Westerlies have prevailed and contributed to my depression. Have had a few dreams about flying but they never end nicely.
Finally, Seabreeze looked the goods and Lisa and Liam were at Luna Park.
Went straight up to Merewether. No-one there but the direction was good as was the strength.
Rolled out wing and made ready for the first flight since April. Built a nice wall and glider kited up steadily. Applied slight pressure to the brakes to settle it down then turned an ran for the edge. Got away with only a slight dip past the lip of the launch. The paragliding and hangie boys have cleared away some of the errant shrubs and bushes that tended to snag one's butt as one cleared the launch zone. Headed straight for the East Cliff. Made a bunch of passes and got lift with each one. Headed over to the end of Hickson Street and flew over the houses. Saw a dog take a dump in the cliff top yard of one of the houses on the cliff edge. It's funny what you see from up here.
Had the place to myself for at least half an hour, then Pete from Avondale College showed up. We performed our pas des deuxes for about 15 minutes then 2 more blokes showed up an launched. I was having a great time throwing the Edel around but kept reminding myself that it is a bit of an antique at 12 years to be throwing it around too much.
Pete went and landed below launch. It turns out he was on the phone to his work and got too low to maintain suitable height so he landed. The 2 other guys were punting around by now so for another 50 minutes we just flew from East Cliff to the bowl at Hickson to the cliff at end of Hickson.
One of the guys had a crack at a top landing so I gathered my nerve and thought I'd give it a go myself. I got as much height as I could over the bowl then headed straight across to the launch. I passed over launch at about 15 to 20 metres, kept flying to the west of launch by about 20 metres then headed back into the lz. Came in nicely and pulled off a good top landing - saving myself the onerous task of walking up the hill.
Had a chat to Pete for 30 to 40 minutes about New Zealand and Bali. Great flight - an hour and a half's worth of air time in great spring time conditions. The weather is rumoured to turn shite again so it is good that I got the flight when I did.
