At last a decent day, and blue sky and sunglasses, could it possibly be flyable as well....The night before spawned a little chat with claims from Jamie that it would be flyable, it just had to be.......
We met up, or rather folk just started turning up on the top of Witchyknowe. A nice breeze from the S/W meant it was slightly of the face just in front of the cars but it was possible to fly downwind to the face that works well in this direction.
Rob and Jamie decided to walk there. I arrived low on an old but still good Sigma 6 and started to scratch, it was just a bit too easy so I slope landed. It was windier than I thought so I walked up to where Rob and Jamie were to find it was actually ok. Beardy Chris also flew across with Dudley and soon we were all floating about with a very good lift band out in front. After a while we top landed, it was picking up slowly and Dudley landed in a fairly strong wind but handled it fine.
Beardy Chris by this time was way out in front and it was now a little strong..."is he going backwards??" asks someone "AYE" says Rob, Chris was well out in front sitting motionless on full bar for at least 10 min before the wind settled down again and he finally managed to land on the bottom of the slope doing a perfect front flip to end the routine.....wobbly legs but pants intact.
It died off for a little while so a bit of ground handling was going on. Selkirk Chris had brought a few toys, he had one of those flying drones so he filmed me launching from the air. Dudley decided to head for home and Rob packed his glider, Jamie walked back along to the S/W part of the hill and started soaring...Rob and myself decided to investigate.
It was working again, Jamie flew back to the cars an I shouted to Rob if he fancied a fly round to Ettrick Bridge end and the pub, he did so off we set.
Its hardly the xc of the year but you have to work a little bit, all the faces were working and we finally arrived over the village, I went for a probe over the roof tops and spotted the park on the opposite side, I decided to go for it, I looked back to see Rob take the safe option and by this time for me it was the park or bust.
Mind concentrated I was aware of a few folk watching as I was setting up over the town, the field looking small with a tricky approach, hold off, hold off one more little beat over a tennis court and in we go....centre of the field, yesssss. The small crowd dispersed, they wanted something more.
A couple of kids arrived to ask questions , and then I was packed. I dont think I will try that landing again, or at least thats how I feel about it right now.
Rob was on the other side of the village no doubt having his own adventure so I started walking, I was on the swire road when Jamie finally took pity and I was retreived as was Rob.
A visit to the Pub followed on with the usual banter. A fine day out with perfect company.
Tommy.
Chris (Mustache not Beard) uploaded some of his drone footage to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBuxm-oqfms
Some pictures from the day
