August 2008
Monthly Archive
Saturday, 23rd August 2008
Super Saturday! We vowed before to go to the Peaks if the forecast was SSW or SW, so we did. There were other good reasons to go there too, other than just better site choice. The wind was forecast to pick up (Clatter, Camlo, etc. would blow out very early), a warm front was approaching from the W, so we would have more of the day in the Peaks which is obviously further east. We got up at 6.30am and hooked up with Wayne and Michaela and headed for the hills.
The plan was to go to Eyam (SSW), but approaching it we could see people going XC from Bradwell (W). Hmmmm… It was coming on at Eyam at times, but there was little lift around and reports from Stanage (SW) said that wind was on and light. We headed there. As we walked up with hill, people were slowly getting high and two drifted over the back. Others were heading over from Bradwell and carrying on, having topped up at Stanage. Wayne was off first, but there was little lift. I launched second, in strengthening wind and struggled for 40 mins to get more than 250 feet. Given the fantastic sky, you would have thought we were trying to stay low! Wayne decided to do something more interesting, and headed along the ridge to the trig point. As he was there (about 2km away from Geoff and me) I hit the thermal (I say ‘the’ thermal, because there was only one) and shouted to them on the radio to join me. It was strong and took us up and out. Wayne raced back, but couldn’t get in it.
My climb out was much flatter and the drift took me over the back lower than Geoff, who was in a better part of the climb. I thermalled all the way over the north of Sheffield in the same climb. It was the biggest built up area I have ever flown over, and I was a bit intimidated. Read more »
Friday, 22nd August 2008
Forecast was for sunshine and showers. Which is the forecaster’s cop out of the summer…
The forecast said it would pick up in the afternoon but unfortunately we had to fix Geoff’s radio in the morning. We raced out, but it was heavily overcast by the time we got to the Long Mynd. First person we bumped into was Helen Gant from the Peaks, trying to get away from the breeze up north. It was getting stronger as we set up, so I got 4kg of ballast and launched.
It was difficult to get high as the lift/drift ratio was pretty poor. You would turn and be straight over the back and then have to spend time pushing back upwind. I was penetrating ok but Geoff was getting increasingly worried about the increasing wind so he landed to see how things would work out. Mistake. Always best to be in the air, as often you land and then can’t get off again in the compression on the hill.
Within a couple of minutes of him landing I found a strong climb which took me up more vertically and I managed to get to 1200ATO without having to commit too low. I drifted over the back with it, with Helen joining the climb to come with me. I lost the climb half way over the Mynd, but was committed so I flew towards Ragleth and got another climb in the valley. Helen came to join me and we thermalled over towards Wenlock Edge. Helen glided off and found our third climb, and we were shouting at each other how nice it was to be flying together, etc. Actually, a lot of what we were shouting was “What?”, “I can’t hear you!”, “Say again…”, but it was nice to be chatting anyway.
Helen has a faster glider than me and she was ahead of me in the turn, so I was looking over my shoulder to see her. I got a big crick in my neck and vowed that if I found the next thermal I’d change turn direction just to even up the crick. We circled in zeros for what seemed like hours. Helen went off searching, whilst I stayed in half up, half down stuff and managed to fly about 1.5km further than her (if that). We should have landed together, really. We did 18km, landing somewhere between Wenlock Edge and Clee Hill.
She got the instant ride back to the ridge she is famous for, and I got a lift off a lovely guy who had had a bad day and wanted to do someone a good turn, so he drove past his house (2 minutes from where he picked me up) and drove me 15 miles to Church Stretton. Helen kindly set out to pick me up and she got to her original landing field as I was having tea with Rachael in the Beyond Extreme shop.
Too windy and off to the north when we got back up to launch, so we serviced Geoff’s HG instead. I was pleased with the flight today. It wasn’t easy. The lift was ‘wishy-washy’ as Helen said, and there was no sun on the ground, so given that, we did ok really.
Geoff: Yes, shouldn’t have landed, but was a bit worried about the wind picking up on my slow 1/2. In the end, after Judith left, I pulled myself together and flew for an hour or so. Most I could get was just over 1000′ – I maybe should have drifted with that, but it was taking me directly over the gliding club launch, and I was reluctant to do that. Then the wind picked up, and I managed to top land, going backwards rather fast.
Still, a fun day, I enjoyed the flying. But I ought to read my own XCs tips, and never land before I’ve gone XC …..
Thursday, 21st August, 2008
Geoff 21 Aug 2008 | : Archery, Flying
Geoff: Amazing day – it didn’t rain much, and wasn’t blown out all day! Very unusual.
Spent the morning working – our conference in November means gradually increasing amounts of work. Around 1.30, went off to do archery, and had a nice time. A few people there but not too many, and we shot OK, still at 50 yards, but plenty of golds.
Then drove back over the Long Mynd, wind dropping, people flying. We 3jammed it (maybe the flying had just started, and that was why no-one else 3jammed it). Flew for over an hour, whole ridge working, nice evening. Then off to the Crown in Wentnor for a few beers with Michaela, Martin and Mark the vet. Overall, a very pleasant day. No XCs, but a lot better than we have had for the past week.
Wednesday, 20th August 2008
Judith 21 Aug 2008 | : Archery
Rain, rain, go away.
To be fair, a couple of people did fly this morning, although it was pretty strong and they didn’t seem to stay in the air for very long. We ventured out to do some archery, but it started raining as soon as we strung the bows and we had to shelter for 10 minutes. We would do five minutes of shooting and would then have to shelter from more rain until we had enough and went home to do some work. We timed it perfectly… on the way home it really started to pour. So, two and a half hours out for 25 minutes of archery. Worth it? Not sure.
Tuesday, 19th August, 2008
Geoff 19 Aug 2008 | : Boring stuff
Geoff: Wind, work, family visits. But finally, our broadband has come back, so we can blog away quite happily.
Not that there’s anything to say. Forecast poor for the next few days. If August stays bad, we’ll almost certainly go to Spain early September, rather than mid-October.
Monday, 18th August, 2008
Geoff 19 Aug 2008 | : Boring stuff
Geoff: Rain, wind, work…. capped off by our broadband connection going down late afternoon. Just what we need when preparing a big online conference. I’m currently arguing with our provider who says it is my network, whilst I say it is either them or BT. This could go on. In the meantime, we’re on dialup. Great.
Oh, and our archery club was broken into at the weekend, loads of equipment stolen. So if anyone comes into the pub offering cheap bows and arrows, you know where it came from.
Sunday, 17th August 2008
Judith 18 Aug 2008 | : Boring stuff
There was a sunny interlude this afternoon, but I wasn’t very well, so we didn’t go out. There were a couple of hopefuls on the Mynd at lunchtime, but it was way off to the south and then it promptly picked up. It rained in the evening. We had to put the heating on this evening. In August!