The Grob takes off. Almost immediately they radio "Guys get going there's a glory coming and its already crossed the coast." Geoff and Kevin takeoff in hot pursuit in their gliders. I'm ready to go, Kens almost ready. The plan was to launch Ken first as he had twice as much fuel and a slower hangglider. I tell Ken I going now. I climb into my harness and start the engine. I check the wind its a very slight cross tail wind. The glider is heavy and wet with dew. I had to wipe the whole wing with a towel minutes earlier.

Normally I would not launch until conditions were more favorable. I figure I just have to run a bit harder to get off the ground. I start my run, after 20 meters my legs can't keep up and I let them drag behind as the hangglider slowly sinks towards the ground. The base bar is about knee level before it starts to climb. I'm glad I wasn't an onlooker, the takeoff would have looked a bit dodgy. I turn 180deg and fly over Burketown about 300ft. I can see the cloud formation in the distance. The bottom of the glory is quite low and I want to conserve fuel so I back off on the throttle and slowly climb to 1000ft. I head to the closest part of the cloud which is over the Albert River. I'm not sure whether there is vehicle access to this section but I figure if I have to land we can do the retrieve of my gear by boat.

I can see patches of fog over the salt flats. The whole scene looks surreal with this cloud line approaching. The cloud disappears into the haze on both horizons.

I'm in paranoid mode now because I'm so close to catching this glory every little vibration or sound from the engine has me on edge. Did I plug the fuel line securely if I land around here will I be able to relaunch. I'm wishing the cloud was closer. I can see the wind squall on the river so I grab the camera and take a couple of photos. Nearly there now. The cloud looms up in front like a mountain. The leading edge is very active as cloud forms the front and moves up over the top. I hit the lift band and turn left to travel along in front. Excellent!! I've nailed this one. I quickly kill the engine and zip up my harness and get comfortable for an enjoyable flight. The strong lift has carried me above the cloud now in just over a minute. I'm at 2300ft, this cloud is only about a third the size of the one I caught last year but no less impressive. I radio the guys that I'm also on the wave now. Geoff and Kevin head SE about 50k's Geoff was sitting on 80knots (160km/h)

I'm just boating around enjoying the view. Every now and then I get a little scare as I get too far over the top and in danger of falling over the back. I need to be on my toes as the cloud is moving quickly over the ground. I pick up speed to stay in front in the lift. I hear Geoff on the radio "Al. I'm coming up behind you on your left at 1600ft" I've got a camera in each hand as I try to coordinate some photos with the gliders doing some close passes. The lift is so smooth that I can steer happily by resting my wrists on the basebar. The guys come by real close and I'm hoping I don't hit their wake while I don't have an hold of the basebar.

The guys radio that they are heading off in the opposite direction. I watch as they blast off down the cloud line. I continue boating along staying within reach of the Burketown road.

Eventually the cloud starts to dissipate. The lift is still there but its harder to figure out where it is. Only wisps of cloud mark the glory now. I stumble into better lift and gain another 600ft. I spot a suitable landing area just as I hit the sink behind this glory. Suddenly the air temp goes from very warm to cold. I don't like this, I'm wondering whether I'm passing through the center of this MG. I was told that inside the MG was cold air. I feel as though I'm falling out of the sky in this sink. I figure I must be passing through the middle of the glory. There are no bumps as I'm descending so I start a spiral to try and stay in this same parcel of air. There's supposed to be nasty turbulence in here somewhere. I'm close to the ground now, the air changes to hot again and its bumpy from thermal activity as I approach to land. A 2 step landing in the gust associated with the glory. I stay put as I wait for the gust to pass. The wind dies off. I quickly get out of my harness and carry my glider to a nearby tree and secure it before the next gust. I've landed near Beams Brook about 30k's inland from Burketown. A short while later Ken picks me up and we return to Burketown. After helping Ken packup his glider we sat down to breakfast at 9:30am

Ken had trouble launching in the light wind with a dew sodden glider and two 5 litre tanks of fuel. After removing 1 tank his second flight was aborted when he had an engine out caused by air in the fuel line.