Allan Thole was sent up as a sniffer a few minutes after noon and was soon announcing lift so the rest of the pilots were launched. There was an approx. 5 minutes delay whilst a King Air was permitted to land – the pilot obviously had not taken note of the NOTAM advising of the Championships taking place! He was duly accommodated and will be back again tomorrow, but at a time that will not interfere with the gridding or launching.
The task for the Open/18m. class was reduced to 2 hr. 45 min. before the gate was opened. Big storm clouds are visible to the south in a Bloemfontein direction and several of the pilots have opted to derig their gliders. All but the Twin Astir has returned back to Welkom and a good day was had by all. Definitely a good day for the ASW.15’s today with Konrad and Gunter taking 1st and 2nd place in the Club class. Wayne remains in 1st place with Konrad 2nd and Stephan still in 3rd place.
In the Open/18m. class the first 4 places all achieved 146 kph and thoroughly enjoyed the day’s flying. Oscar still leads the pack with Ronald in 2nd and Attie moving into 3rd place overall.
As the day’s flights were less than 3 hrs. the scores are all devalued.
The wind ahead of the storm has hit the airfield so pilots have either derigged their gliders or are ensuring they are well secured and tied down.
Overall place charts are posted in the Gallery.