Well, Coupe Icare is almost over which means my new Niviuk Hook 2 should soon begin it's journey from France across the water to the UK and then through the slightly altered BFPO route back to me here in Cyprus. Whilst I'm fretting about how long it's taking I thought I ought to think of a new title as I haven't been flying the old Epsilon for quite some time now since it went away for service.
I never even considered changing the title when I started flying the Alpha 2 as to be honest though I like the wing it's not challenging enough for me and in difficult conditions it's glide ratio is such that I find myself far lower that the guys on the higher spec wings and often find myself fighting to gain height just to be above them with varying results. I don't enjoy this kind of flying and often get fed up and land a long time before I should and go wait in the cafe whilst the others fly around and jeer at me every time they fly past.
So as for a new name I think it should be either Niviuk or Hook related or both! just to stay in keeping with this blogs previous names. Let me describe the wing: its colour is Spring (2 tone green) and it has a SLE (Structured Leading Edge) which means that there are plastic ribs within the leading edge the help keep the airfoil shape even during collapse if that's possible! so then taking all this into account I trying to think up a blog name! maybe something like "Hook Book"! or as my good lady just suggested "Hooked" I quite like that! I'm just a little worried that with Tim also ordering a Hook 2 we may be referred to as the Cyprus Hookers! and I'm not sure I like the implication. Maybe I should've ordered an Artic? hmm.
I'm off to the club house on Saturday morning to give it a bit of a spruce up and make it a suitable place to inspect my new baby. I'm hoping there will be time later in the afternoon for a quick flight so I'll be taking my wing.
Well I reckon I have a blog name now so I'll sign off as I haven't been flying for a few days now.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Frustration Sets in
Hi everyone,
It's been a little while since I updated this blog and that is partly due to the frustration of having my browser crash on me the last time I was updating it. Needless to say I was pretty hacked off when an hour and a half of page faded in front of my eyes! Well I'm now using the "Ecto" blog editor which is the Mac equivalent of Windows Live writer. This will save the frustration I hope as I can save it as I go in the usual way.
Well to add to my personal frustration I have ordered a Niviuk Hook 2 through Niviuk UK and not only did it get stuck in Customs but they also took it to Coupe Icare in France so I now have to wait for them to finnish there before they bring it through French customs and then UK customs. Oh it could take weeks! I've already been waiting 4 weeks at least. Hmmm also Tim has shared a scare story with me which says that a guy who had recently bought a Niviuk Koyot was on his 8th flight when the stitching tore along one of the seams front to back on both the upper and lower surfaces. For some reason there is no mention of a reserve chute and what followed ended in the guy's death. I'm in 2 minds about this story. On one hand I'm thinking "hmm better give my new glider a thorough check before flying it" (Something I would do anyway) but on the other hand I'm thinking why didn't the guy throw his reserve? did he even have one? if he did then why didn't he deploy it? All in all, these things are bound to happen to fabric gliders once in a while, I have seen footage of this kind of thing happening to gliders yet the pilot's were still able to land then safely. Of this was the guy's 8th flight in his career then I feel sorry for his family but I can't blame Niviuk. Not for his death at any rate.
Anyway I'm not phased by this story, I will still fly my newest addition to my family albeit in slight trepidation to begin with.
Anyway I flew a few times last week with Glenn at curium, mainly to gather Glenn's 10 probation hours so that we can fly together at Avdellaro and other nearby hills.
Dave on his Niviuk Peak and Glenn in the Air .
Unfortunately Glenn had a minor incident a couple of days ago and has tore the seam on his glider against the fence on the sandpit launch as well as snapping a line and scratching his arm and leg. Glenn you were so close. Lesson learned I hope.
I've landed yet Glenn is able to maintain much to my disgust.
Well I hope everything works out well and Glenn is flying again soon. I hope to have my glider in the next couple of weeks so if Tim is happy the Glenn can sign my wing out. Look after it mate it's been good to me.
Fly high, Fly soon!
Saturday, 4 September 2010
2 for 1
Well Tim informed us that we now have the Red Rocket back from our outgoing Club OC and so it was decided very late on that we could go to Lefkara. Me being me will never pass up an opportunity to fly a high hill (I really want to say mountain but after flying in the Alps I know this isn't true). I told Glenn to pick me up around 09:00 and we set off but as we were early I suggested we could go for the site brief at Avdellaro in advance of future flying. When we arrived on the UN111 launch I was seriously tempted to fly as the wind was perfect, I resisted and we moseyed over to the Eastern launch as this will likely be the launch the Glenn will use in his early days. The wind wasn't great at this point and so we drifted over to Lefkara and as we were still early we stopped in the village Cafe for a spot of brunch.
Cheeseburgers and chips went down very nicely, Tim called to say they (Dave, Tim & Lou) were on their way and that they'd meet us in the landing field. On arrival the weather appeared to be very nice and so we all jumped in the Rocket and drove to the top! Note to Dave: Please remember it's 4 Low range not High to get to the top!
Well we weren't disappointed as the wind was indeed passing nicely up the hill with small thermic gusts pushing through. The plan was for me to go first (As wind dummy) followed by Glenn that way Glenn had help on the top and bottom by the time I was in the landing field. This worked out very well and we were able to talk to Glenn for the initial and final parts of his flight on the radio. Nice launch and very good landing by all accounts. Once down Glenn set back up for a spot of ground handling and I took it upon myself to impart a little knowledge about the Mitsos (A's & C's/D's) method of launching and he seemed to take to it like a Duck to water. Once we sorted out a minor line twist issue he seems to have this method down nicely.
Dave and Tim flew for a little longer than myself with Dave flying for a little over half an hour on his Borrowed UP Trango. Once everyone was down it was still early and so we decided to have a look at Curium.
Curium was blowing a very strong wind so it was Frappe and Hoegarten all round whilst we waited for the evening lull. At about 18:30 Glenn and I went into the Lee of the hill for a spot of Ground Handling again before returning to the top to find a still windy but very flyable hill. A walk to the sandpit and both Glenn and myself had about 15 minutes of some very smooth air just as the Sun was setting and a landing in almost darkness on the beech! A great day all round in my opinion! could life get much better?
Sorry no Pics Flight track log Here.
Cheeseburgers and chips went down very nicely, Tim called to say they (Dave, Tim & Lou) were on their way and that they'd meet us in the landing field. On arrival the weather appeared to be very nice and so we all jumped in the Rocket and drove to the top! Note to Dave: Please remember it's 4 Low range not High to get to the top!
Well we weren't disappointed as the wind was indeed passing nicely up the hill with small thermic gusts pushing through. The plan was for me to go first (As wind dummy) followed by Glenn that way Glenn had help on the top and bottom by the time I was in the landing field. This worked out very well and we were able to talk to Glenn for the initial and final parts of his flight on the radio. Nice launch and very good landing by all accounts. Once down Glenn set back up for a spot of ground handling and I took it upon myself to impart a little knowledge about the Mitsos (A's & C's/D's) method of launching and he seemed to take to it like a Duck to water. Once we sorted out a minor line twist issue he seems to have this method down nicely.
Dave and Tim flew for a little longer than myself with Dave flying for a little over half an hour on his Borrowed UP Trango. Once everyone was down it was still early and so we decided to have a look at Curium.
Curium was blowing a very strong wind so it was Frappe and Hoegarten all round whilst we waited for the evening lull. At about 18:30 Glenn and I went into the Lee of the hill for a spot of Ground Handling again before returning to the top to find a still windy but very flyable hill. A walk to the sandpit and both Glenn and myself had about 15 minutes of some very smooth air just as the Sun was setting and a landing in almost darkness on the beech! A great day all round in my opinion! could life get much better?
Sorry no Pics Flight track log Here.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
New Member Orientation
Well today was definitely a no fly day with winds easily more than 30mph on Curium so after a quick visit to Dave's house and a nice cup of Coffee and some biscuits, Glenn (our newest member) and I set off with the idea that we would look at some of the inland sites to introduce him and also give him a definite sense of what lies at the end of his 10 hour hill probation. These first 10 hours can seem to the lay person and indeed to the new pilot to be a bit of a hindrance and many people will be tempted to miss out most of this period. I would definitely recommend that anybody who is thinking along these lines are fool hardy and will most likely come to strife on some of the larger hills with no real idea of what to do should anything go wrong.
I was tempted myself but I am so very glad that I stuck to it. After my scary experience at Lefkara (Kourtellarotsos) I would have struggled to get my glider down in the tight spot that I finally ended in had I not spent all those initial hours struggling to stay aloft on our most visited and friendly hill.
Well I digress, we had at first decided to visit Avdellaro (being the closest and most benign to Ay Nik) but en route Glenn asked about Lefkara and expressed a wish to see it and also try out his newly acquired 4x4 Mitsubishi Pajero. I told him it was a little out of the way but I agreed it would be nice to see the place and directed Glenn to launch. I am glad to announce that the Mitsubishi had no trouble at all in climbing the very steep sides of the hill and we arrived at launch in a shower of rain!
We waited for the worst to pass and then climbed out into a light drizzle and very pleasant that was too. I noticed that someone had thrown the ribbon down the hill so I scrambled down about 20m to retrieve it. The view from the top with the low cloud was really nice and I was suprised that we were standing in near nil wind with the occasional light breeze blowing over the back but as I had already resigned myself to a no fly day I was not disappointed. The sun was shining through the clouds and giving a spectacular view.
We decided after a few minutes of chatting about the site that we had had enough and jumped back in the car to return home with a possible detour via Avdellaro. The Pajero happily descended the top of the hill and we headed down the windy asphalt road toward Lafkara. Half way down we were stopped dead in our tracks by a very unexpected site.
2 articulated trucks had got themselves stuck on one of the hair pin bends in such a way that they could not move forward and reversing really did not seem to be an option. Luckily for us a local couple in a Toyota Rav 4 knew an alternate route to the bottom and agreed that we could follow them in order to get off the hill. Our very greatest thanks to that couple! without whom we would surely still be struggling to find our way.
Lesson learned : Always expect the unexpected and be prepared to get out and chat to the people on the scene. Even if no English is spoken you can usually get your message across.
Oh but my highlight of this trip was that I and Glenn actually met the illusive Lefkara Goats! I knew it wasn't Hare droppings!
Well until the next flyable day I guess!
Fly high!
I was tempted myself but I am so very glad that I stuck to it. After my scary experience at Lefkara (Kourtellarotsos) I would have struggled to get my glider down in the tight spot that I finally ended in had I not spent all those initial hours struggling to stay aloft on our most visited and friendly hill.
Well I digress, we had at first decided to visit Avdellaro (being the closest and most benign to Ay Nik) but en route Glenn asked about Lefkara and expressed a wish to see it and also try out his newly acquired 4x4 Mitsubishi Pajero. I told him it was a little out of the way but I agreed it would be nice to see the place and directed Glenn to launch. I am glad to announce that the Mitsubishi had no trouble at all in climbing the very steep sides of the hill and we arrived at launch in a shower of rain!
We waited for the worst to pass and then climbed out into a light drizzle and very pleasant that was too. I noticed that someone had thrown the ribbon down the hill so I scrambled down about 20m to retrieve it. The view from the top with the low cloud was really nice and I was suprised that we were standing in near nil wind with the occasional light breeze blowing over the back but as I had already resigned myself to a no fly day I was not disappointed. The sun was shining through the clouds and giving a spectacular view.
2 articulated trucks had got themselves stuck on one of the hair pin bends in such a way that they could not move forward and reversing really did not seem to be an option. Luckily for us a local couple in a Toyota Rav 4 knew an alternate route to the bottom and agreed that we could follow them in order to get off the hill. Our very greatest thanks to that couple! without whom we would surely still be struggling to find our way.
Oh but my highlight of this trip was that I and Glenn actually met the illusive Lefkara Goats! I knew it wasn't Hare droppings!
Well until the next flyable day I guess!
Fly high!
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Lefkara Down Down
Dave called me to let me know that we had the Red Rocket back temporarily and so he and Tim were going to Lefkara (Kourtellarotsos) for some thermic action. I called Jamie to ask if he'd like to try a tandem flight (as part of my crusade to get everyone at this end of the island to join the club and add some much needed pennies to the clubs funds) and he said he would. Dave I knew would be happy to take him but a courtesy call confirmed my suspicions and we set off. On arrival the wind was looking ok if a little intermittent and we all piled into the rocket and set off for launch. On the top the wind was anything but on. A little from East then from the South then the occasional spot of Northerly and back to South again. We were all less than impressed but Dave assured us that this was normal and by noon the wind should be nicely trickling up the South slope and we could launch. The day was slightly overcast with a fairly thick layer of lifted dust and this was keeping the sun from penetrating all the way to the ground with enough energy to heat it. Thus the small thermic bubbles that were passing through were just that, small! at 12:00 we went for a short walk along the ridge to the Eastern end and found that a very nice wind was pushing up this slope. Unfortunately this slope is not a recommended launch due to the Greek military base at it's foot. The Police have been known to attend the landing field in the past (largely due to Dave flying far too close to their airspace) and asking why we are there!
Anyway I knew this did not bode well for any good flights but we were all now very hot and irritable and decided to return to launch to see if things had improved. Well not really but there was enough of a Southern wind to launch happily and so we decided to go for it even if it would be a straight top to bottom. Dave took off first with Jaimie on the Tandem and quickly dropped out of the little lift that was there and as I watched I feared they would not make the landing field. After some beats along the ridge and then a try for lift in the valley they gingerly eeked as much as they could out of the very small lift patches and managed to scrape into the field with inches to spare Jaimie put his leg into a thorn bush but other than that was very happy with his flight. Tim launched second and enjoyed about 15 minutes in the air before also conceding defeat when his glider decided it wanted to be behind him and not above him any more. He landed very close to Dave's helmet which was laid on the ground as a make shift target. I launched last into some mildly turbulent air and went pretty much straight down! well it's a better way to get down than driving! very nice flight even if it was short!
Here is my track log
Anyway I knew this did not bode well for any good flights but we were all now very hot and irritable and decided to return to launch to see if things had improved. Well not really but there was enough of a Southern wind to launch happily and so we decided to go for it even if it would be a straight top to bottom. Dave took off first with Jaimie on the Tandem and quickly dropped out of the little lift that was there and as I watched I feared they would not make the landing field. After some beats along the ridge and then a try for lift in the valley they gingerly eeked as much as they could out of the very small lift patches and managed to scrape into the field with inches to spare Jaimie put his leg into a thorn bush but other than that was very happy with his flight. Tim launched second and enjoyed about 15 minutes in the air before also conceding defeat when his glider decided it wanted to be behind him and not above him any more. He landed very close to Dave's helmet which was laid on the ground as a make shift target. I launched last into some mildly turbulent air and went pretty much straight down! well it's a better way to get down than driving! very nice flight even if it was short!
Here is my track log
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Lefkara land out
Well Dave suggested that today 19 Jun 2010 would be a corker at Lefkara and we should meet at the landing field! I agreed and packed my glider into the car and headed out to the site arriving there around 10:25. I put my feet up and caught some much needed z's whilst I waited for the others, this was due to just finishing a 24 hour duty at work and only have 4 hours sleep. By the time they arrived I had woken up and felt as though I was ready for a nice days flying. We left the Galaxy in the landing field and headed to the top in the red rocket. at the top the wind was perfect though it was apparent that the strength was increasing steadily all the time. Dave went first, followed by me then Tim and finally Mark. We flew together for about 40 minutes and both Tim and Dave gained some amazing height and went on short cross country flights and back. Due to my low airtime I stuck near to the hill and managed to climb to 1230m which gives me my next goal of flying above 1500m
I flew around a little enjoying my height but then found I was in a world of sink. at around 750m I turned to find the lift I had originally climbed in but only found a small pocket and decided to try over by the Heli pad! this was my big mistake. now quite low over the saddle I quickly found I was in the lee of it and the pimple, the air was turbulent and I fought to keep the glider stable but the wing collapsed on the left hand side which swung me around a bit then it collapsed on the right hand side and by now I was looking to land "But where?" I thought all I could see was trees. It took a couple of minutes but I did manage to find a couple of nice clear patches with a track running between. Due to the lack of penetration I didn't manage to reach either of these patches and instead landed on the track between. I wish I'd had a helmet Cam to capture it all! You can find my track log here
Well now I had a decision to make. Head West up the near vertical hill back to launch about 2km or head SW and skirt the greek military base around the pimple and back to my car roughly twice the distance but on the flat. Well I thought I did not want to go anywhere near the military base so I opted to retrieve the Red Rocket from the top. I had 2 bottles of water in my bag so what more would I need? Well the hill quickly became very steep and was covered in lose shale so my feet would slip on every step. I trudged from shady spot to shady spot and every time I move to the next spot my ruck sack would catch on the branches of the very low short trees sapping what little energy I had. It took me around an hour to reach the top where I stole a can of Pepsi and a Mars bar out of Tim's cool box. Cheers Tim!
Big lesson to learn from this flight is do not fly to the Heli Pad if you're only at 750m as this puts you into the lee of the saddle! and definitely don't fly into the lee of any hills. I can now say this with authority! ;)
I flew around a little enjoying my height but then found I was in a world of sink. at around 750m I turned to find the lift I had originally climbed in but only found a small pocket and decided to try over by the Heli pad! this was my big mistake. now quite low over the saddle I quickly found I was in the lee of it and the pimple, the air was turbulent and I fought to keep the glider stable but the wing collapsed on the left hand side which swung me around a bit then it collapsed on the right hand side and by now I was looking to land "But where?" I thought all I could see was trees. It took a couple of minutes but I did manage to find a couple of nice clear patches with a track running between. Due to the lack of penetration I didn't manage to reach either of these patches and instead landed on the track between. I wish I'd had a helmet Cam to capture it all! You can find my track log here
Well now I had a decision to make. Head West up the near vertical hill back to launch about 2km or head SW and skirt the greek military base around the pimple and back to my car roughly twice the distance but on the flat. Well I thought I did not want to go anywhere near the military base so I opted to retrieve the Red Rocket from the top. I had 2 bottles of water in my bag so what more would I need? Well the hill quickly became very steep and was covered in lose shale so my feet would slip on every step. I trudged from shady spot to shady spot and every time I move to the next spot my ruck sack would catch on the branches of the very low short trees sapping what little energy I had. It took me around an hour to reach the top where I stole a can of Pepsi and a Mars bar out of Tim's cool box. Cheers Tim!
Big lesson to learn from this flight is do not fly to the Heli Pad if you're only at 750m as this puts you into the lee of the saddle! and definitely don't fly into the lee of any hills. I can now say this with authority! ;)
Friday, 18 June 2010
Avdellaro
Well I finally flew Avdellaro on 16 June 2010. When Bitu (B2) and I arrived (around 11:30) the wind was looking perfect with a steady breeze blowing up the face of the hill SSW. However after 10 minutes of assessing time it was apparent that things were picking up with some quite strong thermic gusts blowing through. I set up my glider and attempted to launch but due to the unstable nature of the air 2 attempts later I had decided that it was perhaps prudent to bundle my glider and go and have a soft drink in the local Cafe. I texted Dave to let him know how things were and left it up to him to decide weather he would come along. The Cafe is a Cypriot version of Greasy Lills, it's made out of wriggly tin with a fridge stacked with juice and a few tables spread out on the patio at the front of the shop. Due to the location (an industrial estate) it is very noisy with lorries driving past and a Peugeot garage opposite revving rally car engines and the like! I really like it!
The garage has three flags outside which are excellent for telling what the wind may be doing and we used these as we sat monitoring. At 13:30 we noticed that they were blowing much more gently than earlier so I texted Dave that we would go and take another look at the top.
When we arrived at UN 111 it was indeed much calmer that earlier on but those thermic gusts were still present so I knew I'd have to treat the hill with caution. I set up and launched straight out into some reasonable lift and flew forward to check out penetration it was slow but I was pushing away from the hill so I turned right and flew along to the cliffs where I found a nice gentle lift band to play in.
After 2 or 3 passes past launch I noticed a UN vehicle approaching Bitu and wondered if maybe I'd overstepped the boundary (as Avellaro sits on the boarder of the controlled zone and Southern Cyprus) but the guy mearly said "hello" to Bitu and went about his business. My concentration was re-focused as a sudden gust blew onto the hill pushing me back toward launch allot faster than I am used to on Curium and so I pushed my hands right up and found that penetrating now was very difficult. With my hands right up I turned toward the landing field but as I did I felt my harness drop to the left and I began to turn left, I quickly leaned to the right applied a little right break and looked up to see that 50% of my canopy was flapping around uselessly, 1 long pump of the break later and it rustled itself back into shape and I continued my decent toward landing. It became apparent that I was struggling to penetrate at all at this point so I eased out my speed bar in order to move away from the hill this made things quite bumpy but I stuck with it and eventually landed in the field opposite Bitu's car! I was pleased to have flown for 15 minutes but also pleased to be on the ground where I wanted to be. As I was bunching up Dave texted me to tell me he was coming and was about 20 minutes away. I answered him and told him I had flown and would meet him by the Iso container at the bottom as Bitu was coming for me and the UN were still on the top!
When Dave arrived he suggested we leave one car by the Iso container and take the other around to the bottom landing for Avdellaro proper, then we could all drive up in the clubs 4x4 (the Red Rocket). It seemed like a great idea to me so we did just that. The proper launch is a little less snaggy that UN 111 but still has it's fair share of obstacles and lose dirt to slip on. Launch is also slightly sloped which helps keep the wing out of the wind shadow on top of the hill. Well Bitu set up first and after waiting for a gust to blow through and having a couple of hiccups he launched sweetly and was in the air. Dave and I watched him for a minute or two and then I set up, had a hiccup of my own and then launched. The air was turbulent but buoyant with patches of lift and patches of sink. I found myself a nice little patch of lift and hung around in it to get some decent height but I quickly found that once I moved away from the lift I was sinking fast. I found that I needed to eek out the lift that was there and as soon as I thought I was at the top of it then it was hands up until I found the next patch. This technique worked really well as I found myself way above launch and higher than Dave or Bitu by some significant way! Unfortunately I cannot show you my flight track as I'd left my vario in the car door which was now in the bottom landing field! oh well at least I logged the first short flight.
I'd had about 25 minutes when I noticed that Bitu had landed in the UN 111 bottom landing field and I decided that perhaps I should try to land near my car so pushed out away from the hill toward landing. As I pushed away from the hill I found myself climbing steadily until I was way above the landing field and still climbing. Seeing that this field was a none starter I looked further away and found a nice (newly mown) light brown field near a few old farm shacks and I pointed at that. The field was perfect and I think it's a much better option than the one we picked out.
A new site under my belt and another half hour flight time in pretty tricky conditions. I'm a happy bunny! :)
The garage has three flags outside which are excellent for telling what the wind may be doing and we used these as we sat monitoring. At 13:30 we noticed that they were blowing much more gently than earlier so I texted Dave that we would go and take another look at the top.
When we arrived at UN 111 it was indeed much calmer that earlier on but those thermic gusts were still present so I knew I'd have to treat the hill with caution. I set up and launched straight out into some reasonable lift and flew forward to check out penetration it was slow but I was pushing away from the hill so I turned right and flew along to the cliffs where I found a nice gentle lift band to play in.
After 2 or 3 passes past launch I noticed a UN vehicle approaching Bitu and wondered if maybe I'd overstepped the boundary (as Avellaro sits on the boarder of the controlled zone and Southern Cyprus) but the guy mearly said "hello" to Bitu and went about his business. My concentration was re-focused as a sudden gust blew onto the hill pushing me back toward launch allot faster than I am used to on Curium and so I pushed my hands right up and found that penetrating now was very difficult. With my hands right up I turned toward the landing field but as I did I felt my harness drop to the left and I began to turn left, I quickly leaned to the right applied a little right break and looked up to see that 50% of my canopy was flapping around uselessly, 1 long pump of the break later and it rustled itself back into shape and I continued my decent toward landing. It became apparent that I was struggling to penetrate at all at this point so I eased out my speed bar in order to move away from the hill this made things quite bumpy but I stuck with it and eventually landed in the field opposite Bitu's car! I was pleased to have flown for 15 minutes but also pleased to be on the ground where I wanted to be. As I was bunching up Dave texted me to tell me he was coming and was about 20 minutes away. I answered him and told him I had flown and would meet him by the Iso container at the bottom as Bitu was coming for me and the UN were still on the top!
When Dave arrived he suggested we leave one car by the Iso container and take the other around to the bottom landing for Avdellaro proper, then we could all drive up in the clubs 4x4 (the Red Rocket). It seemed like a great idea to me so we did just that. The proper launch is a little less snaggy that UN 111 but still has it's fair share of obstacles and lose dirt to slip on. Launch is also slightly sloped which helps keep the wing out of the wind shadow on top of the hill. Well Bitu set up first and after waiting for a gust to blow through and having a couple of hiccups he launched sweetly and was in the air. Dave and I watched him for a minute or two and then I set up, had a hiccup of my own and then launched. The air was turbulent but buoyant with patches of lift and patches of sink. I found myself a nice little patch of lift and hung around in it to get some decent height but I quickly found that once I moved away from the lift I was sinking fast. I found that I needed to eek out the lift that was there and as soon as I thought I was at the top of it then it was hands up until I found the next patch. This technique worked really well as I found myself way above launch and higher than Dave or Bitu by some significant way! Unfortunately I cannot show you my flight track as I'd left my vario in the car door which was now in the bottom landing field! oh well at least I logged the first short flight.
I'd had about 25 minutes when I noticed that Bitu had landed in the UN 111 bottom landing field and I decided that perhaps I should try to land near my car so pushed out away from the hill toward landing. As I pushed away from the hill I found myself climbing steadily until I was way above the landing field and still climbing. Seeing that this field was a none starter I looked further away and found a nice (newly mown) light brown field near a few old farm shacks and I pointed at that. The field was perfect and I think it's a much better option than the one we picked out.
A new site under my belt and another half hour flight time in pretty tricky conditions. I'm a happy bunny! :)
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