Adam Woolley landing his Ventus 3 after flying the first ever FAI 1,000km triangle from Lake Keepit.
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 2028.
Lake Keepit is possibly the most interesting gliding site in Australia. The airfield is within a State Park, nestled in the Australian Great Dividing Range - the fifth longest mountain range in the world, and the longest that is in just one country. It is surrounded by mountains to the east, the Liverpool Range to the South and Nandewar Range to the north. It is adjacent to the Liverpool Plains, which are flat as the name implies, and to the west beyond the hills, is the vast New South Wales wheatbelt.
Mount Kaputar (Nandewar Range) rises to 1,500m. Together with the Warrumbungles to the south, they are on the western edge of the Great Dividing Range.
Air flows from the west, north and south, interacting with the air funnelling through and over the ranges from the ocean to the east. This produces a variety of soaring conditions, with mountain and convergence influences occurring all the time and changing thoughout the soaring day. All this can make for superb and infinitely interesting soaring conditions.
Tasks are typically set to the north around and over Mount Kaputar, out to the west to the plains of the wheatbelt and to the south towards the Liverpool Range and Warrumbungles.
On the last practise day before the contest, Adam Woolley, who flew his Ventus 3 in 18m Class (in 15m configuration), showed the full potential of the area by flying the first FAI 1,000km triangle from Lake Keepit.
Allan Barnes won the Open Class contest in his LS8 15m.
Due to the low number of entrants, the Open, Standard and 15M classes were combined into one Open Class. In what many will remember as the most important class, 15M, there were only five entrants. In standard there were only two entrants. For may years now, the most popular class for glider racing has been 18m.
Looking back to the World Gliding championships in Benalla 1987, 15M was the prestigious racing class. Now nearly 40 years later, the 15M gliders that took part in Benalla are still flying and racing including the LS6 and ASW20, which were the hot new gliders of the day. Now however, these gliders fly more successfully in Club Class.
To be truly competitive in 15M at national and international level, pilots really need to be flying the new racing machines – JS3, Ventus 3s and 2s, Diana 2 and ASG29. These gliders are expensive and are definitely not Club Class. Many of them are flying all over the world, but they are perhaps in a class of their own.
Lake Keepit - with water in it. During the extreme drought that ended dramatically during the last days of the Women's World Gliding Championships in 2020, the lake was empty.
Is this the reason for the low number of entrants in 15M? Or is it the style of racing? This competition was run using the standard format of AATs and point-to-point racing tasks. However, what seems to be more popular with competitive pilots are straight out races – that is, grand prix.
AATs were developed at least in part as an answer to safety concerns after several tragic accidents. Clearly, safety must remain the most important consideration. But since AATs became a standard format, the use of computer instrumentation in gliders has become ubiquitous. Computers? That is exactly what smartphones, and dedicated navigation devices such as LX Nav and Oudies, are. Combined with Flarm and numerous software solutions that run on the computers, the modern cockpit is a very different work environment from the days of maps and film cameras.
Does all this new technology make cockpit management and glider racing safer? All these devices may be false friends, giving an undue sense of safety and control. But they undoubtedly make flying a race simpler. Load the task, and fly it. Have your own weather briefing and see real-time weather in the cockpit – looking over the horizon – to what lies ahead beyond what your eyes can see outside.
The popularity of grand prix style racing is a world-wide phenomenon, as is the decline in popularity of AATs. It could be that competitive pilots simply prefer a sprint to a game of chess.
Tobias Geiger flew his 15m Ventus 2 in the combined Open Class. After winning Race 1, he said said, “I’ve never competed in Open Class before. But there is not much difference in performance between a Ventus 2 and the big wing gliders. They are better in the cruise, but I can climb more quickly.”
Lumpy Patterson won the 18M Calss in his JS3.
At the end of the championships, Tobi finished in 2nd place. First place went to Allan Barnes flying his LS8 15m. Third place was won by Matthew Atkinson flying an Arcus.
The 18m Class was won by Lumpy Paterson in a JS3 followed by Norm Bloch and Ray Stewart, also in JS3s. Adam Woolley had to start his motor in the final race and was relegated to 4th place overall.
Superb cumulus soaring conditions at Lake Keepit from Adam Woolley's glider.
You don’t have to wait until 2028 to learn more about flying at Lake Keepit. The club is in full time operation during the southern spring and summer soaring season. Any pilot who is planning a trip to fly in Australia is highly recommended to include Keepit in their schedule.
Australian Multiclass Nationals
Kake Keepit
23 - Nov - 2 Dec 2024
18M Class
1 Lumpy Paterson Tocumwal SC JS3-18m 4,319
2 Norm Bloch Beverley JS3-18m 4,277
3 Ray Stewart Kingaroy JS3-18m 4,240
Open Class
1 Allan Barnes Lake Keepit SC LS8 4,779
2 Tobias Geiger GCV Ventus2-15m 4,612
3 Atkinson & Durand Lake Keepit SC Arcus M 4,208
Full results at soaringspot.com tinyurl.com/muticlass
Over the Nandewar Range just north of Lake Keepit.
Sean Young
