- 2013 Queensland Easter Comps – Final Wrap Up
- More from the Queenslands Comps
- Queensland Easter Comps Report
While the northern hemisphere gears up for the coming season, the southern winds down. In Australia, the last comp of the season is the Queensland Easter Comps for club (world club class), sports (fancy gliders) and 2 seater classes – both an entry level comp for beginners and an end of season relax for seasoned comp pilots. This year for the first time the comp is in Goondiwindi, 350k west of Brisbane on the Qld/NSW border, and on Good Friday 54 aircraft assembled for practice day … well rigging practice – the few brave souls who launched were quickly washed out of the sky, although rumor has it one glider made the first turn. Goondiwindi needs more rain after 8.5 inches in a day at the end of January flooding the area and closing the highway for a few days – the choice of outlanding is either the irrigated paddocks surrounded by a moat or the non-irrigated paddocks currently under water – did I mention this is a dry comp? We lifted our spirits with beer & a good meal of fish & chips from the local aero club.
Goondiwindi Airfield
Saturday dawned a bit brighter so Day 1 saw a 2 hour AAT (turn area task) for all classes. According to sports class winner, Bruce Taylor it “was a challenging day, with very European conditions. There is water everywhere around the task area, and after the launch it required some concentration just to stay airborne. A long, quiet glide after start found the first good climb, then it was OK till halfway around, when it went all soft again. Finally in the last sector it came good, and there was a great run home.
It has been so busy on the farm, I keep saying to myself that I am only here for the holiday, but the competitive spirit always tries to overcome any attempted relaxation! A few times … I had to force myself to hold back when someone flew past me. In the end it all went well.”
Tasksetter Slut in paddock
Results for Day 1 showed big leads in the (handicapped) speeds in sports and club, with a close call in 2 seaters …
Sports:
Bruce Taylor JS1C (18) 106kph
Tom Claffey ASG29 96kph
Club:
Mike Codling Hornet 95kph
Jo Davis ASW19 87kph
2 Seaters:
Team Kingaroy (Schmidt & Donald) Duo Discus 80.5kph
Team Keepit (Harry & Wendy) 80.3kph.
Tugmaster Val (not tugmistress – and she is standing up!)
Sunday added some more rain to the soggy sorghum and covered cotton. At briefing, after cancelling the day, we continued the tradition of raising $2 fines for the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) – any and all misdemeanors, reasonable and unreasonable, are fined – such as the tasksetter for outlanding 24k out yesterday – and the weather lady for the rain – mention of an upper level trough foreboding possible doom!
Monday dawned blue and sunny – but the CD announced a tug had broken a bellcrank and all Pawnees were grounded …. oh wait, it’s April fool’s day! Day 2 saw another 2 hour AAT. Bruce reports “By launch there were plenty of clouds, and the sky to the north west looked really very nice, but of course we were going to the south east, where things appeared slightly less buoyant. Turned out it overdeveloped down near our second turn, and getting through the mess was a challenge, too much of a challenge for some. My day was reasonable, though I had a bit of brain fade flying into the rubbish, and it was a case of “Why am I here and not over there?” as I progressed – the sky was changing quickly. However, all was not lost; I wriggled home and finished, then climbed away and flew for another hour or more to use up some of the good weather that was waiting elsewhere.”
Results for Day 2 gave the girls a fair showing …
Sports:
Lisa Trotter LS8 94kph
Chris Woolley V2cxM 93kph
Club:
Adam Woolley Cirrus 85kph
Jo Davis ASW19 82kph
2 Seaters:
Team DDSC (Alain Potier) Puchacz 80kph
Team Thompson (Jenny & Sarah) Duo Discus 79kp
Comp Director Phil
Scorer Andreas
