The day started off looking pretty average with two layers of cloud surrounding the entire area.

We waited a while and eventually a 78km task to Chinchilla was called and off we set. I was in a reasonable position for the third gate at 1:30 so headed off with Conrad.

The first half of the track was a real race with 3.5m climbs to 6.5 grand. Everything changed with 25km to go and we we’re into surival mode. At this point we were caught by the gaggle and we all groveled together into goal. Nick Purcell was first in from our gaggle.

Dave May took the third gate and set a very fast time into goal possibly winning the day. We’ll see how things pan out with the results in the morning but it looks lime I will now be leading in he overalls.

Presented with the same conditions as the practice day yesterday a 120km task to Condamine via Warra was called. What started out looking like a racing day soon turned a bit slow when Hgy cloud move in over the course.

I took the first gate with Tony G; Cam M, Big Jon and Trev amonst others most of the field starting in the second or third.

I flew pretty much the whole task alone as company would not be required under the cu filled sky.

I was first into goal with Big Jon and Boof close behind. Seibsie won the day after taking he third. Conrad and Enda also put in good times from this startgate.

A fun day and the weather looks good all week.

Update: Results will be up soon. 1st Dave Seib, 2nd Trent Brown, 3rd Conrad Loten

We’re using GAP2008 which awards lead out points. This really helped my cause.

Easter at Tumut this yea proved top be a whole lot of fun! I have sent my harness away to be fixed (with my camera containing aerial shots from the weekend). In the mean time here are a few pics from Steve Blenky and “The Thief” Luton…

Andrew and I drove to Temora to pick up a dolly

Gliders on launch on Honeysuckle

Running of Talbingo

The three amigos from SA

Tracklogs from the weekend here

Nic has made another very cool little vid of our favorite flying site.

Heading to Binos tomorrow.

Meeting at Harcourt at 9:30am.

If anyone is keen on flying a little (or not so little) instructional type XC, I’ll do what I can to help you on your way to goal.

Good radio comms are a must for this to work. Charge you batteries tonight . We’ll be on ch14 -71.9

Punters also welcome.

For a rough guide, tap Taralga into your GPS

Taralga – 2800ft amsl  – 115km

34° 24.209′S

149° 48.796′E

Climbs should be to around the 7500ft mark and the wind straight up our bums.

See you there.

Flytec make great instruments. Apparently, they make pretty amusing ads as well. Bruce Wynne spotted a few around the place and sent them through.

Another Forbes, another great turnout of enthusiastic pilots wanting to rack up some serious airtime.

Dave has pretty much given us the run down of the weekend so I’ll just weigh in with a couple supplementing observations.

Firstly, with all the rain over the past couple of months the air is pretty damn mellow. There’s still nice big climbs but they don’t have the harsh edges we normally experience during the peak of the season. This makes for really nice towing conditions which can still put you in to some great air in which to spend the day. Ideal for anyone looking to gain some aerotow confidence.

Keeping in mind that I have never actually flown in Florida, I can’t help but get the feeling that it might be something like this. The substantial surface water seems to defy all my usual rules and acts as quite a reliable thermal trigger. I hear that this is along the lines of what happens around the swaps when flying from Quest Air. Novel.

The predictable air over the weekend gave me a chance to reflect on a few of the key components that go into putting a smile on the face any hangie.

Having a really nice feeling glider is essential in autumn conditions. Making the most of the air going up is more important than during the peak of the season where a single cracking climb can make up for a previous bad decision. I really enjoy this mellow type of flying. A lot of that enjoyment comes down to flying the glider I feel most comfortable in.

Moyes have really kicked a goal with the Litespeed RS 3.5. I always hear remarks about it’s superior glide ratio at speed but the stand out characteristic for me is how well it climbs. This holds true regardless of how much ballast I have on board or how allusive the lift on a particular day.

Much of flying skill is handled by the subconscious and muscle memory. A key to the really being happy with how you perform is to have a glider and harness that does not impede this process. Harness wise, I am in the process of switching makes and models, stay tuned to hear how that goes. On the other hand though, I am convinced that I have found the right glider for the foreseeable future.

Dan Shaw, is also loving his new beast, a Litespeed S5. He is climbing really well and managed a PB triangle on Saturday. Awesome flying mate!

Finally, we get to the title of the post. With two 90km triangles in opposite directions we end up with tracklogs that look a little something like this.

This is about as much class as the usual Forbes crew can conjure up.

Thanks heaps to Steve for putting us all in the air so fast and efficiently. Thanks to Simon and Steve (again) for jumping in the car when needed. Thanks Mum and Dad for hosting all the usual crew. Thanks also to the Forbes Aero Club for preparing the strips by getting rid of that foot high green stuff all over the place – someone said it’s grass but I doesn’t grow that tall out there, does it?

Tracklogs are up here

Cheers,

Trent

It’s as green as I’ve ever seen it out west. It’s never been like this since I’ve been flying. Forbes though, being in the heart of great flying country, managed to turn it on again. Dave gives us a run down from the weekend…

Well our tug master extraordinaire Steve McCarthy was up for the challenge of yet another weekend of fun flying at Forbes so with the Canberra dusty Demons leading the way it was  a nice turn up of 12 pilots including some new and old legends. Grant Heaney, Franko, Dan, Adrian, Simon, Roger, Michail, Len, Guy, Trent, Barnsy, Steve & me.

With the 8000mls of rain Forbes has had in last month we almost asked Bill if we could use his Dragon fly with floats this weekend but as green and lush as the airfield was it perfectly dry to tow off.  So I arrived with Barnsy and Trent on Sat morning to see the whole bunch keen as mustard. We set a goal for Lake Cargelligo about 140km away. Full credit to Steve for getting us all in the air so fast and with everyone doing great safe tows it was game on!! The wind at the BL was around  20kph So Grant suggested we fly a Triangle insted.  Off to Bogan gate then Parkes and back to the airport. From the air the terrain looked beautiful so green and there was water lying everywhere you looked, but despite this there was some great  lift around 800ft/min was not uncommon and base was about the 6000ft mark.

Everyone had great flights with some doing the original task and some completing the Triangle.

Steve, Grant, Barnsy, Trent and I headed back to Munjal (Trent’s Parents Property near Grenfell) to wish Terry happy 50th birthday have a few beers and enjoy Trish’s cooking. It was great night of laughs and flying stories.

Sunday gave us similar weather with lighter winds so we set a 90km triangle task to the south.  Steve once again got us all in the air fast and safe and after some soft scratchy thermals around the airport the day turned on and we all headed out on course. This was even more fun than yesterday and almost everyone made it back to the airport. Lots of happy pilots with a heap of airtime and spectacular views of the wet green countryside.

So another unreal Forbes fly-in This is what its all about for me, great social flying with with a top bunch of friends and a beer or two after. Thanks to the pilots that turned up it was great to fly with you all. See you on the next One!!!

A massive thanks to Moyes for the use of the Dragon fly and to Steve for your time once again it wouldn’t happen without you. Also, thanks heaps to Terry & Trish for your hospitality.

Dave.

Earlier: – Looks like we’re in for a nice little boat towards the coast.

Debrief for the day:

It was pretty hard going. Andrew B, Dave, Jon, Alex in his punter and myself line up.

Climbs were only taking to 3500ft so leaving the hill was pretty tricky. The recent rain has really taken the sting out of the climbs so patience was the call for the day. It’s like April conditions have come early.

In such tough conditions it was always going to be tough crossing the dam… brb

Tracklog here