Even though I haven't posted anything here for two months, I am still alive. And I have a very good excuse: I was busy flying and working on my other airplane. In fact I have already flown more this year than during all of 2010. Before you ask: That wasn't too difficult, unfortunately.
So what did I do? In March I attended the Ottsjö wave camp in Sweden, like the last two years, and it was great fun to fly from that frozen lake again. From there I took my glider to Germany for the annual inspection, and back to the UK. Some maintenance during the evenings after work, and more flying during the Easter/Royal Wedding/May Bank Holiday week. That's the summary, and here are some impressions from Sweden.
The Libelle on the ice, waiting to fly:
The wind is down to 35 knots, let's get going!
Any doubts why it's called wave? Look at the clouds.
At 18000 feet, climbing with 900 feet per minute:
That's what the world looks like from 19000 feet:
The same mountains, on my way down:
Lunch break on the ice, enjoying the sunshine:
Evening
Unfortunately the holiday came to a sudden end after the first week. The weather changed and within a few hours we had about 1 foot water standing on the ice, flooding the gliders. So it was time to go home, get the plane in the workshop and dry it. Luckily nothing was damaged.
Last year I had the flight with the largest altitude gain. The Trophy for that is awarded the following year, so this year I went home with the famous wooden moose:
Big jump in time and space, Easter weekend at my home club (Sutton Bank). It's a hill site, and we had beautiful morning fog in the valley. Just too bad that when it lifted, it stayed low enough to prevent us from flying on that day -- the visibility was simply too bad.
