Day two finishes

It certainly was not a boring day. From the film Director asking that everyone leave briefing enmasse for "the camera" to a Mayday later in the afternoon it was continuous action.

Having a camera crew at briefing and on the grid before and after launch was a little different. However they were excellent and did not slow the launch down at all. With 5 towplanes straining at the bit the launch proceeded very well with a Task B for Open/18 Standard/15 and a Task A for the club class.

Only one pilot (TM) needed the task read to him over the radio...

Today Sue Wild took time off from sitting at the radio to ride shotgun in PX with Ben. She came back buzzing. Sheryl & Paula shared radio duties until Sue returned. Paula is thinking that perhaps she shouldn't do the radio as last time she helped out at Omarama she had to handle a Mayday. Today was a repeat when GUN gave us a MAYDAY mid afternoon. He had a rudder cable failure 4500ft above Omakau. With some advice from some experienced pilots(keep your feet off the rudder pedals) he was able to land successfully.

Other landouts included GOG at Goodger, IW at Pukaki, EE at Pukaki, GX at Hakukaramea...all road retrieves.

Some stirling examples of tenacity were shown including NG who, it seemed was forever giving ops normals from "low in the Lindis". However in the end he climbed out and finished the task.

The real highlight was a radio call asking Lex if he could check a speed which was confirmed at 157kph for another new World record for Jenny Wilkinson. 500km out and return....previously this record was held in Nambia by a German lady.(The same lady who held the record Jenny broke a week ago for 300km speed triangle). Now we wait for confirmation from FAI headquarters. I don't know who was most chuffed, Jenny or Terry Delore who had helped her design the course.

It was good to catch up with Ritchie at the end of the day and find he had the opportunity to finish his film commitments and do some personal gliding and complete the Club Class task after a late start....

Tis time for dinner!