Suffolk Thermals

I had been on a heavy drinking session the evening before so my usual early start didn't happen. I arrived at Mendlesham shortly before noon and the temperature gauge in my car already read 25°C.

The wind blew from an easterly direction straight down the runway. The sky was blue and as I watched the gliders rapidly sinking back towards the ground, it hinted there was a lot of sink around.

It wasn't long before I was at launch and had started my first tow. It felt pretty rough to start as my glider yawed hard to the left; but as I nudged the glider to the right it corrected and I climbed a little further before it happened again. At around 700 feet ATO and probably with at least 100 more feet of tow still on the line, I concluded this yawing was a result of a small punchy thermal somewhere nearby and opted to find it. After a quick waggle of my legs, I dropped the line and was off on a search mission!

My left wing had continued to lift so I nudged the glider in that direction and was rewarded with lift. I maintained my bank as I started to 360 and drift with the thermal, but found it difficult as it felt like my glider was trying to wind in. After a few orbits I was back above launch and my vario read a height of 1,000 feet and I continued to climb, all the time, slowly drifting towards Mendlesham's transmitter! After a few more 360's, I started to get uncomfortable with the proximity of the mast. My altitude was now 1,200 feet and as I dipped in and out of the lift, I found myself either slightly above or below the transmitter's summit. I didn't dare enough to fly over the top, so being Mr Cautious; I turned away and headed in a south westerly direction towards the A140.

On a previously flight with a stronger wind I'd made it to the A140 but didn’t make it back. With lighter winds, I fancied my chances so pushed on towards the road and when I was above it, I still had 1,300 feet between me and the ground. I watched the cars on their journeys below for a moment, then turned back towards launch, pulled my VG on, stuffed the bar and started my upwind return journey.

Typically, I arrived with plenty of height to spare and started 360'ing behind launch to lose height. Because the fields were in crop, Keith had established a £1 crop landing fee - this focussed me perfectly on a good landing and I was able to time my flare perfectly and landed on my feet in the middle of the runway.

My second launch wasn't as rewarding as my first as I connected with minimal lift and only maintained for a short while before returning to launch. It was certainly luck of the draw when it came to hooking a thermal or not.

Back at launch I heard my phone go. It was Steve B who'd managed to get away and needed recovering. I was keen to get out of the sun to soon found Steve and glider.

Later I was back at Mendlesham prepared for my third launch of the day. After I gave the “All out”, I was accelerated abruptly forwards and I compensated by pulling the bar in a little. When everything went quite I knew something wasn’t right and looked down expected to see the weak link had failed. It hadn’t, the bridle and line were still there and as the ground was rushed towards me, I instinctively flared and landed without event [I really should have dumped whatever line remained first]. The line had snapped somewhere!

After the line was repaired and manually pulled back out I tried again. This time, moments after my feet had left the ground, the weak link failed. Another failed launch followed by a safe touch down; this wasn't my day!

As they say, third time lucky and I was away without event. It was now after 5pm and the air was as smooth as silk. I enjoyed a gentle sink back towards launch and as I started to prepare to land, my vario decided to beep and my glider started to climb! I was too low to 360 and exploit the lift, so stuffed the bar in the vain hope I would sink faster! It only propelled me further down the runway where I landed and after a long walk back with my glider, I concluded my day.