- Bloemfontein South Africa Report, Flying Day 13 (last) – December 4
- Flying Day 12, December 3
- Flying Day 11, December 2
- Flying Day 10, December 1
- Flying Day 9, November 30
- Flying Day 8, November 29
- Flying Day 7, November 28
- Flying Day 6, November 27
- Flying Day 5, November 26
- Flying Day 4, My Birthday
- Flying Day 3, Thursday 11/24 (Thanksgiving)
- Flying Day 2, Wednesday 11/23
- Flying Day 1, Tuesday 11/22
- Introduction
Today looked promising for thermal strength but with a real risk that high winds would blow the thermals apart. I launched second in line and got off at 1.4 AGL into a great 7.7 kt thermal that took me to 10.5 K altitude. I set out on course – and that was the last good thing that happened to me. As I approached the Krugersdrift Dam (about 22km out I kept getting lower & lower and struggled with fractured lift that I just could not circle in. I had 350# of water on board. Finally I decided to retreat back toward the airport and blundered into a huge sink area resulting in a really dumb marginal glide back. I was unable to take a relight due to a tow plane issue. I’d like to blame it on the wind which was a pretty gusty 15-20 kts – but at least two other gliders made 300KM flights today – so they clearly did something I wasn’t doing right. I am looking forward to talking with them tomorrow to see how they found it. That’s part of the fun and learning here. But it sure didn’t work for me today.
There are six other pilots here this week. Two Germans, two British and a British couple who both fly. The private fleet includes a Ventus 2, a DG 808 self launcher, two turbo Ventus. The facility gliders include an LS-4, a Ventus, an LS-8, an LS-6, an ASH 25 (2 place) an ASH-26, a JS-1 and the Nimbus 3 that I am using. We have a single tow plane right now – a Cessna 182.
It really does look like this in November: