Summer in Très-Le-Mont

It's been a long time since I've last flown. My brother's death has left me shaken, so it's with a bit of apprehension that I go to the club. There are very few people, which is rather surprising, the conditions seem pretty good. I meet Denis and we drive up to Très-Le-Mont. As we get to the take off, we meet Alex and Eric, both ready to fly away in a tandem flight.

I let Denis use the East take off while I go to the West.
The wind is light and fairly regular, with long cycles. I'm on my own at this take off point and it doesn't take me long to kit up. I look at the wind vane and bring my wing up, two steps and I'm airborne. A quick look on the right shows me that Denis caught the same cycle as I did, I turn left to take advantage of the uprise I guess is there> The vario confirms my hunch, but it's very strong. Very very stong. A big chunk of my right wing collapses, I wait anxiously the couple of seconds it takes to re-inflate, I know I'm going to get very close to the trees before I can veer right, I don't have much spare height yet. Good thing the deflation wasn't bigger...
I regain control and do a few more Esses in front of the take off before I go to the front of the hill. The weather is rather hot, there are ascendences everywhere, and I guess the front of the hill will be as good as anywhere to gain some altitude. I want to be safely up to snap a few shots.

The thermal activity is a bit calmer here, and I enjoy the view over the lake, despite a fairly thick layer of thin cloud over the region.

I fly over the village and go towards the landing field, it's been a nice flight. There are a few more cars parked on the side, but nobody on the ground, I quickly fold my wing after a good soft landing.


Technical data: Flight duration 0:35, Take-off altitude: 1355m, Maximum altitude reached: 1370m, Total climb during flight: 542m, Max rate of climb: +2.6m/s, Max descent rate: -4.8m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.