Well done Fin, here are the total results after the final day.

Full results and task details available at:
http://www.soaringspot.com/taupo_cp_2009/

Welcome Back Harold!

Harold is returning to Wednesday towing starting tomorrow, and looks like it might be a good ridge day if it's not raining :)

Congratulations to Keith- 50km badge flight

It turned out to be a rather tough day and flight, and ended up being 100Km as he came back! Good work. This also enables Keith free entry to his first regional competition, and $100 of tow fees, thanks to the offer from Gliding New Zealand. This is offer is open to anyone who hasn't previously entered a competition, and who hasn't done their 50km flight yet. Full details available here:
http://www.gliding.co.nz/latest-news/all-news/44

New Webcam Added

We've added a new webcam - this should be a lot more reliable but is not nearly as good quality. Currently it's set to update only on the days we fly, Wed, Sat and Sun every 20 mins. We'll keep the high quality one going too, and this updates every 30 mins mornings we fly, and twice a day every other day. The weather is now working reliably too.

Nationals entry form & Details now available

Some details about the National competition 2010 are now available:
http://taupo2010.blogspot.com/2009/11/countdown-starts.html

Cross Country Course & Regionals Coming Up 23rd Nov-5th Dec

Helpers will be welcome, and in the past have often filled spare seats! During the X-Country course all club gliders will be in use. During the competition the singles will be in use, and there will probably be normal club operations around the competition on the normal club days. Towing will be available every day. More details to come.

Things are heating up, see you out there, and safe flying.

Please find attached your invitation to the first Mini Rally of this flying season.

We hope to see at least as many people as last year – a very enjoyable long weekend with 12 Vintage & Classic gliders, 3 tow planes (Wilga, Tiger Moth and Citabria), fishing, flying, gliding, swimming…. It was great flying and it was an excellent family event as well.

We’ll do it again and this year the dates are 13-15 November. See you there!

For more info about last year see http://vintagekiwi.gliding.co.nz/rallies/2008/Raglan/Raglan%202008.htm

With kind regards

For VK,
Robert Smits

Raglan 2009 invite.pdf

By now most of you will have heard the tragic news about Ross Annabell's fatal gliding accident in the Bombay Hills last Wednesday. Ross was a long time member of our club (14 years), although had based his gliding at Drury for the last couple of years, since buying Ventus VP.

Ross was quite private and did not particularly enjoy having his photo taken. His widow, Henny, has very few photo's of him and would dearly like a copy of any personal photo's of Ross, that might be out there. Please email me at s.care@xtra.co.nz .

The funeral is this Thursday at Papakura, 11am and notice is below:-

Steve

NZ HEARLD NOTICE

Ross Alwyn. Passed away suddenly as a result of a tragic accident on 28 October 2009, in his 61st year. Much loved husband of Henrietta (Henny) for 35 wonderful years. Beloved son of Keith and Bonny Annabell. Soninlaw to Lyn Naeff. Loved brother and brotherinlaw of Pat and Barry, Adrian and Debbie. Uncle to Andrea, Josh, and Kyle. All correspondence to Fountains Funeral Directors, PO Box72341, Papakura 2244 Auckland. A farewell service for Ross will be held in the Fountains Memorial Chapel, corner of Wood and Elliot Street, Papakura on Thursday 5 November 2009 at 11.00am followed by private cremation.

• Published Saturday, October 31 2009 

Well, what an amazing Labour Weekend. We had heaps of gliders & people from about 4 different clubs, at least two amazing days of flying conditions and lots of fun all around. It was the first weekend in a long time where all club aircraft were in use, so that's great to see.

Thanks to the Whenuapai and Auckland gliding clubs for traveling down.

Dinner on Saturday night was a big success also, with around 50 people attending. Another big thanks to Jan for the delicious feast.

Some other events coming up:

• Central Plateau Competition @ Taupo 31st Oct - 7th Nov
• XCountry Course @ matamata 23rd-27th November
• Regionals @ Matamata 29th-5th of December

Also a TV program 'Sportstar Insider' about Richie McCaw & gliding is going to be on Discovery Channel on the 5th of November, keep an eye out for it. There was an article about him & gliding in the Herald today.

The Auckland Gliding Club, Aviation Sports Gliding Club (Whenuapai), and Piako Gliding Club’s members are all invited to come and fly at Matamata this Labour Weekend.

• I have arranged the weather.
• I have arranged The Dinner.
• I have arranged the Dissertation During Dessert. (3D)
• I have arranged an alternative program for non-pilots in the committee room.
  (ie port & cigars - or similar!)

Roast Dinner $10 @ 7pm

Desert & Coffee $5 @ 7.45pm

Combined $15 

Saturday Nights Dissertation - Kaimai Wave Flying with wave exponent Adrian Cable (A Cat Inst) This is to encourage and give confidence to pilots that fly this area, to explore the wave safely. It is an area of flying that used to be very common at Piako but has diminished in recent times. Adrian has immense experience in the wave patterns of our area so here is your opportunity to take advantage of this.

An indication of attendance would be appreciated.

Preferably email Jan at wajvmace@ihug.co.nz by Friday 8pm

or phone the clubhouse 07 888 5972 between 9.30am and 10.30am Saturday.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Bill Mace
PGC
Club Captain

Duty Pilots roster coming soon...

We've suddenly realised the duty pilots roster has run out, a new one will be online again very soon. We'll send an email out when it's ready to view.

Instructors Training Course 16th-18th October

This year the Gliding New Zealand instructors training course is being held at Matamata. It runs from Friday 16th Oct to Sunday 18th, usually finishing up around lunchtime Sunday. The course will involve many gliders and instructors from other clubs around the country, including our twins and instructors.

For our club, the twins will be in use all day Saturday, and Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon club members are welcome to use them as usual. All Friday and weekend, towing will be available for our club singles and private owners.

Labour Weekend 24th-26th October

Whenuapai is coming down for Labour weekend, and we'll be flying on Monday, so it should be a great weekend.

We're planning a dinner at the gliding club Saturday 24th Oct, so book it in now. We'll send out more details closer to the time.

Central Plateau Competition 31st Oct-7th Nov

The Central Plateau competition is on in Taupo, details and entry form can be found on gliding.co.nz.

X-Country Course & Regionals

Starting 23rd November to 5th December are the XCountry course (23rd to 27th) followed by the regionals (29th to 5th Dec). More details to come.

Looking forward to a great season! Any day now the weather will come right... have fun and fly safe.

Here is the latest FlyPaper, thanks Jan for putting this together again. Again there are two versions, one PDF, one Word Document, both the same.

Flypaper Sep09.doc

Flypaper Sep09.pdf

Don't forget the compulsory start of season briefing & FREE LUNCH this Sunday 13th September, 10am at the clubhouse.

One other note about the webcam/weather - the Internet connection to the clubhouse is broken, thus both the weather and webcam are down. We'll get it back up and working as soon as possible.

Thanks to Chris Scales for this video, made during our winch training day recently.