A new Personal Best - 115km!

I think I cashed in all my luck today...

SE forecast so went to Kettlesings to find it quiet and indeed off to the S. A few others about including Bryan, Jock, Gary, Al and Craig. A few made tentative hops but it was way off to the South. Jock went down to bottom landing field, Bryan went up but drifted along hill before having to leave thermal low and then had to go and land out. Charles, Dave T, Graham, Tim etc. got up as well but only with slow climbs. One looked good so I launched to try and join them but fell out. While everyone else got back on TO, I got drilled in the bowl seting up and failed to side land, so ended up landing with Bryan.

Jock is there - do we want a lift up, Howard is there with his car? No-brainer, we all squeeze in and head back up - at least we'd get another attempt in in what was not looking such a good day: the others we managing to get short flights but were not getting height. At one stage we thought they'd be bottom landing as well. However as we got back to TO we found the wind had picked up and come more onto the hill. If anything it was now quite fresh. So no hanging around, kit back out I waited for a reasonable lull and took off.

We had a goodly gaggle thermalling up to above 1000' ATO and we drifted back. Graham and Tim headed off whilst a couple of others headed back to the ridge. I started to follow but then it seemed to me to be marginal as to whether I'd get back with reasonable height, so I turned back to find the thermal we'd been using - well nothing ventured... I soon connected with with and worked it up. Steady rather than strong but got up to 2000' ATO, and somehow caught up with Graham and Tim - well I think they were waiting up near base, which was good of them. Then the next bit of luck as I headed out on glide to a cloud in the distance. Graham flying above and a little beyond turns around and yells down at me to head for a cloud near by. Turning I see, yup it does indeed look good and much closer. Tim up there as well - so I followed.

I didn't make as much of it as the others, so the next section was hard going as I got low while they managed to stay high. However although lift was weak, so was the sink and I just kept working what I could with drifting bubbles. Although it seemed slow going, we go the Leominster, so it was already a good XC for me. Now Bryan, Iain and one other came overhead like the clappers. A cloud street had formed overhead and they were cruising it, catching Graham and Tim up. Just beyond Leominster I picked up a good thermal and was soon up under the cloud: base was only ~4200' at best. All the others were a way in front of me but that just marked out the sky. It wasn't long before I'd caught up as folk dived from one side of the street to the other, finding the lift and then sink to avoid (mostly) going into cloud. It was all pretty easy now with good ground speed and barely the need to turn in thermals at times. Really enjoyed flying over the wind-farms around Newtown though felt the need to concentrate on the flying so no photos I'm afraid. :-(

The big northern mountains of Wales were looming as I saw 98km come up on the GPS. My first 100km flight was in the bag! I went on glide to one final lee-side thermal, but found ground speed was now up to 70kph. Going on was not going to be sensible. The valley ahead (going down to Aberdovy) runs E-W so rotor was in my mind, but it is relatively wide and I figured a valley wind blowing toward the coast would be there. Although I considered running down the valley to the coast (in fact Graham did this a little later), I figured the best thing to do was land in the biggest field not crossed by power lines (and there are a lot around there!). Good move. There was indeed a valley wind. I was barely penetrating and of course got picked up a couple of times as thermals broke off (fence looking close...) A safe touch down leaving me to watch the others flying over only to get pinned on the north side of the valley, barely penetrating with full-bar. Tim and Graham squirted off side-slipping towards the coast, Iain managed to get into the same field as I was in, and Bryan one field down.

Six of us has made the ton together in all (the sixth, Simon I think, has landed about 5km earlier). Graham had landed by the train station - handy. Thanks to some hunting about by Tim, we got a taxi to get us right back to the car-park at Kettlesings - well worth it. The pint with Graham, Iain, and Mark back at the Malvern Hill Hotel barely touched the sides. What a brilliant day! Flight details here.

BPcup 2009 Round 1 - Scottish Borders. Day 3 & 4

A vote was held at the briefing this morning. Options were stay local and risk day being blown out or travel 3hrs north where the wind would be less. I wasn't there as breakfast at the George was a much more inviting option! Staying local won out.

The mini-buses ferried us out to the hills above Meggett Head. Cheryl was flying the NE flank when we arrived (though not going up or down). Encouraging, so we took the long hike up... It was obviously too strong from the east. So, dumping rucksacks we went for a walk, kidding ourselves that the wind might drop as the inversion lifted.

It was a good walk. Great views, with the far point of our little ramble atop a cliff above a fine tarn. Obligatory photographs taken, the parawaiting was deemed over, and we all made our way down again.

The George Arms Inn was closed that evening, so we were back to camping. Fortunately most things were dry enough now, so Carolyn and I took the opportunity to re-establish our tent before heading off for the now free afternoon. We went to Melrose to take a look at some gardens and the abbey; a pleasant enough way to while away a sunny if windy afternoon. Seeing the RAF take a very close look at St Mary's loch from a couple of Tornadoes was also noteworthy! The day was rounded off with another trip to the Taste of India, this time with a party of nine (we booked) and drinking back at the campsite - the forecast for the next day was for even more wind.

And indeed the next day was greeted by a strong easterly. Fortunately the tent was relatively sheltered with that direction and had survived the night. The morning's briefing had become the competition's prize-giving. Still plenty of folk around for it which was good to see. Official results and a write up are here. With just the one task, I had placed 17th in the cup, 19th overall, which I pretty pleased with. Roll on the Dales!

Having struck camp Carolyn and I headed north for the mountains via Traquair House, the oldest still inhabited castle in Scotland. A grand affair with parts of the building dating back over 900 years, today it hosts a museum (including an impressive library and some fine antique maps of the region), a working brewery (interesting strong ales...), and a large maze. The gardens are pleasant and extend through the woods down to the river Tweed. Peacocks wander the grounds the entrance to which are marked by the Bear gates, closed until there is a Stewart upon the throne. Well worth the visit.

BPcup 2009 Round 1 - Scottish Borders. Day 2

It is sunny, we have a task!

Didn't feel the need for breakfast this morning following last night's curry! The briefing at 8am set us on our way to Broughton Heights - a site I'd failed to get away from last year. Expectation was for light westerly winds going around to the N and NE later in the day. The ground was expected to be very soft, so we'd have a walk up the hill, but this didn't stop some from attempting to drive 4x4s up. Calvo (meet director) got stuck and required towing out courtesy of the farmer and his tractor, much to the amusement of all on-lookers.

Whilst some tested the air, and the organisers planned the task, I set up the new wing and ground handled for a bit to get a feel of it. The Cobra comes up nice and easy and sits overhead, with no apparent tendency to overshoot. The lines are very clean. My initial impression, having come from a Sport, is that it looks small and thin! (The Cobra has an aspect ration of nearly 6:1 as opposed to the Sport's 5.2)

The task was called. A straight race to Hawick, 46km ESE. The wind was already going around to the north, clouds were developing and likely to be an issue. The window opened but pilots were not in a rush to get off as winds were very light now and we were relying on thermic cycles. Gradually though gaggles worked the cycles and each time a few got away. My first flight came to nothing as I didn't quite catch the thermal and decided to side land rather than risk ending up down low. My second attempt was good and I climbed up several hundred foot above launch before loosing the thermal and sank back down with everyone else. There were still a good number of us who hadn't got away and were hunting around in the bowl going up and down. Also a number still on the deck finding it hard to take-off now as the wind continued to veer round to the N and E. I thought I'd blown it and I'd be stuck here, but at least I'd be giving the wing a good work-out. However I got lucky with a thermal that I felt happy to work on the lee side and with a couple of others I was up and away!

So how does the Cobra fly? Well, I'm no expert reviewer, and these are just my impressions from a single flight: The first thing I noted is that it is indeed quick quick and nimble, but quite refined. It's agile and responds well to weight shift followed by a little bit of brake to get into a good turn. Now I haven't flown many wings, however agile wings that I have have felt a bit light and delicate. The Cobra though feels pretty solid - agility without fragility! I hope this proves to be the case, it seems to me to be quite impressive for a LTF-2 wing. During the flight I found it climbed really well, giving good feedback without being "over-talkative". The pitch neutrality is going to take a bit of getting used to as there is little tendency to pitch into or away from thermals as you go in. I found "scrappy air" a bit harder to read than I've found on some other wings, but that said I had more time to float around to sketch it out as the Cobra is definitely "floaty". Indeed I found that I was out-climbing other wings more often than not when thermalling (although I have a pretty small sample for this statement!).

During the flight the cloud cover continued to build and the skies got fairly threatening. There was quite a downpour going on 20kms or so out to the east. I had just one moment where the wing didn't do anything other than fly smoothly. About mid-flight I suffered a full frontal (I think) and the wing's 6:1 aspect ratio became 1:1! Expecting things to get dramatic, I was somewhat surprised as the wing barely pitched, calmly re-inflated and resumed its service. It was a remarkably mellow experience, as if the wing was a trusty unflappable butler, calmly apologising having been knocked by an unruly guest before continuing a dignified service.

I flew on, staying clear of cloud-base and in sight of blue holes, and tried out the speed system. This has a more complex riser modification set-up than I'm use to (apparently to modify the shape of the wing beyond simply its angle of attack), but application of speed bar is really smooth and easy. I soon found myself making use of the bar throughout the rest of the flight. A couple of thermals later (and a bit of sleet!) and I could see goal in the distance. I just needed one more good climb. I could see wings well to the east and well to the west of me (I figured they must be free flying, but it later turned out that competitors in the task had taken a wide range of direction options for the task), and one landing next to the river Ettrick below me. The terrain beyond was a good stretch of moorland so plenty of landing options, but with no good road access. So if I had to land it'd be a long walk out, but I was in a gentle climb, so I decided to continue. As it was I didn't have to make a decision to land due to the incoming weather as a I hit the sea breeze and got sunk out to land right in the middle of the expanse, about 9k short of the goal cylinder. Landing had been nice and easy, and having packed away after an enjoyable flight, my luck continued as some anglers, having finished their fishing for the day, strolled past and offered me a lift down to the road.

We picked up Chris who had flown about 0.5k further than I had as we drove down to Ashkirk where he and I exchanged stories of the day's flying over a nice cold pint. Carolyn came to pick us up having had, sadly, an unsuccessful flying day. Apparently I'd been in pretty much the last group to get away from the mountain. The wind went around to come over the back. Carolyn had laid out, but then a gust came down over the back, rolling the wing down and then dragged it, and her, back up the hill. - "I got rotored on the ground!", - Carolyn

So, I didn't make goal, but it was a good flight, and I didn't get hailed upon in the landing field or have to spiral down to escape the weather! In the end I came a respectable (I think) 19th. Not bad for the first flight on a new wing. Overall I think I'd sum up my impression of the Cobra as having more the sense of a refined GT car than a feisty supercar. Flight details are here.

BPcup 2009 Round 1 - Scottish Borders. Day 1

At last I've got my new Cobra (possibly the first size S in the UK), just in time for the BPC. I would have liked to flown it a bit before the comp, but I'll just concentrate on the flying providing we get any: It's been blowy with frequent heavy showers on the way up. We stopped off at Threkeld to pick up the wing from UK Airsports - may thanks to Pat et al. for being really helpful - very friendly and professional.

We arrived the Friday night, put up tent, met up with Dave JH, pie and a pint at the Tibbie shiels and crashed out knowing that the briefing the next day was going to be a formality. Sure enough, the howling winds and regular down-bursts put pay to day 1 of the Scottish Open, but following registration, Dave Thompson gave an excellent talk on flying the borders region - more of a plateau with valleys than hills and mountains and sea breezes to look out for.

Following this Carolyn and I headed out to be tourists, going to the Robert Smail's Printing Works - a living museum if there ever was one. Owned by the National Trust of Scotland it still does print jobs (posters, wedding invites, stationary etc.) using equipment that dates back as far as 1850. It also has a record of every print job done making it an incredible historical archive the NTS is working on cataloging. Worth a visit if you are Innerleithen way.

On the way back we drove through Selkirk in search of a curry house for the evening meal. We found the Taste of Spice, which we duly returned to with Dave JH, Mark, Diane and Steve that evening. We only just got in, getting the last available table. Why is it that in small towns you can find superb Indian restaurants? A mixture of familiar and rare dishes, this restaurant provided what we all agreed was a cut above the average Indian. All washed down with Cobra of course!

But, before the evening's pleasantries, we had a bit of a problem to deal with. Although we'd survived the stormy weather, out tent had not. The weather had been too much and the tent had collapsed and subsequently become a covered paddling pool! Although several thoughtful campers had tired to help by righting it (thank you all), it resolutely returned to giving way to the wind. Luckily my search for alternative accommodation was pretty short as the Gordon Arms Inn, just 10 minutes along the road had rooms available. Phew!