Today was going to be the day. Forecast looked good for the Long Mynd and the curtaincast confirmed this. Because of the temporary airspace for the Cosford Airshow, XC flights were going to be limited, so we decided to try to make the best of what was possible and declare a goal just on the edge of the airspace. We texted in a landing field at Bridgnorth, 30km. I thought that declared goal flights got a 1.5 multiplier, so the flight would be worth 45km. I’ve declared flights before but never managed to get there, so achieving goal was going to be a first.

We got to the Long Mynd and people were high. As we got ready people started to sink out… different day, same old story. We waited for a while and Geoff launched and I followed close behind. He didn’t get up, I did. I flew off to a better thermal being marked by Mark. I didn’t get it, Geoff worked the original thermal to 1800 ATO, came back to the front, then later got to cloudbase and over the back. I slope landed and then spent the next hour relaunching, getting my foot caught in my speedbar, having to land, performing the most inept three launches of my flying career and generally behaving like a complete numpty. I did manage, at one point, to get to 1800′ ATO only to loose the thermal and then fly under several newer pilots skying out without getting a blip. At this point I did think that I didn’t really deserve to go over the back and maybe I should just land and get the car to pick Geoff up from Bridgnorth.

I did manage to pull myself together though and I did get high and over the back. Wayne was a thermal ahead of me and the other pilot in the thermal with me turned back to the front of the ridge (lots of people did. why?). So I set off on my own. I had lost radio contact with Geoff and I got another thermal over Church Stretton and then headed for Wenlock Edge. I was getting low and thought this was pretty much par for the course today… Geoff gets to goal and I end up at Wenlock Edge. As I was pondering going back into a big sulk I got a strong thermal out of nowhere. It took me back up high and I was on my way again. Cloud streets, thermals, etc. later I was at the 20km mark (approx.) and running out of cloud street. In front of me was all blue and I couldn’t reach the next cloud. I remembered the comment that Richard Westgate made in his podcast that paragliders don’t cross blue holes. Having a goal, I decided not to chance it, so flew back to the cloud I had just climbed under and climbed back to near base. By the time I did this, a lovely fluffy cloud had formed half-way across the blue bit and I jumped under it, climbed and the crossed to the far cloud street.

I got low again 6km-ish from goal and had to look for a ground source. Mine was a ploughed field and when I got there there was a little cu forming. It was the roughest thermal of the day, and I had collapses flying in and around it to try and find the core. But, having a goal, I ignored the roughness and thought “rough means up!”. It was and I drifted along with it slowly towards goal. I decided I wasn’t in a comp, so could get there with whatever height I wanted, so I topped up and didn’t go on a final glide until about 4000’AMSL and 2km from goal. When I was within the goal cylinder I was so happy I nearly burst into tears. I assumed Geoff was already there, but I couldn’t raise him on the radio.

Sod’s law, you try to get lift the whole flight, and then you can’t get down. I got so much lift, I decided to fly back for a bit to get in between the cloud streets to get some sink. I did consider flying back to the Mynd – the sky looked so good, but I needed a wee, I was starving and I thought I had done pretty well in the circumstances.

Michaela did her retrieve magic (cheers, my dear) and I got back to find hardly any wind and hardly anyone flying. When I put in my flight tonight, I discovered that I was wrong about the multiplier and it is only 1.25, making the flight 36km. With turn points it was 37.6km, so I have scrapped the declaration and just gone for the points. I am now kicking myself for not trying to get back or trying to fly further south. Still, a good lesson learned.

So, lessons for today:

1) Declaring a goal is a really good motivator. If I had been on an open XC I may have given up sooner and just put it down to experience. With a concrete goal, you just keep trying until you get the climb or good glide. Time seemed less important. Getting there became all that mattered. I flew more patiently than I ever have, and I put this down to having a goal.

2) Try to think what is the most you can get out of the day and be flexible in your goals. I decided that getting to goal was enough. I should have revised my goal and tried to fly back. What a flight that would have been!

3) Having flown to a goal has really helped psychologically with going to Piedrahita next week. ‘Goal’ had become this mystical thing which was for really good pilots. I didn’t really have a subconscious image of how goal would feel until today (listen to Dave Thomson’s podcast about how important all this stuff is). I now have a conscious one and it’s really good to be able to draw on that when thinking about having to do it all several times at the Open. I know it wasn’t very far, and well within the distance I normally fly, but to get to a specific point is a different achievement than just the straight distance.

No photos today. I left my camera at home. Dear me!

Geoff writes:  I actually landed about 5k short of goal, and Judith, after I’d packed up, flew over me. I had to walk for an hour or so to find a road with traffic on it (just one car passed in all that time) and finally managed to hitch back to the Mynd, hoping to get another go. I did fly again, but it was nowhere near as good, and I didn’t get away.

The Peaks was the place to be, with at least 3 100k+ flights from Bradwell, and others around the 70k mark.

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