Joey Glide

David Tillman accompanied Alex and Nick on their Joey Glide experience. He was team manager, crew, driver and one quarter of Team NZ. The 4th team member was Dave’s wife, camp Mum Lynette. This is Dave’s story of the competition.

Our adventure started well. Adam, who had arranged for Alex to fl y his glider and for all of us to use his car, was away, but his fl atmate was expecting us and we were on the road from Brisbane by about 10 am, with glider in tow.

It was a nice day but as we went inland it got hotter and hotter. We later found out it was 42° C. Thank god for air-conditioning of sorts – more about that later. The fi rst thing I noticed was that the car didn’t have cruise control, but if I kept my foot hard to the boards on a fl at road we’d eventually get to 100 km, which was the next best thing.

We often think of Australia as fl at, but in reality they have hills and plenty of them. Some are actually quite steep, which is a problem when the car only has enough power to do 100 km on a fl at road. When it hit a hill it slowed down, considerably! You can imagine what happens to the temperature gauge when it’s 42° outside and you’re in fi rst or second, grinding up a hill at 10 or 20 km, tapped out.

Quick thinking Nick told us to put the heater on full, which meant we needed to wind the windows down, but this didn’t help because it was just as hot outside. Our only respite from the heat was when we were going down hill.

It was a long day, but we fi nally made it to Lake Keepit at 9.30 pm. We found our rooms easily enough and quickly had the aircon going fl at out.

Going a week early proved to be a great idea, as we ironed out all the bugs in the gliders and the trailers. We had a worrying time with Nick’s LS7, when we rigged it after a land-out. The pitot

tube had all but broken off in the trailer. The locals were great and repaired it in a couple of hours, however when Nick fl ew, he was getting wild readings from the vario. Time to bring in the big guns – namely Mike Maddocks, who tested all the lines, by-passed this, plugged that up and voilà, the instruments were working again. Thanks Mike. By the way, if you need to plug an instrument tube, try using a golf tee, they are designed perfectly for the job.

During the fi rst week we cooked our own meals, which wasn’t too hard. Nick & Alex were great with helping out. However at the end of each day they were pretty tired and it made a real difference during the contest when we could buy an evening meal for only $10.

One of the hardest things for me was getting the boys out of bed in the morning, however I discovered the secret to this when Lynette arrived – food! She would have a cooked breakfast ready for them at 8.00am every morning and they would drag themselves over to partake. Even better, lunch was made for them as well.

Then, about an hour before take-off, more food was supplied. I’m sure the boys will agree that for the next trip it’s essential we have a chief cook and bottle washer.

Also, having Ivan and Jan Evans on site helping out made a big difference. Ivan, of course, always had his pearls of wisdom, and I’m reminded of the Speight’s Ad where the old fellow says “You can call me old, son, but you can’t call me stupid.”

All in all, it was a great adventure. The boys fl ew really well against some excellent pilots. The Aussies were good value. They really looked after us and included the Kiwis in all activities, including the friendly banter. A special thanks to Ian Downs, the Lake Keepit manager, who couldn’t do enough for us.

Lessons learnt: take lots of food, go a week early, get air conditioned accommodation, make sure your car can hack the heat, take a Mum to fuss, and take a bit more food just to be sure.

In case you’re wondering, the trip home was no less exciting. It again got to 42°, and to cap it off, we lost our exhaust pipe a couple of hours into the drive; but that’s a story for another day.

I hired the Lake Keepit Soaring Club’s LS7 for Joeyglide. The club kindly let me and Alex join as junior members (under 25 years), which gave us the same discounted deals, including glider hire and accommodation, as the Australians.

I had never fl own an LS7 before. I had a check fl ight and then launched again to explore the area and get used to the glider. My fi rst impressions were that it was probably the most comfy glider I had ever sat in and by the time I got back I loved the glider. It wasn’t the best at thermalling, but in a straight line it would just keep going. After two days fl ying, I decided to try it with water. At fi rst I only half fi lled it, about 80 litres, and it went a bit better in the thermals. I had to fl y at 60 knots, no less, to get it to even think about climbing. I fl ew most of the comp only half full. This was a big mistake; I then fl ew the last three days with it full. I should have fl own it full every day, as it was a much better glider to fl y. It was a weapon. I had my three best days fl ying with it full, coming third on the last day.

Nick Maddocks Photo

One of the best parts of the competition was the fi nal glides across Lake Keepit. One day I would be doing a 70 km fi nal glide on a 4 knot Macready, so 90 knots all the way, with the last two km on the deck, at 140 knots over the lake, to land straight in. What a buzz!

Joeyglide was just one part of the competition for me, as I was also selected to represent New Zealand in the Junior Trans-Tasman Trophy. I was competing against Eric Strauss, and was lucky enough to lead from day one because, unfortunately for Eric, he landed out on the fi rst day. This took a bit of stress away. I knew all I needed to do was be consistent and get home every day. It came down to the fi nal day, I was leading by just 200 points and I knew I was going to have to fl y well. He ended up 2nd for the day and I got 3rd but that was still enough for me to win overall.

Alex is one of the foundation members of Youth Glide Canterbury, an instructor and, at 18 years old became the youngest person to fl y an FAI 1000km fl ight. Now 20 years old, competition fl ying is his passion. In December, he and fellow Cantabrian Youth pilot Nick Oakley went to Australia to compete at their Junior Nationals, known as Joey Glide.

I’d heard about Joey Glide from a few people and was really keen to get the chance to fl y against other young pilots. Then I heard that the 2015 Junior Worlds would be held in Australia and thought that going to Joey Glide would be a huge stepping stone towards the Worlds. I let Nick know about the idea and he was really keen too. We got in contact with some of our gliding friends in Australia and eventually found Adam Webb, who is president of the Australian Junior Gliding Club. He was a huge help with planning for the competition and organising gliders.

We were looking for a crew to come over with us, because our parents were too busy to come. Dad told me that Dave Tillman might be keen to come over and crew for us. So I gave Dave a ring and he agreed to come, but Dave become much more than our crew; he became team manager. He helped fi nd sponsorship and

organised all our money. Without Dave, the trip wouldn’t have been such a success. We thank him greatly for helping us.

Hopping out of the plane at Brisbane, we were instantly hit by the heat. It was only 8.30 am but it was still at least 30° C and humid. We picked up the car and glider from Adam Woolley and drove eight hours to Lake Keepit (read Dave’s article).

The next day, I got the fi rst look at the Cirrus and followed Woolley’s instructions to put her together. She was a beautiful looking glider, with winglets and a very unique, red instrument panel. We had a quick check-fl ight with one of the instructors from the Lake Keepit club. Once we’d got this out of the way, it was about 1300 and the day was just getting hotter and hotter. We later found out it got to 42°. I jumped in the Cirrus, did my pre take-off checks and closed the canopy. Shit. Suddenly I was baking in the oven that the cockpit had become. I learnt later that it was best to leave the canopy open almost until the tow plane was all out. After take off, I tried to hook into a thermal but kept falling out of it. I couldn’t get above 2000 ft. It was hot, I couldn’t thermal and I was likely dehydrated. I wasn’t enjoying myself. However, I managed to stay air borne for two hours, getting more frustrated by the fact that Nick was at 8000 ft. It was only when I came into land that I realized the glider had a huge amount of stick lift. That made me feel better - I wasn’t a crap pilot after all.

Later, I found out that the TE was blocked. An easy fi x, just blow