Another great day at Tanner-Hiller with Hang Glide New England. 10 pilots showed up, and even though sky was mostly empty (no cumulus clouds), everyone was finding lift everywhere.
I launched after Tom Lanning. Pinned off around 3300 MSL. That first thermal was pretty good. It took me all the way to 6000'. On the way up, I got to the altitude where Tom was circling and passed him. But then he zigzagged in and out a few times, and that was the last time I saw him from the top. I don't know how he does that magic.
I tried to follow Tom and Peter Judge a couple of times, but couldn't quite make it to the same thermal they were in, settling for something I was hitting on the way there. I never reached 6K' for the rest of the day, topping out first at 5K and then 3500', but I was finding lift when I needed it, and climbing up.
Overall, I found a bit hard leaving whatever lift I had, still worrying I wouldn't find anything else. But with this glider, I was finding lift more consistently. So far, this year, my average flight time is 3 times of flights in previous years. I hope, I can get over those little fears in my head, and start exploring farther away on my own. But even without that, I had my longest thermal flight today - 2 hours 24 minutes. Now I need to find time and get some mountain flying as well.
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