R. Chester-Nash, Firle, 5 April, unexpected sea breeze

Yesterday's sea breeze came (for me) surprisingly late in the day (5pm at
Firle) and looking at the shoreham trace it didn't go back round to the
North (at shoreham anyway) until almost midnight. From what I've read the
times of arrival and retreat seem a bit unusual especially given the time of
year. One for you to comment on please Ian.

I was up at the time but due to my inexperience I didn't recognise the
signs. It was early evening with no obvious curtain cloud. The wind on the
hill died and Dave Nickels had the forethought to hold up the windsock and
highlight what was going on (big thanks). Seeing that launch was not the
place to be I pushed out front of the SE bowl and found heaps of smooth
lift. Looking back at launch everybody was down and looking my way! It was
still smooth lift so I went with it for a short while as I flew further out.
I didn't expect such a late sea-breeze and the darkening cloud above and
slightly West of me looked too scary (for me) so I pulled big-ears, ran away
and landed. A few minutes later I felt the sea breeze coming down from the
hill behind me. Thanks to the hangies who watched me down safely and to
Windy John for the lift back up. Having just missed it himself he was keen
to explain how I could have read the signs (smooth lift away from the ridge,
all the other clouds of 'acceptable' size etc) and how I could have gone
with it and then followed 'streets' inland. Maybe next time! After hearing
what it was like for those that top landed I was happy with my decision and
that I got down safely. I'll take this as my warning from the sea-breeze
beast.

Details
Wind Direction and strength North then South?
Glider.
Vario.
GPS.
Max Climb.
Max Sink.
Distance.