WARREGO WANDERER 2003

DAILY REPORTS FROM EXPEDITION WARREGO WANDERER 03

Sunday 9th November
Total of 1300k in 3 flights including a 502km diamond distance for Dave Postlethwaite (max height 8000ft).

Monday 10th November
Good weather at first but showers soon developed and hit task area, including thunder and lightning!! a total 4455km in 12 flights including a 114km out and return for Stu Duncans silver distance and 302k for Tim Davis' diamond goal (max height 8800ft). Two land outs conducted safely in large paddocks the size of Oxfordshire.

Wednesday 12th November
Total of 5470km flown in 12 flights, max height 12800ft QNH, averaging 11500. average climbs of 6-8kts ocnl 10kts, and one verified by logger 13kts avg for Brian Mckenzie in an ASW20. Gaz Baker, fed up of doing 300's with duff or off loggers, went for 520km and got round for diamond distance, he was 400ft short of gold height. Guy Davidson got to gold height but being a jock is waiting for a diamond before he pays the BGA for a badge!!

Thurs 13 November
Scrappy day locally, 5 gliders went on task, rest fell out or stayed local. Colin McInnes (V2C) and Nick Smith (Ventus B) went up Yuleba, down to Jimbour House then Warra and home. Nick Smith landed at Dalby for 475km and Colin McInnes got home for 511.kms. Dave Postlethwaite attempted same task in a Kestrel 19 and landed just short of Dalby for 475km. Brian McKenzie and Nick Arum in the Duo did 433km before they had to fire up the turbo at Dalby. Stu Naylor did 300km in a Nimbus2. 2189km in 5 flights. Max height 10500ft with best average seen at 10.2kts (Nick and Brian at Brians 13kt source from day before!)

Friday 14th November
Weather not very good today, flying looks doubtful .
Saturday 15th, Sunday 16th November
Good weekends R+R had by all, loads of people went to the Gold Coast and similar to see the sea. A bit of flying done over the weekend Tim Davies did 305km on his conversion to the Nimbus 2. Nick Smith did 302km on Saturday and converted to the Nimbus on a 305km flight on Sunday. Gaz Baker converted to flaps in the Ventus B.

Monday 17th November
Monday saw a slowish start as thermals were slow to pop, when they did, however people reported climbs of 10+kts to over 10,000ft QNH (8800 QFE). Gaz Baker finaly got round a 306km Diamond Goal with a serviceable logger in the mighty tipped Hornet at 100kph, Peter Kingwill did 340km in the Open Cirrus. Dave Postlethwaite 503km in the Nimbus 2, Colin McInnes took the LS8 around a total of 459km with a 300km in just over 2hr 30 in the middle, Stu Duncan (started exped pre silver) got round for his 300km Diamond Goal and Gold Distance. Mick Davis did 429km in the LS6, Martyn Pike got away from the airfield in the Duo with Tim Davies and did 420km. Jim Mc flew the DG101 round 304km, Rick Jones did 280km in the ventus B and Charles Cooper did a 301km Dia goal in the LS7. Nick Smith flew and didn't land out, although he returned early after the Nimbus 2's airbrakes self deployed at 110kts and then surprisingly wouldn't lock shut!! Andy Hill spent the day fixing the ASW20's water ballast system, Everyone got back before the stong winds kicked in at around half four so the duty crew (Nick, Brian and Stu Naylor) concentrated on preparing a Chilli for tea! Cracking storms all around us this evening, off to watch the show with a cold stubby! Day total of 3644km in 10 flights.

Tuesday 18th November
No flying due to unfavourable weather so golf/shopping trips ensued. The evening saw a meal prepared and served by the senior officers, with top table, wine and port, Mr. Vice etc. An after dinner chat by Shane McCaffrey on blue flying was well received.

Wednesday 19th November
An odd day, cu ran all the way to Chinchilla where it turned blue. Cloud base was 5500 at first with broken 3-4kt climbs. Shear made for difficult centering above 4400ft. A 388km fun task was set as well as a 500km Diamond Distance task for those that needed it. Nick Smith (Kestrel 19) and Guy Davidson (LS7) got round the task, Andy Hill and Mick Davis (Duo) went a little further for 426km. Colin McInnes (LS8) went south looking at one of the 750km legs and covered 450km in better conditions than the others saw. Stu Naylor and Gaz Baker (Acro!) cut short one of the task legs but still covered a commendable 336km. Rick Jones (Open Cirrus) did 270km, Tim Davies (Nimbus 2) did 200km, Stu Duncan (Hornet) and Pete Kingwill (Ventus 2) set off on the 500k but Stu soon called landing out at Dalby, he later scraped away and scuttled back home having covered 70km, and Pete sensibly realised 500 was not on and came home covering 140km. Nick Aram (ASW20) roared off at immense speed full of water but failed to change gear when it went blue and landed at Chinchilla airfield. After a kip in the "arrival lounge" the Pawnee turned up and towed our intrepid pilot home. 110km covered (off tow) and total cost of flight(s) (3hrs 6mins) was just short of $500!!!

Thursday 20th November
Thursday turned out quite soarable, as we saw from the 11th tee at Dalby, however by the 16th we saw a glider on tow out of Dalby airfield so were comforted a little! The climbs were 4-5kts and the highest climb was to 8200QNH but most were around 7200QNH. The day was quite short and as we left town we stopped to watch the LS7 scrabbling around at approx 1000ft until the phone rang and we were asked to make haste back to the airfield as they were in danger of running out of crews and vehicles! Peter Kingwill (LS8) had another stab at a 503km Diamond Distance but read the weather well and turned for home having covered a total of 350km. Dave Postlethwaite (ASW20) did a total 400km. Tim Davies (Ventus B) did fantasticly getting around the 503km on his conversion to the aircraft. Charles Cooper (LS7) got round 301km, but not without dramas! He got Very low at Dalby Airfield but got away AFTER turning finals! His final glide into DDSC was to the limits of the aircrafts performance and exciting to watch too. Rick Jones (Nimbus 2 and duty crew!) did a quick 230km whilst the others were on task! Nick Smith (Open Cirrus and duty crew!) tried the same but true to form landed out at Dalby! His A/Tow home was cheaper than Nick Arum's but bar bill increased considerably. Gaz Baker (DG101) landed near George Lee's strip having flown 290km, that'll teach him to fly the land-out queen! Finally, the hero of the day was Guy "mother goose" Davidson, who on hearing that Tim and Charles were scratching at Dalby set off from his local soaring flight to shepherd them home. Day rounded off with a meal for all in the Jondy Pub.

Friday 21st November
Loads of guys took the initial bad forcast as a cue to shoot off to the coast, and after launching into a less than promising blue sky the rest of us agreed. Blue climbs to about 5000ft was enough for a few mugs to set off on a fun 380km task. After a long struggle and a lot of low points we got up to chinchilla and the cu started popping. They were very few and far between but working well. as the day progressed conditions continued to improve to the point where 3 of us decided to push on a little further to make the task more interesting. Nick Aram (Nimbus 2) and Dave Postlethwaite (LS8) did 450km in about 5hrs. Martyn Pike (Ventus B) did 440km a little quicker, Nick Smith (LS7) covered 345km and didn't land out. Peter Kingwill gave up another 500km attempt and got in the Duo with Andy Hill. They did 150km but had to use the Turbo (apparently it was just to train Pete so he can fly the V2C in UK !!!!!) 2015km in 5 flights, a grand day out had by those who stayed.

Monday 24th November
Very good met forecast meant for some long tasks set by Tasksetter Rick Jones. As it turned out though the 750's weren't on. Martyn Pike and Charles Cooper (Duo) did 510km. Nick Smith (Mosquito), Rick Jones (ASW20), Mick Davis (DG101) all flew 503km as did Stu Duncan (Hornet) for his Diamond Goal (started exped pre-silver). Peter Kingwill eventually got round his 500, but unfortunately fell foul of the 1% rule and couldn't claim it!! Jim McLean did 390km in the Kestrel 19 and Stu Naylor did 537km in the Ventus B. Guy Davidson did 453km in the LS8 and got the highest climb today of 10,000ft QNH. Colin McInnes managed the furthest of the day with 564km in a dry ASW20. Finally Gaz Baker landed out on his LS7 conversion after 225km. A grand total of 5194km in 11 flights

Tuesday 25th November
Day started blue, and stayed that way! The cu did develop locally after we all struggled off and was quite prolific outside the task area. Tasks set were:- 753,510,503,356 and a small 108km triangle to be attempted as many times as possible. Peter Kingwill attempted a penultimate Aussie 500 in the Nimbus 2, but conditions were so difficult past Miles that he wisely turned back. I'm sure he'll try again today. Martyn Pike took the same route in the LS6, as did Colin McInnes (DG101), Brian (LS7), Stu Naylor (Tipped Hornet) and Tim Davies (ASW20). After turning Miles most tried other areas off task and covered 330,406,406,330 and 304km's respectively.Charles Cooper struggled on doggedly to try and get his diamond dist but had to turn back before the 3rd TP, and returned after 350km with one of his (new) trade-mark nailbiting final glides. Not an ounce of wasted energy! Dave Postlethwaite went with Shane in his Duo and set off towards Chinchilla. After "testing the Turbo" 10km from the strip they then covered a massive 580km, heading way north out of range of our normal maps. Mick Davis covered 358km in the Nimbus 2. Rick Jones (LS8) explored the Bunyas and did 33km. Nick Aram and Guy Davidson (Hornet and Mosquito) went for the 108km task. First they flew to Dalby and then set off on a pre-arranged 108km around Jandowae and Bell, returning to Dalby. The first circuit was done in 1hr 5min for 99.7kph which was dissapointingly slow so it was done again, this time at 101.2kph! This was enough for Nick Arum who went home having covered a total of 280km, and Guy Davidson met up with Colin McInnes and Brian McKenzie for a trip to the hills for a total of 380km. The max height seen was 10300QNH, best avg climb was 10kts, both verified on the logger traces. Most climbs were in the region of 8kts once in the good areas.

Wednesday 26th November
The final flying day was a small taste of what the conditions CAN be like! The initial met forecast was less than promising and everyone was a little despondent until looking out the window and realising that the local forecasters were wielding white sticks! Only the 500km milk run was set for Peter Kingwill and Charles Cooper's Diamond Distances. Stu Duncan slowed down a little and only flew 150km at 102kph on his LS7 Conversion, Bronze 'C' to 500k in 19 days and he still can't fly the discus when he gets home! Gaz Baker did a very fast 360km in the DG101, Tim Davies did the same in the Tipped Hornet. Colin McInnes(duty crew) "local soared" the Kestrel 19 around 385km and Brian McKenzie was his wingman in the ASW20. Mick Davis took the little un-tipped Hornet round an impressive 424km. Nick Smith took the other ASW20 for 650km, and still got back in time to oversee the tidying up operation, on the way getting the best avg climb of 14.4kts. Guy Davidson took a Nimbus 2 to 12,000ftQNH whilst whizzing around 500km, getting the highest climb of the day. Rick Jones took off late in the Open Cirrus and covered 415km. The longest flights of the day were Martyn Pike and Alan Latemore(Duo), Dave Postlethwaite (LS8) who covered an immense 820km. Charles Cooper (Ventus B) and Peter Kingwill (Nimbus 2) finally got around their Diamond Distance tasks with working loggers and without incurring any IGC penalties. Nick Aram celebrated his 2000th launch by aerobating the Puch with Stu Duncan biting his nails in the back. The most successful day so far, 6275km and everyone saw 10kts and nearly everyone got to 10,000ft, and everyone on the exped flew!

Summary
In total we have covered 54,000km in 800 flying hours with only 1 day lost to weather. 8 known diamond distances, at least as many diamond goal and gold distances and one silver distance (pending BGA confirmation of claims of course, fingers crossed!), so in all a very good time had by all.