HGFA Skysailor Magazine

6 SKY SAILOR July | August 2019 and on course… albeit with a little less pressure. It was just after lunchtime on Sunday when the scorer approachedme on the hill and said, “It appears some of the Queensland scores were duplicated on the previous days. I have corrected these now and, sorry to say, the scores this morning were incorrect and the overalls will be much, much closer!” I quickly scanned launch to assist any remaining Queensland pilots into the air when the organisers closed launch due to a helicopter coming in to transport an injured free flyer to hospital. In the end, the organisers deemed the day invalid for scoring purposes, since close to half the competitors never had the chance to launch into XC conditions. After the helicopter departed, conditions had switched to the west and most pilots enjoyed a late afternoon boat around, landing back at HQ. As the sun hit the horizon, those who were back at HQ early enjoyed some cool refreshments while watching the caravan of pilots gliding in from the mountain with a glorious orange glow illuminating the evening sky behind them. Word had spread around camp about the scoring ambiguity earlier in the day, adding to the suspense that the trophy could go either way. Whilst ‘we’ pit this event as ‘Mate against Mate, State against State’, the general camaraderie between all pilots highlights how privileged we are to do what we do… fly! Celebrating each other’s achievements, no matter how big or small, as we continue to expand our knowledge is a common theme throughout each State of Origin. Okay, so the organisers were stalling with the result… C’mon, who won? And the winner of the 2019 State of Origin is: Queensland! Congratulations to Malcolm Hughson for finishing third overall, Jaevis Chen fourth, and Sarah Allen for winning the Women’s Class and finishing fifth overall. Huge thanks to the entire Queensland Team, including the families that came along to support and retrieve. To Molly, who did a fantastic job with the team shirts and co-ordinating retrieves. Special thanks to the team masseuse. (I did tell everyone about this service, didn’t I?) Also, thanks to the Newcastle Club and Manilla Paragliding for hosting this event. Second placed ‘The Fantastic Four': Ben Webb, Jeremy Goble, Malcolm Hughson, Colin Moore, David Bussenschutt Photo: Tex Bec Photo: Ken [ned@fastphotos.net] Team QLD Photo: Ken Hurley State of Origin 2019: Queenslander!