PG OPEN ROUND 2 – NELSON – DAY 3

Itai talking us through bridles & nappies

Those pesky strong high level winds were still keeping us out of the mountains on Monday.

The Task Committee was toying with options like Takaka or Barnicoat, but unsure whether the forecast could be believed.

A call at the 8am briefing was made to delay a decision until 10:30.

Luckily the organisers had catered for just this sort of fickle weather occurrence, and had arranged for Itai to give a talk on reserves. It proved quite popular and hopefully useful. The key message was that instead of carefully packing our reserves, we should just pop them in a plastic shopping bag with a rock. 

Just kidding, of course (what would you do with the rock, anyway?). The point is, it’s well worth understanding how your emergency reserve system works, what sorts of attributes you should be looking for in your gear and how it’s all connected and packed.

At 10:30 the Task Committee piped up with the message that we better hit the road. To Takaka, everyone!

The wind was so strong when we arrived at the hill that we could hardly stand up. It felt pretty sweet in the lee behind the trees at the back of launch though, so a few pilots napped in the sun. The Task Committee has a lot of faith, and they demanded patience from us.

Harald Wilhelmi's track log for Monday's Task

Eventually the 28km task was briefed: Takaka to Bush Knob, over to Waitui Spur then Point 704 and East Takaka and finally Lindsay Bridge for goal. Then we waited a little more to consider the start time, since the wind was still strong.

We all became believers when the wind did eventually drop, and the time of 15:25 was set for the Start. 

Launch cleared pretty quickly after Mark Hardman and Louis Tapper got in the air and showed it was going up. 

The sea breeze pushing in from the north and east, mixing with the prevailing westerly, created conditions that were a little funky in areas. A couple of pilots called safety alerts and some chose to land, but others found it pleasant flying. 

Harald Wilhelmi, one of our visiting pilots from Germany, was the task winner, making it to goal in 57 minutes.

Great work from the Task Committee, pulling a task out of a day that looked like a blowout.

And hey, does anyone have a couple of maillons for me? I think I need to re-fit my reserve.