flight-of-the-month

January 2012

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:41:02 +0100

Some excellent XC flights again in January, with big altitude gains and long flights, including a crossing of the Pakhuis Pass (last done in 2009, and previously 20 years before that).

Flight of the Month went to Steve Pelley for his first thermal flight (a big moment for any soaring pilot). This was an exceptional feat considering it was effectively a low save on a small hill (i.e. very, very tricky). Well done Steve!

From Steve:
"I headed out to the hill hoping to catch a decent post-frontal southerly and some much needed 'going-up' instead of all this 'going-down'. Have to say when I arrived it was looking good with the wind ssw and perhaps a bit gusty but blowing nicely. Rigged as fast as I could and trotted to the launch with my beloved Sport 2. Straight after take off I banked right expecting to climb nicely but to my disgust I was just sinking like mad (a look to the water resevoir revealed that the wind was now quite SW, mutter mutter). I was DONE with foofies and so decided to scratch around looking for something even though by now I was really low (if needed, I'd made up my mind to land in the field way short of the LZ and just walk it out). Nothing, sinking sinking. Then suddenly, a few beeps and a few meters! I turned back to find it, more beeps, more meters. I was too low to turn full circles so took Don's advice and tried some tight S's - worked a charm and I slowly clawed my way back up to launch height finding lift here and there. Soon I was above the hill and then this monster hoisted up my left wing so I heaved everything into it (thanks Lennox) and who would have believed it - turning 4 tight turns I climbed from 450m to 650m at 1.2 m/s. I would never have believed you could climb while banking so steeply. At 650 meters I could have kept going but by now the thermal had drifted to above the 'car park' on the hill and I didn't want to go further back than that. What a view! Never been that high agl and to think after take-off I was 40m below launch. Awesome flight."

December 2011

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:38:22 +0100

Dec-Jan saw a couple Porterville fly-aways with many long flights over 100km and several pilots breaking their personal bests. Flight of the Month went to Adam West for a new personal best flight from Dasklip to just short of Van Rhynsdorp. Tracklog can be found here:

Derigging near Van Rhynsdorp.

November 2011

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:34:18 +0100

Flight of the month goes to Adam West for an out-and-return flight from Signal Hill to the along the Apostles and back.

"A perfect Signals flight. Challenging to get around the face of Lion's Head, and once up, abundant and smooth lift. Racing under the clouds to the end of the Apostles and back and then meeting up with Eric on the Lion's Head crossing and doing it all again. A sunset landing and a cold beer in Mouille Point topped off a great flight."

October 2011

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:50:29 +0100

Flight of the month goes to Eric van der Walt for a 48km triangle at Porterville during the Gatskop competition.

Eric waiting on launch (photo Coral Benn)

Eric's tracklog can be found here.

September 2011

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:44:21 +0100

Flight of the month goes to new pilot, Stefan Nel, for his first soaring flight! Stefan's story below reminds us of the simple joy of flying and how lucky we are to enjoy this incredible sport.

Stefan on the ramp at Dasklip

Stefan's story:
The day was almost perfect... A windy Thursday afternoon on Rondebossie at the end of September. Few of us was there, Lennox, Ian, Chris and Steve. Having heard about Steve's awesome soaring flight the week before with an "accidental" top-landing and all, I was super excited and keen to kick my training wheels of as well. By now I knew Rondebossie as the place very good for foofies, had 13 before this time, but have not yet been that lucky with the weather. The wind was about 25kph and very southerly, relatively smooth..

The afternoon started with utmost excitement. I felt like a kid seeing Ice-cream when I saw Ian hover above the steep end at the eastern side of Rondebossie, staying up with very little effort..

Then I started to rig my glider as hastily as I have ever done before, untied it from the roof, zip the bag open, rig A-frame, spread the wings..
O-Fudge!! where's the battons.. - Looked in the car. Fudge!! The realization was dawning on me... it is still in the garage.. Fudge!!. How could I be such a dumb ass. Starting to think about this perfect weather and not flying, but sitting it out was torture.

Steve just landed, and he is willing to let my fly with the Atlas. Cool! Have not flown it since the dunes but hell, sitting out now is not an option anymore.. Under Lennox's guidance we neared the edge, waiting a bit for the wind to smooth out a bit.. And I'm off.. It was a little bit bumpy in the start, not having the familiar nippy response of the Uno, but soon I was climbing in the lift and enjoying the view. This is the first time I'm flying with a vario as well, and not long before "butter zones" of lift was apparent. I started playing around in the air, tracking along the ridge and going back to lift when my altitude was at takeoff level. Topped out at about 65meters above takeoff. Enjoyed this for about 45minutes, then came in to land

Landing was a breeze... I ended up in some venturi right over the hill and was finding it difficult to penetrate well with the Atlas. Pulled in a lot, and let it out slowly.. Just put my feet down! I love this top landing business! Not long and Steve was of again.

This was just an awesome afternoon.

June 2011

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:37:49 +0100

Flight(s) of the month went to Ross Hofmeyer for some excellent winter flying at Rondebossie. Although a new HG pilot, Ross has been showing excellent command of a range of skills from light wind launches and spot landings to high wind flights and top landings. Great stuff Ross.

Ross just after take off

Ross' story:
I was really fortunate over the last few weeks to get 4 nice flights in at Rondebossie. On 18 June the club held a 'check flight' day to encourage all the members to get their license renewals completed on time. The turnout was excellent, with the top of Rondebossie covered in gliders. The wind was initially very light, fading to nothing and then only returning later in the day. Despite this, I decided that with so many pilots around and easy retrieve, I'd kick off with a foofie. Soon I was set up in zero wind with the whole club watching....eish. A good hard run sorted out the takeoff, and I had a pleasant smooth glide out to Donovan's Dam. Now came a choice: with no wind, the small fenced landing area by the dam looked very tight, but a challenge to land there next to a windsock had been issued, and I didn't want to land in the cultivated fields if it could be avoided, so I took the bait and set up carefully. It paid off, with a strong flare and a good run ;)

Final approach over Donovan's Dam

Back on top of the hill the wind had picked up a little but was still very easterly. Lennox demonstrated a novel landing technique flying the Condor (training glider), making the only top-landing of the day. I was a little time pressured, so decided to launch even though it was still light. I was rewarded with an extended foofie, 'almost soaring' for 5 minutes in front of the hill before heading out to land. With the wind now very east, it was blowing across the landing field, making it even shorter than usual. Still, pride was at stake, and (perhaps with more luck than skill) pulled off a spot landing - 2 for 2!

Spot landing (note limp windsock!)

About a week later, I had the morning off before a night duty, and saw that a strongish SE was forecast. Paul Laros responded to an email invitation, and we met at the hill around 1200 to find a cold ESE blowing at 35-40km/h. We both rigged, and were soon soaring the chilly but smooth air. The views were spectacular, with snow on the distant mountains. I flew more than an hour, top-landed for a service stop, took off and flew another half-hour before I ran out of time and top-landed again. We were easily getting 100-150m above takeoff, with the hunting buzzards and kites sharing the air. A great way to relax before work!

March 2011

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:49:26 +0100

The flight of the month went to Adam for a 77km FAI triangle at Dasklip during the March Gatskop competition. An epic day, with huge climbs to over 3000m ASL. The story here:

Almost at cloudbase, 3300m ASL.

January 2011

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:09:33 +0100

Some good flying this month with several pilots going over 100kms. However, the deserving winner was Grove Steyn for his back-to-back Klawer Flights from Dasklip. Over 130kms two days in a row. Altitude gains of up to 3200m ASL. Fantastic flying.

3000m ASL above Clanwilliam Dam en route to Klawer (photo A.West)

December 2010

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:04:02 +0100

The flight of the month went to Christopher Mellor for his first soaring flight. 45 minutes at Gericke's Point. Video put together by Dick can be seen here. Nice one Christopher!

November 2010

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:25:53 +0100

This month's flight of the month went to Ian de Vries, for his class-winning flight at the recent Gatskop competition. Ian's story:

climbing under a cloudy sky at Dasklip (photo A. West)

So after a quite a few Rondebossie trips, and two weekends of no flying at Porterville, I was pretty fired up to fly my hang glider there. The long range forecast looked really good the whole week, which helped build excitement, and it turned out accurate. So Saturday dawned and it looked fantastic. 103 pilots registered and a great atmosphere at Pampoenfontein, with goal being set at Eindekuil. Pilots already going down ridge by about 10:30. Eric, Grove and myself went off to Dasklip and I rigged as fast as I could with a continuous stream of paragliders flying past overhead going down the ridge. A priceless moment that will stick in memory permanently (well as long as memory lasts at least) is when one of those paragliders turned out to be my lovely partner Maylene on her second cross country ever. She cheekly called out as she flew overhead that she would see me in goal! (She did not make it but made it to bumpy which I was very impressed with). Continuing on rigging, I was testing out a pod harness, which I had tested from a hang point and seemed to fit great. However, with reserve, kit, and water it was reeeally tight but it was all I had and I wanted to fly. So I was first up at launch (second launch ever from Dasklip) and thanks to Eric and Grove who were a great help. Wind was very cross as usual, but launched in a good cycle it felt great. Fly into a real bumpy thermal straight afterwards, and I wanted some clearance from ridge to get into that pod, so decided against working it until I was in pod. Flew straight out of it, managed to get into pod, but did not zip up. Flew back to ridge but nothing so made a decision to fly straight for gulley in front of rescue ridge where I know there is a house thermal. I had to work the gulley in front at zero lift for a bit, but slowly managed to find something more solid. Pretty soon I had some PGs with me, but flew with "very strong" intentions so they gave me some space. Unfortunately the space was usually vertical space as they easily out climbed me :<(. I climbed out above rescue ridge and I finally got brave enough to do up my zip and try get comfortable in the harness, which I managed to some degree. I feet and knees seemed really squashed but I figured that it must be normal. Back to flying. I had already decided pre flight that I was going to take it slowly and stay up at all costs, as I wanted some airtime in the HG. I also very quickly realised that there was no way I was going to scratch in the low foot hills like I would in a PG, so I would need all height I could get. It was a light wind day with nice big cumulus, but also large areas of shadow. This meant a little strategic flying. I had a great bonus in that I had string of thermal markers in front of me in the form of danglers. With all this in mind I watched clouds and danglers down the ridge. I was now at end bit of the rescue ridge where there is a low saddle for a stretch in the ridge. Usually easy to get a thermal at end of that saddle, but now there was a whole gaggle of danglers scratching in the foothills and shade. Decided to bide my time and stay where I was in lifty areas (mostly zero) until I saw then getting up and then I would use that speed I had to cross. This worked out great, as when PG's just started to climb, I went for it and actually got there at roughly the same height as they were, in a nice thermal. After that it became a little easier to stay up, but a lot more hard work to keep glider at reasonable attitudes. I must admit that I feel a lot more comfortable in turbulence in a HG (if I have some height) than in a pg. It is not comparable though in the amount of physical work you have to do. Just before bumpy found a reasonable thermal at made it 1600m asl. PGs were still higher than me which was a little frustrating. Decided it was a good time to go flatlands and aimed to cut the corner of end of dust road - and join up with the other dust road coming from the N7, and chose a route under best looking clouds. From then on it was quite easy as over the dirt road I finally managed to climb to cloud base 2000masl. At cloud base I pulled in bar and "zoomed" towards goal.. yehaa that was a really great feeling .. eating up km at speed and not having to worry about frontals.. from then on did not need to turn and just picked route under clouds. I did go "over the falls" though for first time and then into hectic lift where it felt that I had to stuff bar to my knees at least to stop going over backwards ..but afterwards had a good laugh at myself. Arrived at Eindekuil still at 2000masl.. considered going down road to mouth of valley but was physically and mentally quite tired so decided to call it a day. Flew around town a bit trying to lose height and eventually went looking for some sink. I was still very high and decided to unzip and stretch my legs.. thank goodness I did. My feet and ankles were not asleep, they were comatose. I suddenly became very good at flying with one hand and massaging ankles with other hand until I got some feeling back. Picked a big field with PGs in and did a reasonable landing in almost no wind. Carried glider to edge of field and then lay on ground for at least 30 mins to get enough energy to derig. It was my second flight at Dasklip, a PB in a hang glider and overall very enjoyable flight.