HGFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 3 September | October 2018 27 January, Day 1 A light wind day with decent clouds had pilots make very different XC route decisions to maximise their distances in the conditions. Some chose straight line, others three turnpoints around Lake Keepit, and a few even attempted a long out and return. The top three flew one of each for very similar distance outcomes. A few areas in the region had light overdevelopment, resulting in localised showers which affected the following day. 1 Godfrey Wenness Omega X-Alps2 175km 2 Jan Tupy Zeno 166km 3 Xavier Girin Zeno 148km Sport Class: Richard BinsteadCayenne5 139km Fun Class: Keo Phetsaya Epsilon7 75km 28 January, Day 2 The forecasted overdevelopment due to moisture left from the previous days, had most pilots taking a day off, but 54 of the 164 pilots flew anyway and carefully navigated around some larger cumulus with rain showers, heading north toward Barraba and Bingara. Not an epic day, but some technical (and in some cases, bold) cross-country nevertheless. The more experienced pilots made the most of it, as expected. 1 Jan Tupy Zeno 102km 2 Eddie Kumsoz Zeno 86km 3 Xavier Girin Zeno 71km Sport Class: Marek Jura Cayenne5 63km Fun Class: Alex Chapman Mentor4 20km 29 January, Day 3 Early cu’s and easterly winds had everyone excited for a potentially big day. BIG Monday was forecast a few days earlier, and it lived up to expectations with a 371km (straight, 391km 3TP) new site record and multiple 250km plus flights. Light east wind and a slow tricky section around the damp Narrabri-Wee Waa blue hole required a detour and meant that the Aussie record was safe. Great conditions were had later in the day with 15 to 20km/h tailwinds and a sky full of clouds at 3000m. The day winner, and new Mt Borah site Manilla XC Camp 2018 Manilla welcomed 164 pilots from 20 nations to the annual XC Camp event. After some great flying in the week leading up to the event pilots were pumped as the forecast predicted some record days ahead. by Godfrey Wenness Late evening climb on the way to 230km on Day 4 Photos: Godfrey Wenness Dry lands and red dirt on Day 3