| Flight details: | Arrived at Bell Hill at 9:30 to see several gliders about 750 above, and lots of cumulus a'poppin. Met Andrew Craig, who promptly was forced to join the team. That was our luckiest break of the day. It's a shame that out of 500 pilots, we can't even raise 6 for a friendly comp, but today it was the 500's loss. Had a few brief flights, trying out the magic tree (house thermal) just to check it out. Came down to sort out the knotted line, and watched a few float over the back. Grrr! I hate that. Finally got myself sorted, and grabbed a 2-up and left the hill, only to see a dozen others gaggle together in front of me, and do much better. Too late, I'm committed now, leading the pack. 750 over, and climbing in a 1.5up, which becomes a 1 up. The others now doing much better than me, so I come forward, and get slightly better lift. Richard B. takes off and starts climbing with the others. Andrew Craig had already gone, on his way to Swanage. My climb starts to weaken, and I curse the others, now climbing above me, but suddenly, they lose the plot, and split up in all directions. At this point, I grab a 3-up, and one heads towards me, but ignores my obvious thermal. Silly bugger, 2 or 3K further, he lands out. One rival out, 20 more to go... My climb finishes, and I wander downwind in search of lift, at which time Richard B joins me, and off we go together. This is more like, it, a bit of teamwork does wonders. We share a couple of thermals together, and get close to base, but never quite there. The thermals are quite rough low down, but improve higher up, and the sink isn't too horrendous. We skirt to the sunny side of the clouds, doing a bit of cross-tracking, to avoid the airspace, or so I think. In reality, we're miles away from it, almost on a southerly course. The sea now loooks achievable, but we need some more lift. We get low over a glider club, and desperately grab what thermals there are, Richard leading the way. While he's pressing ahead, I get a zero in scrapp |
