Flight

After a frustrating week of too much wind followed by not enough wind, we finally managed to get a decent task in on Saturday - A 44km race to goal at Upton. Having failed to get away from Mam Tor on Friday in Alpine winds and English thermals, I was keen to score more than minimum distance today. After a few briefings from the locals about how sensitive Stanage, the next ridge downwind, is and warnings about it not being a good thermal trigger anyway, we watched the sky get more and more overcast while we waited for the task to be set.
In the tricky conditions on Mam Tor the previous day I decided I'd waited too long, so today's plan was to launch early and have a few attempts if necessary - The Throw-enough-sh*t-at-a-wall approach. I did need more than one attempt as I ended up at the bottom very soon after launching the first time. I decided that I'd just mushroom up and carry back to the top up the road. This turned out to be a good plan as I got a lift back up from a local couple who lived at the bottom of the hill and were surprised at how many paragliders there were today. I told them it was a competition and we were racing towards Pontefract, which surprised them even more.
By the time I got back to the top a couple of gaggles had already got away and the sky was looking more promising. After a slightly sketchy launch into sink and towards a dry stone wall, I finally managed to launch into some lift and did a couple of beats before deciding that the trees to the left of launch seemed to be working best. I hung around there for a couple of minutes until a nice strong climb came through to take me up and over the back. It was windy and in these conditions I normally worry about being able to get back to the hill if I lose the lift, but either this thermal was stronger than I'm used to or my technique has improved. Anyway the climb took me all the way to cloudbase at 4000ft under a large cloud. On the radio I could hear some pilots giving an incessant running