like a bus

Saturday morning shapes up to give us a taste of spring. The sun is out, there's a waft of mist in the air and the promise of a southwesterly.

Up on the hill the Dartford chaps are setting up along with Barry and Jim from Esher (or is it Epsom?). The only no show is the wind! so as the sun burns through the floaters take to the air, but it's marginal, the ever increasing spread of para chaps can't even inflate.

the afternoon patch

discuss discus

By 11.30 it's all kicking off and the sky is full of ripstop nylon and testosterone. The hungry amongst us strike off for Colley Hill. Paul and Deryck head round to the western bowl and clearer sky.

before

after

By about 1.30ish it's too gusty, even Pikey has given up having the sky to himself. The lift's good enough for a bit of class so Kenny and Colin have some reasonable hanglider airtime- a rare thing indeed. But the sun's in and the wind is into the twenties, so it's time for some heavier iron.

tooled up

There's some foam combat on the lip, and more rigid action further up. Paul's getting to grips with the Brisk hybrid and is on the verge of getting it dialed in sweetly, so a speed run is in order. Unfortunately he meets Alan's Wild Thing on the way through, it's enough to dislodge the tailplane and the 2.7m mouldie goes straight in.

before

after

Mid-airs are a rare thing, at least they were until a few weeks back! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!