by Ian Dunkley

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I have just realised that I have created a problem for myself as what went on in New Zealand, even the weather, was so similar to that in the UK [the Camphill Vintage Rally, see separate article]  that anything I say here could have equally applied to the UK.  I will therefore not write a Rally report, but simply talk about the New Zealand vintage scene.

For reasons I have never been able to understand gliding depends on the weather to such an extent that I am surprised it has survived the experience. That the first “Vintage Kiwi” Rally took place during the three weeks that New Zealand experienced the worst storms and floods since Captain Cook left should not therefore be a surprise. I am now firmly of the opinion that “Land of the Long White Cloud” is pure “spin”, “Land of the Big Black Cloud” being more realistic, although less encouraging to tourists. However never forget, in case I have put you off, you can have fun even if there is an inversion below 8000ft.

There are very few vintage gliders left in New Zealand, due mainly to lack of interest and the fact that there were not all that many to start with. Losses due to accidents, poor storage, or the march of progress led to gliders being destroyed, or in a few cases ending up in museums, leaving only a handful still flying, and a similar number possibly suitable for restoration. Classics, dating from the seventies are another matter, many clubs relying on them for their club fleet so they don’t like to consider them classics, if they even knew the term. These plus the privately owned will be the backbone of Vintage Kiwi.

The “Vintage Kiwi” Rallies were intended to be the launch vehicle for an “old gliding movement”, and they succeeded in doing this. “The Vintage & Classic Gliding Club of New Zealand”, “Vintage Kiwi” being less of a mouthful, is now an associate member of “Gliding New Zealand” the national body, and has a fast growing membership. Just to put it into perspective, from a total population of only 4 million, “Vintage Kiwi” will have gained more (new) members in a year than the VGC gain internationally, and they do well!

“Vintage Kiwi’s” objectives are very similar to the VGC, and we are attracting members from beyond the ranks of pilots and owners. Modellers are well represented, in fact their National body has joined us. We also have aviation historians and expect to be recruiting museums as we develop, for assisting in the formation of a gliding museum is one of our objectives.

Enough of the background, I must tell you a bit about the rallies so that if you are planning a trip to New Zealand next winter you will want to call in, as six people did this year. One of the attractions of Camphill has proved to be it’s location in a main holiday area with plenty of attractions. This was therefor the basis of choosing the two sites for this years VK rallies. Also important was the fact that the clubs concerned wanted to have us, could fly all the week and had, or could arrange, all the facilities required.

The geography of New Zealand, two islands divided by a shared money grabbing piece of water, dictated that the Rally was run over two separated weeks, one in the North Island, at Taupo, the second across the Cook Strait, at Nelson Lakes, both excellent tourist areas. Now unlike the New Zealand National Championship held before our rallies and managing 5 out of 12 days, we flew 11 out of 14. I tell you that, not because I want to score points off competitions, the expensive end of gliding, but to show we try harder and obviously enjoy flying much more. Alternatively we are just plain stupid.

The Rally started at Taupo Gliding Club, who 12 months ago, in a fit of gullibility, agreed to host the event when they had no idea what to expect. That alone should tell you something about Taupo Gliding Club. A lake, big enough for “lake breezes”, a mountain behind the clubhouse that must have cost a fortune to construct, let alone landscape, an airfield, a good idea that, excellent clubhouse facilities, and members who helped make the week possible. So good in fact that Vintage Kiwi will be returning in February 2005 for another session when we hope for better weather.

A week later, the second half of the Rally was run at Nelson Gliding Club’s site at Nelson Lakes, a walkers paradise and a holiday area with, perhaps not surprisingly, mountains, two large lakes and less welcome swarms of sand flies to interest entomologists and increase the sale of repellents. They thrive in hot sunny weather, these biting blighters, make standing around hazardous so frankly they were not much of a problem, what with the weather we were having, and the fact that glider pilots never hang a round. On the basis that next years weather just can’t be as bad as all that, plus the fact that everyone enjoyed themselves there, we will be back at Nelson Lakes next February.

By now, you must be thinking that as no flying has been mentioned, my claim of 11 out of 14 days cannot be substantiated. Well it can, but in a fit of honesty I must tell you that on one day we only had two flights, and on another the only thing that flew was a kite, designed I know not when. However on the basis that it was launched by what could be loosely called “wire”, and that in any event kites are the oldest form of heavier than air flying machines, sorry about the technical stuff, 11 out of 14 is a fair claim. I am not about to go into a lot of detail about the other 9 days when more extensive flying took place except to say that each section of the Rally had at least one very good day. I put it that way just to show I don’t make exaggerated claims. At Taupo, ridge and wave on the hill, on which orographic cloud was forming, produced some magical flying.Not least because the two gliders on top of the stack were both wood, lesser plastic, classic or otherwise, being consigned to lower levels. The day brought what I think was the quote of the week, over the radio, “Hey guys, are we privileged or not?” Mind you, on an earlier day I got to fly a Tiger Moth, an experience that would only have been surpassed by a Minimoa. Sorry John Pheasant, who will always be blessed, that you were only second best.

At Nelson the “best day”, followed by sitting round a roaring log fire in the hunting lodge, was shall we say, unstable, with some wave and produced some great flying for everyone except me, who went to the dentist. This being part of my relentless tour of the NZ medical system, which I can assure you was considerably less interesting than the mountain touring, sitting in the rain, entertaining sand flies or anything else.

Mention of rain and the log fire reminds me I have not said anything about the social side which at Taupo was more formalised, in the loosest meaning of the word, than at Nelson, not that Nelson missed out on that score. Activities included, an A4 paper glider championship, open and standard class, horse shoe throwing, BBQ’s, 50’s disco, and a dining out at the “Crooked Door”. This name, as far as I could see had no relevance to architecture, but then neither did the building. Here the Rally let it’s hair down, and we witnessed two of our lady visitors demolish the largest servings of rump steak I have seen outside a lion enclosure.

And now for the horn, Dennis Figus for “Doing women’s work in the kitchen”, showed a scant regard for PC at Taupo. In the Red Deer Hunting Lodge at Nelson Lakes, where the majority of the visitors stayed, a fine wooden building, decorated with the stuffed inedible remains front ends of it’s namesake, a horn should have been awarded on the spot to Landon Carter. In the middle of the evening debriefing, a “Brit” came into the room, announced he was a gamekeeper, and asked if we would like to have his his hunting magazines. “No”, said Landon firmly, “This is a meeting of the Animal Defence League!” Instead he had to wait until the next morning when on being asked to play the Rally horn he had just won, promptly exposed a 5 foot didgeridoo and charmed the stag heads off the wall. All these being examples of the perverted sense of humour shown at the Rally.

So, two rallies, 18,000 miles and two seasons apart, where the weather goes a different way round in each, both enjoying the same things, proving what we know already that gliding is an international sport and there is a great bond of common interest.

For those of you who want a list, here it comes, just so I can make a further claim.

Taupo

Nelson

My claim? New Zealand could beat Camphill quite soon and be running the second largest rally in the world. New Zealand with a total population of 4 million, much less than those in the catchment area of the London Gliding Club alone, attracting 20 gliders is pretty good going. That’s nearly 50% of the number of gliders that attended at Camphill, and more than the British National Rally had this year. Camphill had better watch out!

A final word, if the Kiwi cannot fly, why “Vintage Kiwi”? The answer is twofold, 1) it’s good marketing, and 2) If it’s good enough for the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s roundel, it’s good enough for me. The fact that the RNZAF seems to be doing less and less flying will be ignored, that’s down to politics, not lack of wings.