April 2009
Monthly Archive
Thursday, 23rd April 2009
Judith 24 Apr 2009 | : Party, party, party..., Trying, but failing, to fly
Happy Birthday, Wayne!
Weather turned out better than expected, so after various appointments in the morning, we headed out to Clatter, where Martin said the wind was on and 8 – 14mph. On getting there, it had picked up and Martin confirmed it was rough in the air. The high cloud was established and any cumulus very far away.
We sat around chewing the fat for a while, and Martin gave it another go once the wind dropped again. It looked pretty bouncy and 10 minutes later the wind was strong again, so we decided not to bother. Mark the vet flew his HG, but I’m not sure if he managed to get away at all.
We met up with Martin in Caersws (SP?), in one of the best tearooms ever, for scones with jam and cream and then headed off to Bishop’s Castle to celebrate Wayne getting older.
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009
Judith 23 Apr 2009 | : Boring stuff
International forecasters of the world unite! They’re all as bad as each other. Today should have been S or SSW, sunny and not too windy to fly. In the event, it was strong, SW and completely overcast all day.
We didn’t bother, so did some work instead. Now it looks like we are in for a few days of bad weather, so no flying for a while.
Tuesday, 21st April 2009
Judith 22 Apr 2009 | : Archery, Trying, but failing, to fly
Everyone was eagerly awaiting today. The forecast seemed perfect. Lightish westerly winds and sunny. When we woke up this seemed to be confirmed but half an hour later, the wind seemed to be picking up, and half an hour after that, it was blown out for paragliders. We drove up anyway, but it was howling when we got on top. Lots of people had turned up, but we were pretty pessimistic about the prospects of the wind dropping so we headed to Church Stretton to sort out our archery club membership.
It was really nice to catch up with the archery guys and we got all our kit sorted and went to shoot. Because it’s been seven months, I assumed I would be pretty rusty (i.e. crap) but with a few tips from Jeff the coach, I was shooting better than I had at the end of last season, after six months practise.
Archery is very relaxing, and after spending five hours in the sunshine, I was pretty mellow, although my shoulders were aching. Big wave bars had formed over the Long Mynd, so we had written the flying off and it was still howling when we drove past launch on the way home. It did drop off at 6.30pm, and many people had a late evening flight.
Monday, 20th April 2009
Beautiful sunny day. NE forecast, but basically nil wind. We had a few things to sort out this morning, so decided to stay local instead of going to the Malverns, which was probably the place to be. We headed to Corndon under an excellent sky and sat on the east face, where it was mostly blowing NW or N. In the half an hour we sat there, we saw one bird thermalling – every other one was a flapper. The clouds started to get bigger and the area was in shade for some time.
We then walked up to the trig point where there was a little more wind and waited for a sign. Eventually I saw a swift which was climbing so I took off in pursuit. I got little blobs but was too close to the hill to work it. I bottom landed and we decided to go home and do some gardening instead.
Sunday, 19th April 2009
Geoff writes: North east today, so a choice of sites. Corndon is the closest, but we decided to go to the Malverns with the BCC. There was a memorial flight at Corndon for Gordon, organised by Mark Leavesley. This was very well attended, and included some of Gordon’t family who drove down from Scotland. I think they appreciated the event very much.
On the way to the Malverns, we decided to divert to Pandy, because there seemed to be a lot of north in it. Arriving at Pandy, it seemed a mistake – people lobbed off at intervals, but no-one did very much. Eventually, after a couple of hours waiting, it began to improve, and I launched and managed to get up, followed a short while later by Judith. We did the whole ridge run to just short of Hay Bluff, making a flat triangle, which with a multiplier came to 55k. It was far from a no-brainer, and did require thermalling to cross from one ridge to the next. On the other hand, it still was mostly a ridge run, and a multiplier of 2 seems quite a lot. Anway, the flight was a lot of fun. Wayne also had a good flight, and Michaela and Luke also flew.
Saturday, 18th April 2009
Geoff 19 Apr 2009 | : Party, party, party..., Trying, but failing, to fly
Geoff writes: after all the events of the last week, an excellent day. It was both the day of the Long Mynd Soaring Club social, the Big Bash; and a round of the British Clubs Challenge, an inter club competition.
The PG part of the comp was at Corndon, the HG at the Malverns. Great sky at Corndon, but strongish wind. In the end, most people flew and many got away, with the best distance being around 45k, I think, by Dave Thomas. Judith and I didn’t fly, partly because we both hate the combination of strong wind and thermals; partly because it was our first day at Corndon since Sunday. However, everyone who did fly did so without incident, apart from one tree landing, and one person who got dragged onto a barbed wire fence. No injuries though, apart from to the gliders. So it was a good day for the comp. Not sure which club won at this stage.
The evening was the Bash at the Powis Arms, the event Judith and Michaela have been preparing for ages. Around 70 people turned up, which was excellent. Food, drink, prizes, music. Prize winners included Kai Coleman and Jason Smith (longest XC from Mynd site, highest placed National League pilot, PG and HG respectively), Ellie Hoskins (best new PG pilot), Andrew Donnison (weather guru and coach of the year), Richard Chaffe (unsung hero award), Judith (most improved PG pilot, highest placed female league pilot, from the Mynd, outstanding contribution to the club) and me (highest placed PG league newcomer, bent metal trophy). A full list of award winners will be on the Mynd forum.
I’m probably a bit biased, but I thought it was a really good night out, and an excellent event all round.
See photos of the flying today.
Friday, 17th April 2009
Judith 18 Apr 2009 | : Boring stuff
More bad weather in the morning. By lunchtime it started to brighten up and we were hopeful about being able to go out flying. Michaela and I put the finishing touches to the Bash arrangements and it should be a good night, so long as I don’t fall over in my high heels.
We didn’t go out in the end, too much to do and the weather wasn’t that stunning afterall.