Brief tonight – phew I hear you sigh ........ I hate to think I am cluttering your inbox, but if yours looks like mine then you just don’t have time for a book when a paragragh will do.

Other reason for brevity is that the automatic upload of  the flying sheets to Skydrive failed on Sunday night. As a result I have no idea who flew what and for how long especially on Saturday as I wasn’t there! I did hear there were around 20 launches and the day was a good one so – well done to all who partook (doesn’t look right – sounds like something from a Malaysian jungle...)

Sunday I know roughly what went on because I helped Bryan O’Brien start off his first session on the computer, and then we did it all over again after it all disappeared – I marvel at the creativity of every one of us who all seem to use a computer in completely different ways, yet still manage to create things we can send to each other!!! All good fun, and Bryan had it all balanced to a tee at days end, in fact scored a modest profit by not having change to give a cash flush customer – gets them every time – we love keeping the change - $5.00 went in the bar till Bill.

I will relate a little tale of learning that happened for me whilst flying NI on Sunday – and it carries a couple of messages. After some radio difficulties on the ground I took off and got away nicely and spent ¾ of an hour never below 5000’. All good. Then as I was steaming around near the southern threshold of the airfield, the vario went really nuts in spasms that I couldn’t stand so I turned it off – realising that it was probably a battery issue. I then spent another 1.25 hours flying by the seat of my pants and the mechanical vario – and I will swear blind I flew and thermalled better. During this time I realised that whilst I could still hear some radio transmissions, I was unable to transmit so now I had to land safely in condition NORDO. Again this seemed to really heighten my awareness and I stayed high whilst making plans for a safe arrival without causing grief to others.

During my descent down the non-traffic side I tried unsuccessfully, to contact Bryan by cellphone – he answered but could not hear me, so I gave that away and just kept looking out for all I was worth. I spotted and heard UL joining and had heard a Katana vacating, so took up position at no 2 preserving height in the circuit until base leg. With relief and a certain satisfaction I landed safely.

My personal satisfaction came from not panicking and making what I believed to be good/safe decisions when things went wrong. My big message is to the lovely person, who in October 2010 wrote on the battery I took off the charger on Feb 2013, “Battery tested and found NOT OK” – and left it on the bench with all the other batteries. @#$%^& picture steam out of ears when I saw this very faint faded scrawl on a piece of tape on the battery case. For heavens sake – if a battery is in that condition, don’t leave it on the bench next to the charger. Put it in the clubhouse with a note for Neil that it should be tested and/or replaced. ONLY HEALTHY USABLE BATTERIES SHOULD BE ON THE BENCH.

Sorry to write about me, but its about sharing experiences from which we can all learn, especially newer members. Incidentally, I am not professing to have done everything right and stand ready to be straightened out. If in doubt, ask an instructor.

Others who enjoyed the day on duty were Phil Smith on the instructors roster and Tracey in BZA. Flying were Robin Britton in NV, Julian  and Chris in UL, Will in SN, Dave Dennison also in SN, and new member Felipe who flew one of the 2 seaters, plus a trial flight to kick the day off. If I have missed you out its my memory to blame, my apologies.

But it was a great flying weekend.

Cheers

PC

Forget baby-boomers – they were big this weekend, well Saturday at least. It was all about thermals and some mighty flights were had – Alan Belworthy showed his iron constitution again with 5hrs 19mins at the helm of RY and Julian Mason had a lengthy 4Hrs & 15 mins in UL (on 6 minutes of engine time – thats a whole lot of flying for a baked bean cans worth of two-stroke!!). Neil Raymond slipped around in XP for 3Hrs 11 mins, Bill Mace close behind with 3hrs 4 mins, followed by Will Kamp, Godfrey Larsen, David Muckle & visitor Steve Ansell, all clocking over 2 hours. Great flying guys!

Having just as much fun, without nappies, were instructors Tim Bromhead & Tony Davies who got through 5 trial flights and Rainer Kunnemeyer who has new member Claudio Sala under his training wing. Remaining members Dave Dennison, Jamie Pirrit with daughter Gina, Carl Henderson, Phil Smith, Yvonne Belworthy, Steven Care and Jonathan Pote all took advantage of the conditions – all up a busy day.

Made a bit busier for poor Jonathan the Duty Pilot who found that too much information can cause the computer to stop calculating – as did Bill Mace last Wednesday. They both made the mistake of being too diligent and entered all their glider id’s with a G in front (GPC, GRR etc. The end reult was they calculated every thing manually, thinking the programme had a bug!. If only they knew! Actually Jonathan stayed on Sunday night and reviewed his Saturday with me as I edited all the glider data - which was much appreciated by moi – and made sure it all worked out perfectly. Thats great dedication.

COMPUTER HINT FOR DUTY PILOTS – ONLY ENTER THE LAST 2 LETTERS FOR AIRCRAFT ID’S TUGS & GLIDERS – IE PC, PK, NI otherwise the programme lookup formulas will not detect the glider fees and calculate the hire rates.

Sunday did not deliver the same conditions in terms of cloud development, but it was still going off. I have never viewed the airfield from 6266 feet directly overhead before! Flying on the day in addition to Julian and me, were Pieter Bronkhorst, Bob Gray and guest Darryl, Jonathan Pote, Steven Care, Phil Smith and new member Felipe Bonfanti de Barros all the way from Brazil where he trained as a QGP. He is looking forward to meeting other members especially those from Hamilton as he has only just arrived and is yet to acquire a car. His contact details should be posted later in the week, so you can give him a call and arrange a ride if you are a citizen of Tron.

Thanks to Morris Beale for a fearless day on the laptop – closely watched by an attentive Mrs B, he went from zero knowledge  to hero status doing a great job.

I can’t finish without a word of praise for the valiant efforts of  Ian Finlayson, Bob Gray and Tim Bromhead at the recent Taupo contest – lots of flying and lots of eventful outlandings it seems, but a good time was had by all accounts.

In response to a number of requests, well one actually, there is a manual available for the operation of the laptop and timekeeping programme which I will post somewhere on the website in the next day or so and print for the caravan by next weekend.

Finally,

1. I thank Pres. Roger Brown for his words of wisdom and leadership as emailed to us all yesterday. May the club be with you!

2. A huge welcome to our new members Claudio & Felipe, and not forgetting Rob Shuttleworth who also came aboard officially this week. Aren't we are on a roll!

PC

Well, it's all over again. Somehow we managed to fly 11 days of 12. 

Day 8 was good, with a tricky part up north. Doug and I ended up landing out while eveyone else made it home. I was in an airstrip, but forgot the golden rule of "the bin marks the top of the strip" and ended up landing a slight downhill. We managed to stop the glider before the end of the strip by putting a wing down and skidding to a halt, which I was very pleased about because it really was a big drop.

As I put the glider in the trailer I realised the wing had scrapped over something in the field, and caused a big scratch. That night we had the glider checked by engineers for a heavy landing check and confirm the scratch was OK to fly when tapped up. It'll be up to be fixed this week.

The lesson is always land up to the bin when landing at a strip. I wrongly assumemd the strip went up the same as the rest of the hills, but it was actually the other way around. Luckily it was flat top and bottom, just the middle had a slope, and without any flat references I didn't even realise until I was stopped at the bottom.

Day 9 was a tricky day, but somehow I had more trouble than most. I made several attempts to leave the Mangakino region without luck. The task took 4 hours 20, compared to most others 2 to 3 hours.

A standing ovation when I arrived home was nice at 6pm, as everyone was expecting a landout.

Day 10 was a good day. Nice and fast, good cloud bases, and we flew out east over the forests and farmland.

Day 11 was very tricky. A strong south easterly put the airfield in the lee of Tahara. A lot of pilots including myself never got started, or gave up soon after starting. A couple managed to find the wave off Tahara and started the task at 6500 feet which was impressive.

Special congratulations to Bob for being the only person, out of both classes, to make it back home to win the day. Very impressive!

I went to retreive Fin, which turned out to be quite a trip, leaving at 5, arriving back at 10pm. The tradition of people landing out a long way away on the last day continues!

Day by day places:
http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/day-by-day.html 

Final scores:
http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/total/day11.html

Congrats to Steve Wallace, Mike Stathern and Mark Wilson, for 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

For the Matamata Soaring Contest, here are the day by day results:
http://www.soaringspot.com/msc2013/results/open/day-by-day.html

 Congratulations to Pat, Tony and Trevor!

Climbing in the blue with Nigel in his ASW27

The glider perched at the top of the cliff, at the bottom of the airstrip.

Helping derig Fin out past Wharepapa on the last day

Broken axel on the Lebelle after going into a rough paddock. This put Mark out for a day

Another day in paradise, with a tricky day, which had a couple of minor casualites.

A could of entrants, Ross and Adam have departed due to other commitments and a pesky cold.

We also had two incidents to aircraft. The first was Taupo's pawnee going into an airstrip for a retrieve, and having an undercarriage collapse (not the same way as our tow plane).

The second was damage to the wheel hub of the Lebelle going into a field.

Both are hoping to be fixed today, with spare parts available from several sources.

Overall we had 4 from the club class get home, with Steve Wallace winning the day. I managed second place, after getting stuck in a hole at Atiamuri (again) for half an hour. When will I learn to stay out of there?! It took three climbs to get out, but the clouds kept disintegrating on me.

Once we were back on track things improved, but it was easy to miss a needed climb and end up in lots of sink. So staying high was the goal.

I'm amazed at the RASP how accurate it was yesterday. For example, those who flew down the ranges on the west of the lake didn't have much luck. There was better lift between the range and the lake. Which is exaclty what the convergence predicitions show.

Today should be better, with much more steady thermal strengths everywhere, although could be blue around here.

Results http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/daily/day7.html

3pm convergence lines

It wasn't quite as blue as this picture implies :)

In a week full of tabloid ghastlieness I am left with little to offer you by way of a literary treat, but I did discover that it’s very easy to make a complete dickhead of yourself writing newsletters – well, I already have but try this. From a complete plonker by the name of David Ware CEO of Team Talk – a publicly listed company based in Wellington, and for those of you who are cyclists like me I guarantee you will find it a little chilling. In his “Newsletter Issue 59 of Feb 13 he wrote:

"Don’t you just hate cyclists? Sodding road vermin – think weasels in Lycra. I feel the same about cyclists as I do possums – road kill. More than anything it’s their unbridled arrogance that gets up my nose. Unlike the rest of us they don’t pay road user charges or extra ACC premiums. But in spite of being guests on our roads they think they have some god given right to ride wherever they bloody-well please, whenever they please."

He goes on to say “When I’m out on my motorcycle (kind of explains things) my response is to pull up beside them and have a quiet word in their ear. (Let me guess - its a Harley Davidson that makes the permitted exhaust noise level rules a complete joke – and we are supposed to understand what he is saying.)  I generally try and discuss their behaviour but on occasion I discuss their parentage. Invariably they respond by shouting abuse at me while making wild hand gesticulations (those are vertical movements David made whilst apparently holding a cylindrical object – sounds like anchor). It’s time to declare open season.”

Would you work for that man? Would you buy something from that man or his company? I hope his staff expressed their disdain, his customers likewise, and his shareholders their support by turning South..

Possibly, he had been experimenting with the other notable piece of editorial excellence from the same issue,  destined to provide inspiration and leadership to his readers, a recipe for Vodka Jelly. Rumour has it that he and Richard Prosser are mates..... no substance to that but...........

So, when I start writing drivel like that, please feel free to ask for my removal from the post of Winglet Writer, clearly I will have succumbed to something – I just hope it will be something more defining than Vodka Jelly.

Chris – that was for you buddy, just to cheer you up!!!!

Yes, we had a good weekend with a number of trial flights, despite a shaky start to Saturday when borrowed tug PNE failed to fire and left Tracey stuck in a hangar whilst we played “was that the sound of a Pawnee” on the other side of the hills. Sadly one of our visitors missed out on his birthday present, but I’m sure he will be back – they left in good spirits and we thank them for that. I guess it brings home the fact that we depend upon so many things in a gliding club and when something goes out of alignment we realize how fortunate we are, that generally things tick along pretty sweetly.

Both days saw notable flying efforts – Alan Belworthy probably taking the prize for the most hours in the air with the least number of landings. I understand he chalked up 300km on Sunday!! Pieter Bronkhorst had a good long solo flight to further  his solo career, and we had a new arrival looking to join us – Claudio Sala – Julian reports he is as keen as mustard after his first flight on Sunday, so thats great news – keep a lookout for a new face and make sure he gets a Piako welcome. Visiting UK pilot Steve Ansell was there both days as well and seemed to be enjoying himself – until Sunday night.........

I had an amusing Saturday morning when a member rocked up with a coffee in his hand and stood chatting whist I washed 2 gliders and DI’d 1. Seems his coffee cup prohibited any other form of activity from taking place – just a reminder team – we are a club and we all need to pitch in and that way we all get to enjoy ourselves. We don’t employ aircraft washers and duty pilots who are at your beck and call to enable you to pop in, fly, and pop off! Its your club and your fellow members expect you to pitch in – don’t expect civility, warmth and friendship if you can’t be bothered! If you are not sure what is to be done – ask if you can lend a hand – its the way clubs work, friendships grow and the club spirit soars ........

Saving the best until last – I always used to do that with my mashed potato and gravy – Tim has been doing a great job again at the club class contest in Taupo hasn’t he? Bob Gray as been upholding the honour as well and I gather the usual amount of fun has been had around the bar – probably due to the number of land-out crew shouts that the pilots are having to stump up with. Tim’s score so far of interesting landouts seems to be pretty much ahead of the pack, a crash callout resulting in 2 fire engines and a police car, and a landout on a very handy airstrip that had no road access for the crew that had come to get him ....... What’s next??? Keep up the good work guys.

Funny how things work out – I was just about to close this and a mate phoned, asking if I wanted to join him on a bike ride.......... its true! Fortunately its on a Harley free forest trail – but there may be possums!

PC

Two very interesting days. Day 5 had us heading into the blue to the north, which was a lot of fun but a real challenge. Lake and sea breezes were the key feature of the day.

Many landed out on course, and a number landed back. I picked out a lovely airstrip, and had Iggy and Adam retrieve me by car. I quickly realised walking down the track there was no way we were going to get a trailer up there except by helicopter.  They found some farm workers with a 4WD and a farm bike, and drove up the track to find me and check out the strip. After careful analysis by Iggy, we decided it was safe to tow out of thanks to it's 500m length. He then drove back to the airfield, picked up the Pawnee and retreived me the proper way. Back in time for dinner at 8pm.

Yesterday, day 6, was much better with a new airmass arriving from the east, bringing good unstable air making lots of good thermals. We also had lake/sea breeze at the southern turnpoint but everyone made it home OK. Speeds just under 100km/h for the club class, and just over for the open class.
http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/daily/day6.html

The open class Matamata Soaring Contest is a separate contest with scores here:
http://www.soaringspot.com/msc2013/results/open/daily/day2.html 

Today looks a bit cloudy this morning, but improving as the day progresses.

Forest next to the airstrip

People watching people watching Brett fire up the JS1 Jet engine. The motor racing park complained about the noise. Just joking.

Wow, what a great day. Some excellent speeds around the task, about 250km on average.

Scores at:
http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/daily/day4.html

Start was tricky with a strong cold wind from the lake keeping thermals at bay. A number of relights. On task was fine, and then there was a magnificent convergence line up to 7000 feet at the bottom turn point, so that was a lot of fun.

Some pics from on course.

Tarawera looking solid

Convergence. It was way better than being in the lake breeze.

I gave my brother an underwater camera a while back... 7km out from Hahei

A very interesting day today. To Thames and back. Westerlies kept the thermals at bay in a lot of areas, making flying tricky indeed. Some big blue gaps to cross. As Roy said in his blog there were 4 landed out around Atiamuri, 3 into Tokaroa, and 4 landed back and didn't start. Only Steve Wallace made it around the task, which is good as he set it. The ridge was working well.

I caused some drama with my outlanding. A local farmer's wife saw and called the police stating a plane has crashed. The 2 fire trucks that arrived, local fire officer and police that arrived were all good guys, and were pleased there wasn't really an accident. Thanks to Nigel and my friends for being crew for the day!

Scores are up here:
http://www.soaringspot.com/nzclub2013/results/club/daily/day3.html

 It's all very close. Another good day for tomorrow, hopefully a bit easier.

The local rescue crews. One appliance came from Taupo, the other from Tokoroa I believe...

Another happy retrieve crew.

Mmm clouds. There wasn't much after these ones to get back home.