Day 10

A task was set for all classes and all pilots landed back at Dalby.

56 people attended the presentation dinner at the Dalby RSL.

The champions are

Open Class       John Buchanan

18m Class         David Jansen

15m Class         Miles Gore-Brown

Standard Class Allan Barnes

Sir Donald Anderson Trophy      Chad Nowak

Speed Trophy                           John Buchanan

International Pilot’s Trophy         Grae Harrison NZ

State Teams Shield                   Queensland

bmag Trans Tasman Trophy       Australia

 

Apart from the international trophies, all winners were from Queensland.

It has been a challenging nationals for all concerned.

The final summary:

No one landed in a wet paddock

A safe competition with no gliders or pilots hurt.

The end of the competition marked 3 retirements from the competition scene, Graham Hennessey as scorer, Grant Harper as Safety Officer and myself as Contest Director.

 

Ralph

 

Day 9

A beautiful sky in Dalby today.

The paddocks are still very wet so we have set another run task, airfield to airfield.

Today’s task is for all classes so this should give us 4 competition days and therefore we have championship.

We are helpful of getting a competition day tomorrow as well.

Friday has been declared a no contest day in view of the forecast rain, of which we have all seen enough.

We are starting to wind down TOJ is on its way back to Warwick and hopefully SPA will soon be on its may to Caboolture.

The presentation dinner will bon Thursday evening at the RSL and we have about 50 people booked in.

No one is home yet, the first finishers are expected in about half an hour.

 

Ralph

 

 

 

Day 8

It didn’t really feel like day 8 after 4 non flying days.

The airfield had dried out enough to be able to operate.

We decided to launch open and 18m only and do a run task around the airfields.

12 gliders launched and all landed back at Dalby.

Some did good distances given the conditions, some did not.

All classes have now flown 3 days.

If we get a day for all classes tomorrow then we will have a championship with 4 contest days.

The prospects for Thursday are getting better but Friday still looks very wet.

 

Ralph

 

 

 

Days 6 and 7

If you want to know what’s happening I suggest you have a look at the weather page.

No flying yesterday or today.

A number of competitors have left for home early.

It’s a little difficult to know how many remain, but I think its less than 30.

There wasn’t a lot of drying yesterday and some showers this morning didn’t help.

But some strong winds and the occasional bit of sunshine have done wonders this afternoon.

The forecast for Friday is for a wet day so we potentially have 3 days remaining which will be enough to give us a championship.

The paddocks around Dalby are very wet and the only realistic task is a run task from landable airfield to airfield.

For that to be achievable we need usable convection to an adequate height.

The forecast for tomorrow is for convection but with strong winds which may make it untaskable again.

The outlook for Wednesday is better.

Standard and 15m classes have had 3 contest days so they only need one more valid contest day to make it a championship.

The open and 18m classes need 2 days.

Its still possible.

We’ll see what tomorrow’s weather brings.

 

Ralph

 

Day 5

The best that can be said about the weather today is that it hasn’t rained.

There has been heavy overcast all day with the sun breaking through occasionally.

The wind has been quite fresh which will have helped to dry out the ground.

 

Ralph

 

 

 

Day 4

A rather “damp” day in Dalby today.

Briefing was held in the marquee this morning as the tugs seemed reluctant to move out of the hangar.

It could have been something to do with the light rain that was falling.

A run task was set for the “pink” class, more commonly known as 18 metre, but it was cancelled at the end of briefing.

Day prizes and certificates were awarded to the winners of days 1, 2 and 3.

After briefing, a pilots meeting was held with the usual diverse range of views being expressed.

Unfortunately the rain got heavier during the day and the tie-down area is looking more like a lake.

Hopefully there will be better news tomorrow.

 

Ralph

 

 

 

Day 3

Today was a challenging day.

The forecast was for there to be a short soaring window and then showers and storms.

The task setting committee decided that there wasn’t enough time in the day to task all 4 classes, so a task was set for just standard and 15 m classes, a 2 hour AAT.

After a short briefing both classes were gridded and launching began at 10.45 into a very overcast sky.

Of the 26 gliders launched a couple landed back and had relights while others chose to land out not far from the airfield.

Most got around the task, with some variation in start times indicating that the time of starting was a very tactical decision.

As predicted, the storms developed later in the afternoon, but as I write this there has been no rain in Dalby, yet!

The Dalby Hanging Gliding Club hangar was hurriedly re-organised late this afternoon and is now home to 5 Pawnees.

Many pilots chose to de-rig.

 

Ralph