This article was first published in the Adelaide University Gliding Club Inc Newsletter, Vol 3, March 1978.
The club was represented at Horsham by Guy Harley and Emilis [Prelgauskas] in the privately owned Ka-6-Hotel Alpha.
Day 1. Sunday: The sports class task was O & R Warracknabeal (104km) [...] into a blue hole to the east of track and being unable to regain the lift producing cloud to the west of track.
Day 2. Monday: Horsham - Antwerp - Daipur - Horsham (170km). The main weather feature was rapidly cycling cumulus on the second leg. Unfortunately Guy continued his affiliation for turnpoints and landed at Daipur after missing the cloud cycle. He came 7th for the day.[/dropcap]
Day 3. Tuesday: Horsham Murtoa - Pimpinio x 3 (210km). The course was designed to give retrieve crews minimum retrieve distance but still provide pilots with a long task. In the event, however, the weak conditions meant that most pilots landed at the airfield the second time round. The day produced a lot of gaggles around the course and Guy spent most of the task being followed by an ES-59 Arrow and an LO150. He came equal third - a credible effort bearing in mind that his vario failed just after take off.
Day 4: Wednesday: O & R Brim (140km). Conditions were poor with thermals to 3,000' and heavy sink. After setting out on course Guy decided conditions were too bad to complete the course and he returned to the airfield. However, he was proved to be wrong when several of the field did get home.
Day 5: Friday: Horsham-Donald-Stawell-Horsham (227km). Emilis flew this day however a sea breeze arrived at the second turnpoint before any aircraft got there. Only one aircraft got home in sports class and he was a local who had used hid knowledge of thermal sources in the Grampians to give him enough height to get out in front of the sea breeze. Emilis came second.
Day 6: Saturday: O & R Lah (128km). The day started late with thermals only going to 3,200', but this later improved with thermals going to 5,500'. Guy was determined to get home on at least one day but failed to get enough height before hitting the sea breeze and landed 7km from the field, coming 7th.
The competition was disappointing in that the Horsham didn't provide its usual excellent soaring conditions and the usual 300km tasks weren't set. However, it was, as usual, excellently run and nobody could fault the Horsham hospitality. So, it's back to Horsham again next year.