Low and slow

The stats sorta tell the story of today:
Airtime: 45min
Thermals: 5
Accumulated climb: 579m
Max height: 929m

However I did get high enough to take some pics of the first snow on the peaks!

Backyard xc

Today was a super-cool day of flying - I really felt like I made the most of the air that was around me - all but the start, that is. I launched just after BrianW and KarlT but instead of climbing up to the bottom of the inversion (around 1,100m) with them I spent the next 10-12 minutes scratching around below launch height. As I got lower I started the death-drift down Emily, but finally connected with a thermal half-way down the spur and stuck to it (tight little sucker it was too) all the way to the inversion layer.

I spent awhile drifting around over launch trying to get up through the layer, and watched Brian & Karl (who were always 100m or so higher...) fly over towards Little Mystic - but I was a bit to low to join them and didn't have the speed or the glide of their wings. They spent awhile circling at what looked like below ridge-height and I eventually lost track of them. I think they eventually landed in the landing paddock after some low work past Little Mystic - I doubt I'da made it back from there!

I'd been eying off Clearspot - wondering if catching a thermal from there would get one up above the inversion layer. Eventually I broke through the 1,100m layer and got up to 1,270, where I hit another layer (this looked about as high as Brian & Karl had got), and headed off towards Clearspot as all the lift in the area died. I didn't head directly towards it, as the top of the hill looked higher than I was, but to the spur running up it from the right. A good glide saw me to the spur, where I found a really light climb. I drifted along it up the spur-line - but got a little too eager and left it to fly into the clear spot. This was a mistake, as there was nothing lifting off from the peak and sink just before it.

For one moment I considered landing on the peak and waiting for a good cycle to come through before re-launching but wasn't totally sure I could re-launch (and clear the trees) and by the time I'd thought this and looked at the trees I was too low to try it so I headed back down the spur.

I gained enough height from a secondary knob to make it back to the end of Marcus - after which a flat glide took back back to the takeoff at about launch height. The air that was flowing up Marcus was lifting off, but very lightly, and I circled in it for nearly 20min for a height gain of 400m or a climb rate of around 0.4m/s. Slow work, but going up slowly is way better than going down and I knew it was near the end of the day.

There were three wings layed out on the takeoff, and as I flew around I realized why they weren't taking off - it was blowing lightly over the back. A bummer for the guys on the ground, but kinda cool for me as I was flying in some light local convergence. One of the guys unable to launch even drove my car down to the landing paddock!!

After a nice boat around above the hill I headed down to the landing paddock as well. Flight time 1hr 45min, max height 1,270m, max climb peaked at 4.2m/s.

Top-landing on Mystic

Nice winter thermalling today - I flew for a little over an hour in conditions that gradually became lighter and lighter. There was a very light wind from the North and since it was all very smooth in the bowl (and my car was parked on launch) I approached for a top-landing.

My first approach was too high so it was back along Emily to loose some height.

Usually I've found that you need to aim to be landing in the bushes below launch and as you come in for your final approach you'll be lifted up to the right height to land on the astroturf (if you aim for the astro-turf you'll be lifted several meters above it and be just too high to plonk it down). However this time there was no lift on that final slope and as I didn't actually want to land in the trees and bushes below launch I had to break off and gain some more height.

There was some light lift dribbling up one of the gulleys so I soared back and forth through this tiny patch for several minutes until it lightened off as well. Grrr.... I just need 20m more height... I drifted over towards Marcus and there was more lift there!! Hooray, back in the game!!

A couple of turns later and I had enough height to try again. This time I got it right, anticipating the height gain on the final approach, flying right in to the back left corner of the take-off before turning for a perfect touchdown - Woohoo!!

Such a good feeling to achieve what you've aimed for after clawing back from where it looked impossible!! Max height 1,150m, max climb (1st one) peaking at 4m/s.

Check out the funny clouds in the pic - I wonder what they mean????

Stable weekend

Sleddie yesterday from Mystic (some pilots got above launch briefly, by the time I picked another pilot up from the LP, got back to TO and launched it was just sled rides), another today from Mt Oates and yep, the forecast of stable conditions is dead on. sigh. Pic launching from Mystic.

Aspen2 Glide ratio - checkin' the numbers

I launched from Mystic a little after 5:30pm today - the idea was to do a sleddie in really calm conditions and get a more accurate idea of my glide ratio. Over a 2.1km straight glide I got a glide ratio of 8.13:1 (slightly less than the overall sleddie ratio of 8.27:1) and a sink rate of 1.1 m/s (1.05 overall). I think the slightly better overall figures are a result of initially flying along the Marcus spur before turning to overfly the landing paddock for the 2km leg. Not quite the 8.7 as reported by the Gleitschirm magazine - or the more conservative 8.5+ on the Gradient website - but where they'd use really aerodynamic harnesses, speed arm, optimum flying weight, etc, etc I'm right on the top of the weight range, flying a harness with lots of back protection and stuffed with various odds and ends, and the wing has over 70hrs of Aussie sun on it... It's probably really not that bad. Anyway, it's a kickin' wing to fly and now I have a bit more of an idea of what a still air glide is. Dunno how useful that is really - I usually use a 5:1 glide when planning flights over tiger country and have had some long 12:1 glides on lifty lines... But any excuse to fly!!

Great winter flying

After the uncertainty of the weather forecast, watching for weather signs all the way to the launch (clouds, their shape and size, drift and direction of drift, wind in the trees, birds, smoke, other gliders, etc) it's alway hard to wipe the grin off your face when you finally come around a corner and see gliders circling above launch. "It's on!" you know, and now the race is to get up the hill and pick a good time to launch in to join the mob in the air.



Nath and I had those happy grins on our faces when we came around the corner and into sight of the paraglider launch above Bright today - and it wasn't long until we were set-up, checks done, and winging our way towards the clouds above us.

Cloudbase was around 1,650m, although it varied quite a lot depending on where you were. We flew over to Clearspot and towards the Porepunkah airfield a ways before turning towards Blackfellas. Looking up the valley was the most amazing view of the sun shining through a trough of clouds - fantasy-like colours and shapes!

I got low over Blackfellas but got a low save from a nice thermal that gave me enough height to fly back to Clearspot again (nath drifting along above me). It had been completely shaded over for a bit, but there were light bubbles drifting towards it so I headed in to give it a try. There was a thin thread of lift coming off the northernmost point, and after several minutes of weaving in and out of this a bubble big enough to turn in floated through and gave me the height I needed to make it back to Mystic.

The soaring day was nearly over so but after boating around the hill for a bit I noticed that the gentle northerly winds were ideal for top-landing. I've done a few of these over the last few years, but none that I've been really happy with. It's a bit tricky, as you need to lose height out the front until you are level or slighty below launch (depending on the ridge lift strength) before turning and flying downwind alongside a treeline - aiming below the left-hand side of the launch. As you get close the you get lifted up (hopefully) to launch height, keep flying towards the back left corner, then a quick right turn as you're getting close to the trees at the back of launch and you're down. If you mis-judge the wind or your speed or the lift you'll be too high to land or get blown into trees on your left or behind launch and if there's West in the wind there's an increased chance of collapses due to turbulence from the trees to the left of launch.

Anyway, conditions were good today and for the first time I nailed the approach, landing pretty much exactly where I like to take off from. Woohoo!!
Nath soared for a bit longer before we flew down to the landing paddock after just over 2hrs of playing with winter thermals.

I don't think our grins had slipped from when we'd first seen gliders in the air - it's goanna take an awful lot to wipe 'em off now!!!

Season change

Autum has arrived with a bang! Over the course of just one week the daily average temperature has almost halved, we've had rain, clouds, and some light snowfalls in the mountains!

Today the conditions looked like they might permit some ridge soaring from the hill out behind home so I headed up on a bike to check. A straight Southerly is best (but rare) as the main face of the hill generates a huge lift band way above and out the front of the hill but a SW (like today) should allow for some soaring near the top if it's strong enough.

I launched and soared up to a bit over 600m, which is not bad for a SW. I was flying with gloves and a ballaclava under my helmet but it was still pretty chilly. The cloud above blew away and the wind became too light for me to stay up so I landed up above the mud hut, however there was enough wind to ground-handle, so I ground-handled my way across the slope, up a gulley (some tense moments navigating between some of the big rocks and over a dead tree there), and back up to launch. Great practice for launches in tight & tricky places or conditions, and by the time I reached the top I was sweating and had removed a couple of layers!

Another cloud was approaching the hill and I launched again as the wind picked up - found the best beat to be from the top corner of the gulley above the little dam (above the mud hut) to the lighning-struck tree above the rock-brow pine plantation. Suprising, as this wasn't the steepest part of the hill, but I guess it's because it is a wide, smooth slope without trees and big rocks to disturb the airflow?
Anyway, as the wind dropped off again Nath was on his way up in the Landcruiser so I explored the (or lack of) further out and landed next to him on windsweeps to get a lift back up.

Nath set up and launched next (he's much better than me at scratching in light conditions) and flew around for a bit before slope landing down the hill a bit in the next lull. The truck makes for quick retrieves, you just bunch the wing up and stand in the back in all you flying kit. Jump out at the top, pull the wing up and you're away again!


Unfortunately the wind was just a bit too light to stay up. Nath landed a little ways down the slope and started ground-handling. It looked like fun so I flew down, landed next to him, and we 'walked' our wings back up the slope to the top. It was interesting 'flying' the wings through the turbulence behind some of the trees downwind - good active flying practice!
The wind never really picked up again, but we had fun trying to keep our wings in the air around the top of the hill. Eventually Nath relaunched and flew over windsweeps to land at the foot of the hill for some ground handling on the flats.

A fun day!