Flying - Constriction

Had another solo Dasklip epic. After trying to round up some fellow pilots, it looked like it was just me again. Shela agreed to drive. When we got to the launch it was deserted and blowing down the mountain about 5 kph. Not a good sign. But, the forecast had indicated it would be coming SW a little later, and the thermals hadn’t really started yet, so I wasn’t too concerned. By 13h00 things were looking good so I rigged. After waiting for a good, straight cycle, I had a nice fast launch and was out away from the ridge. I found lift that I could work and I climbed up to about 1000ft ATO, all the while drifting N.

I had two goals for the day. 1) I wanted to maximise my airtime and 2) I wanted to fly to Citrusdal if possible as I had got stopped on my previous attempt by a massive gust front. I wasn’t getting very high, so on the way to Bumpy, I stopped in every bit of lift I flew into. Often it was ratty and incoherent and white-knuckled. Finally, I hit a beauty of a thermal quite low and cored it nicely to 4200 ft AGL. From there I drifted on to Bumpy where I flew out into the valley, looking for a nice thermal out front that I could drift back in without going too far over the ridge. I was rewarded with a screamer that made my ears pop as it took me to about 5800 ft AGL, ending up directly above Bumpy Peak.

The views were incredible. I could see Table Mountain clearly, 150 km away! I could see the ocean with Eland’s Bay and Stumpnose Point clearly visible, and Gifberg near Klawer, all 100km away.

Looking South from the Pass into the Porterville Valley

After leaving Bumpy I got to the Pass at about ridge height. I found another beauty of a thermal out in front of the pass. It was strong and friendly, sucking me into the core, and I climbed to the highest I got all day, over 6000ft AGL (2000m MSL). Above 1800m MSL I relaxed and boated around at the top of the thermal for awhile, enjoying the epic view, and I took several photos.

Looking North from the Pass at about 5000ft AGL.

Shela was already in Citrusdal and that encouraged me to go over the back. I drifted back with my thermal as far as I could until it started to break up. Then, I turned and headed for Citrusdal arriving in the valley nice and high. I flew into a broken bubble of lift and started turning in it. I stuck with it for awhile and it formed into a coherent solid band of lift that I circled in for the next 20 mins. While doing to, I climbed from 3500ft AGL to 5000ft AGL drifting slowly over Citrusdal. It was perfect! I was relaxed, doing lazy turns, drinking in the views and climbing gently as I drifted over my goal.

Above Citrusdal looking south down the valley

With such good conditions I thought I should press on to Constriction, the end of the valley. Past Constriction landing options are few and far between for a long way and one needs to be high in order to keep going. I wasn’t in the frame of mind to keep going as I had already exceeded my intended goal and I was starting to get tired and lose concentration. On my way to Constriction I hit some really nasty pieces of air that required all my strength to hold on, and this firmed my resolve to land.

Looking north in the Citrusdal Valley, with Constriction at the end.

As I got near to Constriction I could see no landing options ahead of the last hill in the valley. I made the call to land a bit further back in the best field I could see, sacrificing some distance for a good landing option. I fought my way down through the hot and rowdy air, circled the field to get wind direction, and had a perfect no-step landing.

Shela arrived 2 mins later. After derigging happily, we went for an awesome swim in the Olifants River and then headed home. A fantastic day.

Airtime: 2h30, 47km