Newcastle Hang Gliding Club

NHGC Meeting Minutes Wednesday 22nd February 2023 Location: Bar Beach Bowling Club Start time 7:30pm Present: Kieran Black, Craig Hand, Courtney, Ward, John Dingle, Harry Daniels, JOD, Matt Tynan, Ken Harris, Gary Herman, Jamie Oorschot, Glen Selmes, Nicola, Zoom: Brad Patfield, Adriaan, Royce, Ian Ladyman, Cara Apologies: Billo Last Meeting Minutes accepted: Woops, forgot to do this! Flying – Lots of coastal flying at Dicko, Catho, Wybung (Gary), Bombala and inland Hooley Dooleys (Go Conrad!). Incidents – Woops, forgot to do this! Sites: Heatons - Saturday morning Royce, Kieran and Jamie caught up with ecologist Tas (http://emergentecology.com.au/team.html) and the meeting went well. They visited Hunter launch, SE Heaton launch, NE Heaton launch and West Heaton launch. It was with regard to ticking Forestry’s box for a RES report needed to get weather stations up in the Watagans. The RES report will put the fate of a tree at the centre of Hunter Launch in our hands. This will allow us to attach a weather station to it. If that attachment eventually kills the tree (say in 40 years!) we have permission to continue use the dead tree or cut it down and replace with a pole. This approach gives us a lot of flexibility. Same deal for a tree midway between Heaton NE and West launches where we would like to attach a weather station to it and get it a few meters above the canopy. SE Heaton is different. All the trees around there are slowly being chopped down by dickhead campers. A while ago it was Forestry’s suggestion to hide the weather station in the bush. We have gone down that path and found a suitable location ~2m from the cliff edge midway between the new launch and the old launch. It won’t be visible from launch or anywhere from up top. A full blown RES report is ~30 pages, takes 4 or 5 days labor and costs around $6.5K. Royce touched base with Tas, and it may be that we don't need the full REF (Review of Environmental Factor REview) Tas is going to concur with Forestry to ensure clarity - we may get away with it being much shorter and therefore cheaper. Royce spoke to Forestry and they are comfortable with our new plans from before, and keeping it simple. Royce did talk to Forestry about our signs (with poles) being ripped out and she offered that Forestry themselves could re-install the poles to a depth of 600mm. (making it much harder to pull out), We could either provide them with the equipment (poles + bags of quick set cement) or they could do it and bill us for the poles and cement. Their instal would be free. – We agreed at he meeting to let Forestry bill us for the materials. If it’s less than $100 they probably won’t bother. Big thanks to Royce for keeping this project chugging along. One day soon we hope to get the weather stations up and running. Royce dealt with a 4WD shop owner from the central coast who posted a video of himself demonstrating and advertising a open fire hot plate he sells at North East Heaton launch. Coincidently that launch had the club sign and pole removed which had ‘No Fires’ on it. With the assistance of Forestry and the threat of legal action the person in question was ‘more than apologetic’. Thanks again Royce for defending our sites. All Heaton launches are overgrown and in dire need of attention. A working bee is needed. Catherine Hill Bay launch re-development plans – Jamie discovered Lake Macquarie council have included Catho launch in their master plan, 2022! If developed according to Lake Mac’s design it will create the exact same problem we have at Merewether Hickson St launch. That problem being attracting more people to the location and inviting them to park their bums on launch for a picnic! Jamie re-designed the proposed launch re-development plan with the intent to passively separate the general public from the launch/landing area in a similar way to Strzelecki and Crackneck launches. Prudence Bowe (HG pilot & Architect) has pier reviewed the design and thinks it’s very good. She has offered to professionally draw it up and present it to Lake Mac council on behalf of NHGC (and NPGC if they are happy with it). It was agreed at the meeting that the club committee can deal with any further reviews and approval before taking the matter further. John Harriot needs to be included with this process as he is the current National Parks liaison person for the site for Central Coast Skysailors. Weather Stations – Lake St Claire is up and running (can be found here https://www.freeflightwx.com/lakestclaire/index.php) as well as Hooley Dooleys (can be found here https://www.freeflightwx.com/hooleydooley/). The club is looking for an alternative to Holfuy for the Watagans and Dixon Park. Under consideration is the Tempest combined with a solar powered external wifi/internet router. Ian Ladyman is the club weather station guru and is investigating this as a possible alternative – thanks Ian. Comps Manilla – Its only a couple of weeks away before Manilla NSW State Titles comp begins. So far we have 31 pilots enlisted and a good long range weather forecast. Adriaan has done a great job with all the background Admin tasks needed as well as some awesome looking t-shirts. ‘Hairy Karl’ Kindle has stepped down this year as comp director due to health issues. Billo has stepped in temporarily this year to fill the void. Billo has been an integral part of the comp scene since time began but has previously let it be known this is his last time as he would like to be ‘out to pasture’. Tinks will be his comp director ‘in training’ this year in the hope she is happy to run next years comp (similar to legend Monica). Tinks has been on the comps scene a long time and is very much loved and appreciated by the pilots. We think she is a good fit. Ward Gunn and Gary Herman will be out there and have offered any assistance as well as being on the comp committee. A big thanks to Adrian, Billo, Tinks and in particular Hairy Karl for running past comps and handing on the batten. Barraba Big Tow – not discussed. Corryong Cup, a review by Ward Gunn – One of the best weeks of flying was had by all. Approximately 60 pilots had 7 out of 8 days flying. Consistent NW winds with 35 deg C days and cool evenings helped, one day up to 11,000ft! Lots of ~80km triangles making for easy retrieve. Great camping on the river at Klack Klack. Lots of new pilots experiencing thermalling for the first time. One tree landing directly in front of launch by an experienced pilot pushing the safety envelope. Luckily no damage to him, just his glider. In general it was an awesome fun comp. Ward is keen to get the local inland flying scene going again. Anybody keen let Ward (0414356588) know. If there is sufficient interest a XC camp could be organized with Tony Barton and SAFA grant funding. That would be a great opportunity for our novice pilots. Treasurer’s Report Main Account $15,838.75 Secondary Account $636.04 Paypal $4,425.59 Total $20,895.28 Notes: There is a bit of money in main and secondary accounts from state comps and similarly bit of money out from comp t-shirts and comp expenses. Paypal has greatly increased from pilot comp fees. We will have to wait until after the comp to see if the club makes a profit. End of meeting 8:40pm