First published on the Waikerie Gliding Club blog
February 4th, 2013
Well we have a strong team of Waikerie pilots at Horsham week 2013; Four gliders and one crew. Grant Hudson has joined Craig Peter and Greg. Our Solo crew member extraordinaire John Ridge does everything from inspect pilots rooms to ensure close liaison with the comps director for the latest changes to the rules. Craig was in front after two days of competition but another look at the handicaps now places Craig in second place in the 18M class. After two days of coming second Grant is in the lead by 25 points consistency counts. If you would like to follow the scores here is the link https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/horsham-week-2013/ or go to Horsham week gliding competition web site.
It was a good days flying Sunday 3/2/13 with the RASP totally wrong predicting brown and low thermal heights all day. The day turned out to be a good Q day with 5 to 8 kts to over 7 thousand feet. We will see what day 3 brings a longer task I think maybe 400 for standard.
February 6th, 2013
Monday was cancelled after 2 hours sitting on the grid – a few pilots were unhappy with the wait and had started to pull their gliders off the grid. Subsidence from the high over head put a cap on the day.
Day 3 turned out to be a good blue day and standard class had a 360k racing task. Greg had a good day averaging 110kph. Peter lost his LX8000 nav instrument on the final part of the final glide home possibly due to a failed battery. Grant outlanded 15k near the 1200ft radio mast to the east of the aerodrome. Craig had the best day winning in 18M/Open Tony Tabart coming second. Results on soaring spot.
February 7th, 2013
What a day it was. The best gliding I have experienced in 36 years. The winner in Standard Class was Peter Buskins from the Beaufort gliding club at Bacchus Marsh with a speed of 143.9 kph over 500 kilometres. Grant claimed second spot with an average speed of 127.9 kph. Greg a very reasonable 120 kph for a 5th place. For those following us on Soaring Spot you will see some good results. Not many points separate the pilots; Craig missed 1st place by 0.5 kph averaging 138.9 kph and that speed was achieved over 600 kilometres. We were climbing to 13,500 feet in huge wide thermals with climb rates over 10 knots and we had 14 to 15 knots on the averager for several turns during the day. A maggot race showed the winning pilots deviated under the best clouds and did not waste any time in pushing on under them, gaining or at least maintaining height over regular glides of 100 kilometres.