It started off a beautiful sunny morning, but the wind also started pretty much straight away. It was forecast to blow out here from mid-morning and reports from Sarn, Corndon and Llangollen confirmed it. The only option seemed to be Long Mountain, but there also seemed to be a little east in it, which isn’t good.

We sat in the garden with the wind howling around us and the cumulus popping off everywhere. It was a classic sky, so we set off for Long Mountain, not expecting to fly. We met Martin and Jay there and the wind was eerily light. Martin gave it a go first and it seemed a little rough and the thermals really broken. He top landed, having not really enjoyed his flight and we waited for the next person to test conditions. DJH obliged and the lift was better and he reported it a little smoother.

Geoff took off and got high, but lost the thermal, so had to come back through all the rough stuff at the back of the hill to try to have a reasonable walk back for another go. Martin meanwhile was up and away. I launched and got high, but found it very rough. You had to actively fly all the time to keep the glider above you. I pushed forward and got to 1200′ ATO, so plenty of height to go with, but a huge blue hole had developed between the hill and Corndon. It’s a 10km glide, so impossible unless you can get some lift on the way.

My heart wasn’t in it and I wasn’t up for the rough conditions, so I decided to land. Geoff had also re-launched and hated it, so he landed just before me. We have dinner guests tonight, so we decided not to bother and just went home. Royston and Angie arrived about 10 mins after us, so we had tea in the garden and beer in the Castle.

It seems it was a better day everywhere else – both north and south of here. And strange that it was so windy here and in the Peaks they were doing triangles.

Geoff writes: Martin landed near Clun, maybe 20km or so. In retrospect, seeing what was done in the rest of the country, both north and south of here, we should have gritted our teeth and tried harder! The sky undoubtedly, and suddenly, blued out just behind Long Mountain, and that was a problem. Had we tried to leave a bit early, we would have been ahead of that, and certainly could have been on for a long distance.

We did mess up yesterday, but conditions in our local area have been very, very poor so far this year. Hopefully, it will change soon.

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