Author: Will Ellis

Day 1

Welcome to those reading this, the aim of this blog is to give you some idea of what goes on during a RNGSA Sports Tour, so hopefully next time we run one you can get involved too. We have taken three pilots to Soaring Safaris in Bloemfontein South Africa, for one week of intensive cross country flying.   

It was a very humid start to the day with calm winds. The forecast was for the mid-level cover to break up and retreat eastwards, and then convect to 12000 QNH (the ground is 4500') with 2 - 3 m/s thermals, and this was considered to be a poor day. In reality the day turned out a bit better than expected with 3 m/s thermals but only eventually convecting to 10500' although the Cu were very reliable and evenly spaced. There were also a few showers about but nothing that really challenged anyone. Dick set us a 'local' sightseeing task of 150km which we all achieved, and then we all went on to do more sightseeing away from the airfield.

Scores on Day 1 :  Chris Bryning flying a Discus W has 4h02 and 234km, Martin Westwood flying the ASH25 with Dick Bradley has 3h20 and 217km. Your author relinquished to his Yorkshireman tendencies and stayed up untill 1845 for 4h57 and 285km in order to get his moneys worth. 

We all felt that the weather conditions were spot on for getting to know the area, and for getting close and intimate with some of the fields. The evening was finished of with beer and pizza, which was excellent on both counts. Forecast for tomorrow - better?!?

Day 2

A much clearer and less humid start to the day, but a quite windy northerly. The forecast was for a simillar day to yesterday but possibly convecting slightly higher.

A task of 330km was set, first out to the northwest then south before returning. Convection started early at 1030 which was good, and we were all in the air by 1200. The thermals were of a simillar strength to yesterday at about 3 m/s with a cloudbase of only 8500'QNH rising to 10000QNH later. However it clearly became obvious that we would not be able to reach the southerly turnpoint due to developing thunderstorms, so we all turned back at various points, with most very sensibly returning back to site. Your author (having headed north away from the storm before it got big was slightly unaware of actually how big it was getting) carried on north and turned Bultfontein Airfield before heading back. Final glide through rain, rotor and a gust front was exciting, particularly with constant lightning very close all around me.

All had jolly good fun with the scores being Chris with 192km in 3h00, Martin 2h39 and 182k and Will 287km in 3h24. I will put up some phots and videos soon.

Day 3 - Tuesday

Well, after the massive amount of rain we had yesterday things did not look too hopefull for good xc conditions. However the satpic looked clear which was encouraging, and the mist/low cloud began to burn off quickly. By 0930 the sun was shining and it looked like we were going to go soaring again. With a delayed start to the day Dick decided to let Martin loose in the LS4 - see pic! With instructions to take a high tow and then a circuit and landing, clearly something went wrong as the next time we saw him was well over 5 hours later, complete with a silver duration and height. Well done Sir!!

The rest of us were set a conservative 260km triangle in anticipation of tricky conditions, but conditions were the best yet. Cloudbase reached 11600' in places and there were powerful 4 m/s thermals, despite it being blue in certain areas. Chris in the ASH 25 with Dick managed the task at 105kph and Will in the LS7 did the same task also at 105kph. What a fantastic days flying. AND the forecast looks like it is improving through the rest of the week. Takeaway Thai (food) tonight and plenty of beer to celebrate.

Day 4 - Wednesday

Another clear start to the day but there was more uncertainty with the forecast. The soundings looked less promising and the synoptic situation was less than ideal. Intially cu started to form eastwards from a north south line overhead the airfield, with it looking very blue to the west. Task A took us to the northwest and then to the south for a 340km triangle. However there was mutiny so a Task B was drawn up, sending us north to where it looked like there would be cu, and then back for 330km. Forecast thermal strength was 2 - 3 m/s with convection to 10000' (5500' above ground). Dick set Martin a short 100km triangle task for him to practice around, even though due to airspace it would mostly put him in the blue.

The day turned out to be a mixed bag with some of us having a great day out and others struggling. Convection went to 11000'+ (6500 agl) with some strong thermals, but in the blue conditions were less predictable although it was still very soarable. A very interesting feature of the day was the marked difference in visibility between the blue and the cu airmasses, with visibility to the horizon in the west (100km+) and vis of only about 25km to the east/north (see the picture where there is a shart horizon on the right hand side of the pic and then poor vis on the left hand side). There was a very sharp boundary of about 2 - 5km between these two airmasses. The task forced us into the blue for the last 100km or so, but with the edge of the cu 30km away it was very tempting to run back to them in order to get to the last turn.

Satpic with task overlay, showing the edge of cu.

Scores: Martin in the LS4 did 147km in 3h12, and both Chris and I completed the 330km task, Chris in the Discus W: 3h26 for 96.11kph, and Will in the LS7: 2h59 for 110.5kph. I cant wait for the really good weather!

Day 5

I wont bore you with the details of the forecast but it was for generally slightly better conditions than yesterday, but with cu distributed over a wider area. With that in mind and with the first cu popping at 1030, Dick set a 509km task out to the NW. He also set a shorter out and return for Martin, so that he would be able to achieve his silver distance.

With Chris (mostly) watered up and having not done a 500 before, we made/let him go first as a sacrificial lamb. Anyway we neednt have worried as conditions were already excellent. I was in the air at 1140 and straight off tow had a climb of 5.5kts to 11000' (6500'agl). I figured that due to not having any water balast (leaking valves) I ought to get a move on to try and catch Chris and started the task from the first climb. Conditions down the first leg were good and with average task speed hovering around the 140kph mark for the first 100km it looked like it would be a fast one. Sadly some very large blue areas with limited convection slowed things down, and this was to set the tone for the whole flight - good running under cu and then big detours around blue areas.

The outlook is for an ever improving situation, so with convection to 14000'+ today and 3 m/s thermals we are all waiting to see what the details of the forecast are tomorrow morning. Certainly from my point of view the conditions today were by far the best I have ever flown in, and there is something very satisfying about taking one climb (6.7kts) in the last 110km of a task.  

Martin clocked up nearly 300km olc-style, and did his silver distance 4 times - outstanding considering that each out and return of 100km was done in near enough an hour. Chris has a superb flight completing his first 500km flight in 5h 56 for 85.75kph. I also manage to task in a measly 4h 13 for 120.57 kph. So another outstanding days flying for all of us, and a enjoyable evening with Lamb roast for supper (once we had removed both wing bags from the LS7 to try to fix the leaks). Tomorrow evenings entertainment is a trip to the local observatory. Check for updates tomorrow evening, it could be a big one!

This was the sky 2 hours after I landed!!!!!!

 Day 6

Anyone fancy 10kts to 17000'+????

Sorry for the lack of update last night, we all went to the observatory immediately after I landed so I was not able to do it. I am now about to get in the glider again on a short 530km task and will do the update from yesterday and today later this evening. In the meantime just to wet your appetite have a look at http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/daily.html?st=olc&rt=olc&df=2012-01-27&sp=2012&c=C0&sc= to see my flight from yesterday.

 Ok I am back from flying now. Well yesterday was forecast to be a "excellent" day by Dick, and appropriate tasks were set. Martin was set a 320km task and Chris a 400km. I was set a 750km task!!!! Anyway I was lobbed into the air first and intially conditions seemed ok and progress occured at approximately 90kph which was on schedule for that time of the morning. Then conditions actually worsened and blow-off from some early showers killed convection over a wide area which I was just entering. The resultant 1 hour grovel and the significant showers over my first turnpoint rendered the declared task useless. Apart from that it was a straightforward flight in excellent conditions, with cloudbase well above the FL145 local airspace (infact cloudbase looked like it was over 20000' in places). Both Chris and Martin had good days as well, with Martin scoring another first - a textbook field landing 11km down the road. In fact showers in the northen part of our task area were a factor all day and it was blow-off from these that meant Martin was not able to get home.

Scores: Martin in the LS4 does 307km of his 317.7km task in 3h22 at 91kph!!! and even though he landed out those are some impressive numbers. Chris in the Discus W does his 407.7km task in 4h25 at 92.2kph, and I clock up 789km in 7h03 at 112kph in the LS7.

Day 7

Well Dick's analysis of the forecast was for a simillar day to yesterday, but I had reservations and I thought it might go to showers. With that in mind (mutiny) we set tasks that didnt send us too far to the north or northwest. Martin was tasked with a repeat performance from yesterday (apart from the landout!) and a 440km task was set for Chris. I set myself a 501km task in the same general area as the other two tasks.

It was a very slow start to the day and convection didnt start until midday locally, but once it started it was good. Very good. This enabled us all to finish our tasks in good time, and just as I am writing this Martin has gone through the overhead at 11000' which is probably higher than he started the task, and it is tipping it down! Showers did indeed occur locally but they were much larger and not the useful sort to the north. Again cloudbase was above the FL145 airspace limit but it wasnt as high as yesterday which was actually better as the thermals were easier to find.

Right scores just in: Martin completes a task of 317.7km in 3h56 at 80.66kph for certainly his gold distance and possibly diamond goal as well, a superb effort considering he completed his xc endorsment out here. Chris finishes his 451km task in a very fast 4h04 at 111.02kph which is his fastest task speed EVER! And I manage to do my own task of 501km in 3h33 at 140.63kph, possibly a touch underset!!! but the showers were just getting bigger as I was finishing so it wasnt far off. Well what a superb end to a fantastic weeks flying!!

Photos in a bit, the bar has just opened. 

 Martin's final glide past the showers

 Just another epic sky

It is now Sunday and we will shortly be getting on a flight back to the UK, where I think the 35 degree temperature drop will be somewhat difficult to deal with!! Anyway I would just like to say that we have all had the most fantastic weeks flying, way better than I ever hoped for and certainly the others feel the same. We have also all achieve the aims that we had before we came out, and lots more.   

Chris flew for just under 31 hours and covered 2384km, Martin did just under 27 hours and 1571km, and I did just over 31 hours and 2961km. Quite impressive numbers for a 7 day period.  This is all due to the fantastic organisation and support that Soaring Safaris provides, coupled with some really good weather (they assure me that the conditions we had were not exceptiional). So a big thanks to Dick Bradley, Reb Rebbeck, Simon and Esborn for all their help over the week and as a thankyou we presented them with RNGSA FlyNavy t-shirts (see pic). I also want to point out that without to continued support from Temeraire the RNGSA would not have access to the financial support that makes Expeditions and Tours like this possible, so make the most of it and get involved. The main RNGSA Expedition is in France in May this year, and even if it is not half as good as South Africa it will still be epic. Email me if you are interested in coming.

See you all back in the UK!!