wave and convective thermals that will take you to breath taking heights; these conditions regularly provides long distance and record speed tasks.
The clubroom facilities offer accommodation with excellent amenities including toilets showers laundry and spacious lounge dining areas. Limited caravan and camping areas are located adjacent to the club facilities. Other facilities available will include wireless internet and our welcoming hospitality is guaranteed to make your stay very pleasant.
Meals will be provided each day and there will be a gourmet wind up dinner and trophy presentation to be held in the club rooms on the Friday evening; this will allow our interstate visitors to use the weekend to travel safely home.
This popular country town is well set out with shops, hotel and supermarkets all within a few minutes walk of the town’s caravan tourist park. The width of the river at Waikerie makes it popular for all forms of water sports and fishing. Many house boats are available for rental accommodation over the competition period – wake up on the water in the morning and enjoy the high sky in the afternoon. Great for your team morale. An 18-hole, bunker less golf course is in good condition (despite the drought) as it is able to source water from the towns waste water recycling scheme.
Competitors will require a fully operational Flam and an approved datalogger as listed in the Competition Rules. Entries forms and information is available on the Waikerie Gliding Club web site. The Organisers reserve the right to limit the number of aircraft able to compete.
If you have any enquiries, please email John at comp@waikeriegliding.com
We look forward to welcoming you to Waikerie and having some great flying and fun over the contest period. (reprint from the June 09 Soaring magazine)
Greg Jackson
