Learning to Fly

Shadows Fall

Guto and I both took the day off work to sort out some things at the bach and of course went up the hill to see if we could get in a flight or two. We got up there around midday and the wind was blowing a strong 20-25km/h northeasterly. It was odd as the wind would swing round more easterly and come back. It was a little unsettling as the ridge runs east west so a more easterly wind generally means more turbulence along the front of the ramp.

We didn’t want to hang around too long so we prepped our kit, waited for a lull, and took off. The lull turned out to be bigger than I had thought and I struggled to stay up and Guto ended up bombing out at the north eastern landing spot.

I noticed the shadows of the thicker clouds had fallen over everything and had stopped the warmer air from forming and rising. As soon as it opened up again though the thermals became strong. It was a wierd day, and I spent the whole time rising up quickly in the strong thermals and then the shadows would come over everything and I would struggle to keep some height at all and sometimes had to top land on the ramp, and once I even bombed out.

There were more people than I thought would be there, Mário, Roger, Max, Fábio, Murilo, Antônio, etc, but few enough that I could practice landing on the ramp without much trouble. I asked Max about top landing on the ramp when the wind was high making it hard to get low enough, like when I was test driving Thiago’s wing, and he suggested extending the speed bar a little as it drops the angle of attack slightly.

I also asked him about getting out of the descending air pockets, whether it was worth using the speed bar or not to try and get out more quickly. He said that with the beginner wings we are flying with it doesn’t make much difference either way, and then suggested I get a new wing. Something I am planning on doing but had never discussed with him as I figured he’d try and talk me out of it. I’m glad he’s noticed I’m confident enough to move on.

I had been hoping to fly cross today, but the full day soaring along the ridge was really good for my confidence, especially after working and hardly flying the last couple of months. Flight frequency seems to be more important than I had imagined.

Total flight time: 1h35m