Thurnham Thermals - Paragliding - 15/09/24

Had a trip out to Thurnham on Sunday, got there slightly later than planned and the conditions were already very strong. After some para chatting with the guys from the club (DFHGC), I got the wing out and did some Strong Wind GH for about 30 minutes. After some strong gusts had pushed through, there was a lull and it felt like a Thermal was likely about to come through.
As such I turned on the GoPro and Flight Instruments and continued to GH for a few minutes. I then felt the wind increase and the lift increase so got in position and went into wind to initially see how much lift was there. I was half expecting to just be picked up slightly and then tease the wing back down, however the Thermal just sucked me virtually straight up so I took that as a good sign and went with it.
After I was comfortably high enough to clear the fence if I suddenly hit sink of fell out of the thermal (were some short punchy ones around), I sat back and enjoyed a very fun 45 minutes flying around Thurnham. I caught a couple of initial thermals and then caught a lovely one leading up to some small wispy clouds with Will Rose who came to join in the fun. We followed the thermal up to 2,500ft which was the predicted thermal height of the day on RASP. At that point I still could probably have teased out a few more hundred feet and gone with the thermal, however I saw Will head back to the hill and decided against it, especially due to the strong wind. After pushing back In front of the hill on bar, I then had fun flying around for a bit before deciding to land. I did attempt 2 top landings, however each time I was nearly down and then found more lift. I was reluctant to push too far back on the landing field due to the wind strength and venturi over the top of the hill. As such I pushed out front, lost some height and eventually in a lull in the wind had a nice slope landing.
Another really enjoyable flight and something I was not really expecting :)

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Nice, great views