Flying Stories 16/05/09 - Dayboro ridge clearing

Authour: Andrew

Checkout more photos from the day - here

Well it was a great day today. Thanks to all the guys - Shane, Sean, Mike, Chris, Gerard, and special thanks to Nick, who put in a very big effort bringing the car trailer and towing the tractor out to the farm. Plus Nick's farming expertise was of great help in many ways!

The conditions were light, but there was plenty of flying and some huge thermals. At one stage Gerard's Ozprey was almost a speck above, so we got the gun out and he was clocked at 104mph at the bottom of the dive! His grin was worth seeing.

Everyone had a go at DSing the Bowl. Although speeds were only 50 - 70 at most, it was so smooth that it was excellent practice. Everyone agreed it was a top spot. Nick was really looking smooth with his Skua, and Shane's Reaper was probably the most spectacular, even though Sean's Carbon Bird probably went quickest. Chris was having a bad time dialling in his Reaper and had a couple of extended bushwalks (extreme scrub-bashes) retrieving it.

But we also put in lots of hard work and managed to slash landing areas, clear the view a lot along the ridge, and open up the DS areas even more. Nobody was killed or injured by the dangerous machinery, no planes were demolished, and no rear windows were shot out by Hosemonster bungees. And the tractor came home in one piece too.

Most importantly I came home with my sunglasses, as I tied them round my neck with a strap!

It was a great day all round - a real success. It was tame DSing in today's light conditions but I'm looking forward to trying it out in a really wild southwesterly. It could be very scary. ... and hopefully we'll get to push some speeds up (watch out you Victorian DSers).