After a couple of false starts I hooked into a thermal right after take off, and kept riding it all the way to base. It was getting quite busy on the hill which gave me extra motivation to be up and away.

I flew without FSH thermal assist on my last flight, and thought that I was thermalling better than usual on that flight. Today was very windy which made the thermal assist less useful, so I completely ignored it. Instead I just followed the beeps on my XC Tracer: more beeps = widen the turn in that direction (or just fly in that direction). Fewer beeps: tighten turn away from that direction. Maybe it's what everybody does IDK but it was something of a revelation for me. I think I did some of my best thermalling on this flight.

And, it was a day that needed it! Only got to base twice, and spent the rest of the flight circling in zeros and 0.5's, being pushed downwind at 30km/h. Got very low once and thought it was all over, but managed to stay in a weak thermal until it joined others and became a bit stronger with altitude. I knew the 100 was on and was determined not to find myself on the ground.

As I approached Milton Keynes I got 100km tunnel vision - not trying to carry on the flight but just looking for a little extra altitude to make the 100. The day was defintely still on as others did 130 and 200+. Oh well next time.

I flew the first half with a purple Zeno (Dom), and the second half with another Alpina (Glyn). We bumped into each other at Paddington station, took a selfie and had a chat about the flight - good times!