It was the beginning of October and I was getting tired of the wind and rain that spring brings to Bacchus Marsh. I wanted to fly for more than 15 minutes at a time and I wanted thermals. I had read on Sportavia's web site that pilots were enjoying climbs to 7000 ft and were having flights of a few hours. I couldn't wait any longer for summer to wend its way to the marsh so I decided to spend a day gliding at Tocumwal.

I fired off an email and booked an LS4 for Saturday. It was raining in Melbourne and Tocumwal when I made the booking but the weather promised to improve. Improve it did and they were having a ball in Toc, but the forecast for the weekend started to look bad. I thought I'd probably miss the boat weatherwise. I thought I'd be greeted with the usual, "You should have been here yesterday!".

On Fiday night I loaded the car and drove off in the rain wondering if the trip would be a complete waste of effort. By the time I reached Seymour the rain had stopped and as I approached Sheparton I noticed stars in the sky. I thought at least I won't have to pitch my tent in the rain.

I arrived in Toc after all good glider pilots had gone to bed (10 pm). The place was deserted so I poked around in the hangar and fell in love with a beautiful LS6c. Its finish was as pristine as Toby's LS1. It had a 17.5m wing span and sported flaps. At first I thought the flaps weren't rigged properly, the flap lever was set negative but the flap was pointing down. Then I noticed the other flap was up. The glider had a single control surface the full length of each wing which operated as a combination flap and aileron - a flaperon. I decided I had to fly it!

I emerged from my tent the next morning and was disappointed by a 20 kt wind blowing. At least it wasn't raining but I didn't know if they would fly that day. Yes, I know, "You should have been here yesterday!".

I visited the office and had a chat with the staff. I mentioned I'd like to fly the LS6c. I let them know that I had experience with a flapped glider (our Janus) and they were happy to let me hire the LS6c. They didn't seem fussed by the strong winds and started to get the gliders out for the day. A fellow from Singapore was going to fly a Junior and another pilot from Japan had hired an LS4. The staff told me that their LS6c was the only 'c' model in Australia, I felt very privileged.

While they were setting up operations the cu's started popping over the airfield. However the wind didn't abate and there was rain reported in Mildura that was on its way. Nonetheless the cu's started to line up in streets, the day had promise. I settled down in the dining area to read the LS6c's flight manual.

I was chauffeur-driven to my glider. Sportavia have a fleet tow bombs that are used to tow gliders and taxi pilots around the airfield. They even water the grass at the launch points to make it easier to push gliders around. The placed is very civilised.

I was quite surprised that they didn't require me to have a check flight. I'd flown an LS4 there 6 months previously and they were happy to take my word that I was current. So I hopped into the glider and familiarised myself with the controls. I strapped myself in, did my checks and I was away. The flaps weren't a problem, my experience in FQT made the conversion easy.

I couldn't believe it when I released and turned straight into a 3 metre thermal. (No, not 3 metres wide like at Bacchus Marsh, 3 metre/second up!) After being starved of lift over the Bacchus winter sitting in a good thermal was heaven. I was rapidly being blown downwind of the airfield and so I rolled level and pushed into wind following below a big cloud street. I found the best part of the street and steadily climbed as I pushed into wind. As I climbed the lift increased to 5 m in places. I spent a pleasant hour cruising up and down a 20 km corridor in good lift. I could feel all my winter frustration melting away. I had to pinch myself to see if it was real, after all the glider was a dream to fly.

I heard the LS4 pilot make a downwind call and so I decided to come down for lunch with the others. I couldn't remember the last time I came down voluntarily. I landed the glider without breaking anything and joined the others.

After lunch I hopped back in the glider and did it all again. This time cloud base had risen to 6000 ft and the lift was weaker (2 m climbs). It took a bit longer to climb up under the clouds but cloud street was still there. After an hour I could see the rain in the distance so I came down. I flew a hangar run as agreed prior to takeoff. At Sportavia they are very keen on radio calls. When landing long on 27R (hangar run) you need to make calls when you join downwind, turn base and another on establishing final.

All the gliders were put back in the massive hangar that used to house Liberator bombers. Half an hour later we were treated to a spectacular display of almost gale force red wind followed by a brief downpour of rain. When I saw the rain in the distance I had no idea how violent the front was. Fortunately the staff were monitoring the rainfall radar on the Met bureau's web site. They were going to call me down if it got too close.