“I’ve done the Joey Glide – the Australian Junior Gliding Championships – twice, and I’ve had two years of coaching there,” she said.
“This is my first senior competition and it’s very interesting.
“It’s a very different group of people to fly amongst, having just come from doing the juniors two weeks ago, but I’ve been enjoying it so far – it’s been very nice flying at a different airfield and learning off all these pilots.
“Realistically that’s what I came in here to do – better my flying by learning off these people, many of whom have competed at very high levels in the past.”
Ms de Chelard said stormy conditions on Sunday forced her to outland – referring to when a pilot is forced to land their glider outside the designated airfield. She took Monday off but said she was prepared to return to the competition yesterday.
“The gliders with the big wings do a lot better and have a much better glide than I do in my little 15-metre glider,” she said.
“Unfortunately the rain hit and I was straight down to the ground. I outlanded and was unfortunately standing around in the heat and the wind.
“I got a bit dehydrated and because this is a sport where you really want to be on top of the curve, I thought I’d take a rest day and give myself a chance to hydrate and recover, and then come back fresh on Tuesday.
“I didn’t want to make any silly mistakes, because in this game silly mistakes don’t end well. I’d rather have fun and enjoy it, and if that means taking a day off to be safe, then I’ll gladly do that.”
Horsham Flying Club president Michael Sudholz said despite the conditions, some competitors reached heights of more than 11,000 feet – about 3350 metres – on Sunday.
He said conditions looked favourable for the rest of the week.
“We’ve had a couple of great days and the fires have been south of us, so it hasn’t interrupted us,” he said.
“The week is going to improve as we go on, so we’re expecting a full week from Tuesday onwards, because the weather is going to be really good for our conditions.”
Mr Sudholz labelled Bendigo Gliding Club’s Jack Hart the person to beat, with Hart holding the score lead on Monday.
See next week’s The Weekly Advertiser for a competition wrap.
The entire February 5, 2025 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!