Its been a while since I have had anything to report.
Of course Winter can be a dampener on flying.
Apart from a couple wasted trips in August and September its been too wet or too windy, or just not the right direction.
At long last today the conditions looked good, SW 15-20km/hr, cloud base around 900-1000m, and even other pilots thinking its worth the trip to the hill.
So we were off. Got out to the launch around 1 ish. Daron, Anand, Xen, and Wayne were already there. Xen launch pretty well as soon as I arrived, Wayne followed soon after.
Daron was taking his nephew tandem so I helped them launch. Things looked bouyant. Then it died, Daron top landed and the other two boated around the ridge just keeping up.
The wind then came in again, slightly more West (maybe the seabreeze) and it was on again.
Anand launched and then it was my turn, a little rusty but I got there in the end. Daron relaunched shortly after and there we were, five of us effectively ridge soaring waiting for the lift to take us over the back.
Around 2 pm we all managed to follow Daron and Anand up and away. I followed for a little while then decided to try my luck on a more Northerly course taking me over Woodcocks Road and down the valley toward Warkworth.
I didn't find anything until the Glasshouses, but it wasn't enough to get me to base so I went on glide over SHW1 then followed Matakana Road until I landed just short of the golf course.
Leonardo Flight Link
Of course Winter can be a dampener on flying.
Apart from a couple wasted trips in August and September its been too wet or too windy, or just not the right direction.
At long last today the conditions looked good, SW 15-20km/hr, cloud base around 900-1000m, and even other pilots thinking its worth the trip to the hill.
So we were off. Got out to the launch around 1 ish. Daron, Anand, Xen, and Wayne were already there. Xen launch pretty well as soon as I arrived, Wayne followed soon after.
Daron was taking his nephew tandem so I helped them launch. Things looked bouyant. Then it died, Daron top landed and the other two boated around the ridge just keeping up.
The wind then came in again, slightly more West (maybe the seabreeze) and it was on again.
Anand launched and then it was my turn, a little rusty but I got there in the end. Daron relaunched shortly after and there we were, five of us effectively ridge soaring waiting for the lift to take us over the back.
Around 2 pm we all managed to follow Daron and Anand up and away. I followed for a little while then decided to try my luck on a more Northerly course taking me over Woodcocks Road and down the valley toward Warkworth.
I didn't find anything until the Glasshouses, but it wasn't enough to get me to base so I went on glide over SHW1 then followed Matakana Road until I landed just short of the golf course.
Leonardo Flight Link
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