In the Beginning

Welcome Sports fans to the first of a series of Blogs to reflect the "goings on" at the New Zealand Gliding Nationals in Omarama in January 2009.

The opportunity to save $100 on entry fees got some excited!!
Both Lemmy and Gavin figured they were enterring the "sports" class. Unfortunately there will be no Sports class at Omarama in 2009, Sports class comps will be in Matamata in February....

Nice to see that a man who can fly huge triangles in his ASH was enterring in the club class-he reckons he needs the competition (wonders what the handicap will be like against single astirs)

And of course the 2 seat pilot who has "Madonna" as a co-pilot in his Duo Discus will be the envy of the material girl generation.

Interesting to see how many glider pilots have taken the opportunity to have their own "flight following" by obtaining SPOT messengers. (GPS tracking units that send txts/emails with current location) This Director is a great supporter of such devices (happy to lend my unit to a worthy competitor....) and will be watching closely the best way to utilise the devices. Have already had some strategic thoughts from competitors. If they fly in stealth mode(ie no radio calls) others might not know where they are.

Like FLARM, the strategists look outside the square when new new technology is introduced (remember the pilot at the last Omarama Nationals who used FLARM to find a saving thermal before landing out - yep Grae saw a flarm signal from another glider that he couldnt see which was climbing close by...)


Start Gate opens in 14 days