Winter flying Mt Tamborine

The cool South East Queensland winter often sees us with Westerly winds, meaning Mt Tamborine launch is used quite often. On Saturday the 14th of June only 3 of us turned up to fly Tambo. Warren, Dan and myself. The breeze was light and Dan had to make a repair to his glider, so we waited for a while before launching. We saw Flocky get towed up to 2,700ft before getting off in a thermal over Mt Misery. He then flew over to launch and got nothing and struggled to get back to the Tow paddock. Marty got off tow into something a flew around for a while.



We decided to launch at around 1pm. Dan was off first, then Warren and myself. Warren got up a bit, Dan got low and was heading for the bomb out. I was following him and halfway to the bombout I saw Dan landing. I though I would be landing with him soon, but I hit a light thermal and turned at 900ft. It was brocken and kept moving. But I was determined not to bomb out. I worked hard and eventually got back to the ridge, but only at ridge height. With Warren above me we finally got up to 3,000ft. I flew for nearly an hour and top landed.

On Saturday the 21st of June, I found myself heading up to Mt Tamborine again with Joel. We were first to the to launch at about 10.15am. But soon many others turned up including Jon Jnr fresh back from his US trip. The wind was a gusty SW at 12-18knts. None of us were too enthusiastic. But eventually Joel and I decided to go. Joel was first off and I was next and of course all the rest followed then. It was a bit rough, but once you got a bit of height it was ok. We struggled to get up over 2,500ft, but Enda seemed to be getting over 3,000ft off to the North point. I headed over, but I hit lots of sink and came back much lower than I would've liked.




I got back up and after a while of searching for good lift I saw Jon Jnr launch. He was only just above the tree tops and he flew the whole way to the North point at this height. Then right at the point he got into a thermal and was climbing well. I decided to go over there and try again. This time I was much more successfull and climbed to 4,300ft with Jon & Nick I think. More gliders came over and we all headed out towards misery. We all got low (2,000ft) before finding some light lift. Eventually we got back up and I decided to head back to launch to topland.



I did few wing overs over launch while Brian kindly drove my car to the Long Rd field. I landed with not quite enough speed and softly nosed in. A big cowpat helped soften the impact of gliders nose. A bit embarrasing. Flocky came over to topland also. We went back to Canungra to have a bite and pick up Joel who had got a lift from the Bottom landing field. Another 2 hours of flying in clear blue skys. It's great being able to fly all year round, even if it is a bit chilly up there.

See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ6kmg3IY5U

Early morning surf at Cabarita beach

On the 6th of June I decided to go for an Early morning surf down at Cabarita beach on the Northern NSW coast. It was quite cool as you can see by the fog I saw on the way down. The Tugan bypass is finished now and makes the drive a lot quicker. I was impressed with design of the entrance and the exit to the tunnel.



I went down to Cabarita to hopefully have surf without having to hassle for a wave, but it was not to be. There were 25 guys out there at the crack of dawn. Still managed a few good waves though.

Flying the dunes - Narrowneck & Kingscliff

On Friday the 30th of May I spoke to Leeroy P who said he was thinking of flying the dunes near Surfers Paradise. I had done this once before with Lee and Jonny and it was great fun so I was keen to have another go. You need at least 20 knts of Easterly wind for it to work properly.

So on Sat morning I went with Joel to check out narrowneck and Lee was to meet us there if it was ok. We got there and found the strength to be great, the eroded ridge was good, but the wind direction had too much South in it. So I said to Joel, "Let's just set up your glider, it's quick to set up and if it's no good we'll pack up and head down to Kingscliff." Joel agreed. Kingscliff faces more South than Narrowneck and should be better.

So as I set up Joels glider, a Channel 7 news crew turned up. Joel was straight over to them and before I knew it he was being interviewed by the nice looking lady reporter.

I helped Joel get in his glider and gave him lots of pointers on how to fly the small ridge without killing himself. He was so eager it wasn't funny. This eagerness was reflected by the female reporter who continued to try to interview Joel while he was flying by running along the beach with a microphone pointed skyward towards Joel. It was quite amusing. Joel was lapping up all the attention. I was just happy seeing Joel having so much fun, even though it was hard to stay up and getting back up the ridge took a lot of energy. I had a bit of a fly and decided it would be better to head to Kingscliff.

Joel flying Narrowneck

Joel on the small ridge at Narrowneck

Soon Lee, Marty and Enda turned up. Lee & Marty saw Joel flying a set up before I could tell them that it wasn't ideal and we should head further South.

So we packed up and all headed South to Kingscliff. The wind was still a bit too SE, but because it was a much bigger ridge it was ok. We set up Lee's Fun and Joels Sonic and took turns flying. It was great fun. Joel headed South, but the ridge got much smaller and he eventually landed on the beach and had to walk the glider about a half a Km back. Lee was having fun landing on top of the Ridge and catching Marty's zaggie glider. I landed on the beach twice, but managed about 4 top landings after a bit of practice. Marty had a fly of Joels glider and loved it. John and his missus turned up, and John had a fly of the fun, in my harness and scared us all when he was headed toward the water. But he managed to land in shallow water not wetting the glider. Although my harness was not so lucky. Well at least my harness gets it's first wash now. Joel tried a few top landings in the Fun which he enjoyed.

Lee & Joel

Lee

Me

Joel

Joel & Lee

Taj and Kath enjoyed taking pics and watching us. Then it began to get dark. We packed up and headed home. Yet another great day hang gliding.

Me & Joel

Marty & Me