To: cgcmem@mailmanlist.net.au
This
Monday-for-Friday idea could really take off
because, once again, the crew who turned up had a
pretty good day. Blue sky beats low overcast any
day of the week!
This Monday’s crew were Judith Smith, Arthur
Mailey, Bob Hainsworth, Ken Mitchell, Kevin
Rodda, with Steve Bowtell and Karl Bodi in the
tug. The gliders were CQC, GJY and GRV - with
Kevin Rodda sporting a 60’s style snap brim
fedora to match his 60’s vintage sailplane.
Sammy Davis Jnr and the rest of the Rat Pack,
eat your hearts out.
However that blue sky wasn’t all good news
because lift in the silky still air under the
high pressure system was hard to find and harder
work to stay in. Kevin found only 34 minutes
worth on his first flight, Judith and I just 27
minutes in the IS-28, and Arthur managed a mere
13 minutes from the first Libelle launch. But
that was because of the outlanding.
Waved off by Steve at 2,000 feet, Arthur
wrong-footed himself by going for one of the few
clouds around. When that didn’t work he then
made the correct decision: “Glider Juliet Yankee
outlanding at Hazelton’s”
By the time the retrieve crew arrived (by road
and air), Arthur had already received a warm
welcome and sealed a firm friendship with Jeff
Hazelton and Spot.
And he then celebrated the smoothest retrieve we
could hope for with a 58 minute return flight to
YCAB - but this time hunting for lift in the
blue and closer to the airfield!
That was almost the highlight of the day as the
conditions took us back to short flights - 23
minutes for Ken solo in CQC and 30 minutes for
Bob on what became the Libelle’s tie down
flight. But Kevin went up again to tackle the
clear sky under a growing sheet of high stratus
and came back after 59 minutes of very hard work
with the double header of last flight and flight
of the day.
And the high cloud, which effectively shut down
our soaring fairly early in the afternoon, gave
us a great sunset in which to head home:
