by Brendan English

There's $600 in prizes to be won for promoting your club by flying around and then telling the world how much you enjoyed it!

Thanks to Tom Spiesser for an excellent article (in an earlier Airflow) about the value of the OLC as a promotional tool for the Club. I couldn't agree more, it is probably the best tool we have available. With that in mind I would like to announce a competition "Brendan's OLC Challenge" for the 3 best uses of the OLC for promotion of the GCV over the coming (2009 - 2010) soaring season.

There will be 3 categories:

1. Flight most likely to attract new visitors to Benalla (comments field entry not essential, but very likely to help).
2. Flight comments field most likely to attract new visitors to Benalla (photos encouraged, readability by non native speakers taken into account, does not need to be a particularly meritorious flight, but it may help having something fun and exciting to talk about).
3. Greatest number of flights with the comments field specifically mentioning the Gliding Club of Victoria AND Benalla (in the event of a tie, the pilot with the best written comments will win).

The winner of each category will receive $200 paid into their GCV flying account (so you have to be a member). The best entry in each category will win, so yes, you could win all three.

To enter, log your flights onto the OLC, fill in the comments field, and send me ONE email (once only in April 2010) including a link to each relevant OLC entry. My email address is brendan@plasmatronics.com.au

Entry emails must be received between the 5th and the 9th of April 2010. The winners will be announced in the next Airflow after the 15th of April and the prizes awarded in the following week. Anyone can enter, but you have to be a GCV member to collect a prize. Flights flown in October 2009 through March 2010 from Benalla will be considered. I will be the only judge of the competition. My decision will be final. I will not award any prizes to myself, but I will be doing my best in all three categories. I expect the winners to all have done better then I have!

Fairly obviously, I am hoping this will help inspire you to fly a large number of long flights and to document them all well.

STOP PRESS!

$200 prize for flying around and bragging about it extended to $300 for OLC supporters.

The OLC is the biggest and best gliding competition in the world. It's also the cheapest. Although it is free in order to be accessible to every glider pilot, it does have costs. The volunteers who run it are making a big contribution to the cause of gliding world wide. They are covering their costs by asking for sponsorship. You may have noticed the small ads for glider and equipment manufacturers on the home page. There are even some there for gliding sites, although so far not OUR site...

You may also have noticed that some pilots (mostly Europeans) have a little smiley { :-) } after their name at each flight listing. These are people who have donated money to the OLC. It's easy and cheap. Just click on one of these smileys { :-) } or the Support OLC button.

So here's the rub. If you win a category of Brendan's OLC Challenge, and if you have been an OLC supporter with a smiley { :-) } since before the end of November 2009, you will get a bonus $100 paid into your flying account making a total prize of $300.

Why am I doing this? Well it's about supporting the people who support us, but it's also about promotion. Many of those pilots who may see our presence on the OLC and think of coming to Australia to fly are OLC supporters themselves. They have seen the value of the OLC and have decided to support it. My theory is they may well appreciate us seeing the same values. Being a supporter doesn't cost much and the OLC is doing a lot for modern gliding.