Crosswind Easter weekend

Crosswind dominated the long Easter weekend.  The north wind component continued from the last weekend with a little more strength and stubbornness – consequently very little flying happened. Some of us managed to catch a window of opportunity and get airborne for a significant amount of time but one could actually see the cycles in action as a wave of pilots who had managed to get up one minute all drifted earthwards as the lift dissipated. Gokul who got up early when the direction was good took advantage of the north component and headed back to tower hill and the highway. While some pilots got top to bottoms or simply had to give in and walk down.Sunith who is now 13 years old accompanied us to the site and did some grueling ground handling in the hot sun. He was supervised by Vinya and as I watched their interaction memories of them playing together as children flooded my mind. Scenes from 10 years ago, running around barefoot in the sun, up and down the hills and fields along with the rest of the Shelar kids. Happy days, happy memories.I  had been looking forward to 3 flying days and a lot of other excitement as well. The wind may not have blown favorably but there were other factors and incentives to keep us happy. We had just completed the first round of 100 courses with the air force, there was old friends Mike and gang at Native Place to catch up with, Steve’s staggered birthday bashes that went on through the week, an Easter egg hunt with Irene Anna & Stephan and the standard post breakfast cool off in the lake to look forward to as well.Peace Bliss and Happy LandingsAstrid Rao