Learning to Fly

Early Riser

Daniel, Guto, Jussara and I got up the ramp just before midday. There had been a bit of lift for ridge soaring along the northeast ramp earlier, but it had died just before we got there and the thermals were starting to kick in. Daniel and I raced to get our kit ready as quickly as possible and took off.

Daniel was already flying high by the time I was ready and I took a quick look to check he was still rising before throwing myself into the same thermal. It was right in front of the ramp and strong. I was up with him above 2000m within a few minutes.

We flew around for a bit up high but it was really cold and I had forgotten my gloves. I saw Daniel heading out of the thermal and catching a descending air pocket. He was well below me in less than a minute. I didn’t want to waste the height I had got and was keen to practice some wingovers as it had been a long time.

I started switching my weight and pulling a little harder than normal on the brake to make them go bigger than before. I was pendulating high but it just didn’t feel right and I kept having to stop and start again from scratch. Every time I pulled a little different on the brake but it just didn’t click. I gave up and did a strong spiral instead.

The thermal cycle stopped and we both started dropping. I looked around and there were only 3 of us flying. Nobody else had managed to take off, and it looked like the wind had shifted more northwest.

I was dropping fast in the descending air and tried to land on the ramp but it was full of people and open gliders and I misjudged the height and shot over the front. I headed toward the northeastern landing spot but just as I was getting there I saw a buzzard circling to the left. All 3 of us were low by then and we all stayed circling there less than 100m above the ground for a good 5 minutes one looping inside then outside the other trying to get more height.

It was a long battle but in the end I managed to get enough height to pass over the ramp and catch the same thermal that was just starting up again. I shot up at a rate of 3.8m/s and was soon up at 2000m again. I played around for a bit but decided that I wasn’t going to get it on my own and would have to ask Kidô for some tips.

I did a very strong spiral to drop and came out of it quite quickly. I pulled hard on the inner brake to slow my exit and a wave rolled through my glider as I popped out. It was something I had never seen before, and didn’t appear to be a good sign.

I saw Daniel heading in to land at the northeastern spot and followed him down with a few small pendulums into land. It was a good rush coming into the landing spot with speed which finished a great flight.

I had seen Emmerson and a couple of other pilots trying to take off the whole time we were flying but they had all missed the boat and ended up bombing out. It felt good to know I had taken off at the right time and gotten the most out of the conditions.

Total flight time: 1h05m