Weekend Report: Maintenance Day
Saturday
Clear skies and warm, still air set the tone for a really successful and enjoyable Annual Maintenance Day for the Cape Gliding Club at Worcester Airfield.
Gliders, roofs, runways, hangars, taxiways, trailers, winch, start wagon and a myriad sundry fixit jobs received attention, as for once the members all moved in the same direction and got on with their “daring dooties”.
A big “thank you” goes to all who made the effort to come and make the day such an unqualified success. I had the pleasure of meeting new members whose names I had previously only know from e-mails, as well as renewing many old friendships. It is safe to say that only good vibes prevailed, there was no petty politicking and everyone had a good time.
Among just a few of the accomplishments (too numerous to detail here), Rudi Schurkes did repairs to and oversaw the servicing as well as the annual inspection of our hard-worked ZS-GOK; Ian Forbes sorted out ZS-GUC and its trailer; a host of members clambered about painting the club hangar roof (some will excuse me from not having joined that particular team) and Reinhold Lawrenz brought his open bakkie to play the role of refuse collector. Glad you are back and active again Reinhold! Special thanks go to non-member Johnny Navarro for letting us use his hangar while working on ZS-GHB and for doing some incredibly neat gas welding on the “dodgy” canopy hinge. André Leeb du Toit’s team extended a compacted glider towpath down at runway 15, swept the stones off the runway threshold (power pilots take note!) and cut the bossies. Alan Procter and William Whittaker got covered in white powder while polishing the wings of ZS-GIG and the team of hangar sweepers were among the more dirty ruffians who put shoulder to wheel.
The wings of ZS-GUU, just back from repainting by Alison Navarro, were re-rigged by Jerry Betbeder and his team. Those wings look really good, Alison! Ari Cotton and Rien de Muijnk de-poohed and de-oiled a dirty ZS-NIG.
Juliana and Wally Tamsen provided an amply catered for hot dog lunch which replenished the waning strength of the usually sedentary pilots. I hope Juliana didn’t get into trouble for throwing out the overly-timex bottles of condiments on the clubhouse shelf!
The evening braai was well catered with Alison’s salads and equally well attended – the clubhouse fire was lit to mark a special occasion and added a cosy atmosphere. The truly festive occasion lasted well into the night, with some help from the Pinotage kindly provided by Rico Suter from his own soon-to-be-famous cellar. Martin Grünert handed out solo certificates to Jerry Betbeder as well as June and Hans Sterling. Quinton Hoole deserves a certificate for sheer meat-eating capacity! Carnivore par excellance!
In no particular order, special thanks go to Richard Harris, Paul Bailey, Hans Sterling, Rob Tiffin, Adriaan Hepburn, Jerry Betbeder, Randy Cullen, Martin Grünert, Sven Olivier, Riaan van Deventer, Fred Vernimmen, Wikus van der Wald, Charl Frank, Reinhold Lawrenz, Gerhard Waller, Rudi Schurkes, Ian Forbes, Roger Tipping, René Heise, Johan Gerike, Nina Grünert, Peter Farrell, June Sterling, Jaco Hartman, Kelvin Holmwood, Wally Tamsen, Adri Hepburn, Sarel Oosthuizen, Alan Procter, William Whittaker, Helmuth von Michaelis, Louis Jordaan, Rico Suter, Rien de Muijnk, Peter Spender, Ari Cotton, Bill Griffiths, John Spargo, Dave Starke, Trevor Johnson, Horst Mücke, Rob Kakebeeke, Ed Verpraet, Marianne Verpraet, Johnny Navarro and Alison Navarro. Did I leave you out? Oh yes, Sasha, Bubbles, Katryntjie and friends also seemed to enjoy the activity immensely. Little Katryn is really starting to look quite elderly these days – we must treat her with care.
Sunday
In contrast with Saturday, Sunday dawned cold and grey with rain threatening. Unfortunately only two launches took place before the whole affair was washed out. Phil Surridge dealt with a potentially nasty situation on one of the launches, and Wally Tamsen and Abram van der Merwe got a nice wetting while putting the gliders away.
We are all set for a big upsurge in flying with spring just around the corner. For those that don’t know or can’t remember, statistically (in my logbook at least) November is the “Big Month” at Worcester for going places across country. I’d therefore like to encourage newer pilots to use this time to practice for getting that Cross-Country clearance in their logbooks. This way you will be ready to take advantage of the good weather later in the year. The time for getting that Silver C and all those other badge legs is not far away!
Peter Wooley
Clear skies and warm, still air set the tone for a really successful and enjoyable Annual Maintenance Day for the Cape Gliding Club at Worcester Airfield.
Gliders, roofs, runways, hangars, taxiways, trailers, winch, start wagon and a myriad sundry fixit jobs received attention, as for once the members all moved in the same direction and got on with their “daring dooties”.
A big “thank you” goes to all who made the effort to come and make the day such an unqualified success. I had the pleasure of meeting new members whose names I had previously only know from e-mails, as well as renewing many old friendships. It is safe to say that only good vibes prevailed, there was no petty politicking and everyone had a good time.
Among just a few of the accomplishments (too numerous to detail here), Rudi Schurkes did repairs to and oversaw the servicing as well as the annual inspection of our hard-worked ZS-GOK; Ian Forbes sorted out ZS-GUC and its trailer; a host of members clambered about painting the club hangar roof (some will excuse me from not having joined that particular team) and Reinhold Lawrenz brought his open bakkie to play the role of refuse collector. Glad you are back and active again Reinhold! Special thanks go to non-member Johnny Navarro for letting us use his hangar while working on ZS-GHB and for doing some incredibly neat gas welding on the “dodgy” canopy hinge. André Leeb du Toit’s team extended a compacted glider towpath down at runway 15, swept the stones off the runway threshold (power pilots take note!) and cut the bossies. Alan Procter and William Whittaker got covered in white powder while polishing the wings of ZS-GIG and the team of hangar sweepers were among the more dirty ruffians who put shoulder to wheel.
The wings of ZS-GUU, just back from repainting by Alison Navarro, were re-rigged by Jerry Betbeder and his team. Those wings look really good, Alison! Ari Cotton and Rien de Muijnk de-poohed and de-oiled a dirty ZS-NIG.
Juliana and Wally Tamsen provided an amply catered for hot dog lunch which replenished the waning strength of the usually sedentary pilots. I hope Juliana didn’t get into trouble for throwing out the overly-timex bottles of condiments on the clubhouse shelf!
The evening braai was well catered with Alison’s salads and equally well attended – the clubhouse fire was lit to mark a special occasion and added a cosy atmosphere. The truly festive occasion lasted well into the night, with some help from the Pinotage kindly provided by Rico Suter from his own soon-to-be-famous cellar. Martin Grünert handed out solo certificates to Jerry Betbeder as well as June and Hans Sterling. Quinton Hoole deserves a certificate for sheer meat-eating capacity! Carnivore par excellance!
In no particular order, special thanks go to Richard Harris, Paul Bailey, Hans Sterling, Rob Tiffin, Adriaan Hepburn, Jerry Betbeder, Randy Cullen, Martin Grünert, Sven Olivier, Riaan van Deventer, Fred Vernimmen, Wikus van der Wald, Charl Frank, Reinhold Lawrenz, Gerhard Waller, Rudi Schurkes, Ian Forbes, Roger Tipping, René Heise, Johan Gerike, Nina Grünert, Peter Farrell, June Sterling, Jaco Hartman, Kelvin Holmwood, Wally Tamsen, Adri Hepburn, Sarel Oosthuizen, Alan Procter, William Whittaker, Helmuth von Michaelis, Louis Jordaan, Rico Suter, Rien de Muijnk, Peter Spender, Ari Cotton, Bill Griffiths, John Spargo, Dave Starke, Trevor Johnson, Horst Mücke, Rob Kakebeeke, Ed Verpraet, Marianne Verpraet, Johnny Navarro and Alison Navarro. Did I leave you out? Oh yes, Sasha, Bubbles, Katryntjie and friends also seemed to enjoy the activity immensely. Little Katryn is really starting to look quite elderly these days – we must treat her with care.
Sunday
In contrast with Saturday, Sunday dawned cold and grey with rain threatening. Unfortunately only two launches took place before the whole affair was washed out. Phil Surridge dealt with a potentially nasty situation on one of the launches, and Wally Tamsen and Abram van der Merwe got a nice wetting while putting the gliders away.
We are all set for a big upsurge in flying with spring just around the corner. For those that don’t know or can’t remember, statistically (in my logbook at least) November is the “Big Month” at Worcester for going places across country. I’d therefore like to encourage newer pilots to use this time to practice for getting that Cross-Country clearance in their logbooks. This way you will be ready to take advantage of the good weather later in the year. The time for getting that Silver C and all those other badge legs is not far away!
Peter Wooley
posted by CGC Reporter at 22.8.05
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