Northern Highflyer
When its this hot, evening and early morning are the smoothest times to fly. Its good that you flew through some decent thermals though. Very un-nerving when it first happens, but excellent experience.
The more you fly on thermic days, the more you learn what to avoid flying over/downwind of. Large towns are the worst, large woods and estuaries will also chuck you around. Low tide estuaries, with dark, hot mud flats and cold water can be very lairy.
The advice above is the best... don't fight it. Retain control, but accept that it will be a bit untidy and don't knacker yourself trying to counter every slight movement.
On Saturday, I flew over an estuary and the aircraft dropped like a stone, wiping 100ft straight off the altimeter. My 13 year old daughter has flown with me on quite a few thermal days and doesn't mind the bumps. When we dropped, she looked at me with eyes like golf balls. I raised my eyebrows.
That one had scared us both, but neither would publicly admit it.
