May 2008
Monthly Archive
Friday, 16th May 2008
Judith 16 May 2008 | : Boring stuff
Horrible weather. Rain most of the day, then dank and grey. We worked.
Thursday, 15th May 2008
Forecast for today was rain from lunchtime onwards, so we decided to spend the day working. However, Geoff sneaked off to check the weather machine and it seemed flyable at Corndon. I wanted to check my speedbar and ballast bag, so off we went.
It was grey and dank, but Dave B. was already in the air, so we raced up the hill. It was strongish, so trying the ballast bag was going to work. Dave landed and reported that the conditions were like bad porridge, cold and lumpy.
I launched from the saddle and flew up the rocks. It was possible to push out in front without losing much, on the other hand, there wasn’t much lift about either. On the ground the wind was picking up and Geoff couldn’t get off. I started to go backwards so got to use the speedbar as well. In the end I bimbled about for 25 minutes and then top landed by the cars. We felt a spot of rain so packed up. Meanwhile, Graeme and Mick turned up as well and Graeme took off half way down the hill while Mick flew his model. On the way home it started spitting, so perfect timing… though the rain never really came in, and it was probably flyable for much longer than we expected.
Wednesday, 14th May 2008
Judith 14 May 2008 | : Archery, Flying
The forecast was windy and it seemed that way at 10.30am. We did a bit of work, then went and did some archery and then phoned the weather station around 2.30 to see what was happening, because the sky looked so good. It was giving 4 – 22mph, which sounded rough, and we assumed it would be an underestimate anyway because it was east and the Mynd is, of course, a west facing ridge. But the sky looked good, so we went to Corndon anyway.
On the hill it was blowing a constant 16 – 20mph – perfect for hang gliding. Geoff rigged fast and launched. He thermalled up to 1000 ATO, but lost it and came back to the front. 20mins later he top landed because his vario batteries had gone flat (in spite of them being relatively new!). The wind picked up whilst he was in the air and it was blowing over 20-odd mph when we decided to pack up for the evening. Graeme came out with his HG, as were were carrying down, and Mark Leavesley flew his new race harness before going to the PWC, but it was still blowing fairly strongly in our garden at 7.30pm when we got home, so not really paraglideable for me.
In retrospect, it was a mistake to go out so late – we were put off by the large variation in wind speed, but it would have been much better to be on the hill, and see what it was really like. A good XC day missed, at least for Geoff on the hangie. If it’s marginal, always better to be on the hill, rather than trying to second guess what the conditions will be like. If you’re not there, you can’t fly. A lesson we repeatedly have to relearn!
Tuesday, 13th May 2008
Judith 13 May 2008 | : Boring stuff
Beautiful, hot, sunny day. Howling. We did the garden.
Monday, 12th May 2008
Geoff’s turn to write
Judith and I went flying at Corndon. We were running a little late because Judith had to have the stitches out of her knees. As we arrived, around 11.45, Richard, Nigel and Dan had been paragliding, but had landed, because the wind was picking up. Wes and Jim arrived from the Peaks with Jim’s hang glider. Jim and I rigged the HGs, I lauched first and Jim followed. After about 50 minutes of not getting high at all, and getting trashed a little, Jim bottom landed and I top landed.
I sat around for an hour or two, as the sky got worse – the cumulus never really formed nearby. It was still too windy for PGs. Eventually, I saw a cumulus forming above and launched, about 4.40 pm – slightly more lift than before, but it didn’t seem like I could go anywhere. I decided to top land again, but then promptly got a nice thermal which took me to just under base at around 5500 feet, so I went with it. Got low at Montgomery, then got another and climbed a few thousand feet almost to base. By that time I was well past Welshpool, but the sky was really hazy, the ground was getting higher, what I could see looked like the real boonies, and it was late – so I decided to land, flying through another thermal, having done 30k or so. It was the real boonies, on top of a plateau. But a two mile walk to a pub followed by Judith retrieving me ended the day.
Had I been on the PG, I would probably have carried on, since both the landing (not needing a nice flat field) and the walk out (not carrying a HG) would have been much less of an issue.
It never did get flyable for PGs.
Sunday, 11th May 2008
Michaela, Wayne, Geoff and I went to the Malverns. It was the first time any of us (except Wayne) had flown the hill, but the forecast indicated that east would be best. We got there and people were already getting high.
After assessing the conditions (i.e. having some sandwiches), Wayne launched first and climbed straight up and out from the hill. I launched second and climbed straight to 3500ATO. I lost the thermal and went on a glide to the next cloud but couldn’t work it properly. Three of us were hunting around in the same area but no one was finding anything, so I flew off to a factory with earthworks in front of it. The earth was dark brown and churned up and I was praying it would work, and it did! I climbed 1200 feet and headed for the gap in airspace around Hereford. I was on a good line to miss the airspace, but didn’t find another thermal, so was down at 24km. Very disappointing, given how good the day was.
As I was in the landing field, Wayne overflew me (who sold him that good looking glider?). He got to Hay-on-Wye for a personal best, around 55k. Well done, Wayne!
Geoff got to north west of Hereford (33km), his longest PG flight, but again should have got further. His mistake was taking a long glide to the north of Hereford to avoid airspace, but the cloud was just too far – obviously forgetting, again, that he was on a PG not an HG. Max height was 5764′, still well below cloudbase.
Michaela had a great day, her longest ever flight with over two hours air time.
All in all, an epic day, high base, smooth thermals, lots of cumulus… it seems likely that some long distances were done.
Tracklogs, etc available from link on right – our XC flights.