July 2010
Monthly Archive
Saturday, 10th July 2010
Judith 11 Jul 2010 | : Archery, Miscellaneous activities
We woke up to leaden skies and too much wind. David and I are working on a new project trying to produce a weather web cast, so we were messing around with charts, sat pics, etc. most of the day. I looked at so much weather that when someone asked me what I thought the conditions would be on Sunday, I didn’t have a clue!
In the early evening we went out to check out the landing options at the Lawley, in case the comp needed to go there on Sunday. While we were there, we might as well do some archery, but on shooting my second arrow, the skies opened and we had to shelter from the rain for about half an hour. We did get to shoot for a while in the end. Then off to the pub for more chatting to friends…
Friday, 9th July 2010
Geoff 10 Jul 2010 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
Geoff writes: Windy and cloudy. The BP Cup tried to have a task, and went to Clatter, and we decided to go with them, not actually expecting to fly. And we didn’t, too windy by far. So we came back home, did a few jobs, then went out to the Inn on the Green, where the comp is based, and had a few drinks and took part in Cris Miles’ excellent quiz. A pleasant evening.
Thursday, 8th July 2010
Geoff writes: the forecast – which maybe we misinterpreted – was for SW gradually going more westerly, and, basically, sunny. So we woke up to rain, but it did clear out, and we duly went up to the Long Mynd, where it was SW – WSW. I had a go, it was buoyant, but I landed to fix a knot in my lines. Kai launched, and got away. Judith and David launched into the cold air after Kai’s thermal, and had to slope land. Martin and I got in the air, and I got something near the gliding club, and Martin came over. It didn’t seem that good to me, so I pushed forward whilst Martin stayed with it – and eventually it took him to base. I wasn’t that bothered, being confident I would get away, but it quickly went more south, the wind picked up, it got a lot rougher, and high cloud came in. After struggling with numerous collapses, I landed, assuming it would go more west and get better. It didn’t. It got more south, a front rapidly appeared out of nowhere, and it started to rain. And that was it for the day. Martin did 55km, Kai 80km, and the other person to get away got to Stafford – Tony Bradley, a personal best in the UK. A really short window, and all credit to them for making the most of it.
To say I was incredibly annoyed with myself would be an understatement. I worked off the bad mood by going to archery and shooting pretty well (by my standards).
A Brtitish Paragliding Cup comp on here from Friday, and predictably a poor forecast, at least for the next couple of days.
Wednesday, 7th July 2010
Judith 07 Jul 2010 | : Boring stuff
Miserable day, so we worked and had a meeting to plan the next 18 months of our lives. We do that kind of thing… have meetings, email each other and skype each other from room to room although we haven’t yet sent each other text messages from different parts of the house. You can overdo the whole technology thing, can’t you?
Tuesday, 6th July 2010
Judith 07 Jul 2010 | : Archery, Work
Down south was obviously the place to be today. We looked around for other places to travel to fly, but with a physio appointment at 9.30am, the options were limited. By the time I came home, the sky had clouded over and the wind was picking up, so we settled to a day of work. By 2pm there was a little rain, but the sky cleared again, so we went to do some archery. Church Stretton seemed to be in a small sunny hole, so it was all very pleasant.
Monday, 5th July 2010
Judith 05 Jul 2010 | : Archery, Flying
What an interesting day. We knew that Judy Leden and Chris Dawes were coming here with a camera crew from Blue Peter to film a peregrine falcon taking a lure from a flying hang glider, so we sauntered up to the Long Mynd early to have a nose around. We haven’t seen Chris and Judy for ages, so it was nice to catch up. Judy explained to us what they were hoping to do and how it all worked and we got to meet the peregrine, Lucy, who was the same bird which starred in the Ultimate Predator series. Judy was going to fly tandem with Joel, one of the Blue Peter presenters, and there would be cameras rigged up on the glider, as well as on the bird.
I thought that the day was going to be blown out for paragliders, but we found that it was flyable when we arrived and Dave B. was in the air. He wasn’t getting very high, but I got my kit out, only to find it had picked up too much once the sun came out. Geoff rigged the hang glider and had a nice flight – strong thermals, and not too rough higher up. Judy needed to be able to fly lower to be able to fly with the peregrine, and it got very windy and lifty, so she had to stand down the crew until later.
Meanwhile, Kai, Mick and Glyn had arrived. It occasionally gusted through to 26mph, but the sky was fantastic and you could see Kai was really wrestling with his desire to fly versus his concern for safety. In the end, Glyn and he talked themselves into it. Glyn got off fine, and then a few minutes later Kai got hoofed off his feet and disappeared over the back within minutes. Glyn flew for a while, but got blown back while trying to land and reported having some anxious moments in the air. Kai got to the Clee Hills and landed there in howling winds, somewhat regretting having taken off in the first place.
Geoff flew again, but said it was horribly rough, so he packed up and we went to archery. At 4pm a hoard of kids turned up, so we headed back up to the Long Mynd, to find that Judy and Joel made it into the air. They had done one shot of the peregrine taking the lure, and were hoping for another. They released the bird, but Judy was getting too high, so Lucy had to fly a long way to catch them. Instead of just taking the lure, she landed on the base bar and hitched a ride with them for a few minutes, before jumping off, taking the food with her. Should be stunning footage.
They landed elated, although Joel the presenter felt a little air sick. Really interesting to watch it all going on. It never did drop off enough by the time we wanted to go home. Oh, and we finally managed to present Stewart Toon with his trophy for ‘Best new LMSC HG pilot’ for 2009. Well done Stewart!
Sunday, 4th July 2010
Judith 04 Jul 2010 | : Miscellaneous activities
HOWLING! Ridiculous winds. The forecast rain held off and we had a bit of a lie in, until Maya opened the door an inch and said a cheery ‘Good Morning!’. Geoff was supposed to go up to the Long Mynd to help with the clean-up operation, but Ellie had it all organised and it was all done before Geoff was even out of bed. Amir and Joanna treated us to a nice second breakfast in Bishops Castle, but had to leave for the airport before the carnival really got going. In fact, they only just got the car moved before the roads were blocked.