Oz Report

Fri, Dec 3 2021, 8:42:39 am MST

Birchip, Victoria

Big K Week 2021|Neale Halsall|Neil "Hookey" Hooke|Victor "Vic" Hare|Wes Hill

(Birchip, VIC, Australia)

"Victor Hare" «rcrio» writes:

The summer flying season is in full swing down in Australia and we're in the middle of 'Big K Week' out of Birchip, Victoria. It's an unorganised free flying week where we static ground tow then go big, good practice for Forbes.

All the stars lined up earlier this week for some continental triangle record attempts. Monday and Tuesday had relatively light boundary layer winds and good Cu's around 10,000ft. Most importantly, the brains of the operation was here, Wes Hill, our official FAI observer. If you're not sure who's who in the photo, Wes is the guy who only wears shirts that say things like 'FAI Official'. That's how we know who he is anyway.

On Monday we set out to get the Oceanic record for speed around a triangular course of 50km. Having made goal at the required altitude and at the required speed, Vic Hare landed at first and was half way through his celebratory beer when Neale Halsall finally made goal. Some heckler on the ground yelled out that Neale had been gone so long that he probably did the triangle twice. Well the sly dog had done just that, and smoked us all on his first lap. Neale is claiming the record with a speed of 40.8kph flying a Moyes RX 3.5. Well done Neale!

On Tuesday we set out to get the Oceanic record for speed around a triangular course of 100km. The day was pretty much booming and Vic Hare was first to cloud base. Tempted to start, but knowing that Neil Hooke would get to base in a few minutes, Vic waited in the start circle for some company.

Vic and 'Hookey' managed to fly much of the first leg together. Vic made goal and was initially claiming the record with a speed of 43kph, which later proved to be incorrect. The entire team thought that the finish height relative to the start height only mattered on triangles of less than 100km, and had intentionally managed our finish heights on Monday's 50km triangle but not on Tuesday. However, after further review of the rules it actually matters on return tasks of less than 125km. The recalculation resulted in Vic's continental record claim being at 30.9kph flying a WW T2C 136. Hookey made goal some time later, a respectable effort which would have been an Oceanic record claim if he wasn't smothered in Vic's dust at goal.

We're hardly claiming to be sky gods and are well aware that any decent pilot could have had a crack. We are stoked to have been in the right place at the right time to take advantage of a pumping sky, and grateful for all the assistance of the bloke in the 'FAI Official' shirt. Cheers Wes!

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