Gauteng Regionals 2005 - action at last!!

Anne Kienhofer reports ...............

28.9.05The dreaded front passed through yesterday night after a very
hot and extremely windy Monday.
Yesterday morning the wind came strongly from the South and it was
winterly cold.
There was a briefing in the morning and general consensus: No task
would be possible.
Everybody was more hopeful that at least small tasks could be flown
today. The Open and 15m classes were given 198 km triangles Ventersdorp
Koster with checkpoint Syferbult and the Club Class had T.P.s Clearance
and Derby, back via Syferbult. There were the usual back-up tasks but
conditions improved rapidly during launching.
For most pilots the day was reasonably successful. Naturally the 15m
and Open Classes would have preferred to fly with waterballast - not
permitted if launching on the shorter and uphill runway 18. There was
only one outlanding: the Astir 126 and "clicketyclick" from Parys
had undercarriage problems and decided to land in the soft grass of the
airfield instead of risking a belly landing in the bush. One glider
missed checkpoint Syferbult, everybody else completed the tasks.29.9.05
Morning dawns with a stiff easterly wind and 8/8 low cloud. By briefing
time the wind comes from the North and clouds have broken up quite
nicely. It is still cold and the flying is expected to start after
midday. A and B tasks are set, and fortunately the A tasks hold. Open
and 15m class have a 250 km triangle around Bodenstein and Koster, Club
Class a 133 km triangle to Klerkskraal Dam and Derby. Launching begins
at 12.30 and 66 (undercarriage repaired) gets a winch launch after the
last tow.
5 p.m.
Almost everybody is back, one glider still awaited

[Webbie says ... we may even have some results on
http://www.sssa.org.za/gtr2005/ sometime soon]