SAFA Skysailor Magazine

51 WINTER 2025 | June-July-August SKY SAILOR The lift was broken and patchy. The cold air mixing with the hot thermals was rough. He struggled to keep the wing open, his breath laboring, all his skills demanded, he finally located the core and the vario sang its rewarding tune. He climbed. The lift abruptly abated and the air condensed around him. He felt the cool change in temperature, surrounded by cloud, the air now smooth and fluid, he drifted with the wind and began to relax. Building clouds coax him inland, over the main arterial road leading to the city. No one has ever flown over the back and got away… Loosing lift, he returned to the main ridge, just making it over the cutting. He landed just short of the intimidating cliffs, putting it down in a clearing of stunted saltbush. Decked it again. I should have stayed with the old man. He sights a tinnie doing the rounds of the lobster pots. Stuff sacking his glider, he scrambled onto the wet sand and signaled the fisherman. The tinnie approaches cautiously, rolling in the small surf. “Gidday mate, I’m stranded, any chance of a lift round to the next bay?” “Yeah, okay, I’m headin’ that way anyway, you’ll have to wade out, I can’t come in any further,” yelled the fisherman . Holding the glider above his head, he waded out the 15m to the boat. It’s alive with lobsters, they’re everywhere! As he climbed aboard the now overladen boat, he leaned back on the harness as the fisherman wrestled the tinnie through the white water. Huge red spiny lobsters, all legs and antennae, surrounded him. “Didn’t think you’d make it, so close to those cliffs,“ said the fisherman. “Neither did I,“ I replied. Water broke the bow as the boat pushed its way through the rising swell. Rotting fish heads reeked, mangled prawns and squid guts floated back and forth in the opaque water. The rocking of the boat and the diesel fumes made him dry retch. Anxious to get ashore, he saw the old man’s shack as they approached the bay. “I’ll have to drop you off on the rocks, there’s a channel there that’s protected from the waves. You’ll have to be quick!” Photos: Tony Sandeberg