Manilla Febrary 7-14

Tuesday February 7

After breakfast at the motel we headed for more stores to find air mattresses and a tent.  Found them at Ray’s outdoors. That done, we headed for Manilla.

The coolant temperature on the Jackaroo was starting to run a little high but stabilized on the high side.  Mary Beth recommended taking it back to Traveler’s Auto barn to have them take a look at it.  I wanted to press on.  We monitored it on the way to Manilla and it stayed high but within the normal range.  Mary Beth was right.  We should have had it looked at but more about that later.

We checked in at River Gums Caravan Park before heading to Godfrey’s to pick up my much anticipated new harness. It’s an Advance Impress 3.  Lightweight and very much in demand.  Believe it or not it was cheaper to buy it in Australia than from the U.S distributer. 

Godfrey was in the middle of his XC camp and XC competition but took the time to install a new reserve in the harness.  I spent a little time hanging in it before heading back to the cabin at River Gum.
 

Sunset on the drive back from Godfrey's

Manilla

Wednesday February 8

Driving out to Godfrey’s the coolant temperature started going up and just as we were ready to start climbing up the hill it spiked to hot.  We spent the next few hours driving a few kilometers back towards Manilla, stopping to let the engine cool down.  The NRMA (Aussi equivalent of AAA) came out and picked up the car and took it back to the garage.  Turns out that one of the hose clamps was not tight and the coolant had apparently been slowly leaking which is why the temperature had just been high for a long time but finally we ran out of coolant.  Even checking the coolant reservoir we didn’t see it during the trip from Sidney to Manilla.  The mechanic tightened the clamp and pressure checked the system and we were good to go.  By the time all that was done flying was over for the day.

I told you we should have had them look at this before we left Sydney!

Thursday February 9

My first flight with the new harness. I launched early from the north launch.  I spent half the 8 minute flight down to the bailout LZ trying to get into the pod.  Mary Beth picked me up and I headed up for another try.  I still need to make some adjustments and perfect getting into the pod before I start singing soprano. 

Still need to adjust my harness

The second flight was much better.  I launched again from the north launch and I had a pleasant XC going with with easy climbs in gentle thermals as I headed south towards Manilla. I was climbing up in a thermal over the town when my cell phone started ringing and ringing.  I guessed Mary Beth had a problem so I circled down and landed at our campground.  

I had guessed right. Mary Beth had pulled over to let another car pass on while driving down from launch and she heard the “wishing” sound and pulled over to find her right front tire flat with a rip in the sidewall.  Ugh, third flat driving down from launch in 5 years.  The NRMA was out in less than half an hour to help her change the tire and she made it back to the campground fairly quickly. Much easier than the flats she had experienced at Golden or Lakeview sites.

Anyway 15K from launch to the campground in 54 minutes is a start.  Just 85K short of my 100K goal. 

North Launch at Manilla

 I arrived in the middle of the XC camp.  Lots of pilots here from all over the world. Godfrey has added a pavilion and a swimming pool to his campsite.  Pretty nice all things considered.  His place was booked so we e are staying just outside Manilla in a caravan park with a nice big park for a landing paddock (meaning LZ) next to it.

River Gums Caravan park

I spent some time in the simulator adjusting the leg straps and speed bag straps to make hopefully make things easier as far as getting in to the harness is concerned.

We’re currently under the influence of a trough with lots of moisture and unstable conditions.  It’s supposed to move out in the next few days.  Godfrey promises things will improve.

Friday February 11

Mary Beth drove out to Godfrey’s and then returned to Manilla to shop and wait for the new tire to arrive and be mounted.  I took the “basher” up to launch and then scurried to find a ride down when it started raining on launch.  When it rains the roads get very slippery and dangerous driving down.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in Godfrey’s participating in a group discussion or reserve tosses and what to do.  The instructor leading the discussion did not for some reason start by advising to grab the B’s.  Instead he just said grab anything and disable the glider.  Our local club instructors in Portland are much more knowledgeable or at least have a different slant on things. 

One interesting point in the discussion was when a pilot should consider upgrading to a higher performance wing.  Comfort level in your current wing, Your XC performance relative to other pilots you fly with in the same class wing, and are you thermaling well enough that your current wing’s glide performance limits your XC capability were mentioned. 

Mary Beth came back with the new tire mounted ($210 ouch)

Hoping to fly tomorrow.

Saturday February 12

A trip up to launch in the “basher” was followed by a trip back down when the day was cancelled due to wind and overdevelopment.  A number of pilots kited in the field at Godfrey’s before the big storm came through and dumped on everyone.  It was nice and dry inside the pavilion.  Mary Beth had been napping in the car and was trapped in the front with the rear lift gate open until the deluge subsided. Luckily the wind was blowing the rain sideways and not to many things got wet.

I stayed around for the awards ceremony and barbecue which was held midafternoon due to the rain cancelling things.  Two no fly days in a row.

Sunday February 12

The XC camp is over but still a lot of pilots here.  I took the “basher” up and waited for the sun to warm up the west launch.  I launched and found a thermal just to the left of launch and soon was up to 1300 meters as I drifted back over the mountain and looking for more height.  As often happens I soon was in big sink and found myself back in front of launch and low looking for lift.  I didn’t find anything and decided to fly through the gap around the back and land at the lee side bailout.  I was worried about the rotor and there were a few bumps getting to the bailout LZ.

Mary Beth picked me up and took me back to the west launch.  I struggled again off launch along with six other pilots but eventually found myself at 2000 meters and headed for Manilla.  Mary Beth was on the radio and following in the car.

I chased a cloud but didn’t quite catch it and then looked for a nice brown field to provide lift and didn’t find it.  It was a little dicey to make the jump across the river to land at the campground so I opted for a fallow field to land.  Mary Beth arrived just as I was finishing packing up.

My favorite retrieve driver

Monday February 13

One sled ride from a forward off the south launch.  Used the helmet cam to show the launch and flight down towards Godfrey’s.  The camera was aiming a little low so I got an my nose and the faceguard of my helmet in the frame. 

Mary Beth picked me up and we went back up to the west launch and waited. 

Finally around 1:30 there was a big enough hole in the broken cloud layer to heat up the area in front of launch and a number of us launched.  I made a low save on the way to the bailout and slowly climbed up to 2200 meters.  Winds were forecast to be south but were more west.  Undeterred I kept my original plan and headed North.  Once you get past the first range things open up and it gets more difficult.  I had some trouble to find a path around some of the clouds and soon found myslelf down low and looking for lift out in the valley.  I found one and drifted with it before heading north again and looking for another thermal.  I didn’t find one and I had the option of continuing searching in some areas away from the main road or landing near the road.  I chose landing near the road.  I landed in a field with some high grass.  Downwind with a slide.  My harness will be well worn by the time I get back to the states if this keeps up.

Mary Beth who had been chasing was picking up another pilot three kilometers south of where I landed.  Once again she managed to pull up before I got packed up.  She drove me and two pilots from New Caledonia back to Godfrey’s.

One of the pilots helped me adjust the speed system in the harness.  I needed to reduce the length of the lines by about 30mm in order to get pulley to pulley.  I still need to figure out how to step into the harness.  I don’t think I am leaning forward enough and pulling my leg high enough to step in.

Beer makes harness adjustments easier

We picked up fish and chips for dinner at the place in Manilla.  Fish and chips were fine.  The place is owned by a Greek but his salads clearly had been modified for Australian tastes.  I would not recommend them.

I have one more day to here to get that 100K flight before heading to Corryong on Wednesday.  18K in one hour and 40 minutes does not give me a lot of confidence to make it tomorrow.  I’ll likely have to come back and work harder on working the clouds to stay at cloud base.

Tomorrow is another day.

Tuesday February 14—A new personal best XC

In addition to being Valentines day this was a day where I recorded my second longest flight and furthest distance in XC.  Four hours and forty-six minutes in the air with a landing distance of 82.6 kilometers from the takeoff spot.

The sky was clear in morning.  That’s always a good sign that it is not going to over develop with thunderstorms in the afternoon. We spent the morning getting ready for tomorrows drive to Corryong before heading up the hill.

I launched from the East launch just after noon and was soon up around 2000 meters with a plan to head north along a line of clouds.  Things worked well and I spent the next three hours heading west towards Boggabri following a cloud street.  Then I turned Northwest flying along a highway and looking for themals coming up from fields.  By this time it was later in the day and the winds had picked up and instead of going with little or no tail wind I was now doing 55-60 kilometers per hour when I was not thermaling.  Two other gliders came up to me and then passed me.  I finally ran out of luck finding thermals and landed 82.6 kilometers from Mt. Borah. There was one field still generating thermals and the other gliders managed to catch something there and went on another 8K before landing.  I didn’t get my 100k goal but was very pleased with my flying.  Picking a course and staying up finding  thermals along the way.

I landed in a field that was barren or so I thought.  Unforturnately there were lots of small burrs from something similar to the star thistles we have in Oregon.  They were hell to get off my wing and harness as I packed up.  Anyway I called Mary Beth on the cell phone gave her my coordinates and hit the spot locator safe landing button. 

I had not been able to call Mary Beth on the radio.  I didn’t check the microphone position when I hooked in to the harness and unfortunately I was sitting on the cord and could not get to it.  When I unhooked the microphone I still could not hit the transmit button with my mouth close enough to the radio to transmit clearly.  I also had picked a channel that was very busy with road crews talking so I eventually just switched it off and flew.  Mary Beth started calling my phone every few minutes after four pm and I knew she would be concerned but there was little I could do.  I owe her big time for this.  Not exactly the Valentine’s day one would expect.  But she was very happy and understood how I felt about the day.

It was about an hour and half drive for Mary Beth to retrieve me since she could not chase me in the car.  I sat by the road and ate beef jerky and drank the rest of my water while I waited.  It was interesting to see the land I had flown over from a different perspective on the drive back. Some of the “brown” fields had a lot of water in them.  I’m glad I didn’t land in any of them.

When we arrived back at the River Gums I celebrated with a microwaved dinner, beer, and popcorn.  Then we packed up and I loaded the car for the 10 hour drive to Corryong.

More pictures here

https://picasaweb.google.com/100100812428273095003/ManillaAustralia2012#