Ghosting along

Another interesting day on the Langeberge with Quinton (85) accompanied by Cornelius (07)turning Suurbraak (just short of Tradouw's Pass) and then climbing 'like a homesick angel' to 6500 on the Western side of Jan du Toit's before Peter Wooley (KS) spotted convergence in the lee of the Riviersonderend allowing them to have a look at Greyton(!) for a total of 356km.

A day noticable by a number of pilots 'ghosting' along, leaving no trace of their activity on OLC despite a number of sitings in the sky.

124.6kph for 35 hours?

It doesn't seem possible does it? But pilot Hans Sterling of the Cape Gliding Club achieved it. It equates to a lot of kilometers (over 4000), which thankfully wasn't all in one flight! It highlights a consistency of weather that implies we can keep doing it.

The location we have is perhaps one of the best in the world for ridge flying, and we have let the cat out of the bag via OLC already. The opportunity is crystal clear: the best site in the world right next to one of the top tourist destinations? Some things need to be made to happen, others happen despite what you do. Razor wire ain't gonna keep them away.

We could do a lot worse than attract additional talent to Worcester - and that would move us towards a 7-day operation which means we can leave Groundhog Days to the inhabitants of Punxsutawny and fly whenever there are good days in the summer. No slight on our unbelievably willing population of tug pilots is intended - where else in the world would you find a tuggie prepared to do a 200km round trip for 30 minutes of flying? Hats off to the tugmiesters.

Someone was rude enough to question the rationale for this blog - good question. We noticed that clubs that manage to attract serious vistors (they are hard to miss - the ones that arrive with containers!) have we-blog-ged daily events where potential visitors can see what the 'locals' are doing without having had to be a member of a mailing list for the last year.

And hence this blog. It is not intended to displace any other communication or organ of the CGC - it is intended to augment and form an integral part of the CGC site that will encourage additional visitors to our field.

A nudge towards 7-days a week.

Groundhog Day

Well, the gliders are grounded (may their purist sneers comfort them at work!) and unless the iron thermals rescue CGC, it will be just another westerly day at Worcester, Portville and Gordons Bay with nothing to show for it (or to write about!).

That's funny, this seems a bit like yesterday (actually, groundhog day is February 2nd)!

But wait! There is one fun fact (a brainteaser actually) to cloud your thoughts today. Who do you think has the highest average speed of all their CGC flights logged on OLC? Don't cheat - record your answer in a comment - and check back tomorrow for the answer!

Otto (TR) is back!

TR is now back with its rightful owner and Otto is clocking up good distances again with an interesting flight out over the front valley at Porterville, down to Bains on the ridge and then back to the front valley before returning home - a useful 300+ at 113kph.

See the flight on: OLC (click to view)

DG400 goes to Swellendam

As one of the few to venture out of local range today, Rob Kakebeeke made it to Swellendam (and back!) after considering there was too much moisture on the Langeberge and cloud base was too low.

Well done Rob, why not start logging these flights on OLC?

Adrian Hepburn made it to th ePorterville ridge (again under a rather low cloudbase) and got shot down at Apiesklip. Note this one well team - coming South around Waaihoek corner in a SE requires plenty of altitude - you almost need enough altitude to glide to Keeromberg - so top up at Waaihoek if possible before making the jump!

Well done Adrian - we must get these flights onto OLC!

OLC IGC Southern Hemisphere Champions!!

After two weeks of flying, Martin Grünert (TR) took overall line honours in the International Gliding Commission’s prestigious 100 Year Anniversary Southern Hemisphere Challenge with a flight of 991km from Worcester.

Cape pilots took 3 of the top 4 overall places:

• Martin Grünert (DG500M 22m – 1st),
• Alan O’Regan (LS8 – 2nd), and
• Reinhold Lawrenz (DG500M 22m – 4th).

Pilots from the Cape Gliding Club at Worcester, also won 4 out of 6 possible individual class medals:

• Martin Grünert (Open Class – DG500M 22m - 991km),
• Peter Farrell (15m Class – Ventus 1 - 820km),
• Alan O’Regan (Standard Class – LS8 - 958km), and
• Sven Olivier (Club Class – Astir CS - 544km).

The World Class (PW5) was not contested and Australian Rudolf Hertzog of the Murray Valley Soaring Club won the 18m class (Ventus 17.6 – 828km) flying from Corowa, Australia.

Well done team!

Inversion Rules

On the last day of the IGC OLC Southern Hemisphere competition, an early start under a (not yet broken) inversion caused the stubby wings problems with Alan (X32) and Sven(S9) landing out on the way to Tulbagh. Rumour has it that that is Alan's fourth outlanding in a row - he'll be need a new pair of running shoes soon!

Martin (TR) managed a creditable 560km and landed early at 16:50. With the day improving all the time 800km was certainly possible (and Martin agrees)!

Thanks to all the stalwarts who ventured into the unknown to retrieve the stubby duffers.