WA's Carter Cup

The Carter Cup this year was a great event. The clubs in the Western Australian Gliding Association (WAGA) all had a wonderful time of excellent weather and good, happy times. It stimulated our coaches and students to come out for an introduction to cross-country flying and racing in the DG1000 belonging to our club, the Gliding Club of Western Australia.

Carter Cup 1

By Rob Hanbury

The other clubs love the Carter Cup and were very appreciative of our running it, as it gives them an opportunity to fly our ‘better’ weather. The weather improves as you travel north and east in WA, giving GCWA slightly better conditions.

Most events have a day or two of bad weather that upset the organisation. But, despite a threat or two, this week really only brought fine weather. Even the last day, on which we cancelled racing mainly due to exhaustion, came good, and Lumpy and others went to 16,000ft in wave over the top of Cunderdin. Spectacular!

Carter Cup 2

So, what is the Carter Cup? It is an early season racing competition that John Orton started at the Gliding Club of WA, Cunderdin, many years ago. The aim was friendly rivalry with racing type tasks. We encourage and help new competitors, and also keep it simple and easy to organise.

To accommodate our wide range of glider types, we now almost always use ‘wedges’ to keep gliders on the same triangle, but allow slower gliders to cut short and compete on handicap. It is an AAT, but we use a wedge rather than a circle turnpoint so the gliders stay together. It works well and we all like it.

The wedge is usually about 100km long and 5 degrees wide. Task time is about 3 hours, which means you turn when you think you will get back within the task time. This process scores easily in SeeYou/Soaring Spot.

Thanks to our neighbour club Beverley Soaring Society for helping with tugs. Our 250Hp Pawnee is away being converted to an eTug, and not everyone is happy behind our spare 180Hp Pawnee. Of course, thanks to the tuggies for volunteering.

Carter Cup 11