Dave George. 1979

JANUARY 1979

Christmas camp at Matamata.

Dave George did all the tasks for his Silver C at this camp and this is the story of his 50km cross-country……..

After a night of the usual carry-on, the morning of the 31st looked good for a 50km to Thames with a light southerly and cu's popping all the way on track.

After a hurried consultation with the experts, sorting out release heights etc., I was ready to go. (Don't let RWS anywhere near your map with a pair of scissors!) Last checks on the barograph- signed and sealed by the OO (Official Observer) and the glider, (Skylark 2, GCE) revealed no further excuses for putting the flight off. Anyway the sods had already hooked the Auster on by now so I had to go. (Dave is modest enough not to mention the two previous attempts on the same day…..Ed. (Ian Thompson).

Keeping in mind what would happen to me if I returned without the task complete, I heroically pulled the release at 1600ft above Waharoa and Bob immediately rocked the wings of the Auster. Next actions are a bit blurry but I must have pulled the airbrakes to mark the trace then sweated out the next thermal to get me through the start gate on the way to Thames. At 3000ft, I drifted downwind towards Te aroha. Two more thermals later I had managed to blunder my way to a point overhead the Te Aroha racecourse at 2000ft. feeling all alone now, I realised that I was committed to an outlanding at some stage of the flight so I did the correct thing to do in the circumstances and that was- let the glider have its way and drift downwind towards Thames. While CE did this, I managed to take over occasionally and reduce the deficit a bit so that we arrived over the Paeroa racecourse at 2500ft. (Dave thinks IFR stands for I Follow Races! Ed).

Casting my eyes in a 360degree arc, I spotted a cloud street from my position to Thames and as there wasn't anything else to confuse the decision, I reluctantly decided to take this route, even if it didn't go past the Thames racecourse.

A couple of short climbs later to make height and so the 50km mark was passed and shortly after this I passed Ian Thompson's landout paddock, saying to myself "eat your 'art out Thompson" then headed towards Thames in one last glide. A few fast turns over the town and then it was time to land.

The total flight-time was 1hr 30m and the actual landing presented no problems. A quick trip to the loo, a phone call to arrange the retrieve crew and that was that apart for the business at the bar that evening, but that's another story.

Dave George.