December 11th - waiting on Wx

Hi There Race Fans:

Nothing much to report from yesterday or today. The same Wx situation remains in place. Basically we have lots of clouds with two or three occluded fronts getting slowly squeezed together over the South Island between two big high pressure systems.

There are signs of wave in the sky, but with no way to get into the wave (other than a very high and very expensive tow) not many are launching. A tow to about 2,000 feet rates as a 7 minute tow in local billing parlance and runs to about $NZ 74. Once you start talking about ranging further afield than the local ridge your tow bill rapidly escalates. The sad thing is that of the $NZ 74 the operation takes in, they only net out about $NZ 8 per tow after landing fees, airport levy, renting the tug, etc.

More of the GP pilots have rolled into town now. Currently on the field, and in no particular order are: Ben Flewett, Diddier Hauss, Mario Kiessling, Pete Harvey, Steve Jones, Irwin Sommer, Herbert Weiss, and myself. Most are getting their gliders set after getting them off the transport frames and rigged. I myself have been sitting in the Ventus and making flying sounds in the hangar while I familiarise myself with the Borgelt B-100 that's in the ship.

I did get into the air for a 3:45 x-c flight in a Duo back on Sunday. To say the day was good would be an understatement. My back seater, Don Mallinson, said it was one of the best thermal conditions he has seen at Omarama. Unfortunately, between the scenery and beginning to learn to fly a new contest area, I did not take a single picture.

After nearly getting thrown off Nursery Ridge, I was able to dig out and get on top of Mt. Cuthbert (the nearest local high point). From that point on, taking anything less than 8 knot average was criminal. 10-12 knot average for 2-3k foot climbs was commonplace it was very good in all sectors. We worked our way over to the Dingle Ridge then up towards Mt. Cook, then south along the Barrier Range and onto the St. Bathans Range. From there we worked our way back to the Omarama Saddle then ran a tremendous convergence line down the Hawkdun range to Naseby and back to Omarama most of the time at 95-100 knots with the airbrakes hanging out to stay clear of cloud. From here on I just circled the basin back into Omarama while taking a look at the many ranch strips in the area. I think I got an OLC distance of something a little less than 300 km, but the whole flight probably covered400+km of flying with very little stopping. Weiss and Sommer did some easy "coast to coast" flying in prep for the GP on this day as well.

The Mackenzie Basin, in which Omarama sits, is undergoing quite a large change in landuse and this may begin affecting the local soaring conditions. Traditionally, this area has been dryland farming and dry land grazing (mostly sheep). However, with a huge demand for dairy products coming from China, the local area is greening up quite a bit. It is hard to imagine a thriving dairy business going in an arid area like the Alamosa Valley in Colorado, but this is the way the Mackenzie Basin is going nowadays. I heard on the radio just last night that the number of head of sheep in the central South Island region is going to decline by up to 3 million over the next couple years in favor of dairy cows. With all the irrigation necessary to green the fields up for dairy cows, the thermal production of the flats is going to decrease. Lucky for all of us economic trends will never transform these mountains or the winds that make the famous wave here.

That's it from Omarama.

See ya! Tim/EY