I wasn't expecting a big day so I didn't worry about water ballast, a barograph or declaring 500. All of which proved to be mistakes! I launched at about 1:30, releasing into a 6 knot thermal to 6500' Meanwhile the Q which had been developing in the North-West was moving across Clare, and wisps were beginning over Kapunda / Gawler area. I thought I'd better get under the good stuff as soon as I could so I darted around Kapunda and headed for Clare. I still had Gawler - Quorn - Gawler programmed into the B2000 and GPS from my last aborted 500 attempt, so I thought I may as well see how far I could get. By the time I got past Brinkworth the day was booming with strong climbs to 11,000', 6-8 knots average, occasional 10 knots average. The run up to Quorn was easy, got there in 2.5 hours from launch time (108 kph including tow and first thermal) %$#! wish I had filled the tanks! The scenery over the ranges there was fantastic, and I could see Wilpena Pound in the distance. Another good climb to 11,000' at Quorn and I started my run home - the good climbs continued and I thought I'd have an easy run. Abeam Port Pirie with 170k's to run the next thermal was markedly different - very smooth, and only about 5 knots. I took it as high as it would go, about 11,000', and wound the ring setting back. Mr Borgelt told me I was 13,000' below final glide (at Mc 4 ). Gawler was suddenly a long way away. I pressed on somewhat more cautiously and thankfully found a good thermal abeam Clare, but was still a few thousand feet under glide, and most of the Q's ahead were thinning out and disappearing. If I wound the Mc back to 0, Mr Borgelt reckoned I had final glide to Gawler with a couple of hundred feet to spare, with a 500' arrival height set. So off I went, with 100k's to run flying a zero knot ring setting. After a very long, very smooth glide flying 50-60 knots I eventually arrived back at Gawler at about 1000' - thanks Mike! An excellent day with an nail-biting finish. But I still haven't got my 500 badge! David -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Catherine Conway Sent: Wednesday, 7 March 2001 9:14 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [aus-soaring] Re-BORING Reports At 08:52 AM 7/03/2001 -0600, you wrote: >CATHY CONWAY - How far did QH go yesterday? (I saw it land at Gawler >from a great looking Cu sky just before last light.) >ANDREW WRIGHT David flew Quorn - return (500 km for those that don't know the area). I'll encourage him to write up the flight as a BORING report. -Cath -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information. -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
