Smooth sailing

I did some of the nicest glider flying I've done so far on Sunday.  It was totally overcast, so there wasn't a spec of lift around, but it meant that the air was as smooth as silk......extremely nice conditions for flying :-)  Off the winch, trim for 40kts and just cruise.  The flights are short, but man oh man is it nice while it lasts!

A couple of weekends ago I got to do the hangar flight.  The hangar flight is the last flight of the day and we had been taking off from the Southern end of the main strip, so in order to get the glider back to the hangar, you simply fly it up the strip and land it at that end.  The awesome part about that is the fact that you're cruising up the strip at 50+kts and only a few metres off the ground in 'ground effect'.  Very, very cool :-)

I hope it never happens to me.....

That's it. I'm now 100% convinced that getting old means that you no longer have to give a damn about anyone or anything else around you. I've just driven to work amongst some of the most spectacularly unaware old folks I've even encountered. Honestly, they just wobble around aimlessly with a total disregard for anything outside their own little automotive world. A perfect example of this is the old dear who entered a roundabout in the right hand lane and exited in the left hand lane, without the use of her indicator, her eyes or her brain. Unfortunately, there was already a motorcycle in the left hand lane and he, not surprisingly, took great offense to almost being run down by someone who clearly had no idea where they were going. Then there was the bloke doing 30 in a 60 zone, looking left, indicating right, but driving straight (and I use that term very loosely) ahead while straddling the center line. I've heard of keeping your options open, but that's just ridiculous! Oh, and here's a tip for those of you who think that doing 40 in an 80 zone somehow makes you a safer driver.....it doesn't. Not at all. What it makes you is a mobile chicane and *very* irritating to other drivers who actually have somewhere to be and are trying, in vain, to get there sometime this century.

This sort of behaviour also seems to translate to shopping centres. If you're being propelled up the escalator with your wheelie-walker without having to move your feet, it stands to reason that everyone who entered the escalator behind you is also being propelled up the escalator in a similar fashion. Therefore, if you reach the top of the escalator and fail to move forwards, everyone behind you *will* pile into the back of you and you *will* end up in a tangled mess of arms, legs, oxygen tubes and wheelie-walker bits. But you know what concerns me about this more than anything else? The fact that someone who is so knackered that they can barely push the wheelie-walker into the shops has, immediately prior to causing a multi-person pile-up on the escalators, just been driving a motor vehicle about the place.

Hmmmm

Well, Mother Nature hasn't done anywhere near as much cooperating as I'd hoped. In fact, I think I'm going to officially call this the worst season I've had kiting since I started. Of course, it's not ALL her fault, but on the times when I've been able to actually get to the beach, she's been sending all the wind to Tarifa or somewhere......

I've recently taken up full size gliding and I must say, it's provided me with a whole new thing to be addicted to. It's *very* good fun and comparatively cheap when compared to flying powered aircraft. Add to that the lack of engine noise and vibration and the spectacular visibility afforded by a glider cockpit and....well....I can't imagine why you'd want to fly anything else really!  This is where I'm learning to fly.  If you've never flown in a glider, I highly recommend taking the opportunity if it ever presents itself.