So Monday on Dodd fell and the wind turned out to be slightly stronger than predicted but the thermals did start and the first couple of gaggles leave Dodd en route to somewhere near the coast.
Having stooged around getting slightly higher I finally hook up with a gaggle on the south end of the ridge over the high ground. Approaching 4000' asl we are definitely leaving with this lift.
The next cloud downwind isn't working but when we fly over the next ridge there is lift around although it soon dwindles. However the lower gliders in the valley have a good climb below us so we head back into wind to pick up their climb.
A couple leave on glide over the high ground to the right of the valley but I get a line of lift to the south side where Nigel Bray and my self start climbing again.
Spotting the early leavers climbing on the far side of the next valley we head on and rejoin the gaggle. There's lift under some broken cloud inland of the convergence to our South and then it's a long glide to some active cloud just short of the exit cylinder. The lift here is good so we play around for a while on the 1000ft/min air getting to 7000' before we remember it's supposed to be a race so we set off for the cylinders edge to complete the task with 5000ft more altitude than we need.
Then there is a very amusing radio conversation with Grant about where hes setting up to land with the four pilots in our group totally bemused about why we can't see him anywhere. We give up and all four land in the same field whilst someone else flies over very high to land on the west coast beyond the hills to our North West.
It's only after we land that the realisation that Grant was the other side of the previous estuary and hence on an entirely different peninsula to us.
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