Tickbird in Blue, Flygirl in Orange

17days is a long time to be inactive and then hike up a hill with a glider pack.  I got to the top before Bernie did in his car but I was completely and uttely knackered and lay in the Toyota Fortuna with the engine on and airconditioning turned up high for a few minutes.  On Bernie and Tash's arrival I rolled out of the car and took off into a thermal with Bernie on his U3.  Bernie outclimbed me very quickly, but we took the same thermal over the back and were off.  The wind was NW, W, going SW with the high upper winds strong NW.  Craig R was near Piketberg at this stage and had his hands full with some active air he found there.  I was having difficulty focusing on my flying, still totally trashed from the walk up the hill.

Note to self : get fit  and don't be a hero before a flight.  Walkouts are just fine AFTER a great flight - not before.  I simply had no energy or motivation left inside of me to fly well.

I was vaguely shocked by my disinterest in the flight and found myself wandering off into dreamland frequently and not really caring where I flew.  I was still extremely nauseous and thought about landing frequently and getting the day over with.  Fortunately I was back on the Shaolin and he engaged autopilot in self-defence.  His movements are much slower than the Golden 2 proto I have been flying and very forgiving of my lack of attention.

We crossed over the N7 leaving the Koringberg farm and I watched Bernie head off towards Misverstand Dam and Porterville.  I got stuck here for awhile trying to pick up some height before going on as this area is a good trigger point and the next one was too far to glide to at my altitude.  I decided not to follow Bernie as he flies much faster than me and it is unlikely I would be able to catch up with him.  Besides, I like to fly Open Distance as apposed to OLC distance and that meant heading off in the direction of Rhenosterhoek and the N7 Pass where Craig was also heading.  I could hear his progress on the radio as he was in line with Bumpy still tracking the tarred road towards the Pass.

Before the Berg River near the Nieuwedrift Wine Farm I played with the idea of dropping in on the front lawns and asking Johan Mostert if I could bum a lift back to Koringberg.  He is Teubes's brother(owner of Koringberg)  I was still feeling quite chronically ill.  But the Shaolin has been neglected these past months as I test flew other gliders and was not ready to land.  He wanted to make the most of his time out of the bag.  And so he found me another thermal and we crossed over the river and found another one again and so we plodded on.  It was slow going with the lift very broken and weak and a firm lid on the climbs holding us down to flying below 1000mASL for the most part.

I made Eendekuil for the second time this year which is great.  Getting past the little rural town has been a bit of an difficult one but I seem to be working through it.  I landed shortly afterwards though, between Eendekuil and the N7 Pass.

Craig and Lesley gave me a lift back from his Site Record breaking attempt after jumping Rhenosterhoek.  He has been wanting this for a long time.  Soon...very soooon.   And thank you to Lesley  for the driving!!

One of the things I have learned from viewing this tracklog on Leonardo is that there was a lift line to my right (east) all the way from the Piketberg quarry to the N7 Pass.  I saw this with birds who were on straight glide to my right and Tickbirds tracklog confirms this.  So why did I keep pulling to the left?  Because the N7 tarred road is to my left with lots of cars and the chance of an easy hitching retrieve.  I was flying a route over no-mans land between the N7 and the Porterville to Eendekuil tarred roads and was uncharacteristically concerned that I would land and face a big walk out.  Walkouts don't normally concern me so I can only put this poor flying down to not feeling well and definitely not having the energy left for another walk . 

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