Judith's blog

Geoff writes: after the disappointment of yesterday, today looked like it was going to be the same. We got up late – the wine – and it was even cloudier than yesterday, with the fog reaching ground level.  Judith and Nicky went for breakfast whilst I stayed in the van and sulked. Eventually, I went to join them, sort of, and did some more work in the bar, whilst they went off for a walk.

But after they got back, it started to break up, though the top ridge was still mostly in cloud. But we went up, as soon as I could drag them away from chatting, and people were starting to fly as we were driving up. It turned out to be a really exceptional day, with the clouds below us, above us, at the side, but plenty of blue in between, so much of the flight, we were flying up the side of clouds. With the clouds, and the stunning scenery, it was an amazing flight. Judith eventually landed, she was cold, but I carried on flying, eventually choosing to go to land at the camping.  She had managed to finally see her reflection in the glory (the circular halo) on the cloud. This is pretty rare, and she had never seen it before – but today, she saw it four times.

Nicky had driven for us, still feeling a little ill, so when she came back down, Judith took her up for an evening flight. The cloud had come in a bit more, and it took a while for her to get off, waiting for it to clear, but eventually she did.

All in all, a really nice day.

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »

Long meeting this morning and it was cloudy (again!). We finished at 1.30pm and headed out because we could really do with a day out. When we got to Santa Brigida, it was still cloudy and most of the surrounding higher hills were clagged in. When we got up the hill it seemed fine, but then dropped to nothing. Geoff did an extended top to bottom and I picked him up. In the meantime the sun came out and as soon as it did, it got very thermic.

On our third flight the clouds had separated into two layers and in the lower layer the clouds kept coming and they just kept working. If they had been higher than 2800′ AMSL it would have been an epic XC day. It did get a little rough at times though.

The Niviuk HQ is only 10 minutes down the road and they had a window put into the side of their building, so they can see Santa Brigida. Seeing us flying, Xiliu came out to test a Peak II. Shame he didn’t have long, because it just got better and better. We actually had trouble getting down to top land.

We had a break and then decided that we should probably not spin it out to the very end, since we are off to Ager tomorrow, so we could do with a few more hours of work, but it seemed daft both of us driving down. Geoff took the evening flight honours. Lovely buoyant conditions.

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »

With the forecast deteriorating, we thought we’d better try and get something out of the day. We had several hours worth of meetings in the morning, but it was still sunny by the time we finished, so we rushed out. It was due to cloud over in the afternoon and the wind was supposed to be east, so we thought we’d try Santa Brigida. While the sun was out it would certainly be thermic enough to bring the wind on. First though, we had to see how the new car would cope with the track up. What a difference 4 x 4 makes. We got up no problem, but probably won’t be ferrying people up and down like we used to.

When we got to the top conditions were fine, the wind was light and on, so I launched to find it very turbulent. East is never that good at Santa Brigida, and the wind can curl over the ridge to the left and make it bumpy. I had a first attempt at top landing, and plummeted like a stone, so much so, that I didn’t have the time to get my feet out of the harness nice and high. Once on final I couldn’t get my foot out of the pod, so couldn’t get myself upright and scraped the edge with my bum before instigating a swoop to overshoot. It was a close shave…

As I was flying, Marc arrived and it was lovely to see him. We spent a happy hour catching up and then realised that the wind had turned east completely. Marc flew but went down and we waited it out for another hour and suddenly the wind came on again. Geoff flew first and got up easily, and reported smooth conditions. As soon as I launched, he came on the radio again to say that it had just got rough again. I flew for about 5 minutes and the thermals seemed to want to grab the tips all the time, but when you flew towards the tug there was nothing there. It wasn’t pleasant, so I just landed again. Not great flying, but at least we got back in the air.

We had fun and games trying to pack Marc’s Peak II. It has rods in the trailing edge and leading edge, and it’s a bit like doing a puzzle. Four hands, three straps and a lot of ‘constructive’ advice from Geoff later, we had the damn thing in the bag.

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »

Geoff writes: incredibly, waking up after a painful night sleeping in the front seats of the car, it seemed like it just possibly might be flyable at Millau. We had about 150 miles still to go, so set off after a quick coffee in the motorway services. Of course, it wasn’t that straightforward, and we did drive through some fairly thick fog, but shortly before Millau, it cleared. So, for once, no wind, no rain.

We went to the landing field hoping to get a ride up, but by early afternoon we decided to drive up, and top land if possible (a tricky slope landing) or fly in turn. The sky was not epic, but it seemed like it might be ok, and occasionally there were birds thermalling. Once on top, there were a couple of other people there, and we played musical sites – being undecided which side to launch from. Soon, more people turned up, including some commercial tandems. People started launching, and, mostly, going down, or just getting one brief thermal, then going down. I waited a long time, not really wanting just a top to bottom, and finally launched – and had a top to bottom.

Judith had decided not to fly, thinking the day was over. I didn’t think it was, and after she came to get me, we drove back up again (it’s only a 15 minute drive). I launched again almost immediately, and this time it was good – not great heights, the most I got was about 760′ ATO, but far better than it had been before. It got scratchy sometimes, which did get a bit disconcerting, since the usual rules of the air do not apply in France – but still ridge soarable. I flew for an hour or so, and then chose to land – so, far from the day being over, it was pretty good. Stunning views, beautiful site.

The forecast at Millau for the next few days was poor, so we set off for Spain.

See photos of today.

Now we are in Spain, the live site/comp info (the Twitter feed) will be switched off until we get back to the UK in April.

No comments yet - please add one »

Another flyable day. The forecast was for it to be cloudier today, but we seemed to be just on the edge of the front, so there was potential for a reasonable XC day. It seemed a bit windier at home, but on getting to Long Mountain, it was actually lighter. Over the back we could see the front, but with the wind being off to the N, we would drift into the good sky. Shivering, I got ready and put an extra pair of gloves on in readiness for getting even colder once at cloudbase. People were getting high already, so it all looked good. Kai was the first of the XC brigade to launch and leave, followed shortly after by Dave T., Geoff, myself and Wayne.

I got a climb with Dave and Wayne, but didn’t push upwind enough to get into the strong core they were in and I subsequently drifted over the back lower than them. I knew that cloudbase was predicted to be low until later in the afternoon and I knew it was a mistake to leave low, but went anyway, believing that I would pick something up under the next cloud. It didn’t work and I was downed at Marton (just over the back of the hill), whilst Dave and Wayne continued. Wayne landed at home in Bishop’s Castle and Dave scraped a low save and continued on to near Kington. From my landing field I could see someone doggedly trying (and failing) to get up from Corndon and figured it must have been Kai. It turned out it was. That site has something of a magnetic effect on him and he landed there!

Great retrieve from Wayne and Andrew and people were still flying when we got back to the hill two hours later. Flyable all day again.

Geoff writes: though I left with Judith and the others, I was much lower, and rather than bomb out too far behind, I flew back as far as I could, and landed within walking distance of launch, a couple of fields back. I chose a field with a gate to the road – but the gate was locked, and covered in barbed wire, as was the fence, so I had to pack the glider away, rather than just carry back to launch.

When I did get back, the sun had gone and people were struggling. I set up again anyway, and waited till the sun reappeared, launched, and got away within a few minutes. It was pretty weak, though, and I eventually landed near Corndon. Like Judith, I took a glide to the wrong cloud (and I did some sloppy thermalling too).

I do think the day was actually a lot better than we made it look, and we should have gone a lot further.

3 Comments »

I thought it would be a bit windy today, although others, like Mick, assured me that it wouldn’t be. When we woke up it did seem breezy, but it then dropped. The Peaks and Pennine guys went to Llangollen where the it was briefly flyable, but then made their way to Long Mountain where we had also decided to go. The sky looked good, but once in the air it was clear that the wind was going to make going XC a little tricky. I just couldn’t push out far enough, and the thermal strength was too weak, to be able to drift back comfortably low. The two times I did get any height, I was drifting back over the hill fast and in 0.7m/s lift I wasn’t confident that I wouldn’t get into the rotor behind the hill. The only one to get away was Kai, who had declared a goal 110km away and managed to fly 85km of it.

The rest of us had a very pleasant day playing in the air, some pushing out into the valley, getting high and generally enjoying the beautiful scenery. Once I decided that I wasn’t going to be able to go XC I landed for a comfort break and then went tandem with Mick, which is always fun. I really like being ballast; you can just sit, enjoy the views and it’s really interesting to see someone else’s flying decisions.

See photos of today.

1 Comment »

Geoff writes: After staying at Andy’s, we headed out to the Peaks again. We thought it would be flyable, but not an XC day, with a reasonable breeze, but only weak thermals. And so it turned out. We started off at Stanage, only the second time we have flown it on a PG, though we’ve flown it countless times on hang gliders. Did the ridge run a couple of time, gaining very little height – less than 200′ ATO – got a bit bored, and went and landed, as the wind was turning further south (Stanage is a SW site). Had a nice chat with Steve Hudson, who runs a para and hang gliding school in the Peaks, and who in fact taught Judith to fly hang gliders many years ago. Judith was thrilled to hear that he now recommends our podcasts to his students.

We then went to Rushup, hoping to do the long ridge run down to Lose Hill, but there was too much west in it for that. People were flying Rushup, but we decided not to bother, and went to do tourist stuff – a walk in the Manifold Valley, followed by a further walk and meal around Butterton, a nice village nearby. All in all, a pleasant couple of days away.

See photos of today.

3 Comments »