XC Day!

Everyone expected an epic day and the sky looked good as Jim and I arrived at Mickfield, the tow site for the day. It was a busy day too, all the XC hounds were there eager to hook into something and get away and it wasn't long before a long helmet queue had formed.

My first mission of the day was to move my hang point forward a notch. After some initial fiddling this was achieved and I was ready to fly. Jim had again accompanied me to Suffolk and was keen to continue his winch endorsement, but like before, needed to share my harness and Koch release. I vaguely joked that I wouldn't be off on an epic XC so sharing my harness wouldn't be a problem.

By the time I was ready the air had become pretty active and made launch an activity for the non-faint hearted. Said was ahead of me and after several blustery moments opted to stand down and freed up the line for the next pilot, me!

Tow 1

As I was positioned and attached on the towline, I knew exactly why Said stood down - the air was lively! Timing launch was critical as the air gusted and moved around a 90 degree window. I found a window and launched. The first 40 seconds were rough, but when upwards of 400 feet things seemed to settle down and I was able to relax for the remainder of the tow. I released around 800 feet then began my mission to find a thermal.

There were certainly thermals around, but they were broken and proper lumpy ones. By that I mean I was able to slice through them but by the time I'd turned, I'd dropped out of them and was confronted with the sink that follows. Still, I was able to extend my flight for an additional 4 minutes before landing.

Tow 2

My second tow was very similar to my first; the only exception was upon hitting 700 feet above take-off I must have flown through a powerful thermal. Steve, driving the winch, backed off as I began to kite out, but from where I was, I felt such immense pressure on the towline that I decided to ping off before something broke! Fortunately nothing did, but by the time I'd released I was unable backtrack and final that booming thermal! Still, like my earlier flight. I extended it with the usual scattering of 'bullet' thermals as I slowly sank toward launch.

Tow 3 (or not quite)

I'm not entirely sure this counts as a flight, but as I took off [my feet did leave the ground], the tow cable snapped. Thank god I kept my nose down! I overtook the towline and parachute, flared and gently touched down at the edge of the field. This was probably the worst time for a weak link or cable to fail, so I was pleased with how I handled it.

Tow 4 (The XC)

After my previous launch had come to an abrupt halt I was back at launch and thought third time lucky! Conditions were still lively and there was a degree of reluctance from the others to take the next line. As I was still ready to go, once the line was repaired, I clipped to it and prepared to launch!!

What followed was my smoothest tow of the day and with a stiff breeze, I reached 1,200 feet above take-off before I released. At that point my vario continued to beep and I knew there and then that I had a very good chance of going XC. I now had to concentrate on staying in the lift and after several orbits, the vario continued to sound its happy beeps! I knew I was off and with 1,700 feet between me and everyone down on the ground, I relaxed, waved goodbye to everyone below and continued my orbit of the thermal.

As I continued to head upward and further downwind, I had a moment of paranoia as I wondered if I had my GPS and phone with me [earlier my phone was almost destroyed when my hydration pack split open and drenched it], but I didn't care, I had waited for another XC opportunity and this was it!

As I passed over the Mendlesham hanger I neared 2,000 feet and my vario still chirped away as I climbed. Earlier I had noted that if I followed the A140 northward, this would keep me clear of any airspace restrictions until Norwich [not that I thought I'd get that far, but checked just in case!]. After Mendlesham I was venturing into the unknown - I really didn’t know my way around this part of the country!

I soon hit my maximum height of 2,516 feet above take-off where I eventually lost my thermal. After I zipped up comfortably into my harness, I pulled on the VG and started my downwind glide. On my way, I bumped into some small thermals and I was able to top-up a little and continue my northwards journey across the Suffolk countryside.

At one point I saw a small propeller aircraft pass to my right at the same height as myself then I spotted what looked to be an airfield in the distance ahead. Paranoia again kicked in and I quickly checked my air map to ensure I hadn't strayed off course. There on the map was a blue circle with a cross in the middle - it was a disused airfield, no problem! I had proved to myself that I can in fact read an air map while flying!

After some more gliding and one or two rough broken thermals, I started to get low [1,000 feet] and started scanning the ground for somewhere suitable to land. It looked like there were plenty of rape seed fields below and the ones that weren't flourishing in rape seed were littered with pylons or smaller electricity polls. As I looked further ahead, I spotted a nice looking, easily within reach! I considered pushing further but Mr Safety kicked in and I opted for the safe option and its proximity to a main road [the A140 I had followed].

After I had safely landed, I walked my glider along the tramlines to the edge of the field where I de-rigged, found my position with a GPS and phoned my coordinates through for a retrieve.

I had now beaten my previous personal best of 7 km and managed a 13.4 km flight.