Gariep 2003
Report by Peter How
Gariep 2003 started on 23rd November with a half a dozen gliders. Most
of those in the 3 European containers remained unpacked, awaiting the
arrival of their pilots.
Bookings this year have been very heavy, and all the shade and hangar space has been fully subscribed. We are pleased to welcome back pilots who have tried other sites. There is less aerotowing this year, as there are more self launchers. This gives our local pilots a chance to launch earlier this year.
In the first two weeks, the weather has been exceptionally good, with the tropical moisture streaming down to the north of us, keeping the Karoo quite optimum for long distance flying. Gunther soon flew his first 1000km yo-yo in his ASH25. Temperatures were daily over 35 deg and cloud bases mostly over 15000ft. Our best day so far has been the fleet of 12 gliders all averaging over 750km, 4 being over 900km.
More
pilots arrived by mid December, increasing the fleet to 30 aircraft. Peter
Platzer and Rolf Aigner flew a 1000km and the unseasonal weather which
was bringing rain to Cape Town in December was producing sheer wave over
the Karoo in large areas. Wave flying to nearly 20 000 feet occurred on
several days.
Gariep offers a wide variety of flying, from flat semi desert to the west to mountain flying in the east. After Arthur Zahn’s long out and return south east of Lesotho where he reported he could see the sea, several pilots almost circumnavigated this spectacular mountainous area, flying up the eastern border as far as Underberg in the north east.
During the week up to Christmas, the winds became quite strong as several unseasonal cold fronts pushed far into the central interior. By now there had been only 30mm of rain in the last 6 months and the El Nino effect of the country’s drought was having an obvious effect. But the mostly blue days, produced very strong thermals, with fully ballasted gliders reporting 7m/s averages. The usual Karoo weather conditions have mostly eluded us so far.
4 pilots from Swellendam brought an ASK13 for 3 days and had a ball. Instead of de-rigging for the return journey, they tried to see how far they could fly home on one of the windiest days of all, managing 231km to an out landing near Beaufort West. We welcome other clubs to visit Gariep for a week or two of concentrated cross country flying.
Within the first month the fleet had flown approximately 110 000 km.
We all enjoyed a wonderful evening on 24th Dec in Aventura’s
restaurant, following the tradition started by Debbie and Helmuth Fischer
many years ago.
The New Year was heralded in with a street party hosted by the town’s
folk of Gariep, which ended with toasts at Andre Nel’s cottage with
much fun.
After
44 days into the camp, there has only been 3 non-flying days, and only
6 out landings (no damage). The fleet remains at about 30 strong, with
pilots ranging from those who are still attempting 50km badges to those
who are trying for 1000km every day.
So far 196,000 km has been flown. The general pilot mood is very much that of a holiday camp, with only the top pilots entering their best flights on the OLC contest. To date 8 1000km flights have been flown.
At one stage the beautiful mountain flying to the east became so popular that pilots were calling this the Gariep Dam Mountain Flying Camp! These were not just scenic flights, but some were 1000km triangles, covering farmland, mountain and semi-desert.
The pilots are consistently proving that the vast airspace surrounding the airfield provides a wide choice of task type, and many attempt FAI triangles without any form of dog leg or excursion around awkward controlled airspace boundaries.
By the end of the first week in January, the weather was normally very strong every day, with most reporting 15,000 ft ceilings. The winds were generally much lower than experienced during the middle of December, making long distances much easier. Task areas have been a mixture of blue thermals and cloud, with often the blue providing spectacular climb rates.
Generally,
the camp has been running very smoothly, with pilots complimenting us
on our site facilities and organization. The two runway operation for
launching self starters and aerotows has operated very smoothly and allowed
us to get the fleet up quickly once the thermals had kicked in. Unexpected
additional aerotow visitors pushed the number of twos to about 12, so
Martin Lesley kindly helped out at the end of December. Aerotow times
seem to be averaging about 8 minutes, mostly giving us a launch every
10 minutes with one tug. Our ground crew headed by Bruce Hay, is doing
an excellent job, and allowed the camp director to even squeeze in three
flights of his own this season!
The first real rain in 6 months stopped flying for two days in the second week of January. This was quickly followed by several flights of over 900KM and on the next day 4 pilots exceeded 1000km. Astrid also claimed a new German speed record in the women’s 15m class.
Then we “lost” one pilot in a private game reserve. He landed near dusk on a huge air strip and when locked gates prevented us reaching him with the trailer, he was aero-towed out the next morning with the Samba. He had slept on the runway with a small fire to keep him warm in the desert air. This followed two other air retrieves with the Samba the next day from nearby Colesburg.
Sigi Samson started showing us that big span does not always produce the best results. His LS4 kept returning flights in the region of 800km daily.
On 16th January, Fritz Schneider began his epic Afrika-Flug in his ASH26E. He left for Uppington on his trip via Namibia, Botswana etc to Germany. We wish him well and a safe journey.
Two days later Arthur Zahn flew another 1000km.
By 18th January the fleet had flown 258665km, with the average distance per glider 497km. Total number of 1000km flown had now reached 11.
During the last 10 days of the season, the weather varied from medium to very good. Four more 1000km flights were made, the best being Klaus Engelhardt’s 1105km triangle. A total distance of 286 000 km had been flown in just over two months, with the average distance per flight almost reaching 500km. Whilst some pilots did come to complete their 50km badge flight, the results this season really confirmed that Gariep Dam is one of the best locations in the world for consistently providing the ideal conditions for long distance thermal flying.
Gariep
03 / 04 war in jeder Hinsicht erfolgreich. Starpilot war wiederum
Artur Zahn der an 38 Tagen 24.500 km flog und damit die Afrikawertung
im OLC klar anführt. Darunter auch 2 Tausender mit seiner 18 m DG.
Er flog auch als 1. Pilot von Gariep in Sichtweite zum Indischen Ozean.
Dicht auf den Fersen war ihm sein Freund und Kontrahent Klaus Engelhardt der mit 1.104 km glänzte. Gute Leistungen auch von Sigi Simpson mit LS 4 und Astrid Roberg die 3 deutsche Frauenrekorde einheimste.
Das Wetter war ausgezeichnet, in 10 Wochen gab es nur 6 Tage schlechtes
Wetter.
Ungewöhnlich die Wellenlagen mit Höhen bis zu 20.000 Fuß.
Ausgezeichnete Steigwerte gab es auch in der Blauthermik aber die Europäer
scheuten sie zumeist.
Der erste Regen kam im Januar für 2 Tage, danach beste Bedingungen
mit 4 Tausendern an einem Tag, Garieprekord.
Insgesamt wurden knapp 300.000 km geflogen, im Schnitt 479 km pro Flug.
Sehr
angenehm ist der Pilotenmix, Rekordjäger, Genussflieger und Fortgeschrittene
aus 14 Ländern bedeutete ein stressfreies Miteinanderleben. Walter
Binder flog seine Tausender ohne sie einzureichen und war eher mit seinem
honeymoon beschäftigt.
Fritz Schneiders Versuch mit seiner ASH26 nach Europa zu fliegen endete im Behördendschungel von Adis Abeba.
Ein Pilot landete in einem Tierreservat, wusste durch Funk, dass es keine Löwen gab, war aber als Südafrikaner wohl gerüstet und verbrachte die Nacht am Lagerfeuer. Am nächsten Tag haben wir ihn herausgeschleppt.
Ausgezeichnet für Piloten und Flugzeuge die beiden Hallen, die großen Pisten und schnelle.
Reparaturen durch Peter How.
Daily Report and Statistics
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