SAFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 17 July | August 2020 Every year, we develop a basic financial plan out- lining the key outlays and submit it at the Annual General Meeting for approval. Recent site works In the current financial year, we have spent money on the following: Bunbury Back Beach The WA coast between Perth and Busselton is pretty much one continuous beach, lacking the bays and headlands so common on the east coast. The crinkly bits don’t really start until you get to Dunsborough. If the wind always blew westerly, it would be a dune enthusiast paradise. Unfortunately, flyable westerlies are relatively uncommon. The prevailing westerly flow in winter is usually accompanied by rain and storms, and the summer sea-breeze comes from the SW or SSW. At Bunbury, something rather different happens, and westerly summer sea-breezes are not uncom- mon at all. In fact, Bunbury comes on quite a lot. Combined with it being within driving distance of Perth, this makes Bunbury a very popular site. Recently we were informed by City of Bunbury of plans to realign the road adjacent to the take-off, which would seriously reduce the available space for setting up, taking off, and landing. In response, the local club put forward a proposal to realign and stabilise the set-up and take-off area, for which HGPAWA provided funding of $2000. There was also some concern about the risk of PG pilots getting dragged across the road just behind the take-off. To reduce this risk, HGPAWA provided funding of $3600 for a safety fence to catch any errant canopies headed roadwise. Shelly Beach Located not far from Albany, Shelly Beach is the favourite long weekend getaway of many a pilot. In some ways, it’s just like a scaled down version of Stanwell Park, with a south face, an east face, a bigger east face just across a bit of a gap, and relatively straightforward top and beach landings. You can even camp down the bottom, although it does get a bit chilly at times. Shelly provides something for everybody. For those with a taste for adventure there are bays to cross all the way to Mutton Bird Island. Otherwise, you can just hang about the hill and practise your zooming. Occasionally, peculiar convergences happen and you can find yourself in surreal situa- tions, ridiculously high, way out to sea, wondering whatever in the world is happening to you. A few of years ago HGPAWA funded the Albany Club to construct a new ramp allowing safe take offs in wind directions from SSW to E. The original ramp, facing S-SW, was starting to suffer from too much love. This year, HGPAWA provided $600 to do some much needed repairs to this ramp. Bunbury take-off works Photo: Luke Flecknell Keith Lightbody ridiculously high over Shelly Beach Photo: Keith Lightbody