SPORTS CLASS NATIONALS On 22 February the 2009 National Sports Class Competition
Four of the seven landed in paddocks. Actually it was five thanks
kicked off at Matamata with seven competitors; six flying PW5s and
to Bill in the Lak who wasn’t competing, but didn’t want to miss
Robin Britton flying a Ka6. It was a very different looking contest to the
out on the action. Dennis was also following the group in GXP, and
other nationals recently held at Omarama. Tim Bromhead reports.
thoughtfully decided to drop the task and return to do our scoring. Eventually just two competitors made it back to the airfield, the rest
Day 1 Winner Maurice Honey On day one we woke to a not-very-promising sheet of cloud covering the Waikato. Finn the task setter optimistically gave a 51 to 49 percent chance of flying, in favour of flying. That one percent of optimism was worthwhile. Around 12:30 we were ready to launch with wisps of thermals starting around us, and good-looking stuff in the distance. Unfortunately we had no tugs. A slight flaw in the competition plan one might say. Tauranga’s tug was on its way still, and Piako’s tug was being fixed in Hamilton. Fortunately 10 minutes later they both turned up at the same time, and away we went.
were retrieves. A big congrats to Robin Britton for making it back to the airfield, winning the day, and being the only competitor to complete the course set. Maurice Honey also made it back, but accidentally missed the bottom turnpoint. After all the gliders were put back together Jan put on a beautiful roast chicken dinner. Day 3 Winner Maurice Honey Well done Maurice, it was a tough day. We all started around 12:30 to an overdeveloped sky, with odd bits of sun hitting the
Ian Finlayson set a 158 km 2.5 hour AAT distance task with 10
ground. We started landing back in about the order we took off.
km turnpoints, which turned out to be a good task. Only one landout
Maurice and Paul S were at the back of the grid, launched last and
– Paul Schofield in GSB at the second turnpoint.
managed to stay up for quite a long time. Paul came back, and
All the way through the afternoon the high layer of cloud would
Maurice decided to start out on the course.
block the sun, then partially break up, then reappear, just giving us
Meanwhile the rest of us ‘land-backs’ adjourned to the club-
enough convection to get some thermals working well. It wasn’t too
rooms for a cup of tea or an ice-block. About 2pm we decided to
easy, and not too impossible, so everyone was happy.
give it another go. All this time Maurice had been flying around trying
Day winner: Maurice Honey, 1000 points, Tim Bromhead second with 935, and Robin Britton third with 781.
At that stage unless someone else starts the course and goes over 30 km around the course the day would be a no fly day.
Day 2 Winner Robin Britton “Surprise overdevelopment catches field in the fields.” That’s a quick way to summarise the day. We launched to a lovely looking sky, and things were progressing well. Our top turnpoint was a 5 km circle around Kaihere, and the bottom turnpoint a 10 km circle around Arapuni. The top turnpoint well and truly overdeveloped as we all arrived.
20
to stay up.
April 2009
Tim managed to get started, and two competitors meant the task officially had enough people. It was a good run to the first turnpoint of Morrinsville, with a big heavy overdeveloped cloud street starting over the town. This had fantastic lift under it, and conveniently the street went to the next turnpoint of Karapiro. A quick dash to the turnpoint and then things disintegrated, putting Tim into a very nice looking paddock just out of Cambridge. Maurice nearly made it right around the course, but landed
