Cloud base on the 14th was about 3500 ft above the hill at Merthyr, I know cos I got there! I slope landed below the rocky cliffs twice, once cos I misjudged the lift and once because someone was flying with his eyes shut, apparently. Some of the visiting pilots like to fly a lot too close for my liking. I don?t mind pilots like Stuart, Cookie and a few other local boys getting close, but some of these other guys take the p1ss. How close do they need to come for me to file an airprox report I wonder? Was a good day though, bit strong at times and at others a bit too light, but the thermals were ripping through and I made the most of them. According to my vario I had a climb of 8M/sec at one stage! I know I was circling with the vario absolutely screaming but didn?t know it was that strong, mainly cos it was so smooth. I had another pilot circling with me and I was convinced that I was almost stationary, just turning on a wingtip and he was flying in a big circle around me. When I spoke to him on the ground he said that that was the impression he had too. I was surprised when I checked my gps track at home to see that from when I entered the thermal I only turned eight times before I got to base. I was aware that we were high and I was quite surprised when the other pilot turned out of the thermal and flew away from it, but half a turn later I found out why as it all went foggy. Even my canopy was indistinct! I followed my heading on the gps and when I was facing away from the hill I straightened up and a few seconds later I flew into clear air. The sudden shock of flying into cloud really blew me away; I was totally unprepared for it and my mental processes came to a halt! I had no idea what to do next. I was under instructions from Jenny not to go over the back so that option was out, so I radioed Andy Brazier and asked his advice! His calm voice helped me to get myself together, and his advice to follow the other glider was sound so that is what I did, even though I was quite a bit above him.
After a few minutes I was almost back to what I laughingly call normal so I ignored the other glider, let go the brakes and got the camera out and did some videoing of the spoil heaps caused by the opencast and the change they have wrought in the landscape. I also filmed Aberdare as I approached the ridge that faces Merthyr. I could see things that I had not seen before! A clearing on top of the hill with a row of fir trees stretching across it took my attention for a moment. I have often thought it would be nice to try to get to the big white tank on top of the hill by Baverstocks hotel off in the distance, and make it back to the ridge, but today I minced around like a duck in a thunderstorm. Eventually I was almost at the new business park and I was down to just under 2000ft ato, so I decided to turn back to the hill. I booted the glider onto full speed bar and was happy to see my gps reading 39mph over the ground; that is over 60kph!! The ridge got close really quickly and in no time I was getting ready to land. I made quite a studied approach, not wanting to spoil such a nice flight by blowing the landing, and Stuart must have felt the same as he gave me precise landing instructions!
I only flew once more that day but that too was a monumental flight. I got off in a lull, and it picked up almost immediately and I got tossed around quite a bit, but after I had gained a little height it started to smooth off, and I was soon joined by Stuart, and then Cookie. The wind must have been strong as no one else took off. The lift was smooth as glass and we three enjoyed a glorious last flight, mine was 47 minutes long, 1500ft high and I got there at 5.2M/sec. Magic, absolute magic
