Judith's blog

Geoff writes: Judith is having trouble with her internet connection in Piedrahita, but will try and update the blog later from someone else’s computer. There was a 100k task today, the first of the comp, she did 30-odd km, but chose to land (as did others) because of the cloud development.

And in the UK, more hot humid weather, with occasional rain, and some strong winds. Work and archery was the agenda for today, though I did drive out early evening to Corndon just on the off-chance. But there was no-one else there I could see, and it started spitting again anyway as I arrived, and looked like it might start to rain harder. I gave up and went home.

There was also a task at the hang gliding comp in Laragne, but it was stopped part way through because of overdevelopment. Seems like everywhere is having the same weather pattern.

Judith writes: The first task today! Very exciting. I got the first bus up and got ready in a fairly relaxed fashion, which masked some of my nerves. With all the stories of ballistic thermals and rough conditions, I was very apprehensive. The task was a 100km race to goal via a turn point near Avila. Start was 7km from the take off with a start time of 1.30pm. I had promised myself that I wouldn’t be last off, and get in with an early gaggle. Despite the clouds, people were launching but struggling, so it seemed daft to go. We did some dancing on launch and then I decided it was about time I got ready. By the time I was ready to get off, I was the only one left. Ooops.

I lobbed off, got straight into a thermal, got to cloudbase at 3000m and then glided off to the start gate, arriving there with two minutes to spare. Although it would be nice to be able to claim this was a stroke of pure genius, it was complete beginner’s luck. I got to the pass and caught up with John Stevenson, Adrian Thomas and Ruud. They got into a better climb and I searched around trying to find lift. The tree covered ridge wasn’t working for me and the others glided off. I was determined to be patient and not to get gaggle drag, so I stuck to my searching and didn’t follow them low over the pass. Having exhausted the north side of the pass and found nothing, I tried the quarry. I hit a really good thermal and climbed back to cloudbase before crossing. Once over the pass, I then had to decided which route to take – the flatter, more chance of convergence south side (which was in sun), the valley or the northerly side which has the higher ridges. I went with the sun and headed along the south side. Typically, as everyone had told me it was very sinky over the pass. I got to nearly 300 feet above the gound and was thinking that it was all very nice to get over the pass, but that was obviously it for me for the day. My last chance of lift was over some rising scrubby ground in sunshine, and I hit a horrible rough thermal which made my wing collapse all over the place. I stuck with it and got up again, being joined by a few others. Half way through the thermal I decided that I needed to shift a little and got into a better climb, back high. A cloud on my left was getting really big, and I radioed in to say that the sky was over developing. As I glided in the direction of Avila a street of cumulus was forming in front of us blocking our path. They were getting bigger and bigger and I was debating what to do. People were radioing from positions ahead on the course saying that they were being sucked into cloud and in strong climbs and having to spiral.

John Stevenson and I tried  to fly along the line to try to fly around the development, but it wasn’t possible. I chose to land rather than carrying on into a sky which I knew wasn’t nice to be under. I burned off a load of altitude and got down fine. One Dutch guy got sucked into the cloud and spent ages getting out.

On the retrieve bus, everyone’s first question was ‘Did you land by choice?’ just because we all wanted to confirm that our decision was correct. Further ahead in the course it was ok, although a cell developed near goal and one did develop near us too. It was raining when we drove back to Piedrahita.

Good decision to land, I think.

What did I learn today?

1) Don’t get gaggle drag – don’t follow people if you don’t understand their decision.

2) Learn to glide more efficiently.

3) Don’t suppose everyone knows more than you. Especially if you are at the back of the field.

4) Don’t expect to always launch and thermal straight up and get the perfect start!

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Geoff writes: windy and stormy in Piedrahita, so no task today. Might be better tomorrow. I blame Judith…

Also the hang gliding worlds task today in France, at Laragne, was canned.

And back in the UK, I was considering going out this morning, but it was very cloudy, and started raining. Eventually cleared up, but then windy. Malverns also seemed to be blown out, though they might have flown in the Peaks – Andy went out for a look anyway. I did some conference work.

We seem to be stuck with this weather pattern for the rest of this week.

Judith writes: Windy so no task. I had told Dave about the pre-historic Iron Age hill fort near Avila and he was keen to go, as were his house mates. I spent a lovely day with Dave, Mo, Tony and Naomi eating tapas and then spending four hours wandering around Ulaca. It’s a stunning place. Photos to follow.

Then off to a BBQ with the Northern Irish and Scottish lads.

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Geoff writes: hot weather, humid, lots of big clouds, but never did rain. I was going to go to the Malverns, but the forecast was for it to go south quite quickly. In the end, I went to the Gyrn. It was, kind of, flyable, but very much off to the east. Had a couple of flights, got flushed on the last one. It seemed to stay east a lot longer than I expected, and probably I’d have been better off at Bache or Corndon. Don’t know if anyone did anything there.

Judith writes: It was clear from the outset that it would be too windy/stormy today. I went to the briefing and Mark Hayman gave us a really good briefing about the area and safety. I headed back to bed straight after… I wasn’t just hung over, but I am having trouble sleeping. Not what you need at a comp.

By the afternoon I was feeling ok again, so went to Nicky’s house and hung out with the lads. The sky was looking more and more impresive so I hooked up with Dave Thomson and we went storm chasing. It was absolutely amazing. We were treated to double rainbows, columns of rain, lightening, the lot. We were in awe of the spectacle we were seeing. Whilst we were driving around, Dave showed me the main thermal sources in the area.

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Howling in Piedrahita. So we are all at a fiesta in town and eating lunch. Looking windy tomorrow too…

Martin, who is in my house and I went for a wander and explored Piedrahita town. We had exhausted the delights of the place within half an hour, so went back to drinking beer. In the evening we had a house dinner, cooked by Bella and Jess. The atmosphere in our house is really nice. I didn’t know anyone before I got there, but we’re three English, three Americans and me and everyone has amazing stories of life and flying to tell. After dinner off to the bar, and I should never, ever accept free beer. Always fatal!

Geoff writes: in contrast, more or less nil wind here. A poor forecast, but the sky was better than I expected, so I went to the Mynd, where it was mostly zero mph. Only two or three people out, presumably put off by the lack of wind and the forecast showers. A couple of people lobbed off at different times, and went straight down. Very few birds. Nothing coming through on launch at all. The ground was still a bit damp after all the rain of yesterday. Finally gave up around 4.30 and came home to do some work. Maybe it was better on other sites – given that it didn’t overdevelop as I expected, Snowdonia might have been a better bet.

I’m a little more optimistic for tomorrow, forecast east or SE. Maybe the Malverns.

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We got to Madrid fine, but then Kai and I had to queue for ages to get the hire car. This put us squarely in the Friday evening rush hour and after getting stuck in two motorway jams, we decided to take the scenic route. After several passes I was tempted to start singing ‘The bear went over the mountains’. We ended up on roads which were too minor to be on the map. We did stop off for a quick bite to eat at 9.30pm and finally got there at 11pm! Five hours to get there.

A couple of bottles of wine with Nicky later, we staggered to bed in a lovely house in town.

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Geoff writes: up early to take Judith and Mark Leavesley to meet Kai Coleman and Neil Roberts, for the drive to Liverpool to catch the flight to Piedrahita, for the British Open (and Championships). They picked a good day to go, since we have had some torrential rain today, though the weekend could be ok, with either light easterlies or light westerlies depending on which forecast you want to believe.

The comp starts on Sunday, with a practice day tomorrow. During the comp, Judith will be updating the blog regularly with reports from Spain. The forecast for Spain is, I think, good.

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Another breezy day with weird clouds. We canned the flying pretty early on and worked and went to archery. Then back home to pack.

I am off to Piedrahita tomorrow morning for the British Open. It’s my first big comp and I have to admit, I am pretty nervous. I entered the comp because I have been working on my flying generally, to try to improve my XC skills. It seemed to make sense to have a goal to work towards to help me to do this in a more structured way. So last November I decided to wait and see where the venues for the Opens were and if one of them appealed to me I would see if I could get an entry. I am not doing the full series, only the Spanish round.

Spain is the obvious choice for a place to go and I have flown Piedrahita unsuccessfully in the past (it was April – the snow had only just cleared from take-off), so I thought it would be good to give it another go. I didn’t fancy the other rounds and for me this is just a way of dipping in my toes, to see if it’s for me.

I am under no illusion as to how well I will do. If I come in the top 75% I will be thrilled. Basically, my ambition is not to come last. So what do I hope to get out of it?

1) I want see if comps are for me. I went to the Chabre Open, but we only flew three tasks, each of which was cancelled after I was only part way round. I am an ambitious person, but not very competitive, so I’m not really sure if I will enjoy comps and if I have the killer instinct (probably not). However, I seemed to have a different attitude to flying at the comp last year and it will be interesting to see how I feel when in this one.

2) I want to fly abroad in the summer and see how that goes. Before France last year, I had never flown a paraglider abroad in summer. It all seemed a lot safer on a hang glider. However, it wasn’t so bad last year. I’ve been working towards this comp by flying in the Pyrenees and pre-Pyrenees in spring time, which was pretty rock’n’roll at times. I also did the SIV course to get more confidence on the wing,  so we’ll see how I cope in the rough stuff.

3) I’d like to land each day and feel that I learnt something. I have a de-brief buddy lined up and I hope to talk though each flight with Dave to talk about how I did, where I made mistakes, etc.

4) And most importantly, enjoy the food, friends and the sunshine!

Wish me luck…

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