Oz Report

Task 6

New Zealand HG Open Championship 2022

(Mt Murchison, Braeburn Range, New Zealand) (Mt Owen, New Zealand) (Mt Newton, New Zealand) (Sport Recreation & Cultural Centre, Murchison, New Zealand)

https://airtribune.com/44^th-new-zealand-hang-gliding-open-championship-fa/results

Task 6:

Final Results:

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The in flight videos

New Zealand HG Open Championship 2022|video

(Mt Murchison, Braeburn Range, New Zealand)

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Task 5

New Zealand HG Open Championship 2022

(Mt Murchison, Braeburn Range, New Zealand) (FTP TP, Tasman, New Zealand) (BTW TP, Matakitaki, New Zealand) (TEE TP, Howard, New Zealand)

https://airtribune.com/44^th-new-zealand-hang-gliding-open-championship-fa/results

Task 5:

Cumulative:

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Task 4

New Zealand HG Open Championship 2022

(Mt Murchison, Braeburn Range, New Zealand) (Mt Owen, New Zealand) (Matakitaki TP, Tutaki, New Zealand) (Mt Newton, New Zealand) (Sport Recreation & Cultural Centre, Murchison, New Zealand)

https://airtribune.com/44^th-new-zealand-hang-gliding-open-championship-fa/results

Task 4:

Cumulative:

https://youtu.be/7yqwHSnnR_m

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Rain day

New Zealand HG Open Championship 2022

(Mt Murchison, Braeburn Range, New Zealand)

https://www.facebook.com/Flying-Kiwis-1080353552175519/

Task #3

We arrived at the bombout to see Mt Murchison in cloud with a moderate north wind. The safety committee were considering calling the day off. After some discussion the wind was dropping so the decision was made go ahead with task #3 and a briefing was held.

Neil Howe won the turkey award for nearly losing his instrument deck in flight during task #2. His mounting bracket was damaged during the dust devils on take off and completely broke off during his 70km flight to goal. He managed to grab it and lash it to his base bar with his VG rope. He landed on his wheels at goal holding his instrument in one hand!

Steve C presented the day prizes for task #2 ~ Matt Barlow won open class and Gary Turner won sport class. A correction to yesterdays results ~ Andre van der Elst came third in sports class.

Matt pointed out the take off window start time can be seen on the Airtribune task set each day. The take off window closing time will be posted on our WhatsApp group after the tasks are posted. Les took off 30 seconds after the window closed for task #2. The task committee decided to not score his flight. A very hard call but the rules are the rules!

On takeoff a nice smooth north wind made for light soaring conditions. The sky soon filled with hang gliders and it got very congested. Eventually pilots climbed high enough to head on course. Most open class pilots flew to Murch township, down the Matakitaki to turnpoint one, back to a turnpoint north of town and then goal at Murch Airfield. 17 made goal with John Smith first, Matt Barlow second and Tom Kelner third.

Sport class had an embarrassing low scoring day. Only 3 pilots went on course down the Tutaki towards turnpoint one. Steve Cronin won with 11.55kms, Donald Payne second with 10.67kms and Sean Oliver third with 9.07kms. Steve F, Kirsy, Rod and Andre bombed! Gary did not fly. We need to sharpen up our act for task #4!

Overall placings after 3 tasks:

Open Class:
1^st Matt Barlow
2^nd Ian Clark
3^rd John Smith

Sports Class:
1^st Gary Turner
2^nd Steve Cronin
3^rd Rod Stuart

The much coveted Kahu Cup club competition is now being scored. The best three pilots scores from each club are added together for each task. The South Island clubs are dominating and scores are very close!

1^st Canterbury 6513
2^nd Aorangi 6397
3^rd Southern 5917

Steve Cronin will be getting the turkey award at the next briefing for a spectacular landing involving trees and an electric fence ~ more on that coming when I do my task #4 log!

Today we have a rest day with rain. A chance for pilots to rest and relax after an amazing 4 days of flying in a row.

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Day 2, Task 2; Day 3, Task 3

Dennis Thorp|New Zealand HG Open Championship 2022|Pete Helliwell|video

(Mt Murchison, Braeburn Range, New Zealand) (41410M TP, Six Mile, New Zealand) (444SPJ TP, Springs Junction, New Zealand) (418BTW TP, Matakitaki, New Zealand) (404BLU TP, Te Waipounamu, New Zealand) (428TUF TP, Tutaki, New Zealand) (Sport Recreation & Cultural Centre, Murchison, New Zealand)

https://airtribune.com/44^th-new-zealand-hang-gliding-open-championship-fa/results

Task 2:

Task 3:

Cumulative:

https://www.facebook.com/Flying-Kiwis-1080353552175519/

On Day 2 Matt Barlow is leading in Open Class and Gary Turner is leading in Sports Class.

What an action packed day in the skys over Murchison NZ. At the morning briefing the day prizes were given out. Ian Clark won task #1 in open class and Sean Oliver won task #1 in sports class. Steve Bankier won the turkey award for his spectacular crash landing at Murchison airfield yesterday. He narrowly missing a tin shed on the side of the runway. Fortunately hang glider and pilot were both undamaged.

Takeoff on Murchison produced some scary moments! NZHGPA president was first off in his para glider and had a spectacular collapse right in front of us. Fortunately he recovered as everyone watching uttered a mixture of expletives! Tom Kelner nearly turned a 72km goal flight into a 72m lunge into the hillside. Luckily he pulled it off with more expletives from the crowds!

Brian Russell broke a carbon base bar aborting his takeoff. I heard of another two carbon base bars broken on landing. The dust devil that set up on the lower takeoff was one of the scariest I have ever seen. It was huge and lasted a good 15 minutes. The wind was blowing up from both sides at once.

Three gliders were turtled. Most pilots unclipped and a big thank you to takeoff marshal Dennis Thorp, drivers and supporters who helped us hold our gliders down. Eventually everyone got off into the express elevator lift above Mt Murchison. Many went on glide at altitudes above 8000'.

Some flew down the Tutaki and some flew straight towards Murchison township. The Tutaki was the better option on the 72km straight glide to goal at Springs Junction. 15 pilots made goal with a few others agonizingly close. Matt Barlow won the day in a super fast 1hr 46min flight. Piers Throssell came in second and Shane McKay third.

In sport class Gary Turner won the day and was the only pilot to make goal. Rod Stuart came second and Steve Cronin third.

Pilots arrived back from Springs Junction buzzing with many tails of amazing flying.

Mark Patton flew with one base bar pin half out! He held onto his uprights and managed to land safely. Neil Howe's instrument came off his base bar and he landed at goal holding it in his hand.

Choosing the winner of the coveted turkey award will be hard for day 2.

Day 3 promises some more great flying weather.

Pete Helliwell is posting some awesome videos from the nationals tasks. Check out his YouTube channel. https://youtube.com/c/petehelliwell

John Smith, first in goal on day three:

https://youtu.be/gbGQCmZ5qks

https://youtu.be/SonGOfmLcCo

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Flying Kiwis

New Zealand HG Open Championship 2022|Pete Helliwell|video

(Mt Murchison, Braeburn Range, New Zealand)

https://www.facebook.com/Flying-Kiwis-1080353552175519/

Climate change is producing some amazing weather for flying, with this season being the best ever starting mid August with many great days out since then.

The strongest NZ field ever at this years Nationals with all pilots benefiting from holding the comp in Murchison for 5 years in a row now.

We are expecting to get 8 from 8 comp tasks in. But we'll see.

We are really pleased with the Nationals flags local pilot Steve Cronin designed.

What a cracker of a start to our competition! The first official briefing was held at the base of Mt Murchison. A big thank you was made to our organisers, drivers, support crews land owners and competitors. A special thank you to our Auckland pilots who made the effort to drive south soon after a 100 day lock down. Special mention to Bernard Massey who has made an amazing come back after many years away from the sport. A task committee was elected ~ John, Tom m, Matt, Ollie and Aaron. Tom K received a USB fan for his spectacular 'arrival' at St Arnard airfield ~ the glider trailer won! Rod declared the 44^th Hang Gliding Nationals open to a big cheer from all and a fully loaded convoy of 4x4s headed up our sacred mountain.

Open Class task was to fly the 'box' ~ Mt Murchison, down the Tutaku Valley, across to the Matakitaki Valley and back to the airfield at Murchison for goal.

Sport Class task was down the Tutaki with two turn points and a short return to goal.

A nice SW wind gave smooth soaring conditions but not ideal height as we lunged into the Tutaki. It was a bit of a grovel to establish on the first range down the valley. The bombout paddocks claimed a few but further on course thermal heights increased and the race was on! Tony and I picked up the loneliest pilot in the world ~ Sabastien Katz at the end of the road down the beautiful Tutaki Valley.

https://youtu.be/Dk3RyZhnPnU

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Day 1, Task 1

New Zealand HG Open Championship 2022|video|Pete Helliwell

(Mt Murchison, Braeburn Range, New Zealand) (FTP TP, Tasman, New Zealand) (Mt Rutland, Tasman, New Zealand) (Sport Recreation & Cultural Centre, Murchison, New Zealand)

https://airtribune.com/44^th-new-zealand-hang-gliding-open-championship-fa/results

https://airtribune.com/44^th-new-zealand-hang-gliding-open-championship-fa/results/task5600/day/open

https://youtu.be/ZFctuVM_RQo

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Results from day seven

competition|Ian Clark|John Smith|John Urlich|New Zealand Nationals 2021

https://airtribune.com/43^rd-new-zealand-hang-gliding-nationals-fai-cat-2/results

Task 7:

Final Results:

Results from day six

competition|Ian Clark|John Smith|John Urlich|New Zealand Nationals 2021

https://airtribune.com/43^rd-new-zealand-hang-gliding-nationals-fai-cat-2/results

Task 6:

Cumulative:

Results from day four and more

competition|Facebook|Ian Clark|John Smith|John Urlich|New Zealand Nationals 2021|video

https://airtribune.com/43^rd-new-zealand-hang-gliding-nationals-fai-cat-2/results

John Smith falls down.

Task 4:

Cumulative:

Videos: https://www.facebook.com/nzhgnats

More: https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Sports/Flying-Kiwis-1080353552175519/

Results from task 3

Ian Clark|John Smith|John Urlich|New Zealand Nationals 2021

competition|Ian Clark|John Smith|John Urlich|New Zealand Nationals 2021

competition|Ian Clark|John Smith|John Urlich|New Zealand Nationals 2021

https://airtribune.com/43^rd-new-zealand-hang-gliding-nationals-fai-cat-2/results

There is a sport class competition going on at the same time also.

Task 3

Cumulative (very close):

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Results

Ian Clark|John Smith|John Urlich|Moyes Litespeed RX|New Zealand Nationals 2021

competition|Ian Clark|John Smith|John Urlich|Moyes Litespeed RX|New Zealand Nationals 2021

competition|Ian Clark|John Smith|John Urlich|Moyes Litespeed RX|New Zealand Nationals 2021

https://airtribune.com/43^rd-new-zealand-hang-gliding-nationals-fai-cat-2/results

Only men and only New Zealand pilots. None from Australia.

Day 1:

Day 2:

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2018 Canungra Classic

Results from day 5

Attila Bertok|Canungra Classic 2018|Facebook|John Urlich|Jon Durand snr|Rohan Taylor|Steve Blenkinsop

http://xc.highcloud.net/task_overview.html?comPk=249&tasPk=1104

Task 5:

Rory at goal.

Cumulative:

NZ Nats

It ends on a windy note.

John Urlich|New Zealand Nationals 2006

John Urlich writes:

The troublesome winds returned for the final day. Only 6 pilots of the 24 pilot field were brave (or mad) enough to launch into the building gale. This assured a low validity 49.2 km task that was won yet again by the intrepid Mathew Barlow. No-one made goal, but 4 of the pilots rounded the 3^rd turnpoint to be halted close to each other by the 60 km/hr final headwind. Landings were easy as the pilots arrived vertically. Mathew Barlow was a really deserving champion in beating 3 time NZ champion Dave Newton, who was also in very good form. On nearly all of the days Mathew was either first or second. Third place went to Shane McKay, who with only about 2 years flying experience, showed many of the older hands how it should be done.

Overall results:

 1 Mathew Barlow  Aeros Combat 2 15            4719
 2 Dave Newton    Aeros Combat 2               3753
 3 Shane McKay    Aeros Combat 2               2717
 4 Niall Mueller  Aeros Stealth KPL 2          2642
 5 Grant Tatham   Airborne Climax 2 13 (Lite)  2546
 6 Cris Lawry     Airborne Climax 2 13         2448
 7 John Urlich    Airborne Climax 2 14         2167
 8 Stephen Clark  Airborne Blade               1689
 9 Dave Austin    Aeros Combat L               1581
10 Nigel Leigh    Airborne Shark               1577

Despite the winds, 8 valid tasks were managed on the 12 days. The event proved to be a great success and a good learning curve for many pilots, as they were exposed to the international style competition format that we (myself and co-organiser Mathew Barlow) had learnt from the Canungra Classic, Australian Nationals and World Championships in Australia last season. If we keep up our good competition progress, the NZ team should make a much improved showing in the Big Spring, Texas, World Championships 2007. Apart from a few grass burns and a cut wrist from a non-plastic coated nose wire, no injury accidents occurred. Our thanks go to our many great sponsors, especially our major sponsors AirBorne WindSports (Australia) and Aeros Gliders (Ukraine).

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NZ Nats

It's cold in New Zealand, especially on the South Island.

John Urlich

John Urlich, Organiser, Scorer, writes:

Yesterday's Task 7 was the longest so far, an 80.8 km polygon with four turnpoints. From launch at Havelock, the pilots first flew to the coast near Anakiwa, then back to Havelock, thence inland to the Ronga River, and back to Havelock via the Pelorus Bridge. Two pilots made goal, Mathew Barlow winning the day followed by Dave Newton. These two pilots have been flying brilliantly throughout and thoroughly deserve their success. The last round is today.

Overall results:

 1 Mathew Barlow    Aeros Combat 2 15        4522
 2 Dave Newton      Aeros Comabt L           3570
 3 Grant Tatham     Airborne Climax 2 13     2546
 4 Shane McKay      Aeros Combat 2           2533
 5 Niall Mueller    Aeros Combat             2460
 6 Cris Lawry       Airborne Climax 2 13     2318
 7 John Urlich      Airborne Climax 2 14     2151
 8 Stephen Clark    Airborne  Blade          1689
 9 Dave Austin      Aeros Combat 2           1581
10 Nigel Leigh      Airborne Shark           1577

The novice class (6 entries) is led by Patrick Foote flying an Airborne Fun 190. The novice class was introduced this year as both a competition and a coaching clinic, with advanced pilots providing advice. It was open to genuine novices flying low performance king-posted gliders. The first tasks were spot landings, followed by duration and spot landing, maximum height, and then, when ready, on to small XC tasks. Patrick yesterday produced his first proper XC, showing some more advanced pilots how it should be done. Good on you Patrick! All of the novices have found the NZ Championship scene to be friendly and encouraging, and should be back next year to compete in the open class.

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NZ

After six valid tasks

John Urlich|Tom Collet

John Urlich writes:

We have lost three days to high winds. After six valid tasks we have a clear leader in Mathew Barlow, who flew for the NZ team at the Hay World Championships.

The competition is taking place in Havelock (at the top of the South Island) which is also Mathew's home flying site. The last round was a short task starting at 4 PM as the high winds abated temporarily. They cranked up again after we launched, and as a result Cris Lawry won the task with an average speed of 75.9 km/hr!

Top 10 out of 24 entries
Overall results:

 1 Mathew Barlow    Aeros Combat 2 15        3865
 2 Dave Newton      Aeros Comabt L           2740
 3 Niall Mueller    Aeros Combat             2261
 4 Grant Tatham     Airborne Climax 2 13     2045
 5 Shane McKay      Aeros Combat 2           2044
 6 John Urlich      Airborne Climax 2 14     1973
 7 Cris Lawry       Airborne Climax 2 13     1686
 8 Tom Collet       Airborne Climax 13       1388
 9 Dave Austin      Aeros Combat 2           1374
10 Stephen Clark    Airborne Blade           1294

The novice class is led by Patrick Foote.

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NZ Nats

Flying a comp next to the ocean.

John Urlich|Tom Collet

John Urlich « johnboot» writes:

Progress on NZ Hang Gliding Championships 2006, an FAI Category 2 competition, Top ten pilots after four rounds:

The Championship is being held in Havelock at the top of the South Island. There are twenty entries in the open class, plus six in the novice class. The flying has been challenging, on a new site with previously untried task directions.

The area is close to the sea, and a lot of the flying has been along sea breeze convergence lines, with often strong and somewhat rough lift. The tasks have had typically four turnpoints, with total distances ranging from 45km to 76km. The comp ends on Jan 7.

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