Page 41 - MFW March 2024

Levin Glider

Fun Day

9th December 2023

Words: Stew Cox
Photos: Ross Gray

Following on from the success of the first Levin Glider Fun
Fly last summer, the club was keen to host two Glider Fun
Flys this summer. The first was planned for Saturday 9
Top:
December and the intention was to promote a day when Gliders fill the Levin Sky
Levin Club members and visitors dusted off gliders that in Left:
some cases hadn’t seen the light of day for a considerable Paul Robertson’s (Levin) Seeker on launch.

time to fly along with those with more modern soarers. The
goal was to get as many people as we could having fun
flying gliders together.

While the weather forecast for Levin that day was for
flyable conditions, the forecast for the top of the South
Island and lower North Island was ugly with rain and
strong winds forecast. The writer woke early Saturday
morning and pulled back the curtains of his Waikanae
Beach home to see clear blue sky and light winds although
in the distance to the norwest there was what appeared to
be very low cloud or sea fog, a very unusual weather
phenomenon for this area. Within an hour, that airmass
had engulfed the Horowhenua and Kapiti Coast with low
cloud and it was blowing like stink in Kapiti and further
south. And yet, the Levin Club weather station was still
showing light winds and a higher cloud base than further
south.

On arrival at the Levin field, conditions were exactly as the
weather station had indicated and very flyable. While
cloudy for most of the day, the cloud base at Levin
remained high. Numbers started to build and it was clear
the turnout would be good. Unfortunately, a few couldn’t
make it given the busy time of the year and the poor
weather to the south put off a few Wellington fliers who
were otherwise keen.

We ended up with 21 fliers, many of whom had multiple
models with them. There were probably more than 50
gliders brought along and the sky was soon busy with
soarers of all shapes and sizes. One of the great things
about the Levin site is there is a lot of airspace available
and there was plenty of room for everyone. Of the 21 fliers, Top:
Part of the busy pit area.
14 were Levin Club members and four other clubs were Middle:
represented being Wellington, Kapiti, Ashhurst and Jack Wilkinson, Kevin Daly & Couper Bartosh (all from Levin) flanked by
Palmerston North Aeroneers. It was pleasing to see five Ian Crosland (Kapiti) & Bruce Woodfield (Palmerston North Aeroneers).
Bottom:
new faces who weren’t at the first glider fun fly in February. Peter Williams (Wellington) F3B Fosa against the grey Levin sky.
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