Monks Down NE 18 kmh to blown out
I arrived at Monks at 10am, the wind was a touch off to the east and a little strong, but okay.
I took a little time getting ready as I am not a huge fan of flying on my own, but once ready I popped the wing up and as it felt fairly solid, committed to the air. After climbing up a little it became apparant that the air coming up the ridge was thermic and the true direction was much more off to the east that had been obvious on the ground. This meant that I was potentially in the lee of whitesheet and that if I went for it, i would be tracking straight over Compton Abbas.
After 5 - 10 minutes I landed and packed up. I then met Ian Hobbis and a couple of others who'd decided to have a look, but by this time it was massively blown out and still a bit off to the east.
I got home to Kintbury and met up with a friend who'd seen 3 paragliders flying over Hoe Benham at around 3pm that must have flown from sharpenhoe, the sky looked epic at that time and with the seriously strong winds, they would have had a shot at a 200km flight - I will be watching the league with baited breath!
Richard Barber
Barbs
