The Australian Soaring Season traditionally starts in Queensland in late September with the Queensland State Championships. This year the Qld Comps were surrounded by several other events. Peter & Lisa Trotter, veterans of the Uvalde WGC, ran their Glidefast course at their home club in Kingaroy – followed by another coaching week starring British travelling coach G Dale.

So as usual the Queenslanders were warmed up while the rest of us southerners went in cold to the Qld Comps on 28 Sep at Warwick, 130k SW of Brisbane in the Southern Downs granite belt, Bounded by hills and scrub to the SE and this year a swag of military airspace to the NW, tasking was limited. Nevertheless, 24 competitors from 4 states (Qld, NSW, Vic, WA) & 1 international visitor (UK) in 3 classes (18m, 15m/std and Club) flew 6 competition days – flying mostly AAT tasks with distances from 186k to 406k at winning speeds from 72kph in Club to 133 kph in 18m.

Being in the north (Warwick is 28 degrees south) and early in the season (september is like march in the northern hemisphere), the general rule in Qld is to be on final glide by 4pm. On Day 5, the weather briefing warned that the day would die early – having spent the whole day wondering when the day was actually going to “start” and being the slowest finisher at a painful 73kph, I maintain that an entity cannot “die” unless it once lived!

Rising star of the show was young weatherman Dan and his nan Jan – when Dan took an interest in gliding and his parents were busy, Jan took on the task of ferrying Dan to/from Warwick – Dan, now all of 16, has progressed so well that, after some initial coaching from weather expert Jenny Thompson, he was able to give a very professional weather briefing each morning – then, as he was considered “too young” to fly the comp, he filled the club Discus & followed us round the task – sometimes at “winning” speeds – I say watch this space! Meanwhile Jan, clearly not required to retrieve Dan, spent her time cooking and cleaning – thanks Jan!

Ongoing star at Warwick is tugmaster/chief chef Val – being vertically challenged, no-one knows how many cushions she needs to fly a Pawnee, but year after year Val launches the fleet then disappears into the kitchen to produce dinner for the starving hoardes!

Guest star was G Dale continuing his coaching in the Duo Discus and winning almost every day in the process.

Overall winners were:

18m class –

1. Tom Claffey – ASG29
2. Jenny Thompson – ASG29
3. Brian Du Rieu – LS10

15m/std –

1. Greg Beecroft – LS8 (all the way from WA)
2. Peter Trotter – LS8
3. Craig Collings – AWS20

Club –

1. G Dale (who?) – Duo Discus
2. Alain Potier – Duo Discus
3. Fran Ning – ASW20

Next up, some attended the Visitors Week at Jondaryan, further north on the wide flat Darling Downs, but for us a spot of fishing at Hervey Bay was a welcome break – and yes we did catch dinner – even caught the same fish twice!

Now we get serious at the Australian Multiclass Nationals on 14 October at Kingaroy, 220k NW of Brisbane, red soil peanut capital of Australia. The Kingaroy valley with tiger country east, hills north, scrub NW, and the Bunya Mountains south leading to the Darling Downs, gave the opportunity for some challenging tasks – with many a plaintiff cry of “I got Bunya’d!” 50 competitors from 5 states (Qld, NSW, Vic, SA, WA) and 3 international visitors (UK, Denmark, Japan) in 3 classes (Open/18, 15m, Std) flew 10 competition days. After a culture in recent years of underset AATs, it was refreshing to see a young met/tasksetting team set some long challenging mostly fixed tasks utilising the whole day – with distances from 269k to 509k and winning speeds from 96kph in std to a blistering 158.9kph in Open/18m – perilously close to a statute mile ton & faster than any 18m speed at the Uvalde WGC!

Even further north (Kingaroy is 26 degrees south), the 4pm rule still applies – despite that we had some sterling efforts with people struggling back late – on day 6 Steve McMahon arrived back at 5.53 pm and on day 3 I outlanded 16k short about 5.40 pm – I’m ashamed to admit that was about 20 mins before sunset and just as the last finisher called 10k – I usually outlast both sun & finishers! Day 3 carnage had about 20% of the fleet scattered over the countryside – leading one of our well-respected senior pilots to mutter “time the tasksetters had some adult supervision!”

On day 9 we had an AAT north to the hills under a trough line – we started in blue, then scattered cu, then streets under the trough line then struggled home under overdevelopment – radio conversation mid task over the hills went like this …

Tim: “what have you got Jim?”

Jim: “nothing”

Tim: “anything landable ahead?”

Jim: “negative”

Anyhow, after Tim struggled away from that, he managed his first nationals day win – but he doesn’t recommend the method!

International stars Arne Boye-Moller from Denmark and Mak Ichikawa added some world class competition – Arne was leading open class until not making it home under said overdevelopment on day 9.

Rising star Matthew Scutter (still young enough for JWGC Narromine 2015) blitzed 15m class sometimes with speeds rivalling 18m class – eg day 5 139kph vs Dave Jansen’s 146kph.

And of course Val was there on a tug pilot’s holiday – she didn’t have to cook too!

Overall winners were:

Open/18m:

1. Tom Claffey (who?) – ASG29
2. John Buchanan – ASG29
3. Arne Boye-Moller – ASG29 (will Schleicher be happy?)

15m:

1. Matthew Scutter – Discus 2
2. Mak Ichikawa – LS8
3. Peter Trotter – LS8

Std:

1. Greg Beecroft – LS8 (setting a trend)
2. Matt Gage – LS8
3. Tim Wilson – LS8

At the final dinner at the very flash Bello Vista winery, the (provisional) international teams were announced:

Open Class: John Buchanan, Andrew Georgeson

18m Class: Tom Claffey, Ben Loxton

15m Class: Matthew Scutter, Allan Barnes

Std Class: Greg Beecroft, Craig Collings

Well the season’s started off with a bang – here’s hoping for a booming coaching week, NSW comps at Lake Keepit and Narromine Cup in november!

But of course no gliding trip goes entirely unscathed – the reason I have time to write this article is …

I’m sittin’ here ‘n downtown Moree

Waitin’ till the man calls me

To say he’s fixed my Cobra arm

So I can get on my way home …

–

Sent from my steam driven laptop in a dusty corner of some remote airfield!