View Article  Day 5 - Thursday

A SSW wind this morning with the cloud clearing slowly off the hill. The opportunity was taken to take a long walk around to Castel Dinas whilst the cloud lifted.

Ian flew with club member Robin Howarth in the K21 and worked the spine and the south bowl, after some tentative excursions down the Cwmdu they contacted gentle wave up to nearly 3,000ft.  Meanwhile Bo and Paul Carey had pushed out to Llangorse and managed to climb in gentle wave to 4,500ft, gaining the longest flight of the day at 1hr 50min.  Ian later flew with Mike H again in the K21 again on the south bowl and Cwmdu.  Will took a launch in the Vega and followed the K21 around, contacting the wave up to about 2,500ft, however the wind had shifted slightly more west and dropped so the ridge proved too soft to sustain, both gliders landing back within a few minutes of each other.

Seven flights in total were made with an average flight time was 1hr 4mins.

Jan and Ian went to visit friends in the evening, but Will, Mike and John went for a meal at The Stag at Titley (near Shobdon) - a highly rated restaurant which was a hit with all. 

Forecast is for more westerly but lighter winds, possibility of mainly thermals for tommorrow.

View Article  Day 3 - Tuesday

A slow start, the cloud was not looking promising.  A SW wind had set up what looked like wave but few options of a decent flight were seen. 

However at 17:57hrs Bo and Mike H decided to brave the rain showers and towed out to a gap in the cloud at Llangorse Lake.  Released hieght was 1800ft and after dodging clouds pushed forward to a gap over the river where they hooked into the front of the wave.  A climb of 4knts took them up to 12,500ft, they flew over the top of the lenticular then down the back at 70knts and full airbrakes.  The whole flight was about and hour and beers were on Mike!! The window of opportunity was very short and neither John K nor Will (with Ian) had success contacting the wave.

After packing the hangar, a pleasant evening was spent at the Farmers Arms at Cwmdu.

Forecast for tomorrow looks like a drier air mass and improved soaring possibilities.

View Article  Talgarth Briefing Guidence Notes

Hi Folks,

Attached are the various site briefing guidence notes available on the BMGC website.  I have put them all into one pdf document for easy storage / printing. 

It is worthwhile having a look through them before going to Talgarth.  Don't be put off by the amount of info and don't try to remember it all.  However, having familiarised yourself with the contents, I find it useful to look at the appropriate sections based on the weather forecast for the next day - so you get the most from the conditions/check flights, etc.  e.g.  If it looks like a good ridge day with winds from the NW read the bits that are applicable to NW winds, if the wind is from the East, read the bits relating to Easterly winds in each of the sections on Take-Off and Landing, Ridge Soaring and Wave Soaring - Thermals you know about!! 

Any questions, feel free to contact me.  I expect to be at the club next w/e.

Also here is a link to the BMGC website which gives a good guide to ridge soaring (published in S&G), written by former CFI and Talgarth guru, Don Puttock.

http://www.blackmountainsgliding.co.uk/pilotweb/hillsoaring.html?PHPSESSID=6f6567501edd956f8842b4ae2ec9357d

Fly Safely, Have Fun.

Ian.

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