Dasklip to the Northern Cape

I recently had an epic flying and retrieve experience. Trying to cross the Cederberg into the Karoo is something that is rarely done, due to the weather conditions required as well as the logistics of going into really remote terrain, with no cellphone coverage.  Last weekend I got a chance, and an epic resulted.  Below is an email sent to the Cape Albatross Hang Gliding Club reporting on this flight (and recovery) over the back to the Cederberg into the Karoo.

Tracklog

Tracklog here

Email below:

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First up, let me apologize to those who worried about us on Saturday night and Sunday morning.  We managed to get the word out to our significant others that we were all ok (just a broken down car) at 9:45pm.  But, we didn't think to ask them to tell someone on the hang gliding list, or to call the Flyer's Lodge to report in. A major oversight.

So, first lesson from the day:
Make sure your wife/significant other is left with a list of contact numbers and instructions to call at least: 1) the Flyer's Lodge, 2) one HG pilot who is one the list to report in. We knew we were safe, and so we just forgot to think about who else would be worried about us. Our wives did the same. Oops.

Anyway, on to the flying:

The forecast looked fantastic. Not a super high day, but winds looked good and cumulus were predicted over the whole area north of Citrusdal. I thought it looked like an over Pakhuis day and so got logistically set up to try it. Conditions were light at the ramp and although we were ready to go by 11:30am, it didn't look too inviting until around 12pm.  I launched at 12h15. Pity to have lost the 30mins or so, but I wasn't in the mood for sinking out because of launching too early as I knew conditions were going to be epic further north.

About to launch on the Dasklip Ramp at Porterville

Eric and I scratched to get up, and got up slowly in the small, ragged thermals around launch. From there we headed north, about a thermal apart, with climbs getting better as we went. We both got low at the Piekenierskloof Pass (35km out), but could see cumulus were dotting the skies to the north, and I knew we had to just stay in the air to get to them.  I was a bit ahead, and got a good climb to 2100m under a cloud and went over the back towards Constriction [a 15km area of limited landing]. 

Eric and I climbing out after launch, with the sky looking great over the Cederberg (top left)

Now cummies were everywhere and I flew from cloud to cloud in the Citrusdal valley, getting to base at 2500m in Constriction with a screaming climb... my 15 sec averager stuck on 6 meters per sec for long while. It was amazing! :)  

Heading through Constriction to Clanwilliam Dam.

I could see the clouds stretching over Pakhuis towards Calvinia, Bradley was up with me on retrieve and we were in communication, so I thought it was a go. At the base of the Clanwilliam Dam, I tracked across the foothills to the east towards Krakadouw Peak, and got climb to cloudbase at 2700m drifting over the back towards Pakhuis Pass. Bradley was already up on Pakhuis. Eric was still tying to get through Constriction, but was in comms, we were setup and it was perfect. I tried to call my wife to let her know I was going over and to expect not to hear from me until very late (there is NO cellphone coverage back there), but I was already out of signal range. So I radioed Eric and asked him to call her when he landed if he didn't come over.

Drifting over Pakhuis Pass. Note the fire burning on the right hand side of the image.

I drifted over Pakhuis to the north of a huge fire burning up the back of Krakadouw, the smoke hitting the top of the lift at 2500m and drifting NE over the Karoo behind the Cederberg Range. Ahead was a bit of a blue hole, so I stalled until I saw a cloud forming on my route and then I raced for it. It was further away than I thought, so when I got there, I missed it and I scratched around, thinking I was going to have to land. Bradley was right underneath me. But I found a weak climb and hung on. 

At this point, Bradley mentioned he was concerned about how much fuel we had, as we were no entering no-man's-land for 100s of km. I had left money in the car and told Bradley, but had neglected to instruct him him to fill up in Clanwilliam (Lesson #2). As Eric was low over Clanwilliam and not heading over, we elected for Bradley to head back over the Cederberg to Clanwilliam to fill up, touch base with Eric and then chase me. Whatever happened I would stick on the dirt road north to Calvinia. 

At cloudbase, heading North to Calvina.
The green fields are Doornbosch Farm. 

My weak climb turned on and I got to cloudbase again at 2700m. It looked really good ahead, I flew under clouds for about 8km, not losing much height, and then went on a longer glide to a ridge line running next to the road. I got low, and was looking at landing options when I found a strong, rowdy thermal with a lot of drift. Hooray, I thought I had my ticket out of there, but after a few turns, I saw I was drifting too fast into really bad terrain near Botterkloof Pass. I was too low and wasn't prepared to take the risk on the thermal, so I turned out of it and glided back into wind to better landing options. I there was a little farm dam underneath me, and as I thought I might have a very long wait, I opted to land next to it. 

My LZ. 

So I landed, only 130 XC km from Dasklip on a day I could have got much further, but in the Northern Cape!  My first, trans-Provincial flight :)

I had landed in a small canyon, with no cellphone signal obviously, and now no line-of-sight for radio. There was no sign of anyone and I was 15km from the nearest farm (Doornbosch). I knew I might have very long wait (or walk), as I had heard Eric was pushing on for Klawer and Bradley was probably going to go and get him first. So I broke down my glider, stashed it 

and started walking. I walked about 2.5km until I had a good view of the valley back towards Pakhuis. Then I pulled out my whip antenna, strung it up on a fence, connected my radio and sat back and made myself comfortable. I had about 1.5l of water, sunscreen and spare batteries for my radio. The place was beautiful and very quite. I was stoked!  

Antenna out and chilling, with line of sight to Pakhuis, 40km away.

I sat in my place for a couple hours and watched the sunset, calculating how long it would be before I should expect to hear from Bradley and Eric. I reckoned if Eric landed at 5:30pm, in Klawer, I wouldn't hear from them until after 7pm as they came over Pakhuis.  I was a good 75km on bad dirt roads from there, so I would only expect to see them after 8:30pm.   Then, after loading up and driving back, we would get back into cellphone signal at about 10:30pm.  I knew Eric would have called my wife, and she knew not to worry until very late, so I was happy. 

My whip antenna worked really well, and I heard Eric from 40km away as they crested Pakhuis. Good to know the antenna worked so well. From the next crest, 25km out we had perfect comms and the day was falling into place nicely. In the 4 hours I have been there I hadn't seem or heard a soul, except for a troop of baboons from across the canyon. If you get stuck out there, no passerby is going to save you, so, I was glad they were on their way.

Sunset, with Krakadouw on the skyline.

Now this is where it all fell apart. About half a km from me the transmission on my car failed!  Eric radioed that they had a problem and I walked over the hill the half km in the twilight to meet them. The car would drive at 5kmh for a bit, but then totally fail for awhile.  After much discussion and peering at the engine, we limped a km towards my glider and then stopped before a downhill section, as we weren't sure we could get back up it again (this was a great move!). From there we hiked the 3km in the dark to get my glider out.

At 9pm we were back at the car with the glider. We were 15km from the nearest farm and (hopefully) a phone. Luckily it was downhill most of the way. So, we started. After what felt like an eternity of freewheeling, we hit a mild uphill and had to push. We had gone 2km!  We didn't think we would ever make it the whole way. But, with a combination of freewheeling, slow driving and pushing, we got the car back the whole 15km to the farm. An epic journey!

At the farm we walked first to some deserted houses, and then back to the car to the next sign of habitation. These were the farm worker's houses. We walked in and interrupted a Saturday night party. They were very helpful, one might almost say jolly ;) , and one guy took us to the only house that had a phone. Phew!!!   The owner and his wife were very friendly and helpful, despite being got up late on Saturday night, and let us use their phone. We called the farmer and he very kindly came out to help us. We then called our significant others to update them, but dropped the ball on letting others know  :(

The farmer (Loutjie Hanekom) and his manager came out to meet us and after trying a few things, took us back to the workshop. There it soon became apparent that we weren't going to fix the problem. It was already after 11pm, and the farmer very kindly offered us a place to stay for the night.  We were welcomed into his house and each given a bed to sleep in and had a shower.  From how it was looking an hour ago, things had definitely improved! 

Our saviours: Loutjie, Christna and Andre Hanekom

The next morning, Loutjie's wife Chrisna made us a generous breakfast of coffee and bacon and eggs, and we were feeling much more ourselves. Several phone calls later, we had managed to arrange for Steve and Janine to come and get us from Porterville (a 350km round trip) and for the the vehicle to be towed out of there and back to Cape Town.  

Steve and Janine showed up to get us around noon. They were stoked about the drive through the great scenery, and we all piled into the truck in good spirits and off we went. Luckily Steve was heading back to Cape Town, so we hitched a ride with him and got back home on Sunday evening, after an epic adventure. 

The only casualty of the whole adventure was my gearbox. So that brings an end to my flying season. But it has been a good one! 

T2 heaven

It has been awhile since I posted. In that time I have acquired a new glider, a Wills Wing T2 144. Moving from a Wills Wing U2 145, I wasn't expecting to find the transition too radical, but was anxious about flying the new glider to start with. I needn't have been. My first calm-air sled run (2 mins) showed me the glider had no vices, felt very U2-like at low VG, and a crisp flare in light winds gave me a very pleasurable no-stepper. Start the smile :)

Rigging at dawn for my first test flight.

My second flight was in strongly thermic conditions at Porterville. Immediately after take off it became apparent this wasn't a U2. It had significantly more roll-lag than the U2 and felt more slippery. Flying clear of the terrain, cranked it into a thermal and was thrilled to see how the glider climbed.  I flew 148kms in a little over 4 hours. Landing in 35kph gusty winds near van Rhynsdorp was no problem. It was a joy to have a bit more penetration and roll stability, and the landing was a non-event.

On the ground, 148kms out on my first "real" flight.

But conditions on the ground were such that I faced a hard choice... de-rig my new glider flat and get her dirty (and maybe scratched) or risk her blowing away by de-rigging upright in the hot, windy, turbulent air.  I chose flat and discovered the T2 is very easy to de-rig in this way too if necessary. A real pleasure when landing out in the desert in windy conditions.

Flat de-rigging.

My next flight was a 192km, 5 hour marathon along the Porterville Ridge. It culminated with a beautiful late afternoon ridge run of 70km, completed in a little over an hour. Gliding 200m above the Porterville Ridge, watching the scenery go by in the golden late afternoon sunshine, with a groundspeed of 70kmh was a highlight I won't easily forget.

Late afternoon thermal, looking south to Saron.

I should add that at this point that I had done nothing to the glider except assemble it from short-pack. In fact, the T2 was not tuned to my liking yet. A slight left turn and the hang point a notch back from where I wanted it, made the handling a bit tough. [Note, I managed two +4 hour flights with the glider straight out of the box, so it was what I would call bad ;) ].

Clean wing!

Steve Pearson and Jeff Shapiro were really helpful in making immediate suggestions to tune the glider and in this area, the T2 really shone. Moving the hang point was as easy as undoing one bolt from the underside of the keel, shifting the hang tower forward, and tightening the bolt again. What was great about this is that the bolt is threaded into the hang tower, so no fiddling with nuts on the other side. Really easy.

Taking out the turn was even better. The tip wand inserts into an asymmetrical fitting on the leading edge. There is a bolt running through this, and rotating this bolt moves the tip wand up or down any amount you choose. Steve recommended a 180 degree CW turn on the left bolt and 180 CCW on the right. These bolts are easily accessible from the undersurface zipper. So here you have an incredibly easy and sensitive way of tuning out a turn. What a pleasure!  Raising or lowering the sprogs is equally easy, with the undersurface zippers allowing you to do this in 2 minutes on launch if you should want to.

Getting 2500m AGL above Citrusdal. Porterville valley stretching out ahead.

After this simple tuning (and myself getting more used to the glider), I was finding it much easier to fly. Apart from high VG setting, it felt a lot like my U2... only better. The glider just LOVES to climb AND glide.  My next 3 flights were 145km (4 hours), 73km (3 hours), 142km (4 hours).  I hope this illustrates what an accessible and high performance glider the T2 is. Straight out of the box, with minimal tuning, I was able to enjoy it and fly far. The smile grows :))

On glide over Clanwilliam, 80km north of Porterville. 

I had initially been worried that a higher performance glider would limit my XC flying due to concern about tricky out landings. So far what I have found is that the increased performance window has actually made me feel more confident. It is definitely more challenging to land the T2 than the U2, but not terribly. But the top end performance has me feeling extremely confident about penetrating upwind or over tricky terrain. My flying world feels like it has expanded.

So thanks to Steve Pearson at Wills Wing for making such a great glider, and agents Pete van den Berg and Johan Anderson for bringing these gliders in to South Africa. The hardware is superb and confidence inspiring. The attention to detail fantastic. It really is a work of art.

My glider's specs:
T2 144
Grey UV Mylar sail
12mm battens
Litestream control frame

My only gripe:  Aluminium basetube too slippery. Get grip tape.

Low save, high ceiling

Catch up from an epic flight the other day...

At Dasklip with conditions forecast to be huge. PGs in the sky and climbing, but not strongly. Conditions looking great to the north.  I launched and found myself scratching lower and lower and heading for an almost certain turkey... oh no!!!   Was 100m off the deck and unzipped. Couple last turns before a tragic turkey. Saw some crows circling in front of me, headed to join them, turned in zeros, getting low over the trees, couple meters up, couple down, bit more up and then started getting a bit more coherent and I was climbing... held on and concentrated like mad not to lose it.  This thermal ended up taking me from 100m AGL to 3371m ASL, for a single gain of 3010m.  Without a doubt one of my best HG experiences!  

Low save! Tracklog and photos from the bottom and the top of the climb.
Yellow arrow in top panel shows field in bottom panel. 

From there, the clouds stretched out.  I spent most of my time above 2000m. I flew to Constriction, then back over the pass to Renosterhoek (getting to 3476m ASL, my highest yet at Porterville), then on into the valley trying for Eendekuil, then slid back onto the ridge and flew back to Dasklip.  5 hours in the air and a 104 km triangle. 

Looking south over the Porterville Valley from 3476m ASL at Renosterhoek.

A really special day in Porterville :)

Another perfect day on Table Mountain

Lucky enough to catch a mid-winter break in the weather for a couple hours of joyful soaring. Magic site!

Soaring the upper Cable Station

Setting up for landing.

Soaring the Table Mountain Massif

Caught a perfect between-frontal day on Table Mountain. A smooth NNW allowed soaring on both the NW and the N face of Table Mountain. It is really rare to get on the front face of Table Mountain in these conditions. It was a first for me and real treat! Conditions were perfect for out-and-returns in both directions and I managed to fit in a 25km FAI triangle on the mountain, before landing at Rondebosch Common, half a kilometer from my house.

A really special day at a world class site.

Video can be found here:
http://youtu.be/m4HZtrXtmLE 


Unfortunately my GoPro misted up a little, so the image quality isn't what it could be from halfway through the flight, but you get idea. It was a lovely day to be up there.

Over the Table Mountain Cable Station

Returning from a run down the Apostles

Just below controlled airspace over Table Mountain (4500ft ASL).

Towards Devil's Peak, through the wispys...

Looking back from Devil's Peak across the front face of Table Mountain.

Crossing Pakhuis

Still tripping from an amazing flight the other day. Not my furthest or highest or longest, but definitely one of the most exciting and fun. I had been watching the weather to try and pick a good day for going north from Porterville to Clanwilliam, over the back of Pakhuis and into the Karoo. I had my eye on Calvinia or even further if conditions were good. I even had Brandvlei (300km out) in my GPS.  I love being overly optimistic. 

Finally, a weak front pulled in and the next day looked post-frontal and really promising.  On the drive up from Cape Town in the morning, all signs were that it wasn't going to happen. It was howling SE (and I mean car-shaking howling) all the way until halfway between Saron and Porterville. Cloudbase was below the tops of the peaks and orographic. Smoke from a fire was settling under a medium inversion. But, as I neared Porterville, at 10am, I could see a different weather system to the north, with the first signs of cummies popping along the ridge. Maybe the day was going to be good after all.

On the road, cumulus popping at 10am.

Up on take off, the drift aloft was SE (over the back), with a very light SSE on take off. I rigged and was ready by 11:45am. Still no cycles coming up the front, but lovely clouds all along the ridge at about 2000m ASL. A PG pilot came down to chat about conditions after an aborted launch. I told him I was optimistic it would come up the front soon.  I decided that as soon as I saw the first cycle come up, I would clip in and take the second one.  

On take off at 11am. SSE drift on take off (over the back) but good clouds.

At 12pm the first cycle came up and the 5 PGs all got off in it. Nicely done! I clipped in and at 12:25, the next cycle came up and I was off. After hunting around a bit and getting a little low, I found a huge, smooth climb that took me up to 1600m ASL.  What a climb!  I never even felt the edges of the thermal as I boomed up. As I climbed, I could see the cloud streets forming to the north... it looked to be a great day ... I felt the trip had already been worth it. 

@ cloudbase (2300m ASL) over Bumpy Peak, looking SW towards Porterville.

Before launching, I had resolved to fly fast and risk sinking out as I wanted to go far, or be home early, and so as soon as the lift tapered off at 1600m, I turned and ran north. With a groundspeed near 80 kph, I was climbing under a fat bottomed cumulus on my way to Bumpy. I caught the PGs and passed them just south of Bumpy and climbed FAST, under huge cloud, to 2300m ASL.  I could see the street running towards Citrusdal and beyond and clouds all over the sky to the north and east. My mind was already running ahead to crossing Pakhuis, as I was hoping to be able to do. I radioed legendary retrieve driver, James Wiseman, and said he should get to Citrusdal as fast as he could. 

Porterville ridge running south to the Groot Winterhoek

Heading straight north from Bumpy, I followed the clouds to Citrusdal. I was making excellent time and found myself at 2400m above Citrusdal less than an hour after launching. From there I detoured to the east slightly to try and avoid a blue hole, eventually coming back to the N7 under an newly forming cloud that took me to the mouth of Constriction at 2100m. Pushing on fast, I got a strong climb over the Algeria turnoff that took me to 2600m. 

Looking north to Citrusdal and beyond... clouds laid nicely out for a fast run.

Decision time. I really wanted to get on to the Cederberg south of Pakhuis, but hadn't heard from James since before Piekenierskloof Pass. Just as I was topping out on my climb, James radioed in saying he had made it through the stop-and-gos on the pass and was chasing north. I asked him to get to Clanwilliam asap, and I headed to Krakadouw on a long glide.

The Cederberg

A bit limited by landing fields in that area, I tracked straight to my bail out LZ, preferring not to deviate too far to the east to get under some more clouds. In doing so, I got pretty low and thought I may have to land, but got a lovely low save just west of Krakadouw that took me all the way to cloudbase (2500m) just south-west of Pakhuis. 

Tracklog of the climb towards Pakhuis

It had taken me a little over 2 hours to get there, and it was only 2:40pm.  I could see clouds over the back and could taste Calvinia and beyond! I radioed James, who was still short of Clanwilliam and told him I was going over. He said he would follow. I told him if I didn't hear from him again, I would stick to the main road heading north, as there is no cellphone coverage back there for retrieve. 

I turned and followed a cloud street over the Pass. It is a LONG way over, over unlandable terrain. I got over the crest of the pass at 2000m and climbed under some clouds as I drifted over. Ahead of me was the karoo, dotted with cumulus as far as the eye could see. It was incredibly beautiful and wonderfully exciting. 

Going over Pakhuis at 2500m... clouds stretching north as far as I could see.

I got my bearings and headed out along the road. Cummies were dotting the sky, but there was no obvious cloud street on my direct route. Still, I was high and I figured I was bound to bump into some lift. I flew out towards Traveller's rest and then turned and flew for the Biedouw Valley turn off... an area with rocks and valleys and a little ridge I was convinced would work. I glided through the smooth air trying to feel for any drift or turbulence. Nothing.  As I reached the little ridge, I thought this was my last chance. I searched a bit on the ridge, but found nothing. I kept moving to my intended LZ, hoping to find something kicking off behind the ridge, but before I knew it I was making my last turn into finals and zooming in for a no-wind landing.  

Bittersweet: On the ground at 3pm, after an amazing flight, but with an incredible sky still beckoning. 

I couldn't believe it!  I was euphorically disappointed  :)  There was not a breath of wind on the ground and it was deathly quiet. Karoo hills all around. No cellphone reception, no line-of-sight for radio. A magic spot!  But the sky... the sky was amazing. It hurt to look at it. 

Deathly quiet, and no comms ... what a spot!

Still, I was really happy. It had been an amazing flight. Definitely one of my all time best flights. It had been breathtakingly beautiful, incredibly exciting and a real privilege to have been able to experience. Crossing Pakhuis was something I have wanted to do for a long time, and it was really good to break new ground.   I just hope I'll get another chance someday to take it further.

Heading back home...

Many thanks to James Wiseman for a perfect retrieve, and Coral Benn (FlyPorterville) for organising.

Landing at the lighthouse

A short clip of landing at the Mouille Point lighthouse on a beautiful afternoon after a Signals flight...