Team Athena take on 2025 South Island Regionals!

Amy Smith, Charlie Irvin, and I competed at the 2025 South Island Regionals last week, and

while it didn’t go exactly to plan, we all took something away from the experience. The

contest was a great reason to go flying in conditions we usually wouldn’t have, and to push

forward even when completion seemed unlikely.

Day one was challenging, with only three gliders in the racing class making it around the task. Amy and I set off with great enthusiasm, making a good start before gallivanting off to

the Ewe range (perhaps a bit low), failing to find any good climbs, and then landing on the Dunstan Peaks strip. We managed to swerve around ZA, which Alex had thankfully pushed

off to the side. Yay landout etiquette!

We counted our uneventful landout as a victory and trailered the glider home, ready for the next day. However, the weather had different ideas. The next two days were no-fly days, and on the 19th, we partook in the biggest mass landback I have ever seen in competition. The entire racing class launched, released on the nursery, and then all landed back within about

an hour.

Finally, on the 20th, the weather gods smiled down on us. Task two turned out to be

somewhat undercalled, as the forecast gave us thermals, and reality delivered wave.

However, I think we were all just happy to be flying. With big circles around Stews Gully,

Stewarts Stream, Dog Kennel Corner, and Otematata, Amy and I decided to go deep into the

first turn area to ensure we wouldn’t come in under time. After getting over the Omarama

Saddle, we lawn-darted to the edge of the circle and back, before finding a very fortunate

rotor thermal off the end of the St. Bathans. From there, we headed off over the Saddle and

cut across the valley to Magic. We struggled in the Ahuriri, came close to landing at

Ribbonwood, and then climbed away in a strong and turbulent rotor thermal. After crossing

the North end of Lake Ohau, we had the roughest run I have ever experienced on the Ben

Ohau’s. One moment we had the airbrakes open to avoid going into cloud, and the next we

were getting 5-10 knots of sink. We then crossed Lake Pukaki and had a hard time staying

aloft in the near-dead area east of the Lake, but did eventually get on final glide. The day

was a challenge, and in the end, we didn’t need to worry about the time as our speed was a

whopping 78 km/h. This put us squarely in last place for the day, but it was worth it for the

satisfaction of finishing the task.

On the 21st, a wave task was called and we were sent up into the sky. Charlie and I were

quickly shot down after our first launch, so we took another one. This time we managed to

stay aloft, but only barely. We struggled at release height for a while, and then lost another

800 ft and struggled over Clearburn at circuit height, before finally clawing our way up the

side of Little Ben. By the time it looked like we were finally getting away, Charlie was feeling

so airsick we had to land. Some days are a win and some others are not; that’s just life.

The last contest day brought forecasts for a good day with a late start. After some hemming

and hawing on the grid, Amy and I launched with the rest of the racing class into a sky filled

with low, wet cumuli. We managed a start, and then zoomed off towards the Ewe range.

Having found the hill not to be working, we flew across the valley to some low foothills, and

were promptly hit with copious amounts of sink. 45 minutes later, we had accomplished two

low saves from the Hugo’s and Dunstan Peaks strips. Finally having climbed back up to a

respectable 5000 ft msl, we set off on our last ditch attempt at getting out of that valley. This

failed miserably, ending us back near the Dunstan Peaks strip (again!) at 1200 ft agl. At this

point, we were both exhausted, so it was not a terribly difficult decision to give up and land,

especially with a guinea pig (John Smith in TP) already there. Charlie came with the trailer to

get us home again.

Thank you so much to Youth Glide and The Umbrella Trust for making it possible for us to fly

in the South Island Regionals. Team Athena had a wonderful time!