Last Wednesday I had an interesting flight and ended up landing out at the base of the Kaimais, slightly south of the radar dome.

This was the second time I've been low around the golf ball without much wind this year. It can be a little daunting, as the ground slopes up to meet you, 1500' feels very low, and the terrain is rather undulating. Flying on the ridge is often done at lower than normal level, and if the wind stops, very quick thinking is needed. It's can be very hard to identify at what point to give up.

This particular day was forecast to be strong, but although working, was only around 10-15 knots. I joined the ridge at around 1800' and found it to be working well. I headed south to the radar dome, but on arrival was forced to track north again due to a shower going through.

I tracked up to TeAroha, then there was a shower arriving there as well, so I headed south again. The shower to the south had cleared so I ran all the way to the radar dome, around 2500'. Bill and I then climbed a bit, and spent some time spotting airstrips around this area, in particular an airstrip up the hill a bit. This would prove to be very useful later...

We then went back up to the waterfall again maintaing 2500' or so. At the waterfall we met up with VM, although I couldn't read his rego so dived down to see who it was. After doing this I thought, why not do a fun lower level run along the ridge, while waiting for the rain to clear to the north.

We all know where this is going. My thinking was:

• We had just been along there at 2500' and maintained height happily
• The rain had cleared through ages ago!
• VM was down lower, so it must be good! (never trust a glider with an engine...)

We all know that a shower going through can kill the wind on the ridge. What I learned that day is just how long it can take for the lower level wind to get going again. Ralph explained later that the rain and the cool air dumps onto the ridge and that coldness subdues the wind. At higher altitude it was working better which is why we were able to maintain altitude.

So basically I flew from the waterfall to the radar dome, and simply glided down the whole way. It didn't take long to realise the ridge wasn't working properly so dumped my water and thought 'no problem', once we get to the radar dome it'll be better, it always works better down there!

After doing a few figure of eights it quickly became apparent nothing was going up at all, so I found the airstrip we identified earlier and put it down.

The airstrip (A) slopes upwards towards the hill so you have to land downwind on a ridge day. I've never landed on a steep slope before, but it worked out fine with the top third of the strip a little flatter than the rest. The glider didn't roll backwards down the hill, so it obviously wasn't too bad.

A. The disused airstrip

I found out this airstrip is now disused, however it was still in good enough condition to land on, except for an animal track running down the middle. The airfield is hard to spot due to the shape of the paddock, however the fertiliser bin at the top of it gives it away. It's also very close to a duckpond so that makes it easy to find once you know.

B. Airstrip, note the big trees on one side and small trees on the other.

Walking down the hill through about 6 paddocks, I ended up at an occupied house and Old TeAroha Rd. Looking at my GPS maps while waiting for retrieve I discovered there was another airstrip (B) right beside where I was sitting! This one is longer and flatter, but with some big trees running down one side. It's also a lot closer to the road and a few hundred feet lower. 

Thanks Bill for the photos from above, and a really big thanks to Bill, Keith and new student Peter for coming to retrieve me.

Tim

We had a great days flying on Wednesday, both twins were used all afternoon which is great to see.

This weekend is also looking promising. We have training and some trial flights on Saturday. Sunday some ATC cadets will be flying from 10:30am, but one of the twins will be available for club members to fly in the afternoon.

Here's an amazing example of a thermal picking up light netting/plastic.

In an effort to help things run easily at the business end I have organised things around the till…..

And to show where things are at the bar and also to point out some new developments the photo shows……

• A new book that is to live at the bar – this is the library lending record – a base for messages between members and/or office bearers(ie something has been left for them, something has been fixed, or needs fixing, any IOU’s for flying or the bar and please see that these are removed when debts are paid. Flying IOU’s are to go in here as well as on the timesheet You will see that there is a ring on the book for you to put keys etc. on for other members. You can leave a note for them in the book and could you please put a date in with each entry. There is extra info inside the front cover.

• The spike where all bar eftpos payments are to go - It is important to use separate transactions for bar and other transactions. The bar runs a separate bank account. 

• The place for the eftpos machine and instructions. Most importantly there is now a separate facility on the EFTPOS machine for the Matamata Soaring Centre. Check that you are paying into the correct account – either the Piako Gliding Club or Matamata Soaring Centre. It will say on the screen. Press the green button on the bottom (enter) when it is reading the account you want. This facility allows accommodation payments to be made to the MSC.

• A calculator – This is to stay at the bar.

• A glass for pens to come and spend there retirement. It is not a source of pens for removal. 

• The booking in folder for the bunkrooms

• The nest of drawers in which there are envelopes for the timesheets, tools and stationary items such as a stapler and spare EFTPOS paper rolls.

Please use the book and get in the habit of looking in it when you go to the clubrooms.

Thanks for taking the time to read this update.

Another great competition, lots of fun, lots of landouts, and lots of great food (thanks Jan!).

We had a number of challenging days due to the weather, and even some easterly wave at one stage allow some lucky punters to start the task at 6000+ feet. Thermals all week were weak, however we did fly 5 days and sat around or played golf for 2. Of course the day after the contest has turned into a ripper xcountry day, that's the way the cookie crumbles I guess.

Well done to Tony and Nigel who proved yet again how consistently doing well wins contests. The final scores are available here at soaring spot. Note contestants with an @ beside their name were outside the handicap range to be eligible for the club class prizes, which is why Nigel was the official winner.

Overall this inaugural club class contest has been a huge success, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed flying the same task.

Again a big thanks to everyone who helped out and volunteered so much time to make the week a success.

PS. Richie was on Campbell Live this evening doing some gliding promotion, view the video here.

We had quite a few landouts this day...

Wave. Yes wave. There's nothing like starting a task at 6000 feet. I almost felt sorry for those stuck at 2500', until they passed overhead while I sat at Tokaroa airfield.

For some reason gliding was called off this day... Wairere falls turns into Huka falls.

Jan, Nigel (first place) and Steve (third place) admiring the drizzle and waterfall. Debris on the road were caused by flooding just an hour before.

Bob with a great view of someone else, it might have an M in the rego.

I've always wanted to land on a sealed airfield, so deliberately *cough* gave up the task and landed at Tokaroa.

We've been doing well lately, with a number of achievements the past couple of weeks.

First up well done to Keith for conversion into XP. He had at least two flights, and they went well. About time he learnt to use XP, in a few years he can have a go at Vista :) (computer joke there... LOL)

Secondly Steve and Tim managed our 500km diamond flights on a ripper of a Saturday. It turned out to be a brilliant ridge day, with the bad weather passing through a bit quicker than was forecast. Why is it often the 'bad' weather days that turn out to be the best? In particular well done Steve, that completes his three diamonds.

We got a few photos, there was a huge amount of water coming over Wairere falls.

Also congrats to Mark Drayson for completing his 5 hour flight on Wednesday.

And finally, well done and thanks to Edouard for processing our 500km diamond flight claims within hours after the flight. Apparently some kind of record. Who said the paperwork takes longer than the flight eh?!

Competition next week, if anyone wants to help out Les launch the grid please do. We especially need helpers during the week, the weekends are usually OK. We'll usually be launching between 11-1pm depending on weather. Perhaps give Les a call and let him know you can help. 

Wind? You want wind? You got wind.

A lot of water going down Wairere falls. A lot of water going up too.

Islands and bays near Coromandel town

The water was a bit muddy close to shore. Mental note, don't land in the water.

Nothing like heading straight out to the ocean in a glider. This heading for the turnpoint. On turning around you realise just how far you haven't really gone.

Wow what an amazing 2 weeks at Raglan the club has had. The publicity from the event has been amazing, with several potential new club members, and the introduction of gliding to hundreds of people.

A huge thanks to Steve care who was at the camp for the entire time. Our going over there a little early made a big difference, as the first day or two are usually quiet, so it meant we had two busy weekends.

Thanks also to all the other helpers, duty pilots, instructors and tow pilots. We were often busy from 9 until 6, and sometimes even 3 people on the ground were only just enough.

Here's a few pics from various people.

Intrepid Camp Leader Steve Care

Steve taking an apparently naked man for a flight.

Keith in GNI looking over Karioi

Keith's Daughters photo

Keith's Daughters photo

Photo of BZA by Jonathan Rankin

Photo of GPC by Jonathan Rankin

An airshow at Centenial Park, 29th Jan 2011. Full details in this flyer or see http://taupoflyingproms.co.nz/

Taupo Flying Proms Flyer.pdf

Christmas Camp is going well. We seem to have a lot of impressively high performance gliders on the field, including Tauranga's new Discus XLT. The T is for turbo, and the XL is for extra lengthy. It's nice and shiny too. There's heaps of other gliders from Auckland and further afield.

Today flying conditions started out looking promising, with fluffy clouds and everything. It got worse though, with high cloud, a sprinkle of rain and lots of other rubbish. Tomorrow is looking like a write-off, with luck that will clear things out for a good Wednesday and Thursday.

A big thanks to Evey Belworthy for making the awesome new wing covers for GXP. They look great and work really well, and obviously took a few days to put together so thank you so much.

Coming up 5th-13th Feb, we have the Club Class National gliding competition at Matamata. There is even prize money! While only official club class can officially win, any other gliders are welcome to enter. Of our fleet, GXP and GNI are officially eligible, but there's no reason not to enter in anything else. If anyone is interested in flying any of the club aircraft, let the instructors and committee know on instructors@glidingmatamata.co.nz and committee@glidingmatamata.co.nz.

Following that 19th-27th Feb is the Sports Class competition at Waipukurau. The GSN, GPC and GPK are all eligible for that one.

Details about both competitions are available online at gliding.co.nz.