SAFA Skysailor Magazine

14 SKY SAILOR May | June 2024 quired some tactical XC skill to fly and navigate successfully. Local Armidale pilot Gavin Milne managed a very credible 42km. 1. Cappuccini, Fabio, AUS Ozone Zeno, XC 179 2. Slade, Peter, AUS Niviuk X 1, COMP 161 3. Turner, Jason, AUS Nivuik Artik R, XC 147 4. Sugasti, Chandra, BRA Flow Freedom 2, SPORT 139 44. Milne, Gavin, AUS Advance Epsilon 10 DLS, FUN 42 Day 5 – 24 January: 162km towards Warialda/North Star A classic route day to the north, following the highway to Bingara, awaited pilots as they gathered on west launch for the day briefing. Conditions were initially blue, with an inversion around 1800m, which delayed pilots launching until around 12:30pm. Getting up with enough height to go on course was the next challenge, which took well over an hour for some and often included a visit to the bomb-out first. Some small clouds popped for most of the first 90km towards Bingara in the light south- erly winds, which made the XC a bit easier but still slow going. Climbs were mostly light, with many pilots reporting low saves en-route. Some stronger climbs were encountered in the heat-peak of the afternoon. This helped many break through the inversion and reach heights between 2000-2500m, quite often in the blue. Pilots were spread evenly along the entire route north when the day weakened, with distances mostly based on how early they launched, got away, and how good they were at squeezing out the kilometres in light lift over the last hour. Manilla XC Camp 2024