27th October 2014

We were a bit thin on the ground but many thanks to Pete for winching and Roy for running our wings. Just Roland and John flew. A decent southerly cooled things down but fortunately it was unstable enough for soaring. After good 1500' launches both Roland and John got away. John went around the west side of Dunstans to St Bathans Range and back, Roland east to Ranfurly. Cloud base was 5-7000' and the day died early, but it was nice to have thermals back!

19th Oct 2014

It sounded like a good day, everybody flew some soaring flights...

Sunday 12th Oct 2014

Well we tried! It was difficult to call the weather, maybe wave, maybe thermals. In the end it was largely neither! Conditions changed and high cloud dampened things down. Roland was first off, towing to the translator, followed by John. They hung in for a while before searching elsewhere and landing back later. Meanwhile Doug was back-seat in JW with Roy, Matt and Grant search for somewhere better each flight but with little success. Thanks to Russell for towing.

Sunday 5th October 2014

An odd-looking wave situation with numerous fronts bunching up on the lower South Island. It was going to be unpredictable so we launched a bit earlier (for us!) at 12.
Gary towed me (JR) into the Old Man wave. I headed south down the Umbrella Range turning 60km south of Alex where the left petered out and airspace loomed. Then north with a decent tailwind (200kts ground speed at one stage) down the Dunstans and into the MacKenzie until I was reluctant to continue over 8/8th cover. I turned back at the Neuman Range about 135km north of Alex. Total about 410km and a fast (for me) speed of 155km/h. I landed just as the rain started.

Flight trace HERE

 Thanks Gary for the tow, and Roy, Brian, Doug for helping me get going.

Above Lake Ohau 17000'