There is a flying tip and an acronym index at the bottom of the report for those not understanding some of the weather jargon. ;)

18 April 2026

Good morning all you amazing Wild2fly people! A beautiful day of flying yesterday around Wilderness. Sedge was very spicey with only the tandems and a few crazy pilots taking to the air ;) The coast was the place to be with amazing flying right into the very late afternoon. No long flights on Xcontest for SA but once again the northern parts of the world was on fire! 291 flights over 100km recorded with the longest a 278km triangle by Juraj on his Zeno2. This is the 2nd longest from the same site 266km but with super cool pics. Amazing region! (Italian Alps!) https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:a_cortese/17.04.2026/07:54The cover pic is also from Andrea. :) Back to our SA weather today its massive CF dominating our air - one passed during the night the next on CT's doorstep. Winds are strong westerly everywhere and Wilderness is no exception. But there are massive wave formations around, the WC ranges delivering some beauts but the Southern Berg is the giant of waves. Look at this 8.5m/s climb monster near Mount Fletcher I found. (See below) Imagine getting into one of those! WowWee! lol :))) Now that’s crazy... but some pilots do it! ;) Back to Wilderness, I think we have a small chance to fly today. The forecast shows the wind strong west until mid-afternoon - around 15:00 it suddenly moderates and backs to the SW and continues to back with a SE finish! The wind drops of dramatically then so it looks like your timing needs to be just perfect. Waiting at CP might be the thing to do. Sedge of course is showing cloud base to up at 6k! in the morning making us drool! The hangies are chomping at the bit to try their luck. It looks a bit dubious to me but if you could get up... ;) Strong side on at Sedge till late and then the climbs drop off rather dramatically. The B/S ratio is also not looking that great even later on too. Hhhmmm... I think the coast is our best bet. Maybe a run to Gerrickes and back could be doable. ;) Forecast not that good for the next 3 days but things can change! Lekker! Low tide this morning at 10:03 and high tide at 16:17. Sunrise was at 6:55 and setting at 18:03. Daylight of 11 hrs and 8 min! Max temps today a cool 22 degrees C in Wilderness. Have a lekker one everybody and as always, remember also to take a moment and reflect on God. :) That’s really what life is all about. (John 10:10. Rom 10:9. Eph 4:31-32.)

Todays flying tip: Nothing beats a full face helmet for warmth in winter! :)

Map top landing Site briefing here: https://wild2fly.co.za/index.php/weather-wilderness/weather-wilderness-history 

Did you know, we do CAA approved Mustache/Parakite introductions and conversions. :)