| Flight details: | Some flights are particularly delightful not because they take you high or far, but because you share the delight with someone else. My first flight of the day took me to 2700 ASL behind Firle; rather than chase the green wing that was much higher still, I turned back to the hill, sank to ridge height, and then unsuccessfully chased another glider out front and eastwards. I slope landed on the wrong side of the trees, and spent a long time watching and occasionally scratching, while Finn Kennedy made us all look silly (not that some of us need much help) by boating around at cloud base.
Seeing people packing up at Firle, and feeling hints of the promised NNE, I walked up to the trig point, and got talking to a father and his charming little girl, who asked me lots of sensible questions about steering, thermals and birds of prey. Then she wistfully remarked: "I've never seen a paraglider take off." I replied that, with the wind disappearing altogether, I couldn't promise anything, both because I didn't want a sweaty walk up from the bottom and because, with a barbed wire fence right in front of me, I'd need a bit of lift to get off safely.
Eventually I got my bag out to pack up and walk back to my van at Bo Peep, while the girl's father told her it was time to move on. But then a waft came through... I stopped packing, they stopped walking. I inflated my wing and made several abortive charges from the tiny slope of the dew pond down to the fence. And then, a big juicy thermal came through and I stepped into the rising air. "Bye-bye!" called the girl; I gabbled a reply as I wrestled with the rather sporty climb, and was just about able to give her and her dad a wave as I flew off to Bo Peep, where I landed in zero wind.
Thanks to Ian Farr for the lift from Bo Peep to Firle in the morning. After I landed, the sea breeze made a very weak appearance, then occasionally retreated during the afternoon. |
