TOSS Blog

Up and running guys, registration is open at:

http://www.atlanticfc.org.za

These are the guys who are up there already on the registration board
Great to see Sean and Bakkies already in the mix. Good one PERF, see you there.
C'mon Tossers, get up and register for what promises
to be another awesome weekend up on the slope and down in the valley!

av8 35.070 2.4GHz	Bruce 35.140	lowflyingfish 35.260	Bobby 35,060	Lee 35.020 2.4
twbaker 35.070 35.040	Andy 2.4	TOSS004 35.080 35.130	uncle kev 2.4 2.4 2.4	nicsteffen 35.430
aimrah 2.4 35.180 27.095	Jeffsteffen 2.4	Ooooeeeaaaaah! 2.4GHz 35.160 27.045	Magoebaskloof Fasst	planestuff 2.4 2.4 2.4
Bakkie 2.4	mikehagemann 2.4ghz 27.45	jontymck 35.050 35.250	Seank 2.4	Jakes 35.150 35.190 35.440
gmo 2.4	roy.white 35.160MH 2.4GH

More of the same this year... one hopes to see some new ones as well

 

Come Saturday the expectant ctrew rolled into the Red Hill
parking lot to the welcome of that devil of a wind, the southerly.
So a quick drive to Kommetjie revealed flyable but bumpy
conditions with a defined side push across the slope.
After bouncing around with the wings we decided to
hold the aero league anyway as should these conditions manifest
themselves during the January event, we would have called a round anyway.
So off we went through the class C and the class B routines
fluttering away on the upwind leg and screaming through on the downwind leg
to attempt to hold enough energy to complete the maneuver required.
Well done to all that took part in these challenging conditions
and actually managed to make something out of what amounted
to very good practice in not so good conditions.
Best part was probably the landings into the wind as it
made the side hill landing a dawdle and not one glider took any damage.

Roll on Sunday and thrashing South Easters pushing through
saw a few of us take an early run. Yes Steve, you were virtually running up the hill.
An early aerobatics practice session in the most insane, smooth, energetic
and dynamic lift helped to iron out a few niggles in the patterns
and helped the learning curve no end.
Later as the crew of Damian, Christo, Malcolm and Bill all arrived we had the most amazing
combat sessions with the warbirds. These tuff little buggers generate
so much humour we had aching stomach muscles as we once more
went into half pipe swings. Basically as vertically high as we could go
on each side  while attempting to tag each other on the way up, or down.
The sheer energy in each zoom doubled up and the dive down into the next one
created huge speed as the dices continued unabated.
One hell of a lot of fun, thats all. One hell of a lot of fun!

 

 

 
  

Well done to all the guys who took part in the SAMAA ratings

a couple of weeks back. On monday I was able to collect the badges for all the crew who took part,

so lets get together on the hill on the weekend so we can hand them out....

and yes Bill, it is a seagull!

Thunk!
Fall out of bed at 3:30 am on a Friday to make the blasted flight to Durban.
Now I know what the Durban guys go through every year to attend the TOSS event,
and bless their souls for doing so. However there was a palatable excitement as Jeff, Christo
and myself converged at the Cape Town airport in the chilly wee hours,
with a correx box big enough to carry a fully grown small person,
yet filled with our precious toys and now to be handed over to the airlines
for transport to the other side.

Following the tail of the cold front that had slammed through
the Cape the day before we made awesome time in the orange tin can with wings,
while chewing away on peanuts handed out by men in orange uniforms...
and landed a whole 20 minutes early at the new sparkly King Shaka airport.
We were quickly whisked off to our lodgings by our gracious hosts,
(Russell Conradt and Dave Greer, not to mention the entire sloping crew in Durban)
for an even quicker of an unpack of bags, and into the car for the trip
to the Inanda Dam slope to greet the advancing frontal system which
promised to push through a strengthening South Wester.
(read North Wester if your in the Cape... land curve/twist/tilt, that sort of thing)

The Inanda Dam slope is not to be fiddled with! A 200m vertical face at the flight line
hits the foot hills eventually, and then tails off for a more or less 600 meter
drop to the dam way down in the distance.
Warnings were given that should one's glider advance down
to the front of the face of the slope for whatever reason,
your glider will stay there... more or less forever...
or till the mountain club can get to it slung up in harnesses and things.
Starting out a bit light, within the hour and somewhere around midday,
the South Wester started to belt through and the lift went berserk.
Between BEE wing battles, a touch of DS, and general flying
Dave and Mark were able to maiden the new Minivec,
Russell was able to make his glider dissapear to a mere dot at the base of the valley
while persons fixing roofing in the valley below waved hammers at it,
and the aerobatics routine was practiced in some of the most energetic lift
we have ever sloped...very much able to rival anything the Cape can offer.
Eventually we all retired to Russels house and were treatred to an awesome braai
hosted by his wonderfull wife Mandy, and man is she good at the hosting gig!
Flawless  food, plenty of the liquid stuff, and much laughter saw all the slope
crew retire before the midnight hour for a well earned rest.

Saturday promised a NE blow, so a change of slope was required,
more or less the backend of the frontend that we had sloped on Friday.
But mother nature as is true to her form chose to desert us a wee bit and
light conditions riegend for the day. Not quite as imposing as
the Inanda Dam slope, this lsope still had a goo old frontal drop off
that made men and cattle wary.
So thermal ships deployed along with BEE wings and we spent the day sloping
the most amazing thermals while waiting for the wind to push.
Late in the day the blow did indeed come through, but the lift still remained scratchy
and we saw a few gliders make an unscheduled trip down the front odf the slope,
to be recovered by the local lads... for a small fee. Come in Kobus, come in!

An early night beconed the now tiring lads due to the frovilities of the night before,
and a well rested crew woke up for the Sunday trip to a slope called Switchblade.
Panoramic is somewhat an understatement for the Natal slopes
and this slope was capable of handling a North west through to North,
through to North East switch.
With the temperature hitting the 30-35 degree mark,
suntan lotion was applied in buckets, caps donned
and our gliders took to moderate and hot conditions.
While waiting for the eventual switch to the North East
we did a bit of BEE wing pylon racing which was duly won
by by Michel Leusch. Eventually as the day waned
we saw the wind switch moved the entire crew to the
East facing slope, Russell called the event, and were able to carry off a single round of aerobatics
A six in cricket as it were, one shot at it, before the lift failed in the evening light,
which was duly won by Michel Leusch once again...

Congratulations to Russell Conradt for pulling off this event.
Yes Russ, the stress is worth it and those grey hairs
will make you look more distinguished.
Hosting an event like this is never easy, but hell, it's worth it!
A huge thanks must go out to all the slope community in Durban.
Russell Conradt, Dave Greer, Mark, Ziggi, Johan, the ever smiling Rudi
and the ever cheerful Adi, Dean- our flight Judge along withLuke,
Kobus who just never gave up...no matter how many times his glider made
unscheduled front face landings to be fetched by the locals,
Simon and his son Ryan, and any of those awesome souls I may have missed in the line up....
and finally Michel, who just whipped our Cappie asses.

To those who missed it...you missed it.

We will be back, I promise you, we will be back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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One more sleep, well actually probably half a sleep
given that we have to be on the Man Go airliner by 6 AM.
Just been looking at the Inanda  Mountain range
on Goole Earth and the Durban boys have it spoilt.
A huge slab of rock 600 odd meters high with a 360 degree view
and what according to Russ has now been shown to have
virtually 360 degrees of sloping ability no matter what the wind!
However, lean out to catch your errant BEE wing, get it wrong
and you have a nice little 200 meter freefall down the front face. Oops.
Really looking forward to this new adventure and kudos once again
to the Durb's lads for getting this together.
Aerobatic schedule attached, as well a the google view
of that particular slab of rock that a few TOSSers
will be flying from over the weekend.

Keep up to date with Dave's excellent blog from that part of the world
http://springfieldchickens.blogspot.com/

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After much baiting, biting and general harresment by the lads
the Durban guys have come to the party and put together a North versus South event.
Sharks versus Stormers, if you will.
Under the tender care of Russell Conradt the event is being crafted and
for the 3 of us who have opted to leap on a plane on Friday,
carrying a bevy of planes, the event promises to be great.
Designed over 3 days from the 16 to 18th September so as to allow
for weather permutations of the Durban area, we are looking at
an Aerobatics routine, speed trials and possibly combat as a last option.
There has been a flurry of activity between Mark and Dave to get their newly
acquired MiniVecs up and running and the first reports are of elation
at the capabilities of this new generation craft.

This is going to develope into one of those lekker needle matches
over a floating trophy, that will see this become a much anticipated
and visited annual event on the slope calendar if the Durb's guys
and us TOSSers have anything to do with it!

So out with the liver tablets, take plenty and try to get some good rest
for what promises to be a jol and a half over the three days!

Below are some pics from Dave's blog...
http://springfieldchickens.blogspot.com/

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With the weekend showing westerlies for the Saturday
the decision was made to get up to Signal Hill and
swamp the AFC boys for a change, on their home site.
Chris Leal and myself were very much on a mission with a
3 Meter Lanyu and aVector to maiden.
Arriving nice and early at 11AM we were surprised
to find the hill deserted with a moderate West/North West
pushing through and were happy to get the maiden flights of the
Lanyu and Vector under our belts. With the lift smooth as silk but
lacking punch we were able to get set-up done and
the Lanyu proved to be a beaut to fly, but with it's 3m wingspan
needed a bit more airspace that we are used to.
It keeps getting big on you rather quickly...
and is no slouch, while looking very graceful in the air.
Having originally set the CG on the spar, and with the CG calculator
telling us it was 20mm back at least, we erred on the nose heavy side,
but true to form the CG calculator was right and the extra lead was removed
for the second flight which lightened up the footprint somewhat
and made her lighter on her toes. Very nice toy this!

Landing at Signals is somewhat of a peach compared to what
we usually have to deal with down south, and throughout the entire day
landing after landing was graced into the super soft fynbos bowl
with nary a hint at any damage to any planes. Within the hour the rest of the
Toss crew arrived. Brendan flew out his Vector a few times
and giggled at the landings, Jeff got off a very successful maiden
of his brilliantly rebuilt Aldij, ( bagged wings-within grams of the original wings weights)
Malcolm maidened his beautifully repaired Impala for some formo with a foamie variant,
Chris spent the day practicing his landings and getting them bang on, most of the time,
and Steve, Christo, and Lionel all had goodies in the air,
all the while wondering where the heck the home crew were...

Bobby and Bruce eventually arrived with excuses about having
to get their hair done...or something along those lines...:-)
and the afternoon then saw a full crew  from both clubs
up on the hill having a blast.
Thanks to AFC for tolerating us up there for the day,
and what great fun it was to slope up there with you guys again.
Lets do it again soon.

Regretfully I took few photos for the day, being just way too busy having a blast
and the DS area and with more planes than we could throw a stick at...
so if any of you have some pics, please let me have hem or post them please.
Steve, Steve, you there?

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Check out the link on Flicker of 65 wartime photo's of the P38 Lightning

in a gallery at the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18532986@N07/sets/72157607350596374/with/2980883130/

and check out D.Sheley's galleries for more great aerial shots at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18532986@N07/

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Well done to all the lads who were up on the hill on Saturday
and flew their SAMAA proficiencies. A big thank you to Malcolm and Gus
for putting up the time to rate the guys and great to see some of our newer members
stepping up to the plate and taking on the bronze at least. FANTASTIC!.
Luckily mom nature delivered a beauty of a South Easter which helped
matters to no end. Sunday, even better than Saturday
so the guys had a blast up on the hill.

Following the Aerobatics event being run a couple of weeks ago,
we are setting up for the next round. Enter the existence of class B.
Two consecutive competitive events with a score greater than 60%
across 4 rounds ( if possible in consecutive events) will see  advancement to the next class.
So without further ado here are the results noting that Mally still needs to fly a second round set, as does Marc and Jeff.

Hoping to run the SAMAA bronze, silver, gold and
possibly Diamond grades for the club on Saturday, we called the guys to
Chappies for what was expected to be a good day on the slope with
an advancing frontal system due on Sunday with snot
and trane promised in a howling gale.
Alas, part  two was right and part one was horribly off beat.
Hot and windless conditions greeted the lads even though Windfinder
suggested a nice cool push towards evening, it just never really happened.
On the bright side we had some really good fun hunting down thermals
that were booming away like crazy all over the slope and spent hours alternating between
awesome thermals and the inevitable sink... and boy did we sink,
all at once and all over the place at certain times.

Notable achievments for the day were as follows:
Part1:A very pretty little thermal chucky runnning out of battery power
due to the tiny size of said battery,
plummeting out the sky in a death spiral with panicked pilots all round,
piling into the hill with some intent and coming out of the affair
with nary a scratch in sight... lucky glider and even luckier glider pilot.
Part 2: Had to be the reversed elevons on the BEE wing that
had the poor glider going into death spirals every time it left the safety of terra firma.
The hapless pilot corrected in the wrong direction and added to the the
ever tightening spiral of over correction and pilot frustration at the supposed
lack of willingness of the glider to perform in any respectable manner.
Once the reversed situation was discovered, corrected, the BEE naturally flew in the most
beautiful manner, as a brand new BEE is supposed to do.
Unfortunately it is one of those things that can, and probably will, happen
to all of us along the line, but in this case it was luckily with a very resilient BEE wing.
Part 3: Had to be the advent of a really limp wristed girly launch, vertical heave to vertical dive,
of a 3.2m thermal ship, dooming the poor pilot to a death struggle in the light to non existent lift
and in the end a red faced long distance fetch from the bowls of the bowl.
Note: launch straight out with intent, do not try to overdo it,
and avoid the limp wrist at all costs, after all this is not San Francisco.
Note: No names mentioned here to protect the innocent,
but thanks guys for making the day a somewhat exciting, entertaining
and interesting affair!

Sunday did what it was supposed to do, and the rain moved in backed by some howling
North Westerlies while the guys surfed Dungeons at the 40 foot mark.
A few Tosser's ventured out at the first time of the rain lifting and were rewarded with
a good 2 hour session in feezing but dynamic lift before getting chased of the hill
by a good lashing of North West driven pelting rain.

Darn, lets do it again next weekend, why not!

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Sunday rolled in with a cold but steady South Easter and
for once we were actually able to plan and run a league event.
Based on the class C model we were able to get all the guys to fly
the routine twice and complete a comp with 9 individuals involved.
The class C is designed to take the pilots through a simple routine and yet teach
the basics from the ground up, and it goes like this.

1 Roll, 1 loop, straight inverted for 5 seconds, Two rolls, two loops

Immelman, split "s" , stall turn and 1/2 reverse cuban 8.

For those that scored an 60% average for the last two events based on this model,

will move through to the Class B, which now streches out the moves a bit more

and introduces a slightly higher degree of difficulty.

All in all a well done to the lads, and specifically those who took on the

challenge for the first time and succeeded.

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The view is just spectacular but the area heavy full of rocks due
to a fire there about 2 years ago, so will take a good two years
of growth before there is anything resembling a landing area
for glass ships, but this area could be fun for some hot easterly
combat sessions with the ever useful BEE foamies.

After 3 hours of trying to coax lift out of the hot conditions we abandoned the cause

to await a stronger easterly and the chance to explore the slope a bit more.

Enjoy the view!

Chris Leal flew in from the big smoke, I abandoned the orofice for the day
and Brendan jumped at the opportunity to make an appearance on the slope,
finding a half day at the office on the slope, somewhat agreeable.
Conditions were just too beautiful. Moderate North Westers rolled through,
cold and dense air graced the slope and the well wrapped up trio had an awesome afternoon
gazing skywards. Chris flew the Inyoni, Toucan and Bee and Brendan the Vector
and scale glider, with the Bee for fun.  Later in the day and with the sun breaking through the clouds,
we strapped the GoPro camera to the nose of the Bee wing, set for a picture every 5 seconds
and let it out into the open with a bunch load of up trim for good measure.
Here are some of the shots, 300 in total on the camera, and what a sight to behold.
Chapman's Peak site in all it's glory, showing why it is such an awesome site to fly,
why the bowl works so well on the North Westers and why with all the mountain behind it,
it generates such fantastic height and solid lift for gliders and birds alike.

Not quite as high as I would like just yet, but well worth the test.

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Slap bang in the middle of winter we get a good
old hammering by the summer south easterly winds. Go figure.
Saturday saw by all accounts a successful build clinic at Jeff's house
while a black South Easter thundered around outside.
Sunday, slope starved individuals made a run for St.James
and in the morning session had classic lift while basking
in a wee bit of sunlight. but as the day progressed
and the sun shifted behind the mountain, and the hill side
suddenly got a whole bunch of attitude.
Dane, Christo, Steve, Marc and myself  ran up the hill
to get some air in the hair, along with a visitor from Wellington.
As the afternoon lengthened we tested the wind meters and f
ound the air temperature to be a chilly 13 degrees,
but the real shocker was the wind chill factor of 8 degrees.
No wonder our nether regions were frozen stiff as it were,
even wrapped up like mummies, we started to shake, rattle and roll,
and before long we decided that enough was enough and ran for cover.
But darn was it good to get some airtime after what has been a
pretty darn bad winter season so far for slope soaring.

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A few more shots from the PSS. About 300 of them so will post a few more as yet unposted...



Schalk and the Thunderbolt



Carlo and the original bent wing



Early morning yatter before the blow



Tim and the Hien



Bill and the Hien



Anton and the ultra light foam Imp



Other way up Anton, other way up...



Yummy...



Tally ho and in we go.



Not bad for a bit of foam strapped together?



Well worn battleship Zero of Marc



more to follow... when I get the time...

Two weeks, two whole weeks of nadda, nicks, not a sniff,
not even the shuffle of a leaf... a deathly silence in a normally windy city
and all this in winter. And slap in the middle of winter at that.
Becalmed would be the best way of describing the last two weeks
and in all my time here I can't quite rememmber a stretch that was this long
without rain in the middle of winter.
I'm afraid theres only so much powered flight I can do before getting
into a rather bad mood. Sorry cat!

Post solstice is generally for us the real winter set in and usually runs through
to end September with a good old dollop of  the wet stuff falling from grey skies.
Not so this year. Sweltering temperatures of 28 Degreees last Saturday
had me grabbing at my mankini, only to find the pool had not quite caught up
on that just yet and was holding a rather cooler 17 degree level.
So sadly, mankini back in the cupboard for the time being.

Lets hope this weekend starts to deliver a bit better as a good old South Easter...
right in the middle of winter... promises to follow a wee bit of the wet stuff on Friday.
The first wet stuff  in 3 weeks. Not good for those water levels.

In the meantime lets have a squint at the beautiful sat pics from CSAG at UCT
while we wait for the rain... and the bleeding North Westers.

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A very successful Black Eagle 2011 PSS Festival was once again hosted by
Two Oceans Slope Soarers on the weekend of the 18th and 19th June 2011.
In the spirit of a slope soaring festival atmosphere, all and sundry were invited
to enter and participate even if not entering any of the competitive categories.
Even Mother nature came to the party in a festival mood and delivered two fantastic
days of slope soaring at Chapmans Peak on the back of strong North Westerlies,
the predominant wind for this time of the year in this particular part of the world.
PSS or Power Scale Soaring is a description of a non-powered slope soaring glider
that is modelled after a real, full size aeroplane that required a power plant
for sustained flight and has flown as a full size aircraft, and now gets tossed
off a mountain side for some slope soaring fun.

Four classes were available to the 15 Entrants should they wish to compete, from the
Black Eagle Scratch Built Class, Sportsmans Heavy, Sportsmans Light and Combat class.
Due to a few over ambitious ideas about scratch building 2 meter class planes in 6 months,
seeing the time widdle away and the dream become an impossibility,
there were no entrants in the scratch built class this year. In defence of the builders out there,
it appears that next year will see a proliferation of scratch built gliders
making their debut as the time required to scratch build a 2 meter class glider
for a PSS contest is somewhat longer than the optimistic 6 months.

Saturday dawned as still as a lake and the Hout Bay area put up a picture perfect
view as the contestants unpacked their gliders and set up for the day. Entrance bags
were handed out packed full of goodies, T-shirts and a set of nice gloves
that are thin and give slopers ability to fly during those very cold Cape winter days
without the risk of losing any digits to the ice cold Westerlies. While the wind sorted
itself out the chance was taken to do the static judging as the wind was predicted
for after 11:00 am. Herbie Newton judged each of the gliders in the class and the
day was then set as we waited for the predicted blow. With 11:00 am come
and gone we thought we had been deserted, but by 11:30 am mother nature
came to the party (half and hour late form the Windfinder predictions) and started
to deliver a silky smooth North west blow that strengthened throughout the day.
Some fun foam warbird combat was had in the ever increasing lift and shortly
after lunch conditions allowed for the Sportsmans Light Class to do their flight routines.
Two set manoeuvres and then a choice of 3 alternate manoeuvres were selected
by the pilots and the show hit the road. Three pilots flew this class, Anton Benning,
Dave Greer, all the way from Durban, and Kevin Farr. As per the aerobatics contest
the manoeuvres had to be done in the box and straight and level as possible.
The Sportsman Light class is designed to cater for gliders with a 20-30 ounce
wing loading or less, while the heavyweight class is for 30-40 ounce category.
Possibly the risk of the weekend had to be the entry of the P38 Lightning in the
Sportsmans Light class, rather that the heavyweight class. True to form some great
laps were flown but it was the rather large and bulky P38 Lightning that proved a
gem as it soared in conditions it should really not be able to, and completed all
the designated manoeuvres.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in glorious sunshine,
beautiful slope conditions and by the time the guys left the slope at 6:00 pm,
most were toast and the grey matter well and truly fatigued. Predictions are at
the best of times predictions. The prediction for Sunday was of howling winds,
sheets of rain and a good old wet one for the Cape area. In the early hours the rain
did indeed appear, then as light broke it backed off a little and we headed back to
Chapmans Peak to assess the situation. Rain looked imminent at about 9:00 am
but the wind was really pushing through in the 40-50 kilometer an hour range
and so we were able to fly the Sportsmans Heavy class flight routines.
Carlo Davies stepped up to the plate with his Spitfire in Reno racing colours,
delivered a maiden launch, knees and all going ballistic like a set of castanets,
and the flew his routine to perfection. What a boykie!. Next stepped up
Marc Beckenstrater with the Mosquito and as we set up the glider in the air,
which was travelling with some noticeable speed, we noticed a kink in the
wing appear resultant from a previous landing. The advent of this particular situation
saw the advent of a very quick landing to save the machine and avoid any mishaps.
All’s well that lands well, and a repair should see her in the sky again.

Next up to the plate was Christo le Roux who’s P40 Warhawk is a static judging
masterpiece and was set out to the skies with intent. First few manoeuvres were
straight off the bat, but in the middle of the downwind leg of the slope figure 8,
the tail gave a little wiggle and she began to waggle herself into
a really nasty place, aeronautically speaking... Thanks to Christo’s awesome
recovery skills the P40 Warhawk made a relatively light date with terra firma
and a bit of leading edge damage occurred, not significant but sufficient to
take it out of the sky for the rest of the day. After all the flight judging was completed
by Flight Judge Kurt Macrill, the skies were opened to general flight and probably
one of the very best PSS sessions ever was had by the lads. By now the skies had opened up,
the clouds disappeared and the conditions were just about as perfect as you could wish for.
Seven scale gliders took to the air simultaneously, from Jeff Steffen’s smaller Impala to
Malcolm Rileys large 2.5 meter, 7 kilogram Impala, accompanied by Damian Hinrichsen’s
F86 Sabre, the P38 Lightning and a good few foamies thrown in for fun. What a blast we had
as circuits were created with the entire gaggle as close as possible to each other while
trying to match the size and speed of the respective gliders. Not an easy task and
quite taxing when flying larger scale gliders, but what an incredible spectacle to be
part of and a definite highlight flight of the weekend. This was followed by a mass
Impala flight in which a total of 7 same sized Impala’s were taken to the sky at the
same time for some formation flying. Talk about taxing on the brain as you had to
concentrate on 7 different targets simultaneously, and at certain times all within
spitting distance of one another. What an awesome session, and all this in front
of the imposing and perfectly beautiful Hout Bay scenery. By this time most of the
guys grey matter was seriously taxed out after 2 days of perfect slope conditions and
the near continuous flying.

Thanks to generous sponsorships from Chris Leal and the club coffers, we were once again
very proud to hand a cheque for R 2500-00 to the Percy Fitzpatrick Fund,
which was gratefully accepted by Andrew Jenkins.
This donations intent is for the continued study of raptors and specifically the
Black Eagle after which the event was named in respect of one of the great masters of the sky.

An end to the day was called at 1:30pm, so as to ensure that a great prize giving
could take place at an Italian trattoria down the road in Hout Bay, called Cassarecio.
If you are ever in town it is well worth the visit as the food is supreme.
So we took over the restaurant, ate ourselves silly while sucking on the
odd glass of wine to ward off the chills, and then preceded to hand out the awards.
A really big thanks must go out to our sponsors who spoilt us silly and really came
to the party with a generous amount of prizes to give away, including glass and EPP gliders.
Without the superbly generous and passionate involvement of individuals and
hobby shops we would really be hampered in the ability to host and make
successful such an event.

First on the thank you list is Mother nature for coming to the festival with some panache
and delivering two really perfect days for slope soaring on the Cape Peninsula.
Thanks to the TOSS committee for making the event possible through a lot of hard work.
Thanks to Static Judge Herbie Newton, and to Flight Judge Kurt Macrill
Thanks to Shirley for catering and taking care of the food needs for the weekend.
Thank you to all our generous sponsors who made sure each and every entrant
went home with something useful tightly grasped in their hands.

Sponsors: Anton Benning, Cape Sailplanes, Chris Leal, Clowns Hobbies,
InterMet Africa, Hobby Warehouse, Micton Hobbies, RC Hobby Shop,
Southern Hobbies, Steve Meusel, KevinFarr.

Final event positions: Congratulations lads!
Sportsmans Heavy Class: 1st: Carlo Davies(Spitfire). 2nd: Christo le Roux (P40 Warhawk).
3rd: Marc Beckenstrater(Mosquito)

Sportsmans Light Class: 1st: Kevin Farr (P38j Lightning). 2nd: Anton Benning(Impala).
3rd: Dave Greer(ME 109)

Combat Class: 1st: Carlo Davies(Corsair). 2nd: Christo le Roux(P51 Mustang).
3rd: Bill Dewey(Mitsubishi Ki-61) 4th: Schalk Human(P47 Thunderbolt).
5th: Tim Watkins-Baker( Mitsubishi Ki-61)

Too many photographs to post all up here so will try to choose the top 10 or so
Photographs by Shane Swartz, Malcolm Riley and Kevin Farr

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TOSS Black Eagle Trophy PSS Event this weekend. 18-19th June,
probably at Chapman's Peak site due to the North Westers predicted.
Saturday looks like a cracker so Christo and myself thinking of ways of adding ballast
to his P40 Warhawk as the wing loading is only in the measly 40 ounce range...
But seriously, this looks really grand for a late Friday, full Saturday slope adventure
before Sunday gets slammed by the appoaching frontal system.,
Lets wait and see what transpires, as it tends to transpire here rather quickly
but all the forecasters at this point are in agreement, which is normally a good start.
So gas up those batteries, looks like we'll need them ready to go, and go, and go.
Will update as the week progresses.

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I GOT THE POWER...
well electric anyway and attached to a very nice little EPP Extra 300,
which we decided was just the ticket for what looked like a flatliner of a Saturday.
So off to the field Bendan and myself gandered and had a good blast with some electric toys.
At this stage I will not mention the tree incident ...
other than to say the little Cessna I once owned...
is no more...
I was not on the sticks at the time....
and the tree did not need to be cut down this time...
phew.

Sunday produced a peach of a day, sunny but cool with a hint of a South Wester.
Reaching the Kommetjie slope at midday, the conditions were cold as can be,
with the lift solid, and smooth. Kommetjie can produce these amazing conditions,
where you hardly feel a breeze caress your eyebrows, but there is tons of lift out there.
Thankfully Lionel had brought half his squadron of slope soarers
and Jeff, Malcolm, Marc and myself had a merry time maidening a few, fetching a few,
and in general having a blast of an afternoon on the slope.
On the other side of the Peninsula, the wind was not even stirring
a few few guys had fun at the power club. Odd the vagaries of this little peninsula,
that virtually every nook and cranny can produce a differing result on the day,
if you are prepared to to go look for it.

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What a fun weekend!
Saturday saw the arrival of the first frontal system backed up by at least 2 more
so winter has hailed it's arrival with some massive winds, wet weather and bitter cold.
Ain't the Cape of Storms for nothing
Cannot imagine having been in one of those wooden bathtubs they called ships back then,
going around the Cape in 1652. Brave lads they were.
But back to the weekend past. On the back of the first frontal system,
Brendan and myself found ourselvbes on a south westerly slope on Chapman's Peak,
fondly refered to as coil corner due to the amount of dog poop found scatterd on this very scenic corner.
The lift on the edge was fine, but once you broke through the middle section
it appears we were able to hijack a second wave and were able to spec out of site
due to the cold lift, and the vast mountain back behind us.
Note the blue sky in the pics below and stare very carefuly. You will see two specs there,
two very small specs, but Bee wings none the less at some silly height.

Sunday dawned with an ever freshening North Westerly blow, building to what
would be a pretty impressive crescendo by Monday night.
We were able to run the Aero League in the morning session and on our simplified maneuvers
we all left feeling the need to practice, practice, practice.
Simple as they are, they are not that simple, as simplicity now required perfection.
No is it longer about doing a difficult maneuver half way right,
but more about really doing a simple manouvre very well.
Very taxing that part. Inverted straight and level for 5 seconds...Right!

This we followed by a run up to the Sandy Bay ridge where we have tried to
DS before. We raced the incoming rain to try and get to the ridge as dry as possible
and were greetd by a howling 70km/h wind. Whoohaa.
and so DS we did, but the poor BEE wings were just no match for the fury of mother nature
and really struggled to penetrate through the turbulence at the back.
Those who got 2 or 3 circuits in were amazed at the speed gain.
but the BEE wing death toll was somewhat high and
Christo was heard to bemoan the demise of his new covering job
as the BEE took to terra firma in a really firma sort of way.
Man that place will cook with a 20-30 KM/H wind on it.
Eventually the rain chased us down the hill and we retired to the cars.

And this is where the cops and robbers part kicked in. Christo's car had a window smashed
and his bag and Impala were missing. Quite what this borrower of things was going to do
with a TOSS emblazoned Impala is anybody's idea, and the loss of the TX in the bag would be immense.
This started a large scale hunt throught the bushes by the 5 guys who were on the hill.
Steve, Bill, Jeff and myself took to the bushes, Grahame took to his car and did a patrol,
only to find another car with the same fate and missing wallets. Grahame then headed for the main roads
while we called the cops for vans to dispatch. To cut a long story short, Grahame caught the bugger,
cornered the cockroach taxi he was climbing into, and signalled a passing police van in a matter of the blink of an eye.
Our erstwhile borrower of things then left the scene over a fence with SAPS in pursuit
and was duly apprehended. Back to the bushes we went, with the borrower in tow
and the Impala was pointed out and gratefully reunited with it's owner as was the flight bag and TX.
The other cars wallets were all found as well and so thanks to absolutely brilliant work
by the South African Police Service, the day ended very well indeed.
In the end the borrower was a well seasoned borrower of things,
known to the cops and happily taken in. Just a pity that the action of a serial borrower
dampened what was one hell of a fun day, but all's well that ends well.
A huge thanks to SAPS and all the TOSSer who were involved in the manhunt.
Jeez, this weekend gonna be boring... Not.

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