Lots of time on the sticks!

Well the forecast was spot on for the weekend just gone.
Myself, Steve, Ian and Scott flew both Saturday and we were joined by Graham on Sunday morning.
Saturday AM we travelled down to Eastbourne. We were greeted with a stronger wind than anticipated but fog below our feet but occasionally the fog moved up the slope and engulfed us but soon retreated to allow us to fly the light weight gliders. The lift was soft but with the right model it was flyable.  I enjoyed a paraglider flying directly in front of me about 50ft above the slope, so I couldn't actually see my model for a split second. Don't they understand they should not fly near us, over us or between us and our models? Steve shouted at the guy and he buggered off back down the slope. He did come over to us and apologise and said he did see my model but that didn't help me out.

Then after some food we made our way to Ashdown Forest. Myself and Ian started with our DLG's and Steve flew his powered glider. The DLG's bot got away in the blustery conditions The South Easterly wind was just on the strong side now, so Ian and I got our large thermal machines (Nan Expro & Nan Shadow) and off we walked the edge of the very gentle slope. Both of these gliders are over 3.5m span but with no motor and a good chuck Ian threw his Shadow off by hand and on many occasions he managed to climb away from 8 - 10' above the ground and into orbit. Total respect to Ian!. I failed on every occasion to get away with my Expro and I was going to break it if I carried on lobbing this heavy model in to the sky and trying to turn slow and low, so gave up and got out my Fireblade V2 DLG again. We played around with them for a while and all felt happy with the flying and off to the pub.

Sunday morning I picked Steve up and met up with Ian up at Colley Hill (Reigate). The wind was blowing but the fog (low cloud) was drifting up over the hill and we couldn't make out much below our feet. This cleared and the landscape below us opened up rapidly so flying commenced. Steve with his Genesis Wing and his Pheonix model, Ian with his M60 and me with my Merlow and my Ascott.
The wind moved slightly so we had to relocate along the bowl. Here is were we met up with Graham with his Shadow. The things Graham does with his Shadow is amazing. His glider spends more time inverted than the right way up. Good to see you Graham!
Then Scott turned up late for the party as Ian had already packed up and gone. Scott flew his Wild Thing and his Weasel.  Which was the perfect choice then as the wind eased and the lift softened.
We were joined by Derek and a few other locals but the slope wasn't busy.
The landings were interesting. The light wind and relatively small landing area made things very interesting. It took me a few times to get the landing right. Having to move myself along the slope to come in from another direction and over tree's.
I had a great time over the weekend and really appreciated the few guys who came out flying with Steve. Plenty of flying achieved but yet another weekend that proved you really do need a good selection of models that work over a variety of wind conditions.