Weekend Report: Soaring celebration
Saturday
It was nothing short of a “celebration of soaring” and what we hope is the beginning of a great soaring season! After what looked like a lousy day – thickly blue-grey with an inversion, it eventually became a soaring pilot’s paradise with flights reaching as far as the Sandveld just north of Renosterhoek, Du Toitskloof, Villiersdorp and Ashton.
Added to the usual goings on, we had 11 visitors from Worcester for “air experience flights”. This was a tem-building exercise by a local Worcester company and made a really busy time for everyone at the launch point, especially the instructors, of whom extras were brought in for the occasion. Thanks to Johnny Navarro who joined in this “festive” occasion by supplying borewors rolls at the launch point. One of the hardest worked members on this day was tug pilot, Mark, who was in the saddle from 10h30 to 17h45!
A light note concerns one of the local "air experience pilots" who was flown by Wally Tamsen in a Ka7. This man had already had a beer and was feeling a bit merry - as Wally took off behind the tug, we could hear him whooping and yelling all the way down the runway! I think the beer fumes were quite overwhelming as Wally landed exactly 29 minutes after take off! Wally later told me this guy kept it up for the entire flight! As far as PR goes, this introduction to gliding for so many Worcester folk has made people more aware of our virtually unknown sport and may bode well for obtaining future interest from the local community.
All told Saturday was a “bumper day”. Best flights were in the region of 450km. There were so many pilots flying that I won’t even try to remember all the names.
The day closed with a beautiful still evening and a most pleasant gathering of pilots, wives, girlfriends and dogs around the braai.
The only bad news from Saturday is that Ian Forbes, while trying to prevent the Twin Astir colliding with the tail of the tug after an aborted lake off, broke his arm and dislocated his elbow as he collided with the hard runway surface. He’s had one or two operations already and is being discharged from hospital today.
Sunday
The day commenced with a weather briefing from Alan – thank you Alan – more of this would be most edifying. The weather turned out to be more or less a repeat performance of the previous day, but quite a bit more tricky. The Porterville, Witzenberg and Langeberg runs were boiling away with thermals. Early in the day the Swellendam mountains were dead, and later they picked up but were hampered by very low cloud bases. Alan and Sven both landed out, for which they both get 100% for trying hard. The best flights were in the region of 650km.
Sunday duty pilot, Coen Marais, did a splendid job of keeping the peace by getting everyone launched in order. This even included the pilot who phoned his name in. Listen guys, this kind of thing is not on. When you arrive at the field put your name on the list – don’t get someone else to put it on before you get there – it is selfish and sets a bad example.
Peter W & Alison
It was nothing short of a “celebration of soaring” and what we hope is the beginning of a great soaring season! After what looked like a lousy day – thickly blue-grey with an inversion, it eventually became a soaring pilot’s paradise with flights reaching as far as the Sandveld just north of Renosterhoek, Du Toitskloof, Villiersdorp and Ashton.
Added to the usual goings on, we had 11 visitors from Worcester for “air experience flights”. This was a tem-building exercise by a local Worcester company and made a really busy time for everyone at the launch point, especially the instructors, of whom extras were brought in for the occasion. Thanks to Johnny Navarro who joined in this “festive” occasion by supplying borewors rolls at the launch point. One of the hardest worked members on this day was tug pilot, Mark, who was in the saddle from 10h30 to 17h45!
A light note concerns one of the local "air experience pilots" who was flown by Wally Tamsen in a Ka7. This man had already had a beer and was feeling a bit merry - as Wally took off behind the tug, we could hear him whooping and yelling all the way down the runway! I think the beer fumes were quite overwhelming as Wally landed exactly 29 minutes after take off! Wally later told me this guy kept it up for the entire flight! As far as PR goes, this introduction to gliding for so many Worcester folk has made people more aware of our virtually unknown sport and may bode well for obtaining future interest from the local community.
All told Saturday was a “bumper day”. Best flights were in the region of 450km. There were so many pilots flying that I won’t even try to remember all the names.
The day closed with a beautiful still evening and a most pleasant gathering of pilots, wives, girlfriends and dogs around the braai.
The only bad news from Saturday is that Ian Forbes, while trying to prevent the Twin Astir colliding with the tail of the tug after an aborted lake off, broke his arm and dislocated his elbow as he collided with the hard runway surface. He’s had one or two operations already and is being discharged from hospital today.
Sunday
The day commenced with a weather briefing from Alan – thank you Alan – more of this would be most edifying. The weather turned out to be more or less a repeat performance of the previous day, but quite a bit more tricky. The Porterville, Witzenberg and Langeberg runs were boiling away with thermals. Early in the day the Swellendam mountains were dead, and later they picked up but were hampered by very low cloud bases. Alan and Sven both landed out, for which they both get 100% for trying hard. The best flights were in the region of 650km.
Sunday duty pilot, Coen Marais, did a splendid job of keeping the peace by getting everyone launched in order. This even included the pilot who phoned his name in. Listen guys, this kind of thing is not on. When you arrive at the field put your name on the list – don’t get someone else to put it on before you get there – it is selfish and sets a bad example.
Peter W & Alison
posted by CGC Reporter at 21.11.05
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