The first post
Hello! I’m completely addicted to XC flying. I’m going to write this blog as an occasional diary, writing about the highs and lows of the UK season as it progresses. I won’t be posting that often as, well, we don’t get that many good days here in the south of England but when we do, well, they’re often the most mind-blowing days of my life. Here goes my first post…
Today was the first day. From Devils Dyke, I could see right across the plains of Sussex to the defined brown ridge of the north downs. The light was a stronger light, and over the patchwork of farmland and villages, the shadows of cumulus chased each other east. A flock of seagulls burst into the sky, wheeling and cawing their way in the weak spring thermal, a mess of white over the dark shadow till they broke the skyline and disappeared, soaked into sky.
It was windy, and off the hill, but today was definitely the first spring day of promise. Looking at the seagulls working hard over the trigger, my mind started visualising the whole threee-dimensional magic of the way air moves on an unstable day. I’ve been flying since I was 15 and I guess this way of thinking is hard-wired now, I can’t help it.
A car crunched over gravel, and I remembered the countless other times I’ve sat in my car waiting for the wind to drop, refusing to leave the promise of thermals and cross-country. This early in the season is a magical time. Everyone’s waking up to it again. Back in February 1995, Innes Powell thermalled out of the Isle of Wight and flew five miles across the Solent to the mainland! Someone usually punches out a 150+ km flight sometime in March. Anyday now, it’s going to be on…
