| Lake Nagambie Rally 16-May -2004 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Surfs Up I didn't think we made Waves???? |
| Pics of Tom's New hover powered by a Yamaha 485 single carb, Electric Start, pull start back up what a top machine running a full 12 blade setup gives this craft great lift and a ton of thrust, With Tom and I two Up and not even pushing it It was running at 51 KMPH and felt great with more throttle to go. |
| Ok So I had a few small problems today first one I ran out of engine power while cruising with Tim and Ivan. Thought I had major problems with engine not reving and smoke coming out of Carbs once switched Off. What was the problem??? Cap of my INOX can stuck in the Airbox Feed Tube AAAAHHHHHHHH Never again. And I blew the guts out of my freshly repacked muffler. Steel and Fibreglass dont float Who would of guessed???? !@$#!@#$!$#% R%&RT&*(%(&$&(#& Shit. |
| What a good looking Bunch of blokes Tim Tony Tom And Ivan ? |
| Tom had some family & friends coming along for the day and was expecting to give them all joy rides, so it was decided that Tim Ivan and myself would take a cruise into the Goulbourn Weir backwater. Tim was fully armed with his GPS and Strip maps of the lake and surrounding waters so getting lost in the islands should not be a problem. We headed out around the lake and then on towards the area we wanted to explore, as we hovered in and out of the trees looking for the entrace to the backwater I suffered my first break down of the day Engine would not Rev, Thinking I was going to be out of action for awhile I slowly moved the hover over to a shallow area and switched it off to search out the problem, after inspecting plug leads, fuel, carbs etc I started looking at the air system thats when I found The Lid of my Inox can had come off and was sucked onto the end of the Carburettor airfeed tube, as soon as this was removed the craft fired right up and our trip resumed. We flew a couple of K's down the River missing the Desired entrance and also missed it on the way back as well so we headed up the Goulburn river instead, keeping to the 5 Knot limit beside the caravan park was very difficult but once we passed under the bridge we could open the crafts up again, we were flying along great when the back of my Muffler blew out, Luckily no one was right behind me as it must of shot out like a missile. Ivan was getting low on fuel so we headed back to base with my Hover sounding like a V8 Supercar on steroids. LOL |
| Nice rescue Mate and looking real Cool with those shades Dude. |
 |
|
| Sunday 16th of May temperature in the High teens with a mild breeze blowing off and on. I arrived at lake Nagambie at 10.30am, Tim rang to say he was leaving home as I was surveying the area around the public boat ramp, the lake was very quiet with only one Water Plow doing circuits of the lake. He retunred to the ramp in short time and pulled the Boat out. Great we had the whole lake to ourselves. ;-) I was selecting the best spot to unload when Ivan Price arrived, we chose a spot on the shore line that had a fairly smooth entry to the water and readied our crafts for a day of Hovering. We launched our Hovers and flew them to a nice sandy beach while we squared our cars and trailers away. We then flew a circuit of the Lake and did a little exploring around the inlets near the Caravan Park, as we returned to the launch site around 11.30 we spotted Tom arriving with his Hover. We went over and greeted him, he had spotted us from the township side of the lake and had made his way down to us, Tim arrived as well it only took him an hour to travel over from home making it an easy rally for him to attend. Ivan took his wife out for a fly while the boy's unloaded and readied there crafts. Chris Nash had been helping Tom over the last week to get his craft prepared for the Rally, a Change of Top pulleys and Fan + Hub had been carried out along with an engine tune up. Toms craft felt great as I flew it up to the beach while he parked his car. |
| We took the shortcut under the low bridge through the middle of the Caravan Park, Raising some interest on the return journey from a waterways type of guy on the bank. He seemed to be writing in a pad so maybe a letter will arrive soon ???? Was it my noise or just that a pack of Hovers had descended on his patch of water? When we returned Tom had finished up his Joy rides but needed some more fuel before he could go for a cruise. Tim and Ivan refuelled while Tom headed into town to get a few litres of juice and I parked my craft up for the day. Ivan and Tim set off for a trip to the weir about 15 k's downstream I waited for Tom and when he returned we set off to catch up with them they were on there way back when we caught up with them, so we continued downstream a bit more before heading back as well then flew a couple of circuits of the lake. Ivan made tracks towards home around 4.30 the rest of us hung around for another hour before heading home, we stopped up the road for a coffee before saying our farewells and making our way home. It was great to see one of our newest made the trek to Nagambie and have such a great performing craft as well. Tim Logged around 60K's of Hovering on his GPS for the day I had about 30on my unit. With a top speed recorded on Toms craft of 52 KMPH Thanks to the guys that attended for making this a great day of hovering. Tony.W |
 |
| The Crafts lined up on a fantastic strip of beach. Just look at that sunshine. |
 |
| Tim's Gps Log overlayed on a map to show Hover trips on the day. ( Click on or Right click and select open in new window to see larger picture, like all pictures on this page) |