Yes it certainly was a great weekend.  I arrived around 730 on Friday night followed shortly after by Trent Deb and Makayla.  Once we were all there Dave treated us to a pyrotechnics show that one would only dream of seeing at New Years Eve in Sydney.  Without going into to much detail the crackers were crazy and any towns within 100km that were sleeping at the time were rudely awaken by the bangs that could be heard echoing down the valleys!  Terry’s dog even had enough and decided to run awy for the night and not return til the morning!

Thief >:-)

It was that fun fun fun time of year again where Terry generously lends his trike & Trent gives up his towing skills and time for a weekend of landing practice, a possible XC, some flying footage and most of all, great fun with great people.

The weekend started on Friday for me as I drove to Forbes to meet Steve who was already at the air strip doing some minor repairs to the Dragon fly.  Steve’s wife Anet & son Blake where also in town for a bit of fun and sun.

Weekends and times like these wouldn’t happen without the good wil, help and generosity of the friends and family involved and I can’t thank enough- Terry, Trent, Steve, Anet and Deb for everything they did to make this weekend so farken Awesome!!!

Dave

Andrew’s still getting over the weekend. His therapy is aided by letting the worl know how good flying around Canberra is – even in Winter!

Sunday 2 August saw Tman, Dave, Barnsy, Nicos and myself tear it up at Binalong.  We left Canberra at about 11.30am and got to Bineos at around 12.20pm.  The weather looked perfect on the way  as we drove through rain shower after rain shower.  This only excited us more as our gliders all needed a wash and Trent just can’t get enough of flying in the rain of late after enjoy his last flight at the Lake in misty conditions

So we arrived at the bombout to discuss our options and decided to drive up the hill and assess the conditions and the cloud base that was forming below hill height!  We get to the top and to our amazement the rain had disappeared out in front and the cloud had lifted we above lunch.  Without any thoughts we all set up and got ready to go.  Just before we all took off Trent’s oldies turned up to say g’day on their way back home.  A big thanks to Terry for driving Dave’s car down to the bombout for us once we had all taken off!

The conditions were perfect as it always seems to be at Binoes no matter what the forecast says and what the conditions are like on the way out there.  We all enjoyed over an hour flying in the silky smooth air before all having hot landings and a enjoying a few beers back at the Harcourt on our way home.

On the way back from Bineos we discussed the fact that Canberra has to be one of the best inland places in Australia to live if you fly a hangy.  If you live in town there are 4 launches within a 30min drive including Lake George which is a 30km long ridge!  Further afield and within a 1-3 hour drive you have Binoes, Carrols Range, Tumut, Tongara, Mt Cambawarra and the list for hill launches goes on and the best of all spot and only 3 hours away we have areotow mania out at Forbes.
Anyway enough from me…
Thief >:-)

We drove through rain to get there. All the BOM observations said it would be NW but still it blew up the face. One big note to self… It’s always on at Binalong.

Dave, Andrew B, Andrew L, Nick and I. 5 Gliders turn up in winter. Imagine what we’ll be seeing in a couple of months when things warm up.

OK, so maybe I got a little enthusiastic about the single digit temperatures…

A spot landing to top off the hour or so in the air by all involved. Dave won the comp incidentally. If only my running approach went unnoticed.

Nic made another cool video of the action at Binos last weekend.

The lads had a ball out at Binos yesterday. Andrew lets us know what we missed.

Who said winter was the time of year to pack up your gliders until the warmer weather returns?  Dave, Steve, Nic, Ed and myself headed out to Binalong on Sunday to tear it up and enjoy all that winter has to offer.

We arrived at launch at around 11am and were greeted with a nice and steady WSW breeze blowing straight up the face at around 25km/h and a balmy 9 degrees (top temp at Temora was only 11!).  We all set up pretty quickly and Dave was the first to launch and only seconds after taking off he was climbing in a winter thermal and anyone within the local vicinity would have been able to hear his voice as he yelped out some choice words to explain his excitement to Wilson.

A minute later I ran off the hill followed soon after by Nic and then Steve.  The four of us ridge soared and turned in small climbs that came and went.  Steve was loving and it and deservedly so after a 3 hour drive from home just to grab a fly – Top effort.  It never seises to amaze me the level of Steve’s enthusiasm and commitment to the sport and it is always a pleasure to fly with him.

After about 40 minutes in the air I saw Dave out to the west of the ridge heading head wind away from the ridge steadily climbing in an awesome lift line.  I pulled on some speed and headed there arriving at about ridge height.  Slowly I started to lift and followed Dave out climbing at around 200ft/min.  The lift line was wide and after a while I noticed Dave get lower on the horizon so I figured that he was reaching the end of the lift band so I turned and circled in the lift I was in.  Dave turned back and we both eventually climbed up to base which was around 4100ft asl.  Dave went on glide over the back while I chose to stay at the bottom of the cloud circling in zeros while watching Dave’s progress.  His glide at first seemed crazy as he didn’t seem to loose much height but once he was a few km over the back and just before reaching another cloud he was drilled with sink and landed just over 8km from the ridge. In the mean time, I had gone on glide and taken a line 2km or so to the north of Dave’s line.  I received a pretty good glide not really hitting any sink and simply gliding at min sink the whole way.  Once I was near where Dave had landed I turned right and flew cross wind to join Dave as I figured I had not found a single bit of lift after leaving our climb from the ridge and the sky ahead was blue so my chances of finding lift were as good no matter where I headed being only 500ft above the deck.  I landed with Dave and was pretty stoked to have reached cloud base and flow XC in winter.  Although the XC was small the practise flying in weak conditions should serve me well come summer when I will hopefully be able to seek out better climbs and fly better than last year all the while improving my skill.

Nic came to pick the two of us up and took us back to launch to collect cars where we found Steve still tearing up the ridge nearly 3 hours after taking off.  Ed was in the air now too after arriving later in the day to grab some winter air. A big thanks to Nic for the retrieve.

All in all a great day out and certainly goes to show that there are small XC flights to be had in an around Canberra in the middle of winter, so if you have a hang glider tucked away in your garage waiting for the warmer months to arrive harden up, get out there and fly

Thief

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Last THURSDAY the forecast was for light easterlies.  Sam from VIC was still in town so I took the day off and we headed out to Lake George.  On launch, I called Geoff,  he said he could take the arvo off and meet us out there.  Sam and I set up under a great looking sky with nice streeting clouds. The wind was light but enough to stay up in ridge lift alone.

Not long after we launched the wind dropped off but it didn’t matter cause there were plenty of thermals to keep us airborne and I made way up north getting to base several times reaching 5000ft/asl (Not bad considering it’s almost the Winter Solstice.)

Making my way up north the plan was to go XC over the back once I was up near Collector. Unfortunately pilot error and gravity shot my plan down and I landed with Sam near north launch.

I gave Geoff a call who was almost ready to launch back at Gearys, only thing was the wind dead so it looked like Geoff had left work for a retrieve and a sledy. Not too impressed Geoff left his wing set up and came and got us.

Back on launch Geoff took off into a very light breeze but stayed up surprisingly easy. The air was buoyant and even this late in day there was still lots of climbs around so I quickly set up and joined Geoff. The air was super smooth and after climbing out up north we headed south of Gearys.

Sam was belting around on his mini bike so I thought if he could retrieve it would be a great chance to try and cross the Lake. Geoff ageed.  Then I hit a climb that was just what the doctor ordered – 300ft/min right to base.

Given the time was 4o’cock this was unreal.  Geoff beat me to the top and we punched head wind under a street over to the wind farm. We both agreed this was one of the memorable days at the lake and one we will never forget.
On FRIDAY Sam and I headed out to the lake again. The wind was moderate breaking up most thermals but we found some great lift lines and had a party with nearly 2 hours of out and returns over the Lake.
On SATURDAY it was the Lake for hat trick.  It was stronger wind and a lot of north in it but that didn’t stop Trent,Turtle,Sam,Christelle,Thief and I meeting at North launch. It was awesome fun with lots challenging thermals to climb in and we stayed up for over an hour. Trent follwed a climb over the back cruised into Dick Smith’s property landing on his runway!! Very cool!
So It’s been a unreal 3 days of flying in Canberra learning a lot having heaps of fun, proving once again that the epic cross countries might be gone for winter but amazing fun of flying is here all year.

So if you packed your wing away until summer you’re certainly missing out!

Another fun winter weekend in Canberra with many hangies in the air. Dave managed to score another chapter in the chronicles of an “urban flying”. Dave tells us about it:

Well the weather felt still felt like winter but the atmosphere and turn-up was very summerish. Saturday began with a thick fog that cleared mid morning to reveal a great wind strength for Spring hill. It was a top little turn out of pilots consisting of Phil Robertson J.P, Karlos, Geoff, Sam from VIC, Jeremy (new to Canberra) and new pilot Christelle straight from learning under Rohan at Dynamic flight.

First off was Christelle and after a great launch was soaring the Fun nicely and really enjoying herself until a little increase in wind strength caught her by surprise and with help of some pilot induced oscillations she managed an unintentional top landing only bending a DT and a little confidence. Thanks to the generosity and good will of Phil Robertson lending his fun, Christelle was able have a second flight.  Full credit to her for the courage to try again, having a fantastic flight this time round. The rest of us had a great flight in light to moderate conditions. Jeremy showing great skills in avoiding the flush when the wind went light. All landing well including Sam in the Scareoss, it was a fun winters arvo.

Sunday promised to be a couple of degrees warmer and after getting a call from Trent to say he was heading out I thought I better shake the late night and join him. It was Spring Hill again and on arrival Trent was already in the air mixing it with the Parras. Nick was there so he jumped in along with Sam and Christelle and we drove up to launch. Trent, on a deadline, cruised out to land which is not so easy without legs!!! The old stuck zipper trick. So he flew across the road to the bigger paddock and cruised in for a nice long final and belly landing. Pulling it off better than could be expected, he said it wasn’t too bad at all.

I bailed off the hill next followed by Nickos joining each other in some sweet little bubbles. I stole a nice climb quite consistent thanks in part to the fire Phil had lit in the bombout paddock. I stayed in the climb to 4400 asl leaving it about 500Ft of short of its potential. I flew over to near One Tree hill and then over Nicholls choosing a footy oval to land on. It’s always a buzz to land in a new spot so it was fun little XC. Trent picked me up and we had beers while the others finished their flight for another awesome fun day at SPRING IN WINTER. 

Dave and I shared a lot of circles over the weekend – We were even going up for some of them. Check out our tracklogs.

Lets hear about it Dave:…

On Saturday, Steve, Trent, Andrew (thief) and I met at the airport for some flying fun!! Despite the cool wind we were keen as usual, and why not?  The sun is out, we have a Dragonfly and a tug pilot that’s second to none.

We cruised the sky having a ball on tow, gliding around and getting some landing practice in.
On my third tow I found a bubble, and to my surprise, it held together for a consistent but weak 50ft/min. Drifting down wind, it wasn’t long before I was out of glide back to the strip but help was on the way, Trent spotted me sneaking away so he jumped in for another tow. Lift was only going to about 1700ft agl so I was glad to see Trent join me for a bit of help.

Unfortunately as fun as it was we were on the deck a couple of climbs later. The Thief had a tow a little closer to the Stratosphere than usual and cruised over our heads like a satellite loving every minute of it. Nice one bro!

Deb came out of retirement with baby Makayla to retrieve. As impressive as always, she arrived before we had packed up. So, back to Munjal to have a drink with Terry & Trish… Oh and watch Trent crash his new RC plane. Ba Ha Haaa 

We woke on Sunday to a sky that reminded me of something you would see in Beijing. It wasn’t pollution although it still made us hangies feel a little sick.

On the bright side Geoff, Pete D & Karlos were coming up for some flying fun today.  The wind was a little lighter than Saturday and there was the odd little scrappy cloudy thing forming under the blanket of main cloud every now and then, so I was quietly confident of a little XC stroll.

While on my second tow I heard Trent on the radio saying he was in a climb with KB. Getting excited, I released in light lift sticking with it trying to get a visual on Karl and Trent. It dropped to zero’s so I glided downwind to Trent who was still doing the circle thing. Karl was not so lucky and bailed back to the airport.

It was great working with Trent to make the most of this light lift. We stayed with what we had knowing that it was unlikely we would find another climb under that unimpressive sky. Patiently, we got to 4500ft asl enjoying the challenge and the sweet view as we crossed the over the middle of the little range west of Forbes.

We landed a fun 35km away from launch, and, for the second day in row we packed up in the same paddock.
Well once again a fantastic fun weekend at Forbes and Munjal. Again we have Steve to thank for his time and skills. Cheers mate really appreciate it!

Thanks must also go to Moyes for the use of your Dragonfly we couldn’t have all this fun without your support.

Cheers,

Dave

Dave and Carl went for a fly out at Lake George this afternoon. Carl made it down to Smiths gap for the first time. Nice flight dude.

Dave flew about as far along the ridge as anyone can go with ridge lift alone.  Check out his tracklog. 80km of mid-May goodness. This sets a new bar for any ambitious souls wanting stretch their wings at one of our favorite local sites.

Dave’s even sent through some photos from the flight.

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