Sunday 12 April 2015

Super Saturday

6am. Saturday 11th April. I had set the alarm early after the previous days chatter of a record breaking day in the UK. The weather forecast had been promising an excellent soaring day with relatively strong winds, indicating that a long distance XC was not only possible, but could also lead to a selection of British HG records being broken, including Open Distance and flight to a declared goal, both for Class 1 (flexwing) and Class 5 (rigid).

Dawn with the front passing through
The forecast good conditions were dependant on a front going through, switching the wind from SW to WNW, and paving the way for the following unstable air to trigger thermal activity. As I looked out of the bedroom window at the rain drenched car below , a beautiful sunrise was starting to develop. Perhaps the forecast was going to be right after all.
The RASP forecast - yellow and and red is good!

With my instruments charged and packed the previous night, and preliminary flight planning done, I downed a bowl of porridge, loaded my harness in the car, and headed off to the hangar to pick up my glider and then on to Frocester, near Stroud in Gloucestershire. The forecast had consistently shown the wind switching to the WNW, then coming back round to WSW by early afternoon. This site can potentially handle that variation, but arriving on site at 8.45am it was clear after a walk to the spur and by observing the low clouds, that the wind was more NW and blowing up to 30mph. Wrong site, and marginal conditions. 

Nev Almond arrived shortly afterwards and after a quick assessment decided to head off to Selsley up the ridge towards Stroud - a small NW site with minimal landing options but at least, in these conditions, the potential for a launch to start an XC. After a few minutes hesitation (was the wind going to come back round in the next hourt?) I followed Nev up to Selsley where we were soon joined by Grant Crossingham, Paul Harvey and Tim King. Carl Wallbank had woken early in the Wirral with a view to driving down south to join the record breaking gaggle, but the early rain and howling wind had swayed him to stay home. 

Rigging in the dip

All systems checked and ready to go
Soon gliders were being rigged in a convenient dip in the common land, providing some shelter from the strong wind. By 10.30am we were rigged and the final preparation of instruments and declaring flights was taking place. An ambitious flight to the South Downs then along the coast to Deal in Kent was programmed in. Could we beat Carl's 276km flight from Wales to the South Coast? As I checked my cooridnates and submitted my declaration, there was a sudden flury of activity and a noticeable anxiousness amongst some of the pilots. The wind was backing to the west sooner than expected. Damn. Should have stayed at Frocester. Gliders were quickly being "floated" to the front. I opted to do final checks clipped in by the car and with Hilly holding the nose, made my way across the common to the front. With the glider at a 45 degree angle to the path to keep the glider in to wind, I knew that launch was going to be very interesting. Seeing first Nev then Grant take off and be thrown around low to the ground did nothing to allay those fears.

As I approached the front Paul managed to escape off the hill after nearly being ground looped twice, while Tim hung back from the launch, keeping his glider safe. "Be very careful Ben. The launch is VERY turbulent". He wasn't wrong. With Hilly on the nose and Carmen kindly offering to take a wing, I gingerly made it to a launch spot where I did not have to immediately overfly the trees just below. Luckily the wind was being pulled straight up the hill and felt (relatively) smooth, so after some final instruction to the superb ground crew, I lifted the nose of the glider, shouted "release" and launched. Immediately the glider climbed, and almost as quickly started sinking towards the hill. Pulling on even more speed I flew towards the lip below then gently converted to height to clear the hill and climb away. 

Selsley Mountain....

Paul on his rigid marking better lift
Flying above launch

As bad as Mexico! No landings...
Being flushed out down by the trees

And the roller coaster experience continued. Trying to explore various parts of the ridge to find out where the potential lift would be coming from, I noticed that the end of the ridge East towards Stroud,  where Grant and Nev had climbed out, was pumping up in cycles. Keeping an eye on Paul, I worked some lift there until it broke up,  and glided over to join Paul who seemed to still be climbing faster. But my short journey towards him was through monstrous sink, to the point that I was soon below ridge height and contemplating a landing in... well, that was the problem. There wasn't anywhere that could be described as a landing field. Small, sloping fiends with power lines, rotor inducing buildings, Cotswold stone walls, roads.... As I flew just above the tree tops at the bottom of the hill, I sized up the only field that I would attempt to land in. Turning in on finals I hit an incredibly strong surge so instead of straightening to glide to the field, I continued to "S" turn my way back up the hill until I could squeeze in a 360. As I quickly cleared ridge height, I was able to 360, so I stayed with it. As the thermal consolidated I was soon committed to going "over the back". Thank feck for that. I had no intention of hanging around on the hill.

Getting high(ish) at last

Searching over Minchinhampton Common
Climbing in broken lift I drifted over the valley behind towards Minchinhampton Common. With my climb petering out, and after a short search pattern, I glided on towards Minch where I would hopefully find a better climb to help me connect with the fantastic clouds that were now creating some inviting streets.Over "Tom Longs Post" in the centre of the common,  I connected with a broken thermal which I worked hard to stay in with its ever moving core. Just about maintaining height over Minch, I heard Tim updating the pilots on the radio. He was still on the hill and had opted not to fly. A good call. Paul Harvey was still trying to get away from the hill and Tim informed everyone that I had gone over the back. 
Grant: "Just passing the lakes" (Cotswold Water Park)
Ben "I'm struggling low over Minchinhampton".
Grant: "Stick with it  - once you get past Cirencester the lift sorts itself out. Keep circling"
So I did. But I was going down slowly! With Kemble ATZ airspace just ahead I knew I needed a miraculous climb to get over it. Staying where I was not going to deliver it. 

Running out of options with Aston Down top right

Watching a recently winch launched sailplane circling over Aston Down Gliding Club, I glided towards the aerodrome, keeping off the centre line of the runway where towing was talking place, hoping to pick up lift from a brown field lined with trees ahead, or even from the hangars as a last ditch attempt to stay up. But my luck had run out. 
Flying around the perimeter road I turned in to wind, having to pull on lots of speed to stop flying backwards. It was like a top landing on a windy hill top.

Perfect touchdown
A perfect touch down, in a big wide open space. Partially relieved to be down in one piece, I felt the pangs of frustration as I heard Grant making good progress towards Swindon, talking to Malcolm Beard as he flew over top of him launching at Liddington. Oh well, better to be safe and to fly another day. I phoned Hilly to organise retrieve and started the usual process of packing harness and instruments first, then de-rigging the glider. Being her first experience of hang gliding I was expecting there to be some delay in the car turning up. I could not have been more wrong! Having just had time to get the battens out, I saw the welcome sight of my car coming around the perimeter road. A well deserved pub lunch followed.

Grant climbing over Swindon

Cloud streets forming all over the place
I knew that Grant and Nev had every chance of doing a big distance. And they did not disappoint. As the day unfolded I received a phone call from Paul Harvey, who had done well to escape the hill and get to Newbury. He told me that he was on his way to Ashford to pick up Grant. Ashford? In Kent? Bloody hell! He must have been very near to smashing the record. Wow.

The Facebook comments in the evening were filled with a mixture of praise and disgruntled rumblings by those who hadn't made an epic flight. Ironically, Grants flight had not been meticulously planned as some claimed. Speaking to him this morning, he had not pre-programmed the flight, and had experienced problems with an airspace update on his instruments.
Ben: "You went over the top of Kemble airspace without much clearance, and was even sinking early in to crossing it. You must have balls of steel!"
Grant: "I just decided that if I stayed directly above Nev, then I should be OK! I flew the second part of the flight from memory".  Got to love him! 

Grant and Nev's tracks. Awesome!
So, a flight of 266km on a flex wing, with Nev a few kilometers behind on his rigid. Just 10km short of the British Record. Unfortunately Nev just clipped airspace so his flight is DSQ, but you cant take away the fact that both pilots achieved a remarkable feat. Well done, guys. Inspiring flights. 

Just love to fly :-)