Met up with Tommy, Dudley & Chris at the bottom of Fastheugh. Got a lift to the top in the Disco. The wind was N - NNE at Lauder when I left. The same when we got to the top of Fastheugh so we decided to risk it. It was obviously unstable, but the seabreeze was not obvious.
Tommy, Chris and Dudley flew for a bit. Chris flew the longest and explored the full hill (looking for more pleasant air by the look of it). It looked a little bit sparky. There were signs of wave and also possibly rotor. I waited a while and took of into a thermal and had quite a nice little flight. I think the fact I was in a thermal made it a bit nicer.
After I landed the wind started to come along the hill. The sea breeze had arrived. We decided to make a run for it at this point. I took off, straight into a weak, but steady climb. I gained a few hundred feet in it. It was kind of clear the thermal was along the hill a bit, but I was not really in the mood for the ever so slightly nervous convergence air, or being caught in the lee in a strong sea breeze, so I made a run for the valley.
For a bit of nonsense I flew down the valley to the next spur and got another weak, nervous climb. I drifted back with it for a bit and gained a few hundred feet. At the point of no return I headed back to the landing field where Chriss and Dudley were. I thought I had no chance of making it, but under the clear convergence developing everything was going up and I pretty much got back to the landing. About 5 miniuts after that the wind was coming down the hill.
Rob.
