Two Oceans Slope Soarers

One up and one to go!

Dave Greer, our intrepid Durban skymaster has written a fantastic article on the
Springfield Chickens blog, after the weekend jaunt in Cape Town to attend the event.
The descriptive article really does capture the best of what
the Two Oceans Slope Soarers Aerobatics Event is all about,
and what it will be about for years to come!
Please go to:

http://springfieldchickens.blogspot.com/

and enjoy. Thank you Dave. You da Man!

Da Man Dave, Michel Leusch and Russell Conradt… The Durb's crew

Toksix… no, it’s not a nuclear power station.

Take a Toko and dismantle.
Take a Phase six and build.
Take Russell Conradt, mad scientist style,
and blend all the above.
The answer is the Toksix.
A fast wing platform with a traditional tail section
that according to reports seems to go like the clappers and perform really well.
Looking forward to seeing its debut at the TOSS aerobatics event on the weekend!
Come and check it out!

Toksixes, Toksixi, Toksixies…two of the same anyway.

Houston! we have a lift off…. or so it seems at this point in time

Cool,awesome, hold your breath….

After having a week of eagle eyeing the wind charts and their constant habit of changing every 12 hours,
leading to a bit of yes it’s on, no it’s not! statements,  mother nature seems to be straightening out very nicely.
It looks like we are going to have a blast in the Two Oceans Slope Soarers Aerobatics contest.
Attempting to not tease the wind into bailing on us,
I will just let the picture for Saturday say all there is to say…
and hope and pray it stays that way!

TOSS Aerobatics event 2010 update

Two weekends left to practice gentlemen and then we are a go.
This year we will have to burn somebody’s plane (Marc do you have anymore)
in a naive attempt to induce the perfect South Easter.
The relevant difference to last years schedule will be the 4 mandatory moves
followed by your choice of 6 K-Factor moves.
This inherently allows you to hang yourself at will, if you get it wrong on high k-factor moves,
or take a slow cruise through some of the easier moves ensuring that you score high on the easier moves!

A great teaser this one and possibly a balance between the two ends of the spectrum may well serve
the purpose better. Who knows…

There will be 4 Judges this year allowing for a throw away score and every attempt
will be made to ensure 3 completed sessions.
Note that the Sunday half pipe schedule is very much alive, and a hell of a lot of fun.
It also counts to final scores, so ignore it and Sunday’s routine may well hurt final scores.
The first rounds kicks off at 10AM sharp.
Pilots briefing slightly before that, so be at the relevant slope before 9AM
to ensure continuity.

Plenty of juice, burgers and insane egg and bacon in a roll – morning after soakers – will all be on sale
so bring some cash as these two days can be long and thirsty.

Lets make this years event bigger and better than last!

Event PDF available at:

http://toss.co.za/documents/TOSS_2010_Aerobatic_Event.pdf

Every one a winner on the day. Just being there was awesome well done all!

If you go into the woods today?

Judges lined up and ready to go!

Nervous anticipation – Bobby Purnell and Dave Conelly stare it out

Russel Conradt, the man and his machine which he has somewhat modified for this years event

Steve Meusel, Marc Wolfe and Damian Hinrichsen – last years top three TOSSers

A tour of Nam on the cards?

Shortly before the festive season an email arrived from the Gauteng side, from a lad called Alan,
addressed to Izak Theron and myself.
He was specifically asking if there was any chance of some slope soaring being done
in Namibia. Never having done this before, we asked a few of the slope lads  on the forums
to add what they could and forwarded this to Alan.
Fresh from his holiday, and what seems was a complete blast…
it appears there are slope soaring sites in Nam that probably require a bit of investigation.

Any TOSS lads up for a tour of Nam?

Could be a blast, sandblast, sunburn…..

Thanks to the guys who gave advice, and thanks to Alan for the email.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Hi Kevin & Izak

I must thank you guys for the info you sent me on slope soaring on the west coast of Namiba  -   your advice was spot on!!

I only managed to take one plane ( mini graphite) as space was a problem because we were camping.
But it turned out to be perfect.

I flew it along the coast north of Henties at a point called “Popeye”  the whole section is a long dune extending north along the coast and was not very high but nice enough to generate lift.
The wind was light so no arse cracking speed but enough to have flown for about an hour  or so …. It was awesome ..
There were some other interesting points in that area such as “Shara se Gat” and “Predikants se Gat” but not enough time to get around there – fishing spots but interesting names….

I also went south of Swakop but on that day the dunes (which were definitely better than those north of Henties) were occupied by paragliders sloping along them and they were dropping out as the wind was light –
I decided to give it a try on our way back from Walvis that afternoon but the wind had died off producing very little lift… This will be an awesome slope in a good breeze for sure!!!

Thanks once again for the advice – Glad I took a plane with for sure!!!!

Regards

Alan”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Back to the salt mines! ye swabs…

Welcome to the new year to all and sundry who may be reading this blog.
May 2010 be a good year full of sloping fun and challenges.

About the only good thing about being back at the salt mine is
that you get to make some more money… for some more toys.
Life’s little pleasures have their price and I’m back to the salt mines…
but it’s 30 degrees Celcius outside and sunny. Could be worse!

We could be in England in freezing weather!
Over the festive season we all had a bang load of flying,
and in some cases just a wee bit too much.
Never thought you could get a bit tired of sloping, but there it is.
After a third day of consecutive sloping my brain refused to
do it any more and a healthy break was required to revive the verve…
like about 24 hours!

There was plenty of wind and a good few of us
spent a good few afternoons up at St.James
and there were a good few southerlies and South Westers
which brought the Kommetjie slope into play.

Notably there were very few, if any, injuries to man
or plane over this festive period, so most fleets are still in pristine condition
for the Two Oceans Slope Soarers Aerobatic contest 2010 at the end of January.
Only 2 weekends to go! and a lot of practice still required…
whats a Cuban 8 again?
See you at the aerobatics contest soon!

Be there, or be square!

Anton Benining visits the slope and puts his EPP Impala through its paces

Damian gets the Voltij under way under darkening skies

Sometimes the sky above St. James is so low you are in the clouds- good fun that! Keeps you focused…

Combat Kings

Closing in

Break break break

Too late

Gone in

Sorry no ace rating for you

Why we fly

Look at that sea

And sometimes you get 3

How not to land a banana

Living on the best slopes in the world we’ve had lots of fun these holidays but this is not how to end a great afternoon!

Click here for video banana crash_0001

Now in slow motion

Aint she a beauty

Looking good

Right Kev RIGHT!!!

Too late methinks

Not so good

Don’t worry nothing some cyno can’t fix says Bill.

Bill I think the banana should be called the flying cyno bottle.

Two Oceans Slope Soarers PSS Festival

Its official, a date has been set and we are a go.

The intention is to host the Two Oceans Slope Soarers PSS Festival on the 20th June 2010.
Having seen the aerobatics event grow and the interest grow exponentially
its now great to challenge a new avenue in silent flight.
Quite a few of us at TOSS, heck a whole bunch of us,
have Power Slope Scale planes already, but the challenge will be to develop and
compete in the categories available. (to be made available soon)

All in all, it looks to be a blast, so get building…six months to go!
Below are some of the scale boys already out there,
and hopefully in one piece by the time the PSS Festival come around.

The ever Impressive Impala doing the rounds

Mustang, Lightning and Sea Fury on patrol at Hermanus 2008

And some more Impalas… at the possible venue

Marc Holds up Damian's new Mustang, just prior to launch this weekend, now that's PSS, check the detail!

Detail, detail, detail…