The Early Bird Catches the Thermal

What a great morning flight on a day forecast for heavy rain! I arrived at the club fairly early and was first on the list for single seat flight. Fter setting up briefing was at 9:30 and the sky looked as though it was already streeting. As some sat down to more tea and breakfast I took the first winch launch. Back release at 1500', wheel up and out to a street. Nothing, so I tried the next one. I connected with 2kt along the shaded side of the cloud at 1100' and gradually climbed along it, reaching Diss at 2300'. The wind showed as 21o degrees at 25kt on the Collibri.

I spent some time practising thermalling techniques, half expecting to be joined by other gliders, but there was plenty of street, so was not really surprised to be on my own. At one point I hit a 5kt thermal and took it to cloudbase at 3600' but my hour was nearly up. A radio call confirmed that there was a queue so I set about descending. Time to loose height quickly so I chose to practise a couple of spin recoveries and then stayed up while gliders were cleared from the runway.

The landing was blustery and "interesting". Sadly the weather deteriorated soon after and folk took an early lunch break to avoid the rain.

Flight time 1h 18mins; and only £4. It almost makes up for the long bad summer.