New NZ Triangle Free Distance record

Was held by Max Stevens - 16 Sept 2008 - 414.08km - Discus b - Horotata

New record Ross Gaddes - 13 Feb 2025 - 505.8km - Ventus 2a - Drury

Well done Ross and well done Murray Wardell as the Official Observer for recognising that Ross's declared 502km flight also qualified for a claim for the NZ D15G Free Triangle Distance record.

Ross Gaddes

Ross Gaddes - my 500km triangle flight

For a long time, I have hoped to achieve a declared 500km FAI triangle. The FAI define this as three waypoints with the start and finish points the same (a closed loop) and for distances less than 750km the shortest leg must be a minimum percentage of 28% of the total triangle distance. If you have the SeeYou app on your computer, you can play with various tasks and distances when applying your proposed flight to any chosen waypoints. As I mentioned I had planned this for a long time but got serious when playing with SeeYou during 2017. On the 29th Dec 2017, I planned the 500 FAI triangle.

That flight was awesome but due to my misunderstanding of the SeeYou assistant I messed up the 28% requirement. So, burnt by my error, I later asked Murray Wardell for some assistance, and he added a waypoint west of PioPio called Pungarehu Road Airstrip. The second waypoint is called Goudies East which is southwest of Murupara (an often used Taupo waypoint). This was the same second waypoint I had used for my 2017 attempt.

The stars seemed to line up on Feb 12ththis year – it wasn’t a fantastic forecast but light winds that didn’t seem to be favouring the west made it worth a crack. This is because winds favouring SW will bring in the western sea breeze too soon and could make the western waypoint unachievable. I organised Wayne Thomas for an 11am start and got some water into BH’s wings (my Ventus 2a), ready for a launch at Drury on 18. Clouds were well organised by my launch and local soaring was easy. But that is typical, however it can take a little while for the track south to catch up to our local convection. Even at the start it was hard to even get to 3000’ ASL but this was enough to get on the way at 11:20. Now I’m not the fastest pilot (even on a good day) so I made conservative climbs heading down towards Huntly still struggling to get over 3000’. I decided that using Hamilton’s controlled airspace directly towards Pirongia was the fastest way. So, I listened to the chatter and then made a call for clearance which was quickly accepted by ATC. The base was still low, but climbs were reliable and improving to near 4000’ as I passed the city and joined a climb on the side of Mt. Pirongia. The landscape past the mountain southwards becomes rolling with more areas of bush and the ground was getting closer causing me some concern and slowing my progress. The truth is landings towards the eastern flatlands are prevalent and even underneath there were obvious farm strips to service the various larger hill country farms. But I’m a worrywart, and I was seriously doubting Murray’s new waypoint which seemed very remote. Fretting is a common fault I have when I’m all by myself miles from home. Thankfully cloud base improved to a little over 4500’ allowing me to round the point and lengthen the glides. However, rounding at 1:15 pm was a slow leg which was worrying.

It felt better heading eastwards where the ground underneath was a lot kinder with nice flat dairy paddocks. For a while anyway. There were good climbs to 5000’ to get me into the rougher and higher landscapes south of the Rangitoto’s (near Te Kuiti) and into the Waipa valley which is north of Bennydale. But now there seemed a large gap, or at least a change in the clouds which showed a black convergence in between me and the higher country. The areas there are also remote with few, if any, roads and mainly native forest. A positive thing however is that we often cross over these ranges when flying out of Taupo, so I have eyed out possible places to land a few times over the years. Maintaining as best glide as I could I searched around under the large dark convergence cloud for an area of lift. Searching at 4000’ over unhospitable native forest was daunting but a solid climb eventually took me to over 5500’ enabling a glide past the lower slopes of Titiraupenga and towards Mokai. These areas are mainly bigger sheep and cattle farms and airstrips are regular, but the ground does climb as Taupo gets closer. I tried to skirt the Taupo area which looked blue, so I flew towards the Waikato River near Oruanui, to where the southwestern remnants of the Paeroa ranges turn into foothills east of the river. In fact, a climb to a little over 6000’ near the river was much appreciated as the air was obviously changing. An easterly drift was causing lift to disappear, and the sky became worryingly blue. In fact, I was starting to have a vision of Jason Smith, who had foolishly offered to retrieve me, and myself, staying that night at the Taupo club drinking sorrowful beers. I could see the slightest wisps of cloud on the edges of the Kaingaroa forest on the southern side of Broadlands, but that was a long way away. So, I carried on, but it was a long glide with only one circle about halfway across, which really was just a desperate waste of altitude. I arrived on the other side at about 3300’ which was bloody uncomfortable as the land underneath is about 2000’ with lots of pine trees. About here there is a finger of farmland that runs south with the large Kaingaroa forest plantations on either side. There are landings in the nearby farms, but the retrieve and lack of cell coverage would have made for a long, painful day.

The wispy clouds took a little time to work but eventually I climbed to a blistering 6500’ which allowed me to get the Goudies East waypoint and back again to the same spot to top up. I had rounded the point at 3:15 pm which, again, was late but at least the rest is downhill, and I was getting closer to home. Altitude to cross the Reporoa/Broadlands flat farmland was definitely required as a light northeasterly carrying stable air with no thermals or clouds had pushed in flowing towards Taupo. At the foothills again at the eastern end of the Paeroa’s there were some wispy desperate indications of lift in the lee of the hills. I arrived again uncomfortable at 3400’ with the land underneath at about 1500’ASL. Somehow, I was able to scratch and drift further west stepping gently into a better airmass with gradually improving climbs. At Atiamuri (or thereabouts) I contacted ATC again requesting access on my way northwards east of Tokoroa. There are a few lower airspaces nearby, and the last thing I wanted was an accidental breach – also I needed as much height as I could to speed up and get onto the Mamaku ranges, west of Rotorua. If I needed the clearance, it certainly wasn’t for long as the longish glide took me to adjacent Putaruru getting lower and lower. It was about there, ATC advised I no longer needed access. I suppose the way gliders operate provide them with some challenges. The clouds looked ok but were not lifting. Most of us who fly out of Matamata know these foothills well, so being low wasn’t so daunting as earlier, but time was ticking. It was nearly 4:30 pm and I still a fair way to go. At about 2500’, heading over lower foothills and civilised land, I finally contacted a decent climb to 5500’ and shifted into a more buoyant airmass. This gave me a nice glide northwest, over the flat Tirau/Matamata farming areas towards the Cambridge hills. These low hills showed better clouds away from pesky sea breezes as it was still showing a light NE on my LX9050 flight computer. The run towards Drury, northwards, was much less stressful. Occasional thermals of 4-5000’ made for reasonable glides. The good clouds, inside the controlled areas, convinced me to try for ATC clearance between Morrinsville and Huntly. I was refused this time, I’m not sure why. But as it turned out reliable climbs allowed me to follow the airspace line NW towards Te Hoe and the Wairenga Valley. By then a nice convergence had formed – which is quite common - and the run toward Drury was looking good. As I got closer to home, I even had to use airbrakes to stay inside our descending airspace levels. As I passed the Mercer swamp, I was 2500’ and momentarily got a fearful thought that this was the end, despite a positive final glide on my LX. That fear was unfounded, and the final glide was a piece of cake. I passed through the start point at 17:52, just under 77 kph with 6 hrs 32 min on task for 502.7 km task length FAI triangle.

Slow but satisfying to actually make it around.

Thanks to the support I got from ATC, from my flying mates at the Auckland Gliding Club and to Terry Delore who is always encouraging any level pilot to better themselves. Finally, huge thanks to Murray Wardell my OO who is also a great motivator.