The regional competition is over for another year, and what an amazing time everyone had. 

Overall we had 2 no-fly days, 1 ridge day, some boomers and 1 blue day to finish things off and make life interesting for everyone. There were lots of landouts, no incidents or damage, and only 1 retrieve crew getting lost :)

Well done to the winners, here are the final results.

Sports class

Club class

18-meter

The full day by day results are still available online at SoaringSpot.

Here are a few random images from the last few days. We'll put a more complete gallery of images online soon, stay tuned...

Look at all those clouds in the sky

Briefings had intense concentration

Bob, Brian, Tony and Trevor

Robert Smits in the Ka8

Spot the 5 gliders

Clubhouse with promising looking clouds...

A huge thanks to all the helpers who made the competition possible. These include in no particular order Jan, Bill, contest director Graham, Weather man David, tow tickets Ruth, June and Mavis on the radio, Gridmaster Les, Edouard the scorer, Amiee the lunch+launch helper & photographer, Brian the safety guy, Richard, Harold & the tow pilots, and everyone else who helped out in some way.

Thanks guys and girls!

A delicious final dinner

These guys have nothing to do with the competition at all

The day dawned in an unpromising fashion with low overcast and drizzle but the Dave Hirst weather analysis quickly lifted spirits with a convincing presentation that promised 15Kt+ SW winds and a drying air mass meaning... ridge task! And just after 1.30pm the tugs roared into life and 25 gliders headed for the ridge.

Some off ridge turn points were set just to keep life interesting but only one land out for the day meant most people handled the challenge OK.

Class winners for day in Open, 15m/standard and club all cracked the 100kph barrier with Trev Terry in his discus crammed full of 220 litres of water fastest for the day at 121kph over a distance of 312km. Local lad Tim cranked the PW5 around the task at a credible 86kph for a win in the Sports class.

Worms eye view of the grid

Our happy contest director (happy because he has a beer)

Edouard diligently compiling the scores

Pam Gore, awaiting the retrieve phone to ring

The North Island Regional Gliding Competition has started and we had a great first day. Admittedly, 16 of the 25 gliders landed in paddocks, the rest landed back. It was a great challenge and all landouts went well.

Congratulations to Maurice Honey for winning the sports class, Bryan O'Brien winner club class, John Bayliss winner standard class and Roger Didsbury winner of the 18 meter class.

Full results from the day can be found online at soaringspot.com

:(

The day started as it ended. Blue.

Today, day 2, proved to be cloudy with drizzle. Not ideal gliding weather at all, it was a no fly day. Tomorrow shows more promise...

Grounded by the rain.

The only fast moving vehicles today were the grounded 3 wheeled variety.

More updates soon, and hopefully we'll get some pictures of gliders flying...

There's a lot happening over the next couple of weeks, here's a quick outline.

This weekend is normal club flying, the only thing to be aware of is EFTPOS will not be available Saturday as we're using it at CentrePlace. Here is the roster:

Saturday 22nd Nov
Instructors: Tony Davies, Dom Stevens, Rainer
Tow Pilot: Jeffery Hunter
Duty Pilot: Chris Money

Sunday 23rd Nov
Instructors: Tony Davies, Rainer Kunnemeyer
Tow Pilot: Ian Hector
Duty Pilot: Mark Drayson

Sunday evening is a BBQ and briefing for those on the cross country course.

Monday 24th - Friday 28th Nov: Cross Country Course 
All club gliders are booked for the week, there won't be club flying on Wednesday.
Towing will be available all week for private owners.
The tow pilots intend to hang around after the X country launch only for an hour or so on the weekdays depending on demand. They will stay long anough for any re-lights so if anybody turns up during that period we will be happy to tow them.
Launching will be similar to a competition grid launch, you'll need to have your glider to the end of the grid before launching, or wait until after.

Saturday 29th Nov: Normal club flying

This is the competition practice day, there will be lots of gliders, but otherwise normal flying. GSN and GXP might be booked.
Book other gliders like normal through the booking system.

Sun 30th Nov - Sat 6th Dec: Regional Contest 
Towing and club gliders will be available all week, with priority given to the competition.
GSN and GXP are booked for use in the competition, GPK, GPC and GNI are available for use by club members.
Instructors will not be rostered on, so if you want one you'll need to make your own arrangements.
We will also need help launching the glider grid, Contact Les at ljrmata@wave.co.nz if you can help out with this.
Typically those wanting to fly help with the launch, and have their gliders ready at the back of the grid.
If you would like to fly a club glider it will need to be DI'ed and down the end of the field well before the grid launches.
The time the grid launches varies depending on conditions, but normally somewhere between 11am and 2pm.
Please use the booking system at least the day before you intend to come out, to book any of the club gliders.

Flying during a competition is great fun, there are lots of people, lots of gliders, and a great atmosphere. Hopefully we'll see you out there!

The CentrePlace stand is going well, with at least 6 vouchers sold so far (as of lunchtime today), and many flyers handed out. We are expecting this afternoon and Saturday to be even busier.

If you're in Hamilton feel free to drop by and poke fun at us. Here are some pics of the stand.

Thanks to the volunteers.

Making it obvious what we're selling!

Looking towards the food court

Richard looking composed as always

Congratulations to everyone at Piako Gliding Club for winning the "Club of the year" award at the Metso Matamata Piako District Sports Awards on Tuesday night.

Also congratulations to Bill Mace for winning "Administrator of the year". Bill really does put in a huge amount of effort and time into the club, so this is well deserved.

More details and other winners can be found the Sports Waikato website.

Bill Mace and Steve Care with the awards

As mentioned in the flypaper, thanks to Bill & Jan some of the bunkrooms have been upgraded to luxurious suites. Information and images are now online here:

http://glidingmatamata.co.nz/msc/accommodation/

Here's an image that escaped from the last post of dinner images:

In other news, the new Piako Gliding Club Caravan/First aid station has arrived! Here are some pics we snapped today, after taking up a bunch of students for a flight (in gliders, not the caravan. Sorry it doesn't fly... yet).

Exciting stuff, Summer is going to be great!

This weekend Vintage Kiwi are holding a Rally at Raglan. Anyone is welcome to take any sort of glider along. Full details can be found in this PDF.