THE HISTORY OF V.A.R.M.S The Annual Diary 1990 - 2009

26
JERILDERIE 1995 by Gerry Carter
JERILDERIE
What does it mean? What’s the magic that attracts so many to do so little flying so far away in
what can be such awful conditions? I hope that this will tell you.
Jerilderie itself is a little town just over the border into NSW. For miles and miles around the
town the countryside is completely flat. To get there from Melbourne you go through
Shepparton to Tocumwal and after an easy trip of about five hours by car from Melbourne,
there you are! It’s less time if you don’t take too many breaks. The Jerilderie council provides
a lot of assistance and support to the competition.
The competition is held in the middle of the local horse racing course which is a very large
grass covered flat field with no trees (i.e. no shelter) and is about two minutes drive from the
centre of town. Accommodation is available at the models and the caravan park which offers
cabins, on site vans and camping sites.
Prizes aren’t really what it is all about. However, there was a JR Max 44 Computer Radio and a
Chain saw (for the rough modeller) as major prizes. Peter Abell won the chain saw! Carl
Strautins won the juniors prize of the Radio. There were many other prizes and trophies.
WHAT HAPPENS
Teams of fliers, who are all members of LSF (more about that in a minute) compete for
individual and Team trophies. There are normally six in a team i.e. you plus five of your best
friends. People who arrive who haven’t managed to get into a team are put into one. Nobody
is left out. Each flier is allowed up to three gliders. This year there were about 60 entrants and
they came from S.A. Vic., N.S.W. and the A.C.T.
LSF stands for “League of Silent Flight”. It is a non-profit (in fact free except for the cost of
postage and $10 if you want to get the newsletter) International organisation which has a
graded program of gliding proficiency Level awards. These go from Level 1 (easy) to Level 5
(very difficult). To be a member you have to have completed Level 1 which comprises a five
minute thermal duration flight, a 15 minute slope flight (or a second thermal flight on a
different day) and three precision spot landings within three metres. To get a form, write to the
appropriate LSF contact at the time enclosing a stamped self addressed envelope.
Despite the fact that each person does relatively little actual flying over the weekend, perhaps
15 flights if the weather is kind, there is never a dull moment. The team members are busy
piloting, retrieving winch lines, towing, fixing broken lines, launching, timing, calling (i.e.
observing the other gliders and pilots to see what they’re doing), preparing for the next flight,
making running repairs, getting food etc.
In each heat you compete against a different group each time of up to about eight other fliers.
You have a slot of eleven minutes in which to complete a flight of eight minutes and to land
within one metre of a designated spot on the ground (one spot per team). You get one point for
each second of flight time up to eight minutes, i.e. a maximum of 480 points. If the flight time
goes over eight minutes then you lose one point (off the 480) for every second that your flight
time is too long. Also, you get a landing bonus of 100 points for landing within one metre of
the spot. For every additional metre away from the spot you lose five points. Beyond 15
metres there is no landing bonus. Beyond 100 metres you score zero. Fly past 11 minutes
and you also score zero.