HGFA Skysailor Magazine

30 SKY SAILOR November | December 2018 “It is a gentle, undulating hill which should take 30 to 45 minutes.” I felt my nose grow longer as I said it… The group started hiking just after 0900 and, truth be told, I think the majority of pilots enjoyed the experience. There’s something very special about hiking up to fly. You feel more connected to the hill, able to assess the conditions throughout the hike, build your mental picture of the day and work out what may be possible. I won’t lie, I did hear the odd muttering of, “F$%king Gentle Hill!”, but everyone arrived at the top smiling, with most finishing the hike in under an hour. The wind on top of the hill (591m) was already gusting beyond what I thought was safe for the less experienced pilots, so we descended down the hill by 50 vertical metres to escape the compression. I gave a flight briefing to the group with a focus on wind strength, position on the hill, thermal drift and radio protocol. I also mentioned that although my team of Justin, Julian and John Brassil would be guiding/observing them, they were all licensed pilots and would need to do their own risk assessments and make individual decisions as to when to fly, where to fly, and when to land. We then opened launch and Rob Chant was first off to taste the air. He penetrated slowly but easily through the compression of the hill, straight into the mix of dynamic ridge lift and wind-blown thermals and quickly climbed above ridge height. Once the pilots had seen a glider not only get off easily, but gain altitude so quickly, a mad rush of pre-flight checks and reverse launching to get into the sky ensued. I took the less experienced and confident pilots a little further down the hill and explained to them the importance of timing the cycles and launching at the right time. Most new pilots took a couple of attempts to inflate their glider, but once established, they made committed launches and joined the ever-increasing gaggle flying on the ridge. With the Sky Out team positioned in the various gaggles, I stayed on the ground to ensure all pilots had a safe launch. Once all pilots had taken off, I launched in to the very strong cycles and joined the various gaggles flying the thermic west facing side of the hill. Slowly the wind increased further, causing the thermals to track harder over the back of the hill and into the lee side. We radioed pilots to ensure they stayed well upwind of the compression and told pilots flying slower gliders to start heading to the LZ. With half of the group heading to the LZ, it was easier to gaggle fly and for the team to keep eyes on the pilots still in the air. The local wedge-tail eagles, who are notoriously aggressive, had remained docile and pleasant when the sky was full of paragliders. Now that our numbers had dwindled, the big male came back to announce we were in his ‘Hood’. He squawked and dived on one glider and chased another right off the ridge and towards the LZ. Eventually the wind increased to the point where gliders were struggling to penetrate at trim and I radioed for all remaining pilots to head to the LZ. On the glide in, we found the air incredibly buoyant all the way to the lake, with pilots maintaining height (and some slightly gaining altitude) with half bar on. Butter smooth air over the lake enabled the remaining pilots to boat around, perform wingovers or other descent manoeuvres, before landing in the LZ with the rest of the group. Once everyone had packed up, we had a quick debrief on the day with the plan for a more in-depth briefing and ‘rehydrating’ at the Royal Pub in Singleton. Thirty- eight pilots, 2.5 hours of airtime and many new experiences for the group – what a day! Photos: The Sky Out Team Lake St Clair Hike & Fly