February - Hang Gliding Federation of Australia

G F AG F AJun • orJournalJoeyGlide 2010Adam Webb – PresidentAustralia Junior Gliding ClubTen juniors competed in the seventhannual JoeyGlide competition held inWaikerie from 11 to 17 December last year.The competition, originally plannedfor Narromine, looked like being cancelleddue to the flooding rains aroundthe NSW central west district earlierin the month. The organiser, BathurstSoaring Club’s Gus Stewart, displayedgreat leadership by arranging a changeof venue only a week or so before itwas due to start. There was initially somehesitation from Queensland, but Gus’senthusiasm won through and JoeyGlide2010 went ahead. Well done, Gus!After the last minute change ofvenue, we ended up with flying andtasking every day of the comp (includingtwo practice days), a total of eightconsecutive flying days. This had neverbeen done before in the seven yearsof JoeyGlide.JoeyGlide 2010Thanks again to everyone who helpedout, especially the people involved in thelast minute move. Special mentions go tothe Waikerie Gliding Club, led by ‘Super-John’ Hudson, who made everything runsmoothly and drove the tug every day;Jean for cooking up a wonderful mealfor us every night; Ann Wolfe who sortedus all out with accommodation; all theWaikerie club members who staffed thebar and put up with us invading theirclubhouse; Grant Johnson for keepinghis watchful eye on us as safety officer;Cath Conway for helping hugely withthe move, setting us great tasks (evenif I didn’t make it around them all) andcoaching in the K21 and Duo; ‘Nifty’ NevDonald for jumping into a tug with noPhoto: Simon Hackettwarning, and giving us some jolly goodtows; Andrew Horton for his continuedgenerosity to the Juniors and helpingout coaching; and Derek Spencer, PaulMander, George Brown and BernardEckey for their time in the back seatcoaching for the week.Again huge thanks to Gus Stewartwho comp directed the week, who pulledoff an awesome comp with everyone:competitors, coachees and anyone elsewho popped in, having a great time.If he wasn’t shooting off to England for a few years he’d have a job for life.We also have to thank our sponsors:Internode once again supported us hugely,without them we wouldn’t have acontest; it was great to see Simon popin for an afternoon! Thanks alsoto OAMPS who help out not onlywith generous cash sponsorships,but also with insurance. Thanksalso to Modelflight, Go Soaring,Maddog Compersites and BernardEckey for helping out with prizes.Winner of the competitionwas Andrew Maddocks fromBoonah, with Matthew Scutter,Adelaide, taking out secondplace and Nathan Johnson,Wagga Wagga, third. Well doneto all competitors.Now it’s time to start lookingforward to next year! At thepilots’ meeting it was decided tomove the comp up north to Queenslandnext year, and Adam Woolleywas nominated competition director.I’m sure we’ll be hearingfrom him before long!JoeyGlide 2010 placegetters Matt Scutter(2nd), Nathan Johnson (3rd) and AndrewMaddocks (1st)Photo: Adam WebbJoeyGlide 2010 – From a Canadian PerspectiveJoeyGlide is over for another year.Overall I think it was an incrediblecontest to be a part of and I amvery glad that I made it out. Theopportunity to fly with other pilotswho are the same age and have a similarlevel of experience provides young pilotswith a fun contest and a good gauge oftheir abilities. I hope that one day we canhave a similar kind of contest in Canada.The camaraderie between competitorsat JoeyGlide is fantastic. In the air everyoneflew safely and fairly, giving thesafety officer and penalties’ committee aneasy job during the contest. The positiveatmosphere continued on the ground.Before launches, more experienced pilotswere willing to discuss strategic plans andperceptions of the upcoming day. In theevening you could count on the fact thateveryone would get together and sharetales of the air over a beer; talking aboutdecisions that were made, both goodand bad. These stories evoked a lot oflaughter, but also some serious learning.There were many times where youcould tell we were at a junior contest.Although some may perceive the radiochatter as unprofessional, it helped makean entertaining and friendly contest.Webbsi Max FM was on the airways allweek, providing us with good jokes (HeyJohno, niiiice cirrus!) and quality music(Top Gun theme song!). On the groundmany practical jokes were played, includinggiving some gliders new call signs (MCHammer and Canada 4) and the furniturefrom an entire room being moved outside.Although not typical of a glidingcontest, these friendly antics createda fun atmosphere that will keep youngpeople coming back for future contests.JoeyGlide also had a serious side to it.I think everyone who was involved in thecoaching clinic greatly benefitted fromthe knowledge the coaches brought tothe contest. Morning briefings also gavenew pilots information about strategyand safety.Through the eight days of flyingI learned a lot about myself and aboutcontest flying. One thing I learned isthe importance of a good start. It isimportant to find a balance betweenflying with the rest of the field on somedays, having patience to start when theday is good, and not starting so latethat you miss the best part of the day.Selena BoyleReflecting on each day of flying I cansee how I could have improved my start.Another thing I learned about is flyingwith other pilots and using them to markthermals, particularly on day three whena large portion of the field flew togetherfor most of the day. Watching otherpilots and how far they travel on theirstraight glides has taught me that this issomething I need to improve on. Part ofthis is being more selective about whichclimbs I take, which requires discernment.If I am able to improve on this aspect ofmy flying I will increase my speed. Oneof the biggest aspects of my flying thatI need to improve on is learning howto read the sky, understanding wherethe good air is, and being aware of thechanging weather as the day progresses.I can see that each of the things I havelearned and hope to improve on will onlyimprove as I gain more experience andfly more! I am looking forward to it!I would like to give some huge thanksto several people who helped me duringthe contest. First of all to Tobi Geiger:thank you so much for being so generousto lend me your glider and all of yourequipment! Your glider is definitely themost beautiful glider I have ever hadopportunity to fly! I really appreciate yourgenerosity and all of the help you gaveme throughout the contest. Thank youalso to Swaantje Geyer for lending meyour vehicle: without it I would not havebeen able to get to the contest. Thankyou to everyone who sent me notes ofJoeyGlide 1981Emilis PrelgauskasCanadian entrant Selena Boyleencouragement and constructive criticismduring the contest, especially to ChrisGough. Every little bit of information thatI can gather will make me a better pilot.Thank you also to Internode and all ofthe personal sponsors who helped providefunding for JoeyGlide. As a young personwith limited money I cannot properlyexpress how much all of the supportmeans to us! I would also like to thankthe Australian Junior Gliding Club forbeing so kind to award a foreigner likemyself a scholarship!Now for a cheesy sentimental moment:thank you to each and every pilot whowas at JoeyGlide this year. I had a greattime getting to know all of you betterand racing around the skies with you.I had a few moments where I lookedaround the room and thought howincredible it would be if we were all stillflying in 40 years and could sit arounddrinking beer and laughing about thegood old times of flying JoeyGlide.Keep enjoying the thrills of the sky!This is the 30th anniversaryof an earlier generationof Juniors.In 1981 they gatheredin Mildura at the Sunraysia GlidingClub to fly the early year contestwhich was run there for decades.This photograph by Don Hein records the contest day where these pilots in pre-1970ssailplanes set out on a 500km set task (Mildura – Balranald – Birchip – Mildura).The old fox Keith Nolan is included at left as the first time an Olympia (his ‘YellowWitch’ shown here) had covered that course length.The Juniors shown are Gary Stevenson, Guy Harley, Graeme Newcombe, ChrisDearden and Graeme Parker. All except Graeme are still active pilots.Not shown are other pilots attempting the course, notably eight Adelaide Universitystudents who shared a two-seat sailplane in rotation. They only flew 450kmof the course that day.6 Soaring Australia February 2011 February 2011 Soaring Australia 7