Soaring Safaris in the Press

Here we re-publish a selection of articles written by some of our visitors to Soaring Safaris.

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SOUTH AFRICAN SOARING SAFARI  

by Peter Clayton

 It all began on a wet day at Portmoak last October (an all too frequent occurrence!). To pass the time I was looking at the notice board in the clubhouse and saw a poster with a photo captioned “13,000 feet and climbing at 8kt”. Now that didn’t sound like Portmoak!  I read on to see the other attractions advertised by Dick Bradley’s Winter Performance Camp at Bloemfontein in South Africa . All of which looked great, especially when compared with the rain outside.  I looked at Dick’s web site that evening and then e-mailed him.  In due course an LS4 was booked for the second and third weeks in February – right at the end of their season.  I trawled the web to find a way of getting to Bloemfontein and booked a 6am KLM flight Edinburgh to Johannesburg via Amsterdam (great views of the Sahara on the way) and a hire car for the easy drive 400km drive to Bloemfontein on good, almost empty, roads.

 What a change from Scotland in the winter! Blue skies, 35ºc temperature and SUN! Found the Gliding Club from the directions on the web site. Seemed empty in the early afternoon, then I found Reb Rebbert packing gliders from the UK into the container to return home.  All the “local” gliders were away on the day’s task. Dick’s Soaring Safari operation uses his ASH25, Ventus, LS6 and LS4 (as well as the gliders from the UK in the main season) and uses the facilities of the Bloemfontein Gliding Club at New Tempe airfield, which is part power using hard runways as well as the grass runways used by gliders.

 As the afternoon progressed gliders began to return and Dick briefed me on the local airspace, flying conditions, radio routines, etc. Interesting to hear that because of the high altitude (ground level is 4,500’) TAS is significantly higher than IAS.  One key briefing item was “brown field’s good, green fields bad” for landing out – due to the hidden presence of hard termite mounds in the green fields.  The large ploughed "brown” fields are excellent for landing out, as the soil is very fine and gliders stop quickly. 

 After briefing I was introduced to the LS4 and its Cambridge navigation instrumentation (GPS is very helpful in the flat countryside). When setting the instruments I tried in vain to zero the altimeter to be told that they “won’t wind back that far” and have to be set at 4,500’ – the true height. No check flight in a two seater, but briefed to be careful of the dust cloud behind the Cessna tug and the hard bumpy ground on take off. Once in the air it was clear why gliding in South Africa is so good – the air was very unstable and the tow to 2,000 feet pretty vigorous, similar to Feshie on a good day.  Off tow and have a good look around to try to register the landmarks, identify the edges of the airspace and get used to the LS4.  Lovely glider, something like the Pegase but nicer and more forgiving.  Lots of strong lift and equally strong sink.  Great!

 Every morning Dick gives a weather briefing at 10am, following which each pilot is set a task for the day.  At the end of the day the loggers are downloaded onto SeeYou software and a full debriefing given – this was very useful as I was given a lot of advice about the need for tight turns in thermals, not to waste time in weak thermals, speeds to fly, etc, etc. 

 On my third day I was tasked to fly to Dealesville and return for silver distance.  This was the first time I had attempted a “real” cross country in a glider so it was quite a thrill to fly away from “home”.  The Cambridge system gave a clear indication to the course to follow; distance to go, etc and I arrived over the tiny town at almost 10,000’ (5,500’ AGL) and returned to New Tempe, then flew around the area to enjoy the fabulous flying conditions.

 The conditions the next day were not so good, with warning of thunderstorms.  I was tasked to go to Dealesville again, but half way there was faced with the storm and attempted to fly round it. After an hour I was forced to give up and land out.  I found a nice looking brown field near a farm house and landed.  After phoning New Tempe, who asked for my detailed GPS lat and long (mobile phones seem to work everywhere in South Africa ), I left the glider and went to find the farmhouse. The farmer was away but when I got back to the glider there were farm workers there who were very helpful.  One of them spoke some English and offered to get a tractor to tow the glider out of the field, but in the end the retrieve crew were able to get the 4 wheel drive and trailer to the edge of the field and we derigged and carried the parts to the trailer – if we had tried to drive onto the field we would have been bogged down in the fine soil.  Because the farms are huge by our standards and the good roads few it helps to land near a road or retrieves can be difficult.  The GSP coordinates are very useful to the retrieve crew.

 The next day promised to be much better and I was tasked to fly out and return to Andersfield, a total of 165km.  The conditions were amazing by my standards with 10 up thermals and a cloud base of 13,500’ – most of the flight was between 10,000’ and 13,000’ and I arrived back over the start point at just over 10,000’!  In those conditions it was quite easy and it would have been easy to repeat the task.  Oxygen is fitted into all the gliders but as the ground level is 4,500’ and one soon acclimatises it is suggested that it is not necessary below 13,500’.

 The following day was not so good, with a 20% chance of thunderstorms, but I was tasked to fly a declared 305km triangle to Hoopstad, Hertzogville and return to attempt a gold and diamond goal distance claim.  It seemed a huge distance for me to attempt but the previous day had given me more confidence – misplaced as it turned out!  The first leg to Hoopstad was 155km and was not too difficult until some 25km from the turn point when it all seemed blue over Hoopstad in the distance. There was a promising looking cumulus about 20km to the East between the turn points so I went towards that.  As I approached the cloud I was about 3,000’ AGL, and then as I went under the cloud the sink rate went up until it was off the bottom of the clock at 10+ down, finally when I was down to 1,500’ and my nerve was about to give in I hit the lift – bliss!  The lift was equally off the clock and I climbed to cloud base at 10,000’ – a great experience as I started the climb thermaling tightly over a farm house which then got smaller as I climbed almost over the same spot!  After that I flew to the first turn point, then backtracked under the same thermal to get to the second turnpoint at Hertzogville where there was another good thermal over the town which took me back to 11,000’, then turned for the 118km leg back to the start point to complete the task.  At first all went well, but with 60km to go the sky in front went almost completely blue (I later learnt that a thunderstorm had gone through and soaked the ground).  I tried to final glide from 5,000’ AGL but about 20km from New Tempe it was clear that I wasn’t going to make it and I selected a field near to a farmhouse. However I misjudged the height, turned finals too high, landed too far into the field and had to ground loop and slide sideways into the fence at the edge of the field. Again a phone call to New Tempe telling them I had landed out, with the bad news that I had damaged the undercarriage and the underside of the fuselage on the stones at the edge of the field.  During debriefing after the retrieve the view was that part of the problem was probably that, in spite of drinking all of the water in my 2 litre Camelback, I was dehydrated in the hot dry air after a flight of over 5 hours and my judgement suffered. It future must get a bigger Camelback and drink as much water as possible before take off. So much for gold distance and diamond goal hopes!

 The silver lining was that shortly after I landed a 4 wheel drive came across the field driven by the Afrikaans farmer and his wife to check that I was all right.  They took me back to their farm to wait for the retrieve and could not have been friendlier.  We all sat in the shade of a tree in the garden drinking home made ginger beer and eating pealed prickly pear from the garden (tastes like kiwi fruit, but nicer). The next day I went back with suitable gifts to thank them and spent most of the afternoon there.  I was invited to come and stay next year and to bring my wife with me this time!  Wonderful people with whom I hope to keep in touch.

 After this the weather began to change, with thunderstorms and torrential rain.  There were big floods in Bloemfontein with water up to car bonnets.  The other visiting pilots did fly but had several land outs.  I had a flight in the front seat of the ASH25 with Dick who showed me just how easy it was (for him!) to fly cross country even in poor conditions – it would probably have been a good idea to have had such a flight at the beginning of my visit.

  Bloemfontein is the capital of the Orange Free State but has little of great interest to visitors except the museum and the botanical gardens.  The atmosphere at the Gliding Club is very relaxed with an honesty system for drinks from the bar, snacks, etc which are all very reasonable.  Four nights a week an evening meal or barbeque is prepared at the clubhouse and on the other evenings most visitors go out to a restaurant in Bloemfontein .  Everybody is very friendly and I never felt threatened anywhere during my visit – not at all the violent image that one can get of South Africa in the media here. A great place to visit – especially during the Scottish winter!

 On my return I sent off my silver distance claim to the BGA and waited for the reply.  After a month I spoke to Basil Fairston who told me that he was not happy that the claim had not been signed by a BGA official observer. Apparently other (much more exalted) claims were also held up.  Eventually the problem was solved by the Soaring Society of South Africa officially appointing Dick Bradley as their international claims officer entitled to authorise BGA claims in South Africa and four months after my claim flight I received my silver certificate.

 The trip was well worth while and very enjoyable.  I didn’t get gold or diamond distance and even the silver caused problems, but I learnt a lot and, in spite of that unfortunate field landing, gained a lot of confidence and experience.  I cannot recommend Soaring Safaris highly enough.  Log onto www.soaring-safaris.com and see for yourself – or even better just go there!

 Peter Clayton

30 June 2004

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Erwin Kelen
February 17, 2004

 “Soaring Safari”

 In early February, while Benson airport slept under a layer of snow, I had the rare pleasure of flying an ASH-25 in hot South Africa for a week with Dick Bradley, the country’s seven-times national soaring champion.

 Soaring Safari, Dick’s operation, is outside the town of Bloemfontein, a four-hour drive south from Johannesburg. Located on a high plateau (airport elevation 4,500 feet), with average daytime temperatures around 100º F, thermals can go to 18,000 feet. Conditions were excellent, and we were able to fly every day. The group was quite international, with pilots from England, Austria, Finland, and Denmark the week I was there, their first ever American. Our day started with a 9:00 a.m. detailed weather briefing, after which the day’s tasks were set on the computer, based on the expected weather development. We flew 300-400-500 km polygons. In November-December when the clouds develop earlier in the day, 750-1,000 km tasks are common. They have an excellent fleet of high-performance gliders, and run a very professional, safe operation.

 Several months earlier I was lucky to be able to reserve the ASH-25, with Dick himself in the back seat. The experience of flying a 25m wingspan (82 feet) high-performance (57:1 glide ratio) heavy glider was awesome. The controls felt heavy – thermaling at low altitudes was hot and physical. The time lag between applying the controls and the plane reacting was noticeable, but the overall sensation was most satisfying.

 Between 11:00 and 12:00, when the first cumes popped, we got towed to 1,500 feet AGL and were able to climb to about 10,000 feet MSL, the typical forenoon cloud base. Most days we loitered around the airport for a while, waiting for the other gliders to be launched before we set out on the day’s task more or less together. By mid-afternoon the cloud base was typically above 15,000 feet and we could complete our tasks with circling less than 25% of the time. Overdevelopment with scattered thunderstorms was common later in the day, and the energy at the edge of the clouds was impressive, giving us many fast, straight glides. One day we had clear blue skies and strong thermals, but mostly there were lots of dust devils and pretty fat clouds to guide us to lifts.

 Interestingly, the very first day, while our flight computer told us that we were on a safe final glide for home, we hit a huge area of 10-knot sink, and watched in frustration as the clearly visible airport got higher and higher above our horizon. We landed out nine miles from home base in a friendly farmer’s harvested wheat field. Our chase crew got there quickly, and I had my first experience of disassembling a large four-wing section glider in a field. The locals loved it, posing for pictures. It was the highlight of their Sunday afternoon, and the farmer invited us all for a beer.

In conclusion, the nine hours flying to Amsterdam with 10 more hours to Johannesburg was a pain, but once there I felt it was well worth it. Even with the weak dollar, the glider rental, food and lodging were surprisingly reasonable, not to mention the very good and inexpensive South African wines.

 I learned a lot, and met some great people. By the way, checking my log, I discovered that in this one week I had three times more “stick time” than all last season at Benson’s.

 For more information, go to www.soaring-safaris.com

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GREAT CROSS COUNTRY SOARING IN JANUARY 


For anyone wanting to enjoy some very good cross country soaring in the October to February time period a Soaring Safari might be what you're looking for .
In January this year my wife Thea and I made a trip during which I managed to fly seven out of seven days for about 27 hours with a great group of soaring pilots from a number of different countries.

To do this you must of course head south as this soaring takes place in the center of South Africa near the city of Bloemfontein. The general flying area extends north to Mafikeng, the site of the World Gliding Championships in 2001 and south to the Gariep area where many world gliding records have been established during the past decade . 
Some unusual sights are possible too . About 100 km out one can fly above some of the biggest man made "holes" ever - open pit mines out of which some of the world's great diamonds have been mined . The towns of Jagersfontein and Koffiefontein are in the general vicinity of Kimberley where the first diamonds in South Africa were discovered. To the east of Bloemfontein rise the Maluti mountains in the country of Lesotho and the ground rises to over 10000ft in those areas. En route to the east one can see the huge waste dumps of the gold mines around Harmony and Virginia in the Orange Free State gold fields. All quite different than the topography of the Midwest !

Soaring Safaris attracts many European visitors some of whom ship their sailplanes down for the European winter so they can travel down and soar there in the southern hemisphere summer. During the week I spent there I flew and spent many pleasant evenings with pilots from England, Germany and Italy. Each day most pilots managed 200 - 500 km. flights across the countryside on thermals that rose to 14000msl on the best days that week. Theo a local pilot in fact flew a 1000km flight in his ASW 20 the week before. 

A variety of excellent B&B accommodations are available within 5 miles of the field and with the Dollar /Rand exchange rate the prices are right.

Dick Bradley a long time South African soaring team member runs Soaring Safaris , and he continues his very active participation in International soaring as a Vice President of the IGC.
The standards are high .The fleet of gliders were all in first class condition and included a LS6C , Nimbus 3, ASH25, Ventus B, LS8 and others . All are equipped with oxygen and GPS recorders. And for the crew a swimming pool on the field ! 

The flying area for the first 40 miles out is over large Texas like agricultural fields which make for a comfortable area to fly over . As the days improve and cloudbase goes up thermals rise and further out the countryside becomes more grassland and brush . Ceilings are 19500msl over those areas so when conditions are good its like flying over the great basin in Nevada.
The airfield ( New Tempe ) has 3 grass runways exclusively for sailplanes and another 2 hard surface runways for the very sparse power traffic. Only on weekends do some parachutists share the field - with rules to maintain separation from the gliders. Field elevation is 4500msl.
The general arrangement most folks make is to reserve a sailplane for 1 or 2 weeks -and traveling that far it makes sense to consider two weeks as we all know soaring weather is seldom perfect . I opted for one week only and was 100% lucky. On arrival the usual paperwork exercise needs to be completed and then you get a very through briefing on operations on what to be prepared for under South African conditions. I would go so far as to say the briefing was equal to the best I've ever been given by a commercial operator anywhere - Dick takes it seriously. 

Be prepared to do things the Soaring Safari way . As a renter you will need to take responsibility for "your" glider - Help get it out and put away each day , put the battery on charge each evening , take out the oxygen bottle if you want it "topped" off. etc. It's almost like a club operation and each second evening a meal is arranged at the field which makes for a most enjoyable time swopping stories about the days flying or the way it is "back home" ! Such a good camaraderie developed that on the other evenings almost the whole crowd took off to an agreed upon restaurant together - it seemed we always had more stories to swap. 
Pre flight briefings took place at 10am sharp and were excellent . A brief discussion of the previous days accomplishments then on to some very good computer charts , forecasts and soundings etc. Each day it was possible to print out a task on a map of the area that most agreed made sense , but if you preferred you could have your own task customized . 
Reb Rebbeck from England was the computer guru and spent time after each flight helping pilots analyze their flights ( and for a beer would tell you of ways some pilots flew further and faster ) . I myself was lucky to squeak home one day when the sky overdeveloped, and the "British team" of four pilots all landed out at Bultfontein - 100 km out . The airport crew retrieved them all - 3 by road and one by aerotow. The next day at briefing we listened to how they all got trapped on the wrong side of the storm ! A good learning experience.
For me talk of Bultfontein brought back fond memories as the last time I had flown over that town was 35 years ago on my very first contest task ever - in the front seat of a KA7 . The task was a 200km out and return and in those days we had to photograph the railway station as proof of rounding the turn. Luckily no storms that day. 

So if you really want to do some cross country by way of thermals in the October to February time period you might consider a Soaring Safari .Check out the website www.soaring-safaris.com you wont be sorry.

Ron Clarke.
Indianapolis,
USA.
See Soaring July 2005 edition.

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Hot 'n' High in the South African Sun - Winter 2004 by Nick Smith In the winter of 2004 I decided to follow the sun and went to South Africa to do some gliding. The weather was stunning and I was made very welcome by Dick Bradley and everyone at Soaring Safaris. He runs a lovely fleet of aircraft including a Discus, LS4, LS6 and Nimbus 3. I thought I’d briefly recount the experience of flying a day in the South African National Gliding Championships, along with flying the heaviest, most cumbersome glider I’ll probably ever fly. The competition day starts early when you’ve not got a crew so it’s out of the tent at 0600 to clean the glider.     Dust storms and rain overnight make the daily grind of cleaning 25.5 metres of wing a real chore (you don’t de-rig unless you REALLY have to). Then comes the water ballast… apparently they’re short of water in some parts of Africa. I’m not surprised really with the amount that goes into the gliders. The Nimbus took 250 litres to get it up to max AUW of 750kg. That’s 5 barrels a side! With the long wings both inches from the ground there’s the long drive over to the launch point, stopping at the compulsory weighbridge to confirm how close to the legal maximum weight you’ve managed to get today. The grid looks impressive; the open class is full of big sagging wings. Anyone with less than 25 metres starts to get a bit of a complex. Having dropped the aircraft at the launch point it’s time to retreat to the shade of the briefing tent. The task is invariably an assigned area, in excellent conditions. First launch is soon after midday. As the hors concours (horses conkers) pilot I’ve got the choice of the front of the grid as snifter or the back after everyone else. I choose the front.     The runway is fairly long but the tug pilot still has to choose the gap between the trees to climb out through as 4000ft ground level and 30 degree temperatures make their mark. The competition launch is only to 500 metres so you get left wallowing in thin thermals with an aircraft that’s happier high and fast than low down and dirty. Getting up to start height of 11,000ft is easier once the thermals become more established. The Nimbus 3 isn’t easy to get into the core of any thermal so it’s fortunate that you don’t have to thermal very much. In a straight line it’s just like the Duracel rabbit; it goes and goes and goes. The first TP is 70km without turning and then there’s a series of thunderstorms to gain the height back but I get worried and turn when I didn’t need to; seconds lost. Getting back into my stride the 200 km run to the second TP is great fun so I extend into the sector. Turning for home with a 250 km final leg I was getting low at 8,000ft and desperately in need of the 12kt thermal that took me back to 14,500ft cloudbase. One more climb needed to get home, and that happens 120km later in a dust devil. The final glide is a bone shaking Vne run to race across the airfield and pull up to 800ft. The average speeds in Africa are high and the winners are making over 140kph. It’s hard work staying anywhere near them and every second counts. I didn’t complete the whole competition as work intervened but I’m definitely going back sometime soon so if anyone fancies crewing for a Nimbus 3 in a country where landing out is almost unheard of then come and collect your polishing cloths from me.    Copyright © 2006 web-voice.co.uk

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