The gust front we drove home through last night was the widest one I have ever seen - I LOVE the exciting weather in Forbes. It turned the sky (and everything else) a golden brown. We stopped at one point on a eucalyptus lined road to jump out a get some pictures. After 2 or 3 minutes outside the car, Tullio shouted over the howling wind "hey, maybe we should get away from these trees", so we started back toward the car and just about then a giant eucalyptus branch came loose and landed just short of Zippy. With the day win and the narrow miss of the tree branch, we decided Zippy should buy a lottery ticket.
We also heard news driving home that Sasha was unaccounted for. In the midst of that massive gust front, the whole car was quietly concerned. Arriving home, we heard no news and even at breakfast, with scores up and no Sasha or Gerolf in them, we worried more. Thankfully, I heard from Gordo this morning that Sasha had landed safely 25km beyond goal and got her glider flat on the ground about five minutes before the front hit. She even made the 400 goal cylinder - go Sasha!!!
Speaking of the goal cylinder, they are going with a goal line most days here and the rule is, if there is a line out there when the pilots arrive, it's a goal line finish. If there is no line (maybe the paddock isn't suitable or something), then goal is a 400 meter cylinder. Yesterday, Zippy arrived so quickly that Rob didn't have the goal line out yet. So presumably, goal was the cylinder. But, Rob put the goal line out just seconds after Zippy landed and that left the rest of the field with a goal line finish. I can see situations where that could cause a problem. For instance, if Zippy had gone to the far edge of the 400 meter cylinder and not crossed the line (which wasn't the case yesterday - he flew directly over where the line was later placed) AND they went with the line finish, he wouldn't make goal. Apparently yesterday, Vicki gave Zippy the choice of taking his time across the cylinder or across the goal line, so it wasn't a problem here. Zippy chose to have the goal line time and presumably all other pilots making goal get scored when they cross the line. But, I wonder if Sasha will be scored getting goal or not? I heard she got the cylinder, but probably not the line.
1 comment:
Typical f**kup when you have a line at a distant goal, especially with a strong tail wind.
This has happened before in Australia and they never learn.
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