Gusty!

It was cold and it was windy and with 3 months elapsed since I had last flown, I was determined to get back into the sky again! Being a weekend, there were plenty of other pilots around but it was cold!

My glider wanted to fly even before I got to the launch area, so I was appreciative of help in the form of a nose man, man handling my glider towards launch. I probably should have pulled on a little more speed before I launched, but with two to three steps, my glider rocketed upward and appeared to hover about 200 feet directly above where I had launched from. In fact, it looked like I was slowly drifting backward so I pulled the bar further back to maintain my position.

I have to admit, it wasn’t particularly great fun as I was jostled and bounced around the sky. All the time I was weary of drifting backward, so constantly flew with plenty of airspeed which ultimately contributed to me tiring and wanting to be back on the ground!

In the end, not feeling comfortable with the wind and associated turbulence, I decided on another bottom landing. I landed into a slight crosswind which caused my left wing to drop as I began to flare. Fortunately I was able to get my feet under me and run the glider to a standstill.