How to glide somewhere really hot. Comp Day 9

Woohoo!

http://www.soaringspot.com/ausmulti13/results/15-meter/daily/day7.html

Another 40 degree day in Benalla, and we finally got clouds. Just not the sort we wanted. They looked very wavy, so we all had thoughts of climbing to 10,000 feet before starting the task.

Turned out the thermals were tricky to use near the hills, probably because the wave above and ground winds were different directions and the day was still heating up.

I had a good day, not getting too low and finding climbs when I needed them. Due to the cloud build up, we had to fly to the sunny patches on the ground, or where they were 10 minutes ago. Although not cumulus, it was a good change to have something to fly to.

I had a good glide back to the airfield, finding climbs on the Warby hills to top up to get home, while many others spent time trying to find a thermal.

Ian made a mistake today, and missed the last turnpoint. On some days (AAT tasks) we have a 3km circle around it, today was a 0.5km circle (Racing task). He turned at the 3km mark meaning he never reached the turnpoint, and was marked as a virtual landout. So I'm now 165 points ahead, with one day to go.

We're not sure if we're flying tomorrow, it sounds like a front is coming through bringing showers, wind and possible thunderstorms. Tomorrow night we have dinner and prize giving.

What the flarm looks like while flying with lots of other gliders. It's not as busy as it can be. I was taking photos after all...

Wave over the mountains just as we were starting. The open class gliders managed to climb up into it to start, at 10,000 feet

On track half way around

It's like living in an aviary around the airfield