SAFA Skysailor Magazine

7 November | December 2022 SKY SAILOR Brown, Steve Docherty Craig Taylor and Nils Vesk, along with Peter Burkitt and Jon Durand Jnr from Queensland, and Tony Cross and I, Steve Blenkinsop, from South Australia, gelled together well in deciding to go and get or- ganised. After three years of COVID shutdowns we jumped at the chance to fly overseas again. There were some major logistical hurdles to overcome, but flights, accommodation, gliders and retrieve teams all came together in the end successfully. Pete, Jonny, Steve D, Tony and Steve B had some excellent flying at Bassano in northern Italy as a warm-up while picking up gliders before Sigillo. For some the take off ramp was an interesting first, as was the tight landing at the restaurant/bar. The competition flying I won’t give a blow by blow account of every task. Many will have seen it live if they could stay awake late enough. It is still possible to see pilots fly the task at Flymaster . We slower pilots often kept viewers awake to the early hours of the morning. My longest time in the air was seven and a half hours before even- tually making goal. We were on Italian home turf. From the practice task, when their team went off on their own course, you could guess they knew what was happening in the very hot and dry summer. They flew to a beautiful mountain valley called Castelluccio and back. Several times during the competition this was set as a task along ‘highways in the sky’ convergence lines. The meteorologist at the team leader briefings was excellent in predicting where the Above: The Australian team, l-r: Trent Brown, Peter Burkitt, Steve Blenkinsop, Craig Taylor, Jon Durand Jnr, Tony Cross, Steve Docherty, Nils Vesk, Alan Bond Left: Team pre-task briefing Photos: Courtesy S. Blenkinsop