Dennis Green writes a “how-I-We-dunnit” account which is about time because he seems to garner extended WZ time quite frequently.
Stratford
09/5/15
1000hrs
A cool breeze off the mountain, easterly, straight down 027. Thermics zero. Blue above the strip, a convergence line towards Waverley and broken cloud to the North.
Prep and D.I. WZ, while watching a convergence trying to establish close and to the North of the field. Get ourselves down to the end of the strip, hook up, time to suck it and see. We towed out with Ralph piloting TGC (mellow yellow), Tim in the seat behind me. We had a slow climb out with calls to increase speed, air a bit bouncy at times, and pinged off at 3000’ over the east end of the strip. Thanks Ralph.
Poked around a bit and found good lift and in short time we had a steady climb to 4000’ and base of the convergence. A run towards Pembroke gave us a steady 200ft down. Back to Midhirst and north and west to Te Popo was where the lift was. Over an hour passed running the convergence from north of Midhirst to some distance west of Te Popo and points in between. The cloud began to open up and disperse so we attempted a run towards Pembroke to try and connect with cloud which could have been useful. Just over the main road north of Stratford we hit lift and sink we could not use, nor live with, so turned for home.
Did the checks, down wind and on to the ground. One hour thirty-three minutes. Not too bad for a cold breezy day.
Well told Dennis. It was a case of being first up and best dressed. Others had varying levels of success.
I appreciate the effort people make to tell their story of the day. Makes my job much easier and adds an air of authority to the narrative.
This is a photo of Sam Tullett on short finals in the PW5 and on his way to a good cross-wind landing.