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Using the Strongest Ridge Lift to fly Fast.
Last Saturday, I was travelling to a Porteville with Grove Steyn,a local sailplane / hangglider / PPL pilot.
On the way he told me about the Worcester gliding club, and how, in good conditions pilots fly to George and back again.(~400km out and return) I was aware of this and also about the stress of out landing big expensive sailplanes in fields. (Grove's other experiences are great stories too!) Recently all the speed records for that route had been shattered by a pilot that never flew above the ridge, all the way there and and back.
The theory is that if there is ridge lift, then the fastest route along the ridge is in the strongest section of lift, and converting that lift into forward speed. I was amazed, because usually we HG pilots just want to get high, and then, maybe go fast.
Anyway, the day proved rainy, and most HG pilots headed for the coast to find some dunes to soar. Grove and I fell asleep at Dasklip take off, the wind was shaking his Land Cruizer on its suspension. About 17:20, we got a call from the nearby town, to ask about conditions. It was still too strong for Paragliders, but apperently the wind had backed off completely on the ground at the town. This was great news, and we leapt out, rigged and preflighted.
Grove took off first, and was only airborne for a few minutes before I too took to the air. Much thanks to the PG pilots from the South Cape (Roy is from Sedgefield) for the wing assitance. The wind was a bit from the south, and it was awesome to have some pilots around for the take off. It was after 18:00, and I knew the sun would soon set.
I set off into the southerly, towards Porteville town, seeing Grove ahead, higher, and on the move. I was not sure about how long the ridge would work, and was concerned about cloudsuck, and maintained about 200m ATO. When I got to big peak south of Eselfontein, I saw Grove low down, and I fretted about landing so soon. I worked up to 460m ATO and then headed after him. But he was pacing it. Really going. I realised he was "Power Flying", so I pulled in, and cruised passed Waterval (campsite), Laatson. My glider is much quicker than Grove's 12 year old Icaro XS, but I was not gaining on him that much. I kept up the speed, cruising with the speed bar at my lower chest. VG full on.
From just past Porteville the ridge faces slight more into the southerly wind, and we picked up the pace. I knew the sun would set just after 19:00, and we had to hurry. Grove was now just above the ridge, and still way ahead. Very slowly I closed on him, only catching up as we reached the Big Gap before the town of Saron. (thats 25km into wind) we turned and I realised that we had about 20 min of light left. I reckoned it was about 10km back to town, where our retrieve vehicle had kindly been driven too. I wanted to land at Rob Manzoni's house on the outskirts. I thought that in the fading light, we may be forced to land somewhere while we could still see well enough to setup our landings properly. I gave myself another 10 minutes on the ridge, before I would land.
The town of Porteville lay what looked quite far away. I burned away from Grove with a tailwind (rapidly dropping) helping us along. I hoped that at least on of us could make it to his vehicle. Just before town I climbed to 380m ATO, and headed on a crosswind downwind glide, VG full tight. The sun was below the horizon, behind the clouds and I knew that we had maybe 15 minutes of light left. The glide out from the ridge was uneventful, though there was only sink away from the ridge. When I saw I would definately make it, I dived over the town, hurtling over the house at about 80m AGL. I setup low, no wind, long skim in ground effect , small field in front of Robs house). I had a bit of VG on, as it gives the glider a more crisp flair in no wind. As I skimmed into the field, the tall grass and weeds caught my VG chord, yanking it free from the cleat. I was bleeding of Speed, and saw the glider swallow the whole string. OK! I know I'd have to give a very solid flair. The feedback was good, and I flaired in line the house, a no stepper! Yay! Thanks to Vossie for the little "runway" he mowed in the weeds/grass.
I was thrilled. Cees and Maryke came out the house to see me Whooping with joy. They thought it was an owl! hehe. I described out flight, and my concern for where Grove would be now. And above the house, a hang glider appeared! It was Grove! Not even 5 minutes behind! wow! He had to fly at best glide speeds to fly all the way from the ridge. There was very little wind, and he had never landed at the house before. He landed well, a bit over shot, but that was the safe option. We were both very excited about the flight. Its the fasted I've ever flown for an hour. We covered 42km in less than an hour, at least 25km into wind. I wonder if we could have gone faster. We just had time to derig before darkness fell. We loaded the gliders and stopped to have a beer.
That was a Power Flight. Our arms were sore from holding the gliders in dives for so long. The air was so smooth we had our VG's full on 99% of the time.
Created on 2003-10-31 04:25:39 by ianni
Updated on 2009-12-26 11:44:57 by ianni
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