A full day’s racing so close to Christmas wasn’t
possible this weekend but as my fingers went numb and my phone battery dead on Saturday afternoon it didn’t
seem that bad a plan to just have a few on the slopes. I don’t think it was me but soon after I arrived
at the slope the other pilots left, muttering something about brass monkeys and
I had the evening air to myself. The
plan was to fly the SOR and the Merlin but as the evening sun became hazy
enough to get the Merlin away again I was having just too much fun to put it
down and fly the SOR.
With 1kg of ballast it
was a great lesson in driving through the turns and building the energy either
leg after leg or as I just screamed around the sky. The Merlin does remind me of my old Compacts-
(or is set up like one) and after flying this one around the world I should be
used to it by now. Balanced and solid
feeling in every respect. I know that I should have been practising bunts to gain energy from the slope but the thermal camber just made things too easy when I did want to slow down and gain height into the wind.
The sheer pleasure of
flying meant that my headlights came on as I started to try and warm up in the
car. I wonder if the money saved not
shopping will justify the 450usd for a spare Merlin? Smiles for your buck the Merlin must be worth
it😊