Geoff writes: a pretty good day on the Long Mynd. We had been quite optimistic about doing our first XCs of the year, and so it turned out. The Long Mynd was very busy with lots of visiting pilots from as far away as Scotland, and, of course, including the usual lot from Derbyshire and the Pennines. We launched around 11.15, and it was easy to stay up, and stay reasonably high, though it wasn’t about 12.30 until we decided it was worth going. It was very slow going, and quite weak at first, and as always it helped being in a gaggle. Judith and I were with Barney, Andy, Phil, the Gants, Martin, and various others. At one point I held back and lost them all – I wasn’t really thermalling that well, getting used to the new glider (that’s my excuse), but eventually a few thermals later, I managed to catch up the gaggle again, which is something I certainly would not have been able to do on the Hook. As the day progressed, the thermals got stronger, and more organised, with cloud base rising to about 5300′ (1600 metres), though progress was very slow overall.

Airspace was a bit of a problem, and we all tracked south around Kidderminster to avoid it, cross winding. Judith had gone first, on her own, and went down at 58km. At this point I was getting more and more desperate for a piss – stupidly, and unusually, I hadn’t gone before launching, but after nearly five hours in the air I really needed to, and this was making me lose my concentration a little, resulting in my trying a long glide over shaded ground to a cloud , and not making it, putting me down just north of Worcester for about 70km. Personal bests for both of us on paragliders.

Martin, Barney, Helen and Phil continued going (Simon landed just short of me, I think), and must have done 100km or so, which will certainly be a personal best for Martin. And the last I heard from Andy Wallis he was near Stratford.

I hitched back as far as Craven Arms, with my last ride from James Davidson, who was on his way back from the hospital after rushing Tammy there to give birth to their new daughter. Perfect timing, and very considerate of Tammy to arrange the birth so James could pick me up.

Judith writes: The forecast was for strengthening winds and over-development in the afternoon, so we anticipated an early day. The buzzards were already out in force when we got to the hill at 10am, so we got ready after a few ‘hellos’ to friends not seen for months. Once in the air, the thermals were weak and while I managed to stay high most of the time I was on the ridge, I had great trouble getting more than 2800′ AMSL. There were loads of pilots flying and the XC crew were really giving it their all. Still, it took over an hour of trying to get a good enough climb, and more importantly, to finally get some cloud development over the back. Once the cumulus started to build over Ragleth, we set off in a big group, heading for the lower pilots who had found a thermal between the Mynd and Church Stretton. The climbs were weak and at one point I thought we would be doing really well just to get to Wenlock Edge. It took three thermals to get there!

Beyond the Edge, it got easier and we worked well together, with lots of motivation from Barney on the radio. I haven’t flown in a group of so many pilots before and it was interesting to see some falling behind and then suddenly catching up again. I was in the trailing group before Kidderminster, but then found myself ahead of everyone except Andy, who had pushed on and off ages before. I got a good climb over Kidderminster and this took me to near base. Geoff and I had made the mistake of not checking the height of airspace properly before launching. I think subconsciously we didn’t expect to be flying either that far or in that direction, so we just skirted over the issue, hoping just to avoid it. This was a fundamental mistake. As we all got closer to the airspace we were trying to debate what the restrictions were over the radio, but since we all couldn’t agree I decided to fly round it. I would have been clear of the airspace, and able to fly down wind again at Droitwitch, but I couldn’t hang around that easily where I was without worrying about getting too high and being drifted into air space. I could see a wisp forming, so decided to go for it. As I went on the glide I passed my personal best mark. And at that point I decided that the wee I needed for ages was becoming more urgent, and I was tired and I’d done my bit getting my PB. In other words, I gave up trying.

I had a chat with David Thomson after and I remembered the fact the podcast we did on coaching 18 months ago actually explains about subconscious goals and barriers, so my subconscious goal of Kidderminster/my PB was set in the back of my mind and my brain just ticked the box and I went down. So I now have some new strategies to work on.

1) I won’t set my GPS to navigate to launch so I can see how far I have come, as my PB will probably only go up by three kms each time because my brain is perfectly capable of ticking that box again and giving up.

2) Set goals for what the day can yield, not how far I think I can make it.

3) Always check and confirm airspace.

4) Always bring out a means of eating/drinking/relieving yourself when it looks like a good day.

And a whole bunch of others!

Flight logs on the XC page.

See David Thomson’s photos of today.

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