SAFA Skysailor Magazine

10 SKY SAILOR January | February 2021 Cloud surfing the Morning Glory is an exhilarating experience for pilots who take the ride of their life on the unique cloud formation over Burketown in Queensland. Soaring this long rolling cluster of clouds is viewed as a holy grail for pilots, attracting them from all around the world as they take to the skies in the spring season when the warm land temperatures meet the cool ocean temperatures to create this phenomenon. Stretching for potentially hundreds of kilometres, the Morning Glory is one of the world’s most extraordinary meteorological phenomena, with any reliability found only in the Gulf savannah area of Northern Queensland. Pilot, Mike Zupanc said while surfers travel the world to find the ultimate wave, glider pilots travel from far and wide to chase the Morning Glory. “The first time I flew the wave was in 2018, flying in a sailplane (Dimona-touring motor glider), followed by 2019 and 2020, both times in a trike. Both those times with the trike, hang glider pilots were supposed to come up and get towed onto the wave, but the slackers piked out at the last minute,” Mike tells. Chasing the Morning Glory

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