Oz Report

The Airborne Gulgong XC Classic

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Rick "Ricky" Duncan|Rohan Holtkamp|Steve Moyes|Airborne Gulgong XC Classic 2002

The first day of the Gulgong meet was called off with the winds a bit too high.  It has been windy since yesterday afternoon.  It has also been quite cool if not down right cold here.  There was a little rain in Sydney yesterday, their first this month.  There are 60+ bush fires burning in New South Wales.

It is quite dry here with evident dust devils.  Apparently there will be no chance of fires in the paddock at Hay as there is nothing to burn.

Some pilots did get towed up behind the trikes around 4 PM. Steve Moyes was first off.  The tow rope was new, twisted in the air and wound up his bridle so that he couldn’t release the rope.  In an attempt to undo the twists by grabbing the bridle with his teeth, Steve got high over the trike and was given the rope.

Steve was able to roll up the rope, unhook it from his bridle and stuff it in his harness between his legs.  About then he was attacked by a nasty wedge tail eagle at the east end of the run way over the forested areas.  We on the ground could see the eagle attacking him although they were both quite high.  Steve flew back toward the center of the large sailplane air strip and the eagle went back to the woods.

Got to speak with Rohan Holtkamp.  He confirmed Jon Durand’s story of how well Jon and Steve Moyes flew together at the Canungra Classic the first week of October.  Rohan said that every day he would get out in front of them and then they would slowly reel him in and pass him just before getting to goal.

Rohan’s story is that on the last day he was again out in front and ran into a strong sea breeze head wind going into goal.  He could see Jonny and Steve a bit behind him and a bit higher.  He chose to scoot back to a hill side outside the sea breeze effected area to get enough altitude to get through the sea breeze, because he felt that there would be no chance to find any lift in that area.

Steve and Jonny continued flying straight ahead, found 700 fpm and made goal before Rohan.

Rohan said that in addition to Jonny and Steve flying well as a team, Attila and Ricky Duncan were doing well.

We’ll be here flying through Wednesday.  Looks like it will continue to be mild in temperature and we are hoping for lighter winds.

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Felix in America

Christof Kratzner|Felix Ruehle|Joe Greblo

Felix Ruehle «felix_ruehle» writes:

Christof and Felix have just arrived in SF. We will have a pilots meeting for all pilots at Saturday the 16^th 9:ooam at Mission Soaring Center.  Subjects of the meeting are:

- all about the last version of the ATOS with V-tail.

- maintenance: we will forward all our experiences from rigid wing checks

- spins and tucks

- landing and take off technique

- if possible, we will shorten the program in order to go demo flying (weather forecast looks good) detail information phone 408.262.1055

Further A-I-R meetings are next weekend in LA and San Diego.  We will have ATOS aerotowing demos, even for those without a tow rating.  Pilots may qualify by getting a tow lesson the same day.

For detail information please contact Joe Greblo («windsports»)

Those who like to meet christof and felix during next week on the way down to San Diego, can contact us under «felix_ruehle»

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Retractable bridle

bridle

The clever folks in New Castle have come up with a retractable bridle that works off some pulleys and bungees up in the sail.  The line runs through a pulley on the bottom of your keel just in front of your hang point.

After you release from the tow line you undo a snap shackle that connects to your waist line and the bridle line retracts into your sail.  I’ll have pictures soon that will give you a better idea of how it works.

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Glover and the Governor

David "Dave" Glover

David Glover wrote in last week that he had been a good friend of the man who just became the governor of Oklahoma.  I asked him for the photos.

David Glover «david» writes:

Brad Henry (new Oklahoma Governor) and I at a fundraising event at the University of Oklahoma back in the 1980's.

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