July 2016
Queensland Sporting Hovercraft Club
A branch of the AUSTRALIAN HOVERCRAFT FEDERATION Inc (Vic)
Dear Air Cushion Vehicle enthusiast,
The Queensland branch of The Australian Hovercraft Federation held a planning meeting on Tuesday,
19th July 2016, at the Coopers Plains Library in Orange Grove Road.
This meeting was attended by:-
| President:- | Ben Woodhead |
| Secretary:- | Steven Odgaard |
| Publicity Officer:- | Steve Stephens |
Other members attending were Angus Kerr, Les Taylor, Kim Allen, Dale Baxter, Dieter Renisch, Cle Sheck, Larry Franks and Dwayne Morgan for a total of 11 people.
Apologies: Peter Venn, Phillip and Kerri Audsley, Arthur Stead, Gunter Prischl, Micheal Stephenson and Ian Lind.
Cruise report - Queensland State Rally - Lake Coolmunda - 9th & 10th July 2016.
The last club cruise was the Queensland State Rally held on the weekend of 9th & 10th July, 2016 at
Lake Coolmunda near Inglewood. This cruise was a trial run for the AHF National Rally in July, 2017.
Those attending the cruise with craft were:-
| Ben Woodhead | Expo Turbo Wedge 240 | |
| Peter Venn | Turbo TP6 | |
| Angus Kerr | Revtech Rocket | |
| Lucas Kerr | Viper 4 Cruiser | |
| Michael Stephenson | White Turbo Wedge 240 | - Baffle. |
| Kim Allen | Turbo Wedge 240 | - Zesty. |
| Larry Franks | UH18-SPW | - The Norm. |
| Les Taylor | Turbo 235 Superwedge | - Phoenix. |
| James King | Viper 5XC | - camouflage. |
| Arthur Stead | Revtech Renegade | |
| John Mendham | Revtech Renegade | - Hovvern. |
| Steve Stephens | Turbo Wedge 240 | - No Wheel Drive. |
| Dale Baxter | Commodore V6 powered airboat | - Passing Wind. |
| Steven Odgaard | QSH safety tinnie & 15hp outboard | - full of witches hats, buoys, bricks and anchors. |
| Eric, Anne, Alycia, Mick, and 5 more SES volunteers from Inglewood & Texas | SES Boat 310850D SES Boat 27730D SES Boat Texas 251650D |
- Yamaha 70hp. - Honda 50hp. - Honda 50hp. |
Saturday 9th July 2016
Drivers Briefing:-
At the driver briefing on Saturday morning we had 28 in attendance - 24 from the QSH club and 4
visitors including Lorraine Brighton, Joy Sligar, and John Mendham (Mendo), who all came up from NSW
to include the rally with an extended social visit. Peter Lucas and Ken Buchanan from Sunshine Coast Surf
Life Saving were also there, as they had contacted Ben a few weeks earlier to check out the suitability of
ACV's to augment their jetski fleet. They were suitably impressed with the line-up of different craft, and
left with lots of practical knowledge.
Morning mist began to lift and the lake appeared from its blanket of winter fog. We started with a briefing
by president Ben Woodhead followed by a craft walk-around with a brief description by each ACV owner.
Les Taylor (craft scrutineer) was delayed with a flat tyre, so a more detailed craft scrutiny was missed
this year.
 Winter Fog |
 Viper 5XC |
 Turbo 235 Superwedge |
The Fly By and Cruise:-
Next was the traditional fly-by attempt, which never seems to work when we conduct oval patterns.
The only way to come close is to start from a bank and continue in a straight path, but his year it looked
better. This was followed by a cruise around the lake and some general lake exploration.
 The Fly By |
 Cruising |
 Cruising |
Point to Point Time Trial:-
Peter Venn conducted the first fun competition which neither favours the fastest nor the slowest craft. It
just comes down to a good estimation of how long it takes to travel between nominated legs where
time keepers were positioned at various locations around the shoreline.
The ladies back at campfire headquarters put their heads together to calculate the places for this one.
| 1st | Les Taylor | |
| 2nd | Kim and James Allen | |
| 3rd | James King |
The Cork Scramble:-
Larry Franks and Steven Odgaard set up the orienteering markers at 3:00 pm, but with the cool
shadows of evening setting in we postponed this event till morning and brought forward the cork
scramble. Peter Venn and Steven Odgaard distributed 100 large Portuguese corks in a safe
non-concentrated array and then on returning to base, Ben Woodhead and family lead the charge to
collect as many corks as possible.
| 1st | Angus, Lucas, Danielle, and Cameron Kerr | - 36 corks |
| 2nd | Kim Allen | - 18 corks |
| 3rd | Les and Sandi Taylor | - 15 corks |
| 4th | John Mendham and James Allen | - 14 corks |
| Ben, Narelle, Gowan, and Calum Woodhead | - 10 corks | |
| Dieter Renisch | - 1 cork |
 The Cork Scramble |
 There's One |
 Spectators |
QHS Dinner at the Bowls Club:-
We showered and dressed for dinner in time for a 6:30 pm bus to take us the 13 kms to Inglewood
Bowls Club. Peter and Elaine Venn, John Mendham and Joy Sligar, Lorraine Brighton, Michael Stephenson,
Dieter Renisch, Les and Sandi Taylor, Larry Franks, Ben and Gowan Woodhead, Steve Stephens, Rebekah
Sier, Steven Odgaard and Rita Chaffey caught the bus driven by Anne, one of the SES volunteers.
We met James and Elisha King and Len (friend of Larry Franks) at the Inglewood Bowls club to try out
the catering service as a prelude to next years National Rally dinner. There were no complaints about the
bar service, quality or quantity of food, especially the desserts.
Sunday 10th July 2016
Orienteering Time Trial:-
Sunday morning started with mild overcast cloud cover with a light southerly breeze. No fog today. We
had the whole lake to ourselves. No waders, swimmers, canoeist, kayakers, water skiers, sailors nor
fisher folk, so we started with the orienteering first while the lake was calm.
Seven craft set off with a piece of the map and had to return with 5 segments making up the complete map
of the lake. It wasn't easy, and only 1 craft returned the mid section obtained from Bracker Creek.
| 1st | James and Elisha King | - 4 map segments | 24 minutes. |
| 2nd | Kim and James Allen | - 4 map segments | 29 minutes. |
| 3rd | Lucas Kerr, Jeremy Torrance, and Dillon Forrest | - 4 map segments | 57 minutes. |
| 4th | Ben, Narelle, Gowan, and Callum Woodhead | - 3 map segments | 55 minutes. |
| 5th | Les and Sandi Taylor | - 2 map segments | 32 minutes. |
| 6th | John Mendham | - 2 map segments | 38 minutes. |
 Kim & James Allen |
 Standing timber |
 The Baffle |
Individual Slalom Run:-
At 11:00 am Les and Steve set up the buoys and witches hats for a team relay slalom course, but as a
few floats soon got demolished, it was quickly changed to an individual slalom time trial.
Steve and Rita recorded the following times.
| 1st | Lucas Kerr | - 52.16 seconds. |
| 2nd | Angus Kerr | - 53.38 seconds. |
| 3rd | Les Taylor | - 1 minute 3.23 seconds. |
| 4th | John Mendham | - 1 minute 3.26 seconds. |
| 5th | James King | - 1 minute 17.28 seconds. |
| 6th | Steven Odgaard | - 1 minute 19.24 seconds. |
| 7th | Ben Woodhead | - 1 minute 42.47 seconds. |
| 8th | Elisha King | - 1 minute 52.70 seconds. |
 Elisha King |
 James King |
 John Mendham |
Lunch and Presentation:-
The prize-giving and Pizza lunch, cooked in a smokey wood-fired oven by Troy, Idalia and Bryan was
held at the caravan park's slab hut. Ben welcomed the Mayor, C.E.O. and Events Co-ordinator of
Goondiwindi Regional Council, Graeme Scheu, Chris Manton, and Megan Long, before the Mayor
presented the many prizes to the lucky winners. Les took home an inflatable PFD which was kindly
donated by 1 of our regional members, Jack Hickmont, and over 2 dozen other prizes were eagerly
chosen by other winners, including some of the young kids, who also had a ball.
A $100 cheque was presented to the SES for their participation in an enjoyable weekend.
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| The Presentations |
We had 37 members, family and friends attending the rally:
Ben, Narelle, Gowan, and Calum, Woodhead, Peter and Elaine Venn, Steve Stephens and Rebecca Sier, Arthur and Judy Stead, Les and Sandi Taylor, Angus and Ann Kerr, Lucas, Danielle, and Cameron Kerr, Jeremy Torrance, Amelia Torrance, Dillion and Indy Forrest, Kim and James Allen, Michael Stephenson, Dieter Renisch, James and Elisha King, Dale Baxter, Larry Franks, John Mendham and Joy Sligar, Lorraine Brighton, Mike and Jane Rutterman, Dwayne Morgan, Steven Odgaard and Rita Chaffey.
Inglewood and Texas SES:-
The local Inglewood and Texas SES provided 3 aluminium 40hp flood boats on the water over the
weekend for our activities, as well as erecting 3 portashades with walls for wind protection in the rally
headquarters area. Only one rescue was required during the rally when Dieter Renisch and Michael
Stephenson disabled their craft after hitting a tree while approaching a check point in the Orienteering
Time Trial and had to be towed back to rally headquarters.
 SES |
 SES group |
 Texas SES Boat |
 Presentation |
A big “Thank you” to all who could make it. The rally was a successful and enjoyable weekend which
allowed us to try out the local facilities and improve planning for next year's National Rally. This will be
held at Lake Coolmunda on 8th & 9th July 2017 (middle weekend of Vic. school holidays and last
weekend of Qld. school holidays), but as many will arrive a day or 2 earlier, there will be some
non-competitve activity on the water as a warm-up for the weekend.
The cool nights meant the fireplaces scattered around the waterside camping area were put to good
use, and the social activities went well into the night. Plenty of un-powered camping area which will once
again segregate us from other campers, keeping noise and dust to the down-wind end for everyone's comfort.
Other Local News:-
Aquatic Event Permit from Maritime Safety Qld. was received Wednesday 6th July 2016.
Recreational Activity Permit from Sunwater was received Thursday 7th July 2016.
$570 branch subscription paid to AHF treasurer Paul Moody with list of members.
Receipt from Paul Moody for $570.
Membership application and cheque for $50 from Leigh Parkes now at Wynnum.
Letter of congratulations sent to Keith Oakley on HCGB 50th anniversary 15/7/2016.
$100 donation to Inglewood SES for 2 port-a-shades. SES also supplied 3 flood boats and crews.
$250 to Anne from the SES for the Bennets 36 seater bus to Inglewood. 3 trips.
Medium size club shirt supplied to James King on Sat 9th July 2016 at rally.
Australian National Rally:
The next Australian National Rally will be held from Friday 7th to Sunday 9th July 2017 at Lake
Coolmunda near Inglewood in southeast Queensland. This rally is being organised by the Queensland
Sporting Hovercraft Club on behalf of the Australian Hovercraft Federation.
Check the rally site for details - rally.qhover.com
Next club cruise:-
The next club cruise was planned for Colmslie boat ramp, but as this has been closed for repairs, the
cruise will revert to Muriel St, Redland Bay on Sunday 14th August 2016.
Meet at 9:00 am at 96 Muriel St, Redland Bay for a launch into the Redland Bay Channel.
Contact for these events is Steven Odgaard on 0400 798 404.
Next Queensland branch meeting:
The next club meeting will be held on Tuesday 16th August 2016 at 7:30pm.
It will be held in the Coopers Plains Library at 107 Orange Grove Road, Coopers Plains.
There is plenty of parking at the rear of the library building via Bosworth Street off Orange Grove Road.
UBD Reference - Map 200 D-13.
Anyone with an interest in air cushion vehicles is welcome to attend.
We discuss technical topics and plan cruises.
Regards
Steven Odgaard
QSH secretary