what a weekend.

first xc, cloudbase twice, rum, beer and a barbeque.

where do I start. Monday 21st July 2004 - london wing meeting in the blue posts of newman street.

Russel Ogden gave us an excellent talk on glider control and after the talk someone mentioned that it was the British championship round at the long mynd, and that people were quite welcome to come, watch the flying and maybe even get a flight or two in once the comp pilots had flown off.

sounded like a grand idea and with a favourable forecast Dave Tulloch started to get us all organised. four of us went along. myself, Roy "sparks" Clarke, Dave T and Fernando "the cockney Columbian"

I was the first to arrive at the campsite (the Green @ Wentnor)and was made welcome and pointed to an appropriate pitch. I got my tent up in the twilight then headed up to the bar to wait for the other guys to appear. not really knowing too many people I grabbed a pint of Guinness and headed outside to wait. About two thirds of a pint later Fernando and Dave T appeared. so we headed to the bar. We saw Russel in the lounge bar - he looked very surprised to see us. probably more shock than anything else..!Things were going with a swing.

Sparky Clarke turned up about 23:30. the bar had shut. officially. but things were still progressing nicely. When not thinking about the next thermal these dedicate competition pilots can knock back a beer or two. The event organiser, Calvo, we seen at one point being carried out of the bar. The staff were quite sociable as well. they didn't make us leave untill at least 04:30. although... we had bumped into Ulric Jessop by that point. he was complaining that there was no-one to drink with!

I had had enough, Dave and Fernando still had a tent to put up. so we left them to it! it was still dark. or was it? I couldn't see very well but... might have been daylight! Dave and Fernando managed to get the tent up. Don't think we woke too many people but then again...four hours later - it was raining! not a good start to a day's flying.

we went up to the pub for breakfast around 10am. the weather was starting to clear up. a task briefing was given for the comp pilots. a 51km race to goal from Llangollen back to the long mynd. Someone mentioned that it was a 1hr drive to the north. Three hours later we were getting close. and could even see people flying... our chosen route was a tad busy. and we had to stop a couple of times. I blame the driving but it might have been something to do with the combination of guiness, bitter, rum and gin from a few hours earlier!

we saw all the competitors getting ready. then the window opened (competition term) and people started to take off. It looked a tad hectic at times but was amazing to see. You may have seen pictures in skywings or XCmag but watching so many wings in the air was a mesmerising experience. it was like a ballet or should that be battle? It was so much more controlled than the dyke, coombe or bopeep on a bank holiday weekend. everyone (well mostly everyone) was going up and round and up.I think there were several thermal cycles as there was two main gaggles of people.

They had a start cylinder(another comp term) of 1km. I think this meant that the competitors had to be within 1Km of take off when the start gate opened. and the open window meant they had 30min to get in position before the race started.

it was good to watch and kind of inspired us all to fly. if so many people could get up and away. why couldn't we?

Fernando was first to go. not quite sure what happened! he reappeared a while later after walking up the face of the hill. not an easy walk up like caburn or combe!

Dave was off next he hadn't flown for a while so was v.keen to get up and fly. He got off the hill and then started to gain height. he was getting higher and following the thermal back. we were joking that he was going to do his first XC. and he kept on going up and back. then turned and started to glide back. I think he got some sink two valleys back and landed. He had done it - his first XC. 4Km or there abouts.

After seeing Dave head of and Fernando head down I decided I should have a go.

it would have been rude not to!

With no targets in mind apart from staying up and maybe getting a bit of height I started to get ready. One thing above all else makes a good flight for me. being able to look down on takeoff. I've had so many flights where I maintain and scratch below takeoff - then either slope or bottom land. all good stuff of course but it's so much more satisfying looking down on take off.

I got my trusty apco fiesta (DHV1) set up - then the wind dropped. bugger. then it started picking up and dropping in 30 sec bits. bugger. T2b it is then :-(

things steaded out a bit and I went for it. Got a wee climb. went right then back. gaining a bit. then loosing it in the turn. then gaining. then down. eventually I was a little bit above take off thinking... this is grand. I headed further round to the left where Lawrence Ying had mentioned there was a bit of lift.

no one else near me but still lowdown I got some lift. started doing some S-turns and got a bit more. This would be one of these thermal type things I'd been in in Verbier but few through in the UK!

Still no one flying at me and still going up. I put a 360 turn in. still clear around me. so I put another one in. and another. this is fun.

Round and round. up and up.

The people below started to look really small. and then I noticed I was getting close to cloud base.The first time ever!!! I started getting a bit nervous. looked at my vario - 3950+ft from a take off around 1140ft. not to bad a climb. but what next?

I saw dave in the distance folding up his wing. or I thought it was dave. With all this height it would be rude not to go and say hello to dave. so I started a glide. and didn't get much in the way of sink! a little while later I was passing over dave. and could just make out a the wing and someone folding it up. I was a little bit higher than I expected.

sooooo... I thought... why not see if I can make it as far as that little village. still pretty much gliding I made it over my second landing target. and got a little bit of lift. a couple of 360's later I had made up about 150ft which was nice but I had started to think landing would be kewl.

off on a glide again. I could see the A5 that we had driven up to the site. I saw a small town slightly closer so thought - that'll be easy to get retrieved from.still with a bit of height I saw a large field next to a football game. no livestock. looked flat. no power lines so I started to circle down trying to judge wind speed. There was a large tower to the NE that had a fair old plume on it - which helped. as did my groundspeed on the GPS.I picked a spot and landed.

My First XC. sooooo kewl.

I checked the GPS it was showing 10.1miles from Llangollen. I was a little bit excited and called Roy and Dave. then started packing up.

I had landed near to a gate onto a narrow lane. I couldn't see the football field - the hedges that looked so wee from the air were actually about 8ft high!

good job there was a gate.on closer inspection of the gate - the top was wrapped in barbed wire. bugger. there was a gap underneath it though. with liberal application of the compression straps on my glider bag both me and the wing made it under.

I headed into town. Weston Rhyn to be exact. probably more of a village than a town but there was a shop. I got myself an icecream and a bottle of coke to celebrate. The pub across the way looked promising but I had to work out how to get back!

I tried calling Dave - he was at a bus stop. then tried both Roy and Fernando. no answer. I then tried Lawrence Ying to see if he could se either Roy or Fernando - he could but said he was on his way to pick up Charlie Merret who had landed 7Km short of goal. I said I could get to chirk and lawrence agreed to pick me up. It was almost two miles into chirk my glider bag has never felt so light!

I was walking on air. Lawrence picked me up and we headed back to get Charlie.

Not too bad a day.after plugging my gps into my pc - I had covered 14.6km or 7.01km straight line distance. which was sooo nice.

a few beers, a barbeque and a quick trip to the pub finished the day off.

several hours of satisfying sleep (dreaming about the sound of my vario!) later we all attended the briefing for the day. Still no flying the long mynd but Bache hill in mid wales. I had flown there a few times while visiting the area with sideshow rob's welsh border raid.

Another site that I had flown more than once without clearing takeoff. surely it would be better this time.

we got there rather late. having had to pack up tents and stuff. and some creative navigation...one pilot had got up but most were waiting. a couple of people took off and scratched about a bit.

It looked to be matching my previous experiences of Bache. then some thermals kicked through and the ballet (or melé) started. it was amazing to watch. some people got up and away. aided by ozzy and co on hangliders... the rest landed. this repeated a couple of times until the sky was a tad emptier.

so we had a go at flying - fernando took off - then landed about 20ft later. these advance sigma wings seem to go down quite well (sorry Fernando...) then Roy took of and boated about a bit before slope landing. Dave did the same. as did I.

Fernando disappeared again. bottom landed. We had roy's car at take off and the remaining three of us wanted to fly. My car was in New Radnor. the decission was made to try to stay up but to bottom land - walk to my car. then retrieve roys car and head home - a good couple of flights under our belt and having enjoyed the experience.

I went first - heading towards a gully/quarry where a few people had maintained or got up during the day. I got a bit of lift. no one about... dave and roy still getting ready. only about 8 others on the hill. I turned int he lift. beepbeep there it was again. turn back. more beeps. and again. and again. I'd got a wee bit of height so I tried a 360 - expecting to loose all the height but no. I went up. :-) round and round until I had made it to above take off. I could see roy and dave starting to work the lift but they didn't seem to be getting too hight.

I kept working the lift. and letting it drift me back - over the forest... didn't feel to comfortable there so headed back towards takeoff. more lift. then back and up some more. after about 10 min I was at cloud base :-)

twice in one weekend.

another couple of people joined me - dave bottom landed (doh! I had the car keys) and roy slope landed.

I boated about for a bit. actively looking for sink at times when the cloud looked too close...then a couple of wingovers and top landed.

what a day. my gps hadn't recorded the flight :-( but the vario gave me a takeoff of about 1650ft, max height 4483ft. not to bad for a fiesta.

feeling generous I offered to pick up Dave and let Roy and Fernando fly down...

It was a grand weekend for some. me especially. If it hadn't been for the comp I don't think I would have tried so hard to get up high but with so many people getting up and away, it was the push or inspiration I needed to give it a go.what a weekend.