05-02-09
As June approaches - our Australian Junior Gliding Team prepares to compete in the Junior World Gliding Championships. Check out the site HERE.
14-12-08
18:24 - Well, it's all over for another year. A great night was had by all last night. A huge thank you to our sponsors (on the left of this page) who made it all possible. Congrats to Nathan Johnson for winning the championship. Photos will be added to the gallery over the next few days. - Heath L'Estrange
13-12-08
13:01 - Today is definitely a write off. Every one is fixing up their flying accounts and tidying things up before their departure tomorrow. Tonight our final night dinner is fancy dress, costumes must be bought from the local op shops, its a lot of fun and is a way of giving something back to the town. Sneak previews of some costumes indicate we that we may see some blokes dressed as women. I gather a wedding pre-loved wedding dress was bought by one of our lads. - Heath L'Estrange
08:07 - Today is just as wet and 'rainy' as yesterday - I suspect it will be a writeoff. Charlie and I were on ABC radio again this morning - we have been getting good media coverage from them and the local papers. Tonight is the final night dinner. - Heath L'Estrange
12-12-08
12:31 - Today is a writeoff - raining with low cloud. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some hope but most are not optimistic. - Heath L'Estrange
11-12-08
15:28 - Most are home, they have gone around rather quickly - the cirrus that seemed to be infringing on us rapidly this morning slowed down and would have probably allowed them to do the original task that was set- but you get that - It's been a fast 200km, there are big smiles - Heath L'Estrange
15:01 - They are starting to come home, its been a fast day - Heath L'Estrange
14:32 - If you have a spare 10 minutes why not checkout the interview which myself and Charlie did on the ABC radio on the practise day - CLICK HERE - Heath L'Estrange
13:46 - The fleet has been launched. Those of you who have been watching the tracking from the start may need to click refresh on your browser as we had to change the task on the grid due to some impending cirrus from the north. The new task is a 206km speed task. 1 relight today - Heath L'Estrange
09:36 - Welcome to day 4 race fans. We hav just briefed a 295km fixed task for what should be a day better than yesterday - probably higher convection height and reasonably good chance of Cu. The guys are gridding by 11:30 for a probable midday launch. We will be doing live spot tracking again today. Will update more later.
Yesterday our local canadian import Chris Gough won the day. 3 Guys outlanded. Today could quite possibly be the last comp day as the next 2 days are not looking great. - Heath L'Estrange
10-12-08
14:42 - The grid completed launching about an hour and a half ago - we had 2 relights. We are watching the live tracking in the club house, it is very exciting. In case you are watching the tracking and not seeing any gliders on the screen - make sure you are using the firefox browser. The weather tomorrow looks ok, but we are a little uncertain about the weather on friday and saturday - Heath L'Estrange
10:09 - Here is the SPOT Tracking Link (Requires firefox browser). - Heath L'Estrange
09:40 - Woke to clear skies this morning. The wind is from the south which is typically associated with cooler temperatures and shorter days than the north-westerly flow. We are expecting suitable conditions to task and have set a 253km racing task. We should have spot tracking today - I will post the link when I know more about it, thanks to John Wharington for assisting us and NSWGA and GCV for lending the units to us. We will also attempt to do live scoring this afternoon assuming the internet connection here behaves. - Heath L'Estrange
09-12-08
17:13 - Well today was cancelled - it is currently raining quite heavily and there is no power at the airfield. Most of us have been eating snags, drinking beer and playing cricket. Lets hope it clears for tomorrow! - Heath L'Estrange
10:58 - Today is influenced by a lot of high level cloud moving from south australia over victoria. This is associated with a trough which will cause showers later today and tonight around Benalla. At the moment, we have a lot of cloud cover but are going to wait until 11:45 before making a final call - showers are forecast after 4pm. Competitors are currently preparing their aircraft in anticipation of flying. It may end up being a short task to the north-east - Heath L'Estrange
08:54 - The weather is not looking great. Will update more soon - Heath L'Estrange
08-12-08
22:17 - Everyone got home today - congrats to Nathan Johnson for taking out the day again. I'm really impressed that everyone got home on what was quite a challenging day. Day 2 results are up online - Heath L'Estrange
17:18 - 8 competitors are home - they are still finishing- Heath L'Estrange
16:41 - Well the net is down again (back on the horrendously expensive 3G connection) and we are expecting the first home comers within the next half hour. Results won't be as live as I had hoped. Result updates will be sporadic at best. No one has outlanded at this stage (or told us anyway) - Heath L'Estrange
14:20 - Have just finished launching the grid - no relights. Today will be a blue day with thermals of about 4-5 kts with a height of 6-7000ft. A 3 hour AAT has been set with the main leg going to the north east - which RASP has indicated will give a higher convection top. The start gate opened at 13:53, so the first guys should start coming home at around 17:00. The internet is now back up in Benalla so we will attempt to provide real time scoring as the traces are uploaded. I will also try and get some photos online - Heath L'Estrange
07-12-08
22:47 - 6 pilots got around the course, congrats to Nathan Johnson for winning. It was a tough day according to all pilots - we are lucky to get as many home as we did. Results are online - Heath L'Estrange
15:25 - All pilots have been launched into a blue sky - no cu's. A 10kt-15kt south westerly breeze is making the thermals broken and the ground heating is suffering. 2 pilots have returned to the airfield having aborted the task and another 2 pilots have outlanded. The task is a 3 hour AAT allowing distances from 158km and 501km. It seems like it will not be a day of speed - merely survival. The news, photos and result updates will be delayed as the internet connection at the club here (in fact the whole of Benalla) has failed so we are using an expensive and slow GSM connections until the connection is back up. Instead of the scoring being live - the results will more than likely not be on the internet until 8pm - Heath L'Estrange
06-12-08
Most pilots managed to get airborne on practise day - quite a tricky day according to pilot reports. Adam I'Anson won the day, results are available on this website - Heath L'Estrange