Re: Andy H's flying diary 2008

[AndyH]

10/08/08 Left for Site de la Fournaise alone as I considered my girlfriend and the boy to be jinxes, and as this was last chance saloon had to make sure that I gave the weather every chance of behaving for me as the next 2 days don't look very good at all.Arrived at 11:45 and walked to TO without my wing as I couldn't see any PG's in flight,saw 3 pilots ground handling in a 12-17mph SWerly with clear blue skies, so ran back to the car grabbed my wing and was back at TO in less than 5mins,and ready for TO by mid day .Launched after 2 other pilots had taken off and made my way over to the tree covered ridge in weak thermal and dynamic lift without my vario turned on and managed 300-400' ATO relying on my inner vario and the cheeks of my backside and watched as the other 2 pilots desended to the bottom landing area whilst I managed to return to TO for a neat top landing when the wind eased after 40mins.Launched once more after turning on my vario and by now the ridge was full of around 18 PG's setting up to launch,very shortly after launch(12:45) the air became nicely active with some 3.3m/s lift and sink so myself and two other pilots topped out at 750' ATO whilst all the others seemed to struggle to stay in the lift,one pilot even decided that it was too bumpy for him and flew straight back to TO unfortunately about 50' too low and piled straight into the ridge face square on all watched by myself, he didn't move for a while and still don't know if he was alright because I didn't see him after that,bottom landed after 50mins when the thermals and wind stopped for lunch and I did at 13:30.Launched once more when conditions improved a little and this time managed 450' ATO in 2.7m/s lift and sink and flew for a further 25mins and on this occasion was equaled by no-one and then made a slow desent to the bottom landing field when the conditions weakend once again,I don't think the French pilots enjoyed watching me play in the bubbles of lift that they couldn't make the most of at their site, so all in all I think I represented SWWSC extremely well today ,it must be said that they were a great bunch of guys that were more than willing to give me a lift back up to TO on 2 occasions and just before my third launch they all(and their families) stood up and cheered at 1 of their own pilots as he top landed, PGing here is a family day out on the ridge with picnics and plenty of chatting,that's probably because they don't have to make the most of it like we do ,on it's day these sites have excellent XC potential but the one problem I have noted is the lack of(none) public transport for the return to TO or anywhere, even taxis only exist in large towns but never the less they are still great ridges to soar with amazing views as Les Monedieres is the highest mountain for miles.TOTAL AIRTIME 60 HOURS.   

[AndyH]

09/08/08 Arrived at Site de la Fournaise(SW) at 12:30 only to find that wind was off to NW, which meant having to find the hardest site of them all in Les Mon??s which was Puy de la Mon??(919m), after searching up and down a few country roads/tracks we eventually discovered it at 13:30, and unfortunately there was no-one else to be seen and so was unable to locate bottom landing field from TO, so with safety and site preservation in mind decided to leave and call back later despite the excellent looking sky.After a couple of rounds of crazy golf near Lac des Bariousses(a nice lake with kayaks, pedaloes,etc)we returned at 16:30 to a packed hill, yes, that's right, a packed hill because it was too light to fly and no thermal activity either, only the odd student leaping off for the odd TTB, oh and a desperate Andyh aswell.After 2 TTB(one 5mins and one 10mins)decided to knock it on the head , and get home for some nice home made french cuisine.They just can't seem to get the forecasts right anywhere today as this afternoon's wind was supposed to be perfect for soaring hence the presence of a lone HG ready for launch at TO,which was being packed away as my girlfriend left to pick me up from the bottom landing field.TOTAL AIRTIME 58 HOURS.You(CD+IJ) managed more airtime in 7Sisters than I have here so far, but there's still tomorrow      

[AndyH]

04/08/08 Site de la Fournaise, after visiting the sites earlier in the day and not being able to fly due to conditions, I decided to return on our way home as conditions seemed to be better.On arrival at 20:00 the local flying school mini-bus was present, so you can imagine the excitement as I got my wing out of the boot of the car , after a 2mins walk to TO(860mAMSL) from the car park I could see 1 pilot airborne(instructor flying down to bottom landing field) and another 5 wings laid out ready for launch(all students apart from 1 female instructor).I managed to set up very quickly and launched in shorts,sandals and jumper as now the sun was out the air temp. was just nice even with the 7-12mph WSWerly and headed straight for the sun lit trees to the left of TO and climbed to 110'ATO in gentle restitution at 2.5m/s and could have stayed here for an easy hour but unfortunately as we had just called by on the off chance and my mother-in-law was getting food ready pushed out and enjoyed the slow 750' decent to the bottom landing area where my girlfriend and boy were waiting for me after a 15mins flight.Never mind tomorrow looks amazing, can't wait .TOTAL AIRTIME 57.75 HOURS.

[AndyH]

26/07/08 arrived in church car park at 11:15 with girlfriend and the boy, and they went down to the beach whilst I made my way up to the pimple with StevieG and Scotty but as the wind was so light decided to continue to walk on up to the top TO, and met up with Simon and Ian(SEWHGPGC) on the way.Wind was 10mph and off to the WSW ontop  so proceeded to set up slowly and volunteered to be the wind dummy at 11:55.Launched and managed to climb about 35'ATO and opted to hop over to WSW ridge above the old rectory, managed this but found myself well below ridge top and had to scratch my way back up to the top, inches away from the grass on each beat, and eventually achieved this after several beats .Once at ridge height maintaining my alt. was reasonably simple, climbing to 50'ATO on occasions, I couldn't help but notice that I was the only one that was able to stay airborne for approx. 20mins until I was eventually joined by Simon, by which time we were managing 100'ATO as some weak thermals started to mix in the dynamic lift,top landed after 47mins to make a quick adjustment to my harness and then launched immediately once more, on this occasion managing 200'ATO in slightly stronger thermals 2.2m/s, bottom landed on beach after another 40mins to join my girlfriend and boy for a picnic at 13:30(only an hour late,sometimes flying is more important than eating )and had a quick chat with Tina whilst she was making her way along the beach.At 14:00 started to make my way back up to take off in the now sweltering heat and as wind was still too light had to make my way all of the way back to the top TO ,great to see Rob and ChrisD on TO for a chat aswell.Launched at 15:25 and flew for 1hr43mins in dynamic and thermal lift in 3.3m/s thermals upto 350' ATO with about another 16 PG's at one point, and then landed on the beach as I was totally flown out, to end a good days flying/scratching ,it's all good practice as they say.TOTAL AIRTIME 57.5 HOURS 

[AndyH]

25/07/08 After the radiation fog cleared and the wind had eased, thought I'd give NYM a try after learning that Merthyr was sea breezed,arrived at 16:15 and was then joined 5mins later by Ivor, the sea breeze was also visible here as low cloud moving up the valley but well above ridge, whereas the prevailing wind was a steady 18/19mph SSW at TO.So launched immediately after Ivor without my vario as I'd left it at home,so had to rely on my own maturing instinctive vario , this proved very effective getting me above Ivor and buzzards on 1or2 occasions in small thermic pulses that were being triggered at the ridge, seemed strange though as everything was so quiet but good practice for me to have to feel the lift and not just rely on my vario to tell me when and how strong lift is,(wouldn't plan on doing this regularly though) at one point as Ivor flew below me he shouted up "I've just turned my vario off Andy, as your flying so well without one I'm going to try".After flying for 55mins I noticed a big black thing heading towards us, so shouted to warn Ivor and then Ivor shouted "look at the wind farm", so we both headed for TO, unfortunately as the wind speed was so strong on top was forced into a bottom landing with long walk back up after a nice quiet 1hr flight.TOTAL AIRTIME 54.5 HOURS.

[AndyH]

23/07/08 Ffarmers with SJ & CD,arrived at mid-dayish and met Dave Birch,Steve Griff,Steve Parsons,Piers and Jeff, and after some lunch(as clouds looked too wispy to bother launching)received a comprehensive site briefing from Dave Birch as this was my first time to fly at this site(started feeling slightly nervous after Dave Birch mentioned the possibility of dust devils and mentioned some previous accidents that had occured when the sea breeze had come over the back of the hill).Had to be one of the last to launch as I had to empty the sand out of my wing from Rhossili,and by the time I launched most of the guys were already thermaling up to base, and still had to wait for the cycle to pass as wind was way too strong for SJ,DB and myself to launch.Once in flight I noticed that the wind had increased since our arrival but not too much,although as it was so thermic it felt 10 times worse(thank goodness for the S.I.V. course this week)and anyone that was low had a damn good kicking that required 110% concentration to cancel out huge oscilations and to try and constantly re-design the mental thermal picture.This went on for a hour by which time I began to feel very mentaly tired,and as the concentration levels were so intense only managed to take one sip of my water after 30-40mins of flying during one very short relaxing spell(phew),just as I was considering landing to take a break the wind seemed to ease off enough for a thermal to stay in one piece and both SJ and myself managed to climb to base(at last) at just over 2100'ATO(3200'AMSL).Once at base I took a look around and opted to take a slightly cross wind path as the land looked more heated in that direction whilst SJ stuck with the drift, on my transition I noticed a very,very,very nice farmer ploughing his sunlit field that had a dense row of trees immediately downwind and a cloud shadow was also heading for the same field, so according to text books there should be a thermal triggering there,I arrived at exactly the same time as the cloud shadow and also observed three kites playing in something, and then suddenly my vario started to bleep sowly at first but increasing quickly,what a feeling it is to make an educated assumption about something completely invisible and be right,I was saved and climbing away from the deck until my vario started to get quieter , so pushed on with drift until eventually landing next to Coed Parc B&B 7.5kms(could you enter this into club league please Mr. Watkins) away from TO after an attempt to save above a row of trees next to the A485 that did work but would have only taken me further away from the road, so decided to land as I also had an audience watching infront of the B&B.Not the best landing I have ever made another downwind one infact, tried getting close to gate everything fine though, and the owner even rushed over to make sure I was OK and then we had a nice chat as I was rapping my gear up in preparation for the long walk to our rendez-vous in Lampeter(photos of landing to follow in gallery soon).After a 1/2 mile walk in incredibly warm weather with 25kgs on my back and a thumb extended a car pulled up to offer me a lift, only to discover that I was walking in the direction of Tregaron,(thank f*** I asked him first as it was too warm to walk from Tregaron) so turned around and did the same in the opposite direction and after 2 miles got picked up by a lady and a car full of children, one of them even looked after my helmet for me during the journey as I had a paraglider on my lap.She then recommended that I be dropped off immediately outside the Black Lion Royal Hotel as they served very thirst quenching bitter shandy's there,to which I hesitantly agreed as I thought it wouldn't be that bad a place to wait after all,SJ then joined me and went over the shop to get us some ice-creams,and then CD our retreive driver arrived so it was off home for us all after a very tiring but enjoyable adventure.TOTAL AIRTIME 53.5 HOURS

[AndyH]

21/07/08 SteveJ and myself decided to give Rhossili a go, even though we weren't going to get to TO until 18:30.On arrival wind was gusting to 24mph and off to the North,at 19:15 ChrisD rang from the car park for a weather report just as wind was easing, so Steve and myself got ourselves set up just as ChrisD and StevieG were arriving at TO.Steve launched first into the 15-18mph WNW, shortly followed by myself(after StevieG had put my bottle in my harness,cheers)and I climbed straight up to just over 700' at 2.5m/s and then aimed for the north end of the ridge which was slightly into wind and slow going, during which time I also noticed that ChrisD and StevieG were struggling to launch, and was to find out later that SJ and myself had launched during a lull on TO.After my out and return(pimple-Llangennith camp site and back) I pushed out over the water and decided to perform my asymetric collapse,(a task required to be carried out in order for me to sit my pilot exam)this I managed easily but unfortunately no one had witnessed it,so had to repeat for a second time,and as I was enjoying it so much performed on a further 2 occasions just to make sure that it had been witnessed.SG then suggested over the radio that I attempt a quick symetric collapse, which I managed comfortably(and my wing did)so then proceeded to perform a second longer symetric collapse, what a feeling but I wouldn't do one every day.To end my mini S.I.V. course SG suggested that I put my wing into a spin, starting with a small one first(this is what caused my hard landing in Abernant,so naturally felt a tad nervous)and performed nicely without hitting the ground on this occasion.I then carried out a much larger spin by holding the control for longer before releasing,and felt huge G's as the wing then corrected itself completely unaided .Was then forced into a narrow beach landing when wind on TO suddenly picked up to 28mph and needed all my speed bar to penetrate the compression, which I eventually managed extemely nicely after a 1 hour flight infront of a stunning sunset .TOTAL AIRTIME 52 HOURS.Thanks for all your time,help and advice today StevieG,couldn't have done it without you .

[AndyH]

13/07/08 Merthyr with SteveJ & ChrisD arrived at 10:30ish to a very light westerly and an OK looking sky, so set up and waited for a while for wind to pick up.By about 11ish a cycle came through so launched into it (a flight at last after having to wait almost 3 weeks) and climbed straight up to 650' ATO in broken 3m/s thermals and then sank back down at 4.2m/s thermals before being forced to top land after 20mins .Waited for a few mins and took off once more only managing 300' ATO inmore broken 2.5m/s thermals and then returned to TO after 15mins in2.5m/s sink .After another short wait launched once more this time managing to climb to 850' ATO in an extremely busy sky consisting of a few HG's and around 15 PG's in similar lift and sink as previously mentioned and remained in flight for 35mins before conditions eased and whilst trying to execute a ridiculous low save below ridge height I ended up forcing myself into a hard downwind slope landing and clipped a few hidden rocks in my tumble/drag, got up everything fine and walked back to TO (if I had flown recently this mistake probably wouldn't have happened).As wind was now virtually nil decided it was a good time to have some lunch and reflect on my error whilst watching SJ & CD on their first XC attempt of the day.By 13:15 the wind had returned and was WSW so launched only to notice that both my risers were twisted so bottom landed after 5 mins and corrected before returning to TO .At 14:10 launched into a 15-20mph WSW and flew in a very busy sky consisting of 5 HG's,15 PG's and 1 Steppe Eagle that was completely oblivious to air law but a lot better at flying than any of us so it didn't matter, managed to climb to 1150' ATO before being forced out of MY thermal by a Polish pilot with no air etiquette and never managed to achieve this alt. again but still played in thermal lift for the full 70mins of the flight and watched as CD & SJ left for their second XC of the day, eventually opting for a safe bottom landing when wind picked up quickly and watched the other remaining pilots struggle to get themselves back for a top landing(Why bother when it's only a short walk back to TO?).With a little help from Karl I managed to find out where SJ & CD had landed and so went to pick them both up after a great day practicing thermaling, didn't bother attempting XC as I didn't reach 1500' never mind as conditions really weren't epic today, infact a little spring like but it didn't phase me one bit .TOTAL AIRTIME 51 HOURS. 

[AndyH]

23/06/08 After SJ and CD had already decided on Merthyr, I just tagged along for the day as the winds were forecast to be light with a high percentage of cloud cover and Merthyr did seem to be the best site for flying(just).On arrival there were 2 PG's in flight that appeared to be finding good lift upto 400'ish followed by sink back down to TO, so set up and launched immediately after a quick chat with Rob and Evan, watched SJ go straight up to well over a grand then CD also managed the same where as I was only managing 1200' and then finding sink,was able to reach just over a 1000' on a further 2 occasions but was frustrated that I was unable to achieve the altitudes of SJ&CD,so much so that I began blaming the wing believing that it wasn't able to perform to the same standard as theirs after all it couldn't have been pilot errors .After flying in mixed dynamic and thermic lift for just over an hour I noticed that CD had gained sufficient height to go off the back whilst at the same time I was coring in a thermal above the industrial est. infront of the ridge and rising at a steady 2-3m/s, occasionaly falling out of the thermal but then finding it again by using my mental image,audible sounds from my vario and the changing pressures on my control lines, stayed in this thermal up to 2200'ATO(at last check) and was still rising at a steady 4.5m/s, with cloud base approaching rapidly looked in the direction of drift to see if I could spot a cloud to aim for, but unfortunately thats all I could see was a blue hole with CD in the middle of it,rather than wait for cloud to develop I opted to leave the thermal and go with the little drift that existed as I was approx. 4000'AMSL and of course desperate for my first XC,so of I went drifting very slowly until I remembered Ifor telling me that on a downwind transition apply some speed bar to improve sink rate, this I did comfortably until I heard my vario start to bleep after I had covered about 4kms, so I released the speed bar and began to 360 and climb in a steady thermal from 3000' back up to 4000' and exited the thermal to continue my flight, noticing that CD by now appeared to be heading for the deck I aimed straight for him expecting him to show me lift, but unfortunately was unable to make the Abertwswg ridge above ridge height to soar it ike CD was so ended up landing on the other side of the road at the bottom of the ridge, unclipped from my harness, punched the air with both hands and rung my old man to inform him of my achievement which was of course completing my first XC, and watched CD as he gallantly tried to save himself from bombing out in what was by now almost nil wind,(I secretly wanted CD to bomb out so that he could let me know how far I had flown as he had the g.p.s.)after 10mins of slowly sinking at the ridge even CD had to admit defeat and so landed within shouting distance of me which allowed me to learn that I had just flown 8.9kms(could you please enter this into the club league SWatkins,many thanks) GREAT STUFF,the only problem was that even though I felt ecstatic I couldn't help thinking where I had gone wrong and how I could  improve things next time,my biggest mistakes were leaving both the thermals too early(NEVER LEAVE LIFT).After a phone call from SJ to inform us that Rob would retrieve us(as I had my van keys in my pocket,that won't happen again) he also embarrassingly informed me of his 3kms flight(bloody amateur not even enough for the club league )to Fochriw.Whilst on our way back to the ridge a pg was visible at very high alt. but didn't seem to be going anywhere, on arrival it was evident that the pg was SJ on a determined mission to beat me(fair play I thought that XC flying was over for the day and that I had out flown my mentor(not boyfriend as his wife thinks our secret is out Steve) but clearly not).So CD quickly set up and launched shortly followed by myself in an attempt to reach cloud base again,CD managed to make the most of a thermal that I found and reached base, where as I only got up to 650' and never managed to find it or another good one again and instead soared the ridge for 35mins and watched as SJ and CD became smaller and smaller as the wind became lesser and lesser forcing me to slope land.Returned to TO and told everyone I knew about my XC(Karl,Tim and Springbock Steve) and then told them again,then received a phone call from SJ to inform me that he had landed near Ebbw Vale after a 13kms flight and that CD was also in the area and that they were ready to be picked up, so as the wind had dropped at Merthyr had a nice cup of tea and a chat with Rob after packing up and then left to pick up the boys after a magnificent days flying.Found both the guys nice'n'easy(thanks for making your way to the round-about boys) and had a good laugh in the van on the way back, reliving our flights.Thanks to Rob,SteveJ,ChrisD and Ifor for making today such a good day(I owe you 1 Rob).TOTAL FLYING TIME 48.5 HOURS AND NO SAND CASTLES.   Excellent choice of site boys.           

[AndyH]

20/06/08 As I had to be home early wanted to fly smoewhere close to home so consulted XCweather which said Pembrey 5mph NW,Mumbles Head 10mph WSW so decided to go to Rhossili.On arrival could see a HG on TO and immediately thought bad move but when I arrived at TO there was a gentle 4-8mph westerly so had a chat with the HG pilot who had come from Sweden via an upbringing in Newport and he asked how Nick was after his accident and wanted to know if he was flying again, and whilst chatting noticed a PG below ridge height scratching along the north end of the ridge and then disappearing into the bowl and then bombing out.So I decided that a walk to the top was in order to establish wind speed, but unfortunately wind was still too weak and was then joined by a pilot from the Thames Valley that was staying on the Llangennith camp site to parawait with.Whilst waiting the wind backed to WSW and increased suffice enough for a soar, so launched and flew for 5mins before slope landing when wind eased.Arrived back at TO and conditions felt a lot better so we both launched and flew for 16mins and managed 66' ATO and then began to sink as the wind had once again decided to ease, I watched as the other pilot slope landed,and the HG pilot managed a 5min TtoB and so I realised that conditions weren't improving rapidly so also decided to fly down to the beach.Had some lunch on the beach then walked back up to TO checking the speed on the pimple on the way past, set up immediately as I could see the other PG above the north end of the ridge and I managed to climb to 115' ATO and noticed another PG making their way up the hill and heard him shout out "is it ok for a newbie to fly?" so I landed to have a chat after a 17mins flight, met Hyatt from Avon who had just qualified with Rob Mansley in Spain.Launched once more this time noticing that the wind had gone to the SW so decided to push out and have a TtoB after having a short soar, landed on beach and drew an arrow in the sand to show Hyatt the wind direction.Whilst packing up to leave I started thinking that I had made the wrong site choice and that I should have gone to Mynydd Dinas,next thing I know my phone is ringing and it was SteveJ calling to let me know that he had just broken the club record from MD, can you imagine my reaction(b******) I was gutted, never mind I made some lovely sandcastles .TOTAL AIRTIME 46.25 HOURS.TOTAL SAND-CASTLES 3. 

[AndyH]

16/06/08 Hundred House with SteveJ and ChrisD, arrived to an extremely light northerly so had a site briefing with ChrisD as this was my first visit to this awesome text book ridge whilst watching a family of kites playing in some weak thermals below us.Went back to Steve's car and decided to adjust my harness as I had noticed on my last flight that the waist strap was being pulled down by adjacent sraps, causing the front part of my harness to curl upwards thus causing discomfort during long flights and once completed headed for the ridge to set up and test the new setting(thanks Chris and Steve for holding my huge mass aloft to check adjustments) .After waiting for about half an hour we watched as Steve Lowe managed to launch, hitch up with a thermal and climb relatively smoothly and steadily up to about 1000' but then seemed to lose all lift and sank slowly back to the ridge landing just behind me, so as I needed a pee, uncliped and introduced myself and had a quick chat about what conditions had been like(nice to meet you Steve),had my pee returned to my harness, clipped in and sat down to parawait some more.Whilst waiting Chris made his way over for a chat, followed by SteveJ and after chatting for 5mins a thermic cycle came through, took a grip of my wing and draged me backwards along the ground as I was sitting without my controls in my hands was completely unable to do much to stop the drag until I eventually managed to grab one of my risers and Chris grabbed my 'c' lines on the opposite side(thanks for the help boys, so in future I must always keep my controls in my hands, even when sitting down having a chat).Once I had set myself up again the wind was a nice steady nnw and the cloud streets looked great so launched at 14:05 and flew for 15mins in dynamic and 4m/s lift and really enjoyed as my harness felt like the couch in my lounge and I definately found it easier to slip into.TO again and flew for another 10mins in calmer conditions(2.5m/s).Had another excellent 25mins flight and managed to climb to 750'ATO in a cut up 3m/s thermal(hard work but still fun).Launched again to end up slope landing after 5mins flying then had to face the walk back up(not good).Launched again this time really enjoying a 70mins flight that consisted of many thermal climbs at 3.75m/s and not easy ones as they were so broken and untidy, also enjoyed the stunning views in every direction and followed a kite around and at one point were heading straight towards one another, what a feeling ,slope landed after conditions had completely departed .Walked back up to TO to catch the end of SteveL's account of his 70km flight a few days previous, sounded like an epic what a pilot.As time was getting on we opted to fly back to the cars and loved the short,smooth 5mins flight back, whistling whilst coming in to land, a sign that I feel in control and confident once again with my flying thanks for all your help and advice guys.TOTAL AIRTIME 45.75 HOURS. 

[AndyH]

15/06/08 After enjoying myself so much at Rhossili yesterday decided to ask Ifor what conditions were like up with him, as all of the south was blown out and immediately after his reply of "it might be ok" I left to go and meet him, unfortunately unbeknown to me I was heading straight for over 2500 cyclists and a car and caravan that was over-taking them on a blind bend in my lane ,fortunately I just managed to break and allow just enough room for him to get through thank goodness whilst shouting obsenities and gusturing at him,and further on a cyclist came out of a junction at the bottom of long desent and needed to use my lane to negotiate the sharp left hander at the bottom of the hill just as I was approaching it,when I finally arrived at my rendez vous with Ifor I couldn't wait to get out and sit down, that was honestly one of the most petrifying journeys of my life.After a quick chat we decided to go to the secret bowl so left and slowly made our way over to the car park below passing about 1000 cyclists going in the opposite direction all being overtaken by all maner of road transport.Arrived at TO to find wind was gusting from the NW at 24mph so crashed out, parawaited and had a short chat(7hrs) and a good laugh with Ifor until conditions finaly improved at about 19:10, Ifor launched first into the 18mph NNW and hitched up with a small thermal so I began to set up as things looked good so launched and managed to climb to 450' ATO in the last thermal of the day as Ifor and myself struggled to find much after that so after 30mins with 170' ATO followed Ifor around the pimple and down for a great landing next to the car park after my first enjoyable mountain flight for a good few hours .Thankfully by now the cycle race was over and a comfortable drive home ensued you'll be glad to know.TOTAL AIRTIME 43.5 HOURS TOTAL TIMES SPENT IN GRASS VERGES 15. 

[AndyH]

14/06/08 As my flying has been a fraction nervous over the past few hours, and it was the weekend, decided to go to Rhossili with the girlfriend and boy for the day to have some laminar air flying.On arrival I could see StevieG and Scotty launching from the top and another blue Sigma6 ,so I immediately got my radio out to find out who it was and was surprised to learn that Ifor had turned down a day in the mountains for a day on the coast .on reaching the pimple wind was too light so continued up to the top whilst my girlfriend and the boy walked down to the beach,when I reached the top a couple of pilots were airborne but struggling for good alt. as the wind was off to the south a tad and only 10-14mph,so set up and launched and scratched around for a while with the others whilst waiting for conditions to improve enough for us to push away from the ridge,after 30mins the wind began to slowly pick up enabling us to push out slightly from the ridge as the wind was still WSW.After 1hr flying and my confidence beginning to return as the last few scary hours started to become a distant memory I decided to land on the beach just after GarethP to join my girlfriend and the boy for some lunch,and as I was packing my wing up I heard StevieG broadcast on the radio that he had just reached 1000'amsl,so quickly ate my lunch,after finishing lunch Chris(Thailand) landed right next to us so gave him a hand to fold up his wing and walked back up to the pimple to launch.Set up and launched immediately into a 15-18mph westerly and went straight up(slowly)1.5m/s and reached 750'ATO (1150'AMSL) and had the offer of performing some sync.wingovers with StevieG which I gladly took up as my confidence was now back,this exercise was repeated on a number of occasions but on the last SteveiG suggested that we only perform 4 wingovers followed by a spiral dive which I knew how to do but had never actually done,so I agreed and accomplished nicely although my spiral dive was only 3m/s so that clearly needs more practise but it was great to feel the G's increasing steadily as the turn began to tighten up and that funny feeling as the oxygenated blood fails to reach the brain(what brain).After playing with StevieG,Ifor flew over and he asked me to touch wing tips at over a 1000', so we got ourselves level with each other and then edged slowly towards one another until we eventually made a good definite contact and then flew away in opposite directions .Finally landed on the beach after a 1.5hr succesfull confidence building exercise ready to take on the mountain airflow once again .It is only us(paragliding/hg pilots) that can fully appreciate the completely differing airflows from the coastal and mountainous sites and as this is my first season, it is only now that I am experiencing it first hand it really is unbelievable,but it is the mountains that still hold the greatest challenges as they push you and test your concentration levels and your nerve and have a funny way of scaring you and appealling to you at the same time.TOTAL AIRTIME 43 HOURS.

[AndyH]

07/06/08 Graig Fawr managed a 1-2min flight across ridge then Chris D. and myself watched SteveJ go off the back in the last thermal before sea breeze kicked in bloody typical,went to Rhossili and wasn't allowed to fly.
08/06/08 Fan G arrived early with Ivor whilst the cows were being milked to avoid another repeat of yesterdays incident, had to walk up to the top as the wind was slightly off to the west and noticed Steve W,Gaz and Simon driving up the track.Ivor launched first to check out conditions and on his return beat informed me that the others had managed to launch from the lower TO meaning that the wind had veered north so I launched climbing straight up to 650' in 4-5m/s thermals before finding 4-5m/s sink, continued to fly about for 30mins and could see other pilots also arriving at TO finally decided to land as conditions were feeling too knarly for my airtime and was shortly followed by everyone else which made me feel a bit better.After a good chat with everyone present(NickR,JonM,J.Nash and Viv) and meeting Nick Winder for the first time and SimonJ for the first time on his birthday bloody typical what a present that must have been for him(lucky boy) the conditions were still a bit strong so SteveW,Gaz and Simon decided to leave.Shortly after, Ifor launched from the top and headed down to the bottom gate as ChrisD was making his way to the top and we then watched Chris thermal and go off the back,full marks for having a go, it was then decided that we would be better off heading up to the top for a flight ,and it was, so launched immediately after a call from Ifor telling me to enjoy a TTB and he would give me a lift back up to the van, thanks for that Ifor can't fault you boy,and so managed another 30mins flight with a climb to 450' with a magnificent low save and a perfect landing just short of the landing zone due to sinking air,I'm not enjoying my flying much at the moment due to the continuous knarly conditions that my experience is struggling to deal with but I'll keep going and fly my way through it,I also think that I need to be more aggresive in knarly conditions and get stuck in but it'll come one way or another.Great to have a good turnout again including late arrivals from StevieG,Scotty and not forgeting Rob and Tina aswell,oh and I didn't get to meet Rubber Duck and Secret Squirrel that I heard speaking on the radio's not to worry next time maybe.
09/06/08 Hay Bluff wind off to the west 15-20mph but working ontop, watched Ifor and SteveJ and 2 sailplanes then prepared to launch after Steve had gone off the back and Ifor had bottom landed so launched, flew through compression and sunk at a rapid rate for a 2min TTB with perfect landing.TOTAL AIRTIME 41.5 HOURS.    

[AndyH]

29/05/08 Bryncaws with SteveJ ,on approach conditions looked flyable as there were already 5 or so pilots enjoying a flight so picked up StevieG at bottom of hill and made our way to TO but unfortunately as we arrived there were pilots bombing out everywhere ,bloody typical .Already at TO were Ivor,Nick,Viv,Chris and around 5 joint services pilots so after setting up and a chat decided to be the guinea pig and give it a go at 12:25, after 3mins was forced into slope landing and walked back to TO as wind was still too light, launched once more at 1:05 this time climbing to 300' ATO during a 52mins flight that was once again ended by light winds.Decided to have some lunch so Ivor gave me a lift down on his Firebird and on my return sat down and put my hand straight into a lump of sheep s*** much to everyones amusement just before having to eat my food.Took off at 3:00 and slope landed 10mins later due to lack of wind, returned to TO and launched after a very short wait this time managing a 20mins flight until we were all forced to top land due to the arrival of the rain that had been forecast.Packed up in double quick time and made our way back down to the van when I realised that I couldn't remember packing my vario up, so ran back up to TO and checked the area with the help of Nick and Mark and still no sign of it,so went back down the hill and unpacked my wing to discover that I had packed it up in my wing.Great to see Chris D. making a re-appearance on the hill after a short absence lets just hope he can bring some XC weather with him, after all it is almost June and I think we've all had enough of overcast(winter) flying.TOTAL AIRTIME 40.5 HOURS.