Had a great flight today. Got all my Silver C gliding tasks in one flight. Five hours duration, a 50 kilometre cross country flight and a height gain of 3000 feet.
I only just made the five hours because the sun was getting low and the thermal activity had stopped. I managed to eke it out to get five hours and 30 seconds! The flight is recorded on a special GPS logger in the glider. The claim has to be signed off by an official observer who checks the logger records.
Near Lake Keepit trying to keepit up!
It was a good day for gliding, but because it is now winter, the thermals don’t start working till about 11 am and stop working about 4 pm. The cloudbase was about 8500 feet at the best part of the day, so I spent a bit of time there and my feet got cold. It was 27 degrees on the ground but only 6 degrees up high.
Thank goodness I managed to survive five hours in a cramped glider cockpit without having to pee! The special arrangements for that involved an empty wine cask bladder – much preferable to the alternative of a male external catheter and a bag strapped to the leg. I had a camelback of water with me and a muesli bar for sustenance.
My task was Lake Keepit, Manilla, Gunnedah and return to lake Keepit. The Manilla- Gunnedah leg was the required 50 k so I did that twice, just to make sure.
It was an exciting experience, but I was getting pretty tired by the end. The flying needs a great deal of concentration and you spend a fair bit of time going around in circles in thermals which can get a bit wearying.
So, a successful mission, I’m very pleased with myself. Who’s a clever boy then?
