Hello from Australia! Today is practice day 3 of the 34th World Gliding Champs.
To recap, we've got 6 NZers flying, plus crews, families and helpers. Pilots flying are Alan Belworthy (ASW27) and Steve Wallace (Ventus2) 15m, Mark Tingey and Brett Hunter (JS1s) in Open, and John Coutts (Ventus3) and myself (18m).
Crewing and helping we have: The Wallace family, The Coutts family, The Belworthy family, Barbara Hunter, Mark's partner Angela, Terry & Karen, Julian (Team Captain) & Janet Elder, Robert Smits, Lyndsay Stephens and arriving soon weather man Dave Hirst and there are rumours others such as Ross Gaddes, Steve Foreman and Paul Schofield are going to turn up.
It's amazing the effort everyone has been putting in, and we're nearly organised! There have been a few technical issues such as radios not working, and Steve's glider needing quite a bit of work such as tire change, wing leaking water (Still!!!), ASI not working due to crimping of a pipe. Otherwise all gliders are working smoothly.
The ASG29 I'm renting is working out very well, it has an LX9000, oxygen, parachute, and everything is working smoothly. I can even fit in it, after a bit of wrangling. No seat pan for me, and pedals at full extension which is how I end up in most gliders.
Official contest website. It has heaps of info, links, news and videos
http://www.wgc2017.com
So where to find results? On soaring spot:
http://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/34th-fai-world-gliding-championships-benalla-gld-2017/results
Where to follow up to the minute news? On Facebook generally, there are a number of channels to follow:
Official WGC https://www.facebook.com/WGCBenalla/
Gliding NZ - we'll post most team news there https://www.facebook.com/Gliding-New-Zealand-NZ--106056376128462/
Tim - I'll post the odd update on my page, but will stick to the GNZ page. https://www.facebook.com/tim.bromhead
Live Tracking - I think we'll be launching between 12 and 1pm normally (2-3pm NZ time), and depending on the day can fly until 6pm (8pm NZ). Only 1 person of the 2 in each class will have a tracker. And the're delayed by 15 mins or so.
http://www.wgc2017.com/live!/tracking.aspx?contestID=25780
I've also set up my own tracker on SPOT and also my cell phone which I'm trying out so Robert (crewing for me) knows exactly where I am.
https://track.gs/4jSBLH
I've still got a Give a Little funding page open if anyone wants to help contribute. Total costs so far are around $11,000 so every little bit helps!
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/tim2glidingworldchamps
Today is the final practice day, with a BBQ at the club tonight. Tomorrow is a no fly day and opening ceromony. Then on Monday, we are into it. Bonza!
Cheers,
Tim
