Manilla XC Open, day 8, and final results

The day started out blue, which around here means it’s gonna be a good day! Winds were SE so our course line was to the NW, towards Weewa. Since this was the last day of the comp and they needed us back early for scoring, the stop time was set to 4 pm, to allow people time to get back to Manilla and report in, get the scoring done, and calculate the 4 best scores for each pilot and announce the winners at the awards ceremony.

The Boom 5’s showed up today so there were a lot of new gliders in the air. The sky was looking good by this time so I launched early off the east launch (before noon) and joined the pilots skying out above launch. With the SE winds we were being pushed towards the hill country that we’ve flown over many times, so I wanted to be over that part as soon as possible. I was with a group of pilots at the narrow canyon where it opens up onto the flats when I got flushed and was forced to land just on the other side of the canyon where the flats begin. I was kinda annoyed at my early landing and short distance made (38 km), but I had landed near a road so it was no big deal to get Dan to pick me up and chase the others.

When 4 pm rolled around most pilots landed asap next to the main road for the easy retrieve and quick ride back to Manilla. Keith made it the farthest of our group at 116 km. Tom and Will were at 106 km or so. Many pilots were around the 100 km mark or so.

Back at HQ in time for the final scoring and the evening party. Steak dinner at the RSL club and then it was time to see who had won. First off the organizers gave out free t-shirts to all the pilots who had made personal best distances. This amounted to about 75% of the competitors I think; it took so long to get through all the names!

Awards were given out for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place for the women’s, master’s (over 45 years), serial class (DHV 2-3 and below), and overall. Pics of all the winners are at http://mclearn.ca/gallery/.

Team Durka Durka did reall well…we came in 2nd, sandwiched between the Austrians in 3rd place and the Germans in 1st place! A case of beer for us, which we gave to our driver Dan.

PS for any pilots wanting to fly Manilla and looking for a kick-ass retrieve driver, email me and I will pass Dan’s info along. He was a great driver: a local pilot with intimate knowledge of all the back roads, able to use a GPS, eager to help out on launch with laying out gliders etc., helping pack up, and making sure cold drinks were in the vehicle and there was ice in the cooler. Great job Dan!

Team Durka Durka results:

Will Gadd 8th overall
Tom McCune 13th overall
Keith MacCullough 20th overall
Nicole McLearn 74th overall

As for my own result, I had hoped for a better one, but given that I was using this comp as practice for the World Championships, I think I achieved my objectives. I now know a lot more about the local countryside, where the good thermal spots are, where not to fly, and most importantly for around here, low saves are extremely common and you can never scratch too low! Also, the field strength for this comp was unusually high, due to the proximity of the Worlds happening next week, and the pilot quality will likely never be quite so high for an XC comp (unless it’s held right before or after a PWC taking place in the same area). The FAI points for this comp should be good enough to hopefully bump Canada up a few spots in the WPRS nation-ranking.

Official results are at http://www.xcopen.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=75

Now that this comp is over, we are taking a rest day. Josh and Bill from the American Team are showing up today, and we are planning on doing absolutely nothing for the balance of the day, except for maybe some lounging around the local pool and lots of nap-taking. So no more pireps for the next day or so, until the official practice days for the Worlds happen on Friday and Saturday.

Nicole