May 2010
Monthly Archive
Sunday, 9th May 2010
Geoff writes: in spite of a forecast which hinted the wind might be too strong, we decided to go, with the British Club Challenge, to Corndon. As usual there it was just launching into thermals, not much ridge lift, but a good sky. In the end, almost everyone got away, except me and Judith – we always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, usually walking back up the hill after slope landing. Incredibly frustrating. Finally, we gave up and went home – but some very long distances were done today!
Judith writes: I was assuming it would be blown out, so had that extra pint of cider at the Bash, which in retrospect was a mistake. I wasn’t badly hungover, in fact, apart from the blurry vision, I felt fine. The cycles to get away in were few and far between and the couple of times I launched into thermals I was surrounded by others and some of the airmanship was pretty shocking. A couple of people were taking the comp so seriously they were flying far more aggressively than was necessary and twice I landed because it just wasn’t worth the risk staying in the thermal with them. If the particular pilots were so desperate to get up that they would endanger others, then they’re welcome to it!
It was also pretty rough in the air, and two pilots were dumped from about 5m when they had collapses after launching. Luckily both hit thick heather, but knowing how many rocks there are on Corndon, I have a healthy level of caution…
Saturday, 8th May 2010
Geoff 09 May 2010 | : Party, party, party...
Geoff writes: tonight was the night of the LMSC Big Bash, at the Powis Arms – food, prizes, beer, music and dancing. It seemed to go pretty well, and the 40 or 50 people there enjoyed it, I think. Ellie and Judith presented the prizes and awards, and a full list of these will be on the LMSC site shortly. A good night out!
Judith writes: Good fun and nice that despite the terrible weather lots of people turned up. We did ok for prizes too. I won highest placed female LMSC pilot in the national XC league and more importantly, LMSC coach of the year, as voted by the membership. Geoff got most votes for outstanding contribution to the club. We were both very touched!
Friday, 7th May 2010
Geoff writes: after a warm and sunny April, we’ve slipped into a cold, wet and windy May. Today we assembled some of the furniture we got from Ikea yesterday, and also went to do some shooting at the archery field.
We also spent a while watching the general elections results – always interesting to watch, though whoever you vote for the government gets in (as I happily sprayed on a lot of walls around the country when I was younger).
Tomorrow is the LMSC Big Bash – really looking forward to it, should be fun. There was a competition planned too on our sites, but at least for Saturday that is cancelled.
Thursday, 6th May 2010
Judith 07 May 2010 | : Boring stuff
We had the day all planned out, but the weather was even worse than we thought, so a re-think was required. Rather than archery and some DIY, we went to Ikea in Birmingham. After a nearly disastrous trip to Ikea Badalona in 2003, we have avoided the place completely, but we really need some furniture.
Big shops put us in foul moods, but we managed to get round and buy everything we went for without major incidents. I did need a siesta when we got home though. Then more Bash prep and we stayed up till 2.30am watching the election.
Wednesday, 5th May 2010
Judith 05 May 2010 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
The sun didn’t wake us this morning, so we overslept and opening the curtains inspired us to go back to bed and back to sleep! Mick was enthusiastic about the day and my not complete rubbishing of the conditions at the Long Mynd had him coming out. Unfortunately, when he got to our house it was spitting and the ridge had a faint mist hanging over it. Ever the optimist, he went up regardless, but all it inspired me to do was get the paint pot out. The hall is now half done…
At 3pm, Mick was getting reasonable heights and a couple of other people had joined him, and it also seemed a bit brighter, so we headed out on our way the Shrewsbury. What we couldn’t see from our house was the rain just to the north west, north, east, all around really. We didn’t get the gliders out of the car, but it just goes to show if you have a little faith, you get to fly, as Mick did for quite a while today.
We went off to Shrewsbury to sort out buying a new car and then met Ellie to make final preparations for the Bash on Saturday. Should be a great night out!
Tuesday, 4th May 2010
Geoff writes: we thought the forecast was quite poor, with it likely to blow out soon, and a front coming in, so we wrote off the day, and Judith started painting the hall. But it soon became clear that the day was not blown out, and the sky looked better than we expected. So we went off to Sarn. Shortly after we got there, James and Kai climbed out – with some others – whilst we stood on the ground watching (rather stupidly, but it seemed very rough). James and Kai went XC, the others came back.
And then it got more difficult to get up, with various people having a go, then top or slope landing because it wasn’t really working well enough to get high. I had a long walk up from part way down the hill at one point, as did Judith and others. But finally, the wind picked up a little, and we all launched. It was easy to stay up, but we seemed to drift back fairly quickly. Coming back to the front, Mark picked up something just in front, so we all joined him, and climbed out – Mark left it, he was guiding, but Neil Roberts, Judith and I stayed with it. Neil and Judith eventually caught me up, but then Neil went back to the front, whilst Judith and I stayed with it, though it was getting weaker (or maybe we just were losing it). As we drifted over the back, I stayed with what we had, Judith went hunting for the core. The result was that she ended up a couple of hundred feet below me, and eventually landed. I was expecting to join her, but got a climb from the downwind edge of a ploughed field, which took me to base, at around 4800′. I managed to follow the cloud street for a while, topping up, then went for another cloud, but got low just past Knighton. Again, I was going to land, but again got a climb – took it to around 3000′, but stupidly lost it, and that was what ultimately put me on the ground, though I did drift for a while in zeros and one.
So, a careless mistake, losing concentration a little, put me down, but the flight was a good one. 41km, to south of Kington. Though I’m sure (and so are Kai and James) that there was a lot more potential in the day.
And the retrieve was even better. Before I was even out of my harness, Graeme, Odette, Kai and James drove up – they’d seen me land, and Graeme had just retrieved Kai and James from where they had landed near me. The fastest retrieve ever!
Monday, 3rd May 2010
Judith 03 May 2010 | : Archery
Windy, but mostly sunny today, and really cold. Because it’s a holiday, we decided to go to archery early to avoid the crowds. A good plan that worked well until 1pm, when loads of people arrived. A couple of people shooting takes no time at all, a but a group works at the pace of the slowest, so there’s a fair bit of standing around, which is ok when your fingers don’t feel like they’re going to drop off any minute. It was useful practice, but I am looking forward to my new bow string arriving, so I can tune and get to know the bow properly.
Once we’d done shooting, it was off to do more DIY. Geoff has got the van sale-ready and I started painting the hallway. It was rapidly becoming my never-ending project, but I am hoping to have it done by Wednesday. The house will look like someone else’s.
At sunset the whole Long Mynd was bathed in this weird pink/orange light and was glowing as if on fire. The pictures don’t do it justice…