Volume 40 No 4 Aug-Sept 1989.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

develop. I said nothing, lying lizard-like, eyes
almost closed.
He went on, "it was a neat piece of flying, getting
into such a cramped area. Then the drake set
up an enormous racket, quacking and splashing.
I reckon he was advising the two ducks how to
make their approaches.
"They circled around once more and then
came in flying line astern. The first made it down ­
just. But the second duck was too high-It looked
as though it was going' to thump down in the
reeds at the edge of the pool while still several
feet above the water, but it fanned its wings
furiously, lifting its weight slowly above the reeds
and over the .bushes, working the neat triangular
wings until it was back again in ,level flight, flying
with that quick-flickering action that identifies
duck 91Ien at a distance."
I rolled over on my stomach and looked at him
hard, but his face was ,innocent. My wife put her
hand over my mouth. "Go on,''' she said to
him.
"Twice more," he said, "the second duck tried
to land on the pool, and twice more it had to pull
up to go round again.
"Then the drake took off. He went straight up
into the sky and formated on the duck. They circled
once and then disappeared, dropping out of
my sight beyond the bushes, 'Ieaving the pool to
me, the solitary duck and the silent afternoon."
He paused, not for dramatic effect, but to compose
his ·face. He liked to deliver his punch-lines
with gravity rather than laughter.
"SOme moments. late~ on the far side of the
pool Isaw thelmdergrow1h shaking where something
pushed its way through. It was the drake,
waddling slow and flat-footed, but confident in
his dignity as he led the second duck on foot to
the water."
In one word I expressed my pent-up scepticism
concerning all dark mysterious pools and
incompetent ducks. He raised his eyebrows, but
really ,he had been expecting nothing else.
"Listen to him!" said my wife. "And he used to
speak so nicely. I can't imagine where he picked
up that sort of language.
"Just look at him now,loafing there pretending
he didn'llikethe story, but do you know what he'll
do In a little while he'll start telling it to ,people as
if it's his own story. That's what he does. He won't
give you the credit, you know. He'll pretended it
was his own, never admitting the truth - that the
story was told to him by Ron."
i:I
OVERSEAS NEWS
Please send news and exchange copies of
journals to ,the Editor, 281 Queen Edith's
Way, Cambridge eBl 4NH', England
HEINZ HUTH
The 1960 and 1963 World Champion recently
celebrated his 80th birthday and can still be seen
at the Hamburg-Boberg gliding site.
NEW FINNISH MOTOR GLIDER
c~
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fino Riihela, the man behind the PIK 20 until the
rights were sold to France, has announced plans
for a new Finnish motor glider, the X-3, which
should fly in 1991. The aircraft will be made by
Volar Plastic, a firm which already has ten
emplo¥ees and a610m 2 factory. The X-3 is being
billed as "the motor glider of the next decade".
Five million Finn-Marks, of risk capital have been
invested in tAe project. The production capacity
will be 30-40 per year. The ,power unit will be a
Rotax 505 with a self·starter. There Is talk of a
1:50 glide angle and a span of about 18m.
STEALTHY
The Swedish gliding magazine Segelflygsport
wonders if anyone has noticed the similarity between
the US B2 stealth bomber and the Akaflieg
Braunschweig 88-13. The price of one 82 (half a
billion dollars) would buy 12000 Discuses!
TUNISIA
Fifteen miles from the tourist resorts on the Gulf
of Tunis lies Ojebel Ressa, site of the Tunisian
Aero Club"s gliding centre. The centre is
.equipped with a Twin, a Bergfalke and an Astir
and offers ,an opportunity to fly in ridge and thermal
lift on the edge of the Sahara.
GUOING IN ICELAND
At the Nordic Gliding Convention, held recently at
Elverum, news was given of the explosive growth
of gliding in Iceland. There are now two clubs,
more than 20gliders and some 60 gliding certifi'
cate holders in ,the country. Seven have Gold
badges and 14 Diamond legs of one sort or
another have 'been achieved. In recent years,
Iceland's enormous potential 'for high-level
cross,country flying (presumably in wave) has
begun to ,be exploited'. The country hopes to be
represented at the forthcoming Junior Nordic
Championships.
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