Judith's blog

Geoff writes: Corndon again! This time slightly fewer people, because the Joint Services comp went elsewhere. As we were driving to the site, there was a lot of wave in the sky, so that worried us a little, but it was dissipating, and gradually the cumulus developed.

Kai and James got away first . Kai got to the coast at Llanelli for 127km. Judith was in this gaggle, with a couple of others, but came back to the front, they weren’t quite high enough, which was probably a good move given that James landed just over the back, and had to get a ride back for another go.

The next gaggle had Martin, DaveT and the SE Wales guys in it. We hesitated a bit too long, and missed it.

The wind then picked up considerably, and though it was still flyable, it meant the thermals were very broken. Eventually, it dropped off a bit, so we launched under a big cloud. I pushed well in front and got a good climb, and the others came in underneath me. In the end, four of us left, me, Judith, Richard Worley and someone else. The climbs were mostly pretty good, though it did get a bit rough at times. The ‘someone else’ went for a glide into the blue well behind Sarn, and landed. Judith and Richard were well in front of me by this time, but climbing, separately. It took me a while to get up again, but I did, and flew over to Judith, where we climbed out again together. Richard had disappeared by this point, and at the time of writing, we don’t know where he went.

We were doing quite well, back at base, when I picked the next cloud to go to on a glide. This was a mistake, because by the time we realised it was decaying, there was nowhere else within reach, so it was a glide into the blue hoping the next cloud would form in time. We passed over a couple of triggers, with no result, and when we were finally a couple of hundred feet above the ground, there was lift there, but it was too windy, and very broken, and we had to land. Inevitably, ten minutes later, the sky was epic right above us, with beautiful clouds. A stupid mistake on my part, which cost us a flight which should have been far longer than the 41km we did.

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Geoff writes: another day, another trip to Corndon. Kai is right, it is a great XC site – just can be difficult to get away from!

After her epic flight yesterday, Judith was pretty tired, and not feeling that well, and though she took her glider out, she decided to have a day off.

The Joint Services comp was there again, so plenty of pilots out. It wasn’t quite as easy to get away as it was yesterday, and I left a bit late, about 3.40, partly because it was crowded at times in the sky. However, it is nearly the longest day, so still plenty of hours left in the day even at that time. I left in a gaggle of about five, but I think most of those went  down in the first few kilometers, and most of the flight I was on my own. Base was around 4300, and though there were fewer clouds than yesterday, they were still quite close together, and it was very thermic – and surprisingly rough, both low down (I got a bit low just once) and high up. Nothing too horrendous, but bumpy. Again, there was a reasonable wind, so that contributed to the roughness. I did a lot of drifting in light lift, mixed in with some climbs back to base, and so was able to cover the ground relatively quickly.

Just past Llandindrod Wells, a couple of other PGs appeared, so maybe they were from the same gaggle I left in. They both landed a little before me. I landed at Builth, for 57km,  just after 6.00pm, though there were still more miles to be had, I think, but it was getting a bit harder as the day drew to a close. A fun flight though, and Judith’s turn to do the retrieve.

Kai and Mark Leavesley flew together, and did around 80km. Not sure about others.

And maybe the same again tomorrow.

See photos of today.

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We agonised about going to the Peaks or staying here. Andy Wallis was a bit down on the Peaks due to possible spreadout, but here it was going to be windy. I didn’t mind, I was happy with another rest day after Slovenia. It was howling in the garden, but Martin was at Corndon and said it was top-end but flyable, so we ambled up at 11.30am, to see Martin getting high, but coming back forward. It seemed windy so we sat around for a bit and watched the Joint Services comp guys, who didn’t seem to have too many problems pushing forward. Martin, Kai, Geoff and the SW/Mid-Wales guys got off together and climbed out, but I missed my chance when I had to fix my speedbar and then fluffed a launch.

I was pretty resigned to the fact that they would all go miles together and I’d bimble along on my own and get nowhere. Once they were all gone there were only a couple of us left and the strong climbs that Martin talked about earlier had also disappeared. He did say that today was not a day for gliding… I waited for a while to let some better clouds develop and then had to top land once when I nearly went down, but eventually I step climbed my way to cloudbase slightly over the back of the hill. Two army guys followed me, but went over the back much lower than me, along with David McKenzie, on his first ever XC (well done!). As soon as I was high, Martin’s words came back to me and I decided that I could drift along in the 30km/h winds at base and make better progress than climbing/gliding, where the thermals would be broken and difficult to find if you got low. The army guys took a different track (their goal was Brecon), but we met again near Llandrindod Wells. The yellow one was finding lift and climbing well, but they were making really hard work of it, gliding until they were low and then having to find good cores to get back up to base. I’m sure they thought that I am rubbish at thermalling, but I was sticking to nice gentle 1m/s or less, so I could get maximum drift and by the time I was at base, then next cloud had formed and I had a short glide, where I would do my slow top-up, still drifting at 30km/h. I’m usually the one off on silly, pointless glides, so it was satisfying to see them go off on their final dash and bomb at Builth Wells, while I was at base, just sitting pretty. (Turns out they had to fly in that direction to get their turn point, so were forced to fly away from the clouds.)

I had my one tricky bit of the flight behind Builth, where I had a short bit of blue, and had to fly over a quarry to find the thermal, but I did, and was off again. By then I could see Brecon on my GPS and I thought if I can just get there, I’ll have done 80km and that would just be brilliant. So I set myself the goal of not landing before I got to the town. Once I got high near there, I spotted the sea and that was a huge motivator, but the Brecon Beacon mountains were in the way.

I dithered for a while, trying to decide if I really wanted to fly into the mountains with so much wind (the answer was ‘no!’) so I changed track a little and flew along the valley before the mountains, thinking that I would just extend my flight and land in a village at the end of the valley. On the way, I found a saddle I thought I could cross, with big flat moorland on top. If I bombed it would be a long walkout, but I thought it would be safe to cross there. I did a little wager with myself – if I got to base I would cross, if I didn’t then I wouldn’t. The thought of having the chance to fly to the beach was too tempting and I got to base halfway along the saddle. I topped up and was across the Becons!

I indulged myself in checking how far I had come by doing a Go To on the GPS and saw I had come 91km. I watched as my GPS ticked over the 100km and did my usual happy tears bit. My first 100km! Anywhere. I was still high and some way from the actual coast, so I decided to see if I could get the record, which is presently 125km, set by Judy Leden in 2004. I got to Neath and then headed to Swansea. I got to 120km, but then ran out of landing options. Houses as far as I could see and loads of industrial stuff and water to cross to get to the beach, I chickened out and landed in the last playing field for miles. I had pushed the distance a bit, so did a full speedbar approach just to avoid a road and get into the field. It was howling on the ground.

It’s not possible to describe how I felt, there are only a few occasions I think I have been so happy. Two young boys came to see if I was ok and I got them to help me pack up. I needed the assistance, it was so breezy. They pointed me in the direction of the local pub. I had landed in one of the less salubrious parts of Swansea (according to Dave Thompson, I was lucky to get out of there with my glider), but lots of people had seen me land and were asking questions and congratulating me. When I got to the pub someone bought me a drink and suddenly loads of people started arriving in cars, bikes, quads, on foot, saying their mates had called then to say some woman had flown from the border at Powys and they wanted to check that it was true. More free beers later, they called the local newspaper! Luckily I was gone by the time they sent a photographer round. Geoff picked me up, after a short flight. We got back at midnight.

There’s so many lessons I learnt in Slovenia and although I didn’t do well in the comp, everything that I did learn clicked into place today. And the most important thing to me was that for once, I didn’t make a mistake. You always make a mistake on a flight when you land before the end of the day or before you run out of land. I did neither yesterday. I landed at 6pm, after getting nearly to the beach. I missed out on the record, but I don’t mind. I flew the second longest flight any woman has done in the UK, and that’s enough of an achievement for me at present. And I did it nearly all on my own.

Thanks so much to everyone who sent congrats and good wishes. It really means a lot to me!

See photos of today.

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It rained and I caught up with the mountain of stuff one has to do after being away 10 days. I was going to write up my analysis of my comp and what I learnt, but haven’t got round to it. Will do so soon, when I have written up Tuesday’s flight. Needless to say, although I didn’t do very well in the comp, I learned loads, a lot of which I used in my flight to Swansea.

See David Thomson, Andy Davies and Bren Reid’s best photos from Slovenia.

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We decided to see a bit more of Slovenia on our last day, because we flew the same places everyday, so in reality we got to see very little of the country. In order to get to Lake Bohinj, we had to get up at the usual time of 7.30am to pack and get on the car train at Most na Soci. We said our goodbyes to Andy, who was flying home via Ljubljana, at 9.30am. It’s a winding 68km road to the lake up by the Julian Alps, and it is often closed due to snow, so you can drive your car onto a flatbed carriage and then sit there while you are bussed up through long tunnels through the mountains. It was a little odd to be in the car, chugging and bouncing along until we got to the lake. Chris, Ian and Tony had joined us and when we got there, we had a lovely lake side lunch and a paddle and then it was time to set off back down the road towards the airport.

Slovenia is packed with trees, so there were no views and I was so exhausted that I nodded off and didn’t see any of the countryside on the 68km drive. So much for me seeing a bit more of the country. Very pathetic!

The airport was full of tired pilots and we all said goodbye in Birmingham, where Geoff was waiting to pick us up.

Absolutely brilliant holiday. I enjoyed nearly every minute. A fuller write up of the comp later…

See photos of today.

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Geoff writes: a poor forecast for the day, with rain for the afternoon. People were flying on the Mynd in the morning, but I did some gardening. Eventually, I did go up to have a look, which was when the rain started, so no flying for me. I didn’t miss much.

Picked up Judith and the others from the airport later.

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After my rest day of the day before, I felt really refreshed and certainly up for making the most out of the day. Last year at Piedrahita I had to wait until the final day to make goal and I was hoping for a repeat performance. The final task was going to be windy, so we did another zig zag task, first to beyond Tolmin, back to the volcano and then to a third turnpoint back near the first, then Kobarid, the hill behind and back to Kobarid.

I got a good start and flew conservatively to avoid getting drilled at the same point as yesterday. I needn’t have worried… the thermals were well established and in places, booming. I got to Tolmin no problem and then got high in a thermal and followed a good line (which others were marking for me) to the turn point. It was really windy by this point and as I passed over the last ridge before the turn point, I realised I would be in rotor from the hill. It got very rough when I turned to go to the next one and I was glad I was out of there. Mal, Malcolm, Emma, Tony and I (and a few others) struggled for ages on the ridge to the east of Tolmin to try to get a climb and progress with the course. I was convinced that if we waited long enough a bubble would release, but after about 20 minutes I was less convinced and I decided to push on. With the strong wind, I thought the ridge would work. It did and I soared up the spur and then got a strong thermal which allowed me to do a slow into wind glide to the volcano turn point above Tolmin. Looking at where the next turn point was, my GPS was telling me to go back to TP 1. Since my GPS and I have been having some trust issues, I checked on the turn point list and foolishly decided that it was wrong and I’d done my bit in the Tolmin valley, so I headed away back to the volcano, where Andy was struggling valiantly to get up again. It was so windy, we were being blown straight over the back of the volcano with each turn and I could see the wind blades in the official Tolmin landing field blowing like mad. Eventually, Andy got enough height to get back to the ridge and as soon as I saw him climbing, I dashed over to follow him. He stopped to thermal up the mountain, but I decided the ridge would be soarable in the strong wind. With the trees thrashing all the way under me, I soared all the way to Kobarid, leap frogging about 10 pilots on the way. In the Tolmin valley the winds are usually east and in the Kobarid valley they are west, so the trick is to work out at which height to be to maximise your downwind glides. I got to the small ridge over Kobarid, bagged the turn point and then set off for the last one on a higher hill behind.

The turn point is in a gully and normally I wouldn’t have gone in there low, but I went in, soared up the slope, but kept missing the TP cylinder by a few meters. Andy came and joined me and I thought it was a bit of a tight spot for both of us to be battling it out in, so I gritted my teeth, kicked a few trees and stuck my shoulder into the cylinder and then ran for it to goal. On the first day, someone told us that Brett always uses TP71, because unless you get a really strong headwind, you can always make it to goal from there. I got to goal with loads of height and landed to find David and Bren running towards me with big smiles to congratulate me. Then they told me off for being such a div for missing the turn point in Tolmin. I did get a promised goal beer though! I needed it after another nearly four hour flight.

To be fair, had I tried to get back to the third turn point in Tolmin, I would have pretty certainly gone down. Most people who were there at the time did, many landing in very turbulent conditions, in howling winds and in fields surrounded by trees/power lines. Emma was injured landing in the winds and from a safety point of view, I am pleased I went back to Kobarid. My aim for the day was to get to goal, and although I didn’t fly the whole course, just to prove to myself I could actually get round a task was the most important thing. Since my results didn’t matter to me, the fact that I only got 30km for the task, when I flew nearly twice as far, was irrelevant.

The post-comp party had great food, free wine and dancing. Some of the pilots are pretty good on the dance floor and one of the LMSC members was determined to get his club fees worth out of his club officials, so had me twirling round, tangoing, etc. At 2am, it seemed like the band was slowing down, so Andy, Bren, David and I headed back to the house via the Kobarid fiesta. Everyone was ballroom dancing round the square and I persuaded my reluctant housemates to have a go. Bren and I went for the freestyle option, then David tried to waltz with me, but was hampered by my constant desire to lead. Andy and I got an upbeat number, so we bounced round the square playing dodgems with the other dancers. Hysterical.

See photos of today.

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