SAFA Skysailor Magazine

11 November | December 2020 SKY SAILOR A week before the date for our third annual ‘Lake St Clair Hike & Fly’ event was fast approaching, and as well as dealing with the usual temperamental weather forecasts, we now had to fulfil social distancing and Covid public health orders. Sydney Club President, John Brassil, introduced an excellent ticketing system which allowed the 35 pilots to book into groups of eight (to be spread between our team). The days prior to the weekend had strong winds and rain, and on Thursday John called me to get my thoughts on the weekend’s forecast and whether we could run the event. With a Cheshire cat smile, I told him, “Saturday will be light thermic cycles, Sunday a mix of wind at altitude and more dynamic soaring... Due to the heavy rain, the 4WD track is off-limits so the only way to the top is to hike.” The event began on the Saturday morning at 0945 with a briefing in the LZ (over radio to keep social distancing and the groups within public health orders). We then set off in small groups to tackle the steep kilometre of goat track and 400m metres of vertical ascent to the summit. A strong mix of both male and female pilots of all ages (Brian of course taking the medal for summiting at 80) made it to the top within 85 minutes. Once all pilots had caught their breath and rehydrated, we ran another flight brief (with ‘XC Lite’ task), as well as some thermal/coring discussions, whilst waiting for the first of the afternoon cycles to come up the face. El Presidente, John Brassil, was the first to launch and prove to the 30 odd pilots that it was on. He showed the group where the climbs were triggering off the spur lines. We then sent off five pilot squadrons to join the gaggle with one of each team, Julian, James or Rohan leading them out. The climbs triggering off the spurs in front of the hill were Plenty of space for social distancing