I’ve just returned from a lovely few days up at Lake Keepit gliding centre. Jan was away in Fiji for a week so I decided to take the 6-hour trip north-west to attempt some cross-country trips. It’s getting a bit late in the year for long trips (cooler weather, shorter days, less sun activity to fuel the thermals) but it’s always worth a go!
Lake Keepit is between Tamworth and Gunnedah – and the countryside there is very dry indeed this summer. The lake itself is only at 20 per cent capacity and the paddocks in the region are yellow and brown.
The resident eastern grey kangaroos come right up to the cabins – they are searching for any half-decent bit of grass and making use of a big bowl of water that is positioned under a dripping tap. The eastern rosellas, grass parrots, apostle birds and magpies also love that bit of water, so there is a bit of a fight sometimes!
My first day I went for a trip in a two-seater glider with a gliding guru – Garry Speight. He has many thousands of hours in gliders, has interesting theories about rotating thermals, and runs his own website (called climate by surly) analysing his local weather and describing his solar-passive house.
Garry is great at sniffing out thermals and showing you how to make the best use of them.
The next day the wind was blowing so hard nobody flew. On Thursday I had my chance to fly the Discus2 – a high-performance 18-metre wingspan single-seat glider. The soaring forecast wasn’t brilliant. The lift would not be strong and there would be clear blue skies – making the thermals harder to find than when they are marked by cumulus clouds.
The resident instructor, Jenny Ganderton, pushed me into declaring a 300 kilometre triangle, despite my doubts that such a trip was achievable. After the usual glider preparation and gathering all the required bits – parachute, sandwich, apple, flight logger, map, water-filled Camelback, hat, gloves, etc. I was towed into the air off runway 32. I released in lift at 2500 feet above ground and thermalled up to 5,000 feet.
My triangular course went – north-west to Narrabri, south to Premer, skirting the edge of the Pilliga scrub, and then back to Keepit. I set off on course and soon flew over a couple of huge holes in the ground – the controversial Maules Creek coal mine.
Discus2 at Keepit
Environmentalists don’t like the mine for obvious reasons – but at least the black surface provided a great thermal! I was managing to climb to 7,00o feet and had more confidence in finding thermals. In theory, on days without any cloud, you just stay on track to your turnpoint (using the built-in GPS) then slow down and circle when you hit some lift. It’s never quite that easy, though.
I managed to get around the 300 kilometre triangle in just over 4 1/2 hours, not bad for a day when the thermals were not that strong. Jenny also persuaded me to upload the flight into the On-Line Contest – a worldwide contest for glider pilots, judged on distance and speed. You can see my flight here and the day’s list here. I came 36th in the world – but had the best flight in Australia for the day – Yay!
The next day, Friday the 20th, the soaring forecast was again not good, although it would be a hot sunny day. I decided I would at least attempt my triangle again, but this time go clockwise around it. There was just smooth air – no thermals – up to about 1.30. Another pilot, Dave Fagan (yes, Irish!) took a launch and found lift, so I went next at 1.45. The thermals were not great and only up to about 5,000ft, so we chatted on the radio and decided to just go the short distance to Curlewis and Gunnedah. We set off on track together.
Dave spotted some growing clouds to the west and headed for them, reporting better lift. Then the day was booming! The ground temperatures were higher than forecast (40 degrees) and the thermals were punching up to 10,000 feet and were strong – 8 knots plus at times. I had a close encounter with a huge wedgetail eagle – I’m not sure if it was attacking me or avoiding me, but it sure looked scary!
But the clouds to the west were spreading and darkening, blocking the sunlight from the ground. Dave rounded the first turnpoint at Premer but lost a lot of height. I chickened out earlier and headed back towards Keepit. There the thermals were still booming and I tracked further north past Manilla, past Split Rock dam (very empty) and on to Barraba agricultural strip. That was enough for me, so I headed home again, a long fast final glide to Keepit from about 8,000 feet.
Dave had struggled back to Gunnedah and climbed to height again and was having fun – he also landed safely.
I finished with a 270k flight lasting 3 hours 39 minutes. I uploaded it to the OLC and was 18th in the world – see it here.
Above Curlewis
A great few days of flying.
Now back to Sydney and possibly more work.
