Between the Rain - It's Wales of Course

TomTom directed me in roughly the right direction and I arrived at the entrance to Bryncaws Farm at 10:30 am. Not bad when I was in Sussex 4 hours earlier! As I waited for the rest of the team from Suffolk to arrive, I met Norris, a local pilot who'd just returned from the top of the hill bringing the bad news that launch was blown out and that he was headed off.

A short while later Andy arrived shortly followed by Paul, Will, Said, Keith and John. Norris then returned thinking that if other hang glider pilots were on the hill he'd have a better chance of flying his Target. It was just as well Norris returned as his directions to launch proved useful - if only a bit of a challenge for my new car [I bottomed out a few times - perhaps I should have gone for a 4x4!].

At launch we were disappointed with the weak conditions. After we rigged a few paragliders arrived and launched. We watched them fly for a while and were surprised that they were barely able to maintain launch height. Slope landings being a clear advantage of the paraglider today!

Paul and I both rigged and clipped in ready to launch, patiently waited for another 5 mph of additional wind speed. Eventually, things took a turn for the worse; visibility dropped and rain began to fall. As I was still rigged and clipped in, it didn't take long before everyone sheltered from the rain under my wing.

Later, as the rain began to weaken, one of the paraglider pilots wandered up to us, pointed to the windsock and said, "It's now sea breezed and that's the end of the day for this site". The windsock highlighted a southerly wind blowing 90 degrees from launch direction. With that, the paraglider pilots packed up and departed.

I personally wasn't so sure about the sea breeze theory - there had been no sun and it was totally overcast, hardly the right conditions for a sea breeze to develop. Speaking to Paul, I suggested that perhaps the heavy shower that had passed overhead was affecting the wind direction and perhaps we'd be better off sitting it out. Paul concurred.

About 30 minutes later as the rain stopped, the wind indeed did come back onto launch and this time it felt a little stronger and consistent. Paul and I were now queued at launch. Paul being in front was first to go. We all watched as he soared back and forth and tried to gain height on each beat. It was very obvious that the lift band was narrow and with such a small section of the ridge working, there wasn't going to be much room for more pilots to join Paul!

I needed to time my launch such that Paul would see me. As I waited for a little more wind, Cara relayed me useful instructions of Paul's whereabouts. When he was clear I launched and immediately turned to left. I scratched in as close to the hill as I dared, I made little height gain on my first beat. As I turned 180 degrees to head back I started to scan the sky for Paul. I couldn't see him anywhere! I didn't like that, especially on such a small site with a minimal lift band.

As I reached the other end of the ridge and reversed my direction I noticed Paul had top landed. With that knowledge I felt a little more confident and concentrated my efforts on gaining height. After a few more beats back and forth along the ridge, I looked down and spotted Keith W. ready to launch. The air was lumpy and murky and not particularly enjoyable, so I decided as soon as I was high enough, I'd top land and clear the sky for Keith. I checked my vario/altimeter to judge if I had height for a top landing but I had forgot to zero it at take-off! It read an altitude of 1,200 feet, I was nowhere near that high so had to rely on my own judgment!

On my final turn at the northern and highest end of the ridge I connected with some lift and continued to do so as started my southwards beat. As you head south the hill drops so I decided that a landing approach starting from the south heading northwards, would be the best option for a top landing as the ground would come up to meet you as you descend towards it; very much like Bo Peep in East Sussex. The top of the north end of the ridge also has the flattest bit of ground, so that was my preferred landing spot.

On my final beat, I extended my turn towards the hill towards my chosen landing area. I pulled the bar in and accelerated my glider, a contingency should I encounter an unexpected wind gradient, then flew across the rigged gliders below to my target landing area. As I turned back into wind I started sinking and spooked a few sheep as I descended. To my surprise I wasn't coming down as quickly as expected and the edge of the hill rapidly approached! Fearing an overshoot, I placed my left hand back on the base bar and pulled in as far as I could. The glider responded and dropped quicker and allowed me to get my feet on the ground. I still carried plenty of speed, but using the wet grass, I skidded along and the glider slowed until I able to run the last few steps before the glider came to rest [I skidded through something that didn’t smell too good!].

That concluded my flying for the day. Later the sun broke through and conditions improved. Eventually, one at a time, everyone else had a short flight until the local paraglider pilots re-joined us. This effectively closed the tight airspace down to hang gliders.

Finally, as I descended the hill very carefully in my car, I stopped off at the bottom landing field to say hi to Will [he'd landed there earlier] and to pay the £2 site fee to the local farmer.