Wednesday February 15--The drive to Corryong
During the 10 hour drive the coolant temperature gage slowly started moving towards the hot side. I stopped at a parts store and bought some coolant for the “just in case” scenario. We made plenty of stops along the way and the temperature stayed right at the limit of the normal range until we were about 70 kilometers outside of Corryong. After letting the engine cool down for a half an hour I opened the radiator cap and added 4 liters of coolant.
That kept things within the normal range for the last 70k into Corryong. We met Heidi and Cam at the motel and Cam helped me put the get our gear into the hotel room and we went to the pizza pub for pizza and a movie. Good pizza but a poor movie unless you like Woody Allen movies.
Thursday February 16--A no fly day
After a quick breakfast I called NRMA and Traveler’s Auto Barn and the local NRMA garage which is only a couple hundred yards down from the motel where we are staying. The mechanic had me drive it to the garage. After doing a pressure check of the cooling system and listening to the symptoms I described he diagnosed the problem as a blocked radiator. Corryong is just a small farming town so they had to send the radiator to Albury. If we are lucky we will see the radiator back late Friday. Blocked radiators are not covered on the extended warranty we purchased and the initial 3000 mile warranty calls for the car to be returned to a Traveler’s auto barn garage. Looks like we may have to foot the bill for the work ourselves.The weather was not good for flying so the day was spent doing other things.
Heidi took Mary Beth shopping and we soon had a fully stocked refrigerator. Mary Beth did some of her rehab exercises in the motel pool. It’s shallow, more like a deep wading pool but very pleasant for lounging around.
We’re fortunate to have Cam and Heidi to help us. Heidi will not be flying and will be doing retrieves for our team. We have a team with a lady from China who speaks just a little English, Cam from Australia, Matt from Switzerland and me. The Chinese lady wants to be called Sabrina. Not sure why but that she wants. Given that we decided to call our team Bewitched. After we agreed on that name Heidi reminded us that Sabrina was the teenage witch and Samantha was the lead on the Bewitched TV show. Oh, well.
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| Team "Bewitched" |
We cooked on the barbecue at the motel pool and had a nice evening catching up with Cam and Heidi, sampling wines and stuffing ourselves on sausages and salad.
Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow.
Friday February 17
The weather improved enough to go up the hill. Still a chance of thunderstorms and showers but Peter set up a sort task and told everyone to watch the skies and land when/if things started to turn.
On the way up the hill Heidi had big scare. A Huntsman spider had climbed up on the car and started to come in on Heidi’s window. Within microseconds Cam had the window up and we continued up the hill. Huntsmen are forest spiders that are not terribly poisonous but are very large. This one was probably 5 inches across leg to leg.
We all launched and I was soon sinking out and on my way to the LZ. On the way I managed to find a thermal at 300 feet off the ground and managed to climb back up above launch. I drifted southeast down the range. The clouds were looking dark in the distance so Peter called and recommended everyone land. I landed in a field near the town.
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| The cows admire the color of my wing as I pack up |
I took some nice video. I’m getting better at turning the camera on and off in flight. It will take some work to put all the video I have taken into something interesting. But then I still have video of when our girls were young to convert to digital and edit. Something to do in retirement and now that I’m retired I guess I have no excuse for not spending the time.
The harness still is giving me some problems getting into it. Sooner or later I’ll figure it out.We registered for the comp which took all of 5 minutes and then headed for dinner with the team.
We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant in Corryong. Our Chinese team member is very polite and I think she was amused to eat Australian Chinese food. Cam chose Pepperjack Shiraz for dinner. It’s a really good wine. $25 Australian in the restaurant was a good price as well.
I called the repair shop. The radiator did not make the truck and they will now probably get it Monday afternoon. If I’m luck I’ll have it late Monday or Tuesday morning. Thank god for Heidi and Cam.
Tomorrow the fun begins at the comp.
After the briefing we headed up and not soon after we had the task set and I was busy remembering how to program the FlyMaster for the waypoints along the course. The course was across the valley and Mt. Mittamitite about 23 kilometers and then back another 30K in the other direction.
Launch opened but nobody launched. Finally after about a half hour they started launching. In Australia they use an “ordered” launch. You launch in order based on your standing in the comp and with the exception if nobody is “in the box” ready to launch you can jump in the box out of your order.
Since I was a foreign pilot and had no standing I was second to last in the order. When the launching started I had to wait a long time to get off. Clouds shaded launch with no wind coming up the hill for about a half an hour while I was standing, sweating and waiting. Finally the sun returned and I launched.
I struggled at first not finding the house thermal to the left of launch but finally found something over the valley and eventually made it up to cloudbase and headed across the valley. Unfortunately Cam and Samantha did not find anything and landed short of the LZ. Heidi retrieved them but it was too late as they had closed the launch window. They launched and did much better on their second fights.
Arriving at Mittamitite I was low but managed to scratch my way back up and continued heading Northwest across the range. Eventually I found myself in the same valley I sank out I last year but I continued heading towards the first turn point, Settlement Ridge. I tagged that and headed back catching a nice thermal and headed across a small valley to another ridgeline. I saw two thermal triggers that looked promising. One was bigger and a little back from the course line to the next turn point at Colac Colac Hill. There was a beautiful rock face that I hoped to find a thermal. Unfortunately it was upwind and I ran into a lot of sink and arrived too low to find anything. I was soon down on the ground next to two other pilots who had tried the same rock face and found nothing. Two hours and thirty minutes to go 23.8 kilometers on a 60.3 kilometer course.
Retrieve took longer than I am used to. Mary Beth is driving for another group of pilots so I don’t have that dedicated retrieve and chase pilot. Heidi had some problems getting coordinates for Sabrina’s retrieve and took over an hour to get to me. She had picked up another pilot from her club in Melbourne who had not arranged for a ride and expected to hitch hike back to town. When she dropped him off he didn’t even offer pay for her gas. Needless to say she was angry about that. Meanwhile one of the pilots Mary Beth was supposed to retrieve landed near me and Mary Beth came out to pick him up only to find he had gotten a ride with another car. She ended up picking me up then just as Heidi had driven back from town to retrieve me. Just as I got in the car with Mary Beth Heidi called on the radio that she was 3 kilometers away. Sound confusing? It was. A few beers at the pu b with diner and everything was fine. |
| Fellow pilots at the sink out point |
You are always thinking about the thermals you missed but I was quite happy for the day and the number of climbs I had. I only got up to 1900 meters twice and had four really good scratching saves.
One nice thing about this comp is that you can learn a lot about by looking at the flight path of the people who made goal. I spent most of the flight by myself with just a few other gliders around so I had to make most of my decisions on where to go without the benefit of the gaggle.
I had problems with the speed system in the new pod harness. With the flexible lines for the two step stirrup and the suspension and not being able to see them I had trouble getting it engaged when I wanted and getting equivalent application on both left and right side of the wing. I don’t really think I have seen the increase in speed just yet. But I’m still dealing with English to Metric conversions or maybe I am just always flying into a headwind. It must be better! Its new and it cost a lot.
Sunday February 19
Things looked good in the morning but by eleven o’clock the sky was overcast and it only took the safety committee 5 minutes to decide to cancel the task for the day once they had us all up at launch. Most of the pilots decided to do a little free flying and there was lots of buoyant air with flights extended from the bailout LZ into town and the pub.I was a little optimistic on finding some lift and landed in a field right at the edge of town with 50 head of cattle at the far end from where I landed. Cows are curious lot or they thought I was going to feed them and they soon surrounded me as I folded up my wing.
I spent the balance of the day trying to get caught up with my writing as I lounged by the pool at our motel. Mary Beth relaxed and watched an “Anne of Green Gable” marathon on TV.
Dinner was a barbecue at the caravan park put on by the Lion’s club ladies.
Monday February 20
The Jackaroo will be getting a new radiator. The mechanic installed it today and was doing some checks so we should have it tomorrow.
We had a nice barbecue at the pool with Heidi, Cam and one of the other pilots in the comp. Lincoln is a long haul truck driver. He drives Kenworth B-doubles. It’s a harder job here than in the U.S. Not so many four lane divided highways once you get away from the cities.
Tuesday February 21
Weather improved. Pilots briefing in the morning was encouraging. I picked up the Jackaroo. $860 for the repair and fortunately covered by Traveler’s Auto Barn.We met at the top of the hill for a briefing and group photo. Winds were cross from the south but at least early on overpowered by the thermals.
I launched early and had no problem with the launch but struggled initially to find a thermal to take me up. Lots of small little bullets that were hard to catch. Finally I got something and found myself up at cloudbase just a few minutes before the race start. However I discovered that my speed system came unhooked on the right side and spent some time sorting that out. I really could have used it crossing the valley. Poor preflight on my part but I did manage to fish it out of the hole in the harness and get it reconnected.
Meanwhile things on launch turned ugly. The thermals coming up the hill got a lot stronger and with the crosswinds coming in occasionally created problems. One pilot got slammed into the ground just after takeoff and the meet director closed the launch.
I drifted north while crossing the valley and while I thought I had plenty of altitude to arrive high over the next range that turned out not to be the case. I hit some big sink and arrived low. To make things worse the area where I expected to go to find a thermal was shaded out.
I landed after only after traveling about 11k down the course. Nice field but a long hike out to the road. Heidi retrieved me and then we picked up a couple of other pilots and returned them to the pub before heading out to retrieve Sabrina. Following that we headed to goal and watched about 10 pilots glide into Tintrilda.
Mary Beth and I logged a little pool time before heading out to a barbecue with some of Cam and Heidi’s friends from Melbourne. We drove the Jackaroo. No problems with the cooling system.
For the next half hour we thermalled with the rest of the field waiting for the start but looking at a rain shower and building cumulus down range to the first turn point. Ten minutes later the task was cancelled and landing recommended. The alarm set on my FlyMaster went off for the race start as I was setting up to land. Over an hour in the air and some good practice thermaling in gaggles was some small consolation.
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| Nice to be on the ground! |
The scorekeeper for the comp is the pilot who was injured and there seems not to be a good backup. I got put in the back of the launch order for the day which I discovered was because my points for the first task had disappeared. Two calls to the meet director and it is still not fixed. Hopefully I can get that straightened out before Thursday.
We spent the afternoon lounging by the pool and waiting for dinner. Our Chinese pilot volunteered to cook dinner. She did a great job. After dinner Mary Beth had everyone making Australian S’mores. We had another nice evening sitting around talking, listening to music, and probably consuming a little too much alcohol.
Thursday February 23, 2012
This was the 6th day of the comp and the weather was very good. After the morning briefing I got with the scorekeeper and had my track logs re-entered. My start number jumped from 43 to 24. In the end it didn’t matter because as soon as I saw pilots going up I jumped in the box and launched early.
Once up at launch the task was posted and we all got busy programming our GPS’s and waiting to see how the wind technicians flew before launching. I launched 35 minutes before the start gate opened. It took a while to get to cloudbase (1900 meters) and when the start cylinder opened I was low and had to work to get up as I watched the gaggle head down range to Thowgla, The first turn point. The first leg was upwind so it took me a while to get there. I was catching a few gliders along the way who had left at a lower altitude and were struggling low on the ridge. It was good for me because I found a few thermals along the way where people had managed to climb out.
I thought I knew where the first turn point was and instead of watching my GPS headed for where I thought it was. I lost a little time and altitude but managed to correct and found a thermal that took me up to 1600 meters. Now I was headed back the opposite direction to the next turn point. I decided I would stay on the sunnier and upwind side of the ridge line and head back to Mt Elliot before making a valley jump. I hit sink and made a decision to head back upwind to a nice bowl which was the last place I had a good climb. Unfortunately I didn’t find the thermal and ended up sinking out with a 2k hike back to Thowgla Rd. Looking at my flight in Google earth and thinking about this heading back upwind was not the best decision. I should have gone for a point down the ridge where I had lift before. I think it’s much easier to catch thermals when you are running downwind than upwind. You lose too much altitude heading upwind to chase a thermal.
2 hours and 11 minutes in the air.
Max speed 60 kph
Max climb 4.5 meters/sec.
Max sink 4.2 meters/sec.
Max altitude 1899 meters
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| Hiking out from the ridge that got the best of me |
This isn’t going to help my standings in the comp but I learned a lot from this flight. Actually I learned a lot from all of them so far. I’d just like to learn and score more points.
Meredyth Malocsay is here and flying well.
Mary Beth kept busy retrieving for her team. Nice to have trips other than just to the bail out LZ today.
Friday February 24
The comp is now pretty much in a routine with the briefings and going up the hill. Weather looks good for tasks for the rest of the comp.Mary Beth wasn’t needed to drive for the other teams so she positioned the Jackaroo in the bail out LZ and doing retrieves for our team today. She managed to pocket $450 dollars driving for the other pilots. Probably good to have that as a repair fund for the Jackaroo. Coolant temperature is fine now with the new radiator. But punctured tires are always a risk.
There was a small amount of excitement when one of the first pilots to launch had a knot in his cascades on the left side. He yanked hard to get it out and then because he was turning pulled down the right brake. The glider stalled and he fell on the downslope of the hill. In the end he was OK with no broken bones or serious injuries.
The task took us south over the valley and Corryong then on south to Murray Cudgewa the first turn point. I was trailing the gaggle as usual but had plenty of altitude. I was climbing in a weak thermal and I left it to join the gaggle from below hoping to thermal up with them. I missed the thermal and then spent the next half hour scratching and searching for a thermal to take me back up just south of town.
Finally I found something and a half hour later I was up at 1600 meters and ready to continue to the next turn point. By this time Cam and Sabrina had caught up with me and we thermalled together as some sail planes flew around us. I had the GoPro shooting a photo every 5 seconds so I managed to get a picture of the sail planes with Cam and my wing in frame.
As we headed on course we sank down and spent another 40 minutes or so thermaling leeside in a bowl trying to get enough altitude to get over a ridge where we “knew” there should be good thermals kicking off. We never made it. Sabrina had a low save but ended up landing later. Cam and I stuggled to get past the ridge running together but our ground speed got down to 6kph in sink. I turned back to climb back up. Cam went a little farther and ended up sinking out.
I climbed back up but not high enough and tried to go around the ridge line in the valley. Too low and I sunk out another 4k past am but still short of the first turn point. Meanwhile I think nearly 20 pilots made goal. Ugh!
We were all happy with our flights but disappointed with our distance and scoring. I had two hours and 34 minutes in the air and two low saves. The camera took nearly 2000 pictures which I sorted through later in the evening.
I talked to one of the instructors and got a little insight. It is very difficult to join a thermal from below when you have some distance to travel. I would have been better off to continue in the thermal I had when I was over Corryong instead of trying to join the gaggle. Chasing gaggles from below is not a good idea.
Retrieves went well since three of us landed in the same location and Matt made goal. Meanwhile power went out in Corryong. We spent the rest of the evening by the pool drinking beer and grilling sausages and looking at photos from the day.
Tomorrow is my last chance to make it to goal.
Saturday February 25, 2012
Last day of the comp today. The task took us south about 9 K to Thowgla and then west22k to the same Murray Cudgewa turn point I bombed out at on the previous task then back to Thowgla and then on to the Corryong Airport.I launched early but was not high enough when the race started to head out. I left maybe 10 minutes after the race started and made the first turn point with plenty of altitude. Flying toward Murray Cudgewa I had a nice low save but ended up plenty high and on glide to the turn point. There was sink than I expected getting there and I was low just after hitting the turn point. A few turns low on the hill and I was soon maneuvering to land on the same field I landed at the day before. Two hours and thirty minutes in the air and only two turn points.
Cam and Sabrina were just a few minutes ahead of me and managed to make that point and get back up. Cam managed to tag Thowgla coming back and glide short of the goal.
I ended up 32nd out of 42 overall and 8th out of 11 in my wing’s performance class. Flying was great even though I didn’t score the points I wanted. Last year I did better on points even though I don’t think I flew nearly as well. Go figure.
I flew with the GoPro camera mounted in the wing looking down at me today. Matt, the Swiss pilot flying with our team, loaned me a mount he had made. It works well and taking pictures every 5 seconds I had 1800 pictures to choose from.
Mary Beth picked me up after landing and we headed over to the airport wait to wait for Cam to land but unfortunately he didn’t make it to goal.
We had a nice dinner at the Bottom Pub followed by an awards ceremony.
Tomorrow we’ll have breakfast with Heidi and Cam before doing laundry, packing, and maybe flying if the weather permits. Then back to Manilla for a week to work on cracking the 100K cross country barrier.
Sunday February 26, 2012
This is a no fly day. Rain and overcast. I was hoping to fly today but nose needed a break from the sun anyway.
Breakfast with Heidi, Cam, and Sabrina followed by laundry, packing, and doing computer things. Lots of pictures to edit and post. Mary Beth used her free pizza award prize for spotting and correctly saying Emu at the pilots briefing a couple of days ago. We helped Sabrina with her arrange accommodation reservations on Monday and will drive her to the bus stop tomorrow.
It’s pretty amazing what you can do on the internet and with E-mail as far as managing your finances. It makes things pretty easy when you travel. Online statements and electronic banking are great. The only thing I worry about is someone stealing my computer and cracking my passwords.Tomorrow it’s on to Manilla.
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| Heidi's picture of a sunset at our motel |
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