”Sunday soaring on Khao Sadao”

Flying conditions in the tropics are very different from in Norway. On Saturday no doaring due to weak winds from the south. Instead the thermals ruled on Khao Sadao. The sun is almoste right above our heads, and the big heat is on the flatlands while the hillsides are relatively cool. On Sunday there was more wind, but before noon the wind slowed down due to thermals in front of the start. I was occupied with other things than keeping in the lift right after launching on my first flight. Flying too far out I was outside the liftband and had to go down. Right after launching for the second time two hanggliders, but they did not find enough lift to keep on flying and were soon headed for landing. I found some crappy thermals on the right side and climbed to 1.675 m asl. The thermals were quite strong but small. On almost every turn touched sink areas. Still it went up with more than three meters a second on an average of 60 seconds. Not too bad! Much active flying in the lift. The lift petered out more than 500 meters under cloud base, probably because of an inversion. At 1.600 i met northerly winds. Below there was wind from the south. I followed the wind towards Khao Phrik, but with no help of other pilots I found sink, sink.

We waited till about four o’clock, then we cancelled the day and went back home. Some thunderstorms around Choc Chai.

The German hangglider pilot Ernst left his glider in the area and will come back next weekend. The weather forecast looks OK, so I will probably go back, too.