Corryong fly in and Millennium Cup March 05

The Corryong trip is always the highlight of the season. Mt Elliot is one of the highest launches in Australia, the country is beautiful and so far, we always had at least one day of a good flying. This time, we had 3 out of 3. Something had to be wrong;-). The organization was perfect, Hakim and his team shone again. The launch was as tricky as usual and we've seen some interesting performances. But nobody, even the master himself, didn't beat Campbell's show from the year before. Juergen, however, scored a lot of points for a creative landing.  He was discharged from hospital after only a few hours of observation.

Saturday was just about average, with smoke from the controlled burning filling the air for most of the day. For that reason I didn't take my camera in the air - regretting it later. Still, some pilots made it to Khancoban and the thermals worked well until late. I was the last to launch at 5:30(!), got to 2,400 m and had a pleasant glide to the caravan park.

Sunday was a ripper. Every man, woman and their dogs flew to Khancoban enjoying the luxurious landing at the airstrip. For some, like Linda, it was for the first time they peeled off the hill - in style, indeed!

In comparison with the previous days Monday was fairly average. Broken thermals in a smoky air didn't take anybody over 1500 m and the distance record of the day was some 10 km. Fun, after all, if you didn't get airsick. I had the pleasure to fly with a huge eagle for a while. He performed a "talon resistance" test on the fabric of my glider and flew away again.

                                                      Hakim is briefing the participants in the morning.

                                                          looking down from the launch with anticipation...

 

                                                

   

           hard climbing in the smoky air on Saturday                                  Bruce and Linda getting ready on Sunday

  

                                                   Crossing the Khancoban airfield - photo by Barney Henry

                                                                        This birdie means business!                    

                    an easy climb to 2,400 m and a relaxing glide to the camp on Sunday - launching at 5:30 pm

      A desperate fight to stay airborne in the turbulent air for 1.5 hour on Monday. Peaks: 7.6 m/s up, 6.9 m/s down...

          Tracklogs recorded by Digifly Graviter and projected into 3D maps by CompeGPS flight analysing software.