Down on the Dingle .....
They call it a safari. Every September, they come from the North, they come from the South, they come across the Irish Sea, and bring their gliders to the Dingle. Where the Slieve Misch Mountains slope down to the sea, and where the beach at Inch goes on forever to the South, and the beach at Fermoyle goes on forever on the north side of the peninsula....
We all meet at the pub in Dingle. and the talk is about the problem on Fermoyle sands when the tow car (the gliders are pulled up with a long rope attached to a car, preferably with automatic transmission) - got stuck in some soft sand.....they fetched a landrover, that got stuck as well. The farmer came with a tractor, which pulled the Landrover out alright, but by that time the tide came in, and the original car was well and truly submerged before the tractor managed to get a long line on it..... "So what did the owner do?" "Why to be sure, he's going to take it to the garage and have it steam cleaned inside and out, and sold as soon as possible......"
Next day, I rode in the tow car...a different one....and the driver was communicating with the glider on tow as they raced down the beach, shouting over the radio "Fly out to sea, fly out to sea!" so that when the glider had gained sufficient height, and released, the rope had a chance of coming down on the beach....however, the pilot didn't hear, and the rope came down in a neighbouring field, and draped across an unsuspecting cow, which took it very calmly.....fortunately.
I had my flight the third day, amazingly beautiful, the wind against the cliffs keeping us airborne for half an hour, ....but not strong enough to dare going round the ocean end of the peninsula, as no beach there, only rocks and breakers. That day a glider landed on top of the mountain, so next day all hands went to help carry it down in pieces. Story went, why is this fuselage so bloody heavy? they got it down to the trailer, and found that the pilot had weighted it down with some rocks so it wouldn't blow away overnight.....