133km to Klawer

A huge day out for me. The forecast looked good and I was keen to go to Porterville and go XC, but I couldn't find anyone to go with me. A quick call to Rob at the Flyer's Lodge and he assured me we would be able to "make a plan". So, I hit the road. At the lodge, Rob suggested loading my glider on to the Land Rover and it fitted perfectly. Now I would be able to ride with the 6 visiting PG pilots and get retrieved with a minimum of hassle. Things were looking up.

So lonely on launch. The PG's launch further up the mountain.

At launch, I setup my hang glider quickly so as not to get left behind by the PG pilots. As it was, they left me behind as I waited on launch for a good cycle to come through. The day was weak and turbulent, but the forecast was for things to improve later and further north. I knew if I could just be patient and get myself to the Citrusdal Valley, I would have a good chance of going far.

I launched at about 12h30, about 30mins after the first PG pilot. Conditions were bouyant but ratty along the ridge and I never got very high. It took me over an hour to get to the Pass and I never got very high the whole way. I was hoping that this would change at the Pass and I would be able to get up and over to the valley beyond.

Dasklip to the Pass

Along the ridge, I had caught up with a couple of the PGs and the others had gone over the back at Bumpy or Goodeman's Kraal. So, when I left bumpy flying for the pass, I was solo. At the Pass I dithered about in broken thermals for awhile before I got lucky and caught a boomer to 2000m ASL that took me over. There was a shear layer at about 1600m and it was turbulent going through that. Above that, it was nice and cool, but NW. It was clear I wasn't going to be able to drift into Clanwilliam by staying high. I pushed on again, conscious of the need to keep moving, but I soon got low and it was hot and turbulent again. I vowed that if I got up again I would just try to stay high and enjoy the cool air and phenomenal views :)

I was lucky to get up again and then stayed high as I went through Constriction, climbing to 2600m ASL, my highest yet at Dasklip.

I got low again 1okm out from Clanwilliam and found myself with one good landing option, a deserted airstrip on the edge of the dam. I was in weak broken lift and drifting away from this option. I decided to pull the plug and glided into wind towards this strip. I unzipped, radioed the retrieve to notify them where I was going down and got upwind to prepare for my DBF when I hit strong lift. I climbed out to 1700m ecstatic that I had got myself out of there and on my way again.

Looking south from past Clanwilliam

I needed one more good climb to make the back ridges that you can run to Klawer. I found this behind Clanwilliam and went on an 11km glide over Spitskop to the back ridges. From there I ran along the ridge to Klawer, although I was much lower this time as the winds were light and some of the crossings required care.

Heading towards 100kms out from Dasklip on the way to Klawer.

I landed a couple kms past Klawer in light W winds at 18:15pm after 5h40mins in the air. I was retrieved 10mins later by Richard and Steve, who handed me a cold beer. Now that is service!!!

Retrieved with a cold beer!

Arriving back at Porterville after a stressfull nighttime drive, we had a fantastic dinner at the lodge and swapped stories about our day. The PGs had also had good days, with flights to Citrusdal and Constriction. The longest PG flight was flown by Welshman Steve who landed in the same place I almost did by the side of the dam, 71km out. I was loath to leave, but after a cup of coffee I rallied the 2 hours back to Cape Town, with tunes blasting, arriving home at midnight. What a day!