Rain, wind and finally beautiful air

February 25 to March 4, 2013

The day after my personal record flights had to be a letdown.  The instability that had made it so good for me the day before showed itself with a thunderstorm over Myrtleford and I had to land at Porepunkah Airstrip to be safe. 

Two days of rain followed.  Not a lot of fun when that happens. It was cold and damp and the cabin at Crusty’s was getting old quickly.  Fortunately the rain ended but strong winds followed for the next two days. 

Rainy day at Cam Crusty

At least the sun was now shining and although it was a two blanket nights we could be outside.  We took advantage of the first windy day to visit some of the local wineries with Dave, our new paragliding buddy.  He knew some of the best ones in the valley.  I was the designated driver so I didn’t do much of the tasting.  I only got involved when Mary Beth was picking out the ones she wanted to buy.  Ten bottles and ten sips should have kept me within the legal limit.

Gapstead Winery

On the second windy day Cam was here and he rode along showing me how to get to the Pines launch.  It faces into the south winds and is used sometimes when the south wind is too strong to be overcome by the thermals coming up the north slope of Mystic.  It's a little difficult to find the road up to launch at the Pines and you need 4WD.  When we arrived it was to cross, too gusty, and too strong to launch.  Pilots had been waiting or a couple of hours.  I didn't wait that long.  I left after 15 minutes.  The risk/reward ratio just was not there.

Pines launch

Finally on Sunday the winds had calmed down and Cam and I launched from Mystic.  The rain and winds had cleared all the smoke and it was a beautiful clear day for flying.

Thermaling with Cam

There are two schools of thought (at least two) on the best way to get from “Clear spot” to the ridge that takes you up to Buffalo.  You take one spur that is a little closer but the thermal trigger clearcut is not as big as “Black fellow” which has clear cuts on both sides and when it’s working well will get you higher.  I opted to try the spur and missed the thermal there and ended up landing at Porepunkah Airstrip AGAIN!  It’s a nice place to land but there are still plenty of thermals kicking off there.  Cam caught the thermal I missed, crossed over the airport high and surfed the ridge for a while before coming down and landing.  He wanted to get an early start on heading back to Melbourne with Heidi. 

On final to land at Porepunkah Airstrip

Mary Beth and Heidi arrived shortly after Cam landed and we were soon all packed up on our way back to Crusty’s.  Cam and Heidi were soon on their way and we were surprised to see Tristen and Valdimar walking up to our cabin.  They came south to escape the rain in Manilla. 

Monday was forecast to have light winds and good lift but no clouds.  Most of the pilots launched just after noon and there were wings going everywhere.  My goal was to photograph the chalet and the rock face at Buffalo National park. 

I took off and was snapping pictures using the hand remote on the brake toggle.  There were plenty of gliders and we worked together to find lift and climb out.  There was a light east wind which made getting to “Clear spot” easy.  From there I went for “Black fellow” this time. I found a nice 3 meter per second thermal there and got enough altitude to cross over to the spur running west of Porepunkah airport.  I struggled for a while low on the ridge but finally found a thermal that took me high enough to head for the rock face and chalet at Buffalo.  

I sank lower and lower as I came to the rock face. Finally I turned and headed for field in between two tree covered spur ridges.  I surfed the ridges a bit and found enough lift to get out to the valley.  I had picked a landing field and was heading for it when I found a thermal that I was able to climb out on.  After that climb I headed across the valley to try flying the North side of the valley.  I found some nice thermal triggers along the foothills and two climbs later I was on glide for the Mystic LZ.  

I landed one minute short of three hours.  It was a very easy day to stay in the air.  I’m sure I could have flown down to Harrietville easily but decided three hours was enough and I didn’t want Mary Beth to chase me any further.   Link to the flight details in Leonardo here

Flight around the valley

She had followed me west until I told her I was heading back to the LZ.  About the time I called Mystic LZ on glide Mary Beth was pulling in to the parking lot at “Woolies” (Aussi speak for Woolworth’s supermarket).  Once again she made it to the landing zone before I could get packed up. 

The top of lift was not too high but that was probably my thermaling skills.  I only got up to 1700 meters.  There was a bit of a wind shear where the valley breeze takes over for the thermals switched direction.  I’ll look for that tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I will try again to get up on Buffalo and get some good pictures.  I ended up with no pictures today.  I had not erased the SD card from the day before and had added a few photos on it which, for whatever reason, the GoPro camera must not have liked. I was getting the beeps that pictures were being taken but there was nothing on the card when I tried to download this afternoon.  UGH!

All in all it was a great day of flying and made me understand why the people who live here love the valley.  When it’s on like this you can go just about anywhere.

The forecast for tomorrow is a repeat of today.  Can’t wait!