I must have looked at about 7 forecasts this morning and each said something different. The general trend was for W or maybe SW, but possibly SSW, with some predicting S. What I did know was that it would be light here. The MGC forecast was giving the day a 3 rating and RASP was giving good thermal strength, so we thought we were in for a good day. Our plan was to go up to the Long Mynd early to sort out the day fee stuff and then go to Elan Valley. At the Long Mynd it was WSW. Reports from the Peaks and N. Wales said it was blown out there and it was off to the W at Elan and Clatter, so we decided to stay at the Long Mynd (unless someone gave us a good report from somewhere else).

The BCC comp was at the Long Mynd and Dave J-H promised a good day. There was a thick, murky inversion layer out front and no cumulus, so we sat around in the sunshine for a few hours, while a couple of groups managed to get highish, two people going over the back and landing at Church Stretton. We eventually decided we were definitely not going to switch sites and got the gliders out. And then it was a sit and wait day. All the birds seemed to thermalling up at the north end of the ridge, out of our reach. A few people got up and cruised around a bit and a couple landed on top, the rest bottom landing. There were about four groups who got up during the day, and had reasonable flights (but no more XCs), the rest of us just sat and waited, or had a punt and went down.

Geoff did at one point launch and fly to a bird, got about 450’ATO, before top landing. Man of the day was DJH, who was having a day off from gravity. Malcolm Davies led the last gaggle into orbit at 5pm, which must have been the best thermal of the day.

It was a fine day for a few, but many people just got bored and demotivated. A lot of people like these kind of nil wind, get up or die days, but they’re not really for me. You end up sitting there, scanning the sky endlessly, getting hot and bothered and if you do manage to get off and thermal about 20 people descend on you like a pack of vultures. This is ok when it’s a ‘normal’ day at the Mynd and it’s pilots you know, but with a comp on and people desperate to get up it makes the whole thing a little less predicable (and by that I mean worrying). I like a bit of wind when you’re on a site what is such a tiny top to bottom and in retrospect I wish I’d canned the day earlier and cut my hedge.

We packed up just as the last thermal kicked off, but it was too south for many to actually get airborne, so I didn’t get it out of the bag again. We were rushing off to Newcastle under Lyme for our biannual Peaks reunion. It’s always nice to catch up with Dave, Jenny, Brian, Shirley, Milton, Sarah, James, etc. We even did some late night pottery!

See photos of today.

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