Andrew Luton writes:

Trent, Dave, Carl, Andrew and Ryan headed out to Binalong on a cool 20ish degree day with a very light WSW breeze and an inversion to end all inversions. Not the best day for getting high and flying far but Binalong certainly shows huge potential when the warmer weather returns.

The hill boasts many TO options and has a small, sharp and exposed valley running up the face left the by what seems to have been a landslide many years ago. This trigger was working even in very light cooler conditions and is looking to be extremely promising.

The hill has a fantastic bombout paddock as Carl showed us and has XC opportunities heading ENE to Crookwell and really in any direction you want to go.

One point to note is that access to the hill is limited to the relatively rough track to the top of the hill, not to mention you could rollerblade down if you really wanted to. Doesn’t make sense, well no not really - you’ll have to make the trip one day soon to find out for yourself and then enjoy the little beauty that is Binalong!!! See you on top soon…

Learning to tow a couple of years under the instruction of Scott Barrett at the annual Easter Flying at Tumut.

After looking through some of my old hard disks I’ve rediscovered these gems from the past.

Well Trent and I have been extremely busy (to say the least) and although I keep telling Trent (or asking him I should say) to post up some photos of our little girl Makayla, he has been pre-occupied and he is really loving being a dad.So like all proud parents, when both Trent and Makayla are sleeping this morning I thought that I would post some photos up. Makayla was born on 10 April weighing a small 2.7kg (or 6 pound) and of course, like both parents she is a shorty at only 47cm long.

Trent has taken hundreds of photos already and we thought we would show them off. I’m sure there will be plenty more to come!! Follow this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/makaylalashae

We have started taking her on some outings so I’m sure it won’t be long until she is up on the hill watching daddy launch. Hope to see you all soon out hang gliding.

Deb (and Trent and Makayla)

My most anticipated task has finally been realised. Full write up coming soon…

Check out the flight

Michael Imolz and Allistair Dickie have been hard at work to knock up this rather clever little web page. A picture tells a thousand words - so click on either of the images below and you will wet yourself I promise. (Offer only available to sea breeze chasers and the like)

Lake George

Spring Hill

The On-o-meter is currently geared towards paragliders but I’m sure a HG version is on it’s way hey Al!

Nice work gents.

So how does a non-flyer summer widow keep themselves amused when sitting on top of the hill watching the hang gliders launch. It was a big turnout for the Canberra guys/Dusty Demons on 11th November with I think the most Canberra guys we had seen in a while: Ed, Nick, Andrew, Trent, Barnesy, Nath, Dave, Quadey, Karl and Pete.

It may seem that the non-flyers of the world do nothing when sitting on top of the hill but there is so much more than that. Apart from being at the beck and call of Trent, it starts by assisting with getting the gliders from the car and most importantly as a driver making sure the padding from the car doesn’t blow away (as this seems a small detail which most hangies forget). Next while everyone is setting up their gliders is getting the harnesses from the car, food and water to keep them refreshed for the hopeful long flight which they are about to endure. Next is walking around the guys and getting detailed instructions on where to put the keys after the cars have been driven down the hill with the occasional chasing or locating glider bags and covers which have blown away.

And it doesn’t stop there, once they are in their harness, it’s hang check time, fishing out camel back tubes when they have (and they always seem to) gone down the back of the harness, radio checks and making sure everyone is on the same radio channel as you wouldn’t believe how much easier that makes it for retrieves!! And speaking of retrieves, ensuring everyone has my mobile number otherwise they will be walking back to the car.

So there goes my idea of some studying whilst I am up here. I always have good intentions and always take my books. I think I should leave them at home because then I wouldn’t feel as guilty.

Then Trent always makes sure that I am taking heaps of photos as he checks how many I have taken….”It’s a good turnout, make sure you take heaps”. And not only sit there and shoot but I apparently need to take photos from all angles because one angle isn’t good enough. This generally means going halfway down the launch part of the hill just so I can capture that moment when their feet leave the ground, or they narrowly miss the shrubs growing up on top of Pig Hill as Trent found out. Once the first guy has launched I’m asked where they are as the guys are restricted in their harnesses. I feel quite stupid sometimes as they ask the height. I have no idea on the height - I don’t hang glide but I always make something up and it is usually along the lines of high or reasonably low…..

Finally when everyone has launched, it’s time to drive the cars back down the hill. Trent always comments that it’s better to fly down then to drive down as it is much safer. He knows how to fill me with confidence every time and knows how to make me come back. By this time (as usually it is an hour after the first person has launched) you start to receive radio calls to start the retrieves.

So although when we’re up the top it doesn’t seem like we’re doing a lot, there’s actually plenty of things to keep us amused.

But last week at Pig Hill I seemed to have got out of some of these tasks. Is is the fact that now I’m pregnant, I don’t have to do anything (that’s my excuse anyway). I think it’s more along the lines that I can’t lift the harnesses out of the car or assist with the gliders - especially when Trent is carrying about 10kg of lead in his harness at the moment, I really have no hope.

So I was sitting, or rather standing, on top of the hill trying to get the stupid bugs away from me, pondering in a state where everything else around me is still happening but I am stuck in time (as appears to be the case for me recently), thinking about what I could do for the day apart from all of the other things listed above. Again, when study is an option, it’s easy to find something else to do. I started by taking plenty of photos (just for this website) and realised that there were so many different conversations going on given the number of pilots and if you were a fly on the wall and came into the discussion mid-way through, then there were some interesting quotes. So I took the opportunity of sharing some of these with you:

“Out, across, across and wrap around back on track”
“I’ve never seen anyone land that slow”
“Poofy pants time”
“I wish I was on launch”
“You want a wind dummy don’t you”
“This is going to be sweet”
“Trent looks like a bloody dag”
“Go up a bit for the shorty”
“He looks like a bloody jockey” (referring to Trent)
“Bang, get some lift, turn one way, wings lift”
“I felt really nervous the other day”
“I’m not going first”
“This looks shit, I’m packing up”
“Launched, went up and then dived back into the trees”
“I’ll eventually climb that thing”
“It’s bloody straight cross”
“Not exactly going up are they”
“Hang waiting” (as is always the case in this sport)
“Can’t count him out until he’s on the deck”
“Can you go and stand on the other launch and kick up some dirt”
“I’m nervous after seeing Trent launch”

See, there is much more to it than just sitting on top of a hill. These are the ways in which I can amuse myself and then feel obliged to post it on the bombout, but anything as a dedicated wife just to try and get some more people interested in flying. And most of all, I love being part of it.

Also below is my new post for late last night on an update of Gulgong.

After news of the great flights Barnsie, Dave, Karl, Ed, Pete and Geoff had at Tumut on Saturday the whole crew were keen on Sunday.

Pig Hill was the call with light northerly winds forecast. Deb and my parents, Trish and Terry came along to watch proceedings. Ed, Nick, Andrew L, Dave, Karl, Ryan, Barnsie, Nath, Pete and I provided the entertainmant.

It was to be Nick and Andrew’s first thermic flights. So we ran through what to expect and how to stay up:

• Pick a cycle where the wind is blowing straight up the launch
• Keep the nose down during the run in order to maximise your airspeed before leaving the ground.
• The best trigger point is the spur between the two launches
• Don’t turn back toward the hill until you are sure you have plenty of room to make the turn
• Leave the hill with enough height to make the bombout with plenty of time to set up a good landing approach.

A task was called - off to Yass then back to Dick Smith’s place at Gundaroo.

There was some hesitation on launch so I kitted up. I had to wait a while before there was a weak cycle straight up launch. The slight breeze up the slope was only just enough to get me off the ground even with a strong run which meant I only cleared the shrubs by a couple of feet. Exciting.

Off launch I was straight into a 1.5m/s climb over the usual spur. Even though the clouds up high were drifting to the NNE, the air down low was being sucked back into some rather intimidating looking clouds back over the Brindabellas. That made for a reasonable drift to the SSW at my altitude. Conditions on launch were still not that great so the others are forced to wait a while before they are able to get airborne.

A few times now I have been flying at Pig and watched the storms build over the range. I have noticed that hearing thunder while in a hang glider it not that easy so do not rely on your hearing as an indication of the severity of developing storm. Instead I am looking at the changes in size and colour of the building clouds. Though there is no imminent to the rest of the guys still on the hill I relay my concerns over the radio.

Not wishing to hang around I push north away from the real dark bits. As I was pushing headwind away from the storm that was growing in my direction, I was forced to go into race mode stopping for nothing less than 2m/s climbs. As this was stronger than day was producing it would be inevitable that I would hit the deck but at least at that pace I would be far enough in front of the nasty bits to be safe. Eventually, the ground and I became one near Murrumbateman.

At about this time the storm had moved away from launch. Rain was sheeting down between our two locations but conditions seemed to have improved enough for everyone to get off the deck. Unfortunately sled rides were the order of the day but it was some good scratching practice for everyone and safe landings all around.

A fun day out.

Pictures courtesy of Deb and my parents.

Here’s a link to all the photos

A brief timeline:

Tuesday afternoon - Andrew calls to say that his new High Energy harness has arrived.

Wednesday afternoon - We meet out at spring and he gives his new set up a bash.

Andrew managed two quick sledies in the light breeze. Great launches, approaches and landings. They weren’t the longest flights but the look on his face was priceless.

He’s hooked.

Now if we can just get a few seabreezes happening his enthusiasm will do the rest.

For those that missed it the other week on Australian Story, here is a link to our illustrious SSO’s TV appearance.