Tag Archives: koeberg power station

Patterns from the sky

I went on a lovely post-call aerial meander today.  While I caught up on sleep during the morning the wind turned light north-west; cold sea air began to replace the more boisterous south-easter and most of the PPG fraternity were congregated at Dolphin Beach.  I joined the crowd around three o’clock and was airborne shortly thereafter with a vague plan to join a group flying up to Melkbosstrand along the coast.  Unfortunately, a stubborn pressure-knot in my lines forced a quick circuit back to the field to sort it out, so I ended up chasing after them on full bar and open trims, idly watching the surfers below.  By the time I caught up they had passed Big Bay and encountered a bank of sea fog just making landfall.  The group turned back.

Today’s flight path

My natural wanderlust extends to airborne endeavours, and I knew that I’d be frustrated flying around Dolphin Beach until the mist arrived there and shut things down completely, so I decided to fly over to Blouberg Hill and survey the options from there.  The hill peaks at about 700ft and features some old military ramparts, which are now being converted into nature reserve accommodation.  I used some ridge lift on the NW side for a free ride to the top and examined the options.  The sea fog looked as if it was thinning out to the north, and experience has taught me that while the sun shines if rarely makes much progress inland.  I’d already discovered (to my surprise) that there was very little turbulence over the hill.  I decided to venture a little further into the farmlands, make a big loop to which ever side felt good, and try my luck later with the fog at the beach – there are always plenty of landing options elsewhere for a PPG.

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