Pacifica

The weather hasn't quite been soarable lately but on Thanksgiving Day they switched from blowing East to North West and picked up enough to fly. Wunderground read NW at 11. I got in the air, immediately lifted off, headed to the Green Monster and arrived with plenty of height above the windsock. I felt confident that there was plenty of lift. I was even with the cliff by the time I reached the Church and was still climbing. I must have climbed 500 feet above the cliff before deciding to get on the speed bar and head out to the Ocean. Keeping an eye on the beach I tried to stay right above it but noticed that I was being blown, ever so slightly, towards the cliff & decided to drop altitude. Up high the winds seemed much stronger & although I wasn't backing up I noticed the difference in forward speed & decided to stay at the lower altitude where I knew I had plenty of penetration without the speed bar.

At one point I decided to head off towards Ft. Funston but turned around because I was barely moving at some points. A quick turn & I understood why, the winds were really North, it was easy to get back to the Dumps.

The last time I flew I lost one of my gloves. This time I felt the pain. I wore a set of Newmans I use for jumping & quickly realized that they don't protect against the wind. I could have easily stayed up longer but decided to land after 45 minutes because my hands were cold.