Maybe Sunday...maybe not.

Saturday doesn't look too crash hot. The front due to cross tonight has slowed down so I'm guessing it'll be a late day tomorrow or no day at all. Maybe a broken wave/ridge afternoon with passing instability...showers. Sunday on the other-hand looks better. Light southerlies and maybe enough instability to form a few thernals. We're past any notions of long thermal tasks...the days are too short and therefore no enough heat on the ground. However a wee float around the local area might be enjoyable.

There are better Turbo's about...

And Self-launchers. All this for just $21,000...

Raising Money...

Yip...it's underway. However you would think that targetting the low hanging fruit would be the first appraoch. Twice now I have suggested the committee sell the 2 180hp engines we own...I have even offered to list them on trademe at my expense...nothing was forthcoming. There is currently a 160hp engine for $15,000 and a 200hp one for $28,000...go figure.

Good ideas always deserve support...

I see one of our members has had a bright idea...let's hold a aerobatic training and competition. It's new, it provides an opportunity to get the club some local profile, it's easily viewable by the general public, we can probably get support for fuel, landing charges and the like, and it could be an anchor to generate some funding ideas for the new glider. So it's with some disappointment that I hear a muted response from our committee. They sent him off to the Instructors Panel probably hoping he'd lose enthusiasm...cos cake stalls and raffles sound like a much more exciting way to raise money and build profile...yeah right. I hope I'm wrong...

Saturday Forecast

Hmmm....the squiggly lines are forecasting a 3500ft cloud bases and probably mostly blue. Light to moderate SW winds. Probably some wave but will be blue as well as ridge. Not sure what I'll do today. It's already blowing 12 knots SW at the mount.

It will be soarable...

I'm guessing it will be a thermal/ridge day tomorrow. If anyone needs to do a quick 300km on the ridge then tomorrow could be it!! You'll probably need to tow to the ridge or else you'll waste too much time trying to cross over. Forecast in the morning...

Another Airstrip

This one was being used this morning by Derek Williams in ZK-JAA. Once again land from the north and it's a bit narrow. 37, 49, 102 by 176, 07, 674. 730ft AMSL.

Airstrips

Taumata Rd

For those who are interested both airstrips I used yesterday are great land out options. In both case land from the North, especially the strip on Taumata Rd. If you click on the photo and look behind the glider you'll get an idea of the slope. Flat-ish at the bottom of the strip with a up slope near the southern end.

37.53.322 - 176.07.381 1400ft AMSL

Burd Rd

37.51.219 - 176.10.217

1100ft AMSL

So...what happened???

Well the squiggly lines were right...cloud base was indeed 6000ft. Problem was the sea breeze (which I hadn't factored in...) was faster. By the time I launched I couldn't get in front of it.

Got to my old favourite strip at Burd Rd (upper Oropi) at 2300ft and hung around for a while hoping something would happen. Decided it was a hopeless cause, called Tga ATC and let them (and everybody else know) I was landing out, and then wouldn't you know it I stumbled into a weak thermal.

1 knot to start with, building to a huge 2 knots and tailing off to 0.2 knots at 3000ft. At 3000ft I could see our strip on Taumata Rd, which was closer to the convergence (but not close enough), headed towards home and landed out. Had a nice cuppa with the team on the farm before Brett arrived with the trailer.

Interestingly, I was 5-600ft above the strip when I hit the thermal...would I have fired up a turbo by then??

10th April

Cool temps forecast for today. Light SE-SW winds. Squiggly lines has cloud base at 6000ft but probably blue. May be some small cloud build ups. I'm not expecting strong thermals.

If it's looking good at 12 O'clock I'll give it a go.

Yesterday

It looked like a stunner from Auckland. I thinking today will be just as good. Pity I stuck here in the big smoke. Called into Sailplane Services...one Duo almost rebuilt, and ASH25 almost finished, an ASW20 almost finished. They'll all be ready for the winter. Talked new Duo's in general terms with the locals for awhile...if the weather holds for the weekend I'm game for one last flight before the winter

1100 hrs

Log book ticked over 1100 hrs... 450 hrs in my little Discus. 135 hours in either a ASW20 or ASW27. 200 hours in the club's Janus. 15 hours in Duo's - Omarama mostly... 190 hours based in Omarama. 290 hours out of Matamata. 50 hours out of Taupo.

An OK day for a short X-country Flight.

190 kms.

Piako's DiscusB GXP turned up...joined up and flew up to the swamp.

Cloud base was 5000ft. Started off quite well but over=developed later on. Sea breezes around the coast with light winds.

Autumn is here

Last night at sunset...

Damn it...got that wrong.

Well if I'd been a bit more patient I would have had a good day. Turns out Friday had good thermals on this side of the hill.

Today. Similiar to yesterday although slightly lower cloud base (5000ft) and if the wind turns easterly some showers might appear last time. I'm busy with family stuff...wouldn't you know it...

Update...

It ain't heating up so the low cloud ain't burning off. Oh well...time to chop some firewood.

Easter friday

Light winds...mostly from the NE. Unusally this is producing an OK day. Once the lower cloud has burnt off I'm expecting thermals to 5-5500ft in the afternoon...assuming the temperature goes to 20plus degrees. If it gets too high (more than 24 degrees) then the day will turn totally blue. However watching the sky over the last few days it looked quite good in the Waikato.

Task - Tga to Te Kuiti and back. Remember we need another 450kms of X-Country flights...

Would a turbo be of any help? Interestingly I turned down 2 X-country flights from a Motor-glider because they essentially climbed out of Tga and then glided straight to Matamata where they "flamed up" and then did a reasonable distance. Sorry guys but a 35kms glide from Poripori to Matamata doesn't cut the mustard. Re-starting at Matamata doesn't class as a Tauranga based x-Country flight. So we are still 450kms short of the target.