Today, however, I was flying from Mt Oates. The wind was at soaring strength for short periods, so I launched, soared, and as it dropped off tried to land as high up the hill as possible. It's tricky, because the different landing areas are separated by bands of trees and if you think, "I should be able to make one more pass before landing" and end up too low to make that landing area it adds an extra 5-10min walking (very tiring walking uphill in winter flying gear carrying a bunched glider continually trying to inflate).
Eventually the wind started to drop off so I took off and headed out towards the house. Halfway there I doubted I would make it against the wind, but then flew through a bubble of lift. I used the bar to control the wing's pitching, applying more as we went into the lift and less coming out the other side... and more again as we flew into another bubble, and less as we flew out of that one... There was a continuous string of small bubbles drifting with the wind (I'm pretty sure from a big, freshly mown paddock across the road) and the lift I gained from them allowed me to reach the house easily! Perfect!!!!
My sister Sharon (future pilot maybe??) had the camera and took these great shots.
Waiting for the wind...
Checking wind strength
...And away!!!
It's a pretty wing (I may be slightly biased...)
Top-landing
Re-launching
Heading out and not finding as much lift as expected...
Kiting the wing back to launch after a slope landing
Whoo! That's more like it!!
Much more like it!!
In fact...
I think that this...
... is it.
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