I’m exhausted! What a week it’s been. For those that didn’t read the last few posts, I’m down in South Australia at the moment, just north of Adelaide, competing in the Australian Junior Nationals Gliding competition, as I have done every year for the past 4 years. This year has been… different. Poor weather, sea breezes, and airspace restrictions have made this a far harder comp than previous years. Sunday was our first competition day, and no sooner had we got to the first turnpoint, we got hit by a classic Gawler sea breeze, which cools the air rapidly, changes wind direction and stops the thermals from forming. Trying to beat back into wind proved exceptionally difficult, and I ended up having to put the aircraft down in a recently cut wheat paddock. I sat on the ground and watched the other gliders thermalling over my head, well at least attempting to thermal. It ends up that they came down a few paddocks down the road, as many as 7 of them going into the same paddock! Bastards… they ended up playing cricket with a makeshift bat and ball whilst waiting for their crew to arrive. After talking to the farmer, I had to wait 3 hours for my crew to turn up and drag my glider home. The 2nd and 3rd competition days were also interesting… I had electrical problems and had to cut my task short on the 2nd day, and whilst on approach to the airfield, my electric instruments and radio cut out completely. As a result I decided not to do a classic 300kph, 6-foot high “competition finish”, which is a pity as they are certainly fun! On the 3rd day, I had other electrical problems and decided to land and sort them out before going on task… so I came in and landed again, and after touching down and rolling for a bit, my undercarriage collapsed and my glider belly-flopped onto the dirt and slid the rest of the distance! Luckily, my choice of landing area and the slow speed that it collapsed meant the glider wasn’t damaged, but I’m still a bit concerned as to why the undercarriage collapsed in the first place. Apparently it is fairly common for my type of aircraft. Unfortunately, since then the weather has been terrible… however we are blessed in the sense that the Barossa Valley is only 20 minutes away, and good wine tasting was to be had Tomorrow also looks like it might not be a flying day… another cold front is going to come screaming through, and with maximum temperatures of 19 degrees C and wind speeds of 30kt+, it might not be the day to really go very far, if one could stay in the air at all. So it will be a fun wrapup and final night…. sobering up the next morning to drive the 1500km back home to Sydney! I don’t mind the drive… it is good solitary time. Towing a 12-metre glider trailer across the Hay Plains, the scenery is remarkably desolate. No trees, no hills, no features of any kind except for a dead straight road extending into the mirage. Only scaryis overtaking trucks, having to do 140km/h, as whilst I’m overtaking the truck the trailer often develops “death wobbles” and the only thing you can do is gun the engine and keep tension on the drawbar… certainly keeps the blood pumping! I leave you with a pic I took whilst having my penultimate break at Berri on my way down to Gawler… pretty, no?
Hi all! I was going to post this some time ago, but now that I’ve been slack, I’ve been pipped at the post by eMackinations. A Perth man has found a use for his time, in the way of Christmas lights. Those who have seen it before would recognise the “Wizards in Winter” soundtrack. Overall there have been three main players in the “Wizards in Winter” house shootoff….. here is your chance to cast your vote on which you think is the funkiest! Simply comment back with “1″, “2″ or “3″, and maybe even a reason why! I might embed them later…. LJ is playing up. Let me know which one is the best!!
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I was pleasantly surprised by Wolf Blass… they certainly make a nice drop! Today involved me driving into Adelaide, a place I had never been before. Good chance to do some christmas shopping before a night out with the boys at the pub 
