Central Districts Gliding Championships

18th – 25th February 2012

Practice Day Saturday 18 February 2012:
Contest Director David Davidson welcomed pilots to Waipukurau for a low key competition in the Hawkes Bay with a mixture of flat land and high country soaring. With the forecast for sunshine and light winds and the RASP model predicting good thermals from 1pm, six pilots arrived in time to fly a practice task. With gliders ranging from a PW5 to a Duo Discus, this gave the task setter Graham White a slight challenge. He set a task of Waipukurau – Mangaorapa – Gwavas – Ormondville – Kereru – Waipukurau with a radius of 10km for Gwavas and Kereru, 15km for Ormondville and 25km for Mangaorapa. Thermals were up to 5,500ft and 4 to 6kts with good convergences but plenty of sink in between lift. Jason Price, in a PW5, had his first contest outlanding in a paddock with plenty of bovine manure and had a bit of cleaning to do in the morning. Three pilots elected to land back after completing most of the task as the day died earlier than hoped except for the huge convergence towards Hastings where it was of no use. Tony van Dyk and Trev Terry completed the task just to show it could be done. They stayed well west for the last 2 legs where the locals say it doesn't work in those conditions, oh well there's always something to be learned.

Day 1 – attempt 1 – Sunday 19 February 2012:
With a forecast of overdevelopment early afternoon, the day was declared no contest to allow local flying which most pilots took the opportunity to do. It was possible to stay up locally and go north and south on the convergence line to about 30km north and south until 2pm then complete cloud cover shut down any remaining convection. The showers arrived mid afternoon so we spent the rest of the day telling tall stories. The day was rounded out with a great BBQ thanks to David Davidson, Margaret Keir and helpers.

Day 1 attempt 2 – Monday 20 February 2012:

There was no doubt about today right from the start - liquid sunshine on and off all day so the gliders got a wash on the pickets. Pilots and crews went off in different directions to see the sights of the region.

Day 1 attempt 3 – Tuesday 21 February 2012:

The weather forecast was doubtful for the day but noon came and convection started under a band of high cloud but was not enough to task so wait we did. With the gliders gridded, a task was set with launch planned at 2pm. Half way through the launch the convergence cloud to the west, which had been darkening, got really black and dropped the water it was carrying on to the airfield and the start area in a torrential down pour. This killed all lift in the area and so there was no choice but to cancel the day. While those on the ground sought cover from the rain, some of the pilots flying tested the rain flying ability of themselves and their gliders while returning to the airfield to land.

Day 1 attempt 4 – Wednesday 22 February 2012:

Again the weather failed to co-operate and no flying at all occurred.

Day 1 attempt 5 – Thursday 23 February 2012:

While the RASP forecast had held some promise and the rain stayed away, no task was possible so local flying was again declared. A strong westerly pushed a convergence line quickly east and by the time two pilots launched, it was out of reach so they only flew briefly which confirmed the day was no good as no lift could be found.

Day 1 attempt 6 – Friday 24 February 2012:

Finally, a contest day! There was wave today despite only an average prediction of wave by the RASP weather model. The wave developed up much better in the afternoon than expected at task setting time. The cloud closed over to 8/8ths at the Manawatu Gorge and stayed that way all day. The task should have allowed flights further south but controlled airspace was denied in the Dannevirke area and south to Woodville. There was no such problem in the Napier airspace to the north who were most helpful. Pilots enjoyed very fast flights if they could stay in the wave with a couple of wave jumps needed and distances of nearly 400km achieved.  In their first competition, both Jason Price and Tracy Austin landed out after falling out of the wave but still managed very respectable distances with Jason Price covering over 170km in a PW5 and Tracy Austin 133km in a Standard Jantar. In just his second contest, Jason Kelly completed his first ever task with a raw speed of 154.5km/h while Tony van Dyk recorded the fastest raw speed of the day at 219.8km/h with Graham White not far behind at 210.3km/h. The day also saw both Jason Price and Jason Kelly achieve 50km Silver Distances at over 150km/h average speeds, Jason Kelly his five hours after flying to after 6pm and Jason Price his Silver Height gain. It turned out to be a good day that was worth waiting for to make up for the preceding five.

With the retrieves completed, the day was rounded off with the championship dinner held that evening at a local sports bar, Skinny Mulligans, in Waipawa.

AAT Speed Task, Task time: 2 hours, Task: Waipukurau C – Dannevirke – Ngaruroro – Norsewood - Mangleton – Takapau – Waipukurau, Task length: 150.6km/408.5km.

Place	Name	Club	Glider Type	Reg	Task Start	Task Finish	Task Time	Average Ground  Speed	Distance	Points
1	Tony van Dyk	Hutt Valley	LS8	TD	13:55:34	15:43:53	1:48:19	219.8km/h	396.8km	883
2	Graham White	Gliding HB & Waipuk	LS8	XS	14:03:39	15:45:09	1:41:30	210.3km/h	368.0km	829
3	Trev Terry	Taupo	Duo Discus T	TT	13:53:22	15:46:22	1:53:00	185.7km/h	349.8km	688
4	Rolland van der Waal	Taupo	LS6 / 17.5m	VH	13:49:41	15:49:05	1:59:24	177.2km/h	352.6km	639
5	Jason Kelly	Gliding HB & Waipuk	LS4	NJ	13:55:07	15:50:53	1:55:46	154.5km/h	298.1km	508
6	Jason Price	Gliding HB & Waipuk	PW5	YP	13:58:56	L/O	n/a	n/a	172.8km	202
7	Tracy Austin	Taupo	Std. Jantar	ML	13:53:58	L/O	n/a	n/a	133.0km	155

Day 2 attempt 1 – Saturday 25 February 2012:

Yet again the weather was not favourable so the contest was declared at an end in the early afternoon with insufficient pilots able to stay for the “rain day” of Sunday. With the visiting gliders derigged, prize giving was held with the just one contest day having been achieved. Tony van Dyk retained the open class trophy while Jason Kelly was awarded the Club Class trophy.

Despite the weather, it was another low key friendly contest and a great opportunity to go flying in various conditions and learn from the more experienced pilots. Thanks must go to contest Director David Davidson and weather man, task setter and scorer Graham White along with the tow pilots Rod Wellwood and Neil Faulknor for their time and effort put into the event. Hopefully better weather and more pilots will feature in 2013.

Final handicapped scores

Place	Name	Club	Glider	Registration	Points
1	Tony van Dyk	Hutt Valley	LS8	TD	1,000
2	Graham White	Gliding HB & Waipuk	LS8	XS	896
3	Rolland van der Waal	Taupo	LS6 / 17.5m	VH	841
4	Trev Terry	Taupo	Duo Discus T	TT	831
5	Jason Kelly	Gliding HB & Waipuk	LS4	NJ	645
6	Jason Price	Gliding HB & Waipuk	PW5	YP	228
7	Tracy Austin	Taupo	Std. Jantar	ML	176