Temora Club and 2 Seat Nationals

Anticipating what the weather will bring for a gliding competition is always a throw of the dice. Fortunately for the 20m and Club Class Nationals at Temora, the bad weather came during the weeks before the contest. The practise day task was cancelled and only a few pilots…

Victorian Championships and Horsham Week

Another excellent Horsham Week Competition, the 59th in an unbroken series, was held from Saturday 1 February to Saturday 8 February 2025. Ryan Driscoll landing in his Nimbus 3T. By Michael Durrant The Victorian State Championships 2025 were held in conjunction with the Horsham…

NSW State Championships Temora

In the week before the contest, the same weather system that brought the Multiclass Nationals at Lake Keepit to an end two days early, dumped more than 60mm of rain on Temora and the surrounding area. The grass runways were closed and tie down areas flooded. Nevertheless, the…

Multiclass Nationals Lake Keepit

Allan Barnes flying his LS8 15m. After two good practise days, the Australian Multiclass Nationals got underway at Lake Keepit on 25 November under a cumulus filled sky. Lake Keepit was the host site for the Women’s World Championships in 2020 and will host the Junior WGC in…

Grand Prix at Gawler

A small but enthusiastic group of pilots made their way to Gawler in January for the Australian Series 12, Sailplane Grand Prix. Ben Terrell and John Grant towed their gliders from Perth for the contest. Norm Bloch drove over from New South Wales where he had been flying and,…

Ingo Renner Cup

The Ingo Renner Cup 2024 season concluded on 30 September 2024 Australian pilots who post their flights on weglide.org are automatically scored for the Ingo Renner Cup. The scoring period is from 1 October to 30 September. At the end of the season, the combined score of the top…

Big Sky Texas - World Gliding Championships Uvalde Texas

ABOVE: Adam Woolley cruising on course. With contributions and photos from Adam Woolley, Matthew Scutter, Lumpy Patterson, Keith Gateley and Ronald Tabery The World Gliding Championships in Open, 18m and 20m Multi Seat classes took place at Uvalde in August. Uvalde is located in…

Ingo Renner Cup Spring - Summer Results

As the Australian spring - summer soaring season draws to a close, it's a good time to look at the pilot rankings in the Ingo Renner Cup, This competition was set up as a decentralised contest by Gliding Australia on the WeGlide platrorm.Now in its third year, the Ingo Renner…

Friendly Skies at Lake Cumulus - Lake Keepit Regatta

On the grid for another great cumulus day. The 24th Annual Regatta was held at Lake Keepit Soaring Club between 24 February and 2 March. A few dropouts at the last minute left us with 21 competitors.The Regatta is run as a single class event primarily as a fun and supportive…

20m Two seat Nationals tocumwal

Circling over Tocumwal at the start. Photo by Ian Steventon By Lumpy Patterson Tocumwal Soaring Centre proudly hosted this year’s 20m Two Seat Sports Class Nationals. We had 18 pilots flying in nine gliders – two AS32, three Arcus and, making up nearly half the field, four Duo…

Competition Roundup

Mark Barnfield's SZD 55 with a Narromine shower aproaching. NOT NOVEMBER NARROMINE CUP For 23 years the Annual Narromine Cup has been held over the last full week of November.Sadly, due to Covid we missed the event in 2022, and this last season in 2023, the World Championships…

Nationals at Benalla

By Terry Cubley With the advice that December and January would be a hot and dry, GCV at Benalla was keen to run the national championships in January. However, as it turned out the weather was well below expectations for most of the summer season across most states except WA.We…

WORLD OF GLIDING AT NARROMINE

James Nugent, the new World Gliding Champion, Club Class, in the LS3 he flew to victory at WGC Narromine. By Sean Young After years of preparation, the 37th World Gliding Championships at Narromine finally got underway on 3 December 2023. Though the team at Narromine Gliding…

Winner Interviews

WGC Narromine Club Class World Gliding Champion James Nugent Australia WGC Narromine Sliver Medal Standard Class Gregory Beecroft Australia WGC Narromine 15m Class World Gliding Champion Sebastian Kawa Poland WGC Narromine Club Class World Gliding Silver Medal Uwe Wahlig WGC…

Club & Sports Nationals Kingaroy

John Orton in his ASG29 Photos John Absolon The Club and Sports Class Nationals at Kingaroy were preceeded by the Queensland State championships. There were two flying weeks with good tasks and high speeds. Four members of the Australian Gliding team - Bruce Taylor, Greg…

New World Gliding Champions Declared at 37th WGC Narromine

James Nugent, Australia, the new Club Class WGC Champion with Uwe Wahlig, Germany in Silver medal and Stefan Langer in Bronze Medal positions. The trough was to the east of Narromine on the final competition day. The air mass on the other (western) side of the trough was…

Weather Stirs up the Winners Table on 2nd Last Day

The trough that produced the squall line that passed through the task area yesterday evening, was still visable to the east of Narromine in the morning. The air mass on the other (western) side of the trough felt decidedly different - and it was.Unstable air with thermals and…

Competitors Beat Storm Front Across the Line Race 8 at Narromine

After two no fly days, the first due to extreme heat with wind and stable blue conditions, the second due to enveloping bushfire somke over the Narromine area, AAT tasks were set in all classes. The trough in inland Australia was moving towards the task area and was predicted to…

James Nugent Wins Race 7 in Club Class

Janes Nugent, Australia, landing after winning Race 7 in ClubClass. CLUB CLASS Today, the conditions promised to be as good as for Race 6 and Club Class were happy to be sent southwest instead of north into the blue. However, the conditions proved to be more challenging than…

Adam Woolley Wins 15m Class Race 6 for Australia

Adam Woolley, Australia, landing after winning Race 6 in 15m Class. Crossing the finish line at a blistering 151.54 kph, flying 546.93km, Adam Woolley won the day in 15m Class gaining 1,000 championship points. He was closely followed across the finish line by his team mate Tobi…

Race 5 at WGC Narromine – Low Blue But Not Windy

Uys Lonker, 15m Class, South Africa, landing after winning Race 5. The weather forecast for the day predicted thermals up to 10,000 ft. However the inland trough to the west brought associated high cloud that covered the Narromine area, and cloud at varying levels was evident on…

Classic Narromine Setup

Glider pilots all around the world spend their days sitting in their offices at home or at work checking the weather for the coming days to see if they should drop everything, kiss the girls goodbye and head out to the airfield. Pilots who live in Sydney, as I do, assess the…

Rest Day at Narromine- WGC Narromin - Interview with James Nugent and Daniel Summers, Club Class, Australia

Today, 7 December was declared a rest day. The forecast was for a late storm front to cross the area and the task window was limited. This proved to be a good decision although the afternoon sky looked incredible, filled with booming cumulus and wave formations. But the storm…

Australian James Nugent Keeps Top Place in Club Class

James Nugent, Australia, Club Class CLUB CLASS James Nugent, Australia, flew 412.98 km at 117.32 kph in an AAT task taking 3rd place for the day in Club Class. The 932 points he earned were enough to keep him in the top position overall after Race 4. Thies Bruins, Netherlands…

Bruce Taylor Wins Standard Class Race 3 for Australia

The forecast was for another blue day with a later start but better thermal heights than the day before. On track the prediction was accurate until the final two legs where the three classes met up for the home run to Narromine. Club class was at the back of the grid today. This…

Netherlands Establish Early Lead in 15m Class at Narromine

Sjaak Selen, Netherlands Standard Class is in 5th place after Race 2 but only 48 points behind the leader Makoto Ichikawa, Japan. The sky was blue across the task area today with some ephemeral cumulus, but still strong thermals of 6 - 10kt. The 15m Class was set a racing task…

Dutch and Australians Take Top Places in 15m Class Race 1

Tobias Geiger Australia Ventus 2ax The forecast weather was blue skies with the possibility of cumulus to 8,000ft. Strong 4 - 5kt thermals and southwesterly winds. In other words, a great soaring day with the promise of better soaring conditions to come during the week.After two…

WGC Narromine Opening Ceremony

Teams from 21 countries paraded at Cale Oval Narromine. Australian Club Class team James Nugent and Daniel Summers. Adam Woolley,15m class. Aunty Ruth Carney Elder of the Wiradjuri people gave a heartfelt and gracious welcome to country. Team Netherlands The Lithuaniam and…

NSW State Championships Lake Keepit

The flight line at Lake Keepit - that is now full of water! NSW State Championships Lake Keepit11 - 18 November 2023 It was a good soaring week for the NSW State Comps. Seven competition days were flown. The highest speed was achieved by Justin Smith on Race 5 at 130.88 kph over…

New Trough Approaches as Gliders Launch on Final Practice Day

Kim Toppari from Finland after landing in his ASW20b on the last practice day at WGC Narromine. New Trough Approaches as Gliders Launch on Final Practice Day. Tim Milner, Club Class, Great Britain getting excited on the grid before launch. Club Class World Gliding Champion Uwe…

1. Victorian Championships and Horsham Week

© 2025 Gliding Australia Magazine