The flying season has finally begun at home. We’ve had some crappy weather here so far this spring. Lucky some of us were able to head south and get a head start on the flying. Moore, Doug k, Doug D, Paul, Fiona, Ross, Bruce and myself headed out to Vulcan to get in some flying. Bruce was loading up and getting ready to go when the rest of us arrived and started to set up. Ross towed him up and he was able to get away at 1:00. I was the next ready and Doug K towed me up. I got a low tow and was struggling to stay up. After a short flight I landed and Ross towed me up again as no one was quite ready to yet. I was able to hook into some thing and climbed slowly up to 9000’. I headed off to the east in a strong wind. I found the cores to be elusive and snaky. As I got such a late start I decided to work on my thermaling and get as high as I could. I managed to get to 10’000’ a few times. Thanks to Dougie for lending me some gloves as I had forgotten mine at home. I got high at McGregor lake and headed off to Bow City. I had thoughts of Landing at Bow City but, I thought if I’m going to try and make a big flight this year I need to work on getting as far as possible at the end of the day. I pressed on practicing working weak end of the day thermals. I didn’t really get much further but, its always good to get as much practice as possible. I picked out a farm I thought I could reach. I made it with about 300’ over the house. As I passed over the house I saw about 20 people on the back deck. Looks like a party!! Good choice. I set up my landing in the field next to the house and stuck my landing. A small crowd was already heading my way. As I started peeling off the layers of clothes the questions start. How are you going to take off again? Where did you come from? Did you run out of wind? One of the great things about flying at home is you very often get a warm friendly reception from the farmers. Part of the adventure of flying cross country is randomly meeting new people. It happened to be a birthday party and I felt bad about stealing the spot light from the birthday boy. I was invited in for dinner, drinks and many more questions about hang gliding. I love the enthusiasm and often wonder why every one isn’t as excited about the sport as I am. After a couple hours my ride showed up and I had more than enough to drink. We stayed so Dougie could have a drink and a few more stories with my new friends. Thanks to Ross and Doug for the tows and Dougie for picking me up.
Flights 2 Air time 3:10 Distance 100km
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