Driving up the newly surfaced Collin Road I could see two paragliders soaring the hill - always a great sight and removing any doubts as to flyable conditions. Turns out the pilots were John Quinn and Colin Dowey soaring the southerly slopes.
After a chat to Colin who landed near the cars, I made my way up the hill to the second 'ledge' where the wind was 16 -18mph and a little gusty. Daily Inspection and Pre-flight Check completed, I pulled the wing overhead and turned to take off then stood there in surprise as the wind had dropped. That was an illustration of the variation in conditions. After a few minutes the wind picked up again and I took off.
It was easy enough to stay up but it took a while to gain height, trying to ride the small thermals that drifted through. It was a little bit choppy but as the wind shifted to flow over the ridge up ahead there was a bit of mild rollercoaster flying to be had on the bottom landing approach. The decision to bottom land resulted from the realisation that the windspeed was gradually increasing and a further check at takeoff later showed 18-20 gusting 24mph. Colin had packed up and gone by then.
Ronald Chudziak and Mark Piggott turned up and flew and were still airborne in the wind that had now backed to SE, although not making much forward progress when I left after a chat with John and Alastair McMaster who had turned up, unfortunately too late to fly in the strengthening wind.
No comments:
Post a Comment