One great low save

February 17, 2013

Today the forecast was the same as the previous three days but the sky looked better.

Heading for the Boggabri Gap at cloudbase

I launched just after 12 and just before the window opened for the hang gliding comp.  Found a thermal off launch that took me up to cloudbase of 1650 meters and was over the back heading northwest for the Boggabri gap.  Caught the next cloud and then went on glide.  

Mary Beth is parked under the tree witnessing the low save

 

I made a spectacular low save from about 300 feet which probably gave me too much confidence because I tried the same thing again on the next brown field and ended up on the ground 2.3 kilometers from the road.  Twenty-two kilometers from launch—not what I was hoping for.  I had an easy hike out to the road where Mary Beth was waiting next to the closed gate. 

I was hoping for a low save here.  Didn't happen.

Kenneth was with Mary Beth. She had picked him up along the road on her way to follow me.  On the way back we decided we should give it another try.  We could be back in the air by 3:30 or 4:00 pm.  We picked up another two pilots on the way back to Manilla.  After dropping those two off we headed for Godfrey’s.

Winds were from the south and we were soon on the South Launch setting up and monitoring conditions.  Some of the cycles were pretty strong. I pulled my glider up and was taken 5 feet in the air and body slammed.  My harness absorbed the energy easily and I was back on my feet organizing the glider.  Things backed off a little and we both got up easily.

Even with the strong south wind I was determined to give the ice cream run to Manilla a try.  Kenneth decided to head north instead.

My groundspeed was very low.  Sometimes as low as 7kph and the thermals I took kept taking me back north.  I made it about 5k towards Manilla when I was getting low and there were no thermals I could easily get to.  I turned around and headed to Godfrey’s to land.

Mary Beth picked me up and we headed back to Manilla.  We had pizza and wine in front of the reception cabin at River Gums to end the day.

2.73 hours in the air and a 22k XC.  I need to work harder at flying the clouds and not relying low saves when flying the flatlands.

Leonardo link