| Flight details: | After an early session, in which loads of people squeezed into one thermal, and nobody got anywhere, the day improved so that loads got high, and loads of them got scared. I don't think I've seen so many big ears going in just after their pilot encountered rough thermals. Still, it was useful to map the lift - just head for where you saw a pilot withe beg ears in, and there you were sure to find a thermal. They were rough 'n' horrible low down, but after climbing a couple of thou, smoothed out luvvly jubbly. I tootled along to Truleigh, and thermalled back, decided to come down, but thermal after thermal threw me back up, so I stayed. Having 7K on the GPS already, I decided to see if the stiff northerly could be overcome, and ASDA reached. Taking a ride to 3,500 feet, then coasting along what seemed to be a line of convergence (but not marked by clouds), it looked easy, but there was punishing sink just before ASDA, adn I ended up over the trees to the north, which gave me a rough ride in a zero. doug came to join me, but didn;t make the climb out. The ero got better and better, and took me to 4 grand. I decided to head inland (possibly a mistake), but the sink monster got me again, until I wandered over the Swanborough ridge, where another zero promised, but never delivered, a ride out of there.
I walked to the road, where I stick out my thumb at the first three cars to pass. No. 3 stopped - total of 3 secs hitching time. Result! He took me to Lewes Station, where the train delivered me to the 77 bus back to the Dyke. |
