Article for Soaring Australia

A couple of months ago I was attending the Melbourne Seminar listening intently to the experiences of Einar Enevoldson (world sailplane altitude record holder), Gavin Wills (experienced New Zealand wave pilot) and Michael Sommer (current gliding world champion). It was an inspiring day, but when I came away I couldn't help feeling a little envious of the landscape available in certain parts of the world, and somewhat limited in what I could achieve locally. Fortunately this all changed after my last wave flight.



Most of my flying has been with the Grampians Soaring Club at Ararat, about 2 hours west of Melbourne. I've been fortunate enough to fly in the Grampians Wave many times over the past couple of years and get some decent climbs. Until now though, I've never really looked on wave as opportunity to explore. I knew it was possible - you often hear of pilots running the length of the south island of New Zealand – but I never made the connection to applying it to the relatively small area of the Grampians. Typically, I'd head for the strongest part of the primary wave and stay in it to get the maximum height. I may have used height to explore further, or investigated the downwind waves, but that was about the extent of it. The flight that has changed this mindset took place on 28 September 2008. Like most inspiring things, it took place out of necessity rather than preference.

From the airfield, wispy roll clouds were just visible to the west out towards the Grampians, so I took an early launch at 9:40am (thanks to an enthusiastic Richard Leschen in the tug). On tow things looked promising so I released at the first sniff of lift over Mount Ararat. Things started off slow, and I was fairly low – around 4000ft - for quite a while, so it gave me some time to try to figure things out.

There was clearly wave to the north and south of the Grampians as there were bands of decent looking roll clouds, but very little happening on the lee side of Mount William, the highest part of the range. It seemed as if the flow was blocked by the mountain range and was being diverted around it rather than over it. The area about 10km east of Mount William (typically around Moyston) is our usual hunting ground for decent climbs, so I needed another option if I was to keep flying. I wanted to know what would be kicking off the wave to the south, so I gradually hopped south west towards Dunkeld through the successive waves. By the time I'd reached 12,000 ft I was west of the main range in the Grampians and was in the secondary wave near Glenthompson. This was the first time I'd seen wave being generated from the Victoria range (Western range of the Grampians), most likely because I hadn't been looking for it before

Being so far west and having plenty of height gave me a great opportunity to explore the Grampians. I decided to follow the secondary wave north as it would take me directly above the impressive valley. The wave was fairly broken; probably due to interaction with the Serra range (2nd range in the Grampians), but it still gave good lift most of the way. By that stage I was more engrossed with the spectacular scenery than trying to get a decent climb – it was just amazing. The only clouds were ones that marked the wave and the occasional cumulus, so you could see everything so clearly. There is something special about the mountains in the Grampians and seeing them pass slowly and effortlessly beneath the starboard side of the glider, was nothing short of spectacular

It got fairly turbulent on the western side of Mount William, so I moved straight through to the wave above Halls Gap. Over the town there was slow but reliable lift and it provided a climb up to 21,000 ft. The air was not showing signs of going much higher so I left the wave to go home after getting a diamond climb. Well, that was my plan at first, but at about 4pm, after an hour of 'playing about' – one of the luxuries of all that spare height and plenty of lift – I saw that the Mount William wave had finally roared into life.

There was a huge roll cloud about 8,000 ft tall and rotating rapidly, a very obvious indication of some good wave. Initially I just wanted to know how much height I'd lose pushing into the primary from the secondary – it turned out to be 6000 ft. This all sounded far too good to resist, so curiosity got the better of me and I chose to climb again. I climbed from 10,000 ft to 21,000 ft in 20 minutes. This looked very good for a strong climb into controlled airspace, so I called ahead to Melbourne centre. Unfortunately, due to the amount of traffic they could not clear me by the time I reached 24,000 ft. I waited for a few minutes, but the sun was directly head on and falling fast, so I decided to head back to Ararat. Half an hour of airbrakes later I landed, just after 5pm.

It's been a couple of weeks now since that, but I'm still just as enthusiastic about it now as I was driving home. It's opened up so many possibilities for flights in the area. Not for claims, badges or records, just for enjoying flying and exploring the area.

I’m sure this flight was not the reason for my new found enthusiasm, after all it was nothing particularly groundbreaking, but it was the trigger. What was important was that it occurred just a few weeks after hearing the inspiring accounts from Einar Enevoldson, Gavin Wills and Michael Sommer. Thanks Guys


The flight just proved to me its all there on our door step waiting to be explored.

View from Glen Thomson looking west

Roll cloud over Ararat

Looking south over the valley

Mount William

Early morning view from Dunkeld

28 September 2008 - Victoria Range wave

Diamond Climb No. 3.

A varied wave that improved throughout the day as the moisure in the atmosphere increased.

I launched at 9:40am and found moderate lift above Mount Ararat, on the leading edge of wispy bits of rotor cloud. There were clearly marked bands of small rotors stretching out towards the ranges near dunkeld. East of Mount William there were no signs of wave, and was most likely because the flow was blocked by the ridge.

I flew South West through successive waves to the secondary approximately 10km north of Glen Thomson and reach 12,000 ft. I then flew through the valley of the Grampians in the same wave up to Halls gap and Lake Bellfield.

I slowly climbed to 21,000 ft (very slowly - it took 2 hours!) in the secondary wave from the victoria range about 3km east of halls gap. Early on, I was tempted to push into the primary, but i was put off from the rough terrain and possible high amount of sink. When i got high enough to make it safely there, the wave started to break down and the foehn gap closed up.

I then flew back towards ararat (i was at 5 hours by this stage), but was tempted by a very odd looking roll cloud - it was very smooth like a lenticular but had depth of a big roll cloud. I found lift above it, and i straighten up to try to keep in it but found severe turbulence. This was at 19,000 ft and i'd just spent the past 4 hours in smooth air at lower altitudes so it was a little unpleasant. I can only assume it was a breaking wave, and thats why the cloud below looked so unfamiliar. I got out of there quickly by pushing straight into wind and out through the front of it.

Then i had planned to go back to the field but then i noticed the Mount William wave really started to fire up. The whole cloud was rotating in about 2 minutes and it was a big tall roll cloud. So curiosity got the better of me and i went to investigate.

In moving from the secondary to the primary i lost 6000 ft, which was a good sign. The lift was about 6-7 knots up to 21,000 ft and took about 20 minutes (remember it had taken me 2 hours earlier) and the lift decayed to about a knot at 24,000 ft.

I called melbourne centre on my way up but they told me not to go above 24,000ft because of the traffic (though we actually have clearance to 24,500). I stayed at 24,000 for about 10 minutes waiting for clearance. At 4:30pm i decided to turn for home - The sun was almost face on and the the cold was getting to me, and i couldn't have improved on my PB for absolute height in the time remaining so it was an easy decision.

I landed at 5:05pm cold and numb, but happy.

7 and a half hours, but it felt like 2 hours.

7 September 2008 Geoff Vincent awarded Martin Warner Trophy

Geoff Vincent and Richard Agnew were awarded the trophy jointly, after both pilots achieved a similar height gain (approx 23,000 ft). Richard had held the trophy for the past 9 years, and has given custody of the trophy to Geoff Vincent.

The trophy was presented by Einar Enevoldson who holds the current world altitude record for a sailplane.

Congratulations Geoff.

31 August 2008 - too much rain

We launched after we believed the worst of the rain had swept through, at about 2pm, but with hindsight this was a little premature.

Geoff radio called a landing for Noelhurst as I was being launched, which made the thought of pushing through the rain under the rotor pretty unappealing.
I stayed on tow until about 4,500 ft and released in good air. It was bubbly good air, but not easy to work. I tried pushing under a dry bit of the rotor, but then more rain started falling and i was chased back to the airfield.

At about 3:30pm, as soon as the hangar door was shut the sun came out and we were treated to a view of fantastic roll clouds.

The wave can be cruel some days. The worst part of it being Monday and Tuesday which did look promising, now look far too wet to offer any hope of flying.

20 August 2008 - 24,600ft

A great day away from the office.

The wave extended downwind of Mount William perhaps 8-10 wavelengths, enabling low launches (approx 2000 ft AGL) above Ararat town centre.

I released at about 3500 ft (2500 AGL) but struggled to stay in consistent lift so I flew south to a more promising looking area of cloud, but dropped down to 3000 ft before finding good lift in the quaternary wave.

Once I got some height I pushed forward into the next waves and got to the better lift of the primary. I got up to 24000 ft fairly quickly but once into controlled airspace, it got a little frustrating with cirrus closing in on the area. Wrong place wrong time really, as it was cycling all day. I left the area after getting to a maximum height of 24,600 ft.

I used the height to explore the area to the north west around Stawell, before heading back into the secondary at 7000 ft. Then i was just playing. I went back up to 17,000 ft, then flew into the primary, but the lift was weaker than earlier so when i reached 16,000 ft so I headed for home.

One thing I found interesting was how long it took to descend from that height. As an excercise, i wanted to see how long it would take to descend with full airbrakes and sideslipping and trying to stay in the trough.

A good day and my second diamond climb.

2 August 2008 - 20,500 ft

Weaker wave conditions and a dryer airmass allowed for more successful flying and civilised ground conditions.

Geoff Vincent Launched at 9:50am and towed directly to the primary wave.

I launched at 10:30, directly into the primary wave.

The lift was light (approx 4 knots) at the start of the wave (approx 8000ft) and gradually decayed to under a knot by 14000ft. The wave eventually topped out at 20,500ft.

Geoff tried exploring to the North and to the west, and I explored the secondary (over Great Western). Neither of us could improve on the 20,500ft we achieved near Mt William.

Keith Willis launched in the PW5, but a radio fault and the call of nature caused him to return to the airfield having reached 13000ft.

01 August 2008 - Couldn't crack it!

Local weather was fairly dismal, with wind, hail, rain, sun, more hail and rain.
Geoff Vincent launched early enough to establish himself in wave and reach 17000ft before being punted off by incoming cloud, and was force to retreat back to the airfield in rain.

I launched in the Jantar, but could not find a way through the clouds and quickly returned to the airfield.

Trevor Hancock and Keith Willis Launched in the Janus, only to be met by the same cloud situation and returned home shortly after the tug.

Not a great day by any stretch of the imagination, but a flying day nonetheless.

2 May 2008 - 17,300ft

An extract from Geoff's email.

Just by way of follow-up information, Friday May 2 delivered moderate lee wave from the Grampians as predicted, although low clag prevented launching until about 11:30am. Best climb went to 17,300-odd feet, mainly 2-3 kts, but with patches going to 5-7 kts at times. The system collapsed around 1:30pm with a wind shift to the SW. There was quite a lot of low-level strato-cu 40-60 km to the east punctuated with cu-nims going to over 25,000 ft. Unfortunately airspace restrictions prevented access (max 12,500 ft) and so denied the opportunity to explore ridge-soaring the front of a cu-nim and the huge cirrus anvil in a 30 kt wind!