Horsham Coaching Week

The famous Horsham Coaching Week is well in progress at our airfield. We have some 24 gliders flown by coaches and trainees every day. Weather is far from perfect but it's good enough to set a nice task every day. Besides flying there are lectures held every morning.

yesterday's morning lecture about thermal sources by Geoff Vincent

I was on tow duty yesterday flying the Jabiru. The boys got the big toys (Pawnee and CallAir) and left the girly plane for me. Jabiru is fun to fly though and I was able to clock the same tow times the boys did in their big and powerful machines. Go figure ...

trailer parking area

"forget rigging mate and meet Ziggy!"

grid on 08

After everybody was up and stayed up I drove back home to do some long overdue cleaning and met this little guy hopping along the road.

The kangaroo couldn't understand that all I wanted was a nice shot and all there was left to shoot was kangaroos butt. Well, it' better than nothing I guess.

I was asked to do some talking after dinner yesterday. I knew that the last thing people want after a long flying day and a few beers is to listen about gliding theory. I decided to show them my gliding pictures from Poland, USA and Sweden and tell some stories about that. We did it in the Natimuk Pub and had some more audience than just glider pilots. There were some people having dinner and they didn't seem to mind the pics on the big wall and me talking. It was a fun evening.

in Natimuk before dinner and presentation

Fun weekend

Another fun weekend in paradise is coming to an end. It started really painful for some yesterday. Ziggy and Phil tested racing capabilities of our folding bikes and Phil decided to race on the back wheel. It went well for a few seconds and ended up really abruptly on the taxiway. It took us a while to convince Phil to visit Horsham Hospital but after all he figured himself that his knee was kind of useless for the time being and agreed to go.

"No Phil, I won't fix you. Someone in the emergency will"

"Ladies! I'm checking in!"

We have been planning on visiting Port Fairy for quite a while and decided that Sunday was the day. We got up fairly early (for us) and hit the air around 10 am.

our fresh renovated terminal

good use for MOM's towing mirrors

the Grampians

After not even an hour of flight we arrived at Port Fairy airstrip. Very narrow but long grass strip is located parallel to the shore just passed the sand dunes. Walk away from beautiful beach and 10 minutes on the bike from town. One should be aware of strong x-winds from the ocean though.

proudly presenting the wind sock with all the necessary info

Ziggy unfolding bikes

proudly presenting one almost unfolded bike

arrived on the beach

Something has to go wrong ... we left swimsuits and towels in the plane an no one felt like going back to get them. Good excuse for not getting into the cold water, which wasn't that cold at all.

sharks won't get me for lunch today

nature

what else can you wish for on Sunday?

shoes on and back on the bike!

We even managed to find the boat Ziggy built some 10 years ago and then sold it to a friend his. Very cute little boat and great detail work. I'm telling you he is the man of many talents.

looks like he wants to take her for a ride

After a great fish for lunch we headed back to Horsham to get there before the predicted strong and gusty winds arrive.

lunch with a view

We didn't quite get there before the wind but it was still manageable and our landing was just fine. This little creature was waiting in the hangar: