Younger people are so so much more enthusastic...
5 days of Youth glide 2013 was good fun...
People wanted to beat each others times on the ridge, we had a new record set (womens 100km out and return), we had a land-out in a Janus, lots of circuits, lots of helpers to rig and de-rig gliders...a desire to get double tow ratings etc etc
All great stuff. And all this with fairly average gliding conditions...
Ideas...like running a youth contest alongside the multi-class nationals...a good use for PW5's...
It's hugely encouraging to sit in the back seat of a Duo while a 16 year old pre-solo pilot averages 166 kph on the 100km Speed Task.
So that's about it for me this season...only 70 hours...of which only 5 were at Tauranga.
Mile stones...sold a DiscusCS, brought a re-built Duo, and a part of a JS1.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Zipping along the ridge.
A Kaimai ridge week is the ideal setup for a youth glide week. Plenty of fun. The Janus GNN will feature in the record books as two young ladies set a new 2 seat 100kph NZ record. Life in the old dog yet.
Speaking of old dogs...I sat in the back seat of GYL while two pilots blazed up and down the 100 km speed challnge course. First run averaged 150 kph...not bad for Hamish...who is yet to go solo (but oh so close). And the second run with Johno averaged 166 kph...
I left early so perhaps even faster times were achieved...
Speaking of old dogs...I sat in the back seat of GYL while two pilots blazed up and down the 100 km speed challnge course. First run averaged 150 kph...not bad for Hamish...who is yet to go solo (but oh so close). And the second run with Johno averaged 166 kph...
I left early so perhaps even faster times were achieved...
Photos below are the girls on the the record attempt.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
18 meter class here we come...
Doesn't look anything like a Discus...and with the leave blower going it fair scoots along.
For April a 5 knot climb isn't too bad.
Certainly a different wing profile from GNM.
Monday, April 8, 2013
A Mad Hatter
Thanks to the Taupo Gliding Club who greeted our 100km Walking Team at 11pm on Saturday night. The clubs theme was "Alice in Wonderland". The chap who brought GNM was the Mad Hatter...so well done I didn't recognise him...
The club was checkpoint 4 on the OxFam 100km charity walk.
From the club the team headed off on a 20km section from 11pm to 3am Sunday morning. Over the farm land to the west of the club, under the new motorway, alongside the Waikato River up to the Aratiatia Dam and back down to Wairakei...CP 5.
1200 people started and almost all finished. Fastest was 12 hours, not sure who was slowest.
Now for some recovery time.
The club was checkpoint 4 on the OxFam 100km charity walk.
From the club the team headed off on a 20km section from 11pm to 3am Sunday morning. Over the farm land to the west of the club, under the new motorway, alongside the Waikato River up to the Aratiatia Dam and back down to Wairakei...CP 5.
1200 people started and almost all finished. Fastest was 12 hours, not sure who was slowest.
Now for some recovery time.
Friday, April 5, 2013
A cockpit smaller than a Ventus A
Squeezed into something smaller than a PW5, that's goes around corners faster than a Discus, and self-launches from 0 to 100kph in 4 seconds...
Can I fit is this???
Yip...but only just...
Let's go...
200 and something kph...red lines at 8500rpm...but at 7000rpm your socks get blown off...
And it goes around corners faster than anything I've driven...
But at a slower pace...
Saw this Falcon over the back from Q'town on the way to the top of Mt Ben Lomond. A practise walk for this weekends 100km OxFam.
Monday, April 1, 2013
The curtain falls..
On another gliding season.
There will be a few thermals days and plenty of ridge flying available on the Kaimai's but for all intents and purposes the real summer as come to an end...which is how it should be.
Highs and lows;
Only 60 hours this summer, mostly in Omarama and Matamata.
And, for me, a very poor contest season. Between average flying and work intruding on the Club Class Nationals and Regionals I can count on one hand the number of good contest days.
Omarama this summer was below average with lots of wind, low cloud bases and even snow.
Did my duty day on Saturday. Sat about for 6 hours to do 2 flights...although I must say that the success of the mid-week evening training program means that the weekends will suffer from a lack of students. That's great because a single instructor can manage the schedule with one arm tied behind his/her back...
But on the other hand, I sold GNM in 1 week. Must be a record. And it's gone to a chap who seems thrilled to be getting up and away.
I have paid a deposit on a replacement glider...one that makes heaps of noise, isn't speed limited with the engine up, and is 18 meters. I let you guess what brand. Long term I think the 15 meter/Standard Class will wind down as no manufacturers are putting any resources into development. Further, the powers that be saw fit to develop a 13.5 meter class...why???
I also brought a share in a Duo...although I haven't had the time to fly it.
However I can spend the winter reading up on butterfly Vario's, Flarm and ClearNav.
Youth Glide - finally it appears to be taking shape in a format that I think has a reasonable chance of success. It's being driven by a few younger, sharper and enthused people... I've even enrolled my daughter in the week...although how committed she will be I'm not sure...dance, surfing, long boarding, skiing and school seem to get in the way. We can only but try...
And why has work got in the way??? Two company mergers are the main reason. My New Years wish was to get both mergers over the line before March. Farmlands/CRT was far easier than the Kiwifruit merger. But logic prevailed.
However out of the process I learnt something important. Dissent is not to be avoided. I am/was a Director of all the companies involved. With both mergers we had directors who opposed the plan and appeared to work counter-productively in the background. It's frustrating and time consuming.
I've heard people refer to it as "bad behaviour" or "value-distructive"...and it can be...BUT...the process and the outcome can be better because of it. In both cases I believe the dissenting directors were wrong in their logic and arguments...but that doesn't matter. "Groupthink" is a far far more dangerous and insidious condition, whether it be in clubs, companies, your own business, or a country (think Germany in the 1930's...or even America in 2003). Male dominated company boards, and a male dominated gliding movement doesn't make for good listeners.
Looking ahead...next summer will be truncated for me as I'm off to Canada for the ski season. We've found a house just out of Banff which has 4 ski fields within an hour. The house comes with a car...so Fernie and Revelstroke will also be on the hit list. Xmas in the snow...albeit minus 20 degrees or lower.
By the time I get back all the contests will have finished.
Phew...that was a long ramble...with no photos....
There will be a few thermals days and plenty of ridge flying available on the Kaimai's but for all intents and purposes the real summer as come to an end...which is how it should be.
Highs and lows;
Only 60 hours this summer, mostly in Omarama and Matamata.
And, for me, a very poor contest season. Between average flying and work intruding on the Club Class Nationals and Regionals I can count on one hand the number of good contest days.
Omarama this summer was below average with lots of wind, low cloud bases and even snow.
Did my duty day on Saturday. Sat about for 6 hours to do 2 flights...although I must say that the success of the mid-week evening training program means that the weekends will suffer from a lack of students. That's great because a single instructor can manage the schedule with one arm tied behind his/her back...
But on the other hand, I sold GNM in 1 week. Must be a record. And it's gone to a chap who seems thrilled to be getting up and away.
I have paid a deposit on a replacement glider...one that makes heaps of noise, isn't speed limited with the engine up, and is 18 meters. I let you guess what brand. Long term I think the 15 meter/Standard Class will wind down as no manufacturers are putting any resources into development. Further, the powers that be saw fit to develop a 13.5 meter class...why???
I also brought a share in a Duo...although I haven't had the time to fly it.
However I can spend the winter reading up on butterfly Vario's, Flarm and ClearNav.
Youth Glide - finally it appears to be taking shape in a format that I think has a reasonable chance of success. It's being driven by a few younger, sharper and enthused people... I've even enrolled my daughter in the week...although how committed she will be I'm not sure...dance, surfing, long boarding, skiing and school seem to get in the way. We can only but try...
And why has work got in the way??? Two company mergers are the main reason. My New Years wish was to get both mergers over the line before March. Farmlands/CRT was far easier than the Kiwifruit merger. But logic prevailed.
However out of the process I learnt something important. Dissent is not to be avoided. I am/was a Director of all the companies involved. With both mergers we had directors who opposed the plan and appeared to work counter-productively in the background. It's frustrating and time consuming.
I've heard people refer to it as "bad behaviour" or "value-distructive"...and it can be...BUT...the process and the outcome can be better because of it. In both cases I believe the dissenting directors were wrong in their logic and arguments...but that doesn't matter. "Groupthink" is a far far more dangerous and insidious condition, whether it be in clubs, companies, your own business, or a country (think Germany in the 1930's...or even America in 2003). Male dominated company boards, and a male dominated gliding movement doesn't make for good listeners.
Looking ahead...next summer will be truncated for me as I'm off to Canada for the ski season. We've found a house just out of Banff which has 4 ski fields within an hour. The house comes with a car...so Fernie and Revelstroke will also be on the hit list. Xmas in the snow...albeit minus 20 degrees or lower.
By the time I get back all the contests will have finished.
Phew...that was a long ramble...with no photos....
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