July 2008
Monthly Archive
Wednesday, 23rd July 2008
Geoff writes: Went to Bache. Phil Bibby was there with his XC group; others were Phil and Carol Wallbank, James D, Graeme, Steve L. – a busy day for Bache. Very cloudy at first, but gradually opened up, but it was a slow start. Base was very low, about 3100′ ATO. Judith went with a climb, tried to get back to the front and had to land and carry back to to relaunch. Meanwhile James had left, for a short flight to the ground. Just after Judith launched, Phil B, Phil W, John and I climbed out, and Judith managed to get into the thermal too. We all got to base. John went back to the front, Phil B, Judith and I went on a glide. I went to a cloud which as soon as I got there started decaying, headed for a tractor in a field, which didn’t work, and landed for 9km. Phil B followed me, and also went down, one or two km further on. Judith went for a perfect ground trigger of a tractor in a field, an into wind ridge behind – and it did work, but unfortunately after she had landed. Three successive buzzards climbed out from her landing field as she packed up. 7km.
Phil W very sensibly held back a bit, had more patience, and made around 30km. Steve L won the day though, leaving last and making a lot more – 50Km maybe.
In retrospect we left a bit too early and were too impatient. Also, flying into a decaying cloud is a classic mistake!
Thanks to Carol for the excellent retrieve, and we ended up with a nice couple of pints in the beer garden in the Castle pub in Bishops Castle. Tomorrow is another day….
Tuesday, 22nd July 2008
Not nearly as good a day for XC as we expected. Also, Judith wasn’t feeling too well today, so didn’t fly, so Geoff is writing this. It has been flyable on the Mynd more or less all day – a bit strong earlier on, but easy enough to penetrate once off the ridge – as shown by the many red streamers flying. I launched around 2.00, but didn’t get away until nearly 3.00. There were thermals, but broken. I finally got to base, a massive 1600 feet above the mynd, so slightly over 3000′ ASL – which is not a lot! I went with it anyway, drifted a bit, but unfortunately there was a very, very large blue hole over the back. The nearest clouds were miles away. I drifted, climbed a bit a couple of times, but ended up landing near Wenlock Edge. Naturally, half an hour after landing the clouds were developing nicely; but by the time I got back to the Mynd, after Judith picked me up, the day for XC was over, though it remained flyable until well in the evening.
Had I left maybe 45 minutes later, I would probably have connected with the clouds, and maybe gone a bit further; but at least in this part of the UK, I don’t think it was an epic XC day. Oh well, better to try and fail….
Monday, 21st July 2008
The forecast was for an epic day. Some people were even predicting a record breaking day. However, in the event is was very windy. Kai came to our house to work and wait it out and some phoning around later had us all going to Clunbury.
When we arrived it was gusty; sometimes very light and then blowing through strongly. Phil B. was first to launch followed by Kai, Graeme, Richard O. and James. It was well off to the west and bumpy. James eventually flew into the valley to try and get up, but ended up landing at the bottom. Phil found it rough, and also went to bottom land. Richard slope landed and Graeme was blown over the back where he connected with a thermal and went XC.
Kai stuck it out on the ridge and got a broken thermal which took him over the back too. He got very low (down to 100 feet or so) in the valley behind and them hooked a thermal to climb back out to 2000′. Very impressive. He went on to do 64km, all whilst circling. Apparently he didn’t glide at all. Graeme did a PG PB of 30km.
We decided it was too far off and by this time the lulls had gone and it was just windy, so we packed up and went to the Long Mynd. It was still windy there, and we waited until 7pm to take off. It was a nice boat about, with the highlight being that a balloon came along the ridge which some of us headed towards to have a look at. Wayne flew over on the HG and he wasn’t sure if they were waving at him, or shaking their fists. You never can tell with Wayne.
It suddenly picked up again at 8pm and lots of us landed going backwards, so some interesting arrivals. People did fly again later in the evening, when it calmed again.
Sunday, 20th July 2008
Judith 21 Jul 2008 | : Miscellaneous activities
We had great hopes for today. Everyone did. However, it turned out far too windy to do any flying. Which was a shame, as it was Geoff’s first choice of activity for his birthday. Instead we decided to do a tour of some of the historical buildings round here we have not seen yet.
We started with Acton Burnell, just north of the Lawley. Then on to Buildwas Abbey near Ironbridge. Both were small, but nice. We were going to go to Wenlock Edge for birthday cake in a coffee shop, but decided to go to the Museum of Iron in Ironbridge instead. It’s really good!
Driving back home over the Long Mynd it was still too windy and too far off to the north. It was even too windy at 11pm when we drove back over the Mynd having been for a curry in Church Stretton, although it would have been bright enough to fly by the light of the full moon.
Saturday, 19th July 2008
Judith 20 Jul 2008 | : Walking
It’s a pretty depressing sight when you open the curtains in mid-July and find that all the local hills are clagged in! The morning looked and felt like October with rain and very strong winds.
I am getting pretty fed up with the way this month is shaping up and spent most of the day sulking. Graeme came round in the afternoon to show us his new little blue TT convertible. Very nice. The sky was brightening up in the evening, so we decided to stretch our legs and we went for a walk up the hill behind the house. It was beautiful. Visibility was stunning and the evening light made the scenery look lovely.
We walked up Norbury Hill, then across to Linley Hill and down through Linley back to Norbury village. Swift pint in the Sun and a look at the 2700 year old yew in the church yard, we walked back home at 9.15pm to see a PG flying on the Long Mynd.
Friday, 18th July 2008
Judith 19 Jul 2008 | : Archery
Bad forecast again. Grey and overcast from the word go. We worked a bit, then went to do a bit of archery. The improvements of yesterday were in vain. I was back to my usual erratic form, but for different reasons. Ho hum.
As we went back home over the Long Mynd and Nigel R. was flying his micro wing, but there was a lot of rain in the valley. He flew his normal wing later, but again there was rain looming, so I went to the gym instead. We went for a few beers in Bishops Castle later with Wayne.
Thursday, 17th July 2008
Judith 17 Jul 2008 | : Archery
Another rubbish weather day. We worked, then went to archery. As we left home you couldn’t see the Long Mynd for cloud. This didn’t put off Mr. Keen (otherwise known as Rich Chaffe), whom we met coming the other way.
At the archery field I met Tom, one of the coaches, and after 5 minutes of his time, he had ironed out most of my recent problems. We shot at 50 yards, a distance we hadn’t tackled yet, and didn’t do too badly.