Gariep 2007/2008
Thursday: 1 Nov. 07
The start of the 2007/2008 camp. Many pilots have arrived, but as yet no container with gliders. Many long faces were seen and Martin Lessle was not here to comfort them.
Friday: 2 Nov. 07
An overcast day, but the arrival of four containers late afternoon cheered everyone. After much debate and a few misunderstandings, all the containers were parked and opened. Immediately everyone started unpacking. Unfortunately the Duo Discus (V8) from Germany had a damaged tail. Hopefully Keith will again come to the rescue.
Saturday: 3 Nov. 07
The morning was spent rigging and getting gliders ready. At lunch time Hans Wiesenthal, Markus Geisen and Gold Hermann took off. All had pleasant flights.
Sunday: 4 Nov. 07
A very overcast day and all went home early. Tomorrow will be better, especially as the tug pilot, Neal Scooby, has arrived.
Monday: 5 Nov. 07
Martin arrived early morning and brought some better gliding weather. After ten they started taking off. 8 gliders, including two which had to be aero-towed, took off. AV had its breaks fixed by Martin and went for an hour –long checkflight
Tuesday: 6 Nov. 07
More pilots arrived Martin held a briefing and then they took off. 11 Gliders took off. Gold Hermann (HG), Manfred & Jurgen (OM), Manfred Scholz (OY), Uwe & Ernst (TTT) and Hans Wiesenthal (HW) all flew 500 or more km.
Wednesday: 7 Nov. 07
11 Gliders took off into a sky with some clouds. Uwe &Ernst-Ruediger (TTT) flew 994km and (AV) flew 920km. Markus & Manfred in MP flew 982km and then used their engine to get back before sunset. It could have been the first 1000km of this camp! All the rest flew more than 550km.
Thursday: 8 Nov. 07
11 Gliders again took off, but it was not as good a day as Wednesday. Only 7 reported distances of 400 to 681km flown. This might be due to the cloudless sky.
Friday: 9 Nov. 07
Only 4 gliders, A5, MP, HW & FW took off. Average distance for the day was about 360km.
Saturday: 10 Nov. 07
It was not a gliding weather and the sky was bright blue. 5 gliders took off but did not go far. Some new pilots did arrive. Hope they brought good gliding weather with them.
Sunday: 11 Nov. 07
It was a very busy day at Gariep Airfield. Ten power planes landed at Gariep Airfield and 14 Gliders took off. Uwe and Manfred planned to stay out for the night, but returned quickly after only 250km. Said it was too much hard work. Markus Geisen first took George & later Doris for a flight in the Twin Astir of Martin Lessle. Most gliders flew a distance of 600km.
Monday: 12 Nov. 07
Another busy day, but not very good gliding weather. 14 gliders & 5 power planes took off. Klaus (EE) did best with 500km; followed by Manfred (OY) with 465km. Georg & Gottfried did a self-launch with the Nimbus4DM (BC) after much trouble with the engine.
Tuesday: 13 Nov. 07
Blue again! All gliders went up and distances from 200 to 700 km were flown. Uwe & Ruediger (D-KTTT) flew to New Tempe in Bloemfontein and spent the night there.
Wednesday: 14 Nov. 07
It was an average gliding day with strong, gusting ground winds. A total reported distance of 8230 km was flown with an average thermal strength of 1,7m/s. A5 took off and almost immediately came back, because of engine trouble. Markus and Manfred did not even get off the ground in MP (ASH25M). They fixed the engine (belt broke) in about 3hrs but it was too late to take off.
Thursday: 15 Nov. 07
It started out as a cloudy day with a bit of drizzle; so most pilots took the day off. 6 gliders took off but did not fly far. Markus & Manfred (MP) did get some very strong thermals at time of up to 6,5m/s. Matthijs Tanis, from the Netherlands arrived and went for a check-flight.
Friday: 16 Nov. 07
Wrong kind of clouds discouraged pilots. Matthijs from the Netherlands (KD) & Martin & Thomas were the only visiting pilots brave enough to fly. Martin Lessle took JR for a quick checkflight after rigging it.
Saturday: 17 Nov. 07
Another slow day. LY & BC went up. New pilots from Poland arrived for FM and after a checkflight went up for a short flight
Sunday: 18 Nov. 07
The best day so far for this camp. All 14 gliders with pilots took to the air. Uwe & Ruediger did 912 km & 7 others flew more than 700km. Total distance flown as reported by 13 pilots = 8809km.
Monday: 19 Nov. 07
The crew of V8 went up, but came down quickly. Martin & Michael went up in the Twin Astir for about an hour. The rest went swimming.
Tuesday: 20 Nov. 07
The day was better than the forecast. Hans Peter & Martin had a big surprise when they wanted to do a checkflight in JR; & the Nimbus’s engine failed to start. This was later fixed so that Hans & Michael could go for an orientation flight. The wind blew strongly the whole day but it did not deter the pilots. 13 flights were undertaken. Uwe in D-KTTT, who took off first, landed after 19h00 & flew 873 km. The average thermal strength was 2.4m/s.
Wednesday: 21 Nov. 07
The first rain of the season – so no flying.
Thursday: 22 Nov. 07
Plenty of clouds after the rain. 14 gliders took off at about lunch time after the ground has dried a bit. Unfortunately one glider (D-KRAV) had a fatal accident on the way back to the airfield. The gliding community and staff from Gariep Dam, South Africa wish to extend their condolences to the friends and family of the late father and son who passed away. A full report will be released once the investigation has been completed.
Friday: 23 Nov. 07
With no info regarding to the incident to the pilots and Martin Lessle not there for the briefing, a very good gliding day lay ahead – 15 gliders took off. The first thousand km flights of the season. Rene & Matthias (V8), Hans Wiesenthal (HW), Uwe & Ruediger (D-KTTT), Georg & Albert (BC), Klaus Engelhardt (EE) all flew more than a 1000km each. HG, MP, SA flew more than 900km. The rest all flew 600km or more.
Total reported km for the day for 13 gliders was 11217km! To make the day even more interesting 2 fire bombers and their spotter planes also visited the airfield.
Saturday: 24 Nov. 07
Another good day – 15 Gliders took off and came back late after a good day’s flying. Officials from the SSSA and SACAA started their investigation of the accident.
Sunday: 25 Nov. 07
Not a bad day for gliding, but it was a late start. 16 Gliders went up; the most for one day so far this camp. The second tug plane was used & checkflights were done with new pilots for AN, the local Janus. Two female pilots are now flying at Gariep!
Monday: 26 Nov. 07
A no-gliding day because of extremely strong winds; so almost all the pilots voluntary went with Martin to clean up the accident site and salvaged what could be found of the wreckage. We really appreciate all the assistance of the pilots who came with. It made it a lot easier to clean up. Many thanks,
Martin
Tuesday: 27 Nov. 07
After the not flying & the cleaning up operation of the previous day, all pilots were eager to get off. V8 took off first at 8:54 and 17 others followed quickly. All were back safely by 19:00.With Sabrina V 8 just missing her 1000 km at 995.94 Ish!.Georg BC at 983.06 and Uwe 958 km. An average of 811 km.
Wednesday: 28. Nov. 07
Good weather: 4/8 cloud; wind about 20 km/h & lift of 2-4m/s made for good gliding. Uwe & Ruediger reported 1040km flown. Well done to all the pilots who flew this day!
Thursday: 29 Nov. 07
Gliders took off early but storm clouds brought them home early and by 15:30 all were back. It was just in time, because a very strong & dusty wind came up & this was followed by a rain storm. Staff & pilots hurried to secure all gliders against the storm & then gathered in the clubhouse for a well deserved beer while the rain came down.
Friday: 30 Nov. 07
Paul Marriot arrived from the UK & did checkflight with Martin late in the afternoon. Manfred and Hans then also went for a 3-hour flight in JR.
Saturday: 1 Dec. 07
A very busy day. 21 gliders went for a flight and 8 came home after flying a thousand km. They were V8 (1086); OM (1020); OY (1000); MP (1000); HW (1027); EE (1100); SA (1070); TTT (1144). A total of 14 x thousand km flights have now been flown in one month. Another 5 gliders flew more than 900km. Congratulations to all even those who only flew locally.
Sunday: 2 Dec 07
Klaus Engelhardt took his glider out early, but after the briefing decided not to go out. Paul from England was the only who flew; maybe because he is used to the weather conditions.
Monday: 3 Dec 07
The weather has not improved. Except for Bernd who went up in MP, the only other flights were three checkflights Martin did.
Tuesday: 4 Dec 07
After two days of rain a good flyable day arrived. A height of 4300m was reached and the average thermal strength was 2m/s. Cloud cover was 3/8.
Wednesday: 5 Dec 07
A good day! 23 Gliders went up and two checkflights were done. Nearly half of the pilots only returned at 19h00 or later.
Thursday: 6 Dec. 07
An early checkflight with Allessandro from Italy and then it RAINED. Need more to be said?
Friday: 7 Dec. 07
The weather is still only “flyable”. Lodewijk & Hans from the Netherlands went up in JR and Martin took to the sky for a solo flight. (He fell down with the first attempt.) Then landed 2 hours later just before the storm broke loose.
Saturday: 8 Dec. 07
The day started overcast, but clear later to 5/8 and by 12:00 the pilots went up. The German “Sportsoldaten” in V8 did 750km in spite of the late start. The local SA pilots Mike & Peter both flew 400km.
Sunday: 9 Dec. 07
Only the Italians flew in AN in the afternoon. A very strong wind started blowing & the rain fell. Soon the hail came down and it looked like Christmas in Europe, but with HAIL not snow. Terrible damage was done to the shade netting. The structure nearly collapsed totally. Fortunately very few gliders got damaged; A5; LY. Seem to have been hit the worst with LL flying for about 300 meters with out a pilot. SA’s rudder was damaged.
Monday: 10 Dec. 07
It was a late start, but even so 700km & longer flights were flown. V8 (790km); JR (775km); HW (760); BF (735KM), EE (725km). Petr Panek from the Czech Republic arrived and did a checkflight.
Tuesday: 11 Dec. 07
It was an overcast day, but even so 5 gliders went up. Hans Wiesenthal & Bert de Wijs both came back safely before it started raining again. Rudi landed TW in the Nature Park right next to the airfield. The local police as well as the retrievers got stuck in the mud trying to get to him. Eventually the slightly damaged glider was retrieved. The local pilots of PK & MB were at De Aar and could not get back to Gariep, for there was a storm between them and Gariep, at the end landed at the military airfield with spending the night at a BB
Wednesday: 12 Dec. 07
Not a bad day at all. A height of 16 700ft was reached with thermals of 2,3m/s and 2/8 cloud covering. 27 launches took place. V8 flew 900km & HG and JR flew more than 800km & 8 more flew more than 700km. Peter Riha (PK) & Mike Barenburg (MB) returned safely from De Aar after Martin went with the Samba after the briefing to give him a Aerotow out of the military airfield.
Thursday: 13 Dec. 07
The day started with a checkflight. Nearly all the pilots took their gliders to the launch point, but later decided not to fly & went back to their parking spots. 8 eventually did some local flying.
Friday: 14 Dec. 07
24 gliders took off late. Some pilots came back early and others only after 19:00. Mike Barenburg planned a thousand km flight, but returned low about half an hour later and did a spectacular landing on the taxiway..
Saturday: 15 Dec. 07
Today, the start was even later than yesterday. And not so many pilots took off. Only three local pilots flew, but more are expected to arrive with the start of the local holiday season on the 16 of December.
Sunday: 16 Dec. 07
RAIN!! - The pilots left disappointed, but with the hope of “tomorrow the weather will be better”.
Monday: 17 Dec. 07
The weather has improved and all took off. 26 Gliders were launched. A height of 11000 ft was reached with 4/8 clouds and 2 m/s lift.
Tuesday: 18 Dec. 07
The wind blew so strong that no one went soaring.
Wednesday: 19 Dec 07
A gliding day! 29 Gliders took off. The aerodrome is now busy. Bernd (OM) & Michal (DR) flew 800 km – well done. ECC, HW, OY & V8 all reported flights of more than 700km. Gunther (AT) unfortunately fell out of the sky twice. Michael Lessle got a change to fly by going with Mathias in A5.
Thursday: 20 Dec. 07
The day started with checkflights in the Janus. Because of the good weather the briefing was kept short. All 29 gliders flew. Hans and Lodewijk from the Netherlands flew their first 1000km-flight in JR. Bernd (OM) flew 1100km & Werner & Gert did 1050km in WG. Stefan & Roland in MP also flew 1000km and so did Norbert in the Nimbus NX. That is another five 1000km flights for Gariep. Philippe Schroeder nearly achieved his set task of 1032km by flying 950km. Three more gliders also flew more than 900km.
Friday: 21 Dec. 07
Everyone flew and Martin did some introductory flights to gliding in the Twin Astir. Walter Burki brought his daughter to fly. It was a long day with the last glider landing at 19h36. Gunther landed out and Herman & Gerd went to fetch him.
Saturday: 22 Dec. 07
An excellent soaring day for long distance gliding. Twelve flights of a 1000km or more: V8 (1028); SM (1040), GA (1044), OM (1100), TX (1022), HW (1037), HG (1040), SM (1006), TTT (1000), SA (1100), 9X (1040) & NX (1020). Alfredo in the DG808 C flew his first 1000km flight. V8 did an FAI & Philippe Schroeder (SM), AR, TTT, DR and OW all flew triangles. Cloud base was at 4500m and thermals were from 2 to 8 m/s. Every one had fun, even those who just flew locally.
Sunday: 23 Dec. 07
After yesterday’s long & good flights, many pilots were not that eager & flying only commenced at 11:00. Andreas Siebold (TX) took off and flew home. The other 14 gliders did not have long flights because of the weather. Arno Hutter arrived and went for two flights with Martin, before he and Rudi went off on their own in the Nimbus 4DM (BC). Basil Allsopp also had his first flight in TF a Nimbus 2M. In the afternoon a rain storm with wind arrived.
Monday: 24 Dec. 07
Rain and no one could fly. The ladies spent the morning getting gifts ready for the evening’s dinner. For the first time in years everyone was on time for the traditional dinner, but is only because no one flew. For many pilots it was a first time at Gariep and they enjoyed the dinner and handing out of presents afterwards. Christmas Eve Dinner at Gariep is a tradition not to be missed.
Tuesday: 25 Dec. 07
It rained heavily just about the whole day
Wednesday: 26 Dec. 07
Adam, the owner of ECC arrived from Poland and by late afternoon he went for a flight. Daniel, the owner of DR also went for a flight before taking his glider back. Five other gliders also went for short flights.
Thursday: 27 Dec. 07
Soaring weather was back, even though the ground was still soaked after the rains. 28 launches were done. The thermals were about 1.5m/s and the wind was light. The thermal tops were at about 10000ft. Ludi Pio arrived during the night to fly his Mosquito (50). Steffen Trapp from Germany came to fly 9X of Jurgen Muller. Dirmeier and Welsch in V8 and Giretti in GA all flew more than 700km. Ernst & Mathias in MP were the best with 870km. The GPS from Gunther von Versbach stopped working and after 2 launches he gave up. Christian Daenzer also arrived.
Friday: 28 Dec. 07
The pilots soared well. Ernst & Mathias (MP) did 1137 km; Steffen in 9X did 1027; Hans Wiesenthal did 1019km and Bernd Dolba (OM) with Herman as well as Michael & Tobias (V8) did 1000km. Four (1Z; GA, HG, SA) all flew more than 900km. AR, BC & MW flew 800km or more. Ludi Pio in his Mosquito (50) did an FAI 750KM. Well done Ludi! Cloud base for the day was 3 700m and thermals average 2.5m/s. The wind was light.
Saturday: 29 Dec. 07
It was a very busy day, but because of threatening rain showers the pilots returned early. Even though only about 28 gliders have pilots there are 40 gliders stationed at Gariep at present. This is a record amount of gliders to be here at the same time.
Sunday: 30 Dec. 07
The wind was light, clouds 4/8, thermals 2m/s and cloud base was 3700m. Gliding activity only started after 11:00 so not many pilots flew. Dolf (1Z) reported a distance of 622km.
Monday: 31 Dec. 07
Good news for all Vodacom Internet Users. Vodacom came and installed equipment so that 3G and HSDPA are now available at the airfield. Ute & Manfred arrived to fly the Duo Discus (A5). 28 launches were done. In the evening everyone went to Waschbank for an excellent meal to celebrate the start of the New Year.
Tuesday: 1 Jan. 08
New Year’s Day! Some still suffered from the previous evening, but even so twenty gliders were launched. Thermals of 2.5m/s were encountered and cloud base was 12000ft. Flight distances varied up to 600km. Werner Nemetschek arrived. Gert Kalisch went for a flight with Werner Steinbrecher in the Nimbus 3DT. Keith Ashman also arrived to repair TW, before the owner comes out to fly it.
Wednesday: 2 Jan. 08
Launching only started at about 10h45 & ended with the return of V8 at 18h30. Michael Lessle had a chance to go with WG.
Thursday: 3 Jan. 08
This was a non-gliding day. Only Przemyslaw Bartczak from Poland went for an early checkflight as he is going to fly a South African glider. Helmut & Elona Lutze arrived. Helmut is going to fly (OY).
Friday: 4 Jan. 08
Severe thunderstorms were forecasted for the day and as it was totally overcast in the morning, the pilots went home disappointed. It cleared later in the day, but at about 16h00 the wind started to blow. A whole group of new pilots arrived with the hope of flying on Saturday. They are: Peter and Torsten (WG), Willie Wollermann & Peter (D-KTTT), Hans & Erik Steger (BC) and Peter Gaida (NX).
Saturday: 5 Jan. 08
A gliding day! 22 launches were done, including a checkflight in BC with Steger. Adam, Steffen & Klaus all flew 800km or more. Thermals were weak at 1,2m/s and the wind was about 30km/h. Many new pilots arrived: Jens & Christian (OM); Dirk (PJ); Pierre & Eberhard (JR) and Klaus & Eberhard Wotzel (FM).
Sunday: 6 Jan. 08
It was an overcast day & only KD, TTT, ECC & JR braved the skies. It rained in the afternoon & a strong wind blew.
Monday: 7 Jan 08
Just about everyone rushed to get their gliders to the starting point and then nothing happened. Klaus (EE) & Astrid took off first. The others waited about 3 hours before taking off at around lunch time & returning after 6 O’ clock PM.
Tuesday: 8 Jan. 08
The day started with an early checkflight for Dirk Fengler and then Michael Lessle took off in TH. No briefing was held, because of the good weather so that everyone could make the most of the good day. The cloud base was low but thermals started early.
Wednesday: 9 Jan. 08
Again the day started with an early checkflight – this time for Steve Clark from the UK. It was overcast and only a few pilots took off after lunchtime. Gunther flew the DG808B from Astrid while she went for a flight with Keith Ashman to renew her SA Glider Pilot License.
Friday: 11 Jan. 08
22 gliders took off. Bartczak from Poland tried to do a 1000km, but in less than ideal conditions he only managed 900km. Steffen and Klaus Engelhardt also flew 900km and 5 flew between 800 & 900km. John & Bandar did 750km. Cloud cover was 4/8 and thermals were about 1,7m/s. Wind about 30km from NW.
Saturday: 12 Jan. 08
24 gliders took off. Bartczak again tried to do his 1000km flight. The day was sunny with cumulus clouds. Keith continued doing repair work on some German gliders. Michael Lechner (LL) & Roland Scmitt (TW) arrived
Sunday: 13 Jan 08
Rain! Jerzy from Poland & Carsten Heinrich from Germany arrived.
Monday: 14 Jan. 08
Another rainy day. Bandar and Steffen left. The peak season is now over, but we all still hope for some good gliding weather before the camp ends. Philippe & John started loading the container, but the rain prevented them from finishing.
Tuesday: 15 Jan. 08
Another bad day, so no gliding activity.
Wednesday: 16 Jan 08
The weather improved a bit and Klaus Engelhardt was the first to go up and test the air. Four other gliders later joined him. The cloud base was low and the thermals were weak.
Thursday: 17 Jan. 08
The wind was from the SW and it did not look good. Ten eventually took off. Friedrich Schneider arrived in D-KFBO from Bethlehem. He started a few days earlier from Bitterwasser in Namibia.
Friday: 18 Jan. 08
A better day – Cloud base at 4300m, 5/8 cloud cover & thermals averaging 1,7m/s. Klaus Engelhardt out did everyone by flying 940km. Hans & Roland both did 850km. Willie Wollermann & Heinz-Peter Klose took off in D-KTTT and flew problems. Steve Clark from England took of for a flight in the Ventus TT. Martin and Michael went for a flight in JR. D-KFBO took off for Upington on his way back to Bitterwasser.
Saturday: 19 Jan. 08
The weather had improved and 15 gliders took off, but all were back before 16:00 because of rain & thunderstorms.
Sunday: 20 Jan. 08
The day started late. Cloud base was 1700m with 2/8 cloud cover and thermals that averaged 1,8 m/s. D-KTTT arrived safely back from Beaufort-Wes. Martin Lessle went for a flight in PJ and came back saying that it was hard work flying in such weather. Klaus (EE) again flew the furthest, but TW, HW & OM (Bernd & Klaus Warnke) did 750km. Markus Kries came black and took a late afternoon flight in MP,
Monday: 21 Jan. 08
The last week of camp started with 13 launches. Thermals were about 1,7 m/s, with cloud base at 2 600m and 3/8 clouds. Eberhard and Peter in BC flew 730km . Steve Clark took off after lunch and still did 240 km.
Tuesday: 22 Jan 08
NO FLYING
Wednesday: 23 Jan 08
Everyone went flying! Michael Lessle flew the necessary requirements for his Silver C. Hope the GPS problems do not stop you from getting it Michael. Well done. Martin & Neal, the tug pilot went for a flight in JR, the Nimbus 4DM.
Thursday: 24 Jan. 08
Gliding only started after 11:00, but all who flew had a good time. Klaus (EE) flew 780 and Peter & Eberhard (BC) did 730 km. Uli came back from Worcester in V8 and landed just before 20:00. Some pilots already started getting their gliders ready for shipment back to Europe.
Friday: 25 Jan. 08
7 pilots went flying, while others worked hard in the sun to pack the
containers. A short rain shower surprised the people and cooled the air.
It is sad to see everyone getting ready to go, but we are also looking
forward to having them back for the next season. We wish all a safe journey
back to Europe and may the cold remind them of sunny Gariep.
Then we head back home to JHB and do the main line of business until the
second group of pilots arrive for February.
Friday: 22 Feb 08
The second group of pilots arrives at O.R Tambo International Airport. Nori and his cross country student pilot Tasuku Mieda. (Tusk ). Nori is the owner of the Nimbus 4 DM JR. We collect Nori and Tusk at the airport and head straight for Gariep dam. An uneventful drive to Gariep besides the wonderful Cumulus clouds above us. Let’s hope it stays like this.
Saturday: 23 Feb 08
Get all things ready in JR and here comes the showers.
Sunday: 24 Feb 08
Do Check flight with Nori in the Morning and prepare the LS 6 PJ and
later in the afternoon P How arrives and we can do some Aerotow launches
training with Michael Lessle in the Samba.
Nori does a local flight.
Monday: 25 Feb 08
Michael goes first time solo in a single seater (PJ) and has to land after two hours of flying to get to the Gents urgently. Nori flies a 300km.
Tuesday: 26 Feb 08
Prepare all the gliders and it starts to over develop very quickly and no sooner we look it comes down and causes havoc in Gariep town.
Wednesday: 27 Feb 08
Weather forecast for the day says blue skies and they are right. Michael and Nori take of and Michael is very eager to do cross country and the cross country gets hold of him and lands at Colesberg airfield. Off I go (Martin) and retrieve my Son and then we decide to wait for Jeremy Beringer (Jerry) at the bus stop that has arrived from the UK at 12 o’clock at night. He will be flying the Janus AN.
Thursday: 28 Feb 08
Do a check flight with Jerry and after that he does a local flight and lands after drinking all his water up (2L). Nori and Tusk do a 200km and it is the first time Tusk has been up over 5 hours. Well done That evening we had a relaxing local Braai on the airfield.
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