Nick's Airtime 2010

[Nick Roberts]

21/06 - Rhigos   Arrived at around 13:30 and there good thermic cycles coming up the slope.
 
It was my first ever launch from here and it was great to walk just a few paces from the carpark, lay out on the small grassy area, pop the glider up into a thermic cycle, launch and climb out to cloudbase at 5500'  above an almost alpine landscape - indeed, I felt as though I could have been flying in the Alps! 
 
Given the proximity to the coast which limits an open distance flight, I opted to try and fly a triangle.  It proved to be quite tricky to get out to significantly far to the west or the east but it was possible to penetrate a good way upwind and I managed to get out past the A465 road some 6km upwind of takeoff and then return above the Rhigos Gliding Field.  There seemed to be plenty of lift in that area and I think this was caused by a convergence with the seabreeze pushing up the Neath Valley.  After nearly 2 h and 30 mins of flying though, I had not quite extended my triangle enough     and some cloud cover had started to spread out to the northwest so I drifted off eastwards towards Aberdare and met a few pilots coming the other way on XC from Builth Wells! 
I landed shortly afterwards on the Aberdare  school sportsfield.   
 
Also having a great day at the Rhigos - Stevie G, Viv, Gerry,  Andy the Pole and partner, Andy H and a few others from SEW and further afield.

[Nick Roberts]

16/06 - Heol Senni   A great sky but horribly strong and gusty on the hill so some restful parawaiting ensued until evening.  The wind eased a little and I launched at around 18:30 hoping to settle into some nice smooth evening lift but conditions remained a little on the rough side.  We stuck it out until past 20:00 but the gustiness remained.
 
17/06 - Heol Senni   Blown out again!  Arrived to see the Joint Services packing up and leaving so we settled down for some more parawaiting.  Launched at 18:30 again but this time the air was smooth and we all enjoyed some relaxing soaring.  Height gains were not great but there was plenty of lift to go around and I think there were up to 12 gliders in the air.
 
19/06 - Rhiw Wen   Drove up late afternoon with Viv to see beautifully clear post-frontal conditions.  The wind on launch was fine but it was quite brisk in the air and after a while it seemed to be increasing so we landed just after 17:00 - A bit of a gale hang but great views over a stunning landscape!

[Nick Roberts]

05/06 - Rhossili    Arrived late afternoon with Viv and we were suprised to see no gliders in the air on the way down despite what seemed to be a healthy breeze.  On the way up the hill, we were met by a few pilots on the way down : apparently, the flying  had been good but the breeze had veered off to the north and dropped and it was no longer soarable    .
 
  No matter; having driven all the way down and with plenty of hours of daylight left, we settled down to some customary parawaiting along with a good crowd still on the pimple.  At times, there seemed to be a soarable breeze coming through but there was no lift and those that launched seemed to have difficulty remaining airborne which seemed rather puzzling    .  The skies, were mainly overcast and with a bit of seabreeze, temparatures were quite cool compared with a quite oppressive heat inland.
 
At around 18:30, our patience was rewarded as the breeze became more cooperative and I made a tandem flight with Viv as passenger.  We could not get much height and after a while, I decided to land back on top incase the wind died away again but lo and behold ; the breeze picked up and a little orographic cloud formed to add to the mix.  Those that were left (including Stevie G who had been there all day!) took to the skies and we all enjoyed excellent height gains.  I made two tandem flights with Tom G - the second with Tom having his first go at piloting the tandem and I must say Tom's launch and landing were spot on!
 
Later on, the wind got a bit strong and those still in the air had some difficulty getting down.
All in all, a very good day at Rhossili and it was especially pleasing to see the late-comers such as Shane and Al Wilson getting a good share of the flying.   
 

[Nick Roberts]

03/06 - Bryncaws - I was convinced that it would be too windy but I got a text from Gerry in the afternoon  saying that it was flyable so I thought I'd better go around and take a look.  I arrived at about 16:00 to see a good crowd there and a few in the air so I joined in.
 
Launching was no problem if you picked the right moment but it was coming through strongly at times and a little off to the east which led me to suspect that there was a wave effect in the air - something that we experience here quite often if the wind is easterly and moderate or fresh.  Ground speed in to wind was down to about 5km per hour at times but lines of lift were coming through here and there and I managed to work my way up to 4500' above sea level at 18:00 as I made my way slowly upwind.  I made it out over the top of the hill in front for the first time ever    and made a small triangle which proved to be a tad too small to score in the XC league     but was a great fly nonetheless.  Back on takeoff everybody had landed for a while and I had heard on the radio that it was coming through strongly so I landed in the bottom landing field.
 
Later in the evening, the wind calmed down nicely for Paraventure's students to do some training flights.
 
04/06 - Nant y Moel - Viv and me went to look at Cwmafan at about 16:00 and the wind was off to southwest so we went up to Nant y Moel hoping to get an evening flight.  Upon arrival, there were a couple of gliders in the air scratching about in the breeze which was off to the south      
 
After a little light scratching, conditions suddenly changed as if a switch had been flicked and the magic evening lift kicked in!  It lasted for about an hour  and it was great to waft around in the smooth lifty conditions following  Swifts around the sky and hearing the shrill tones of skylarks.  Nice too to chat with a few of the SEW- Sheryl, Mark Harris and friends and Ging from the Joint Services.   

[Nick Roberts]

Heol Senni - Arrived late morning with Viv to find Ivor and Steve W already on the takeoff.  The wind had been quite strong but it fell to rather light.  We enjoyed some good flying in light conditions with small but usable thermals to 3000'  After a while good clouds could be seen to the north and to the east but we were in a blue hole! 
 
Andy H and Gerry arrived and the thermals seemed to improve and there was no sign of the wind going off to the southeast.  I managed to drift away from the hill at about 3000' and connected with some workable lift on the way to Fan G.  I made for a cloud downwind of the hill which didn't work and I thought I was heading for a landing at Craig y Nos when I spotted a bird going up to my left.  I booted it over and connected with a lovely climb almost to cloudbase.  I seemed to have no drift and a cloudless sky to the south indicated that the seabreeze was not far away.  I decided to fly across to Fan Hir under a good line of cloud at 4000'  and this worked really well.  I could see that there was no wind on Llyn y Fan Fawr and some good looking clouds formed to the northeast enabling me to get a good glide to out to Moel Feity and the possibility of a small FAI triangle flight      I glided back across the valley  quite well -   One more climb and I could have closed the triangle , alas, I sank down and landed in a field next to the main road near the Cnewr Estate farmhouse.
 
Close but no cigar!  Anyway, it was a flight that I had been wanting to attempt for years and I'm sure that one day it will be completed   

[Nick Roberts]

Tuesday May 18th - Fan G - Arrived mid-afternoon with Ben, Viv, Stuart, Ivor and Nasher.  The sky was deteriorating on the way up and by 15:00 was grey and gusty with some rain out to the northwest.  Didn't fly - as per forecast though so musn't grumble   
 
Saturday May 22nd   - Moel Feity - A glorious day with a moderate easterly breeze.  Abernant seabreezed so went to Moel F.  Met new pilot Nick Watts along with Gary L and Nick Winder.  The breeze was quite brisk on top and strangely off to the northeast so we just did a top to bottom and went over to Heol Senni in the hope of an evening flight.  Here the wind was off to the east.....puzzling     We didn't fly!
 
Sunday May 23rd   - Bryn Caws - Admittedly, the forecast was for seabreezes but also 10 - 20 mph southeasterly winds so I reasonably hoped that we would get some good flying for a while at least!  Alas, the prevailing wind was conspicuously absent and the seabreeze blew in from the south to spoil things.  I flew for five to ten minutes!  Also there - Nasher, Idris Jon M, Viv, Andy H, Shane and Nick Watts.  Too hot and sweaty to go to Talybont!
 
Monday May 24th - Rhossili - seabreezing strongly when I got home from work so hoped to do some tandem flying with a photographer as passenger.  All the usual indicators looked good on the way down but upon arrival - very light from the north and even the seagulls were flapping!  Waited around till evening with Ivor, Viv and Nasher when a good breeze came through quite suddenly at about 18:00.  Only trouble was...it was over 20mph and too far off to the north!     Oh well, it's always a lovely day at Rhossili but should've gone inland to Fan G with  Andy H and Steve J!
 
Tuesday May 25th - Heol Senni - A very hazy day but the breeze seemed ok but forecast to maybe pick-up later but "worth a look" I thought.  Arrived with Viv and Ivor to find very hazy visibility, some cumuli albeit low and an eastnortheasterly drift so not brilliant but what the heck! 
We had to wait for a lull to launch but up in the air, conditions proved to be cool, quite lively and actually......rather good     The wind became northeast with some quite good thermals and although the cloudbase was low and the clouds not really flat bottomed, they pointed the way to some beautifully lifty lines in the sky and it was great to boot the speedbar and get way out into the valley - indeed, at one point, I went further out to the north than I've ever done before and I thought  that I wouldn't make it back to the hill but I managed to scratch back up  from below the track!   We all had a great time - at last a decent flight!   
As the evening went on, the wind did become rather brisk and we landed at 18:30.

[Nick Roberts]

Tandemics at Rhossili today and John Nash is a qualified tandem pilot at last!  Well done John!   
 
It was one of those odd days when it is bordering on the breezy but quite manageable to launch from the pimple so conditions were great for the tandem.  After finishing Jon's assessment, I took Ivor up for a fly and we had a good floatabout and took a few pictures of Andy H as he put the demo Gin Sprint through its paces!   Not many pilots there today; perhaps a few thought that it would be blown out.  It did pick up in the evening and those still in the air landed safely down on the beach.   

[Nick Roberts]

Graig Fawr - Firstly, apologies to those that I may have scared off with my text this morning about the howling wind but parked up in the car eating my lunch a while later, I noticed that the wind seemed  to have backed to northwest and eased a little which warranted further investigation.......I went to the takeoff and found the breeze reasonable but the clouds were whizzing overhead and the sky looked a mess but I thought I'd give it a go. It was pretty rough low down but higher up the going was smoother but with not much groundspeed.  I wafted around for a good while and could see someone on a blue Gin Glider launching below(Was that you Ed?).  I thought I probably  wouldn't go XC as the wind was  pretty much on the limit and forecast to increase during the afternoon but after a while I found a good helping of lift way out to the  northwest of the hill and my groundspeed downwind seemed ok near cloudbase at 3000, so off I went heading east.
 
 I stopped to top up  south of Abernant and circled along past Nasher's house then Gerry's house in Alltwen and then on towards the south end of Lletty Siac.  The views out over Swansea Bay were as stunning as ever "yes, we live here", I thought.
 
However, I could see that the smoke from Port Talbot steelworks was pointing horizontally from the southwest indicating seabreeze interference and increased wind "eek, don't go there!"  I headed east towards the windfarm above Croeserw and found the best climb of the day to 4600' above Gareth Pawan's place    and there was plenty of active cloud  over the higher ground south of the Rhigos which was just what I needed. 
 
 Hoping to escape any seabreeze influence in the Neath Valley,I glided towards Glyncorrwg
 which was looking good with  a bit of sun on the ground and cumulus above and having found climbs there in the past, I was reasonably confident to keep going.  Alas, the active clouds melted away before my eyes and all I found during a prolonged search were lumps and bumps and I just didn't have enough height to go any further.  15:00 and I was down on the deck.  After I had packed up, I looked up to see renewed active cloud right above where I had been searching   
 
Still, a great flight while it lasted!
2hours 20mins /  36km
Many thanks to Viv for coming out to pick me up.

[Nick Roberts]

13/05/2010 - Nant y Moel
 
At last - a potential XC day and I'm off work!  Arrived late morning to see a few gliders in the air but with not much height due to the breeze being a little off to the south.  It was quite cold on the hill but with the wind coming from the  southwesterly quarter; not nearly as cold as it has been recently!
 
At around midday, the wind started to come more onto the hill so I launched shortly after.  Conditions were rather spicy and the thermals were coming through in lumps and bumps.  It took a while to get any reasonable height.  I  thought it would probably soon get quite strong on the ground at takeoff so I drifted over the back with about 1500' above which was not far off cloudbase(3300') at the time(12:50).  The thermals were not very well formed but there didn't seem to be much sink either so it was easy to stay up and waft along. The air was cold but I had all the right clothing on!  Flying past Penrhys, the base had risen to 4000' and by the time I reached Bedlinog it was 5000' !
 
The drift was good but there were large areas of dead cloud to avoid.  I crossed a sizeable area of blue on half speedbar to reach active clouds near Abertysswg.  There, I climbed back up almost to base which was now higher still and very close to the bottom of the airlane running north/south overhead.  After some big ears and speedbar, I was on my way towards the Blorenge but decided to boot it towards the Sugarloaf and the sunny  edge of a large area of shadow when I felt a dull twang as one of my speedsystem lines snapped     (Glad that didn't happen in Porterville!).  I felt a little restricted after this and all I could do was point the glider in the desired direction and hope that I got there.  I found a save near the cloud shadow over the valley floor and slowly climbed out in some pretty rough air as if the thermal was being shovelled up in lumps. 
 
Back up to 5000', I minced along the edge of the cloud line to the Skirrid.  An enormous area of dead cloud had spread out from the Black Mountains but just out to the east, some smaller active clouds pointed the way.  Cloudbase here was lower at 4200' but following a lifty line along the edge of the cloud mass, this part of the  flight was easy until the sky went dead to the Northwest of Ross on Wye.  Out of lift, I went on glide for Ledbury.  My glide proved to be quite sinky but I couldn't do much about it without my speedsystem.  However,  I reached a nice looking sports field on the edge of town comfortably and touched down at just after 15:30.  I packed up and walked over to the club house where I had a nice chat with the proprieter David who made me a cup of tea and then kindly gave me a lift to the railway station -result!
 
A few trains and a bus and a few hours later, I was back in Treorchy where Viv and Shane had left my car for me - big thanks there!
 
I 've just downloaded my tracklog into the National XC League  - 92km(87km straight line)
My lucky day     One or two more climbs and a glide and I may have made it past 100km!

[Nick Roberts]

Heol Senni - Travelled up with Nasher in hope rather than expectation but we were pleasantly suprised to find some weak sunshine to the north of the Beacons.  It was very light on the hill for most of the afternoon but a few hundred feet above, the air was distinctly colder and very unstable.  Ivor and me enjoyed some good climbs to 1400'ato but noe were quite good enough to drift away XC.  Later on, we were joined by Stuart, Viv and Gerry and it was easy soaring for a while until a dark expanse of cloud encroached from upwind bringing some rain just after we had all landed.   

[Nick Roberts]

09/05 - Heol Senni - The wave clouds dissipated during the afternoon and cumuli started to form so despite the obvious wind, five  met up at Heol Senni in the hope of a late afternoon/evening flight.  The wind was too strong and gusty  even to do some ground handling at the bottom of the hill.  We saw a sailplane going past on a heading for the field at Talgarth which indicated just what a good airmass it was - just too windy for us!
 
After 17:00, the wind started to ease and we could launch after 17:30.  The air was very cold and the wind still quite strong at height but despite increasing cloud cover,  I did find one 3m per sec climb to 1300' ato.  Thereafter, the wind decreased and smooth soaring conditions continued until late.  Good to see Steve Watkins out on the hill.  Viv, Gerry and Shane also enjoyed the flying.   

[Nick Roberts]

1/05/2010   Rhossili   -  Arrived late afternoon to see lots of gliders in the air which was a most welcome sight after leaving home in the rain.  The conditions seemed to come on well and the sun came out too!  Orographic cloud came along and threatened to envelope the hill for a while but then lifted above the hilltop to provide a magical boost to the liftband!  Heavy showers could be seen further inland but they did not trouble us as we soared happily in the sunshine.   

[Nick Roberts]

21/04 - Heol Senni  - Arrived afer work to find a good crowd on the hill and it seemed to become nicely soarable as the evening went on.  Highlight of the evening - I usually like to home in on Red Kites when they are about but this one just kept following me around the sky sitting just behind my leading edge - simply wondrous!
 
23/04 - Cwmafan - I went over to have a look after work and was not expecting too much but upon arrival there was a nice breeze and some wonderful flying ensued with good thermals up to 1000' above launch.  Especially enjoyable as this is a site which seldom works well but is a real treat when it does so.  After a while, I landed to help Viv launch and the wind died away and I couldn't get up again but it was great while it lasted.

[Nick Roberts]

13/04  Heol Senni - Blown out all day but went up with Nasher and Viv to join Stevie G, Gerry and Ivor for a possible evening flight.  Arrived to see the guys flying ok and it seemed ok on the launch where Stuart and Shane were sitting.  It seemed ok in the air too  at first but..... after gaining some 800' of height, the wind was noticeable in my lack of ground speed.  I used a bit of speedbar to head out into the valley but it just got windier and my groundspeed dropped to near zero!  It was almost certainly some sort of wave effect and there were some wave clouds in the sky albeit at a much higher level.  The air was quite rough near the ground too so we were all glad to get down.  On the ground, the wind seemed ok and there was no real indication of what was going on aloft.   

[Nick Roberts]

12/04 - Heol Senni
 
Pretty windy for most of the day but got a call from  Gerry at 17:00 saying it was flyable up  at Heol Senni.  Arrived at takeoff to find Shane itching to have a go and the wind was ok so we enjoyed some good evening soaring although it was pretty cold but conditions were ideal for Shane and Viv to get up in the air.  Ivor came along too!  Thanks for the call Gerry.