AUCKLAND HG LEAGUE - PAEROA RANGE

The forecast improved from average to quite reasonable. 

The Auckland PG’s were quick to realise this and called their league. We followed suit. 

Unfortunately, predicting 2 flyable days in a row, on a weekend, in Auckland, wasn’t going to eventuate for us, this summer.

An early rise Saturday morning and drive to the Paeroas was untaken for a meeting time of 11am. We were only slightly late due to Marks ‘scenic route’ which took us in a complete circle! 

The sky was starting to look promising with the odd cumulus cloud forming. The PG’s briefed and were off while for us a task was set to Rangitaiki, some 56km away on the Taupo-Napier road.

We launched, some boated around waiting for maximum height, others left quickly. The thermals were broken, some with strong cores which appeared to move about, proving difficult to stay centred in the strongest lift. 

Most pilots made it to the vicinity of Mt Tauhara, Geoff and Rick venturing up the Taupo-Napier highway and Mark debating whether to venture over the forest. 

The PG folks didn’t seem to have any qualms about landing in the forest and walking out but that was too daunting for us.

The only bummer for the day was James having his glider stolen from the roadside after he walked 200m down the road to check road signs. He witnessed a van going past with a HG poking out the window and did not realise it was his until he returned to find it gone. Fortunately the glider turned up as the remover thought better of it and contacted the police. It may have suffered a little damage due to poor handling but at least he got it back.

Next day saw similar conditions and a task was set with a turn-point at Whites Road (@26km) then back to Reporoa (@21km). Climbs appeared a little bit slower and perhaps a little further apart but again, most got away with 3 getting to turn-point 1 and Geoff showing his skills at reading the conditions and making goal.

All in all, a great weekend's flying. Thanks to our PG friends support crews for bringing all the cars off the hill enabling us to be home by 10pm instead of midnight. Scoring to follow once we get all track logs in.

Reporter

Les Graham

Results:

Day 1	Day 2	Total
Rick 900	Baz 733	Baz 1362
Geoff 882	Les 578	Geoff 1311
Mark 767	Bill 488	Les 1286
Les 708	Geoff 429	Rick 1190
Baz 629	Rick 291	Bill 1116
Bill 628	Dave 175	Mark 767
Dave 193	Neville 142	Dave 368
Neville 155	Aaron 142	Neville 296
Aaron 155	Mark 0	Aaron 296
James 155	James 0	James 155