The first week of December brought exceptional weather. After having gotten used to the area, we were planning to fly a declared 1015 km FAI triangle to exceed Peter Mazak's citizen's record of a 1007 km FAI triangle established in 1987.
The plan was to start on the leg, head NE first as cu were expected to develop early in that direction, then turn west to reach the mountain range, turn south at a town called Nauchas and follow the range to a town called Helmeringhausen as the last turnpoint and head home.
On December 2nd Michael and Tom gave it a first try. I watched them on the SPOT tracker as they reached the last turn point at 5p local time, 2:20 hrs before sunset. Shortly after rounding the turnpoint their progress slowed to a crawl. Two SPOT positions, ten minutes apart, were in the same location. Obviously, they were stuck. It was 6p, 1:20 before sunset when they started to move again. They still had 250 km to go. I didn't think they would make it home and started to make make inquiries where to get a car and a generator with extension cord so we could recharge the batteries of the glider overnight for re-launch the next morning. Keeping on eye on the SPOT page, I saw that they were making progress again and finally Mariental, southwest of Bitterwasser seemed within range. Was majorly relieved when they called into Bitterwasser on final glide 50 km out. The sun was just slipping below the horizon when they touched down. It turned out they had not completed the task because they got low after the last turnpoint and needed to run the motor for two minutes to get out of a squeeze.
Helmeringhausen is not a good place to get low. To a German speaker the name sounds like it would be a picturesque town in the mountains with a nice church in the center and a beergarden nearby. However, this is Africa and Helmeringhausen is certainly not how we would imagine it. There is no electricity in town and it is unknown if the "airport" is suitable for landing a glider. The terrain is hostile and except for the "airport" the only other option is the gravel road connecting the town to the rest of the world.
On December 3rd, my brother and I went on the same task again. The goal was not to necessarily complete it but to see where we could optimize the route and to check timelines. We had a good run and the LX9000 showed 4:40 as the ETA for the 3rd turnpoint. We broke it off 40 k short of the turnpoint because 4:40 seemed too late and we feared a repeat of the previous day. There were also some rain showers blocking our way on the leg home. In the end the showers were not a problem, although the LX9000 crashed probably due to static electricity. and we were home in good time. In retrospect we would have likely completed the task had we pushed on into the last turnpoint. We decided to take off half an hour earlier and definitely go for it the next day.
December 4th was the third great day in a row. Tom and I launched at 10:43 local time. It was difficult to climb in the early morning thermals. At 11:04, 16 minutes earlier than the previous day, we started the task at 8000 ft (4000 AGL). We were lucky that the second thermal after crossing the start line gave us an 8.8 kts thermal average up to 12,500 ft. Actually, it turned out to be the best thermal of the day. We had a good run to the first turnpoint in the NE, an excellent run on the second leg as convection really started to develop and a tail wind added to our ground speed. Transitioning into the mountains, we shifted our working band from 9000 - 12,500 ft to 11,000 - 14500 ft and later up to 16,000 ft. In the thin air and helped by a slight tail wind we ran at ground speeds of 110 kts between thermals. Stubbornly the ETA for the last turnpoint showed 4:40p again but this time we decided to go for it. Helmeringhausen was in the blue when we rounded it at 4:42. The direct way back to Bitterwasser looked fairly blue. Rather than chancing over 270 km in the blue, we decided on a detour and to fly the mountain chain back north before going direct Bitterwasser. There were still good looking cu over the peaks. We had a good run north and went direct when the distance to Bitterwasser had shrunk to 160 k. The big cus in the plains started to fall apart but small cu still worked fairly well, so we had no problem getting home. We crossed the finish line at 6:42, a comfortable 40 minutes before sunset which gave us a speed of 133 kph. We had broken Peter Masak's triangle distance record as well as the speed record. As it turned out, the flight which did not have even one anxious moment, yielded a total of six records.
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