April 2011
Monthly Archive
Friday, 22nd April 2011
Judith 23 Apr 2011 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
Another high pressure hazy day. Wind forecasts were very contradictory and we expected some thundery showers later on, so we were hoping this would break the inversion and give us some cumulus for a while. We originally thought of going to Bache, but after a report of hazy skies, weak thermals, strong inversion, we decided to stay local and go to Corndon. If it was rubbish we could always go to archery instead.
The wind went from gentle to strongish pretty quickly and it was on the SE face of Corndon. Steve Pym was already flying and Mark had just finished a tandem, but it seemed breezy and as we were chatting wave bars set up. Of all the things, I wasn’t expecting wave today. They got bigger as we waited and started extending out into the valley ahead as well. When high cloud also came in, Mark had a short flight but landed as he felt there was too much lift around. We could no longer assess what was above us and with storms forecast for later we decided to abandon the flying and do something else.
We got to the bottom of the hill and then the sky rapidly cleared, but the wind picked up. We couldn’t resist the temptation and drove back up, collecting all the wings we’d just driven down for people back up. By the time we got out of the car it was completely sunny, with just wave cloud and haze downwind. But it was windy.
Mark, David, Gwyn, Steve, Alan and John launched, but it looked rough. Lots of pitching of gliders, small (and one not so) collapses and sometimes zero penetration in the air made me decided to leave it for a better (and safer) day. Unfortunately, the fact that mixing wind, wave, thermals and cunims (albeit in the distance) doesn’t make for good flying conditions was proved by one pilot. Hope he gets well soon.
It did storm late afternoon/early evening, so we didn’t even go do archery. Hope we lose this damn airmass soon!
Thursday, 21st April 2011
Geoff writes: easterly forecast, so Malverns or Corndon. We thought both would probably work, but that the Malverns might be a bit easier, and a lot more thermal markers, i.e. other pilots. So off we went.
It was breezy when we arrived, but flyable. There were a lot of people, who spent a lot of time trying to get away, but it didn’t happen, with no significant height at all being achieved. One person did thermal back, and couldn’t get back to the front, but soon landed, at around 10km. After maybe a couple of hours, the wind dropped, and everyone landed, either top landing or bottom. At the same time, the cumulus did start to improve, and, when a few re-launched, and some got away low, I finally launched too. Bad timing though…. and I went down, along with a lot of other pilots. Some others did get away later on, but the maximum distance was probably in the 30s, with most people doing a lot less than that.
After Judith picked me up (she wasn’t flying today, she wasn’t very well), we went back to the car park to drop off some others, but I didn’t bother going up again, it was a bit late. Though it was flyable till dark, and, whilst sitting in the car park having a beer, at least one other person went.
Corndon wasn’t any better – some went XC, but less than 20km. Again, the north was the place to be with some good XCs done in the Lakes.
Wednesday, 20th April 2011
Judith 21 Apr 2011 | : Boring stuff
Another hot, sunny and hazy day. We decided not to go to the Malverns, but stay here and only go out if some cumulus developed. Neither of us fancied another aimless sit around in nil wind on Corndon again, so we got on with the gardening. With an eye on the sky all the time, the high cloud just got closer and closer and although it was still blue over the Mynd, even the sail planes were making it look like hard work/a lottery. The forecast fair weather cloud never did materialise, but our garden looks all the better for it!
With temperatures around 24C today, they are saying we are having August weather in April. I just hope that doesn’t mean we get December weather in August!
Tuesday, 19th April 2011
Geoff writes: another day, another crap XC day. In spite of an epic forecast with RASP and so on, it was inverted all day at Corndon, with people just doing short hops but getting nowhere. The best was probably Judith with a massive 500′ above launch. No-one got away. A very small number of cumulus did appear late on, but nowhere near the hill. To reassure anyone who has heard about the accident today, it appears the outcome will be just relatively minor injuries, as far as we know.
Monday, 18th April 2011
Judith 19 Apr 2011 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
Geoff writes: Judith is still sulking so I’ll do this blog post.
We were pretty optimistic about the day, with the only problem being deciding whether to drive the 55 miles to the Malverns, or the five miles to Corndon. In general, in an easterly, we prefer the Malverns – you can ridge soar it till a thermal comes through, and there are more pilots there usually, so lots of wind dummies. So in spite of a nice looking sky here – though there was a breeze in the garden – we set set off to the Malverns.
The closer we got, the more haze, more cloud, and less sun there was. In the end, we stopped about 16 miles from the Malverns, and phoned up Ian and Martin, who were both there. The conclusion was that the chances of lauching were minimal, because of the strong winds there; and the chances of an XC were minimal too, because of the lousy sky.
We checked with Mark Leavesley, and the sky at Corndon was still good, so we turned around to go there, expecting the sky to clear on the way. It didn’t, the clag and haze was spreading northward, as was the wind. We got to Craven Arms, and the chance of flying seemed very remote, so we gave up and went for tea with Graeme and Odette, then home to do some gardening.
In fact, there were some XCs at the Malverns, but just one thermal jobs, which, given the wind, amounted to 20 – 30 km. We almost certainly would not have launched because of the wind. So we probably made the right decision.
As Dave T says below, the Mynd area is really having a terrible season so far this year.
Judith writes: I’m not actually sulking, just a little amazed that the forecast could be so wrong. So here’s the pressure chart for the day:
So a little wind, but hardly 25mph or more!
Soundings:
Where’s the cloud?
And RASP:
So how come it was grey, overcast and howling? Arrgghhh!
Sunday, 17th April 2011
Geoff writes: given the light easterly forecast, we decided to go to the Malverns, even though RASP wasn’t giving it very good down there. It was blue when we set out, but there was a soarable breeze on the hill quite early (according to Luke); a little stronger than we expected, but fine. When we approached it, people were flying, but by the time we walked up, most were on the ground. It was cycling, though there was still a breeze. We – and many others – waited around for an hour or two, though people were flying, but not getting away. In retrospect, we should have launched soon after arriving, and not waited on the ground, but waited in the air. As it was, it died off, both the wind and the thermals, even though the sky was getting better and better, with plenty of clouds. So there was a long period with no-one launching, then the occasional cycle of people launching and going down. Judith had a brave attempt at flying to some swifts, but also bottom landed.
It then seemed to get slightly better, with a few people maintaining and even climbing. Just as Judith got back to launch, I took off, probably into the end of the cyle. I struggled a while, sinking overall, and finally headed to the landing field, where, about 550′ below launch, I got a great low save which took me up to base. My climb out from the landing field encouraged others to launch too, but though they got high, most went back to the front. There was very little drift, the sky was getting worse – lots of cloud, little sun – but I went anyway. I did get another thermal, after my first climb and glide, but didn’t get a third. Sink was so strong between thermals, and drift non-existent, that even with two good thermals, I still did less than 10km, and landed in the same field as Wayne Buckland.
We packed up, walked to the road end of the field, and climbed the fence – no gate. As we were climbing over, Gwyn was driving past. He stopped his car – he’d been flying at Corndon with Mark Leavesley – and took me right back to the car park. Definitely the fastest retrieve I have ever had, and what a coincidence!
So, a really excellent low save, and a really excellent retrieve. That makes up for the crappy flight in between!
As far as I know, not many people went XC from the Malverns, and most flights were small, though Neil Furmidge flew to Clee Hills – maybe 60 km? – an excellent flight.
Judith writes: And I had a pleasant flight later, easily getting to the inversion layer at 1900′ ATO, where it got really rough. I considered going over the back, but I couldn’t see anything… it was so hazy, I couldn’t make out clouds or much ground, so was a bit stumped as to where to fly to. Instead I went out front and then flew over to the British Camp hill fort, which we walked up exactly a week ago. It looks even more impressive from above.
Saturday, 16th April 2011
Geoff writes: there’s a golden rule for flying Long Mynd area sites in nil, or very light, winds. Don’t.
If it’s very light easterly, go to the Malverns. If it’s very light, or nil, westerly, go to Bradwell. We kind of lost sight of the bigger picture last night, having decided to go to listen to a band in Bishop’s Castle, so getting distracted. And, to be fair, the forecasts weren’t that stunningly accurate today. Waking up, a bit late this morning, it was clear it was going to be very, very light westerlies all day; whereas in the Peaks, it was s bit stronger, and, had we not been late up, would definitely have been my choice (though it’s always hard – drive three miles to the Long Mynd, or drive 90 miles to Bradwell). RASP was poor here, and in the Peaks, but really, being able to ridge soar in poor conditions whilst waiting for a thermal to come through is infinitely better than waiting, in poor conditions, for some bird to indicate a weak thermal, then launching into that. Which was what we spent most of the day doing at the Long Mynd.
The sky was quite good when we arrived, but rapidly clouded over, with no sun on launch for hours (though at the south end of the ridge, the training school tandems had a much better time – what a different three or four kilometres makes). Mostly, we just launched, scratched, and landed. Later on, it did get a bit better, with Martin doing the best, and getting pretty high, maybe a couple of thousand feet, around 4.30 or so. Judith also managed to get to the south end and back. But that was it. Other than Martin – and that was quite late given the sky – no chance of XC.
Whereas in the Peaks, loads of people went XC, with the best at the moment over 80km. It really is about time it started working down here – it has been an atrocious season so far for XCs in the Long Mynd area.