Northern Regional Gliding Champs 2012

Sometimes the weather gods do smile on us gliding folk and this was certainly the case for those at Matamata this year towards the end of November. Following on from a successful week-long cross country course, with fl ying every day, the Northern Regional Gliding Champs got underway on Sunday 25th November. There were 17 gliders entered in two classes, nine in the Club Class and eight in the open Class. Seven out of seven scheduled fl ying days were fl own, with every day being a 1,000 point day in both classes. It simply doesn’t get better than that, but of course it was not all plain sailing, or gliding as the case may be.

DAY ONE

Started out hopeful, with the forecast promising more than it delivered. A 300km task was initially set in such a way that those wanting to compete and chase Gold and Diamond distance/ goal badges could do both. Unfortunately, a thick layer of cloud did not burn off until late, so the task had to be scaled back and turned into a 2hr AAT, with a large circle around Tihoi, the southern turn point. Lower than hoped for cloud bases and some big blue holes made life tricky on the second and third legs, with four out of the eight Open and seven of the nine Club gliders landing out. Eventual winners for the day though were:

Club Class – local legend Bob Gray from Piako, in his DG101, (235km at 73kph)

Open – Steve Wallace from Aviation Sports, in the mighty Mosquito, (also 235km at 73kph).

DAY TWO

A mostly ridge racing task, with off-ridge hard points to the north and south. 280km for the Club Class and 317km for the Open Class. The cloud base started off at 4,000ft but lowered to 3,000ft by mid-afternoon, as moisture was fed into the area by an approaching warm front. This led to considerable cloud development and very little sun on the ground, that made the off-ridge turn points a signifi cant challenge, especially to the south, which claimed two land-out victims in the Club Class and fi ve in the Open Class. Winners were:

Club Class – ridge master John Bayliss from Auckland, in his infamous Discus B (117kph).

Open – Steve, who needs water, Wallace (103kph).

DAY THREE

Too much cloud yesterday but not enough today. The warm front went through overnight and, despite an overcast start to the day, by launch time, most of the cloud had burned off and apart from the odd wisp, the day went blue as predicted. 10 – 15 kts onto the ridge and lots of sunshine, meant thermal assisted ridgelift was available and blue thermals were to be had off the ridge. An AAT task was set, with the northern turn point as Maramarua, with a 20km circle and the southern, Tokoroa, with a 20km circle.

Bill Mace (RR) and Trev Terry (TT) on the gird

Bob Gray's DG101

The sparseness of the off-ridge blue thermals proved too much for six of the club class (although Sandy in her trusty ASW20 did make it around, but a fl ight computer set to 25km instead of 20km resulted in a missed turn point and a virtual outlanding in the South for her). Four of the Open Class guys got around, making it a good day points-wise for fi nishers, but not so good for the outlanders. Winners were:

Club Class – local lad and Club Class Champion for about the last decade, Bryan O’Brian from Piako, in his trusty Hornet (240km at 70kph).

Open – rounding out a successful day for Glasfl ugel, Steve Wallace in the Mosquito (236km at 76kph).

DAY FOUR

So Day 2 had too much cloud and Day 3 had not enough cloud, today had too much cloud to start with, then not enough to fi nish with. Hard to keep glider pilots happy! An AAT task was set that had the fi eld heading south at fi rst to Tapapa, to give the low cloud base time to rise. For some reason, 2,000 feet is not considered enough for the ridge leg around Te Aroha. The northern turn point was Hikutaia and luckily, by the time the fi rst gliders got there, cloudbase had risen to a generous 2,500 feet. The southern turnpoint was Wharepapa South, but with a 20km circle. This proved to be challenging, with four land-outs in the Club Class and one in the Open Class. As pilots pushed out into the circle, the clouds thinned out nicely into streets, before star ting to blue out completely. Winners for the day were the same as yesterday.

Club Class – Bryan O’Brian in his Hornet (292km at 89kph).

Tim Bromhead

Open – Steve, this is getting boring, Wallace in the Mosquito (273km at 109kph). Glasfl ugel does it again.

DAY FIVE

The weather for the day was interesting, with rain in Auckland all day and the low cloud and humidity from this system reaching down into the upper Waikato; while the south Waikato was a blue, sunny, cloud-free zone. This made for a tasking challenge. Not too far north into the rain and murk, but not too far south into the blue and still. At least the ridge was sort of working. A 216km racing task was set, going north fi rst to Tirohia, south to Tirau, north again to Waitoa, south again to Tapapa and home. Ditty for the day was “If you go round Te Aroha today you’ll be sure of a big surprise”. And the surprise was that as pilots came around the corner onto the front faces of Te Aroha, instead of being greeted by the expected joyous chirps of a happy vario, 6kts down of dumping air was to be found. This immediately claimed two land-out victims from the Club Class, with a number of others coming close. Cloud base from here, north to the turn point, was only 2,500ft, as the wet airmass further to the north made its presence felt. For those that survived this fi rst test, the run south along the ridge was like coming out of the dark caves of Mordor and into the happy sun drenched fi elds of Hobbiton. Cloud base rose from 2,500’ to 3,000’ abeam Matamata, to 4,000’ at the Tauranga Road, before blue-ing out completely. Luckily, the task setters had cleverly set the turn point at Tirau and not further south, so most punters were able to make use of a cloud street just north of Tirau to push out from the ridge, claim the turn point and then turn and scarper back to the ridge. It was not

all easy though, as this turn point claimed another two victims from the Club Class.

Waitoa was next, so for the survivors it was back up the ridge and back into the thick low cloud and Mordor-like doom and gloom. Due to the earlier bad experiences, some people chose the strategy of staying well clear of Te Aroha and headed out to Waitoa early, while others braved the trip around Te Aroha for a second time, to try to gain height on the far side, before pushing out to Waitoa. Either way was not easy and this seemingly simple turn point claimed a further four land-out victims: two from the Open Class and two more from the Club.

For those that made this turn point and got back onto the ridge, the run home, back out into the sunshine, was sweet relief. Winners were:

Club Class – John Bayliss from Auckland, in the Discus B (80kph).

Open – Trev Terry from Taupo, fresh from a self-imposed rest day (having instructed at the cross country course the week before) in his Duo Discus T (95kph).

DAY 6

The wind was blowing a good 20kts straight onto the ridge, cloud base was high but also included a large sheet of very thick high overcast, that looked likely to remain all day and prevent or limit any off-ridge turn points (not that it turned out this way), so a pure ridge task was set. Start Wardville, north to Thames, south to Tapapa, north to Hikutaia, south to Tapapa and home, 329km. A good fast ridge racing day that everybody enjoyed, nicely fi nished off with beer and good conversation in the afternoon sunshine, as there were no late retrieves to be had.

Club Class – John Bayliss from Auckland, in the Discus B at a speed of 124kph.

Open Class – Mark Tingey and Brett Hunter, in Tauranga’s Duo Discus XLT at a speed of 146kph.

DAY 7

An important and tense last day for the Club Class pilots, with only 206 points in overall scoring separating the top four placed pilots, meaning they all had to fl y fast but not stuff up, if competition victory was to be theirs. In the Open, it was a fi ght for the minor placings, as Steve Wallace, at over 1,000 points ahead had already taken out the championship. With a nice looking thermal day, a 3hr 15min AAT task was set, with the northern turn point the State Highway 2 / 27 intersection and the southern turn point, the Orakei Korako thermal attraction on the Waikato river near Taupo. All important winner for the day in the Club Class, and with his fi rst day win in the competition, was local lad and Trans-Tasman Trophy hopeful, Tim Bromhead, in Piako’s Discus B (257km at 79kph). Tim stormed through the fi eld on the last day, to take out overall victory as Club Class champion by 81 points from John Bayliss. For the fi nal time in the Open Class, having dropped only 111 points all competition, was Steve Wallace in the Mosquito (322km at 99kph).

Dave and Sarah Jane Jansen with GXT

Sandy and John Griffin

# CN Pilot Team Glider Total 1 XP Tim Bromhead Piako Discus B 5460 2 PV John Bayliss Auckland Discus B 5379 3 CS David Hirst Auckland Discus CS 5290 4 JD Bryan O’Brian Piako Hornet 4775 5 NV Bob Gray Piako DG101 4320 6 LK Peter Himmel Auckland LS3 3701 7 VC Ralph Gore Piako ASW 20 2820 8 RS Sandra Griffi n Tauranga ASW 20 CL 2743 9 NR Grahame Player Auckland Apis 13 1713 10 IY Nelson Badger Piako LS1f 849

1 KT Steve Wallace Aviation Sports Mosquito 6889 2 XT Mark Tingey Tauranga Duo Discus XLT 4131 3 RR Bill Mace Piako LAK 12 4022 4 ZO Ian Finlayson Piako ASW 27 3871 5 TT Trevor Terry Taupo Duo Discus T 3466 6 TX Conal Edwards Auckland Ventus CT 3090 7 RT Russell Thorne Auckland ASG 29E 1729 8 YL Team Pretty Woman Piako Duo Discus 670