Cruise report - Waterford boat ramp on the Logan River - Sunday 15th February 2004.

Dear Air Cushion Vehicle enthusiast,
It was hot, hot, hot, humid and exhausting just trying to walk.
Late summer heat that only a soft drink manufacturer would enjoy.
Despite this, there were 5 machines on the Logan River at Waterford, one interstate visitor and one international visitor.

Angus Kerr and son Lucas in a white Turbo 240,
Phillip and Kerri Audsley in a yellow Turbo 225 and
David Venn in a yellow Hoverjet - all made the safe return trip from Waterford to Mcleans bridge at the Beaudesert Road otherwise known as Mt Lindsay Highway, crossing.

Des Goss in a Maroon Turbo 225 and Steven Odgaard in a Billy Baker 2 both had engine problems and stayed close to the vicinity of the Waterford pub.
Both strictly tea drinkers of course.

Left stranded by the lack of performance and seating space, were Tony Hogben, Peter Venn, Mike Rutterman of Coochiemudlo Island, Mike Nell of NSW and Rusty Moore of Washington State, USA.

Mike Nell was visiting Queensland for a brief holiday and he showed us an orthographic side elevation view of a Humming Bird craft which he is constructing for Peter Venn.

Tony Hogben is moving north to the Gympie area and sadly this may be his last appearance at a club outing for awhile, unless he gets a chance to go cruising with Bazza from Maryborough.

Meeting:
Our meeting room at Archerfield was double booked for the meeting on Tuesday, 17th February.
Peter Leonard from the SAAA has apologised for the mix-up and I apologise to everyone who had to stand out in the carpark for that unusual meeting.
I usually unlock the meeting room at around 6:00pm, but due to college I was running late, and a group of pilots from Archerfield grabbed the room for a pilot's exam.
Nevertheless, we still held a small meeting, with Des Goss, Phillip Audsley, Edi Brandli, Peter Venn, Angus Kerr and Steven Odgaard standing over a boiling billy in the carpark.

A little further north,
Barry Fennell is up and running again with his Viper and is keen to go cruising with anyone in the Maryborough region. Tony Hogben with his very fast model hovercraft has moved north to Gympie and we hope he can keep in touch.

Planning Meetings:
I would like to ask a favour of any club member.
I have to attend Yeronga TAFE college every Tuesday evening betwwen 6:00pm and 9:00pm, until August. This is part of my training for a new job at Volvo.
Could anyone please volunteer to conduct the meetings and arrange the premises to be unlocked / locked and left clean, for this temporary period?
As many of you know, we are running our branch with only a secretary and a treasurer.
Any club should have a president and a vice-president.
Phil and I try to run the branch in a professional manner, but we need a full committee to ensure that the club carries on well into the future.
Please consider having a go at the helm, for just a twelve month period. It's not a difficult job, but it does need consistency and regular communications.

Recent new members to our club are:
Geoff Langford after several years absence,
Edi Brandli and
Mike Rutterman.

Some international news:
F25 at the World Championships
From the WHF dated 8th February 2004.
In the autumn last year a proposal was put forward to change the present format of our F25 races to an endurance style for future World Championships. After seeking comments from our delegate countries there was no consensus of opinion. In fact, the views were equally split.
In the circumstances it has been decided to leave the present format as it stands for the Championships in Berlin that is, several short races throughout the championships with the number of laps and position in the programme being decided, as usual, by the organisers.
However, an agenda item will be included for the Board meeting immediately following the Championships to discuss this issue and decide on a format for the future.
Best regards,
Christel Martens, secretary
World Hovercraft Federation

Next club cruise:-
On Sunday 7th March, we will be launching from the boat ramp at Clontarf, between the Houghton Highway bridge and Woody Point.
Launch time 10:00am.
Barry Fennell is planning to travel 4 hours from Maryborough to join us and Neville Bennett is coming up from his holiday home just across the NSW border.
Neville lives and works on Magnetic Island near Townsville in far north Queensland and he last cruised with us at Southport just on 12 months ago.

Next Queensland branch meeting:-
7:30pm Monday 15th March 2004.
SAAA hall at Archerfield Aerodrome.
Beatty Road Qld 4108.

Regards
Steven Odgaard
QSH secretary