It seems like forever since my last flight which was a top to bottom from Slieve Donard and before that was Annecy.
Last night when I looked at the forecast I was unsure that there was promise. This morning while I was contacting pilots that might be flying I got a call, then all of a sudden there was three of us with enough confidence (misplaced or otherwise) to head out. After a furious hunt for equipment which was unsuccessful for several items I was in the car on the way to collect Ian and Colin.
We were just starting the drive up to the top when we got a message to say it was flyable. Just as we came in view of the take off we could see a glider popping in and out of wisps of orographic cloud that was forming around take off. A few minutes later the cloud was gone and a few minutes after that so had the wind and the few gliders that were in the air were back on the ground.
There was a while where everyone else had landed and I was flying on my own, this is usually when I decide to land just in case everyone had landed for an reason unseen by me. The wind had picked up a bit but I still had a small amount of forward penetration and the worst out come from being blown back could be a bit of a walk so I stuck with it until my hands we cold enough to bring me in. I eventually managed a slow descent without any forward movement.
At this point I would have been happy to go home, when I checked with Colin and Ian they were game for one more flight. We also decided to see if we got enough height to land close to the car park. The car park is about quarter of a mile from the side of Slieve Gallion that we were flying today. The cherry on the cake was I landed closest to the cars.
