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'97 STATE COMP REPORT
by Derek Wagner

The Site: Wyalkatchem: A town, out in the Central Wheatbelt, 2.5 hours North East of Perth. The competition was organised and hosted by the Dalwallinu Hang Gliding Club (now Western Soarers HGC) with Jonathan being elected meet director and scorer. He did an excellent job considering that he received very little notice. There is a tow paddock and an airstrip, just outside the town, which caters for most of the wind directions. Just about all of the pilots were staying in the local barracks which the DHGC use most flying weekends.

Practise Day

There were two aero-tow teams of ten members which were chiefly made up of the "Dally" club and a few pilots who had come down from Newman. Dave Wellington and I had teamed up to form the Avon Valley Hang Gliding Club reps and the only car towing team. Initially I thought being the only car towing team would leave us with a distinct disadvantage.

As it turned out with the other teams having 10 team members they were messed around a bit with re-flights. We on the other hand were able to launch when we felt like it and if we bombed out didn't have to wait more than one tow before a re-flight. The aero-tow teams had a turn-around of between 5-8 minutes which set you up with at least an hour wait before your next tow. The 3rd member of our team was Stu Mac. A fellow HG pilot, and driver of note, also from the Avon Valley club. Our team was aptly named the Outcasts as we were always stuck in a corner of the paddock away from the other teams.

Most of the pilots spent the day testing out tow systems and tow ropes. The day was clear until the afternoon when the sky started to overdevelop with afternoon thunderstorms. We all had a few test launches and then raced along the edge of the storm to land back at town (15km away) before the rain arrived.

Amazing ..no rain for 4 months …organise a hang gliding competition and it rains.

Day One - Cancelled

We woke up to totally overcast skies and drizzle. Generally just grim. At the pilots briefing (which takes place at the hotel - before you go out to the paddock) the weather basically dictated that the days task would be cancelled. Great Start !!! Most of the pilots took the opportunity to drive back to Perth to drop off wives, girl-friends and groupies.

Day Two - Task 1

The sky was the typical Perth summer colour. Clear and blue. Pilots headed out to the paddock after attending the briefing at the Whylie Hotel. The day didn't look that wonderful and the temp trace indicated that we wouldn't be getting terribly high. Nevertheless most pilots wanted to get out there and fly.

With the wind direction being North Eastly a task of 78km was set. A race to Grass Valley and the window opened at midday. The aero-tow teams started launching immediately and we soon realised it was going to be difficult to get away by the number of pilots bombing out. Dave and I waited until we saw pilots starting to climb before we launched.

Dave launched at 13h00 and managed to dribble away in a very weak thermal. Five launches later I also managed to get into a reasonable thermal (much to the delight of a fatiguing tow drive - Stu). We drifted off into no mans land just trying to hang onto whatever lift we could find. Gliders were scattered all over the ground … testifying to weak conditions. Listening to the chatter on the radio indicated some fun retrieves. Max height gain for the day was 2000' agl … definitely not a boomer. Dave Lines won the day with a distance was 63km. Not to shoddy considering the conditions. Second was Trevor Gynell, a novice pilot from Newman.

Task 1 Results
1. Dave Lines
2. Trevor Gynell
3. Andrew Humphries
4. Derek Wagner
5. Andy Sanders
6. Mark Stokoe

Day Three - Task 2

Again the typical clear sky day but with eastly winds. The task committee selected a race to Goomalling 67 km away. Most pilots got away relatively quickly and the day produced some good thermals and much better height gains than the previous day. We were getting heights of 7000'agl. Seven pilots made it to goal and there could have been more if the sea breeze hadn't come through and turned a crosswind task into an almost direct into wind task later in the day.

Andrew Sanders (WA) of the Sky Junkies team blazed in with an average speed of over 40km/hr. He was followed by a British pilot Shaun Wallace in second.

Task 2 Results
1. Andy Sanders
2. Shaun Wallace
3. Derek Wagner
4. Dave Wellington
5. Mark Thompson
6. Dave Croal

Day Four - Task 3

We woke to strong NE winds in the morning and we thought that the day would be blown out. The forecast was for East winds and the task committee elected to set the task later out in the paddock …everyone would the notified by radio prior to the window opening. The wind direction settled into a NNE and a task was set as a race to Quairading. A total distance of 90 km.

The heat in the paddock was really oppressive and a number of pilots, including myself, were taking serious strain. Repeated tows wasn't fun anymore. There was very good cumulus development and a number of pilots made it to cloudbase at 9500'-10000'ft agl. Aaaah so nice to be cool. Dave and I could almost hear the envy in Steward's voice as we relayed positions and heights to him. This was the best day, judging by the number of pilots making it to goal. Dave Wellington was one of the first out of the paddock and arrived into goal shortly after Andrew Humphries. There were 13 pilots in goal with Andrew winning the day with an average speed of 54km/h.

Task 3 Results
1. Andrew Humphries
2. Dave Wellington
3. Shaun Wallace
4. Daryl Speight
5. Derek Wagner
6. Andy Sanders

We had been joined by fellow Avon Valley pilot, David Fowler, who came up to do some free flying during the competition. David got anyway on his tow and made it to the Cunderdin, Tammin road with a distance of approx. 50km.

Day Five - Task 4

Again we had a scorching hot day. We were even battling to sleep at night and had to resort to the "Ol wet towel over the bod" during the night. The fridges at the barracks were not coping with the demand for cool water and the freezers were acting more like fridges than doing what they were supposed to.. Out it the paddock it was even worse. Even in the shade it was sweltering.

The task was a Race to Kondinin a distance of 165 km to the SE of the paddock. This was to be the longest task of the comp. The day looked very good and there were cumulus popping all over the place from early morning. Dave took the first launch but didn't manage to get away first time. Eventually Dave Wellington and Dave Fowler got away and we could hear other pilots talking over the radio about being at cloudbase - 13500'agl. I battled to get out of the paddock and eventually had to scrounge an aero-tow off one of the other teams. Something I did notice with the aero-tow teams was that if a pilot bombed out a few paddocks away the trike would pick him up and aero-tow him back to the paddock. Veeeerry handy !!! All pilots bar two managed to get away and do some distance.

There was really good cloud development and getting close to cloudbase wasn't too much of a problem. Eventually the same cloud development put a huge area between Tammin and Kellerberrin into shadow. This forced a number of pilots down around Tammin. Dave was also slowed up here as he hung back with what he had until things started looked better further head. A number of the other teams flew quite far East and were also grounded along with Dave Wellington when the Sea breeze came through. No-one made it to goal and Dave Croal won the day with a distance of 130km. There were some very late retrieves and most crews didn't make it back until much later that night.

Task 4 Results
1. Dave Croal (130km)
2. Shaun Wallace (116km)
3. Andrew Humphries (109km)
4. Mark Thompson (109km)
5.Dave Wellington (103km)
6. Darryl Spreight ((90km)

Day Six - Task 5

The wind was a howling SE on Friday morning and after the long previous day most of the crews didn't head out until that saw the Outcasts starting to make moves towards the paddock. At this Stage Dave was leading. The points were so close it was anyone's competition. The team score had us just in the lead and there was already a bit of grumbling about the number of team members in the Outcast team. The wind in the paddock was gusty and pretty strong. There was a reluctance to rig until Kiwi Dave started which forced the other hopefuls to follow suit. The wind strength increased during the morning and most pilots dropped their gliders flat. Eventually Dave couldn't take the waiting anymore.

The task had been set as a race to Ballidu ..a distance of 95km. Dave launched got away on his first tow. There was a flurry of activity from the other teams as they started launching as not to loose sight of him. I launched after Dave and also got away in a reasonable thermal. Having an experienced driver like Stu at the end of the line made the strong wind tow really quite easy. The thermals were suprisingly consistent and not broken up as badly as what we were expecting for such a strong wind day. No-one got very high and not many pilots got much higher than 3700agl. It was interesting watching the pilots ahead drifted across the Salt lakes with little more than 500-600 ft agl on the clock. It was even more interesting when Mark Thompson and I drifted over a section with less than 400 ft agl. No-one made goal.

Task 5 Results
1. Daryl Spreight
2. Mark Thompson
3. Dave Wellington
4. Phil Knight
5. Gordon Marshal
6. Derek Wagner

Day Seven - Task 6

Again an SE wind dictated a cross wind task to Goomalling. The wind was a lot lighter than the previous day so pilots were rigged fairly early and eagerly waiting to launch. More than 75% of the field got away although the height gains were pretty much the same as the previous day. There was very little cloud. It was a very slow day and only one pilot (Daryl Speight) made it to goal with an average speed of 24 km/hr. The rest of the field was pretty much spread out over the course from Wyalkatchem to Goomalling. There was tales of many a low save during the day. Ironically most of them happened just over the grave yard west of Wylie ????

Task 6 Results
1. Daryl Speight
2. Mark Thompson
3. Trevor Gynell
4. Dave Wellington
5. Dave Lines
6. Andrew Robinson

Day Eight - Task 7

The final day. The morning briefing had everyone clustered around the scoreboard. It was really close. Dave Wellington was leading with Daryl Speight right on his tail. Third was myself with only 57 point between 3rd and the next 6 pilots. An interesting final day lay ahead!!!

The forecast was for a very similar conditions to the day before. The same task was called. Race to Goomalling. Now it was a case of who launched first. Dave and Daryl where both watching each other and launched pretty close together. Both pilots managed to get away but Daryl dropped out at Wyalkatchem. A tug was send to collect him and he re-launched again. At this stage Dave had landed a few clicks east of Dowerin and Daryl had to virtually just get past him to win. One pilot made it to goal with an average speed of 25kph. Definitely not a fast day. Margot had arrived up for the weekend and did some towing. Stu Mac didn't waste any time getting onto the end of the tow line. He landed 6 km short of goal and would have finished in the top 5 for the day had he been competing.

Task 7 Results
1. Andrew Robinson
2. Mark Thompson
3. Shaun Wallace
4. Andrew Humphries
5. Dave Lines
6. Trevor Gynell

Prize giving was held at the Wylie Hotel. A great meal was laid on along with a live band. Most pilots ended up spending the night over as it was late before the prize giving was held. During the prize giving the team results indicated that the Outcasts had won but were disqualified for not having enough team members. This let the Sky Junkies win for the 6th year in a row. Dave Wellington won the individual prize to make sure the trophy stayed with the Avon Valley Club for yet another year.

Final Results
1. Dave Wellington
2. Daryl Speight
3. Mark Thompson
4. Andrew Humphries
5. Shaun Wallace
6. Derek Wagner
7. Dave Croal
8. Dave Lines
9. Andy Sanders
10. Andrew Robinson

It was a great competition, very relaxed and more like an opportunity for pilots to extend themselves and beat their own personal records. There were all levels of pilots flying and I would seriously recommend that new and up and coming pilots attend this type of competition. It will improve your flying skills and confidence without the pressure that major competition might produce.