SAFA Skysailor Magazine

56 SKY SAILOR March-April-May | AUTUMN 2025 Brian in the lead again XCSkies forecast Photos: James Thompson For me, the next few days were only ridge runs in poor conditions. One of them was an attempt to fly to Feathertop. With a 2200m base and, at one stage, doing 70km/h tailwind into high country of Mt Hotham, I didn’t go into the heights above Harrietville and flew back to the LZ instead.  Again, the forecast firmed up for an attempt to fly back to Bright from the flatlands with a NW wind. We drove out to Berrigan in the morning and set up on the airstrip. When we arrived, it was blowing hard and 90° cross on the strip, but as the thermal started, it swung around enough for us to get off. I towed up into a thermal which took me to 3200m, then headed off and soon caught another thermal to establish myself for the day. I had to decide which way to go around the lake at Yarrawonga on the Murray. The best height of the day was a bit over 3500m. Paragliding Christmas – the Good, the Better and the Disappointing