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| Looking south over Old Woman Range |
The AGM and dinner at Chatto Creek was very pleasant.
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
28th July 2013
We all had an early start so had time to land and de-rig in time for the AGM. There was wave about but heck it was hard to get to. Most of us had 2 tows, and when found the climbs were slow until above cloud base. Above about 10,000 it was blowing 30kts SW and producing up to 6kts of lift. Jack and Pete did about 3 hours in JW, John managed 2hrs in KG, and Phil and Vivienne also flew. Thanks to Russell for towing.
The AGM and dinner at Chatto Creek was very pleasant.
The AGM and dinner at Chatto Creek was very pleasant.
Monday, 22 July 2013
Sunday 21st July: Jack goes solo!
There was nice wave above the airfield from early in the day. Jack however needed a string of short flights first, and odd things occurred...like the instructor pulled the bung early, then on another flight Russell waved him off early, and finally John insisted on a few spins. Jack was probably relieved when John got out and let him fly in peace on his own! Congratulations Jack on your first solo!
John's mate Kev ran the wing all day. Kev was ex Nelson GC so John took him up to experience the local wave. Russell towed them directly to the obvious secondary behind the Dunstans at they were quickly up at 13K exploring the district in the remaining hour of daylight. Upper winds were pretty light making the Dunstan wave easy to play-in with multiple bounces downwind. The Old Man wave was there but not working too well in the more northerly wind, plus it was snowing above 10,000' on and off.
ERW was busy AM with Matt and Steve W. flying, and Stephen Morton late PM. Geoff and Steve W. also flew microlight RLS for an hour during the day. Thanks to Nick for instruction and Russell for the towing.
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| Nice easy wave! |
John's mate Kev ran the wing all day. Kev was ex Nelson GC so John took him up to experience the local wave. Russell towed them directly to the obvious secondary behind the Dunstans at they were quickly up at 13K exploring the district in the remaining hour of daylight. Upper winds were pretty light making the Dunstan wave easy to play-in with multiple bounces downwind. The Old Man wave was there but not working too well in the more northerly wind, plus it was snowing above 10,000' on and off.
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| ...the ground looks wet! |
Sunday, 7 July 2013
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Sunday 30th June
Kerry J arrived for annuals on JW, KG and VH (Roland's LS6). Phil and Jack worked on JW and Pete and John weighed KG. We launched about noon with Gary towing JW (Alan and Doug ) up to the wave cloud in the lee of the Old Man. They were followed by John, Phil, Vivienne and Pete, all flying their single-seaters, all towed to the same spot. The last flight was Jack and Doug, again in JW.
The wave was good in a narrow height band, but the upper winds fell above 10,000 which made high climbs difficult. The Garvie wave was followed into Southland by John, and Pete took the Nevis wave to Kingston. The Dunstans had poor wave but we all checked it out anyway. We derigged in the dusk and after a quick beer headed to Monteiths for dinner.
So OK westerly wave, we all had good flights.Thanks to Gary for tows, Doug for instruction, and Kerry for coming down all the way to do our annuals! Do anyone take some pics?
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| Phil in KJ on tow. |
The wave was good in a narrow height band, but the upper winds fell above 10,000 which made high climbs difficult. The Garvie wave was followed into Southland by John, and Pete took the Nevis wave to Kingston. The Dunstans had poor wave but we all checked it out anyway. We derigged in the dusk and after a quick beer headed to Monteiths for dinner.
So OK westerly wave, we all had good flights.Thanks to Gary for tows, Doug for instruction, and Kerry for coming down all the way to do our annuals! Do anyone take some pics?
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Sunday 23rd gliding
There was a strong SW at ridge height and the Old Man wave was working from low levels (although not that low John...I needed a relight!). Russell towed us to a rotor over the Lower Fraser and we climbed quickly to 12000' or so. Pete reported some severe turbulence at 8000' and the wind did shift to almost direct south at this altitude. Phil zipped up and down to between Roxburgh and Cromell, and John took a brief climb to FL175 (and -20C) to top the highest of the lennies, and Jack and Doug did 2hrs excellent training in JW.
Pete has some very good pics at his Picasa Album
Pete has some very good pics at his Picasa Album
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| South down Rox. Gorge from 17000' |
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| Ice on spar! |
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| Jack in JW (Doug's pic) |
Saturday, 22 June 2013
AGM reminder
The plan is Chatto Creek Sunday 28th July. 530 AGM, 630 drinks, and 700 for dinner. Contact Steve for more info.
Monday, 17 June 2013
Sunday 9th June
After a string of wet Sundays it was nice to have a warm and sunny day for flying. Soaring was however not going to happen this time of year unless it was windy enough for wave (which it wasn't). We met at noon and John instructed Jack with 5 flights. Phil did find a couple of rising bubbles when flying KJ and he was airborne for 35 minutes. Thanks to Gary for tows and Pete for winch driving.
ERW has been busy lately. Nick has been instructing several new members including Matt and Neil on Sunday. Matt actually went solo on Sunday after barely a week's instruction...well done indeed to Matt and Nick!
Stephen Morton had a pleasant flight in ERW late PM, sharing the cabin with Finn, another new member ex Taieri now living in Cromwell.
Sunday 19th May
The weather did not deter us, and despite a low cloud base JW was kept busy all afternoon. Jack had training flights with Pete, John and Doug, and in between Allen flew with Pete. Markers were set out for a 180m long 'paddock', and Vivienne was heartened to find that she could still land the HP18 short, both attempts stopping VB well within the area - good practice on an unsoarable day. Many thanks to Gary for spending his afternoon towing!
Sunday 12th May
We've not had a lot of flying recently due to poor weather. This Sunday however was a lovely warm autumn day with just a possibility of wave in the forecast. The sky remained blue all day, but wave was found late in the day. We started with stacking the season's firewood in the clubrooms (thanks to Gary and Russell for supplying).
Jack had an instructional flight with Pete initally. Phil and Vivienne had shortish flights to start off with but did find encouraging hints of wave. Doug and Jack had another go in JW and found wave over the Fraser and could hold 3-4000'. Viv joined them and they had about 2 hours pleasant soaring. Pete went biking and John returned from his bike ride (it was a nice day!). John rigged KG quickly, launched at 1545(!) and joined VB and JW who were still marking the very localised wave. The wave improved and John took it to 10,000' with a quick explore south before landing after sunset. We retired for a beer and started burning the new firewood. The day's soaring would have been impossible using the winch. Many thanks to Russell for aerotowing.
After a string of wet Sundays it was nice to have a warm and sunny day for flying. Soaring was however not going to happen this time of year unless it was windy enough for wave (which it wasn't). We met at noon and John instructed Jack with 5 flights. Phil did find a couple of rising bubbles when flying KJ and he was airborne for 35 minutes. Thanks to Gary for tows and Pete for winch driving.
ERW has been busy lately. Nick has been instructing several new members including Matt and Neil on Sunday. Matt actually went solo on Sunday after barely a week's instruction...well done indeed to Matt and Nick!
Stephen Morton had a pleasant flight in ERW late PM, sharing the cabin with Finn, another new member ex Taieri now living in Cromwell.
Sunday 19th May
The weather did not deter us, and despite a low cloud base JW was kept busy all afternoon. Jack had training flights with Pete, John and Doug, and in between Allen flew with Pete. Markers were set out for a 180m long 'paddock', and Vivienne was heartened to find that she could still land the HP18 short, both attempts stopping VB well within the area - good practice on an unsoarable day. Many thanks to Gary for spending his afternoon towing!
Sunday 12th May
We've not had a lot of flying recently due to poor weather. This Sunday however was a lovely warm autumn day with just a possibility of wave in the forecast. The sky remained blue all day, but wave was found late in the day. We started with stacking the season's firewood in the clubrooms (thanks to Gary and Russell for supplying).
Jack had an instructional flight with Pete initally. Phil and Vivienne had shortish flights to start off with but did find encouraging hints of wave. Doug and Jack had another go in JW and found wave over the Fraser and could hold 3-4000'. Viv joined them and they had about 2 hours pleasant soaring. Pete went biking and John returned from his bike ride (it was a nice day!). John rigged KG quickly, launched at 1545(!) and joined VB and JW who were still marking the very localised wave. The wave improved and John took it to 10,000' with a quick explore south before landing after sunset. We retired for a beer and started burning the new firewood. The day's soaring would have been impossible using the winch. Many thanks to Russell for aerotowing.
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| View from 10,000' |
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