We got up early today and headed up to the Long Mynd. We got up to cloudbase straight away, and it started drizzling, so we didn’t even bother getting out of the car.

This weekend there’s a big international archery competition organised by the Long Mynd Archers, so we helped with the setting up. Everything was already laid out in the archery field ready for transport to the playing field at Stretton school, so we went there to help measure up. We pegged out an area 90m x 100m, did some white lining and then set up a marquee. Learning archery has meant learning a new set of vocabulary, with risers, limbs, bosses, faces, ends, etc. meaning nothing to us before we started. I thought we’d just about cracked it, when they started discussing target leakage and nappies, and giggled when they saw our confused faces.

By 3pm, the sky started looking a lot better, so we made our excuses and headed back up the hill. There was a line of solid cloud to the north and good sky to the south. As we arrived, the Mynd was just in the gap between them, with the first bit of sun hitting the ground. Conditions were scratchy and the lift seemed poor, judging by the slow climb rate of the sail planes. Rich was doing ok and Alan was testing the Hook 2, but was on a small size, which wasn’t helping in the light winds. Mick was treating his family to tandem flights. Geoff and Pete Wooley took off and had to slope land and I launched and nearly went down, but managed to soar a small bubble and climb up again for a fairly heroic low save.

After that, the late afternoon and evening just got better and better, with Martin getting to 900′ ATO late on, Ali having a nice flight and Wayne skying out without a vario. It was a really nice evening session with everyone just messing about and having fun.

See photos of today.

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