“Are you nuts?” I reply, “It’s going to be bloody cold stood in a field waiting for the retrieve and they will probably scoff all the nibbles at the meeting before we get back. Oh well if I must.”
So off we go, it’s four miles to the ridge so we need to get as much height as we can, it’s a good launch and we end up at 1450ft. Immediate turn to the right trim for best glide and on our way.
I have a very good look at the fields on the way, there’s a good chance we might need one if we don’t make it.
With a tailwind 15-20kts we have a groundspeed of about 75kts so it isn’t long before we reach the ridge, we arrive at an indicated 800ft which is below the top which means we only lost 650ft on the way out but we will probably need 3 times that to get back because of the headwind.
Don takes over as we approach the ridge. My brief is to have fields picked out as we go.
Approaching the ridge at about 45deg, the vario is still showing down till we’re almost on the ridge then comes that lovely bleep as we start to go up, we turn along the ridge and get steady lift all along the beat,( heart starts beating again, I think it’s been stopped since we dropped the cable)
As we beat up and down we’re getting to know how the ridge works and I am studying the fields.The ridge works quite well, steady lift between 1 and 4kts and there are 2 or 3 fields available.
Now up to over 1100ft and time to look a bit further, we fly to the south end of the ridge and into a large bowl, the lift is really good here and we try circling, it’s probably a thermal being kicked off by the bowl, climb up to to 1450ft (back to launch height) but are being blown downwind so we decide to fly north to see what’s working that way.
As we work north all we get is small bits of lift and reduced sink but at least we’ve hardly lost any height. Eventually we end up under a cloud street near Widgery's Cross, the bad news is it’s not working very well and there are several heavy rain showers heading straight for us.
We decide to chicken out and head for home, so we head west under the street to hopefully pick up any lift and to take us to the west of Blackdown and again pick up some lift off there.
Only one problem as we turn around the edge of Blackdown. There is a heavy shower between us and the airfield.
We have been slowly losing height all the way back and are now down to about 800ft. Only one thing to do; go straight through the shower and hope for the best, I have been picking fields all the way back but as we go into the shower with the sun ahead everything disappears completely, and with the glider steadily sinking not a nice feeling.
We pop out the other side of the shower with the airfield still over a mile away and down to about 500ft the angle doesn’t look good and I am desperately picking fields. However, we pick our way along the edge of Blackdown and arrive at the airfield at 300ft. (heart starts beating again after stopping for the 2nd time).
Wow what a Flight !!!
Ged Nevisky
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