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