Day 1, 1st Jan

Packing up is always fun, especially when you need to carry all equipment to go gliding on top of all the normal paraphernalia for three weeks away. What are the bare essentials? What should I buy over there? Should I take the big bottle of sun screen or the small?

Somehow we found a flight leaving at a reasonable hour of 3pm, which meant leaving Hamilton at 12ish. Arrival time in Melbourne was 5:30 local time.

I visited Delio in Melbourne Royal Hospital, who is recovering well after a gliding accident in Australia. One ankle they had a plan for, with the other waiting for the swelling to go down before they decide what to do. Otherwise he was in good condition, and good spirits.

I was then met by Ian Grant, who is very generously entrusting his Ventus C to me for the contest. They also gave me somewhere to stay in Melbourne, and he delivered some slightly bad news. The glider had a wheel up landing and needed repair. But we didn't really know how much damage there was.

Need a plane with engines to start with

Day 2, 2nd Jan

Today we learned more about the glider condition. Ian's glider partner took it for a fly and had the undercarriage collapse landing on a rough field. His initial concern was he'd ripped the belly hook off completely, as there was now a hole. In fact Ian had removed it deliberately, so that wasn't actually a problem and the only damage was a undercarriage door ripped off, which is being repaired as I write. Glider should be delivered on Saturday, just in time for the 45 degree temperatures.

To get to Benalla, I caught the train from Melbourne. Mobile Internet is so much cheaper here, so I bought a sim card for my phone and browsed facebook while passing the kangaroos and the acres and acres of flat, yellow, airfield like farmland. Arriving at Benalla, I realised I needed to get to the gliding field over the other side of town. They're a friendly bunch, so kindly sent a taxi driving club member to pick me up.

When I arrived, it sounded like slightly crappy conditions. Blue, with an inversion at 4000 feet. Just like Matamata really, except hotter.

We found accommodation in the balloonist hut on the airfield. Pictures of balloons everywhere. A ballooning stained glass window even. We'll see if we can figure out how to replace it with a glider stained glass window as a practical joke. It has one slightly old air conditioning unit, which is a lot better than no air conditioning unit.

The airfield at Benalla is huge. There are 4 main runways, with taxiways big enough to land on. 2 of the runways are primarily for powered aircraft, with one sealed runway. A lot of guys have turned up early to practice for the contest. 76 entries so far. Basically everything about this contest is scaled up.

That night Brian Hayhow, who flew at Matamata in the Tasman trophy last year, took me to a BBQ with some of the guys and girls who are in a 'SpeedFly' course. This course is much like an advanced cross country course, with the primary goal to increase contest flying speed.

Today got up to about 36 degrees, with the next few days forecast 40+.

Melbourne Train Station

Benalla Airfield. Big and hot.

Happy New Winglets - little tipbits from the week that is (1) and other half truths ….

Happy New Year!

After a couple of fine post-Xmas flying days in the company of a dozen or so Auckland visitors, 2012 drew to a close with the over-riding theme that 2013 was going to be a whole lot better. I think thats what we always say – it’s just that we cannot remember (glass half empty) or live in eternal hope ( glass half full). In fact a very enjoyable new years eve was spent with the AGC crew, a number of full glasses and a wonderful meal prepared with the hard labour and the watchful eye of Marion Moody. A quiet Jan 1 followed – why was the flying so challenging?

Celebrating success on the same day (31 Dec) was Neil Raymond who had taken advantage of a great ridge day and completed a 300km task in XP deep into the boonies behind Thames where Julian and me were cruising (out on the coast). A fantastic effort Neil nicely done – stories began to circulate that he had made it into the top turn-point by just 30 metres, however this very fine margin was found not to be the case once the correct quadrant was applied to his track. Relief all round. It was a great note to finish the year on and a fabulous flying day!

Xmas Camp (Edouard was the sole PGC camper – me staying at Julians house doesn’t count as camping), was more of a working bee than a flying camp thanks to the weather, probably just as well there were some bad days as the hangar doors project finally got under way. Thanks to Julian for making up the team and Edouard and others who dropped in and found themselves with a task to do. We can begin accepting memberships from females again as you no longer need to have a spinach and protein diet before attempting to open the hangar!

On that subject, please treat the doors with some respect – avoid smash and bash as the two halves meet up and don’t open them further than needed. The work is on-going and progress will hopefully be impeded by wonderful flying weather! More importantly on the other subject, girls, ladies, we would love to have you flying with us – Google "women in gliding" and help us to grow the numbers of female participants in NZ!

Wednesday 2^nd Jan saw the move to Raglan and a big effort from a dedicated team who achieved the move with great success, the only hitch being Roger becoming lost in Raglan and leading Edouard on a scenic tour down steep hills with the caravan in tow! Will Kamp and Rob Munn did the double tows (immaculately I am told) under the watchful eyes of Julian and Steven with a lot of help from BZA and Tony Davies. We managed 7 trial flights on the day which was a nice comfortable start.

The 3^rd was not so nice, and had to be cancelled due to lousy weather. Steven and me entertained ourselves waterproofing a very leaky caravan!

The situation now is that both PC & PK are at Raglan (with BZA of course) and SN is there as well. NI and XP remain at Matamata where towing will be available behind Aucklands tug until the end of the day Friday 4^th Jan. Please phone the clubhouse and check they are still there before relying on this info!

SO – GET PUT TO RAGLAN AND ENJOY SOME GREAT FLYING!!!!

Reminder: The key dates for the holiday period are:

1.    Xmas Camp Waharoa – 26 Dec – 6 Jan

2.    Raglan Camp – 2 Jan – 20 Jan

3.    Walsh Memorial Flying School Waharoa 8 Jan – 22 Jan – no club flying from Waharoa for these dates

4.    7 Jan Australian Multi-Class Nationals start – Tim defending his Trans-Tasman trophy – deluge him with supportive emails and best wishes!!

PC

Thermalling weather still!

Last Wednesday was a lack-lustre day but 6 flights were notched up by a trial flight, Phil Cox, Carl Henderson, Peter Minor and Ian Finlayson, ably assisted by Iggy Wood in PNE and Ralph Gore – so I am reliably informed.

Saturday started a great summer weekend  and the club activity was pleasing to see, despite the lack of WW (returning this week as SN) and NI being stuck in the corner next to a dead BZA – (shouldn’t decompose and begin smelling too soon, although the signs are there that age is upon her as the vital bones begin to crack under very normal loads). Actually, I feel a rant coming on – its bloody disgusting that proper replacement parts that are clearly poorly engineered and defective, should continue to be sold and legitimized, placing pilots at risk and causing consequential damage to aircraft not retrofitted with an emergency system to prevent damage when the part breaks. Pardon me – could we just have the parts made properly, and not have to pay through the nose for rubbish. The originals lasted 40 odd years the new ones last 2. Maybe the South American drug lords are finding good investments in aircraft part manufacturing, or did the red shed get involved?  

Ahem. Back to Saturday – the numbers shot up to 15 according to the computer, but the last 2 flights were pilotless if the data is to be believed, however someone paid for these drone experiments and I am pleased to advise that PC is none the worse for wear, so all systems must have functioned OK. Truth is I suspect Josh Money was bashing circuits and the repetition might have been too much for Neil. Stop there – a HUGE thank you to Neil who graciously, and very typically, did not remind me that he should not have been on the duty roster at all, due to the fact he is our MO and puts a very large amount of his free time into keeping our fleet shipshape and re-building our winch with the rest of his spare time - I’m sure I heard his cows complaining the other day that they never saw much of him any more. Thanks mate I will see that doesn’t happen again – forget Raglan, someone will volunteer, WON’T THEY!!!!

Next time you rock up after all the gliders are on the grid, fly, and bugger off before its time to put the fleet away, think about Neil, the instructors and club officers, and a few general members, who all willingly give heaps of time to make it possible for the club to function. They pay the same fees as you and often overlook claiming minor expenses just for the love of what they do. If you feel you have nothing special to give, you are wrong, your time would be appreciated and taking the time to contribute and socialize builds a better club spirit – and our beer is very well priced!

Sorry, another rant/distraction, but a worthy one. Other Saturday flyers included Tim, Bill, Chris, Edouard, Will, Julian and Alan, with Dennis and Rainer providing instruction, and a very fine but unrecorded PNE pilot who gets our sincere thanks for his or her toils – all 15 of them.

Sunday was a quiet affair with Jamie at the helm and Tony Davies taking up tow duties depite being on the instructors roster, and me being occasionally at the DP desk, (thanks to those who took over whilst I terrorized the Cambridge hills).  We got a trial flight away first up – Shawn enjoyed his time in PC and promised to be back – he’s the one in the racy looking wheelchair with black & yellow carbon wheels - watch them mate, a few of us are cyclists and could try them out while you are away! Peter, Dave Dennison, Stuart Wilson, Julian and me in UL pretty much made up the numbers but were well supported by a total of 3 trial flights, so it wasn’t a bad day. The Easterly breeze killed off things relatively early however so we had plenty of time for a chat and computer fixes after the day was done. (How many times do I have to be reminded that many laptops have a wifi switch, very often located out of sight and easily switched off during handling????).

Only one weekend until Xmas – Camp that is – are you coming?

Reminder: The key dates for the holiday period are:

1.    Xmas Camp Waharoa – 26 Dec – 6 Jan

2.    Raglan Camp – 2 Jan – 20 Jan (yes there is an overlap – Auckland Club may be there and towing/winching may be available from them – unable to confirm this, but hope to next week)

3.    Walsh Memorial Flying School Waharoa 8 Jan – 22 Jan – no club flying from Waharoa for these dates

Lets make it a long party and enjoy some great flying if the promised stability doesn’t eventuate! I am sure there will be some thermals popping – I hope they have cores I can find the middle of – still I am used to one sided affairs .........

PC

What a month it has been and yet I have caught up with so few members!

Big thanks to Tim and Steve Wallace for keeping you up to date with the contest and subsequent events. Congratulations to both on your results too.

The week prior to the Regionals was the Cross Country course where David Muckle, Neil Raymond (refresher) and me joined 9 others flying alternately with highly experienced instructors and by ourselves, learning the tricks of the trade as far as getting away from our comfort zones and flying a task goes! Just like the contest that followed, every day was a flying day which was simply wonderful and hugely beneficial to all participants in terms of a maximum return on time (and money) invested.

Huge wraps go to Bill, Ralph and all the MSC team and talented Instructors for putting a wonderful week  together, and not for one moment forgetting Jan, Marianne, Joan, Maurice, June and any others I have missed, all volunteering to do the myriad of tasks that made it all possible. I must make a special mention of Joan who battled the odds as we all landed out and tried to advise her where we were! Yes all 5 club gliders landed out on the Thursday, as well as many others, some sort of record, although ignominious, we believe. A typical source of Joan’s frustration was myself, who, having two days earlier, expounded in briefing, the virtues of an app called Outlanding, had cause to use it after doing just that on an airstrip alongside  highway 27 north of Tirau. On phoning in to ensure the text message from the app had indeed worked, I was tersely asked what the hell I was doing in Clevedon. Apparently the computer at the clubhouse took exception to the data provided and there I was telling them I was in Tirau, and we all know that people tell lies, not computers, especially over-excited pilots, still buzzing on adrenalin from making their first outlanding. But seriously, my navigation is not that bad – I was pretty sure I knew where I was, especially since I had just been up close and personal with a giant corrugated iron sheep trying to get some lift over the town.

However, WW and I duly got picked up by Ralph who knew where I was, (a popular spot I was later told by Trev Terry, who has visited it twice in his illustrious carreer of hundreds of outlandings) – how proud was I with my first real paddock choice! The other two PGC outlanding debutantes David and Neil had been shadowing each other, and eventually Neil followed Dave into the same paddock after some hasty re-arrangements to where NI was sitting to allow XP in!

Now back to Joan and going from the highs of my first paddock landing to the lows of facing the wrath of the Retrieves manager – you don’t want to do this! On the mat I was, for causing extra work on a day when the hairdresser was obviously a better place to be than the gliding club. I was advised several times, very loudly and publicly, that I was required for a disciplinary hearing at the retrieves computer after dinner. Imagine my trepidation as I was ordered into a chair (the hard uncomfortable one) alongside Joans (the plush adjustable executive one), to have the evidence of my ill given co-ordinates displayed, in order that I did not at any time thereafter EVER give bum data to the Retrieves desk at any event again! “There” – I was told – “are the co-ordinates that you gave us, and I will show you where they say you were on the map” – click to map – a beautiful sight it was too – there was a large X representing WW smack in position in Totman Rd Tirau. I cannot describe the feeling of utmost vindication that came over me as I stared at the screen and then at the ashen face of Obergruppenfuhrer Wine who was trying to convince me that when it had been done previously, and several times, it had come up with Clevdon. Poor overworked Bill Mace was even dragged into the explanatory evidence that by now was being proffered, but I was not listening – I was silently thanking the unknown developer of the Outlanding app, as I  made my way to the bar to celebrate!

These are the sort of laughs that make memories and that is only when you get together with a collection of such wonderful diverse people that make up our gliding community, that you realise how lucky you are to have a lifetime interest sport such as ours. I heard Ritchie McCaw say something similar as a reason for his ongoing love of gliding in his interview with Kim Hill last Saturday, which is telling when you imagine all the people he must get to meet in a season!

Two special groups, one from Hamilton Boys (Wed 5 Dec), and 23 cadets from 5 Squadron from Rodney (in camp last weekend 8-9 Dec), have been through, so there has been action aplenty. Notable too, talking of action, is the speed with which Bill recovered his day when the undercarriage hydrasorb unit broke again on BZA. You an I might have said “sorry boys we will have to call it a day”  not Bill. He was on the phone whilst Iggy was dismounting the Pawnee and had a replacement tug from over the hill on station in an hour and a half or so. The boys got all their flights in and BZA got safely stashed looking like the wounded warrior, and is now parked in the back corner of the hanger. Brilliant Bill and Iggy for all you did getting that done and arranging PNE on loan from Tauranga, (thanks to again too), ensuring the ATC scouts did not miss out on their two days at the weekend.

Quite a few club members managed flights last weekend slotting in around the youngsters, who were a great bunch. They even pulled up the carpet in the committee room then did the hands and knees job pulling out the tacks for us, as well as assisting with manouvering BZA around the hangar to allow WW and NI to get past. Thanks boys and girls, you are welcome back any time!

A heads up to all that the Raglan Roster has been posted and you will need to do any rearranging of your times if there is a clash. Those who advised me of times they could and couldn’t do have had their times fitted accordingly, so its over to you now.

Raglan is hardly a punishment, its a lot of fun, usually great weather, can be great flying and generally never a dull moment. Happy relaxed people are good fun to spend your holidays around! The food at Raglans eateries also make for pleasant evenings, so be sure to come and enjoy yourself.

Paul

Hi all, it's been quite a few days now since the end of the contest, here's a quick wrap up.

Congrats to all the winners, here they are!

Club class

Open class

I would like to give a big thanks to all those who made the competition a great success, Tow Pilots, John the contest director, Bill & Jan for running the clubhouse and food, June and Mavis on the radios, Joan on the retireve crew and generally causing trouble, Edouard for scoring, Jeff on the grid, Ruth managing the tows, all the wing runners who helped out, and everyone else who played a part!

Amazingly, thanks in part to the westerlies running all week, we flew all 7 days, the first time in many many years. And they were all 1000 point days, in the open class at least. This means our golf hasn't improved at all this year, and Steve Wallace's annual bike ride didn't happen either. Well done to Steve especially for nearing the max 7000 points with 6889 total.

Awards this year, John Bayliss received the trophy for the most meritorious flight, with an amazing 'perfect' ridge task on day 6. No turns at all, he really showed us how it should be done.

Also congratulations to Ralph for receiving the FAI Paul Tissandier award. A writeup about this is in the Soaring NZ magazine this month.

We did have two incidents causing damage to aircraft this year, one was ground handling of a glider, the other was a motor glider starting an engine too late and ending up in a less than ideal paddock after it didn't start. Thankfully no damage to people. This was another lesson from an experienced person getting caught out by the basics, in this case, not choosing a paddock early enough and not being aware of their height above ground.

In other news, I've been selected to defend the Trans-tasman trophy at the Multiclass Nationals held in Benalla, just north of Melbourne. We'll be heading off very early January, with the contest starting 7th Jan. This year it looks like we'll be flying an ASW20 or LS8. It's not hot over there at that time of year is it? Oh good. Thanks to those who have offered to help out and crew while I'm there.

The Pawnee is going to be out of action for a bit, due to a problem with the undercarriage which happend while we were giving 20 students flights. A replacement is being sorted out while it's fixed. Thanks Iggy for sorting that one out promptly.

And now, I leave you with some pics from the final days of the contest.

Tim

The mighty Lak taunted by yet another evening wave

The three Disci pilots, Dave, John and Tim

The final night banquet. Bob and Iggy being manly men cutting meat.

Ralph receiving his FAI Paul Tissandier award

John awarding Steve with the prize for winning the open class

Steve has written up about days 5 and 6, read the articles here:

http://www.soaringspot.com/nznr2012/news/story4.html

http://www.soaringspot.com/nznr2012/news/story5.html

Here are some pics from an anonymous source :)

Our massive grid

A tale of two tails

So the first ridge day had too much cloud, yesterday not enough cloud, today too much to start then not enough in the afternoon.

We had to head south to Tapapa first, to give the cloud base time to rise around Te Aroha. For some reason 2000 feet is not enough.

Then it was up to Hikutaia. Cloudbase was now up to a generous 2500 feet making life interesting, but thankfully the ridge was working well.

Our bottom turnpoint was Wharepapa South, but with a 20km circle. This proved to be challenging, after a good run down the ridge. The cloud had all cleared nicely, but was starting to blue out completely. Fin managed to get down to Arapuni, while most others headed for Putararu into some scrappy clouds that were disintegrating quickly.

Task, and results all available online now at Soaring Spot.

Tomorrow we'll try and get some photos of people rather than just landscapes! Thanks David Hirst for these moonscapes.

Gliders, wave, moonlight, stars.... ah, the romance of a gliding contest.

The mighty, burning sun rises over the Waikato.... oh, hang on....

Chugging along the ridge...

Top dresser on the ridge from yesterday. A day late, but never mind

Day 2

 A ridge racing task today with hard points to the north and south. 280km for the Club Class and 317km for the Open Class. The cloud base started off at 4,000 but lowered to 3,000' by mid afternoon as more moisture was feed into the area by an approaching warm front. This lead to considerable cloud development and very little sun on the ground that made the 'off ridge' turn points a significant challenge, especially to the south which claimed two victims in the club class and five in the open class. 

Day 3

Too much cloud yesterday but not enough today. The warm front went through overnight and despite an overcast start to the day by launch time most of the cloud had burned off and apart from the odd wisp the day went blue as predicted. 10 - 15kts onto the ridge and lots of sunshine meant thermal assisted ridge lift was available and blue thermals were to be had off the ridge. An AAT task was set with the northern turn point as Maramarua with a 20km circle and the southern Tokoroa with a 20km circle. The sparseness of the off ridge blue thermals proved too much for six of the club class (although Sandy in her trusty ASW20 did make it around but a flight computer set to 25km instead of 20km resulted in a missed turn point and virtual outlanding in the South for her). Four of the Open Class guys got around making it a good day for finishers but not so good for the outlanders.

Word on the street is much sacrificing to the weather gods will be required if tomorrow is to be flyable. We shall see...

Steve Wallace

Our contest director, gleefully launching us into a sky of empty promises

Heading for the northern turnpoint, just south of Thames. LOL

Heading back from the southern turnpoint, just about to get back on the ridge.

One third of the wave that setup Monday night

Tuesdays wave, not quite so big, but still impressive