Terry Bellair, Bendigo GC, winner Narromine Cup,
Ed Marel, BSC, winner Peppercorn Award
Beb Loxton, VMFG, winer Caravan Park Trophy.

Approximately 45 pilots from around Australia attended the eleventh annual Narromine Cup flying week, including three BSC pilots Ed Marell LS6, Bob Macdonald Hornett and Sean Young ASW20b. Des Eustace flew BSC aircraft TNE, one of the five tugs used daily.

Narromine Cup week is not a formal competition but pilots are encouraged to enter their flights on the OLC, www.onlinecontest.org. The Cup was awarded to Terry Bellair of Bendigo GC. Terry flew the most kilometers during the week in his DG 400/17m including 532km on the last flying day 23 November. Terry consistently flew with the first thermal of the day and landed after the last thermal. His was a great cross-country performance and the cup went to the best performing pilot without a doubt. However, as Cup Director Chris Stephens pointed out, it is not awarded on performance alone. Several ‘secret’ factors are also taken into account, so Terry might have won even if had he not flown so well.

Our own Ed Marel was awarded the Peppercorn Motor Inn Award for meritorious achievement in the field of excellence, well done Ed. Ben Loxton from the Victorian Motorless Flight Group, received the Narromine Caravan Park Trophy for outstanding contributions and bravery in the face of big blue holes.

The official cup week was preceded by two excellent flying days and those pilots who arrived early had the best of the flying weather. Sunday 18th through Tuesday 20th were good flying days, when several pilots achieved over 700km. Cloud bases were pushing 10,000’ with lots of cloud cover. Thundershowers were always around, so the days were not straightforward.

Go to
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/getScoring.html?scoringId=1&year=2007&month=11&day=23

where you will find the results for 23 November. Simply change the date in the dropdown menu to see the results from the previous days. Bear in mind that only flights that pilots enter are on the OLC. Some pilots did not carry data loggers.

I know several BSC pilots have been using the OLC but many have not. I think the OLC is a tremendous boost to the gliding movement and encourage more pilots to take part. It does require some courage as pilots from all over the world can view your flight trace and see all the mistakes you made – please don’t bother to look at my flight.
However, I think it is a great learning tool. You can see how other pilots who flew on the same day as you performed and learn from their mistakes and successes. The OLC also provides a benchmark for all our flying and will hopefully encourage more cross-country flying.

Some critics say that the OLC encourages pilots to just try and clock up kilometers by following the weather on the day with no real achievement compared to flying a pre-declared FAI triangle, which is far more difficult. They also say it is no substitute for a proper competition. While these are valid points, pilots can still fly FAI triangles, and we can’t all make it to competitions.

It is also a great advertisement for gliding sites in Australia, as many European, American and Japanese pilots will see where the good flying is being achieved. It was noted to me that the most famous Aussie site with overseas pilots at the moment is Corowa because the pilots who fly there enter their flights on the OLC. Oh, and all the fantastic long distance flights that the European pilots are achieving from Corowa.

It is early in the season but so far, only 47 Australian pilots, including just three from BSC, have entered flights on the OLC. So go to http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/memberadmin.html and register as a competitor today.

Back to the Narromine Cup
There were four flying days. On Wednesday 21st the inland trough that had been hovering over inland NSW finally passed over moving eastwards. This brought several squall lines and one large TS over Narromine. Thursday was raining most of the day. So on Friday when it was flyable again, the ground was soaked and the cloud base started at 3000’ rising to 7000’. Although the cumulus looked very inviting, Hans, a regular fixture at Narromine who has been visiting the site each year since 1992, told me that in Germany they describe such clouds as water sacks - very good name for them. They looked great but the thermals that make them were very weak. Many brave pilots headed off cross country regardless, and five gliders landed out. That makes Terry Bellair’s flight of 534km all the more remarkable. Some of us more timid pilots stayed local, which is why my OLC optimised distance was 101km. Yes, I was too embarrassed to upload that flight.  By the way, there is a function in the latest SeeYou that optimises your trace for the OLC and you can upload it straight from SeeYou (edit/optimise).

Another nice feature of the week were the pre-briefing seminars. Each day between 9 and 10am, speakers addressed a different subject, such as ‘Use of Oxygen and Hypoxia’, given by Geoff Vincent, and a most useful one on Blipmaps by Bernie Baer of Southern Cross GC.

Dr Jack, an American meteorologist, developed Blipmaps to generate soaring forecasts for pilots. These maps are proving to be very useful and accurate. They promise to be a great help in predicting the best directions to fly for that maximum soaring performance on a given day.

For full information check these links.

NSW Blipmaps homepage
http://blipmap.walsys.net/NEWSOUTHWALES/standardindex.html

Dr Jack’s homepage http://www.drjack.info/
Wiki page with overview http://www.drjack.info/twiki/bin/view/RASPop/ProgramOverview

On the NSW Blipmap home page there is some general info
at the bottom of the page that has the parameter
explanations on it:  http://www.drjack.info/RASP/INFO/parameters.html

This page talks a little about the mathematics used, if you understand "equations of motion" modelling you are way ahead of me! I try not to get too focussed on how it works, rather how to understand what it produces and how to read the blipmaps.
http://www.drjack.info/RASP/index.html

Bernie’s  role was to find a Unix server to house the RASP program, install it, and configure the various options required to generate maps of NSW with the appropriate area and towns listed. Probably 30-40 hours of work. The data required is very large, approx. 20GB per month, and it is being generously provided by Bernie’s friend who owns the server. Berie is hoping that the project can be officially funden with a grant from NSWGA. He encourages all pilots to use the maps and give him some feedback on how useful they are. There is a 'Donate' button on the web page if you would like contribute to the cost of hosting the site.

The briefing were also great fun and Cup Director Chris Stephens did a great job of providing operational information and entertaining us all as well. Met man David Wilson was on the mark each day aided as mentioned by the Blipmaps.

With so many pilots from many different gliding clubs attending the week, it was a really fascinating and educational experience, with some terrific flying to boot. The organization was really good. The five tugs operating ensured that getting launched was quicker than a normal Pipers Saturday. Tugmaster  Nick Hunt did a very professional job of mustering the tugs and keeping them flying. 

Although there were a lot of gliders in the air, there were no gaggles once you left the first thermal after launch and you could fly all day without encountering another aircraft. As no tasks are set, everyone made up their own minds where to go each day. Of course birds of a feather fly together, so pilots from the same clubs tended to fly with each other. So us BSC pilots were always flying in the opposite direction to everyone else.

I used our newly installed Flarm for the first time and I am really impressed with it. Although it is paramount to keep your eyes outside the cockpit, we are all inevitably scanning our instruments to check average rate of climb and distance to go etc. It is not difficult to add the Flarm to your fast scan as all you need to clock are lights. If there are no lights showing then your eyes need not hesitate. However, if you see a red light indicating 10 0’clock high, then surely enough you will find a glider there. I found it particularly useful letting you know that gliders were behind you, both in a thermal and in cruise. Eyes in the back of your head.

The evening meals provided for $10 were delicious and the wine flowed a little too freely. Beryl and Arnie Hartly and everyone at Narromine GC were flawless hosts. I am certainly planning to go again next year and hope more BSC pilots will too.