G’Day Race Fans!

Today should mark official Practice Day #2. However, we awoke to rain showers, so no official task has been set. My name is Leah Condon and along with Pete von Tresckow I am crewing for my husband Tony Condon “DK” who is competing in the Club Class. This is my 2nd WGC as crew but as the first time was for a relatively small 13.5m class this is the largest contest I have attended to date.

I’d like to give you a bit of flavor or should I say “flavour” of what no fly contest days look like from a crew perspective. Tony had a nice flight in DK in Tocumwal when we picked up the glider on the 25th of November and then again had a nice flight with teammate Mike Westbrook on the 27th. As this is his 3rd time in Narromine we are not too concerned about trying to squeeze in flights on marginal practice days and have been taking our time getting the glider and trailer set up to our liking. So far, we have made and installed seals for the aileron and airbrake pushrods in the wings, sealed the gear doors, and added foam to help seal the air vent. In addition to “Operation Sealing” Pete and I took the glider trailer to get new tires after having a blow out on the way here. I highly recommend Walker Tyres in Narromine. To reduce the amount of luggage we sourced glider polish, canopy cleaner, locally and built a wing stand from a shop light. We have made numerous trips to the local hardware store already and Tony figures we only need ~ 15 more before we are all set for the comp 😊.

The atmosphere in general has been great and reminds me why it is worth taking the time off work to participate as a team member. I love getting to see old friends so far from Australia, UK and Denmark and can’t wait to make new friends. At this point I have also met everyone from our USA delegation of 16-people. We had our first full team meeting yesterday at Sarah Arnold (XBY ~ Standard Class) , Jason Arnold (XBY ~ Crew) and Pete Alexander’s (US Team Captain) lodging. Other highlights include sampling the local food and coffee scene and taking photos to share. I am looking forward to the weather improving to allow the team to fly. Just as much as the pilots need to practice, I appreciate the opportunity to practice the weighing, gridding, push back and land back retrieve protocols and am looking forward to learning team ground ops/radio monitoring and communication from Pete A. and Jason. Until next time!
See the US Team on Instagram.

~Leah Condon (DK – Crew)