Clocking up the hours

The next three days saw me clocking up another 4 flights. Two of 10 mins each, one of an hour and 35 mins and one just over 2hrs. Practiced D-riser steering and use of speedbar.

The three days after this I got in a number of flights of up to an hour, practiced big ears, wingovers (gentle ones) and some top landings (scary). My ground handling seemed to have come on a bit since the first few days which was pleasing. At last I could keep it above my head ready for take-off.

One of the touch-and-go top landings / launches saw me hit sink immediately after taking off (or was there too little wind?? or did I do something wrong??) and land in/on a small bush/tree immediately below takeoff. Immediately I was set upon by hordes of very angry ants (big vicious ones) whose nest was in the tree/bush I had landed in. It took over an hour to recover the glider (having to disconnect many of the lines from the risers) eventually putting it back together down on the beach.

The day ended with a memorable sunset flight with Steve from the hill above the lake beach - eventually making our way round the headland and landing on the main beach. It felt amazing to look across the beach and sea as I carved an arc through the air over the crowds gathered for the sunset. As I came in low over the beach so many people were looking up at the glider. At last it was me flying rather than just being an onlooker.