Flatter than the Flatlands - Birchip Easter Comp 2006

From the Red Faces Competition:
Pornarama
Hey Beavo

And from the keyboard of Hughbert comes Another day at the Birchip comp 06

by Ian Rees

The Easter long weekend at Birchip (VIC) was the location in which 49 pilots from Victoria and South Australia gathered for the 13th annual Flatter Than the Flatlands Hang Gliding competition. Pilot briefings were held at the RSL hall in the centre of town each morning. It was here that Hugh Alexander presented the daily prizes to the day winners and also told stories of misadventure. Wesley Hill provided the scoring and Ian Rees was the weatherman.

DAY 1
The weather forecast was for a few showers with the risk of a thunderstorm. Winds were expected to be 20 knots from the North at 10am with 35knots from the West at 4pm. We went to the paddock (what else is there to do) and found conditions quite soarable. So a task was set and pilots setup. At 3pm the day was cancelled as the 35 knot winds hit the paddock with light rain. Paul Kelley had already got away and flew 40km. After the day was cancelled Trevor Sangster tried to out-fly the gust front and packed up in a dust storm near Culgoa where the visibility was only 200m.

DAY 2
The strong winds continued to blow out of the southwest. A task was set to the gliding strip at Nyah West. The safety committee consisting of Hugh Alexander, Ian Rees and Paul Kelley held pilots on the ground until 2:30pm when the day was called off due to the high winds. The decision was made based on the level and experience of some pilots, in particular the floater class. It was suitable for the open class and after the day was called, many open class pilots flew. Several had good flights with some making goal.

DAY 3
After being blown out for two days, day 3 had no wind at all. The critical decision today was to choose the correct end of the paddock to launch from or we would risk loosing 3 days in a row. We went to the southern end which proved to be correct. A task was set to Litchfield, 54km to the south. The conditions would prove to be slow with thermal strengths averaging 300 fpm. 11 out of 49 pilots made goal. Of those, Andy Schmidt was first out of the paddock at 1:22 followed by Wesley Hill, Sam Prest and Ian Rees. A few of us got held up for about 20 minutes in scratchy lift 12km before Birchip. I saw Jorj Lowrey land while I was holding on in zeros at 1200 feet to avoid the same fate. But patience played off. Soon another group of pilots consisting of Trevor Sangster, Peter Bolton, Steve Walley and Steve Blenkinsop came through just as the conditions improved. These pilots joined us in a gaggle that stayed together as we flew past Birchip onto Watchem to the south. Tony Lowrey and Steve Norman in the ATOS found stronger lift and they left us as they raced fast and won the day. Tony’s time was 2:17. I got down to 500 feet about 10km out. Fortunately, Peter Bolton found a great core that took us up over 3000 feet and then we hit lift all the way into goal. Last into goal at 5:13 was Phil Campbell who arrived as the lift was dying. It would prove to be very critical to his comp result. Twenty pilots didn’t fly past the 5km-start radius which devalued the day to 683 points.

DAY 4
The weather forecast for Easter Monday was for increasing cloud with rain due at night. Winds were expected to be 20 knots out of the North. We went to the paddock and found the sky overcast with moderate winds. There was no thermal activity due to the blocking of the sun as we setup. Several pilots decided it wasn’t worth rigging up. The conditions were quite flyable and so a task was set to Banyenong, 53km to the SSE. Those that waited and watched rushed to quickly setup. The first pilot to thermal out was Steve Norman in his ATOS. This got the other pilots towing. Soon others found a stray thermal and followed. Wes Hill took one to 3000 feet and glided 26km to the deck. I took a high tow to 1770 feet and dribbled out in light lift. Soon Peter Davies and one other pilot joined me. The 3 of us circled in anything that wasn’t going down. Zeros were held onto as long as possible and we stayed below 1900 feet for almost 1 hour while travelling 27km. Eight pilots got past us. No one made goal but Phil Campbell flew 48km and was closest to goal. Only half of the field flew out of the 5km-start radius. The day was worth 382 points.

The Results and BBQ
The comp finished off with a BBQ and prize presentation back at the RSL. Thanks to Vanessa for being our MC on the night. 1st place went to Phil Campbell; a well deserved winner and congratulated by all very vocally. The top ten were Andy Schmidt (2), Wesley Hill (3), Steve Norman (4), Tony Lowrey (5), Ian Rees (6), Trevor Sangster (7), Sam Prest (8), Paul Kelley (9) and Steve Blenkinsop (10). The Kingpost class was won by John Mitchell (19) followed by Peter Groose (23). John picked up a prize from Airborne Windsports of $2000 off a new topless glider. The Floater class was won by Richard Carstairs (25) followed by Jorj Lowrey (29). Richard received $1000 off a new Aeros glider from Peter Holloway. The Skypig award for clocking the most hours went to Ian Rees. The lucky 13th prize of a new Garmin GPS went to Glenn Bachelor. The teams trophy was won again by “Show Me the Money” consisting of Wesley Hill, Steve Blenkinsop, Trevor Sangster, Migel DeJong and Ian Rees. Second in the teams event was team Dirty Bird (Phil Campbell, Andy Schmidt, Richard Carstairs, Tim Hannah and Anthony Meechan). The VIC team won the VIC vs SA challenge.

Socially, the highlight was the Red Faces competition. The standard of all the acts was excellent entertainment. Paddy’s porn stars were a deserving winner. In second was the Skywallies with Peter Davies as special guest who provided the best comedy routine on the night.

Ian McLelland (the landowner) received several nice gifts to share with his wife Anne from the pilots as thanks for the use of the paddock and his preparation of the tow strips.

Special thanks go to all of our sponsors including Moyes Gliders, Airborne Windsports, Peter Holloway (Aeros Gliders) and Peter Lissenburg (Sensair).