"Learning to fly" and there is a lot of learning going on (an update)

I have finished my course and continue to learn as I go along. I have 20ish flights (about 10ish hours in the air) and I hope to log 25 hours of flying time before I leave. I am top landing each time (landing in the same spot from where I took off) and have done about 30 landings of this type so far (when it isn't busy on the hill, I touch down and then take off again for practice). Top landing is good; beach landing bad. It's a hellish walk up that cliff along the steep goat path. I am getting better and I continue to have the utmost trust in my instructor and he has started trusting me more. We have a little bit of an understanding now and although he watches me like a hawk, he only uses the radio when he thinks that I am about to cause (major) harm to myself or those around me. The approach is a bit unnerving in a strong offshore breeze as you need to start the baseline leg about 20-30 metres lower than the lip of the cliff. You don't catch the lift until you are quite close to it and then you shoot up the side, up over the lip, across the landing site, into the wind and down. This happens fairly quickly and sometimes I feel like maybe this time the magical elevator is going to be out of order due to servicing and I'll smack into the side of the cliff. Sometimes you come in too low and have to abort. Sometimes you come in too high and the lifting force causes you to overshoot the height by 10 or 20 meters from where you want to be. Its kind of funny as every once in a while I look down to see this 140lb Balinese dude smiling big as he gives a little point to the left or the right when I am off course and not "ideal", but not "running with scissors". I find comfort in knowing that if I am being a total dumbass that there is someone who will override my call and prevent me from unwittingly pushing through with an impossible or dangerous situation. My first top landing was a cacophony of instructions. Left, right, slow, smooth, hands up, down, more break, less break, 1 centimeter more, less, quarter breaks, half breaks blah blah blah. "Too high, we try again - o.k. Michael?". Progress.

I am on my fourth different glider as I continue to learn and can safely handle a little bit more performance in my flying. It allows me (with considerable respect for the dangers involved, guidance and tutoring) to know whats out there and faster, more responsive wings allow me fly in a wider range of wind conditions. For instance, in the wind today the first wing I was under would have done nothing but fly up... and straight backwards (which really isn't cool). I think I am committed to the sport enough that I will be purchasing my own kit (once I have a source of income of course :) and now I'll be a little bit more informed / experienced through the opportunity to leach knowledge and demo equipment here in Bali. Its also very educational to take a break from flying and watch different gliders / pilots approach things differently. I've learned a massive amount from sitting myself down next to some of the wizened old timers and asking a million questions with live, contextual examples of what and what not to do.

I am having some sublime moments in the air and wind and weather patterns are becoming a little bit less random in my mind. I am starting to understand where the best lift is to be found from the landscape with differing wind direction and speed. Yesterday I spent the afternoon skirting around a temple and at one time I was about 15m away from this guy as we shared some laughs and had a casual conversation about how freaking great things were. Today I had the entire coastline to myself for an hour in some beautiful wind and sunshine. After that though, the sky was thick with 10 gliders, but even thats a good opportunity to learn and apply the rules of the road practically (although annoying as hell).

From the air I've seen two people land in the ocean, one guy do a harsh downwind landing on the beach, another guy hanging upside down in the trees after a pretty weird looking launch and another guy plow directly into the lip of the landing site after doing everything wrong that he could (everyone was fine). Its helpful to see good and bad takeoffs and landings from all angles. If I don't know why things went bad, I ask to make sure that I minimize the chances of the same happening to me. Some of these people are "expert" pilots and have logged an impressive amount of hours and this in itself is a sage lesson to be learned.

Anyways, I love it and could go on and on. I am really enjoying the active learning and although its not like running a marathon, my body is loving the different activities. I'll save everyone the ramblings... I have a book to read... and an exam tomorrow morning. Wish me luck.