I was at Big Collin Mountain for 5 hours today. I spent my time ground handling and taking short hops off the top. At times I was able to soar but only for short while. I got 5 flights in but none were more than a few minutes long. My aim today was to try to top land (which I have yet to achieve at BC) but there were only a few times when I had enough height to have made it in on the top and those times I wasted by trying to stay up. I probably should have got more flights in but the intermittent conditions plus me trying to stay up made the climbs back up bigger each time and I was starting to feel the effects of yesterdays efforts as well.
At the end of the day the three of us that remained on the hill played "spot landing at the wind sock." I went first and I am glad to say that I didn't come last. I didn't come first either, that title went to Bertie's student Alastair who is coming on in leaps and bounds. Bertie got so excited at the top of the hill when he realised that Alastair had landed closer to the wind sock than me that I could hear him shouting from the landing field.
I have come to the conclusion that most of the difficulty I am having staying up is because I have been flying in boarderline conditions on a wing that I am in the top end of it's weight range. There are several options for me here. First is to stick with it and see if practice and patience will win throught on light wind days. Second is to fly in better conditions (not really an option as any conditions are better then none). Third is to get a different wing. Forth is to lighten the load on the wing, that means equipment and more importantly my weight.
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