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Post by thevon on Sept 13, 2009 21:26:43 GMT 10
As you can see we now have a section dedicated to the burgeoning population of thermal proponents championing their cause on Windsock. Not so long ago when Gerard put together the Windsock site and this forum, it was dedicated to "EPP Slope Sailplanes" but how times have changed! Windsock now represents a very broad range of glider nuts.
And none come nuttier than those thermal guys, who guff on about launch modes, winches, aileron differential and Joe Wurts's theories on triangulating thermals.
I looked for any thermal related threads and moved them in to this new thermal section - as you can see, there are plenty! I think it's true to say that thermal is getting a lot more press than DS in SEQ!
Say no more, I hear you say ... so watch this space ... for the reports from the Bundy competitors!
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Post by ezza on Sept 13, 2009 22:41:54 GMT 10
Just got home. So dehydrated still. Massive weekend, so tired and headachy, this might not make much sense.... The bundy boys have been doing alot of work at their field for this, the Central Queensland titles. The best prepared field I have seen so far, with mowed walkways to get from the winches to the landing spots which were perfectly prepared. They even mowed these sections at each end of the course, in mirror reverse, incase of a windchange!! The landing area was fairly fluffy sand under grass so you could violently(in my case), but safely, try to stab your plane into the spot. World class setup and days of work. They had also removed some of the closer trees. BIG trees gone made the landings much more comfortable. The conditions were highly variable and probably the most challengeing I have flown so far. Much different from the last event in Bundaberg a few months ago. One heat would have massive thermals, to speck height where evryone would make their time. And the next would have everyone having to relaunch and scratch to make a short time. 9 rounds were flown total. The leader board changed alot with several people, including myself, making it near the top then drop down to 7th or so after a bad flight. It was so competitive with not much in between everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing the scoresheet. Sean did an amazing job and spent most of the competition in second place. He is a force already, at this early stage of his thermalling experience. Look out!!! The last heat had the top seeds all fly off together and it was a shocker. I was on the ground in 3 minutes, re-launching, as were most, except for Evan, who must have filled his airframe with helium, he managed a nine minute flight. He was scrathching around, very low, a long way from home, with his own design, and home built Viper and managed to climb out. The rest of us were lucky to see 6 minutes or less after a relaunch. This incredible flight moved Evan up from 6th(?) to 1st. It was a very well deserved win. To take out thermal specific airframes with his own design F3B styled plane was tip top. Congrats Evan!!! Next was Brian Ford(Bananaman), who was mr consistant as usual and somehow I was lucky to get third.  Dale(bundyglida) 4th and Sean was unlucky to drop from second to fifth in that final flight. These events are a rollercoaster ride I reckon. You do good one round, then try and go over what you did wrong the next. Such a tough and fickle thing, this thermalling. Thermals this weekend seemed to just dissapear. One moment you could be climbing nicely then 'poof' it was gone and you were desperately scratching, trying to avoid a landout. There seems to be a certain hieght where you are pretty safe but it is a fair bit higher than launch hieght. ;)The trophies for this competition are really special. Dale's aunty does paintings using landscapes of the hills and landscapes, around Monto with lots of details of the sky, cars, pilots, and gliders!!! Absolutely beautiful. All the new thermal guys should try and get their hands on one next year.  Can't wait for the next one. Eric |
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Post by skyboyken on Sept 14, 2009 0:10:18 GMT 10
Thanks for the report Ezza! Sorry I missed it, especially as Greg tells me the tree that ate my Caracho is gone . Congrats on third place!! Sounds like you earned it! Ken. |
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Post by jirvin4505 on Sept 14, 2009 7:18:40 GMT 10
Good report Ezza. A little fresher this morning - slow start to the day. Done my back in again winch launching  Yes the combination of very challenging conditions and fierce high level competition certainly made made it a great comp for me ;D ;D I reached the heady heights of 8th place and then slipped to a final 12th place. I had some reliability issues with my wing wiring that i thought I had addressed but the gremlins reappeared. Lots of fun landing with only one flap in action  The joy for me was having the family along. Jane showed a great return to form with her thermaling skils - displaying a fine touch specking out from a low height after popping off the winch and getting and inside 8 landing. Especially not busting the model so I could fly it in the next round  The kids are sloooowly getting acclimatised to the comp environment. They were very cute with their paper mock transmitters asking for me to launch their imaginary models. I know ....it's a parent thing It was good to see my mate and shed buddy Richard from Bundy back into flying models - he built a complete 3m model in 3 weeks and competed successfully all weekend with it. I also had the company of Hutton (fellow member of the Drela fan club) flying his home made Supras. There was some carnage  A very dramatic launch incident when Larrican's (Dave Vels) model clipped a wing tip on launch and yawed under full line tension splatting into the ground. Forntunately he was flying with his son Liam and they shared a model to finish the comp. Thankfully for domestic bliss Dave finished just ahead of Liam in the comp. It was very exciting to see Sean holding second place for some time - the last flight was certainly a very dynamic test of thermaling skills. A very rewarding finish for Evan out-scratching the specialist F3j models to secure his well deserved/earned first place. He kept commenting on the high standard of the flying throughout the comp. Fantastic field preparation by the Bundy boys - Thanks heaps. 20 competitors this year up from 12 - A special acknowledgment to the Windsock team, Mrssa and the Bundy boys for encouraging the sport of thermal competition. I love it ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D With 20 competitors I didn't get time to be the full social tart i like to be I missed watching Greg teach the Fazer how to fly - he says the X-pro will be ready for Armidale. Speaking of Armidale - it's probably the next big contest (Australia day Long WE) it will have a separate class for the RES and nostalgia models. Along with Thermal, Handlaunch and Electric comps - I better get building!!! There will be a oneday friendly at MRSSA Harrisville in the next month or so - will keep you informed. I came away thinking - more practice on launch setup and landing accuracy. cheers jeff |
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Post by thevon on Sept 14, 2009 7:45:16 GMT 10
Great reports fellas, thanks. Sounds like a big, challenging, tiring but rewarding weekend. Congrats on those results.
Andrew
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Post by airtime on Sept 14, 2009 15:36:27 GMT 10
Sounds like it was great day up in bundy. Spewing Icouldn't make it.
Had to work. Hopefully next I'll be ready to come up.
Great read guys.
Cheers Astan
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Post by sean on Sept 14, 2009 20:07:27 GMT 10
What a great weekend! The Bundy guys did a great job preparing the field and organising the event. Over the weekend we saw a really diverse range of thermal conditions: huge booming thermals as wide as the sky; tiny yet powerful thermals not much wider than your plane; mystery bubbles of lift that disappeared just when you'd expect them to start getting better; thermals that started out as weak bubbles and took what seemed like ages to turn into something stronger; sink that seemed to cover the entire sky, and much more. The wind varied from moderate to dead calm. Saturday was mostly light-moderate winds blowing at 90 degrees to the winchlines, so we got plenty of crosswind launch practice. Sunday was mostly calm which I liked as it made finding thermals that little bit easier (for me at least) but both days were very challenging and competition was very tight. Despite the tight competition everyone tries to help each other do well. Ezza did a great job guiding me to lift for the majority of my flights, Brian also did a great job helping me make the time on one flight in some very challenging air at a time when our overall scores were neck and neck. Hutton was a big help in the last round - we didn't make the time but then only Evan managed to get away in that one.
As Jeff mentioned there was some carnage. Karl seemed to have a run of bad luck that killed his chances despite some excellent flying. On one of his flights the line broke almost immediately after his plane came out of the thrower's hands, after which the Europhia just stopped, perfectly vertical only a few metres off the ground for what seemed like ages before flipping the nose back down and hitting the ground. Thankfully it hit nose-on with only very minor damage resulting. Wayne lost two models to radio failure - one on Saturday and one of Sunday. Despite that he remained in good spirits.
Ezza and I stayed at the caravan park in Woodgate, which turned out to be really pleasant, and right across the road from the beach. Definitely worth checking out next year if you're looking for somewhere to stay.
My weekend went well. I was disappointed to lose three places in the very last heat but overall I was very happy with my placing considering the tough conditions and competition. The Orca just did everything I needed it to do, and with no winch dramas I was able to concentrate on flying. Also had some very good luck finding lift exactly when I needed to on several occasions. The best example of this was on the very first flight of the contest, which was only a 4 minute task. The air seemed to be sinking everywhere and only about two minutes into the flight I was heading for home with just enough height to make it back, when I flew straight through a really small bubble of lift that turned into pretty strong lift to save the flight. Another flight the line broke at only 1/3 launch height or less. The air felt a little buoyant so I flew straight for a bit when wham! I hit this tiny but very powerful bubble of lift that saw the Orca climbing several metres every cicrle, and the whole time this turbulent bubble was trying to kick the Orca out, rolling the wings vertical etc etc. It took a while to turn into something bigger but when it did I was on easy street for the rest of the flight.
The last heat was easily the toughest I flew this weekend. I scratched out around 6 minutes, which was competitive with all but Evan's miraculous 9+ minutes, and was only metres off the ground when I made a real newbie mistake trying to circle in a small bubble that turned out to be nothing. This killed my chance of making the landing, and with no landing points that knocked me back several places. As Ezza said Evan really deserved the win after that flight especially flying an own design F3B style plane. Really put us F3J plane fliers in our place.
Sean.
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Post by mrbonk on Sept 14, 2009 20:33:25 GMT 10
The conditions for the comp were unusual for our field. Normally, when there's lift there, it's consistent.....not like those 'teaser' bubbles that just vanished and turned into buckets of sink!
I had a few terrible rounds, with one of the worst being on a relaunch after not finding any lift. I went off my own winch for the first launch, which was then wound back through the turnaround and shredded my 'chute, so that was out of commission. I was back on the ground in about 4mins. When I came back for the relaunch, I went for Wayne's winch (I think), which broke the line. So, I lined up Mark's winch, which pulled the line through the knot at the 'chute...... *sigh*. I took the hint and went and sat back down then :-)
In keeping with my recent Lismore form, I managed to break 2 x 1.2mm lines and a 1.3mm line on my winch. Then the 1.4mm line I put on managed to end up tangled/crossed/something at the turnarounds and got burnt to death, so it's also on the way out! I think I'm going to have to start buying 5mm line on 20kg rolls the way I'm going :-(
Anyway, to those who made it to the comp, thanks heaps! I really love seeing events like this at my home field :-)
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Post by thevon on Sept 15, 2009 5:11:41 GMT 10
Great reports guys, thanks. Makes me think the weird thermal conditions we get at Bracken Ridge aren't perhaps so unusual!
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Post by bundyglida on Sept 15, 2009 12:04:03 GMT 10
;)Hi Ladies and Gents,
I'd like to once again thank everyone that made the trip up to Bundy for the past weekend.
It's so great to see the gliding being supported so strongly, and I hope that it continue to grows.
For those of you who were unable to make it, put it on your calander for next year, we'll mow the winch line a little wider to accomodate you.
I trust everyone had a good time and I hope to see you all here again soon.
I probably won't see anyone until Armidale, so until then, practice hard, fly heaps, and we'll go and give the southerners someting to think about in January.
Cheers,
Dale
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Post by larrikin on Sept 17, 2009 13:39:08 GMT 10
Knowing that Evan isn't subscribed to Windsock (yet), I forwarded your comments on to him and he asked me post this reply.
David
I appreciate and am flattered by their comments. I suppose it is fair to say that most wins come with support of a good caller and a little bit of luck. On the last flight my good luck was Brians bad luck, when I was struggling at around 150 feet and probably 5 1/2 to 6 minutes into the flight having already worked 3 small areas of lift which were showing promise only to have them fizzle out when you (good calling) commented that Brian seemed to be working something very low to the ground and a long way away, so in a do or die effort I headed in his direction coming in probably 50 feet above him (no real joy for Brian resulting in his out landing). I then ventured even further down wind when a small bubble of lift began to build and drift over the trees and it was still quite a while before it built to a safe height but still not enough to get the full flight time. Without this bit of good fortune I also would have had an out landing with Brian, or retrieval from the trees.
After being out of the competition seen for quite some time and now dabbling a little more seriously, from a gliding fraternity perspective I am so pleased to see good growth of new and very talented competitors to the scene. This is directly attributed to the excellent promotional skills and relentless contribution by Brian Ford, the mentoring of new fliers by Jeff Irvin and the contagious enthusiasm of Dale and Mark from Bundaberg. The variety of excellent models and the manner in which they are being flown is great for the sport in our region.
I have no barrow to push in home built or purchased models. It's just that I still enjoy creating and building aircraft that hopefully are competitive.
Regards,
Evan.
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Post by bananaman on Sept 18, 2009 14:44:54 GMT 10
Sorry for the late report but I only just got back to Brissy. Ditto to all comments above. It was not an easy weekend. Well done to Evan for his inspired last flight. There was some great flying done by all the Windsockers in some highly variable air. Sean is really getting in tune with the Orca and is a rapid improver. Eric has been really consistent and is a potent opponent in any heat. Jeff, Jane and kids are great fun to have around, a little more flying time away from the shed would get that Europhia tuned a bit better. The Bundy guys held a great comp and Dale is getting in synch with the Perfect. Brenton the winch/line dramas won't be permanent, but it is a pain when it happens. 1.5mm line is a dog to launch on, you may as well use fencing wire, except it doesn't wind onto a winch too well. ;D Anyhow some pics.  Jeff launches over Richard's head  The top three. Good to see Evan in First. It was hard to keep Eric, Sean and Dale out of second.  Dale landing the Perfect  Measuring the landing of an Exploder  The youngest pilot with dad David. Hope to see more of that team on the field. Oldest pliot was 83 (go Ziggi!)  Jeff and Jane  Mark's Tomahawk looking for the spot  The models  Hutton's home built Supra, he drove from Armidale!  Trying to land in gusty winds  Jeff getting ready to launch Jane |
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Post by nick on Sept 19, 2009 19:04:23 GMT 10
great photos wish i was there and i love the trophies regards nick |
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Post by vh7377 on Sept 20, 2009 7:44:36 GMT 10
I had a fantastic weekend in Bundaberg.
Thanks to all those who helped, Kevin for the scoring and smooth running of the competition, the Bundaberg Club for the well prepared field and the BBQ lunches, Brenton for the coloured tape on my new Alula (now I can tell which one's mine Greg), Jeff for help and support all weekend (despite having an exceptionally high workload already preparing fixing and flying Janes model, coaching the kids, and all that launching with a dud back) and Karl Knack for stepping in and helping launch and spot. I'm sure I left some out, and thanks to you as well.
As stated already, conditions were more challenging than I was used to. I owe Sean an apology for not finding him lift on his last flight, which saw him fall out of the top 3.
To me the most challenging conditions were saturday afternoon, when the breeze seemed to blow the top off most of the low down thermals resulting in small pockets of fast moving lift at different heights interspersed with lots of falling glue. Of course I got stuck in the falling stuff.
Was a most enjoyable experience. Hopefully the enjoyable bits will be repeated in Armidale on the Australia Day weekend. I will post an entry form for the 30th Armidale Sailplane Expo somewhere soon and provide a link to it for all to see.
If anyone wants more info on the Supra build, please PM me.
Hutton
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Post by bananaman on Sept 20, 2009 10:15:22 GMT 10
Does anyone mind if I copy some of the comments into a single report for our Club's newsletter and yahoogroup. Will also do a report for MAAQ Airflow. Windsock and all authors will of course be credited.
Thanks Gerard and Andrew for allowing thermal topics on this Slope flying site. I for one really appreciate it, as it has allowed thermal flyers contact with interested slopers in the region, hopefully for the benefit of all those interested in non powered flight.
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Dale(bundyglida) 4th and Sean was unlucky to drop from second to fifth in that final flight. These events are a rollercoaster ride I reckon. You do good one round, then try and go over what you did wrong the next. Such a tough and fickle thing, this thermalling. Thermals this weekend seemed to just dissapear. One moment you could be climbing nicely then 'poof' it was gone and you were desperately scratching, trying to avoid a landout. There seems to be a certain hieght where you are pretty safe but it is a fair bit higher than launch hieght. ;)The trophies for this competition are really special. Dale's aunty does paintings using landscapes of the hills and landscapes, around Monto with lots of details of the sky, cars, pilots, and gliders!!! Absolutely beautiful. All the new thermal guys should try and get their hands on one next year. 
