SAFA Skysailor Magazine

6 SKY SAILOR January | February 2022 Burketown turns it on again. In the post Covid realm of open borders, it seems there was some catching up to be done by pilots who had not been there for a few years due to the previous border restrictions, plus, the arrival of a number of newbies keen to see what the fuss was all about, including the first ever hang gliding world champion, Terry Delore, also known as ‘Master of the Wave’ over in NZ, who came to have a look at this other sort of wave. Terry, who has held the world record distance flight in a sailplane of almost 2200km in mountain lee-side wave, has his Burketown accommodation for 2023 already booked! In all some 13 sailplanes of various types, four trikes and four hang gliders, REX Avia- tion’s passenger services plus a few other conventional aircraft were all buzzing around the Burketown airport. It was a busy place at times. The weather was quite fickle, in fact, the weather was the worst I have seen up there, but Viv Clements, Paul Barry and Knut Von Hentig all got onto Morning Glory waves. Viv’s first encounter with a Morning Glory wave produced a bit more excitement than he had hoped for, when the rather weak wave fizzled out and he ‘fell through’ it. Adventures on a Morning Glory by Michael Zupanc Looking down on the airstrip and Burketown. We launch at ‘first light’, at that time the sun is still below the horizon. Magic views! All photos: Michael Zupanc