Judith's blog

Geoff writes: a fairly messed up day for us. Light NW promised, going westerly later the day. Really, we wanted to go to Llangollen, but were very late out because we were being interviewed by the BHPA about the accident at the weekend. By the time this was done it was early afternoon, and on (sort of) at the Mynd, but very light winds and very cloudy. Almost no thermals coming through. At one point Jay and Richard did launch, got up in a very rough thermal, with lots of northerly drift, lost it, and landed. And then it went NE. And that was the end of the day for us. Though the sky did get a bit better. We finally gave up and went and did some archery.

We were a bit pushed for time too, because we had an LMSC committee meeting in the evening, which had a lot to discuss, and which we could not possibly miss. A full turnout, and a very productive meeting.

So, the flying was rubbish at the Mynd; poor in the Peaks where it was cloudy; nice soaring but no XC at Llangollen. In fact, no XCs posted anywhere in the country at the time of writing this, Friday morning.

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Geoff writes: Last day of the Piedrahita comp and Judith got to goal, so she is ecstatic (and, by now, probably more than a little drunk). She’ll no doubt be writing a full report Sunday or Monday, depending on her hangover tomorrow. They all fly back tomorrow night. I have no idea of the final results, but I’m pretty sure the Mynd guys she flew out with  – Kai Coleman, Mark Leavesley and Neil Roberts – were all high up in the results.

And in the UK, a wasted trip to the Gyrn, which was flyable right up until the point we arrived, at which time the wind picked up and it started raining. Not quite wasted – a pint in the pub replaced the flying. Well done Ali on, I think, getting higher than anyone else on a training flight! (Apparently people did fly later on, after we’d left).

Judith writes: I got to goal!

Forecast was for more westerly winds but no over-development. I decided to take the second bus up. This means you have less time to get ready, but I needed some time on my own to chill out. I’ve chatted and socialised so much this week I felt I needed some downtime before the final flight.

I got up and ready fast. They called the same task as the previous day – a 56km race to Avila. I was pleased they let us do a short task, because psychologically it’s good to fly a task that seems achievable and it was within terrain that I had at least seen.

I launched mid field but conditions were scratchy and there were a lot of free flyers around, who made the thermalling interesting. One guy on an Omega 7 decided to soar the thermal in the middle of our gaggle, scattering us sporadically. I don’t usually shout at people in the air, but I used choice words in every language I speak.

I found it hard going and wasn’t thermalling very well at all. In each task we have been required to thermal left until the start gate and I struggle with this turn direction – my glider likes to go right. Lots of people were in racing mode today and as soon as the race started people dashed off to the pass, some very low. I decided to fly conservatively and not cross until I was high. I got low and struggled along with Ian Miskin and Julian Robinson. Whilst scrabbling around, I started to think how I would feel at the end of comp party if people asked me how I had done and I had to say that I bombed at the pass, and how disappointing that would be. On the other hand, if I could say I got to goal I would be unbelievably happy. This gave me the boost to really try harder.

We all got climbs in different places and I took the ‘Scottish route’, to the right over the high stuff. I was at about 2400m at that point and only got some rough stuff when I hit the inversion. I hung around high until I could see someone starting to circle on the other side of the pass, crossed and flew straight to them. We got up again in weak stuff and headed for the bend in the road, where we were joined by a guy on a Niviuk glider. The three of us worked weak lift and I was convinced that we should push on to the little dark bits of rising ground behind the village where I landed on the first day. I left them and it worked for me… I got a good solid climb and they joined me.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t go on daft glides low, and the wind strength was increasing, so I was quite happy to drift along the valley in weakish lift. It was just like flying a UK XC, except the view was more beige than green. Once I got to within sight of Avila, I was at 2700m and tried to decide when to start my glide into goal. I don’t have a fancy glide angle calculator on my GPS and was too worried about hitting sink/headwind, so I started my glide in at 3km. By comparison, Adrian Thomas started his at 25km. I got to the end of speed section at 2500m and then into goal about the same height. This isn’t smart competition flying, but all I wanted was to get into goal – time taken was of no importance to me. It showed… I was last in out of 89!

I was so happy and overwhelmed when I crossed the line I burst into tears, then laughed my head off and then remembered that I hadn’t taken a single photo on the flight. I snapped happily and then went to burn off my altitude. It took ages – there was a lot of lift about. It was windy too, so it was rough coming down, but I landed fine, kissed the ground and demanded goal hugs from Mark Trigg and Malcolm Davies. On getting on the retrieve bus, Martin was there, as was Ruth and Pat, Folkert from Holland and lots of other friends.

I also got my PB in terms of distance, so I was smiling so much my face hurt.

There was a prize giving in the evening, but not a party as such. I bumped into Nani and Xiliu, but didn’t get a chance to have drinks with them because they headed off to bed in readiness for their first task in the Spanish champs which started on Sunday. I boogied the night away at the Panera bar and got to bed at 5.30am. Great day.

See photos of today.

[All Judith’s task track logs now available on XC pages, see our XC flights].

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Judith writes: The forecast was for stronger winds today but this wasn’t evident on launch early on, so we went up the hill. By the time everyone was up the wind was picking up. A 55km task was set to Avila, but many pilots were disgruntled about having to go over the pass in strong winds. After some discussion the task was cancelled. Lots of people flew and got very high, but the valley wind was increasing, so people didn’t stay up long, apart from one group who headed off to Avila in orbit.

I’m chilling out today and intend to go to the swimming pool with my book. I have to pass the bar to get there, so we’ll see…

Geoff writes: forecast was for rain in the morning, then clearing, west, with some south. And so it turned out. For hang gliders, it was flyable most of the afternoon and evening, and for paragliders, an hour or two early evening. The HGs had a great time. I flew both, but was out late because I was concentrating on some work, and missed the best of the hang gliding, only getting a few hundred ATO, rather than the cloudbase people had been getting to earlier. Paragliders wanting to submit flights for the league missed nothing! Still, a pleasant evening.

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Geoff writes: as usual this summer, I made the wrong decision for the right reasons, going to Bache rather than the Gyrn (or the Peaks) because I thought it was going to rain there, at least at the Gyrn. Ended up on Bache on my own, and was thinking of just going to the Gyrn anyway – where they were flying – and Andy Johnson turned up, so I stayed (he’d been going to the Gyrn as well, and changed his mind). In the end, after various launches and short hops, I gave up and went home. Definitely the wrong place to be today.

Oh, and when Jonce was flying – whilst I was walking back up – a Hercules flew past him just behind Bache, banking as it went by. It obviously thought he was worth taking another look at, because Andy landed, and the Hercules came back right over launch, at most 200′ above.

Judith writes: The second task today… 125km race to goal, via the same turnpoint as the day before. The forecast was for windier conditions and possible storms. This put me in a less positive mood than the day before. I got the early bus and as I was getting ready the wind was picking up. A huge dust devil came through and I was getting nervous. Once the window opened, people lobbed off, but the gusty conditions made for ‘interesting’ take-offs and plenty of bounce once you pulled away from the ridge. I got off ok and decided that with the strength of the wind, it would be possible to soar along to the start and then get a thermal there to cross the pass. Whenever you assume something will happen, the chances are it won’t. I bimbled along the ridge and then got completely distracted from what I was doing by seeing what had been a disorganised rabble just suddenly turning and gliding like a huge wall away from me. The start was open, but the sight was so impressive, I forgot to thermal!

Once I got my act together again, I thermalled along, but it was really tricky and I got distracted a second time watching Kirsty being sucked down a gully. She hit so much sink, that I was sure she was going to hit a tree. She didn’t and found a thermal in the valley. She fought hard to get back up, but landed in the end.

I decided to try what was described to us as the guaranteed trigger, but couldn’t cross a ridge, so landed near Villafranca in the same field as Cris Miles. We had a great afternoon, eating grapefruit and being generally silly. Turns out there were few big names who bombed before the pass… Steve Ham included. What was excellent, was that Martin Dockerill did his first 100km flight today!

Dave Thomson went on a photo expedition and eventually decided to fly the task. He was at 3300m AMSL 13km out from goal and missed it by 7km – big headwind. Kai is leading amongst the Brits after the second task.

The big incident to day was Nicky had to throw her chute, as she had a big collapse and a subsequent cascade. She got down ok in a corn field, but was dragged on landing. She is fine although a little bruised. Chute is re-packed and her wing has been checked, so she should be ok for tomorrow.

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What a crap day! Forecast was for WSW, fluffy cumulus and generally a classic Mynd day. It seemed a little south, but it was forecast to come round to the west, so no problem. We arrived to see Mark Leavesley and Steve Nash high but the drift was due south.

As the day progressed, the wind turned progressively south, rather than W and although people did hop off and fly, it was rough and nearly 90 degrees off, so they crawled south and then turned and shot north at hang glider speed. By 1pm we considered switching sites but reports from Clatter said it was too far off to the west and Elan Valley is closed for lambing.

By 6pm, we gave up and had an impromptu BBQ with Wayne, Michaela, Yaz, Paul and Harvey. People did fly in the evening (including Harvey and Michaela), but it never did come on completely.

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Happy Birthday, Wayne!

Weather turned out better than expected, so after various appointments in the morning, we headed out to Clatter, where Martin said the wind was on and 8 – 14mph. On getting there, it had picked up and Martin confirmed it was rough in the air. The high cloud was established and any cumulus very far away.

We sat around chewing the fat for a while, and Martin gave it another go once the wind dropped again. It looked pretty bouncy and 10 minutes later the wind was strong again, so we decided not to bother. Mark the vet flew his HG, but I’m not sure if he managed to get away at all.

We met up with Martin in Caersws (SP?), in one of the best tearooms ever, for scones with jam and cream and then headed off to Bishop’s Castle to celebrate Wayne getting older.

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Everyone was eagerly awaiting today. The forecast seemed perfect. Lightish westerly winds and sunny. When we woke up this seemed to be confirmed but half an hour later, the wind seemed to be picking up, and half an hour after that, it was blown out for paragliders. We drove up anyway, but it was howling when we got on top. Lots of people had turned up, but we were pretty pessimistic about the prospects of the wind dropping so we headed to Church Stretton to sort out our archery club membership.

It was really nice to catch up with the archery guys and we got all our kit sorted and went to shoot. Because it’s been seven months, I assumed I would be pretty rusty (i.e. crap) but with a few tips from Jeff the coach, I was shooting better than I had at the end of last season, after six months practise.

Archery is very relaxing, and after spending five hours in the sunshine, I was pretty mellow, although my shoulders were aching. Big wave bars had formed over the Long Mynd, so we had written the flying off and it was still howling when we drove past launch on the way home. It did drop off at 6.30pm, and many people had a late evening flight.

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