La grenouille volant

Funny story from Sunday 14th June... about 10mins after take off, I noticed a small dark ball inside the trailing edge of my glider and was puzzled by what it could be.    

After another 10km it started moving!

After 20km he decided he was cold enough (it was probably below zero at base) and wanted to get out even though I was now at 1800m above the ground.    But there was no stopping him and he jumped and crawled determinedly through the cell cross bracings to reach the cell opening in the leading edge.

There was a small pause and then the sharknose disgorged a 5cm long frog of the flying variety; he must have stowed away at take off.     With his feet splayed out, he looked like a sky diving pro for the first few metres but a collision with one of the middle cascade lines put him in a vicious spin as he disappeared from view. 

I hope he made it.

The flying was excellent with climbs up to 5m/s; four of us managed to do 85km out and return flights from Aonach Mor to the E near Dalwhinnie despite the met wind (up to 17kph NE at times),

Track log is here.
Pics below are from Graham Saunders


Looking W up Loch Eil from near take off, Pic by Graham Saunders

Looking SW at Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis. Pic by Graham Saunders