On Saturday Bill and I had the last flight of the expedition. At last we got our act together. No more being the last glider to take off! Bill and I strapped in, and our sprightly young crew, (alright I exaggerate, John), hooked up the glider, requested backtrack clearance and drove us at high speed backwards down the runway some 1000m to give us a good takeoff run. In moments we were ready and having been given clearance from the tower, launched. Alas we soon found out why no one else had taken off, we were too early and the blue thermals we were expecting were non existent. Fortunately we had a cunning plan. The Nimbus at this high altitude climbs very slowly, hence motoring to 3500’ above site took nearly half an hour, and by then the thermals had started. Meanwhile on the ground there was a rush to launch. ‘If glider ‘60’ can stay up we must go’, (little did they know the cunning plan). Soon the radio was full of complaints about the lack of thermals. One very experienced pilot complained of his worse start ever, at Ouarzazate!
Eventually we got away and worked our way up to the
mountains. Visibility was fantastic and we climbed to over 15,000’ and headed
north east following a ridge. However climbs were disappointing and still blue.
After getting low (12,000’) we turned back. Eventually later in the afternoon convergences
appeared and we, climbed above the clouds and followed the ridges that were
controlling them.
Great Visibility
Climbing up the Ridge
Above the Convergence Cloud
With daylight running out we headed for home, arriving at our
usual 4000’ above the airfield. We pushed south to extend our distance and then
started to climb slowly in very smooth lift for a considerable distance. Not
sure what was happening we turned and saw a brown stain in the air, north of
the field. Some sort of dust cloud was approaching. We decided to return home
quickly and on arriving in circuit were told to land southerly on 12 in to a
slight crosswind. As we approached downwind and about to turn base we saw dust
blowing straight towards us at a considerable speed. We asked to change landing
direction and just had the height to retrace our path and land in the opposite
direction, to find a slight headwind. A following
glider decided to do the same some 1 minute later, but by this time the wind
was gusting 20 knts and the glider was blown off the runway, but without any
significant damage.
We knew that we were going to have long flights and that external catheters would be needed. One of our group ordered a box of extra large . When the first one was tried on there was going to be a sealing issue. We now have a box to go to the highest, or largest bidder.
Sunday night and we are in Marrakesh. Tomorrow John and Bill are going to
again experience the pleasures of Tangiers Port, and will get back on Saturday,inshallah, whilst
I have the bad luck to have to fly directly back to the UK.
Graham
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