June 2010
Monthly Archive
Wednesday, 30th June 2010
Judith 30 Jun 2010 | : Archery, Flying, Work
We were wage slaves this morning and had a meeting. We pretended that we were in big demand by our clients, when all the phone calls that interrupted the proceedings were actually about flying. Ooops.
Once we were done with the meeting it was later than we thought, and certainly too late to go to the Peaks which, by my reading of the forecast, was where we should have been. We dithered for a while and were distracted by the HG comp, which had gone to the Long Mynd. Looking through the binoculars, you could kid yourself that it was a bit more on the hill, so we had a first look there. It was basically south, but they didn’t fancy the launching options (over the fence) in light wind at Clatter. We got a kind offer of being wind dummies for the comp, but the thought that if we had been lucky enough to get up in a thermal we would have been mobbed by 60 hang gliding vultures was way too scary, so we declined and hoofed over to Clatter.
We got there too late and the front out to the west was too close, mostly shutting the sky down. It was still thermic though. I launched first and got up to 850′ in a slow, smooth thermal, which petered out. Strongest lift I got was 1.1m/s, biggest sink I got was 2.2m/s. You get the idea…
It wasn’t enough to go XC with, but Martin got to base at 4500′, but the sky downwind didn’t look good, so he had a play and practice, just enjoying being in the air, looking at the scenery and staying high. At one point there were cumulus forming under him. How amazing.
Geoff and I both got highish again, but never enough even to consider going over the back. In the end, the wind picked up and we all had a good old fashioned soaring flight – something I have never done at Clatter! Geoff led the way to the ridge to the west and I got a completely new view of the place. Martin, Geoff and I landed back at the cars, while David McKenzie played in the buoyant air.
We really wanted to go to the HG comp prize giving, but missed it as we were driving back, so we went to do some evening archery instead. My new limbs (as in part of the bow) arrived yesterday and it was fantastic. Finally the right poundage! Chairman Tom lent me his allen keys and gauge, and I did the first bit of tuning. I tested the adjustment and got six golds. I’ve been struggling to get one an end (six arrows) this season, so it’s made a massive difference. Tom had me shooting at 80 yards at the end of the evening. Never thought I could reach that far.
So I was pretty happy this evening. Nice, relaxed flying and finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with my archery. Good excuse for a few glasses of Cava! [not that she ever needs an excuse..]
Podcast: Improving your flying
Geoff 29 Jun 2010 | : Podcasts
Improving your flying with Judith Mole. In this podcast I talk about some of the strategies I have used to become a better pilot in a structured way over the last eighteen months. You can also read Dave Thomas’ article to see how he became a better XC pilot by reading it here. 18 minutes.
Download the podcast: http://www.judithmole.net/podcasts/improving.mp3
Subscribe to future podcasts: see the links on the right.
Please note: this, and all previous podcasts, are also available from the podcast page.
Tuesday, 29th June 2010
Geoff writes: a bugger of a day. Our van has been up for sale, and someone phoned me, said he definitely wanted it (even though he hadn’t seen it, which I thought was a bit odd), we negotiated a price, and a time to pick it up – and the only time he could do it was 4.30 today. Oh well, I can sacrifice one XC day to sell the van (I thought).
The hang gliding comp was at the Mynd again, so I decided to go and fly the hangie. I was in no rush, knowing I couldn’t go XC, and arrived just as the window opened, launching as soon as I rigged, by which time most, though not all, the competitors had left. And it was a really good day. Rough, windy, but very strong thermals. very, very easy to climb out. The goal was 103km, in Gloucestershire, Moreton-in-the-Marsh I think. I haven’t been XC on the HG for a couple of years, and it was clearly blown out all today for PGs, so I probably would have gone – not least, because flying with 60 or so other HGs, and going XC would be fun. But I couldn’t, so flew for a while, then landed, and went to the train station to meet the man who was definitely going to buy the van. The conversation went something like this:
“Oh. It’s not got windows. I thought it had windows.”
“No, it’s a van, it doesn’t have windows.”
“Oh. I was expecting windows.”
“No, it’s a van, it was advertised as a van, you said the word ‘van’ when you phoned me about it.”
“Oh. It’s not got any windows.”
“NO. IT’S A VAN!”
He did test drive it, then tried to beat me down on the already agreed price. I was getting increasingly annoyed by this time, so we gave up, and left him to catch the train back.
Such a waste of a good XC day – at least 12 have got into goal, maybe more. Apart from the accident on Sunday, they are having a great competition. Tomorrow looks good too, certainly taskable, though a lot lighter winds. We will be out flying on the PGs, after our morning phone meeting for our November conference.
Monday, 28th June 2010
Judith 28 Jun 2010 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
Windy and wavy from early on, so we went to watch the hang gliding comp at the Long Mynd and managed to catch up with more old friends. The task was Shifnal for the club class and Stoke for the open class. The wind was off to the south on launch and even more so in the air. The wave also made it very bouncy. Some people elected to go down to the bottom, but there was a slow trickle of pilots going over the back, once the sky had improved.
At lunchtime most people had gone, so we headed home to finish off the LMSC newsletter, which needed to go out today or tomorrow. It’s now with everyone who’s a current member and those luddites who don’t have a computer will get their’s tomorrow.
Rain for the first time in ages this evening. I’d forgotten that it can look grey in this country.
Geoff writes: in the evening we went to music night at the Bridges, with Tony and Sonia. Tony is an old friend from many years ago, when we set up Coda International, an international development agency working in Southern Africa and Central America. Tony later founded, and runs, Computer Aid, a large NGO sending computer equipment to developing countries.
Music night was excellent – most of it – with Beth finishing off with a four song set. Brilliant stuff.
Sunday, 27th June 2010
We decided to have a day off and head to the seaside. Towels, buckets and spades packed we headed for Barmouth, whilst the hang gliding comp went to Clatter and a few locals went to the Long Mynd. It was the hottest day of the year so far and swimming in the sea was gorgeous. It clouded over for about an hour, but we didn’t get a chance to grumble about it, because some of our time was taken up dealing with issues around the mid-air between two hang gliders at Clatter. Thankfully, one is being released from hospital today, the other is more injured, but not life-threatening. The task was cancelled as a result of the accident.
Once the sun came back out, we indulged ourselves in ice cream, a walk and building balancing stone sculptures. We left once the wind got stronger and it got a bit chillier and went to the HG comp HQ to see friends, and get the latest news.
Saturday, 26th June 2010
We had to stay in to let someone view our van this morning, so we left our weather assessment until we could actually get going at 12pm. By then reports were coming in of SW at Bache, off to the west at the Gyrn and perfect conditions at Clatter. Despite the howling wind in the garden, and en-route to Clatter, it was light on top. Phil and Phil from the Pennines had been up and said it was rough and scratchy and they hadn’t been able to get more than 400′ above.
The sky just got better and better, but repeated attempts to get up were unsuccessful, until Phil W. managed to get up and away. Martin tried several times, but at one point got flushed and went down. I had a punt, but had hooked my speedbar round my chest strap. I unclipped one of my leg loops to undo it, but didn’t have the height to clip it back in. My leg loops form my chest strap, so undoing one means I basically flying way outside the recommended chest strap setting. I had two choices – bottom land or try to scratch back up and top land. I know the dangers of having too wide a chest strap and I also know how rough Clatter can be and that it was really stupid not to do my pre-flight check more thoroughly. Landing just below the plantation is very tricky and you need to be able to be in full control of your glider to position yourself properly to get over the trees and along the slope. I decided that the better option would be to scratch back up and top land where I would have no obstacles and could bring the glider in more easily.
So many accidents are caused by a lack of pre-flight routines and by rushing. There isn’t a paraglider pilot who can claim never to have taken off with something on their equipment not right (even if it’s just a brake handle wrapped around the risers), but I find that about every 40 hours I get a little complacent with my pre-flighting. A state I need to guard against better. The only reason I have got away with it is that the shallow, grassy hills of the UK are very forgiving and mostly let you top land. Still, it goes to show that however many years you’ve been flying and however many hours you get in a year, you never get immune from making mistakes. (Note to self… must try harder in future.)
Anyway, Phil W. got 20km and said the clouds were not working as well as they promised. Martin could have got away, but came back to the front and Geoff and I ended up in the bottom landing. By then the clouds were building much better, but we were hot, sweaty, bothered and hacked off with the day. The only thing to cheer us up was the thought of a really nice cold beer. And that’s what we did!
Went to the HG comp HQ later to catch up with old friends. They had a good task. 118km from Bache to Crewe, via a turn point at Welshpool. A handful made it, while 30-70% (depending on who you talked to) went to the bottom landing. It was a bit off there.
The BP Cup was cancelled for the day due to wind. And yesterday the crazy scoring continued. Everyone got one point, regardless of how far they flew. Go figure…
Geoff writes: it was a difficult day. We usually get away quite quickly from Clatter, and we were taken a bit by surprise at how hard it was – three of us bottom landing at different times, extremely unusual there. On the one occasion Martin got high, and I was underneath him, the climb got weaker and more broken, and we were put off by Phil’s report that the sky was less good than it looked, and so we came back to the front hoping to step up a bit higher before committing ourselves to going over the back. This was a mistake, we should have gone, since we didn’t get that high again. In reality, the day was less good than it seemed, and given that the majority of the hang glider pilots didn’t get away either, that kind of proves the point. However, those who did get high and got away did good distances. It would probably have been easier if there had been more people at Clatter – it is usually a great XC site, but one that not many people go to.
Friday, 25th June 2010
Judith 25 Jun 2010 | : Archery, Trying, but failing, to fly
Have I mentioned I don’t like nil-wind days? Martin and Kai were off to the Wrekin, but we decided to have a look at the Long Mynd first. The cloud was developing a lot and the valley, which had been in sun all morning, was suddenly nearly completely shady and the wind, what there was of it, was south. We watched a sail plane take off, find nothing and land again after 5 minutes. The birds were all flapping and we were both feeling very lazy, so we took the easy option and went to archery.
By 1pm, the sail planes were still not doing much, so we decided to have another look at the Long Mynd on the way home, but by this time it was SE, so we went home to do the gardening, still watching the birds flapping.
We’ve been in a war of attrition with the rose bay willow herb I stupidly let grow last year (“Oh, look, pretty pink flowers!”). Little did I know I invited the seed of the devil into our place. Today we stepped up the ante and it was trench warfare. We dug up the whole flower bed to get rid of all the roots (one of which was longer than I am tall). Now we just have to get it out of the lawn without a mechanical digger. While we were covered in muck, Kai phoned to say he did a 50km triangle (152km with multipliers). He’s top of the league again. 707km in total and it’s only June. Blimey!