To add to Rodney’s report of the Club October Long Weekend Regatta.
Approaching the weekend, SkySight was looking encouraging with nice cumulus at around 5-6,000 feet for at least Saturday and Sunday.
As I came over Accommodation Hill on Saturday morning I could see evidence of some sort of trough type cloud formation with a line of convective cloud to the South Easty of Waikerie. Mmmmm?? In the event I am not sure what it was and it wasn’t a factor later in the day.
Haidyn Dunn briefed us for a 177km task – Notts Well – Kingston Bridge – Wunkar – Maggea – Waikerie. By the time we launched a little after lunch, into a light north easterly, nice cumulus had formed at a bit over 6,000ft and a nice energy line had formed on track to Notts Well. With little circling I turned Notts Well but looking east, the clouds started to look a little ragged although still producing weaker lift. Approaching Kingston Bridge, a big blue hole was apparent over the next two legs and the air was getting pretty smooth. Tracking towards Wunkar there was cumulus well to the left and cumulus back towards Waikerie but only one dying cumulus on track. Air still smooth, and looking below at all the green crops, I started tracking back towards Waikerie, fortunately picking up a weak climb. Slightly emboldened I again headed for Wunkar, picked up another weak climb in the blue and then headed well off track for a building cloud which gave me enough height to glide around Wunkar and Maggea and home. Since no sheep stations were involved I tracked past Maggea for an ‘insurance climb’ to make it a no sweat run to the finish.
Thanks to Lynley Jones for picking up the Indian takeaway which we all in the evening and thanks to Bill Mudge for doing the scoring. (I should have paid Bill more as he credited Patrick Dunn in his Shark with more points than me!!!)
On Sunday, Haidyn briefed a 2hr AAT Notts Well – Morgan – Kingston Bridge – Maggea – Waikerie. The forecast was similar to Saturday albeit a bit higher and nearer 7,000ft. The leg to Notts Well again was under nice cumulus so turned I at the bottom of the sector since the cumulus looked rather sparse to the north. Managed to stay connected with cumulus to the west of track and turned at the NW edge of the Morgan sector where I got a climb to almost 7,500ft. To pick up the next cumulus I deviated left over the scrub but it gave only a weak climb back to 7,000ft. Ahead on track was an almost completely blue sky, with cumulus somewhat south of Waikerie/Cadell, but well off track. Ah well! Now a quiet smooth glide at 70-80kts to about Taylorville and a climb back up to 6,000ft. Very blue and very smooth on track towards Kingston Bridge but a deviation of 45degrees for about 8-10km was rewarded by a nice climb a little short of Woolpunda which, with a couple of short ‘top ups’, gave me enough height to get around Kingston Bridge and glide out the time and distance in the Maggea sector to arrive at Waikerie a few minutes over 2 hrs. Had I paid Bill enough this time? No – the gold went to David Collins in his ASW20.
Two Excellent flying days!
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay for Monday. Many thanks to Haidyn for coordinating and task setting, and to Bill for everything that he does plus scoring, and Kent and Lloyd who did the towing.
