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 2nd 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 3rd 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 4th 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
