...and that tended to be how the expert gliding forecasters predicted the weekend's weather and how it turned out. I was duty on Saturday (9th April) which proved to be the more soarable of the two days with a couple of pilots getting over two hours but not being able to get any where. The high ground around the ridge line produced those cumulus clouds that tempt you over but you know they will disappear by the time you get there. An Easterly wind meant landing was "fun" and provided other operational challenges - watch those low wings.
Sunday (10th April) was (now let me get the grammar correct) the most poorerest of the two days probably because the 737 roster had a "P for Peter" written on it. For some reason at about 12.30 all the private owners pulled on line, I guess to test the still air characteristics of their steeds for it wasn't thermic... Sometime later I took a launch and climbed in nothing for 93 minutes in a glider that doesn't turn and thermals that even the birds rejected, but the lessons of learning at a sea breeze site kicked in - if its not going down, stay in it - an adage that's very rarely true in gliding. All that said I stood outside the hangar at 6pm looking up at DHA, EGF & HCF stacked in a thermal. All in all it wasn't a classic gliding weekend by any stretch, but is there a better way to spend a weekend in that weather?
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