nemodakar
Race Dog
As the saying goes, go by air if you have time to spare.
My flying adventures.
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Tampan
Race Dog
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
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- Bike
- KTM 1190 Adventure
Saturday 11 March:
We took off at 07:55 and were looking forward to the rather healthy tail wind. Seeing 155 kts during the climb, I knew were going to have a ground speed of note, once in the cruise.
As expected, our ground speed was rather spectacular. It varied somewhat but my guess is that our average ground speed was 190 kts. Abeam Sterkstroom, we did a wopping 201 kts!
The sun was at the worst possible angle to take nice pictures, but I can assure everyone that the Eastern Cape is extremely beautiful. Every time I fly over that part of it, I wonder how beautiful it must be, driving through those areas, or even better, riding a bike there.
As we got closer to the Queenstown area, we were quite shocked at seeing just exactly how many people lived there. In fact, from around Sterkstroom, all the way to the coast, the whole countryside is covered with settlements, for as far as the eye can see.
Getting to my point of descend, I saw some low cloud ahead and wondered whether I would be able to in at Wavecrest. I diverted slightly to the right and getting closer to the coastline, I got in below the clouds, which were scattered at 1,500 ft AGL.
I easily recognized Wavecrest, but just for safety, did low level fly by to inspect the runway and orientate myself for landing. I could also see a vehicle waiting for us. After eyeballing the runway, I flew a circuit over the sea and got ready for landing. The wind was already pumping on the ground, but luckily, straight down the runway.
The runway itself has quite and up slope and this can catch the unwary. Landing on a runway like this, you need to arrest your sink a little earlier than normal and you also need to flare more than normal, to avoid slamming the aircraft into the rising surface.
The landing went without incidence and the up slope, together with the strong head wind, made for a very short rollout.
We taxied back to the paring area, where one of the hotel staff was waiting. I parked into the wind and after unloading our luggage, tied the Comanche down properly, with three cement blocks. I was somewhat worried about the wind, but the hotel man assured me that they do have pegs that we can use, should the cement blocks not be enough to hold the aircraft down.
We drove to the hotel, where our luggage was offloaded, while we enjoyed a lovely buffet breakfast. The wind was giving it best, but despite that, we decided to go for a walk on the beach. The process involves rowing across the river with a kayak, to reach a very long stretch of pristine beach.
The wind made rowing a bit of a challenge, but we got over and did an a very nice walk of almost 7 km. The sky was now overcast, which made it very nice and cool - perfect for a long walk along the beach.
Walking back to the hotel, we were up against the wind, which took some effort. After rowing back over the river, we were properly tired and very thirsty.
I discovered that I did not pack a costume, so swimming was out for me. My wife hopped into the hotel pool, with two other guests, while I sat my tired self down at the bar for an ice cold beer.
After a few drinks, we went to our sea facing rondawel, I did a bit of reading and then fell into a deep sleep.
More to follow...
We took off at 07:55 and were looking forward to the rather healthy tail wind. Seeing 155 kts during the climb, I knew were going to have a ground speed of note, once in the cruise.
As expected, our ground speed was rather spectacular. It varied somewhat but my guess is that our average ground speed was 190 kts. Abeam Sterkstroom, we did a wopping 201 kts!
The sun was at the worst possible angle to take nice pictures, but I can assure everyone that the Eastern Cape is extremely beautiful. Every time I fly over that part of it, I wonder how beautiful it must be, driving through those areas, or even better, riding a bike there.
As we got closer to the Queenstown area, we were quite shocked at seeing just exactly how many people lived there. In fact, from around Sterkstroom, all the way to the coast, the whole countryside is covered with settlements, for as far as the eye can see.
Getting to my point of descend, I saw some low cloud ahead and wondered whether I would be able to in at Wavecrest. I diverted slightly to the right and getting closer to the coastline, I got in below the clouds, which were scattered at 1,500 ft AGL.
I easily recognized Wavecrest, but just for safety, did low level fly by to inspect the runway and orientate myself for landing. I could also see a vehicle waiting for us. After eyeballing the runway, I flew a circuit over the sea and got ready for landing. The wind was already pumping on the ground, but luckily, straight down the runway.
The runway itself has quite and up slope and this can catch the unwary. Landing on a runway like this, you need to arrest your sink a little earlier than normal and you also need to flare more than normal, to avoid slamming the aircraft into the rising surface.
The landing went without incidence and the up slope, together with the strong head wind, made for a very short rollout.
We taxied back to the paring area, where one of the hotel staff was waiting. I parked into the wind and after unloading our luggage, tied the Comanche down properly, with three cement blocks. I was somewhat worried about the wind, but the hotel man assured me that they do have pegs that we can use, should the cement blocks not be enough to hold the aircraft down.
We drove to the hotel, where our luggage was offloaded, while we enjoyed a lovely buffet breakfast. The wind was giving it best, but despite that, we decided to go for a walk on the beach. The process involves rowing across the river with a kayak, to reach a very long stretch of pristine beach.
The wind made rowing a bit of a challenge, but we got over and did an a very nice walk of almost 7 km. The sky was now overcast, which made it very nice and cool - perfect for a long walk along the beach.
Walking back to the hotel, we were up against the wind, which took some effort. After rowing back over the river, we were properly tired and very thirsty.
I discovered that I did not pack a costume, so swimming was out for me. My wife hopped into the hotel pool, with two other guests, while I sat my tired self down at the bar for an ice cold beer.
After a few drinks, we went to our sea facing rondawel, I did a bit of reading and then fell into a deep sleep.
More to follow...
Tampan
Race Dog
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
- Messages
- 2,278
- Reaction score
- 1,011
- Bike
- KTM 1190 Adventure
In the meantime, a few pics:
1. Bad pic of the Eastern Cape countryside near Molteno. Unfortunately the sun didn't play along.
2. 201 kts over the ground, straight & level. That's REALLY fast.
3. Low clouds on the descend
1. Bad pic of the Eastern Cape countryside near Molteno. Unfortunately the sun didn't play along.
2. 201 kts over the ground, straight & level. That's REALLY fast.
3. Low clouds on the descend
- Joined
- May 14, 2020
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- BMW (all models)
Surely Naked Insurance can cover you against naked swimming. Should I trace an agent for you?
Tampan
Race Dog
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
- Messages
- 2,278
- Reaction score
- 1,011
- Bike
- KTM 1190 Adventure
Talking about naked...Surely Naked Insurance can cover you against naked swimming. Should I trace an agent for you?
So there I was, in my very much deserved and very deep afternoon nap, when I woke up to a hell of a racket. People (females) shouting, laughing, screaming at each other, clearly having a ball, but very inappropriate.
Initially, I thought that it was some of the Wavecrest staff, but I found it very strange that they would make such a lot of noise, in between the guest accommodation.
I fell asleep again, just to be woken up, again by these same people, now even more noisy and closer to our accommodation. It turned out that these women, from the local community, came to Wavecrest for lunch, to celebrate one of their group's birthday.
That's all well and probably nothing that Wavecrest can do about it.
BUT, they clearly had too much to drink, they were extremely loud and in the process bothering and annoying just about all the paying guests. To top it all, the one lady had to relieve herself and decided to do it right where she was, on the rocks in front of the guest accommodation, without any shame and in front of other guests. I was sleeping when this happened, but it's then that my wife, who witnessed this, had enough and conveyed her take on this situation to management.
At some stage, they moved away from the guest accommodation and things quieted down, or so we thought...
I got up, took a shower and was looking forward to drink on the deck at the bar, while my wife went for some treatment at the spa. Not to happen, unfortunately.
After their noise racket and peeing in public exercise, our lady friends had moved into the bar and occupied the whole bar, for themselves, still being as loud as only they can be. I was stopped in my tracks and went back to our room, with empty hands.
A few of the other guests also came to the bar, just to turn back to their rooms, clearly as disappointed.
Had the weather been better, or had I been there with my car, I would have packed up and left, immediately. I was extremely disgusted with the situation and I went as far as to promise myself that Wavecrest will not see me again, ever.
Not their fault, but also my privilege to decide how and where I spend my money. This was really unfortunate.
At around 18:00, the party goers finally got on their way and things returned to the normal and very tranquil and relaxing atmosphere that is supposed to be found there.
We had a nice evening, despite the hotel's generator running out of diesel. For the rest of the evening, everything had to happen at candle light and dinner was served an hour late. Regardless, dinner was a very nice seafood buffet which we thoroughly enjoyed.
We went to bed with full tummies and very relieved that the unwelcome guests of earlier did not stay the night ...
Tampan
Race Dog
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
- Messages
- 2,278
- Reaction score
- 1,011
- Bike
- KTM 1190 Adventure
On Sunday morning, we woke up to an overcast sky, light rain and it was somewhat chilly. The perfect day to just do as little as possible.
We wanted to go for another walk, but didn't feel like getting wet, so we just chilled.
After a hearty breakfast, I dug into two magazines that my wife bought me. Later on, I went to our room and started reading the Tracks4Africa Botswana Self Drive Guide. We're going on a 12 day camping trip to Botswana in June and it's our first time. This book is an absolute gem.
At around 12, I felt like a drink and my wife and self enjoyed two cocktails on the deck at the bar. It was a lovely, cool day and the views are fantastic. After cocktails, I took another nap, read some more and was just being "sleg".
Sunday evening, very nice beef stew was on the menu and one of the other guests, Brendan, from KZN offered us some of the Kob he caught earlier in the day. The kitchen staff prepared it and it was absolutely fantastic.
We ate so much, that we decided to go for a night walk on the access road. My found walk9ing in the dark a bit difficult, so we returned after walking for about 1 km. Just enough to work off some of the evening's meal.
On Monday morning, neither of us felt like eating, again, and we decided to pack up and go, skipping breakfast.
Below, a few pic my wife took. It's really beautiful area and on our next visit, we plan to do a few of the huking trails in the immediate area and also some fishing.
We wanted to go for another walk, but didn't feel like getting wet, so we just chilled.
After a hearty breakfast, I dug into two magazines that my wife bought me. Later on, I went to our room and started reading the Tracks4Africa Botswana Self Drive Guide. We're going on a 12 day camping trip to Botswana in June and it's our first time. This book is an absolute gem.
At around 12, I felt like a drink and my wife and self enjoyed two cocktails on the deck at the bar. It was a lovely, cool day and the views are fantastic. After cocktails, I took another nap, read some more and was just being "sleg".
Sunday evening, very nice beef stew was on the menu and one of the other guests, Brendan, from KZN offered us some of the Kob he caught earlier in the day. The kitchen staff prepared it and it was absolutely fantastic.
We ate so much, that we decided to go for a night walk on the access road. My found walk9ing in the dark a bit difficult, so we returned after walking for about 1 km. Just enough to work off some of the evening's meal.
On Monday morning, neither of us felt like eating, again, and we decided to pack up and go, skipping breakfast.
Below, a few pic my wife took. It's really beautiful area and on our next visit, we plan to do a few of the huking trails in the immediate area and also some fishing.
Tampan
Race Dog
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
- Messages
- 2,278
- Reaction score
- 1,011
- Bike
- KTM 1190 Adventure
Monday 13 March:
One of the hotel staff drove us to the runway. After loading our luggage, I did my re-flight, while he drove up the runway to check it and to chase a herd of cattle off.
It was a beautiful, though quite windy, morning. The wind favoured rwy07, which also happens to slope downwards towards the sea.
It took quite a bit of power to taxi up the the grass runway and once turned around at the top, I let go. As always with any sea level take off, the airplane performed exceptionally well, even more so taking off downhill and into a moderate wind.
The drop off at the beach and dunes did see for some moderate turbulence on the climb out, but at 1,400 ft/min, this didn't last long.
We were expecting a head wind, but other than that, it was another beautiful day for flying. I climbed to FL085 and we plodded along at a reasonable 140 kts ground speed. This would vary up and down, but not by too much.
We were once again stunned by how beautiful the Eastern Cape is. Around Sterkstroom, the wind picked up significantly and this was clearly visible in a few hovering clouds and their shape changing to the lenticular type - clear evidence of the wind conditions.
We landed back home after 1:35 and even here, on the ground, the wind was pumping. After a quick sarmie, I was off to work.
Will we go back to Wavecrest? I'm sure we will and we'll take our kids along.
It's definitely not the smartest place and it's obviously in need of some maintenance and so on. All the staff are extremely friendly and helpful, but there is a lack of attention to detail, generally. However, their asking prices are really reasonable and good value for money.
I am very curious to try some of the other close-by venues as well. According to some of the guests, Mazeppa Bay hotel is good and has a very good runway. Kobb Inn, seems to be the best, according to hearsay. Apparently it is owner managed and the owners also live on the premises. Unfortunately, Kob Inn's runway is not maintained anymore, from what I heard, but I'll confirm that.
Last pics:
1. Ready to leave
2. Lenticular cloud
One of the hotel staff drove us to the runway. After loading our luggage, I did my re-flight, while he drove up the runway to check it and to chase a herd of cattle off.
It was a beautiful, though quite windy, morning. The wind favoured rwy07, which also happens to slope downwards towards the sea.
It took quite a bit of power to taxi up the the grass runway and once turned around at the top, I let go. As always with any sea level take off, the airplane performed exceptionally well, even more so taking off downhill and into a moderate wind.
The drop off at the beach and dunes did see for some moderate turbulence on the climb out, but at 1,400 ft/min, this didn't last long.
We were expecting a head wind, but other than that, it was another beautiful day for flying. I climbed to FL085 and we plodded along at a reasonable 140 kts ground speed. This would vary up and down, but not by too much.
We were once again stunned by how beautiful the Eastern Cape is. Around Sterkstroom, the wind picked up significantly and this was clearly visible in a few hovering clouds and their shape changing to the lenticular type - clear evidence of the wind conditions.
We landed back home after 1:35 and even here, on the ground, the wind was pumping. After a quick sarmie, I was off to work.
Will we go back to Wavecrest? I'm sure we will and we'll take our kids along.
It's definitely not the smartest place and it's obviously in need of some maintenance and so on. All the staff are extremely friendly and helpful, but there is a lack of attention to detail, generally. However, their asking prices are really reasonable and good value for money.
I am very curious to try some of the other close-by venues as well. According to some of the guests, Mazeppa Bay hotel is good and has a very good runway. Kobb Inn, seems to be the best, according to hearsay. Apparently it is owner managed and the owners also live on the premises. Unfortunately, Kob Inn's runway is not maintained anymore, from what I heard, but I'll confirm that.
Last pics:
1. Ready to leave
2. Lenticular cloud
Of the three I liked Kob Inn best. But the difference isn't worth worrying about between Kob Inn and Mazeppa. You will enjoy either one at least as much as Wavecrest, but I felt Kob Inn's food was a bit better. Chefs change however, and we haven't been in a while. Good memories of the Wild Coast!
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