Flight

Devils Dyke in a westerly is never a guaranteed flight. Whilst Newtimber can be soared in a westerly you have to get there first and you can't quite make it from ridge height - trust me, I've tried a few times! For this reason I'm always hesitant to make the hour drive to the dyke in a pure west unless the forecast is for good thermals. I noticed rasp the day before and it had turned very good from 11am to 4pm. The wind would start Wnw at 9 am but by 12 it was to go WSW. Very tricky forecast but they were saying 4500ft cloud base... I couldn't be at work looking up at that!!! The plan was to get to the dyke early, take off and try and gain a few feet and then shoot over to Newtimber and soar it whilst waiting for the day to get going. I had also declared North foreland Golf course, Margate for 128KM.

By 11am the day still hadn't started, very few Cu Wisps in the sky (probably due to the wet ground). However luckily i had Vincent taking off on his pg showing that every 10 minutes you could stay above the ridge for a bit and even get to 200ft. As the wind had already turned West i took off at 11am, did a couple of turns in a horrible bumpy broken thermal and then darted to Newtimber. Staying up there was easy for most of the time. Every 10 minutes a thermal would come through but just before it came i would drop down just below the ridge. I daren't take these thermals yet, i could see they weren't going up high enough to form a cloud as downwind was totally blue. 

I scratched around Newtimber until 11:30 when the Clouds suddenly started to form downwind. I hopped aboard the next thermal and drifted over the back at about 1200ft. It wasn't that strong but gently going up all the way round and soon i was at cloud base over jack and Jills windmill - with a fantastic drift direction of straight West. 

Suddenly i could relax, the hard part of the flight was over - firstly i had managed to get off the dyke in a westerly and not end up at the bottom and secondly i'd not gotten flushed to the bottom of new timber just before a thermal cycle had come through. The hour drive to the dyke and the day off work had now been worthwhile even if i landed in the next glide. I could feel myself start to relax.

I've realised that i needed to work on two things this year in my flying. Firstly, STOP BEING NEGATIVE! In my xc flying i always find myself waving up and down from massive grins to thinking negative thoughts. "oh no, I'm not going to get up after this glide, I'm going to end up landing in that wet field, I've left too early, i should have hung back with that last cloud, i should have left the hill with the last thermal" - whilst you do need to analyse your flying and tell yourself off for making stupid decisions to improve, there is a time and a place and for me i always start thinking of this when I'm low and scratching, when all my attention should be on looking at the clouds growing around me, trying to spot birds and focusing on getting back up. 

Around Lewes i found myself low after a good run along the ditching ridge, a couple of turns in something soon disappeared. everything was broken as the SW wind had come in from the coast and was converging with the westerly wind i was flying in. There would be some good lift around somewhere but i was too low to search for it so i just drifted in zeros trying to push the negative thoughts out my head about landing at Ringmer, about Tammy (my wife and todays retrieve) already having passed me and heading to hastings - having to turn around and come pick me up. I ditched the negative thoughts by just thinking about every climb id got up from stupidly low and going on to fly another 100km, i then imagined myself at Margate golf course with a massive grin on my face. It really works! Positive vibes help you fly so much better. They fill you with confidence and determination which for me seem to make every thermal stronger!!!

So I'm still dribbling low now over Caburn and approaching Ringmer. The cloud 5 km further is starting to decay. I cling on and realise i have made a mistake already, the second thing i know I've got to work on this year comes back into my head and its what Cookie (Steve Cook)  always says 'Get High, Stay High!!!' It sounds simple but in reality when I'm high up at base all i think about is, LETS GO and i glide straight on to the next cloud. If that cloud doesn't work or its weaker than i wanted to stop for i usually glide on to the next cloud and find myself low, scrabbling trying to just stay off the ground.

So i tell myself at Ringmer, 'when i get back up from this, I'm going to stay high for at least the first hour and let the day get going. No fast glides, no ambitious jumps. Just stay high and keep yourself off the ground before 2pm'. Eventually my zero turned into something as it passed Ringmer and the sea breeze (sw wind) had pushed in from Firle and was creating a fantastic line of convergence with classic tentacles hanging down showing a PERFECT motorway in the sky. My climb eventually got up to 300ft per min and i was soon right up where i wanted to be, 5 metres inland of the wisps of the sea breeze convergence. As is usually the case the sea breeze convergence is never as high at the clouds inland, so although i was at cloud base the clouds 5 km inland where at least 1000ft higher now. But i wasn't ready to make a jump to them yet. I would exploit this sea breeze motorway and go along (slightly off course) and enjoy a free ride.

I stayed with the sea breeze until Dalington where i could see the front (cloud street) going out towards Rye and then no cumulus to jump to so decided to take my exit where the biggest cumulus was waiting with a glide that looked just about possible. I made the glide just north of the Darwell Reservior and found some week stuff down at 2500ft just before Robertsbridge. I wanted to go on, the cloud above Robertsbirdge was looking good but i was 2500ft now and would be down to at least 1700ft by the time i arrived. If i couldn't find the core i would soon be scrabbling low so i clung on to the weak stuff knowing that its better to stay higher and drift under that cloud in 5-10 minutes. 

My new found patience paid off, 5 minutes later and i was still at the same height of around 2500ft, i was now directly over my mum and dads house (childhood home) and as i was looking down i could see dad loading his van on the lane. I shouted down until my voice almost gave up but when i phoned later he said he heard nothing. Oh well, Shame but my excitement level had just been boosted big time!!!! another couple of minutes of drifting and i was directly under the cloud and drifted straight into a lovely core, another 3 up and straight to cloud base.

This climb was DIRECTLY over Bodiam castle, one of my favourite places on the planet. My first date with Tammy almost 10 years before was there, directly below. I love flying over this area, my Nans house, my primary school, my secondary school, my mum and dads house, Bodiam castle. If i landed right now i wouldn't care, id go back to mum and dads, have some lunch and wait for Tammy to collect me after her day out. A quick thought back to myself below ridge height on Newtimber hill an hour ago and i was on such a high i was now screaming out load to myself "THIS IS THE BEST EVERRRRR!!!!!" yes i agree, i should have come up with something a bit more original than that but i couldn't hold my excitement in. What felt like the past 6 months of winters ridge soaring and within a week the days are turning into THIS!

After that i was so happy and had no pressure on myself i was flying at my best. Climbing well in every thermal, searching around for a good climb when high, sticking with any climb when below 2500ft and slowly working my way on course, the clouds were setting up nicely en route and i only had to make a few hard jumps as i was trying to get myself more north to make sure i didn't end up on the south coast. Cloudbase rose from 4500ft to 5500ft and before long i was looking at my 10:1 glide needed. I left a long way out and made a perfect comp style glide to my goal at North Foreland Golf course, Broadstairs (Margate) arriving high enough just to set up a landing.

Legs out early i started moving them around as they had almost froze solid and then my last surprise of the day - the seagulls were soaring the easterly cliffs, WHAT!!!! it had seabreezed here so strong that the wind was easterly 10mph down at ground level. the golf course flags were also indicating this and i did a couple of 360's to watch my drift confirmed it. It felt very weird landing the same direction as id been flying for the last 128km with a 11mph tailwind!

Perfect landing right next to the golf course and lots of friendly golfers came to say hi and ask if id just taken off from this cliffs. "NO, Ive come from brighton!!!" i proudly replied. A couple of Facebook selfies and telegram posts later and the manager brings me out a cup of tea and explains that I'm welcome to come up to the bar whilst i wait for my retrieve, he will find a quiet corner and waiver the no jeans policy for me. Its my third time there now so next time to show my appreciation i will be wearing smart trousers to fit in, and probably land at Robertsbridge....

i called Tammy and she left her Mums house where she'd spent the day, she arrived two hours later and we stopped for an Indian and some wine on the way back. The Best friday I've ever had? Probably!