Thank you to the Gliding Family

Sadly Issue 32 of SoaringNZ, will now not be printed until mid January. There is NOTHING we can do about this. And yes, we're not very happy. We did everything we could to get it to the printers in time, but there were gremlins in the files and by the time that was sorted, it was too late.

Here anyway is my editorial for the issue. It's heartfelt and personal. The gliding family rocks.

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I’ve observed before that the gliding community is more like a family than a group of clubs. It is small enough that you don’t have to be around very long before you manage to meet many of its members and learn of many more. Some people you don’t see very often, some people you don’t like very much, and other people you adore, just like a family. The gliding community has certainly felt like a family recently.

We’ve been down to the South Island Regionals, which is an annual pilgrimage for our family. This is the start of the summer for us, when we set up the caravan in the Omarama camp ground for the season. Once the caravan’s set up, it makes it easy to pop down for the odd weekend, or longer periods between work commitments. Lots of other people do the same. The summer campground regulars come from all around the country. Some people stay a week, some stay longer. For many of us, this is the only time we actually see each other in the flesh all year. For years, my son Robert would measure himself against Paul Barrett’s (not that short) lovely wife Linda to see if he was taller. It was a ritual. For many years she was in the lead, then one year they were level pegging. Now he towers over her.

There is a large wood round acting as a door stop at the entry to the ablution block. That block of wood was first in use four or five years ago, as a step stool, so that Leah Ruddick from Wellington could reach the sink in the Ladies to wash her hands. She hasn’t needed it for two summers now. My kids have grown up with the gliding equivalent of aunts and uncles to spoil and discipline them and a pile of cousins to get up to mischief with and measure themselves against.

Nick Oakley and my son Alex grew up together, spending summer holidays swimming, biking, boating and learning to fly gliders. Now, together, they’re off flying in their first international competition – Australia’s Youth Nationals – Joey Glide. Their team manager, helper and crew person is their “Uncle” David Tillman.

Another thing about family is that sometimes it never occurs to you to ask them for help, but they’ll offer it anyway.

Earlier in the year, when Alex and Nick announced their intentions of going to Joey Glide, we started trying to work out where the money to pay for it would come from. Neither of our families could afford to send them off with a pat on the head and a packed lunch. The boys’ ultimate aim is to fly in the FAI Junior World Championships in Australia in 2013. We thought that would be interesting to potential sponsors. We put a considerable amount of effort into grant applications to various trusts, those ones out in the community that provide funds for up and coming young sports people. It was a huge amount of work, made more complex by having to explain what the sport of glider racing is all about, before we could even get to explaining why these young men were worthy of the attention and the money. Ultimately it all came to nothing. None of the sources approached came through. How much of that is to do with the obscurity of gliding as a sport, we will never know.

Meanwhile, the boys were working hard to earn funds. Nick works as a farming contractor and Alex is a student. He has a casual part time job working at a petrol station. He thought he’d found a job for the university holidays working with one of the Geotech companies, drilling samples all over Christchurch, sadly they haven’t come back to him about when he can start. By November he had enough money to cover the camp, but had nothing left over for next year at university. Alex is young, and has no problem with the thought of extending his student loan to cover that, even if his parents aren’t so sure that’s a good idea. It did mean he had enough money for the trip.

And then, at the Regionals, the gliding family got behind the boys. The Mike Rix trustees agreed to pay airfares, but it was the generosity of individual people that leaves me teary. Many people donated to the cause. There is now enough money to completely cover the costs of the trip for both of them, with some left over. The remaining moneys will be kept aside for their on-going training, leading up to the Junior Worlds. It is only a fraction of the money that will be required for the whole campaign, but it is such a generous start.

As I write this, the boys are in Australia, enduring temperatures in the 40’s, and getting to know the gliders they’ll be flying next week in the contest. And that reminds me of some more people who need to be thanked, the Australian gliding community. Complete strangers have reached out to help the boys. Alex has a Cirrus to fly, for free. Thank you Adam Woolley. Adam simply says that he has got a lot out of the sport; he wants to pay it forward. To our extended gliding family out there, if you’ve stepped up in any way to help the boys achieve their goals, we thank you so much. Know too that the boys are doing their very best, to be worthy of your trust.

Next issue we’ll bring you the Joey Glide report.

Enjoy your summer

Stay Safe

Jill McCaw

SoaringNZ is Five. Happy Birthday to Us.

The magazine that posted last week is Issue 30. Last night I spread all thirty magazines out on the floor, a block with five rows of six. It covered as much of the floor as a reasonable sized rug and it looked fantastic. In fact, I’m thinking of having a poster made of the thirty covers. Every cover is a stunning illustration of the excitement and adventure of soaring. When you put all thirty of them together, they look amazing. We have photos of gliders in all attitudes - upside down (twice), gliders on the beach, over the sea (three times), over lakes (surprisingly only three times), over mountains (really surprisingly, only twice), places other than NZ (four times) and showing people (six times). Some of my favourites are Issue 8, with young Hugo Miller flying a Blanik with the canopy off (you know he was having fun), Issue 5 with a Dimona over a Queensland beach, and Issue 12 with Piako’s PW6 on the beach at Raglan. It’s a different and pretty picture of a glider, and the fact that it was my own landout doesn’t change that. My all-time favourite is Issue 21, with Toby Read posing beside GlideOmarama’s Duo at Milford Sound, with Mitre Peak in the background. It is not only a very scenic picture but it puts a gliding take on an iconic view. Looking at this photo, I know that these pilots had an adventure. You can’t get a better cover picture than that.

 

It was pointed out to me that there isn’t a cover with a woman. It is a very good point and sadly, representative of the number of women in the sport. Ladies, if you get any good shots of you flying, forward them to me for possible covers. Actually, any readers out there, send me good, high resolution pictures. We are always looking for exciting gliding photos.

Technically there is a cover with a woman. I was actually P2 in the Dimona on Issue 6, but you would have to look hard to see me.

Only one glider has managed to be featured twice, Dane Dickinson’s LS8, ZN. It was on the cover of Issue 4, back when it had swirly decals and on Issue 25 when it had an equally fancy but more standard, black on white paint job. It features in this issue too, but not on the cover. It was flown by Roland van der Wal in EuroGlide. ZN gets around.

Thirty issues with forty eight pages of text at roughly five hundred words per page equals around 720,000 words. Modern popular novels usually come in between 80 – 100,000 words. We have collectively (because there have been an awful lot of contributors over the years), written around eight novels of gliding words. That is a huge body of work. Have a look on your bookshelf and see how much room that many words take up. And then there are the photos. I have no idea how many wonderful images we have printed.

Which of all those words do I like the best? Reporting on the Grand Prix back in Issue 2 was exhilarating and bizarre. The magazine was all new and then bamm, when we were still feeling our way and working out how to make a magazine, we had an international competition in our patch. It was so exciting. Over the years we’ve had some fantastic reporting on World Championships, from both our own NZ competitors and international writers who were pleased to help out.

We’ve been very lucky with some of our NZ regular contributors. Two in particular stand out in my mind as amusing and informative: Ian Dunkley’s vintage columns are missed, now that ill health is slowing him down and David Hirst’s technical pieces can make me laugh while I learn. The most common query I get from people on past magazines are for David’s columns, ‘An Idiot’s Guide to Tephigrams’ in Issues 3 and 4.

SoaringNZ has covered some incredible world records. We started with a very special one. The feature story in Issue 1 was Fossett and Delore’s, 2007, 1250km 25% FAI triangle speed record. By the time we went to press, Steve Fossett was missing - later confirmed dead. Terry Delore has set another other world record since, a three turnpoint, 2500km declared distance, flown in New Zealand with John Kokshorn, in Issue 14. Doug Hamilton’s ‘Flight from Hell,’ Issue 7, was a hard fought 1500km triangle. It wasn’t a world record but it did win him the honour of being NZ’s last Barron Hilton cup recipient, in 2009. Jenny Wilkinson achieved a 500km out and return woman’s speed record in 2009, Issue 8. We have also highlighted spectacular flights from our sport’s past, featuring Dick Georgeson, Doug Yarrall, Keith Wakeman, Yvonne Loader and others. This issue’s story on Ann Johnson’s 1979 245km goal flight continues in that tradition.

Long flights have, of course, featured strongly in our pages but I’m equally as pleased to have printed stories of first solos, 50 kms and stories of the joyous, happy, local flying contributed by pilots who just want to share their pleasure in our sport.

Back issues are still available at the same cost as current magazines, if you would like to complete your set.

Issue 16 was a little different. It had both a large number of safety articles, including Part One of Arthur Gatland’s ‘Threat and Error Management’, and the finals of our one and only photo competition. It has been a challenge to keep our competition reports fresh and entertaining. I don’t think we do too badly with that. Of course, the people who were there are probably the most avid readers of those, but we hope others are enjoying the coverage too. It has been great to chronicle the inception and growth of YouthGlide and the Youth Soaring Development camp, but that could be my own personal bias.

When I think about what I am most proud of though, it is the fact that you are holding Issue 30 in your hands right now. In September 2010, Issue 18, I wrote an editorial entitled, ‘Random Thoughts on Earthquakes and Their Aftermaths.’ No-one had any idea then how bad things were going to get. Issue 21 came out when our world was completely broken by the February 2011 quake that destroyed Christchurch and killed more than 180 people. I am so proud of the fact that, in spite of everything that has happened since then: the loss of our house, our printer’s factory, the huge damage and upheaval in Christchurch, you have still received a top quality soaring magazine every two months. There have been times where you very nearly didn’t.

Thank you to all the people who have contributed over the years and the many more people who have read and enjoyed our efforts. Please share your love of gliding and of SoaringNZ with your friends. Help us to grow into our next five, ten, fifteen years. Happy Birthday to us all.

Cheers

Jill McCaw

How SoaringNZ gets made

Editorial Issue 27

SoaringNZ is now well into our fifth year and I think we’ve got quite good at the process of making it. I’ve had some comments recently that made me realise that our readers have no idea how that happens. People are surprised to realise that I do not sit in an office in town bossing around my staff as they answer phones, while I source and write stories. In fact I sit at a desk in the back bedroom of our rental house in Halswell in between working nursing shifts at a resthome down the road.

SoaringNZ has one employee – the much appreciated proof reader Melanie Henrikson (who is also a nurse in ‘real life’). It became obvious after the first issue that a proof reader was essential. It is embarrassing to admit, but even after taking English to seventh form level at school, I still only have a rudimentary grasp of grammar and in some cases spelling. I blame the schooling system, which has only gone downhill from there. That is a rant for another day.

The magazine’s parent company McCaw Media also has a new employee. Paula Ruddick will be tackling our accounts from this issue on. See more about this and the changes it will make to your club’s payments in the Log Book section. I am multitalented but running a business and dealing with money are a set of talents I haven’t mastered.

So how does your magazine get made?

It couldn’t happen without the internet. This would have been a completely different job even twenty years ago. Everything happens via email. Articles and photos all arrive this way. Occasionally I receive photos via other methods and will scan old pictures, sometimes I receive discs of photos in the mail, but just about everything is email.

I have a large white board for planning the current mag (and another one for future planning). On receipt of an article, I make a tick in the column next to the article’s name. I give it a read through and can spend quite a bit of time making sure that it actually says what the author thinks they wrote. Some correspondents have an even worse grasp on English than I do and some do not have English as their first language. Never let that worry you. We (Melanie and I) will always make your words read well. There can be quite a bit of work making long pieces fit into the word limit for the pages available, while keeping the important parts and feel of the story. As a rule of thumb, we use 500 words per page with pictures and illustrations. The number and quality of the photos sent with a story are as important as word count in determining how many pages I will use for a story. The look of the magazine is very important and I don’t want pages of tight text with nothing much to break them up.

Once I’ve done my work on a story it gets another tick, then it is emailed to Melanie. She reads through it and catches many things, often minor, but all improving the ‘readability’ and accuracy of the piece. She sends the corrected version back. That’s another tick on the board.

Once all the material for the issue has those three ticks, it’s ready for the next stage. I work out (roughly) how many pages per article and which are the most important. All the edited version of words, the photos, illustrations and notes are put onto a stick drive and taken to Rosalie Brown and Lee-Ann Collins at RGB Design. These ladies work the magic that makes the magazine look so good. People erroneously think I do this. I don’t. These girls are amazing. They are not employees, but I pay them to do it and it is money well spent.

Once the girls have made a good start, there is a proof for me to go through. At this stage, I’m checking that the important parts of each story are emphasised, the pictures fit with the text, I put captions on the photos and check for any obvious mistakes and muck ups. My changes are made and I get another draft. This is pretty close to the final version.

This draft is sent out to a set of proof readers with impeccable credentials. These people are volunteers and include Max Stevens, executive officer of GNZ and ex Deputy Director of CAA, and John Goddard, ex Air Accident Inspector. There are also a couple of other people and all of them are fonts of gliding knowledge. We all sit down and pore through the draft, checking every word, finding the last mistakes, and there always are some, no matter how carefully the text has been checked before. Interestingly, we often find different mistakes from each other. Accuracy and legality are the main focus of this proof read.

We don’t print anything that may be detrimental to gliding in general or any individual pilot in particular.

There is one last chance to catch mistakes and make any changes (at a cost) when the printer sends their proofs. We check the colour and the final look of the thing. It will take about a week for printing and posting and be in your mail box a few days later.

Roughly two weeks after that, I start making the next one.

Fly safely

Jill McCaw

Virgin Blog

I made the decision a while back that I ought to join the blogosphere which in turn brought on a huge case of writer’s block. I always have things to say, thoughts to share, but the idea of putting them on line brought me to a complete halt.
First of all I had to decide what this blog was for. Was it solely a vehicle for SoaringNZ, the magazine I edit and publish? Was it a chance to rabbit on about my attempts at writing fiction with side helpings of doings of the family? I have decided it is all of the above. I am a multi-talented, multi-faceted woman. In fact I use to sign on to a science forum in the early days of such things as “EXTRAordinary Woman”.
There will be blatant advertising for the magazine here but I hope also to share with you some of the processes involved in producing SoaringNZ. There will be references to writing fiction, I may even share snips and I will be talking about the family and our lives. I’ll also be sharing my everyday things, I hate housework, love walking the dog, maybe share a recipe or two. I discovered a great and simple green fish curry last night.
My aim is to get a post up at least once a week. That seems achievable. As I learn how to do this I also hope to customise the page so it is less generic and more me.
SoaringNZ issue 15 is lodged for posting today so should be in people’s mailboxes by the end of the week.
In the meantime, the highlight of the week was Alex’s 18th birthday party on Friday night. Alex has grown to be such a fantastic young man. I am in awe of his gliding achievements, being probably the youngest pilot ever to achieve a 500km diamond goal flight. He has a quiet determination to achieve and the ability to goal set and work through the steps necessary to achieve it. We are very proud of him. The party was to celebrate Alex although he himself was a little reluctant to inflict a house full of drunken teenagers on the house. So we compromised; he asked some of his friends and we asked some of ours. The carpet is a little the worse for wear and the lawn around where the brazier stood will probably never recover, but a good time was had by all. It was delightful to share the evening with Alex’s friends and friends of the family.
In these days of smaller families and more physical separation within families, kids these days don’t have the hundreds of cousins and the crowd of uncles and aunts to help raise them that my generation did. We are extremely fortunate within the gliding movement to have something that approximates that extended family situation. Within the Canterbury Gliding Club our kids have been raised with a passel of other kids and been overseen and disciplined by a group of adults outside of their immediate family. This is all good. The old adage about how it takes a village to raise a child is very true and these days it is harder and harder to find that village. I had no idea when I took up gliding back in my 20s that I was joining a family. Inside that family are surrogate grumpy uncles, grandparents, sister-in-laws and nephews and nieces. I have also found best friends, flying buddies and mentors. I am so pleased my children are part of this community.
To all my friends – thank you sincerely, for helping me raise my children.

cheers
Jill