Contest Day 3 Wrap-up

Both our 18m and 15m Teams were on the final leg, when news reached us of a mid-air collision in 15m Class and the subsequent cancellation of the 15m task. Later we learned that the Australian pilot Stehpen O'Donnell and German pilot Michael Eisele had collided with the result that both bailed out. Fortunately, both pilots are o.k. Rumourwise we heard later that one had a broken leg and the other a broken nose. I was shocked as this was the second mid-air collision in just three competition days. Although the first collision had caused only a few scratches on the gliders involved, the whole episode brought back bad memories of Uvalde in 1991 where we had a fatal mid-air on day 4. I am really concerned that if we don't radically change course, we will have a fatality in this competition as well. The organizers called a Team Captains' meeting for tomorrow morning.

Our 18m Team did well with Dave placing 5th, moving up 5 places overall into 4th place and Jerzy placing 15th, moving up 6 places in the overall score to 17th.

Our 15m Team had a tough time making it back to Benalla in blue conditions and a 20kt headwind. There was some anxious waiting until they finally came in after 7p