Hello paradudes,

Weekend last (9/10 June), James, Tony, Fourie, Pat, Ross, Rob and myself "hit" Volksrust & Wakkerstroom.  Characteristically the wind picks up and blows the sites out early but Sat was different...

We left James' house @ 7h45, stopped over in Standerton for cheap breakfast (2 pies, Chelsea bun and mince vetkoek all for R 9.60!) and arrived in Volkrust @ 11am.  No wind to speak of so we opted for Tamatieberg, becos the recovery from bottom to top (150m) is a mere 10mins and we suspected a lot of foefies.  Once on top there was indeed a wind of 10km/h straight up South side and James launched but it wasn't maintainable and he scratched too long on the East side so only made it half way back to landing.

Then the wind died.  It became light and irritable and we all went over to the NorthWest t/o where the wind was a good 15km/h straight up when we arrived - but, true-to-form, once we had unpacked our aircraft, the wind once again switched direction and dropped.  So, in 2 desperate attempts, James tried to t/o running across the mountain in an arc from an Alpine launch which failed (with the wind from behind!) and Tony took a loooooong tree skimming run/glide down to landing, crashing through bushes on t/o and never getting more than 2m above the bushes all the way down!  Both endeavours held good spectator value but little aviation prowess!

We resigned ourselves to an out-of-the-ordinary windless day in Volkrust and decided to make the most of it by executing forward launches off the South side and then spot-landing in no-wind conditions on a downward slope - not an easy task but a great learning curve.  5 short flights later with surmounting spot-on successes and we lost the daylight.

Sunday looked windless as well and we cooked up a storm in Stef's kitchen...  Then suddenly the grass outside began to shudder - not even time to brush our teeth - we bundled into the bakkie and headed for Christies bowl.  It was 30+km/h on the lip and gusting, but it was our fault - we  wanted  WIND!

James, Tony, Fourie and I headed halfway down the slope and took off. Rough as hell.  We were definitely flying in rotor but we were flying!  James tried to head out of the bowl to the side but it was just as trashy there so he came back.  Tony did a lot of ground handling trying to become airborne.  Fourie did two straight out flights, landed and walked back up.  I hung in there doing a helluva lot of pendulum control and big-ear decents (once you got to the height of the ridge you were trashed by the strong shear of the prevailing wind and then it was big-ears time to get down - into the rotor!).  I played for about an hour; rocketing up, shear turbulence, rock-and-roll, big-ears way down and out into the bowl, releasing at about 5m above the floor and then serious, fast ground-skimming, working your way back up the slope and then into the lift band, then rocketing up and the whole process begins again.  It was good practice in pitch-control and high-wind slope landings but it was hard work and only a little fun.

We all decided to can it and try to find a small hill in the right direction.  Enter "Orchids/Road Cutting" about 5kms out of Wakkers.  It was perfect - 15-25kms straight up the cliff-launch front!  Just choose your lull and you're up and up and up!  All seven of us got airborne and mostly  adhered to ridge rules but we did indicate our intentions (which I believe, is what kept us out of each others' wings!).  The site is one of the most picturesque that Wakkers has to offer with a steep 50m drop-off then gradual slope 1km out into the valley floor 200m below.  There is NO recovery and top-landing can be tricky if the wind is strong and you're too far back of the cliff in the rotor, but we had no incidents.

The lift band extended way out (1km) into the valley and there was definite thermal activity (1-2m/s).  Initially the inversion kept us at 200m a.t.o. but as the valley heated the inversion lifted and Ross even got up to 850m a.t.o. (he did say it was rough and strong with 4-5m/s climbs).  We all had 2-or-more 30min flights, top-landing for lunch and then off again.  I did some touch-and-go's with just my harness seat touching down before gently lifting off again with just some brake input - what lazy fun.  James and I got into some unplanned though synchronised wing-overs that apparently looked very rehearsed. 

Then I cocked-up, getting too comfortable with my glider and conditions, I relaxed my concentration...  I hadn't done a spiral to the left for quite some time so I climbed up to 300m a.t.o. and threw it in, getting lock-out after 2 rotations and watching my vario for the -14m/s mark.  Because I was now at ridge height it was time to come out and fast, so I administered slight opposite brake - but the leading edge didn't pop up, instead the G-forces just got stronger!  I made myself aware of my toggle positions and went hands-up at which point the glider did respond and unlocked itself -  Whew!  But I was running out of height and needed to exit more quickly so again I applied a bit of opposite brake and guess what - glider locks in again!!  Plenty of Gs, ridge above my head and ground coming up.  Something strange happens here: there is no panic.  I tell myself to think.  Take that second out to evaluate the situation. 

In retrospect I can't believe how still the moment was, in spite of big G's/no height etc.  My mind goes over the spiral procedure; I pulled left brake, spiralled hard, wanted to exit, pulled left brake!  Aaah - wrong brake you bloody fool!  Quick - right brake and be ready to catch the surge - it it going to be HUGE!  And it was.  I pulled out with less than 100m to spare (too close for comfort) and James tells me that my glider and I were perpendicular to the ground climbing straight up on exit which I can concur due to my vario screeching (must've been 5m/s+!).  I caught the surge with lots of brake and began breathing again.  My immediate desire was to land because I was quite shaken but I forced myself to continue flying and even execute a few waggas (I hated doing them though!).  Top landed a few minutes later and my legs just crumbled - they were still jelly!

What did I learn?

A few things -
1. Concentrate.  Never relax or become over-confident.  My challenging flying at Christies earlier and the calm, easy conditions now led me to drop my concentration and I "forgot" that I was spiralling the opposite way.  Hence to come out I blindly applied the brake I was accustomed to using -  Think and be aware at all times.

2.  Height.  You might have enough to execute the manoeuvre but what if something happens (line snap, momentary lapse of reason)? do you have enough height to recover?  I was border-line, 3-or-4 more seconds...

3. Calmness.  I remember two things Bruce Watney told me; 1 - think for a second before reaching for the reserve and 2 - don't over-correct.  I was amazed at how clearly your mind can slow things down, regardless of the urgency of the situation - wind rushing past, g-forces, ground getting closer etc.  Things seemed to move in slow motion but you were able to think at lightning speed.  I believe,( given that we all have this time lapse pause before any major accident?), that what we do in this second determines the outcome and this is where proper and relevant training come in.  I'd hate to have that calm, clear-thinking second afforded me, be able to assess the situation, and not know what to do to prevent the incident from becoming an accident.  We need to fill our "toolboxes" with any and all "tools" that we can learn from courses, literature and others' experiences.  Equally, once you know what to do, don't overdo it.  Remain calm and don't panic.  It's easier than you'd expect!

Anyway, back to that day (how do these emails get soooooo long?); we carried on flying until 3pm when the wind was dying and maintaining at ridge height was becoming difficult.  A really good day's flying with more than 3hours airtime and a good many more tools for my toolbox!

Regards,
Brad K.