Big Distances in South Africa

With a cold front moving up the south coast and a heat low developing to the east in land, it looks like today is going to be a good XC day with classic WNW winds.

The rumour is that 310km was flown today (5th December) by 2 Slovenian pilots and Alfredo Studer flew 255km.....watch this space

The rumours were true!

News from the South African team is that Ewa Wisnierska flew 300km from De Aar, just 2 km short of the Feminine World Distance Record, with Greg Hamerton flying 255km. The Swiss Team were flying from near Marydale and from there Alfredo Studer flew 255km.

The longest distances were flown by the Gradient Team, flying from Vanwyksvlei with Marko Novak and Primos Suza flying 310km!

James Braid, the SA Gradient importer writes

05 December 2007

Hi everyone

Just got back from a 400km recovery trip. I'm sitting here in Prieska with a group of Slovenian pilots who, forget the world record, are trying to fly 500+ km. So far there hasn't been too much to report, only the odd 120 km and 180 km flights here and there, you know, one-thermal-downwind-glide kinda stuff.

Anyway, today wasn't looking so good in the morning, lots of high level cirrus and very weak winds, but the conditions improved during the day. The JimmyTheBlade day rating was only 6.5 out 10. We decided to take a drive to Vanwyksvlei anyway to take advantage of the westerly winds, and it paid. Marko and Primos flew 310 km, landing in Colesburg. Peter landed at 240 km, just past Hydra, and I spiralled down at 215 km at De aar to help with recovery. The upper air wind strength was about 30 km/h and climbs averaged about 3m/s to 3500m ATO. If we get a good day here, these guys are going far. They're all flying SR7s, and they fly them like puppies - the performance is just unbelievable! The Swiss team also had good flying, doing 250 km, according to Walter. And Cloudsuck Ewa managed approx 300 km from De Aar, which is only a few clicks short of the current womens open distance record. An excllent achievement!

I finaly had a chance to fly the XC2, so here's a 1 minute review. Well, first flight on it took me 215 km, so it must be good. Feedback is like a serial class glider, but it's very well behaved. Recovery is very fast, and despite the glider being quite thin, it's very stable and mellow. The most I had was the odd tip tuck in nasty stuff. I was either cranking it in the rough thermals, or on half speedbar with one hand holding the toggles and the other eating chocolate. Glide and speed are very good although I didn't have much opportunity to compare with other glider - besides all the others are SR7s, so not a fair comparison. In short, a stunning glider, suitable for experienced XC pilots. The only problem with a glider with such a thin chord is that one's face and feet get sunburnt - viva the training gliders.

Tomorrow looks very easterly and irritable, so it's sleep-in time. Alister our recovery driver has done about 1000 km today, so the sleep in is well deserved. Mon and Tues are looking good.

James 'Jimmy the Blade' Braid