Flight

I arrived late today, having had to wait in for my new mobile (hence the recent lack of photo's in my diary posts). Geoff (a regular at Ditchling but hasn't flown the Dyke in 15 years!) was just leaving reporting that I'd missed it, great! I trusted in the forecast though and waited around in the car park. The forecast was spot-on and with the glider not packed from the day before I ground handled my way from bowl to bowl heading west. The third one was working so I flew from there to the main launch. The rest of the day was all about timing and with nobody else to have to worry about I could focus totally on bird watching and cycle timing. They came through every 5-10 mins but were often over quickly. The sky had started (for me) with lot of spreadout but it returned to lovely well spread, although relatively low, cumulus. The approaching shadows triggered each cycle and with the wind in between becoming steadier by mid afternoon it was possible to get a few hundred feet above and stay up for longer periods. The birds were rarely getting very high nearer to the ridge so it was only when I got braver with my punts that I hooked up with a good one and exited stage right. At the Dyke I would have relied upon (and then had to contend with) other pilots indicating lift worth heading for so this was a different and very important learning session (and probably only possible away from the Dyke). Given recent incidents of my own, as well as other's, I'll be praying for anything NNE to NNW for the rest of the season (or midweek NW). It was rewarding to end the day on a good climb out (as Ditchling often provides) although it didn't last long. I could see the Cu forming ahead of me but never quite made it, topping out at 2400ft. I lost it after that but that gave me chance to practice searching for ground triggers which I almost succeeded at doing. Still, a flop-over-the-back and a self retrieve is a good reminder of what you need to do lots of to get any further in the futu