Geoff Croy. 1972

1972

This flight took place from Stratford on Taranaki Anniversary Day.

As soon as we got off the ground, the wave was already showing its presence as we flew through some really rough turbulence. Above 2000ft it smooth out somewhat and a brief glance at the instruments showed that we were in fairly strong lift. At 3500ft (agl) I parted company with the tug and started to climb rapidly. I trimmed the glider to fly at 60 mph and 25 minutes later I was surveying the countryside from 14000ft. it looked as though the wave might be working for some time, so I decided that five hours was on. At last!

On the way up I found time to take a few slides only to run out of film at the top of the wave. The lift was really dead smooth and it was possible to fly hands off for long periods. By now things were getting a trifle chilly with my feet going numb after two hours in the air. After three hours a sheet of cloud underneath me began to disperse and I discovered that I was flying over rough terrain around the back of Douglas and the Strathmore saddle. It was about this time that I dropped down to 9000ft after flying into the lee-side of the wave and after a long struggle I contacted the lift again and flew to 15500ft (16500ft asl). My feet were becoming somewhat sore by now so I cracked open the brakes and descended to warmer temperatures for a while.

By 5.30pm the lift had decreased a little, so I began to make headway back to the airfield, working out that I might just about make it with the height I had in hand and the time by which the five hours were up. To make headway, I had to fly at between 80 and 90mph into the strong wind but at 7000ft, I flew into a patch of zero sink and then a patch of five up (five hundred feet per min.) which really saved the day. However, when I actually flew over the airfield, I still had 4000ft on the clock . It didn't take me too long to chop this off with the airbrakes.

Geoff Croy

(April newsletter)

Note: Geoff apparently arrived back so cold, he could hardly talk. And there were several flights to 10,000ft of more that day, notably Ivan Chinnery-Brown and Errol Smart in the Rhonlerche, getting to 12000ft.