New year's Eve

Another solid practice day. Had all sorts of trouble getting up to start height; the only ones who did were those who contacted wave early. I ended up starting 200 metres low; not great but not a disaster. There were plenty of gliders lower. The first 40km or so to the north were tricky with choppy wave affected thermals but then the day got itself organized and it was a blast from then. Had a little rocket ride along a ridge at 3500 metres trying to stay out of the cloud that was below the top. Got final glide from about 120km out. There was a little sting in the tail; received a 40 second penalty for finishing 8 metres too low. I thought I was OK but it is hard to argue with data loggers. I will just have to set a slightly bigger safety margin as 5 seconds per metre is a huge penalty. But I was happy with the speed for the day, about 129kph. Tonight is new year eve party; I guess as I write this people are waking up in Oz with sore heads. Tomorrow there is no official practice. I am contemplating having a rest day. I reckon I have seen 90% of the task area and it doesn’t seem that they get many bad weather days here. Mark is trying to get his backside into a Nimbus 4DM so he can see what is so scary about this place. We'll go out tonight and have a good time and we will see how it all pans out. The Chileans we have met so far are just top blokes; they are looking after us extraordinarily well. Happy new year to all!!