Last weekend was a tale of two halves!
Saturday dawned with light rain and a frontal system approaching from the west, ensuring no gliders took to the air. Not to despair, the resilient crew set about assisting in the preparation of the club for the Australian Uvalde Team squad week.
On site were Rob De Jarlais, Chris Bowman, Lee Braithwaite, Luke and our new junior member Oliver (AAFC cadet) from Armidale, and myself. The team pulled out and tested the fire fighting equipment, which is always good to check when it’s raining! I doubt that the gear has been tested since I performed the same test 18 months ago, and it was pleasing to see that the pump started on its first pull. The trailer the tank sits on has not faired so well, and the hitch has come loose. This is now on the list for the working bee in May. I also note for future reference, that the tank should be left full of water, as should there be a fire, an empty fire tank is not of much use. It takes 10 minutes to fill!
After putting out a few fires in the quadrangle, the team turned to repairs on the slasher. One of the spindles had vibrated its bolts loose and new ones were installed. Luke did the honours of getting under the slasher to install the new bolts and Oliver did the duties on the top side. Luke did not appreciate me hitting the slasher with a sledge hammer while he was under it - hehehe. Don’t know why.......
Later in the day, the clouds parted and the team took to mowing the tie down area and cutting the rest of the shoulder high grass in the triangle. Thanks to all who assisted! The club is looking an absolute picture!
Oliver, I hope to see you back soon so you can actually get into the air, rather than doing low passes on the ride on mower. Thanks for your help.
Sunday morning offered up a clear sky and some improving gliding conditions. Garry was on duty, but with no pilots requiring his services, so he headed off in the LS6 JUS. Chris Bowman flew the 7, Lee the 6, Peter the cirrus, and I test flew the Nimbus following its form 2 (Thanks Bob – the test flight went well!). Christian turned up with an old friend Stu Welsby and they disappeared for a few hours in LL. Several of the squad week participants arrived and also flew.
The call of the day was Craig Collings, inbound from the north. From 5000 feet above the lake, I watched Craig, Chris Bowman and Andrew Georgson head for the club, in line abreast formation. They all called 20km from the north heading for home into a 20 knot southerly with 1700 feet agl (thankfully Chris was 500 foot higher). The call that came approx abeam the Sport and Rec from Craig was “I think I am low on energy” 4km to go across the lake into a 20knot breeze at about 400 feet (my guess). My thermalling technique became a bit lop sided as I watched the trio tease their gliders over the fence at the bottom of 14 without anything to spare. Fortunately Luke had mowed the emergency strip at the bottom of the strip that morning, and I think the lack of resistance from the long grass on the bottom of the gliders helped ensure they made it home.
Everyone did make it home, and by the time I rolled WP into the shed, there were about 10 gun ships (as opposed to gunships!) being rigged in the tie down area ready for the squad week. I look forward to the tails of the guns during the week???
See you next time.
