Northumbria Memories

I know a lot of pilots get enjoyment purely from casual flying, but I’ve got to say I’ve had my best and most memorable moments in competition, whether just club or national. I hope you will allow me to share a few of them just as they come into my head.

1 Cross Fell
Club comp on Crossfell 1st task race around a mini triangle. Take off, first turn point left on the corner of Wild Boar Scar. Light wind but everyone keen and hungry. Several gliders made straight for Wild Boar without beating the ridge for some height, they just went for it. We all arrived at the corner below the top. A few of us got into a scrappy punchy thermal that was drifting up the gully to the next turn point, a cairn of stones just below Crossfell. I remember Ron Freeman and I doing some really aggressive and close thermaling up the rock face. Ron made the turn point just ahead of me and set off for the third which was the cars at the bottom landing field. We both had the bar to our toes, he knew I was behind him and I could see him, but I couldn’t make up that couple of seconds. We both made the turn point below the top, raced back to the ridge to get 20 feet of height then in for landing. The time was an amazing 8 minutes…..What a blast that was.