A Sled Ride - Scratchy, Uphill, Downwind Landing!

It had been a while since I last enjoyed a sled ride! The expected perfect conditions did not materialise; or I should have arrived an hour earlier, evident by those established high above. I rigged my glider and with a sea breeze imminent, grabbed an opportunity to squeeze a top to bottom in.

Everyone else chilled on the hill and did not look motivated to fly, so I clipped in, hang checked myself and launched. As expected, I barely maintained and after a couple of beats back and forth a paraglider launched for a top to bottom. Unfortunately for me, the paraglider launched into the little bit of sky that seemed to work and as I turned away to give him room I hit sink! When I turned back I was now well below ridge height and destined for the bottom landing field.

We were supposed to be using the adjacent field to the one I was headed for, but I was too low to successfully make it. With everyone else also landed in the 'wrong' field, I tried my best to limit the impact and decided to land the glider uphill at the side of the field. As I turned onto final I realised that uphill was also downwind! I flared aggressively and successfully landed, if not with a little run to counter the downwind component!