Pete Bolton's article

Birchip Flatter than the Flatlands 2007

Ian Rees

The 15th annual Flatter Than the Flatlands Hang Gliding competition was held over the 4 day Easter holiday weekend at Birchip in NW Victoria. 46 pilots from Victoria and South Australia gathered for the event to find the 2007 Birchip Flatlands Champion. As well as the overall individual champion in the Open, Kingpost and Floater classes, teams of 5 pilots were allocated a tow strip in the paddock to complete for the covetted teams trophy. South Australian and Victorian pilots also competed for the SA vs VIC State Challenge cup.

DAY1
Light to moderate SE winds and a blue sky allowed the first task to be set 79 km to the NNW at Mittyack. We normally tow N-S or E-W, but to minimize the risk of a wind shift keeping us on the ground, we organized the tow cars to mark out 10 parallel tow strips from the NW into the SE corner of paddock. This worked well and pilots got to tow into the prevailing wind all afternoon. Thermals were typically 200 to 300 fpm with occasional 500 up to 4200 ft AGL. It was a good day to get high as the conditions below 2000 feet were slow and difficult. The six pilots that made goal launched between 1:50pm and 2:30pm. Those that took off later didn’t allow enough time. Paul Kelley got away first but was held up in light lift. Wes Hill waited until 2:30pm and used a couple of the earlier pilots but most of the flight was done on our own as most pilots landed along the course line. Once past Sea Lake, we flew along the western edge of Lake Tyrell which is a huge dry salt lake with amazing white, pink and silver colours glistening in the brilliant sunlight. There was some confusion for the pilots approaching goal as the GPS coordinates provided by the task committee were 6km short of the nominated goal paddock in town. So we needed to come in high to find the paddock and glide the extra 6 km. Those making goal were Wes Hill, Hugh Alexander, Steve Blenkinsop, Paul Kelley, Ian Rees and Adam White.

DAY2
The winds in the paddock were north so we setup at the south end of the paddock. During the day, the winds swung more easterly which caused 24 pilots to spend a long afternoon in the paddock. A task was called to Boolite, 65kms to the SSW. Some pilots saw the winds were shifting and launched early. All those that made goal got away between about 1:40 and 2:10pm. If you didn’t get out in this window, then it wasn’t much fun. On task the winds were light ENE and the sky blue. Of the 22 pilots that got away, 12 made goal. Climbs of 500 fpm provided good rides up to 5500 ft AGL. Late in the day, I found it difficult near goal and took a low save from 380 feet 15km out from goal to get up and in. The three fastest pilots were Garry Fimeri, Tove Heaney and Trevor Sangster.

DAY3
As we setup at the south end of the paddock, cu’s formed to the north. However it was to remain another blue day with a light to moderate NNE wind. The task committee took advantage of a classic Birchip day and set one of the longest tasks ever at the comp. 104km to the SSE at a small town called Tottington, 15km SW of St Arnaud. This area has a lot of forest areas and the task committee did great job at picking a goal with a clear run without trees. Thanks Steve for the laptop with mapping s/w. The task committee tries to pick downwind tasks to suit the floaters, but they got the direction slightly wrong. Some pilots flew too downwind and couldn’t recover into the crosswind. I found good lift to over 6000 feet which made it easy to stay high and continually work crosswind. A rather angry wedge-tail decided to dive over the leading edge of my glider while passing Donald so I left him to it and found another thermal further on. As the first pilot into the GPS goal, I was not happy with the undulating and tight goal paddock so I flew on 1.3km to a more suitable paddock and landed. Garry Fimeri arrived 6 minutes later, flowed by another 7 pilots. Many of the pilots flew straight to our landing paddock and ignored going to the GPS goal. It was decided to score them on the time they flew over the landing paddock which cost an extra minute or so. The fastest 3 for the day were Garry Fimeri, Tove Heaney and Ian Rees.

DAY4
A light to moderate N wind and blue sky allowed a task to Rich Avon, 74km to the south. It was difficult for some getting out of the paddock. Trevor Sangster needed 8 tows and I needed 6 to get away. The lift once you got up was good, although our late start meant we would need every ounce of sunlight to make it. Those that got going early did well. Mark Tyminski took it slow and easy and had his best day making goal. Also Nick Isaacs made his first ever goal in a kingpost glider. Andy Schmidt and Paul Kelley raced fast and won the day on equal times of 1 hr 41 min. The fastest were Andy, Paul and Phil Campbell.

The Results and BBQ.
The comp finished off with a BBQ and prize presentation back at the RSL. Overall 1st place went to Garry Fimeri followed by Paul Kelley (2nd), Steve Blenkinsop (3rd) Ian Rees (4th) and Wesley Hill (5th).The Kingpost class was won by Geronimo Lavanchy (15th). The Floater class was won by Rob Swart (26th) in an Airborne Fun 160. The lucky 13th prize of a new helmet went to Andy Philips who drove over his old helmet a few months ago. The teams trophy was won again by “Show Me the Money” (12083 points) consisting of Wesley Hill, Steve Blenkinsop, Trevor Sangster, Migel DeJong and Ian Rees. Second in the teams event was “Flies Undone” (10574) with Garry Fimeri, Paul Kelley, Martin Sielaff, Mark Tyminski and Ralph Knoblock. The SA pilots flew extremely well this year and they deserved to win the VIC vs SA challenge cup.

Ian McLelland (the landowner) provided a guided tour of his farm property on the last morning before the flying commenced. As a gift of appreciation, the pilots gave him lead-crystal glassware and wine as thanks for his hospitality and the use of the paddock. The local RSL received a donation of $150, the SES $100, the CFA $100 and CERT $100 from the pilots. I would like to thank those who helped during the comp. Wes, Steve and John for the task setting. Paul and Tove for the safety committee, Hugh as our meathead and all those that helped clean up the RSL on the last night. Finally to all our sponsors, we could not run the comp without you. To Moyes Gliders (thanks Vicki), Airborne Windsports (thanks Rob), Freedomairsports (thanks Peter) and Sensair (thanks Peter).