Task: Mt Murchison to Murchison Town, on to Braeburn point to bomb out Mt Murchison; 46km.
No one was keen to take off until a couple of intermediate pilots took off and it was proved that there was light lift out there.
The top pilots took-off and got into a slow climb getting to over 8000ft and going on glide to wpt 1 while the rest of us stood on the hill. A few more pilots took off but scratched and it took a while for them to get into a climb. The next pilot could not get off the hill for about 15 minutes due to it being crossed on take-off. A couple of dusties came through and the wind straightened up and he hooked into a straight climb to 8500ft.
It took the rest of the pilots a while to get off the hill and a few of them moved to the right of take-off to allow for the crossed wind. Unfortunately this was where the dusties were coming from. One came through and trashed a glider.
Everyone else got off with most pilots making it to turn point 1. This included 3 floaters. Due to the minimal landings past turn point 1 a lot of pilots could not get enough height to leave for wpt 2 and landed and went to the Murch pub. Those who carried on found good but broken lift to wpt 2 and a lot of height was not needed for the glide to goal.
Pilots who got to goal (about 15) found it hard to get down as the valley was very buoyant.
John Smith was the first in followed by Paris and Hagen.
A few pilots in goal looked up to the peak of Mt Murchison and saw the mother of all dusties over 60 meters in height. Luckily everyone was off the hill and the cars on their way down.
There is talk of going to Mt Murchison tomorrow. Results to follow.
