Adam Woolley landing after flying the first FAI 1,000km triangle from Lake Keepit.
Adam Woolley flew the first ever FAI 1,000km triangle from Lake Keepit on 23 November, the first official practise day of the championships.
Speaking about his flight at briefing the next day, he said, “The night before Skysight said 1,000km at 120kph was possible. When I woke up in the morning and put the dot in the same spot, Skysight said 1,026km at 123kph, and I thouhgt I’ll give that a go.
“I was highly motivated. There was no time to muck around. I took a tow to 5,000ft and set off straight away. For the first two hours, I was not above 4,000ft. I had to cross 20km of scrub. It wasn't very big but I was terrified because I was so low. It was not until I got to Walget that I started to get some good climbs.
"The next leg down to Nyngan was 6kts all the way. But I thought, this isn't quick enough, I need 8kts and I kept moving on. But I thought I have to make do with 6kts, so I took a climb to cloud base. I don't know if that was the key, that I had been too low, or that the day finally kicked in, but after that I was getting 8kts to near Coonabarabran.
"But then I looked ahead and realised there was nowhere to land on the other side of Coonabarabran and I wasn’t high enough to get across to landable country. But I managed to get high, which allowed me to get across the scrubby area without having to stop.
"Then I did the right thing and dumped my water. But as I have my glider set up with 100% electronic compensation and no TE probe, the water flooded my static vents. So for about 15 minutes the vario was screeching all over the place. So I used the GPS variometer on my Oudie N. "Eventually I got a 1.5kt climb which got me to final glide, and I though I would just enjoy the ride home now.”
At briefing the next morning, Adam with Ranjit Phelan.
Adam flew 1,059km at 120kph in his Ventus 3T 15m
Full flight details at weglide.org/flight/496577