So the first day of the competition. They set a big task to fly 338km to a place called Mitchell, it will be the longest distance of any competition held in Australia. I launched late after most had left and struggled to stay aloft in the beautiful looking sky, the weather was just perfect for long distance with a 50km/hr wind up at 2000m. The thermals were strong and punchy and rough low down due to the turbulence off the trees. I got low 65km out from Dalby and had to land as I couldn't find more lift. It was at this time I had my first encounter with a Wedge Tailed Eagle who appeared from no where and parked himself 2metres behind my wing. They are big a 3m wingspan. I was in the middle of nowhere but I saw that there was a small farmhouse nearby so when I derigged and carried my glider 1km (phew!) I met the locals. The retreive car from Dalby couldn't find me so they headed further along the courseline towards Mitchell to find the others in my team including Neil. It was obvious that they would only be picking me up very late into the night so the farmer kindly offered to take me and my glider back to the airfield...wow was I lucky! He had a trailer which my glider fitted on perfectly so off we went on the 80km drive back to Dalby. I got to chat with Scott and Kellie who were really nice people and told me a little about their lives here..very interesting.
Neil just sms'd me to say he landed 18km short of goal.....an incredible 320km!!!! so a long drive back.
The weater forecast for the rest of the week doesnt look good as a cyclone is heading down the coast with 220km winds..we'll see what happens..
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