June 2010
Monthly Archive
Monthly Archive
Geoff 08 Jun 2010 | : Archery, Work
Geoff writes: more bad weather, more rain. The only interesting thing to happen this morning was a soaking German hiker knocking on the door to ask the way to Wentnor (a couple of miles up the road). I thought walking that far in the heavy rain was bad enough, but actually he was walking from Land’s End to John O’GroatsĀ – something like 1200 miles going the route hikers normally use. Very impressive.
It did stop raining later, and I managed to get some shooting in at the archery field, so not entirely a wasted day (and I did do some work too).
Judith 08 Jun 2010 | : Competitions, Flying
As we got up we could see the sky was much cloudier. The task committee thought there was an improving forecast (it has been every afternoon so far!), so we set off to the Stol take-off for the next task. I was on the red bus again, which is the slowest, most uncomfortable vehicle in use in the comp. The backdoors keep popping open, so the back seats are not the safest on the bus. I got bored, so I persuaded Martin to play categories with me and before we knew it a third of the bus was playing.
When we got up, cloud was touching the top of the mountain and some of the surrounding hills were also clagged in. The task committee did devise a task for us, which was a ridge run task, with the usual first turn point and then to Tolmin, back along the ridge to the border and than back to Kobarid via two turn points. Fifteen minutes before the task started the cloud was getting lower, so the window was postponed. An alternative task was set, sending us just to Tolmin and back to Kobarid via two turn points. As we walked down to the second briefing, the clouds cleared and we could see a cunim in the distance. After some deliberation, they cancelled the task. It was still safe to fly down, an option pretty much everyone took to avoid another hour in the minibus, playing silly games.
I was a bit too enthusiastic with my big ears so landed short of Kobarid, but that was fine by me. I didn’t cherish the thought of coming in with 60 others. David landed with me and assured me that the walk back would only be marginally more than a kilometer and so we walked back to town. Turned out more like 3km…
We’re hoping it will storm tonight to clear out some of the humidity, it’s been so hot!
Geoff 08 Jun 2010 | : Boring stuff
Geoff writes: a wet day, nothing to do except bits of work. Not even worth going to archery. Judith chose a good week to be away for a competition. The forecast for the next few days is poor too.
Judith 07 Jun 2010 | : Competitions, Flying
Task 2 was a shorter 56km task round six turn points. The weather was due to be windier today and there was a chance it would overdevelop. They got us off early when there was still a lot of stratus from an weak cold front, but it was hard to stay up on the ridge. The first turn point was the same as yesterday (out in the valley), but we were not all then going along the ridge into unlandable territory. So we flew along the ridge first and then had a slight tailwind to the turn point and a downwind dash back to the ridge. I got a little low once back, but managed to get up again and set off to Tolmin, along the ridge.
Once we were at the end of the ridge we could see people ahead of us in a thermal, so we tried to get there fast. As we got close one pilot in the thermal lost control of his glider and threw his parachute, landing in a small grassy area on top of the ridge. It was horrible to watch, but I carried on, not wanting to risk landing to assist in what looked like a very dodgy place. Ruth tried many times to land with the pilot, but it was so thermic, she would touch down and then get hoofed up again before she could pull the glider down.
As I was flying along, I got more and more upset about the incident and decided to land at turn point three. The task didn’t seem that interesting any more. I know accidents happen in comps, but I’ve realised that I am still very sensitive to seeing a glider losing control.
I saw lots of pilots in goal on returning to check in, so will update with preliminary results through the twitter feed.
Judith 07 Jun 2010 | : Competitions, Flying
We went up to the Stol take-off for our first task. I have no signal on top of the mountain, so no twitter updates before the task…
They set a multiple turnpoint task, with a start in the valley, then back to the ridge, Kobarid, Tolmin, across the river and then into the big mountains behind Stol and back to Kobarid. I got off mid-field and bimbled about waiting for the start of the race. Cloudbase was low and it was difficult to stay out of it. People everywhere were on big ears and speedbar. I got a bit too close and got sucked up, so immediately used these and flew away from the start gate, hoping that no one was close to me. I suddenly heard this whooshing noise and some idiot spiraled past me, missing me by 10m! I saw him do this three times before I reported him on the safety frequency.
I got a good start and headed to the first turn point. This was in cloud, so I didn’t want to arrive there with too many other people, so I held back, allowed people to pass me, got the turnpoint and turned round to find a good lift line under the cloud all the way back to launch. Once out of the cloud near Kobarid, I topped up with thermals and made the crossing onto the lower ridge. I got very low, but jumped into a thermal that Martin was marking, and got back up. I was really enjoying the flight and was pretty relaxed.
As I was heading for turn point four at Kabala, my GPS suddenly started saying that I was getting further away from the turn point and trying to get me to fly in the other direction to turn point five. I checked on the route and it had ticked the turn point off as done. I knew I hadn’t done it, but couldn’t get the GPS to fly the route again and I didn’t know exactly where the turn point cylinder was without the GPS. Apparently, it’s a common problem with Garmin 76 units. It will take you round your route in the quickest way, so if you are between two turn points it will send you to the one nearest your ultimate goal. Jo Eades showed me how to stop the GPS doing this for tomorrow, but I landed at Tolmin for 37km. There was no point in continuing since I couldn’t get the missing turn point.
As I landed, a young lady started walking across the field and it was Nicky, having just come from Austria!
Lots and lots of people in goal. First in amongst the Brits was Chris Harland, with Wagga, Neil and Jamie in hot pursuit. Unfortunately, there were three tree landings (all uninjured) and one forced landing.
Geoff 06 Jun 2010 | : Boring stuff
Geoff writes: a wet day in the UK, with occasional thunderstorms. The accuracy competition did fly at the Mynd earlier, and later on I saw some hang gliders on launch, but I’m not sure if anyone flew, there was a lot of north in it. I half considered going to archery, but the rain put me off, and the fact that there was a competition there too, so I wouldn’t even be able to get to shoot. So I worked instead.
Judith will be blogging from the competition in Slovenia, and will also do the Twitter feed (the live site/comp info box on the right) but unfortunately she doesn’t have a signal on launch, so she won’t be able to say what the task is immediately after briefing – in fact, presumably not until she lands.
Judith 06 Jun 2010 | : Flying, Holiday
The weather was looking good from the word go, and there was just a minor matter of removing a tick I acquired on the walk yesterday before we could head up the mountain. We were going to get the parabus, but at 12 euros a head, we decided to hook up with Richard Worley and Ian Smith and use their car to retrieve. Brendan had used XC Planner to sort out a load of turn points, so we practiced programming routes and set a 94km task to Italy, Tolmin and back.
Cloud base was only sitting marginally above our heads, so we waited a little and then launched when the sky got better. I headed straight to the west and soared along the ridge/clouds, while David and Richard Bungay headed out into the valley. It was as everyone has told me. You don’t thermal – you just surf the crest, topping up occasionally with lift. I flew into Italy, but then got a bit low. Until that point, I hadn’t really paid any attention to what was below me, I was looking ahead and above, just gliding. When I got lower, I looked out into the valley and realised there was nowhere to land. The entire valley was packed with trees at that point. I decided I would save some excitement for tomorrow and turned back, some kilometers from our intended first turn point. Not getting up wasn’t an option, so I worked and worked a little lift, but was too close to turn. So I was slowly sinking. Luckily for me, Alex Colbeck came cruising past me on his way back and he just treated the ridge like a British one, he just hugged it and soared up. So I did the same. Safely back above the ridge, I carried on back to launch and then to Kobarid. I topped up and got to cloud base before crossing the gap. A few little cumulus were forming in the gap, but as I started my transition, they dissipated and I only just scratched onto the next ridge. Lots of us got there at a bad time and had to land shortly after.
Stunning place, this. David got into Italy, then Tolmin and back to Kobarid, but Brendan did the whole task, including top landing to get the car. Unfortunately, I had blagged a lift up and got there to find the keys missing. Eventually we met up and drove down together.
Our fourth house mate, Andy, arrived this evening and we went to register for the comp before having a massive pizza meal, with glow worms to keep us entertained. Task one tomorrow and I will start doing live twitter updates from the comp.