I know, its an unexpected re-appearance out of obscurity, and no, I have not discovered the elusive fountain of youth, but it has to be done .I am privileged to be lending a hand at the first Youthglide camp at Matamata and I just cannot stay silent !
First off though a comment on the clubs weekend - rather ignominious regrettably.
Saturday saw a full duty team turn out and ready themselves, only to find they were the only bods on the airfield (virtually anyway) and there were no pilots in sight! They packed up , as you would, and cancelled the day.
Sunday, Land-out barbeque day, and the difficult choice had to be made - ON or OFF. ON was the call so I scurried down and got the barbie going with lots of help from Bill &Jan. Dave Muckle busied himself with a BFR flight, Robin Britton, Steven Care and Tony Petch in attendance, and the the wait was was on!
Having declared a midday start, it semed only fair at 1:30, to go and get the team from the caravan, who were dodging showers by this time, and ask for their help in reducing the pile of patties and sausages that were looking for a new home. Yes, it was a party organizers nightmare - nobody came!! I did have two messages come in however, and it seemed the day was just too bad where they were to think about a bbq, which I completely understood, but there we were - flying!!! Sun even at one stage.
However, once the buns had gone we high-tailed it to the caravan and packed up ahead of an ominous sky and as the last glider was put away, it came down upon us!
So we were unable to personally thank our farming community for the fabulous receptions they always give us, but do keep a look-out for them, as I have a feeling they may drop in on us as so many of them were so genuinely delighted to hear from us. Without them and their receptive attitude towards us, we would not have a sport. So take every opportunity to thank them and show our appreciation for their hospitality.
Now to Monday and Day one of Youthglide camp April 2013!!!! Who better to tell youth than the particpants themselves and to do this I hand the keyboard to Enya McPherson - who made the mistake of telling me how much she loves writing ...............
Its exciting being part of the first Youth Glide camp at Matamata, with 9 students currently, however, increasing to 13 by the end of the week we are sure keeping the instructors on their toes! Monday began with a breifing from Steven Care on area famil to get us all used to the new gliding enviroment, as well as an introduction on the camp from Bill Mace, a huge amount of organising has gone into this week and Bill is the man to thank! Along with everyone else involved in the planning, its no one man game and a huge amount of time, support and sponsorship has gone into the camp already.
We were all dodging rain showers most of the morning and had briefings on what we were going to be doing up in the air that day. Four of us are working towards our B Certificates and with little wind, our instructors decided brakes jammed open or closed would be a good exercise. Two 4 minute circuits with my brakes being 'jammed open' as I completed my pre landing checks deemed I could proficienctly land if it ever happenend for real. Carter Cree and Campbell McIver also practiced these exercises and are well on their way to achieving their B certificates.The pre-solo pilots practiced some circuits before calling it a day at the end of civil twilight. Paul even googled it, before telling us we had 37 minutes of day light left! We sure made the most of the last few tows and had a total of 11 flights that day.
Tuesday morning, we had a lecture on Human Factors with Russell Thorne from Auckland, which we all found really interesting and kind of scary to think 80% of accidents are caused by human error! After taking everything he said on board we all headed out to rig a couple of new additions to this weeks gliding fleet, - a Single Astir and a Duo Discus. Again, dodging the rain showers we were all ready to launch just before another rain band came through, we managed a few flights before midday and then started again after Jan Mace and her cooking expertise looked after us during lunch. A total of 14 flights today ranging from circuit times to just under an hour an a half for Oliver Roberts, who managed to get the ridge working with Bill Mace. A good day had by all, with lots more signatures on everyones A and B certificates.
Bring on the rest of the weeks soaring!
We are going to be holding a final dinner starting at 6:00pm on Saturday evening 27 April with Abbey Delore speaking about her experiences with Youth Glide. Those interested in coming along, please contact Bill or Jan at the club before Friday night.
Enya
My thanks to Enya - keep coming back for her daily updates. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday night!!
Cheers
PC
