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)