Weekend Report: No flying and a social day

SATURDAY 22nd April

I am sure that I don't need to give anyone a weather report of the weekend
but the only thing that happened on Saturday was the WEATHER! A few brave
souls ventured out to the Club but the airfield looked like a sea for most
of the day as the rain bucketed down.

NO FLYING

SUNDAY 23rd April

I asked Andre to send out an e-mail on Saturday to encourage anyone wanting
to winch on Sunday to be there. The wind was too strong for the tugs, as
it happened, and we had a great team turn out for winching.

Garth Milne was duty pilot par excellence and had his instructors Boet and
Fred as well as Ian Forbes helping to get things going. Sven manned the
lights and the radio and Rob K drove the winch, with yours truly for part of
the day on the tractor and trailer. Thanks to Jacobus Hartman for taking
over on the tractor, and William Whittaker, who later flew GUC off the
winch, for all their effort. Mike Allen and Helmut von Michaelis also had
turns flying.

All in all, the spirit was great and as Garth says:" a great social time was
had by all!"

Thanks to all concerned.

REMEMBER:

Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday are all rostered flying days so come
out to the Club and join us for a great long weekend!!

Alison

Weekend Report: Easter

FRIDAY

Conditions were fairly stable yet Gareth Floweday took the laurels and stayed up in GUC for 4 hours! Thanks to the team - ADRIAAN for duty pilot and GROVE and MARTIN for instructing with NINA towing. Marian Cole was the sole student in GHB and Brain Cole was instructed by Martin in the Pipistrel. Kevin Mitchell flew his DG400 but the day was once again dominated by motor gliders!

SATURDAY

Saturday morning dawned one of those classic Autumn stable mornings and by 8.30, 4 motor gliders: GXH, VAE, GLZ, and GZF were at the
holding point and all flew off together for breakfast at Porterville! What a stunning morning and thanks to Adriaan for arranging it. I certainly will encourage more of these fly-away mornings, especially during mornings that promise to be a mediocre soaring day!... We were collected at the airfield at Porterville and taken to the resuarant in town for a very pleasant breakfast and then flew back to FAWC. VAE took the long ruite via Franschoek and Villiersdorp and GXH via Shelly point!

Many single pilots: Peter Farrel, Sarel Osothuisen, Garth Milne and Kevin Mitchell all made valiant efforts to stay aloft in their gliders while students Ryno, Kelvin and Marian kept GHB busy.

Later in the afternoon a transmission problem with GZF caused an incident between two motor gliders. Thankfully this (radio) problem was sorted out on Monday by Wally Tamsen. Thanks Wally. The other "communication" problem was sorted out on Sunday night (see Sunday)!

SUNDAY

It was good to see Kim Carter-Brown again at the field and once again Marion Cole and Helmut von Michaelis flew in GHB. The weather was threatening to worsen but Wally and Fred were certainly kept busy until late with the trainers.

The GZF radio problem had caused words between Tom and Adri and Tom apologised publically to Adri at the braai in the clubhouse on Sunday
night. His "apology" is for all to see on the notice board! Thanks to Tom and Adri for resolving this disagreement so well!

The braai in the clubhouse on Sunday night was one of the best I have ever attended!! The atmosphere was fantastic and we all had a great deal of fun!

MONDAY

Cloudbase was about 3000' at best and worsened. When we left at 1430hrs, it had begun to rain in the mountains! Activity at the field was minimal but Adriaan made a valiant effort to keep things going by taking Horst, Marion, Brian and Piet van Toorenburg for flights in his Lamabda.

When Wally had completed fixing the radio in the Motor Falke, he took Juliana for a flight. Hubert and Martin had a 3 hour flight in Hubert's Rotax M/Falke to St Helena Bay.


All in all a very pleasnat weekend and thanks to all who helped with maintenance issues - Johnny for the rotax prop, Wally for GZF radio
and Ed for the wiring on Goks trailer and Ron and Tom for the tyres on Goks trailer.

We also say goodbye to Tom who is flying North for the winter and we will see him again in October.

I would also like to thank Adriaan Hepburn for his evident club spirit and motivation of other members this weekend.

Please remember the AGM on Wednesday evening - see you all then.

Regards
Alison

Weekend Report: GOK takes a break

The Club was relatively quiet on Saturday after the hectic activities of the
course which finished on Friday afternoon. Mike Pascoe and Paul Bailey
were kept busy instructing while Nina very competently tugged. Johan
Gericke was duty pilot and also fixed the radio in GHB. Thanks Johan. The day was marred by the outlanding of Ed and Piet van Toorenberg in GOK. Unfortunately GOK was damaged and will need to be sent away for repair.


Sunday was also very stable and uneventful and we kept the Ka13 busy with
pupils and paxes. Marian Cole and Rob Manzoni were the pupils and Mike
Pascoe, Will Whittaker , Jaco Hartman (who took 3 launches in GUC) and a visiting pilot - Rens, a KLM pilot, and Errol Drew (welcome back!) flew the
singles. Much later in the afternoon Kevin Mitchell flew his beautiful
DG400. We hope the weather improves for the Easter Weekend and we hope
we have lots of activity!!!

Remember that everyday of the Easter Weekend is a rostered flying day so, see you there!!

Alison

Weekend Report: Trailer Reversing & more

Saturday

The Cape Gauntlet comp comprised a record entry of nine – a sign that things are growing again on the local cross-country scene. We have a lot of experienced and capable cross-country pilots, many of whom own excellent ships – so it was super to see so many flying. Alan’s “Gauntlet” efforts have already done much to encourage pilots back into their ships and to “do it” – thank you Alan, all it takes is a spark and the magic is there. I hope it will also be an encouragement to the up-and-coming pilots who must surely have their sights set on new cross-country endeavours. Be encouraged! – I have yet to meet a returning cross-country pilot who is grumpy – even when returning by road form an outlanding. Cross-country soaring must be the most satisfying thing on earth after …, well, who knows

Adri kindly stood in as duty pilot; Mark tugged with NIG and Paul Troskie, MIV. Unfortunately the NW wind picked up to the extent that we had to put the Ka13 away. Of the singles that launched, Alan takes the trophy for the most perseverance, as he took three launches before getting on task. It must have paid off because he came third overall with Adriaan taking the laurels once again. Well done Adriaan, the CGC’s “secret weapon”! We had a full time sheet I must thank everyone who took part in the day. More news on the actual “flying” will be on Alan’s Cape Gauntlet blog.

The trailer-reversing competition was hilarious! The spirit of the participants as well as the spectators was great. John Spargo beat everyone with his skills. It certainly wasn’t easy and I came stone last, but at least I tried.

Wally organised a wonderful “potjie” from the famous Helgaard and a few people dressed "silly". I think Wally won that competition. There was some consternation when a "male stripper" turned up, which everyone denied arranging. The party went on until the small hours so I was pleasantly surprised when Sunday dawned to early activity.

Sunday

During the reading of the “Gauntlet” results, Alan O’ Regan had requested help the next morning at 08h00, to rig two Ka7 trainers. What a joy to see Alan himself, Peter Farrell, Wally Tamsen, Tom Heaslip and Jaco Hartman all arrive right on time. Craig Fussel and Andre Leeb du Toit came along a bit later. The result: - both Ka7's rigged by 09h30. What a team! Next, GUU was then taken to Dave Starke's hanger where Dave spent the entire day sorting out the plumbing and electrics in order to get the glider ready for the course. We owe you big time Dave! You were pivotal in getting the tools for the course ready. Thanks also to Andre who weighed the glider, and Rudi who performed the annual inspection and did the paperwork.

Congtratulations to Gareth Floweday who converted to GUC. He looked so cool and comfortable in GUC before the flight, that I had no idea it was his conversion.

It was one of those weekends when, at the end, I felt that I had had a great time – a return to "old times" and fun times.

Alison (with a little help from Peter)