From Free Flight 1977

The Bluenose Soaring Club has completed its first soaring season. 
An early spring membership drive added over a dozen new
people to the lists; the membership now totals 28. Another
 such effort will be conducted in '77, starting with the display
of one of the club members' Blanik at the Halifax Yacht and Boat Show.

We had an active flying tempo at our Stanley site, although 
towplane availability proved a problem. Soaring weeks were 
held in early June and late August to provide concentrated 
instruction to students, and extended flying to the more 
experienced pilots. Several students soloed successfully 
during these weeks. The club logged 149 hours in 421 flights 
in the Ka-7 and Blanik. Good soaring conditions appeared 
frequently with numerous flights to 5000' and 6100' our 
best altitude gain. On many days students found it hard 
to get back within the 1/2 hour limit as the instructors 
seemed to gleefully forget the takeoff times.

Throughout the season, instructors Ralph Olive and George 
Graham withstood the pressures of student instruction, 
and the towpilots, Debbie Burleson especially, put in 
lots of hours behind the throttle.

It is expected that the frustrations resulting from the 
sometimes irregular availability of towplane and/or 
tow-pilots in '76 will be greatly reduced during '77 
with the operation of a double drum winch. It is intended 
that this machine, with its launching efficiency on our 
5000/3000/3000 ft. "winchways", will greatly increase 
Bluenose Soaring's activity in the sky.