18th July - The final straight
Report by Pete

Today dawned sunny to our surprise and we were optimistic about flying. So we gridded, a task was set, and we prepared to fly. The first 16 standard class gliders were launched before launching was suspended due to cloudbase being too low. An hour or so later the day was finally cancelled with overdevelopment and imminent rain. That gave time for an interview with Sky TV; one less thing that I have to worry about tomorrow. Sky TV installed a video camera in my glider this morning (one of two gliders fitted out with cameras) and that'll be recording my entire flight tomorrow.

I had mixed feelings about flying today. I'm currently placed 5th overall and only 263 points behind the leader. Given the difficult weather today there would have been plenty of opportunity for the top four places to suffer a bad day, and plenty of opportunity for me too. But today was my only real opportunity to make up the points to become world champion. Tomorrow looks like being a more regular day, although this competition has more than its fair share of difficult weather. So I'll head into the last day with a slim chance of becoming the new world champion, and whatever happens I'll finish higher than I realistically expected.

I'm pretty happy with my flying so far, although I still make significant mistakes each day. But somehow most other pilots are making more mistakes and I've finished well each day. This is a very unforgiving place to fly: both from the complexity of the weather and mountains; and from safety. It is by far the most complex place I have flown. Flying the world championship in the French Alps was initially daunting, but there the weather was more predictable and the landing options much better. The safety record of this competition, something like half a dozen gliders written off when outlanding with more suffering minor damage, indicates the difficulty of flying here. Fortunately there have been no significant injuries.

It's been a long 18 months of preparation: selection competitions; squad training; training with George Lee; many online Condor flights with the rest of the team; and the logistics of getting everything (including the glider) together here. Mandy and I have spent a total of 10 weeks on-site and I now have a good understanding of the conditions here, but my knowledge is still a long way short of the locals.

So after all of the effort it is now down to the last day.


18th July - Day 10
Report by Mandy

Day 10 was yet another difficult day - Peter Hartman told me today he feels like he is in the movie "Groundhog Day". Every morning he gets up and every day it is the same thing - another difficult day.
The big decision yesterday was start time. There was a clear patch in the Cirrus and then a second band coming in. From the satellite the second band looked very thick. Based on this our guys decided to start really early, an hour before a lot of the others in the hope that the Cirrus would come in and wipe out the end of the day. In the event it did come in, but it thinned so no one out landed. In the event Pete and Allan did OK and their placings didn't really change. Unfortunately Terry outlanded on the first leg, but Bruce had a fun day flying on his own.

17th July - Day 9
Report by Mandy

Day 9 was yet another difficult day. Pete and Allan went around with the pack, but Allan got low at Poggio on the way north and lost time climbing up to finish. Terry had a good day, and having heard Bruce get into trouble was able to change his track and save himself.
Bruce was very unlucky not to find a climb where he was. The 6 previous gliders all found good thermals in exactly the same spot, yet Bruce and Georgio both missed it. Bruce landed and Georgio only just got home very late. Bruce is very philosophical about the day as he really didn't do anything wrong.
Today could be a lottery too with a lot of cirrus and more coming in. We have been relaying the conditions from the satellite to the pilots and have encouraged them to start early as the conditions look to be getting really difficult in 90 minutes or so. Hopefully they will beat the cloud home.

16th July - Day 8
Report by Mandy

Day 8 was another difficult day with several outlandings, including the winner of club class.  In many ways a comp is a lottery, it just depends when they stop as to who is the winner at that point.
We remind ourselves of Sweden when the top 5 pilots out landed on the last day, and also of the speed skater who won gold at the Olympics by being the last man standing;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfQMJtilOGg

Yesterday when the guys were landing they had a 15-20kt tail wind so more gliders than usual opted to do a circuit. (6 or 7 instead of 1 or 2), trouble is 2 of them landed downwind anyway!!
MP landed on the wrong runway with his wheel up and stayed there for quite a while. As a result he received a penalty for hazardous flying.
.
There were a number of very close near misses yesterday, in one case a glider span out of a thermal (which Bruce and Terry were in, and Allan was about to join), and narrowly avoided hitting the other gliders. The Condor replay played at briefing was really chilling. They also had pilots diving out of clouds, into the top of gaggles (which is of course illegal). Hopefully today will be a safer day.
The satellite is showing the high cloud clearly, but at this stage it is still clear of the task area. Unfortunately the cloud is to the North which is at the end of the task.
 
15th July - Day 7
Report by Mandy

Day 7 was forecast to have SW winds turning W, we actually had SW winds turning S during the day. We had complex wave adding to the difficult wind patterns. Pete and Allan were able to climb in the wave to 3000+m before the start and then had to dive down at VNE to cross the line at 2800m - the maximum start height - no speed limit.

In addition to the S wind and the wave, a medium thick band of Cirrus moved over the task area for the last hour and a half adding to the problems of the later gliders trying to get home.

Pete and Bruce had good flights and have improved their placings. Allan was with Peter in his last climb 14km out but didn't quite have enough height to get home (only 50 feet below Pete), he found a slow climb but this took a while and greatly reduced his overall speed. He would have probably won the day if he could have come straight back, but at least he got home. Terry was probably brought down by wave influence, and was just in the wrong place, he outlanded safely just 15km away.

We had the international night yesterday, most countries supplied alchohol; Grappa, Vodka, more Vodka, Beer, more Beer. Fortunately the Italian team provided huge quantities of Pasta for everyone. We served bread with olive oil and basalmic vinegar (4 different flavours), later it was pointed out to us that it looked like Australian damper - we hadn't thought of that.

We had a quiz for our promotional T-shirts, 11 questions, only 5 out of 70 answer sheets were correct, so we drew from a hat and the winners were Peter Masson from the UK and Fridolin Hauser from Switzerland. The shirts were so popular that we are taking orders for more. 

14th July - Memories of Day 3
Report by Terry

Day three was a very interesting day, a 400km triangle with a weak westerly wind, so maybe the ridge may work a little. The weather briefing is quite ordinary – it doesn’t really provide much interesting information other than a few satellite photos. However, our own weather research is reasonable and we are getting some good advice.

Bruce and I started at the same time just behind a couple of others and had a good glide to the south. This first 40km or so is always a little tentative as it determines how low you have to work the climbs on Mt Vellino (aka the mountain that never works).

We took a few hundred feet at the first ridge and then just before Vellino get a 3knot climb. Allan Barnes called 4-6 knot climb out in front of Vellino and I could see a few gliders in that area so pushed on hoping for a good climb. It didn’t work but I had enough height to get across to the Roveto ridge if necessary – although I wasn’t too positive that it would work given the light wind.

I tried a weak climb in the valley but as Bruce and the others passed over the top of me I just decided to try the ridge. This ridge runs all the way to the first turn and can be exceptional with a good wind. Unfortunately, the first 40 km is completely unlandable and when I arrived below the tops and headed southwards it took a few minutes of weak lift to convince me that the ridge was working. I wasn’t able to fly fast, sitting on 70 knots until I moved up just below the ridge crest when I sped up to 80 knots. I was slowly catching the guys ahead and then 10km before the turn found a nice climb in front of the ridge which gave me the height to get into the turn and back onto the ridge at a good height. The trick now was to cross the ridge crest onto the next ridge. Bruce called that 6000 feet was just enough so I climbed to 6100 feet and headed through – worked fine.

After a couple of climbs, I headed across the wide valley to Celano, which ‘always’ has a good climb. There were quite a few gliders miling around which certainly made it look not so crtain. It just wasn’t working. This was a key decision point in the flight – if we couldn’t get a lcimb here the best option appeared to be geading back west and then north , back over Rieti, rather than the faster route over the Grand Sasso ridge. Alan and Peter made the call to head the wester  track and I was just about to make the same decision when a couple of gliders simply headed over the hogher country to the east in the direction of the grand sasso. Given thtat this group included Georgio Galetto and Peter Hartman I elected to follow and get alesson. We flew close to the ridge line over a very high plateau – not a lot of room for mistakes, went around one corner and immediately hit 4 knots. As we reached the top of this climb, with the Grand Sasso now within reach, Bruce joined us, having found a 7 knot climb near to the windmills.

As we approached the Grand Sasso, Giorgio became very cautious. He turned left towards a climbing glider and a procession of gliders behind followed suit. Then he turned right and the whole group followed right – if Girogio was worried then we should be worried too. There was a glider turning just to the right of us and I elected to deviate by this glider as the others plunged at the Grand Sasso rock face. I found 3 knots just before the other glider which quickly became 4 knots. The others were flying along the ridge face but not a lot was happening, so Bruce turned and came back to my thermal and the whole squadron turned around and headed back. The drift was along the ridge so there was no help for the warm rocks to create lift on the rock face. I led out to the next mountain ridge with the flarm showing other gliders just behind me, same height, possibly a little lower. Gradually, as I worked the ridge the gliders behind slowly became higher than me, eventually passing overhead as I stopped for a climb near to the end of the ridge. Bruce commented that while I was bouncing from one spur to the next, Giorgio and his formation slowed down to 60 knots and were moving in and out of every spur, gaining height all of the way – second lesson for the day!

The next ridge worked well with a climb off the top, but now I was 1000 feet lower than the leading group, so about 3 minutes behind. From Castellucio, at 8000 feet it was a 55 km glide to the last turn at Gualdo Taldino, arriving just below 4000 feet. The hills here vary from 3500-4500 feet, with the valley floor about 1000 feet high, so it becomes a slightly more cautious approach as you head home. Today was worse than normal as it was now after 6pm and the day was starting to become very soft. Jumping from little hill to little hill, taking the occasional 1 knot climb to top up a couple of hundred feet, it was all very painful. Peter Temple came in below me as I pushed on, and a few minutes later he bumped into a 3-4 knot climb. I continued to move ahead but could only get 1 knot. There were gliders really low, and the occasional one that found a good thermal suddenly jumping high. I never really climbed onto final glide, basically worked some good air until I had enough height to get into death valley and gradually crawl along the hill until crossing the last ridge line on final glide. A good result with some of the later starters paying a penalty for coming home in the weaker climbs, although a few managed to get a good climb and jump into the lead. 99kph.

Day 4
Day 4 wasn’t quite so good, it was an assigned area task and I just couldn’t get up to a good start height. Bruce was at 9000 fee behind Terminillo whilst I was only at 6500 feet in front. Eventually Bruce started whilst I just kept trying to get some height. Eventually I got to the better looking climbs behind Terminillo but 8200 was as high as I could get, so I started anyway – about 20 minntes behind the good groups.

My forst climb was good and the best path seemed to be heading over the top of the high country. There were a couple of nice cumulus at the point where I definitely needed a climb to get on top and so I headed in there direction. I arrived a little low amongst some high plateaus and just couldn’t find a climb to work. The only safe route was to head east of the main ridge – the place where you never go because it has a high probablility of landing in the L’Aquila valley. Still, it was better than crashing on the plateau.

There was some hope, because there was a weak convergence line just in the valley, so maybe this would work.  With towering mountains on my right, and some whispy clouds above and to my left, I tentatively moved along the cloud line, thrpowing the ofdd turn when it promsed a good climb but never managing to find something substantial. After a wgile I gained some confidence and just progressed, losing height slowly but eventually moving past the high country where I ciould hope to find a real thermal. Around the last corner, I eventually hit 4 knots which took me from 5200 -7200 feet. By now the convergence was starting to look more significant, with some great looking clouds ahead, so I headed south along the cloud line. I was able to maintain height for approx 20km until finding 5-7 knots under some great cloud up to 9200 feet. I flew along the convergence as far as I could go, often above cloud base, and eventually turned at a reasonable distance in the sector.

The trip back north was good, the occasional good climb with a big range of convergences in all sorts of places. I followed a good cumulus line in front of the Grand Sasso as the main mountain looked under shadow and I was unsure how it would work (Bruce went to  the mountain and got a really great climb to a high cloudbase).

It was hard to pick the right line through the next section – I didn’t do too bad but probably not as fast as some others, but eventually ended up in front of a nice convergence line running well into the last sector of the task. Cruising at 80 knots I was able to almost maintain height and pushed up towards Gualdo Taldino. The winners, who were obviously ahead of me after my slow first leg, were able to get right to the end of this sector, about 30km more distance than me. The final glide was good, making sure I stayed high to avoid any other time wasting. I lost 10-15 minutes with my poor first leg so my score was a little lower than I needed, still, it could have been a lot worse.

Day 5
Another good day, with some really interesting conditions. The start was quite crowded. With 108 gliders, including very light PW5s who thermal up the middle of each thermal, and light club class who fly about 10 knots slower, the gaggles before the start get very exciting. Today the club class were starting from the opposite side of the valley to us so it wasn’t quite so bad, but just to even things out the climbs near to the start had lift going up above the general cloudbase amongst wisps of cloud. Now you had to contend with gliders popping out of the wisps in front of you, people trying to centre the gusts on the inside of the thermal – just great fun – NOT.

Bruce and I started together amongst a number of other gliders and the first climbs south were a little hectic, followed by a fast run along the Vellino ridge. I was cruising at 90 knots plus and the two French gliders went past me with great intent. The climb at the end was 8 knots plus and we ended up with about 20 gliders all heading for the fist turn across a wide blue gap, The choice was some good clouds close to the turn along a ridge that we were advised didn’t work too well down low, or a little further west which had some weaker looking clouds which led into some good looking clouds, but in a sunnier area. The gaggle split and I stayed west, Bruce went east.

My gaggle found 5-6 knots to nearly 9000 feet whilst the east gaggle found only weak climbs. Around the turn the east gaggle was scrabbling over the rocks whilst the west gaggle was cruising off down the convergence line with Sebastian Kawa in the lead. Suddenly, another glider appeared in front of us climbing quickly – it was Bruce who had pushed ahead from his low gaggle to the convergence line and was rewarded with a very fast climb, catching up to the higher group. Bruce is quite good with convergences so when the main group headed further west he suggested that we should stay east along the ragged edge. This was a much better line and we eventually found 6-7 knots in the middle of the valley where the convergence turned back towards the Grand Sasso. Sebastian and friends joined us at this point and we were now amongst the highest of this group.

The normal route to our next turn near Castellucio worked as normal which is quite fast. The sky blued out as we headed to the turn which is to the west of Castellucio, but we still went to the main mountain for a reasonable climb rather than just head off into the blue.

The next leg was a long glide west in the blue, and the club class guys who had the same last turn as us were alerting us that it was very weak in that region.

There was a last line of cumulus about 30 k from the last turn and the gaggle reformed in a climb under the darkest part. We couldn’t get up to cloudbase, 7000 feet was as good as we could get, but is should give us a glide into the turn and hopefully back to the cloud again?

We turned and glid back, to find that the cloud line was moving east, away from us. As we approached the cloud quite low, gliders were dumping water in anticipation of a tricky climb ahead, and with only 45 km to go we would be spending more time climbing than gliding.  The climb was three knots and about 10 gliders vied for position to reach final glide height. It was a good race home, and a good score for both Bruce and I (nearly 980 points)..


13th July - Half way there
Report by Pete

We've now had 6 competition days, marking the half way point of the competition. For me it has been a mixed success: OK on the first day and then gradually improving on each day - up until the disaster of day 6. Still, I'm sitting in 8th place overall, so I'm pretty happy with that. I'm starting to get used to the Cirrus, although I'm being outglided and outclimbed by most of the other pilots (the Cirrus has by far the worst handling of any aircraft type that I have flown and I won't be sorry if I never fly the type again after this competition!).

It was good to have a rest day today - time to relax and also ponder what went wrong yesterday. My flight stats were good but somehow I was 17 km/hr slower than the winner. So I spent some time this afternoon analysing the traces from the top pilots and comparing them to mine and the other lower placed pilots. The common factor is the route into the first turn. The task was an assigned area task (AATs) with a huge area that covered the entire southern task area and another area that covered a lot of the northern task area. Basically the task was to fly anywhere south and then anywhere north and return after three hours - in my opinion a poorly set task. The result was a lottery since minor differences in the route taken resulted in huge differences in speed. In fact the top few places all took the same route and the overall scores were shuffled with many of the top ranked pilots achieving a slow speed. Hopefully the remaining tasks will be better set so that all the pilots are flying the same race.

Anyway, we have to fly what we are set. At least none of the Australians has outlanded and all our gliders are intact (especially given the number of crashes in the first few days). The weather looks difficult for the next few days. Tomorrow is likely to have afternoon thunderstorms, similar to what we encountered during the practice period so we should be well prepared. And on Tuesday we may have a strong northerly wind making for very difficult flying conditions with the ridges not working and only rough lee thermals available - probably a day for many outlandings. If we can make it through these days without getting into trouble then we should be in a good position to move up the ladder later in the week. We have shown that the Australians fly well under difficult conditions so bring on the bad weather!

13th July - Errol's Big Day Out
Report by Errol

"Mandy, I'm sick of hanging around Aussie Base, can I go out today?"

That's how my adventurous day began. First a trip to the grid to check out our pilots, their aircraft and their readiness for the day ahead. I must say I'm impressed with their preparedness, the gliders look great and the care and detail in pre-launch detail is top notch.

After a check all was well for the launch, I convinced Brian and Mike they needed my help as a weather spotter and radio relay at the top of Terminillo. Luckily my bush skills came to the fore, and we were able to quickly navigate to a much better position than the boys had selected last time. We met up with the German and South African spotter's too, and I enjoyed the cool, fresh mountain air.

We spent the afternoon checking winds, cloud development, cycling and the convergence over the Gran Sasso (impressive).
As well we made a number of radio calls to assure the guys of the weather ahead and generally check on progress.

Eventually we had to pack up and leave so as to be in time to meet the team landing. What a great day.

Take a look at the great photos of me in the photo gallery here.

10th July - Daily Routine
Report by Mandy

We have a pretty good routine now that the comp has started. The crews get up early to prepare and grid the gliders at around 9am. The pilots arrive on field between 9am and 10am. The task sheets are available from around 9.30am so the pilots can prepare their tasks before briefing.
I then attend the daily team captain’s meeting at 10am.
At 10.30am we have the official briefing, with the announcement of yesterday’s winners, remarks on safety and a (fantasy) weather briefing.We then go back to Aussie base for a team briefing at 11am where we look at real weather forecasts (not weird simulations), and discuss tactics.
A quick lunch and then out to the grid for launching, then back to Aussie base to relay the gate opening on the team frequency and listen for the start times, and update the website.
Whilst the pilots are on task we can’t hear much on the radio, due to the terrain, so there is a chance for reading and shopping, although someone always stays by the radio.
Once the guys call final glide the crews go out to the grid to collect them, Mike cycles around and collects their SD cards and if the internet is working we email the files to the scorer, and then wait for the scores to appear. Joy downloads the flights and puts together the flight stats ready for a debief over a beer.
Then dinner, which if it starts before 8pm is early, then to bed ready to do it all again. If we have dinner at 2 Lakes where we are staying we usually manage a swim before dinner too.

9th July - Rest Day
Report by Allan

Not wanting to wear myself out before the competition, I decided to take  a rest day yesterday (Saturday) and spend some quality time with my crew, Dave. We had a plan - to head up to the top of Terminillo, then back down the other side, visiting the ancient towns of Leonessa and Poggio Bustone on the way back. However, the best laid plans are often spoiled, and unbeknown to us there was a major hill-climbing car race up the 40km length of the Terminillo road, with about 300 racing cars of various types competing. We only realised this when we discovered that we had accidentally found our way into the despatch area of the Pits at the bottom of the hill . The cars in front and behind us were revving furiously in anticipation, and the despatch official was clearly quite irate to discover a 1994 Volkswagen Passat in the line-up! We were chaperoned to the exit quite rudely.
Having had our plans disrupted, we decided to do the same trip but in reverse, so we found our way to Poggio Bustone, a mediaeval town with magnificent views over the Rieti valley. Unfortunately the town is not very well preserved, with many newer buildings spoiling the ambience. We noticed a street sign pointing to the local paragliding launch point, so took a trip up and watched a few hardy souls flinging themselves off the mountain at 1500 metres. Next we drove around the mountain to the valley on the opposite side, to the town of Leonessa. This is a lovely spot - a walled village with great character - two coffees, and cakes, for 6 Euros. Bargain! After that we headed up the back side of Terminillo. At the peak of the road, we stopped and took a scramble up towards the peak. After almost an hour the peak still looked the same distance away but the car was a speck down below us, so we retraced our steps with great care - the broken limestone made progress difficult especially downwards. Noticeable for their absence were any gliders above the mountain - the ones we saw were low and struggling, so I was quite happy not to have flown.
Once back in the care we made our way across the top of the mountain and discovered the other end of the car trials. The road was blocked, so we spent the next hour watching the last 30 or so cars as they finished the race. There was everything from 1950's minis to production Ferraris, and it was quite a spectacle. Finally, once the last car finished, the police escorted the entire 300 of them down the hill and we followed. All in all a very relaxing and varied day - a great way of recharging the batteries before the comp!


8th July - The attrition continues
Another report by Mandy

We have had a few unfortunate accidents already during the few days of practice and Day 1 of the competition.
On practice Day 1 an American flying a PW5 damaged the tail on outlanding; Allesandro worked on it overnight and if flew the next day.
Then a Lithuanian damaged his Lak on outlanding, he has gone home to repair his glider.
Next an American Cirrus damaged its tail and one wing on outlanding, it could not be repaired in time and the pilot is now flying another glider.
Yesterday  there were 2 more incidents: a Finnish PW5 cartwheeled just short of the runway in spectacular fashion, luckily the pilot walked away;
and one of the English pilots damaged their glider on outlanding.
At this rate it will be a comp of attrition...

7th July - And so it begins......
Another report by Mandy

We held a very successful event yesterday with the Australian Ambassador promoting the Narromine 2012 bid. Photos to follow soon.
This morning at the weather briefing there were a couple of quotes worth repeating;
'There will be good convection to the North but that is not a problem as you are not going there'
'There will be no convection in the Rieti valley today'
Terry and Vicki has a scenario this morning. They drove to the gate at the accommodation ready to leave, after breakfast, only to find that due to a power cut the gate could not be opened. A few quick calls and the staff were woken up and appeared with keys, which didn't work. So they had to follow Marianella out the back way, which was definitely not a short cut

6th July - It's up to the pilots now
Another report by Mandy

I feel that my work is almost over. We have reached a point where we are ready to go. The training and run up could not have been better. The week at Kentucky in March really helped to get things in place and to start the process of team building. The weekly Condor flights have helped the pilots to become very familiar with the local terrain.
We have a good daily routine which allows us to function calmly on a daily basis.
On field we have a great set up with an air-conditioned van, great internet access, a printer, and a good base radio giving excellent coverage. The pilots are all settled and comfortable with their gliders. The crew are all well prepared; we have a routine for flat tyres on the grid, outlandings, even water landings (we have enough spare instruments to rebuild a whole panel if we need to). The day that we talked about all of this someone said "Of course it will be something that we haven't planned for that will catch us". That was the day Peter was kidnapped....
Regardless we have a great team of people ready and able to help so I believe that whatever the coming weeks throw at us we will be able to cope with calm efficiency and grace.
I heard a nice quote yesterday;

"If the Australians at Narromine are half as organised as the Australians at Rieti I think we should all go there."

6th July - We're ready
Report by Mandy

Today is the day of the opening ceremony. Our only task today is to host a reception for the Australian Ambassador Amanda Vanstone. She is coming at 5pm to support the team and make a plug for the 2012 Narromine bid. Then there is an airshow at 6pm and a team parade at 6.45. The opening ceremony is at 7pm and then the pilots and captains and officials are invited to dinner. Since the crew are not invited they are planning a crew party here.
Unfortunately another glider was damaged whilst out landing yesterday. The American in Cirrus SA. There is frantic work today to see if it can be repaired in time for the comp. If this rate of attrition continues it will be a case of last man standing. Did I say that a Lithuanian glider was written off 2 days ago?
Talking of outlandings we had a briefing by the organisers to familiarise the pilots with the local safe paddocks. We were told by Georgio the deputy director who speaks very good English not to land in the fields with Green Mice. It is very dangerous to land in these fields as some of the mice are 1m tall. Other fields have yellow mice and these are not so dangerous. It brought to mind reports of killer kangaroos. After some head scratching we realised he was talking about maize.

3rd July - Oh Well!
Report by Terry

The weather was a little more stable today, so hopefully fewer thunderstorms. My first day back in the air after two days off, so I was fairly keen; also first day with full water. The D2 handled the water well, I was still able to climb in the smoother thermals at 55knots, but the rougher thermals closer to the hills required at least 60 knots.

We were able to get to nearly 7500 ft before the start, with a fair amount of cumulus. It was fairly murky close to the cloud and gliders appeared and disappeared from view, the ‘flarm’ was lit up like a christmas tree at times.

A few of the earlier launchers, mainly club class, had found some weak wave and were up over 9000 feet, but it was collapsing as we were trying to get in and the gliders above slowly descended back to cloudbase.

Bruce and I started fairly early – the launch had taken over 2 hours and it was approaching 3:40pm already.

We glided under some whispy clouds and then Bruce and I separated – I headed to the ridge line whilst Bruce stayed in the valley under the clouds. A short time later we both arrived at Vellino (mountain) at the same height – Bruce was climbing just in front and I continued along the ridge. At this point we had the option of heading east towards the far side of the sector or heading across the valley. There were a few whisps of cloud across the valley and a large gap before some nice clouds to the east. I decided to stay straight and headed over the valley, Bruce elected to go east.

I had a good glide and was even considering continuing across the valley to where the good looking clouds began – if there was a good climb there you could easily glide back to the Vellino hills again. Given that it was all getting a little late I elected to turn early and headed back to the hills. I arrived back at Vellino at just over 5000 feet and managed to work some weak slope lift. The hill is a little flat near to the bottom so I was not too keen on thermalling just above a flat slope, but was OK with S turns. Never found much but gradually ended up just below a 6000 feet cloudbase and just kept heading north.

Bruce told me that he had found a 4 knot climb which then jumped to 7.7 knots and was now at 9000 feet and heading north to the east of Vellino. Sounds like he had made a good move.

I managed to find some great streeting, even moving out into the valley, and was able to almost maintain height whilst cruising at 80 knots. After 80 Km I arrived back at Terminillo near to Rieti at a little over 4000 feet. There was lots of overdevelopment and only weak climbs, but I persevered and eventually worked 3 knots back to cloudbase at 6400feet.

Bruce had struggled after his excellent climb and was now in the higher country to the east with very little indication of lift, most of the cloud vanishing as he approached.

I continued north along the ridges, getting a good glide through the murky conditions. It was hard to see whether there were any reasonable climbs ahead towards the last turn, but then I started to see some cumulus tops in the distance. I pushed a little harder again and eventually , just after passing into the sector, found a good climb which averaged 5.5 knots.

I advised Bruce who was approaching from a different angle but could now make it over the last ridges to get to the good climbs.

There was now some streeting heading further into the sector, and although this would take me over time it would be worth it to make use of the good lift. I flew into the sector until I started descending too far below glide, and then headed back for a great run through Death Valley and a fast final glide. Bruce was only 10km behind. I averaged 110kph and Bruce 106kph. Georgio Galleto (Italian pilot who is favourite to win the competition in his home site) averaged 130kph. Oh Well!

5th July - Ready?
Report by Pete

Here's a pilot report to keep Phil happy :-)

I've decided to take a rest day today since I have flown for seven days straight - and anyway it is good to finish on a high!

As reported elsewhere, I was lucky with my second start yesterday since the delay meant I missed the worst of the thunderstorm (I was the last glider to start). I started with a great run under the cu's to within 20km of the first turn (Foligno) where I picked up a reasonable climb to cloudbase. From there I set off into the gloom towards the turnpoint. The rain started about 10km from the turn but I found a line of good air through the rain so that I could get into and out of the turnpoint without ending up in the weeds. From there I was back into the sunshine with an easy cruise back to Terminillo; but cloudbase had inexplicably dropped from 2200m to 1500m, halfway up the ridges, so getting to the next turn would be a challenge. I scraped past Nuria and headed out over the unlandable terrain at best L/D, bumping into cloudbase as I went. Arriving low on Velino (we named this peak "the mountain that never works" last year) I found a patch of sun giving a good climb up the face to cloudbase half way up the mountain. Out into the Fucina valley from there I picked up a fantastic climb (5 knots) that took me to 2400m under the higher cloudbase, enough to get into the second turn and back under the cu's. Another good climb got me well above the clouds capping the mountains and I set off with a very long 60km 100:1 glide, dropping below cloudbase halfway along, before topping up in my final climb under the last remaining lift on Terminillo. Overall my achieved L/D was a remarkably high 70:1 over 314km, not bad from a 38 year old glider.

We've now been here for almost four weeks and I have flown around 70 hours over that time. Combined with the 70 hours I flew here in the pre-worlds I feel that I know the mountains pretty well. Of course I fully expect that the conditions during the competition will be like nothing we have seen in training.

Tomorrow we have an airshow and opening ceremony, so there's no flying for us. Then it's down to the hard work on Monday's first competition day. Based on the task setting so far the tasks will be challenging, and of course the competition is fierce.

4th July - Last Chance to practice
Report by Mandy

Bruce and Terry are flying today. The task is almost a reverse of yesterdays.
As I sat here yesterday relaying information about the storm which was developing at the first turn I could not help thinking of the Charge of the Light Brigade. How unlucky for the task setters, only one storm in the whole of Italy (and it was a big one), and the whole fleet was tasked directly into it. Hence the low number of finishers.
Pete really was lucky. He had an electrical problem which left him with a flat battery at the start. So he turned off his primary logger and radio to save power. Unfortunately after 45 mins the GPS he was using lost satellites but continued to do some bizarre dead reckoning. It took Pete a while to figure out that it was leading him astray, and by then he was lost. The visibility was really bad yesterday, so after narrowly avoiding outlanding in Death Valley he came back to Rieti and restarted at 3.22pm. This meant that by the time he got to the first turn the rain was lighter and he was able to run into the turn with only 20 or 25km of rain.
We are having a lot of meetings this week. I had a TC meeting at 10.15am and we have another one at 6.3pm tonight. Tomorrow is the opening ceremony so we will not have any.

3nd July - Only in Italy
Report by Mandy

There have been a couple of funny incidents today. There is a lot of infrastructure work going on around the field and today they decided to resurface the road near the airfield. So they closed the road, to the left of the gate and to the right of the gate. No one could enter or leave the airfield for an hour or so. A few people missed briefing as a result. The new surface looks good though. 

Another issue is that because the new office building is behind schedule it has no power so they can only take cash. We have to buy launch tickets every morning at a cost of 60€ each. Unfortunately all of the ATMs in Rieti are out of order, and as a consequence we are quickly running out of cash.

2nd July - Broken by the Brake
Report by Terry

I am gradually getting used to the Discus 2CT, it certainly performs very well, seems better than the LS8s in the glide and hangs in with the climbs. 
Now I just have to get my decision making to come up to speed and I will be ready.

The day on Monday was another thunderstorm day, with cloud forming early with monstrous towering cumulus very early in the day, mainly in the higher mountains, but some close to Rietit. Our local advisor, Allessandro, suggested a short AAT task, heading firstly south along the edge of the main range to Avezzano, then west to Carsoli, which at least is in a landable valley, then north to Orvieto, along the airspace boundary. We decided on
2.5 hours as the task time, so expecting a flight of some 250km. Bruce and I launched early, just beating the crowd to the launch point. With only 4 towplanes, a couple of rows further back in the launch queue could mean a delay of 30-40 minutes. Unfortunately cloud base was only 5400 feet (4200 feet above the valley) and well below the mountain tops. The visibility was the worst we had seen, only 4-5 km. The track south was under the influence of a thunderstorm with high cloud making it tricky. There was one landing point in the first 40km to the south, and this was a beach on a large lake, Unfortunately with the wet weather over the past couple of months the lake is now much higher and the landing place is under water. We decided to wait for a while and by the time that Peter and Allan had launched and climbed up, the cloud base had risen to 6200 feet, so we decided to head off on track. We found a couple of weakish climbs and topped up to avoid  the unlandable section of the leg, there were a few gliders coming back fro the south reasonably low, so this gave us an idea that the weather wasn’t improving the further south you went.. Cloud base progressively lowered and was hugging the hill side. We were able to find some slight positive air on the mountain slope but this wasn’t enough to sustain height. We went a couple of Km into the sector and decided that we should return north. There were a couple of soft looking clouds in the valley which may have provided some lift but we decided to head back along the same track next to the slopes, even though it was well of track for the next turnpoint. We were now the low gliders heading north but found a couple of small climbs that gradually improved and were back up at cloudbase at 5500 Feet. Now we could head west to the next turnpoint at Carsoli.
No lift across the valley bit there were some small cumulus close to the turn, these provided 2 knots of climb, but now we were getting more positive in the landable section and pushed on close to the airspace boundary to eventually find 3-3.5 knots. Now heading north the weather was starting to look a lot more favourable and I pushed on towards to nice Cumulus nearer to Rieti, to the east of the track. Bruce headed more on track and found a 4knot climb behind me, still I was positive of finding something similar.
Arriving a little low over the ranges to the west of Rieti , the cu looked good and there were some gliders quite high near cloud base. I found gusts of lift but just couldn’t find the centre of the thermal, so kept pushing under some less likely looking clouds. Still nothing to really climb with, I headed for the best range of hills, would be low when I got there but it appeared to be the best option. Peter in the Cirrus was hanging in with me still and tried to glide to the same range. I arrived with enough height to cross to the upwind side but Peter in the Cirrus didn’t have the glide and had to turn away at the last moment to stay in a landable situation. The cumulus cloud on this ridge also promised good climbs, with good gusts, but again I couldn’t get a worthwhile climb. Maybe the lift just wasn’t working well at lower altitude. Meanwhile Bruce was reporting consistent 4 knot climbs to over 6000 feet whilst I was slowly getting lower. I headed to Terni airfield and arrived nearby at about 1200 feet above ground and finally found amore consistent 3 knot climb. I managed to climb back to about 5000 feet, still well below cloudbase but quickly losing patience with the climb rate. Bruce now easily 30km ahead, still talking about 4 knot climbs at over 6000 feet. The air ahead was looking decidedly murky again, with thunderstorm blow out mixed with some good frontal type cloud, I found
4 knots and then Bruce called a 6-7 knot climb, not too fat away from me. He gave me some guidance to find his climb and I eventually found the glider that had been below him. Only 4-5 knots but I took this up to cloud base at 6500ft. Bruce was on final glide now. I had the option of turning with him, but accepting that he had beaten me by 30km or more. The cloud line ahead looked good, so I wasn’t going to waste a good opportunity to finally get some good streeting so followed the cloud bank into the murk ahead. Cloud base slowly came lower and I even had to open to some airbrakes as I was being sucked up into the cloud at 100knots. The small black blobs in the air were swallows who were having a feast on the insects being sucked up by the storm front. I kept pointing at the black blobs and found a great street of lift, maintaining height at over 100knots. The blobs turned into rain and eventually the visibility was just getting worse, so I turned for home. Flew back along the line of cloud, not quite so good this time, but finally appeared back near to where I started at about 5500ft. Bruce and Allan were both reporting great glides back to Rieti so I took one 4 knot climb to approx 800 feet below glide and headed off at 100knots to see how my glide would go. It went well, gradually gaining on glide and then gradually increasing speed so that the last 30km was spent at 130knots. The extra time in this great air let me regain some distance on Bruce so he ended up beating me by approx 18km in the 2.5 hours. I just have to work out how to avoid the low level thermalling and stay up where the better climbs are.

The Discus 2CT model means that it is set up for 18m and also has a Turbo engine. The structure changes plus the engine and propeller and fuel means that in 15m configuration it has quite a high empty weight. With my 105Kg pilot weight I am flying at a minimum wing loading of 44Kg/m2. Having the engine in gives some confidence over some of the rugged terrain, in fact I used it the other day to avoid an outlanding (at an airfield), but the penalty of not being able to jettison weight when the weather suddenly gets poor is too high, so today we removed the engine and propeller, plus the large battery that drives the whole mechanism, and this has now reduced my wingloading to approx 40Kg/m2. Still relatively heavy but the glider handles this weight quite well so I am now confident that even if the weather gets poor that I can still stay airborne.

Stayed on the ground today and had an accident. The wing walker that comes with the glider is a very poor fit and we have been concerned about it from the start. It also has a brake on the wheel, which we normally don’t use, but with the thunderstorms last night we applied the brake. Unfortunately I didn’t undo the brake so when I drove off towing the glider the brake worked, the wheel hit a bump and due to the poor fit the dolly wheel was pulled off the wing, damaging the trailing edge of the aileron. What a terrible thing to do to a beautiful new glider. We got some advice from the local repair people and they have now performed a repair which will last for the competition but will need some work at the factory to get it looking brand new again. Should get the glider back on Wednesday morning, ready to fly again.

2nd July - Stage 2 part 2
Report by Mandy

Whilst the pilots are on task the crew without a mission return to Aussie base. We monitor the radar to report the storm positions on the team frequency. When the pilots land Joy and Mike collect the pilots SD cards, down load the flights, and then prepare a spread sheet with the stats of the flight for the pilots to use for their debrief. Then dinner bed and do it all again.
Today we are waiting to see if the fuel arrives in time for a take off, if not the pilots may be forced to take a rest day.


1st July - Stage 2
Report by Mandy

The organisation at the airfield is now under the control of the competition organisers (as opposed to the local gliding club). The gridding is somewhat haphazard. We are not allowed to grid before 11am, so from 10am a large number of gliders gather near the runway, ready to grid. Last week we had rotating row numbers and it worked well. This week it has been a bit of a free for all. Today we were all reminded of this video;

http://www.rivelazioni.com/mm/bozzetto/eu-it.shtml

So at the moment and for the next few days our routine is, to arrive on field at 9am for an extensive private team weather briefing at Aussie base by Alessandro, the CFI of the local club. The guys then set a task and go out to jockey for position in the gridding scrummage. Then back to Aussie base for the air conditioning and lunch. First launch is usually around 12.30 with launching taking around 2-3 hours. The guys then (hopefully), climb up, call a start and set off. Leaving the crew free to perform whatever sundry tasks the pilots have invented for them;
I need; 5kg of lead
a fridge
a dictaphone
a label maker
green slime
a 12v compressor
or whatever  else the pilot has kindly dreamed up to stop us from getting bored. This of course has to be accomplished after siesta time, giving us only a small window of opportunity after the shops open at 3 or 4pm, before the pilots return to the field. Particularly at the moment with the storms enforcing shorter tasks. 

29 June - Terry's perspective
Report by Terry

The trip from Australia went well, just have to sit there long enough and eventually you arrive. Picked the glider up from the Schemp Hirth factory,
took a couple of days doing inspections and test flying it for Australian registration, then two days drive down to Italy. Highways are great, but
hard work. You have to concentrate all of the time to make sure you don't block lanes for the fast Mercedes and BMW. 

We stayed in Switzerland the first night, pretty sure it was a part time brothel!! The bar was nicely set up with a pole for pole dancing - no girls
performing the night we were there - the football was on television.The next night was 100km short of Rieti, near Perugia. A much nicer class of
accommodation, marble floors, spacious surrounds, friendly staff, and breakfast.

Our accommodation at Rieti, Due Laghi (two lakes) is fantastic. Room is a little small but comfortable with great views, swimming pool etc. only 8km from the airfield.

Started flying a few days back, and am really enjoying John Nicholl’s Discus 2cT. The glider has 18m wingtips as well as the normal 15m tips, but
don’t think I will get away with putting the wrong ones on for the competition. First time I have flown with a Turbo (sustainer engine). Frightens the life out of you when it starts up for the first time – a bit of a shudder and then a huge noise, but then it starts climbing and all is forgiven. I can start it with a loss of 150-170 feet but if I have to use it n earnest I wouldn’t want to be too much below 1000 feet above ground. With the structure set up for 18m and with the engine installed it is quite a heavy glider, minimum wing loading with me in the seat is about 43Kg/m2 so I expect that I will remove the engine before the competition. 

We had a couple of nice days but then it got so hot and stable so not many thermals. Another heat wave, mid to high 30's temperature but reasonably high humidity. We had thuderstorms yesterday which beacame a little exciting -
flying in the rain, detours around mountains etc. We eventually gave the task away and just flew home where it was dry. Peter Temple outlanded at an airfield about 30km away to find that the gate was locked and no one would open it. However, they would sell him an aerotow back towards Rieti for 150euro (about $250). In most countries they would call this kidnapping and ransom money. 

Major problem for me during my flight was my pee bag leaked in the cockpit - couldn't throw it out initially because I was over a large town, not pleasant.

Looks like more thunderstorms again today. We will go flying again but will have to see how far we get. Another week before the competition starts so hopefully the weather will improve.

28 June - A video of a pass along Mount Terminillo

Report by Pete                                                                                                   

A picture is a worth a thousand words, so a video must be worth a lot more. At 11:30 yesterday I took an aerotow retrieve from L'Aquila airport (almost had to take out a bank loan first) and so ended up over Mount Terminillo, near Rieti, and waiting for the other Australian pilots to launch - a good opportunity to show what it is like to ridge soar this magnificant mountain.  Click on the image to the right to download a 2 minute video of my flight along the mountain (20 MB) or see a low resolution version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-yHRep_lpc. This will give you a pilot's eye view of what it is like to fly here. The video is taken out of the canopy clear vision panel so you'll see a reflection from the canopy on the right hand side.



27 June - Who says a Gliding Holiday is No Fun?
Report by Mike

In the last 24 hours I have morphed from Mr Average tourist wandering the streets of Rome at daybreak, to an outlanding retrieve in the valley floor of the L’Aquilla region.

I arrived in Reiti at lunchtime, after a small adventure that included my first successful Italian speaking transaction (connection train ticket to Rieti) and missing said train because I stood at the platform on the departures board, not the one it departed from. Luckily the actual train ride went without too much drama, me and my extremely heavy bag taking in the Italian countryside in comfortable window seats of a diesel motor-rail train. Boy do Italians like their tunnels, no mucking around with switchbacks and inclines “we'll just go straight through the hills”.

My travel plans unravelled slightly upon arriving at Rieti. First my pre-paid mobile didn't want to actually make calls and was quite happy to play a pre-recorded fast speaking Italian lady advising me of lots of interesting facts, all of which were completely incomprehensible. Of course the handy-dandy information on switching to English voice prompts didn't work also! Now to plan B, the payphone. Yes payphones are just as unreliable in Italy as in Australia, this beast happily chewed my money, appeared to work and was counting down the credits but with no perceived audio connection. Unknown to me, Dave was receiving prank calls from some guy who refused to speak up at the same time as I was trying to phone him. Now to Plan C, just walk there, it's not all that far on the map, I have the rest of the day, and it's only 36 degrees with the sky overdeveloping quite quickly; and by the way, tugs and gliders pointing the direction of the airfield. Rieti train station has a huge map of the town and immediate area on an information board. I immediately picked out the airfield and the route back into town thanks to my Google earth time back home. Unfortunately, for all my efforts I could not locate a train station, train track or “you are here” symbol on the map. Plan D started to look attractive and the cab driver at the station was quite pleased to take me to the airfield and drop me off next to the gliders on the grid not 20 Metres from Dave; hurray!

Having reached the airfield I quickly got into competition mode; met the guys and girls at Aussie HQ, unpacked all the tools etc. and did the usual trip to the shops for some supplies. The pilots had already launched into an impressive sky, I had been watching two storm cells over the mountains since arriving in town. The cells decided to join forces over the course of the afternoon and were looking very ominous ( and quite close to track).

Next was a trip to town for some hardware, key cutting and the mobile phone shop for Italian language lesson number 2 and hopefully a working phone. Success at the phone shop had Dave and I standing at the counter of the hardware shop before too long. We were formulating our strategy for asking for Mr Sheen (how would you do it?) when Dave's mobile went off and the SMS message was a set of co-ordinates. That can only mean one thing, it's time for a drive in the country.

Back to camp; grab trailer, boots, drink, snack, map, GPS, etc. and away we go. Hang on, not so fast, we have to radio the control tower and inform them on the outlanding as they are keeping a SAR watch over all launches. Our attempted communications commenced with said radio call, continued in the vain of previously posted communications with the tower, and concluded with us driving a lap of the control tower with the trailer on the back of the car (for visual clues).

The retrieve........

Having taken note of the length of the posting so far and given the story there is to tell I shall not attempt to write about it in detail, however 2 things are certain, the actual retrieve went extremely well, Allan had chosen a nice, freshly cut hay paddock on a gently sloping hill overlooking the valley floor, right next to a major road  AND getting there had not been easy. Picture this if you will/ dare; thunderstorm with hail,  the GPS nav sending us up a dirt road with washouts requiring rocks to stop the car bottoming; a steep, narrow cobblestone laneway through a mountain village with a glider trailer virtually jack-knifed around a turn; traffic in both directions; said hailstorm (again); abandoning the trailer in village for some time; a man powered 3 point turn of the trailer on said village road; a map that stopped short of the destination and didn't have lat/ long references.
I have said enough.

The 10pm pizza and wine was excellent (thanks Allen) and our sense of humour prevailed over the day. Overall a great day!

26 June - Pete's been kidnapped
Report by Mandy

At 6pm I got a call from Pete to say that he had outlanded in heavy rain at L'Aquila airfield and needed a trailer retrieve. At 6.05pm he called back to say that the airfield was closed and locked and I needed to find out where to get a key. I spent a long time trying to do this unsuccessfully. Pete then called back to ask me to find a translator as he had found someone to help him. The outcome was that for 150E a tow back to Rieti could be arranged. The airfield is closed and will be for 'a few days' so a trailer retrieve is not possible. Unfortunately Pete didn't have 150E so they refused to launch him. No amount of phoning from this end could fix the problem. They were pleading with them to do the right thing to make a good impression with the International community, but to no avail. The next story was that because the airfield was closed it was considered a paddock and only a non-Italian tow pilot could do the tow. We searched for Roger the English tug pilot but could not find him.
Next thing Pete called to say he was getting a lift back to Rieti and the glider was in the hangar.
So tomorrow we have to drive back to L'Aquila pay the ransom and Pete can take a launch.

24 June - Coming together
Report by Dave

Now we have been here for a few days - this is the fifth day Allan has flown.  We have got more and more bits of equipment ready and added to the laminated checklists (with an indelible pen).

I have procured a sun umbrella from a nearby golf club, who have no idea why the mad hot foreigner turned up and wanted to buy an umbrella - there were none left and I ended up with a 'broken' one given to me by a very generous guy. It only needed 5 minutes work with a pair of pliers and is very light, but not windproof. I was in the process of explaining I wanted a bigger one, when I realised he was giving it to me...

The glider is very shiny and extremely well equipped. Thanks to Helge at Wolfsburg who is lending the glider, UX an LS1f; it even has two loggers and two pdas installed! Also borrowed equipment includes Swaantje's car a lovely VW passat, so we are very grateful for that as well.

The weather has been very scorchio, and is molto scorchio tomorrow probably, but now the pool has been cleared and is ready for swimming in! Our accommodation we move into at the end of the week has its own pool!

24 June - A crew's work is never done
Another Report by Mandy

Pete has decided that he wants to fly with a few kg of lead in the cockpit to change the C of G of the glider. So my mission today was to find said lead. I asked at the glider workshop and they confidently gave me directions to a shop. Dave and I optimistically set off, to find exactly nothing at the x on the map. Instead we found an electricity sub-station. We approached a random person in the car park and determined that he did in fact speak no English. So armed with our modest vocabulary and dictionary we managed to convey to him that we wanted lead and that we had hoped to find a plumber near by. He called over a few others and they all scratched their heads waved their arms and assured us that there was no plumber anywhere near here. They then walked back out onto the road and flagged down a passing police car to ask them for their help. Unfortunately even with head quarters helping they were none the wiser. So we indicated to our erstwhile friend that we would drive around and see what we could find, he nodded, but then got into his car and indicated that we should follow him. Somewhat bemused we complied and followed him to the local deli. Here he approached a group of 6 or 7 locals and explained our problem. There was a lot of discussion and arm waving and after a few moments one of the men said (all in Italian) that we should go with him. We moved towards our car but he explained that we should go with him in his car and he would bring us back. He talked as we drove across town and explained that he had had a glider flight at Rieti and hoped to go to Australia one day, (I think). Finally we pulled up at at builder's merchants nowhere near the original x on the map. We went in and told our driver, Lucio, that we wanted 5kg of lead. This proved to be a big problem, as they sell it by the metre in 5m rolls. After much arm waving we were invited out the back to view the rolls of lead. The smallest roll had 2.5m and the shop assistant made to measure it and cut it. Lucio launched into a long monologue which we did not understand. At which the attendant, who Lucio explained was his good Amico, rolled up the whole thing and invited us to carry it to the car. As we got close the boss caught sight of us and directed us back into the shop, where we had to weigh the lead. At the shop keeper's direction Lucio supported the lead on the scales so that it under read. It still read 35kg!!! After much use of the dictionary we explained that 35kg was too much. Lucio was keen to point our that we would actually get 42kg for the price of 35kg. Since we only really wanted 5kg, this really was overkill. To cut a long story short we left with 1.5m weighing 30kg but were only charged for 20kg. I arrived back just in time to hear "SN final for 16L'.

23 June - A hot day
Another Report by Mandy

The past couple of days have been quite busy, so I'm sorry that there haven't been any updates. Terry Vicki and Andrew have arrived safely in their bus without mishap. Terry's new (from the factory), glider looks great and all the bits seem to fit together as they should. So far he has only flown it dry, but is threatening to add water ballast tomorrow.

Yesterday Dave and Allan had more than their fair share of scenarios, involving a homeless bee, a wooden pallet an oversized parachute and a loose screw.
The bee made it's home in Allan's Pitot, causing it to read 100kph regardless of his true speed, thinking that an errant banana peel might be to blame (thrown out after lunch), he cunningly took a photo pointing backwards to check. When he landed we blew the bee out with a foot pump. It was determined to return, even when we put tape over the tube it kept trying to get back in. Dave has a photo which I will put in the gallery later.
The wooden pallet was Dave's scenario, he went slightly off the road in the camp ground to avoid a car and struck the pallet which then made a puncture in the side wall of his tyre. He's off now to find a replacement. The problem with the parachute was that Terry and Allan had swapped to see if they were more comfortable, which they seeemed to be, but the one that Allan was using shifted and made it hard to get full deflections.
The loose screw was in his PDA mount which meant that it dropped and pointed at his leg for most of the flight, which was somewhat distracting.
All is now fixed, all holes in the glider are now being securely taped at night and hopefully that is the end of the bee problem.

Bruce, Anita and Inde have left Bonn with a freshly polished LS8 and are heading south, we hope to see them tomorrow.

Tim and Joy have arrived in Rome for a few days R and R before they join us on Friday. Hopefully their luggage which is currently in Dubai will join them before they leave.
We now have around 50 gliders here at Rieti so it seems more like a comp. Everyone is jealous of our Aussie base with A/C and several people have tried to buy copies of our maps which Pete made from CU. So we have a good moral advantage already.
Tonight we plan another BBQ in the continuing heat, today's maximum is forecast to be 33 degrees.

20 June - Another sunny day
Another Report by Mandy

I'm sorry to report that the ATC are not doing any better today. The (Italian) tug pilot called in the rego for Pete and the tower still got it wrong. They also had us in stitches when reporting that the local Quebec November (H)otel was 1008. (this is the local pressure usually called QNH) I think we have a new trainee!

The airfield is getting a little busier and the building work continues at a frantic pace. Although some of the buildings look like they will fall down if there is a strong wind! There are also lots of people walking around in suits waving their arms about and yelling loudly into mobile phones so I presume that they are part of the organising committee? The tractor mentioned above, (aka dust generator) is still moving randomly around the field cutting the grass and generally getting in the way.

We are making good use of the A/C today and I'm sure it will be a great help to the pilots during the comp to be able to cool down before take off. Talking of cooling down there is a rumour that the swimming pool will be ready for use tomorrow. Last time I looked it was full of green sludge so it's hard to imagine it changing quickly, we shall see.

19 June - A sunny day
Report by Mandy

Finally we seem to have a normal day. We got up, had breakfast, went to the briefing, prepared the glider, launched the gliders, and now the pilots are off on task. It's really the first time since we've been here that that has happened.

The Air Traffic Controllers blotted their copy book today, up 'til now they had pretty much understood the calls OK. Today Pete's rego was the issue;
    Pete; Rieti tower this is glider VH-GSN,
    Tower; Go ahead Glider DH-GSN
    Pete; Correction VH-GSN,
    Tower; OK Glider VA-GSN,
    Pete; Correction VH-GSN,
    Tower; Glider calling please check your radio!!!
The tug then called it in and they understood first time. Pete's radio of course is fine, it just doesn't speak Italian.

Terry Vicki and Andrew are due here on Saturday, assuming that Terry's new glider gets its test flight at the factory OK today. (It is raining across a lot of Germany). Terry will be bringing the team bus. It seems that when he fronted up to Europcar in Frankfurt they were not as helpful or did not look as hard as when we arrived, and he is now the driver of a 9 seater bus. 

We have fish in the fridge ready for a BBQ tonight, the first chance we've had to try it out.

15 June - Into familiar territory
Report by Pete

It was good to finally achieve a cross country task today - after five days of bad weather. Cloudbase was still making it difficult to jump across mountain ranges (the higher peaks were shrouded in cloud) so I limited the flight to what should have been a simple task SE to Pescina, back past Rieti, then to Trevi in the NW for a total of 250 km. But the wind was variable and cloud shadows made the ridges unreliable so I had a few worrying moments while I scratched around over unlandable terrain - even the 'Valley of Death' didn't work reliably [the Valley of Death is actually the Nerina valley and  generally provides reliable lift in the afternoon sun on the way home - the Aussies call it the Valley of Death because the entire valley is unlandable].

I saw  familiar sights from last year: Guiseppe was near Mount Velino, the same vulture that previously showed us the way (I think it was the same vulture - how do you tell two vultures apart?). The wind turbines near Pescina seem to have been breeding; there must be 30 of them now. The landing options look just as bad as last year - no surprise there. It's still early in the season so there is quite a bit more snow on the mountains than I have seen before; I'm sure it will disappear over the next few weeks.

I had a win with the control tower when landing: they actually understood my English for the first time. Hopefully we'll have them trained over the next few days.

The weather is settling into a better pattern and should be good within a few days. There is poggia (rain) forecast for tomorrow afternoon so I expect a little more cloud over-development. Weather permitting, I'll see if I can get over to Gran Sasso. There was an impressive convergence line there today but the cloud was also very low in the valley so it wasn't somewhere I could get to.

15 June - 'Decolle'
Report by Mandy

'I take off' is the last thing the pilot hears before the tug pilot guns the engine for what can only be described as an enthusiastic launch. Everyone here wants to help us and to make a good impression, with the result that as soon as we tow out and take the glider off the car people eagerly push us to the front of the grid and a tug appears with its engine running. Which in nice but a little disconcerting. The tug pilots are even giving the radio calls to the tower on Pete's behalf.

Rieti is a training airfield for air traffic controllers and they 'practice' on the glider (and power) pilots. Before take off the pilot must say:
The controllers are then supposed to repeat this back and give you the QNH and wind. But whilst they may think they speak English they certainly don't speak Australian!! So luckily for us the tug pilots have been 'translating' for Pete. During the comp of course none of this will be necessary.

Yesterday on take off Pete dropped his Port wing and today Starboard. Maybe something to do with the tailwind, crosswind or just all of the surrounding buildings. Anyhow on both days he picked the wing up quickly. So he is now current on downwind take offs.

Today the cloudbase is just kissing Terminillo and it is clear enough that you can just see a couple of tiny slivers of snow clinging to the rock near  the summit. Another first today is that I can see contrails in the bluish sky!

Since it is a Sunday and it seems that in Rieti a popular thing to do is to promenade around the airfield. You can see whole families out walking or on their bikes, doing laps around the perimeter of the airfield. It does make one feel like a bit of a gold fish.


11 June - The journey so far
Report by Mandy

We had a great trip over here with no problems at all; good seats on the plane, no screaming kids, and we both managed 7 hours sleep (drug assisted).  We had the usual 6 hour stopover in Singapore which was punctuated with plaintive and persistent cries for Mr Wee Cock to make himself known to staff. I'm afraid this conjured up all sorts of bizarre images in my slightly jet lagged brain.

We had to endure the expected ‘Ah so you requested a car with a trailer hitch ummh…’ at Europcar in Frankfurt followed by 'Well we have a 9 seater bus available, is that OK' until a supervisor stepped in and found a car for us. It is an upgrade too with his and her A/C, an MP3 player and GPS sat nav at no extra cost. So it was well worth the wait. Of course it also has automatic lights, wipers, parking sensors, cruise control – a Mercedes C Class Turbo diesel. Whilst we were waiting Pete struck up a conversation with a Canadian tourist who was intrigued with the strange '€' symbol he had seen in several places around the airport. Pete patiently explained that it was the symbol for the local currency, the Euro. On hearing this the poor gentleman looked quite askance since he had changed all of his Canadian currency into US dollars ready for his holiday in Europe! Last time we saw him he was hurriedly looking for somewhere to exchange his dollars into Euros.

On the drive down we didn’t see much in the way of traffic jams (except in the opposite direction) and it only took us around 16 hours of driving from Frankfurt to get here (last year was 22 hours).

We picked our Cirrus SN up from a small winch club SE of Munich and continued South. I have to say that whilst we were driving around the German countryside with GPS co-ordinates to pick up SN I had the feeling that I was participating in something that was a cross between Mission Impossible and a TV reality show.


We arrived at Rieti around 2.30pm on Monday, to overcast skies and drizzle. We found Allesandro (the local CFI and a good friend to the team last year), who was busy instructing in the increasingly heavy rain. After he finished instructing he made a few phone calls and at 5pm Marco appeared with a key to our accommodation.

On Tuesday we had a 9am orientation briefing with Allesandro, and then a day to fettle the glider (change over the instruments, fit out cushions, etc). With cloud already forming on Terminillo at 8am (see photo in gallery) the flying conditions were not good and we again had thunderstorms and rain in the afternoon. It seems that the Kentucky team training may have been too realistic!!

Allesandro says that the strange weather is due to a lack of high pressure systems over Europe this year. In previous days they have had a lot of thunderstorms too. He expects good weather in 3-4 days and is confident it will be OK for the competition.

The Polish Club Class pilots are here training in their Bravo gliders. The UK team and half the German team are expected soon.

The swimming pool is currently very green, but it was like that last year until the last minute. There are workman everywhere, building toilet blocks and a whole new office building. The fence is finished and quite impenetrable, we were actually locked out of the airfield for a while when we arrived until a workman with a key let us in.

This morning (Wednesday) as we were getting ready to rig the glider Allesandro came over to tell us that unfortunately all central Italian airspace has been closed down until 13.30 on Friday, due to the European visit by George Bush. It came as a total surprise to him (he has 12 pilots here on a one week mountain flying course); he apologized but there was nothing he could do. In any case we again had low cloud, rain and thunderstorms and it wasn't soarable anyway.

So we spent the day doing more work on the glider and then went to the local hardware store (which is always quite an experience). Armed with my dictionary, we tried to buy some glue. In the end that is what we got. But not before the shop owner, about 100 years old, using a magnifying glass incorrectly read my dictionary and tried to sell us glucose instead.

Tomorrow is an enforced rest day but on Friday Pete hopes to fly. Allan and Dave are expected early next week and are hopefully bringing better weather with them.

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7 June - And so it begins...
Report by Pete

We are now at Singapore Changi Airport with a 6 hour wait until our flight to Frankfurt. Everything has gone well so far and amazingly we don't know of anything we have forgotten - yet! The next hurdle is our hire car in Frankfurt: we booked a car with a tow-bar but we can't get any assurances that it will actually have one - we'll be stuck without it.

Since I now have plenty of spare time, I'll take a few minutes to introduce you to this year's team website. You'll find the home page layout similar to last year with a 'ticker' with news as it happens in the top right, and more detailed reports from the team members down the bottom (where this is). The links below give you a taste of the web-site.