My first go of a Mouldy!

I think Paul summed up the day in his previous blog well.  A good crowd with some great weather and flying.  Missed Rob S. today though. He's been my mentor since I took up the hobby.  So in some ways I felt I was going along solo today but the guys were, as usual, always helpful and on hand if I needed any support. I brought along my Fusion that I acquired from Rob and the Art Tech Diamond which is a great little sport glider and fly's well in most conditions. 

Started off with the trusty little Diamond.  Launched it and it flew straight out into the horizon which was a big relief.  I soon found my flying fingers after a few weeks out.  It was a bit blustery and so got turbulent at times particularly closer to the hill, so it was bumpy at times for the small Diamond but I was surprised how well it pushed through being such a small light plane.

After gaining confidence again and landing it well I decided to have a go with the Fusion flying wing.  I threw it out and it kept nose diving into the ground.  I played around with the trim a bit but quite frankly it didn't make any difference!  Probably more a case of bad pilot as opposed to bad plane!  Ian A then offered to help me.  After a couple of attempts Ian reset the trim and got it flying, handed over the controls to me and I had some good fun flying it.  It was a bit more stable and smoother than the Diamond.  

The full sized gliders started to whiz past which I got a bit nervous about at first but when a couple went past and I realised they were a little bit higher up I felt ok.

Ian A had his little red bomb plane (which I call it).  I loved watching this whizz across the horizon.

Paul then said later in the session "Andrew you need to move on"  - eh what did he mean I thought??!  Then he said you need to move onto a Mouldy.  Ah I see.  He said "you're ready now to make the next step" A nice thing to hear but equally a bit daunting! Paul then said you can have a go of the Dragon - (Urgh gulp) ok then!  Paul got it up in the air and talked me through some basics and then just handed over the controls! I was now flying my first Mouldy and after a few S turns I started to get the hang of it. Paul then talked me through a loop which I think I carried out successfully.   It was whole different experience soaring higher up through the thermals.  Loved it - thanks Paul!  So I will be on the look out for a small Mouldy very soon.

Sorry to see Roger missed the group and was flying on the otherside.

A great couple of hours flying with a friendly bunch before getting back to DIY and training the new dog!