Flight

I almost didn't come out to play today - the forecast didn't look that good; but XCweather said it was OK, so up I turn at the Dyke, and lovely it was too. Had a half hour boating around the sky in lovely conditions, until the sink monster struck. After that, it looked like the sea breeze would have us shortly, so took off as soon as I saw anyone go up, and took some light lift up and away. A gaggle had got away a few minutes earlier, but I thought that I'd never catch up; I was climbing so slowly. A couple of times I wondered if this climb was worth it, but kept with it as long as it was going up. There was lift everywhere, but really dribbly. It took ages to get to the A23 even, and a glide towards Ditchling provided little more lift than before. round and round go the wheels of the bus, er I mean the paraglider; round and round, half inch at a time. It wasn't before I got to above ASDA that I got the first decent climb; a 2-up. I reached 10K from the Dyke after nearly an hour. From then I tried just gliding forward to get some distance; it worked fine - there was little sink around, even if there wasn't much lift either. Decided that sticking to the sea breeze front (very indistinct) was the best plan, and made some real progress along it on bar. Flew over Caburn and took whatever climbs were available - at this point I was doing fine, staying high. Then saw the remnants of the gaggle over Arlington Reservoir. Turned out to be Kenny, and Carlo on a tandem with Grita. Got the best climb of the day in front of the tandem, which flew through it without registering even a bump. Then glided over some sunny fields, which had worked out OK all day, but this time, the sink monster beckoned, and I landed out, only to see Kenny fly overhead. He didn't survive much longer, nad we joined up later. Thanks to Nancy for the retrieve.