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Flatter than the Flatlands 2000 Summary The first Flatter than the Flatlands for the millenium was an extra day because of Anzac Day falling on the day after Easter Monday. While this took the pressure off the weather somewhat it was also the theoretical latest that Easter could occur. Consequently everyone was looking anxiously at the forecast as the Competition approached. As it turned out we need not have worried because we had 5 days of glorious, if a bit stable, autumn weather.
Day 1 Pira silos NE 68.5 km For those who got away flying conditions were excellent with strong lift, lots of dust devils on the course and a cloudbase of 6000'. Thirteen people made it to goal including Jorj Lowrey who never made it above 3,500', became completely lost, then happened to see the goal tarps in the distance. Lee Paterson made it to goal on the first day of his first ever competition and had his longest ever flight! 1. Rohan Holtkamp 653 2. Brent Telford 603 3. Mark Pike 563 Day 2 Speed NW 68.3 km Day 2 was predominantly blue with the occasional small cumulus and a moderate southerly wind. A strong inversion, the taste of things to come, formed at around 5000'. The SSE wind that went more southerly as the day progressed making the task more crosswind than expected and putting the majority of the field close, but not quite at, goal. Gary Hickson and Ralph Knobloch won awards for being blown the furthest off the course line. Rohan Holtkamp and Tim Osborne were the only ones to make it to goal with Peter Greenhill 3km short. 1. Rohan Holtkamp 962 2. Tim Osborne 948 3. Peter Greenhill 828 Day 3 Mittyack NNW 79.0 km A blue day and a lower inversion made the task to Mittyack a big call. With a 4500' inversion and broken lift it was always a struggle to stay in the air and most people only made it to between Berriwillock and Sea Lake. Even Rohan admitted that this was a tough one and he flew the last 15 km below 1000'. When asked if anyone else got close he replied in true Rohan humility, "Oh, yes I think there was someone down near Sea Lake" (which was over 30 km to the south). Still, it meant everyone was back in plenty of time for the Video Night held at the back of the pub. 1. Rohan Holtkamp 522 2. Peter Eicher 355 3. Greg Porter 352 Day 4 Manangatang N 85.7 km Everyone was starting to wonder just how low this inversion could get! By Day 4 it was down to 3200' with no sign of it breaking. Still, the wind had dropped away and the days were getting very pleasant on the ground. Another struggle with lots of desperate gaggles and stories of remarkable low saves and good and bad luck. Although not high, the flying was extremely challenging and any mistake meant you were on the ground watching someone else climbing out from 600' over your head. Tony Lowrey and (of course!) Rohan were the only ones to make it all the way and Alan Beavis was 5km short. 1. Rohan Holtkamp 780 2. Tony Lowrey 747 3. Alan Beavis 647 Day 5 Beulah WSW 54.6 km Another blue day, this time with the inversion down to 2500'. With such a small vertical area to fly in, for the first time in the competition's history, the gaggles became extremely crowded. You had to concentrate completely to stay in the thermal and avoid everyone. Leaving the thermal to find another core was not an option with the ground so close. It went on like this until Curyo 25km along the course when suddenly gliders were seen to be dropping from the sky everywhere. Such was the attrition rate around here that only two gliders made it past and continued on alone. Nobody made goal and, for the first time in the entire competition, Rohan did not win the day. 1. Warwick Duncan 265 2. Ian Reese 246 3. Greg Holt 228 Summary The conditions at Birchip this year proved to be a great leveller. Scratchy downwind tasks do not give high performance gliders a great advantage and a couple of days people were heard to mumble, "I wish a was on a Skyfloater". But in reality it did not matter much what you were flying as you had as good a chance as anyone else. So it really came down to pilot skill and it was a good demonstration of why Rohan is one of the Country's top ranked pilots. It was never a question of whether he would win or not but by how much. In fact after Day 4, we gave the Superman T-Shirt to Tony Lowrey because he was the first of the "Non Freaks". But of course Rohan is no freak. He's just had the greatest run of luck I have ever seen - it's been going for years now! Just for interest, the day after the competition the inversion rose back up to 4500' and the following day it looked like good cu's and maybe 5-6000'. Thanks everyone for making this one of the best ever. Keep an eye on the website at htttp://www.users.bigpond.com/warwick.duncan for full results and updates on next year. At this stage entries will open January 15th 2001 (not before!) Thanks also to: Dynamic Flight, Flytech, Moyes Gliders, Aussie Skins, Aeros Gliders, Birchip Lions Club, Birchip CFA, Ian Mc Clelland, Alan Beavis, Wes Hill, Peter Lissenberg, Nicky Shalders, Mick Hogan at the Birchip Pub, all the Drivers and support crews, the friendly farmers of the Birchip area, all the pilots and everyone else I may have forgotten.
Individual
1 Rohan Hotkamp 3070 Danny Scott Flying Suit 13. Ian Rees 1771 Flytec Instruments * prizes were awarded down to position 28 Teams
1 French Ticklers 7890 Victoria/South Australia Challenge Victoria
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