(Bryan Hindle shows the new girl how to do it!)

On Sunday the 1st September we had the first easterlies for some time, and Weather Jack said the day looked promising. So I got my kit and packed lunch and a drink and got up to Kettle Sings by 11 am.

I was the first one there. It was bang on the hill, but very light, although the thermals were working very nicely. As I unpacked my kit, Tim Crow arrived. I launched into a thermal, but it petered out very quickly, and I ended up landing low. I mushroomed up my glider and trudged back up to the top. Hot and sweaty, I thought to myself, " Is it going to be one of those days?" By this time Richard Westgate and a few others had arrived, including Caroline, one of our newest members. We all sat around on the top for 15 to 20 minutes. Then I think it was Richard who took off, he started to climb, and we all followed. When I joined the bottom of the stack, I couldn't believe that everybody was turning in different directions, so I decided to turn the same way as Richard, as he got there first. We all started to climb. After a few minutes, I managed to hook into the core, and in a few more I was top of the stack. I could hear pilots below shouting at each other, after a near miss. I thought to myself, I'm glad I am clear of them. Things started to get weak and only Tim Crow and I kept going.

We managed to stay above 1000 metres for an hour and a quarter slowly drifting to just beyond the British Camp. The sky was looking very poor, just a few wispy clouds, nothing very hopeful. Tim cracked and went on a glide towards Ledbury. I was a bit low, so I didn't follow straight away. While climbing I kept an eye on him, he started to pick something up. I had enough height now so I followed, coming in just below him. It was a good climb and we went up to 1400 metres, off again towards Much Marcle. This time we were getting very low, finally some lift, but it was very rough, three ups mixed with five downs. Finally it settled down to a steady two up. Then I noticed Tim was flying off to the south and not in lift. Perhaps he hadn't noticed I was in a climb. I hadn't got a radio to tell him the good news. Eventually he was on the ground. On the other hand, I topped out at 1487 metres. Bad luck Tim.

The sky now was almost completely blue but occasionally you could see a small dome being pushed up through the haze, there was still some lift about. I also watched for smoke or dust at ground level, to see which way the thermals were pulling them, and adjusted my track accordingly. Five climbs later I was at the Blorenge. There were gliders on the ground and none flying, I was too low to go over, so I stayed in the valley to try and find lift. It wasn't to be, just a few scraps, I was heading for the ground.

56.2 kilometers, four hours 40 minutes (both personal best) total climbs 8531 metres, I felt pretty pleased with myself. The next day I tried again, the sky looked better, 6.8 kilometers flop over the back.

Back to normal!

Bryan Hindle

Safety advice from Rob Davis

CLEAR YOUR TURNS