Last Saturday there was a great turnout from club members for a
day of flying from, as it turned out after a bit of driving through the forest,
Brokenback Mountain fifteen kilometers northwest of Cessnock, in the Hunter
Valley (west of Newcastle). The Duncans were there to fly the latest version of
the Airborne REV. Almost every other familiar face from the Newcastle Hang
Gliding Club were also there.

Scott Barrett and I launched from the knob while everyone else went to the
towers on that day. Ricky Duncan reported 1000 fpm to cloud base (which was not
that high). I found broken 100 to 200 fpm to 1,000' over launch, then pushing
forward to get over launch again, found nothing but sink all the way to the LZ.
I was batting 1000, with two bomb outs for two tries at Brokenback.

Cameron, Scott, and Shane Duncan were the three pilots that made goal 80+
kilometers west that day to Pete's, past Denman.

On Wednesday Scott, Shaun (from Ireland), Moe (from Newcastle) and I with Brian
as our driver headed back to Brokenback for a day with a much different
forecast. Light north winds, high cloud base, good chance of thunderstorms, 100
degrees.

It was blue at the launch when we got there at 11 AM but there were cu's to the
north. By the time we were ready to launch at noon, there were cu's over us. Moe
was off first and got right up. Shaun, who had never flown there was next and up
he went. I was the next pilot and after a little wait, I took off and went right
up also. I was soon in 600 fpm to 1,000' over the launch. This seemed like a
much better start than my previous two flights.

Scott didn't want to step up the the launch as the thermal I was in was too
strong on launch so he waited. Then the thermal stopped and there was no lift to
be found all along the north facing ridge line. Shaun and Moe had already come
down to my altitude or below and were heading out toward the LZ. I thought that
the jig was up.

Moe headed back to make another pass over launch hoping that it would turn on
again. I watched Shaun assuming that he was headed for the LZ but then he
started to turn. I headed for him from above the ridgeline and found a bit of
lift just before him out away from the launch but still over the lower ridges of
the hill side.

The wind was actually strong (13 mph) out of the northwest turning to the north
at higher altitudes. Shaun came and joined in under me and we thermalled out as
Moe hung on below us but didn't catch it and eventually landed in the designated
LZ. Shaun and I worked that thermal to 7,800', cloud base.

Scott had finally launched but he didn't appear to be doing well. Now we were
climbing and high so it was hard to tell, but we never saw him get much above
the ridge height and after a while we lost sight of him.

Shaun and I had only the vaguest idea of where to go. The goal was the soccer
pitch next to Scott's house in Belmont next to the beach off to the east. We
just knew that we had to go east, even in the strong north wind. Well, we also
knew that we had to go around Lake Macquarie on the north side. We could see the
beaches near Newcastle from our commanding height, but it was hard to make out
the Lake.

I decided to head off assuming (correctly, as it turned out) that Shaun would
stick with me. We were under plenty of clouds and I headed for more of them to
the east. I found a little thermal just before Cessnock and climbed to 7,200',
but not back to cloudbase.

Now here it was difficult to figure out what to do. To the north (upwind) the
valley was open and flat (there were lots of hills and trees around us) and that
looked like the safe way to go before heading more east again. The clouds were
forming in the convergence zone just to our east and there were flimsy cu's just
to our west.

I headed northeast into the wind to get under the convergence clouds and to get
around the large forested area east of Cessnock and toward Kurri Kurri. I found
lots of sink, which had not been the case so far in the flight. Shaun to my west
found some lift and started circling and drifting south. I found some lift but
it was weak and didn't make up for the bad sink getting to it. I wasn't able to
climb back to cloud base.

I pushed north again and down to 2,000' AGL I found 500 fpm. I had been skipping
lift to find this thermal and I took it back to 5,700' where I lost it. Now I
may have been able to go find it again, but there were black clouds to the
northeast and I figured I could find better lift there. I should have looked
around more thoroughly.

Meanwhile Scott had been watching us all along after he did get up to our west.
He was above Shaun and I as we struggled going into the wind (btw, the wrong
direction) and then climbing out. Scott made it his job to get to cloud base in
the convergence. His photo shows the two levels of cloud base, the east side
from the sea breeze being lower:

The town in the picture is Kurri Kurri.

While Scott was working his way to cloud base (the higher base) at the
convergence clouds, I was heading northeast under them trying to find another
thermal over the shaded ground or over the sunny ground next to the shaded
areas. Scott was hanging back on the west side in the better lift.

I didn't find a thermal (no surprise there) and landed northeast of Kurri Kurri
on the south side of the swamp that goes as far as Maitland to the north. I was
headed in the wrong direction and needed to go southeast instead northeast.

Shaun got up and landed about twelve kilometers from me not finding anything
after the convergence clouds. He was also too far north.

Scott got to cloud base at the convergence and then went on glide and made it
back to our goal at Belmont North. He landed in the soccer field. I had looked
in that direction and had not seen open areas but lots of trees and hills. That is
the way that you have to go.

I landed 1.4 km behind a locked gate in a very pleasant field at the edge of the
swamp (which wasn't that swampy). Thanks to Moe for helping me get the glider
and harness out. Thanks to Brian for driving as close as possible. Shaun was
next to a main highway. Scott was home painting his house when I got back.