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WA State
Soaring Championships 2003
by
Bomber
Daily Write-ups and Results:
Task 1 |
Task 2 |
Task 3 |
Task 4
Final Results: Overall |
Racing Class |
Intermediate
Class | Novice Class |
Teams
Comp
Other Links: Comp Info Page |
Dust Devil Shenanigans |
GPS Tips |
Results Archive
Article | Photo Gallery
Introduction
The Western Soarer’s Hang Gliding Club again hosted the Western Australian State Soaring Competition that combines both the sports of Hang Gliding and Paragliding in a single competition. The Western Soarers have hosted the Western Australian State Hang Gliding Comps since 1991.
This year’s competition was run in the same manner as all previous years with the emphasis being on providing competitors with a challenge, a chance for new pilots to make goal, whilst maintaining safety and a sense of humour.
The competition was hosted in Wyalkatchem (Wylie) situated 200Km North East of Perth. The competition format was towing with a mixture of ground and aero towing. Twenty-two pilots registered with a total of five teams poised to fight out the coveted “Andrew Humphries” memorial team’s trophy.
Pre-Comp Weather
The practise day provided Westerly winds and those white fluffy things that we don’t see to often in the West – think they’re called clouds. This provided the teams a chance to test their tow gear, break in the driver and get some much-needed airtime. The aero tow crew set a short goal to Mukinbudin (approx 75Km) with a couple of pilots making it in – Daz and Mister Happy had a falling out which resulted in Daz landing 2 Km short of goal.
With the tow gear tested and the driver broken in we were ready for day one of competition.
Day 1: Wylie – Ballidu 97 Km
It’s a windy day – approx 15-20 mph from the SE and we call a relatively short task to start the comp. We meet at the paddock at and the window is open at 12 noon.
It’s a blue day but climbs are good with a max height of 4,000 feet. The drift is strong and along the course line. I win the day getting into goal in 1hr 41mins. Second is Gary Wright, getting there quicker but losing out on departure and arrival points, Gordon Marshall is third in and Dave Wellington also getting to goal.
Mark Stokoe (Scourge) and Jon Orders (Spike) just miss out on goal landing short. Actually Mark landed and Spike arrived. Spike left his final turn too late and his A frame took most the impact. Upon packing his glider away he noticed blood on the ground and looked round for any injured animals – it was then he noticed blood pouring from his bicep – the upright had “spiked” him when it broke. Luckily Scourge was able to stop the bleeding and Spike was taken to hospital – after stopping at the pub for a beer. Spike’s arm was OK but some major bruising.
Most other pilots landed along the course line. After the first day the Scunge Buzzards (or Dave Wellington’s Dick Speeds and the Scunge Buzzards) were leading the team’s event.
Day 2: Wylie – Piawanning 105 Km
Jon Durand arrives – the question on everyone lips is will he be able to make up the points from missing the first day!
It’s another windy day – approx 15-20 mph from the SE and we call a 105 Km task to Piawanning. Again the window is open at 12 noon.
It’s another blue day but climbs are good with a max height of 3,800 feet. The drift is strong and along the course line to begin with but turns more to the south during the task. I fly with Dave Wellington and Phil Wainwright most the day until Phil gets unlucky and misses the next thermal. Dave & I get in just in time to watch Jonny set up his landing, and Gary land shortly after. The landing is a vertical decent. Scourge arrives later.
Jonny wins the day getting to goal in 1 hr 38 mins, followed by Gay Wright, Dave Wellington, me and Scourge.
Phil Knight is the next closest to goal and the winner for the day in Racing class.
Gary moves into first place and Jonny moves into 10th place. After the second day the Scunge Buzzards are still leading the team’s event.
Day 3: Wylie – Korrelocking – Calingiri - 101 Km
Just to keep things consistent the wind is from the east. We call a task to the west with a turn point at Korrelocking. The window is open by 12.30pm and most pilots decide to leave early. Climbs are good and we get to 4,000 feet over start gate. I’m keen to get getting and Phil and I leave, we get another thermal over Wylie and then glide to the deck – agggggghhhhhhh. We land a paddock from each other and watch another 5 pilots further back climb over our heads.
The day is a difficult one only 4 pilots get around the turn point – 3 of which have king posts. Jonny beats Gary by 200m to win the day. Mark McCumber is next with an amazing given the conditions only 7 km short of goal. Murray “Muzza” Woods also has a great flight landing past the turn point.
Day 4: Wylie - Ballidu 97 Km
This was the best day of the comp. The winds were lighter in the paddock from the SE. Due to a delay from a strip change the window opened later at 1.30pm.
Most pilots were keen to go. Thermals were either 800 up to cloud base or 200-300 up dribbles outs the paddock. We had clouds today, which were great – especially for Karl and Phil who had a life change cloud experience.
Climbs were going to 8,000 feet, which when combined with multiple sighting of military training jets made for an exciting day. We get 11 pilots in at goal with times from just under 2 hrs to just over 2hr 30 mins.
As we wait at goal news of Jonny’s incident on the dolly arrives. The dolly has gone off to the right and his left wing has also been lifted resulting in a low level lock out. The good news is that he’s OK with some minor cuts and bruises.
Dave Wellington wins the day with Phil Wainwright in second, Gary in third and me in fourth.
Murray Woods is the best
placed racing pilot for the day followed by Phil Knight and Mark McCumber.
Day 5, 6, 7: Canned
Tooooooooooooooooooooooooo windy – spent a couple of pleasant days in the pub with hydraulic sandwiches.
Overall Results
The overall results were as follows:
Western Australian State Soaring Open
1st – Gary Wright
(Airborne – C2)
2nd – “Kiwi” Dave Wellington (Aeros Combat)
3rd – Mark “Bomber” Thompson (Moyes Litespeed4)
Hang Gliding – Racing
1st – Mark McCumber
(Enterprise Wings – Desire with mouldy leading edge)
2nd – Phil “Frilly” Knight (Moyes SX 5)
3rd – Murray “Muzza” Wood (Moyes Xtralite 147)
Hang Gliding – Intermediate
1st – Ivica “Ivi”
Grbauacr (Moyes Xtralite)
2nd – Graeme Sharp (Airborne Sting)
3rd – Peter Harris (Airborne Sting)
Hang Gliding – Novice
1st – Mirek Generowicz
(Airborne Fun 160)
2nd – Richard Breyley (Airborne Sting)
Paragliding
1st – Dave Humphrey (Edel
- Excel)
2nd – Rod Merrigan (Gin Bolero)
Teams Event
1st – Dave Wellington’s
Dick Speeds and the Scunge Buzzards
2nd – CMF's
3rd – Thermal Dynamics
4th – DGF (Dopey Girly Fellows)
5th – Goldfield Dust Devils
Turkey Award
This year’s winner of the
turkey award for the act of greatest stupidity was:
Jon “Spike” Orders – takes off before the window opens and climbs to 3,000 ft.
While waiting for the start gate to open he bombs out half way down the tow
strip. Thinking quickly, Jon organises to be towed from his position so the can
get high enough to fly back to launch. After a not so successful tow he bombs
out even further away from launch. Again thinking quickly, he decided to walk
back towing the glider (it has wheels), however he fails to realise he’s locked
his radio on and flattens his battery.
Shenanigans Award
This goes to the Dust Devil for trying to stink out the CMF’s house with industrial strength stench gas. The problem was that as the gas drifted across Wylie several residents called the cops to report a gas leak – the cops did a circuit of town, stopping at the local bottled gas supplier to check for gas leaks.
Sphincter Award
Goes to Graeme “look mum no hands” Sharp for his low-level lock out and recovery on day 2. This was more impressive given his parents had travelled 200 Km to see it and also the manoeuvre also affected several other sphincters in the paddock.
Bogucki Award
Sam Blight took this one out for landing 50 Km from his radioed position – despite the assistance from GPS.
Dummy Spit Award
This goes to Shaun Wallace for being agitated by Spike!
Thank U’s
Special Thanks go to Daryl Speight and Sam Blight who shared the role of comp director. Thanks also to Daryl, Mike, Sam and Phil Wainwright for all the work required to organise the State Championships.
During the comp invaluable assistance came from Phil Wainwright (scoring), Phil Knight (weather report and task committee), the task, safety and protest committee.
Thanks also go to Moyes, Airborne and HGFA for their sponsorship for the state comps.
Feedback from all pilots was they had a great comp and I hope to see them all again next year for an even bigger comp.
Mostly I’d like to thank the town of Wyalkatchem for their support, not only during the competition by for the last 6 years. The town has been right behind our sport and our club in particular, and we hope for a long association with them.