by Basil Cambanis
Sterkfontein Dam (affectionately known as Sterkies) situated near Harrismith (Free State Province) is held in high regard by sailors for it's frequent wind which is thermally driven thanks to it's location at the edge of the Drakensberg escarpment.
There was much excitement a couple of weeks ago when the WindGuru lit up for Sterkies for the weekend of 30-31 August. There was a sudden floury of planning from kiters in Gauteng and KZN ahead of the big weekend, and diaries were cleared.
There was a very good turnout on the weekend, with plenty of kiting during the day and socialising by night.
The wind started slowly on Saturday, and gradually strengthened up until 11am when it suddenly kicked in at 30+ with gusts in the upper 40's.
Rob Chrystal immediately unleashed some huge jumps that made everyone's jaw drop and Luke was also strong in this department.
After a very solid day's kiting, everyone went up to the chalets to hit the showers and then relaxed with a drink.
Bruce Chrystal arrived later in the day and laid down a few tracks of his own.
In the evening, he then hauled out 3 massive pork knuckles and a poetjie which Jannic (kiteloop king) cooked to perfection for all.
The party went on late into the night, which some regretted, as the wind wasted no time on Sunday and was howling 30+ from first light.
It was colder on Sunday and most of us were kited out from the previous day, so after a few short sessions everyone left content with big smiles.
From left to right : BACK ROW - Brian, Gerhard, Basil, Jannic, Bruce, Luke, Louis FRONT ROW - Chris, Anton, Brett, Warren
Some of the causalities on Saturday : Louis's strained neck receiving attention from Brett, and Brian's trashed board from one of the jumps. Sipho in the van in good spirits as always.
Wind a plenty and jumps galore - Rob doing his thing
To give you some idea of how good the wind at Sterkies is :
I installed a weather station there in March to build up data to do trend analysis and predict when the wind will blow, as it's over 300 km's to get there from Johannesburg.
This revealed just how good the wind is there; there's been many days when it's blown 20+ this Winter and it's averaged 15+ knots over the past week between 10am and 4pm, yet there's been little or no wind in Johannesburg.
Sterkies weather station : www.ellada.co.za
The prevailing wind starts off as a light Northerly and gradually swings NW and strengthens around 10am.
Sterkies does not rely solely on cold fronts for wind, but they do exaggerate the thermal wind as they approach.
Here's the top 10 windiest days there over the past few months; bear in mind that the weather station is located at the resort offices and under reads by as much as 20%.
2008 TOP 10Date Wind Ave. Direction Gust Temp
1. 31/08/2008 13:45 33.8 NNW 43 BF9 15°c
2. 30/08/2008 14:15 31.9 NW 40.6 BF9 18.3°c
3. 01/09/2008 04:00 30.1 NNW 35.5 BF8 20.2°c
4. 08/07/2008 15:30 27.4 NW 34.2 BF8 18.6°c
5. 09/07/2008 12:15 24.7 NW 29.3 BF7 12.8°c
6. 04/07/2008 14:00 22.2 NW 26.6 BF6 17.1°c
7. 06/07/2008 14:30 21 NW 25.1 BF6 12.1°c
8. 01/08/2008 08:30 21 NW 24.3 BF6 19.3°c
9. 10/06/2008 14:00 19.4 NNE 24.7 BF6 12.9°c
10. 05/07/2008 14:00 19.4 NNE 23.5 BF6 13.2°c