Saturday, January 9, 2010

Jan 9 - Temora-Darlington Point



I made another attempt at 750km yesterday.  I declared Hay-Temora.  I took off at 11:30am and did not start until 11:50am.  Over Benalla I was not getting much more than 3000ft above ground.  There were clouds to the north and I pushed into them but got to 1500ft before connecting.  I then started hitting some good climbs and got to just over 8000ft.  The way to Hay was still in the blue so I decided to reverse the flight and go to Temora first.  The flight would then not qualify for the 750km diploma.  My run to Temora was good but not great.  I averaged about 100km/h.  I expected to do a lot better.  I think I was letting myself get too low waiting for the very strong climbs and then having to take weaker ones.  After turning Temora for Hay things slowed for me even more.  I went a bit north of track to avoid a blue patch but it seemed to be better on the south side.  After a while of going slow I decided to turn about 100km short of the turnpoint and head for home.  The run home was much better and if I could have kept that speed I probably would have been able to finish the task.  I had a 105km final glide starting at 10,000ft and taking about 45 minutes.  I was quite exhausted after the flight.  It was certainly not my longest flight here but I was feeling a bit sick all day and did not eat anything until supper.  I had an early night and I am taking it easy today.
OLC flight info

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