SAFA Skysailor Magazine

6 SKY SAILOR May | June 2020 Day 4 – 28 January The 11am briefing at Mt Borah West advised pilots that the light winds would be swirling though the region due to a slow moving trough. Initially W-NW, then SW-S at launch. Cloudbase started at 1800 and rose to 2600m by the end of the day with an almost perfect distribution of friendly clouds across the sky for most of the day. The XC direction was the ‘Classic Route’: north along the highway towards Bingara and beyond. However, the NE to NW winds in that area at the end of the day limited the possibility of bigger distances. Conditions below 1500mwere light and tricky in places, due to the still very moist ground from the previous day’s showers and storms. Above, climbs consolidated to become 3 to 5m/sec on average and quite smooth which was great for the more novice pilots. Flying ridges and high points was best early, until paddocks dried out later in the day. Best distances of 100 to 140km were to the north of Bingara and some flew back a few kilometres when the northerly wind became evident at lower levels. Many pilots flew PBs and their first 100km. 1. Norman, John, Aus, Ozone Alpina 3, Sport 140 2. Snowden, Dave, Aus, Flow Spectra, Comp 134 3. Guilbert, Stephan, Fra, Ozone Zeno, Comp 125 Day 5 – 29 January The trough over the region had been lingering for a few days, again creating a rotating wind effect over the course of the day. Pilots launched before midday from Mt Borah West into light westerlies with thermals which drifted initially SE towards Manilla but an hour later more NE towards Split Rock Dam. The expected southerly flow crept in mid-afternoon. Blue holes and blue lines were between the excellent clouds requiring patient thermal tracking especially below 1500m and in the blue where climbs were slow. Above 1500m climbs consoli- Day 5: Watching the launch gaggle for signs A keen new pilot Manilla XC Camp 2020