Gliding Again - 31 years on

I'm still in Wellington, and it's not so much fun when the dark, the cold and the wet conspire to keep me indoors. However, I did have an outing today (with some other expats who are working at another company over here). I arranged for 6 of us to go gliding. It was bitterly cold, and there were plenty of threatening clouds around, but we all got a 30-40 minute flight. Ross, my instructor encouraged me to fly for a fair bit of the time, but I wasn't a patch on him for catching lift (rising air currents). It was quite a dizzying experience actually, but it took me back to when I went solo at the ripe old age of 16 years and 1 month. That winter's day in 1976 was an amazing boost to my self-confidence that I remember vividly. I flew a glider - only for about 4 minutes - all by myself - solo! Then I did it two more times - to qualify for my 'wings'.

The feeling of self-reliance and of achievement is immense. Nothing much compares to doing that type of thing at such an early age.

This isn't the glider I flew, but I did get a fair old turn at the controls when I flew in a similar one today. That's why there are only 2 photos of me in the air. I was too busy doing a quick course in flying gliders that actually go up without any mechanical help! Unlike the ones John and I flew 30 years ago which would only stay up for 3-5 mins. Today, I did my longest glider flight ever - 35 mins. I flew for about 20 of those - and I still haven't got the hang of how to find the best rising air, although I did get us a bit of lift at least.

The Wellington Gliding Club is at: http://www.soar.co.nz/location.htm
I flew in their Schmepp-Hirth Janus (a 2 Person advanced training and cross country glider. ZK-GLM):


The tow takes us south. In the far distance the north of New Zealand's south island can be seen faintly on the far horizon. Below is the town of Paraparaumu.

Looking West to Kapiti Island, just after taking the previous shot.

Plenty more pics here