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51st Australian Multiclass Nationals

Benalla Gld, Australia,   7 January 2013 – 18 January 2013

Day 9

Today we finally saw a chance to get away from the 6000' ceiling we've been spending most of the competition under. The prediction was for 11,000' which, going by previous forecasts, meant we should get at least 9 or 10. However, the forecast models caused a lot of confusion for the weather and task men, as they predicted a large splotch of no thermals moving across the task area during the day. The interpretation of this was that it represented an area of cloud cutting off the heating, which might or might not eventuate. The response was to set two very different tasks - an optimistic A task of a fixed 400km, heading first slightly south west to give the dead spot time to pass and then a long way north; and a pessimistic B task, an AAT mostly to the west and with large circles to allow pilots the leeway to work with whatever the weather might throw them.

As it played out, it became clear that the 100% cloud cover dead spot didn't materialize in the west as predicted by the weather models, and the fleet was sent on the A task. There was some cloud developing over the airfield during launch which showed distinct wave patterns, and pilots reported well defined lenticulars later in the day. Once again there were only a few outlandings and most competitors had a good day, with nearly 30 pilots posting speeds in excess of 100 km/h and four of the 18m pilots topping 120 km/h - the fastest day of the whole contest.

Written on 17 January 2013 at 12:21.

Latest winner

1. Norm Bloch 111.94 km/h
2. Ailsa McMillan 106.21 km/h
3. Lisa Trotter 105.25 km/h
1. Tim Bromhead 110.81 km/h
2. Terry Cubley 110.47 km/h
3. Chad Nowak 108.21 km/h
1. Tom Claffey 127.48 km/h
2. Ben Loxton 125.67 km/h
3. Dennis Stacey 122.95 km/h
1. Catherine Conway 117.73 km/h
2. Andrew Georgeson 110.94 km/h
3. Shinzo Takizawa 106.32 km/h

Latest task

Task 10, 18 Jan 2013
Task distance: 123.95 km  /  384.33 km  (233.22 km)
Task duration: 2:00:00
Updated: 21/05/2015, 06:42
Task 10, 18 Jan 2013
Task distance: 105.79 km  /  365.61 km  (214.35 km)
Task duration: 2:00:00
Updated: 21/05/2015, 06:42
Task 10, 18 Jan 2013
Task distance: 114.54 km  /  378.68 km  (225.85 km)
Task duration: 2:00:00
Updated: 21/05/2015, 06:42
Task 10, 18 Jan 2013
Task distance: 105.79 km  /  365.61 km  (214.35 km)
Task duration: 2:00:00
Updated: 21/05/2015, 06:42