Richard Arden. 2007

Fly-ing With Fin (Ian Finlayson)

Confucius once said about learning; I hear and forget
I see and recall
I do and remember.

When Peter Miller rang me and said that all was organized for me to fly with Fin, I looked forward to it with great anticipation. Because I am one of those people who need to do it to remember it.

On the morning of the 31st January, we got the PW6 out and gave it the usual morning clean, DI, etc; and then went off to the morning briefing. Our task for the day was a max; of 309 kms, start line was Walton, then up to Maramarua, back down to Tokoroa and then home. The Maramarua end had a turning circle of 10kms with Maramarua at the top and the Tokoroa end had a turning circle of 20kms, Tokoroa in the middle.
Piece of cake I thought, Yeah Right, considering that I hadn’t flown more than 5kms from Stratford in any given direction. BUT I was fly-ing with Fin and when Peter asked him what his plan was for the flight I waited with great anticipation for a lengthy briefing on how we, well actually that is Fin, would fly the course.

The reply; “Oh, says Fin, just go for it!!”

Lesson number one.

You can’t plan what you can’t see.

Hooking up the PW6 to the car, off we went down to the grid, we were in row 4, which gave us time too organize ourselves and get into the glider, it was at this stage that it dawned on me how much room there wasn’t in the back seat, I wandered if Fin would consider swapping but thought better of it to ask.

Finally it was our turn and we were hooked up to the tow plane and off we went.

Not a bad tow, I thought, Fin kept it reasonably straight and in a good position behind the tow plane, mind you, I didn’t say anything to the Fin, thought keeping mouth shut and opinion to oneself the best course of action.

Now all we had to do was stay up here until the other gliders arrived, then hold on until the start gate opens and then start our task.

Hey man, this is easy. Yeah Right.

Well, off the tow plane we went and started thermalling, all went well for about 10 to 15 minutes and then the sky over developed and we were in the proverbial poo, but not to worry because our man Fin just kept on doing his thing and I learnt another lesson.

Lesson number two.

PATIENCE.
Of all the things I learnt that day this would have to be Number One.
Well, we got across the start line and off we went, I kept on thinking to myself, man, if only I could do this in the Taranaki.

It was about this time that I started to think about suggesting we change seats, as I couldn’t feel my bum, oh, can I say that word? Oh hell why not? Can’t spell the other one anyway, but since the passenger aisle was full I kept this suggestion to myself as well.

I mean, since I couldn’t feel my you know what, then it wasn’t a problem.

It was something of a bit of an up and down trip up too the Swamp and this is where local knowledge takes over because Fin says, we always get good thermals over said swamp, and sure enough we did. Then a left turn and off to the Maramarua circle.
Looking down when we got to the hills before the turning point I saw another glider quite low and passed the remark that he could be in some trouble if he didn’t pick up some height soon.
Boy, should I have kept my mouth shut and opinion to myself. Because a short time later we weren’t that flash ourselves.

Any way I get ahead of myself.

We went into the circle by about 5kms and then turned back, aiming to go over to Te Aroha, well that was the intention but the Gods had other ideas. Back too old faithful, the swamp, we went but this time it was not working so we just kept on going but headed towards Paeroa instead. It was closer and Fin thought that we would have a better chance of picking up a thermal there.

Lesson number three

Be positive, even when you can reach out and pick the daisies.

We were a bit short of Paeroa and down to about 800 feet, I was looking very seriously at several attractive paddocks, when from the front seat comes a rather laconic comment,

Hmm, some of those paddocks look pretty good down there.

Oh doggie doos thinks I, Steve my mate, will give me hell if we land out. But there is a good pub not far from here.

And then Fin starts doing his magic, we scratch a bit of lift off the ponds and river, never would have thought about using them, then we head towards the back of Paeroa and get a bit off lift of the town I guess, then he heads out towards the edge of the hills and I think to myself, another small lesson for me here, don’t think, he is going in the wrong direction, when all of a sudden we cotton onto a good thermal and climbing at 4 to 6 knots.

Fin says, you can get some good thermals off cows walking along the race.

And here I must admit I thought to myself, Yeah Right, and then I look down and think, Boy why don’t I just shut up and listen. Because down below us was a herd of cows heading towards the shed for milking.

Lesson number four

Look for thermals anywhere. Stock on the move, Milking sheds, Implement yards, Ponds, Rivers, Factories, Towns, the list is just about endless. Don’t just expect thermals to be under clouds.

Well in the hands of Fin we climbed up to 3000ft and off we went for Te Aroha, thermalled some more up to 3500approx and then headed down the Kaimai’s for the Tokoroa turning circle.
This for me was one of the high points of the flight for I have always wanted to soar down this range, and now next time I will do it on my own.
At about this time I also made another discovery about the PW6, if you are 185cm tall and have been sitting in the back seat for three hours you need to have great control over the pain you are by now feeling in your knees. But not being one to complain I just weathered on, boy what a hero.

On the way down we did a couple of turns but most of the time we just went for it.
Great fun.

Upon arriving at about a point adjacent to Putaruru, the turning circle came up to just south of said township, we took a look at what we would have to do to get there. My immediate thought was, walk.

But by this time I was getting used to Fin pulling thermals out of nowhere and so off we went. We headed towards what I thought was a couple of wisps of stuff, you couldn’t call them clouds and once again we were in some good lift. 5Knots or there about.

Lesson number five.
Clouds that are formed have often stopped working. (But there are no hard and fast rules.)

Everything looked good and then the Gods did it again and took away all the lift. So, we started scratching around once more and not being one to heed my own advice I made the comment at one point, when we were rather on the low side, that there was a landing strip just over there.

HUMPH

Was the only remark that came back, thought I did read into that comment volumes and decided that I should do what many a teacher in the past has said to me and that was shut up and learn.

Well, we scratched around some more and then Fin got a thermal off a cow shed and implement yard and up we went, all be it with a bit of work, then we headed back to where we had come from. At this point I thought, yes I know don’t, he’s going the wrong way!

But once again this was a lesson in patience and good thinking, because we went back too where we had found lift, picked up a heap more of height and then headed out towards Putaruru, we got about half way there and struck another thermal, of which I am sure Fin knew was waiting for us ( though by this time I was of the opinion that he manufactured them by himself and really didn’t need them), we made a mad dash for the bottom end of the circle did a sharp about face and headed back. A thermal or two and we were back on the Kaimai’s and off home. Fin put the pedal to the metal and we were zipping along very nicely thank you. Past one chap on the top of the hills and reached out and shook his hand as we went by, then Fin radios in that we are on finals, this is obviously something that Matamata does, I look around for strip thinking oh boy to be able to straighten my legs will be ooooooohhhhhh! So good. See field is still some way off but we are definitely on finals and here we come.

Flight time was about 4hours and 55 minutes approx. I think I learnt more in that time than I learnt at school. Now all I have to do is put it to use.

My thanks to Fin for lesson and I hope to do it again with him, also I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Matamata on a well run Competition, last but not least Peter Miller for organizing this.

I have but one more request and that is Fin too put down his knowledge and experiences, I believe that he has such a wealth of the above that we would all benefit from them.



Richard with Tim Hardwick-Smith in the Twin Astir.