Typical. The forecast for the Bank Holiday weekend was predictably terrible. Must be time for a British flying competition.
Day 1 - Saturday. Briefing at 9.30. Day Cancelled due to "inclement weather". No kidding.Thank heavens for "Audrey", Simon White's new caravan out on its inaugural trip to a flying competition. Warm, dry, and with tea a-flowing, accompanied by gorgeous cake courtesy of Kevin Gay's good lady. Perfect. A nice way to spend an afternoon, catching up with flying buddies. Not wanting to spend the night in my tent in the rain, I opted to drive home and come back in the morning. The call of a hot bath and warm cosy bed was too much to ignore.
Day 2 - Sunday. Briefing at 9.00am. Rebrief at 10am. Rebrief at 11am. Day cancelled.
An afternoon for catching up with my blog, and drinking more tea and eating cake! Reluctantly I "popped" up my trusty Kyham Igloo tent that has literally travelled the world with me for 25 years. Rip. UV degradation making itself known. Rip. And again. This could be its last outing.
A highlight of Sunday was the traditional competition meal at the Old Rectory in Llangatock. As a mark of respect to the late Pete Coad (ex hang gliding Meethead, and super-nice bloke), and in the presence of Angie Coad, many wore Hawaiian shirts in homage to Pete's rather loud dress sense. The food was excellent, with generous helpings of a delicious carvery. Awards were given out a plenty and I was very pleased to receive the Presidents Trophy for the longest flight on a Flex Wing for my 100 miler last year. Marc Asquith, BHPA Chairman, temporarily handed over the trophy before shooting back home just in time for the birth of his twins 24 hours later. Cutting it fine...
Day 3 - Bank Holiday Monday. Woken at 5am by a bunch of teenagers singing "Happy Birthday" to one of their gang. The youth of today. Why aren't they drunk and sleeping in until midday nursing terrible hangovers? Shameful behaviour!
Briefing at 9am. What? We are going to fly? With the only appropriate site for the predicted wind backing from SW to SSE being Bache Hill in Mid Wales, we loaded up cars for the one and a half hour drive. This season, I have secured a place in Dave Bluett's crew, alongside Rigid Pilot Steve Marnier. Ex-scorer for the hang gliding competitions, Dave has been coming to the comps for years and is renowned for getting a Mini to where only the most purpose built off-roaders dare to go. I will try and dig out a photo from last year... The Bluett bus for 2015 is a 4x4 Skoda Yeti - I am confident that wherever we launch from, or land, Dave will get the vehicle close by! And that's just the half of it.
10.30am. Bache Hill. Arriving at the lower launch there were already plenty of cars parked up , with gliders being rigged near to the front. Steve and I quickly unstrapped the gliders and I bagged a place near the front. leaving my harness in the car. There is a real "band of brothers" atmosphere amongst most of the flying community, and its was great to be in amongst some old chums. As I started to rig the glider, my harness suddenly arrived next to me. Thanks Dave. Wasn't expecting that.
Before long, everyone was rigged - rumblings of "briefing" could be heard as pilots were keen to get in the air as soon as possible to make the most of what looked like a good sky, especially as there was a threat of high cloud moving in to shut off the conditions. With military precision the task briefing took place at the pre-ordained 12.30pm. A 97km task was called to Aldford (disused airfield) via a turn point called Mordor near Oswestry. Launch window open at 1pm and first start time at 1.30pm. By 12:55 I was clipped in and ready to go, keen to get an early start. Briefing horn. Damn, Rebrief. Time to unclip. "Stay as you are, Ben. I'll get the information and pass it on". Dave Bluett, again, quietly supporting "his" pilots. I was starting to feel lucky being in his crew.
The re-briefing was solely about "relights" - if a pilot bombs out at the start, then they can be allowed to start again, this time as long as the pilot landed in the designated bottom field. Good to know, but I didn't intend to end up there. Turning the glider in to wind, I made my way to the launch area. Rebekah, our resident highly qualified and experienced meteorologist, kindly took the nose to get me to the front. Luke Nicol, Justin Needham, Darren Brown, Kath Rigg were all shuffling forward. We watched a rigid take off from the far take off to the right, and just about maintain height for a minute or so. With their better sink rate, I wasn't keen to rush off and end up going down but as the rigid started to climb, and there were noises of "pushing" (the act of getting a pilot at the front to either take off or make way for pilots prepared to launch) I made a committed run down the shallow slope and was soon flying along the ridge to where the rigid was slowly climbing.
Several other pilots were soon following and for a few minutes we explored various parts of the ridge, trying to find the best lift. Back towards launch and I got in to a lumpy bit of a lift. One 360, another 360. As I came around again I was forced to straighten my turn to avoid the chance of conflict with another glider that had joined the lift. Definitely not an intentional move to disrupt my flight path - it was just going to get crowded low down and scratching for lift.
But I wished I had stayed with it, or muscled my way back in. That lift was responsible for taking the lead gaggle away, leaving me fighting for another twenty minutes struggling on the ridge to get high enough to go over the back. The bottom landing field had already started claiming victims, and the lead gaggle could be heard nattering away on the radio, discussing tactics. Gordon Rigg had selflessly been relaying excellent information about location of lift to help get as many pilots up and away from the hill.
Finally I crawled over the back, not high but gently climbing or maintaining height at around 2400' ASL. With no gliders visible ahead of me I was on my own - not ideal in weak conditions. As the lift disappeared I took a short glide to a likely looking thermal source, while keeping an eye on the clouds. I was relieved to find another area of broken lift that did eventually mature in to a good 3-4 up climb.Stewart Reid on his rigid came to join the fun, followed by a flex wing much lower.
As we drifted on, the lower glider must have dropped out the bottom of the thermal and was soon landing. Stewart and I continued to thermal up to cloud base where he glided off to find the next lift. I elected not to follow but chose a similar but different route to maximise chances of locating the best area. Clouds or terrain? Listening on the radio to the lead flex gaggle ahead made up Gordon, Grant, Dave, Carl, Luke, Shedsy, Phippsy and Darren, their decisions were being made based on cloud formations - with a few of them sharing the sky they could find the best areas. Luke Nicol was clearly pleased with his recently acquired and tuned Moyes RX4! From what I could gather a green king-posted glider (from the Cub Class?) was ahead of them, inviting complimentary comments from members of our British team but unfortunately the pilot lost the lift as they came in to join him. A great effort on a difficult day.
Some 15kms behind the lead gaggle, Stewart and I continued to make progress until I eventually lost site of him having glided over to where I had last seen him climbing. Decisions. Decisions. An endless analysis of where to fly to next. The area to the right of track would take in the hills around Church Stoke including Corndon. Gliding towards the town I attempted to fly over likely thermal generators but nothing seemed to work until I reached the industrial estate at the foot of Tolpeth Hill. Bingo. A nice climb. As I started gaining height a red kite came in to the thermal to join me. A frequent companion at Combe Gibbet in Berkshire, apparently these beautiful birds have only just come back to this area. My new found flying friend was certainly inquisitive,swooping around my glider before formation flying off my wing tip. Stunning. Just wish I had pressed the right GoPro button...
Gliding on above the ridges I spotted a smaller ridge off to the west further down track. South facing, tress near the top, farm below, ploughed fields. Surely a likely place to find a climb. I wasn't disappointed, but I had noticed that my climbs were topping out lower and lower. The sky was starting to look decidedly overcast. The gaggle ahead were definitely slowing up, with many calling very low saves, or indeed landing. Corndon was my next "stop" en route to the first turn point. As I crossed the valley to reach it, gliding below 1600' I suddenly noticed a helicopter at a similar altitude off to my right flying directly towards me. Had he seen me? Closing fast I was about to initiate some high banked turns to make myself more visible when the chopper turned gently to its left to pass behind me, probably within two or three hundred meters. Close enough for turbulence? Probably not but I pulled on speed nonetheless towards the corner of Corndon Hill where I arrived below ridge height.
I think the walkers on the top of the hill were quite surprised when I popped up above the trees, circling just above their heads. A PG was further along the ridge, much higher, but the hill seemed to be working where I was, so I stuck with it and climbed away towards the quarry which delivered some punchy pockets of lift but nothing I wanted to stay with. Now getting low, I was working on maximising my distance on glide by heading straight for the turn point which was taking me over likely lifty areas. Nothing. I heard Gordon was down at the turnpoint only 10kms ahead. All I needed was something to drift with.
Less than 300' above the ground and my landing gear was out again. Sizing up a field next to a village I was about to do a base leg when "boom", I hit a gnarly little core that got me back up to 1500' before I lost it. Damnations. More news of pilots landing over the radio. Seemed like the Sky Gods had decided to stop our fun. Full VG, elbows tucked in, I glided as far as I could towards the turn point, gently veering course to fly near a road and houses to make retrieve easy. Big farmhouse, large field alongside. Perfect. With a couple of turns I was down.
A quick text to Dave with my landing coordinates and I started de-rigging. Rodney, the owner of the house came over, to check all was OK. I apologised for landing unannounced in his field, but he was genuinely interested in flying, and went back inside to put the kettle on! Twenty minutes later with glider and harness packed on his front garden, I was sat in the house with three generations of the family, drinking tea and watching British Superbikes...
I carried the kit down to the end of the rather long drive to await Dave's imminent arrival having picked up Steve Marnier further back along the course. Soon I could see the Yeti approaching down the lane and with Dave and Steve's help we were soon on our way back to Crickhowell. And what a drive it was! Little did I know that Dave is a bit of a music nut... As we zoomed over the Brecon Beacons in the Bluett Boogey Bus, Madonna's "Mother and Father"shook the seats.Great fun.
Back at base by 7.45pm and Dave offered to take the GPS's up to the scoring room while Steve and I transferred the gliders to our cars. I also quickly decamped - the forecast was looking terrible and the comp organisers were already talking about cancelling the remaining two days. Luke Nicol had in fact won what turned out to be the only task of the round. A great achievement considering it was his first task back on a flex wing. It was shame to only fly one day out of a possible five, but I was pleased to have bagged 59km on a weak day, flying mostly on my own and coming in 9th on the day, not far behind the Team GB pilots.
Full scores here.
Thank you Phippsy from Cloud 9 for your kind text and support. The sweet handling and easy landing of my Wills Wing T2C gives me the confidence to push myself on, but being at the top of the weight range for the 144 (a perfect match in strong conditions), I sometimes wonder if I would gain a better sink rate from a bigger wing when flying weak UK conditions. Well, with stretched finances, a new glider is out of the question for a very long time, so a diet is the only option and I've got just three weeks until Round 2!
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| A rainy start to the day |
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| New joint Meethead Jenny Buck getting the troops in order. Concentrate Luke! |
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| Bless me ol' tent |
An afternoon for catching up with my blog, and drinking more tea and eating cake! Reluctantly I "popped" up my trusty Kyham Igloo tent that has literally travelled the world with me for 25 years. Rip. UV degradation making itself known. Rip. And again. This could be its last outing.
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| I did warn you about the shirts... |
Day 3 - Bank Holiday Monday. Woken at 5am by a bunch of teenagers singing "Happy Birthday" to one of their gang. The youth of today. Why aren't they drunk and sleeping in until midday nursing terrible hangovers? Shameful behaviour!
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| Weather guru Rebekah Shah and Joint Meethead Martin Colcough |
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| Dave Bluett, retrieve driver extraordinaire |
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| Panorama at Bache Hill |
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| Rigged and ready to go |
Several other pilots were soon following and for a few minutes we explored various parts of the ridge, trying to find the best lift. Back towards launch and I got in to a lumpy bit of a lift. One 360, another 360. As I came around again I was forced to straighten my turn to avoid the chance of conflict with another glider that had joined the lift. Definitely not an intentional move to disrupt my flight path - it was just going to get crowded low down and scratching for lift.
But I wished I had stayed with it, or muscled my way back in. That lift was responsible for taking the lead gaggle away, leaving me fighting for another twenty minutes struggling on the ridge to get high enough to go over the back. The bottom landing field had already started claiming victims, and the lead gaggle could be heard nattering away on the radio, discussing tactics. Gordon Rigg had selflessly been relaying excellent information about location of lift to help get as many pilots up and away from the hill.
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| Stewart and a flex join the fun |
As we drifted on, the lower glider must have dropped out the bottom of the thermal and was soon landing. Stewart and I continued to thermal up to cloud base where he glided off to find the next lift. I elected not to follow but chose a similar but different route to maximise chances of locating the best area. Clouds or terrain? Listening on the radio to the lead flex gaggle ahead made up Gordon, Grant, Dave, Carl, Luke, Shedsy, Phippsy and Darren, their decisions were being made based on cloud formations - with a few of them sharing the sky they could find the best areas. Luke Nicol was clearly pleased with his recently acquired and tuned Moyes RX4! From what I could gather a green king-posted glider (from the Cub Class?) was ahead of them, inviting complimentary comments from members of our British team but unfortunately the pilot lost the lift as they came in to join him. A great effort on a difficult day.
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| Getting high, but with high cloud cover increasing |
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| Spot the Red Kite competition - the only picture I have of my flying friend |
Gliding on above the ridges I spotted a smaller ridge off to the west further down track. South facing, tress near the top, farm below, ploughed fields. Surely a likely place to find a climb. I wasn't disappointed, but I had noticed that my climbs were topping out lower and lower. The sky was starting to look decidedly overcast. The gaggle ahead were definitely slowing up, with many calling very low saves, or indeed landing. Corndon was my next "stop" en route to the first turn point. As I crossed the valley to reach it, gliding below 1600' I suddenly noticed a helicopter at a similar altitude off to my right flying directly towards me. Had he seen me? Closing fast I was about to initiate some high banked turns to make myself more visible when the chopper turned gently to its left to pass behind me, probably within two or three hundred meters. Close enough for turbulence? Probably not but I pulled on speed nonetheless towards the corner of Corndon Hill where I arrived below ridge height.
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| Spot the helicopter competition - wide angle lens and its approaching fast... |
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| Scratching in to Corndon on the tree covered spur |
I think the walkers on the top of the hill were quite surprised when I popped up above the trees, circling just above their heads. A PG was further along the ridge, much higher, but the hill seemed to be working where I was, so I stuck with it and climbed away towards the quarry which delivered some punchy pockets of lift but nothing I wanted to stay with. Now getting low, I was working on maximising my distance on glide by heading straight for the turn point which was taking me over likely lifty areas. Nothing. I heard Gordon was down at the turnpoint only 10kms ahead. All I needed was something to drift with.
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| Sizing up landing options before the low save. |
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| The perfect host! |
I carried the kit down to the end of the rather long drive to await Dave's imminent arrival having picked up Steve Marnier further back along the course. Soon I could see the Yeti approaching down the lane and with Dave and Steve's help we were soon on our way back to Crickhowell. And what a drive it was! Little did I know that Dave is a bit of a music nut... As we zoomed over the Brecon Beacons in the Bluett Boogey Bus, Madonna's "Mother and Father"shook the seats.Great fun.
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| Luke grinning from ear to ear! (Photo courtesy Miles Hockcliffe) |
Full scores here.
Thank you Phippsy from Cloud 9 for your kind text and support. The sweet handling and easy landing of my Wills Wing T2C gives me the confidence to push myself on, but being at the top of the weight range for the 144 (a perfect match in strong conditions), I sometimes wonder if I would gain a better sink rate from a bigger wing when flying weak UK conditions. Well, with stretched finances, a new glider is out of the question for a very long time, so a diet is the only option and I've got just three weeks until Round 2!
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