| Koringberg to Het Kruis |
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A really good day for going far. I made mistakes in trying to figure out how to stay in buoyant air whilst going through the gap. Had a feeling I should have headed more in the direction of Rhenosterhoek for some reason, as the air flowing through towards the gap was suddenly just too smooth... But those flatlands beyond were sooo enticing. I had wanted to test fly the Gradient Golden 2.26 (proto) in thermic conditions. Today had it's exciting moments. Chose not to look at the wing for most of the flight. Had to keep a firm grip on the brakes, because when a left of right wing sensed lift, it would dive forward independently of the rest of us and I found I had to pull back on that brake real hard whilst the other wing was still disinterested. Kind of like what I would imagine it would be like show jumping two horses in tandem and one was more keen than the other to go over the hurdle. The air was a big mix of smooth and frantic. My low save was in a wannabe whirly. Coming in for landing, heading for nice rugby field, was diverted by swallows going nuts near a tractor type machine cutting grass or wheat. I found buoyant air there, but travelling fast sort of upwind so flew followed on, it was in the direction of the rugbyfield anyway. Upwind of rugby field joined a lone swallow diving around like crazy. Things got wild from then on. Two or three trees in the area went berserk. Did not like the looks of that - still low. Gyrated wildly on the edge for a bit until I had more clearance from the ground, stealing some woeesie lift. Then climbed in and went up somewhat anxiously, unsure if I had made the right call to take it. Kids at the local school ran out and gave me a standing ovation. I felt encouraged not to drop in, but although the Golden 2 was wild, it did not collapse. I just have to learn to fly more actively to make the Golden 2 look tamer than it is unleashed. It really feels like an spirited horse only half broken in. But maybe that is the proto and the production model is tamer.  But then I am not used to active wings, coming from the ProDesign stable. In fact, up until recently, I always thought the Shaolin was rather active. The Golden 2 proto put pay to that perception. It is all so relative.Overall, I am really enjoying flying the Golden 2. It is a very different experience for me and I was glad to fly it in thermic conditions today and I had a really fantastic day. If anyone wants to test fly the Golden 2 whilst it is in my care, I am sure James Braid would not mind. Thank you to Richard for retrieving me! Next time you are coming WITH us!! Bernie Kelly was also there on his U3, but unlucky to land 21km out, just after the quarry on the Picketburg to Porterville Road. Any comments on how to negotiate the Het Kruis gap successfully? Wind was light , no fear of rotor, felt somewhat SSE so good direction, but where was the lift hiding? Comments from Craig Richards: Silly girl. That flight could have been so much further says the back seat Google pilot. Stay away from the Het Kruis gap if you can in future. The ground is very porous (lots of moles) and sucks in air. If the sea breeze starts to push you will also wish you were somewhere else as the turbulence in that gap is extreme. As a rule of thumb the lift seems to taper west of pools silos. There are thermals, but they are very widely spaced, so try to stay more out in the flats if possible. The river running on your eastern side as you approached Het Kruis works very well as a thermal trigger. Think you should try to get above it next time and then try to get into the Rhenosterhoek corner. Looks like you had some good climbs, so it could have been a day for going over the Hoek. Reply from Flygirl Thanks Craig. I definitely had a mild aversion to flying into the Rhenosterhoek corner - it is surrounded by hills - and I thought, just thought, that maybe this one time, I might actually fly beyond these low hills by cheating and going through the gap and into the flats beyond.. My best climb was not much more the 1550m ASL. Taking that into consideration, I thought perhaps that if I did put myself in the corner, the possible lack of a climb of more than that would mean my flight would end there. So I tried something new. RE the moles: I was chasing around for the last possible lift and thinking I might pick up on the foothills and never checked my ground speed coming into landing. I ended up doing a downwind landing and because of the speed, I had to lift my landing gear and slide in on my airbag. Don't tell anyone .... bit embarrassing :-) But maybe it was just as well. When I stood up and walked around to pack my kit, I kept falling into ankle deep holes. The whole area was a mass of tunnels with a thin covering of sand. Might have broken an ankle if I came running in on landing. Never thought that this could cause groundsuck - very interesting. Next time I will skirt around more to the east for distance, but I have to admit, I was really completely and utterly enthralled with the view. Flying a new route is just the best!!! :-) |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 12 October 2007 ) | |||||||
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