Saturday, and the soaring forecast is again not that good. The thought is that we should pack up the gliders in the afternoon ready for the return to Camden on Sunday.
I go for a fly in the DG303, bung off the tow at 2,500 feet and manage to climb to 5,000 feet in a reasonable thermal. But there aren’t many more thermals around and there’s plenty of sink. I amuse myself by taking video with the GoPro, holding it out of the small opening panel in the side of the canopy for a better view. I stay up for 45 minutes.
After landing, it’s all hands on deck for de-rigging the gliders and putting them in their trailers. This is hard work – the wings are heavy and need manhandling into their special cradles in the trailers. There are five club gliders and we also help de-rig a few of the privately-owned gliders.
Over Cootamundra airport.
The 330k drive back on Sunday is uneventful for a start, a gentle 80km/h progress through Harden and past Yass onto the Hume Highway towing the long trailer. But about an hour from Camden, there’s a “Pop!”sound and the trailer starts to weave. I pull over onto the verge. I’ve blown a tyre. Luckily it is the left hand one, because the trucks and cars are flying by at 110 km/h just a couple of feet from the side of the trailer. I drive forward and find a slightly wider verge. I jack the trailer up and replace the shredded tyre with the spare. It’s scary because the trailer sways on the jack whenever a truck whizzes by. But I survive and make it to Camden.
There is a silver lining. I’m late arriving and most of the gliders have been rigged by the time I get there. Yay!
Camp is over. A good experience despite the weather not being helpful for distance flying. I had five flights in the week with a total of 11 hours in the air.
