Boonah Blog
Glide Omarama
While in New Zealand last week I managed to score a good day at Omarama and went on a 3hour flight in a Duo Discus X with a local pilot. I was vey lucky as I arraived during the middle of their regional comps! We launched at the front of the start grid into some initially scratchy conditions and ridge soared the local hills at 1500ft for 30 mins before we found some good thermals and bounced to 7500MSL. Conditions improved so fast we decided to fly to the start of the mountains 60 km away north and see if we could reach Mount Cook(12,650ft) 90km away.
We flew over glacier lakes and rivers taking lift when we could to make sure we could clear the initial ranges at 7000ft and ended up within 15km of Mount Cook at 9500ft flying over glaciers and snow before heading for home. We came in from around 80km out in a straight in final glide averaging 110 to 120 kn for a semi racing finish. The most spectacular flight I have ever had and except for a few minutes when we were initially low over the ridge at the start I was able to be on the stick for the entire flight. Anyone who manages to get to NZ should definitely put Omarama on their stop list.
I have tried to attach some photos which although do not do justice to the flight give some idea of the view at least.