Lower take off site

Went up the chair lift this morning but the top take off site was covered in clouds with poor visibility. There is still an occluded front over Bulgaria so there had been rain last night and cloud base was low. It was even quite cold today and it was the first time I wore my hoody. We walked down the mountain path to another take off site about 100m below. The site was much smaller than the top site so it required a good launch. I managed to get away cleanly first time and flew out from the mountain, there was a bit of a head wind so that helped. I had some problems getting into the seated position in my harness, probably because my straps had adjusted the day before when everything got drenched. When I finally managed to adjust myself in the air there wasn't much height to play with. My task was to perform 'big ears' which involves pulling the furthest out line down to your side, one at a time, and this makes the wing tips tuck, making the wing look as though it has ears. The purpose of this is to make the glider descend quicker. I was quite tentative when doing it so I didn't really pull the lines far enough, it was more of a three quarters big ears. I did it about 3 or 4 times then Nicky radioed to me to do quick big ears which involves pulling both sides down quickly, I did that another 3 or 4 times. I had to perform a series of 90 degree turns with the big ears on using only weight shift and it's noticeable how the wing is more sensitive when not fully inflated. I came into land in the small landing field doing a box landing with an extra s turn. I landed nicely with a full flare. Nicky told me that my big ears had not been fully on and had not been symmetrical enough so I would have to do it again in my next flight. Total flight time 15 mins.

Poor visability at the top