Well, an interesting day today! a day of satisfaction, discovery and learning.  I did not have very high hopes for today being flyable at all and in fact had all but given up on the idea but I had to help Tim errect a sign at the club house which is as near to the hill as damn it is to dom it, so I packed the wing just in case.  Tim and I discussed a few issues to do with work and the club over a cuppa and then popped into the clubhouse to put up two splendid signs he's had made! I must say, they are the best signs I have ever seen :) heaven knows who designed the logo? [Breethes on finger nails and rubs them on Shirt].  They look quite nice, it's a pitty really as the rest of the club house is in a bit of a state but I am rather satisfied with them!

Well as far as I know, this is the first uploaded picture of the outside of our club house on the internet so if you ever wanted to know what the CSCC actually looks like, discover it here! :)
Well, that done, I dropped Tim back off at home and had another cup of coffee whilst we looked over a memory stick that we had found in the clubhouse.  Well actually a phone that had been found down the sides of one of the chairs in our crew room.  We were trying to assertain whos phone it was and due to the fact it had run out of battery and we had no means of charging it, our only option was to browse it's memory stick! it was pretty boring actually but if you are reading this and you are a male SGT aircrew, early 20's and have lost a Samsung phone on a recent Paragliding course in Cyprus, please feel free to contact me through the CSCC website! I can probably send it through 216 mail! be faster than snail mail!
Well this brings me to the good part, I asked Tim if he would like to join me on the hill and we checked the forecast which looked as if it may just be possible right now, but in 15 minutes or so it may well be blown out and so Tim declined and I wished him a good afternoon and left.  At the top of the hill I quickly texted everyone that it looked perfect and they should come! turns out alot of folk never received this text but hey, what do I care?  the bushes were all bouncing around a bit and so, as I was currently alone I elected for a sand pit launch.  Eventually this proved a good choice as I had no problem at all getting away and was lifted into the sky almost imediately.  I tracked left to the end of the wall and then turned back to top launch where I could just see Pete arriving! In minutes he had set up and we were boating about together quite nicely in slightly thermic conditions; some of which were quite uncomfortable but manageable.  After about 20 minutes this calmed down and a consistant updraft began which took us up and above the ruins easily with nice smooth lift right along the hill.  This lasted for around 40 minutes until finally the wind kicked Westerly bringing us both down to just above scratching height with those familiar thermals punching through just to keep us aloft.  I elected after a further 20 minutes or so to try and top land which I did after about 3 attempts and Christakis was waiting on top and helped me out of the sky with a bit of a pull on the shoulder straps!  Cheers buddy, I would have been tiptoeing around that launch area for a few more minutes if you hadn't grabbed me.  I could see Pete Fuller had landed at the bottom so I was about to put my kit to one side to fetch him when Chris asked "do you mind if I try your glider?" I said of course you can try, as I feel this is like giving your guitar to a musician and him proving to you that actually it's not the strings you're just crap at playing! lol.  Chris took it for a spin, their and back again to see how far it was, putting in some reasonable wing overs and thouroughly checking it's speed range.  I presume this is due to his new status as the Cyprus Niviuk rep and his current lack of demo wings from Niviuk.  He returned to the top after a few beats and reported he liked it.  He said it responded very well to his input but that I should shorten my speed bar as he thought it was a little long for me!  Actually he was spot on, it is in fact about 2cm too short but as I am collecting a brand new harness soon I see no reason to faf around.  I'll have enough to do sorting the new one out.  So one hour and 20 minutes all in today :) I am once again a happy man!
Oh yeah, the learning part of the day was that I really must remember to tie off my valuables! I went to the bottom to pick Pete up and he asked me what it was that I had dropped off my harness? I said I have no idea what you are talking about and then felt in my pockets!  My phone was gone! arrghhhh! how will I call Lisa and tell her about my day?? how will I find out about Pub nights or flying days? Arrrghhhhh! then again, I need a new phone so it didn't seem that bad to me.  Oh well I thought! it wasn't expensive and had done me and Dave Neal proud over about 7 years.  Pete told me how he saw it fall onto the rocks near the sandpit and it had slid into the scrub below them.  That's it I thought! a million, million pieces! I must have been 70ft up at that point.  We drove back to the top and went for a wander to try and find it.  We walked for around 20 minutes when Pete said "I know! I'll ring it!" to whit I replied "It'll be in pieces! it'll at least have dropped the battery out of it's arse!" then "It's ringing!"  "Where? I can't hear it!"  we walked up and down for about 5 minutes when Pete shouted "I can hear it!" I ran to him and sure enough, about 6ft from where he said he'd seen it land there it was, intact, without even a scratch! well not one that wasn't there before anyway!  "Bugger!" I thought, no new phone for me!

My track log is Here

Tight lines everyone!