Blow and Spin
Saturday dawned bright (no cloud) and, amazingly, calm (no wind). The weather was forecasting the arrival of a cold front associated with a deep low to the south of the country and I have never seen a forecast for such a blow (high winds) - 75 knots at 18000ft, and rain later.
So there we were on the ground just before briefing at 09h00 and it was balmy. A good turn out on the day meant that we were fielding 9 pilots (and the participation of 15 that will uncork the huge bottle of wine in the bar looks within easy reach - if everyone who can/has participated turns up for the November Gauntlet).
But the forecast was probably threatening our ability to launch the field - usually a strong upper wind will cause a blow-out (high wind & severe turbulence) at Worcester. And the we thought this would likely be before lunchtime. An OLC variant task was set with no bonus turnpoints starting at Rawsonville. To the grid by 10:30!
The big news of the day was that the two new "windtalkers" were operational at Worcester and Hawequas and at 15h00 Dasklip also came online. This local form of 'nowcasting' is really going to help the XC pilots make their decisions more accurately, and Adriaan 'just do it' Hepburn has spearheaded this initiative (thanks, buddy!). Get it on wap or web for the latest.
Thanks also to the Hepburn Lambada we knew Vic Peak was working, so although not all pilots were able to make it to the grid on time, Peter Farrell launched and proved the climb rates were good on the Peak and from then it was a scurry to get the grid launched. Which we did (or 7 of 9 anyway, one was our sad scorer who had earlier refused a launch and was victim of the blowout JUST before he could launch, and the other was Quinton Hoole whose FLARM was only recently installed but the version was not up to date - we all have to be on 3.02 team!).
The extreme wind caused most pilots to struggle with penetration and from the log files, at least two pilots attempted a rather turbulent visit to the lee of Brandwag and reported that stuff started flying around the cockpit and full control deflections seemed a little light-handed. Prompting:
Hepburn thought Jan du Toit's he was in
And was shocked by the terrible din
But he was in the lee
With nowhere to flee
And only just avoided a spin!
The Fantastic flights were well supported by the ground crew (Brain Dean putting a sterling effort) and nearly all hands were required to get some gliders to bed (e.g., Randy's hangar door blew off its guide rail and we needed 7 folks to hold down the glider and fix the doors). Thanks to all who stuck around to help.
Oh yes, you probably want the results. Well we did not issue provisionals in the belief that it was a no contest day, but this proved incorrect once K17 uploaded his flight to OLC. See the scores (D5) and Overall in the links in the sidebar.
Talking of bars, those who missed the Potjie missed a great evening, and it was great to see both club houses so full!
Until 09h00 on 4th November (the next Cape Gauntlet briefing), fly safely.
So there we were on the ground just before briefing at 09h00 and it was balmy. A good turn out on the day meant that we were fielding 9 pilots (and the participation of 15 that will uncork the huge bottle of wine in the bar looks within easy reach - if everyone who can/has participated turns up for the November Gauntlet).But the forecast was probably threatening our ability to launch the field - usually a strong upper wind will cause a blow-out (high wind & severe turbulence) at Worcester. And the we thought this would likely be before lunchtime. An OLC variant task was set with no bonus turnpoints starting at Rawsonville. To the grid by 10:30!
The big news of the day was that the two new "windtalkers" were operational at Worcester and Hawequas and at 15h00 Dasklip also came online. This local form of 'nowcasting' is really going to help the XC pilots make their decisions more accurately, and Adriaan 'just do it' Hepburn has spearheaded this initiative (thanks, buddy!). Get it on wap or web for the latest.
Thanks also to the Hepburn Lambada we knew Vic Peak was working, so although not all pilots were able to make it to the grid on time, Peter Farrell launched and proved the climb rates were good on the Peak and from then it was a scurry to get the grid launched. Which we did (or 7 of 9 anyway, one was our sad scorer who had earlier refused a launch and was victim of the blowout JUST before he could launch, and the other was Quinton Hoole whose FLARM was only recently installed but the version was not up to date - we all have to be on 3.02 team!).
The extreme wind caused most pilots to struggle with penetration and from the log files, at least two pilots attempted a rather turbulent visit to the lee of Brandwag and reported that stuff started flying around the cockpit and full control deflections seemed a little light-handed. Prompting:
Hepburn thought Jan du Toit's he was in
And was shocked by the terrible din
But he was in the lee
With nowhere to flee
And only just avoided a spin!
The Fantastic flights were well supported by the ground crew (Brain Dean putting a sterling effort) and nearly all hands were required to get some gliders to bed (e.g., Randy's hangar door blew off its guide rail and we needed 7 folks to hold down the glider and fix the doors). Thanks to all who stuck around to help.
Oh yes, you probably want the results. Well we did not issue provisionals in the belief that it was a no contest day, but this proved incorrect once K17 uploaded his flight to OLC. See the scores (D5) and Overall in the links in the sidebar.
Talking of bars, those who missed the Potjie missed a great evening, and it was great to see both club houses so full!
Until 09h00 on 4th November (the next Cape Gauntlet briefing), fly safely.
posted by CGC Reporter at 9:52 AM
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