Gary Osoba <<wosoba>>
writes:

Peter Bolt wrote: I guess I won't be the only one to point out
that, although the 318km task at Forbes was a great achievement, it wasn't the
longest comp goal ever made in Aus. In 2009 at the Dalby "Big Air" comp, several
pilots made the 338km goal . . .they were disappointed to find out soon
afterwards that they'd missed the world record by about 10km.!

I may be the only one to point this out but Peter is, of course, talking about
the longest distance to a goal which is declared in a contest, which is not an
actual world record. Although both of these are great achievements, along with
the Big Spring task with the longest of such flights, they all fall
significantly short of the world record for distance to goal in a flex wing.

For that distinction, the 517.23km flights to a named goal of Pete Lehmann and
Mike Barber from (where else?) the Zapata WRE were some 168% longer than the
recent Forbes task. And Manfred Ruhmer's 700.6km straight distance world record
flight from (where else) the WRE is more than twice as far as the the recent
Forbes task and the 2009 Dalby task combined. Think about that.

A good question to ponder is "Who is going to be the pilot to break these
official world records?" With so many great flights being had during the Forbes
task (and we hope more long tasks down under in 2011) several pilots who had
never gone truly far have now experienced the excitement that can only be had
when good conditions and good tailwinds prevail over a wide geography. For the
best of those conditions and outrageously long flights, we're hoping to have
some pilots step up to the plate this year at the WRE and see if they can
deliver. We are working to solidify the dates and arrangements and will, as
always, make that information available through Davis and the Oz Report.

For now, Jamie Shelden's making that long goal at Forbes in a LiteSport might
just have to take the cake. Her 308km Forbes flight was some 87% of the existing
women's world record held by Kari Castle from ... well, you know. Way to go,
Jamie, and all pilots who flew their longest flights ever that day! There's
nothing like truly long distances in free flight. I wish I were down there
flying with all of you.