I too had some fun with the winds today. I'd booked a PA28 for midday and had planned to do a local with my parents. The wind looked dubious all morning, and when I spoke to the airfield at 1115 it was gentle at the airfield, but set to increase in the afternoon.
Arriving at the 'drome at midday it was gusting 28, about 20-30 degrees off the runway. I wasn't happy to go on my own, but there was an instructor who was happy to sit in as a passenger to be there in case I screwed up (and it stopped parents fighting over the front seat
).
We had fun trying to find the strongest winds....lowest recorded GS was 41 knots, and the highest was 145 knots.
Then we did a low level trip around Dover Castle - good for photos.
Landing back at Manston was actually alright. So as it happened, I could have done it on my own, but the comfort zone wouldn't have been so high!
tKF