June 2008
Monthly Archive
Monday, 16th June 2008
The forecast said light northerlies which would turn more westerly during the day. We decided to go to the Lawley, but stopped on the way at the Mynd. There it was SSW. The odd waft would come from the west, so we elected to stay there. Lots of others turned up and the sky looked fantastic. The cloud development looked like it should be booming everywhere. It wasn’t.
People got up basically one at a time, the rest slope landing or landing back on top. There were no birds to indicate thermals and people seemed to be getting up better in the wind after the thermal than in the warm bit before. A guy from up north was the first to go, followed later by Kai, then half an hour later by someone else.
I had a frustrating day. I wasn’t thermalling very well and kept losing out on the climbs, having to walk back up from low on the ridge several times, getting very hot and sweaty in the process. Geoff was also not doing well, bottom landing at one point. He did get up in a thermal later, got to base and headed off over the back (for a glide straight to the ground at Wenlock Edge). I tried to get in it, but launched too late. The thermals today were hard to work. Because the wind was light, I found it difficult to judge in which direction they were drifting and they would shift as they climbed through different layers of warm air at altitude. This is normal, but they seemed to be shifting in unpredictable directions and wide circles to find them again didn’t seem to work for me at all. Read more »
Sunday, 15th June 2008
The forecast for today was light and NW, which provides a multitude of sites you can go to, but also an agonising decision as to where it is going to be best. It was windy in the morning and reports from Llangollen said 31mph on take off there. People were flying the Lawley, and setting up on the Mynd, but Geoff, Wayne, Michaele and I decided to go to Fairbourne, as it looked a lot sunnier there.
It was sunny, but very windy. Wayne had a fantastic flight on his HG, crossing over towards Cader Idris and flying nearly to Barmouth and back. James D. and Phil B. did fly their PGs and it was fine once you got away from the ridge, but on launch the conditions were feisty, the wind was strong, and the rest of us didn’t fly.
We had a great dinner on the way home, next to the estuary whilst the sun was setting.
Saturday, 14th June 2008 – France
Judith 16 Jun 2008 | : Flying, France
We had a lie in to sleep off our hangovers from the night before and got up at 10am to find the campsite deserted. Most people had got an early start and we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to many of our camping neighbours and new friends. We packed up and got a lift to Sisteron with Mark G. who’d had even less sleep than us.
The Ozone Open was brilliant. It was a shame the weather wasn’t normal this year and that we only got three tasks, however, I learned loads about competition flying, and flying in general. The talks were excellent, but what was even nicer was the camaraderie amoungst the competitors. Everyone was helping each other out, discussing tactics and generally being nice to each other.
There was one accident during the comp and Yanis from Latvia had to be rescued from a tree. Whilst he was being taken to hospital, someone came and stole all his equipment, which was a really scummy thing to do. The person who won the free Ozone glider at the final night raffle donated his prize to the Latvian pilot, so he would at least have a wing. This kind of generosity and kindness was evident throughout the week.
I’m not really bothered about my placing in the competition. My aim had been to learn a lot and also to score for my team each day. I achieved the first by paying attention and the second by there only being three of us in the team. Having Gillian and Dennis there was a huge asset and their knowledge and advice on mountain flying and competition flying was invaluable.
Being there with Ruth was a hoot! We had such a good laugh. We’re definitely going again next year and have our eye on one of the luxury mobile homes already.
Thanks to Beyond Extreme for our team sponsorship. We were certainly the most visible team at the event.
Saturday, 14th June 2008 – UK
Nice day at the Mynd. Very light when I arrived, so set up the PG rather than the HG. People started flying, and getting reasonably high, but there were a lot of wave clouds around which made me nervous, so I didn’t launch. Three or four went XC, but seemed quite low. I decided to sit it out for a while to see if the wave clouds disappeared, and if it got better.
Sitting on the ground whilst others are flying is almost always a mistake. If it’s flyable, you should launch. In the end, I did launch, when there were fewer wave clouds, but really I should have been in the air much sooner. As it was, the wind was picking up, quite gusty, and I had an untidy launch straight into a thermal which took me up to 500′ or so – I didn’t circle because I didn’t want to drift over the back so low.
It took me about half an hour to get away, mostly stepping up and trying to fly forwards – often on speed bar, because I wasn’t penetrating much at all. It was also very rough. Finally, I got a thermal high enough to let myself drift over the back, and it took me to base – actually, a few hundred feet below, I didn’t want to go into cloud – at about 5000′ ASL. Flying towards Brown Clee, I heard Phil Bibby say he was at Clee Hill, and made my second mistake of the day. I did consider tracking a bit more south to follow him, but decided to carry on towards Bridgnorth. I got there easily, with a couple of more thermals, and went a bit beyond, but was getting worried about airspace again, so decided to just go for a glide and not bother about getting any further. Having picked out a nice landing field, and committed to it, on finals, inevitably a really strong thermal came off it, creating a – for me – very large collapse. Hands up sorted it, but I switched fields at the last minute and landed in a much smaller one, which was nice and grassy, and less likely to kick off. Read more »
Friday, 13th June 2008 – France
Howling when we got up, so they canned the day and briefed everyone for St Vincent and Mens, which are sheltered in a Mistral. At the briefing they gave out the prizes for day winners and also a special award for the competition idiot. I was hoping that this wouldn’t refer to my muppetry at forgetting my flight deck on Wednesday, but unfortunately they read my name out. I got a nice Ozone jacket and a very red face!
Ruth and I decided to go to Mens and we got a lift with Andy and Olli. Conditions there were not really like any I have had when we have been there before. Cloud base was higher than usual, there was sun on the ground and it was thermic, rather than getting the gentle cloud suck you usually get at Mens. Read more »
Friday, 13th June 2008
Flyable at the Mynd from early afternoon onwards. A bit weak at first, then the wind picked up and it got better. A little strong, but not too strong. More or less complete cloud cover; at times you could press out into the valley. Base – at that time – was only around 2000′ above launch. Not really an XC day, but pleasant.
I left around 4 or so (Judith’s parents coming over on their way from Spain to Scotland) but people were still flying around 8.00 p.m.
Thursday, 12th June 2008 – France
Judith 12 Jun 2008 | : Flying, France
Surprisingly not hungover this morning, although I should be. There is mistral this morning and they will re-brief at 12pm, although nobody is very hopeful.
They did re-brief at 12pm and decided to take us to Sederon as the local school proprietor reported decreasing wind strength. When we got there it was windy, and within half an hour howling. Dave did a briefing at the site so that we would have the info should we want to go free flying there. As he was pointing out thermal triggers a load of vultures came and illustrated his points, which was jolly nice of them.
We all drove back to the campsite and we got a lovely dinner at Vivi and Rande’s.