A day at the seaside

Mick h gets ready for tandem flight whilst Phippsy checks him for BO
Bill N "looking after" Ray D

Jane M and Dean F sharing the blue

Big discussion on Rick W's technique as he flies his first soaring flight

Happy days

Bill N turns in for a landing

What a glorious day it was at Vault Bay where we arrived early 10.00am on a forecast which showed the wind dropping as the day went on. Tony P. Bill N and Kaz P led the way getting in plenty of flying before anyone else got in the air. Next I was off on the Tandem with Mick H (Bodmin) on board and we had a super flight mixing it with the others, various birds of prey and the seagulls whilst enjoying the views and colours of the sea. Mick's a bit of an artist so the flight gave him a bit of a different perspective on things which hopefully will come out in some of the many pictures he snapped off with his camera.

Jane M (Tavistock) had now arrived for a bit of a recap day and confidence building session having not flown much since learning abroad and having never really ridge soared an top landed. Jane had a cracking day picking up a few tips on the way and getting firmly into hill flying in the UK by putting a couple of hours under her belt over 4 flights and looking very smooth and confident about it too.

With more pilots turning up it was good to see newly hill qualified Ray D taking to the air with the help of Bill N and getting his first taste of Vault Bay. He did a super flight mixing with the rest before popping in a nice top landing, well done Ray and well done Bill, good to see coaching at work.

Back on the Tandem Kathryn C (Lifton Devon) came along for a flight as her 21st Birthday present and thoroughly enjoyed it as we cruised the cliffs and soared with there Buzzards at very close quarters, some above and some below, superb. With the lift dropping off a little we had to bide our time before landing back on top for a tippy toed landing and big smiles.

Rick W (London) who qualified on the tow last year was back from his travels and up for his first hill flight in the UK. He did an amazing job once he got going and quickly settled into ridge soaring as his control inputs smoothed out. Pretty soon he was up there with the best of them which encouraged more pilots to take off so giving a good experience of flying with numbers. A nice set up saw him carry out a neat top landing (his first) which was soon followed by a second flight with similar results.

Dean F also got his first crack at Vault and vowed to return sometime. Nick G and Steve D had some nice flying although can't say I heard Steve singing today.....

A busy day with a good number of pilots out (10) many of whom had learnt with us over the past year or so (7) all of whom did us proud. By late afternoon the wind dropped as promised (in fact light enought hat even Michel had to walk back to his car) so it was time to pack up and leave. looks light for the next few days so we are off to the tow field......maybe back at Vault later in the week