Having arrived at the Dyke on Wednesday the 5th April to see that the wind although forecast NN/W was NN/E, I was thinking of changing hills but decided to stay and try and use the wind to my advantage and do an out and return !
Dave Matthews, Johnny Carr and myself set up and discussed turn points. Harting Down was the preferred option so GPS's were set and we got ready. The sky was already full of sailplanes from 10.30am, some had come from Lasham already and the sky was looking good. I launched first and glided to the NE spur to the right of the Dyke and worked my way up too 700ft above the hill before venturing down towards Truliegh. Dave and Johnny followed and we all set about getting enough height to cross the Steyning gap. The first cycle came through and I missed it leaving Johnny and Dave high to cross, I went back to the ridge and had to wait 20mins for the right conditions to cross.
The trick is to get out in front as high as possible before crossing at an angle north of the village, I arrive to see the others high on the hill, when I found a strong 7+ up climb which I left at the TMA height restriction and had a good glide to Parham G.C. to rejoin Dave and Johnny. It was a shame that the others did not have radio's working as we spent allot of time looking for each other and later in the day it would have made life easier to hear the climbs when low !
The glide across Washington and the Arundel gaps we all remained high the sky looking fantastic and the climbs strong to 4500 ft and 5500ft where we could remain inside the TMA. I also noted that my ground speed had reduced as we passed Parham and that the N/W wind had started to show slowing our progress to Harting. We all took the turn point and it was here that I missed a strong climb behind me which put me low on the way back, however I did find another climb low on the ridge but it drifted me back towards Arundel and made it difficult to get back to the Parham ridge.
I remained high and tried to go around the back of the hill in line with the A27 hoping to connect with the sea breeze which did not push in far enough inland and I landed in a good field near the A27 into a still fresh N/W wind. It was then that I looked at my watch and saw it was 5.00pm , I took off at 11.45am, not a bad day !! Dave and Johnny stayed on the ridge and got low saves and climbed to get enough height to glide in the convergence which got them to the Dyke where it had sea breezed and they landed within 10mins of each other at 6.00pm totally shattered but happy !
We all meet at the Dyke at 6.30pm after I had been retrieved and all chatted about what a great day we had and next time make sure we had communications, but still a fantastic day and not bad for a season's opener, my muscles were still aching 2 days later !!
Will Greenwood (Airborne C4-14)
