Hi All,

Our new secretary has done an awesome job of putting together the meeting minutes of our last meeting.

Please click on the file attachment to read.

NHGC Meeting 26/10/2022 

Appologies Ian Ladyman, John Dingle, Jamie O, Billo 

Attending 10 Members plus committee + JOD acting Secretary 

Business arising; Enviornmental Assessment required for Wattagan launches. 
 Keiro announced Enviornmental Engineers "PAS" have offered to carry out assessment for equivalent of $1800. Tony Barton agreed to provide hang gliding training course in lieu of payment to value of $1800 

New Business; Adriaan gave a presentation on a way to grow sport by approaching University Newcastle students. He will provide advertising promo poster that can be presented to Uni student rep to sound out the idea. Kiero offered to talk to Uni with poster.  

Safety Report: Nil incidents this month  

Site Reports: Wattagans Hunter launch. We no longer have to ring Anna before flying but we must where possible land on western side of Whitings Lane 

Old NE HG launch. Gary H questioned whether we could site clear old NE launch as most present agree it is a better HG launch than the new NE launch. John Harriott will email Royce to see if there are any limitations to site clearing this launch which has been used for 40+ years.  

Finance report 

Westpac Community Solutions Cash Reserve $17685.14 

Westpac Community Solutions $525.35 

Paypal $2034.72 

Total $20218.21 

Refund due to three people  

for Barraba comp cancel $750  

General Business: Tony Barton talked re interclub comps in future as suggested by Neil Evans from Sydney. Neil is preparing a video re this proposal.  

Meeting closed 20:30pm 

NHGC Meeting Minutes November 2022

Date 1/12/2022, Thursday

Location:  Bar Beach Bowlo

Start 7:30pm

Present:  Kieran Black, Craig Hand, Harry Daniels, Courtney Street, Craig Flanagan, Ian Ladyman, Ward Gunn, Ken Harris, Joel, Mark Kenny, Gary Herman.

Apologies: None

Last Minutes: 1st and 2nded – forgot to do

Flying – So much flying don’t know where to begin!  Coastal Seabreeze’s have kicked in for sure!

Incidents – Ward tried top landing at Merewether in ~22kn and got nailed by rotor close to the ground.  No injuries just his pride.

Cameron overshot his landing at Merewether and nosed into the bushes just past the sandstone wall.  Again no damage just a bit embarrassed.

Business

Secretary Position - Club needs someone to be our new Secretary.  Not a big job if you don’t want it to be.  Minimum requirement is doing the minutes at the club meeting. 

The bushes at Dixon Park are getting excessively high.  Sufficient enough to be noticed when top landing in a floater and getting dangerous for anyone trying to land a topless.  The lower launch is also getting overgrown making it very rotorous walking up to the edge.  John Boy used to deal with Council and Landcare.  Craig to ask John Boy if he still wants to take on this role.  If not we will be looking for someone in the club who is good at dealing with bureaucrats.

Winch update – Most of the lease agreements have been signed (we have signed ours).  It will probably take another couple of weeks.  Once all clubs have signed then NSWHPA can place an order for the winches.  It will take a few months for them to be manufactured.  Anticipate late Summer early Autumn we will offer members to attend training courses, most likely at Dubbo and later at Denman.

Club Gliders – the committee decided the club should purchase some 2nd hand floater gliders to loan out to club novices who have just left the school.  This way they can keep flying straight after the school whilst looking to purchase their own glider.  The club purchased a Fun 1 190 off Prudence (previously JOD’s glider) for $1000.  Rod Moore donated what appears to be a Malibu (or predecessor to it), and James Crago donated a Malibu 188 (fixed up by Jamie).  The Malibu 188 is already allocated to young Ethan (Hunter Bombout landowner).  Rules around how the gliders are to be loaned need to be drawn up by the committee.  More gliders are wanted as well as apron harnesses.  Anyone with a floater glider which you no longer fly please contact Jamie (0428280135).

Club Xmas Party – to be held at Kieran Black’s house this year, 45 Baroonba st Whitebridge.  Saturday 10th December.  BYO booze, nibblies supplied.  Time TBA.

Glenrock NP survey – NP want input for their proposed plans in a survey they recently put out.  We encourage all members to do the survey to put fourth our interests as pilots.  Survey can be found here….

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/parks-reserves-and-protected-…

Treasurer’s report

Main account                    $17713.36

Second account                $555.35

PayPal                                 $1,195.76

Total                                    $19,464.47

Recent – refund 3 pilots for Barraba Big Toe, $750

Meeting end ~9pm.

Newcastle Hang Gliding Club Meeting Minutes 25 th January 2023
Location: Bar Beach Bowlo, start ~7:45pm
Attendees: Craig Hand, Tony Barton, Craig Flanagan, Harry Daniels, Joel, Gary Herman, Ken Harris,
Jamie Oorschot, JOD, Brad Patfield, Kieran Black, Courtney, Glen Selmes.
No Zoom
Apologies: Adriaan Mulder, Billo, Ian Ladyman, Donney and Dustin.
Previous Minutes approved: Gary & Ken
Flying – Lots! Plenty of coastal by all the regulars plus lots off the Watagans led by Conrad.
Incidents – Joel (novice) landed club’s F1 190 in rockpool at the bottom of Bombala. Light wind and
flying too far out of lift put him there. He avoided a couple on the beach which meant he overshot
the landing zone and landed knee deep in a shallow rock pool. Fortunately he was quick to respond
by getting up and out of the water before the next wave. Glider only a little wet. Fully washed with
fresh water that day. Courtney now has the club’s F1 190 glider.
Joel crashed in the trees 100m to the right of Bombala launch. He was too engrossed in getting
prone in his harness immediately after launch and forgot his first priority to fly the glider. Before he
realized he was turned towards the trees and had too little speed to turn away. Fortunately it was a
soft landing in the tree tops with no damage to glider or harm to pilot. This was in Joel’s glider, not
the club’s.
Craig Hand had a bad landing in Empire Park and suffered a concussion and bruises and broken
uprights on his Sting 3. He went too deep into the park on approach, miss-judged final and tried
avoid landing between the fence and rockwall.
Sites
Hooley Dooleys is open again. Neil, Patto and Jamie met with the landowner, Forrest ~ 2 weeks ago
to discuss the incidents that occurred at Hooley Dooleys first big open day about a month prior. To
recap, on this day approximately 30 pilots attended. Unfortunately two pilots (PG from Sydney) did
not adhere to the site guide for walking up the hill and wandered into one landowners backyard just
as they were getting into their spa with a glass of wine. In the process they were rude and offended
the landowner. That landowner spoke to the landowner at the bottom of the hill and now we have
lost the good landing paddock next to the cattle yards and also the walking path up the hill. Forrest
has been very reasonable and understands there is always gonna be one dickhead in the group. He
is still ok for us to fly there. Future flying is going to be more focused on locals only and smaller
groups, ie less than 30 people!
Newcastle Paragliding Club are planning a Hooley Dooley working bee there very soon.
Weather stations update – Hooley Dooleys has been fixed and Lake St Claire finally built. Jamie and
Patto plan to install in the next week or so. Dixon Park Holfuy is still not fixed. Jamie has new Davis
Anemometer but having difficulty getting it running again. Overly complicated procedure finding
network frequencies and APN. If can’t get running will ask for help at the next meeting.
Watagans – Kieran has a friend happy to do an environmental report needed for weather station
approvals. Royce and Kieran organizing a meeting with this person and Forrestry representative on
site.

Comps – If we don’t get 15 pilots paid up for Manilla State Comp by 14 th February Adriaan will be
cancelling the competition. So far we have 7 (5 paid).
Denman Aerotow weekend 18 th February. If your interested in attending please let John Harriot
(0412442705) know. Tony Barton is going.

Treasurers Report
Main Account $16,828.62
Secondary Account $170.35
Paypal $2,122.08 (5 comp entry fees)
Total $19,121.05
Some recent purchase in the past 6 months inclide Insta360 camera, Presidents laptop and club
glider (F1 190).

End of Meeting ~9pm

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

Due to a technical glitch the minutes were lost

NHGC Meeting 26/04/2023
Meeting started 19:35
Present in person, Kyle, Gary H, JOD, Courtney S, Ward, Ken, Craig F, Patto, Joel, Harry, Kieran, Adriaan Present zoom, Ian L
Kieran as President, Adriaan as Treasurer and Secretary
Apologies: none
Kieran apologized for not submitting the minutes of last month's meeting, due to a technical glitch
Business Arising from last minutes: As there were no minutes nothing was raised until Harry appeared.
Safety Issues: none reported
Site Report: We discussed the proposed changes to Catho. Concerns were raised about the proposed fence, increased traffic etc. Joel T reported on changes to Crack Neck, Patto reported on the installation of power line markers at LSC (Lake StClair) known to the hang-gliding community as Glennies.
Harry arrives @ ±19:52
Harry reported on his follow – up on trimming the bushes at Dicko, He is waiting for a response and was told by Johnboy that they will do it (the council) all we need to do is to request it.
We discussed the off shore wind farm as proposed by governing bodies.
The Barraba Big Toe will be held and Karl is the organizer. See the comp web site for details
Harry raised issues with flying in iffy conditions and cautioned against making rash decisions.
Discussions regarding the dates of the State Titles were held. The comp committee will be getting together regarding the organization of this.
Financial Report
Paypal: $265.41
Westpac: $17571.35
Meeting Closed at 20:43

Newcastle Hang Gliding Club.

Minutes from meeting dated 31 st , May 2023.

10 attendees, 1 zoom video attendee.

Apologies....Harry Daniels and Ian Ladyman.

Minutes from previous meeting on club website, minutes read

and accepted as correct.

Brief talk about Royce and his injuries. Everyone in Newcastle

club wishes him a speedy and full recovery.

Environmental report from Tuz has been admitted. Tuz would like

to learn to handglide as the cost of his assessment.

Harry sends an SMS re vegetation at Dixon Park. Petra (council

Employee) has stated that trimming of vegetation has been denied

totally. Harry has requested another meeting, hopefully with more

members in attendance to come to a mutual agreement that benefits

both parties.

Ian is ready to install the weather station at Dixon Park. (Needs

to be paid for work done).

Needs help from Jamie with bracket attachment and installation.

FLYING REPORTS.

A few short flights in the occasional light southerly winds.

GENERAL BUISNESS.

John Harriet talks about the 4 winches arrival being slightly

delayed. There will be a day at Pete Marhein’s place in august to learn

about the operating of said winches, and towing procedures.

2

Hopefully there will be a good attendance from the Newcastle

Hang Gliding community.

JOD has recently been up to the Hunter launch in Watagans, and

said it needs a little bit of site maintenance before flying there again.

Financial Report

No Change from last month at time of meeting

Meeting closed.

To be Found

NHGC AGM 2023 Minutes

No approval yet for watagans weather station, WIP. NE Heaton, Hunter, SE Heaton - next meeting (Aug)
Safety Issue - Flat setup, Kieran. Potential for wind to get under glider and cause harm/damage. Recommended to setup, then turn into wind.
Gary H went to the US, good flights.

General Business
Potential for another flying weekend, sometime in spring. 'Training Weekend'? w/ Tony Barton.
More events = Good for club health.
Best Flight Award? Prizes, christmas party showing etc.

Corryong
6/1 Practice Day
7/1 to 13/1 Comp Days
Registration not open yet.
For information, talk to Joel, Gary or Dustan.
Maybe a weekend/week as a club event.
Meetingly reminders about Coryrong and Manilla - to keep updated.

Gloucester Tow Weekend - Matt Olive - waiting for warmer weather. Could be done out of Denman

Club has $1858.97 Total.

Conrad flying report - thermals to 300m above launch at Strezzi. Flew a para.