and now its over!

The final day was challenging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Only one competitor made it around in both classes. GNV.
Its 9pm and GZO retrieve crew are not yet back from their 3+ hour retrieve journey.

One pilot (GKM) gave up heading for turnpoint two and headed off downwind, ending up in Hamilton airspace where he got clearance to climb to 5,000ft in  survival mode. Unfortunately this was not enough to get home and he landed at the Pureora strip.

Last Landout on the last day, GKT at Kinloch.

Today was the ultimate Competition Directors dilemma.  Launch the fleet in to the air knowing that many would potentially land out OR  cancel the day and remove the chance for competitors to improve their placings.      I chose the former. :-)  The lovely lads who landed out didn't give me any grief, so alls well that ends well.

The competition dinner was well attended  and the prizes were awarded.
Some trophies were ...virtual awards as they were not physically present!!!

Club Class Nationals.

The Lyons Trophy for winner of the Club Class - Steve Wallace
The Mike Rix Trophy for the Highest placed pilot under 30. Not awarded as no pilot was under 30.
The Veterans Trophy for the highest placed pilot over 60. Not awarded as no pilot was over 60.
The Norge Cup - awarded to the highest placed pilot in their first Nationals.
              Doug  Henry - GLL
The Masterton Trophy - awarded for the highest placed Club owned glider
              Maurice Weaver - GKM


Matamata Soaring Centre Competition.
Open Class Champion - Patrick Driessen - GOP
Highest placed 15mtr Glider - Tony Van Dyk - GTD
Highest Placed Standard class Glider - Tony Van Dyk - GTD

The Trophy for the Volunteer who helped make the contest successful - David Hirst - Weatherman.

So once again I retire from running Nationals as a Competition Director.
This is most definitely my last gasp, the brain and the body aint what they used to be :-)
While I find it very rewarding working with a great team, its A BIT exhausting keeping "this ageing brain on constant alert" for 10 hours a day!!!

So its goodnight & goodbye from me.

Keep it up!

for the final scores checkout
Clubclass
http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/total/day11.html

Matamata Soaring Centre.
http://www.soaringspot.com/msc2013/results/open/total/day7.html

One big happy family

Copywrite Roddy Burgoyne

Day the last. (11th flying day)
After today no more,resting the eyelids, for a CD waiting for the fleet to come home

Before this happy competition family disperses back to their homes throughout New Zealand, its time to recognise the volunteers who gave up their time to make this a great competition.

Trev Terry - Chairman of the Organisers and tasking guru
Tom Anderson - Manager, tow pilot, launch master and a thousand other things
Bill Kendall - Safety Officer, tow pilot, Launch master and potatoe peeler.
Tim Norman - Radio man (with some help from Mavis)
Gordon Griffin - Grid Marshall
Ed Devenoges - scorer
David Hirst - weatherman extraodinaire
Steve Wallace - Task setting panel
Also
Towpilots Iggy, Colin, Ron, Hugh, Rod, Martin, Brian, Rene
Helping on the grid.....John, Roddy, Peter, Sid, Denis
Feeding the masses..... Lois, Mary, Merle, Jill, Jenny

Yesterday the Tauranga Gliding Clubs Duo Discus Turbo achieved its first paddock landing and road retrieve.  The only challenge being to manoeuvre the trailer down a narrow farm race.

An interesting strategy was observed. A jet assisted glider(motor not on) called 22 kms out with a message he might not make the airfield.  The class leader heard this radio message and climbed an extra 1,000ft to ensure he would miss the presumed sink hole.  Result  Jetplane lands and wins the day, class leader comes second. Cunning people these glider pilots...:-)

Today we have a new airmass moving over the competition area bringing SE winds The sun has just started to shine at the clubhouse (10am). There will be two tasks today. Both AATs up north and then South west then home for tea and medals(Competition dinner and prizegiving).

Will be an interesting last day.

Local Media Coverage

They didnt land at Rotorua actually Tokoroa!  But otherwise good article

Penultimate Day

Today Thursday, dawns similar to the previous week. A potentially great soaring day.
The sun is shining and the weather man is positive.

Thursday morning in the camping area

Yesterday saw all gliders arrive back home.'

The Hero of the Day was Tim (GXP) who showed that determination and tenacity are the characteristics of a competition glider pilot.  Time completed the 2.5 hour AAT in over 4 hours.
Caught in a 'bad patch'' near Tokora it took him some time to recover. We watched his SPOT pings wandering around Mangakino, retrieve crew on standby as the clock ticked on.  
But finally, with few thermals left he caught a climb to 5,500ft, enough for final glide, finally landing at 6:01pm to a large audience and a round of applause.

There I was with nothing on the clock other than the makers name and the trees  were THIS close...So I relaxed and waited for a climb :-)

Last a night was BBQ night with Trev & the Team from Taupo putting on a great feed of prime Angus Steaks.   If I haven't mentioned it before, Taupo has a great club spirit with a willingness of members to pitch in.

Today there will be two tasks.
A 2.5 hour AAT for the clubbies (273km point to point)
and a racing task for the Open class 329.2km
Both Tasks to the North east and South of Taupo.

It will be an interesting day with Taupo temperature forecast to peak at 29C.

Reminder about results
http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/daily/day9.html
Tims track is available for download by clicking his rego (XP)

And on the ninth day there will be flying.!!!

The weather man (David Hirst - GCS) says today will be much like yesterday.
This means sunshine and heat at Taupo.

The Cars hiding from the heat.

Yesterday we had a few pilots a little confused as to their responsibilities on use of airspace, so today the task from yesterday has been amended to make things a bit easier with the first turn being further East and a bit South. So another 2.5 hour AAT.

A club class pilot learned a valuable lesson about landing on a strip. Down hill, downwind is not the best way to land without a weeee bit of damage.  The glider is ok but might need a little cosmetic surgery to having it look pristine.

Today we are again blessed with a full complement of volunteers. Your competition Director is very appreciative of the Taupo clubs support with lots of high quality, enthusiastic volunteers.  From Mr Hump (Gordon Dawson) who sits and watches all the launches in case a mis launch puts a glider over the hump and out of view of the grid marshal, to Mr Retrieve(Bill Dawson) who is happy to take long drives in to the wilderness/back blocks to retrieved downed gliders. Only two of the many unsung heroes of the competitions.

The competition pilots meeting will be held after briefing this morning. Agenda items include airspace penalties and dropping the worst day when calculating final scores.  Should be interesting :-)

Radios - check, timesheets - check, Ipad for Spots - check 

We are preparing to launch at 1pm from the club house end (04)
Check progress on the SPOTS.
http://map.xinqu.net/spot/index.html

Summary Day 7
But first a quick summary of what its like to race at the Club Class Comps
A short Video of Day 5
ay developed a bit faster than forecast, with a handful of pilots staring at the sky and saying we should start at 12 noon. (this at 11:45) instead of 1pm.  Never the less first launches started at 12:50 ish, in to a lovely looking sky.

Some surprise then that an LS4 landed out at Pureora Turnpoint airstrip. An aero retreive was asked for.
Nearly an hour later a Pawnee headed off from doing a local tow.  Unfortunately the tow rope hooked the fence at the strip resulting in a heavy landing with a 'horn"' breaking on the undercarriage leg. This horn holds the shock absorbing bungees in place, so the Pawnee was unflyable.   The LS4 was then road retrieved.

A good news storey being that while waiting the two pilots(LS4 & Pawnee,) were

This morning a replacement 'structure'is being retrieved by Tecnam courier from Hamilton and should be fitted later this morning to allow the pawnee to 'self retrieve.

At around this time the Club Class leader (GGX) was dumped in to a paddock and incurred some damage to his main wheel. The retrieve team arrived back at 9:50pm.

Retrieve Crew for GX were rewarded with onsite restroom.

Today is looking not as good as yesterday with a high covering the contest area.
Task setters have a challenge with the current weather forecast so
Task A will be a 2.5 hour AAT to the NE, then across to the NW (Wharepapa South), then South and back via Mokai.  ion
A Task B in case all the weather information turns out completely different.

Hard to believe-but Lindsay at breakfast this morning playing with his electronic gadgets.

Day 7 for Clubbies. Day 3 for the Open Class.

An interesting day yesterday.
From an organisational point of view - not one of my proudest moments.
Chose to launch with a slight tailwind as expecting a wind change which didnt arrive.
Wont do that again:-)
Didnt give the pilots the Task B as early as I could have.

The Task B Out to the North East then to the South and back was an AAT of 2 hours 15min.
Some rocketed around, others had a struggle.
See the open Class results
http://www.soaringspot.com/msc2013/results/open/daily/day2.html

Club Class results
http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/daily/day6.html

Interesting that two gliders (XT & TK) ended up with a skinny glide back to the field and chose to land runway 22 with a tailwind while everyone else chose runway 06/04 in to wind. An interesting moment with two gliders on finals from opposite ends  of the airfield.

But we love our gliders and wouldnt want to see them damaged.

Some still having the odd technical problem. Whether it be getting SPOT's registered on the Taupo site, forgetting to switch them on....or even getting a scorable GPS trace out of the glider with the help of a lubricated boffin.

Todays task will be the 7th at this Nationals.  The last Nationals at Taupo only managed 6 scored days over the the entire contest. The weather synopsis says fine weather for the rest of the week.

Today has the fleet tasked to Kaingaroa, Pureora, Rotoaira, Pohipi and return for a 3 hour AAT.

279km point to point,  194km minimum, 369 km Maximum

The open class go a little bit further with their 3 hour AAT.

296km point to point

209km minimum 388 km maximum

And now its off to briefing

Day Seeks

Its also the second day of the Matamata Soaring Centre comps.
Check their scores at http://www.soaringspot.com/msc2013/

A change of Task from the Task A an AAT based on yesterdays task.
To a B Task which send them out East instead.
The forecast weather didnt quite pan out by 12:30 so we called the change with a 30 minute delayed start to 1:30pm.

A slight tail/cross wind had the grid team on their toes. Small delays due to a tailwind gust were required.
But all were launched without major incident.

The B Task is a 2 hour 15 minute AAT task for both classes.

NE to Waiohau 70km leg with  20KM circle
South to Waipunga 86km leg with a 20km circle
Back to a control point at Teawa Camp with a 10km circle

Point to point 216.9 km
min 136.1km
max 309.4km

Launch was completed by 14:20
Check glider progress at  (select Taupo)
 http://www.soaringspot.com/msc2013/

We should see first gliders home around 16:45, just in time for "'tea and medals"'

Keep it up
Roy

@#$%^&*(    Computers

For some reason we cant seem to get the final results on Soaring Spot. (wORKING ON IT)

In Summary:

Club Class Day points
GX 773
KT 703
TJ 574
NV 490
KM 463
PV 450
XP 424
ML 200
DF 166
CS 147
LL 145

Open Class (Matamata Competition)
OP 1000
TD  663
ZM 577
xt 553
ZO 535
TT 498
GB 479
VR 451
TX 141

Keep it up
Roy

Character Building Day.

The launch went well with 20 gliders launched in 70 minutes with 2 towplanes.
oops a slow second leg. 3 landouts.
Even with a Turbo you are not immune if the engine doesn't start!  GTX.

The day did not perform as forecast.
Only GOP completed the task.
Others abandoned the task and slithered home.

As predicted by yours truly, the Club Class competitive guys "flew in to the ground". No quarter asked, no quarter given in the race for points.
Lovely to see two Youth Glide members driving off to retrieve Mr South Island. A longish retrieve to Kuratau and they wont be back before dark and after the club dinner.

With new technology we are getting SPOT pings, and txts to keep us up with whats happening and where gliders have landed.
GKT & GGX landed on a strip. When I asked about the condition of the strip this pic txt arrived.
We sent road retrieves:-)

Dont land here for an Aero tow!!!!

The good news is....nobody hurt....nothing broken......

Day Five

Another 10 gliders join us as the Matamata Soaring Centre Competition 302.8 KM
Today they share the racing Task for the club class
Goudies
Wharepapa Sth
Rotoaira
Poihipi

To Save you looking at a map.  First leg  23km to the East then Northwest 91km
Then South 99km back north 59km Then Home

But its off to the grid for me with a launch timed for 1pm. Today we are limited to 2 towplanes
Tomorrow we should have 3

Flyday!

Your Contest Director was very proud of "his"pilots yesterday.
A challenging Day with pilots making great decisions. Whether it was the decision to land back or the decision to landout after a long day, all were well done.

Yesterdays task hailed a first for your scibe. The first time I have had to contact Airways to extend the Controlled airspace requests. In this case  to extend the request to 7pm from 6pm.   The Duty manager was very helpful.  The last glider landed at 6:51pm.

With the gliders getting out of radio range in the Matamata valley, Ralph Gore offered to be a radio relay point. He talked to the gliders and then sent txts to me to record progress.  Its moments like this that SPOT messengers are invaluable for contest organisers knowing where their "flock"are.  There is a case in my mind to make them mandatory in contests.

After such a great effort by KT in finishing the task, it was a bit disappointing that the scoring system  did not give him many points more than a competitor who landed out.

Before the launch we were visited by the lady reporter from the local newspaper, her attention was drawn to the tall young man and recent Transtasman Trophy winner, Tim Bromhead.   Tim must have decided that media attention was a good thing.  On his landout more attention. This time not only two young ladies arriving with the retrieve crew but two fire engines and two police cars.

Read more about Tims adventure on the Piako website.  http://www.glidingmatamata.co.nz/news/

Todays task should be in a more cloudy sky!!

Task is a 2.5 hour AAT.
Matahina Dam (20k circle)
Waipunga (20 k circle)
Teawa Camp (10k circle and control point)

147km to 322km with point to point of 229.3km.

Tomorrow we are joined by gliders entering the Matamata Soaring Centre competition.

Excitement here at Mission Control.

On this blue blue day.

We had one finisher at 18:39 -  4 hours 16 on task.
Steve Wallace (KT) put his money where his mouth was (it was his task setting) and did the Thames return task.

Having extended the airspace requirements from 18:00 to 19:00 (Thank you Airways) the last glider landed short (At Atiamuri at 18:51). We have 4 gliders landed out in the Atiamuri Area about 25-30 minutes drive from here.

3 gliders cruised into Tokoroa Airstrip including Race leader (GGX). They are getting an Aero Retrieve.

4 Landed back and didnt start the task.

Day Tree

Wednesday was used by many pilots to do interesting things.

A group climbed the local hill, it was exhausting for some who needed the support of others.
Good teamwork.

Ross, Mike,Maurice, Sandy & Steve-Photo By Ed Devenoges

The front went thru yesterday with a very light rain. Today is forecast to be blue around the Gliding Site(there must be a competition on :-) with a westerly on the ground about 10-15 knots with 20 knots at thermal height.

A challenging forecast to plan a task.

But the Panel rose to the occasion. After consulting a couple of wise heads the task has been set as Thames Out & Return. 341kms.   To thinking being that its thermals to the Kaimai Ridge (70ish kms) then a nice ridge run and 70kms thermals home.

To allow pilots to claim a Diamond Goal (and gold Distance) the start and finish points are the same.

Seems three lads are filling in the paperwork for this achievement.

As I write this at 12 noon. The sky is blue.   

Kooosed

An interesting term used by the Contest Director to indicate that no task will be set.
Todays weather was forecast to be flyable later in the day.
However reviewing the weather at 1pm the decision was that no task was able to be set.

Pilots dispersed for afternoon activities before the 6:30pm Angus Steak BBQ prepared by Organiser Trev Terry.

Tomorrows forecast looks very positive

Other Views

For those on facebook you might like the pictures/comments from
Mike Strathern   GTJ
Tim Bromhead    GXP
Taupo Gliding Club

Day Too
 - too good to sit on the ground!

Last night a lot of happy pilots - even ML who landed in a strip SOuth of Mokai was a happy chappy and winner of this mornings lollipop.

The day is turning out better than forecast. (its now 1:30pm)
The Tasking Panel spent a lot of time massaging a task for bothe better and worse than forecast and decided on an AAT.

3 hours
Minimum 173km - maximum 335km
Kawerau with a 20km circle
Tiverton 500 metres
Pureora with a 20km circle
Then home via the Aratiatia control point.

The voice of the competition- Radio man Tim Norman

Tourist flights in and around Mt Tarawer might get to see some racing gliders on their way in and out of the Kawerau circle.

Airways have nicely given us a bunch of airspace so the team can fly around up to 6500ft in some chunks of controlled airspace.

Just a reminder that the scores and traces of each flight is available at Scoring Spot
http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/daily/day1.html

Its lovely here in Taupo. Last night yours truly went for dinner in the street of the restaurants  and bars.
At least a dozen choices of places to eat from Kiwi tucker to Indian, Asian etc.
Happy to be able help a couple of tourists who where looking for the hotpools. Of course they are on the way to the airfield.

So off to check the positions of the gliders who are just starting.
http://map.xinqu.net/spot/index.html

Day wun - we have begun

The weather forecast looks very promising. A number of pilots enjoyed their excursion yesterday.
One Libelle pilot commented that it was actually nice to see the countryside from well above 4500ft (his experience from a previous visit. The South Island representative feels much better after exploring the countryside and seeing the strips and landable areas.

Last nights safety briefing was well done by Safety officer Bill.  Excellent work, an insight from a paramedics point of view was refreshing.  Some discussion about the finish circle haveing a lower limit.  Decision was to remove any lower limit as all teh pilots put their hand on their hearts and said they would not do any high speed pullups thru the circle :-)

Its a hard job being Safety officer! 

Task for today is a Racing Task  

274.6 kms

Tirau
Rotoaire (SW of Lake Taupo)
Mokai
Home via a control point.

We expect to launch just after 1pm

6:30 pm.

Launch started at 1pm.  Slow in the Waikato but better on the western side of Lake Taupo.
All gliders accounted for.....
2 land backs. One had battery problems(DF), one some öther"problem.(PV)
One landout 23kms South of Mokai turnpoint (ML)




o

Day Zero Ground Zero

Official Practice Day at the Club Class Nationals, the sky is blue with some white fluffy things scattered around.
The nice man at Airways says that we can use some of his airspace (Tarawera & Reporoa)

Dave Hirst, Steve Wallace, Trev Terry

The tasking panel have chosen a practice AAT task Up to the North(Matahina Dam) then down South(Poronui AIrstrip) and home via Ohaaki Steam stack  in only 2.5 hours 174km-332kms.

A jolly atmosphere all round as we wait back at mission control.  Not many SPOTS going at the moment.
Check the Taupo selection at  http://map.xinqu.net/spot/index.html.

As always the support from the Taupo club is huge with lots of willing volunteers

Getting Started

Hello Sports Fans

Only a week to go until this years Club Class Gliding Competition gets underway in Taupo.

While some pilots names have been entered on The Soaring spot site. http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013
it is an ongoing mission to update the information. Don't take us to task about handicaps and minutiae :-) It will be correct at the time of the first competition day.

Taupo club, as usual, is working frantically behind the scenes to ensure that this  will be a great event from both pilots point of view plus those who "turn up" to help, observe or marvel.

While Facebook has been chosen as the main method of communication at other competitions in NZ and around the world, I am a bit old fashioned. :-)  From time to time I will post on both the Omarama and Matamata Nationals facebook pages. But this blog will be the main source of information from the Contest Director.

As always, worthwhile comments are welcome.  Abusive or off topic comments will be deleted!

This is not my car or first prize in the 2013 event!


To remind yourself about taupo comps flick thru http://taupo2010.blogspot.co.nz/