Paul’s Thermal Discussion                                                                              Mick’s Theory

The discussion started with lots of Paul’s thoughts on thermals and there was also lots of opionions from the group. I flew on the Sunday and it seems that the thermals had not paid attention to the theory as they still seem to do their own thing but maybe it’s just my flying???

This was the first of a planned series of discussions do be led by Paul and others so keep you eye on the email for notification on the next meeting. Some of the other planned discussions are;

• Thermals; how to master them (introducing Chichester’s Deliberate Error)
• Thermal development and behaviour during a typical day
• Flying in (sometimes close) company
• Getting Low; how to avoid it (AKA The Rhythm Method; Richard?)
• It’s a numbers game; working the odds
• Getting Low; how to survive it, how to get up. Risk management, controlling stress.
• $10 in the bank
• Preparation; control the controllable
• Flying the AAT; the five golden rules
• Does MacCready rule?
• The mental game

I recently spent a couple of weeks in Tasmania on a family holiday and managed to find an excuse to visit a gliding club while touring the country (pretending to be lost and happening upon a gliding club - I wonder if she suspects??)

While I was at the Soaring Club of Tasmania’s site in Woodbury I found the old HVGC winch languishing in a shed at the back of their hanger. It doesn’t see a lot of use these days as the club mainly aerotows but seeing it did bring back a few memories. Winch launching was a great thrill as a 16 year old and I also learnt to drive at the club using the old Monaro that the club had to retrieve the winch wire. Most of all I learnt to make yourself scarce when there was a wire break and that there was a “bunch of grapes” (wire tangle) that needed sorting out before the wire could be joined and launching recommence.

The Soaring Club of Tasmania are a very friendly bunch and I can recommend visiting them if you are ever in the area.

http://jwgc2015.com/

The worlds are held every two years, like the senior comps, and this year they are being flown in Leszno Poland. We have four pilots going to the Poland worlds this year to represent Australia, the website for the competition can be found here: http://www.jwgc2013.eu/

So to all those new young scholarships students and junior (under 25) members of HVGC, or anyone interested for that matter, come and find me (David Stuart) around the club if you want to know more or check out the websites above. YOU could be flying for Australia at Narromine in two years time!

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/clubRanking.html?sp=2013&rt=olc&st=olc&c=C0&sc=

Actually, we’re currently showing as seventh, having recenly been pushed down by the Chilean glidng club, Munivitacura. (Their airfield is right in Santiago city and they have excellent access to long ridges.)

This is really amazing for HVGC as there have been around a thousand 1000km flights done in southern Africa. They have been doing 20-30 flights longer than this every single day since November! But dedicated logging of flghts by HVGC members has kept the club near the top of the rankings.

We expect that once the northern hemisphere thermal season kicks off around April, that we will be pushed down the rankings. Last year we finished at 214th, with 43,000 points. Since we’ve already logged that many points in the 2013 season, we are on track to improve our ranking.

In recognition of the efforts by Damian Hamilton toward the construction of the clubhouse it has been christened “Hamilton House” in his honor. Damian was a driving force in the inception, planning, project management and construction of the clubhouse over a period of several years and he was thanked by our president, Mick Webster, during the dedication. Many others that also but in a large amount of work construction the clubhouse were also thanked including, Ian Boggard, Brian Giersch & Paul Dickson to name a few.

A large part of the funding for the clubhouse has come from Coal & Allied at the Hunter Valley Operations mine and the clubhouse was officially opened by the mine General Manager, Tom Lukeman. Also representing HVO at the dinner were Tom’s partner, Sarah, the Technical Services & Planning Manager, Brendan O’Brien & his partner Kerrie and the Land & Property Manager, Jennifer Anderson.

After the official opening and champagne to celebrate the members & guests moved into the brand new clubhouse where a fantastic meal was served by the caterers, Mottys Far Cuisine. During the dinner the awards were presented for the 2011/2012 flying season which were;

• Outstanding Flying Improvement - James Mahoney & Jamie Antonuccio
• Best OLC Flight from Warkworth - David Pickles with a flight of 477km at 89.8km/hr
• Most OLC km’s from Warkworth - Mick Webster with 8,754km flown
• Most Improved Cross Country Pilot - Mark Rowe
• HVGC Artist Award - Brian Giersch for his flight trace of a starfish on
• Outlanding Award - Andrew Sutton for his landing on the mine haul road at Mt Arthur North
• Best Chef Award - Aa Li Webster for continuing to feed the club members and visitors

After the awards & dessert the celebrations continued late on into the night with grand tales being told of past epic flights with booming thermals at every turn and cloud streets to the horizon in every direction. As the evening turned into the next morning the talk turned to the future flights that are going to be flown from Warkworth that would be even more epic than the old ones!

There are lots more photos of the event in the website photo gallery under the album People & Events. Click on the link to open the Clubhouse Opening Album.

http://www.hvgc.com.au/gallery/album10

• Mick Webster flew 588km at 99km/h in his LS3
• Paul Mander flew 576km at 98km/hr in his ASH-25
• Jeff Hunt flew 520km at 96kmhr in his Ventus
• Richard Frawley flew 506km at 96km/h in his Mosquito
• David Pickles flew 485km in his PIK (OK, I know this isn’t 500km but it is close enough that it deserves a mention)

There were also another couple of flights and the total OLC distance flown for the day from Warkworth was 3,174km.

These 500km flights were also backing up another 2 x 500km flights by Paul & Mick on Sunday. The flying will continue all week and I expect that there will be a few more notable flights before the week is out.

Jamie ready for his first solo                                                         Last minute instruction from David Pickles

Jamie is one of the Club’s scholarship students and started his instruction on 6/11/11. Jamie went solo on his 44th flight and there is a rumour that he has beaten his dad to solo and won a bet.

Jamie has also asked me to express his thanks to all of the instructors who worked with him and to the club and to Coal & Allied for the scholarship.

Jamie after his flight.

Well Done Jamie!

Alright Kids! It’s that time of year again…

Joeyglide 2012 is to be hosted at Lake Keepit from the 9 - 16th Dec.

This year will be the 9th Australian Junior (under 25) gliding nationals, and is shaping up to be another good year.

So far there are 19 competitors entered, and 8 coachees flying anything from duckhawks to Diana 2’s if you believe whats on the entry list As usual, Joeyglide is not just a competition, in fact its more like an opportunity to catch up with or meet new junior pilots and further your cross country skills at the best week on the Australian flying calender.

If your not up to flying as a competitor, coaching is tailored to each coachee’s level of experience, and speaking from experience is a great start to flying cross country. Otherwise, come and hang out anyway!
So to any HVGC Juniors (or OFFITH’s*) out there interested in learning more go to http://www.joeyglide.com.au/ or come speak to me at the club. Also, the Australian Junior Gliding Club (AJGC) has a website… google knows the address.

*OFFITH is an AJGC acronym ‘Old Fart In Terry Towelling Hat’ affectionately given to over 25’s.

Aa Li started putting up the curtains on the weekend and Mark gave me a hand by touching up the skirting boards after they had been replaced. It won’t be long now until it is completed!

Over the next couple of weeks the deck to access the toilets will be installed along with the skirtings re-installed, the back filling of the retaining wall and the carpark and land scaping.

The Clubhouse & Toilet Block

Main room looking east toward the kitchen and looking west

The retaining wall at the rear and the veranda