HGFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 19 July | August 2019 The Wings out West competition made a hurried change of plans in the lead up to this year’s event, 13 to 17 March 2019, to find an alternative launch paddock. The owners of the previously used property had fallen on difficult times and it was right to move the launch paddock to another property a few more kilometres west of the Trundle Showground headquarters. This was another stark reminder of the reality of farming in western NSW. Wings out West competitors got to see this first hand and were amazed at the resilience and remaining good humour of the local community. Our thanks to Matt Aveyard and his family for hosting the launch paddock. Prior to the event, Rob Couper and I were invited to the local school in Trundle to demonstrate paragliding. Over a couple of hours, we managed to nearly ‘launch’ some grade 3 to 12 kids – or at very least give them a sense of kiting the wing. The next day saw the arrival of the Wings out West competitors and the official practice day. This year’s field of 35 included six NZ pilots and when interviewed by ABC radio prior to event, I predicted a NZ win. Practice day was conducted in good conditions. The weather was kind to us during the competition, with tasks set on all four days, but with Task 3 being cancelled by the Safety Committee soon after launching began due to threatening overdevelopment and subsequent thunderstorms. We were the only disappointed people in town as the rest of the community was celebrating some much needed rain. Still, we weren’t too disappointed as the competition was decided on the basis of three out of four competition days with some interesting and challenging tasks. It would seem that the Trundle area is a consistently reliable XC location in the NSW flatlands. The task committee did another great job with all tasks scoring high – an indication of the task challenge for the competing pilots. Many made A couple of steps and away Photo: Melanie Heather Pilots waiting to launch Photo: Andy Spierer