5000km: What a day!
By November 2004, the Cape Gliding Club had been based in Worcester for 16 years and grown to 130 members, but had only notched up one flight over 1000km (in 2003) by an Open Class glider from Worcester.
Five pilots (Reinhold Lawrenz. Martin Gruenert, Sven Olivier, Alan O’Regan and Peter Farrel) arrived at Worcester early today with the expectation of an excellent day. The day had dawned clear with a moderate South Wester (25kph at 3000ft) forecast ahead of an approaching high pressure system and with a cold front having passed through overnight. The South Westers are perfect for gliding out of Worcester as the ridges North to Citrusdal as well as the ridge East to George all work well in these conditions.
Alan aerotowed first quickly followed by Sven, with Martin and Reinhold using their engines to get to release height (3500ft). Heading North, we rounded Mitchell’s Peak and crossed onto the Witzenberg mountains east of Tulbagh, but these were not working sufficiently to allow the usual northerly passage to Porterville and we diverted across Tulbagh and joined the Portville ridge from the lee of Saronberg. Unusually, the Portville ridge was also marginal and Sven dumped all his water ballast in an effort to stay airbourne.
From Portville we hugged the ridge north to our planned turn at 2500ft Renosterhoek (about 20km northwest of the Citrusdal) and backtracked to Saronberg. Here the tactics differed with Martin and Reinhold heading east for the Langeberge while Sven and Alan continued south to turn at 3400ft overhead the Du Toits Kloof tunnel. This proved an excellent choice as early in the day the wind was a little more Westerly and the North/South ridges were working well.
The 215km run north back to Renosterhoek and South again to Saronberg took 1h23 minutes (for an average speed of 155 kph) – most of it below 3000ft – and at times the groundspeed exceeded 220kph. We had now covered 450 kilometers in just under 3 hours (it was about 13h00) but the best was yet to come as we headed East across the Tulbagh valley arriving on the Witzenberg at 2100ft and heading South to pick up the Langeberge at Worcester.
The route West down the Breede River valley past Robertson and Ashton to Swellendam was a racetrack and we continued to average 146kph, but now slightly higher operation at 4000ft. After Tredoux Pass it got tricky as the ridge is not clearly defined and the ridge and thermal lift was very much reduced and the speeds dropped significantly until Heidelberg where a combination of Wave ridge and thermal combined to dramatically increase speeds again. Along this well-defined ridge we were able to average over 170kph complete a 60km stretch in 21 minutes.
Unfortunately, the goal of George itself was not achievable as the cold front from the previous night had not yet cleared the George area and Alan was forced to turn just short of Mosselbay (some 230km from Worcester) at 15:53 now having covered nearly 750km in 6 hours. The run back to Worcester was problematic and only averaged 118kph, with the wind turning South East on the Langeberge and the ridges either side of Swellendam in deep overcast necessitating two thermal climbs to stay in contact with the ridge.
We passed Worcester and turned North again at 18h00, now having flown 940 km in just under 8 hours. The run north was benefiting from the ridges facing into the sun and the 105km to Piekenierskloof (abeam Citrusdal) took a mere 34 minutes (185kph). But at 18h34 and 2600ft, 125km feels a long way from home! But the mountains remained consistent allowing a run at 170kph and a landing before sunset at 19h21.
Although we had opted for different routes, 5 pilots completed OLC tasks totalling a little over 5000km that day, a real testament to how far the club has come to understanding the flying conditions in the Cape.
What a day!
Five pilots (Reinhold Lawrenz. Martin Gruenert, Sven Olivier, Alan O’Regan and Peter Farrel) arrived at Worcester early today with the expectation of an excellent day. The day had dawned clear with a moderate South Wester (25kph at 3000ft) forecast ahead of an approaching high pressure system and with a cold front having passed through overnight. The South Westers are perfect for gliding out of Worcester as the ridges North to Citrusdal as well as the ridge East to George all work well in these conditions.
Alan aerotowed first quickly followed by Sven, with Martin and Reinhold using their engines to get to release height (3500ft). Heading North, we rounded Mitchell’s Peak and crossed onto the Witzenberg mountains east of Tulbagh, but these were not working sufficiently to allow the usual northerly passage to Porterville and we diverted across Tulbagh and joined the Portville ridge from the lee of Saronberg. Unusually, the Portville ridge was also marginal and Sven dumped all his water ballast in an effort to stay airbourne.
From Portville we hugged the ridge north to our planned turn at 2500ft Renosterhoek (about 20km northwest of the Citrusdal) and backtracked to Saronberg. Here the tactics differed with Martin and Reinhold heading east for the Langeberge while Sven and Alan continued south to turn at 3400ft overhead the Du Toits Kloof tunnel. This proved an excellent choice as early in the day the wind was a little more Westerly and the North/South ridges were working well.
The 215km run north back to Renosterhoek and South again to Saronberg took 1h23 minutes (for an average speed of 155 kph) – most of it below 3000ft – and at times the groundspeed exceeded 220kph. We had now covered 450 kilometers in just under 3 hours (it was about 13h00) but the best was yet to come as we headed East across the Tulbagh valley arriving on the Witzenberg at 2100ft and heading South to pick up the Langeberge at Worcester.
The route West down the Breede River valley past Robertson and Ashton to Swellendam was a racetrack and we continued to average 146kph, but now slightly higher operation at 4000ft. After Tredoux Pass it got tricky as the ridge is not clearly defined and the ridge and thermal lift was very much reduced and the speeds dropped significantly until Heidelberg where a combination of Wave ridge and thermal combined to dramatically increase speeds again. Along this well-defined ridge we were able to average over 170kph complete a 60km stretch in 21 minutes.
Unfortunately, the goal of George itself was not achievable as the cold front from the previous night had not yet cleared the George area and Alan was forced to turn just short of Mosselbay (some 230km from Worcester) at 15:53 now having covered nearly 750km in 6 hours. The run back to Worcester was problematic and only averaged 118kph, with the wind turning South East on the Langeberge and the ridges either side of Swellendam in deep overcast necessitating two thermal climbs to stay in contact with the ridge.
We passed Worcester and turned North again at 18h00, now having flown 940 km in just under 8 hours. The run north was benefiting from the ridges facing into the sun and the 105km to Piekenierskloof (abeam Citrusdal) took a mere 34 minutes (185kph). But at 18h34 and 2600ft, 125km feels a long way from home! But the mountains remained consistent allowing a run at 170kph and a landing before sunset at 19h21.
Although we had opted for different routes, 5 pilots completed OLC tasks totalling a little over 5000km that day, a real testament to how far the club has come to understanding the flying conditions in the Cape.
What a day!
posted by CGC Reporter at 20.11.04
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