Go Aussie Go

Task 1 of the competition did not disappoint. It was great to see that many of the locals and their children come to welcome the pilots into goal.

Pete (Aussie Team Manager) and JJ identified the Australian pilots as they approached to land - soon there were a crowd of local kids eager to run out and “High 5” their new heroes and friends. Many of the kids recognised the pilots from their previous fly in to the school last Thursday.

With Nick leading the way, it was great to see how our pilots shared their goal excitement with the kids. I felt proud to be associated with the team when seeing the smile on 7 year old Hugh McFarlanes’ face when he came back to tell his mum that he got to “High 5” with Heike and “she spoke to me Mum”. Mitchell Hannemann, only 5 years old, was excited to shake hands with James Lawson. The kids will remember this day.

A quick message was sent around to all the kids and they gathered patiently to have a group photo with all the Aussie Team.

Congratulations to all the pilots – a great result for task 1 – showing the power of teamwork.

Nard

The Australian Paragliding Team Drops into School…

Students from Stage 2 and 3 hurried to the High School after lunch on Thursday eager to meet the members of the Australian Paragliding Team competing in the Paragliding World Championship.

The high schools top oval became the landing paddock complete with a windsock. The Australian Team did not disappoint the students with messages from the UHF radios to the kids. Some pilots flew low greeting the students; others provide a brief display of mild acrobatics.

Once on the ground, the team members and other pilots who dropped in to meet the students, showed their equipment and instruments. The kids had the opportunity to feel the fabric from which the gliders are constructed. They were amazed by how thin the lines (strings) were and the weight that each line can hold. A few students experienced sitting in the harness while others were eager to assist with the carrying of the backpack.

A huge thankyou to the Aussie Team for their effort and enthusiasm to meet the students. Good luck Viv, Heike, Andrew, Craig C, Craig D, Brian and James.

Nard

Day 4 - 9:30

Rebrief at 11:30

Task 1

Start Gate – Halls Creek – Manilla (46km)

The day’s forecast was for isolated showers and thunderstorms, but the conditions turned out to be better than forecast. We assembled on the North launch for a task briefing but just as the window opened we heard reports of the West launch starting to come on. So the entire Aussie Team moved to the West launch and Craig Collings and Andrew took the risk and launched first. The rest of the team quickly followed and we established ourselves at cloud base (1700amsl) and went into a holding pattern for an hour as nobody wanted to lead out. Eventually Viv and Heike decided to start the task and soon after a gaggle of about 20 pilots (including all the male members of the Aussie Team) followed.

As we worked our way across the valley to the rubbish tip and found a climb I was surprised to see that none of the other 100 or so pilots hovering over the launch had started chasing us. The gaggle moved on and then split as some, including Craig C. and Andrew, went off to the right towards the sun and the rest of us went straight for the turnpoint. Our group got a bit of a jump but as we approached the turnpoint it slowed down and Craig C. and Andrew caught back up.

As we turned back for goal I lost track of the other pilots except for Heike who had found the climb for me at the turnpoint. My last climb was 8.5 km from goal and I took it to 1800m just to be sure. Unfortunately Craig D. and Brian dropped short of goal and it looked like Andrew was going to share the same fate, but he somehow managed to hit all the right bubbles over the last few hundred metres and landed on the goal line. During the final glide I was pleased to see a mega gaggle of 50+ pilots struggling towards the first turnpoint. Our team made a great decision to leave the start with the first group.



So, an excellent start for the team with 5 out of 7 team members in goal including both the girls.


From James

Rules (it's raining)

Team leader meetings at these big comps are always interesting, today (day 2) was up there - since GPS timing of tasks have been accepted there has been a problem using them for races. Apparently some GPS keep time differently to others. It has been proposed that one particular model can have a time 10 seconds in advance of others - that could mean that two pilots could race over the finish line absolutely together, however the pilot with GPS A could be recorded as being up to 10 seconds ahead of the pilot with GPS B. Ten seconds using RACE and GAP 2000 for scoring can add up to significant points when the pilots really should get the same points.

For this reason senior competitions prefer to have a physical goal line staffed by observers who manually time the first 15 pilots over the line. The pilot's manual time takes precedence to their GPS time.

Sounds good, a couple more staff to handle the timings but hey, this is a senior comp and money is not a problem. But, hang on a mo, what about safety. By making a physical line the end of the task and the race then we are asking the pilots to speed into goal as quickly as they dare, on a paraglider this means using speed bar and trimmers, often when the pilots are low, close to the ground. This is a significant safety issue as a comp wing collapsing on full speed close to the ground could be very dangerous.

Ok, one solution could be to have an end of speed section perhaps 1km before the goal - pilots would race through that 1km ring but would also need to have the height to keep on going to the goal, the idea here is that the racing would still be done but with much more height, the last 1km to goal would not be a part of the speed section but would need to be covered to for the pilots to win all their points.
Good solution, safety, safety - unfortunately we are back to the race section being timed by GPS and the the pilot with GPS A is smiling, consequently many senior comps stay with the dangerous race across a physical goal line.

The issue is known to the FAI and CIVL and apparently they have been looking into the problem. Perhaps time for them to stop looking and start acting. How about standardised GPS equipment confined to GPS which are known to have correct times or a list of excluded GPS which are known to have incorrect times. That then means no more unfair GPS time advantage so that then means everybody is happy with 1km end of speed section and no more dumb full speed into goal low to the ground (which can hurt).

One could also ask why aren't we using RACE and GAP 2002 as it handles this all much better (although not perfectly), so why are we using GAP 2000 - perhaps more tomorrow....

webby

Day 2

Day 2 was cancelled at 12 noon as the inclement weather was rolling in from Narrabri and there wouldn't be an oportunity to complete a task.

My new glider, Gin Boomerang 5 in Aussie colours Green and Gold has seen many changes since I received it four nights ago.

Gin and the Gin Team Pilots have been busy before the worlds triming the glider with all 40 odd Boomer 5 pilots haveing input in the final product. We now have got to a stage/glider that will be very competitive in this World Championships.

Check out the new Boomer 5 that was designed for Australian conditions in Aussie Colors.

Day 2

We awoke today to 95% cloud cover :-(.

It got a little more blue during the course of the morning for short periods of time, but with a big band of rain moving towards us from the west the task was cancelled at 12 noon. So, not even a trip up the hill today.

Time to get beaten (only just) in cards by Brian, and for a nice long bike ride later on.

Heike's Perspective of Day 1

Well, today finally arrived – day 1 of the worlds in Manilla - the opportunity to represent my country in my country. It’s been quite a journey getting here – lots of training both in the sky and on the ground, life decisions geared towards supporting the preparation, and life’s normal ups and downs along the way. It’s almost hard to believe it’s finally started – and better still, that I am quite calm and have no troubles eating breakfast! The preparations have paid off, and I feel ready.


The hill was busy, with more spectator’s than I’ve ever seen before at the Worlds. Pete, our dedicated team leader, and I spent some time talking about how he could best support me. Whilst I am flying better than ever, I’m also going through a period of being particularly nervous of conditions, which sees me at times just wanting to be safely on the ground – sometimes sensibly so, and sometimes a little earlier than is necessary! We came up with a plan which won’t disrupt the rest of the team, and I leave feeling grateful for his support.


The briefing was put back from 12.00 to 12.30pm and then a 48km race task set in the local area, due to a high possibility of thunderstorms developing later in the day. Good task from our fabulous task committee – Craig Collings (Australia), Kari Castle (USA) and Steve Ham (UK) – with a lot of input from Godfrey, no doubt. I got myself ready to launch pretty quickly, wanting to be up nice and high as early as possible – my stress levels tend to be lower up there, than in the midst of mega-gaggles!

I was the first person to be present in my particular queue (all those with a pilot number higher than 60), and walked straight onto launch, and set up right up the front, next to Craig C. The sky was building quite strongly, with some big clouds just behind launch – the clouds in the direction of the course line were still looking okay. By now others were on launch, including Brian and Craig D. Then the wind picked up on launch, without the usual lulls, and I was beginning to wonder if I wanted to launch in this or not. With only about 1 minute before the window was due to open, the launch was closed, due to the conditions, and about 3 minutes later the task was cancelled, due to the development over launch.


I’ve got to say I was relieved – for today, but even more so for the tone it sets for the competition – a competition where our piloting skills are tested, rather than our levels of courage, suits me.

Thanks to Brett Hardin for the photos.

Opening Ceremony

Opening day today under a hot sun and light wind. A procession through Manilla to the show ground, then an air display including the Australian aerobatic champion, a Roulette and an F-18 Hornet, followed by some country music and a fireworks display.
A grand turn out to cheer us all on our way, also an additional retrieve vehicle from the Army.

Great Conditions for Practice days

All the pilots competing in the World Champs beginning tomorrow have arrived over the past few days. The conditions on the practice days have been great with strong thermals and plenty of cloud development.
Personally I have taken the opportunity to try a less conservative style of flying (flying alone without the gaggle) and have found it quite difficult to make any advantage, but taking all the (tactical) risks. This has reaffirmed our team strategy for the first few tasks of the competition - "to be conservative and make the goal".

It is thought that many of the teams will adopt this approach at the beginning of the competition. As the competition continues some of the lower ranked pilots will push harder (to try and win days) and the speed of the flying will increase.

Craig Collings

Bright 321 training

The Bright 321 has finished with 6 rounds, the last with a cracker 58km race. A lot of threatening over development during the week so we had to stop 3 tasks but we were all way down the course line each time so they scored up well and fairly, results here. Photo swiped from Brett Hardin's blog (thanks mate)

A bit confused with CIVL and the FAI rule for stopping a task, they insist on a pilot in goal before you can stop a RACE task and score it, we have sought to change that at CIVL meetings for 2 years now and been rejected each time. Wonder what the reasoning is to insist on a pilot in goal?
The team is looking forward to getting up to Manilla and joining up with Andrew and Heike, see you guys soon!!

Lots of flying!

Hi from Manilla, where I've been for the last 5 days. I've had 4 days of flying in that time J - just what I needed after the Killarney comp where we unfortunately only had 2 valid tasks. Today was a 5 hour flight, from Mt Borah (east launch), with the hangies to Boggabri (the first turnpoint of their task – day 7 of the NSW Titles) and then back towards Manilla, landing 20km short when the sky started getting a bit big for my tired body and mind. 100km all up, flew parts of it with Kari (USA), Paul (UK) and Adi (India/Japan).

Am sad not to be in Bright for the 3-2-1 competition … my brother is getting married on February 14^th in Queensland … very romantic, but I do wish Valentines Day didn't coincide with the competition!! I'm not complaining though - weddings are special, and it's certainly been good to be getting the airtime here in Manilla.

Heike

News from Godfrey

He has spent the last 2 days driving checking out turnpoints and goals for the Worlds
"...where I have just been - 1800kms of my 2100kms drive was bone dead dry - even up in the New England where its normally lush - it was the driest i have ever seen it ! and those 300kms where it had some storm rain evident only had a tinge of grass growing...it will take a few months of steady rain to break this 5 year drought"

Bright is booming

After the wets of Manilla and Killarney I have scurried back to trusty Bright to prepare for the 321 and look for some hours on my new Gradient Avax SR7. Very bouncy yesterday as the NW and S converged, today the S was a little more settled and the day was good. We set a 100km FAI triangle at least 5 of us made it, perhaps more. Great day with good clouds and a base of 2600m. At least one of the flights are on http://www.paraglidingforum.com/modules.php?name=leonardo&op=show_flight&flightID=5126 . Conditions are always good before a comp, lets make the most of them.