SAFA Skysailor Magazine

7 March | April 2022 SKY SAILOR The run remains a challenge not to be taken lightly. Not every attempt is successful. Its history includes landings in some undesirable and risky locations, including an epic story of survival after an ocean landing some distance from shore. This flight requires a high level of skill, a high performance hang glider and more than a dash of daring. To date, no paraglider has completed this coastal run. The road distance between Bells Beach and Apollo Bay is 85km, straight line distance around 78km, depending on where in Apollo Bay you land and whether you take the seemingly mandatory detour via Jan Juc after take-off. Jan Juc is a short distance east of Bells launch, Apollo Bay is south-west from launch. The full track distance typically flown is around 120km. A record time for this flight is 1:15. Flight times around the 2-hour mark are more typical, and considerably longer flights are not unusual. Safe completion, regardless of the time taken, is the real reward. Rohan Holtkamp, a champion pilot, is the only person to have done the return trip non- stop. That epic flight was done in March 2018. He wrote of this flight: “Finally did one of my bucket-list flights Tuesday – Bells Beach to Apollo Bay and back! I launched at Bells, flew to Jan Juc then to AB and back to Jan Juc – it’s a 180km coastal soaring flight never done before. A mix of dune soaring, mountain soaring, thermalling, orographic cloud surfing and standing wave lift has to be worked to complete this flight.” Starting from the Bells ‘Winki Pop’ launch, the flight requires a series of essentially down- wind runs interspersed with topping up height at all the headlands. Thermals and other forms of lift are also used. The small handful of skilled and experienced pilots familiar with this coastal run know with some precision the minimum height needed on any given day to safely leave the lift at each headland and head to the next. Relatively reliable lift locations can be found in the favoured ESE conditions at Southside (Bells Beach), Point Addis, Eumeralla cliffs, Point Roadknight (Anglesea), Urquharts Bluff, Aireys Inlet, Eastern View, Moggs Creek (Spion), Lorne (Teddys Lookout), Wye River, Kennett River, Cape Patton, Apollo Bay (Wild Dog Creek). Altitudes in excess of 3000ft can be achieved, and altitudes below 1000ft are not uncommon on this route. The most efficient route does not involve closely hugging the coast. Depending on conditions, flights can involve tracking seaward or inland from the coast to find the best lift. The favoured wind direction for this run is ESE; the wind on this day was an easterly. While the easterly had some benefits in terms of good lift and good height gains at some of the earlier east-facing headlands, pilots reported rough air west of Cape Patton for the last 16km of the flight as the wind at their altitude had backed around a little towards ENE, placing some of the route in turbulent air in the lee of the land. Pilots needed good height at Cape Patton before commencing the last section of the flight to Wild Dog Creek. James Wynd (closest) and Bruce Atkinson (mid right) nearing Wye River, with Kennett River on the next point around. Light orographic cloud is forming over the hills Photo: Hughbert Alexander