Pre-Worlds Day 1, Task 1 : Sunday March 5th - 60.9kms Individual Elapsed Time Race to Goal - Mt Borah > Baan Baa (GPS goal).

A carefully selected task to avoid possible rain in the north. A saturated atmosphere resulted in overclouding making for any task to “look” impossible with 90% shadow ! Mt Borah East - Launch window open at 2.15pm, 20-30km/h wind and drifting weak climbs resulted in 100+/- pilots ridge soaring until better phases came through. On course climbs up to 2-3m/s with cloud base at approx 2200m. 45 pilots in goal - Mike Aston (UK) fastest in 1hr 18mins. Results soon on results page.

Pic's : Task Briefing - Window Open - 100 pilots ridge soaring - dark sky but still XC flyable ! - Launching in strong wind - Charles Cazaux (FRA) 1/2 way on course - Dave Prentice (USA) bow hunter extraordinaire, bags a Borah Billy Goat for dinner !

   

  

Pre-Worlds Day 2 (Task 2) : 45.2kms Elapsed Time Race - Cancelled before Window Open

The deep low pressure system 400kms to the NE (near Brisbane) is slowly weakening as a front and high pressure system try to move into the eastern 1/2 of the country - a good sign for ther rest of the week... BUT... this has produced moderate winds and higher instability today. A short fast task was set but put on hold due to too strong winds on launch (25-30 km/h avg with 40-45km/h gusts) and potential over development on course. The OD became more isolated as the day progressed but the strong winds remained. The day was cancelled which allowed some pilots to free fly in the stonger conditions.

Pic's: Task Briefing for 150 pilots - Norwegians waiting for the announcements - Andreas (GER) packing up as a rain shower approaches - Korean pilot launches in 30km/h+ as the rain gets closer - Team Italia “hey Aussie girls wanna meet some real men ?” (there was a male strip show in Manilla the night before)

   

Pre-Worlds Day 3 (Task 3) - 86kms - suspended then cancelled at 4pm

The high pressure system was moving in from the west promising a great XC day with less wind ...BUT... just as the sky showed perfect cumulus development at 3000m early then rising to over 4400m later, the wind actually increased with averages 30+ and gusts from 40-60 km/h. The task was on hold until the end when the obvious became ... obvious - it wasn't going to drop off. A great potential task day gone with the wind...

The weather for the 2 week Pre-Worlds Series has so far been the worst ever in the history of annual competitions in Manilla (since 1995)..can it get worse ? 150 pilots hope not - the forecast looks good :-)

pics : The skywatch tell a sad story - even worse is that the sky was perfect with 4400m cloud base - Gin (KOR) gives some advice to Max (FRA) while Charles (FRA) keenly listens “now listen Max, when you see those Omega proto's at the start gate you need to fly head on like this.... psych them out early !“.

  

Pre-Worlds Day 4 Task 2 - 121kms - Mt Borah > Warialda : 14 in Goal

Finally some decent XC weather.... a harder blue day with climbs around 2-4m/s up to 2400m and some even to 3000m ...but not much wind. Pilots flew for 4-6hrs and via 2 main routes. 70 pilots managed to fly over 100kms by the time the day shut down at around 6.30pm. Only the early and fast pilots made it to goal.

pics : first launch thermal - Steve Ham (UK) on course to goal - a small gaggle in the blue at 2400m 50kms from goal.

    

 

Pre-Worlds Day 5, 9th March, Task 3 - 56kms - Mt Borah > Bendemeer : 28 in Goal 

Bands of high cloud shadowed the region but Cu's were still forming in the unstable atmosphere. Light and variable winds with a tendency for NW up high were evident - wind dummies started on the north launch, then west then east and then back to the west - the classic Borah shuffle ! A shorter 56kms elapsed time task to Bendemeer was called. Pilots launched from the east and later the west and struggled in slow climbs until cu's formed overhead. The task turned out to be a battle of patience in the mid section when the climbs almost stopped under 100% layer cloud cover. The lead gaggle flyers made the best of the conditions and were rewarded with a sunny Bendemeer valley. 28 pilots made goal.

pics : slow climbs in the grey sky - the fields were still working even with just a little sun - on glide into the gloom north of Manilla town .... but with a little help from the gods (final glide into Bendemeer)...

   

pics: its sunny and smiles at goal - Michelle  (BEL), Zhou (CHN), Jinoh (KOR) and ole buddies Andreas (GER) and Stephan (AUT)...and a fantasic Manilla sunset on the way home.

    

 

Pre-Worlds Day 6, Task 4 - Friday 10th March - 90kms - Mt Borah > Bingara : 55 in Goal

A text book perfect sky greeted pilots for the Bingara 4th Task. The start gate was set at 80kms out and had consistent clouds available allowing the 150 pilots to wait easily until it opened. Fast climbs and fast flying was the order of the day in what turned out to be a classic race.  The beginning of the 25km long Bingara valley was the point where the gaggle fell apart as pilots took various lines to race the last section and win. Some took more risks than others on the final glide calculation and landed short or needed a desperate low climb just a few kms before goal. The winner Jean-Marc Caron (FRA) took just over 2hrs ! On a sad note a Korean pilot suffered critical injuries when he spun his glider from 50m into a house just before the goal - he is in a stable condition after being Aero-medivac'd to a specialist hospital in Sydney.

pics : Mt Borah Race Start gaggles with a perfect sky - Omega 7 on glide to goal - crossing the line at Bingara

   

Pre-Worlds Day 7, Task 5 - Saturday 11th March - 124kms - Mt Borah > Gravesend : 34 in Goal

Another great Manilla XC day to finish the Pre-Worlds. A long task was set to Gravesend to the north west and a route that has not been flown so far. Cloud base was around 2500m but climbs were tricky due to an inversion at 1200m. Many of the slower pilots landed just short of goal as the day shut down around 6.30pm . 90 pilots flew over 100kms - for many it was a personal best distance too making the end of the event even more memorable.

pics : Mt Borah West before the window opened, the clouds were calling the pilots - not many left on launch after 15 mins ! - Climbing in the start gate gaggle - Near cloud base on course.

   

Pre-Worlds 2006 Presentation Night - the Winners !

After 4-5hrs of flying the 124kms last task pilots arrived back to HQ Check-In quite late. Final task scores were not ready until 10.30pm. A buffet dinner for pilots and guests including free beer & wine at the Manilla RSL Club had the pilots eager to see who the winners of the event were. Champagne flowed as Arnaud and Michelle sprayed the crowd in true victory style ! There was A$5800 value in prizes and trophies handed out. The major sponsored prizes inluded : Advance iMPRESS harness, Flytec 5020, Adidas Elevation sunglasses and accessories from Skyline Flight Gear. The band played until 2am and then the hard core vodka-Redbull charged party goers moved to the Royal Hotel which didn't finish until 6am !

1st Place Open Class : Arnoud Secher (FRA) Gin Boomerang 4 - 1st Place Female : Michele Baptist (BEL) AirCross TriAlp

 

Serial Class : Steve Ham (UK- Airwave Magic 4), Hans Bausenwein (GER - Gin Boomerang Sport), Arne Aarsborg (NOR - UP Trango) - Veterans (50yrs+) : Hans Bausenwein (GER), Brian Webb (AUS), Fiona Macaskill (UK) - Best Team : Gin and Tonic (France) - Frederic Varrey, Charles Cazaux, Max Jeanpierre, Arnaud Secher with Suzi Smith (Comp Director)....all happy to win A$1000 cash !

  

Pics : Black Duck Award : Agust (Iceland) - Crazy Moosh from Japan having a BIG night - Comp organiser Godfrey Wenness hits the bar with Dave Prentice (USA) and Annette (Norway), 2nd place David Chaumet (FRA) has Gil Navalho (POR) on his shoulder after just missing out on a top 3 result.