Nick's Airtime 2010

[Nick Roberts]

10/04 - Ebbw Vale
 
Got the call from Nasher saying it had seabreezed at Bryncaws so headed up towards Tal y Bont.  There  seemed to be very little wind  and there was nobody flying so I thought "nope, I aint walkin, up there" .  Then I thought " maybe some restitution will kick off at Ebbw Vale or the Blorenge.  Arrived at Ebbw vale about 17:00 to see people flying and met Cookie on his way home after a few hours flying and he assured me that it would be working well into the evening.  Thanks Cookie, it certainly did!
 
I'd never actually been to this site before but I found the way up quite easily thanks to a roadsign pointing to "The Hilltop".  It is top driveable via a dirt track and the hilltop is nice and flat with no obstructions and a generous launch and top landing area.  Gerry, Stevie G, Francois. Steve Adams and Viv were there amongst others from SEW and Paul Williams with Paraventure.  I wasted no time getting into  the air and found it quite lifty in the instability of the spring air.  I spent a couple of hours following gaggles of seagulls all around the valley as they ascended in the early evening thermals.  I found good climbs to 1250'ato  up till 18:00, tailing off thereafter.  I landed at 19:30 and then tried Paul Williams' new Paratech P81
which was very nice indeed.  We packed away after 20:00 and drove down off the hill in the dark.
 
Verdict - A nice flying site that is easily accessible after work.  Oh, and great seagulls to mark the lift!   

[Nick Roberts]

Rhossili 28/03
 
The weather wasn't as bad as the forecast had suggested     so changed plans and headed down to Rhossili with Nasher for a look.  There was rather a lot of orograhic cloud about which intermittently covered most of the hill but the top takeoff area remained pretty clear and the wind was light.  I flew for thirty mins in light bubbly lift but there wasn't that much room in the air for more than one or two gliders so I landed on the pimple and let a few others have a go.  A while later, the mist came down and the wind went off to the south west and died away    .  It was never gonna be great but twas good to get up in the air!

[Nick Roberts]

Well, Rhiw Wen turned out to be a pretty good call.  Arrived mid afternoon to find the wind a bit off to NW but after a short siesta in the car followed by a chat with Chris, I could see Ivor was getting a bit of height on the Airwave Sport 3 so I marched up to the takeoff and launched just after Nasher and Ben.  Paul H launched a bit later to make up a quintet.  It was pretty cold up there but there was plenty of lift and about 5km of the Black Mountain was usable.  The landscape here is always something to behold.  After 17:00 the wind seemed to increase so it was time to get down which took a while! I eventually opted for a bottom landing with the others.  It was nice to be able to pack away on dry grass due to the rain that we haven't had recently..... maybe I shouldn't have said that!   

[Nick Roberts]

Drove up to Heol Senni mid afternoon with my flask and newspaper as I wasn't expecting to much.  There was some light rain on the way and upon arrival, it looked pretty grim upwind and I sat in the car for a while.  However, to my suprise, a few sunny patches started to appear so I donned my winter flying wear and climbed the hill to join Steve Millson who was training a few students.  The breeze on top was ok but it was ff...freezing and far too cold to linger on the hill so without further ado, I lobbed off.  The air was quite lifty and unstable and despite the cold, I enjoyed the flight much more than I expected.  After about an hour, the cold was starting to penetrate my extremities so I landed for a cup of tea.
 My first flight in the UK this year!