| Flight details: | Thermalled out just below Dave Massie & Shaun Bolton, but was being outclimbed by an Atos from below. When he eventually made it up to me I left the thermal to him, with a view to returning to it once he had climbed beyond me. As I was gliding forwards, I noticed that the Atos was following... Doh!
I then scrabbled about for ten or so minutes until I drifted back a little low for comfort in an initially weak climb. The climb peaked at about 3m/s but dissipated (or at least I lost it and could not find it again) at about 1500'. A couple more thermals to much the same height, despite the epic looking cloud streets, and I was set to cross Hollingbury camp, where I hit strong sink, possibly associated with the imminent sea breeze. This ensured that I did not quite have enough height to make it to the ridge by the new footy ground so I elected to land in the Stanmer Park/University sports fields rather than risk possible sea breeze on the other side of the A27.
Retrieve was courtesy of Claire Furminger, whom Shaun had telephoned and dragged away from the Dyke on landing.
All in all, a poor start to the years xc flights, but a start nonetheless. |
