Westerly-ho!

[Jolly Roger]

At last, a breeze with a bit of West in it.

The conditions were a bit scratchy so most of the flight was well below the top edge, giving a chance to explore every crack in the cliff with my ASH25 wingtips.

Boomer thermals drifted by once in a while, marked by buzzards, allowing several hundred feet of height to be turned into howling low passes and hairybatic manouvres, some of them intentional.

Good times.

[chris williams]

Have you ever landed out at that location, Rog...?

[Jolly Roger]

Have you ever landed out at that location, Rog...?

So far just once Chris. The wind swung 180 deg just after I'd chucked off my Teakle ASW20 so I had a brief flight in dramatic sink ending in a tree. This was 2002, before the days of cheap electric powertrains. I put motors in the nose of my gliders these days, and fit the prop if the conditions are iffy.

Having said that, it's a point of pride for me not to use the motor unless a land-out is absolutely inevitable. Yesterday I was extremely low and just as my finger reached for the switch the wings waggled, I hooked a thermal and was away. Only when I landed did I discover I'd forgotten to connect the LiPo leads! There's no cure for stupidity.

[Barry_Cole]

See Chris, you are not alone.....



BC

[terry white]

Not for the faint hearted 'eh' Roger.

[Jolly Roger]

Not for the faint hearted 'eh' Roger.

Yes you do get some sweaty-thumb moments! Similar to flying out over the sea.

[John Mcnamara]

I did once, at least from the edge of the Yorkshire Gliding Clubs field after the VGC rally. I flew my Minimoa, and then my K18. We had a heavy shower come through, but then we tried again. Then the lift went and I could not get back to the ridge. Landed her in a field just by the road. Tricky because it was overcast.
John

[Jolly Roger]

Yes a shadow is so helpful in judging a landing out. From the cliff I fly from, the nearest landing-out field is next to our house (X) but it's at my absolute limits of vision. At least I wouldn't have far to carry the pieces back to the workshop.