Top-landing on Mystic

Nice winter thermalling today - I flew for a little over an hour in conditions that gradually became lighter and lighter. There was a very light wind from the North and since it was all very smooth in the bowl (and my car was parked on launch) I approached for a top-landing.

My first approach was too high so it was back along Emily to loose some height.

Usually I've found that you need to aim to be landing in the bushes below launch and as you come in for your final approach you'll be lifted up to the right height to land on the astroturf (if you aim for the astro-turf you'll be lifted several meters above it and be just too high to plonk it down). However this time there was no lift on that final slope and as I didn't actually want to land in the trees and bushes below launch I had to break off and gain some more height.

There was some light lift dribbling up one of the gulleys so I soared back and forth through this tiny patch for several minutes until it lightened off as well. Grrr.... I just need 20m more height... I drifted over towards Marcus and there was more lift there!! Hooray, back in the game!!

A couple of turns later and I had enough height to try again. This time I got it right, anticipating the height gain on the final approach, flying right in to the back left corner of the take-off before turning for a perfect touchdown - Woohoo!!

Such a good feeling to achieve what you've aimed for after clawing back from where it looked impossible!! Max height 1,150m, max climb (1st one) peaking at 4m/s.

Check out the funny clouds in the pic - I wonder what they mean????