On arrival at the club yesterday I was greeted with "you should have been here yesterday" with stories of three hour flights! G-CFGP had been left rigged by Adrian who had taken it for its first flight since June (if you don't already know why please do not ask, it gives him nightmares still.) I did some fettling and de-watered the wings thinking it would have been quicker to rig it and prepared for a winch launch into a promising sky. I lined up and watched Bob Grieve get away from the launch in 18m mode. I was less successful and spent 15 minutes at 1000' before giving up and settling for an aerotow. There was a queue, Chris, Norman and others had lined up, along with trial flights and AFRs. At one point the grid looked like an advert for ASWs with a 20, a 21 and two 19s in line. The tug pilot's view was that "it looks better than it is". Nothing ventured etc.
A very good decision, once at 2000' the lift was better and I managed three and a half hours cruising to Norwich, Thetford and Honnington as well as more local soaring. Cloud base was 4600' in places and the visibility absolutely stunning with the whole of East Anglia visible. As the thermals died I spun and recovered (it still recovers Adrian) and stayed up in weak thermals until the cold and the bladder drove me down. A splendid day.
Apart from the duty team and the usual Sunday crew lots put in an appearance; but I was too busy to see them!
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