April 2010
Posted by CAHGC on Friday, June 25, 2010
Lots of flying this month in Wilderness and on the Peninsula, but the flight of the month went to Ian de Vries for his first thermalling flight in a hang glider at Segdefield and his relaunch at Kleinkrans for a Paradise ridge run. Ian has shown lots of enthusiasm and commitment to making the transition to HG from PG and is a worthy winner of this month’s FOTM.
Ian's story of the Kleinkrans-Paradise Ridge run below:
Tyronne, Dick, Kenny and Myself arrived at Holiday Inn to find a strong SW blowing, but it was not a stready wind and would weaken considerably for periods of ten to fifteen minutes. I was first to rig and Johan A. helped me off in a very strong cycle. Headed off to the right and on the way back got some amazing height above Holiday Inn, considerably higher than I have ever achieved in a PG. I guess this was a combination of stronger wind than a pg can fly in and better sink rate. I was so impressed with that height I made the decision almost immediately to try and go straight for the crossing to klein kranz. However, by the time I got to the parking lot at end of ridge the wind had dropped off considerably to the extent that I was not even sure I would be able to stay up if I turned around. So i decided to use what height I had left to make the crossing, and Since I had made it before on a Atlas, I thought i now i have a better glider (Moyes Sonic) I will still make it. Even if I did not, I thought I would just carry it up the dune. Alas, I came in at klein kranz just below the PG take off and there was not enough lift to carry on so turned and landed on beach right there. I then very enthusiastically started my carry to top of training dune. Man, did I underestimate the amount of work! Carrying the sonic is considerably harder than carrying an Atlas up that dune. I think it must have taken a solid 30-40mins for me to get to very top. Wind was perfect, enough to soar, but not too strong for me ground handle glider and to climb up the top mond by myself. After having a good rest, and with a little trepidation, I took off on my lonesome from the top and made it easily to Paradise Ridge; climbed up and headed down ridge. About ten mins later, Tyronne passed me in a topless so fast that it made me look like a slow PG. I was like "What the hell? What's wrong with my glider?" A few mins later Dick did the same thing in a U2, albeit not quite as fast. SO to cheer me up I started looking for Paragliders to zoom past. Flying past them in both directions at speed definitely cheered me up! My turn to the other side (from PG to HG) progressed a few more steps that day.