Manilla XC

Yesterday the sky was very overcast, but the temp trace was good enough to do some slow XC. Heike flew over 30k - I bombed out pretty soundly, so I chased her and got to watch her do a nice low save.

This morning the sun was out in full force and as we drove to launch nice cu was forming in the distance. The ride up the hill in the basher2 was unforgettable - basher1 broke down yesterday, and the basher2 was put out to pasture a long time ago, but with no way up the hill, it was put back in action today.

Basher2 is a Toyota land cruiser and had a load of 13 people and 12 wings (the wings go in a trailer). Only the temperature and fuel gauge work, it doesn't have any doors, and not much of a muffler either. Pilots sit in two rows with their backs up against the sides. The body has separated from the frame so when the vehicle sways to the right, you feel the side bow out and a you can look down and see the ground from the inside.

The road up Mt Borah is steep, real steep, and the guy driving must have been close to red line most of the way up, Toyota should be proud of that engine. I was amazed it didn't explode in a shower of steam, steel, oil and fire.

We launched off the west launch. It started off weak and I didn't want to bomb out again so I waited until wings were going up before I launched. I was almost the last off, and the wings that were going up were gone, and I was sinking out again.

But I found something and hung onto the slowest, scragglyiest, ugliest thermal I have gotten my wing dirty in for a long time. But it was much better than sinking out.

The clouds were developing really nicely, climbs to 9,999 ft (3047 meters) and a slight headwind at times, until you got high, then you got a little tail wind, so the going was slow. But it was good enough for just over 4 hours and 50 miles (81 km).

Tomorrow we get to spend all day in the car driving back down to charcoalville (NE Victoria).

Maybe Mystic will be flyable.