With the Australian nationals starting in a few days, many pilots from around the world are arriving in time to get ready and practice flying.
The contest is the 'pre-worlds', a practice run for the following year where the worlds will be held in the same location. It's a practice for both pilots and organisers. It's also the Australian national competition.
From New Zealand we have 5 pilots competing:
- Alan Belworthy from Tauranga, ASG 29, 18m class
- Brett Hunter from Tauranga, JS1, Open class
- Mike Strathern from Nelson Lakes, Ventus B, 15m class
- Steve Wallace from Whenuapai, 15m class
- Myself, Tim Bromhead, from Piako, Ventus C, 15m class
Also arriving is Steve's family, Alan's family, Barbara Hunter, Julian Elder (Team captain), Terry Jones and Karen Morgan (Sailplane Racing Committee), so there's lots of Kiwis to keep the aussies off our backs!
Tim and Mike have been here for a few days and had a chance to fly. The first day was blue, so I went off to Tocomuwal and return. The second day Mike, Alan and I flew around lines of rain, and did around 300km, dodging showers and exploring the region.
We're posting small updates on facebook, and will post here as well.
Links to news, photos and results will be on the competition website http://www.ozglide.com
