December 15 - Cape Town
As Remo put it, “Without local knowledge you can forget about flying in Cape Town…” The conditions here are a constant battle between the tepid Indian Ocean, the frigid Atlantic, and the summer heat of the African landmass. Our first day in Cape Town, we saw the wind change 20kmh in strength and 90 degrees in direction in just a few hours. We did manage to fly however, and at two spectacular sites. The first, a site called Noordhoek, saw several of us launching in 40kmh lulls and beating our way down the ridge in turbulent and very crosswind conditions, to be rewarded by a landing on the beach at False Bay, where great white sharks lunge above the surface of the water in search of seal lunches and where we waded (not swam) into the Indian Ocean. Those who were left on launch at Nordhoek had to defend themselves from a gang of savage baboons who would steal anything not nailed down, and who even opened car doors to snatch food and brazenly hiss at and harass the vehicle`s owner. Later, we followed the wind back to the peaks above the city of Cape Town to take the prize of the day: Lion`s Head. Hiking up to launch, 50kmh winds were tearing through the trees in the venturi created by Lion`s Head peak and Table Mountain, and it seemed absurd that we were even carrying our gliders up to launch, but we rounded the corner and felt a gentle 15kmh breeze coming straight up the face. We launched in rapid fire succession, and soon all 8 of us were treated to views of Table Mountain and the 12 Apostles, the southern Atlantic, and downtown Kaapstad (Cape Town). A long session of flawless coastal soaring ensued, with all of us cruising easily up to 700m msl and gliding out to burn it off or flying wagas over the trail and the granite boulders below the peak. The sometimes rowdy thermals that were passing through in the afternoon mellowed out later in the evening, and by 6:30pm we were basking in the warm light of a stellar South African sunset. And where did we land once the sun had set? On grassy field at the beach, adjacent to the bar, of course.
December 16 - Porterville
Today, Friday, dawned overcast and cool, but the report from Porterville at 9am was `Sun, light west winds, cumulus clouds already forming`. We immediately drove the 150km north to the famous XC site, and were on launch before noon. Dust devils, a welcome site, danced through the wheat fields in the valley and tore up the shrubbery around launch. By 12:30 the entire team was gaggled up in 5m/s thermals over the flatlands in front of launch. Today Mathieu Rouanet was flying our photographer on the new Magnum Tandem with his PAP motor, which kept the camera in perfect position all day. Thermals ranged in strength from 3-7m/s, giving us all a nice warm up for the desert flying that we`ll be experiencing from Sunday on…
December 17 - The Trek North
This morning in Cape Town we met the massive Safari Truck and its crew: Alan, Venga, and Onius, who will be our mobile base camp technicians for the journey southwards. The truck is a sturdy 10 wheel affair, with a 10,000km range and room for 20 passengers. It`s comfortable enough, but from here on we hope to be traveling by paraglider! At the moment we are holed up in the outback style bar at the Springbok Airstrip, 1400km northwest of our goal, being briefed by Arnold from De Aar on the conditions that await us.
December 18 - We Fly
Today will be the first day of towing in the desert. After loading strange sounding waypoints into our GPS systems and pouring over an impressive selection of very detailed maps (that showed us in minute detail how little there is where we will be flying), we are about to tow launch from the Springbok Lughawe (Airport). The wind is light, and currently swinging around to a westerly direction which favors our easterly route: first turnpoint, Gamoep, a dusty crossroads at the north end of the Karoo Desert. For the next 4 days we will be without mobile phone connections and nowhere near any sort of towns, and will be linked to the rest of the world only by Satellit
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