Jip , off we took at 06h00 from Tedderfield for Parys. Vic in his M24, which we saw on take off ( he took off last ) and after that just a vapor trail as he 'maak'ed gat skoon' for FAPY.
Now here's the thing; He was solo with 80 lts in the tank and only a 25lts can as passenger for a top up at Anton Fourie's farm on the way to Jan Kempdorp.
Xenon RDV had 60 lts in the tank with 'Modling' von Ludwig and Cilliers Burger 'filling up' the pilot and co-pilot seats. Cilliers at 105kg, kaalgat , which thankfully he was not when he firmly planted himself on the left side in the pilot seat of the Xenon and 'Modling' von Ludwig at a " man, ek weeg seker so tussen 85 en 95" in the right hand seat.
Xenon RGB had me weiging in at my usual 108 kg in the pilot seat , 80 lts in the tank and my aux fuel cell on the pax seat ,containing a further 60 lts of the fluid that keeps a smile on your face when you are unexpectedly confronted by a serious headwind over a loooong distance.
And then to add further insult to injury; a 20 lts can of 95 unleaded on the floor where the feet of the pax would normally be. This was neccessary to top up RDV at Parys in order to give them enough juice to reach the next refuelling stop.
MAUW all around and a comfortable climb at 500 fpm on take off. Cruise Rpm 5300 , man press 38 and wait for it ... wait for it ... Len luister jy ??? Ready for this ??? 110 staute miles per hour
( ok ... groundspeed.. 
) Airspeed on cruise is between 75 and 85. Push a little and you can sit at 90 but push a little more and you find yourself patting the aux fuel cell next to you all the time as it becomes your best buddy!Vic and I turned back at Anton Fourie's farm after warm greetings and fuel was exchanged amongst all of us . Cilliers and 'Modling von Ludwig' hit the Northern Cape skies , straight into the teeth of a mean Westerly all the way to Upinton. Hy bring die reën, daai dêng uit die Weste !!
Ebie Mocke came on the cell phone as they landed in Upinton with 15 lts to spare in the tank."Die wind waai lat hy bars hier ... 28 knope !" Vuurdoop Cilliers... vuurdoop!
According to 'Modling' von Ludwig ,they made a bee line for any dust devil along the way in order to grab any form of lift presented to them in that mid thirties Northern Cape atmosphere. In the mean time the wind howled and it was "rock and roll" all the way.
You guys must start respecting Ebie Mocke and his operation down there big time, because these are the Summer conditions in which the boytjies over there operate with their machines!!
Nie vir sissies nie 
Cilliers and 'Modling' von Ludwig hopped out the Xenon cabin. Found that they did not even need to stretch their legs after the trip from Tedderfield to Upinton ... and I believe they did a few more circuits and landings as part of Cilliers' conversion before retireing to their hotel !
Today they fly to Cape Town and so far the Xenon is living up to it's reputation of ensuring a safe, reliable,comfortable, enclosed , side by side experience, even over long range and in trying conditions to pilot and pax.
Now the North /South gyro fly-in is priority !
Stand by !!
If I flew back from Upington today as the plan was ... there would not have been violent thunderstorms as predicted... there would not have been gusty conditions of up to 35kph winds ... there would not have been rain ... there would have been sunny conditions all the way from Upington to Postmasburg to Jan Kempdorp to Parys to Tedderfield ... AND a 20 kph tail wind out of the S/W all the way. What a cop out !! 
Put each taxi driver in a Xenon I say ! Eric Torr and Len Klopper can do the training of the new breed of Xenon taxi drivers 
Think of all the new world records that can be set for loading 10 passangers into the cabin of a two seater Xenon. Think of the great excitement created as a 100 or so Xenon taxis take off or decend on a taxi rank at the same time. Think of the new operators manuals whith all the payload pages and information pertaining to weight and balance deleted or simply removed as they serve no purpose. Man this is the way to go !!! Why didn't anyone think of this before ?? 
