| Flight details: | Blue day, with cumulus just about going through a strong inversion. 4 teams up for the competition, and Southern Slackers well represented, to the point where we had to choose a team, rather than try to scrape a whole team together. That's more like it! After all, who wants to fly at High and Over when you can fly the Malverns? Briefing at 11, and the window open until 5, land by 7pm. No sea breezes here to stop the fun. A couple of times, I go up to 1800 above takeoff (itself at 1000), but fail to stay with the gaggles that drift off into the distance. Besides, a guy on an Independence is trying to kill me by flying straight at me several times. I think that it will get better later, so land and chill out. A couple of times doing that, and every team but ours has disappeared off into the distance. Worrying, slightly, but the early gaggles have failed to go very far, and some of them come back for a second go.
I take off around 3:15, and get high enough that it's time to go and score some points, to avoid ignominy. Pete Campbell joins me, and we float off into the near distance, not going up very fast. Bored of that, I try a glide towards a low ridge, and get a weak climb. That sets the pattern for the flight - get high(ish), get bored, go for a death glide, and climb up again. Pete just waits behind, and glides to me. We get to Hereford, and there is lift in most places, and we drift over the town at around 3500 feet, with no bad sink anywhere. I glide off to a small village ahead, and get rewarded with the low save required - a close shave, but going up at a centimetre per fortnight. Hang on in forever, watching Pete and another glider above me, hanging back high. Once my climb starts working, I get joined again. The other glider goes off on its own, but we acquire 2 more hangers-on, one of whom, unbelievably, is a red-ribbon pilot (Met him later - his total experience was 30 minutes - this was his first time thermalling!). The four of us turn in circles for what |
