Well I finally arrived in Oz after a mere 23 hours of travelling… I met Forrest Whittaker on the flight to Abu Dhabi.. Interesting guy to talk to. Got a few snaps with him… It’s New Years Eve at 8am and it’s already 22 degrees and sunny. I stayed with Roland Woherle and a few other Germans for the day and took in a day at the beach, swimming and surfing, before ringing the New Year in with them down at the harbour bridge… Perfect!

Practice Day
Finally got all my gear together and took a tow up to 1500ft for a two hour boat around. It was great to see the tow paddock so green and had been rolled and mowed in preparation for the comp. The zipper on my harness jammed open so a less than comfortable flight but I was still feeling the jetlag and so persevered rather than go back and re-tow.

Day 1
With a forecast for Blue sky thermals to 8000’ and a 12 to 18 knot easterly wind, a task was set to Burgooley (west of West Wyalong at 124km). There is a Mandatory start time each day for the top 20 pilots in the overall scores which was set as the second start (generally there are 3 starts planned with 20 minute intervals). I started in 15th place for the day and so would be scored from the second start regardless. Most guys hung around a while after launch opened as there appeared to be little lift around. A few guys who launched early found rough towing conditions breaking weak links here and there which most pilots put down to inexperience. With 40 mins before the mandatory start I got in line and took a tow and wouldn’t you know it… I had a weak link break! U got to the edge of the start cylinder 4 mins after the mandatory start and set off on route straight away. I flew most of the flight alone and so was relatively slow making goal.


Day 2
Today was forecast for good conditions with a 12 to 14 knot south easterly so Hillston 224km to the west was called with a light cross-tailwind. The start was slow and as the sky filled with cirrus a lot of people thought the task unachievable. A few guys took the first start and ambled slowly down the course. I hung around as we only had 4500ft and there was a huge band of high cloud casting shadow over the first half of the course. It seemed the sensible option to wait for the better pilots to help me along. With only a minute to the mandatory start a gaggle formed within half a kilometre of the exit start circle and as the clock turned we set off downwind with only 4800ft at a steady pace. The gaggle stayed together in the weak conditions for around 90km when we eventually cleared the cloud shadow and made our first climb out to 7000ft. Dust devils were forming all around and in the blue sky conditions that we had turned out to be invaluable markers for lift! As the gaggle split and raced off in a starburst, I teamed up with Steve Moyes, Alex Trivelato and Steve Blenkinsop and stopped only in 5up climbs minimum topping out at around 8000’. At one point we had glided for around 20km and were getting desperate for lift when Steve turned in something strong half a km to my south. I raced across and by the time I joined his thermal he was already 1000’ above me. In a couple of turns I was coring the lift and watched as my vario went from 4.8 to 9.4 to 12.6 then after that I simply held on as the vario noise went berserk! I looked down through the central vortex of probably the biggest dust devil I had ever seen; It was the width of a football field and went from the ground up to maybe 5000ft (when I came to check my instruments later it turned out to have peaked momentarily at over 20up!). I shot past Steve and topped out at a massive 9400ft and set off on glide making it to within 30km of goal where we found several other pilots struggling low. We applied the brakes and searched for a top up whilst still at 5000ft. When the numbers gave me 14:1 glide in I pulled out and set off on final glide from 18km needing only a few turns more around the 8k mark to make goal 9th on the day!


Day 3
The task today was set for a downwind, crosswind into wind course. Setup in 15th overall from yesterday I was 7th in the tow line. I rigged and got setup up ready to go and when I turned on my vario at the task brief it froze! When I tried to enter the menu it locked up and would not reset or turn off. With only ten minutes to the launch open I tried to reset but to no avail… I had to bite the bullet and fly using only the Garmin 12XL to guide me on course. With all the delays I got in line for a tow and was still on the ground when my mandatory start time passed! I was not alone in this as it turned out the task committee had set the first start only 40 mins after launch opened and many people were stuck in line. Trying to make up time I set off racing with Luis Rizo and Trent Brown. We had four perfect thermals in a row to 6600’ gliding from cloud to cloud each time before we hit the blue sky. As we searched for lift it became apparent we had flown into a different airmass and we got lower and lower until almost on the ground Trent found a thermal not yet popped and managed to maintain 200ft whilst Luis and I, both a little higher, searched around for something better. We headed for a flock of Gulaws circling near to a road. They led us into a trap as they were following a procession of cattle and not lift. A thermal did spark off though it turned out too late for me as we stumbled into it at tree top height. Without a working vario I had to make a bomb out landing at only 47km and watched as both Luis and Trent climbed out above me.


Day 4
A triangle was set in what proved to be strong and increasing winds. The task committee took the weather info from a large scale model and did not foresee the wind strength which topped at 36kph at cloudbase. Not too good today... :O(


Day 5
Brief 1,2,3,4,5… Another Triangle set with a downwind first leg to Grenfell which proved an easy glide with 3 thermals. The second leg to Eugowra proved far more difficult and with the late start the climbs got weaker as the day progressed.. Most landed out including me at TP2




Day 6
A 147km cross downwind task was called to Boorowa in the higher ground. With weak climbs at the first window only a couple of pilots were brave enough to set off early. I was second in the air but chose to wait for the second start as the thermals became better developed and the clouds began to set up on route. Climbs were averaging 4up and choosing the right glide line was paramount today as there was a lot of sinky air about. The clouds did not always work so choosing the right one was important. I was continuing to have problems with my shoulder and back so boated around the course kicking upright in my harness to thermal each time. This proved very inefficient allowing the gaggles to easily escape me but served its purpose and got me to goal albeit slow.

Turned out I got a little too much sun on day 3 and had either heatstroke or sunstroke... terrible aches and pains with headache and dehydration.. Soon remedied when you recognise it... took me a whilke though.

Day 7
Still in 30th place :O( But feeling a little better although the shoulder was still niggling. I had a massage booked prior to flight which I hoped would help, but…. The masseuse was crook!!! Typical…! Task set of 189km to the Southwest with a blue sky and moderate North Easterly forecast. Flew very conservatively taking first window turned out to be a mistake today as the lift was light and broken with average climbs of around 3up for the first 50 to 60km. only five of us set out initially including Trent Brown, Phil Schroder, Jeff Shapiro and the Rusky Girl who’s name remains a mystery. We struggled a little to keep above 3500ft. Then the clouds started to form and the pace hotted up. The lead gaggle caught up at the 100km to go mark and then it became a race. Several of them got away almost immediately in a pumping core and Trent and I managed to stick with the rest often taking the lead. We final glided from almost 40km out slowing up for lift at 32km under a big sucking cloud but no need to turn here! I had lift all the way in though most took a more direct line and hit big sink. This allowed me to regain a few places and came in in 8th place at goal! Result!!!!