new 7 part personal blah.... :-)

Bruno, Just had to email you! I have been looking at
the movies on your site and wow, they are fantastic,
I'm very impressed and very very envious of the countryside,
weather and your flying experiences :-)
I am a low time solo pilot in the UK, I fly in Kent
(SE of London near my home). I started flying in Sept
03 and solo'd Nov 03. I hopped into a club Junior,
my first single seater ('place' you guys call it) Jan
04 and have been working hard on my Bronze qualification.
Thank you for the time and effort in gathering your
movies, they show so much that I have not seen or been
aware of in soaring. We all hear of ridge running and
soaring in general but just wow!
Last year I broke my right hand and smashed up the
arm pretty badly, couldn't fly for a few months and
it held me up for quite a while. I had bought a share
in an SZD55 and the flying committee put a min. hrs
limit of 30 solo hrs before I can get into my baby,
cos of it's quick departure with minimal warning into
spins/stalls and a high probability that it will drop
a wing on launch. I have 13.5 hrs and it will take
me most of the spring if I'm really lucky with weather
and club a/c availability.
I was very impressed at how easy and relaxed you make
soaring far from the field look! And what fun over
the resort, hang gliders, ski slopes etc. More importantly,
it was good to see where you found the ridge lift and
how you used it. We have a tiny ridge near the field
and I struggle to use it (~ 400’ high :-( but workable
with a decent wind from the SW). To see mountain ridges
used as you do is an education! Just so jealous :-)
One thing that would help a little is sharing more
of your thoughts as you fly and film, like shall I
turn, why, what am I thinking, where is that ridge
lift and why, why wasn’t it there, what height do I
need to get home safe, shall I take another thermal,
which cloud shall I check out, stuff like that so that
us newbies can understand your thinking. We can copy
but we need to understand the thought processes so
that we can think in that way for ourselves.
So, huge thanks, fantastic flying and safe landings
David
Kent GC, UK