My 1st entry into the British Clubs Challenge - Sat 19 June

A last-minute decision to enter the comp late Friday evening after a long week in London led to a panic pack early Sat morning and long drive to central Wales (including getting lost a couple of times). The organisation was marginally sub-optimal and most of the entries only got up to the flying site takeoff Hundred House at about 1-ish.


It was beautifully sunny with perfect looking clouds, but it was also gusting up to 30 mph at times. A few brave/desperate/delusional pilots proceeded to fly backwards though some admittedly managed to make headway to be rewarded by being bounced around close to the hill - so perhaps they weren't so bad! It did gradually smooth off a bit and the strong gusts came less frequently giving me a chance to takeoff at about 1645 - rather a late start for a typical cross country flight (the goal being to get as far from takeoff as possible today), but the days are long at the moment...


I managed to hook into a few little thermals, but couldn't keep with them and get enough height to set off. That is until Simon who was hunting around a little below me and out in front of the hill found a core. I joined him and we shot up. Simon, (perhaps a little over-keen!) promptly headed off South, I decided to keep at this thermal though it was weak at times and eventually managed to get to cloud-base which was approximately 5300 ft, and 3822 ft above takeoff, drifting back from the hill all the while. Its cold up there - about 9 degrees with a constant breeze on my face (why is that!?) and my fingers and nose were getting a bit chilly, but the view more than compensated!


This being only my 2nd UK cross country flight, its a nerve-wracking moment when you need to decide either try to head back to the hill, or go with it. Dithering probably means the worst as you bomb out just a few km from the hill potentially faced with a long walk back! I hung on to the thermal for dear-life but it eventually died and after an agonising few moments indecision, I followed Simon, now below and South of me - now I'm truly on an XC!


It was hard work as the thermals were mostly weak (or I wasn't that good at coring them!) but perseverance was the key; try to stay in the thermal to cloud-base, when there, or having lost it, head downwind and towards a likely looking bubbly cloud on half speed-bar. And it worked! I watched a few other gliders doing better or worse but I was mostly on my own. Simon was scraping around what looked to be very low indeed over a wood, and soon had to land - in a lovely meadow I later hear!


Though weak, the thermals became wider and I seemed to be able to fairly reliably hop from one to the other, never getting really low. It's actually really relaxing now, I've no idea where I am or where Ill end up, but who cares with the fluffy clouds above to keep me up, and the beautiful Welsh countryside and river Wye below. The Brecon Beacons are gradually becoming clearer - that would be a nice goal (I don't think I've the guts to go over them!).


There is one solitary glider I can now see in the distance heading for the Beacons, so I vaguely and slowly follow, but ahead the sky is turning blue - nice and warm, but not lifty! I watch as the glider ahead lands just on the edge of the Beacons, and I also start to sink. With a fantastic view of Llangorse lake, I decide on a nice looking field by a village and land. 1 hr 15 min and 25 km - wow what a brilliant flight - next time Ill remember to turn on the GPS!


Greeted by a bunch of delighted children who were watching me land including one little lad dressed as Spiderman, I answer a myriad of questions; where I came from, how it works, is it scary etc. Once packed up, their Dad invited me in to use his phone - I did manage to land somewhere with absolutely no signal. Very convenient, but better still, once there I get to talk to an interested audience about flying, fed tea and scones (with butter and jam) made by the local head-teacher. And later when Dad's friend arrives and now safe in the knowledge that a lift is on its way (thanks Nick), some local bitter gathered from the pub in a plastic milk bottle - this has all worked out very nicely indeed!


Cheers, all guys in the SSC team for making it a great weekend!


Alasdair Jones
PG

sunday 20th june

Sunday 20th June. N/NNE

Conditions at Combe were a light & thermic with the usual crowded sky. PGs were enjoying the conditions.

It appears so much more relaxing when you can scratch around & land on the slope whilst waiting for a thermal!

Eventually got off & enjoyed a pleasant hour exploring the whole ridge. Well it was my first flight at Combe!

Had a few moments amongst the Pgs where I had to be very alert-please remind me about the rules regarding turning & thermalling! (And we think Mercury gets busy!!!!)

Eventually sunk out-looked at the top landing but having seen a HG pilot overshoot it didn't look inviting as he negotiated PGs taking off!

Good safe bottom landing in the 'bean field' below takeoff-it's the one where you can see the chalk through the crop.

(de-rigg in the top right corner & its a 4 minute walk along a hidden track to the road!)

Anyone for Ringstead this week?

wayne

Sunday 20th June - Westbury

 
Sunday saw a fair contingent of skysurfers at Westbury, with a forecast of better sun & thermals in the West. Unfortunately the wind was just east of north (not north as forecast), and being 5-6 mph this made it very difficult to get started. After two landings by the trig point (Yikes), I connected properley on the third flight and set off XC. The lift didn't feel quite as good as RASP precited, and at Warminster I nearly turned back, but the lack of clouds around Westbury and the seemingly better ones off to the south I continued.
 
The flight turned into a 74 miles out and return. 
 
The flight downwind was uneventful, but I was wary that getting to Dorechester in an hour meant that there was quite a lot of wind at Height (showing 15-17mph in Bell hill area) and I nearly considered landing at Dorchester to the train back (even considered heading towards Exeter where the train line retruns to Westbury). Still, I set off back northwards, hoping I wouldnt land in boonie-land between Dorchester/Blandford. Once north of Blandford I followed the hills northwards, shadowing the A350 in case I needed to hitch back (wasn't confident about the day). Passing Shaftesbury the wind up aloft had dropped to beneath 10mph which was making life wasier, but with no clouds it was now roulette. I got low near the A303, and again adjacent to the gliding club near Mere, managed to glide on to Warminister where a landing seemed certain. Then, at 5:25-ish, lift started to bubble (I'm very low on the outskirts), and after 7-ish miniutes of the thermal growing and doing whatever they do, it then let rip and gave me the 4000ft I needed to glide the final 5 miles back to Westbury, landed 5 minutes short of 6pm, knackered after 5.5 hours in the air.

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Harting Down

Arrived just before mid day to see a rigid flying, as I walked up to T/O Nev landed reporting gusty and lumpy conditions. Wind was on and strong but flyable. Alan was also on the hill with his RIO but opting to stay put for now.

Just as I finished rigging a Lancaster bomber came past, probably only 100ft ATO and not far out, an awesome sight and sound.

I had a flight and yes it was lumpy, most I got was 1000 ATO, lift very broken by the wind. Landed and lunched, was going to go again when as I was ready to go the wind got up to hoolie strength so I parked the glider. This happened another couple of times over the next hour or so, as I had to be home at 4.30 I left. Wind was actually NNW on the face and NNE at height.

Til from Westbury arrived and Brian P turned up as I was walking back to the car. I spotted Oleg driving up as I was driving down, hope the late afternoon / early evening calmed down.

James Roy

Monksdown 17th June

Wind NNE-NE 10-22 mph   Steve Gale and I turned up with Jamie Cannon already there. His glider was out of action so brought his models along. The wind was quite off the hill but I figured the bowl section would be fine, Steve chose not to fly.   Soon after launch I found out why Steve kept his glider on the car, the wind seemed to be almost running along the hill. Well below take-off I figured that was the end of the day but got a blip to put me level with take-off.   Jamie launched his model and searched for thermals for me. What a help he turned out to be, after scratching then getting up to a more comfortable height Jamie found a good climb well out in front of the ridge. I headed to it and bingo, a nice steady 3 up.   As this was a consistent thermal I left the hill and went over the back. Climbing out I see Compton Abbas and light aircraft doing circuits to the North of me. Peaking around 3800ft ASL I headed off on a glide.   My route took me right over Okeford Hill which was directly into the wind (I guess we should have gone there) and then I continued to Bell hill.   Climbs were slow and broken with no Cu's for pointers, complete blue sky flying. At times I could see hazy stuff that can imply thermals and flew to them and they generally worked.   The coast was coming up fast despite cross winding at every opportunity. With thermal tops no more than 4000 ft ASL and often lower, it gave me little time to find a new thermal. I had 2 or 3 low saves as a result before getting low one last time that was just too much and I landed at Whitchurch Canonicorum, some 5 km NE of Lyme Regis.   The view was great looking at the coast line, especially fossil beach. Shame I was running out of land forcing me to crosswind it as it was hard enough doing a downwind dash. I recorded my first 'open' distance flight of the year with some 64 km.   Thanks goes to Steve Gale for retrieving me and Jamie Cannon for getting his model out and finding that thermal for me.   Tony

Double Dip

Forecast was NNE in the morning moving to ENE in the afternoon. I headed to Harting, arriving around 11am, it was indeed NNE and a nice 12mph at launch. Quickly rigged and had a flight out the the beacon, not a whole load of any lift, then it went like a washing machine and had gone East.

Julian turned up but had forgotten parts of his VQ. I decided to go to Mercury.

Arrived around 1.30pm, wind NE, swinging between NNE and ENE, not easy but I rigged and after a short wait had a fly. Pretty cra* to begin with, then I got a climb that allowed me to fly up to the N end of the ridge, still not a whole load of anything, windy at times. Ended up going down between cycles.

A beautiful day on the downs and I made a new friend....

James Roy

My First UK XC! Monks Down to Pimperne

Saturday 12th June 2010

A day of two halves for sure. The morning was cold and the wind was strong and gusty. I had a couple of flights but it wasn't very nice and you found yourself going backwards at times.

Paragliding Monks Down in Gusty Wind 

After lunch the wind dropped somewhat and I launched at what looked like the end of a cycle (typical). Instead I found myself in some decent lift and got above the trees and started to 360 in it. Before I knew it I was at cloudbase and become untethered from the hill! I decided it would be a good plan to follow a pilot ahead of me as he looked like he knew what he was doing. Big mistake as he was clearly better than me and I kept leaving lift to keep up with him rather than topping up on each climb. This put me very low over Pimperne, where I found a likely looking field and landed. Forgot to turn the GPS on so I had to use my phone to work out the distance (a massive 13km! I even entered it in the league). I'm over the moon and can't wait to do my next cross country, I know I can go further next time...

Monks Down Paragliding XC

Richard

Festival of Flight 2010

Hi,  Thanks for the few pilots that turned up at this year's Festival of Flight.

Unfortunately the wind did not favour us but at least it was sunny and dry.

A few PG pilots did manage some flying at the "Mushroom"

 

Everyone appeared to have enjoyed themselves and a special thanks to Brian Parkins and his HG buddy for all their hard work entertaining the kiddies and parents with the hang glider experience. Once again Bob Dear of Wessex fame arrived with his Hang glider rig and he too was busy hooking the kiddies in the harness, All tiring work but they stuck at it all day.

 Mike Sylvester stayed all day with his paramotor which attracted much interest. This year of course we had to be satisfied with a static display. That was well worth his effort. All deserve a big thank you.

 

I guess without the Kite people it would have been a duller day as the wind did favour them and the variety and colour of the kites was extraordinary.

 

All in all ,a darn good show. Do come along another time ,it is only once a year.

 

It was also good to see our Chairman Jim Whitney and Matthew his son on the hill.

 

Later I hope to post more photos at Yahoo gallery.

 

I took the opportunity to speak with Tim Speller the Manager of QEP with reference to THAT marker post at Butser West. He has agreed that it can be placed at the fence line. Of course this means that it will not suddenly appear as someone has to provide and place the marker!! Any takers!!

 

Shippo

 

 

Westbury 12 June

Wind NNW-NNE 7-14 MPH   The day was forecast to be very good, however it started with strato cumulus which was not forecast. That took a long time to clear and conditions slowly improved throughout the afternoon. By 2.30 it had really started to pick up.   Many were at Westbury including Wayne, Jamie, Grant, Nev and Steve Gale. Jamie and Grant enjoyed the early poorer conditions heading upwind towards Bath and returned to land just as conditions were getting good. I think they had to head home.   I persevered and was closing in on Trowbridge as things really seemed to get better. I pushed on and had a great view of the Avon and kennet canal directly benieth me as well as Bradford-on-Avon.   I decided to head towards Marlborough and jumped a few cloud streets to reach Olivers Castle and just West of Devises. Cloud base was steadily rising from 3800 at the start to 4700 at 4pm. By this time I was feeling tired so glided straight back to Westbury to record a nice 45 km triangle.   A lovely flight that included a 700ft p/min climb on the averager.   Tony

tick warning

judging by the number of Sheep & Cattle Ticks my dog has picked up in recent weeks I can safely say that the little critters have thrived in the recent weather.
The critters lay in the grass & will give you a nibble if you sit around long enough!
They may also carry that nasty disease called Lymes Disease.
The easiest way to remove them is useing a tick remover purchased for a few pounds from the vets! You don't want to squash the critter as this will force the blood inside back though its jaws & into whatever it is biting!
stay safe & have fun

wayne

Sunday 6th June 2010, Butser West, PG

My name is Pete and its been 3 months since my last flight. On Saturday, as I felt quite rusty, I did a couple of hours ground-handling at Mercury in very light NE.

Sunday was W so headed to Butser. Had 2 short flights with rubbish landings including being dragged through cow pats in the bottom of the bowl. Decided to spend the rest of the day fixing my landing technique before I hurt myself. There didn't seem to be much lift about anyway. Had 2 more short flights with excellent landings. 'Excellent' meaning landing softly on my feet within the field I was aiming for without getting more cow-muck on me or my kit.

By about 3pm most people had gone home and it was getting a bit late for that lunch I'd promised my driver so decided on one more top-to-bottom. If I could pull off another good landing I'd go home feeling pretty pleased myself.

At launch it was a bit tussly but with some encouragement from Stu I got off. Penetrating over the trees was really slow but once past them I started to go up. And up and up. I kept stumbling through patches of lift generally slowing down while going through then turning round for a second go. Not quite managing to circle, but it worked. I eventually topped out at about 1400 feet ATO. A experienced pilot would have been making XC plans but I was just "I'm actually doing it" and "Wow this is awesome" and "where's Butser".

I'd been up for about 40 minutes and decided that would do me, after all I was only doing a top-to-bottom. I did manage to dig out my phone for a couple of snaps on the way down. Total flight time was 57 minutes and I landed gently on my feet in the right field and without acquiring any more excrement. I'm over the moon and been boring everyone I know (and some I don't) ever since.

Pete

Butser sunday 6/6/10

what a surprise Sunday was the forecast was for it to get strong and blown out by lunch time but as we were to find out it they got it wrong again. I arrived on the hill about 8:45 to find five other PG's enjoying an early start and the wind varying from light to perfect and smack on. So after a quick catch up with Richard C and Stu  it was set up time and have a flight. A bit lively in places but good to not be smacked about by snotty thermals and racked up 100 ato  and a couple of nice top landing one almost in formation with Richard. Headed over to oxenbourn but hit a load of sink before getting anywhere near so made a trip to the upper field, one of two trips I made down there. Missed the best of the day by the sound of it though with Pete (he was on a red ribbon) and Grant C having a great flight after Al, Richard and I left. Well done you Guys

 

Nigel B

Whitewool

A pleasant 30 minutes flying this morning at Whitewool with James and Justin. A little thermal now and again but enough to get a couple of hundred feet.
 
Alun

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