Weekend Report: Not SO rough!
For some of us the weekend began on Friday afternoon when Johnny and I in VAE, Rudi and Gerhard in GXC, John Spargo and a friend in GZF and the Puschers in DHL all set off for Tanqua despite Alan’s very accurate weather forecast. In fact, his predictions helped tremendously in our route planning. Paul and Kathy Baily traveled by road and arrived at the farm after dark. Rob Kakebeeke arrived on Saturday afternoon after a round trip via Sutherland and Calvinia.
A great time was had by all with fantastic food, a great rest and lots of swimming and flying. Unfortunately Boet Coetzee developed a suspected motor problem and could not join us and Otto did not make much headway in the strong wind in his DG500 so decided not to continue and stayed local.
The trip back on Sunday was stunning until we exited the Hex river Valley on the Worcester side and then became very turbulent as we descended. The approach in that severe wind of about 50kph was also nailbiting and Johnny managed to land VAE safely.
Many thanks again to Ester and Alewyn Burger for their wonderful hospitality! It really is a pleasure visiting your wonderful farm.
Saturday at the field was fairly busy but only one student arrived and, because of the strong wind, flew GOK instead of the training glider.
For some pilots the conditions were challenging and congratulations to Adriaan who flew in excess of 500km and flew to Renosterhoek and back twice. Alan O’Regan and Randy Cullen as well as Nico le Roux (in his beautiful ASW20b) also had good flights. Once again we were supported by our KLM friends who came for air experience flights as well as a pilot from the UK.
Thanks to Peter Farrell who worked extremely hard as duty pilot as well as Brian Cole. Both were ably assisted by Jerry Betbeder on the ground and Mike Pascoe who instructed and flew paxes.
Alison
Sunday Flying:
Well, let’s start with a nice social evening Saturday night. I arrived at 18h32 at the club and did a “greeting round”. A fire was already lit for the braai which was to follow. Michael and his girlfriend were cleaning out their newly acquired poolside villa, which I think also doubled as a nice workout for his ballast...
Marion and Brian were also seen (and indirectly heard) with their newest accomplice - welcome Penelope!! (Hope it’s spelled right) An adorable little girl which had everyone oogling... Ed omnipresent as always manned the bar, and there could be found the likes of Trevour, Adriaan, Adri, Otto, and Brian (amongst the ones I could remember).
Bill and his wife also stayed over and I was sure I saw Bill’s hanger door opened by a crack till after dinner. Alan O’Regan and the family also used their hut, with the man doing a lot of braai’ng and the next day a lot of flying… Kite flying that is. Or was that crashing…?
Dinner was primarily braaivleis, wine and salad.
Later that night unidentified silver BMW was seen racing into the club, the owner unknown to the author followed by a hangar alarm wailing... Strange things..? Oh well.
I slept over in a hanger on Saturday evening which allowed me to pinpoint the exact time the wind started to blow – 06h43. About the same time the birds woke up some chirping noise (maybe they did this earlier but I was still dreaming about avgas). Well, to make a long story short: Everything was taken out and ready to roll by 08h00. Gareth Arrived and did a DI on GUC. Arri swapped duty with Nina and was cleaning MIV shortly after GUC arrived at the launch point. Mike Pascoe stayed over and did some “weed eating” that morning around his hanger (something some other people should also do…) Sven was there with his red racer and was contemplating flying... The show kicked off with a very excited Gareth taking the first launch at 2 minutes to 10 in GUC. Well done Gareth by taking the silent award for the longest duration flight for the day, just over 3 and half hours “… of scratching every millimeter of lift…”. We had 2 visiting members from clubs in the EU. One from England – John, and the other from Scotland – Peter. Both hand nice flights with GOK on Vic peak thanks to Phil Surridge who also did all of the instructing for the whole day on his own – Phil... You’re the man. The member quantity picked up with Rob Tiffin arriving and giving 2 x pax flights to his invited guests. Helmut had a flight in GOK, Kelvin also and his daughter Demi was very fortunate (to the jealous remarks of her dad) to have a flight with Rico in the DG! Mike Pascoe also flew his glider and William had an early and quick go in GIG. At this point I must congratulate Arri – Hectic turbulent conditions and some cross wind, but he did not even sweat, and actually encouraged everyone to: “…man, get in and get up!”
All this during the arriving of the Tankwa elopers. One of the arriving aircraft had an interesting 1st landing attempt (`n goeie ding is dat nie baie mense Afrikaans oor die radio verstaan nie, anders was hy dalk aangekla by die “Broadcasting complaints commission”).
There was a short interval of 30 minutes during which time Mike took his glider back to the hanger. After that Gareth and Jacobus swapped places and Jacobus took GUC for a 4 minutes shorter flight than Gareth. Some members had opinions about his release height but at the end of the day a full circle was flown from Jan du Toits to Keeromberg, over the valley to Vic peak and over to Waaihoek via Slanghoek mountain through 4 wave bars! (and GUC made it back to the airfield) Unfortunately he was marginally beaten by William on OLC distance (164km vs. 178km), so no silent awards (shutup I don’t want any complaining). GIG, flown by William, on the last tow from Arri, soon followed GUC for the wave flight and got into controlled airspace in a BOOMING wave bar (5+ up). William did a nice distance flight after exploring the options at Keeroms and going back to into the wave to Villiersdorp and back. Nice one William – you receive the silent award for distance.
Then there was our happy Kevin who took off in his DG and also flew everywhere. Brandwacht, Jan du Toits, Vic peak, Rawsonville ECT. All in all a nice day Sunday. After everything was packed, some drinks, flight logs and entertainment was enjoyed at the bar. Ask Ed about 45 degrees into not 1 but 2 thunderstorms. What a crackle!
Thanks all for the day Sunday especially the people on Duty – Arri, Phil, Gareth and Jacobus.
(J)
A great time was had by all with fantastic food, a great rest and lots of swimming and flying. Unfortunately Boet Coetzee developed a suspected motor problem and could not join us and Otto did not make much headway in the strong wind in his DG500 so decided not to continue and stayed local.
The trip back on Sunday was stunning until we exited the Hex river Valley on the Worcester side and then became very turbulent as we descended. The approach in that severe wind of about 50kph was also nailbiting and Johnny managed to land VAE safely.
Many thanks again to Ester and Alewyn Burger for their wonderful hospitality! It really is a pleasure visiting your wonderful farm.
Saturday at the field was fairly busy but only one student arrived and, because of the strong wind, flew GOK instead of the training glider.
For some pilots the conditions were challenging and congratulations to Adriaan who flew in excess of 500km and flew to Renosterhoek and back twice. Alan O’Regan and Randy Cullen as well as Nico le Roux (in his beautiful ASW20b) also had good flights. Once again we were supported by our KLM friends who came for air experience flights as well as a pilot from the UK.
Thanks to Peter Farrell who worked extremely hard as duty pilot as well as Brian Cole. Both were ably assisted by Jerry Betbeder on the ground and Mike Pascoe who instructed and flew paxes.
Alison
Sunday Flying:
Well, let’s start with a nice social evening Saturday night. I arrived at 18h32 at the club and did a “greeting round”. A fire was already lit for the braai which was to follow. Michael and his girlfriend were cleaning out their newly acquired poolside villa, which I think also doubled as a nice workout for his ballast...
Marion and Brian were also seen (and indirectly heard) with their newest accomplice - welcome Penelope!! (Hope it’s spelled right) An adorable little girl which had everyone oogling... Ed omnipresent as always manned the bar, and there could be found the likes of Trevour, Adriaan, Adri, Otto, and Brian (amongst the ones I could remember).
Bill and his wife also stayed over and I was sure I saw Bill’s hanger door opened by a crack till after dinner. Alan O’Regan and the family also used their hut, with the man doing a lot of braai’ng and the next day a lot of flying… Kite flying that is. Or was that crashing…?
Dinner was primarily braaivleis, wine and salad.
Later that night unidentified silver BMW was seen racing into the club, the owner unknown to the author followed by a hangar alarm wailing... Strange things..? Oh well.
I slept over in a hanger on Saturday evening which allowed me to pinpoint the exact time the wind started to blow – 06h43. About the same time the birds woke up some chirping noise (maybe they did this earlier but I was still dreaming about avgas). Well, to make a long story short: Everything was taken out and ready to roll by 08h00. Gareth Arrived and did a DI on GUC. Arri swapped duty with Nina and was cleaning MIV shortly after GUC arrived at the launch point. Mike Pascoe stayed over and did some “weed eating” that morning around his hanger (something some other people should also do…) Sven was there with his red racer and was contemplating flying... The show kicked off with a very excited Gareth taking the first launch at 2 minutes to 10 in GUC. Well done Gareth by taking the silent award for the longest duration flight for the day, just over 3 and half hours “… of scratching every millimeter of lift…”. We had 2 visiting members from clubs in the EU. One from England – John, and the other from Scotland – Peter. Both hand nice flights with GOK on Vic peak thanks to Phil Surridge who also did all of the instructing for the whole day on his own – Phil... You’re the man. The member quantity picked up with Rob Tiffin arriving and giving 2 x pax flights to his invited guests. Helmut had a flight in GOK, Kelvin also and his daughter Demi was very fortunate (to the jealous remarks of her dad) to have a flight with Rico in the DG! Mike Pascoe also flew his glider and William had an early and quick go in GIG. At this point I must congratulate Arri – Hectic turbulent conditions and some cross wind, but he did not even sweat, and actually encouraged everyone to: “…man, get in and get up!”
All this during the arriving of the Tankwa elopers. One of the arriving aircraft had an interesting 1st landing attempt (`n goeie ding is dat nie baie mense Afrikaans oor die radio verstaan nie, anders was hy dalk aangekla by die “Broadcasting complaints commission”).
There was a short interval of 30 minutes during which time Mike took his glider back to the hanger. After that Gareth and Jacobus swapped places and Jacobus took GUC for a 4 minutes shorter flight than Gareth. Some members had opinions about his release height but at the end of the day a full circle was flown from Jan du Toits to Keeromberg, over the valley to Vic peak and over to Waaihoek via Slanghoek mountain through 4 wave bars! (and GUC made it back to the airfield) Unfortunately he was marginally beaten by William on OLC distance (164km vs. 178km), so no silent awards (shutup I don’t want any complaining). GIG, flown by William, on the last tow from Arri, soon followed GUC for the wave flight and got into controlled airspace in a BOOMING wave bar (5+ up). William did a nice distance flight after exploring the options at Keeroms and going back to into the wave to Villiersdorp and back. Nice one William – you receive the silent award for distance.
Then there was our happy Kevin who took off in his DG and also flew everywhere. Brandwacht, Jan du Toits, Vic peak, Rawsonville ECT. All in all a nice day Sunday. After everything was packed, some drinks, flight logs and entertainment was enjoyed at the bar. Ask Ed about 45 degrees into not 1 but 2 thunderstorms. What a crackle!
Thanks all for the day Sunday especially the people on Duty – Arri, Phil, Gareth and Jacobus.
(J)
posted by CGC Reporter at 30.10.06
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