Here in Canberra, during winter, we tend to fall into a bit of a hole flying wise. We look at the stereotypical Canberra winter as a no flying period. We either don’t fly, travel away or chase the odd ridge soar at Spring to meet the minimum currency requirements until summer comes back into view.

Why do we collectively write off nearly half the year?

Granted, the weather is the major factor but is total abstinence really necessary?

After heading up to Newcastle last weekend, the cogs in my head started to tick over. The shear enthusiasm of the guys up there overcomes the relatively poor met conditions. The weather up there was not that great with wind on both days and substantial cloud cover on the Sunday. I would have pulled the pin half way out to the site but the locals power on leading to two great days of flying.

It was not going to be an epic XC day, nor would we get to ten grand but the lessons you can learn on days like that are invaluable. The convergence lift lines formed by two valleys meeting were straight out of a textbook with wind lines on the lake to show exactly what was going on. There was also some great lift in regular cycles. I had never seen these conditions so far outside the regular flying season – Then again, had I really been looking?

So, back to work last week. I let these experiences bounce around in my mind… Average temps over winter are a little higher up there but not that different. They seemingly have fewer sites that take the prevailing westerlies at this time of year. They have to travel further to those sites. Still, the Newcastle guys fly all year.

They have the critical mass up there with so many experienced pilots to fly with any time you want to. That helps. Seeing Scott, Cam, Ricky, Adam, Ebbs, Kiero or any of the other great pilots climb out in front of you is a very inspiring sight. Even if I don’t manage to climb as well, I can see that it can be done and I know that with more practice and perseverance one day I will be able to do the same.

Back to Canberra, things are a little scaled down. Though the ACT flying scene is growing at a healthy rate we don’t have the numbers or the mass of experience. So, how can we try and close this gap?

… This is starting to get a bit long so I’m going to post a few ideas over the next few weeks as to what I feel is going to help my flying and hopefully any else in the same boat.