01 February 2004 - Best recovery weekend ever

  Saturday Jan 30,  Welkom airfield.

   A light and variable wind day. 
   High noon and the day has turned into a no wind day.
  First Ian looks like he wants to be the first one to go.
  And I also get ready.
  Next I see Ian pack away his kit and I find my self being the wind dummy (again).
   No problem. Forward launch and I release into some sort of lift.
   Some weak stuff, patchy , half an hour later I made it to 1600m ATO.
  And I am still over the take off area. 
  No drift. And no one else has launched.

  Tip - If you want to launch in Welkom, make sure you know how to do a forward launch in no wind.
   when the wind blows on a no wind day, then the thermal is passing over you and you missed it.
   
  I head off to the next closest cloud. Still no wind.
  The clouds work. Easy flying , just get under a cloud and you find a weak thermal.
  An hour later I have covered 5km and find myself over the township area on the other side of town.
  Some smoke on the ground indicates that a Southerly seems to have kicked in.
  GPS agrees. One gets the best Groundspeed heading North to NE.
  That means that I have to follow the Welkom Kroonstad road.
   Cloudbase is getting higher, 2500 m ATO now and I am getting cold.
  30 km away from takeoff now and I am shivering.
   And those clouds around me are starting to look very healthy.
   The clouds are shooting up and are getting a threatening look like they want to overdevelop.
   I want to come down.
   But all I get is more lift than sink areas.
   Not a happy chappie.
   I am cold, I really want to get lower.
  Instead I am cruising comfortably along at around 2000 m ATO for the last 15 km now 
   and not loosing any height.
   Finally I reach a blue hole area before Kroonstad. And some long sink.
   20 km ahead behind Kroonstad is a big massive , very healthy looking cloud.
   Reached the 50 km mark.
   I opt to turn around.
   Not enjoying this flight.
   I fly back into wind for about 5 km in the blue hole, and land.
   Fast Freddie was following with Venture.
   Managed to pack and get to the road and there he is, with a cold beer.
     
   At the airfield they are still getting up and away.
    Ingo's son is doing 48 km towards Bothaville.
    Judy is on a 15km XC
   And Mike has just launched and is in a thermal.
     Next we see him tuck his ears at 700m ATO. Probably Dunnottar instinct?
   He explains over the radio that he tucked his ears when he saw these healthy 
    clouds over Kroonstad on the horizon and lands at the model airfield ( with a pub).
   Those clouds never overdeveloped, and just stayed the same for the rest of the day.

  Sunday. Having had the best flight the previous day, I am the winchdriver for the day.
   Not that it matters that I did not consider it a good flight at all.
   What comes to my mind on that flight was shivering.
   I end up winching everyone from the Xntrix team .
   Some get away, some opt to leave their thermal and come back.
   Some release early, and reckon it is too rough.
   At 14.30 we got Bruce and Mike on the way towards Kroonstad.
   None of the others want to fly anymore.
   I can have a flight if I want. This time I dress warmer.
   There is a dustdevil going through the hangar area while I am on tow.
   Ok, one has to fly a bit more active.
   Now the whirly has passed the hangar area and is downwind. I release and head
   back over the hangars. 7 m/s max up , the vario averages 4.5 m/s. All the way to 2000 m ATO.
   And today we have a drift towards Kroonstad. Around 60 km/h ground speed on a 38 trim speed.
    Halfway to Kroonstad I get 5 m/s to 2500 m ATO. 
   And today I am enjoying it. I am warm, comfy, and the flying is fun.
   50 km from takeoff, where one has to tank height to cross over the usual big blue hole
    before Kroonstad to make it to the clouds over or behind Kroonstad.

   Mike and Bruce have landed around 60 km while opting to stick along the road.

  Tip - when you get to 50 km from Welkom along the Kroonstad road you have to leave the road.
   The road turns back into wind. One has to get maximum height around the area of those
   long wave aerial masts.
   And then shoot across over the shrub bush area towards Kroonstad township.
   Then try the garbage dump or the railway yard, if you get low for a thermal.

 From 2500 m going on a long 20 km glide all the way until I find some lift 800m ATO, 70 km, 
    near the Ultra City intersection on the other side of Kroonstad.
   Back to cloudbase and now I follow the N1 to Joburg. It is now 17.00.
    Next to me are rainbows under some of the other clouds.
   And curtains of rain coming out of the clouds.
   The folks in Welkom report a gust front. 
   One final last glide, 17.30, 100km on the dot and I land next to the N1.
    Walk to the fence, and the winch bakkie stops next to the road.
   I get assisted to get over the fence. And my glider gets packed up for me.
   Glider is in the bag and the Venture arrives.
   I get pushed an ice cold beer in my hand.
  
  My best recovery I ever had.
    
    Thankx to Tony, Alvaro, Deon, Freddy, Ian, Mike, Annelise, Ingo, Regardt,.... 
    and Judy and Bruce for a great weekend.

   If anyone wants to fly Welkom, please contact Judy , 083 984 7697
   or Bruce, 083 320 5786 re accommodation, winching and
    how one has to operate on the airfield.