SAFA Skysailor Magazine

25 WINTER 2025 | June-July-August SKY SAILOR On one task, several Kiwi pilots and the comp director waited at the airfield goal after everyone had gone home to cheer Anand, who took five hours to arrive, with over 5000ft to spare. Awesome thermalling skills and we estimated it took an hour for him to wind down and land. Hopefully a drogue chute is on his Christmas gift list to the family. In his defence, the conditions were that good he reportedly climbed 2000ft on final glide! I recorded thermals of +7.5m/sec up and 6.5 down, but this was more than manage- able with our class of wings. From take-off it was normal practice to thermal straight up to ~6000ft. Unlike in NZ, this height was lunches. We agreed it was ‘a pretty spot’ on the banks of the Murray River, appreciated for taking a dip on those 34ºC+ days. The take-off at Mt Elliot was our task hub every day, tasks never extended more than 50km away; making for easy retrieves and late afternoon meet ups at the local pub to tell enormous stories of the day’s flying. The guns and good local pilots com- pleted tasks (average 50km) in 1.5 hours, having already experienced flying there and memorised thermal triggers, however, most took two to three hours. Evan, Anand and Robbo find themselves in the same thermal Photo: Robbo Robbo at goal after 50km triangle task Photo: Evan