He runs a lovely fleet of aircraft including a Discus, LS4, LS6 and Nimbus 3. I thought I’d briefly recount the experience of flying a day in the South African National Gliding Championships, along with flying the heaviest, most cumbersome glider I’ll probably ever fly.

The competition day starts early when you’ve not got a crew so it’s out of the tent at 0600 to clean the glider.

Dust storms and rain overnight make the daily grind of cleaning 25.5 metres of wing a real chore (you don’t de-rig unless you REALLY have to). Then comes the water ballast… apparently they’re short of water in some parts of Africa. I’m not surprised really with the amount that goes into the gliders. The Nimbus took 250 litres to get it up to max AUW of 750kg. That’s 5 barrels a side!

With the long wings both inches from the ground there’s the long drive over to the launch point, stopping at the compulsory weighbridge to confirm how close to the legal maximum weight you’ve managed to get today. The grid looks impressive; the open class is full of big sagging wings. Anyone with less than 25 metres starts to get a bit of a complex. Having dropped the aircraft at the launch point it’s time to retreat to the shade of the briefing tent. The task is invariably an assigned area, in excellent conditions. First launch is soon after midday.

As the hors concours (horses conkers) pilot I’ve got the choice of the front of the grid as snifter or the back after everyone else. I choose the front.

The runway is fairly long but the tug pilot still has to choose the gap between the trees to climb out through as 4000ft ground level and 30 degree temperatures make their mark. The competition launch is only to 500 metres so you get left wallowing in thin thermals with an aircraft that’s happier high and fast than low down and dirty. Getting up to start height of 11,000ft is easier once the thermals become more established.

The Nimbus 3 isn’t easy to get into the core of any thermal so it’s fortunate that you don’t have to thermal very much. In a straight line it’s just like the Duracel rabbit; it goes and goes and goes. The first TP is 70km without turning and then there’s a series of thunderstorms to gain the height back but I get worried and turn when I didn’t need to; seconds lost.