A lovely looking day. Started blue but Cu started forming early. The previous day's strong winds appeared to persist so I didn't make a move until lunchtime. On arrival I thought I'd blown it as the wind had dropped significantly.
The car park was very busy with folk out for the day enjoying the scenery. A HG top landed as I was getting the gear off the car – this spurred me on! At the top Dean ? from TVHGC was finishing off rigging. Mark B. was in the bottom field having just had his second flight of the day – after a 2-year break!
Dean launched, gained around 100ft for a while but ended up at the bottom as well. Not so encouraging. The sky became overcast at times with occasional sunny breaks. The lift definitely improved during the sunny spells.
I launched around 3pm with Mark B's help. (He had walked back up – character-building stuff!). Lovely! Scatchy at times but workable thermals to 800ft ATO. Best lift in front of the Beacon in the N breeze. Played with a group of buzzards for a while. Got some nice height behind launch so worked forward towards South Harting village – and lost the lot! Elected to top land after 35mins, a surprisingly gentle affair.
Second flight around 4pm produced height gains of around 1,200ft ATO and more organised lift above the Beacon. The wind strengthened, backed NNW and the air became lumpy. The lift faded so a second top landing. The third flight was entirely at ridge height. At one point I had resigned myself to a "downer" as I was scratching half way down the hill. Not a pleasant place to be as the trees created all manner of turbulence. I flew east towards the lower tree-covered slopes and was rewarded with some weak lift. Working this for several minutes I gained sufficient height to slide in for a top landing.
Phew! Time to pack up and head home – a better afternoon than anticipated!
Brian
Great read.
ReplyDelete