Saturday, 12th September 2009
Posted by Judith on 14 Sep 2009 at 09:25 am | Tagged as: Flying
We woke to find Snowdonia basked in sunshine. A task was called at Harlech and we got a lift with Cris and the Pennine lads. At launch it was well off to the south. What they were hoping for was that the wind would start blowing from the mountains and mix with the sea breeze to cause a convergence, which would get us up and away to Cader Idris and then the beach at Barmouth. The met wind was so weak that it never happened. A better place would have been inland in the mountains on a south facing slope, but with 75-odd pilots you need a hill that can fit them all!
Everyone sat around chatting and snoozing in the sunshine. A few wind dummies went off but the farmer at the bottom complained and the bottom landing was closed for a while until an alternative could be found. Then the task was changed to fly a cat’s cradle between a hill to the north and Harlech Castle. At 4.30pm the day was cancelled and people started packing up. Dave J-H was adamant it was an evening site and it would work shortly, so we listened to his sagely advice and stayed. Sure enough, within 5 minutes of the majority of people packing up and leaving, the wind direction changed 120 degrees. Tony Spirling launched and maintained in the valley for a while before going down but Dave Thomson and Rich Chaffe, who launched next stayed up. We all got ready and in the air double-quick.
It was magical. We thermalled up a little and then went along the ridge. It was easy to maintain for a while and Rich had gone all the way along to the end of the cliffs beyond Harlech. I flew around until it got scratchy, but I didn’t want to miss out on the chance to fly over the castle and along the cliffs, so I set off before I was too low. Flying over the castle was spectacular and I could hear the cheers from the pilots sitting at the pub in town. I made it onto the cliffs easily and soared there with Cris, Chris Williams, Richard Butterworth, Rich, Dave J-h, Dave Thomas and lots of other friends. There was lots of silliness going on in between admiring the fantastic views. We landed on top and Dave J-H kindly took us back up for the van.
By the time we got back and had showered and eaten, the sun had caught up with me and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Instead of partying, I was in bed by 10.30pm!
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