Newcastle Hang Gliding Club Meeting Minutes   27/10/2021, commenced 7:40pm.

 

Zoom Attendees:  Jamie Oorschot, Craig Hand, Royce Allenson, Kyle Boyd, Ian Ladyman, Andres, Ken Harris, Brad Patfield.

Apologies:  Adriaan Mulder (on another holiday!)

Last Minutes Accepted:  1st Ken Harris, 2nd Royce Allenson.

 

Flying

Summer coastal breezes have finally turned on!  Lots of coastal flying over the last month by local pilots as lockdown restrictions eased.  Ian described some magic lift flights from Dudley into town and back by Conrad and Paul.  Some awesome days where the skies were full of hangies and panties alike.  This summer is gonna be epic!

Pretty much no flying inland because of travel restrictions.

 

Safety/Incidents

John Dingle had a minor turtle in the bushes at Dixon Park.  John over-reacted a bit avoiding a couple of kites in the park.  The Gecko has a lot more energy retention than the Fun!  He and glider are fine, just a bit of a bruised pride.  All good John, we have all been there at some time or another.

 

General Business

Watagans – Royce and Jamie are still looking at various types of towers/poles suitable for the weather stations in the Watagans.  We considered a telescoping truss Gary Herman has for sale for $1100.  Whilst the price is ok for what it is unfortunately this structure is too easy to climb and vandalize.  Royce is still waiting to hear back from Mike at Forestry about the concept of attaching weather stations to trees instead of using a tower/pole.  A working bee is likely to be organized for late Nov or early Dec to finish the Astro turf and do some brush cutting.  In the meantime, if anybody goes up there, please take a rubbish bin/bag.  It is our obligation to Forestry to keep those sites clean.

 

New Business

Ian Ladyman and Tony Holgate have asked for permission to do non-commercial tandem flights from our local sites in their paragliders.  Both have their tandem endorsements and are getting check flights through Tony Barton.  There were no objections and we thankyou for your courtesy to ask.

Andres had his car stolen from his home in Elenore Bay.  Unfortunately all of his flying gear was inside which included a Susie 18m^2 paraglider.  If anybody sees any suspicious paragliding gear come up for sale please give him a call (0410117977).  Also if anybody has any cheap flying gear he can buy or borrow it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Comps

Barraba Big Tow is going ahead.  20 pilots so far have registered.  No doubt more will do the same.   Karl Kindle will be attending as Meathead and Comp Director (Yay Jamie and Rory can now relax! 😊).  Karl managed to find an NDIS carer (Luke) who is keen to come out and support him.  So hopefully if Luke has a good time he might want to do the same for Manilla.  This would be great for Karl’s mental health and he can keep doing what he loves and we love him for it!

 

 

Treasurers Report

Some extra money has come in from BBT. 

Cash reserve $19,938.94

Solutions account $717.98

PayPal $451.55

 

Meeting closed 8:30pm.

 

 

 

NHGC Meeting 24/11/2021

Zoom only.  Start 7:35pm

Present:  Adrian Mulder, Jamie Oorschot, Brad Patfield, Craig Hand, John Dingle, Andres, Royce, John Hariot, Ken Harris, Ian Ladyman

Last Minutes; 1st Brad, 2nd Craig

Flying – lots of coastal flying as summer is finally here and covid restrictions have eased.  Nice to see pilots flying Strezzi, Dicko, Merewether and Dudley again.

General Business

Watagans – Hunter Astro Turf has been moved to launch and laid by Royce, Adrian and a friendly camper.  The tree removed at NE Heaton launch was reported by Royce to Mike at Forestry.  Mike wasn’t happy as it was a habitat tree.  Adrian sent a letter Mike saying that we don’t know who it was.  It could have been one of our members but it could have also been a camper.  In any case we do not condone such actions by club members and we will to our best to stamp out any such rogue behaviour in our club.  Royce would like to organize a working bee in the Watagans to finish laying down the Astroturf at NW Heaton, NE Heaton and fix any fire potholes.

Hooley Doolies – Brad has been working on getting this site up and running again.  It has recently been bought back off the Chinese by an Aussie and he is keen to get pilots back flying there.  Brad is going visit there before xmas and talk to the farmer grading the road up, fixing the weather station, clearing and laying down Astroturf.  Hopefully a working bee can be organized early in the new year.

The club xmas parties will be held at Jamie and Rachel’s house this year in Kahibah on the 11th of December.  Adrian will send out an invite.

The parachute repack night at Airborne went well.  We had ~25 pilots rock up.  A good chunk of them got their parachute repacked.  The BBQ and beers were demolished very quickly.  It was a very pleasant social event.  Big thanks to Airborne for the use of the hanger, and big thanks to Rory and Tony who pretty much spent all night helping people pack their parachutes.

Comps

Barraba Big Toe – It was touch and go for a while there whether this comp would go ahead with covid restrictions and bad weather.  Fortunately it did.  22 pilots registered and 14 were there to the end!  1st and 2nd day were blown out.  Monday had a reasonable 50-60km task.  Tuesday was the longest with a 119km triangle and 8500ft base.  This was also the day John Boy had his tumble accident (details in Safety section). Thursday the guns amazingly made it around the course in light 20-50fpm lift.  Friday was just glides to the ground!  Comp ended early on Friday as Huge dumping rain and flooding was forecast the next few days.  Karl did extremely well to organize and run the comp given that he is now confined to a wheelchair.  Him and his wonderful NDIS carer slept in the hanger.  Barraba once again demonstrated that it is a wonderful place for hang gliding and showed big potential for it to turn into an airpark.  BBT ran at a loss of $340.  This is pretty impressive considering the low turnout and less than ideal weather.  Big thanks to Hairy Karl for making it happen.

Manilla state comps – it is encouraging that people are enrolling for the Manilla state comps.  Karl is going to need some extra help to run the comp this year.  Anybody willing to help please get in contact with him.

New Business

First Aid coarse next Wednesday at the Airborne training office, Belmont airfield.  14 participants have signed up.  Please finish online course, preferably not last minute on the day!

NSWHPA Grass roots application funding grants +1k$.  Contact John Harriot for more details.

Adriaan has added to the club website a ‘webforms’ page.  Here you can find forms for comps, other activities and also feedback.

Safety

At BBT John Spencer tumbled his topless glider at Barraba Big Toe.  A detailed description was given by John Harriot.  It was John’s third tow on the best day of the comp.  At about 2000ft him and the trike hit a big thermal.  John made the mistake of holding on too long. he went into a lockout and released under extreme pressure.  All this energy resulted in a vertical climb and subsequent whip stall followed by tumbles.  John threw his parachute but noted he was still falling very fast.  He radioed the ground he had tumbled and was falling very fast and to please call an ambulance as impact with the ground was going to be hard.  Fortunately the ambos spotted his parachute from town and were already on the way.  John sustained a broken arm, leg, ankle and pelvis.  John re-packed his  PDA parachute 330 on the club parachute pack night.  This is a new fancy parachute that should have slowed his descent to 5-10km/hr.  So exactly why he had such a fast descent is still unknown.  Hopefully he will be able to provide some answers in his accident report.  From everybody in the club we wish you a speedy recovery and hope to see you flying again soon.

Also at BBT Mr. Hoss twisted his ankle landing in a furrowed field despite doing a good flare.

 

Treasurer’s report,

Main account $18,069

Secondary account $50.92

Paypal $2057.37

 

End of meeting 8:15pm.

 

NHGC Meeting 28/1/2022

Zoom only

Meeting start 7:30pm

Present: Adriaan Mulder, Jamie Oorschot, Brad Patfield, Ian Ladyman, Gary Herman, Harry Daniels, John Harriot, Craig Hand, Billo, Ken Harris, Allan McMillan

Apologies:  Hairy Karl, JOD, Don Gardner, Frans Henskens

Last Minutes – 1st John Harriot, 2nd Ian Ladyman

 

Business from last Minutes

Tilting Weather station poles for Lake St Clair, Hooley Dooleys and Hickson St – Jamie and Patto have been working on these over the past month.  Lake St Clair and Hickson St finished and Hooley Dooleys + new weather station nearly finished and will be installed sometime in next two weeks.  Lake st Claire Holfuy weather station is still down, Jamie and Patto have not been able to get it running.  They have tried Optus, Vodafone, Aldi and Telstra without any success.

No new progress with Watagans.  Royce is waiting for a response from Forestry about attaching weather stations to trees as an alternative to poles.

 

Flying

Billo’s son hit the rocks below Bombala (?) launch

Craig caught a bubble at Strezzi and got super high,

Adriaan and JOD flew to the gun club and back

Just to mention a few

John Harriot’s take on Corryong – Light to moderate conditions all week with 4 out of 7 comp days.  ~65+ pilots entered with a very large amount of those in floaters.  Running of the comp was seamless and very safe.  Hubert was excellent and the whole vibe was very fun and friendly.  Marty Hand from central coast made goal in front of a whole field.  Some hard landings and lots of broken down tubes!  They included Todd doing a low turn in bombout, Ken Harris bad landing in bombout and the worst an advanced pilot on the last day stumbled on launch, fell onto his basebar and did a ground loop into the trees.  Fortunately he was ok with only abrasions but his glider was a write off.  Overall the comp was a great success.

 

Comps

NSW state titles is 3 weeks away.  We have 25 pilots registered and expect more last minute.   The club needs a vhf for the comps (Jamie will organise)  Ian Ladyman has one to lend and possibly buy (Godfrey is sold out).  Alan McMillan also has one we could borrow.  Alan also offered to do the weather, thank you.  Karl is not sure if he will run Manilla HG Comp.  If he doesn’t then Jamie will do it this year.  NDIS incompetence created a huge amount of stress for Karl at Barraba Big Toe that made the comp very unpleasant.  Looking on the bright side Karl is keen to improve facilities at the Barraba airfield to include Disabled facilities, showers, kitchen and camping.  NSWHPA have indicated they could help with funding.  For NSW state titles Billo is doing the scoring but said this is the last time.  Billo has been doing the scoring for the past 30 years and would like to go to pasture.  Billo has had dramas with the new “Airscore” system and does not want to learn it and will not be using it for Manilla. The club will need to find a new scorer for any future comps, starting with Barraba Big Toe in November.  Anyone up for that task please let us know.  Big thanks to Billo for doing scoring over the past 30 years.

 

General Business

The club T-shirts Adriaan ordered were no good.  They have been a nightmare to deal with.  They have agreed to give a full refund without the need return the t-shirts.  If you’re a tightass and not fussy then Adriaan might have a free t-shirt for you!  Adriaan is going to try another company.  Long sleeve uv shirts are a possible alternative.  They are a bit more expensive but are better quality and offer more protection from sunburn.  Patto has offered contact details from the mob in Sydney that do the NPGC t-shirts.

Alan McMillan asked if Powered HG Pilots could join the club and if they should be a ‘Sub-group” of NHGC (ie have separate meetings etc) or be combined with all other pilots?   Many pilots will be away at the NSW HG comp in late Feb so discussion on this topic will be in March.  John Harriot noted that there is a general trend for HG and PG clubs to combine and for clubs to be all-encompassing of different aviation types.  For example Central coast is PG+HG+powered.  Canungra clubs have also combined to PG & HG.

The Crackneck weatherstation pole is being replaced.  The old pole will be available for re-use in the Watagans (Jamie – John Harriot)

Hickson St launch is going to need a working bee soon trimming bushes.  NPGC is also keen to do some work there also so we should try organise something together.

Carmel’s needs a new windsock.  NSWHPA has offered to pay for a full aviation windsock similar to what’s going up at Crackneck.

The Office of Sport has another $1000 grant up for grabs.  All we need to do is apply (thanks Adriaan😊)

Allan McMillan would like to organise some Aerotowing at Pete Mahine’s in March.  If anyone is interested please let him know.

Adriaan created a new “Event” form on the club website.  Once you have logged in you will be able to access it at the forms page.

 

Safety Issues

A pilot on the central coast crashed into trees and busted his ribs.

Ken Harris had a bad landing at Corryong and busted his coxis.  Ken landed in the bombout going downhill.  He did a high flare and came down hard on his legs which could not support him.  He said he took his attention off the windsock and didn’t realise he was in any danger.

Alan McMillan brought to our attention that changes of class E airspace in the Hunter Valley means the new ceiling is 4500ft for those without vhf and transponder!

 

Treasurer’s report

Main account $17,254.90

Solutions on account $529.42

Paypal Account $2200

So we are still looking good with over $20k.

Recent expenses include Xmas Party, t-shirts and Carmel’s slashing.

 

Meeting Ended 9pm

 

 

 

Meeting Cancelled

 

Due to the NSW State Titles coinciding with the meeting date we decided not to have a club meeting.

NHGC Meeting 30/3/2022

Bar Beach Bowlo      Start: 7:45pm

Attendees:  Jamie Oorschot, Craig Hand, JOD, Ian Ladyman, Brad Patfield, John Dingle, Ken Harris, Andreas, Harry Daniels

Zoom Attendees:  John Harriot, Gary Herman, Alan McMillan, Royce Allenson

Apologies:  Adrian Mulder, Billo, Selmsy

Last meeting minutes:  1st: Craig                              2nded: Ken

 

Flying

Today - Jamie had an awesome time flying with a flock of seagulls at Newcastle beach.

Some very nice coastal flying during the month has been had by JOD, Craig and others.

 

Sites

Patto update - Hooley Dooley’s weatherstation went down at the same time as Singleton flooding.  It was up and running a few days later.  Suspect problem was network infrastructure and not the weather station.  Jamie to inspect in next dry spell.  Patto has managed to get approval from SAFA and the RAAF to fly there.  Reduced ceiling height over launch of 3000ft and then steps up to 5000ft  when you fly over the back.  We expect to actually be able to start flying there in about 3 weeks.

Delivery of Lake St Claire weatherstation from Alistair Dickie has been delayed until Easter.  Hope to have that weatherstation up and running shortly after.

Royce would like to push on with weatherstations at Hunter and NE Heaton.  Has requested tilt pole drawings from Jamie so he can start the conversation with Forestry.

Carmels and Hooley Dooleys need large windsocks in the LZ – Jamie happy to make.  Has ~13 hang gliders to dismantle.  Can make windsocks from the old sails.

A planned working bee the weekend after Easter for both Hickson st and Bombala in collaboration with NPGC.

 

Business from Last Minutes

Alan McMillan asked if Powered HG Pilots could join the club and if they should be a ‘Sub-group” of NHGC (ie have separate meetings etc) or be combined with all other pilots?  General feeling of the committee is we would love to include powered HG pilots in the club, include them at the club meeting and we would prefer not to have a ‘Sub-group’.

 

Comps

2022 NSW State Titles Comp Report by Karl Kindle

This year we only had 2 flying days and five Fun days at the comp.  There were 28 pilots in the comp and 4 free flyers.  The rest of the week had light thermal activity and light winds.  The rest of the week was raining.  The results for the comp were

NSW State Champion:  Troy Horton

Open Class:         1st Johny Durand; 2nd Tim Osborn;

A big thankyou to Hairy Karl Kindle for running the comp.  It was a really big effort on his part considering his new lifestyle and a big comeback from the last BBT which was extremely stressful for him as many things did not go well.  While Karl did struggle a bit in the evenings when drugs made his brain a bit hazy it was good to see everybody was very understanding and appreciative.  Running the comp did cost him $8500 from his NDIS allocation!  A big thanks to his carer’s Lorry and Tysen who were amazing.  Thankyou Billo for scoring his last time at Manilla.  Thankyou to Alan McMillan who did the weather and was extremely accurate.

 

Barraba Big Tow – Karl is keen to run it in 2022.  He has been designing buildings to add to the existing hangers that would have extra toilets, showers, camp kitchen and a briefing room.  This would help facilitate all comp needs onsite.  NSWHPA has graciously offered to help with funding.  Hopefully if all goes well we can host a pre-comp working bee / fly in 😊.  Anybody handy with tools and keen for a fly before BBT please let Karl know.  Karl needs these facilities to attend BBT.  If they don’t get built in time then we will need another club member/s to run the comp.

Hopefully once the La-nina subsides we will be back into the epic inland flying like the first BBT comp.

 

New Business

John Harriot plans to organise a Training weekend for motivated club members to help them gain access to grant money for projects that benefit our sport.  Two members from our club will be eligible.  More information is likely to be available at the next club meeting.

An early call out for a new club President and Secretary, Craig has a cruisy job as Treasurer and is ok to do at least one more year.  The AGM is only a few months away and Adrian and Jamie will be resigning at that AGM.  Some words from Adrian who unfortunately could not make it tonight because he has been rostered on driving buses:

                Hi Fellow Flying Nuts!!!

Times are a changing, after 3 years at the presidency I am going to step down. It is time for our enthusiastic younger generation to step up and take the helm.

In the last three years we have experienced a few challenges and have successfully navigated them I would say.

The committee team, Myself, Jamie and Craig have worked together harmoniously and have enjoyed most of this work

To start off with our attendance was falling and we managed to get our members enthused to attend meetings to give us the all-important feedback a club needs to go forward.

We communicated with NPWS on the future of Bombala and Merewether and put in to place procedures and signs for these sites.
We negotiated multiple sites for the Wattagans with NSW Forestry.
We organized working bees for the coastal sites and the wattagans.
We facilitated Karls running of the last Corryong cup and the first and second Barraba Big Toe as well as the NSW state Titles.
Our websites, nhgc.asn.au and wow.asn.au were close to nonfunctional. They have been brought back to operational status.
Our financial structure depended on Committee members using their own credit cards has now been made functional through a club paypal account.
Communication with members as been streamlined and is now manageable through a Google Account
Membership renewal and recruitment has been streamlined
The business of running the club is available on a bullet style instruction sheet.

I could probably go on and bore you all with the details however it is time for a change.

I will remain on board as a committee member if you wish, not as the president though. My role in the future will be of IT and admin support. I am now working 6 days a week and can no longer commit to doing a good job for the club. In support I can do what is needed and will do so as long as I am required to do so.

A new younger president with social platform and Video editing skills could grow our sport substantially and I would like to nominate Cameron Evans for the presidency and offer him my full support.

Jamie has been instrumental in many of our activities, the creation of weather stations that can be serviced without the need for a ladder, hosting of Christmas parties, buying of supplies for our parties and working bees, transport of the BBQ to the various occasions, installation of fence steps at various sites inland and in general being there for any and all wanting to learn hang gliding by offering his own equipment as training craft. He deserves a great big thankyou from all of us.

Jamie now wishes to step down as secretary so we will need someone to step up and fill this spot as well.

Craig is willing to stay on as treasurer and will be supported by both Jamie and myself.

I sincerely hope that new candidates will step up, the alternative is amalgamation with the paragliding club!!

Please consider carefully.

Kind Regards

Adriaan

 

Jamie is willing to keep doing work on our sites, weather stations and helping with comps, learn  comps scorer role - but not running the comps!

 

As hang glider pilots we generally are getting older, fatter and lazier!  As a result it is getting harder to fill in the roles of President, Secretary and Treasurer.  Rather than have a crisis at the next AGM we are going to list the club’s options in order of most preferable to least desirable!

 Some young guns take up the roles of President and Secretary and hopefully breath some life into the club.  Alternatively, some old farts will do!
NHGC amalgamates with NPGC.  Jamie went to their club meeting tuesday night to suggest the idea.  Patto pre-warned Peter and thankfully he asked around senior members what they thought about the idea.  The result was positive, no negatives.  Micky Warmsley’s name did come up and we assured him he is no longer a relevant person in our club!  There was no objections from any members at the meeting.  Peter said NPGC is open to discuss it further and if NHGC wish to do so then the club committees should get together and discuss.
Last option – club folds, NHGC ceases to exist.

We will be making an early call out for any club members who may wish to fill the role of president and secretary.  If nobody is willing then we will start the conversation of amalgamation with NPGC.

 

Treasurers Report

Westpac main account:                 $20,781.59

Westpac secondary account:       $3.45

Paypal                                                   $1,212.11

 

Total                                                      $21,997.15

 

Manilla State Titles 22  Financial Statement

Income                                         Outgoings

28 x $200                          Meet head   $1500

$5600                                Scorer           $ 700

                                           T Shirts         $1230

                                           Pres Dinner  $489.60

                                           Trophies       $569

                 Donation to town raffle      $50

                 Out of state refund              $40

  Paypal  costs 11 x $5.50                     $60.50

 

Total income           $5600

Total Outgoings      $4639.10

Profit                        $960.90

Karl Kindl     nhgc comp organiser

 

 

Close Meeting 8:30pm

 

 

 

 

 

NHGC Minutes 27th April 2022

Bar Beach Bowlo Start 730PM

Present: Adriaan, Jamie, John Dingle, Billo, Shane Duncan, Rory Duncans, Harry Daniels, Craig, Craig Hand, Foxy, Ken Harris, JOD, Al Giles, Ward Gunn

Zoom: Brad Patfield, Dustin, Gary Herman

Apologies – Selmsy, John Harriot

Last Minutes Supported: 1 John Dingle, 2 Craig Hand

 

Business from Last Minutes:  John Harriot has organized a NSWHPA weekend where 2 members from most clubs attend for training on how to access NSWHPA funding and also brain storm worthy projects.  NHGC committee has nominated Gary Herman and John Dingle to attend.  If anybody in the club has ideas on how to spend NSWHPA money that helps positively progress our sport please forward to NHGCpresident@gmail.com,

Flying -  Some good flying at Booti Bootie by Jamie, Adrian, Selmsy, Donney and Bill Pain (local).  Craig and JOD had a good fly at Hunter.  Flying off Hickson st in 20knt and landind at Dicko in 25knt.  Rory’s report on Dalby – 5 days of good flying, 30 pilots, couldn’t fly too far because of floading and closed roads.

General Business – Nominations for President and Treasurer.  Whoever the new president and treasurer are will have continued support from Adriaan and Jamie, Craig ok to remain as treasurer.  We have had some people express interest in stepping into those roles so amalgamation is off the table this year.

Sites – Hickson St Launch on Saturday saw a good turnout from both NHGC and NPGC.  In about 3 hours the front lip was cleaned up and the tops taken down of all the bushes out the front and side.  Good job everyone.  We need to organize a similar working bee for Bombala.

Excessive rain has stopped access to the Heaton launches and Hooley Dooleys.   Heatons are in need of cleanup vegetation and rubbish.  Hunter launch grass was cut by Jamie, JOD and Craig.

Barraba Big Toe – November, Adriaan to lodge, Karl to run, Billo and Jamie Scoring.

Safety issues – Maybe it was a bit strong to launch off Hickson st in 20knt!  All launches needed wire assist, Jamie last without, went off sideways.  Took about 20min to get out front (except Jamie down low).

Treasurers Report

Main account $20, 781

Secondary account $103.45 (up $100 from Karl – Manilla state comps)

Paypal $1,189 (down $23 for zoom)

Total $22,073

Meeting ended 8:30pm

 

NHGC Meeting, Bar Beach Bowlo, 25/5/2022   meeting start 7:30pm

Attendees: Adriaan, Frans, Craig, Jamie, John Dingle, Ken Harris, Ward, Harry Daniels, JOD, Rod, Gary Herman, Andreas, Glen Selmes.

Zoom: Ian Ladyman, Royce, Patto

Apologies: Kieran, Billo, Craig Hand

Last Minutes accepted – Ken 1st, John Dingle 2nd

 

Business arising from Last Minutes – John Harriot’s NSWHPA brainstorming weekend is happening next weekend.  Deadline for ideas on how to spend NSWHPA money please email to Adriaan (President NHGC nhgcpresident@gmail.com) before Wednesday 1st of June please.  Main emphasis will be on getting more members into the sport and retaining members.  Unfortunately Gary Herman could not attend.  So it will be John Dingle and Craig Hand attending for NHGC.

 

Flying – Some good flying on the coast.  John and Craig getting 900ft above Strezzi in bubbles of lift.  Jamie has had some good flying at Blueys Beach.

 

Safety – No incidents

 

Sites

Ward and Jason have been working on East broken back launch.  It is 4-5ft higher and a 3m run.  Ready for spring and is a morning site.  Road to launch is not in good shape, 4wd required.

Carmels LZ has been slashed.  Paid for by NHGC ($880) and re-imbursed by NSWHPA.

Request for Hickson st launch to be referred to Merewether launch.

Request for club website update to site guide.  Patto has already built site guides for NPGC.  Could steal his work.

Rod met landowners at bottom of Hunter launch.  Possible new/expanded landing area.  Rod will give contact phone number to Adriaan for chase-up.

Lake st Claire now has the bottom access gate padlocked.  John Harriot chasing up with landowner/farmer who has put the padlock on the gate.  Some confusion as to who is the custodian of this site.  Discussion needed between NPGC, NHGC and Central Coast Skysailers.

Hooley Dooleys – final permission to fly here is being held up CASA legal team.  Patto will update us soon as there is any progress.  Fortunately, this is a summer site and we are not going to lose any flying over winter.

 

Comps – BBT dates are now up on the website.

 

Treasurers Report

Main account - $20,161.91

Secondary account - $379.45

Paypal - $1352.26

Total - $21893.62

28 Members have renewed.

 

Meeting closed 8:10pm

 

 

Newcastle Hang Gliding Club Meeting Minutes 29/06/2022

Location: Bar Beach Bowling Club.  Meeting commenced 730pm

Present: Adriaan Mulder, Al Giles, Ken Harris, Jamie Oorschot, Ian Ladyman, Harry Daniels, Kieran Black, JOD, Craig Flanagan, Craig Hand, Tony Barton

Zoom: John Harriot, Geoff Bednal, Royce Allenson, Brad Patfield

Apologies: John Dingle, Selmsy, Cameron.

Last Minutes: 1st Craig Hand, 2nd Ken Harris

 

Business Arising – None

Sites

Hunter – The bombout paddock we have been using for the past few years owned by Anna and partner Josh, conditions of use have changed.  Anna has recently acquired a horse.  It is easily startled by Hang Gliders and Paragliders coming in to land.  Anna has requested that she be contacted first for permission to land in her paddock, preferably the day before.  This is to ensure her horse riding/training activities are not negatively impacted by flying activities.  A new bombout paddock has been established on the NW side of Whitings Lane opposite Anna’s paddock.  It is owned by Elisha and Peter Smith.  They have given us permission to land there and also park our cars in their paddock alongside the fence line.  The fence style has been moved from Anna’s fence to Elisha’s fence.  Procedure of engagement for flying at Hunter;

Establish a group of pilots the day before who wish to fly.  One person from this group is to contact Anna the day before to ask for permission to use her LZ paddock.  We don’t want Anna bombarded with requests from multiple people.
The same person from this group contact Elisha to let her know of your intention to fly.  If Anna has not given permission to land in her paddock, ask Elisha for permission to land in hers.
If Anna’s LZ is not available then pilots need to be confident conditions are suitable that they will make it into Elisha’s LZ.  Hence it may not be suitable for Paragliders, HG Floaters, students and novices due to the extra distance and difficulty.
If Anna intends to engage in horse activities on the day please try to make an approach from the south into Elisha’s LZ.  Please keep Anna informed when you plan to start flying and also when you finish.

Hunter site guide will be updated with the new rules – Adriaan.

Jamie to approach Anna with idea to leave an old HG rigged up on her property to see if her horse can become familiar with a HG and hopefully less sensitive to pilots coming in to land.

Lake St Claire – Bottom landowner, Ron, put a padlock on the access gate to stop tourist’s trying to get up the hill.  Apparently they have done some damage to the track in wet conditions.  Ron has agreed to change the padlock to a keyless combination lock.  Club site guide will be updated with new rules and padlock combination (5721) – Adrian.

Hooley Dooleys – still with CASA legal team.  Neil and Patto regularly chasing it up.  Hopefully it will be signed off before summer.

Bombala Launch – Ian noticed gate has been ripped off and signage removed.  Suspect disgruntled young picknickers.  Adrian will notify Kate at National Parks.  Will leave it up to NP to decide if gate is replaced.  Current agreement with NP is that gate is to be locked after pilot use.  Not sure why NP want a locked gate, could possibly be to avoid unaccompanied minors going over cliff edge.  Ian happy to remove hinges that could snag a PG wing, Jamie to replace sign.

Watagans – Royce has been trying to contact Mike from Forrestry for 6+ months with no success.  Has recently discovered Mike has moved on and a new lady has taken on Mike’s role.  Royce will contact her to start negotiations for installation of weather stations at Hunter, NE Heaton and SE Heaton.

Safety Issues – None.

Flying – Lots of sled rides off Hunter with the exception of one day where JOD got high and some eagles that flew very close and were friendly.

New Business – NSWHPA Electric Winch initiative.  A recent successful convention organized and chaired by John Harriot (NSWHPA) spawned the Electric Winch Initiative.  The idea is to purchase 4 electric winches that will be strategically located within NSW and shared by various clubs.  The idea is to create an alternative means of getting airborne to hill launching and aerotowing.  Winch towing is probably the safest form of towing for Hang Gliding and moderately safe for Paragliding.  There are many positive outcomes to having an additional form of flying available including a higher rate of take off/landing, many additional places to fly, more tandem flights, extra support for schools etc and hopefully it will boost the uptake of pilots into the sport.  Denman has a 1km towing strip and John has found a 2.5km towing strip an extra 1hr drive from Denman.  There was sufficient positive support from pilots at the meeting (plus Selmsy and Cameron who could not make it) to encourage John Harriot to go ahead with the purchase of the winches.  The proposal is that one winch will be shared between Central Coast Sky Surfers, NHGC, NPGC and Hunter HGC.  John will draw up an agreement/contract.  Jamie Oorschot has offered to be the primary person representing NHGC and NPGC with regards to this agreement and is happy to take on a maintenance/servicing role.

NOMINATIONS

The following people were nominated for the following roles

President – Kieran Black (to replace Adriaan Mulder)

Secretary – John Dingle (to replace Jamie Oorschot)

Treasurer – Craig Hand (no change)

Vice President – Adriaan Mulder (to replace Rory Duncan)

Comp Director – Karl Kindle (no change)

National Parks Liaison – JOD/John Boy/Patto (new)

Forrestry Liaison – Royce (no change)

 

A big thanks to outgoing president, Adriaan, and secretary, Jamie.  Adriaan happy to continue doing website stuff and backup admin.  Jamie happy to continue doing hands on site & winch stuff.

Thanks heaps to Craig, Karl, JOD, John Boy and Royce for their continued roles.

A huge thanks to Kieren Black and John Dingle for stepping up and offering to take on new roles in the club.  We look forward to the exciting new dynamic they will bring.

 

Treasurers report

Main Cash Account – No change except 87c interest-                                                       $20,162.78

Soluctions Account – increase due to memberships (53 members)                             $619.09

Paypal                                                                                                                                                   $1,400.72

 

Grand Total                                                                                                                                         $22,182.59

 

Summary:  Only difference from last month is the addition of membership fees.

 

Meeting Closed 8:30pm

NHGC AGM        27/07/2022

Location:  Bar Beach Bowling Club

Attendees:  Adriaan Mulder, Kieran Black, Craig Hand, Gary Herman, Ian Ladyman, Glen Selmes, John Harriot, Craig Flanagan, Rob Larkin, Ken Harris, Don Gardner, Michael Wamsley, Harry Daniels, Brad Patfield, Dustin & Conner Hansen, Tony Barton, Kyle Boyd, Jamie Oorschot, Conrad Loten.

Zoom: Nobody

Apologies: John Dingle, JOD, Rod Moore, Royce Allenson

Meeting start 730pm

 

New President!

Kieran Black was voted in as new president (default because there were no other candidates!).  Adrian handed the reigns over to Kieran.  A big thanks to Adrian for being president for 3 years and his ongoing contribution to the club as Vice President.  John Dingle could not make the meeting and Jamie stood in on his behalf.

 

Amalgamation – Open Discussion

The meeting began with a very open discussion on the difficulty filling President/Secretary roles and amalgamation and getting young people/women into the sport.  As Kieran so eloquently put it, the club is a ‘sausage fest’.

Issues raised for discussion with amalgamation of NHGC and NPGC were:

The concern that PG pilots could greatly out number HG pilots and hence could out vote and take control of the club.
Loss of “Newcastle Hang Gliding Club” name,
If clubs joined then not acknowledging Paragliders with a name change is also not fair,
Loss of club history,
Acknowledging past ‘sledging PG pilots’ is no longer acceptable behavior,
How to fairly merge club bank accounts given that NCHG has ~$20k and NPGC has ~$6k.

These are just some of the issues that need to be discussed and resolved before some of the few members against amalgamation might be willing to accept amalgamation.

Brad Patfield gave a brief of how the NPGC is going through a similar situation where Peter, the current president, would like to step down but nobody has shown any interest to step up and be the new president.  Again John Harriot highlighted how most paragliding and hang gliding clubs have merged and Newcastle is one of the few locations holding back against this trend.  A good example of amalgamation is Norther Rivers.  Now that they are a much larger club they have been much more successful dealing with local councils and National Parks.

Commitment to invite PG pilots into the club, organize club launch site working bees together, training/intro days together.  Surprisingly many HG pilots would also like to do PG and vice versa.

New Business

Unanimous agreement to make a permanent item on club meeting agenda – each flying site have a nominated person.  That person to give site update.  Review that this person is happy to continue being the main contact person for that site.

There is a new Whatsapp group that is NSW based.  Much larger group.  If John Harriot could send us the details we will notify members.

The club needs a Social Media Co-Ordinator.  Cameron Evans identified as best person for the job.  Jamie to approach him about it.

 

Sites

Hunter bombout – Anna is happy to have a hang glider setup and introduce her horse to the hang glider.  The main objective is to get the horse accustomed to hang glider so hopefully it will be less scared when a hang glider comes in to land.  Jamie to organize.  Helpers welcome.  Brad keen to come and see if we can do the same for paragliders.

Watagans – Forestry have closed off Watagans to cars and also walkers.  Recent landslides are the reason.  Hopefully we will be able to get back in there by December.

Lake st Claire – a combination padlock has been put on the main access gate by the farmer.  It was done to stop campers trying to drive up the hill.  Recently they have done damage to the track in wet conditions.  The padlock code is 5721.  Recently two separate incidents of paragliders getting tangled in the single wire power line.  Brad has contacted Energy Australia about putting red balls on the wire.  Energy Australia have investigated and are going to replace the power line with a new one.  The are prepared to put the balls on at no expense, we just need to pay for the balls.  NSWHPA are happy to pay for the balls.  John Harriot has been the primary contact for this site.  He has a heavy volunteer workload with NSWHPA and would like another person to take on this role.  NHGC and NPGC to find this person.

Hooley Dooleys – Patto gave update.  Permission being held up by legal team.

Bombala – gate recently broken, fixed by Ian Ladyman, Alexander Barras and Zack Fordham.  Ian also fixed erosion along path.  Working bee this coming Saturday, 10am.

Merewether – Windsock broken off top of pole during recent storm.  Jamie and Craig Flanagan are making a bunch of new windsocks.  This one will be replaced soon.

King Edward Park Launch – bushes directly out the front are getting very high.  Expect extreme turbulence when launching directly downwind.

Watagans – New Forestry contact.  No update from Royce (not present).

 

NSWHPA Winch Initiative Update by John Harriot.

Northern Rivers Winch has been approved.

John, Jamie, Patto and Jeff Bednal have got the paperwork done.  Our winch (NHGC/NPGC/CCSS) has been approved.  Winches should start rolling off the production line in approximately 2 months.  At about that time training courses will start at Dubbo.

Please Please Please – lets go use them!

A 2-3km long tow strip exists ½ hour fly past Denman.  Lets go find it!

 

Comps – No Update.

 

Treasurers Report

Main Account - $18,795.43

2nd Account - $490.95

Paypal - $1,435.17

Money spent this month – new laptop for club president $1,369.00.  This is to be used by the President for club business and will be passed on to each new president.  Adriaan will be tech support for president.  Should last ~5 years.

 

Meeting ended 9pm.

 

 

 

 

NHGC Meeting 31/8/2022

Location:  Bar Beach Bowling Club, Meeting start 7:30pm

Attendees:  Kieren Black, Craig Hand, Craig Flannagan, Jamie Oorschot, John O’donohue, Harry Daniels, Ken Harris, Gary Herman, Adriaan Mulder.

Zoom: Brad Patfield, John Harriot, Tony O’Conner

Apologies: Karl Kindle, Dustin Hansen, Rod Moore, John Dingle, Billo

Last Minutes Accepted: 1st Craig Hand, 2nd Ken Harris

 

~1 min silence to acknowledge death of Adam Parer 8 years ago on this day.

 

Flying:

Sunday- Jamie, Rod, Craig F, Bill Payne & Scott Colliers had a lovely fly at Booti Booti.  Same day was an epic fly at Dudley, Cameron’s first time.  Hope to see some 360 footage from Cameron soon.

Incidents:  Kieren tried to fly Seal Rocks dunes in 30kn.  Needed assistance by general public to stop glider going backwards.  Classic case of “Too Keen”!

Old Business

Cameron Evans happy to take on role as clubs Social Media Officer.  He has created a Club Facebook page and Instagram Page.  Cameron met with Adriaan, Jamie, Franz and Kieren to discuss all the club social media accounts, how to connect them to the club website, ideas to get more young people and women into the sport.  Presented Cameron with INSTA360 one X2 camera.  This is a club asset (like the president’s laptop).  Hopefully Cameron will get some good footage and post on Social Media.

New Business

Idea to get 5 local social media “influencers” a tandem flight to help boost the sports profile.  Tony tried in the past with no success.  To do again Tony will charge $180 each, Ward ok to do for free.

Sites (nominated person gives update)

Hunter – Rod Moore ok to be main contact.  Rod gets on really well with Elisha and Peter (new bombout landowners).  Jamie nearly sorted out an old hang glider to help train Anna’s horse.  Craig H, Kieren, Rod and Brad have offered to help.  Had another flying incident where two HG pilots scared her horse.  Main issue was that Anna was not notified anybody was flying.  Anna’s comments via sms with Jamie;

“Hi Jamie, not happy.  About to ride the horse and can see a glider in the sky.”

“Not happy at all!  Horse is getting used to them but still dangerous given they still swoop down low over our paddocks to land.”

“We will be building an arena on the near future and will also have our kids riding so wont be happy if this continues!”

“Is there a governing body for hang gliding?  I’d like to make myself more aware of what the rules are regarding the sport.”

Correct procedure would have been for the pilot on the day to let Anna know of their intention to fly.  Usually Anna will coordinate her horse activities around flying activities.  The sooner we get out there to help train her horse the better - before another incident.

 

Lake st Claire – (John Harriot – request for new caretaker).  Weather station still not done.  Jamie hope to make in ~2 weeks?

Hooley Dooleys – Patto.  Weatherstation needs a new battery but still working ok during the day.

Bombala – Ian Ladyman?  Working bee at launch cleared much vegetation and dead trees either side of launch.

Merewether – ?  New windsock up by Jamie and Craig Flanagan.

Heaton Launches – Royce & Jamie.  No update.

Carmel’s – Alan McMillan?  No update.

Booti Booti – Bill Payne.  Launch looking great.  Needs more work down the front to remove large stumps and high bushes on the cliff edge.

Comps – No Update.  4 people signed up.

 

Treasurers Report

Main Account                    17,667.81

Second Account                510.35

Paypal                                   1,440.70

Total                                      19,618.86

Main expense this month is $892 for Insta360 one X2 camera (inc 256GB card and spare battery).

 

Meeting ended ~830pm