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

 

Day 2

Another good day in Dalby.

The weather forecast was for a similar day to yesterday.

Allan set a speed task for all classes today, venturing out west to where it is wet, but then it is wet just about everywhere, its only the degree of wetness that varies.

Some pilots had good runs other not too good.

Robert spent the afternoon running a shuttle service back from Chinchilla.

Tomorrow’s weather looks a little more interesting.

 

 

Ralph

 

 

 

Day 1

The first competition is over and the scores are on soaring spot.

The second day is always  better than the first and gridding and launching went really well.

The Dalby Herald reporter came out to see the launch and the WIN TV crew came out and got some good footage and showed a good segment on the local WIN news tonight.

The sky look picture perfect although pilot reports were that it wasn’t all as good as it looked.

 

Ralph

 

Practice day

Practice day is over, tomorrow we start on the serious stuff.

This morning we had the initial briefing and official opening by the Mayor Ray Brown.

50 pilots launched and all but one came home.

Gridding was the usual first day effort and tomorrow will undoubtedly be better.

We launched on runway 22 which is never easy.

Most pilots were home fairly early.

At 5.30 we had the Australian launch of the new JS-1 glider.

 

Ralph

 

Sunday

It occurred to me when I got home last night that I hadn’t put anything on the blog. It was a busy day.

We now have 50 pilots here, it looks like we will have a final field of 53.

There was a lot of registering and weighing yesterday.

Graham, John and Narelle put in a big effort in the Dalby Air Maintenance hangar to weigh over 40 gliders.

We launched 36 gliders, some attempted the task, some turned back as it all got a bit damp and blue out west.

Val arrived in WPS mid afternoon and immediately started towing.

Late in the day Lex arrived back in TOJ after towing all day at Warwick for the Air Cadets.

Steve is due here this morning with SPA from Caboolture.

Last night we had the welcome function at the Country Club Hotel, one of our sponsors.

We had 70 people there who enjoyed an excellent meal.

DDSC president Pam Kurstjens welcomed everyone to the 49^th Multi-class nationals.

On behalf of all the sponsors Helen Wood from TMS Consulting wished everyone a safe and successful competition.

Official practice day today.

Initial briefing at 9.00, followed by the official opening by the Mayor of Western Downs Region, Cr Ray Brown at 9.30.

 

Ralph

 

A good day for most

20 pilots launched and most had seemed to have pretty good flights.

There was plenty of cu with cloud base around 6000ft.

We now have 40 pilots here and some have registered and been weighed.

Importantly the bar has now been set up.

Bob Flood and Leon did a great job connecting up all the water pipes so pilots can fill up with water tomorrow.

Lex and Smokey flew Brad down to Armidale so he could ferry IGR back to Dalby.

Des Bartz, after towing all day at DDSC, ferried MLR to Dalby.

We now have 3 tugs for tomorrow and with more pilots wanting to launch we will need them.

Allan plans to set a task for tomorrow so that those who are here can have an unofficial practice day.

 

 

Ralph

 

 

 

Saturday

We had a quick briefing at 9.00 to get everyone airborne.

Robert is towing in SWR and is very busy.

IGR is still in Armidale but the weather down there has improved and we will be off to get it soon.

Weighing is underway and pilots are registering.

Looking out the window there is blue sky and a lot of cu.

With the wind and sun the ground is noticeably dryer than yesterday.

 

Ralph

 

 

 

A quiet afternoon

After my initial enthusiasm this morning, the sky slowly clouded over and only one pilot launched.

About half the pilots are here now, although some only arrived late and are yet to rig.

Bob Flood has laid out the tie down area and is working on the water reticulation.

Grant and I inspected all the airfield and while it is drying out, there are many rough areas to beware of.

The marquee has been erected, the portable toilets, tables and chairs delivered, and the hangar emptied out and readied for use as the briefing area and bar.

The new ropes made up by Lex are here, the wine for the day winners is here and the perpetual trophies are being returned.

SWR has been used here for towing all week.

IGR is due to arrive from Armidale on Saturday morning and MLR on Sunday morning.

The other 3 tugs will be here late Sunday or early Monday morning.

The official opening by the Mayor of the Western Downs Region, Cr Ray Brown, will be on Monday morning.

 

Ralph

 

 

 

Its all happening

The competition office has now moved from Brisbane to Dalby.

The airfield is being mowed and rolled.

About 15 pilots are here all though they aren’t rushing into the overcast skies.

There has been no rain for a couple of days and it is slowly drying out.

The army sent a Blackhawk over which has been hovering over the runways to help dry them out.

 

Ralph