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....