Entry Fee for the comp will be $150 before Jan 17 2017, $175 after. We may have to pay the CAA a fee to have airspace lifted over the Paeroa Range.
Contact markalton@yahoo.com
Monday, 8 August 2016
2017 HQ and Accomodation
The 2017 HQ is moving from the hot springs at Waikite to a campground at Ngongotaha (Rotorua) to be more central to both the Kaimais and the Paeroas, and closer to town.
It will be based at Willowhaven Campground (there's at least one other campground nearby) and Mark has booked a number of camping spots for tents and vans. There are cabins as well. The campground is right on the lake front.
Check out the menu link over on the left for a map and more details.
Tent/van spaces will be $15 per person.
Contact markalton@yahoo.com for more details.
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
NZ Hang Gliding Nationals 2017
18 - 25 February at the Paeroa Range. Reserve day 26th Feb.
The comp will have a Cat 2 rating.
International Pilots have expressed interest in attending. We have 2 gliders for hire for others who may wish to attend. Contact comp organiser markalton@yahoo.com.
The entry fee is yet to be worked out as we are waiting for CAA to give us a price for lifting the airspace to 7500ft.
The entry fee will include:
Bluebridge Ferries are helping out by giving us a group discount. 1 car plus driver $153 plus $40 per passenger one way.
Contact Max Gebhardt to register or for more information: aerosm@gmail.com.
The pre-Nationals Cross Country Clinic
Dates are Thurs, Fri 16-17 Feb.
The comp will have a Cat 2 rating.
International Pilots have expressed interest in attending. We have 2 gliders for hire for others who may wish to attend. Contact comp organiser markalton@yahoo.com.
The entry fee is yet to be worked out as we are waiting for CAA to give us a price for lifting the airspace to 7500ft.
The entry fee will include:
- Mid week BBQ
- Daily prizes of boutique beer
- Trophies for 1st/2nd/3rd in Open class, 1st in Sport class
- Prize giving dinner
Bluebridge Ferries are helping out by giving us a group discount. 1 car plus driver $153 plus $40 per passenger one way.
Contact Max Gebhardt to register or for more information: aerosm@gmail.com.
The pre-Nationals Cross Country Clinic
Dates are Thurs, Fri 16-17 Feb.
The Clinic will include things like thermalling skills, instrument setup, choosing a landing area, crowd flying etc. You then get to use these skills for the next week at the Nationals! (technicality: Novices cannot participate in Nationals but they can fly and pick up skills).
Aaron Darby who was one of the 5 Novices who flew at the Wanaka National writes: From personal experience, I highly recommend attending the Nationals as a Novice, you'll learn more in the space of a week than you will for the rest of the year!
For those that are interested can you: a) officially register your interest by emailing Mark: markalton@yahoo.com, and b) ask the other pilots around you who may be interested and get them to register as well. If you'd like to read more on what it's like as a Novice at Nationals, check out the articles on page 10 and 11 of issue #194 (May June July 2015) of the NZ Airborn Magazine found here: http://www.nzhgpa.org.nz/airborn-magazine.
I have had 16 pilots informing me that they would like to attend the XC Clinic.
Instructors who have expressed their interest in helping out;
Paddy Monroe, Grant Tatham, Rick Hawkswood,
Pilots who have expressed their interest in helping out
Paris Williams, Dave Austin, Carlos Palmer
.
Wednesday, 20 April 2016
Dalby Day 7
Day Seven Task 5
Task: Dalby – 31km – Bell – 39km – Macali – 22km – Dalby Total 93Km
Weather light ENE High cloud
With high cloud the day did not look the best. Most pilots took the first start gate to make the most of the sun that was just getting through.
The run down to WPT1 was made sweeter with $100 for the first pilot to get there. Pilots who got low had a slow climb to get back up or landed as the sun was shaded by the high cloud moving over the sun. Those who managed the slow progress to get to WPT2 had the shortest leg to goal at Dalby.
Quite a few just landed short of goal with only 23 pilots making it. Derek was the last pilot in and made his first goal of the comp and was awarded a beer for his perseverance. Only 3 other Kiwi pilots made it with John coming in 3rd place just under two hours.
Paris won the comp and is now flying for NZ for the first time. Curt Warren was only 100pts behind Paris with Len Paton coming third. John Smith was the next Kiwi coming 5th overall after a hard charge over the last few days.
The Kiwi team lost the Trans-Tasman Cup for the second year running but the margin was only just over a 1000 pts this year. The prize giving party was attended by Vicki and Bill this year as the top three pilots all flew Moyes gliders and after a fantastic meal the celebrations carried on into the night.
Looking forward to next years Dalby Big Air.
Results at http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2016/comp%20results.html
Task: Dalby – 31km – Bell – 39km – Macali – 22km – Dalby Total 93Km
Weather light ENE High cloud
With high cloud the day did not look the best. Most pilots took the first start gate to make the most of the sun that was just getting through.
The run down to WPT1 was made sweeter with $100 for the first pilot to get there. Pilots who got low had a slow climb to get back up or landed as the sun was shaded by the high cloud moving over the sun. Those who managed the slow progress to get to WPT2 had the shortest leg to goal at Dalby.
Quite a few just landed short of goal with only 23 pilots making it. Derek was the last pilot in and made his first goal of the comp and was awarded a beer for his perseverance. Only 3 other Kiwi pilots made it with John coming in 3rd place just under two hours.
Paris won the comp and is now flying for NZ for the first time. Curt Warren was only 100pts behind Paris with Len Paton coming third. John Smith was the next Kiwi coming 5th overall after a hard charge over the last few days.
The Kiwi team lost the Trans-Tasman Cup for the second year running but the margin was only just over a 1000 pts this year. The prize giving party was attended by Vicki and Bill this year as the top three pilots all flew Moyes gliders and after a fantastic meal the celebrations carried on into the night.
Looking forward to next years Dalby Big Air.
Results at http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2016/comp%20results.html
Saturday, 16 April 2016
Dalby Day 6
Task 4
Task: Dalby – 45km – Kumbar – 64km – Gums – 21km – Surdev Total 132km
Weather E 20kmh
Thursday, the wind was too strong to launch so the day was cancelled.
Towing started at 11:30 with clouds to the NW and East but nothing over the aerodrome, so those launching early found light lift and a bit of inversion at 3500ft but that soon cleared and climbs to 7000ft were gained.
With few clouds on course to the forest and high cloud to the west after crossing the forests it would be an interesting day. The first start was at 13:15 with two gaggles, one to the SE and the other to the SW. Start gate two was the larger gaggle and also had two main gaggles.
Good climbs were found to WPT 1 and heights of 8500ft were gained before the crossing of the forests towards WPT 2. After crossing the forest things slowed down and climbs took longer to get to the top of the thermal but with good height WPT 2 was reached and with 20 km to goal and good height it was a glide for most pilots.
41 pilots made it into goal with the first getting 1000 points for the day and the last 391.
John was the fastest Kiwi into goal with Paris second fastest, with five others getting there as well.
Task: Dalby – 45km – Kumbar – 64km – Gums – 21km – Surdev Total 132km
Weather E 20kmh
Thursday, the wind was too strong to launch so the day was cancelled.
Towing started at 11:30 with clouds to the NW and East but nothing over the aerodrome, so those launching early found light lift and a bit of inversion at 3500ft but that soon cleared and climbs to 7000ft were gained.
With few clouds on course to the forest and high cloud to the west after crossing the forests it would be an interesting day. The first start was at 13:15 with two gaggles, one to the SE and the other to the SW. Start gate two was the larger gaggle and also had two main gaggles.
Good climbs were found to WPT 1 and heights of 8500ft were gained before the crossing of the forests towards WPT 2. After crossing the forest things slowed down and climbs took longer to get to the top of the thermal but with good height WPT 2 was reached and with 20 km to goal and good height it was a glide for most pilots.
41 pilots made it into goal with the first getting 1000 points for the day and the last 391.
John was the fastest Kiwi into goal with Paris second fastest, with five others getting there as well.
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| Breakfast of Champions |
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| Getting ready to tow |
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| Goal |
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| Goal |
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| Morning briefing |
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| Morning briefing |
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| Morning briefing |
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Dalby Day 4
Day five Task 4
Task: Dalby – 45km – Kumbar – 175 – Surat Total 221Km
Weather :SE 20 – 25km hour
With a beautiful sky building above Dalby aerodrome the day
was building to a fantastic one and would sort out the men from the boys. Due to the fresh wind there were no start gates and time would be taken on Elapsed Time.
To put the course across the narrowest part of the forest, the first leg was cross wind, and for those who did not keep left of the course line the punch into wind at WPT1 could be fatal. Towing up at Dalby in windy conditions was made even more difficult with strong thermals coming through at times and a few pilots broke weak links and had to re tow. Once off tow good thermals could be found to get you quickly to cloud base.
Out on course a few pilots found the conditions hard to deal with as thermals were not always strong and having to run down wind to find the next one, should you get low, was not a good option and quite a few landed along the first leg.
Fantastic looking cloud streets to goal made dolphin flying a good option and a strong tailwind component 100km ground speeds was easy to reach.
The going was not always easy and flying over country with no roads, landing was not a good option. Cloud base went from 5500ft to 8000ft and with twenty one pilots in goal the day was another Classic Dalby Day.
Paris Williams won the day with Smithy second in, Hagen and Cris Lawry the other
kiwis in goal.
Dalby Day 2
Day Three, Task two
Task: Dalby – 22km – Jimhous – 18km – Macal - 34km – Brigal – 14km – Warra Total 89Km
First Start Gate 12:30
Weather: light SE afternoon rain
After a day cancelled due to bad weather everyone was keen to give it a go today even though rain was forecast for the afternoon.
The start gate was put forward an hour but as towing started at 11a.m., dark clouds started forming to the east.
By around 11:30 a rain cell was east of Dalby heading our way. The tow up was a long one as lift was to the west of the rain cell 4km from the airfield. Most of the pilots chose to get lift here and a weather eye was kept on the rain as it slowly moved west towards us.
By the time of the first start gate the rain had still not reached us and most pilots had over 6000ft and a few had climbed up the side of the cloud to get a lot more height.
Good lift was found around the course as we worked our way to the NW in a zigzag route. Everywhere lift was found, rain was not far away and with 1500ft up thermals it made for a quick race.
Good time could be made by picking a good line, as a direct line was not always the quickest way to the WPT. Unfortunately for the lead pilots the day was stopped for safety, but it is unclear if the interim results that have been published will be adjusted.
Results are at Billo's website
Task: Dalby – 22km – Jimhous – 18km – Macal - 34km – Brigal – 14km – Warra Total 89Km
First Start Gate 12:30
Weather: light SE afternoon rain
After a day cancelled due to bad weather everyone was keen to give it a go today even though rain was forecast for the afternoon.
The start gate was put forward an hour but as towing started at 11a.m., dark clouds started forming to the east.
By around 11:30 a rain cell was east of Dalby heading our way. The tow up was a long one as lift was to the west of the rain cell 4km from the airfield. Most of the pilots chose to get lift here and a weather eye was kept on the rain as it slowly moved west towards us.
By the time of the first start gate the rain had still not reached us and most pilots had over 6000ft and a few had climbed up the side of the cloud to get a lot more height.
Good lift was found around the course as we worked our way to the NW in a zigzag route. Everywhere lift was found, rain was not far away and with 1500ft up thermals it made for a quick race.
Good time could be made by picking a good line, as a direct line was not always the quickest way to the WPT. Unfortunately for the lead pilots the day was stopped for safety, but it is unclear if the interim results that have been published will be adjusted.
Results are at Billo's website
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