Day Four
aerotow|Christian Ciech|cost|dolly|Exxtacy|Gerolf Heinrichs|Guido Gehrmann|landing|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Oleg Bondarchuck|Ryan Glover|space|Tomas Suchanek|tow|tug|Wallaby Ranch|wheels|Worlds 1998
At the aerotow paddock almost everyone gets up on the first tow. I only recall one or two pilots in the whole paddock coming back for a relaunch. There are patches of high cirrus, but we are able to get up right away, but only to 5600'.
Most of the pilots in my lane stay on the dolly way too long. I remember David and Ryan Glover at the Wallaby Ranch emphasizing getting off the dolly quickly. Here, they hold onto the rope below their base tube, and pull the dolly into the air a couple of feet. As the lane is a bit rough, the dolly wheels are trashing about just as they lift off.
There is no need for spending more than a few seconds on the dolly. My experience is that the dolly immediately heads for the edge of the lane and into the chaff, so I've got even a better reason to push out a little and come off the dolly right away.
The Exxtacy comes off very smoothly and I can stay a foot or so off the ground while the tug rises up.
The task is to the northeast with a turnpoint at Manildra and goal at Bodangara. 100 miles, but this time at least there is not a head wind. While the winds are light in the tow paddock, they mostly come from the west and south.
The course is quite slow. Unlike the previous days, you can't get up to 7200'. I fly to the north to get off the course line, but land after 30 kilometers. Gaggles are handy on a day like today, but I had to avoid other pilots.
Six pilots make goal, Tomas Suchanek, Oleg Bondarchuck, Guido Gehrmann, Manfred Ruhmer, Josef Zweckmayer, and Christian Ciech. Tomas wins the day. Gerolf and Rohan land 2 kilometers short.
Guido is in the lead overall with Oleg 115 points out of 3670 behind. His seventy point penalty for landing under the controlled air space cost him dearly. Gerolf and Manfred are also very close. Tomas is back in 11th.
The Austrians lead the meet by almost 1000 points. Mark Gibson leads the Americans, which are in eighth as a team. The Brazils have slipped down to seventh. The Italians are doing well in third. Guido is leading the Germans into second place.
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