Carol\'s Diary 09.01.2008 onwards >>
Fri 11th Jan
This morning the air is definitely warmer than it was yesterday morning, there seems to be less wind, and there are some low straggly clouds around.
At briefing thanks were extended to Dick Bradley for his assistance with everything that he has done for the organisation, task setting, weather forecasting and so forth. We also sang a very happy birthday to Emma (daughter of Dolf & Lynnore Pretorius) whose is celebrating her 6th birthday today.
Sven Olivier, the safety officer, reminded pilots to avoid complacency, and to remember to keep a good look out with eyes on the air and not in the cockpit.
There was also a group photograph of most of the pilots in their JOHNSON CONTROLS sponsored T-shirts – some of the pilots had not got a t-shirt and others had forgotten to bring them! Typical pilots!!
Briefing is telling us that the maximum temperature may only reach 27° and the trigger temp. will be 25°. There is very moist air in the NE with a strong flow from the east. Dew points are also higher. In the task area though the winds should be light with cloud base initially at about 8 500 ft, ligting to about 9 000 ft. If conditions dry out it may go up to 10 000 ft. Moderate thermals of about 2.5 m/sec are expected. Then Dick tells us that there is also a danger of spread-out in the task area with a lot of cloud, and that conditions may die at around 4.30 p.m.
Tasks set as following:
Open/18m.348.2 km. R22 – Fauresmith – Peilkop – finish
15m/Standard266.6 km. Koffiefontein – R24 – Peilkop – finish
Club
253.2 km. Brulfontein – R24 – Peilkop – finish
Fallback all classes
AAT minimum 136.6 km./maximum 579.3 km.
· Petrusburg 200 km. bearing # 1 56 degrees, bearing # 2 11 degrees
· Peilkop 20 km. radius
Gliders should be on the grid by 11 a.m. and the launch order is Open/18m. Class, Club and then 15m/Standard.
Thurs. 10th Jan
After flying
Launching started at approx. midday and conditions in the Bloemfontein area did not look particularly good with relatively low cloud bases. They were at approx. 8 000 – 8 500 ft. All the classes had their first t.p. to the north and none of the pilots have enjoyed their first leg as the operating band was not good, as the cloud base did not improve as they headed north. Once they had turned and headed southwards to the 2nd turnpoint, the conditions did improve and bases went up to about 11 000 ft.
On the ground we welcomed Richard Glennie for the last few days.
Andrew Bester in the Club class has once again won the day at 104 kph, Phil Fellows with handicap at 91 kph was 2nd and Martin Attwell 3rd at 94 kph. In the 15m. class Oscar Goudriaan has won the day at 115 kph, Sven Olivier was 2nd at 113 kph and Dolf Pretorius was 3rd at 108 kph. At the top of the Open class for the day was Attie Jonker at 127 kph, followed by the team flying V11 (Ian Cook & Tony Moulang of UK) at 125 kph, and 3rd Uys Jonker at 124 kph.
This has changed the overall positions moving Attie Jonker into pole position in the Open/18m. Class, and Sven Olivier into 1st place in the 15m/Standard class. Andrew Bester remains in the lead in the Club class.
Last evening we enjoyed some food, which was very generously provided by Daniel Rodic by way of thanking everyone for their assistance and concern on the day that he went “AWOL”. Thanks are extended to Daniel.The day dawned distinctly cool this morning and visibility was not as good as normal. Although blue first thing, the low clouds then began to roll in. The wind is also stronger than yesterday at this time. However as the morning has progressed the day is looking better.10 a.m. briefing announced that all the pilots must wear their sponsored T-shirts for a photo tomorrow, and thanks extended to all of the tug pilots, who are doing a great job.There is a NE flow over the task area with a max temperature today of 29°. Winds initially are expected to be 15 kts. NE, but will drop and move more N/NW in the task area. No thunderstorm activity is expected and cloud base should get to about 12 000 ft.So tasks have been set this morning with the Club class launching first, followed by the 15m/Standard and then the Open/18m. Open/18m405.1 km. R19 – R25 – Peilkop – finish
15m/Standard408.8 km. Zoltpan – Koffiefontein – Peilkop – finish
Club
323.1 km. R19 – R5 – Peilkop – finish
Fallback – all classes
AAT minimum 219.6 km. maximum 797.6 km.
R3 – 150 km. bearing # 1 226 degrees, bearing # 2 146 degrees
Petrusburg – 150 km. bearing # 1 59 degrees, bearing # 2 9 degrees
Peilkop – 2 km. radius
Wed. 9th Jan
After flying:Well it has been another good day in that everyone is back safe and sound. Doreen, Benno Beesten’s girl-friend, had the pleasure of flying in the back seat of the ASH with Laurens Goudriaan. In the Club class Phil Fellows had to attend to business so was not able to fly today, and Bobby Clifford was unable to shake off his dose of flu so did not fly either.The tasks were changed once all the gliders were on the grid, as launching only started at about 12.30 p.m.Open/18m. & 15m/Standard were given a 333.9 km. triangle to Zoltpan – Christiana, whilst the Club class were sent on a 261,4 km. triangle to Bultfontein & Hertzogville.The pilots have a variety of tales – from being good, difficult and/or struggling at low level – and all at different parts of the task area. Lift seems to have gone up to 11 000 – 12 000 ft. For some it appears to have been an excellent day.Open Class, Mannie McLauchlan, has again taken the lead with a speed of 141 kph with those Jonkers following along once more - Attie at 135 kph and Uys at 134 kph. In the 15m. class Oscar Goudriaan took the lead today with a speed of 134 kph, followed by Dick Bradley at 128 kph and Sven Olivier at 124 kph.In the Club class there seems to be no stopping of Andrew Bester who lead the day at 106 kph, but was very closely followed by Martin Attwell at 105 kph and third Werner Kienhofer at 87 kph.This gives the following provisional overall positions as:-Open/18m. 15m/Standard Club1. M. McLauchlan 3583 pts R. Bradley 3738 pts A. Bester 2483 pts.2. A. Jonker 3502 pts S. Olivier 3580 pts. M. Attwell 2102 pts.3. L. Goudriaan 3343 pts O. Goudriaan 3272 pts B. Du Plessis 1953 pts A sad day yesterday in that we had two pilots opting to leave – Bruce Greeff (Club class) and Pieter Nouwens (Open/18m class) – they had equipment and other problems which resulted in their decision to leave before the end of the contest. They will be missed. There will also be a change of pilot in “HS” today as Paul Quick leaves and the replacement pilot will be Malcolm Hodgson.It was a clear evening with only stars and no signs of any cloud so it was a surprise this morning to see low clouds all over the sky. They are however slowly breaking up and we have a 10 a.m. briefing.As always it is important to say a very big THANK YOU to Ian Forbes (in Cape Town) of ZSD who is and has been the host of the Soaring Society’s website for many years – people around the world are following the progress of the Nationals, so thank you Ian for your continued hospitality and again to Steve Thomas (in Wales) putting the information and photos onto the website.The Atlantic high is along the coast whilst the low is over the NE of the country and it is apparently raining in the Pretoria/Johannesburg area. Winds today are light and variable NEasterly and Northerly. Temperatures might reach 31° and cloud bases up to 11 000 – 13 000 ft. As long as there are no dramatic changes in the weather patterns, conditions are expected to remain good until Saturday, the final contest day.Tasks today are the following:Open/18m & 15m/Standard:406.4 km. R18 – R13 – finish
Club:303.4 km. Bultfontein – R17 – finish
Fallback all classes:AAT minimum distance 154.5 km. maximum distance 554.4 km.
Crossroads 200km. bearing #1 181 degrees bearing # 2 125 degrees
First launch could be from 11.30 a.m., but the cloud is still quite low and I imagine it could be a bit later!
Carol\'s Diary
Dateline 08.01.2008Yesterday was a very disappointing day for Jennifer Bradley, her birthday, as she completed the task (one of just three pilots) in the Club class to battle the wind and to finish – only to find that she had entered airspace on the first leg. The 15m. class saw only two finishers – Dick Bradley and Oscar Goudriaan, whilst Open class had the most finishers with Quintin Maine leading the pack followed by the two Jonker brothers flying their JS.1’s.Some of the outlanders had a l...
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