Catchup - Jerilderie 2008
The Jerilderie 2008 LSF Tournament was held back in June, and I went down there with an expectation of flying well, and with a new glider to boot. I also went down to Jerilderie with some trepidation, given the disaster that occurred last year with my near-new Icon TD.
I drove down to Jerilderie from Sydney during the night over some seven hours. The trip was uneventful and relaxing, and I had some fun overtaking a train of some fourteen trucks at one point on the freeway. I knew the fun would start when I turned off the main road west of Wagga onto the Wagga/Jerilderie road. It was dark, the roads were straight, I was tired, and knew the drive was almost over. Five minutes down the road, a fox jumped out of the gloom into my high beams and nearly scared me to death!
Welcome to the back-country roads, Becsta!
We had the Friday for practice, so I spent most of the day trimming and flying my new Super Ava. I knew it’d be a good floater when it flew clear down the winch lines from the first hand throw. I’d never get that from my Icons.
Saturday was the first day of competition flying, and I assembled both the yellow F3J Icon, and the Super Ava, in preparation for the day’s flying. I had a choice to make for the first flight - launch the new Super Ava, or use the tried and tested Icon. The problem with using the Super Ava was the launch itself - it could take a full pedal winch launch (without any noticeable wing bend), but the ping off the line was still quite inconsistent. I was faced with a dilemma I didn’t anticipate - could I thermal away off a low launch?
The launch height almost directly equates to time in the air. During the early stages of the comp, I could take no chances, and eventually never flew the Super Ava “in anger” during the competition at all.
Saturday’s flying was sweet flying - the lift was patchy but generally bouyant, and I made good times, with consistent landings - but nothing spectacular. It’s the kind of flying that I expected and, for the time being, according to my overall game plan (I knew I couldn’t win the comp, but I did expect to take out the Novice class) - fly well, and consisent.
Sunday was a completely different day, deceptively calm at ground level, but roaring away in a defined shear layer up high. My times tumbled, and I had a few absolute shockers where I seemed to get nothing but sink. The only aspect of my flying keeping me in the fight was my landings. I prayed for some good weather for the final day of flying.
My prayers went unanswered, and the final day was blustery and blowing an absolute gale up high. The strategy for everyone was ballast up, launch to the moon, fly away over towards the edge of town, point the glider into the breeze, and park it. My first flight was terrible - I was flying my Icon F3B with one bar of ballast, and I should have flown it with two bars. The second flight, and conditions were getting worse, so I decided to use two bars. Much better, to the point where it seemed to be my best flight of the entire event, when I managed to stay above Carl Strautins all flight, and came in to about 10:02 or so. Just after I landed, the rain came, so I packed up, ready to head home.
This year, no success, so I drove home disappointed at not placing, given my past recent success at the Hunter Valley Champs and Heathcote Cup.
Next year, I’ll keep to my game plan, and see whether I can take out the elusive Novice class.
Was the Super Ava a mistake? No, I don’t think so. Last year, the conditions were quite mild and calm, the Saturday was quiet dead and floaty. If conditions had persisted into the Sunday and Monday I would have flown it. However, before I commit to using this glider in serious comps, I need to work more on the initial rotation, the ping, and the spoiler compensation.