First Weekend in September..

Looks like a ripper. Actually if the front clears off early enough on Friday it'll be a record ridge day.
Saturday has decreasing SW winds and thermals.
Sunday has less wind.

The forecast beyond sunday (and maybe including Sunday as well) is for a grubby High Pressure.
That's a new term..I think what they mean is cloud being dragged into the system. In the summer we sometimes call it anti-cyclonic gloom.
It is always present during contest weeks.
Just when you think we will get nice clear, hot and still afternoon all this grey murky stuff arrives...

Club Scholarship

Our highly talented marketing team have put together a scholarship plan so cunning that by Xmas we'll be rolling in cash...so much cash that various members have set their sights on the following glider -

And just when we got all excited...the chief organiser popped our balloon suggesting we might be better looking at this...

Or even this...

All jokes aside...it appears that the Scholarship Plan is shaping up very very well...excellent stuff.

OMG...I'll have to be responsible...bugger!!

GNZ's webmaster has put a link from the official GNZ website - http://www.gliding.co.nz/ - to my blog.

I'll have to be extra extra careful what I say...as you will have noticed I've only been marginally careful to date...

But don't panic...I'm sure frustration will get the better of me from time to time...

For those who actually go gliding...the weekend might be OK. Light SW are forecast...maybe we might get a thermal/ridge day. I'd better go inflate the main tyre on GNM...last time I flew 160 litres of water plus me and my stuff made the bottom of the tyre flatter than the top...

Kaimai Challenge - Sunday

This is proving quite hard to forecast.
MetVUW forecasts look promising but the offical State Weather forecaster is predicting heavy rain...go figure.

6500ft winds

I'll have a quizz tonight before I head off to the mountain.

It won't be a fast fast weekend but you can still see weather you are faster than anybody else in a lighter day.

Hey Mr Edwards...here's a real beaut...

Nice and bright...
Trailer just the way you like them...unpainted grey alloy...
Price is cheap at the current exchange rate...
Lots of spare bits laying about the place...
A bargain...

While I'm at it...that track you sent me of GXT...it hasn't appeared on the official Kaimai Challenge site...you might want to post it to Edouard (actually Tim is filling in for Edouard as he is over the seas)...or perhaps you don't want to admit the Little Discus beat the Big Discus by 30kph.

Speaking of the Kaimai Challenge...the next offical day is this Sunday. The weather is looking a bit "iffy"...I'll generate a forecast and a "Go/No Go" on Thursday night.

There'll be no sign of GNM this weekend...I'm off skiing.

Friday forecast

Tomorrow looks OK (now today...)
Cloud bases of 5-6000ft in the Waikato 12-3pm.
A little lower over this side of the Kaimai's but high enough to get over the hill.
Light-ish winds predominately Southerly.
Maybe a bit of Over-development over any high ground...so be careful coming home.

Update...looks like the forecast was about right...exept for the overdevelopment

I'm busy and in Canterbury over the weekend I haven't looked any further out but Sat/Sun could be OK as well...

Sunday in Review

We had a great afternoon..well almost everybody. The drivers of GBO may choose to disagree.

The fastest raw speed was the mighty Discus 2ct...204kph. That's quite quick.
Put another way that's 29 minutes to complete the 100.7 kms.
Once handicaps are applied it changes things a little bit.
In fact if I had declared the task in my Cambridge before we launched I'm reliably informed it would have been a NZ record. Maybe next time although Sunday had quite exceptional weather conditions.

So where did we fly and how did the task line up??

Clearly we got the start/finish line and the top Turnpoint about right. The niffy thing about the top T/P was you could approach at speed, pull up and drift into the vector as you turned. It was also handy that as you looked down in the turn, you could clearly see the bottom of the airstrip.

The start line was 2.5 kms either side of the start point. This caused a little confusion as if you wished to claim a record it needs to be 500 meters either side of the start/finish point. It should be remembered that the speed challange organisers wanted to make the task as simple as possible with as few rules as is necessary...so if you want to use the task for a record attempt you might wish to check what else you need to do to conform to the rules...like declaring the task before you launch.

However just because Sunday's times were so fast doesn't mean the Speed Challenge is a done deal...keep in mind that we are running the contest "On the Day"...so in 2 weeks time if the day is a light ridge day with thermals there will still be a winner...even if the times are only 110kph.
In fact more skill will be required to go fast on a weak day with ridge induced thermals...

Great fun.

Next Challenge day will be Sunday 28th...be there or be square...

"Go or No Go" decision will be made on Thursday 25th.

No Snow...BUT...

We had plenty of fun.
I counted 11 gliders on the ridge at one point...including 4 Duo's. Even Tauranga's GXT made it across after a long tow into wind. And for the record a little Discus with water is an even match for the Duo with 2 pilots and a motor...it might even be faster...
Unfortunately only 3 Duo's landed back as one ended up upside down in a tree...both pilots were OK but that may not be true of the Duo.

It took until about 1pm for the sky to clear properly...then it was all on.
Wind was 230-245 degrees at 20-38 knots. Perfect for fast times on the Kaimai ridge.
Tracks and times will appear in due course on the MSC site - http://msc.powersite.co.nz/kaimai-speed-challenge/
Seems a lot of times were posted at 30-35 minutes for the 100 kms. That would give an average speed of almost 200kph. Not bad.
I'm not sure I could go much faster...hitting bumps at 125 knots isn't a lot of fun for either me or my little bit of glass.

Sorry about the crap photo's...trying to fly at 100 plus knots, hold a camera and keep a good lookout is a bit beyond my skills. I ended up with a lot of blur's that were probably a glider, or a scrtach on my canopy.

Those with sharp eyes will notice this is not GXT but GDX...looks just the same in the air.

So all in all a good start to the season.

Ever wanted to glide in the snow???

Today is the day...
Speed challange today...we are going to give it a go...
Winds look like they might be a little too southerly for an ideal day, but who cares, the ridge will work and later in the afternoon it'll snow as well...yipee
Now how much water can I squeeze in the Discus???

Roy...I booked your glider (see below)...personally I'd have take the truck in the background instead...

Is it a pretty colour...

Piako disappears from view...

literally...

Forecast for tomorrow. It might just be OK...assuming Piako re-appears...

I've just put my batteries on the charger...I'll try to get the trailer out of the garage later today...and I have to find all the other stuff...I haven't seen the parachute in a month of Sundays

Sunday...Kaimai challange

Maybe...looks like the winds will be slowly moving from S to SW during the afternoon. The upper winds will move a little slower.
So will the ridge be useable of Sunday...dunno...at this stage.

I'll have a look tomorrow.

London Calling...

Photos from a BBC reporter on the scene...

Speed Challange and Gliders for Mr Edwards

Looks like sunday will be a NoGo...sorry folks. There was a glimmer of hope late yesterday but by this morning that had been snuffed out. The winds will be South to South East...no good for the Kaimai Ridge.
If, in the unlikely event, the forecasts are wrong (heaven forbid) I will head over for a "practise" day. It'll be GNM's first outing in 5 months...

Found this little pearl of a glider for Mr Edwards...it maybe older than he is...only US$6500...of which $6499 are owed to the Chinese...

Looks like the ridge will come early....

Tomorrow perhaps. Apparently there is a tow plane available from lunchtime tomorrow for anybody keen to give the Kaimai Speed challange a nudge.

Me...I'm still focused on the white stuff...

The days are getting longer...

I know it doesn't feel like it but on the shortest day the sun rose at 7.30am and set at 5.04pm...well in Tauranga it did.
I suspect in Southland it rose just before lunch and disappeared shortly thereafter (just enough time to beat the penguins off the front deck)
But now the first rays of sun appeared at 7.13am and will slide below the horizon at 5.30pm. That's a whole extra 43 minutes to get things done.
And it gets better...every day is 2 minutes longer...
So by the start of the Kaimai speed Challange there'll be another 16 mins of daylight...

Late Afternoon Thermals

As the temperature dropped in the lee of the Kaimai's the last of the heat on the western side fuelled the last thermals.
The angle of the winter sun will have caused the western side to stay quite warm until sunset whereas the eastern side started cooling 2-3 hours earlier. The temperature differential will have caused a line of thermals on the ridge line of the Kaimais.

The great "Find a glider for Mr Edwards" charity event...

I've just realised Mr Edwards is without a glider for the coming soaring season...having sold his half of the mighty ASW20...

I'm concerned for his mental well-being...and given his propensity to avoid outlaying any cash (or put another way...he's a rather frugal bugger) I have been looking to identify a few cheap deals for him...
Here's a start...

The real selling point with the glider above is you'd be able to spot him still stuck over Matamata whilst you're at Tokoroa...

Or perhaps this little beauty...as is, where is, bring a rope...

Or given his military background maybe a camouflaged glider would be more "up his alley"...

I'm still looking...

Back up the bus a bit....

I see enthusiasm building for a great day tomorrow. And on the face of it you could be fooled into thinking so...afterall the RASP is forecasting light SE winds, some cloud, thermals of 4 knots to 4-5000ft and some convergences. And it might be right???

But RASP doesn't do high cloud very well...or at all (from my past experience forecasting during the Club Class Nationals).
Have a look at the NOAA squiggly line graph...note the likely presence of high cloud...spilling of the low pressure to the NE of Godzone.

The problem with high cloud is that it's rather hard to predict...

I'm guessing the Waikato could be better...

Update - Wednesday - Seems the Squiggly lines called it right...high cloud cutting off any heating...you heard it here first

I'M BACK...like you care...

Picture of the Lindis...as promised.

Timaru Creek.

Two Thumb Range...on the way to Roundhill

Wave...over the Hunter Range

Snow Update...

Yip...we got through the Lindis OK. Lots of snow, minus 7 but the road was clear.
Good day at Cardrona...although a bit windy. Wave over the Pisa Range and it looked like the Tairei Pet was active.
Jetstar was letting down over the skifield...quite a sight.
Gliding...whats that???

Omarama but not gliding related...

But it's snowing outside...it was minus 6 degrees in the Ohau Ski Field carpark yesterday...great skiing. Staying at Benmore Station at present...snow on all the hills etc. Planning to drive down to Lake Hawea later today...if the Lindis is open. Pictures later...

On the road again...

Expect updates from the deepest darkest parts of the South Island for the next week.
Will drop into Omarama but not expecting to see any pilots...staying at Benmore Station for a night.
Plan is to ski, drink wine (and therefore drink lots of coffee), catch up with friends, more skiing, more wine, more coffee and so on.

I'll post some pictures to make you envious...

I'm back in Chch again late in August and hope to visit the new gliding site at Springfield...meet the Simpsons etc.

So once September rolls around I show be ready to get GNM out...

Not long now...

The first Kaimai Speed Challange weekend is timed for the 14th August.
All welcome...any glider can enter.
We'll make a call on the weather on the preceeding Thursday night and post the forecast here and on the MSC site http://msc.powersite.co.nz/kaimai-speed-challenge/ or better yet use this site  http://msc.gliding.co.nz/

So far a few hardy soles have tested the course and set some quite fast speeds.
However the real contest is on the dedicated weekends...every second Sunday from the 14th Aug.

Details on the MSC website...questions to me david@puketiro.co.nz

It's Committee time again

It's a NZ tradition don't you know...Kiwi's love committees. So in sympathy here is a long post...
Once again the call (perhaps more of a simpering whisper) goes out for our club to reform it's committee.

Now clubs are voluntary beasts and with that comes all sorts of challenges quite different from our normal existence.
Chief amongst these is an inability to order, threaten, withhold pay, or otherwise cajole people to "do things". It requires enthusiasts (great word that...I use it alot) and they need to be "let lose" rather than tied up with meetings, rules and top-down decision making. That's quite hard to do. Committees love to long meetings, re-litigating things, poor minute keeping and second guessing other members voluntary inputs. (And because I, like many others, am human I have fallen foul of these simple rules occasionally...but I digress).

If I look about the local club the challange will be to find new, and some not so new, enthusiasts...maybe it's me but I feel the need for a change of tempo, direction, ideas and focus. The last 2 years have seen a purchase of a new Duo Discus which has been the focus of many peoples attention. I'd have to say the purchase process went very well (despite some misgiving from yours truly) but since its arrival utilisation has been very poor (budgeted 160 hours flying has turned out to be nearer 50 I'm lead to believe) and 7 months after arrival the number of qualified pilots sits at about 5...

Alongside this purchase is the continuing decline in membership (not limited to just us) which strikes at the heart of the future of the club. We must try some new things.

So whilst I recently read a mangled attempt to use JFK's famous words "ask not what your country can do for you etc etc" the sentiment is correct...maybe I will have to stump up to a round of committee meetings. But I'll only be there if my side-kick Mr Baldman is there too. Actually I've had a few committee meetings already.
But beware of using famous quotes, JFK also said "Ich bin ein Berliner" (and the crowd went wild) however if pronounced wrong also means "I am a donut"...

Why use a hanger???

Some-one asked why I haven't got GNM rigged and ready to go in the hanger at present.
Three reasons;
Firstly, the cost...my garage is free...the hanger is $1000 per year.

Secondly, who says it takes longer than 2 minutes to rig a glider out of it's trailer...just watch these guys...1 minute 40 seconds from trailer to 1200ft....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Huk_WOxk1oc&feature=related

Third, damage...I've already had a winglet broken in the hanger, and I'm not always around to keep an eye on things...would you leave a $100k asset unattended with open access to the general public...let alone club members...

Having watched the YouTube video one bright spark suggested we could have "Rig the PW5" race...we have 2 of them...and if we broke one would it be missed???