Someone had nicked my stickers at HQ, so I did a quick job on take off. Not bad and pretty straight despite the sunstroke due to waiting 30 mins on the east side of the totally not air-conditioned bus driving us to take off!
101km task set - all OK looked like a nice task apart from lobbing oneself over the ridge and over no man's land to the next TP!
Still, briefing was clear and precise, well done Meet Director, all good, ready to go....no wind.
Then really no wind, then no wind and no thermals.
More than several dodgy take off's - if any pilot managed to get off the hill the first attempts I take my hat off.
Task cancelled about 30 minutes after start gate opened. Some poor pilot had lost his glider in a cascade and piled in, to be helicoptered to Cape hospital with a broken back. Sad right at the start.
With the thick inversion sitting at about 800m, the field dolphinned up the ridge to get the start gate, some turned to the flats with not much more success at getting above 100m than those who had decided to return by the ridge.
Unforgiving terrain and not looking very pretty, with a few big names already on the ground, plus the casualty, the Meet Director called it a day.
I landed out in a field just shy of 3km. Nice big field, surrounded by barbed wire which I couldn't see. Well at least I know that ALL the fields here are barbed wired - nasty! Having tossed my 27kg pack over the fence, and with a hop and a skip I clambered over too. Feeling pleased with myself, I sat by the road and waited for my retrieve. Silly me. That smug little smile would soon be wiped off my face, literally from sweat!
And I waited, and waited.....and eventually I had to start walking. The heat was a searing 46° on the roadside, and although I had my
safari brolly (and idea born from an astute paragliding buddy) I walked the remaining 2km back to base.
Actually, I fib, about 70m (and I'm not kidding here) from HQ, one of the minibuses returning to HQ...empty....spotted me and waited. Nice and better than nothing.
Very cooly sauntering in to HQ office to return my live tracker, I enquired as to my return journey "a pied", which met with a "?". I was told later by a fellow pilot that there was, in fact, NO retrieve in view that the task has been canned so early. How does that happen?! And there were 20 or so pilots who had risked all to fly 3/4 of the task having turned down their radios (this because there is always someone transmitting). How were they going to get back? Well, they did by a fellow pilot's husband picking them up, that's what.
So here I sit now, with my gottle o' gear, sunsetting, it's still over 28 degrees, pondering over a the day: searing heat, dodgy take off area, buses with no air con....why do we do it?
Because we love it and we are no doubt a little stupid, that's why!!!
I'm off for a steak...... Ta ta.
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