Steve Barham. 2007

SPORTS/PW5 NATIONALS – PIAKO 2007

This is just a wee article about a wee flight (four bloody hours) I did in the back seat of a PW6 at Matamata.
The story began with a late night phone call from Peter Miller, “Steve, Peter here, I’ve just been talking to Ralph Gore of the Piako Gliding Club and the upshot is I’ve booked you and Richard Arden to fly the Sports/PW5 Nationals in a PW6 with one Ian Finlayson” “Er thanks Peter but who’s Ian Finlayson and what’s this all mean?” “Ian’s a great pilot, really nice guy and past winner of many NZ gliding titles, you would be flying a task with him and this would be of immense value to you in understanding cross country soaring”.

Well I thought, I’ve only just gone solo in the club PW5 and cross country long distance (long time) flying hadn’t yet registered on my horizon. I also had to consider my Woolworths/Warehouse bladder.
“How long would a typical task take Peter?” “Probably two to maximum three hours”
As it turned out Richard did five hours and I did four. Just as well the glider came equipped with the appropriate comfort device. Turned out neither of us needed it though.

After much debate with myself on what I could learn from this idea I decided I should go as a lot of people had gone to a lot of trouble to make all of it possible.
All I can say is I’m very glad I did go, I had a really good time, I met a lot new great and friendly people and learned a lot about cross country and competition flying. I can thourghly recommend this idea to any glider pilot interested in starting out on a cross country flying career.
Many thanks to all those who had the foresight to set this up.


Matamata Grid
The Road Trip
Richard decided we should both go up together in his small 4 wheel drive. Pleasant journey and we managed to solve all of the problems of the Taranaki Gliding Club, Gliding NZ, Gliding in general and the war in Iraq.
I did offer and am sure the trip would have been more comfortable in my Holden.
Thanks anyway Richard.

Piako Club
The set up at Matamata is great. The people I met, competitors, helpers and organisers where friendly and helpful and this really went along way toward encouraging any future interest Richard or I may have in competition flying.

That Night (and every night)
My partner Deborah had warned him, I had warned him, friends had warned him.
“Don’t sleep with him”
Well what they actually meant was, Richard don’t sleep in the same room as Steve, he snores.
“Can’t be that bad.” said Richard. You will have to ask Richard if it was bad, as far as I know, I don’t snore as I can't hear it.

The Flight
Eight sailplanes to launch and only one tow plane, can't start until 10 minutes after the last glider is released, well this meant we were in the air almost as long as my longest solo flight and we hadn’t even started.
The task was a start at Walton (near the Matamata strip) first turn point was 47km north over the swamp at Kaihere, back over the swamp 20km to the second turn at Tirohia (near Paeroa) then down the Kaimai Range 51km to Te Poi then back 17km to finish at Matamata strip.
After the start (12.30) Ian headed straight for the swamp hoping to get good thermal activity near its edge, alas things weren’t as good as expected and we where soon down to 900 to 1000’ over the Wallace meat works and scratching for lift. It was great to observe an obviously seasoned thermal pilot working small developing thermals. I especially noted the calm, smooth and well balanced execution of the turns, always searching and consistently adjusting bank and drift while keeping a good look at the forming cloud above.
After a trying time at 1000’ and hard intense concentration Ian soon had us on the side of Te Aroha and was heard to say ”Well, two’s better than one”. We (I mean Ian) soon turned the 2000” into 2500’ and we headed around Te Aroha and onto a sea breeze front that took us all the way to Kaihere. As an aside I don’t think we got above 3500’ the whole flight.
Unfortunately, due to our earlier troubles we were passed by two of the PW5s going the other way, having already been to the first turn point.
Never mind the aim here is to complete the task (it’s not over till the weight challenged person sings) as you never know what may happen to others during the course of the day.
By the time we reached Kaihere the sea breeze front had retreated back out to the coast, but a good cloud middle swamp showed us the way direct back to the second turn point at Tirohia.
From Tirohia it was an easy (well easier than scratchy thermals) and fast run down the Kaimais to Te Poi, around Te Poi and an easy run home. Well that’s what we thought!!!!

The wind speed had increased slightly and was enough to provide the fast run down the range but when we turned Te Poi and tried to make a direct run to Matamata things again went against us.
Not wanting to risk it Ian elected to turn back to the range and make the flight back up to Matamata using predictable thermals off the valleys of the range. All that I heard said was “I don’t know it should be working here” Alas that’s gliding and things weren’t working as well as would be expected, however we eventually worked our way back to home.
By the time we finished I’d had my longest ever flight in a glider, I’d managed to avoid the other wee considerations, had very sore knees, a sore arse and a real need for a cold beer.
I had also had one of my most memorable flights and had enjoyed the company of a great pilot.

What a relief, two’s better than one

Conclusions
The upshot of all this is I’m amazed at the distance you can actually go in a PW5 if you try.
Lots of things have been said about the PW5’s performance but if you’re all flying the same wing then it’s all down to pilot skill in the end.

I think the idea of running a friendly games type competition atmosphere is bang on; it was nice to arrive and find a small and friendly crowd.
I think that any new person new to competitions can find it a bit overwhelming to be faced with lots of fast ship gliders and top gun pilots.
Having a top pilot provide their time, effort and impart their hard earned knowledge this way was great, it should be remembered that to run a successful competition both flying wise and financially you actually have to have competitors and that means encouraging (as Piako have done here) new pilots into the competition side of gliding.

Thank You.
Steve Barham
Taranaki Gliding Club