SAFA Skysailor Magazine

8 SKY SAILOR May | June 2022 We agreed on the following rules: • • Stay within a 10 to 15 second glide away from each other. • • If the lower pilot goes on glide the higher one follows. • • The higher pilot should wait at the top of a thermal until the lower reaches a similar altitude, then go on glide together. • • Span out when gliding to test more air. • • Communicate, communicate, communicate. Call thermal strength if you think you are going up quicker than the others. Discuss plan changes, etc. Scotty was flying an old Ozone Delta 3 and lacked glide performance. Grum was on an old BGD Cure and I was on a new Flow Fusion Light. The Fusion has better performance than the others so I had it a bit easier. The low saves Any epic flight has at least one low save. We had two. The first was when Scotty was 143m off the terrain over the southern end of the Razorback. He connected to an obvious thermal trigger and found a solid +2m\s thermal, making it a much easier exercise for Grum and I as we were slightly higher and flew straight to him. From this point, we concen- trated on climbing as high as possible. When we reached base we went on glide, spanning out to find buoyant lines and lifting air. After connecting to a few more thermals, we all had a low save just south of Hotham Airport. Up to this point, most thermals were being released from the NE side of the range, not this time, unfortunately. We pushed north Bright to Ocean Views L-R: Hotham Airport Over the Hotham High Plains Looking towards Smiths Creek Photos: Richard Binstead