Routine?

One of the reasons that we like to arrive at a competition site early is to establish a routine before the competition starts. This year we have had to change our routine several times.

When we first arrived we were the only ones flying and could pretty much please ourselves as to what we did. Due to the terms of our contract we have to rig and derig every day which is quite different from our usual Australian habit. Our routine back then was to rig and fly on the good days and to watch and wait on the bad days. We got it right most of the time.

A week ago the rest of the team arrived and we adjusted our routine to fit in with them. Next we had to move the trailers into the official positions. Last week we began to get daily briefings and tasks were set. Now we have Aussie base up and running for team meetings.

This week we had to rig early on Tuesday for Scrutineering and today we rigged a little earlier to avoid the rush at the taps. There are around 50 Standard Class gliders and 10 taps. Fortunately many of the Europeans have brought water containers with them and are ballasting in the tie down area.

Yesterday we gridded for the first time. Gridding was from the back by class.

Yesterday was also the first day that we had a gate opening time and the requirement to report start times. Since the radio was so busy it was quite a challenge. Usually there are 2 (or maximum 3) teams per frequency, but here they have had trouble getting enough frequencies and there are 15 pilots on all frequencies. This makes it difficult for the pilots to get together before the start and even to report their start times.

Today there was an extra Team Captain’s meeting before the main briefing on Friday. The busy radio frequencies were discussed at length.

The organisers also made two significant decisions, there is no airspace buffer, and they will issue a QNH each day and use it for scoring rather than using the take off altitiude.