Eye in the Sky May 2006
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Wed 31 May 2006
Report by Alastair Florence
Me and Julian P enjoyed about 1 1/2 hrs soaring at Winklebury tonight. Started off only just scratchable but got stronger as the evening went on, a bit rough at times but a very pleasant evening with plenty of small remains of thermals. Another plus was Winklebury Cows dont seem to try and eat your kit.
Report by Mike Bretherton
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Mon 29 May 2006
Report by Gill Middlehurst
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Sun 28 May 2006
Report by Roger Edwards
Finally, a day that looked like it might offer some worthwhile flying
inspired me to head up to Bell. On arriving it was evident that the world
and his brother had had the same idea and parking was at a premium. There
were plenty of wings in the air with good height and hence separation,
so despite being busy it wasn't the usual bun fight. Though top endy at
times it stayed flyable all day, bar one hour or so of blow out, conveniently
at lunch time.
Not only was it working it was also very bouyant and with nice thermals
coming through regularly. I nearly got away on my first flight but lost
it over the woods and decided, as I was lowish, that the prudent option
was to head back to the ridge. This proved tricky as the venturi was having
its evil effect - I crept back on full bar, lying flat on my back, at
only 0.5mph. I swear I could count the ruts in the field, so slow was
progress. After the lunch time blow-out a gaggle of us took a ride over
the back and worked our way to end up distributed variously around Blandford.
It was overcast and with few cloud clues felt a bit like flying a blue
day. Not far for me but my first XC of the season, which was sorely needed
to remind me why I persist at this meteorologically-challenged sport.
Too many folk on the hill to name, but in the gaggle were Nicole, Neil
H, Stuart M, Rob P and I'm sure some one else as well. Once back at the
hill it was still good enough for another hour or so in the air for those
who weren't knackered by then.
Parking was real mess as the first up had parked parallel to the fence
rather than perpendicular. Could we all please stick to what is actually
the usual habit of parking perpendicular to the fence - it really does
make a big difference.
Report by RW
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Bell Hill 28-5-06 Flying at last.
Photos by J.R.
Hangies Hovering at Height, High & Handsome
Thurs 25 May 2006
Report by RW
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Ringstead: A call from the Flight Culture Posse' returned from the "Dune"
to say it was soarable at the "Office". On arrival John W &
Gaz M were playing in the breeze & punchy thermals. After orisons to the
Gods I took off and converted some lift to make it to the cliffs for a
play. Wind strength was increasing steadily & allowing good height gain
at the cliff face. others out to play were Steve P & Gary P.There was
a rumour that it was flyable at Bell.
Sun 14 May 2006
Report by Cory-Wright, Simon
On a weird sort of day where for some reason the members of Wessex seemed to scatter to all four corners of Dorset, I headed to White Horse on the basis of Russell W's advice, which was €œHead to White Horse€ and Roger E's advice, which was €œI'm at Bournemouth - it's pants€.
Arrived early afternoon and about half a doz pilots had already enjoyed over an hour of great flying in light and thermic conditions. Wind was off to the east a bit but thermals could be found bubbling up along the full length of the ridge providing a further hour's great flying. It shut down briefly, which allowed a BLT and banana smoothie refuel before cranking back up.
Russell swapped his Oasis for the tandem mothership and as he scratched in light conditions he began to resemble a German Heinkel WWII bomber under ferocious attack from a squadron of pesky Spitfires (see Russell's report below). It's easy to forget that tandems aren't as manoeuvrable and should be given a wide berth, something to note for next time. But Russell, it wasn't me in your way mate€¦I was way too high, ha ha!
As the wind dropped we were increasingly left to scratch around in small
puffs, resulting in slope landings and a renewal of the love affair between
my lines and the brambles. Word of advice - slope landings at White Horse
aren't recommended. Mike D and I were the last to persevere, with Mike
disappearing low off the west end of the ridge. Just as I was about to
go on a search and rescue mission, expecting to find him buried deep in
a large gorse thicket, I found out he'd managed to scrape his butt low
across the bowl and find enough lift on the opposite spur to climb out
and glide back for a landing beside his car - cheeky sod! Great day with
two more hours for the logbook.
Report by Jon Harvey
Called to say that Eype was light but wind straight on, and strengthening.
Arrived to some 20 mins later, wind virtually non-existent, but well off
past south. Talked about other options, then breeze certainly increased
quite quickly, and Keith first away. It was some 20 mins later before
Alan B and myself got up, due to wind moving ever more towards SSE. Plenty
of lift across to Thorncombe, and as crossing noticed several others arriving.
Eventually Garry F, John P, Jerry H, Dinks, joined the merry group. Sorry
if any names missed out. Wind was well towards SSE, great speed Westwards
and initially plenty of height above T/B, 600ft +, but either wind began
to moderate, or backed even more, and heights at T/B began to decrease
each beat. In hindsight should have gone on a one way mission much earlier
to G/Cap and Charmouth, but forecast was an increase in strength,, and
were waiting for this to happen. Lesson one, don't believe forecasters,
and so missed a great opportunity again..
Now for some site info. No names mentioned this time but next time your
name WILL be for all to see. If you haven't flown here before or very
infrequently, please ask for rules and then comply.
1 Do not lay out wing, harness, etc across the footpath, which is a public
right of way.
2 Lay out, clip in, inflate etc, on the down wind side of the footpath.
Only cross when launching.
3 Don't be an ass and lay out between the path and the cliff edge, you
may just get rotored straight over the edge. Hint, look and see where
the grass is moving landwards, inflate where there is some wind, not on
the edge, where the grass is blowing off the coast.
I mentioned this to you as well as Cathy, so please, please observe site
rules.
Myself, Cathy and Keith ventured up again later as it seemed better, and
found yet another pilot, at T/O, red F/B Z-one, red helmet, doing exactly
as described above. Site rules were explained, and some assistance to
try and launch, but no chance. Eventually discovered during conversation
that he wasn't a Condor, Wessex member, or in fact a member of any BHPA
club, though was a BHPA member. He resides in Yeovil and usually only
flies Telegraph hill, as only a short drive. I pointed out the benefits
of belonging to a club, eg, tuition in ground handling, flying etc, flying
in company and not on your own, trying to improve, and that if he isn't
a member of any local clubs, with reciprocal arrangments, he wouldn't
be welcome again. Goes by the name of Larry or Lawrie Morris. Otherwise
a good day in the air.
Report by Alastair Florence
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I interpreted their forecast as that the morning would be fairly poor S-SE then improve as the afternoon went on swinging more east. In the event thats pretty much what happened.
Hence I went hiking with my wife in the morning earning enough smartee points to get released for the afternoon. Sitting in the garden eating cheese on bread and drinking tea for lunch I could see pilots sitting on Ballard so didn't bother to rush out. Shortly about 8 wings launched and I headed up.
ZZ was walking up as well, as we arrived the wind died off but was still flyable, just. After a bit of scratching ZZ began gaining more height as orographic cloud began forming over the cliffs. everyone got in the air and we had a brilliant session with a steadily increasing wind which swung off to the East. the hotels were easily soarable. It was a case of fly the main cliff until you entered the white room then haed for the lower cliff until the cloud cleared enough. Loads of lift, one of those freak days. Others present ZZ, 2 x visitors who's names I cant remember and probably couldn't spell anyway (sorry) Craig B (yes Craig B), Jim C, Alan W, Grant O + possy, Dave T, Lawrence T borrowed a wing and flew as he passed on his Bike, I think thats about it. Peachy !
Report by RW
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"Tandeming" at the Horse. After a couple of hours of solo thermalling
with many others. It was time to bring out the Dual. P2 was the delightful
Jackie R who provided the attached photos. After preparation, I aborted
the first launch as I caught the sink cycle of a thermal. Then followed
a long spell of scratching like a "pig with fleas", wind had a tad of
east, and some solo Pilots had little regard for the dynamics of a tandem,
others were well aware of the difficulties and ably assisted my efforts
to get above the hill. It was obvious that some Pilots had not flown for
a very long time or were blind as they did not attempt to abide by Air
Law. Despite their efforts Jackie & I managed to evade the sink & even
found some decent lift at the east end to enable some thermalling. Thanks
to John S for assisting launch & Mike D & Allen T for assisting landing.
A good days flying was had by many.
Report by Roy Menage
A check of XC wind map showed that Bournemouth might be on for a late
afternoon flight. I arrived to see Steve A in the air although the wind
was, in fact, a long way off to the east. Steve very kindly gave me a
push over the fence in quite strong conditions with easterly progress
being very slow and westerly being almost alarmingly fast! We worked the
lift for about 25 mins with no more than 70ft ATO being achieved but with
the lift failing fast, despite the wind strength, we both top landed and
packed away. Dave W arrived just too late (sorry!). Here's to the next
visit. Thanks to Steve for the useful guidance.
Report by Mark Fisher
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Sat 13 May 2006
Report by Wayne Bevan
Found at Ringstead, a Black Fleece Glove (Right Hand). If you have lost one please contact Wayne Bevan via email.
When I arrived at Ringstead with the HG & found PGs in the air I immediately rigged & took off flying directly to the low cliffs. I lost 50ft on the way out. I gained height quickly once on the cliff. On my second flight in a stronger WSW I expected to gain height on the trip out to the cliffs as I have always done so in the past. Ringstead should never be taken for granted & I lost 150ft on the route out flying through the rotor & then losing another 50ft having arrived on the low cliff!
Normal flying was resumed once established on the cliffs however one must always be mindful of being able to penetrate & being able to get back in these conditions.
The top landing field at Ringstead has knee length grass which made landing
HG's interesting as there was a noticeable wind shear at about 30ft agl.
Report by Alastair Florence
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With a WNW-NW of moderate strength at home it seemed worth a visit to
Bell.
RW was in the air to a degree as I arrived with ZZ and Wayne B on the
ground.
The wind was well off to the West but Russell, ZZ and later Jacko all
made flights of varying sucess. More would be's were now arriving, The
sky was uninspiring and the wind more off the hill so it seemed time to
move on.
Rumour had it Ringstead was flyable and several left. Pete C, Roy M, Dr
C and me looked at Bulbarrow, it was raining and the wind off to the North
but otherwise perfect so we left for Ringers.
At Ringers still very Westerly a few people were bouncing about in front
of the ridge. After a bit some made it to the cliffs and were followed
by most of the rest of us. Quite strong and definately off to the West.
We got some reasonable heights and not too many bad things, Dr C demo'ed
frontal tucks nice and low on a demo wing (much to his suprise), Wayne
B had a good flight on his HG with Richard M and ZZ joining later, a fair
turn out of PG's including RW, Gaz, James T, Mark F, Roy M, Pete C, Neil
H and some other pilots who I'll remember as soon as I send this mail
!
Fri 12 May 2006
Report by Steve Bamlett
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Just arrived back from 10 glorious days in Tolmin Slovenia with what can only be described as exhilarating stuff. I was there as part of the Joint Services sports tour to compete against the other services in various tasks and events. The flying was as ever fantastic and we only had two non-flying days.
Whilst there I met up with Wolfgang the boss of Nova at the prize giving night and had a talk about the new wings etc. He donated a wing as first prize! The thermals were particularly bouncy at this time of year and all had a hard time hanging on at points and most verios went of the scale at some points. however getting hoovered up at 8 m/s is better than some of the rotor that can develop on the lee side of the mountains. After my tenth of eleventh major collapses on my way to the Stol ridge it became a normal thing and most pilots here all say the same, that if you want to fly in the mountains then get used to it.
All the same it does concentrate your mind on recovery methods and whether or not to worry about it. It was starting to get busy on launch so most days we decided to get away early and head for Bovic of Italy and then get a retrieve.
Broke two of my personnel bests height and distance and it was good to see other UK pilots there as well.
If you have the time to go then I recommend it
Tue 09 May 2006
Report by RW
A sneaking suspicion that Bell was "on". Arrived at 0950hrs & it seemed
ideal.
Good sky with fluffy Cumulus developing. I called Site Phone & took off.
Soon at 950' ATO. I thought this could be good, after 40mins the sky started
to fill in and I landed for a cuppa. Derek S & Harry D with Mike A all
went for a float Derek making the most of the remaining lift. It soon
died off & Martin TFL was cursing his misfortune. A late call from Gazza
had me & Martin off to Ringstead for some ridge soaring with the thermals
occasionally cycling through. Latecomer Steve P had a waft.
Mon 08 May 2006
Report by Alastair Florence
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After a frustrating few days of either no flying at all or just scrapping
my butt along a cliff top it was a relief to see the clouds actually moving
on the way home tonight, albeit a little fast. I figured out the cloud
base was low giving the illusion it was more windy than it was.
Corfe Chuch weather vane showed SW so headed toward St. Aldhelms, The
cow on barn vane was giving south of SW. I always wondered what would
happen to you in this direction with 13-15mph on take off so thought I
might experiment.
The flight was ok, it took along time to push forward and round the corner
onto Emmetts Hill which worked a bit better giving around 275ft ato, The
coastguards cliff was ok as well, with the wind dropping not enough altitude
to make the car park and cloudbase down to about 850ft amsl I decided
to bale out and landed comfortably in the set-aside behind the last stile.
Not an epic flight but better than the last few days.
Report by jon harvey
Received a call from Keith B that Eype was poss working with wind from
15/20 mph but dropping somewhat.
Arrived some 15mins later, wind from sw and around 17 mph average, and
no sign of Keith until I walked to t/o and there he was on Golden Cap
and very high. T/o from slightly lower down, today and straight into lift,
no problems staying up this evening. Visited westbay, then on return leg,
very slow progress, (gps showed 5mph without speedbar) but gaining height,
and nearly 600 ft asl at Eype t/o. Met up with keith but now very little
lift near Thorncombe, east side being shielded from westerly wind, in
fact sinking rapidly, so aborted. Return leg at speed (30 mps ground speed).
Played around Eype /Westbay with rapidly decreasing wind as it went well
west. flew for about 50 mins, So very much more pleasant than last Friday's
flight.
BBC spotlight show 10mph sw tomorrow afternoon sea breeze.
Report by luigi degli esposti
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You might have heard that some people come to fly here on the Grappa
without insurance..
The reason that they think they are covered is the fact that we are protected
by the '' Madonna of good flight''...
I still recommend extra cover when you come here though..
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Report from the wessex's foreign correspondent.
Went to the meeting on thursday to find Paul and Kaye Escott missing.
They are in Italy,it seems...mmm..
I had to investigate,so,at the end of the meeting ,drove to Stanstead
to catch the first plane to Venice.
Eventually,I found the missing Escotts drinking beer at the hangies landing
field bar.
''We had two flights allready''they both swore''we deserve a drink''they
cried! So,sensing a good story,I had to join them for a drink or three...and
food,and flying for four days.
As you can see from the world exclusive pictures,a scoop,Kaye has found
a new toyboy to play with! Kaye; '' I had to get a new model,as the old
one was starting to falter'' Well,as Confucius said,'' when the thermal
you are using is deteriorating,find yourself a new one''
Sun 07 May 2006
Report by Cory-Wright, Simon
WHITE HORSE With Compton Wendy showing NNE I went to Monk's first to
find Alan Webb squinting at the clouds and scouring the internet on his
Pocket PC for a theory to explain how the wind (feeble as it was) could
be on the hill while the clouds were going precisely the other way. After
mulling this over for a few minutes and then dislodging the remains of
a finch that had decided to roost under my windscreen wiper as I barrelled
down the A30 at 80mph, we got Russell's sitephone message from Ringstead,
which precipitated a headlong dash to the coast. See report below. Not
fancying a dance around the orographic white room, I scarpered down the
road for a sandwich and to scout out White Horse. From Osmington I could
see the Horse was clear and a red wing was ground-handling, so I headed
on up. Phoned the info back to Ringstead but everyone there sat tight
as it was supposedly starting to clear.
The couple at White Horse (sorry, I missed your names) were taking a break
when I arrived, having managed only a couple of beats in the light conditions.
We were joined by Charles C-S and one other and the wind finally came
through courtesy of a break in the clouds and a short burst of thermals.
Charles and A.N.Other briefly got quite high (about 500ft or so) while
I merely managed to skim my butt over the gorse for half a dozen beats.
I was just about to blame my lack of altitude on my low-performance Gin
Bolero, on which I'm also at the top of the weight range, only to have
that theory blown by seeing that Charles was on a DHV 1 too (Sky Fides).
OK then, I'm just rubbish. Did manage one decent short flight gaining
100 ft or so ATO before another scratchy slope landing skipping daintily
through the gorse in a vain attempt to bring my glider down in a clear
patch. My lines and the gorse had clearly fallen deeply in love, as they
fiercely resisted all attempts to part them. Finally extracted my kit
and spent and hour or so ground-handling and practicing forward-launches
before heading home to put another 10 mins into the log-book.
There you go, the world's longest report for the world's shortest flight.
Report by RW
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Report by Alastair Florence
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Equation Knitson: no wind: no thermals: hassle from mad cows = pants i.e = waste of time.
Sat 06 May 2006
Report by Simon Hopkins
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Thanks to all for the debrief and RW for the lift €“ lets do it again soon.
Fri 05 May 2006
Report by Gary Mullins
Arrived at Ringstead to be greeted by Mike Drew and a load of orographic
blown in by the southerly breeze. At about 10.30 it cleared enough for
us both to have a short waft. Decided that the horse would be better site.
Before we left we were joined by Russell Whyte and Steve Phillips, who
both had a trip out to the cliffs. The wind was still southerly and after
watching Steve scratching fairly low on the cliffs, Mike and I went to
White Horse. But not before we had conformation that conditions were far
from ideal when saw a blue and yellow glider bomb out and land way down
in the field between the cliffs and the bottom landing area. Strange,
no mention or photo of that in other reports. Got to the horse and found
it to be very thermic and off to the west ! Soon joined by Steve and Russell
again. Waited and waited for conditions to improve but twas not to be
and after an hour or two, one by one, we returned to the gathering throng
we could see having a lovely time at Ringstead in the, by now, steady
F3 WSW. Some you win and some you lose.
Report by Pete Chalmers
After a prod from Marcus W we thought it would be a suitable day to give
Bulbarrow Hill a go. Arrived to find a light SW wind with thermals cycling
through as promised. The sky looked lovely so we slowly prepared to give
it a go. Slowly for two reasons, it was still early and we were both well
aware of the site's fearsome reputation! We launched shortly after 1200
just as the clouds were disappearing and managed to stay up but no great
altitude gain, a least it was not too rough. A little later the thermals
were stronger but also a lot rougher, requiring very active piloting -
not exactly relaxing! The thermals were quite small and not consistent
enough to tempt us over the back, especially as it is a spine back ridge.
Max altitude gain of 800' ato in almost total blue.
This is not a site to be attempted by inexperienced pilots but on a light
SW thermic day it is worth a go if you have the skills to cope with the
rough conditions.
Worn out by 1500 we adjourned to Ringstead for a chill out on the cliffs,
a good day all round (except the x/c to near Reading I had planned!)
Report by RW
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Wed 03 May 2006
Report by RW
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Oh Dear! nil wind & lots of hazy mist but what the hell, lets get the wing out & play.
I spotted some Herring Gulls thermalling & Mike was saying go to the left & it started to work, not much to begin with & definitely not worth a call to the Site Phone but it gradually improved allowing about an hour of thermalling above the Horse. In fact it was consistent enough for me to do my first post qualifying Tandem Flight with Jackie R as P2, what a brave girl! She did say that she enjoyed it and was confident with me as P1. So a 15min flight with a top landing ( eventually), Mike D thought we were going down so he was ready to have a laugh, sorry to disappoint Mike.
I have to admit to being a little nervous but it was a good T.O. & a half decent top landing using the "Quick Outs" thanks Sean L ! Some photos of the day and our wooly friends waiting in the grass. Spotted a lovely fox in the gorse & lots of raptors in the air. Summer has begun.
Mon 01 May 2006
Report by James Roy
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Rigged and flew with the sky to myself for about 45 minutes, quite lumpy but very nice none the less. Hit a big sink cycle and bottomed out - thanks to the PG who came and collected me.
Later in the day a few other hangies turned up and a good time was had by all. Made another two flights. By the evening there were a few paragliders in the sky and the air was silky smooth.
Thanks to the paraglider(s) who helped me launch and took the photos. Sorry I cant remember any ones name; hopeless at that!
Report by Alan Webb
Report from Alan Webb Date: 01-05-06 The day looked lost to a strong
Westerly, but at about 6pm went and had a look at St A's. Sure enough
it was strong topping 18MPH. After 20 mins it had dropped to 16MPH and
after another 20 mins, looked flyable. Just got my kit out and Ali turned
up with great local knowledge. We then proceeded to have over an hour
of smooth conditions with a brisk wind that had turned more SW giving
good lift all along the cliff. Ali crossed the pool around Houn's Tout
regained his height and flew back. We ended the day by landing in the
field behind car park, with just about enough light to put the wing away.
What a great way to finish a bank holiday. Thanks Ali for the pointers.
Pictures by Alastair Florence
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