BOS - Round 2 Yorkshire Dales. Day1, Task 1.

Saturday 23rd May 2015

The day starts well

Beep. Beep. Beep. 4am. Too early. But having decided not to battle the Bank Holiday traffic on Friday, a dawn start was the only option for the 250 mile drive to get up to Yorkshire Dales in a sensible time (not a bad decision considering some pilots subsequently reported an eight hour drive. Ouch). At least the day was starting well. Tea, bacon and egg sarnie, plus sausage casserole for the journey courtesy of Hilly, then a beautiful sunrise as I hit the M5. Things were looking  up. But not for my diet. And before you ask, no, I hadnt lost the 18lbs I had intended to!

Just over 3.5 hours later I was coasting in to Hawes. The drive in to the Dales had been spectacular with beautiful winding roads against a backdrop of stunning hills. As I parked up outside the Fountain pub (competition HQ) the familiar site of cars loaded up with hang gliders started to slowly invade the town centre, on their way to briefing in the towns car park. And so it started agian. Round 2 of the British Open Series.

Day 1, Task 1.

Windback. Apparently a part drive/part carry up. Yeah right. Having joined Rebekah Sherwins retrieve crew with Graham Phipps (Wills Wing/Cloud 9 Hang Gliding and Paragliding) and Brett Wright we had to transfer to our gliders to a 4x4 for the driver to the top. Well, not quite the top.  The final push to the top was quite punishing but with the promise of a good days flying, gliders were eventually lugged to the top, with Jenny the Meethead helping out.

Jenny in pink helping the rigids...

An easy carry up. Not.

Gliders at launch with promising sky

Before long the top of the hill was a tapestry of colour against the backdrop of a wonderful looking sky. A task of 96km to the coast to the North East was called, via one turn point. Having learnt the lesson from previous years of always being ready to fly as soon as the launch window opens, I was clipped in ready to go next to Rob Gregg on his Avian Cheetah as the klaxon sounded. As we waited, the win dropped off and  I could see a bird soaring way out in front of the hill, perhaps a sign that there was a thermal pulling the wind off the hill. As the wind speed picked up again on the hill, my wing felt like it was trying to launch itself in to a climb. So I launched. In to dead quiet. No beeps from my vario. Bugger. I hadn't turned it on.  With a bit of gloved-finger fumbling,  the vario beeped in to life. Or rather, it burped. I was in sink and rapidly going down below take off. Ok,  nothing for it but to make the long glide along the ridge to where the bird had come from, hopefully to find that elusive lift.

As I sank lower and lower, starting to curse myself for impetuously taking off first, I hit a strong surge, waited a beat, then started "S" turning until I climbed above take off. First one 360, then another, and I had that reassuring feeling that I was in a solid climb. As I quickly gained 500' a couple of gliders (Justin Needham and Luke Nicol?) took the gamble to make the long glide to my climb, hoping to connect with the lift. They did, but others were not so lucky. Soon a whole gaggle of gliders was streaming off the hill, and I was joined at cloud base by Gordon Rigg and Luke.  Over the radio: "Where are you, Ben?" Err, not in the cloud...!

Gliders joining the climb

Staying out of "cloud suck" by skirting round the side of the cloud

As the first start gate came and went at 2pm, the three of us approached and exited the the edge of the 5km start radius. Hearing other pilots on the radio coming along behind, I opted to return to the start cylinder to take the second start gate, confident that I could reconnect with the ample lift that was around, especially with Luke and Gordon for company. But as I headed back the two of them turned tail and headed off down course! Having lost nearly all my height I clipped the start cylinder and crawled back on to the ridge behind take off. eeking out any bit of lift. Below ridge height I opted to work a gulley which, if it all went pear shaped, offered just one escape route to the valley below. Luckily I caught a weak climb that allowed me to drift over to the lower ground en route, buying me more time and distance to find a decent climb. But I had to wait sometime, flying between 2000 and 3000 feet for half an hour, while on the radio I could hear pilots calling 7up climbs to a 5500 cloud base. 

Gulley or bust

One minute at cloudbase, then next grovelling low

Flying on my own, again, I patiently maintained my height while trying to pick out the best course to follow. Various ridges were facing into wind, one notably with a PG parked on the top. Good. A known flying site. Arriving once again well below 2000' ASL I found a climb that allowed me to drift over, then glide clear of, the inhospitable moor land behind. Land-able but not exactly retrievable, unless you fancied a long walk out.

Limited retrieve options

As per the earlier radio messages, the climbs got stronger and higher and I was soon able to glide fast towards the turn point at Barnard Castle which now had a glorious looking cloud hanging over the top of it. Clipping the 400m radius at 4500' I cloud hopped for a few km before spotting two gliders climbing ahead and to the right of track. Johnny Carr and Justin Needham. With a big blue hole appearing just beyond their cloud I opted to glide on towards what I to what I thought was a sea breeze convergence line. "How do you fly convergence?" I asked. "Just don't get sucked in!" came Johnny's response. Unfortunately the convergence was just one straggly cloud, the other side of which was the nothing but blue sky. Damn. This was looking terminal. Town in sun en route. A minuscule puff of cumulus to the right of track. Quick, make a decision. Which one to head for?
I chose town. Wrong. On to the next village. A bubble. 300' above the ground. Strong winds. Seagulls flying. Something must be happening. Drifting away from safe big field next to road. Ok, there's another one. No. Power lines. Downwind dash to the next field, next to allotments, flying as far away from the trees as possible. The tall grass in the field was blowing in several directions. This could be messy. Turning in to wind and pulling on plenty of speed I skimmed in over the field to land, flaring hard over the long grass. The Wills WIng T2C is a forgiving glider to land when it all goes a bit unnecessary.

Having landed in a "third option" field, I had failed to appraise the "exit strategy" properly. There was no access to the allotments, so instead I had to get the de-rigged glider across a brook and through a field with a bull, something that the welcoming committee of the farmer and his son seemed to enjoy! With feet on tarmac I updated Rebekah of my location and dozed in the sun waiting for the car to arrive... 

Phippsy

Brett had landed just up the road having flown a similar 69kms, and we were soon on our way to pick up Phippsy who had managed 82kms - a climb and a glide a\way from goal. Fantastic effort! Only Grant and Luke had made goal on the flexies, with Mike Armstrong and Stewart Reid on the rigids. Nice flying in difficult conditions. Results.

So back to base and to set up home at Bainbridge Camping and Caravan SIte for the next few nights. Thank you to MILLETS ONLINE for ensuring that my bargain new tent and kit arrived in time. A cosy, comfortable base for the competition! A good tip form Justin Needham - use two of the portable inflatable sleeping mats to make a soft supportive mattress. Works a treat! 

A beautiful sunset over the Dales