May 2008
Monthly Archive
Saturday, 31st May 2008
Geoff’s comments: Another day at Llangollen. Many pilots there, and it was an interesting day. The sky was epic, and it was flyable all day for hang gliders (which I was on), and much of the day for paragliders, though at points it was pretty windy for PGs to launch. However, in spite of the sky, it was difficult to get above 1500 or 1600’ ATO – thermals were strong up to there, then at that height they got much weaker, and even disappeared. For many hours there was a superb cloud street a short way to the east, but for the majority of people who got under it, this just didn’t work. One HG pilot climbed out from Llangollen, flew over to the street, and then glided five miles under it to the ground. This was typical of the XCs of the day.
Not everyone had an extended flop over the top – as far as we know, the best flight was a hang glider, 40 something k. And Martin Knight managed to get under the cloud street later in the afternoon and did 20k (more with turn points) on his PG, which was excellent.
Judith flew at the start and end of the day, but didn’t manage to get away. Neither of us was in a particular rush, because we just assumed that the thermals would really start to build, go higher, and the day would get better. I flew a couple of hours on the HG, along with Wayne, but also didn’t get away, because the thermals continued to get weaker at 1600 or so, and I wanted a nice climb to go over the back with. In retrospect, I should just have stuck with it at that height, and drifted with it, hoping it would turn better as we got further from the ridge. I did try to fly along the ridge to get to the cloud street a couple of times, but didn’t make it.
I later spoke to one of the HG pilots who flies XC from there a lot, about the sink hole which is supposed to exist behind Llangollen. He said that it does exist, up to a point, as it does anywhere where the ground falls away behind you when you leave the ridge (you get the same effect in a westerly in the Peaks, as you leave the Peak District and go into the flatlands). However, once you get beyond it, the thermals pick up again, so make sure you’re high when you leave. Also the track is important – the more east you are, the less likely you are to get the sink because the valley which creates the sink flattens out. Much easier, of course, for hang gliders to avoid the sink – or just fly through it – than for PGs.
So in summary, flyable all day for HGs, much of the day for PGs, but it delivered a lot less than the sky promised in terms of XCs. I guess the lesson is make the most of what the day offers – take your opportunities, and go when you can, don’t expect it to get better. It might not!
Judith’s comments: I spent the time I wasn’t flying chatting, as you would expect! When we got to the site Ali was about to go tandem for the first time and she and Clive had a successful launch on the third attempt. We could hear her whooping from launch. She certainly seemed to enjoy the flight.
It was really nice to bump into Duncan from the Peaks whom we haven’t seen for years. He’s got a new ear which he let me use for a couple of practical jokes (see photos).
Friday, 30th May 2008
Geoff 30 May 2008 | : Archery, Flying
Judith: We had an active day, starting off with archery. It was pretty cloudy in Church Stretton, and we weren’t sure about the flying, but we took the PGs anyway. We then got a call from Graeme saying it was flyable at Llangollen, so off we went, arriving just after 2pm. Strong wind, but just compression, fine in the air. I launched from lower down the hill, and within a few minutes was 1800′ over. There wasn’t much drift in the thermal, so I was only marginally behind the masts. Cloudbase was about 2100′ ATO at the time, but I lost the thermal and then had to decide whether to head back to the ridge or go over the back.
It wasn’t much of a decision… I went on a glide. It’s always an adventure and you never know what’s going to happen next. What happened next was not a lot! I flew over a few guys learning to paraglide (they all stopped what they were doing to watch me fly over), I heard a beep over a farm and turned back but couldn’t find the thermal, so flew on. I saw a buzzard and got very exited only to find him fly off. I landed in a field next to a farmer spraying he gave me a cheery wave and Geoff called to say he was on his way. At this point I had no idea where I was, so when I got out of the field to walk to the village I flagged down the first car and he took me to Weston Rhyn, which was a bit out of the way for him so extremely kind of him to do so. Geoff came 3 minutes after I arrived and whipped me back up the hill. We flew again, and I got high again, but the sky downwind looked so poor it didn’t seem worth going over the back again.
Geoff was in the air as well and we could see wave bars forming upwind. It got quite bouncy at times, so we landed, packed up and raced to the supermarket to cater for the dinner we had with Martin and Ali later.
See video of Clive launching the tandem.
Thursday, 29th May 2008
Finally, some nice weather! The forecast was for light south easterlies and after much debating, phoning round, etc. we decided on Corndon.
On the way there, we got word that it was flyable and thermic at the Gyrn. On Corndon there was wind too and lots of birds thermalling. Graeme, James and Kai also turned up.
Once we were getting ready the wind (predictably) dropped, it turned further south and all the birds disappeared. Hmmmm…
Kai and James did a few hops but nothing seemed to be working. The birds which were left decided to play on the far south corner, but only did four 360s before flying off. I was going to fly to the south end to be closer to the birds, but worried about landing and getting bracken in my lines. So I sat tight and waited. Finally I saw a lonely swift heading out and getting up. He was bimbling about eating, but undoubtably going up and there was a tiny bit of wispy cloud forming above him. I decided just to go for it.
I flew out to where I thought the thermal would be and got good lift. I couldn’t turn straight away because the hill was too close, but I saw James heading towards me and Kai launched as soon as I had done my first 360. At 500′ ATO it got very rough and James climbed past me further out. By the time I had got back to the core, both Kai and James were above me and I was trying to find the core again.
James and I were committed to going over the back (me at 900 feet), but Kai flew back to top up in the lift. I was trying to be very patient so was circling in light lift. James got ahead of me to a dark cloud and I lost sight of him very quickly. Kai glided past me high above and as I lost the lift I followed him toward sun on the ground.
He started circling and I managed to get the thermal underneath him about 200 feet above the deck. I managed to maintain for a little while, but then conceded defeat and landed. Kai circled in zeros for another 20 minutes, slowly loosing height until he landed in the same field as I had. 6km. Not far, but good fun. We packed up and went to the pub.
Geoff’s comments: They all did well to get away on what was a very weak day. After they left, I launched and got one short climb to about 400′, but lost it, and had to land. That was it for the next few hours, with nil wind, and the sky closing in. Sam arrived about 4.30pm and I was starting to pack up, when the wind suddenly appeared again, off to the east. We carried over to the east face, and flew for over an hour, later joined by Wayne. No great height, 300 or so max, but easy to stay up and a pleasant evening’s soaring.
Tuesday, 27th May 2008
Judith 27 May 2008 | : Boring stuff
Another dull, grey day. We wanted to go flying at Corndon, but then the wind dropped to nothing, so we didn’t bother. Graeme reported some sunshine at 4pm, but it had gone by the time he had finished saying the sentence! We went for a game of squash instead.
Monday, 26th May 2008
Judith 26 May 2008 | : Boring stuff
The weather today. One consolation is that it’s just as bad in Catalonia.
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Sunday, 25th May 2008
Judith 26 May 2008 | : Miscellaneous activities
Pouring, howling… horrible weather. Geoff’s family visited and we went to Ludlow for the day.