This morning the wind is light from the southwest, but is forecasted to become very strong in the afternoon. It`s 9 in the morning now and our plan is to launch early and try to get to De Aar before it blows out…
Alas, we spent the day relaxing by the pool in De Aar at Potties B&B, which was a welcome change from the dusty desert heat of the Karoo! De Aar is a quiet little town in the central Karoo, and happens to be a rather popular distance flying site. At Potties, we met up with Andre and Alfredo, the two Swiss pilots here for the Swing South Africa XC mission. Andre and Alfredo are so keen to break distance records that they`re staying right here in De Aar for a few weeks! We told them stories of the desolate, far off, previously unflown territory we had just come through, and they regaled us with tales of cloudbases closer to outer space and the 7 hour downwind flights that they were occasionally rewarded with after days of waiting. Tomorrow we`ll all be flying in the same region, and the forecast is looking better… so stay tuned for news of Friday`s flights!
De Aar to Venterstad
The forecast was far more optimistic than reality today, but we definitely made the best of the marginal conditions. Cloudbase was supposed to be above 5000m, with very strong lift and west wind- ideal for covering ground eastwards. The reality was west-northwest winds that turned out to be a lot stronger than the lift, which was mostly 2-3m/s that only seldom took us above 3000m. We towed up from the airfield in De Aar, site of the most recent South African distance record. By the time dust devils were kicking off and conditions were good the wind was a steady 40kmh, which made the towing interesting. To elaborate: on he ground it was a steady 35km with gusts to 55km, and dust devils rolling through periodically. We would pull up our wings and immediately be going straight up and sometimes slightly backwards on tow, usually releasing a couple hundred meters higher but not much further upwind of where we launched from! After releasing, the first few kilometers were very difficult, with torturously weak lift and high winds. For most of us the first half of the day was a long series of low saves above lonely desert terrain until the conditions shaped up a bit and we could climb past 3000m. The ground here is between 1000 and 1400 meters, which means that struggling with weak climbs between 1800 and 3000m gets tiring very fast. 100km into the flight, several of the team landed at Colesburg, but Mike and Matt, both flying Addicts, managed to continue on to Venterstad for 150 and 160 km flights, respectively. Mike and Matt both eventually got climbs to over 4200m, and recorded ground speeds of 90kmh on their GPS. Walter Neser, who joined us in Bradvlei a few days ago, tried launching tandem in the 40+ winds and tangled up with Jeff Ayliffe, our videographer (knocking Jeff off his feet), only to get yanked skywards on tow with a freshly torn glider. Walter landed and re-launched with his Ozone 69 acro wing and immediately redeemed himself, flying 258kms to Aliwall! The Safari truck overheated in Colesburg, so Arnold fetched them in Venterstad and we all camped together in Colesburg.
Colesburg South- south wind, that is.
This morning the forecast is for south wind and even weaker lift. At this point we need to fly directly to the south, so obviously the weather is not cooperating with our master plan. We`re not worried about it however; right now we`re not far from a good airfield where we plan to tow up and see what happens. If we fly in the wrong direction, at least we`ll be flying!
And don`t forget- the Find the Addict Contest is will be running until March 31 2006, so if you haven`t already, go to http://www.ibexinternet.co.uk/findtheaddict/ and enter! The winner will have their choice of any Ozone glider! (excludes tandem). Merry Christmas Eve to you all from the Ozone Team!
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