Mission From Moir's

It wasn't a brilliant forecast. But it easily fell within my parameters of what makes a trip to the Hill worth a go. I was keen to get some more airtime on my new wing, and along with a bunch of the usual suspects, was on launch ready to go around Noon. Around ten minutes past the main group launched and I tried to follow, unfortunately I cocked up a couple of launches, simply by not following my usual routine, so eventually launched about half-an-hour behind the rest. Stefan launched not long after and we soared the ridge looking for the elusive "ticket" over the back. It was a good 30 minutes before it appeared, after a below launch save that had me on the face trying to soar back up. But that was behind and Stefan and I thermalled up together until Stefan decided to run for it. I duly followed hoping to work together to find the next lift. Chasing him across the sky as he wandered he would sometimes be way above and then way below, until he hit a good therm...

The RASP for the day was a bit of a mish-mash. Cloudy with a Southerly, yet by the time we got to launch we were looking at a certainly cloudy day, some of them quite black and a reasonably strong steady Sou-wester. By the time I was ready to launch, everyone that had, was gone over the back. This was my first flight at Moirs with my new Swing Sensis. Although the wind was gusting strong there were lulls, and I launched during one. The glider was easy to launch and I began my flight looking for the thermal out. It wasn't to be, what thermals still of substance I apparently missed , and my time was spent flying around in broken thermals, only managing to get to 2700ft. Occasionally flying in light rain, I turned and ran when an approaching cloud appeared to be bringing a shower my way. I felt really comfortable under the Sensis and had a pleasant glide to Old Kaipara Road, landing in the fully mown paddock I had used on a previous flight. After packing up I had a short tal...