Re:- Andy's 2009 flying adventures.

[AndyH]

13/06/09 Met up in FanG lay-by at 11:30, where the wind strength was an immediate concern, but DaveB,IdrisB, John, NickR, Viv and myself made our way up hoping for better by the time we reached TO.Parawaited until SteveP arrived and launched first as wind dummy on my trusty Mojo, had an extremely bumpy flight and slope landed when things stopped working, had another short flight and got dumped when everything shut down again, so had some lunch and a chat and then Rhun arrived after opting for the long walk up .Conditions started to feel better so I launched as wind tester again and had a 20min kicking in some of the roughest air I have ever been in, after numerous landing attempts was forced to bottom land with my big ears in....never a good idea in rough air, but was out of options.
    Returned to TO where the boys had decided that after watching my flight it was time to go.....and I agreed.
30mins 

[AndyH]

02/06/09 With another day of moderate north easterlies forecast Heol Senni was on the menu again, arrived 11ish and walked up AGAIN.......killer on the 3rd day.....but worth it as ChrisD was there waiting (keen as ever) and conditions were perfect, so set up and launched and enjoyed a 30min thermic flight until shut down so landed and waited, this was the pattern of the day for us, and I struggled to keep up with the expertise of ChrisD, SteveJ and SteveP, so just watched from 1000'ATO and pouted as they all went off the back leaving NickR,Viv and myself in their wake.Kept on trying and eventually got used to the fact that I wasn't going anywhere, so landed when I'd had enough, and did the retrieves for ChrisD and SteveP to try and pick up some flying tips.
     Well done to SteveJ for making it all the way back home, to ChrisD for his first XC on his Sigma7, and to SteveP for making it to GCG.
2hrs15min

[AndyH]

01/06/09 As the forecast was for moderate north easterlies SteveJ and myself decided to give Heol Senni another go today.We arrived at 11ish and parawaited for 4 hours with IanD whilst waiting for the wind to drop from 24mph, by 15:00 the wind was still strong but doable at 18-20mph for me on my Mojo.Enjoyed 2 long flights reaching just over 1000'ATO in broken 4m/s thermals, not much else to say really, just nice to have a quiet fly about on the hill.
2hrs.

[AndyH]

31/05/09 After having a day to recover from my trip to Turkey, the weather back in the UK for today made for a promising XC day....I couldn't have timed it better .We all met at the bottom of a windy Heol Senni, in attendance were NickR, NickW, Viv, JohnN, StevieG, Gerry and myself who all chatted whilst waiting for conditions to improve, eventually we decided to make our way up the hill with JohnN,StevieG and Gerry opting to try out Abernant as there was an easterly component to the wind.On TO our parawaiting company increased with late arrivals from SteveJ, SteveP,DaveB and his son Idris.After a very long wait we received a phone call from StevieG on Abernant informing us that conditions were ideal there......so off we went.
     We all arrived at Abernant just after 4, and I expected nothing more than an evening soar, so by 16:25 I was rigged up and away for my evening soar enjoying the gentle 3.4m/s lift in the sunshine when suddenly I noticed SteveP gaining altitude, and so did everone else which was a recipe for disaster as 5 pilots attempted to converge in on the same thermal at the same altitude, resulting in SteveP being the only one able to leave the hill just before everything shut down and the rest of us were forced into landing and watching SteveP fly away.
     After a 15min wait things started to happen, so up we went again, this time finding lift immediately and staying with it, after 20mins I was 2000' ATO and beyond the point of return so turned and headed downwind and topped up my altitude at every opportunity managing to keep myself at only 3200'AMSL, by now SteveP was out of sight and DaveB,NickR and IdrisB were becoming very small as I bumbled along on my DHV1 doing my best to keep up, at this point I went to take a drink but was gutted to discover that no matter how hard I sucked I could not seem to draw any fluids through my hose......excellent....dry mouth and no fluids . I very quickly found myself in an area of sink and had to make the decision of which way to head, so I took a slight cross wind track and headed for Ammanford as I noticed a cloud shadow heading for it and a nice cloud on the way, this worked perfectly and topped me up from 2000'AMSL to a very respectful 4100'AMSL, and from here I could see that the c-breeze had established itself and chose to continue on my NWerly heading where there were a few tractors manufacturing thermals in 5 adjacent fields, this proved productive and got me topped up again, although I did leave this lift a tad too soon in order to head for a tip which promised much but delivered mayhem, it was this decision that cost me dearly and left me landing in a field slightly to the east of Cwmffrwd at 18:40.
     On looking up I noticed IdrisB making his approach to land in the same field as myself, which thrilled me as I didn't have my GPS on and was by now extremely thirsty as I had just discovered that my rubber 'O' ring had detatched from the end of my hose causing 1.5lts of water to leak into my harness.....bugger.So as soon as Idris landed I excitedly requested the distance because I knew it was a PB, but to my disappointment Idris' GPS batteries had gone flat, and his reason for landing in the same field was to ask me the same question....[censored] happens.I then begged Idris for some water, and he pointed towards his flight deck telling me to help myself, so I frantically opened it only to discover that his too was also empty.......double [censored] happens.
     After a tricky walkout we were retrieved by Idris' mother and then met up with Nick at PC World in Carmarthen for my retrieve back to Abernant, thanks Idris' mother and Nick.
     My flight in a straight line was a huge and unexpected 26.5kms and my height gain was 3000'ATO a fantastic day with 2 PB's, not bad for my first flight after returning from Jocky's SIV.......Jocky did mention that when you return home you'll find that your mind will be freed up allowing you to concentrate more on your XC decisions.......it'll take a better man than me to disagree with him.
     Huge thanks to StevieG for the call from Abernant.
2Hours. 
     

[AndyH]

29/05/09 Went up early evening with Sky Sports to the SW TO for one last flight before leaving...........as the weather was so good , but on launch I had to wait a while for conditions to be right as the wind was being drawn over from behind the ridge, after 15mins conditions were ideal and off I went.Managed to gain 700' ATO and decided to leave the hill as I didn't have too long to play because I had a flight to catch.Whilst gliding out to the sea I looked up at my wing to inspect it after all the rocky launches and knots it had been in, and noticed that the sheathing had parted on one of the upper middle control lines.......not bad really after the week it's had.
     Performed a couple of nice big wingovers and landed neatly by the Cloud 9 Bar just as my misses and the boy were walking down to meet me, packed away and had one last glass of chilled lager and watched the evening acro show for the last time this visit .
   30mins.

[AndyH]

27/05/09 We flew from SW TO with Chris White over to Butterfly Valley, I managed 2900' ATO in 5m/s thermals, before heading for Kabak,but as there were no thermals there we turned and headed for BV and enjoyed a bit of cliff soaring, which was unusual after the last few days of rapid descent, and eventually landed after Chris informed me that the wind had picked up on the beach at BV.Executed the tricky approach perfectly and landed with 0mph groundspeed infront of an emptying tourist boat.......FANTASTIC .Packed away on a windy beach and enjoyed a BV special of some home grown vegetables cooked with rice, which was personally coated with a generous amount of chilli sauce and washed down with a cold beer compliments of NHPC.
    After lunch a small group of us headed up to view the BV waterfalls, whilst the others took it easy on the beach.To our surprise, on reaching the falls there was a length of rope hanging from the rock at the base of the falls that was asking to be climbed, which a few of us did, this involved having to cross underneath the waterfall at the top of the rope.....which was freezing and woke us up ready for the rest of the climb which only Alistair, Chris and I did.
     A great day out with good company was had, and thanks to Chris White for the invite.
 1hr 45mins. 15kms.   

[Stevie G]

Glad you got something out of that Andy....like the vid...well good

[AndyH]

23-26/05/09 S.I.V. with Escape Paragliding in Turkey.......oh [censored], what have i let myself in for.......'b' line stall, spiral dives, SAT's and worst of all the FULL STALL!!!!!!........ah well it was too late to worry the course and the holiday for my girlfriend, her son and myself was paid for and as it was her sons first holiday abroad other than France there was no turning back.As the departure date approached I found myself glancing at the days going by with an equal amount of fear as excitement, and to make sure that I couldn't forget we were going my misses and I were constantly given a daily countdown by an excited 10 year old(more than once a day) which became slightly irritating with a pending SIV course, but never the less the boy survived to make it to Bristol Airport on Friday 22nd May.
     Arrived at our hotel at 04:30am which wasn't ideal as I had to meet Jocky and Chris in the Flying Dutchman in 6 1/2hrs time, so went straight to bed and laid there..........and laid there..........and laid there, and eventually  managed to get off to sleep.Had a small amount for breakfast as I didn't feel too hungry for some reason, and arrived at the Flying Dutchman for our briefing at 10:50, and once I walked past the bar I had a shock to see the familiar face of Stuart(SEW) sitting there chatting with another guy, he was equally as shocked as myself as he also had no idea that I had booked to do the course..........and even more surprised to learn that it was my first time......incidentaly it was Stuarts 4th time, and when he informed me that he had only just bought a brand new Addict2 from Jocky his reason for doing the course a 4th time became clear.
    As the weather over the previous few days had been so bad, there were 14 of us on the first day as 7 were from the previous group and had their 'A La Carte' to perform in order to finish the course.As those 6 didn't have to attend the briefing I am unsure of their names although one name did stick out.....Graham Cummins......you'll find out why later.
    At the start of the briefing we were required to say out our names, wing make and colour, total hours flown.......oh...... and our DEATH insurers company name(just to remind us that we were going to be doing something life threatening).In my group were a husband and wife Chris(Sigma7) and Jan(Rush2)(Northumberland HPC of which Chris is the entertainment secretary),Richard(Rush2) from Sussex,Payman from Iran, Arnie from Norway, Stuart(Addict2) from Llantrisant, Dean from Canada but living in the Emirates and myself.We were then taken down to the landing area for our landing brief by Chris White before our brief with Jocky back at the Flying Dutchman regarding our first flight which would be at 13:00ish.
     After a bite to eat we all squeezed into the truck and headed for the lower TO as the top was clagged in, I felt quite relaxed as I had already induced most of the manoevres back home.We arrived at a quiet TO and were told to slowly set up by Chris White, as Jocky wanted the 'A La Carte' group to go first, so off they went one by one whilst us newbies fiddlied with our radios and waterproof bags, when all of a sudden one of the 'A La Carte' group found themselves in difficulty during a manoevre and we could all hear Jocky instructing Graham to throw his reserve(.

graham cummins

)...... my feet hadn't even left the ground for the simplest of manoevres and I suddenly found myself at the front of our group queue feeling a little less confident.Within half an hour I was above water and awaiting Jocky's first orders for big ears, big big ears,various symmetric and asymmetric deflations and wingovers, all of which went fantasticaly well and my confidence was restored before my feet had touched down on the beach.
    The next day we were expected to carry out 2 flights (one am one pm), these both went ahead with no worries, apart from Stuart snapping one of his line on his new Addict2, as you quickly learn to trust and relax with the guidance of Jocky and Chris on the radio, today we carried out 'B' line stalls(something that I had never carried out before), more asymmetric and symmetric deflations, 360' turn reversals during which I managed to unintentionally loop my wing and watched it deflate by over 50% whilst I was above it (that was a first......and a last I hope),spins and more wingovers.Landed feeling tired and slightly concerned about the following day, as it was spiral dive and full stall day.
    After a surprisingly good nights sleep I was up and not raring to go as I couldn't stop thinking about the stories of people blacking out and getting locked into spiral dives, and knew that if I was going to die on this course it was going to be today........but at least it would be when I was paragliding so what the heck.Met up with Richard for a very early breakfast as we were both staying in the same hotel, and sat opposite each other and spoke about everything other than flying paragliders, on the previous day Richard and I had discussed that neither of us had ever performed a spiral dive because of the earlier mentioned situations that one could find themselves in, and this was also one of his main reasons for attending the course just like me, so today was the day that we were both going to face our demons.
     We arrived at our earlier than normal briefing, and I must confess, I was a tad concerned and my stomach let me know by bubbling like a good Welsh cawl, so we all sat through the briefing listening intently to Jocky as he described how to perform the spiral dive and search for stall, and what to do if you accidentally full stall your glider whilst searching for stall .We then commenced the scenic journey to top TO with very little conversation only contemplation, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional as I felt so proud of where I was and what I was doing with my life.........living it at last.........pushing myself to do tasks that only we as paraglider pilots are prepared to do, it isn't peer pressure with paraglider pilots, it's definately a personnal journey of goals and aims, with each one of us constantly changing our goals as each previous one is achieved, it's also termed as bettering ourselves, which is what makes us as paraglider pilots tic.....if you know what I mean.
    We arrive at TO and we begin setting up, I perform this quicker than everyone else because I want to be first away to get it over with, but I end up going 2nd behind Richard, Chris White gave me the all clear after Richard and I was away, after 10mins I was 4,500' above water and waiting for Jocky's instruction..........then it came.........head to your left a bit Andy i'll come back to you when your in position.............the next few minutes felt like hours and I started thinking that I would rather hear my ex-wifes voice over the radio next, and not Jocky's , ........and then Jocky said, in the way only he can 'In your own time Andy......search for stall!', this I performed on a number of occasions (without stalling my wing), and then it was time for my demon....the 'SPIRAL DIVE'.....Jocky casually said those 7 little words in my ear 'In your own time Andy....spiral dive', and began my turn, and continued it and felt that familiar feeling of the G's increasing to the point at which I would normally have pulled out due to fear, but on this occasion I continued to hold my turn as the leading edge dropped ever closer to the horizon and with it the G's and wind noise increased proportionaly until suddenly that was it and could hear Jocky say over the radio 'Excellent Andy, now ease up and do it again', no problem I thought so this time wanged it in to an absolute cracker of a dive and enjoyed it more than the first, I then finished my set with some nice wingovers and landed very close to the toilets on the promenade, bunched my wing up and carried it over to an ill looking Richard that had enjoyed himself a bit too much the previous evening and was sitting under a tree in the shade after his first spiral dive..........meanwhile I urgently headed for the toilets to expell my nervous energy that had been brewing all morning.
     After this mornings flight I was brimming with confidence and actually looking forward to this afternoons full stall.......something that I would never said I was looking forward to an hour earlier.So up to TO we all went and this time I was off first, not to get it out of the way, but because for the first time on the course I was absolutely loving every minute of it and couldn't wait for my next adrenalin rush...hungrier than ever.As before I was out over the manoevreing area in 10mins and waiting to hear Jocky's voice order me to slam my brakes as far down as I could in order to stall the glider, and just like he explained in the briefing......'It feels like your falling backwards off a chair'.......that was the feeling to a tee...except there was no floor there to stop you.......then before you know it your back in normal flight after making your perfectly timed release of the controls.After another 5 full stalls it was on to some huge adrenalin filled wingovers before a cool landing on the manhole cover (those of you that have been on Escape's course will know the manhole I'm on about) .
    Today was 'A La Carte' so I had spent the previous evening playing pool with the boy and deciding what I wanted to do, so in the briefing I asked to do a full stall, spiral dive, amplitude max spin, asymmetric 360, loop and mandatory wingovers, 'no problem' said Jocky, meanwhile a lot were asking to do SAT's so I listened in on the technique as you do, then it was off to launch for our final flight of the course .
    I slowly prepared on launch and let the others have an early adrenalin rush, and then Chris was giving me the off as Arnie had opted to just have a gentle flight down after his reserve deployment yesterday afternoon due to twisted risers, and Dean had opted not to fly because he didn't feel well.So I flew into manoevreing position and carried out 2 perfect full stalls followed by a great spiral dive and waited for Jocky to talk me into the asymmetric 360 when he said over the radio 'get yourself into position for a SAT Andy'.......uuhhh....a SAT.....but I didn't ask.......oh never mind just do it.....so I did, made a coconut of it and had to stall my way out, which was no problem after everything that I had done over the past few days.Jocky then ordered me to do another one with a little less brake, and on this occasion I dropped myself into the most amazing SAT that your ever likely to see ........when I watched in the Cloud 9 Bar' that night I was impressed with myself even though it was a standard entry,my 2nd ever attempt and a manoevre that I hadn't asked to do.
     To sum up the whole experience and value for money that Escape Paragliding offer with this course I would have to say that it is absolutely worth every penny, and was impressed by both the professionalism of Jocky and Chris and of the schedule of the course in that as each flight goes by your confidence steps up a gear.....then another gear......then to new heights, and since returning home I really have felt a new confidence in my flying abilities, and I certainly count myself as one of those pilots that has benefited from attending an SIV course.
    Flying time:-approx 1Hr     Experience:-100's hrs.    Memories:-Forever.    Likeable Characters:- All of the guys on the course and friends of
                                                                                                                                                          theirs that were there for the flying.
     

[AndyH]

02/05/09 Arrived at Nant y Moel just behind the BCC lot with SteveJ and NickR, so caught up with some old faces and proceeded to set up.Launched into a busy sky after being informed of the days thermaling direction and flew in strong (6m/s) thermic conditions but only managed just over a 1000'ATO so didn't bother going over the back as a couple had landed in/near the trees(with no injuries), landed after  1 3/4hrs for a pee(so did Steve and Nick).
     Launched once more after Nick, but the wind had picked up a fair bit, so spent the next 20mins pushing out to lose altitude and then returning to land...........succeeded on my third attempt with a backwards rolling landing to entertain the few remaining pilots that didn't go off the back, one guy managed 61kms........looks like I've got a long way to go before catching up with the big boys and girls.........fortunately for me though time is on my side .2hrs.
     

[AndyH]

19/04/09 Heol Senni with SteveJ and too many others to mention, and a reasonable NNEerly with blue skies above to keep us all in good spirits.Launched and managed to find enough lift to remain ATO initially but very soon the air became more and more active enabling me to reach 950'ATO in some nice 4.3m/s thermals.Even though the air was busy there was some excellent airmanship on show and eventually landed when I was flown out after another great club day out.3hrs.

[AndyH]

18/04/09 Picked SteveJ up and headed for Pandy, saw loads of cars, pg's, hg's...........and pilots in the field on arrival, so as wind was too strong we sat it out for half an hour or so and gave up with that gut feeling and headed home.Whilst heading home NickR told us that he was heading for Abernant, so we thought we'd give it a go as the sun was shinning.On arrival Gerry was on TO, SteveiG was pulling up behind us and NickR and Viv were just getting ready to walk up.On TO the light breeze was cycling through in a distinct NEerly direction which made things tricky, but still managed 175'ATO....... WOW.After numerous short flights SteveJ and I decided to pack up and head home when everyone else decided to head for Heol Senni.....Nevermind at least we had a fly after all the driving.45mins.     

[AndyH]

12/04/09 SteveJ picked me up and we headed for FanG. for the second and last flyable day over the easter weekend.Met up with NickR, Viv and met MikeT for the first time in the lay-by at 11ish and chatted whilst waiting to see who else was going to turn up and then left for TO.Was first to launch into an extremely active airmass and was able to make good altitude easily......too easily, so landed to gather my thoughts and compose myself for the next rock'n'roll flight, which also consisted of 5m/s ups and 5m/s downs.Managed to get 1300'ATO on numerous occasions, but as the sky was so overcast over the back I opted to stay and play as MikeT and SteveJ headed off into the shade of the large black cloud over the back.
     Landed to have a chat and a late lunch with Phill, NickR and TomG, and then launched late on after SteveJ telephoned to tell us he was in Brecon, and we all enjoyed a gentle float around in the evening restitution and landed when the wind backed.No XC for me today but definately the best way to spend an easter weekend with such good company, felt quite sad arriving home as the weather wasn't looking very promising for tomorrow.2hrs

[AndyH]

11/04/09 Picked SteveJ up at 10:30 and headed for FanG for the first flyable day of the Easter weekend, met up with Gaz at the first gate and the three of us continued on up from there.Arrived at TO at 12:30 where conditions were too light to begin setting up, so we met Phil and Rhianon from London(well Wales actually) and had a chat and some lunch whilst parawaiting.Not long after TomG arrived the cycles began to have some substance about them so it was time for me to give it a go, so set up slowly and launched at 13:15 managing a couple of beats and slope landing just below TO on both occasions.On my return to TO after my second flight an ideal thermal was popping off so I was straight off the hill again on my third attempt just as NickR was arriving, this time I went up a little, then quickly found another piece of light lift and then gradually the lift got stronger the higher I rose.When I reached a 1000' ATO I looked down and to my surprise noticed that everyone else was still on TO, so I kept on regardless and managed to reach 2600'ATO (a new PB AMSL in the UK for me ), and then waited for someone to join me, and waited, and waited for 45mins, until eventually Gaz and TomG slowly made their way up to me.On reaching me there was a cloud street to the north and a cloud street to the south and a cloud above Fan Fawr slightly cross-wind, whilst Gaz and TomG opted for the street to the south I chose the long glide for the cloud above Fan Fawr, so I left Fan Nedd with 2400' ATO applied my speed bar and went for it knowing that if I made the cloud Pen-y-Fan was imminent.Whilst crossing the blue hole my vario wasn't sounding very happy with my decision, and neither was I as I could see Gaz and TomG maintaining great altitude under their chosen track whilst my sink rate was taking me on a course to Fan Llia with no clouds above it, and alas that was it after an enjoyable but over ambitious 7.1kms, I managed a great landing on top of Fan Llia, so bunched the wing up and watched Gaz and Tom slowly heading towards Merthyr and enjoyed the great views over Ystradfellte reservoir as the sun shone down.Packed up and plumbed for the walk back to the hill as punishment thinking never mind at least I'd beaten NickR and SteveJ, and then stopped to finish my lunch when I reached the Sarn Helen roman road and enjoyed the tranquility of the Beacons before my hike up Fan Nedd.On reaching the top of Fan Nedd at 16:10 I received a telephone call from Steve asking where I was, and how far had I flown, he also added that since the three of us had left the hill the flying had been non-existent....ha ha I thought .Within a couple of minutes of ending the call I noticed 2 PG's ATO over FanG, within 15mins they were 3000' above me at cloud base being over taken by an Atos HG which had only just passed them heading in the opposite direction, wow those Atos's can shift.I eventually made it back to a blown out FanG after two and a half hours walking where Phil was the only one still up making the most of it, so returned to my van and then received a call from Steve telling me that he had landed in Talybont on Usk.
On the way to pick Steve up I noticed TomG at a bus stop, so picked him up, and then picked Steve up, and then Nick phone to tell us that he had made Hay-on-Wye, so after day 2 of the Easter weekend Nick was looking the favourite for the choclate egg, but tomorrows weather looks good too, let's just hope it's as good as today...........to be continued....
1hr.     

[AndyH]

05/04/09 Looked like conditions were going to be very similar to a week ago, so SteveJ picked me up at 10:45 sharp to give us time to head for Talybont if Cwmafan didn't live up to it's expectations.When Steve picked me up he informed me that NickR had just given him a call to tell him that there was a brisk breeze on Cwmafan and that he was prepared to sit it out for a while and that he would wait for us to arrive before moving on.By the time we arrived the wind had almost all but completely dropped off and was also coming from the SW.Whilst waiting for conditions to improve I noticed ChrisD making his way to the hill for the first time in 6 months after his forced lay off, that's all I needed now was for the wind to back and I knew we'd all be in for a great day(especially me as I was surrounded by experience).After chatting with Chris it was decided that if someone was able to fly to the tree line and maintain their  altitude they were sure to remain aloft, I then explained that I had already tried on 2 occasions but was forced into a slope landing on my first attempt and just managed to top land on my second attempt due to the wind being off the hill too much. After parawaiting for about 1hr30mins Steve suggested packing up and walking to the top TO, the thought of this made me even more determined to fly to the tree line and then hopefully skyward.......within minutes of this suggestion the wind suddenly backed enough for me to give it one last go, so I raised the wing straight up, turned and headed for the trees with a [censored] or bust attitude and managed to just hold my altitude, and once I was within 10 meters of the trees my vario bleeped for the first time in 90mins, and then it bleeped a bit faster when I almost hit the trees due to the huge suck of the thermal that was triggering from the trees, so I smoothly buried my right control and found myself being whisked up at a steady 6m/s and let out a huge scream and shouted down 'That's how you do it Nick'(I think Nick, Chris and Steve learned a lot from me today and I think all of my advice is finally sinking in with them ).I found myself 1000' ATO in a couple of minutes so opted to push out infront of the hill to see what the village of Cwmafan had to throw at me, this found me in steady light lift until suddenly hitting sinking air so I turned to head back to where I had found my first thermal and to my surprise Nick was at about 1500' ATO and thermaling in this very thermal, so I got myself straight back into it and climbed to 2500' above Foel Fynyddau to cloudbase(3350'AMSL) and by the time I arrived there Nick was already on his transition and heading in a slight crosswind direction towards Tonmawr, I initially opted to head in a direct downwind direction but unfortunatelly I was heading straight under the bluest sky for miles, so altered my course and chose to head in the direction of Nick(since his trip to South Africa he's come on leaps and bounds and is almost up to my standards, this is my main reason for heading over to him).Shortly after altering my heading I could see Nick thermalling, and as soon as I reached the same area I too found myself thermaling perfectly back to cloudbase above Cefn Morfudd this time to 3450'AMSL.From here the obvious choice for the next thermal was Sarn Helen, which was exactly where Nick was heading(all on his own without any help from me in all fairness), as we arrived at Sarn Helen we had sadly lost 1700' of altitude and found ourselves heading towards a SEerly ridge with a SWerly sea-breeze pushing up the Neath Valley, thus we found it impossible to find any substantial lift and, so I chose my landing field on top of Sarn Helen, and landed after 45 minutes and 10.3kms MAGIC, my first flight over 10kms including a second top up to cloudbase(all this following the inexperienced Nick, he's going to make a fine pilot one day, you'll see).
     Packed up, and enjoyed the sunny walk along the Sarn Helen ridge in the direction of Neath feeling really pleased with todays achievement but also a little disapointed that conditions didn't hold up for another 90kms .Whilst walking with a cocky swagger Nick rang to have a chat and to tell me that he had made it to Resolven(his first ever XC in the UK.............this year),and to tell me that SteveJ was making his final approach at Ynysarwed,so I said I'd meet up with them in Neath.Whilst walking I was passed by 3 buses all heading up the Neath valley, and at one point I thought that I had a lift ,but it was my ex-wifes best friend slowing down to hurl some abuse at me, if only she'd opened the window I could have heard what she said, but I don't think I could repeat it on this blog anyway . I then received a friendly telephone call from Chris asking me what distance I had managed, and when I excitedly informed him that it was a new PB he congratulated me and then discussed the flight with me as he had watched the events unfold from the sky above Cwmafan, even Chris managed to get himself off the ground for a flight today( it's great to see all these keen new pilots joining the club, lets just hope they don't ruin the club shoutbox ).
         
     I finally made it to my mother and fathers house where the kettle was swiftly filled up, and I was forced to relive the flight once more with my father whilst my mother made herself scarce(she doesn't like listening to my flying adventures much).My father even showed me a print out from the internet illustrating the financial benefits of switching over to a water meter...mmmmmmmmm interesting, especially after reaching cloudbase twice.I then received a text from Steve telling me that Nick was on his way to pick us up, so I had to leave suddenly for the journey back to the hill.Nil wind on the hill so we had our sandwiches and a debrief before heading home.Thanks for the retrieve Nick.       

[AndyH]

01/04/09 Pandy with SteveJ, walked to top TO where Reach and SteveM were already waiting so had a chat and some lunch and met Rob from Avon club? and caught up with Chrissy for the first time in 15 months.Eventually the sun started pushing through and making some thermals come up the ridge.Managed 4 flights, (only one in the sun) reached 900'ATO in some gentle 2.8m/s lift and really had to work hard for it, which is always good practice and fun. 2hrs