Birchip Flatter than the Flatlands 2007

Pete Bolton

The 15th Annual "Flatter than the Flatlands" hg tow-launched Competition was held at Birchip (Vic) at Easter 2007. Entries involved about 50 pilots in 10 car-tow-teams from Victoria and SA. The area in central/ west Victoria earns its title from the claim for a world record by a nearby town - the world's lowest mountain - Mt Wycheproof - a mere 80ft high!
The comp includes the state challenge (SA/ Vic) which has been won for each of the last 10 years by Victoria. This year SA set out to "Put the record straight".
As reported by Wes Hill on the Oz Report - Birchip turned on one of its best years, with 4 days flown out of 4, with goal achieved by some each day. The comp was also incident-free.

Day 1 - 79 kms to Mittyack. A blue day with a light SSE wind. Weak thermals below 2000 ft made low saves difficult, but there were occasional 400 to 500 fpm climbs to 4200 ft if you stayed high. 6 pilots made goal. 1st Wesley Hill 38.7 km/h, 2nd Hughbert Alexander 37.5 km/h, 3rd Steve Blenkinsop (SA) 34.2 km/h, 4th Paul Kelley (SA).

Day 2 - 65 kms to Boolite. Another blue day with a very light ENE wind. The wind earlier in the day had been north so we set up to tow north. Half the field was didn't get away when the surface winds turned more east, making launches difficult. It was a good day for those that got away with 12 in goal, and climbs of 600 fpm to 6000 ft. 1st Gary Fimeri (SA) 34.0 km/h 2nd Tove Heaney 33.1 km/h 3rd Trevor Sangster 32.3 km/h, 4th Wes Hill.

Day 3 - 104 kms to Tottington. Yet another blue day (there were a few cus while we were setting up) with a fresh NNE wind. The task committee picked the direction badly, but strong thermals made it possible for 9 pilots to make goal (a couple of pilots ended up 30 kms off track). We were getting over 6000 ft, with the better thermals averaging 800 fpm. 1st Gary Fimeri 43.4 km/h 2nd Tove Heaney 39.7 km/h 3rd Ian Rees 39.6 km/h 4th Paul Kelley (SA) 37.9km/h, 5th Martin Sielaff (SA) 36.3km/h.

Day 4 - 74 kms to Rich Avon. Blue again, with a moderate NNE wind. Weaker lift down low made it hard to get out of the paddock with a few late starts. 12 pilots at goal. Nick Isaacs deserves a special mention - he started flying 4 months ago, had his first XC flight yesterday and made goal today flying a kingpost glider. =1st Andy Schmidt 43.9 km/h =1st Paul Kelley 43.9 km/h 3rd Phil Campbell 42.6 km/h. 4th: Pete Bolton (SA) - author!

In fact, the flying was so successful that no one had the energy to organise or put on a performance at the (now regular) "Red Faces" night. This will have to wait until next year.. Thanks again to all those (too numerous to mention) who volunteered their time, efforts or whatever to make this event possible - especially land-owner Ian McLelland. He even gave us a guided tour of his family's farm on the last morning, (including the use of precise GPS on crop-sowing machinery.)

Overall results: 1st Gary Fimeri (SA) 3141, 2nd Paul Kelley (SA) 2989, 3rd Steve Blenkinsop (SA) 2753 .
Vic/SA State challenge: South Australia.
Kingpost Class - Jeronimo Lavanchy (Chile)
Floater Class - Rob Swart (SA).
Team - "Show me the money" (Steve Blenkinsop, Miguel DeJong, Wesley Hill, Trevor Sangster, Ian Rees)

Acknowledgement to Wes Hill, who wrote the original day-by-day accounts (for the Oz Report). This article puts more of an "SA slant" on the story.