SAPFA Stellenbosch rally

During mid-April most South African rally flying hopefuls converged on the Stellenbosch airfield for the 2021 Rally Flying Championships.

This was also the selection competition for the upcoming World Rally Flying Championships which will be held in Stellenbosch in November this year. Entering a local world event is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a competition that would earn Protea colours. The South African Power Flying Association’s (SAPFA) Jonty Esser has been the coach for interested pilots and navigators, because for some years it has been looking for ‘new blood’ amongst the rally flying fraternity. To this end, Jonty has been ‘head-hunting’ prospective teams from Navigation and Speed Rallies. He has organised training sessions on plotting the routes, the role of the pilot, communication in the cockpit and picture recognition. This resulted in a field of 15 crews, some very new to the sport.

With Mary de Klerk handing over the competition director position to Colin Jordaan, he handled the daily briefings and oversaw the debriefings. With Deon van den Berg as Chief Judge, Mauritz du Plessis stepping in as Chief Marshall and International Judge Ursula Schwebel as organising paperwork, the competition went along smoothly. Route planners Frank and Cally Eckard compiled the routes, which will be used as practise routes for the world competition in November and they were also the scorers. Nigel Musgrave as the safety officer, kept crews and the public safe.

The Stellenbosch Flying Club provided their facilities for SAPFA’s use and the restaurant worked very hard to fill hungry crews with delicious meals and drinks. For the first time in many years most of the teams arrived in Stellenbosch for a few days before the event and managed to get in a lot of practising, with the weather giving them perfect conditions for flying.

Thursday’s No.1 route took the crews to the north of Stellenbosch, in an anti-clockwise track towards the north, around Fisantekraal, then eastward towards Philadelphia, then flying an arc northward to Kolbaskraal, then around the North of Paardeberg, back towards Stellenbosch on the east side of Paarl Mountain, with the last leg following the R44 road back to Stellenbosch. Navigation in this area was difficult, especially for up-country pilots who are not used to the small farms and details in the terrain.

Friday’s No.2 route encountered windy conditions, enough to make the southern route a bumpy for everyone. However, all teams agreed it was a spectacular tour which began in Stellenbosch, leading down the coast and over Somerset West and the Strand, then climbing the Hottentots Holland mountains, over Steenbras Dam, to the mouth of the Bot River, around the south of the Babilonstorenberg, following the road that leads to the top of Shaw’s mountain pass, then back eastwards in a huge arc that ended just south of Theewaterskloof, along the top of the Groenlandberg Nature Reserve, back south to Grabouw, then back to Stellenbosch via the breath taking Sir Lowry’s Pass. Although the wind played havoc with the pilots, especially the lighter aircraft, the timing did not reflect the challenge and it was a good lesson in how to cope with a world-class route under challenging conditions.

Saturday No.3 route was flown in perfect flying conditions for the mountain route. Crews were warned to maintain altitudes that were suggested, but this proved to be challenging for some, especially the lighter aircraft. The route took them in a clockwise journey, south of Paarl Mountain and following the R101 road to the turn point, which was the mouth of the Du Toit’s Kloof tunnel. From there they had to fly an arc to the north, to Eerst Tol where they followed the road through Bain’s Kloof Pass, then they flew several turn points along the Worcester Valley, over the Brandvlei Dam, down the Modderrivier Valley, to the centre of the bridge over Theewaterskloof Dam, to the top Franschhoek Pass and returning to Stellenbosch via the Franschhoek Valley.

Colin Jordaan announced the winners of the event at an informal ceremony on the Saturday evening. SAPFA Chairman Rob Jonkers also announced that Colin would be the competition director of the World Rally Flying competition and that Mary de Klerk stood down. Colin thanked all the officials and judges who gave of their time, talents and efforts to make this competition successful and congratulated the competitors for their participation in a very challenging competition.

From these results and from one further selection competition that will be held in Brits in June, the South African Rally Flying Team will be chosen. These championships were a wonderful opportunity for the pilots and navigators to learn to fly and navigate in the Stellenbosch terrain, but it was also a vital chance for the organisers of the 2021 Nationals and the World Championships to plan for the big event in November. Stellenbosch Flying Club, under the management of Anton Theart and with Rickus Erasmus as the safety officer, is probably one of the most beautiful and well supported flying clubs in South Africa and definitely worthy of holding a world class event.