Re: Andy H's flying diary 2008

[AndyH]

31/12/08 Abernant with Ivor as it had worked so well yesterday.Arrived at 13:30 to a ENE 6mph breeze , had a chat and watched a pair of kites thermaling on the north end of the ridge, eventually some cycles started drawing up the ridge with sufficient strength to maintain altitude(just) but as the wind wasn't square on it wasn't the best of flying.At 14:00 we noticed a 1 paraglider with good altitude above Bryncaws so sat down and watched with envy, but by 15:00 the same was possible at Abernant and 600' ATO was achieved in a short but excellent and most enjoyable 25min flight in the resitution from the refuse tip  .TOTAL AIRTIME 100.5 HOURS.

[AndyH]

30/12/08 After checking on the weather decided to give Abernant a try as the land breeze appeared to be causing the wind to back severely.On arrival 2 pairs of red kites were visible thermaling on each end of the ridge, great I thought this must be the right site and on such a glorious day as there wasn't a cloud in the sky.Walked to TO had a bite to eat and watched the born naturals fly around from one thermal to the next, phoned Ivor and Nick but Ivor was on his death bed and Nick didn't answer so it was just me and 4 red kites.Launched at 11:24 into a thermic cycle and found the air to be immediately punchy, a reminder of what spring is going to be like, much more interesting than your plain old dynamic flying.I managed to climb to 150' ATO in some 2m/s thermal bullets and slope landed after 48mins when everything shut down, and walked back to TO.After waiting for 1/2hr the thermic cycles began to come through once again, and so I launched at 12:40 and achieved 200' ATO in some smoother 1.5m/s thermals as the kites pointed the nearest out to me it was easily possible to stay aloft, and managed to remain in flight for 69mins before slope landing when conditions eased again.As I required 3 more minutes to reach 100 hours I balled my wing up and made the journey back to TO as I'm fit enough to do so, and hoped that conditions would improve, and by 14:10 a cycle came through with enough power to lift me from TO and allow me to perform a number of beats before landing next to the van after 3mins.If there had been any body else at Abernant I think the ridge would have been too crowded for any long flights to have been possible today, but fortunately for me everyone else was on Bryncaws and I had the ridge to myself .

         TOTAL AIRTIME A WONDERFUL 100 HOURS

[AndyH]

29/12/08 As the wind was a very strong easterly for all of the SWW sites I asked Ivor if he minded the long trip to Pandy.We arrived at TO at 11:30 to a decent 15-20mph easterly, but by the time we had set up this had increased to a 20-25mph easterly, so got comfortable in one of the bunkers on TO and had a great laugh with Forest,Reech and Rich, 3 really tidy guys, and as the company was so good the time just whisked by and before we knew it by 14:30 the wind had eased and it seemed flyable.Ivor launched first into the freezing cold 18-20mph easterly and shortly disappeared into the mist ,shortly followed by myself and then all the others.I managed to climb to 600' ATO in some 3m/s thermals and noticed Reech was another 100' higher filming the occasion, I landed after 48mins as my hands and feet had became uncomfortably cold, to put it politely.Ivor could take no more pain and decided to wrap up but I opted to get 1 more flight of punishment in, so launched again at 15:45 and flew for a further 28mins in even colder sludgy conditions before top landing again, thinking about the heating in the van.Never realised that parawaiting in sub-zero temperatures could be so much fun, here's the short film of our day (if your interested) 

<a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HcuDtUBjUfc" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HcuDtUBjUfc</a>

,thanks Reech.TOTAL AIRTIME 98 HOURS.

[AndyH]

15/12/08 After speaking to Ivor on the phone we decided that we were both flown out and opted to give it a miss, then SteveJ rang and asked lf I fancied a trip to FanG, so I went.After a long wait with some excellent views due to the quality of visibility(as far as north of Mid-Wales)the wind eventually picked up enough and backed to the NW for me to give it a go at 14:00, as the wind was so light I could only manage 5 short flights amounting to 23mins all of which ended as slope landings.At 15:35 the wind picked up enough for us to enjoy a pleasant dynamic flight of 16mins reaching a dizzy 40odd' ATO and then top landing when the wind eased.As it was beginning to get dark Steve started packing up and told me to do a TTB,that's 2 I owe you now Steve ,and landed next to the lay-by after 7mins.TOTAL AIRTIME 96.75 HOURS. 

[AndyH]

14/12/08 Met up with Ivor at Senni-Bridge and headed for Hay Bluff as the forecast was for showers on the western edge of the Beacons, was introduced to Tim Johns for the first time down at the car park and after a quick chat we made our way up and arrived at TO at 12:45 to a bitter 15-20mph NEerly so set up and launched in 10mins flat just to keep warm.Flew for 1hr03mins, performed a number of asymmetric tucks and pulled off a few nice'n'high wingovers to get the blood flowing and to break up an otherwise monotonous flight as max. altitude gain was only 150'ATO with 6 other wings in the air.Eventually landed once I observed an unattended Sigma6 lying on TO, so I swooped down in the hope of a quick steal, so unhitched from mine and shouted up to Ivor whilst he was demoing Tim's Addict2 and was launching within a minute, enjoyed a pleasant 7mins flight even though the control line sheathing had severed, until I was required to return the glider to it's rightful owner .Hitched back up to my wing and enjoyed a further 56mins managing just over 100'ATO and also performed a few more nice wingovers before landing last at 15:25 as it was too cold for us.TOTAL AIRTIME 96 HOURS

[AndyH]

13/12/08 After discusing the weather conditions with Ivor we decided on seven dirty sisters .As we were unable to contact Ed Percy(it appears that they don't work weekends) we had to park at the forrestry gates and walk up, which took us 25mins.On arrival the wind was a 11-13mph WNWerly but by the time we ad completed setting up it had eased a fraction, so I launched at 13:02, flew for 3mins and slope landed just below TO.After returning to TO I launched again and managed a 13mins flight only just managing to rise above TO,and then end up below TO at the end of every downwind leg and slope landed once again just below TO when the wind eased.I flew another 6 short flights amounting to 24mins, during which Ivor and myself managed to have our wingtips touch whilst performing our fly-by manoeuvre , and I even managed to spot land on Ivor's hand.When the sun finally broke through things started to stir up, and I noticed the Peregrine Falcons soaring the rock face to the NE of TO, Ivor led the way on his Sigma with me in persuit only just managing to make the sun lit rock face where it worked well enough to gain 200'ATO and it was then that I could see a car parked next to my van which destroyed my concentration as I had images of all my tools being pinched so returned to TO after 15mins by which time the wind had backed even more to the west.After 1 more 5mins flight it was concluded that the wind did have too much west in it so we packed up and returned to my untouched van, phew.
     Arrived at the Ancient Brit at 20:00 with SteveJ to see an excellent turnout for the Christmas doo where there was plenty of warm air circulating, it was great to catch up with the club members that have been unable to make it out to the hills recently and to catch up on things with a few pints of Butty Bach.After a splendid 3 course meal it was the time for NickR to commence the presentations and announce that it was the first time he could remember that anyone had flown on the same day as the doo, well done SteveP for winning the SWWSC XC league and the UK weekend league, well done to me for winning the longest flight(8.9kms) on a standard class wing and not so well done for being awarded the sprung helmet .When I went up to receive my awards I pulled out a speech that I had drafted but the groans that were heard required me to perform an emergency edit  and so I slowly folded up all of my paper work and discretely placed it back into my pocket ,this is when the room became extremely thermic and meant that a bit of ad lib was necessary just for me to thank the club for an excellent year.
     TOTAL AIRTIME 94 HOURS.     

[AndyH]

07/12/08 Decided on TYB as the airspace restrictions prevented any local flying, so met up with Ivor at Senni-bridge and made our way there.Took the long walk up to the far SWerly ridge and whilst walking up Sherulz landed ahead of us after taking off from the closer SWerly ridge, she then packed up and followed us both up.Arrived at TO at 13:00 and as it was my first time to fly from this particular ridge I asked Ivor for a site briefing just to make me aware of all hazards.After setting up we were joined by 2 of our members who were out enjoying a walk with their sandwiches in a back-pack instead of their wings on their backs, never the less it was still nice to see them for a chat.As we were chatting conditions seemed to improve from a very light 10-11mph SSWerly up to a more comfortable 13-14mph SSWerly due to the sun directly heating up the ridge, so I launched first and after 4 beats was nicely above TO and had found the lifty areas of the ridge, next to launch was Ivor who did much the same but pushed out further from the ridge than I was, and once I noticed his wing pitch back that was it, I shot over, shouted 'thanks Ivor' and managed to climb at a steady 1.5-2m/s all the way to 730'ATO finding one area of lift that was 4m/s for about 10seconds after which I found myself effortlessly floating around in 0's or 1's for the next 1hr35mins way above everyone else.Approx. 10mins before the end of my flight conditions started to feel different, so I lost altitude away from the ridge and then returned to feel the lift at 300'ATO and to my surprise it felt a lot stronger than it had over an hour earlier, so I turned and pushed out once more using half bar and managed to drop to ridge height before returning, on my return the venturi infront of the ridge was very powerful and just as I noticed that Sherulz's wing was pitching and rolling mine started aswell and I even suffered a few minor deflations and sudden weightlessness which told us both to go and land.Once I was 200' below TO I was finaly able to release my speed bar in order to make forward speed and landed perfectly with a 200m dash just to save me having to carry it on my back.Whilst chatting to a couple who were out rambling we noticed Victor suffer a 40% whilst coming in to land which he managed to control and shortly landed near Sherulz.A very nice day for flying but surprised at how few turned up, good to see Jeremy from SEW out aswell.TOTAL AIRTIME 93.25 HOURS.   

[AndyH]

06/12/08 Met up with Ivor at FanG gates and as FanG ridge was clagged in we crossed our fingers and headed for Heol Senni,at the bottom it felt light but the low cloud was moving well and in the right direction, so up we went.On arrival the wind was a 11-13mph NNEasterly so we both set up and launched 10mins before midday, at first lift was very weak but after 5mins it picked up enough to achieve 101'ATO over the quarry, but after 25mins the winds eased and forced us both into top landing.Whilst the wind teased us I also managed a 2mins flight just dropping below TO height and then slope landing.By 12:25 Ian had arrived and brought some wind with him(the kind we need to fly) so we all launched and flew for 30mins managing 150'ATO over the quarry again and enjoyed some excellent airmanship and relaxing flying until John Nash turned up and the wind veered to the east causing some sinky lumpy air in the quarry which I didn't like and so headed back to TO to land and let the boys know.Shortly after informing them John launched and headed for the quarry and Ivor and myself watched John's wing sink in the air that I had just warned them about, after a few beats John had lost too much height and try as he may, he just couldn't get back up to TO so headed for the bottom.This seemed odd to both Ivor and myself because it still felt strong enough to soar so we both launched and managed a few beats before top landing for some lunch after 3mins.At 13:30 Ivor and myself launched once again into the ENEasterly and flew for 10mins managing only 50'ATO but it was nice to have the ridge to ourselves, and then landed when wind seemed to have gone to the east.We opted to give it another go but decided that if it remained off to the east we would head down, which it did so bottom landed after 5mins, where JohnP had been stopped by Ivor and told not to bother.
     After a quick chat we suggested that we head for FanG so that we could all have a TTB, we all launched at 15:20 and flew for just under an hour in smooth air managing 300'ATO in light restitution at 1.9m/s and enjoyed the stunning sun set before landing at the bottom to pack up just as it was getting dark, what a fantastic days flying, one of the best for practicing your scratching tecniques.Nice to fly with Ian and JohnP for the first time, 2 very experienced pilots,you can both come again anytime if your going to bring weather like that with you.TOTAL AIRTIME 91.75 HOURS.       

[AndyH]

04/12/08 Arrived at the snow covered FanG TO with SteveJ and Ivor just before midday and immediately commenced set up in the bitterly cold NNEsterly and found myself having to stop on 3 occasions in order to warm my hands back up because it was f-f-f-f-f-f-f-cold.Launched shortly after Ivor and flew for 2mins until wind dropped and landed right on the edge of the slippery ridge.Launched once more and flew for 10mins with StevieG in the short and narrow lift band which was excellent practice for our collision avoidance managing only 84'ATO and then landed when winds dropped again.After a long wait for the cold winds to return I decided to take up StevieG's offer of a lift back up with him if I wanted to do a TTB,so I decided to carry out a little experiment to demonstrate the sink rate of my wing to Ivor, and it was agreed that we would fly one at a time to the LZ in a hands up only position unless we hit something thermic in which case we would core up and go on an epic XC(not bloody likely today).Whilst gliding down in my most aerodynamic and efficient position  I observed Gerry overtake me with approx. 100' more altitude than me, but that didn't matter as I had a barbed wire fence directly ahead to keep an eye on, and on my current sink rate I knew it was going to be close, I then hit a small patch of rough air directly above the gulley which increased my sink rate and made clearing the fence seem even more touch and go, but in the end I cleared the fence with 25' to spare and even had enough time(3 seconds) to turn though 45 degrees for a slippery landing, at least I made it.I then watched as Ivor flew in and had to bleed off his excess altitude with a few 'S' turns, show off.On returning back to TO we could see SteveJ soaring and staying just above the ridge, but by the time we got there Steve had landed and given up and when looking over the back of FanG we could see that the smoke from a fire was blowing in a SWerly direction.TOTAL AIRTIME 89.5 HOURS. 

[AndyH]

25/11/08 'The Bluff', arrived at TO with Ivor at mid-day but was gusting up to 25mph, so ditched our gear and enjoyed a nice walk in the sunshine away from the strong cold wind's at the mountain edge, returned only to find wind was equally as strong so walked down to get out of the cold, sat in the van and had a chat.At approx. 14:30 the winds appeared to have dropped so walked back up for the second time, on this occasion the gusting had ceased so we opted for a slope launch just below TO to save our legs.
Launched and flew for 10mins until losing it and bombed out half way down, walked back up and launched again, this time bombing out after ony 2mins back at TO, so launched once more this time flying for 35mins reaching 350' above a snow covered Bluff in dynamic lift and admired the stunning sun set and landed to pack up before it got too dark.Nice to get back in the air for the first time in 3 weeks, well spotted Ivor,TOTAL AIRTIME 89.25 HOURS.     

[AndyH]

04/11/08 As there was light rain further in land Ivor and myself opted for Abernant, on arrival at 12:30 Gerry could be seen on launch taking a wind speed reading so I walked up without my wing as it felt a tad too strong, but to my surprise it was a smack on easterly at 10-15mph.Gerry and myself then went straight back to our vehicles to collect our wings as Ivor walked up to TO with his.On returning to TO wind was very slightly stronger so launched immediately at 13:00 and soared the ridge in dynamic and very weak thermal lift for 30mins managing 150'ATO and top landed.Launched once more at 13:45 and flew for a further 32mins in dynamic and slightly stronger thermic lift managing on this occasion 265'ATO and then top landed.Whilst chatting to Ivor on TO he suggested that I have a go on his Sigma6, which I gladly accepted with a little nervousness, so connected up my harness, built the wall and then pulled on the risers but unfortunately the wing only rose half way and then returned to the deck 5 meters further back with me in tow.On my second attempt I pulled harder on the risers and the same thing happened again except the wing went 10 meters further back, so bunched the wing up and realised that the control lines on the Sigma6 were about 1meter shorter than on my Mojo2 and that whilst pulling up the wing I was braking it too much and stopping it from rising.On my third attempt the wing came straight above my head so turned and launched and soared the ridge to gain altitude, after two short beats I found myself a nice little thermal which gave me enough altitude to push out into the valley, now comes the best bit, instead of going down and sinking at between -1 to 2m/s I found myself either rising or in 0's and managed to push further out into the valley than ever before and all of this whilst remaining above Nick on his Sigma7 and I finally topped out at 290'ATO, this could have been more if I were used to the wing , I finally top landed after 30mins of the most uplifting flying I have ever done, that said, as i'm not in the center of the weight range I would probably struggle with it on stronger thermic days but it was a good taste of what I will be getting on a higher class wing.I was so happy that Ivor had offered me a go on his wing that I offered him a go on mine,Ivor will explain that flight in his blog .To end the day I plucked up the courage to have a flight on my wing?, so launched at 15:00 and flew for 41mins until the wind eased and top landed at the same time as Ivor with an hour of daylight to spare.TOTAL AIRTIME 88.5 HOURS     

[AndyH]

17/10/08 Mynydd Dinas with SteveJ, made the usual trek up the track but had difficulty finding the path to TO, once discovered and re-cut(we were in no rush as the wind was so light) we made our way to TO.Let Steve go first as he stays up better in light conditions and as he seemed to be remaining above TO I launched 10mins later just as the wind dropped off and slope landed about 75' below TO(AARRRRGGGGGHHH, the walk back up through all the gorse and ferns with my wing over my shoulder)after a 2mins flight.Returned to TO and managed another short flight but this time didn't land so far down the ridge(PHEW).Returned to TO and waited until 14:30 when conditions felt perfect, so launched and flew for 17mins managing only 150'ish ATO in the weak thermal activity and slope landed when conditions eased.Launched twice more accumulating 4mins airtime more and slope landed on both occasions.Returned to TO and off loaded some of my liquid balast, from both my bladder and then my water bottle by force feeding Steve (in an attempt to make him heavier on his wing thus giving me a chance of staying up with him ), and within minutes conditions had improved so we both launched staying airborne on this occasion for an impressive 30mins and climbing to 300'ATO(you see, my plan worked, well partially as Steve managed 350'ATO ), in 2m/s thermals with a buzzard, and then landing back at TO when conditions eased, and watched as Steve's patience didn't pay off and shouted for him to head down.I then launched and flew an extended 11mins TTB in extremely weak and overcast conditions and then had to ring my girlfriend to come and pick us up as I had left my van keys in Steve's car which was in Baglan.TOTAL AIRTIME 86.25 HOURS     

[AndyH]

12/10/08 planned to go to Bryncaws but as the main road through Cwmafan was closed for roadworks SteveJ suggested that we drive over the Bwlch mountain and check out Cwmafan en-route, as the wind direction was almost on and the wind speed was almost strong enough we decided to give it a go as there was no flying action behind us over at Bryncaws.I watched SteveJ perform a short flight as the wind dropped forcing him down, next I launched and managed 180'ATO and then felt the air get a bit rough whilst attempting to make my way around the trees to the SE side, so turned around and just managed to get myself back to TO after 5mins.
     Got on radio to StevieG to check on conditions at Bryncaws and was informed that no change had taken place, I then rang Ivor to check on conditions at TYB and whilst on the phone could hear Ivor's wing being lifted followed by Ivor shouting 'I've got to go' and that was the last I heard from Ivor until he managed to find his phone to ring me and tell me that a thermal had grabbed hold of his wing when he didn't have his hands on the controls and went for a backward flight with no control, the same happened to me a while back Ivor but fortunately for me Chris Dusgate was at hand to grab my lines for me, it's a horrible feeling being dragged helplessly backwards isn't it.
     As the wind was still not on at the lower TO we packed up and walked up to the top TO, on arrival the wind was smack on but felt a bit light so we set up anyway, and whilst setting up a few ramblers walked over for a nose and watched us go through all our setting up procedure with great interest, by the time Steve had himself ready a handful more ramblers had turned up to see what was going on and one of them shouted to us 'That must be great taking the easy way down' to which I replied 'No, we're going up', and then just as Steve was launching he turned to me and shouted 'See you at the bottom take off Andy', which is when I thought me and my big mouth.I watched Steve for a minute or so as it was my first time to fly from the top TO, it was like a brand new site abroad as the weather was so nice, eventually Steve disappeared and I began to think that he had not been able to find any lift and was on his way down, so I raised my wing turned and ran and could see Steve just managing to stay up slightly below TO, after about 10-15mins of scratching around just to stay level with TO another dozen or more ramblers gathered to watch us flying and at the same time the air suddenly seemed to come alive and we were able to fly to about 400'ATO with ease, before long some 4m/s thermals were pushing me up to 600'ATO which enabled me to push out over Cwmafan village for some nice views of the Afan valley and Neath valley.After 1hr55mins conditions seemed to shut off as suddenly as they had turned on and I found myself losing altitude so headed for lower TO but didn't make it and had to land in one of the fields to the left of lower TO and watched as Steve flew overhead and just managed to make the lower TO himself which is when I thought B****** .Packed up walked back to TO and on my way could see Owen taking off with someone on the club tandem, so set up again but got blown backwards so decided to wrap up and call it a day.TOTAL AIRTIME 85.25 HOURS.   

[AndyH]

08/10/08 Went to Merthyr with SteveJ hoping to manage 1 last XC before winter, arrived at 11ish and had a chat with Norris and Steve Millson during which I was advised to hang on to my Mojo2 for another season or two before moving up a class, at least christmas will be easier now as my wallet will be £2000 heavier(don't tell the misses though ).
     Launched first as it was too strong for everyone else :wink:17-23mphWNW and soared at around 150'ATO and was shortly joined by SteveJ,Norris and Axis Paragliding's students and a few others which made the ridge slightly congested in the narrow and low lift band but broke the boredom never the less.
     After approx. 1hr the air became slightly more active allowing us to climb to 300'ATO in some 2.7m/s thermals and enabled some short journeys out over the industrial estate to search for some stronger stuff, which never happened to be there and only resulted in some minus TO height returns and a couple of low saves.After just over 2hrs30mins the wind picked up to a nice 22-28mph(perfect for me and Mojo) and top landed nicely for a late lunch and to rest my arms.After my late lunch the wind was still a tad strong and the leading edge of my wing was still slightly hot so decided to pack up and call it a day, very unhappy to notice that even with the sun out the thermal activity is so weak already, it would seem that we'll have to wait a couple of months for the next blasters how depressing, never mind there's always Rhossili.TOTAL AIRTIME 83.25 HOURS. 

[AndyH]

29/09/08 Even though it looked like top TO was going to be clagged in again decided to book the truck up without Steve.Arrived at a crowded 5500' TO at 11:45 with another British chap that was scared of heights and flying and looked absolutely petrified, full marks to him for facing his demons, up until this week I was scared of electrics , fortunately on arrival there was a hole in the orographic large enough and for long enough for me to set up and launch, it was my last day so I wasn't going to miss this hole just in case it clouded over for 5hrs like it did on the first day.Launched(not the best but got away)into a 15-20mph SEerly and steered my way through the cloud tunnel that was rapidly decreasing in size and made it through just in time as no-one else was able to launch for well over half an hour.Enjoyed a nice 35min flight and was at 900' above the Blue Lagoon and was heading down to land on the beach, looked at the windsocks below and could see that the wind at sea level was a SWerly and as the sun was heating the rocks to the east of the beach I thought I'd give them a go for soaring and with a bit of luck some thermaling.Made it to the rocks at 700' got some gentle thermic lift so slowly gained alt whilst having the huge ridge to myself as everyone else was clagged in at TO, slowly the thermals began to get stronger and stronger eventually reaching 5.6m/s when I reached cloud base at 4500' and entered the cloud on the windward side pulled in my ears half pushed out on my speed bar and exited the cloud with a big grin on my face .Lost alt just to do it all over again but this time whilst coring a nice powerful thermal I was able to hear the sound of the Muslim prayer coming up to me in the thermal from the mosque at 3000', what an amazing experience, one that you could only fully appreciate when your a man that v's the elements, absolutely breathtaking and spiritual, it was like I didn't need to concentrate anymore, that's all I had to do was relax and Allah was just putting warm air below me, probably an apology for this weeks earlier mishaps, thanks Allah.Eventually landed after 2hrs 10mins on the prom when I could see white horses appearing out at sea and my shoulders were aching, one the best flights I've ever had and landed with a huge smile on my face, what an end to an excellent holiday and can't believe how much i've learned this week, and now feel a lot better a pilot for all that's happened aswell.TOTAL AIRTIME 80.75 HOURS.Thanks Steve, got to go back to work now to save up for Brazil next year .