We did not expect a great attendance today with some keen members at DDSC, and Christmas in the offing, so were not disappointed to find just enough to make a flying day. Very sensibly, Tony Sorensen and Barry McCarthy’s crew decided that CQC would suffice so we departed for runway 30 to join what traffic was enthusiastic enough to confront the warm humid conditions.

 

Left behind were Bob Turner and Arthur Mailey who continued working on our new van. The old one is feeling very down in the mouth and another big wind may see the end of the ‘wall’ beside what remains of ‘the door’. Hopefully, whatever we left in the van will survive (dry) the forecast storms until the new van ready to take its place. We wish our team of construction experts all the best.

 

Our sad old van beside Kevin’s trailer, now well tied down.

 

Once we had SPA and the old van in place on 30, the first order of business was erecting the gazebo to provide some semblance of shade where everyone could take refuge if they were not otherwise engaged in flying activities. It was a popular spot where tuggie for the day, Mike Grady, and the rest of us spent a pleasant hour or so while Bob Hainsworth recorded the day’s best flight of 1.04. It was quite enjoyable stopping occasionally to check how he was going when conversation lagged. Barry and I had already tested the air, 26 mins, and found the cloud looked better than it turned out to be. Lift was certainly not easy to come by so we wished Bob well and settled to wait.

 

Kevin Rodda appeared during this sojourn and, brought us up to date with his exploits and those of some others who visited DDSC. Our visitor, Ken (surname unknown), who joined us for most of the day, departing, without flying, with Kevin when he returned to tie down his glider trailer after inspecting damage from the last storm. Work had ground to a halt on the new van so Arthur had joined us and he and Barry tried their luck, scoring 36 mins in the uninspiring sky - nowhere near Arthur’s usual good score. The only other activity today was Ken’s continuing back seat training which accounted for two of our five flights with the final flight landing on 06, nice and handy to the tie-down area.

 

Thereupon, we completed packing up and, after a review of the day and a refreshing drink, headed off before the predicted storms accosted on on the road home.

 

I could not lock the filing cabinet because the key was missing but otherwise, everything seemed to be in order which leaves me with nothing else to report so I wish anyone who hopes to fly tomorrow a kind day, courtesy of the weather gods, and a big enough crew to have some good flights.

 

Stay safe,