Sproing in the cable

Saturday was a beautiful spring day with no wind whatsoever, a nice temperature of 20 degree, snow on the mountains, lush green veld, yellow flowers –in short one should be out and about. The show was run by the resident A&A team.
With great pleasure we saw that some new trees were being planted. Kevin got one planted while somewhere else kameeldorings were planted with a rain pipe next to it. We are not 100% sure about its purpose but presume it is a water reservoir. It looks a bit like a vent pipe on a sewer pit. Sorry I digress.
The winch team had five visitors. Nico gave a hand and is trying to get the operation up to Henneman standard. We had one cable break on the new cable nogal with ten launches.
Nice to see the K8 flying. The very stable conditions are not good for soaring so nobody stayed up longer than 30 minutes. The usual experience flights took place. No better day than this without any turbulence whatsoever.
Sunday started with no wind but around ten o’clock it started blowing hard and it the late afternoon the rain started. Last night a lot of water fell-more than a normal showery front produces.

Rob K

Sweeps and roundabouts

Maintenance Day was well attended with 35 members (out of the 73 listed) and got off to a slow start but picked up momentum as the day got warmer.

GOK, GUU, GUZ, GIG and GZF are all serviceable with GUC having major work done on the connector rods for the wings and GHB some repairwork which is time consuming. The hanger is clean as well as the winch setup serviced. Both RV’s are serviceable and I would like to remind the duty pilots to use the VW RV often as this prevents the battery from running flat. Both tugs were springcleaned and Adri swept the stones off the end of the runways.

Lunch was hot dogs in the Clubhouse and worked resumed after lunch. Many went to have a look at Friederich’s Apis which had arrived and he spent some time cleaning and getting ready. Rob Tiffin painted the floor of the Startwagon and Sven went around the various hangers upgrading the Flarm units.

At the end of all the work the Lambada got airborne with the Hepburns and then the Grob first had a flight with Nina and I and then Johnny later for an evening flight around the valley.

A pleasant evening was spent in the clubhouse where a few members stayed for a braai.

Sunday morning began with a light NW which quickly picked up and blew steadily all day. Mark Siegelberg arrived to do his duty but there were no takers so he did some work on his glider. The Griffiths and the Hepburns went home fairly early. The only other people seen on the airfield briefly were Hans Sterling and Hubert Spaun. There was no gliding at all.

A long weak end

The wind had blown all Wednesday night and did not abate for Thursday at all. Ari decided to use NIG for tugging and Mike Pascoe decided to brave the conditions and take a launch. The wind gusted over 75kph and Kelvin, who was duty pilot, and Ian, Duty Instructor, assisted with the launch. After NIG landed, Ari had to shut the motor down and we towed the tug back to the hanger. Unfortunately Mike had to return from Vic Peak due to a flat battery. The entire front row of hangers, including Graham’s and Peter’s, have a power problem and hence his batteries were flat. Two paxes arrived via an Albatross that had flown in from Stellenbosch but they were unable to have an AE flight due to the conditions. Later in the day Kevin tried a launch with his DG400 but experienced power problems and aborted his take off.

Mark Howes was putting the finishing touches to GOK and he really had done a fantastic job of the canopy repair. Thanks to all, especially Hans, who lent tools to do the job. Rudi was there preparing for the AAI on GHB with the assistance of Ari. Johnny replaced the muffler on MIV in time for her to work on the weekend.

Friday’s weather was worse than Thursday with more rain and wind. The water table on the airfield is so high that the water is not draining away fast enough. Saturday also saw no flying although Bill had arrived in case someone wanted a tug, but had no takers. Sunday was a beautiful day.

The wind had turned to a light SE and later in the day to no wind at all. Wally had arrived to instruct but there were no students to fly so he eventually went home. Martin arrived with Johan Pretorius from Stellenbosch who wanted to experience gliding. Johnny and I had flown for an hour in the Grob and found a little lift against Brandwacht peak earlier. Martin Young had arrived on his way back to Knysna with his family and had a short flight in GIG before continuing his journey. By then there was no lift as the wind had died. Martin Grunert, with Nina tugging (as well as retrieving with the golf cart) and Johan’s girlfriend running the wing, flew four flights with Johan in GUZ. Peter Wooley had wisely decided not to fly as he saw the state of the Grob after we had landed. Mud everywhere!! We needed off-road tyres on the Grob to get past the front of Otto’s hanger!

Hopefully, from hereon, the weather will improve.

And that was the weekend news!

Alison

Winter wunders

Five Gauntleteers tried their best in the SE wind on Saturday. This meant trying on the Victoria Peak to Villiersdorp mountain range. The conditions were difficult on the south side of the Stettynsberge; Cornelius and Mark landed out there. Cornelius made a groundloop while landing and that in the field next to where GOK was damaged last year. Mark landed in a sandy field across the road and stopped within 15 m thanks to the loose matter. It looked like beachsand with the loosseness of dunesand. Peter F went the furthest on the day (as usual).

Lots of other flights were made; we saw the Stemme in the air, Peter W polishing his motorglider and his landings, the usual Rotax Falke touch and go’s, two pax rides and getting the feel of a soaring plane.

Not satisfied with all the activity, a small band participated in the Cape Airborne Antics - Balloon build, much to the concern of the onlookers. It is not everyday we see lighted petrol baths on the airfield!

Fortunately, they were not totally unprepared for the conflagration which followed, and they were definitely heard to say, "We'll get it right next time!".

Some slightly more sane members were seen to "stand well back", but most involved seemed to have had a good laugh.

The evening started with Glühwein in the clubhouse provided by Alison. That pan of wine was soon empty. Hereafter we drank Rico’s wine with the potjiekos which this time arrived quite suitably around seven o‘clock.



We had further a very enjoyable evening with kids, dogs, old and young (at heart) around and under the table. Pity is that this sort of successful winteractivity is done at the end of the winter- we don’t have much time for repeats now.
Lynn Milne was there for the renaming of the Gauntlet Trophy. It is now the Garth Milne memorial trophy.



Sunday saw a beautiful winter’s day. Fickle to no wind on the ground with a nice temperature. A bit up there was a stiff NW breeze. Clinton Birch from GGC went solo on our Cirrus. He owns the only LAK up country I believe. Johan and Ian were on the Langeberg in erratic thermal and wave lift for close to two hours. Nice to see Dick Steer again. Phil and Peter C were the instructors on duty and did each two instructional flights.

The next Cape Gauntlet will be on 1st of September, we hear. Be there! Maybe this time we will have lift-off.