Down Under, Post One for 2009

The flying has been on in Bright for about a week now. The day I arrived we drove straight from the airport to launch and flew in nice XC conditions. A few days later James Thompson flew from Bright to Corryong, and about the same time, 4 hours north of Bright near Deniliquin, Bill Oats towed up and flew 289 kms (185 mi) in 6.5 hours. Tail winds make that kind of flight possible, or not as was the case with my 99 kms, 6.5 hr flight from Bright to Baddaginnie on Friday.

Saturday saw the first successful Mystic Cup Task this season and the conditions went from dodgy in the morning, to full on by just after 12 noon. Beautiful clouds and huge areas of lift (and sink) gave us a racy task during which I made a calculated gamble which paid off and put me first in on the 41 km task. Not having any comp gliders in the race was for sure a help, and a first as long as I've done the Mystic cup.

Picture taken from the new Gundowring launch.