Malvern members flying diary

2011-09-01T08:01:00.007Z

Flew over the Malvern hills yesterday (31st Aug) in my paramotor and took these photos of some of you guys setting up and flying on the ridge. I made sure that I was engine-off as I came close to the hill where you were - no one likes prop wash...

I might get in touch to join the club and get some hill lessons from someone at some stage if that is ok.

Peter

Malvern Alpine Expedition May 2011 Friday

2011-05-20T20:01:00.004Z

Today started with a TTB from the South take off at Samoens for Kobus and Mark T, the rest drove down as the wind insisted on blowing over the back. Stunning views of Mont Blanc though so well worth the walk even for those that didn’t fly. Then it was back to Annecy in the afternoon for a last flight of the holiday. Whilst stopping for lunch at the bottom of Plan Fait the debate over flying from Plan Fait or doing the walk and flying from Col de Forclaz was resolved when a glider launched off Plan Fait only to take a 50% collapse , so it was Col de Forclaz then. Kobus decided the walk was all too much and stayed behind to finish lunch and the rest of us headed for take off. The building clouds kept some of us on the ground but Mark T and Brian P managed to dive off for a quick TTB before things got out of hand , thunder and lightening convinced those left on take off that driving down was a better option . An interesting week with conditions always bordering on the unstable usually ending in thunderstorms somewhere or other nearby later in the day . Overall a cracking week with people flying ever day and most importantly everybody having a great time and no accidents or injuries. Many thanks to Dave Lock our absent host form all the Malvern expeditionary force.

Chris H

Malvern Alpine Expedition May 2011 Thursday

2011-05-19T19:28:00.002Z

Today started early with a 9:30 TTB from Samoens NW launch providing everyone with more forward launch practice and a smooth flight down, except Chris H who drove (honestly it wasn’t a ploy, I can do perfectly respectable forward launch). Following that we loaded both vehicles and headed for Annecy and Plan Fait today. Ian’s call on the weather seemed spot on as clouds in Samoens were already building when we left and Annecy was much sunnier (and hot). Arriving at the landing field a quick coffee stop turned into a full blown 4 course lunch all for 12 Euros. Of course all this food plus the warm day resulted in more enthusiasm for an afternoon nap than flying , but we managed to rally and proceeded to Plan Fait take off by mid afternoon. The scale of things here is really deceptive, Plan Fait looked really low down against the background of the mountains however on take off it provided a perfect view of the lake and a very interesting flight down. The after effects of lunch and a lack of much activity by the locals deterred some from flying but in the end Mark T, Brian P and Chris H had short flights before landing at the bottom. Cross wind and thermals made take off somewhat entertaining but other than that once away it was really not too bad, except for the intimidating clouds over the peaks which somehow didn’t seem to bother the locals. A grand day out followed by beer and barbeque

Chris H.

Malvern Alpine Expedition May 2011 Wednesday.

2011-05-18T17:39:00.003Z

A day or to be more accurate a morning of TTB’s at Samoens for most of us except for Mark T and Ian P who spent the morning getting a new tyre on Marks car after he picked up a puncture at Annecy yesterday. Mark finally made it to take off at lunchtime only to have his glider snag on something on take off and put a small rip in his wing. This resulted in Mark and Ian spending the afternoon driving back to Annecy to buy repair tape, really not Marks day! As a consolation Brian P and Chris H patched Marks wing for him whilst he cooked tea for the rest of us, well done Mark. The morning had been interesting with no wind on launch forcing all to forward launch. Kobus betrayed his foreign origins by executing perfect forward launches every time, the rest of us were a little less polished. The canine launch marshal kept us all in order though. As it turns out Mark and Ian missed nothing in the afternoon as the valley overdeveloped and we settled for a quick walk around the village and a spell of tidying up. Mark and Ian returned to tell of wonderful conditions at Annecy and topless beaches, so unsurprisingly we have declared tomorrow an Annecy day.

Chris H.

2011-05-17T20:48:00.002Z

Malvern Alpine Expedition May 2011 Tuesday

Today was an Annecy day meaning a relatively early start for the house which some of us found more challenging than others due to a late night, eating drinking and talking Pararubbish. It seems the French also do traffic jams but after a longer than expected drive we ended up on the fabulous shores of lake Annecy, both cars meeting at the Dussard landing field. Fortunately Kobus had decided not to fly today so we had a duty driver , sorted! (thanks Kobus). Most of us had two flights from the Col De Forclaz take off, which is very smart by the way with an Astroturf set up area and take off plus seating for spectators and even toilets (of a sort). Watching the SIV students going through their manoeuvres was interesting to say the least (rather them than me) but we all had very pleasant flights, I managed to climb out above the ridge immediately behind take off and the views of the peaks behind were stunning, however they were half shrouded in cloud and looked better from afar. All together a grand day out finished off with a beer on the way home. Life is really tough in the Alps.

Chris H.

Malvern Alpine Expedition May 2011.

2011-05-16T18:58:00.003Z

Monday

The day dawns bright with blue skies and more friendly looking cumulus, hopefully we are in for a much less stressful day, as indeed it turns out to be. Today everybody flew including Paul M and Kobus despites Kobus having reservations over the size of the LZ he made a perfectly good landing all be it a little short but so did most people, valley winds really take some getting used too. Most people had 3 flights generally extended TTB’s but with some thermal ling around . Mark T having a great evening flight themalling around take off at the end of the day, until I took off and jinxed it. As Ian P does his master chef bit plans of Annecy tomorrow are hatching whilst the odd cool bear and glass of vino slips down nicely. Life can be so tough sometimes!

Chris H, who most definitely is not head coach just in case anyone gets ideas whilst I’m away!.

Malvern Alpine Expedition May 2011.

2011-05-15T19:53:00.003Z

Saturday.

After a long drive South the Malvern expeditionary force arrived safely at David’s place in Samoens. (Thanks again David) , only to find it raining cats and dogs. However weather forecasts suggested improving conditions and an outside possibility of flying on Sunday.

Sunday

Not raining, we decide to head for the LZ for a briefing where Ian P imparts his local knowledge , mainly consisting of expected valley wind direction, likely areas of lift and sink, and the warnings of terrible consequences for those not landing in the designated area. (Turns out the white markers designating the LZ on the site guide are real and not just computer graphics). After Ian’s Briefing locals doing TTB,s convince us its worth a look, so up we go to the North Take off, where Ian P, Mark T , Brian P, & Chris H carefully assessing the conditions decide to fly down before the snow gets any worse.!!!!

Ian is off first and scoots across the valley to the sunny side climbing to 1000ft ATO and is obviously on a mission but isn’t responding to radio calls so we cant be sure. Mark goes off and heads for the landing field and appears to be low and on his way down when Brian launches and I follow him off. I plan to fly to the blue hole across the valley and see how things develop but probably just go down , however its lifty all across and I make 300ft ATO without trying . Brian takes a different route and climbs even more. By this time the sky is really looking a bit active in places and I eventually reach my blue hole and core sink down towards the LZ ,wonderful! The weather is changing all the time and not knowing local conditions its feels the ground is the place to be. At this point Ian is down and points out over the radio that the valley wind is from the opposite direction to expected (well done Ian) , Mark is on finals, I’m setting up an approach and unfortunately Brian was too far up the valley to reach the landing field, he had been upwind but changing conditions meant he was now downwind and was forced to land out. Retrieves by Kobus and Paul M Top Job!

Subsequent analysis of the photos suggested we were a bit too keen to get off before conditions deteriated. , French pilots flying 30 mins later had a smooth TTB but later in the day it overdeveloped and poured down. Interesting place!!

2011-03-24 Kettle Sings

2011-03-30T19:51:00.000Z

2011-03-06 Malverns "Kettle Sings" and nearly in spring

2011-03-10T23:17:00.002Z

After the winds finaly reduced the afternoon was lovely.

Christmas Eve Leckhampton

2010-12-24T20:14:00.002Z

NNW 8-14mph. It was a bit far off but still nicely soarable and launchable from the main take-off. Only got below takeoff twice and got up again. Nice seeing everywhere in the snow and max height only a couple of hundred feet. The moment I top landed the first time a red kite popped up and soared about, so I flew again but he disappeared smartish.

Ground handling in the snow is interesting, nearly went kite surfing a few times and it was great fun. DaveT

7th December

2010-12-14T14:18:00.002Z

From Kettle Sings TO - see the fog in the distance which never got any nearer. The wind was only enough to scratch on the NE faces of the hill.

Kettle Sings Sunday 12th

2010-12-13T10:39:00.003Z

12mph and off to the north but nicely scratchable for a while, then it went further north - almost parallel with hill, so staying up so close to the hill was getting a bit (very) dodgy due to turbulance, so decided to slope land. DaveT

LECKHAMPTON 07/11/10

2010-11-12T13:01:00.002Z

Very light and scratchy. One very short flight. I should of got there earlier, unlike Dave who managed a few beats up and down the ridge. Still this time of year you got to get it when you can.

Lecky - 24th

2010-10-25T09:17:00.002Z

NNW going to N - NNE and nicely soarable, but sometimes a bit on the light side. Wonderful looking sky and many sailplanes came to taunt me, but I just could not manage to get up high enough to get away - should thermal better or try harder maybe. Local guy Mark had flown all morning, but I was flying on my own for 100 minutes, apart from some modellers. Where was everyone?

Kettle Sings 7th Oct

2010-10-07T19:40:00.002Z

Dubious as the wind well off to south, so waited for ages on the HG launch, once off (on PG) in fact it was really nice easy soaring. Surprised no one else there. Didn't leave with first thermal (mistake), and the sky looked superb. Then it went blue and got away in a weak one, nearly down but scraped along to Acton Beauchamp in another weak thermal. Short but very pleasant for October. DaveT

Beer Head 30th June

2010-07-01T18:25:00.009Z

Another day out for the low air time midweekers, sadly most of them couldn't make it with only Richard Darling answering the call, various excuses of got to work and bad toes (you know who you are ) will not be tolerated and the miscreants will be punished.

The day nearly fell by the wayside before it got started as I got a call off a couple of Avonites who said they couldn't make it, then having checked the forecast I saw why they had changed plans. At this point I got on the phone to Mr D to call it off.

Fortunately he was outside my house when he answered and the ensuing cup of tea and ponder resulted in us deciding to take a punt.

We blundered southwards through the gloom our excitement levels growing as the day got brighter the further south we went.

Got to the take off to find a lovely day unfolding before our very eyes, and a lovely flyable day to ourselves.

Mr Hickman you would have been proud as I made sure our low airtime pilot had a full site briefing before throwing him to the sky as my wind dummy.

After executing a near perfect launch in front of the passing walkers the cheeky bugger had the temerity to fly straight up and float around like he'd been doing it for years.

Realising my services were no longer needed I decided having nothing else to do I may as well have a fly. Lovely boat around for a hour or so , unfortunately the wind was a bit off so the full coastal run wasn't doable.

Landed when it picked up a bit and sat around to see if it would calm down. A local turned up and was told tales of our excellent day which now looked blown out, he took us to a locals site which turned out to be a comedy take off next to some ornamental gardens and behind the beach huts at Sidmouth.

This apparently is where the locals go when beer is blown out , sadly no photos as we were laughing into our ice cream too much. The local lad launched showing some great ground handling skills then proceeded to miss the fence by about 6 inches and the beach huts by a similar margin and land 30 feet down the beach.

Smothering our grins we helped him pack up and as is traditional ran down to the sea for a paddle.

Off home for a well deserved tea.

Thanks go to Richard for persuading me it was worth a punt and even offering to do the driving duties.

Paul M

A-I-R Demo Day June 12th 2010

2010-06-14T11:57:00.005Z

Pic Nick with Felix,

Nick and I had a great days flying the Demonstrator A-I-R Atos VR10QT's (see pic me flying VR10QT) on the wrong side of Mam Tor. Launched in 45degrees off slope (or more) on Lords Seat launch. Felix Ruhle, the designers of 'Atos' was there to tell us all about the gliders (VR10QT and VQ ) Andreas Nagel from A-I-R was there to rig and derig and was first off on a VQ.

We had to land out somewhere since there was no HG LZ for the part of the hill that we had to fly, but willing deriggers and Atos Van arrived very quickly.

Thanks to Felix, Andreas (of A-I-R gliders) and Steve (of Avian).

John.

Worcs Beacon 6th June

2010-06-06T14:14:00.002Z

Surprisingly pleasant soaring by Beacon standards, but no thermals coming up the hill. Flew out about a mile to the glasshouses and got a small climb to 2000ASL, but so slow, so went forward and landed about 2 miles in front of the hill. Nice hot walk back in summery conditions, but the drive home showed lots of raining Cu-Nims everywhere else.
Dave T

Begging bowl in action near Bromyard, 3rd-June

2010-06-03T21:42:00.005Z

The wind was off to the S at "Kettle Sings" today and quite gusty, but quite a lot of pilots seemed to be getting away. Conditions looked a bit more settled by 1pm - so quiet, I thought a short glide to the landing field was all I was going to get, as, having chosen a low takeoff, I got nothing for the first couple of minutes of flight and was too low to slope land.
Luckily, I caught a steady climb just the far side of the main road, which continued at increasing speed to cloudbase over Colwall. A red glider joined me for the second half of the climb which went to 3500ft above takeoff. Then we split, with the red glider going more west, while I went more northwest towards Bromyard.
Unfortunately, the cumulus evaporated in front of me as I went, and although I got one top-up, I ended up in a blue sky on a glide to land about 2km short of the downs. There was a nice motocross track in a field which I decided to make my landing, but, having turned into wind just beyond the row of trees around the field, then found I couldn't get back over them. Not wanting another tree landing, I settled for a late turn and a too-fast downwind landing in the meadow beyond, spreading the cow-pats out beautifully as I skidded in.
Saying a quick "thank you" to the farmer and his wife turned into a mug of tea and a piece of cake on the lawn, while we discussed our vegetable plots. My luck held, and a holidaying gent from Thrapston gave me a lift all the way back to the carpark.
Top marks to Stuart and Tony who had much better flights today, the like of which I was hoping to achieve!
John Kingsley

Marcle Ridge 16/05/10

2010-05-17T11:38:00.002Z

Got there at 4pm - blowing about 12mph at the top. Scratchy lift for an hour up to 50ft over the woods with the buzzards intent on mobbing small crows but unconcerned by a 23sq m paraglider! Wind dropped at 5:30pm and with lots of nice clouds and thermals cycling through - caught one over the brown field below the ridge upto 500ft ato then landed. Played with my Spiruline 16m speed wing but nowhere near strong enough for that. Paid a fiver to the farmer (its been 2 quid for how many years?)

PLEASE NOTE: THE FARMER HAS SOMEONE'S MISSING HELMET - PLEASE CONTACT THE FARMHOUSE TO IDENTIFY IT IF IT'S YOURS.

Simon Chandler

4th May - Nice day at Builth

2010-05-05T19:05:00.003Z

Ian Price, Stuart Mayson, John (?) Noel McGovern and Kevin Poole trekked over to Builth for an early start (after some of us stopped for an Ian Price greasy breakfast at Leominster).
The day looked promising, but the wind on the hill was strong and more off to the east than expected. Still, we managed a few early flights with small and punchy thermals under a perfect looking sky. Got to about 3000 feet ato then suddenly everything everywhere was sinking and we all landed back on top. John had been for a short "visit" to the gulley below launch, but no lasting damage (except a missing camera).
For a while we just sat and stared as it got stronger and started to cloud over from the west - but still the BOS hangies didn't take off.
Then, around lunch time, with the cloud cover now nearing 100% and the wind still strong and mostly off the hill, we decided to have a last go. To our suprise, there was lots of lift around. After we had been in the air a few minutes, the hangies got the hint and took off, rapidly heading off to the south.
Stuart was the first of us to head over the back and did about 20km towards Brecon. Shortly afterwards, Kevin followed him and flew past him and on to Brecon. The others stayed on the hill (Ian insists his inability to get away was something to do with a lengthy search for a missing camera, but we know the truth!).
A dozen huge free range eggs from Fforest Farm's honesty hut and a nice beer in the Red Lion at Pembridge on the way home rounded off a surprisingly good day.

Leckhampton 5th May

2010-05-05T15:25:00.002Z

Arrived too late as the nice sky was filling in. Wind initially virtually nill on the hill in between thermals, but started to pick up once in the air. Managed to scrape away in weak lift for a flop over the back. Many thanks to a friend of Rob Davies who stopped her car and offered me a lift while I was waiting at the bus stop.

Cracking climb out of Marcle

2010-04-25T21:33:00.002Z

Fairly typical Marcle - up 200 ft, down to by the bottom fence then up again, then down, then up. After 15 minutes of a rollercoaster ride I saw some buzzards over the other side of the farm, so headed west, fortunately connected and rocketed upwards. Had to avoid cloudsuck a lot, but made a big mistake when playing with my printed and digital airmaps, trying to confirm that I would miss Deford HIRTA, and on correct track to miss B'ham airspace - then flew straight off the end of a nice long cloud and into dead air, landing fairly near J7 of M5. Never mind, lesson learned there for next time. Many thanks to paraglider pilots Orla and Paul for squeezing me into her car and dropping me at Worcester railway station.

Monday 1st March

2010-03-05T13:53:00.002Z

Rhosilli

The Forecast looked good so three of us took the M4 to the Shrine. It was a beautiful day with the wind bang on the hill, sadly averaging about 4mph.

Lots of waiting about a few top to bottoms and a bit of wingswapping was the sum total of the first Malvern low airtime awayday.

Thanks go to Jim and Richard for answering the call and abandoning heavily pregnant wives and families for a day in the sunshine.

The most notable feature of the day was forward launching in the UK an art some of us remembered better than others ( I will not mention names to spare Richards blushes).

Oh and Jim flies a wing which last saw service when Noah was trying to find out the extent of the Flood damage, so he got very overexcited on the radio when I let him have a go on my wing (sorry Mrs B but that cot and pushchair you were looking at may be on the back burner now).

Very acceptable pint in the Worms Head Hotel and home for bedtime, a good day hopefully had by all.

Paul M

Kettle Sings

2010-03-02T21:14:00.002Z

The wind swung round in the morning and by the afternoon it was East but light.
I arrived at Pinnacle Hill at about 13:00.
There was some thermic lift, but only just enough to stay up.
Dan Heeks.

Rhosilli 24th Jan

2010-01-26T08:58:00.002Z

Well another years flying begins with a jolly to the seaside.
With the forecast changing by the minute and every available source giving different readings we set off more in hope than expectation.
I think the phrase "at least we'll be able to get a proper Gower breakfast at the farm cafe" was used by all 3 of us at least twice each during the journey.
Pete has been very keen with the plastic during the winter and had brand new spangly kit to test so was very desperate to get his new wing dragged through the gorse.
From the forecast it looked like paragliding would be blown out but we would have the pleasure of watching smug hangie pilots whizzing around our heads, imagine our surprise then when we arrived to no wind and a only a couple of brave souls desperately scratching round to stay airborne.
We wandered up to the pimple passing a couple of suspicious characters carrying scaffold poles and some old sheets (what they were going to decorate I don't know) , the wind, what little of it there was, veered off to the north and a couple of hardy souls attempted the jump across to soar the cliffs.
The wind came back on to the hill and we walked to the summit in the hope of a flight. Pete and Tony took off at the merest puff of wind and just about made the beach whilst I faffed around waiting for a proper gust.
The proper gust when it came was a bit strong so I trolled back down to the pimple to take off, I was met by a very red Pete and Tony whose lightweight kit had allowed them to walk all the way back from the beach.Tony and I took off whilst Pete 'it flies itself' Tustin received 20 minutes of sage advice from the local coach.
Lovely boat around for a couple of hours till the sun dipped below the horizon, the wind picking up on top allowed the suspicious decorators to take off and join us for some fun.

Big feed in The Worms Head Hotel and back home to dream of another year of flying ahead.

Paul M

Leckhampton Saturday 23rd Jan

2010-01-23T20:02:00.002Z

I was all alone, I guess everyone was at Selsley?. Scratchy at first as the wind was 10mph and slightly off to the NNW, I even survived a slope landing about 70ft down, and then gradually the wind picked up to 16mph and it was easy but bumpy as by then the wind was more NW and only working at the East end of the bowl.
DaveT

Much Marcle 17th Jan

2010-01-18T10:33:00.002Z

Generally a light wind on ground, but very lifty for a nice period in the afternoon. Bumpy as usual especially low down. Even managed to get onto the transmitter ridge for the first time ever which is superb and worth the effort, but you need a good lot of hight to jump the sink hole across the bowl where the entrance track is to get onto the trees above the top. I've tried getting there low before and thats not worth the risk as the trees are on a too shallow a slope at the start and too many of them. Stuart and I had a nice time, apart from a lot of sticky mud when I fell over trying to adjust his wing on the ground. A new CP from Malvern Wells (sorry forgot your name) had an excellent learning experience with his first flight there.
DaveT

2010-01-02T19:08:00.001Z

Marcle 2 Jan 2010
Talked Simon Dillworth into joining me for a desperate attempt at a first flight of 2010 at Marcle today.Arrived to see two pilots walking back up after a TTB but the wind had picked up and felt soarable, so off we went. Simon launched first whilst I pratted around adding extra layers (no way was I going to land through cold). By the time I was ready the wind had increased a little more and so I walked down the front a bit, managing to fall over covering all my gear in mud in the process (OK Tim you were right Marcle is a little messy). After slipping and sliding around trying to control the wing in freshening conditions I finally got off in a somewhat exciting and less than text book launch. By this time steam was coming out of every orifice in my ozee as all those extra layers I had added did their stuff, and I really wished I hadn’t bothered. Once airborne it was perfectly soarable and surprisingly there was even the odd broken thermal to play with. Eventually the sound of gunfire from the wood at the South end of the ridge persuaded me it was time to bottom land and pay the farmer before I got mistaken for a pheasant. A pleasant if muddy day, thanks to Simons wife Rosemary for braving the cold and driving own to fetch us, and the shooting party for resisting the temptation of bagging a giant pheasant.
The flying season has started!
Cheers
Chris H.

Malverns 4th June (both sides)

2009-06-04T21:37:00.003Z

Bryan Hindle launched in nil wind from Kettle sings east, went well out and picked up a climb and that was the last time we saw him for many hours, whilst he completed his goal of a huge FAI triangle. Jock, Kirsty Cameron, Gavin Ramsey and myself valiantly attempted to fly with generally little success. Eventually Jock offered to come and pick us up if we went down, so Gavin and I lobbed off and flew out, getting a few bumps but not big enough to turn in, which we both did but lost more height in the process. In the bottom field, Gavin suggested going to Worcester Beacon, as the clouds were very clearly moving from the west, yet the windsock at the bottom was still east-north east (windier than on top in fact). Kirsty had been flying and slope landing so apologies to her for not going to get her. Many many thanks to Jock for sacrificing himself on our behalf as we'd have stayed on KS and then gone home probably.

The west face of the Beacon had a nice breeze when we arrived - but it was all sinky so after both slope landing we ended up waiting for nearly an hour in nil wind, then launching after watching a large group of swifts reappear. Up we went topping out over Malvern town at over 5000. Big decision time for both of us - go East with the wind or west where the sky gave us a better chance of a triangle. After some indecision I went west, getting out over the Worcester -Hereford road then heading south east. Gavin had by then gone off towards Ledbury. I got to Black hill and over the east side of the hills, but my climb was weak so I decided to head back towards what I thought would be a bottom landing somewhere one or other side of kettle sings. As it turned out I got all the way back to the beacon, climbed again briefly and then landed by Gavins car. While on the way back, I saw what looked like Gavins wing back above the hill - how did he get there I thought - we must have flown past each other somehow. We both completed triangles, but nothing to compare with Bryans huge 50km-ish jaunt. Bryan saw us take off while he was on the way back from Much Marcle. When back on the ground all three of us expressed surprise at how rough and broken the thermals were.
DaveT

Kettle Sings 29th May

2009-05-29T22:50:00.002Z

Difficult conditions with a lot of waiting around looking out for birds going up without flapping. Eventually things got going - but up to 60 degrees off wind at times. A few got away then a few more and so on, until most that wanted to be elsewhere had left the hill. I've heard that 115km was done, which was a lot better than my measly one thermal wonder - I suppose pilot skill comes in somewhere.

BCC Round SE Wales Sunday 19th April

2009-04-27T21:14:00.055Z

Not Shropshire.

Various unfortunate events combined and resulted in the team being pulled out of Sundays, round in Shropshire and instead entered in the round hosted by the SE Wales club, with Pandy or the Blorange as likely venues. However somewhat embarrassingly the LMC PG round switched from Corndon to Malvern late Sunday morning, leaving the round being run on our site without the home team. Unfortunately by the time the round was switched we were all stood in Waitrose car park in Abergavenny whilst the organiser decided the site for the day(OK some of us were in the cafe having a fat boy breakfast but don't tell anyone).

At this time the wind was still pretty much NE so we found ourselves yet again heading for the Blorange, although rumour has it after the event that Pandy was better, but not until mid/late afternoon. As usual open XC was called but with one turn point allowed as it was felt that the sea breeze would limit distances (if only), so with that in mind pilots slowly took to the air as the inversion lifted.

Conditions were marginal with some early birds ending in Castle meadows but things slowly improved as the afternoon wore on. The great thing with comps is the number of wind dummies it provides. I know you are suppose to stand staring into space spotting circling buzzards, flocks of feeding swifts or bits of straw or thistledown or whatever, marking the thermals, but personally with my eyesight these days a gaggle of paragliders is a lot easier to see and a lot more convincing. Gavin and Nigel went for early attempts up the valley towards Crickhowel whilst I managed to launch into a gaggle and climbed out over the back. For a while I thought I had cracked it, climbing slowly through 700 ft ATO drifting over the back with a small gaggle with the first wisps of a cloud starting to form above. At this point just as I began to think things were going well the lift disappeared and gliders dispersed in all directions trying to find something before sinking out on top. As I joined a string of pilots walking the track back to take off someone skied out over the valley, typical!

A team status check saw Gavin, Nigel and myself back on takeoff ready for another go with Ian and Noel in the pub, with Ian recovering from the shock of an involuntary SIV course. As time was now getting on, Alan drove down, Gavin flew back to the car and Nigel and I made a last dash up the valley towards Crickhowell. I made Govilon, just scoring whilst Nigel improved on his earlier flight by getting considerably further.

Prompt retrieves by Alan and Gavin saw us all back in the pub in Abergavenny soon after 18:00 where Ian regaled us with his SIV adventure, which required several pints to steady the nerves and that was just me listening too it.

All in all another pleasant day out with the BCC, with everyone flying and having a good time, Alan grappling with his first British thermals climbing out to his delight, and although the epic day anticipated at the briefing didn't quite materialise there was plenty of flying for those who wanted it, three of us scored and we all made the pub.

Post Script,

I would just like to scotch the rumours and point out that the reason for desperate dashes up the valley towards Crickhowel by some team members, including myself was not in any way competitive or against the Malvern Team ethos, but meerely an attempt to get to a decent pub as the Castle Meadows hostelry has now closed. In the end the efficiency of our retrieve drivers meant we never got the chance but thankfully Ian and Knowl's dedication to the cause turned up a new venue 1/2 mile away from Castle Meadows which turned out to be even better, serving fine ale and good company, well if you call the BCC crowd good company, I know I do.

Cheers

Chris H

BCC Round at Corndon Hill 18th May 2009

2009-04-27T12:00:00.003Z

Day one of a two-day round of the BCC Competition hosted by Long Mynd club in Shropshire. The rendezvous was the Powis Arms pub in the beautiful village of Lydbury North, a few miles from the Long Mynd itself. There was a bit of a dampener on proceedings caused by the fatal accident the week before at Corndon Hill, the site which was to be used for the day's flying. The only thing that was said about it at the briefing was that preliminary enquiries suggested there was nothing "site-specific" to Corndon itself which had caused the accident.
Our team for the day (see photo) was Kevin Poole (captain), Ian Price, Nigel Dewdney, Alan MacDonald and Noel McGovern, with Stuart Mayson joining us to free fly and help with retrieves.
Conditions on the hill were rather strong, and a little north of easterly. After the site briefing, we followed the usual Malvern team tactic of lying around a lot and watching the wind dummies, then Ian decided it was time to join them. He took off and after a little scratching around in company found a nice thermal to whisk him up and over the back - and off to Llanidloes, nearly 40 km downwind! Kevin decided the wind had veered round to the south a bit and had some fun on his own being dragged uphill trying to take off round the corner before seeing sense and trying the main launch again - by which time most people had taken off.
While it was windy, there was not much dynamic lift and only occasional thermals (quite small and rough) so there was a lot of luck involved in staying up. Nigel, Alan and Noel were unlucky and Kevin managed a one-thermal splash and dash right at the end of the day, landing less than 5 km away next to Harry Tuffins supermarket at Church Stoke - but enough to register a small score!
Most of the gang headed home but the Long Mynd club were holding their annual social bash at the pub in Lydbury with camping next door, so there was beer, food and a bed for the night for the hard core socialisers. All very nice, but don't expect any mobile phone signal around there if you are on O2!!
At the time of posting, Malvern are running a respectable 8th in the competition - so some work needs to be done to get us into the top 6 and a slot in the finals in August!

BCC Easter Weekend

2009-04-20T21:06:00.061Z

Due to pre existing commitments on Kevin’s part the captaincy of the Malvern A, PG team fell into my incapable hands for the first half of the Easter weekend (as it turned out the entire weekend) and indeed the weekend before. The pre Easter weekend saw Nant-y-Moel set for the Sunday and then cancelled as the weather didn’t play ball, which to be honest was much more the pattern of activity I was expecting when I agreed to help out with the BCC thing.

Looking forward to the four, day rounds over Easter weekend, hosted by Avon, but held in SE Wales. It originally looked like it was going to be a struggle to get full teams out each day, but slowly things began to morph and take shape as the weekend drew nearer and the forecasts looked more promising. In the end Friday and Monday were cancelled but Saturday and Sunday went ahead, and we were able to put out teams for both.

Easter Saturday (X Alps Training Day)

Forecasts for Saturday had suggested Merthyr as the most likely venue and with this in mind some of the more experienced (some would say older but I couldn’t possibly comment) squad members were encouraged to sign up. However their faces were a picture when Talybont was called as the site of the day at the morning briefing! For those that don’t know Talybont is a wonderful site but a pretty big carry up (around 1 hr to the top). I had never flown there and so was quite keen (ignorance is bliss). The team assembled in the car park and I lead them off on the hike towards take off, well at least for the first 1/2 hour and until it got steep, when leading from the rear seemed a much better option. I am sure younger fitter team members were taking bets as to how many of the "experienced" members would actually make the top before the task briefing.

Finally we made it and the briefing surprise, surprise, was open XC. As I had never flown the site before my plan for the day was simply to watch the senior Avon guys as it’s their site and they know it best.

The sky looked great but there followed a day of wandering around every bowl/face the mountain had, with one or two flying each, but the wind always seemed on elsewhere . We started on the SE bowl, where one pilot got away, but received a right royal kicking as he climbed out, needless to say no one else followed, especially as it became more apparent the wind was coming over the back. We finally finished on the NW bowl where for a brief period it was soarable, but only a few got away. In the end we all flew, all be it fairly briefly, some went down, and Tony managed to fly out to a pub, although we hadn’t realised at the time. Most walked off the hill at the end of the day with aching muscles and sore feet. Later track log analysis showed 5 miles walked and probably a max of 30 minutes flown. It had the feel of an epic day in the sense of being one you were never going to forget, and has divided the squad into those that were, and those that weren’t at Talybont. All Ill say is never moan to a Talybonter about a carry up, you will never hear the end of it.

Looking back I realised the bowl we flew was one I had admired from afar whenever driving through Brecon, but thought it too remote and inaccessible, so maybe it was worth it after all. In subsequent days as aches eased most agreed they would go back given the right day, potentially a cracking site.

Late home and completely shattered I looked forward to handing the team back to Kevin for Easter Sunday and actually contemplated not flying due to exhaustion, rather sore feet and the possibility that Talybont would be the site of the day again. Unfortunately my in box revealed that Kevin was in even worse shape than me, returning from holiday with food poisoning, and so once more into the breach.

Easter Sunday. (Prayers Answered)

After a few last minute team changes, Easter Sunday saw us in a campsite in Crickhowell awaiting meet organiser Ken Wilkinson's call for site of the day. "PLEASE don’t let it be Talybont" was the unuttered cry, in fact I think someone at the back was ferreting in the boot of their car for a hammer and nails, and if Talybont had been called, Ken would have had a nasty shock, and the local church would have found their symbolic representation of the crucifixion seemed rather more life like than usual this year. Thankfully for all concerned the Blorange was called, Hurrah!

Strangely the walk across the top of the Blorange seemed much shorter than a few weeks earlier; I guess any site seems easier after the excesses of the previous day. Once on take off the task was set as an open triangle, effectively an XC with two turn points. Unfortunately the clouds were building a little too rapidly for most, and although the window was opened, most waited until it became clear nothing nasty was going to happen. Sundays Team included some competition minded types including Bryan and Nigel, and I was not surprised to see them ignoring the team ethos of "its all about the fun of taking part and not about points" as both avoided flying directly to the bottom landing field (i.e. pub) and actually appeared to be attempting to fly the task. Conditions were tricky and the rest of us ended up in the castle meadows landing field before too long, but I did feel obliged to at least put a bit of a dog leg in and thrash about attempting a lowish save over the outskirts of Abergavenny, just to make it look like I wasn’t really just flying straight to the Pub. At this time Brian and Nigel were no where to be seen, which was puzzling, at least until I had packed up and walked over the bridge to find the pub was closed and up for sale! All was of course now clear; our ace pilots were after all simply trying to fly to the nearest pub, and had just omitted to tell the rest of us about the fate of the castle meadows hostelry.

Cars and wayward pilots were finally retrieved and the customary team debrief carried out in the Robin Hood in Monmouth on the way home. I won’t talk about the naked bridge jumper that greeted us as we walked from the car park except to ask, why is it never women that do these things?

Later that night I submitted Bryans flight as the only team score, before it was pointed out to me that I had misinterpreted the rules (I am sure that cannot be right, I thought you had to read something first before either interpreting or indeed misinterpreting it).

The Weekends Teams were:

Saturday
Chris Hopkins (Captain)

Noel Mc Govern

Ian Price

Tim Crow

Tony Wilkinson

Simon Dillworth

Supported by Stuart Mayson and Dennis Fernyhough

Sunday.
Chris Hopkins (Captain)

Bryan Hindle

Ian Price
Nigel Dewdney

Supported by Stuart Mayson

Many thanks to all those who took part and supported the team over the weekend.

Chris H

Post Script.

It turned out in the end that not only Bryan, but Nigel and I both scored as well. As no one got far, our scores resulted in the Malvern A team climbing to 4th in the BCC table, how did that happen?

2009-03-30T15:56:00.004Z

Your club's team (see piccie for most of them, except the photographer) had a grand day out up in the Peak District on Sunday. After an early start (about 7am, or 6 in old money), we all met up at the Glider Station at Camphill at 10am - most of the other teams (who had travelled much shorter distances) were already there. After the usual parafaffing, the organiser decided we would all drive 5 minutes up the road to Eyam, for a southwesterly launch - it was very light, but the forecast was that way inclined. The task was set as "flight to goal - get anywhere across the M1" - a distance of about 25 km. It was suggested that double points would be scored for landing in the central reservation.

We got to launch, then sat around and waited a bit while Trevor gave his wing a nice suntan and various pilots from other teams put on impressive groundhandling/short hop exhibitions. It was a glorious day, hardly a cloud to be seen..... There was very little breeze on the hill, almost all small thermic gusts. Not enough to stay up. Then the cycles got a teentsie bit stronger and after about an hour a nice one came through - at which point everyone who was well prepared hurled themselves into the air all at once, including our own Ian Price (the rest of us were still deciding what clothes to put on, except Stuart "go for it" Mayson, who was already groundhandling and threatening to take a ride ahead of us all). There followed some parabarging in front of the hill before a large gaggle formed and started to drift back and up, as the rest of us groundhogs watched jealously and hurriedly unpacked our gear.

Nothing more then happened cycle-wise for another 40 minutes, when the next decent cycle came through and a few more of us managed to get into the air (by now just after 1pm). There was a bit more parabarging - including Dave Lock getting barged out the side of a thermal by someone and then not being able to get back in, so having to top land again. But a smaller gaggle eventually sorted itself out and drifted gently back and up - including yours truly. Luckily there were lots of good pilots in it to follow, so I managed to get most of the way round Sheffield and up to 5,400 feet (airspace way overhead) before being decked by a combination of incompetence and incompetence. Ian had decided the backstreets of Hillsborough were worth a closer look, so he kindly landed in order to join the local kids in a game of footie while their mates nicked his gear. Though we didn't quite reach the goal, we managed about 35km between us. Not bad for a couple of rusty XC novices in March!

Ian and I managed to walk/bus/tram into the centre of Sheffield from our different landing fields, and Ian drank 17 pints of a local ale called Jaipur while he waited for me. Dave Lock was then kind enough to drive up from the take-off to pick us up in central Sheffield - which is actually a really nice place with very friendly people. I would never have been to these great places without the BCC! Then home to a well-deserved frozen pizza! Crackers, Grommet???

Get your volunteering in now for the next episode of this free flying extravaganza over Easter Weekend! Names to chris_hopkins@blueyonder, please, I will be away.

All the best, hopefully see some of you on the hill this week before I leave.

Kevin

Worcestershire Beacon

2009-03-30T09:11:00.002Z

I got up to the Beacon at about 3:45pm with.
Tim Crow was there and told me that Bryan Hindle had been there. The wind was from the West but there were some large thermals changing it's direction. I was flying a white and purple paraglider. I got up to 1100m above the top of the hill, which was most of the way to the clouds, over the Malvern Hills Hotel ( near British Camp ).
The picture is from about 500m above the hill, taken with my scratched mobile phone. I made a phone call when I was at 600m above the hill; is that illegal use of radio in the air? My lips were getting a bit numb with cold. I came back to the hill to chat to a paraglider pilot who had walked up. The wind died off and went round to the left. Dan Heeks.

Malvern BCC Team day out at the Blorange.

2009-03-22T21:02:00.023Z

Saturday 21 March saw the first outing of the 2009 Malvern BCC "A" Team (OK so its the only team but it sounds good). We attended a BCC round hosted by the SE Wales club, at the Blorange near Abergavenny. This was the realisation of a vision brought about by the Stirling effort of our Captain, Kevin. Well done Kevin!

There was a good turnout (10 teams I think) and the Blorange was called as the site of the day, with the wind just about on the NW face. Conditions looked tricky with a very marked inversion and the wind was forecast to strengthen considerably in the afternoon, but in typical BCC tradition the task was called as open XC. The morning started rather well with the team actually turning up and managing to find the hill followed by diligent checking of radios, looking at maps and discussing routes and strategies and generally looking very professional. Anyway after much deliberating on conditions etc Mike M reminded us all that to go xc you have to take off first, so after watching sufficient numbers of pilots stay up the Malvern team slowly took to the air. At this point we all stuck to the rigidly rehearsed plan of everyone doing their own thing.

My strategy was simply to turn in anything going up whilst trying to keep Brian H and Nigel D in sight as they represented the team members with the most comp experience, at least on paragliders anyway. Actually keeping Brian H in sight was easy, all I had to do was put a bit more bank in and look up, as invariably whatever thermal I was in Brian was infuriatingly always 50 to 100 feet higher.

Right hand thermaling only within 1 km of take off help ease the potential conflicts and despite there being quite a few gliders in the air It didnt seem too crowded although you certainly needed to keep a good look out, at least it made spotting the lift easier. The Inversion still seemed to be limiting climbs and gliders worked small climbs back over the top before invariably pushing back to the front as they either lost it or the inversion killed it. This carried on for some time with the conditions marginally improving but nobody getting away , or so we thought.

Finally the forecast increase in wind occurred and led to pilots either failing to penetrate and getting sunk out on top or pushing out over the valley to get out of the compression. As I could see Brian way out over the valley still finding bits of lift with Nigel in hot pursuit it seemed to be the way to go. At this point one half of the team were pushing out into the valley whilst the other half had landed back on top. A brilliant tactic with half the team on top able to launch again if conditions improved whilst the other half whilst taking the risk of going down if they didn’t find any lift out in the valley were at least still in the air if the wind prevented further launches. This tactic had obviously been designed and briefed by our leader whilst I wasn’t listening, but it made sense at least until later analysis revealed other forces at work.

Needless to say those of us out in the valley eventually sunk out into the bottom LZ at Castle meadow whilst the rest decided it wasn’t going to drop and drove down to meet us. It was during post flight analysis in the pub that the true nature of the team tactics, seemingly telepathically deployed was revealed. Simple really, those with cars on take off, top landed, those not driving flew straight to the nearest pub! I knew following Brian H and Nigel D would pay off.

All in all we had a good day out, good company a laugh and we even flew. Non scoring squad members Simon and Stuart scored the same as everyone else in the end and the Malvern Clubs reputation for being sociable but not ultra competitive was upheld.

Team on the day as follows:

Kevin Pool (Captain)
Chris Hopkins
Bryan Hindle
Mike Milner
Pancho (Gareth Jameson)
Nigel Dewdney

Supporting free flyers/Wind dummies/retrieve drivers included
Simon Dillworth
Stuart Mayson

As a post script the pub ran out of beer and Oh yes some Avon pilot(Allan Davis I think) flew to Chepstow, apparently.

Chris H

Marcle 2nd December

2008-12-04T15:43:00.003Z

Another good day, although wind was well off and due West. RAF came past a couple of times, but not as exciting ! as in November. It eventually went a bit light so went home.

14th Nov much marcle

2008-11-14T14:15:00.001Z

So far it's been flyable pretty much all day

Too windy at the beacon

2008-10-24T12:40:00.002Z

It was too windy for my paraglider at the Worcestershire Beacon today.
But anyway I took off just below the path, below, west of, where the cafe used to be.
I went backwards and up, so I got on the speed bar.
I was still going backwards and up.
I pulled in big ears, with speed bar on and weight shifted to the right to head for the gully.
I came down going backwards on the north edge of the hill.
I carried my wing to the front and down most of the way to the trees.
I flew down to the car mostly with speed bar and big ears on.

Dan Heeks.

marcle again

2008-10-14T14:29:00.002Z

14th October
It was way off to the NW and naff until a front came through just before lunchtime and the sky became great looking. Then it came smack on for a time and was great with the smoothest air being in the thermals as it was very lumpy at times on the ridge. The wind kept changing from South West to West-North-West and back again which meant the ridge changed it's personality repeatedly. The occasional slope landings were sometimes to the north and sometimes south as the fickle wind determined. Best height was about 300ft over the hour and half. I went back to the car for sarnies and chat with Marcus (MHGC member) with the wing well bundled up down by the bottom fence and harness on top, yet when I returned I thought someone had nicked it. The helmet was at the bottom of the hill and the rest was up by the big tree as it had been dragged up and sideways and knotted up into a ball by a huge gust that came through. Took an hour to untangle.

Marcle Ridge 25/07/08

2008-07-25T21:55:00.002Z

Got to take off at 4:30pm after an early finish. It was blowing about 10 - 15mph and it was my first flight on my new Airwave Mustang. Flew about 50ft above the ridge line most of the time but spent a good 20mins flying over the wood and old hang glider training field to the south of TO (great lift over the wood) - I was surprised how far I could fly south past the end of the ridge without loosing lift. No other flyers around except two birds of prey which were soaring with me. It got a bit stronger later in the evening and went off to the south some more so landed around 6pm. I want to try ridge running to the north when the wind is bang on as I'm sure it will be possible to go a long way past the radio mast. Anyway I was really pleased with the new wing - really responsive and sporty compared to my old Arcus - can't wait to fly it with the motor and pull some g's :). Simon Chandler.

Rhosilli July 13th 2008

2008-07-15T17:06:00.002Z

After a delayed start ,Pancho oversleeping due to a massive facebook overdose. We loaded up Pete’s new charabang with 4 gliders 4 people and the 17 separate boxes Ralf keeps various bits of kit in when he comes flying. Due to its Tardis like people and luggage eating ability we all had room to stretch out and get back to sleep, well done Mr Tustin on such a judicious purchase, you have won the driving for a year competition that I bet you didn’t even know you had entered.

After the long drive down we went for the now traditional all day Gower breakfast (if you see the sign pull over as its well worth it), let out the belt a couple notches and carried on down to the Bay.

A couple of gliders were scratching about in a wind that was well off to the South so we took a leisurely stroll up to the pimple and decided to parawait until the wind came on to the hill.

We were all enjoying a quiet laze about when the peace was shattered by Pancho revealing the worst pair of flesh coloured pornstar shorts it has ever been my privilege to see. After much hilarity the grumpy git decided it was suddenly flyable enough to take off and he proceeded to join the scratchers for a while.

The Thomas’s turned up although Kate had bought a small furry bundle with her which bore very little resemblance to a glider. Dave’s glider on the other hand after disturbing a few moths and finding two shillings and sixpence in the bag , turned out to be in fine fettle and was pronounced eminently flyable.

Mac wandered down from the top of the hill, then wandered back up as strangely he had left his kit at the top and his wife point blank refused to go and collect it for him.

By this time it was turning into a proper reunion with Reech and Ron turning up with some shiny new reversible harnesses.

The wind finally turned round so of course Tony turned up and does what Tony does, walk to the front of the queue plonk his glider down and take off.

Everybody else took off in dribs and drabs, me obviously last due to my kind caring, helpful nature and everyone enjoyed a few hours boating around on a very pleasant sea breezy afternoon. Except for Ralf who wears his harness like his trousers – way too tight! So decided a quick trip to the beach was the best way to keep alive his chances of having children

Martin and his newly qualified brother turned up later in the afternoon so we were treated to an acro spectacular whilst a few of us tried wingovers and stuff with various degrees of patheticness. The tourist trip plane made things interesting for everyone by flying down the ridge with its engine off passing under, over and around all the gliders. I could have sworn it was a model until it got very, very large and passed just under me.

Couple of pints and a nice meal in the pub watching a few of the really desperate cases wringing the last few minutes out of a great day , strangely Pete decided to fit his reserve in the pub after a days flying!

Long drive back and then the chance to re-enact the Krypton Factor by trying to refit the seats in the back of Pete’s automobile.

Good Day, Good People and Good Food

Paul M

Long Mynd Magic 13 July 2008

2008-07-13T22:22:00.001Z

This entry could have had various titles from “A cracking day at the Mynd (after a very late start)” to “Don’t let Wendy put you off” or “Have faith in the forecast Luke”(sorry getting carried away now). Despite a reasonable forecast Wendy was still reporting light and off to the South until midday which was a bit off putting. To be fair XC weather wasn’t any more encouraging and the local web cam looked pretty unimpressive as well. Finally the first signs that things might be starting to happen in line with the forecast came around 12:30 and I managed to persuade Simon Dillworth that it wasn’t too late and still worth taking a punt. All the way up there seemed to be little wind and what there was appeared to be off to the SW and the sky was overdeveloping too, I was beginning to feel a little guilty dragging Simon out but hey such is paragliding. As we neared the Mynd the sky began too look better and as we drove along the front, a column of paragliders climbing out finally confirmed my faith in the forecast and power of the Mynd was justified. Yes it was busy and Parking was a bit of a nightmare but when you got in the air the whole ridge was working, so amazingly it never seemed to be too crowded. Bizarrely after almost no wind earlier it almost felt too strong on take off at times, but launching well down the front was fine and once up it was no problem which was adequately demonstrated by a couple of PG's well out in front attempting an out and return or triangle via Corndon. The odd PG could be seen drifting over the back whilst the rest worked the full length of the ridge accompanied by Hang Gliders , the odd Rigid and occasionally Sailplanes. All in all a very pleasant day with decent climbs but also correspondingly strong sink to catch out the unwary.

Chris H

Marvellous Marcle

2008-06-30T22:18:00.002Z

WSW - SW 12mph average. It's got to be the most lovely site to fly from scenery wise, and I finally managed to get away XC from there despite it only being about 70 ft high on the main slope. A few minutes after an early launch I had the undercarriage down and almost went down but with loads of brake on trying to slope land just crept back up and along the slope to connect into a thermal and get me away. I kept losing the weak lift, and was on the edge of a huge cloud shadow and each time decided to go round the edge into the sunny southerly side. Had to skirt around Ledbury as I was looking like landing in the middle if I didn't, but climbed over Eastnor Castle. Wasn't high enough to get over the bottom end of the Malverns, but brain wasn't in XC gear by then and didn't really try to soar it and wait for a climb as the wind seemed very strong and I had thoughts of being blown over the back at 100ft. Landed for 13.7k in straight line. For a couple of hours afterwards the sky looked superb, so I ended up a little dejected despite realising one of my flying ambitions.
Dave

MALVERN MAY 6th 2008

2008-05-09T11:06:00.002Z

Good day flying today. 3 hours in the air.
Stated about 15mph smooth North Easterly at Perseverance Launch and by 13.30 the clouds were starting to form and the wind speed increased to 20mph plus with gusts to nearly 30 mph and it moved to the south east. Launched at 13.45 into good lift.
Max Height 4500ft ASL got to Junction 2 on the M50. Wind in the air was sometimes 20 mph but reduced to 10mph later in the flight. Misty conditions to the sides.
GPS told me that I could get to Fownhope goal (13 miles) on one glide, but I do not like this murky stuff.
Martin B tried to launch but 'did' two uprights. Tony J tried to launch and 'did' two uprights !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alan H got away from launch OK.
HG pilot (from Dunstable Club ??) banged in on Pinnacle Hill and the Air Ambulance arrived. I had to 'park up' on The Beacon for what seemed like ages. Alan had to 'park up' to the south somwhere, before the Helicopter moved off.
The 3C's LZ was reduced in size because of the vertical steel bars were in place marking the parking areas for the massive Spring Show.
John.

Malvern, Kettle, Bank Hol Monday (5th May)

2008-05-06T15:47:00.002Z

Driving up from Weymouth in the rain and mist on the M5, it suddenly started to clear, so I persuaded the missus to let me have a fly - "maximum half an hour" ... (had a bit longer than that...) as I didn't expect it to be flyable. Hit base at 2800ft about 3k in front of launch, landed and retrieved. Great bonus day and months since I've flown this site.
New landing field seems fine.
RichardP
(Sorry no pics)

Malvern Wednesday April 16th

2008-04-17T16:11:00.002Z

Good day on the Malverns after a poor misty /claggy start. Met lots of PG pilots in the mist at KS carpark and informed them of the new LZ. Majority of them knew nothing about it.
Mist cleared about Lunchtime and I launched the rigid wing at 15.00hrs. winds were 8 to 20 mph. Got to 3100ft ASL and watched a gaggle of PGs doing an involuntary XC over the back at about 16.00hrs. New LZ was well used by PG pilots. I saw none go into the old field. One went into the old playing field and the rest into the new LZ.
Landed at the 3Cs LZ at 17,00hrs and got a lift back to the car, at the Wyche, from the lovely Jacky (thanks again Jacky).
John.

The Shrine. Monday March 31st

2008-04-01T10:13:00.003Z

The Shrine (Rhossili) came good in the afternoon today, for the two VR boys (Nick and John). Wind WSW to SW. Floating about in and on top of the orographic cloud. Speed runs up and down the beach.
John.

27 Mar Selsley 8-12 NNW

2008-03-27T19:50:00.003Z

Quite a few out, good cycle midday with a few going XC to Swindon for 35km. Lots on the hill; Chris H, Den, Brian H and Jock amongst others plus lots Avon guys. Had a nice climb over the common but mid afternoon it dropped and swung more W so I packed up.

TC

Leckhampton 19th March

2008-03-21T21:24:00.003Z

Howard flew earlier in the day.
Windy most of the afternoon, but calmed down enough for me to be first off to launch at 4pm. It was great, able to fly well out, but by then no really useable thermals. I got blown away by the 2 Czech pilots who flew very well, one on a dhv 2-3 Venus, who went over the edge of town a number of times and literally flew rings around me and climbed straight past me (more like a hangglider than paraglider).

2 models had a mid air, one of which was damaged and became uncontrollable. Good job no-one else was in the air at the time.

Dave

Weds 19th Mar

2008-03-20T18:45:00.002Z

Selsey N 8 - 18mph

Wind was coming and going a bit, plus high cloud subdued the thermal (maybe just as well!). Had a couple of short hops in bouncy conditions, got a bit battered second time with a couple of big asymmetrics. Good practice I suppose. A few more arrived but enough was enough, and I launched into a nice lifty blob, wound it up enough to fly back to the car and packed up.

2008-03-18T10:57:00.002Z

Leckhampton 17th March

Nice thermals but a lot of spreadout. Probably could have gone XC with a bit more commitment put in. Wind was occasionally too light, very occasionally a bit strong, but mostly it was nicely ridge soarable from the NE. Only 3 of us there.

Dave

FROSTBITE COMP Cornwall

2008-02-22T16:35:00.001Z

Great Comp.
Nick 5th and John 6th.
Craig did good.
Here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNXdCoqFvCY&feature=related

Regards,
John.

Malvern Ridge Run, Saturday 16 Feb 2008,

2008-02-17T12:00:00.000Z

Kettle, high pressure, thick inversion, strong winds E to NNE.

2008 stats so far: 1 x TTB per 100 miles. Drove reluctantly across to Malvern and was rewarded by a mid afternoon sky full of PGs well spread, one about 600ft ATO and a couple of high HGs (Mr Bevan? Mr Collins?).

It was very cold and the 14-17mph at takeoff felt strong. Mr 'Paratext' Perkins assisted a launch at about 4.45 pm in a convenient lull.

The air was freezing, not thermic but oddly ‘solid’. Beats across the spurs were so easy but got wary of other flyers and the clearer air towards Castlemorton beckoned. Something was shovelling bucketloads of lift up the hill and the trip to CM was like a ride in a tractor beam (that’s Star Trek, not Archers). Turning at the pond/quarry, actually short of the CM takeoff now I’ve studied the map, but still in Scottie’s beam, the journey back to KS was a piece of cake.

Yelled something at BP, launching, to draw the attention of a group of ladies on the path, then with the Clint glint headed for the Wyche Brian P had reached earlier. Never flown over the cutting before and felt untrusting of these too-obliging conditions. “It can’t last….it’ll all end in tears…” I thought, positively, then risked the crossing, waiting for sink and noting landing options. BP followed.

Half way across the gap two guys on faster PGs, overtook on the valley side. They seemed in steady lift so I nudged out but a white tandem up ahead, now close to the Beacon, also looked comfy and close in so opted to turn back towards the hill and follow his line. This led over another quarry/pond at, I think, a saddle and where, for the first time since Kettle the vario grumbled a bit and a huge 16m alt was lost!

A few minutes later the lost height was regained and the SE face of the Beacon was below! Fantastic! Ground speed checks had said 6-8kph for the northward journey. Smoke below the Beacon was northerly so it looked like the downwind run back to Kettle was do-able.

Applying the EverReady Ring technique and summoning a speeding Zen image of Handel’s Comet I turned and headed for home at 26+kph. Not had such excitement since the Bridge Club got the date wrong.

Well, if you are not asleep yet JK the ride back, as for the ride there, was all at a constant vario height + or – 6m. An absolute doddle! The whole air mass felt solid like a conveyor belt. The two convoy guys overtook again and, far from not reaching Kettle we all struggled to find sink and get down for a side landing! Brian P landed safely at the bottom by his car. It was about 5.40pm.

The feature that sticks in mind about the whole flight (about 12k? < 1hr) is the constant and effortless lift throughout. Not thermic, not light buoyant restitution and not bumpy and erratic. For much of the time the vario sulked in silence. Kept thinking it was bust! Anybody any ideas? Wave effect? Aliens? Karmic reward for a life of self-denial? OR maybe you’ve all been doing this for the last 20 years without me knowing??!

A swift half of choccy with BP at the posh place by the bacon butty shed where we wallowed in the flight ended the day on a satisfactory note. What a fabulous experience! Peter Pan, no less!! TTBs? What are they?

Brian Hickman

The Beacon, Weds 6th Feb

2008-02-07T00:00:00.000Z

While the movie cameras were busy over at the Mynd, capturing DJH doing circuits and bumps, the sun was shining as brightly and the wind was blowing just as west at Malvern. I arrived with Bryan and Pat at 2pm, to find Jock with his Geo and Gareth, who were waiting for it to drop a bit.
Bryan pointed out the official landing field, which is the scrubby area just beyond those 2 nice green fields. By the time I had unpacked, and had a look over the back, (never having flown the site before), it had dropped enough to get into the air and
I soon joined Jock flying between the quarries on the left and the saddle on the right. We were staying up alright, but the greatest height I got was about 320 ft above takeoff, and this only for a minute or so. There were thermals coming up from the houses or the trees, but they were blowing back rapidly, and with the wind coming and going, neither of us took the risk of flying behind the ridge, which might have been the way to get higher.

Eventually, Gareth joined us and Bryan joined Pat in walking home along the ridge. The lift subsided as the time went on, and we all had landed by the car-park and packed up by 4:30.

John K (no longer a Beacon virgin)

Rhosilli 27th Jan

2008-01-29T20:14:00.000Z

Lovely day- strong early on so left it to the acro boys to play on there teacloths and went for the all day gower breakfast.

Came back closer to the top end of the weight range to find it had calmed enough for even the likes of me to stumble off.

Lots of paragliders and an entire squadron of stiffies neatly lined up on take off at the pimple then buzzing round like a bunch of loons - still they looked like they were enjoying it.

Flying came to a bit of a dramatic end as Martin as he described it on the Avon diary 'landed heavily' and most of us big eared down to check all was ok.

Happily in true James Bond style he was shaken not stirred and may I just say has quite the prettiest reserve I have ever seen a lovely red and white candy striped affair.

But still a bit of a wake up call for us all

However the true tragedy of the day was still to unfold, it being a Sunday the chippy at Killay was shut so we had to get tea from a skanky kebab shop in Swansea.

Nice to see a few familiar faces on an unfeasably warm January day

Global warming bring it on!

Paul M

Much Marcle 12 January

2008-01-12T21:55:00.000Z

I went to much marcle but it was too far north of west and light, so went to the west face of the malverns where is was very pretty and snowy, but blown out, so went back to much marcle where the wind had come round a bit and had a lovely long flight on the PG until suddenly getting dumped to the bottom as the wind went from west to SSW in the space of 10 minutes with no wind in between. It was bumpy, the vario has in excess of plus 10 and minus 10 on the log, but no collapses and I missed the trees every time. All in all it's still one of my favourite places, it's just so lovely scenery and it's an organic farm that you have to pay the farmer £2 to fly so I'm happy with that.

Cowlod 30th December

2008-01-02T13:36:00.000Z

Intermittently foggy after an aborted visit to the Hay Bluff. In between the rain and mist, Bob and myself managed a small flight and some soaring, landing in the rain! Saw Noel again, but we had left the site before we saw him fly. Very muddy.

Richard

(PS - Don't apply big ears when the wing is wet!)

Kettle Sings and Castlemoreton Sunday 16th DEC

2007-12-17T12:29:00.000Z

Very Misty, but smooth. Launched on the hangy side at 12pm (naughty, but safer due to ESE wind direction). Met DJH and Noel. Great soaring and very cold. Paul, Pat, George and Bob all went down to Castlemoreton. My vario didn’t work again! had to rely on GPS.
Wind had died off after an hour and a half, so everyone landed on the Hangy take-off side. Launched after a sandwich (10 mins) when the wind came back on and had some great flying up towards the Beacon and down quite a way towards Castlemoreton.
Warm as toast in my quilted Ozee and two pairs of gloves. I joined the Big Pants lot on Castlemoreton after a ridge soar down the hills. Just managed to continue to scratch a 45 minute soar when I got there. Castlemoreton had picked up to 20mph on take off, as I landed at 410pm. First time I've ever ridge soared to Castlemoreton.
Richard Pearce

Kettle Sings 25th October PG's only

2007-10-26T07:52:00.000Z

Sky looked pretty un-inviting, but horizontal vis was ok so lobbed off into a 8mph, and found it soarable most of the time, even though the wind was miles off to the north east. A bit later Jock arrived, having earlier flown at Castlemorton until it went NE. Had a number of slope landings, but one flight of half hour and later one of 3/4 hour. We had fun bobbing about never very high and chatting to the walkers while scratching along the hil. Eventually a few others turned up for a go.
Dave

Fairbourne Oct 17th

2007-10-18T18:12:00.000Z

Great flying at Fairbourne today. Views (at cloudbase) of the Mawddach Estuary and of Cader Idris from 3150ft ASL.

Sea Thermals are coming!!!!!

Regards,

John (VR boy).

Kettle Sings 4th October

2007-10-05T19:00:00.000Z

No wind except for the thermals which were nice and gentle, but enough to keep people up briefly. I managed 29 minutes on one flight to over 800ft ATO max. Many, many other flights much shorter but all of them fun.
I think everyone had a good time, and only one or two people got caught out and went down.
Dave

Saturday 15th Sept, Rhosili

2007-09-16T16:36:00.000Z

The Big Nasty giant stamped on the little white house, luckily Jack and his mother were out planting magic beans at the time. Will these fairy tale folk never learn?

After a week of looking at changeable weekend winds Tony and myself decided to chance the run out to Rhosili.
We set off late as Tony's Malvern emporium is open till the early hours of Friday, then we caught the Rugby traffic through Cardiff, so arrived at the shrine at around 2ish.
Luckily as most of you will know this is when Rhosili starts to get good.

Lovely few hours floating around on my new wing, which i was actually starting to believe was cursed (apparently all the ground handling will do me good), Standard coastal fare, smooth as silk, wide lift band and a beach to play above.

Landed as the sun set, Tony less romantically landed because he needed to pee, packed up then off to the chippy at Killay (highly recommended) and home by 11.30
Slept very well

Paul M

The Lawley again, on Tuesday 11th

2007-09-11T23:30:00.000Z

Beautiful sunny day, with the wind bang on the hill at lunchtime and around 12 mph. After a preliminary venture which didn't stay up, managed to scrape up onto the big hill with the windvane on, and pushed out to find a lovely thermal which took me to over 4000 ft - inversion level (no clouds at all within 10 miles).

Tried to fly home to Bewdley - the Clee Hills looked so close - but after the first big one found no lift at all until I got to Wenlock Edge. Plenty of buzzards over the cornfields, but I couldn't find a decent bubble. Trees thrashing about on the ridge, but little lift to be had, so ended up just to windward of the Edge by the first metalled road off the ridge from Much Wenlock. A friendly soul gave me a lift back to the car, and I had another go around 5pm, but now the wind was NNW and I couldn't get much higher than the crow on the windvane. However, another 2hr 20 airtime and my first UK XC of a whole 6.3km! Lovely afternoon.

John Kingsley

Lawley Sunday 9th

2007-09-10T11:18:00.000Z

Great flying all day on this site. Sometimes needed a scratch to fly up from the lower takeoff, but easy soaring once up there. Lift available right out into the valley. Some thermalling from 3pm when a bit of sun came out. Only 1600ft above T/O but lift was good. Richard.

Dave JH giving his missus one, for her Birthday ...

2007-09-10T11:02:00.000Z

Great Saturday out with my missus. Abergavenny bacon butty and some shopping in the market, then to Rhigos for a fly. Then a squirly ice cream. Then to Monmouth for some more shopping and a meal in the Robin Hood pub. Then shower at home and a drink in the lock at Wolverley. Nice to hit my 500th flying hour at this site. Richard. PS - Dave's missus didn't scream or shout once .........

Boating around at Cloudbase - Monk's Down

2007-08-28T15:33:00.000Z

Tried a couple of Wessex sites on the Aug Bank Hol. Smashing soaring for 1o minutes at a time when the sea breeze kicked in Ringstead on Saturday. Flew all afternoon, but no real height gain. Managed cloudbase at Monk's Down with a sailplane, on the Sunday. Needed to get out into the valley to meet with the thermals. Richard P.

Lecky 20th August lunchtime

2007-08-20T15:36:00.000Z

The forecasts changed dramatically overnight, with the rain petering out. Lunchtime it was variably soarable either in the drizzle or dry. The odd collapse or two, very smooth, thermic, pinned, scratching below the lip. It had it all including a couple of top landings and 3/4 hour in the air. I was the only one there.

Dave T

Club Trip to Piedrahita, 11th-18th August

2007-08-19T06:00:00.000Z

Seven of us are now safely back from paragliding in central Spain, once again staying and flying with Steve Ham at his home near Avila. You can get all the details and some of the pictures from the two (up-issued) postcards we mailed home: reach them by clicking these links:
#1: first 2 days
#2: the rest of the week

Brian, Bryan, Carolyn, Graham, John, Nigel and Pat

Slovenia with Bob and George

2007-08-13T16:16:00.000Z

Another great PG time with XTC's live/fly guide/drink holiday. Plenty of flying with acro, SIV, declared triangles, some mega collapses, easy thermaling and std XC's and returns. 1st day lost to rain this year, but we made up for it the rest of the time. Some world records broken from Sorica and 200km+ flights from Gozd, whilst we were there. Excellent all round facilities at http://www.xtc-paragliding.com. Richard.

Sarn (Powys) - Weds 8th Aug

2007-08-08T23:04:00.000Z

Weatherjack 4/5 - how good can it get? Brian Hickman was tempting me to try Edge Hill, over near Warwick, but this looks rather a NW site, whereas the wind was forecast as N or NNW. So, having dug through the Long Mynd site guide, I decided that Sarn, near Newtown in Wales, was just as close to me in Bewdley, and likely to be a better bet.

I hadn't reckoned that BHPA had also decided that Sarn was a good site for the day, and had organised a major event there, with 150 competitors!

I turned up around 2.30pm and found, amongst the throng on the hill, (mainly laid out but not flying), Brad Bayliss from Malvern Club, but no other familiar faces. The task of the day was a timed task to Abergavenny, about 50 miles away. Some gaggles had got away in the morning, some just before I arrived, and some had thermalled up but not been pleased at their speed, and so had flown back through the gate in order to get a second "go".

Sarn is a nice open site with good slope landing and top landing opportunities. The wind was on the hill and varying in strength and direction under the influence, I guessed, of the thermals around us. Most people were climbing out over a farm which was about a Km in front of the hill, rather beyond the landing field. But you needed to fly level out to the farm, in order to get the climb ..... and there were a lot of people walking back up having not made it.

The takeoff is about half a mile (a flat walk across a thistley field) from the lane with car parking, so, by the time I had gone back and got my kit and set up, it was about 4pm, and the start of the event was finishing. The wind was backing more westerly, and I was regretting not having gone to the Lawley (Brad was there earlier but found the site closed due to a bomb disposal crew blowing up some old ordnance) or the Wrekin. After an abortive first attempt which ended after a couple of beats with a slope landing above the trees which begin quite soon in front of launch, I eventually managed a 10 minute session, getting above launch to the west of the site in broken thermals drifting back over takeoff. So I top landed and, with the sky clouding up and the wind settling in the NW, packed up, hoping to make the evening race at Chelmarsh Sailing Club near Bridgnorth.

So, another new site visited - not quite the solitary soaring to cloudbase I had hoped for - and a long way to go for 10 mins airtime, but it broadens the mind I suppose.

JK

Hay Bluff - Sunday evening 29th July

2007-07-29T23:00:00.000Z

A few too many glasses of red wine after Status Quo last night led to a slightly late start today. But I got to Hay Bluff around 3. The sky looked good, but I was surprised to find nobody in the air, and just a few pilots standing in the car park looking up at the hill. It was rather strong....

As the afternoon wore on, I ambled hopefully half way up the hill to join a local tandem pilot who was planning on doing some flights, and he did indeed manage to take off around 4. It didn't look too bad, but there were times when he was going up quite fast with big ears in , and there was a fair amount of pitching about. Also, there were some rather nasty big dark clouds building over the back and even just out the front, though most of the sky was blue with puffy white things.

I sat about and parawaited, persuading myself it was getting weaker when in fact it was strengthening quite a lot. Background wind about 11, gusts up to about 18, though bang on the hill. (Half way up, of course).

After a lot of sitting around and chatting to the only other pilot on the hill (a guy called Martin who said he hadn't flown for nearly a year, and he wasn't going to take his performance wing out of its bag in anything strong - especially since taking off in those conditions meant you were going XC, whether you wanted to or not!), I persuaded myself it really was starting to drop off, so I got the gear out and built a nice wall with my demo Advance Epsilon 5 wing. As soon as I did that, I persuaded myself it was in fact still far too strong, so I stood there like a goon for about an hour, giving my wing a nice sunning while the last dark clouds disappeared over the back of the hill and the conditions really did start to ease off a bit. Finally, after a couple of very messy inflations with deflations built in, I managed to get off. Going up was not the problem, what was more of an issue was going forward. It was real "badger's anatomy" conditions, and therefore a very good test for the wing - which I'm glad to say stayed pretty much above me all the time, with only a couple of small wingtip deflations in spite of being bumped around a fair bit. Big ears got me down OK after I had pushed out a bit (though I'm not used to having to pump them out - on my Gin Bolero Plus you can only just keep them in by cutting the blood supply to your fingers!). But the conditions were not too nice, so I decided to head down to a very neat landing near the carpark (not quite on the intended spot I admit, but my final approach was pretty much vertical!)

Having packed away (the ground there is like a sponge still) I ambled back to the car and was just wondering what to do when one John Kingsley turned up, the weather gods broke into a broad grin, and the day generally took a turn for the better. We talked each other into walking half way up the hill "just to have a look" and before we knew it we were unpacked on take off at around 7.30 with much nicer conditions in the offing - indeed, we were a bit worried we might have missed the 5 minute window before the lift stopped altogether.

But the tandem man recommenced operations just as we arrived, and he scratched around the hill before taking a nice ride up to the top, so we both had a go at following him. It worked, and we got to about 1,000 feet above take off, just making progress into wind without speed bar well above the top of the hill. There followed a loverley play of about 45 mins to an hour before we both landed out and finished packing up just as the sun was setting. Beautiful views over the environs, as my cameraman can testify, and just John, me and the tandem guy in the air all day.

Ok, so where did all the real experts go? Martin did say he expected someone somewhere today would break a record!

Kevin

Mynd Evening 24-7-7

2007-07-25T08:04:00.000Z

Nice smooth evenings flying after it died down. Launched about 5:45pm after parawaiting for 1/2 an hour. There was a lot of PG's in the air at one stage, possibly 35+. Thermalling over Black Knoll at 715, but only 600ft ATO. Great to see Nick, JB and Craig fiddling with their bits on the floor, after a good day in the air. Rich P

19th July, Kettlesings

2007-07-22T12:02:00.000Z

Sorry, no pics, but here's my report of the day now I've got to the new blog. My heartfelt thanks to Dr Rob for drawing me off the hill on a desperate quest for a thermal after two hours of having slight puffs drifting along the hill and over the back with lil' dusties. In turned out to be a great day for me... My first ever triangle.

The day started much as any other at Kettlesings - arriving to see Mr Hindle climbing out and away from the hill, followed by nothing as we late comers unpack and wait, and wait. A few tentative hops but nothing. Then there is a warm puff up the hill, Rob dives off and I rapidly get back into my harness having just given up for some lunch. Rob starts to circle in a weak climb in front, I'm set up so just pile off on a forward launch expecting nothing.

The climb was indeed slow (50' per minute stuff), but with no drift to speak of 360s were no problem close to hill. Further up the climb got stronger and once we had a grand above or so Rob and I were circling in a decent thermal beneath a darkening cloud. About 500' beneath base I decide to head off to the beacon with a wild idea of a triangle, Rob pushed out 'upwind'. There was a line of cloud upwind of the Beacon so I headed for sunward side of that, finding another thermal just in front of Beacon on line for Upton having flown over the summit seing two gliders laid out on the west side.

Journey to Upton took a few thermals but there were always clouds to head for. Only though I was going to deck once. Close to Upton I picked a good thermal to over 4k having been mostly at 2-3K and was entertained by sight of 2 hercules flying low and over the Wyche. That thermal was enough to convince me to go for a turnpoint over the church at Upton, thinking I could get back to the thermal for return leg. Worked out nicely - then had the Red Arrows flying a thousand+ feet directly beneath me! In formation. Next good climb just before Welland which Rob D came out to having been climbing at British Camp. I tracked to Castle Morton and began to regret it as I lost quite a lot of height. A slow starting climb there saved me though so went for the turn point at Holly Bush - more than that I didn't dare! As it was I thought I was coming down at the common but climbed back out there again, and then again at British Camp, passing Gary S on his way SSW, to arrive back at launch with 3k over, Rob D cheering me in! Cheers Rob - a beer or two to come your way sometime soon I think!

A ~28k triangle in the end taking a little over 2hrs - my best ever uk flight if you allow the x3 multiplier. Highly entertaining as well what with Sail planes, light aircraft, biplanes, and military aircraft of various sorts about. Shame I didn't have camera with me. The only disappointment.... my GPS batteries gave out 45mins into the flight. :o( So no national league entry, oh well.

However, with 3k above launch I decided to try another XC - this time seeing how close to Gloucester I could get - well made Staunton.

Nigel

19th July

2007-07-21T20:09:00.001Z

The first photo is looking back to the Malverns it had been a struggle getting this far.

Next one is looking ahead towards Marcle ridge and clouds starting to look better.
How could I possibly go down.

But I did , at Ledbury Football Club.

Bryan.

Mynd Wed eve 18th July 2007

2007-07-18T23:00:00.000Z

Too blowy for PG's until 530 apparently. Took off at 610, landed at 833. Saw Chris (always above me, until he landed.....) and Kevin. Nice evening. 560ft max height gain and ridge lift stretched out quite a way into the valley in places. 73kph downwind on full bar. Another "get it in whilst you can flight....." Richard P.

Sunday 10th June

2007-06-10T23:00:00.000Z

Sunday 10th June Kettle Sings - I really enjoyed it
Only got there at 3pm after release from baby sitting duties, but was told it hadn't been much good up to then.
I launched almost straight away into a thermal and had a few minutes thermalling, then a slope landing.
Next flight was half an hour of thermalling, getting 1/4 mile behind the ridge until I lost it due to not centring well enough I guess (it just sort of faded away so I think I dropped out the bottom). I used the speedbar to get back going crosswind to the lowest gap in the ridge to the south of take off and only scraped in with a few feet to spare.
Next flight was a 3 minutes up then down. Shortly after I launched into a thermal again and while in the air the wind started to pick up and become almost soarable, gradually getting so strong that when I wanted to get down I couldn't get in to slope land and had to go down.
Total airtime was 2hrs 7 mins and I was thoroughly happy with only being on the hill for 3 hours in all and getting that much airtime. My last flght, when I was well over the back again at 1000ft ATO when I heard a crack and looked back to the hill to see a hang glider much closer to the ground pointing downwards with a parachute
opening behind it. I lost the thermal while watching what happened (a sort of landing just over the back of take off - no injuries I believe).
Dave T

posted by Malvern Member # 9:20 AM

6th June

2007-06-06T20:18:00.000Z

May 29th 2007 Long Mynd

2007-06-01T13:14:00.000Z

Drove out to the Mynd in a WJ 3. Clouds starting to look good at Bewdley. Got to Craven Arms and now driving through rain. Got to The Mynd and pilots were sitting in cars sheltering and the wind was a light westerly. Conditions started to get better through the morning, but still rigged in on and off drizzle. Wind now blowing 20mph west and the few PG's that were flying have now stopped. looked alot better so launched at 13.00 and after about 30minutes was up at 4700 ft ASL and on my way. To the north of me it was still raining, and to the south of me it had started to go blue!!!. I was trying to fly home to Bewdley, which meant a more southerly track, but at Ludlow it was really going blue. Circled Ludlow for a few minutes expecting something to come off the town, but nothing, and landed by the Bypass on the Hereford road, in what I thought was the perfect field. No animals short grass, next to a layby on the bypass, just perfect for retrieve !!!??? Then bullocks entered the field and had to fend them off. Done this a few times before, but now with the VR I have two long packages to kept the cows away from. Do not want that cardon trampled!!!!!!!! Now found myself trapped in the field. The hedges to the bypass were 2 metres thick and 2 metres high and in really good condition with a timber fence and stock wire in the middle. I could hear Diane (but not see her) the other side of the hedge and bank in the layby. Eventually the cows got bored and I was able to place each half of the glider on top of the hedge and poking out towards the bypass somewhere. Threw the harness etc over the hedge into a small copse and then tried to find a hole to crawl through. Somehow manage to escape the field and found the glider and harness on the bypass side.
So only 13 miles. Perhaps I should have flown closer to the rain, to the north??. The clouds were definitely more active by the rain. The huge blue hole that I flew into, extended all the way to the Malverns. (this was confirmed later by Nick who was walking with family visitors on the Malverns. See photo of my decaying sky.

Rhossili 20/05/07

2007-05-21T12:49:00.000Z

A great day at Rossili for a first timer. Lots of great views and smooth soaring conditions. I had a 2hr flight followed by a top landing and then a quick second flight before going over the back to land in a field a mile downwind.

Quite a few paragliders and hangys made for busy conditions but people were pretty good at staying out of each others way.

The pimple when conditions were light:

This view made the carry up worthwhile!

Andy W.

Kettle Sings 29/04/2007

2007-05-01T11:59:00.000Z

All the PG's trouped up and then went down again, including me. I got the Scandal XKR out for the first time in ages and had a lovely take off and landing interspersed with an enjoyable but short lived 20 minutes scratching in the 20mph wind. It was very odd the way it was windy, apparently smack on the hill but with no lift. 2 other hang gliders had also preceeded me down pretty quickly and 1 after me. I'd left the bottom landing field at 2pm so hope it got better later for those I could see rigging.
Dave T

By the way - which is the correct blog ? - there are 3 of them floating about at present, the original old one plus 2 new ones.

Saturday at Rhigos

2007-03-26T19:10:00.000Z

David J-H writes: Richard Pearce and I flew at Rhigos (SE Wales) today. It was too northerly for Pontlottyn.
Wind was a perfect 10-15mph on take-off though swinging about between N and ENE (thermal influence) Once airborne, nice conditions, occasionally rough but we flew from 11:00 til 4:00pm with some good climbs in strong thermals. The wind picked up as forecast and Richard got blown back landing in a clearing in the trees behind launch, I pulled a spiral-dive down to land in a lull back at take-off to retrieve Rich but one of the locals had already beat me to it.
I believe Richard took some photo`s of my fat backside (as he kindly put it)
and is going to post them on the website Blog. Well he did spend most of day flying below me.

Richard P writes: Highly recommended for anyone not having been there before, very easy to get to and no kit carry. Lift everywhere (max 1300ft ato) and great views. One flight of 21m and another of 2hr 27m. Stiff chaps came out at 4pm when the wind speed had increased to 20+, they seemd to be having a great time and very high.

Unable to get any shots of the underside of DJH's wing .......or his backside................

Wednesday at Westbury

2007-03-24T19:13:00.000Z

We got to Westbury early, 9am! By 9:30 there were about 6 RW's and 2 Flexis on the hill. Sky looked good to the east but still blue with occ. wispy.

By 11:30 the Cu's started proper in the west so took off (after Sean went down on a GB!) with the wind 45 deg off. Appalling takeoff, others had similar. Quite scratchy low down, but hooked scrabbly lift to 6-700ft to ensure I safe. Moved sideways under cloud and went to 4k, flew upwind to get turnpoint (start of 84m O/R) then flew back to join Geoff and cored 'down' past him! In the wrong place so glided out to Westbury town with little height but under perfect cloud - bang, up to base where I met up with Geoff.

Flew south, leaving hill just after 12pm, usual glide/climb, etc, but keeping east away from flat area to SW (Yeovil, etc) which has a bad reputation with sailplane pilots. Took in --- sites (Monksdown, then Bell), where shortly I met up with Geoff again and we flew to the coast together. I was 1.5m from my turnpoint but it was now 1:30 and the air to the TP was 8 down so I mark/entered and pointed back north, thinking Geoff would do the same. Geoff went for the TP and flew around the coast and off to Portland Island - the view was staggering (here is Geoff's piccy). Geoff landed at Portland just after 2pm. I really didnt think I could get back upwind (10Mph?) this early in the season but kept plodding and bit by bit it worked. The VR is staggering! I had 2 low spots (1500ft) but eventually got back to the 5500 base which went to 6000ft near Shaftesbury. Carried on up to A303 (18 miles from TO) and it was 3:30 and getting weaker. There was a few Cu to the East that may have worked, but tactically I had to follow my outbound GPS trace to ensure I could still claim an undeclared O/R if I landed short, which I did (about 8 miles).

Obviously very happy with flight, still being amazed by this glider, the sink rate is outstanding. Tony Moore picked me up, arriving before I'd even derigged (the beauty of closed circuits). Geoff & I entered our flights and I see Malvern club is now winning NXCL. The start of many hopefully.
_________________
Nev

Wednesday at the Lawley

2007-03-23T23:45:00.001Z

It looked a cracking start to the day but as we (John Kingsley, Bryan Hindle and David Jackson-Hobbs) arrived on the Lawley take off, the clouds had already started to disappear and we were left in an enormous blue hole. Shortly after we were joined by Nigel and Caroline & Tim Crow, quite the club outing. We all scratched and landed and scratched some more up to the highest point where David made it to approx 1000ft ATO in a nice thermal with Tim & Bryan, but after around 35mins touched back down on top.

We`d had enough by then and flew back down the ridge (John on Shanks' pony) to land near the cars and pack up. So endeth the day ! Sorry, no big (or small) XC`s to report.