Day 4

BLUE in big letters. The task was out to the west and back around Attie (to the north of Kroonstad) and then home. Add to this a strong wind from the SW and things are bound to get tricky - turning at Attie I was thinking about the radiation inversion which was bound to be forming on the surface and wondering precisely when the weak thermals were going to quit on us - the dilemma: do you climb in 1.3ms in the belief that it is the last one - hoping you will get onto glide, or do you push on - hoping to get 3ms further on, and smoke it home. With LG and OG it was a mixture of the two - relentlessly pushing on - but never risking too low. Slowly climbing onto glide we made it home and Oscar demonstrated supremacy in energy management - gliding in ground effect the last two kilometers to the runway. 6 points or 14seconds is all what was in the day. It is real training!!!

EY

Day 3

I am doubling as metman so i knew the high cirrus would be moving in - and it did. The clubclass launched first and were hanging around in .3ms - the cd changed to the fallback from them and then for us. But after i lucked into a 2.5ms to 1700m we were back onto the A task - fortunately a little while later we were back onto task B - just as well - around 16h00 with us all safely back the cirrus had killed everything. So we were all off onto a short 131 km task - with clubclass of a lot earlier they had the better part of the day, with reports of some good climbs. Back in the 15m class OG struggled to get up and, in after a good climb just short of the startline - ran us down. But it was risky going around - towards the second turnpoint we all ran wide to the right to get to some cloud in the sun - with varying results. OG was mostly below LG and I but having started 5 minutes behind us, it was good enough. Hats off for another 20 points.
PS i must say i think this is really tough training for the flying later in the year.

EY

Day 2

Despite the prediction that the base would be lower by 2000ft and blue, we experienced 14400 (one could go a little higher, but airspace ends at FL145) and there were some magnificent thermals - some reported 4.5ms before the start and the first half of the task had cloud. It was a 315 km task - to Mirage (north of Bothaville) and R9 (west of Hoopstad).
I had a lone run out to the first turn where Attie in the JS1 joined me in a welcome 3.5 plus as we turned ;-) A little way down the second leg LG pulled in on my starboard wing - OG could not be far away i thought to myself and sure enough there he was. In close company was our chairman in his brand spanking new Ventus CXT and together with QM we put up a formidable challenge to the head wind (40kph) and blueing sky. It was very squeeky beyond Hoopstad - we ran in dead quiet air for far longer than any of us liked. And it was not altogether easy, but the gaggle worked well - QM tried to run away at some stage but we caught up with him. After the turn we had the tailwind helping us, but it was only approaching Wesselsbron that we came into good air again - the JS1 really showed its mettle in this run, we could not push too hard and he just gained on all of us all the time.
In the final instance Oscar beat my by 4 secs (1 point) - and i raise my cap to him. Laurens just a few points behind.

EY

DAY 1

Who would believe 157kph for 231km in the 15m class. Well that is exactly what Oscar Goudriaan did today. WELL DONE. Laurens at 147 and moi at 129. With cloudbase at 3000m plus (agl) so we climbed to just short of FL145 and the gaggle (of which i was not part) reported a 6.2ms from low just after the second turnpoint. It can only be fun to fly in conditions like this - and it is unbelievable this time of year.
Tomorrow will bring slightly weaker weather ;-)

EY reporting

Time flies (but i don't)

They say time flies when you are having fun, but i have not been flying a lot lately and working really hard - all of which led to me not blogging much. However, things are about to change - at least for the next few days.

I am off to fly in the OFS regionals - to be held at Welkom - and am departing Cape Town later this afternoon. I will only arrive late afternoon tomorrow in the middle of an airshow, so I only expect to have my first launch on day 1.

The weather prediction shows light NW westerly winds for the next few days, with low overnite temperatures and blue during the day. So i expect weak blue days with a low inversion - it will be real tough training for the flying that lies ahead in July.

Circumstances permitting i intend posting regularly (at least for the next week) - thereafter it is back - throttle 1 - at work.

EY