SAFA Skysailor Magazine

4 SKY SAILOR May | June 2020 Day 1 – 25 January The first day of the Manilla XC Camp for 2020 had light winds and forecast overdevelopment in the region eventuate from mid-afternoon. Pilots flew from Mt Borah and generally kept their XCs along the ridges of the Manilla River valley and west towards Boggabri and Gunnedah where conditions were less likely to OD. All pilots used the three turnpoints to gain XC kilometres. Cloudbase was around 2000m, which helped them to cross some of the blue areas with no lift due to the previ- ous day’s isolated showers. The advancing OD from all round in the afternoon had everyone landing safely well before things got too risky. The top three, all in Sports Class, flew west 30km, then south towards Gunnedah to achieve 50 to 60km, while others stayed within the local Manilla area with flights around 20 to 40km. 1. Lacassin, Bertrand, Fra, S-C Mystic 4, Sport 61 2. Gorringe, Rowan, Aus, BGD Punk, Sport 58 3. Müller, Jürgen, Ger, Skywalk Chili 4, Sport 53 Manilla XC Camp 2020 The two-year drought leading up to the Manilla XC Camp 2020 had the 151 pilots from 16 nations who registered excited for big distances and records. However, Mother Nature had other ideas: Some welcome rain the week prior slowed down the conditions and potential. Flying was scored on seven of the eight days, although all eight days were flyable. by Godfrey Wenness Day 3 over Barraba with Andrew Bucknill All photos: Godfrey Wenness Day 3: West launch Launching on Day 2