Rhonad has reported that the GCV is high and dry. The floods did not get to the anticipated level of 4.5m, and reached only 4.0m, meaning that the GCV, and Benalla town was saved from flooding.

The going for solo course produced 2 new solo club members. Christope Albrech and Steven McDonnell

Steven was sent solo by Darcy

Christope is seen being congratulated by John Norman and receiving the traditional bucket of water from Gerry Hogan

Dave and John giving Fox Zulu a polish

One Kangeroo to another, "I wish I could bounce as high as that"

Hang on a minute wait for the one on the bike

The dried up bed of Lake Mokoan on fire

The GCV Christmas Comp had 5 days of Hot competition in all 33,600kms were flown.

Prizes were presented to:

Nick Woods Overall Winner 4928 points

Closely followed by Laurie McKinlay 4893 points

Bob Fox achieved the fastest speed during the comp of 122.18kph

Graham Garlick achieved the furthest distance of 789.45 Kilometres

Laurie is pictured receiving his prize.

Nick Woods did 799kms

Tim Wilson did 726kms

Peter Hokkanen did 715 kms

Louise O'Grady went to Hay and Back in the ASW 19

Jutta Goldmann got her Gold height in the Mosquito

Sonia Fabig got her Gold height in the K21

Rob Mckenzie did his Silver distance in the Junior

Kirk Amos has completed his silver and full gold in one flight.

The flight took five hours and went from Ben Bog to Yarrawonga and Henty on the way he went to 12,000 feet for full Gold , silver and Diamond goal.

John Duffield has completed his gold distance and Diamond goal with a flight to Oil tree lagoon and Murcheson

Charles Day enjoying the Wave over Mt Hotham

It has been a good week with cloudbases above 10,000 feet on a number of days. Rob Mckenzie achieved a gain of hieght of over 10,000 feet in the club Junior.

The Crop on the airfield is being cut for fodder, as you can see it is the best crop for a number of years. Note the height!

Mid week preperations are well in hand. Jeremy Birkbeck our mid week tuggie has arrived. We aim to start the mid week operation on the 2nd November. Provided that CASA have processed Jeremy's paperwork by then.

Jeremy has previous tugging experience gained in the UK at Bidford Gliding Club

John Robinson has been busy mowing

The Pictures are being Rehung by Gerry and Stu. The Girls are hard at Work

The Clubhouse is being painted

Benalla's Better Bike Hike 2009 will be held on Sunday 11th October. Brochures & Entry forms can be found on clubhouse noticeboard or contact

Warren on 03 5762 5448 or David on 0417 712 439

Email: wassa13@bigpond.com Web: www.bbbhride.org.au

The honour board has been updated - http://www.glidingclub.org.au/flying/honour/

And we now have some new manuals online: Operations; Local procedures; and Outlanding - http://www.glidingclub.org.au/club/docs/

The Saturday was busy. Two instructors and one tug pilot. Six AEI flights and five check flights left Shannon Lissenberg without many training flights.

Sunday was great. The conditions, calmness. The air was clear and still. The bookings were nil leaving Ed Bishop to Shannon all to himself to fly with.

The sun was getting low, and Ed starting talking to Shannon from outside the cockpit. A bit of nervousness mixed in with great solo conditions, he was sent on his first flight, on his own. Proud dad Peter, watched on. Shannon landed safely on the 26th of July 2009 on his first solo flight.

Kah Chong

Watch the progress and the fun http://finland09.ausglidingteam.com/

May 2-3. It's the start of May and the nights are cold, but it is still soarable and just as busy when the White Flock rolled out with 9 to 10 gliders wanting a tow at the same time. Cu's were popping everywhere on Saturday and Laurie McKinley tried for Mt. Buller the day before but it just wasn't the day and landed short of the airfield. That didn't stop him for going up again on Sunday. Aeros and competition finishes were practiced and Chris Becek flew 100km. The eagles were up and about and thermals were shared. When the day stopped working, the air was silky smooth and great for training. Good luck to Rob and Matthew who are well on their way to earning their wings.

Kah Chong

A huge new episode

Today there was a southerly blowing at the start of the day, which changed to a Southwesterly during the day. The thermals started about 09:30 and RASP predicted that they would be brocken and go to 7000 foot later in the day. In the event they went to 5000 foot.

David Jansen flying his ASG 29 thought he might try a little flight so he launched at 09:27 and landed in Queensland for a straight out 1105kms.

Have a look on the OLC for the trace.

The best training the juniors could get three Duo Discus waiting to launch

Click on the following URL to see the Juniors right now.

Grahams cross country course was a great succuss, with Tony Vost completing his Gold Distance and Diamond goal with a trip to the Rock and back.

Trevor Stott did the same task but missed his Badge by 700 metres with a logger fumble.

Ron Olson did his Silver Distance.

Jonathon Day flew to the Rock and back in the Duo with Graham, Jeremy Miller also had a good flight in the Duo with Graham

Bruce Cooper is with us for 10 weeks and is available for Instruction Monday to Friday.

Bruce owns an ASW 27 and flies out of Lasham and Eden Soaring. Last year Bruce flew out of Corowa for 3 months and did 300 hours and 27,000 kilometres. He flies British National competitions and won one day at 18 metre competiton this year. Bruce holds a number of British Speed records.

So if you want to improve your flying and are available mid week, book him and a Glider be it IS 28 or Duo Discus via the office.

John Robinson has cut the grass

Graeme Greed and John King have Form 2ed the Gliders

Greame and Doug have maintained the tugs

Chris Gough is in training as our Mid week tug pilot.

The Fuel has been delivered.

Launches are available mid week

Mid week Instruction by appointment

Rhonda and Sue are in the office awaiting your call.

Airflow for September 2008 has been released:

Michael Sommer saw the clouds down south and took the club's LS7 for some exercise! Michael ended up 20 kilometres past Falls Creek at 10,000 feet! He was looking down on the skiers! Well done Michael!

AWPA monthly meeting held at State gliding centre Benalla

Dadswells Bridge opening weekend is on this weekend - 7th to 9th of June.

There is also a new web page, including Google Maps of the airfield and more: http://www.glidingclub.org.au/flying/away/dadswells/

Has been released.

Has been released.

Yes folks, it happened Jutta is solo, and no she did not expect the bucket of water on the field :-)

Beau and Michael went solo on Friday!!!

Michael preparing for his first solo flight

Contest day 6 task - 2 hour AAT 158km/313km - Rennie (20km) Tocumwal a/d (20km) Dookie (20km).

Launch was delayed until 2pm; it was a very tough day - weak and thermals were not going high. There was wave at the start up to 8,500' but after that, conditions were mainly weak with low climbs to about 4,000'. It was a mixed day with some pilots reporting the odd 6,000'. There were 5 outlandings.

Frustrated with always coming last, Phil Henderson employed a secret weapon in the Duo Discus - world champion pilot, Michael Sommer. Phil reported that "Michael was invaluable ballast, which is why I managed a second for the day"! (Actually, Phil had declared a lay day.)

Day 6 winners were David Wilson (84.9kph), Bruce Cowan (75.4kph) Allan Barnes 76.1kph).

For day results go to: http://www.glidingclub.org.au/competition/state2008/results/

Overall placings for the competition (day scores averaged):

Open class

1 Tony Tabart 929.0 points

2 David Wilson 888.6

3 Bob Fox 871.1

4 Max Kirschner 633.3

5 Phil Henderson

Standard class

1 Allan Barnes 947.6

2 Toby Geiger 932.8

3 Peter Gray 791.6

4 Simon Brown 566.6

5 Gary Allbutt 541.2

6 Louise O'Grady 283.9

15 metre class

1 Bruce Cowan 886.6

2 Graham Garlick 881.0

3 Tim Wilson 757.6

4 John Switala 713.2

5 Gary Stevenson 687.9

6 Laurie McKinlay 642.9

7 Geoff Vincent

It was Phil Henderson's first comp as director and he thanked all the pilots for being professional and cooperative in difficult hot conditions. Phil acknowledged the vast experience of the whole team, without whom it wouldn't have been such a smooth and safe operation - tuggies, weatherman, task setters, safety officer, marshals and the scorer, Deniz Ture. He thanked John Switala and the Gliding Club of Victoria and everybody associated for the excellent facilities and assistance. Phil said that he "could never have even considered taking on the job without the enormous benefit of Colin Turner's mentoring during previous competitions at Benalla".

Contest day 6 - morning briefing

The contest is very close in Standard Class with Allan Barnes on 4753.3 points and Toby Geiger on 4659.4 points; Peter Gray is third on 4122.8 points.

Graham Garlick is leading 15 metre class with 4453.2 points, Bruce Cowan has 4291.5 points and Tim Wilson has 3992.1 points.

Tony Tabart is leading Open class with 4840.1 points, David Wilson is second on 4394.0 points. Third position is up for grabs!

Phil Henderson - "it's painfully obvious that I'm coming last, but today I have a special weapon in the Duo Discus, so look out - eat our dust!"

David Wilson - morning weather briefing - the trough line which went through last night is now in NSW. Today's forecast is dependent on how much rain there was yesterday and last night - in the areas where it was heavy, it won't go high, but areas that missed out on the rain will be better. Not much cloud is affecting us in Vic. Alto-cu and alto-stratus cloud around here will thin out during the day. Later in the day in the south west they are talking about redeveloping alto-stratus, which won't affect us. There is a light southerly at the moment, but at about midday this will go around to the north-west;12 knots on the surface increasing with height to 40 knots at 14,000'. Under those conditions there is a possibility of thermal wave, which will be a bit hard to find in the blue. The temp is rather critical as to whether we get cumulous or not. The areas where it's been raining will stay cooler. There may only be 4,000' thermals in the wet areas. Max height is a bit over 6,000' at 5pm. Forecast is for some thunderstorms in the north and east. It looks like the trough line is going to hang around and give us good soaring at Temora next week.

Contest day 6 task - 2 hour AAT 158km/313km - Rennie (20km) Tocumwal a/d (20km) Dookie (20km).

Midday - day cancelled - increasing cloud blocked out the sun's heat which caused a fall in temperature. The Melbourne temp trace showed 45 knot winds at 2,000' resulting in little chance of completing any task. Tomorrow (Sat)looks promising.

Contest day 6 - morning briefing - day 5 winners (handicapped speeds):

Open - David Wilson ASG 29 -137.7kph

15m - John Switala, Ventus 1 - 127.4kph

Standard - Allan Barnes LS1f - 131.9kph

David Wilson - morning weather briefing - today is a total fire ban in Vic and southern NSW. A trough line to the west is going to come over us and by 6/7pm the wind will go to the south-west. Ahead of the wind change, there is a significant band of rather moist upper air with thunder storms embedded. Somewhere around the course there will be the odd thunderstorm; a higher probability over the mountains, but we're not going there. Ahead are fairly strong north-westerly winds. The winds will gust to 20 knots on the ground, increasing with height to 30 knots at 5/7,000'. Locally around Benalla / Shepparton the lift might die quite early. Typically in these north-westerly conditions, there's not very much nocturnal inversion - need a high temp to get things moving; 35 degrees will give 4,000'. The weather bureau is forecasting that thunderstorm bases will be at 10,000'. One of the difficulties of forecasting today is the cloud, and how much sun will get through. It is possible that we may have a good day tomorrow.

Contest day 6 task - 2 hour AAT 147km/336km - Berrigan (30km) Corowa (30km).

Contest day 5 - morning briefing - day 4 winners (handicapped speeds)

Open Class - David Wilson ASG 29 - 130.6kph

15 m - Garham Garlick ASW 20 - 123.2kph

Standard - Allan Barnes LS1f 125.6 kph

There were no outlandings on contest day 4.

David Wilson - morning weather - it is a total fire ban day in Victoria but not in NSW. The main feature is that there is a high in the Tasman so there is northerly airstream over us. The trough line has disappeared but the air coming in from the north is considerably more humid than we had before - probably not too different from what we experienced yesterday under the clouds. We will certainly have clouds today. There will be the odd thunderstorm over the mountains. There will be north-westerlies in the area that we are flying. It will be a late start; we'll get to 3,000' at around noon but it will stay at that for some time, until about 2pm. The forecast is for even stronger winds tomorrow. There is a low developing just to the north, bringing thunderstorms and interesting weather. It will reach 38 degrees in Benalla today.

A 3 hour AAT was set for contest day 5 - 172km / 530km - Yarrawonga (40km), Deniliquin (60km) Shepparton (30km).

Contest day 4 - morning briefing

Traces from the day 3 winners were put up on the one screen and each pilot spoke about his flight yesterday:

Tony Tabart (Ventus 2cxM)

Graham Garlick (ASW 20)

Toby Geiger (LS4)

Contest day 4 morning weather briefing by David Wilson: Today is going to be much better than yesterday. A north-easterly stream is developing which is good for gliding a Benalla. The air where we are going is probably a little bit moister than where we are. Wind expected is variable 15 knots at all levels except surface which is estimated 8 knots. The bureau predicts 38 degrees for here, but I calculate 35.7 for Benalla; it will be hotter further north. Rain is expected for Sat so we may not get a day.

Task for comp day 4 - 3 hour AAT 293km / 592km - The Rock (45km), Jerilderie (45km).

Phil Henderson, contest director, expressed his concern that the circles around the turnpoints today are 1.1 km greater than his average speed yesterday.

Competition day 3 - conditions turned out to be better than forecast, and the morning forecast was for conditions a little better than yesterday. An AAT of 2.5 hours was set covering 72km / 448km - Peechelba East (35km), Cheshunt (35km), Euroa (35km). There were 2 outlandings.

Contest day 3 winners (handicapped speeds):

Open - Tony Tabart 103.5kph

Standard - Toby Geiger 108.6kph

15m - Graham Garlick 103.6kph

Day canceled.

An opportunity to relax and have fun!

Contest day 3

David Wilson, morning weather briefing - the trough is to the east but the prediction is that it may return later in the day. Basically, southerly winds for the day, curling around so that this area will have lighter winds, but with cool air continuing to be injected at low levels. Max temp expected is 34 degrees if no further cool air comes in, but it probably won't get that hot here. With this morning's air, the maximum height expected is 4,000'. The cool air will slow down any rate of improvement. On the basis of the weather forecast, a task was not set for day 3.

The prospect for the next 3 days looks quite promising - north westerlies are expected, which bring the best soaring in this area.

Day 2 winners (handicapped speeds):

Open - Tony Tabart 129.3kph

Standard - Allan Barnes 130.8kph

15M - Graham Garlick 128.1kph

Just on launch at about 1.30pm, the trough came through producing very good lift - the day was much better than expected - no outlandings.

Day 2 weather at morning briefing - David Wilson reported there was "a lot more subsidence yesterday (day 1) than I anticipated.

A 2 hour AAT was set for day 2 - Rand (40km), Yarrawonga (25km) - min 159km max 356km.

With the possibility of unfavourable weather and smoke from bushfires descending our way, Contest Director Phil Henderson decided that as all pilots who had registered to compete had arrived, there would be no practice day - straight into competition.

It was a blue day; thermals were from weak to occasionally moderate and for racing, topping out at 4,500' AGL. Local air is 'tired' after many weeks of above-average temperatures.

The task was a 3 hour AAT Corowa (30km), Euroa (30km) and Cheshunt (30km) - min 143km max 488km. It was hard work and produced 3 outlandings from 15 competitors on the day.

Sports class was combined into Standard to a total of 7 gliders, because there were not enough entries in Sports to run a competition in that class. Because it was a ballasted competition, Standard class handicaps as published in the multi-class handicap list were applied. 4 gliders are competing in Open class; 7 gliders in 15m.

John Switala, President of Gliding Club of Victoria, presented Day 1 prizes to Tony Tabart, Open Class winner who flew Danny Kilgariff's new Ventus 2cxM at 103.8kph "with difficulty, especially in the mountains, which was quite difficult on the last leg - I was above the ranges with not a lot of height - I thought that everyone would be going over the top of me, but they obviously didn't".

15 m winner was Tim Wilson in his LS6c at 93.9kph who flew "very conservatively".

Standard class winner, Allan Barnes flew his LS1f at 109.2kph: "I thought it was going to be worse that it turned out to be - 3 hrs sounded like an awfully long time. I had a good run past Corowa and went past the end of the first area, which was a good move because I had a struggle at Euroa. I got below 3,000' 5 times on the flight."

Phil Henderson announced that he was giving everyone a chance by flying the Duo Discus with the wheel down for the first 2.5 hours: "so my 62kph average may improve over the next few days!"

A Tecman ultralight caught a passing thermal at just the wrong time while landing on Benalla 08R.

Pilot was OK but the aircraft may need a few visits to the Panel Beaters. The wooden prop was splintered as it hit the tarmac leaving many souvenirs scattered about the site.

The aircraft is privately owned and the pilot is not a member of the club!

Kei and Hisa our Japenese visitors left today, they flew with us for 8 days Kei doing 42 hours in the Mosquto and Hisa doing 29 hours in the Junior.

The Saki flowed well on New Years Eve.

The Christmas Comp was a great success with 6 out of 6 competition days.

Day 1 was won by Mike Cater 241kms at 89.7kph

Day 2 was Bruce Cowan 328kms at 103.1kph

Day 3 was Stu Smith 256kms at 127.9 kph

Day 4 was Louis Priess and Bruce Cowan at 112kph

Day 5 was Laurie McKinlay 204kms at 86.3 kph

Day 6 was Allan Barnes 233.9kms at 104kph

Overall results

1st Peter Martin 4679.2pts

2nd Mike Cater/Jonathon Walker 4580.8 pts

3rd Bob Fox/Max Kirschner 4495.6pts

4th Peter Gray 4169.9 pts

5th Nick Woods 3831 pts

6th Richard Robinson 3212pts

7th Mike Kornhauser/John Warrington 3155pts

8th Geoff Vincent 3128pts

9th Allan Barnes 2817pts

10th Laurie McKinlay 2785pts

It was a good day on Sunday, David Kieth took the LS4 around The Rock, Rennie and Lockhart for his Diamond Distance.

Graham Garlicks Cross country training week produced good results.

David Goodley achieved his full Silver, Gold Distance and Diamond Goal in his Hornet

Robin Rose achieved his Silver Distance and a good 200kms on his 300km attempt in the LS 7

Tony Tiddeswell completed his 5 hours.

Peter Miller achieved his Gold Distance and Diamond Goal in the LS7.

Sonia Fabig visited us for a couple of weeks, and re aquainted herself with the Tugs, she even flew a 175 Kms with George in the Kookaburra

A two day weekend with thermal activity only, although some did report weak ridge lift. A change in the height gain leader board:

Laurie McKinlay 4,600 feet

Peter Martin 4,550 feet

The last weekend is four days but only the first three count to this years trophy as its handed out in a grand dinner on Saturday night. Come up and visit!

We have upgraded to a Toro Groundmaster 4000D! The new mower is self propelled, is powered by a 58hp (43.3 kW) turbo diesel. Everything is operated hydraulically including the drive wheels and the cutters. The cutters are located on three "decks", one out the front and one each on the sides. The front deck has 3 blades and each side deck has 2 blades; a total of 7 cutting blades! The decks lift up for transport and allowing a slimmer cutting width for those "hard to get to" places. The maximum cutting width is 11 feet (3.35 metres) with all decks down and turning.

The sales brochure quotes the cutting speed as 12.4 kph. Given our main runway 08/26 is 3,000 feet long and 300 feet wide and allowing for a 6 inch overlap on each cut that would mean 28.6 runs up the length of the strip, the strip is near to 1 kilometre long, so theres 28.6 kilometres to mow (at 10.5 feet wide), at max speed it would take 2hours 20 minutes. Lets not believe the brochure too much and say 3 hours! This beats the "all day" it currently takes with the tractor/slasher combination to cut the same area.

Why spend money on a tractor? Why not buy another glider? The main reason was to give some relief to the small band of volunteers who spend a lot of time sitting on the tractor cutting grass. This new unit will reduce the time by at least half the time it takes to mow the airfield. This means those members (the “Cutters”) get to use that "saved" time flying gliders!

There are other advantages with this unit;

Because of the number and width of the blades, the mower does not leave windrows of stacked grass that can be just as lethal in generating a ground loop as the long grass is.

The cutting blades are forward of the drive wheels so the grass is not pushed over before the blades get to it.

It is designed for grass cutting, only grass cutting, so its very good at doing that job. As opposed to the tractor/slasher which was flexible in use (although we only used it as a grass cutter).

The fuel tank is designed to operate the unit for 8 hours; a working day; so it’s designed to cope with an 8 hour per day, 5 days a week work load. We won’t operate it for that long or hard, but it should last us a long time given that sort of design.

It can do a u-turn in its own width, so at the end of a run you just turn around and youre lined up with the next row to cut.

Its lighter so won’t make much of a mark on soft soil.

Its four wheel drive so wont get bogged too easily (ask Laurie about his "test" drive!).

It has a drink holder!

The new unit is much easier to drive then the previous tractor. First of all every thing is automatic, no heavy clutch, no gears to change. This was putting a few people off driving the old combination, so hopefully the number of available “Cutters” will increase, spreading the burden a little more.

Next time youre in Benalla get a operating "rundown" from either Laurie McKinlay, Ed Bishop or Phil Henderson. Its “easy as” to drive with just a bit of practice in getting used to the direct steering.

All members should thank Phil Henderson for bringing this to the attention of the club. Phil found out about the availability of this unit through his work contacts and did some investigation and research and put the suggestion to us. These units cost about $70,000AUD brand new! Ours is a 2004 model so its second hand but we bought it for a great price. It was previously being used by Wangaratta City Council and was maintained to spec during its working life; it hasnt really moved far from home. Many thanks to the GCV Committee who had to make a quick decision to take the opportunity that presented itself to us.

This new mower will save members time in the grass cutting effort. Help out by becoming a “cutter”. We’re coming into the grass cutting season so the new unit has arrived right on time.

See the airflow news letter online at:

Two days of ridge and thermal flying, followed by our last day of mixed results has the following results for the Daswells Bridge height gain trophy:

John Gwyther 4,218 feet

Laurie McKinlay 4,000 feet

All discussion will be entered into - for the correct 'incentive'!!

See the airflow news letter online at:

See the airflow news letter online at:

Laurie, Max, Scott, Richard and at least two others in JJ and FQO flew out to The Rock today. Some of us flew via Oaklands home and it was a fantastic Queue day. Lots of fun.

The day started well with climbs of 8 kts to 5000 feet at 11.30

Micheal Sommer and Peter Gray took the Duo around 870kms. Via Mount Beauty to the West of Hay and Mansfield.

Tobi Gieger did something similar for 830 kms at 122kph in his LS4

Bob Nichols went to West Wyalong (where it was raining) and so he abandonded his 1000 km attempt and went to Hay for 800+

Louise O'Grady did her first 500 with a trip to the Rock and Conargo.

Micheal Sommer and Tobi Gieger went for a stoll in the Hills. Micheal in the Club LS7 and Tobi in his LS4. Tobi did 620kms we are still waiting to see Micheals trace

I am told they could see Lakes Entrance before turning north.

Sam Chandler and Ben Kushinsky went solo having completed the going for Solo cousre.

Ben and Sam about to be congratulated by their Instructor Darcy

Reports on the Radio of climbs to 13,000 feet north of the river.

Chris Leverkuehn completed his first 500kms at 102kph

Wayne Carter completed his first 300kms and Gold height

And Louise O Grady got her Gold Height on her second trip to the Rock in 2 days.

Hard Luck story of the day was Brian Bull who landed out 14.6kms short on a 316 km task, but he turned in the Beer can which reduces the distance by 2 kms. Claimable distance 299.6kms

Bob Nicholls got back just before dark having completed 936kms before having to start the engine. He completed 770kms the day before.

Louise O Grady completed her Gold Distance and Diamond Goal with a Flight to the Rock and Back in her ASW 19.

Chris Leverkuehn completed his Gold distance and Diamond goal with a flight to Henty and Yarrawonga in his ASW 20

Nick Woods did his diamond goal with a Flight to Lockhart and Back.

The trip to Mount Beauty started today with Peter Presniell flying MPO over with an IS28 in tow. Most Gliders trailed over, but Scott Penrose flew in in the Cobra. Reports of climbs in wave to over 13,000 feet.

Michael Sommer flying in the LS6 HDM completed 733 kms, with another trip to beyond Cooma and then Lake Eildon arriving back at Benalla at 20:30.

Jonathon McAliece went solo on the final day of the Course. Jonathon is pictured with his Instructor Darcy

Megan Quinn made good progress during the course, and should be solo soon, she will be back over the coming weekends

The 26th Club Class National Championships are over with 5 competition and 1 practice day flown over the 12 days. Not as good weather as we had the previous year but enough days were flown (minimum of four) to declare a champion. The smoke from the nearby Tatong fires created an early morning visual hazard but on the northerly wind days this dissipated by the afternoon. The large amount of high cloud from the north that appeared on the last three days limited the competition days. It did however bring rain which helped suppress the fires to our south.

It’s opportune to recognise the efforts of the following club members:

Phil Henderson for organising another successful event and for helping out over the two weeks of the competition. Phil ‘did a groin’ on the second launch of the first day and was then relegated to ‘hook up’ duties only! He did manage to create the ‘groiny walk’ where the right hand firmly grips the groin and a hobble ensues when going from place to place.

Deniz Ture was scorer for the two weeks. This was a great effort as the previous years scorer was unavailable and we needed a commitment as scorer months in advance. Deniz did a great job with no scorer complaints (that weren’t handled out the back of the club house)!

Manning the bar was Darcy Hogan, Ed Bishop and Rob Pugh. Yes, I know, that’s like the foxes watching the chickens, but the guys did a great job in keeping the right people on the right side of the bar!

John Millott led the Lunch-cutters. John and Paul Barber were around for the full two weeks after being thoroughly briefed by Louise Preiss on ‘how to do it’. Evelyn Turner also helped as did Kaylene Lynch – just like the old days Kaylene!

Louis Preiss made sure the gliders were all within weight specification so there was no shenanigans in the weight department this being an unballasted comp.

Rhonda and Sue did a sterling effort in the office with a special commendation for the maps given to the retrieve crews on the various outlandings that occurred.

Max Kirschner was ever in the background checking various sources for weather and smoke penetration.

Scott Penrose provide the web page prior to the comps and the ability to add news and photos thoughout the event. Amanda Penrose designed the logos we used last year and this year and features on the event shirts.

Bruce Salter keep the tugs going though the comps and was ably assisted by tuggies Ron Olsen, Peter Presneill, Rob Pugh, Peter Carey and Robbie Burns.

Peter Gray was Task Setter and Safety Officer for the comp but needs extra recognition for teaming up with Mark Goodley working on the Bar-b-que for the two days the club put on the grill. Mark was sausages and Peter was steak – a fine job they did – no complaints, only compliments. Want a fun time job guys?

Graham Garlick, although competing in the competition, took the time to ensure that the 9am weather briefing for club pilots, not in the comp, was as comprehensive as possible. Graham was also seen most nights clearing up the tables of debris from the bar and kitchen. Graham was the highest finishing GCV pilot in the Club Class comp being placed eighth.

Adam I’Anson organised the Crew Party which included a cricket game; the pilot vs the Crew. A long and complex scoring system was used, which in the end, had the Crew team winning. As ‘Charlie’ said “It is the Crew party after all!”

Cameo appearances were also noted; Stu Smith who had the ‘honour’ of washing all 94 plates and related cutlery on the Sunday Barby! Phil Semmel was also spotted at the end of the comp cleaning up the bottles and plates around the clubhouse. George Vasiliadis led the IS28 retrieve crew including Tony Vost, Robbie Burns and Martin Kriening to de-rig the IS28 on a fire ban day when GCV comp pilots Adam I’Anson and Mike Pettican decided to leave it 30 kilometres from Benalla!

All the wing runners who made the comp easier for the competitors by running their hearts out on six days, most of which were in the high thirties – tough work.

Thank you also to all GCV members for there patience and co-operation during the comps.

The Going for solo course is in full swing, its good to see two young people on the course. Megan is sixteen and Jonathon is nineteen. All the club gliders are booked by Pom's

The Club Class Nationals are on at the moment, a full report can be found on the club class website

Allan Barnes did 892kms in his LS1, Charles did over 800 kms in 6 hours and 14 minutes. Jonathon Walker and Bob Nichols went around Hay Temora for a change.

A Good day, 26 gliders were on cross country, Jonathon Walker and Bob Nichols did Temora Hay for 750 kms. Laurie and Charles did Hay Nerrandera. There were a number of flights of over 600kms. Nick Woods did his diamond Distance with the Rock Rennie Lockhart. Kirk Amos converted to the Junior with a flight of 5 hours.

Day Winner

Graham Garlick 133.8 Kph

Second Peter Gray 132.6 Kph

Third Jonathon Walker 130.9 Kph

A good day with cloudbase at 10,000

Day winner

Graham Garlick at 117.6kph

2nd Peter Gray 116.8kph

3rd Ed Bishop 104.7kph

Congratulations to Allan Barnes who pulled out of the Christmas comp to attempt a 900 km triangle. He competed 828kms. He took off at 10:00 and landed 85kms short of Benalla at 19:50.

Christmas Comp results

Graham Garlick 95.8 kph

Mike Cater 93.7kph

Hayen Dunn 88.9kph

Day winner Allan Barnes at 89.8 kph

Second Stu Smith 72.8 Kph

Third John Millott 69.4 Kph

Forth Nick Woods 69.3 kph

The Christmas Comp started today.

Day Winner Graham Garlick

2nd Bob Fox

3rd Nick Woods

A strong Southerly wind produced wave, cloudbase was 6000 feet and climbs were had to 8000 feet.

Kei landed the Mosquito out at Corowa on his return from the Rock

A cool crisp day with Snow on the Hills.

Probably a bit too windy to fly

Phil Henderson has gone and bought a Motor Glider! Phil is making it available to members for rent. The price is $120 per hour which includes fuel - a great deal!

The Jabiru powered Motor Faulke can be used for paddock checks or suitably endorsed pilots can tour. At the moment the Faulke is NOT available for ab-initio training, but we hope this will change in the near future.

You will need to be checked out and endorsed prior to flying solo and at the moment the bloke to see is Bob Fox.

The GCV is very appreciative of Phil's gesture and it provides the club with another tool to make our flying safer!

Fifteen Gliders went on Cross country, with distances between 300 and 500 kms. Cloudbase was at 10,000 feet.

Tony Howe did his 5 Hours and Silver Height, and Jeremy Miller did his Silver Distance and Silver Height

Kingsley Just completed his Silver Distance with a trip to Yarrawonga and return.

Firefigters transport

Benallas new fleet waiting for the smoke to clear