12Jun14 - Watt a weekend

Watt a weekend

12-Jun-14

--------------------
From: Nicholas Sheahon
Date: Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 9:29 PM
Subject: Watt a Weekend
To: cgcmem@mailmanlist.net.au

Bert Persson in control of GYK on the long rope departing YCAB with XQ just in front

The postponement of the Watts Bridge fly away at Easter was a blessing in disguise for myself, as with my wedding booked in around that time, I had accepted that, once again, there was no way I could attend. But the change of date meant that with the ring on my finger and my new wife very disappointed not to be going camping with me because of the Grade 6 / 7 report cards being due the following week, I packed up my car on the Friday night and looked forward to my first flying camp with Caboolture Gliding Club.

The fact was that the camp had already started with the Libelle and CQC making the flight to Watts Bridge behind SPA on the Friday. David Higgs, Mick Moloney along with passenger Ann Bradley in the gliders behind tuggie Steve Bowtell got the weekend away to an early start. It must also be noted that David Guzzwell and Rod Elsworth made a number of trips between YCAB and YWSG with trailers, Speedy/Kevin's Kookaburra and other essential equipment for the weekend.

Nick Sheahon in the back seat of GYK on the dual tow to Watts Bridge

For myself, the weekend began early Saturday morning at YCAB where a crew had gathered to conduct the second dual tow which consisted of the two Blaniks GYK and XQ. Steve Bowtell again took control of SPA and a few coin tosses later the seating arrangements were decided. Lindsay and Shane Tuck in XQ on the short rope with Bert Persson and myself in GYK on the long. Thanks to Alan Graham, Garrett Russell, Tony Sorensen, Chris Weir, and his mate Malcolm who were all on hand to assist with the dual launch. This was my first dual tow and it was a real privilege to be a part of and I was treated to an excellent example of how to short field land YK at Watts Bridge so that no retrieve was required.

David Higgs hooks up CQC

You could feel the excitement in the air at Watts Bridge as the Blaniks and Pawnee arrived at the field. Following the arrival of tuggie for the day Neil Schaefer (and Shane Tuck) in Neil's Savannah, we had a quick briefing and began a series of familiarisation flights for those that had not flown at YWSG before or recently.

As such there were only two flights which just cracked an hour and these were from two single seaters. Namely Speedy in his K6 GSR and Bob Turner in CP or Kermit. The 10 other flights were all fairly short but achieved the goal of checking out the lay of the land.

Lindsay Mitchell points out the lift

As Garrett was attending the Rugby at Suncorp that night, Lindsay not able to stay at Watts Bridge Saturday night and my car and camping equipment still at YCAB, the three of us left shortly after 3pm and returned to YCAB. I knew as I got in my car to drive back to Watts Bridge that the price I was to pay for the dual tow would be assembling my tent in the dark. Cheers to Chris Weir and Malcolm for assisting me or no doubt I would have spent the night under the stars. The remainder of the campers (which included Petrus from the Bundaberg Gliding Club, Alan, Speedy and Mike McCluskey) joined those staying at the pub for the evening meal which was apparently massive to say the least. But not too big for Speedy who put away a steak which would have weighed more than himself. This was one theory as to why he could not repeat his one hour flight for the remainder of the weekend. Not that anyone else even came close either.

Mike McCluskey in the Libelle

Of course the real reason for this would have been that while the Caboolture Gliding Club did all that they could with preparations for a successful weekend, no one organised any lift. As such Sundays flights were numerous, but short. They did include Mike McCluskey trying Speedy's K6 for the first time, although you would have thought he had flown it 1000 times with the perfect touch down he produced. Speedy himself took David Guzzwell and Ann Bradley (separately of course) for flights in his Kookaburra and there were solos for Shane Tuck, Ken Mitchell, John Nestor and Chris Weir. It also has to be noted that Alan and Mike then made a dash into town and returned with sausages on bread for all, cooked up on the back of Alan's ute. An act which was very much appreciated by all, only to be topped with the mid afternoon arrival of Jennifer Fauster with a couple of cakes for afternoon tea. It was great to see Jennifer back with our Gliding Club and she shared the last flight of the day with David Higgs in XQ.

Speedy (Bernard Gonsalves) and Kookaburra GLM

Once all the toys were tied down for the night it was another (massive) dinner at the local pub where a rough plan of how to get all gliders, equipment and vehicles back to YCAB. One thing for certain was that this plan would more than likely change by the required departure time.

SPA watching Monday morning sunrise

Day three begun at the Watts Bridge campsite with tea and bickies before the tents were packed up. (Speedy's did not take long). Once again and for the third time in three days, I got the first flight of the day (in XQ) and my first flight with Mick Moloney. As we joined the circuit, the Whitman VH-AKZ of Petrus Pretorius delivered Bert to the field in preparations for the dual tows back to YCAB. Steve Bowtell was in control of SPA for tug duties on the final day and we got in 7 flights including some solo time for John Nestor and myself in the Blaniks and two aerobatic displays by David Higgs in the IS 28.

Just before 2 o'clock, GYK (piloted by Bert and Rod Elsworth) and XQ (piloted by Lindsay and John Nestor) were readied at the threshold of 12 for the final time (of this trip). SPA towed them to within gliding distance of YCAB and returned to Watts Bridge for the IS 28 and the Libelle. And with that, the weekend had come to an end.

SPA just airborne with GJY on tow

A few points to note from this trip are as follows:

Weather - great soaring conditions did not greet us at Watts Bridge, and it just did not matter. We all had a blast flying out of a different airfield, enjoying the long weekend and our sport with good company. As for the short flights, it was good circuit experience at a different airfield and just makes me want to return again to chase the longer and higher flights we know are possible.

Watts Bridge is in very nice condition. It was very convenient to have the left runway more or less to ourselves which was mowed like a golf course just as the main runway was. There were mowed tracks all the way around to access our setup area, and a point to note is that we need to use them more on future trips. The people there were most hospitable, very happy to have us back at Watts Bridge and were asking when we would be back again. It was also great to see a father and son see the gliders, pull over their car and jump the fence to come over and just watch operations for nearly an hour.

SPA performed like a champion. She never missed a beat the whole weekend (that I saw or heard of) and she was worked pretty hard with the high number of short flights. She looks fantastic front on with the two Blaniks just airborne behind, a sight I watched from the 30 end of the runway with my video camera rolling. We also need to thank Neil Schaefer for piloting SPA around Watts Bridge for the best part of two days, flying out from YCAB each day and back in the (late) afternoon, and Steve Bowtell for the third day at Watts and the four dual tows.

Mike McCluskey awaiting the return of SPA while in Speedy's K6

On the note of thanking people, there are just too many to run through individually. But let's face it, everyone who attended and no doubt some that didn't, helped over the course of the preparations or the weekend itself in some way. Whether it was with launching or retrieving, the paperwork, towing trailers back and forth etc, the weekend would not have happened without you all. It really demonstrates that our club spirit is alive and well, and you even get the feeling it's improving all the time.

The statistics for the weekend (excluding Friday) were as follows:

Saturday

GYK 2 hours 42 mins from 5 flights

XQ 1 hour 57 mins from 4 flights

CQC 1 hour 5 mins from 3 flights

GJY 18 mins from 1 flight

CP 1 hour 2 mins from 1 flight

GSR 1 hour 8 mins from 1 flight

Sunday

GYK 1 hour 37 mins from 5 flights

XQ 2 hours 11 mins from 6 flights

CQC 1 hour 18 mins from 4 flights

GJY 28 mins from 1 flight

Monday

GYK 1 hour 27 mins from 3 flights

XQ 1 hour 25 mins from 3 flights

CQC 1 hour 16 mins from 3 flights

GJY 45 mins from 1 flight

David Guzzwell and Ann Bradley assist Speedy with the K6

An unfortunate development on Monday afternoon was that David Guzzwell's car overheated at Toogoolawah while towing home the Kookaburra. He stayed an extra night in the pub and the glider shacked up next to one of the Cessna Caravans used by Ramblers over the weekend and I believe the car was repaired again on Tuesday. David's vehicle performed many retrieves over the three days and made more than one trip between Caboolture and Watts Bridge to make the weekend happen and this was cruel luck mate.

GYK and XQ head for home David Guzzwell and Ann Bradley assist Speedy with the K6

All in all, it was a great weekend and we should do it more often. Bring on the next long weekend at Watts Bridge.

Happy Landings,

Nick Sheahon

PS: following a review of the video footage, I can confirm that I did not call 'Traffic Caboolture' by mistake. Although I would not have been surprised. But I can confirm that I am staring work on editing the video footage I shot over the weekend now and will upload for you to view.