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On the first completed task, Lukas Bader had borrowed some flight computer and
didn't realize that it was set to miles instead of kilometers. He therefore
waited for the third start outside the start cylinder. In fact he was outside
the start cylinder twelve minutes before the first start time. Under some rules
(not those used here, but ones advocated by Attila) he would have scored a zero
(as in a Category 1 competition). But we are more forgiving and just added
twenty four minutes to his start time and finish time and then scored him based
on those times. This works with OzGAP 2005, but not with GAP 2002.

I looked at the CAPE forecast,
http://ozreport.com/ozweather.php,
http://blipmap.walsys.net/NEWSOUTHWALES/blipmap.htm, and basically it showed
that there would be thunderstorms to the north of Narromine, quite a ways from
us, but that we shouldn't have too many concerns in the local area. No need to
go to the north though, even with the reasonably strong southwest winds, if we
wanted to stay out of harms way.

The forecast also showed good lift and cu's to the east (just east of Forbes)
with cloud base at 9,000'. The surface temperature was predicted to be mild at
32 degrees Celsius. It would have to get to 42 to cause thunderstorms locally.

The task committee didn't want to send us downwind to the danger area so they
came up with a local task.

I hate going to Grenfell to the south because of some bad experiences going down
near the turnpoint. I suggested a 5 KM radius turnpoint which would allow us to
stay on the hill sides before Grenfell and that suggestion was gratefully
accepted by the task committee members who had similar feelings. We also wanted
a 5 km turnpoint at Eugowra to keep us near the hills to the east. A 142 km
task.

The sport class task was the same minus Grenfell.

Despite my misgivings when I was handed the task committee member names (Gerolf,
Attila, Jonny) and they've done well.  I'm am very pleased with their work and their process. They take
care of everything and I have only minor input. They all get along well, which I
wasn't sure would be the case.

The last two legs would be down wind, which I like. The winds were forecasted to
not be that strong, so it shouldn't have been much of an issue.

With CASA here to inspect us, we had one tug down as unregistered, so I lined up
early to make sure that I got into the air in time. I was the first one to get
pulled up.

There were lots of high level clouds causing shading, and there was a cu-nimb to
the north east. It looked good to the south and southeast, but not so good to
the east and north east. The thunderstorm was a lot closer than the forecast
called for.

With all the shading from the upper level clouds the lift was weak in the 10 km
start cylinder. Despite that, in the over the hour and twenty minutes I spent
before the first start window, I managed to work myself up to 7,400' just before
the first clock at 1:30 PM. I wasn't at cloud base and there were pilots above
me, and we still had two and a half kilometers to glide to get to the edge of
the start cylinder, but it looked good enough to me for a start.

Ricker and I took off with a few other pilots that I could see, but apparently a
lot of pilots took the first start time. Larry got stuck in the launch line and
he wasn't able to get to us in time and had to take the third start time (there
were four, as we are down the one tug).

It was only 5 KM to the first thermal averaging 350 fpm. Not strong, but not
weak either. There was a cu above it to mark its location. There were plenty of
cu's ahead. 

The lift improves as I get further south and climb back to 7,400' at 400+ fpm.
Just before the hills north of Grenfell, I fly through 900 fpm down to find a
core under a cu that really turns on as I tighten it up. It gets to over 1000
fpm on the twenty second averager and a Wedge Tail Eagle joins me. I figure that
we are so high that I am no threat to his territory and he doesn't attack me,
just shares the screaming lift. We climb to over 9,000'. It is cold up there for
my fingerless bicycle gloves and two long sleeve undershirts.

It's a quick glide around the turnpoint at Grenfell (thank goodness the task
committee moved it out to the foothills) then back to the eastern rocky
ridgeline that heads toward Eugowra. I find 400 fpm over the rocks that gets me
back to almost 8,000' then head down the ridgeline looking for the next strong
lift.

I have to go to the end of the ridgeline and out front a bit to the west to get
under the good looking clouds. The wind is 5 mph out of the southwest and the
faces of the hills are facing west into the sun, so it looks like a good spot. I
find 500+ fpm to 9,400'. I'm beginning to shiver a bit.

I've seen Dave Shields, an English pilot, a few times in the air during this
task, and I see him again (he's flying Jonny's Red Bull glider), along with a
few others, as I head north northeast toward Eugowra under a nice cloud street
that I had lined up while on the ridgeline. With the cu's lined up and a few
pilots around to help out I don't get below 6,600' as I make the turnpoint and
head for the tree covered hills between Eugowra and Cudal.

I'd seen Dave take off low as three of us got to over 9,500' just before the
turnpoint, and had to fight to stay out of the cloud, but there he was again
high just past Eugowra, just below me.

Over the hills Dave and I found a strong thermal (500 fpm) 31.5 km from the
goal. We climbed to 9,300' before we went on our final glide. Dave really pulled
in and went ahead. I was going over the ground at 55 to 70 mph with a 9 mph tail
wind, which I thought was fast enough.

I was getting L/D ratios of over 18  and the 6030 was telling me that I was
3000' over best glide. But I was 20 miles out and I was flying very fast, so it
was hard to be sure that that was true. I could see  Dave now way ahead of
me but way low.

And ahead it was black from the cu-nimb to the north. The goal was still in the
sunshine, but right north of it what the shade for miles to the east, west and
north. Wesley later told me that the task was almost stopped because they could
see the thunderstorm on the radar between Eugowra and Cudal. Now it was to the
north and dying, but I wasn't sure that that was happening.

Almost half way there we left the hills and suddenly my L/D went down to 8. The
tail wind had turned into a head wind from the cu-nimb to the north which was
now shading the goal. I put the bar back to a more relaxed position and started
flying at best glide. I did the last 10 km in that position, coming over the
imaginary goal line (it didn't show up) at 200'. Turning and landing in thick
wet alfalfa.

Dave Shields raced himself into the ground short of goal. I noticed that he
stopped about 10 km from goal and started looking for lift. I passed him a
little higher, but not much higher to his right.

The flight on the
HOLCor on the
XContest.

There were a few pilots at goal but many more followed and maybe forty pilots
arrived there. I haven't got the URL for the results yet.