Bogong Cup 2005

Finally, here are the Norwegian results of the Bogong cup 2005 :-)
14. Jon Gjerde (well done, Jon)
41. Otto Baste
42. Stein Edgar Strandli

Totally there were 55 pilots in the competition with some of the best pilots in the world participating.

Bogong Cup is one of the best competitions I ever been to, very well organized and a beatiful place to fly. Carol Binder and Heather Mull had done an excellent job getting sponsors and organizing everything.

Flying! The tasks were from 75 km to 145 km and the weather was generally great except from the last 2 days which were cancelled. I had my first flight with Johnny Nilsen's brand new Airborne C2 the first competition day. The C2 was a very nice wing to fly and I felt at home in the wing straigth away. First competition day was also my first flight with the wing and I made a solid 45 km with it on a difficult day with a lot of cirrius clouds. No one came to goal that day and I made a 31st place.

The next day the task was 125 km and we launched at Mt. Emu. The day was very good and cloudbase around 2500 m. I ended up in Happy vally after 95,6 km flight before the 3rd turnpoint.

Day 3 we went to Mt.Buffalo with its ramp on the edge of a 200 m free fall and almost 1000 meter down to the landing, very nice place except that we were 55 pilots rigging on a mountain inbetween trees and on mountain edges and there was very little place for everyone. The task today was 145 km and I got away in a gagle of 10 pilots, made the first 2 turnpoints and then the difficult part started; I got really low and got a thermal 50 meters above the ground on the final and then back up to 2700 meters, glided out the heigth and didn't get any more thermals before I was on the ground. In distance I only came approx. 60 km. One thing I learned during the competition is that you need to fly really fast to manage these big distances, and to fly fast you need to do the thermalling very good.

day 4 was not a good day for me, spent more time in the toilet than in the air. Bombed out after 30 min flight, started in very weak conditions and we were some people who bombed out.

day 5 flying at Mt.Mystic. Stomach still not very good, but getting better. The task was around 125 km and the conditions were very hard. Spent 1.5 hours just to get away from Mystic and when I flew over to Mt.Buffalo there was no lift left (Mt.Buffalo is a early place to fly from). We were some pilots that had to land out in the vally again. Jon Gjerde tucked at one of the turnpoints, but managed to get away with it just hanging on to the bottombar with both feet in the sail, he flew to goal that day!

day 6, another day at Mt.Mystic got a good start and went off for Mt.Buffalo again, got good height in the valley, but ended up very short anyway only 15 km.

day 7 and 8 cancelled

Totally the competition was a really good experience and I got a total of approx. 16 hours of flight during the competition.

Pictures from the prize ceremony and Mt.Buffalo: http://foto.vg.no/show_album.php?aid=601514