We wake up to a different world. It's dry, it's windy, and there's nothing and nobody here but us.

It takes us ages to get the camp packed up and breakfast-and-coffee done. It doesn't seem like there's a rush, the thermals haven't been working before 10am on any day so far. What we don't realise is that one of the Swiss team is already in the air, and by the time we launch he's got 2 hours of xc already and is passing Vosburg close by.

The wind is soon very strong. I tow first but I break the winch line by flying at too much of an angle to the tow vehicle in an attempt to make up for a bad start position. We lose half an hour while the winch line is repaired. By then the dust-devils are raging across the pan, and the wind seems to be about 40km/h.

I wait for a lull in the wind, and launch. The tow is nice, smooth, and I cross the pan into wind while on tow, which shows me that the wind is surprisingly weaker than expected, or I've chosen a good lull. The thermals are difficult to work for the first 500m of altitude, but then I link up with the lift above a strong dust-devil, and I rocket up to cloudbase at 6m/s.

I'm slightly nervous. The cumulus is building fast, all around me, and the wind is strong. It's a wild day. I don't know how long I can ride this beast.

And then a little butterfly comes flitting by at 1000m above the ground. Ahh. It's a sign! It's going to be a nice day, little soft white fluttering butterfly. It's a symbol of the day. Thwack! It flies straight into my helmet at high speed. It is dead.

I look down over my toes at my shadow getting blown across the Karoo. I feel very small and vulnerable.

Nevil launches, and it makes me feel a lot better to have company in the air. He goes backwards while on the tow line, the wind has increased. He flies 20km in a short time, then he's landing and getting dragged in the dust. The clouds are getting wild, the retrieve vehicle reports that they are being rained on when they are 20km behind me. The clouds build and build.

A dark thunderstorm cell begins to spread at my back. I don't like the risk I'm running. A gust front from the storm will be added to the current wind, which is already right at the limit of safety. As it is I'll be landing going slightly backwards. The clouds begin to close on me from both sides, and I fly straight on full speed, then with the wingtips tucked in for a faster descent. I radio my intentions to land beside a tar road 20km ahead.

The landing is surprisingly safe. I spiral down hard to get to my road before being blown past it, then when I level out and push down into the lower level of air, the wind is only 35kmh or so. I come down vertically and front tuck the wing into the bushes. Whew! 50km and safe is better than 100km and dangerous.

With a hurried pack job, I barely make it under the bush before the rain comes down. When it passes I walk to the end of the road and witness the approaching thunderstorms. The day has gone from blue skies to totally unflyable in two hours.

What totally blows me away later, is that the Swiss are still flying on this day. Alfredo was slightly ahead of me in the same air, and continued to fly until 4pm. Andre came from behind, and passed close over my position at a time when I was making a video of the 60km/h+ gust front that was blasting dust off the ground and the towering cumulonimbus clouds. It was totally overdeveloped. I got drenched with rain while I waited for my retrieve. Cloudbase was low, around 3500m.

We are trying too hard to break the record, I think. It's just too wet and too risky. This is the last day for the South Africans .. we have been at it for two weeks, and we return home tomorrow.  

Thanks to Ewa for the photos .. check out her German blog on www.ewawisnierska.com