| Flight details: | Couldn't resist Catherines invite to the BCC. Unfortunately Saturday cancelled due to high winds (we measured 333mph gusting 38mph at the trig point...!). However Combined Services entertained the team at a BBQ Saturday afternoon, and a large contingent of Southern turned up at the campsite that night (allowing me to put names to faces).
Sunday was still looking very windy at the 10am briefing but as forecast it dropped after lunch and the task was opened. I fluffed my launch about an hour later and had to scratch hard to find my way back above the ridge, eventually climbing to cloudbase at 4200ft. However got too excited from my first trip to limited visibility and just shot off downwind without really thinking about the next cloud/thermal etc. As a result ended up being sucked into the valley behind the main ridge. Managed to keep out of it for a little bit on a tiny rock outcrop leeside thermal but then succombed and had to battle bad rotor and 50% collapses whilst dodging telegraph poles and some horses to thankfully land safely in a nice meadow. Hitched back to base and logged a huge 3.4km Open Distance! Lessons learnt - should have stayed on the ridge, should have planned my exit from cloudbase, should have followed Mark W on the tandem (some chance!)... however - looking forward to the next event, and just disappointed not to have left my red ribbon in Pandy! |
