The forecast for today wasn't looking all to great and you could tell by the way people were getting ready that they were in no rush to get down to the launch point. And that's exactly the way we were spending the morning. With the glider ready to go I had plenty of time to sort out all the forms and paper work for the registration this afternoon and the scrutineering tomorrow morning. I registered without any hassles and received my pack of goodies with a comp t-shirt and a very nice comp jacket, not that it gets cold here at all except for the clear nights like tonight. 8:45 tomorrow morning PC is booked into for scrutineering where everything must be checked out and weighed and I must even demonstrate my bailout procedure. Do you know how to bailout of your glider in an emergency? .. Good. It's something to think about, especially when you are flying in the same block of sky with 99 other gliders before the start gate opens..
So today I launched later as that sky was starting to shape up. I wasn't in any rush to go anywhere in particular and after a few minor obstructions I was in the sky and running along, under some small CU. The sky was again much drier than yesterday but still there were cu to the north west and small rapid cycling Cu near the field. So naturally I headed off to the NW and even found that I was flying with other gliders for a change. I really need to work on my gaggle flying and thermal entry; with as many gliders that will be on the one task I will never be very far from a glider, even two or three! I haven't done this sort of flying before so it will be a very steep learning curve. But that's what I'm here for, to learn and to then act on what I've learnt to race faster then the others.
Today was again another step in my final glides with this glider and this airfield. It's still not as bad here as doing straight in approaches into Gawler but for me it is the fact that as my glides get longer and flatter, paddock assessment for the route ahead is very tricky when there are so many trees and forests blocking ground view along the shallow glide. Even airfield identification is very tricky when you are more then 10km out on a slow glide in the hazy sky. I am building on all of these learning points and can identify the field from much further out than my earlier flights. This alone makes me more confident with my glides as I have a visual reference earlier.
The spot tracker is working nicely now and Andrew is also learning about its rather not so reliable update timing. But today he got it pretty right and was able to get a few nice shots of my straight in. (Shame he missed my finish yesterday.. they don't have a 50' rule over here) But here you go; here's a few crumbs ;-)
Papa Charlie, good finish. Nice flying, son. Proud of ya!
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