Three tasks, ranging from 77 to 124 km, were flown of a possible 9 days at the Bogong Cup, which finished on 21 January. All podium places were taken by Australian Moyes Litespeed pilots: Curt Warren took first position, with Jon Durand junior in second and Steve Blenkinsop third.
The Nissan Outdoor Games is fast approaching, and the jury have now been selected. They have the difficult task of deciding which team gets the ‘Golden Peak’ award for the best film, the ‘Best Sports Sequence’ and the ‘Jury’s Special award’. There will also be a photo contest during the event. The responsibility is great, with total prize money of $50,000 to be distributed to the 5 teams. (more…)
Some of you may have already heard that Stefan Schmoker, one of the Swiss Team Pilots, sustained fatal injuries during today’s task.
Stefan and the rest of the field were flying in a perfectly normal place where we fly every day and nobody was on the bar or pushing hard near the ground. In fact we were all soaring a ridge a kilometre or so from take off trying to gain height a few minutes after the start of the task. (more…)
The smell of dope in the morning.
Or, as it were, in the evening…Am writing this out on the little terrace in front of our team apartment. On the terrace below is the landlord and his police-officer friend, sharing a doobie, and the smell is pleasantly wafting up my way so I can pretend that this, and not flying fatigue, is the cause of my dizzyness! (more…)
The Brit Team has had a bad day.
After storming round in the lead gaggle all day it all went very wrong in the last 15k because we all got stuck and watched the chasing pack fly over our collective heads to take the glory and more importantly all the points. By the time we’d got ourselves un-stuck we’d run out of time to get to goal and we all landed just short. Cleverly not only had we managed to get stuck but all three of us who should have been scoring had managed to do it in exactly the same place. (more…)
“Explore New Skies” is the title of Advance’s new promotional film for the Epsilon 6.
You can view it here, www.advance.ch/index.php?id=662&L=1.
ITV have just received EN certification of their new mini wing, the 18 m² Awak, and say that it flies very well!
Nova sum up their new EN D, LTF 2-3, wing, the Triton, as having “performance without a bite”. They say they are not pushing the boundaries of the certification categories on any of their wings, but instead are concentrating on getting the right feel and features for each wing for its perceived target group of pilots. They describe the high-arc, shorter-lined Triton as having “outstanding performance combined with a very precise and agile handling and very balanced behaviour in turbulence”.
The Triton is already certified in sizes 20, 22 and 24 (catering for takeoff weights of 80 – 130 kg); size 18 (70 – 90 kg) is in process.
Apco have redesigned their tow release so that on opening it now separates the two legs. This means that in the event of a water landing, for example, the pilot can escape his harness unhindered by the tow yoke, a potential problem that had existed with the previous version.
What a day (or did I say that yesterday???)
Today was the best flying day we have had so far, with real thermals originating from real thermal sources, nice cu’s popping overhead and not QUITE as dense airspace as yesterday. (more…)
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