PG OPEN ROUND 2 – NELSON – DAY 2

Beautiful Havelock; photo cred: Devon MacDonald

Strong westerlies at altitude were forecast on Sunday, keeping us out of the mountains.

The two best options were another task at Barnicoat, or head to Havelock. We opted to jump in the cars and race to Havelock.

Task was set to start at Footes Hill, then deep in the hills at the back to Pelorus with a 10km cylinder, over to Riley North, across the valley to Cullen West, up to Cullen North then towards Picton at Duncan, with Goal at Cullensville.

We were warned to watch for the sea breeze coming in, or for the high westerly to greet us, which we expected to find at around 4000 feet. The first few pilots launched and had no trouble staying aloft, but the radio call came through pretty quickly that pilots were feeling the westerly from about 2000 feet.

Next thing you know, the sea breeze picked up. That made for choppy air around Footes Hill, demonstrated by the rocking wings and wee collapses; as Tim Brown describes it: The Jiggles.

A few Level 2 and Level 3 calls came over the radio, and at 13:11, the task was stopped due to safety concerns. A good call. Sadly, it looks like we haven’t met the minimum criteria of 5 pilots flying a minimum 6km on course to be a valid task. 

Well, we gave it a good shot. And tomorrow is another day. And we'll have some great photos to share - watch this space.

Results: Highcloud PG Open Nelson Results