Height Gain

While I was away Maurice climbed to 20,000ft in wave.

You can clearly see where the wave bars were.

Well done. A winter wave climb...I bet it was cold!!!

Back to winter...

Well we have returned from Europe. Pity to leave behind the beautiful weather. It was 26 degrees and sunny as we left London.

The photo attached was taken in the Gardens at Chateau de Versailles (Palace of Versailles). The sky was just stunning. Thermals in all directions in streets heading off over the horizon. Didn't see any gliders.

However I did see plenty of gliding activity in the UK around Cornwall/Salisbury Plains on the way back from Cornwall.

All good fun.

We were presented with a WW1 18 pound shell feagment (the brass fuse end) while we were in Passendale. It gave NZ Customs a heart attack upon returning to NZ and resulted in the Bomb disposal squad blowing it up. This is despite French, UK and Hong Kong Customs taking no interest in it. Closed Auckland Airport for an hour...

100mm's of rain over night and it looks like rubbish weather for the next month so no flying to speak of. Rumour has it some-one in Tauranga achieved a height gain in wave while I was away. Well done. If I can retrieve the flight log I'll post it sometime soon.

Seems the Club (who can not be named) remains intent on allowing hangers to be built next to us on the airport...a decision we will live to regret.

The weathers Poo...

I have no idea when they get to go gliding up here in London Town. The weather has been rather grey and wet. But what else should I have expected??? So rather than look up at the sky we have been to; Buck Palace, Changing of the Guard, Science Museum, Vic and Al Museum, Globe Theatre, heaps of bridges, Bond Street, Pic Circus, Oxford Circus, Harrods (and brought something...), St Paul's, the pub (numerous times), Portrait museum, Hyde Park, St James Park, Green Park, Holland Park (so we could commune with the squirrels)... The science museum had a Circus hanging from the ceiling along with Spitfires, Hurricanes, and a heap of WW1 fighters. And just to add to the whole London experience the underground has gone on strike...so lot's of walking. Today we depart for Cornwall by train.

Sunny Blighty...

Yeah right...arrived in London to 11 degrees and light rain. Great to be back thou.

Caught up with family members, lunch at a nice wee spot in town and some sightseeing.

Next 5 days will be spent looking around some old and new spots in greater London and if time allows a trip out to either Booker or Lasham.

I'm out of here...

At least for the next 3 weeks.

Off to the UK and France to visit friends, attend a wedding, and visit the battle and grave sites of the NZ Division in the Somme in WW1.

Did you know NZ's worst day in any war was early Oct 1917 when 850 men were killed in a morning near Passendale. All for 200 meters...thanks General Haig.

Get this...the bed and breakfast place we are staying at (near Ypres) is owned by a dairy farmer who is a glider pilot. Way hay...Guess what we will be talking about with our hosts???

Updates from the other hemisphere...if I get the chance.

GNZ Strategic Plan???

I opened the plan with a great expectation that the $80,000 we members put towards GNZ had delivered a "Way forward" to grow NZ membership.

Imagine my disappointment when I realised all that the plan covered was what we had done in the past. It's a STRATEGIC PLAN guys...think of it as a Roadmap for the future aspirations of us poor folk who fund the $80,000.

What's more we get to see it 2 weeks before the GNZ AGM at which I'm guessing the Exec want clubs to "sign off" on it...well bullocks to that.

I mightn't know much but I do know we've got to do better than this!!!

We need some well thought out goals and targets...1000 members by 2012 for example

We need a marketing plan...that brings together the magazine, the website, the clubs' programs, promotional activities, contests etc.

We need to take on Airways Head-on...ask for a Judicial Review of the next airspace theft and see whether recreational users are being treated fairly. How about asking why airways needs $100 million a year to control airspace and wants more???

What happened to the Centres of Excellence??? We could base Youth Glide around them...

Well I feel better getting that off my chest...however it still doesn't excuse this very poor effort.

Da Queens weather...

It might be possible to soar like a goose today... If wind drops to less than 10 knots, if the temp gets to 14 degrees or more, and if the T-phi graph has any accuracy. Expect thermals upto to 4500-5000ft but with small fast cycle clouds. If it does develop go south not west as the Waikato looks totally blue.