Nelson Lakes (Feb 20th to 1st March)

I trekked north for my annual Nelson Lakes flying camp. This time the actual week was the National Club Class Champs but we were welcome to fly at the same time if we could launch before or after the grid. I arrived a few days earlier and flew/helped with the end of the Ab Initio course. Pete and Kerry Jackson came for the main week and we shared a classic kiwi bach at St Arnaud along with Kevin from Chch.

We had pretty good weather, flying most days and generally having 3-5hr flights in the mountains, doing 200-300km flights. Although sunny we did have a low level inversion for a few days which prevented the higher thermals being about until later in the day. However the ridges worked and we spent a lot of time at or below ridgeline...very exciting and spectacular when deep in the heads of the Spenser's long and winding valleys!

Spenser Mountains after a wee dusting of snow

The Champs were interesting too. We were all impressed with how the "youngsters" cleaned up the top 3 places despite having no previous experience flying in the somewhat daunting location. Dan Dickinson was a clear 1st place flying a Libelle, followed by Nick Oakly (2nd) and Alex Mccaw (3rd).

I did 30 hours flying which exceeds the driving (22hrs) so the trip rates as successful!