Back in SA

After months of exile from my homeland and (more importantly) my hang glider, I raced off to Porterville on my return. I was lucky to hit epic conditions, that if I had been fitter and more focused would have meant a personal best flight. As it was, I was stoked to get a wonderful flight on my first trip back to Porterville in almost a year and my first thermal flight on the U2.

The Porterville Ridge

I met Gustav on the ramp at 10:30am. Conditions looked good so we immediately started to rig. At about 11:30, we saw a PG pilot (Gaynor) go overhead at 4000ft or so from Pampoenfontein. This pulled a few people off the hill. Some PGs and then Gustav launched. Gustav battled bravely for awhile but landed near Tierkloof, about 5kms down the ridge. Several PGs who had launched at the same time also hit the deck close by. Others were crawling along the ridge at ridge height. It wasn’t inspiring so I waited on the ramp and eventually launched about 30mins later. The lift was broken and it was hard and hot work fighting the U2 to stay in it. Eventually I realized that I was flying too fast and aggressively and I relaxed a bit and let the glider fly. Eventually I flew into a coherent core and after and few 360’s was climbing nicely up to ridge height. Phew. That would prove to be the trickiest part of the whole flight.

Looking North from Bumpy Peak at about 6600ft ASL. The Altantic Ocean can be seen top left.

From there, I climbed to about 5000ft before heading north along the ridge. At Teenage, I found a beaut of a thermal and relaxed completely, letting the glider spin around as I climbed at up to 8ms-1. There was very little wind on the ground and the drift was minimal. I thought I might as well take this thermal to the top as it was nice and cool above 6000ft, and I topped out (or lost it) at about 6700ft. I went on glide to Bumpy and again the U2 showed what a fantastic glider it is, making it easy to sustain ground speeds of 65 kph between thermals. I got down to about 4000ft at Bumpy before flying straight into a boomer. This was a huge fat, smooth thermal. My vario showed sustained climb of over 5ms-1 while I was pushing out and whirling up.

Missed the 6666ft shot by 2ft...

I pressed on to the Pass. Again, very easily found lift and climbed easily to 6800ft before heading over the back to Citrusdal. Over Citrusdal, I climbed to my highest all day, 7700ft ASL (7100ft AGL). I could see Clanwilliam Dam, the Maskamberg and VanRhyns Pass from here. I was very excited as I thought this was my day to go far. I could also see into the Cederberg and over to the Tankwa Karoo. Very cool.

Over the Pass

At this point I made a decision that cost me distance. I decided to stay in the valley instead of heading into the Cederberg. I was just not mentally prepared to do so as retrieve in the mountains is a nightmare, with no cell reception. I was so high, I felt if I could just get a little something in the Valley, I could get into Constriction. Also, I had been following a PG way ahead (turned out to be Gaynor) and she had gone the valley route. So, I went on glide for Constriction.

Looking towards Constriction along Citrusdal Valley

I ended up getting a 6:1 glide to the end of the valley as was too low to continue and make a safe landing field. I couldn’t believe I was in the same situation again and realized that I was actually going to have to be careful to penetrate back out to land in the big fields in front of the last hills. I just made it back out, coming in over the field at 400ft above. As I flew my approach, I thought I saw a person walking in the field, but it turned out to be a massive Secretary bird, that flapped and ran when I came in for approach.

So, that was that. I was very happy with the U2 and the day, but disappointed not to have got further again. I need to review my tactics for getting past Constriction. Later I heard Gaynor had found some lift where I had landed and had snuck through Constriction. Once through, conditions boomed again and she spiralled down from 6600ft 102km out as conditions were too strong for her. She said a record was there for the taking!

Airtime: 2h15, Distance: 49kms