We were wage slaves this morning and had a meeting. We pretended that we were in big demand by our clients, when all the phone calls that interrupted the proceedings were actually about flying. Ooops.

Once we were done with the meeting it was later than we thought, and certainly too late to go to the Peaks which, by my reading of the forecast, was where we should have been. We dithered for a while and were distracted by the HG comp, which had gone to the Long Mynd. Looking through the binoculars, you could kid yourself that it was a bit more on the hill, so we had a first look there. It was basically south, but they didn’t fancy the launching options (over the fence) in light wind at Clatter. We got a kind offer of being wind dummies for the comp, but the thought that if we had been lucky enough to get up in a thermal we would have been mobbed by 60 hang gliding vultures was way too scary, so we declined and hoofed over to Clatter.

We got there too late and the front out to the west was too close, mostly shutting the sky down. It was still thermic though. I launched first and got up to 850′ in a slow, smooth thermal, which petered out. Strongest lift I got was 1.1m/s, biggest sink I got was 2.2m/s. You get the idea…

It wasn’t enough to go XC with, but Martin got to base at 4500′, but the sky downwind didn’t look good, so he had a play and practice, just enjoying being in the air, looking at the scenery and staying high. At one point there were cumulus forming under him. How amazing.

Geoff and I both got highish again, but never enough even to consider going over the back. In the end, the wind picked up and we all had a good old fashioned soaring flight – something I have never done at Clatter! Geoff led the way to the ridge to the west and I got a completely new view of the place. Martin, Geoff and I landed back at the cars, while David McKenzie played in the buoyant air.

We really wanted to go to the HG comp prize giving, but missed it as we were driving back, so we went to do some evening archery instead. My new limbs (as in part of the bow)  arrived yesterday and it was fantastic. Finally the right poundage! Chairman Tom lent me his allen keys and gauge, and I did the first bit of tuning. I tested the adjustment and got six golds. I’ve been struggling to get one an end (six arrows) this season, so it’s made a massive difference. Tom had me shooting at 80 yards at the end of the evening. Never thought I could reach that far.

So I was pretty happy this evening. Nice, relaxed flying and finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with my archery. Good excuse for a few glasses of Cava! [not that she ever needs an excuse..]

See photos of today.

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