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You may have read about soaring in New Zealand in the September 2004 issue of Soaring. When I read the glowing article, it solidified my plans to include time for soaring in my upcoming vacation in New Zealand, which my wife and I did last February.

Our vacation started with a thirteen-hour flight from LAX to Christchurch, where we then drove five hours southwest to Omarama (population 800), which is in the central region of the south island. The town sits in a valley surrounded by 4,000-foot mountain ranges and it’s about fifty miles west of the beautiful Southern Alps.

I spent the next four days flying with Southern Soaring and got checked out in both a Twin Astir (35:1 glide ratio) and a DG 1000 (45:1 glide ratio). Sunny weather (February is mid summer there with highs in the 70’s) and southwesterly winds of 15-20 knots allowed for consistently good ridge soaring and afternoon thermaling.

A typical flight would start with a climbing left turn toward the mountains, which were just south of the grass runway: I would usually encounter strong lift (often 8 to 10 knots) by the time I reached 1,500 feet, at which point I would release from the tow plane. I would then either circle in the updraft or fly back and forth along the ridge line until I reached about 5,000 feet. After that, I would fly over the valley in search of thermals, and I would usually top out at 8,000 feet. Two of my flights lasted 2 ½ hours, but all of them could have lasted twice that long, were it not for my wallet getting lighter by the minute.

The scenery was spectacular. The nearby mountain ranges were rugged (reminding me of our southwest), with lakes and the snow covered Mt. Cook just off to the west. My only disappointment was the lack of wave conditions while I was there (something Omarama is known for); apparently I needed slightly stronger winds for a wave to form. I did get a little extra lift in front of some small rotor clouds once or twice. I learned that the week after I left, while my wife and I were sightseeing in the New Zealand fiords, the wave conditions were excellent.

I was favorably impressed with the Southern Soaring flight operations. The CFIG’s were very good (one was a former RAF and commercial airline pilot, with over 3,000 glider hours) and the aircraft were in excellent condition. We agreed to disagree about one procedure. Their aircraft did not have written take off and landing check lists in the cockpit. Rather, they believed that these should be memorized, which goes against my Navy training and what we practice at Silent Wings. I wound up writing the checklists myself, but I eliminated the superfluous items (like ballast), which they recited on their memorized check lists.

The rest of the vacation in New Zealand was equally wonderful. My wife and I spent all of it on the south island, which is the most rugged and least populated to the two islands. We did lots of kayaking, hiking around glaciers, and even wine tasting (New Zealand is known for its Sauvignon Blancs, which are exceptional).