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A very enjoyable day at Bishop and a good lesson learnt.

This was an interesting day. Walking up the hill it was clear the wind was on the strong side. 18mph winds below the crags and alot faster above. Cliff and Ian decided to launch lower down the hill whereas I thought I would check the wind at the top as I was not comfortable with the conditions yet. That is where my sanity ended...

At the top it was blowing a gale and there was a hangie setting up. I thought I would give launching a go anyhow (oops). I figured IF I could get the wing over my head quick enough and just push forward I could get away ok. mmm. So I set up but couldn't get my glider to stay still. It was a mess (see the piccy of my glider on the ground and the hangie in the background).

Now Ian and Cliff took off and I wanted in the air too. I pulled my glider up and before I knew it i was off the ground. I must have jumped downwind a fair few meters before I touched down running full pelt down wind. Ooh ya. Thankfully there were no big bolders and I didn't hurt myself. I managed to stop just past the Hangie (again, see piccy).

So... Now it was time to walk to the lower launch an give that a go. This turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I had the glider bunched up and hanging over my shoulder. I got a few meters down the slope, but it was impossible to walk any further against the wind, it was just too strong. So I walked back up to try the walk down again... this time with the glider bunched up in front of me. I made it down to the lower launch and took off.... 

 This is how I put it when writing up the day on the SMPC website .

The day started out strong. I went to the top to take off but quickly realised a lower launch would be more sensible. Most others took off below the crags. There was smooth lift everywhere and a few folk made the cross to west lomond and back. At one point the lift dropped off and we all had to scratch in quite close, but not for long. After about two hours flying we started to head to land. There was loads of lift out above Kinneswood and I was still going up over the pub. At the ridge I was 80m above the hilltop and by the time I got to the pub in a straight line I was at 116m which was nice! The wind had died down alot so it was perfect conditions for mucking around...

Going down to land tried out my first "proper" spiral. The wing was almost horizontal but I exited too quickly and the conversion felt quite violent. The wing lost some pressure and the right tip tucked in briefly. It was enough to get my heart racing, but I had quite a bit of height (started at 500m above landing ended 300m above) so I felt safe enough and it was fantastic fun (clench the legs and short sharp breaths!).

A good day to skive off work - thanks boss!

Zeno