HGFA Skysailor Magazine

28 SKY SAILOR November | December 2018 T he climbs were wind- blown, but a steady two to three metres per second up and with the bonus of smooth edges. I wondered what the locals would make of this usually quiet flying site now teaming with brightly coloured gliders, turning 360s in unison. As the thermals started to get stronger, I heard reports of pilots starting to find it ‘bumpy’ and reminded them that if they were no longer enjoying the air, to head to the LZ. Most pilots had already been up for over an hour and a half. It had been in late July when the new club president, John Brassil, first approached me and asked if I would be interested in running a ‘Hike & Fly’ event for the Sydney club. John and the Committee of Management had been selflessly giving of their time to improve the club (organising swing and flings and a new weather station), so I agreed and set the first two weekends of September for the event. The aim of the weekend was to introduce new and experienced pilots to the Lake St Clair site. I hoped to provide group ‘Hike & Fly’ thermal and XC briefs, and – weather permitting – an XC task. We also opened the weekend up to our neighbouring clubs of Stanwell Park, Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Newcastle – we felt this would be a great opportunity to bring the wider paragliding community together. It seems that if you want rain to fall on a particular date, you should organise a paragliding event, as this is a fail-safe guarantee. Our first chosen weekend was blown out with widespread rainfall. We made the call three days before and informed all pilots that we’d move the event to our bad weather back up of 8 to 9 September instead and crossed fingers and toes the weather would behave. As our second weekend approached, Lake St Clair Hike & Fly I found myself in a gaggle thermalling with 14 other pilots and thought what a beautiful sight it was… by Roger Stanford Quite a crowd at Lake St Clair Hiking to launch and arrival All photos: The Sky Out Team