Wednesday 25 March 2015

Back in the saddle.

Seven months? SEVEN MONTHS? Is that how long it had been since I had last flown? Over the last couple of weeks the weather had shown signs of Spring arriving so I had already checked over the glider and replaced an upright (oh, did I forgot to mention that in my last post?!), and made sure all the electronic gizmos were working and charged. A useful check as I discovered that the rechargeable batteries in my Alinco radio had failed. I decided to order the latest Chinese built radio with an 8W output for the princely sum of £49 - along with the new harness aerial I should be able to get a signal out even in the most remote of locations.

Itching to get back in the air after the long winter lay off, I had been watching the forecasts with interest, willing the RASP forecasts to show some exciting Spring conditions. Nev Almond started posting that it was looking good, and Luke Nicol announced a "Wondrous Wednesday", encouraging more excited Facebook chatter! My fake weather forecast posting on FB, to discourage the anticipated swarm of Paraglider pilots from descending on the local sites, was soon rumbled :-) One thing was for sure though, and that was all the forecasts were showing an "early" day, with chances of cloud over-development by mid afternoon.



Picking up the glider from the hangar
Waking up early in the morning, I declared my intended flight from Combe Gibbet. Nev had set an ambitious 100km  triangle, but I downsized to a 60km triangle, planning to first go south with the prevailing wind, and then push North in to wind as the day grew stronger, with the last leg back to Combe cross-wind. Having dropped by the "hangar" at our tow site at Castle Eaton to pick up my glider and after the relatively short drive to launch, I arrived at 9.30am to find three hang gliders already rigged, and more arriving, along with the a large number of PGs. 
I immediately rigged the glider, mounted the instruments and cameras, and prepared to launch. Nev Almond was the first HG off the hill at around 1045am, following some PGs who had already found some half decent climbs. With Nev climbing out to the West, I prepared to launch. The sky was increasingly busy so I was looking for definite signs of lift and some clear space. A small gaggle of PGs had pushed out just in front of my launch area, and were gently climbing. 

Climbing on the West part of the ridge
Gliding forward with PGs
Suddenly a Red Kite started climbing from the base of the hill between me and the gaggle of PGs. With a quick check around, I immediately launched to join the kite. Hey Presto! First one 360, then another... above hill height... still climbing... clear of PGs. Phew! At about 500' above take off I glided off to the West to explore for lift above the trees in clearer air. Bingo! Another climb. With some strong surges and averaging 2-3 up, my lift petered out at about 2000' ASL so I decided to push North to my first turn point. I had been watching Nev and a couple of PGs working lift up wind. Quickly losing 1000' I pulled on speed towards three PGs who seemed to be maintaining height. Now only a few hundred feet above the ground and with no chance of getting back to the hill, it seemed pretty hopeless as the grey gloom seemed to be spreading quickly, inviting me to check out landing fields. As I came in underneath the lowest PG, the air started bubbling. For over ten minutes we worked the weak lift, both hunting around for the strongest parts, but flying well together. It was a real pleasure to fly with this pilot. Slowly but surely we were drifting back towards the hill, sometimes slowly descending, but hanging in for the thermal to mature and we were indeed rewarded with a stonking climb that catapulted us back up in a 6 up that occasionally showed 9 up. 


Great flying with my new PG chum!
Looking back at launch
What are those strange shapes in the ground?
Cloud base must have been just under 3000' so I decided that I would bin my task and just enjoy the flying. I could hear Luke Nicol and Paul Harvey on the radio, flying some 60 miles away on the South Downs. As I pushed to the East to create a small triangle, the ground became increasingly in shadow. Looking back at the hill, I could see a lot of pilots landing. Malcolm Beard had just launched and was struggling to stay up and landed quickly along the ridge to the West. After a brief weak climb, I decided to glide back to complete my flight.

Random in-flight shot as I messed with the camera!
Top landing at Combe is not that straight forward. It involves crabbing up the hill from the East and then turning in to wind for touch down. Overshoots are not uncommon, so I made sure that I started my approach early from the road, crabbing along the track up to launch and finally turning in to wind to make a perfect landing. Job done. First flight of the year successfully completed.




Soon the skies were empty, with most pilots trapped on the ground, while a few had managed to stay high and left the hill. As the skies became more murky, a few hail stones started falling. Nev would be on the ground. Or so we thought. As Craig Dolwin patiently waited for conditions to improve, I suddenly spotted Nev gliding in quite low from the West. As he flew over the Gibbet I expected him to carry on East then turn 180 to the left to crab up the track. But Nev had other ideas. With a sharp, banked, sinking turn to the right he disappeared downwind behind the parked cars, now covering the ground at high speed  Expecting to see a cart wheeling glider, I ran up to the field, and over the track to see a rather cool looking Nev nonchalantly taking off his helmet and messing around with his instruments... A bit too cool, methinks. I expect a change of underwear might have been needed.

I think that was the last flying of the day. The wind had dropped right off. Maybe Craig, Miles and Malcolm hung on but I decided to pack up and get an early finish to the day. 
My 60km triangle turned in to a 11.2km epic, but which scored 28km! Nev and the few PGs made it up to Membury then over to Devizes before heading back. Oh well, I've got some points on the board, and all good practice for "the big one".