612km in a Std Libelle

by Scott Lennon



I travelled to Temora this year with the aim of long distance flights for the first time since completing my 500km badge flight in 1996. I have had a few attempts at a 600km flight over the last few years but most serious flying has been in competition speed tasks, not distance flights. This season I had my sights on a 750km flight in my Std Libelle. With some thought to preparation and weather, I ended up with a small window of opportunity to try for some long flights over a three-day period early in January. This flight certainly is not the greatest flight that will have been done this summer but it is my longest and achieved nearly all the goals that I had set myself.

To set the scene I arrived at Temora at about 10pm on the night that Lou Szabolics landed his Nimbus 2 in a paddock after ~700km of a 750km attempt. With thoughts of hearing ‘you should have been here yesterday’ ringing in my ears, I slept a little before being woken up by the wildlife at about 5am. I eventually gave up the idea of sleep altogether a bit after 6am with the sound of an ultralight firing up. I set about getting organised and started rigging out of the trailer. Eventually I managed to get help putting the wings on and filled my new bigger wing bags to achieve max take off weight. After all the setting up in the hot morning conditions with a forecast 41 degrees, I was not sure I was ready to attempt 750km. The forecast was OK, but not mind blowing, so after the briefing I decided that 600km would be a good stepping-stone to refine my distance flying. I particularly wanted to gain some skill picking the best time to launch, the tactics to use when you are only racing the weather, and concentrating on flying the whole of the convective day.

Graeme Rickert offered a potential 600km FAI triangle with a remote start half way along one leg. It looked OK and lined up with the expected winds for the day, so I set about marking maps and organising a photo declaration board in lieu of owning an IGC approved logger. Good practise for a Barron Hilton Cup entry. I managed to have every thing sorted out and ready by about 10:30 but still needed a trip to town for camera batteries and lunch. I had grand plans of taking off at 11:30 but with some last minute chaos and worrying about what other people were doing, I ended up ready to launch by 12:30.

The tow straight into 5.5 knots was almost disappointing, as I knew that I should have been more organised and launched in the previous hour. I am used to assessing conditions in the hour before starting in the competition tasks, then changing into racing mode for the start gate. This time I climbed up to *5,500’ above the field, took a photo and was straight into racing mode towards my first turn point near Cowra. The leg was slightly downwind and uneventful with fairly consistent 5kt climbs. I was able to settle into the flight by staying in the top third of the sky before I encountered the first of the clouds past Young. At this point I stepped up the pace with better climbs at 6-7kts and I had a good run around the turnpoint in shade at nearly 10,000’ AGL for the first time in the day. The next turn point was Tullibigeal about 200km distant to the west and my lovely cloud cover ran out within 30km of Cowra near Grenfell. I tried to drift high under the last of the clouds not knowing what strength my next thermal might be. The rest of the day would be in blue thermals.

This leg was mostly cross wind and the thermals were a little harder to pick. By only selecting the best surges to turn in, an average of about 5.5kts was maintained. My course ran directly over Lake Cowal, which is not a lake at this time, just slightly greener fields with a circular border around them. I decided not to divert off track and in fact two of the better 6 kt thermals for this leg were found at each side of the lake. Tullibigeal eventually dropped under the nose however it was a lot closer to my nose vertically than I would have liked. Although the thermals on this leg had remained in the 5.5kt range, I was now using more than half the convective height to find the best thermals. The run to Lockhart was more into wind, and I was now slowing down and being less picky about what strength thermals to take. I was now working a band from 2,500-6,500’ AGL with only about 5kt average. Fatigue from the morning activities was becoming a factor and concentration in the unrelenting afternoon sunlight was very difficult. If I had been travelling in a car I would have stopped for a little rest and an icecream.

A good 5.5kt thermal took me from a low point of 2,500’ AGL just north of the Murrumbidgee to 7,500’ giving hope that I could speed up again. This however was the start of a steady decrease in height and thermal strength south of the river where I was now settling in for the next 50km to Lockhart in 2-3kts and topping out thermals at only 3,000-4,000’. The speed to this point had been a little disappointing at less than 100kph and realising the next 170km might be pretty slow, I started looking at finish times and whether the task could be completed. I started the day thinking that 110kph would be a good speed and I would be home by about 6pm. The late start and slower conditions translated to after 7pm, and if the speed got even slower for the last leg then it might be closer to 8pm which was going to be far too late.

After digging out of a low point of 1200’ AGL in 3kts and dumping half my water, I decided that I had come this far round the task and I would not give up until I was putting the wheel down to land in a paddock. I kept telling myself this for the next 30km, as I tip-toed between the patches of lift. I was still passing up the rough 1kt surges but I would take the smoother 2kt lift. When the lift dropped back below 1.5kts I continued on track pushing in to the 15kt head wind. After another two 1200’ saves I dumped the last of my water across the circuit area at the Lockhart airstrip, 2km short of my turn point. A mental battle was occurring, deciding whether to keep climbing in this thermal drifting away from my silo or take the chance and fly into the turnpoint. When I summoned up enough courage measured by the altimeter, I drove for the silo into the 15kt head wind I had been battling all this leg, before retracing my path through the lift to thankfully resume thermalling with the same rate of climb.

Only 110km to go with a tail wind and a start of 5,000’ gave me new resolve. I set off at the staggering cruise speed of 55kts and planned to take everything over 1.5kts to keep high before the Murrumbidgee. This ceased to be a problem as the tail wind helped me cover lots of ground and I found a couple of 3kt thermals to keep me high towards Coolamon. At 5000’ AGL I only needed another 1500’ to have a final glide. I got 1000’ but a welcome 3kt thermal soon after provided another 2000’ and lots of margin that allowed a good fast 80kt run home and a 120kt flypast the clubhouse. As usual a great flight deserves a disgusting landing and I lightly bounced the glider several times up the bitumen centre line, but it did not really matter because I was home safe.

I had flown 612km on my task or 609km as an FAI triangle with an average thermal strength for the first 400km of about 5.5kts and then the last 200km of only 3kts. The speed for the task was 94kph, between 12:30 and 19:10. I had high points of 9,800’ under the clouds and three low points of 1200’ south of the Murrumbidgee. In hindsight the flight was not technically difficult, even the weak thermals at low level turned into 3kts and gave sufficient height to make good progress. I think I managed my water ballast well for the flight keeping as much weight as I could pushing into the head wind in the weakening climbs, then acting like a cork to drift home on the tailwind. The main challenge was having enough preparation before takeoff, and having the mental resolve during the flight to keep pushing on and only take the best lift. There was about 50km where outlanding was a real possibility but belief that there is lift better than 1 knot at 2500’ lead me on to the 3kt thermals that ultimately enabled the successful completion of the task.

The next challenge will be the 750km task, but I will need to sort out my preflight preparation and be ready to launch when the lift starts. Next year I will try not to rig on the morning of a long flight in hot conditions. For this year at least I have achieved a memorable goal, and I can start planning next years tasks.

* All heights listed as AGL