My memories of Omarama date back to Easter 1973 when I achieved my ‘C’ Badge flight. This time, as part of our South Island holiday, we were spending three days at the Omarama Holiday Park which was one of the better camps we had visited, though the facilities were a bit over-taxed by the number of campers.
The airstrip at Omarama is 1300m long, adequate for glider launching. New Years Day began with an easterly wind and cloud down to 1,000ft agl. The cloud lifted later in the day and I managed a check flight with Steve Morrissey (Wigram CFI) who pointed out how rusty my look-out procedure was (rubber neck required) and I would have to fly faster minimum sink speed is too slow for South Island thermals. There wasnt enough lift around for the Blanik. Ray Lynskey had disappeared in his Nimbus) and we were back on the ground in twenty minutes. Next morning the weather was much the same. Late morning while waiting for some “Wiggies” to show up , I had a flight with Murray Roberts in Canterbury's Twin Astir GOR. He gave me a close-up view of of rocks and tussock around the face of Mt. Horrible but the vario pointed consistently down. Later in the day I managed a couple of flights in ‘Chiefy’ Coutts Blanik GIS. (The TGC would later buy this aircraft). On the first I got too near Mt Horrible instead of staying out over the valley and flopped back onto the field after 42min. On the next flight I managed 1hr 45min in weak thermals.
The morning of the 3rd began fine with a light variable wind but a northerly change brought showers. By mid-afternoon the showers had cleared and around 4pm I launched the Wigram Blanik GIF with daughter Caroline in the back seat The thermals were almost unavoidable and we were soon at 3,500ft over Mt Horrible but Caroline was feeling queasy horrible!- so after a Tiki Tour out over the valley we headed back to terra firma. My fight duration was 47min this time.
After taking Caroline back to the camp I returned to the airfield and launched in IF once more, this time behind a 150hp Cub. The tow lacked promise until the sensitive vario went off the top in a thermal. I released in the second thermal encountered and in 9 few turns gained 800ft. Eventually I moved to the slopes of Mt Horrible where I caught a seven knotter to 5,500ft. The day weakened and I was joined by a number of pundits returning home, this tested my rubber neck lookout procedure. I landed back at 8.40pm, the sun still on the airfield. 2hrs 47min was not my five hours goal but still satisfying.
Les Sharp
1989
|
