Sea Breeze at Morawa - Mark 11

Sea Breeze at Morawa – Mark 11

Dick Sasse

Some years ago I wrote an article for “Gliding Australia” as it was then, concerning an experience I had had with the sea breeze; very interesting, at least for me.

While the sea breeze certainly featured in a recent experience it was, while indeed an exhilarating culmination of a marvellous weekend, not the main reason for my writing of this article. My purpose is to pay tribute and to give thanks to a wonderful kindly and friendly bunch of blokes.

As a bit of a background, my friend John Welsh, when he was the GFA executive officer, in his research had established the fact that I am the oldest active (flying) member of GFA. I was in fact quite a late starter, taking up the sport after 37 years as an amateur power pilot, at the age of 58.

It was to have been a retirement occupation, as I had recently lost my first wife and was contemplating a ‘sea change’. I never did retire – but that’s another story.

However age did not deter me, and I have had 32 years of most enjoyable flying. I still enjoy power, but gliding is number one. While I have had a little bit of success in competition flying, I am very much a middle main, but that does not deter me from having my dreams. Though when I read of the marvellous trips of Bernard Eckey and David Jansen I think, “I’ve got to be joking.”

However, on January 29 this year the day looked promising (the day before was the one I should have taken), so I arranged for my friend Tony Valentine to give me a launch (winch) and declared a 750km out and return in our club CS, Morawa-Pingelly-Morawa 760km.

The day turned out to be a fizzer; the clouds were there but they were high and tired, and although I climbed to cloudbase once, 9000ft above ground, most of the trip was in the blue at about 4000ft. It was hot and slow and my backside was sore, and my legs ached trying to pedal the CS along, so when I reached Beverley, 330km, I was quite happy to lower the wheel, open the spoilers and put down, to the surprise, but wonderful welcome, of the dozen or so blokes of the Beverley Friday Club.

Beverley Soaring Society, John Welsh’s home club, is very dynamic and enthusiastic. It has a great fleet of aircraft including an ASK21 and a DG1000, and a good back up of single seaters, good facilities, but above all a great club and a good mix of young’uns and oldies.

Members tucked my aircraft away in a spare space in one of their hangars, shouted me a beer and invited me to join them in a meal at the local hotel, and finally found me a bed in their bunkhouse.

The next day, Saturday, the forecast was almost hopeless – a strong cool southerly wind and a negative temp trace. John said, “you’d better wait till tomorrow, Dick, if you want to get back to Morawa.”

However by midday we agreed that if I could stay up, and with the help of a 24kt tailwind, and the prospect of the conditions improving, I should make it. So at 12:30 I launched and about 3000AGL I set out. I drifted along somewhat aimlessly, but more or less in the right direction for 90 odd kilometres, but the conditions didn’t improve; the thermals, or fragmented bits of lift, became even more fragmented and at Goomalling a reasonably good paddock welcomed me to give up what had become an almost hopeless task.

I contacted Beverley to arrange an aero tow retrieval. They, in their wisdom, contact Cunderdin which was considerably closer, and in due course, tried and tested tuggie, Bob Milligan, arrived and towed me back to Cunderdin.

There my reception was as good as it had been the day before at Beverley. It really was a renewal of my faith in humanity. I spent the evening and night in the hospitality of Rod Carter and his lovely wife Wendy.

Rod, who as well as being a keen glider pilot, has won the WA championship several times and was this year’s competition director, is also president of the Cunderdin Meckering Shire. He is also an accomplished musician. We attended the Cunderdin Congregational Church service Sunday where Rod is organist and where, again, I received a wonderful reception.

Cunderdin is a rather special place for me; I started my wartime flying there (Tiger Moths 1941), finished my wartime flying (B24s in 1946) and started gliding (1978). All a long while ago.

The weather hadn’t improved but I did launch about midday. After trying for an hour-and-a-half I decided it wasn’t on, so it looked as if it might even be an 800km road retrieve for my beloved wife Johnette. However tuggie Bob Milligan turned up trumps and waited till Monday to give me a launch. Dear man was able, with my assistance, to get the tug out of the hangar but I’m afraid I left him to his own resources to get it back.

The day was still pretty slow for a start and I didn’t get above 4000ft AGL till I was nearly halfway, and I could see to the west, the murkiness of the sea breeze, and I worried that it could be from the west or even north-west. However about this stage I came under its influence of piling the air up against the prevailing easterly, and at 90km from home I was up to 9000ft.

At 70kms from Morawa I was at 8000ft and well and truly in its influence so that was my final glide. In fact I was still at 5000ft over Morawa so to make the 300km (Cunderdin is 290km) I went a further 10km making it a 90km final glide (magic). However it did mean I had to cope with a 20kt crosswind landing. All’s well that ends well; by sundown the glider was safely in the hangar and my ever-forgiving better half had made me a cup of tea and a marvellous weekend had become yet another enduring memory.

So to you chaps who helped me so kindly, I say a sincere and heartfelt ‘thankyou’.

GFA sub-editor: Dick Sasse has had a long and distinguished career in aviation, including his war years when he test flew the P-40 after it was assembled. His experiences on this aircraft have been recorded in the book “The Whole Nine Yards – The Story Of An ANZAC P-40”. Mr Sasse was named in the 2003 Australia Day honours list for service to the community of the Morawa Shire.

As appeared in the April 2010 Edition of Soaring Australia